As shining examples of how to get stuff done early in the parks we are not that psycho blonde woman with four kids who keeps infecting my Instagram feed with her 4am wake ups and Stepford vibes. If you know, you know.
Today was probably the exact opposite of that but we were tired to it was a much later start. I had booked Multipass and stacked our LLs for the afternoon so we took our time and benefitted from the extra cash outlay, but not as much as Disney would.
It was 10.30 when we left the house. Less than half an hour later we parked in Mickey 312 and we trammed in.
I can’t say for certain that Dougie didn’t sleep in that hat.
We had a Fantasmic Dinner Package booked for this evening which involved lunch at the Sci-Fi Diner so we had no ride plans before that. We had a stroll of the shops and just took things in.
We checked in at the restaurant at 12.20 and were seated within 5 minutes.
We all ordered a milkshake which would count as dessert on our FDP thing, which was fine by us. And they were fine.
We paid extra(!) for an appetiser of Fried Pickles and then….
Me – Chicken Salad
Louise – A blurry chicken sandwich
Everyone else had burgers, which proved impossible to photograph as we were all sat in a car.
It was another pricey affair, as expected, but it did give us a “Fastpass” for Fantasmic later.
Our first ride of the day was Mickey’s Runaway Railway and everyone except Louise endured the 30 minute standby wait for that.
It’ll never be the Great Movie Ride, but it’s clever, and I suspect it takes a lot fewer CMs to run it than the previous ride here.
Next, it was time for our LL for Rise of the Resistance. As often seems to be the case, as we arrived the ride had just come back up which meant that even the LL queue was bedlam. The standby was at 3 hours, and that would rise to 4 as we queued. Tom stayed out with Dougie and it took the rest of us 45 minutes to ride.
I suppose this ride’s impressiveness and complexity lead to it going down a lot.
It truly is an incredible spectacle and feat of Imagineering but its instability means that idiots like us who paid to ride it get upset at still having to spend an hour doing so.
Tom and Freddie then rode much more quickly as the initial surge after re-opening had calmed down.
The rest of us walked to Tower of Terror for our next LL, and we knew at this point that Tom and Freddie would be late for our slot on that ride. I went to one of the Guest Services blue umbrellas and explained the Rise-induced delay to our plans and they kindly made our LL for Tower of Terror open-ended for any time today.
We took a seat and had a drink whilst we waited for the Rise riders to return.
With Dougie napping, Rebecca, Tom and Freddie rose TOT, then with Dougie awake again, Tom took Freddie on Rock n Rollercoaster whilst the rest of us took Dougie to see Beauty and The Beast.
Keeping Dougie entertained whilst we waited in the scandalous and persistent absence of Four For A Dollar, involved him having a go on the camera.
Once the show started, I took over on camera.
With that show enjoyed Louise and I took our turn to ride TOT. Everyone else headed back to Galaxy’s Edge where we were to meet them for our Smuggler’s Run LL. We were half an hour beyond our time slot, which stressed me out no end, but as we beeped our bands Mickey turned green and we were in after more very persistent measuring of Dougie, which he once again passed.
Dougie, much like myself had no clue what was going on, but enjoyed it nevertheless.
We wandered Galaxy’s Edge for a bit, catching a bit of a live show involving Kylo Ren.
Rebecca and Tom did a great job of resisting Freddie’s persistent urging to buy some form of very expensive plastic tat and then we set off for Toy Story Land and our Mania LL. This time I rode with Louise. Different competitor, same result. A bruising defeat for Louise.
We completed our rides for the day with the Holy Grail of LLs, Slinky Dog, and as a bonus, it was just going dark which makes most rides better in my opinion.
Dougie loved it. A great coaster, perfect in its intensity so that everyone can ride and enjoy it.
As we now made our way towards Fantasmic, the boys were bought the inevitable light-up toys and as we entered the stadium we stopped for snacks of drinks and popcorn before taking our seats.
This show continues to be one of the best experiences on WDW property. That finale gets me every time. It’s amazing what music can do to you. Rebecca was in tears and I wasn’t far off. Do not miss this show.
It was an easy exit and we made our way back to the car.
Having given Disney far too much of our money on food and LLs recently we headed off-site to eat at the cheap and cheerful Olive Garden. We arrived at 9.20 and were seated within about 15 minutes.
You know what we had to start….
I had the Tour of Italy, as usual.
Freddie had meatballs and spaghetti.
Both Tom and Rebecca had Lasagne
Louise, Five Cheese Ziti
Dougie had Pizza
With wines, iced coffees, sodas and tip, it was a wallet-soothing $160. It was all pretty good, although my entree could have been warmer. We do find this place to be quite hit and miss in recent years, but overall it’s decent quality food for a good price when your bank balance needs a break from WDW prices.
We were home by 11.15, with a great day in the bag, despite the late start.
Till the next time…..
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