WDW November 2018

Both of us were sick on this trip with really bad colds. We made the best of it and are very grateful for cough drops, but this was definitely a trip where we did less than we normally would! Fortunately, most of the Christmas decorations were up everywhere, so just soaking up the ambiance was a wonderful way to spend our time!

The characters on our Magic Bands for this trip were Vanellope and Ralph since Ralph Breaks the Internet comes out this month and we loved Wreck-It Ralph!

Saturday, November 10

We drove to BWI for our Spirit flight at 10:00 am. I know I have mentioned the Big Front Seats before, but they are seriously the best. So comfy! When we landed, we walked straight to the Magical Express area and found that it was very busy. Lots of people and very long lines. That was our first indication that WDW would be crowded this weekend! Overall, it is a fairly efficient system, so we did not have too lengthy a wait. Once we were on the bus, we didn't have to wait for very long at all before we were on our way.

We dropped off our bags at All-Star Sports (yes, our third All-Star resort in a row!) and took a bus to Disney Springs to have lunch at Blaze Pizza and see what holidays things were happening. We walked through the Christmas Tree Trail, which included all sorts of specifically decorated trees for various movies and characters. It was adorable!

From Disney Springs, we walked to Saratoga Springs to catch the bus to Disney's Hollywood Studios. We stopped at Starbucks for iced coffee and a carrot cake cookie, which we hadn't had in a long time because there have been so many changes at DHS and the two places that offered them both closed. If you haven't had this cookie, it might seem like overkill when I say we were super disappointed last time we tried to get one, but it is so good! Honestly one of our favorite things to eat at WDW!  We were being snobs about it last time we visited DHS and didn't try the "new" version at Starbucks, but while it is not a big as the previous version, it is just as delicious! While we were eating, it began to snow (snoap!) and there were amazing holiday projections on Tower of Terror while Christmas music played. If that doesn’t put you in the holiday spirit, I don't know what will!

I'm not going to lie…the park was crowded. We walked back to Toy Story Land to see the Christmas decorations and take a photo of my Slinky ears at Slinky Dog Dash, and it was wall-to-wall people. We decided to try the pop tarts at Woody's Lunchbox (thank goodness for mobile ordering because there is no way we were willing to stand in those lines!) and then we left the park and took an Uber to TTC.

From there, we took the ferryboat to Magic Kingdom and both TTC and the ferryboat were extremely crowded, another indication that MK would be insane. I'd read earlier in the week that they were doing some filming for the TV special and that there would be no Dream Lights preshow, so I was already prepared to not see them on Cinderella Castle. As such, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Dream Lights on as we pulled up to MK! I could not wait to take a picture of the castle looking so magical, but that never happened. As soon as we got into the park, we were blocked from going down Main Street, USA and all traffic was being diverted to the back passage to Tomorrowland between Tony's Town Square and The Chapeau. This path has been opened on many occasions to help with the flow of traffic, so that in and of itself was not surprising given the crowds. However, we were only partway down that path when we were diverted into a backstage area we'd never seen before! To be honest, it was not the most exciting area (trailers and cables) and it dumped the crowd out past Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.

After all of the that craziness, we rode Carousel of Progress and PeopleMover, watched Happily Ever After from Tomorrowland, and tried a new vegetarian offering at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café, which was pretty good! We were also able to get a fast pass for Peter Pan's Flight, which was the last thing we did before calling it a night. Between the crowds and our exhaustion from a long day and not feeling well, we left MK around 11:30 pm.

"plant-based sloppy joe"
ridiculous name,
yet delicious!

Main Street, USA was super crazy because there was some kind of performance happening on the stage in front of the castle and there were people everywhere and directions being shouted from the stage and tons of lights everywhere – general mayhem. We had to snake our way through the shops in order to get to the exit! There weren't even any Dream Lights on the castle at that time, so I was not pleased!

We walked to Contemporary and took some photos of the Christmas tree (it is one of my favorites in all of WDW!) and we happened to catch some fireworks from whatever Christmas show they were filming at MK.

We took an Uber from Contemporary back to All-Star Sports and our bags had kindly been delivered to our room once again, so despite its reputation, I really don't have any complaints about All-Star Sports! No, it isn't as fancy as the moderate or deluxe hotels, but if you're not planning on spending a ton of time at the resort, it is more than acceptable! I don't like the All-Stars as much as Pop Century or Art of Animation, but we've stayed at all three All-Stars on our three most recent trips, and when I reflect back on those stays, my biggest complaint is that the three resorts share buses and they are typically too crowded as a result. Other than that, they've been great!

Sunday, November 11

We slept in and then I took some photos around the resort. As with All-Star Movies and All-Star Music, there are five themes at the resort: tennis, football, surfing, baseball, and basketball. Although these Canadians have never been happy they chose tennis and surfing over hockey, it is a cute place! (The five themes at All-Star Movies are Fantasia, Toy Story, 101 Dalmatians, The Mighty Ducks, and The Love Bug; at All-Star Music, they are jazz, calypso, rock, country, and broadway.)

We took the bus to Epcot, and we could not believe the traffic to get into the park. Even the bus had to sit and wait because cars were in the dedicated bus lane! We really don't do crowds, so we decided to just grab a bite to eat at the Food and Wine Festival and then leave Epcot to take the monorail over to MK.

what our house has felt like at times
<3

We have been there during busy times over the years – Independence Day, Christmas, and New Year's Eve, obviously, since it's our anniversary and we got married and then renewed our vows at WDW! We are well aware of how busy it can get. But we were still shocked when we got off the monorail and saw the line for the ferryboat! It was the longest we have ever seen it, so we decided against MK and just walked over to Polynesian for Dole Whip Floats instead!

insanity

From Polynesian, we walked over to Grand Floridian and visited the Wedding Pavilion on our way. Such happy memories there! The reason we wanted to go to Grand Floridian was to see the gingerbread house, which wasn't officially "open" for a few more days, but was almost completed! It is just so pretty!

After Grand Floridian, we took an Uber back to All-Star Sports and stopped for a snack in the food court. I really don't know how Disney bakers are able to make such delicious cupcakes, but oh my word! One was strawberry and one was peanut butter and they were amazing!

After a short rest, we took a bus to Disney Springs because we had dinner at another new-to-us restaurant over there – The Edison. It is a very cool place, sort of with a 1920's jazz club vibe, and the food was delicious. We were completely stuffed by the end of the meal! After dinner, we walked around Disney Springs for a few hours and then took an Uber back to All-Star Sports.

I think I need to do this with
my ear collection!
Main Street Monday
Tomorrowland Tuesday
Wonderland Wednesday
Thunder Mountain Thursday
Fantasyland Friday
Silly Symphony Saturday
Spaceship Earth Sunday

Monday, November 12

We packed, checked out of All-Star Sports, dropped off our bags at bell services, and took an Uber over to Beach Club. We had completely lucked out the previous night – we decided to look for any open reservations for lunch, and found one for Beaches and Cream! It is one of our favorite places and it has become nearly impossible to secure a reservation there, so we were super excited!

Lunch was a fabulous as always, and afterwards, we took a bus to Animal Kingdom. We had not been over to that park since Pandora opened, so it was our first time seeing the new area.

Let me say this. I have never seen Avatar. I have no interest in seeing Avatar. None. Zero.

So for me, Pandora was no big deal.

Frankly, I thought the entire area was very poorly designed and the fact that the park was very crowded did not help matters. I like AK just fine, but clearly I am more than happy to spend all of my time at MK and Epcot. I was kind of let down by the Pandora area – I feel like Disney does a great job of theming and that even if you're not a fan of a particular movie or character, you can appreciate something in the parks dedicated to that (i.e., you don't need to love the story The Wind in the Willows to appreciate Mr. Toad's Wild Ride or have been to Germany to appreciate the Germany pavilion). I have high expectations, I guess, because I was extremely underwhelmed with Pandora, especially after all of the rave reviews I'd seen online.

If you’re a fan of Parks and Rec, you'll know what I mean when I say that I feel about Pandora how Ben Wyatt felt when everyone was enamored with Li'l Sebastian. I just don't get it.

C did ride Flight of Passage, but I had been dizzy for much of the day with earaches, so I didn't go with him. Maybe if I had been blown away by Pandora I would have been more excited and would have risked going on a 3D ride where you feel like you're flying, but I was more than happy to just sit and rest while he rode it!

We took the bus back to All-Star Sports, picked up our bags, and grabbed a snack at the food court. The Stitch cupcake was so cute and delicious – a great way to end our weekend!

We took the Magical Express back to the airport; it was over 30 minutes late picking us up, but we still had plenty of time to make our flight at 9:30 pm. Again, we were lucky to be in the Big Front Seats, and once we landed at BWI, we drove home and arrived around 1:00 am.

Despite us both being sick for the entire weekend and experiencing crowds at every turn, we had a fun and relaxing weekend! Next time we'll be going for a little longer than two nights, so we are already looking forward to that trip!

Happy Tails to you!