Sarah's (SpamGoddess') Spectacular September Summary!

And oops, I'm terrible. Part two is coming up straight away!! But I'm also excited to announce that I think we're going back in May!! Sandi really wants to go back for her 19th birthday, so we're looking at a short trip around May 13-16!! It's going into the last weekend of Flower & Garden, too, so hopefully it all works out!

Day 2: Where We Find Out Negatives in Test Track ARE Possible!

The next morning we woke up as early as we could muster, which was later than I wanted, but oh well. We had had an INCREDIBLY long day the day before. We made our way to the bus stop a little after 9, I think, and we ran into people we know?!? Who happened to be staying at the same resort the same week AND going to the same park at the same time?! It was a pretty crazy coinkidink! Also crazy, that was the only time we saw them that day!

We finally got to EPCOT a little before 10. I had originally had FP's for Soarin' from 9:30-10:30, with the intention of essentially rope dropping Test Track. Well since we got there about an hour late to ~rope drop anything, and I had been checking wait times and Test Track's were higher than Soarin's by about 20 minutes at that point, I switched around our FP's to be Test Track for later in the day. Well by the time we got to Soarin', the wait time for it was also up to 30-40 minutes so I was starting to regret that decision, but the line actually moved pretty quickly! Soarin' was fantastic as usual. I actually loved it a lot more than I previously remembered.

After Soarin', since we were already in The Land, we decided to move on to Living With The Land, which I had never done because the girl I went with last time said it was "boring" and... well... it kind of is? In a way? But I also found it to be quite enjoyable! I'll definitely be riding it at least once a trip, but I don't know if I would do more than that. We then left The Land to head to Spaceship Earth for our next FP, stopping off at what became one of our favorite attractions on the way: STARBUCKS! We grabbed some caffeine and a small bite to eat and walked over to Spaceship Earth, which is one of my favorite attractions ever. I love it so much, but Sandi found it "boring." I find her to be boring, so it's even. we left Spaceship Earth and started heading over toward Test Track as it was close to our FP time there. We got into the design room super quickly and designed the greatest and most gorgeous car of all time:

We then went over to The Seas to hang out with Nemo. I love that attraction a lot and find it so adorable. We didn't do Turtle Talk with Crush, but hopefully we'll do it next trip!! After The Seas, we went up to the Imagination pavilion so One Little Spark could get stuck in my head for the rest of the day (which is fine, it's probably my favorite song from a WDW attraction). I know Journey Into Imagination is a shell of what it used to be with Dreamfinder, but I never experienced it so I LOVE it as it is now. Figment is my love. We then spent some time in the Figment gift shop, where I bought a mug and a pin. I don't have pics of them now, but I'll try to remember to take some later!

Afterward, we walked over to World Showcase, but since we had FP's for Maelstrom at 1:30-ish, we walked over to Mexico to start there. We rode Gran Fiesta Tour, where I somehow lost my sunglasses...? Not even sure how it happened, but I'm really sad about it because those were some amazing sunglasses. I'm kind of bitter toward those Three Caballeros now! By this time I checked my email, and it said Maelstrom was down at the moment so I had an FP I could use at pretty much anything but Test Track and Soarin' until park close. Wellllll we walked over toward Norway anyway and Maelstrom was running, and with a 10 minute wait so we jumped in line and saved the FP for later! I had never ridden Maelstrom before but OH MY GOD I am obsessed and am SO bummed that it's closing permanently to make room for Frozen. I love Frozen a lot, but I found Maelstrom so charming and a lot of fun. I understand the business behind the change, but I don't like it one bit. After our amazing time with the trolls, we stopped in at Kringla for some food! I got the vegetable torte (thanks to the recommendation of Disney Hipsters), and of course some School Bread! Both of which were super delicious, but especially the veggie torte. Everything about it worked so perfectly.

From there we wandered around World Showcase a bit, stopping into shop a little, and in China I got a Tipsy Ducks In Love which blew my mind. How can coffee AND tea AND bourbon AND milk AND chocolate taste that good together?! I don't understand, but it was DELICIOUS. And in Morocco, we just HAD to stop and meet Aladdin and Jasmine. Aladdin is basically Sandi's favorite movie of all time, and meeting them was all she wanted to do. We had tried meeting them in MK the day before but it never worked out, so meeting them today in Morocco it was. They were super funny and nice and this was my first real character interaction ever (!!!), and it went about as well as you could hope for. When we got to France, we actually stopped at a bench in the courtyard to chill out and relax and soak in the wonderful atmosphere.

Unbelievable view. There also was a family of little tiny baby lizards hanging out on the cobblestone we watched for quite a while!! And I mean some of these lizards were TINY. They were adorable and I normally do not find lizards to be of that nature. I was telling my mom about them, and she said "we have a lizard that's been hanging out around the front door!" and I told her "no, they're only cute when they're in Disney World."

We finally got up to continue on our World Showcase journey, wandering around UK and Canada. I will mention that we didn't take the time to watch any of the films around World Showcase. For one reason or another, we just weren't really in the mood for it this trip. Plus this gives me something new to do next trip!

Once we made our circle? around World Showcase, we went to spend some more time in Future World. I do regret that we didn't do Innoventions, but again, something new to do next trip. We rode Test Track again, contemplated doing Mission: Space, and then decided to go experience Ellen's Energy Adventure. I'd heard various and mixed things about it. I knew it was 45 minutes long, but we decided to give it a shot anyway. And we are SO glad we did!! We both walked out of there going "was that really 45 minutes? It didn't feel like 45 minutes!!" It was so funny, and charming, and FUN. And educational! We really, really loved this and I think it was absolutely the biggest surprise for us during the entire trip. We also felt super refreshed when it was over, which was pleasant! We felt so great we decided to give Mission: Space a whirl! On the orange side! And then we immediately regretted it after it was over! Like, it's fine, but ick. We both decided we never have to do it ever again (and I've done it once before). So to make ourselves feel better, we went back to Test Track for a third round.

Now, this third time on Test Track we went to try and fulfill a mission: On our second turn, we were with a dad and young (probably no older than 6?) daughter in the design room. She somehow made the car have only a 1 in efficiency. We thought that was super impressive until the dad and tweenaged daughter we actually rode in the vehicle with had a NEGATIVE TWO efficiency. NEGATIVE. TWO. We had no idea negatives were even possible! So on this third and final time, we tried to see if we could also get negative efficiency. We failed. We only got it down to 2. But it was super fun to try and added a new element to the ride for us!

When we had finished with Test Track again, we decided to head back to World Showcase to wander some more, grab some dinner, and finally find a spot to watch Illuminations. We stopped in Germany to get some nudel gratin (LOVE) and paprika chips, and at The American Adventure for a cream cheese pretzel. We then found a nice bench between Morocco and France to sit and enjoy our meal of snacks, and we ended up sitting there for about an hour waiting for IllumiNations to start. Worth it, though, as it ended up being a magnificent spot to watch the show!!

Once IllumiNations was over, we trekked to the bus stop to go home. I crawled into bed and dreamt of nudel gratin, trolls, and Ellen DeGeneres.

Highlights of the day: ELLEN'S ENERGY ADVENTURE. Maelstrom! Sitting in France and just enjoying the beautiful day.
Lowlights: Mission: Space. Ick. Gross. Never again.

LITTLE TINY BABY LIZARDS

More here

And thanks, Kristen!!

Day 3: A Salute To All Attractions, But Mostly Tower of Terror!

This day we again woke up as early as we could muster, which really isn't that early. I could have been up a little earlier and probably made rope drop, but Sandi is difficult to wake up, especially in the morning. Since we had so much going on today, we decided to skip out on the busses and drive everywhere today. This ended up being a great idea, and we ended up driving the rest of the week!! So much easier to get where you need to go, and a lot faster too.

So Sandi had mentioned yesterday that she wanted some real sweet tea, which sounded fantastic to me as well, but we didn't really know where we could get some (turns out Starbucks, but we didn't find that out until later tonight). So we decided to make a trip to the McDonald's on property for some breakfast. The Mickey D's is still a tad cheaper than a lot of the other food on property, but man is it still expensive. For the cost of my precious large sweet tea AND a double cheeseburger here at home, I got... just a sweet tea there. But it was so good and so worth it that day. We then drove to Hollywood Studios for the early part of the day. When we got there, we immediately made a bee line for Rock N Roller Coaster, where the wait was only about 15 minutes. Piece of cake. Turns out Sandi hates Rock N Roller Coaster. This will be a theme going forward today. She claims it's mostly because she hates Aerosmith (but who doesn't??), but still, she hates everything about it. She is a fart face.

We then rode Tower of Terror which until my love affair with Splash Mountain, was my favorite attraction in all the World. I still love it an ungodly amount. Sandi does not. Sandi hates Tower of Terror. We also ran into the people we know in line here. They had FP's. We did not (yet). Anyway, I thought this turn on Tower of Terror was pretty chill and quick. But alas, Sandi hates Tower of Terror. On the way back down Sunset Blvd, I stopped in at Sweet Spells for a Carrot Cake Cookie. WHICH IS SO GOOD OH MY WORD. So soft and moist and yummy and that cream cheese icing is perfect! I did not finish it in one sitting. Actually, I finally finished it on my way home.

By this time it was time for our Toy Story Midway Mania FP's. I never got a chance to do this last trip, as the FP's were all taken and the wait time was like 70 minutes or something stupid. For this reason, I truly do love FP+. I didn't have to worry about it. I knew I had secured a turn on this legendary ride. And holy crap, THIS ATTRACTION IS SO MUCH FUN! We loved it. A lot. We got incredibly competitive. Sandi was beating me at first, but then I swooped in and kicked her butt. It was fantastic!

After this, we went over to do the Great Movie Ride, and let me tell you... I could spend all day in the pre-load queue just watching movie trailers over and over again. I'm a HUGE film fan, and MGM is probably my favorite studio, especially from the Golden Age of Hollywood, so to see the trailers like that was so much fun. The attraction itself was also pretty fun. Not great, but fun. Seeing scenes from some of my favorite movies come to life was really cool. I may have cried during the Singin' in the Rain bit. I thought the actual story line of the ride (gangster) was kind of whatever, but our gangster was particularly good looking so I didn't mind so much.

We then went over to Streets of America to hang out with the Muppets. As it turns out, Sandi doesn't care for the Muppets. She doesn't hate them, but they're not her favorites. Again, Sandi is a fart face. I love the Muppets and think the attraction is hilarious. When it let out, we saw Phineas and Ferb RIGHT THERE and the line for them wasn't very long at all, so we decided to meet them! We lovelovelove Phineas and Ferb a lot and honestly, they were probably my favorites of the trip. Ferb, especially, was super funny and interactive and I think a tiny bit in love with me?? We had a fantastic time with them.

At this point, it was time for our Star Tours FP. I'm not super enthusiastic about Star Tours, but since they bumped Great Movie Ride up to tier 1, I had to pick SOMETHING. So we rode it. It was fine. Except that Sandi the fart face is also apparently A REBEL SPY! It was pretty cool that she was the one picked for that. We then just wandered around a little, I checked wait times and saw that Toy Story was only 30 minutes long, so we stopped back over there again. Where I kicked Sandi's butt again. After that, it was time for our Tower of Terror FP, so went to ride it! And I loved it and it was great (this time was a little longer/more terrifying than the first)!! And Sandi still hates it but I made her ride it again anyway!

We were then really pushing it for our ADR at Beaches and Cream, but of course as we were leaving the park, a CM stopped us to do a survey. Especially since this was Sandi's first visit. I told her we were already running a little late for a reservation at the Beach Club, but she insisted since we were driving we would be "super fine." So we did the little survey blah blah blah but what this woman didn't account for is us getting completely lost wandering the Beach Club grounds. Stormalong Bay was closed, and we weren't sure if we could walk across the pool to get to Beaches and Cream, so we shimmied around aaaaand finally made it there about 3:10, when our reservation was at 3. Thankfully, they weren't super busy and the CM at the front station was really nice and they were still able to seat us right away. We had a great, if not huge and incredibly filling, meal. I got the burger and fries, and Sandi (who's a mostly vegetarian, btw) got the grilled cheese and tomato bisque. My burger was fantastic, and by far the best burger I've had on property. Sandi said her meal was also delicious and it must have been because I didn't get a single bite. We then split the No Way Jose sundae which was still SO big that even the two of us together weren't able to finish it. I have no idea how people finish a Kitchen Sink!! And the No Way Jose is soooooooooooo good, but I love melty peanut butter so I knew I was going to love it a lot.

(I think Sandi is lamenting the fact there's whipped cream on it. I forgot to order it without the whipped cream, and surprise: Sandi hates the stuff!)

After our meal, we wandered around Stormalong Bay a little (since turns out we could walk around it and no one really looked at us oddly), and even stepped inside the Yacht Club for a brief moment. Looked around at the Boardwalk from a distance. It's SO nice in the entire Epcot Resort area. I need to start saving my pennies up so I can stay there eventually!! I just hope Stormalong Bay is open when I do stay there because I'd be so ticked off if it was closed. Once we left the Beach Club, we could have gone straight over to MK for MNSSHP, but we decided we were too tired for that. So we went back to the resort for about an hour to rest a little and change into our costumes!

Highlights: Riding Toy Story for the first time, my excellent meal at Beaches & Cream.
Lowlights: Getting lost trying to find Beaches & Cream

Greatest animatronic of all time? My vote would be for yes.

A few more here! (They're not really interesting, though)

thanks for the comments, guys! I do think Sandi and I agreed on more things than not (Mission: Space is gross, Toy Story Midway Mania is great, etc), but the things we disagree on are pretty serious!

Day 3.5: Nobody Understands Our Costumes Like You, Splash Mountain Cast Members.

After we relaxed at the resort for about an hour, we got back in the car and drove to the TTC. My plan was to take the monorail, but the express wasn't running so they were forcing everyone to take the ferry instead of the resort line (I don't know why?). This was fine as I'd never taken the ferry to the MK before, and it was a really nice, relaxing ride. We arrived at the turnstiles around 6:15 and immediately ducked into the wonderful Starbucks attraction for some caffeine to keep us going all night. Once we got our caffeine fix, we just kind of wandered around seeing what all was going on. I really wanted to meet the Seven Dwarfs, but by the time we got there the line was already pretty long so we decided our time was better spent elsewhere. Well on our way to check out the line for the Dwarfs, we noticed the Mine Train was only 20 minutes!! So we jumped in line thinking we'd never see it that low again for the rest of our lives. Or at least this trip. Once our ride was over, the party was actually beginning to start so off we went to check out a few more goings on. We happened to walk by the Old Hag, and her line was INCREDIBLY reasonable! We were in and out of her line in about 10 minutes or so, even though one of the handlers kept telling us she was growing tired and may need to take a quick break. What luck!

Also while we were in line, the family in front of us noticed our costumes and spoke to us a bit about them. They were the first ones to recognize us, so it was pretty fun! We were Dipper and Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls, btw.

After we met the Old Hag, we walked by Peter Pan's Flight where the wait was only 10 minutes (!!!), so we stopped in there as I had never ridden it before, and obviously Sandi hadn't. We LOVED Peter Pan and I was super glad I had changed my FP on Thursday from Haunted Mansion to Peter Pan, so we could ride one more time without standing in a 40+ minute line. From there we meandered over to Haunted Mansion to ride it, and holy crap. I wish the CMs there were like that all the time!! Even if just the makeup was like that, it would be fantastic. I don't remember what all happened after Haunted Mansion, but I feel like shortly after this was when it started raining during the first Boo To You parade. I initially didn't care to watch this one, but we kind of got stuck on our way to Frontierland, I also started thinking that if it started raining harder than it was now, there was a chance they would cancel the second parade. So we found a spot against the wooden fence on the path to Frontierland kind of next to an outdoor kiosk. It was actually a pretty great spot to watch the parade, but for some reason people decided to keep squeezing between me and the post to the kiosk heading towards Frontierland. In the rain. With strollers. And wheelchairs. And umbrellas. Why people can't just stand still and watch a 20 minute parade is beyond me! Especially when you have to jump up in the grass and dirt to go around things in the rain. Liiiiiike that's just a safety hazard? Especially for children and people who were or are in wheelchairs? But aside from that, the parade was just as wonderful as I'd hoped it be, and I was crossing my fingers that the second parade wouldn't be canceled so I could see the Headless Horseman and the parade from a slightly less annoying vantage point.

After getting soaked watching the parade, we rode Splash Mountain really quickly. We didn't have to wait at all, and literally walked onto our own log. So I rode in one row and Sandi rode in another! The CMs were also super bored and decided to have some fun with us, referencing our costumes and asking if we'd ever watched Twin Peaks (of course I have!). The ride was great and helped cool me down a little as I'd been walking around in a sweatshirt all evening, in what was still some pretty intense Florida heat and humidity. As we were exiting the ride, a CM at the very end FREAKED out at the sight of us, so we stopped for a few minutes and chatted about Gravity Falls and our costumes. It was a lot of fun! By this point aside from that family in line to meet the Old Hag, the only people who really got our costumes were CMs, but to have one be so enthusiastic was fantastic.

Exiting Splash, we got stuck in the treat trail that wanders through the back side. We decided candy was kind of a waste of time, but since we had no choice but to be in this line, we might as well collect some goodies! This was the only time we got candy, haha. After trick or treating for a few stops, we went over to Big Thunder to dry off a little bit. Again, there wasn't a wait at all. Just like a 2-3 minute walk through the queue. It was as much fun as usual! Afterward, we went over to Adventureland to see what was happening, and we got in a line where Aladdin and Jasmine normally meet. It turned out to be Jafar's line, which was great for Sandi as she wanted to meet as many Aladdin characters as possible! Jafar was great. Not incredibly interactive, but he was fine. Also the Jafar costume is creeeeeeepy.

After we met Jafar, we found where Aladdin and Abu or Jasmine and Genie were meeting, and took note to come back after Hallowishes. So off we went to Main Street, and found a pretty great spot for Hallowishes. We were standing behind a girl dressed as Princess Aurora in her BLUE DRESS, so I spoke with her about how much I loved it. I'm incredibly passionate about Aurora's blue dress, as it is far prettier than the pink one. Plus she wears it for like 75% of the movie!! I absolutely do not understand Disney for marketing her as being in the pink dress. Because it's ugly. Right before Hallowishes, my sister leaned over and said "Bob Belcher is behind you." And lo and behold, it was a couple dressed as Bob and Linda Belcher from Bob's Burgers which is a favorite show amongst my sisters and I, so we also spoke to them about their costumes. It was a great time. Finally Hallowishes started and HOLY COW what a spectacular fireworks show. Absolutely unbelievable. It was worth the price of admission alone. Soooo gorgeous.

After Hallowishes, we booked it back over to Adventureland to meet one of the combinations of Aladdin characters. I really wanted to see the last Villains Mix and Mingle, but Sandi wanted to meet Aladdin characters again, so I did that in hopes of catching the tail end of the show at the very least. I actually could have caught all of the show, but instead of meeting Jasmine and Genie (which I would have preferred), Sandi wanted to meet Aladdin and Abu. Soooo that's what we did!

Turns out as we were leaving their meet and greet, they were announcing that Villains Mix and Mingle was canceled due to weather, so at least I didn't miss out on that. I am sad I never got a chance to see the show, however, as I've heard it's fantastic. So from there we decided to head to Liberty Square to catch the second Boo To You parade, which was still happening. And we ended up next to the couple as Bob and Linda Belcher again, so that was pretty fun. We were right at the corner at the end of the bridge across from Sleepy Hollow, and what a fantastic spot this was!! Got to see everything perfectly, and we got there in plenty of time for the Headless Horseman.

I loved the parade even more this time, and catching it from Liberty Square was absolutely perfect as it kind of added to the eerieness of the whole thing. After the parade, I wanted to try and check out the Villains Dance Party in the Diamond Horseshoe, but there was a line out the door to just get in, so we decided to skip it. I'm sure it would have been worth the wait, but dance parties aren't really my thing to begin with, so we moved on. It was at this point I remembered the Queen of Hearts was meeting in front of Mad Tea Party, so we ran through Fantasyland as fast as we safely could (it was still a little rainy), but by the time we got over there, they had already closed her line. I felt a little down at this point, so we decided to take advantage of the walk on wait time for Space Mountain, and rode it once more. We decided this was a good way to end the night, and we were already so tired, so we decided to beat the midnight rush and go ahead and leave.

I felt like the Halloween party was well worth the money, and I had a FANTASTIC time, but I think next time I go to one, I'll go with a more definitive gameplan of what to do since I know how it works a little more now. Time passes so quickly! I'll still probably do a few attractions when I go again, but I'm definitely going to be more focused on catching shows (like Villains Mix & Mingle) and meeting a few more characters next time. And I feel like if you have the chance, you should definitely go. It was a really spectacular time!

Some random photos:

And more, here!