Tea for One - a Solo Day Trip

[wendinator 109]

When I was doing this day trip I thought to myself, "I should write this up as a trip report."

 

But then I got back and read another one of TCD's excellent trip reports and thought to myself, "I can barely remember what I did that day. How am I going to write that up as a trip report?"

 

But here I am throwing caution to the wind.

 

I started this trip report once this afternoon and managed to lose everything I'd written. I assume this is why the more clever writers do theirs in Word first and then paste it here, rather than writing directly in the forum.

 

The Build-Up

I went to WDW with my husband, my sister, and her husband in the last week of October 2014. At that time I bought myself an AP because I knew I'd be back for a week in March.

 

In mid-December 2014, my husband, a friend and I booked a week at a condo in North Redington Beach to escape the Toronto weather. As soon as the condo was booked, I started thinking about squeaking in a day trip to the Mouse. I couldn't be that close and not go, right? It's only about 2 hours away. The only day that would work for me was Sunday, January 25 so I booked my FP+ and made an ADR.

 

On Friday, January 23 we hopped in the car and headed south. We drove straight through with only stops for gas/bathroom/food. My husband loves to drive and did the bulk of the miles, and by 1:00 pm on Saturday we were sitting outside on a patio having lunch and enjoying the sun.

 

The Big Day

I had my alarm set for 6:00 am with the goal of being on the road by 7:00 am. The MK hours that day were 9 am - 10 pm.

 

I took a screen capture of my GPS app just before I pulled out of the condo parking lot. It was 7:08 am, which was a little later than I'd hoped for but not bad, and the GPS thought I'd arrive at the TTC by 9:17 am. Note also that my battery icon is in the red. Why didn't I charge my phone overnight?  No matter, it had 2 hours in the car to charge and I also had my external battery with me for top ups throughout the day.

 

 

The drive was uneventful and I did better than Waze predicted. This bad photo has a time stamp of 8:36 am. I shouldn't have been trying to take a picture while driving...

 

 

In no time at all I was at the parking gates. Time stamp here is 8:40 am. Note the two cars in the leftmost lane (one white car, one black) with the red light indicating the lane is closed. There was a CM there trying to explain that the lane was closed, so of course they got to merge in front of me two lanes over. Oh well.

 

 

Here's a picture of my dusty dash from my parking spot at the TTC. Note that since I am "not from this land", the temperature is in Celsius. That's 48F.

 

 

Here's the obligatory photo of my parking row so that I could find my car at the end of the night while tired.

 

 

Since I was travelling by myself I eschewed the parking lot tram and instead hoofed it over to arrive just in time for a ferry to pull away. (I'm ferry people, not monorail people.)

 

 

No matter. This gave me time to send a few texts to my sister to remind her that I was waiting for a Magic Kingdom ferry and she was at work and in the cold. Wasn't that nice of me? Sure enough another ferry arrived not long after. The one that pulled away was at 9:02 and this picture was taken at 9:06.

 

 

I found a bag check line with only one person ahead of me, so that was a breeze, and the tapstiles went smoothly too. By 9:21 I was just walking under the train.

 

 

First up was Pirates. It was a walk-on. The Davy Jones effect wasn't working and I forgot to check the mermaids. From there I went to the Jungle Cruise FP+ kiosks. My sister couldn't make the trip with me, but her MagicBand could, and a little birdie taught me a trick.

 

 

Don't get too hung up on what I picked here, because I ended up changing them a bunch of times. My main point here is... Thanks TCD!

 

One ride and a FP+ hack had me in the mood for breakfast, so off I went to Sleepy Hollow. I love their fruit & Nutella waffle, but man is this place ever inefficient. It almost seems to come as a surprise to them that people are ordering waffles. I tried to order a cup of ice water too but they said their machine was broken so they could only sell me bottled. I passed on that. It was just before 10 am and there were maybe 2 people ahead of me in line and it still took 10 minutes. (OK, OK... first world problems here.) Anyway - delicious Nutella waffle picture!

 

 

And you sure can't beat the view. Except for that pesky crane.

 

 

Here's all that remained. And remember, I didn't share!

 

 

By now I was already reconsidering the sisterly set of FP+ reservations so figured I'd wander over to the PhilharMagic FP+ kiosks to move things around a bit. I didn't have my sister's login/password for MDE so couldn't do it from my phone.

 

On the way there I saw the Fairy Godmother. My Mom has a great Fairy Godmother costume she got off Etsy so this picture was for Mom.

 

Disney Fairy Godmother:

 

 

My Fairy Godmother:

 

 

Changed my FP+ around a bit and got one for Winnie the Pooh just to spite my sister because I know she hates it and now it was showing up on her MDE.

 

 

As you know, it spits you out into the gift shop and I spent a bit of time in there looking for Tigger merchandise. A few years ago my husband bought a Tigger hoodie that his sister desperately covets and I'd been trying to find one for her ever since. Alas twas not to be. There seems to be a real dearth of Tigger merchandise right now. There's some stuff for infants, but not much for adults. The only thing I thought she might have been interested in was this magnet, but that's hardly as interesting as a hoodie.

 

 

I stopped in at another gift shop (I forget which one, but it was still in Fantasyland) and saw that they still have my 9 year old nephew's favourite hat. He wears this thing all the time and his is getting pretty beat up. Sent the picture to my sister and asked her if she wanted me to grab it for him, but she said they'll get him one in March.

 

 

Walked past Peter Pan and noted that it had a posted 60 minute standby wait time. I'd heard about the new interactive queue, but I didn't need to see it that badly. That awaits me for another trip.

 

 

But really I was heading for my new favourite store...

 

 

I spent a bunch of time just wandering around looking at stuff. I don't have an iPhone 6 yet, but when I do, this case will be mine.

 

 

I'd never wear this shirt, but I like saying the word "lenticular" so I took the picture in order to have an excuse to say that word a lot. It's working!

 

 

Blurry photo, but I liked these Christmas tree ornaments. If I were the type to have a Christmas tree, I'd get these.

 

 

One of the nice things about a solo trip is that you can go pretty much wherever you want whenever you want. And if you want to cross the park back and forth 6 times for no reason, there's nobody to tell you no! So it was time for me to head over to Tomorrowland. Which is where I think this next photo was taken. Regardless of what time of year I go, I always have an official Disney sweater with me. The tradition started in August 2004 I think. I was tired of sweating like crazy outside in the August heat and then freezing my buns off inside from the air conditioning. The gift shop at the Contemporary had just what I needed - a pink and gray lightweight (t-shirt material), long sleeved, zip up hoodie. I tied it around my waist when I'm outside and I wear it when I'm inside. And it had been on every subsequent Disney trip I ever made. The years started to take their toll and a year ago I got a new Disney sweater for this same purpose. Only this one was blue with white stripes, and it was a children's size XL. Which is a long way of saying, I saw this sweater and thought to myself, "That would make a good official Disney sweater for when this one is too old and ratty."

 

 

But I'm more of a window shopper than an actual shopper. So the sweater went unbought and I continued onto the PeopleMover. I do loves me some PeopleMover. At home it was cold and miserable, but here there were flowers on the trees.

 

 

Just how nice was it this day? At 11:00 am it was 13°C / 55F but the sun made it feel warmer.

 

 

As has been noted before, the PeopleMover affords some nice and interesting views, including this one of hub construction.

 

 

I had a Jungle Cruise FP+ lined up so after the PeopleMover it was time to head that way. Oops! A parade! No matter, I can get around that.

 

 

And can even get another "castle with crane" picture. Can you ever have too many castle pictures? The answer is no. No you cannot.

 

 

Man that popcorn smells good. So tempting!

 

 

I got to the Jungle Cruise about 10 minutes before my FP+ window. Take a look at the situation at Aloha Isle. What would you do under these circumstances?

 

 

That's 30 photos.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I'm in!

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

I'm in too!!  :)

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I'm in too.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Oops, the ghost got me.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Okay, now I read it :)   55 degrees is a bit chilly for me however...the sunshine is beautiful and if there wasn't any wind, I bet it was very nice :)

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Great start! Did you get a Dole Whip? 

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

I'm in. Now I have to go back and read it. Lol

[dblr....Rennie 224]

I'm in also!!!!!!!!

[wendinator 109]

There's nobody in line! What else could I do? I mean, I had no choice obviously.

 

 

I think the guy who served me was... bored? feeling generous? taking pity on me because I was alone? I swear that was the biggest Dole Whip I've ever been served. Spoon for scale. And the nice thing about eating a Dole Whip in 55° weather instead of 85° weather is it doesn't start melting the moment you walk away.

 

As an added bonus, I also had this seating area all to myself for a while.

 

 

Obligatory Dole Whip selfie. (No selfie sticks were used in the production of this or any other selfie I may post. I am anti-selfie stick.)

 

 

All that remained after my massive brain freeze. I hate to say it, but this was one time when I wouldn't have minded having someone share my food that day.

 

 

After that sugar boost it was time for the Jungle Cruise. Now I should admit that I actually like the Jungle Cruise. I like the corny jokes and I giggle at the back side of water and I groan at the puns. So I was pretty bummed that this Cruise was a dud. In addition to the child who was unable to follow instructions (don't stand up, don't sit there, don't cross over the center) with inattentive parents, the speaker on our boat wasn't working well so you couldn't really hear the guide. And isn't the guide the whole point of the ride? Fail.

 

 

The good news was that I had a FP+ up next for 7DMT so that's where I went next.

 

 

Is it just me or are the seats pretty snug on this ride? And there's not an abundance of legroom either. I don't consider myself to be Pooh Sized... Were they making those mine cars for kids? Shrug. I like the ride, though I think I'm starting to get a little too old for roller coasters. I'm trying to enjoy them now as much as I can because I don't expect my head will like them very much in the not so distant future.

 

After that I relaxed, wandered, did some people watching... Couldn't pass up a visit to "tinkle tower".

 

 

I got a cup of ice water from Pinocchio Villagehaus and made/received a couple of phone calls about the land line phone at the condo which wasn't working. I referred the condo owner to my husband since there wasn't much I could do about it from the Happiest Place on Earth. (Spoiler alert: the phone never did work the whole week we were there, which was kind of a bummer since I had many conference calls I was counting on using it for.)

 

That brings us to 12:47 pm and it's a small world. I always take a picture of this sign at iasw because one time my sister and I got stuck on the ride for about half an hour. And when you have a timestamp at the beginning you have a record of when your journey started. I should also confess that I'm in the minority here and I actually like iasw. I bought the pink plush hippo and a magnet. I think this just means that I've discovered the age at which I turned into my mother. (Which isn't a bad thing — I like my Mom a lot!)

 

 

Fortunately though this boat ride was pretty uneventful. Someone left some coins on the floor of my boat, so I thought that was a good sign that I should make a wish and toss a penny into the water. I wonder what I wished for and if it came true?

 

 

Blurry hippo shot. Did you know the one in Disneyland is pink? Of course you do.

 

 

It's a little hard to tell from this photo, but there was a bit of a traffic jam towards the end. So I did spend a little extra time in this room (which is exactly where my sister and I were stuck years ago).

 

 

I wish I'd taken a picture of the family in front of me. The husband would point out things during the ride and the wife would take flash photos of them. And boy did he point out a lot of things! I wonder if any of her pictures turned out at all and if she ever looked at them again after she took them. Sometimes I wonder just what it is people think they're going to do with those photos once they get home.

 

After iasw I went back over to Tomorrowland. My sister had a Buzz FP+ but I was early for that so I went to visit Mike Wazowski (that's Mike with one 'i') first. I go to MILF at least once per trip and it's very rarely a dud. This time was no exception - there were some good laughs to be had. When i went in October I got picked for the mindreading bit. Some day when I'm feeling brave I'll post the video my sister shot of me.

 

By the time I was done MILF it was straight to Buzz. As I was waiting for the FP line I noticed that there was a dog in line for Buzz too.

 

 

You can skewer me if you want, and I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion, and this isn't the debate board... But I'm not really a big fan of dogs. And I've only started really noticing them in the parks in the last year. At least this one looks like a "real" service dog. (I believe the thing it's wearing said it was an autism dog.) But have I mentioned the dog I saw at the sushi bar at California Grill while I was having dinner? And the pocket pooch in line at iasw? (Neither on this trip.) And the picture TCD posted (I think it was him) of the guy with two dogs and one of them has a cone of shame? You're telling me he needs two dogs with him? End rant I guess, but let's just say I'm not on board with carte blanche allowing dogs in the park.

 

But I digress. Onto Buzz! I'm not what you'd call a Buzz professional. And if I never rode it again I wouldn't be sad. But I still had fun and I tried to shoot with both guns (obviously without much success).

 

 

And I apparently tilted my head a lot for the photo.

 

 

When I was planning this trip I asked my husband if there was anything he wanted me to bring back for him from the park. He asked for a sweet cream cheese pretzel. What can I say, the man has good taste! So after Buzz I stopped at the Lunching Pad to get him one. Planner that I am, I made sure to pack a large Ziploc bag when we packed for this trip. The bag made it all the way from Toronto to Florida... But alas I forgot it at the condo and it didn't make it to the park. Grr! And I don't know if you've had these pretzels before, but they have lots of little things on the outside that like to come off and would surely make a mess of the inside of my bag. And they hand you the pretzel with just a piece of waxed paper. So I asked the Lunching Pad guy if he had a bag for it. Nope. He suggested I go over to the gift shop and get a plastic bag from them. Which is what I did. But not before sending this picture to my husband.

 

 

It was 2:00 now and I had a 4:00 ADR for afternoon Tea at the Garden View Tea Room, so I was starting to slowly make my way that way. Leaving Tomorrowland gives a good view of the hub construction.

 

 

I know we're supposed to be boycotting the evil mermaid, but I really wanted one of those "You are Here" mugs. So I stopped at the erroneously named Main Street Bakery to get myself one. There were several other people in line getting one too. Santa brought me a $25 Starbucks gift card, and so I paid for the mug with that. Score!

 

 

Since getting it home I've discovered it's too big to fit into my dishwasher efficiently and when I'm pouring milk into it for hot chocolate (I don't drink coffee), I have no idea how much to pour. The mug is BIG. But I still like it. My sister was kicking me for not making it over to Epcot to get one... They were still available before they were pulled due to the whole monorail purple thing.

 

After that success I crossed the street to the Emporium. I found something for my sister that I won't elaborate on, just on the off chance that she reads this before her birthday. I did notice they had a whole lot of trash can salt and pepper shakers. I looked high and low for these in October and everywhere was sold out. Now they had scads of them. Too bad my sister and I already split a set she bought online.

 

 

I didn't buy it, but I thought this was cute.

 

 

A trip to Uptown Jewelers across the street revealed two things. 1. It's under construction/renovation. 2. They had lots of Haunted Mansion bags available that day. I got one in October.

 

 

The one I bought is smaller. I think I should have got this size instead. Oh well.

 

 

In my head it made sense to move my car from the TTC to the Grand Floridian and leave it there. I thought that at the end of the day it would be easier to leave from the GF than from the TTC. (Spoiler alert: I don't think it made any difference.) So once I was done my shopping, I went over to the TTC (and I have no idea whether I took the ferry or the monorail!) and hopped in my car.

 

That's where I'll leave it for now - I'm heading out for the night.

 

Thanks for following along!

[Beckers 1,136]

I, unlike some people, read before commenting.

I had no idea you lived in Canada. For some reason I thought you were in Florida. Guess I was far from correct on that.

I don't consider Canada "not from this land", anything across the ocean is not from this land.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Looks like a fun day.  

 

It did take me a minute to figure out your abbreviation for Monsters Inc Laugh Floor.  

 

I'd like a cream cheese pretzel too, please.  

[BeckersDadJohn 44]

What Beckers said, plus Red White & Blue and the Maple Leaf Too !

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

MILF threw me too.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Cream cheese pretzel... haven't heard of that one.  My husband might like that, I'll have to add that to our "try this" list for the fall.

 

Looks like you had a great day!!  Sorry about the land line in your condo, that's a bummer

[alexwyattmommy 181]

I like this idea of taking a solo trip.  Not sure my kids would let me.

 

Looking forward to the tea.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

WOW!

 

Great stuff!

 

You didn't need to tell us you are not from this land. If the funny temperatures on your phone didn't give it away, the funny way you spell "favorite" would have.

 

There are too many funny parts of your report to comment on.

 

I am glad the FP+ hack worked for you.  So far, using a friend's MB at the kiosks continues to work, but they have been cracking down lately on some other hacks.

 

That Nutella waffle looks good.  It's been too long since I've had one.

 

I have never had one of those cream cheese pretzels.  The thought of it doesn't appeal to me.  But, they seem to be pretty popular, so I'm going to put that down on my list of things I need to try.

 

Oh, and your mom has a Fairy Godmother Costume?  How awesome is that?

 

Last comment- I didn't know that lenticular was a word, or that there was a name for the effect on that t-shirt.  Now I do.  So thanks for that.

 

TCD

[wendinator 109]

I'm getting ready to write another exciting installment, but first a few comments.

 

I had no idea you lived in Canada. For some reason I thought you were in Florida. Guess I was far from correct on that.

 

 

I do seem to spend an inordinate amount of time in Florida all things considered. But my FF "Location" to the left still reveals me as being stuck in the Great White North.

 

Cream cheese pretzel... haven't heard of that one.  My husband might like that, I'll have to add that to our "try this" list for the fall.

 

Looks like you had a great day!!  Sorry about the land line in your condo, that's a bummer

 

The sweet cream cheese pretzel is a thing of beauty as far as I'm concerned. Big enough to share, but not so big that I can't scarf down the whole thing if necessary. I think you can get them at all of the parks. Let me know if you want me to dig up a list.

 

The land line was a minor inconvenience. My cell phone worked enough for me to get by, but there wasn't great signal strength for it. I have a "work from anywhere" type job so I didn't take the week as vacation time, I just worked from the condo.

 

I have never had one of those cream cheese pretzels.  The thought of it doesn't appeal to me.  But, they seem to be pretty popular, so I'm going to put that down on my list of things I need to try.

 

Oh, and your mom has a Fairy Godmother Costume?  How awesome is that?

 

Last comment- I didn't know that lenticular was a word, or that there was a name for the effect on that t-shirt.  Now I do.  So thanks for that.

 

The cream cheese is pretty sweet and the pretzel a little bit salty. I feel pretty confident saying that you wouldn't regret one. Might not be an "every trip" kind of snack, but I'd take these over the regular Mickey pretzels any day.

 

My Mom makes a great Fairy Godmother! In October we stopped at the Star Tours gift shop and bought her this little blue lightsaber keychain thing for her to use as her magic wand. My husband modified it so that instead of flashing when you push the button it just stays on solid. (He loves taking things apart.) 

 

 

 

 

The picture I posted of her earlier was taken on a Disney cruise. My parents took my sister's kids on a cruise, and my sister and I took our husbands to Disney (last October when I met the Twin at the Villains Dance Party).

 

One of the side-effects of going to school for the printing industry is knowing words like "lenticular". Now you know the same word without having to endure 4 years of school to get a job in a dying industry. Score!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

You are a funny lady! 

 

I think I need to try one of those pretzels.

 

I want one of those purses! 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The picture I posted of her earlier was taken on a Disney cruise. My parents took my sister's kids on a cruise, and my sister and I took our husbands to Disney (last October when I met the Twin at the Villains Dance Party).

 

 

Aha!

 

Thanks for saying where that photo was taken- it was bugging me.  I knew it looked familiar- like a place I had been, but I couldn't place it.  Now I recognize that it's in the Enchanted Garden restaurant on the Disney Dream.

 

That costume is great, and I love the magic wand!

 

TCD

[wendinator 109]

A couple of pitchers of sangria with friends last night helped lubricate my mind and bring back a couple of things I neglected to include in yesterday's installments. So I'll backtrack a bit first before picking up where we left off.

 

Forgotten Thing #1

Right after I got onto Main Street first thing in the morning, I went to pick up some SOTMK cards for my sister. (This was before going to Pirates.) The CM scanned my MagicBand and said I already had a game in process, so before he could give me any more cards I had to go unlock a portal in Fantasyland (? - I've forgotten now). Have you ever had this happen before? I confess I don't really play the game, but my sister likes the cards so I was trying to grab some for her. I said, "OK, thanks" and left and didn't pursue the matter.

 

Forgotten Thing #2

After exiting Memento Mori I was standing on its little porch and observed a rather large tour group of young people. Who were quite loud. And singing. This is what we call "foreshadowing".

 

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

I took the resort monorail to the TTC (yay for remembering!) and went to my car. It was nice to leave my purchases in the trunk so I wasn't lugging around the mug, pretzel, and birthday surprise.

 

I drove over to the Grand Floridian and was somewhat surprised to see that vehicles were being denied entry... By a rather large and slow moving group of wild turkeys crossing the road. Can't say I'd ever seen anything quite like that before.

 

 

I didn't get a picture of them crossing the road in front of me, and these pictures aren't too great but you can still mostly make out the group of them congregating under the tree here.

 

 

After that minor delay I showed the guard my ID and told him I had a reservation and I was on my way.

 

I checked in at the podium a bit early and they asked me to take a seat in the lobby and they'd come and get me when they were ready. I found a seat and enjoyed a bit of down time. Looking around the lobby I saw a older woman I'd seen before. In fact I could swear that in recent memory, every time I've been to the Grand Floridian this same woman has been hanging out in the lobby. What's up with that?

 

Finally they found me in the lobby and I was shown to my table by the Chef. Does it seem strange to you that the Chef is seating people at tables? I thought it was a little odd. But it was during our chit chat then that I got a hint of the changes in the menu that were about to be revealed.

 

Seated and ready to begin the feast!

 

 

I won't go into detail about the food and changes because you can read what I wrote earlier in this thread.

 

Instead a few stories about the people sitting on either side of me, and the lovely CM Riley. So this part will be long on words and short on photos. Sorry about that.

 

The table to my right was a mother and daughter who had also been for tea many times before. The daughter was just about to start the College Program and joked that she'd be spending all of her earnings on food because of how much she loves to eat. In fact, once she was done with afternoon tea she was heading out to meet her CP friends for dinner. I cynically suggested that she should enjoy it while she still has the metabolism of youth. (The years after 40 have not been kind to me...)

 

The mother and daughter revealed a fascinating little "afternoon tea hack" that I'll have to try. As each course arrived, they would dutifully take a picture. However, they discovered that in their haste to dig into the scones with cream and jam, they'd forgotten to take a picture. When the server came to clear their plates they asked, "Would you mind bringing us another plate of scones just so we can take a picture? We forgot to take one before we ate ours." Riley the CM said, "No problem" and promptly returned with a plate containing the standard scone, jam tart, and tray of jam, clotted cream and lemon curd. Mother and daughter took the picture and told Riley she could take the plate back, but I guess maybe once it's been served there's no going back because mother and daughter got to keep that plate, which the daughter was only too happy to devour. I thought to myself, "If this weren't already too much food, I'd totally try that trick!"

 

Mother and daughter and I started chatting towards the end of our tea service as we were both faced with dessert choices at around the same time. For dessert you get a choice of three things: 1. Strawberries and cream, 2. The seasonal trifle of the day, 3. The "pastries" - a chocolate covered strawberry, an eclair, and a mousse filled swan. The daughter chose the trifle of the day (cranberry) and the Mother and I both went with the pastries. It was our selections that prompted a lengthy discussion about how much better the strawberries and cream used to be, back in the good ole days. You see, they used to serve the fresh strawberries with a generous dollop of whipped cream on top, assembled just before serving. Now the strawberries and cream are all preassembled, cod knows how many days in advance. The end result is a somewhat mushy, gloopy, strawberry mess. Nowhere near as nice as it used to be.

 

For those of you who have been to the tea room before, or maybe just noticed the fairly standard GF costume for women, you may recall that the women wear a rather long, ruffled skirt. I noticed this time that my server Riley (who I've had before and who is lovely) was instead wearing slacks with a vest and a tie. I thought that was pretty neat that she was able to have that as an option so I told her I thought it was great that she didn't have to wear the skirt. She said she kept tripping on the long skirt and only recently discovered that wearing the pants costume instead was an accepted alternative. As someone who's not really a skirt person it was nice to know she wouldn't be forced to wear the skirt if she didn't want to and if it also interfered with her safety.

 

As Riley brought me the bill I said, "I have to ask you a question. What's with the lady in the lobby that I see here every time?". Riley explained that her name was Lynn and that her husband died a number of years ago and she has a car service that brings her to the Grand Floridian every day and then takes her back home. She sits in the lobby with her dolls, and the CMs generally check in on her and will watch her dolls for her when she goes to the bathroom. She's apparently quite shy and not very chatty, and Riley said they'd only managed to get her to come in for tea once in all the years she's been doing this. For more information on Lynn, you can read this post by her sister on that other board. It was nice to have that little mystery solved.

 

Completely stuffed now, I waddled my way up to the monorail to head back to the Magic Kingdom for my Haunted Mansion FP+. Oh look, here comes a monorail now.

 

 

No trouble using my FP and I was soon waiting for the doors to open. I love this tombstone that moves its head and eyes every so often. And every time I see it now I remember back to a trip where there was a little salamander type thing on this tombstone and a woman was absolutely freaking out because she was scared to death of them. It made me laugh to watch her get all worked up over a salamander.

 

 

People were led into the fireplace room with the changing portrait when all of a sudden the crowd got really loud. There was much yelling and screaming and hollering. Ah yes, it was my good friend the tour group that I'd first encountered outside Memento Mori in the morning. When the doors opened to the stretch room, I hung back and told the CM I refused to go in with that bunch of yahoos. She gave me a knowing look, the next group came in, and I went to the other stretch room. End of unpleasant encounter.

 

When I got out of the Haunted Mansion there was a very pretty sunset. As with all pretty sunsets, the photo doesn't do it justice.

 

 

After this there seems to be a bit of a gap in my photo taking and record keeping... After admiring the sunset, I went and did the Bears. I managed to catch this at just the right time (unless you consider "Never" to be the right time) as the doors were open for seating just as I arrived and the show started just a minute after I sat down.

 

 

From the Bears I managed the exact same luck with the Tiki Room. It's funny how things change as you get older, eh? I never used to go to the Tiki Room very often at all, but in the last 5 years once my Mom and I started doing trips together just the two of us, we started going to the Tiki room regularly. My Mom hums and sings throughout the show and now every time I hear the songs I have this lovely memory of time spent with my Mom. 

 

I'm not quite sure what I did after that though. The Bears photo was at 6:25 and my next photo was at 7:36 and it seems unlikely I spent an hour in the Tiki Room. I know I wanted to ride the train, which I hadn't done this day and it was closed for refurb back in October. But I didn't get to it. Anyway, I'd booked myself a FP+ for the 8:00 MSEP. Due to hub construction the FP+ viewing area is right by the flag pole, facing the train station. When I arrived there was already a line to get into the FP+ area, but they started scanning fairly quickly and I claimed a spot beside a family with two very well behaved kids.

 

 

The only problem with the spot I picked was you see that FP+ flag on the rope in front of me? Well as you know, ropes are kid magnets. And there were kids playing with the rope, so I was getting biffed by the flag every now and then. A CM ended up moving it away from me, and then ultimately the rope was taken down.

 

Since this was almost the end of my day, I took this opportunity to take a look at what my pedometer thought I'd done for the day. Not bad. Not my highest, but not bad. 11.66 km is 7.25 miles for the metric-challenged.

 

 

And then the lights dimmed and that familiar music played and I'm a kid again.

 

 

The only difference now being there's nobody pushing me in a stroller so I can fall asleep when it's over. This time my stroller is a Mazda 6, and I have to drive it 2 hours back to the condo after this! Being a kid was a whole lot better in that regard.

 

Another picture of the Fairy Godmother.

 

 

Every time I see this float I realize, "I have no idea what this is all about." Note to self: re-watch Pinocchio. This float still freaks me out.

 

 

With the parade over at about 8:20 and a 2 hour drive ahead of me, it was time to head out. I stopped at City Hall to get some park maps for my sister and then I can't explain exactly how it happened, but I was clearly lured by the smell and somehow I ended up with a box of popcorn. That's not a happy looking face for someone who has a box of tasty popcorn.

 

 

I said goodbye Happiest Place on Earth. See you again in March!

 

 

I walked down to the Grand Floridian boat dock and waited for what felt like a really long time. I'm sure it wasn't really all that long. We all loaded on and the GF was the first stop. I walked to my car, leaving my empty popcorn box in a GF trash can and here's when I pulled out of the parking lot. It felt cooler than 59F.

 

 

After another uneventful drive I was back to the condo by about 11 and delivered the cream cheese pretzel, which he warmed up a bit in the toaster oven, then promptly devoured. My friend, who had been nagging me by text about how soon I'd be coming back, was already asleep by the time I returned.

 

I recounted stories of my day to my husband and explained, "The extra FP+s from my sister's MagicBand were great, but I kept getting a bit confused about which MB had which FP, and I kept taking one MB off and putting it in my bag and putting the other one on and so on." He replied, "Why didn't you just put one on each wrist?" And I said, "Because I'm an idiot and it didn't occur to me?"  It's a good thing he loves me anyway, despite my lack of problem solving skills.

 

And thus ended my perfectly lovely solo day at the Magic Kingdom.

 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Aw man, this TR went by too fast!

 

I hope that your will write another one after your March trip- you're good!

 

As for the SOTMK cards, they started limiting the cards like that quite a while ago- I think it's been over a year already. They don't want to just pass out a pack of cards to everyone who comes in, so they make you go to some far-off portal to play a game before you can get a pack.  The TCD gang's SOTMK card collecting days ended when the new rules started.  Ain't nobody got time for that.

 

On side note, how long have you had a Fitbit?  I am intrigued by them, but there are so many varieties and brands that I have no idea where to start.  What kind do you have, and do you like it?

 

TCD

[wendinator 109]

Aw man, this TR went by too fast!

 

I hope that your will write another one after your March trip- you're good!

 

As for the SOTMK cards, they started limiting the cards like that quite a while ago- I think it's been over a year already. They don't want to just pass out a pack of cards to everyone who comes in, so they make you go to some far-off portal to play a game before you can get a pack.  The TCD gang's SOTMK card collecting days ended when the new rules started.  Ain't nobody got time for that.

 

On side note, how long have you had a Fitbit?  I am intrigued by them, but there are so many varieties and brands that I have no idea where to start.  What kind do you have, and do you like it?

 

TCD

 

The day trip went by too fast!

 

The March trip is a week-long one with my Mom, my sister, her husband and their two kids. It'll be a whole lot harder to do that one... No promises. I also don't know what my sister's privacy threshold is like. I'll talk to her about it before we go.

 

Thanks for the info about the SOTMK rules. You're right - I won't be getting new cards under those rules. I understand why they did it though. I think I only ever played the game once but I know I got cards more often than that.

 

I've had my Fitbit One since November 2012. I do like it, but I'd say I use it more as a novelty than as any kind of behaviour modification tool (which is what I should do). I work from home with a desk job, so the Fitbit is good at showing me just how sedentary my day is unless I make a point to move around more often or go outside and do something. I like the data collection strictly from a nerdy perspective. I'd say though that if you're thinking of upgrading to an iPhone 6 at some point in the foreseeable future then there's probably not much point in buying a separate wearable (Fitbit/Jawbone/Fuelband/etc) as the iPhone should do a pretty good job of acting as a pedometer.

 

As a side note to your side note, back before my October trip last year I did a load of laundry under the influence of adult beverages. In the morning when I folded the laundry I said "OH NO!". My Fitbit was still in the watch pocket of my jeans and had gone through the washer and dryer. The husband, who you may recall hearing enjoys taking things apart, took it apart but alas it could not be saved. I'd heard stories of exceptional customer service from Fitbit so you can add my story to the list. With proof of purchase (which I still had because I bought it at an Apple Store and they'd emailed me the receipt), they shipped me a brand new Fitbit One at no charge. Now THAT is above and beyond the call of duty as far as I'm concerned. It died strictly due to my inebriated negligence and they were absolutely under no obligation to replace it for free.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Ok so at least I snuck in right at the end. 

 

Great TR and I so love that you did this day on your own.
(and yes Dave, I'd totally do it too, and no, I wouldn't drive 1400 miles by myself for one day to do so... clearly I'd take a friend LOL)

 

Also loved the giant Dole Whip and the tea hack.  Well done!!