tying a bow around the 2023 conference & disney trip

tying a bow around the 2023 conference & disney trip

We were only gone a week, but the soybeans in the field next to the barndo went from green with some yellow to all brown. Although I love the change of seasons, it was still a bit depressing.

So let’s roll this up! I may talk about the trip and even share other photos in the future, but I figure a summary and a change of topics might be a good thing.

Resort – Coronado Springs.

The resort grounds were well-maintained. Again, the smoking situation wasn’t great. Housekeeping skipped us one full day but did a good job for the rest of the week.

Transportation.

Riding the bus to the parks from the Disney resorts is the same as it’s always been, although they’re no longer Disney owned. The buses are clean and the drivers are friendly. The wait times aren’t bad at all and the schedule is reasonable.

Parks.

The parks are clean and the esthetics are amazing.

Annnnd… basically everything goes downhill from this point and can be a list.

  1. Disney has taken away fast passes for rides and dining plans (dining is coming back soon).
    • You wait in ride lines that can be up to 3-hours long… or pay for a lightning lane pass and wait around 15-20 minutes.
  2. Most food purchased is decent but priced extraordinarily high (this is expected).
  3. For each person in your party, you’ll spend about $165.00 PER DAY for a park hopper ticket.
    • For this price, you MIGHT get in the virtual queue to ride what you want.
    • If the virtual queue fills up and you don’t make it, you have to buy a lightning pass for each person or you’re out of luck… for the great rides, you can figure on $20/per person for one ride.
    • Virtual queue rides have NO STANDBY LANE. In other words, you can’t wait in line — you either get in the queue and arrive when they tell you to, or pay a premium above the cost of your ticket to ride.
  4. Over our entire trip, the number of really good cast members could be counted on one hand. In the past, Colette was called “princess” by most everyone. It happened once this trip.
  5. DO NOT pay for a special event. It’s a waste of money!
  6. Smokers hate the smoking areas — and non-smokers hate the smoking areas. While this could be fixed, it hasn’t been.
  7. When the parks are so packed, it’s not fun anymore with the current set-up.
    • We’ve been to the parks when they were at capacity at a time when fast passes were still a free option. Even then, we got to pick what we wanted to ride most and do those without paying a premium or waiting 3+ hours.
  8. The current Disney experience feels like you’re being gouged for money constantly. (And you are!)
  9. Very few characters made park appearances — I saw one during the entire week (Kevin at Animal Kingdom).
  10. I don’t think I even want to go back. 😢

Although the next event has been booked and the same deal is there for me if I want it… I’m not sure I even want to go back. I’ve been a Disney fan forever, you guys. If I’m over it, the regular person that chooses Disney World for a vacation occasionally won’t be loyal either. Robert Iger returned as Disney’s CEO 11/22. I had high hopes for change, but I’ve not seen any improvements yet.

And finally… Ben completed a spectacular face plant.

Leaving Epcot on the 3rd day, Ben fell while throwing away a cup before boarding the bus to return to the resort.

He destroyed the skin of one finger and had road rash down one arm from elbow to wrist. He came away with a bump under his eye and a few skinned places on the rest of his face — and his entire chest was bruised. Not Disney’s fault, exactly… but who knows if it would’ve happened if he wasn’t fighting a crowd of 3 bajillion hot, grumpy people who had been sucked dry by the happiest place on earth.


we didn’t taste around the world, but we did save the galaxy

we didn’t taste around the world, but we did save the galaxy

Epcot is currently my favorite park. There during the food and wine festival 2023, we didn’t partake even though we were there on multiple days.

Amazing rides at Epcot…

We saved the galaxy on the newest ride, Guardians of the Galaxy — my new favorite of all time!

The new ride is FIRE! We paid for a lightning pass or 2 and did the virtual queue on multiple days. The ride has a playlist of 6 song options (read about it here), and we were lucky to get September twice. Best. Ride. Ever.

Then there’s Soarin’ Around the World — a great ride experience with a medium wait time. Test Track is fun for many… a back breaking experience for me.

Ratatouille is good for kids, and cute for adults… we skipped the line this year. Mission Space remains a staple in our journey. We rode the people mover and Living with the Land. Ben and Coco hit Journey Into Imagination with Figment and met Joy.

Perry and I skipped it and rested our old, weary bones for a short bit instead. 😉

Food choices at Epcot…

The food choices at Epcot are the best. Our favorites are:

  1. Le Cellier (our steak night splurge)
  2. Rose & Crown Pub (fish and chips)
  3. Nine Dragons (Chinese table service).
  4. There are too many honorable mentions to list.

Epcot’s overall Disney Experience…

Bring on the rain… we didn’t care. The experience was still stellar!

2023 Disney trip summary tomorrow…


we went to asia and pandora, but not dinoland

we went to asia and pandora, but not dinoland

We hit Animal Kingdom on multiple days again this year and it’s slid to 2nd place on my favorites list. We didn’t experience nearly as many rides as we typically do because of the dumbass way that Disney is set-up currently. It’s simply too busy without fast passes — and after spending for tickets, you can’t lightning lane everything (the times we did use the service the average cost was $60.00 to skip the line for a single ride).

We passed by the Tree of Life a bajillion times — the 145′ tall artificial tree with more than 300 animals hand-carved in its trunk — but didn’t see even one monkey on this trip… well… maybe 1. 😉

The rides…

Our favorite ride at Animal Kingdom is Avatar. It’s now my 2nd favorite ride (Guardians of the Galaxy @Epcot is better!)

We didn’t make the Na’vi River Journey in Pandora this time around. The line was simply too darned long. And we skipped Dinoland because the only adult ride is Dinosaur, and it’s a back breaker.

We did ride Expedition Everest multiple times because the wait time was short, and it’s an amazing rollercoaster that is a thrill every single time.

The food…

We took breaks and ate food because it was sooo hot — and so packed with people.

We never miss Yak & Yeti, but don’t typically eat there. Flame Tree Barbecue is great, but it also got skipped this year. We ate some weird bowl of stuff from Yak & Yeti and had a bubble drink. Everyone loved their food except me. I prefer steak, y’all.

Sadly, Animal Kingdom was a bit disappointing this time around. But tomorrow is Epcot — my favorite Disney park!

in my book, it’s a tie for the worst Disney park

in my book, it’s a tie for the worst Disney park

Most people — including my family — hit Magic Kingdom as their first park. The iconic Cinderella’s castle, not yet visible upon entering the gate, sets the mood once you hit main street and can see the gorgeous structure. The bad news is… because it’s the first park many go to, it’s busiest on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Magic Kingdom looked great and the Halloween decorations were amazing!

We got our standard entrance photos after waiting in line for around 45-minutes.

Where’s the magic?

One expects Magic Kingdom to be magical… right? Besides having the rides we’ve loved for years and years… like Haunted Mansion, It’s a Small World, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and more — there’s a new ride there now called TRON.

While it’s a great ride — the actual time on it is less than 60 seconds. The wait time for us was over 90 minutes. 🙄

That was probably because 1/2 the park was closed because there was a bear in a tree inside the park. (You can read about it here.) Basically, an already packed park put all the people into only half of the space and most every attraction we were interested in was shut down. With park hopper tickets, we left for Epcot.

But that’s not the end of the story!

We paid $726.70 for 4 tickets to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that was also held at Magic Kingdom. We’ve done special events in the past that were worth the money because only a limited number of tickets were sold. With a small number of people there, you could ride everything as many times as you wanted without waiting in line. For example… once we waited in line 3 hours to ride Avatar, but during the after hours event, we rode it 9 times with no wait.

Not so this time around! Magic Kingdom closed early for the party, and to enjoy the park you might’ve already had a ticket for, you had to pay for yet another ticket to get back in the park to attend the event. It’s a double dip with ZERO perks. There was still a 40-minute wait to ride Haunted Mansion. See how thrilled we are?

We paid over $725 bucks for one bag of M&M’s and 2 rides — this and Pirates of the Caribbean. Haunted Mansion broke down 3 times during our ride… Pirates once.

There was a show and a parade, but it was so crowded it was only viewed by those who spent most of their time with their butts parked on the side of Main Street so they’d have a seat. We did happen to catch the fireworks on our way out. Check out the number of people at this “special,” premium and exclusive event! 😡

Magic Kingdom is officially tied for my LEAST favorite park even with the addition of TRON. What’s the park that is tied for last place? Hollywood Studios. Star Wars is ok, and I still love Tower of Terror — but not enough to even get me to that park this year… even with park hopper passes.

Tomorrow we’ll travel to the park currently in 2nd place in the “best Disney World Parks according to Shelley” list. Wanna guess what it is?

the outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment complex

the outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment complex

Where’s the world’s largest Disney store? It’s at Disney Springs in Orlando! Because resort check-in is 3:00 PM, it doesn’t make sense to purchase a park ticket for the first day. Instead, we catch a Disney transportation bus and head there to kick start our Disney experience.

The food…

While you can find plenty of great eateries at Disney Springs — including the Boathouse, the Edison, and Chicken Guy — we prefer to junk out on our first night. There’s always a couple food trucks and we typically hit those. This year, taco cones made the cut.

We skipped Poutine (that stuff is gross!), the Polite Pig, Planet Hollywood, and the other 50 or so restaurants.

Because it was so darned hot…

We opted for ice cream sundaes! At $66 for 4, it was our first real purchase where we experienced buyer’s regret. We could’ve split only one of these and everyone would’ve had enough.

Shopping!

We never miss the Tommy Bahama store at the Springs… and of course, always hit up the Disney Store. Get this — there were so many people that no less than 8 workers were standing at different entrances of the Disney Store to direct people to the door they wanted them to use.

The LEGO store is a draw for most, but we only took a couple photos of the Disney characters and more formed from the tiny blocks. I put blinders on so I’d pass the Coach and Pandora stores. I think we all left there with a shirt or two, but made no major purchases.

We ended up at Disney Springs twice this trip. Colette traveling to the parks with us was changed last minute (GRRRR!) so picking her up at the airport changed that day’s plans for everyone. We had to switch our park days so Ben, Perry and I headed back to Disney Springs again on day #2. That was more than enough!

While I might visit there occasionally on weekends if I lived locally, once is enough for a week-long trip.

We’ll be heading to Magic Kingdom tomorrow and also experience Mickey’s not so scary Halloween party!