INTO THE UNKNOWN: A Northern Girl's Return to the World, A Pre Trip Report - April 2022

[MaleficentMe]

4:00pm - Leave DHS and walk (oh yes, I am king to walk!!) to EPCOT, while walking,

Holy jeebus! I'm looking at the map - is there a walking path between the parks? I'm a lifelong DLR person. While planning our first WDW trip (for much longer than anticipated, thanks, Covid) I could see how big WDW was compared to DLR, but I really never internalized it. The vastness of WDW shocked the whole family! Walk safely!!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Holy jeebus! I'm looking at the map - is there a walking path between the parks? I'm a lifelong DLR person. While planning our first WDW trip (for much longer than anticipated, thanks, Covid) I could see how big WDW was compared to DLR, but I really never internalized it. The vastness of WDW shocked the whole family! Walk safely!!

There is actually a paved pathway that runs between DHS and the Epcot hotel area. It comes out just behind The Boardwalk. I have walked it a few times. Takes about 20-25 minutes depending on how quickly you walk.

 

[suse66]

Fellow Canadian joining in!

Travel Day is always my most favourite day. I know am I not alone when I say I don’t “wake up” on travel day. Who can even actually sleep the night before Disney?!?!?! AMIRIGHT?

No one!

To fill in any available time before my lunch reservation, I have planned to do both The Enchanted Tiki Room and the Country Bear Jamboree. I know these shows get a lot of hate and shade from many people but I just love them both.

Two of my favourites! Throw in Carousel of Progress, a ride on the Liberty Belle and a spin on the carousel and I am good to go!

Wander the Oasis and visit all the Animal viewing locations.

Stroll through the Discovery Island trails and find as many animals on the Tree of Life as possible.

Experience It’s Tough to Be a bug. (I have only done this once when my kids were very small on our very first family trip back in 2009.) I know all the things - I guess I just have some sort of warped desire to toture myself with this again.

Slowly walk through both of the Animal trails and read all the things and learn about all the animals. Also, I want to see and say hi to all the animals that were featured on the Disney+ show, The Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

I also plan to watch the Tam Tam drummers in Africa and explore the Valley of Mo’ara in Pandora before enjoying a nice lunch at Satu’li Canteen.

Perfect AK plans!

I am going to attempt to do ALL 4 PARKS IN 1 DAY!

I thought I had a good plan for this day - it was going to be not too difficult to get to all 4 parks and do the things I wanted to do and still have a somewhat reasonable day.

But... Then Disney decided to throw a curve ball at my plan by extending the park hours!!!

Soooo, I decided to throw all caution to the wind and do something else I have always wanted to do....

Enter a Disney Theme Park while it is still somewhat dark out in the morning.

My overall Goals for the Day are to:

1. Ride a ride in each park
2. Watch a show in each park
3. Eat a snack/meal in each park
4. Have a special Photopass picture taken in each park

Love this! I have done 4 parks/1 day challenge twice when on solo trips and it is SO much fun!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Fellow Canadian joining in!


No one!

Two of my favourites! Throw in Carousel of Progress, a ride on the Liberty Belle and a spin on the carousel and I am good to go!

Perfect AK plans!

Love this! I have done 4 parks/1 day challenge twice when on solo trips and it is SO much fun!

Hello Canadian friend!!

So glad to have you along!

I am quite excited about the 4 parks in a day challenge

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Hey everyone!

Thanks for hanging gn there and being patient!

I want to enjoy my long weekend so I am going to wrap up the rest of this PTR in one fell swoop!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend!


DAY 5 PLANS

So this day my plans are actually not as set in stone. I think by this point I will have basically done just about all the rides I want to, so I think that this day will be taken at a much slower, relaxed pace. I have a park reservation at MK on this day. I will still get up before 7 and make a LL for something, but I don't think I am going to rush to the park for early entry. I think that I will use this morning to watch shows and parades/cavalcades and browse through shops. I feel like I might even ride the Liberty Belle and perhaps even take a trip over to Tom Sawyer Island. If I want to ride rides, it will likely be on ones that I can ride without too much of a long standby wait. Heck, I might even meet (and HUG!!!) some characters!!

I have a lunch reservation at Steakhouse 71 at 1:30. I have been drooling over the Stack Burger for months now!!

After I finish my lunch, I will head over to Epcot to continue my slow pace by wandering through all that there is to see and do at the International Flower & Garden Festival. I intend to do the Spike the Bee scavenger Hunt and wander (and sniff!!) my way through as many of the lovely gardens as I can. I would like to try some of the foods at some of the food booths, but as I have many food allergies, my options are quite limited. There are a few that I can eat so, if the lines are not too long, then I will plan for that to be my dinner that evening. Depending on how I am feeling, I may decide to try and stick around for Harmonius. I was not a huge fan of Illuminations (Scandalous opinion, I know!!) so I am not holding out much hope that I will be smitten by this new show.

If I am not feeling the fireworks, I will just watch the Beacons of Light on Spaceship Earth and then head back to POP for an early night.

DAY 6 PLANS

This will be my last park day.

Again, my morning plans are a bit less set in stone.

I have a park pass for Epcot this morning and I plan to hop to MK for the afternoon/evening.

I have a dinner reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern.

I also have a resort switch to make happen - luckily it's just over the Generation Gap bridge to Art of Animation.

I don't think I am going to be in any great hurry to get to Epcot as my only plan for this morning is to do as much of the World Showcase as I possibly can. Watching shows, browsing shops and enjoying the topiaries and gardens throughout sounds like a lovely way to spend a morning.

I will be collecting Lightening Lanes at every opportunity to ride as many rides in the afternoon/evening over at Magic Kingdom.

Again, I am not holding out hope that I am going to be at all enthused to see the new Fireworks show at Magic Kingdom. I only ever saw Happily Ever After one time and I had such a bad viewing location that I really didn't see very much of it at all.

I am a die hard Wishes fan. Nothing can ever take its place in my heart.

So, if I decide to stay later (post fireworks time) I will definitely be riding rides while the masses crowd themselves onto Main Street to see the show.

More than likely tho, I will be tuckered out and emotionally overwhelmed and will probably need to head back to AOA for a good night sleep.

DAY 7 - DEPARTURE DAY - PLANS

The end of a wonderful trip always comes so much faster than we want it too, eh?

Even now, as I am writing these words my heart is feeling sad and I haven't even left to go on this trip yet!!

My flight home is at 2:30pm in the afternoon.

Sadly, as an International traveller, that means my airport transportation will be arriving to whisk me back to the airport 4 hours before my flight at 10:30am.

That means that I should have just enough time to enjoy a lovely breakfast on the Boardwalk at Trattoria al Forno. I will be happy to also enjoy one last ride on the Skyliner!

With my heart and mind full of wonderful memories, I will bid adieu to WDW once more and make my way home..... I really hope that the never-ending Canadian winter is getting close to being over and done with by the time I get home.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks for reading along everyone!

It was fun to write out my plans and share them with you.

I absolutely will be back to let you know how it all shook out!

I think it will most definitely be helpful in sweeping away the post disney blues.

Catch you on the flip side!!

 

[MaleficentMe]

Heck, I might even meet (and HUG!!!) some characters!!

Yay!!! I miss Tigger SOOOO much!

 

[momof2gr8kids]

More snow this week! Bet you can't wait to get out of here!

 

[rdkeim]

You've put a lot of thought into your plans! Anxious to hear how it all went and how Genie + worked for you.

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Yay!!! I miss Tigger SOOOO much!

I just saw some posts about people meeting and hugging characters this morning!

So excited to see and hug my favourite mouse!

More snow this week! Bet you can't wait to get out of here!

CAN. NOT. WAIT.

I am sooooo over all the snow.

It's beyond ridiculous at this point.

You've put a lot of thought into your plans! Anxious to hear how it all went and how Genie + worked for you.

Thank you so much.

It has been a fun challenge to learn all these new systems.

I am quite excited to try it out and see if I can figure it out in real time.

I will definitely be keeping notes and will report back with my findings.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Safe travels today! Hope your plans work out - you should be landing in TO and booking your G+ soon, right?
Today's my daughter's 21st Bday and a few years ago she planned to drink around the world on her 21st. She won't get there until Christmas, so give a toast for her tonight from Epcot!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Safe travels today! Hope your plans work out - you should be landing in TO and booking your G+ soon, right?
Today's my daughter's 21st Bday and a few years ago she planned to drink around the world on her 21st. She won't get there until Christmas, so give a toast for her tonight from Epcot!

Thank you!!

Yes, I am currently in Toronto. Just got through customs and security.

First stop after that was Starbucks.

While waiting to disembark from the plane, the clock struck 7 and I was able to grab both FEA and Remy for later this afternoon!

Now to caffeinate. ️️️️️

 

[dmbcanada]

Fellow Canadian living vicariously through your plans, I have not been on Disney property since January 2020 and inside a park since January 2016. . Hope you have tons of fun! Hoping to be in a park January 2023.

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Hey Readers!! I am (almost) back from my trip. Currently sitting in the Toronto Pearson airport waiting for my flight home.

I will try to start my TR sometime later this week but wanted to give some quick thoughts about a few things:

The weather was amazing! 28-30 degrees every day and not one drop of rain!

Mears Connect was great! I will definitely use them again in the future.

The new park entrance security process is a game changer! If you are not carrying anything metal or bulky, the security process is super quick and easy!

I LOVE THE SKYLINER!!!

Disney is amazing at handling food allergies.

Disney people really are the best people. I had so many great encounters and conversations with fellow Disney fans. It’s like we are all one big family!

The magic still there and it is 100% because of the amazing cast members working so hard to make the magic happen.

That is all for now. I will hopefully get to starting my trip report later this week.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Hey Readers!! I am (almost) back from my trip. Currently sitting in the Toronto Pearson airport waiting for my flight home.

I will try to start my TR sometime later this week but wanted to give some quick thoughts about a few things:

The weather was amazing! 28-30 degrees every day and not one drop of rain!

Mears Connect was great! I will definitely use them again in the future.

The new park entrance security process is a game changer! If you are not carrying anything metal or bulky, the security process is super quick and easy!

I LOVE THE SKYLINER!!!

Disney is amazing at handling food allergies.

Disney people really are the best people. I had so many great encounters and conversations with fellow Disney fans. It’s like we are all one big family!

The magic still there and it is 100% because of the amazing cast members working so hard to make the magic happen.

That is all for now. I will hopefully get to starting my trip report later this week.

Looking forward to your trip report and especially how you made out with Genie+.

 

[DLo]

Glad you had a good trip. Looking forward to the TR

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Looking forward to your trip report and especially how you made out with Genie+.

Glad you had a good trip. Looking forward to the TR

I am working on getting my pictures all organized and cleaning up my notes. I hope to start writing tomorrow evening and hopefully will have something ready to post Wednesday or Thursday.