The Seven Dwarfs Mugged Us! A September 2020 TR **Updated 2/20

[Gina Starr]

Hey everyone and welcome to another trip report! I’m going to be lazy and copy our “about us” from my last trip report.

I’m Gina and my husband is Donnie. This trip report will tell the story of our 11th trip to Disney World together. We both went as kids in the 90s and our first trip as a couple was in May 2014. We tagged along with my sister and her family and my parents joined. It was not the greatest trip due to poor planning (we didn’t know you could get FP in advance!) and the fact that the majority of the family was sick at one point or another (I missed our Universal day and had to be pushed around in a wheelchair in Animal Kingdom!) Needless to say, after that trip Donnie and I decided we needed a do-over so we went back just the two of us a year later and the rest is history.



We are high school sweethearts and we have been together for more than half my life. We are childless millennials unless you count our dog, Pepper! He is 5 lbs of pure terror and is 100% our fur baby. We both work at the same place, work the same hours, and even share a desk. (And now work from home just a few rooms apart!) Yea, I can guess what you are thinking but we love it. We married each other for a reason and we love spending time together.

Some of my hobbies are eating delicious gluten free foods, bargain shopping, watching YouTube, and dying my hair at home then going to a professional to fix it. Donnie enjoys “just looking” at the store, collecting Disney merch, watching vlogs, and enabling my shopping habits.

This trip came about for lotsa reasons. So obviously we are still in a pandemic which we have been taking very seriously. Our awesome employer gave us two months off in April and May 2020 and we have been working from home since June 2020. When we were off work we were only leaving the house once every two weeks for groceries. Since we have been working from home, we get out usually once a week for groceries and have gone to the movies twice and Top Golf once for my birthday. So needless to say we were both itching to see something other than our house and someone other than each other.



Then, a few months ago Donnie had a health scare which put him in the hospital twice. He is good now but the second time he was in the hospital he said we were going to Disney one way or another.

And lastly it just seemed like a great opportunity to take advantage of lower crowds (haha!) and one of those things that would be something to remember for years to come. Everything we saw showed how safe it was at Disney and how serious they were taking everything so we felt safe.



We didn’t know when or even if we could get time off work so we didn’t have a ton of time to plan, not like there’s much to plan these days. We booked the trip September 16 and our check in day was September 27. We were only going to have three park days and since there was no park hopping at the time we had to carefully decide which park we wanted to go to and when. Obviously we were going to Magic Kingdom and Epcot was an easy decision too with Food and Wine. The third park was the hard decision. We haven’t been on Minnie and Mickeys Runaway Railway yet and we love exploring Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land but we had been keeping an eye on crowds and Hollywood Studios had been packed with really long waits and boarding passes for Rise of the Resistance going within seconds so we decided on Animal Kingdom! Now what order do we do them in? We always start at MK and end at MK but that wasn’t an option. I thought it would be a good idea to start with MK so that if we didn’t get to any of our must do’s then we could ditch AK and change our reservation to another day at MK.



So now that we know the who when and why let’s get into it! ​

 

[Gina Starr]

Day 0 September 26

We always drive to Disney. We live a little over 14 hours away but we like having our car so we can pack whatever we want. We did look at flights this time but there was only one that was non stop and it was at an odd time. It was also with Spirit and being very inexperienced fliers, we have heard horror stories about them. Plus I have read some things that flights aren’t the safest right now so driving just worked better for us. So we didn’t have to wake up super early or get to Florida super late, we decided to drive a bit Saturday. We had to work until 6pm that day but luckily working from home let us pack for the most part the night before and then get the rest of the stuff ready on breaks and lunch.

We were on the road by 6:20 pm. We stopped for food a few towns away. I’m gluten free so I’m limited with fast food options. Chick Fil A is my go to. And Donnie was on a low sodium diet at home but was cheating on vacation and wanted McDonalds. By the time we ate and got on the road our ETA for the hotel for the night was 11:25. It was an uneventful drive and we made it by 11:35. Our alarm was set for 6:00 am the next day.


Day 1 September 27

The bed at the hotel felt comfortable at first but obviously wasn’t because we were both up at 3:30. I tossed and turned a bit and Donnie was up so we decided to just get up and go. We were on the road right at 5:00 am. Our eta was 2:30 pm which was awesome because we wanted to go to Disney Springs. I briefly considered looking at park reservations but we knew it would be at least 4:00 by the time we got there and it was going to be another $200 for another park day so decided against that.

At some point Donnie got tired and I took over driving. Now this might not seem like a big deal but it is. Donnie drives everywhere. I pretty much had to force him to let me drive him to the hospital several months ago. He just prefers to be the driver. We swapped back later after he had a nice little nap and at around 2 we ran into a massive storm. It was a downpour and we couldn’t see anything. That slowed us down a bit and we stopped for gas and food. We got to the resort at 4:00 so only an hour and a half later than the original eta. I realized I didn’t say where we were staying so I guess now is a good time to say we were staying at Pop Century!





If you have read my previous trip reports you will know that Port Orleans French Quarter is our home away from home. That wasn’t an option this time since they aren’t open and probably won’t be open for a while. We were also on a budget so Pop was really our only option on property. We got a preferred room and I requested the 60s building. The room was super close to the main building but it was a pretty far walk from the parking lot. We unpacked and headed back out. We got to the bus stop a little after 5 and there was a bus already there. With social distancing they could only let so many people on the bus and that one was full. We waited about 15 more minutes and were on the way.

This was our first experience with the temperature screening and it was super simple and quick. We were both very hungry so went straight to Blaze. I got gluten free dough with white sauce, chicken, bacon, and onion. Donnie got the meat lovers. They were super yummy but I could only eat half so took the rest with me (where it sat in the fridge til I threw it away a few days later)





After we ate, we wanted to look at a few shops so we went to Uniqlo where I saw a few things but the checkout line was super long and I didn’t like anything that much. Then we went to World of Disney which also had a ridiculous line just to get in the virtual line. We didn’t stick around long enough to see how long it was. We started to realize that Sunday evening wasn’t the best time to come to Disney Springs. Our next stop was Amorettes where we did have to wait in line but only for a few minutes. The CM that was manning the line has worked at Sassagoula Floatworks pretty much since we have been going to French Quarter so nice to see they placed their full time CMs other places. Last year at this time they had a creme brûlée that could be made gluten free but the CM said they didn’t have it. Donnie didn’t get anything either. Our last stop where I knew I could find something was Erin McKennas. If you didn’t know, it’s a completely gluten free (and vegan) bakery so we always make at least one stop here. They had all sorts of Fall flavors and we got way more than we needed. (After I ate 4 of my 5 treats a couple days later I realized that I think there was something in them that didn’t agree with me. I have several stomach issues so even though it was gluten and dairy free I still didn’t feel good anytime I ate it and I just always assumed it was something else I ate around the same time. So no more Erin McKennas for me.)



We were super tired so it was time to head back to Pop. There were multiple resorts that still weren’t open so we thought they might not be using all the bus stops. Well they might not be but they still put Pop in the Very. Last. Stop. Luckily it didn’t take too long to show up and were back to the resort pretty quickly. We wanted to stop and get refillable mugs so I sent Donnie back to the room with the food to put in the fridge and I bought us each a mug. Then I stood in a line for too long to get a refill. They were having CMs at the drink stations and giving out paper cups with your beverage of choice. I got up to the front of the line and got Donnie a drink and promptly turned around and returned my mug. I’m a soda snob and they didn’t have a coke freestyle machine. I pretty much strictly drink root beer which wasn’t in the fountain so I knew my mug would be a waste of money. After all that I returned to the room around 7. We always bring our fire stick and started a movie on Netflix but I got tired so we stopped it and went to sleep. Tomorrow is our Magic Kingdom day!​

 

[Gina Starr]

Day 2 September 28

We woke up at 7 with plans to get to the bus stop at 8 since Magic Kingdom opened at 9. We were a few minutes late getting out the door and stopped to fill up our water bottle. We got to the bus stop at 8:10 to a massive line. We thought about driving but decided by the time we went back to the room to get the keys and then took a boat or monorail from the TTC it would take just as long as waiting for the bus. When we walked up there was three Magic Kingdom buses loading people so we assumed it would be quick. We were wrong. After those first three buses one more came. Then 15 buses for Animal Kingdom. That’s not an exaggeration. Only MK and AK were open at 9. Hollywood Studios opened at 10 and Epcot opened at 11. I stopped counting the AK buses after 8 of them because they were all lined up at the stop sign with nowhere to park. But at least 8 more came after that with maybe one or two for MK in there. Finally like 4 MK buses came back to back so we got on a bus at 8:45. That’s a 35 minute wait which isn’t the worst but not great. It’s our fault for not getting there earlier but my idea of being there right at 9 was gone.





So some of our MK must do’s were to ride Splash Mountain, get some Halloween treats, and watch all the Halloween cavalcades. We scanned our magic bands at 9:06 and since we were already a bit late we decided to take our time and not rush anywhere. We originally were going to hang out on Main Street to catch the cavalcades but since they aren’t planned we didn’t know when they would start. We are recent Starbucks enthusiasts and the line wasn’t out the door so we decided to stop there and got iced chai tea lattes. I also brought a cupcake from Erin Mckennas so we stopped at the tables outside of Casey’s to drink our drinks and eat my cupcake.





After a half hour or so we decided we didn’t want to just sit around and wait for the cavalcades so we took some pictures in front of the castle. There was a girl who asked us to take a picture of her and her boyfriend and offered to take our picture. We hesitated a bit but we had plenty of hand sanitizer so took her up on the offer. Since we didn’t have AP this trip, we didn’t have Photopass and didn’t want to pay for it so we didn’t stop for any Photopass pictures. (They weren’t taking your phone to take pictures for you for obvious reasons)











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[kclark9830]

Joining in! And your hair is fabulous!

 

[Gina Starr]

Day 2 Continued





Since Splash was really the only ride on the must do list we went there first. I won’t get too much into it here but we just really wanted to get on Splash before it goes away. We didn’t know when we would be back and when it’s going away so it was a priority. We got there a bit before 10 and it was posted at a 35 minute wait. I thought it might get lower later but it was also supposed to thunderstorm most of the day so we got in line. It was a little under 30 minutes and that was with it going down for cleaning while we were in line so not too bad. This was our first experience with social distancing in lines and everyone pretty much followed the rules here. We actually only had a couple situations where people didn’t pay attention to the social distancing markings but a few stink eyes from Donnie got them to back up.


(it was pretty empty so far today!)







Splash Mountain was lots of fun as usual and my face and hair got pretty wet. Luckily my hair was so short that it didn’t do much. After this we wanted to get a game plan so we went to the relaxation station near Pecos Bills. I didn’t really need a break from my mask yet but it was nice to take it off and relax. I’ll take this time to discuss the mask situation. I dunno why pro-mask and anti-mask became a political thing but we are very pro-mask at home. We wore masks before they were required and as a germaphobe I actually love wearing masks. I also don’t have to worry about doing face makeup and I break out on my chin so that’s nice to cover too! The vast majority of people properly wore their masks and didn’t complain. There were a few people we saw who had them below their nose when walking. We saw several people take them off for pictures even though there’s announcements stating you are not allowed to do that. If a CM saw it, they told them to put their mask back on so CMs are definitely doing their best. As for what masks to get- we wanted to have all cute Disney masks for each park so I bought several from an Etsy shop I found on Instagram. They were super cute and when I got them they were tiny! We must have big heads and faces because the masks from Disney were tiny on us too. We did the measurement and ordered Medium from Disney but we easily needed an Extra Large. We just didn’t reorder and tried the ones from Etsy. I noticed the shop had “longer elastic” options so I ordered more of those. Still too small. There was another shop we found on Instagram called Shop Park Candy but their masks were a little expensive so we only bought a few of them. Those were my favorite. The material was very breathable, almost like a swimsuit material. And the ear loops were adjustable. I only had one of those and Donnie had two but he didn’t like them so I got to wear his. He liked these cheap $2 masks from Target the best. We always brought extra masks but ended up wearing the same one all day- we didn’t get too sweaty so we didn’t think they needed changed through the day. Back to MK.

After only 10 minutes at the relaxation station, Donnie said he heard people talking backstage and thought they might be the cavalcades. We always watch Festival of Fantasy from Frontierland and learned where it starts and what the “line of sight” is during one of our tours. We left the relaxation station and found a place to sit in front of Pecos Bills where we first saw the Boo to You cavalcade. (Sorry if these are out of order. When Donnie sends me pics from his phone they are always out of order)







​

 

[Gina Starr]

Joining in! And your hair is fabulous!

Welcome! Thanks for joining! Our hair is boring now! He shaved his head and grew back his natural color and I’m blonde. Itching to go back to a fun color, though!

 

[Gina Starr]

Day 2 Continued

From what we read and saw on vlogs, they came out pretty much one right after the other so we still sat there and waited. It was 10:50 and we had a lunch reservation at 11:55 close by. All the rides close by/that we wanted to do had waits of at least 45 minutes so decided to just sit and wait. The Villains cavalcade came out next.









We could check in for our reservation 20 minutes early and we were hungry so checked in at 11:35 when no other cavalcades came out. Our lunch was at Liberty Tree Tavern! We have never been there before and wanted to try something new. We waited on the benches outside after we checked in and 5 minutes before we got called for our reservation, the Nightmare Before Christmas cavalcade came out which is the one I was most excited to see. Spoiler: we didn’t see anymore calvacades at MK. They were all super cute and I’m glad we got to see them. We love the Boo to You music and sometimes put it on YouTube to just jam out to. They were super quick and since there’s no posted times, you either have to sit around and wait like us, or get lucky. I also found out some of them don’t run 7 days a week so we got lucky that the ones we wanted to see most were running.







We got seated pretty much right on time and the food came out shortly after. This is a Thanksgiving style all you care to enjoy meal. We got the salad which we each ate a little bit of. The dressing was really yummy but we didn’t want to get full from salad. Donnie got dinner rolls and I got some sort of gluten free bread. The bread was good but the butter wasn’t. Then the main course came out! There was turkey, pot roast, green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and mac and cheese. I got all the same stuff Donnie did. A lot of the time at places like this, they will have to substitute something but I got a gf version of everything. The only thing we didn’t love was the cranberry sauce and the mac and cheese was just ok. For dessert I had a gluten free brownie that was heated up and vanilla ice cream. It was delicious and they only thing I ate all of. Donnie of course got the famous ooey gooey toffee cake which he said was really good.





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[Gina Starr]

Day 2 Continued





After lunch we checked wait times and they were all pretty long so we just went to Haunted Mansion which was posted at 40 minutes. The line went down by the water which I didn’t even realize was an option. It was super hot and sunny but we luckily had umbrellas to keep the sun off of us. We ended up waiting 30 minutes but it wasn’t too bad. We were desperate for some air conditioning after HM so decided to get in line for Mickeys Phillharmagic which had a 35 minute wait!! I would have normally laughed at that wait but with no FP and wait times being long everywhere we didn’t have much else to do. We waited 30 minutes for the show. Donnie broke his 3D glasses while waiting in line. I can’t take him anywhere.

We still wanted more AC so we went back to Pete’s Silly Sideshow which is a relaxation station. They had high top tables to stand at and a few normal tables with chairs which were all taken so we went to a high top table and plopped on the floor. We relaxed for another half hour and left around 3:00. We made a quick bathroom stop and when Donnie was coming out I had to yell at him because he was about to step on a lizard. Then they became best friends and Donnie had a photo shoot with him.



Since we were right there and the wait was only 5 minutes we went to Dumbo. The skies were looking scary but we agreed we wouldn’t mind if we got rained on while on Dumbo so we got in line. We walked through the inside part of the line and by the time we got to the outside part they said they were closing it for weather so we never stopped walking, just went right through the exit. As Disney veterans we came prepared with rain jackets and umbrellas so we braved the rain and went over to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The line was outside and a lady was behind us with nothing- no poncho or umbrella. Her teenage daughter came up to her and said she couldn’t find any ponchos and all the lines for stores were all the way outside. A CM overheard them and said all the ponchos are at the registers. Luckily it didn’t take too long to get under cover and that was the only time people not following social distancing didn’t get a stink eye from us. It was posted as a 25 minute wait and we waited exactly that. When we got off the ride it was a torrential downpour. Everyone was waiting under cover and in stores but we decided to just go for it and head out. I stayed decently dry on my upper half but when Tomorrowland is more or less flooding there’s no hope for your bottom half. There was a good couple inches of standing water so our feet were soaked and my legs were pretty wet. We went for Buzz since it looked like the line was all under cover. They routed the line over by where the fast pass kiosks are and through the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor line but sent it the opposite way.



The wait was posted at 35 minutes but we only waited 15 minutes. The ride was slowed down/stopped for a few by the robot in the first room and I got galactic hero just from the robot hand! I was so excited. I didn’t care that it was because we got stopped. Donnie was able to get galactic hero in a different room. Woohoo! Even with the rain we were having a great day. Things were about to change...



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[disneyAndi14]

Joining in! I haven‘t experienced Disney since the start of the pandemic and really miss it.
I love Blaze pizza, we try to go at least 1x each trip.
35 minutes for Philharmagic is a long wait, I know they can’t fill the theater so that makes a difference
I am a galactic hero only when we get stopped and I am still proud of myself, lol

 

[Paulaparm]

Joining in

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

View attachment 557215


There was another shop we found on Instagram called Shop Park Candy but their masks were a little expensive so we only bought a few of them. Those were my favorite. The material was very breathable, almost like a swimsuit material. And the ear loops were adjustable. I only had one of those and Donnie had two but he didn’t like them so I got to wear his. He liked these cheap $2 masks from Target the best. We always brought extra masks but ended up wearing the same one all day- we didn’t get too sweaty so we didn’t think they needed changed through the day. Back to MK.
​

I have that same Fantasyland mask from Park Candy! I agree with you - they are my favorite! Like many people, I tried masks from multiple companies before finding my favorite, then got several. I also like the Disney masks well enough, but they do run really small. Or, at least they did in the summer. They also seem hotter than the Park Candy masks. I believed they changed the material and possibly the sizing at some point - maybe fall.

I used 2-3 masks a day when I was at Disney, but I was there in the summer, so the mask would be damp by meal times. Putting a fresh mask on after a meal was my routine in the summer, although I usually wear just one mask a day at work.

 

[DeeBee3]

Ok, well now you have me waiting in suspense! I have no patience - I am used to on demand everything. GIVE ME MY TRIP REPORT.

 

[rdkeim]

Enjoying your TR - great trip so far! Hope whatever happens next doesn't ruin your day. My DH and I will be there in 9 days! We had to move our date twice so I hope it's a good one!

 

[DLo]

Hopping over from your last report. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures.

 

[footballmouse]

I don't mind the rain at WDW, we always bring ponchos!

 

[BellesLibrary]

Joining in! I'm excited to read more about your trip!

 

[Beachyrock]

Great report so far, and loving the gluten free reviews. I've never been to LTT, but glad to know they have all the gf versions! Funny thing is that my DS always used to get sick after eating Erin McKenna's too. Once we finally realized we stopped going. Looking forward to reading more

 

[DisneyyDaydream]

Things were about to change...

Ooooo cliff hanger! Excited to read more!

 

[Gina Starr]

Joining in! I haven‘t experienced Disney since the start of the pandemic and really miss it.
I love Blaze pizza, we try to go at least 1x each trip.
35 minutes for Philharmagic is a long wait, I know they can’t fill the theater so that makes a difference
I am a galactic hero only when we get stopped and I am still proud of myself, lol

Thanks for joining! I’m so sorry you haven’t got to go recently. I hope that changes soon for you!

We are Blaze fans too. We have one about a half hour from our house but it just feels like a Disney thing so we haven’t gone.

I am definitely not ashamed to admit I got galactic hero due to “cheating”

Joining in

Hi!!

I have that same Fantasyland mask from Park Candy! I agree with you - they are my favorite! Like many people, I tried masks from multiple companies before finding my favorite, then got several. I also like the Disney masks well enough, but they do run really small. Or, at least they did in the summer. They also seem hotter than the Park Candy masks. I believed they changed the material and possibly the sizing at some point - maybe fall.

I used 2-3 masks a day when I was at Disney, but I was there in the summer, so the mask would be damp by meal times. Putting a fresh mask on after a meal was my routine in the summer, although I usually wear just one mask a day at work.

After I wrote this, I actually kinda fell out of love with the Park Candy masks. They are still adorable but the longer I wore them, the more suffocated I felt. When I breathe in, they suction to my face weirdly. We tried some more Disney masks and they just aren’t consistent and aren’t returnable, even if unopened so we gave up on those. I have been sticking to the $2 Target ones recently.

Ok, well now you have me waiting in suspense! I have no patience - I am used to on demand everything. GIVE ME MY TRIP REPORT.

So sorry to keep you waiting! The next post will have all the juicy details!

Enjoying your TR - great trip so far! Hope whatever happens next doesn't ruin your day. My DH and I will be there in 9 days! We had to move our date twice so I hope it's a good one!

At the time, I definitely thought it ruined our day but looking back, it wasn’t the end of the world. Hope you and your husband have a wonderful time!!

Hopping over from your last report. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures.

Thanks for joining!!

I don't mind the rain at WDW, we always bring ponchos!

I agree! As long as it’s not also cold...

Joining in! I'm excited to read more about your trip!

Thanks for following along!

Great report so far, and loving the gluten free reviews. I've never been to LTT, but glad to know they have all the gf versions! Funny thing is that my DS always used to get sick after eating Erin McKenna's too. Once we finally realized we stopped going. Looking forward to reading more

You HAVE to try Liberty Tree Tavern! It’s on our must do list and we went back two more times during our January trip!

I can‘t figure out what is in Erin McKenna’s that messes with my belly. I’m not even a celiac, just sensitive. I had a gf cupcake from the Sprinkles ATM in January and it was really yummy and didn’t make me sick. Just wish they had more options!

Ooooo cliff hanger! Excited to read more!

Sorry to leave you hanging!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

After I wrote this, I actually kinda fell out of love with the Park Candy masks. They are still adorable but the longer I wore them, the more suffocated I felt. When I breathe in, they suction to my face weirdly. We tried some more Disney masks and they just aren’t consistent and aren’t returnable, even if unopened so we gave up on those. I have been sticking to the $2 Target ones recently.

Oh, that's frustrating! It's been hard to mask shop; they are almost never returnable, but you don't know how they will fit. It's Pandemic Gambling!

With the new, more-contagious variants, I've been using KN95s lately when I'm out shopping, and those actually have such a tight fit and so many layers that they give me a headache. I haven't experienced that with any other kind of mask.