Solo in September - Day 5
Wed, Sep 5
FP+ 1 = Star Tours 11-12pm
FP+ 2 = Slinky Dog Dash 12-1pm
FP+ 3 = None
ADR = Via Napoli 6:15pm
I'm. So. Tired.
Oh my goodness I am not as young as I used to be (mid-thirties, to be honest). Yeah solo adventuring is fun cause you can do what you want, when you want, but sometimes I want to do it all and it's catching up to me.
Started the day at HS. By the time I passed through bag check it was about 9:02am. I went straight to Toy Story Land and jumped in line for SDD (even though I had a FP+ for later). The posted wait time was 60min but it took 40. It's so much fun! I'm not a coaster person but I enjoyed this. I think cause of the openness of it it felt more thrilling than it probably is (compared to BTMRR or 7DMT where you feel enclosed, this feels more like a proper coaster). It might be similar to Barnstormer but I'm not sure cause it's been years since I went on that one.
I then went on the Alien Swirling Saucers. This was fun. I did a trip to Disneyland several years ago and this is just like the one they have in Cars section of DCA, only Toy Story themed of course. I enjoyed it. The wait was 20 min. Don't think I'd wait much longer.
It was now about 10am and I decided to skip TSM since I went on it the other day. I went to Muppetvision. My timing was bad cause the show had just let in so I had to wait for the entirety of the pre-show. But that was okay. I needed the air conditioning.
I then just wandered around a bit after visiting the Muppet shop. I was getting hungry and it was about 10 to 11am by now. Decided on Backlot Express. Went for a burger and it was not good at all. At least the one at AK had the full toppings bar so I doctored it up. Backlot doesn't have that and I just didn't care for it. Oh well. The fries were good. :)
I then timed my two FP+ so I could ride them back-to-back. First Star Tours and then back to SDD.
I was ready to say goodbye to HS now. This is definitely my least favorite park right now (and I'm still really, really bitter about the loss of my beloved Great Movie Ride). But before I left I decided to finally get a Butterfinger Crunch Cupcake. I've been eyeing this thing for years and never got it and now was the time! And... no good. It was in a refrigerator so it was all hard icing and way, way too sweet. And I love sweets! I ate like 3 bites. What a waste of food for me today!
So now I was really ready to leave HS. Got on the boat to Epcot, which is one of my favorite transportation methods (when you're not in a hurry).
Even though I was bone tired and my blisters killing me, I want to circle counter-clockwise around the WS so I could ride Frozen. I've only done it once and that was two years ago. It was only 1:30pm or so and my dinner not until 6:15pm so I had nothing better to do with my time (I did however get a Soarin' FP for later. There were no more Frozen ones left). The wait was about an hour. Worth it? Well maybe not but like I said, nothing else to do and one of the joys of traveling solo is making those types of decisions. ;)
Oh and before getting to Norway I got a teriyaki chicken bun from the Japan Food & Wine both. This made up for my lack of good food this day! It was a really good sweet and savory combo.
After Frozen did the Donald boat ride in Mexico. At first I though the wait time was 40 min from the app but I was looking at the meet Anna & Elsa and not the boat ride, lol. There was no wait for the Gran Fiesta Tour. :)
It was finally time for me to ride Test Track, since it was down one time I tried and the other time I was passed it was right after a big meal. Single rider line had like a 5min wait.
Went on Spaceship Earth (did I mention this is a fav of mine and I tend to do 5-6 times per trip?) and then Nemo. It was now 5pm and my Soarin' FP was 4:20-5:20pm. There was no wait though even in standby. And I just happened to be at the right place in line for B1 without having to ask. :)
I checked my watch and it was 5:25pm. I decided, yes, I have time for Land since there was no wait. Was leaving the Land pavilion at 5:50pm to go to my Via Napoli dinner at 6:15pm. Cutting it a little close.
I actually jumped on a boat to get across the lagoon which was a great time saver (the boat was already at the dock when I was walking by). That was my first time in I don't know how many Epcot trips to ever use one of those boats.
The check-in line for Via Napoli was really long but I was seated instantly. But this meal had unfortunately bad service. I was seated for a long time before my server came by to get my drink order. And then he didn't bring me any bread. I was getting pizza so it would have been overkill on bread, but still. At least the pizza was amazing delicious (I got the spicy sausage one, which really isn't spicy at all). I'm a pizza snob being from the Pizza Belt and this was top-notch. As hungry as I was I only finished half the personal pizza. I then had tiramisu for dessert which I also ate half of.
I took my leftovers with me (why not) and got up to leave Epcot. I then decided it would be a good idea to do a travel hack. Since the monorail from Epcot to Contemporary takes forever, and since I was way in the back of the WS, why not take the boat back to HS and then grab a bus directly back to the hotel?
This...wasn't a good idea. Bad timing all around. Oops! First the boat had just left so I had to wait the full 15 min for one to come. And then, of course, the bus was just pulling away as I got the bus stop and it took the full 20 min for one to come. The only bright side was there wasn't a single person on the bus going to Wilderness Lodge so the driver skipped it. But it look 90 minutes from leaving Epcot to getting home so the monorail probably would have been faster. Oh well! Life's an adventure.
I've decided to take tomorrow morning off (my FP+ and ADR are all in the late afternoon/evening). Let's see if I stick to that plan come morning time. :)
