Spontaneous Pandemic Trip: Day 2 – Saturday

Spontaneous Pandemic Trip: Day 2 – Saturday

We figured Saturday would probably be our busiest day, so we decided to aim for getting to Magic Kingdom for rope drop, or as close as we could manage. I’d heard they are letting people into the parks a good bit before rope drop but still not letting them into the varying lands / onto attractions until opening time and we wanted to make sure we didn’t end up in big lines because everyone was to the parks way earlier than we were.

We made our way up Main Street and finally got to see the castle since she had her makeover and she is beautiful!! I really wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the pink but the bolder blue of the turrets and all the ribbons and bunting and extra adornments just make the whole look and it’s perfect.

The coffee pot in our room did not look super clean, so I skipped on making my own coffee this trip and I was desperately in need at this point, so we stopped at Starbucks for coffee and a little snack and sat outside the Plaza Restaurant to eat.

We just took it all in, reveled at being in the park and were awed at how quiet it was. Our first ride of the day was Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. The posted wait time was 40 minutes and we waited a whopping 13 minutes for it.

We stopped to check out the store near Gaston’s, which is full of gorgeous Disney artwork, before making our way to Frontierland to ride our fave Magic Kingdom ride: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

We were going via Fantasyland and were going to be walking right by Haunted Mansion, so we figured we could spare the 15 minute wait and stop. The wait only ended up being 8 minutes, so it was definitely a good decision.

We got to Thunder Mountain and it said 5 minutes, which we all know really means it’s a walk-on, so we rode it twice!

I think this is the first time we’ve ever done this, but we really just rode things in the order that made sense based on where we were. Pirates of the Caribbean was closest, so we left Frontierland for Adventureland to visit our favorite swashbucklers, which was also walk-on.

We checked Jungle Cruise next and it said 45 minutes. Given how much shorter the wait times had been than posted, we probably wouldn’t have waited that long if we got in line, but neither of us loves Jungle Cruise enough to actually be willing to wait that long, so we got raspberry swirl Dole Whips, instead.

While that’s an adequate lunch for me, it really isn’t for my husband, so we stopped and he got himself Buffalo chicken egg rolls, too. And I failed at taking pictures of any of those things, so you get a picture of the Adventureland sign, instead.

Tomorrowland is often our first stop of the day, but it was our last this time. We walked straight onto Space Mountain (posted wait time was 25 minutes. We finally got to the end of the queue to the loading are and just could not believe how deserted it was!

I know I said Thunder is my favorite Magic Kingdom ride, but People Mover is, too. So we took a break from all the fast walking from getting on so many rides so quickly and relaxed on the People Mover before jumping in line for our 2nd longest wait of the day: 11 minutes (posted 15) for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.

We were about ready to head out and remembered I said I wanted to go on Small World (so I could see the new colorful paint job), so we headed back over to Fantasyland and, you guessed it, walked right onto Small World.

It still wasn’t even 2:00 yet and we were basically done with Magic Kingdom. We headed to Main Street to hit the shops on our way out and spotted a PhotoPass photographer all by herself, with no one asking to have their picture taken. We did not buy Memory Maker for this trip so I wasn’t planning on getting any photos, but I asked as we approached if she was allowed to take cell phone pictures and she happily said “yes” and reached for my phone.

We closed out our last time in Magic Kingdom for the trip with some awesome photos before heading back to the hotel to change and head over to Epcot again.

As we were leaving the park, I thought I saw lightning, and as I was asking my husband if he saw it, too, it thundered. We managed to make it to the bus stop before the rain started and managed to catch a relative break in the rain as we walked back to the Swan.

When we stepped outside again to make our way to Epcot, we honestly could not believe how outrageously, disgustingly humid and steamy it had gotten after the rain. You could almost see the air it was so thick.

1st food stop was the Griddled Cheese in Greece. While I left my husband in line for that, I kept walking to Japan, where I intended to get the teriyaki chicken bun and find a table, but the line was the longest Food & Wine line I’ve ever seen (by a lot) so I skipped to finding a table and we decided we’d try the bun another time.

Next up was Spain for the paella and a table by the World Showcase Lagoon.

After Spain, we made our way to The Alps, where we wanted the Raclette (without ham) and I decided to give the frozen rose a second chance (not that I hated it last time, it just wasn’t anything spectacular).

While I was getting that, my husband got himself a beer flight and apple strudel in Germany. We actually managed seats for part of this eating adventure and got to enjoy views of Spaceship Earth while we desperately hoped for a breeze.

We wanted something sweet (and air conditioning) so we made our way back a couple countries to the America pavilion and got the festival funnel cake and a table to sit at inside the rotunda.

We had plans to head to Future World for some rides, but we stopped in Norway for Frozen Ever After again, just because it felt like we’d already gone so far and there was so much more to go and I really thought I was going to melt.

We regretted riding Frozen even more this time than we did the prior time, so we decided to leave, go take quick showers, and change our clothes AGAIN, and go back to Epcot for the rest of the evening. On our way out, we stopped for a Guinness Bailey’s Shake in Ireland and my husband got whatever the special Joffrey’s drink was at the stand between Canada and the UK.

We thought we were in the clear for rain as we left again and started for the Boardwalk, but we felt some drops not too long after we began walking and ended up hiding under the Jelly Rolls awning for about 10-15 minutes while it poured. When a break came, we made our way to AbracadaBAR and figured we’d grab a drink and a snack to wait out the rest of it. We got our drinks but realized it seemed to have stopped, and since they were in plastic cups already, we just took them with us for the rest of the walk to Epcot.

By the time we reached the International Gateway, the storm had completely dissipated, the air was cool and less humid, there was a breeze, and the weather was absolutely spectacular.

We made our way to the little food booth area that’s not in the World Showcase, probably the area we were most excited for. I refer to this as the Test Track area and it has Flavors from Fire (which has my favorite food from last year), Lobster Landing, Mac + Eats, and the Donut Box. We absolutely feasted and had a fabulous time enjoying each other’s company and the gorgeous weather.

We wandered through Mouse Gear again on our way over to ride Spaceship Earth, then went back for Donut Box (the only booth of the 4 from earlier that we’d skipped) for some dessert before deciding to call it a night.

World Showcase Saturday night during Food & Wine festival is always busy and this was definitely the heaviest crowds we experienced of the whole trip. Lines were longer but not unmanageable and it was just a little more squished in some areas and a little tougher to find a table, but we never resorted to trash can tables or kinda just balancing with food in our hands, so I still count it as a win.

We’d originally planned on watching Epcot Forever, but neither of us really loves that show and decided we didn’t feel like dealing with the crowd that would accompany it.