November 4 – 14, 2020 day 7 – Should have been Wine and Dine races

Tuesday 11/10/20

Up just before the alarm and had bagels in the room. Sadly this would be the last time to see Heather and Ryan this trip. They gave us leftover drinks they had and Heather and I had long, tight, squeeze hugs goodbye with a few tears. Just didn’t want to let her go! We were the second group waiting for the bus to MK. We even got a couple mug refills while waiting! When we got on the bus we seated were in front of the group that was before us. It was two young adult daughters and their mom. One daughter had been to WDW once before but this was the other and the mom’s first trip. Well we got to talking with them and made fast friends! We gave them some advice on a couple things, they were really well researched, so they didn’t need much. We found out they had lunch reservations in Cinderella Castle but no dinner reservations. We told them about ours at Skipper Canteen and they were going to try to see if they could get one! We were in the park by 8:30, again very efficient security and bag check. It’s so nice to leave the backpack on now and just hold out metal and electronics in front of you! SO much faster! We went straight back to 7DMT and rode that and Peter Pan’s Flight before official park open! Now that’s the way to rope drop! We rode HM, checked out Memento Mori, and rode Pirates all by 9:30! On HM I finally found the hidden Mickey I had been searching for, the one in the specter’s hand by the opera singer in the graveyard. Finally! We were going to head to Pooh but passed that up at a 15 minute posted wait for Teacups, Dumbo, and Under the Sea, all of which were walk ons! This was great crowd levels! Never underestimate the power of getting there early! Then we hit up Pooh with the same 15 minute posted wait, which actually worked out to be about 10! After Pooh we were feeling a bit empty in our bellies so we got the bacon mac and cheese tots from Friar’s Nook. I had been waiting for those for a long time! They were very tasty! The bacon had a bit of a smokey flavor which I liked! We saw a thunderstorm rolling in so we took cover under the awning at Philharmagic. After it rolled through we thought about staying and watching it but they said it would take about 20 minutes to reset it. Since we weren’t even in the building yet and we had done quite a bit we decided to go back to Pop for a break and do laundry. We had just a 5 minute bus wait at 12:30 and were home in 12 minutes! Not bad at all! We had leftover chicken and crackers for a nice lunch.

We did the laundry, rested for a bit and then got ready to head back to the park for the late afternoon, dinner and the evening. We left our room at 3:45 and were on a MK bus and pulled away from Pop at 3:48! Not kidding! The bus gods were with us! We were back in MK at 10 minutes after 4:00! We camped out at the benches at the bridge to Liberty Square to try to catch some cavalcades, and boy did we! We saw the toy soldiers and the Main Street Philharmonic. Shortly after that the princess float came by! Ariel blew me a kiss! Just a little after that the Mickey and Minnie and friends came by. We could have reached out and touched the Mickey and Minnie float, we were that close! We got some great character pictures being that close. Finally Santa Claus came through! It was a great time and perfect spot! We packed up for our Skipper Canteen and our dinner in the jungle room. Oh my goodness! This was our first time there and very highly recommend it! We had wonderful skipper interaction and the steak was absolutely awesome! So good and juicy and tender! We saw our new friends on the way out and were so happy they scored a reservation!

After we finished we went to the hub to see the Castle projections. Wow! They were simply amazing! The dream lights were absolutely awesome but Disney did such a great job this year with a changeup. I really, really liked these so much! It’s just incredible what they can do! We video called Lauren and Ben so they could see and they loved it! After seeing some changes and spending a good bit of time there we went over to HM for a complete walk on. I do love that ride at night! Then we headed over to Peter Pan for another walk on. We found a villains blanket and some villains socks in the store at the exit of Philharmagic for me to use my race gift cards on. Since Wine and Dine turned virtual they gave everyone some e-gift cards that kept their registration It worked out perfectly. With social distancing the carousel had been having pretty big wait times so we decided it was now or never. It was time for the final ride of the night. We got in line at 7:50 and rode it after park close. On the leisurely stroll out we saw the backside of the Castle all lit up and also some fresh projections we hadn’t seen yet. So we wound up seeing all of the projections! It was a very short wait for a bus since they kept rolling them in.

Steps: 22,296
Miles: 10.05