No Lightning Lane Trip report 3/1 - 3/6

To preface, this was the first trip since 2015 for me (21), my brother (14), mom (42) and and step-dad (42). We had been to every park besides Epcot. This was the first time at Disney in general for my little sister (8) and girlfriend (20)

We stayed at All Star Sports and I did early entry every day, Epcot with my brother, HS / AK with my girlfriend and siblings, and MK with my girlfriend.

DAY 1 / MONDAY / EPCOT

Cosmic Rewind (30 Minutes)

Rope dropped with my brother to get this without an insane wait. As somebody who has regularly visited Cedar Point since I was 12 years old, this is best ride I’ve ever been on. The pure giddy when you are launched back and hear September while going into a void of nothing; but everything at the same time, it’s an unmatched feeling.

Nemo (Walk on)

Met up with my family and hopped on this as my sister and girlfriend’s first ride. This was even less of a ride than I expected, but I still enjoyed it, it was a cool pre show for the Aquarium which is truly a sight to see!

Soarin’ (5 Minutes)

Was really excited for this, did not disappoint. There is a smudge on the screen that was a bit distracting but it really didn’t take away from how cool the experience was. My family loved this one; everybody was raving about it as they got off.

Living With The Land (5 Minutes)

Very atmospheric. Was cool seeing Chip and Dale meet people at Garden Grill during the ride. Obviously not very thrilling, but I learned things and everybody enjoyed it.

Gran Fiesta Tour (Walk On)

They pulled out a special individual seated 6 person boat for our party. Good time. Nothing about this ride is really cohesive but for the location of the ride and it being a walk on, it was a good time.

We felt content with what we accomplished here as the rides started to gain extensive wait times and went back to the hotel around Noon for a few hours.

Guardians pt. 2 (90 Minutes)

When we got back to the park, we wanted to re-ride Guardians with everybody, so we got in a line that was advertised as 50 minutes but ended up being 90 by the time we got on. Was still worth it. Got September again, but was an equally fun experience. I did notice that in early entry we got to sit in darkness alot longer before the Rewind actually occurred. Not sure if they run the ride faster later in the day when it gets busier, but the longer the anticipation built, it made that first launch so amazing.

By the time we got off Guardians, it was starting to get dark and my sister was hungry so her and my parents went back to the hotel. Around this point, I see a Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmix Rewind hat in the gift shop, and realize my hat is missing, spend about thirty minutes outside of the ride waiting for it; which was a bummer due to wasted time, but I do greatly appreciate the staff that helped me get my hat back! By the time I did get it back, the park was starting to prepare for the firework show, Test Track hadn’t dropped in time at all, and we would have felt guilty riding Frozen without my sister so we just walked around World Showcase as everybody lined up along side the water. Cool way to experience it. Absolutely have to come back here though, way bigger than I anticipated, don’t feel like I completed the park in the slightest. Not even 50%, but it was still a good day!

DAY 2 / TUESDAY / HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Toy Story Mania (10 Minutes)

Walked in and saw the stampede of people headed towards Slinky and basically walked on to this while they got it up and running. This is the first ride this trip I’ve been on before, but even if I remembered some of the set pieces, this is a ride that can be re-rode as much as you want and still be fun.

Meeting Woody and Jessie (40 Minutes)

Longest wait of the day wasn’t a ride, but a family picture with Woody and Jessie. Good vibes, the characters were great. If I wasn’t with my family, there is no way in hell I would have waited anything more than 15 minutes.

Rise of the Resistance (25 Minutes)

Headed to Galaxy’s Edge after getting refreshed and meeting a few of the characters at Pixar Place. I’m not huge on the sequel trilogy of Star Wars; but there was some stuff sprinkled around the land that shows love to all of the previous movies, it was fun to see the pods from Episode 1. The ride itself, not my favorite. In fact, potentially my least favorite of everything thus far. I don’t usually get motion sickness at all, but the speed the vehicle moves enough was just slow enough for my body to register how much it was being thrown around and my stomach was killing me on this ride. The drop actually made me feel a little bit better and was my favorite part of the ride.

Tower of Terror (15 Minutes)

Just as the ride was about to pull out to let us out, it broke down and we got to walk off. Honestly got the best of both worlds here, as we got the whole ride and a backstage tour of one of the most iconic rides after the fact. Decided it was time for a break after this.

Pixar Place / Walt Disney Presents

Returned about two hours later to meet Sulley before he left and it started to rain as we were next in line and they sent Sulley home for the day. Disappointing but not much of a big deal, spent most of the rain in WDP, which was a good use of time that otherwise would have been wasted.

Slinky Dog Dash (20 Minutes)

When the rain started to clear up, we walked past Slinky with a 20 minute wait and immediately hopped in line. Right after we did, the line doubled. I liked the ride but we got on so fast that I honestly feel like I can’t have an unbiased opinion. If I waited an hour for that, I would have been severely underwhelmed.

Runaway Railway (20 Minutes)

Good ride. Catchy song. Enthusiastic cast members. Fast wait. Overall positive experience. Not much else to say here.

Meeting Mickey and Minnie (50 Minutes)

Jesus, these character lines are hell. I’d say this one annoyed me most though, because you can’t even knock them out together. I honestly look a little pissed in the picture with Minnie because it was then I realized I still had another line to wait in.

Fantasmic

I was fighting for my life to stay up for this, but we got great seats and everybody enjoyed the show. First time watching it, and I thought it was a little long, but wasn’t disappointed.

This park is very atmospheric. Looking back on it no ride was necessarily a standout favorite but everything about the park ties together very nicely and creates an elite park experience. I can’t wait to see what is in store for Monstropolis.

DAY 3 / WEDNESDAY / ANIMAL KINGDOM

Expedition Everest 3x (Walk on 2x, 5 Minutes 1x)

This coaster is nuts. I know how much shit it gets but the yeti is easily my favorite part of this ride, they don’t need to fix it. I knew it was a broken animatronic going on, and I still thought it would grab me out of my seat. The morning mist was covering the mountain too, making it that much atmospheric. What a ride.

Kilimanjaro Safari (55 Minute Wait)

The wait here was long, but it was because the weather was perfect for the animals. We saw everything and man, was it awesome, this is truly a legendary experience that everybody should see at least once. Anybody can go to a Zoo, but the animals have a whole different spirit when you can tell they are comfortable, with more than proper care and a natural habitat. Shoutout to all the Animal Kingdom employees keeping this entire exhibit afloat!

Afternoon break around 11:30 because it started to warm up and we got our two must-do’s out of the way.

Meeting Judy and Nick (50 minutes)

Another decent sized wait to meet the Zootopia characters. No way in hell would I have done this without my whole family.

Zootopia: Better Zoogether (Walk On)

I thought this was really fun, crazy because I’ve seen nothing but bad things, the effects were awesome and it was a nice little break.

Kali River Rapids (Walk On)

Yea, this ride isn’t great at all. I’ve ridden better versions of this elsewhere, my biggest gripe is there was nothing to look at, and that’s usually where Disney excels. You can tell this was a last minute addition, but after all this time, they could have added some stuff to it.

Flight of Passage (30 Minutes)

This ride legitimately hurt the muscles in my face because I couldn’t stop grinning. Such a fun time, I wish it was like a minute longer but it was truly a spectacle and I understand the hype now.

Animal Kingdom is such a sincere park. It feels stripped down of all the glitz and glamour the other parks have, and focuses on the experience, I can understand why people might be a little worried about Tropical Americas but I hope it all turns out well. It honestly might have the best rides off of Everest and Flight of Passage alone.

DAY 4 / THURSDAY / MAGIC KINGDOM

Tron (30 Minutes)

This was fun and atmospheric, but I really am not a fan of the layout and how short it is, the most thrilling part of the ride is the first 5 seconds and the next 35 is Guardians from Temu. I feel like if the dark room was first and you went outside at the end of the coaster, it would be better.

Pirates (Walk On)

One of the more fun drops on any ride, don’t get the story though if I’m being honest, the only thing I took from it is that Jack watched over the rest of the Pirates in the background and ended up the only one to make it out successful.

Stitch Meet and Greet (20 Minutes)

This meet and greet line surprisingly was not bad at all compared to any other one, which surprised me, the location might have something to do with it, not complaining at all though.

Monsters Laugh Floor (5 Minutes)

At first I was really bored but they pulled me in by the end, wish we saw more of Mike himself though, but I understand why he can only appear for pre-recorded bits.

Barnstormer (10 Minutes)

A very rough 30 seconds, the fact that this is the primary kids coaster here is wild. This legitimately threw me around more than anything else. Not to say it isn’t fun though, just probably time to refurbish it.

Mickey’s Philharmagic (Walk On)

Donald deserves primary billing here, what are we doing? Mickey appears in approximately 1 minute of this. It was a very fun show though, I want more 3D Shows at Disney, they are a good time.

The amount of strollers, heat, and the general layout of the Magic Kingdom was really pissing me off by the afternoon, so I decided to make my mid day break and made it the longest yet.

Small World (10 minutes)

This ride fascinates me. The amount of working pieces here that have been functioning at least ten hours daily for as long they have is something to be in awe about. A core staple of Disney.

Space Mountain (10 minutes)

This ride hit the same for me as the first time I rode it as a kid; even after riding Guardians, and honestly, I think this is the better than Tron. Girlfriend said it was lame; I said she was lame. Space Mountain is the shit.

Swiss Family Tree House

The views from up here late night are top notch. Not much else to say about this attraction, it’s just steps, would be cool to see this rethemed to Tarzan.

Little Mermaid (walk on)

Last ride of the trip since Pooh was closed before fireworks unfortunately, I can’t believe this is under 15 years old; if you would have asked me I would have thought it was made in the 90s, but my girlfriend was having fun.

Happily Ever After (1 Hour Wait)

This wait to get a good spot here is not for the weak. The show in general was awesome and a great way to end the trip but the chaos before and the stampede after the fact is no joke.

Magic Kingdom was my least favorite park by far. I feel like it’s currently in a state where it feels very condensed and obviously it has the most people. Wasn’t a terrible experience but this park may currently feel the least magical of the bunch.

Favorite Park: Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom, honestly could have been Epcot if I spent more time there.

Favorite Ride: Guardians wins here, but Expedition Everest, Flight of Passage, and Space Mountain could all be strong contenders for the top spot

Favorite Food: Caprese Chicken Sandwich, don’t know they manage to make this cheese so good when it has the consistency of plastic, but it takes the cake

Favorite Souvenir: Scar Popcorn Bucket, didn’t even get this refilled because carrying it around was such a pain in the ass, but something about this thing just takes me back to being a kid. I also got my two pins with Tarzan and Turk, and Mike and Sulley from the post credit scene of Cars.

Overall, I’d say I had a great time but I’m probably cool on Disney for a few years, at least until the Monsters coaster has been open for a little bit. I could see myself grouping an Epcot trip in with a Universal trip whenever I go to check out Epic which I want to do soon. I also would say Lightning Lanes aren’t necessary , I can understand them being useful, but more than not, I was basically walking onto rides with a minute to cool down in the AC, and only waited longer than 30 minutes twice for two experiences worth the wait.