WDW Prep To Go - a Disney World planning podcast
July 2024 - day 1 (Epcot Lightning Lanes)
- Hello from the Orlando Airport. If I could show you their iconic carpet right now to the front I would, I am singing the Starbucks Canada that is by baggage claim waiting for the luggage to come out. We are starting our trip. We are here specifically to test out the new lighting lane system and make sure that we are well-versed and how it all works. We were just in Marceline, Missouri, the hometown of Walt Disney and where things like Main Street and ending the day with fireworks came from. So we did that with a group of patrons and Heather and I had both been to the Marceline hometown museum before, but this time we did it with a private tour and it was far beyond anything I could have imagined because our guide, one of our guides was somebody who grew up with Walt and then in fact lives in his former home now and her stories are very, very personal and she is a great keeper of the information and the legacy and she is just very, very passionate and kind and it was eight hours that we got to spend doing a guided tour at the museum and then going all up and down Main Street and out to the Walt Disney farm. So if you are near Marceline or have any interest in the history, I highly recommend doing it and if you can do a tour I think that is going to be a good way to do it because I've been before and didn't do the tour and I got a lot more out of it this time if you don't do a guided tour, they'll give you a self guided bit of information at the museum so you can go and explore a bit on your own but anyway that was a really, really great experience I love hanging out with the patrons and so many people brought their kids and the kids got to know each other and they're passionate about all the Disney things so if you are one of those kids listening to this love hanging out with you but we flew directly from Kansas City to Orlando bright and early this morning and we are here to go test lightning lanes we actually have a lightning lane within an hour and a half to Edepcot. We are staying at Riverside and our room is already ready which is really nice. I assume it's still just not very busy which has been the trend this summer so it was easier to have our room ready in this case but we will have lots to share with you over the next several days and specifically about the lightning lane system. I'll be back later from the works. Hello at 3.30 from Edepcot. So we arrived, we took a meeting man from Riverside to Beach Club and entered the International Gateway of Edepcot because we had our binny sliding lane at 11 so we arrived and we are pleasantly surprised at the low crowds which I know has been basically the trend this summer and it is hot but it's like 88 degrees hot not 98 or 105 degrees hot which is a difference and it's really cloudy which makes a huge difference as well. So we just started, our goal is just to get really familiar with the lightning lane system so that we know the ins and outs and the nuances and all that kind of stuff. So we just started redeeming lightning lanes and booking our next one as soon as we tapped in and we got like one of ours turned into a anytime experience and those can't be reading for tier one level rides but they can be reading for anything else and we kind of just turned and turned and turned and turned and we were able to get a soaring lightning lane as soon as we tapped in for remis and that was like at noon or 1130 or something like that. So pretty easy, we went on a lot of things and had a real easy time. I think the system has improved over the few days since it launched which has been nice to see. I'm actually glad we arrived a few days later so we can test it and use it when it's been updated and improved because we had really a lot of luck here. So anyway, got lots and lots of lightning lanes, different attractions, sat down and had a beer from the festival favorites and watched the Encanto show. Beautiful, I love that area with all the greenery and landscaping and stuff. We could have had more lightning lanes but there is a big storm coming and so we are at the bus stop heading back to our resort now but really good start to our trip. We only got a few hours of sleep last night because we were up at three o'clock this morning to head out for our flight and so we were having a lot of anxiety about our ability to go in the parks and do all the things but we felt really good about it. So we're gonna head out and go back to our resort and get some water and snacks and dinner there and I'll be back later to let you know how that park goes. - Hello, 11, 36 p.m. I am editing today's podcast together for Patreon and the main feed and just realized I didn't do a final update. So after we left Epcot, we came back to Riverside got some food delivered from a grocery snack drink kind of items and we headed over to the food court at Riverside and got some food to go. You may not find everything that's available in the food court via mobile ordering, especially the Cajun food, which is what we wanted. So we had to go in person, which is no big deal, there was no one there but we were trying to get into our room before the storm came 'cause there was a big storm system and the Olympics were on tonight. So we thought if we get in, we can just stay in and watch the Olympics while we have our food and snacks and that's exactly what we did. So we are now, I'm recording this late because we finished watching the Olympics and now we're getting all these things uploaded and we had a really good day. It was kind of a partial park day because we just flew in but we are gonna have a few days now where we are rope dropping and tomorrow that will be at Hollywood Studios. I'll be back tomorrow from there. [BLANK_AUDIO]