66. Jet Setting With Me at Walt Disney World

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to spend the 4th of July at Walt Disney World? Join me as I recount my adventurous yet stressful recent trip to Disney, filled with flight woes, Genie+ challenges, and parking hacks gone wrong. But it wasn't all bad—I did get to experience the magic of Tiana's Bayou Adventure, indulge in some fantastic dining at 1900 Park Fair and Summer House on the Lake, and share some great insider tips from lessons learned along the way.

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This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher.

Transcript

Hello jet setters. I hope everyone had a very happy 4th July. If you listen to my 4th July special then you know that I have spent many 4th Julys at some of the best fireworks displays in the country mostly because it was like a national holiday in my family because it was my parents wedding anniversary. I mean it's it is a national holiday but I mean a super national holiday in my family and this year we decided that we would spend the 4th July at Walt Disney World. Now I haven't spent the 4th July at Walt Disney World since I was a cast member here and now I remember why. I spent a majority of this time that I was there whining about it anxious stressed and miserable I was. Now I do consider this my fault because as I said not since I worked at Disney have I spent a 4th July here and truly that's not anything that I would ever choose to do really. As an annual pass holder I usually like to build lots of trips into any time of year that there's an Epcot festival AKA not the summertime, but alas I found myself here during Epcot diet.

No I did not make that up. I borrowed it from a friend but isn't that the best Epcot diet? For the opening of Tiana's Bayou Adventure, the new drone show at Disney Springs and lots of new shed at Epcot plus a special Independence Day photo with Donald and Patriotic Arm. I mean, that kind of was the selling point for me. And visit seems like a valid thing. I should have trusted my instincts. This was not the time of year for me to visit and truly not something I would ever recommend to my clients who do not have to worry about school vacations. Now before I explain why all of that is true I have my usual favor to ask. If you haven't hit the check mark to follow this podcast, please pause do that and come back then you can hear me whine.

Following this podcast will ensure that it automatically downloads into your podcast feed so you can listen to every new episode. I promise I will not be whining next week, and you can be the first to learn about my travel hacks. I do mention a few on this podcast and my new group trips that we'll be doing. So sharing the pod with others and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts can help jet setting with me raise the ranks that we are now in of the top 100 travel pods. So, of course, I have a goal to be number 1 and you can help me with that. Now back to me whining. So I do have to say that the flight to Orlando was 1 of the best I have ever experienced. It was not overrun with kids, and it was early enough that I was actually able to sleep.

And I have found my favorite travel pillow of all time. It is on my Amazon Prime list, which is in the show notes. It's called the fly hugs, and it is amazing. It keeps your head upright with the neck support. And unlike a similar style travel pillow, which is also on my Amazon Prime list that I've tried in the past, this 1 did not overheat me. I am truly in love. But getting to that flight, well, that was the challenge. Again, I should have taken my own advice that I give to clients which is pick either the earliest flight of the day so that your plane is already on-site.

Picking nonstop so you don't have to worry about planes getting in and out for your connection and I should have just done that. But no, I did not want to get up at the crack of the crack for this trip. I wanted it to be relaxing and not stressful. I wanted it to feel like a vacation and not a work trip so I picked the midday flight even though it was a connecting flight through Atlanta only to find out that 2 days before my trip, there was a lot of storms in Mexico and there was a potential hurricane in the Caribbean. And guess what? Lots of southwest flights were being delayed, canceled. And as we all know from the southwest meltdown, they do not do a good job once they get behind schedule so I started to have fears. My plane was coming from JFK. What if it didn't get there? What if it was delayed and I missed my connection in Atlanta? Or worse since Atlanta is known to be 1 of the worst airports in terms of connections, what if the flight to pick me up in Atlanta got delayed? I would therefore be delayed.

I didn't have any plans to go to the parks or do anything. I just really didn't feel like I could spend 8 hours worrying about my flights. So I spent the upgrade money to upgrade to that nonstop that I should have just purchased from the very beginning. On the way to the airport knowing that it was an early flight I was in my car by 6 AM CST And if you listen to any of my Genie episodes in the past, you know that your first selection time for either the virtual queue or your first Genie plus selection is at 7 AM. So I was in the central time zone. So on the way to the airport, I went ahead. I had already purchased Genie Plus for the day, which was $30 okay. 27 for the Magic Kingdom.

And I made my first attempt to get a boarding group for Tiana's Bayou Adventure. And mind you, my friends, I have never not gotten a boarding group when I wanted 1. The 1st day of Remy, I got 1. Granted it was the 2nd drop, the 1 o'clock drop that you already have to be in the park. I got rise of resistance. I've had gotten guardians. I pride myself on knowing the hacks. And, yes, if you've heard my previous interview with Les about, VIP tours, I did know someone who understood the whole refresh and the world clock.

So I've really learned how to work the virtual queue. But this day, Genie Plus is in the process of being changed to they're getting rid of the terminology, and it's gonna be Lightning Lane's single pass and Lightning Lane's multi pass. So this would have been a light a Lightning Lane multi pass. My theory is that Disney is changing the interface in the back, and therefore, the tech, which is not known to be great tech in the first place, has changed so much and I failed. So basically, I paid $30 for Genie Plus Pass, and I never even made it to the parks. Day 2, here I am in Orlando, paid my $30, used a different hack, which I'll talk about in a few minutes, and still failed. But once upon a wardrobe had picked out my best Tiana look, and I wasn't going to waste it. So I figure, let me go to the park.

I can try for the 1 o'clock drop for the virtual queue and see what I can do. Well, parking failure. I used to, with ease, park at 1 of the resorts and take the monorail. The ticket and transportation center basically just stresses me out. I don't like to park there. It's a long walk. You're gonna walk a lot in the parks. I don't know why they make you walk a lot in the parking lots but nonetheless that is the case.

And, of course, 1 o'clock is prime heat and there is no shade on that walk from the parking lot to the TTC. So I went to go park at the Grand Floridian. Now mind you, I did have a dining reservation there. I was going to the brand new wishmaker celebration at 1900 Park Fair that evening with miss Tiana, but also Maribel, Aladdin, and Cinderella. And I was turned away flat. You can only now park at a resort when you have a dining reservation that is within 2 hours. So by now, I was turned away. I had to get into the Polynesian or I just wasn't gonna make it into the park by 1 o'clock for that virtual queue.

Again, I decided, okay, maybe a different security card, different, you know, different interpretation of the rules. So I went in and I said, I want I just want a Dole Whip. Can I please go in and get a Dole Whip? Sure you can come in and get a Dole Whip. You can either park at the Magic Kingdom or you can park at Disney Springs and take a bus over here to get your Dole whip. I mean, turned away flat. Parking hack, gone. Doesn't work. So by this point, there was no way I was making it into the park for the virtual queue, especially if I had to park at the TTC and then take either the boat or the monorail, which PS, you should always take the boat.

It's faster. So I decided I have to get to Disney Springs. I have to get my 90th Donald merchandise. Disney Springs, I figured, wouldn't be quite as hot, but thank goodness I still had all my sun essentials. I had my fan. I had my water bottle, and I had sunscreen. Because even though you can walk under the awnings, it is still mega humid mega hot mega sunny. There's not really shade.

There's just the awnings. There was nothing Tiana at World of Disney. The only thing that was there was the frickin' children's costume. Yes. I did have a cast member send me over to the children's area because there was Tiana's stuff there. I was like, this is for me, not for a child. There were no t shirts. There was no, like, opening day merchandise.

Nothing about the ride itself. For that, you do have to go to the Magic Kingdom. And don't let anyone tell you it's at the emporium. It is not. It is at the store, at the exit, and also by the entrance of the attraction. End of story there. So I did find all my Donald 90th birthday stuff, but it also wasn't a world of Disney. It was in happily ever after.

They had a lot of it, and I was very happy and I figured it was a successful trip to Disney Springs. As I mentioned, I did have dinner with the wish Makers, and I figured this way I could go to the park, get some content of the ride, and some pictures before coming back to have dinner because by now, it was early enough that I could go and park in the Grand Floridian. And, of course, just as I pull in, the clouds are overhead. Now when you park at the Grand Floridian or at the resorts now because of dining and you're not an overnight guest, you have a special parking lot. It's called Cass parking. Yes. I parked at the Grand Floridian for this dinner where I used to park as a cast member. And you can tell it's still cast member parking because there's lots of people walking with you across the 3 blocks between the parking lot and the front door of the resort in their costumes.

You literally have to get something to put on your dashboard that is dated, that says that you are going to the dining reservation for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They circle it, and you have to show it up to get through the gate, like, into the little mirror. I mean, it it is no joke. They are not letting anyone through for anything unless you are legit going to the resort. Unless, of course, you park at Disney Springs and take the bus. Anyway, it looks like there was gonna be rain so I hurried to make it to the front door before the rain hit which I did and thank you to my angels and my runner guides. Irina, that's a shout out for you. I made it inside and the rain hit, so I figured cool.

I can hang out here. I can do, some email. You know, it's fine. I'll go to the Magic Kingdom for content after dinner. Oh, do you just have to pause here and talk about dinner? It was really, really great. 1900 Park Fair is no joke. It is 1 of the only buffets anywhere at Walt Disney World that has prime rib, and it was good. They also have their famous strawberry soup for dessert and it was good.

So the food was actually great especially for a buffet. I was very impressed and the character interactions were fabulous. As I mentioned before, all of them have granted a wish. So it was Cinderella or had a wish granted. Cinderella, Aladdin, who rubs the genie, it took me a minute to get how he had a wish. Mirabel and Tiana. So I'm sorry. They're not wish granters.

They're wishmakers, and they all had their wishes come true. And it was 1900 Park Fair is so beautiful. It's very pretty. The new art is gorgeous, and the service was great. So even though I definitely do miss not having a meet and greet with, Anastasia and Drizella and the evil stepmother from Cinderella. I really did love meeting Mirabel and Tiana, and I would definitely recommend this this character buffet dinner. After dinner, as I mentioned, I figure, okay. Now I can rock the monorail 1 stop over.

I can go in. I can get my Tiana merchandise that I didn't get at Disney Springs and, you know, take some pictures before I finally attempt to get on the ride yet again. Guess what? I get on the monorail, and there starts the thunder. And I decide the last place I need to be when it starts raining is in Frontierland. When a ride goes down and there's, like, no indoor buildings. The closest 1 is Pecos Bill's Taco Stand. I was like, no. Not doing it.

So I stayed on the monorail and just basically had a 30 minute ride around on the monorail. I didn't even get off and have a cocktail to make it, you know, the the famous ride around that we used to do where you would stop at each monorail station and have a beverage. It's as much fun as drinking them around the world, I might add. But here's where I must mention a a tad bit about monorail etiquette. Because first of all, when you're in an empty cabin, which I was because everyone got off at the Magic Kingdom, you do not need to sit next to me. And if you are sitting up close next to me and rubbing my shoulder, please do not take your shoes and socks off. I mean, seriously, do I really have to tell people at this late date in the game that that is not okay? Yes. I moved but still.

Okay. Day number 3, I decided to take a break from the stress of trying to get a boarding group and head to Daytona Beach and have fun with some friends of mine that live there. But that night, I was gonna meet some local friends at Disney Springs, wait dinner reservations at a new at a new restaurant for me, which is really key. As anybody who knows me knows, I am a foodie at heart, and I love to try every single restaurant at Walt Disney World. Like, I can't think of any new ones that I've never been to at Epcot. I think I've eaten at all of them. It's just a thing for me. So I was really excited to eat at the new summer house, and they have a view of the drone show.

Cool Until we get there. Had to park in the Grapefruit garage. For those of you who are not familiar with parking at Disney Springs, that's basically BFE. It was a half mile walk from the garage to the restaurant only to find out that the restaurant does have a view of the drone show, but we would not be having 1 because the ceilings are too low and you have to stand on the patio, which you can only do if you have a reserved seat out there, which we did not because I couldn't get 1. And there was no way I was turning around and going back out in the crowds. The crowd, it felt like I was on Main Street at the Magic Kingdom Kingdom right before the fireworks. I mean, Disney Springs, it was crowded. It was hot.

It was humid. It was truly unexpected, and I was overwhelmed. And the line for Gideon's just to get in line in the virtual queue, it was a for sure not happening. Now I do have to pause here again and see the food and the service at Summer House on the lake, fabulous. And they have a cookie bar. Gideon's or not, they have a cookie bar. It was awesome. The cookies are really good.

The selection's pretty amazing, and they're huge. Totally different from a Gideon's Bakehouse cookies. So I definitely recommend getting a few of your own. And it was good to have 1 on the half mile hike back to the car after dinner, by which time I am going to tell you I was sweaty and exhausted. But yet, day 4, I got my ass out of bed at 6:45 ready to try again for a boarding group for Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Spoil alert. Success. I got 1.

So let me tell you, I chose virtual queue this time instead of Genie plus. So even though this is going to be a moot point, in 2 weeks when Genie plus goes away, and you'll be able to make advanced lightning lane selections. At this point, you have to choose whether you wanna go virtual queue or Genie plus, meaning pay for Genie plus and make Tiana your first request at 7 AM because by the time you do 1, the other 1 will have sold out or quote, unquote filled up because there's a limited number that are set aside for the day to manage the crowd. So this time, I decided I was not gonna put any money behind it and then get held out, like, meaning pay for something I wasn't gonna get. So I went virtual queue this time and I used the bg 1 bookmarklet, let, which I'm not gonna go into a lot of details here because if you want, quote unquote, a better chance, you have to use a travel adviser who knows about the bg 1 bookmarklet, which I will also give a shout out to Nikki of travel with Nikki, who you have heard on this podcast before. We did minions land together at Universal. She taught me this hack. So I know both she and I can help you with your selections even once the game has changed.

So I did get a boarding group, and I got boarding group number 1. So, yes, I wanted a boarding group. No. I didn't have to pay for Genie Plus to get it, but I wasn't I'm not staying at a Walt Disney World property. And I couldn't even begin to grace Main Street with my presence until 9. Wrong. As per ush, and again, I know this and I tell my clients this, Disney opens the parking lot early. The gates open early too so you can go through the ticket toll plaza.

But, technically, you're not supposed to be able to go past the castle hub unless you're a resort guest until 9 AM. But now even that seems incorrect because my boarding group, boarding group 1, got called to come to the attraction at 8:47. And that meant that my hour ran out at 9:47. So you have an hour to get to the attraction. The app is now very clear when your hour runs out. So So I was literally watching a ticking clock. Now I do know that there is technically a 10 minute rule that if you get there within 10 minutes of your time running out, you're supposed to be able to still get on the attraction. But based on my past 3 days and the whole parking hack not working and then having to pay for Genie plus and not getting my number 1 ride selection, I just did not wanna push my luck.

So I upgraded my free parking to preferred, which was actually cheaper than purchasing Genie plus. I took the boat. Shout out to the lovely British couple from York who I met on the boat. They have been to all 50 states, and they were amazed that I, as an American, could say the same thing. I managed to have no line at the ticket entrance because they do have an AP, an annual pass holder entrance, but they couldn't scan my ticket on my phone. So, again, to all of my clients, when I tell you get a MagicBand, it makes your life easier. I mean it. Get a MagicBand, it makes your life easier.

I was being extra because I don't have a Tiana band yet. I had planned to buy it at the store. So I wasn't wearing Magi Band. But I did manage to walk through the stores on Main Street to avoid the crowds. And I mean, I made it to the attraction and scanned in for my boarding group with 2 minutes to spare. So I was at the parking lot toll plaza at 9 AM, and I got to the ride 45 minutes later. I mean, that is what we call stress on the ride itself. No spoilers here.

It was fanciful. It was magical. I love the music. It's very well done. You can tell it's of the modern age because they use graphics and videos. And it left me with wanting to get off and turn around and do it again and questioning why. If I wanna choose to wait an hour or even 2 in line to ride, that that should be my choice and being annoyed as fuck that Disney is not giving me the option to ride it more than once per day. Now I know they say the virtual queue is for a short time, but Tron's been open for a while and it's still on virtual queue.

So I expect Tiana's Bayou Adventure to be on virtual queue for a while and therefore to have no chance to ride it more than once a day. And I guarantee you I'm not getting up at 6:45 again on this trip to do that. Now I did manage to have a hack for my patriotic photo on July 4th at Epcot where I literally want to go in the park, take my photo and get out of the park because I have no business being in a park this week. It's too fucking crowded. It's too fucking hot. It's too fucking humid. But that is literally a 1 day a year photo op, and I promise you I will never be here again on July 4th. So I did make a reservation for Kate May Cafe at the beach club in the morning so that I can park at the beach club.

Now there is a $10 fee for that. When I don't show up, they will charge me $10 for it, but I figure again $10 to save my feet some walking is even less than I paid for the preferred parking to make sure I got to Tiana's Bayou Adventure. So okay that's fine I'll take it. This allows me to parking at the beach club to walk in through International Plaza which is closer to the American adventure. Not close mind you but closer than coming in at the very front of the park. It also makes it easier for me to exit the park and the parking lot at Epcot, like, I'm not even sure if they're running the trams yet again. It's nonsense. Now by 4th July again after the patriotic photo, I knew I did not want to be in the park on the 4th July.

Yes, I do realize I will not be able to see the castle projections but also my husband is here and mister jet setting with me doesn't have a ticket to the parks. So I did make before we even came a reservation at Citricos at the Grand Floridian Beach Resort where you do have a view of the fireworks and they do pipe the music in. So some of my hacks are still at work. Well, that's it for me, jetsetters. I'm out.