Author: Mark

Mark works as a [REDACTED] for [REDACTED], currently residing in Iowa. CoffeeBear.net is a place for him to blather on about whatever strikes his fancy. He currently spends his "free" time working on a photography project, playing with his cat and attempting to keep his wife happy (not necessarily in that order).

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run So for the first time in many a year, Michelle & I took a proper vacation. We’ve been back from the vacation for nearly two weeks and I’ve been meaning to write up my thoughts but I keep getting distracted from doing so. I’ve been asked multiple times by different people how it went; so below is what I’ve been saying to those I’ve talked to about it. Also, you can find all my photos from the trip in my WDW Vacation 2022 album on Flickr.

While I’ve been to amusement parks before; this was my first time at a Disney park. My number one tip for going to Disney is to have the trip planned by somebody who loves you. All the reservations (flights, hotel, parks, & meals) involved in a such a trip makes planning it a nightmare; but fortunately for me, Michelle decided to tackle all of that work herself. My only contributions to that phase of the trip was getting the time off from work and making sure there were funds in the vacation account. This made things super easy (for me), for which I’m grateful for all the love my wife showered me with. Thanks love!

My second tip is stay at one of the Disney resorts. Their easy transport options to all of the parks made it simple to retreat back to our hotel when we needed a break. This is more important than I realized before going to Walt Disney World; as there are very few places for people to sit down in the parks. The few spots that are there were almost always full of other people. For somebody on the older side and who tends to be sedentary, walking around the Disney parks got exhausting. Being able to retreat to the hotel to relax was a blessing.

My third tip is to try to schedule time at each of the parks both during the day and at night. Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios was especially spectacular at night. Admittedly, it was harder to navigate the parks at night; as so many people were wearing dark colors and the streets weren’t brightly lit. Though if at all possible, don’t do both times on the same day. If you try to do it all in a single day, it would be easy to over do it and get burned out.

Best Rides

  • Hollywood Studios: Star Wars – Rise of the Resistance was balls-to-the-walls amazing… when it was running. We rode it our first day/first ride and got in after about 90 minutes, even though the line was huge. At the end of that day, the line was half the size, so we decided to try it again. We got about halfway through the line when it broke down 2-3 times and we were kind of stuck in place. We clocked it as taking 3 hours to get through the line the second time. We were also stuck near some really annoying people; so that wasn’t as fun an experience.
  • Magic Kingdom: While Haunted Mansion was a very close second; Jungle Cruise just managed to edge it out with the delightful patter that our guides used during the ride.
  • Epcot: Soarin’ Around the World is this wicked ride where they strap you into a seat and then lift you up in the air in front of something like a curved IMAX screen. Shaking you around to match the aerial video footage of various spots around earth. We only got to ride it our last day at Epcot; but if I’d known it was as cool as it was, I would have insisted on riding it sooner
  • Animal Kingdom: Flight of Passage was basically an Avatar themed version of Soarin’ Around the World. It’s all special effects rather than real video, but just as amazing… EXCEPT to maintain their immersion into the Avatar stick; when the ride started/stopped they flashed a bunch of strobe lights at us to signify the link to our avatars being opened/closed. The bright strobe lights were an instant headache for me. If I realized that was going to happen, I’d still happily have ridden the ride, but would have closed my eyes before the strobes started to avoid that pain.

Best Food

  • Hollywood Studios: Free-Range Chicken à la King at The Brown Derby
  • Magic Kingdom: Pot Roast at Liberty Tree Tavern
  • Epcot: Filet Mignon at Le Cellier Steakhouse

Best Drinks (DisneyDrinkathon)

  • Hollywood Studios: Fuzzy Tautaun at Oga’s Cantina
  • Magic Kingdom: Modern Fashioned at The Brown Derby
  • Epcot: The Nebula at Space220

Before I left for vacation, as I was signing off from work; I sent my co-workers a message telling them to have a good weekend and that I’d see them in a couple weeks after I have a delicious mai tai… Or two or three and who cares I’ll be on my first real vacation in ages. Since I sent that message, I couldn’t resist keeping track of all the lovely adult beverages that I enjoyed while on vacation. Hence, the group of photos I’ve taken to calling my DisneyDrinkathon.

Michelle and I once again participated in the EFY race. We showed up late decided to be extra socially distant. We still finished and even weren’t dead last. Though I’m still feeling stiff & sore from it.

So there I was eating my breakfast when all of sudden it sounds like the pipes in our bathroom exploded (don’t worry the pipes are fine). It turns out the city was doing some work on the sewer line down the alley by our house. The hooked up a suction truck on one end of the alley and a camera truck on the other. When they turned on the suction, it pulled all the water out of drain pipes, including all the p-traps. Naturally, this let sewer gases to bubble up into our house, which was… unpleasant to say the least. On the bright side, at least I wasn’t using the bathroom when it happened. So I Got That Goin’ For Me, Which is Nice

Just realized I’d not posted this here, but our bathroom remodel is functionally complete. We still need to do a bit of painting[1]We decided to wait on this till spring, both to give us time to settle on a color and so we can open the windows to air the bathroom out while painting it. and add some accessories (e.g. hand towel holder, hook for robes, etc.). With that said, the new bathroom is already a household favorite; as evidenced by the photo to the right. As for me, I’m finding it glorious to be able to take a proper shower in my own home again. The new shower just feels so much bigger, brighter, cleaner than the old one. To the point that the first day I used it; I was awfully tempted to call in sick to work, so I could stay in it longer[2]For the record, I was just able to resist the temptation.

Notes

Notes
↑1 We decided to wait on this till spring, both to give us time to settle on a color and so we can open the windows to air the bathroom out while painting it.
↑2 For the record, I was just able to resist the temptation.