A Trip to Mordor

October 18, 2024

*taps mic* “Is this thing still on?”

Yes, it has been a bit. My personal and professional life have been pretty chaotic and that leaves little room for being snarky on the Internet. However, ya boi is back with more sarcasm, hyperbole, ostentation, and mockery that you can shake a Mickey Premium Bar at, so let’s look at our (Brandi and me) August trip.

Our Annual Passes expired in September, so the plan was to squeeze one final use out of them. We simply couldn’t afford to renew this year. It was the wise choice, even if it was accompanied by weeping and gnashing teeth. With no future trips on the books (another source of bitterness), it seemed the right decision. All we could really swing was an extended weekend, but we were determined to get to our happy place one last time in 2024.

While it is obvious that August isn’t the perfect month to be in Central Florida, I still underestimated the conditions. “Hot” does not encompass the blistering inferno that greeted us from the moment we stepped off the plane. Even while waiting for our Lyft at the airport, we had to step back inside to escape the brutal environment. We know how to Disney. Even in the heat, we know how to Disney. That said, the sweltering heat overshadowed the entire trip. Did we have fun? Of course. We know all the AC sanctuaries in the parks. However, it was oppressive. On the nights we retired back to the resort to have a cocktail and sit by the pool, it was too balmy to enjoy it. I normally overpack, but I didn’t foresee needing three shirts per day. By the time the bus showed up to get us to a park, I was soaked through. I know I’m really punctuating this, but it cannot be overstated: we will never go again in August.

Now that the ghastly weather talk is out of the way, let’s talk about the trip! We stayed at POP Century in a preferred king bed room. It was as convenient as a preferred room at POP always is. It was an equal distance between the Skyliner and the main lobby. It was also ready at 9 AM, which was terrific because our flight arrived at 8:30 AM. The food court was being refurbished during our stay and it made getting coffee every morning challenging. I tried mobile ordering on the first two mornings, but both days I waited over fifteen minutes for two coffee cups. No food. Just two coffee cups. So, then I tried just going to the makeshift cash register and trying to purchase two coffees and the cast member didn’t even know how to work the register and just gave me the cups for free. To her credit, that was not a normal part of her job, and I was simply trying to skirt the mobile order process since it wasn’t working well. The last morning we were there, I was sent on several side quests just to find an urn with coffee in it. As I said, a challenge.

On our first day there, we hit up Animal Kingdom. No Genie Plus for AK or EPCOT, so we played it laid back. I had purchased an Individual Lightning Lane for Flight of Passage, but we had no other concrete plans that day. We had lunch at Flame Tree, which is always tasty. We said our farewells to A Bug’s Life. We sat out a rainstorm at Nomad Lounge. We also took the Wildlife Express train back to Rafiki’s Planet Watch for the first time. We did the animation experience, which was fun, but the train is probably an every other trip attraction for us.

We went to Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner that evening. We started with drinks at Victoria Falls Lounge, which was also a first-time experience. We loved the vibe in that lounge and the comfy chairs! We had dinner at Boma that evening, and we probably won’t be back.

HOLD ON! HOLD ON! PUT AWAY THE PITCHFORKS!

The meal was fabulous. We have had Boma for breakfast a few times, but this was our first dinner experience. It lived up to the hype. The soups were a highlight. The Cinderella story of the buffet was the ribs though. I gave them a stern look and the meat fell off the bone. The entire meal was great, but neither Brandi nor I can justify that price tag for the tiny amount we can eat. Stupendous meal, but for us, a poor value. We discovered several times on this trip that we can save a lot of money by splitting meals.

After dinner, we went back to the resort. We had begun our arrival day waking up at 3 AM in St Louis to catch a flight, so we were exhausted. It was a fun arrival day with several first-time things for us.

I had every intention of covering the whole trip in this article, but here we are at 845 words, and we’re still on day one. I’m being wordy today. Okay, we’ll pick it up again soon, I guess.