Fest 3 of 4 complete! Getting Artsy FARTSy Days 3 & 4

Day 3 - EPCOT
After a very late night I still set my alarm for 6:57 a.m. While I was in the MK for after hours I noticed G+ was the cheapest it's been for this day the last 2 weeks. I planned to spend the whole day in EPCOT and wanted to get to some of the rides I'd skipped either in December or wasn't willing to stand for more than 30-40 minutes in line for, so I bought it. Right at 6:59:59 I refreshed to get in the Guardians VQ then got a LL for Remy. The Remy return time was perfect for when I wanted to be in that area of the park. I also bought a LL for Guardians. It was a pricey day but G+ really allowed me to enjoy my time in EPCOT without much in the way of queues. I also could chill and take my time getting ready knowing there was less pressure to get to the park for early entry.

Having learned my lesson about breakfast the day before, I mobile ordered a kids' Mickey waffle breakfast meal from the food court and ate in my room. Much better than a sad lukewarm ham sandwich from Sunshine Seasons! I got to the park around 10 a.m. and my Guardians VQ time had been called about 45 minutes earlier, I think I was drying my hair when the push notification came in! I hit a milestone this time - I finally got the last song of six possibilities! I needed to get Everybody Wants to Rule the World, and after I don't know how many times in nearly two years of riding it the randomizer was finally in my favor. I was able to book a few more LL selections to stack in the afternoon, but modified one of them for a "right now" time on Soarin' over CA, which had a 60 minute wait. I wandered through Moana Journey of Water and did standby for Spaceship Earth and then returned to Guardians for my LL return time.

After completing everything I wanted to get done in the front of the park, I went back to France to ride Remy and then enjoyed my afternoon very leisurely loitering around World Showcase. I nibbled at the food booths, my favorite dish by far being the bread bowl of melted brie from France, accompanied by the frozen martini that tasted like a sweet tart. Delicious! I grabbed a beer from the Pub again and sat down by the water of the lagoon enjoying the sunshine. It had been chilly and windy most of the week and this afternoon finally warmed up a bit and the wind had died down. I also shopped for some prints and postcards and got some adorable art to decorate my office with. At long last it was time for dinner at Via Napoli! I had really been looking forward to eating here, I usually skip the sit down placed in EPCOT since there's so much food to try during festivals, but honestly while I really liked a few things the overall food booth choices this fest weren't doing it for me. I enjoyed my personal pizza and Aperol spritz, the service was prompt and very friendly. I'll certainly be back here fest or no fest!

After dinner I got a seat for that evening's Disney on Broadway concert with Ashley Brown (the OG Broadway Mary Poppins) and another actor from The Lion King. The show was great but I preferred the set from the Kissy Simmons show earlier in the week. All the artists are incredible and the shows are built to showcase their signature roles and strengths. He did an incredible rendition of They Live in You from Lion King, which is my favorite hidden gem from that show. After the show, it was time for my Frozen LL so I went over to Norway, shopped around a bit in the store there dreaming about when I'd have the disposable income to afford Helly Hansen or Dale of Norway, and stopped in at the bakery for a School Bread. I walked back through WS to the International Gateway and went back to POP before Luminous because I needed to get packed up for an early checkout the next morning.

Day 4 - Checkout, Studios, Meatballs, and travel home
It was checkout day, whomp whomp. I had packed up the night before so all I needed to do was get up, throw the rest of my odds and ends in my backpack, eat the rest of my leftovers for breakfast, and took my bin to bell services. The looooong line for the Skyliner snaked back past the 50's buildings but it moved much more quickly than the day before and in about 20 minutes I was on my way to Studios. I made it in plenty of time for early entry and rode Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway before the gates opened to day guests. Slinky was down but opened around 9, though I had no plans to wait 80 minutes for it. Instead I took advantage of low lines at Tower and had a great ride. While in line for Tower I placed a mobile order for a Black Caff and Ronto Wrap in Galaxy's Edge. I wasn't planning on doing Rise and the LL's were only available for times long after I'd be leaving the park. However, a 10:35 a.m. LL opened up. I needed to be heading out by noon to get to the airport and there's always the risk of the ride going down but I decided to chance it. YOLO book it, I always say.

So after Tower I took my time getting over to GE, got my food, and still had about 45 minutes to go before I could scan in at Rise at 10:30. If the ride remained up and there were no delays I would make it out of the park in plenty of time. I also figured if the ride went down and didn't come back up before I had to leave I would politely talk to Guest Services about a possible refund but I knew that wasn't going to be a guarantee. Since I had time to kill I opened the Play Disney Parks app and explored the interactive features of Batuu. I wandered around hacking panels and making random buttons make noises. It was fun but as someone who doesn't enjoy escape rooms, puzzles, or video games that involve more than three buttons much of it went over my head. I then scanned into Rise and got to experience the joy of participating in the attraction while being distracted by the anxiety that the ride could go down any minute and I'd be stuck there and miss my flight. Why do I do this to myself, lol. We were held in what I thought was an egregiously long time in the interrogation room, but I usually feel that way when captive in an enclosed space. There may have been a slight delay in loading or unloading from the ride vehicles because once we were on it we had no glitches or issues, and the final Kylo Ren animatronic was working. After saving the galaxy, I headed out while shopping for some last minute gifts for family and then hit the Skyliner back to POP. I was so happy with how my morning in Studios turned out! I feel like since there are so many popular but fickle rides there that any of them could have a "delayed opening" or downtime you can either get a lot done from open to noon or get almost nothing done during that same time. I guess I got lucky this time!

I grabbed a Lyft to the airport and sailed through a very dead Security in Terminal C. I was still there in plenty of time, about 2 hours before my flight back north. Although I have soured on Jet Blue in the last couple of years, sometimes they are still my best option for nonstop flights and one of the bonuses is Terminal C has the best food at the airport. I did some school work to catch up on procrastinating the last couple days and enjoyed my favorite meatballs with polenta and a glass of wine from Wine Bar George. Boarded the flight without any issues and made it home in time to go to dinner with Husband.

Parting Thoughts
I really enjoyed the Festival of the Arts! While I thought the food booths were not as good as Food & Wine or Holidays, I liked the vibes so much. Art and performing arts get so overlooked and undervalued, in my opinion, in our society. Funding gets yanked from schools, after school and child care programs, and tickets to see live theatre often get so expensive many people are priced out from enjoying it. We place emphasis on innovation and technology that the craft of what can come from a human's natural talent becomes secondary. As a lifelong dancer and patron of the performing arts, I always enjoy the live entertainment at WDW but to have an entire festival dedicated to art just made my heart sing. To see kids' reactions to the sidewalk art, to listen to their favorite songs performed in German by the woman who did the singing voices for Disney films dubbed in German and then talk to her afterward was so sweet to see. I only hope that when families return home from this festival they continue to support local artisans in their area.

After Hours is pricey but worth it to me, especially on a short trip. I wish I could have done it in Studios, and maybe next year I'll try to align a trip with one of those nights. There is one in EPCOT on my April trip but I feel like unless I only do laps on Guardians that one isn't as worth it to me especially since I'll be spending most of that trip in EPCOT during the day.

Speaking of my April trip, I have that one all set for Flower and Garden Fest! I am renting DVC points at Boardwalk, so I am really excited to stay within stumbling distance of both EPCOT and Studios. I'll be back in my PTR in a couple months to share some plans for my 4th (but maybe not final!) fest of this AP year. As always, thanks for reading!

You really pack a lot into your trips!! Thanks for reporting and I'll be looking forward to your visit to the Flower & Garden Fest!!

You know, every trip I try to tell myself "you don't need to go that hard" but ultimately I wind up doing it anyway. I guess as long as I am able bodied and well enough to do it, carpe diem. I am sure I'll slow down one of these days, but today is not that day.

I liked reading your trip reports! Thanks to you, I am learning the differences between the various festivals. I think that I will enjoy the Festival of the Arts eventually.

What a great couple of days. I really hope to visit during Festival of the Arts, it sounds awesome. And I agree, Slinky may be fun, but not worth waiting 80 minutes!