Quick Bay Lake Tower Stay

Earlier this week, we spent two nights at Bay Lake Tower.  While driving to Bay Lake Tower, I was able to secure group 43 on Tron.  Once we arrived at the resort, I went to the desk as I had not yet received my usual "Your room is not ready" e-mail.  After checking at the desk, the e-mail was sent to me.

Since we still had time before the park opened for early entry, we walked over to the Contemporary and had a quick breakfast at Contemporary Grounds.  A quick monorail line deposited us at the Magic Kingdom and we walked in on the tail line of the early entry area.  We headed to Peter Pan as we headed been back since it reopened.  Except for the Native American scene, the rest of the attraction looked spiffier but mostly the same.  We did seem to notice the shadow area in the line wasn't working - I'm thinking they might have eliminated this (which would be fine with me since folks get so busy making shadows they forget to keep the line moving).  That morning, we also visited Jungle Cruise,Pirates, and the People Mover.  We hadn't been to the reimagined Country Bear Musical Jamboree.  The audio did not seem to be particularly good.  The only other comment I would have is that it might grow on me over time.  Our time for Tron finally arrived and, for some reason, the interior line moved much more quickly than usual.  I was glad of that.

We took the monorail back to the Contemporary and got some lunch from the quick service which we brought over to the Outer Rim to eat.  (Does anyone remember that years ago, the Outer Rim was a full service dining location?  My spouse and I once ate a nice dinner there when it was a designated restaurant.)  While dining, we received notification that our room was ready.

After retrieving our belongings, we got settled into our room and rested for a bit.  After a shower and change of clothes, we went downstairs for our dinner reservation at Steakhouse 71.  We were back in our room in time to see the fireworks from our balcony (We were in a theme park view room).

We don't rush to get up in the morning.  We take the two monorails to Epcot and are circling the park just as they are letting everyone in.  We start with breakfast at Starbuck's.  We visit Soarin and Living with the Land.  Since i'ts such a hot day, I think we will do some of the indoor shows but I notice Remy's is listed as a 35 minute stand by line so we head there.  We have our glasses and there are several parties ahead of us when a announcement is made that the ride is temporarily shut down and a re-opening time is unknown.  Surprisingly, we were provided with a lightning lane pass to return later.

By time we left Remy's it was time for our lunch at Space 220 so we headed there and enjoyed a lovely meal.  The skies were dark and threatening when we exited and it was clear it had already rained while we were dining.  Still, Remy's was now open and we were able to ride.  Rain wasn't far behind so we hustled to the monorail and made it back to our room only getting slightly wet along the way.

Later, we ventured out and made stops at each of the monorail stops (except ticket & Transportation and Magic Kingdom).  Our last stop was the Grand Floridian where we enjoyed a cheese plate along with drinks.  We returned to our room in plenty of time to view the party fireworks at 10.

Checkout morning has arrived.  We pack up everything we have scattered in the room and stow it before taking the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.  After a breakfast from Starbuck's we join the tail end of the early entry line which is now entering the park.  This time, we head to Buzz Lightyear and also visit Winnie the Pooh, Haunted Mansion and Winnie the Pooh before making our way out of the park and back home again.