2020: The Year of the Ever-Changing Trip

[Tigger's ally]

The Tomahawk veal chop was really good, but I didn't get the best cut. I think if I went again I too would do the Filet but would ask to have the potatoes I had with the veal. They were very good. Great night out with the 3 of you girls. And Natalia is already getting the sense of when to be dressed up and on her best behavior and when to to be 100% a little girl!

I also saw a thread before going about the beds at the Riv and I was meaning to see exactly what they were, but never did. Very comfy. Best beds I have ever had on property.

 

[Tink0812]

When we planned this trip, Monday December 7th was originally scheduled to be a Disney Springs day but a few weeks before the trip we decided to make this another park day. Magic Kingdom again! Park hours were 8:00am-8:00pm. We chose MK because our previous MK day was on a Sunday and we were worried that the large weekend crowds would keep us from doing everything we wanted to do. This ended up being a great decision. Rope drop was calling our names again, so we were once again up at 5:30am. We still had some left-over pastries from our previous Primo Piatto order which served as breakfast in our room before we left. Everyone was ready and we were out the door by 6:30am heading to the bus stop.

We were the only ones at the bus stop for Magic Kingdom on this particular morning. The first bus headed to MK arrived at 6:45am and we were off the bus and through temperature checks by 7:15am. Security started allowing people through at 7:15am and they dropped the rope promptly at 7:30am. Remember that park opening wasn’t scheduled to be until 8am on this day! This time when we entered the park, we chose to split up. My parents headed towards my mom’s favorite ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. While DD was big enough to ride this one, she decided she didn’t want to. Meanwhile, DD and I were first in line to ride Peter Pan again. Right before we got off of Peter Pan, my parents sent a text saying that Big Thunder Mountain wouldn’t be opening until 8am so they were coming to meet us by Peter Pan. They decided they wanted to ride Peter Pan so we rode again. This time DD rode with my dad while my mom and I rode together. It was about 7:45am when we got off of the second round of Peter Pan so we decided to take a bathroom break. The only other ride open before 8am on this day was Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train and DD didn’t care to ride that again.

After our bathroom break, we noticed that a line was beginning to form at Haunted Mansion so we decided to go ahead and join it while we were in the area. It opened just a couple of minutes before 8 and we walked right onto the ride. Due to COVID precautions they are not doing the pre-show with the stretching room right now. Instead, you just walk straight through it. After Haunted Mansion, my parents headed back in the direction of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad since it was up and running. While they rode that, DD and I rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. We were off of the Magic Carpets of Aladdin before my parents were even on BTMRR so we went to the Jungle Cruise. Being that it was the Christmas season it was all decked out as the Jingle Cruise. I had not been on this ride in many many years and this was a first for DD. We waited about 15 minutes to get on it and we had a good time but the wait time was 60 minutes by the time we got off. I would not have waited an hour for that ride.

By the time we disembarked from our Jingle Cruise, my parents were waiting for us by the exit. From there we went over to Pirates of the Caribbean since we had not been able to ride it the previous day. The wait time was posted at about 20 minutes and the line looked much shorter than what we had witnessed the day before. When I was younger, I remember being scared of this ride, but DD loves it. After PoC we ventured back to Fantasyland. My dad had his sights set on a LaFou’s Brew. The line was obnoxiously long on Sunday and almost as long on this day. He decided it was worth the wait though, so he jumped in line. While my dad was waiting for the LaFou’s Brew, my mom, DD, and I rode Under the Sea with the Little Mermaid and Dumbo. As we were walking back to Gaston’s Tavern we ran into my dad. We pulled to the side, away from the crowd to lower our masks and enjoy our delicious drinks.

From there we went up to Main Street to get some shopping done in the Emporium. On Sunday, the line for the Emporium was constantly long. On this day, there was no line. At least not that we ever saw. Naturally we bought a few things in the Emporium then we browsed some of the other stores on Main Street. About the time we finished shopping, the character cavalcades started for the day. We got to watch a few of them before heading to our lunch reservation. My mom took pictures again while I videoed them. Of all of the new things Disney has put in place since the beginning of this whole COVID adventure, the thing I really hope they keep is the character cavalcades. They are so much fun! The fact that they are at totally random times helps prevent large crowds from forming.



While we were waiting for our reservation a couple of friends came out to wave at the crowds. We saw them there one time later in the week too. I'm not sure if they alternate which characters come out up there to wave at people or if it is always Piglet and Rabbit. We only ever saw Piglet and Rabbit.


Right after this, the skies opened up and it started raining.

Lunch was at 11:40 pm at Tony’s Town Square. We previously had it scheduled for 12:35 but after seeing how early we were ready for lunch on Sunday, my dad decided to look into moving our lunch up. Luckily, they had an 11:40 reservation available and he snatched that right up. Tony’s Town Square always seems to get such a bad rep but it is one of our go to restaurants. We always enjoy it! Is it like an authentic Italian restaurant, no but it is still really good. For lunch, my parents both had an appetizer of the garden salad and entrees of chicken alfredo. They really enjoyed the chicken alfredo but didn’t care for the salads. The salads had spinach and arugula in them, and they prefer iceberg or romaine lettuce. My dad really enjoyed the bread service, and he is not usually one to eat bread. DD had the cheese pizza, apples, and a cupcake. Being as picky as she is, she doesn’t like most of the sides that Disney offers so I ate the apples. She really liked her cheese pizza and her cute cupcake though. The cupcake was so cute. The icing was designed to look like spaghetti noodles. It had strawberry jelly for the spaghetti sauce and chocolate cake balls for the meatballs. DD was in initially confused as to why there was spaghetti on the top of her cupcake but once we finally convinced her that it wasn't really spaghetti and meatballs she thought it was hilarious.

For lunch I had an appetizer of the caprese and the entrée of spaghetti with the impossible meatballs. My spaghetti and meatballs were wonderful, but they changed the way they do the caprese and I didn’t really care for it. The just did cherry tomatoes and mozzarella pearls instead of the slices of tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. It didn’t have the balsamic glaze on it either. Bellies full we headed back to the room for some much-needed rest and relaxation.

Let's stop there for now as I am nearing my photo limit for this post!

 

[Tink0812]

Let's finish out Monday December 7th.....we left off with everyone leaving MK to head back to Riviera for a little rest and relaxation.


We headed back to Magic Kingdom around 4:30pm. DD, my mom, and I rode the teacups then DD drove my mom around in the Indy cars at Tomorrowland Speedway. Growing up the wait times for Tomorrowland Speedway were always ridiculously long. I never saw them over 10 minutes on this trip even with the large crowds.



Once we completed those couple of rides we headed up to the hub for the real reason we came back to MK, to watch the castle lighting. We saw a character cavalcade while we were waiting.




The castle lighting was beautiful, but people were definitely not practicing social distancing in the hub so instead of sticking around to see the different projections on the castle, we slowly made our way out of the park to head to our dinner reservation.



Dinner on this evening was scheduled for 8:15pm at Whispering Canyon Café. Originally, we had planned to take a boat over to WL but they boats were not running on this evening. We aren’t really sure why but guessed it was probably due to the temperatures. Disney buses were the only method of transportation offered to WL so that’s what we did. Once we got to WL we admired the Christmas décor and looked around their gift shop, making a couple of purchases of course.



Then we headed out to Geyser Point for appetizers and drinks. They had the heaters on for this particularly brisk evening. For appetizers, DD got a small bowl of their homemade chips and they rest of us shared the charcuterie. It was okay but not what we expected. Definitely not a traditional charcuterie board. For drinks, my dad got a beer of some sort, DD had a lemonade, my mom had a margarita, and I had a banana cabana. Our drinks were all delicious.

After our appetizers, it was time to check in for our dinner reservation. We checked in via the mobile app then spent some time in front of the fireplace to wait for our table to be ready.


The main reason we enjoy this restaurant is the delicious skillets they serve. My mom, dad, and I shared the traditional skillet. It was delicious as always but they did change a few things since the last time we ate there. Some changes were good, some were not. For example, I did not like their new BBQ sauce. It was super tangy and had a mustard base. DD had the macaroni and cheese, french fries, and chocolate chip cookies with milk . It was pretty sad to see that all of the ridicule and lighthearted fun were gone. The last time we ate here, it had been drastically reduced but it was completely absent this time. Either way, it was still good food and a great atmosphere. Our waiter (I wish I wrote down his name) was really nice and talkative.

When dinner was over we headed to the bus stop with plans to catch a bus to Disney Springs and transfer to a Riviera bus. This particular evening was pretty chilly and there was already quite a crowd at the bus stop. A bus arrived shortly after we arrived to the bus stop. It said Disney Springs on it and some people got off of the bus. When people started boarding the bus, the driver said he was done for the evening and made everyone get off of the bus. It was about 30 minutes before another Disney Springs bus came. Once we got to Disney Springs, we didn’t have to wait long for a Riviera bus. On the way back to Riviera, my dad placed another mobile order for Primo Piatto. We got a couple more small loaves of the wonderful banana bread for breakfast the next morning.

 

[tundra1]

I am enjoying your report so far! We had the same thing happen to us. Cruise got cancelled and became an extended trip to WDW instead. Masks and all, we had an amazing time! We are now rescheduled for our cruise in February of 2022. It won't be a holiday cruise, but by then, I am hopeful that the pandemic will be over. Thanks for all the great information!

 

[Tink0812]

We have arrived at Tuesday December 8th, Hollywood Studios Day! Park hours were 9:00am-7:00pm. We were up and getting ready for the day at 6:30am which was a little later than our previous days. My dad was on it with trying to get a boarding group for Rise of Resistance and we were able to get boarding group 76. He was on the app right at 7am using the Wi-Fi at Riviera from within our room. We headed towards the Skyliner at 7:30am and were on by 7:40am. Keep this in mind as it was advertised that the Skyliner would only start running one hour before park opening, which would have been 8am.


We did have to wait a little bit once we got to DHS, but we were moving on through the temperature screening at 8:15am. From there, security was a breeze, and we were through the turnstiles a short time later. Knowing how quickly the line develops for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad we went straight there. The line was already decently long but we were on the ride within 15 minutes and honestly, I think we waited 5 minutes before they even started the ride. Keep in mind that this was still before park opening.

This was our first time on Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad and we really enjoyed it. We knew what to expect because we had watched a few Youtube videos prior to our trip. By the time we got off of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad the wait was over an hour. We headed straight to Slinky Dog Dash. The wait was posted at 40 minutes and we waited about 25 minutes. I did grab some hot coffee and hot chocolate for our wait. It was only about 40 degrees that morning. This was DD first time on Slinky Dog and she absolutely loved it. The previous night she had said that she didn’t know if she wanted to do it anymore because she thought it would be a little rougher than Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train. I was very happy that she agreed to go on it as it ended up being her favorite ride.

Since we were in the area, we went to Alien Swirling Saucers after Slinky Dog Dash. My parents chose to sit this one out. It was about 15-minute wait. This was a first for both DD and me. We enjoyed it but we wouldn’t have waited any longer for it. The next most sensible ride was Toy Story Mania since we were already in Toy Story Land. The wait was posted at 30 minutes, but we were on in about 15. Everyone rode this one and we had fun as usual. This was the first time that DD was actually able to understand the games and participate.


Next up was lunch! Our reservation was at 11:40am at Sci-Fi. This was another one that we could check in via the app. We checked in 20minutes early (the earliest allowed time to check in). DD loves eating in a car and watching the movies while eating so this one has turned into a go-to for us.


It was the perfect environment for showing off her new light up princess bow that she got earlier in the week.



For lunch, we shared an appetizer of fried pickles. For entrees, DD had chicken strips with French fries and an ice cream sundae. We have learned that most places had French fries available as a side for the kids even though they were often times not listed on the menu. DD also got the specialty drink here. It is basically just a character cup (Little Mermaid in this case) with a light up character attachment. The menu has it listed as lemonade that goes in the cup but you can substitute any drink. DD had apple juice this time around. My mom had the Beef and Bleu Burger I believe. The menu has changed since we were there so I can't quite remember what dad and I had. I do know that I substituted onion rings for the fries. It was delicious as always!

We will continue this day in my next post!

 

[Tink0812]

We left off with us enjoying lunch at Sci-Fi on our Hollywood Studios day. After lunch we went over to Muppet Vision 3D. This was a first for DD and she really enjoyed it. We had to wait about 20 minutes for it but it was a great activity for immediately after lunch. My dad and I had been tracking the boarding groups for RoR all morning and at this time they were still in the 40’s. They hadn’t even started boarding groups until 9:30am. We weren’t sure if the ride was down at the beginning of the day or what but it was taking a long time to get through all of the boarding groups.

To pass some time we walked through the Star Wars area. My mom ran into one of the shops to get a t-shirt for a friend’s son. Meanwhile, I placed a mobile order for some blue milk from the milk stand. DD had saw this on a Youtube channel she watched and had her mind set on it. She was very happy with it.


Knowing that we still had a few hours before our boarding group would be called, we headed back to Riviera. My mom didn’t really have any interest in riding Rise of Resistance and DD was in desperate need of a nap. Once they were safely back in the room, my dad and I headed to Bar Riva for a drink and to wait for our boarding group time. We met a couple there that were also passing time while waiting on their boarding group. They had ridden RoR before and reassured us that it was worth the wait. They were just a couple of boarding groups behind us. Once it reached boarding group 60, we headed back towards the Skyliner and back to DHS so that we could make sure we were there in plenty of time. We walked around DHS for awhile taking in the sites and Christmas décor. Our group was finally called around 4pm.

Let me clarify that while I have seen all of the Star Wars movies and understand the storyline, I am in no way a Star Wars fanatic. We chose to ride Rise of the Resistance just simply to experience the new ride and technology. The ride itself was pretty cool. I was not a fan of the multiple pre-shows and steps to getting to riding the ride. Even though we entered the line right at the beginning of our boarding group time, the line was still easily 40-45 minutes and then there were so many other steps to actually getting on the ride. I could have done without all of that. Technically DD would have been tall enough to ride this, but I think all of the pre-stuff would have scared her. I’m glad we didn’t have her ride. My mom probably wouldn’t have liked it either.

Dad and I headed back to Riviera promptly after our ride. We had dinner reservations at 8:15pm at Trattoria Al Forno on the Boardwalk and wanted to make sure that we had time to pack and change before getting back on the Skyliner. We took the Skyliner around 7:30pm to Epcot then walked over to the Boardwalk. We arrived at Trattoria right at the 20-minute mark and were able to immediately check in. This restaurant was a first for us and we all enjoyed it. We will definitely be headed back here in the future. The bread service was delicious. For dinner, DD had a cheese pizza with mixed fruit (that I ate) and vanilla gelato. My mom had the Pizza Margherita. My dad had the Oak Grilled Strip Steak. I had the Pizza de Capicollo. It was super good! If we went back for dinner again, I would definitely order it again.

It was late after we finished dinner, so we walked back to the Skyliner and flew back to our resort. Another busy day meant that everyone slept well again. This was our last night at Riviera!

 

[Tigger's ally]

I liked RoR, but for me it is ranked behind FoP and splash. Love the immersion in all three but FOP gives me the most.

For those that havent been to Al Forno, the steak was good. Not a Boathouse or Yachtsman steak, but still a very good steak.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Hey Tink, your things you liked about the Riviera needs an update!

THE SMELL! OMG, I have candles now.. I have face mask sprays...I love that smell! Not to florally, not to cheap smelling. Just perfect.

 

[Tink0812]

Hey Tink, your things you liked about the Riviera needs an update!

THE SMELL! OMG, I have candles now.. I have face mask sprays...I love that smell! Not to florally, not to cheap smelling. Just perfect.

Hey Tink, your things you liked about the Riviera needs an update!

THE SMELL! OMG, I have candles now.. I have face mask sprays...I love that smell! Not to florally, not to cheap smelling.

I can't believe I forgot about that smell! It was truly wonderful! I also have the face mask spray and love getting to smell the Riviera every day.

 

[Tink0812]

Another day, another trip report update! We have arrived at Wednesday December 9th. If you had followed my pre-trip report you would know that my parents had originally planned to go home on this day so our Riviera resort reservation ended on this day. Throughout the course of planning they ended up extending their trip by a couple of days to match the length of time DD and I had planned to be there. DD and I were switching resorts to Art of Animation in a Little Mermaid Standard Room. My parents moved to a preferred room at Pop Century.

DD and I were up bright and early at 5:30am to finish packing and get ready for the day. My mom slept in but my dad got up to help us with a few last minute packing things. DD and I said goodbye to Riviera and headed to the bus stop at 6:30am. This was the coldest morning of the trip as it was near freezing. The bus arrived at 7am sharp and we were the only ones there to board. It was kind of nice to be the only ones on the bus. While we are talking about buses, let's talk about something that I have yet to mention since beginning this trip report. The way the buses are being managed is totally different than before. No more crammed buses with standing passengers. When the bus pulls up the driver comes out and asks you how many people are in your party. The seats inside the bus are numbered and you are assigned where to sit. There is proper social distancing between different parties and partitions set up in appropriate places. There is no standing allowed now. While this means that fewer people are on the buses, I did notice that the buses seem to be running more frequently and on more than one occasion I heard a bus driver radio in the exact number of people that he/she left behind at the bus stop. I assume this was to ensure that the appropriate number of buses were headed in that direction. Bus rides were much more enjoyable on this trip!

DD and I spent the day at Animal Kingdom. Park hours were 8am-5pm.

I just love the Christmas tree at Animal Kingdom! Once we arrived to AK, we were able to get straight into the park. It seems that only things that were open though were the two Avatar rides in Pandora. We didn't really have an interest in them so we walked around until Starbucks was open. We grabbed a quick breakfast at Starbucks then headed over to jump in line for Kilimanjaro Safari.



The safari didn't start until 8am but they opened the line at 7:55 am so everyone could make their way through the long queue. One thing that was different is that they were not allowing strollers through the line anymore. You used to be able to take strollers the majority of the way through the line then they would take them and park them for you. Now, you have to park outside of the entrance to the ride. Not a super big deal this early in the morning but I could see how this could be troublesome later in the day with a super long line and an exhausted toddler.


We were on the second safari vehicle of the day and were able to see most of the animals on the identification board. Our driver did note that it was too cold that morning for a few of the animals to be out, especially the new baby giraffes and rhinos. I'd believe it. This was the only morning that the cold actually bothered me. My fingers were so cold.


We got an extra long safari because a white rhino decided to get out in front of our vehicle and walk very slowly down the middle of the road. After our safari adventure, we went to It's Tough to be a Bug. I was thinking that it would be a nice break from the cold but that theater evidently is not heated as it was just as cold in there as it was outside. I am not a big fan of the show itself. I just don't like bugs and every since I was little the part where the bugs "crawl" out of the seats just creeps me out. DD had never seen the show though so I though it would be nice for her to see it since none of the other shows are up and running in AK. She hated it. As in, asked to leave a few dozen times. There were several families with children that got up and left during the show but we stuck it out. She swears she is never doing it again.

DD needed a little time to recoup after that so we decided to look around a couple of the stores to see if they had hats or gloves or something to keep us warm. We had already bought a blanket earlier in the week but forgot to bring it with us. Packing that one big fluffy blanket was going to be hard enough so we really didn't want to buy another one. We struck out on the hat and gloves but I found DD a cute hoodie. It was 75% off too since it had the year 2020 on it. They had all things with the year 2020 on it clearanced down. From there we went over to Asia to check out the times for the bird show. The time that worked best with our schedule was the 10:30 showing so we made a mental note to circle back around for it. DD had not seen this show yet either and I haven't seen it since 2013.

Next up was Triceratop Spin. Dinoland was looking pretty sad with almost much everything shut down. DD enjoyed Triceratop Spin. Then we went back over to Africa to hop a train to Rafiki's Planet Watch. About the time we were doing this, my parents had finished getting ready for the day and were taking all of our luggage down to bell services to be transferred to our respective resorts. They had a day planned at Epcot; however, Epcot didn't open until noon so they were going to Disney Springs for a little bit to do some shopping. While DD and I were waiting on the train for Rafiki's Planet Watch, my mom began texting about their bus issues. This was really the only time all week that anyone of us experienced bus issues. Disney Springs was set to open at 10am. Buses were advertised as running an hour before opening. My parents were at the bus stop around 9am because of that. By 9:30am there still wasn't a bus to Disney Springs and there was a little crowd forming at the bus stop. Eventually someone went into Riviera to ask about the bus service to Disney Springs and they were told that there should have been a bus by then. I think the bus finally showed up right at 10am.

DD had fun at Rafiki's Planet watch. She loves the petting zoo area.

Around 10:00 we decided that we had better start heading back to the train station if we wanted to make it to the bird show in time. I'm glad we went back when we did because we had to wait 15 minutes for the train. While we were waiting we found out that my parents had finally made it to Disney Springs. Once we got off the train and located the stroller we had to walk quite quickly to make it to the show on time. We made it though and DD loved it! She proclaimed that this is her favorite thing in all of Animal Kingdom now. I didn't take too many pictures as I was just enjoying the show.



After the bird show, it was time for lunch. We had a lunch reservation at 11:15am at Yak and Yeti. This was a first for us! DD had mini corndogs, applesauce, and Go-Gurt. This was probably the meal that she ate the best the entire week. I had the Teriyaki Chicken. It was delicious!

Let's go ahead and stop here for now! This day will be continued in my next post.

 

[Tigger's ally]

I still think the best Christmas tree on property is the one at the Wilderness Lodge. Just fits so well in there with that big fireplace and all the wood.

 

[sheri18]

Following. We are going in January. Staying at the Boardwalk. wis now we looked into the Rivera. Looked so nice. Your daughter is adorable

 

[Tigger's ally]

My wife and I have stayed at both the BW and the Riv. We like both. I have always said that the BWI and villas were the perfect location. Walk to Epcot and DHS. But, with the skyliner, you can get to both from the Riviera actually easier so I think it trumps the location. It is expensive though. We got 45% off and a one bedroom cost us over $600 a night.

Oh, and thanks for the compliment on the little grandtinker! She is sooooo much fun! Watching Disney through her eyes is as good as it gets!

IF you have time, don't hesitate to take the Skyliner over to the Riv to walk around. Get a drink at the the Bar Riva or just walk the resort at night. So pretty.

 

[Tink0812]

We left off with DD and I finishing our lunch at Yak and Yeti on Wednesday December 9th and my parents browsing around Disney Springs. After Disney Springs, my parents were headed to Epcot. I believe they took a Lyft there so they wouldn't have to transfer buses. I could be wrong though as I didn't write this detail down. They had plans to eat/drink around the world. We received a few text message updates throughout the afternoon.

Meanwhile, DD had decided that we had accomplished everything that we wanted to do in AK. We still didn't have our room ready text but we decided to head on over to AoA anyways in hopes of receiving the message along the way. No such luck though! We browsed the shop and took pictures of the Christmas tree in the lobby as well as of the lobby itself. Their Christmas tree was really fun!



By this time it was 1:00pm. We have been so spoiled on previous trips to have our rooms ready by noon so this was a different experience for us. Not bad, just different as we realize that check-in time technically isn't until 4pm. DD and I had a few stores that we wanted to go in at Disney Springs so we hopped a bus. DD had some Disney gift cards burning a hole in her pocket so we visited World of Disney again, the Toy Store, and Goofy's Candy Co. I also stopped in the Christmas store and what used to be the kitchen store. I was surprised to see that the Christmas store was pretty much just a spice shop now. DD insisted on having her picture taken with the Buzz statue.


Feeling happy with our purchases and still waiting on our room ready text, we decided to get some ice cream at Ghiradelli's. We love Ghiradelli's and usually end up there at least once on every trip. DD got just plain vanilla ice cream in a cup and I got a scoop of butter pecan on a waffle cone. I really like their sundaes and shakes but, unless you are planning to share with someone, they can end up being a whole meal. Being that we had a really good lunch earlier in the day and great dinner reservations for the evening, I didn't want something very big. The waffle cone was still pretty sizeable though.

While we were enjoying our ice cream, we received a text from my mom saying that they were almost done at Epcot. They said it was too crowded to ride any of the rides and they had visited almost all of the places that they intended on visiting within the World Showcase. They had not yet received their room ready text but it was 3pm at this time and they knew it had to be coming soon so they were planning to take a bus back to Pop Century and walk around until their room was ready. I told her that we would probably head back to our resort and do the same. My dad stopped at the front desk upon arrival at Pop Century and they told him his room was ready as of 5 minutes before and that he should have received the text already. He got the text while talking to them and they were off to their room!

On the other hand, we made it all the way back to our resort and still hadn't received our room ready text. I stopped at the front desk because I have had issues before with them not sending the text message when the room was ready even though I had indicated that was my preference. They noted that it wasn't ready quite yet but that it would be very soon. So we set out to walk around the resort. My dad called and said they were in their room and we were more than welcome to walk on over to Pop to hang out with them until our room was ready. It has been a few years since I have stayed at Pop so this was my first chance to see the newly remodeled rooms. I like them so much better! I will post some of my mom's pictures of their room in a future, separate post.

Luck would have it that as soon as we arrived at Pop, we received our room ready text. We walked back over to check out our Little Mermaid room! We were in building 7, room 7717 on the 3rd floor facing the water. I will do a separate post with our Art of Animation pictures and review. We have stayed at AoA before, in a Lion King Suite. This was our first time in the Little Mermaid section.

Once we got to our room we took the obligatory pictures and called bell services to summon our luggage. Then we unpacked and changed in preparation for dinner. My dad headed over to Disney Springs early for some quality time at Hole in the Wall bar. My mom walked over to Art of Animation and met us in our gift shop at 5:45pm. From there we took a bus to Disney Springs to meet my dad for our 7:15pm dinner reservation at Raglan Road.


We love Raglan Road! The music is wonderful but we really enjoy the dancers. I was heavily involved in dance growing up and even learned to river dance (the type of dance they do at Raglan Road). DD has also been doing dance for a few years. The food is also really good as well. We went easy on the waiter. My mom, dad, and I all had the same exact thing for dinner, Serious Steak It is a 10oz sirloin served with mashed potates, battered onion rings, and peppercorn sauce. Mom and I have had it before and knew it was very delicious. My dad usually gets the Bangers and Mash but he wasn't a fan of it on our previous trip so he decided to try the steak that mom and I raved about. DD had the Gold'n chicken which is basically just chicken strips with french fries . Nap time didn't happen on this day since we were waiting for our room to be ready so DD was exhausted. She fell asleep laying across the chairs and my lap while waiting on our food. She did watch the dancers for a little bit first but she just couldn't stay awake. We were able to get her to wake up to eat a little. When dinner was over we headed straight for the buses. My parents rode with us back to Art of Animation and walked back over to Pop. Another successful Disney day was in the books.



Next up: Pop Century pictures from my parents' stay there followed by our Art of Animation photos and review

 

[Tink0812]

Hello everyone, Happy New Year! This post will be short and sweet. Originally my parents were just planning a Saturday through Wednesday trip. When they decided to extend their trip for the rest of the week, they were able to get a good deal on a room at Pop Century. Here are a few pictures my mom posted from their stay there.





I can't remember their exact room number or building but they had a ground floor room facing the water. This was my first time seeing the remodeled rooms at Pop. Not my style per say but I do think they are efficient for a value resort. I love that you can put your suitcases under the beds. I also like the floors and the bathroom setup. The murphy bed is a great addition too. When you just have two guests and don't need a second bed, it is nice to have the table and chairs. Overall the room does seem more spacious that I remember. I know they are roughly the same size across all of the values but the way this one is arranged makes it feel larger.

 

[Tink0812]

As promised here are some pictures from our stay at Art of Animation. We stayed there for two nights at the end of our trip in a Little Mermaid room with a standard view. Our room number was 7717 and it was on the third floor of building 7.







In the time leading up to the trip I almost changed this resort reservation to a different resort just because I could get such a good deal on some of the moderates and deluxes. Then I almost changed it to Pop Century so we would be at the same resort as my parents. Each time I was exploring the options DD caught me and was angry that I was even thinking about abandoning the Little Mermaid room. She was so excited to stay here.

Like I said earlier, this was not our first time at Art of Animation but it was our first time in a Little Mermaid room. We enjoyed the theming of the room but definitely missed the space from Riviera. With all of our luggage and a stroller, it was pretty tight. We didn't spend much time there though. DD's favorite thing about AoA is the splash pad which you will get to see in the next post.

My main dislike about the Little Mermaid section was the distance from the main building and bus stops. There was a lot of walking just to get from place to place. We enjoyed that it was within walking distance from Pop Century so we could easily meet up with my parents. We also enjoyed that our "standard view" included a view of the water and Skyliner. I failed to take a good picture to prove it but it was a great view for a "standard view". The mobile order process was seamless and convenient.

Of course, we would stay here again. DD wants to try either a Finding Nemo Suite or a Cars Suite next. Would we stay in a Little Mermaid room again? Maybe if it was just for a night or two. It would be okay on non-park days.

 

[Tink0812]

We have arrived to Thursday December 10th. My parents chose to leave this day open for more time at Disney Springs and exploring resorts. DD and I had one last park day. When we planned the trip we only had one MK day at the beginning so I had chosen MK as our park day for this day thinking that it would give DD the chance to ride things that she didn't get the chance to ride earlier in the week or to ride things for a second time. When we added the second MK day at the beginning of the trip I did consider changing this day to either Epcot or another DHS day but opted to keep it a MK day since that is DD's favorite park and there is more for her to do there.

The day started bright and early. Park hours were 8am-8pm again so we left the room at 6:30am. Buses started running at 7am. We were among the very few that were there at that time. I had one of my favorite shirts laid out for the day.



Arriving to the park the line for temperature check was much shorter than on our previous two MK days. They also didn't start letting people through the temperature checks until 7:30am. We were able to immediately get through security and the park entrance. The only two rides that were running prior to park opening were Peter Pan and 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. I was really hoping that DD would give 7 Dwarfs Mine Train another shot but she refused so we rode Peter Pan again instead. By the time we got off of Peter Pan it was almost time for the rest of the park to open so we went to Haunted Mansion. After Haunted Mansion, we ventured back up to Main Street (getting our steps in bright and early) for breakfast. We went to Starbucks where DD had a cake pop and a chocolate milk and I had a caramel macchiato and a croissant. We ate at the tables outside of The Plaza. After our delicious breakfast we headed in the direction of Adventureland. We rode The Magic Carpets of Aladdin then enjoyed The Enchanted Tiki Room. From there we went to Pirates of the Caribbean. I tried to convince her to ride Splash Mountain again or Thunder Mountain Railroad but she wasn't a fan of the idea so we hopped on over to Tomorrowland. Earlier in the week she rode the Tomorrowland Speedway with each of my parents but I had yet to ride it with her so we had to make that happen. The wait was only 5 minutes.


After our race was over we ventured over to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. DD loves this ride! She gets better and better at it each time we ride. She insisted on having her picture taken this time too. As you can tell from our pictures it was pretty chilly on this morning. We chose to wear our cardigans and pants to start out the day. The high ended up being 75 degrees though so we did bring our shorts with us to the park. We both get hot easily.

When we got off of Buzz Lightyear, we decided to get in line for the Astro Orbiter. The line was only 20 minutes and neither of us had ridden it before. It was okay. Definitely not my favorite by far. From there we went back to Fantasyland to the tea cups.

All of these rides had made us hungry so we decided it was time for snack since we still had quite a long time until our lunch reservation. We went up to the hub and got popcorn and cotton candy from one of the snack carts. We were able to watch a few of the character cavalcades while we enjoyed our snacks. I didn't take any pictures this time since we had seen them all before. I also had my hands full trying to keep the birds and ducks away from our snacks.

Full bellies re-energized us so we took off in the direction of Fantasyland again. We rode Dumbo again and then jumped in line for Under the Sea with the Little Mermaid. The line was moving pretty good at first with a wait time of only 15 minutes posted. Then we reached a point where the line was at a standstill and we stood in the same place for 15 minutes. Cast members eventually opened up the emergency exits and said the ride was broken down and they needed to evacuate the line. So instead of waiting in line for the ride, we ended up waiting in a line for the emergency exit. When it was about our time to exit they ushered us back inside stating that the ride was back up and running. We were among the first back on the ride. It did stop once for about 5 minutes halfway through but was otherwise fine. Checking the wait times on the app I gave DD the choice between riding Winnie the Pooh, the Carousel, or It's A Small World. All of the wait times were 30-45 minutes at this point. We only had an hour before our lunch reservation at this point. Stay tuned to the next post to see what she chose as well as where our lunch reservation is at.

 

[Tigger's ally]

I think with her 3 times driving there, your daughter has more driving practice already than you did when you turned 15!

 

[Tink0812]

Okay, we left off with DD and I in MK and my parents browsing around Disney Springs on Thursday December 10th. Crowds at MK were definitely high on this day. We had one hour until our lunch reservation so I gave DD the choice between riding Winnie the Pooh, the Carousel, or It's a Small World. The wait times ranged from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. She picked Winnie the Pooh which only had a 30 minute wait. We got in line and quickly figured out that the wait was longer than 30 minutes. It snaked around several times and was back past the tea cups towards the castle. We waited 30 minutes and still had quite a ways to go when I made the decision to jump out of line. We had a very important lunch reservation to get to and I didn't want to risk missing it. On our way there we made a quick bathroom stop to change into our shorts and freshen up. We had a 1pm reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table. This was a first for DD! I haven't been there since 2006 and I definitely took advantage of the cheaper price. They were offering a cheaper price because character dining wasn't available at the time. They were only doing character dining in two restaurants when we were there. It had to be characters in full costume, not live characters like the princesses. I knew that DD would just be ecstatic to eat in the castle and that was definitely true.


We were seated right at our reservation time. On the way to our seats the hostess told us that there was to be a surprise at both 1:15pm and 1:40pm. It was very important that we remain in our seats for the entire length of the surprise. DD ordered cheese and grapes for her appetizer while I had the charcuterie . DD didn't really like any of the appetizer choices so we settled on the grapes and cheese knowing that I would at least eat them. The charcuterie was ok but definitely not anywhere near my favorite on Disney property. For our entrees DD ordered chicken nuggets with corn and mashed potatoes and I had the tenderloin of beef which was served with celery root mash, seasonal vegetables, and sauce bourdelaise. Dessert was an easy choice for DD, they had a make your own cupcake option for kids. I had the Jaq and Gus which was whipped cheesecake with seasonal flavors. The seasonal flavor was a carrot cake.

Our appetizers got delivered right before the first surprise so we were enjoying them when the surprise happened. The lighting in the room changed and the music changed. Next thing we knew, Cinderella herself was going around the room waving at everyone and posing for pictures. I totally didn't expect this since it was no longer advertised as a character meal. The 1:40pm surprise was the same thing. They did it every so often so that all guests could get in on it.


After the first round of Cinderella excitement we were able to enjoy our entrees. Dessert was served right before the second round of Cinderella's greetings. DD was a little more interested in dessert than she was in Cinderella this time. This really was a neat dessert option for kids. I wish some of the other restaurants had this.


Throughout lunch we had been communicating with my parents via text. They had finished their day at Disney Springs with lunch at Polite Pig and were heading back to their resort. I told them that we were likely heading back to the resort after lunch too because DD wanted time at the splash pad and pool. We were also trying to decide if we wanted a dinner ADR or not. We had kind of left this evening open to give us the option of either making an ADR or doing our own thing. Given the crowds we had been experiencing throughout the week we decided that a dinner ADR was the best way to go. We ended up scoring a 7:45pm ADR at Paradiso 37.

On our way out of the park, we ran into one last character cavalcade.


Someone was exhausted and snuck in a nap on the bus ride back


When we made it back to AoA, we quickly went to our room and changed into our pool gear. My dad sent a text saying that my mom was napping so he was walking over to AoA to join us. DD loved the splash pad here on our last trip. Sadly this time they only had a couple of the features up and running. She quickly made friends in the pool though and joined in on some pool trivia. While she was enjoying the trivia, dad and I enjoyed some adult beverages.



We had to drag her away from the pool kicking and screaming but I had placed a mobile order for something she had been eying ever since we checked into AoA, a mermaid cupcake. We also wanted time for her to change and rest a bit before we had to leave for our dinner ADR.


My dad went over to Disney Springs around 6 to enjoy one last evening at the Hole in the Wall bar. After we rested for a bit and got ready, my mom walked over to AoA and met us in our gift shop at 6:45pm. From there we took a bus over to Disney Springs and met up with my dad. We ended up at Paradiso 37 a few minutes before our check in time but they allowed us to check in anyways. It wasn't too long before we were seated.


I had been to Paradiso 37 before for appetizers and drinks but never for a meal. Even their limited menu had quite the variety of offerings. We ordered the chips and queso for an appetizer but were just given chips and salsa. It was still good though and did it's just of satisfying our hunger while we waited for our main courses. DD ordered the cheese pizza. My mom had a flatbread with truffle fries . My dad had the Sonoro Ranchero Salad. I had the All American Burger with truffle fries. DD fell asleep while we were waiting on our food but we were able to wake her up long enough to take a few bites. She was just so exhausted! Dinner was delicious! I'm glad we ended up deciding to get an ADR instead of winging it with a quick service. After dinner we got on a bus back to AoA. My parents rode back with us then walked over to Pop.

 

[Tink0812]

Friday December 11th was our final day of the trip. Our flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 3:25pm. It was originally much earlier but was changed several times prior to our trip. Some changes were made by Southwest and others by us. We took advantage of the late flight time to sleep in a little. My dad came over to AoA around 8 to watch DD while I ran up to pick up our mobile breakfast order and make a pit stop at the front desk. He is always up early and volunteered to come over so that I wouldn't have to wake DD up early to get her ready. I forgot to mention in the previous days trip report that when we received our Magical Express envelope, our departure time was listed as 9am. Even though I had called DME each time our flights were changed, they had not updated it the last couple of times so our departure time was based off of an earlier flight. I called them as soon as I realized this and they changed our departure time to one much closer to our flight time. All I had to do was go to the front desk to get a new printout.

After my quick stop at the front desk I took our breakfast back to the room and my dad headed back to Pop to pick up breakfast for him and my mom. DD had fruit loops and chocolate milk for breakfast while I had a breakfast platter with waffles, eggs, and bacon. After breakfast DD took her bath then we got everything packed up. Then to pass the time we walked around the Little Mermaid section since we hadn't had any time to explore it yet.





Check out time was 11am so we left our room around 10:45. We went to the main lobby and hung out on some of the big comfy benches. Our DME departure time was 11:55. Previously our departure times had been 3 hours prior to our flight so we were guessing that it would be around 12:15-12:30. Since we had to be out of our rooms, the early departure time was not that big of a deal. My parents had a departure time of 12:05. This was the warmest day of our trip so they were waiting outside at their DME pickup spot. Around 11:30 they sent a text that a DME bus showed up and offered to take them to the airport early so they were already on a bus. We went ahead and went out to our bus stop to see if we could do the same. The 11:35am bus came and the bus driver came over and looked at our paper. He originally said we would have to wait until our 11:55 bus came but then a family didn't show up that was supposed to be on the 11:35 bus so he agreed to take us. There was plenty of room on the bus even with the social distancing measures in place. We made a stop at Animal Kingdom Lodge before heading to the airport. My parents had arrived and checked their luggage by the time we got there. I dropped DD off with my mom who was holding the fort down with the carry-ons while dad went with me to check our luggage. After we survived the chaos of the check-in area we met up with mom and DD. We decided to get some lunch before going through security.

There were not many lunch options open in the area before security but we settled on Chick-Fil-A. The line was long but we enjoyed our food. Then it was time for quick bathroom breaks before we braved security. As per usual at MCO, the line for security was obnoxious. I don't know if it is always that way or if we just seem to time our flights during the busier times. We always seem to get behind people that don't understand how security works or don't want to comply with the rules that are clearly posted and announced overhead. They really need a separate line for those people.

Once we made it through security we took the tram to our terminal and easily found our gate, the one at the very end. it's always the one at the very end with the longest walk. We still had about an hour and a half until boarding so I made a Starbucks run for my mom, DD, and I. Once I returned with our drinks my dad went off in search of a drink for himself. He found a little bar to enjoy a beer at. About 20 minutes before boarding DD and I took bathroom breaks and changed into our Illinois-appropriate gear (AKA pants and long-sleeves). My parents were already dressed appropriately. Boarding went off without a hitch. It was a full flight so DD and I sat together and my parents sat together. We each had a stranger in our row but they were very nice.

We had a small layover in Atlanta. It was only 50 minutes so we only had about 30 minutes until boarding by the time we got off of our original plane. We all took bathroom breaks and before we knew it, it was time to board. DD was the only child on the plane that qualified for family boarding. This plane as not even half full. DD and I sat together and my parents sat behind us. Both aisle seats remained empty throughout the flight. They also gave DD extra snacks which she was over the moon about. We took off and landed right on time. Deplaning in Indy was super easy and the airport was pretty much empty. We landed at 7:10pm on a Friday night so this was quite surprising. We retrieved our luggage and took the shuttle back to FastPark where we had left the vehicle for the week. It was a quick 2.5 hour journey home with a stop at McDonald's for dinner along the way. It was, of course, much colder back here in the Midwest and it was raining as well.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip! We had so much fun and didn't really feel like the COVID-related changes put a damper on our trip in any way. Yes, it was different than past trips but we went into it knowing that it would be. We enjoyed going in December so much that we are planning to return this December.

That's a wrap! Thank you for following along!