Disney in a Time of Covid-A Different, But Wonderful Trip! (updated 8/4/22 x2)

[Clarf]

Dinosaur World looked like a fun stop!

Georgia is the worst state for us too coming from NY lol. It just seems to go on FOREVER. Plus I got a ridiculously expensive speeding ticket there a few years ago and now I'm paranoid about the whole state lol.

We've never gotten to stop in the Florida welcome center since it's usually the middle of the night when we get to it but maybe next time we'll do what you guys did and stop for the night.

Dinosaur World was fun! We were glad we stopped. Definitely not an every trip must do, but fun!

Georgia is THE. WORST.! Once you're past Atlanta is seems to never end.

Definitely stop just before the border sometime! The Welcome Center is totally worth checking out. Especially when there's no Covid.

Good My arm hurt after a while.

LOL! We always wave now when we drive that way.



Now i have to find it!

Please do! And let me know!



this is good to know!
Never stopped on the drives but getting older and older it's harder to do that drive straight through!

Yes! And it's a good stopping point because you have such a short drive the next day.



I LOVE THOSE GUYS!!!

Yes!



Did anyone answer this? I really need to know if ther is lizard hatching season!!! Love love love seeing those guys your right we don't get that cool stuff!

No one answered yet. We'll see!



Fun with teenagers.. I get this.. along with other body parts.. HA!

LOL! Yes. They are fun.



It is a rule... You MUST stop at the welcome center!!! YUM OJ!!!

Every time. The girls especially insist!



She needs a Palm tree

I wish we could have one!



so cute!
Thanks!


Wow that changed!!
love it!!!

It did change, but I think mostly because of Covid. I imagine most of the stuff will be back once things are back to normal.


Living the best life!!!

I tried!

Im dying..

Those f*&!@#$ fireballs.



Believe it or not nut most house do NOT have pools!!! It's INSANE how many don't!

That's so weird. Every place I've ever been in Florida, everyone has a pool!

Oh Oh Oh! I LOVE the plants and the pool THIS is paradise!!!
I think the kids do too!!!

Their pool and pool area was gorgeous. They just moved there, so the people before them did the pool-scaping. It was so cool.



Just stop this is so adorable.. I want to hold that puppy too

I loved him so much. He's a total Mama's boy, but he thankfully gave me plenty of love.



Good you said this.. I have seen the ocean a few times and i was not impressed either. Now i know why! It' the lake!

I'm impressed with it, but not as much as others. Lake Michigan DOES look like the ocean because you can't see the other side!

and that is why i have NO interest in going to the beaches
YUCK scary sea creatures are out to EAT YOU

Maura wanted to see a shark so badly. Or a dolphin or sting ray. But definitely didn't want to get eaten!


She is such a beautiful young lady now! Can't believe how grown up she is getting

Thanks! I can't believe it either. I swear she was just born.

that is terrifying!
OMG and a memory that will last FOREVER

Yeah. I felt bad for her, but glad it was nothing really to worry about.

This is a really cool duck

It was! We'd definitely never seen one before.

I had to look this up. I can't believe all the cool wildlife they have!!! sadly there is a problem with people painting them?!?!
Got me.

Oh wow! That's awful. I didn't hear that.

your report is one of my favorites.. OK going to to an update on mine you inspired me!

Thanks! And I didn't k now you had one going. I'm going to find it soon!

 

[Clarf]

Day 5. September 9th.

Today was the day. We'd be back in the Disney bubble before we knew it! We were up pretty early to pack up the car and head out. We didn't have to be there until 1:50, as we had an ADR, but we wanted to get going. Plus, my sister in law was at work, and our older niece had to get back to her virtual school. We were sad to be leaving family, but so excited to get to Disney! We left the house at 9:15am. We were only about 75 minutes or so from our destination! It was a fairly uneventful drive. We didn't have to get on the freeway at all. Just took local roads, but not so local that we had to stop at every intersection. We absolutely didn't expect our room to be ready until the afternoon. We planned to just check in and then do some exploring. BUT, at 9:37 I got an alert that I had a text. I checked and it was a text saying our room was ready!!!! We were so excited! We'd be able to check out the room and get our stuff settled and then go exploring! This was a great surprise. Now we were even more excited! There were mostly just trees and wildlife scenery to look at, but as we got closer, we started to see more stuff. One day we'll stop at one of these. They're so cute!



And then we passed this.



I know, I know. The Wawa isn't that exciting, but it is to us! We LOVE The Goldbergs, and we don't have The Wawa in Wisconsin, so it was fun to see one in person. I think Maura has a crush on Barry Goldberg. She's always talking about him.

When we got to Kissimmee, the town started to look "fancy" and almost carnival/theme park like. I guess we didn't take any pictures because we were too excited. But before too long, we were seeing this.



Were getting SO CLOSE!

And then.......AND THEN........we saw this glorious sight. It was 10:45am.



I captured the first one, and Lucy this one.



We couldn't believe it! We were all cheering and yelling.

And then we started seeing all the Disney stuff. Like this.



And this.



And this.



Ooh, then we passed the Riviera! It was just a shell of a building the last time we were here.



And the fire station, and the Skyliner! That had also still been just in the stages of construction on our last visit!



Finally, at 10:52 am, we arrived at our home for the next 7 nights.



We stopped at the entrance, and after a quick scan of Jason's magic band, we were welcomed home!



Since we already had our room assignment, we didn't have to stop in the lobby just yet. The CM at the gate directed us to the best entrance to our villa and we headed that way. Lucy was snapping pictures as we drove.







We found the parking lot and got a spot. We figured we'd have to get one of those cart things to bring in all our stuff, but we all grabbed something and started making the trek to our room. I shouldn't say trek. It was really not a long walk at all.



Oh the balconies! We were excited about having one of those.



Here was the little river/creek we walked over to get to our room area. I don't know what it's called. I never did find out.



The entrance to our building was just over this bridge and to the right.



Masks had to be worn everywhere, inside and out so we were ready with ours!

Lucy made sure to get pictures of as many of the details as she could. We all did, but I think Lucy did the best job. One might say this was a hidden Mickey, but it was pretty obvious, so I don't think it counts.



Can you find the lizard in this picture? It's not just ANY lizard. It's a Disney lizard.



We were in the building, and by the elevator! We were on the 4th floor. The elevator had hand sanitizer and a sign outside of it that said only 1 party allowed in the elevator at a time, or 2 people from different parties. There was no one else waiting, so as soon as it got the the first floor, we were able to get on. We liked the fancy floor indicator!



When we got off the elevator, the girls noticed the carpet and immediately found a hidden Mickey.



We found our room right away! It was just around the corner from the elevator. Here it is!



Good old room 466!

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[Clarf]

Lucy opened the door with her magic band and we all sucked in our breath! We couldn't believe the "room" we had gotten! It was really a few rooms. We felt so fancy. Lucy started taking pictures right away while I did a quick bed bug check. You can't be too careful! Thankfully (and not surprisingly) we found none. We set down the few things we had and got a few pictures before we started messing the room up. It took our kids about 2.5 minutes to do that once our stuff was in.

"Look, the plates are in a Mickey shape!"-Maura.



The art on the wall was very beachy! Sticking with the theme here.



The huge bathtub! Jason and Maura utilized this separately later in the week.



This balcony was off the living room where the girls would be sleeping on the pull out couch, which was surprisingly comfortable! No hard bar sticking them in the back. We had a great view of the quiet pool.



This picture was off our SECOND balcony! You heard that right. We had 2 balconies! The second one was off the master bedroom with the giant bed.



I loved having the balconies the most out of all of us. I'd go out there in the evenings when we got back to the room and read or work on crossword puzzles. It was so peaceful and warm and smelled so good!

Here's the couch that pulled out where the girls would sleep. there was a TV right across from this and they couldn't believe their luck that they'd have their own TV to watch at night!



Here's the little kitchenette and living room right after you came in the door.



More beachy artwork.



The end table and lamp next to the couch.



The master bedroom. That bed was huge and high and so many pillows! Jason and I have a double bed at home. It's all we've ever had and are just fine with it! The king bed is always such a shock! It's like each of us having our own bed.



The part of the bathroom with the bathtub and sink. There was a door to the right of me that led to the part with another sink and the shower, and also the toilet with another door. It was huge!



Here's the bathroom with the shower and sink. You can see the door handle that leads to the toilet on the right.



This is the balcony off the master bedroom where I'd sit every evening.



The TV with the Disney hype on it. We'd only been there 15 minutes at this point.



The other TV was in the master bedroom. This one was the girls' TV and they already had the hype on!



This was the other balcony. And I take back what I said. This one was off the master bedroom where I sat. The other one was off the living room.



More artwork. Bored yet? We took pictures of everything. Inquiring minds might want to know!





Once we had pictures of the room, we went in search of one of those luggage carts to bring in the rest of our stuff. Beach Club is huge and we didn't have our bearings yet, so it took us a minute to find where we were going.





After a couple wrong turns, we finally found the bell services desk where we asked about one of those carts. The kind CM told us only they are allowed to use those but he'd be glad to help us out. We weren't expecting that! We are not fancy deluxe people. We're used to doing all this stuff for ourselves. And the lobby was so far from where we parked, we felt bad that he'd have to walk all the way over there, but he insisted it was no problem. I didn't write down his name, but I'm somehow remembering it was Keith. We got to our car, loaded up all our stuff, and hauled it back up to room 466. Keith helped us get it into the room. We tipped him, thanked him, and he was on his way. He was very nice and talked to us about stuff to do at the resort and places to try. He told us about the pool and how Beach Club was connected to Yacht Club. It was a great first interaction with a CM!

Once all the stuff was in the room, we got everything put away and organized. That only took about 30 minutes or so, and then we were off to explore! It was close to Noon around this time. We had an ADR at 1:50, so still plenty of time. We wanted to get our refillable mugs and just check out the resort, and, we had gotten a call that we had a package waiting for us at the front desk. So, we set out. After our adventure finding bell services, we felt a bit more confident and were able to find our way around much better. By the end of the week, we could have done it in our sleep.

We did notice everyone was wearing masks and no one seemed bothered by it. Already we felt safe and that Disney was taking all the right precautions. We saw sanitizer stations everywhere and signs reminding people to distance themselves. We also saw the first of what would be tons of large sticker markings on the ground telling people where to stand so they'd be 6 feet apart if they were waiting in line for something. We noticed this first at the temporary home of The Marketplace, the Beach Club gift shop. There were markings going out of the store in case they reached capacity and you had to wait to get in.

We did stop there, but I got ahead of myself. First, as we were walking from BCV to BC, we found this guy. He was hiding in his shell, but you can see his trail and that he had been moving. The girls were intrigued! They'd never seen a snail this big in person before.



Beach Club had different carpeting, and of course they found another hidden Mickey.



Ariel was at the entrance to the BCV! We actually passed her on our way out, but stopped to take a picture.





There's a hidden Mickey in there, but we didn't find it until later in the week, so no picture yet.

And I have a confession. Some of these pictures were taken on our walk to find bell services. The others were taken when we were exploring. You can tell because Maura changed her shirt as she had spilled something on the first one. So I apologize, but they really were all taken within an hour of each other, so just pretend they were taken at the same time.

Lucy was really good at capturing the decor and ambiance at BC. She remembered to look up too! Here are some of the shots she got as we were walking to the lobby.



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[Clarf]

More ambience!





I thought this chandelier was fun!



We enjoyed these chairs! I'd never seen them anywhere else before, and then last weekend was mine and Jason's 16th anniversary. We were in a hotel in downtown Milwaukee, and we walked in and they had these chairs! They were white, but the exact same style. Crazy.



The registration and concierge desk.



Lucy enjoying the beautiful weather.



The sign that says exit, that's where you exited The Marketplace. Like I said, it was in a temporary location, so not as big as the regular one, but they were remodeling the regular one. This one was right across the hall from the regular store.



Such a pretty resort!



This was on display inside.



This was when we went back to the lobby to explore. See? Maura has changed shirts. I wanted to try out those chairs too.



Jason and the chandelier.



Remember I said we had a package at the front desk? Really? Who gets packages on vacation? Well, Lisa, my friend and our travel agent had sent us something and it had arrived. The girls eagerly opened it and found these inside!



There was a pair for each of them, a pair for me, and a pirate mask for Jason. We would have loved to wear the leggings at MK, but it was just too hot that week for anything but shorts. We're enjoying them here now in Wisconsin, though!

Lucy posing in the lobby.



Lucy took this one. You can see the rest of us in the background. There's a hidden Micky on that table!



Do you see it? No? Here it is!



I think Lucy found this one, but I can't remember for sure.

Jason had to try out the chair too. You can see our refillable mugs next to Jason. We liked them, but I was super sad. About 2 days later, they had the Halloween one available! We would have loved those, but we weren't going to buy any more.



And then Maura found this hidden Mickey!



After hanging out in the lobby for a few minutes, we continued our exploring towards Stormalong Bay and the Yacht Club lobby. We could have stayed inside, but decided to walk outside. This was out the back door of the lobby. You can see Crescent Lake and Disney's Boardwalk in the background.



We walked along outside and found the entrance to Stormalong Bay. We weren't planning on swimming then, but just wanted to see it. The CM at the gate explained how it worked and we had to scan our band every day and we'd get a bracelet for the day so we didn't have to scan every time. But you know what? This was the ONLY time of the whole trip that a CM was even at the gate. We never even had to scan our bands again. I know SAB is supposed to be "secret" and for YC and BC guests only, but it would have been so easy for anyone to sneak in. We loved the look of the pool and couldn't wait to come back and swim later.

We kept walking to the YC and stopped on these chairs to sit for a minute. Lucy buys one of those giant jawbreakers on the stick every Disney trip and she wanted to sit so she could start eating it. Maura had gotten the pack of those Mickey head suckers, and wanted to have one of those, so we took a load off and sat in the rockers.



She loves these things. She buys one the first day of our trip every time.



She had to take a picture of it before she dug in.



Here's a picture from our rocking chairs.



Maura showing how tiny she is and how she can fit into small places.



After about 10 minutes, we moseyed into the Yacht Club lobby. We wanted to find their QS place since The Marketplace was closed. We just wanted to see it for future reference. We stopped in the lobby too and looked around. It was different, but still cool.

Of course my kids found a hidden Mickey in like 2 seconds.







The YC lobby was darker. Not darker like scarier, but darker. The BC was white, and airy. The YC had a more warm, cozy feel to it.



This globe was so cool! We found a hidden Mickey on it later in the week and took a picture then.







See how it looks darker? They used a darker wood.



This chandelier was nice, but not as fun as the BC one.



We found Ale and Compass, the QS restaurant in BC and got our mugs refilled. Because of Covid, we couldn't refill our actual mug, but the CM would ask what we wanted and get it for us in a regular paper cup, and we could either drink from that or transfer to our mug. Obviously, it was more wasteful and kind of defeated the purpose of the reusable mug, but in these circumstances, it was understandable. We LOVED the cup design they had/have! I wanted to bring some home, but I don't really need paper cups, so I just took a picture.



I guess Lucy decided she needed a picture of her refillable mug too.



Alright, I'm stopping her for now. Our ADR is coming up in the next update, and we may even get to Disney Springs! Thanks for reading along!

 

[CruellaNY]

We LOVE The Goldbergs,

So do I! One of the best 80's shows A couple years back they had a display case in ABC Commissary with some smaller Goldbergs props like a script, it was neat!

I loved having the balconies the most out of all of us.

That's DH. I only go out to take pictures or watch fireworks depending where we are and the kids don't care lol - older boys. However we were once upgraded to the Roy Disney Suite at GF; let me tell you, I totally used those balconies!

The YC lobby was darker. Not darker like scarier, but darker. The BC was white, and airy. The YC had a more warm, cozy feel to it.

Yes. I always feel weird suggesting Yacht to folks with younger kids if it's less than BC even though you still get Stormalong Bay, just because the lobby and decor are a bit less "fun"? But it's still a great resort!

Love that your kids enjoy finding Hidden Mickey's! We've found some on occasion but with all the trips we've done we've never focused on finding them. For our trip later this month I think we will, since I'm fairly certain wait times this Thanksgiving will be a tad higher than other years lol.

 

[Clarf]

So do I! One of the best 80's shows A couple years back they had a display case in ABC Commissary with some smaller Goldbergs props like a script, it was neat!

That's DH. I only go out to take pictures or watch fireworks depending where we are and the kids don't care lol - older boys. However we were once upgraded to the Roy Disney Suite at GF; let me tell you, I totally used those balconies!

Yes. I always feel weird suggesting Yacht to folks with younger kids if it's less than BC even though you still get Stormalong Bay, just because the lobby and decor are a bit less "fun"? But it's still a great resort!

Love that your kids enjoy finding Hidden Mickey's! We've found some on occasion but with all the trips we've done we've never focused on finding them. For our trip later this month I think we will, since I'm fairly certain wait times this Thanksgiving will be a tad higher than other years lol.

Goldbergs is the best! ABC Commissary was closed this trip (which was sad, we always like to eat there), but they did have a sign up that you'll see later. We would have loved to have seen the props and stuff!

Yeah, I don't think anyone else utilized the balconies like I did.

I totally get it about YC. We liked it a lot, especially the quick service restaurant and gift shop, but it had a totally different vibe than BC.

We've always loved Hidden Mickeys! Sometimes we bring our book, sometimes we just look.

 

[Clarf]

So we'd done some exploring and it was just about time for our ADR. We had a 1:50 ADR for someplace we'd never been. We planned on trying it even before we got upgraded to BCV. Lucy watches/reads everything Disney and wanted to try Beaches and Cream. We all love ice cream and were excited to go there. We checked in for our first Covid-style ADR. We went to the podium and gave our name. We were told it would be just a few minutes and so we had a seat outside.

Here's all our mugs on display while we waited.



The girls went to wash their hands and had to pose by this pretty mosaic mural.


Also had to get some pictures of the outside ambience.
]

And these clowns. Maura was drinking which is why she isn't wearing her mask.



And heaven forbid my kids have a picture together in front of the store. So, I grace you with separate pictures of each kid.





We were quickly seated and taken to our seats. Lucy took some pictures of the lights.



And then one of the kids quickly declared "Hidden Mickey!" so another photo was taken.



Our server was Madi and she was at our table pretty fast! She was wearing a mask and face shield. It made it a bit more difficult to hear her, but we felt really safe. We just all talked louder.

We got some fried and each got an ice cream treat. We were told there were no donuts for the shakes, but cupcakes could be substituted so it was all good. Once we had ordered, we removed our masks and waited for the food. The fries came first. We posed for some pictures while we enjoyed those.





Next came the goods!

The girls both got a cotton candy shake.



Jason got the fudge mudslide. Some concoction with a brownie, ice cream, hot fudge, and oreos.



I got the no way Jose in all it's peanut buttery goodness.











We had fun taking pictures. Did we ever eat?



We did eventually. Everything was really good and we were sufficiently stuffed in no time. Madi even brought out Lucy's stuff with an announcement about her birthday! (which was the following week).
We settled the bill and rolled on out of there. We were going to head back to the room and put on our swim suits and try out Stormalong Bay. We made the trek there and back and I kid you not, the INSTANT we chose a table to put our stuff, thunder clapped and lightening struck and the pool closed. Everyone had to leave the area obviously.
Maura was the most upset, but we promised we'd be back. We did stop at The Marketplace again on the way back to our room for some milk. Since we had a big fridge, we'd brought some cereal and a few other things, but knew we'd need milk.
I cannot read the next thing in my notes. I have terrible handwriting, and when I write fast it's even worse. So, I guess next we "Porches Fr. Gamesh Ready." If anyone has any guesses to what that means, please let me know.
After realizing the pool probably wouldn't re-open soon, we got ready to go to Disney Springs. We always go there our first day. It's tradition! We were also meeting some good friends there.
At 5:30, we headed out. Since we have our car, we always drive. We are NOT fans of the busses, and we figured they'd be even more of a hassle with the Covid restrictions. It wasn't a long drive and we soon saw the signs for the Orange Garage. So, we're following the signs and where the heck was the entrance to the Orange Garage? We passed Disney Springs, and turned around. We saw the sign for the Lime Garage and it was much easier to navigate so we went in there. I still have no idea where the Orange Garage is.
(continued in next post)

 

[Clarf]

Lucy took a few pictures while we drove. Here we are passing Disney Springs (and probably the Orange Garage)



We parked pretty close to the entrance and were about to have our first experience with temperature taking. How was it? Absolutely no problem. There was no line and we walked right in. We all passed the screening no problem.

Here we were walking down to the main part of Disney Springs. You can see the CM wearing a face shield and mask and everyone is masked. This was the least crowded I'd ever seen it there!



There was still a chance of rain so Maura was prepared.



Our first stop was the Lego store. They had only 1 entrance open, to watch the capacity and keep traffic flowing a certain way. We of course had to stop for a few pictures beforehand.







I like this picture. I think Lucy took it.



Star Wars. When I showed this to my mom, she couldn't believe these were made of all Legos!



I love my family's faces in this one. Even with the masks, you can notice their expressions.



Lucy channeling her inner Elsa.





And then one inside with The Hulk!



There were maybe 10 other people in the store besides us, including the employees. And they weren't anywhere near capacity. It was just that un-busy. It's usually a mad house in there and I quickly lose my family, but we actually got to walk slowly and browse. The girls each got a keychain and a surprise mini figure. I don't remember who they got though.

We walked by World of Disney then to see the spitting Stitch. We'd be going in later. You can see the exit only sign on the door behind Maura. You could only get in 1 door at WoD and it was way over on the other side. But again, they were using a counter to count patrons to be sure they weren't too crowded.



The girls and I went into Basin next while Jason hung out outside. He had no need for anything in there. No pictures, but we got 2 Mickey soaps and a really cool Froot Loop scented hand scrub. Lucy spent some of her money on a lip gloss and a small hand scrub for herself. Again, no crowds. We were in and out of there really quickly.

We found Jason, and even though we'd had all those sweets at Beaches and Cream, we were up for some more. We headed over to Amorette's Patisserie. We had been there on our last trip and loved our treat and the girls hadn't stopped talking about getting another one. We got a Mickey Mousse and a Key Lime Tart for all of us to share.



All of the treats are so pretty there! Jason and I mostly ate the Key Lime Tart, and we all had a bite of the mousse. Both girls (again) needed their own picture holding the mousse. Heaven forbid they don't each get to hold it.





You'll notice Lucy has a large array of mouse ears that only grew on this trip!

After our treats, we did head into WoD to look. We weren't going to buy anything just yet. We were waiting for our friends to arrive so we could go to dinner. I'll get to that update soon!

 

[Chicago Mo]

OMG the resort looks HEAVENLY!!! i can only imagine the luxury you all felt! Still so odd to see masks.. I hate it and really wish this thing would GO AWAY already! I also always get the no way Jose!! So much deliciousness in a bowl..
the Mousse.. I don't know it would take me a while to break into it too too pretty more like a decoration rather a treat! How was it?

 

[Clarf]

OMG the resort looks HEAVENLY!!! i can only imagine the luxury you all felt! Still so odd to see masks.. I hate it and really wish this thing would GO AWAY already! I also always get the no way Jose!! So much deliciousness in a bowl..
the Mousse.. I don't know it would take me a while to break into it too too pretty more like a decoration rather a treat! How was it?

BC was pretty great. We felt really rich (which we are not!) Almost a little out of place, but we loved it. The masks honestly just began to be normal after the first day or so. I barely noticed I was wearing one after like 20 minutes each day. We never felt overheated or anything while wearing them.

No Way Jose. Um....yum! Delish! It was a good lunch.

That mousse is amazing. Custardy, with a little cake in the middle. And not too sweet. It looks so pretty but really good. A friend recommended it before our last trip, and so now it's a tradition. All the treats in there look and taste amazing.

 

[Clarf]

Hello! I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Ours was just the 4 of us for the first time ever. We were going to go to my mom's, but she just started a new medication for her arthritis and it lowers her immune system, and with her being a cancer survivor and now on that new med, she felt safer if we didn't come. Sad, but understandable. I don't want my mom getting this thing. I cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner for the first time ever too! I think I did really well. Maura helped a lot too and was a great help.

But let's get back to Disney. We were at Disney Springs and stopped into WOD to check things out. While we were in there, I got a text from my friend Toni. Toni lives in Florida, and we met in an online mom's group back in 2006. All of us in the group had babies in September of 2006. I'm still very close with about 35 of them and now we have our own private group on another site. Toni and I have seen each other several times when we've been in Florida, and since they are AP holders, they asked if we minded if they came and spent a couple days with us. Mind? MIND??? Of course not! We were beyond excited to spend time at Disney with some good friends. Toni's daughter C is exactly 1 week older than Lucy, and they've become penpals/text pals. So they were really excited to see each other. And Toni's son J is about 9 months older than Maura, and Maura was excited to hang out with him. So Toni texted, asked where we were, and told us not to buy anything in WOD. I'll get to why later.

We came out of the store and saw them walking up. It was a happy reunion! Yes, we hugged. We had too. It had been too long since we'd seen each other. Plus, Toni is a nurse and has been in the front lines, so I knew she'd been extra careful with everything. Her husband had to work, so wasn't able to join us this night, but he sent his regards! I was a little sad to miss him, as he's pretty funny.

We said our hellos and decided to go eat. It was around 7ish, and our pre-dinner treats had digested. We were headed to our first night at Disney traditional restaurant, T-Rex!



You can see the back of mine and Toni's heads, plus 2 of the kids. We didn't have an ADR, but didn't need one as both Toni's family and ours are Landry's members. That's the company who owns T-Rex, Rainforest Cafe, and many other restaurants. It was the best $20 I ever spent! We get priority seating, and points for dining which adds up to savings for our meals! It's pretty sweet. So, we went up to check in and were told to get in line right away to wait for our table. There didn't seem to be a wait anyway.



If you've never been to T-Rex, it's pretty fun. The food is decent. Nothing spectacular, but decent and the moving dinosaurs and stuff are fun to see.



This octopus hanging over the bar is so cool.



A view back outside. It was a good thing we were eating, because it had started to rain outside.





Here's Toni and I!



Dino selfie! (and cool Nightmare Before Christmas mask courtesy of my friend Chicago Mo!)



We were soon taken to our seats. We were seated in the sea creature section right by one of the giant fish tanks. We'd never sat here before!









This was our first meal dining out in a restaurant since March! We were a little nervous, but so far they were doing great. Once we sat at our table, we could remove our masks. And the tables were spaced out well. Jason took a group shot once we sat down.



We were across from the ice cave! We've never been seated in there. One of these times!



Here's the Octopus from the other side. Jason, Lucy, and I all took scenery shots, so these are the best of them between the 3 of us.

Our server, Dustin, quickly arrived at our table. He was masked and wearing a face shield. He spoke loud though, and we were able to hear him no problem. I think he's waited on us before and he did a good job. Before long, we had our drinks. Jason opted for some adult fare and had the Caveman Punch. It was some kind of fruity rum thing. He said it was good!



That's the only drink I got a picture, of, but I know my kids got ICEES in regular glasses and I had an iced tea. I'm not a drinker, so no fancy drink for me.

Our food arrived soon after. Jason got the Mushroom Ravioli with Chicken. I had to take a picture fast before he bit me.



He let me have a bite. It was tasty!

Maura got the Sly's Sliders with applesauce and oranges.



Lucy had tomato soup. She was still a little full from all the snacking and went with a light meal. She did a great job modeling it.



I had the mushroom and swiss burger with mashed potatoes, but I had a Beyond Burger patty with it. I stopped eating beef and pork almost 20 years ago. That Beyond Burger tastes very much like a regular burger. Really tasty!



We had some friends swimming around near us while we ate. Thankfully, none of us had fish for dinner! I didn't take any pictures of Toni's stuff, but I know they had a Supersaurus Sampler platter for sure. It was huge and more than enough to be a meal!



After the kids finished eating, they asked if the could look around at all the dinosaurs and stuff. We said sure and sent them on their way.

Lucy took some pictures while they explored.





I'm guessing C took this one.





(continued in next post)

 

[Clarf]

More scenery shots. This is a Triceratops booth you can sit in!





Giant caterpillar!





Different giant caterpillar!







We finished our meals and declined dessert because we'd already had several today. We settled the bill and headed back outside to check out some more shops. But we got a group shot of the kids as we headed out.



Toni's family wanted to check out the Lego store, so we headed back in there. There was still no one inside. I think J got a little something in there. We went back into WOD then. Lucy had seen some things she wanted to get. Toni had told us to wait to get them because she could get us a Florida resident discount! That was SO nice of her. I can't find the receipt for this purchase, and I know Lucy got some Haunted Mansion merchandise and Maura got a Mickey Mouse raincoat, but that's all I remember for now. We didn't go crazy, since we knew we still had a week to look for stuff.

WOD was a madhouse at this point, so we made our purchases and headed out of there. The kids wanted to go to Goofy's Candy Company. On the way over, we passed Rainforest Cafe and took a couple of pictures.







Into the candy store we headed!



I can't find the receipt for this either, but I did write down that Maura got assorted gummies and Lego sweet tarts. You can actually put them together. Lucy got Cotton Candy.

The kids wanted to check out the Coca Cola store so we walked over that way. We took some pictures of the night scenery on the way.





Characters in Flight was flying that evening. One of these trips we're going to do that!



We got to the Coca Cola store only to discover they had closed already. They closed earlier than most of the other stores. Oh well. Next time. It was getting late anyway, and we had an early morning tomorrow. We bid goodnight to our friends, but we'd be meeting them tomorrow, so it was only goodbye for a bit. On the way back to the LIME parking structure, we passed this Orange Bird sign and both girls needed their own picture in front of us. Heaven forbid they stand next to their sister.

Maura wearing the raincoat she got.





One more picture of a fountain on the way out.



We were back to BC in no time and we relaxed a bit before going to bed. I know I went out on the balcony to read or work on a crossword puzzle for a bit. My Fitbit said I got 20,299 steps that day. Not bad, but I can do better! Tomorrow was our first park day. Stay tuned! I'll be back with that day soon!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

And then what happened?

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Following along!

I love a good road trip.

Can't wait to hear about your first park day.

 

[Cygnusx1]

We haven't been to Disney in years, and we just returned home last week. We stayed at one of the Disney resorts, and went back and forth from Disney and Universal Studios. While we thoroughly enjoyed our trip all together, we did not have a great experience at any of the Disney parks. Every single day, we ran into some the most rude employees at DisneyWorld, while at Universal, they were as polite as can be. My wife and I spoke with several others who had the same unfortunate experience, the Disney employees behavior being less than magical. We plan on going back next year, hoping their behavior has changed. If not, we will look at staying and visiting Universal more often.

 

[Clarf]

And then what happened?

You'll find out now!

Following along!

I love a good road trip.

Can't wait to hear about your first park day.

Welcome!

We love road trips too. We do a lot of them, and not just to Disney.

Here comes our first park day!

We haven't been to Disney in years, and we just returned home last week. We stayed at one of the Disney resorts, and went back and forth from Disney and Universal Studios. While we thoroughly enjoyed our trip all together, we did not have a great experience at any of the Disney parks. Every single day, we ran into some the most rude employees at DisneyWorld, while at Universal, they were as polite as can be. My wife and I spoke with several others who had the same unfortunate experience, the Disney employees behavior being less than magical. We plan on going back next year, hoping their behavior has changed. If not, we will look at staying and visiting Universal more often.

Sorry you didn't have a great experience. We didn't find that to be the case on out last trip. Everyone was great. I hope your next trip is better!

 

[Clarf]

Day 6. September 10.

We had a wake up call scheduled for 6:30am. It was a SUPER boring wake up call. No Mickey. No Goofy. No Stitch. Just "this is your wakeup call" by some rando. Pfffffffft. Anyway, we were up and getting ready. We left BC at 7am for our 7:30 ADR at the Contemporary. Lucy took some pictures of our early morning ride.





It's so early the sky still has that early morning hazy glow to it.



We were at the Contemporary by 7:15. We got our bands scanned and found a parking spot. Now, we were going to park in the TTC center, as I know parking at other resorts all day is frowned upon, HOWEVER, before you get your undies in a bundle, I had specifically gone down to the front desk at BC the night before to ask what the best/fastest way would be to get to Contemporary on time. They said just park in the lot. I specified that we were headed to MK after breakfast and didn't want to re-park. They told me we could just park at Contemporary all day. That's what they would do. So, we did. I figured since we were told it was okay, it was. (and it was. No suspense here that we got in trouble later or something.)



Lucy was still snapping pics as we walked in.



And we were there!



We love Chef Mickey's. We knew there would be no characters and no buffet, but everyone still wanted to go anyway, and since O'hana wasn't open (our other favorite breakfast spot), we figured Chef Mickey's would be okay this time.

I got a picture of the girls before we checked in.



We didn't even have to get a buzzer and were taking back to our table right away.



We were seated by the windows that face MK. We'd never been seated in this area before. Lucy had to take a picture of the window, because even though it wasn't raining at all, it sure looked like it was due to the stifling temperatures outside and the cold AC inside.



Our server came and took our drink order and the the family style meal started coming out almost immediately.



There were scrambled eggs, cheesy hash browns, tater tots, biscuits, pastries, Mickey waffles, party pancakes, and a whole container of different meats. There were also these little egg white bites that were delish. It's the little round thing with tomatoes and peppers on it you can see in one of the pictures. There was also a fruit plate with several fruit selections.



For you meat lovers, here's a close up of the meat. Bacon, ham, and I think 2 kinds of sausage.





Oh yeah! This picture reminded me there were French toast sticks too!



I don't usually eat beef or pork, but on vacation, anything goes so obviously I was enjoying some ham here.



We are very proud of our hometown, and you will see A LOT of Milwaukee references on our clothing in the coming days.

We were finished in no time. The meal, unbeknownst to us, was cheaper because there were no characters and it wasn't a buffet. I think we ate plenty. Maybe not quite as many choices as the buffet, but still plenty of choices. None of us left hungry that's for sure. We certainly missed the shenanigans that come with the characters, but we were plenty happy with our meal. We paid and stopped in the bathroom. Lucy took some pictures of the restaurant as we left.







Posing like Mickey.



I guess we needed another picture of the restaurant's name on the way out. Lucy is wearing one of her new purchases from WOD. The shirt and the ears actually.



I LOVE this mural.



And the top, which is much less photographed.



I know we could have just walked over to the MK. I'm sure it would have been faster, but we always take the monorail for our first day at MK, so we didn't want to break tradition. Also, It was only 8:30, and since there was no welcome show, we had plenty of time to get into MK for rope drop.

We're waiting for the monorail here.



These are Lucy's pictures. She left nothing out!



Here was our ride. Monorail Salmon. (I don't know if that's actually the color they call it, but that's what I'm calling it.)



Well this is a terrible picture.



My kids love standing on the monorail. Even though we had the whole car to ourselves, Lucy still had to stand.



Maura too and she doesn't even hold on. If you've read any of my other trip reports, Maura declared the monorail stinky on her first trip back in 2012 when she was just 3, and she still claims it to be stinky at age 11. I think it's the mechanical smell. But we have at least 1 picture of her like this from every trip.



I guess Maura decided to sit.



View from the monorail. Grand Floridian. That's a really pretty resort, but I don't think I could ever stay there. I'd feel way too out of place. It's too fancy for me.



The Poly! Now this is our dream resort. Someday.



Now they have a whole bench to themselves, yet they couldn't sit any closer if they tried. I have a feeling this was Maura's doing and Lucy wishes she had some space.



Oooh, we're almost there! Our first glimpse of the castle!



We had already been through bag check at the Contemporary, so we just had to get through the turnstyles. I had texted with Toni, and she and the kids were about to arrive on the ferry.



An empty front entrance! There were no PP here right now, which was disappointing, but we'd get plenty later.



(continued in next post)

 

[Clarf]

Oh yikes! Sorry the pics are so big. I didn't realize. They'll be smaller now.

Toni and her kids showed up just then, so we got a picture of the kids before going under the bridge.



Lucy saw all these posters on the way in and needed pictures of them. They are pretty cool.



This one is especially sentimental since this would be our last trip riding Splash in it's current form.











Those posters were all in the tunnel on the right (when you're facing the castle). I believe Lucy took pictures of the ones on the left on our second MK day. You'll have to wait until then to find out though.

Under the bridge and we all start snapping pics immediately. Duh.



Who are those people? No clue. But, welcome to my TR, whoever you are.

The characters were out waving good morning! That was fun to see for sure.



The Emporium! We'd hit that up later in the week.



Hey, it's those people again.

And there it is. :angels sing: The castle! In it's new coloring! I know some people aren't crazy about it, but I really like it.



You can see Toni, C, J, and part of Lucy in this picture.

Here's a wider shot of the castle and Main Street USA. This one is courtesy of Jason. Everyone but him is in this picture from the back.



The cinema. Always showing the same movie.



There was not a one PP on the street this morning. We had never seen that before. It could have been due to Covid. We weren't sure, but were hopeful we'd see some later.

We were headed over to Splash Mountain before the line got incredibly long. It was hot already, so we knew this would be a popular ride today.

Lucy got a castle selfie.



We were headed to Frontierland by way of Adventureland. We had to stop for a picture there, as we always take one on our first day here. We have a lot of photo traditions that we must keep.


Not this one.

This one!



You can see the crowds were pretty low. Even Main Street USA and by the castle were sparsely populated. That was okay with me! So far, one of the positives of Covid.



This was as we got into Frontierland. Empty!



And well, since we're in Frontierland, we need a photo there too.



Look at these non-existent crowds!









And here was Splash Mountain. We walked on. WALKED ON!!!!



Walking by the briar patch.


Soon we were in our boat singing along to the sweet sounds of Bre'r Rabbit and friends. Toni and C skipped this in favor of Big Thunder, which they also walked on. J came with us on Splash.









This would be one of the last times we rode Splash with the Bre'rs. Much as I love it this way, and will miss it, I LOVE Princess and the Frog and can't wait to see what they do with it. There is definitely a lot of potential! But, back to now.





Soon we were heading into the briar patch. Here's our ride photo. This was officially our first PP of the trip!



Not bad. Jason is just chilling back there.

We got pretty wet, but it felt good. And my glasses of course got fogged up. That's the only downside to wearing a mask, but they didn't stay fogged for long.



I love Splash, because you THINK it's over, and then they throw more music and dancing at you.







What a great ride. We met up with Toni and C and there was still no line for BTMRR, so we all went over to that. I love a good roller coaster, and a walk on at that!

I promise to be back with more sooner than later. I'm off work until January 4th and have no where to go, so no excuses! Talk to you all soon!

 

[eleven24]

I know, I know. The Wawa isn't that exciting, but it is to us! We LOVE The Goldbergs, and we don't have The Wawa in Wisconsin, so it was fun to see one in person. I think Maura has a crush on Barry Goldberg. She's always talking about him.

Reading this I'm thinking "What's the big deal about Wawa?", but that's because I live in the Philly suburbs and they're everywhere. I had no idea they made their way to Florida!

To us, The Goldbergs is like a scrapbook of our youth. The level of detail they put into the show that people who don't live in the area are aware of is astonishing. Many of the places they are in are still there, but just vastly different. Seeing that they recreated how all of these places looked in the late 80's, and to the level of detail they went to achieve that has me always checking out everything else in the background while watching the show. For example, the old Wawa logo was multicolored and has been gone for 25 years. It's in the show. The "Old York Road" hockey jersey is legit too. So is the rink. I know, I played against them in high school in that same rink. Barry's Flyers t-shirt is the exact one I wore as a kid. The posters on his bedroom wall are the same ones I had. Seeing all of it made me think maybe I can still buy them. Not a chance. They must have made or scoured the earth to find them just for the show.

Anyway, saw your post when looking for trip reports as we're still wavering about a Jan 3 trip. Yeah, I know. Less than 2 weeks away and we're still unsure. If we do go though, our drive to the airport takes us through Jenkintown (which is 10 min from me). I'll be sure to tell the JTP you guys said hi.

 

[tundra1]

Hi! Glad to see you have continued this TR! I have been enjoying all your adventures. We are back from our trip and I am already starting to plan for our next one. I hope you are having a happy holiday season and that Santa was good to you!