Escape to Our Home Away from Home After Three Years - A July 2021 Trip Report (**Updated 6/26**)

[cstorm65]

Day 6 Part 2 - How Much Yogurt Did We Order?

We finished up with Everest and our next order of business was to get over and ride the safari before the line got too long. A few pictures of the river on the way:

After a few minutes of walking we were in Harambe and it didn’t look too crowded yet.

We were in line by 8:45 and the wait to get on a vehicle was only about 5 minutes. Awesome!!

Here are a few pictures from our ride:

We came out and the next objective was to get us some refreshments and so we started walking over to Starbucks. Brooks saw Everest in the distance and wanted to ride again he said!

We made it to Starbucks and got April and I some cold lattes and the boys got a snack.

We were refreshed and ready to move on so we headed over and looked around the Tree of Life just a bit before going to watch It’s Tough to Be a Bug.

When we got out of the show we saw a popcorn shop that was open and the boys were ready for another snack!

The next item on the agenda was to head back to the Lion King show at 10:30. We got there at about 10:05 and were let inside about five minutes later. We don’t usually show up that early to this show, but waits had been short this morning, so we were moving along our list of things to do!

It was about 11:00 when we came out, which is usually when we start thinking about lunch. We like to do it early to beat the lunch rush. So, we mobile ordered at one of our favorites:

I got the Ribs and April got the Pulled Pork Mac ‘n Cheese. We split up all of that so we both got some ribs and some of the Mac.

The ribs were really good and I remember thinking they were even better than I remember. We have pretty good bbq in Oklahoma, these weren’t spectacular, but I was impressed for it being theme park food. The pulled pork mac ‘n cheese was really good too. April loved it!

The boys both got the chicken leg kids meal and they loved that part. When our trays came out there were like four of the Danimals yogurts on the tray. I asked the lady, are you sure those are all ours. She assured me they were, so when I got to the table we had a laugh at all of the yogurt tubes rolling around on the tray. The boys love these things!

It was a good lunch, and the boys were happy with all of the yogurt.

Up Next: I Thought There Was Bowling at This Pool​

 

[cstorm65]

Day 6 Part 3 - I Thought There Was Bowling at This Pool

We got our bellies full of BBQ and a lot of yogurt and it was time to head back for some rest this afternoon. I did have a few pictures of our seating area at Flame Tree though. This is such a great place to sit and relax. We like to go down to the section of tables closest to the water.

Look at all of those yogurt containers! We finally got ourselves up and did a little shopping on the way out of the park. Brooks found a lightsaber of all things at Animal Kingdom that he wanted to spend his souvenir money on. So, now the boys were able to have light saber battles! We made it back to the bus stop at 12:00 and waited about 15 minutes. A Pop Century and Art of Animation bus both came at the same time, but the line for Pop was super long. We didn’t think we would make it on, so we went and got on the Art of Animation bus.

We were back at Art at 12:30 and just had to walk across the bridge to our room at Pop. But not before a few pictures in the Art of Animation lobby.

We got back to the room and the boys were ready to do a little swimming before naps. This time I told the boys that we are going to go check out the bowling pool which was just a little walk around the corner. I figured it would be easier to get a chair.

I was right, we got a chair easily, but at this point Brooks walked over really confused and said, “I thought you said there was bowling at this pool.” He really wanted to bowl. Unfortunately, I just had to tell him the pool was shaped like a bowling pin. We had a good swim once we got the bowling disappointment out of the way before taking Brooks back for a nap at around 2:15.

Braxton and I went down to Everything Pop while Brook’s took a nap for some drawing time.

We did that for a bit and then it was time to load up and head to Disney Springs, we had dinner at a new place this evening. We only waited about five minutes on a bus, which is a win for a Disney Springs bus, and we were there by 4:30. We had about an hour to shop, so we hit up some of our favorite places, but ended up spending the most time in the art shop for Braxton. He thought everything in here was so cool. The artists were doing portraits of people and there were so many cool supplies.

We finally headed out as we had a little bit of a walk to our dinner. We went past all of these places:

At 5:30, we checked in for our dinner, right on time at a place we were really looking forward to.

Up Next: Dinner a New Favorite Spot​

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Finally catching up!

I also had that peanut butter sundae at the boardwalk and loved it!

Shame about Via Napoli-we couldn't get reservations there in 2021 because of what you described (we did go to Le Cellier and Teppan Edo and did not have the issues you described minus the waiters not being from their country of origin). Hopefully it has improved.

also I will admit bowling at or in a pool does sound fun but also challenging lol!

 

[cstorm65]

Finally catching up!

I also had that peanut butter sundae at the boardwalk and loved it!

Shame about Via Napoli-we couldn't get reservations there in 2021 because of what you described (we did go to Le Cellier and Teppan Edo and did not have the issues you described minus the waiters not being from their country of origin). Hopefully it has improved.

also I will admit bowling at or in a pool does sound fun but also challenging lol!

The service was better at Via Napoli the last time we went in 2022, so hopefully this was just a 2021, post-covid thing that had the service not doing well!

Bowling in the pool! I'd play that! haha

 

[cstorm65]

Day 6 Part 4 - Dinner at a New Favorite Spot

We left off as we were checking in at a restaurant that was going to be new to us:

We had been looking forward to this restaurant as it has a lot of items on the menu that really appeal to us. We had heard a lot of good things about Homecomin’ and now it was time for us to find out for ourselves if all those good reviews were true!

We started off with the Bee Haven Bay Fried Green Tomatoes: Shaved ham, remoulade sauce and dressed local greens. These were very good, April and I both enjoyed them a lot! The remoulade sauce that came with them was great!

For our main meals I decided on the Country Fried Steak: Perfectly seasoned, battered then fried and topped with sawmill gravy. Served with creamy mashed potatoes and a cheddar drop biscuit. This was very good. I am a big time chicken fried steak guy and if it’s on the menu somewhere it is hard for me to say no, so ordering this was easy. I was not disappointed. The batter was excellent and I also really enjoyed the mashed potatoes. The green beans were not great, a little undercooked and not really seasoned much.

Braxton got the Kids Meal Cheeseburger and he said it was just ok. I tried to get him to order the kids fried chicken as it was their specialty, but he wanted this. It wasn’t bad, but not near as good as the chicken would have been.

April got Art’s Famous Fried Chicken: Chef Art Smith's signature dish! Buttermilk-brined for 24 hours then perfectly fried and served with creamy mashed potatoes, cheddar drop biscuit and love. She did enjoy the meal, although she said the dark pieces of chicken were really good, but the white meat ended up really dry. She said it was fine, she just wished it had been all dark meat! haha…She also loved the cheddar biscuit that came with this!

Brooks shocked us all when he said he wanted the Kids Meal Fish Sticks. I mean I knew he liked fish sticks from the freezer section, but we were sure at all what to expect from these. Turns out these were homemade fish sticks with a batter that was the same as the chicken fry. He did eat about half of the plate, but it was a good size portion. I don’t think he liked them as well as the frozen fish sticks…kids! I, on the other hand, tried a bite and they were delicious. It was real fish, nice and flakey…I would order these as an adult meal for sure!

Overall we had a great meal at Homecomin’. I think if we came back, April and I would share an entree because they were huge! Then maybe just order a couple of appetizers because they had some other ones that we wanted to try. Our server was super sweet and did a good job as well! Definitely a place we will come back to!

We headed out into Disney Springs as April was in search of a ring she had seen and thought she could find it at the Kendra Scott store. I guess I didn’t take a picture, but it looked really cool with the Mickey shaped head on the top of the ring. We had seen it in another store somewhere, but they didn’t have her size. This store did have her size though and so we were able to pick it up for her. We spent some time looking around the lego store and some other shops before heading back to the bus stop.

We were back at Pop by about 7:20 after a Pop bus was waiting for us. This was some good Disney Springs bus luck today! The boys ended up watching Toy Story 2 on the TV while they were winding down and Braxton did a little drawing as well!

We put the boys to bed at about 8:15 so we would be ready for rope drop in the morning. I did head over to the main building to get a treat for April and I. First, I looked around the lobby a bit:

I eventually decided on a cupcake.

April and I slipped outside to a table by the pool which was just steps from our door and enjoyed our snack. It was a great day with a great finish at Homecomin’. Tomorrow it was back to Hollywood Studios!

Up Next: Someone Has a Stormtrooper Problem​

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

So happy you enjoyed Homecomin'! Its our final meal tradition since it opened! Wish they would open one in DLR!

 

[cstorm65]

So happy you enjoyed Homecomin'! Its our final meal tradition since it opened! Wish they would open one in DLR!

It was really good! We had heard good things and was happy that it lived up to the expectations! If they had one at DLR we would definitely go when we are there later this summer.

 

[cstorm65]

Day 7 Part 1 - Someone Has a Stormtrooper Problem

We were up bright and early at 7:00 AM today because it was another Hollywood Studios day. Our boys had been hooked on Star Wars since day one and they were ready to go with their lightsabers today!

We got to the Skyliner at 7:45 and there was no wait at Pop Century and then only a five minute or less wait at the Caribbean Beach Hub to get on the Hollywood Studios line.

Like I said, these guys were excited to have their lightsabers along for the journey and we once again were able to snag a Rise of the Resistance boarding group at 7:00 AM!

We made it to Hollywood Studios at 7:57 and the park was already letting people in before the scheduled 8:30 opening. We did go a little different direction this morning and headed this way:

We were heading for a rope drop ride on Rock ‘n Roller Coaster. Braxton loves this one!

They started letting people in right at 8:30, but I at least love at Hollywood Studios how they let you go ahead to your ride of choice and just wait, instead of the massive herding that goes on at Magic Kingdom.

April and Braxton did Rock ‘n Roller first today and I got a child swap for later. Meanwhile, Brooks and I headed off to get on Runaway Railway.

We waited about 20 minutes since we got there 10 minutes or so after park opening, but not too bad. Also, the timing worked out pretty good that April and Braxton got there after RnR right after we all got done with MMRR. This one was such a fun ride. I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would going into the trip.

Here was the fun that April and Braxton were having!

We met up at about 9:10 and headed back to try and do Smugglers Run. It was almost 9:30 by the time we made our way back there and the posted wait was 45 minutes, but we ended up only waiting about 30 minutes. The queue area on this ride is so cool!

We enjoyed the ride. I didn’t write down who the pilots were and who the gunners were, but we had fun for sure! I mean it’s not the greatest ride ever, but it is definitely enjoyable.

When we came out Braxton was dying to get over and see Kylo Ren and the stormtroopers again. I think this was his favorite part of the trip. At some point in here April and I were giving him a hard time because he was having so much fun watching the storm troopers. I’m telling you he was getting into Star Wars on this trip.

While they waited on Kylo Ren to come out I went over and grabbed a Ronto Wrap, which I had been wanting to try. It was so good! It was a little too spicy for April, but she said the flavor was excellent. Braxton really enjoyed it. Brooks couldn’t try it because he has a little egg allergy, but Braxton and I easily finished it off.

Finally, our stormtrooper was happy because Kylo Ren showed up!

Braxton was so deep into the stormtrooper time he just had to spend some of his money at the store there and he got himself this helmet! He was loving Galaxy’s Edge!

Up Next: Where Did You Get That Helmet?​

 

[disneyAndi14]

I’ve never had the Ronto wrap at breakfast just lunch and I really like it!
I was a huge GMR fan so when it closed I wasn’t sure I would like MMRR and I really do like it! I still miss GMR but MMRR is really made well and a nice edition to DHS.
My son loves Star Wars and I hope he comes to DHS someday with me, he would love it! He is an adult but has loved SW since he was 9-10 years old!

 

[cstorm65]

I’ve never had the Ronto wrap at breakfast just lunch and I really like it!
I was a huge GMR fan so when it closed I wasn’t sure I would like MMRR and I really do like it! I still miss GMR but MMRR is really made well and a nice edition to DHS.
My son loves Star Wars and I hope he comes to DHS someday with me, he would love it! He is an adult but has loved SW since he was 9-10 years old!

I think the breakfast wrap is the only one I have ever eaten! haha...I'm going to have to try the lunch one some time!

I am with you. I really liked GMR, I think mostly because it was just a completely different type of ride and I also like things that are nostalgic like that. But, I agree with you too that MMRR is good also! I also think it is a type of ride that was needed at Hollywood Studios.

 

[cstorm65]

Day 7 Part 2 - Where Did You Get That Helmet?

Braxton was all squared away with his new helmet and it was time to head over to our Rise of the Resistance board group to ride. I have some photopass pics here in my pictures, but I think these happened before we got over the stormtroopers and the pictures just got out of order, but how cool is it to have family pics in front of the Millenium Falcon. I mean, can it get any cooler?

We got to Rise of the Resistance, but it went down right as we were getting there. So, that was really the only main thing we wanted to do before our lunch reservation along with me using my child swap pass at Rock ‘n Roller Coaster. With Rise down Braxton and I walked down to RnR while we waited to see if it would come back up.

I'm not sure what Braxton was trying to do with his face!

With another great ride on Rock ‘n Roller in the books, Braxton and I headed back over to find April and Brooks who were hanging out somewhere in the Muppets Courtyard.

It was about 11:40 at this point and Rise was just opening back up, so we jumped in line. The boys had to get their lightsabers out in line!

When we got into the area where they are lining you up Braxton was still wearing his new helmet. One of the cast members came over and asked him, “Where did you get that helmet?” Braxton broke character immediately and pulled it up to look at the guy. The guy said something about the Supreme Leader getting to the bottom of it in the interrogation room.

The boys had another great ride. Brooks had actually been a little nervous about the ride after our first time a few days ago, but he ended up loving it and was ready to go again!

It was about 12:20 and we had a 1:00 lunch reservation, so we just did some shopping for 20-30 minutes in the park. We always love the Disney kitchen stuff, especially all of these things.

I mean we never have any way to get any of this type of stuff home, but it is fun to look at!

Up Next: “I Used the Force on Mickey”​

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

My mom would be all over those placemats I swear we have them for every holiday and seasons lol

 

[cstorm65]

My mom would be all over those placemats I swear we have them for every holiday and seasons lol

We love this stuff. Maybe since this is on my mind before we go to Disneyland later this summer we can come up with a plant to get something like the placemats home. The dishes won't work, but now you've got me thinking about the placemats and how cool they would look on the table!

 

[cstorm65]

Day 7 Part 3 - “I Used the Force on Mickey”

It was time to head over to our lunch reservation and it was a restaurant that would be a first for us. Honestly, I’m not sure how we have been to Disney about 7-8 times at this point and had never gotten a reservation here, but now we were ready for our first meal at 50’s Prime Time.

We got seated and ordered an onion rings appetizer and these were very good! Braxton especially loved these!

April, Braxton, and I ordered shakes, but Brooks wanted the ice cream that came with his meal afterwards. I got their famous Peanut Butter and Jelly Shake:

It was really good and it had a nice peanut butter flavor which I loved, but I didn’t really get any type of jelly flavor. It was a excellent milk shake though!

April got a Coke Float and Braxton got a Root Beer Float and they both loved them!

This place to dine is really fun and we had an older lady as a waitress. I can 100% see how she would be an awesome server here sometimes, but she just wasn’t too much in character today. She did read us the rules at the beginning of the meal, but other than that we didn’t really get anything special from this meal in terms of the waitress. She did have the perfect personality for this place, but for whatever reason we didn’t get any of the fun.

Sorry, I don't know why I didn't get any food pics this time. Since April and I both got shakes we just shared the sampler platter. It was just ok for us. It probably wasn’t a good thing that we ate Fried Chicken at Homecomin’ just the night before. The fried chicken was good and reminded us of KFC fast food fried chicken. We would eat it again, but not over Homecomin.

The Meatloaf may have been my favorite of the meats. I am not a ketchup fan in my meatloaf and this one didn’t have much ketchup, so I enjoyed it. April is just not much of a meatloaf fan in general herself. The pot roast was ok, we didn’t feel that it had much flavor and could have used more seasoning. Everything was good though.

The boys both got mac ‘n cheese kids meals and they loved it!

After lunch it was about 2:15 and we were ready to head back to the hotel for some rest.

We saw Mickey out and so Brooks wanted to stop a waive…or so I thought.

Turns out he wasn’t wanting to waive, he turned around and said, “I used the force on Mickey”? Who knows if that was a good thing or bad thing, but let’s just say they were in a Star Wars mood!

We were on the Skyliner by 2:30 and back at Pop Century shortly after. I took Braxton to sit in the lobby while Brooks napped. Braxton spent some time drawing in the lobby and we talked a little bit about moving to our new resort the next day.

After a little nap for Brooks we were going to swim, but it started storming. So, we spent the time packing up and getting ready for our resort move the next day. We were very excited about the move as it would be a new resort to us!

Brooks enjoyed some more of his lollipop he had picked up somewhere along the way while April and I packed! While Braxton did a little drawing.

We did end up getting out to the pool with the boys at about 5:30 or so once the storms moved out, which was a fun way to end the afternoon and get us ready for one more trip on the Skyliner to grab some dinner while we were staying at Pop Century.

Up Next: An Evening at Riviera​

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I honestly never had the desire to visit 50s prime time (the lounge yes but when we were there last it still wasn’t fully open post Covid) because I’d love to try the PB&J shake. But it never appealed to me and it’s a shame they didn’t go into the whole thing that makes it fun!

Also that drawing Braxton did was awesome-keep it up-he could have a great career ahead of him in graphic design and art!

 

[cstorm65]

I honestly never had the desire to visit 50s prime time (the lounge yes but when we were there last it still wasn’t fully open post Covid) because I’d love to try the PB&J shake. But it never appealed to me and it’s a shame they didn’t go into the whole thing that makes it fun!

Also that drawing Braxton did was awesome-keep it up-he could have a great career ahead of him in graphic design and art!

Yes, we weren't huge fans. I'm sure it's all in the waiter that you get when you dine here, but the food was just so so also. The shakes though were really good!

He loves to draw!! I'm sure I'll have more pictures here in the report!

 

[cstorm65]

Day 7 Part 4 - An Evening at Riviera

We had left off after an afternoon of napping, packing, and swimming and we just wanted a nice relaxing evening. We decided to hop on the Skyliner and head over for dinner at Primo Piatto. The Skyliner makes it so nice to not only get to Epcot and Hollywood Studios, but to visit the other resorts on the line as well. Riviera was pretty new at the time of this trip and so we wanted to just go check out the vibe at night.

Of course we had to take our Lightsabers with us!

We got over to Riviera at about 7:45 and as soon as we arrived I hit the button for them to start preparing our mobile order. I had learned a few days before they made stuff fresh here, but that means the orders take a little while to get ready. With the order being made we looked around just a little bit. What a beautiful new resort!

Ummm…boys, don’t get us kicked out please!

Our order was ready in about 15 minutes and we got it and ate outside at one of the picnic tables next to the area where you can play corn hole and bocce. April got the Margherita Pizza. Again, it’s nothing spectacular, but she liked it much better than Pop Century pizza.

I got the Croque Madame for the second time this week and it was just as good! Braxton also loved this and stole several bites from me! haha

I didn’t get pictures of the kids' meals, but Braxton got the kids pizza. He liked it ok, but wished he had just gotten a sandwich like mine! Brooks got the kids ranch dressing with a side of chicken strips. Maybe that was backwards, but those of you with kids know what I’m talking about in regards to ranch dressing!

After dinner we spent 30 minutes or so just hanging out in the courtyard as the sun went down. This courtyard is really neat at night. It has great lighting and all of the yard games are fun to play with the family!

At about 8:50 or so we hopped back on the Skyliner and headed back to Pop. I would have loved to known what people on the ground were saying about this:

It was a great end to the day, but what I haven’t talked much about is the looming Hurricane Elsa that was supposed to move in the next day. We were just thankful we were actually going to get to move to our new resort. For a couple of days we were worried the storm would hit on our resort change morning and cause lots of havoc, but it looked like now it will hold off until the next evening.

Up Next: Donuts for Lunch​

 

[cstorm65]

Day 8 Part 1 - Donuts for Lunch

It was resort change day in preparation for our second week at Disney World and we decided to sleep in a little bit on this day. We had gone hard the first week, but were ready for our new resort, but unfortunately we had to wait until check in time this afternoon.

We finished packing our essentials and headed over to send out bags to the new resort with bell services.

Luggage transfer is a big time benefit of Disney resorts that gets overlooked, but it makes split stays super easy. I mean we wouldn’t want to be moving every couple of nights, but for a trip like this it is really convenient.

We headed to the Skyliner as our plan for the day was to take the Skyliner and spend some time in Epcot before heading to our new place around check in time. We were just going to take it slow, but Epcot was still opening at 11:00 AM at this point after COVID, so we’d still maybe get a rope drop attraction or two. We made it to the Skyliner at 10:08.

Braxton’s hair looked like he was having a rough morning.

We made it to the International Gateway by 10:30 and were in the park less than five minutes later.

We gave the boys their options for rides and they both wanted to go to Test Track for sure, so we headed that way!

We made it to Test Track at 10:43, but the front of the park crowd was already there. We weren’t too concerned with time today though, so we jumped in line.

The boys love the cars in the line!

They also both really enjoy this part of Test Track:

We made it on the ride in about 35 minutes. Which was a little long, but coming from the IG you will always be behind the front of the park people if headed to Test Track.

After the ride, at about 11:30, Brooks really wanted to ride Frozen and Braxton wanted to keep designing cars. So, we split up and April took Brooks to Frozen and I stayed with Braxton in the Test Track post-ride area. He was happy as a lark!

It took April and Brooks about 30 minutes to ride Frozen and then we had plans to meet up in the temporary Epcot gift shop. I did get sad walking in with Mousegear gone. Who else loved that store?

Braxton did find a shirt in here that he kind of liked!

We headed off across the park because it was about 12:10 as it was lunchtime and April and I wanted Fish & Chips.

On the way the boys were deciding if they wanted to try the fish and chips when we passed a stand that had the huge donuts you see in the parks. Well, the boys talked us into getting them a donut for lunch. Hey, we’re at Disney, maybe they will think we are the best parents in the world for a few minutes at least! Donuts for lunch it is!

Donuts in hand we headed off for the adult equivalent of donuts for lunch…Fish & Chips in the UK.

Up Next: That Was the Best Photopass Shoot Ever!​

 

[disneyAndi14]

I use to love MouseGear and really miss it. I’m not a big fan of the new store at all!
Your food and pictures of the Riviera are making me really excited to stay there in September! I really love this resort. We love the lounge Bar Riva, great drinks and food!
Donuts for lunch is just fine on vacation in my book!

 

[cstorm65]

I use to love MouseGear and really miss it. I’m not a big fan of the new store at all!
Your food and pictures of the Riviera are making me really excited to stay there in September! I really love this resort. We love the lounge Bar Riva, great drinks and food!
Donuts for lunch is just fine on vacation in my book!

MouseGear was great! I could have walked around in there forever. The new store just feels slam packed crowded all the time to me.

Riviera was so fun to hang around at in the evening. It has a few negatives compared to other DVC resorts, but I would love to own DVC points here for just the location and nighttime vibe.