"It's my birthday!" -Rapunzel, and also ME! April Birthday Trip Report!!

[aerxo17]

Hello! Welcome to my very first trip report, wow!
Allow me to introduce myself:



My name is Avery! I'm a former CP and avid WDW trip planner. I'm also turning 26 (my lucky number!) tomorrow, woohoo! But our trip is still a little less than a week away heh. My friends and I are taking a 3-day trip to Old Key West resort. For the first time, this will be a NO PARKS trip! We'll be enjoying pools, dining, and beverages for 3 days.

Here's who's joining me:


My friend Will! We've known each other since his freshman and my senior year of college. He came to WDW with me last year for a 3-day trip, when we stayed at POR and visited DHS! He's excited to get back to WDW on a trip with more people coming, and so am I!


My friend Kailyn! We've known each other since our junior years of college and this will be her first time coming to WDW with me!! I'm so excited to show her how fun it is!!


Last but not least, my friend Amber!! We've been to WDW together twice now, once to Kidani for a week and another time as a split stay between ASMu and the Poly for a week! I've known Amber since her freshman year and my sophomore year of college. Amber is so fun and easy going so I'm excited to do another trip with her!!

Up next: trip details!

 

[aerxo17]

TRIP DETAILS!!

So, we're leaving on a Saturday morning from D.C. to come to Orlando! We fly out on American around 8:30am. I've never had a bad experience on an American Airlines plane so I'm not worried about the flight at all. I live very close to the airport, maybe a $15-$20 uber ride away, so it should be smooth sailing.

Once we get to Old Key West resort, we'll find out where our One Bedroom Villa will be located! We requested building 62 via TouringPlans because of the elevator, but we'll see if we get that (I've heard it's unlikely). This will be my first time in a DVC Villa with a full kitchen!!! I know the OKW villas are BIG too so I'm so excited.



Our groceries (and liquor) order will arrive soon after, then we'll spend the afternoon at the pool before heading over on the boat to Disney Springs!! We have a reservation at The Edison and Raglan Road, but we're also planning to visit Jock Lindsey's and the Lava Lounge. So exciting!!

I heard from a CM on the phone that Yehaa Bob would be performing that night, just up the Sassagoula river from Disney Springs at POR. So we'll head over there before midnight to catch the end of his show and enjoy some bevvies at River Roost.

The next day we'll go to the pool again! Yay! (I'm also excited to have a blender possibly? Love me some frozen dranks heh) Later in the afternoon, we'll head over to the Poly and put our names on Trader Sam's list. While we're waiting, we'll check out Enchanted Rose at GF, maybe some pontoon boats to rent, and then back to the Poly for Tambu and Trader Sam's until fireworks on the Poly beach!! Then we'll zoom over to the BoardWalk and have some fun at Jellyrolls and Atlantic Dance Hall.

The next day we have brunch reservations at Olivia's then it's time to check out! We'll still spend some time at the pool that day before we fly back out that evening.

And that's our trip! Short, sweet, and simple!

 

[aerxo17]

Now the fun stuff! These are the MagicBands I got everyone as a surprise, and I also got us all a pair of blue heart-shaped sunglasses to wear just for fun!

Anyone have any additional ideas about what else I could bring to make it a little more fun?

 

[aerxo17]

I ordered our groceries from Walmart and our alcohol from Drizly. All the Venmo requests for those orders are out, now all that's left to do is:

• Check-in to our flight on Friday morning
• Get a spray tan, continue whitening my teeth, and get my nails done (gotta take some good photos!!)
• Finish packing accessories and toiletries! (Clothes are all packed already!)

I'm so excited to lounge at the pool with a drink in my hand this weekend! Plus all the bars and restaurants, of course

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[aerxo17]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

Thank you for following along!



Today I ordered some more fun things, these will be delivered to our resort by Amazon! I think there's a package handling fee, but $5 isn't bad

I thought we might have one more friend joining us last minute, but it's looking like that probably won't happen now.

I also re-ordered our Walmart Delivery through InstaCart instead, as Walmart was sending me odd messages about my order being delayed. We can't afford to have our order delayed, the trip is only 3 days long



Also just received my last pre-trip package, my bucket hat ears! These are from All Enchanting Ears on Etsy; I got the L/XL size. So cute!

I'm really excited for this trip and to do some relaxing and have a TON of fun. We're 4 days away!!

 

[WEDcryoHEAD]

I've enjoyed reading along so far. It seems like you have a great itinerary planned. A quick trip like that is always nice and to know that it can be more laid back, without the hustle and bustle of the parks, is always good too. Have the best time ever and enjoy being with your friends. My only suggestion would be to take lots of photos.

OKW is awesome by the way. Super cozy and laid back vibe. Make sure you stop for a drink at the Gurgling Suitcase.

 

[aerxo17]

Tomorrow's the big day! We're checked into our flights, my Uber to the airport is scheduled, and all that's left to do is pack my chargers, get on the plane, and ENJOY!

 

[DLo]

Have a magical trip !

 

[aerxo17]

Our trip was WONDERFUL!

Amber, Will and I flew from DCA-MCO around 8:30AM on Saturday, April 22nd. The flight went smoothly, and Kailyn flew from RIC on standby -- by sheer luck, we all arrived at MCO within 30 minutes of each other! We met up by baggage claim, gathered our belongings, and hopped into an UberXL. There was plenty of room for the 4 of us and our luggage.



Soon enough we were dropped off at Old Key West at the Hospitality House! We checked in at the front desk, attached our individual credit cards to each of our Magic Bands (they loved the surprise of receiving these with blue heart-shaped sunglasses!), but our room wasn't ready yet at 1:00pm, so we left our luggage with Bell Services, changed in the changing rooms at the Feature Pool, and got some drinks at the Gurgling Suitcase.



Luckily, our grocery order was already delivered, including our sunscreen that we ordered, so we grabbed that with our drinks and found chairs behind the Sandcastle waterslide and laid out Kailyn and Will were hungry, so they grabbed some food from Goods To-Go while Amber and I swam and tried out the waterslide!

Pretty soon, we got the notification that our room was ready -- not the room we requested. We ended up in room 2911 on the ground floor, however we never had ANY problems you might associate with a ground-floor apartment in central Florida (bugs, lizards, and creatures were not a problem, even on our patio -- thanks, Disney magic!!) so we were happy with it.



I called Bell Services and they delivered all our luggage and groceries to us for a $5 charge on the room -- but I tipped the sweet CM who delivered our groceries on Venmo -- thank you Selina! We also were delivered a surprise -- cupcakes and cookies my mom sent us from Olivia's Kitchen! They were so beautiful!



We all showered up and got ready for the evening. But not before a quick photo shoot, lol.



Next up, we took the boat at Hospitality House to Disney Springs! Stay tuned!

 

[aerxo17]

At Disney Springs, we went straight to the Lava Lounge and were seated. I ordered a Captain Morgan and Diet Coke, and we all split their appetizer sampler. The eggrolls and dip were my favorite part!!

We tried to get into Jock Lindsay's after, but there was no room for 4 available, so we skipped over to the Edison! We were seated at a table far away from the stage, but they had TVs with the show playing throughout the restaurant, although the music was a bit hard to hear. We ordered the Electri-fries which I didn't personally care for, but all else at the table enjoyed. At this point I was getting sleepy so I ordered a vodka redbull, lol! We also decided to forgo our reservation at Raglan Road, since we were running behind on time.

After this, we took the bus to Port Orleans Riverside and watched Yehaa Bob do his thing! The bartender CM also gifted my rum and coke with a glow cube, what a pleasant surprise! After that it was time to Uber back to our villa to get some shut eye

 

[aerxo17]

The next morning, I woke up early and enjoyed some coffee on our patio. Soon enough everyone else was awake and we got ready, filled up our cups , and used the bus to go to the Turtle Pond pool!



This is my second favorite pool, next to the Kidani Village pool, in all of Disney property! The best part was, in the beverage refill station room, there was a FREE TO PLAY Guitar Hero 3 game!!! As someone who spent their childhood as an avid Guitar Hero player, this was a huge bonus to me. Also, the pool at the Turtle Pond Snack Shack was INCREDIBLE! The pulled pork nachos were PERFECTION, even as someone who doesn't normally like those kind of chips. Highly recommend!!!

Soon enough though, it was time to go back to our villa, shower, and get ready to venture over to the monorail resorts for a monorail bar crawl! Woohoo!

 

[aerxo17]

We took the bus to Magic Kingdom, and then rode the boat to the resorts. We went to the Polynesian first at 3PM, to put our names on the list at Trader Sam's Grog Grotto. After that, we knew we had some free time, so we scooted over to the Grand Floridian via monorail and did some shopping as Basin!

I didn't buy anything but god everything in that store smells amazing!! We next went to a nearly empty Enchanted Rose, and sat on the outdoor patio.



I ordered -- you guessed it! -- Diet Coke with Captain Morgan. And yet they still managed to make my drink look so classy!

After our drinks came out, we went back to the Polynesian, got a dole whip with coconut rum at Pineapple Lanai. This was served to me as Dole Whip with a hole in the middle, and a tiny shot glass of Malibu which I was told to pour into it, which made me LOL! We then took to Trader Sam's Tiki Terrace. I enjoyed an Ace Pineapple Cider (yum!) and some dumplings, which were not as good as the 'Ohana dumplings I've had previously.




Next was Trader Sam's, 3 hours after checking in!! I don't really remember what I ordered because we "traded" our drinks around after ordering, finding that we each preferred one another's orders to our own, LOL! We did get the Krakatoa Punch as well as an Uh-Oa at our table, which both provided quite the show

After this, we grabbed some cocktails from the Barefoot Pool bar and managed to grab 4 of the last Adirondack chairs on the beach before fireworks, right around 7:45PM. What a BEAUTIFUL view!!



We watched the Electrical Water Pageant go by, but the Polynesian music mixed with the parade music, so it was a bit noisy/busy to listen to, lol. Once Happily Ever After came on though, the Polynesian Resort music was gone and the show was fabulous! I unfortunately got no pictures because I was too busy crying LOL!!!

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Capt. Cook's and watched as the Polynesian bars EMPTIED OUT after fireworks! We could have easily gotten a seat at Tambu Lounge, which we couldn't get earlier in the evening, but we decided to uber to the Boardwalk and enjoy a mostly empty Atlantic Dance Hall and a very crowded Jellyrolls instead lol. What a blast!

Around 12:30am we called it a night and ubered back to our resort for one more sleep.