We went to the lobby and I decided to do our tickets at the vacation planning desk instead of the park. There was one couple being helped and they finished quickly. I inquired how much it would be to convert the 4-day 3-park ticket to a Seasonal Pass. I was on the fence as to whether to convert just mine for the hotel discount or do all four of us. It was $40 for each adult and $50 for each kid. The reason being that the kids' multiday park tickets were $10 less and the season passes are the same price for adult or child. Done! Great price for a 15 month pass!!! We also got our quick service dining cards and our tickets for our VB cabana rentals later in the trip.
We got 4 total adult dining plans. I'm glad we didn't get any more. I thought it was a hassle. I would not get it again. I suppose the best part of it was the freestyle add-on for $10. I did not like that It was presented that you get a QS meal, a snack, one beverage and then the freestyle add-on but they didn't mention you had to get the beverage with the meal, or if it was mentioned, I didn't see it. I don't want to get the beverage with my meal. I don't like to drink with my meals. I know I'm probably in the minority on that. It probably saved us money but I had 4 cards and couldn't remember which one had the meal or snacks or whatever still left on them. It was card chaos. I also didn't like the pressure of ordering higher priced items to "maximize the value" when a cheaper option or just eating off my kids' plates would have suited me just fine. It was not for us but I can see how it could be of benefit to other families who don't get irritated with minor things like I do, lol.
We walked over to IoA. No line at security, no line to get in. Husband rode Hulk while I stayed with the kids. Very light crowd level. Everyone wearing masks. It was overcast which helped it not be so blazing hot. Took things easy that first evening. Distance markers were clearly laid out in lines. Hand sanitizer administered before every ride. We also sanitized our hands with our own immediately after getting off the rides.
We rode Spiderman and made our way to Harry Potter. It was our first time to see it. Kids were tired from traveling and are a little young for HP anyway, so they were nonplussed by it but husband and I were blown away. We are not HP fans at all, but the land is spectacular. We are not Star Wars fans either (other than the fact we were kids when the originals came out, so of course we were fans as kids in the 70's and 80's). So not being big fans of either franchise probably takes some thrill from seeing these lands but we both think that HP land is more impressive than SW by a wide margin. And HP is a decade old! My gosh. It's held up. We loved it. We rode Hippogriff and ate at 3 Broomsticks. I had the fish and chips and thought it was really good. Not that impressed by the ribs and chicken, and potatoes were very underdone. Great decor. One person from each party was escorted to the counter to order for the entire party because we had the dining plan. I think we would have had to mobile order otherwise.
We got caught in an absolute deluge walking back to RPR. We showered, got into dry clothes and enjoyed a cocktail made in-room before turning in for the night.
Sunday June 7th
I felt like sleeping in but made myself get up because I had to pack up. I tried to be quiet to give everyone else a little more sleep. Why did I book just one night here, oh yeah...Express Passes. Turns out we really didn't need it because the crowds were so light but I'm glad to have gotten the opportunity to stay at RPR. We liked it very much and now know that we would need a bigger room if we ever stayed there again. And there were a lot of unknowns for us when we made the decision to stay at a premier hotel. We didn't know how the crowds would be or how the reduced ride capacity would affect wait times. All in all, I like the premise of staying at a hotel with EPs for time at US & IoA and then going to CBBR for VB days.
We did make the split stay a little easier by doing a couple of things. We used packing cubes and had the items we needed for that first night and next day in a couple of specific cubes so unpacking and packing up again didn't really require digging through a bunch of stuff. We also did not buy perishables at the grocery store. I bought Horizon shelf-stable milk for cereal and didn't have to worry about spoilage before we could get to our next room. We also packed a collapsible duffel that we could put our groceries in instead of having half a dozen or more plastic grocery bags full of groceries that luggage services would have to store for us. It made it a lot easier.
We left our luggage with luggage services and headed to US. In the park a little before 9. No lines at security, or entry. Went to Minions. Man, my kids loved that SO much. They just couldn't believe what they were seeing. It was magical. (see, that other place doesn't own the market on magic
) We had a full day. We rode about 10 rides. It was hot. The masks were hard for the kids at certain points. They were sports, though. It helped that a lot of the rides and lines were air conditioned. The Simpsons ride was another hit with the kids, and the SpongeBob store. It was a great park experience. Crowds cause a lot of angst and anxiety of some in my family and this was like a dream. The only downside was popcorn, the boys favorite snack, was a little hard to find. There were a lot of kiosks closed, for good reason. The crowds weren't there to sustain them. Seems like a good trade-off, however, scant popcorn for low crowds. I'll take it! By 2 o'clock we'd had enough and headed back to RPR to retrieve our luggage.
There was no luggage transfer. I do not know if this is something that they cut back on or never offered it to begin with. It was unfortunate as that is a major perk of split stays at Disney, but we just called an Uber and moved with our luggage to CBBR.
CABANA BAY BEACH RESORT
We arrived at CBBR. It was pretty much the same scene as RPR. No activity. I don't think there was anyone in the lobby except for employees. Check-in was fast and we again received a number to text with any questions or requests. The pool with the slide outside the lobby was closed. Too bad, it looked nice. The lobby made me smile. It was just cute as can be. I knew then we were in for a treat staying here.
We booked a 2 bedroom family suite with VB view. We were on the 9th floor in the Beachside tower. As we made our way to the tower, we did see a few people but not many. It was just enough people to make me not worry we were plopped down in the middle of some kind of bizarre horror movie. We got to the room and opened the door and I swear I heard angels singing. Floor to ceiling windows and a GORGEOUS view of the Volcano. Big TV, large couch and a small dinette table and just-big-enough kitchenette. It was clean, airy, and roomy. The master bedroom, with a queen bed, also shared the great view of the volcano and the boys bedroom (2 queens, I believe) had a really great view of the open pool and lazy river. So much space! 2 bathrooms! We never even used the split wet area that contained just a bathtub. We used it to hang our bathing suits and stored a large suitcase there along with our dirty towels. The two toilets and sinks were invaluable and the shower in the main bathroom was a decent size.
I never got ice, but my husband said he would feel bad for whoever had a room near the icemaker. I guess it was out in the open in the hall. We had the unfortunate experience of getting a room right outside an ice machine a zillion years ago in Vegas at TI. It was torture.
We quickly unpacked and put drinks in the fridge and went from room to room staring at the lovely views. We moved the small dinette table closer to the big window and just enjoyed the view of VB while enjoying a cocktail, or two. The boys were thrilled to have their "own" room in a hotel and were lounging on their beds watching Sponge Bob. We were thrilled to have a little quiet and some space to ourselves to enjoy lovely views and good conversation.
Dinner was at the food court and brought back to the room to eat. There were people at the food court but most were at the pizza counter. I walked right up to the international counter with no wait. The deli was closed. All other areas of the diner seemed operational except the freestyle machines. My kids are such picky eater that even the kids menu items were too exotic. We were prepared for that and had groceries for them. Husband had the Churrasco. It was lovely. Beef was a nice medium, lots of pink, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. I was so impressed it wasn't overcooked that I made a metal note to order it for myself later in the trip. I got the seared tuna with curry. It wasn't bad. The curry was very good. Tuna was very rare, okay quality. Certainly not melt-in-your-mouth seared tuna, but it came from a food court so I was fairly happy with it.
Monday, June 8th
Got up and headed for the bus stop back to the parks. There were 2 other small families on the bus with us. We got there in time for EE. Security at City Walk was almost empty. Enjoyed another low crowd day at the parks. The boys LOVED meeting Blue at the Raptor Meet and Greet. They thought it was real and couldn't believe their luck that Blue was actually at the park the same time they were. I wish we were videoing. They don't really have to work at moving the kids along after meeting Blue. Blue has a special way of keeping the kids from lingering. lol. We hit almost all the rides we missed on the prior 2 days. We didn't get to ride Hagrid's and a few other things but there's always next time. We headed back to the hotel a little after noon. We had the bus to ourselves for the ride back.
We relaxed a bit in the room and then I decided we should go to the pool. It looked great, there was no one there. I looked again. Odd. There's literally no one there, not even lifeguards. We texted the info text number and ask if the pool was closed. Immediate affirmative response. Closed due to lightening in the area. Okay. Cool. But also, huh...weird. We looked down at VB and could see slides operating and people swimming in the wave pool. Okay. Well, either the lagoon at VB will close soon or the pool at CB will open soon. We waited to see how it played out. It didn't. It just stayed the same, for over 20 minutes. We got our suits on and headed to VB. The pool was still closed as we walked by.
The path to VB was quick. We looked at the CB parking lot as we crossed a small road to the security area on the path. There was no more than 4 cars. There were a lot of spots, hundreds, in fact.
We took nothing with us to VB except our masks, a couple of towels, and our passes and ids in a ziplock bag . There was no line at security and the entrance. As we entered the park, it was nice to see people but the walkways were still fairly empty. It was easy to distance. Very few people were wearing masks, as it appeared that they were en route to a pool or ride. We made our way to the beach and easily found empty loungers near the water. We took our masks off and put them with our towels and shoes and headed to the wave pool. There was approximately 50 people at the most in the entire lagoon. The boys had a blast. They were initially put out with the life jacket requirement. They are very good swimmers and haven't used life jackets in a couple of years, but it is understandable that this is required. Our oldest was tall enough to be exempt from the jacket requirement, but we didn't even want to hear the constant whining of the little guy if he was the only one made to wear the device, so we just said that those were the rules and it applies to both of them. They never balked at the jacket requirement again. Rare parental victory.
After swimming for a while and enjoying some waves, curiosity got the best of us. We decided to try out some slides. We rode a couple of the family raft slides. I can't remember the names. We only rode a couple of rides but we rode them multiple times. They were all walk on. It was A LOT of stairs. I was glad it was a slow day because we were slow climbers with the 2 little kids. It was a lot of work for the 5 yo especially. My husband got into the habit of making him climb for the first couple of flights, he would carry him for a flight or two and them make him climb the last bit again. We stayed until the park closed at 5. Once we got past the escalator that goes to the lots and buses, we had the path to ourselves walking back to CB.
Dinner was Bayliner Diner again in the room. Husband and I split a burger and fries. It was good. Exceeded expectations.
Bought water at Hudson News.
