Last Minute Grad Trip! January 2021

[ksw5261]

Hi all! This is my first trip report, and I am so excited to share this with you all! I was new to this community that I found while I was planning this very last minute trip, and I can't thank you all enough for the amazing resources, tips and tricks that I have gathered from this community. Apologies in advance for any mistakes I make in this report, I'm new here!

For starters, I'll introduce myself. My name is Kay and I just recently graduated from college in December of 2020 (which is what prompted this last minute trip!) My boyfriend and I decided to celebrate with our first ever trip to Disney, since it is something we have talked about doing for years. We are both in our early 20's and have only been to the parks a few times in the past with our respective families, but couldn't wait for a trip together.

After some quick research, looking for the best last minute deals, we applied for a Disney Visa and used it to book a great deal for 5 nights at AoA in the Little Mermaid Rooms. Our plan was to fly down to Orlando on the morning of January 3rd, check in to AoA, and spend the next 5 nights in the happiest place on earth! We opted for only 3 days in the parks so that we could have an extra day to explore Disney Springs and our resort, since we had never stayed there before.

I hope you all enjoy this trip report! I'm hoping to have this all wrapped up later today

 

[ksw5261]

Travel Day!

After a few short weeks of waiting, it was finally time to go on our trip! Our flight was around 10am, so we packed and double checked everything the night before. We found a great flight deal that unfortunately didn't include a checked bag, so we packed our carry on duffles to the BRIM and crossed our fingers that we didn't forget anything (spoiler alert: we DIDN'T! Which in itself was a miracle). We got in the car for the short drive to the airport and got through security in about 15 minutes- probably the quickest ever. We sat down at our gate and heard an announcement about a possible delay due to snow. I was hoping that wasn't the case, but they inevitably had to deice our plane! We boarded and took our seats, de-iced the place, and departed about an hour behind schedule. We made up some time in the air, and only landed about a half hour late.

We grabbed our bags and ran to Magical Express. I had heard horror stories of waiting in this line for over an hour, but was hoping to avoid some of this by having all of our bags as carry ons. We ultimately waited about 30 minutes, would have been even shorter but the bus filled up with the party in front of us. We boarded the bus and rode to our hotel, feeling like kids on Christmas morning! After an early morning flight, we were excited to finally be at the resort.

We pulled up to AoA and I could have cried. After the year we have all had, with my college graduation taken away from me, looking for a full time job during this, it felt like all of the weight and anxieties lifted off my shoulders. We grabbed our bags and checked in! We had a pretty long walk to our room, in the 8th building on the 4th floor. We had a great view of the skyliner (and the parking lot).

My boyfriend said he had a surprise for me, and to get dressed for a nice dinner! He surprised me with a dinner reservation at Boathouse in Disney Springs, a place his family loved but I had never been to myself. We waited for the bus and made it just in time!

Let me just say, if you have never gone to Boathouse at Disney Springs, you have to give it a try! We sat outside near the water while the sun was setting, and it was just beautiful. We watched boats go by, and had a beautiful view off the back porch. We shared a cocktail called the shipwreck, which was HUGE. Our waiter was very attentive and made great recommendations off the menu. I ordered the lobster roll, and my boyfriend went with his favorite, the Grilled Mahi Tacos. On the waiters recommendation, he ordered them blackened, which he LOVED.



After dinner we walked around for a while and eventually decided to head back to the hotel. We were tired after a long day of traveling.

This is where things got not so perfect. I headed to shower and noticed that our towels were dirty (which during COVID times is a little bit more concerning than normal). I decided not to make a fuss, used a clean towel from the shelf near the sink, and got ready for bed. Unfortunately when we turned down the sheets to sleep, they also had fresh looking stains. We decided to call down to the front desk to se if we could just get new towels and linens for the stay, and they went above and beyond. The staff relocated our room immediately, found us a room on our same floor of the same building, but with a great view of hourglass lake. They also gave us a $75 resort credit and apologized profusely about the inconvenience of moving. We were in our new room in about 15 minutes all and all, and went to sleep! Tomorrow was our first full day in Florida, and we had a day of exploring planned.


The view from our new room

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures. What a icky way to start your trip ( the room ). I have never been to Boathouse but it sure sounds delicious.

 

[Paulaparm]

Looking forward to reading more. Yuck about the towels and sheets, but thank goodness they made it right

 

[rdkeim]

Following! I love spur of the moment trips. Wonderful you could celebrate in Disney! Your room - that's disturbing. Glad they made it right and you ended up with a better view. Our trip is in 19 days - can't wait!

 

[nascargirl]

Looking forward to reading more. Looking forward to the day that we can return which hopefully is sooner than later. That is upsetting about the towels and sheets. No excuse for that. Hopefully the rest of the trip is fantastic for the both of you.

 

[footballmouse]

Ugh, dirty sheets & towels