The Disney trip that just materialized - Dec 2020

[ckb_nc]

Background - my middle daughter graduated college this month with a nursing degree. She is an incredible student, graduating summa cum laude ( had to look that up folks ). She is actively looking for a job in Lexington Ky which she attended college at the University of Kentucky.

She and I had originally planned a 5 day dad- daughter trip for her Spring Break in March. Well that trip got crunched by COVID. We cancelled that trip, rescheduled it cancelled that one then finally after lots of discussion flew down March 14th – yeah we closed down WDW bringing my wife and son. That was one crazy wild few days.

I will never forget this view - LOVE




This is possibly one of the last character pics at WDW before the shutdown - we ate at Ohanas on the day after they closed the parks.

Empty MK - on an incredible gorgeous day


Last one - notice NO Park hours




So we still had some partial tickets and I even had an annual pass that I bought that weekend ( I may well have bought one of the last annual passes). It was cheaper to buy the pass than add the photo pass package. I did have to buy a ticker for Dec 18th as my Gold pass was blacked out.

So this trip – I got laid off quite unexpectedly in mid November. 20 years with the company etc etc – classic downsizing. I have a good bit of severance. But all of sudden I am not working and my daughter about to go into nursing is free. I have had a real sense that this is the last year with 2 daughters heading into health care that we can celebrate the holidays in some traditional sense.

So let’s go to Disney in a pandemic. Actually had friends gone down and say how safe it felt. So goal was to do as cheap as possible. Even though I have an American Airlines credit hanging around it was cheaper to fly Spirit.

DVC – decided on a one bedroom at Boardwalk. Was tempted to change it several times but ultimately stayed with this decision.

Disney gave me credit on her remaining tickets to a new 5 day ticket – using our reward points for that one.

Our biggest expense was the rental car. My daughter had ankle nerve surgery and the waking at Disney is a no go. She can stand fur work but not at Disney. So we get a wheelchair ( used Walker who were awesome) and a car. It’s an added expense but we also use this for our trip.

Scored decent reservations for dinners and park reservations.

So two folks out of work – let’s do this.

 

[ckb_nc]

We make it to Disney - Sunday

My daughter drove to our home on Saturday. the drive is a long 6 plus hours..

First time flying Spirit. I added a checked bag each at checkout – best decision yet. It made the travel super easy.

We get on the flight and the guy next us is well likely heading home from rehab. My daughter recognized from her summer internship what he was taking opiod replacements. He was a ball of nerves. It was going to be a long 90 minutes but after the doors closed we jumped into the empty exit rows. Yes I can perform that duty. Ended up to be a fine flight. It took a long while to get our bags – like really long. We were in B and had to then cross back over to A for our rental cars.

That was a new one thanks to COVID. But got a nice Nissan Rogue - my daughter is looking at cars. She wanted to test the Rogue and this was a great way to test it out. How did I raise ( while my wife and I ) such a responsible kid ?

We hit Publix on the way to WDW; getting food for breakfast , drinks and snacks . We ate every breakfast in the room, saving time and money. I got us a frozen pizza – just enough dinner. Can confirm the oven worked well. But we had a weird fridge – likely a replacement. It was a smaller one – with no icemaker. No big deal for us but it was a disappointment. I was actually shocked by the fridge but it was really a non issue.

Rolled to BW at 9pm – and there was no valet? Common theme throughout the week is the staffing was always thin the entire time on the front desk and valet, but we got trash service every day and fresh linens on day 3. So overall not terrible. We observed that the shared DVC resorts we visited sans the Contemporary were all staffed this way – just quiet.

We were in 4021 - the room was fine. The most surprising part of our room was the thermostat. When is the last time I did not have a digital thermostat

 

[ckb_nc]

We hit MK and we need to change our perspective - Monday

Walker showed up at 8 with the wheelchair and we were in the park by 9ish. Two things became apparent – Disney had put a ton of thought into this and I had to ignore the line size. With my daughter’s wheelchair we got a return time for Space then walked over to Thunder. We got right on Thunder – then back to Space – the mountains were a priority.


Mine train was a solid wait but with no fast pass the line moved well. It was waiting on Mine Train in March that the term social distancing first emerged. I vividly remember standing in line late Saturday night thinking this is not social distancing. Well 9 months later I was pretty happy with how this worked out.





I overheard several times people look at a line and turn around to leave...yes at latter times it might be shorter - but was ironic is that we felt like since we did not have anywhere to be and no Fastpass times to worry about, that we should just wait. We were unusually unworried about time

We did rise Haunted and this was a new experience. Usually with the wheelchair we wait in line and she transfers right there at the moving belt – this time we got a return time and went in a back way. My daughter will walk short distances at times, but I let her dictate the where and when.

We did see Philharmagic as well – one of the family favorite attractions

It was hot this day and we were tired.. My daughter drove all day Saturday like I mentioned while I had run a 5k Friday night then a 10k the next morning ( first races in person in a year). Plus traveled Sunday too. Frankly we were both tired



So we left the park after some shopping – and I took her to my new hidden gem Geyser Point at Wilderness Lode. And it did not disappoint. Best burger and an incredible setting. I love the Wilderness Lodge and really considered staying here. I wish we had after the fact.

Stuffed to the gills we hit the room. I gave her the master bedroom for the week. I was not sleeping well and well she had the the sleeper sofa more times than I can count. We both got a great nap. Thus became our week – get up, hit a park in the AM, grab a lunch at a resort, rest in the afternoon then out to a good meal. My daughter is my foodie and we ate well all week.

Monday night was Morimotos. I am not a huge Asian fan but Morimotos is a whole different ball game. The ribs are the second best thing I have ever eaten and tonight’s ribs were just off the charts. And the duck was incredible. Between Geyser and now this meal ,we had over eaten frankly. We agreed to not do that again. Back to BW for a great Monday night game. And a swim too. In December yep

 

[ckb_nc]

Studios and a miracle for Rise - Tuesday

I woke up early to try for a Rise virtual spot.

Background - my daughter, her older sister and I were in Disneyland the day Rise opened. We managed to ride Rise that day and the next as well. I am actually on a couple of popular blogger's videos from opening day at DL.

And then my daughter score Rise again in March – she is seriously my lucky charm. Our DLopening day virtual queue – I scored it on Space Mountain at DL pulling into the station on the ride. But alas no luck this morning. The numbers went in 60 seconds.

We were into Studios by 8:15. Straight to Slinky which was maybe a 5 minute wait then we rode TS Mania back to back. My wife simply loves Mania. If she could, she would literally just ride it all day. I have gone to a very large popular IT conference at WDW, where they rent out a park. They rented out Studios, and she got to come for $75. We rode Mania for an hour, playing 7 times. My wife owns me - she has beaten so many times

Then we went over to Tower – that line was impressively long but by now we figured out that you had to ignore the line size and pay attention to the posted wait time. Like Haunted, the lack of the pre-show on Tower , why completely understandable, made the attraction less than great. But it’s still ToT which means great. I had a chance years ago to go behind the scenes which was fascinating. Followed up by a RnR - I think 35 minutes wait. Yeah Aerosmith is long in the tooth but man we all love this ride.


The weather was certainly cooler. From here we decided to do Smugglers – another really long line but it was right on the money to the posted time. My daughter and I are introverts. Throughout the week we stand in line for an hour and not at one word to each other. You would think we were mad at each other; open just ok not talking. Plus she was facing away from me too. Smugglers was ok - it’s a really cool attraction but it just does nothing for me.



Note my waist- that would be all the meat from the day before.

We played mania again ( I won best out of 3 this day). We left and my daughter chose lunch at the sports bar at Coronado. This is the one meal all week I wish we could do over. Granted we both ordered salads and the grilled chicken was really good. Yet the salad was flat – need more dressing. I can buy a better Caesar Salad in a bag at Publix.

But the resort was empty and it felt well sorry. We did go over to the new Tower – quite beautiful. The old lobby through is still gorgeous. It’s just well incredibly empty.

At lunch my daughter scored a Rise back up spot -125. Back to the hotel – she slept while I grabbed a small nap. By 4:45 with a 7 pm closing I was convinced we were not going to ride. They had been down since 3 and history was not on our side. Then the tide broke; all of sudden they took a ton of groups. So we got our stuff together – and made over to Rise with a few minute to spare. This is the one queue that was just hard – first the people behind me we were right on top of us until I gave them the evil eye. And it was hard with blind turns to know how far ahead the fold in front were. So I just learned to wait – in fact all week I had no problem leaving an extra space open.


Rise was great and still amazes me. Still try to figure out the layout and when we turn the ship? I asked myself how long of a wait Pre-COVID would this ride be with a regular queue – 3 hours ? 5 hours?

So my goal tonight was simple - bread pudding. Specifically Ohana bread pudding. So we drove to the Poly – again just so quiet. We sat in the lounge, had some ribs plus bread pudding and drinks. It was a great end to the night. It’s the one dessert that I crave at WDW. I missed it in March - and really wanted it.

 

[ckb_nc]

Dad calls an audible and two great meals - Wednesday

The goal was to be at AK at 7:15 for an 8 opening. I can attest to early openings. But I was tired – so I begged to sleep in. We got the park at 9 or so, yet it did not matter. As everyone went left to Pandora we headed right to Asia. Everest was maybe a 5 minute wait. Everest is a 1 and done. I get motion sick, and in fact was struggling Monday with that. AKL with Everest and FoP really tests me.

We did Kali ( yeah we brought raincoats ) two times in a row. Over to Africa for a cookie break at 10am (trust me it was a good cookie ). Safari was strong – it did take a while to unload. Off to Pandora – feels like we waited 40 minutes or so for Flight. FoP takes me right to the edge but never over. BTW the way, the hour wait for Navai? Why?

And that was all for AK. Ak is the one park that is hardest for my daughter – the pavement is very uneven and causes her foot to vibrate. The vibrations really set her foot and ankle to a 10.

Goats?

We did take out from Sanaa for lunch. We got the bread service and split the chicken dish. This was just enough for two of us.


Ok so here is where things go well off the path. The forecast called for rain then much cooler temps. So I decided to crash Stormalong across the way. I grew in a beach tourist town and feel like crashing a pool is my right. So my daughter and I walked over to Yacht and Beach – I confess that I have done this very thing more than once. And never gotten busted until this day. Yep we got busted but they let us in!! Maybe because we just bought drinks from the bar?


We did not stay long as it started to rain. My daughter really wanted to ride the boat back – the irony is we waited forever and could easily walked it quicker. But hey we had time, her ankle was killing her. The entire trip I chose to make her walk the least. For example, we when flew back I dropped her off with the bags while I returned the car to the other side of the airport. We had plenty of time but I could see no reason to make her walk across the airport.

It rained pretty good including a tornado over in Tampa. I got the gym tonight while the daughter grabbed a nap. I hate exercising with a mask.

Dinner tonight was the Wave. The food was quite good – we both had the filet and that was very good. The seasonal salad was also really strong. But our service was slow – just slow. Not the first time I have said that either.

We shopped this night – AKL was busy but the Contemporary felt like it was pre-COVID. Very busy. First time and only time we were in any resort that felt at all busy.

 

[MK2010]

Congratulations to your daughter for graduating with her nursing degree. I graduated with mine 3 years ago. Best decision I have ever made. (Also, I went to Disney for Marathon weekend to celebrate my graduation , too!)
Also, I just bought a 2019 Nissan Rogue back in September. It has been a great car. Fabulous gas mileage, handles easily. (Thats important because I live in a town where people drive like they're the only ones on the road.) Additionally, the sound system in top notch.

 

[sheri18]

Joining in

 

[ckb_nc]

We finish off MK – and back to Morimotos

Today’s goal was to finish off MK. We walked in by 7:30 – and rolled over to Peter Pan. Then off to Space Mountain and Buzz, We did Buzz twice with no wait. We rolled over to Pirates then Thunder and Splash – really wanted to do Splash for obvious reasons.


And we did not get wet. Then we waited for Mine train – my daughter really wanted to do the mountains. It was a solid hour wait. Much cooler this day. Crowds looked big but manageable. After Mine Train, we headed to Hall of Presidents. I love this attraction so much, much as I like the American pavilion n Epcot. Man, they made Trump looked horrible though – as my daughter pointed out he looks physically fatter than Hayes. After we finished the Hall, we decided to leave. We did get a picture in front of Cinderella’s carriage. And ran into the one truly rude parent all week. Like wanted to tell him off bad. Given it was Disney, it’s bound to happen.

Speaking of pics, we got a decent amount and the photographers were very good. But the rides with auto photos – they never worked. It was fascinating that this worked will in the pas on Mine train but Disney added to other rides and it was terrible. Like who is that – oh well the last trip we did a ton of characters.


Something new this day, we walked to the Grand Floridan on the path. New experience and on this really nice day, it was simply great. Highly recommend this as a way to get out of the parks for food. We never ate one meal in the parks. We have used meals as a way to escape the parks. One of the favorites in the past is a late, last time available character breakfast as a brunch. Obviously that was not in the cards.


We ate at the counter service – and yes I ate the burger which was good. This was a great little place and super quiet. Again, another resort that is just so empty. We strolled over to the monorail – no gingerbread. The tree was simply gorgeous. Basin was a hit for my daughter. We left and literally turned around to go back. She bought Christmas gifts for all of us and loved this shop. It is her in many ways.

Monorail back to the car at TTC. Dinner was back at Morimotos – I went for a miserable run. I felt compelled to run over to Hollywood Studios and back. Interesting fact if only to me, my Garmin does not register any steps when I am pushing my wheelchair – I know I was walking at least 10k steps a day and more like 15k. My legs were so toasty and I never ever run with a mask. But I did run it – so I can check that off. (1100 miles running in 2020)


Morimotos was good – not as good as Monday but still great. Both of these meals were times where my daughter and I had some deeper conversations. I will always cherish these meals. And the ribs. In fact, the meals and the pursuit of food was the real highlight of the trip. Disney Springs was MUCH more crowded and I felt not entirely comfortable. We rolled towards World of Disney then rolled right away.

My daughter loves to shop but she is also pretty quick. As a male, I really like that

 

[JAMIESMITH]

My Garmin doesn't register steps when pushing my younger daughter in her stroller or when pushing a shopping cart. It sounds like you both had a great time!

 

[ckb_nc]

Real life update- the daughter interviewed when we got back for a job in the ICU at the University of Kentucky hospital in Lexington. Got the job and will start 2/1/21. One of the best Christmas gifts for sure.

 

[ckb_nc]

Time to head home

Last day. In an new one, our flight was really late. We were scheduled to fly out that night at 10:30. So, we woke up at 7 and once again we scored a boarding group for Rise, a later one like 45 if I remember correctly. Given the late flight, we agreed to a late start to the morning. We packed everything up, and then left our bags with the valet. Once again, the valet was staffed lightly and it took time. But we made our way over to Studios. We headed to ToT, which proved to be quite a wait. 60 minutes plus. Then Rock n roll. It was more like 45 minutes. The weather was nice, upper 60s with a light breeze.

We left Rock n Roll and headed out. We took on a new adventure, riding the gondola system ending up at Riveria. We walked around the resort, looking at the pools and amenities. We ate at the counter service, again sampling the burgers. I would say this – it looks beautiful and is priced as a deluxe resort. With the gondola system literally at the front door you can certainly argue the resort has some incredible advantages. But my first impression – not dying to stay there. Can’t say it’s worth 100 points a week more than BW and I would certainly stay at BLT them park view over Riveria. Wake up with MK out my window versus the lake? No contest



Great break middle of the day. Rode back over to HS in time for Rise – incredible attraction still. We finished our day by another run at TSM and SDD. I won TSM both times this day – and could ride this attraction all day. SDD was a great way to finish the trip in the twilight. We had time for another ride if we wanted – but my daughter was ready to leave. Frankly, we had done everything we wanted and well it was time to leave.

Back to Boardwalk to drop off the wheelchair – the vendor we used was awesome to let us keep it all day. We changed out our clothes for the flight home, off with the shorts on with the jeans. It was going to be cold on the way home.


The daughter wanted to eat at MCO but I insisted we stop along the way – Chic-Fil-A for the win. I explained to her that when we landed, there was not much open at the airport. Glad we ate when we did. The only thing we saw open at MCO was Wendy’s.

Got gas at the newer gas station by the south entrance at MCO – what an absolute godsend. Dropped the daughter off in B for Spirit, while I rode over to A to drop off the car.

By the time I got the car dropped off, and made my way back to A\B, she had both of our bags ready to go, having transferred weight from one to another. Bags checked in – boarding passes in hand was easy. I have flown in and out of MCO for now 20 plus years – and I have never seen TSA this empty. Both the American wing and Delta wings were empty. It was 8pm and American had no more outbound flights. I ended up going to this wing to watch the Mandalorian. We had 2.5 hours before we left. Which was fine.

We ended up on our own row on Spirit. Flight was on time and landed early in Charlotte. We were home by 12:30am, tired but had a great time.

 

[ckb_nc]

Conclusions

I titled the trip that just materialized. No way was I planning to be laid off – but we used the time between well life changes to be together.

Clearly we were worried about COVID. True fact – I ended up getting an antibody test as part of the pilot at home test process. Took it the week of Christmas and it was negative.

The flights and the airports were the one place that I was not comfortable at all. Especially in Charlotte. We lucked out on the way to Orlando for sure. But honestly Spirit from what I can tell was not much worse than American, and for the money it was great.

I had stayed with my wife and son for one night at the Boardwalk. I am glad we stayed here for the experience. I almost moved us to Beach Club at the last minute. I wish now we had stayed at the Wilderness Lodge in some ways, but with the wheelchair and a handicap pass we use, location is an interesting one. We get a car, as it is just easier and well I like to visit the resorts. The only DVC resorts we have not stayed at now are WL , Riveria and Poly.

WL is now on my radar next. But frankly I can say all the DVC resorts have some sort of value. My family has enjoyed all the resorts to a degree, with OKW still a favorite. 2021 makes 6 years as a DVC member.

Given what we knew about WDW going in, I have to say we had real fun. The lack 0f things, while truly noticeable, also let us do parks in an old-school way. We only did parks for half days time wise. After 4 or 5 hours, we were done. It was actually enjoyable. After the craziness of our trip in March when the world was well falling apart, this trip was sedate.

In fact, that was what was missing – the buzz. The excitement and wonder. It was still there but not being able to see the faces of kids, the faces of adults – that was I missed. One day soon,

 

[Orion Nebula]

Sounds like a great trip and it's nice to see another report in regards to the safety aspect. You should update this with some photos!

How many times in total did you end up riding TS!? LOL

 

[ckb_nc]

Sounds like a great trip and it's nice to see another report in regards to the safety aspect. You should update this with some photos!

How many times in total did you end up riding TS!? LOL

I think 5 on TSM was the number. Maybe 6. Like I said, it's my wife's favorite attraction at WDW by far. She has said numerous times she could ride it all day.

One of our favorite times at WDW as a couple was when we traveled to a large IT convention at WDW in October. The convention will rent a park out for an evening and you can buy a companion ticket. There is food and drinks offered - drinking a beer will walking around MK is a really interesting experience. This year was HS - pre Star Wars and Toy Story. We rode TSM 7 times in a row that night before the crowds that went straight to ToT and RnR showed up.

 

[Orion Nebula]

drinking a beer will walking around MK is a really interesting experience.

That sounds surreal...

Hurry up with the park posts, I want to watch them with my wife for peace of mind. lol

 

[Ellester]

Great report! Our daughter graduated from UK last may with a degree in Mining Engineering. She loved her time in Lexington! C-A-T-S! CATS! CATS! CATS! Congratulations on her new job! Very exciting time for her!