To all who are interested...
We had a great trip overall, but we did have some “bummer parts” and I’ll get to that, but here’s the nitty gritty.
We landed at 9:30am (as expected) and were picked up Tiffany Town car, which will now be our new means of transportation to/from MCO!
Got to the VGF at 10:15ish after a quick stop at Publix for water and wine!!
Literally walked into the lobby of the Villas, and our bags were put on a luggage cart, we were told that unless we’d already received a notice saying our room was ready (which we already knew it was not) then there was no need to go to the desk because they were fully booked and it would be a while! With our luggage tag in hand we headed to the MK via the monorail!
We had annual pass renewals that we had to activate so we got in the (long) line outside MK and within 15-20 min we had new APs with the 50th design on them and then popped in the line to get pictures in front of the park.
Now, at this time I needed/wanted to buy Genie + so we could try it out so once we tapped into the park I tried to buy it but as I worked my way through the system the purple button to buy it wasn’t active so we found a blue umbrella Guest Experience Team member inside the park and she bought it for us. I asked about why it didn’t work and they weren’t sure but that if I couldn’t buy it again in the morning to go to the front desk and someone there could help me…(insert ominous background music..) We got a text at 2:02pm saying our room, #1303, was ready!
Needless to say our day at MK would have been better if not for the rain as we planned on taking advantage of extended evening hours for deluxe guests and we had a dinner reservation at LTT….however, it was raining and we were wet..so we pivoted and I did some sneaky changes..I “changed” my LTT ADR to some later date in December, and then we booked a Citricos dinner at 5:35pm and headed back to the resort for dry clothes! Dinner at Citricos was FABULOUS!!!!!!! Its been a few years (2016) since we stayed at the GF and ate there and we are definitely going back in March 22…
The next morning I tried to buy Genie + again since we were headed to Epcot and I wanted a LL for TT, but it was a NO GO….(whomp…whomp..) so at 6:3am I headed to the lobby where the friendliest CM assisted in buying the Genie + for me – super quick and easy. I then headed back to the room, got my VQ for Remi (#24), LL for Test Track and placed my QS order for Gasparilla’s.
The day was again great, and there was more rain in the afternoon..dinner at Via Napoli was delicious as always! We took the monorail back to MK and then walked back to the GF (DH had us get on the wrong monorail..) BUT we did catch the water parade and saw the new 50th addition which was a winner and made up for the extra walking!
The next day was HS and Disney + day so it was opening for resort guests at 8am, so I was up super early again to buy Genie + which once again didn’t work. By now, I’ve been chatting with the folks via the app who have directed me to Disney IT who say that having an android can be a problem with the system. Once again, I head to the lobby and the same CN helped me purchase Genie +.
We arrived at HS by 7:45amish and folks were already being let in so we “walked with purpose” to SW land and got in line for Rise – I did go against DH’s wishes and I purchased MMRR for later that morning and I’m glad I did or we wouldn’t have been able to ride what we did. We rode Slinky after Rise and then Mickey & Minnie and TSM, and RNRRC, lunch @ 50s PT, and more TSM and lots of pictures – the park was busy!!
We did leave the park by 3pm since we had tickets to the Merriest After Hours event that night at MK and we wanted to take showers and sit for a bit which was a great plan! We had dinner at Steakhouse 71 which was DELICIOUS and we’ll be back again! We walked to MK about 7:45pm, got our Party bands and made it to the MK Christmas tree right when the Enchantment started and watched from there – we LOVED the show and then ducked into the Confectionary once it was over to avoid the masses leaving the park. That night we rode Buzz, PeopleMover, the Cars (I hadn’t riden that since 2016 and wanted to do it !!) 7DMT, HM and Pirates and then we watched the fireworks show and the FULL PARADE….we picked up 6-8 free snickerdoodle cookies, free waters and a mickey ice cream sandwich! It had been a long night and we were in bed by 2am…
I was up by 6:15am….to see about that dumb Genie + , but now Disney IT had realized I was a little upset that (1) I couldn’t buy it myself and (2) I’d spent so much time on email/chat with them that they offered to comp us Genie + on this day which was great – it was in my account when I got up and I was able to get a BG for Remi (#71) and a LL for TT…we were dragging this day and didn’t get to Epcot until after 10am…
We had lunch at the new crepe place and it was DELICIOUS and dinner at Space 220 which was out of this world! (HAHA…get it?? )
Can I just say that the VQ for Remi is A HOT MESS…and not a good one like a melted marshmellow….but your group is called – and by the way, our group #71, was originally estimated to be called at 1pm…but we actually got called at 3:30 – and THEN you wait in line for 45 minutes…now, it tells you that on the app, but still…hot mess I tell you!
Our ride back to the airport with Tiffany Towncar was great and we were upgraded from a Town Car to an SUV and it was great!
Overall a fabulous trip!! Pictures and comments in the next thread!