Verstehen
I break for the Nautilus
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2008
Thank you and welcome!
Thanks so much! Skipper is the best.
Haha I know right. I might have to just make a cake for me to smash.
There's No Sleeping at Disney! - A Oct-Nov 2020 Trip Report. MINI TR COMPLETE 5/10
- Thread starter Verstehen
- Start date
Thank you and welcome!
Thanks so much! Skipper is the best.
Haha I know right. I might have to just make a cake for me to smash.
Verstehen
I break for the Nautilus
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2008
Day 3, Part 2
I put April in the carrier, and almost instantly, she fell asleep. So I suggested we head over to Buzz Lightyear. This ride is a must-do for us, and I thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of the fact that April was asleep and therefore couldn’t fuss about or mess with the guns while we played. I can’t wait until she’s old enough to play too!
As usual, my dad asked me for the “hot tips” while we were in line to score more points, and as usual, he forgot them all while we were playing and tried to get me to give them to him again while I was trying to concentrate. I didn’t get Galactic Hero this time. I have in the past, but usually only when the ride stops. I do think I got a respectable score, but it looks like I forgot to get a picture.
April woke up at some point while we were on the ride. Dumbo had a low wait so we went there next. They were having people go through the building, but the indoor playground was obviously closed. We got on pretty quickly. Dad had his own elephant, and he snapped a picture of April and I in ours.
Dumbo isn’t my favorite ride overall, but it’s such a classic so I’m glad we got to do it with a pretty short wait. I think April was a little apprehensive, but hopefully she learns to love it more as she gets older.
Since we were in our Peter Pan garb, I wanted to make sure we did Peter Pan’s Flight while we were in the park. It had a long-ish wait, maybe around 30 minutes, which is short for this ride but still long for the experience you get. We decided to do it anyway. By now, the park was getting more crowded, and almost all of the rides, including the ones without height restrictions, had decent waits. So it was pretty much a situation where doing what we wanted had no disadvantage over any other option.
April was starting to get fussy in lines, since it was a lot of standing around. She likes to be on the move. I knew she wanted to be on the ground, crawling all over, but of course that wasn’t an option. We had the carrier but she wasn’t a fan of being confined either. So overall, queues were a struggle but we made it through. Peter Pan’s Flight is such a cute ride, so I’m really glad we decided to do it. And the queue is just gorgeous.
After, we decided to venture onto Small World, which also had a short-ish wait at about 30 minutes, but again the queue stretched pretty far back. I tried to get April to wear her hat to keep her head out of the sun. She does not like hats.
It’s one of those rides you just have to do if you have a baby with you. Yet again April got fussy. I think that’s just the nature of a poor kid who wants to be free and is out of her natural routine. But once on the ride, she sat still and just took everything in. It was magical.
During the day, I’d been texting with a girl I knew who’d had a baby just a few days after April was born. We met in a big mom’s group on Facebook and had always talked about getting together since she lives in Tampa. Of course, Covid prevented us from meeting sooner, but since we were both at the Magic Kingdom today, we decided a quick meetup was in order! We met in front of the carousel right after Dad and I finished Small World.
Our babies just kind of stared at each other, not knowing what to do lol. I do wish April had some baby friends, but I’ve been told that even without Covid being a thing, kids this age generally don’t socialize much with their peers.
My dad graciously took some pictures. It was nice to finally meet in person, even if it was brief and marred by a national pandemic.
She and her son had just arrived to the park, so they were off to do some attractions, but Dad and I were beat and wary about the growing crowds. We could also tell that April was fading fast.
We set out towards the exit. Along the way, I spotted this magnificent cosplay, and just had to get a picture.
We also decided to take advantage of Photopass and get some pictures in front of the castle. The Photopass cast member just loved April’s costume, and kept calling her Tinker-April. She managed to get some decent photos of us, and mentioned there was a costume contest going on if we wanted to participate. I said sure, though I couldn’t for the life of me tell you where the contest took place or who won.
From there, things went downhill fast for poor April. She did NOT want to go back in her stroller, and screamed bloody murder immediately when I tried to put her down. One of those cries that makes you feel like everyone is looking at you and judging you for being a bad parent who lets her kid cry, even though there’s nothing you can do about it and most people probably don’t care. It put kind of a dark shadow over what was otherwise a nice Disney day. Between April’s mood and the growing crowds, though, I think it was a good thing we left when we did.
We hadn’t gotten everything done that I was hoping. In fact, when I looked at the list of attractions we actually went on that day, it was a little disappointing. But I reminded myself that a successful day at Disney with a baby looks very different from a successful day at Disney with just adults, and a successful day at Disney now looks very different than when we had Fastpasses and more live entertainment. We had fun, April saw some cool stuff, and we ate some tasty food. I do wish we had seen one of the Halloween character cavalcades, but other than that, there was nothing I was super sad about missing.
We took the ferry back to the parking lot. I think April pretty much fell asleep once we left the park and remained that way until we got back to the Riviera.
But the day was still young; the sun hadn’t even gone down yet. Stay tuned to hear how we spent our evening!
I put April in the carrier, and almost instantly, she fell asleep. So I suggested we head over to Buzz Lightyear. This ride is a must-do for us, and I thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of the fact that April was asleep and therefore couldn’t fuss about or mess with the guns while we played. I can’t wait until she’s old enough to play too!
As usual, my dad asked me for the “hot tips” while we were in line to score more points, and as usual, he forgot them all while we were playing and tried to get me to give them to him again while I was trying to concentrate. I didn’t get Galactic Hero this time. I have in the past, but usually only when the ride stops. I do think I got a respectable score, but it looks like I forgot to get a picture.
April woke up at some point while we were on the ride. Dumbo had a low wait so we went there next. They were having people go through the building, but the indoor playground was obviously closed. We got on pretty quickly. Dad had his own elephant, and he snapped a picture of April and I in ours.
Dumbo isn’t my favorite ride overall, but it’s such a classic so I’m glad we got to do it with a pretty short wait. I think April was a little apprehensive, but hopefully she learns to love it more as she gets older.
Since we were in our Peter Pan garb, I wanted to make sure we did Peter Pan’s Flight while we were in the park. It had a long-ish wait, maybe around 30 minutes, which is short for this ride but still long for the experience you get. We decided to do it anyway. By now, the park was getting more crowded, and almost all of the rides, including the ones without height restrictions, had decent waits. So it was pretty much a situation where doing what we wanted had no disadvantage over any other option.
April was starting to get fussy in lines, since it was a lot of standing around. She likes to be on the move. I knew she wanted to be on the ground, crawling all over, but of course that wasn’t an option. We had the carrier but she wasn’t a fan of being confined either. So overall, queues were a struggle but we made it through. Peter Pan’s Flight is such a cute ride, so I’m really glad we decided to do it. And the queue is just gorgeous.
After, we decided to venture onto Small World, which also had a short-ish wait at about 30 minutes, but again the queue stretched pretty far back. I tried to get April to wear her hat to keep her head out of the sun. She does not like hats.
It’s one of those rides you just have to do if you have a baby with you. Yet again April got fussy. I think that’s just the nature of a poor kid who wants to be free and is out of her natural routine. But once on the ride, she sat still and just took everything in. It was magical.
During the day, I’d been texting with a girl I knew who’d had a baby just a few days after April was born. We met in a big mom’s group on Facebook and had always talked about getting together since she lives in Tampa. Of course, Covid prevented us from meeting sooner, but since we were both at the Magic Kingdom today, we decided a quick meetup was in order! We met in front of the carousel right after Dad and I finished Small World.
Our babies just kind of stared at each other, not knowing what to do lol. I do wish April had some baby friends, but I’ve been told that even without Covid being a thing, kids this age generally don’t socialize much with their peers.
My dad graciously took some pictures. It was nice to finally meet in person, even if it was brief and marred by a national pandemic.
She and her son had just arrived to the park, so they were off to do some attractions, but Dad and I were beat and wary about the growing crowds. We could also tell that April was fading fast.
We set out towards the exit. Along the way, I spotted this magnificent cosplay, and just had to get a picture.
We also decided to take advantage of Photopass and get some pictures in front of the castle. The Photopass cast member just loved April’s costume, and kept calling her Tinker-April. She managed to get some decent photos of us, and mentioned there was a costume contest going on if we wanted to participate. I said sure, though I couldn’t for the life of me tell you where the contest took place or who won.
From there, things went downhill fast for poor April. She did NOT want to go back in her stroller, and screamed bloody murder immediately when I tried to put her down. One of those cries that makes you feel like everyone is looking at you and judging you for being a bad parent who lets her kid cry, even though there’s nothing you can do about it and most people probably don’t care. It put kind of a dark shadow over what was otherwise a nice Disney day. Between April’s mood and the growing crowds, though, I think it was a good thing we left when we did.
We hadn’t gotten everything done that I was hoping. In fact, when I looked at the list of attractions we actually went on that day, it was a little disappointing. But I reminded myself that a successful day at Disney with a baby looks very different from a successful day at Disney with just adults, and a successful day at Disney now looks very different than when we had Fastpasses and more live entertainment. We had fun, April saw some cool stuff, and we ate some tasty food. I do wish we had seen one of the Halloween character cavalcades, but other than that, there was nothing I was super sad about missing.
We took the ferry back to the parking lot. I think April pretty much fell asleep once we left the park and remained that way until we got back to the Riviera.
But the day was still young; the sun hadn’t even gone down yet. Stay tuned to hear how we spent our evening!
Verstehen
I break for the Nautilus
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2008
Day 3, Part 3
Back at the Riviera, it seemed like the only thing to do was go to the pool and figure out what we wanted to do for dinner. I wasn’t keen to go back to Disney Springs or another resort, and of course there were no tables available at Topolino’s. We also weren’t impressed by the Primo Piatto menu. So we decided that Uber Eats was probably the way to go. I called down to the front desk to ask how Uber Eats worked at the resort so we could be prepared. We weren’t super hungry yet and we still wanted to go to the pool, so we decided to wait a bit to order.
We changed (April was happy to finally be out of her Tinkerbell costume), and went down to the pool. We spent some time in the kids' area again.
It’s really always a fun time. The water is warm, it’s a pretty empty area, and it’s fun to just watch her crawl around and do her thing.
After the kiddie pool and maybe some hot tub time (can't 100% remember if we went in this evening), Dad went over to the main pool to do some laps, and I hung out with April and took a look at some dinner options. We had more or less decided we wanted to order Indian; it was just a matter of finding the right place. The great thing about the Disney area is that there are tons of restaurants of all types to choose from. I was put in charge of picking a place, and I found a restaurant called Punjab Kitchen that had a good menu and was rated well. My family is big into Indian food, so picking that cuisine was a no brainer for us.
Dad held April while I set up the order.
He had talked about wanting to order beer as well, and I can’t remember if I forgot to add it to the order or if he decided he didn’t like the beer options the restaurant had, but we ended up not ordering beer through Uber Eats. We decided we’d go up to the room to change, and he would go back down when it was time to pick up the food, and he’d also get some drinks for us from Bar Riva.
Back in the room, Dad and I got changed, and I started April on her bedtime routine. I wasn’t sure if she would sleep, but she seemed tired so I gave it a shot. Not long after, it was time to pick up dinner. I messaged the driver to let them know my dad would be the one meeting them in the lobby, and he went down to get it and go to the bar. Isn’t technology amazing? While he was gone, April miraculously fell asleep in my arms, and stayed asleep when I put her in her pack n play.
I was worried she might wake up any second, but to my surprise and delight she stayed asleep. Dad had been texting me his updates during his adventure downstairs. He procured the food pretty quickly, but there was a line at Bar Riva. He kept me updated as to his progress.
And I let him know what was going on upstairs.
He made it back not long after, and of course completely missed my text about April sleeping, because he slammed open the door and was as loud as I’ve ever heard him. Somehow she didn’t wake up. She must have been really tired! I shushed him and pointed to the pack n play. He shushed be back, and this led to a shushing contest that lasted pretty much all evening. I would say, “Shh!” he’d do the same, and then we’d try not to laugh.
We put our plates together. I didn’t get pictures since it was dark in the room, but we got chicken tikka masala (similar to butter chicken if you’re familiar with Sanaa), vegetable samosas, pakoras (veggie fritters), vegetable korma, regular naan, and garlic naan. And of course, lots of chutneys.
I set up the Chromecast again so we could watch some What We Do In the Shadows. Who else loves that show so much?
We sat on the big bed to watch. Finally, around 10:15, we had our plates of food and our drinks, and we ate and enjoyed ourselves.
I asked for a drink called La Petite Fleur, which sounded amazing. It’s Cîroc Vodka, Lillet Blanc, Camomile Tea, Lemon, and Soda Water. It was amazing. I actually emailed Disney to ask for the recipe, but they wouldn’t give it to me. I might have to try to reverse engineer it.
I don’t know what beer dad got, but I do know that when he got to the front of the line at Bar Riva, he recognized the bartender from the prior day and told him Le Petit Cafe didn’t have dark beer as he’d promised. The bartender apologized and gave him both drinks for free! So that was nice.
The food was delicious and the show was hilarious, and April stayed asleep for several hours. Honestly, it felt pretty magical. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been able to eat a hot meal so stress-free, without a little baby trying to climb on me or screeching as she refused to eat her food. Now months later, of course, it’s much better, as she usually eats when I eat and usually keeps pretty focused on her food, but at the time it was way more of a novelty. I really can’t emphasize how wonderful and relaxing that evening was.
It was not to last, of course. Shortly after we cleaned up and went to bed (I’ll confess to leaving a chutney stain on Dad’s comforter), April woke up, and ended up back in bed with me. But I was still so proud of her for getting some time in for solo sleep.
Tomorrow was Halloween, and we had big plans. We were going home!
Back at the Riviera, it seemed like the only thing to do was go to the pool and figure out what we wanted to do for dinner. I wasn’t keen to go back to Disney Springs or another resort, and of course there were no tables available at Topolino’s. We also weren’t impressed by the Primo Piatto menu. So we decided that Uber Eats was probably the way to go. I called down to the front desk to ask how Uber Eats worked at the resort so we could be prepared. We weren’t super hungry yet and we still wanted to go to the pool, so we decided to wait a bit to order.
We changed (April was happy to finally be out of her Tinkerbell costume), and went down to the pool. We spent some time in the kids' area again.
It’s really always a fun time. The water is warm, it’s a pretty empty area, and it’s fun to just watch her crawl around and do her thing.
After the kiddie pool and maybe some hot tub time (can't 100% remember if we went in this evening), Dad went over to the main pool to do some laps, and I hung out with April and took a look at some dinner options. We had more or less decided we wanted to order Indian; it was just a matter of finding the right place. The great thing about the Disney area is that there are tons of restaurants of all types to choose from. I was put in charge of picking a place, and I found a restaurant called Punjab Kitchen that had a good menu and was rated well. My family is big into Indian food, so picking that cuisine was a no brainer for us.
Dad held April while I set up the order.
He had talked about wanting to order beer as well, and I can’t remember if I forgot to add it to the order or if he decided he didn’t like the beer options the restaurant had, but we ended up not ordering beer through Uber Eats. We decided we’d go up to the room to change, and he would go back down when it was time to pick up the food, and he’d also get some drinks for us from Bar Riva.
Back in the room, Dad and I got changed, and I started April on her bedtime routine. I wasn’t sure if she would sleep, but she seemed tired so I gave it a shot. Not long after, it was time to pick up dinner. I messaged the driver to let them know my dad would be the one meeting them in the lobby, and he went down to get it and go to the bar. Isn’t technology amazing? While he was gone, April miraculously fell asleep in my arms, and stayed asleep when I put her in her pack n play.
I was worried she might wake up any second, but to my surprise and delight she stayed asleep. Dad had been texting me his updates during his adventure downstairs. He procured the food pretty quickly, but there was a line at Bar Riva. He kept me updated as to his progress.
And I let him know what was going on upstairs.
He made it back not long after, and of course completely missed my text about April sleeping, because he slammed open the door and was as loud as I’ve ever heard him. Somehow she didn’t wake up. She must have been really tired! I shushed him and pointed to the pack n play. He shushed be back, and this led to a shushing contest that lasted pretty much all evening. I would say, “Shh!” he’d do the same, and then we’d try not to laugh.
We put our plates together. I didn’t get pictures since it was dark in the room, but we got chicken tikka masala (similar to butter chicken if you’re familiar with Sanaa), vegetable samosas, pakoras (veggie fritters), vegetable korma, regular naan, and garlic naan. And of course, lots of chutneys.
I set up the Chromecast again so we could watch some What We Do In the Shadows. Who else loves that show so much?
We sat on the big bed to watch. Finally, around 10:15, we had our plates of food and our drinks, and we ate and enjoyed ourselves.
I asked for a drink called La Petite Fleur, which sounded amazing. It’s Cîroc Vodka, Lillet Blanc, Camomile Tea, Lemon, and Soda Water. It was amazing. I actually emailed Disney to ask for the recipe, but they wouldn’t give it to me. I might have to try to reverse engineer it.
I don’t know what beer dad got, but I do know that when he got to the front of the line at Bar Riva, he recognized the bartender from the prior day and told him Le Petit Cafe didn’t have dark beer as he’d promised. The bartender apologized and gave him both drinks for free! So that was nice.
The food was delicious and the show was hilarious, and April stayed asleep for several hours. Honestly, it felt pretty magical. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been able to eat a hot meal so stress-free, without a little baby trying to climb on me or screeching as she refused to eat her food. Now months later, of course, it’s much better, as she usually eats when I eat and usually keeps pretty focused on her food, but at the time it was way more of a novelty. I really can’t emphasize how wonderful and relaxing that evening was.
It was not to last, of course. Shortly after we cleaned up and went to bed (I’ll confess to leaving a chutney stain on Dad’s comforter), April woke up, and ended up back in bed with me. But I was still so proud of her for getting some time in for solo sleep.
Tomorrow was Halloween, and we had big plans. We were going home!
KathyM2
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2011
That's cool. Under normal circumstances, I'm not sure I'd even think of ordering UberEats at a Disney resort...but with Covid...that's a great idea!! Love Indian too, especially the Naan bread. Sounds like you had a good relaxing dinner.
Verstehen
I break for the Nautilus
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2008
I've met a lot of people who didn't like Indian food when they were younger, or never tried it at all, and found that they really love it now. I've eaten it since before I was born so it's a favorite of mine.
Thanks! I still look back and smile when I think of how relaxing that night was. Now that April eats solids, she joins us for pretty much every meal, so it'll be awhile before I have another dinner without her.
Verstehen
I break for the Nautilus
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2008
Day 4 (Saturday, October 31), Part 1
We woke up around 10 am and debated what to do first. I had actually booked us an MK park pass for today in case we didn’t get everything done we wanted to the day before and wanted to return. You may recall, towards the end of our time there yesterday, I was getting wary of the growing crowds. I know the capacity was a fraction of their normal crowds, but these are not “normal” times, and I was acutely aware of how close we were rubbing elbows with people in a time when it was probably wisest to not do that, even with a mask.
I also knew that the MK was booked solid for the day, so the crowds would be even worse than yesterday. I took a look at wait times in the apps, and quickly determined that it wasn’t worth it. Anything I would want to do had a long line, and I didn’t think it was the best idea to drag us all there and deal with the crowds just to ride a couple of things.
Dad, of course, had no opinion either way. So the question was, if we weren’t going to the Magic Kingdom, what were we going to do?
We already knew the plan was to drive up to my house and hang out with DH. It was early, but honestly, I was ready to spend some time at home, even if DH wouldn’t be awake yet. So we decided to head up there after we got ready.
We had some breakfast in the room and gathered our things. April decided to play hide and seek with the curtains while we worked.
Going home for me was actually not optional, as I had only brought enough clothes for me and April for the first four days of the trip. I’d wanted to use only one suitcase (rightfully thinking it would save us a ton of space), so this was the sacrifice I’d have to make. Luckily, I had put all our day 5-7 clothes aside, so it would be an easy swap out. I didn’t bring the whole suitcase back, just the bag of dirty laundry and a reusable shopping bag for the new clothes. I also brought back some of the gifts Dad had given us as we wouldn’t need them in the room, and some food we knew we weren’t going to finish.
We left the Riviera at about 12:30, and I checked Google for traffic. It looked clear, so I texted DH and gave him a heads up that we were on our way and would arrive in about 30 minutes.
The prediction turned out to be correct, and we pulled into my driveway around 1 pm. Since I hadn’t heard from DH, I assumed he was either still asleep or maybe just waking up. I also guessed that the house needed some quick tidying before it was guest-ready. So I kept the car running and asked Dad to keep an eye on April while I went inside.
I was right on both fronts, so I quickly cleared the clutter from the front part of the house, then went into the bedroom to let DH know we were here. I told him he didn’t have to come out right away, but just wanted him to be aware that we would be coming inside.
He woke up pretty quickly though, and soon we were all gathered in the living room. DH was happy to be reunited with April, and I had him and Dad watch her while I switched out our clothes. I put the dirty ones in my laundry basket, and the new ones in a reusable grocery bag.
My dad always loves to check out the new tech DH has acquired since his last visit. One thing we got was the new game Mario Kart Home Circuit, which includes a physical car that drives around your house. You control it with the Nintendo Switch as the remote, and on the Switch screen you’ll see the course, power-ups, and other characters racing with you. It’s pretty neat. I didn't take any pics, but here's a video of how it looks:
Dad tried it out but he’s not the greatest video game player, lol. So he mostly just watched DH use it. He loves video games but always says he doesn’t have enough time to play at home, so he just plays with ours when he comes to visit.
We were all pretty hungry at that point. Dad and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and Alex of course hadn’t eaten at all. I proposed we go to Eden Bar, which is a 100% outdoor restaurant in the nearby town of Maitland, about 15 minutes from our house.
I’ve talked about Eden Bar before, but not in this report. It’s attached to a movie theater that is actually still open and showing independent movies at 50% capacity, though of course we didn’t see a movie this time (I’m sure movies in general are out for us until April is a couple years older, regardless of the pandemic).
April fell asleep during the drive and actually stayed asleep during the transfer to the stroller once we got there. So that was really nice. We found a table and perused the menu, which was accessible via QR code.
The food at Eden Bar is pretty standard. You can tell it’s stuff that’s easy and quick to prepare, since it’s also the menu they serve in the movie theater. Things like burgers, sandwiches, flatbreads, and pasta. They also have a pretty extensive beer and wine menu, and usually a cool speciality cocktail menu. This month, since it was October, they had a Halloween film festival going on, and each movie they were showing had a matching drink. Alex and I each ordered drinks off that menu.
I couldn’t tell you what they were called or what they had in them, but we both loved our selections and hated each other’s. Go figure! And as you can see, Dad got a dark beer.
I can’t remember what all we had for our mains. I know I got a grilled chicken sandwich and I believe DH got a burger. Not sure what Dad got. But we did order spinach and artichoke dip as well to share.
April slept for most of the meal but woke up towards the end.
Since we were wearing matching mermaid outfits, I had DH take some pictures of us.
Next up, trick or treating!
We woke up around 10 am and debated what to do first. I had actually booked us an MK park pass for today in case we didn’t get everything done we wanted to the day before and wanted to return. You may recall, towards the end of our time there yesterday, I was getting wary of the growing crowds. I know the capacity was a fraction of their normal crowds, but these are not “normal” times, and I was acutely aware of how close we were rubbing elbows with people in a time when it was probably wisest to not do that, even with a mask.
I also knew that the MK was booked solid for the day, so the crowds would be even worse than yesterday. I took a look at wait times in the apps, and quickly determined that it wasn’t worth it. Anything I would want to do had a long line, and I didn’t think it was the best idea to drag us all there and deal with the crowds just to ride a couple of things.
Dad, of course, had no opinion either way. So the question was, if we weren’t going to the Magic Kingdom, what were we going to do?
We already knew the plan was to drive up to my house and hang out with DH. It was early, but honestly, I was ready to spend some time at home, even if DH wouldn’t be awake yet. So we decided to head up there after we got ready.
We had some breakfast in the room and gathered our things. April decided to play hide and seek with the curtains while we worked.
Going home for me was actually not optional, as I had only brought enough clothes for me and April for the first four days of the trip. I’d wanted to use only one suitcase (rightfully thinking it would save us a ton of space), so this was the sacrifice I’d have to make. Luckily, I had put all our day 5-7 clothes aside, so it would be an easy swap out. I didn’t bring the whole suitcase back, just the bag of dirty laundry and a reusable shopping bag for the new clothes. I also brought back some of the gifts Dad had given us as we wouldn’t need them in the room, and some food we knew we weren’t going to finish.
We left the Riviera at about 12:30, and I checked Google for traffic. It looked clear, so I texted DH and gave him a heads up that we were on our way and would arrive in about 30 minutes.
The prediction turned out to be correct, and we pulled into my driveway around 1 pm. Since I hadn’t heard from DH, I assumed he was either still asleep or maybe just waking up. I also guessed that the house needed some quick tidying before it was guest-ready. So I kept the car running and asked Dad to keep an eye on April while I went inside.
I was right on both fronts, so I quickly cleared the clutter from the front part of the house, then went into the bedroom to let DH know we were here. I told him he didn’t have to come out right away, but just wanted him to be aware that we would be coming inside.
He woke up pretty quickly though, and soon we were all gathered in the living room. DH was happy to be reunited with April, and I had him and Dad watch her while I switched out our clothes. I put the dirty ones in my laundry basket, and the new ones in a reusable grocery bag.
My dad always loves to check out the new tech DH has acquired since his last visit. One thing we got was the new game Mario Kart Home Circuit, which includes a physical car that drives around your house. You control it with the Nintendo Switch as the remote, and on the Switch screen you’ll see the course, power-ups, and other characters racing with you. It’s pretty neat. I didn't take any pics, but here's a video of how it looks:
Dad tried it out but he’s not the greatest video game player, lol. So he mostly just watched DH use it. He loves video games but always says he doesn’t have enough time to play at home, so he just plays with ours when he comes to visit.
We were all pretty hungry at that point. Dad and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and Alex of course hadn’t eaten at all. I proposed we go to Eden Bar, which is a 100% outdoor restaurant in the nearby town of Maitland, about 15 minutes from our house.
I’ve talked about Eden Bar before, but not in this report. It’s attached to a movie theater that is actually still open and showing independent movies at 50% capacity, though of course we didn’t see a movie this time (I’m sure movies in general are out for us until April is a couple years older, regardless of the pandemic).
April fell asleep during the drive and actually stayed asleep during the transfer to the stroller once we got there. So that was really nice. We found a table and perused the menu, which was accessible via QR code.
The food at Eden Bar is pretty standard. You can tell it’s stuff that’s easy and quick to prepare, since it’s also the menu they serve in the movie theater. Things like burgers, sandwiches, flatbreads, and pasta. They also have a pretty extensive beer and wine menu, and usually a cool speciality cocktail menu. This month, since it was October, they had a Halloween film festival going on, and each movie they were showing had a matching drink. Alex and I each ordered drinks off that menu.
I couldn’t tell you what they were called or what they had in them, but we both loved our selections and hated each other’s. Go figure! And as you can see, Dad got a dark beer.
I can’t remember what all we had for our mains. I know I got a grilled chicken sandwich and I believe DH got a burger. Not sure what Dad got. But we did order spinach and artichoke dip as well to share.
April slept for most of the meal but woke up towards the end.
Since we were wearing matching mermaid outfits, I had DH take some pictures of us.
Next up, trick or treating!
Verstehen
I break for the Nautilus
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2008
Thanks! Honestly I don't feel we're being as careful as we could, even. Pandemic fatigue is setting in hard. But honestly, we've barely been going anywhere and we wear masks when we do go places. But I have friends who haven't gone anywhere at all. I guess it helps to have a baby as going anywhere with her is a PITA anyway lol.
It doesn't suck! lol
Verstehen
I break for the Nautilus
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2008
Day 4, Part 2
After our late lunch, we headed back home. At this point, it was around 5 pm. Still a little early for trick-or-treating. Dad asked to try out DH’s new Oculus VR system. I couldn’t resist taking some pictures and videos.
It was finally time to do some trick-or-treating! I’d gotten April in her second Halloween outfit while Dad was playing VR, and now DH took some pictures.
Can you guess who she was dressed as?
She’s April O’Neil, reporter for Channel 6 news and best friend of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! It’s not the most involved costume, but it was pretty much all I had the energy and time to put together lol. I knew that no matter what she wore, she’d be awful cute!
After our little photoshoot, we put April in her stroller and set out to trick-or-treat. We hadn’t decorated the house at all, so DH set up our smart lights on a rotation through several “spooky” sequences. He opened the windows so that the sound from our speaker would come through better. Here’s a video of a couple of the light and sound sequences. Fair warning, the first one involves a zombie attack with the sound of gunshots.
Speaking as someone who loves Halloween but never has the energy to decorate, I’m glad we now have the technology to make our house really cool with basically zero effort. It really made an impact, too. As we were walking away, we passed a group of kids, some of whom were clearly nervous to approach our front door (we’d left a bowl of candy for any kids who wanted some). The parents went up to get the candy instead, haha.
We went on a walk around our neighborhood, which only takes about 30-40 minutes from start to finish. Obviously with a baby, our goal wasn’t to collect a bunch of candy, but just to enjoy the ambience, costumes, and decorations our neighbors put up. We live in a development that’s kind of cut off from other neighborhoods, so I’m pretty sure the only kids out on our streets that night already lived there. It wasn’t much more crowded than a normal evening walk, and most of our neighbors who were giving out candy just had tables in their driveways or bowls on their porches, so we would just grab a bag or a couple of treats and move on. Overall, it was a very nice first trick-or-treating for little April!
By the time we finished, it was about 8 pm. The night was young and we didn’t feel ready to part from DH just yet. So I proposed DH come back with us to the Riviera and join us for an evening pool session. Of course he was welcome to stay overnight as well, but he didn’t want to leave our dog alone all night.
I wasn’t sure if he would decide to drive all the way over to Disney property, but he said yes! And soon enough we were heading back to Disney in separate cars, ready to enjoy a family night at the pool. That’s up next!
After our late lunch, we headed back home. At this point, it was around 5 pm. Still a little early for trick-or-treating. Dad asked to try out DH’s new Oculus VR system. I couldn’t resist taking some pictures and videos.
It was finally time to do some trick-or-treating! I’d gotten April in her second Halloween outfit while Dad was playing VR, and now DH took some pictures.
Can you guess who she was dressed as?
She’s April O’Neil, reporter for Channel 6 news and best friend of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! It’s not the most involved costume, but it was pretty much all I had the energy and time to put together lol. I knew that no matter what she wore, she’d be awful cute!
After our little photoshoot, we put April in her stroller and set out to trick-or-treat. We hadn’t decorated the house at all, so DH set up our smart lights on a rotation through several “spooky” sequences. He opened the windows so that the sound from our speaker would come through better. Here’s a video of a couple of the light and sound sequences. Fair warning, the first one involves a zombie attack with the sound of gunshots.
Speaking as someone who loves Halloween but never has the energy to decorate, I’m glad we now have the technology to make our house really cool with basically zero effort. It really made an impact, too. As we were walking away, we passed a group of kids, some of whom were clearly nervous to approach our front door (we’d left a bowl of candy for any kids who wanted some). The parents went up to get the candy instead, haha.
We went on a walk around our neighborhood, which only takes about 30-40 minutes from start to finish. Obviously with a baby, our goal wasn’t to collect a bunch of candy, but just to enjoy the ambience, costumes, and decorations our neighbors put up. We live in a development that’s kind of cut off from other neighborhoods, so I’m pretty sure the only kids out on our streets that night already lived there. It wasn’t much more crowded than a normal evening walk, and most of our neighbors who were giving out candy just had tables in their driveways or bowls on their porches, so we would just grab a bag or a couple of treats and move on. Overall, it was a very nice first trick-or-treating for little April!
By the time we finished, it was about 8 pm. The night was young and we didn’t feel ready to part from DH just yet. So I proposed DH come back with us to the Riviera and join us for an evening pool session. Of course he was welcome to stay overnight as well, but he didn’t want to leave our dog alone all night.
I wasn’t sure if he would decide to drive all the way over to Disney property, but he said yes! And soon enough we were heading back to Disney in separate cars, ready to enjoy a family night at the pool. That’s up next!
KathyM2
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2011
That's so great that you got to have some halloween fun even with covid!! They totally cancelled Halloween here. I love April's costume!
piglet1979
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2015
I love the costume!!!!
livbeatles
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 25, 2015
I LOVE the April O'Neil costume!!
Verstehen
I break for the Nautilus
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2008
It's crazy how she's cute pretty much no matter what she wears, haha.
Yeah I don't think we would have done it if it had been really crowded, but our neighborhood never gets crowded on Halloween anyway. It was really just like a normal walk for us.
Thank you both!
Verstehen
I break for the Nautilus
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2008
Day 4, Part 3
DH drove his own car and followed us to the Riviera. I can’t remember if this is unique to the Riviera, but the parking lot spots are all numbered, so as we were both driving around looking for a spot, he called me to ask if he was supposed to park in a specific numbered spot. I can see where that might get confusing! I explained the numbers were really just to help people remember where they parked, so he found a close spot and parked.
We got up to the villa and DH realized he’d left his bag with his swimsuit in the car. D’oh! I knew there was no way he’d be able to find his way around by himself, so we decided I would take April down to the pool and Dad would walk with DH back to his car and he’d change in the restrooms by the pool
We went back to the main pool tonight. While we waited for DH and Dad, April and I took some selfies.
There was a blow-up screen playing Hocus Pocus.
Soon enough the boys arrived and we were ready to have fun! I was hoping for an empty hot tub, but of course it was not to be. DH said he really wasn’t comfortable sharing the hot tub with anyone, even just a couple of other people, so we went to the kids area with April. I think Dad did some laps while we played.
There were a few other kids in the play area splashing around. We brought April over to a corner where the water was pretty warm, but after awhile, we started to long for the hot tub, even if it meant there were some other people in it. We met Dad there and saw there were just a couple others, so we all decided to suck it up and spend some time soaking in it.
It wasn’t long before we were overrun with other guests and no longer felt comfortable in the hot tub. It seemed like a good time to head up to the room at that point, so off we went.
Back in the room, it was definitely bed time for April. Since it was Halloween, I put her in her special Halloween jammies.
Spooky zombie baby!
She’s too big for them now!
It took awhile to get her to settle in her pack n’ play, but I was determined. We all went out on the balcony to chat, and I would go inside intermittently to check on her. After I think maybe a half hour, she finally fell asleep (though spoiler alert, she didn’t stay asleep for more than a few hours in there, big surprise).
DH hung out on the balcony with us for a bit, and then decided to head home. It was only after he left that we all realized we hadn’t eaten anything since Eden Bar earlier in the day. DH was able to stop at a drive thru on his way home, but Dad and I were pretty much SOL. I’m not sure if there were actually any convenient options for this time of night (at this point, it was around midnight), but it sure felt like there weren’t and we were so tired anyway, so we decided to go to sleep and we’d take care of our hunger in the morning.
Not before, of course, we watched another episode or two of What We Do in the Shadows!
DH drove his own car and followed us to the Riviera. I can’t remember if this is unique to the Riviera, but the parking lot spots are all numbered, so as we were both driving around looking for a spot, he called me to ask if he was supposed to park in a specific numbered spot. I can see where that might get confusing! I explained the numbers were really just to help people remember where they parked, so he found a close spot and parked.
We got up to the villa and DH realized he’d left his bag with his swimsuit in the car. D’oh! I knew there was no way he’d be able to find his way around by himself, so we decided I would take April down to the pool and Dad would walk with DH back to his car and he’d change in the restrooms by the pool
We went back to the main pool tonight. While we waited for DH and Dad, April and I took some selfies.
There was a blow-up screen playing Hocus Pocus.
Soon enough the boys arrived and we were ready to have fun! I was hoping for an empty hot tub, but of course it was not to be. DH said he really wasn’t comfortable sharing the hot tub with anyone, even just a couple of other people, so we went to the kids area with April. I think Dad did some laps while we played.
There were a few other kids in the play area splashing around. We brought April over to a corner where the water was pretty warm, but after awhile, we started to long for the hot tub, even if it meant there were some other people in it. We met Dad there and saw there were just a couple others, so we all decided to suck it up and spend some time soaking in it.
It wasn’t long before we were overrun with other guests and no longer felt comfortable in the hot tub. It seemed like a good time to head up to the room at that point, so off we went.
Back in the room, it was definitely bed time for April. Since it was Halloween, I put her in her special Halloween jammies.
Spooky zombie baby!
She’s too big for them now!
It took awhile to get her to settle in her pack n’ play, but I was determined. We all went out on the balcony to chat, and I would go inside intermittently to check on her. After I think maybe a half hour, she finally fell asleep (though spoiler alert, she didn’t stay asleep for more than a few hours in there, big surprise).
DH hung out on the balcony with us for a bit, and then decided to head home. It was only after he left that we all realized we hadn’t eaten anything since Eden Bar earlier in the day. DH was able to stop at a drive thru on his way home, but Dad and I were pretty much SOL. I’m not sure if there were actually any convenient options for this time of night (at this point, it was around midnight), but it sure felt like there weren’t and we were so tired anyway, so we decided to go to sleep and we’d take care of our hunger in the morning.
Not before, of course, we watched another episode or two of What We Do in the Shadows!
MyGoofy26
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2004
What a cutie April is. I’m so glad I stumbled on this report. I love reading any, but as a relative new mom myself (for WDW purposes—I have a 2 year old and a 4 week old) I especially love finding reports with small kids so I can prepare myself.
Our 2020 trip was postponed twice so I just went and had another baby instead.
We’re currently booked for December this year, so fingers crossed the virus gets under control so we can actually go. My newest will be 11 months so I appreciate reading about what the under 1 crowd responds to and how other navigate the parks with babies.
Also, we’re HUGE Shadows fans so I’m loving all the GIFs. We were big fans of the movie, and of Taika and Jemaine going back to Flight of the Conchords days. We were hopeful when they announced the series spinoff but it surpassed even our pretty high bar. The absolute funniest thing on TV right now.
Our 2020 trip was postponed twice so I just went and had another baby instead.
We’re currently booked for December this year, so fingers crossed the virus gets under control so we can actually go. My newest will be 11 months so I appreciate reading about what the under 1 crowd responds to and how other navigate the parks with babies.
Also, we’re HUGE Shadows fans so I’m loving all the GIFs. We were big fans of the movie, and of Taika and Jemaine going back to Flight of the Conchords days. We were hopeful when they announced the series spinoff but it surpassed even our pretty high bar. The absolute funniest thing on TV right now.
Verstehen
I break for the Nautilus
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2008
Yes he has very brown eyes as well!
What a cutie April is. I’m so glad I stumbled on this report. I love reading any, but as a relative new mom myself (for WDW purposes—I have a 2 year old and a 4 week old) I especially love finding reports with small kids so I can prepare myself.
Our 2020 trip was postponed twice so I just went and had another baby instead.
We’re currently booked for December this year, so fingers crossed the virus gets under control so we can actually go. My newest will be 11 months so I appreciate reading about what the under 1 crowd responds to and how other navigate the parks with babies.
Also, we’re HUGE Shadows fans so I’m loving all the GIFs. We were big fans of the movie, and of Taika and Jemaine going back to Flight of the Conchords days. We were hopeful when they announced the series spinoff but it surpassed even our pretty high bar. The absolute funniest thing on TV right now.
Glad you’re here! Congrats on your new little one. I’m hopeful December will be a safer time to visit. It seems like things are heading in the right direction.
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