"We Have You in the Swan Foot Suite": A Fall 2021 Trip Report. COMPLETED 3/2

[Verstehen]

Well hello there, friends! Welcome to my latest (and greatest?) trip report!

My name is Rachel and I aim to write reports that are honest, amusing, and helpful. I hope you stick around and enjoy the read!

Here are the main players for this trip:

Myself, of course. I’m 33, and live with my little family in Orlando, about 30-40 minutes from property. I work part time from home for a small software company as a client manager. I enjoy the work, but when I’m not on the clock I’m also taking online classes through UCF in pursuit of a graduate certificate in Instructional Design. I’m really looking forward to this career change and hoping it will give me a bit more direction and flexibility.

I’ve been a Disney parks fan since early childhood, and moved to Florida in 2010. I’ve lived here in Orlando since 2016, and while I don’t know how long we’ll live here, I’m trying to enjoy every minute of it. Sometimes that means going to the parks, and sometimes it means enjoying some of the other local attractions or atmosphere.

My always-companion is my daughter, April, who was 20 months old at the time of this trip. She has been to the parks for short day trips many times since birth, but this trip was her third overnight stay. She LOVES Mickey and Minnie and has started getting excited to see Goofy and Pooh as well. She’s a very brave girl, always wants to sit next to me on rides instead of on my lap, except for when they start moving, which can sometimes present a challenge. If you’re a fan of the show Bluey (which is on Disney+, so you can watch it right now!), she’s basically a slightly younger version of Muffin Heeler. I call her that regularly.

My dad, who would prefer to not think about his age. He is a fairly recent Disney convert, and will tell you he mostly goes for the food (specifically, the maple popcorn in Canada). He purchased DVC in 2016 as a way to have an excuse to visit me a few times a year, and as a replacement for a vacation home that he sold near his normal home up north. He lives in NY, still in the house I grew up in. He is a semi-retired dentist who also volunteers as an EMT, so as you can imagine he’s still active and busy!

My sister, who I’ll call DS, is a few years younger than me. She has a rare genetic condition that affects her nervous system and her ability to regulate her body temperature, so we used DAS for this trip. She also has difficulty walking long distances, so we rented a scooter which was very helpful. DS loves Disney and her favorite character is Olaf. She was very sad she couldn’t give him a warm hug this trip. Hopefully soon!

And finally, making a special guest appearance is my husband, who I’ll call DH. If you’ve read my previous reports, you’ll recall that Disney is not his thing and so he sits out the majority of the trip, but he usually comes for a day to enjoy the resort and sometimes Disney Springs.


The trip deets…

My dad and I usually take a trip in the fall to experience Food and Wine. We don’t always take my sister, as she usually comes during the late winter when the weather is a bit more tame and the crowds are lower. But since we skipped our winter trip this year, he decided to have her join us on this fall trip.

We were flexible on dates and originally hoped to go in October, where we could better plan around the high holidays (we’re Jewish) and the weather would be hopefully a bit cooler. Alas, it was not to be! We didn’t want to stay at either of our home resorts and before the seven month window for non-home resorts even opened there were no full six night stays available at any of the resorts we wanted (and we’re not the type to do split stays. Too much packing and unpacking!). Waitlisting is always an option, but I noticed the points for October would be 50% more than the points for late September. It was disappointing to think we’d miss the start of the 50th, but the point difference was too good to pass up, and I knew the anniversary would last over a year.

We were originally booked for about a week earlier, but our waitlist for later in the month came through very quickly, and we were booked September 22-28 at a one-bedroom garden or pool view at one of our favorite resorts: the Boardwalk!

We previously stayed at the Boardwalk in fall 2019 while I was pregnant, and it was one of the best trips we’ve ever had. We loved the location and the amenities, along with the overall theme of the resort. So we were happy to stay there again, and I knew given the size of the resort it would be easier to get a wait list there than for another smaller resort like the Beach Club. We own at both the Poly and the Riviera but we wanted to try a one bedroom this trip, so the Poly was out, and we didn’t love the Riviera when we stayed there last year, so we decided to go back to the Boardwalk as long as it was available, and it was!

Prior to this trip, we’ve only stayed in studios, but it was starting to get a little cramped, especially with three adults. The last time all four of us went was in February 2020, where we stayed in a Poly studio. Even though those are large studios, it felt so cramped in there with all of us and our stuff. We’d always pooh-pooh’ed the idea of staying in a one bedroom, as it was hard to justify spending double the points to hold the same number of people, but since we had skipped our winter 2021 trip, we decided to go ahead and see if it was worth it.

Spoiler alert: It totally was, and now we’re in trouble XD

You’ll have to keep reading to learn more! Up next...Day 1!

 

[footballmouse]

 

[RollTideinMD]

I LOVE reading your trip reports! So happy to be following along.

 

[Isabelle12345]

Following!

 

[Bama Mom]

following along

 

[suse66]

Joining in! I always love reading your TR's! Also, how is April so big already????

 

[rdkeim]

In for another of your TR's!

 

[Verstehen]

Welcome!

I LOVE reading your trip reports! So happy to be following along.

Aw, thank you! Glad you're here.

Following!

following along

Welcome!!

Joining in! I always love reading your TR's! Also, how is April so big already????

That means a lot! And I know, she'll be 2 in just a few months!!

In for another of your TR's!

Yay!

 

[Verstehen]

Day 1 (Wednesday, September 22nd), Part 1

I usually begin my trip reports with day 0, aka the day before Disney, but this year there isn’t much to report on that front. It was a pretty standard day. DH actually decided to take this week off just a couple of weeks before, as he has a lot of PTO to use up and this was the first week available for him to take. He didn’t remember that this was the week my family was coming to town, and he was a bit disappointed that we wouldn’t be around for the whole week, but in my defense, I did invite him to go with us. He declined, and I hoped he would at least enjoy some time to himself in the latter half of the week.

But anyway, on that Tuesday, I just did my usual work shift until about 2 pm. I thought it would be nice to go out and do something as a family, so we headed over to a nearby playground, where it immediately began downpouring, lol. So we hid under the picnic shelter until it stopped. But that was pretty much the most exciting thing that happened that day.

Wednesday was our first official trip day! But it started rather boring. I worked again, as my family wouldn’t be flying in until the late afternoon. I had placed a grocery order through Instacart to pick up on my way to the airport, so I had a lot of back and forth with the shopper because a lot of the things I’d ordered weren’t available. It was a little frustrating, but not a big deal and the shopper was doing a good job being communicative.


Also of note this morning was a major flight delay scare! My dad and sister’s flight were scheduled to get in at about 4:45 pm, and we had dinner reservations at Epcot for 7:30. I figured that gave us more than enough time to get to the Boardwalk, drop off our stuff, and head over to International Gateway. But then my dad forwarded me an email that said his flight was delayed by two hours! I was panicking until I saw when he originally received the email and the text he sent as follow up.

Not sure why the airline saw fit to declare a two hour delay in the middle of the night, well before the plane would take off, but glad everything was on track! These days nothing surprises me in terms of flight issues.


One thing you might remember from previous reports is that April has an unusually late sleep schedule. She’s always been this way, but we never adjusted it to be more “normal” because it works well with mine and DH’s work schedules. She generally sleeps until about 11 or 11:30, and naps around 3:30 or 4, then sleeps around 10:30 or 11. Since DH doesn’t go into work until the afternoon, it allows him to sleep in, and it lets me get some stuff done after he goes to work.


But this day, I woke her up a bit early, at about 10:30, because I wanted her to take a nap before we left for the airport. Lately she hasn’t been able to take car naps, and I knew with no nap at all we’d be in for a bad time. So by waking her up a little earlier, it meant she would take an earlier nap. It made my morning a little chaotic, but it worked out. She mostly ate her breakfast quietly while I worked so DH could sleep a little longer.

At 2 pm I finished work and put April down for her nap. I had made beef and broccoli for dinner the night before, so I had the remaining leftovers for dinner as DH declined them (I offered, promise!). I got some last minute snuggles in with our dog while I ate.

At some point soon after, I received an email with our room assignment, and was disappointed to see that we’d been assigned to a room on the first floor, very far from the elevator. I had made a room request with Touring Plans for a room on an upper floor closer to the elevator, and I had also made an upper room request through Disney’s online check-in system. So I was kind of feeling like, what was the point of all that? I get that they’re just requests but we like to be on an upper floor so we have some privacy on our balcony. I knew we could always see if moving was a possibility when we arrived at the resort so I decided not to dwell on it after my initial reaction.

A little before 4, I started packing up the car. If you’ve read my last couple of reports, you may remember that I usually take our smaller car, the Prius. But since this time dad and DS weren’t taking Magical Express, I thought it would be a good idea to take our larger car, the CR-V. It turned out to be a good idea, but even that was a tight squeeze, and that’s before I did the airport pickup!

Note the basket of toys towards the bottom there. I thought I was soooo clever bringing April's favorite toys with us for her to play with in the villa. And then she pretty much didn't touch them the whole time, because of course her grandpa brought her plenty of new toys to play with.

Once the car was packed, I woke up April at about 4. We said our goodbyes to Daddy, and then we hit the road.

My poor groggy girl.

Our first stop was just a couple of miles away, at our local Publix to pick up our grocery order. While we waited for the employee to come out, I found some toys for April to play with, to hopefully keep her happy and occupied on the drive, as she was a bit cranky. I don’t think she likes the car seat on this car, as it’s rather big and there’s not a mirror to allow her to see me.

We got the groceries, getting a little creative with their placement in the car, and then I was off to the airport!

I made it to Semoran, and my sister called to let me know that their plane had landed but they hadn’t disembarked yet. I didn’t want to wait around at the airport cell lot for too long, and my gas tank was a little low anyway, so I took the opportunity to stop and get some gas. Riveting stuff!

Unfortunately, the second April saw me from the back seat, she began begging with her sad little voice to be let out. Obviously she can’t speak in sentences yet, but she can say, “All done,” and she was sure saying it then. I took one look at her and realized she was pretty hot in the back seat, and this was confirmed when she puked a bit. I cleaned her up as best I could in the moment and tried to get her to drink some water. When I started the car back up, I made sure to put the air on all the way and aimed it to the back seat.

A few minutes later, as I was getting closer to the airport, I called my sister back. They had left the plane but hadn’t gotten their bags yet, so I went to the cell lot near the airport entrance and told them to call me when they were ready.

While I was there, I took the opportunity to change April’s clothes and get her cleaned up some more. After just a couple of minutes, my sister called back to say that they’d gotten their bags and were waiting outside by baggage claim. April did NOT want to get back into her car seat. I felt so bad for her, but obviously we couldn’t just stay in that lot forever.

But the lot was just a minute or so from baggage claim by car, so soon enough we were pulling up to greet Dad and sis, and April’s tears quickly subsided. My dad and I played some Tetris with the bags, but soon enough we were packed up and on our way. DS sat in back with April, who was much happier now that she had some company.

I started to explain the room situation to Dad, but that distracted me and I accidentally made a wrong turn, and started going the wrong way down route 528 out of the airport. I don’t know if I mentioned this in my report for last year’s trip, but I made the exact same wrong turn leaving the airport then too! In my defense, there are a lot of wrong turns you can make at the airport, and the GPS was a little confusing. I don’t usually go towards Disney after leaving the airport either, as my house is in the opposite direction, so that contributed to my conclusion.

Anyway, one exit and U-turn (and a small toll charge, d’oh!) later, and we were back on the right track. Dad and I agreed that asking for a higher floor room would be best, so we would do that first thing when we arrived at the Boardwalk.

We arrived at the resort about half an hour later, and pulled up to the lobby entrance to unload the car. Dad went in search of a cart to help us lug all our stuff, which turned out to be the first challenge of the trip. While he looked, he also noted some scooters parked in the bell services area (not sure if he was supposed to be snooping back there, but it’s in character for him tbh), and he claimed that none of them were the one DS had ordered from Scooter Bug, which of course immediately stressed her out.

Dad found someone in bell services to bring out a cart and assist with our luggage not long after, so we loaded everything up and I put April in her stroller. I asked dad to take everything into the lobby and ask about a higher floor room while I parked the car.

If you’ve never had to park your car at the Boardwalk, I envy you. It has got to be the least convenient parking lot I’ve experienced at any Disney resort. Granted, I haven’t stayed at every Disney resort (I hear the Grand Floridian one is pretty bad too), but the walk to the resort from the lot is not only long; it has hills. I don’t know who designed this setup but I cannot say I wish them well. Luckily, we didn’t need to use the car much on this trip.

Back in the lobby, a friendly cast member was showing Dad the location of our new room, which would be on the third floor. Still a decent hike from the lobby, but it could be longer. It would overlook the quiet pool as well. The walk was a bummer, but overall it sounded like a much better option. The original room would have put us right on the path from the quiet pool to Hollywood Studios, so a decent amount of traffic and very little privacy. We decided to go ahead and take it.

Meanwhile, my sister was asking at the bell services desk about her scooter. She gave them her name and they went to look for it. Nope, no luck, even though Scooter Bug had sent her a confirmation that it was delivered. They advised her to call Scooter Bug back, so we made our way to the elevators while DS tried to do just that.

Up next...it’s just like communist Russia!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Following along.

 

[sheri18]

Following...we were at the BW in January..we had a first floor room, and we really liked it...so easy to walk out of room to the paths. We barely took the elevator..found it much easier..can’t wait to read the rest...hope you find the scooter..

 

[figment52]

I was just thinking today that I haven't seen you here in awhile. Looking forward to seeing how April handles this trip.

 

[Verstehen]

Following along.

Welcome!

Following...we were at the BW in January..we had a first floor room, and we really liked it...so easy to walk out of room to the paths. We barely took the elevator..found it much easier..can’t wait to read the rest...hope you find the scooter..

Yeah I definitely see that as an advantage to first floor rooms (although how do you lock the room behind you that way?), but for us, we spend so much time on the balcony and prefer privacy over the convenience.

I was just thinking today that I haven't seen you here in awhile. Looking forward to seeing how April handles this trip.

Thanks! I don't post much in between trips I'm afraid. I just tend to lurk on other reports. I'm trying to get better about posting in general, but as you can imagine my time is rather limited these days!

 

[Verstehen]

Day 1, Part 2

By the time we got to the third floor, DS was speaking to someone at Scooter Bug, but we needed to stop so I could help her write down some info. They told us to call bell services and tell them to look for a scooter with a specific unit number.

We made it to the room, and luckily Dad immediately had the foresight to take pictures before we trashed the place. I’d watched some walkthroughs on YouTube so I had an idea of what to expect from the villa, but we were still really impressed with it! It was so much more space than we were used to.

That lamp above the table, btw, is deadly. I bonked my head on it multiple times.

That little ottoman next to the dresser made the PERFECT changing table.

It was soooo nice to have a washer and dryer right in the room, but I have to say it was SO LOUD!

We unloaded the bags from the cart and put away the groceries. We also called down to bell services and surprise of surprises, they had the scooter! They claimed they had looked for it under my last name, and not my sister’s, which is ridiculous since she gave them her last name, but oh well. They had it. It was kind of annoying how they just seemed to throw their hands up at first after about ten seconds of looking, but whatever. They told us to just ask for it when we came down on our way to the park.

I also called down to housekeeping to see if we could get a pack n play, high chair, and tea kettle, and they said they would bring that right up.

Just as we were about to head out, we opened the door, and there was the lady from housekeeping, with our stuff that we’d requested! The pack n play was already set up, with a clean sheet and everything, so that was great. We have a pack n play at home but it’s very heavy and large so I was glad to not have to bring it. I went ahead and set it in the bedroom. The high chair ended up not being used for the whole trip, spoilers, but I’m sure I would have wished we’d requested it if I hadn’t, and it didn’t take up much room anyway.

We wheeled the cart back to the bell services desk, and they went and brought out the scooter finally. So now we were on our way to Epcot!

But not before stopping by the gym.

Flashing back to my Fall 2019 trip report, you may recall that our level of satisfaction on any given day was tied directly to whether or not the gym had scented washcloths. These were damp, cool washcloths usually scented with a bit of tea tree or grapefruit essential oil, and they were AMAZING. So naturally, since we had to pass by the gym anyway on our way to the Boardwalk, we stopped to grab some…

BUT THEY WERE OUT!

This was not a good start to the trip, quite frankly. We found ourselves asking many questions and speculating. The following is a brief recap of our conversation about it. I’m unsure as to exactly who said what. The situation was that disturbing.

“Why do you think they don’t have any?”

“Covid? Probably Covid. Maybe they’ll come back?”

“I dunno, this seems like peak washcloth time. Should we switch resorts?”

“Maybe. We don’t know if the other resorts will have them either.”

“This is horrible. This is like the worst tragedy ever. What are we, in Communist Russia?”

“No, this isn’t like Communist Russia. This is like...ugh, there’s a word for it, I just can’t remember what. It’s the period in Russian history between the Bolsheviks and the Communists, or something. It was a bad time in Russia.”

“Well whatever it was called, this is just like that!”

By now we’d made it halfway across the Boardwalk, and my sister, who wasn’t with us in Fall 2019, had NO idea what we were talking about. And thank goodness, because otherwise she might have wept upon realizing the glory she was missing out on. But as it was, she probably just assumed we were crazy.

We made it to the International Gateway and went over to Guest Services, which thankfully had no one else waiting. We had a couple of things we needed to take care of here. First, my dad wanted to upgrade his tickets to an annual pass, now that they were being sold again. When we’d purchased the tickets, we’d been told there was a chance they would not be upgradeable since they were purchased when new AP sales were on hold. So he was very happy that they were able to upgrade his ticket.

It seemed logical that he would upgrade DS’s ticket too, but her situation was trickier. Long story short-ish, she has another trip planned for the spring with some friends, who went ahead and booked a room and tickets package on her behalf (I personally would be livid if someone spent my money without my explicit consent, but that’s her drama and I need to stay out of it). Because the tickets were, in the castmember’s words, “Sleeping,” they couldn’t be upgraded yet to an AP. So if she upgraded today’s ticket to an AP, the tickets purchased for the spring trip would pretty much go to waste.

Now, if it were me, I would tell my friends to take me off the package, and just add me on separately as an overnight or day guest later. But DS was getting mixed messages about whether or not she’d be able to do that, and the consensus was that if she did do that, it would require a fair amount of extra work on the part of her friend (who, I will remind you, was the one who made this decision for my sister in the first place). My sister does not like to rock the boat, so she chose to keep her tickets as is, even though upgrading the tickets for our fall trip would be more cost-effective than upgrading the tickets for her spring trip.

Anyway, after all that hullabaloo, was also asked about DAS, and since DS had been in town to visit me a few months prior, she already had it set up, so the kindly CM just turned it on for us with a couple of mouse clicks. Very awesome!

We left Guest Services and went to the tapstiles. DS and Dad made it through okay, but mine was flashing that dreaded blue color. I cringed, because I knew exactly what was going on. I’d lost my debit card about a month back and I hadn’t updated my pass payment plan with the new one. So back to Guest Services I went. Luckily, there was still no line, and they were able to add my new card quickly. I promised them that was the last they would see of me, which they didn’t seem to think was hilarious, and a few minutes later, April and I were safely in the walls of Epcot, reunited with family!

After all our time sorting out tickets, we had just enough time to walk to our dinner destination, which was luckily very close: The Rose and Crown!

I don’t think the food here is bad, but this wouldn’t be my first choice for a meal at Epcot. Pretty limited, unexciting menu in my view. But my dad LOVES his fish and chips, and was excited to be able to sit down and enjoy them, so Rose and Crown it was. And yes I know the prevailing wisdom is, “If you have an Epcot ADR during Food and Wine, you’re doing it wrong,” but we had two picky eaters in our party, and we wanted to sit down for a nice meal. (If you can’t tell, I’m not a fan of the whole idea that you have to do Disney a certain way, lol).

When we checked in, we noted that they had outside tables and asked if it would be possible to be seated there, and they said yes, though it would be a few minutes.

We were advised not to go too far, but my dad couldn’t resist the siren call of his lady love, the maple popcorn from Canada. He balanced the popcorn bucket tentatively in his hands. “What should I do? Will we have time after to get it?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe we won’t go back that way.”

“Do you think I have time now?” he asked.

I shrugged.

He sighed. Stared wistfully into the distance. “It’s not far, is it?” he asked

“No,” I conceded. “It’s not far.”

He decided to go for it, and soon he was just a dot on the horizon, heading to Canada.

Pretty much as soon as he was gone, I heard the call of my name. Wonderful!

“Two adults and one child?” the hostess asked when she saw us.

“We have a third adult, but he’s in the bathroom,” I lied. I hate lying to CM’s, but it sounded so much better than, “He went to buy popcorn in Canada even though we’re about to eat dinner.” I texted him and told him to meet us on the patio.

We were seated all the way at the end of the patio, with a nice view of the lagoon. I will say, the patio is a bit cramped, especially right behind the building. We were pretty much elbow to elbow with the table next to us. But at least we were outside!

Soon enough, Dad came back and found us, and offered us maple popcorn as an appetizer. So generous.

As we perused the menu, my dad began his official quest for a dark beer. For those of you new to my trip reports, let me explain. My dad likes dark beer. Dark enough that it repels all light. Dark enough that you could cut it like a loaf of bread. Dark enough that no one wants to drink it after a day of walking around in the hot Florida sun. So needless to say, he always has a hard time finding a beer dark enough for his taste, and he is always SHOCKED and APPALLED that restaurants hardly ever have dark beer. Except for Guinness, but he doesn’t like Guinness. Go figure.

Anyway, he ordered some beer, can’t remember exactly which one, and he was predictably disappointed. I, on the other hand, was very pleased with my selection. The Cider and Fireball. It's is regular whiskey, Fireball, and cider topped with ginger ale. It was SO GOOD which is probably why I forgot to take a picture.

For dinner, DS ordered the shepherd’s pie, which I believe she liked. Dad of course ordered the fish and chips, and I ordered the chicken masala curry. I wasn’t sure what to expect, since I understand Indian food in England is prepared a little differently than Indian food here. It definitely wasn’t the chicken tikka masala that I was expecting, but it was still very tasty.

Since I didn’t see April enjoying much of what was on my plate, I ordered a side of mac and cheese for her, which is one of her favorite things to eat (and rub in her hair). She ate a decent portion of it, but we still took a bit to go.

We debating trying to drag the meal out with dessert so we could watch the fireworks from the patio, which I’m sure is the number one reason people book tables here, but ultimately we wanted to stretch our legs and explore, and we didn’t care too much about seeing the fireworks. So we paid our bill and off we went!


Up next...an evening at Epcot!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Glad that they had the scooter for your sister, even if it was a pain.

We have never eaten ate Rose and Crown. There is just so many choices! But it sound good!

 

[KPeterso]

I always enjoy your trip reports. April is getting so big. We just got back from a trip too and like you stayed in a 1 bedroom for the first time (but at Kidani). And are now totally spoiled. It is all my Mom who travels with me wants now. I think more points may be in my future.

 

[rdkeim]

A pain to spend some of your evening at guest services but sounds like you mostly got everything straightened out. Rose and Crown is always a solid choice. Your Dad stories cracked me up. He's very passionate about what he likes Hope you have a good evening in Epcot!

 

[Verstehen]

Glad that they had the scooter for your sister, even if it was a pain.

We have never eaten ate Rose and Crown. There is just so many choices! But it sound good!

I can't say I recommend it unless you're really into British food, but it's definitely not terrible, haha.

I always enjoy your trip reports. April is getting so big. We just got back from a trip too and like you stayed in a 1 bedroom for the first time (but at Kidani). And are now totally spoiled. It is all my Mom who travels with me wants now. I think more points may be in my future.

The extra space was so amazing. We plan to do a studio again next year and I'm already nervous, but my sister won't be coming so we can't justify the extra points.

A pain to spend some of your evening at guest services but sounds like you mostly got everything straightened out. Rose and Crown is always a solid choice. Your Dad stories cracked me up. He's very passionate about what he likes Hope you have a good evening in Epcot!

With DAS now something you can book online ahead of time, that will really help cut down on the amount of time we spend at GS in the future. But it wasn't a big deal. And I know, my Dad is so weird. All my friends who have met him agree, he's basically a cartoon character. He takes Dad-ing to a new level.

 

[Verstehen]

Day 1, Part 3

Apologies in advance, but this is not a photo-heavy update!

DS, April, and I left the restaurant while Dad paid the bill and went inside to the bar to beg for some mayo packets (we use them with our eggs for breakfasts. I know…it’s weird...)

Upon exiting the Rose & Crown patio, I went to look for the stroller which I’d parked along the side of the building. I had a bit of trouble recognizing it at first, though, because it had a plastic bag over it!

Funny story. The afternoon before the trip I’d realized, “We’re going to Disney World for a multi-day trip during the rainy season. I should get a rain cover for the stroller. So I bought one on Amazon that was available for same-day shipping. I felt so proud of myself.

And then I left it in the villa.

I have never seen this happen before, but some really sainted CM’s had put plastic bags over all the strollers and scooters that were lined up against the building. I still can’t get over how sweet that was! I feel so sad when people say the service at Disney has gone downhill and that they’ll be taking their business to Universal. I bet the employees at Universal wouldn’t do something like this!

Now, the bad news is, they didn’t get to it fast enough and the seat was still wet (not their fault, of course! I was the one who left it out in the rain). So it still wasn’t usable quite yet, but still, so sweet!

We decided to take a walk around World Showcase before heading back to the resort. Since I didn’t want to put April in the stroller quite yet, her options were walking or being carried, and she decided to walk! It was pretty much the only time that trip she would choose to do so, but it was great! She held my hand and walked through the crowds like a champ.

We didn’t have a particular goal in mind. I was keen to get a sweet treat of some kind but nothing in the booths really caught my eye, so I never did get anything that evening. We made it over to Norway, and I peeked and saw the queue for Frozen Ever After was really low, like only about 25 minutes. Probably because most park attendees were lining up to watch the fireworks. But we thought a ride sounded like more fun, so I parked the stroller (and made sure to put the awning up in case it rained again), and we went into the queue!

The line moved fairly quickly and soon enough we were on the ride. April has been on this several times and always gets a little nervous at the drop, but she did alright tonight. Still, she seemed glad to be getting off it. And now that I'm finally looking at the ride photo (it didn't show up for awhile, maybe because the people in front of us were spottily wearing their masks) I can see the true extent of her concern. This is probably the funniest ride photo I've ever seen.

When we exited the building, we were delighted to see Epcot Forever playing! We didn’t stop to watch, but there’s just something magical about exiting a ride and being greeted by fireworks. Our focus was on getting to International Gateway before the crowds started clogging up the walkways.

When we got to IG, a castmember was warning people that the Skyliner was down, which meant a lot of people were walking up to her, letting out a big frustrated huff, and then turning back to get a bus all the way at the front of the park. I felt bad for them! You may recall from my TR from last year’s visit, when we stayed at the Riviera, there was an evening we were told that the Skyliner was down and we were actually redirected to the bus stop at the Boardwalk, where we waited in a very long line with a very cranky baby and eventually boarded a very crowded bus. I wasn’t sure why the people tonight didn’t have the same option, but they were apparently being told to go to the front of the park. Just another reason why I was glad to be staying at the Boardwalk this time around!

We made our way through the exit and passed the Skyliner station, which was clearly running with passengers in the gondolas! Out of curiosity I asked a castmember in a Skyliner uniform about it and mentioned that another CM at the top of the hill had been telling people it was down. This CM confirmed that it had just come back online, but that sometimes there’s a delay in communication between CM’s. I hope the people who were turned away to the front of the park didn’t find out that the Skyliner was running again mere moments later. Can you imagine how frustrating that would be? Not that I blame the first CM, but it taught me that if I’m staying at a Skyliner resort again, I should probably continue to the station anyway. Even if it had remained down, I could just take an Uber from the Boardwalk instead of doing all that additional walking and waiting.

We made it back to our room, where I spent some time completing the unpacking process. I’ve made the mistake of “living out of my suitcase” on past trips and though it feels nice on that first day to unpack very little, by the third day you start to feel like a homeless person and stressed because you can’t find anything, but by then you’re so far into the trip that you feel like it’s not worth it to finish unpacking now. So lesson learned, I emptied out my suitcase and found a place for everything in the bedroom or bathroom. It felt really nice, and definitely made the rest of the trip more relaxing.

After that, I started the process of putting April to bed. This was the part of the evening I was most nervous about. The last time we stayed at Disney, she hated sleeping in the Pack n Play. I ended up having to rescue her from it most nights after little or no sleep, just lots of crying. So I was understandably worried about a repeat during this trip.

We did her bedtime routine as close to how we do it at home as I possibly could. For those of you who are new parents, I cannot stress enough the value of a bedtime routine when your baby is ready for a regular sleep schedule (aka once they get past that newborn phase of “sleep wherever, whenever”). The specifics of the routine matter less than just picking a routine that works for you and sticking with it. I try not to give unsolicited parental advice in general, but this is one thing I think is worth sharing: bedtime routines work. I was surprised how quickly April picked up on it, and of course we’ve adjusted as she’s gotten older.

The only part of the routine we couldn’t really do is rocking, since there is no rocking chair in the villa. I was actually a little worried that would hurt our chances of getting her to sleep, but in the end, it didn’t seem to matter. We did the normal routine (which is roughly: brush teeth, bath, diaper and pjs, story, song, goodnight), and just before lights out I Facetimed DH so he could say goodnight.

Then it was time for the moment of truth. I turned off the light, sang a song or two, and put her down in the pack n play with her stuffies and blanket. Then I left the room. What did I hear?

Silence.

Of course, there was the trepidation that at any moment, I would hear her cries, but for now, I was happy, and I was especially happy that I could turn my attention to other things.

During April’s bedtime routine, my dad and sister had been trying to get their iPads streaming on the TV, which we were led to believe was a smart TV capable of streaming from devices. That had been the case when we’d stayed at the Riviera the year before. Alas, they weren’t having any luck and when I came out, I wasn’t able to get it working either. I think next time we stay here I’ll have to borrow my husband’s Chromecast. Without the ability to cast onto the TV, Dad and DS decided to just watch their show on their little iPad screen.

I, meanwhile, had some work to do. As I mentioned in the first post, I’m in school right now. I’d actually missed a synchronous Zoom class session that had taken place earlier in the evening, and was hoping the recording had posted, but it hadn’t yet. So I focused on some textbook reading, which I did on the balcony. It was a gorgeous night. I also indulged in some hummus I’d gotten with our grocery order.

Overall, it was about the best first night at Disney I could have asked for. I finished enough homework to feel less guilty about being on vacation, ate my weight in hummus, drank some water, and enjoyed the view of the quiet pool and Swan hotel. I went to bed around midnight, and around 3:30, as predicted, April woke up so she ended up in bed with me, which at that point was fine. My goal was for both of us to get as much sleep as possible, so that we could fully enjoy our first full day at Disney.

Up next...birds and beer!

 

[Woth2982]

Joining in! We head to Disney Nov 13 with our daughter who will be just shy of 15 months at the time of the trip. Taking notes of all your tips and tricks! I bought a slumber pod and will be bringing our own pack and play sheets, hoping the familiar scent will help her sleep. Right now I am more worried about the plane ride! She loves Minnie's Bow Toons so I have downloaded some of those onto her tablet.

I am glad you were able to switch rooms! The long walk at the end of the night can be rough, but I would prefer that to the first floor room any day. Dinner at Epcot sounds like it was great, and your dad is too funny with the popcorn. Although my friend who is joining us as our babysitter is packing a spare bag JUST to bring home Disney popcorn, so your dads fetish is not unique lol. Aprils face on Frozen is great! I cannot wait til S goes on it. I hope she likes it. She is a bit of a daredevil and loves being thrown around.