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

[footballmouse]

Sounds like a great morning!

 

[Verstehen]

Hi everyone! I'm powering through the rest of the report. Here's the rest of our last full day, and next up I'll post about our short and final morning, and then I'll discuss our upcoming plans!

Day 6, Part 2

We had a pretty quiet and uneventful afternoon at the hotel. April went down for a nap pretty quickly a little before 3:30. DS wanted to rest in the room, so Dad and I went down for a swim. DS was a little nervous about being in the villa alone with April, even if she was sleeping, but I promised her it would be fine and I would check my phone regularly to see if she needed anything. It ended up being fine as I predicted. A couple of times she thought she heard April crying but it was just some kids playing outside.

We had an evening at Epcot planned, so when April woke up we got ready and started walking over around 5:30.

Shortly after we left our room, I got a Facetime call from DH, who was missing us! I was wearing April in the sling so luckily I had a hand free, but it was still a challenge to do the call and walk at the same time. I stayed on with him until right after we went through International Gateway, and then we said goodbye for now.

We headed toward the UK, where we saw Mary Poppins out and about! You can see at this point I’d changed into my Alice in Wonderland shirt, more appropriate for Epcot.

After meeting with Ms. Poppins, we went over to The Land and got yet another return time for Soarin. Would we actually make it on this time???

While we waited, we rode Living with the Land, which had a short wait. April loved seeing the fish, so much so that I made a note of it and of course I didn’t tell her what eventually happens to those particular fish. Shh!

The day was waning fast, and when we got off and I checked the time, I realized we really needed to get back to World Showcase for our dinner reservation, and I confessed that we might not have time to come back for Soarin if we also wanted to do fireworks. This was a disappointing development, but it wasn’t like Soarin was going anywhere. The fireworks, on the other hand…

We had a bit of a trek to our dinner destination, all the way to Japan. By now I had figured out mobile check-in on the app, but I wasn’t sure how close you had to be to actually check in. It turns out very close! We were running a tad late so I started trying somewhere around France, but it wouldn’t let me check in until I was fully in the Japan pavilion area. Once that was done, we waited a few minutes and took some fun selfies.

We received a text pretty quickly that our table was ready, and we took the elevator up to the second floor for our dining experience at Teppan Edo!

This is one of DS’s favorite restaurants at Disney. I know hibachi restaurants are a pretty common thing, but I don’t think there are any around her, and there are surprisingly few in the part of Orlando that I live in. If you’ve read my report from fall 2020, you may remember that we went here during that trip as well, when we didn’t have DS with us, since we were able to score a last minute reservation. So it’s a well-established spot with our group!

Just like last year, there were partitions between our group and the other ones sitting at the table, which was sad to me because part of what I love about these types of restaurants is getting to know my tablemates, but I understand. Hopefully soon we can get back to that.

While we waited for food, April wasn't quite ready to sit in her high chair.

We had a very nice dinner, all things considered. I ordered the sake sampler and the shrimp and steak entree for my dinner, along with an iced green tea. I can’t remember what everyone else ordered, but I know we all enjoyed our meals.

We played a bit of peekaboo at one point...

The waitresses at Teppan Edo could not get enough of April. They kept talking about how cute she was and eventually asked her name. When I told them it was April, they got even more excited because they said another waitress they worked with had the same name. We were seated right next to the kitchen and at some point towards the end of the meal, they brought out their coworker named April so she could meet my April. It was really sweet! Though honestly, I have no idea where she came from. She wasn’t Japanese and she was wearing a completely different uniform than the Teppan Edo waitresses. Maybe Tokyo Dining, but I’m not sure that was even open at the time. But either way, it was a memorable moment during our already lovely meal!

Once dinner ended, my suspicions were confirmed that we did not have time to go back and ride Soarin if we also wanted to watch fireworks. Each of us had different things we wanted to do, so for the first time during this trip, we purposely split up in a theme park!

Dad’s mission, of course, was to get more maple popcorn from Canada to take home with him. DS wanted to go to Norway to get a Frozen-themed souvenir. And me being the park planner that I am, I wanted to get a spot for the fireworks show.

April and I walked around World Showcase a bit and found a good spot in front of China. I think this was about 20-30 minutes before the show was set to start, so not bad. Since it was September, they were still playing Epcot Forever, which I didn’t love as much as I hoped the first time I saw it in 2020, but I did want to see it one last time before it was replaced by Harmonious (which I did actually like a lot!).

We made friends with another guest who was hoping to get a good recording with his DSLR, and at one point April got in trouble for standing on the railing (I told her not to! haha). But overall it was a chill bit of time to unwind and wait for the show to start. Eventually, the other family members joined us and we watched the show, a great end to our day.

Except, of course, it wasn’t the end. We still had to get back to the Boardwalk.

I was so happy we were staying at an Epcot resort, because I literally don’t know how we would have survived a bus trip. April was chill at first, bopping along to the music.

https://imgur.com/SD2J4kh

But she soon decided that she was CRANKY, and to be fair it had probably been awhile since her nap. She’d been a real trooper all day. Unlike the earlier day at Hollywood Studios, nobody seemed to notice or care that a baby was crying in her stroller, at least, so we gritted our teeth and made our way to the International Gateway, with me promising my sweet girl that she would get to sleep very soon.

And she did! I did a quick bedtime and put her down pretty much as soon as we got to the room. We took one final family selfie before bedtime.

And then it was time for Mommy to have some fun.

DS had been wanting to check out Abracadabar, so once April was sleeping, she and I went down to the Boardwalk to grab a drink or two.

We went down and found a table near the back of the room just big enough for us to squeeze into. DS wasn’t feeling up to drinking alcohol so she ordered the Magic Mirror without alcohol (which normally is Bacardi Rum, Soda Water, Mango Syrup, Sprite, and Lime Juice, so I guess it’s just all that without the rum lol), and I got the Pepper’s Ghost again because it was so good and I know it’s not something I can easily replicate at home.

DS and I don’t get a lot of opportunities to bond just the two of us, so it was nice to have some real heart-to-heart time. As we finished up our drinks the waiter came around to say it was last call, but if we wanted another drink he could make it to-go. Since it was the last night of my vacation I figured, why not? So I ordered a whiskey sour to go, figuring that I wasn’t feeling that tipsy anyway.

And then a few minutes passed.

I’m not usually a lightweight, but I also don’t drink nearly as much as I used to, which is a good thing, but it also means my tolerance has gone way down. I was lucky I had enough wherewithal to pay the bill. Luckily my sister thinks I’m hilarious when I’m drunk. I don’t even remember what we talked about, only that for the first time in the history of our relationship, I had to lean on HER to make it back to the villa, after we spent a few minutes on the Boardwalk enjoying the night air so I could finish my ill-advised second drink.

I don't know why, but I drunkenly took this photo. I believe this image was near the elevators on the first floor.

When we got back up to the room, April was still asleep and Dad was on the phone with his girlfriend. Of course they could both instantly tell I was smashed. I know it’s not the most dignified thing to discuss in a trip report, but it’s how I spent my time that evening! I was just happy to have some more time to relax and cut loose a bit. It’s not something I do often, and I haven’t gotten to do it since then either.

DS and Dad were pretty tired so they both went to bed. I wasn’t ready to sleep so I chilled out on the balcony…and pretty promptly fell asleep. I woke up a bit later and went to bed, trying not to think of the early, sad morning ahead of us.

 

[Verstehen]

Sounds like a good morning in MK! That was an odd thing to see at COP. It's one of my favorite attractions but I wish they'd give it some love. I also love the People Mover - sometimes the non-exciting rides are the most fun. We're taking our young grandsons (3 and 5) in March for the first time. Hoping for reasonable crowds but it's not looking good. Hope the rest of your last day was good!

I keep hearing that a COP refurbishment is imminent, and that Tom Hanks will be the new narrator. I love Jean Shepherd but of course he's no longer with us and I think Tom Hanks sounds almost exactly like him anyway (is there anything he can't do???).

I wish I could say March will be light, but I think crowds are going to be bad for awhile now that everyone is traveling again. We have a trip planned for May and my sister is also coming back in April and I'm just steeling myself for bad crowds and trying to put a positive spin on it in my brain (It's safe for people to travel again! Kind of! Yay...)

Sounds like a great morning!

Yes it was, thank you!!

 

[rdkeim]

Part 2 of your day was fun to read about! How nice to be able to walk to/from Epcot. I've read good reviews of Teppan Edo - I will definitely put it on our list for a future trip. Too bad you had to skip Soarin but it's hard to do it all. Our family trip is a week from today - I've told my group of 7 that there will be times that we may want to (should) split up.....The drunk ending to your day made me LOL - wasn't expecting that! I'm sure it will something for you and your sister to talk and laugh about as you look back on this trip

 

[Verstehen]

Day 7 and What Lies Ahead

When I say early, I mean early. We had a wake-up call of 7:30 am so that Dad and DS could catch their flight home. I had packed up as much as I could the day before but there was still a bit to do, and I think I got a lot of it done before April woke up.

We called Bell Services to pick up our luggage, and then loaded up the car. After a short drive to drop Dad and DS off at the airport, with some tearful and heartfelt goodbyes, it was finally time to go home. We made it back at about 9:30 am. I set up my laptop and had my regular workday until 2, at which point April and I both took a much-needed nap.

And that’s a true wrap for our Fall 2021 family trip! I want to thank you for sticking with me and reading along, and I hope it’s been an enjoyable and helpful read!

Since this trip happened, April has grown so much. She’s now a very fun and smart two-year-old, and she and I have both been back to the parks several times. She loves watching YouTube videos of different attractions at home, including Carousel of Progress (which she calls, “Beautiful Tomorrow”), the Tiki Room, and Small World. She also frequently asks to see Mickey and recognizes more and more characters by name. We were just at Epcot last Friday evening, after I woke up very early to run the 5K. I wanted to wear my medal in the park, but she insisted on carrying it!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my husband and I recently bought our first house. We are staying close to our previous house in College Park, but a little outside that neighborhood as this crazy market has unfortunately priced us out of that exact location. But we’re only a couple miles down the road and our new neighborhood is super charming, with a community park that includes a pool, lake access, and a playground. Moving has been super stressful but I am glad we will no longer be renting and that we can do whatever we want with our space!

As an aside, I know when people say they want to “move to Orlando” they don’t usually mean our part of Orlando, since it’s not super close to the parks, but good lord is Orlando expensive all around! We didn’t look too far from our former house because we wanted to stay close to DH’s work, but I did browse around on Zillow and there’s really no part of Orlando where you can buy a house that’s both in good shape and a decent price, unless you want to stray out to the rural suburbs or live in a less safe area, and even then it can be crazy. What we paid for our house here could get us twice the square footage in my hometown in upstate NY (though taxes would surely be much higher). We were very lucky that we found our house for a reasonable price, even in this market (though you can’t beat the interest rates right now!). We considered waiting but we knew our rent was going to go up and we were ready to put down some roots.

So that’s been the big thing that’s preoccupied me for the past few months. We just handed over the keys to our rental house on Monday, and celebrated the occasion by finally taking a family picture in front of our now only house!

With all that out of the way, let’s talk about future trips!

In April, my sister is coming down for her very first “adult trip,” which was planned entirely by her and a couple of her friends. This has been years in the making, postponed a couple of times due to Covid, but now it really seems like it’s written in stone! Because of concerns about her health, my mom is coming down at the same time, though she’ll be staying at an Airbnb near me while DS will be at All Star Movies. My pass will be blocked out part of their trip, but I am still planning to see them as much as possible. And to make that week even crazier, I have two friends who are going to be visiting at the same time!

After that, my Dad has a visit planned in May, and we’ll be doing another overnight stay together. This one will be a split stay: three nights in a one-bedroom at Boulder Ridge, and three nights in a one-bedroom at Boardwalk again. The original plan was for it to just be the three of us, as DS wouldn’t want to come again so soon after her trip with her friends. He invited his girlfriend, but she’s not interested.

Then last week he thought to invite his brother, my uncle, who has never been to Disney before. His brother is very interested and would love to come, but it’s going to be tricky since his stepdaughter is pregnant with a boy, and assuming the baby is born on time, the bris will be the first day of our trip. So right now the plan is for my uncle to buy plane tickets which can be changed or refunded as needed, and we will add him to both stays. I will also include him on any ADR’s I make (the first date I can make reservations is coming up on Saturday!). We shouldn’t have trouble getting him park passes as long as we buy his tickets as soon as we know how many days he can come (which would be at least 8 days in advance), but it does make me a bit nervous. Overall, I think if we can make it work, it will be awesome.

I haven’t finalized our ADR’s yet but I am going to try for a few hard ones, including Sci-Fi again, Topolino’s, and Storybook Dining. My goal is to figure out an order to try them that will maximize my chances on the morning my window opens, and then if I have to go on the hunt for some, then so be it. We are looking to make this a relaxing trip, with more pool and resort time. While we are at Boulder Ridge, I would love to go over to Fort Wilderness and let April do a pony ride as well. I really wish Hoop Dee Doo was back!

Other than that, now that we are settled into our new home, I predict more sporadic afternoon trips to Disney in the near future! I will be back with a new thread once our May trip is concluded, and if there are any major updates for that I will post here. Until then, stay safe and magical, and thank you again for reading!

 

[Verstehen]

Part 2 of your day was fun to read about! How nice to be able to walk to/from Epcot. I've read good reviews of Teppan Edo - I will definitely put it on our list for a future trip. Too bad you had to skip Soarin but it's hard to do it all. Our family trip is a week from today - I've told my group of 7 that there will be times that we may want to (should) split up.....The drunk ending to your day made me LOL - wasn't expecting that! I'm sure it will something for you and your sister to talk and laugh about as you look back on this trip

Haha, I'm not super proud of getting drunk, but it definitely happened and I don't want to pretend like it didn't affect my mood the final evening. And yes, I know so many large groups that are hesitant to split up, but I think it can offer a much-needed break and there's really no better place to do it than Disney!