We Made It! So Happy to be Here! - A July 2021 WDW / UOR Trip Report - Updated 10/11

[brookelizabeth]

Welcome to "We Made It! So Happy to be Here!"


The Timeframe:
Our dates were July 24-August 1, 2021. July 24-29 were spent at WDW in a one-bedroom villa at the Grand Floridian. July 29-August 1 were spent at UOR at Portofino Bay, Club Level.

Cast of Characters:

Me, Joe (DH), and Henry (DS - age 13)

The Setting:
We live in Nuremberg, Germany - so it was a long haul to Orlando! While the focus of this TR will be on our time in Orlando, the actual main purpose of flying back to the USA was to finally see our family in Minnesota. We spent July 10-24 visiting with them and also had the chance to see a few friends. We hadn’t seen our family since December 2019, so it was really great to finally hug them. Many tears were shed!!

Even though the US borders are still closed to Germans, since we are US Citizens who just live abroad, we are able to go back to the USA (and come back to Germany since we are legal residents). There were a couple hoops to jump through in terms of Covid testing, but nothing major.

For many months we weren't totally sure this trip would even happen with the ocean between us and COVID raging. There were so many unknown factors. But, by April 2021 we decided that as long as it was legal to cross the borders, we'd go no matter what. This uncertainty of all those months brought on a different attitude for the trip... we were honestly just SO happy to be able to go. It was a very relaxed trip and pretty much "go with the flow". We didn't sweat the details, or get annoyed at the heat or long lines (of which was in abundance!). Not everything was perfect, no major "pixie dust" happened. We were just happy and so thankful to be there. And that is where the magic was found.

On July 10 we flew from Nuremberg to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Minneapolis.
On July 24 we flew from Minneapolis to Orlando.
On August 1 we flew from Orlando to Atlanta, Atlanta to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Nuremberg.

Overall, the flights were completely uneventful, other than me forgetting my purse on our return flight…..good times.

My goal is to have this TR done before the end of October, as we are going to Disneyland Paris then! That should be enough time, right?!

Buckle yourself in, tug on the yellow strap, and let’s go!

Oh, and I like pictures. I take a lot of them! Hope you like them too. I'll try to keep the words light and let the pictures tell the story.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Table of Contents

July 9, 10 and Fast-Forward to July 24 - Getting There (Part One)
July 9, 10 and Fast-Forward to July 24 - Getting There (Part Two)
July 25 - A Few New Experiences (Part One)
July 25 - A Few New Experiences (Part Two)
July 25 - A Few New Experiences (Part Three)
July 25 - Wir sind in Deutschland!
July 26 - That Was So Awesome, Let's Do It Again! (Part One)
July 26 - That Was So Awesome, Let's Do It Again! (Part Two)
July 26 - Celebrity Spotting (Part One)
July 26 - Celebrity Spotting (Part Two)
July 26 - Celebrity Spotting (Part Three)
July 27 - A WILD Day (Part One)
July 27 - A WILD Day (Part Two)
July 27 - A WILD Day (Part Three)

 

[brookelizabeth]

July 9, 10 and Fast-Forward to July 24
Getting There​

To get to the USA, we all needed COVID tests before flying. Thankfully, it is very easy to get tested here in Germany, and the rapid-antigen tests were accepted by our airline (Delta), so we tested on the evening of July 9th. Of course we were all a little on edge about this, but to our relief, 15 minutes later we received our negative results.

I printed out the test results, placed them on my phone and took screen shots. I was prepared in all ways possible so we would not be denied boarding!

We arranged a cab to pick us up at something inhumane like 4:15 am of July 10 for our 6:00 am flight. Our airport here is small and most of the desks don’t even open until 5 am, so there was no need to get there extra early.

We were standing on our sidewalk outside our apartment building by 4:10 am, waiting for our cab, giddy with excitement and yearning for coffee.

You see where this is going, right?

The cab never showed.

By 4:25 I started to worry a little. We don’t speak German very well yet, and it's even worse at 4:30 am, so the thought of calling the cab company was a bit intimidating (please be kind to your local immigrants who don't speak your language well!!!), but we did it anyway and Joe struggled his way through a Denglish (Deutsch & English) conversation saying we needed a cab STAT to the Flughafen (airport). Within 5 minutes we all piled into a van with a driver that spoke almost no English, but was great at smiles behind a mask and hand signals. It’s all we needed.

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time, found our check-in desk and the mile long line to check-in. When we got to the front they closely examined our negative Covid tests and we were cleared to fly. Through security and straight to the gate, soon we were on our flight flight! A little KLM Hopper to the Amsterdam airport.

Despite the flight being very short, we were served this delicious sandwich...and coffee.

Once in Amsterdam, it was strange to see everything in English… but I’ll admit it, it was pretty nice too! My brain could take a little break.

Joe has Medallion Status with Delta which gave us access for two people to the KLM lounge - ideal for our 3 hour layover. We went up to the lounge and paid for Henry to join us (something like 30€), and took advantage of the coffee, food, coffee, comfortable furniture, coffee and a break from the FFP2 mask when we could distance. I had a few cups of coffee while we were there.

It's a HUGE lounge!

Before too long, we were on the long haul flight.

The food was pretty good! This was coconut curry chicken, if I remember correctly. The ice cream was delish.

Second meal. Felt like dinner, but it was lunch based on the time zone. This was also good!

The flight went quickly and I actually snagged a bit of sleep. We landed uneventfully in MSP and were soon off to my MIL’s home.

On the way we stopped to get Henry’s first COVID vaccine….

Despite the vaccine being created here in Germany, it was actually still in shortage in early July and most doctors were not vaccinating teens yet due to the shortage. Joe and I were very fortunate to have had both vaccinations by the time we flew! That's a whole 'nother story if you want to hear it....!

and we also stopped for Caribou Coffee. Oh, how I love thee Caribou! (Anyone here from Minnesota? You get it!)

I’ll now skip ahead to July 24 when we flew to Orlando! So not only do you get to read through one flight, but two in this TR. Exciting!

Getting There Part Two​

My Mom and her husband dropped us off at the airport and we hugged / cried our goodbyes. Saying goodbye to family this time was so hard. We haven’t lived near family for 11 years (10 years in NYC) and we go back once a year to visit, but this time it was different. Was it because we hadn’t seen them in 1.5 years? Is it because of all this “unknown” in our world today? Is it because we live further away? Is it because our parents are getting older? Yes - to all of it. Tears and long hugs…. It was not easy.

Our flight MSP - MCO was pretty uneventful. Joe and Henry both got upgraded due to Joe’s status, but I did not. I had Henry keep the upgraded seat so he was in an area with less people and more space, as I figured the flight to MCO would be PACKED. And I was right. I sat next to a very sweet girl and her sister, their parents were in front of us. The girls were SO polite, I really enjoyed my flight next to them!

Before we knew it, we were touching down in the Land of Palm Trees and riding the Faux Monorail! I had scoped out rental car prices before our trip, but as you all know, they were OUTRAGEOUS so we opted to use the Magical Express….which I did like doing since it would be our last time on the official Magical Express! A little bittersweet. I had fears of long lines at the check-in, but there was almost no one there.

Before too long we were on our bus and headed to the beautiful Grand Floridian!

I have stayed at this resort once before, during a work conference for my former career, but I never really had a chance to enjoy the resort. We also had never been in the villas before. To say I LOVED staying here is an understatement. I like all the Disney Resorts that I’ve tried (except Pop Century, sorry Pop lovers! I know I’m in the minority here!!), but some I like more than others…. This is definitely in the top part of the list! The rooms were gorgeous, comfortable, huge. It was just perfect for us. I felt spoiled. And it felt good to be spoiled.

THAT VIEW!!!!

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

Like Mother, Like Son!

We had very few plans for the evening. Swim and eat. And that is what we did! I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

GF Villa Lobby from the 5th floor

The gorgeous Beach Pool!

After swimming for a bit, we Mobile Ordered dinner from Gasparilla Island Grille and got drinks from Beaches. We sat pool / lake side. It was prefect.

Henry's

Joe's

Mine

Mojito

The beautiful pool, sunset... monorail going by.... A whole mood in one shot.

View from our table

When we got back to our room we had a HUGE box on our dining room table.... it was a gift from our travel agent!

It was CANDY CANES! Yes, Candy Canes! This woman knows me so well! I was thrilled, as you can tell by the picture. Candy Canes are nearly impossible to find in Germany and are literally one of my favorite candies.... (ya, I'm weird, I embrace it). My amazing TA Cindy sent me candy canes!!! And not just any candy canes, they were BOB'S Peppermint. The BEST.

We decided to walk over to the Polynesian for Dole Whips and Happily Ever After. This is where we really encountered how busy things would be in the parks that week. I had been watching crowd levels and wait times, so I was expecting it, but the Grand never felt that busy.... but whoa! the Poly was PACKED! The line for the Dole Whip was no joke, but we joined it, and about 20 minutes later we had our Dole Whips.

We pulled up some lawn to enjoy the fireworks. We were sitting near the movie showing on the lawn, so it was hard to hear the soundtrack for the fireworks. I pulled it up on YouTube and synched it to the time of the live show. Worked great!!

I attempted a picture. It's awful.

After the show,

we wandered back to the Grand caught a bit of the Electrical Water Pageant and had our groceries delivered.

We had an early wake up call for the next day…. Hollywood Studios was on the schedule and a Rise of the Resistance Virtual Queue was in our dreams.

 

[brookelizabeth]

I am also co-writing another Trip Report... not on Disney or Universal, but on our June 2021 trip to EuropaPark, an amazing theme park here in Germany!

Michael is the main author of this one and he's a fantastic writer. The report is also written with @Flossbolna.

Come join in on that fun, too!

Are we in Greece ... again?!?! (AKA Taking the New Neighbors to a German theme park/resort)​

 

[franandaj]

Subbing in! Will be back to read as time permits!

 

[dizneeat]

I am here!
Great you started it now, because this is the perfect vacation reading material (off to Italy tomorrow).

 

[Woth2982]

Long time no see! Joining in!

 

[footballmouse]

can't wait to read more!

 

[glennbo123]

I'm here!

 

[Isabelle12345]

Following!

 

[thewesterberg]

Yay!!! Can’t wait!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Subbing in! Will be back to read as time permits!

I need to catch up on your thread as well....!

I am here!
Great you started it now, because this is the perfect vacation reading material (off to Italy tomorrow).

I'll be following your adventures on FB, looking forward to it all!

Long time no see! Joining in!

Hello, hello! It's good to be back and share our adventure. I've already got the next day partially written and hope to keep up this momentum!

can't wait to read more!

More coming soon!!

I'm here!

Howdy, Glennbo! Always good to see you!

Following!

Yay!!! Can’t wait!

More coming soon!!! Hopefully today!

 

[rdkeim]

Following!

 

[brookelizabeth]

July 25, 2021
A Few New Experiences​

If I remember correctly, I actually woke up before my alarm and stumbled out to the kitchen to make coffee. I started my day slowly, but kept an eye on the time waiting for 7 AM when the Virtual Queue for Rise of the Resistance would open. Joe and Henry were snoozing away, but soon enough Joe joined me. About 6:50 AM I woke up Henry and asked if wanted to try and help us get a Rise Virtual Queue, he eventually lifted his head at 6:58 AM. At 7 AM we were all poised and ready….well, Henry was still bleary eyed and mixed up…. And

WE GOT IT! Group 7!

I had been practicing from home for months and all that practice paid off! We were THRILLED! I had the opportunity to ride this in early 2020, but this would be a new experience for the boys.

We slowly got ready for the day, I enjoyed coffee on the balcony for a bit, soaking in that view.

Joe and Henry went for a jog because they are insane. Joe actually doesn’t run, but Henry likes to - so Joe went with him because he’s a good Dad.

We had no interest in getting to any park during Rope Drop. With an unvaccinated child and Delta doing its thing, we opted to roll in late-ish morning every day (and leave before fireworks). And sure, this might have resulted in longer waits for us, but it was a trade-off we were fine with to avoid crowds as much as we could.

At this time in the WDW parks no masks at all were required. But, we opted to mask for a couple reasons: 1) Henry wasn’t fully vaccinated. 2) While Joe and I were fully vaccinated, we had no desire to get sick - even mildly - and not be able to fly back to Germany after our trip! So we were pretty careful with some calculated risks. You’ll see lots of masked pictures of us throughout the TR…which I guess is normal again for WDW!

We had Group 7 for Rise, so we knew we’d be called early, and we were on a bus by 9:15 AM. This worked so perfectly. The bus was full, but not packed and there were no lines or crowds outside the park.

The view exiting the Villa building

We are here! We are here!

Our Rise Group was called as we were walking into the park, so we went right back to Galaxy’s Edge and straight onto the ride. There was virtually no wait, just walking through the queue and into the pre-show.

We've been captured!!

Get us out of here!!

We made it!

The boys LOVED the ride, as I expected they would!

Screen-used ship in the Mandalorian

Time for shopping....

The crown thing is awesome....!

Henry thought it was so funny that they sold little Yoda canes!

Time for some Blue & Green Milk! Green for me, Blue for the boys.

Millennium Falcon was something like 4 million minutes wait and the boys vetoed it, so we headed into Toy Story Land and did Toy Story Mania.

It was here my suspicion of the posted wait times being wrong was confirmed. The posted wait time was 65 minutes. We got into the queue at 10:52 am and we took this picture at 11:36 am. 44 minutes. It didn't even feel that long, since it moved constantly almost the entire time.

Joe beat us both, as he always does - even though Henry and I were unable to unlock several of the screens!

Next up, Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway! This would be brand new for all three of us. The posted wait time was 70 minutes, but I was confident it would be faster than that. The line was moving quickly, which we were glad because it was surface of the sun hot and most of that queue is outside.

Well... it broke down for 30 minutes....so it was a FULL 70 minute wait for us with that breakdown. Many people left the line, but we stayed in it, being it was something we really wanted to do and I was hoping it would have been back up quickly. Hindsight: we should have bailed and done it later, but oh well!

Such a cute ride and I was thrilled that the pre-show was back on!

While we melted in the queue for Mickey & Minnie's we Mobile Ordered lunch at Fairfax Fare. We had to push our time back a few times due to the ride going down, but it was easy enough to deal with on the app.

As we stepped off the ride, I hit "I'm here!" on the app and we walked down to the restaurant. I had also learned that trick... hit "I'm Here" before you are really there.... It all takes a while.

In all our trips, we had never eaten at Fairfax Fare before, so it was another new experience for all three of us!

Pretzel Dog: All-Beef Quarter-pound Hot Dog topped with Apple-braised Sauerkraut and Onions, drizzled with Mustard Aïoli on Pretzel Bread, and served with Pickled Vegetables

The food was simple, but good. I especially liked the veggies, something you don't always get in a theme park.

We also ordered one of these:

Which appears to no longer be on the menu - but it was a potato chip shortbread cookie with marshmallow fluff inside, chocolate dipped with pretzels. Basically, salty & sweet..... totally up my alley!! And Henry's!!

Except, this wasn't that good. None of us were too impressed. We finished it, but we wouldn't get it again.


Since we were on that end of the park, we joined the queue for Rock n' Roller Coaster. Posted at a 55 minute wait with the queue stretching across that hot, hot pavement in front of the guitar.....

I remember the relief when we finally stepped into the building and the air-conditioning! Ahhhhh!

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

We were all booked by G-Force Records! I love this little touch.

Joe's MDE account still reads that he lives in Astoria (New York!)

Must.touch.marbles.

We got into the queue at 1:50 pm, and were off the ride by 2:59 pm... so the wait was maybe 5-10 minutes inflated.

We had an Oga's Cantina reservation at 3:30 pm, so we started our way back to Galaxy's Edge, with a stop on Sunset to do some shopping.

Henry purchased a shoulder Grogu and one for a friend, but I do believe that was our only purchase.

Crowds....

Much less crowded back here!

We checked in for our reservation and waited near here. We were asked numerous times if this was the restroom. It is not. I don't know what it is though!

Soon we were called into Oga's

It is really cool in there, even if you aren't a big Star Wars fan! There is just so much to look at.

Creepy pic in poor lighting.

Drink's ordered...

This was the Carbon Freeze and was VERY cool, the boba moved around.

These are the Fuzzy Tauntaun (back) and the Jedi Mind Trick

Rex was spinning the tunes, but it wasn't as hopping as it was last time we visited on Opening Day of Galaxy's Edge... I was a little disappointed by that. It seems they have turned down the music a little?

Another creepy low-light shot with our second round... Mine is The Outer Rim, Joe's is Bespin Fizz, maybe? Henry's is Jabba Juice, I think.

We had an AWESOME bartender. I really wish I could remember his name, but he was very animated, very into his role and funny! We did not have a seat, so we were right up to the bar and had a lot of interaction with him. He made several comments about Grogu on Henry's shoulder, as did another bartender. They were very concerned about him.

An easy $100 lighter for fancy beverages in a crazy bar, we walked out happy with our experience. It's ridiculously overpriced, but it's fun. Not something we'll do every trip, but definitely something we were happy to do this trip!

The wait time for Millennium Falcon was down a bit from this morning, so we joined the line. It was still too long for that ride - but whatever, it's what we wanted to do. We had fun! We got into the queue at 4:13 pm and were in pre-show by 5:10 pm. (I took screen shots, because I was curious about the wait times, in case you are curious!)

A friend sent me this meme while we waited in this queue and I laughed because my hair was definitely similar to the lion on the right!

They were not allowing people to really mingle around this room of the ship... I'm not sure why!

The ride was fun. We were pulled out of line and placed with another family all wearing masks, which we appreciated! The two teen girls that were the pilots did not fly us well at all.... it was pretty comical!

Porg Nest!

I wonder what this says.

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

Back through to Toy Story Land....

We hopped into line for Slinky Dog at 5:37 pm.

And we were on by 6:19 pm.

Love that ride!

After Slinky we decided to hop to Epcot via the Skyliner - another new experience for the boys!

Bye, Hollywood!

 

[brookelizabeth]

July 25, 2021 - Continued
Wir sind in Deutschland! ​

Our main objective in Epcot was to eat dinner. It was almost 7 pm by the time we arrived in Epcot. Henry wanted Mexican food, as he always does, but both sit downs didn’t have room on their wait list. We figured we’d walk toward Mexico and maybe check out various food options as we walked, after all it was the Food & Wine Festival! And last resort, we'd eat the QS in Mexico. To be honest, I didn't want the QS there, I was very much in the mood to try something new and different, or a bit of the Food & Wine Festival. However, it wasn't worth pushing on, as it was the end of a very hot and busy day - so we were all getting tired and a little “on edge”. Hangry was definitely knocking on our door.

As we strolled the World Showcase I wanted to actually explore some of the countries, walking into them and visiting the gift shops, versus just sticking on the main walkway... maybe we'd find some great snacks to try....But Henry wanted none of that. He just wanted to walk past them and see if we could find food. Mexican Food. Nothing else would do.

"Lets explore Morocco!"
"No."

"This food looks good!"
"No."


While no interest was in the food in Japan, I did convince the family to veer off the path and explore the pavilion a bit here!

This is the "Kawaii: Japan's Cute Culture" We all enjoyed this exhibit, and it wasn't something we had ever done before!

I have always loved Hello Kitty. I even have a purse with her on it!

We also had to stop in Germany, of course!

I posted this to my Facebook page and said, "Wir sind in Deutschland!" which means, "We are in Germany!"

It was really fun for us to go into the Germany shops and see what they offered. We've only been in Germany since November 2020, so we are still very much learning the culture, but a few things were recognizable to us already.

I thought this purse was super cute! Love me a good Brezel! (Pretzel) And wow, Hot Mess Express here...!

We also ordered a couple things from the Food & Wine booth as appetizers to whatever meal we’d end up with that evening.

Schinkennudeln: Pasta Gratin with Ham, Onions and Cheese

This was nicht gut. (Not good). It was just weird. I do not know know what Schinkennudeln should taste like, but I would imagine it's not really this....

Apfelstrudel

The apple strudel was good, but very "American" tasting being overly sweet. I believe I texted @Flossbolna about both dishes and she said that the apple strudel is made different ways in different regions, so perhaps it was more authentic to different areas of Germany that where we live (Bavaria). It wasn't bad by any means, but just not what we expected! (I will vouch for @Flossbolna 's apfelstrudel, it's amazing!)

It was a gorgeous night in Epcot! The crowds were not light, but it was a beautiful evening.

Eventually we made it to Mexico

and we decided on the Choza de Margarita stand! I didn't realize this booth even had food! Is that fairly new? This is the new Margarita Stand, right? They got rid of the little one and built this one? Anyway, the food coming out of it looked really, really good.

As I ordered the food, Joe went off to find a table, which can be a challenge during Food & Wine time. Ideally it would be a place to SIT that was at least sorta clean. I don't prefer to dine on a garbage can. As he left I shouted, “check the Odyssey building!” Remembering that Disney had a booth in there this year, plus the Epcot experience… so hopefully there would be a ledge, a bench, or even some floor, for us to sit on.

As our food came out Joe texted, “How about a table, with seats and AC?”

There is a reason I married this man! Ha!

The little booths in the Odyssey building were open for people to use. It was sort of strange being in there, as it was closed off for SO many years and we always wondered what it looked like. I breezed through in early-2020, but didn’t really pay attention, figuring I’d be back several more times that year….! (This is before we even had an inkling about living to Germany! OR about Covid!). It certainly needs a facelift, but that the moment I didn’t care. We had food, margaritas, a seat, and AC. Life was good.

We all got the same thing:

Empanadas de Barbacoa: Empanadas filled with barbacoa beef. Topped with chipotle sauce, crema Mexicana and queso fresco. Side of corn esquites

This was DELISH. It really hit the spot.

Margaritas were also had - delicious.

We relaxed for a bit at the table, just talking about our day, our favorite experiences, and how happy we were to be there. It was such a great way to end the day.

It was about 45 minutes before fireworks began, and we decided to head out of the park and beat the crowds.

Good Night, Epcot.

We were so happy to easily monorail back home to the Grand Floridian! What a glorious thing that was.

Hello, beautiful Grand Floridian Lobby!

Have you ever seen this in the lobby?! It's CHOCOLATE and hand painted by the GF Bakery! Really kinda random to have in the lobby, but impressive.

Love the Villa lobby too! This fountain is just adorable!

And that night as we were getting ready for bed, we realized we could see the Epcot fireworks from our room balcony! What a treat!

Up Next: July 26 - That was so Awesome, Let’s Do it Again!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Following!

I hope you enjoy the TR!

 

[Bama Mom]

Joining in. Glad you guys were able to make the trip.

On a side note, my daughter went on a mission trip to Ukraine back in 2019 (actually just got back from another one recently) and on their flights home they came home through Amsterdam. Unfortunately their flight from Amsterdam to the US got missed because their plane they were waiting to arrive from Washington was delayed because of weather which made them getting to Amsterdam too late to make their connecting flight home so they had to sleep in the airport until their new flight the next day.