We need some sun!

[Paulaparm]

Who? Paula, age 57 Many trips in my “previous life”. They were all written down on a now-defunct website, but I don’t remember them all L. Most recent visit was December 2015
Gary, age 63. 2nd trip. First trip was the Dec. 2015 trip. While he enjoyed himself, he said it wasn’t something he would want to do every year…

(Sorry for the orientation of this picture...I tried but have no idea why it showed up like this, or how to fix it)
What? A quick trip!

When? The whole trip is January 25 through March 10. The Disney portion is March 2-5.

Where? Cocoa Beach, Pop Century, New Smyrna Beach

Why? We had a 3-week Florida trip planned for January/February that we postponed due to Covid restrictions. We were going to pull our 5th wheel and stay at Fort Wilderness for 2 weeks and then head over to the Daytona 500 for a week. While we knew postponing until next year was the right decision, we were really grumbling as we were shoveling and plowing after the 3rd snowstorm that we would have missed. While out to dinner that evening, Gary suggested that we could still head south for some sun…

I said I didn’t know if I could go to Florida and not visit Disney property. Gary said he would agree to 2 parks and I jumped on it!!

We came home and within an hour had reservations for Cocoa Beach and WDW! We thought for a few days about where we wanted to head after that and then made the reservations for New Smyrna. We figured 10 days of sun and warmth would help

How? Driving. Since we were making these plans only 2 weeks before traveling and visiting 3 different areas of Florida, we figured driving was the way to go. We are both retired now, so we have the time.

Thursday February 25 Travel Day

We left PA around 9 am. Around 11:30 we got to West Virginia. We stopped at a roadside rest and had lunch that we packed. We made good time today and got to North Carolina around 5:00 About 2 hours later, we stopped at a Quality Inn for the night. We just snacked in the room and relaxed. Hit the hay around our normal time of 11.

Friday, February 26 Travel Day

Filled the gas tank (and our bellies at the free breakfast offerings at the hotel) and hit the road around 9. We arrived in Georgia around noon. Later, we stopped again at a roadside rest for lunch and to stretch our legs. We hit the Florida border at 1:30 and later stopped at the Florida Welcome Center and got some OJ J. We arrived at our hotel in Cocoa Beach around 5pm. We stayed at a La Quinta Inn. Our room was a king room on the ground floor, steps from the pool.
Beach access was across the highway and about a block’s walk. Once we got settled in the room, we walked down to the beach and spent a few minutes there. Then we walked to a Denny’s that was next door for a late dinner. That was a mistake…

We really enjoyed our few days here and would definitely stay here again. (Much sooner than we thought!)

February 27 and 28 were spent on the beach!

Monday March 1: Kennedy Space Center. I had not been here since 1975 and Gary had never been. They were operating on reduced capacity and with basically the same rules as WDW, so we figured it would be good practice for us.

We really enjoyed our day here. We bought our tickets at a kiosk when we arrived and lined up for entrance. I believe they opened at 10 and we got there around 9:30. After we purchased the tickets and used the rest rooms, we went in the info center for a map and then joined the growing lines for entry. There were 2 lines. One was very long and the other was much shorter. We opted for the shorter line and they started moving within about 10 minutes or so. They had the temp screeners, then security at the head of the line, then a few steps later, we scanned our tickets and were in. While in line, we looked at the schedule and made a loose plan for the day. They were open until 4. We were able to see some shows and all the exhibits we wanted to and headed out shortly after closing. We stopped for dinner at Florida’s Fresh Grill. Yum! Then it was back to the hotel to pack up. The next few days will be spent at WDW!

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[Paulaparm]

Part 2: Moving over to Disney Property!

Tuesday, March 2. We had packed up the night before and just had to load a few things into the truck, and we were headed about an hour inland to Walt Disney World! We stopped at iHop for some pancakes…omg, how have I not had these before? (Because they aren’t in our area) It was a beautiful, sunny day and we had an easy drive. We passed under this beauty right after noon. We are bringing our 5th wheel in January and staying at Fort Wilderness. I had the great idea that we should drive there first and ask if we could look around. Of course, we were turned away as we didn’t have a reservation NOW. Oh well, it never hurts to ask. (We came up with another idea a few days later . So, we headed to Pop. I still had not received the room ready text, so we parked the truck and headed to the bus stop. By 1:00, we were on a bus to Disney Springs.

On all my other trips, we pretty much just frequented the “Marketplace” section of “Downtown Disney”. And, I’m thinking on our last trip, much of what is here now, was under construction? At any rate, this is the first time we have spent any amount of time in what I call the “newer section”. We took a right after temperature check and started walking and looking around. From different trip reports and reviews that I’d read, I really wanted to make a stop at Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar. It didn’t take us long until we happened upon it and we asked for a table. Within 5 minutes we were shown to a table on the deck. I already knew I was going to have the “Anything Goes”. Gary had the Fountain of Youth. We also ordered a pretzel to share. We enjoyed our drinks and snack and just relaxed a bit by the water.

Another place I had heard about that I wanted to visit was Sprinkles…we couldn’t find it. I looked at the map on the app once or twice, but never did find it, but I wasn’t too worried. We couldn’t believe the number of people walking around with shopping bags from Gideon’s and we really couldn’t believe the line when we walked by! Anyway, we just kind of meandered and then headed over towards World of Disney. We walked around in there a few minutes, but it was so crowded! I figured I would be able to find more than enough to buy in the parks, so we got out of there. Gary had expressed interest in finding the new M&M’s store. We hadn’t seen it as we were walking around, so we consulted a map and found at one point we hadn’t been all that far away. So, we decided to head over there. We had to wait maybe 3 minutes to get in. Then we probably spent about 5 minutes inside before we left…without buying anything. But, as we passed Splitsville’s outside bar, I saw they had Frose, so I suggested we stop for a drink. It was so good! Really hit the spot, as it was very warm and sunny. A perfect Florida afternoon. And, while we were sitting there enjoying our frosty drinks, I happened to look behind me and spied Everglazed! We decided to check it out and to our delight, we walked right in. A Maple Double Bacon for me and Peanut Butter Explosion for Gary. Yummo!! (I am so glad I listened to a podcast on a particular day! They discussed Everglazed, Gideon’s and Sprinkles.) It took us 3 days to eat our donuts! (Full disclosure: these are not my photos. Not sure what happened to mine, but I knew I would want to share pics of these beauties, so I borrowed them!)

I’m pretty sure that I had received the room ready text by now. (I really didn’t take notes this trip. The only times I am sure of are from pictures I took.) We felt like we had done enough shopping for the day, so we decided to head out. This was the only day I had planned to come to DS, but Gary mentioned more than once that we would have time to come back on Friday after we checked out. Although I didn’t say it, I was thinking that if it was this crowded on a Tuesday afternoon, I would imagine it would be much worse on a Friday afternoon!

We headed to our bus stop and waited no more than 5 minutes for a bus. When we got to Pop, we headed to bell services and asked for a cart. We went out and unloaded the truck and headed to our room. We were in Building 1 on the top floor. The room was perfect for the 2 of us. Once we got everything unpacked and squared away, we decided to take a walk and check things out. We were heading to Epcot in the morning and wanted to find out about taking the Skyliner (our only option for Disney Transportation). We found the Skyliner station and asked a helpful CM what we had to do to get to Epcot. As we were walking to the station, we saw 6-foot markers on the pavement waaaaaaaaay out! I started to get a little nervous knowing that anyone going to either Epcot or HS would be getting on here in the morning and then splitting off at the transfer station. Epcot opened at 11 and I really wanted to get there around 10, so we figured we should be there 8:30ish. Since we had not been to a park without FP+ yet, we figured we would get there when we got there and do what we could.

We headed into Classic Hall and used Mobile ordering for the first time. We got chicken fingers and an Italian sandwich. Our food was okay. Nothing wrong with it, nothing to rush back for. We took our food out by the pool and since I forgot we had to order a drink, and we weren’t getting mugs this time, we had to get a beer at Petals. I was pretty happy with mobile ordering. I had rewards from my Disney Visa to use, and it allowed me to add that to use. I had never used it before, but I thought it was pretty straight forward and user friendly for the most part. I should add that we only used it here twice. We didn’t use it at the parks at all as we were only in 2 parks and had an ADR in each.

After enjoying some time by the pool, we headed to the room, relaxed a bit and got ready for our day at Epcot.

And one more thing...Am I the only one that misses Stacey?? I was actually looking forward to watching her. I was so disappointed when I couldn't find her.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Following along!!!

By 1:00, we were on a bus to Disney Springs.

This is the best statement! I can't wait to be doing JUST that!

And one more thing...Am I the only one that misses Stacey?? I was actually looking forward to watching her. I was so disappointed when I couldn't find her

WHAT?!?!! NO!?!?! That is so sad! I mean it is greatly outdated, she talks about fast passes and stuff, so maybe just while there is no fastpasses? But that is probably wishful thinking.

 

[Paulaparm]

WHAT?!?!! NO!?!?! That is so sad! I mean it is greatly outdated, she talks about fast passes and stuff, so maybe just while there is no fastpasses? But that is probably wishful thinking.

Now, maybe it was just me, but I looked and looked and never did see her. I thought the same, things not open, no FP+, etc.

 

[Paulaparm]

Wednesday, March 3: Epcot

We were on the Skyliner at the Pop station at 9:00. I’m not sure what time we got to the transfer station, but I took this picture as we were waiting for them to let us on to get to Epcot. (Can't get this one to post) We waited here quite a while. We were finally allowed on and arrived at 10:10. We were held a few minutes in a line at the bottom of the exit ramp before they allowed us in. Through the temperature screening and security and we were through the gates! We headed over to The Land and we were getting on Soarin’ at 10:38. We enjoyed the new film. We were lucky enough to be in the first row, so our first look at the new film didn’t have any dangling feet spoiling our view.

We used the restrooms and decided that Living with the Land wasn’t a priority right at the moment. We had decided earlier that since we were only here for 1 day, we would come up with a list of our Must-Do’s and then anything else was gravy. We were now headed for Test Track. On the way, I stopped for the first of (not too) many pictures of the topiary.

It took some time to hop over to Test Track with the giant wall in the way… It was certainly a different queue than we experienced on our last trip. So strange to just wind around instead of building our cars. We had a fun ride around the track! This is absolutely Gary’s favorite ride.

After our test ride, we headed to Mexico. The line started right inside the doors. It didn’t take more than 10-15 minutes for us to make our way into the pavilion and we basically walked on the Gran Fiesta Tour. We had a boat to ourselves however, about halfway through the ride, the soundtrack stopped. The boat kept moving and the music started again right before the ride was over. I was disappointed and thought about asking if we could just stay on and ride again, but we got off.

Next, we headed to Norway, but Elsa wasn’t on our list for now. We might have tried, but the end of the line was in China! We did stop here to have a snack of some spring rolls and a coke. They were very good and it was nice to stand beside the water on this sunny, breezy day enjoying the warmth! We walked around the China pavilion for a few minutes and then headed on to Germany.

We walked around the stores that were open and just looked for now. I knew I wanted to try something from Karamel Kuche, but didn’t want to buy it now and carry it around (and have it melt). We said hi to Snow White and Dopey and continued on.

We didn’t stop in Italy now, as we had an ADR for Via Napoli at 2:20. But, we did see these 2

And these lovely ladies!

As we approached “America”, we noticed that Voices of Liberty were scheduled to perform in a few minutes in the America Gardens Theater. We went in and grabbed a seat. While I missed seeing them inside the pavilion in their costumes, we really enjoyed this show.

Next up was Japan. We took some time and explored in Mitsukoshi. We had fun looking around in there. When we came out, it was only about 1:45 and we were hungry. We decided to head back to Italy and see if we could possibly be seated early. They said yes and we were shown to our table within about 5 minutes.

This was our first time at Via Napoli. I had read good things about the restaurant, so we were excited to try it. When we first decided to make this trip, I didn’t think we would take up precious time with any ADR’s during park hours. But, (mainly for MK) I was concerned that there might not be much open in the way of counter service and I didn’t want us to starve! I also thought about just trying out the booths for the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot, but some of that food is a bit out of the “normal” for what Gary likes to eat. I knew we would be safe with pizza! We ordered an individual Margherita pizza and an individual Piccante. We enjoyed both, but wow, they were big for “individual”! We left a few pieces, as we didn’t want to carry it around.

Now it was time for a leisurely stroll through Morocco. We took our time getting there and looking around.

And then on to France. We didn’t hit it right for Impressions de France, so we strolled around a bit and got some drinks. Grand Marnier Orange Slush and Grey Goose Citron Slush. Gary found us a table and we stood and enjoyed our drinks. We loved both of them. Then we headed back to use the new restrooms by Remy. Very nice…and small!

Next up was a stroll over the bridge to the UK. We stopped to see these guys on the way.

We walked around here for a bit and heard some music coming from Canada. I believe they were the JAMMitors, but not positive as I’ve only ever seen them in Future World. Their show was entertaining (but, oh how I miss Off Kilter!!) and really one of the two things going on in Canada. The store wasn’t open, so we headed inside to see Canada Far and Wide. This film is also new since our last trip. It was a nice break. It was around 4:15 by now and the park closed at 7:00. We decided to head back over to Future World as we still wanted to get on Spaceship Earth.

We didn’t have a long wait, it was basically a steady walk until we boarded our ride vehicle. I was glad to get one more ride before anything changes (??). When we got off, we decided we wanted to check out Test Track again as the app was saying only about a 20 minute wait. As we walked past MouseGears, we thought we might try to get in after Test Track. We had another fun ride and picked up a Camaro hat and shirt that Gary had seen after our first ride in the morning. We headed to MouseGears. There was a line of about 30ish people. While we stood there debating, it did seem to move at an ok pace, but I decided I’d rather get another ride on Soarin’ than shop.

So, we ended the day on the same attraction as we started it. Another fun ride on Soarin’ and we began a leisurely stroll to the International Gateway. On the way, we discussed what we wanted to do about dinner. We weren’t real hungry yet, but decided we didn’t really want to eat at Everything POP again, so we decided to stop at Yorkshire County Fish and Chips. We scored a waterside table and relaxed while we ate. We finished at 6:59.

Of course that meant a line for the Skyliner, but it moved quickly. I don’t think it was any more than about 10 minutes until we were on our way back to POP. While we didn’t get everything done, we did accomplish our list of Must-do’s, so we were pretty happy. It was actually a pretty relaxing day. We were back in our room by 8:00 and showered and made our plan for Magic Kingdom the next day!

 

[nascargirl]

Awesome report.

 

[rdkeim]

Enjoying reading about your trip! My husband and I stayed at Pop in early March. We learned you need to allow plenty of time to get to the parks via the Skyliner - especially in the morning! Only 1 group to a car (?) slows things down I'm sure. You got a lot done in Epcot. I hope you had a good day in MK - for us it was the least crowded park.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Sounded like a great day in EPCOT.