Whistle While You Work – 2 Weeks at Disney - A June 2022 Trip Report

[jrmint427]

Welcome to my latest trip report! We took a 2-week trip to Orlando. We had 4 park days, 5 work days, 2 trips to Disney Springs, 2 character meals, 1 Disney date night, and lots of fun as we blended Disney with remote work to make the most of our time.

This was our 4th trip since having kids, 1st since Covid, and 3rd trip with my parents. Follow along for dining reviews (half of us are vegetarians), navigating Disney with kids, and both onsite and offsite resort reviews. We used both Genie+ and ILLs, so I’ll share my thoughts on those as well.



Where: We split our stay between Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek (6 nights, offsite timeshare), Silver Lake Resort (6 nights, offsite timeshare) and the Dolphin (2 nights)

When: June 3-19, 2022

How: We drove! We took 2 days in each direction. It’s a 14-15 hour drive, our family does great with long road trips

Why: My parents had timeshare points to use after not traveling during Covid and we weren’t about to pass up a free place to stay!

Cast of Characters:



Me (Jessica), the mom, planner and trip report writer.
Favorite Rides: Flight of Passage and Rise of the Resistance
Favorites Shows: Frozen Sing-Along and Festival of the Lion King
Favorite Food: Homecomin’ mashed potatoes and Story Book mushroom soup

Pat, the dad, stroller pusher and van driver (or as he calls it, the People Mover).
Favorite Rides: Rise of the Resistance and Guardians/Remy/FOP tied for 2nd
Favorite Shows: Finding Nemo and Festival of the Lion King
Favorite Food: Prime Rib at Story Book Dining



DD7, big sister, bubble blower, and collector.
Favorite Rides: Dumbo and Frozen Ever After
Favorite Shows: Country Bear Jamboree and Enchanted Tiki Room
Favorite Food: Pride Poptart at Woody’s Lunch Box



DD5, little sister, adventurer and early riser.
Favorite Rides: It’s a Small World and Living with the Land
Favorite Shows: Muppets and Frozen Sing-Along
Favorite Food: Pride Poptart at Woody’s Lunch Box



Grandma, babysitter, entertainer and girl scout (she’s always prepared).
Favorite Rides: Rise of the Resistance and Flight of Passage
Favorite Shows: Muppets and Mickey’s PhilharMagic
Favorite Food: Gideon’s Cookies

Grandpa, babysitter, swim teacher, and stroller pusher.
Favorite Rides: Peter Pan and Kilimanjaro Safaris
Favorite Shows: Muppets and It's Tough to Be a Bug
Favorite Food: Gideon’s Cookies

 

[jrmint427]

Table of Contents

June 3, 2022 - Travel Day
On the Road

June 4, 2022 - Arrival Day
Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek
Back Bay Pool Bar & Grill

June 5, 2022 - Pool & Homecomin'
Bonnet Creek Pool & Playground
Shopping at Disney Springs
Homecomin'
Homecomin', Part 2

June 6, 2022 - Work, Gideon's, Jaleo
Work + Gideon's
Gideon's, Part 2
Jaleo
Jaleo, Part 2
The M&M Store

June 7, 2022 - Work
Work, Pool, Grilling by Pool

June 8, 2022 - Work, Story Book Dining
Story Book Dining with Snow White
Story Book Dining with Snow White, Part 2
Story Book Dining with Snow White, Part 3
Story Book Dining with Snow White, Part 4
The Wilderness Lodge
The Wilderness Lodge, Part 2
The Polynesian Resort + Fireworks

June 9, 2022 - Steakhouse 71, Jiko
Steakhouse 71
Steakhouse 71, Part 2
Jiko
Jiko, Part 2
The Boardwalk

June 10, 2022 - Boma, Resort Change
Boma
Boma, Part 2
Animal Kingdom Lodge
A Timeshare Presentation

June 11, 2022 - Magic Kingdom
Rope Drop (non-resort guest)
Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets
It's a Small World, BOG Pics, Under the Sea
Dumbo, PhilharMagic, Buzz
Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe
Peter Pan, Carousel, Rapunzel & Tiana
Hall of Presidents, Parade, 7DMT, Ice Cream
Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain
Country Bears, Liberty Tree Tavern
Monster's Inc, PeopleMover, Fireworks, Space Mountain
Magic Kingdom Wrap-Up

June 12, 2022 - Animal Kingdom
Na'vi River Journey
Gorilla Falls, Lion King, Rafiki's Planet Watch
Safaris
Satu'li Canteen
Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, Finding Nemo
It's Tough to be a Bug, Shopping & Flight of Passage
Nomad Lounge
Yak & Yeti
Animal Kingdom Wrap-Up

June 13, 2022 - Work Day
Work & Recovery

June 14, 2022 - Hollywood Studios
Alien Swirling Saucers, Woody's Lunch Box, TSM Line
Toy Story Mania, Slinky Dog Dash, Frozen Sing-Along
ABC Commissary, Chip & Dale, Fancy Nancy, Disney Jr, Muppets
Indiana Jones, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Smuggler's Run, Rise of Resistance
Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, Toy Story Mania, Woody's Lunch Box

June 15, 2022 - Work Day
Work & Preparing to Move (again)

June 16, 2022 - Epcot
Dolphin, Remy, Les Halles
Les Halles, Flower & Garden Topiaries
Butterfly Garden & Living with the Land
Spaceship Earth, Nemo, Soarin', Guardians, F&G Food
Flower & Garden Food
Germany Pretzel, Fountain & Kidcot
Kringla Bakeri, Garden Rocks, American Adventure

June 17, 2022 - Topolino's, Dolphin, Boardwalk
Topolino's
Topolino's, Part 2
Topolino's, Part 3
Topolino's, Part 4
The Skyliner & Art of Animation
Art of Animation, Part 2
Art of Animation, Part 3 & the Dolphin Pool
The Fountain
The Boardwalk

June 18, 2022 - Boardwalk Bakery & Trip Home
Boardwalk Bakery & Trip Home

 

[Isabelle12345]

Following!
Glad to hear you had a good time!
I can’t wait to read more - your girls have grown so much! They are adorable

 

[rdkeim]

Following

 

[disneyAndi14]

Following along! Love all your favorites!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

OOOH here for this!! I've commented on trip reports of yours in the past since our kids are close in age (or were at the time of your last TR- my kids will be 2.5 & almost 4 when we go this Sept) , and we are staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek! Can't wait to read more!

 

[Jess_VacayMode]

I rarely comment as I am mostly looking through TR during little snatches of quiet at work. I had to comment though because your girls have grown so much since your last TR. Looking forward to y'alls adventures this go round. Thanks for sharing. : )

 

[nascargirl]

Following along

 

[jrmint427]

Following!
Glad to hear you had a good time!
I can’t wait to read more - your girls have grown so much! They are adorable

I'm so glad you're here! Thank you, it's crazy how much they have grown since my last report

Following

Thanks for joining in!

Following along! Love all your favorites!

Yay!

OOOH here for this!! I've commented on trip reports of yours in the past since our kids are close in age (or were at the time of your last TR- my kids will be 2.5 & almost 4 when we go this Sept) , and we are staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek! Can't wait to read more!

Thanks for joining in again! Yes, my kids were 2 and 4, almost 3 and 5 the last trip we took, it was a great age to take them (but really, there is no bad age). I loved staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek, I'll post more but we had a great time there, I'm excited for you!

I rarely comment as I am mostly looking through TR during little snatches of quiet at work. I had to comment though because your girls have grown so much since your last TR. Looking forward to y'alls adventures this go round. Thanks for sharing. : )

I'm so glad you commented! They really have grown so much, it was weird finishing my last report now when they've changed so much already. Thanks for reading along!

Following along

Glad you're here!

 

[jrmint427]

Friday, June 3, 2022

Travel Days - On the Road!

Pat and I had to work this day but decided to keep the girls home from summer camp in case we were able to leave a little early. We were getting on the road after work to maximize our vacation time and did most of the packing the night before. It was a long day, but we were packed and on the road at 4:30pm. We were planning to drive 5-6 hours this evening.



We stopped by the Buc-ee’s in Baytown, TX.



Not only does Buc-ee’s truly have the best (clean) bathrooms, but we also enjoy their snacks. DD7 had tried some Cotton Candy “mints” from Buc-ee’s at a friend’s house and asked us to buy them online. They were expensive on Amazon so we had promised her we’d stop to buy some on this trip. We bought dried mango, cashews, strawberry yogurt pretzels (my favorite), beef jerky for Pat, and both cotton candy and sour “mints”.



We hit some construction traffic around Baton Rouge. Pat and I were listening to The Nineties on audiobook. There was a chapter on Nirvana and other 90’s music which then put us in the mood to listen to 90’s music. This led to a dance party and DD7 requested “We Will Rock You” so you can picture the scene in our van.

We picked up dinner at Taco Bell (great vegetarian options for fast food) but otherwise didn’t stop again until we reached our hotel at almost 11pm. This is the first road trip we have taken without frequent stops for the girls, which helped us move a little faster.

We stayed a little north of New Orleans at a hotel we were pretty sure we had stayed at before. And just like the last time we stayed there, we think, we missed the exit and had to circle back.

We were woken up at 5:50am the next morning because the fire alarm was going off. I got out of bed and poked my head out in the hallway. I didn’t see smoke or anyone else evacuating, and only one other person had even come out of their room. I wondered if the hotel would make an announcement if we actually needed to evacuate. I probably should have investigated more, but the alarm turned off a minute later, so I went back to bed. According to my FitBit I was only awake 7 minutes for the whole ordeal, and I’m pretty sure the rest of my family slept through it.

I woke up again at 6:50am to Pat showering, and the girls woke up shortly after. Since we were up early, we decided to get on the road and were out the door by 7:35am, almost an hour earlier than planned. My morning alarm went off at 7:40am, while we were in the car.

We picked up McDonald’s breakfast and $4.39/gallon gas (not bad for this trip) and got on the road. We were at the Mobile, AL tunnel at 9:40am, which is always a major landmark for us.



DD7 had dropped and spilled one of her tin of cotton candy mints at the hotel, so we stopped by another Buc-ee’s just outside of Mobile to replace them. This ended up being a mistake.

This Buc-ee's was super busy and packed with people. We had to wait in line for the bathrooms (and there are a lot of them). They were sold out of the cotton candy mints, so the girls and I met Pat back at the car, he had picked up a couple of drinks for us after also discovering the store was sold out of the mints.

It took us at least 20 minutes to get out of the parking lot. There was a major traffic jam with only one entrance/exit on the property. We had to merge with other lines of cars at least 3 times and then of course a “friendly” car pulled up to our left, blocking traffic going the other way, while we’re waiting for our turn to make a left turn toward the exit. It was a mess! We will try to remember to never go back to this particular Buc-ee’s again.

We were on a mission at this point and made only one more bathroom stop in Tallahassee. We decided to just eat snacks in the car rather than stopping for lunch, since the girls were doing great! We couldn’t wait to be at Disney and meet up with Grandma and Grandpa.

 

[jrmint427]

Saturday, June 4, 2022

Home Sweet Home

We spotted Walt Disney World arch at 6:13pm! It was so good to be “home” and on Disney property. We were almost to our destination! It was a little overcast and looked like it was going to rain. We had been expecting rain all day but didn't hit any until we were almost to Bonnet Creek, and it stayed pretty light.



We stayed at 3 different resorts on this trip. Our first stay was at the Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek. My parents used timeshare points to rent us a 2 bedroom / 2 bathroom condo for one week.

We arrived at 6:25pm and were staying in Tower 3. Funny story, as we were driving in, we saw the Tower of Terror from a distance. I described the ride to the girls as an elevator that drops you over and over, and both decided there was no way they were going to ride it. I promised they didn’t have to. When we got to our hotel, we all jumped onto the elevator to go up to our floor, except DD5 who was pulling back and refusing to get on. It took us a minute to figure out that she thought we were trying to take her on the Tower of Terror because it was an elevator!

The condo was nice and very large. In addition to the 2 bedrooms and 2 baths (one with a jacuzzi tub), we also had a living room with a pullout couch, a full kitchen, dining room/table, laundry and a balcony.

This was the "master" bedroom, which had the jacuzzi tub (but I apparently didn't get a picture of it):



This was the second bedroom where we stayed with the girls. It had a large bathroom right next to it:



We dropped our stuff off and decided to walk around the property to find dinner. The resort is built around a lake that is about 2/3 of a mile, which we walked around.





We checked out the different pools, mini golf and found a playground nearby.





We were enjoying the stroll but getting really hungry since it was almost 7:30pm and we had skipped lunch. Escudos was the first restaurant we passed so I stopped to look at the menu and make sure there were vegetarian options, which there were. I put our name on the list, but they said it was going to be an hour wait, so we decided to keep walking in case we could find a shorter wait.

We ended up at the Back Bay Pool Bar & Grill, which was able to seat us right away if we sat outside. It looked like it might rain, but the outdoor seating had a cover over it, so we decided to eat there and cancelled our other reservation. Here's the map of the resort. We started at Tower 3 (teal) and had taken a left, going almost all the way around the lake before ending up at Back Bay, which is in the pink and right next to where we were staying.

 

[disnic75]

Hello from Covington, Louisiana! I'm north of New Orleans and just curious if this is where y'all stopped. Looking forward to reading about your trip

 

[jrmint427]

Hello from Covington, Louisiana! I'm north of New Orleans and just curious if this is where y'all stopped. Looking forward to reading about your trip

Yes, we stopped in Covington! What a small world. It's a convenient stop for us, we stayed just off of 12. Glad you're here!

 

[jrmint427]

Back Bay Pool Bar & Grill

It started to sprinkle a little while we sat outside waiting for our food, but it never rained very hard. It turned out the cover above us was not solid, but the rain wasn’t too bad, it was just a light mist. We had a beautiful view, and it was nice to be sitting outside.



We started with drinks. We were officially on vacation! My parents shared a strawberry daiquiri. They liked it and I got to taste it; I was almost wishing I had ordered this instead.



I ordered the You’re My Boy Blue Blueberry Wheat beer. I have always loved blueberry flavored beer and this was no exception, though Violet You’re Turning Violet (Blueberry Sour IPA) is still my favorite blueberry beer.



Pat was boring and ordered a Yuengling Lager. I tried to talk him into a cocktail so I could share his too but he wanted beer.

My dad ordered the Blackened Grouper Sandwich (California slaw, cilantro garlic aioli, tomato and Bibb lettuce on ciabatta bread). He said it was good, not a fish he has often.



My mom ordered chicken quesadillas, she said they were good as well.




Pat ordered the House Burger, which he said was just OK.



I had the Falafel Pita (warm pita, cherry tomatoes, arugula, red onion and tzatziki sauce). It was even better than I expected. The falafel wasn’t too dry and the sauce was really good.



The girls shared an order of grilled cheese and fries, which the server thankfully brought out already separated on two plates. I love it when restaurants offer that!



We had a nice meal and saw some ducks on the patio that the restaurant staff seemed to be trying to chase away.

We walked back to the room which wasn't too far from this restaurant. My dad had bought NYC black and white cookies at the local Publix, which we ate for dessert (and ate too quickly before I could get a picture).

I was so excited for access to a hot tub, but I debated using it our first night. On one hand, I was very tired and had to work the next day, on the other, we were finally on vacation. My family convinced me to go, so my dad, Pat and I went downstairs around 9pm. I had a pleasant surprise when we saw some of the Epcot fireworks from the hot tub! It was magical and relaxing. We ended up staying close to an hour and left a little before the pool closed at 10pm.

I read the girls Harry Potter (we’re on the 2nd book) and then showered and went to bed.

 

[disneyAndi14]

I really like the resort, I have not stayed off-site in a long time.
The room would be great for a larger family.
Funny how your daughter thought the elevator was the tower one!
My son would not take a bath for awhile and we found out he thought “Jaws” could come up through the drain.

 

[footballmouse]

 

[jrmint427]

Funny how your daughter thought the elevator was the tower one!
My son would not take a bath for awhile and we found out he thought “Jaws” could come up through the drain.

It's funny how kids' minds work!

 

[jrmint427]

Sunday, June 5, 2022

Bonnet Creek Playground and Pool

Our plan for this day was to relax, swim, and then go to Disney Springs in the evening for shopping and dinner. @StarWarsMomofGirls! shared her PPT template for daily plans (THANK YOU!!), which I edited for our trip and then added to my phone’s lock screen each day so I could easily remember our plans, especially what time we needed to leave to get to each place. This was our schedule for the day:



We woke up around 8:30am. I made scrambled eggs for those who wanted them and took my coffee out on the balcony to enjoy.



DD7 added Fruit Loops to her eggs for an interesting creation. She was kind to offer me a taste but I politely declined.



We had a lazy morning and then got ready for the pool and playground. We decided to let the girls play first and then we’d cool off in the pool. We went to the playground around 11am. It was just a couple minute walk from our room.











We went back to our room to grab a few items for the pool and then headed back down. The pool by our tower was too cold, but a woman told us the main pool was warmer, so we decided to head there. It was warmer.

We started in the lazy river and took a few laps around. My parents had stayed at Bonnet Creek before and said this lazy river was newer and smaller than the other one.



The girls checked out the splash pad right next to it but weren’t impressed, so we moved to the bigger pool for a bit. This was the girls’ first pool day and they were still getting comfortable being in the water. We need to get them back into swim lessons, so we had brought vests for them to use in the pool.

We left just after 1pm and noticed a little herb and vegetable garden on the walk back.



We made lunch in the room, leftovers for the adults and I made grilled cheese (again) for the girls. You’ll notice a cheese theme on this trip… lots of grilled cheese, cheese quesadillas and Mac and cheese.

Pat and I showered and then went to Target to pick up a few items we had either forgot or not thought to bring with us. We got flip flops for the girls, liquid hand soap, better shampoo/conditioner, and more snacks and drinks.

We got back a little before 4pm. It was time to get ready for our first Disney dinner and head to Disney Springs.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

. @StarWarsMomofGirls! shared her PPT template for daily plans (THANK YOU!!), which I edited for our trip and then added to my phone’s lock screen each day so I could easily remember our plans, especially what time we needed to leave to get to each place. This was our schedule for the day:

OOOOH please share!! Love this idea!

 

[ThayerB]

We had a similar Tower of Terror/Elevator story. My, at the time, 7 year old went on TOT, was terrified, and the refused to go on elevators for the rest of the trip.