And I am here for the Food...A Disney SOMETIME (AUG '20 mini trip) Report (9/10 update)

[kittylady1972]

Glad it was good, we plan on eating breakfast there next month since we're at BRV

LOL yup no Epcot monorail right now! I don't think they'll run it again until GF and Poly are open..........

My WCC meal was pretty basic...just two eggs and a biscuit with fruit...and DH got one of the skillets. Tomorrow we'll likely do something quick.

Makes sense about the monorail...I wondered if it had something to do with the EPCOT construction.

 

[kittylady1972]

Ok...so it was a somewhat successful second half of the day at EPCOT for us with plans that we changed last minute...of course.

First of all...we ended up doing a quick tour of the Wilderness Lodge DVC Cabins here...DVC members got a free lithograph for touring and there is no pressure or sales right now. They are REALLY nice...wish the points to rent them weren't so high but like DH says maybe we do a few nights there sometime...but that would take all of our points and probably another year's worth...which we could do.

Anyway we headed to EPCOT and arrived as it was about to rain. We decided to try Test Track hoping to get it in before the rain but after about 15 minutes in line they shut it down...so we decided to bail. Rather than wander over to more F&W booths we decided to make plans for dinner in EPCOT...and after perusing the menus we selected Coral Reef. Haven't been there in several years.

It was a good decision...we made a 6pm dinnner reservation and had some time to kill when we got there so we rode Nemo and wandered the Seas pavillion a little bit first. So I had the lobster bisque which was really good...maybe a bit salty (and that's saying something as I love salt) but it had a buttery flavor to it which was lovely. Also got the shrimp and grits, one of my favorite southern meals though I make a mean one myself...this one was pretty good albeit too light on the andoulle sausage. Several good sized shrimp and delicious cheesy grits...it was good.

Stuffed from dinner, we pushed our original "dessert" reservation at La Hacienda de San Angel to as late as possible...so 8:15pm. We left Coral Reef and headed to Imagination. We followed that by heading over to ride Frozen...about a 20 minute wait for that...and then to Mexico to visit Donald and friends on their boat ride. Now I made the mistake of not realizing our reservation was at the "sister" restaurant outside...which we had never been to before. We headed there and DH, not a huge dessert person, went with savory...and had DINNER 2 which was shrimp tacos...and they were good. Had I not really been wanted dessert I would have split it...but I had a bite of them and we have decided we will be back. He also did a flight of tequila in honor of his mom...it was their thing they always did at La Cava. We left right around 8:45pm and headed towards Test Track on our way out...but the line was pretty long and showing a 65 minute wait...not surprising since it had been shutdown a lot due to weather...so we nixed it and headed back to the resort.

We've showered and packed and I applied a few Disney gift cards to my room account. Tomorrow we'll spend time in the park we've saved for last...Magic Kingdom. We have a 7:30pm flight back home so we'll spend the day at MK and then be home and in our own beds tomorrow night.

So far we would count this trip as a success and YES there is talk of returning perhaps in November now.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Did you get charged a fee for cancelling Sanaa on the day of the reservation?

 

[kittylady1972]

Did you get charged a fee for cancelling Sanaa on the day of the reservation?

I probably can't share my tactic for getting out of a reservation as it could be deemed a violation of the rules on these boards. However it isn't technically illegal and no o didn't have a fee incurred since I technically didn't cancel it but changed it.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Sounds like your flying visit to the world has been a success! Have a magical last day! Hope you eek out every last second of pleasure from it! Safe journey home

 

[WishesQueen]

Can't wait to catch up

 

[kittylady1972]

Home now...after a great trip. We had a lovely day at Magic Kingdom yesterday. We arrived around 8:30am via the bus which wasn't bad at all. Between 8:30am and around 12:30pm we did everything we wanted to do...and were just waiting for lunch. We had a really good meal at Tony's, haven't been there in forever, then we hit some shops around the monorail circuit (inside Poly and Contemporary) and then hung around Wilderness Lodge until it was time to leave for the airport.

Flight was great, our attendant was quite entertaining. My daughter and youngest son picked us up at the airport around 10pm or so.



BUS RIDE


GREAT time for a photo!


Selfie with Mickey, Minnie & Donald


Delicious Caesar salad with shrimp at Tony's


How I LOVE visiting the Polynesian



I've started looking into a possible trip back in November...we'll see how that turns out.

 

[kittylady1972]

Super Secret Squirrel Details: Day 1

So day 1 was our travel day. I ended up spending my morning packing and prepping for the trip. This was a bit easier since we were leaving all 3 kids at home so they would be dealing with the animals while we were gone.

Our 17yo daughter dropped us off at the airport, but the boys (20 and 16) came along as well as they were leaving from there to pick up their grandfather and go out to dinner.

We stopped at a Subway along the way for some dinner, then got to the airport and it was pretty empty and easy to get through of course. I got flagged, of course, for a "random" security screening...which was fine.

As we waited at the terminal, I posted that we were told our plane didn't have a crew yet. Thankfully not long after the planned takeoff our crew arrive...and we loaded up the plan around to the planned departure.

Waiting on our crew

Arrived close to our planned arrival and headed to our rental car...wasn't long before we were driving through here:


Our studio at Copper Creek was 4th floor...we skipped the front desk and headed right to the room...the lobby was SOOO empty.






So we needed to pick up the special Magicbands I ordered at the front desk, so we headed down to check it out. We ended up taking a detour and realized we were a bit hungry...so we went to Geyser Point. We ordered an appetizer and a few drinks:


I don't recall our drinks but they were all good.

And this charcuterie plate was EXCELLENT:


Before this evening I would never have attempted anything "duck" but the duck pate in the jar here...on the crisp bread...was pretty good. I also loved the mustard..and the greens...and well everything was good. Our server was excellent as well. After our bellies were a bit full we headed to the front desk, got our Magicbands, and headed to the room. Soon after we would be sleeping and looking forward to the next morning and our first Disney park.

 

[kittylady1972]

Super Secret Squirrel Details: Day 2

We had a breakfast ADR at the Grand Floridian Cafe this morning...and I had to pick up our hard tickets at SOG front desk. So we were up and headed to breakfast around 7:45am. I struggled to get us checked in as I was standing right at the desk, several cast members around me, clearly I had a reservation and I was in the vicinity...and yet the button was greyed out. The woman at the desk suggested I scan the QR code...which really just brought me to the same page I was already on but whatever. Eventually it worked...and we were seated...one of about 3 parties we would see in the restaurant that morning.


Our server was fantastic. The food was also good. DH got the steak and eggs...I tried the steak and we both agreed it was fantastic.


I had the pancakes...unusual for me as I'm usually a protein or fruit for breakfast person. I barely touched these and ended up taking most of them to go, we lovingly called it the pancake brick as I shoved it into the to go box.


After this we headed over to SOG to get my park tickets. They actually do a temperature scan AT the front gate of SOG, so they came to my side and DHs side to scan us before letting us into the gates. We headed directly to the front desk where I asked about the tickets I had waiting and got a very confused look...but the tickets were found and we made a quick stop in the quick service to get some bottles of water, hit the ATM, then headed off to our first park: Hollywood Studios.

Now as we arrived by car I knew we would probably be too early. It was before 9am when we arrived within striking distance of the car gate...and we found several cars were pulled over on the shoulder. I decided to do the same...but then we realized a few more cars were slinking to the auto gate slowly and a security car was letting them near the gates...so we headed there. This was a very different "rope drop" procedure...it was fascinating.



This was my spot in line at 8:58am and at just after 9am I was still waiting:

My shirt

I can't recall when we were finally let through, but it went pretty smoothly, we got through the parking lot, walked through to temperature check, walked through the front gates and then were on our way.

We discussed our plans for the first ride and decided to try something new:



I must say how impressed we were with all of the social distancing and mask wearing. The ride must have opened a bit early, we were through the doors at 9:37am and by 9:45am we saw this site:


I really had read nothing at all about this ride...and I thought it was fun and adorable. I can't wait to take the rest of the crew on this one.

Once done with this, we had to make a decision on what to do next...and DH decided it would be his favorite...so we headed through here:



Now this was just before 10am and DHs entire reason for this trip was for a chance to ride RoTR. I was totally stressing out about this...not knowing how our chances were to get a boarding group, never having done it before...seriously there was a lot of pressure here. And so we found a spot just inside this land and I sat down and started trying to get a boarding group, refreshing and refreshing and refreshing and stressing...beginning a few minutes before 10am and by about 10:03am I saw the message...all the 10am slots were gone.

UGH.

We did what we could do, set an alarm for 1:45pm for the 2nd chance later that day, and moved on to ride something else instead.

 

[kittylady1972]

Super Secret Squirrel Details: Day 2 (continued)

Having lost out on a boarding pass for RoTR, we headed here:


The line was just out the door and having done this one before we knew it would move quickly...and it did. I think we were through by around 10:20am or so, both choosing to be pilots and feeling that this was more stressful than the last time when we were engineers...TWICE. Still it was cool to have the whole compartment to ourselves. We then ditched this land for Andy's backyard...and our first ride would be:




I love this little ride too...so cute. After this we needed a quick break, so we stopped at a table nearby and had some water:


It was a nice little break from the masks, but I have to say while I thought wearing them would seem so uncomfortable all day we seemed to really get used to them in time and didn't really notice them as much after a while. I think the paper disposables were the way to go though, as we tried our cloth masks one day and those just weren't as great in the heat and sweat.

Next up would be a ride on Toy Story Mania. Now I know DH always beats me on this one, so I was just hoping to hang in there.

And so after pretty much walking onto the ride, and once it was all said and done...we had this:

HA! Now what are the chances! I determined I technically won (I'm on the left) with better accuracy.


It was now 11:30am and we were a bit hungry. So before our next ride we decided on a snack and drink break at one of our favorites...Baseline Taphouse. There was a slight line here but not much...and soon DH had his flight (with one drink for me which was the cider) and I had a delicious pretzel with beer cheese and mustard.




By noon we were happy with some full bellies...and it was time to move onto the next ride!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Enjoyed a great breakfast at GF Cafe

OH, so happy you enjoyed it.

DH was just in heaven as a SW fan.

So happy you were able to ride ROtR!!!!

All in all a great day. Felt safe, spoke to several CMs and though it is sad to see so many empty and closed places in the parks and having it seem so quiet we are still glad we are here.

I am so happy you were able to make this trip happen Dina!!!!

My shirt

Absolutely love your tee. I loved Secret Squirrel growing up.

I really had read nothing at all about this ride...and I thought it was fun and adorable.

I absolutely love MMRR! I think it's adorable!!!
Cannot wait to hear more about your fabulous trip!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

we decided on a snack and drink break at one of our favorites...Baseline Taphouse.

We have never been here but I keep hearing good things!

 

[kittylady1972]

Super Secret Squirrel Details: Day 2 (continued)

Ok off to Star Tours next...which was pretty much a walk-on. We were impressed about how they have used child booster seats to make the plexiglass dividers on several rides like this one.



DH was said to once again not make Rebel Spy. He is now lamenting he is the only one in our family who has not had this honor.

We now decided to head over to check into our favorite hotel...but along the way I decided it was time for this:


DH got a pickle...I found it funny to be buying a pickle and ice cream at the same time. Love my ice cream though.

Soon after we were off to the Tower which showed I think a 20 minute wait? The line was through the garden area but spaced out of course and it moved quickly. It was odd not to have the pre-show of course.



There we are in the back. I think the boys in the front were experiencing it for the first time.

Around 1:30pm we headed over to RnRC which showed a 5 minute wait I think...we walked pretty much all the way up into the music room with no Aerosmith pre-show.


It was now approaching 2pm quickly...so we stopped at a bench and pulled up this:


Let the stress BEGIN AGAIN! This time DH also loaded up MDE and we would both be trying at the same time, but we were logged into the same account as he doesn't have his own.

It didn't take long and he had success...but couldn't seem to accept it...but I could...and so we had this:


Now we started calculating our odds for this...knowing that we were up to group 41 at 2pm, and they were averaging about 10 groups an hour...given no downtime we figured we had a pretty good shot at riding.

What this did mean was that our 6:30pm meal at Sanaa...would not be happening. We couldn't chance it.

Now what to do...we figured we'd circle back and take our chances on this:


We got in line about 2:15pm, it moved pretty quickly despite showing 40 minutes I think...and we were on by around 2:30pm.


After this it was another shot at TSM...and this time I did my best to keep up but wasn't successful:



I did better than my previous score...but not quite enough (yes I'm on the left).

I can't recall what we did next, but I think we decided we would return to our resort, maybe take a swim, grab some food and then head back to the park later in the evening anticipating our boarding group would get called.

My view at 4pm:

 

[kittylady1972]

Super Secret Squirrel Details: Day 2 (continued)

Ok let's see if I can wrap up our day with this last post. After sitting at the pool for a bit, and finding nothing that interested us in terms of food at Roaring Fork, we decided to head back to Geyser Point for some lunch...while in our bathing suits of course.

DH ordered a Manhattan I think...I stuck with light lemonade and we started with this again:


While eating, we had this guy hanging around:


Does he know this is duck pate?


I went with this mushroom salad with salmon...which was DELICIOUS:


DH just got the grilled shrimp appetizer (far right) and helped me with mine.



It was all so good...and the view also fantastic.


With early dinner complete, we headed back to the room, changed and headed back out to HS. We were through the gates around 6pm and took a quick photo here:

And this was our current status at 6:22pm:


So we had some time to kill...and headed back into Star Wars land / Galaxy's Edge to try Millenium Falcon again. Now the wait according to the CM was I think a few minutes...but honestly it took longer than expected and of course while in line our boarding group was called. Now we had an hour but I could tell DH was worried though we were within about 10 minutes of being on the ride when our boarding group was finally called.

We chose Gunners this time around:


This was slightly less stressful than pilot I guess. We were done around 7:15pm and we had until 7:40pm to make our boarding group. DH was so excited but I was leading the pack I guess.



I must say...I found this ride also a bit stressful. I mean all the CMs played their roles inside very well...and you didn't dare step out of line of course. It was a cool ride I guess...maybe I expected more...but it was still fun.

This would be our last ride of the day. We left and headed out of the park and were back in our room, showered and ready to relax.

It was a great first park day!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Wow you got a lot done! So glad for your husband that you got to ride RotR. You’re not the first person I’ve heard say it was a bit stressful (but also enjoyable).
I really like Baseline Taphouse- great spot to people watch while enjoying a drink and snacks. Love your Secret Squirrel tee- shirts and both your masks. Really happy for you that you took this trip and can’t wait to hear more

 

[tundra1]

What a fun set of updates! It looks like the lines were manageable. So happy you were able to ride RotR! Baseline Tap House looks like it will definitely be a place I will enjoy in November! I was debating booking a dinner reservation at Wilderness Lodge, but with limited park hours, I don't know if we will make it back to Magic Kingdom before the ferries stop running. Do you remember how late they left Wilderness Lodge? We won't have a car, so are somewhat limited on options. Thanks in advance!

 

[kittylady1972]

Wow you got a lot done! So glad for your husband that you got to ride RotR. You’re not the first person I’ve heard say it was a bit stressful (but also enjoyable).
I really like Baseline Taphouse- great spot to people watch while enjoying a drink and snacks. Love your Secret Squirrel tee- shirts and both your masks. Really happy for you that you took this trip and can’t wait to hear more

Yes we did get a lot done. And yes so glad we rode RoTR because that would have surely put a damper on our trip. We really enjoy Baseline Taphouse...I always get the cider there and DH enjoys having a flight. The pretzel was delicious too. I'm not sure we've tried a lot of the other food. Yes the shirts were fun as well...DH bought his and I made mine.

What a fun set of updates! It looks like the lines were manageable. So happy you were able to ride RotR! Baseline Tap House looks like it will definitely be a place I will enjoy in November! I was debating booking a dinner reservation at Wilderness Lodge, but with limited park hours, I don't know if we will make it back to Magic Kingdom before the ferries stop running. Do you remember how late they left Wilderness Lodge? We won't have a car, so are somewhat limited on options. Thanks in advance!

Thanks...and yes lines were awesome. Definitely give Baseline Taphouse a try...there isn't much there but we always enjoy it and it's a nice spot to relax. You know I'm not sure about the boat transport to/from MK and Wilderness Lodge. I know they were not running early in the morning on Friday, but we did catch it on Thursday somewhat early, soon after MK had opened. I wish we had tried to catch it Friday afternoon, but storms were rolling in and we weren't sure the boats would be running.

 

[kittylady1972]

Super Secret Squirrel Details: Day 3

So our plan for our 2nd park day was to visit EPCOT and we had plenty of time in the morning before the park would open. Around 7am I looked up dining reservations and I think that's when I came across a reservation at Whispering Canyon Cafe in our hotel..easy enough. I think it was a 7:35am reservation so I had to get up and get ready and then we headed downstairs for breakfast.

I didn't take any photos of our meals, but DH got a skillet and I got your basic breakfast platter...eggs, potatoes, and fruit. It was good and the service was great as well.

Afterwards we still had time to kill so we figured we'd head over to the Contemporary to do some shopping. I thought we would take the boat to the MK, then hop a monorail and then hop on the EPCOT monorail aftewards.

Boat was lovely and pretty empty.


After doing some browsing in the store, I then pointed out the sign showing the monorail to Epcot wasn't operating. So we just hopped the monorail back to MK and then took the boat back to our resort...it was sooo crowded as well:



Once inside EPCOT, we headed to Test Track but it wasn't operating yet and they had no expected time for that. We headed inside the small MOUSEGEAR store to look around but as DH pointed out...very little if any stuff for dudes there.

So it was time for a ride next...first up:


I think this was showing a 5 minute wait...maybe...we mostly walked into the concourse loading area. We did get the Patrick W. pre-show...I had read that wasn't happening I thought. Once off there, a visit through the Land was next...also pretty much a walk-on.

While on that side of the park, a visit to see Nemo was next:



After this we figured it was time for some Food and Wine...so off to visit some booths.

Canada was up first...in terms of food...but first I ended up getting this frozen orange wine drink from Citrus Blossom: Orange Sunshine Wine Slushy

We also needed food so why not try the Filet and the Cheese soup from Canada:


I know the filet can be hit or miss but ours was pretty good...and the soup was okay...the pretzel was probably the most disappointing...much improved when dipped into the soup at least.

As I looked over the menus I found a drink at the nearby Joffrey's that was supposed to be tea and frozen lemonade and some kind of alcohol. We headed there but the drink wasn't on the menu, and when we showed the girl working there she said she could still make it for me...yeah. While waiting the princesses came by in this and I told DH take a photo..take a video...this is the best I got:



The drink ended up being just okay.

We then went inside the World Showcase Pavillion which was just lovely...and so many options.




So what would we be eating here? Stay tuned!

 

[kittylady1972]

So a little sidebar here regarding the way this trip came about. I think I mentioned before it started with some neighbors who were walking their dog and DH ran into them and they are all huge Disney fans and couldn't stop gushing about their most recent trip there. They all have APs and went for about a week. They were originally scheduled to go back in March around the time we had our trip planned.

Right before we left for our trip, Monday night, we were outside and the neighbors (Him, Her and older daughter) were walking their dog and I went running up to them and said...HEY I've got to tell you a secret! It's been killing me to not be able to tell people about this trip...all in time I guess. So I told them we were leaving the next day and that it was all because of them and we spent quite a bit of time talking about it as they told us about how great their trip was earlier in the month.

Today we were leaving the neighborhood and Dad and daughter were about to wash their cars and I stopped with DH in the car to tell them how we'd just returned and how GREAT of a time we had there. We had a nice little chat about it again. It was so good to share with them.

AND on another note...here is the ironic thing about all of this. We've stayed hush hush about this trip because of the stigma associated with COVID19 and Florida recently. So as we were on a bus Friday coming back from MK my DH gets a call from one of his close colleagues at work...who tells him he was JUST diagnosed with COVID19. DH tells me how they spent a lot of time in each other's offices at work, and while at work we are required to wear masks in public places we aren't at our desks and when we can social distance....and DH says they tend to have conversations in their office, somewhat far away, but without masks.

SO...it remains to be seen if DH will report to work tomorrow and be told he has to quarantine because of possible exposure...and where would that leave me as well since I've spent the last 3-4 days with him 24-7. If either of us finds out we have something I don't know that we could even begin to blame Florida at all...because I think that would be far less likely since we felt overly so safe there. I mean it was getting to the point that DH would hit pretty much EVERY SINGLE hand sanitizer station he could find, even if he had just sanitized. He was crazy about it.

That's the story...and who knows when we will be ready to let the cat out of the bag on our trip. Crazy!

Oh and I almost forgot to share my shirt for Thursday last week:

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Oh my goodness I’m crossing my fingers for you that all ok with you both re covid-19. Definitely sure with you it would be less likely to have caught anything at Disney judging by how busy those boats were. Hopefully all will be grand.