Disney in a Time of Covid-A Different, But Wonderful Trip! (updated 8/4/22 x2)

Well where the H E double hockey sticks have I been for the last almost year? Sheer laziness. I could make excuses. Lucy started high school, Maura started middle school. Lucy was in 4 shows. Three at school, and The Laramie Project at the theater I work for. Maura was in 2 shows. One at the high school (they let middle schoolers be in it), and A Charlie Brown Christmas at the theater I work at. Driving them around to various friend's houses and other activities. Doing work on the board I'm on for the girls' softball league. Yes, I did all those things, but I could have found time to update once in a while. We leave for Florida in 3 weeks and 2 days and we'll be at Disney starting August 18th. I have to finish this before our trip!

Lucy is learning to drive now, and Maura just turned 13 so now I have 2 teenage girls in my house. Yikes! They've been doing theater all summer at the Academy where I work. Other than that, we are all pretty much the same. The girls and I had Covid in May, but it was short lived and not severe. Jason remains a unicorn and hasn't gotten it yet.

But now, back to Disney 2020. We had just gotten off Rock and Roll Rollercoaster and decided to check the wait for TOT. Well, it said 40 minutes. By this point in the trip, we knew better. It was actually 21 minutes. We did get some photos while waiting in line though.



IF there is anything resembling a palm tree, one of us will photograph it.







Ridiculousness.



Before we knew it, we were on the ride. This is actually a pretty good picture. At this point I don't remember who took it, but I'm going with Jason.



Not as good.





I think this is our ride photo. I don't think this was from earlier. Look at my crazy husband.



Since we were so near to Hollywood Scoops, our favorite ice cream spot in WDW, we all got something. Chocolate, mint chip, and orange sherbet by the looks of it. Also because I just looked at the receipt and that's what it said. :)



After that is was on to Toy Story Mania! Once again, the posted wait time proved to be incorrect. Said 30 minutes, but we waited 13. This is such a fun queue though, we had to take some pictures. Our kids don't even have the pleasure of knowing what this thing is. I wish I still had my viewmaster!




This was fun. An Etch-a-Sketch that drew on itself.



No idea. I guess they're ready to ride!



I'm guessing Jason and I were ride partners and this crappy, blurry picture is the proof.



Dang! He beat me, but I did pretty well!



With sore trigger arms, we headed over to see Walt's Tour. This sort of replaced One Man's Dream I think. It was cool, but not as cool as the old one. We did see Oswald though. He'd a family favorite.





Descendant's costumes. Pretty cool.



I'm not sure if Maura is bowing to him in homage or if she was just tired.



At the end of the tour they were showing a preview of the then-coming attraction of the live action Mulan. The preview was great, and we have since seen the whole movie and enjoyed it.

We decided to walk back over to Star Tours and took a few pictures along the way. I'm very surprised to see Maura on Jason's shoulders in this picture. I have no idea how she got him to agree to that since it was so hot.



And even though the Indy show wasn't open, Lucy had to pull the rope for old time's sake. The guy was still down there!



(continued in next post)
 
Last edited:
Seeing this giant AT-AT never gets old.


The 30 minute wait for Star Tours was really a walk on, so we enjoyed riding that again!

We headed back into Batuu because we had a droid making appointment at the Droid Depot. Maura had made her BB-7, but we wanted to make one for my nephew, as he's a huge Star Wars fan. It's an expensive souvenir, but we love that kid, so we got him one.

I will always be in awe of how amazing Galaxy's Edge is. Not that I'd expect anything less from Disney, but the attention to detail is incredible.





Maura hanging on to her BB-7 while Jason and Lucy work on a droid for our nephew. We let Jason and Lucy build it, since Maura and I had done hers.





That really is a fun experience and a great souvenir. I like to get our pets all riled up with Maura's droid once in a while. The dogs, especially Murphy, go crazy over it.

When we got out of Droid Depot, there was the "Kylo Ren Show" going on. That's not what it's called. That's what I'm calling it. It was really fun to watch and he and the storm troopers were giving everyone the business.





We rode TSM again with the 30 minute wait once again being a walk on. We were so spoiled on this trip. I know we aren't going to be quite as lucky when we go next month. I know it won't be as crowded as June or July, but won't be like last trip either. That is one of the only good things I can say about Covid is that it make our trip awesome. I'm guessing I rode with one of the kids, but I don't know which one.





I think after TSM Maura got a hold of my phone, because these next pictures seem to be very indicative of that.




You might be thinking, "those are just pictures of clouds." Correct, but these aren't.





I swear, that kid. I probably have thousands of selfies of her on my phone. And now she has her own phone, but she still takes mine occasionally for a selfie photo shoot.

I guess we ended up back on Hollywood Boulevard, but I'm not sure why. These pictures would lead you to believe that. I have nothing in my notes about it, but looks like it. Maura is back on Jason's shoulders. He must have been in a really good mood that day!



Oh see, now looking at this picture, Maura must have still had my phone and was taking these from Jason's shoulders.



:rotfl2:

Some scenic shots as we walked. According to my notes, we were headed to Tattoine Traders for some souvenirs.





I'm so excited to ride this one again!

One of our favorite shows. I think Maura has a crush on Barry.



I guess she's off the shoulders now, so she could point to the sign. I'm sure Jason probably kicked her off because she got heavy. She's tiny (still), but even she gets heavy after a while.



An R2-D2 dog harness. We briefly considered getting this for Murphy, but we didn't. I kind of regret it. Maybe this next trip! He'd be the talk of the neighborhood.





Then we saw a blimp. It's not every day you see one of those.



Our ADR for Mama Melrose was coming up, so we started heading over there.

I have to upload more pictures, but I AM going to finish this before we leave in 3 weeks, so I'll be back soon. I have no doubt everyone stopped reading long ago, but I have to finish this so Jason can read it on the road trip down to Florida. And also because I hate leaving things unfinished.
 
I'm still here! Like you, we were spoiled by the lack of crowds when we went in 2020. I mean, there were times when we were the only two people in a ride vehicle.

You guys were knocking out the attractions in Hollywood Studios!
 


We're headed back in October for 9 nights at Saratoga Springs and an 8-day DCL Cruise. But right not we're not planning to go into any of the parks. We'll have to be satisfied with visiting all of the resorts, the Boardwalk and Disney Springs.
 
I'm still here! Like you, we were spoiled by the lack of crowds when we went in 2020. I mean, there were times when we were the only two people in a ride vehicle.

You guys were knocking out the attractions in Hollywood Studios!
Yay! Glad you're still sticking with me! The lack of crowds was so awesome and we were so spoiled. This trip coming up is going to be a shocker and I don't even think the crowds will be THAT huge.
I'm still here too! I love your trip reports. Glad you updated. : )
Also headed to Disney soon (August 14th!) and super excited.
Thanks for sticking around! I'll be updating more in a minute here. How long will you be at Disney? We're there the 18th-27th at POR! It would be fun to have a Dismeet if you'll be there the same time!
We're headed back in October for 9 nights at Saratoga Springs and an 8-day DCL Cruise. But right not we're not planning to go into any of the parks. We'll have to be satisfied with visiting all of the resorts, the Boardwalk and Disney Springs.
Whoa, 9 days at the resort and no parks? I wouldn't be able to contain myself. A cruise sounds might nice too, though!
 
Here's another picture of the blimp because I know you're all waiting with bated breath to see another one.


And then we headed in the direction of Mama Melrose where we had an ADR for 5:45. We checked in and had a short wait. There was lots of stuff to look at while we waited.



This place was cute! Almost wished we were going there. Almost. It IS owned by a rat. (Says the person who has 2 rats as pets)



But this is where we'd be dining tonight.



First more shenanigans though. Hard to imagine a snowman being frozen in 95 degree heat!



Gonzo. What a nerd he is. Sorry, weirdo. That's what he calls himself.


Here are the real nerds.





I like how Miss Piggy's eyes are blocked out by the hands on the clock. And Jason is clearly oblivious to someone taking pictures.





After a short wait, probably about 5-7 minutes, we were called in and got our first look at the inside of the restaurant. It looks really cool with the lights all over. But first, this blurry picture of the lobby.







This one was taken from our table. We were tucked away in a cozy little corner.



And we were right next to a Frankie Valli record. I had to take this picture and text it to my mom, as she loves Frankie Valli.



The crazies I live with. No idea what Lucy is doing with her upper lip.



Before long the food started coming out, starting with bread, salad, and oil to dip the bread in.



Lucy got the spaghetti and meatballs.



This was mine. I *think* it was the polenta cake with mushrooms, spinach, and other veggies. There may have been chicken under there, but I'm not sure.



This is Jason, hand model extraordinaire showing of his chicken parmigiana



Maura got the kid's spaghetti that they brought looking like Mickey.



The food was good and satisfying. It was our first time at Mama Melrose and we enjoyed it. After dinner, Maura wanted to go see Muppets 3-D again, but Lucy had her sights set on a Nightmare Before Christmas dress she had seen at the ToT shop earlier, and since HS was closing soon, we decided to head over there so she could get it. Maura just informed me (as she's watching me type this) that she's STILL bitter that she didn't get to see Muppets 3-D again. Soon my child. Soon. We did take a couple more pictures in the Muppet area before we left though.





And one more picture on the way out of HS for this trip.



\(continued in next post)
 


Hi I just discovered this trip report.
Guess I will read it backwards to the beginning Haha
(. I am left handed and lots of things are backwards )
Anyway your last page just updated is enjoyable and glad you have another trip to begin soon!

P.S. That photo your daughter took on her father‘ s shoulders with Covid masks and look on his face !
I would keep that forever !
It’s great!
 
We went back to BC via the Skyliner. No pictures this time, but we enjoyed the ride again. We swam at Stormalong Bay one last time and spent a lot of time in the lazy river. After getting back up to the room, we packed up as we were heading to CBR in the morning. We'd miss BCV, and felt lucky to have stayed there, but we were excited to see our beloved CBR again. I got 21,676 steps this day. That's kind of low for Disney! :)

I don't have anymore pictures that we took this day, but here are some Photopass highlights.





Look at Lucy's face. She gets that from her father.









I love this one!



Okay, this is all I have uploaded for today, but I'll get some more going now and hopefully be back tomorrow. We have 2 days left! I have 8 days to finish this!
 
Hi I just discovered this trip report.
Guess I will read it backwards to the beginning Haha
(. I am left handed and lots of things are backwards )
Anyway your last page just updated is enjoyable and glad you have another trip to begin soon!

P.S. That photo your daughter took on her father‘ s shoulders with Covid masks and look on his face !
I would keep that forever !
It’s great!
Welcome! Thanks for joining so late, but you should get to see the finish in a short time! :)

Yes, so excited about our upcoming trip! Poor Jason has 5 days of work left (as do I), but he checked out at the beginning of the week. It's going to be a long week for him.

Oh, that look on his face is great. I'm pretty sure he was doing that for the camera, but I guess I don't know for sure.
 
Thanks for sticking around! I'll be updating more in a minute here. How long will you be at Disney? We're there the 18th-27th at POR! It would be fun to have a Dismeet if you'll be there the same time!
We're going from August 14th-25th, staying at CBR. It's a long trip for us- twice rescheduled (Covid). We were last there right before the closures (like *right* before Covid broke out in a big way-- February 2020) I'm kind of passing out from the excitement just about now.
Let's say hi if possible! : )

Looking forward to reading the rest of your trip report!
 
We're going from August 14th-25th, staying at CBR. It's a long trip for us- twice rescheduled (Covid). We were last there right before the closures (like *right* before Covid broke out in a big way-- February 2020) I'm kind of passing out from the excitement just about now.
Let's say hi if possible! : )

Looking forward to reading the rest of your trip report!
I'm going to send you a PM right now!
 
Day 12, September 16th 2020. Today was Animal Kingdom, but first we had to say goodbye to BWV. We loved calling this resort "home" for a week, and though we probably won't be back, at least for a while (the next time we get to do deluxe, if we can ever afford it, we're doing Poly), we enjoyed our time pretending to be rich. :rotfl2: We took a few last pictures before we said goodbye. We will be visiting BW on our upcoming trip for Beaches and Cream, so we'll still get a peek.



Me on the balcony I so adored.







This one is low quality.



Artwork.



With that, Bell Services came to grab our luggage to transfer to CBR, we made one last stop in the Solarium to get breakfast treats (coffee cake with rhubarb, chocolate chip muffins, and a pancake sandwich for Jason, and we were off to AK. We arrived there about 10am. We stopped for a PP immediately!







As you can see, Lucy's dinosaur Herbert has made a return trip to his first home.



They had a lot of Magic Shots at the front!







Aw. If only they were always like this. Newsflash, they AREN'T!



And Jason and I really DO like each other, even though this picture makes it seem questionable.



Okay, this is better.



And then Lucy and Herbert got their own photo shoot.





Okay, that's enough PP. They were very thorough that morning!

We were going to go towards Dinoland USA, but walked through the oasis checking out the animals on the way in.









(continued in next post)
 
While we were walking, Maura found this pin sitting on the rocks.





Someone had left a whole bunch around for guest to find! There were several of them. The girls each took 1 and left the others for other guests. What a fun little thing to do!

A few more animals before hitting Dinoland USA.











I guess we weren't quite on to Dinoland USA yet, as it appears we stopped for MORE PP. Hey, I'm going to get my money's worth, darn it!









Kevin!!!!









AK had a TON of magic shots! Dang! I don't even remember all these!



Okay, I'm a liar. I guess we went to It's Tough to be a Bug before Dinoland. Because that's what my pictures are saying, and my notes have a whole bunch of arrows pointing to what we did first.







FINALLY we made it to an attraction. And a stinky one at that.





Now, we're FINALLY getting into Dinoland. Jeez. I can really draw something out.



See? Here we are.



Maura wasn't sure, so she had to consult the map.



This was a fun store I'd seen pictures of many times before, but had never been in. We were glad to finally get to see it in person.



(continued in next post)
 
Yay! We're finally in the vicinity of Dinosaur, but we had to get some pictures with our friends before we got on the ride.



Who said you couldn't meet the characters during Covid?



We rode Dinosaur. It was a walk on, which was fantastic as always.

Look at this fun bench!!!



I love this mosaic dinosaur! I wish I had the artistic skills to do stuff like this, but a picture of this one will just have to do.



RIP Primeval Hurl. I never rode you, as you would have made me puke, but Lucy and Jason enjoyed you and Maura is bitter she never got to. It was already beginning to be disassembled at this point.



I just like this guy, but he was yellow the last time we were there. He had been painted green!



Since we were there, we rode Triceratops Spin. You know, the Dumbo of AK.



I was stuck with this one as my ride buddy.





With Dinoland USA conquered for now, we were in need of sustenance. We found that in the forms of Mickey pretzels and slushies.





Maura found a Hidden Mickey!



Pandora was getting closer! We could tell by the flora and fauna.





We checked the wait time for FoP and guess what?????? Yep. Walk on. For FoP. See? Covid did have some positive things that came out of it.











We were literally walking and snapping photos. We didn't stop until we got to the loading area.



We rode, and enjoyed it as always. This ride is so incredible. Just the 3-D and the feeling of the wind blowing in your face. It's truly amazing. Back outside, we started moseying on over to Navi River Journey, but not before taking some pictures and stopping for PP.









So we got in line for Navi River Journey. We assumed it would be a walk on.

(continued in next post)
 
BUT IT WASN'T!!!!!!! THERE WAS A 30 MINUTE WAIT! Seriously, how could there be a zero wait for FoP and a 30 minute wait for NRJ? FoP is a highly superior ride, and the boats on NRJ never really stop moving. I just don't get it. But, per Maura's insistence, we got in line and waited every second of those 30 minutes.

It is quite a beautiful ride, if not as exciting as FoP.



After that incredibly grueling wait (yes, 30 minutes was grueling. We had become spoiled) we needed MORE snacks. Satu'li Cantina was just what we were looking for. Why? Because the have the best desert item in all of WDW. Maura got a hot dog, Lucy got a quesadilla, but the star of this meal is the blueberry mousse. We got 2 of them because we all love it so much. Don't they almost look too pretty to eat?



Pretty or ugly, it went in our bellies!

After the snacks, the rest of my family decided they needed to stir up what they had just eaten and wanted to ride EE. So let's go over to Asia, shall we? Yes, we shall.



That sign in the foreground is false by the way. You could not, in face, meet Mickey and Minnie this day.

There it is! Maura's running to it as fast as her little legs could move her. And don't let her tininess fool you. That girl is FAST.



Ope, (can you tell I'm from Wisconsin?) but mom is making you stop for PP. Sorry, kid!







My least favorite weather of all time.



I don't have it in my notes, but I'm assuming it was a walk on once again. The rest of my family rode. I needed to digest a bit before I rode something this fast. I LOVE roller coasters, but the older I get the less they love me, so I have to pace myself.



And sorry to post out of order, but I guess our PP photos decided to upload out of order, so here's out picture from Dinosaur. I was wondering where the heck that went. See? This one I rode.




We wanted to see how long the wait was for the Safari, so we trekked on over to Africa by way of the ToL trail. I swear, I see new stuff every time I walk around it.











Maura pointing to her favorite animal. She loves frogs. She always has.



We arrived at our destination!



And before we knew it, we were on the Safari. I let Maura have my phone as she wanted to take pictures this time. She did a pretty good job! Now she has her own phone, so she can take pictures of whatever she wants on our upcoming trip.









I KNOW Maura took this one. It's just her style.





I guess it was feeding time?





Okay, we'll continue with the Safari tomorrow, but I have to go to bed because I still have 3 days of work left. I'm GOING to finish this though!!!!!
 
Okay, I think we were on the safari.





Oooh, the African wild dogs. They were really cool looking!





Horned things!



More horned things!



A third horned thing!



A fourth horned th... you get the point. Anyway, I know what these are. The things that killed Mufasa. Well Scar killed Mufasa, but these are the guys he hired to do it.



The giraffes were mighty close that day, my friends.







Whoever took the giraffe pics, did a great job. And it wasn't me, so that wasn't a compliment to myself.

I mean, does this guy even have a head?



A hefelump!





Rhinos! these are my absolute favorites.





We actually saw the cheetahs that day! I think this is the first safari I ever remember seeing them on.





Hmmmmmm... I think this is where the lions are supposed to be, but I don't think I see one.



Ope (that's Wisconsin speak for oops, or excuse me, or I remember now), there they are!



Well this guy has curly horns.



Seriously, I don't think I'm allowed to take pictures on the safari anymore, because I took none of these and they all turned out great.

And that guy was the end of the safari! It was a good one. On the way out, I stopped for a photo with this not so hidden Mickey, but what it says actually MEANS hidden, so it's an in your face hidden Mickey. I learned that in a trip report of nilla's, who used to post hilarious TRs on here.



I swear, my kids are always starving. I guess it was snack time again. This time for ice cream. Mickey bar, lemon ice, popcorn, and it says Jason got Starbucks.



It was getting close to closing time for AK that day (because it closed at 5pm during Covid), so we took some last looks around and walked around the ToL and took some final pictures of AK that year.







(continued in next post)
 
Goodbye EE! See you next time!





More flora and fauna.





I swear, the ToL is so much bigger than it looks. It goes around forever.





We even saw these guys on the way out.





There's his Starbucks!







Gator or croc. Our kids have always loved gators and crocs for some reason. When Lucy was about 4, she had an imaginary pack of crocodiles that followed her everywhere. She would tell me where they were in the house and to watch out for them. One time when we were driving somewhere, I asked her if the crocodiles were with us in the car and she said "no, they have their own crocodile car. They're driving next to us." Honestly, I would have paid big money to actually see that. But I digress. Here is why I just told you that story.



Out of AK and on to CBR. We'd gotten our room assignment a bit earlier and were assigned to Jamaica 4102. We'd never stayed in Jamaica before! It was a new village for us, but as soon as we stepped onto CBR property, we felt like we were home. Don't get me wrong, BWV was incredible, and we fell fortunate we got to stay at such a cool place, but CBR is home to us.







I managed to get a few pictures before we messed it all up.





Lucy looks disgusted here. But look, you can actually see her face because we were in our room so we could take off our masks.





There's my ugly mug taking a picture.



And our building. So pretty!







I guess Lucy needed in on the photo action too.





Across the way to Trinidad.



And we got our first glimpse of the Riviera, which had been under construction on our last trip.



The kids and I decided to take a walk around the resort and see what they had done since the remodel.

(continued in next post)
 
Maura wasted no time finding the hammocks. Looks like she needed a snooze.



Skyliner!



I guess that's all the pictures we took, which is weird, because I know we went inside the new lobby/food court area. It was really pretty and airy and smelled so good.

I know we didn't go on too long of a tour, because we wanted to get to Disney Springs and visit the Coke store, which had been closed the other day. I'm not really sure why we were in such a hurry to visit the Coke store, as we're Pepsi people, but we were. We STILL didn't find the orange garage, after looking yet again, so we were parked in lime again.



We went to the Coke store, and I remember we bought a few little things, but I don't remember what exactly, and I guess we didn't take any pictures. We were getting hungry (again?) and decided to try Guy Fieri's Chicken Guy restaurant. It was the sauces that drew us in. We all got chicken fingers and fries and we got to sample 4 different sauces. Here is how we rated them.

Donkey Sauce ***
Avocado Crema Sauce***
Sweet and Sour Sauce***
Parm Garlic Sauce **

I remember them all being decent, and the fries were good too. It also looks like there is some mac and cheese in this picture, which I'm sure belonged to Maura.



We also got an apple cereal shake with Apple Jacks and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I remember it being good, but I guess no picture. Perhaps we were starving?

We then headed over to World of Disney and spent a lot of money. I don't remember now what we got, but it was a lot.

And then because we didn't eat enough today, we went BACK to Amorette's and got creme brulee and New York Cheesecake.
[

I guess we only got pictures of the brulee.



We went back to CBR then and relaxed and went to bed. I got 27,033 steps that day. That's more like it!

Tomorrow would be our last park day. :worried:

I'll be back with that tomorrow! I only have 2 more days to finish this!!!!!
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top