Fabulous Fifty Fall Fun: An October/November 2020 PanTR (Pandemic Trip Report) [COMPLETE]

What a great way to spend a big birthday!!! So excited for you. your excitement gets me excited! following....

Well it's not quite the trip we had planned originally...since that one was a cruise to Italy and Greece and some other European destinations...back in June...and of course that didn't happen. Still he seems excited about this after enjoying our last trip so much. Thanks for following!

I am enjoying reading about your plans. I am excited to see how it turns out! For our November trip, there are hardly any restaurants available for the days we are there. Why is that? Will the parks be super crowded, or are the dining rooms just that limited for capacity? We really want to try Sci-Fi Diner at HS, but I can't find a single opening, even when I change the size of our group from 8 to 6 to 4 to 2. :worried:

Thanks! Wow...that is pretty odd? What are your dates? We are there the first week in November. I was checking last night at other possible ADRs and there were quite a few for us for a party of five...but I think I only changed one and that was Narcoossee's. I do expect the parks to be more crowded than they were for us back in August, but hopefully not "Thanksgiving Week" crowded as we've been there done that plenty of times.
 
TODAY's UPDATE:

Actually had SOG call me yesterday afternoon just a few hours after I sent them my advance ticket order form...that is crazy fast! I called them back and got my tickets ordered. I decided to go with the 4-day tickets for now but if we arrive early enough on Saturday and really want to do a park we can always try to exchange the tickets at SoG for the $25 increase. We will just play it by ear for now.

DH is very much looking forward to this trip, so I just hope it lives up to his expectations of a 50th birthday bash. After all, last year's 49th birthday for him ended up with a totalled vehicle, several shook up family members and a trip to the E/R for his dad to get some stitches. We were lucky though...the Sequoia we had was a TANK and took the brunt of the red light runner's car in stride for the most part. DH did get a new-to-him replacement Sequoia a few weeks later as well, and a newer model than what he had before. Still that great birthday dinner we had before the accident has just left us all not wanting to return to a favorite restaurant for that very reason. In fact, since it was a Hibatchi Grill place I suggested last night going to Benihana near WDW for the birthday dinner this year, as we had a great meal there a few years ago at Easter, but DH won't even consider it. Sad.

My FIL last night also mentioned how much he's looking forward to the trip and just getting out of his house for a while. He asked about weather, but it's October so likely warm and still probably humid most of the time, but not SUMMER hot at least. We've been in October a few times and generally the weather is warm to hot but not stifling so we should be good. We have stocked up on disposable masks to wear in the parks and then toss each day. I just purchase a bunch with paw print patterns on them but my family has said I can keep those for myself. :)

Really can't wait to get this trip started!


COUNTDOWN: 38 DAYS
 


So this is what happens when you are out with friends...

Last night we attended a viewing for a dear friend of mine who lost her father...after just losing her mother at the end of July. My heart is breaking for her and her family. None were COVID related btw but still sad. Afterwards some other friends who attended with us joined us for dinner at a local grill. And suddenly we were talking the big birthday celebration and I was telling them how we had space in our villa if they just wanted to come for the weekend to celebrate...and now that has turned into 3 of the 4 nights.

Flights are so super cheap right now...they can do the RT flight for about $60 each online, cheaper if you buy the tickets at the airport. They are staying with us for free since we already have the room. I sure hope the sleeper sofa is comfortable for them. I've added them to the resort reservations.

I'm working on ordering their 3-day park tickets.

My only issue has been my ADRs...seems 6 people is fine but when you try to find tables for 7 people...it's very difficult. I'm not sure if this a COVID/social distancing thing or just a limited occupancy thing or what, but it's been a struggle. Now hopefully @CruellaNY won't read this...but we've changed our mind on the Saturday night birthday dinner and for NOW...it's at Shulas. If anybody has opinions on this, let me know. I would have loved Narcoossee's or Cali Grill but couldn't get it. DH is a big steak person so this seemed good for him. It could always change again.

I also can't seem to add another person to our GF Cafe breakfast. So for now I have it for 6 people...wonder what they will do if all 7 of us show up for that one?

I also can't extend our La Hacienda dinner from 6 to 7 people. Worst case I may have to have a kid make their own reservation or something. I'm not sure about that one yet.

Tiffins remains the same just for our party of 5 and same for Tony's as our company will be gone by that time.
 
I'm a 1970 baby also! One of the last to turn ... end of November is my 5-0. We had Tokyo Disneyland trip set up for Nov 4-15, our 15th anniversary is Oct 1 - so we thought we'd combine them into a fabulous trip. We are in the process of cancelling everything.

But, we booked flights to WDW instead Nov 7-14! We haven't booked room/tix yet, but are going to finalize a package tomorrow. Hubby said same thing - if 5 days is only $30/more per person, why just get 4? YAY!!

I haven't been since 1995, and kids & hubby have never been to FL. It'll be an adventure! We're DLR regulars, and I'm kind of excited to hit WDW WITHOUT any planning! We'll skip ADRs, we really don't do sit downs in parks anymore - kids always feel like they are missing out on rides, and given the shorter hours, I don't blame them! And, apparently hubby gave green light for 5 days, so we just have to pick our 2-day park!!
 
Oh, and I drive a Sequoia too :-) On my 2nd one!!! We refer to it as the "tank" too!!! :rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2: "honey, are we taking the Lexus, or the Tank?"
 


I'm a 1970 baby also! One of the last to turn ... end of November is my 5-0. We had Tokyo Disneyland trip set up for Nov 4-15, our 15th anniversary is Oct 1 - so we thought we'd combine them into a fabulous trip. We are in the process of cancelling everything.

But, we booked flights to WDW instead Nov 7-14! We haven't booked room/tix yet, but are going to finalize a package tomorrow. Hubby said same thing - if 5 days is only $30/more per person, why just get 4? YAY!!

I haven't been since 1995, and kids & hubby have never been to FL. It'll be an adventure! We're DLR regulars, and I'm kind of excited to hit WDW WITHOUT any planning! We'll skip ADRs, we really don't do sit downs in parks anymore - kids always feel like they are missing out on rides, and given the shorter hours, I don't blame them! And, apparently hubby gave green light for 5 days, so we just have to pick our 2-day park!!

Oh, and I drive a Sequoia too :-) On my 2nd one!!! We refer to it as the "tank" too!!! :rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2: "honey, are we taking the Lexus, or the Tank?"


:wave2: Very very cool about the 50th but sad for you to have to cancel the Tokyo trip. We had Disneyland Paris planned for June as a very early 50th birthday celebration...or MY part of our Italy trip that was added. Maybe one day. And also...our anniversary is October 3rd so another thing we have in common...except this year will be our 22nd. No big plans for that though. We have done the WDW parks a few times as adults for it in the past, but with the October trip already planned we'll be okay missing it this year.

How EXCITING for your family to be visiting Florida parks though. They will definitely be shocked at the difference between the massive parks here and the Disneyland Resort and parks, but hopefully will enjoy it. Too bad EPCOT is so under construction right now and some of the extra magic stuff won't be happening, but still not worrying about ADRs is a bonus...even though it seems the crowds are sneaking up a bit lately.

Yes our Sequoia is a major people hauler, which is why it's crazy that our 3 kids still complain about lack of space in that vehicle. You have GOT to be kidding me...it's like a small bus but we do love it.
 
Well it's not quite the trip we had planned originally...since that one was a cruise to Italy and Greece and some other European destinations...back in June...and of course that didn't happen. Still he seems excited about this after enjoying our last trip so much. Thanks for following!



Thanks! Wow...that is pretty odd? What are your dates? We are there the first week in November. I was checking last night at other possible ADRs and there were quite a few for us for a party of five...but I think I only changed one and that was Narcoossee's. I do expect the parks to be more crowded than they were for us back in August, but hopefully not "Thanksgiving Week" crowded as we've been there done that plenty of times.
We will be there the 10th through the 18th, but our HS Day is on the 11th. If we don't snag a RotR boarding group, my son will be really disappointed. :bitelip:
 
Hi!! Glad I found your PTR!! We were supposed to be flying to Rome on the 31st of October but instead we are going to WDW. Hoping we can get to Italy in 2021. The Italy pavilion will be a little more special this year. Enjoy planning and your trip!
 
We will be there the 10th through the 18th, but our HS Day is on the 11th. If we don't snag a RotR boarding group, my son will be really disappointed. :bitelip:

Ah...that pressure is so tough. That was the most stressful part of our last trip because that was DH...he was all about riding RoTR. This time around we are bringing some friends who have never seen ANY part of the Star Wars area, so I think for them seeing that and maybe riding Smugglers Run will be enough and maybe we explore more of the area there...we don't tend to hang out too much in that part of the park. Best of luck to you!


Hi!! Glad I found your PTR!! We were supposed to be flying to Rome on the 31st of October but instead we are going to WDW. Hoping we can get to Italy in 2021. The Italy pavilion will be a little more special this year. Enjoy planning and your trip!

Yeah...glad you are here also! Ugh so sorry about your cancelled trip as well. We were so looking forward to our Italy/Greece/Europe trip and I spent so much time planning it. I sure hope we get to go in 2021 as well but it might be later. I'm not sure we'll even visit the Italy pavillion too much this time around, even though EPCOT is on our list for Food and Wine.
 
The struggle is real people.

I know this may sound CRAZY, but I am really struggling to come up with a good plan for our upcoming trip now. I've changed it so many times and right now...quite frankly it's a mess. Here's the deal.

Main goal for DH (again) is to ride RoTR (AGAIN) and of course we want the kids to be able to join us. However they both have some tough AP and college classes they don't want to miss...which means they will probably need to work around both morning and afternoon classes on Monday. This was going to be our planned HS day. I even worked up a plan where we would have breakfast in the Boardwalk area, they could then setup at the Boardwalk Resort with laptops and do work, then when they finished at 9:15am come join us at Studios before 10am to try to get a boarding group for RoTR. However they need to return for afternoon classes around 1pm...so no chance at being in the park to secure the 2pm boarding group if needed. This is making me move our Studios day...but to which day given the choices of Sat, Sun or Mon?

Hate to be in the parks on the weekend. Studios on Saturday would mean likely missing the 10am boarding group call as our flight won't get in until after 9am. So now we are down to Sunday and Tuesday for Studios.

This seems all well and good...but that means I'm limited in the days to do EPCOT. I'm down to Saturday, Sunday or Monday...problem is DH wants to eat at La Hacienda...which is closed Mon-Wed so EPCOT would have to be on the weekend.

So then we have this:
SATURDAY: EPCOT
SUNDAY: Studios
MONDAY: MK
TUESDAY: AK
WEDNESDAY: MK

So we will likely add a day to our 4-day passes and have our friends add a day to their 3-day tickets. We will likely do two days at MK, and my choice there would be Monday and Wednesday.

The problem now...finding a good choice for DH for his birthday dinner...on SATURDAY. I was really thinking Tiffins would be awesome...but that means we'd have to be at AK on Saturday. I'm not sure that's a wise choice, but we could do it. The problem with that...no La Hacienda because we are back to that on Mon, Tue or Wed.

SIGH.

I mentioned going outside of Disney for the birthday dinner but DH is insisting NO GOING OUTSIDE THE DISNEY BUBBLE!

I'm open for suggestions. I don't think DH wants to do his 50th birthday at La Hacienda which would be the ideal solution. Now I'm almost back to my original plan of doing Studios on Monday, and then just working around the kids' virtual school schedules and hoping for the best there.

For the first time in forever...I just don't even want to think about putting together a schedule! I mean, reality is the whole trip is a 50th birthday celebration...does the dinner on Saturday have to be that special...can't we make a great dinner on Tuesday and just have a great overall day on Saturday?

Ugh.
 
Regarding 7 people at a meal - it was inconsistantfor us. One place at DS said they wouldn't seat more then 6 people. Another place said they would. We only have one park day that a 7th might join us (EPCOT day) and we were able to make reservations at Biergarten for 7 people. I don't what the difference is. :confused3
 
Regarding 7 people at a meal - it was inconsistantfor us. One place at DS said they wouldn't seat more then 6 people. Another place said they would. We only have one park day that a 7th might join us (EPCOT day) and we were able to make reservations at Biergarten for 7 people. I don't what the difference is. :confused3

That's good to know thank you. I'm going to try to limit it as much as possible. Right now I'm so all over the place but I've moved the birthday night dinner to Paddlefish and we have an ADR for 7 people there. My Mama Melrose and La Hacienda reservations have that 6 person limit...once I change to 7 people I get nothing. I may just have to drop them for someplace else. I think we'll do our best to try to stick to places that will take ADRs for 7 people and if we can't make that happen we'll just have to book two different reservations or book elsewhere.

A lot can change between now and Oct/Nov. I expect for sure the park hours will change before we get there.
 
So for now I have it for 6 people...wonder what they will do if all 7 of us show up for that one?
Hi Dina!
We were able to add one to our Beaches and Cream upon arrival and it was no problem.
We felt the parks were a lot more crowded.
We also had some CM issues with them being less than magical.
Sigh.
It was still a wonderful trip and can't wait to go back!!!
 
Hi Dina!
We were able to add one to our Beaches and Cream upon arrival and it was no problem.
We felt the parks were a lot more crowded.
We also had some CM issues with them being less than magical.
Sigh.
It was still a wonderful trip and can't wait to go back!!!

Yes but were you going from 4-5 or 5-6 or 6 to 7? Because 6 to 7 in terms of restaurant tables is a bigger deal because now we are talking more than 3 two-tops or at least two 4-tops together for the most part...and with social distance enforcement I can see how this may be more difficult at some restaurants, but Beaches and Cream is pretty small!

Yeah I am sorry to read parks are a lot more crowded but not surprising based on reading recent reports. We certainly don't expect the empty parks we had last month but we are hopeful for still light crowds compared to some of our usual visit times...like Thanksgiving week.

Sorry to hear about CM issues too...that's a shame.

We can't wait to go back as well, and we figure we'll make the best of whatever we do get for sure! Welcome back and can't wait to read your next report!
 
I totally agree on how hard it is to plan right now (I've got a trip in mid October). We can't be sure about the hours, the restaurants that will be open, how long waits will be, etc. I'm trying to simply relax and go unplanned, but I like planning! It's going to be a weird trip.
 
I totally agree on how hard it is to plan right now (I've got a trip in mid October). We can't be sure about the hours, the restaurants that will be open, how long waits will be, etc. I'm trying to simply relax and go unplanned, but I like planning! It's going to be a weird trip.
Yes all of this! I feel confident there will be slightly extended hours on the weekend like Fri and Sat for all parks. I'm wondering if dining will open a little more as part of that. I do like planning also...but this is a bit frustrating with the limited dining options at least.
 
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So this just arrived...sooo excited about this shirt. A bit smaller than I would like but I'll make it work. I love this new collection.
 

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So I think I'm going to have to make an excecutive decision...and DH will have to let go of at least one thing he wants to do on this trip. After all, we will be back at some point.

My current (and always subject to change) plan is this:
SATURDAY: Flight should arrive around 9:15am, grab our rental, hopefully at the resort by 10:30am at the latest. Hoping we can check in and drop off our stuff, but if not we'll go directly to Animal Kingdom park. The plan is to hang there for the rest of the day, with an early Tiffins birthday dinner at 3:50pm. I've always wanted to try Tiffins, it has stuff DH likes (octopus) and I think it's fitting for a birthday meal.

SUNDAY: EPCOT (and a meal at La Hacienda)
MONDAY: Magic Kingdom
TUESDAY: Studios
WEDNESDAY: Magic Kingdom

My FIL already mentioned if we had a 2nd park day he would like Magic Kingdom...so there is that. I'm hoping to squeeze in a meal at Geyser Point, maybe for lunch, and maybe Monday would be a good day for that. I'm concerned about Studios on Tuesday only because *IF* we are fortunate enough to get a RoTR boarding pass, our friends have to leave for the airport by about 4:30pm or so, which means not much time for them to ride if we have to wait. Still we have the other stuff to explore there so maybe we'll be okay.

With Tuesday being election day, I know schools will be closed...but wondering if that means busy parks? Based on @Jenny Sanders observations, the parks definitely get busier in the afternoon, even on weekedays as it is suspected parents might be finish up schooling at home in the morning and take the afternoon at the parks with the kids. I just don't know.

I have ADRs all over the place right now. I have breakfast at Ale and Compass and at Grand Floridian Cafe. I have Tiffins dinner on Tuesday also as that is my current park reservation. It makes more sense to do Ale and Compass on an EPCOT or Studios day as we could then ride the skyliner over to the park.

So things may change...as I might adjust for extended hours. Wonder how easy it is to change a park reservation on the day of? Anybody know? If our flight ends up being late, could I change to a different park that day? I suspect probably as long as there is availability.


31 DAYS TO GO!
 

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