Love (Disney) in the Time of Cholera (Covid)

[k_hase]

Monday when I was done with work (and as per usual, my boss rolled in with additions to our work that are nonsensical--this is not her, this is her attempting to respond to a concerns from unions AND upper management; she knows our team can be trusted to explain/design/implement whatever in a way that soothes the savage beasts even thought sometimes it makes work feel Kafkaesque).

The boys returned from MK and wanted to swim/hot tub. I used to wonder when my kid would become like the kids who swim no matter the temperature. Seems now is when. Now.

We swam for a bit and then cleaned up to go to The Wave for dinner. This is one of three indoor, public meals we're having over this trip and 5PM meant a rather empty restaurant. I'll review The Wave in the next post. Our intent was to head to MK after dinner, but we instead wanded through the gift shop and then decided to (watch a 9 year old) swim. I sat in my parka.

Tuesday was one of the days I took off from work, b/c it's our only HS day and I'd hoped for a boarding group. No dice, at 7AM they were gone instantly. We drove over and entered the park with no line just before 9 and went straight to RRC with an advertised 40 minute wait that was more like 20. Again, I felt okay with the people, spacing, and compliance, and a little sad by the loss of some detail in the cue. After that we headed to MMRR but were informed the ride was down and opted to do TSMM (SDD was at 80 minutes already). Our next stop was GE, for MFSR. That was 50 minutes, and took the whole 50.

Again, I was underwhelmed by Smugglers Run. I'm a slightly bigger than average Star Wars fan, approaching nerd territory. I've watched every film and TV show in order from Episode 1-9, the Clone Wars and Rebels cartoons, Solo and Rogue One and even read some of the books. I have an Ahsoka Tano mask. My kid's backpack straps broke I and I replaced them with leather strap with Aurebesh letters on them. So, you know, I'm a fan. But this ride just isn't that exciting or fun. I appreciate it, but when I compare it to something likes of FoP and consider what could have been done, I'm just disappointed. And my husband, who doesn't give two ****s about Star Wars has to ask me every time who Hondo Ohnaka is, and then I wonder how much the average rider even knows about what's happening on the ride. My first ride was in February, and I was didn't like it then either--you can hardly hear what Hondo is saying, and if you are slow hearer like me, you find that everything goes too fast to grasp what you are doing.

Anyway, we did that and then it was lunch, so we came back to the room ate and what else, went swimming. It was 55 degrees. I sat in the hot tub.

We returned to HS at 5PM, and went to MMRR right away; it broke down again when we were about to enter a car so we took the Fast Pass option and headed out to TSMM (SDD was still at 80 minutes and by now it was 6PM and we wanted to make sure we got back to MMRR). MMRR remained broken and we had a margarita instead. And then, at 6:40 it opened again and we finally went on!!

I really liked this ride. Truthfully, I expected something more like the Hogwarts ride whose name I can't recall, but its trackless and the cars go up and down as well as forward and around. This isn't quite that exciting but it's fun and if you've watched all those cartoons and love them (Potatoland!!!) then its a treat. My 9 year old loved it and he's a big roller coaster fan, so the lack of 'thrill' doesn't take away. It's for sure a whole family experience.

But in the end, HS needs a way to consume the people. The lines, even during normal operations are too long for what is offered and I find myself less inclined to go there. GE is crowded, TSL is hotter than the sun most of the time, and crowded, and the loss of street performers takes away some of the atmosphere. I'm glad we are only going once on this trip.

Dinner was in the room, a bit late, sausage and peppers. And then we went to bed.

 

[k_hase]

Okay, The Wave. I feel kind of like a big complainer this trip but please know I am enjoying myself, even though I'm sitting at my 'office' right now.

My husband described The Wave as a place people who really like Applebees or Chili's would find 'fancy'. And I think that's pretty accurate. The food was good, cooked really well, but the flavors were boring, or muddy maybe. There was no brightness or surprise. I had blackened salmon, really nicely done, with what was supposed to be a cajun rice with peppers and shrimp---what came was red rice. No cajun flavor, nothing that balanced the blackened salmon, it was fine, but not interesting, boring, bland even? My husband had the pork tenderloin. Again, perfectly cooked but then slathered in what seemed like bottled barbecue sauce, just heavy handed with a boring sauce. The highlights were for sure the Bacon and Eggs app and Crabcake app---both of these were great. The egg was poached just right, the grits were perfect, the slaw and old bay with the crabcake were great compliments that balanced each other.

Overall, I wouldn't eat there again. It was fine, but it wasn't special.

 

[k_hase]

Okay, Wednesday!

I worked. It was normal.

Boys went shopping for sneakers. Pardon me, dads/sons on the board, but honest to god, this is why moms are a thing. I'd repeatedly asked and checked my 9 year old's sneakers in the weeks leading up to this trip. They fit fine, just ragged. But he insisted he didn't want new ones, that he didn't care how ragged they were. And they fit.

Fast forward to Disney and NOW he wants sneakers and complains that his feet hurt. So dad took him to the Nike outlet store (one of the 78 nike stores in a 10 mile radius?) and he returned with a pair of Nike with the big bubble thing sticking out of the back. I immediately noticed that they were HUGE. I'm assured they are not, that he checked and toes are where they ought to be. Yeah. But his heel is and almost two inches forward. So he liked some shoes, and made you think they fit. And then wore them around like that, where it was clear to this mother that they were far far too big.

Guess who is going back to the Nike store right now.

Anyway, new shoes were purchased and my husband went to publix to get a pork butt. Now we have some pulled pork in our room too. (I think we've spent less on Disney food on this trip than ever before). The boys spent the afternoon riding the boat from MK to WL, back to MK, then monorail to TTC, then walk to Poly and GF, then monorail to CR with plenty of dole whips and root beers and normal beers on the route.

At 4 we headed to Epcot for the evening. It was much more subdued than HS. SE was pretty quick, Soarin' was a walk on, Living with the Land has nice xmas lights. The consruction in Future World is extensive and I'm glad that this is not my once in a life time trip!!!

We'd originally planned SRT for dinner, but as last night was the last night open for an undetermined time, we decided to switch to La Hacienda. We love SRT, but the last night of a likely to be emptish kitchen with a soon to be laid off staff seems like a bad meal waiting to happen. La Hacienda was an excellent suprise!!!

The corn soup....really great. Really. Years ago, we had corn soup at V&A that was absurd, mind blowing corn soup. It tasted how the sweet corn on the cob of your dreams tastes. How they got soup to taste EXACTLY like fresh sweet corn when clearly there was some souping involved is still one of those culinary moments we talk about. So, this soup wasn't that. But it was the closest second one could expect for $10. The corn flavor was fresh, it was creamy and spicy but balanced between all of the flavors so you could tell what you eating. And the presentation was great too. Loved it. Will go back for the soup alone.

I had flautas with my soup, husband had the big tortilla with beef(?), I don't know. The flautas were also excellent, creme freche and crispy but not too heavily greasy (the way some fried things are). We'll definitely be back.

While we were eating TT broke down and we ended up walking around the world showcase, collecting the kidcot stickers, and having a glass of wine or two. That's harder when you have to stop to do it, but we enjoyed some caramel treats at a table. TT opened back up around 8:35, so we headed back there, and left the park at 9:20.

A late day, not crowded, good food, favorite rides ridden--a good Disney day really!!

 

[ajf1007]

I was excited to see your updates and I'm so glad you're having a good time! I completely understand the work hassles remotely so I'm glad you're able to get it done and still have a good time! Isn't it funny your tolerance for cold water as you get older LOL - my nieces are the same way and I feel like I was probably that way too, now - not so much! We did a quick trip in September over Labor Day weekend and had an amazing time. It was much less crowded then I believe but I was much like you, leery but excited at first and came home covid free so that was a good trip! I loved how everything was pretty much walk on but we still weren't able to get a boarding pass for the ROR which was a bummer. All in all, just being back in WDW did a world of good for my mind and soul I live in PA so I too would have to test or quarantine now (we just got back from Captiva Island in Florida for Thanksgiving) and did the whole quarantine thing - tomorrow is my day 14! Woo hoo!

 

[Tink Fans]

A late day, not crowded, good food, favorite rides ridden--a good Disney day really!!
[/QUOTE]

It's so nice to see your posts and all is going well with your trip! YAY! Hopefully the weather warmed up a bit. I always say it's still warmer than NY but prefer not to have to put a coat or gloves on!
Nice to hear your review of La Hacienda - been on my list for some time but still have not been there yet. Will have to wait because I think I am skipping the parks next week. No one wants to go! I don't even care - so much uncertainty I will just be happy once I get on the plane and good to go.
Enjoy the rest of your trip and Safe Travels!

 

[k_hase]

Happy Monday morning! I didn't work all weekend and didn't turn on my computer either, so there'a a bit to update!

Thursday and Friday were MK days for the boys and work for me of course, we ate at Skipper Canteen, rode "Jingle" Cruise, waited for 7DMT, even Barnstormer! I also sat by the pool for a good part of Friday to do some reading for work (my boss buys us more books, manuals, and self-help stuff than one can keep up with, but also expects that we have at minimum skimmed them, so I took advantage of that and put 'book study' on my calendar for Friday afternoon). In typical fashion, once the week ends and people stop bugging my boss she suddenly has ideas, questions, needs...and calls a meeting/online chat around 3ish. It happens almost every Friday. We're all usually still working too, so it's not a big deal, but sometimes, you just want to be done. This Friday was no exception but it was mostly just clarifying info from the week, stuff we can all do from our phones. And reading a spreadsheet, also a task I can do from my phone.

Saturday we're moving to AKV-K so I also packed poorly to switch rooms. We decided to drive over around 9, not expecting a room of course, but to drop our refrigerated items at bell services and head to AK. I didn't even check my phone for a room number, and did not get an alert (I've had little success with the alert coming). We pulled in, I went in to confirm we'd arrived (I really do not trust the app) and the CM started to pull out a map to tell me how to get to my room! At 9AM. It's a Disney Miracle!! I've really had very little luck with an early room, and have actually had terrible luck even after 4, once waiting until almost 7!!! That resulted in something like 90 FPs b/c we were repeatedly told its almost ready, 15 more minutes, from 5PM to 6:45. Eventually a manager had to prep the room and there was some explanation of mousekeepers out sick. Whatever, I've not expected an early room since then!

Let's discuss Kidani. We are Jambo people, I said that before in my BLT review. While we love being close to Jiko and the big lobby and counter service, really, it's more about the points. A standard at Jambo mostly gets me a reasonable Savanna view. Sure, people pen or whatever, but often I get some animals and I didn't use a ton of points to do it. We rarely book Savanna View unless we've got friends with us on a 'once in a lifetime' trip and I want to guarantee the view. So, in rebooking this trip from spring and summer quite far inside the booking windows there weren't any standard view left at Jambo, the lesser view at Kidani is not one I want, and it was a matter of one night so we booked Kidani Savanna. Let's just say I'm a re-confirmed Jambo girl. The room is big, that's nice, but I've only got one kid and he's 9, so I'm not really motivated by tons of room yet. Two bathrooms is great, but again, a 9 year old doesn't really affect my bathroom use. I realize my day is coming on these things, but right now, it's not enough. But what really got me was my Savanna view. It was equal to a Jambo standard. We're on the back side of the building, with a view of the pens, a fat zebra, one ankole, and a few springbok. It's fine, but this is pretty much standard in the other building. My husband wanted to go get a different room but for 3 nights and the fact that it was ready, I'm good. I like the fat zebra! But the points!! It's the points...My husband also find the pool access annoying--either walk a really long way extra so you don't have to walk through the parking garage, or walk across the parking lot, or walk through the not charming parking garage. This is neither here nor there for me, but he's annoyed with Kidani all the way around right now.

And I think the balcony is narrower.

Saturday and Sunday were AK days, and warm and sunny to boot, so plenty of pool time. My son loves AK, loves EE, loves to poke around the gift shops, loves FoP, loves Kidani slide, so he's super happy. I didn't have to do any work and got to eat at Tiffins so I'm super happy. My husband is mostly happy but starting to worry about his customers. Today is Epcot, with dinner at Chefs de France (I know it's not going to be great, but we wanted to try a new thing, plus our usual dinner at Monsieur Paul isn't available).

We also took our Covid test yesterday morning, at the Maingate Lane site. It opens at 8 and we'd already completed the registration info online. I was fully prepared for a long wait, based on reviews, but even so didn't get my act together to get us there before 8am. For the less than 10 minute drive I reminded my son and husband that this could take an hour or more even, that we'd probably be hot standing in the parking lot, and that I'd wish I'd remembered my sunglasses. I even made my kid bring his tablet so he'd have something to do.

There were 14 people in line when we arrived at 8:02. We were completed our test at 8:25. Our results came at 8:42. So, I'd say if you can go on Sunday at 8AM you won't wait very long.

 

[kboo]

Years ago, we had corn soup at V&A that was absurd, mind blowing corn soup. It tasted how the sweet corn on the cob of your dreams tastes. How they got soup to taste EXACTLY like fresh sweet corn when clearly there was some souping involved is still one of those culinary moments we talk about. So, this soup wasn't that. But it was the closest second one could expect for $10.

This was priceless! Thanks for the laugh.

 

[MeridaICR]

Happy Monday morning! I didn't work all weekend and didn't turn on my computer either, so there'a a bit to update!

Thursday and Friday were MK days for the boys and work for me of course, we ate at Skipper Canteen, rode "Jingle" Cruise, waited for 7DMT, even Barnstormer! I also sat by the pool for a good part of Friday to do some reading for work (my boss buys us more books, manuals, and self-help stuff than one can keep up with, but also expects that we have at minimum skimmed them, so I took advantage of that and put 'book study' on my calendar for Friday afternoon). In typical fashion, once the week ends and people stop bugging my boss she suddenly has ideas, questions, needs...and calls a meeting/online chat around 3ish. It happens almost every Friday. We're all usually still working too, so it's not a big deal, but sometimes, you just want to be done. This Friday was no exception but it was mostly just clarifying info from the week, stuff we can all do from our phones. And reading a spreadsheet, also a task I can do from my phone.

Saturday we're moving to AKV-K so I also packed poorly to switch rooms. We decided to drive over around 9, not expecting a room of course, but to drop our refrigerated items at bell services and head to AK. I didn't even check my phone for a room number, and did not get an alert (I've had little success with the alert coming). We pulled in, I went in to confirm we'd arrived (I really do not trust the app) and the CM started to pull out a map to tell me how to get to my room! At 9AM. It's a Disney Miracle!! I've really had very little luck with an early room, and have actually had terrible luck even after 4, once waiting until almost 7!!! That resulted in something like 90 FPs b/c we were repeatedly told its almost ready, 15 more minutes, from 5PM to 6:45. Eventually a manager had to prep the room and there was some explanation of mousekeepers out sick. Whatever, I've not expected an early room since then!

Let's discuss Kidani. We are Jambo people, I said that before in my BLT review. While we love being close to Jiko and the big lobby and counter service, really, it's more about the points. A standard at Jambo mostly gets me a reasonable Savanna view. Sure, people pen or whatever, but often I get some animals and I didn't use a ton of points to do it. We rarely book Savanna View unless we've got friends with us on a 'once in a lifetime' trip and I want to guarantee the view. So, in rebooking this trip from spring and summer quite far inside the booking windows there weren't any standard view left at Jambo, the lesser view at Kidani is not one I want, and it was a matter of one night so we booked Kidani Savanna. Let's just say I'm a re-confirmed Jambo girl. The room is big, that's nice, but I've only got one kid and he's 9, so I'm not really motivated by tons of room yet. Two bathrooms is great, but again, a 9 year old doesn't really affect my bathroom use. I realize my day is coming on these things, but right now, it's not enough. But what really got me was my Savanna view. It was equal to a Jambo standard. We're on the back side of the building, with a view of the pens, a fat zebra, one ankole, and a few springbok. It's fine, but this is pretty much standard in the other building. My husband wanted to go get a different room but for 3 nights and the fact that it was ready, I'm good. I like the fat zebra! But the points!! It's the points...My husband also find the pool access annoying--either walk a really long way extra so you don't have to walk through the parking garage, or walk across the parking lot, or walk through the not charming parking garage. This is neither here nor there for me, but he's annoyed with Kidani all the way around right now.

And I think the balcony is narrower.

Saturday and Sunday were AK days, and warm and sunny to boot, so plenty of pool time. My son loves AK, loves EE, loves to poke around the gift shops, loves FoP, loves Kidani slide, so he's super happy. I didn't have to do any work and got to eat at Tiffins so I'm super happy. My husband is mostly happy but starting to worry about his customers. Today is Epcot, with dinner at Chefs de France (I know it's not going to be great, but we wanted to try a new thing, plus our usual dinner at Monsieur Paul isn't available).

We also took our Covid test yesterday morning, at the Maingate Lane site. It opens at 8 and we'd already completed the registration info online. I was fully prepared for a long wait, based on reviews, but even so didn't get my act together to get us there before 8am. For the less than 10 minute drive I reminded my son and husband that this could take an hour or more even, that we'd probably be hot standing in the parking lot, and that I'd wish I'd remembered my sunglasses. I even made my kid bring his tablet so he'd have something to do.

There were 14 people in line when we arrived at 8:02. We were completed our test at 8:25. Our results came at 8:42. So, I'd say if you can go on Sunday at 8AM you won't wait very long.

Love your reviews! Thanks for the details!

 

[old lady]

Probably less packed.

 

[k_hase]

Sunday was another AK day--first Safari, then EE a couple of times, more shop wandering, hotel pool time, return to AK for Pandora at night. Highlight was catching a lifeguard dancing to the pool music (how many times can one hear the Black Eyed Peas before one is certified insane?) and I giggled and then she brought us three mickey bars. I don't know why, but it was a magical treat!

Monday we returned to Epcot (or rather, the boys went Epcot in the middle of the day, and I worked, the we went back to Epcot all together at 5ish) for Soaring, dinner at Chef de France and maybe a stroll around. This is all a bit fuzzy to me know, b/c I was quite concerned about finishing the wine I'd bought for the room and had a few glasses with 'happy hour' then another at the pool, then a cider in England, and more wine in France. I'm too old for those kind of shenanigans.

We lounged at the pool from 3 to 4:30 or so, where my son had made a friend but also ran into an unparented bully. There were a few tears, and I'm never quite sure what I should do. My kid will always be the odd one out; he's not athletic, he's gentle, doesn't like rough housing, isn't fast on his feet. When the new friend and not so friendly boy all decided to play tag, of course my kid was "It" and whenever he's "It" he's "it" forever. It become no fun for him b/c he can't find or catch the other kids so he sort of quits playing and is sad. But the bully kid decided he should not quit, and that now they should just wrestle and dunk each other. This, as predicted, ended in tears. We were there but the other kid's parents were not (my husband usually lets these things play out a bit, even if our kid is on the losing end, but stepped in once there were tears, which come admittedly quickly for my kid). The lifeguard then talked to the bully kid about dunking and had him sit out for 5 minutes (evidently he'd done this the day before?), the bully kid started to cry, then his Dad showed up and yelled at the lifeguard, and then another lifeguard gave the bully kid an ice cream!!! Gah!!

After that, we headed to Epcot, and found Soaring to be a walk on. It was really a ghost town on Monday night, no social distancing efforts required. We were even able to walk right into the Rose and Crown for a pint without any line. More walking and we made it to France for our 7:20 ADR.

Chefs de France--the highlight was that there are putting some people upstairs at Monsieur Paul, and that was quiet and almost like the meals we remember there! Our waiter was an MP waiter who was lovely, with a food runner who had previously worked another restaurant and said he was happy to learn about the MP service expectations. There were just a few tables up there and it was really pleasant. Adam even remembered to say "merci" unprompted (I was soooooo proud!!) and then me to correct his pronunciation of Croque de Beouf so that he could order in French too. The waiter was caught off guard, I saw him double take at the 'merci' and then he Adam discussed napkin folding (in English), teaching Adam how to fold the napkin in the MP way (like a little collared jacket). The food was, meh. My escargot were buttery and delicious, the baguette and butter were perfect, I picked an Alsatian Riesling that I liked. I had salmon as my entree, it was fine, it was nicely cooked salmon. Jake had beef bourguignon and it was disappointing, it tasted like any old roast beef/pot roast and if that's what you want, great. Also keep in mind that my husband is kind of a bourguignon nerd; having spent the better part of a decade messing around with Julia Child's recipe and forcing ALOT of tasting on his family...ahem. So, our standards are probably different. For dessert we ordered the creme brulee to share and this was outstanding!. This is another dish my husband makes, currently teaching Adam to handle the torch; my spouse is heavy handed with the sugar and my kid is a 9 year old with a blow torch, so you can predict what this tastes like at my house. This was perfect though.

Given my options, I wouldn't go there again, but I will probably take my kid to MP when it opens. He enjoys the restaurant process and the chance to show he knows a tiny amount of French.

Then we spent too long buying pins b/c kids and pins, packed up the room a bit, and slept like garbage b/c that much garlic and butter can give indigestion.

Tuesday we came home. Our morning including loading the car and eating cold pizza, then heading to AK for my EE and the bird show. I really like the bird show and everyone should go b/c maribou storks are bigger than you can imagine and owls are cool. We grabbed some quick service at Yak and Yeti and went back to sit by the pool until heading to the airport. My work week started to fall apart and I had to do a call with one colleague who knew where I was and one who did not. Honestly, monday was silent but then tuesday, when I took the day off and let everyone know I was taking the day off, the chat blows up and I missed a day's worth of crisis and trouble shooting and then had to catch up while secretly sitting in the Orlando airport. And this AM is sucky too. Of course.

Really, I'm glad my family had fun but I'm never doing a working vacation like this again. It was far too stressful for me. Also, I assume at some point I'll actually GO to work and this will be impossible. I'm glad we went, I enjoyed my evenings by the pool and in a park. My kid was grumpy about school work every day but did it. We're quarantined for the next four days and have a test on Saturday AM. My house is a disaster. My plants look terrible (my dad either forgets or over waters...my poor hibiscus...I work so hard keeping that girl alive all winter... and my ferns, brown fronds after any trip). I need a workout too. And less wine. My holiday cards are sitting here, unaddressed. 10 days in December sounds great until you get home!!

 

[k_hase]

I've got a minute right now, so I'll also sum up our sense of safety. We were very dedicated to hand sanitizer and hand washing, always wore masks except when swimming, and tried very hard to avoid touching surfaces or standing close to others.

For me it was an ever present stress, but I can see how one could become complacent b/c you feel fine and it's an invisible threat. Everyone I encountered was compliant, some clearly less concerned about touching things and using hand sanitizer and that kept my awareness heightened.

I like some of the new features and hope they stay--digital menus work for me, I like that it can be updated quickly and I can zoom on my phone to see them (old lady eyes!). It's less charming for sure but also less hassle for everyone. I like not having my bag searched and just zipping through the metal detector. I even kind of like no fastpasses; it removes the run around and planning and made us relaxed about times. I love mobile order for food as the only way to get food.

We're probably not going back until summer 2022. Our normal vacation routine is one year of Disney with multiple trips to maximize annual pass, then a year off when we travel elsewhere. In practice, this looks like August Year A-Disney/Early August Year B-Disney/July Year C-Europe. So last summer and this summer (and Nov, and Feb) were supposed to be Disney, this summer moved to Dec due to Covid, and next summer was supposed to be Turkey in July and Amsterdam in September. (I'm pretty sure Turkey never stopped Americans from traveling...)

Is any of that happening? I have no idea. But I'm out of points for the moment.

 

[kboo]

We lounged at the pool from 3 to 4:30 or so, where my son had made a friend but also ran into an unparented bully. There were a few tears, and I'm never quite sure what I should do. My kid will always be the odd one out; he's not athletic, he's gentle, doesn't like rough housing, isn't fast on his feet. When the new friend and not so friendly boy all decided to play tag, of course my kid was "It" and whenever he's "It" he's "it" forever. It become no fun for him b/c he can't find or catch the other kids so he sort of quits playing and is sad. But the bully kid decided he should not quit, and that now they should just wrestle and dunk each other. This, as predicted, ended in tears. We were there but the other kid's parents were not (my husband usually lets these things play out a bit, even if our kid is on the losing end, but stepped in once there were tears, which come admittedly quickly for my kid). The lifeguard then talked to the bully kid about dunking and had him sit out for 5 minutes (evidently he'd done this the day before?), the bully kid started to cry, then his Dad showed up and yelled at the lifeguard, and then another lifeguard gave the bully kid an ice cream!!! Gah!!

I was all ready for this being a great teachable moment for the bully until your last line. Sadly, I think it sounds like the dad is part of the problem. But maybe the teaching is still there. And maybe the ice cream is an acknowledgment that it's more the dad's fault than the kid.

I picked an Alsatian Riesling that I liked

Ooh... we found a great Riesling on our disney cruise some years back, bought a case of it (not easy to find!) and ran out. They have it at various places at WDW so we've gotten our fix that way. But maybe it's time to buy another case...

This is another dish my husband makes, currently teaching Adam to handle the torch; my spouse is heavy handed with the sugar and my kid is a 9 year old with a blow torch, so you can predict what this tastes like at my house.

I love every part of this image. One of our things is Christmas cookies (and cakes) and decorating them, and I am still stepping on sprinkles, etc on our floor from Sunday (and we did vacuum after decorating).

 

[k_hase]

Covid/Quarantine updates:
As per the rules, we were testing in Florida on Sunday 12/13 and upon landing in NYS completed our forms before leaving the airport on 12/15. We quarantined for four days and then had our next test on Saturday, 12/19.

All tests were negative, and we have had no symptoms, so I suspect we're okay.

The state(?) has texted me daily, but not my husband (we used both phone numbers) and, oddly, sent a text yesterday saying that as it had been four days I could test and be done with quarantine. I didn't realize they meant four business days? Because yesterday was 6 days.

I have no way to inform the system that keeps texting me that I have a negative test, so I guess I just keep replying "N" and go on my way.

In other not very exciting news, the guy who was fixing my car and getting it inspected still hasn't completed the work despite having my car for 16 days now. He's someone my husband trades service work with and cars, particularly little foreign diesel engines like mine, are his hobby. But lord have mercy, I'd really love to leave my house in my car!!

 

[k_hase]

You won't even believe this. After all the hub bub about who is 'remote' and who isn't we just declared everyone that who can do their job remotely to be remote. Like you only go to work if the work can't possibly be done in your house. For the foreseeable future I can just show my actual house in my background.

 

[k_hase]

Um. We might go again....

Here's that story:
Last January or February I bought tickets to San Francisco for a trip in April. We obviously could not go in April, and then again not in September, and then again not in November and now again, not next month (February). The rescheduling since September is due to a person we are visiting being uncomfortable with visitors, but with what her spouse would say is bordering on paranoid. And I don't disagree (frankly, she's become oddly reclusive and conspiracy theory driven, and I'm worried about her; that, however, is a tale for another day) but California is also in pretty bad shape right now. Unfortunately, we can't find a way to make this trip happen. I don't have enough days left before July to take a west coast trip, and we can go in July but we're holding out hope of visiting Turkey then and in September, Amsterdam. Our friend is not going to have visitors before then as far we can tell. I suppose I could rebook for even later in the year, but honestly, I'm tired of dealing with Delta.

In my trying to figure out what to do with this flight credit/change I've evaluated my current assets:
1. One way tickets on Delta worth roughly $165 a person
2. One way tickets on American worth roughly $150 a person
3. 25 Boardwalk Villa Points that I was going to bank
4. 4 AKV points that I was going to bank
5. Extremely old no expiration 10 day tickets with extras, with 6 extras left on each (they still work, on my MDE and everything, we've been to both water parks with them!)
6. Possible opening of Blizzard Beach on March 7.
7. Disney itch that needs a good scratch

So here's my new plan, as I sit on hold with Delta:
1. Change the delta tickets to a saturday in May, from landing in SFO to landing at MCO, ideally in the AM. (Delta has changed my SFO ticket time several times in each iteration of this trip, I hate them right now).
2. Change the AA tickets to the following monday, obviously leaving MCO rather than MCO.
3. Call DVC (how long will that hold call be?!) to combine my two contracts points and book two nights in a studio at Jambo house (maybe I should just pay for the OTU points and save myself the hold time?)
4. Visit Disney to just swim in the pool and go to a water park b/c I'm tired of trying to make this other trip work and I hate the idea of letting Delta keep my money.

Of course, I keep entertaining the idea of borrowing....

You might ask, why not get a credit? Then keep it for some other time? Because Delta sucks, that's why. B/c of my class of ticket and purchase dates I've been told over and over that I need to rebook, no credits for you!

 

[k_hase]

It's done. I"m finally using these tickets (I hope!).

We're booked for Sat May 8-Mon May 10 in a Boardwalk studio and plans to go to Blizzard Beach, ride the skyliner, and walk around the boardwalk at night.

Most expensive weekend ever and all so I can just get these tickets off my back.

***clarifying my plane tickets, b/c airlines are quite generous right now for the most part: I'd purchased these nearly a year ago, one way tix on different airlines. The tickets were already a cobbling together of voucher and purchased tickets and as such has become more problematic, requiring phone calls rather than completing everything online. While I could have rebooked for San Francisco next fall, I just want to stop thinking about these f'in tickets, use them, and be done. This was roughly a wash if we consider all the changes. I've been refunded/vouchered/paid extra each rebooking, always a few dollars here or there. In this case, my son was getting a refund of $13 and I had to pay $16, while my husband had to pay $45.

Kudos to both Delta and AA for making it pretty painless to change, in terms of the agent who helped. But Delta has got to figure out its queue for calls. Yesterday I waited for the call back, ended up missing it, decided to sit on hold instead, waited 4 hours and 20 minutes (i just sat it on my counter and went about my afternoon of watching Great British Baking Show), gave up, got back in the queue with the call back request, waited another 2 hours. They called me back at 7:30 this morning. That person was very helpful, but I basically spent 20ish hours trying to get Delta on the phone.

 

[k_hase]

Oh, and I just borrowed BWV points from the next year. Whatever. I can buy OTU now or later. Might as well use what I have now.

 

[k_hase]

Long time no planning!!! Until yesterday.

We're going for a short two nights (using up points) with no theme park tickets in May. Our family has two water park tickets and needed a third, so I just picked up one ticket for my son and am waiting for more information about how we ensure we get into Blizzard Beach on our preferred day.

The other important planning bit was dinner, on Mother's Day. Yesterday was my window for making a dining reservation, I noted it on my work calendar and my personal calendar and even set an alarm. Then I promptly forgot until 10PM last night. For a Mother's Day reservation at Topolino's Terrace.

The upside was that my window opened based on my check in day, and Mother's Day is our second day (and our water park day). So I was able to get an 8PM reservation!! I'm pretty pleased!

As it stands the plans are thus:
Arrive around 11:30AM on Saturday, hang out at the pool (this may seem weird, but it's still pretty damn cold in way way upstate NY and May at the pool will be lovely!)
Dinner at Al Forno (I managed to get that too...with my late bookings) at 6.
Sleep
Wake up and head to Blizzard Beach
Take the skyliner to Topolino's for dinner
Sleep
Go home.

Since this was all old plane tickets for trips that were cancelled and points about to expire and uses two existing park tickets the only new expenditures were for one water park ticket and any food/drink we purchase.

Also of note: both adults are vaccinated and as such no longer need to quarantine for travel, my kid on the other hand, will need the four day test upon return to NY so he can do stuff again.

 

[k_hase]

We're just a few days away from our trip and there's only one change from our plans!

Uber.

We discovered on our spring break trip to the beach that getting an Uber was really difficult, like no cars available when there had always been cars before. Stranded 5 miles away kind of no cars. After talking with the one driver we did find I learned that Uber drivers are hard to come by in lots of places, for two reasons: b/c the covid unemployment was, for many, a better deal than driving, and b/c some had decided not to drive a bunch of random people around. Whatever the reason, I decided that my plan to Uber from MCO was maybe not a good idea.

We're renting a car instead.

Uber prices are also high right now, and a the to and from the airport would have been roughly $85 plus tip. Ther rental was about $140. So....more, but also a sure thing. My thoughts were confirmed when I saw a post on a facebook DVC group about the lack of available Uber cars at Disney resorts. And this way we can also drive to Blizzard Beach rather than take the bus.

 

[BeeBopp717]

Long time no planning!!! Until yesterday.

We're going for a short two nights (using up points) with no theme park tickets in May. Our family has two water park tickets and needed a third, so I just picked up one ticket for my son and am waiting for more information about how we ensure we get into Blizzard Beach on our preferred day.

The other important planning bit was dinner, on Mother's Day. Yesterday was my window for making a dining reservation, I noted it on my work calendar and my personal calendar and even set an alarm. Then I promptly forgot until 10PM last night. For a Mother's Day reservation at Topolino's Terrace.

The upside was that my window opened based on my check in day, and Mother's Day is our second day (and our water park day). So I was able to get an 8PM reservation!! I'm pretty pleased!

As it stands the plans are thus:
Arrive around 11:30AM on Saturday, hang out at the pool (this may seem weird, but it's still pretty damn cold in way way upstate NY and May at the pool will be lovely!)
Dinner at Al Forno (I managed to get that too...with my late bookings) at 6.
Sleep
Wake up and head to Blizzard Beach
Take the skyliner to Topolino's for dinner
Sleep
Go home.

Since this was all old plane tickets for trips that were cancelled and points about to expire and uses two existing park tickets the only new expenditures were for one water park ticket and any food/drink we purchase.

Also of note: both adults are vaccinated and as such no longer need to quarantine for travel, my kid on the other hand, will need the four day test upon return to NY so he can do stuff again.

Honestly that sounds like 48 hours of pure bliss. Great meals that you scored too.