LA Poolboy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2015
We just returned from another WDW vacation, our 20something numbered trip (we've lost count). I will start by saying that we did have a nice time. We got to do some things that we have enjoyed for many years but it was our first trip without our children. We started taking them when they were 4 and 6, they are now 24 and 26 and college graduates. It was just "Mama and me" this trip so it was very different. We had gone in May of 2021 so we were aware of some of the changes and we watch Pete and the Dis regularly so we knew some of the new stuff. Let me digress a bit...
We were scheduled to start the trip with a cruise on the Disney Dream. I tested positive at the port with no symptoms and triple vaccinated so that was a surprise. We did our 5 day required quarantine at a beautiful hotel on the beach at Cocoa Beach and watched the waves roll in and out while eating delivered food. When quarantine was over we drove over to WDW and parked up at Pop Century and hit the reserved parks and also had park hoppers. The night before arrival at the World my wife found out the skyliner would not be running to EPCOT from Day 2 and for the remaining days of our trip, so she switched a couple of days reservations around so we could utilize the Skyliner the first day to EPCOT. EPCOT was good and the "golfball" is absolutely amazing now at night. We got in line for Remy's first and that long got LONG but we stayed and enjoyed the ride for the first time. Of course by the time our ride on Remy was over the park was then open to all guests so lines just got longer. We watched the Beauty and the Beast sing a long which I had never knew existed. Cute. Then breakfast at France's Patisserie. Walked around and did what we wanted without lines, which means we didn't do Frozen nor Test Track, but we did do Soarin', and Spaceship Earth. Room was ready around mid-afternoon so we Skylined back to Pop and unloaded our stuff. We generally take naps early afternoon and then go back to parks at night.
The rest of the week went well with lowered expectations as to the crowd size. Rope dropped all but the last day and did what we wanted within reason. Did we do as much as our normal trips? No, not by a long shot. But we still had a good time. I can't tell you if it was worth the cost because my wife does not tell me what these trips cost. We made that deal about 20 years ago. We did do a couple of table service dinners, Whispering Canyon and Steakhouse 71. Both good but Steakhouse 71 was GREAT!. Parks were filled except Magic Kingdom on Tuesday when it was scheduled to close at 4:30 pm. We loved that day! I feel like our WDW trip hasn't started until we get to Magic Kingdom and that was a good day! Rode what we wanted and saw what we wanted. As far as other parks...EPCOT still has the big plywood walls up through the center of the Future World, but the "golfball" at night is amazing! Hollywood Studios has done away with just about everything that I enjoyed about that park but we did do ROR and TSM. Animal Kingdom has never been a park that I looked forward to but we did get in line for FOP so my wife could ride it (I waited for her at the exit) and Safaris. Rode the train out to Rafiki's and enjoyed drawing again as we hadn't done that since it left HS years ago. The rest of the trip we mainly stayed at MK and EPCOT. Enjoyed fish and chips from Yorkshire while listening to the one band playing now in Canada. While there a young couple gave us a couple of tickets to Disney on Broadway that they couldn't use!! How nice! The tix were for the 8:00 show but we were check the line situation for the 6:45 show and the cast member invited us on in for that show as the crowd just wasn't there. Great show!
A couple of notes as I really am trying to make this shorter...Housekeeping is almost non-existent except for the daily "inspections" during prime nap time. When I did call for more towels though they were delivered within minutes. We were not aware that soda had gone up to almost $5 per drink so we started taking our own bottled drinks with us. All the plexiglass on the buses and monorails is gone. Loading buses just like pre-Covid, monorails too. For those who are concerned that I had tested positive let me inform you that I wore my mask all the time and am triple vaccinated and had no symptoms and we quarantined the required amount of time. Prices are higher, lines are longer. My advice is go see for yourself if you will have a good time.
We were scheduled to start the trip with a cruise on the Disney Dream. I tested positive at the port with no symptoms and triple vaccinated so that was a surprise. We did our 5 day required quarantine at a beautiful hotel on the beach at Cocoa Beach and watched the waves roll in and out while eating delivered food. When quarantine was over we drove over to WDW and parked up at Pop Century and hit the reserved parks and also had park hoppers. The night before arrival at the World my wife found out the skyliner would not be running to EPCOT from Day 2 and for the remaining days of our trip, so she switched a couple of days reservations around so we could utilize the Skyliner the first day to EPCOT. EPCOT was good and the "golfball" is absolutely amazing now at night. We got in line for Remy's first and that long got LONG but we stayed and enjoyed the ride for the first time. Of course by the time our ride on Remy was over the park was then open to all guests so lines just got longer. We watched the Beauty and the Beast sing a long which I had never knew existed. Cute. Then breakfast at France's Patisserie. Walked around and did what we wanted without lines, which means we didn't do Frozen nor Test Track, but we did do Soarin', and Spaceship Earth. Room was ready around mid-afternoon so we Skylined back to Pop and unloaded our stuff. We generally take naps early afternoon and then go back to parks at night.
The rest of the week went well with lowered expectations as to the crowd size. Rope dropped all but the last day and did what we wanted within reason. Did we do as much as our normal trips? No, not by a long shot. But we still had a good time. I can't tell you if it was worth the cost because my wife does not tell me what these trips cost. We made that deal about 20 years ago. We did do a couple of table service dinners, Whispering Canyon and Steakhouse 71. Both good but Steakhouse 71 was GREAT!. Parks were filled except Magic Kingdom on Tuesday when it was scheduled to close at 4:30 pm. We loved that day! I feel like our WDW trip hasn't started until we get to Magic Kingdom and that was a good day! Rode what we wanted and saw what we wanted. As far as other parks...EPCOT still has the big plywood walls up through the center of the Future World, but the "golfball" at night is amazing! Hollywood Studios has done away with just about everything that I enjoyed about that park but we did do ROR and TSM. Animal Kingdom has never been a park that I looked forward to but we did get in line for FOP so my wife could ride it (I waited for her at the exit) and Safaris. Rode the train out to Rafiki's and enjoyed drawing again as we hadn't done that since it left HS years ago. The rest of the trip we mainly stayed at MK and EPCOT. Enjoyed fish and chips from Yorkshire while listening to the one band playing now in Canada. While there a young couple gave us a couple of tickets to Disney on Broadway that they couldn't use!! How nice! The tix were for the 8:00 show but we were check the line situation for the 6:45 show and the cast member invited us on in for that show as the crowd just wasn't there. Great show!
A couple of notes as I really am trying to make this shorter...Housekeeping is almost non-existent except for the daily "inspections" during prime nap time. When I did call for more towels though they were delivered within minutes. We were not aware that soda had gone up to almost $5 per drink so we started taking our own bottled drinks with us. All the plexiglass on the buses and monorails is gone. Loading buses just like pre-Covid, monorails too. For those who are concerned that I had tested positive let me inform you that I wore my mask all the time and am triple vaccinated and had no symptoms and we quarantined the required amount of time. Prices are higher, lines are longer. My advice is go see for yourself if you will have a good time.
