Masks Never Bothered Me Anyway-An August 2020 TR *Completed 2/26*

[Chef Dion]

Wlecome to another one Alexis!


Welcome!


Those are great tips thanks, we actually already had our trip at the beginning of the month, but hope others can use those tips.

You're welcome. That comment was actually meant for flyingw/tink, whom I quoted.

I am looking forward to see if we had a share experience as we arrived just after you departed. We stayed at Pop Century, and boy was that morning Skyliner line long at Pop and then twice as long at CBR. Otherwise, with the few notable exceptions listed above, we had a very pleasant and liesure trip.

 

[suse66]

Joining in! Love that you had a special mom/son trip and can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[DisneyLeafsFan2015]

Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!

 

[ashw100]

You're welcome. That comment was actually meant for flyingw/tink, whom I quoted.

I am looking forward to see if we had a share experience as we arrived just after you departed. We stayed at Pop Century, and boy was that morning Skyliner line long at Pop and then twice as long at CBR. Otherwise, with the few notable exceptions listed above, we had a very pleasant and liesure trip.

We had some Skyliner issues. I quickly realized Pop got the short end of the stick when we were on our way to DHS from CBR on the skyliner, but the Pop/AoA line wasn't even running in the morning. It would really suck to have to wait in two lines in the morning.

Joining in! Love that you had a special mom/son trip and can't wait to hear all about it!

Thanks for joining in!

Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!

Thanks for coming along for the ride.

 

[ashw100]

Escaping the Real World

The week leading up to the trip was very different than normal. Usually I am filled with uncontrolled excitement, it is hard for me to get things done. And while I was excited, I was also incredibly nervous. We had a lot of personal things going on like back-to-school and work issues, that I felt completely unprepared for the trip. Life was so hectic, that for the first time ever before a Disney trip, I packed the day before.

We needed lots of masks

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The night before we left J and I got to bed early, as we had a VERY long day ahead of us. I captured a sweet moment between J and my oldest C, they would really miss each other.

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Disney day came, and we were up early, 3 am in fact. We needed to utilize as much of our time as possible, so the first flight out it was. Since it was early, we had no traffic and made it to Love Field pretty quickly. We grabbed a good parking spot and got on the elevator to take us to the ground floor. Press the button, doors close, and the elevator jerks and then stops moving.



I of course start pressing every button, and nothing happens. I didn’t want to panic right away and call someone if it was fine. We waited about 60 seconds, and then after no prompting the door opens, and we got the heck out of there.

So where we live was in the middle of a pretty serious outbreak, and the very few times I went out people weren't super compliant with the rules, so I just chose to stay home as mush as possible. I was most nervous about being in the airport, and sadly I was not reassured by behavior I saw when we got to the airport. The first person I encountered was the Southwest woman who took our checked bags. As I walked up to the counter, she pulled down her mask, picked her teeth, and then grabbed my bag and ID.



To say I was disgusted was an understatement. I quickly sanitized my hands and ID and said a little prayer that that would be worst of it. We made our way over to security. We were told we would have to pull down our masks and walk through a temperature scanner. I think these were in testing for Southwest at the time. From there it was your typical TSA screening, weirdly we did not have to take down our masks to prove our identity. James was selected for the random screening, but it was the quick hand swabs.

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Once through security we went in search of food. James wanted Chick Fil A so we got in line. Social distancing wasn’t great as the switchbacks forced you to be near others, so I was happy to get through the line quickly.

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After our yummy breakfast, we got some snacks for the plane and found a secluded area near out gate to wait for boarding.

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When it was time to board, we were called in groups of 10 to avoid crowding in the gate area. Our flight was “full” but middle seats are being kept open on Southwest flights, so we had a row to ourselves. Thanks to early bird, we were able to grab the second row of seats on the plane.

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Ready to go

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Other than lots of turbulence, our flight was uneventful.

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Ready for the first ride of the trip.

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MCO was not very crowded and super easy to get through.

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Up until the last couple of trips, we have always rented a car. I weighted the pros and cons, but we really wanted to reduce possible exposure wherever we could, so I figured renting a car would be the best option. I went with Budget, which is a first for me. Typically we go with Alamo and you can just walk right out to the car. The line for Budget was long, and I sure missed the convenience of Alamo. We were assigned a Hyundai Elantra, so we went off in search of it.

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One frustrating thins about the car was that it did not have a key fob. Typically when renting a car, I like to have the alarm feature that way I can find it in the huge parking lot, but this time without the feature I would really have to be observant about where we parked.

Soon we were on the road to Disney World. We didn’t hit any traffic and it was smooth sailing until we saw this wonderful sign.

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As I had mentioned, the few weeks leading up to the trip had been super stressful. My anxiety had been through the roof and I constantly felt like my stomach was in knots and my heart was racing. As if by magic, the second I drove under that beautiful sign my entire body relaxed and the tension drained. For the first time in weeks (and let’s be honest for the better part of the last 5 months) I didn’t feel stressed and anxious. As nervous as I was to take this trip, I think it was exactly what I needed.

We stopped at the gas station near the Boardwalk to get some snacks and drinks to get us through the weekend. Then we were pulling up to our home for the next three nights.

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For our originally planned trip in May, we were supposed to stay at Port Orleans Riverside. When I rebooked for August, I booked Port Orleans French Quarter and I had been so excited to stay there. My goal is to stay somewhere new each time and POFQ is somewhere we can’t stay as a family of 5 normally, so I was excited to try it. But when they announced that those wouldn’t open, we were moved to Caribbean Beach Resort. Now I have stayed here 3 times already, in fact it’s the only hotel I have stayed at more than once, so I wasn’t super thrilled. In the end though I was very happy with it. Because I have stayed here so much, it is the one place that truly feels like “home”. Also we loved getting access to the skyliner, so all in all it wasn’t so bad. We were assigned Aruba building 33, which is not a great spot since it is so far from everything. The great thing for us though was we had a car so it didn’t really matter how far we were from all the amenities.

We found our room and I was excited to check out all the updated cleaning procedures.

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Even though the room felt clean, I had brought my own disinfectant and sprayed down the high touch points as a precaution. After thoroughly cleaning, we changed into our bathing suits and drove over to Old Port Royale. We had ordered our lunch while still in the room, and we just tapped the they we were there when we arrived. We took the time to check out the gift shop while we waited.

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After convincing J to not spend all his souvenir money in the first hour, we found a comfy spot in the lobby to wait to be called.

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Last time we stayed at CBR it was still undergoing the renovations and the skyliner was being built, so we hadn’t see this newly redone area. It was very nice in there.

When you do mobile order now, they will not let you into the food area until your order is ready. It took about 10 minutes for our order to be called, and they we were directed right to the pickup windows where we were handed our food. All food was given in to go boxes, and you could pick up your condiments. There was a separate drink station, where CMs would get drinks for everyone. James and I both got the same thing, and kid’s hamburger with fries and fruit.

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The burger was good and hit the spot. I am glad I went with the kids size, because it filled me right up. We had a great view of the skyliner from our dining spot.

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James was more interested in the Disney channel though.

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After our lunch, we took a quick dip in the pool.

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J had been so exited to stay here because other than Stormalong Bay, this is his favorite Disney pool. He had been excited to go on the slide, but once we were there I think he was too shy. Instead he had fun practicing his swimming.

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I figured he would warm up and try the slide another day, but sadly we never got back to the pool after this first afternoon.

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[Ecomommy09]

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I figured he would warm up and try the slide another day, but sadly we never got back to the pool after this first afternoon.
[/QUOTE]

I always think we will spend time at the pool, and then I'm scrambling to make it everywhere on time! Ha!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

It's such a pet peeve of mine when people pull down their masks as you approach them. I understand taking a break if no one is around but if you pull it down when people are near you, what's the point

The pool at CBR impressed me too lol!

 

[tundra1]

I am enjoying your report so far! We are taking our grandson in November, who is close in age to your son J, so I will be interested to see what types of rides and activities J liked best. Thanks for sharing your adventure!

 

[missangelalexis]

Scary start to the trip between the elevator mishap and the gross woman at the counter!!

Glad the flight was smooth. No matter what, seeing that sign always provides a sense of happiness, and I'm sure even more so during all this!!

Sounds like a nice start to the trip en joying the resort!

 

[Verstehen]

Following along! I can't believe that SW employee did that. I'm not super germphobic but that is absolutely disgusting to the point you have to wonder what was going on in her head. I'm glad you had a good time and I think it's so awesome your middle son got a special trip.

 

[ashw100]

It's such a pet peeve of mine when people pull down their masks as you approach them. I understand taking a break if no one is around but if you pull it down when people are near you, what's the point

The pool at CBR impressed me too lol!

I know, what is even the point if you're going to pull the mask down

I am enjoying your report so far! We are taking our grandson in November, who is close in age to your son J, so I will be interested to see what types of rides and activities J liked best. Thanks for sharing your adventure!

How exciting, I hope you have a great time. We loved the low crowds and chances to ride all the rides.

Scary start to the trip between the elevator mishap and the gross woman at the counter!!

Glad the flight was smooth. No matter what, seeing that sign always provides a sense of happiness, and I'm sure even more so during all this!!

Sounds like a nice start to the trip en joying the resort!

It was not a great start, thankfully people are Disney were much better. Seeing that sign was the thing I needed during all this craziness.

Following along! I can't believe that SW employee did that. I'm not super germphobic but that is absolutely disgusting to the point you have to wonder what was going on in her head. I'm glad you had a good time and I think it's so awesome your middle son got a special trip.

Right, like that's nasty even when we're not in a pandemic . Thanks for following along!

 

[ashw100]

Where are all People?

After our nice, but quick time in the pool, we were headed out and we heard the fire alarm going off at the pool bar. It was strange because no one seemed worried, but it went on too long for it just to be a test. We wandered for a bit to check out the refurbished area.

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As we were walking back to our car, a fire truck pulled up which made the whole fire situation weirder. We drove back to our room. The very first time we stayed at CBR, in 2011, I believed we stayed in this section. So I asked J to take my picture so I could send it to me mom. I had taken a similar picture when I was 13, and I though she would enjoy it.

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James wanted a picture too, this kid hates pictures and as a picture loving mom, I was eager to grant his request.

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We got changed into our park clothes and then made our way to the skyliner.

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We were getting our first glimpse of the physical distancing measures.

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There was not a soul around us the entire walk over, we didn’t see a person until we got to the station and even then it was just CMs. We were able to get right on the gondola to Epcot.

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I had given J my old phone to use during the trip. The main reason being, I wanted him to have something to do in line that would keep his hands busy so he wasn’t touching stuff. Normally I wouldn’t dream of letting him be on a phone or ipad in the park, but for this trip I made a special exemption. He took the first opportunity to take some selfies.

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Our Skyliner trip was great, I really enjoy this mode of transportation, although later in the evening I see it’s drawbacks. We got to Epcot and it was all I could not to run up to the gates. I was so exited to be back in the Disney parks. First though we had to get our temperatures taken. This process was quick and easy, and we were on our way to security. Weirdly again, we were the only guests around, the only people we saw were CMs. They have new security procedures since that last time I visited, and I had read up about them.

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Even though the security says you can keep everything in your bag other than umbrellas, I knew I was still going to set the sensors off. I told the security CM that I had lots of metal in my bag, but he said it would be fine. Sure enough, I walked through and it went off. I had to take all metal out of my bag, which for me was my metal water bottle, phone, backup phone charger, and camera. Once I was checked, I was cleared to go through. We scanned our bands, no finger scans which is great when you have kids, and we were in. We went left and planned to head straight to Future World. Even though I knew and hoped that the crowds would be low, it was still weird to actually experience it. There was maybe 10 people on the walkway through UK and this was around 3:00. Alice was out in the garden area, so we went to say hello.

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I don’t think I have actually ever been back here, it’s super cute.

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The World Showplace was open, and I have never been there, but I had a kid itching to get on some rides, so we didn’t stop.

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A “crowd” picture as we walked to Canada.

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Our first view of the Future World construction

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jADiAi]​

Our plan was just to hit all the rides in order, since an efficient touring plan that has you zig zagging across the park wasn’t needed this trip. First up, we had Figment.

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J was very excited to see Flubber and Honey I shrunk the Kids represented in the queue, Disney+ has allowed my boys to view these classics.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jAGNAE]

https://flic.kr/p/2jAGNBS

https://flic.kr/p/2jAGNBS

We got a vehicle all to ourselves

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jAHzh9]

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The ride had some malfunctions when we rode in December, but it looked to be a great condition this time around. Sadly Imageworks was all closed off, even though I am not a fan of Epcot’s post-show activities my boys are, so it was sad to just have to walk on by.

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J pretending he’s Ralph

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Next up we had the Disney and Pixar Film Festival. J has never done this one, so he was pretty excited. He really wanted to focus on new to him things this trip.

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Once we were let into the waiting area, we saw dots on the floor to separate parties.

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Also every other row, and the blocks of four chairs in open rows were blocked off.

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J really liked the shorts, I have seen this a couple of times so I hope they change out of the shorts soon, but otherwise it was a nice break. One thing I will say is that wearing those 3D glasses with difficult with a mask. I kept fogging it up, I believe the bridge it not deep enough so I can squash down my mask enough to stop the air like I do with my sunglasses. Next up, we’re gonna head to The Land.

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[kittylady1972]

What a fantastic trip so far! Can't wait to read more!

 

[Piglet843]

 

[rdkeim]

Following! Glad you decided to go ahead with your mother/son trip! What a better place for bonding time. We moved our Sept trip to the first of March - I'm not cancelling again

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm sure it was so exciting to get to Epcot! Sounds like you were off to a great start!!

 

[ashw100]

What a fantastic trip so far! Can't wait to read more!

Thank you

Following! Glad you decided to go ahead with your mother/son trip! What a better place for bonding time. We moved our Sept trip to the first of March - I'm not cancelling again

I hope you get to go, cancelling trip is so depressing. I'm glad we stuck it out and went.

I'm sure it was so exciting to get to Epcot! Sounds like you were off to a great start!!

It was, and it was so excited to enjoy it while it was so empty.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures. Love that you got to have a special trip with your son .

 

[ashw100]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures. Love that you got to have a special trip with your son .

Thanks for following along.

 

[Gamedog]

In for updates!