Welcome summer! My last trip to Disney was somewhat of a spur of the moment idea to celebrate the end of the school year and the start of summer. Normally, Disney being a spur of the moment vacation is laughable at best. COVID though has made that a possibility right now after causing a very disrupted travel cycle. As far as Disney is concerned though, we are quickly losing our spur of the moment ability as the parks are rapidly shifting back closer to ‘normal’ (or new normal) and guests are coming back in droves. Availability in the resorts is still decent for July and August, but September starts the real possibility that if you don’t already have lodging set, you won’t be traveling to Disney this fall. Even 2022 has pockets of very low resort availability! Book with me, by yourself (WHY?!?!), or with another agent that specializes in Disney travel, but get that room reserved!

So Disney, early June. The kid and I hopped on a plane the day after school got out for the year and headed south. Smooth flight, a luggage delay in Orlando due to lightning, then we were off. After quickly boarding Magical Express, we found ourselves on the Disney resort world tour like never before. Typical Magical Express drop offs and pick ups involve going to multiple resorts, but those resorts are usually close to each other. This particular drop off route had us at Saratoga Springs, Fort Wilderness, the Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and finally to the Contemporary, where we were staying. The kid and I were literally the last two people on the bus when we got to our resort. I have no idea how Saratoga Springs and the Fort worked their way into our bus route, but SURPRISE! You never really know where you will go before you end up at your resort… that’s why I always say you need to allow plenty of time between when your flight is scheduled to land before you need to be somewhere. Nothing like being in a rush, or missing, a dining reservation on your first night!

The Contemporary is a fun resort, under major renovation right now that is scheduled to wrap this fall. All of the rooms in the A-frame tower, the main building at the resort, are being re-imagined into rooms with an Incredibles theme. There is a huge debate online about renovating these rooms but, to be honest, they were ready for a refresh. Disney fans are often fans of things staying exactly the same, no change. Hard crowd. Just like the Polynesian resort having its rooms renovated with a Moana theme (opening in late July), it is nice to see some changes at these deluxe level resorts. The themes being added aren’t over the top, just a nice overlay that provides some interest for the kids (and adults!) but not going overboard. We stayed in the garden wing this time, a set of three-story buildings that are located to the back right of the main tower. It was our first time in the garden wing and I have to say, I was really happy there. I’m sure there are rooms that would be a much longer walk that ours was to get to, but ours was in a perfect spot. Easy access to the tower, short walk around the building to the bus stop, right at the pool, great patio outside where I could watch the monorails go by for hours. The rooms here are in the style that the tower’s rooms were, and these are to be renovated after the tower is done. They need a refresh too, mainly to get rid of the carpet, but the room was very comfortable and incredibly spacious. Check out that desk! For someone who works a lot while on vacation (hello 6am dining and 12am Savi’s reservations!), having this kind of workspace is so helpful. I’ll be back in the tower in October for my next trip and I’m hoping that there is still a big desk for me to take care of business while on the road!

With FastPass service still being unavailable, we had the unique opportunity to ride some of our favorite attractions without those ridiculously long lines. We have ridden Flight of Passage in Animal Kingdom tons of times but have never once gone through the regular (non-FastPass) queue. It was a treat to be able to see the queue, take pictures, and really enjoy part of what makes this ride so cool. Our wait was posted at 75 minutes, but we were through the queue, ride, and in the gift shop within an hour. Totally worth it to see all of the extra theming!

Speaking of no FastPasses, another thing we did was hang out in the parks until closing or very close to. In the ‘before times’ we would do that too but haven’t done that as much in the last several trips. The kid and I spent a ton of time in Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios and found ourselves there on our first night basically alone. There were hardly any guests in that section after about 7pm (8pm closing time for the park) and we were able to take tons of pictures with no guests in them. We decided closer to 8pm to go ahead and start walking out, so we headed through Toy Story Land to get back to the front of the park. Realizing it was very close to 8pm but not 8pm yet, we hopped in the line for Slinky Dog Dash right as the clock hit 8pm and the park officially closed. Tip, as long as you’re in the line by the time the park closes, you still get to ride. We might have waited 15 minutes or so before we were on our way, riding on Slinky across the tracks above Toy Story Land. Epic!

I love a good festival and Epcot has one going on just about all year round now! We were able to sneak in one last visit during the Flower and Garden Festival before the Food and Wine Festival starts up on July 15th. That is super early for Food and Wine which normally doesn’t start until right around Labor Day. More time for everyone to enjoy! Epcot is undergoing such a huge transformation right now with the addition of new rides and attractions, layout changes, and so much more. I can’t wait to see the park when it is finished, but I’m also loving seeing it as it morphs from one trip to the next!

As with all changes, we haven’t had a scheduled parade in the parks since the COVID reopening last year. Gone is the 3:00pm daily parade in Magic Kingdom. A source of complaints for sure, but not from me! In the place of that scheduled parade are a number of character cavalcades that go through the parks. Magic Kingdom has three sets of characters that go by throughout the day, Epcot has Mickey and friends and then a princess cavalcade, Animal Kingdom has boats that travel through the waterways, and Hollywood Studios has Disney Junior and Pixar offerings. You can basically be steps from these cavalcades, essentially face to face with your favorite characters. No staking out a spot an hour in advance in the sun, sitting on the hot pavement, people hanging over you trying to take videos while you are trying to enjoy yourself. The music starts, you know a parade is coming, guests form a very rough edge and the cavalcade comes through. I was having a Coke and a Mickey pretzel in front of the Castle when this princess cavalcade came through, see the (not zoomed in) picture below. I didn’t even have to move a muscle to see the floats go by. As you can see from the other guests though, I could have easily gotten right up there and snapped as many pics as I wanted. There was all kinds of room to stand, without feeling sandwiched in. My daughter even walked away from where I was and took some pictures up closer as the floats went around the hub in front of the Castle. So few people I saw her at all times, she got some great shots, and I enjoyed my pretzel. So much better than before! The princesses are able to actually make eye contact with you, maybe comment on your outfit, say ‘happy birthday’ to someone wearing a button, etc. Fantastic!

Speaking of Cinderella Castle, it continues to transform for the 50th birthday celebration for Magic Kingdom that kicks off on October 1st. Check out the spire decorations, so pretty! If you were wondering why the fall is so busy, Magic Kingdom’s 50th has a lot to do with it. So do the numerous cancelations of trips from the fall of 2020, fall always being a very popular time to travel, the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot, the new Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure ride in Epcot opening on October 1st, and travel demand! After being cooped up for months, everyone is ready to get out of the house and back to some kind of normal. For so many of us, Disney is that normal we are so longing for. I am incredibly fortunate to be able to visit several times a year (on my own dime, no free trips here) even though the drive is about 12.5 hours for me. Thankfully I can fly in about two hours, after a two hour drive to the airport. Ah, the things we do for Disney love!

Until next time!

xoxo, Amber

Spring at Disney World is one of the most magical times to visit. I have enjoyed many a magical spring break with the Mouse as the Flower and Garden Festival blooms at Epcot and the temperatures start to creep up to their summer highs. COVID made this spring break pretty unusual since the theme park crowds were capped, keeping the typical hours (and hours) long wait times much lower than usual. We started the week in the low 90s and ended with a high of 60! Talk about needing to pack a variety of clothes!

The trip started at Disney’s Polynesian Village resort, in a studio villa room. The Poly is under heavy renovation right now with only the villa side of the resort open for guests. The Great Ceremonial House is open but services are limited and the monorail station at the resort is completely closed. For those looking to travel to Magic Kingdom, the resort boat, bus, or walking along the new (long) walking path are your options. The Epcot monorail line has been out of service for quite some time, so you have to catch a bus to get there or go to the other theme parks. ‘Ohana, one of my favorite restaurants, hasn’t reopened yet either, which keeps guests that aren’t staying at the resort to a minimum. Both pools are open and as beautiful as always. I love the saltwater quiet pool that is closest to the villas. The Barefoot Pool Bar at the main pool was still serving up delish drinks, including my new favorite margarita, a frozen margarita with Dole Whip lime. And the stuff around the edges? Chili-lime seasoning. Oh… so very good! The resort was so relaxing that I might seek out a resort in major renovation stage in the future to help thin the crowds!

We wanted this trip to be a little more ‘chill’ than some of our trips have been, so we made sure to factor in a good bit of downtime into our plans. I like having time to just explore the resort I’m staying at, taking photos, walking around and seeing what you’d normally blast right past on your way to the parks, and enjoying the pools. Each resort is so different, and things change so often, that you could truly have a completely different trip every time you visited. That’s what keeps Disney fresh for me too, that there are constant changes and improvements with each adventure. We’ve now visited on five separate trips since the parks and resorts reopened last July and each trip has been so different. The festivals at Epcot help keep the options there fun and exciting and I can never get enough time in Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios.

I hear grumbling about masks and will admit, don’t love ’em, but they’re a fact of life that we’re all dealing with right now. I refuse to let them hamper my fun. I have never been one to run around from one end of a park to the other, trying just to check off everything that (I think) there is to do. I don’t encourage that approach for my clients either. While you might ‘think’ you’re doing it all, you most certainly are not. You’re probably hitting the main attractions but you are missing what makes Disney unique. If you go to Disney with that plan right now, you’re likely to have an epic fail. This is the time to go to enjoy yourself. Take the time to see things you’ve never seen before. Ride the rides you can never get on because the lines are normally too long (and don’t for one second think that a 20-minute line for an attraction is outrageous, you’ve never seen a Disney line if you think 20 minutes is a long one). Sit down, relax, and take in the sights and sounds of the parks. Enjoy the food. Interact with the Cast Members. Take off that mask in a Relaxation Station while you enjoy a snack and a cool drink. Disney was always meant to be a place where a family could go and do things together, making memories and having fun. It morphed into a checklist of everything you had to do or you just didn’t do Disney ‘right’. That’s ridiculous. You can go to Disney multiple times each year and never do all of the things there are to do. Go, wear your mask, squeeze your kid, stay hydrated, and talk the whole way home about how awesome that favorite ride was.

Now that I’m off that soapbox, back to the trip. The parks, fantastic as always. The lines I saw were laughable at best. Mine Train well under an hour. Ha, that’s crazytown compared to the normal 2-3 hours during spring break. We rode Haunted Mansion back to back with no wait in the early evening. Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway with a posted 30-minute wait, might have waited for 20, tops. The other cool thing that people aren’t thinking about is that, for some of the most popular rides, have you ever even been in the normal queue? Most people can only ride these popular rides with FastPasses, when that service was available because the lines were hours long without one. So you never saw the regular queue, some of which are incredibly themed and have exhibits and games. That doesn’t mean I’m going to wait in a three-hour line to look at a queue, but I sure will enjoy it during my 20-30 minute stroll through. Darn soapbox.

After the Polynesian, we made the mistake of moving over to the Swan resort. I had never stayed at the Swan or the Dolphin resorts as they are not owned by Disney and do not come with some of the Disney amenities that you want like being able to use Magic Bands, Magical Express, charging to the room, and now even Disney bus service to the parks. They’re providing charter buses to the parks but those don’t drop off where Disney buses do up at the front of the parks so, hope you like walking! Anyway, had to see what the Swan draw was but, couldn’t find it. While the location is good, sitting in the Boardwalk area near the Disney-owned Boardwalk Inn, Yacht Club, and Beach Club resorts, that was the only perk. Someone commented to me that the hotels reminded them of Las Vegas and maybe that’s what some of the turnoff was. There was nothing at all special about these hotels. They are high-rise properties with one set of elevators per wing of the building that are slow and can get some pretty incredible lines in the evening as guests return to the resort. We even took the stairs up to our room one evening, and if you know me, I am not a stair taker. The pools look nice online, especially the Grotto pool over at the Dolphin resort. We walked to the Swan pool and all the way over to the Dolphin pools and could not find one single beach chair to put our stuff on to get in any of the three pool areas or the beach. Not one. Very luckily, this was the day we left the Polynesian so we were able to get right back in the van and go back to the Polynesian to enjoy their pool again until the end of the day. How many people were in the Poly pool? Maybe 10, including the three of us. The Swan room itself was ok, decent size but bizarrely shaped as a corner room. The bathroom was one of the tiniest bathrooms I have ever seen in a hotel. You could sit on the toilet and put one hand in the sink and your foot in the tub at the same time. Forget having more than one person trying to use the space at the same time. It was hard not to fall over the toilet trying to use the sink. Coming from the Polynesian with the split bathrooms where you had a big walk-in shower and sink in one bathroom and a normal tub/shower combo plus toilet and second vanity in the other bathroom, this was such a letdown. OK, I should know better than staying at the Polynesian and then downgrading to the Swan but jeez. Even the Courtyard hotel we stayed at on the drive to Florida had a bathroom twice the size of the one at the Swan. And don’t get me started about resort and parking fees! I knew about these going in but, for the resort being a huge bummer, the fees didn’t improve the impression. $140.54 charged to my card on departure for two nights of parking and resort fees. Lesson learned.

Oh yeah! Outlets. I wanted to go to the Disney Character Warehouse Outlets near Universal to see what kind of great deals I could find. I knew they were operating with a line system where you would give your number and they would text you with a return time to enter the store. This helps with crowds and social distancing and is sensible right now because the store gets packed. What I didn’t know… Over 80 families in front of me waiting to go into the store. No idea how long that would take before I could go in. If you’ve been to these outlets, they’re not exactly ones I want to spend a ton of time in. I go for the Disney outlet and that’s it. I’m not a big shopper anymore either and there was no way I could find something to do for hours and hours waiting to be able to go into the store. Super disappointing. Add that to the time it takes to drive over there, traffic, and the horrendous parking at the outlets, this was another mistake I won’t repeat. The parking here is usually nuts where you drive up and down the rows until you see someone leaving and you race to pull into the spot before the next guy. The Character Warehouse outlets have been taken over by shoppers who go in and buy all that they can find to turn around and resell on various websites. So those folks hoard and spend way too long of a turn in the store. Grrrr. I’d love to go back to a time when what someone bought was actually for their own use and not to try to turn a resale profit. There are so many things you get shut out of buying now because of this practice and it frustrates me on the regular. If you don’t want the thing you’re buying, leave it at the store for someone that does!!

We had a lovely dinner at The Wave at the Contemporary resort after the outlet debacle, so that made the day perk up in a hurry. Some exploration at the Contemporary and a little pin trading put the smiles back on (under our masks.) One of our days was spent hopping from Hollywood Studios to Magic Kingdom and then to Epcot, a blast and a half! We hit our personal highlights and hopped ’til we dropped. So worth those sore feet the next day!

Giordano’s Pizza! I note this place as a delivery option for clients on their travel documents and always try to work it in for my own trips. Well, I worked it in twice on this trip! They have the best deep dish pizza and the hubs is now hooked on one of their subs. It is a really good thing Giordano’s doesn’t exist here in Virginia! You just place your order on their website and wait for the delivery person to text that they are almost to your resort. Delivery does take some time, so plan ahead and don’t worry about it running a little past their estimate, remember the traffic! You will not go to bed hungry after a Giordano’s delivery!

Another lovely trip in the books and we’re already planning the next one, set for the fall. That feels like so long from now though that we might have to squeeze another trip in before then. If only there was a high-speed train from my house to Mickey…

Until next time!

xoxo, Amber

Epcot features several festivals throughout the year: International Flower and Garden Festival in the spring, International Food and Wine Festival in the fall, International Festival of the Holidays late in the year, and International Festival of the Arts early in the year. I have enjoyed most these festivals numerous times over the years but the one that had eluded me was the Festival of the Arts. Celebrating its 5th year in 2021, I decided it was time to head south to see this festival for myself. The fam and I hopped on a plane and spent a quick weekend taking in the sights at Epcot and discovering this is our favorite festival of all. Why? Just keep reading…

So the Festival of the Arts only runs from early January to about mid-February. We just missed the start of the festival on our last trip over New Years. After seeing picture after picture from the festival on Instagram and Facebook, I just knew that I couldn’t let myself miss this event. Luckily flights were cheap and I booked a two-night getaway to Orlando. We stayed at Pop Century for this short visit and had a great room in the 60s section, very near the lobby and food court. Great location. This resort really is so fun and whimsical; I loved taking some time to walk around and soak in the icons and decor from the 1950s to 1990s. If you’ve stayed at Pop and never spent some time exploring, do it! Even the display cases in the lobby provide quite a bit of entertainment as you flashback to memories from your childhood. Those from Virginia will notice a pamphlet from Endless Caverns in one of them! The Skyliner took us from Pop Century over to Epcot’s International Gateway entrance between France and the United Kingdom. I love starting at the ‘back’ of the park, especially for festivals, because it puts me right in the center of the action. With no intention of riding or doing anything ‘typical’ on this trip, the focus was on activities and entertainment specific to the festival. Even though we got into the park before opening and stayed until close to closing, we still had a few things that we didn’t have a chance to do that were festival-specific. We’ll just have to go back in 2022! 😉

First stop, United Kingdom. There was the cutest display of paintings done of characters by characters here! That portrait of Mulan done by Mushu, in fire!, was incredible. And I loved the ‘pink, no blue!’ influence of Flora and Merryweather on Aurora’s painting.

The weather was looking a little iffy and rain showers were in the forecast, so I knew that I needed to move quickly to the Chalk Art display closer to the front of the park. Every day, artists come into the park and are given three hours and a block of space to finish a chalk art drawing. Color me impressed because their art blew me away. Luckily the major rainstorms didn’t transpire, but I cried a little inside thinking of the work that goes into these pieces only to have them washed away. From famous art reproductions to Disney characters, these pieces were breathtaking!

I felt inspired by the chalk artists, so I decided to head to the paint-by-number mural that was available for guests participate in. This was another must-do on my list. You are allowed to choose a color and then are able to paint seven squares marked with the number assigned to your color. The mural itself is huge and you can go back and paint more squares if you return to the start of the line after you finish your initial seven. The mural is sectioned off for social distancing and the finished mural will look like the bookmark (shown in the picture below) that you get as a souvenir when you’re done.

Another super treat for this festival was going into the countries of World Showcase and looking for hidden art. These characters were hidden pretty darn well at times and so much fun to look for! I won’t share them all, but here are two to enjoy! These would be fun to see year round, but alas, they’ll be gone soon!

You could find so many different styles of art for purchase during the festival as well. Everything from Disney Fine Art, to lesser known artists, different mediums, etc. Here are some of my faves! There are some others on their way to my home right now; shipping is available for these purchases and highly recommended! I also discovered that I love the art from Rob Kaz, the artist behind the little frog named Beau that you’ll see in a painting below. Adorbs!

The artists often visit the festival at different times to showcase and autograph their artwork. This is also so much fun to see. There is even a part of the festival where the artists are painting live! Disney Fine Artist, Tim Rogerson, painted this Baymax with a lollipop while we were there!

Another artist and former Imagineer, Morgan Lee Richardson, worked on a series of paintings illustrating the areas of Epcot and those were a treat to see in person. His work can be found throughout the parks and resorts, especially in Animal Kingdom. You’ll recognize his style from any buttons you have purchased recently in Animal Kingdom for the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund. His art is on the right in the shot below, with Jimmy Pickering’s interpretation on the left.

For those of you familiar with Figment, the loveable purple dragon often used as an Epcot mascot, you’ll see him sprinkled throughout the festival. For a small fee, you can participate in a Figment-themed art scavenger hunt and receive a small prize after you have found all of the missing paintings. Figment has inserted his presence in several famous paintings that are hidden in World Showcase and it was a blast trying to find them all. You’ll notice him taking over the lead in ‘One Little Scream’ below.

To fully immerse yourself in the art, there are several 3D paintings setup throughout the park where you can literally ‘get in to the painting’. Some have PhotoPass photographers nearby to help pose you for some really cool snapshots. In the one below, you can step into the pages of Peter Pan and be a mermaid or part of Hook’s crew.

So.much.fun! And I didn’t even mention the food! All Epcot festivals have a food component where you can purchase different snack size foods around the park that are themed like the particular festival. The Festival of the Arts had what I would call the best tasting food of the four festivals and definitely the prettiest. The focus on presentation was impressive. You’ll have to check out my Instagram page for more pictures of the art and food!

Overall, loved this festival! What a great weekend! Can’t wait to go back next year!

Until next time!

Amber

Happy 2021! It felt so nice to ring in the new year, snuggled with my family in our room at Disney’s Coronado Springs resort. We had never visited Disney over New Year’s before, as that is typically the most crowded time of the year to be there. We’re talking deep lines to wait for every single thing and that’s just not our jam. However, the capacity limits on the parks made the decision to visit over New Year’s a pretty easy one for us. Hopping on a plane again, we flew south to get away for a few days and celebrate 2021, Disney style.

We’ve stayed at Coronado Springs several times in the past, but this was our first stay in the new Gran Destino Tower at that resort. Let me just say — swanky! Loved the deluxe feel of this moderate level resort. The lobby here is stunning and ultra-modern. I can’t wait to visit again!

Coronado is a fairly large moderate level resort, with four Disney bus stops providing bus transportation to the four theme parks and Disney Springs. Staying at Coronado in the past though, I knew that the buses were usually not that busy, so I had no worries on the transportation front. In fact, we had the bus to ourselves several times during this trip, coming or going from one place or another. All transportation is still socially distanced or divided, as I mentioned in my last trip report from November, and I am absolutely loving not having to worry about standing up on a bus when heading home after a long day in the parks!

Park hopping came back as of January 1st and I had the chance to hop between Hollywood Studios and Epcot one day during this visit. Hopping never was for everyone, and that remains true now more than ever. You must have a Park Pass reservation for the park that you will start the day in and you must actually enter that park before attempting to hop. After 2pm, you are allowed to hop to the second park of the day, based on that park’s availability. That seems to be where lots of questions lie. How do you know if the other park is at capacity? What about a dining reservation at the second park if you can’t get in? Why do I want to hop after 2pm if the park I’m trying to get to closes at 5pm (if you’re not asking yourself that, you should be)? Some of these are easy answers, like being mindful of the hours of the parks so you’re not wasting time and money to hop somewhere that will only give you two or three hours of park time. Others are harder, like knowing if the other park will be at capacity. Hopping gives you flexibility but it can also take it away. Since it isn’t free and can be a bit of a hassle with transportation at times, I’d probably leave it to those who really feel their trip won’t be complete without it.

Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom was shining in her new colors. I really like these and how much they remind me of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland.

Have I mentioned capacity limits in the parks? So, to be clear, that in no way means that the parks are empty and that you’ll be walking on and riding everything you want without waiting. Never going to happen. However, it does mean that the crowd density is way down and the lines you see are much smaller than normal. Now, some of those lines are going to look like they are miles long. Thank social distancing for that. Many of the ride queues weren’t made for people needing to be in a six-foot bubble. The line for Frozen Ever After in Epcot was wrapped all around Norway and clear into China! But the wait was only like an hour. That’s less than you’d normally wait for Frozen on a pre-COVID day at the busiest time of the year (it would have been hours!) and the line was constantly moving. Anyone who says the lines are ‘so long’ right now don’t have much park experience, especially at busy times of the year. Peter Pan’s Flight in Magic Kingdom was like 25 minutes! I mean really folks. That line is always 75 minutes+ every day of the year.

Another cool thing? When the density is down, you can see things in the parks that you might normally squeeze on by. Since there are no fireworks and Castle stage shows, you can walk through the middle of Cinderella Castle all day! I don’t know when the last time that happened was. This gives you so much time to be able to stop to admire the incredible tile murals in the Castle and the detail that they contain. Highly recommend taking a peek at these! Another thing you’re likely to have missed in the past are these cute little bronze statues in Magic Kingdom near the hub area in front of Cinderella Castle. Bet you’ve never even realized they are there before!

Another thing that comes up a lot is the characters. Very few character meals are happening right now and the ones that are have no autographs because the characters can’t come directly to the tables, just walk by at a distance. There are no character meet and greets or scheduled parades in the parks either. What was Disney’s solution? Character cavalcades! These are great. Like unscheduled mini-parades, these pop-up all day long in all four parks. You never know who you might see going by on a float or a car. And the best thing? You don’t need to stake out a prime spot to watch the parade 30, 45, 60 minutes before it is scheduled to start! In fact, I was standing in line at a gift shop, heard the parade music start, hopped out of line and stood right at the parade going by. Literally nobody in front of me, around us, characters right there driving by. Took just a few minutes, got lots of pictures and waves, and back in the gift shop line I went. How.crazy.easy! In Magic Kingdom in particular, there were three sets of cavalcades happening. One had Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and the gang riding on a large float. Another had Pooh, Alice, Peter Pan, Aladdin, Mary Poppins, and Tigger The third was a huge float of princesses including all the main ladies plus Elena and the Fairy Godmother. We saw each one of these cavalcades at least three times one day! In Epcot, out of the blue appeared a horse-drawn carriage with Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Snow White onboard. In fact, we had no idea the carriage was even coming, it was just there all of the sudden. Then, as it passed, we jumped right behind it and followed it all the way to the Mexico Pavilion, where it went backstage at the end of its route. It was like we were part of the parade too!

Of course, being huge Star Wars fans, we spent time one morning in Hollywood Studios, enjoying Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Going back to Batuu is always a trip highlight for us. This time, we were over the moon to have been able to finally be able to purchase a lightsaber set from Dok Ondar’s Den of Antiquities. The Ahsoka Tano Clone Wars lightsaber set came out in late October or early November and basically immediately sold out. We tried to find them at Thanksgiving, but no luck. Ebay has quite the collection of them for purchase at double, triple, quadruple, etc. their value, which just irks me to no end. However, we were able to score a set this time, after an apparent restock that had just happened that morning. Should’ve bought a lottery ticket to go with those lightsabers. For those that aren’t familiar with Ahsoka – you need to watch one of the Star Wars animated series called ‘The Clone Wars’. Besides being an incredible show, you get to meet Ahsoka, a great Star Wars heroine who has more recently appeared in the hit live action Star Wars show on Disney+, ‘The Mandalorian’. While in Hollywood Studios, we slide into a theater and watched the new ‘Vacation Fun’ show of Mickey shorts cartoons. These are on Disney+ too and so cute, the same Mickey cartoon style that is featured on the new Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway ride at Hollywood Studios. This show just started right before COVID hit and is a definitely stop you should make on your next visit to the park. Adorable!

During this trip, we also had another non-Disney mission. From November 13th through January 3rd, Give Kids the World in Kissimmee, about 15 minutes from Disney World, had a stunning display of holiday lights. For those of you that remember the Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights show that used to be setup annually at Hollywood Studios, this will look familiar. Disney actually donated over three million of those lights to Give Kids the World for this event. We are huge Osborne Lights fans and I’ve always been curious about Give Kids the World, so I grabbed tickets for the event held on New Years Eve. What an incredible experience! Give Kids the World is a non-profit organization that sits on 89-acres, a ‘storybook’ village resort, where children with critical illnesses and their families are treated to a week-long vacation at no cost to them. Due to COVID, the organization hasn’t been able to grant the ‘wish’ of any families to visit the village for months and they are suffering financially from not being able to fundraise like they would in a typical year. The Night of a Million Lights even was born and sold out most every night of the event, which I am so happy to report. This village isn’t normally open to the public and being able to see it up-close and so beautifully decorated was something I’ll never forget. It has almost 300 villas, basically duplexes, where the families stay for a week during their visit. Like a subdivision, it was quite sprawling to walk through. A huge pool with waterplay area, a spa/salon, mini-golf, an arcade, mini-train set (so cool, you could activate certain features of the town the train runs through), a carousel, a small train for children to ride on, other amusement park attractions, restaurants, and so much more. I was in awe. If you want to support an organization that truly brings smiles to families when they are most desperately needed, this is it.

That’s all for now… happy 2021!

xoxo, Amber

The hubs, kid, and I took to the skies to travel to Disney last week for the Thanksgiving holiday. Masks, hand sanitizer, Clorox wipes, frequent handwashing, and steering clear of other people helped keep us safe during our adventure. The airports, parks, and resorts had most guests wearing masks properly and abiding by social distancing rules. You always have those folks that think they don’t need to follow what has been asked of them, but that doesn’t fly at Disney or onboard an airplane. Disney’s Cast Members (employees) are very quick to correct anyone they see with a nose out, mask completely off, or wearing a non-compliant mask (neck gaiters just don’t cut it there). The airlines are the same way, including banning you from flying in the future if you don’t comply. As Nike says, “just do it”.

The plan for this trip was short and sweet, with some resort exploration and a day at Hollywood Studios soaking up the sun in Batuu. We ended up with two full exploration days, which was great for us, and allowed for more free time and some shopping at Disney Springs. We flew in on Tuesday evening and spent the night at Disney’s Art of Animation resort in one of their Little Mermaid themed standard rooms. These rooms have been renovated to now include two queen beds, laminate flooring, and spruced up décor. I love the move to laminate flooring in the resorts. It feels so much more hygienic and modern than carpet that quickly looks like it has seen its better days. The queen beds are a nice upgrade from the original double beds that had been here since the resort’s opening days.

We enjoyed our overnight here and spend the evening strolling around and enjoying the larger than life decorations in each section of the resort. Our personal favorite is always the Cars section, as the kid was a huge Cars fan when she was little, so we hung out over there for quite a while. When dinner time rolled around, the pizza combo meal from the Landscape of Flavors food court at the resort hit the spot. Large cheese pizza, family size salad, breadsticks, plus the drinks we added on, made dinner under $50 and quite delish. Mobile ordering at the food court was a breeze, I actually placed the order on the MyDisneyExperience app walking to the food court and then selected ‘I am here’ when we arrived closer to the building. After a brief wait while they prepared the food, we were instructed where to enter and what table to collect our order from. A quick stop over at the drink station, where Cast Members were filling drinks for guests, took care of our liquid refreshment needs on the way to our table outside. Eating outside at the resorts is super easy, no matter if you’re in a value, moderate, or deluxe level property. Mobile order your meal from the food court or quick service location, pick it up, and head outdoors!

The next morning, we moved our belongings to Disney’s Boardwalk Villas resort, where we moved into our deluxe studio room for the remainder of the trip. We had early dinner plans at Raglan Road at Disney Springs, so we went ahead and hopped on a bus to the Springs to spend some time shopping, enjoying the Christmas Tree Stroll Scavenger Hunt, and wrapping up with dinner. If you pickup a free map for the scavenger hunt, you can mark each decorated tree found at Disney Springs and return the map for a small prize!

Dinner at Raglan Road was excellent, as always, and enjoyed on the outdoor patio this time around. What a lovely place to relax and enjoy amazing food in an open-air environment! Service was excellent too, with a five-layer mask worn by our server! After dinner, we headed back over to Boardwalk to get settled in for the evening. We took Disney bus transportation to Disney Springs and back, as well as other times during the trip, and had no safety concerns. When you board, the driver tells you what marked section to sit in, based on your party size, and each section is separated by dividers. No more standing! The emergency exits on the roof are open as well, to allow for more airflow when the bus is in motion. At no time during the trip did we have to sit close to any other party and, we were actually on buses completely by ourselves several times.

Speaking of transportation in general, we rode every form of Disney transportation on this trip to see how each piece was setup. The boats had dividers between rows of seats and were restricting you to one family per row (or two guests per row, depending on the size of the boat/row.) The monorails had separated sections of each train car, and the monorail attendants took your party to an available empty section. Skyliner gondolas are already setup for an individual party to ride in each gondola and there is no longer any mixing of parties in each gondola. I don’t know about you, but I love being separated out like this and have no complaints if it stays this way for awhile. I’m sure as capacity is allowed to increase and pandemic safety concerns get more under control, these types of precautions will go by the wayside, but they’re nice to have right now!

On Thanksgiving, we spent the day exploring resorts and transportation. We started by walking from our resort over to the Epcot International Gateway entrance, where we hopped on the Skyliner over to the Riviera resort. We LOVE Riviera so walking around there was so nice. We grabbed a snack of amazing Romano and herb fries from Primo Piatto and enjoyed those by the water while watching the Skyliner gondolas zip by. After stopping for some photos, we hopped back on the Skyliner over to the nearby Caribbean Beach resort where we switched Skyliner routes to head to Hollywood Studios. At the Studios, we boarded a bus to the Fort Wilderness resort and campground. At the Fort, we spent some time looking around at the different types of campsites, the wilderness cabins, and some of the amenities (great stores and the main pool is so nice!) The resort was bustling with activity from guests enjoying the Thanksgiving Day scavenger hunt, renting canoes and bikes, and gem mining! We actually went to the Fort just to try out the gem mining experience and had such a great time! It had a nominal fee of $9 per bag of ‘paydirt’ that you then took to the mining station where you sifted through the dirt to find the goodies! We had so much fun that we bought a third bag to enjoy!

After our time at the Fort, we took a boat over to Magic Kingdom where we stopped to snap a few pictures before walking over to the Contemporary resort. There, we did a little shopping and took a break outside under the monorail tracks to gaze longingly at Magic Kingdom. Dinner time came around pretty quickly though, and we headed back inside to The Wave, where we had an incredible dinner. Tables spaced very appropriately, servers with masks and face shields, etc. Though indoors, I felt perfectly safe here. Grabbing a holiday Linzer cookie from the Contempo Cafe upstairs on the way out, we grabbed a ride on the monorail to make our way to the Grand Floridian resort. You have to take a picture of the Christmas tree setup at the Grand for the holidays! I so missed the Gingerbread houses this year, especially the big one at the Grand, but it is just one of the many things that we have to look forward to for 2021! Since it was getting late, we decided to take the new walking path that connects the Grand back to Magic Kingdom. A lovely 15 minute or so walk, we enjoyed having this ‘transportation’ option for a great evening stroll. Once back at Magic Kingdom, it was time to board a bus ‘home’ to the Boardwalk to rest our feet and get ready for our Hollywood Studios day!

It was finally time for Hollywood Studios, what these Star Wars fans had been waiting so (im)patiently for! At 6:55am, I logged in to the MyDisneyExperience app, starting the cycle of endless refreshing to try to grab a boarding group for the newest ride, “Rise of the Resistance” in Hollywood Studios’ Galaxy’s Edge section. Boarding groups are required to ride this attraction, due to popularity, and they literally completely fill up each morning at 7am in SECONDS. Not to toot my own horn too much, but BOARDING GROUP #1 BABY! We were in the park, which officially opened at 10am but unofficially opens closer to 9am, and had ridden Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad when our boarding group was called at 9:40am to ride Rise.

Now, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway ride is very new too and SO.MUCH.FUN! I wasn’t sure quite what to expect but this trackless ride will blow you away! Great for families and adults only, I could ride this ride over and over! I can only hope that rides like Rise and Railway are the future of Disney attractions because these two are simply incredible experiences.

We spent a ton of time in Batuu, as usual, the Star Wars planet you’re visiting when entering Galaxy’s Edge. Technically you’re at Black Spire Outpost there, and any Star Wars fan will be blown away by the detail that went into creating Batuu. The hubs, the kid, and I have spent hours upon hours in Batuu East (Hollywood Studios) and West (Disneyland) and could easily spend so much more time there. The marketplace was reconfigured for social distancing in a really cool way. You line up to enter the marketplace as a whole. When your turn to enter comes, you then choose which market stall you want to go to first (creature stall, toy store, Batuu merch, clothing, etc.) and wait in that stall’s line. Each market stall only allows one party/family in at a time! So it is basically like a private shopping opportunity where you can actually see all of the merchandise without having to look over and around other guests. Love it! Mobile ordering food in Batuu is even easier now too, especially over at Docking Bay 7. When your food is ready, you enter the building, are given your food, and then you are directed to a table to enjoy your meal (inside or outside). Wait, what?!? No fighting for tables or cramming around one that doesn’t really fit your party? Nope. Directed to a table. Ah-mazing!

After a long day at the Studios, we took a boat back to Boardwalk and ordered some pizza and salad from the delish Giordano’s. Deep dish pizza for dinner, why yes, I think I will! They deliver to Disney resorts and are very cost-effective. Enjoying the pizza by the Boardwalk pool made for a nice break and al fresco experience. Since it was Friday night, that meant only one more thing to cap off the perfect day… The Mandalorian!! Of course, we had to bring the Chromecast along so we could stream Disney+ to our room and be able to see The Mandalorian’s new episode before spoilers filled our newsfeeds. I won’t spoil it for you, if you haven’t watched it yet, but that episode was superb! Our dreams were filled with beloved Clone Wars characters and a name drop that we weren’t expecting at all!

The next morning brought a yummy breakfast, sans characters, at Trattoria al Forno at our resort. Trattoria is the home of the Bon Voyage Princess breakfast with Ariel and Rapunzel in normal times, but no characters have returned to the location yet. The bonus right now though is that the food is still just as good and the price is very scaled back without the characters. Win-win! After a short flight home, we were back in Virginia and changing out of our shorts into long pants, greeting the chilly evening with a scowl.

Until next time!

xoxo, Amber