Trip Report **COMPLETED** 364 Days and 8 Canceled Trips Later !

HI EVERYONE!!! I AM BACK AFTER A VERY LONG ABSENCE FROM THE BOARDS!!! WOOHOO! (sorry to all the trip reports I missed)

There were many days when I did not feel like this day would ever come. I am very good at compartmentalizing my life and hiding my emotions - it’s a bad coping mechanism I learned in residency. However, COVID got to me. Every single day was exhausting. For months and months and months. I think there were periods of time I worked more than I even worked in residency. I could not even feel that sad about not being on vacation because I was so burnt out. AND, I don’t even work in a hospital so I can’t even imagine what those healthcare workers were feeling. For weeks (really months) I did not sleep. I constantly worried about my patients who were sick and after treating/testing my own COVID patients I was terrified I would give it to my family.
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The few times I would go somewhere that felt fun I stressed for weeks after that it was a mistake. I obviously did not plan on going into medicine and having to deal with a pandemic. There was no outlet and we talked about it at work over and over again how none of us could leave or escape because of all the travel restrictions. Even when we were “off” there was no true mental break. I tried to make my YouTube videos and work on my Instagram, but I just wasn’t really into it. I was angry at people who got to go to Disney. I was jealous but I also felt like it was so irresponsible to travel during the big surges. I had way too many patients who got sick after travel so it just made me anxious to see it more than anything. My Mom would constantly tell me she was depressed that she could not be in Disney and I just did not feel the same way. I knew I would be anxious the whole time being there. But…then a ray of light hit in the form of a vaccine. I was so happy to receive my first dose right before Christmas. It was truly the best Christmas gift.
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Then - my Mom was able to get hers too because she works in the dental field. A few weeks after my first shot (and a very depressing holiday season because I was quarantined after a work exposure) one of my co-workers who runs all our COVID stuff told me we could go to Florida since we were both vaccinated (and fully vaccinated before we leave). It was a shock, but we were both so excited! I still was not 100 percent ready to go without doing my research. The UK strain made me super anxious so I studied the numbers, the data, the vaccine efficacy against it etc and I felt like it was OK to go. I also asked all my co-workers and did as much due diligence as I could. Everyone told me go!!

WHO?: The usual....my Mom (Mary) and myself (Megan)
Photo from our last trip before COVID
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When?
February 19 - February 27, 2021 (took me a bit to get this TR started)

Where?
Yacht Club :) Nice AP deal!

February 19, 2021 - Day 1
Our flight was not until a little bit later in the morning, but one of the few things that kept me sane this last year was working out so I kept on my regular schedule and got up at 5 am to work out.
Airport ready!
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Then I had a work meeting at 7 am so I listened to that while waiting for my parents to pick me up!
My meeting went extra long so it lasted the whole drive to the airport, but at least I did not have time to get nervous along the way!
Guys...we were so out of practice for travel. I do not travel lightly and usually my Mom takes some of my stuff but this time she did not since we really did not decide we were officially going until right before the trip. So, both of my suitcases weighed 53 pounds :hilarious:. I was honesty going to pay the fee because I was so embarrassed, but my Mom was like absolutely not so we shuffled some things around. Then I thought TSA pre-check was closed so I took out all my electronics but I actually just missed the sign pointing us to the new location. Lastly, I forgot to take my backpack off when going through security. My Mom and I often said to each other this trip "what are you new?!" which we ended up abbreviating to "WAYN." :happy::joyfull:
Anyway....we eventually made it through security. A lot of stuff at the Buffalo Airport is still closed, but thankfully our usual go to bagel place was still open.
I made us drink emergen-c (and I packed us full of vitamins this whole trip).
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Look how cute this bagel individualized packet is! I am a germaphobe by nature (before it was cool to be one) so this made me giddy :p
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Side note...I took a lot of phone pictures this trip because I got lazy.
Apparently I forgot to take a photo of the actual bagel but a bagel is a bagel!
After our breakfast we headed to the gate. Our plane was already there!
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Squished face from the N95 under my surgical mask :)
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Next up: more travel
 

ELeigh

Well-Known Member
Late to the party but excited to read your trip report. Also living in an area with travel restrictions and worrying about work caused cancelled trips for us as well. I was not certain we would get to go on our trip for so many reasons but seeing your posts on IG a week ahead of ours gave me hope it would actually happen (and it did!)
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I am here following!! Oh I am so excited to read about your trip! I am so happy you and your Mom got to go.
Thank you for what you do. You are very much admired by everyone.🙏
You two girls look so happy so far. 😊

Thank you so much for your kind words!

I love how your mom’s outfit matches so nicely with the butterfly wings.

Unplanned but worked out so well!
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yeah, it's kind of strange, because we seem to be getting worse and worse instead of better. When Covid19 showed up, they closed schools, stores, theaters, museums, restaurants....pretty much everything. At the first peak, there were about 1500 cases per day, and by july, we were down to 50 per day. With a population of 17 million, that's nothing. So everything opened back up and while we were cautious, we could go to museums and restaurants as long as certain measures were taken to distance, sanitize, etc. Then the second wave came on and we hit 10,000 cases per day and they just wouldn't shut ANYTHING down. They didn't want companies to suffer financially, so everything stayed open while the government said "If our numbers don't go down drastically in two weeks, we'll have to do something." Every two weeks, they said that and continued to do nothing...for 3 months, there was a press conference every two weeks to say they needed to do something, but they were still figuring out what "something" looked like. Then finally in December they couldn't ignore it anymore and put us in lockdown again. We got down to about 5000 cases per day and they opened schools, hair salons, etc, and within 2 weeks, our numbers went right back up to around 7000 per day, and instead of closing things down again, they are reopening more. All the while saying "If our numbers don't go down, we can't open more." They've really bungled it here. And we're so far behind pretty much every other country on our vaccine program. Most countries started already back at the end of November or beginning of December I think. We didn't start until mid-January and they keep changing their minds about who can and can not get priority. So a friend of mine who is overweight already got her letter for vaccination, but as far as I know, my BIL who has a kidney transplant, is morbidly obese, AND I think has athsma and diabetis, has not gotten his. And I haven't gotten one, and I'm also overweight and have diabetis. So some people with huge risk factors haven't been given priority while others who don't have as many risk factors have already gotten their shots. Today is the election, so I guess we'll see if a change in government will speed up the process.

Oh wow that sounds like an absolute mess!!! So sorry!!!

BCDD is in the (mouse)house!!!

Welcome back - thank you for all the hard work you did on the front lines.

I have been going to work since this started - being in a Health and Safety role at an essential business (yes - building new SUVs is essential!) so I feel like my job puts me at risk - but no where close to the risk you are exposed to.

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But where is Chip?


Following along

Max

I think everyone who was working was at risk and every job is so important!! So thank you for working! My Mom said the teapot was Mrs. Potts with a mask on :joyfull:
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great stories. Your personal pandemic story and the TR!

Going in 5 weeks with my gf. She’s been only once before, 35 years ago. And only visited MK! Boy, is she going to be surprised! We’re staying for 10 days

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5 weeks!! Ah !! So exciting !!! She is going to be so surprised!!!!!!!

i am very pleased to see you back on the forum and i definitly look forward to your trip report. also let me give you my thanks for the many hours you put in dealing with the pandemic.

Aww thank you so much!!!! :inlove:
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
OMG.....how did we miss you guys in the parks!!!!!! We were down there pretty much the same time....we flew in on Saturday and left the following Sunday. Cannot wait to read and see the rest of your trip. Thank you for all that you and fellow medical workers did and are continuing to do. My wife and I can somewhat relate to the stress of this past year. I work for the NFTA as a mechanic(we never shut down) and my wife is a teller at our M&T bank in Lockport. We also had a Disneyland trip scheduled and then rescheduled and then we finally gave up on that. That is why we went “home” the same time you guys did. We will be postponing our Alaska Disney Cruiseline trip until next August. We are great full that we were able to go “home” and kinda escape the real world for a bit. I will be interested in where or went to get tested prior to coming back to Buffalo. As for us we went to Maingate it was flawless and total trip took about 1/2 hour. Glad to see you are fully vaccinated and at this time I am now fully vaccinated and my wife goes on Saturday for her first round. Welp enough about my rambling. Glad to Herat that you were also able to get away. Looking forward to the rest of the videos and trip report. Thank you again to all of the frontline workers!!!!!

I can not believe we missed each other ! Thank you for working too :) We got tested there as well - so easy!

Loving this TR so far!!

Liberty Tree pot roast is AMAZING!!!! We LOVE eating there!!!!

Taking some notes on what time you were let into Epcot because we're planning to Uber over to either Beach Club or Boardwalk and go in via the International Gateway. I'll make sure we arrive around 10am :)

It's sooooo good! I wish I had some right now !!!
Yes I would say get there a tiny bit before 10!
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm so glad you're doing a report!!! Here for it 😍 Also super happy you finally got to go back. I know that was a long stretch of not going for you and your mom. With all the stress of the pandemic, you deserved a break!

Thanks girl...maybe I will get back to your report at some point in life...:banghead:
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm here!

Welcome :)

Late to the party but excited to read your trip report. Also living in an area with travel restrictions and worrying about work caused cancelled trips for us as well. I was not certain we would get to go on our trip for so many reasons but seeing your posts on IG a week ahead of ours gave me hope it would actually happen (and it did!)

I'm late to the party of everyones reports so I totally get it :) Hope you had the best time!

Excited to hear all about the trip

Thanks for following !
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sorry guys...
Work continues to be nuts so its going to take me forever to write this!!!

Day 2 continued
Living With the Land Continued
I'm not sure why I took this photo other than I was happy to see sunshine :joyfull:
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We were obsessed with these cute little peppers....
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After LWTL we headed over towards Spaceship Earth
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RIP Innoventions...
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The wait was listed at 45 minutes but we only waited 15 :)
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Next up: more Epcot
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continued
After this we decided to head over to World Showcase
But first...some poor lighting Photo Pass photos :joyfull:
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We wanted to check out some Festival Booths so we headed towards Pop Eats first
We both got the Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese
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I thought it was very good! My Mom did not care for the soup, but then again she does not like tomato soup to begin with.
AND....the star of the show...the food item we talk about all year long: Almond Frangipane Cake layered with Raspberry Jam and Belgian Chocolate
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I have NO idea why we are so obsessed with it, but we are! SOOO GOOD!
I was eating so my mask was down and we took a quick photo :)
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Mickey and Minnie rolled by while I was eating this cake and I cried actual tears. I was so happy. I have a video of this moment and I literally said it was the happiest I have been all year :) I was eating my favorite cake, in my favorite place, and Mickey just showed up!
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We somehow already got full so we wandered around a bit after this.
We popped in the Festival Center just to see it
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We wanted to grab a drink in France so we made our way over there...but first a photo with Pooh. I got my Mom that Winnie the Pooh fleece for Christmas :)
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Next up: more Epcot
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continued
Some more not so great PP pictures...
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The line for the festival booth was pretty long so we just skipped it and went to the actual wine bar booth.
My Mom got the Grand Marnier Orange Slush and I got the Kir Royal (Champagne and Blackcurrant Liquor)
Both drinks were delightful! We sat in the sun and enjoyed them :)
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We somehow landed in the Beauty and the Beast sing-a-long after this
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It was cute but ....weird. Not sure why they felt like they had to change the whole story?

Next up: more Epcot
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continued
We wanted to take a small break after this so we headed out.
Well actually first we tried to stalk Ratatouille
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The Harmonious floats are massive...and ugly
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Anyway, after this we headed back to the room. I apparently did not take any photos, but we got a snack and relaxed on our balcony for a bit. Then we got dressed and headed back to Epcot.
Seriously - these float things are awful....
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It was PACKED at Epcot. I felt very uncomfortable honestly so we decided to escape to Morocco since it is usually pretty quiet there.
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We were right...it was nice and quiet in the back so we wandered around and took a ton of photos.
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Up next: more Epcot
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continued
More Morocco ...
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We tried to get in the Mexico Pavilion after this, but it was a very long line. So...we just kind of stood in the sun as far away from the crowds as we could manage until we could check in for dinner (and then get into the Mexican Pavilion).
This is our why is it so crowded face
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Eventually we checked in for dinner at San Angel Inn and we were able to bypass the line to get in!
We were seated right away (as soon as we made our way in there which did take awhile). Usually I take photos of the menu, but I guess mobile menu photos it is :joyfull:
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We were so excited to be back! This was one of the restaurants we missed the most!
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Chips and salsa to start
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Sorry these photos are so bad...the lighting is not great in there!
We both got the Sopa Azteca (Traditional Tortilla Soup served with Fried Corn Tortilla Strips, Avocado, Cheese, and Chile Pasilla). Took the photo before I mixed it all :joyfull:
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And then we shared the Mole Poblano (Grilled chicken breast, topped with a mole sauce made with nuts and spices served with plantain rice and corn tortillas).
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That photo makes it look gross but it was SO good!

Next up: more Mexico
 

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