Trip Report A 10th Anniversary Island Getaway

Who: just me & my husband this time! We left the kids at home with my parents.

What: a 3-night getaway

Where: a duo studio at the Island Tower

Why: our 10th anniversary!

When: April 16-19

Wed. April 16
Our flight left at 9:30am and we managed to sneak out of the house before anyone else woke up. It was so nice to be traveling without any strollers or toys or blankets, and to actually be able to sit next to my husband on the plane! We had time to grab some breakfast and then had a smooth flight to MCO.

We decided to rent a car this time, since we’d be ubering a lot otherwise. Picking up the rental was very quick, since my husband had done everything on the app. They just pointed us to the available cars and told us keys were on the dash.

We headed first to the Walmart near AKL, to pick up some drinks, sunscreen, and socks. (When packing, I realized I had thrown away a bunch of my favorite socks because they had holes in them.)

We passed this lovely sight at 1:53pm.

I was torn about whether we should visit Blizzard Beach, since the temperature was in the low 80s. We live in Houston, so that’s not usually swimming weather for us. My alternative idea (to kill time before our room was ready) was mini-golf, because we still had two free passes that were good from our last trip. I’d heard that the BB parking lot was reaching capacity on some days, so I said, “Let’s go see if we can even get in. Then we can decide if the weather is more appropriate for water slides or golfing.” Well, there was plenty of parking and it was roasting out there on the pavement, so my husband agreed to Blizzard Beach!

We entered shortly after 2pm.

But first, we needed some lunch. We got the flatbread and a kids chicken strips meal to share. I was pleasantly surprised by the pizza! The chicken was exactly what you’d expect.

Bellies filled, we went and got our swimsuits on, got sunscreened, and put our bags in a locker. We headed to the chairlift first, intending to ride Teamboat Springs. Both had a wait of 20-30 minutes, but it wasn’t bad waiting with just the 2 of us.

When we got to the front of the line for the slide, they asked us if we minded riding with someone else. But when they looked for another party of 2, no one spoke up, and we ended up with our own raft. We enjoyed our ride and talked about whether we could take all 3 of our kids on it next time.

When we exited, we hopped in the lazy river since the entrance was nearby. We rode around past a couple other entrances and got back out to go on Runoff Rapids. The conveyer belt to return tubes wasn’t working, so we had to wait in a short line to grab our tubes and then carry them up the stairs. This is when we realized how out of shape we are! My legs were burning. But once at the top, the wait was very quick.

We decided on at least one more ride - the Downhill Double Dipper. The conveyer belt here was having some issues too. We got about halfway through the line when some tubes started getting stuck and caused a huge backup with none coming out. We could see through the fence that they were starting to pile up and fall off the sides. No one came to help and finally a young teen crawled in and started passing the tubes out. I’m sure he wasn’t supposed to be in there, but I can’t blame him either!

While waiting, my husband checked his phone and saw our room was ready, so we decided this would be our final ride. I had left my phone in the locker, but I had actually received the “room ready” text at 3:30!

The slide is over quick but it’s very fast and fun. I had forgotten about the wall of water at the bottom…this was definitely the wettest we got! I also flew almost into the yellow barrier at the other end of the pool

With that, we gathered our things from the locker and got dried off to head to the Polynesian Island Tower!

 

[meggo819]

Wed, Apr. 16 cont.

We made it into our room around 5:45.

The duo studio actually felt more spacious than I expected! Especially when the Murphy bed was up, but really it wasn’t bad either way.

View from our balcony:

We showered and had a quick video chat with our kids, before heading back out again.

 

[littleroo]

Off to a great start!! Someday my husband and I will get to Disney without the kids again... The room is gorgeous

 

[meggo819]

Wed, Apr. 16 cont.

We noticed one of the “terrace gardens” was on our floor, so we stopped in for a few pictures. It was very peaceful in there, but unfortunately we never made it back.

We headed to the monorail, after browsing in the stores for a bit. We had a reservation for the Wicked Wind Down at Top of the World and we decided to see if we could check in early, since we were getting hungry for dinner. We checked in around 7:30 and were seated in about 5 minutes.

The Wicked Wind Down includes a drink, an appetizer, and a slice of seven-layer ('lair') cake. I chose the soft pretzel and the Cursed Pirate.

My husband had the pork sliders and the Man in the Forest.

We shared both appetizers and felt like that, with dessert, would be enough for dinner. We really enjoyed everything, but my husband kept reacting to how strong the mustard was….it didn’t compel me to try it lol.

 

[cgersic]

Wow, the room really is nice!! I'm curious about the terrace gardens - they seem to have no windows, so I'm wondering what it will be like when there is a torrential downpour?

 

[meggo819]

Wow, the room really is nice!! I'm curious about the terrace gardens - they seem to have no windows, so I'm wondering what it will be like when there is a torrential downpour?

A good question! The area is pretty deep, so it might actually be fun to sit back away from the opening during a rain. Depending on the wind direction!

 

[meggo819]

Wed, Apr. 16 cont.

We headed out to the overlook shortly before 9 and ended up next to a family who were clearly first-time visitors. It was sweet hearing their excitement over seeing the Magic Kingdom and the fireworks.

The crane working on BTMRR is gigantic compared to the castle!

I mentioned in my last report that I am going to try to experience all the shows/attractions in the 4 parks, throughout this year that we have annual passes. I had completed 44 unique attractions in November. We couldn’t see the projections on the castle, but I’m counting this (at least for now) as attraction #45.

When we got back to our table after the show, our cake was waiting for us.

This was delicious, surprisingly light with some nice crunch toward the bottom layers. We never did figure out what that was exactly.

Once done, we decided to take advantage of the extended evening hours (11pm-1am) for deluxe resort guests, so we walked over to MK. We entered shortly before 10, with the main goal of riding Tron - our first time riding together instead of baby swapping. But first the People Mover seemed like a good post-food option.

The Tron wait was still pretty high, so we did Space first, then got into the Tron line at 11:01. We thought they’d scan to be sure we were resort guests, but I guess they gave a few minutes of leeway. That outdoor portion of the queue at night was messing with my eyes for some reason. I ended up staring at the ground for much of the wait. Thankfully it didn’t take terribly long to get inside and our overall wait was just 35 minutes.

When we exited around 11:45, we were amazed at how empty the park was feeling already.

We walked by 7 Dwarves but decided the line looked longer than we were willing to wait. We checked the app and saw Haunted Mansion said 13 minutes, so we headed there instead.

It was actually pretty creepy walking by the graveyard in silence with no one else around. We got to the closed doors and there was another couple there. They’d heard me saying it was creepy and agreed. Even creepier was when the CM inside started knocking on the closed doors.

As expected, we walked right on to our doom buggy and were off just as quickly with no interruptions that I recall. We decided our final destination of the night would be Pirates. IIRC, it said 20 minutes wait, but it was a walk-on too. We were the only ones in our boat, with no one in the ones in front of or behind us either!

We decided on the ferry back to Poly and it was perfect timing as one was waiting for us. We’d been planning to rope drop Guardians of the Galaxy in the morning, but having stayed out later than expected, we decided to play it by ear tomorrow.

 

[Tuvalu]

If I am doing my math right (which is usually doubtful ) you and your beau were awake for almost 24 hours on your first day!

Happy 10th Anniversary.

 

[meggo819]

If I am doing my math right (which is usually doubtful ) you and your beau were awake for almost 24 hours on your first day!

Happy 10th Anniversary.

Haha! With the time difference from TX, it was probably just over 18 hours.

Thank you!

 

[meggo819]

Thursday, April 17

I decided not to set an alarm, thinking I’d probably wake up early anyway. But the room-darkening curtains were pretty effective and I didn’t wake up until 8:30ish. So much for rope dropping! We walked over to the TTC and picked up some Joffrey’s after going through security there.

We made it over to Epcot and got in line for Guardians around 10. The posted wait time was 95 minutes and it was almost exactly accurate, according to my husband’s timer. We wouldn’t normally want to wait that long, but this was (like Tron) our first chance to ride together instead of baby swapping.

We headed to Mission Space next (unique attraction #46 for me). We went on the orange side. It had been several years since I’ve been on this, and while we were both fine afterward, we agreed it’s not something we’d need to do again for quite a while.

We admired some of the topiaries and made our way to the Honey Bee-stro booth because we wanted to try the chicken & waffles. It was fine, but not really anything special in my opinion.

We then started around World Showcase, going clockwise. We walked through the Stave Church (#47) before heading to Reflections of China. My husband waited on a bench inside and I walked through the House of Whispering Willows (#48) before the movie started (#49).

We had seen merchandise at Poly with Olu Mei and I’d been trying to explain Duffy to my husband. So I took these pictures for him lol

Once the movie ended, it was time to book it over to Italy for our 1:10 lunch reservation. We checked in a couple minutes late and were seated within about 5 minutes.

We were surprised to be given a booth in the back room (where the restrooms are), since we were only a party of 2. But it was great! A quiet and relaxing (and long) lunch.

My husband may have confused our Italian waiter when he asked about the pizza sizes: “Why is the half meter more than the 20 inch? A half meter is less than 20 inches.” The waiter did explain that the shape is different and once we saw one served later, we decided it must be approximately 0.5 meter-squared (one meter by half meter).

I ordered the strawberry limoncello and my husband got a beer. I can’t say I really tasted the limoncello in my drink - maybe I’ll try a limoncello flight next time!

 

[meggo819]

Thur, April 17 cont.

We shared some arancini and a large meat lover pizza, which were both delicious.

(Only remembered a pic after we’d started)

I would have liked to continue exploring World Showcase after lunch, but I also wanted to stop at Riviera on our way to the final show of the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. So we headed straight from Italy to the Skyliner.

Riviera is our home resort for our new DVC membership, but my husband hadn’t been there yet, and I forgot to check out the store the one time I was there. We’ve been thinking about getting a mug or magnet at each resort we stay at, but we haven’t decided which will be more doable yet (open to suggestions!). So we wanted to see what they had there as well as at Poly.

It was a quick stop and we continued on to DHS. We made it in plenty of time for Indiana Jones (#50) at 4:30.

We headed to Star Tours next, since it had a relatively low wait time listed. Unfortunately, many people leaving the show had the same thought and we did wait quite a while.

We had made a 6:15 reservation at Oga’s Cantina, since we’d never been and my husband is a big Star Wars fan. We weren’t feeling like waiting for anything else, so we checked in early at 5:53. We started to wander away through Batuu and got a text exactly 1 minute later asking us to return.

They placed us at a standing counter where they had to ask another family to scoot over and make room for us. It was so awkward and this was definitely the biggest disappointment of the trip for my husband. I guess I hadn’t warned him that we might be standing. And we were surprised they still give you a time limit. The limit obviously wasn’t a problem, since we had no desire to stand on the sticky floor next to a tiny counter for more than 45 minutes. Anyway, we each ordered a drink, but decided against trying any food, so we could leave quicker.

We got the Yub Nub and Corellian Spike Cold Brew. We did have a good laugh when I asked about getting the Yub Nub without the souvenir mug. The waitress, very in character, asked, “Like you want it directly in your mouth?”

 

[meggo819]

Thur, April 17 cont.

Before leaving Batuu, we decided to give the single rider line a chance at Rise of the Resistance. It’s definitely quicker and still fun, but it did feed us directly into the stormtrooper room, so you miss the preshows.

We also walked over to check out the single rider line at RNRC, but we could see it was long and decided to bail quickly. I kind of wanted to stay for Fantasmic, but I could tell my husband wasn’t feeling like doing anything else in the meantime and I didn’t want to just sit around waiting.

It ended up being the right call, as we were able to get in at Wailulu back at the resort. We were seated inside at 8:12pm and the waitress asked us about timing the meal around fireworks. I hadn’t even thought about that! Happy coincidence that we got to see that and the Electrical Water Pageant from our seats!

We decided to share something for each course: the sweet potato hummus with breadfruit tostones, the wayfinder burger, and the Dole whip sundae. My husband also had the banana old fashioned. I think I tried the zero proof pina colada, but we forgot to take pictures until dessert, so I have no evidence. Everything was delicious and I’d love to come back again soon!

 

[littleroo]

Don't even get me started at Oga's!!! 3 strikes and they are out! Never again! At least it worked out great back at the resort!!

 

[rshell68]

. I guess I hadn’t warned him that we might be standing. And we were surprised they still give you a time limit.

Don't even get me started at Oga's!!! 3 strikes and they are out! Never again! At least it worked out great back at the resort!!

Oh no we are trying Olga’s for first time in June. You have me concerned

 

[meggo819]

Oh no we are trying Olga’s for first time in June. You have me concerned

My problem was probably just not managing expectations of my husband. Who knows? Maybe you’ll get a seat and love it!

 

[meggo819]

Friday, April 18

Today was our actual anniversary, so I let my husband sleep in again. We headed out of the room shortly after 9 and placed a mobile order at Capt Cook’s. This was the only time we went in there, but it wasn’t bad at that time. (I know others have been commenting on how busy it is as the only quick service for essentially 2 resorts!)

We enjoyed a bounty platter and morning flatbread.

Since we’d had an earlier night yesterday, I told my husband I’d like some park time this morning, even though we had plans later in the day. We caught the ferry to MK shortly before 10.

The plan was just some low-key attractions and maybe trying to get into the DVC lounge when it opened at 11. We walked through the Swiss Family treehouse (unique attraction #51), and then saw Enchanted Tiki Room (#52).

We walked by the DVC lounge and saw the people lined up before 11 and nixed that idea right away. Instead we saw the Country Bears. It was just 11:00 when that finished and we thought we might catch the first riverboat cruise of the day, but we just missed it.

The boat had just started rounding the first curve and we saw that it had stopped and was backing up at one point. It was several minutes before it was on its way again. We then felt safe to go get in “line” for the next sailing.

We easily found a bench to sit on and while waiting, some sort of tour group came through. I didn’t see where they came from, but they left thru the entrance we had come in. At the back of the group was Chris Provost. I was shocked to see him because we actually spotted ourselves in his video the last time we were at MK. My kids got such a kick out of that and claimed we were now “youtube famous”. I couldn’t believe the chances of being there the same day as him twice, since he usually spends more time in Anaheim. He did stop to say hello to someone else who recognized him, but I wasn’t bold enough

 

[meggo819]

Friday, April 18 cont.

Soon it was our turn and we had a relaxing journey around the Rivers of America (#53). We enjoyed seeing the work on Thunder Mountain up close.

We decided we wanted a snack before heading back to the resort. I led my husband by the egg roll cart, but the line was too daunting and we settled on an order of corn dog nuggets from Casey’s instead. While my husband was picking that up, I headed down thru the stores to pick up a spirit jersey I’d seen earlier. I was guessing on the size, as it’s my first one and I unfortunately didn’t try it on until I got home. It’s just a tad smaller than it’s meant to be worn I think. I’m assuming I can’t exchange it online. So I guess I have some motivation to lose weight!

We ate our snack while walking back to the ferry. For our anniversary, we had wanted to book Keys to the Kingdom, but 60 days out, we learned it wasn’t offered this week, I guess because of Easter. (Not sure what tour we saw going by the riverboat, but I did see on one of Provost’s videos that it was something Disney invited him to.) So instead we decided to splurge on a couples’ massage at Grand Floridian!

We showered and then made the short walk from the Island Tower to the spa. There were a couple things about it that we found odd, but overall it was a wonderful massage. When you check in, they have you pick a stone and immediately place it into this glass terrarium-type thing. The stone you picked determined the lighting in your massage room and the scent used. I had picked a pretty green stone, which ended up leading to rosemary scent. It was fine, but probably the last one I would have picked of the options (citrus, lavender, vanilla, etc). One of our masseuses mentioned the other options at the beginning, but then didn’t ask if either of us wanted to switch.

The other odd thing was that we were having a couple’s massage, but had to wait separately in the men’s/women’s lounges for about 20 min before we were taken to our massage room. Obviously I understand the separate lounges, but it would have been nice to have someplace to wait together.

Like I said, wonderful massage, but probably not something I’d pay to do at Disney again.

When we got back, we decided a trip to the pool (and pool bar!) was in order. I got the Frosty Pineapple and my husband got their standard margarita. This was the perfect drink in my book - I love pineapple Dole whip, and this had the perfect mixture of that and rum!

We also tried the fried wonton chips, which were a pleasant surprise of tastiness. When we finished, we went down the slide once and spent maybe 20 minutes in the pool, before we decided it was time to get cleaned up for dinner.

 

[meggo819]

Friday, April 18 cont.

Our anniversary dinner would be at Yachtsman Steakhouse. This seemed like the nicest restaurant that would be similar to something we would normally pick for a special occasion. We decided to drive ourselves over and checked in about 15 minutes before our 6:30 reservation. We waited on a bench in the hallway for 12 minutes (according to the texts).

While sitting there, I confess I got a bit grumpy. I had packed a dress to wear, although I did let my husband wear nice jeans with his button-down shirt, and we had both packed an extra pair of shoes just for this occasion. So as I watched people going in the restaurant wearing cut-off shorts, t-shirts, sweatpants, ball caps, etc, I started to think maybe this wasn’t the right choice for a big anniversary dinner. My husband talked me down a bit and once we were seated, it did feel like the people around us were dressed more like us. So maybe other people were going to the connected lounge We were seated at this center table by the window and I did enjoy the atmosphere here.

I ordered a Caesar salad to start and my husband had the lobster bisque. He also had an old-fashioned and picked a bottle of wine for us to share.

For entrees, I had the filet but picked gratin potatoes instead of mashed. My husband went the opposite way for his potatoes and had the bone-in rib-eye. We also ordered the truffle mac & cheese to share.

I ordered my filet medium, as I usually do, and it was just okay. It was pretty crusty on the outside, which was disappointing. The gratin potatoes were also not quite what I expected and were pretty chewy. The Mac & cheese was my favorite part.

My husband had no complaints about his meal. But I felt like the whole experience just confirmed what I’ve long thought — we don’t come to Disney for the food. We live in Houston, where we can find tons of excellent restaurants, usually for less money. In most cases at Disney, I’d rather not spend the money (or time) on table service. I’d rather have more time for attractions!

We had already decided not to have dessert at the restaurant, in favor of checking out Cake Bake bakery instead. So we walked over there once finished. It did take a few minutes to find our way around the pool construction, but after that it was quick. My husband picked chocolate peanut butter pie and I decided I wanted something back at Poly…

We walked the rest of the way around the lake to get back to our car at Yacht Club. Once back, I placed my mobile order for bread pudding from Kona Cafe To Go. It took a while, but I got to watch fireworks for the third night in a row while waiting for it! I took my dessert back to the room and we enjoyed our choices with the rest of our bottle of wine.

Of course, this was too much for one person, so I ate less than half the bread pudding with the ice cream and put the rest in the fridge. Seemed like a good breakfast option tomorrow!

 

[meggo819]

Side story that’s making me laugh…

I’ve always had good luck with the online request for missing Photopass photos. We were missing our Space Mountain photo this trip, so I submitted the request with the date and estimated it was 10:45pm. Also attached another photo from the same night, so they could see what we looked like and what we were wearing.

Andy from Photopass: We searched on April 16, 2025 between 10:30 P.M. and 11:00 P.M. and were unable to locate your photos at Space Mountain®. Could these photos have been taken at another time, or a different location? Is there an exact time or a more accurate timeframe we can search?

Me: I’m 99% sure of the date and time. No worries though if you can’t find it…. appreciate you trying!

Leif from Photopass: We searched on April 16, 2025, between 10:30 p.m. - 12:00 a.m., and we apologize for the inconvenience. We were unable to locate your photos at Space Mountain with the new information provided. Could these photos have been taken at another time?

Me: Okay, thanks for checking. I guess the photo got lost. You can close the request.

Today, Mariah from Photopass: We've forwarded a request to the Attractions Recovery team to search for your missing photo. Please allow five to seven business days for our Attractions Recovery team to search.

45 min later, I get a notification that the picture was found, time stamped 10:52pm.

 

[Tiki Traveler]

Happy Anniversary!

Re: dressing up for dinner at Disney, for me it makes the dinner more of an event and more fun! It’s much easier to do on a slower Disney day. For men it’s not too bad all they have to do is throw on a polo shirt!