Trip Report **completed**Our not so perfect, but good enough July 2021 trip

Hi, all! It took me much longer to get this started than I wanted, but my computer decided it didn't have room for any more of my photos and I had to get an external hard drive and transfer some in order to start! We've also been a little busy getting everything ready for Logan to leave for Iowa in 2 weeks!

So, if you didn't follow along with my PTR, we were supposed to be on a cruise to celebrate Logan's HS graduation, but instead had to switch gears and decided to spend a few days at WDW.

Now, the specifics:
Who: Me (Amy), my husband Brian, Logan (18), Lily (16), and Owen (13)
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Where: Cabana Bay Beach Resort and Pop Century

When: July 11-20, 2021

Why: as I previously mentioned, this trip was to celebrate Logan's HS graduation. He asked for a cruise, so I do have another one scheduled for next June and we quickly threw together the Disney portion of this trip (so I guess we can call this his preliminary graduation trip!!)


We had some truly magical moments on this trip and some definitively un-magical moments as well! Unfortunately, our first day held one of the most un-magical moments.

We drove from Ohio and always try to leave very early to try to avoid as much traffic as possible. We set an alarm for midnight and our goal was to leave the house between 1 and 1:30 am. We were spot on!
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We made a quick stop at McDonald's for Cokes and were on our way. It was smooth sailing all the way to northern Florida. We even made it through Atlanta with no drama or slow downs!!
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Florida was stop and go the whole way, but we still made decent time and were pulling in to Cabana Bay Beach Resort about 4:00 which was about 1-1.5 hours later than we had anticipated, so not too bad! However, that is official check in time, and the parking area was a mess, as was the lobby!
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Luckily, they had sent me an email that allowed me to check in prior to arrival and that line was fairly short! The regular line was wrapped all the way around the lobby and was said to be 2 hours long! Brian dropped me off and found a parking spot that he probably shouldn't have been in to wait for me and sent Logan in to the lobby to guide me back to the car!

Now for the most un-magical moment of our trip! I had booked a 2 bedroom volcano view suite as a surprise for Logan since it was his celebration trip and I thought it would be cool to see the volcano lit up at night and watch all the activity in the park from our room. I paid way more than I normally would for a room, but felt it was a reasonable splurge. Well, we get to our room which happened to be on the second floor and this was our view:
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Yes, that is the back of a service building and the very tip of the volcano!! I don't understand how they can charge the same amount of money for this view as they can for the higher floor rooms (which I did request)! They need a lower partial or obstructed view charge for the rooms on this floor. I did say something and no one cared at all and basically told me to stuff it! Needless to say, we won't be back there any time soon!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We decided that there wouldn't be a better time to wait for MMRR as the Lines app said to ride at any time despite the 65 minute wait time. Brian, Lily, and Owen went to find a snack and drinks while Logan and I got in line. They joined us shortly while we were still waiting out in the hot sun with no shade!!
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The above picture was taken at 3:40 when we got in line. The next picture was taken at 4:24 when we finally were entering the building. The length of the line hadn't changed, so not sure why the wait time is 20 minutes less. We definitely waited the whole 65 minutes that was listed when we got in line.
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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No preshow for us this time through! I was disappointed since I knew they had started to show it again.
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It was cute, but I agree with @riverside and @tonystark that it's not all everyone else seems to think it is! I love that there is finally a Mickey ride, but I am not a fan of that animation style at all and it is hard for me to get past that and just enjoy the ride. No one else in my family seemed to be bothered by it and really enjoyed the ride. I did remember to watch Daisy at the end of that scene though thanks to @Tuvalu and @ajrwdwgirl!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I had a hard time deciding when to hit the we are here button since we'd had one experience where it took forever and another where it was done very quickly. I ended up hitting it too soon and then we had to rush to get there!
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Brian ordered a Ronto Wrap, Logan and I got the Fried Endorian Chicken Tip Yip with mac and cheese, Owen got the kids portion of the Yip Tip, and Lily ordered the Ithorian Pasta Rings from the kids menu. It was all ok, nothing exceptional, but we enjoyed it.
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We sat in the other end of this cubby hole area:
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PolynesianPrincess

Well-Known Member
Ok, all caught up!!!

The first time we waited for Runaway Railway the line was long! The last 3 times we've ridden it, we did it right at park closed and basically walked on or maybe waited 5-10 mins.
We agree with you on Slinky. It was decent but we don't love it. Same with Mine Train. If there's a short wait we will ride it but otherwise, meh.
Volcano Bay looks awesome! One day we want to do a couple days at Universal. We've been looking at the Royal Pacific hotel. I love that the deluxe resorts come with the Express Pass.

How early did y'all get in line for the Skyliner and Epcot? We just planned a spur of the moment trip down in 2 weeks since we were able to get AP preview passes for Remy and we're staying at Pop. It's a SUPER short trip! I fly in Monday morning and leave Wednesday evening. We wanna maximize our park time so we wanna get in line for the Skyliner early enough to get there before the parks open!!
Can't wait to read more! Bummed y'all couldn't go on your cruise but Disney World isn't such a bad alternative! :)
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Ok, all caught up!!!

The first time we waited for Runaway Railway the line was long! The last 3 times we've ridden it, we did it right at park closed and basically walked on or maybe waited 5-10 mins.
We agree with you on Slinky. It was decent but we don't love it. Same with Mine Train. If there's a short wait we will ride it but otherwise, meh.
Volcano Bay looks awesome! One day we want to do a couple days at Universal. We've been looking at the Royal Pacific hotel. I love that the deluxe resorts come with the Express Pass.

How early did y'all get in line for the Skyliner and Epcot? We just planned a spur of the moment trip down in 2 weeks since we were able to get AP preview passes for Remy and we're staying at Pop. It's a SUPER short trip! I fly in Monday morning and leave Wednesday evening. We wanna maximize our park time so we wanna get in line for the Skyliner early enough to get there before the parks open!!
Can't wait to read more! Bummed y'all couldn't go on your cruise but Disney World isn't such a bad alternative! :)
Epcot had an 11:00 opening the day we went, and we got to the Pop/AoA Skyliner station at about 9:30. The line into the International Gateway started moving at about 10:30. And we were in line by 7:30 for a 9:00 opening at DHS.
 

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