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
Once we were done, Lily and Owen wanted to do the Tomorrowland Speedway and I had business I needed to take care of at Guest Services. Brian took them to the Speedway and Logan chose to accompany me to the front of the park.
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We ran into some friends on the way!
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Logan and I entered City Hall and spoke with Ricky from San Antonio. I explained to him that I was wanting to park hop to Epcot the following day and why I wanted to be able to do that. Ricky listened very carefully to me and verified that we only wanted to park hop the following day and would be staying at MK the rest of the day. Ricky asked us to wait while they figured out what could be done for us. After a few moments, Ricky let me know that we now had 5 one day tickets to Epcot and park reservations on my account AT NO CHARGE to me!!!! Talk about some magic!! Ricky really made my day!!

On the way out of City Hall, we caught a princess parade.
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amjt660

Premium Member
Logan and I entered City Hall and spoke with Ricky from San Antonio. I explained to him that I was wanting to park hop to Epcot the following day and why I wanted to be able to do that. Ricky listened very carefully to me

I am sure that one of the reasons you received the magic from Ricky was in the way that your presented the issue to him.

Attract more bees with honey than with vinegar


Max
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great photos - and some spots that I have not noticed in my time at WDW

Sorry about your elbow

but you realize this is just more justification for me to not clean at home!!!

JK of course


Max
Thanks! Everyone keeps saying that they guess Brian doesn't get to clean anymore, and I keep saying nope, not going to tell him that!!
I am sure that one of the reasons you received the magic from Ricky was in the way that your presented the issue to him.

Attract more bees with honey than with vinegar


Max
I'm sure you are correct and Logan and I talked about that on the way back. I never asked for anything other than help and just explained what the problem was. It was actually a fun interaction as we talked about all kinds of other things with Ricky while the problem was being solved!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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Earlier in the afternoon, I had been texting with @riverside trying to schedule a meet up since we were both in MK. She had mentioned that they were thinking of hitting the Tambu Lounge, so I was hoping to see them here. As I was checking in for dinner, I thought I saw them heading down the stairs on the other side of the 2nd floor. I texted as soon as I was done checking in to see if they were still at the Poly. Wouldn't you know it that they actually seated us early this day instead of their usual well after the ADR time of being seated.
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Just as we sat down, Patti texted me back that she had come back upstairs, so I headed out of the dining room for a quick meet up with her gang.
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I'll let her post the one of all of us if she chooses to, but it was fun to take a moment and get to meet her in person!

We actually got a great table this time!
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I was pleasantly surprised when our waitress said I could order an Island Sunset since it wasn't on the drink menu. Unfortunately, it just wasn't the same!!
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Owen and Lily ordered some sort of smoothie that neither one ended up liking! They said it tasted like Pepto Bismol.
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The food was good though!!
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Yes, there were noodles under the little rice like things! I thought the kids were going to die when I first told them about the no noodles on the menu!! We were all relieved to have them back on the menu before we ate there!

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Overall, we really enjoyed this meal. The chicken was just ok, I could have lived without the sausage, and the shrimp casserole was ok for what it was, but I understand people being upset that the regular shrimp was not available. I have heard complaints about the steak, but ours was done to perfection that night! The noodles, wings, and dumplings were delicious as always! Salad is salad, so I won't say anything else about that! I apparently didn't take a picture of the bread which we did not care for. As always, the bread pudding was the star of the show!!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Time to head back to MK. We had 3 things left on our list that we wanted to accomplish. Most important to Lily and Owen was Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. However, as we sat and ate dinner, we watched lightning come closer and closer. We were actually amazed that they never cleared the pool! We hurried over to the TTC to catch the monorail to MK. We were watching wait times as we went.
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