Trip Report For the First Time in FOREVER...There'll be Disney!

Hello everyone!

WOW! It's been a long time. For those who don't know, my name is Dawn. I am from Buffalo, NY and it had been over a year since we had visited WDW. It was a dark year for sure. My mom was diagnosed with cancer, we had to cancel three Disney visits, a Cape Cod trip, cancelled concerts, weird things going on in the world and my office closing forcing me to seek out and start a different job (within the same company)...boy what a ride. I hope you are all doing well and beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel. We have all been through so much.

Needless to say, I was ready. Ready to return to our happy place. Ready to, somewhat, escape reality, even just for a few days. It had been hard to travel from New York. There were a lot of hoops to jump through. Then we were able to get our vaccines and they lifted the strict rules for traveling to and from NY, so off we ran! ...well...flew...to WDW! There were some differences and changes to be sure, but all-in-all, we were very happy to return to the magic. Prior to and during a lot of the trip I would randomly burst out into, "For the first time in forever..."! And from there, the title for this TR was born. :hilarious:

When: May 19 - 23, 2021

Who: Me (Dawn) and my Husband Dan!

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Where: Staying at the Poly in a Standard View Studio.

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Stay tuned for Day 1!
 
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pixie225

pixie225

Well-Known Member
Hello fellow NYer! Can't wait to read your review. We were at Disney 5/1-5/7. Will be interesting to see what you thought about some of the changes, and how the changes have changed from 5/7 to your trip!
 
Ears to Disney

Ears to Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Songbird76 said:
rebel wilson dance GIF by Pitch Perfect
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pixie225 said:
Hello fellow NYer! Can't wait to read your review. We were at Disney 5/1-5/7. Will be interesting to see what you thought about some of the changes, and how the changes have changed from 5/7 to your trip!
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BigDis said:
Definitely following along!
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fizzieee said:
Following!!!!
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cgersic said:
I'm here for the fun!!
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Dave B said:
Can't wait to hear all about it
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KellBelle said:
Count me in!
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ajrwdwgirl said:
I'm in!
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BuckyMom said:
Me too! Here!
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MickeyCB said:
Following along!
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Thank you all so much for joining in!

I Appreciate You Dj Khaled GIF
 
Ears to Disney

Ears to Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
May 19-Day 1: Travel

Currently, flights for Southwest from Buffalo are a little wonky. We were lucky to find a 7:35AM flight that was non-stop. It was not as early as our usual 5AM or 6AM flights, but it still put us in Orlando around 9AM. We arrived to the airport around 5:15AM only to find out that our normal parking lot, the economy lot, is still closed. We didn't even think to look it up to see if it was open or not. It is not very far, but we did have to double back to the standard long term parking lot. In the long run, we were not out too much more in parking and we were able to walk to the terminal, so not terrible.

We got into the airport and checked our one bag and headed for security. A little back story...Dan had to have an ingrown toenail removed a few days before. He was told best course of action was to soak in Epsom Salt at least once a day. Since we were going to be on our feet a lot, Dan definitely wanted to make sure he found a way to soak it at night to make sure it was healing. He put the Epsom salt in a ziplock bag in his carry on. He figured that if there was any questions, they could ask him and he brought his doctors note along with him. His bag was pulled for searching. We figured it would, but the guy working the station did not need to find some girls he knew to chat with instead of continuing on with his job. We waited a good 10 minutes to realize that Dan was waiting there for a reason.

New Girl Ugh GIF


After he explained what it was and they swabbed the Epsom Salts, we were finally on our way to breakfast. We stopped at our usual, Nickle City Cafe for some egg and cheese bagels. We both got turkey sausage on them as well. They hit the spot and we moved our way down to the gate.

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The plane was ready for us, and we were ready for it! We always do Early Bird so we ended up with A 25 and 26 to board.

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We aren't used to taking off when the sun is rising! It is usually still very dark out. The flight was quick and uneventful. I watched a movie on the iPad and Dan read and before we knew it, we made it back to our home away from home!

After collecting our bag from the claim on A side, we had to cross over the main terminal to the B side to head down to DME.

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The line was not too bad and we only waited a few minutes before being assigned to our line.

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Our first of many of these for the visit, no matter how well they were actually followed. :hilarious:

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Foreshadowing, but we may be in this line again real soon!

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We were assigned to our bus...

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...and in about 20 or 30 minutes, we were on our way to the bubble!

Next Up: Day 1, Part 2 - The Poly & MK
 
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Ears to Disney

Ears to Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 1, Part 2: Poly Check-in & MK

I had done the online check-in for the resort and was in the process of switching our card over on DME. We always use a AAA travel card for our vacations and load our saved funds onto it before we leave. MDE is hit or miss with accepting this card as a form of payment. I have no clue why as it is a Visa just the same as a debit or credit card. Nevertheless, it wouldn't be as fun if we didn't constantly struggle with it right? 🤪

My struggles forced MDE to tell me to go to the front desk, which right now at the Poly is in the Pago Pago longhouse due to the ongoing construction of the Great Ceremonial House. Luckily DME drops you off right there. We went in to the CM and she quickly made sure that our correct card was added and told us that we would get the room-ready text as soon as one was available for us. We found a spot to get situated, stored our luggage with bell service and headed towards the boat dock to sail over to MK!

We had reached here when we got the text that our room was ready!

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We maybe should have gone to drop our stuff off at the room, but we had already spotted the castle across the Lagoon and there was nothing stopping us now!

This little guy was very good at following the rules, but I think he was giving us the stink-eye because we were getting a little close to him. :hilarious:


Poly boat dock 2 .jpeg


The boats are our favorite way to get around Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake. The minute I began hearing sounds of the boats again I was starting to get teary-eyed. It is amazing what sounds can do to trigger amazing memories. After we docked we had to get our annual pass cards, so our first stop was Guest Services. Silly me did not realize that upon renewing our AP's back in March 2020 through DVC made them begin right after the previous ones ended. Ugh! Luckily the CM, who must get this a lot lately, made sure that our AP's started on May 19, 2021 so they would be good for the year ahead of us upon activation! Thank goodness for that! Crisis averted!

After a very teary walk up Main Street USA, we had made it to the Hub and face to face with this beauty that I had thought a lot about for the better part of a year.

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I could not believe that we were finally back. It didn't feel like a long time, but then again, it really really did. It had been a long year plus and we were so very grateful to be standing on Main Street USA, in MK, in WDW and staring at Cinderella Castle! WOW does she ever look beautiful. She looks so much better in person. The shimmer, the adornments, the gold accents! A+!

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After taking some photos of the Castle in all her 50th celebration glory, we had to get something MUCH needed before the headaches kicked in.

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Rise And Shine Coffee GIF by mynaturalforce


We didn't have any in Buffalo because I don't even want to get up to go to the restroom on the plane! Was it worth it to get some Joffrey's in Tomorrowland in MK? Yes, yes it was! Shakin' Jamaican for me! We found an area in Tomorrowland to sit, enjoy our coffee, and take it all in.

Stay Tuned for Day 1, Part 3: More MK!
 
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