Hey there-
I'm Whitney.
I'm an avid reader of the trip reports here and have always dreamt of writing my own trip report.
We'll start with this pre-report and see if I'll be able to fully commit
Some Details
Who: Me, the spouse, our little one (4) and my nephew (13)
When: March 3rd-March 6th
Where: March 3-4 Riveria Resort
March 4-6 Pop Century
I've wanted to stay at the Riveria since it opened. I think it's such a beautiful resort. I saw the room promo and we went back and forth about booking a trip. My husband good care less about staying at a Moderate or Deluxe, so I had to plead my case, in the end I win. #YOLO
The day I go to book Riveria, it was sold out
So instead, we booked a night in a Poly DVC studio which has also always been a dream stay. Because I can't leave well enough alone, I kept checking and saw more rooms open up at the Riveria!!! It pained me to do it, but I cancelled the Poly reservation. I figured since the rooms were getting remodeled we'd try back in a year or so and have a fresher room
Basic Plan: Park Hop Thursday and Friday
Some Background
2020 hit us hard, and so far 2021 began as a remix to 2020. I hope things start to look up soon!!
My husbands side of the family had planned a trip last November. They planned to celebrate his nephews high school graduation and we were stoked as this was the first time that my family (hubby, son and I), hubbys parents and his brothers family would all be vacationing together. (We travelled to Disney with his parents and my parents/ my nephew the previous 2 years)
(Circa Nov 2019)
Everything was booked and dining reservations were set (I copped some hard to get reservations, and was super excited #Homecominbrunch)
Then Covid hit. We contemplated whether to CXL or not. My husband and I pushed really hard to CXL for various reasons but the bro in law was on the fence. We just couldn't advocate for them spending so much money (they don't get to disney often due to finances) and getting a watered down experience, plus there was just so much that was unknown at that time.
It was so hard to CXL but we did. The "consolation prize" was a family vacay to Clearwater (sans mother and father in law). I'm not really a beach person but took it in stride..It didn't hurt that the sunsets were amazing, we made a detour to Disney Springs for one day and I met my favorite Disney youtube, Prince Charming Dev.
Fast forward to August..cabin fever sets in, and on a whim, the hubby and I took what I called "Our Disney Guilt Trip"
9/23/20-9/26/20
I saw that the parks were slow and flights were cheap. So we booked a quick last minute mini trip, just the 2 of us.
It was my birthday/our anniversary weekend so why not. We felt super guilty as we were spending money to go to Disney while people we feeling the effects of job losses PLUS we had convinced the family to CXL the November trip. But our rationale was; we didn't care about not seeing characters, parades, fireworks, character dining, and we have been several times over the past few years. We were OK with the risk of visiting during the pandemic and I was well aware of all the precautions that TWDC was taking. It was hard leaving our son behind and we were bummed the whole time.
I swear the week we decided to go, so did everyone else. I couldn't believe how much the crowds grew. It definitely didn't look like the blog pics I looked at from literally the week prior. All in all it was a different type of trip and we were so glad that we were the guinea pigs of the family, and all our reasons for cancelling the big trip were validated.
Notes:
-I'm digging the new castle colors
-We got to experience some new to us rides. MMRR was adorable (the wait was insane though)
-I got to experience the stress of trying to make a boarding group for RoR (we underestimated how long the early morning Skyliner line would be ( we got in line about 8:25am), and got inside the park at 10:02 but we got BG 84 the 2nd time around
-You could tell most folks didn't realize some parks opened an hour early, which was clutch, especially on our AK morning; when we got off FoP, most people were entering the park at 9
-We learned the limited capacity on buses sucked and ride share was our best friend
-The halloween food offerings were so yummy; that Poison apple cupcake was AMAZING
The Boathouse had people pretty much sitting in the corner and facing the wall; it gave me serious timeout vibes, we couldn't stop laughing. I understand it was because of Covid, but geez
-We also saw a lady on a scooter fall off the bus ramp; we could feel it was going to happen and it was absolutely terrifying . We never saw her get up and I hope she was OK.
LOL
Main Reason for this mini trip
Our son is at that age where he really, really loves Disney. This will be his 3rd visit and 1st time we have to pay for him. (Our 2019 trip, he was such a stinker, when we got home we discovered he had an ear infection.
I often hear that kids don't remember things when they are this young; but this kid remembers his previous trips so vividly. Listening to him recount riding the haunted mansion and how finding Nemo was scary when he was 2 is so wild. (Side note, he taught himself the lyrics to the HM song, Grim Grinning Ghosts; its remarkable and hilarious)
We felt so guilty when we went without him in the fall and even though he can't see his favorite characters, we know he will have a fun time. Also, he just turned 4 a few weeks ago and he's now tall enough to ride some new to him rides that he wanted to try last time (Slinky Dog Dash, to be exact)
#GOALS
A few things that I really want to accomplish
1. A pool day. We never have time or its too chilly
2. Gideon's Bakehouse (I need these in my life)
3. For my kid to get a chance to ride MMRR, RoR and Slinky
4. Finally try a spring roll ( I heard the cart has been closed so IDK about this one)
LONG ONE HERE
5. I really want my nephew to have a good time. This kid was like my 1st child. My parents have guardianship of him as his parents had him young, they kind of suck..etc..etc
My folks still work full time so he kind of misses out on somethings. Like most kids and teens, the pandemic has been so tough for him. Online schooling has not been fun, he needs that interaction with his classmates and teachers. I hope this is a nice break from the "real world" for him
Thanks for reading this first portion of my pre-trip report
I'm Whitney.
I'm an avid reader of the trip reports here and have always dreamt of writing my own trip report.
We'll start with this pre-report and see if I'll be able to fully commit
Some Details
Who: Me, the spouse, our little one (4) and my nephew (13)
When: March 3rd-March 6th
Where: March 3-4 Riveria Resort
March 4-6 Pop Century
I've wanted to stay at the Riveria since it opened. I think it's such a beautiful resort. I saw the room promo and we went back and forth about booking a trip. My husband good care less about staying at a Moderate or Deluxe, so I had to plead my case, in the end I win. #YOLO
The day I go to book Riveria, it was sold out
So instead, we booked a night in a Poly DVC studio which has also always been a dream stay. Because I can't leave well enough alone, I kept checking and saw more rooms open up at the Riveria!!! It pained me to do it, but I cancelled the Poly reservation. I figured since the rooms were getting remodeled we'd try back in a year or so and have a fresher room Basic Plan: Park Hop Thursday and Friday
Some Background
2020 hit us hard, and so far 2021 began as a remix to 2020. I hope things start to look up soon!!
My husbands side of the family had planned a trip last November. They planned to celebrate his nephews high school graduation and we were stoked as this was the first time that my family (hubby, son and I), hubbys parents and his brothers family would all be vacationing together. (We travelled to Disney with his parents and my parents/ my nephew the previous 2 years)
(Circa Nov 2019)
Everything was booked and dining reservations were set (I copped some hard to get reservations, and was super excited #Homecominbrunch)
Then Covid hit. We contemplated whether to CXL or not. My husband and I pushed really hard to CXL for various reasons but the bro in law was on the fence. We just couldn't advocate for them spending so much money (they don't get to disney often due to finances) and getting a watered down experience, plus there was just so much that was unknown at that time.
It was so hard to CXL but we did. The "consolation prize" was a family vacay to Clearwater (sans mother and father in law). I'm not really a beach person but took it in stride..It didn't hurt that the sunsets were amazing, we made a detour to Disney Springs for one day and I met my favorite Disney youtube, Prince Charming Dev.
Fast forward to August..cabin fever sets in, and on a whim, the hubby and I took what I called "Our Disney Guilt Trip"
9/23/20-9/26/20
I saw that the parks were slow and flights were cheap. So we booked a quick last minute mini trip, just the 2 of us.
It was my birthday/our anniversary weekend so why not. We felt super guilty as we were spending money to go to Disney while people we feeling the effects of job losses PLUS we had convinced the family to CXL the November trip. But our rationale was; we didn't care about not seeing characters, parades, fireworks, character dining, and we have been several times over the past few years. We were OK with the risk of visiting during the pandemic and I was well aware of all the precautions that TWDC was taking. It was hard leaving our son behind and we were bummed the whole time.
I swear the week we decided to go, so did everyone else. I couldn't believe how much the crowds grew. It definitely didn't look like the blog pics I looked at from literally the week prior. All in all it was a different type of trip and we were so glad that we were the guinea pigs of the family, and all our reasons for cancelling the big trip were validated.
Notes:
-I'm digging the new castle colors
-We got to experience some new to us rides. MMRR was adorable (the wait was insane though)
-I got to experience the stress of trying to make a boarding group for RoR (we underestimated how long the early morning Skyliner line would be ( we got in line about 8:25am), and got inside the park at 10:02
but we got BG 84 the 2nd time around-You could tell most folks didn't realize some parks opened an hour early, which was clutch, especially on our AK morning; when we got off FoP, most people were entering the park at 9
-We learned the limited capacity on buses sucked and ride share was our best friend
-The halloween food offerings were so yummy; that Poison apple cupcake was AMAZING
The Boathouse had people pretty much sitting in the corner and facing the wall; it gave me serious timeout vibes, we couldn't stop laughing. I understand it was because of Covid, but geez
-We also saw a lady on a scooter fall off the bus ramp; we could feel it was going to happen and it was absolutely terrifying . We never saw her get up and I hope she was OK.
LOL
Main Reason for this mini trip
Our son is at that age where he really, really loves Disney. This will be his 3rd visit and 1st time we have to pay for him.
(Our 2019 trip, he was such a stinker, when we got home we discovered he had an ear infection.I often hear that kids don't remember things when they are this young; but this kid remembers his previous trips so vividly. Listening to him recount riding the haunted mansion and how finding Nemo was scary when he was 2 is so wild. (Side note, he taught himself the lyrics to the HM song, Grim Grinning Ghosts; its remarkable and hilarious)
We felt so guilty when we went without him in the fall and even though he can't see his favorite characters, we know he will have a fun time. Also, he just turned 4 a few weeks ago and he's now tall enough to ride some new to him rides that he wanted to try last time (Slinky Dog Dash, to be exact)
#GOALS
A few things that I really want to accomplish
1. A pool day. We never have time or its too chilly
2. Gideon's Bakehouse (I need these in my life)
3. For my kid to get a chance to ride MMRR, RoR and Slinky
4. Finally try a spring roll ( I heard the cart has been closed so IDK about this one)
LONG ONE HERE
5. I really want my nephew to have a good time. This kid was like my 1st child. My parents have guardianship of him as his parents had him young, they kind of suck..etc..etc
My folks still work full time so he kind of misses out on somethings. Like most kids and teens, the pandemic has been so tough for him. Online schooling has not been fun, he needs that interaction with his classmates and teachers. I hope this is a nice break from the "real world" for him
Thanks for reading this first portion of my pre-trip report
