Trip Report It was the best of times in the worst of times...

Hello All!
We're back from our October 2020 Disney trip, and a crazy time it was!

Like so many others whose trips were cancelled/delayed and changed, ours was too. A year ago before the world collapsed my husband wanted to have a big family blowout trip in November 2020. Our usual companions are my son 20, occasionally daughter 32 and her new husband. He also wanted (for whatever reason) to invite my mother and husband who profess to despise Disney, despite never having been there. His brother and wife, who live in NC and are so reluctant to travel they don't know the restaurants in their own town. He wanted to invite my sister, her husband and son, that he doesn't really spend any time with.🤷‍♀️ I said, "whatever dude" you invite and I'll figure it out.

Invitations went out and 2020 arrived. Our 2020 like many others has been a big pile of 💩 with one shining exception. So, I'm going to list from January to now in a purposely run-on sentence (paragraph) to get the years crap mentioned here and out of the way. It's meant to read fast and forget. The reason I'm going to go into our family's woes is some of this impacted our trip planning/scheduling.

January Scooby (our crazy loving dog) had to be put down and it was very traumatic February Gary's cancer worsened (those of you that have read my other reports know he is fighting stage 4 colon cancer) and they had to increase his chemo Gary gets both cataracts out right before Covid hits February I schedule the Poly for a crap ton of people that of course aren't coming March Seth gets kicked out of his college dorm in Savannah with the Covid shut down and in 48 hours finds an apartment we drive down 12 hours with a Uhaul trailer with donated furniture to help set him up looking like the Beverly hillbillies Aleisha my oldest gets laid off from her job as an interior designer in California due to Covid April we start volunteering at the local food bank because increasing volumes of people are hungry May Aleisha gets her job back and then looses it again due to Covid July I fall in the yard fracturing in multiple pieces my right (dominant) wrist requiring surgery September the day my daughter and her husband are getting ready to put a down payment on a house in California he gets laid off from his job as a lawyer due to Covid.

What, you say, could possibly be the shining exception? In the middle of that mess in April Aleisha and Julio called to tell us that we will be first time grandparents mid December! We're going to have a baby girl!

So, all of that crazy above resulted in my daughter and husband bailing on us for the November trip, and of course none of those in-laws, outlaws etc. were ever going to come, so we rearranged dates around my sons school schedule and planned for a trip in October, and said pooh to the rest of the invitees!

The people who actually ended up going were: Myself-Cindy, Husband-Gary, Son-Seth, Seth's friend from school-John
When: October 21-26th
Where: 1 night Rivera 1 bedroom Villa, and 4 nights at the Polynesian in a Bungalow
IMG_5556.JPG
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Animal Kingdom day continues-

Lunch at Satu'li Canteen.
We finally got notice that our food was ready and we headed in. Seth grabbed the first tray of food and scored us a nice quiet corner table seat that he said a family was just leaving and offered to him.
I got the chicken bowl that I absolutely love!
IMG_5431.JPG


John and Seth both got the shrimp bowl that they said was very good.
IMG_6044.JPG


Every time we talk about eating here, Gary says, "I don't like that place". We get here and he says he's not hungry. (Remember yesterday)? I said oh no, I don't care if you order a kids meal, you have to eat something. So he ordered this and devoured the whole thing and dessert too!
IMG_5432.JPG


We ordered 3 of the blueberry cream cheese mousse and Seth ate 2 and a half of those, (I ate the other half), and Gary and John had the chocolate cake dessert.
IMG_5433.JPG


IMG_5434.JPG


It was after lunch that we decided to use the DAS pass for our second ride, EE. Seth and John went ahead to scan us in and Gary and I took our time wandering out of Pandora and headed over there.
You have to admit, fake or not, the scenery is magnificent!
IMG_5437.JPG


IMG_5438.JPG


IMG_5439.JPG


IMG_5441.JPG
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Animal Kingdom day continued-

We took our time walking over to EE and found some really neat sights along the way.
IMG_5442.JPG


IMG_5443.JPG


IMG_5445.JPG


We ran into a PP Photographer who must have been bored out of his mind. He took so many pictures and honestly weird ones. He had us hug, ok, but then like we were kissing. We're in masks. And I'm not super fond of PDA on a good day! I'll leave out the other 32.
IMG_5464.JPG


We made our way over to Everest and waited maybe 20 minutes till we were able to enter the queue. Again, no benches, people were sitting on rocks and the ground near the ride. I don't get it.
Anyway, we all enjoyed the interesting things to see in the line, but when we got up to the load area, Gary said, "I changed my mind, I don't want to ride, I'm too full from lunch". I think he just chickened out, but I wasn't going to argue. So the 3 of us rode.
IMG_6048.JPG


After that the guys wanted to ride Dinosaur but Gary didn't so he and I wandered back towards the front of the park and looked around in the stores there. Gary I bought me my Christmas present there, a large wooden Cinderella Castle puzzle thing. Nice to have that 30% off!
After that we headed for the buses. I took this pic for my friends little boy who loves Cars. I couldn't get it with the doors closed because it was our bus and he didn't shut the doors till after we were on.
IMG_5448.JPG


Cool roof on one of the buildings after we got off of the bus.
IMG_5450.JPG


Lots of palms for @Darstarr!
IMG_5453.JPG


So pretty!
IMG_5454.JPG


Maybe not pretty, but pretty cool and necessary! Isn't it something that you have to remind people where their trash goes?!
IMG_5455.JPG


Up next, a little chill time then maybe some shopping and dinner!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 4 continued-

Had to take a break to watch my Steelers. Now where were we?
Oh yes, a little chill and then shopping (maybe) and dinner.

We got back to the room and Gary wanted to take a few minutes out on the deck. I walked out to find this.
I still don't get the point of the itty bity pool, but.....
Gary said it was nice and cool on his AK tired feet. I think it was the beer that was helping more, but what do I know about therapeutics?
The snake/alligator signs still wig me out.
IMG_5459.JPG


Beautiful view!
IMG_5471.JPG


While we were out there this guy came to visit and didn't seem to be intimidated by our presence at all.
IMG_5461.JPG


After everyone rested up we headed for Seth's car because we were going to go shopping at what surprisingly is Gary's favorite place to shop. The Disney Character Warehouse.
He loves a good bargain and after I finally dragged him there a visit or so ago and he bought a pullover sweatshirt he's hooked. Just like everything in our lives I showed it to him and he said, "nah". Then 10 minutes later comes over with it on and said I really like this!:rolleyes:
It was $10 there and the next day at AK it was in the Island Mercantile store for $60! He was hooked! This is his sweatshirt from that trip.
IMG_5758.JPG


So we get there, the mall is fairly crowded but we hustle to the store and were all excited when there wasn't a line and the store didn't look horribly crowded. We only had about an hour total till we had to be back at Kidani for dinner.
We go up to the entrance and 2 CM's are there and everything came to a screeching halt. We had to give them our names and they would txt us when we were allowed to go in and spend money. Oh, and it's only about an hour wait!! Seriously?! Like I said at the beginning of the TR, lines for lines.
We decided to see if by some miracle we would get called earlier and found some chairs to wait. Our reservation for dinner was 7 pm, and we said we would give it till 6:15. If we weren't called we would head out. This was as close as we got.:( Bummer.
IMG_5473.JPG


We went and got in the car and at 6:20 as we were backing out, you guessed it, we were txtd. But we didn't want to be late for our dinner reservation and so bagged it.

We headed to our destination and arrived right on time. We stayed at Kidani several years ago, but I didn't even know this place existed. After reading about it, I was very excited to try the bread service everyone raves about.
IMG_5474.JPG


A very unique ceiling with fun lighting throughout.
IMG_5476.JPG


Proof that there are faces under those masks!
I had warned John before our trip that I like to write up trip reports and asked his permission to put him in here. He didn't have a problem with that. But I learned as the week went that he was actually uncomfortable with photos, so I tried to decrease those. He didn't mind taking these for us.
IMG_5485.JPG
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 4 Sanaa continued-

We ordered the bread service and I thought it was fantastic. I could probably just have that and not get dinner and be satisfied.
I don't know what all of the different "accompaniments" were, but they went from mild to hot in the little dishes.
IMG_5478.JPG


IMG_5479.JPG


I had the chicken birvani, it was excellent!
IMG_5486.JPG


Gary had the newyork strip that he loved!
IMG_5895.JPG


Seth had this "slow cooked" something, that he didn't care for at all. John really enjoyed his.
IMG_6041.JPG


I really enjoyed our meal and would eat there again. Seth said he probably would be ok if he ordered something different next time. Gary and John enjoyed their meals. Our waiter was great and I'm glad we tried Sanaa.
A really striking light on our way out of the restaurant.
IMG_5489.JPG


We headed back to the room for the guys to pack. We have a MK day tomorrow but then they will be headed back to Savannah tomorrow night.
It was a beautiful evening walk back to the bungalow.
IMG_5493.JPG


See the old man hustling off to the left? He was headed for another LandShark I believe. Funny what motivates people!
This was one of those nights that had that slightly warm breeze tropic feel! If only you could bottle that!!
IMG_5494.JPG


IMG_5496.JPG


IMG_5498.JPG


It was a day of ups and downs. Once Mr Stubborn Pants quit being stubborn we had a really nice time!
We all relaxed and got rested up for our last full and very busy day at MK!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
October 25th-Day 5
Magic Kingdom Day!

But first, HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!
And we had just about the weirdest Thanksgiving in a long time.
We decided that we weren't getting together as a family. But, since my parents live 20 minutes away they made turkey and pie, we made a bunch of sides and drove over.
We knocked on the door, (minus our musket), said Happy Thanksgiving with our masks on. Exchanged a bunch of food and headed home to enjoy our feast.
Good grief Charlie Brown!
charlie brown thanksgiving GIF by Peanuts

But, we're all alive and well, and blessed to have that food. It's all good.

And a shout out to @Songbird76 who got me going with the gifs! @Darstarr tried in the past but I just wasn't trainable at that time.

So we started our MK day with a photo shoot!
As I mentioned in this report we're DVC members and this is our home resort. And we happened to buy in in 2015 when sections of the Poly became DVC.
DVC has a magazine called Disney FILES that they produce quarterly and I had a copy from 2015 with us that featured the Poly opening. So we took a bunch of pictures with the magazine in front and in back of the bungalow hoping to become famous when they post our photo on the last page of the magazine, holding up our magazine. Not only is it very unlikely we will get picked, but even if so, we won't be famous.
IMG_5512.JPG


IMG_5524.JPG


We decided to use the monorail and headed over to the soon to be closed platform.
No idea what was going on here.
IMG_5527.JPG


Remember when I was whining about not getting any photos of Mickey? I was wrong! This isn't the best photo but I didn't realize I caught the characters right as they were exiting the train platform! And in their Halloween costumes!
IMG_5532.JPG


It's so stinkin nice to be back!!
But, again it was so weird to be sitting on the deck of the bungalow, looking over here, and not being able to enter the park till our last day.
IMG_5545.JPG


One of my favorite photos of the trip, so I'll post it here again!
IMG_5556.JPG


We decided to use the DAS pass on 7DMT since the line was already listed at 60 minutes. So Seth and John went over there to get us a return time and Gary and I headed towards Adventure Land.
On the way there we saw these guys. The Haunted Mansion crew? Haunted Cowboys? trolley riding.
IMG_5563.JPG


And when we made it to the castle there was a lady there who asked if we would take their picture and they would take ours. We alcohol'd up and touched each others phones!
IMG_5564.JPG


One of these days I'm going to figure out how to fit one of these in my suitcase!
IMG_5573.JPG
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MK day continues-

We waited for the boys and in short order they joined us. We started with Jungle Cruise that was a walk on. But, I have never seen the beginning of it like this, it was foggy!
Our skipper that you can't really see there was very funny!
IMG_5575.JPG


It cleared just after we left the dock area.
IMG_5577.JPG


IMG_5578.JPG


Trunk eternally up!!
IMG_5579.JPG


Pride rock? Play nice kitties!
IMG_5580.JPG


Yikes!!
IMG_5582.JPG


What a bum you are!
IMG_5588.JPG


And last but not least my man Sam.
IMG_5590.JPG


We loved our Skipper, and it was hilarious timing because as we were exiting I made it a point to comment to a CM standing there that our Skipper was awesome. Immediately after that the Skipper said "oh look, it's HR". It was him I made the comment to! Hope it helped!

After that we made our way to POC with a line that was long but moved continuously and because it was inside was nice and cool.
The only photo I got was the ride photo because all of mine inside were blurry.
IMG_6024.JPG


Gary and Seth were on it. John and I obviously not!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MK day continues-

Next up was BTM. The line was pretty long, across the bridge, and it was already getting warm so we had Gary go find a place to sit, (hardly any available). Anyone surprised?
IMG_5594.JPG


This guy was hanging out on a branch right beside us as we waited in line.
IMG_5595.JPG


My guys. Gary looks like some kind of eyeless Star Wars guy with the combo of hat, shade and the mask on!
IMG_5597.JPG


Some ride queue photos to relieve the boredom! It was a hot, but absolutely gorgeous day!
IMG_5599.JPG


IMG_5600.JPG


IMG_5601.JPG


After this we headed over to 7DMT to ride. This is probably one of my favorite rides in all of the parks. I realize it's fairly short, but I love the detail, it's smooth and the scene in the mine still blows me away!
IMG_5608.JPG


I was particularly excited because Gary was able to ride this year. He has lost some weight but also had it in his head that his knees were going to bend enough to get in the seats, and he did!
If any of you read a prior trip report of mine, I made Gary go to physical therapy with a photo of this ride in his hand and instructed the physical therapist that the goal was for him to be able to bend his knees enough to be able to sit on this ride! 🤣 She thought I was kidding, I wasn't!
IMG_6023.JPG


IMG_6026.JPG


Love this ride!
IMG_5606.JPG
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MK day continues-

We decided after 7DMT to head to HM and the guys went ahead to use the DAS pass for us for SM.

Sorry wordy story, Gary and I took our time getting to HM. It was a crazy long line that went all the to the entrance of the Liberty Belle!:eek: And no, it didn't move continuously, at all. I got in line and asked Gary to please try to find a seat somewhere and when I got closer to the beginning of the normal entrance I would txt him. I asked the people behind me if they minded if Gary and the boys would be joining me, and they said not at all. They had people sitting for the same reasons.

Gary got inpatient and came to find me when the queue was still wrapping around down by the water. But, this was one of those neat moments. We got chatting with the family in front of us, a grandpa, grandma, their daughter and her baby about 9 or 10 months old. They were telling us how they are huge Disney fans and they come up usually every few months from south Florida.
Gary is making goo goo eyes at the baby and they're having a great time. Gary asked the mom if he could give her a Disney pin as he had several to trade with him. She said sure, and teared up and said it would be the baby's first pin! We slathered the pins in alcohol and he gave her 2, I think it was a little Daisy and Minnie. A few minutes later I realize the mom is on face time with her husband showing him the pins, telling him the story because he had to work and couldn't make the trip with them. She asks if it's ok to show us to her husband. So we all wave, having fun and before you know it we were at the regular entrance!

The grandpa took this picture for us so I could use it for our October photo for next years calendar.
IMG_5611.JPG


Another one for my calendar.
IMG_5613.JPG


Literally the worst ride photo fail ever!!!
IMG_6047.JPG


Better!
IMG_6025.JPG


After that we headed over to SM. We had been in the HM line (most of it outside in the sun) for 60 minutes, so if we were going to get a little wet that was ok!
Grouchy pants!
IMG_5616.JPG


We had great fun, and only got a little bit wet. We're not very inventive in our ride photos!
IMG_6028.JPG


Small editorial. Ignoring all of the controversial reasons for a SM redo, I am concerned because it takes a company willing to invest a lot of money to produce the detailed, labor intensive, expensive rides of the past. And with the economy in the position it is right now, I'm not sure how willing they will be to spend that money. And when you are laying off thousands of humans from their jobs, should you?
IMG_5619.JPG


Anyway, it was after this that Gary said he was hot and done. (I know what he was really about because guess who was playing football on tv)?! Huh, any guesses anyone? Of course our beloved Steelers were playing. It was against the Titans and supposed to be a tight match up. He promised me that he felt well enough to make his way out of the park back to the room. He was also supposed to pick up something to eat on his way back to the room. Any guesses on how that went? :rolleyes:
Beer and chips baby, beer and chips!

Next up, a bad character cavalcade, and it's lunch time for some people.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
October 25th-Day 5
Magic Kingdom Day!

But first, HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!
And we had just about the weirdest Thanksgiving in a long time.
We decided that we weren't getting together as a family. But, since my parents live 20 minutes away they made turkey and pie, we made a bunch of sides and drove over.
We knocked on the door, (minus our musket), said Happy Thanksgiving with our masks on. Exchanged a bunch of food and headed home to enjoy our feast.
Good grief Charlie Brown!
charlie brown thanksgiving GIF by Peanuts

But, we're all alive and well, and blessed to have that food. It's all good.

And a shout out to @Songbird76 who got me going with the gifs! @Darstarr tried in the past but I just wasn't trainable at that time.

So we started our MK day with a photo shoot!
As I mentioned in this report we're DVC members and this is our home resort. And we happened to buy in in 2015 when sections of the Poly became DVC.
DVC has a magazine called Disney FILES that they produce quarterly and I had a copy from 2015 with us that featured the Poly opening. So we took a bunch of pictures with the magazine in front and in back of the bungalow hoping to become famous when they post our photo on the last page of the magazine, holding up our magazine. Not only is it very unlikely we will get picked, but even if so, we won't be famous.
View attachment 515693

View attachment 515694

We decided to use the monorail and headed over to the soon to be closed platform.
No idea what was going on here.
View attachment 515696

Remember when I was whining about not getting any photos of Mickey? I was wrong! This isn't the best photo but I didn't realize I caught the characters right as they were exiting the train platform! And in their Halloween costumes!
View attachment 515698

It's so stinkin nice to be back!!
But, again it was so weird to be sitting on the deck of the bungalow, looking over here, and not being able to enter the park till our last day.
View attachment 515699

One of my favorite photos of the trip, so I'll post it here again!
View attachment 515705

We decided to use the DAS pass on 7DMT since the line was already listed at 60 minutes. So Seth and John went over there to get us a return time and Gary and I headed towards Adventure Land.
On the way there we saw these guys. The Haunted Mansion crew? Haunted Cowboys? trolley riding.
View attachment 515706

And when we made it to the castle there was a lady there who asked if we would take their picture and they would take ours. We alcohol'd up and touched each others phones!
View attachment 515708

One of these days I'm going to figure out how to fit one of these in my suitcase!
View attachment 515710
They made gifs easier when they made changes a couple of months back. I am terrible with technology, so if I can figure it out, anyone can! Glad I could help! Love your magazine photos!
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
After this we headed over to 7DMT to ride. This is probably one of my favorite rides in all of the parks. I realize it's fairly short, but I love the detail, it's smooth and the scene in the mine still blows me away!
I also love ❤️ this ride. For all the reasons you mentioned plus I love swinging the cart back and forth and singing hi ho at the top of my lungs!!!
 

Minnesota disney fan

Well-Known Member
I feel the same way as you about Splash Mtn. The attraction starts in the line with all their details and story line. Then, I am always blown away by the attraction itself, with all the attention to the little details. That's what makes Disney, disney in my eyes:)
If they shoe horn in another attraction while cutting corners, it will have ruined a wonderful attraction. I always feel so happy after this ride and sing along with the songs.
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MK day continues-

After Gary peeled off, we decided we were hungry for lunch.
On the way to our lunch location we ran into the mean kids cavalcade!
IMG_5621.JPG


IMG_5625.JPG


IMG_5626.JPG


Ignore this guy in the white tshirt. Every time I tried to step out a little past him to get a photo, he kept skooching out further to block my view. I wish we could swear on here. The other pics I have of this float contain more of his body. :mad:
At 5'1" (maybe), you have to be a little assertive/creative to see anything.
IMG_5629.JPG


IMG_5634.JPG



We mobile ordered for Pinocchio Village Haus. I've never actually eaten there before but we looked over the menus and ordered a pepperoni flatbread and a margherita flatbread for sharing. I don't remember what else we ordered maybe some fries. I didn't take any pics because we were getting to the hangry stage.

As others have commented it's a slightly messed up system. You order, hit the I'm here button, and we waited probably 20 minutes outside and it was super hot. And (again) no where to sit and not even anywhere to get out of the sun.
Once we were called inside, Seth was able to find us a table (it was very crowded) while John and I went to the counter to get our food. Another problem is there is no way to correct an order. As we were picking up our food I realized I forgot to order a soda and asked if I could add it to our order. She said no, but would just give me one. It was nice but that is a problem if you wanted to add something more substantial. You would be out of luck.

After eating and cooling down some, the guys decided they wanted to ride Space Mountain.
The app said it a 30 minute wait.

As we walked towards Space Mountain this caused my head to jerk to the right!:eek:
Not feelin Winnie the Pooh?
What the H......?!
IMG_5640.JPG


I waited for the guys to ride and got to enjoy some water art! That is so cool!
And it just happens to be my favorite!!
IMG_5645.JPG


And Donald, complete with bubbles!!
IMG_5646.JPG


Their ride photo.
IMG_6027.JPG
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
As others have commented it's a slightly messed up system. You order, hit the I'm here button, and we waited probably 20 minutes outside and it was super hot. And (again) no where to sit and not even anywhere to get out of the sun.
Once we were called inside, Seth was able to find us a table (it was very crowded) while John and I went to the counter to get our food. Another problem is there is no way to correct an order. As we were picking up our food I realized I forgot to order a soda and asked if I could add it to our order. She said no, but would just give me one. It was nice but that is a problem if you wanted to add something more substantial. You would be out of luck.
😞
It’s hard.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom