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
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MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Pittsburgher here! Why can’t they ever just blow out the team? I need every game to be like the Browns game this year. Let me enjoy it. No - I stress for 4 quarters! We will be in Disney next Sunday so hopefully Dallas doesn’t cause any stress! But you know our Steelers love to play to our opponents level! 🙃

I’m so in for this report! 🖤💛
Yeah! Where from?
And yes, they like to make it fun!
Feel free to post a pic here if you're in your Steeler garb! One of my favorite Disney days was a Steeler Sunday and all 4 of us were in our Steeler shirts, and lots of people gave the "go Steelers", shout out!
And glad you're here!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Seeing your pictures of the airport made me super excited!! 3 more days until I get to make the 20 minute drive! And I think you may have DEFINITELY needed your trip after this stupid year!
Ahh that's great! Have a fabulous trip!
And yeah, it's been pretty crappo.
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What a crappy 2020 for your family!! It's truly inspiring the way you just keep going. Since I tend not to have a serious bone in my body i added a little gif.

Excited to hear about the rest of your trip


Love the gif, it's absolutely marvelous!
And as I have shared with @Darstarr in the past, I have an odd sense of humor, with just the occasional dash of snark, and have to watch my mouth typing fingers lest I offend someone!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
For a Walt Disney World fanatic, even Orlando Airport is an exciting part of the magic. Thanks for including part of the journey in your trip report. It really helps with the feeling that I'm going along with you.
I love reading about the little details in people's trips because we don't get there too often and I agree it gives you that feeling.
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Arrival day continued!

We were sent to our line and were the first ones in the queue.
While we were waiting to get on the bus, I got this txt. It was awesome, except I had made one request (I am aware they can't always honor requests), and that was for a high floor.
This isn't a high floor, it is the ground floor! So I called the number conveniently provided and asked if they had anything higher available. The CM was very polite and passed my request along. She said they would get back to me.
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We got on the magic bus without too much of wait.
I have no idea why a bus ride is awesome, but it just is!
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While we were traveling I got another txt that we were reassigned to the 4th floor. It's alright, we're only here for one night.
And here it is! So very nice.
When we rebooked from November to October I had points "left over". Absolutely no idea how you have points left over when you had to borrow from the next year, but anyway, the CM suggested I tack on a night somewhere with the points. And that's how we ended up with a "bonus night" at Disney! We've never stayed here and were very excited to check it out.
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I'm bummed, I had a nice panoramic of the front but it says the file is too large to post here.
Smaller version of the front entrance, and a not so hidden Mickey!
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Still gives me a great feeling! And can you just hear the male narrator on the buses late at night with the "welcome home!"
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A beautiful, petite lobby! (See what I did there)?!
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A couple of posters in the hall on the way to our room.
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And now some room photos. And for those of you that like to see these (as I do in people's reports), please thank me because it is a pain in the rump to get men and boys to wait 3 seconds for you to take them before they destroy the space!
Speaking of boys, I forgot to mention that Seth and John were driving down to meet us here from Savannah but Seth didn't get off of work till 8:30pm with a 5 hour plus drive. So they didn't get in till 2:30 am!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Arrival day continues-

This was a 1 bedroom villa. Considered preferred view. This is the entrance and there is a small hall to the right, with a closet, that leads to the bathroom. The wall behind the blue couch folds down, pictures and all to become a queen bed.
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Bedroom with spouse. Just noticed he still has his mask on! He's gotten so used to it sometimes I have to remind him he can take it off.
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Sink and shower in the "main" bath area.
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And while I try to be ecologically minded, etc. It kind of weirds me out to use these public bottles.
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And this. Anyone want to offer an opinion here? A beautiful 2nd bathroom space with a nice sink and a tub you could swim in. Buuuuttt, no 2nd potty!! I would much rather have a 2nd toilet and no swimming pool. Just sayin.🤷‍♀️
I have to point out an issue I am having posting photos on here today. I had a much nicer photo of the bathroom I took turning my phone sideways but it won't upload that either. It says it is too large.
Anyway, the tub on the left is huge, and there is a really nice sink to the right.
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And speaking of pottys, this was how the toilet paper was upon arrival!
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This is the kitchen and dining area, and with our one night stop, the only thing it got used for was to make coffee for the morning and to put a few drinks in the fridge.
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This is a little pull down bed in the living room. Very cute!
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Next up, some balcony views (hopefully if it lets them load), and we're off to ride our 6th transportation method of the day!
 

MoragL

Member
following with envy. We were supposed to be there Oct 25-Nov 3 and had to cancel due to Covid. We are Canadian and jobs won't let us go as we would have to quarantine when we got back. Fingers crossed we get to go in April but even that isn't looking promising:(
 

riverside

Well-Known Member
@riverside I saw this at the gate, you might want to avoid it if eagle eye J is around! Unless you have to pay off another bribe! 🤣
Funny thing is after reading this I realized that I've seen this quite a few times but never paid attention really. I did get nervous after I read this that he would notice it yesterday but our gate was on the other side so we didn't go by it!! But......never fear--I was at Target last night getting him a Lego set that I had promised him!!
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
And this. Anyone want to offer an opinion here? A beautiful 2nd bathroom space with a nice sink and a tub you could swim in. Buuuuttt, no 2nd potty!! I would much rather have a 2nd toilet and no swimming pool. Just sayin.🤷‍♀️
I say this all the time!!!
All the time!!!
I even got a phone call from some GM or another once because of the comments I left.
You can tell the people who design these rooms don't travel with their families!
 

plaz10

Well-Known Member
Yeah! Where from?
And yes, they like to make it fun!
Feel free to post a pic here if you're in your Steeler garb! One of my favorite Disney days was a Steeler Sunday and all 4 of us were in our Steeler shirts, and lots of people gave the "go Steelers", shout out!
And glad you're here!

Originally from Irwin/Greensburg but now we live in Evans City - between Butler and Cranberry.
We just got Steeler masks to wear on Sunday! Hoping we can go 8-0!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
following with envy. We were supposed to be there Oct 25-Nov 3 and had to cancel due to Covid. We are Canadian and jobs won't let us go as we would have to quarantine when we got back. Fingers crossed we get to go in April but even that isn't looking promising:(
Hopefully you'll get a little bit of a fix following along!
And I was unable to work in one of my locations I go to for 2 weeks, they said I had to quarantine, the other place let me in. 🤷‍♀️
I hope very much you get to go in April! 🤞
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Funny thing is after reading this I realized that I've seen this quite a few times but never paid attention really. I did get nervous after I read this that he would notice it yesterday but our gate was on the other side so we didn't go by it!! But......never fear--I was at Target last night getting him a Lego set that I had promised him!!
You are literally the best aunt ever!
 

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