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

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Unstoppable! 👍

And I also like the photos of Imagination and the palm tree!
He is unstoppable!! And knock wood, doing great!

And it's so funny that you commented on the photos. Prior to reading your trip report I took a photo and moved on.
Now I'm all like, "oh I wonder what @fractal will think?! It's like worrying what my mom thinks of my behavior!🤣
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
October 22nd-Day 2!

Today is move to the Bungalows and a full EPCOT day. But, first we get to try out Topolino's! I'm so excited because I get to see Mickey and hopefully eat a wonderful breakfast. Prior to yesterdays meal at Rose and Crown I haven't sat down in a restaurant since March!

It was hilarious because we were in the wing of Riviera that the restaurant is located and so can literally crawl out of bed, walk 10 feet to the elevator and go straight up to the restaurant. With that said we had a little coffee on the balcony time and it was wonderful!
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Love the detail in the chair!
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You can see Tower of Terror right over the edge of the balcony.
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And this would be why we can't have nice things, because the adult who was 10 feet away thought it was ok to permit 1 of her 3 darlings to wander through the landscaping. :rolleyes:
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I had everyone get moving, get dressed and pack up our luggage. Because Seth drove down we had a car which we never usually do. We had a 9 am reservation and the plan was to eat breakfast and then take everything to the car and leave it there and after we finished up at EPCOT we would ride the Skyliner back to the Riviera and drive over to the Poly to check in.
The reason for the slight rush was on our arrival day the attendant at the Skyliner told us that if we weren't in line before 10:30 we would have a very long wait because CB folks get on at their stop filling most of the cabins leaving very few for the folks at the Riviera Station.
We went straight up to the restaurant and were seated fairly quickly.
Before we even ordered Minnie came through. They don't in anyway stop and if you want a photo you have to be quick about it!
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They brought a basket of very nice muffins, and pastries to start the meal off. This is a Prix Fixe menu currently $42/person.
And while expensive we found the food to be fabulous, and just a little fyi, you can order more than one item on the menu, but that was only found out by me reading some reviews of the meal on different blog sites. With that said, I wanted to try both the waffle and the quiche. And both were insanely good. I wasn't able to finish it all which was a shame because if we weren't changing hotels I would have taken the leftovers for sure.
We all had POG juice and coffee with our meal. This was mine.
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At this point Donald cruised through!
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John got the fruit plate which was gigantic, I don't have a great photo of it, but you can kind of see it here. And Seth got the eggs/bacon combo. Gary got the omelet that I don't have a photo of either.
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Next up everybody's MY favorite!!!
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And then last but not least, Daisy!
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We waited a fair amount of time for the waiter to return with our check and so the guys went to the room to get everything and move it to the car while I waited to pay the bill. I told them I would meet them at the Skyliner station and to get a move on. I discovered that my moving and their moving are two different things. :rolleyes:
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continued-

I ran out onto the terrace to grab a few photos of the view before I went down to the Skyliner. It is amazing up there!
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I got into the Skyliner line which wasn't too horrible and moving reasonably well. But of course the guys hadn't made it over yet. I asked several parties behind me if they minded if they joined me when they got there and they all said no. There was a couple behind me celebrating their Disney engagement and as we got chatting I found out they live maybe 20 minutes from me outside Pittsburgh!
The guys finally arrived and that's when the line slowed down a bit but not too bad. We enjoyed our ride over.
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We got through security reasonably well and scanned into the park. This was the moment I dreaded in case something went wrong with John's ticket and park pass but all went smoothly. We decided to hustle over to test track to "beat the crowds". Ha! This was the line and the standby time was listed at 40 minutes or so but we saw no point in trying to jump to something else as we figured it was going to be the same all day. It was a solid 40 minutes or more till we were off of the ride.
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We're almost there. Not!
Check out the Mickey on my mask. I thought it was EPCOT-ish! 🤣
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Our ride photo. And just my opinion, but this is one of the few times that had the PhotoPass not already come with the AP, I don't think I would buy it. Too few opportunities and while I actually don't mind a bunch of photos with masks, it is sadly historic, I probably wouldn't pay to document that.
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I like this photo, but more importantly we're going shopping in air conditioning!
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I bought this hat here. Couldn't get Gary to buy the dad version.
And do you see that shirt I'm wearing? That (and a pair of Mickey ankle socks), was my consolation prize.
In July and August when I was reading everyone's trip reports and seeing the small lines I wanted to go so badly. I almost had Gary convinced to hop on a plane for a long weekend but we both chickened out with the covid thing. So, he came home from Target one day with that shirt and socks to cheer me up! Sweet guy!
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I absolutely love the bronze Roy and Walt statues at MK (as you know I've bugged many of you for pictures of them while you are there), and I bought myself this mug! Which currently sits on my desk at home with a few resort pens that I've acquired in it.
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And despite constantly catching crap from my daughter about buying too much Disney stuff, as if, I bought this for the baby!
He's very soft and fluffy!
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MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continues-

Next up was a visit to the great big beautiful ball!
I was so glad that we got to ride it again because when they originally announced the refurb we wouldn't have seen it again.
Gary, can you say photobomb?!
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I think until you see little tiny humans under the entrance we forget how large SSE is!
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And, ps, does anyone on here reading know what a "mom selfie" is?
I've recently heard the term and suspect it's insulting, but whatever. This probably qualifies!
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I tried to take some photos but an iphone with no flash isn't the best. But since this is one of my favorite scenes it's ok. It's less fuzzy than the rest of them.
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This didn't turn out so hot either.
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After that we decided we wanted to Soar again. The wait time here was probably 30 minutes or so.
Again we got to see a leaning tower, but I still enjoy this ride immensely!
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Next it is off to the Land. The lines weren't too horrible here. Here is an example of the plexiglass they've installed in a large number of the ride queues. I'm not sure I mind keeping these in the future. It definitely messes with the theming of some rides, but I also like not having some big hairy guy leaning into my space. Apologies to all of you large fabulous guys out there.
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And take 2 on the farmhouse scene.
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MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 and the Land continues-

I didn't really pay attention to this sign last night. But, here's my question. Is it that you will bring pests in, or you will leave with some?!o_O
I had planned on taking the Behind the Seeds Tour on our next (this) trip, but obviously that didn't happen. I'm sure they would have answered that question then.
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Missed you too!!
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Just some pretty and pretty cool things to see.
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I was wondering if this would fit in my suitcase and Gary talked me out of it.
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You can see more detail of this display in the daylight. Really neat.
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Hi guys! Seth had told me he would like that "child" backpack before he got here. He found it in some store near mission space I think. We didn't see it anywhere else during our travels.
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After that we decided we had not consumed enough calories at breakfast we were in search of something for lunch. (But in our defense it was 3:30), so we headed back over to World Showcase.
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We decided to eat at Katsura Grill. I had the chicken teriyaki, Gary had a kid portion as he wasn't too hungry. And Seth and John had the chicken with shrimp, I think.
It was good, maybe not quite as good as precovid. 🤷‍♀️
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After that Seth and John wanted to shop a little. Seth likes to buy some of the candy they sell in the Japanese store. Gary and I said we would start wandering and for them to catch up to us.
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
And just a little clothing and sports update.
Our Steelers managed to provide another nail biter today, down to 4 seconds instead of last weeks 5 seconds! :rolleyes:
And in celebration of the Steelers and the coolest mouse ever, I bought this for Gary at our local flea market yesterday. It probably is a knock off, (notice the incorrect ring count), but, it's fun!
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Darstarr

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
And, ps, does anyone on here reading know what a "mom selfie" is?
That is what kids say when they want to insult you without you really knowing they are insulting you. As if being called Mom is an insult???
Idiots!
That’s what I say when I want my kids to know I am insulting them😎
Apologies to all of you large fabulous guys out there.
😂😂😂
 

plaz10

Well-Known Member
Ok Steelers - I ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK IN DISNEY. I WAS ALMOST THE 1,000th HAPPY HAUNT!
They weren’t showing the game here since Miami played at the same time. But their game ended before ours so they switched to us for the last 3 heart attack inducing plays. Ugh. Happy to be 8-0 but geeeez it was Dallas’ scrub QB we should have mopped the floor with them. Gah.
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Ok Steelers - I ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK IN DISNEY. I WAS ALMOST THE 1,000th HAPPY HAUNT!
They weren’t showing the game here since Miami played at the same time. But their game ended before ours so they switched to us for the last 3 heart attack inducing plays. Ugh. Happy to be 8-0 but geeeez it was Dallas’ scrub QB we should have mopped the floor with them. Gah.
It was quite tense, but you do have to give their QB credit. Calm and pretty in control.
But, 8-0 is fun for sure!
 

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