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
This is the closest I will ever get to a Bungalow unless I hop those cones. Yes, @MickeyCB , the cones were put there to keep me out.

911

Thanks for all the pix. Hoped the boys were appreciative of the digs!!!
Nah, you are always welcome to hop them and come on in!! With one of those Baseline treats of course!! 🤣

And while most of the time I want to pop Seth upside his head, he thanked us several times for the trip, which is a huge sign of growth in my opinion!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
How does one NOT know what they want on a Disney trip?? I mean, I'm assuming there are certain boundaries because of budgets and time constraints, but my problem would be narrowing it down....wanting too much rather than not knowing what I want!
I agree, the choices even with things limited with covid are practically endless.
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sorry for the hijack @MickeyCB

He has always been happy to tag along. Follow the credit card. I don’t know how he is going to handle “being the expert” when they go. And since she, basically, has never been, she will have no useful input.
They will figure it out but I don’t want it to be a disappointment. You know?
It's interesting on how we plan everything and can't imagine flying by the seat of our pants.
We were at the Pittsburgh airport years ago getting ready to fly to Disney and there was a family with 4 kids. We get chatting and the mom tells me she doesn't know what to do it's her first time. She has made no dining, or fast pass reservations. Seth whispered to me, "mom what are they going to do"?!
We were then at MCO getting ready to fly home, and guess who we ran into? Yep, that family, and they told us they had a blast!
It seems that maybe planning (especially) for a first time trip is not necessary with the right attitude!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
That bungalow looks awesome!! Too bad our trips didn’t match up. I would have loved to check it out!!
I think it would have been so much fun to hang out, and as importantly for us to have slowed down and enjoyed the bungalow, the view, etc. a lot more.
 
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Songbird76

Well-Known Member
It's interesting on how we plan everything and can't imagine flying by the seat of our pants.
We were at the Pittsburgh airport years ago getting ready to fly to Disney and there was a family with 4 kids. We get chatting and the mom tells me she doesn't know what to do it's her first time. She has made no dining, or fast pass reservations. Seth whispered to me, "mom what are they going to do"?!
We were then at MCO getting ready to fly home, and guess who we ran into? Yep, that family, and they told us they had a blast!
It seems that maybe planning (especially) for a first time trip is not necessary with the right attitude!
Oh I think it's totally doable. I'm a planner myself, but there's plenty to do even if you don't plan. But my question is, who goes on vacation and doesn't look into the basics...lodging, food options, must dos? And if you look into those things at ALL, how do you NOT come across info about fastpasses and ADRs? I'm planning a vacation for (hopefully) next Summer to Wyoming, and I've got a whole map with possible things to see, some restaurants I've read about, and places to stay in various areas, especially Yellowstone. And I grew up in Wyoming! I don't understand how someone goes anywhere without at least looking at what's on offer. Do they just assume "Well, you know, lots of people go on vacation here, so there must be something to it....I'm sure we'll find something!"?
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Oh I think it's totally doable. I'm a planner myself, but there's plenty to do even if you don't plan. But my question is, who goes on vacation and doesn't look into the basics...lodging, food options, must dos? And if you look into those things at ALL, how do you NOT come across info about fastpasses and ADRs? I'm planning a vacation for (hopefully) next Summer to Wyoming, and I've got a whole map with possible things to see, some restaurants I've read about, and places to stay in various areas, especially Yellowstone. And I grew up in Wyoming! I don't understand how someone goes anywhere without at least looking at what's on offer. Do they just assume "Well, you know, lots of people go on vacation here, so there must be something to it....I'm sure we'll find something!"?
I agree. There's wandering and floundering. You have to have a little idea of what's out there to see and be up for the excitement of discovering new things.
I hope you get to go on your trip!🤞
 

riverside

Well-Known Member
I think it would have been so much fun to hang out, and as importantly for us to have slowed down and enjoyed the bungalow, the view, etc. a lot more.
Yes--it would have been!! It will happen one day though!! I wish we would have had more time to hang out at our place also. Especially, on the deck that ours had--it had a lovely view of the Sassagoula!!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yes--it would have been!! It will happen one day though!! I wish we would have had more time to hang out at our place also. Especially, on the deck that ours had--it had a lovely view of the Sassagoula!!
That is an awesome deck! Though when we were there last August it was super hot and steamy, and I was constantly looking for snakes! :eek:
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
October 23rd-Day 3!

It's HS Day!!!
We got up reasonably early and had breakfast in the room. We had the choice of bagels or donuts, juice and coffee. And with @Darstarr's warning about RoTR Boarding Pass Dash (BPD) stomach I went light on both.
Here's Gary acting like we don't have somewhere to be shortly!:mad:
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I have been following the RoTR BPD thread on here since the day it opened. I read all of the hints, the tricks, and the recommendations. I followed all of the changes to acquiring a pass and those recommendations. I practiced from home and tried to get the boys to practice. My family was sick of listening to me! But, I would have just as cheerfully sold all of those family members to get to ride.

So, the plan was as follows. I wanted to get us into the park early enough to get into line for MMRR while we waited for the 10 am drop. (During our visit the drop times were still 10am and 2 pm). The other goal was to decrease the walking for Gary as he has been having increasing difficulty walking long distances.
So we took an Uber at about 8:30 so we didn't have to rely on erratic bus times, and had it drop us off at the Speedway over by the walkway by the Swan and Dolphin. I read there was a sidewalk from the front of the Speedway over to the walkway to HS.
We get there, and everyone thinks I'm nuts, there isn't one, and it isn't safe to walk along that road, so we walk out the back, cross over and head to the main walkway to HS.
I just tried to find it in the resistance thread on this site, but believe it or not there are aerial photos of there being a sidewalk in front and now none!! They pulled it out! Anyway, it caused a little extra walking and we were hustling to get there "on time".

I had us on a bit of a forced march. And we bang right into this! Best laid plans and all that. The time stamp on my photo is 9:06 am.
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But, I will say they opened the line shortly thereafter and we moved through screening fairly quickly and hustled (hips and elbows), right @ajrwdwgirl?! We made it to the MMRR line that was fairly long at that point, circling through the courtyard. But, I figured it was only going to get longer and would be hotter later standing in the sun.
By the time we were close to entering the building the line was at 110 minutes! But, more concerning was we were entering the building at 9:40!!! This wasn't the brightest move. I will admit I have almost no recall of the ride because I was sweating the entire time. We exited the ride (no joke) 9:58! We ran outside and fired up the phones.

Now, as part of my extensive research, everywhere I read said it's ok for multiple people in your party to try to get a pass for your group and this will in fact increase your chances of success. Also I got an email from Disney prior to leaving discussing the BPD and no where did it say you could not have multiple people trying. This becomes important in about 2.5 minutes.

We stand around in the silence like the jillion other people are doing and we start hearing oh no, oh yes!!!
My phone suddenly says you're already in a group!! I look at Seth and John an Seth holds up his phone and I see this!!! I'm so excited I could just, you know what!
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Are you kidding me?! Nimble fingers Seth get US group 6!!! Then I see the bottom. Party of 1, what do you mean party of 1?! And more fun, his phone has me as the party of one, no one else!

No problem, no need to panic, Miss prepared knows you can go to a GET team member and they will help you fix this problem.

Well we go over to interact with the meanest, most obstinate, arrogant CM I have ever had the displeasure to talk to. Liz.
I love CM's, they work hard, get paid very little and put up with a lot of grief. I am always pleasant and thank them. This one, nuh uh. No way.
I go up to her with our phones and ask if she can help us. We show her the phones. She asks us, "did multiple people in your group try for a pass"? Yes, I answer. Well you're not allowed to do that, she says. We proceed to explain, we're all here and there is clearly a glitch as Seth's phone got a pass for me only. Well you can't do that she says. I can't help you. And with a smile she says, you'll have to try again at 2 pm. Now I'm getting a little cranky and I say, I am aware that you do have the ability to fix this for us. She says nope, "all the spots are gone". And PS, this is when there was still one party per vehicle on the ride. At this point I just start walking away, Seth is trying to make nice and she does something with all of our accounts, which messed up the rest of our trip with group photos, passes, etc.

This is Liz minus her head for privacy. But, the ever good natured and wonderfully commiserate Disney pal @Darstarr saw this photo and pointed out where Liz is from, Painesville, and I felt all kinds of better!!
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I told Seth let's go, I'm onto plan B at this point.
We go around the corner towards Galaxy's Edge and there are 2 CM's a man and a woman. I am so annoyed with myself because they were literally the nicest CM"s I have ever met up to that point and I didn't get their names.
I walked up to them and said, "can you please help us"? I explained what had happened and that the other gal wasn't so helpful. He took one look at our phones, said "sure, gimme you bands", and bingo bango, 4 people were in group 6!!! I was so elated it was silly!

I traditionally do not ask for favors, I do NOT like taking advantage of anyone or situations. But, I knew they were still one party to a car and if I had listened to the first CM one of us would be riding in a car with 7 empty seats! I will say I had one more ask before this trip was over that I'll share on day 4.

And with all of that drama behind us, we headed over to RoTR because our group was already being called!

As an aside, Disney has got to figure out a better way to do this. I felt so bad for this couple with a small kid in front of us, they were in line and when they got up to the entrance they were turned away because they didn't even know you need to get a boarding pass. And when we were in line later for SDD the 2 pm drop was occurring and you could hear the celebrating and tears. One lady said to her family, "but I don't understand, it's only 1 minute past 2, how could we not get one"?
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I only took 3 pictures because I just wanted to try and take it all in. I did take this one to prove our feet joined the resistance! And the 2nd because he's the cutest!
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And we survived our mission!
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After all of the anticipation over the past year, and the drama with getting a boarding pass, my assessment is that it is of course super cool. But, it feels like a complete blur. I tried very hard over the past year to not see any pics or videos as I wanted to experience it in person. I'm not sure that was a good idea because it is so complex and so fast I probably don't' remember 30% of the entire experience. When I came home I watched on youtube what was supposed to be a full ride/walk through and I think we saw everything, but not even sure.
It is definitely the type of attraction that you need to see several times, but of course with the difficulty obtaining passes that is easier said than done.

After that we wandered Galaxy's Edge for awhile and we wanted to see the marketplace. And this is where the lines for lines began to be an issue. We waited probably 20-30 minutes just to be let into the market place, there was one way in and one way out. Then whatever store you wanted to go into had a line as they were only allowing one party at a time into the small stores. Not fun.

After all of that I don't think we bought anything. But I do love the lights in this store.
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Next up we have a date with Rex!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
the goldbergs television GIF
Yep hips and elbows!

Sorry you had such an experience with Rise but glad you all got to ride.
Thanks we were very pleased to be able to experience the ride. It was the one thing out of this whole trip I really wanted to try to do.
And my frustration is with the mixed messages, you can do something, you can't do something. I've learned over the years when a CM tells you something that doesn't seem to make sense if you ask another you will get a completely different answer.
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3 continues-

We explored the land for awhile and then headed to Oga's where we had a noon reservation. We waited maybe 20 minutes to be let in. We asked if there was any seating available and they said no, but then asked if we were willing to wait a few minutes that a booth was opening up. We said sure, and eventually were seated at a booth with a great view of the bar.
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We ordered drinks, Gary had a yub nub with the mug, I had a jabba juice that I thought was very refreshing, Seth had the cliff dweller with the porg mug, and John had a fuzzy tauntaun that he thought was hilarious with the "tingling foam". When you purchase the souvenir mugs they come in a box, unused with a full set of the cardboard coasters.
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Cheers!
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To tide us over we shared an order of batuu bits. They were pretty good, and we all liked the dipping sauce.
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On the way out I grabbed a photo of Rex doing his thing.
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And a display set up of the souvenir items that you can purchase off of the menu. That beer sampler is really cool, but it is $85!!
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After that we headed out and decided we wanted to ride SDD. We saw it was a really long line and Gary said he was tired and was going to work his way out of the park and head back to the room.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Thanks we were very pleased to be able to experience the ride. It was the one thing out of this whole trip I really wanted to try to do.
And my frustration is with the mixed messages, you can do something, you can't do something. I've learned over the years when a CM tells you something that doesn't seem to make sense if you ask another you will get a completely different answer.
I know I have read from several other people that everyone in your party needs to be trying to get a boarding pass. And wasn't it @Darstarr who said that when she went to the CM, they asked if they had all been trying, and she said yes, and the CM said sometimes that happened when multiple people tried to get it at the same time? I don't think there's anything that says you aren't supposed to do that.
 

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