Trip Report It's been 6 years and a global pandemic, but we are back!

Our last trip to WDW was during the summer of 2014. We have since visited six European countries and traveled across the USA (more than once), but we are ready to return to Disneyworld! We began planning over a year ago, fresh on the heels or our latest European adventure. We asked our kids where they wanted to go next summer (2020), Europe or Disney, and they chose Disney (thankfully as we would not be allowed to travel to Europe this summer). I have to say, as much as I enjoyed our visits to Europe, I'm very excited to return to Walt Disney World. So many of our early family adventures were to Disney and I'm excited to be there again now that our kids are older. So much to share since our last visit, and so much to say about our upcoming trip. So much has changed since our original reservation, including a global pandemic. Updates soon!
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
Great travel day today! We arrived more than 30 minutes early into Philadelphia. We were off the plane and had our luggage in less than 30 minutes. Made the short 1 hour and 10 minute drive to the Lehigh Valley and we were safely home. On your drive back from the airport, we all picked our favorite and least favorites things about the trip. I'll be sure to share tomorrow. I will review everything about the trip as well. Thank you to all who followed and sent the kind words. We appreciate it. Have a great night!

Welcome back to PA!
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
So glad you made it home safe. I kept my chatter to a minimum but I was there
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coachwnh

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
My review of the Riviera Resort

Our initial resort was Coronado, but we were upgraded (and big time to a one bedroom suite) to the Riviera. In general, there is nothing bad I can say about the resort. So here I go:

I had read some reviews where people complained about the small lobby. It is small, but it never felt crowded. However, I also understand that the resort was far from capacity. If this were a typical Disney summer vacation, then yes the lobby would have been too small. But during our stay, we had no issues and there was always someone to assist us.

The lobby store, La Boutique, is also very small. It was busy during our stay even with limited capacity.

The staff was fantastic. Everyone from check in, to the shops, to the QS restaurants, bars, and Topolino's Terrace were all Disney class!

The main pool area was small, too. We only went as a family once. Even with limited capacity at the resort, the pool was crowded. We did love the slide!

Brayden was the only one who went to the workout room. He went almost daily. He liked it.

The biggest perk was the Skyliner to HS and Epcot. So easy. Lines of course were short with Caribbean Beach closed for most of our stay, and each car was limited to just one party. I may have a different opinion had both resort been normal capacity and we had to share gondolas.

Bus rides were all very short. The resort is located in a prime location in relation to all parks and Disney Springs.

I guess the biggest thing I can say is it really is a beautiful resort.

I will update our overall experience and dining later. Hope you are all having a great day.
 

Pooh'sBuddy

Well-Known Member
@coachwnh , may I ask a huge favor? Sci-fi Dine In Theater: did you notice how many people were seated? I have been trying to find dining reservations for any day, and there are none. In two months, for my ADR day, I'm afraid we'll come up empty handed.
 

coachwnh

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
@coachwnh , may I ask a huge favor? Sci-fi Dine In Theater: did you notice how many people were seated? I have been trying to find dining reservations for any day, and there are none. In two months, for my ADR day, I'm afraid we'll come up empty handed.
Just guessing, I'd say less than half of the cars were filled. It was eerily quiet. It made for a great dining experience, but I can see why its so difficult to get an ADR if they are in fact going at less than 50% capacity there. I hope something becomes available for your dates.
 

coachwnh

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
My review of Magic Kingdom

Loved walking in the day we arrived mid afternoon to an almost empty Main Street USA. At first glance, I wasn't sure I liked the new paint colors on the castle. The more I saw it, the more I liked it.

Lines were even shorter than we expected. Loved the spacing in the queues. I wouldn't mind it staying like this when things are back to normal. The only things we didn't do were the river boat, Tom's Sawyer Island, and the tree house. The only things we did once were the Tiki Room, COP, and Philharmagic. Everything else we rode or watched multiple times.

Glad we were able to ride Splash Mountain before the changes are made. I love the ride as it is. We had hoped to ride it the last afternoon we were there, but that is the day the boat sank! We did ride early that morning. Splash and Space were probably the favorites at the park for the family. Big Thunder and Mine train are close seconds. Im still kind of a softy and am partial to Peter Pan as well. We really enjoyed the Jungle Cruise this trip. Its often a ride we wouldn't do each trip to Magic Kingdom in the past, but this trip the captains were solid each time. We heard so many new jokes, and different jokes each time. It really made the ride a must do.

There were really only two things that were disappointing about MK. The rides at night are almost like completely different rides than they are during the day. We were a little bummed we couldn't experience that this time; however, the short lines and small crowds more than made up for this!
The other thing was the Plaza Ice Cream being closed and the other ice cream locations closing right at 7. Getting ice cream when the park is closing and walking out at the end of the day was always fun. Again, with what we were able to do this trip I can deal with this.

The other big change for us this trip was the amount of time we stayed in the parks. We actually spent more time in the parks this trip then when the parks had longer hours in the past. We would arrive at opening and stay all day. We never did that in the past.

We did miss the fireworks and parades. It was neat to see the characters still out in different locations.

Overall, it was great to be in the Magic Kingdom again. There is no doubt, the ability to do so much more then we ever thought possible in a day at MK made the things that we couldn't experience this trip less significant.
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
My review of Magic Kingdom

Loved walking in the day we arrived mid afternoon to an almost empty Main Street USA. At first glance, I wasn't sure I liked the new paint colors on the castle. The more I saw it, the more I liked it.

Lines were even shorter than we expected. Loved the spacing in the queues. I wouldn't mind it staying like this when things are back to normal. The only things we didn't do were the river boat, Tom's Sawyer Island, and the tree house. The only things we did once were the Tiki Room, COP, and Philharmagic. Everything else we rode or watched multiple times.

Glad we were able to ride Splash Mountain before the changes are made. I love the ride as it is. We had hoped to ride it the last afternoon we were there, but that is the day the boat sank! We did ride early that morning. Splash and Space were probably the favorites at the park for the family. Big Thunder and Mine train are close seconds. Im still kind of a softy and am partial to Peter Pan as well. We really enjoyed the Jungle Cruise this trip. Its often a ride we wouldn't do each trip to Magic Kingdom in the past, but this trip the captains were solid each time. We heard so many new jokes, and different jokes each time. It really made the ride a must do.

There were really only two things that were disappointing about MK. The rides at night are almost like completely different rides than they are during the day. We were a little bummed we couldn't experience that this time; however, the short lines and small crowds more than made up for this!
The other thing was the Plaza Ice Cream being closed and the other ice cream locations closing right at 7. Getting ice cream when the park is closing and walking out at the end of the day was always fun. Again, with what we were able to do this trip I can deal with this.

The other big change for us this trip was the amount of time we stayed in the parks. We actually spent more time in the parks this trip then when the parks had longer hours in the past. We would arrive at opening and stay all day. We never did that in the past.

We did miss the fireworks and parades. It was neat to see the characters still out in different locations.

Overall, it was great to be in the Magic Kingdom again. There is no doubt, the ability to do so much more then we ever thought possible in a day at MK made the things that we couldn't experience this trip less significant.

Agree with everything you said. We also rode Jungle Cruise for the first in awhile. Really enjoyed it! Did miss seeing Happily Ever After.
 

coachwnh

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I love the photos of the Haunted Mansion, especially the ones of the outside. There is so much to see around the Mansion. Thanks for the great photos and the fun trip report. Oh, I'm signing on late, 52 pages late.................sigh, but I'm HERE!
Glad you took the time to read!
 

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