Trip Report Just enough

Hello again WDWMagic friends!
It has been a long, hard year since Covid began and for our family we were lucky enough to stay home and stay safe together for the majority of it. I would be lying if I said it hadn’t been rough on us regardless. My kids said goodbye to their school, friends, and teachers one afternoon last March, and never saw any of them again. I have done my best to keep them safe, happy and educated since then. In September I had to explain that a Disney trip we had been planning for years had to be cancelled, and that was not easy.
After the holidays I started to feel like we all needed a break and some Disney magic. I planned a trip for March but didn’t get my hopes up. I watched the days on the calendar tick by and when we were just a few weeks out I realized this might actually be happening and I should probably pack!
I was still not ready to be sure we could actually go until we got on the airplane. Thought that someone would spike a fever or new restrictions would be put into place kept me on my toes, so we kept the entire trip and complete and total secret from the kids. After the heartache of explaining a cancelled Disney trip, this was the only way I could handle it.
The night before the trip, my husband, R, put daughter O (now almost 7) and son Z (now 5) to bed while I packed for the trip. The kids woke up the next morning none the wiser. We had a good breakfast and then went off to a “doctors appointment”. There were about ten times I thought our cover was blown, when we got to the airport they said “Hey isn’t this the airport?” and not wanting to lie but not ready to reveal yet I said “It does look like the airport”. When we parked I got out new Minnie and Mickey backpacks for them loaded with things to keep them busy on the airplane. We finally revealed where we were headed and it took a few moments to sink in. Once they understood what was happening, we were met with squeals of delight.

It was a whirlwind getting our luggage, checking in and getting through security. When we finally found a socially distanced seat at the gate and had a few minutes of downtime, the important questions began. Where are we staying, and how long? What parks are we going to? They were very happy with the answers and we soon boarded our flight to the magic.

 

[amjt660]

Great start to the TR

Loved the surprise - we did something similar when the girls were young but never to the extreme of getting all the way to the airport without letting on - JOB WELL DONE!!!

Following along

Max

 

[KellBelle]

Best surprise ever! Their faces are pure joy! Following along!

 

[mpaulam]

Sounds like a great start!

 

[Isabelle12345]

Following!
What a great surprise!

 

[LisaBelle]

I love that you waited until you were at the airport to reveal your plans! I could never keep a Disney secret for that long ! Glad your travel day went smoothly. I’m following along!

 

[Trust2deal]

Wicked awesome, I am in. Interested in seeing how it goes for you - lines for rides, restaurants open, your entire experience - have fun!

 

[Swissmiss]

Love how you surprised the kids

 

[ELeigh]

Aww. Even with the masks on you can tell O and Z have huge grins!

They developed a "Thumbs up" system to show they were smiling in pictures

That's awesome. I'd never be able to keep that secret.

It was so hard I wanted to tell them as it got closer but it was worth holding out!

 

[ELeigh]

Great start to the TR

Loved the surprise - we did something similar when the girls were young but never to the extreme of getting all the way to the airport without letting on - JOB WELL DONE!!!

Following along

Max

I think waiting to the airport is only something we could pull off once unless we are especially crafty.

I love that you waited until you were at the airport to reveal your plans! I could never keep a Disney secret for that long ! Glad your travel day went smoothly. I’m following along!

Thank you-I am hoping smooth travel days can be a trend for us

 

[ELeigh]

Travel Day Part 3
When planning our trip, I only made two ADRs and one of them was for arrival day. By the time we were settled in at POP, R really needed a rest and there was no way he could make our originally scheduled ADR at Frontera Cocina. I told him it was no problem we could reschedule our dinner for another day but he encouraged me to try and get a later reservation. There was nothing available on my Disney experience, but then I remembered that some Disney Springs restaurants are available on opentable.
I checked and found a later reservation, and the kids and I were off to the pool and to explore the resort a bit.
When we returned it was time to get ready for dinner.

O loved her new Magic Band.

Z was just excited for Carne Asada.

And a super rare sighting of me in this TR (I think I ended up in 5 pictures this whole trip)
We drove our rental car to Disney Springs and found parking in the Lime Garage. The procedure now involves taking the elevator or escalator to the entrance floor and following signs around to get a temperature check and go through security screening. Overall it’s an efficient way to handle the current situation.
We were a few minutes early for our reservation so we stopped at the guest services building nearby to try and activate our military tickets. They were on a 45 minute wait so we decided to try back after dinner.
At Frontera, we checked in and gave our phone number for a table ready text and had just enough time to take in this painting before being called in.

Z was excited for the kids menu, but not to order from. He just wanted to brush up on his tic tac toe game.
We quickly ordered an appetizer of Queso Fundido with Chorizo and I ordered a Margarita.

Apparently my phone was about to die, but here is the menu description for the “Frida” it was amazing. The queso was also delicious.
We love Frontera for their Carne Asada, Zs first time trying steak was our first trip here and steak quickly because his favorite food. The kids decided to ditch the kids menu this time and we ordered 3 adult entrees to share. 2 carne Asada because we like it that much, and one order of shrimp. The shrimp was too spicy for the kids (I didn’t remember it being that spicy ooops) but they were happy with the steak
I had a second margarita but opted for something different this time. I was highly disappointed more so because I chose something I wouldn’t like.

I tried to catch the food in this picture...I was clearly feeling the effects of Margarita #1.

I ordered the sparkling margarita. I don’t like soda water. I would have liked any of the others better but oh well, I probably didn’t need a second drink. I tried to sip it but it was painful for me with the spicy shrimp and the bubbles in the drink.
As we finished our meal, we told the kids that it was too late for dessert tonight and that we would be going to bed as soon as we got back to the hotel. Z told me that he was never going to be tired, then within one minute did this

I think per new rules we should have put his mask on him but that seemed really wrong to me and no one said anything. After we settled our check we woke him up because there was no way I could carry him to the car.
Z got a second wind and R was able to take the kids to activate the tickets while I stopped at Amorettes Patisserie to see if they had a Wandavision cake we had seen on Instagram. The finale was coming out the next day and we had plans to watch with the kids. The cake was no where to be found but I decided that since I was there I should grab something to try. It made a very nice breakfast the next day.
We made it back to POP swiftly and the kids fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

 

[ELeigh]

Day 2 Part 1
Our plans for this day allowed us to get a slow start. 7:00 everyone else was still sleeping but I placed a mobile order for breakfast from the POP food court after seeing that they had cold brew coffee available.
Sometime on arrival day I had gone over and checked it out to learn that they are now mobile order only (something I would probably have known if I had been keeping up here). I put in my order and headed over, waiting until I was past the mobs of people at the bus stop over an hour before park opening to click “I’m here”.
I entered the lobby to find out that not everyone at the hotel was in line for the bus, another 1/2 of them were crammed into the lobby waiting for mobile orders. I eventually got the food and coffee and made the trek back to the 80s section.
I was more than pleased with my breakfast

*Hazelnut eclair from Amorettes the night before
And the kids were also thrilled

R’s breakfast not pictured was the bounty platter (eggs, meat, potatoes) and a fruit cup. I might have taken the potatoes off his hands.
While we ate, R attempted to get Disney plus on the television. He tried a direct plug and some screen sharing app but it was just not compatible. It’s a bummer they don’t have Disney plus in the rooms, but we ended up watching the Wandavision finale on 2 separate iPads while everyone finished their breakfast. It was amazing I just wish we watched it for the first time full screen. The TV played this in the background, I got a glimpse of where we were headed

Don’t mind our piles of clothes and masks but bonus if you spot Jasmine.
To get there, we decided to take the Skyliner. I was planning on never taking the skyliner (fear of heights) but the kids really wanted to do it so we went for it.

We quickly learned that the line for the skyliner wasn’t much better than the line for the bus. We still had plenty of time to spare before the official park opening but had heard we could get in an hour earlier and wanted to beat the crowds as much as possible.

Two winding lines and 2 skyliner rides later, we were there. Honestly the skyliner was not that bad at all for me. I think I had just built it up when I heard people were getting stuck for long periods of time during the initial rollout.
It was now about 30 minute pre park open and people were flowing in without a problem. We had another surprise in store that might have been revealed on the ride over, but we planned to meet up with someone in Norway and moved in that direction.
When we got there we found the newest member of our family (along with her adults):

 

[ELeigh]

Day 2 Part 2
Our September 2020 trip was meant to be a big family trip with my parents and sister. In planning for this trip I was trying to get get “just enough” Disney Magic until that trip could be rescheduled. The week before the trip my sister H let me know that she was taking a last minute trip to Florida for the Beach as she had some vacation time that was about to expire. She didn’t have plans to do Disney but when I was falling asleep on Day 1 she had texted asking if we could meet at Epcot in the morning-a little dash of Magic for our trip .
We met up with my H and her family, which has now grown by one small human since she was last featured in my trip reports. Our first order of business was Frozen Ever After. It was just at the official park opening time when we joined the line and it was more of a walk than a wait. I made sure I could sit next to my niece, M. I am determined to be the fun auntie!
I did not purchase memory maker for this trip but the ride photo here didn’t make me feel like we were missing much.
We visited the Norway restrooms and then it was on to Mexico to visit the #1 duck.

“The Donald Duck Boat Ride” has always been a favorite of Z’s. Now that Disney plus has educated him on the Three Caballeros he loves it even more. O was not impressed by what has happened to our feathered friends though:

A little flat...
We rounded out our visit to Mexico with one of my must have Disney foods

Cheese empanadas from La Cantina, I might have sampled a Margarita from the Flower and Garden booth to go with them. We rounded out the mini meal with chips and guacamole. After the trip, Z has declared the empanadas his favorite Disney snack and we have plans to try and re-create them at home soon.

 

[ELeigh]

Day 2 Part 3
After snacking in Mexico, we returned to Norway for more snacking. It was our first time trying the school bread and they had a cute little chocolate Olaf on top.

I am a big fan of coconut and I thought this was really good but not exactly something I will crave.
After we the kids were excited to “meet” Elsa.

We visited some Vikings and Z had to find out if his marvel gear made him “Worthy”..

I guess it did!
We finished up our time in Norway and headed over to China. The lines were starting to get longer for the Flower and Garden Booths at this point, so I sent everyone off to explore the pavilion while I waited in line.

I scored some more snacks and another drink for myself. The Crab Ragoons were probably Os favorite food of the trip and much better than the ones we can get at home. For me the highlight was my drink “Tang Dynasty” which had tequila and rum with a pina colada mix and boba. It was such a different combination that it took me a few sips to decide it was good but I could go for another one right now-this might be one to recreate at home.

This snack session came with a view of princesses. O was excited to spot my favorite princess-Snow White
We somehow found the stomach space to chow down on more food in Germany. We split a couple of brats and had to sample some caramel of course.

The kids skipped the brats but shared a caramel and chocolate dipped Mickey marshmellow not pictured because it quickly became a sticky mess.
At this point it was about 1:00 and after a couple of hours of walking and eating we decided to do some sitting and eating. We ordered a couple of meals from Regal Eagle to share, I wasn’t hungry so I opted for this instead

A cold brew from Joffrey's is something I always crave at home. I have their coffee in bulk quantities but it’s just not the same. Sipping on this one on a beautiful day in the American pavilion was the perfect way to end our trip (halfway) around the world.

 

[BrerWayne]

Hello again WDWMagic friends!
It has been a long, hard year since Covid began and for our family we were lucky enough to stay home and stay safe together for the majority of it. I would be lying if I said it hadn’t been rough on us regardless. My kids said goodbye to their school, friends, and teachers one afternoon last March, and never saw any of them again. I have done my best to keep them safe, happy and educated since then. In September I had to explain that a Disney trip we had been planning for years had to be cancelled, and that was not easy.
After the holidays I started to feel like we all needed a break and some Disney magic. I planned a trip for March but didn’t get my hopes up. I watched the days on the calendar tick by and when we were just a few weeks out I realized this might actually be happening and I should probably pack!
I was still not ready to be sure we could actually go until we got on the airplane. Thought that someone would spike a fever or new restrictions would be put into place kept me on my toes, so we kept the entire trip and complete and total secret from the kids. After the heartache of explaining a cancelled Disney trip, this was the only way I could handle it.
The night before the trip, my husband, R, put daughter O (now almost 7) and son Z (now 5) to bed while I packed for the trip. The kids woke up the next morning none the wiser. We had a good breakfast and then went off to a “doctors appointment”. There were about ten times I thought our cover was blown, when we got to the airport they said “Hey isn’t this the airport?” and not wanting to lie but not ready to reveal yet I said “It does look like the airport”. When we parked I got out new Minnie and Mickey backpacks for them loaded with things to keep them busy on the airplane. We finally revealed where we were headed and it took a few moments to sink in. Once they understood what was happening, we were met with squeals of delight.
View attachment 540348
It was a whirlwind getting our luggage, checking in and getting through security. When we finally found a socially distanced seat at the gate and had a few minutes of downtime, the important questions began. Where are we staying, and how long? What parks are we going to? They were very happy with the answers and we soon boarded our flight to the magic.

Oh, I love me a good surprise!!!!

 

[ELeigh]

Day 2 Part 4
After a Skyliner ride back to Pop, the kids only had one thing on their minds, so we did this:

Z ended up with Os sunglasses somehow. It was not warm enough for me to even consider getting in the water but they stayed in for almost an hour before I had to drag them out. Their fingers were almost blue but they had a blast.
R was napping in the room, so I decided to take the kids out for a bit to let him have some peace and quiet.
I told the kids we were going on an adventure and that they just needed to trust me. We boarded the skyliner and about an hour after leaving our hotel room we were boarding this train:

I know from what I had seen about the ride previously that we we’re definitely getting a lesser experience due to Covid with no pre-show and plastic barriers between rows. Hopefully these will be some of the next restrictions to go. Either way O and Z were enamored by the ride and asked to go again right away.
I reminded them to trust me and led them here:

Alien Swirling Saucers had a 10 minute wait as people were starting to filter out of the park. We had a great spin and then we’re treated to an almost walk on for Toy Story Midway Mania. After another no-line spin on Alien Swirling Saucers it was getting closer to park close so we started heading out

We did see a mad dash of people getting in line for Slinky Dog Dash but didn’t join them. Instead we hopped back in line for Runaway Railway and had another trip with conductor Goofy.
Dinner plans had been set aside in favor of Rs nap and our adventure so we snagged a snack just as the nearby cart was closing down. We ended up with a couple of extra Mickey pretzels since we were the last customers of the night. We tucked them away and made our way back to POP.
After sharing the Mickey Pretzels with R, we decided we needed real dinner. It was a little past 8pm and we started to look for delivery options. Firehouse Subs (a favorite of ours) came up as an option but it would take an hour to arrive. We checked the gps and it was only about ten minutes away so off we went.

R, Z and I enjoyed our meals. O had decided right before this trip that she no longer liked sandwiches (and has sometime since decided she liked them) she ordered macaroni and cheese and then proceeded to eat none of it. I guess she was full of Mickey Pretzel still.
When we returned to Pop, I’m certain the kids fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

 

[joshsprincess921]

I just tried Firehouse subs for the first time recently. It's a new favorite of mine now as well!
Loving the report!

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Enjoying your trip very much
I love following along with your kids. It reminds me of when ours were that little, and everything was wonderful and new to them.
I think all kids that age just want to go to the pool at least twice a day. That's what ours were excited about after all the rides at disney; they just wanted to go to the resort and swim. LOL, A fun time for you guys, and can't wait for more.

 

[ELeigh]

I just tried Firehouse subs for the first time recently. It's a new favorite of mine now as well!
Loving the report!

We have been fans of Firehoyse for years and they finally came to our area (about an hour away) but the location closed permanently during Covid.

Enjoying your trip very much
I love following along with your kids. It reminds me of when ours were that little, and everything was wonderful and new to them.
I think all kids that age just want to go to the pool at least twice a day. That's what ours were excited about after all the rides at disney; they just wanted to go to the resort and swim. LOL, A fun time for you guys, and can't wait for more.

Yes there is something magic about Disney resort pools for kids (even the quiet pool that we frequented this trip). These guys are happy with a good 50/50 split between rides and pool which works for me!

 

[ELeigh]

Day 3
On day 3 of our trip we did something I would never have expected pre-Covid, we left the Disney bubble for almost the entire day!
We drove about an hour away but still managed to find some Mickey shaped breakfast:

The kids loved them and I was impressed with my breakfast as well

Breakfast was a hit but we didn’t drive all this way for that, the kids got another surprise in a visit with their grandma (my mom) who had recently moved to Florida.

Chewy and Grogu approved of grandmas new house and they agreed a sleepover was a good idea.
After touring the house and relaxing a bit with some chips and drinks for lunch, R and myself drove back to Pop Century for the evening.
When we planned this kid-free night I had hoped for more of the on site signature dining options to open but unfortunately we weren’t able to get any reservations that peaked our interest. We decided to instead opt for off-site and went to a Brazilian steakhouse in Orlando. It was our first time going to one and something we both have wanted to try for a while. We definitely enjoyed it but it’s not something I would need to do again anytime soon. We checked in with the kids and called it an early night since we had big plans in the morning.

 

[Tuvalu]

I need the name of your breakfast location.