Trip Report Making Lemonade out of Lemons Fractal Family Trip Report - Completed

I think we can all agree that so far 2020 has been one big sour lemon.

For those that did not read my Pre-Trip report; my entire family (Val-wife, Alex - oldest daughter, Sterg - son, Toni - youngest daughter) has recovered from the Covid-19 virus. Myself, Val, Sterg and Toni got it in March and Alex in April while working as a nurse. Val had it worse with a fever for a couple days and flu like symptoms for about a week. The rest of us were either asymptomatic or had minor symptoms.

Add to that the mental stress of living in a society dealing with this pandemic, Toni missing out on a big chunk of her High School Senior Year and her last dance recital (where she was going to take on a major role as Jasmine), work reductions for Sterg and high stress work conditions for Alex on the front line. Yes, 2020 has sure been one big sourpuss.

But, as the saying goes; "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!"

It just so happened that last year I made a reservation to attend the annual AHEPA convention in Walt Disney World, just as I did in 2017. We were going to stay at the Grand Destino Towers but that seemed very much in jeopardy when AHEPA (which is a charitable organization I'm involved with. Like a Greek version of the Knights of Columbus or Lions Club.) cancelled their convention. Soon after however, I received an email that Disney would honor our reservation in July. This was pretty tempting since we had convention rates and discounts on tickets. Long story short, we decided to go. We felt that having already had the virus gave us an extra level of protection and we knew that Disney would handle the health risks properly. In addition, we later found out that our rooms were moved from Grand Destino to the Contemporary in order to accommodate the LA Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks. Sterg's and my dream of playing Marco Polo with the Greek Freak and LeBron James in the pool were quickly dashed. But who could say no to staying at The Contemporary for $175 a night?

We were a go! It was frustrating however because although we had a resort reservation we did not have park tickets. We also didn't have a "park pass" which was needed during this reopening of WDW. We had to wait for all that to open and I had serious doubts it would by the time our first day at the resort (July 20th) rolled around. I decided to book flights without tickets or park passes. Southwest had roundtrip flights from Philly to Orlando for $90 plus if you had to cancel you got that credit for a future flight. No brainer. This was turning out to be the cheapest Disney trip we have taken as a family! Soon after I was open to buy tickets and book Park Passes. We had started to squeeze that lemon and add it's juice to our pitcher of cold water.

Now for the Cast of our adventure.

Myself - Chris/Fractal. A lover of Disney Parks for the many memories it has given me over the years with my family, the way it helps me completely unwind from my job, and how it taps into my creative side and challenges my skills as a photographer.

Here I am with my crazy kids at Christmas.

Val - my beautiful wife. Not the biggest fan of Disney but in the end she was on board. I think secretly she likes it more than she lets on. I will make it up to her with a trip more to her liking.

Here she is with Alex.

Alex - our oldest. Now a traveling nurse. Alex is like me in many ways but as she's getting older and more responsible I'm starting to see her take on a number of Val's traits. She's a good mix and always a delight to be with.

From a trip to Colorado we took last year;

Sterg, aka Fractal Jr. One word to describe Sterg - catalyst - he just makes things happen. He creates reactions both good and bad. He graduated last year from Penn State. He was a captain on the Swim Team but not without drama. He had to miss his promising senior year of swimming when a series of concussions (all outside the water) forced him to medically retire. PSU handled it very well as he helped the team from the sidelines. He now works as a digital marketing consultant as well as helping his cousin get his music career off the ground. Never a dull moment when Sterg is around!

with our dog Prince (Charming).

Toni - For long time readers of my reports you know that Toni and I have a special Disney connection. Many times she would be the only one up early with me to tackle the parks at opening. We have had many great adventures together in the Disney bubble. She's now technically an adult (how did that happen?) so I was going to find out this trip if the magic was still there. She's going to attend Clemson University starting next month and I couldn't be prouder.

Toni in front of the Theater her Recital was supposed to perform at.

So Covid-19 made our family suffer in many ways, but we took that lemon, squeezed it's juice out into our water pitcher, now we just needed a little Disney sugar to make our Lemonade complete.

Coming up - Our trip begins with a WDW meet-up before our flight even leaves the ground!

 

[Ghostdog]

The Lions ❤❤❤. We’re always excited when they’re awake and in plain view. We heard and saw them roar on our last family trip; it was awesome!

 

[Rista1313]

The picture of the male and female lion together is phenomenal! That's a framer!

 

[Songbird76]

Every time I ride Haunted Mansion I remember the first time I rode it as a 9 year and how amazed I was by it; the Ballroom/dinning room scene especially. In my imaginative young mind those ghosts were all but real.

Val happens to be much more pragmatic than me. Part of the reason WDW is not her thing is because of that. These rides are just props, vehicles, lighting and special effects. She would much rather be engaged with real people and actively doing things together such as going to the beach, maybe a hike or long walk, canoeing, making and having dinner together instead of being a "spectator" sitting in a doombuggy in a dark ride. In fact her best times at WDW are when doing things like being at the pool together, the meals and experiences that open you up for more engagement such as Monster's Inc. Laughing Floor, walking and exploring World Showcase - one year her and Alex did that on a Segway and they still talk about it. I was thinking and analyzing this in my mind as we proceeded through the queue of HM.

As excited as I was Val really was not and would make comments along the way; "how many times to we need to ride this?", "aren't you sick of it", "I kinda think it's dumb."

Normally this would get me upset and I would counter with arguments from my perspective, but this time I really tried to understand her side.

Everyone's different; there's a reason I love Star Wars, Marvel Films and Fantasy/Sci-fi in general. Val really has zero interest in that and prefers Reality type shows, and RomComs. Things based in our current world. The more I thought about her side of things I found myself slowly starting to see things differently.

In hindsight, going on the Liberty Belle would have been a great thing to do with Val and the kids but we never made time for it. It was good to see it running as on our last trip it never left the dock.

It was a bit discomforting as we started into the ride because I was looking at things through Val's eyes and was starting not to enjoy it. As I was taking my photos I was asking myself, how many times to I really need to photography this scene?

No stretching room pre-show. Just walked through.

I continued taking photos none the less but I could tell Val was not really engaged and was just along for the ride.

My favorite scene.

A side note here. When editing photos, especially low light ones when you have to push up your ISO, you can use "noise reduction" to clear out the "graininess" in the darker areas which is what I normally do. The downside to that is as you smooth that out you loose a lot of detail in the photos. For many of these I decided to keep more "noise" than normal as it kinda fit the mood of the ride and also to hold on to more of that detail.

I was wondering, and I'm really not trying to be a jerk, I really want to understand. But why does Val go with you? She obviously doesn't enjoy herself, it's not her thing. But then why subject herself to it? Does she think everyone will be disappointed in her if she stays home? Or does she not want to miss the family time, even if she hates it?
My husband isn't very fond of Disney...he has his favorites like Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, ToT, etc, but really, if he wants to do coasters, he can go on much faster, more thrilling ones elsewhere without paying Disney prices. He goes because my daughter and I LOVE it. But he asked me a couple of months ago how I would feel about doing a mother/daughter trip next time and he would use whatever money we would have spent for him and my son on something else, like a gaming system or something. He gets frustrated in Disney because our son is autistic and doesn't like most of the rides, but he's too young to venture off by himself to do the ones he does like, so someone has to stay with him, and whoever that is doesn't get to do much. Since my DH isn't a huge Disney fan to begin with, those times where he's the one with our son put him in a really dark mood. (My observation, not something he said) But the fact that Disney does cost so much, he considers it kind of a waste of money for him to go when he doesn't like it, and for my son who would rather just stay in the room and play on his computer all day. (We let him do that a few times last trip when he needed a break from all the stimulation in the parks) My husband would rather that my daughter and I go together and he and our son stay home, because we'll all have a better time that way. He won't be complaining about not getting to do what he wants, he won't be relegated to the few rides my son likes, and my Daughter and I can just do whatever we want without trying so hard to cater to what they want, sacrificing our own fun. This is huge progress on my husband's part since a few years ago, he refused to go on any ride by himself because we had to do everything as a whole family, which just isn't realistic. He's finally realizing what I've been telling him...no one will enjoy themselves if we can only do things everyone likes...there's just not enough that we all like, and then we all have to skip our favorites because someone else doesn't like that one...it doesn't make for a fun vacation. So I was just wondering if Val has similar feelings as my husband did, viewing it as "we have to do it together", more like she's taking one for the team because she's the only one who doesn't really like it. Maybe she'd enjoy something else more on her own...while you guys do Disney, she could do something a little more her speed. Take the time to binge watch a favorite show uninterupted, get food from places she likes but the rest of you aren't into, etc. Or go along to Disney but do things like spa days, going to the movies, visit other sites like museums, etc....just so she's not stuck in the bubble doing things she's done before and doesn't enjoy. I remember when you were planning this trip and she wasn't going to go. I was wondering what made her change her mind.

 

[Songbird76]

Yes, Alex would literally yell and crouch down in the log during the bee scene. You can only imagine her reaction during Tough to Be A Bug! Hopefully your daughter does better!

You said your Alex was afraid of all flying insects, right? Is she still, as an adult? My Alex is terrified of any creepy crawly, especially if it flies, and it doesn't matter if it's a harmless thing like a lady bug or if it stings like a wasp. If he sees it, he freaks out. He won't go in the kitchen to get food if there's a fly or something in there. And my husband had to take him out of ITTBAB, screaming, on our 2016 trip. He's 12 now...I was wondering if he might outgrow that phobia as an adult.

 

[Songbird76]

How about some pictures of The Contemporary?

Our room was the second to last before the fire exit, which at first seem like a bummer but ended up with having some nice benefits.

\

The room was big - like the Poly - but was completely void of anything "Disney". I remember commenting in my last report that the Yacht Club really turned down the volume on Disney accents in its rooms and made what was left very subtle.

The Contemporary completely pulled the plug on them. I did not like this approach but Val was just fine with it.

We had a nice view of Bay Lake. @coachwnh told me he loved watching the sunrises from the balcony. I would take on the challenge later in the trip.

I always saw this in other magicians' trip reports. Now I know where it is!

Sign of the times.

We mostly unpacked, got settled and grabbed a quick meal from the Contemp Cafe. It was our first experience with the required mobil app ordering for quick service spots. We fumbled a few times but got the hang of ordering and paying through the app then picking up at a designated area.

After our dinner we changed and decided to spend time at the quiet pool which was open until 11. Normally I would be in the parks at this time but with no other option we were poolside, much to Val's enjoyment. We had a nice relaxing few hours in the cooler air. First thing I noticed was how refreshing the water in the pool was - my biggest complaint at the Beach and Yacht Club is the way too warm temperature of Storm-along-Bay in the middle of summer. I was wondering if the main pool was the same. Second thing I noticed was there was no mask requirement in the pool area which I was just fine with.

Helping me to enjoy the family time next to Bay Lake was the 2 or 3 (maybe 4 or 5?) bourbons I had. I was very relaxed and we laughed and made fun of each other to pass the time. This was quality time for Val, but I appreciated it as well. I kept the camera on "off" for most of the duration but managed a couple of pics of Toni and the Man-Child.

Back in the room I reviewed the photos of the day with mostly a smile on my face, then began to anticipate our next day in Hollywood Studios. A lot has changed since our last visit and I couldn't wait to experience it!

Up Next - Incredible transformation at DHS and genuinely one of our best days at WDW! Plus a million photos and a few WDWmagic meet-ups!

Wow, your kids are incredibly photogenic!! I love that Toni is willing to be your subject. My daughter hates it when I try to take pictures, and she ends up being grumpy and a complete sourpuss. Maybe it helps that you are a much better photographer than I, and your kids know they won't look dreadful in the pictures you take.

 

[fractal]

I was wondering, and I'm really not trying to be a jerk, I really want to understand. But why does Val go with you? She obviously doesn't enjoy herself, it's not her thing. But then why subject herself to it? Does she think everyone will be disappointed in her if she stays home? Or does she not want to miss the family time, even if she hates it?
My husband isn't very fond of Disney...he has his favorites like Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, ToT, etc, but really, if he wants to do coasters, he can go on much faster, more thrilling ones elsewhere without paying Disney prices. He goes because my daughter and I LOVE it. But he asked me a couple of months ago how I would feel about doing a mother/daughter trip next time and he would use whatever money we would have spent for him and my son on something else, like a gaming system or something. He gets frustrated in Disney because our son is autistic and doesn't like most of the rides, but he's too young to venture off by himself to do the ones he does like, so someone has to stay with him, and whoever that is doesn't get to do much. Since my DH isn't a huge Disney fan to begin with, those times where he's the one with our son put him in a really dark mood. (My observation, not something he said) But the fact that Disney does cost so much, he considers it kind of a waste of money for him to go when he doesn't like it, and for my son who would rather just stay in the room and play on his computer all day. (We let him do that a few times last trip when he needed a break from all the stimulation in the parks) My husband would rather that my daughter and I go together and he and our son stay home, because we'll all have a better time that way. He won't be complaining about not getting to do what he wants, he won't be relegated to the few rides my son likes, and my Daughter and I can just do whatever we want without trying so hard to cater to what they want, sacrificing our own fun. This is huge progress on my husband's part since a few years ago, he refused to go on any ride by himself because we had to do everything as a whole family, which just isn't realistic. He's finally realizing what I've been telling him...no one will enjoy themselves if we can only do things everyone likes...there's just not enough that we all like, and then we all have to skip our favorites because someone else doesn't like that one...it doesn't make for a fun vacation. So I was just wondering if Val has similar feelings as my husband did, viewing it as "we have to do it together", more like she's taking one for the team because she's the only one who doesn't really like it. Maybe she'd enjoy something else more on her own...while you guys do Disney, she could do something a little more her speed. Take the time to binge watch a favorite show uninterupted, get food from places she likes but the rest of you aren't into, etc. Or go along to Disney but do things like spa days, going to the movies, visit other sites like museums, etc....just so she's not stuck in the bubble doing things she's done before and doesn't enjoy. I remember when you were planning this trip and she wasn't going to go. I was wondering what made her change her mind.

Val was very much into Disney on our first family trip in 2000. Just us and Alex and Sterg. So much so that she was pushing for us to do DVC.

Our next trip was 2007 with Toni. After that trip she felt that we have properly exposed our children to Disney and it was time to move on. I however was hooked.

To answer your question, I think she decided to come along because she didn't want to miss out on the family interaction. Especially with Toni leaving for college (which now had been pushed back by at least a month).
The second half of this trip sees Val starting to really enjoy WDW more and part of that is due to doing things we may not normally do on a WDW trip. More to come on that.

You said your Alex was afraid of all flying insects, right? Is she still, as an adult? My Alex is terrified of any creepy crawly, especially if it flies, and it doesn't matter if it's a harmless thing like a lady bug or if it stings like a wasp. If he sees it, he freaks out. He won't go in the kitchen to get food if there's a fly or something in there. And my husband had to take him out of ITTBAB, screaming, on our 2016 trip. He's 12 now...I was wondering if he might outgrow that phobia as an adult.

She is still afraid but not like she used to be. Maybe 75% level of her worse. Hope that helps.

Wow, your kids are incredibly photogenic!! I love that Toni is willing to be your subject. My daughter hates it when I try to take pictures, and she ends up being grumpy and a complete sourpuss. Maybe it helps that you are a much better photographer than I, and your kids know they won't look dreadful in the pictures you take.

Thank you @Songbird76 ! Toni is always ready for a photo. Alex not so much; constant complaining. I don't really thing my photo skills had more to do with it than there personality.

 

[fractal]

Alex had a craving for something sweet so we took her over to the "Safari Swirl" window.

She was happy.

\

Then she asked Toni to film her for some social media type post. I have yet to see it but I did take a photo of it.

Enough of those shenanigans. Alex wanted to go on Everest so off we went.

We started to get a little drizzle.

Someone is ready to go!

As you can see, I put the fisheye back on. I think I got some really neat and unique shots.

 

[Songbird76]

Val was very much into Disney on our first family trip in 2000. Just us and Alex and Sterg. So much so that she was pushing for us to do DVC.

Our next trip was 2007 with Toni. After that trip she felt that we have properly exposed our children to Disney and it was time to move on. I however was hooked.

To answer your question, I think she decided to come along because she didn't want to miss out on the family interaction. Especially with Toni leaving for college (which now had been pushed back by at least a month).
The second half of this trip sees Val starting to really enjoy WDW more and part of that is due to doing things we may not normally do on a WDW trip. More to come on that.



She is still afraid but not like she used to be. Maybe 75% level of her worse. Hope that helps.



Thank you @Songbird76 ! Toni is always ready for a photo. Alex not so much; constant complaining. I don't really thing my photo skills had more to do with it than there personality.

Oh good! I'm glad Val started to enjoy herself more! My husband is strange...he'll rave about the food at a particular restaurant, or how much fun a particular experience was, but then after the trip, he'll swear he didn't have fun, or there was no good food. He raved about the breakfast at Trattoria al forno, spent the whole evening at Whispering Canyon laughing, but we got to the end of our trip and we ate at Pecos Bill and he says "Finally a decent meal! This is the first meal I've enjoyed! Why haven't we just been eating here?" I try to make sure he has a good time....I take the kids while he goes for a whole day of playing Ingress, or doing thrill rides...I make him fastpasses for the rides he wants to do while we go do something he doesn't like, so he's not subjected to that. But he gets grumpy when it's time to come back and be with the family or when it's my turn to do something I haven't gotten to do yet. But it's like he has a mental block. We get to the end of the trip, and he can't remember anything that he enjoyed. We've agreed now that Disney is just not his thing, and it would be better if my daughter and I just go without the boys. Not sure how my son will feel about that...he likes the idea of Disney, and does have fun, but he gets over stimulated and would mostly rather stay in the room on his computer, which he could do at home for free.

So had you been to Disney before that 2007 family trip? Or is that what started your love for the House of Mouse?

 

[fractal]

Oh good! I'm glad Val started to enjoy herself more! My husband is strange...he'll rave about the food at a particular restaurant, or how much fun a particular experience was, but then after the trip, he'll swear he didn't have fun, or there was no good food. He raved about the breakfast at Trattoria al forno, spent the whole evening at Whispering Canyon laughing, but we got to the end of our trip and we ate at Pecos Bill and he says "Finally a decent meal! This is the first meal I've enjoyed! Why haven't we just been eating here?" I try to make sure he has a good time....I take the kids while he goes for a whole day of playing Ingress, or doing thrill rides...I make him fastpasses for the rides he wants to do while we go do something he doesn't like, so he's not subjected to that. But he gets grumpy when it's time to come back and be with the family or when it's my turn to do something I haven't gotten to do yet. But it's like he has a mental block. We get to the end of the trip, and he can't remember anything that he enjoyed. We've agreed now that Disney is just not his thing, and it would be better if my daughter and I just go without the boys. Not sure how my son will feel about that...he likes the idea of Disney, and does have fun, but he gets over stimulated and would mostly rather stay in the room on his computer, which he could do at home for free.

So had you been to Disney before that 2007 family trip? Or is that what started your love for the House of Mouse?

Maybe a trip with just you and kids is the way to go. I'm guessing if you do that he might miss going.

My first trip to Disney was in 1976 with my parents and sister. It was very special to me because it was really the only true family vacation we had growing up. My parents owned a restaurant and were hard workers. My sister and I grew up working in that restaurant. Summer months when I was in my teens working 70 hour weeks was not unusual. So that trip let me spend time with my Dad especially in a completely different type of setting. One of my fondest memories is with him at the Shooting Gallery in FrontierLand.

Second trip was in 2000 with Val, Alex and Sterg. Toni was born in 2001. Then 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and last month. Sterg and I spent a few days in Disneyland in 2012 before a waterpolo tournament.

My sister also loves going to WDW (we went together in 2017) There's no doubt our childhood vacation in 1976 makes Disney World a special place for us.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Oh good! I'm glad Val started to enjoy herself more! My husband is strange...he'll rave about the food at a particular restaurant, or how much fun a particular experience was, but then after the trip, he'll swear he didn't have fun, or there was no good food. He raved about the breakfast at Trattoria al forno, spent the whole evening at Whispering Canyon laughing, but we got to the end of our trip and we ate at Pecos Bill and he says "Finally a decent meal! This is the first meal I've enjoyed! Why haven't we just been eating here?" I try to make sure he has a good time....I take the kids while he goes for a whole day of playing Ingress, or doing thrill rides...I make him fastpasses for the rides he wants to do while we go do something he doesn't like, so he's not subjected to that. But he gets grumpy when it's time to come back and be with the family or when it's my turn to do something I haven't gotten to do yet. But it's like he has a mental block. We get to the end of the trip, and he can't remember anything that he enjoyed. We've agreed now that Disney is just not his thing, and it would be better if my daughter and I just go without the boys. Not sure how my son will feel about that...he likes the idea of Disney, and does have fun, but he gets over stimulated and would mostly rather stay in the room on his computer, which he could do at home for free.

So had you been to Disney before that 2007 family trip? Or is that what started your love for the House of Mouse?

My husband isn't a Disney fan either. His ideal trip is 3 resort/pool days and 1 park day that isn't MK. Which is why my last two trips have been with my daughters. I took each of them separately, one in 2018 the other 2019. At first I did feel very guilty for going on a vacation without Joe but he knows how much the girls and I love Disney and didn't make us feel bad in the least. We also make it a point to go other places that he enjoys. I make sure that he picks out things that he wants to do, which is hard to do sometimes since I tend to be the planner and want everything to be my way.

 

[KellBelle]

This guy was just standing there. Easy-peasy.

I have never had luck with the lions on KS. Either they were a complete no-show are they were well hidden behind rocks.

Well the photo-Gods blessed me that day as Mufasa and his lionesses were out and sunning themselves in clear view of my camera.

I was happy!

After the safari everyone went on "potty" break while I took photos of some Disney details.

Oh Joe Rohde, you make my heart sing!

Now fix the Yeti!

ALL of your safari pics are gorgeous, but the 2nd pic of the lions.. OMG just stunning! I hope you frame that one!

 

[need2go2wdw]

Every time I ride Haunted Mansion I remember the first time I rode it as a 9 year and how amazed I was by it; the Ballroom/dinning room scene especially. In my imaginative young mind those ghosts were all but real.

Val happens to be much more pragmatic than me. Part of the reason WDW is not her thing is because of that. These rides are just props, vehicles, lighting and special effects. She would much rather be engaged with real people and actively doing things together such as going to the beach, maybe a hike or long walk, canoeing, making and having dinner together instead of being a "spectator" sitting in a doombuggy in a dark ride. In fact her best times at WDW are when doing things like being at the pool together, the meals and experiences that open you up for more engagement such as Monster's Inc. Laughing Floor, walking and exploring World Showcase - one year her and Alex did that on a Segway and they still talk about it. I was thinking and analyzing this in my mind as we proceeded through the queue of HM.

As excited as I was Val really was not and would make comments along the way; "how many times to we need to ride this?", "aren't you sick of it", "I kinda think it's dumb."

Normally this would get me upset and I would counter with arguments from my perspective, but this time I really tried to understand her side.

Everyone's different; there's a reason I love Star Wars, Marvel Films and Fantasy/Sci-fi in general. Val really has zero interest in that and prefers Reality type shows, and RomComs. Things based in our current world. The more I thought about her side of things I found myself slowly starting to see things differently.

In hindsight, going on the Liberty Belle would have been a great thing to do with Val and the kids but we never made time for it. It was good to see it running as on our last trip it never left the dock.

It was a bit discomforting as we started into the ride because I was looking at things through Val's eyes and was starting not to enjoy it. As I was taking my photos I was asking myself, how many times to I really need to photography this scene?

No stretching room pre-show. Just walked through.

I continued taking photos none the less but I could tell Val was not really engaged and was just along for the ride.

My favorite scene.

A side note here. When editing photos, especially low light ones when you have to push up your ISO, you can use "noise reduction" to clear out the "graininess" in the darker areas which is what I normally do. The downside to that is as you smooth that out you loose a lot of detail in the photos. For many of these I decided to keep more "noise" than normal as it kinda fit the mood of the ride and also to hold on to more of that detail.

I can totally understand your conflict with your wife's views versus yours and how you could temporarily (hopefully anyway!) second guess why you love what you love about Disney. It's easy to listen to those who just don't love it the way you do and question why you love it so much.

For me, the repetitive rides and photo taking is for me to say to myself "I am here. Not someone else at this moment, me. I am in this place, my happy place, at this very moment, after thinking about all the other vacationers that occupied that same seat on that same ride or snapped that same photograph all those other times that I wished it were me. This is my moment to be in my happy place"

Sometimes there is no way to explain it to people and that's ok

 

[fractal]

We left AK and arrived to a foggy Contemporary (actually it was a beautiful day; my lens fogged up due to the ice-cold AC in the bus).

We didn't have dinner reservations that evening. I was planning on grabbing something quick in AK but that didn't happen. My next option was the Contemporary Cafe but everyone else wanted to go to a "real" restaurant. When I opened up the MyDisney app there weren't too many options available.

"I think "Coach" mentioned they were eating at Raglan Road tonight." I said. "We could go to Disney Springs then go there for dinner. They have an 8pm reservation available. Maybe we'll see them there."

I had to refresh the kids memories that we did eat there before back in 2009. I reminded them of the older couple that came in while we waiting in the check-in area for the torrential downpour to cease. The man in a wheelchair was being pushed by his wife. Both were drenched. Alex and Sterg were that age of making fun of anything and anyone and they started to on the couple. As I was scolding them, Toni walked up to them and started a conversation. Eventually my other two joined along with Val and I and we talked and laughed for a good 15 minutes and made some new Disney friends. It was a good lesson for the my two older ones.

"Yeah, let's do that!" They agreed.

Funny how an Irish Pub becomes more appealing to your children as the approach or exceed the drinking age.

So off we went to Disney Springs!

In the bus...

Everyone (except me) was excited to see the store Zara. I never heard of it which made me feel a bit old. We went in and Sterg led me upstairs to the Menswear; he also decided it was a good opportunity to do some modeling poses.

I think I'm an enabler.

Turned out that I really liked the selection of clothing they had and actually almost bought something.. I did however buy a bottle of their one cologne. My Polo blue ran out so I saw this as a reasonable substitute. It's pretty good but still prefer the Polo.

After visiting a couple more shops we made our way to Raglan Road in time for our reservation.

We walked in to a couple of Irish Dancers.

This certainly set the mood! We were smiling before we got to our table.

We smiled even more when we discovered that @coachwnh and his family were seated right next to us! They also had an 8pm reservation. Before you know it, we combined tables and we were now an official WDWMagic party of 9!

"Coach Jr" and @fractal jr ...

Both sporting nice Hawaiian shirts.

@coachwnh and I in our matching blue...

Then we got the kids to pose together...

This was the start of a very fun and kinda crazy night!

UP NEXT- I'm buzzed, at Walt Disney World and belting out sing-alongs with our new Disney friends! Does it get any better than that?

 

[coachwnh]

That was a great night! We had so much fun.

ATM Cupcakes up next!

 

[senor_jorge]

We left AK and arrived to a foggy Contemporary (actually it was a beautiful day; my lens fogged up due to the ice-cold AC in the bus).

We didn't have dinner reservations that evening. I was planning on grabbing something quick in AK but that didn't happen. My next option was the Contemporary Cafe but everyone else wanted to go to a "real" restaurant. When I opened up the MyDisney app there weren't too many options available.

"I think "Coach" mentioned they were eating at Raglan Road tonight." I said. "We could go to Disney Springs then go there for dinner. They have an 8pm reservation available. Maybe we'll see them there."

I had to refresh the kids memories that we did eat there before back in 2009. I reminded them of the older couple that came in while we waiting in the check-in area for the torrential downpour to cease. The man in a wheelchair was being pushed by his wife. Both were drenched. Alex and Sterg were that age of making fun of anything and anyone and they started to on the couple. As I was scolding them, Toni walked up to them and started a conversation. Eventually my other two joined along with Val and I and we talked and laughed for a good 15 minutes and made some new Disney friends. It was a good lesson for the my two older ones.

"Yeah, let's do that!" They agreed.

Funny how an Irish Pub becomes more appealing to your children as the approach or exceed the drinking age.

So off we went to Disney Springs!

In the bus...

Everyone (except me) was excited to see the store Zara. I never heard of it which made me feel a bit old. We went in and Sterg led me upstairs to the Menswear; he also decided it was a good opportunity to do some modeling poses.

I think I'm an enabler.

Turned out that I really liked the selection of clothing they had and actually almost bought something.. I did however buy a bottle of their one cologne. My Polo blue ran out so I saw this as a reasonable substitute. It's pretty good but still prefer the Polo.

After visiting a couple more shops we made our way to Raglan Road in time for our reservation.

We walked in to a couple of Irish Dancers.

This certainly set the mood! We were smiling before we got to our table.

We smiled even more when we discovered that @coachwnh and his family were seated right next to us! They also had an 8pm reservation. Before you know it, we combined tables and we were now an official WDWMagic party of 9!

"Coach Jr" and @fractal jr ...

Both sporting nice Hawaiian shirts.

@coachwnh and I in our matching blue...

Then we got the kids to pose together...

This was the start of a very fun and kinda crazy night!

UP NEXT- I'm buzzed, at Walt Disney World and belting out sing-alongs with our new Disney friends! Does it get any better than that?

 

[Songbird76]

My husband isn't a Disney fan either. His ideal trip is 3 resort/pool days and 1 park day that isn't MK. Which is why my last two trips have been with my daughters. I took each of them separately, one in 2018 the other 2019. At first I did feel very guilty for going on a vacation without Joe but he knows how much the girls and I love Disney and didn't make us feel bad in the least. We also make it a point to go other places that he enjoys. I make sure that he picks out things that he wants to do, which is hard to do sometimes since I tend to be the planner and want everything to be my way.

I can't get my husband involved in the planning. I ask him if he has any particular things he doesn't want to miss, or if there's something he absolutely doesn't want to do. I give him a list of the restaurants that might be good. He just says "Just plan what you want and tell me where to be when." But the mother daughter trip was his idea. He asked me how I'd feel going without him next time. I've always wanted to do a mother/daughter trip, but didn't know how to bring it up without it sounding rude like I didn't want him along or couldn't have fun with him there. So it's really nice that it was his idea. I only worry my son will feel left out. I don't think he's particularly attached to Disney...he has a couple rides he loves, but doesn't really want to do anything beyond those, and once he's done them, he wants to go back to the resort. So I don't think it would be a problem from the standpoint that he really wants to go to Disney, but more like....why are we going on vacation without him? It wouldn't be for a few years anyway. We aren't even allowed to fly into the US right now and who knows when that will change, and our next big trip will be Wyoming, including Yellowstone. After that, it will be a few years before we can afford a trip, and E is wanting to go to Disney with her best friend when they graduate high school. She's starting the equivalent of her Freshman year next week. I guess we'll just wait and see how it all plays out. It's nice to know I'm not the only one with a significant other who isn't into Disney though.

Sorry for derailing your TR, Fractal! I was just curious whether our spouses shared the similar ideas about vacationing being a family thing.

 

[fractal]

Quick FlashBack to May 24th, 2009. One of the reasons I wanted to go to Raglan Road was to hear a live band. I found out that the live bands didn't play during the lunch hour.

Doing what I do best at WDW - paying bills.

Fast forward to July 22nd 2020.


Coach starts things off with a beer sampler.

I decided on a bourbon on the rocks. I may have had a few more.

For the life of me I can't remember what I ate. I do remember enjoying it. No food complaints from the rest of my crew so overall, the meal was very satisfactory.

We had some good conversations about Disney World, WDWMagic, Things back in Pennsylvania. Sterg asked Brayden and Maddy what they thought about their dad being a WDWmagic Trip Reporter and if they read his reports? He wanted to compare notes and it was interesting to hear all their perspectives.

It's quite possible the drinks kept flowing.

The Irish dancers were done for the night and were replaced with a live 2 man band (something I waited 11 years for!). There were a pretty good cover duo and played a lot of the bar favorites; Piano Man, American Pie, etc.

After our meal and possibly a few more drinks we paid our bill and made our way towards the bar and a better vantage point.

There were two couples at the bar. My observation was that they very likely consumed twice the number of drinks that we may have consumed.

They were loud, obnoxious, and devoid of Covid Mask etiquette. The two gentlemen in this foursome spotted @coachwnh and I and approached us as if they had seen long lost fraternity brothers.

"C'mon Man! Let's sing! Take off that stupid mask! Just have some fun!" You can imagine.

Of course we were hesitant. Part of me wanted to throw my arms around them and start belting out Living on a Prayer.
The other part of me was flashing serious "Spidey Senses" probably because this was really not a good mix with the rest of our family. They must have gotten the hint because they soon backed off.

We did however decide to stay and listen to some music. Again, it's possible we ordered another drink or two. We started singing some of the songs out loud which wasn't easy behind a face masks. We might have taken the masks off and gathered all together to sing/yell/screech Sweet Caroline. Probably not, but might have. In either scenario we were having a great time; adults and kids alike!

We left Raglan Road laughing and carrying on a bit into a quiet and nearly empty Disney Springs.

Crystal then spoke some magical yet mysterious words. "Let's go get cupcakes at the ATM machine."

"What?" I asked completely befuddled.

"There's an ATM machine here that serves cupcakes!" She responded excitedly and without hesitation.

Do you know when you have a few drinks and sometimes one small thing becomes very funny. It's possible that happened with us and the Cupcake ATM.

"No way! Impossible! I don't believe it!" I snapped back.

"C'mon follow me, I'll show you!" Crystal said with glistening eyes.

It was like we were the Goonies in search of the One-Eyed-Willies' treasure. We scampered along following Crystal's lead. I still didn't believe it and was expecting more on the lines
of Rafiki clunking Simba on the head.

Low and behold Crystal delivered us to a pink illuminated magic machine. She placed her order and seconds later two cupcakes arrived.

"Ta Da!"

I just couldn't stop laughing along with the rest of us! I mean belly laughing.

Toni may have said "Hi cupcake ATM machine."

It was quite amazing and quite amusing and just a perfect little adventure and payoff.

Grabbing the cupcakes.

Crystal was beaming because 1) she got her cupcakes and 2) she proved us wrong about our cupcake ATM skepticism!

This made things even funnier!

By the way - she was stationary and (about to be) eating her cupcakes so she was Covid compliant.

I don't remember the flavors Crystal ordered but I knew I could not be brought to such a magical machine and not take advantage.

I ordered a red velvet cupcake and thoroughly enjoyed the little door opening to reveal my treat! The cupcake, by the way was delicious.

We then slowly walked out of a closed Disney Spring and parted ways towards our separate transportation back to our resorts.

It was a great, merry and memorable evening with @coachwnh and his family and just like the first time in 2009 we left Raglan Road with new friends!


UP NEXT - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at EPCOT/ Another WDWMagic meetup!/ Toni and I tackle the Land and the Seas/ more fun with @coachwnh and crew!

 

[Swissmiss]

Sweet Caroline is a family favorite, as it was one of the hits on the radio the summer we did a coast to coast road trip - I would have been belting it out with you

 

[Songbird76]

Quick FlashBack to May 24th, 2009. One of the reasons I wanted to go to Raglan Road was to hear a live band. I found out that the live bands didn't play during the lunch hour.

Doing what I do best at WDW - paying bills.

Fast forward to July 22nd 2020.


Coach starts things off with a beer sampler.

I decided on a bourbon on the rocks. I may have had a few more.

For the life of me I can't remember what I ate. I do remember enjoying it. No food complaints from the rest of my crew so overall, the meal was very satisfactory.

We had some good conversations about Disney World, WDWMagic, Things back in Pennsylvania. Sterg asked Brayden and Maddy what they thought about their dad being a WDWmagic Trip Reporter and if they read his reports? He wanted to compare notes and it was interesting to hear all their perspectives.

It's quite possible the drinks kept flowing.

The Irish dancers were done for the night and were replaced with a live 2 man band (something I waited 11 years for!). There were a pretty good cover duo and played a lot of the bar favorites; Piano Man, American Pie, etc.

After our meal and possibly a few more drinks we paid our bill and made our way towards the bar and a better vantage point.

There were two couples at the bar. My observation was that they very likely consumed twice the number of drinks that we may have consumed.

They were loud, obnoxious, and devoid of Covid Mask etiquette. The two gentlemen in this foursome spotted @coachwnh and I and approached us as if they had seen long lost fraternity brothers.

"C'mon Man! Let's sing! Take off that stupid mask! Just have some fun!" You can imagine.

Of course we were hesitant. Part of me wanted to throw my arms around them and start belting out Living on a Prayer.
The other part of me was flashing serious "Spidey Senses" probably because this was really not a good mix with the rest of our family. They must have gotten the hint because they soon backed off.

We did however decide to stay and listen to some music. Again, it's possible we ordered another drink or two. We started singing some of the songs out loud which wasn't easy behind a face masks. We might have taken the masks off and gathered all together to sing/yell/screech Sweet Caroline. Probably not, but might have. In either scenario we were having a great time; adults and kids alike!

We left Raglan Road laughing and carrying on a bit into a quiet and nearly empty Disney Springs.

Crystal then spoke some magical yet mysterious words. "Let's go get cupcakes at the ATM machine."

"What?" I asked completely befuddled.

"There's an ATM machine here that serves cupcakes!" She responded excitedly and without hesitation.

Do you know when you have a few drinks and sometimes one small thing becomes very funny. It's possible that happened with us and the Cupcake ATM.

"No way! Impossible! I don't believe it!" I snapped back.

"C'mon follow me, I'll show you!" Crystal said with glistening eyes.

It was like we were the Goonies in search of the One-Eyed-Willies' treasure. We scampered along following Crystal's lead. I still didn't believe it and was expecting more on the lines
of Rafiki clunking Simba on the head.

Low and behold Crystal delivered us to a pink illuminated magic machine. She placed her order and seconds later two cupcakes arrived.

"Ta Da!"

I just couldn't stop laughing along with the rest of us! I mean belly laughing.

Toni may have said "Hi cupcake ATM machine."

It was quite amazing and quite amusing and just a perfect little adventure and payoff.

Grabbing the cupcakes.

Crystal was beaming because 1) she got her cupcakes and 2) she proved us wrong about our cupcake ATM skepticism!

This made things even funnier!

By the way - she was stationary and (about to be) eating her cupcakes so she was Covid compliant.

I don't remember the flavors Crystal ordered but I knew I could not be brought to such a magical machine and not take advantage.

I ordered a red velvet cupcake and thoroughly enjoyed the little door opening to reveal my treat! The cupcake, by the way was delicious.

We then slowly walked out of a closed Disney Spring and parted ways towards our separate transportation back to our resorts.

It was a great, merry and memorable evening with @coachwnh and his family and just like the first time in 2009 we left Raglan Road with new friends!


UP NEXT - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at EPCOT/ Another WDWMagic meetup!/ Toni and I tackle the Land and the Seas/ more fun with @coachwnh and crew!

This looks like a really fun night!! I'd have loved to be a fly on the wall!

You didn't know about the cupcake ATM? I'm guessing you don't follow Disney Food Blog? I was so excited about that machine!! It's like magic.

 

[NeilHoytPA]

Loving the trip report Chris!! It gives a lot of us something to look forward to reading the narratives to all the incredibly awesome pictures. Can't wait to hear more!