Trip Report Pineapple Princess Packed Her Patience

Hel-lo there! It's been awhile since my last trip report, so a brief introduction may be in order. Here are the participants in this trip:
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Myself: PineapplePrincess, a fifth grade teacher who survived this "unprecedented" year.
Hubby: MSUJafar who will go by E in this report. He's been working from home since the beginning of the pandemic and is about to return to the office for a few days a week starting tomorrow.🙌
Our DD23 did not join us for this trip since she got her first "big girl" job and doesn't have vacation time yet.

We stayed at Old Key West. It is our home resort, but we've only stayed there for a weekend trip back in 2011. While we really loved the theming here, transportation was not great. The boat to Disney Springs is currently not running which was a big bummer.
We arrived on June 20 via a car service that provided a stop at Publix. Unfortunately, our room was not quite ready even though it was past 4:00, so we got dropped off with all our stuff at the Hospitality House.
When I checked in, I was told that there was a problem with the room we were originally assigned, but they had another room ready to go for us.
We ended up in room 1310. The building was right across the street from the Hospitality House which was convenient, but not the best for morning buses. More on that later. Here is the view from our room:
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Not bad, I guess? We really don't know since we've never stayed there before. The golf course was closed, so we didn't see any golfers, but E did spot a golf ball which he retrieved. Who says there are no free souvenirs at Disney?! Here's another free souvenir that was on the table when we arrived:
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Nice touch! I didn't get any room pics. :rolleyes: Traveling takes a lot out of us, and we had a dinner reservation to get ready for.
I have no pics, but we went to Bull & Bear at the Waldorf Astoria. It was good, but we probably won't go back because of a "situation" that occurred.
I didn't realize there was a dress code and E wore what he would wear to California Grill: a nice pair of shorts, a golf shirt, and nice leather flip flops. I mean it's summer in Florida...that seems like a reasonable outfit, right? Wrong! The woman who sat us was new, and didn't say a word.
After we were seated, the manager stopped by to inform E that we could stay since we were already seated. However, they don't allow shorts or flip flops so the hostess should not have seated us. He also asked that E not use the restroom during the meal to avoid them being questioned by other diners as to why he was allowed without the proper attire! In hindsight, we probably should have left. We felt like scolded children! However, it had been a long day, we were starving, and we had really been looking forward to this meal. The food was very good, but we were left with a bad taste in our mouths after being scolded.
We skulked out after our meal looking forward to the next day's breakfast at Kona Cafe.
 

PineapplePrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, June 27... MK and the unintentional rest day?
When we realized that the California Grill Brunch at the Top wasn't coming back, we started looking for something to replace it. And that something HAD to include bottomless mimosas (we would come to regret this). House of Blues seemed like a fun alternative, so I made a 12:30 reservation.
But first, MK! Peter Pan was our rope drop ride of choice today and we were right at the rope in front of the castle as we waited. A very funny and sarcastic CM was our morning entertainment. As a cheer arose, he commented sarcastically, "Oh look, another proposal in front of the castle...how original!" I'm sure there are some who would take offense at this, but we found it quite amusing.
I didn't take many photos today because I really don't like using my phone. Here is all we accomplished in a short amount of time:

  • Peter Pan's Flight
  • Pooh-10 minute wait
  • Tea cups-walk on
  • Dumbo-walk on
  • People Mover-walk on
  • Buzz-10 minute wait
  • Surprisingly good breakfast sandwich from Friar's Nook which I had mobile ordered while waiting for rope drop.
  • Small World-10 minute wait
  • HM posted 30, actual 20
  • Pirates posted 40, actual 18
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We monorailed to the Contemporary and took a bus to DS from there.
At House of Blues, the bottomless mimosas were flowing. They had run out of champagne flutes, so ours were served in wine glasses. Which meant each one was twice the size it should be.
Both E & I had the Farmer's Market breakfast and added a biscuit and gravy. It was really good! We then shared the bread pudding.
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It was amazing! Dare I say, better than 'Ohana?!
Incredibly, even in our inebriated state, we managed to do a few hours of shopping. Upon getting back to OKW, we both napped (I'm not a napper).
I felt not so great after my nap. :hungover: E insisted that I would feel better after I ate, so he went and picked up a cheeseburger and some mac and cheese for us to share. He was right! I felt much better after eating, but still in no condition to leave the room. We opted to rest up for the next morning at AK.
 

PineapplePrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monday, June 28 AK
Due to the unfortunate bus timing on our last AK day, we opted to Uber to AK this morning. We were off of FoP by 8:20, and waited just 10 minutes for Navi River Journey.
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After grabbing some Starbucks, we went to wait for the Safari which was posted at 50 minutes. It was so nice to be able to enjoy our drinks in line again! The actual wait was only 25 minutes.
We repeated our kids meal cheeseburger pods and then meandered over to Nomad Lounge. There was only one group waiting in front of us, and this time we opted to sit on the porch so we could see the water cavalcades go by.
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It was a very relaxing way to spend an hour and a half. We each had a couple of drinks and finally tried the churros.
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I'm not a huge churro fan, but I had heard that these are the best. Very accurate! The strawberry dipping sauce is so amazing, I'm tempting to order a vodka and lemonade and add that sauce to it next time!
After we left Nomad Lounge, we completed our Scenic Selfies and got our button.
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This was one of the Scenic Selfie spots and I took a pic of it by itself because A was born in April of 1998. :inlove:
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Then we left to get rested and cleaned up for California Grill.
 

PineapplePrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monday, June 28 California Grill
As I stated before, E & I have been really spoiled with our split stays at Bay Lake Tower and Boardwalk. In our opinion, traveling at Disney was hard when staying at Old Key West.
We hopped on a bus to MK and then monorailed to the Contemporary. We had time for a drink at the Wave and took selfies in front of the Wave Wall and in the Blue Room just in case they don't make the cut in the re-imagining.
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We didn't have as great a table as our last visit, but the weather was definitely nicer. We were able to go outside and get some photos. A very nice woman offered to take our photo and I did the same for her.
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Photographic evidence of the offensive Flip Flops!
We shared the Pepperoni Pizza.
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I opted for two apps: the Hearts of Romaine and Goat Cheese Ravioli. Both were delicious, but I found the ravioli to be really salty without the broth.
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E had the filet as usual. He really wanted to try the Grand Marnier Souffle. He loved it! I thought it was just okay. I'm not a huge fan of orange desserts.
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After our meal, we ubered back to Old Key West. It was back to HS the next day. Stay tuned to see if we get a boarding group!
 

PineapplePrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday, June 29 HS
E & I were both on our phones ready for 7 a.m. This time I was the lucky one, scoring BG 12! Woohoo! As Meatloaf would say, "Two out of three ain't bad."
Our routine was very much the same as the previous two HS days. We like MMRR more than Slinky Dog, so that's what we rope dropped again and we were on the first train!
ToT was posted 13 min which means it was a walk on.
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Our BG was called so we joined the resistance again. These guys were NOT happy about it.
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We had our usual lunch of a Chicken club, but we also added a kids grilled cheese (it wasn't good). It started 🌧️ pretty early this day, so we waited in a 40 minute line for TSMM.
Trying something new seemed like a good idea. We hopped on a bus to Coronado Springs. Three Bridges wasn't open yet, so we spent some time at Rix Sports Bar. They had a drink called "Everything Hurts" which was fitting. I asked the bartender if it's like a Painkiller at a Tiki Bar and she confirmed that it was. It was really good and STRONG! The nachos with chicken were very tasty as well.
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The food and drinks were reasonably priced by Disney standards and we enjoyed relaxing there.
Just before Three Bridges opened, we walked out there to queue up. We asked to sit at the bar and were seated right away.
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This photo was taken just before a HUGE storm blew in. It was sideways raining and the rain was hitting me all the way over to the bar! I sort of scooted my chair back and hid behind one of the supports until it subsided.
Even with the rain, it was so beautiful out there! We're looking forward to trying it again.
We sampled the Sangria Flight.
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I didn't think any of them were worth repeating. After a couple of drinks there, we planned to uber back to OKW. I took a couple of photos inside Gran Destino Tower before we summoned our uber.
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It is absolutely stunning!
When E and I were sitting at Three Bridges Bar, I started a discussion about CM maternity wear. IMO it looks like Disney is trying to shame women for being pregnant! We had encountered several pregnant CMs on this trip and they have to wear this ugly smock thingy over their uniform. Can't they just make a maternity uniform? I mean whatever they have on under the ugly smock must fit, right? Feel free to chime in. Maybe I'm the only weird one who notices things like that!
We ended up mobile ordering from Olivia's, but I can't for the life of me, remember what we had. Packing up was on the agenda for this evening since tomorrow would be our last day.
 

PineapplePrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday, June 30 Check out day and MK day
I had to call the front desk the evening before our check out because we didn't receive our Tragical Express pick up time. Not that we really wanted it, but I was worried that since we opted for a car service from the airport that our return service somehow got cancelled.
It didn't. Our flight number had changed so they needed me to confirm. I walked over to the Hospitality House to get our pick up time which was 4:30 p.m.
When we called for Bell Services in the morning, they told us it would be at least a half hour! Since we were pretty close, we managed to get our luggage to them for storage and were soon on our way to MK!
We hadn't ridden SDMT yet this trip, so we decided to rope drop it.
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It was a regrettable decision. Neither of us loves it that much and people were just crazy and rude once we were let in! Not worth the hassle. By 8:20 we were off and planned to do HM and PoTC, but they were both down.
Jungle Cruise was posted at an accurate 30 minutes. I wanted to Instagram my ears.
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I have in my notes that our skipper was Jeffrey. I think he was pretty good. He said his mom was on the boat and gestured to a woman in front. Not sure if it was true or not. If not, she went right along with the act!
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The "gift shop" was still covered up at this point.
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We made our way over to Tomorrowland because I had mobile ordered a Spicy chicken sandwich and a kids chicken strips meal from Cosmic Ray's. Since I had my purple Mickey shirt on today, a stop at the purple wall was a must do.
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It wasn't quite time to pick up our order and CoP was a walk on.
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Since we were right there and the People Mover was only a 5 minute wait, we hopped on.
It was pick up time for our very early lunch. E loved the Spicy Chicken sandwich and the chicken tenders were just enough. We spent some quality time with an old friend.
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Before leaving Tomorrowland, I picked up my Scenic Selfie button from the DVC kiosk. For some reason I don't have a photo of that one, but it has the Fairy Godmother on it.🥰
 

BigDis

Well-Known Member
I'm very late but I'm all caught up and thoroughly enjoying your TR. Thanks for reporting on your trip so all of us can vicariously live through your experiences!
 

PineapplePrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm very late but I'm all caught up and thoroughly enjoying your TR. Thanks for reporting on your trip so all of us can vicariously live through your experiences!
I'm glad you're enjoying it! I love living vicariously through other people's reports as well.
 

PineapplePrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday, June 30 continued
PoTC was back up, so we started heading that way.
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Then we saw that the wait was 60 minutes just as we were passing Country Bears. Plans were changed. There were a few scooters going in and one woman crashed trying to take a turn too fast. Then another poor woman took about 5 minutes to get her scooter parked before the show. It was entertainment before the entertainment!
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It was pouring after the show. We waited it out for a little while before heading to get some coffee and do a little shopping.
As @Tuvalu would sing "Trickle Trickle, Splash Splash"
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E & I thought they were singing "Tinkle Tinkle, Splash Splash" 🤣
We hadn't had a "real" Dole Whip Float on this trip. That situation was remedied.
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Pirates was down to 20 minutes, so we decided to make it our last ride of the trip.
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Casey's Corner had just reopened that day and our plan was to have some Corn Dog Nuggets on the way out. It was around 2:00 and we hoped we would see some vloggers at Casey's, but no luck. The Corn Dog Nuggets were delicious though!
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A fond farewell from this gang ended a wonderful trip!
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Our flight home was pushed back and the only place open at the airport was Wendy's. That was probably one of the longest lines we waited in all trip! I'll probably be back with one more post of my final thoughts, if my scattered brain can organize them! 🤪
 

jmunzert

Active Member
Sunday, June 27... MK and the unintentional rest day?
When we realized that the California Grill Brunch at the Top wasn't coming back, we started looking for something to replace it. And that something HAD to include bottomless mimosas (we would come to regret this). House of Blues seemed like a fun alternative, so I made a 12:30 reservation.
But first, MK! Peter Pan was our rope drop ride of choice today and we were right at the rope in front of the castle as we waited. A very funny and sarcastic CM was our morning entertainment. As a cheer arose, he commented sarcastically, "Oh look, another proposal in front of the castle...how original!" I'm sure there are some who would take offense at this, but we found it quite amusing.
I didn't take many photos today because I really don't like using my phone. Here is all we accomplished in a short amount of time:

  • Peter Pan's Flight
  • Pooh-10 minute wait
  • Tea cups-walk on
  • Dumbo-walk on
  • People Mover-walk on
  • Buzz-10 minute wait
  • Surprisingly good breakfast sandwich from Friar's Nook which I had mobile ordered while waiting for rope drop.
  • Small World-10 minute wait
  • HM posted 30, actual 20
  • Pirates posted 40, actual 18
View attachment 572614View attachment 572615View attachment 572616View attachment 572617
We monorailed to the Contemporary and took a bus to DS from there.
At House of Blues, the bottomless mimosas were flowing. They had run out of champagne flutes, so ours were served in wine glasses. Which meant each one was twice the size it should be.
Both E & I had the Farmer's Market breakfast and added a biscuit and gravy. It was really good! We then shared the bread pudding.
View attachment 572619
It was amazing! Dare I say, better than 'Ohana?!
Incredibly, even in our inebriated state, we managed to do a few hours of shopping. Upon getting back to OKW, we both napped (I'm not a napper).
I felt not so great after my nap. :hungover: E insisted that I would feel better after I ate, so he went and picked up a cheeseburger and some mac and cheese for us to share. He was right! I felt much better after eating, but still in no condition to leave the room. We opted to rest up for the next morning at AK.
My favorite bread pudding hands down! ( the one off the Boma dinner buffet whenever THAT comes back is a favorite also )
 

KellBelle

Well-Known Member
I am so late! Loved reading your trip! I honestly can't stop thinking about that restaurant manager. What the actual heck??? Some things are better left unsaid, and this is one of them. Sorry that is how your trip got started. Glad to see it improved!!
 

PineapplePrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I am so late! Loved reading your trip! I honestly can't stop thinking about that restaurant manager. What the actual heck??? Some things are better left unsaid, and this is one of them. Sorry that is how your trip got started. Glad to see it improved!!
Lol, better late then never! Thanks for following along!
 

PineapplePrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Final thoughts, observations, speculations and complaints:
I waited until today to do this because it is my 60 day mark from our next trip and I hoped I could share some great plans with y'all. I have some so-so plans to share at the end, but first my 2 cents.
  • While we loved the theming at OKW, you just can't beat the convenience of Bay Lake Tower or Boardwalk. It would have helped if the boats to Disney Springs were running.
  • I felt like I made some rookie mistakes. Like not knowing that being close to the Hospitality House meant we were the last pickup and the buses might be full.
  • I'm jealous of people who are able to go back to the resort to nap and then head back to the parks. I think I'm just too high maintenance. Once my hair and makeup is done, I don't want to have to re-do it!
  • It seemed very crowded especially starting on the Tuesday before July 4th. The lack of available shows really added to the crowded feeling.
  • We noticed a LOT of cast members earning their ears which bodes well for the future.
  • I actually liked mobile ordering! Putting a gift card number in the notes on my phone and then copying and pasting it for my mobile orders made it really easy.
  • We miss Fastpass+ so much! I know there are many different opinions about it, but for us it ensured that we could ride our favorites more than once.
  • This one is for my "ladies who chafe" out there. I wore thin bike shorts under my regular shorts and experienced no chafing at all! You'd think that double shorts would equal double heat, but it was actually really comfortable.
  • Lastly, and this comes from a place of privilege that we have so many trips to compare. We've had some really incredible experiences in the past that make all of the recent cuts seem so much worse. With that being said, we're not ready to stop going, but E has threatened to sell our DVC points when we are no longer able to get Annual Passes!
Now onto my so-so plans. E insisted that we go for the 50th, and I mean actually be there ON the 50th. Who am I to argue with that?!
As of right now we are booked at OKW from 9/28-10/3 with waitlists for BLT and BWV. We have 2 MK days scheduled (with one of them being October 1st) and 1 day at each of the other parks.
The reason our plans are only so-so is that I couldn't get California Grill. 💔 I had a feeling that once they announced the end of Happily Ever After and more recently not taking reservations after October 2 that we would be out of luck. It's disappointing, but I'll keep trying!
thanks thank you gif GIF

A big thanks to all who followed along! I appreciate it!
 

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