Trip Report Running from the rain: A two Goofs TR.*COMPLETE*

Hello again my friends and fellow magicians. It’s me Loco, here with another TR from February 2020. Lets get you filled in on some trip details, shall we?

Who: Myself and my much better half, my wife A.

Bonus points to anyone who can tell me where this very old picture was taken.

Where: Old key west resort studio, located somewhere near Tampa I believe. More on that later.

When: February 19-22, princess half weekend. We were not participating in any of those events though!

Why: A was free for a few days, I was free for a few days, why not?

Just a bit of background.

Things at home have been very stressful for us for the last month or so. Things at my job are changing quickly, and not necessarily for the better(this seems to be an issue with many people recently). Needless to say I’ve been in dire need of a getaway.

The weather in our neck of the woods has also really been crummy lately. It hasn’t been overly cold, but it just won’t stop raining! It has rained nearly every day since about mid January, with the exception of one brilliant weekend of super bowl Sunday. We were ever hopeful we’d be able to catch some Florida sunshine!

We originally had pop century booked for this trip. However, after joining DVC last December, and after many attempts, I was able to get a relatively last minute reservation at OKW using our points instead. Neither of us had ever stayed here, and were interested to see how we’d like it.

 

[Loco_driver]

Here for the fun!!!



This seems to be a common trend unfortunately! I am in the same position. Hope things get better for you soon!



YES! We love OKW and are looking forward to staying again in September!

Glad to have you here! Hope your work situation improves too! OKW in September? I may know a few people who will also be at OKW in September!

 

[Loco_driver]

February 19 continued.

After my somewhat shallow victory on TSM we stopped in the small shop just past the exit. Our 5 year old niece is currently obsessed with all things toy story, so we browsed a bit for gift ideas.

She really loves forky! We would purchase this later in the trip for her.

Our next FP window was open, so we headed for sunset boulevard.

Posted wait time was 90 minutes. Thank goodness we had that FP! The FP line was short, and we walked straight into the library on the left.

The poor girl next to A was less than thrilled to be there. A said at one point she had a death grip on her arm!

After our visit to the Hollywood tower we had a little time to kill before our next FP. We weren’t wanting to wait in any of the super long lines so we checked show times for the stage shows. Unfortunately none of them worked out for us. Surely we can just go catch a showing of muppets right? Wrong! The line was out the door! The CMs said the next showing would likely fill up before we’d get in. We decided to just go to the balcony of pizzerizzo to relax instead.

After a quick rest it was time to head to Galaxy’s Edge.

Chewie and Rey were working on the X wing. We continued on to smugglers. I think this was the 1st day they were using FP for the ride. The FP line is a loooong walk to the merge point, but it beat the 2 hour wait for standby!

Now that she’s actually seen the movies, A had to have her picture taken here! During our ride, I was assigned pilot, while A was a gunner. I did way better piloting the falcon this time! Our group managed to grab two shipments of coaxium.

We left DHS and took yet another ride on the skyliner.

Coming up: An evening at Epcot.

 

[Rista1313]

I'm here!

Forky is the best!

 

[Darstarr]

Glad to have you here! Hope your work situation improves too! OKW in September? I may know a few people who will also be at OKW in September!

Do tell...

 

[Loco_driver]

I'm here!

Forky is the best!

Welcome welcome! Forky is pretty great! Every time I go visit either of my nieces, they always want to watch forky asks a question on Disney+!

Do tell...

There’s probably two goofs who have birthdays within a week of each other in September who may or may not, but definitely do have plans to visit OKW September 14-18.

 

[Swissmiss]

Here!

 

[Loco_driver]

Here!

Glad you’re here!

 

[Sulley_1313]

We originally had pop century booked for this trip. However, after joining DVC last December, and after many attempts, I was able to get a relatively last minute reservation at OKW using our points instead. Neither of us had ever stayed here, and were interested to see how we’d like it.

I'm in, and I hope this trip was the getaway you needed! My Mom and I joined DVC last December as well, so I'm also curious about your stay at OKW!

 

[annienevells]

I felt the same way as A after having watched the movies, pictures held more weight for me haha


... oh also, I'm here!

 

[Loco_driver]

I'm in, and I hope this trip was the getaway you needed! My Mom and I joined DVC last December as well, so I'm also curious about your stay at OKW!

The trip certainly was a nice little getaway. Thanks for follow along. Congrats on joining DVC! We’ve already booked another trip to OKW if that’s any hint as to what we thought of it!

I felt the same way as A after having watched the movies, pictures held more weight for me haha


... oh also, I'm here!

She was so convinced she wouldn’t like the movies. Now I think she’s a bigger fan than I am!

Thanks for reading, I’ve been enjoying your current TR! We almost were a part of a trip like that a few years back, but luckily we had other plans the week our family made plans without consulting us!

 

[KellBelle]

Late but finally here!

 

[Loco_driver]

Late but finally here!

View attachment 452160

Welcome! You’re not late at all!

 

[Loco_driver]

February 19 continued.

We arrived to a shockingly empty Epcot. Not that we were complaining! I guess the construction has really scared people off!

I managed to get us a FP for spaceship earth while on the skyliner, so into wall world we went. Honestly I think I prefer the new setup, where Future World is basically one big circle. It’s a bit more walking, but feels way less cluttered.

We stopped by the new mousegear to pickup our festival of the arts AP magnets.

They now sit proudly on our fridge, which is covered with every AP magnet from the last few years. Among others.

Magnets in hand we continued around to SSE. Although I love this attraction, I’m ready for the new version. Hopefully they do a good job, and fix the descent.

After SSE we started back towards Italy for our dinner reservation. We checked out the chalk art along the way.

The chalk art displays were really incredible. It’s just amazing that people can do this. I can barely even draw stick figures!

The 3d display was interesting, looked a little better in the daylight, and without kids jumping in your picture.

We eventually made it back to Italy for dinner at Via Napoli. I checked us in about 10 minutes early. We were seated 10 minutes later. Our host let us know that our server Mario would be with us shortly. 10 minutes later Mario finally appeared and introduced himself. He took our drink orders, and at our request we ordered food as well out of fear he might be gone another 10 minutes. Another 10 minutes went by before our drink showed up. Luckily another girl who seemed to be a helper of sorts had filled our water glasses. We quickly downed our drinks(did I mention it was quite warm and humid this evening?). Mario was nowhere to be seen for refills. I have no idea where his other tables were, but apparently nowhere near ours! Helper girl did eventually show back up and refilled drinks for us. I believe it took about 35 minutes for our pizza to arrive. During that time we saw Mario one time!

We ordered the San Gennaro pizza - mozzarella, fontina, sweet Italian sausage, cherry peppers, onions, tomato. This was very good. The peppers and onions balance out the sweet sausage nicely. Those tomatoes were sweet too, and just a little crunchy from the oven. The crust had a nice char without tasting burnt. Best of all we couldn’t finish it, so this made for lunch the next day as well!

Mario magically appeared with the check before we were even finished eating. When I saw him next I inquired about any discounts. He said they could apply a DVC discount, but a manager had to authorize it. Well this caused another 20 minute delay on a meal that had already stretched over an hour. We were tired and getting frustrated at this point. We finally got the bill settled and headed for the park exit. A bus promptly arrived to take us back to OKW just as the fireworks were starting.

We were in room 2210. Waaay at the end of the millers road section.

It was quite a hike. Notice the pool nearest to our building? That’s the closest bus stop! We knew this was a possibility and had packed breakfast food and bottled waters for the room. This turned out to be a good plan. Getting to hospitality house wasn’t too bad(jump on any bus), but getting back from HH was an issue! Sorry @Nunu I forgot to take room pictures before all of our stuff was everywhere! Anyways our luggage had been delivered. We called bell services and had our carryons delivered. We quickly showered and crashed for the night.

 

[Darstarr]

Welcome welcome! Forky is pretty great! Every time I go visit either of my nieces, they always want to watch forky asks a question on Disney+!


There’s probably two goofs who have birthdays within a week of each other in September who may or may not, but definitely do have plans to visit OKW September 14-18.

And I know a certain popcorn loving DVC member who should be around

 

[Loco_driver]

And I know a certain popcorn loving DVC member who should be around

Whaaat?! Could we finally have overlapping trip dates?!

 

[Nunu]

I love the watercolor Mickey AP magnet! Maybe my favorite so far, so much so, that I would've gone to WDW just to get one (not that I'd need such a far fetched excuse, though, haha!).

Too bad server Mario kept dissapearing, but that pizza looks great!

Don't worry about the room photos, thank you for remembering how much I enjoy them .
OKW is a big resort, we love the grounds and relaxed atmosphere, the studios are quite spacious. Glad you and A liked it too, and happy to learn that you might go back later this year!

 

[MickeyCB]

Following along. The pizza looked wonderful!

 

[Loco_driver]

I love the watercolor Mickey AP magnet! Maybe my favorite so far, so much so, that I would've gone to WDW just to get one (not that I'd need such a far fetched excuse, though, haha!).

Too bad server Mario kept dissapearing, but that pizza looks great!

Don't worry about the room photos, thank you for remembering how much I enjoy them .
OKW is a big resort, we love the grounds and relaxed atmosphere, the studios are quite spacious. Glad you and A liked it too, and happy to learn that you might go back later this year!

Do we even really need an excuse to go to WDW? I know I don’t! Server Mario certainly put a damper on an otherwise great meal. We’d still return though! We did enjoy the very relaxed feel of the resort. Everyone seems so friendly there, like it’s one big family!

Following along. The pizza looked wonderful!

It was quite tasty! We ended up finishing it for lunch the next day, which means for around $40 with tip we got 2 meals each. Thanks for following along!

 

[Nunu]

Do we even really need an excuse to go to WDW? I know I don’t! Server Mario certainly put a damper on an otherwise great meal. We’d still return though! We did enjoy the very relaxed feel of the resort. Everyone seems so friendly there, like it’s one big family!

It was quite tasty! We ended up finishing it for lunch the next day, which means for around $40 with tip we got 2 meals each. Thanks for following along!

No excuses needed, I like that!

We took my dad to OKW for his first WDW trip, he loved it! Don't ask me how, because he speaks little English, but he befriended a few CM's. By our third day, they were greeting him by name!

Did you and A play Toss the Sack near the bar? Frank and I got addicted! We would stop and play every time we went for a coffee run!

 

[Loco_driver]

Did you and A play Toss the Sack near the bar? Frank and I got addicted! We would stop and play every time we went for a coffee run!

We did! We actually met a pretty interesting guy who many people on these boards probably know about while playing. I’ll share that story later in the TR!