Trip Report Shrouded In A Daft Disguise *COMPLETED*

Two weeks ago today, I returned home from the most surreal Disney vacation I have ever experienced.

During my last visit in February, I couldn’t have imagined having to wear a face mask and have my temperature taken before being allowed into a park. “Social distancing” wasn’t part of my vocabulary. Hand sanitizer was something I carried in a little bottle in my purse, not something in giant containers at the entrance/exit of every attraction.

No park hopping? No Fastpasses? No FIREWORKS :jawdrop: ?!! Not even on my radar screen.

Like a bolt out of the blue, the pandemic struck and life was dramatically altered. For everyone. And there is no Magic Mirror to tell us when it will be over. For me the pandemic has been a reminder to take nothing for granted ~ and that there can still be joy in the darkest days.

My name is Tuvalu and I have been a WDW annual passholder for nearly 25 years. I was raised on Disney and so were my children. The parks have always been my “escape” from real life. Could they still be an “escape” in the midst of a pandemic? After months of quarantine, I was ready to find out.

My daughter Em was my travel buddy. My husband Woody had reservations, but not for our safety. He was concerned we’d struggle with the restrictions and disappointment with all the changes. He wanted us to come back happy and wasn’t sure we would. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure we would either. After much research and due diligence, Em and I felt prepared to embark on a vacation with few expectations.

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Full disclosure ~ I‘ve wrestled with writing a report of our trip. The pandemic and subsequent events have caused much division on this Disney fan forum. I’ve always considered the trip reports section to be a “safe space” and hope it stays that way. My goal is to provide entertainment to the reader, nothing more.

With that in mind.....

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need2go2wdw

need2go2wdw

Active Member
I have a Rise question...I know you have said that to get better odds of winning the "lottery", both you and Em get on your phones and attempt to grab an elusive BG. Do you have separate MDE accounts or are you on the same one? I'm asking because we will be there in a couple weeks and I figured I can have my hubby and my daughter trying in addition to me to get the BG pass, but our MDE account is for all of us, so would they all log in with my log in information on their own phones and play who has the fastest finger using the same account? If one of us got one, would the others then not be able to grab one at that time because it would then register that we had one booked for all of us in my MDE account?

Thanks in advance for your expert knowledge! :happy:
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
need2go2wdw said:
I have a Rise question...I know you have said that to get better odds of winning the "lottery", both you and Em get on your phones and attempt to grab an elusive BG. Do you have separate MDE accounts or are you on the same one? I'm asking because we will be there in a couple weeks and I figured I can have my hubby and my daughter trying in addition to me to get the BG pass, but our MDE account is for all of us, so would they all log in with my log in information on their own phones and play who has the fastest finger using the same account? If one of us got one, would the others then not be able to grab one at that time because it would then register that we had one booked for all of us in my MDE account?

Thanks in advance for your expert knowledge! :happy:
Click to expand...
We are on the same MDE account, so yes she was logged in as “me.” Once the fastest finger gets through, others are locked out.

But both of us only tried simultaneously pre-pandemic. Em was the only one who tried on our July trip and I was the only one who tried in August. Four solo attempts and four successes. :cat:
 
need2go2wdw

need2go2wdw

Active Member
Tuvalu said:
We are on the same MDE account, so yes she was logged in as “me.” Once the fastest finger gets through, others are locked out.

But both of us only tried simultaneously pre-pandemic. Em was the only one who tried on our July trip and I was the only one who tried in August. Four solo attempts and four successes. :cat:
Click to expand...

Fantastic, thank you!! Fingers crossed for fast fingers! :hilarious:🤞
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Friday, July 24

You know that day on vacation when you wake up in a panic because your trip is winding down? That was me this morning. So not ready for the fun to be done! I decided not to dwell on it (and counseled Em to do the same).

The early sunshine....coupled with a light breeze and far less humidity....gave me hope for a perfect day. (If you’ve read @fractal ‘s TR, he testifies that today’s weather was, in fact, perfection.)

I could awaken to this view every morning!
16ABD82E-F7EE-45BB-B65E-25F3B3E7ED86.jpeg


After breakfast we claimed our loungers at the quiet pool. Squeezing in every ounce of pool time we had left was a priority!

1F55B3EB-7068-4882-9CEE-B2CB74EB89D9.jpeg


For the next few hours we sunned and swam. Okay, swam is a stretch ~ but it sounds better than holding on to the ledge while keeping one’s legs in perpetual motion.

I wasn’t a total slug though. I offered to walk to Roaring Fork (a decent distance from where we were) and get our lunch. Em could continue relaxing and reading. She had looked at the menu earlier and told me what she wanted.

It didn’t cross my mind to mobile order. I had picked up muffins without using mobile order. I had ordered our Geyser Point lunch without using mobile order. So when I entered a completely empty Roaring Fork, I expected to place my order with the cashier.

Except the cashier was busy behind a food counter. I waited a minute before getting her attention.

“Can you help me?” I asked.

“Did you mobile order?”

“No.”

“You need to use mobile order.” :banghead:

I wanted to whine, but I can’t. While I had my phone with me, I was wearing my prescription sunglasses. The lenses are very dark and are for distance, not reading. Had I known I was going to encounter another Mobile Order Nazi, I would have had Em place the order while I was back at the pool.

I could tell I was going to get nowhere with this CM, not so much because she was being forceful but because English wasn’t her native language. I removed my sunglasses and did the “reading squint” as I slowly went through the mobile order process.

As my friend @Darstarr says, “Eating at WDW is HARD.”

I sat outside as I waited for the “Your order is ready” text. I wondered if Em was worried about me. I had been gone a long time.

She listened to my tale of woe when I returned with our food. She thanked me for serving her. And she RAVED about her House-Smoked Turkey sandwich.

637171A7-BC30-40A6-A07E-F5B7EE3367ED.jpeg


Chicken nuggets aren’t on the regular menu, but they are on the kids menu.
Bonus....purse grapes!!

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We enjoyed the pool for another hour or so after lunch.

7F01AF9F-3879-479D-9B46-C53B4CBDF450.jpeg
 
MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Minnesota disney fan said:
Hmmmm, I don't know? That might be the new "disney diet plan", no eating for those without cell phones! LOL That's the only way I'd lose weight at disney:)
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Good way to lose weight, yes.

(A suggestion -- think of all the money you could save if you went off-site for meals -- at restaurants where you could walk in, read a paper menu, and actually tell the server (in person), what you'd like to order! Retro dining! :happy:
 
MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Tuvalu said:
Except the cashier was busy behind a food counter. I waited a minute before getting her attention.

“Can you help me?” I asked.
“Did you mobile order?”
“No.”
“You need to use mobile order.”:banghead:
Click to expand...

Is it just me? Whatever happened to, "Please use mobile order."

Also, was there any sign indicating that guests needed to use mobile order, at Roaring Fork?

Lastly, for people who don't have a Smartphone (or some who just choose to lock it in their guest room, while they are on vacation), does this mean that they starve if they can't do a mobile order?! :jawdrop:

Is there a kiosk somewhere in the QS restaurant where a guest could order food on that, if no phone? 🤦‍♀️
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
MinnieM123 said:
Is it just me? Whatever happened to, "Please use mobile order."

Also, was there any sign indicating that guests needed to use mobile order, at Roaring Fork?

Lastly, for people who don't have a Smartphone (or some who just choose to lock it in their guest room, while they are on vacation), does this mean that they starve if they can't do a mobile order?! :jawdrop:

Is there a kiosk somewhere in the QS restaurant where a guest could order food on that, if no phone? 🤦‍♀️
Click to expand...
There were no obvious “use Mobile Order” signs at any of the QS restaurants. However Em and I vacationed just a week after WDW reopened and I think many procedures were being “figured out on the fly” with guests. (Like so many companies have had to do during this pandemic...try something, adapt, try again, etc. What sounds good in theory may not work in reality.)

The lack of kindness surprised me most. But again, CMs may have been very stressed out by the new protocol “commands” they were told to follow and forgot their manners.

When I returned in August with Woody, I was so conditioned to only use mobile order that I wasn’t as focused on the CMs at the doors. I hope they are now more polite with guests who cannot mobile order. Of course they WILL help those cannot. (The self-serve order kiosks are currently not in use, due to COVID.)
 
P

Plowboy

Well-Known Member
Sending a big, big thank you to Tuvalu for posting your trip report. We always enjoy them so much. This report is particularly impactful, as we were to leave on our fall trip to Florida this morning. I can tell you that sitting in my office right now pales in comparison to the thought of being on our flight from Sacramento. Hopefully, by next Spring things will have straightened out enough that we can take that long overdue trip. (Fingers crossed). Thanks again for allowing for us to come along and live vicariously through your TR.
 
Last edited:
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Tuvalu said:
Friday, July 24

You know that day on vacation when you wake up in a panic because your trip is winding down? That was me this morning. So not ready for the fun to be done! I decided not to dwell on it (and counseled Em to do the same).

The early sunshine....coupled with a light breeze and far less humidity....gave me hope for a perfect day. (If you’ve read @fractal ‘s TR, he testifies that today’s weather was, in fact, perfection.)

I could awaken to this view every morning!
View attachment 498564

After breakfast we claimed our loungers at the quiet pool. Squeezing in every ounce of pool time we had left was a priority!

View attachment 498565

For the next few hours we sunned and swam. Okay, swam is a stretch ~ but it sounds better than holding on to the ledge while keeping one’s legs in perpetual motion.

I wasn’t a total slug though. I offered to walk to Roaring Fork (a decent distance from where we were) and get our lunch. Em could continue relaxing and reading. She had looked at the menu earlier and told me what she wanted.

It didn’t cross my mind to mobile order. I had picked up muffins without using mobile order. I had ordered our Geyser Point lunch without using mobile order. So when I entered a completely empty Roaring Fork, I expected to place my order with the cashier.

Except the cashier was busy behind a food counter. I waited a minute before getting her attention.

“Can you help me?” I asked.

“Did you mobile order?”

“No.”

“You need to use mobile order.” :banghead:

I wanted to whine, but I can’t. While I had my phone with me, I was wearing my prescription sunglasses. The lenses are very dark and are for distance, not reading. Had I known I was going to encounter another Mobile Order Nazi, I would have had Em place the order while I was back at the pool.

I could tell I was going to get nowhere with this CM, not so much because she was being forceful but because English wasn’t her native language. I removed my sunglasses and did the “reading squint” as I slowly went through the mobile order process.

As my friend @Darstarr says, “Eating at WDW is HARD.”

I sat outside as I waited for the “Your order is ready” text. I wondered if Em was worried about me. I had been gone a long time.

She listened to my tale of woe when I returned with our food. She thanked me for serving her. And she RAVED about her House-Smoked Turkey sandwich.

View attachment 498566

Chicken nuggets aren’t on the regular menu, but they are on the kids menu.
Bonus....purse grapes!!

View attachment 498567

We enjoyed the pool for another hour or so after lunch.

View attachment 498568
Click to expand...
Wait....you chose chicken nuggets over Turkey? Who are you, and what did you do with Tuvalu?
 

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