Trip Report The Audrey’s 3rd Birthday Trip Trip Report…!!!!!

Who: myself (Steve), my DWifey of 35+ years (Carolyn), oldest DD (Megan, turned 33 today), DS (Matthew, 31), youngest DD (Sarah, 29), SonIL (Daniel, oldest DDs husband, 34), oldest granddaughter (Emory, “Emmy”, 5) and youngest granddaughter (Audrey, turned 3 during the trip) for who the TR title is obviously dedicated to…!!! 😉:)

When: June 26th to July 2nd, 2024.

Where: Old Key West Resort. First time ever staying there…!!! :)

Some initial fave PP pics below…!!!!! :inlove::happy:

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More to come, soon…!!! :)
 
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luvinthemajik

luvinthemajik

Well-Known Member
donaldtoo said:
Sunday, June 30th, and another non-Park day continued…!!! :)

So, after we finished our beignets, the rain began…

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OK, so it wasn’t nearly that bad ;), but just enough to be slightly annoying…

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We then headed to the bus stop to catch a bus to Epcot, and had #shirleystatus…!!!!! :happy:

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While we were on our way to Epcot the rain stopped.
Although not our bus at Epcot back to OKW, another cute bus wrap…!!! :)

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Then our bus showed up, so did the rain again, and we had #shirleystatus, yet again, on our bus back to OKW…!!!!! :happy:

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By the time we got back to OKW, at about 2:45p, the rain had stopped again.
The view of the pond behind our building from our lanai, the fountain off to the right, and the ducks were on the pond…we had no more rain for the rest of the day…!!! :)

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Up next: Sunday, June 30th, and another non-Park day continued…!!! :)
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Beautiful pics!
 
donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, June 30th, and another non-Park day continued…!!! :)

As a bit of an aside, we had a particularly intrusive porch light outside our OKW room, coming through the door peephole, that was really annoying Carolyn the first night when she was trying to sleep. If I’m tired enough, I can sleep with the lights and TV on, but she has to have everything off and as dark as it can be. A pic below of the solution she came up with…!!!!! :hilarious::inlove::happy::hilarious:

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At about 5:15p we decided to take a short stroll to the Turtle Pond Pool…!!! :)

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However, both Carolyn and Matthew stayed behind, as they were both feeling a bit tuckered and wanted naps.
Emmy and Audrey love a good pool and, as per usual, they had a blast…!!!!!!! :joyfull:
Anyway, some pool pics…!!! :)

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Pictured below is one of those tour helicopters that flew over about every 5 minutes.
I watched a vlog of one of those tour flights a while back and, as much as I love to fly, it’s on the list…!!! :)

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And, just for grins, the first two screenshots below are of the temps, roughly simultaneously, in the WDW area and our neighborhood, while we were at the pool.
The third one is of what the temps in our neighborhood still were at, roughly, the same time of day the first one in the WDW area was screenshot…!!!!! :hilarious:

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Up next: Sunday, June 30th, and another non-Park day continued…!!! :)
 
donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, June 30th, and another non-Park day continued…!!! :)

After pool time, we headed back to our rooms to chill for a bit.
Then, at about 7:40, we caught a bus to Disney Springs.
The plan was to get a quick bite to eat at D-Luxe Burger, then head to see the Disney Dreams That Soar drone show, early enough to get a good viewing spot.

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The burger below looked good…

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But I just wanted a basic cheeseburger…!!! ;)

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Most of us ordered cheeseburgers and onion rings, and Megan ordered vegan options for herself, Emmy and Audrey.
The outdoor setting was pleasant, and we got our drinks…

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And, then, we waited…and waited………and waited.

Those of us that ordered actual beef finally got our food, but the vegan items were nowhere in sight.
It, literally, took 3 times of Daniel going back inside to finally get the vegan order, and by that time it was so ridiculous the manager comped it all.
The food was decent, but nothing to write home about…

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By the time we were finally finished eating, the tree near our table was even more beautiful with the lanterns, so at least that was a positive…!!! :)

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We were able to finally head for the drone show way later than we wanted to.
The crowds heading that way were huge, and all we could finally get to was a spot between two buildings with two palm trees between them, with, essentially, no view to speak of.
It was flat-out nutso.
With that, we decided to call it a night, and headed for the bus stop.
We were disappointed, but our next day was to be at DHS, and the plan was to then head back to DS that night to finally catch the drone show.

On the bus trip back to OKW, the girls were havin’ some fun, as we didn’t make a big deal out of any of the silliness of the night…at least not in front of them…!!! ;):)

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Up next: Sunday, June 30th, and another non-Park day continued…
 
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donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, June 30th, and another non-Park day continued…and the part of the trip where the wheels come off.
Well, for three of us anyway…

I had mentioned, in my Turtle Pond Pool post, that Carolyn and Mathew didn’t join us because they were both feeling a bit tuckered, and wanted to take naps.
Yep, pretty sure y’all know where this is going.
Carolyn was actually feeling a little off early on the 29th. Matthew started to have issues later that day.
My apologies for not alluding to this in the thread title, but I knew it would take a while to complete this TR, and I didn’t want to leave anybody that might be following hanging for that long.

In regard to my last post, we got back from Disney Springs at about 10p.
Megan had brought a Covid test kit with her, just in case, but there were only 2 tests in it.
Since both Carolyn and Matthew were having issues, they took the tests, and they both tested positive almost immediately.
Carolyn was destroyed, and in tears, at that moment.
The next day (July 1st) was going to be our DHS day, and we had not been there since 2013. But, what really crushed Carolyn was not being able to be near Emmy and Audrey, much less being able to be in DHS with them the next day.
Even though I was symptomless, we just assumed I would test positive, as well.
Aunt Sassy (Sarah) actually stayed with Megan, Daniel, Emmy and Audrey in their room, and slept in the other bed with the girls.
I’d be lying if I said that Matthew and myself weren’t a bit devastated, as well, but, you know, first world problems…many others have much more pressing issues to deal with.
Also, once we got home, I tested negative twice, so, apparently, I never had it.
Odd, as I sleep next to Carolyn in the same bed every night of my life.

Anyway, we (Carolyn, Matthew and myself), of course, spent the vast majority of Monday, July 1st, in our resort room.
But, I still have pics from the day…!!! :geek:;):)

Early in the morning, Megan asked me if I wanted something from DHS, and I texted the below photo of a cap I wanted…I now have that cap…!!! :)

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We also ended up watching a lot of old “Storage Wars” reruns this day…!!!!! :hilarious:

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Then, there was time out on the lanai, and Disney ducks…!!! :)

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We discovered a bag of Star Wars “Destiny” Oreos that we had forgotten about in the fridge, so dug into those…!!!!! :hungry:

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Of course, we were Dark Side…how fitting…!!!!! :hilarious:
My apologies for the dirty plate, but I had finished off a leftover hot dog earlier and didn’t want to waste another plate…!!!!! :geek::hilarious:;):)

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Lunch was from a quick trip to Turtle Shack Poolside Snacks, and the buttermilk chicken sandwich and slaw was really good…!!!!! :hungry:

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And, a Blue Moon to finish it off…!!!!!!! :joyfull:

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Up next: I’m not quite done yet…!!! ;):)
 
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annienevells

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Oh NO! What a bummer. I really commend you all for really taking the positive tests seriously though. I know this far out from the start of COVID most people are dismissing it but it's comforting to still see folks like you all 😍

This past summer, my husband's whole family took a group vacation in northern Maine (for the first time with grandkids) and we all ended up with COVID on day 2. It meant we were house bound which was SO disappointing, but we still found ways to have fun!
 
donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
annienevells said:
Oh NO! What a bummer. I really commend you all for really taking the positive tests seriously though. I know this far out from the start of COVID most people are dismissing it but it's comforting to still see folks like you all 😍

This past summer, my husband's whole family took a group vacation in northern Maine (for the first time with grandkids) and we all ended up with COVID on day 2. It meant we were house bound which was SO disappointing, but we still found ways to have fun!
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Thank you, and my apologies for the late response…!!! :)
I really appreciate your thoughts. You just never know what other folks health situations are, so you don’t even take a chance to subject them to that.
We don’t go to WDW very often, and this last trip was the first time we’d been back in less than a year, ever.
We could have been selfish, lied about the test results, and gone anyway that day (as we hadn’t been in DHS since 2013), but we are not those kinds of people. Even if it was just Carolyn, Matthew and myself only on the trip, we wouldn’t have done that. And definitely not involving other family members on the trip, especially our dear granddaughters.
The most difficult part was regarding our autistic special needs son, Matthew. He did not like being in the room that long. We did go out and walk around outside some, which helped us all, but, of course, we tried to distance ourselves from others as much as possible.
But, yes, you find other ways to try and enjoy an otherwise crappy situation.
Anyway, I’m rambling, but it was indeed a bummer ending to an otherwise really wonderful WDW trip.
Thanks again…!!! :)
 
donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
OK, time to head towards finishing up this TR…!!! :)

Monday, July 1st, and I’m not quite done yet…!!! ;):)

The next few posts will be random pics from Megan of their day in DHS, as y’all already know how that day went for Carolyn, Matthew and myself…!!!!! :bored::hilarious:;)

Emmy mapping out the day…!!! ;):)

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And, the rest are pretty self-explanatory…!!! ;)

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A short video of them enjoying MMRR…!!!!!!! :joyfull:



Up next: more Monday, July 1st, and I’m not quite done yet…!!! ;):)
 
donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday, July 2nd, and our departure and flight home…

Transportation back to MCO…always the best part of the trip…!!!!! :cry:🤪:hilarious:;):)

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Leaving the resort, leaving WDW property and leaving Orlando…

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The flight home was smooth and uneventful.
Two planes off in the distance in the pic below, heading in the other direction…!!! :)

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The flight was a little over 2 hours long back to Austin.
Although, according to CDT, it was only a little over an hour, sooooo…!!!!! :hilarious:;)

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When we got back to the parking garage at ABIA for the ride home, there was the below, that I don’t remember seeing in the darkness the morning we flew out…nice “sculpture”…looks like some sorta’ giant alien insect…???!!!!! 🤔🤷‍♂️:hilarious:

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Up next: a few posts of PPP and other random pics…!!! :)
 
donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
cgersic said:
Your family looks like so much fun and the girls certainly have many core memories to take home with them! Thanks so much for bringing us along for the party!
Celebrate Happy Birthday GIF by Sesame Street
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Thank you very much…!!! :)
We try to have as much fun as we can and try to keep everything as lighthearted as possible, even when it comes to crazy things like the Covid at the end of the trip. It could have happened at the beginning of the trip, which would have been much worse timing…we’re “bright-siders”…!!! ;)
Thanks again, and thanks for following…!!! :)
 
Tiki Traveler

Tiki Traveler

Well-Known Member
Donald Duck Thank You GIF by First We Feast


As others have said so sorry you got Covid but except for that the trip looked like great family fun. Thank you for taking the time to share your photos and experiences!

I’m still curious what did you think of Old Key West especially for those without a car? We stumbled on this resort while having our first night’s/first trip’s dinner at Olivia’s while staying at FQ and there is something about the resort that has stayed with us…
 
donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tiki Traveler said:
Donald Duck Thank You GIF by First We Feast


As others have said so sorry you got Covid but except for that the trip looked like great family fun. Thank you for taking the time to share your photos and experiences!

I’m still curious what did you think of Old Key West especially for those without a car? We stumbled on this resort while having our first night’s/first trip’s dinner at Olivia’s while staying at FQ and there is something about the resort that has stayed with us…
Click to expand...

So very sorry for the very late response…
You’re welcome, and thank you for following…!!! 🙂

Yes, the Covid definitely put a damper on the last 1.5 days of the trip, and we missed HS, but there was so much wonderful, irreplaceable family time before that, so we had no “pity party” 😉…!!!!! ❤️😊

Overall, we enjoyed OKW.
We’ve never had a car at WDW, so have only ever used the busses, boats, etc.
We never had any problems with the bus service there, whether it was internal, or to the parks. That being said, there are multiple stops within the resort, but they aren’t quite as spaced out as a resort like POR.
Also, there’s boat service to DS, which was great because we all loved that, especially Emmy and Audrey…!!! 🙂
There are also multiple pools.
My simple advice is to try to get a room in a building that’s a good combination of being close to a bus stop and a pool.
In the pic of my marked up OKW map below, the red checks are bus stops, the green checks are pools, the red circle is the building we stayed in, and the blue line is the way to DS by boat.
Again, thank you for your kind words, and for following…!!! 🙂

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