Trip Report They're coming over ... and we're not going to WDW??

Swissmiss · Mar 8, 2020

But we also got some more "traditional" pictures:

While we enjoyed our breakfast, I am not sure that I would go back unless it was another relaxed, non-park day (or a park day that I knew we didn't plan on starting until the afternoon).

During breakfast C finally understood that although her mamma jokes a lot, I was NOT joking about taking the skyliner, so after breakfast we all parted ways. C went back to POR with her aunt and uncle (I believe via another Lyft) and I went off in search of the skyliner. I did find it funny that C judged the "effort" to take the skyliner too much and that she was willing to go back to a hotel room with no WiFi ... or maybe she had temporarily forgotten that the WiFi was not working? :joyfull:

Swissmiss · Mar 8, 2020

After getting a tiny bit lost, I found my way to the skyliner station. Personally, I found that a bit more signage would be useful for guests that are only "visiting" the Riviera and not staying there.

I was surprisingly not as apprehensive as I thought I'd be. To put things in perspective: I rarely go to the mountains anymore and when I do, it is not unusual for me to close my eyes in a gondola going up and down a mountain. So why was I willing to go on the Skyliner ... and alone at that? To see if I could! I'd managed to "survive" Soarin the day before and even to enjoy it.

My idea was to take the skyliner to Pop Century, as I've never visited it, and when I was finished wandering around I would then hop whatever park bus was showing up to be able to catch a a bus to AKL for our lunch reservations later on.

I actually really enjoyed it. On my first ride I was completely alone, and realised that I was really ok. I think the fact that it is for the most part parallel to the ground and not going up that made the difference to me. Or maybe it was memories of Disneyland when I was younger?

Or maybe it was that, after 10 days on vacation, I really needed some "me" time and that was more important than my fear of heights? :joyfull:

Coming into the station could seem a bit scary if you've never been on a gondola before, but having ridden gondolas in ski resorts, the angle and speed didn't seem "unusual" to me. And especially being on my own, I found the quietness of the transportation just what I needed

I got off and started to take in the oversized theming of Pop Century. I probably would have taken more pictures if I had known I was going to do a TR, but I am fairly positive that the only reason I took this picture is because I could "hear" @Darstarr saying "trunks up" when I saw the blue elephant:

I wandered around the store for a bit, bought a couple of small gifts and decided it would be a good idea to use the restroom before continuing my journey. It was in the Pop Century bathroom where I saw the only flowers of the trip. I think it surprised me, as they didn't have any in the Topolino Terrace restroom, and I would have expected to see them there more than I would have in Pop Century. But they were very pretty and I commented to the CM there how nice it was to see them.

I headed out to the buses and saw long lines of people. It was only then that I had a Homer moment:

There was no need to take a bus to a park ... I was on my own, doing my thing, and still had time before our lunch reservation at Sanaa. So I turned around and walked back to the Skyliner. This time I was not alone - I think we were 5 in our car (@Tuvalu are the individual units called cars or pods or something else?) and we had friendly chit-chat back to the Riviera. From the Riviera I decided to take the Hollywood Studios line. "Decided" is kind of misleading. I only knew that I needed to take a line different from the one I came from, so it was just the direction I ended up. I think I might have been alone again on this ride? Anyway, I did notice I found it a bit more unnerving as the Skyliner crosses above the road, but I think that is due to the visual of the traffic going a different direction than the one I was travelling.

I got off and headed towards the buses. This was one of the few long waits that I had for a bus, but again, I was in no hurry and enjoying my alone time. I do recall there being a bit of chilly wind that day, so I was glad when the bus to AKL finally arrived.

Swissmiss · Mar 8, 2020

AKL is our favourite resort. We have stayed there more than any other, but for various reasons, we did not on trip and our previous trip - and we really miss it. While I enjoyed the beauty of POR, it just isn't AKL...

I wandered the lobby and took a few pictures:

And while I agree with @riverside that Fulton's is great resort store, I love all the unique items at Zawadi Marketplace and since I still had time, I went in to browse. I saw some animals carved in coloured soapstone and reflected quite some time and eventually bought a turquoise zebra for my living room:

I finished my shopping and hopped the shuttle between Jambo House and Kidani. Perfect timing, I arrived a minute or two before the rest of the gang showed up.

I "forced" C to have her picture taken with her auntie:

We headed downstairs to check in and C and I went outside to see what animals might be wandering around while we waited for our table to be ready. We enjoyed our meal, but our server was almost "surly". Ok, maybe "surly" is too strong - but she clearly was not happy to be there serving us that day. I think she "decided" we were going to be "one of those parties" because we started by saying my sister and I would split the bread service. But C and my BIL both ordered a meal, and my sister and I both ordered an additional appetizer each, but in her haste to leave us, she only wrote down my appetizer and not my sisters. I think we also had to remind her to bring C's drink.

During lunch my sister suggested going to Jambo House after we finished eating. I was really glad because all during lunch I was had been thinking of the animal I had left behind:

They are now together in my living room with a piece that my sister gave me for Christmas the year after we stayed at AKL the first time:

Once we finished up our shopping, we ordered a Lyft to bring us back to POR. I'm not sure how I realized our driver was from Haiti (maybe he was listening to a radio station in French) and he was surprised that my daughter and I spoke French. I think eventually we all had a conversation about education in various countries (his mother had been a teacher in Haiti). I relaxed and napped in the room until it was time to get ready for dinner.

Swissmiss · Mar 8, 2020

We had decided, 6 months earlier, that we'd spend New Years Eve with Grumpy. He's our favourite and its not easy to catch up with him. So we made reservations for Storybook Dining but the earliest reservation I could get was 8:25 pm. Although I looked off and on for an earlier reservation, I was never able to find one. Even though we had timed our other meals around the fact that we'd be eating later than we would have liked, it was still a bit on the late side for everyone - particularly when you factor in the time food would actually get served.

I ordered us a Minnie Van (instead of a Lyft) because I was assuming Disney would have stricter policies in place about alcohol consumption before a shift than Lyft might. Traffic was a bit denser than other times but we still made it to check in before our ADR time... only to be told they were running late. As it typical in this type of situation, my sister makes this "my fault"; I know she knows it isn't, and I know she is really just expressing her frustration at me because I am family, but sometime it gets on my nerves. So C and I went to browse in the store while K and S went to sit in the lobby. There was a throw blanket that C liked in the store and I let her get it; we're not used to air conditioning and although I kept raising the temperature in our room, somehow it would reset in the night and be cold again by morning. Interestingly, I ended up sick by the end of the trip but she did not...

After our purchases, I asked if we could get pictures in front of the tree (there was a PhotoPass photographer there) and was met with lukewarm responses by C and my sister. Turns out, they just didn't want to wait in line, they were fine with having pictures as long as I did the waiting:

C and I also had a series of pictures taken just the two of us:

Shortly after our photography session, our table was ready. The meal was fine, but I'd rather eat at Jiko or another "nice" restaurant given the choice. But we did get to see Grumpy, and we managed to not step foot in a park during NYE craziness, so that is a plus. As others have said, the mushroom bisque appetizer is very good, and I liked the shrimp as well. And although I do sometimes like terrine, not this one. I think all the adults ended up with the prime rib and C got the chicken. My prime rib serving was just way too much meat. I maybe finished a third of it. And I must admit, but the time dessert rolled around, I felt like I needed to be rolled out of there. I did get a drink with dinner as well - maybe the Enchanted Apple? I can't remember, but I did enjoy it.

Snow White as a character is just a bit too vapid for me - I would have been happier seeing more dwarves, particularly as you can usually see Snow White elsewhere.

The main attraction (for us!):

C did not get the memo that she was supposed to be grumpy!

Having finished eating, we were then "summoned" by the Evil Queen. She did not understand why I would want a necklace with princesses on it rather than one made of jewels. I told her it was an answer only a mother would understand.

I'm willing to bet that it was something my BIL said that made us laugh and not something said by the Evil Queen.

We bade our adieux and I ordered us another Minnie Van. As we were arriving at POR, the driver asked which building were in, and he let us off in the parking lot behind our room, which was really appreciated given the late hour. NYE or not, I was in bed by 11 pm, and I think asleep about 15 minutes later. So much for the small bottle of champagne we had flown down with! I vaguely was aware of hearing the fireworks go off around midnight...

I don't think C was awake much later than me either, as I told her we could do EMH the following morning at AK to try and ride FOP (which up until that point I was still undecided whether I wanted to ride it ... but I had survived Soarin and the Skyliner...)

Up next: Animal Kingdom

riverside · Mar 8, 2020

Swissmiss said:
And while I agree with @riverside that Fulton's is great resort store, I love all the unique items at Zawadi Marketplace

There are a lot of unique things but somehow I ended up not buying anything for myself there!! I got something for my sister but that was all. I remember J enjoying playing the drums they had in there!!

Swissmiss said:
to try and ride FOP (which up until that point I was still undecided whether I wanted to ride it ... but I had survived Soarin and the Skyliner...)

Oh--I so hope you did!! IMO that's nothing compared to the Skyliner. I'm quite proud of myself that I actually conquered the Skyliner on more than one occasion!! I don't know about you but I can't stand having a fear of heights!!

Tuvalu · Mar 8, 2020

The individual units on the Skyliner are called cabins.

Good for you for conquering your fears! I do have a question: did you board at the Riviera station, ride to Caribbean Beach, disembark and take the Pop/AoA line to Pop? Because you mentioned having difficulty finding the Riviera station, I wondered if maybe you walked from Riviera to the CBR station without realizing it.

On your return trip from Pop, you said, “From the Riviera I decided to take the Hollywood Studios line.” All lines originate and end at CBR. The Riviera is on the Epcot line. You can either go directly to Epcot from there or to the CBR station (where you disembark for the DHS and Pop/AoA lines.)

FYI ~ the ride to Epcot after passing through the Riviera station is very high off the ground and crosses the busy Buena Vista Drive. Probably a good thing you didn’t ride to Epcot for your first Skyliner experience.

Lastly, congrats to N and S for celebrating their impressive 39 years anniversary!

Swissmiss · Mar 8, 2020

Tuvalu said:
The individual units on the Skyliner are called cabins.

Now that I see it written - yes cabins. I did know that

Tuvalu said:
Good for you for conquering your fears! I do have a question: did you board at the Riviera station, ride to Caribbean Beach, disembark and take the Pop/AoA line to Pop? Because you mentioned having difficulty finding the Riviera station, I wondered if maybe you walked from Riviera to the CBR station without realizing it.

On your return trip from Pop, you said, “From the Riviera I decided to take the Hollywood Studios line.” All lines originate and end at CBR. The Riviera is on the Epcot line. You can either go directly to Epcot from there or to the CBR station (where you disembark for the DHS and Pop/AoA lines.)

Since I hadn't planned on writing a TR, I only have my memory to go on. But you are right; I skipped a step - I did get on at Riviera, and off at Caribbean Beach before transferring to the Pop/AoA line. There is signage in the Riviera lobby to head down the hallway. Unless you are VERY attentive, it is easy to miss that you are supposed to turn into the elevator bay and take it down (and there is lots of interesting things to look at as you go down the hallway

)

Tuvalu said:
FYI ~ the ride to Epcot after passing through the Riviera station is very high off the ground and crosses the busy Buena Vista Drive. Probably a good thing you didn’t ride to Epcot for your first Skyliner experience.

Good to know, thanks

Tuvalu said:
Lastly, congrats to N and S for celebrating their impressive 39 years anniversary!

Yes, they are very complementary - where one has strengths the other doesn't. And they also know how to disagree in a healthy manner. Given that I am a single mother by choice, I hope that their relationship provides my daughter with the role model for what a good partnership should look like.

Darstarr · Mar 8, 2020

Swissmiss said:
but I am fairly positive that the only reason I took this picture is because I could "hear" @Darstarr saying "trunks up" when I saw the blue elephant:

Thanks!
Isn't it funny how a bunch of internet strangers become a part of our subconscious?
Trunks up for good luck

Swissmiss · Mar 8, 2020

Darstarr said:
❤Thanks!
Isn't it funny how a bunch of internet strangers become a part of our subconscious?
Trunks up for good luck

Absolutely!

Swissmiss · Apr 4, 2020

So encouraged by @MickeyCB I am picking this up again.

Since my last post, at first I was too busy at work (drafting and implementing a business continuity plan) to want to sit down at my computer and type when I got home (plus too drained) and since COB 16 March we went to mandatory teleworking (which we were only officially informed of by an alert late in the afternoon on Sunday 15 March) and since then it has been difficult to "disconnect" from work now that my home computer is also my office computer.

And let me tell you, working at home, as many of you are also experiencing, definitely has its perks such as:

coffee in close proximity all the time (am I right @Nunu ?)

(full disclosure, this coffee picture was taken on the train for business trip to Paris just days before we flew to my sister's for Christmas - I can't seem to find any of my other coffee pictures which I often take and send to my friends to ask if they want to go for coffee...)

or quick access to G&Ts at the end of the work day:

But it also has it's inconveniences, like Indy stealing my work chair each time I get up:

or Cara deciding she wants to "help" me by sitting on my documents:

Or - and this one is really grating on my nerves tonight - the extremely loud telephone conversations of my fairly new neighbor

.

Up next: Animal Kingdom Park

Swissmiss · Apr 4, 2020

@riverside was on to something when she gave a quick recap, so here's mine:

WDW from 27 December until 4 January: myself, my teenager C, my sister K, and my BIL S. We flew down late on Saturday afternoon, checked into POR, got dinner and went to bed.

On Sunday we did Disney Springs, C and I went to MK for a couple of hours, and the evening was spent at Hoop-dee-doo and a carriage ride.

Monday we went to EPCOT and attended the very last Candlelight Processional for 2019.

Tuesday was all about resort hopping and food - no WAY was I setting foot in the parks on NYE!

1 January 2020 - Animal Kingdom

I had told C that if she was willing to get up early during this trip, we could experience some things that K and S won't/don't/can't do. I also told her I was willing to try new things (like when I gathered the courage to ride Soarin'). So our plan was to go to AK for EMH and try to ride Flight of Passage before our meeting K and S for our first FP+ for Navi River.

Unfortunately, if I recall correctly, C and I just missed a bus to AK and had a short wait. Here we are on the bus:

By the time we arrived, the EMH had already started and looking at the wait time we decided that we didn't want to waste the entire EMH (and then some!) so we decided that we'd try something else. But first, walking in to an almost complete empty park (because everyone was already waiting for FOP :banghead:

) we stopped for some pictures together:

I then suggested we try something we'd never done: Dinosaur. We. Loved. It. We couldn't believe we had never even tried to do it before!

When we came out of Dinosaur, we saw that there was no line for Primeval Whirl. This is definitely the type of ride that is a bit out of my comfort zone. Luckily the CM loading the ride heard me and she told me to stick to the middle (at least this is what I am remembering 3 months later) and other than having to close my eyes at one point for a couple of seconds, I did enjoy it. When we finished whirling, we saw that the line for Dinosaur was still very short so we decided to go back in time again. C did not get the memo to pretend to be scared for the ride photo:

By this time EMH were finished and our first FP was open. K and S had let me know at some point that they were going to skip that and meet us directly at our second FP - which I think was at 10:45 - for the Animation Experience at the Conservation Station. S is an artist (among other things) and I always worry that we don't do enough of things that he is interested in, which is why we chose this. That meant we could take our time going down the river so when we stopped to watch the birds near the Tree of Life as we crossed the park:

By this point we were starving, because we hadn't yet had anything to eat. We stopped on our way to Navi River and I got a muffin and I think C took a piece of fruit. We had just enough time for her to finish her fruit and me to eat about half of the muffin before we were ready to board our River boat. I enjoy this ride simply for all the visuals - the color scheme is one I like and I enjoy anything on water, so for me it is a win-win. Once we had gone down river, we decided to slowly make our way over to the Conservation Station. We stopped for another picture:

We then continued on our way ... but will we make it?

Stay tuned to find out

Nunu · Apr 5, 2020

Swissmiss said:
And let me tell you, working at home, as many of you are also experiencing, definitely has its perks such as:

coffee in close proximity all the time (am I right @Nunu ?)

Oh yes, absolutely!

Sorry about your neighbor, but on the bright side, Indy and Cara seem happy to have you home these days!

KellBelle · Apr 6, 2020

Your kitties are gorgeous!

Swissmiss · Apr 6, 2020

KellBelle said:
Your kitties are gorgeous!

Thank you. The black and white one grew into her looks - she was kind of funny looking as a kitten. I never said a word though because I was afraid C would get offended. Indy picked me as her person (she was supposed to be C’s cat) so it was good that Cara picked C - so much so that for more than a year she pretty much ignored me. But a few weeks ago C comes out with « you know mom, Cara was an ugly kitten » and I told her I thought so too but never wanted to say anything.

They are definitely loving the fact that we are home all day ... and that all the neighborhood noise has stopped.

MickeyCB · Apr 6, 2020

Swissmiss said:
So encouraged by @MickeyCB I am picking this up again.

Since my last post, at first I was too busy at work (drafting and implementing a business continuity plan) to want to sit down at my computer and type when I got home (plus too drained) and since COB 16 March we went to mandatory teleworking (which we were only officially informed of by an alert late in the afternoon on Sunday 15 March) and since then it has been difficult to "disconnect" from work now that my home computer is also my office computer.

And let me tell you, working at home, as many of you are also experiencing, definitely has its perks such as:

coffee in close proximity all the time (am I right @Nunu ?)

View attachment 460958

(full disclosure, this coffee picture was taken on the train for business trip to Paris just days before we flew to my sister's for Christmas - I can't seem to find any of my other coffee pictures which I often take and send to my friends to ask if they want to go for coffee...)

or quick access to G&Ts at the end of the work day:

View attachment 460955

But it also has it's inconveniences, like Indy stealing my work chair each time I get up:

View attachment 460956

or Cara deciding she wants to "help" me by sitting on my documents:

View attachment 460957

Or - and this one is really grating on my nerves tonight - the extremely loud telephone conversations of my fairly new neighbor .

Up next: Animal Kingdom Park

Glad you're back!

KellBelle · Apr 6, 2020

Swissmiss said:
Thank you. The black and white one grew into her looks - she was kind of funny looking as a kitten. I never said a word though because I was afraid C would get offended. Indy picked me as her person (she was supposed to be C’s cat) so it was good that Cara picked C - so much so that for more than a year she pretty much ignored me. But a few weeks ago C comes out with « you know mom, Cara was an ugly kitten » and I told her I thought so too but never wanted to say anything.

They are definitely loving the fact that we are home all day ... and that all the neighborhood noise has stopped.

I have no kids, but 3 cats, so they are of course my babies! The one that was supposed to me mine chose my husband lol and his chose me, so it's funny how they attach more to one person over the other.

Nunu · Apr 6, 2020

@Swissmiss and @KellBelle , we've always been a "Dog People Family". JC got a kitty when he moved to his own place months ago. I'm in love with her! Apparently she chose me too, since I'm the only one she has allowed to brush her hair, haha!

I'm officially, a Dog AND Cat Person. :joyfull:

Swissmiss · Apr 7, 2020

Nunu said:
I'm officially, a Dog AND Cat Person.

I’m both too but it isn’t fair to have a dog when you live in apartment in a city and you work a lot. I would like to get one when I retire though

KellBelle · Apr 7, 2020

Nunu said:
@Swissmiss and @KellBelle , we've always been a "Dog People Family". JC got a kitty when he moved to his own place months ago. I'm in love with her! Apparently she chose me too, since I'm the only one she has allowed to brush her hair, haha!

I'm officially, a Dog AND Cat Person.

Awwww... she knew you were also a kitty person! Cats know cat people lol.. I like dogs fine, but I have never had one.. maybe one day, we will break down and adopt one. My dad passed away a year or so ago and he had a cat, which we brought home with us and the two cats we have did not take well to her initially. I can only imagine adding a dog into the mix! :joyfull:

lindawdw · Apr 8, 2020

Love all your recaps of work life at home and WDW updates! Your cats look like they're loving you being home!

Trip Report They're coming over ... and we're not going to WDW??

Swissmiss

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riverside

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Tuvalu

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Darstarr

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Swissmiss

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Nunu

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KellBelle

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Swissmiss

MickeyCB

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KellBelle

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Nunu

Wanderluster

Swissmiss

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