Trip Report This is the End, Beautiful Friend - October 2020 Trip

Ok ok, the title is a bit dramatic, but if you get the music reference, we can be friends. Fun fact: I used to write that on the last page of all my journals in high school I have always been a bit of a drama queen.

I've gone back and forth about even doing this trip report because, as you can probably tell from the title, we were not as happy with the current state of WDW as others are. I'll tell you up front, we don't plan to go back until things are back to semi-normal. I guess we'll use our judgement on how normal it needs to be before we make the effort.

Here we are, well what you can see of us...


I'm in the middle of busy wedding season, but I'll try to get this all written up quickly! Hope you're all doing well, I've enjoyed following along with everyone else's reports, so I hope you'll enjoy mine. The good and the sad We did have TWO magic meetups, which were highlights of the trip!

Let's do this thing!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Thank you!! I guess it is a pretty idyllic situation!

Thanks!


The bugs are the grossest!


Hahaha I didn't notice that.


Well dang I should have tried that one!!


Thank you for following along!

Oh yes! Next time you go back, if they have the plant based one, give it a try! I wasn't sure I would like it, but it was so good! The plant based sausage they put in it, I couldn't tell the difference between it and real sausage. Disney does LOTS of really good plant based stuff!

 

[sheriffwoody]

Sorry you didn’t like the Aperol Spritz - it’s my go to summer drink.

And while I don’t know the origin of “margherita”, it is widely used throughout (at least) Western Europe for a plain cheese pizza.

Yeah I'm not a bitter drink person. If I'd read a description, I would have known it wasn't for me!! haha

That's what cheese pizza is called in Europe. A pizza that is just the tomato sauce and cheese will be called "Margherita". At least it has been everywhere here in the Netherlands, and in Germany and Belgium. Everywhere we've been that I've noticed.

I just did a little research and there are MANY opinions on this. Some say authentic Margherita has tomato slices and basil, some say it only matters that it has fresh mozzarella. Lots of opinions! I've definitely always thought it was the version with tomato slices and basil (to make it look like the Italian flag!) and that's what I've grown to love. Basic cheese is fine, but not quite as exciting. And now I want pizza...

 

[PacNWTigger]

Omigoodness LP is getting sooo big!!! She is absolutely adorable!

 

[Laura Loves Tigger]

Beautiful family! L.P. Is precious!!

 

[Tiggertoo56]

That's what cheese pizza is called in Europe. A pizza that is just the tomato sauce and cheese will be called "Margherita". At least it has been everywhere here in the Netherlands, and in Germany and Belgium. Everywhere we've been that I've noticed.

Same in the UK too.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Adorable pictures of your little girl!

Also, that gingerbread cookie is AMAZING! I bought two few days ago but I didn't have a chance to try it while I was at WDW, but I did put them in a ziploc and brought them home. I just ate part of it tonight with part of my dinner and I am so glad I have another one to eat! Next time I go back to WDW these better be for sale still!

 

[riverside]

Your pictures are adorable!!

 

[RememberWhen]

LP is unbearably cute (don’t tell my 3 year old!) I can’t wait until she travels to the world as an adorable toddler!

 

[sheriffwoody]

LP is still a spittin’ image of Rhett, but I’m finally starting to see some of you in her now that she’s gotten older!

Enjoying your report!

Yes she is!! I only see myself in her goofiest expressions

Better late than never Great TR so far

I have a little story that may pertain. My Dad is in his 80s and had a Volvo he loved and had for almost 30 years. On one visit he had a new car and I asked him where it went. He told me he sold it to some musician who played piano for a rock band. I thought he meant a local band. He couldn't remember the name of the band but said the guy was kind of surprised he didn't know them. He did say he had given him a book he had written. He went and found it and presented me with a signed copy of Snake Moon by Ray Manzarek from the doors who collected old Volvos

​

Whaaaaaat that's amazing!!

Omigoodness LP is getting sooo big!!! She is absolutely adorable!

She sure is! Time flies. And thank you!

Beautiful family! L.P. Is precious!!

Thank you!

Adorable pictures of your little girl!

Also, that gingerbread cookie is AMAZING! I bought two few days ago but I didn't have a chance to try it while I was at WDW, but I did put them in a ziploc and brought them home. I just ate part of it tonight with part of my dinner and I am so glad I have another one to eat! Next time I go back to WDW these better be for sale still!

Thanks! Gosh it's so good. I wish I could replicate it at home.

Your pictures are adorable!!

Thank you!

LP is unbearably cute (don’t tell my 3 year old!) I can’t wait until she travels to the world as an adorable toddler!

Thank you! Me too, I think she's going to love it!

 

[sheriffwoody]

October 27

Well I just cut my index finger peeling a pear...so if you see any wacky typos in these next few posts, forgive me!

Since we were in bed decently early the night before, I was up by about 7. I went ahead and showered and enjoyed my coffee on the balcony with the sunrise. So lovely!

Had to read on my kindle since it was still pretty dark!





Ready for our MK day!




We headed to the bus stop and I took photos of this print because I just love it! I was so tempted to get it from the kiosk in the gift shop, but honestly it doesn't go with any of my decor. Oh well. I'll admire from afar!

We saw several buses for AK come and go, and FINALLY a Magic Kingdom bus! The worst was when we could see a bus coming, but it would turn off toward Caribbean Beach. The bus service was rough at Riviera! I think we were finally on our way after about 30 minutes at the stop. The driver put us by another party with a divider between us and this guy was all up in my space. I HATE feeling a stranger's leg on me, especially during a pandemic. Ugh.



According to my photo we were walking in around 8:30. I think the park opened at 9, but I don't recall being that early. Security and the touchpoints were both a breeze. I was absolutely giddy to be going into Magic Kingdom!!





My heart was 3 times it's normal size! I was so thrilled! Waving at all the cast members like a goober...just the best.



My first look at the castle! I think I'm in the minority, but I like the refresh. I think it's pretty!



You can see it's not terribly crowded. Wasn't empty, but plenty of room to move around.



I'll spare you 1 billion photos of the Mickey pumpkins.




We headed over toward Adventureland. Now that I'm going through the pictures, I do remember being early. We were wandering around so much because nothing was open quite yet.



My jumping pictures were better when I was in my 20s





I knew I wanted to ride Splash Mountain! R wasn't interested in riding it first thing, so we went on to Big Thunder.



We basically walked on, and we got put in the front! We could have done front row, but I think we did 2nd...I don't remember. They only do one party per section.



Weeeeeeeee! So happy to be back in my happy place. These were the moments I try to remember most from this trip.

Up next: More MK

 

[sheriffwoody]

October 27

We headed back to Adventureland and to Jungle Cruise. We passed up Pirates because it was closed (what a surprise)





The front side of water!



And the back!



The elephants are so cute

I remember our skipper having some jokes I hadn't heard before. Of course I don't remember them now!

We headed back to Pirates to try again. Success! It was a posted 20 minute wait and the line was long, but it moved quickly.




After this we decided it was time for breakfast, and ice cream was the perfect breakfast option! I mobile ordered this beauty at Aloha Isle



Kakamora Float - creamy coconut soft-serve with pineapple juice, blue curaçao syrup, and a cute little chocolate Kakamora cake pop. YESSSS so delicious! Coconut is hit or miss for R, but he liked this. It was the perfect refreshing treat.

As we headed through Frontierland we ran into some friends!



They are the cutest!

Our destination was Haunted Mansion, which I think just had a 15ish minute wait? Like others, I missed the stretching room. But didn't miss the bottleneck.






Didn't take any photos on the ride! Just sat back and enjoyed my favorite attraction.

We headed over to see what the line for 7 Dwarfs was. It was pretty long, so we passed it up. The end of the line wrapped all the way around to Ariel or farther, we didn't go all the way to the end. We just broke off and went over to Dumbo. R was like "ummm where are you going?" and I just kept walking and didn't give him the chance to say no. He'd never ridden Dumbo! Now was the time.




We rode separate because these rides are so small. We had a bad experience on Astro Orbiter





Up next: More MK

 

[sheriffwoody]

October 27 continued

We headed to Tomorrowland next. I'm pretty sure we rode Space Mountain first, but I have no photos. I recall it being about a 20 minute wait and the line moved pretty steadily. R was hungry, but he agreed to do Buzz before we got some food.

I had a new pin I wanted to photograph over here and I totally forgot to bring it. Derp!





R beat me, the jerk.

We headed to Cosmic Ray's for lunch. Not thrilled about it, but that's where we were, so oh well. Finding where to enter was a challenge! We finally got in and got our food. We got the special burgers they had, and now I can't remember what they were called.

Found a table near Sonny Eclipse and enjoyed our lunch (despite a huge, loud party that sat down right after us)




After our lunch, we were ready for more rides! Headed toward the hub...




We got to see a cavalcade!







It was the Boo to You music, which I loved.

When we got to Frontierland, we saw the princess cavalcade!







Tiana liked my flowers on my ears!



We also saw the Country Bears! It was a good time to see characters, I guess.



Up next: More MK

 

[Zipadeelady]

I love your flower ears too!! I always want to buy ears but never see any that make me want to spent the money. Did you make them? Sell them in your Etsy store?

 

[sheriffwoody]

I love your flower ears too!! I always want to buy ears but never see any that make me want to spent the money. Did you make them? Sell them in your Etsy store?

I am definitely not crafty enough to make ears I got these from MakingsofaDreamer! I don't know if she does this style anymore and she does mostly patches now, BUT you might could find something similar on Etsy!

 

[Sillysidewalker]

Your outfit is sooo cute!

 

[sheriffwoody]

Your outfit is sooo cute!

Thanks so much! I was so happy to find that skirt. It was perfect for the parks!

 

[sheriffwoody]

October 27 continued

So I THINK this is the point in the day when we got in line for Splash. It was a 30 minute wait, but we got to a certain point and just kind of stopped moving. I think after about 20 minutes, we got the announcement that it was down. I was honestly REALLY sad. I was really hoping to ride before the refurb. Oh well, we headed out of Frontierland after that.

We stopped by Sunshine Seasons for my fav treat! Appropriate given my shirt.




We decided to check out 7 Dwarfs again, but the line was still too long for us. On the way, took another castle photo!



Took a spin on Pooh while we were in the area.






I took advantage of not having another party with us in our hunny pot and bounced along with Tigger! I love acting like an absolute child



Headed out of the park since we'd don't just about everything we wanted and didn't feel like waiting for 7 Dwarfs and Splash was still down



Our empty monorail car



We decided to visit the monorail resorts instead of go back to the room for a break. I was definitely thinking in the back of my mind that we could easily pop back into the park if Splash came back up. I think R was thinking the same.

First stop, of course, is Contemporary! I was really hoping to find the 2021 attractions poster calendar, but no luck.





They had put out some Christmas stuff!

I did find something I got excited about.



These mugs were on shopdisney, but the O sold out when I was looking, so I never got it. I got it for the Orange Bird even though our name doesn't start with O W is World Showcase, which I also love, but one mug was enough for the day.

Up next: more monorail crawling

 

[sheriffwoody]

We didn't sit down anywhere at The Contemporary, just shopped. We did stop at the Tambu Lounge at the Poly though! This was before they started work on the resort, thank goodness. I was sad cause we were supposed to be staying there and then they didn't reopen. But I'm glad we got to visit.



Some kind of mule for me. Hawaiian maybe? Don't remember what is in it to make it hawaiian though. haha



Enjoyed this view. It was pretty empty there, which was kind of sad. Our bartender and server were both lovely.

We decided to walk to the Grand instead of get back on the monorail.




Unfortunately it decided to rain on us...started out sprinkling, but it was pouring by the end. Oops!

When we got there, R went to the restroom and I hung out in the lobby. Once again, it was so empty and sad.



We went to Enchanted Rose. I seriously LOVE that place! It's a bit pricey, but the drinks are so unique!



I had this lavender drink that I absolutely love.



Cheers!



Next I had this espresso martini (? I think?) with these cute little espresso beans. It had a pretty strong coffee flavor, which I enjoyed.

While we were sitting there, guess what opened back up? Yep...SPLASH! We agreed to pop back into MK before we headed back to the resort for dinner.






I was a little hungry, so we stopped by Sleepy Hollow for a corn dog. It was pretty tasty!



Next we headed to Splash and it was basically a walk on!! All that waiting the first time and this time we had no wait...glad we didn't have to wait twice!







Splash was a blast as usual! So glad we got to ride it.

Headed out!



up next: dinner

 

[sheriffwoody]

Oct 27 continued

R and I got back to the Riviera and rested a bit before our dinner reservation. If I recall correctly, we had close to an hour to kill, but thankfully we were dining in our own hotel! I'd finally scored a Topolino's Terrace reservation a week or two before the trip.



Is this appropriate for a signature restaurant? Probably not. Did I wear it anyway? Yup.



We sat in the lounge area until we could check in for our reservation. I think they let you check in like 10 minutes early? I can't remember for sure, but I know we had to wait a bit. R had a beverage, but I opted out.



Light over our table was like the one at Enchanted Rose. Pretty distinct style!

We were seated toward the back of the restaurant. It's pretty much just a big open room, so not a cozy setting, but it still felt pretty upscale to me. They really emphasized the terrace when they were seating us, but we decided to wait until we were done eating to check it out.



We picked out a wine and decided to get a whole bottle. Probably saved us money over getting two glasses of something each, but still.



We got the ricotta off the antipasta menu. I liked it, but it didn't blow me away. I swear I looked at the menu before we went, but nothing was really jumping out at me. Maybe I'd looked at it before the pandemic and got it in my head that I wanted to go and now it's a lot different. Who knows. I'd still go again!




My lamb shank and R's veal chop. Neither are favs of mine. I should have gotten a filet, but I didn't want to pay for it. It was already going to be expensive! Or I could have gotten the rigatoni. Can't go wrong with pasta, really.

The famed terrace


Not sure if I've had too much wine or my lens is dirty




Lovely views from the top!

And that was the end of our third night in the World! It was a great dinner and nice that we were steps away from our room when we were done. I always try to do one dinner at whatever resort we're staying at, since being close to home is always nice.

Up next: HS

 

[fractal]

Great pics!