Trip Report We are venturing outside our comfort zones and hoping the reward is worth it!! April 11 -23, 2021

Hello! I am, again, going to attempt to do a semi livish trip report and then fill in the details when I return. Like Rapunzel, when we made these plans, I definitely was taking a leap a faith! I, like all of us, have had a long year. We are DVC members and it was time to use the points. It is that simple. I can't tell you how thrilled I am now!

The cast remains the same! Den (my husband), Deighton(me), Hunter (16), Camden (9), and Brinley (5 and starts kindergarten in the fall). Some of us are a lot taller and some of us wider...

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We fly Southwest out of Pittsburgh early Sunday morning and land in Orlando around 10:15am.( I feel like I struck gold with 2 nonstop flights!) Then we head to the home where animals belong, a one bedroom villa at Animal Kingdom Lodge until April 19th. Then we move to Cabana Bay Beach Resort until the 23rd. Universal is a whole new world for us. Any advice for the entire length of stay is welcome!

I will be posting our plans soon! Thanks for reading! Another big thank you to those of you who posted, happy, positive thoughts and reports during these crazy times. It definitely kept time moving forward and hope alive. It keeps me smiling and tearing up to see your children growing up on this platform! Happy Thursday everyone!!
 
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Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
littleroo said:
This hotel is huge! For us, too big! Ironically, after staying in one bedroom villa this room has itty bitty living space. This will probably be our only stay here at this point. I prefer a smaller resort like Port Orleans French Quarter. The arcade is open here and I am not telling the boys. In my humble opinion it is premature for that! The pools are mobbed here but AKL was basically the same just a different size.

I really appreciate Disney getting rid of the kids wagons and gigantic strollers. I forgot how much I despised them🤣

I am sure I am forgetting many things but I will keep posting as I think of them. I will post a few pictures from when we first arrived!View attachment 550555
Brin was out and Cam was gracious!
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Awwww....Brin looks exhausted! She must have had a complete blast though!! How was the Kali river ride? (popeye, was it?) That's one I really wanted to do, but was closed for refurb.
 
littleroo

littleroo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Songbird76 said:
A lot of those were closed down when we went there, so we didn't get to do them. And the flyers one is only for kids, right? One parent can go with them, but adults can't go by themselves?
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Yep! You got it! It made me so nervous not to have a hand on Brinley. Phew! I am glad that one is over!

I actually like that the kid areas are actually just for kids! I hate to hear people swearing in Disney period but it bothers me more on Dumbo than it does on BTMR. I am no saint but in my humble opinion, everything has a place and time.
 
littleroo

littleroo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Songbird76 said:
Awwww....Brin looks exhausted! She must have had a complete blast though!! How was the Kali river ride? (popeye, was it?) That's one I really wanted to do, but was closed for refurb.
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Brin was a sleep at 9:00 last night and is still sleeping! That is a rarity!

I did not go on the Popeye ride. It was the last ride of the day and Brin was done! Lol Den and Cam got completely drenched and had a blast! We will be doing it on repeat Wednesday with ponchos and an extra set of clothes!
 
E

EngineerMom

Active Member
Glad you did Pteranodon Flyers when you could. Yes the ride is too short but I made my son do it with me when he was small enough because I knew (and was right) that by the next trip he would be TOO big.

I won't do coasters but am a Harry Potter fan so I did Forbidden Journey. I have now done it a number of time so it doesn't scare me as much and it is SO cool. I think I read Universal has a patent on the ride. Nothing lese like it. My favorite ride is FOP but I have read about rides with the same system in other places. It doesn't make me love FOP any less but I have to admit it makes me want to try other rides with the same system.

If you like coasters did you get on Hagrid? I did a post on how my Hubby and son got on Hagrid last week.
Hagrid, Rise and Smugglers were all new rides this trip. Hubby and son said Hagrid was their favorite by FAR. They LOVED it.
We did Universal then Disney (opposite of you) so Hubby said Hagrid is faster. Our first day at Disney was studios and when they did Rock nRoll he said it didn't feel as fast as Hagrid.

In terms of quick service we love 3broomsticks. It is British food but I like the cornish pasty which is my favorite over there. And of course you can sip on a butter beer while enjoying the atmosphere.

I LOVE Men in Black. So much better then Buzz. (but Toy Story will always be our favorite)
You want to hit the red lights on the stick above the people after the screens when they say aliens are in the other car and it makes them spin.
 
littleroo

littleroo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
EngineerMom said:
Glad you did Pteranodon Flyers when you could. Yes the ride is too short but I made my son do it with me when he was small enough because I knew (and was right) that by the next trip he would be TOO big.

I won't do coasters but am a Harry Potter fan so I did Forbidden Journey. I have now done it a number of time so it doesn't scare me as much and it is SO cool. I think I read Universal has a patent on the ride. Nothing lese like it. My favorite ride is FOP but I have read about rides with the same system in other places. It doesn't make me love FOP any less but I have to admit it makes me want to try other rides with the same system.

If you like coasters did you get on Hagrid? I did a post on how my Hubby and son got on Hagrid last week.
Hagrid, Rise and Smugglers were all new rides this trip. Hubby and son said Hagrid was their favorite by FAR. They LOVED it.
We did Universal then Disney (opposite of you) so Hubby said Hagrid is faster. Our first day at Disney was studios and when they did Rock nRoll he said it didn't feel as fast as Hagrid.

In terms of quick service we love 3broomsticks. It is British food but I like the cornish pasty which is my favorite over there. And of course you can sip on a butter beer while enjoying the atmosphere.

I LOVE Men in Black. So much better then Buzz. (but Toy Story will always be our favorite)
You want to hit the red lights on the stick above the people after the screens when they say aliens are in the other car and it makes them spin.
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Thank you so much for taking the time to help us!!! We are hoping to do Hagrids tomorrow if we can get it on. Planning on leaving at 7am and getting in line. We will also try virtually all day!

I hope we don't get too wet today!
 
E

EngineerMom

Active Member
littleroo said:
Thank you so much for taking the time to help us!!! We are hoping to do Hagrids tomorrow if we can get it on. Planning on leaving at 7am and getting in line. We will also try virtually all day!

I hope we don't get too wet today!
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We were at the gate before 7am so we could get on right at 7am.
What I heard was they will only let so many people in line at 7am since the virtual queue opens for 8am. But as I said the ride was down when we got there so we had to wait. It started running around 9am and we got the vitual pass then.

Unlike rise we found spots later in the day. The second one we got was at the 4pm drop. (then the weather messed that up)
Oh and my son and I both tried on separate phones at the same time.
 
E

EngineerMom

Active Member
littleroo said:
@EngineerMom I hope you have a magical vacation! Thanks again!
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We did have a magical vacation! Sounds like you are as well.

I wish more people at Disney were following the mask rules so I have to admit by the end of our visit when we were sweating in those masks I didn't appreciate the folks walking around with them lowered. We saw much more of that at Disney than at Universal.
 
ShookieJones

ShookieJones

We need time for things to happen.
littleroo

littleroo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
ShookieJones said:
Love Cowfish! Never made it to the one in Uni, but tried it when it was just the (I believe) one in North Carolina. Delicious and interesting fusion of foods! Speaking of which and sorry if you mentioned it, but what's the sushi app that's in this last pic?
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I don't know!! Lmao🤣🤣🤣 It was a mistake. We ordered the poke dip. It was delicious! We were going to ask but they were short staffed which seems to be a common issue this trip but the server was great! I will look it up at some point and repost. The poke dip with seaweed was yummy, too!
 
littleroo

littleroo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
EngineerMom said:
We did have a magical vacation! Sounds like you are as well.

I wish more people at Disney were following the mask rules so I have to admit by the end of our visit when we were sweating in those masks I didn't appreciate the folks walking around with them lowered. We saw much more of that at Disney than at Universal.
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So far! I completely agree! A lot more regulations here compared to what I had heard!
 
ShookieJones

ShookieJones

We need time for things to happen.
EngineerMom said:
We did have a magical vacation! Sounds like you are as well.

I wish more people at Disney were following the mask rules so I have to admit by the end of our visit when we were sweating in those masks I didn't appreciate the folks walking around with them lowered. We saw much more of that at Disney than at Universal.
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I am not a person that gets anxiety, but whatever version of it that I get, I am getting over the thought of people who don't understand the mask concept.

We had a trip planned for Disney last year but postponed it because they didn't seem to have their act together with their reaction to pandemic. We changed our plans and turned it into a quick jaunt to Universal last July for a few days because from all that we could see they had their pandemic game on point.

We were not disappointed, they handled everything so well and the TMs at Uni were all over mask offenders.
The only issue we had all trip was with MCO and Southwest on the way back and family of Minions (long story).

I am not a tough guy by any stretch of the imagination, and I am not going to 'throw hands' with some dummy :D but I get worked up and a little loud when someone is next to me at the grocery store and they can't see to grasp how breathing works and that their beak needs to be on the inside of the mask. This embarrasses my wife to the point where she just pretends she doesn't know me. Although I am not sure if that's strictly because of this situation.....ANYWAY.

I don't mind a little back and forth with someone and 'ruined' trip to the grocery store, but I am thinking for me and my families sake I need to find a way to be nice to inconsiderate morons. ;)
 

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