OKW First Timer

gmflash88

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 31, 2012
I know people get into detail and can write some fun TRs, but I’m going to do my best to post each day for all who care to read but to also act as a journal of sorts to look back upon. Quick background: Wife, myself, daughter (14), and son (12). Been to the various parks in Orlando several times including WDW, but this is our first time on property, let alone DVC. We are seriously considering buying in, so this trip is a “test” of sorts as well. Here goes... DAY 1 (Travel and arrival)

Flight was fine. Actually landed 30min early which meant we sat on the tarmac waiting for our gate to clear for 20min. No big deal. Straight through the airport, bag was already on the turnstile, and off to the ME. Got right on an awaiting bus headed for OKW, SSR, and Fort Wilderness. There were maybe 20 people on the bus and OKW was the first stop so we lucked out there. In person check in (I had some questions so I didn’t want to mobile check in) and had a great experience. They acknowledged our anniversary that we are celebrating this week and gave us our room. FWIW, we got the room we requested via the TouringPlans room request. Awesome. (1bd near HH but not the actual HH “category”). Took a few minutes to get unpacked and settled in and off to DS for some food!

Waited maybe 15min for a bus to arrive that was headed to DS. Aside from a young couple, we were the only ones on the bus. DS was busy-ish, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was crowded. I’ve seen worse. Ate in at Polite Pig (I’ll come back to that), poked around World of Disney and the Christmas Store, and we were back to the resort from there.

Rain came in and it stuck around for several hours so the pool was closed much to the chagrin of our son, but we knew he was tired. He thought the chair/bed was cool so we unfolded it and he laid down. At 4pm. It’s now after 9pm and he’s still out cold lol. He’s a nervous flyer and we got up at 4am for the flight, so...he’s done lol. Daughter and wife enjoyed the big tub (separately...I realize that sounds funny when typed!), wife and I got some late snacks from the Gurgling Suitcase and a couple beverages and now we’re relaxing before bed. Early rise to dad making breakfast (I LOVE that we have a full kitchen) and then the bus to HS for Day 2.

Food/Drink: Polite Pig was excellent. I’ve had a lot of BBQ from various places in the country and I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone really liked their food. The kids pulled pork slider was a little dry, but some sauce on the side fixed that. The standouts were the side of Brussels sprouts and the citrus/lime coleslaw. Back at OKW, we got the fried pickle chips and the BBQ “Nachos”. Using house chips vs tortilla chips was a fun spin, but they weren’t anything spectacular. They were good, but not anything I’d ever bother with again. The pickle chips were ok as well. Again, nothing special, but not bad. Sounds odd to be a fired pickle snob, but the wife and I order them anywhere we go and see them on the menu lol. These were pretty tame. It’s be nice to have a more fun or adventurous dipping sauce at the least. Ranch isn’t my thing but I knew that’s what they came with ahead of time (it says so on the menu) so I knew what I was getting into and can’t complain. For drinks, the wife got the strawberry lemonade and I got some manner of lemonade thing that had bourbon in it. I can’t remember what they were called. They aren’t on the MDE app so I couldn’t look them up. They were just on the board on the wall. Both drinks were very good and notably “stiffer” than I expected. I guess for $15 per, I’m glad they weren’t weak!

Misc: I need to do a better job of remembering or noting CMs names. Everyone has been EXCELLENT here at OKW. I understand that people say that a lot, but it can’t be understated. It’s one thing to make a request and have someone accommodate. But we’ve already had a few instances of people going above and beyond what you normally get in similar situations. A woman from mousekeeping brought us some additional toiletries for the tub (since it’s across the way and through a door from the wall mounted stuff in the shower lol). She said she couldn’t find conditioner because most of the small bottles are gone now that everything is wall mounted. I said that was no problem at all as we just wanted the bath gel and some soap anyway. Then an hour later, we had a knock at the door and here she was with some. Also, I had to grab our Prime Now order from Bell Services. I mistakenly went to the check in desk (again...first time here!) and the CM politely said that I need to go to bell services. When I apologized for my mistake and said I’d go out there, the CM said, “Here, I’ll take you there. Follow me!” and proceeded to walk me there. Some may possibly view that as patronizing, but I view it as going the extra mile to ensure I went to the right place, got what I was looking for, and thanked me for coming to stay at OKW.

I’m sure I could point out lots of other things, but it’s time for some shut eye. Need to rest up for tomorrow because as my daughter keeps saying, “The wilderness must be explored!”
 
Last edited:
I love OKW and we are excited to be heading there Thanksgiving Day. We rent points which gives us the opportunity to stay at such a nice resort. Looking forward to hearing more of your trip!
 


DAY 2 (Sunday 8/30)

So on check in, the desk told us busses start running 30min ahead of park opening, so 0930 for HS. But getting a boarding pass for RoTR was the HIGHEST priority of everything we do on this trip and I was skeptical that, A) that would be enough time to get tapped in by 1000 and B) that is as early as they actually start running. Thankfully, while I was correct on B, I was incorrect on A. According to our driver, he started his OKW/HS run just after 9am. We got on the Peninsular Rd stop at 0925, exited OKW at 0936 (nobody was at any other stop, thankfully). FUN FACT! Our driver told us, when my son asked why ToT has so much orange on it’s facade, that ToT is able to be seen at certain angles from Epcot when viewed through the Morocco pavilion. Since the prevailing color at the pavilion is orange, they added the accents to blend in!

Got off the bus at HS at 0947, and were all through temp screen, security, and tapped in by 0955. YESSSS!!! We made it for the 1000am BG drop! Quick...let’s head to ToT to queue and we can get our BG on the way! Um...nope. MDE was down. For hours. Whatevs...let’s roll with the punches and do this thing!

In order, we hit ToT, Rockin Rollercoaster, and McQueen’s Racing Academy. Neither ToT or RR wait times were accurate. I’ll get to that in another post, but we found everything we did all day to be anywhere from slightly to highly overstated. 35min waits that took 10, 45min waits that took 25, 40 in 35...you get the idea. Exiting that area, we heard the announcement that the BG distribution would begin at 1200 due to the technical delay. Ok...game faces everyone (it was 1140). Fast forward 20min, we got BG 12! Expected arrival time...right in line with our Oga’s reservation. Ugh... Let’s grab some grub.

Stopped at Backlot Express to grab some standard fare. Cuban for the wife and I to share, kids grabbed chicken strips, and we got 2 Wookie Cookies. Nothing to note either way. It was ok. The Wookie Cookies were good but waaay too much filling/cream for us. Still a fun treat. Off to a Batuu!

We poked around Batuu for a bit and we knew our Oga’s reservation would interfere with our BG for RoTR. To make matters worse, Oga’s was running way behind. We checked in for our 1:05p reservation at 12:50, but weren’t called for our table until 1:40p. We didn’t want to rush Oga’s, but we ended up missing our BG (which is OK by the way. Just let them know you had a dining interference and they will accommodate. I kept the receipt and the screenshot of my check in time just in case). Oga’s was great. A very fun, albeit expensive, way to take in some theming. The drinks were fantastic and our server, Pham, was excellent. Not sure I’d do it again, but if you’re a SW fan and haven’t, I’d recommend taking the time and $ to check it out.

Off to RoTR. No spoilers here, but I can confirm we got B-mode. That said, it’s simply the coolest ride/experience I’ve ever had at a theme park. And it’s not close. I thought I was going to get a little misty eyed for a minute as a now adult that grew up LOVING the original Star Wars movies and having a family that has latched on to them as well. As we exited the ride, it was raining. Not like, a little shower, like...bust out the Ark rain. And guess what? You have no choice but to exit the ride and get wet. Oh well...poncho up and keep going, team!

I’ll fast forward the rest of our day for brevity... After the great soaking, we hit most of the rest of the park and also had some snacks and drinks at the Baseline Tap House. Since we have additional HS days planned, we decided to head back to the resort at about 4p.

After changing into dry clothes, we hopped in the pool for a bit, ordered Giordano’s pizza and a salad for dinner, and called it a night. Adventure awaits at Animal Kingdom on day 3!
 
DAY 3 (Monday 8/31)

I got a little more lengthy on my last post and am writing them at the same time. I decided that going forward, I’ll try to do a better job of summarizing, and I’ll save reviews/opinions on specific attractions, experiences, and eateries for other posts when I get home.

We got on the resort bus around 7:40a or so (didn’t make a note since we weren’t under a time crunch and there’s no “incentive” to be a early for the insanely low wait times at AK right now). Made it through security a little after 8a, grabbed some coffee at the Starbucks, and then off to the Safari! We’ve done the Safari a handful of times over the years, but today’s was the best. Everyone was able to be viewed, some very close, and we got to watch the largest (male) giraffe lead a run of three giraffes around the savanna near our vehicle. Really fun to watch them gallop around!

Pandora was a huge hit as expected and we still can’t wrap our heads around FoP being a virtual walk on. The last time we did that ride it was “only” a 120min wait. NRJ had about a 30-35min wait, but only because it went down for a bit and built up a large line.

The kids (and us) really liked the character floats. We only caught the tail end of a few seconds of the DisJr characters at HS the day before (although we had a fun encounter with some Stormtroopers at Kylo’s shuttle). The floats are actually kind of fun! Lunch at Satuli Canteen was good. Dole Whips (with rum for me and mom!) from Tamu Tamu. Also did Dinosaur, Exp Everest, and took a bunch of photopass pics. Left the park when the rain came in (again...we will be back later in the week) to head back and take a nap before our 6p reservation at Olivia’s.

Fast forward a nice little snooze, we had dinner at the resort at Olivia’s. Again...I suck at remembering names but our server was a nice woman and everyone liked the food. Son had the kids chicken strips, wife had the Duval Burger, I had the fried chicken, and our daughter ordered the fish of the day which was Mahi served over grits. I don’t recall what all was on the fish from a veg standpoint, but it was EXCELLENT. Hands down the best dish at our table and the best thing we’ve had on property thus far. I went with the chicken based on all other reviews, and I did enjoy it, but perhaps I had my hopes up a little too high based on the reviews. Again, it was good, and I would recommend it, but if you haven’t had better fried chicken, you’ve not had amazing fried chicken. Grabbed a key lime tart to go and I’m not sure we will get to it tonight lol. Running some laundry (a MASSIVE plus for us!), having a beer while we wind down, and gonna call it a night pretty soon. Magic Kingdom awaits us tomorrow and we don’t have any semblance of a plan lol!

Side note (which I’ll dive into on it’s own post): This current COVID version of the park experience is...different. For now, two days in, it’s actually a better experience in our opinion. Don’t get me wrong, there are negatives, but I actually kind of fear going back to “normal” lol. I mean... WE WALKED ON TO FLIGHT OF PASSAGE! We knocked out all the headliners, took a couple wildlife/nature strolls, and stopped to sit down for lunch and snacks in 6 hours total. Again...I’ll deep dive into that after the trip ends.
 


DAY 4 (Tuesday 9/1)

It’s hot. We’re tired. We booked a 9 day “vacation” lol.

Magic Kingdom today. Made breakfast sandwiches in the room. Really loving the kitchen. I know some don’t like cooking on vacation, but taking 20min to make some quick breakfast sandwiches is hardly cooking and it’s a great way to start the day for us. We had also purchased some cold brew coffee (easier on the stomach than regular hot coffee) to make some quick, cool morning coffee before heading out.

Arrived at the park around 9:15a. Easy peasy through security as is the norm now. As long as this isn’t compromising security (which I imagine is still fine...remember the lady who was busted with a gun and pot a few weeks ago lol), I’m digging this new process. I’ll make separate posts for my personal ride reviews to help reduce length here. But here’s how our day went:

7DMT, Barnstormer, Little Mermaid, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Lunch at Sleepy Hollow, Big Thunder, Splash, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Dole Whip floats for a snack, Buzz, Space Mtn, 7DMT (again), and ended with a fair amount of time (and moderate amount of money lol) merch shopping. Left by 5p. Please note, we didn’t rush either, Like, not even a little. We watched whatever cavalcades we saw (which was only 2), stopped for lots of PhotoPass pics, and chatted with Jack Sparrow a bit as well. Said it before, will probably say it again, this may end up being one of the “best” trips ever when only considering amount of attractions hit in a day vs time on site.

Back to the room. Tossed our leftover deep dish in the oven (seriously...I don’t think I’ll ever NOT have a 1bd going forward when the kids are with), had some of the other snacks we bought, hit the pool for a little bit, and called it a night. Second run at Hollywood Studios tomorrow and planning on a short day. We need a break!
 
DAY 5 (Wednesday, 9/2)

Happy 14th Anniversary to my radical wife!

Off to Hollywood Studios. On the bus at 9:09a. We noticed a bus leaving the Hospitality House as we were walking up that was full and also headed to HS. Clearly they come pretty early. Through security and in the park with plenty of time for the 10am BG distribution. Ended up getting BG 26. Estimate to be about 12:30p -1p or so.

Chewie is out! (Our little dog, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, is named Chewbacca/Chewie). So we stopped for a bit for pics and a short “chat” lol. Off to MFSR. Had to change roles a little bit this time. Wife and daughter can get motion sickness sometimes so they chose to fly. Bad idea lol. We still had a blast. Walked around to soak in Batuu since the weather wasn’t kind a few days ago when we were there. Pics, gift shops, character “interactions”, etc. Got both blue and green to share. Mixed reviews, but again, I’ll get to food in a separate post. Short review is that we are all glad we tried both, but nobody cares if we bother with them again. Over to Ronto Roasters for lunch. Decent. Probably the best item we’ve had in HS but our sampling size is very small and a lot is closed (as you all know). I’d get them again, but I won’t seek them out. Maybe if they were $7-8, but $13 is too much. I told the kids I can duplicate them when we get home and I’m certain I can do it with near perfect results. Over to Star Tours (remember what I said about motion sickness?) and that didn’t go over well. I have a feeling that my wife will sit that one out for good going forward. Time for RoTR! Let’s hope for A Mode this time!

It’s down...$^&$&&&*(%$%%^

Heat index is 105. We’re outta here. We are coming back for a third HS day at the end of the week, it’s nasty hot, and we have some resorts to visit to end the day (we are prospective/likely DVC buyers in the very near future).

Took the bus from HS over to Wilderness Lodge for lunch. I know it sounds like we just ate, but splitting 2 Ronto Wraps across 4 people at 12p didn’t get us very far. We originally had a reservation for Whispering Canyon (due to the “rule” of needing a dining reservation to go to a resort) but I rolled the dice and cancelled. We wanted to eat at Geyser Point anyway vs Whispering Canyon. So that’s exactly what we did. Got off the bus, had lunch and some drinks at Geyser Point and checked out the lobby and CC pool area. We meant to go over to see the BR pool, but forgot. There’s a DVC open house happening there but we know we like WL. The only “issue” is that CC is more than I would like to spend and BR is 2042 which we are also going to avoid. We know we will get to stay there eventually, but can’t/won’t buy that as “home”. Oh...lunch was EXCELLENT by the way. Wife and I split the bison burger and crab cake. Wife didn’t care for the bison. It’s notably different than beef. I really like bison, but I guess she doesn’t. Daughter wanted the brisket dip all to herself which she liked, but wishes she’d have gotten a burger. The boy had the regular bacon cheeseburger. The waffle fries were really good that came with the burgers. Looks like they are coated in a little cornmeal for added crunch. Nice touch...I’ll steal that idea for home use! The next part gets a little convoluted, but whatevs...

Took the bus from WL to Disney Springs. You have to go through temp screen just to turn around and go right back on the bus, which is what we did to get back to OKW. We relaxed for a little bit and then the wife and I headed to AK to exchange buses to get to AKL for our DVC “tour”.

I had called ahead to see if we could be shown a 1bd as the open house is happening in a grand villa. Don’t get me wrong, the GV is great, but it’s not what I’m going to rent 90% of the time (if not 99.9%) so I kindly told them that I’d only be interested in coming over if I could see a “real” room. I called while we were still enjoying lunch at WL to make this request and they said they’d call me beck to confirm whether or not it would be possible. Well, they confirmed that they would show me a 2bd lockout (perfect!) so I could view a 1bd and studio at the same time.

In short, the DVC tour wasn’t really much. I didn’t learn anything new after months of reading/researching here (YOU ALL HAVE BEEN GREAT!) but I did get to see the AKL room(s) first hand. The YouTube videos don’t really do them justice. We did like them and are leaning towards making AKL “home” for a myriad of reasons. I feel like I keep saying this, but I’ll get to that in another post lol.

Anyway...we grabbed some zebra domes from the gift shop at Kidani and made our way back to OKW via AK. Maybe we should’ve just grabbed an Uber, but I was trying to save a few bucks and we have plenty of time.

Back to OKW. Ate our zebra domes (quite good...will do again!), relaxed for a bit in the unit, and off to bed. The wilderness needs more exploring tomorrow at our 2nd AK day and they open early!
 
Last edited:
DAY 6 (Thursday, 9/3)

Animal Kingdom again today. Or as we now call it, You Can Drink The Air Kingdom.

Up early to get to the park at/near park opening. I know...”why don’t you just sleep in and rest if you’re tired?” Well...we are early to rise, early to bed types in our home and we’d rather bust out what we want and leave early vs show up “late” and stay until close or whatever. Plus, we wanted some pool time and we planned on sleeping in tomorrow (Friday, 9/4) since that’s Epcot and between not evening opening until 11 and the place being basically empty, we can handle the early rise today.

Arrived a little before 9. The bus took nearly an hour between arriving at Peninsular Rd and dropping us at AK. Longest yet and by a lot. We saw 5 magic kingdom buses come and go at OKW. Labor Day weekend people coming in?

AK feels more busy today but the wait times don’t reflect it. Straight to Starbucks for some coffee and a big cinnamon roll (which I have been lobbying for all week!). Over to Pandora for FoP and NRJ. FoP was basically a walk on. Unreal. Seriously. In fact, when you get off the cast members are basically saying, “Hey, wanna go again? Just hang a right, right here so you don’t have to walk through the whole queue.” NRJ had a posted 35min but it was more like 20. The boat in front of us had a family that took plenty of photos with their flash on so that was fun.

Took a leisurely stroll through the trails around the Tree of Life on our way to the train station to head out to Rafiki’s. We’ve never been out there before and we were glad we did. It’s a pretty cool spot and look forward to doing the animation class next time. We had planned on doing it, but we wanted to make it a short day and when we found out we missed drawing Dumbo by like 5 minutes and the next drawing was Hopper, we decided to head back to the park. Side note: Does Magic Candle Company have a Rafiki’s Planet Watch Train smell lol? I’m sure many of you will get that ;)

Lunch at the Yak/Yeti Local Food Cafes. Everyone like the food they ordered. We had honey chicken, tempura shrimp, Korean chicken sandwich, and egg rolls. The Korean sandwich was the winner, hands down.

Hit the Maharaja Trail since I can’t remember the last time we went down there. Were intending on going over to EE for a ride before we headed out but our 14yd old daughter had a 14yr old daughter moment and we knew it was just time to go. It’s just so humid and everyone was on edge.

Back to OKW. Everyone cooled off (literally and figuratively) and we went to the pool for some much needed chill out time. We also did tie dyed shirts (the boy did a pillowcase) and are looking forward to how those turn out. Not only is the tie dye an economical souvenir, it’s more meaningful since we made them and made them together.

After some swimming, we got Earl of Sandwich delivered to our door (maybe OKW should just be home?) and borrowed Avatar to watch which is on while I type this (the boy wanted to “refresh” his memory since he LOVED FoP and doesn’t really remember the movie).

Sleeping in a while tomorrow and then hitting Epcot. Not sure what to expect with no international ambassadors, the park being a construction site, and not a lot of attractions the kids are looking forward to...but I’ve got my custom made Figment shirt ready to rock and it needs to come out!
 
Thanks for the report! I am also at OkW this week (first time) and also has made a great impression on me.. it has nice trails to walk too..

Also today something amazing happened!
I was at D Springs at noon (very hot!) waiting for the bus to return to the resort but after 20 mins or so of waiting no bus came... then I went to a bus scheduled to go to SSR I told the driver that I would request a Uber drive from there because I didn't want to wait under the sun anymore... as nobody else was in the bus, he came back to me and said that he was driving me to the OKW and right into my stop (millers rd) without going first to the other usual stops... it was remarkable service.. !
 
I love your report! Thanks for offering it to the boards :)

We tried 1BR OKW for 1st time Dec 2019 (5 nites) and loved it! It was such a nice spacious respite from the crowded parks. It was lovely to sit together for a quick breakfast, and we enjoyed the table outside to relax late in the cool evenings. Very comfortable room option. If I had any recommendation it'd be 2 toilets in OKW 1 BRs tho it still worked out just fine with the 4 of us.

Once back home we were already planning a longer stay for early 2021 and rented DVC points Jan 8-16 at 11 months (pre-C19). Split stay starting at the Poly then moving over to Beach Club. We've been pretty certain we'll go regardless what changes are still there- a key point is we've already paid for non-refundable rooms. Only tonite DH and I were discussing the possibility of Uni or WDW closing a couple weekdays and for the first time contemplated calling our DVC renter to see if the points could be pushed out to May. But you know? After reading you fabulous trip report about the great rides and relaxing experience, I definitely want to give WDWv2 a shot. It sounds unique and something my family may regret passing up. Sure there are some tradeoffs (fireworks a big one for me personally) but there is new charm to be found. You've gotten me excited again! I appreciate your help :^) Looks like a near perfect trip. Enjoy!
 
I love your report! Thanks for offering it to the boards :)

We tried 1BR OKW for 1st time Dec 2019 (5 nites) and loved it! It was such a nice spacious respite from the crowded parks. It was lovely to sit together for a quick breakfast, and we enjoyed the table outside to relax late in the cool evenings. Very comfortable room option. If I had any recommendation it'd be 2 toilets in OKW 1 BRs tho it still worked out just fine with the 4 of us.

Once back home we were already planning a longer stay for early 2021 and rented DVC points Jan 8-16 at 11 months (pre-C19). Split stay starting at the Poly then moving over to Beach Club. We've been pretty certain we'll go regardless what changes are still there- a key point is we've already paid for non-refundable rooms. Only tonite DH and I were discussing the possibility of Uni or WDW closing a couple weekdays and for the first time contemplated calling our DVC renter to see if the points could be pushed out to May. But you know? After reading you fabulous trip report about the great rides and relaxing experience, I definitely want to give WDWv2 a shot. It sounds unique and something my family may regret passing up. Sure there are some tradeoffs (fireworks a big one for me personally) but there is new charm to be found. You've gotten me excited again! I appreciate your help :^) Looks like a near perfect trip. Enjoy!
We thought the fireworks and characters would be a downer, but it’s ok. I think fireworks are the best example of Disney magic, but there’s still plenty of that around. I mean, if you want to charge through, it’s very doable to do “everything” in a day. That was never happening pre-COVID. We got to do everything we wanted every day so far and never once felt rushed. One thing to consider is that since you need to be stationary for eating/drinking, you spend a lot of time just sitting. It slows you down, but also allows you to “smell the roses” so to speak. It can be a pain because I just want to grab a coffee, smoothie, beer, etc and keep walking to my destination, but it’s ok to just relax for a few as well and take in some theming. While the new character interactions don’t guarantee anything, it’s nice to not have to stand in a 40min like for a 10sec picture. Also, Memory Maker has been awesome since they won’t take pics with other people’s phones. I understand it’s for the greater guest experience, but I hated waiting in lines for photographers behind groups who handed 4 phones over. Now, 90% of the time there was no lore than 1-2 groups if any at all. We grabbed so many magic shots this week it’s been well worth the $ spent. And the masks are kind of a fun twist on the pics. There’s no real upside to wearing a mask, but we have made the best of it and the pics will be something to look back on.
As I mentioned several times, I’ll write detailed opinions on everything we did and link them together. I’m actually looking forward to it!
 
Loving your report! Will be at OKW first timer Ina couple of weeks.
 
DAY 7 (Friday, 9/4)

Seems like there are many more buses running today. Perhaps the Labor Day weekenders came in yesterday? There weren’t any reservations for any parks today so it’ll be interesting to see what the new “full” is. It’s very hot again. Getting a little later start as Epcot doesn’t open until 11 and we arrived shortly after that.

The construction walls are a bummer, but it’s likely to be pretty great once it’s done. I’ve always had a soft spot for Epcot since it was my favorite park as a kid in the early 80’s. For attractions, in order we hit Test Track, Frozen Ever After, Gran Fiesta, Pixar Films, Journey Into the Imagination, Awesome Planet, Soarin, Living With the Land, Beauty and Beast Sing Along, and Spaceship Earth.

Food was the goal today though! As I look at my notes, it sounds like we pigged out but when you share a bite of a small taco or whatever across 4 people, you can eat a “lot” lol. Nitro cake pop (with Twix), Apple Pie Drink, Gourmet and Buffalo mac and cheese, spanakopita, boba pearl wine (can’t remember the name of the wine), pork slider and pineapple beer from Hawaii, citrus/orange chicken, orange cream drink/shake, crepes, raspberry macaron (and some items for breakfast tomorrow) from Les Halles, sushi and nigiri, funnel cake, Mongolian bao bun, pork dumplings, vegan chocolate terrarium thingy, and a pork tostada.

I’m not going to write a food review on these since they are temporary and it would also take forever lol. The pork tostada from Mexico and slider from Hawaii were the clear winners across the board for all of us. Much of the rest is anywhere from ok to good.

One note on the day was that a really nasty storm moved through with some heavy lightning. We ended up grabbing a table and some beverages at Sunshine Seasons to wait it out for about an hour. Once the storm went through, the temps dropped by nearly 30 degrees (perceived) and made the remainder of the evening really nice.

I would’ve liked to poke around the pavilions a little more but everyone had walked a lot and it was shaping up to be our longest day yet so we mostly stayed to the walkways and food booths. We ended up staying until about 8:30p so it was a long haul that wasn’t fully intended but still ended up being a pretty solid day.
 
DAY 8 (Saturday, 9/5)

Our last park day. Had it not been for full reservations across the World, we’d have swapped this day, our 3rd HS day on the trip, for a 2nd MK day. Oh well. Got on the Peninsular Rd stop at 9:09, pulled in to HS at 9:30, and tapped through security at 9:40. Noticeably busier than other days. I don’t know what “capacity” is right now for park reservations, but apparently this was it and it showed. I wouldn’t call it “busy” by any normal stretch, but it was much more so than we had been experiencing all trip.

Got BG 37 for RotR and made our way to ToT. Love that ride. My wife said it’s her favorite of all the WDW rides. It’s up there for me. Our youngest sat it out. We persuaded him to go on it Day 1 and he said he’s never doing it again. He HATES drops lol. We intended on hitting MMRR but the queue was full and posted a 75min wait. Checked the app and everything other than Star Tours and Muppets was 30+. We decided we needed another go at TSMM. I put up a 197k and couldn’t be more upset. What a poor showing by dad this morning. Either I’m slipping in my old age or the week caught up with me. I’m always good for 230k plus on that thing. One of these days I'm going to figure out how people are breaking 4-500k.

We decided we’d like to sit down for lunch and were noticed a 11:20a lunch at 50s. The boy got the kids salmon and loved it (salmon is one of his favorite meals), daughter got a Caesar salad, wife got fried chicken, and I got the sampler. Everyone liked what they got but nothing was outstanding by any means. The pot roast was the best in my opinion and if we return, I’ll just order that as my entire meal. We shared a PBJ shake. That was pretty great. Our server was priceless. I’d go back for sure if she were our server. Carole from Queens, NY and she sure sounded like it. We were terrified to get caught with our elbows on the table! Very fun. “Now remembah, no Towah for an houwah you guyz!”

Over to RotR and we got A-Mode! Yessssss! What an amazing attraction. The boy wanted to hit MFSR again and mom/sis said they’d pass due to motion sickness. On our way there we strolled through Batuu one last time and took our time through the merchants. The toy store was our favorite. Dropped some more money on merch lol. Hit MFSR with the boy. He and I were determined to do better this time! I think we actually did worse, but we were ranked Maurader which was different and my son is pretty sure we did better so I let him think that lol. I could do that ride over and over and I really hope they add new scenarios down the road.

After that, we decided to just head out. It has been a great week, it was super hot again, and the park was noticeably more busy with longer wait times. We wanted one more go on MMRR again, but it was still at 60 minutes and with so much of the queue outside, we weren’t having it.

Back to the resort to pack up, have dinner made up of all the random things we had left for snacks and also got some salads from Good’s To Go and a couple Key Lime Tarts. Man those things are delicious!

I’ll put Day 9 here too since it’s just our flight home...

9am Tragical Express. A few of us were leaving OKW and then we headed to SSR. A few people got on at SSR but many more were waiting. They said we were “full” and there was another bus en route. We weren’t full by any stretch, maybe 1/3, but apparently that’s full for today’s standards.

The airport sucks. People being lazy about mask wearing, employees not wearing masks, the Starbucks had 2 employees working and they were moving at the speed of smell so it took 45min to get a bottled water and a cinnamon roll (we wanted to get actual drinks and some egg bites, but I think I’d still be waiting for them as I type this). Our flight was full. Every seat. Ugh... I can’t complain because we chose to take the trip during this time on an airline that made no claim of keeping people spaced, but we were a little weirded out I guess. Anyway...

Back home. Settled in. Dogs happy to see us. Kids back chatting with friends. One more day off before we go back to work and the kids start school.

Now...the real question is, are we buying DVC?
 
Last edited:
Answer: yes! LOL.. beyond financial analysis having the points “forces” you to go frequently.. I like that kind of pressure :)

the question is how frequently? (Or better, how many points to buy?)

I am dealing with the “add-on-itis”!

ps. Loved your report!
 
Thanks for your report. Did you walk over to DS from OKW while you were there? If so, how was the walk?
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!









Top