Mistakes Were Made
Happy New Year, everyone! Where the heck did the past 4 months go??? I didn't mean to leave you all hanging (oops!) so sorry, it just got incredibly busy with work and holidays but happy that we made it to 2021!
Now where were we? When we last left off I believe we were on our way to The Wave for lunch, which meant making it from the Yacht Club to the Contemporary. In normal times any Disney enthusiast knows you should give yourself at least 60 minutes when using Disney transportation, however these are not normal times, these are covid times i.e. limited options, and none between hotels
, so it took us 2 hours on the scenic route
We started by strolling over to the International Gateway to catch the Skyliner, which was my very first time on this brand-new system, and can you guess how I felt about it?
Sunglasses: On. Sunscreen: Sheer. Ponytail holder: Lost.
If you guessed "excited" you'd be WRONG. I was elated! Thrilled! Overjoyed! There are 48 more synonyms in the thesaurus but I won't list them all! I absolutely loved it (bonus views of the France pavilion construction!), the breeze coming in kept us completely cool and comfortable in 90+ degree heat, and I have to say as someone who is
terrified of heights I didn't feel even the tiniest bit anxious, it was absolutely wonderful.
The Skyliner let us off at the Riviera station, another new addition since last we were on property, so we decided to stroll through the resort and use their bus stop to head north. This new resort is absolutely stunning - as soon as you walk through the archway from the station to the pool area you are enveloped in these gorgeous tile mosaics:
This is only one of several and my terrible photog skills don't do it justice.
I would love to stay here in the future when the prices come more in line with the "Moderate" categorization
We made our way up and through the lobby and down to the bus stop to wait an indeterminate amount of time for a "Royal Greetings"-headlined bus. Let me tell you, approaching the Magic Kingdom and knowing that we couldn't go in (yet) was
torture because patience is not my strongest suit.
It's not a dress either but have some queen Sherie Rene Scott action.
At this point you might be thinking we'd complete our Disney Transport odyssey by hopping the monorail 1 stop to the Contemporary lobby. WRONG AGAIN! We walked! Well, I got us lost in the labyrinth of bus stop paths (oops) and then we found the right one across the street and walked.
Honeymoon Tip #3: Marry someone who loves crab cakes and lunch cocktails as much as you do, and order like 6 of each JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN.
Funnily enough, I thought this meal, as delicious as it was, was going to be a highlight of the trip but it turns out I can barely remember it because there were so many more as the week went on and this one wound up paling in comparison. Still, we enjoyed ourselves (#lunchcocktails) and once we finished my new husband was feeling ready for a nap, so we nixed the Disney Transport odyssey and took an Uber instead back to our hotel so he could nap.
I was still high on adrenaline (duh) and decided while he slept to check out one of the primary reasons we booked the Yacht Club:
the DVC sales office Stormalong Bay. One thing you should know about me, I usually feel a bit awkward in new/unfamiliar places and so trying to navigate this gigantic pool complex with its myriad levels, rock formations, and pool types was a bit nerve-wracking. While I'm convinced everyone was staring at me as I splished through the kiddie-pool traversing the area because I didn't realize there was a walking path right next and felt very silly having to ask someone how to get to the entrance of the water slide the truth is no one else really notices these things and I am happy to report I was not permanently traumatized by the experience. I really enjoyed my 40 minutes of water-sliding, splishing, lazy-rivering, and squishing the sand at the bottom of the pool between my toes before the skies turned ominously dark with an impending thunderstorm and everyone was kicked out.
Dripping wet and not ready to go into the freezing cold air-conditioning I thought it would be a good idea to air dry while enjoying an ice cream sundae from the Beaches & Cream to-go window so I beat the rush and ordered my very first No Way Jose.
Go to Beaches & Cream, they said. It'll be fun, they said.
I was not prepared for how absolutely ENORMOUS this sundae was. I was expecting something that you'd get at Friendly's (2-3 scoops, modest whipped topping, shout out to my fellow Friendly's lovers!) but that plastic bowl was like the size you get a lunch salad in. I'm no stranger to tackling a mountain of ice cream but it was also melting faster than I could shovel into my not-empty stomach and I began to think I made a huge mistake.
Husband to the rescue! He had woken up from his nap and located me in the nick of time so that we could take the No Way Jose down together.
That's love.
Of course after all this eating we needed to find a way to burn some extra calories and what better way than a casual round of golf? Mini-golf that is! Off to Fantasia Gardens!
Luckily it stopped raining.
This is a must-do on every trip, and although the course is looking a bit worn from its years of love it's still a lot of fun. Now something else you should know, my husband and I are both
very competitive with each other when it comes to games. We're not sure why and we know we could never be on something like The Amazing Race because it would probably lead to a swift divorce XD But something lower-stakes like mini golf was safe. In fact since the course was so deserted (not desserted, that's what we were #icecream) we played each hole twice. He won both times.
I'm not bitter.
Up next: I swallow my defeat and take him out for his belated Birthday dinner...