Where are we staying tonight? A very last minute trip - July 2022

[KayBeeMouse]

Hello! As a longtime trip report lurker, I figured it was time for me to offer up a report -- and this is a Walt Disney World trip unlike any we've ever taken before.

I'm Kristen, 40-something mom, wife, and nonprofit finance executive in Ohio. My husband is Mike, also an executive in the philanthropic sector. Our careers are both very high pressure, so our Disney World vacations are a necessary escape valve.

We are proud parents of two great kids--14 year old (M) and 12 year old (O). We're all big fans of the Muppets as you can see from our 2019 MNSSHP costumes...


I grew up a WDW kid as my grandma lived in central Florida, but Mike only went once as a child. Our first trip as a family was 2011, and 14 trips later we're showing no signs of slowing down. Most of those trips have included my parents as well. We're experienced Disney planners, usually with 3-6 months lead time to give me lots of room to plan dining and park hopping accordingly. We're Deluxe people but will try just about any place once so we've stayed at many Disney resorts including: Poly, GF, Contemporary, WL, BC (our favorite!), YC, CSR, POR, AOA, Swan, and offsite at Gaylord. We were annual passholders in 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 but let it lapse as with the kids getting older we wanted to show them more of the country and world.

Our story begins with plans for a big summer vacation to California. California? Just stay with me.... We planned a big blowout trip since this school year finds our oldest moving on to high school from the grade school she and O have attended since Kindergarten, so lots of changes in our family life! We wanted to take the kids west to see Southern California, so planned an epic journey of Santa Barbara, Los Angeles/Hollywood, and ending with a few days at Disneyland, a necessary pilgrimage for enthusiasts like us. We spent months thoughtfully plotting our itinerary.... introducing the kids to the secret menu at In-N-Out...downloading podcasts for the inevitable freeway gridlock...

About two weeks before the trip, Mike and I returned from a weekend in Denver seeing our favorite band at Red Rocks when it finally happened to us. COVID+. After 2+ years of dodging it we finally drew the short straw and fell ill. We were crushed. Because M started high school in early August, we couldn't just delay, wouldn't be worth our while to fly across the country for just a few days. Our California dreams are postponed to 2023.

Once the kids both got through the exposure window negative, we thought we'd be clear to plan a short trip to WDW later in the month as an easy backup plan, so we booked 2 nights at Poly and 2 at Beach Club. Welp.....you guessed it, O tested positive a few days later. Sigh. That one really hurt to cancel as we were really up against the school year clock. So we reluctantly planned on some staycation activities around our city and felt all around grumpy that COVID robbed us of our summer vacation plans.

Fast forward a few more days. After weeks of testing positive, Mike and I both finally were negative and ready to take a few days off work for our staycation. We decided to give O a test just to see if they were negative yet and the magic happened--we were all officially COVID free! So we had clean bills of health, 4 days off work, and a lot of Delta e Credits to use. Mike and I looked at each other and said--should we fly to Florida today? We found a shockingly reasonable flight that was leaving in 3.5 hours with 4 seats left just for us. It was meant to be! Did a quick search and lots of resort availability so figured we'd come back to that once we got to the airport. Pulled the kids away from their screens and asked if they wanted to go to WDW for a few days--of course the answer was yes.

The next 45 minutes was a flurry of activity. Packing, arranging dog sitting, taking out the garbage--we left the house in shambles. It was like we'd been caught in the Blip. Just disappeared! Once we got on the road to the airport I booked our arrival night at the Poly on the DVC side. We last stayed at the Poly in 2013 so we were all very excited to return. I called our favorite car service and they were able to accommodate us (that will come in handy in the next chapter!). We've never made such minute-by-minute plans so we were curious to see how our experiment played out.

 

[Tatum20]

Wow. That has always been my wish to just spontaneously do a vacation. But husband likes spontaneity about as much as he likes the stomach flu, and for me, part of the fun is vacation planning, so I don't know if that will ever be in the cards for us. But glad to live vicariously through this trip report!

 

[KayBeeMouse]

Here we are at CVG ready to go! Still can’t believe we’re doing this.


Our flight was easy and right on time, we arrived to MCO around 7 PM. Our driver was waiting and scooped us up for a quick trip to Publix.

While these kids are tween/teens and fairly responsible, they still don’t quite think of everything at the last minute. So along with lots of water for the July heat, we needed to grab a toothbrush and try to find swimsuits for both. Publix got one of two clothed and we figured M could find an overpriced suit at the Poly.

On our way to the resort I bought 3 day park hoppers and made park reservations for Friday-Sunday of our trip, leaving us with Thursday as a pool day at Poly - and whatever resort we would move to next.

As we approached the Poly, the Florida sky opened up with a typical rain storm. Terrible timing as we dragged our bags over to our room in Moorea. We loved the DVC room- the split bathroom was great for the 4 of us to spread out! And the fifth sleeper is a must for us as the kids don’t like to share a bed.

We ditched our things and went back to the GCH for food- hoping to find seats at Tambu Lounge to access the secret Ohana menu. It was packed full but we spotted two people settling up with the bartender and scooped up their seats in short order.

Success!
We finished dinner (and my Lapu Lapu) and headed down to the pool. A beautiful way to watch the fireworks!

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

Wow! How fun!!!

 

[KayBeeMouse]

After the pool, we came back to the room and relaxed before bed. One thing we really missed on the newer tv’s is the WDW Today channel- that music loop was the soundtrack to our 2020 when we were stuck at home and dreaming of traveling to Disney World again.

Morning time arrives. So something to know about us- we’re rope drop kinda people. Early bird gets the worm, the Starbucks, and the low wait times. I think we’ve only ever taken one resort day in all of our 14 trips. So today was a rare treat and maybe one of my favorite days ever.

Tonga Toast and Spam are one of O’s favorite things so a Kona Cafe mobile order was a top priority. We left the kids to sleep and walked over to the GCH, also while browsing for our resort stay for the night. Poly was fully sold out so we knew we’d be moving, just didn’t know where! We hoped to get to a Boardwalk area resort but they were also full up- I think there was a big convention that weekend. So we’ll keep looking while lounging at the Lava Pool later.


I love this lobby.

After a leisurely breakfast in our room and a re-packing of our bags (some things got pretty damp in the monsoon rain the night before), we had a decision to make. Where were we going to stay? As I clicked through the website once again, a one night stay RPC at GF showed up. We had a magical upgrade at Beach Club once to CL and enjoyed it so figured it was worth the try. Plus, we could just monorail over after we enjoyed the Poly!

Decision made, we enjoyed a nice morning at the Lava Pool. O must have gone down the slide 10 times. I had a last minute work issue pop up so I did some work while enjoying this beauty.


We grabbed lunch mobile order from Captain Cook’s -the pulled pork nachos were perfect to share and quite tasty!

Did I mention it’s July? It’s hotter than the surface of the sun. We’re not summer Disney people, June and October are the closest we’ve gotten and boy, this heat is no joke. My face started sweating the second we stepped outside at 8 am. So a couple hours at the pool and we felt like roasted turkeys. Seemed like a good time to hop on the monorail and head to some AC in the club level… all while still wet from the pool. Sorry, anyone who sat on the monorail after us. It was pool water, not sweat!

(This fashionable swimsuit courtesy of the Poly gift shop. She hated it but it was this or a suit better suited to her grandma.)

 

[rdkeim]

Following! Nice you could make it to Disney despite all the obstacles. Not sure I could be that go with the flow but I'm impressed! Anxious to read more!

 

[SleeplessInTO]

I love your spontaneity!! Yes! Carpe diem! (Auto correct really wanted to make that carpet firm. Close enough lol)

 

[erinch]

Wow! What a story!

 

[KayBeeMouse]

Our room wasn’t quite ready as we arrived around 1:30. Let me tell you, we added a touch of elegance to club level at the Grand. Wet swimsuits, lugging a big jug of purified water.
(O’s swim shirt from Publix features the phrase “bad to the bone” and a boned fish. This couldn’t be further from their preferred style. )

We enjoyed some cold drinks and snacks, and I had my first of many glasses of champagne. Our room soon was available so we made our way. The club level rooms are pretty similar to the rest of the resort, but with a lovely view of the quiet pool and the construction currently underway.


The kids were ready for some downtime so they stayed behind while the adults hit our second pool of the day, also with a to-go glass of champagne. I do enjoy the quiet pool here. I wasn’t sure if the Grand was for us but it was my mom’s dream resort so we tried it in June of 2021 and enjoyed the peacefulness and proximity to MK.

After our dip, it was time to get ready for Disney Springs. One of our must do’s is Homecomin’ and I lucked into a 4 pm reservation. After we showered (a pointless endeavor mid-day in July, but made us feel better for a moment!) we had a short wait for a Springs bus then off we went!

O had some drink-to- mouth issues this trip, it became a running joke. Even with a straw the kid wore their beverage more often than not. Can’t take us anywhere!


We did some shopping after our early dinner. I have to say the merch selection has not been to our taste the last few trips. We only come home with some pins for our collection and maybe a mug. But with our hasty packing we had a few missing items so we grabbed a spirit jersey for M and I searched for a tank top with no success.

The worst part of not driving to Disney Springs is the bus stops. We always access from the wrong side no matter what resort and have a long hike to our stop. It was 100 degrees and we waited a good 20 min for the GF bus, so that made us all a bit grumpy particularly since I didn’t bring our handheld fans to Springs. Lesson learned!

Back at the Grand, the lounge had dinner service going. We were too stuffed for food but a glass of wine was lovely. We enjoyed gazing down into the lobby while the pianist performed.

We still couldn’t believe we were here. This summer was a series of unfortunate events that made life pretty stressful. Our finished basement flooded and caused major damage. Covid. A myriad of work pressures. While Disney World isn’t quite the same post COVID, it’s still a place where our family can find fun together - which isn’t the easiest feat in a household of teenagers. Grateful!

Let’s stuff more food in. I love the view here!

I’m going to be real- while CL is nice, the food assortments are not the most exciting. This dessert was not it for us. The blue..thing is a margarita panna cotta and it’s as horrible as you imagined.
We got a nice discount on the room as Disney+ subscribers, but I wouldn’t pay this price again for club. I’m glad we tried it though!

We moved away from the feeding trough and Mike and O headed to the water slide for a bit. I only had one thing on my mind- Electrical Water Pageant. It’s corny but we love it so. We headed down to the boat launch and had a fantastic view.


I liked the 50th addition to the beginning and end.


We were hot again so back to the room. Tonight we had a lovely view, too!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Following along! I admire your spontaneity.... My extreme Type A self shall live vicariously through you as I read this TR Can't wait to read more!

 

[KayBeeMouse]

After a good night’s sleep and a 7 am wake up for the Guardians queue, we packed up and made our way to the lounge for breakfast. It must not have been too exciting as I took no photos!

When we’d been upgraded to CL at Beach Club in 2019, we were able to access the lounge the entire day of our check out. At GF that was not the case. So we loaded up with water bottles and headed to Epcot via monorail. We still needed hotel for 2 more nights and nothing was popping up for the Boardwalk area, so we booked the remaining nights at the Grand that morning. We didn’t want to mess around with lugging our stuff to another resort so it made the most sense.


It was hot already!
Even with the construction, Epcot is the favorite park for most of us. Spaceship Earth is beloved to O, as is Figment. We used G+ to make the most of our short time there and hit Nemo, Figment, Soarin and Test Track-with a pit stop at the Fry Box before our boarding group was called for Guardians. Eek!


M is a huge Marvel fan and O is a roller coaster data machine so we were all excited for this one. I was worried about motion sickness so I had put on my sea band contraptions earlier in the day and took a Bonine for good measure, and we asked for row 1. I won’t spoil the ride but wow- it’s special. Def left my brain feeling a bit scrambled so I’m not sure I can do it multiple times a trip, but so glad we got to experience it! Well done, Disney.




After Guardians we headed for World Showcase. A margarita is always on my to do list so we grabbed that along with the Al pastor tacos from the F&W booth. It was around 2 by now and we were sweltering. We’re usually mid-day break people but we felt like we needed to keep going to fit everything in, so we took a spin with Donald, Panchito and Jose!


The kids were still hungry and hot so we went over to the old Odyssey building for some chicken wings and even found a table with chairs! Then a DJ started playing. It was odd, but fun.


We kept going around WS but got stuck waiting for the Harmonious barges to go through the bridge. Sweaty.


At this point we wished we’d not gone back this far in the park. We hit up the Japan and Germany pavilion shops, then made our way back to the front.

Am I melting? I’m melting.


We monorail’d back to TTC, where the resort monorail was down and no ETA on it’s return. Blergh. So we hopped on the express to MK, then to the boat launch. We were very, very hot by then and still waiting for our room ready text. Luckily the front desk got us sorted out and we were off to our third resort room in 3 days.

 

[footballmouse]

from a fellow buckeye. CVG is about a 15 minute drive for us (if we use the ferry, not the highway). Sounds like a great time so far, hot but fun.

 

[nascargirl]

What a whirlwind trip. We also love the CL at BC and BWI.