« Look mommy, Tinkerbell is not sick anymore! » - A February 2020 trip report - UPDATED 04/17

Thursday February 27, 2020
Magic Kingdom Part 3

After lunch, we traveled back on Main St to head to our next character meet and greet: Tinkerbell!!! DD2 was so excited that Tinkerbell was not sick anymore (!) and that she would finally get to meet her! She put on her Tinkerbell dress and walked straight to Town Square Theater! We waited a few minutes with our FP and magically shrunk to the size of a fairy!

Tinkerbell was truly the best we could have hoped for! She was so excited to see a "mini-Peter" and a "mini-Tinkerbell", and couldn't stop talking to the kids about pixie dust, flying, how life as a fairy was the best... she was litterally talking non stop for 3 minutes! DD2 and DS5 were starstruck! When she looked at DS5's autograph book, she realized that he has been drawing pictures of the different characters, and she told him how impressed she was with his drawing skills! Then, the most magical thing happened: she realized he hadn’t met Peter Pan yet, and asked him if he would be nice enough to send him a message. She asked if she could draw a picture of Peter so he would know she said hi. She was very serious about drawing a little Peter Pan next to her autograph, and she was pretty pleased with herself!

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(to the left is Tink’s drawing of Peter, and to the right is the drawing DS5 made of Tinkerbell afterwards)

DS5 was in awe, and this meet and greet made him even more excited for our next character, Peter Pan himself! (Thank god we were already planning on this, otherwise I may or may not have been pretty mad at Tink for building the excitement! 😂)

We knew Peter was finishing up a set soon, so we « walked with purpose » up to his meeting spot in Fantasyland. Unfortunately when we got there, the character handler had cut his line and told us to come back at 2PM (30 minutes later) when he would be back for his next set. To say DS5 was disappointed would be an understatement... We asked kindly if we could sit close to the end of the line to make sure we would be first in line when he came back, and the handler agreed to make an exception (seeing that DS5 and DD2 were clearly dressed for this M&G, he understood it was a priority for them!)

So DH and I took turns going to the Rapunzel bathrooms with the kids, trying to find the hidden Pascals (more complicated than I thought!), and waiting anxiously for Peter to be back.

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Thankfully, Peter showed up again at 2PM sharp and was as excited as Tinkerbell to see a "little Tink" and a "little me"! He was another character who was just perfect for the part: he was happy, bouncing all over the place, doing high fives and just being his own over-the-top person!

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He couldn't stop laughing when he saw the drawing that Tink had made for him! He decided to return the favor and drew a Tinkerbell face next to his autograph!

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(to the left is Peter’s drawing of Tink, and to the right is the drawing DS5 made of Peter Pan afterwards)

It was another one of those magical Pixie Dust moments that just make everything worth it (even waiting in the cold, sitting on the ground for 30 minutes!) Seeing the smiles, the excitement and the magic in the eyes of our children, is exactly why we bring preschoolers to Disney World! DSwas over the moon and couldn't stop talking about Peter Pan and Tinkerbell and how much fun he had talking to them!

It was now 2:05, and we knew we wanted to have a good spot for the parade. We could have gone on another short ride but we weren't really feeling it, and we decided to grab a spot where we could sit, have a snack and just relax a little before the parade. We were able to get a spot in front oh Liberty Tree Tavern where we could sit on the flower pots. DD2 fell asleep in her stroller as soon as we walked away from Peter (too much excitement!) and DS5 was happy just sitting and relaxing. We grabbed some Mickey Bars (it was cold but it seemed like the perfect snack to eat while waiting for the parade) and just enjoyed the beautiful sunny afternoon.

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I binged my way through to catch back up. What a great trip so far!

It was standing room only, so my son had to hold on to the railing for the first time; he was really proud to do this on his own, like an adult! I think he remembers that moment more than many attractions we were on!

How fun! My girls used to love the rare occasion where they had to stand on public transit (not that we've done than in... gosh, I have no idea. Maybe a trip to the city for Xmas 2019?)

Things have been so crazy lately... but I just got something to bring me back in the Disney mood... we just put in an offer for our first DVC contract and... it was ACCEPTED! Paperwork has been sent to Disney and we are waiting for RoFR (which could take weeks to months according to these boards...) but if everything works... we will be owners of 100pts at the Polynesian Villas and Bungalows! Woot woot!!!

How great! Have you heard back yet?

The restaurant is truly beautiful! The lighting, the large windows, the furniture, everything was spot on. Our server was very quick to take our orders, bring coffee and POG juice (which was just as delicious as I remembered!). The kids got a nice a paper menu with activities and coloring pages. We were expecting that DD2 would eat from our plates, but our server kindly offered her own meal for free (which turned out to be a good thing because she ate most of her plate! It was THAT good!)

The food was amazing. We started off with a pastry basket with dipping sauces. The kids devoured the muffins, and we enjoyed the epi bread. We got mimosas (why not, when on the Dining Plan?) DH and I shared the wood-fired butcher steak and the spiced sausage hash, both were delicious! The kids both got the Mickey waffle dippers with fruits and bacon - I was surprised they still had room after the muffins and pastries but they loved it so much, DD2 would have licked her plate if we let her do it!

This one's on my post-pandemic list for sure. I really hope they're able to get the individual interactions back.

I was very impressed with the topiaries, and the kids loved them too. I definitely will try to plan another trip around Flower and Garden!

Our 2019 trip was also filled with topiaries but no actual festival just yet. They are really pretty, even if you don't get the full Flower and Garden experience.

Seeing all those pictures of my kids hugging the characters is bitter sweet… I don’t know if we will ever get back to that level of proximity… but I really hope so! At least, I am glad we were able to go when they were that young, and really believed in the Disney Magic… it was really beautiful to see how happy they were! The character meets were the highlight of our trip!

This is really tough for me, too. When I think of my happiest Disney memories with the girls, there are way more characters than rides. Hopefully soon...

Then suddenly, we were delighted to see fireworks light up the sky - we were able to watch some of the Epcot fireworks from our balcony! It was a magical ending to a magical day!

That's so cool! When we stayed on Crescent Lake, Hubby would walk out to see either Epcot or HS fireworks depending on his timing. It's a really great location.

Hey, what wouldn’t we do for our kids? They were much better than I was at waiting: they got a snack in their strollers, and I think they probably napped a little.

Not for nothing- my tolerance for lines would be higher if I could be pushed ahead in my shaded seat with snacks. :-)

But yet, when DH headed back with Rider Switch, je decided to go with him... and loved it the second time around! (Those kids!!)

They really can turn on a dime!

We decided HS was too busy for us this year, and that we didn’t want to go back despite having the perfect lineup of FP for Friday morning (all 3 TSL rides before lunchtime!). Therefore, while everyone in the room took a little nap, I rearranged our FP plans for Friday morning to make it an Epcot day.

Bummer. Our hardest trip days were HS, too, and that was before SWGE opened.

This morning, DD woke up early, so I took her down to the Boardwalk bakery to get some breakfast items to eat in the room, and coffee for DH and I. It was a gorgeous day with amazing blue skies, but it was very cold compared to the days before. DD requested a Photobooth session and we had fun doing lots of silly poses.

That Photobooth is the best! I had a few early mornings there with whoever happened to be my early riser for the day.

Tinkerbell was truly the best we could have hoped for! She was so excited to see a "mini-Peter" and a "mini-Tinkerbell", and couldn't stop talking to the kids about pixie dust, flying, how life as a fairy was the best... she was litterally talking non stop for 3 minutes! DD2 and DS5 were starstruck!

Oh, that's awesome. I'm so glad she got to have a great meet after the earlier disappointment.
 
How great! Have you heard back yet?
we did... and we got the contract! (And we got a pretty good deal at the time!)
Although when we bought we naively thought CoViD would be over in 2021... he contract came with some banked points that had to be used before June 2021; thankfully I was able to rent the points so we didn’t lose anything.
We now have an amazing trip booked with our 2020 points for this summer (3 nights at the poly, 3 nights at beach club!) We probably wouldn’t do more than one park day and just enjoy the pools...
Unfortunately, I don’t think we will be able to cross the border this summer... (DH and I will be vaccinated but I don’t think the borders will be open yet without significant restrictions...)
We will wait until June to make a final decision so we can cancel without penalty, but it’s so nice to have projects and travel plans! And at least we know that future Disney trips will be part of our future... hopefully soon!

This one's on my post-pandemic list for sure
It was truly amazing! Delicious food and great character interaction!!

When I think of my happiest Disney memories with the girls, there are way more characters than rides. Hopefully soon...
I am so grateful that we were able to live those moments before the pandemic hit, so at least we will have those memories (and lots of pictures!) forever, whatever the future brings!

Not for nothing- my tolerance for lines would be higher if I could be pushed ahead in my shaded seat with snacks. :-)
😂
 
Thursday February 27, 2020
Magic Kingdom Part 4

When I left off, we were waiting for the parade to begin. When the announcements started, we woke DD2 up... she was a bit grumpy at first but she lit up when she started seeing the floats and the characters coming by!

I know not everyone loves the parades - mostly because of the fact that it requires getting a spot early, and waiting in large crowds in the warm sunny Florida weather for the parade to begin - but we loved it! I wasn’t sure it would be worth the hassle of doing a full park day with two young kids, but it really was! We enjoyed every minute of the parade, the kids were waiving at the characters and having a blast!

Here are a few pictures of the wonderful Festival of Fantasy parade!!

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...Continued in next post
 
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Thursday February 27, 2020
Magic Kingdom Part 5

During the parade, Alice noticed DD2 was wearing some cute pink sunglasses, so she went to grab white rabbit and they came really close to DD2. They acted very impressed, then they both made pretend glasses with their hands in front of their eyes... Then the White Rabbit took DD’s hand and blew her a kiss as he went away... she was so excited I think she was about to faint!

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This was just another magical moment... those performers are amazing! I think it is incredible that they find ways to interact with individual persons despite having so large crowds... it was a very special moment for DD2, she still talks about it every time we talk about Alice in Wonderland !

A few more floats and characters were still to come, and we truly were enjoying ourselves!

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When these two came along, we knew that was a sign we had to take off before the crowd started moving.
We had plans to take the monorail to Epcot, ride Soarin’ with a FP+ and walk back to the Boardwalk. The kids were in such a high after the parade, they weren’t ready to go back to the room just yet so we decided we would follow their lead and see what they wanted to do!

So DH and I power walked through Adventureland, and made a bee line for the Emporium (I had read on the Dis that it was a good shortcut to avoid the crowds) and we made it to the end of Main St before the first float, so we were able to escape before everyone else!

DD2 was crying because she didn’t want the parade to end... she wanted to go see another parade! We tried to explain this was not a ride we could go back on again, but she was inconsolable at the time... thankfully we were able to quickly change her mind when we told her we were about to ride the Monorail and we were going to see the big Golf Ball!

We had such a wonderful time at the Magic Kindom! It was another perfect day, and it wasn’t over yet! I soaked in the beauty of the castle and Main St. one last time and we went up to the Monorail. We had to wait less than 2 minutes to board the Express Monorail to the TTC, and then we waited another 10 minutes for the Epcot monorail, and off we were for some more fun!
 
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I really enjoyed your trip report! I am a fellow Canadian from Ottawa and the trip reports have been getting me through this time when the border is closed. I think you did an absolutely wonderful trip planning a trip for the ages of your children and I am so glad you were rewarded with such a wonderful vacation.
 
I really enjoyed your trip report! I am a fellow Canadian from Ottawa and the trip reports have been getting me through this time when the border is closed. I think you did an absolutely wonderful trip planning a trip for the ages of your children and I am so glad you were rewarded with such a wonderful vacation.

Thank you for reading! ☺️
We had a wonderful time, and indeed all the planning paid off! I learned so much by reading other people’s trip reports, it helped me understand how to plan a Disney vacation with kids!
And now, just like you, I am reading about other people’s trip since I know we can’t go for a while, and I keep daydreaming of future vacations!
Hoping things turn around in the spring and our border opens up someday soon so we can go back to the magic!
 


Thursday February 27, 2020
Finishing the day at Epcot!


After our fun monorail ride, we finally arrived to the « giant golf ball » (what my DS calls Spaceship Earth). We had a bit of a line for bag check - the security guy was being very very thourough (like asking-us-to-open-up-the-clean-diapers-so-he-could-make-sure-there-was-nothing-hidden-inside kind of thorough... 😳 I can’t wait to go back with the new security procedure!)

We got to the front of the park and saw that Pluto was meeting with a minimal wait! He was the last « sensational six » that we hadn’t met on this trip so DS5 was more than happy to get a new signature in his autograph book!

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We stopped for a few PP pictures in front of the « giant golf ball » and headed towards Nemo - the posted wait time was only 10 minutes which meant a walk on! We were definitely happy that we didn’t wait in that crazy line the previous time!

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The kids loved the ride and the aquarium afterwards! They played for a while in the Bruce Shark area, they were having a blast. We tough trying about doing Turtle Crush but since our kids didn’t speak English fluently we decided to skip it (we live in Quebec where everyone speaks French, they now go to an English Immersion school so they are getting a lot better now, but back then they would have had a hard time understanding!)

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We got to the Land Pavillon and rode Living with the land with a minimal (5-10 min) wait. Then, our FP window for Soarin opened, so we headed to the other side of the room! We activated rider swap and DD2 and DH went back for a walk while DS5 and I rode Soarin.

This was probably one of the most frustrating moments of the trip... I guess the ride broke down because the line stopped completely for about 15 minutes, so with FP we waited more than 25 min. At that point, we were getting tired and hungry. I was trying to text DH so he would know we were going to be delayed, but his battery was down and so he waited with DD2 who was getting antsy, wondering what was taking so long...

Finally we got on the ride and DS5 loved it!!! It really is one of my favourite rides and I was happy to hear him squeal with delight and bursting out laughs or pure joy! So in the end it was worth it, but I wish we didn’t have to wait so long...

When we got out, it was getting too late for DH and DS5’s rider swap (since DD2 was in desperate need of food!), so we decided to go get something to eat. I was hoping to get the tacos and nachos at the Mexican quick service place (I blame my memories from our adult only trip here - we had such a wonderful meal there this summer, over by the lake at sunset, nice relaxing meal with a sangria, talking about our future vacation plans... so it seemed like the best Mexican food in the world and the most amazing setting!) so I made the bad call to head over there (when we should have gone back to the room and grabbed something at the pizza window...). It was painfully crowded and the line to order was really bad, plus it was getting colder and colder and the wind was making it worse... the food was delicious but got cold in a few minutes. The kids were exhausted and so were we, so overall this was the worse meal experience of the week. Oh well, you live and you learn!

We finally got to our room after a quick walk, put the kids to bed and started packing because tomorrow was our last day in Disney!
 
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I was hoping to get the tacos and nachos at the Mexican quick service place (I blame my memories from our adult only trip here - we had such a wonderful meal there this summer, over by the lake at sunset, nice relaxing meal with a sangria, talking about our future vacation plans... so it seemed like the best Mexican food in the world and the most amazing setting!) so I made the bad call to head over there (when we should have gone back to the room and grabbed something at the pizza window...). It was painfully crowded and the line to order was really bad, plus it was getting colder and colder and the wind was making it worse... the food was delicious but got cold in a few minutes. The kids were exhausted and so were we, so overall this was the worse meal experience of the week. Oh well, you live and you learn!

I hate this! There are times when I know exactly what I want for dinner, but the kids are too hungry to wait for it.

Glad your son had so much fun on Soarin' even if the wait was longer than you had hoped. Rides going down when you're in the FP line is super frustrating!
 
I am definitely not a good trip reporter... it always takes me so long between two updates...
I don’t know how you guys do it!
Thankfully this is our last Disney day - so it should be over soon!

Friday February 28, 2020
Trattoria al Forno Breakfast and Epcot morning


We woke up to another chilly day in Orlando. I was awake before the rest of the crew, so I packing up our luggage since we were leaving that day. We had a 7:45 Bon Voyage Breakfast reservation, so I woke everyone up around 7:15 and we headed downstairs to have breakfast with the royals!

We were seated pretty quickly and were able to order right away. We received the wonderful pastry basket and POG juice (as well as coffee which was very much needed!).

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Soon enough we were visited by Rapunzel and Flynn rider!

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Rapunzel was very sweet and took lots of time with both kids, and Flynn Rider was so attentive to my son! He was one of the first male face characters we had the chance to meet, and he just had a fantastic interaction with DS5!

Soon after we received our entrees: breakfast calzone for me, pancakes for the kids, and eggs, sausage and potatoes casserole for my husband. Everything was delicious!

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Ariel and Eric came by shortly after. DS5 was dressed as Prince Charming, and prince Eric really took the time to chat with him and pose as princes! It was so sweet!

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the kids then took part of the little parade in the restaurant and we received our check, so we were ready to go in less than an hour!

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We were all packed up, we just had to drop our luggage to the lobby before we headed out to Epcot, so I was now hopeful we would be able to Rope Drop! But that was forgetting the SLOOOOOW elevators of the Boardwalk villas... we had to take the stairs a few times because the elevators were awfully slow and most of the time came by full of other guests, and having 4 large luggage, many bags, two strollers and two kids... it took a while!!! So we were finally walking towards Epcot around 9:10... too bad for Rope drop!

We had a just few things we wanted to accomplish this morning: DS5 wanted to ride Soarin with his dad (which we didn’t get a chance to do the night before), we were hoping to meet Ralph and Vanelope, and we wanted to ride Frozen Ever After one last time!

When we got into the park, it was CROWDED. We headed straight to soarin which DH and DS 5rode while I went back to the Seas with DD2 to play in Bruce’s shark zone (her request).
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DS loved riding Soarin with his dad, he kept telling him “don’t be scared, there will be a bird flying but it’s ok... there will be a whale soon so don’t be surprised...”
He was trying to reassure him so he would love the ride as much as he did (and probably trying to reassure himself too!)

Then around 10:00 we joined the line for Ralph and Vanelope meet and greet. As this wording was very crowded, their line was very long and we had bad luck (they cut the line just before us so they would go “fix the Internet”) but it was a good meet and the kids were happy we waited!

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We then proceed towards the World showcase, where we were able to ride the Tree Caballeros (a walk on!) at 11:05, just before our FP window opened for Frozen Ever After!


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We had a fantastical final ride on Frozen and we were enjoying our last moments in Disney world. We headed out to the International Gateway, stopping in Canada for a little poutine with one of our remaining snack credits. (Definitely not as good as Quebec Poutine, but still fairly tasty!)

After Disney, we were going to Miami for a few days on the beach, and we had a rental car to pick up at the Alamo counter at the Dolphin. We took the friendship boat to the Swolphin boat decks, and both kids quickly fell asleep in their strollers. (A week at Disney will do that!) We got the rental car fairly quickly, went back to the Boardwalk to get our luggage (and I went down to the Boardwalk Bakery for some coffee and snacks for the road) and we hit the road!
 
Final thoughts and wrap up

Overall, despite a few hiccups, this was the best trip I could have dreamed of. I had been planning this trip in my head for a year, and it beat all of my expectations! So far, we had been to the Magic Kingdom for one day the year before and we had done two Disney days as an adult-only trip, so this really was our first “real” Disney trip. And it was AMAZING! We fell in love with Disney property, Disney parks, Disney hotels, Disney food, and just the overall Disney feel!

When we were in Disney, CoViD was beginning to be a thing on cruise boats and it was a big deal in China, but we had no clue at the time it was already creeping up here in Canada and in the US... it was our last worry free period for a long time! I love that while we were there, we didn’t worry about large crowds (aside from the waits that came with it!), about DD2 touching everything and putting everything in her mouth, about hearing someone cough... it would have made the trip much less enjoyable had we known what was going on at the time! Looking back, DD2 got a stomach bug while we were in Miami; none of us became sick so we think it’s most likely something she ate, but who knows? Thankfully no one in our family has had COVID since then, and both DH and I had had our first shot and my next one is planned in 2 weeks, so we will be able to travel again someday soon. (Fingers crossed the border opens up eventually!)

Here are a few random thoughts about our trip that I think will define the way we plan disney trip in the future:

- Split stay: we loved it! We like that it let us explore different areas and different resorts, and it made it easier to justify the deluxe price tag. In the future, we will probably try to split between a Magic Kingdom resort and a Skyliner resort, or repeat this trip with a value resort and an Epcot resort. We loved the location of the Boardwalk villas for the location, and will likely be back in the future!

- traveling with grandparents: this was amazing! We will definitely bring them along in the future, and my parents-in-law are also willing to come in the future! It made for special memories with the grandkids, and both my parents and my kids talk about our Disney adventures all the time! In the future, we might take advantage of having grandparents there to have a Disney date night, but my parents were with us for such a short period that we wanted to spend all the time with them!

- Dining plan: I both loved it and hated it at times... I didn’t like being tied to having sitdown meals every day, and we had a lot of snack credits to deal with at the end of the trip, but it made it easier to get those character meals and not worry about the cost. It was good to share our credits with my parents during the first half of the trip, but I am not sure this will still be allowed whenever the dining plan comes back...in the future, especially since we love split stays, we will consider getting the dining plan for half of our trip, but probably not for the whole trip!

- Photopass: this is something I will never be able to go without from now on! Being the photographer of the family, I rarely have good shots of myself and family shots, so I loved having someone else take pictures for a change! I loved the magic shots and the ride pictures too! Having the annual pass made it a no brainer, but it was such a fun experience, I think even if we go for a short trip I will consider getting it!

- Character meet and greets: this was the biggest surprise of our trip. I knew the kids would like meeting the characters, but I just didn’t realize how much! It was amazing too see their reactions and to have them look back at their autograph books with excitement! It also let them lead the way by choosing who to meet next, or even prioritize between rides and M&G! I know things are very different now and who know if the meet and greets we experienced will ever come back... but I am definitely glad we got to enjoy them at the time!

Visiting with young children: a lot of people ask what is the best age to bring your kids, and I think the answer is: whenever you feel ready to bring them! Obviously, lots of people don’t have the opportunity to go many times so I think it’s probably best to wait a little if that’s the case, but for us, visiting at 2 and 5 was truly magical! The magic and the excitement will never be the same as it was for them at that age! I have to say lots of people around us thought we were crazy to go with kids that young ... I know they won’t remember much of it when they are folder, but I definitely will! And the experience they went through while they were in Disney will be inside them forever; they were so happy at the moment, it was wonderful to see! Plus, with all the pictures and videos we have from the trip, it helps keep the memories alive. ☺️
The planning was very different with young kids; first, we had the strollers which was a blessing since we love to walk (and walk fast!), so we could go-go-go without worrying about making them tired! Also, since they didn’t know what to expect, it was really easy to follow my plans for what to do and when! Next time we go, the kids will have a better idea of what to expect so I will try to involve them in our itinerary (what their priorities are, what parks they want to visit...)

We loved our trip it so much that we became DVC owners a few months after we came back! I had been researching a little before our trip, but staying at the Boardwalk villas sealed the deal. I spent a lot of time reading on the boards about DVC, and decided on resale at the Polynesian. We were able to get a good resale contract at the Poly when the prices dropped after closing last spring, and although we still haven’t been able to go back, I love the feeling of knowing that there will be more Disney vacations in our future, and for many more years to come!

For now, we have a reservation for 3 days at the Polynesian in July with our DVC points. We would do a park day (morning at Magic Kingdom, break at the resort and afternoon at Epcot/HS), and probably get a park hopper plus to get a waterpark day the second day (I am not sure how my kids will do with parks in the Florida heat!). We would again do a split Disney / beach vacations because my kids really miss the beach! (It has been a long, cold winter here!) we have not booked flights yet because we are still uncertain about the border situation, but it’s good to have something to look forward to!
Otherwise, we have a trip planned in February with my sister’s family so hopefully things will settle down by then and we can go!

In the meantime, I will be reading other people’s trip reports to get my Disney fix!

thanks for reading!
 
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Thanks for taking the time to write this. Staying at BWV for the first time next month. I love the EPCOT area resorts. Will also be trying Trattoria for the first time. Looks delish !
 
Thanks for taking the time to write this. Staying at BWV for the first time next month. I love the EPCOT area resorts. Will also be trying Trattoria for the first time. Looks delish !
You will love it! It was really amazing to stay at the Boardwalk. Plus, the clown pool is now gone! 😜
Have a great trip!
 
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Happy Easter everyone! 🐣
I hope everyone is safe and healthy. I know it will be weird celebrating the holiday without the extended family, but we have prepared a few surprises to make it special for the kids!
I finally had a little time on my hands. So here’s a quick update, hoping to get another in soon!

Saturday February 22nd, 2020
Skyliner!


To get back to the resort, we decided to take a bus to HS and then the skyliner to Pop. I was surprised to see that Wilderness Lodge shared buses with Bay Lake Tower, but we were still in HS in less than 15 min. We arrived at sunset and the view was spectacular!


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The kids were particularly excited about the Skyliner cabins. They were pointing and screaming the names of the movies or characters as they passed by, jumping with excitement! The Skyliner ride was really fun, and it was beautiful to see the sunset over the Tower of Terror from the air! We had a nice quick ride to CBR, transferred without issues to the Pop/AOA line, and were on the bridge in 10-15 min.

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We decided to explore AOA a bit, before going to bed. The kids enjoyed playing in the Nemo playground, then we strolled around the Cars section and made it back to the room for an early night... because tomorrow was going to be an early wake up!

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Your pictures are great!
 
Wow... it's been a while since I last posted in this TR!

Things have been so crazy lately... but I just got something to bring me back in the Disney mood... we just put in an offer for our first DVC contract and... it was ACCEPTED! Paperwork has been sent to Disney and we are waiting for RoFR (which could take weeks to months according to these boards...) but if everything works... we will be owners of 100pts at the Polynesian Villas and Bungalows! Woot woot!!!

So... the least I could say is that it has put me back in a Disney state of mind! Time for another quick update on our February trip!

Tuesday February 25, 2020
Epcot and Resort Switch day!
Part 1 - breakfast at Topolino’s !


Today, we woke up a little later and let the kids relax in bed and watch TV while we finished packing our luggage. This was our last night at Pop and we were moving to Boardwalk Villas today! We were very excited about our first Deluxe stay, especially since we had planned Epcot and HS for that part of the trip!

We went down to Bell Services to get a cart, but all the carts were gone unfortunately, so they sent a bell boy to our room to take care of the luggage transfer. We had quite a lot of stuff between the luggage, groceries and bed stuff for the kids, but he was able to put everything on a cart quickly and we were off in a few minutes. The resort switch was starting off quite well! I have to admit it was a little painful to pack and unpack, but after reading about other people's trip here on the Dis, I had packed all the clothes in separate large Ziploc bags labeled by parks / days / character outfits, which made the move much easier. And it was so worth it to experience two different resorts!

This morning, we had a 9:45 reservation for breakfast at Topolino’s Terrace, which I was really excited about. We got on the Skyliner, and within 10-15 minutes, we were at Riviera resort. The mosaics in the lobby were quite impressive and we took a few minutes to take it all in. We got to the restaurant about 10 minutes before our reservation time, and were seated quickly (probably a few minutes before our actual reservation time).

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The restaurant is truly beautiful! The lighting, the large windows, the furniture, everything was spot on. Our server was very quick to take our orders, bring coffee and POG juice (which was just as delicious as I remembered!). The kids got a nice a paper menu with activities and coloring pages. We were expecting that DD2 would eat from our plates, but our server kindly offered her own meal for free (which turned out to be a good thing because she ate most of her plate! It was THAT good!)

The food was amazing. We started off with a pastry basket with dipping sauces. The kids devoured the muffins, and we enjoyed the epi bread. We got mimosas (why not, when on the Dining Plan?) DH and I shared the wood-fired butcher steak and the spiced sausage hash, both were delicious! The kids both got the Mickey waffle dippers with fruits and bacon - I was surprised they still had room after the muffins and pastries but they loved it so much, DD2 would have licked her plate if we let her do it!

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The characters were amazing too! The costumes were very cute, and they were very engaging with the children (and even with us!) They really took their time at each table, posing for pictures, interacting with everyone... it was a great, relaxed character breakfast!

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After breakfast, we went out on the terrace to look at the view. It was very windy, but it really was a pretty great view!

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Overall, it was an amazing experience and I can understand why people raved about this place! It really was everything I was hoping for, and even more!

It was probably our favorite meal of the whole trip! We will definitely be back someday (hopefully when they get back to the full character experience)!

Up next, another Skyliner ride... and some Epcot time!

We stayed here for 10 nights in a 1 Br Villa in January 2020 right before COVID. It's a beautiful resort. Welcome Home to DVC!
 
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Part 2 – Epcot


After an amazing breakfast, we got on the Skyliner and had a quick ride to Epcot. I have to say we all loved the Skyliner. It is very efficient, we never encountered more than 5 minutes wait, and it was really nice to see they views from above (aside from all the construction walls in Epcot!), and we loved looking at all the cabin covers with different Disney characters. I think it definitely increases the appeal of AoA, Pop and CBR!

We did not have high expectations for today. We were essentially hoping to do the Frozen ride, and hopefully meet Anna and Elsa. We had booked FPs before Frozen, not knowing whether or not we were going to get there in time. Our FP lineup for the day was the following:

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We arrived at the International Gateway to a short bag check line, but the park was packed with people. We had some time before the end of our first FP window, so we took some time to stroll around World Showcase and admire the topiaries that were already in place for Flower and Garden, which was starting about a week after.


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I was very impressed with the topiaries, and the kids loved them too. I definitely will try to plan another trip around Flower and Garden!

We eventually got to Future World, and headed to Journey into the imagination with Figment. Boy, were we glad we had a Fastpass because the wait was 50 min (for Figment!!!). The kids loved the ride, and especially the song… they were singing it loudly and repeatedly when we exited the ride... thankfully we saw Joy had very little wait when we saw her so it distracted them from singing!

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We then went over to the Seas Pavillon, where Nemo was showing a whooping 90 minutes wait!!! Seriously? The FP queue went all the way outside up to the stroller parking! This is where all the reading and planning paid off: I told DH to skip Nemo, and head to World Showcase instead, where the wait times were quite reasonable.

We were able to do Grand Fiesta Tour with a 5 min wait. I hadn’t been on this ride since I was a kid (when it was just the Mexico ride) and I had vivid memories of people eating dinner while we were on the boat… and I loved it just as much as back then! The kids loved screaming “Donald” every time he showed up on a screen, and the boat ride was definitely relaxing compared to the crowds back in Future World.

Then, I logged on the app and saw that Anna and Elsa had a 25 minute wait – definitely better than 90 min for Nemo! We quickly walked to Norway, changed the kids into their Frozen clothes, and we were in Anna and Elsa’s house just a few minutes later. We only waited 15 minutes to meet the sisters. Anna was a great meet, very talkative and enthusiastic. I thought she looked the part too! DD2 was thrilled to meet Elsa, she was jumping up and down! DS5 was star struck… he was completely speechless!

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Seeing all those pictures of my kids hugging the characters is bitter sweet… I don’t know if we will ever get back to that level of proximity… but I really hope so! At least, I am glad we were able to go when they were that young, and really believed in the Disney Magic… it was really beautiful to see how happy they were! The character meets were the highlight of our trip!

After meeting the sisters, we went on their boat ride (we were just in time for our FP!). We had a minimal wait and soon boarded for one of our favorite rides of the trip: Frozen Ever After! Every member of the family loved it!

We then enjoyed strolling around World Showcase (getting caramel popcorn in Germany, and a lemon slushy in France) but the heat was getting to us and we were dreaming of pool time... this was when we received our room ready text for the Boardwalk! This was exactly what we needed to convince us to head out... We were very excited to see our new room!

Wow, the topiaries look awesome!
 
Wednesday February 26, 2020
Hollywood Studios Part 2

We left the crowd of people in TSL and headed to our initial destination of the day: the Olaf meet and greet (the kids were really enjoying the characters and they made it a priority). When we left TSL, the app said the wait time to meet Olaf was 20 min. We got there and the sign said 40 min. This is where I broke: just maneuvering the strollers around was a pain. The humidity was kicking in, and everyone was a little grumpy. I guess we were also getting a little hangry.

We quickly decided to mobile order some food and Backlot Express, rest our feet and figure out what to do next. The crowds were making our HS experience less enjoyable. I was itching to go see Star Wars land but I knew it would make the rest of us miserable. We had seen Frozen Ever After the night before and this was our only can’t miss show. We decided we would go meet Olaf after lunch, do our FP+ for slinky dog and then head back to the hotel. There were so many throngs I was hoping to do (Beauty and the Beast show, meet the Incredibles and Sully from Monsters inc., watch the Lightning McQueen Show) but I knew it wasn’t meant to be. Not today, not with these crowds.

Lunch was good but unremarkable, but I remember DH and I had a cold drink that hit the spot. We headed back to Olaf and waited about 30 min before we were let in. Once again, I was impressed with how well our kids behaved in line: turns out when they want something, they can be really patient!

The Olaf M&G was amazing, the kids were smiling and happy and that is all that mattered.


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While walking back to TSL, DD2 fell asleep in her stroller. She was just on the edge of her 38inches so the nice CM at the SDD FP line agreed to let us do Rider Switch.

DH let me FP first with my son. DS5 is not a thrill ride guy, and I was really hoping he would love Slinky Dog since we had another FP for it on Friday. Well, we made it out of SDD with a mini meltdown. He thought this was way too scary for him and was shaking while walking back to daddy. But yet, when DH headed back with Rider Switch, je decided to go with him... and loved it the second time around! (Those kids!!)


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(See the 170min Standby time? Thank god for FP+ and Rider Switch!)

We then headed back to the resort, trying to navigate the sea of people. We had just missed the boat and decided to walk. It started raining a little before we got to the room, thankfully it was just a little drizzle and we didn’t get too wet, but this was just enough to bring the spirits down after this harder morning.

We decided HS was too busy for us this year, and that we didn’t want to go back despite having the perfect lineup of FP for Friday morning (all 3 TSL rides before lunchtime!). Therefore, while everyone in the room took a little nap, I rearranged our FP plans for Friday morning to make it an Epcot day.

Overall, it was our most difficult day so far, yet we were still able to do all TSL rides, meet three important characters for the kids and enjoy lunch over the course of 4 hours, which really wasn’t that bad! And a crowded day at Disney is still better than any other day at home, right?

The crowds in January were also terrible. I wish they would limit the number of people for each park. It was so much better when we were there with our Grand-Kids when they were little back in the 90s.
 
Your pictures are great!
Thank you! ☺️

The crowds in January were also terrible. I wish they would limit the number of people for each park.
I hope what they are doing now with Park Pass reservations will avoid those crazy crowds in the future. It really makes for a less enjoyable experience when it’s too crowded...

thanks for reading!
 

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