3 Weekend Getaway Trip Reports from Jan., Mar., June

Tbella

DIS Veteran
Joined
Oct 12, 2004
I have used these boards for so many years, but I have barely given back and contributed. So I am finally going to take the time and write a few trip reports about my experiences at Disney World so far this year, with the hopes of helping others as I have been helped for so many years. I will be happy to answer any questions.

Just a bit of background: I have been going to Disney World since I was a child. As soon as my husband and I began dating, I dragged him to Disney for his first trip. As a married couple, we went a couple of times and soon had kids that we began taking to Disney World every other year at first. For the last 5 years, I began going every year with the kids (3 of them) and my husband, at times, would join us for a couple of days.

Our trips are a week to up to 10 days long. We have gone in all seasons. Last August, I purchased my first annual pass. This made it too tempting to hop on a plane and spend a weekend at the World. So far this year, I have gone the last weekend of January, the first weekend of March, and this past weekend (first weekend of June). The trip in January ended up being a solo trip for the last 2 days. For the March getaway, I flew in on Thursday, a day before my hubby, and then another Northeastern hit us yet again. He wasn’t able to get in till Saturday afternoon and we left home Monday morning. Due to the circumstances of these last 2 trips without my kids and being on my own some of the days, I realized that I could easily do a solo trip. This past weekend, I went on my first official solo trip ever to anywhere. My plans for the rest of the year are; I have a surprise birthday trip planned for my younger son in the beginning of September at Animal Kingdom Resort in a Savannah view room. I am also planning on doing at least 2 days at Disneyland Paris at the end of August with my husband since we are going to be in Paris.

We have always stayed in deluxe resorts except for one trip, where we stayed at the Art of Animation in a Nemo suite. For our longer trips we usually do a split stay between the Polynesian and the Beach Club. We have also stayed at the Boardwalk and Bay Lake Towers. During these last 3 getaways, I decided to try the Moderate resorts. I also stayed 1 night in a value resort. In the next posts I will report on these last 3 trips.
 
End of January 2018 trip:

I started this trip with a friend. We flew in Thursday night and stayed at Pop Century. At check in, I asked if we can have a room close to the reception area as we were leaving in the morning. They assigned us a refurbished room. The room was smaller than I was used to, but the bed was comfortable and the design was clean and fresh looking. It was great for a one night stay. I am a light sleeper and did hear noise from the connecting room, but earplugs helped. I wouldn’t stay here with my kids though; as I feel it just wouldn’t be enough room (2 of my kids are teens). On Friday morning we caught an Uber to Port Orleans French Quarter. I was pleasantly surprised with this resort and wondered why I waited so long to try a moderate. I love to walk, and this resort, along with Port Orleans Riverside, is a walker’s paradise. Plus, the boat launch to Disney Springs makes this resort a perfect option for my couples, friends, or solo trips in the future. The room itself felt a bit more spacious than Pop but much smaller than the Polynesian. I really enjoyed having the food court option though, as the deluxe resorts don’t offer this. Also, all the staff members I encountered, including the front desk, were all very welcoming and helpful. I was very pleased with the weather this weekend. It was in the 70’s during the day and 50’s at night, which was a great respite from the miserably cold and snowy winter we were experiencing back home.


The Epcot Art festival was happening and I really enjoyed this. I have been to Food and Wine a few times and wasn’t expecting much from the Art Festival, but I ended up liking it more, but this may be because it was something new to me. My friend got an emergency call from home our first night at the parks and caught an early morning flight back home the next morning (it all turned out fine by the time she got home). This left me on my own Saturday and Sunday. I wanted to go back with her, but she insisted I stay as there was nothing I could do to help anyway. I was really hesitant at first and worried about being on my own, but then the thought came to me that for the first time ever, I could do exactly what I want and not worry about anyone else! The crowds in general, during this weekend were much higher than I expected. But, being solo made it much easier to get around the crowds. It also seemed to me, that there were fewer cast members working the rides. Most of the rides don’t even make you tap the second RFID reader anymore (this was true during my last trip in August 2017 as well). A few times I saw people take advantage of this and climb over to the fastpass line from the regular queue. Usually I would say something but being solo at this point, I was hesitant. Plus, when I looked at the other fastpass line occupants, they seemed ok with it or maybe they didn’t even notice it. It was nice not to be in a rush at anytime and I really took the time to take it all in. I did cancel all our restaurant reservations as I was too chicken to eat alone at a table service restaurant. The Arts Festival food kiosks came in real handy with this, and I enjoyed all the food I tried. I do want to mention, and I did post about this previously, that I saw many large groups of bachelor, bachelorette parties, and other large groups of young adults, visibly inebriated and sometimes acting in offensive manners. I did take the time to go to guest services and report my observations. In the end, I experienced Disney World in a completely different manner, since I began going more than 30 years ago, and I really enjoyed it! I was proud of myself for sticking it out and not going home, but this did unleash an unhealthy, or maybe healthy, desire to do it again.
 
Beginning of March trip:

Clearly, having an annual pass is a pass to spend your birthday weekend at Disney. I believe it’s written in small print on the back of my Annual Pass card, or at least that’s what I told my husband. I booked Port Orleans Riverside and stayed in the Magnolia Manner section. I am completely in LOVE with this resort. The rooms have the same functionality as POFQ, but I loved it even more for all the greenery, beautiful trees, and fountains. It was so lush and coming from the drab Northeast, it was just what my soul needed. Because of work, my husband couldn’t leave till Friday night. Since I already got over my hesitation of traveling alone, I decided that 2 days was just not enough, and that I would take the first flight out on Thursday morning. I took advantage of the beautiful low 80’s, high 70’s weather and walked around the resort, and sunbathed at the pool. I really loved the Ol’ Man Island Pool area. I set on a lounge chair on a deck next to the bar under trees for hours, as it was the perfect area to relax by the pool, but far enough away from the loud, but happy, splashing children.

I heard the weather forecast but didn’t believe that another Northeastern would hit us yet again this year. Well it did! My husband’s Friday night flight was cancelled, and he couldn’t get on any flights from our 2 local airports the next day either. As much as I loved being on my own the last trip, I was really bummed about having to spend my birthday weekend alone. But, my hero came through! My hubby ended up renting a car and driving to an airport 3 hours away and getting on a flight from there. He made it to POFQ, albeit exhausted, by 1:30 pm on Saturday. He hasn’t been to Disney for a few years so it was great to see him experience Pandora for the first time. I was able to get an 8:00pm fastpass 2 weeks before the trip by relentlessly checking MDE. However, he is prone to motion sickness (can’t drag or bribe him to get on Mission Space, even green), and did feel nauseous after riding it. I should’ve made him take Dramamine, but I was worried that it would make him even more tired. We ate at Paddlefish and were really disappointed. The host and hostesses (there were 3 standing there) didn’t acknowledge me when I came up to the podium and said hello. We asked for a quiet table and were put in a very high traffic are next to the kitchen. They did move us after we asked to speak with a manager. We both had different seafood boils and there was barely any seasoning in the pots. The shellfish was also over boiled and mushy like it was sitting in the water (which looked like dirty bathwater) too long. Maybe it was just an off night for them, as I can’t imagine them staying in business serving this bland food every night.

Our next dining experience was a complete turnaround. Again, through relentless checking, I managed to snag a California Grill Brunch reservation. This was a great dining experience from start to finish! We were greeted warmly by the hostess downstairs and sent right up the elevator. The elevator opened and we were greeted once again with warm smiles. We were given champagne and taken to our table by the window with a spectacular view. All the dinners we have had at California Grill were at night so that we may see the fireworks. This is the first time we were at this restaurant in the daylight hours, and I was even more awed by the view. All the food we tried was delicious. We really enjoyed the variety of food and although we love sushi, we are very picky about the quality we eat, and this sushi was very fresh and tasty. We each ordered 2 items off the menu and this wasn’t a problem at all. We were also offered more champagne when we finished our glasses. Our waitress was very sweet and attentive. I am not a big eater, but I am happy we got to try this, as it completely made up for the bad dining experience the night before.
 
Beginning of June Trip:

The past 2 weekend trips gave me the courage to go on a solo trip. I planned this trip 2 weeks before the trip date. This trip I opted on staying at the Coronado Springs resort for 2 nights as I got a great discount with my AP. I had a nice refurbished room in the Casitas section. For my 3rd night, I was planning on going on Priceline and getting a hotel close to the airport as my Monday flight out was in the morning. On Sunday, when I went on Priceline, I decided to book an Express Deal that I was pretty sure was on Disney property. It ended up being Caribbean Beach Resort, so I was able to spend one night there in a pirate room suite. I really liked the Coronado Springs resort but I did have a couple of mishaps, which I did post about in the Coronado Springs Resort thread on the resorts board. The bus transportation there was horrendous. I had bell service take my bags to the Caribbean Beach Resort on Sunday, while I headed to the parks, and I didn’t actually get to the Caribbean Beach Resort till about 10:30pm. Also, I left in the morning so I couldn’t really give an opinion about this resort except that it was awfully big. The pirate room was cute but I found pockets of dust on the furniture and it just didn’t seem as clean to me as Coronado.


I decided to try the QS dining plan as it now includes an alcoholic beverage with each meal. This worked out great for me as I still couldn’t muster up the courage to eat at a table service restaurant alone. My favorite counter service restaurant, hands down, is Satu’li Canteen. I’ve tried this before, but now I tried the bowls with the charred green onion sauce instead of the herb dressing sauce. I was surprised that I like it even more. I have tried the chicken and beef but prefer the chicken. I also tried the Polite Pig at DS and enjoyed that as well.


The parks were very crowded as expected but the lines weren’t any longer than the previous weekend trips. There were, however, noticeably more cast members working the rides. I saw the new Up show at Animal Kingdom and found it ok. I also finally saw the Lion King show, as my kids never want to see it because they saw the Broadway show in NYC and thought it wouldn’t stack up. I was glad to see that it wasn’t trying to be the Broadway show version and found it very entertaining. I had a great safari and saw two adult elephants in the water with 2 frolicking baby elephants. Being I was only getting fastpasses for 1 person, I was able to get everything I wanted except FOP. I decided to do standby for FOP as I have only done it using fastpass and never got to see the queue. It was about an hour and a half wait close to the end of the night. The laboratory part of the queue is pretty great and I’m glad I got to see it. Plus, I was seated upstairs in the highest section of the theater and enjoyed the ride even more than the previous times. Although, I love the Epcot Festivals, it was less crowded in World Showcase without the booths and I didn’t see any large drinking groups this time. I had a few leisurely strolls around there throughout the weekend. I rope dropped Magic Kingdom and got to do everything I wanted.


Although, I missed my family, I was proud of myself for doing something just for me and this trip really did recharge me and make me appreciate my loved ones even more.
 


Solo trips are the BEST!! Glad you've been having a blast with your AP.
 
sounds like you had some fun experiences. Thanks for sharing!

ps- I got an AP on last trip and now I'm always checking airfares to see if I can squeeze in a few days. I generally do deluxe also, but will branch out to either Coronado springs our ASMo in November so I appreciated your perspective on that.
we spent 1 night at POFQ in March and liked it fine, also.
 
Solo trips are the BEST!! Glad you've been having a blast with your AP.
I had no idea what I was missing! :-)

sounds like you had some fun experiences. Thanks for sharing!

ps- I got an AP on last trip and now I'm always checking airfares to see if I can squeeze in a few days. I generally do deluxe also, but will branch out to either Coronado springs our ASMo in November so I appreciated your perspective on that.
we spent 1 night at POFQ in March and liked it fine, also.

I check airfare a few times a week as well. I am going back and forth about renewing because although I loved being an Annual Pass Holder, I did spend a large chunk of money on these trips.
 



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