A Whole New World - Navigating Disney During Covid: February 2021

[Ellester]

Hello! Welcome to what I hope will be an entertaining and informative trip report. I know that I love reading trip reports, I have since I joined the Dis (oh those many years ago). Hopefully, this iteration of mine will help others relive the joy that is a Disney trip! So, let‘s just jump right in!

What: A week long trip to WDW. Staying 7 nights in a 2 bedroom villa at Old Key West. Our home resort is Saratoga Springs, which we love. But we decided to mix it up a bit this time. With Covid, Disney has implemented some restrictions on borrowing DVC points so our best use of points was SSR or OKW.

When: February 7 through 14, 2021. This is about as last minute as we get. My mom sponsors much of our travel, she prefers to do this instead of buying gifts. We have enjoyed great trips over the years as a result of her generosity. We had a RCL cruise scheduled for June 2020 with her that was, of course, canceled. Our spring break trip to St. Simons Island, canceled. Trip to watch our oldest graduate from college, canceled. Etcetera, etcetera.... We were also looking at a trip to Switzerland sometime in 2021 (my mom’s grandmother emigrated from there in the early 1900’s) but since international travel looks dicey for a while we are not planning that yet. As my mom gets older, she has realized she may not be able to travel as often and really wanted to get a trip with the grandkids in sooner than later. I am her only child so my kids are her only grands. So, since a long awaited trip to Disneyland in September 2020 was also canceled, we decided to make a trip to WDW. My mom announced it to the kids on Christmas morning. We decided on the dates working around baseball/softball/college schedules.

Who: Our immediate family of six and my mom. We all live fairly close by in Columbus, Georgia. Our oldest lives outside Atlanta and our middle daughter lives just across the river in Alabama. My mom lives in an “active retirement” community a few minutes from us.



Me!- Ellen, hit 51 in 2020 faster than I would have thought possible. Homeschooling mom and online ESL teacher. Veteran Disney-er, grew up in SoFl and have had many trips of many lengths since that first one in 1973!



John-DH of 30+ years, mid 50’s. First trip to Disney with me when we were in college. Loves the trips, just not quite as fanatical as his wife. He did take me to Disneyland for our 25th anniversary which shows just how much he loves and knows me!!! He’s up past 12 trips now. He is a software engineer and is now permanently working from home.



Anabelle- Our 22 year old daughter. Her University of Kentucky college graduation ceremony and associated festivities were canceled last May. She is a Mining Engingeer and thankfully has a job outside Atlanta where she happily blows up rocks on the regular. She is now a quick 2 hour drive from us and we are so thankful to have her closer by! Her first trip was when she was 2, this will be her 12th trip I believe. Love rides of every shape, size, and speed!



Rebecca- Our 19yo daughter. Her first trip was at 18 months and this will be her 11th trip. Thrill seeker from birth, she is up for anything. Loved ToT on the trip when she was 5 and has just gotten more adventurous from there. She is a Cosmetologist apprentice, waiting on testing locations to open back up so she can secure her full license.



Andrew- Our 16yo sports crazy son. Plays guitar and baseball, at 6-4 and still growing he is a natural first baseman. Just started playing golf as well, works as a “cart boy” at a local country club. He is mad for the Mouse and has been an eager participant in the planning for this trip. He is not a big thrill ride fan, ToT is right out (he has tried it). Claims he will ride Rockin’ Rollercoaster this time since he loves Aerosmith, but we shall see. He was 2 on his first trip and this will be his 8th trip.



Natalie- Our 12yo caboose! Having three older siblings has made her be 12 going on 20! Softball pitcher, ukulele player. Always up to try something new, willing to try most any ride at least once. Last trip when she was 9, her older siblings left MK at midnight but she hung with us until 2am! This will be her 7th trip, her first was when she was 7 weeks old!!!



Grammy/Marcia- My 70+ mom, she travels with us often, we share the DVC membership with her. Who knows how many trips this makes for her, plenty, that’s for sure! Does not like thrill rides but will usually brave Big Thunder once a trip. Sometimes she is great to travel with, sometimes not so much. We are renting an ECV for the entire stay for my mom this go round. She just doesn’t have the stamina to walk too far these days. Last trip in 2018, she crashed her rented scooter twice. Should be an adventure! I am packing extra patience!

 

[Ellester]

OK, so, I have done several trip reports in the past. Of course they have lost some entertainment value since the Photobucket pictures have been removed. But que sera sera!

Here are the oldest 3 at Wilderness Lodge during our Februay 2009 trip



Natalie was a newborn that trip, she did get to meet the Big Cheese though!



We have 6 day park passes and several ADR’s for this trip. The family is usually up to try something new, but they all have their favorites and requests. Trying to keep all 7 of us happy can be a trick, especially with not all the restaurants being open yet. Anabelle is a pescatarian but doesn’t always like the vegetarian offerings. My mom has an allergy to all peppers other than black and white pepper. Since it isn’t a “big 8” allergy, the allergy menus don’t help her at all. Paprika is a killer, it is in so many marinades, dressings and sauces that it makes things tricky. She is also diabetic, so has to follow dietary restrictions because of that as well. We will have to order in person at all the mobile ordering locations to make sure she can eat. I am a bit stressed about this aspect as her allergy causes difficulties in the best of times. I plan to have snacks to bring along just like when the kids were toddlers!

All four at Wilderness Lodge in January 2015



We will be driving. We are a 7 hour drive away, so really we just have gas and tolls to worry about there. Anabelle will be flying down right from ATL using a SWA credit from our aborted September trip. Not sure if the six of us will just smoosh in our Honda Odyssey or if Rebecca will want to drive separately. I’m guessing we will smoosh, since Rebecca will most Iikely want to sleep on the way down.

Planning on scheduling an Amazon Fresh delivery for water, snacks, and breakfast food. We typically eat breakfast in the villa, just easier on everyone and I can get that first cup of coffee right away! I will make sure we have snacks to take to the parks in case we run into difficulty finding my mom something she can/will eat. We are typically ropedroppers so that also gives us the most time to sleep! I know this will be a different trip than usual, we are all just excited to get away for a few days.

Crystal Palace, January 2007. No character meals this time around



Tentative plan:
Sunday, 2/7
Pick up my mom at her community early and hit the road. Hoping traffic is light. We don’t even hit I-75 until 2 ½ hours into our drive, so that first part is usually low traffic. Ocala can be brutal, but who knows these days? Arrive at the resort mid afternoon, hopefully our villa is ready. If not, we can wander Disney Springs for a bit or explore the common areas at OKW. Mom’s scooter should be delivered to bell services. Anabelle is set to take the Magical Express from the airport, her flight is scheduled to arrive at 3:10pm.

Monday, 2/8
Animal Kingdom (current hours 9-5). Plan to arrive around 8:15 in hopes they open early. Hoping to get several rides on EE, hit FoP and NRJ. I would like to see the bird show, we have never done it in all our trips! Head to Planet Watch for the drawing lessons.
Dinner ADR for Raglan Road at DS at 7pm.

Tuesday, 2/9
Hollywood Studios (current hours 10-7). Of course we want to get a BG for RotR, ride Smugglers Run, see Toy Story Land, and Runaway Railway, ride old favorites ToT and RnRC. We have a second day planned here so we will do what we can and try to pick up the rest or repeat favorites on day 2. We have ADR’s at Oga’s for 11:45 and an ADR for dinner at 6:20 at Trattoria al Forno.

Wednesday, 2/10
Magic Kingdom (current hours 9-6) Two ADR’s today, lunch at Tony’s at 1pm and dinner back at OKW at Olivia’s at 8:10pm.

Crystal Palace January 2018 (the coldest trip ever!)





Thursday, 2/11
Epcot (current hours 11-7). Going to hope most of the food booths are open for the Arts Festival. Epcot is usually a favorite but we know it will be very different this trip. Also have an ADR for Trattoria al Forno tonight but will probably cancel it.

Friday, 2/12
Magic Kingdom (current hours 9-6) ADR at Jaleo at DS for tonight at 7:35pm. Looking forward to this one, we loved the food in Barcelona on our trip in 2019! Hoping the tapas and sangria here will be amazing!

Saturday, 2/13
Hollywood Studios (Current hours 10-7)

Sunday, 2/14
Pack up and drive home, Anabelle has a 10:10am flight, so she will be getting up and out pretty early. I imagine she will take a Uber rather than ME back to the airport since the ME time will be super early.

 

[Ellester]

We are back. Pooh. Wish we were still basking in the sun in Florida instead of watching my yard flood with 45 degree rain. Oh well.


We had a great trip. Not without hiccups, but is it really even a family vacation without a bit of drama?


Sunday, February 7: My mom dropped her pooch at the dog sitter in our neighborhood and Rebecca drove over from her apartment and we all got packed in the good old Odyssey. On the road by 9:15am just past our planned time. Since Andrew is now 6-4 and growing, I gave him the shotgun position. He just really doesn’t fit in the back any more. I didn’t mind, it was relaxing not being on navigation and driver supply duty! Mom and I took the middle and the girls had their own private pillow filled oasis in the back.



Our first 2 to 3 hours are on back roads getting us over to I-75. We passed lots of fields. Solar farms, cotton farms, pecan farms, peach farms, chicken farms, peanut farms, I’m sure you get the picture!

Once we got to 75, traffic was light. Definitely lighter than the typical snowbird traffic. Stopped once at the Florida Welcome center for a bathroom break and the requisite OJ/GJ.

I’m surprised they are still giving it out but we enjoyed it. Had snacks and lunch in the van from home. Natalie had to have another bathroom break so we got gas and visited a less than amazing gas station in Ocala.

I called the desk at Old Key West at around 10am to reiterate our request for a first floor or elevator building room. We were renting a scooter for my mom and while she doesn’t need a full handicapped accessible room, she can’t do many stairs and we needed to be able to bring the scooter in to charge at night. I had called (spending over an hour on hold) to put in the same request when we booked our stay but I wanted to make sure they had it fresh in their minds when assigning rooms. I was assured that a note would be put in our file and they would do what they could. Well, as we were pulling into the resort at 3:45 I got a text that our room was assigned. On the third floor, of a building with no elevator. Great. So much for “contactless check-in”. I went into talk to the desk and surprise, there was no notation of our request. Thankfully they were able to reassign us. Honestly I don’t know what we would have done if they couldn’t move us. There is no way my mom could do two flights of stairs up and down every day. I won’t book at OKW again if she is traveling with us unless I can get a guaranteed accessible room. Anyhow, they were able to switch us to villa 3914 in the Old Turtle Pond Road section. As we were picking up the scooter from bell services, our Walmart delivery order arrived. I had the driver pile it in the middle seats of the van since we were right there and John and the kids took the scooter while mom and I drove to the room.

 

[Mom2m&k]

Enjoying the start of your trip and excited to read more! It always annoys me that those room requests always seem to Disappear!

 

[sparkle78]

We love wilderness lodge too !! I’m interested in hearing about the villas OKW

 

[Ellester]

Enjoying the start of your trip and excited to read more! It always annoys me that those room requests always seem to Disappear!

Thanks! Honestly, in our 15 years as DVC members I don’t remember actually ever getting a room request fulfilled. We usually don‘t even put anything in anymore but this time we really didn’t have a choice! It seems lots of people get their requests or an upgrade but we are apparently not those people! I’m not complaining, we have always enjoyed our trips but it can be a bit frustrating.

We love wilderness lodge too !! I’m interested in hearing about the villas OKW

We enjoyed our time at OKW but I don’t know that I can make an unbiased judgement bases on the Covid closures. There were no boats to Disney Springs, bus service was even more limited than usual, the sauna was closed and food service was limited (reduced menu and snack bar that was at the pool closest to our villa was also closed). I would not stay there again with my mom and a scooter unless I could reserve an accessible room. We normally prefer to leave those for guests who actually have to have them but with all the no elevator buildings at OKW I wouldn’t risk it again. The rooms were huge though and we liked having both a sofa bed and a chair bed in the living area. Without that we would have brought an air mattress for our youngest.

 

[Ellester]

To add to the arrival chaos, John texted me that the scooter was already dying and they might have to push it. Anabelle was also calling that she had gotten dropped off by the Magical Express at the Hospitality House and asking what she should do! There was no room in the van to even go get her since it was still full of luggage and groceries! Mom and I unloaded the groceries so we could at least get the cold stuff put away. By the time we were done with that, the limping scooter arrived and Anabelle gave up on us and walked with her luggage to the room! Phew! So much activity in such a short amount of time! We got the van all unloaded, groceries put away and got somewhat settled. I called the scooter company and it went to their call center but we got a call back very quickly. They said to take the scooter back up to the Hospitality House and they would bring a new one that evening or first thing in the morning. The scooter did make it back up to the bell desk, at a snails pace. The CM at the desk agreed that something was wrong with the scooter, she said when she brought it out from the back earlier it didn’t seem right. Guess she could have said something to us then, but whatever.

Scooter putt, putt, putting along. They put Natalie on it since she was the lightest load!

Master bedroom.

We decided to order take out from Oliva’s since it was a 60+minute wait for a table. My mom had to order with the chef, she has an allergy to all peppers other than black and white pepper. Even the kids know the drill: no red/green/yellow bell peppers, no jalapeños, chiles, paprika, cayenne, chili flakes, etc. It makes ordering more challenging than you might think since any ingredient that contains “spice” is a possible allergen. The rest of us mobile ordered and they said we would be able to get everything all at the same time. We got refillable mugs for Andrew and Natalie at the quick serve and some Turtle Crawls (OKW’s signature drink) for me, John, and Anabelle and a scotch for my mom. Once the food was ready we dug in.

My mom had ordered the steak and asked for it rare, she likes them almost raw. Well this steak was beyond well done, so back it went. She finally got her correct steak as we were finishing up our meals. Everything was OK, not amazing. Getting a $35+ meal all squished together in the little cardboard boxes they use for take out didn’t add much to the presentation. We did figure out that the box tops were perforated to tear off pretty easily which made eating easier.


Olivia’s Famous Fried Chicken. The guys were surprised to find it was a boneless breast and not “traditional” fried chicken.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures.

 

[DLo]

Oops double post

 

[nascargirl]

Looking forward to hearing more about your adventure.

 

[Disneymomma18]

Following. Love the pictures!