I Wanted to be Clown Vomit - August 2020 Trip Report

[Where'sPiglet?]

Hello! I am a touch behind in sharing my trip from last summer. I want to write about it so I can remember how unique 2020 was. Well, I hope it was a unique year, and not the New Normal. It looks like there are small steps toward the Old Normal, so I'm happy about that.

Last spring, I was looking forward to my planned Disneyland trip. I had gotten a unicorn DVC studio reservation for the Grand Californian. I had my 5-day Park Hopper with Max Pass all ready to go. I had some fantastic reservations lined up. See?

I still have my 5-day Park Hopper with Max Pass all ready to go. My trip was scheduled for the first week of April.

I also had a rather extensive trip planned for August to Disney World, Universal, and Vero Beach that used up the rest of my current year's points and all of my banked points.

It looks like it would have been a fantastic trip. I didn't take it. Well, not that version of it, anyway.

I was anxious about traveling during Covid, but I had points that had already been banked and were going to expire. I adjusted my trip so that I used only my expiring points and dropped Universal from the plans. I felt confident with the protocols that Disney and Delta were taking to prevent as much spread of Covid as possible.

I had 3 nights booked at Vero Beach, which turned out to be a hard-to-get reservation when people didn't want to go to the parks, so I kept those and worked around it.

I had my plans looking like this, then I looked at flights. I ended up adding a night at the front.

Then changed hotels because of how limited Jambo House was (and is) as far as services went.

Then, I decided I would get a 4-day base ticket and visit one park per day. I can't remember how I booked these park reservations; I think it was because I had an AP voucher sitting in my account that still has not been activated.

I never bought a 4-day base ticket for this trip, which is good because my friend decided she would come with me. Hooray!! I actually bought a 2-day park ticket and a 1-day park ticket. Is this the cheapest way to do it? NO. Can you use a 3-day ticket on a Tuesday and the following weekend? Also no.

This is what the plans ended up being. You might notice that it went from a 3-2 split to a 1-3-1-1 split. My friend had a single park day and I ended up with 3. The Everlasting Project Construction of Tomorrow (Epcot) was the park that I did not pay to visit on this trip. At the time, there was no park hopping, no live entertainment, and no cultural representatives. They did have substantial construction. It was an easy choice, honestly.

In short, trip planning was turned upside down and I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. 2021 is essentially Expert Level, because things just keep changing. Turns out 2020 was easy to plan, once I stopped making adjustments. I adjusted Boardwalk and Bay Lake Tower on July 30th, which is crazy to think about. I was able to snag a Boardwalk view studio less than two weeks before my trip.

Hopefully I'll have some readers along for the ride! It was an interesting trip, and I have a lot of photos and notes to pull from as I write this. See you real soon!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Table of Contents

The Amtrak Trip

Day 0 - Packing

Day 1 - Travel
Day 1 - BoardWalk Room
Day 1 - Beaches & Cream

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I mentioned I was anxious about traveling during the pandemic. I can be a lot like Piglet sometimes.

However, this was my second trip of the summer. I wasn't even supposed to be traveling; non-essential travel was supposed to be Not Allowed. It was not enforced in any way, but I still told very few people I was taking this trip. I didn't post about it on Facebook. It was weird, really.

My first trip was a trip on Amtrak, which was a fun adventure. My brother and his family were moving to Wisconsin (from Washington State), so we helped out with the kids. He has four. The older two are just finishing up 2nd and 3rd grades. The youngest one was less than 6 months old last July, and the second youngest is just finishing Pre-K for 3-year-olds.

My mom and I shared the Family Room with my two older nieces, and my dad had a roomette. In the rooms, the chairs turn into beds at night; the porter takes care of this for you. Also, you get to visit the dining car when you have a room; it's considered first class. The hallways are narrow, and they weren't filling all the rooms in each car, due to the pandemic. The sleeper cars even have a little room with a shower!

On the way back, my mom and I shared a roomette, and my dad had one across the hall. Splitting it this way meant I got the top bunk and my parents each had a lower bunk.

My parents took the train back to Wisconsin for Christmas, and they booked a Deluxe Room for that trip. That one comes with it's own bathroom, so they didn't even have to leave their room the whole time. The porter delivered their food to their room, which was an excellent way to travel when the pandemic was much worse than it was in July.

The food was all pre-packaged due to Covid, but it was actually pretty good. They came with a delicious brownie or blondie for dessert. They were from a company called Sweet Street and I am still trying to find them in stores near me.

The train went through Glacier National Park, the rest of Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The line goes from Seattle or Portland (the two portions of the train get connected in Spokane, Washington) to Chicago. There was a lot of beautiful scenery along the way. It's a long ride, but I'd do it again. Here are some pictures of The Other Trip.

Montana

East Glacier, MT Station

North Dakota

Minot, ND Station

Minnesota & Wisconsin - I saw a pair of bald eagles in the river area between the two states, but didn't have my camera ready. They were really close to the train. I've never seen one from so close before. It was really cool.

Upper Midwest - North Dakota, eastern Montana

Glacier National Park

I was hoping to see more wildlife in this area. A beaver lodge had to suffice.

Whitefish, MT Station

Hopefully you enjoyed this slight detour on my Disney trip reporting. This successful adventure gave me a bit more confidence about going to Disney last summer, so it's somewhat relevant.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Day 0 - Packing

The night before the trip, I dropped my dogs off at the kennel.

The dachshund was very upset about this and the mystery mix was excited to go play with new dog friends. Well, she's only 25% mystery mix now. Her DNA test came back 25% chihuahua, 25% miniature pinscher, 12.5% cocker spaniel, 12.5% lab, and 25% mystery mix.

Those photos are a few years old. I lost the dachshund unexpectedly back in March. He was just under 5 years old when I adopted him, and he had a lot of health issues.

The mix is nearly 12 now and not doing so well at the moment.

Anyway, at the time of this trip, they were both doing pretty well and we had been spending a LOT of time together at home, but they'd just been to the kennel a few weeks prior, and they were going back again. They do enjoy their time at "Dog Camp" well enough.

Remember the meat shortages of last summer? I took this July 28th, so in between trips. Up until really recently, SOMETHING has always been out of stock at the grocery store. Every. Week.

Yet, I was going to travel. Again. Amidst all the uncertainty. At the time, Florida was experiencing a spike in cases, so I was hoping this was not going to be something I would deeply regret.

I had my Park Candy masks with filters. I used Tide sink packets to wash them, and a portable drying rack that hangs from a shower or closet rod. I did not have the drying rack on my earlier trip, but I realized it was something I should have.

I used these when I took my mask off for meals. It was glorious after wearing a mask in Florida in August. I would replace my mask with a fresh one after eating. Doing those two things made mask-wearing was tolerable.

I actually packed outfits for each day. I was not planning to do any more laundry than necessary, and with 4 resorts across 6 nights , I had to be organized. Turns out, this worked really well.

That gray bag with the two zippers is a waterproof bag with two pockets. They're primarily marketed for diapers, but they're fantastic for keeping inside my park bag for electronics and other things I don't want to get wet in rainstorms (or on Splash Mountain). They're also fantastic for packing wet swimsuits when you're changing resorts every day. (WHY did I do that again?! )

Not pictured is my carry on, which had Clorox wipes, 12oz of hand sanitizer, electronics, 1oz pocket hand sanitizer, etc...

Also, the time stamp on my packed packing cubes is August 8th. My flight was on August 10th. I am usually packing the morning I leave. I don't know what happened!

 

[portocall]

When can I expect more? This is good.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

When can I expect more? This is good.

Yay! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.

Ideally, the next post will be tonight. More likely is the weekend.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Day 1 - Travel

Day 1 started really early. I had a 6:20a flight; Delta 3773 from Pasco, Washington to Salt Lake City. The last time I went to WDW, I had flown Alaska, and the Delta flight at around the same time was having major delay issues. This day, I was flying Delta and Alaska was having major delay issues. I'm not sure how I got lucky both times!

My airport is quite small. They actually recently renovated it and made it larger and nicer. There is even food past security now! We do not have jetways, though. You get (have?) to walk out on the tarmac and use exterior stairs, or in this case, a ramp. It was a really pretty morning.

This being early in the pandemic, the flight was not full. Not even close. I had the entire row to myself.

I love having a window seat!

Snacks came pre-packaged in a snack pack, so the flight attendants only had to had everybody a single bag of things. You did not have your choice of drinks. There was no coffee or soda available - only bottled water. I liked that the bag included a Purell Single - you just had to fold the little packet in half and it would squirt out a single-use amount of hand sanitizer. The snacks were pretty good, but that Kind bar was a really crumbly mess!

The Great Salt Lake

Salt Lake City is building a new airport, so that was kind of fun to see. I'm not sure if it's open yet. I'm supposed to fly through SLC again this upcoming summer, so I guess I'll find out.

One pandemic-related issue in the airports was that most food options were closed. This meant the line for Starbucks took quite a while, and it looked super long with the distancing, but it wasn't too bad. I ended up eating on the floor facing a wall in a wide hallway since most tables were unavailable and the seating areas by the gates were more crowded than I was comfortable with for taking my mask off.

There were distancing markers everywhere - this one was in the jetway. It was hard to remember to keep distance though; it was still a pretty new concept and easy to forget, especially in places that are usually really bunched up, like the jetway.

The snack on this flight was only slightly different.

We flew past an active wildfire. I believe this was in western Colorado.

The weather wasn't bad in Orlando. I don't believe I'd ever seen this nuclear power plant before that is near the airport.

The Orlando airport was so empty it was creepy. With the massive decline in tourism, this airport in particular was feeling it.

I had Chick-Fil-A because my options were CFA or McDonald's, and I can eat McD's any time.

It was a little unsettling how much was closed. Fortunately, rental cars were not a problem to get last year, and I picked up a white Hyundai Elantra from Alamo and was on my way to WDW!

 

[footballmouse]

I have to say, you are very organized!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I have to say, you are very organized!

Thank you! I can be super organized, with some things. Others? Not at all.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

It was a pretty easy drive from MCO to the Boardwalk. I used the GPS on my phone, but signage wasn't bad either. I had purchased a Uni, which is a portable toll tag through the Central Florida Expressway Authority that works in 18 states. I had to go into the app and add the license plate for the rental car. Well, it was giving me trouble. It said that car had already been claimed or something to that effect. They make this big deal about how it HAS to be on your windshield to work, so I tossed it back in my bag on the passenger seat and got out my container of quarters.

I got to the first toll booth and went to the cash lane - she said my toll tag worked. Um, okay. So then I just went through the tag lanes after that. I ended up calling them from Vero; it had registered all of the toll booths on the way there also, with one exception, and I got a bill from Pay By Plate or something - it cost more.

Anyway, the toll tag that can be used on any car is fantastic, but their app is terrible, especially given that it can be used in any car. You KNOW a lot of car renters will have them, but if the plate has been in their system before, you get an error message and have to call. I had to call to add my parents' car, because they borrowed my Uni on a trip. Then, they bought their own Uni because their car had been on my account before. The saving grace is that the customer service agents I've spoken with have been very nice.

Anyway, eventually I got to the Boardwalk. They have a lot of parking lot sections and I was very confused with which lots were allowed and which ones weren't. Some are labeled Valet Only, but that service was unavailable. I ended up in the back corner by the Skyliner turn station. I measured the walk later with my Fitbit. Literally a third of a mile, and it's actually up a slight hill to the entrance.

It's a beautiful entrance, with beautiful puffy clouds too. This is my parents' favorite resort. They have stayed on the Inn side three times now and they love it. Somehow, they've scored a room that can see the Epcot fireworks each time. Growing up, we stayed at the Yacht Club twice and the Beach Club once. They switched to Boardwalk after we got a Juliette balcony at the Beach Club and it's their "new" favorite for the past 15 years or so. This was my first time staying here, and I liked it a lot, although it's not my favorite. I definitely want to try this resort again sometime when it's more back to normal.

For some reason I had to stop at the front desk - I think I had not gotten the room assignment text. The room was 4029.

The hallways at this resort are long, and I found them confusing, but they had cute designs on the floor.

The room was across from some windows and a tiny open space that you could kind of see the pool from.

The room was lovely, and it had a fantastic view. This is a DVC studio. It has a kitchenette (mini fridge, microwave, toaster, and sink) and sleep surfaces for 5.

I really liked the finishes in this tiny kitchen.

The "bubbles" on this mirror are fun.

This furniture! So the table folds down to become part of the support system for the single Murphy bed. This means that when the bed is down, there are three single upholstered chairs that you have to figure out where to put. I can't imagine if the sofa bed was open where you'd find space for everything. Also, that coffee table was solid. I genuinely don't know where you'd put it if the couch was open, but I guess people figure it out.

The wooden cabinet was nice to have. The doors opened to reveal some drawers. Why they chose this instead of a standard dresser, I don't know, but I'm glad it was there for some storage space.

The artwork fits the theme of the resort.

Yessssss! The view from the balcony! This was a fantastic view. I felt like I had hit the jackpot for views. The balcony would be too small for a party of 5, but since it was just my friend and I, it was perfect. I'm glad the balcony next to us was not in use at the same time we were using ours, because it was SO CLOSE.

They wanted us to know they had done Enhanced Cleaning. The zippered bag that has the extra bedding in the closet had a zip tie on it, so that was nice. It's something I hope they continue to do!

This was where our room was. You can tell these were Not Normal times. There was nobody on the boardwalk, and this was taken at 7p!

 

[mster425]

Sweet Street is from my hometown in PA! So here's the deal- they only supply restaurant chains now, and apparently trains. But like the brownies at Red Lobster or somewhere might be the same. Sometimes near my parents house Sweet Street will park a huge truck with trays and trays of brownie type things and you have to buy the whole thing. Man I love that place.

On to the read the rest of the report!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I had, in typical Me fashion, overly ambitious plans for the evening. They consisted of:

1. Walk to Beaches & Cream to get a milkshake at the walk-up window.
2. Walk to the Epcot Skyliner Station and ride it to Riviera.
3. Explore the Riviera and the amazing mosaics.
4. Ride the Skyliner back to the BoardWalk.
5. Swim at the BoardWalk pool and try the slide.

Was I successful with these plans?

NO! Absolutely Not.

I mean, it looked pretty nice in the other direction.

I started walking over to Beach Club, and realized that the Skyliner was going to close AND the pool was going to close. My hope was that they'd be closed for only a short time as the storm rolled through. Yeah, no.

Along the walk, there was a small commotion. Apparently this beautiful bird had just picked up a snake and flew off with it, but I have no evidence of that.

*cue suspenseful music*

I made it to the Beach Club and procured my milkshake, although it was more of a struggle than expected. The incoming storm had messed up their cash register and they were trying to do things by hand and asking people to pay with cash. Well, with Magic Bands, not many people had cash. So they were trying to work around that - I think they were taking Magic Bands and writing the numbers down on the inside of the band. Regardless, this was taking a long time. The picture above was taken at 7:35 and the picture below at 8:04. It was worth it, though! The cast members and guests were all being respectful and showing patience. I think we were all excited to be Not at Home.

There were a few surprises here, because I had not kept up on all the information post-renovation.

1. I was expecting the plain, but large, milkshake with sprinkles.
2. I was expecting a paper cup.

THIS WAS EPIC

It comes with a giant brownie AND a souvenir plastic mason-style jar with the Beaches & Cream logo on the other side.

It was around this time that my friend had messaged me that she'd landed. If I recall, I think she had a pretty bumpy flight. She took the Magical Express and had no issues getting to the hotel though.

The storm just kept rolling in.

This storm was producing a substantial amount of lightning. I decided I was going to wait it out, since there is no shelter on the walk between the Beach Club and the BoardWalk.

I finished my milkshake. I rinsed the souvenir mug in the bathroom sink. I went and browsed the gift shop..... STILL LIGHTNING - this storm was just sitting over us.

By this point, it was 9 and the gift shop was closed. My friend was already at the room and I was feeling stuck.

I ordered a Lyft.

Yes, really. I got a ride in a car from adjacent resorts. Not only that, but the driver had to take the "long way" because Epcot Resorts Blvd was closed just to the east of the Beach Club, so we had to go around the Swan and Dolphin. Oh, well. $10.44 for a 6 minute, 2.06 mile ride was worth the peace of mind to not be dodging lightning on an exposed pathway.

I got to the BoardWalk and the cast members at the entrance were all "WELCOME HOME!!" and I'm...."I just took a Lyft from the Beach Club!" They agreed with me that it was the safe thing to do.

Well, I achieved 20% of my plans for that night, but I lived to tell the tale.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Sweet Street is from my hometown in PA! So here's the deal- they only supply restaurant chains now, and apparently trains. But like the brownies at Red Lobster or somewhere might be the same. Sometimes near my parents house Sweet Street will park a huge truck with trays and trays of brownie type things and you have to buy the whole thing. Man I love that place.

On to the read the rest of the report!

OMG that would be sooooo dangerous! Dangerously DELICIOUS!

That's amazing, though! I think I also found that I could order them online, but I didn't because they only sell them in pretty large batches. I'm still tempted.