Social Disney-ing...a Feb/March 2021 Chunky Birthday trip! COMPLETED 8/28!!

[chunkymonkey]

Haha, I can totally relate to work being crazy the day you're trying to leave on vacation. It's so nice to finally get to the airport and leave it behind. Speaking of, amazing first class experience - that sounds so nice and relaxing. Cool to see more of the Riviera - we ate brunch at Topolino and really liked the look of the place. That scavenger hunt sounds really cool!

Haha it's like people realize that you're leaving and they finally have to come to you for stuff on the very day you leave. Really?
First class on a true lie-flat seat is in a whole different world! I guess we just got lucky.
We LOVE Riviera. We stayed there for a few days last November, it is our new favorite resort. Well until the Poly finishes it's reno and the monorail is back up and running!
The scavenger/story hunt was fun!!

I’m here and excited to hear all about the Birthday trip!
I want to stay at Riviera at some point, it is a really nice and relaxing type of resort.
Cool scavenger hunt gift, such a clever idea

Hi Caroline! I miss you and Andi! I hope we get to meet in WDW again soon!
I loved the Riviera! It was so beautiful, it's our second stay there. Now I want to buy DVC there, although I'm not sure it's the smartest investment choice, lol. I just really like staying there. It does have it's caveats though, the lines for skyliner can get pretty long, but it's really due to COVID since every party has to have their own car now.

Excited to be following!

Thanks and welcome!

I hope so too! I wish I knew if we were going, but we still don't have Allie's schedule that week!

Oh no! Hope you get it soon and hope we get to meet up!

YEAH!!! I do love your TRs and it's great to see you back in the parks!! We had JUST LEFT Disney when you got there - we visited from Feb. 18-24th and it was a great trip!!!

Can't wait to hear more!!

Aww thank you! I think Disney really is the only light at the end of the tunnel right now, at least for me! I can't wait until we visit again (less than a month now for Chunkysis's birthday)

We were in the parks March 2-6. Excited to read about your experience!

Oh cool, we were there at the same time! Wasn't the weather just beautiful?

Excited to follow along with your trip!! The room at Rivieria really looks fantastic, seems to be a seriously upscale resort even if it was outside of Disney!

I absolutely love Riviera, it feels like a different world. But with Disney touches, of course!

 

[rndmr2]

Glad to see you started a new report. Nice start, looking forward to reading all about it. That resort is beautiful.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Joining in! I am so excited to follow along!

Thank you!!

Following along! Love the scavenger hunt - what a great gift idea!!

Thank you! The hunt was so fun, it made me really look at areas of EPCOT I didn't notice.

nice to see you back and writing again

Thank you so much! I'm happy to be back!

Following!

Thank you!!

Glad to see you made it back. Can't wait to hear about the trip.

Thank you!!

Happy Belated Birthday! I love your reports and will be following (lurking) along!

Thank you!!

Sounds like a fun bday present!

Thanks! It was one of a few surprises this week!

So glad you were able to get back to Disney. I always love reading your trip reports.

Aw thanks! Great seeing you here!

This might seem super odd and/or creepy but I am going to be completely honest and tell you that I let out a little squeal when I saw that you had a new TR. It's creepy because I'm more of a reader versus commenter so I'm branching out and commenting for once.

Aw thank you so much, this is literally the sweetest thing I've read! I'm so happy to have you part of this TR! Welcome and comment away!

We are flying down with United First Class in May...same thing only a little more than economy plus.

Yay! Hope you get the pixie dusted lie flat seats too!

I’m in! Looking forward to your report!

Yay welcome and thank you!!

Hi! I am here! I loved following along on Instagram and was hoping you would write a TR! The flight down looks like it was just what the doctor ordered! I am looking forward to seeing the scavenger hunt unfold! I am going with DH and two friends in May for our first baby free weekend (we are calling it our overdue babymoon, since Covid cancelled ours.....twice). I think the scavenger hunt would be fun!

Hi Katie! I've been lagging in all my TRs but I decided to start one for this trip since it was literally such a great trip, despite it being in the middle of a pandemic! So much fun, and I loved being in the Disney bubble again. Hope you have a wonderful belated babymoon! It sounds like a much needed break! BTW your daughter is the cutest thing ever! Love seeing her pics!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Glad to see you started a new report. Nice start, looking forward to reading all about it. That resort is beautiful.

Thank you! Great to see you here! I've been so behind on the DIS, I have to read your DLP report, I've always wanted to go and we were supposed to do that this year but...oh well
We were also supposed to go to TDLR for Chunkysis's 40th bday this year but we will just have to settle for Disney World instead!

 

[Raeven]

Good to see your back! Following along

 

[anmay27]

Here and following your TR. Can't wait to hear about the scavenger hunt. I have ordered 2 for the kids. We leave in 14 days!!

 

[LLM]

What a fabulous birthday gift from your family! I am looking forward to following along with your trip report!

 

[Woth2982]

BTW your daughter is the cutest thing ever! Love seeing her pics!

Awww thank you so much! Stay tuned for her St. Paddy's day photos! Waiting on my order to be finalized!

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Hi Su-Lynn!

I am so excited to be reading another trip report from you. I really enjoyed seeing this trip through your IG stories. Can't wait to read more!

 

[chunkymonkey]

So I was so excited to start my Trip Report that I forgot to post intros of my and my DH, Steve, although I'm sure many of you have read my previous TRs before. So for the newcomers I'll just link to one of my previous TRs from 2019 which has a little bit about us. CLICK HERE.

Part 2: It's my Birthday! (But so is every day on this trip!)

We woke up nice and early because I was excited to start my birthday at DHS! We have a later brunch back at our resort and then we were going to park hop to Epcot and then MK, because, well I HAD to see the castle. We'd end the night with dinner at California Grill. YUM. I had found these ADRs just two days prior and I was absolutely ecstatic, it was just meant to be!

We hopped on the skyliner, which is my favorite way to travel within WDW. Note, because of COVID, every party has to have their own gondola car which is nice, but it increases the wait times. But it's better than shoving 6 strangers into a small box. Because when you are alone you can take pictures and video of yourself with Skyliner hair, which is one of my favorite things to do, LOL.

Please don't mind me

I'm just so happy to be at Disney on my birthday!
I realized that I forgot to get my birthday pin so I'd stop and get one on the way back.

OK time to face the day! It was looking to be pretty hot...87 degrees!
Kinda unseasonably warm but at least it wasn't the 40 degrees back home and best of all, no more snow!

Once entering DHS we made a beeline for Slinky Dog!

We love this ride so much we did it twice! Note that the wait times posted are grossly exaggerated. If it says 60 mins you're really only waiting for 30-40, at least that was our experience.

Then we rode Toy Story Mania!

I beat Steve but barely. I think we need to practice more as we are losing our edge. My arm gets so sore now though!

Well we only did a few rides because we needed to head back to make it to our brunch reservation. The Skyliner route from DHS to CBR, which is the "hub", was a breeze, but once there we saw all the crazy lines to EPCOT (which had just opened for the day I think), and Riviera is a stop on that line. Just something to note if you travel by Skyliner regularly, the CBR hub to Epcot was always the most crowded during opening hours. But almost all other times it was fairly empty.

We ended up waiting much longer than we wanted to for the Skyliner but finally we were on, and luckily the ride is quite quick. Door to door was about 40 minutes, which what they tell you to budget, but all other times we've been getting to Riviera from DHS in half that, so it's really only going to be slow those peak hours (start of day, park closing)

When we arrived at the Riviera, I had to get a picture with the Tangled lanterns, because they only happen once a year, on Rapunzel's birthday, so it was only fitting!

Gosh this resort is just so pretty during the day! The grounds are so well manicured, I love it!

We met our dear friend Chunkydust for our most favorite breakfast/brunch on property...Topolino's Terrace!

Breakfast A La Art!

We had a lovely table right by where the characters walk in, so I sat where I could take the most selfies, LOL.. First up was POG! Passion Orange Guava juice, sooo good.

We scanned menus, ordered our coffees and our meals, and soon after that we got our bread basket:

Love the croissants here! I always eat two. And the butter, jam, and nutella, YUM! Although that is not enough jam for my sister. We're coming here again next month for her birthday, and yup, that will not be enough jam for her. You gotta read this report to understand.

Soon the characters came around, and they did not disappoint! Mickey was super fun, Minnie was a doll, Donald was feisty and Daisy was a ham as usual.

Then our food started arriving. I have always gotten the plant-based eggs here, it's done in an omelet style with mushrooms, tomatoes, and spinach, my 3 favorite things in an omelet!

I like the plant based eggs not because I'm vegan but because I like the taste and texture of them, they are very soft and with a faint taste of silken tofu. It seemed better than rubbery eggs so I stick with those here but note that you can order regular eggs instead of the plant-based stuff. For the sausage though, I stick with regular pork sausage rather than the vegan stuff. I have to draw the line somewhere, LOL. I loved this dish, the "eggs" were so soft and not rubbery, and the potatoes are to die for!

Of course I couldn't not get more food. I had to try the Sour Cream Waffles. You can order any entree off the menu for no additional charge, did you know that? I did not so that's why this is my first time doing that, haha. Trust me I'd have eaten twice as much had I known, and this is our 4th time at this meal! They happily gave me a side of sour cream waffles and they were amazing too.

Steve got the Butcher's Steak over Polenta. They asked if he wanted eggs with it and he chose scrambled.

He really liked it and it is a very good deal on the fixed price menu.

We got another round of characters, and we like it when they do their little song and all come out and dance around the restaurant.

We had such a fantasic time at Topolino's! I'm so lucky to be able to spend it here on my birthday so thank you Chunkydust for finding this reservation for us to enjoy!!

Next Up - Epcot!

On the way to Epcot I looked at some of the stuff I'm supposed to do on the Story Hunt. I say Story Hunt because it's not exactly a scavenger hunt as there is nothing tangible that you're looking it's more just answers to questions. Then your answers will be decoded and a secret toy under a combination lock will be revealed. Can't wait!

So question 1 asks me to look for a spot in the enclosed map .

I used the Spy pen that came along with it, it has like a black light at one end. I used it to search the map and it lit up on #14, The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends. Looks like we'd be able to find some answers there!
Sorry I don't actually have much detail about myself getting the answers the entire time we're in Epcot. I either have something else in my hand, or I'm completely distracted and can't pull out my phone to take a pic. But I will show the end prize (it's small).

At EPCOT: Such a beautiful sight!

It looks so spring-like compared to what we see back home in NJ. I couldn't wait to get to walk around the World!

Coming up....an afternoon at Epcot, a hop to MK, and dinner at Cali Grill!​

 

[suse66]

We hopped on the skyliner, which is my favorite way to travel within WDW. Note, because of COVID, every party has to have their own gondola car which is nice, but it increases the wait times. But it's better than shoving 6 strangers into a small box. Because when you are alone you can take pictures and video of yourself with Skyliner hair, which is one of my favorite things to do, LOL.

I just love the Skyliner. It really is the perfect way to travel.

I beat Steve but barely. I think we need to practice more as we are losing our edge. My arm gets so sore now though!

Love TSMM....your scores are awesome. I have so much fun on this ride but am terrible at it, lol!

Of course I couldn't not get more food. I had to try the Sour Cream Waffles. You can order any entree off the menu for no additional charge., did you know that? I did not so that's why this is my first time doing that, haha. trust me I'd have been doing it from the first time, and this is our 4th time at this meal! So they happily gave me a side of sour cream waffles They were amazing too.

Your brunch looks fantastic! Those sour cream waffles would be right up my alley.

At EPCOT: Such a beautiful sight!

Is there anything better than a glorious spring day in Epcot?

 

[footballmouse]

Your breakfast looked really good. I'm thinking we might have to try this place out and change from Chef Mickeys on our September trip.

 

[Mich123]

Thank you for describing the plant based omelet. I’d been wondering about that and now I definitely want to try it!

 

[Dugette]

Love seeing your visit to Topolino's, since I just revisited ours from a year ago and had been wondering how it changed. Looks like it's still a lot of fun!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Your Skyliner ride looks amazing, and so does the breakfast.

The scavenger hunt looks like something I'd enjoy and a lot of fun.

 

[amytech]

I'm late to the party but am all caught up now! So happy you are doing a report of your birthday trip! We had some overlapping days with you (in Orlando, sadly not Disney) and the weather was simply beautiful while we were there! Can't wait for more of your trip report!

 

[HeadintheClouds]

First class looks really nice! Glad you got to enjoy it!

Oooh that scavenger hunt looks like so much fun! Can’t wait to read more about it!

 

[Wood Nymph]

We left the night of Feb 26th, which was a Friday, the day before my birthday.

I just found your trip report. It turns out that we were at WDW when you were there. We were at YC from Feb 28th to March 5th.

So now on ME, they assign you to a row in the bus and the fill every other row. We were stuck all the way in the back, LOL. This this is the furthest back I've been on ME.

We discovered the hard way that the first one on ME gets the very last row next to the bathroom.

We hopped on the skyliner, which is my favorite way to travel within WDW.

The windy ride is especially nice right now because we take off our mask during the ride.

On the way to Epcot I looked at some of the stuff I'm supposed to do on the Story Hunt. I say Story Hunt because it's not exactly a scavenger hunt as there is nothing tangible that you're looking it's more just answers to questions. Then your answers will then be decoded and a secret price under a combination lock will be revealed.

The scavenger hunt looks like a fun way to explore Epcot, especially when you have been there lots of times.

 

[Paulaparm]

Brunch looks delicious

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Brunch at Topolino's sounds fantastic. I love how they let you order multiple entrees for no extra charge. The Riviera looks so beautiful! It's one of the first places I want to check out once I'm back in Disney.