PoptartsAndMickey
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2020
Hello!
So my mom and I (Both Disney-holics,) leave home for around 4 AM for a 6 AM Spirit flight to MCO. Easy flight, we splurged and checked a bag so if we wanted to buy anything we had a suitcase vs just our personal item bags. Land at the airport early, I want to say right at 9 AM. Hop on down to baggage claim, then the Magical Express where there was no less than four buses just sitting, and we waited less than five minutes for our ME to take off!
Arrived at 10 AM on Saturday the 11th to Kidani Magical Express drop off. Already, we know it's going to be a one-of-a-kind trip.
No big deal, we wait less than five minutes for a shuttle to bring us to Jambo House for our room. I was pleasantly surprised when I got a text saying the room was ready! We were staying in a value studio for one night, then planned to jump over to Saratoga for a two-night stay while we enjoyed our favorite home in Orlando. We walk into Jambo House annddddd... Nothing. We didn't see anyone in the lobby, or on our trek to our room. Heard a few people through the doors, but it was almost eerie not actually seeing anyone while on Disney groups. Get to our room, it's hot, we have a great view of the parking lot, but we're happy because, duh, it's Disney.
We relax for a minute then realize it's only 11 AM. Time for food, and it's still early enough I can have my Sleepy Hollow breakfast - at Magic Kingdom - on opening day!
Pump the air conditioner on, and off we go! Less than 5 minutes to wait on the MK bus, ride takes about 25 minutes. (We caught the bus at the Jambo house bus stop.)
There was no line for bag check (which isn't bag check, you just walk through what looks like a metal detector, but isn't. You only have to pull out metal cups and umbrellas.)
There was no line to go through the ticket entrance. No finger scanner, just beep your band. (Man, I love that purple circle
)
There was less than 100 (really, probably closer to 50) people on Main Street. A LOT of employees milling about - but everyone was smiling.
Main Street was mostly open - but you could only enter stores in one door. Not a huge issue, but inconvenient. We perused some, realized it was everything just about that was there when we were there last time (which was March 14th, the last day it was open.)
Then, things took a turn. SLEEPY HOLLOW DOESN'T HAVE THE HAM, EGG, AND CHEESE WAFFLE ANYMORE. NOOOO. I'm a little salty about it.
We need food though, so we decide lets try Harbor House. It's closed. Liberty Tree is open, but I don't want to waste an hour, plus spend $ on a place I don't care for. We settle on Pecos Bill... You aren't allowed in until your mobile order is ready. Which, I completely understand, until it's raining and everyone is crammed under the overheads. Still, not a huge deal - we were lucky to be around a group of social distancers, whereas the other side of the door was not. Notification, foods ready, we're allowed in. Get everything (no bar open, obviously) and go sit down. Plenty of seats available, plenty of employees wiping down things every chance they can get.
Finish eating, back to walking around. We notice more and more stuff just isn't open. It's hot, we're tired, lets go back to the room. Right about as we hit the Christmas shop, it starts pouring, so we have a leisure stroll to the buses with a downpour cooling us off. I will say, seeing main street and the circle in front of the castle while it rained was SO weird for me. There was literally no one on the road while the rain drops fell. No big deal, but for me playing in the rain is a key part of a Disney trip!
Make it to the bus, 5-10 minute wait then headed to the hotel. Get back to our room, AC reads 68 but it def isn't, but it's fine because we were cold from being wet. We change, relax about two hours, then head back to MK. No hiccups, easy traverse to the park, walk on Buzz, Pooh, Haunted Mansion, and head home. I didn't see lines on anything, including Mine Train. The big top store near Dumbo was closed, Launch Pad was closed, THE PEOPLE MOVER WAS CLOSED, at one point we saw the Mad Teacups with no one in line and no one actually on the ride - it was crazy. We ended up heading to Disney Springs around 6:30.
Now, let me just say, Disney Springs felt like normal - plus masks. A lot of stores closed at 7, so they were shutting down, but other than that this was the one place on Disney that felt like Disney. We hit WWOD, got a couple goodies, some masks, and headed to the Boathouse for dinner. Let me just say, if you've never eaten there, do it.
Back to the room around 11, AC still isn't pumping. Maintanece comes out enough to get it running long enough for the room to cool off, so woohoo. We decide though, that this isn't our kind of Disney, and change our plans to go home via Southwest tomorrow night on their late flight, and we go to bed.
Wake up around 9, room is hot as all get out, but we're going home so no big deal. Pack, bring our stuff down to bell services to hold until we're leaving, and we check in with the front desk about Magical Express. Get our return time (4:40,) and verify pick-up will be at Jambo house (where we are staying.) The whole 15 minute ordeal, we saw 4 other people in the AKL-JH lobby. We did find out that the day we arrived, the 11th, was only their second day open so it kind of made sense, but it was still weird. Oh! Also, there was no food available except for the pool bar which would close if it was raining. You had taking the shuttle to Kidani as an option, or ordering delivery from outside Disney. This was the first and only time I've ever heard someone Disney actually suggest ordering off-grounds, which was super weird! The store at Jambo was also closed (which is a shame because it's always the best!)
Now, off to DS to see the Vera Bradley store and masks there - which are gorgeous and comfortable, if you're looking! Decide we want food, head to Guy's but there's a wait, so settle on something at AK instead. Bus from DS to AKL then to AK takes about 40 minutes. No wait anywhere at AK. Longest wait was for our food at Restaurantaurous (Spelling, sorry) but it was solid decent food. Ride Dinosaur, Safari, both Avatars in about two hours. Much of the stores were closed, just like MK, a lot of food places closed, just like MK.
End up back at the hotel around 3:30, we wanted to change for the flight. Get our bags, change, head outside at 4:30 to wait on ME. 4:50, no bus, I check in that we are where we're supposed to be. 5:05, check in, they'll call a tax. 5:20, taxi finally arrives, and we get to the airport at like, 5:50? I'm not 100% sure. After that, smooth sailing but I was super disappointed we didn't get to close out on the ME.
Overall, it was a good trip, it just didn't feel like a /Disney/ trip, if that makes sense.
So my mom and I (Both Disney-holics,) leave home for around 4 AM for a 6 AM Spirit flight to MCO. Easy flight, we splurged and checked a bag so if we wanted to buy anything we had a suitcase vs just our personal item bags. Land at the airport early, I want to say right at 9 AM. Hop on down to baggage claim, then the Magical Express where there was no less than four buses just sitting, and we waited less than five minutes for our ME to take off!
Arrived at 10 AM on Saturday the 11th to Kidani Magical Express drop off. Already, we know it's going to be a one-of-a-kind trip.
No big deal, we wait less than five minutes for a shuttle to bring us to Jambo House for our room. I was pleasantly surprised when I got a text saying the room was ready! We were staying in a value studio for one night, then planned to jump over to Saratoga for a two-night stay while we enjoyed our favorite home in Orlando. We walk into Jambo House annddddd... Nothing. We didn't see anyone in the lobby, or on our trek to our room. Heard a few people through the doors, but it was almost eerie not actually seeing anyone while on Disney groups. Get to our room, it's hot, we have a great view of the parking lot, but we're happy because, duh, it's Disney.
We relax for a minute then realize it's only 11 AM. Time for food, and it's still early enough I can have my Sleepy Hollow breakfast - at Magic Kingdom - on opening day!
Pump the air conditioner on, and off we go! Less than 5 minutes to wait on the MK bus, ride takes about 25 minutes. (We caught the bus at the Jambo house bus stop.)
There was no line for bag check (which isn't bag check, you just walk through what looks like a metal detector, but isn't. You only have to pull out metal cups and umbrellas.)
There was no line to go through the ticket entrance. No finger scanner, just beep your band. (Man, I love that purple circle
)There was less than 100 (really, probably closer to 50) people on Main Street. A LOT of employees milling about - but everyone was smiling.
Main Street was mostly open - but you could only enter stores in one door. Not a huge issue, but inconvenient. We perused some, realized it was everything just about that was there when we were there last time (which was March 14th, the last day it was open.)
Then, things took a turn. SLEEPY HOLLOW DOESN'T HAVE THE HAM, EGG, AND CHEESE WAFFLE ANYMORE. NOOOO. I'm a little salty about it.
We need food though, so we decide lets try Harbor House. It's closed. Liberty Tree is open, but I don't want to waste an hour, plus spend $ on a place I don't care for. We settle on Pecos Bill... You aren't allowed in until your mobile order is ready. Which, I completely understand, until it's raining and everyone is crammed under the overheads. Still, not a huge deal - we were lucky to be around a group of social distancers, whereas the other side of the door was not. Notification, foods ready, we're allowed in. Get everything (no bar open, obviously) and go sit down. Plenty of seats available, plenty of employees wiping down things every chance they can get.
Finish eating, back to walking around. We notice more and more stuff just isn't open. It's hot, we're tired, lets go back to the room. Right about as we hit the Christmas shop, it starts pouring, so we have a leisure stroll to the buses with a downpour cooling us off. I will say, seeing main street and the circle in front of the castle while it rained was SO weird for me. There was literally no one on the road while the rain drops fell. No big deal, but for me playing in the rain is a key part of a Disney trip!
Make it to the bus, 5-10 minute wait then headed to the hotel. Get back to our room, AC reads 68 but it def isn't, but it's fine because we were cold from being wet. We change, relax about two hours, then head back to MK. No hiccups, easy traverse to the park, walk on Buzz, Pooh, Haunted Mansion, and head home. I didn't see lines on anything, including Mine Train. The big top store near Dumbo was closed, Launch Pad was closed, THE PEOPLE MOVER WAS CLOSED, at one point we saw the Mad Teacups with no one in line and no one actually on the ride - it was crazy. We ended up heading to Disney Springs around 6:30.
Now, let me just say, Disney Springs felt like normal - plus masks. A lot of stores closed at 7, so they were shutting down, but other than that this was the one place on Disney that felt like Disney. We hit WWOD, got a couple goodies, some masks, and headed to the Boathouse for dinner. Let me just say, if you've never eaten there, do it.
Back to the room around 11, AC still isn't pumping. Maintanece comes out enough to get it running long enough for the room to cool off, so woohoo. We decide though, that this isn't our kind of Disney, and change our plans to go home via Southwest tomorrow night on their late flight, and we go to bed.
Wake up around 9, room is hot as all get out, but we're going home so no big deal. Pack, bring our stuff down to bell services to hold until we're leaving, and we check in with the front desk about Magical Express. Get our return time (4:40,) and verify pick-up will be at Jambo house (where we are staying.) The whole 15 minute ordeal, we saw 4 other people in the AKL-JH lobby. We did find out that the day we arrived, the 11th, was only their second day open so it kind of made sense, but it was still weird. Oh! Also, there was no food available except for the pool bar which would close if it was raining. You had taking the shuttle to Kidani as an option, or ordering delivery from outside Disney. This was the first and only time I've ever heard someone Disney actually suggest ordering off-grounds, which was super weird! The store at Jambo was also closed (which is a shame because it's always the best!)
Now, off to DS to see the Vera Bradley store and masks there - which are gorgeous and comfortable, if you're looking! Decide we want food, head to Guy's but there's a wait, so settle on something at AK instead. Bus from DS to AKL then to AK takes about 40 minutes. No wait anywhere at AK. Longest wait was for our food at Restaurantaurous (Spelling, sorry) but it was solid decent food. Ride Dinosaur, Safari, both Avatars in about two hours. Much of the stores were closed, just like MK, a lot of food places closed, just like MK.
End up back at the hotel around 3:30, we wanted to change for the flight. Get our bags, change, head outside at 4:30 to wait on ME. 4:50, no bus, I check in that we are where we're supposed to be. 5:05, check in, they'll call a tax. 5:20, taxi finally arrives, and we get to the airport at like, 5:50? I'm not 100% sure. After that, smooth sailing but I was super disappointed we didn't get to close out on the ME.
Overall, it was a good trip, it just didn't feel like a /Disney/ trip, if that makes sense.
