“Rise” to the Challenge, FREAK!! Done and new trip report started 5/2/21

Glad you enjoyed Destino! We liked it enough, definitely better than the rooms in regular CSR. The lobby is so pretty; it makes it even weirder that the Riveira lobby is so boring!

went for the kids hot dog meal. I love this, the hot dog is tasty and the buttery bun is really good, much better than a plain old bun
Mmm this is what I grabbed during my "not allowed to eat" tour lol and it's a great hot dog!

Be safe out there friend!
 
We had a nice laid back morning after a very quiet and restful night. :faint:

I just saw there's a Youtube video on my home page that keeps popping up called, "Old Key West is the Most Relaxing Resort," or something like that. I think of you every time it pops up and think, "Not for Caroline!"


Such a stylish duck!
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You guys look great!


I have been on this ride many times and still have yet to walk the stand by line.

The kids and I did it once when the posted wait time was 60 minutes. You're not missing much :-)
 
This means our trip has been canceled.
I had a feeling this may happen and a couple days ago I booked a trip for 4/25-5/2. I found an AP rate at POFQ.
Sorry you had to cancel your trip but hopefully waiting a few more weeks will work out. I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya

Oh this looks so good and infinitely better than our meal at Frontera. Sticking to appetizers is clearly the way to go

This was my first visit at Jock Lindsey’s and it was really fun! Just be warned the chairs are uncomfortable especially if you are there for a spell!
So glad to hear you all had a great night. Jocks is one of our favorite places to grab a drink and just chill

The CM informed us that it was to cold out for the Komodo Dragon 🐉 and the bats. No wonder I have never seen one in Minnesota 😂
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Room view
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Gorgeous! Did you have a balcony or is this just out the window?

I can't wait to stay here sometime. Love that its a moderate in a tower instead of being so spread out and the modern look really elevates it to feeling like a deluxe
 


This means our trip has been canceled.

:( :( :(

I had a feeling this may happen and a couple days ago I booked a trip for 4/25-5/2. I found an AP rate at POFQ.

Awesome! I love POFQ.

Okay Everyone, stay safe out there and as a nurse, wash your hands often and for 20 seconds vigorously!

Yes! Hope you and your family are safe and healthy.

We decided to have appetizers for lunch.

That's my favorite kind of lunch.
 
Today is Monday 1/20, Day 7, the arctic cold comes a calling!
:cold:
My waffles were a little to crunchy for me, I like the more fluffy waffles.
I would think so! They're not supposed to be crunchy!
Nice shot of Andi. :)
The CM informed us that it was to cold out for the Komodo Dragon 🐉 and the bats.
Suck it up, princesses!
No wonder I have never seen one in Minnesota 😂
:lmao:
Such a stylish duck!
Not something you hear everyday.
Awwwww…. :)
Andi was mad because each picture she is hidden by the fern in the picture, 😆.
Note for future rides...
we found a really quiet off the path seating area, I never knew this was here.
Nice. I love those.
It was time for FoP FP. I have been on this ride many times and still have yet to walk the stand by line.
Me too! :)
We had a fun ride as always, minus the um doctor 👨‍⚕️ he is annoying!
Maybe the ride is so good because people are so put off by him they expect the ride to be, um, similar.
the hot dog is tasty and the buttery bun is really good, much better than a plain old bun.
That sure sounds good. :)
The view was wonderful. We could see MK, space mountain and the Contemporary.
Nice!
We were also able to cast Disney+ from Andi’s phone to the big screen TV
How do you do that?
The beautiful Destino and room pictures
Gorgeous!
Room view
Wow!!! I mean... wow!
 
Oohh I remember this chilly day! It was a good day to go to AK since it’s always so hot in the park.

I wish there was an option to bypass both of the preshow areas on FOP if you can prove you have ridden it more than x amount of times. Honestly one time is too many.

Satuli is definitely our favorite QS restaurant in the parks. It’s not a trip to AK if we don’t go to Satuli.

The room looks really nice. I’m interested in this resort if we ever want to try something new.
 


All caught up again! I haven't been quoting as much these days. And falling behind on everyone's reports.

But glad you got a nice room for this part of the trip!

And Santuli is delish! Maybe I should see if I can find recipes for there bowls... I have time right now... ha.
 
We called 4 times and only got verbal apologies and no offers to change anything. Inked to switch rooms all 4 times and was always told nothing available yikes!

Then, yep, time to move resorts. You'd sure think they'd hold off one or 5 or even 10 rooms for situations like this.

We love the mornings, we always get so much done!

YES!!

I was happy with the ones I got! Our lineup for this March trip was a little better but oh well!

I"m so sorry, Caroline. Such yucky times for everyone. Especially those with vacations that were lined up.

Highly recommended by me, we have been 3x!

Ok, it's on the list!

It was so fun and I had never been there before

I love it because it's so unique!

I’m always getting lost in DS!

I'm glad they have the touch screen maps now.
 
Our first stop was the beautiful trails. The CM informed us that it was to cold out for the Komodo Dragon 🐉 and the bats. No wonder I have never seen one in Minnesota 😂

LOL!!

I love walking these trails at AK, so lovely, even when some of the animals are not out.

I love the trails, animals or not! They are so aesthetically gorgeous!

It is in between Africa and Asia before you would get to Yak and Yeti. I always find new things at Disney!

It wasn't the area with the red chairs by Mr. Kamal's was it? Love that little area!

I have been on this ride many times and still have yet to walk the stand by line.

Me too!! Not sure I ever have. I guess it'd be fun to do on a day with no other plans.

minus the um doctor 👨‍⚕️ he is annoying!

And yet, somehow annoyingly adorable. And funny. I laugh my entire way through that whole pre-show.

I took a bite before the picture, shame on me!

Actually, in this case it's better to have taken a bite so we can see the dog. It looks more like a sausage or mini brat, yes? Not just an Oscar Meyer regular wiener, right? If so, I'd order that.


Our room was 9118, this is on the 11th floor not the 9th floor which would make more sense, number wise.

Okay, yeah, that's weird.
 
I stayed one night at GDT in nov for MVMCP during a universal trip . I agree it is beautiful - the lobby - the grounds - the rooms . I only wish I had gotten to stay longer and explore more of the resort.
I really liked it and so different for Disney to have a moderate in a tower, I loved that. It was so nice to be in an actual building rather than like a motel, with a door to the outside.
 
Glad you enjoyed Destino! We liked it enough, definitely better than the rooms in regular CSR. The lobby is so pretty; it makes it even weirder that the Riveira lobby is so boring!
I really liked being interior in the tower. It just gave Disney a different vibe for a moderate. I also thought the room was roomy with lots of storage!
Mmm this is what I grabbed during my "not allowed to eat" tour lol and it's a great hot dog!
I really like this kids meal, sometimes I need a change from the bowls at Satu’li
Be safe out there friend!
I wish I had a 4-6 week hiatus at this time, oh well this week I am laying low until I have to work again. You all stay safe!
just saw there's a Youtube video on my home page that keeps popping up called, "Old Key West is the Most Relaxing Resort," or something like that. I think of you every time it pops up and think, "Not for Caroline!"
So true, I can definitely get that especially when you look around the resort. It was quiet on the walkways and even the lobby area just not in our room!
You guys look great!
Thank you!
The kids and I did it once when the posted wait time was 60 minutes. You're not missing much :-)
Good to know, I wasn’t sure if it was super cool or not!
 
Sorry you had to cancel your trip but hopefully waiting a few more weeks will work out. I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya
Even if the late April trip doesn’t happen it is always fun to plan one!
Oh this looks so good and infinitely better than our meal at Frontera. Sticking to appetizers is clearly the way to go
The appetizers were very good, I liked the freshness and delicious herbs.
So glad to hear you all had a great night. Jocks is one of our favorite places to grab a drink and just chill
It was such fun!
Gorgeous! Did you have a balcony or is this just out the window?
No balcony just big windows! Loved the interior halls in a moderate, very nice!
I can't wait to stay here sometime. Love that its a moderate in a tower instead of being so spread out and the modern look really elevates it to feeling like a deluxe
So true, that made a huge difference!
Sounds like a well spent day at AK!
Very fun time at AK, even though it was on the cooler side
Your new room looked really nice with some great views!
I was so happy with it!
 
we found a really quiet off the path seating area
We found this seating area on our last trip too - so peaceful!
I got the blueberry cream cheese mousse dessert with the passion fruit curd.
I totally did not notice this dessert when we ate at Satu'Li ... it looks so good! Definitely adding it to the list for next time.
able to cast Disney+ from Andi’s phone to the big screen TV,
That's so cool!! I wish all the rooms had that option. GDT looks gorgeous!! 😍
 
Awesome! I love POFQ.
I really like this resort, one of my favorites
Yes! Hope you and your family are safe and healthy.
You also, stay safe and healthy!
That's my favorite kind of lunch.
We like appetizers and I have found the lounges also work well for that reason.
would think so! They're not supposed to be crunchy!
These waffles were over done!
Nice shot of Andi.
I though so too!
Suck it up, princesses!
It really wasn’t cold yet, just a tad chilly!
Note for future rides...
The fern in the picture does obstruct when you sit on that side! Andi seemed to always be covered a little by it!
Nice. I love those.
It was tucked off the path, very nice!
Maybe the ride is so good because people are so put off by him they expect the ride to be, um, similar.
So true!
That sure sounds good.
It is a good kids meal, very tasty and then I have room for dessert!
How do you do that?
Oh my gosh, I have no idea exactly how she did it
she took her phone and clicked away and there it was, haha! The room does give you some Pixar movies on Disney+ and that is nice! It was called casting that I know! :rotfl:
The room and view were wonderful. I loved being inside the tower and not an outside building, this was a big plus!
 
Oohh I remember this chilly day! It was a good day to go to AK since it’s always so hot in the park.
This was the day it turned cold, funny how warm it was when we first arrived!
I wish there was an option to bypass both of the preshow areas on FOP if you can prove you have ridden it more than x amount of times. Honestly one time is too many.
That would be great. It’s funny because Andi and I have been picked a few times to fill in the last couple numbers as a party of two and a few times the other guests in the room started telling us what to do, to funny! I wanted to say Um we have done this quite a few times, lol!
Satuli is definitely our favorite QS restaurant in the parks. It’s not a trip to AK if we don’t go to Satuli.
It is our favorite QS!
The room looks really nice. I’m interested in this resort if we ever want to try something new.
I loved it, however, I looked at August and the price is now over $300.00 a night! We paid 170 a night in January and also our March trip we had to cancel it was 170. We would have been arriving today 😢
Great day at AK. Lunch looks very tasty.
Your room looks beautiful. That view is gorgeous!
I was so happy to get a nice quiet room! AK is such a fun park!
All caught up again! I haven't been quoting as much these days. And falling behind on everyone's reports.
Hey no worries, read when you can!
But glad you got a nice room for this part of the trip!
We needed this after the OKW troubles!
And Santuli is delish! Maybe I should see if I can find recipes for there bowls... I have time right now... ha.
Good idea! Bowls are so popular now with many different variations. I have been baking a lot these last few days!
 
Then, yep, time to move resorts. You'd sure think they'd hold off one or 5 or even 10 rooms for situations like this.
Yeah, I don’t know why moving wasn’t an option, it sure needed to be!
I"m so sorry, Caroline. Such yucky times for everyone. Especially those with vacations that were lined up.
We would have been arriving today😢 I’m thankful for all our wonderful trips we have had and the ones to come!
I'm glad they have the touch screen maps now.
I still get lost 🤣
love the trails, animals or not! They are so aesthetically gorgeous!
So true!
It wasn't the area with the red chairs by Mr. Kamal's was it? Love that little area!
No this was across from the tree of life on one of the walkway
Me too!! Not sure I ever have. I guess it'd be fun to do on a day with no other plans.
we may rope drop FoP one of these trips!

And yet, somehow annoyingly adorable. And funny. I laugh my entire way through that whole pre-show.
Ahh Liesa you are too kind! 😘😂
Actually, in this case it's better to have taken a bite so we can see the dog. It looks more like a sausage or mini brat, yes? Not just an Oscar Meyer regular wiener, right? If so, I'd order that.
It is described as an all beef hot dog, it really is good and the buttery pastry really adds to it!
Okay, yeah, that's weird.
I know why do the rooms on the 11th floor start with 9s? :confused3
 
We found this seating area on our last trip too - so peaceful!
This was so nice and we thought it was perfect to rest some and enjoy a snack!
I totally did not notice this dessert when we ate at Satu'Li ... it looks so good! Definitely adding it to the list for next time.
I highly recommend it, very good!
That's so cool!! I wish all the rooms had that option. GDT looks gorgeous!!
It was so nice and the TV’s were double the size the ones at OKW!
 
Hello Everyone!

Today would have been my travel day to WDW, 😢 since I won’t be traveling today or anytime in the near future, I will update my report!

Welcome back to Part 2, a very cold evening filled with fun and Dis friends. Andi and I dressed as warm as we could and headed out to MK for the DAH event. This is a ticketed event that allows a smaller amount of people to enjoy MK after the normal closing time. The event was from 9-12.

We had several FP’s left and we needed to use these up. The DVC ones expire after 4 days. We had 2 left.

We used the first one on JC around 7pm. It was a fun ride and we had a good skipper, she really kept us entertained! There was several guests on board that knew all the skipper lines and the skipper was really quick to change things up and I thought that was great!

Andi wanted to try the jalapeño cream cheese pretzel for her dinner. I know, nice mom, not even getting the kid a decent meal, haha 😂
IMG_Mar222020at84104AM.jpg
The cart across from Pecos Bills had the pretzels. The pretzel was probably one of the last ones and it was dry and not the best. I wasn’t really hungry. I had some snacks in the room and we would be having popcorn and ice cream soon enough. I had a bite of the pretzel and it was meh 😑

We moved on to BTMRR for our last FP, it was a fun ride as usual.

There was still some time before the park close and PoTC had no one in line. When we got down to the boats, we were all alone and got a boat to ourselves. It was really nice and the CM at the controls above was really enthusiastic and waving at us! Here we are all alone getting our best pirate on for the picture!
IMG_Mar232020at82550PM.jpg
At the end the CM, was singing, in a really good voice, the pirate song and at the end she says a Pirates life for me now get out of my boat! It was cute and I never heard that before!

The park was quiet in this area, HEA was going on now. We jumped on the magic carpet ride and rode during the fireworks, it was cool!

When you have seen the show as many times as we have, finding a new way to see it, is always fun!

Country Bears was a perfect attraction to warm up in and wait for the 9pm hour. It was cold now, I had several layers on and I was still chilly! We enjoyed the quirky songs with the Country Bear gang!

It was now 9pm and time to start the after hours event. We wanted to ride HM first, except it was down when we arrived, bummer!

The Lantern PhotoPass was open in the Tangled area with only a couple people in line so we decided to do this. The pictures came out okay despite the cold weather.
IMG_Mar232020at82518PM.jpg
We walked on to Little Mermaid, Dumbo, and Barnstormer with no wait. We headed to Tomorrow Land next and picked up some popcorn and coke. The popcorn was just popped and very fresh, this was nice. We hopped on PM next and Buzz Lightyear after that. I was texting with Molly. She was with Su-Lynn and they were coming to meet us In Tomorrow Land. Andi was excited to ride Space Mountain with them. She usually has to ride alone. The three of them went to ride and I hung out in the gift shop, warming up!
IMG_Mar232020at82625PM.jpg
We all went on Astro Orbiter and it was cold up there. The ride is a little hard to get in and out of, I felt like an old clutz on this ride 😝

We all went in and rode Buzz a couple times! Andi was a galactic hero again!

Ariane, Jenny, and their husbands were now in the park and we met up with them in Fantasy Land. Andi decided to go meet some princesses and the rest of us rode PPF and then walked over to ride Pirates!
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It was really fun spending time with them! We were all pirates for the picture except Steve, he didn’t get the memo, haha!
IMG_Mar232020at82813PM.jpg
Molly, Su-Lynn and I went to HM. It was so fun, we practically had the whole stretching room to ourselves. We could stretch our arms out wide. This was a time you could actually do social distancing at Disney! When the lights came on in the stretching room the CM was right in front of Molly, scared us all! I rode alone and the ride was so awesome with so few people! Andi was waiting for us outside of the ride, she had just rode before us.

We all went and rode SDMT as our last ride of the evening.
IMG_Mar232020at82838PM.jpg
We could have done one more ride but we opted for ice cream bars instead. We saw Ariane and Jenny one more time and said our goodbyes to them. The rest of us walked out together. We watched the Kiss Goodnight and had a few pictures done before we headed out.
IMG_Mar222020at83838AM.jpg
IMG_Mar222020at83531AM.jpg

This was such a fun night! Even with the cold weather, it was a blast and the crowd level was very low! We rode everything in the park we wanted to and enjoyed being with the Dis gang!

Andi and I were back to our room around 12:45 and sleeping shortly after that. Day 7 was now in the books.

Pretzel = $7.95

Total today was only $52.21.

Stay tuned for Day 8. “My ears are freezing”
 

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