Back home after a magical trip this week! Arrived at Pop late on Wednesday. Had never stayed at Pop (usually Port Orleans Riverside loyal)... rooms were a little small, but clean - nice. Resort a little big... long walk to our room with all of our luggage. After that - basic, but nice resort. Enjoyed the larger-than-life theming throughout the resort. Hippy Dippy pool was fun for Disney fans... Guess Who, Name that Tune, other fun Disney games. Mask compliance good at resort - though we enjoyed pool time with them off! Super long, so not for the faint of heart... LOL
Thursday at Epcot - already posted.
Friday at Magic Kingdom - took an early Lyft to Contemporary (645 am). Picked up a mobile order to go at Contempo Cafe (chocolate croissant we put in our bag); picked it up right about 7/7:05 a.m. Walked over to Magic Kingdom... about 5th or 6th in line for temperature checks. They held us for a few minutes, then over to entrance... we were walking in about the same time the folks from the buses were walking in. Headed straight to SDMT - walked straight through queue and got on. Over to BTM - walk on, over to Splash Mountain - 5-10 min wait, on to Pirates - walk on, Aladdin Carpets - walk on, Haunted Mansion - walk on, It's a Small World - 10 min (moving the whole time), Teacups - walk on, Tomorrowland Speedway - 10 mins (moving whole time)... then our first real wait... Buzz Lightyear, probably about 20 mins (moving the whole time). Crowds were significantly more noticeable at this point. Browsed a few of the stores on Main Street on our way to Tony's for lunch. Ran into the big cavalcade - able to sit right up front on the curb - Mickey & Minnie on Christmas float, Pooh & friends, Mary Poppins, Donald & Daisy, Pluto and more. I loved being able to see all the characters! Have seen mixed reviews on Tony's, but we LOVED it. Lady and the Tramp are some of my favorites - right up there with Pooh, Eeyore and friends. Ambiance was great - was able to see a few character cavalcades through the windows, and we enjoyed the food (spaghetti & meatballs, Chicken Parm., fried mozzarella, etc. Headed back to resort for a rest. Back to MK via bus late afternoon... On the way to knock out Space Mountain, ran into the Santa cavalcade right in front of the castle - pretty perfect! After a 20-min wait for Space Mountain, on to our much awaited surprise meal for the kids at Cinderella's Royal Table. It was amazing just to be in the castle, and to see Cinderella. The food was good - between all of us, we had almost everything. Surprisingly, the chicken was the favorite main dish - so good (beef tenderloin was also good, but we all agreed chicken was the best)! And the Jaqs and Gus de-constructed cheesecake the best dessert! One snafu when they tried to charge me for an additional two people (had already pre-paid for 5 - that's the only way to get the reservation) even though we only had our five people. The finance lady came out - she wasn't budging at first - and she could only "find" the reservation I had previously for 3, that I had cancelled the previous day when I picked up the reservation for all five of us - I didn't have the cancelation e-mails on my phone, but I did show her the reservation for five I had still active in myDisney app - they ended up not charging for two more people (a lot of money at CRT!!!), but I felt very uneasy that maybe I wouldn't be getting my refund from the reservation I had canceled the day before. I asked for a direct phone number in case it didn't settle out right (not the wait 2-4 hour dining line number), and she gave me a card with a business office number on it. I feel bad, because I really try to go with the flow - if you have ever been to CRT, you know how much money we are talking, and that REALLY stressed me out. I wish I had handled it better - but she was so adamant about how I hadn't paid for the extra two people (and I had the confirmation e-mail on my computer back at the room - AND the cancelation for the other reservation) - I got pretty frustrated. I sent the husband on with the kids and joined them after the CRT finance lady and I came to a resolution. So, long story short - if you go to CRT, make sure the billing is correct and you have access to your reservation confirmations/cancelations on your phone. On to Peter Pan - 15 min wait (always moving), Haunted Mansion - walk on, Swiss Family Treehouse, Dole Whip Break, Ariel - walk on, grabbed Mickey pretzels, Dumbo - walk on, and a 10-min wait for the Carousel at close. We missed out on the Confectionary... we were going to go on the way out, but there was a line of maybe 10-15 people outside the store and we were pretty tired. Overall - almost a perfect day, except for the CRT snafu (fingers still crossed on this one) and missing the Confectionary. Bus ride back to Pop, long line - but it went fast, they had bus after bus pull in.
Saturday - resort day. Mobile ordered Mickey Waffles; ate in our room - ours were good. Went to see Christmas Decorations... Took bus to Magic Kingdom, rode monorail to Grand Floridian and back to Magic Kingdom; boat to Wilderness Lodge - a fairly long wait for this boat (15-20 mins) - mobile order at Roaring Fork (they were short staffed - took forever, but the food was good - plenty of outside tables in the shade to enjoy it) - our favorite Christmas atmosphere. Boat back to Magic Kingdom (only a short wait, 5-10 mins) and bus back to Pop. And, finally, POOL! Perfect weather; enjoyed the games - CMs were upbeat and fun. Mobile ordered the pizza dinner (pizza/breadsticks/salad for 4) and back to room. Enjoyed movies, packed and loaded up car.
Sunday - Animal Kingdom and head home. Early morning - up and out at 545 a.m. - drove to AK since we were headed home straight from the park. In line at parking lot 6 a.m. One of first cars - they held us for awhile (until 6:30 a.m.). Buses and Ubers/Lyfts beat us in (they got dropped off, we had to walk from parking spot) - but didn't matter. Straight to FOP - walked straight through queue (no stopping), on to Navi River Journey - 10 min wait (very little stopping). The bridge from Pandora to Africa is closed because it is the FOP line, so we had to backtrack and take Discovery Island then on to Africa... Kil. Safari - 10-15 min line then the Safari. I opted out due to a bad back... trekked back to Pandora (via Discovery Island again) to get Night Blossom / Pongu Lumpia... carried the treats back to Kil. Safari exit (also picking up a Simba pretzel). Family joined me ,and we quickly enjoyed the snack at a table. On to Expedition Everest - saw a drum/music show on a boat on the water on the way (fun!) - EE longest wait of maybe 20-25 mins. Not too bad; mostly shaded and quite a few fans. On to Dinosaur - walk on and Triceratops Spin - walk on. Pretty hot at this point. Let the girls do a little shopping on Discovery Island - then It's Tough to Be a Bug - 15-20 min wait; not bad - shaded and was able to see all of the amazing animals on The Tree of Life. Surprised - we really enjoyed the show (had heard mixed reviews). On to Kali River Rapids- 10-15 min wait. At this point, was 11:45 a.m. - headed to front of the park to our 12 p.m. Rainforest Cafe reservation - perfect break/rest before the long drive home. On the way, saw a boat with Timon and Rafiki. The heat made this day a little more tiring, but overall, a great end to our trip.
Masks were bothersome, but not a deal breaker. We saw really good compliance throughout the park - and just stayed away from anyone not keeping theirs up. All of the restaurants we ate at (Beaches and Cream, Tony's, Cinderella Royal Table, Rainforest Cafe) had good table spacing - we felt comfortable and safe - and enjoyed the break in mask wearing as we ate at our tables.
Would we go again? Absolutely! Missed the shows (especially Festival of the Lion King and fireworks), but we felt safe and were happy with the whole trip. Never waiting more than 20 mins for a ride (except maybe a few mins more for Exp. Everest/EE), and the only "big" one we missed at the parks we visited (MK, AK, Epcot) was Frozen Ever After. We also consider the skyline a favorite ride.
Go - enjoy - can't wait to read about your trips!