Disney in a Time of Covid-A Different, But Wonderful Trip! (updated 8/4/22 x2)

Clarf

Haunted Mansion or Bust.
Joined
Jul 24, 2012
Hello Friends! We're about 3 1/2 weeks back from our most recent trip and I can't wait to share it with you all! I'm going to share the good, the bad (there wasn't much), and the amazing. We were all curious how Disney would be during a pandemic, but they definitely delivered! If you are considering going, or have an upcoming trip planned, please don't hesitate to ask questions about how things are. I'll give you my (and my family's) honest opinions.

Before we get into that though, lets start with the introductions. Who are we? We're the K-G family. We're from Milwaukee, WI. This was our 5th trip together as a family. Jason, my husband and I, went to Disney World together in February of 2001 for a few days. We had come down to see his family, and then spent 4 days at Disney at the end of the trip. I had never been to WDW before, and had only been to DL once at the age of 7 in 1982, but I was hooked the moment I stepped into the MK for the first time. My love for the parks has just continued to grow. Jason had been many times since childhood, as he's always had family in Florida, and I knew once we had kids, we'd be bringing them!

So, here's me. Clare 45 going on 25. I work for a professional theater company. I love thrill rides, theme parks, animals of all kinds, Diet Pepsi, embarrassing my children, Halloween, summer, 80's sitcoms, and 80's music. I don't love whining, complaining, people who don't follow the rules, and stupidity.

This is me at the end of May. It was the day I got my first haircut since January due to Covid. I was REALLY happy.



My favorite park is Magic Kingdom. To me, MK IS Disney. My favorite ride of all time anywhere, at any amusement park is Haunted Mansion. I love everything about it.

This is Jason. He's 41. yes, I robbed the cradle. At our first trip in 2001, we had been dating just over 9 months. When he brought me to Disney, I knew he was the one. He works for a software company and I have no idea what he does. He loves thrill rides, coffee made with a French press, his phone, computers, eating, theater, and his phone. He doesn't love messes, telling our kids to do something more than once, and being told what to do.

This is him at the end of May, the same day as my photo, after HIS first haircut since January. It was a good day.



His favorite park has always been Magic Kingdom, but I think that might have changed after this trip. I'll keep you posted. His favorite ride is Space Mountain.

This is our oldest daughter, Lucy. She turned 14 the day we got home. She has been lucky to spend several birthdays (or near birthdays) at Disney. She's an 8th grader. She loves theater, Disney, Harry Potter, roller coasters, The Simpsons, The Goldbergs, school, and Marty McFly. She wants to be an actress when she grows up. She recently found out about the Disney College Program and has her sights set on that already! She doesn't like taking the dog out when she's tired, chicken pot pie, or trying new foods. She's not picky so to say, but it's like pulling teeth to get her to try something new. She almost always ends up loving it.

These are 3 recent pictures of her. The first one is HER first haircut after restrictions were loosened, the second one is her on my dad's boat this summer, and she looks so pretty, and the 3rd one is really who she is.







If you've read any of my other trip reports, you can see she has really grown up. :( However, she is honestly the nicest teenager I know. She's nice to everyone and doesn't "hate us" yet. Her favorite park was Magic Kingdom at the beginning of the trip, but that may have changed too! Her favorite ride is Tower of Terror.

Here is the youngest and sassiest member of our family. Maura is 11, but still looks like she's 7 or 8. If you read any of my previous trip reports, you'll notice she looks slightly older, but she's still tiny! Don't let her size fool you though. She makes up for it with her voice and her shenanigans. She loves roller coasters, animals, skateboarding, theater, gymnastics, Gravity Falls, We Bear Bears, sharks, dinosaurs, and mac and cheese. She wants to be a vet at the zoo or a zookeeper when she grows up. She hates being told what to do, cleaning up after herself, unloading the dishwasher, and being bored. You get 3 pictures of her too. The first one? You guessed it, haircut day. We all went the same day. The second one was on her birthday in July, and the 3rd one is a face I see more than I'd like. I must have 300 versions of this picture on my phone, all taken by her.







Maura's only in 6th grade, but we can tell already she's going to keep us up at night when she's in high school. Her favorite park is Animal Kingdom and her favorite ride is Splash Mountain.

Here's a picture of all of us together at our State Fair this summer. It wasn't the usually Fair, but they had a lot of the favorite foods and you got to drive around and visit as many as you want and get some of your favorites! We even got to bring the dog with us.



HEre 's Jason and I on my Dad's boat on the 4th of July. Sometimes we get a picture of just the 2 of us!



We do have some furry family members too. They didn't get to come, though.

This is Nellie. She always looks angry. It's just her look. Even when she's sleeping. She's our "Halloween Kitty."





See? She looks mad. But she isn't most of the time.

This is Tinka. AKA Fatniss Everdeen. When we got her at 8 years old, she weighed in at 20 lbs. We've gotten her down to a svelte 16, at the age of 13, but she's still a big girl. If she could talk, she'd tell you she's the boss of the house and always starving.





This little turd is our baby, Murphy. He just turned 1 on October 4th. We got him on Black Friday last year as an early Christmas present for the girls. We had a 16 year old pug who we lost in January and it was devastating. We are so happy we have this guy. He softened the blow a bit after losing our Bowser. He is funny and sassy and makes us laugh every day. He is very spoiled, and has been even more so since we've all been home with him during the pandemic.





So, that's who we are. Our trip was September 5-18. We didn't actually get to Disney until the 9th. We spent a few days with Jason's brother first, but I'll only share a couple pictures from that. We also drove, so that's always an adventure in itself.

I hope you stick around and see where this trip took us!
 
Intro.

Day 1
Pre-Trip Nonsense
Here We Go!
Dinosaurs? I Thought You Were Going to Disney
More of the Massive Beasts

Day2-4
Florida Welcomes You to Cousins and Swimming Pools
Is This The Ocean or Lake Michigan? And Some Beasts Too

Day 5
Finally! It's D Day!
Well Aren't We Fancy
Let's Do Some Exploring
The Land of Giant Ice Cream
We Never Did Find the Orange Garage
Old Friends and MORE Dinosaurs?
Spending some $$$

Day 6
Mmmmmmm....Breakfast
Finally, a park!
From Frontier to Fantasy and Back Again
999 Happy Haunts
Snacks and Story Skipping
Flying Into Space in Several Different Forms
The Disney Ducks are Fun
Photpass Galore and More Snacks!
Adventures and Fantasy
We're Cruisn'
Flying Through Space

Day 7
A "Brief" Tour of the UK
Soarin' With the Plants
Enough With the Flowers! Let's Imagine Something Else
Let's Use Our Imaaaaaaginations, and Visit a Big Blue World
Testing our Driving Skills
Time Travel and Treats
So This is Why People Love Food & Wine
Photopass and MORE FOOD
A Leisurely Cruise to End the Day

Day 8
Those Sticky Buns Aren't Going to Just Come to You!
After Walking About 57 Miles We Finally Reached Flight of Passage!
We Saw A Dinosaur and Then We Were Hungry
Do You Want to See a Yeti or a Tiger?
I Don't Know What These Animals are Called.
Whoa, the Tree of Life is HUGE!
We're Eating AGAIN????
Let's Close it Out With Some Dorkiness.

Day 9
Hoping to Rise to the Resistance
Are We In a Cartoon?
Nightime Dining in the Daytime.
Finally! The Force!
A Galaxy Far, Far, Away and A Hotel From Long, Long, Ago
We Get to Ride With Mickey?
One More Trip to the Scary Hotel
A Few Missed PP Videos

Day 10
Our Neighbors to the North. And South.
Trekking around the World One Country at a Time
From Scandanavia to the Far East
How Can They Not Have Spaetzle?????
Keep on Truckin' Around the World
We're STILL Eating?
Walk Ons and Goodbye to an Old Friend
I Can't Believe We Are Still Able to Walk After All That Food

Day 11
Will We Rise to the Resistance?
Touring the Edge of the Galaxy
Snacks and Short Waits
Getting a lot Done in a Short Time
Droid Building and Wandering
Dinner With Italians
PhotoPass Dump
 
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So, here's me. Clare 45 going on 25. I work for a professional theater company.

Hi.

good to be back on here! I even started a report. on what i haven't figured out just yet

I love thrill rides, theme parks, animals of all kinds, Diet Pepsi, embarrassing my children, Halloween, summer, 80's sitcoms, and 80's music. I don't love whining, complaining, people who don't follow the rules, and stupidity.

did you find your Diet Rite?
80's - wish to have a time machine. but bring the kids with me. My kids are big 80's fan too!

She recently found out about the Disney College Program and has her sights set on that already!

YAY! She and Peanut can room together!

He loves thrill rides, coffee made with a French press, his phone, computers, eating, theater, and his phone. He doesn't love messes, telling our kids to do something more than once, and being told what to do.

This is him at the end of May, the same day as my photo, after HIS first haircut since January. It was a good day.

Who is this guy? the Jason i know has glasses.
Yes a hair cut is amazing.. finally just got one..

of her. The first one is HER first haircut after restrictions were loosened

HOLY---
+

Guacamole! I still cannot believe this! she is such a BEAUTIFUL young lady now!
Lord when did these kids get so mature?!?!

nice to everyone and doesn't "hate us" yet.

I'm at the point "i can't like them"

She wants to be a vet at the zoo or a zookeeper when she grows up.

YES she can be with Peanut! Work at DAK!


I really don't think you're going to get away with calling her a man child anymore- She is beautiful.
holy crap.

He is very spoiled, and has been even more so since we've all been home with him during the pandemic.

rightfully so. It's all in the name.

We also drove, so that's always an adventure in itself.

we are a rare breed with driving people always look at me like i'm nuts we would rather drive!!!
I seriously wanted to go to our bike path and wave to you.. I think Meg had a tournament on your way home but your way there i was waving from the house...



I cannot wait to hear all about this trip!
 
Popping over from your last trip report. Great read so looking forward to reading more of this one .
I was going Sept 13-19th this year but moved it to same week next year . I sometimes wish I had kept it. Currently have week after Thanksgiving booked because I just couldn’t wait until next year !
 
Joining! We returned from our 2nd post-COVID trip on Sept. 28th and had a great time as well as enjoying our trip in July; we'll be back for Thanksgiving too :goodvibes Always interested in others' views on how they feel things are in these different times!
 


Looking forward to it! My kids are a lot younger but this will be our first trip anywhere in the Covid world and we are flying. Somewhat scared but we all need a mental break. We just started school this week where I am so it's nutso. 6 months in the house is crazy.
 
Joining in! I love living vicariously through all those lucky enough to travel now! :)
 
Jumping onboard for what is sure to be a wild ride!!!!!
Yay! Welcome, Friend! I knew you'd be first! :welcome:

Joining in sounds fun!

:welcome: Thanks for joining!

Popping over from your last trip report. Great read so looking forward to reading more of this one .
I was going Sept 13-19th this year but moved it to same week next year . I sometimes wish I had kept it. Currently have week after Thanksgiving booked because I just couldn’t wait until next year !
:welcome: thanks for joining this one! I'm glad you booked a trip for Thanksgiving! Now is a GREAT time to go!

Joining! We returned from our 2nd post-COVID trip on Sept. 28th and had a great time as well as enjoying our trip in July; we'll be back for Thanksgiving too :goodvibes Always interested in others' views on how they feel things are in these different times!
:welcome: Oooh, we were there close to the same time! So jealous you get to go again soon too!

Looking forward to it! My kids are a lot younger but this will be our first trip anywhere in the Covid world and we are flying. Somewhat scared but we all need a mental break. We just started school this week where I am so it's nutso. 6 months in the house is crazy.
:welcome: When do you go? I've actually heard flying is pretty safe. The mental break will be so good for you. We all felt like new when we got back from our trip. It is crazy being in your house all the time.

Joining in!

Yay! :welcome:
Joining in! I love living vicariously through all those lucky enough to travel now! :)

:welcome: Live vicariously! I know I was doing that before we went.
 
Hi.

good to be back on here! I even started a report. on what i haven't figured out just yet

:welcome: Yay! I'll have to find your report!

did you find your Diet Rite?
80's - wish to have a time machine. but bring the kids with me. My kids are big 80's fan too!

I find my Diet Rite sometimes. I usually get the last pack! I really want Diet Pepsi though. The 80's were the absolute best decade ever!

YAY! She and Peanut can room together!

OMG that would be so fun!

Who is this guy? the Jason i know has glasses.
Yes a hair cut is amazing.. finally just got one..

Hah! He usually does have glasses. He had taken them off for the cut. It felt so good to get that haircut!

HOLY---
+

Guacamole! I still cannot believe this! she is such a BEAUTIFUL young lady now!
Lord when did these kids get so mature?!?!

I know. It's nuts! I swear, mine were just born!

I'm at the point "i can't like them"

I hope we never get there!

YES she can be with Peanut! Work at DAK!

Yes! We could visit them together!

I really don't think you're going to get away with calling her a man child anymore- She is beautiful.
holy crap.

Yeah, no more man-child. We didn't get to do that this time anyway.

rightfully so. It's all in the name.

LOL! We didn't know that when we named him that.

we are a rare breed with driving people always look at me like i'm nuts we would rather drive!!!
I seriously wanted to go to our bike path and wave to you.. I think Meg had a tournament on your way home but your way there i was waving from the house...

We love driving too! It's just fun. And LOL! I was looking for you. :)

I cannot wait to hear all about this trip!

It starts now!
 
This will be a text-heavy update to start. Okay, so now we have to get through the boring travel stuff before we get to the fun. We drive. We've always driven and probably always will. Thing is, I hate flying. I could take a Xanax and do it, but driving also saves us a TON of money, so we can spend more days and money at Disney. We started planning this trip in July of 2019. Before Covid was a thing. We used our friend and travel agent Lisa (the DIS's very own mickeystoontown) to help us get started. We've always stayed for 5 days in the past. We decided this year, with the new Galaxy's Edge and such, we would do a full 7 days at the parks. We've also always been park hopper people. It's just who we are. So, we planned on that for this trip too. Lisa got us all booked with 7 nights, 7 day park hoppers, a dining plan, and Memory Maker. We were all set to stay at Port Orleans Riverside. We've stayed there before and enjoyed it. Although we consider Caribbean Beach "home," we wanted to do POR again. So, life went along as planned. We made payments. Lisa watched for discounts. Life was good!

And then March came. And Covid. And everything shut down. We wanted to be sure we were safe. We quarantined and isolated, and stayed at home like we were supposed to. Disney closed. We didn't cancel our trip. We were optimistic they'd re-open in a month or so. And then the didn't. And stuff stayed closed. We got more and more worried, but didn't cancel. We said if it came to it, we'd just re-schedule for when they opened. The girls didn't want to cancel. Jason and I didn't want to cancel. We were starting to go stir crazy at home, and having Disney to look forward to was a light at the end of the tunnel.

Slowly, stuff started to re-open in Wisconsin. Our girls got to play softball safely in the summer. We did have a small scare in July where one of Maura's teammates tested positive. We weren't too worried, since it was all outside, but we all got tested. Negative! Phew! Disney announced they were re-opening on July 11! Yes! We were so excited! We were more optimistic than ever and hoped they wouldn't close again. But then we got the news that POR wouldn't be open. Dang. What did that mean for us? Well, I'll tell you what it meant! On July 16th, Lisa sent me a text. They were upgrading us at NO CHARGE to Beach Club! Whoa! We were speechless. We aren't deluxe people. We always do moderates. The Poly is our dream resort, but we just don't have the funds for that. Beach Club was never on our radar, but we'd take it! The girls couldn't believe it! We were already going to go there for Beaches and Cream, and now we got to STAY there? We were even more excited (although, honestly a little sad. We were really looking forward to seeing POR again, but there's always next time!) The girls immediately looked up the resort and were in awe. They thought Stormalong Bay looked so cool, even though we knew there was a chance it wouldn't be open when we went. It would either be that or we'd be allowed to use the Scary Clown Pool at Boardwalk. Either way, it was a new pool and was exciting.

We were going to visit Jason's dad and step-mom for a few days before and a few days after. They're only about an hour north of Disney, and we always see them at some point on our trips. We were going to take the dog and leave him with Grandma and Grandpa for a week. But of course you all know, Covid happened. And Jason's dad had to have a surgery in mid-August that would put him more high risk if he got it. SO, they thought it might be better if we didn't see them this trip. We sadly agreed. We didn't want to risk anyone getting sick. So, we asked Jason's brother, who is near Cocoa Beach, if we could visit them for a few days so the girls could see their cousins. That was a go! So we'd still leave the same day. But, now since we wouldn't be staying with Gma and Gpa, what if we added an extra park day for a total of 8? Since we couldn't do park hoppers, we thought 2 days at each park would be better. So, we got that booked. And then we figured we needed an extra night. If we added it to BC, we'd have to pay BC prices. Lisa got us instead a good price at CBR! So we'd be going home after all! Then, Jason and I realized that if we spent 8 days at the parks, and 8 nights, we'd be leaving to drive home directly from the Magic Kingdom at closing time. We didn't want to do that, so we added one more night to CBR for a total of 9 nights! Wow! Our first split stay, our first deluxe resort, 8 park days! This was shaping up to be pretty great, and we didn't have to pay much more for the extras. We actually saved money since our dining plan and park hoppers were cancelled.



We were set! Or so we thought. We got an email at the end of July saying Beach Club was closed but Beach Club Villas was open. We thought no way will they upgrade us that far for free. We figured we'd be at CBR, which would have been okay with us. We were "deluxe people" for a few weeks and it was fun while it lasted. But guess what? THEY DID UPGRADE US TO A 1 BEDROOM VILLA AT BCV!!!!! We seriously couldn't believe it. This was the coolest pixie dust we'd ever gotten!

SO, we're finally set! It's late August and now we just have to get ready to go! It was getting harder and harder for Jason to go into the office every day with vacation looming over his head. I was still working from home, but it was still getting harder and harder for me to concentrate. But, we did it. We did all the pre-vacation shopping. We got presents for Jason's brother and his family. We started putting stuff out we absolutely couldn't forget.

We made sure we were stocked up on masks! We got some from our friend Michelle (the DIS's own ChicagoMo).



Her daughter, Peanut, also made us some ears!

We also got some masks from Lisa!



Tinka helped Jason pack. She's always really helpful in that department. I texted him these pictures his last day of work.





She could have come. No one would have known. She's quiet!

Jason and I had eye appointments and got new glasses.

The girls and I stuck with tradition and got vacation manicures. I participated this year! Usually just the girls do it. I'm not known for being a "girly" girl, but I got my very first manicure! I liked it! And of course it chipped while I was packing.



Maura got Figment, Lucy got a little Mickey head, and I got Donald. You can see my chipped nail to the right of the Donald outfit.

Jason got home from work. We grabbed some tacos at a new place in town, took the dog to our friends' house who'd be watching him. We played Tetris with the car and amazingly fit everything in! We packed a hotel bag for the next day, so we didn't have to un-Tetris the car until we got to Florida. We told the girls to sleep in whatever they wanted to wear in the car the next day because we'd be leaving EARLY. We tried to get a few hours of sleep before our long drive the next day. It was hard, but we managed a few.

(continued in next post)
 
Day 1. September 5th, 2020.

And now it was here. Day 1. Time to leave. We wanted to be on the road by 4am so we could get around Chicago before traffic became unbearable. Even though it was Saturday, you never know with Chicago. We actually did great! We were up and in the car and on the road!

They're ready.



And what was the time?



Hah! It was actually 4:07am. My clock is fast! And that was it. We were on the road. I took the first driving shift. Jason had worked a ton of hours that week, trying to be sure everything was in order before he left, and he was exhausted so I let him go back to sleep. FYI, that's never an issue for him. He was out before we hit the expressway, which is about 7 minutes from our driveway. Since he was sleeping, Lucy was taking pictures and notes. I figured she was almost 14 and could handle this responsibility. She was excited and took it very seriously. We got into Illinois at 4:50am. Lucy started watching for the sunrise.

She started taking pictures in Chicago. They're out of focus because we were moving pretty fast.



You can see the sky slowly starting to lighten. Lucy wrote in the notebook that the sunrise was pretty. She was correct! But first, more blurry Chicago.







Now the sun was really starting to come up. Lucy took a TON of pictures every minute or so, but I won't post them all. We do want to get through this this year.





We had gone over the Skyway Toll Bridge. We yelled hello to Chicago Mo when we passed over. And we were getting close to Indiana, the sun still coming up! But we had made it around Chicago with zero issues! It was the fasted we've ever made it through I think.

At 5:48am we entered Indiana. The sign told us and so did Linda, our GPS lady. We named her that a few trips back. Not even on the road 2 hours yet and we had 2 states behind us already.





The sun was still coming up. Lucy decided to take a selfie. I'm not sure what Maura was up to at this point. I think she may have fallen back to sleep even though, according to her, she "doesn't fall asleep in the car." False.



It is fun to watch the sunrise when you don't see it every day.



At 6:25am there was a massive bird train. There really isn't any other way to describe it. They seemed to go on forever. Thankfully, Lucy captured them.





Seriously it was a swarm! I don't know what kind they were, but it was a pretty cool sight.

The sun was almost all the way up now.



At 6:52 we started passing the wind farm in northern Indiana. There are literally hundreds of turbines and they seem to go on for miles. It took us almost 20 minutes to get past them all.





After we got past the wind farm, we stopped for gas. Jason took over driving for a bit. Lucy cleaned the windshield as we already had a large amount of squashed bugs on it. The kids discovered how to wash the windshield last year and now they like doing it. I guess I didn't need to get the car washed before we left.

We got some snacks at the gas station and took a potty break. I guess Maura chose pickles for breakfast because my notes say "7:55am. Maura is eating pickles and reported they are sour."

Hey, whatever floats your boat. We really throw the eating rules out the window on vacation. You want pickles for breakfast? You got it.

Around this time, we came to a huge slow down on I-65. We hadn't seen signs for construction. We didn't know if there was an accident or what, but suddenly we were forced off the freeway and Linda was wanting to re-route us. We followed the traffic off the freeway and way west into some podunk towns. We just kept following and lost about an hour on the stupid detour. At 9:18 am we were finally back on I-65. We were getting close to Indianapolis. We never did find out why we got detoured.



And then we hit Indianapolis, and these pictures turned out much better than the Chicago pics. Sort of.






And then some scenic shots by Lucy. She likes when the landscape starts getting hillier and rockier.





And just like that, we were in Kentucky. At 11:22am we crossed the state line. And when you get into Kentucky, you're in Louisville right away. The Kentucky Derby was this day, which we were initially worried about for traffic, but when we found out there would be no spectators, that concern quickly ended. I thought someone got pictures of the Kentucky sign, but no dice. Lucy and Jason did get some nice pictures of downtown Louisville though. You know what I noticed too? There are a TON of hospitals there in the downtown area. I think I counted at least 4. And they were all really close to each other. And really big. But I digress. Here's the downtown. But they didn't get any of the hospitals.





And then it started getting more rocky and hilly.





We were driving along, and Jason and I had a little surprise in store for the girls. They'd seen this dinosaur place off the freeway on previous trips, and always asked to stop. We always said no because we just wanted to keep driving, but we had done some research and decided to stop this time. I had called a few weeks before to see if we needed a reservation, how they were handling Covid, and those kind of details. They WERE open, we didn't need a reservation, masks were required, and it was 1/2 price because not all of their stuff was open, but the outside with the dinosaurs was open so this was the trip we were going! We got off at that exit and Lucy said "Oh, it's the dinosaur exit. I wish we could go." And in we pulled! So here we are at Dinosaur World. I'll leave you with a couple pictures, but I'll keep most of this for the next update.

The girls were excited to be there. There was a short line outside, and one of the employees was outside giving people the schpiel about masks and social distancing and letting small groups in at a time and such. While we were waiting in line, this guy decided to hitch a ride with me.



He or she hung on for quite a while and I actually had to relocate them to the grass before we went inside to pay.

Lucy wanted a turn with it too.



You can see the eyes in this one! And of course my chipped nail.



Here we were in the parking lot.



And this is where we went in.



Alright, you'll have to wait for next time to see the rest of the Dinosaur World pictures. But I'll be back soon!
 
Being able to tell clients they were upgraded at no charge has been the best!

We were just moved from BWV to BCV for our July trip and the kids weren't with us so no biggie although it'd been longer since we'd been at BWV so I was kind of looking forward to that. But it didn't affect our trip! I do give you lots of credit for driving :drive: Over the years we've discussed doing this - we're in NY - but I was afraid we'd return with one less kid having left one on the side of the road :rotfl2: I did always think stopping at interesting places along the way would be neat though.
 

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