Love (Disney) in the Time of Cholera (Covid)

We got home at midnight on Monday, so it was a whirlwind!

We had a great time, relaxing by the pool mostly, and with 5 hours or so at a very uncrowded Blizzard Beach. Both Trattoria al Forno and Topolino's Terrace were good meals.

Let's do this by category:

MEALS
Al Forno: We shared a caprese salad, mussels, arancini, a margarita pizza, and the mushroom risotto with a side of shrimp. My husband said the mussels were "meh" b/c he would like more fennel flavor and less garlic. The caprese was good but the burrata was not as expected---burrata is not spreadable or soft, but more like the dry, fresh mozzarella; fine, but not great. I enjoyed the mushroom risotta and the shrimp but I'm not sure why the waitress recommended the shrip as the side for the risotta. The flavors are not compimentary, although they are delicious. My son loved the bread. Overall, a good meal, one we'd repeat if we were at BWV.

Topolino's Terrace: I loved my food, but can't get past feeling like I'm eating in a really fancy cafeteria. They have not done a good job making tables feel private I guess, and the sound just bounces around making it loud as well. But my escargot were great, as were the scallops. My husband had the bouilabaisse and had the same fennel comment. My kid loved his steak and the bread. The service was a little, off? First, she poured the wine we ordered a bottle of right into my existing glass of a different wine I'd had on the terrace while waiting for our table. She came back after a few minutes with a fresh glass b/c she said she realized what she'd done as she walked away. She also spent some time reviewing kids drinks with my son, he ended up ordering one, but she brought him an apple juice. He was fine with it, so I didn't say anything. She was very nice, just maybe a little frazzled? Again, I'd eat here again, but mostly for the sunset view.

HOTEL:
BWV studio, pool view. We were almost the furthest room from the lobby, looking over the quiet pool, on the 2nd floor. I would 100% ask for this area again. Room 2132, if you're looking. It's quiet, you can get right out to the pool and hottub, you have a quick exit from the building toward HS if you were going there. My son loves Luna Park Pool/Slide, but also loves to just swim around and jump in and this was perfect. Also, no lifeguard means no hassle when you want to drink your coffee in the hottub in the morning. At noon I'd gotten a text that our room was not ready and that I'd hear from them in 45 minutes. I did not hear from them and the room was not showing as ready. We were enjoying the pool and only had two small bags with us, so it wasnt' a big deal. Once it got to be 5PM and there was still no room I went to the desk where I was told it was ready but had not yet been assigned. What does that mean? If I had stopped at the desk when we arrived would it have been assigned faster? If I'd gone up at 4 would we have room then? I have not had good luck with the room text/app notifications and have almost always had to go ask for room. I hate to be the annoying when they tell you to wait for the text, but if you're experience is that you never get the text....So, I'll continue to be annoying. THis experiment of waiting (when it was no sweat to wait) showed that it's not me, it's them.

BLIZZARD BEACH:
Easy and mostly empty with minimal lines. I'm not sure what else to say about it. We arrived at 10:50, waited for the rope drop bit, took a set of chairs immediately to the left of the second bridge entrance, on concrete, not sand, and had no one near us all day. We left around 4:15.

TRAVEL:
Mostly it was okay. I greatly prefer direct flights, but these were weird combos of tickets on Delta and AA, so we had a layover in ATL on the way there and Chicago on the way back. The two rough spots were both at MCO--Thrifty, who, according to Twitter, is a hot mess everywhere, was a hot mess at MCO. I hate them and rented anyway b/c of the price. And then paid for it with a 105 minute long line of, maybe 100s of people? to find that my card was not accepted by Thrifty card readers. I'd pre-paid 75% of the bill online and only owed a few dollars plus the deposit but the card reader was not processing my card (not declining, but not processing). The clerk was insisting that it was our card, we called Chase and they insisted no charges from Thrifty were even coming through. After 20 minutes she went in back and used some other card reader? I guess? I don't know what the problem was, but it definitely wasnt us. MCO also had INSANE TSA lines, like the longest I've ever seen in Orlando. My kid was in tears b/c he thought we were going to miss our flight (we made it, by the skin of our teeth), even though were were at the airport 2 hours early.

I have no idea what is happening at MCO, but if you rent a car, make sure you are in what ever agencies club that allows you to walk out to the garage, but the lines were long for everyone (Thrifty's was for sure the worst).

Overall, 2 days of pool and sun and food are good, the long travel this time was annoying. I'd do it again, but on SW, direct flights, no rental car.
 

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