andy_dangg
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2020
Hey everyone!
My name's Andy and welcome to my July 18-21, 2020 trip report! I previously wrote a report of my March 2020 trip here. This July trip is the second "part" of my family's Disney trips this year, so if you're so inclined, please read the report!
I like to start my reports with some background before I jump into the main review portion (which will be filled with lots of pictures--don't let all of this text scare you away). So, for a little about me! I'm a pre-dental student at the University of Florida. When I'm not at school I live in the Tampa Bay area! I've been obsessed with Disney as long as I can remember, especially the parks and resorts. This is my fourth overall overnight trip to Disney, but I've made a few other day trips to the parks, and have been to Disney Springs many times. This was a trip with my family, which is comprised of my parents in their early 50s, and my younger siblings who are both in their teens.
My personal background is much more straightforward than the background of the trip itself. Early in 2020, we bought the Florida Resident Discover Disney tickets, which gave us four days of tickets that were set to expire at the end of June. Due to school and work schedules, we had to split the ticket in half, doing two-three night trips. We decided on staying at Port Orleans Riverside and visiting Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom in early March (see report linked above or in signature), and staying at Caribbean Beach while visiting Epcot and Hollywood Studios in early May.
Obviously, the closure due to COVID-19 derailed our May 9-12 plans. With Disney not having announced a reopening date, in early April we decided to move our trip dates to July 18-21. We again booked at Caribbean Beach, which we selected due to the (relatively) moderate cost and Skyliner. Eventually, Disney announced that the parks were reopening a few days before our trip, but Caribbean Beach was not on the list of the resorts that would not be open.
I tried calling the day park reservations opened up (June 22) to see where we were going to be moved. However, anyone who called that day is aware of the absolutely awful hold times if you miraculously got connected. I was actually on a road trip with my boyfriend at the time and lost service once I got on hold. However, I did get my sister to make park reservations for us from home.
The next day, I was able to reach a cast member. He moved us to the Cabins at Fort Wilderness, which I was sorta expecting but not really thrilled about. After sitting on it a few days, I felt more meh about it, especially considering how far the campground is from Epcot and DHS, and how spread out it is. So I decided to call back, explain my situation, and ask for a second move. Much to my surprise, the agent offered me a choice between a studio at Beach Club Villas or Boardwalk Villas (asked for Riviera but it was unavailable). Knowing Stormalong Bay was closed, I happily chose Boardwalk! Boardwalk has always been one of the resorts I wanted to stay at but never really considered, so I was happy to be able to stay there without paying a ton or having to deal with the hassle of renting points.
I know that was a lot, so here's the TLDR: had to move dates because of closure, Caribbean Beach not reopening, moved to Fort Wilderness, not happy with move so I asked for another move and got placed in Boardwalk! Whew, everyone with me?
Now, about the plans (or lack thereof) we had for the trip. I'm normally a compulsive planner (I love MDE and FP+), but after seeing how low and variable wait times were the first few days of reopening, I threw all of that out the window. The only plans we booked on MDE (aside from park reservations) was a dinner at Trattoria al Forno for our first night and a reservation for Oga's Cantina on our DHS day...neither of these went exactly as planned, as you'll see as the trip progresses.
Our "must do's" for this trip (as Stacy would say) were Rise of the Resistance, exploring Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land, and riding Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. We haven't been to DHS in over six years, so a lot changed! We were also looking forward to a chill day in Epcot. It's not my favorite park, but never stressful and always a good time.
With all this blabbing out of the way, it's time for my report! Day 1 coming soon
My name's Andy and welcome to my July 18-21, 2020 trip report! I previously wrote a report of my March 2020 trip here. This July trip is the second "part" of my family's Disney trips this year, so if you're so inclined, please read the report!
I like to start my reports with some background before I jump into the main review portion (which will be filled with lots of pictures--don't let all of this text scare you away). So, for a little about me! I'm a pre-dental student at the University of Florida. When I'm not at school I live in the Tampa Bay area! I've been obsessed with Disney as long as I can remember, especially the parks and resorts. This is my fourth overall overnight trip to Disney, but I've made a few other day trips to the parks, and have been to Disney Springs many times. This was a trip with my family, which is comprised of my parents in their early 50s, and my younger siblings who are both in their teens.
My personal background is much more straightforward than the background of the trip itself. Early in 2020, we bought the Florida Resident Discover Disney tickets, which gave us four days of tickets that were set to expire at the end of June. Due to school and work schedules, we had to split the ticket in half, doing two-three night trips. We decided on staying at Port Orleans Riverside and visiting Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom in early March (see report linked above or in signature), and staying at Caribbean Beach while visiting Epcot and Hollywood Studios in early May.
Obviously, the closure due to COVID-19 derailed our May 9-12 plans. With Disney not having announced a reopening date, in early April we decided to move our trip dates to July 18-21. We again booked at Caribbean Beach, which we selected due to the (relatively) moderate cost and Skyliner. Eventually, Disney announced that the parks were reopening a few days before our trip, but Caribbean Beach was not on the list of the resorts that would not be open.
I tried calling the day park reservations opened up (June 22) to see where we were going to be moved. However, anyone who called that day is aware of the absolutely awful hold times if you miraculously got connected. I was actually on a road trip with my boyfriend at the time and lost service once I got on hold. However, I did get my sister to make park reservations for us from home.
The next day, I was able to reach a cast member. He moved us to the Cabins at Fort Wilderness, which I was sorta expecting but not really thrilled about. After sitting on it a few days, I felt more meh about it, especially considering how far the campground is from Epcot and DHS, and how spread out it is. So I decided to call back, explain my situation, and ask for a second move. Much to my surprise, the agent offered me a choice between a studio at Beach Club Villas or Boardwalk Villas (asked for Riviera but it was unavailable). Knowing Stormalong Bay was closed, I happily chose Boardwalk! Boardwalk has always been one of the resorts I wanted to stay at but never really considered, so I was happy to be able to stay there without paying a ton or having to deal with the hassle of renting points.
I know that was a lot, so here's the TLDR: had to move dates because of closure, Caribbean Beach not reopening, moved to Fort Wilderness, not happy with move so I asked for another move and got placed in Boardwalk! Whew, everyone with me?
Now, about the plans (or lack thereof) we had for the trip. I'm normally a compulsive planner (I love MDE and FP+), but after seeing how low and variable wait times were the first few days of reopening, I threw all of that out the window. The only plans we booked on MDE (aside from park reservations) was a dinner at Trattoria al Forno for our first night and a reservation for Oga's Cantina on our DHS day...neither of these went exactly as planned, as you'll see as the trip progresses.
Our "must do's" for this trip (as Stacy would say) were Rise of the Resistance, exploring Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land, and riding Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. We haven't been to DHS in over six years, so a lot changed! We were also looking forward to a chill day in Epcot. It's not my favorite park, but never stressful and always a good time.
With all this blabbing out of the way, it's time for my report! Day 1 coming soon