Trip Report - March/April 2022

[Noreen411]

Introduction:

Noreen: Senior Vice President at an Investment Banking firm in New York City. I will be the author of the report,
Scott: My husband; Independent Contractor

We had other people join us for parts of our trip:
Michael and Donna: Scott’s brother and his wife. They live on Long Island
Dana, Herman, and their kids (Aaron, Sara, and Ariel): They live in Florida about an hour from Disney
Jillian: my niece. She will be in Florida for a semester on the Disney College Program

I’m going to include a picture or two of Scott and I so you see what we look like. I like some of these photopass photos

 

[DL1WDW2]

Hi!

 

[Noreen411]

Planning:
After several Disney World trips and cruises were cancelled during the pandemic, we made our first post (sort of) pandemic trip to Disney World Sept/Oct 2021 (I wrote a report for that trip too). We had a great time. We weren’t originally planning to be in Disney winter/spring 2022 since we had a cruise booked. We’ve been cruising (pre-pandemic) the last few winters but aren’t ready to get on a ship yet. I know they’ve started sailing and have all sorts of protocols in place, but there are also restrictions in place.

Since we have annual passes, we figured why not head back to Disney World. We will drive down.

Our original plan had us leaving New Jersey on Saturday 2/5, arrive in Disney 2/6, stay until Friday 2/18, arriving home on Saturday 2/19.

We ended up moving the trip to the end of March. Our diabetic cat had a stroke in December and we weren’t ready to leave her yet. We were also concerned with Covid cases spiking.

Our new plans have us away from Saturday 3/19 until Saturday 4/2
We will be in Florida from Sunday 3/20 until Friday 4/1
We will meet Dana, Herman, and their kids on Saturday 3/26 for dinner
We will meet Jillian on Tuesday 3/22 and Saturday 3/26
We will spend time with Michael and Donna on Thursday 3/24, Sunday 3/27, and Monday 3/28

Lodging:
We are going to stay at the sister resort to my timeshare. We own one week in a 2 bedroom/2 bath villa at Vistana Resort. We are going to stay at Vistana Villages. When it’s just Scott and I, we like to book the one bedroom premium villa. We have enough options to stay for about 2 weeks in the premium one bedroom. Both resorts are great.

When we moved the trip from February to March, there weren’t any one bedroom premium villas available so I booked the smaller one bedroom villa. I was able to book the St Augustine section which we like since that’s where the big 24 hour fitness center is located. I continued checking for a premium one bedroom to see if one became available but it never did.

Transportation:
We are going to drive from Northern New Jersey to Florida. We’ve done it a few times and prefer the flexibility it gives us over flying.

Park Passes:
We have annual passes. As out of state pass holders, we have the Incredipass (I think that’s the name). We are able to make 5 days worth of park reservations at a time.

Dining:
There were a handful of restaurants I wanted to try to get reservations for. I logged on at 60 days out each morning right before they opened and would book dinner. I kept checking and changing things as we went along.

Scott and I lost weight recently so we don’t eat as much as we used to. Normally we would eat a healthy breakfast in the villa. Lunch was often a protein bar and some baby carrots. Sometimes we’ll share meals. I have a sweet tooth so there will still be plenty of desserts/snacks enjoyed.

Misc:
I didn’t keep many notes this trip so am trying to recreate what we did from memory so I’m sure I’ll forget some things. I would send myself texts throughout the day to remind me what we did. Between the texts and the pictures, I’m hoping to be able to remember most of it.

 

[Noreen411]

Hi!

Hi. Thank you for commenting. It’s great to know someone is reading along

 

[Noreen411]

The week before the trip:
We tried on clothes to bring and did the bulk of the packing.

We finalized plans with everyone that we were meeting up with during the trip.

We decided to take my car instead of Scott’s big truck. Since we both overpack, it will be interesting to see how everything fits.

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 3/18/22
I’m glad I took the extra day off. The day before vacation at work is always stressful/busy and this way I had today to take care of my own stuff before the trip.

I went to get my manicure and pedicure. I have a light pink shellac manicure and added a few little Disney designs. My pedicure is a darker share of pinkish purple (reminds me of the 50th Celebration color) also with a few Disney designs.



We finished up the last minute packing and were excited to go.

 

[Noreen411]

Saturday 3/19/22 - Start the drive to Florida:
We took care of the cats, used the gym, got showered and dressed, and ready to go.

We left a little later than planned - about 7:15am. The navigation in the car says we’re 1,114 miles to Disney World.

By 9:45 we were in Delaware and in Maryland by 10.

We hit some traffic and didn’t get to Virginia until about 12

Knowing we’re planning to stop for the night makes the trip much easier. We’ve done it straight through a few times and it’s really tiring. When we stop at the rest stops we’ll walk around a bit rather than just rush in and out.

We were in North Carolina by 3:15.

We started checking online for hotels for the night. We planned to drive to Santee SC, but the hotel we stayed at last trip wasn’t available so we decided to stop in Florence SC instead. We booked the Residence Inn Florence when we were about 2.5 hours away. They didn’t have one bedroom rooms available but had a studio so we booked that.

We made it to South Carolina by about 6:20 and were checking in at the Residence Inn by 7pm.

There was only one lady working at the front desk and a line of people. The machine that makes the room cards broke after she made our first key. We were better off than some of the others waiting as they didn’t get any keys. We headed to the room and opened the door…to find other people already in the room.

We went back to the front desk and several others had the same problem. Everyone was very friendly and nice about this. Eventually someone else came to help the one lady trying to get the machine to work and give out rooms that weren’t already occupied.

While this wasted maybe an hour getting checked into the room, once we got to it, it’s pretty nice.







We were planning to go to Longhorn Steakhouse (kind of like Outback) for dinner. We tried Longhorn for the first time on our last trip. We were able to put our names on the online queue which said we would be seated in an hour. We took our time walking over but they said the online times were wrong and it would be 3 hours. We would have been happy to eat at the bar too, but that was also packed.

Instead we walked to the nearby Chili’s and sat at the bar for dinner. We were able to sit there immediately.

I had a strawberry peach limeade. I like drinks that don’t taste like alcohol. Scott had a martini but it wasn’t served in a martini glass.



For an appetizer we ordered the southwest egg roll. It smelled very spicy so I didn’t try it; I’m a wimpy eater when it comes to anything spicy. Scott said it was very greasy.


Scott had the brisket burger. It was messy but he liked it.


I didn’t fare as well trying the mini burgers. They were like little hockey pucks.


We shared the cookie skillet dessert. This was the best part of the meal.


We walked back to the hotel, watched some TV, then went to bed.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 3/20/22 - Arrive Florida:
We were up around 4am. We tried to sleep a bit longer but gave up and went to the gym at 4:45. We really like when hotels have 24 hours gyms. It was small but had two 2 treadmills, elliptical, bike, weights, etc.





Back in our room we showered and got ready. Scott was ready first so went to get some food from the breakfast area.

We left about 7:30. We would stay here again if we were stopping in Florence SC


We were pulled over and received a speeding ticket in SC near exit 22.

We were in Georgia a few minutes before 10.


We were planning to stop at Peach World but missed the exit so skipped it.

We got to Florida about 11:45.



We saw signs for Bucees near Daytona so figured we’d stop and see what it was. OMG what a zoo. It was so crowded. We walked through a bit then left. We’ll have to try it again if we’re passing one when it’s not so crowded.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 3/20/22 - Continued:
We arrived at Vistana Villages about 3:30. When we checked in they said the villa would be ready in a few minutes so we waited.

We were in the St Augustine Section, building 25, room 223. I was worried since it’s the small one bedroom and we usually get the larger premium one bedroom. We were pleasantly surprised when we got into the villa. There is a decent amount of space.



When you enter the villa, the living room, kitchen, dining area is open concept. It’s nicely appointed. Definitely smaller than the premium one bedroom we usually stay in, but it’s very nice. There is a stackable washer/dryer in the hallway that I forgot to get a picture of.





There is a little balcony with a table and two chairs.



The bedroom has a closet, dresser, TV, and nightstands.





The bathroom is fully contained with a combination shower/jacuzzi tub.



We unpacked and cleaned the villa.

We stopped at Publix for some groceries.

We showered and changed.

We didn’t make any dinner plans in advance not knowing what time we would arrive or how we would feel.

We both are pleasantly surprised by how much we like the villa. It’s definitely more compact than the premium one bedroom, but it’s much nicer than we expected it to be.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 3/20/22 - Continued:
I was looking at the Disney app to see what was available for dinner tonight and I was able to book Flying Fish for 8:20 (at around 7pm). We drove to the Boardwalk and had a drink at Abracadabar. It’s connected to Flying Fish.



Scott had a martini and I had a Seashore Sweet.



We were seated right on time.


I thought the silverware was adorable - it looks like fish scales.


The bread was nice and warm. We try not to eat too much bread with our healthier lifestyle but on vacation if it’s good we’ll have some.


Scott had a cucumber drink that he said was very cucumber-y


Both the bartender and the waitress recommended the pork belly appetizer so we ordered it. I didn’t like it. It tasted like corned beef to me. It was also too fatty. I know pork belly can be fatty, but this wasn’t good fatty, it was just fatty. Scott thought it was OK.


I had the potato wrapped snapper which I was so looking forward to. Years ago I wanted to order it when I was at this restaurant for dinner and they had run out of it. I was happy to get it tonight, but ended up a little disappointed. It was just OK, a bit on the dry side.


Scott had the seafood pasta and liked it.


We skipped dessert since nothing jumped out at us. Maybe we were a bit tired from the long trip.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 3/20/22 - Continued:
We stopped at the store on the Boardwalk (not the bakery) and got cupcakes and a cookie to go. I also bought a cute Mickey Mouse WDW shirt. I never find shirts I like on vacation while Scott always finds shirts.

Back at the villa we started watching Transylvania 4 and ate some of the cookie and cupcakes. The cookie was very dry and ended up in the trash. It was cute but didn’t taste good. The cupcakes were cute and tasted good.

 

[Hubie]

Joining in. Also read your last report.

 

[Noreen411]

Joining in. Also read your last report.

Hi. Thank you for joining in
The last report was the first time I did a trip report here, it’s a lot of fun to do this. And a great way to go back and relive it later. Now that I figured out how to add pictures - LOL

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 3/21/22:
We were up and in the gym by 4:30am. This is a great gym - large with plenty of equipment. We were the only ones there this morning.



Back in the villa we took a bath, showered, did some laundry and had breakfast. This was our normal morning routine.

Today was our first time using Genie Plus. I bought it at 6:45. Right at 7am I booked Navi River for us. I thought I was booking it for 8:30 but it turned out to be 9:15 as I went through the process.

It’s freezing out this morning. We’re not used to being cold in Florida.

At 7:30 (when the park opened) I booked an Individual Lightening Lane for Avatar Flight of Passage for Scott. It was $11 for 7:45-8:45. I can’t go on that ride, I tried it once and it made me really dizzy.

We were at Animal Kingdom just after they opened. We took a few pictures. I’m wearing my new shirt I bought at the Boardwalk last night.



We walked to the Pandora section. Scott used the ILL for Flight of Passage; good thing we had it as the standby line was already 105 minutes.

We tapped into Navi River just after 9 and I made the next genie selection for the safari at 10:30.

We went to the 10am Lion King show. We were on line about 9:30 and seated by 9:45. The show was reduced a lot. It was still fun, but if you knew what they used to do, you notice it. There were no tumble monkeys, the bird lady didn’t fly, there wasn’t the groups of the audience making animal sounds in the beginning. We still enjoyed it.

We headed to the safari and walked right on with the genie. Once we tapped in we tried to get Dinosaur but it was later than we wanted. We tried refreshing a few times but it still wasn’t early enough.

We started to stack our genie selections for tonight when we plan to hoop to Magic Kingdom. We booked Peter Pan for 6:20-7:20. Two hours later we booked Haunted Mansion for 6:10-7:10

We walked through the Gorilla trail; we haven’t done that in years.

We saw the 11am bird show which was very cute.

In Dinoland, we played a few of the carnival type games. Then we browsed through some of the shops.

It was really nice walking around the park with such nice weather.

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 3/21/22 - Continued:
We drove over to the Polynesian.


We put our names on the list at Trader Sam’s. I was able to book our next genie selection for Pirates from 7:10-8:10.

In one of the shops at the Polynesian I bought a cute pink shirt for me (similar to the blue one I bought yesterday and wore today).

The wait at Trader Sam’s was very long so after a while we decided to go to the Tambu Lounge instead. I had a Rum Swizzle and Scott had a Martini.


We had an early dinner reservation at O’Hana and were seated quickly once we checked in.

The waiter brought us salad and bread. These were pretty good.



Then the hot appetizers came out - broccolini, noodles, dumplings, and wings. We asked him to slow the pace down a little as the table was piling up with food and we were feeling very rushed. The waiter was very good and slowed it down after we asked. The appetizers were tasty. I don’t eat wings (I don’t like food on a bone) but Scott enjoyed them.


Rather than the skewers they used to come around and serve from, they bring you plated food. You can still have as much as you want of anything, they’ll bring you more of whatever you ask for.

The chicken came out next. This was pretty good.


Next were shrimp which were hard to peel. The waiter was very engaging and spent some time chatting with us. He said they changed the way they cooked the shrimp. Once peeled they tasted good.


Steak came out next. This was terrible. So chewy and tough; it was basically inedible.


Pre-dessert we were brought rice crispy treats which usually are given to kids. I think the waiter was surprised we didn’t ask for more of anything and had plenty of food left not eaten.



Then came the regular dessert - pineapple bread pudding with ice cream and caramel sauce. Wow. This was the best part of the meal. We finished the whole thing and it was a huge chunk of bread pudding.


We enjoyed our meal but won’t rush back. Maybe we’ll go to the Tambu Lounge for the bread pudding.

We walked out to the beach and walked around a bit after that heavy meal. We sat on one of the swings but it wasn’t comfortable. The Adirondack chairs were so we sat on those for a bit, took our shoes off, and had our feet in the sand.

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 3/21/22 - Continued:
We took the Friendship Boat (I think that’s what it’s called) from the Polynesian to the Magic Kingdom.




Walking down Main Street we posed for a few pictures. I really like the photopass pictures, especially the magic shots.






We have several attractions stacked with genie and were able to go on them in quick succession. Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Pirates. It was great to be able to walk right on everything.

We don’t look that happy in the picture, I’m not sure what we were looking at. But we were having a great time enjoying the attraction.


We went in the Tiki Room show - always cute.

We headed out of the park then stopping in some of the shops on the way out.

We took the boat back to the Polynesian and watched the Electric Light Parade as we were waiting.

Since we were only able to make park reservations for 5 days with the annual pass, now that it’s the end of the day, I was able to book the next one while we were on the boat.

We stopped at Captain Cooks (the quick service place) and mobile ordered a coffee for Scott.

We drove back to Vistana Villages and watched a bit more of Transylvania.

 

[Noreen411]

Tuesday 3/22/22:
Scott went to the gym at 5:45 and I followed a little later at 6:15.

Just before 7, I paused my workout, bought Genie Plus for the day, and at 7 was able to book Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railroad for 9:15-10:15. Once that was cared for, I was able to resume my workout.

Back in the villa, we took baths, showers, did some laundry and had breakfast.

Starting at 8:30 (when the park opened) we tried to book an ILL for Rise of the Resistance but none were available.

We got to Hollywood Studios just before 9 and took a few pictures.


We went right onto Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railroad, this is so cute. Once we tapped in, we booked Toy Story Mania for 11:45-12:45.

The park is very crowded. We kept checking for ILL for Rise but it didn’t show up.

Scott went to the Single Rider Line for Rock N Roller Coaster but came back out quickly as it was too crowded so he didn’t want to wait.



We went to the 10:45 Indiana Jones Show. We haven’t seen this in ages.

We waited on the standby line for Star Tours for about 45 minutes. This is always fun.

We headed to Toy Story Land for our ride on Toy Story Mania. This is always fun. My score is always terrible.



I think something is missing - maybe we’re supposed to be pointing at something in the trees?


We tried to buy an ILL for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure when I saw it pop up for 2pm thinking we could hop over there pretty easily using the boat or walking but the system crashed so we didn’t get it.

We walked through some of the shops. We started to stack Genie rides for Magic Kingdom since we planned to hop there after dinner. We booked Jungle Cruise for 9:30-10:30.

We left Hollywood Studios and drove over to Disney Springs. We browsed in a few shops and were excited to see a 15 minute wait for Gideon’s so we jumped right in line. We bought 12 cookies (you are allowed 6 each) - 8 chocolate chip, 2 peanut butter, 1 coffee toffee chip, and 1 triple chocolate. We also bought a piece of Key Lime Cake, a bag of cookie bites, and a peanut butter cold brew. With our heavy bag from Gideon’s we headed back to Vistana Villages to freeze our goodies.


We went swimming for a while.

We headed back to the villa later to shower and change for dinner.

 

[Noreen411]

Tuesday 3/22/22 - Continued:
We drove over to the Grand Floridian and headed to Narcoose’s.

We had a drink at the bar before Jillian arrived. Scott had a Martini. I had a Mango Mojito - I love the limes that look like Mickey ears.


We were seated when Jillian arrived. Jillian is my niece and she’s in Florida for 6 months on the Disney College Program. It was so nice to see her and hear about her adventures.


For appetizers we all shared the crab cakes and the calamari. I don’t like olives so avoided those pretty easily. The bread was good but made a ton of crumbs.




For our entrees Jillian had the sweet potato gnocchi. Scott and I both ordered the scallops. We normally order different things but we’ve had these before and know they are really good. Everyone enjoyed their food.



For dessert Jillian had the trifle, Scott had the carrot cake, and I had the almond crusted cheesecake. We all sampled each other’s desserts. All were good but mine (the cheesecake) was the best of the three.




After dinner we looked at the Easter display in the lobby - so many things made out of chocolate. I’m so impressed with how artistic these things are. I’m not creative at all.

We also stopped in some of the shops. I bought two more of the Mickey shirts that I’ve been buying as well as a 50th anniversary hoodie/sweatshirt that I put right on since it was a little chilly out.

 

[Noreen411]

Tuesday 3/22/22 - Continued:
We all got on the monorail. Jillian was heading to the TTC to get a bus back to her apartment complex. Scott and I headed to Magic Kingdom. It’s amazing to see Jillian so grown up. I sometimes still think of her as a shy little kid who wouldn’t leave my sister’s side. We offered to pick her up for dinner and she said she can take the bus there. Even after dinner, she was so independent able to get back to her apartment on her own. We had such a nice time at dinner together just talking about her time on the program and other things. We’ll see her again later in the trip.







We missed our Genie time for Buzz while we were at dinner so didn’t go on that tonight.

Scott went on Big Thunder Mountain with genie. I skipped it since we just ate. I watched the fireworks from near Big Thunder while he rode.

We went on Small World next. Having Genie for this probably wasn’t necessary since it was pretty empty.

At Jungle Cruise we were very happy to have Genie booked since the standby wait was 75 minutes.

We stopped at Starbucks for Scott to get coffee then we headed out of the park.

We got stuck for a little while on the resort monorail before it moved.

Back at the Grand Floridian we got the car and were back at Vistana Villages around midnight.

 

[BellaBaby]

Following along. Enjoying your report!
That Residence Inn did look very nice. I wish we were within driving distance of WDW. Living in Colorado is just too far away! But I'd much rather drive and set our own schedule as you say, especially with all the delays that have been going on with the airlines.
Vistana Villages looks nice as well. We usually stay on property for a few days then move over to Windsor Hills as we enjoy the extra space as well!
Sounds like a fun trip so far! Looking forward to hearing more!