This is hard to write. Especially since we have been beyond careful, extremely diligent, and have taken the pandemic extremely seriously. Since March, the only time we have left the house was an occasional quick early morning run to Target and a well planned trip to my mother in laws. Otherwise, everything has been delivered to us. I by no means shame those that have been going to Disney safely this whole time, but I have two immuno-compromised kids so the planning had to look a little bit different on our end.
EV's birthday fell on a Monday this year and for the last month we have been trying to decide what to do for the big 0-4. My husband and I make all decisions together and I know this may sound silly, but by this I mean we never talk one another into something that the other will be uncomfortable with. We began the conversation regarding Disney knowing that the parks were out of the question and so was indoor dining (I had my an outdoor dining reservation at the Riviera Resort in their restaurant and Hubs was 100% opposed, so it was canceled). Again, if this is your jam and you are doing this safely, mad props to you, but we just didn't feel that we have been social distancing since March to squander it away because we were getting antsy. Now the conversation centered on the are we really doing this and what does "this" even look like? I had received an email from my Disney Capital One that Disney was having some pretty amazing hotel deals and some of the pricing being showcased were mind-blowing (Contemporary included). I have been a fan of the Dolphin since it opened (we've been staying since the Dick Tracy premiere...let that sink in).
Fun Fact: Even though both hotels are on Walt Disney Property and Walt Disney is attached to the name, both Swan and Dolphin are in fact a Marriott/Sheraton hotel. Meaning that if you go to the restaurants there with just your magicband and are expecting to pay for dinner that way, you will have a very embarrassing conversation with the manager regarding next steps. Do not ask how I know this (cue face palm emjoii). So, just keep in mind to have some sort of payment method (credit card, phone, etc.) when dining at the BlueZoo in the Dolphin which is life-changing...you're welcome.
Hubs and I truly got an unbelievable rate and one that was non-refundable, so once we made the decision there was no backing out and there would have to be a major reason not to go. A big reason why we selected the Dolphin (not just because of the great views) was there were a TON of outdoor activities that would keep us from being holed up in the hotel (its Florida, so we never consider rain because....its Florida), but still able to social distance responsibly. There were several mobile ordering spots (including the The Dolphin where on the Marriott app you can have food from the restaurant delivered to your room instead), outdoor movie nights, the pools were open (we had no interest in doing this (I packed bathing suits anyway though), but no shame those who would or did), Boardwalk shops and restaurants were all open and you could mobile order pizza on the outdoor movie nights and outdoor dine on the Boardwalk hub grass. We thought it offered the most social distancing, but still had the "Disney" experience.
Have you ever seen two people more excited to be in a car?!
Hubs and I always leave early for Disney so that we can maximize our day and time there. I had read online that if you had let your Florida Annual Pass (annual passes in general) lapse or if you canceled them during the pandemic, they were letting you repurchase them. For those not aware, the annual pass page no longer exists on the tickets and passes website and after talking to a ticket agent I learned that they have no idea how the tickets will be reintroduced once the Parks open to full capacity (especially with the decisions that Disneyland has made). Hubs and I had a long conversation regarding repurchasing our tickets and what that would mean if we were able to get vaccinated by middle or end of the year. I was not sure I wanted to risk not being able to get our tickets again if too much time lapsed, so we decided that we would repurchase them and just hold on to them.
Fun fact, if you are doing the Florida Annual Pass monthly plan, you cannot have them reissued over the phone, you MUST go to Disney Springs or somewhere else with a guest relations.
Neither myself or Hubs were fond of this idea at all, but we planned to leave super early so we could get there when it opened, get our tickets, and leave. I do not care what any person or livestream says, if you do not have a reason to go there....like a legitimate reason (scooping up ears is NOT a reason nor is going to Gideon's although it pains me to say it), you shouldn't! First of all you are herded into the garage and are all directed to go the same way. This means that everyone is getting out of their car at the same time, for the most part without masks since parents are trying to get their kids out of the car and get everyone settled and everyone is walking together to get to a crazy line that is similar to the lines at Disney where you are walking up and down rows. For the most part the area we were in was good as we were between a family with a wheelchair and a stroller family, but there were people that were singular and trying to walk around groups and boy were those individuals dragged...and loudly. Once towards the front, you are temperature checked, they have a pretty good system for getting parents with strollers through in an expeditious way, and although the security officer was beyond nice, I did not appreciate him checking my bag sans gloves as I immediately had to wipe it down, and take it to a bathroom and sanitize everything in it (I did have to go potty...thank you cup of coffee on the drive up, so it wasn't completely out of our way or too much of an annoyance).
Traveling Tip: Before Hubs and I left for our trip, we picked up two Clorox wipes containers. One I kept in our stroller and the other I kept in our room (but we will get there).
100% Disney Springs is a shit show and I would NEVER go there again (#sorrynotsorry). There are not enough people/cast members/security outside reigning people in and there were too many people with their masks below their nose. However, I will say that the section where the AMC movie theater is and Raglan Road were quite spacious and gave a lot of room to walk around people without invading their space, so if you feel comfortable and are craving a Disney snack, this is the section for you. The area where World of Disney is, is a complete and utter no go (I should add "for me" #butnotreally). You did not need to go near there to see the bottlenecks and it made me twitchy to even glance in its direction. I would have loved to try and find Everglazed Donuts (I heard and have seen amazing things), but honestly I was not down for the search no matter how much I would have loved to get EV a birthday donut. I would have taken pictures, but honestly I do not like to take pictures that involve people that are not asking to be shamed and honestly shouldn't be.
Obviously we had to take obligatory "Yay, we finally left the house pictures!" Note my fogged up glasses and my crazy kid's car hair. The commodore was in front of the tandem stroller I swear ;)
Instead, We went straight to Guest Relations (it took forever, but the Cast Member who assisted us was so nice and repurchasing our tickets literally took 15 minutes if that). She even let us add EV's ticket on as she was now at the age to get her own and honestly she doesn't look four, but she also does not look two either. I was kind of concerned about this, so this was REALLY nice that they allowed us to do this. EV began to be "famished" during this time, so we decided to try-out Mobile Ordering. I wish I had taken snippets of what this looks like, but I am sure you can find what it looks like online, plus it is so easy I am I think a "tutorial" would berate your intelligence. I didn't really feel like spending an overabundant amount of time looking for all the mobile ordering options and EV was getting hangry, but from my brief perusing, it looked like only D-Luxe Burger offers mobile ordering.
I swear that its a kids mask that she is wearing, but she has got the littlest noggin you have ever seen and she is wearing a kids extender to boot. Plus check out the exhausted "famished" look...
That is Guest Relations behind Hubs. You can actually see a little ways in the distance as well and there really were not a lot of people over here.
If you have never ordered from Mobile Ordering on the Walt Disney App, I highly suggest it. It is so easy to use and anything contactless is right up our alley (we do not do restaurants at all even if there is outdoor dining). As we were finishing up at Guest Relations, we let the app know that "we were on our way" and the restaurant begins to prepare your order and will then notify you when it is complete and ready for pickup. All the food is separated, packaged well and everything is in plastic or sustainable material that can be recycled (loved this), so NOTHING is touched. We found a small table away from everyone, wiped everything down (thanks Clorox wipes) ate a quick lunch, and headed to the hotel. Again, I would NEVER do this again and had we not been going there for a reason, we wouldn't have done it. I know I am not the only person that has felt this way as many of my Disney loving Instagrammers have posted stories where they start the drive, saw how the garage is run and have turned back around.
Apparently never going out of the house wipes you out a lot sooner when you do
I have to say, our experience at the Dolphin was INCREDIBLE! From the valet, to the front desk, to guest relations, to the individuals who are running the sundries stores. I was floored and this is from someone that truly thought we were going to be turning around the car and not staying. Honestly, I think it helped that we drove in on a Sunday and left Wednesday morning. During the week, Disney stays are the way to go (there was NO ONE there and again the prices couldn't be beat). First, the Valet covers both the seat and your wheel with a plastic covering and wipes down everything. I shouldn't have been shocked to see this, but this was not really anything I had thought about as I was more concerned about the room and food. Bonus points for this....
Second, as a Marriott Rewards Member, we were not only given early check-in, but they upgraded our room. I legitimately cried when I opened the hotel door. First of all, keep in mind that Hubs and I go NOWHERE...NO WHERE. The room was AH-mazing. It had an incredible view of the Boardwalk and Spaceship Earth and there was a walk-around balcony. I might have just stared at the view with my mouth open for a solid fifteen minutes.
Some things to keep in mind. During your stay unless requested, your room is not cleaned on the daily. We set up towels on the floor for "picnic snacks" so we didn't have to worry about the sheets or having someone come in to clean the room. There are some wipes in the room, but if you are bringing kids, bringing your own cylinder of wipes that you can keep in the room is the way to go (there are not a lot that they supply). The room was spotless when we walked in, but I wiped down everything anyway since my kids touch everything. You can leave trash and towels outside the room on the daily and they will get picked up and you can always request extra towels, coffee, etc., and they will be contactless delivered. The room has a refrigerator (we always bring some sort of travel storage containers (I have cute kiddo ones that I got at the Target Bullseye section last year) to pack up leftovers....especially good ones (here is looking at you Beach Club Marketplace Chili Baked Mac and Cheese w/Goldfish)!
There is also a microwave in the sundries store that guests can use and these stores tend to be open later in the evening then the restaurants, so its great to heat up late night snacks or to pick extras up. Fuel in the Dolphin is amazing and has everything from a hot and cold counter, to travel cocktails (wine bottles included), and a divine candy bar. I brought plasticware with us (bougie rose-gold ones for some birthday styling) as well as Star Wars plastic plates (For EV birthday treats). Keep in mind that things do close earlier than prior to the pandemic so it is good to be prepared (my more is more philosophy worked out well here). We had brought with us a ton of snacks (probably way more than needed) if getting food delivered posed a problem. Again as a reminder, we only live three hours a way so it is easy to overpack the car and not feel guilty about it until the valet begins to get everything out for you (yes, they wore gloves) and bug eyes at everything in your car and sees that you have Florida plates.
EV's response when the valet walks over "Who are you?! You're cute!!" second valet walks over to him and of course EV who bestows kindness like cookies says "don't worry...you're cute too!" They of course are in a whole heap of giggles and I am in a whole heap of trouble ya'll
We got there on Superbowl Sunday and the ENTIRE time we were there, that evening was the most amount of people that we saw (we almost thought that we were the only ones staying there). In total, I would say it was about six families in its entirety that were really spread out in the lobby/bar area of the Dolphin. It would have been serious work to go anywhere near them and everyone was super respectful. Even people that were getting bottles of wine in Fuel and bringing it to their tables still kept their masks on and only lowered them for a sip of their wine. I was beyond impressed with families that had littles that were about EV's age who had no problem keeping their masks on.
The best advice I can give if this is one of your concerns is practice practice practice. We did a lot of outdoor practice so that EV was used to being outside with it and in the heat of Florida as well as we watched a lot of Disney livestreams so that EV could see other kids wearing it and would be comfortable herself.
Apparently the crystal chandelier was the best part to them! And yes, my daughter and son both "Cheers", don't judge!
We did not stay long watching the game as we wanted to enjoy the resort and what was supposed to be a rainy weekend was now looking to be beautiful (typical Florida). My husband is a HUGE football person so this is saying a lot. We spent the evening just aimlessly strolling around an empty Boardwalk that was all lit up and it was an absolute perfect way to soak up the Disney vibes even though we were not going in (which was REALLY hard since from outside of Epcot on the Boardwalk you could see Gasteau's all lit up).
You will notice that this is not lit up, but I cannot seem to find the one I took at night...so just enjoy the day version.
Plus, we still had to get everything ready for EV's big 0-4 the next day. An outdoor movie was taking place, but honestly with the having just driven in and having to stop at Disney Springs and everything else, once we did a lap we were looking forward to ordering pizza up to the room and just enjoying being out of the house. Plus, we had a bag filled with decorations that we had planned to decorate the room with once EV passed out....which ended up being midnight because #Disney
We ordered everything to decorate the room from Party City as Elena of Avalor officially ended their last season (Of course EV would become obsessed now), so they were the only ones that had anything and I have to say, everything they had was PERFECT! They had some super fun decorations that I did not find cheesy and the quality was quite nice. Plus, it didn't take up much room to pack. We only returned with the photo props, EV's birthday sign (also this was only $10 w/the name), and the photo balloon.
check out that view though ya'll
peep the birthday girl getting some much needed z's
I have the greatest Pea to My Pod and when she found out we were driving in (she and her family have been as diligent with social distancing as we have been so we obviously did not meet up with them), she reached out to a local baker who had been let go during the Disney layoffs (she bakes, decorates, and delivers cupcakes and cakes to Disney property hotel). Upon hearing EV's love of Ahsoka Tano, she created the most beautiful cupcakes and delivered them to the hotel for her birthday (if you are going to be in the Orlando, please check her out as her work is outstanding. Technically, they were delivered the day we arrived so it was even better. Even the Ahsoka's on the cupcakes were edible. EV's love of lemon is ingrained in her Greekness, so we had her do lemon cupcakes filled with white chocolate ganache and white chocolate frosting and they were every bit as divine as they sound (hence the Star Wars plates). There was nothing better than returning to the hotel after an awesome walk and having a cupcake party on the hotel room floor overlooking Spaceship Earth all lit up at night.
Another thing and this is going to sound odd, but if you are planning to bring a stroller, rather than a double, I would consider either a tandem stroller or two single strollers we have two small $15 umbrella strollers that have a sun cover (I think they are Koala something from Walmart) and seem to be extremely and comfortable (this was our typical stroller for EV when we went to Disney and we used the "baby pod" stroller for Commodore. We have THIS one from Graco. Yes, it is a monster of a stroller and by no means easy to fold up as it is heavy and big, but I love that it is a grow with me and there is several ways that the kids can sit in it. The Commodore has grown out of his "baby pod" so it was a lot of fun for the kids to figure out how and where they wanted to sit in it. EV is still a big napper so I cannot get rid of a seat that she can fall asleep in altogether.
If getting on the Skyliner plans to be part of your social distancing activities, a double does not fit on. We had planned to bring our double stroller, but after hearing this, brought our tandem instead (don't ask...we have so many strollers and variations it is embarrassing). I happened in conversation to be discussing this with my mom after watching a Disney livestream of the Skyliner and mentioning that the opening of the Skyliners do not seem wide at all. After our call, she did some research and found out that double strollers do not fit on the Skyliner. I am going to assume that this was done during the time that Disney had planned to negate double strollers from the park. Also, the Skyliner does not really stop so you need to be able to push the stroller(s) on seamlessly. My other learning curve is to bring a Kindle with us in their diaper bag. We learned about ten minutes in that EV like her Daddy is not a fan of heights (plegh). Luckily we rode back in the dark and my phone had been fully charged (I always have multiple charging pods and cords just for this reason), so she was able to watch Elena the whole way back and with not being able to see anything outside, she did much better. Notice the change of facial expression and grip in the pictures...
I never should have taken her out of the stroller at this point and said the words
"look EV we are flying like Tinkerbell" cue face palm emoji
Commodore was completely fine and pointed at EVERYTHING
Poor non-amused terrified of heights Hubs!
Pretty much a minute after this (I had put her back in the stroller) it all went down hill
Yes, I would have loved to have gone in the park, but did we need too? No, and I didn't expect myself to feel this way. I expected to feel the loss of not going in and taking pictures and sampling food and everything else that the Festival of Arts has to to offer (its my absolute favorite festival that Epcot has). However, we just had a great weekend with each other and celebrating EV's birthday in a Disney atmosphere. We felt really safe (which is saying A LOT) and were able to maintain the way we would normally social distance in our typical day to day and all the while we were able to soak in all the Disney feels that we were missing from the last year. So in regards to "missing out" anything, we didn't. If you do not feel comfortable doing any of this, I 100% understand, I have immuno-compromised children and I get it and I think both Hubs and I did an excellent job of keeping to everything that we do at home. We changed masks several times during the day (huge fan of Cat and Jack masks which are 2 for $4 and come in both adult and kids sizes), we had about five things of hand sanitizer and were constantly cleaning the kids hands and getting their hands away from their face (as well as our own), I had brought two HUGE travel laundry bags and everything we wore that day went into those bags, as mentioned we brought two containers of Clorox wipes (one that came with us and one that we left in the room), we did not come in close proximity to anyone and all the Cast Members AT the Boardwalk (not Disney Springs) were amazing. There were constant reminders to other families to put their masks above their noses or to remind "little princes/princesses" to put back on their masks after a bite or sip. It was VERY respectful, sweet and so commonplace that no one (that we saw) grumbled about it, but handled it with grace and from what can be told behind a mask because of eye crinkles, huge smiles.
You can see, there was barely anyone around and if they were, they went to the complete opposite side that you and your family were.
Regardless, there was a lot of room to give wide berth to those who thought just covering their mouth and not their nose was the same as proper mask coverage (these individuals were few and far between) and it was easy to avoid dining tables of those who had taken off their masks to eat. Plus, tables were set widely apart so it was easy to grab a bite and not be near anyone else.
Commodore's birthday is in June and during the week and we are already discussing doing this again. I have a hard time not celebrating Commodore the way we do EV. My only thought on this is that it is during the Summer and one, it is quite a bit hotter (it was warm during the day when we were there and cool at night so basically perfect Florida weather) and two, it is peak season so regardless of during the week or not, we will need to be prepared that it is going to be quite a lot busier since kids will be off from school and I am not sure I want to even have to navigate this especially during a pandemic where we have to be cognizant of the situation, other people and ourselves (people do not seem to be avoiding flying the way I would think so I am expecting that is not going to be stopping people from coming down here on vacation especially with Disneyland closed). Planning this birthday is going to take a lot more thoughtfulness and discussion with the Hubs, so we shall see.
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