Hi all - I’m super late on this trip report but wanted to share our experience on our trip last month.
Who - me (43), DH(45), DD9 and DD who just turned 7.
Staying - at Old Key West. Our trip was planned only 7 weeks out. We are in the Chicago area and we’re originally going to go to Michigan over Memorial Day. We had to cancel that trip because of a work conflict for my husband. The girls really wanted to swim on vacation and early June is not that warm yet in Michigan so I started thinking maybe we could go to Disney. With the 30 percent off summer promotion and airline credit to use we said let’s do it. Originally we booked a one bedroom but then saw a two bedroom available and thought why not. We love having room to spread out so this worked well for us.
Parks - we had a one day ticket from fall 2019 that we never used and it was supposed to expire in August 2020. With Covid, the expiration moved to Aug or Sept 2021. We decided since this was a 3 night trip, we would just use our one day ticket and then have a pool/Disney Springs day.
We all loved dinner at Chef Mickey’s. Now mind you, I do a lot of the cooking at home and we just got a puppy in January. With both myself and DH working, kids school, activities, etc. I’m just so happy not to cook on vacation that someone bringing me platters of food is awesome. I have a lactose problem so most everything I eat is dairy free and this was no problem here. We then stopped at the gift shops at Contemporary and rode the monorail for a loop and then went back to OKW for the night. We went to the quiet pool and called it a night. The pool was nice - we swam and had a great time.
Sounds like a great start!
Monday was Epcot day. We mobile ordered breakfast at Olivia’s. Since we were in the turtle pond section, we drove to pick up the food and then brought it back to the room. Mickey waffles were great! Also I got the berry sauce on the side of mine and it was so good - I could eat it with a spoon. I love anything with berries so I got the Mickey waffles, put the berry sauce on it and then got a fruit cup on the side which was all berries and put that on the waffle. Ha! I should have taken a picture because it was a berry explosion. Since we had a car we drove to Epcot and we got to the line right around 9:45 when the booth was opening. Maybe 10 cars or so in our lane in front of us. Parked and got through taps and were held at the side to get to Soarin until 10:30. We did get a stroller for DD7 but I don’t think we really needed it.
We hopped on Soarin with about a 15 or so minute wait. We had to park the stroller so that slowed us down plus we took the escalator down in the Land pavilion because people were going really fast on the stairs and I thought we’d get run down. We then went to Living with the Land with no wait. After that we took pictures of Pooh with his butterfly net.
My girls (well and me too!) were so excited to see him. Then we went to Figment with no wait and headed over to San Angel Inn for our 12:15 lunch.
We love San Angel Inn. I remember eating here as a child and it just brings back lots of memories. I had the steak tacos (no cheese or sour cream) and DH had his favorite, carne asada. We started with the guacamole and girls had chicken tenders. They are a bit picky but they like the tenders there. We had a table right by the water - very nice. DH had margarita and it was also good. We then went on GFT which was about a 10 minute wait. The plexiglass in the line made the queue seem claustrophobic. Maybe that is removed now. We then walked around and headed to Spaceship Earth and rode that with maybe a 10-15 minute wait. DD7 rode with my DH and fell asleep during it. Both DD’s thought the ride was very boring when we rode it in 2019 but now DD9 really enjoyed it. It’s a favorite of mine because it’s slow. I love slow rides. DD7 still thought it was boring, hence the falling asleep.
We headed back to OKW in the afternoon and swam in the main pool. We went down the sandcastle slide on that made me dizzy! Wow I guess I didn’t realize the slide just went around and around like that. Once was enough for me. Girls went down it a few times. We spent awhile swimming and I got a strawberry daiquiri from Gurgling Suitcase and DH got a beer. Then we went back to the room to change and mobile ordered from quick service at Wilderness Lodge. It was nice having the car because we did drive to a few resorts during our stay. DH and I got the pulled pork sandwich and I’m forgetting what DD’s had - either a burger or chicken tenders. We brought it back to the room to eat and then relaxed on the patio. Great day!
I’m loving the sound of your lazidaxicle days and bringing back food to your room. It’s what I want to do too.
I just realized my last post said Epcot day was Monday but it was really Sunday that we went to Epcot. Monday was in fact our pool and Disney Springs day. We mobile ordered from Olivia’s again - Mickey waffles again! We then headed to Disney Springs around 10. I checked out the line for Gideon’s and it was long like I was assuming. My husband laughed and said this is a line for cookies! He couldn’t believe it. I would have waited to get our names on the list but I figured another trip we will try. We had to wait to get into World of Disney but the line moved quick. Lots of shopping was done. We then headed to Boathouse for lunch. I was still a bit full and wanted something light so got a house salad and added lobster to it - yum! DDs were so excited because there food came in a cardboard car thing. It’s the little things right - they were so excited about that.
Yes! The GFT line with the plexiglass is INCREDIBLY claustrophobic. Tight spaces don’t normally bother me and I was trying to find a way out of that line without having a panic attack.
What a nice trip! I love the pool slide at OKW. I think I did it 10 times when we stayed there for one night last October! I was for sure thinking your one park would be MK. You threw me for a loop with Epcot. 
A friend and I will be at OKW for just a couple nights in December and I think we’ll just do one evening at Epcot too. She has never been!
Question: what did you tell the guard to get in? Did they ask if you were guests ? I know the dole whip isn’t a MO. TIA.
Final thoughts - our trip in 2019 was our first family trip to Disney (4 of us) and it was not good. Basically I felt like I did not take anything into consideration about what would work for our family. We stayed offsite and spent a lot of time driving. There was a heat wave so it was hot! The rental house we were in was gross. We are not a go-go-go family. I don’t know why I had this idea in my head that we could RD and be in the parks all day. I think I just got caught up in wanting to do everything but we don’t need to do all that to have a good time. I also have anxiety so things really got amplified during that trip to the point where I felt I’d never be able to go again. I’ve been lurking in TP the last year and appreciate everyone’s advice and info. I’m hoping to be a more active contributor as I really enjoy the people here. This is a group of really supportive people. Anyways our trip this time was a huge success! Staying onsite works for us. Staying in a villa works for us because we like to spread out. A week is too long for us - ideally somewhere around 4 days is best. A block of about 5 hours at a park works for us (right now). We love going to some of the different resorts to look around. For future family trips, we would go early January or late fall so that it’s not as hot. Although the weather was not as hot this time as when we went in 2019. It might seem like we didn’t do a whole lot this trip with rides but we had an amazing family vacation. The main tip I can give is “do you” and do what works for your family. Thanks for reading!
I mobile ordered a brownie for the girls from Captain Cooks. Pineapple Lanai is at Poly and they have Dole Whip but there is no mobile order there. I showed the guard the mobile order on my phone for Capt Cooks and he let us in. Then we grabbed the brownie and got the Dole Whip from Pineapple Lanai and ate in the lobby. It was almost completely empty.
It was between MK and Epcot. Since Epcot opens later we thought well let’s just do that so we don’t have to worry about rushing to RD MK in the morning. We will just have breakfast and RD Epcot when it opens. Also heavily swaying our decision is that my parents 50th wedding anniversary is next year and we’re looking to go to Disney for that and we plan to focus on MK.
Yes - exactly! I was kind of panicking in that line a bit. I always like to have a way out and I felt squished in there and a bit anxious.
I don’t think you can go wrong with Epcot. Love the pace of your trip. Did I see you are purchasing DVC?
I just bought in myself but via resale at OKW. I am looking forward to trips like yours with some park time but also enjoying the resorts and relaxing.
Sneaky clever successful!
We are staying at OKW in a few weeks for the first time. I’ve always wanted to stay there and the only reason we are is BC of dvc points. Woohoo. And I’m loving all the great ideas from @MidwestMel!
Topolino’s is getting a lot of great reviews. Thank you for sharing your experience!
I really enjoyed your report! I’ve never seen the point of visiting and not doing parks (I know you did one day) but you made it seem really fun!