A bit of a Liner fail at Wilderness Lodge this morning. (No problems at the gate.) Got the two restaurants confused, so we walked out to Geyser Point (which wasn’t open) and then had to backtrack to pick up my coffee. We came outside again just as the geyser was going off, so it was all done before we could get a good look at it. And then the pretty smores top of my latte melted all away before I could get a picture of it. Womp womp. But on the bright side, DS4 LOVED all the railroad theming. We didn’t ask about the railroad memorabilia room, but we will be going back and will look for it then.
So far, my favorite lobby smells are Caribbean Beach and Wilderness Lodge. I know a lot of people love Poly but I couldn’t really get a good sense of it that day.
I really like your idea of MO/resort tripping. I was worried for you when you presented your idea but I’m SO happy that it’s working out!!!
Hahaha! I was a little stressed out too! But so far so good!
Covid has brought more restrictions but it also brought the extensive mobile ordering so I feel like it evens out. We’re QS people so not needing an ADR has worked out well for us.
Glad to hear someone likes QS too 
Today’s Disney-adjacent adventure was to take DS4 to the Disney Character Warehouse on Vineland. We arrived about 30 minutes after they opened and had to join a virtual queue. I guess we weren’t the only ones planning to get there first thing on Friday and beat the weekend rush. Waited 12 minutes for entry and were done shopping in 20 minutes. Found DS4 a set of Cars cars (lol) for 65% off. They also had a selection of masks for $1.75. They had a few Christmas and Halloween themed ones, but most were classic styles (even the child), so I was surprised how heavily they were discounted.
I’m not sure if we will be back. Maybe the store will have enough new merchandise to make it worth it if we wait until one of our final days here? It was also very crowded. Whatever headcount they set for the store, it’s not in any way possible to keep 6 feet away from people. It was a bit of a madhouse.
Saturday we got a MO from Riviera and ate a picnic lunch. Played on the Caribbean Beach playground for a bit and then rode the Skyliner to and from Epcot. Really beautiful day.
Sunday we got the bread service from Sanaa and ate out on one of the overlooks. We got some really good views of the zebras and there were 2 cast members outside sharing about the animals. One of the zebras was sleeping - standing up, very still, with her ears slightly lowered. That was fun to learn about.
Double checked the Riviera sign. It says ‘and those with confirmed dining reservations.’ Looks like this is the wording at resorts with TS. So it looks like if you’re willing to MO something at moderate or deluxe, you shouldn’t have much trouble. We’ve picked a single item each time and it has been a fun treat for us. We have plans to visit Pop soon, but I might just MO from Riviera so we can ride the last 2 skyliner segments. I’m a little curious if getting into Pop would be a similar situation as we had with AoA but I think I’m more confrontation-averse than curious, so I’ll probably avoid it.
We were back at Poly to get dole whip again today and had no trouble. Walked over to GF and wandered around a bit but it was very windy so we didn’t see the whole grounds. Loved the Mrs Potts & Chip and Peter Pan designs in the tile downstairs and got a peek in Enchanted Rose. It’s stunning and I think it fits in with the GF decor really well, even if B&TB isn’t necessarily a fit. We also saw the carousel horses and penguin fountain in the DVC lobby and DS4 loved those. We tried to take a self timer photo (phone in the stroller cup holder) on our way out, but it was very gusty and I would have liked a 2nd try to change the composition a bit. But you get what you get with a toddler and a baby. 
The cast members at Pineapple Lanai gave us our dole whip for free. It was a sweet bit of magic. Initially, I thought she told me to swipe my magic band. Her mask muddled what she was saying and I think DS4 was talking at the same time.
On MDE app (order food) you can select To Go orders from several TS restaurants at resorts. Sanaa, wave of American flavors. Is that what you’ve been using?
We did a to go order from Sanaa, and just told the gate at Poly we wanted dole whip. Everything else so far has been QS MO pickups.
Today, as expected, was our ‘most difficult’ entry: Contemporary. The guard wanted to see my mobile order receipt, wanted to know what I ordered (‘that’s it?’), and then asked if we were planning to go to Magic Kingdom today. I told him that we don’t have park tickets, and he allowed us in. I thought DS4 would enjoy the bridge between buildings, but I couldn’t figure out where the entrance was and we were running short on time anyway. Turns out he was more entertained by the 2 gift shops than by the monorail going through the building. 
We tried for a self timer photo outside but just missed the monorail going through and gave up on waiting in the cold just before the next one came through. Oh well. We had a nice time anyway.
They are getting smart on our tips. I’m glad you got in. Love the ears!
We returned to AKL, this time with a MO for zebra domes. The guard was a little confused that my MO was for Mara, but he also didn’t really care. 
The Mara is the only restaurant open at breakfast, and he seemed to assume I was there for Sanaa. I assumed he would know the restaurants better than that, but they probably rotate the guards around different resorts or from gate to patrolling security or whatever. Regardless, we got amazing views of the giraffes at 9. We could see a few things at the overlook by the flamingos but they aren’t encouraging the animals to be around the Jambo savannah so we walked over to Kidani and they were front and center!
It may also be worth noting that the guards at AKL and WL have been the most chill, not looking at my phone or anything. No monorail or skyliner there, so it makes sense.
Update from the last few days:
Saturday we were back at the Poly and took DH with us this time. He is allergic to pineapple so he had the lime Dole Whip, which I actually hated. It’s more tart than I expected and had more of an artificial candy taste. Same story at the gate, they let us in just to get dole whip.
Tiny castle!
Monday we went to Beach Club. Showed the guard our MO and he asked if we were getting it and leaving right away. I told him we were planning to walk around a bit and eat here and he said ok. We were picking up a mickey bar and I told DS4 we were doing our walk first and that whiners don’t get ice cream. 
We walked the loop of the lake and then ate our ice cream bar. It was a really beautiful and quiet morning.
Today we MO from Riviera and then took the skyliner to Pop. Wandered around Pop and AoA a bit. Kinda curious to see if our experience at the AoA gate would have been repeated, but wanted to ride each segment of the skyliner more. Going over CBR is very pretty, but the Epcot line is my favorite I think. It’s longer and more relaxing.
Heads up to anyone who doesn’t already know, the skyliner line at CBR can get a little insane. They don’t have space to separate the lines, so everybody is funneled into the same line and if you’re changing lines there, you’re sent down the exit ramp to the back of the line. The line at 9 for HS opening was very long. The line at 10:20 was not quite as bad and moved very quickly (but people were going to both HS and EP at that point, so in theory it could have been moving twice as fast) and we waited 15 minutes to board.
There wasn’t a line at all for EP at Riviera, and we had seen a few gondolas at CBR go past empty (maybe one out of 8). My guess is that those are for people ready to board at RR since most people would not be getting off there (although we were).
I had a reservation this morning at Trattoria al Forna (sp?). BW guard looked at my phone res and asked for a picture ID. Then told me where to park.
I felt like a real Liner today: I did the ADR bump and dump to get into Coronado. They have one section of the resort blocked off for some sort of group, so you can’t walk around the whole lake. You have to cross the bridge instead. I also wanted to note that the dig site playground no longer has any sand. It is all playground surface now, which was a plus for us.
We’re wrapping up our trip here in the next couple of days. The forecast is very rainy so I think our only remaining Disney magic will be one last trip to Poly to try the Dole whip float.
It was a bit of a bummer to be this close to the castle and not go into the parks. DH mentioned the other day that he almost got me a 1 day ticket to MK for Valentine’s, but we will see our family as soon as we get home and I knew I’d spend more time indoors that we’re currently comfortable with. That said, I’m really glad we were able to spend so much time at the resorts. On our previous (and only other) trip we were able to see AoA and AKL, but it would take a lot of trips (staying offsite) to enjoy the rest of the resorts.
I hope our MO experience will be helpful to others, although busier weeks like spring break might not have the same results.
We hope to be back this November with some of our extended family, but I’m finding it hard to plan anything with the parks as they currently are. How would I even make a TP when I’m hoping things will have changed by then? We loved this ‘work-cation’ trip so much that we plan to do it again next February. I am of course advocating for another Orlando house and AP, but DH has some other ideas. We’ll see. Either way, I’ll probably be spending the next few months planning outfits/ears and looking at Airbnb.
I wanted to thank you again for doing this report and for it’s unique concept. It prompted me to give it a go as a local, w/ success, and I’ll be doing more. I got to try the Thai Coconut meatballs at Poly/Capt Hook yesterday; 
yum! In many ways I prefer QS over TS due to cost and ease of cancellation. I am also enjoying the MO in general instead of standing in a line but love that I can hop into a resort too. I was thinking that I might miss this when it’s gone (MO been around in parks for awhile), but then thought we would be able to once again drive up and tell them, “I’m here for the brownies”; we’ve done that before 
That’s great!
I’m hoping they’ll keep the MO system going since they already have it set up. Keep one register open but keep the rest of it streamlined.