The Little Trip That Could - Disney Night 6 and Day 7

When I left off, Carter and I were stuck standing up on a very full bus heading to Saratoga Springs from EPCOT.  I had to do a quick look at the resort map we got texted with our room assignment because I realized I wasn't even sure where we needed to get off the bus!  I found our stop on the map, and then we had to keep an eye out every time the bus stopped to see if that was our stop, as this particular bus didn't seem to have the automated voice that usually tells you where you are.  When we got off, we just sort of wandered toward the building that appeared to be ours.  It seemed like this was where we needed to go...

These rooms were set up differently than our other resort, where all the villas had essentially an open-air entrance.  These were set up much more like a hotel with full corridors, although the corridors were technically still outdoors, just much more sheltered.  We found our number and thankfully our Magic Bands worked as our key.  The big boys were already quite settled in the room.  And yes, this was much more like an actual room.  Everything was just smaller and more compact.  Old Key West always had so much extra space--far more than we needed, I suppose, but after being in that smaller room, I truly appreciated that we weren't crunched into a small space like that all week.  There was a small kitchen, a dining area, a tiny laundry closet (rather than a full room), a living room with pull-outs for the boys, and a full king bedroom.  There was still a full bathroom with two sinks and a separate toilet/shower room, but no more jacuzzi tub.  The tub that was there wasn't too shabby, though--it was a nice deep one, just no jets.  The look was way more modern, which was nice, and the artwork was super cute with little Disney elements, but it was definitely more cramped.  I noticed some social media posts that sound like you're supposed to unpack your suitcase into the dressers and keep your suitcases under the bed, which is essentially a platform with ample space underneath.  That might work for us, but I don't exactly want the kids' stuff there, too.  

Carter's bed folded out of the wall under the TV.  He didn't end up sleeping there, though, because we were terrified he'd bang his head on the cut-out.  He's a thrasher sometimes, and almost half the bed was in the cubby.  Fortunately he was able to sleep on a pull-out chair instead, much like he did at our old resort.

This was our bedroom, which was really nice.  All those older photos over the bed had Disney characters in color popping into the various scenes. 

This was the kitchen.  We had a full size, free to move kitchen with an island at the other resort, so this felt...cramped.

This dinette was behind me in the picture above.  It was nice, but for most of our time there the table was completely full of stuff because there was nowhere else to put it!

This was Jacob's bed folded down out of the wall.  I love Murphy beds and I think they're more comfortable and practical than fold-out couches (his bed stayed out the entire week which left me without a spot to sit most of the time unless someone shared the bed).

This is how it looked folded up.  It's pretty slick, actually.

On the bright side, we did still have a balcony, although it was smaller and only had a couple chairs instead of the full table of four we had.  But I couldn't complain about our view!  Disney Springs was right across the water!

Funny that we've ridden a boat past this a dozen times and never imagined we'd stay here.  It was actually a bit of a bummer we didn't have more time to take advantage of the location, because we could have walked to Disney Springs from here!  I will say I was a little annoyed that the patio chair height wasn't ideal for the railing height.  You couldn't see much when you were sitting because the top of the railing was right at head level.  But I was happy to see that we had Mickey head railings because I enjoyed those our last two trips and this year's Old Key West room didn't have them.  But this room did and it made for a fun picture!
   

We tried to settle in and get reorganized as best we could that night.  Everything felt a little crowded, especially in the living room with both boys' beds out and Jacob's ever-present pile of clothes around his suitcase.  I was also trying to think through how our morning was going to go as far as packing up and having our luggage picked up, while also trying to make the most of our time and explore the resort pools before it was time to grab our airport shuttle.  It was just hard to wrap my brain around at that point--what needed to go in which bag, and whether everything would fit since we were tight on the way there and had picked up some souvenirs on the way back.  We wouldn't be coming back to the room after the pool, so we had to have everything we'd need with us before being reunited with our luggage for the shuttle.  I didn't want to do a ton of reorganizing at the airport, so I was trying to be thoughtful about it all. 

The next morning was a lovely one.  I drank my last grocery-order Starbucks Frappucino on the patio and tried to soak in the view.

Hard to see, but the Cirque du Soleil theater is hiding behind that pink flowered tree.

We got in our suits, packed up our backpacks with a change of clothes and whatever other carry-on items we needed, and headed off to pool #1, hitching a ride with the bellman who was taking our luggage to be held for our departure.  The waterslide wasn't quite as cool as the sandcastle, but it looked fun and this pool was pretty quiet!

The water was a bit colder (even compared to the cooler water post-hurricane rain at Old Key West) and the slide was a bit slower than the sandcastle.  Carter practically stopped at the end. 

 

I still flew in pretty good, so go figure.  The lifeguard said that bathing suit materials seem to have an impact on speed, but it was odd that it was so much different at this one since we both flew on the Old Key West one.  We had a good time riding this one with no lines for probably 20-30 minutes before Carter decided he was ready to go to the other pool.  It was a pretty easy, less-than-10-minute walk across the lake in the middle of the resort.

I will say the resort was pretty.  It didn't really have the same vibe as Old Key West, though.  I get enough of upstate New York at home.  When I'm in Florida, I want full-on Florida, which Old Key West is--tropical plants, palm trees everywhere, Jimmy Buffet playing at the pool (RIP--sad and ironic he passed away when we were at Old Key West listening to his music daily).  This was nice, but it didn't have the same tropical spark.

The main pool was really nice.  There was a zero-entry spot (on the right) with little knee-level fountains shooting out, a splash pad, and two hot tubs. 

And of course, one big water slide hidden in the rocks!

That slide was better for Carter but super slow for me.  I don't get it!  But we did that a bunch of times and tried to enjoy our last bit of warm water pool time.  We knew ours back home was long past being warm enough to swim in, so this was likely our last hurrah for the year.  Oh, and did I mention it was an absolutely lovely day?  It wasn't even super hot.  Granted, we spent most of the morning in and out of pools, but it didn't feel oppressive at all.  Made me wish we were staying an extra day!  The good news about this pool was that it had a good amount of shade, which the Old Key West pool didn't most of the time.  We regrouped in our shaded chairs and dried off about an hour and a half before we were set to get our shuttle, which by the way was way earlier than we were hoping for.  Our flight wasn't until 4pm and our shuttle was coming at 12:50.  Between other resort stops, other passengers' departing flights that were likely earlier, and getting through long security lines, I suppose that's just how it had to be, but count that as one other time I wished we had a rental car!  We wrapped up at the pool and got changed, and thankfully all the wet stuff fit in our carry-on backpacks in plastic bags, so it looked like we'd be good to go for fitting everything despite our souvenirs.  As I sat on a bench waiting for the boys to return from the changing room, I took a photo to post displaying the very "Disney" behavior of fitting in every last bit of fun and going to the airport with hair still wet from the pool!

Happy, thankful, and--for the moment--relaxed!

We were a little torn on what to do about food.  We'd have time to eat at the airport and given that we were flying through dinner time, it seemed better to eat later, but we knew the Chick-fil-A we ate at on our way in was closed as it was Sunday and we weren't sure what else might work for Jacob.  We went to the quick service restaurant at the resort, which was actually combined with their store where we bought a souvenir for Craig's mom, and grabbed snacks.  I got a chocolate croissant I'd been eyeing up all week, Carter got the most amazing cupcake, and Jacob and Craig got a couple snacks.  In retrospect, we just should have eaten there, or at least Jacob should have.

We headed toward the shuttle pick-up area, but of course had to take this photo op on the way.

At the shuttle pick-up spot, I decided we should just make the departure photo like we did last year a tradition, and we asked the bellman (who we tipped handsomely earlier because no one had change) if he could take our picture.  He wasn't the best photographer, but he did get a good one.

 
I might need to brighten it up for use on our Christmas card or something, but at least we have one full family photo that's not a selfie!

We loaded up on the shuttle and headed off to the airport.  I thought it was fitting that we were essentially racing a monorail down the highway along the way.

It will never cease to fascinate me how people that live in that area co-exist with Disney World.  From the monorail tracks along the road and the Skyliner going overhead, to the constant presence of tens of thousands of tourists and signs of Disney everywhere (not to mention Universal and other tourist traps), it just amazes me when I see all of the houses along the roads and realize how many people live there--and actually have to because Disney is a massive place to staff--and just live around the "magic" every day...although I'm sure it doesn't feel very magical most of the time.  Disney really does amaze me with its efficiency and how it really is its own little functional community.  When you think about how many people have to move here or there in a day, how many buses are running at any given moment, how so many things appear seamless and simple, and how they easily run multiple coaster trains, often on multiple loading platforms, when Six Flags can't be bothered to run more than one...it just amazes me how they've got so much of it figured out.  It really is a bit magical and does feel like a world away.  I don't blame Jacob for not wanting to leave the Disney bubble--I get it, it's actually super sad to leave that little piece of utopia no matter how frustrating it can be at times or how exhausted you are--but I do think there are times when staying in it can be a different kind of challenge, hence why I think we're ready for a rental next time around!

The airport was not without its share of annoyances.  Carter's and my bags got put through extra security checks--mine because I forgot to take out my laptop, and Carter's because his bag had a bunch of little electronic stuff in it, including our mini fans.  Then we realized there was no way to get from our terminal to the other terminal with all the restaurants, so Jacob was sort of out of luck with food.  Carter and I ended up grabbing Shake Shack while Craig and Jacob wandered around to find him some snacks to get him through.  Starbucks to the rescue, again.  The boys left me alone across the aisle so they could all sit together and play trivia on the plane screens.  I watched "Something's Gotta Give", which is an old favorite I haven't seen in a while, and then switched over to trivia near the end of the flight.  I almost beat them in a head-to-head, but I didn't make it into the tournament for the first question and got the last one wrong, but they only got it right because they'd already had it before.  No fair!  The flight was a bit rough because there was a crying baby for at least the last half hour, and then the jet bridge malfunctioned when we got over to the gate, so we were stuck on board for another 10-15 minutes.  But we were back.

We ended up grabbing Mighty Taco on the way back to my parents', then stayed the night so we could spend Labor Day with Craig's parents, since the day we got back was Craig's dad's birthday.  I had really wanted that extra day to unpack and get my bearings before heading back to work on Tuesday, but I know we made Craig's dad's day.  I also got a new Bills' shirt and two bottles of wine for my own birthday.  It was a lovely day outside and I should mention that we were greeted with a few hot, Florida-like days when we returned, unlike last year when the weather was cold and crappy when we got back.  That weather came later in the week, just in time for Carter's first fall soccer game.  We finally got home around 9pm Monday night, and I spent the next two hours unpacking.  I'll get more into the challenges of our return in my next post.

It had been a pretty crazy trip, one I wasn't sure was actually going to happen, which ended up being pretty darn great against all odds.  It was a trip that wasn't supposed to be a thing at all, managed to become a thing, and then was almost ruined by COVID and a hurricane.  Yet it still chugged along and overcame everything, and now it was over.  Back to reality we went...