Friday once again started out slower than planned. I had a leftover beignet, a bagel, and my iced coffee on the patio. This was my view--not the best, but that tree on the left was actually a massive cluster of bamboo, which felt a bit exotic. To my right was a full-on forest.
After breakfast we just ended up sitting around debating plans for far too long. Even though this was a relaxed vacation, I kept getting nervous that the few plans I had wouldn't work out. That morning I thought we'd be doing morning pool time, but that didn't happen. I still had two more adventures I wanted to accomplish, but I also wanted to set aside some good pool time and family time. It just felt like time was getting short, and every wasted morning was getting more frustrating.
We decided to go to Disney Springs for lunch and eat at Chef Art Smith's Homecomin', one of our favorite restaurants and one we've eaten at on all our recent trips. The food is so good and Jacob loves his options there. We always eat out on the patio, and despite the heat, it was lovely.
We had some entertainment as we waited, including these crazy birds that were scavenging everyone's vacated tables.
One was particularly vocal:
We had some entertainment as we waited, including these crazy birds that were scavenging everyone's vacated tables.
One was particularly vocal:
Our meals were delicious as always! At the end, I caught this crazy shot of one of the birds taking off from the back of the booth seat when I got a little too close!
We did some quick additional shopping and then headed back to the resort where we were going to do some pool time. Somewhere in the midst of all of this, Jacob started freaking out a bit. His shin was a bit sore after a couple days of more walking than would be ideal, and he started to panic about putting too much strain on it. He pretty much lives by ChatGPT these days, which is a whole other issue, but he began to insist he could only take a couple thousand steps each day in order to provide his shin with the rest it needed to heal from the stress response there. Apparently not doing parks wasn't enough of a rest so he was pretty much confining himself to the room after that, which was obviously a bit frustrating and not entirely practical given that you have to walk to get food from anywhere. I knew we were in trouble when Craig and Jacob went off to our neighborhood quiet pool when we got back (Carter and I didn't bring our stuff so we had to split off back to the room) and they immediately came back to the room because the extra 100 steps or so from the bus to the pool was "too much". At that point I realized Jacob had gone a bit off the deep end with his anxiety and reliance on ChatGPT. But unfortunately, he could not be convinced otherwise.
Carter and I were not about to miss out on our fun, so we headed to the main pool to get in some water slide time. We had it mostly to ourselves at first, but eventually it did get busier. The pool was much needed on such a hot day! This was the view from my chair when I took a little break.
I was really enjoying the views from the top of the slide as I waited my turn, and realized I'd never taken my phone up there to take pictures. This was looking out over the playground and sandy play area, with the hammocks, beach volleyball, and fire pit in the distance. The tennis courts are to the left.
Here's Carter at the top of the slide. It's still the best we've tried!
This is looking out from the sand castle turret, over the pool and the lighthouse.
That water slide is so iconic!
Had to take a selfie with my favorite adventure buddy!
And another one!
This was the view behind the pool, looking at the Sassagoula River and across at where our first-ever villa was 12 years ago.
We had a really great swim. The slide is so much fun and the water was perfect. As Carter and I wandered around a bit after our swim, I couldn't help but grab a couple more hibiscus colors for my collection:
I snapped this pic near the bus stop on the way back to our room. Such beautiful color!
And this lizard posed so perfectly!
We went back to the room and got dried off and changed, and then it was time for our next adventure. While I would have much preferred to do it as a family, that wasn't possible with Jacob's issues, and I also didn't want to go home feeling like we hadn't done anything. So off we went, hopping on a bus to Magic Kingdom. It's a little hard to explain how it felt going on the bus, getting off in front of the park, and not going in. I mean, I didn't necessarily need that stress, but once you're there it's a little like, man, I wish I could just get a glimpse! We still took a picture outside, though!
I was really enjoying the views from the top of the slide as I waited my turn, and realized I'd never taken my phone up there to take pictures. This was looking out over the playground and sandy play area, with the hammocks, beach volleyball, and fire pit in the distance. The tennis courts are to the left.
Here's Carter at the top of the slide. It's still the best we've tried!
This is looking out from the sand castle turret, over the pool and the lighthouse.
That water slide is so iconic!
Had to take a selfie with my favorite adventure buddy!
And another one!
This was the view behind the pool, looking at the Sassagoula River and across at where our first-ever villa was 12 years ago.
We had a really great swim. The slide is so much fun and the water was perfect. As Carter and I wandered around a bit after our swim, I couldn't help but grab a couple more hibiscus colors for my collection:
I snapped this pic near the bus stop on the way back to our room. Such beautiful color!
And this lizard posed so perfectly!
We went back to the room and got dried off and changed, and then it was time for our next adventure. While I would have much preferred to do it as a family, that wasn't possible with Jacob's issues, and I also didn't want to go home feeling like we hadn't done anything. So off we went, hopping on a bus to Magic Kingdom. It's a little hard to explain how it felt going on the bus, getting off in front of the park, and not going in. I mean, I didn't necessarily need that stress, but once you're there it's a little like, man, I wish I could just get a glimpse! We still took a picture outside, though!
Our actual target for this outing was to hop on the Monorail. I really wanted to check out the Monorail resorts and finally do the Contemporary loop again, for the first time since I was nine. I remember doing it then, but in subsequent visits I've only managed to do the EPCOT loop. From up above we just got a look at the castle!
I remember thinking when I was a kid how cool it was that the Monorail went right through the Contemporary! It definitely felt like a futuristic, cool place back then. Now it feels pretty dated, but it was still neat.
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| Just about to go in! |
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| I vaguely remember these murals. Again, dated, but always interesting to see. |
We didn't get off at the Contemporary, though. We just observed from our spot in the train and then continued on to the Polynesian. I was never that into the idea of the Polynesian until our airport transportation stopped there last time. The entryway into the lobby looked so beautiful--lush plants and fountains, and cool lanterns suspended above. I never realized how pretty it might be, but now was our chance to finally check it out. Of course, we got in and immediately went into a store. Carter was drawn in by another one of those snuggly stuffed animals, this time the pig from Moana. He also tried on a fun hat!
We also discovered a Figment Pez dispenser, which went on our shopping list later in the trip! The lobby was pretty stunning and the view toward the pool was incredible.
We walked out toward the pool to get a closer look. The grounds were so beautiful. They had so many plants and everything just felt a notch up from other properties we've seen. The water slide looked amazing and we were sure to check out the speed of the kids coming off. Looked pretty good!
It's hard to see in the picture, but off in the distance above the pool was a view of the castle! It was such a beautiful spot and I would stay there in a heartbeat. We shopped in one more store and couldn't resist this picture!
The one funny thing about the theming there was that it reminded me very much of the 70s. Not just because that's when it was built, but because I feel like the 70s co-opted a lot of that decor, from the color palette to the massive use of wood to just an over-the-top decorating style. It's hard to pinpoint, but that was definitely the vibe I got. But I like when things feel immersive, and it definitely was!
Here was one of those fountains I saw from the bus that made me want to explore here.
Next it was on to the Grand Floridian. Of course we've heard a lot about this resort, but I was eager to see it for myself. It was indeed very fancy, and the lobby was impressive, even with construction going on.
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| Close-up of the skylight |
But I have to say, it felt a bit stuffy for my tastes. I mean, yes, it was nice, but with the muted colors and the lobby piano player playing classical music, it just didn't feel like the fun Disney is meant to exude. Sure it would be a nice hotel to stay in anywhere else, but for Disney it just felt...too formal. Carter was impressed, though!
We headed outside and tried to find the restaurant we were planning to eat dinner at. The grounds were quite stunning, I will admit.
I wasn't super impressed by the main pool, though. There was a splash zone and another pool with a water slide on the other side of the property that I'm sure were great, but the setup definitely reinforced that this was a more mature property at its core.
Off to the side there was this little inlet, and if you look closely, you can see the castle off in the distance. Had our timing been a bit later, we probably would have stayed to watch fireworks from here as the Monorail security guy told us this was the best spot.
We had a really good dinner at the quick service spot there. My Buffalo chicken flatbread was probably one of my top three meals of the trip, and Carter liked his BBQ pulled pork. He struggled a lot with finding things he liked that didn't have dairy, as dairy really seems to irritate his system right now. I don't think I mentioned that one of his last tests came back showing him as having the Cdiff bacteria in his system, although a separate test confirmed he didn't have the toxin in his system signaling that it was actively causing damage. The doctor still wanted to treat it with antibiotics, and we managed to get those literally on our way out of town. We needed an extra day to get his steroid, however, due to insurance hold-ups, so we didn't end up getting that until we got back. He tried to avoid dairy as much as possible so he could feel better, but it was challenging since he loves cheese. He was definitely eyeing up my flatbread, but the BBQ pulled pork was a nice change of pace from a series of burgers and chicken strips.
We headed back out and caught a glimpse of the lit castle.
The grounds were really lovely at night, too.
The goal was to make it over to the EPCOT Monorail loop by 9pm when the fireworks there were starting, but we just missed the next train at the transportation center. But we did just make it over there to see the finale out the window. Not a great picture because my phone sort of stinks with darkness and movement, but you get the idea.
We went on the route that goes through the park, and I looked longingly at Guardians, Mission Space, the newly reopened Test Track, and the new Moana walk-through that was just getting finished the last time we were there. I truly love EPCOT and wished in that moment we were able to go. And I love watching the lights on Spaceship Earth most of all. Sadly, we didn't get to see too many fun animations, but this decent shot from the train had to make do.
I gave Carter the option to go back to Grand Floridian or ride the Monorail until the Magic Kingdom fireworks went off at 10pm, but he decided he was ready to go back. Fair enough. We got one last shot of the entry, and headed off to the buses.
For some reason our bus took forever to come. There was one labeled with Old Key West that pulled off ahead of our spot and must have been changing drivers or something, so then we just had to keep waiting. That happened at least twice on this trip. Thankfully, that meant that promptly at 10pm, we had a nice view of the start of the fireworks!
This picture isn't that great, but the hidden Mickey was cool!
We had a really good dinner at the quick service spot there. My Buffalo chicken flatbread was probably one of my top three meals of the trip, and Carter liked his BBQ pulled pork. He struggled a lot with finding things he liked that didn't have dairy, as dairy really seems to irritate his system right now. I don't think I mentioned that one of his last tests came back showing him as having the Cdiff bacteria in his system, although a separate test confirmed he didn't have the toxin in his system signaling that it was actively causing damage. The doctor still wanted to treat it with antibiotics, and we managed to get those literally on our way out of town. We needed an extra day to get his steroid, however, due to insurance hold-ups, so we didn't end up getting that until we got back. He tried to avoid dairy as much as possible so he could feel better, but it was challenging since he loves cheese. He was definitely eyeing up my flatbread, but the BBQ pulled pork was a nice change of pace from a series of burgers and chicken strips.
We headed back out and caught a glimpse of the lit castle.
The grounds were really lovely at night, too.
The goal was to make it over to the EPCOT Monorail loop by 9pm when the fireworks there were starting, but we just missed the next train at the transportation center. But we did just make it over there to see the finale out the window. Not a great picture because my phone sort of stinks with darkness and movement, but you get the idea.
We went on the route that goes through the park, and I looked longingly at Guardians, Mission Space, the newly reopened Test Track, and the new Moana walk-through that was just getting finished the last time we were there. I truly love EPCOT and wished in that moment we were able to go. And I love watching the lights on Spaceship Earth most of all. Sadly, we didn't get to see too many fun animations, but this decent shot from the train had to make do.
For some reason our bus took forever to come. There was one labeled with Old Key West that pulled off ahead of our spot and must have been changing drivers or something, so then we just had to keep waiting. That happened at least twice on this trip. Thankfully, that meant that promptly at 10pm, we had a nice view of the start of the fireworks!
This picture isn't that great, but the hidden Mickey was cool!
It had been a busy day, but the pool time was outstanding and I really loved seeing these resorts and catching some fireworks. Despite this outing making me want to go to the parks more, it also did its job of fulfilling that urge in its own way. I loved seeing new things and getting a feel for other resorts. I don't know that we'll ever fully go away from Old Key West--both because we love it there and it's most affordable--but it's fun to dream! And isn't that what Disney's all about?
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