In mid-September my husband went on a 17-day trip to Germany. He had a great time, and maybe one day he’ll do a guest post for this blog. I decided the girls and I should take a weekend girls trip somewhere warm while he was gone. I looked at all-inclusive resorts, but those are not great for a short trip. And flights are not that cheap after the pandemic lockdown, so I decided to limit the trip to somewhere we could fly direct. We ended up choosing a weekend at DisneyWorld, and I booked our room at the Grand Floridian.
It was probably late June or early July when I conceived this trip, and I chose the Grand Floridian for two primary reasons: (1) it’s close enough to Magic Kingdom you can watch the fireworks from your resort; and (2) it has a nice spa. The spa had not reopened, but at the time things looked like they would continue to get better, so it seemed like surely the spa would be open by mid-September. (Ah, hindsight!) I thought it would be great to have a non-park Disney vacation where we really enjoyed our resort and took advantage of everything it had to offer. Best laid plans, right?
I scheduled our flights for about 4:15 on Friday afternoon, which would get us to our resort about 7:00. I figured I’d maybe have to pull the girls out of school an hour early, but no big deal. My plan was to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the hotel Friday night and maybe enjoy an evening swim. We could sleep late Saturday and then visit the spa, and have a nice dinner Saturday night, maybe hit Disney Springs for some shopping. Then Sunday we could enjoy brunch before flying home. Almost none of that came to pass.
A couple weeks after I booked the room I received an invitation to buy advance tickets to Mickey’s Boo Bash Halloween party. I’d heard great things about the Magic Kingdom after-hours events, so I investigated further. The event was pricey, but crowd attendance was limited, and it seemed like a fun special thing. The event started at 9 pm, but we could get into the park starting at 7:00, so that gave us five hours at the park, since it didn’t end until midnight. I knew we wouldn’t be there right at 7:00, but our flight was early enough to make it work. We could postpone viewing the fireworks from the hotel until Saturday. I ran the idea by the girls, and they liked it, and even agreed to coordinating our costumes. I bought tickets to the Boo Bash.
A few weeks later, I got the dreaded but increasingly common email from Southwest that they had changed my flight. I absolutely hate that airlines can do this. Now, instead of arriving in Orlando around 6:00, we’d arrive around 8:30, which definitely would not work with our Boo Bash plans. I was given the option to change flights, so I started looking. The only option that would get us there in time for the Boo Bash was an early morning flight. The girls can miss a day of school, right? I made the change, and we now had an extra half a day on our trip.
As the days and weeks went by and the Delta surge got worse and worse, I kept an eye on the spa at the Grand Floridian with less and less hope of it reopening in time for our trip. Finally, a couple weeks before, I started looking into alternatives, and I discovered that the spa at the Swan Hotel was open. I don’t know a lot about the Swan & Dolphin except that they’re on the Disney World property but not owned by Disney. I figured we could get transportation to the Swan easily enough. I called the spa and learned that Madeline, as an 11-year-old, could pretty much only get a manicure and pedicure, so I booked mani/pedis for the three of us.
The Monday before our trip, with Andy already in Germany, the check engine light (or what I thought to be the check engine light) in the van came on. Andy said if it wasn’t flashing I’d be ok, but it made me nervous. I figured out how to check the van’s warning code using Andy’s OBD reader, and it said there was nothing wrong. Argh! Why did the light come on, I asked, if nothing was wrong with the engine?
I got my answer the morning we left for the airport. We had a 6:20 am flight, so we got up at 4:30 and headed to the garage at 5:00. As I was walking on the driver’s side of the van to wheel my suitcase to the back, I saw that the rear tire was visibly low. Aha! That light doesn’t just signal engine problems, it signals all kinds of problems. I would argue that is a terrible design, but it’s what we have. Unfortunately, I decided I didn’t have time to fill the tire and just prayed the whole way to the airport. The tire held, we parked in the garage, got through security easily thanks to TSA PreCheck, and walked up to the gate right as they started boarding the A-group (on Southwest). I was glad I hadn’t taken the time to fill the tire, although we still had some time since I’d forgotten to check in until the afternoon of the day before, and we were boarding in positions C25 to 27..
I had warned the girls about our unfortunate boarding positions and prepared them to sit by themselves between two strangers. They decided if they saw two seats together they would take them and leave me to find my own way. Ellie found two seats near the front of the plane, and I was able to sit a row or two behind them in an aisle seat. Not bad at all. I tried to sleep on the flight but was mostly unsuccessful, but the flight was good and we arrived in Orlando on time.
We got a Lyft to take us to Disney World, and I checked in to our room from the car. The car had a video trivia game system that we were able to play as we rode, so the trip went really quickly. We arrived at the Grand Floridian around 9:45, and right as I approached the registration desk to ask about an eta on our room, I received a text saying it was ready! The nice registration lady gave us a map and showed us where to go, and we were off. I didn’t realize before this trip that the Grand Floridian is not one big resort. There is a main building and a lot of outbuildings. We were in a building far-ish from the main building, but it’s really not a very big campus, and we found our room easily.
On our way through the main building Ellie asked, as we passed it, if we could eat breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe. As soon as we dropped our luggage I got on the My Disney Experience app to get in the standby line. The wait was an hour, but I got in it anyway. When I told the girls, they were ok with that even though we were all really hungry because we hadn’t eaten yet that day, except for some Starbucks we picked up at the Orlando airport. We got settled into our room, then explored the Grand Floridian grounds a bit. I was truly getting a little lightheaded as we neared the hour mark, so we went to the restaurant before we received an alert that our table was ready, and we were seated about five minutes later.
We all ended up getting Mickey waffles with different meats. Ellie had Mickey waffles with sausage, Madeline had Mickey waffles with bacon, and I had the chicken and (Mickey) waffles. Of course, the service was great. And we all felt a lot better with food in our stomachs.
We decided to take the monorail next and explore a bit. From the Grand Floridian, the stops are (in order): Magic Kingdom, Contemporary, Ticket & Transportation Center, Polynesian, and back to the Grand Floridian. I wonder how many times a day the conductors (is that what they call them?) make that circuit? We decided to debark at the Polynesian and explore that resort a bit. Boy, was that an expensive decision! The Polynesian has a really nice gift shop. We bought a shirt for Andy, dresses for the girls, necklaces to go with the dresses, and a coconut that you could send in the U.S. mail like a postcard. The guy at the checkout gave us a Sharpie, and we addressed and signed the coconut right there so it would have a Disney postmark. Fun!
We couldn’t decide how to get back to the Grand Floridian from the Polynesian. The choices were to walk, get back on the monorail, or take a boat. Since we’d done nearly every other mode of transportation that day, we chose the boat. It went first to the Magic Kingdom, which was fine with us. But while we were docked at MK a big rain cloud developed right over us, and it poured like crazy! No one on the boat stayed completely dry. The crazy thing is that it was sunny and beautiful just on the other side of the Seven Seas Lagoon. We dried off, did a little more shopping, and then took naps! It had already been a long day by that point, and we had five hours at the parks ahead of us.
We got ready for the Boo Bash by dressing in pirate costumes. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a full-length picture of us, but this one on the balcony of our room is nice.
We took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom and walked to the entrance gates of the park. Disney cast members were guiding regular admission folks to one entrance and Boo Bash admission folks to a different one. It was about 6:40 when we arrived, and I’d say the Boo Bash lines were about 25 people deep at that point. They got much longer behind us. It was fun checking out all the other people’s costumes, but it was also very hot! We were glad when the line started moving.
We immediately headed over to Space Mountain and rode with a very short wait. I think the line said 20 minutes, but half of that was just walking the queue, so that we probably stood in line less than ten. When we left Space Mountain we had only about half an hour before the fireworks, which are Ellie’s favorite. She wants to watch them, and she wants to watch them in front of the castle.
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger spin had only a ten minute wait, and Madeline and I talked Ellie into riding it quickly before finding a spot for the fireworks. We were about halfway through when the ride stopped. They tried for maybe ten minutes to get it running again, but in the end they had to give up and walk us off. The exit was not a very Disney experience. First, there was what felt like a lengthy delay between when they announced they’d be coming to get us off and when they actually started getting us off. During that time, a baby in a buggy a ways ahead of us was screaming bloody murder. When the cast members went past us, they were running. It felt like they were panicking. And the one cast member had no idea what they were doing. One was supposed to let people off, and the other was supposed to lead the line of people out. But the line leader kept yelling to the other to ask what to do, and the other was yelling back in an exasperated tone. At some point, the leader was around the corner from the other one. The leader kept going, and the other one was yelling at the leader to stop, but the leader didn’t hear and none of us conveyed the message because we wanted out! They did the little special thing to our magic bands so we’d have a fast pass to use anywhere (although the lines had already been rebranded as Lightning Lanes for the new Genie+ service), and then the girls sprinted to the castle to watch the fireworks. I called after them, ”I’ll text where to meet afterward!” and they were gone.
I don’t love the fireworks and don’t mind missing them, so I took the opportunity to go to the bathroom and drink a Coke to get some caffeine in my system. By this time it was nearly 9:00, and even with the nap I was starting to fade. I texted the girls to meet me at the Winnie the Pooh ride after the fireworks, and they made it back there in very good time. After the fireworks the only people allowed on the rides were ones with wristbands for the Boo Bash, and we rode all kinds of rides in rapid succession: Winnie the Pooh, it’s a small world (where we had a boat to ourselves), Peter Pan, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise (the longest wait), Haunted Mansion, and Space Mountain again (the girls without me), right as the park was closing. During this time we saw a couple ”cavalcades,” which are just very short parades. It was a good thing we had those fast passes from Space Ranger Spin, which we used at Haunted Mansion, or they wouldn’t have made it onto Space Mountain the second time. As we walked out down Main Street, we followed a big cool dragon.
So the Boo Bash was a success, in that we rode an entire day’s worth of rides in five hours. And I liked that it was much cooler once the sun went down. But I can’t say I recommend the Boo Bash. For one thing, it cost about the same as, maybe even more than, a day at the park for fewer hours of entertainment overall. I expected all kinds of cool extras, which just didn’t really happen. Apparently at earlier Halloween gatherings, Magic Kingdom had turned off the lights in Space Mountain, put actors on the boats for Pirates of the Caribbean, etc. None of that at Boo Bash. That was maybe because of COVID, but it was still disappointing. I expected actors to be walking around the park in cool costumes, but that didn’t happen either. The characters in the cavalcades were wearing Halloween costumes, but that was not that exciting. Finally, there were ”special” refreshment stations throughout the park, but all we saw them giving out were popcorn and soda. We got three free bottles of water. Definitely not a selling point for us. And most of the restaurants were closed, which didn’t help. I’m not saying I had a bad time, but it did not feel extra level special. Maybe I set my expectations too high.
It was really nice not to have to board a bus after a long day at the park. We hopped aboard the luxurious monorail and were back to the Grand Floridian in minutes. Both the girls slept on the way. And it wasn’t long after we got to our room before the lights were out and we were all asleep.
The next day is pretty much a blur. Since it was nearly one in the morning when we went to sleep, we planned to sleep in. But Madeline forgot to turn off her weekly Saturday alarm, and I could not get back to sleep after it went off at 7:00. I dressed and went to the cafe to do some reading and grab breakfast. After a couple hours I got hot sitting outside and went back to the room. I finally got the girls up at 10:30. We left later than I’d hoped for our spa appointment, and we just missed the bus from the Ticket & Transportation Center to the Swan. I ended up calling a Lyft to get us there. The manicures and pedicures were great, and I recommend the Mandara Spa if you’re in the area. I had hoped to go straight to Disney Springs from the Swan, but the girls somehow missed that, and we ended up having to go back to the hotel first, which wasted about an hour. We took a Disney bus to Disney Springs and did a TON of shopping. We had reservations at the Rainforest Cafe, but unfortunately it was not a great experience. The restaurant was only about 25% full, I’m assuming because they didn’t have staff for more than that. Our server was nice but way too busy. And the food was mediocre. I’ve never loved the Rainforest Cafe, but Madeline really wanted to try it. Probably that was our last time. We arrived back at the Grand Floridian too late to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks (darn it!) but not too late for Madeline and me to take a quick late night swim. Not a bad day, all in all.
Sunday Madeline and I went to the swimming pool as soon as we got up. The highlight was a little duck who decided to go swimming with us. She swam around for a while, not-so-subtly swimming over to people on the pool deck hoping they’d feed her. Madeline followed her for a bit and made a video. After we got out and sat on the deck chairs for a while, Madeline suddenly said, ”Mom, the duck is right under your chair!” She apparently wanted to give us every chance to feed her. (We did not do so.) After swimming we went back to the room, packed, and checked out. We did take time to have a FaceTime call with Dad in Germany first! We left our luggage with bell services and took the monorail to the Contemporary, where we had brunch reservations at Chef Mickey’s.
Chef Mickey’s was great, as usual. I later learned, thanks to my phone’s photo memories, that our first brunch at Chef Mickey’s had been one day shy of seven years earlier. Instead of a buffet, the server brought food family-style to our table. The girls immediately asked for more Mickey waffles. I didn’t know how they would do characters, but they had Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy go around to the tables and take pictures six feet from folks. It sure wasn’t the good old days, but it was something.
After breakfast we got our luggage from the Contemporary, took a Lyft to the airport, and flew home. I’ll write about the flight in a different post. It was a quick weekend trip, but fun, albeit nothing like I had imagined it at the outset.. And with Ellie leaving for college in less than a year, I’ll take every opportunity to do things with her!
I’ll leave you with one silly picture of Madeline, just for fun.
