jimmymc
Professional Adventurer!
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2016
Hello everyone and welcome! My name is Jimmy, and two days ago I returned home from a short but action-packed Disney World trip. One night at All Star Music, followed by three at the Polynesian, along with all four parks split between three days. For once I'm excited to be writing a trip report within a few days of actually getting home! The last time I did one of these it was spread over a few months, so I'm very excited to share my latest thoughts and feeling on the park while they're fresh.
Planning started relatively last minute for me, booking 3 months out instead of my normal 7 to 11 month DVC window. After seeing some Tron previews and pictures released by Imagineering, I decided I really didn't want to wait almost a year to be back in Disney World, so I went to see what studios and flights were available for points. At first, only Saratoga and Old Key West were open for the entire long weekend (Thursday to Monday), and I booked at Saratoga. Then when I looked at flights, the best option for Thursday didn't land at MCO until 11:55 pm, and I decided to drop one night at Saratoga to stay at the Orlando Airport Hyatt, which is frequently recommended for cases like this.
Since Tron and Magic Kingdom were going to be the main focus of this trip, I also wanted the chance to stay at a Magic Kingdom area resort. The resort studios at Grand Floridian were briefly available, however they cost a lot of points per night and aren't my favorite layout. And while I love my home resort of Wilderness Lodge, I thought I might try somewhere I've never stayed at. I waitlisted both studio categories at the Polynesian, and in the middle of March one of them came through! As for the Orlando Hyatt, about a month before my travel day, Delta cut prices on several flights, meaning it was cheaper for me to leave earlier and land around 9 pm instead of midnight. At the same time, Disney put quite a few rooms on sale, meaning the All Stars were each about half the price of the Hyatt. With the prices being that good, and DVC rooms sold out thanks to a Moonlight Magic event Thursday night, I figured why not try one of the All Star resorts, where I haven't stayed since I was 13.
Now that my schedule was finally set, we can skip ahead and start the real trip report with a travel day! In order to maximize vacation usage, I worked a normal day at home on Thursday. We are sometimes required to be in the office, but that's usually just Wednesdays, so I knew ahead of time this wouldn't be a problem. It did mean that I wanted to arrive at the airport way earlier than I normally do so I could take a 4 pm call ahead of my 6:30 flight. Waiting to leave my house at 4:30 when it ended would've cut it too close for my flight, and I really didn't want to take it in the car, so I had about 2 hours to kill in the Delta Skyclub (thank you Amex Platinum card). They served a dinner of Korean shortribs and mac n cheese, which were both very good.
(Stock pics, since I didn't get any at the airport)
The flight was on time and went pretty well. I had my normal aisle seat and was able to watch some playoff hockey on the plane using the seatback screens. Baggage claim was very fast for Orlando, and while I'm normally a big fan of rideshares to and from the airport, this time I thought I would try Mears connect. Previously I was a big fan of and regularly used Magical Express, so I wanted to see how the new service compared. Walking to that section of the airport was admittedly nostalgic, and the timing was right for me as I walked right onto the bus as the last passenger to board. 5 minutes later we were moving. I believe All Star Music was the 4th resort we dropped off at, after Art of Animation, Pop Century, and Coronado. The bus definitely took a little bit longer than a rideshare, but only by about 30 minutes, and I wasn't planning on leaving the resort anyway. The driver was friendly, and while I don't think they played a Disney video, it definitely felt like the old busses. If the service was always this smooth then I think I would always use it. Spoiler for the last day, but my arrival was more pleasant than my departure.
Since I already had my room number and magicband, I was able to walk right from the drop-off to my room in the Country Western section at the back of the resort. I read that these rooms are a hike to get to, but even late at night it didn't feel too bad. Even at 10:30 pm the main pool was still busy and showing a movie, and the food court was decently crowded despite closing soon. As cheesy as it may sound, the All Stars have great energy if you're like me and prefer active vacations over relaxing ones. But as much fun as it looked like they were having, I set my alarm and went right to bed. I had an important boarding group to get at 7 am.
Day 2, Part 1: https://www.disboards.com/threads/f...-2023-long-weekend-trip.3919375/post-64819444
Planning started relatively last minute for me, booking 3 months out instead of my normal 7 to 11 month DVC window. After seeing some Tron previews and pictures released by Imagineering, I decided I really didn't want to wait almost a year to be back in Disney World, so I went to see what studios and flights were available for points. At first, only Saratoga and Old Key West were open for the entire long weekend (Thursday to Monday), and I booked at Saratoga. Then when I looked at flights, the best option for Thursday didn't land at MCO until 11:55 pm, and I decided to drop one night at Saratoga to stay at the Orlando Airport Hyatt, which is frequently recommended for cases like this.
Since Tron and Magic Kingdom were going to be the main focus of this trip, I also wanted the chance to stay at a Magic Kingdom area resort. The resort studios at Grand Floridian were briefly available, however they cost a lot of points per night and aren't my favorite layout. And while I love my home resort of Wilderness Lodge, I thought I might try somewhere I've never stayed at. I waitlisted both studio categories at the Polynesian, and in the middle of March one of them came through! As for the Orlando Hyatt, about a month before my travel day, Delta cut prices on several flights, meaning it was cheaper for me to leave earlier and land around 9 pm instead of midnight. At the same time, Disney put quite a few rooms on sale, meaning the All Stars were each about half the price of the Hyatt. With the prices being that good, and DVC rooms sold out thanks to a Moonlight Magic event Thursday night, I figured why not try one of the All Star resorts, where I haven't stayed since I was 13.
Now that my schedule was finally set, we can skip ahead and start the real trip report with a travel day! In order to maximize vacation usage, I worked a normal day at home on Thursday. We are sometimes required to be in the office, but that's usually just Wednesdays, so I knew ahead of time this wouldn't be a problem. It did mean that I wanted to arrive at the airport way earlier than I normally do so I could take a 4 pm call ahead of my 6:30 flight. Waiting to leave my house at 4:30 when it ended would've cut it too close for my flight, and I really didn't want to take it in the car, so I had about 2 hours to kill in the Delta Skyclub (thank you Amex Platinum card). They served a dinner of Korean shortribs and mac n cheese, which were both very good.
(Stock pics, since I didn't get any at the airport)
The flight was on time and went pretty well. I had my normal aisle seat and was able to watch some playoff hockey on the plane using the seatback screens. Baggage claim was very fast for Orlando, and while I'm normally a big fan of rideshares to and from the airport, this time I thought I would try Mears connect. Previously I was a big fan of and regularly used Magical Express, so I wanted to see how the new service compared. Walking to that section of the airport was admittedly nostalgic, and the timing was right for me as I walked right onto the bus as the last passenger to board. 5 minutes later we were moving. I believe All Star Music was the 4th resort we dropped off at, after Art of Animation, Pop Century, and Coronado. The bus definitely took a little bit longer than a rideshare, but only by about 30 minutes, and I wasn't planning on leaving the resort anyway. The driver was friendly, and while I don't think they played a Disney video, it definitely felt like the old busses. If the service was always this smooth then I think I would always use it. Spoiler for the last day, but my arrival was more pleasant than my departure.
Since I already had my room number and magicband, I was able to walk right from the drop-off to my room in the Country Western section at the back of the resort. I read that these rooms are a hike to get to, but even late at night it didn't feel too bad. Even at 10:30 pm the main pool was still busy and showing a movie, and the food court was decently crowded despite closing soon. As cheesy as it may sound, the All Stars have great energy if you're like me and prefer active vacations over relaxing ones. But as much fun as it looked like they were having, I set my alarm and went right to bed. I had an important boarding group to get at 7 am.
Day 2, Part 1: https://www.disboards.com/threads/f...-2023-long-weekend-trip.3919375/post-64819444
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