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Old 9 Nov 21, 11:06 AM  
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catalunya
Excited about Disney
 
Join Date: Apr 16
It’s only been 1063 days - travel / first evening

Trip context
So, we decided to just take the chance to go after having our September 2021 trip cancelled.

We’re only going for 8 days as due to work commitments it’s all we could fit in. It’s our shortest trip to date.

We’re staying 4 nights at All Star Movies and doing all the parks. We’re then moving to Sapphire Falls Resort for the other 4 days and doing Universal and shopping!

We’re going to be buying annual passes for universal as we’re due to head back in May, so made sense to do this. I booked SFR on a UOAP rate so was quite reasonable.

We’re going to experiment with Disney Genie while we’re here to do HS as we’ve got limited time and we know the queues for RotR can be manic. We also get Genie+ for this day as I must ride ToT when I’m there. I’ve been following LivingByDisney on insta for strategies on how to manage Genie+ so I’m excited to give it a try, even if it’s going to cost us! But considering we’re there for limited time it will help.

Travel day
As expected, I did not sleep very well however the premier inn was very quiet considering it seemed quite busy.

Woke up at 6 as we aimed to get to the airport 4 hours before our flight as we didn’t know what to expect.

Check in/Bag drop was extremely busy as you can imagine. When you get into the terminal we got told to head to ‘document check’ banners and VA/Delta staff. We had our vaccine, test results and attestation checked before joining the queue for bag drop. They popped a security sticker on the back of our passports to show we’d been checked.

We saw so many people unprepared at the bag drop desk and it caused quite a bit of backlog.

Took us 45 min approx to check in, so make sure you leave yourself enough time!

If anyone has any questions do ask!

I’ll do an edit to this later when we’re in sunny Orlando, so keep an eye out

Update - flight and arrival
The flight from VA as usual was very good, we had economy out this time (usually fly premium if we can) and I was impressed with the service and the food. No pretzels this time (gutted as they’re my fav bit!) but shortbread biscuits, which I’ll accept as a suitable replacement

The flight was quite turbulent, worst I’ve been on across the Atlantic actually but nothing that holding your wine couldn’t solve.

Everyone behaved with masks and tbh it wasn’t too bad to endure, we’re using the blue cloth ones which made it easier as they’re much lighter.

We were one of the first rows of economy to get off and we couldn’t believe our luck when we got immigration - there was no one there! We waited less than 30 seconds to be seen and had no questions from them other than how long we staying, purpose and cash… same old as before.

We waited for our luggage and fortunately this came out quickly for economy, hoping our early check in helped with that, and we must’ve been on our way within 20/25 min.

We quickly got over and ordered an Uber, which was a bit expensive I felt - $38 - came with a $6 airport surcharge and a $10 booking fee! But it was quickly and our driver was lovely.

We got to ASM resort and our room wasn’t ready. We went to check in and the cast member there was great and she organised a room for us. She asked if we’d flown from the UK and she was really excited to serve her first UK guests since the pandemic and gave us celebratory badges for returning!



We even managed to activate our old 2018 magic bands into the account, old habits die hard, I love my band to pay etc rather than the app.

We got a preferred room at ASM and that put us about 50 yards from the main building in the 101 Dalmatians section. Room comes with a king bed and is all we need for 4 nights. Not stayed in a value resort before and I’m impresssed.

Magic Kingdom and Enchantment
Quick shower and change and we headed to the bus stop, it was very busy for MK as there was a sold out Merriest After Hours Event on. We decided to not wait for a bus as we were quite far back in the queue so we took the Epcot bus that came first and then got the monorail to TTC before hopping the ferry to MK. No better way to reach MK!

We got into the park at 7.30, it was absolutely packed unsurprisingly but we managed to get a Starbucks and grab a spot to watch the new show.

I have to say the fireworks were fantastic but the story just didn’t get me emotionally. If it had been HEA I’d been seeing on my return to the park after 3 years then I’d have been standing there a crying mess (I’m not ashamed to admit) but this just didn’t have the emotion. HEA always has a place in my heart, I was there for the last Wishes and the first ever HEA, so it’s easy to not like a new show I guess. I’m back in May so will watch it again then and see if my mind changes. The projections down Main Street were fab though, really impressive and a good way to tie the whole crowd in.

After the show, we wondered around into Tomorrowland to avoid the crowds leaving and even though the park closed for the event we were able to hang around and get some photos of the castle which I have to say, looks absolutely unbelievable- I cannot describe how good it looks in person lit up at night.



Bus back to the resort was quick, they had lots of buses on and we mobile ordered some food before heading to bed after a very long day.

MK and HS tomorrow with Genie+ should be good!
__________________
POR - May 2015 | DLP Newport Bay - Nov 2016 | SSR - May 2017 | Surprise BC upgrade! - Dec 2018 | ASM & SFR - Nov 2021 | PFB & CBR - Sept 2022 | POP & DCL Magic - June 2023 | PFB - Sept 2023 | DCL Dream - Dec 2023 | Universal - May 2024

Edited at 11:38 AM. Reason: Update
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