• Sue's Spring at Saratoga Springs - Day 3 of 5

    From Sue/WDW1972@21:1/5 to All on Thu Apr 15 17:03:42 2021
    DAY 3 – Thursday 4/15/21
    Who: Sue (62), DVC Member
    SB (63), my husband
    Tiana & Jonell, friends

    Plan: Animal Kingdom, Pool, Epcot

    Actual: Last night by 9pm SB was still “watching” the baseball game while snoring. He never noticed me move my stuff out to the living room, including the extra blanket we were going to share <g>. I decided to use the kiddie bed, but sat on the
    living room couch with the blanket & my laptop until I turned in for some sleep just after 9:30. He doesn’t snore all the time, but unfortunately tonight was a snoring night – and that doesn’t work for me.

    We were both up around 5 – me just before, and him just after. I made my cappuccino and brought it into the bedroom to enjoy while watching the local news & we both got online for a while. The local news starts repeating itself here, so once that
    happened I switched it over to ESPN. I took my shower a little before 7, then SB followed.

    In terms of the kiddie bed, it worked fine for me but I don’t plan to make a habit of it <g>. I had to be careful when sitting up to not hit my head. The small mattress size wasn’t a problem, because I don’t tend to move at all when sleeping.
    When I was recuperating after the 2nd time w/breast cancer I had to learn to sleep without rolling or moving, and it’s stuck with me even though that was 11 years ago.

    Tiana texted a little before 8 saying they were ready, and since we were too we met at the bus stop. They put their bags in the car, which turned out to be a good thing later. SB’s was still in my villa, which was fine since I’m not checking out
    today. A bus was at the bus stop and they all go to Springs next, so we hopped on. Once seated I was showing Tiana how to order breakfast on her phone, while doing our order on mine. The guys both claim they said something “Don’t we get off here?
    at the Springs bus stop but neither of us heard them, so they sat there quietly as the bus continued on its way out of the resort. By the time I realized we should have been at the stop by now we were almost to Old Key West’s entrance! I was so
    pissed at myself for missing the bus stop, and I could only hope that this bus was going to the closest park, which would be Epcot.

    Of course that’s not how it played out – we went all the way over to Animal Kingdom! If the bus was going to be returning to Saratoga Springs we would have been all set, but of course that wasn’t happening either. We went to the Saratoga Springs
    bus stop and it was at least 30 minutes until we had a bus – and that was only because we eventually asked another bus driver to radio in to request a bus for us (after 20-25 minutes of watching them unload and drive away. Finally an empty bus pulled
    in and the driver said he was sent for us. We probably should have walked over to the parking lot and taken a cab, but each driver kept telling us “10 minutes” for the Saratoga Bus to get there.

    By now we were outside of our breakfast pick-up window so the orders were on hold. Once we got on the bus and were close to Saratoga Springs we set a new return window. We got off at Grandstand and walked from there, which was faster than riding the
    bus to the 5th stop. Perhaps the guys were afraid we’d miss getting off again, lol – they were hungry! Once we got to the top of the ramp we hit the “we’re here” button so our food would start getting prepared.

    At Artist Palette you enter from the far side (near Turf Club), and when your food is ready they let you walk in to pick up your bag and walk out to the tables. Ours was ready first, so SB came in with me. He grabbed a bottle of chocolate milk and got
    behind a lady at one of the registers. Unfortunately, that wasn’t following the rules – he was supposed to walk further around and loop back in so got pissed off and put the chocolate milk back rather than join the end of a line that had formed
    since he had gotten there.

    Tiana & Jonell’s food was ready not long after ours, and we’d managed to grab the last table. The guys had the bounty platter, which was a bit of everything – scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, bacon, sausage, Mickey waffle and biscuit. They
    both loved it, and said everything was perfect. Jonell was especially impressed with the Mickey waffle, which he’d assumed would be lousy and was set aside to be eaten last. I told him Mickey waffles were always good <g>. Tiana and I each got the
    breakfast sandwich – scrambled eggs, cheese & bacon on a croissant. The was delicious too, although messy to eat. I ate half and gave the other half to SB, but I also ate part of his Mickey waffle and a few potatoes.

    After breakfast they all bought some water to wash it down, and since it was around 10am we needed to get on a bus to Epcot! Originally with our 8am breakfast we would have returned to the villa to relax for an hour or so, but not after the bussing
    fiasco. Thank goodness Tiana & Jonell had moved their stuff out of their room already!

    The bus stop was busy, with all benches occupied. I stood near the curb, figuring as more people came I wanted a good chance of actually getting on the bus! Once again it was a nightmare – we waited and waited and then waited some more. In the
    meantime we saw buses to several other parks, which helped clear out some of the people, but many more were arriving. It was probably 30 minutes before an Epcot bus came, and the driver pulled into the first (of 2) stop. A bunch of us formed a line
    headed to the door and I waved to the others on their bench to get up here!

    The driver was a guy I remember from before – he gets off the bus, asks about your party, then directs you do your assigned section. He was assigning a group ahead of me to 2 sections and one of the ladies told him that I was here before her – wow!
    He then told her to step aside and asked me how many were in my party, then put us in those 2 sections. Thankfully there were more seats nearby and her party got on – I did thank her, as that was very considerate.

    So, our plan was to be at Epcot by 10:15 so we could knock out a couple attractions before the lines got long. Instead, we arrived a little before 11, along with hordes of other people. Knowing we weren’t going to get to do much, I told Tiana &
    Jonell to pick, and they chose Test Track. We went straight there and found a 50-minute wait – ugh. It actually ended up being closer to 40, but that meant we were getting off when it was almost noon. I checked the wait times on the app and
    everything was long except for stuff we didn’t want to bother with. I know the guys didn’t want to be zigzagging across the park, and it was hot in the sun.

    They decided to get their margaritas, so they went to Mexico while I stopped at First Aid to pick up a couple ibruprofen to replace the ones I’d given SB last night. I like to keep a packet in my Disney bag, for when he’s with me. When I came
    around the corner, they were pretty far back in a long slow line at the margarita stand. I hovered until the shady section freed up and staked out our spot (with Tiana’s help). I think Jonell bought margaritas for everyone, including me. Mine and SB
    s were the frozen strawberry, I think Jonell’s was lime and Tiana’s was the 3-flavor. We sat there in the shade enjoying the margaritas. I was still full from breakfast, so I only drank half of mine and gave the rest to SB.

    Tiana mentioned wanting tacos, since margaritas and tacos go together. When SB heard tacos he wanted some too – I couldn’t believe they could eat again so soon! We went over to the cantina and had to wait to be let in. The guys came in with us and
    grabbed a table while Tiana & I ordered the food. SB had his beef tacos, which look really small (especially for $14.99) but he said they were delicious. Tiana got them as well, and got the nachos for Jonell but with chicken rather than the beef/beans
    mixture. I drank my water and tried a bite of a taco.

    SB went up to get something to drink and came back with a lime margarita. Later Jonell mentioned another margarita sounded good. We were going to be heading out rather than doing a loop around the countries, so I suggested he go ahead & get one, and I
    d run to Germany to get a cookie, which would give him time to drink the margarita. He liked that idea, so I took off but immediately got caught behind the princess cavalcade. They don’t let you pass. The cast member told me there’d be an area in
    Germany where I could get by, but I told him Germany was my destination. So, I walked at a slower pace than normal.

    The caramel store was empty except for a few cast members, so I quickly bought a couple of the apple caramel oatmeal pecan cookies and walked back to Mexico. They were still at the table, and all 3 of them had margaritas, lol! Eventually we headed on
    out, making the long HOT trek through Future World to get to the bus stops. Epcot was very busy/crowded today – more than I’d expected. It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if I was just coming over from Beach Club, but this front entrance is
    horribly inconvenient.

    Thankfully this time the wait for the bus was only about 10 minutes, and we made it back to Saratoga Springs and got off the bus at Congress Park without any trouble. I gave them the 2nd cookie to share in the car, said my goodbyes, then went inside
    with SB so he could get his bag. They made it home safely, and everyone had a nice time.

    It was 2pm so I changed into a swimsuit and went out to the pool. It’s so convenient! I ended up spending 2 hours out there, doing some reading and playing on my kindle. There was a nice breeze that kept it feeling better than Epcot! At 4 I went
    inside and got dressed, then updated the trip report. I had a few work emails & things to approve, but that didn’t take long.

    Around 5:30 I noticed the temperature according to the local news was down to 73. The sky had been completely covered with clouds since shortly after I came inside, so perhaps it’s accurate. Since it’s supposed to rain later I decided to put on my
    sneakers and go out for a walk. While I was putting my sneakers on I saw people wearing light jackets walking past my bedroom window. Sure enough, when I got outside it was significantly cooler and with the strong breeze it almost felt a little chilly.


    I walked out to the lake separating us from Disney Springs, and watched one of the car/boats from the Boathouse go by. It’s a pretty setting out here and I decided to go back inside to get my camera since I haven’t used it all this trip. I took
    some photos as I walked and noticed the volcano erupting with flames over at Rainforest Café. How did I not know about that before?? I walked over towards Disney Springs but didn’t enter. Instead, I returned to Saratoga Springs, getting back around
    6.

    I was hungry now, so I cut up some cheese & crackers and poured some wine, taking it to the dining table. I don’t plan to go out anywhere else today, so if this isn’t enough I’ll either cut up some more or eat breakfast food. I do have that
    cookie from Germany, too. The rest of the evening was spent “at home” – some HGTV, some online stuff, and relaxing.

    Today started out like a nightmare, with not getting off the bus in time to avoid a long detour at Animal Kingdom! I still can’t believe I did that – it was so stupid! Thankfully breakfast was terrific and made up for it. The parks continue to be
    a disappointment in terms of the crowds, and today the long wait for a bus at Saratoga Springs meant we missed the uncrowded first hour. With the hot weather, I couldn’t wait to get out of there – we did one attraction. My time at the pool was
    delightful – just what I needed!

    Tomorrow was intended to be my only pool day, but the weather looks like it could be a problem – the only day of the trip with rain, at 30-40% all day. My pool window is the morning, since I have a 1:30 lunch reservation at the Boathouse – looking
    forward to that! I’ll most likely cancel my park reservation for Epcot, but I’ll wait to decide for sure tomorrow.

    Sue/WDW1972

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  • From Rudeney@21:1/5 to All on Wed Apr 21 19:55:19 2021
    On 4/15/2021 7:03 PM, Sue/WDW1972 wrote:

    We were both up around 5 – me just before, and him just after. I
    made my cappuccino and brought it into the bedroom to enjoy while
    watching the local news & we both got online for a while. The local
    news starts repeating itself here, so once that happened I switched
    it over to ESPN.


    Yep, that seems to be the norm now. We have a local NBC affiliate that
    starts at 4am and runs until they start airing The Today Show at 7am.
    It's six 30-minute segments that are pretty much identical. And they do
    it again at 4pm - 7pm. Ugh!


    A bus was at
    the bus stop and they all go to Springs next, so we hopped on. Once
    seated I was showing Tiana how to order breakfast on her phone, while
    doing our order on mine. The guys both claim they said something
    “Don’t we get off here?” at the Springs bus stop but neither of us heard them, so they sat there quietly as the bus continued on its way
    out of the resort. By the time I realized we should have been at the
    stop by now we were almost to Old Key West’s entrance! I was so
    pissed at myself for missing the bus stop, and I could only hope that
    this bus was going to the closest park, which would be Epcot.

    Of course that’s not how it played out – we went all the way over to Animal Kingdom! If the bus was going to be returning to Saratoga
    Springs we would have been all set, but of course that wasn’t
    happening either. We went to the Saratoga Springs bus stop and it
    was at least 30 minutes until we had a bus – and that was only
    because we eventually asked another bus driver to radio in to request
    a bus for us (after 20-25 minutes of watching them unload and drive
    away. Finally an empty bus pulled in and the driver said he was sent
    for us. We probably should have walked over to the parking lot and
    taken a cab, but each driver kept telling us “10 minutes” for the Saratoga Bus to get there.

    By now we were outside of our breakfast pick-up window so the orders
    were on hold. Once we got on the bus and were close to Saratoga
    Springs we set a new return window. We got off at Grandstand and
    walked from there, which was faster than riding the bus to the 5th
    stop. Perhaps the guys were afraid we’d miss getting off again, lol
    – they were hungry! Once we got to the top of the ramp we hit the “we’re here” button so our food would start getting prepared.


    That's a funny story. I'll be the guys were giving you grief over not listening to them! :-P


    At Artist Palette you enter from the far side (near Turf Club), and
    when your food is ready they let you walk in to pick up your bag and
    walk out to the tables. Ours was ready first, so SB came in with me.
    He grabbed a bottle of chocolate milk and got behind a lady at one of
    the registers. Unfortunately, that wasn’t following the rules – he
    was supposed to walk further around and loop back in so got pissed
    off and put the chocolate milk back rather than join the end of a
    line that had formed since he had gotten there.


    I have to side with SB - these rules in the name of COVID precautions
    are ridiculous and often just too hard to follow! I's rather deal the
    The Soup Nazi! :-P


    Tiana mentioned wanting tacos, since margaritas and tacos go
    together. When SB heard tacos he wanted some too – I couldn’t
    believe they could eat again so soon!

    :-o I'm no lightweight when it comes to eating, but no way I could have
    eaten again that soon after breakfast! In fact, when I do eat
    breakfast, I have to skip lunch.


    I’d run to Germany to get a cookie, which would give him time to
    drink the margarita. He liked that idea, so I took off but
    immediately got caught behind the princess cavalcade. They don’t let
    you pass. The cast member told me there’d be an area in Germany
    where I could get by, but I told him Germany was my destination. So,
    I walked at a slower pace than normal.

    Ugh! A Princess Cavalcade! How disgusting! :-P



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