Disney World February 2021 - Day 1: Flight and EPCOT

Here is my trip report.  We had a great time.  It was great to getaway and none of us wanted to come home.

Day 1 - Flight and EPCOT

• Really early - Our flight was at 8:00am so we had to get up at 5:15 to leave at 6:00.  It was a good thing we left early because it was snowing on the way to the airport and it got a little hard to see driving.  When we got to the Parking Spot, we pulled in behind my parents and were able to park close to them.  Thank goodness we upgraded to covered parking.  The bus was there ready to take us and we made it to the airport and our flight with no problems.  The airport was not busy at all so security was quick.  Due to COVID, a lot of the airport was closed.
• Lisa - ‘Your eyes were not smiling’ - We got on the plane and sat together so we could all help with the kids.  Lisa took a picture and me ang Grady and apparently I was not smiling.  She told me to make sure I smiled because "your eye were not smiling".  That became the line of the trip.  Since we were all wearing masks through the entire trip, we had to make sure our eye were smiling.
• Shorter flight; best flight with kids - The flight from MCI to MCO is an hour shorter than to LAX.  The kids did GREAT!  Lisa and I sat with Grady and my parents sat with Ellie.  Grady played with a Transformer and coloring book for half of the trip and then watched shows on the iPad for the rest of the flight.  There was no whining/crying/fighting/wrestling/walking around.  It was great.
• Grady loved his Transformer and kept saying ‘Transformer!’ while playing with it - I had wanted to get Grady a Transformer for a while because he loves trucks and robots.  He LOVED it on the plane.  He played with it most of the flight.
• ‘Late’ to get luggage - After the flight we got to the baggage claim and our bags had been pulled aside to the "lost luggage" area.  Somehow we were very slow getting to the luggage claim.
• Trouble finding magical express; Got on bus - When we got our luggage we went down to the ground transportation level, but come to find out, we were in the wrong terminal.  We had to go back up to level 1 and walk across to the other terminal and then down to ground transportation.  There was quite a long line to get on to the Magical Express, but once we were on a bus, we left quickly and there was only one stop before we got to our hotel.
• Got to hotel, waiting a long time for room
• Ate at Contempo Cafe; yummy but took a long time (turkey sandwich, pizza and nuggets)
• Grady loved seeing monorail, saying ‘Monorail!’ - The Contemporary is unique as the monorail goes through the A-frame of the hotel.  It was fun to see it go through while we were eating, shopping or just walking around the hotel.
• Finally got room, changed and unpacked - I had to go to front desk to find status of room because we did not get any updates on our phone before it was ready.  We found out that due to COVID restrictions, a manager had to approve the cleaned room after housekeeping finished.  It took a little longer.  We also didn't get regular housekeeping.  They only came into the room every other day and emptied trash, replaced toiletries and dropped off new towels.
• Got ready to go to EPCOT, waited a long time for bus - We waited around 30 minutes for a bus to take us to EPCOT.  The buses were a pain most of the trip.
• Picture - We took at picture at the entrance.  Grady didn't want to get out fo the stroller, but we got him out and took an ok picture.  I put him back in and within a couple of minutes he went to sleep.
• Grady asleep, Zack walked through future world - I walked through Future World while waiting on Ellie and Lisa to ride Soarin'.  This part of the park was a mess.  Most of Future World was under construction and there were no shortcuts across so you could only walk all the way around the land.  
• Ellie and Lisa rode Soarin’ - The line was longer than expected and the ride broke down while waiting.
• Rode Nemo - After Grady woke up (which was the same time the girls finished Soarin'), we rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends.  There was no line.  The kids liked it.
• Rode figment - We then went to ride Journey Into Imagination with Figment.  Before we went in, we saw Winnie the Pooh standing in a grass area next to Imagination.  It was cool to see him there.  We walked on to the ride with no line.  It was fine the kids got a little scared with darkness and loud noise, but they liked seeing Figment.
• Rode frozen - Next we started around the World Showcase.  We stopped at Norway and rode Frozen Ever After.  This was a ride that Ellie was REALLY looking forward to.  The line looked incredibly long because it snaked all the way out of the Norway pavilion.  It moved very fast because all standing spots were 6 feet apart and the full queue inside the building was not used and there was no FastPass.  This is a cute ride.  Ellie liked it.
• Walked around world showcase - After Frozen we walked around World Showcase (the best part of EPCOT).  We didn't have a lot of time, so we just walked around. 
• Bought pictures - The Festival of Arts was going on and there were quite a few booths showing different types of art, mainly painting.  We stopped in a couple of booths, one we bought a couple pictures.  It was the Wonderground Gallery, our favorite store from Downtown Disney in California.
• Saw Ratatouille area/bathroom - On our journey around the World Showcase, we stopped in France to see the new Ratatouille area.  The only part open was the bathroom.  We checked them out.  They were nice, but really dirty.  I guess they were popular.  The area we saw was cute and a great addition to France.  I can't wait to see it all open.
• Ate in England - fish and chips and mushroom chicken pie - After France, we stopped at England for Fish and Chips.  The kids and Lisa got fish and chips and I tried the mushroom chicken hand pie.  It was all delicious.
• Went to Mouse Gears - Ellie got backpack - We stopped in Mouse Gear (the giant store) on our way out of the park.  They had a lot of stuff, but Ellie had her eye on a Loungefly backpack.  She found one with Mickey and Minnie with Disney parks snacks.  It was really cute.  We helped her buy it.
• Left park, waited on bus - When we were done in Mouse Gear, it was time to go.  We were tired and we had a full week ahead.  It was a fun start to our trip.

Boarding our flight to Orlando

Kids on the Flight

Our Hotel Room - Contemporary Gard Wing

Fun at EPCOT

Coming Soon - Ratatouille

Disney World February 2021 - Planning

This has been a very strange year for us.  Our last trip was February 2020 just before COVID-19 hit the US and we got very lucky to take that trip.  In 2020, we had at least 3 other vacations planned and we had to cancel all of them.  We also found ourselves not eating out due to the pandemic.  We went almost 12 months without eating in a restaurant.  The pandemic has changed a lot about our everyday life and completely shutdown our travel life.  This is bad for me because our trips give me something to look for through the monotony of everyday life.  We had to cancel all trips and I got to a point where I couldn't plan or dream about another trip because we had no clue when we would be able to do it again.

In October and November, I had read some reports about how small the crowds at Disney World were and that there were some good discounts.  We weren't ready to travel then and I didn't considered a trip after that.  After the New Year, my wife was talking to a coworker who had been to Disney World over Winter Break and she raved about how great it was.  We are more on the conservative side of dealing with the pandemic so we had a lot of trouble visualizing ourselves traveling.  Lisa's coworker has a  similar stance on COVID-19 and found that their trip fit all of her concerns and she said Disney was taking all necessary precautions to keep everyone safe.  This really caught our attention.

Lisa contracted COVID in the middle of January.  All four of us quarantined in our house for 4 days with Lisa isolated to our bedroom the entire time.  This really tested us.  To all of our surprise, we made it through and the kids were great.  I couldn't believe how great they were and Lisa was shocked at how much more laughing than yelling was coming from the rest of the house.  

After talking to Lisa's coworker and being cooped up at home, we needed to get out of the house.  So we looked into going to Disney World.  We couldn't go to Disneyland since it was still closed, but we wanted to go to a Disney resort.

When and Length of Stay:
When and Length of Stay was decided based on our accommodations (more on that later).  We landed on the second week of February 2021.  We booked the trip 3 weeks before our trip.  This was a very short turnaround and it was really strange after we made the decision I'm pretty sure I was in denial.  Generally after we decide to go on a Disney trip it is 4-6 months in advance, sometimes 11 months.  My excitement doesn't kick in until about 3 weeks before.  

I read a report that January was pretty slow at Disney World and the crowd calendars were showing the week we picked should be slow as well.

Since park hopping restarted, it is different than the original park hopper and is not a great option.  We decided on 1 park per day tickets.  This made it a little tricky to determine how long to go.  We settled on 7 days, 6 nights.  This gives us 6 days in the parks, which allows us to double up on 2 parks.  

Transportation:
I found really good airfare on Southwest, even with decent times.  This worked out well.  I also had travel funds from a canceled trip so my airfare was paid and Lisa used points on half of her roundtrip ticket.  We ended up only paying about half of the total airfare.  They were both non-stop and the flight is about an hour less than LAX so we hope this will help the kids on the flight.

Disney World is still offering their Magical Express transfer to and from the airport (it is ending at the end of 2021).  This is a huge factor in deciding to stay on property.  Since it is included with the hotel reservation, we don't have to rent a car and figure out car seats for the kids.  

Accommodations:
The hotel choice was the key determining factor in this trip.  This is the largest expense of the trip so we were looking for the best deal.  I follow several DVC Rental websites and there were some great discounts on renting points.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find  a combination of correct time of year, length of stay and preferred resort with the discounted price.  I then looked at Marriott properties.  There were some good prices, but these hotels are all off Disney property and we would be on our own for transportation.  Then I looked at the Swan and Dolphin.  There were some attractive prices and we love the location, but we weren't sure about airport transfers.  They are not part of the Magical Express so we would have had to figure out transfers with car seats, which brought us back to Disney resorts.  I decided to look at booking direct through Disney.  There were some decent prices through Disney, but then I remembered I got an email from our Disney Visa card that said there was a special discount for Disney Visa cardholders.  We found the link to the Disney Visa card discounts and they were really good.  We found a couple options that we liked that were cheaper than renting DVC points.  We ended up booking the Contemporary Resort.  It is in the garden wing, but the discount was under $300 per night.  That is a great rate for the Contemporary and this was one of my favorite hotels when I was a kid.  When I found this rate, it made it very hard for us not to go.  We went back and forth for several days finally deciding to do it.  

Food:
Dining was going to be very different.  Historically we have eaten at a lot of sit down meals at Disney World.  Not only were they not all open, but we had avoided eating in a restaurant for almost a year.  Our plan is to eat at mostly mobile order quick service restaurants.  This will help cut costs as well.  This really doesn't bother us too much because we have been used to carry-out since the pandemic started.

Entertainment:

We opted for a 6 day single park ticket.  Disney did restart park hopping, but it is different allowing guests to hop to a different park after 2:00pm.  With park hours shortened, this did not interest us.  In 6 days, I decided on this schedule:

Day 1 - Flight and EPCOT

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

Day 3 - Hollywood Studios

Day 4 - Animal Kingdom

Day 5 - Hollywood Studios

Day 6 - Magic Kingdom

Day 7 - Disney Springs and Fly Home

I wanted to have 2 days in Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.  The Studios has the most new attractions and you can't just have 1 day at the Magic Kingdom.  EPCOT is mostly under construction so I don't think we need a full day.  Animal Kingdom does have Pandora, which I would like to see, but not a lot else since most shows around the 4 parks are closed.

Final Thoughts:

We booked the trip the night before we went to my parents' house for dinner for my dad and brother's birthday.  I mentioned to them that we booked a trip to Disney World and they all wanted to go.  Within the next couple days, they all booked and the trip became a full Holk family vacation.

The weekend after we booked, we all got together for dinner. None of the kids knew about the trip, so we surprised the kids all together.  It was the best surprise.  The kids went nuts.  My oldest niece did not believe us.  They got so emotional that they couldn't control themselves.  My nephew son shutdown for a while and then ended up crying because he was so excited.  It was great to see their reaction and excitement.  

We are so excited to see Grady on this trip.  He has grown up a lot since our last trip and is much more animated and emotional now.  Ellie has become an old pro at Disney vacations.  She does not remember going to Disney World when she was 14 months old so she is extremely excited to see Disney World compared to Disneyland. After we booked and surprised them, I started watching some ride videos with my kids and they are super excited.  The night before we left, my daughter was so excited that she couldn't sleep.