It'll Be Alright: Disney World February 2021

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.