Whistle While You Work – 2 Weeks at Disney - A June 2022 Trip Report

[jrmint427]

Art of Animation, Part 3 & the Dolphin Pool​

The sketches on this building were cute.



My daughters are both really into making art, especially DD7 (who at time of posting this is now DD9!), so I think this will be a special place for them to stay.



We picked up my parents and got back on the Skyliner. It was helpful there was a public bathroom close to the Skyliner station.



We went back to our hotel room at the Dolphin. I think we rested for a little while before heading to the pool late afternoon/early evening.

The Dolphin pool was crowded but great. There was a rock overhang where we found seats underneath, so we were in the shade. There weren’t many seats left so we felt lucky to find these. You could also be in the pool under the overhang, in the shade, which is mostly where I hung out. The girls loved this pool and swam for a long time. This was our view from the seats:



There was a slide that DD5 said she wanted to go down, despite being very nervous. She walked to the top a couple of times and then back down, because she wasn’t sure she really wanted to do it, she was clearly conflicted. We told her she didn't have go to down it, but she kept saying she wanted to. I guess she had a couple of false starts at the top, and the lifeguard told her that if she went down the slides, she (the lifeguard) would get DD5 dip n’ dot ice cream! Well that motivated her, so DD5 went down the slide.

It took awhile because the lifeguard was still on duty, but when she got a break, sure enough she went and got dip n’ dots for DD5 (and how kind that she used her break for this gesture that just made DD5's day). This was such a sweet moment! We were proud of DD5 and she was proud of herself (and happy to have earned some ice cream).



Sadly, the hot tub was closed while we were there. Hot tubs are my favorite place to be, so this was disappointing, but it was also so hot this day it was probably good we skipped it.



We went back to our rooms to clean up and around 7:00pm we headed back downstairs to eat at The Fountain, a restaurant in the Dolphin.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

How sweet of that lifeguard!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Art of Animation is such a fun resort. It’s hard to believe you’ll be there enjoying it in just a few weeks!

How nice of the lifeguard to buy ice cream - and way-to-go, DD5!

 

[jrmint427]

The Fountain​

We had been eyeing the milkshakes at the Fountain as we passed back and forth the restaurant during the day, so we decided to get dinner there that night.

We started with an order of pretzel bites and cheese.



And, of course, we all ordered milkshakes.



The girls had mac n’ cheese and grilled cheese, which you might have noticed by now was almost all they ate for lunch and dinner on this trip! With just a few exceptions. However, we decided this was one of our least favorite mac n’ cheeses.




I ordered the Veggie Patty Melt, which was a Beyond patty with 1000 island dressing, American cheese, caramelized onion, avocado aioli, lettuce and tomatoes on sourdough bread. It sounded and tasted amazing.



I think my mom ordered the Grilled Chicken BLT.



I believe this was the Asian Salmon Salad, most likely what my dad ordered.



And I’m pretty sure Pat ordered the Brisket sandwich.



This was a nice send-off meal as our last meal of the trip! We decided to walk to the Boardwalk after dinner.

 

[jrmint427]

The Boardwalk​

It was a short walk to the Boardwalk from the Dolphin and much better weather with the sun going down. This was around 8:30pm.





Despite the fact that we just had milkshakes at dinner, everyone was in the mood for more ice cream. It was the last day of our trip, so why not? The Boardwalk Ice Cream was also nostalgic for Pat, and even though we had it earlier on the trip, he wanted the girls to try it. Also, how could we say no to these faces?



I was not hungry, so I shared this sundae with Pat.



The girls shared ice cream nicely from the stroller because we couldn’t get enough seats for our full party outside the shop.



At 9:30pm we saw a crowd forming for a street performance, so we went to check it out. It was the Boardwalk Bouncers (WeFlip Entertainment). They did tricks with jump ropes and while balancing on boards. They were so good! Pictures will not do justice for the talent of these guys, you need to google videos.



The show was so fun and was the kind of thing I hoped we might find when we came to the Boardwalk. The girls each got a picture with one of the performers after the show.




It was 10:00pm when we walked back to the hotel, exhausted and happy. The Dolphin, like much of Disney, is so beautiful at night!

 

[jrmint427]

Saturday, June 18, 2022​

The Boardwalk Bakery & Trip Home​

It’s always hard to leave a super fun vacation like this one was. We got up early to pack up our hotel room and my dad and I offered to walk over to the Boardwalk to pick up one last Disney breakfast. We made it over around 8:40am. The Boardwalk was fairly empty at that time.



We were picking up breakfast at the Boardwalk Bakery which we had scoped out the night before.



There were so many options, we got a few things to share.



My favorite:



We also got a muffin, a scone, and an egg sandwich to share.





We ate and finished packing. We were out the door and on the road at 10:50am, just 10 minutes before the check-out time at 11:00am.




See you real soon!

No one likes the trip home; it’s a much longer drive than the trip to Disney when you’re anticipating vacation! So, I’ll keep this part short. We drove to Mobile that night and ate dinner at the Mellow Mushroom. It was good, but it was not Disney food (or service).



We were glad to be stopping early for the day and rested in our room. I was starting to feel not so well on this drive. You probably know where this is going…

I woke up the next morning (Sunday) with a sore throat and feeling worse. We picked up fast food on the way and got home around 5:00pm. I tested for Covid that evening, and sure enough I had a positive test. It was probably inevitable with this being the first time since Covid began that we were in crowded spaces. We wore masks indoors except when eating, but I got it anyway. However, I was thankful that I was the only one in my family (including my parents) who tested positive after our trip. It’s funny how that works, especially since I had just spent 2 days in the van with my immediate family, and none of them caught it. I wondered if my immune system was lower than theirs after feeling some illness from the heat earlier in the trip. I was also really thankful that I didn’t get sick until our trip was over, so I did not have to miss anything fun like a park day.

Overall, we had a great and memorable trip. Thank you for following along! Stay tuned for our 2024 Disney adventures, coming real soon You can read about our upcoming Spring Break trip here.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

The Boardwalk is such a fun place - and double ice cream sounds like a good plan to me!

We wore masks indoors except when eating, but I got it anyway.

I meant to ask you about your mask usage before - thank you for the reminder!

Did you tend to wear your masks indoors most of the time or just when you were in crowds? Was there much mask usage or was it pretty few and far between? We’ll be bringing our masks along for the plane (I don’t think I’ll ever fly without them again!) but I was curious how much we’d want to wear them in Disney World. We have the disadvantage that our one-year-old can’t wear one, but perhaps in large indoor crowds three of us are better than none?

It’s a bummer you caught COVID but I’m glad the rest of your family stayed healthy! COVID is so bizarre.

 

[jrmint427]

Did you tend to wear your masks indoors most of the time or just when you were in crowds? Was there much mask usage or was it pretty few and far between?

We wore our mask indoors all the time - even on the dark rides where we were in our own cars. You’ll see we pulled down masks sometimes to take pictures, but that was brief. I was very nervous about germs on this trip and masked constantly indoors.

We didn’t mask when outside. I can’t say for sure it’s what got me sick but when we were waiting for the boat leaving MK at night, we were in a crowded line that switched back and forth, and someone turned and coughed right in my face. I was so freaked out I put my mask on immediately even though we were outside, but only that time, in the crowd. I was convinced the guy who coughed in my face was the reason I got Covid and my family didn’t.

Masks were fairly rare while we were there. I probably saw a few others with masks but we were definitely in the minority.

We’ll be bringing our masks along for the plane (I don’t think I’ll ever fly without them again!) but I was curious how much we’d want to wear them in Disney World.

Same! We’ll at least wear them at the airport and maybe on the plane (especially if anyone around us is coughing or sniffling). I’m still weary of crowded places at times. I don’t want to pick up anything - colds, flus, etc, right before our trip.

We’re bringing masks for comfort but probably won’t wear them as much this trip. I like to have one on hand in a crowd though, especially if someone is coughing or sneezing.