It’s eviction day… I woke up about 5:30 as we were gliding into port, so I watched the docking process. It’s always amazing to me how fast things go from peacefully gliding through the water to total controlled chaos on the dock.
Eventually I got dressed and did a tour around the top deck, taking in the sights of early morning in port. The Fantasy was also in port with us today, so in addition to seeing things like sunrise and giant ships, I got to see the Fantasy from the Wish. I also discovered that they’re not just being cute when they call it the Mickey horn on the Wish.
Eventually I headed back to the room for the last time, where Nick and I finished getting ready. We headed down to the Marvel dining room promptly at 8 with the hope of being towards the start of the breakfast line for 8:15 breakfast. While I’d been waiting for Aladdin the night before, I’d gotten a text from our car service driver for this morning saying pickup was at 9, despite the fact that I had booked pickup for 9:30. So we were going to need to eat quickly.
Unfortunately the breakfast before us took their time. People were still pouring out at 8:15. From the sounds of it, a LOT of people showed up late for first breakfast today. Not cool, folks. The servers, however, were really trying. Marvel is split into two dining rooms, essentially, so they split folks into lines going to the right place, and starting handing out wipes before letting us in, to expedite our entry into the dining room.
Once inside, Nick and I were able to order pretty quickly. Courtney and Chris were taking Disney transportation to Disney World, so they were skipping breakfast. I had the egg for the road. Not sure what Nick got. Our food emerged quickly and we scarfed it. We then said goodbye to our server Donovan, and headed for the exit.
The line was LONG to disembark, but moved constantly, despite stretching basically the length of the ship. Once off the ship, we were able to keep moving because we didn’t need an elevator, and so we had pretty quickly collected our luggage (which was actually located together for a change!), and then passport control was shockingly fast and easy with the facial recognition scanners. We then emerged outside, where I called our driver and he found us a few minutes later, in a mega van, something much bigger than the Ford Explorer I had reserved.
It was an uneventful ride to Disney, where our driver dropped us off at the Dolphin. We headed inside where we started the check in process and stored our luggage. Then we took a leisurely walk to the Boardwalk to catch a bus. It was a beautiful day!
At the Boardwalk, we walked straight to the bus stop and had almost no wait for a Disney Springs bus. It was an uneventful ride, and pretty soon we were cruising through security. Nick had left last year’s problematic sunglasses case at home!
Disney Springs was hopping! We did some store browsing, had lunch at Polite Pig (bbq meatballs for me, brisket, fries and sweet potato tots for Nick) and got ice cream from Salt and Straw.
About the same time that we were ready for a break from the heat and the crowds, I got a text that our room was ready, so we hopped on a bus to the Yacht Club and then made the walk back to the Dolphin, where we returned to the front desk. We were pretty quickly handed keys and then we picked up our luggage and headed to our room 2022.
Once in our room, I took pictures and we settled in. We had an excellent view! The room was very clean, and in generally good condition, but the bathroom in particular was showing some wear and tear. Nothing terrible though, especially since, thanks to rewards points, we were staying here this weekend for just the cost of the resort fee.
After some solid time in air conditioning, I took a walk to explore the resort. Although I didn’t use it, really just because of poor storm timing, I was very impressed by the Swolphin pool area.
Eventually we were ready for dinner, so we walked over to International Gateway and hopped on the skyliner to the Riviera. Here we headed for Primo Piatto. Nick got the citrus glazed chicken tenders and I had the grilled chicken sandwich. The sandwich was fantastic. The citrus glaze on his chicken tenders was amazing. But they had used some of the lesser quality tenders, so they were a bit…tendony. Overall though, this dinner was a win.
Dinner eaten, we got back on the skyliner for a SLOW ride to Epcot. I don’t know what it is, but any time Nick and I are on the skyliner together, it’s barely moving. We had some picture taking opportunities though, and made it back to Epcot eventually. We then walked the long way back to the Dolphin, via the Boardwalk, because why not?
Back at the Dolphin, we stopped at the Fountain for milkshakes to go. Nick got a key lime pie milkshake that came with a whole slice of key lime pie. I got a peanut butter oreo milkshake. Both were amazing. We took those back to the room to enjoy.
Back at the room, we enjoyed the views, showered, and prepped for tomorrow’s day in Epcot before crashing after watching the high fireworks from Fantasmic. We both were thoroughly enjoying the view from this room.
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