Sunday, March 6 “Look how shimmery it is! So pretty!”
We woke up around 2am to get ready to head to the airport around 4:30am for a 6:15am flight. Flying with Southwest, especially into Orlando, I cannot stress enough the importance of Early Bird Check in. We luckily landed in Group A #36 and #37. On a completely full flight loading before Family boarding is a must if you want to be able to sit with your party.
Check in was fairly busy at the Southwest counter for so early on a Sunday morning but we didn’t have to wait once we got everything we needed from the kiosk. Security was only open in one terminal and the line looked long but was moving quickly. We waited from start to finish, maybe 10 minutes.
Our flight to Orlando was fine and we landed about 10 minutes prior to our schedule landing. We made our way to baggage claim in about 10 minutes and they were already sending out the bags from our flight. Picked up bags up and then made the trek back upstairs and through the airport to Terminal B for Mears Connect. Check in at Mears Connect was a breeze. I scanned the QR code they had sent me, confirmed the information and was put in a line and then right onto a bus in about 5 minutes. We waited about another 5 minutes before a few more people joined us and then we were on our way. I don’t know exactly what resorts the bus was going to after stopping off at Old Key West because Old Key West ended up begin the first stop. This was great! From wheels on the ground to feet on the ground at OKW it maybe took an hour, hour and fifteen minutes from start to finish. We had told the resort we would be checking in around 10am, when we arrived, we had not received word our room was ready so we dropped our bags with Bell Service and caught the first boat out of OKW at 10am for Disney Springs. While on the 20-minute boat ride, I got a text that our room was ready! Once we arrived at Disney Springs, we made our way over to Gideon’s to see if we could get in line. The line was already full and they had the virtual queue open with an approximate return time of 45 minutes to an hour. We decided we didn’t want to stick around Disney Springs that long so we did some window shopping before hopping in line for Chicken Guy shortly before their 11am opening. We were lucky enough to snag a seat inside. The weather was very sunny making it for an above average day in Central Florida. We were hoping for slightly cooler weather going this early in March but mother nature had other ideas.
Sarah and I both got the 3-chicken tender meal with fries and a drink and we split an order of fried pickles. The Donkey Sauce is just as good as I remember and I really thought about bringing the TSA approved liquid bottles with me to fill up with sauce to take home! Following our lunch, we did some shopping at World of Disney and then made our way to the bus to take it back to OKW since we were on that side of Disney Springs.
Our plan was to do some resort hopping after our Disney Springs trip but with the sun shining high in the sky and begin exhausted from our 2am wake up call we decided to just take a chill day at the resort before dinner at Olivia’s. We arrived at the Hospitality House and Bell Service assisted us with our luggage and took us in a golf cart to our room. We were located in Building 19, Miller’s Road section, in room 1910. I was very pleased with the location of this room. We had requested 1st floor and near a bus stop and that is exactly what we got! If you have trouble getting up and down stairs (especially after a hard day at the parks) I would recommend marking 1st floor as your primary room request and they will try their best to accommodate you. The bus stop was maybe a 2- or 3-minute walk from the room and there was a pool right around the corner. The Hospitality House was also about a 10–13-minute walk from this location.
Once we checked in with family that we had made it and settled in we decided to give the pool whirl. I have never had time to go swimming while at Disney and this felt like a good time to give it a try. The pool was quite busy for 2pm in the afternoon, mostly adults just chilling. We stayed for about an hour before we headed back for a quick nap.
(this is the view from the patio and view of the patio from the bus stop)
We took a bus to Hospitality to explore the main area of the resort, look through the gift shop (still never found an OKW pin!) and check in for our Olivia’s reservation. We went ahead and purchased some refillable mugs for our stay and filled those up and sipped on them while we killed some time relaxing watching the sun set.
Our reservation was at 6:20pm and the restaurant wasn’t that busy. There were still many tables open inside and out. Our waitress was very nice and since we knew what we already wanted ordering was a breeze. We got some ice water and rolls before they brought out of main food items. The butter they had for the rolls had a bit of kick to it. Not sure what it was but it danced a little on the tongue. We both ordered the 50th EARidescent Sip-a-bration drink and the Southernmost Buttermilk Chicken with mashed potatoes, southern gravy (on the side), a biscuit, and green beans. The food was delicious just as we had heard! The specialty drink for the 50th was very strong with lemon and so shimmery! It was beautiful and fun! I definitely recommend giving this place a try if you are staying at or visiting the OKW area! The food was very filling and I didn’t have enough room to try the banana bread pudding sundae as I had planned.
We decided to walk back to our room since the sun was down the weather was actually very pleasant. It was quick and easy and faster then waiting on a bus! We decided to call it a night since we would be waking up extra early to get to Epcot the next morning!
