We know life can be hard, busy, and stressful. We travel to keep ourselves sane and healthy. Subscribe and follow along with us on our adventures as we try to spread hope joy and happiness in a difficult world. My obsessions are my family, cruising, Disney, adventures, and food…all the Food.
Let’s do a little overview of the Disney Skyliner.
If you would like to actually see some of the skyline routes and the hub check out the video I posted about it HERE
At the entrance to and inside each station you will see signs like these
that tell you where you can go, what the operating hours are and any special instructions. Currently those instructions deal with changes due to COVID0-19 .
We got on the Skyliner at the Disney Skyliner- EPCOT station which is located at the back entrance to EPCOT World Showcase. The entrance to EPCOT is very close to the station.
From the EPCOT station we travelled to the hub at Caribbean Beach Resort with a stop at the new Riviera Resort.
The gondolas themselves are quite roomy. Each Gondola can fit 10 People (6 people with a wheelchair/cart) Right now with COVID-19 there is only one party allowed per gondola. There is no air conditioning inside the gondolas, but there are vents located across the roof line and under the seats of each gondola so the air flow is quite good.
Some of the Gondolas are wrapped on the outside with characters from Disney and Pixar movies. You can see through the wraps from the inside of the Gondolas, but it is not as clear as the gondolas without the characters. From inside the Gondola there are some amazing views. We were able to catch a glimpse of the French Pavillion where the new ride Ratatouille that is being built.
Now, when it comes to the skyliner all roads lead to Caribbean Beach Resort. From the Hub there you can take the Disney Skyliner-Hollywood Studio line, Disney Skyliner-Pop Century Resort, Art of Animation Resort line, or the Disney Skyliner Riviera Resort, EPCOT line.
It is important to note that the Art of Animation resort was closed while we were there, but the line is still open for guests going to Pop Century Resort.
Naturally during the day, the queues are quite short, but during Park opening and closing the queue can get quite long. So plan ahead if you are planning to take a gondola to any of the available parks. It should also be mentioned that some of the parks that the gondolas go to are letting people in before the Gondolas start running. So if it is important to you to get to the park before it opens you may want to consider a different mode of transportation to get there.
COVID-19 has messed up a lot of things in our lives. Disney has made a lot of changes to help keep us safe and give us the ability to visit the parks during the pandemic.
One of the things that Disney has done to be able to still serve food at the parks is make all of the dining menus available online and on the app.
Let's talk about how you order quick service dining at Disney World during COVID-19.(check out the video here)
When you come to the restaurant there will be a sign outside. You will Scan the QR code on the sign.
This will take you to the menu on the app.
From there you can choose your items.
You will then be able to review your order details.
Once you have looked everything over you will click on the checkout button.
You will be asked to enter a gift card or credit card.
Then you will see a page that says come back during your arrival window.
It will then change to say preparing your order. When this comes up you may want to head to the restaurant.
Soon you will see a page that says your order is ready and tell you which window to pick up at.
Once there you will tell them or show them your order number.
We took a 10 day trip to Disney World and here is what we noticed.
The Parks are opening earlier than posted times. We entered all the parks earlier than posted on two separate occasions in each park.
All of the parks have shortened operating hours. That being said, I did not feel like I was spending less time in the parks or that I wasn't getting enough time at the parks. On a normal Disney visit we would get to the park right at opening. Early afternoon we would head back to the hotel and rest and take a nap. Then we would head back to the park in time for the parade. Right now we just get to the parks when it opens and stay until it closes. After that we head back to the hotel and eat dinner and swim and just relax in general.
Disney is being very cautious about COVID-19 and it made me feel safer.
A temperature check is required before entrance to every park. The temperature check stations are located before the security screening at all entrances to the parks. It is very non-invasive and very quick.
Security check at most of the parks is fast and easy. Right now they are asking that you take out any umbrellas and sometimes they ask for cell phones also. You can leave back packs on and just walk through a scanner. It was so much better than having people rummaging through my bag. The exception to this is Magic Kingdom. They ask you to take any metal out of your bags and then you walk through a metal detector. So not as great.
They have place markers in every queue.
There is also space between queues where possible.
Disney has placed sanitizer before each cue in each queue and after the ride at every attraction.
Masks are mandated everywhere. The only times you can take a mask off are at the relaxation stations and eating when stationary. There are also washing stations throughout the parks.
They have also opened the flap doors on all of the garbage cans so you don't have to touch the germs dirty lids to throw things away. Hopefully that will remain once COVID-19 is over.
All buildings have designated entrance and exit doors to keep people from getting too close to each other.
All over the parks right now there are signs posted reminding everyone about safety guidelines for COVID-19
and every 20 minutes or so PA announcements will come on over the speakers reminding everyone to keep their masks on and wash hands frequently as well as staying apart and covering mouth and nose while sneezing or coughing.
Buses have barriers and assigned seats. If you are staying at a resort then buses are one of the ways to get to and from the parks. Right now the buses are running earlier than the posted schedule. Disney has placed barriers between every 3 or four seats.
The bus drivers are assigning parties to seats for that specific trip and are only taking one cart/wheel chair type device per trip.
The Skyliner is not a good way to get to the parks right now if you want to be there when the gates open.
Ride wait times at all of the parks are shorter than posted. At every park we went to almost without exception ride times were quite a bit shorter than posted times. Test track in EPCOT was posted at 55 minutes and it took us 25 minutes to get through the queue. Frozen was posted 30 minutes and took us 16. It was consistently like this throughout all of the parks.
Interactive elements closed or altered. In all of the parks Disney has temporarily shut down or altered all interactive elements of rides and attractions. All of the interactive elements on the Seven Dwarves Mine Cart ride are turned off and roped off to remind people not to touch them. At test track you can't design your own car. At animal kingdom kids can still do wilderness explorers badges, but they pick up their own badges and some of the sites for them are moved or changed for safety. At Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom all of the shows are cancelled. In the theater where Beauty and the Beast is normally showing they have a band playing at certain times and on Rockin' Rollercoaster the studio scene is not playing for now. Pin Trading is happening, but there are some alterations.
Reservations being accepted for open restaurants, while others are only serving dinner like Be Our Guest in Magic Kingdom. If you don't do reservations or planned your trip last minute don't worry. Some quick service also open at every park and have moved to mobile ordering for now. You can see how that works on my YouTube Channel outdoorgirlreviews.
No Fast Passes are being distributed. At this time there are no fast pass lines in any of the parks. Fast pass tickets are not being distributed. This did make for a bit less before hand and in the parks as we did not have to worry about getting fast passes. One perk is that we also got to see parts of many of the ride lines that we have not seen in the past.
Being a pass holder has its perks, but right now the perks are just a little bit better. Right now at the parks and resorts pass holders are getting an extra 30% off. 2020 merchandise is buy one get one free and some packaged candy and sweets are also on sale.
Mini Parades called Cavalcades and seeing characters. Although parades and character meet and greets are cancelled right now there are still ways to get pictures with characters and enjoy the magic of the parades. At various locations around the parks there are places to see and take pictures with characters at a safe distance.
Parades are a no go right now, but you can see small cavalcades in each of the parks. In Animal Kingdom you can see the characters come by in boats while music plays over the speakers. In EPCOT and Hollywood studios the Characters ride in cars or on small floats. In Magic Kingdom right now you can see small portions of the halloween parade as well. You can see some of the cavalcades that we saw HERE.
Our trip to Disney World was still magical and fun and relaxing for all of us despite all of the changes because of COVID-19.
I've been a Vitamix customer since 2008. I have owned the vitamix 5200, the vitamix 6300 professional series and now I own the Venturist 1200. I have loved every version of the Vitamix that I have gotten...until now.
Things I love
I love the power and versatility of this machine. I love that I can throw in anything frozen or fresh and it blends everything smoothly. I love love love the tamper as it makes it possible to push ingredients into the blade for a smoother blend over all. I love that I can make ice cream, smoothies, or soup sauces, salsa, pizza sauce, and so much more in this blender. I can also blend my own flour and make my own almond milk or peanut butter. It does a ton of things and I don't think I can live without a powerful blender for very long. I also love how easy it is to use and the fact that I can control it myself or use the presets.
Things I don't love
I also dislike that I have to use the app to get the presets to work. I don't want to have to pull out my phone and connect the app to the blender then go in and find the preset I want lost deep in the app somewhere. It's not quick or convenient enough. The 6300 had the presets right on the blender and they worked nicely.
I absolutely hate the new containers. The 64 OZ low profile container is terrible. Everything I make is either watery or chunky. I can't get the perfect blend even with the tamper unless I make a full jar(which I never do unless I have company).
I also have the personal size container and the sauce container both of which would be great if I could use the tamper with them, but I can't so they also make everything chunky. Vitamix does have a 48 OZ container that the claim would work better but it costs an extra 100.00 or more to get it. I already spent 500.00 on the blender and the parts it came with. I'm not forking out another 100.00 to get a container that works.
Customer service is not my favorite either. I emailed them to see if there was anything I could do to get a better blend. They wrote back but they treated me pretty poorly and didn't solve my problem. I'm definitely going back to my 5200 or better yet maybe I will try Blentec instead.
This hooded down coat is awesome. It's very warm at 800 fill power goose down. It has a nice feminine cut and it's not bulky. The zippered pockets are nice. The material on the inside closest to the body is thin so my hands stay warm close to my body heat on the bottom side and warm next to the down fill on the top side. Plus it only weighs 10 OZ and it packs into a pocket.
Things I don't love
This Jacket is not water proof. That is always a down for me.
So I've been testing out this oil less fryer that I got for Christmas.
An oil less fryer is supposed to let you enjoy the same type of foods (with the same deep fried taste) that you would in a deep fryer with less to no oil. So, it's supposed to be healthier that way. It's pretty awesome, but there is a huge learning curve when it comes to cooking in this thing. I've tried chicken wings, frozen Talapia several different ways, chicken breast, fish sticks, frozen sweet potato fries, and fresh cut fries in it so far.
The sweet potato fries turned out great following the suggested cooking time. The wings also turned out well. I had to flip them over half way through the cooking time. The fish with no breading turned out great. the fish with breading was cooked nicely, but the breading didn't turn out like it does in a deep fryer. It was more dry. It still tasted good though. I also tried battered fish and the batter turned out leathery. So I don't think I will be battering anything is it again.
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The fresh cut fries were difficult. I tried several batches and searched Pinterest for several hours two days in a row before I found a solution that turned out good tasting, with the right texture, and crispy. First I just cut up some potatoes and tossed them in the fryer with the low rack in and the basket. Turns out all you really need to do is toss the fries in a tiny bit of oil before cooking them. Then they turn out awesome. this picture looks like there is oil on the fries but there is not. I added a few spices and some salt in to the the bag before tossing in olive oil. You could likely just spritz them with oil and get the same result.
The Thing I really don't like about this fryer is that it is massive and you can't cook large amounts in it. So it takes up tons of real estate on the counter top for not much yield. This is the reason I gave the Big Boss Oil less Fryer one thumb up.
Ladies(and other friends), this is the coolest backpacking pack I've ever seen. And at $279.95 it's not a bad deal either. It's super versatile and FULLY ADJUSTABLE. This baby doesn't just tighten at the waist and chest, you can actually adjust the straps up and down also 12cm/4.75in of torso and 10cm/4in of hipbelt.
I'm in L-O-V-E! The StormGuard system combines a partial rain cover with a waterproof bottom liner to create a fully weather proof bag so ALL of your stuff stays dry.
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There is a dry bag that can hook onto the waist strap for electronics etc.and , get this, the top of the pack is a removable sling pack so you can still carry essentials after you hit base camp without having to take your whole life with you on a summit or other hike.
Finally a back pack with water bottle pockets that are big enough! I can't tell you how annoying it is to have to find other places to store my water because the side pockets on my pack aren't big enough for it.
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The backpack doesn't feel big, but it fits tons of stuff. The women's version comes in 70 L, 60L, and 50L. There are tons of storage spaces in this pack. Apart from the dry sack on the waist strap there is another sipper pocket for other storage. There are other compartments and zipper pockets in the front and on top for easy access.
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This pack is versatile and light and very comfortable. It also has Thule’s limited lifetime warranty. A major plus for any product.
Here are the specs:
Color Bing Gender Female Usage Extended Trip Material 420D Cordura/100D Nylon Volume (cu) 4270 cu in Height (in) 26.8 in Width (in) 16.9 in Depth (in) 13.4 in Weight (lb) 3.96 lb SKU No 211103
An oil less fryer is supposed to let you enjoy the same type of foods (with the same deep fried taste) that you would in a deep fryer with less to no oil. So, it's supposed to be healthier that way. It's pretty awesome, but there is a huge learning curve when it comes to cooking in this thing. I've tried chicken wings, frozen Talapia several different ways, chicken breast, fish sticks, frozen sweet potato fries, and fresh cut fries in it so far.
