Hubby and I are taking our son and his wife and our other son and his male friend to Disney World in June. Some firsts for us in that we usually fly rather than drive, we have never had a car at Disney, we have never been there in June, and we are staying at All Stars Music. We have stayed at Art of Animation before but usually do moderate resorts or higher and our last All Stars stay was in Sports five years ago. Youngest person is 22, oldest is 58.
We have rented a seven-passenger van for the drive, which will be 12 hours for us. I wanted to break it up over two days, but everyone else wants to do a one and done and get to Disney as soon as possible. We are split up between two rooms and I have requested Broadway but don't really have any strong preferences one way or another. Hubby and I are of the mindset that the kids are all adults, so I don't try to plan out every second of every day but usually make at least one table service ressie a day that everyone shows up to with a few exceptions (see Sunday).
The plan:
Thursday, June 8th - the marathon drive. All of us can drive so if we split it up no one should have to drive more than a couple-three hours. In theory we would be at Disney for a late dinner. Trying to decide if we:
a. go to Disney Springs so we can walk off the car ride and there are plenty of options of things to eat;
b. go to Hoop De Doo Revue or Sebastian's to start our trip off with a bang;
c. Eat quick service at the hotel or order pizza because we are all tired and just want to crash.
Thoughts? Last year we did Yeehaw Bob for our first night shenanigans. We were all tired but it was such a fun way to get into vacation mode.
Friday, June 9th - Magic Kingdom Day
Since we are staying on property we can get in early. Silly me thought it was only 30 minutes early, but the wonderful forums have taught me that we can actually get there 60-90 minutes in advance. We usually rely on Disney transport. Plan is to head for 7 dwarves mine train and after that it is up to the individuals. Hubby and one son not a big coaster fan but the rest of us ride any and everything. Still, I will probably stick to what I call the slow show rides like Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean and visit some old favorites like the Tiki Room.
Because we are going in June, general consensus was to go to the parks early in the mornings, head back towards the resorts for lunch somewhere and possibly a nap/swim, then venture back to the parks in the evenings. If we eat in MK for lunch, hubby and I will probably do Columbia House or Pecos Bill's. However, we have never been to Geyser Point and also thought about taking the friendship boat over to Wilderness Lodge for lunch. I usually tell the rest of the clan where we are going and they have the option to catch up with us or do whatever they choose.
The only really planned thing is we have a late dinner reservation for all of us at Cindy's - will be mine and hubby's second time eating inside the castle during the fireworks. On the one hand I hate missing the outside show, but on the other hand - we are eating inside of Cinderella's Castle!!!! We usually love walking around Grand Floridian and eating somewhere there but the Afternoon Tea has not re-opened, and I didn't try for Narcoosee's, etc. at night because of our castle meal. I did consider going for drinks in the Enchanted Rose before taking the monorail back to MK for the evening - what do you guys think? We have eaten at Be Our Guest but this would be a nice nod to Beauty and the Beast and again, something we have not done previously.
Saturday, June 10th, Hollywood Studios Day
Hubby and I did not go to DHS during our last trip in January 2022 and the kids only went half a day, so we have much to catch up on. I am torn between maximizing that early morning hour for Star Wars rides if possible and some Toy Story action or whether to have breakfast at Primo Piatto at Riviera and taking the skyliner to DHS afterwards. This is the only day I will for sure get Genie Plus. Again, plan to head back to the resort during the warmer afternoon hours. None of the lunch options in DHS look really appealing so may head to a different resort for lunch before back to our resort for pool and nap time. I'm thinking either Sanaa or Boma but am open to suggestions
Our evening plan is drinks at Oga's at 5:20 followed by the Fantasmic dining/show combo. Snagged a ressie for all of us so should be a good time. Hubby and I will probably call it a night after that since we have a full day planned at Epcot.
Sunday, June 11th - EPCOT DAY and garden festival time!!!!
OK, so today is the exception to the mandatory fun rule because the ressie pixie dust fairy smiled upon me.
We have a breakfast reservation at 0730 at O'Hana's for some Lilo and Stitch family time. We have never been to O'hana's before so pretty excited about this one.
Hubby has two ride goals in Epcot: Guardians, Soarin', and repeat as much as possible. Yes, I know I said he doesn't like roller coasters but he LUVS the GOG soundtrack and movies. We will see what happens. May do Genie Plus here just for his sake. We have done Remy's and while it was ok, none of us were in love with it.
We have lunch reservations at Biergarten in conjunction with Garden Rocks so we can get good seating for the Commodores concert at 5:30!. (Which is honestly how this trip started - hubby and I were going to Epcot to see the Commodores and the trip and the number of folks going just blossomed). I was then able to snag reservations for all of us for the Rose and Crown fireworks and dinner package.
My only regret with three sit down meals is I don't know how hungry we will be for all of the yummy festival food. With the meal reservation times at 7:30, 12, and 8 pm they are spread out though and it isn't like we won't be getting our exercise, lol.
This is also the one day we may not head back into the resort for the afternoon, although we will see how hot it is/how tired we are!
Monday, June 12th - on the road again - headed back home. May try to do one last Disney breakfast at a resort somewhere before we leave.
Whaddya think? Would love to hear your feedback!
We have rented a seven-passenger van for the drive, which will be 12 hours for us. I wanted to break it up over two days, but everyone else wants to do a one and done and get to Disney as soon as possible. We are split up between two rooms and I have requested Broadway but don't really have any strong preferences one way or another. Hubby and I are of the mindset that the kids are all adults, so I don't try to plan out every second of every day but usually make at least one table service ressie a day that everyone shows up to with a few exceptions (see Sunday).
The plan:
Thursday, June 8th - the marathon drive. All of us can drive so if we split it up no one should have to drive more than a couple-three hours. In theory we would be at Disney for a late dinner. Trying to decide if we:
a. go to Disney Springs so we can walk off the car ride and there are plenty of options of things to eat;
b. go to Hoop De Doo Revue or Sebastian's to start our trip off with a bang;
c. Eat quick service at the hotel or order pizza because we are all tired and just want to crash.
Thoughts? Last year we did Yeehaw Bob for our first night shenanigans. We were all tired but it was such a fun way to get into vacation mode.
Friday, June 9th - Magic Kingdom Day
Since we are staying on property we can get in early. Silly me thought it was only 30 minutes early, but the wonderful forums have taught me that we can actually get there 60-90 minutes in advance. We usually rely on Disney transport. Plan is to head for 7 dwarves mine train and after that it is up to the individuals. Hubby and one son not a big coaster fan but the rest of us ride any and everything. Still, I will probably stick to what I call the slow show rides like Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean and visit some old favorites like the Tiki Room.
Because we are going in June, general consensus was to go to the parks early in the mornings, head back towards the resorts for lunch somewhere and possibly a nap/swim, then venture back to the parks in the evenings. If we eat in MK for lunch, hubby and I will probably do Columbia House or Pecos Bill's. However, we have never been to Geyser Point and also thought about taking the friendship boat over to Wilderness Lodge for lunch. I usually tell the rest of the clan where we are going and they have the option to catch up with us or do whatever they choose.
The only really planned thing is we have a late dinner reservation for all of us at Cindy's - will be mine and hubby's second time eating inside the castle during the fireworks. On the one hand I hate missing the outside show, but on the other hand - we are eating inside of Cinderella's Castle!!!! We usually love walking around Grand Floridian and eating somewhere there but the Afternoon Tea has not re-opened, and I didn't try for Narcoosee's, etc. at night because of our castle meal. I did consider going for drinks in the Enchanted Rose before taking the monorail back to MK for the evening - what do you guys think? We have eaten at Be Our Guest but this would be a nice nod to Beauty and the Beast and again, something we have not done previously.
Saturday, June 10th, Hollywood Studios Day
Hubby and I did not go to DHS during our last trip in January 2022 and the kids only went half a day, so we have much to catch up on. I am torn between maximizing that early morning hour for Star Wars rides if possible and some Toy Story action or whether to have breakfast at Primo Piatto at Riviera and taking the skyliner to DHS afterwards. This is the only day I will for sure get Genie Plus. Again, plan to head back to the resort during the warmer afternoon hours. None of the lunch options in DHS look really appealing so may head to a different resort for lunch before back to our resort for pool and nap time. I'm thinking either Sanaa or Boma but am open to suggestions
Our evening plan is drinks at Oga's at 5:20 followed by the Fantasmic dining/show combo. Snagged a ressie for all of us so should be a good time. Hubby and I will probably call it a night after that since we have a full day planned at Epcot.
Sunday, June 11th - EPCOT DAY and garden festival time!!!!
OK, so today is the exception to the mandatory fun rule because the ressie pixie dust fairy smiled upon me.
We have a breakfast reservation at 0730 at O'Hana's for some Lilo and Stitch family time. We have never been to O'hana's before so pretty excited about this one.
Hubby has two ride goals in Epcot: Guardians, Soarin', and repeat as much as possible. Yes, I know I said he doesn't like roller coasters but he LUVS the GOG soundtrack and movies. We will see what happens. May do Genie Plus here just for his sake. We have done Remy's and while it was ok, none of us were in love with it.
We have lunch reservations at Biergarten in conjunction with Garden Rocks so we can get good seating for the Commodores concert at 5:30!. (Which is honestly how this trip started - hubby and I were going to Epcot to see the Commodores and the trip and the number of folks going just blossomed). I was then able to snag reservations for all of us for the Rose and Crown fireworks and dinner package.
My only regret with three sit down meals is I don't know how hungry we will be for all of the yummy festival food. With the meal reservation times at 7:30, 12, and 8 pm they are spread out though and it isn't like we won't be getting our exercise, lol.
This is also the one day we may not head back into the resort for the afternoon, although we will see how hot it is/how tired we are!
Monday, June 12th - on the road again - headed back home. May try to do one last Disney breakfast at a resort somewhere before we leave.
Whaddya think? Would love to hear your feedback!
