4 Generations=1 Crazy Week...and all the matching shirts

[mickey520]

Ok, so I've never done a trip report like this, and hadn't really been planning on it...but I've been home for two days and can't stop refreshing the Dis site so I figured I could write some things down.

I guess I'll start with our cast of characters for this trip.



I'm on the right - the planner and narrator of this journey. A work conference brought about our first WDW trip three years ago and the same conference brought us back this year. DS7 loves thrills but gets a bit nervous in lines. DD4 is a daredevil and will ride anything. DW is less adventurous these days but is definitely a rope-drop to fireworks person! Also joining us on this trip were my parents, my brother, and the birthday girl, my 93 year old grandmother.

Our trip was January 25 through February 2 and we stayed at the Yacht Club.

Great Grandma had always dreamed of visiting Epcot, so this was a bucket list trip for her. It was also the first time for my dad and brother.

Day One

We all got into MCO around 3pm, hopped on the ME to YC, and ambitiously ventured to DHS that evening. At the gate we had our first epic meltdown of the trip. DS had somehow lost his prized Captain America magic band somewhere between YC and DHS. The CM were wonderful and got him set up with a card and we were on our way, but DS was pretty upset. Spoiler: miraculously, we would get a message later on the trip that someone turned the band in to guest services at DHS and we were able to get it back!

We rode TSM, met some characters and got great grandma on Millennium Falcon! Capped it off by riding the skyliner back to Epcot, almost timed it perfectly to see the fireworks on the ride, but ended up "landing" in epcot as the first ones shot off.



Still to come: more matching shirts, 4 parks in one day, reaching ninja status in fastpass refreshing, ROTR (X3), and more!!!

 

[heaven2dc]

What a fun family trip! So glad some kind person turned in your son's lost Magic Band I love that Great-grandma rode Millennium Falcon - that is awesome!!

 

[rkstocke5609]

I can’t wait to hear if Great Grandma makes 4 parks in one day! I’ve been on many trips but never felt the urge to do that!

 

[Ensusieasm]

Can’t wait to hear about all your fun.

 

[Isabelle12345]

joining in! Sounds like a fun trip!

 

[mickey520]

Day Two: Epic Magic Kingdom Day

Ok, so day two was spent, open to close, at Magic Kingdom. We didn't get as early of a start as I wanted, but we got there a couple minutes after 9am. First up was the iconic castle photos.






Then it was on our way to our first FP on Buzz Lightyear. We followed that up with a couple rides on Space Mountain (we took advantage of rider-swap a ton on this trip between DD4 being under 44" and GG93 being, well, 93).

We had been to WDW over this same week three years ago, and as everyone else says...it's way busier these days! We were armed with some good fastpasses and spent a fair amount of time refreshing our app, and we were still able to accomplish everything we wanted to with relatively short waits. On this day, I think we may have waited in one or two standby lines.

One of the unexpected highlights was GG riding the carousel. She was an avid horseback rider until her horse spooked and bucked her off probably 20 years ago, she had some pretty serious injuries and has greatly missed riding ever since. She had a bigger grin on her face than most of the toddlers around her on this ride!



Our MK day ended with grabbing a great, last-minute spot for the fireworks at Casey's. The high-top tables closest to Crystal Palace made for great firework viewing without having to wait, or be crammed in with thousands of our closest friends. We mobile ordered some dinner on our walk from Pirates, grabbed the food and walked to our table as the first projections appeared!

Earlier in the afternoon we got the notification that someone turned in my DS's missing magic band at DHS. So after the fireworks, me, DW and my brother took a bus to DHS, while the rest of the crew went back to the hotel. DW grabbed the magic band while me and my brother hopped on TOT, then we all three rode RNRC twice before closing.



Next up is AK, also known as the day that got away from us!

 

[KsGiGi]

Sounds like a fun trip! Happy birthday to your Grandmother. I know y'all made memories you will always cherish.

 

[mickey520]

Day Three: The Day that Got Away

So I had done a TON of planning prior to this trip. Touring Plans. Stalking this site more than is probably socially acceptable. Podcasts. So MANY podcasts! I felt really prepared. This was the day that went least to plan.

Our crew talked a big game about waking up early and rope dropping Flight of Passage. (Our crew=Me). Slept through my alarm. Slept through my brothers texts asking if I was up. And DS, brother and I ended up leaving for the park at 8 (this was an 8am EMH day). We got to the park and rode Dinosaur and the Safari. Then we walked through the Gorilla Falls Trail.

The rest of the crew met up with us at around 10:30am for FP on Navi and the Safari.



The highlight of the day was a spectacular late lunch at Tusker House. The food was great, but the experience was absolutely MADE by our wonderful waiter Neil. He took extra great care of the birthday girl. And made the kids' day when he brought us to-go cups at the end of our meal and told the kiddos to go fill them with desserts for the rest of the day.



Next came one of the funniest "parents can relate" stories of the trip. We had a morning FP for Everest, but the ride was down, so we used our anytime FP after lunch. DS7 gets pretty nervous in lines for thrill rides, but as soon as he gets on he loves it and wants to go over and over. However, when we were in line for Everest he was especially squirmy. We get to the front and get assigned our rows. He was going to ride with my mom. Just as we're going to get on he runs over and says he can't do it. I step back and kneel down to reassure him that it's fine to not go. I said "It's okay to be scared, you don't have to do it" and he very confidently looks back at me and says "I'm not scared dad. I just have to poop". I start cracking up. The CM laughs and points us to the closest bathroom and tells us to come back to the gate when he's done and she'll get us on. (I'm sure he's glad this story will live on forever on the internet!)

Now, this is about the time I realized the day's plans had gone off the rails. Our initial plans had us leaving AK at around 4pm with options for pool time or park hopping. However, it was 3pm and we were getting on the train out to Planet Watch. Now, I didn't have visiting a petting zoo high on my WDW to-do list, but we actually had a ton of fun. The whole crew did the animation experience with some pretty good results. DS7 loved it and took a photo with the instructor after the session - and we ended up leaving with the instructor's drawing as a memento.



With any hope of park hopping gone, we decided to check one more thing off the list and go watch the Festival of the Lion King. This was a highlight of our trip 3 years ago and it did not disappoint!

After the show we made our way back to the hotel and had cake for GG's birthday!

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[mickey520]

Day Four: Rise of the Resistance!!

Day four was our first ROTR day. Shockingly, everyone minus grandma and great grandma) were out the door at 5:55. We ended up walking from YC to DHS and made it to bag check by 6:15. Huge credit to these boards for the "stay right" mantra. Our group split up since my brother and dad didn't have bags. Due to some poor communication, they didn't get the stay right memo and we got split up. Even after going through bag check with a 7 year old, 4 year old and a stroller, we got into the park a solid 5 minutes before the others. We went straight for the line for SDD.



We weren't too far back. But boy were we stressed. I had spent months reading these boards and since day one I've been following the ROTR boards in preparation for this very moment! At exactly 7:00, the four adults in the group were refreshing as quickly as we could. My wife was the first one through and we got boarding group 43! We were pretty happy with that and it made for a nice morning.

We hit SDD, met the yin and yang of outerspace...Darth Vader and Buzz Lightyear. Then we went back to hang out in Batuu for a bit until our BG was called. DD4 was playing on the cases near the cast doors when she took a pretty good tumble. She screamed pretty loud and was inconsolable for about 45 seconds. This created a little Disney magic when Vi, Finn and Chewbacca came over to make sure she was okay. Not only did this immediately fix her injury, but Chewy is also her new best friend!



Our boarding group was called at around 10:15am, and no spoilers here, but the ride was amazing! Our group ran the spectrum of people who visit Disney - I'm probably the biggest Star Wars fan of the bunch. My dad has probably seen one of the original trilogy movies, my 4 year old couldn't name a Star Wars character before this trip. And all of us were amazed by the experience. It may seem strange, but the whole high-pressure experience of joining a boarding group, and the conversations it ignited with other park-goers around us, was also kinda fun!



We wrapped up our day at DHS around 3pm, took the boat back to YC and had a fun lunch at Beaches and Cream. Lunch ended with another birthday celebration Kitchen Sink style!



We did a quick wardrobe change (remember...ALL the matching shirts) and spent the evening at Epcot. We took a ride on spaceship earth, spent way too long at the Seas, and took a walk through a post-fireworks and nearly empty World Showcase.

 

[mickey520]

Day Five: "Rest Day"

Alright, our family doesn't DO rest days. But this one was a little more laid back than the rest. I had a work event all day Wednesday and half of Thursday, so the rest of the crew took a little bit of down time. I had to be out the door by 8, my event was right on property at the YC. The kiddos and DW went on a Disney Transportation Adventure over to the GF for the Mad Hatter Tea Party...DW underestimated the amount of time it would take her to get there so they ended up in a Lyft after realizing they weren't going to make it using Disney transport. The kids loved it. My son wasn't sure how he was going to feel about it but they had a blast. They painted these really cute tea sets and had some fun character interactions.



My conference hit the jackpot on snacks - pretzels, mickey bars and snickers. Overall, not too bad of a day!

Since I was out most of the day, and DD had to wear her Anna dress, the matching shirt crew was a little bit smaller.



I met up with the rest of the family in Epcot for a ride on Soarin' and a quick meet & greet with Anna and Elsa.



Then DW and I headed a dinner in the America Pavilion and a private viewing of the fireworks in Italy with my conference and the rest of the crew went to Mexico for dinner and fireworks viewing. It was raining a little bit which was a bummer because instead of the dessert party being out in Italy, the desserts were inside. But, we still got to enjoy Epcot Forever. The show wasn't as bad as many have been saying. I think it was enjoyable but not a "Spectacular".

For a "rest day" we sure packed a lot in.

 

[rdkeim]

Enjoying reading about your family trip! Seems like you're getting a lot done for a group of 8. Hope I'm still able to go to Disney at 93! My DH are going late March and I'm sure hoping to get to ride ROTR. Wondering when it will switch to a FP?

 

[mickey520]

Enjoying reading about your family trip! Seems like you're getting a lot done for a group of 8. Hope I'm still able to go to Disney at 93! My DH are going late March and I'm sure hoping to get to ride ROTR. Wondering when it will switch to a FP?

Thanks for following along!

I was quite impressed with GG's ability to keep up! Although, even at home she keeps a busier social calendar than I do!

I'd say late March will for sure still be BG for ROTR - it's well worth it, though we were lucky to still have the 7am openings. I've been keeping up with the craziness that's been happening with these 8am openings. Best of luck on your trip!

I think they'll stick with BG until after the summer. But in my opinion they need to change something, whether it's the opening time or something else about the process - at least get back to a point where backup BGs are still available around an hour after opening. That seems much more reasonable to me!

 

[mickey520]

Day Six: Running from Morning to Night

The trio of runners in the group started the morning with the Regatta Run - highly recommend these resort runs if you're a runner! It was $15 and each runner got a cool pin, and some other little swag. The Regatta run is about a mile and a half around the lake. It was raining lightly and there were only about 10 people that participated, but DS7 had a great time!



I had a half day at my conference so the rest of the crew slept and swam for the rest of the morning.

We met for a late lunch at T-Rex in Disney Springs, then had our only truly frustrating transportation experience when we waited an hour for a bus from Saratoga Springs to Animal Kingdom. We missed our Everest fastpass which was okay since we had ridden it earlier in the week. But we were getting a little stressed about getting there in time for our FOP. We did make it. But once we got to the line we ran into another one of the few frustrating experiences. The FP line for FOP was a disaster! There was a huge line of people waiting to scan, but they were too early, we finally went around them only to find out that the rider swap line was yet another line blocking the entire walkway. We moved to that line and finally made it through, scanned, and got on the ride. And it was well worth the hassle! DS7 and I rode it twice with our rider swap for DD4. I think it was DS7's favorite ride of the trip.

After FOP we made our way across the park for a ride on Dinosaur. GG93 decided to give it a go....she probably won't make that decision again! :-D But I do really love this photo!



When we were here back in 2017 they were testing Rivers of Light and I was bummed to have just missed it. I was excited to be able to see it on this trip so we made our way to the theater. I had read the reviews so my expectations were tempered but it was a decent show. Not at all a "must see" - in fact, we were talking to a friend last night who is planning her first trip and I told her this is one that can be skipped - but we enjoyed it.

After the show, we slowly made our way to the exits doing some pin trading along the way.

 

[sparkle78]

Would love to hear more about your trip. Seems like you did a good job of taking all the different ages into account with swim and sleeping in time

 

[mickey520]

Well, much like everyone else the last 8 months has been quite the ride. The last few weeks I've been really missing traveling and especially missing theme parks, so the next best thing is to get back to this WAY OUTDATED trip report. Anyway, here we go...

Day Seven: Magic Kingdom Character Meets and Snacks Around the World

This was a long day! About 50% of the group started the morning at MK, hit some rides and my favorite meet and greet of all - Belle at MK. It's such a cute little show!



We also were happy to find Snow White with no line for our matching shirts picture of the day!



We then snacked (and drank) our way around the world over in Epcot. Complete with having to tell GG that her snack in Japan wasn't sushi...because she HATES sushi. But she loved these rice wraps!



We basically closed down Epcot on EMH night with some fish and chips and the short stroll back to YC. It can't be over-stated how great it is to enjoy yummy food at Epcot and be back to your hotel room in minutes.

For those of you playing at home...DD had three wardrobe changes on this day. She had her Belle, Snow White, and Minnie dresses all in rotation today. These dresses were super cute, and so comfy for her to wear for long periods of time...plus they didn't break the bank. I don't think this is the place we ended up buying from, but similar - https://www.littledressupshop.com/disneybound-outfits-for-kids.html.

Hope everyone who is traveling now is staying safe! And hopefully we'll get back soon enough!

 

[suzy_q]

The matching shirts are marvelous--never thought to have messages on the back too! Amazing!

 

[AliceNDinah]

Great report, and nice read! Looks like you have a great family to travel with LOVE the Snow White picture!!

 

[mickey520]

Day Eight: Four Parks - One Day

Okay, this was an adventurous day for my son and me. We decided we wanted to get up early and hit ROTR. We woke up EARLY. I think we left the hotel a bit before 6 am. It was a cool and drizzly morning. We left YC and started walking toward DHS. We had just turned onto the path along the water when the boat captain used his loudspeaker to encourage us to take the boat. I hadn't even looked up to see if he was there, we were already set on walking. But with the captain's encouragement, we ran over to the boat. We got to DHS, checked in and found a place near Launch Bay to hide from the rain. This was our most successful ROTR day - we ended up in a single-digit BG and we were on the ride by 7:40am!



We hit a couple other DHS rides then reached a decision point in our day. We already had plans to meet up with the rest of our group at around 10-11am for a FP on Frozen and lunch at Epcot since half of our travel group was departing that day and wanted to stay close to YC. That night was EMH at MK so my immediate family had already planned to go to MK after a few hours at Epcot...the wheels started turning in my head and I asked my son if he was up for a 4 park day!

We grabbed a Lyft from DHS to AK, and hit a few rides, including our favorite - Everest...but alas no pictures.

After meeting up with the rest of the group, we made time for one more group picture as we said goodbye to half of the crew.



The four of us made our way over to MK and had an amazing evening with TONS of rides...including back-to-back-to-back rides on Space Mountain and a last minute FP on SDMT. At one point we counted how many FP+ we used that day, but it's been too long. I think it was around 15.



After a long day, my son and I hit up a CM for celebration buttons to remember our four park feat! DS got a pretty big kick out of her reaction to our day!



Then it was time for bed.

 

[mickey520]

Day Nine: Travel Day

We decided that it was worth the gamble on a low enough boarding group to get one last ride on ROTR. Our flight was at around 4pm and we had a 1pm bus to the airport. We took the early morning walk to DHS and crossed our fingers for a low group number. We ended up in the upper 30s and figured that would give us enough time to do the ride, get back to the hotel and catch our bus.

Then...ROTR went down.

We went to the Disney Jr. Dance Party in an effort to stop refreshing our phones.

Once we were out, ROTR was back up and they were moving through groups again. We ended up on the ride at around 10:30. We were only a little stressed about getting back to YC, grabbing our bags and getting on the bus at 1pm.

The stress was washed away by how amazing that ride is.



After we finished the ride, we lucked into good timing with a boat back to YC. We had probably the best CM ever narrating our journey back to the hotel. Judging from some of his humor, maybe a former Jungle Cruise captain.

We got back to the hotel, did a quick wardrobe change and made it to the lobby with a couple minutes to spare.



At the airport, we made a couple last pin trades and said good bye to some droids.



The flight home was pretty uneventful and we were all glad to sleep in our beds that night....we weren't as happy about going back to work and school the next day though!

Overall, this was an amazing trip. There has been so much craziness over the 10 months since our trip. But the memories have meant so much to our family. Just about every time we talk to my parents or GG something from our trip comes up. We are so thankful that we were able to share this experience.

We had been thinking about a DL trip in the spring. At this point we're thinking maybe October 2021 or spring 2022.

Thank you to those of you who read this. I'll admit, the last few posts were really just my way of trying to relive the magic a little bit, probably not a whole lot that's useful info to anyone else!