hvanes
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2010
- Messages
- 318
We're enjoying a wonderful week here at WDW. We've been going pretty hard since Friday so I'm thankful I built in a rest day today.... Especially after our Manic Monday! We decided to try to hit all 4 parks yesterday. Whew! We rose to the challenge, and it. was. awesome. I've never written a trip report before, but I thought I would share about our day for those who may be interested in hitting all 4 parks in one day.
Our crew of 7 consists of dh, 5 kids ranging in age from 5 to 18, and myself. We have 3 females and 4 males, and we're a mixture of adventurers and... ride chickens.
We had a stroller in tow, a backpack with ponchos, sunscreen, etc, and a soft-sided cooler with frozen (temporarily) water bottles...so we were definitely not traveling light!
We started our day at HS, and it's probably the only time we'll be there this trip. Just not a ton for us to do there, although we do still enjoy parts of it very much. We started with TSMM as a group standby at rope drop. We were on in maybe ten minutes or so. Then we split so my thrill seekers could hit RNRC and TOT. My 15-year-old daughter and I took the youngest for a photo with Cruz Ramirez and then went to GMR standby (we had NEVER done this in 4 trips, and we loved it!). The others had FPs for RNRC while we three returned to TSMM with our own FP. Then we all met at ToT where the boys used the girls' bands, because we are scaredy cats.
Our final HS FP was for our full group at Star Tours. As soon as we got in line, I began making FP for our next park - Epcot. I was able to get 7 for Figment very quickly. To say that our kids were not impressed would be an understatement, but I explained that if we wanted to hit all 4 parks, beggars could not be choosers!
We were eager to try the chicken and waffles at Backlot Express, and there was an abundance of seating (which is wonderful with a small caravan of 7 people, 2 bags, and a stroller). While waiting for my husband and oldest son to deliver our food, I decided to break up our party into1-2 people at a time and try to adjust our Figment FPs. Long story short, in about ten minutes I had secured overlapping Test Track FPs for all 7 of us starting in under an hour. The crew was pretty excited! We stopped for a quick park photo on the way out of HS.
We were going to take the boat, but we had no idea how long it would take so decided not to chance it and to take the bus instead. We boarded almost immediately and were inside Epcot in no time. Literally bumping into a PhotoPass photographer just past the turnstiles, we decided to quickly take our park pic. She wanted to do some fun combinations of our kids but we politely declined -- we were on a mission! We experienced a short wait in the FP line so I was able to secure FPs in small groups of 1 and 2 that overlapped for Buzz Lightyear, again starting in about an hour. Everyone was pretty happy about this option, and since it was fairly close to the entrance, my legs were also thankful. We enjoyed TT and refilled our popcorn bucket for a quick snack on the way out.
The monorail was running smoothly (phew), but on our way to MK I received a notification that our FPs for Buzz had been changed to the "Any Experience" FP. We've experienced this issue several times on the trip (LOTS of rides down) so I suspected we could change it to almost anything else, but sometimes the alternatives change, so I stopped in at City Hall and checked on the situation. The only attractions excluded were 7DMT and Peter Pan, and I knew what my family would choose... yep, it was unanimous: Splash Mountain. So we hoofed it all the way back to Frontierland (sorry, legs), practically walked onto Splash, got soaked (which was a beautiful thing because we were HOT), and then decided to stop for a Dole Whip in Adventureland. One of the kids mentioned that we were not only doing an attraction in each park but also eating in each park so we HAD to stop.... pretty strategic way to secure a snack at her favorite place in the World.
I had taken a peek at my phone while on Splash (just a short look, don't judge!) and the Animal Kingdom FP options were dismal.
Primeval Whirl... which our youngest is too short to ride. Dinosaur, which three of us despise, and shows... which didn't feel the same as a "ride". While we were waiting for dh to order the Dole Whips, the rest of us found a shady spot. I decided to see if I could luck out and get Kali by making FP 1-by-1. I got one, and then when I tried for the next one, a FP was available for FOP!! I couldn't believe it!! We had done Na'Vi but not FOP yet, so I just grabbed it. I figured it would be a crime to pass it up, even though I suspected there would be a fight over that one FP. 
As I made the next one, another was available... then I tried 2... and 2... and before i knew it, I had overlapping FOP FP for all 7 of us! I was freaking out, and because the kids had not been on it yet, they were just like, "Oh, okay. Cool. Thanks, Mom." When dh arrived with the Dole Whip and I told him, he was stunned. As we headed out of the park, he casually mentioned, "Hey... Not only have we done all 4 parks, we've been able to do arguably the best rides together in all 4 parks. That is crazy." !!!!!
We stopped for our MK park photo (I wanted one in front of the train station because we'd already taken one in front of the castle on this trip) and then boarded the bus for AK. Until we finally entered Pandora, I just could not believe our luck. I kept thinking it was a mistake, and when that FP light turned green, I was elated! To say that we enjoyed FOP would be a gross understatement. We laughed, whooped, screamed, and (I) almost cried. By the time we finished, it was 5:45 and we were all hungry, so we chose to have dinner at Satu'li Canteen -- another win! On our way out, we stopped for our pic by the Tree of Life. We were tempted to stay, but we had been going strong for ten hours and we needed the pool (and hot tub).
After a relaxing swim, showers, pjs, etc, I pulled up the park pics on my phone. As I scrolled through, I laughed so hard I was crying. On Saturday at Epcot, the photographer had asked us to make "funny faces". Everyone followed through but the 5-year-old, who just grinned from ear-to-ear. He got some teasing from his older siblings and was not too happy with them. Apparently he wanted to avoid further ribbing and took it upon himself to make a "funny face" in nearly every. single. other. family. photo. from there on out!!! They are absolutely hilarious, and he was pretty proud of himself!
Truly, truly a day we will never forget!
Our crew of 7 consists of dh, 5 kids ranging in age from 5 to 18, and myself. We have 3 females and 4 males, and we're a mixture of adventurers and... ride chickens.
We had a stroller in tow, a backpack with ponchos, sunscreen, etc, and a soft-sided cooler with frozen (temporarily) water bottles...so we were definitely not traveling light!We started our day at HS, and it's probably the only time we'll be there this trip. Just not a ton for us to do there, although we do still enjoy parts of it very much. We started with TSMM as a group standby at rope drop. We were on in maybe ten minutes or so. Then we split so my thrill seekers could hit RNRC and TOT. My 15-year-old daughter and I took the youngest for a photo with Cruz Ramirez and then went to GMR standby (we had NEVER done this in 4 trips, and we loved it!). The others had FPs for RNRC while we three returned to TSMM with our own FP. Then we all met at ToT where the boys used the girls' bands, because we are scaredy cats.
Our final HS FP was for our full group at Star Tours. As soon as we got in line, I began making FP for our next park - Epcot. I was able to get 7 for Figment very quickly. To say that our kids were not impressed would be an understatement, but I explained that if we wanted to hit all 4 parks, beggars could not be choosers!We were eager to try the chicken and waffles at Backlot Express, and there was an abundance of seating (which is wonderful with a small caravan of 7 people, 2 bags, and a stroller). While waiting for my husband and oldest son to deliver our food, I decided to break up our party into1-2 people at a time and try to adjust our Figment FPs. Long story short, in about ten minutes I had secured overlapping Test Track FPs for all 7 of us starting in under an hour. The crew was pretty excited! We stopped for a quick park photo on the way out of HS.
We were going to take the boat, but we had no idea how long it would take so decided not to chance it and to take the bus instead. We boarded almost immediately and were inside Epcot in no time. Literally bumping into a PhotoPass photographer just past the turnstiles, we decided to quickly take our park pic. She wanted to do some fun combinations of our kids but we politely declined -- we were on a mission! We experienced a short wait in the FP line so I was able to secure FPs in small groups of 1 and 2 that overlapped for Buzz Lightyear, again starting in about an hour. Everyone was pretty happy about this option, and since it was fairly close to the entrance, my legs were also thankful.
We enjoyed TT and refilled our popcorn bucket for a quick snack on the way out.The monorail was running smoothly (phew), but on our way to MK I received a notification that our FPs for Buzz had been changed to the "Any Experience" FP. We've experienced this issue several times on the trip (LOTS of rides down) so I suspected we could change it to almost anything else, but sometimes the alternatives change, so I stopped in at City Hall and checked on the situation. The only attractions excluded were 7DMT and Peter Pan, and I knew what my family would choose... yep, it was unanimous: Splash Mountain. So we hoofed it all the way back to Frontierland (sorry, legs), practically walked onto Splash, got soaked (which was a beautiful thing because we were HOT), and then decided to stop for a Dole Whip in Adventureland. One of the kids mentioned that we were not only doing an attraction in each park but also eating in each park so we HAD to stop.... pretty strategic way to secure a snack at her favorite place in the World.
I had taken a peek at my phone while on Splash (just a short look, don't judge!) and the Animal Kingdom FP options were dismal.
Primeval Whirl... which our youngest is too short to ride. Dinosaur, which three of us despise, and shows... which didn't feel the same as a "ride". While we were waiting for dh to order the Dole Whips, the rest of us found a shady spot. I decided to see if I could luck out and get Kali by making FP 1-by-1. I got one, and then when I tried for the next one, a FP was available for FOP!! I couldn't believe it!! We had done Na'Vi but not FOP yet, so I just grabbed it. I figured it would be a crime to pass it up, even though I suspected there would be a fight over that one FP. As I made the next one, another was available... then I tried 2... and 2... and before i knew it, I had overlapping FOP FP for all 7 of us! I was freaking out, and because the kids had not been on it yet, they were just like, "Oh, okay. Cool. Thanks, Mom." When dh arrived with the Dole Whip and I told him, he was stunned. As we headed out of the park, he casually mentioned, "Hey... Not only have we done all 4 parks, we've been able to do arguably the best rides together in all 4 parks. That is crazy." !!!!! We stopped for our MK park photo (I wanted one in front of the train station because we'd already taken one in front of the castle on this trip) and then boarded the bus for AK. Until we finally entered Pandora, I just could not believe our luck. I kept thinking it was a mistake, and when that FP light turned green, I was elated! To say that we enjoyed FOP would be a gross understatement. We laughed, whooped, screamed, and (I) almost cried. By the time we finished, it was 5:45 and we were all hungry, so we chose to have dinner at Satu'li Canteen -- another win! On our way out, we stopped for our pic by the Tree of Life. We were tempted to stay, but we had been going strong for ten hours and we needed the pool (and hot tub).
After a relaxing swim, showers, pjs, etc, I pulled up the park pics on my phone. As I scrolled through, I laughed so hard I was crying. On Saturday at Epcot, the photographer had asked us to make "funny faces". Everyone followed through but the 5-year-old, who just grinned from ear-to-ear. He got some teasing from his older siblings and was not too happy with them. Apparently he wanted to avoid further ribbing and took it upon himself to make a "funny face" in nearly every. single. other. family. photo. from there on out!!! They are absolutely hilarious, and he was pretty proud of himself!
Truly, truly a day we will never forget!
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