8 Nights 9 Days - A Vacation that Challenged the Plan (and my sanity)

[YesterDark]

Preface
This will be my first trip report and this is more cathartic than anything else, but I hope you enjoy and maybe learn a little bit from my experiences. The trip was great, but it also made me question how I like to do Disney Vacations and has altered my strategy for future trips (spring next year, already booked, my wife is becoming a fanatic). I'm going to give a bit of history to set up my thinking and then we'll launch in to the trip report. I believe context is key for everything!

Pre Trip Report: https://www.disboards.com/threads/four-years-three-kids-and-were-going-back.3731654/unread

A little bit of background so you understand my motivations and my mindset going in to this trip. I went to Disney as a kid a few times (late 80s / early 90s) but it never changed my life. They were always great times. My sister, who is 5 years younger, went even more with a few trips with our grandparents. The result was that she became a DVC member when she turned 22/23ish a decade ago.

With that being said, my first adult trip was in 2015. My sister had a 2 bedroom suite at OKW where my family of 4 (wife, 2 yo daughter, 8 month old son), along with my sister's (husband, 3 yo daughter, 8 month old son) and our mother had a wonderful week. I did not plan a thing! This was my first experience at Disney as a functioning adult. I basically showed up. That was hilarious and naive. It was a good week long trip though, five full days, 3 park days, 2 days off. No rope dropping, no dining plan etc.

My lessons learned were that you need days off in order to enjoy the full days, especially with young kids. Also if you're travelling with other people, communication is key but this isn't a trip report for 2015.

The next trip was two years ago with my family of four in 2015 with my now 4 yo daughter and 2 yo son and a pregnant wife. Shortish trip, 5 nights 6 days where we did three park days and a day off. Very crammed but an amazing time. The trip went off flawlessly and I planned it all. This is where I discovered The DIS and all the other Disney blogs and youtube channels and podcasts and really became a Disney fanatic. Suffice it to say, our last trip we rope dropped two days in a row. Took a day off and did one last day before heading home.

We discovered the Dining Plan and found we liked it because it's hassle free and saved us cash on all the Character Dining we did. Lessons learned? How to use the dining plan, how to book ADRs/FPs and how to Rope Drop.

I then spent the next two years planning the trip that we just got back from. You can read the Pre-Trip report for all the changes and planning. I had this thing planned perfectly based on my last trip, except this time my family grew and we brought my mom. A 5th Sleeper room at Riverside was booked with my wife and I, my mother and a 6 yo, 4 yo and a 1.5 yo. Oooooooh boy.

Our plan going in to the vacation was perfectly laid out.


Every day a park was scheduled. Rope Drop all the full day parks, go in to the parks at night for dinner and maybe a ride or two. No problem and easy!! This was almost twice the length of our last trip. I know exactly what I'm doing. And I would have pulled it off if it was for those pesky..

Oh man the best laid plans.

 

[YesterDark]

Leading up to the Trip

Our flight to Orlando was leaving Thursday morning out of Philadelphia so I booked a hotel room near the airport Wednesday night as the airport is 2 hours away. A week before the trip my eye was having issues. It felt scratchy like something was in it. I thought it was allergies and thought nothing more of it. Sunday before the trips comes around and oh no.. I'm feverish, chilled and my eye is all discolored. I hang out for the day and think I'll be better by tomorrow. Fever breaks and I start feeling better that night. Then Monday rolls around. I have some fever in the morning but feeling ok so I head to the doctor and get some eye drops for my eye and everything should be ok.

To spare you the yucky details, I had an inflammation in the back of my throat that tested negative for strep. Every night I had a low fever that broke quickly with Tylenol and right before the night of the flight it got worse with a soar throat. Anyway I felt fine in the morning with the symptoms gone. I never get sick outside of a few 24/48 bugs you usually get for having three young kids in school. Flew down to Orlando and started the vacation.

As you can imagine this puts a very negative impact on your vacation. I couldn't relax with a beer at the hotel on Wednesday before the flight. I kept worrying about being able to lead the vacation the way it needed to be. The family was counting on me. To wrap up this whole illness timeline in the bud so it doesn't pollute the whole trip report; I ended up going to a Medimerge Thursday night. Ended up going in the evening with the wife while grammy watched the kids, I got prescribed some antibiotics and after about 36-48 hours I was fine and my old self again.

Leading up to the trip, there were some hiccups and it really effected the mentality of the trip, but we recovered quickly.

Lessons learned? Feeling ill prior to a trip? Get your Doctor to give you everything under the sun before you go.

Few other notes: Frontier is not a bad airline, I really enjoyed their service and the costs were reasonable.

Moving forward, I'll now be referring to each day by a number, Day 1, 2, 3 etc. Day 1 is arrival to the resort so let's get on with that.

 

[kclark9830]

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[YesterDark]

Day 1 - Arrival to the Port Orleans Riverside



So we flew out of Philadelphia and arrived to MCO at around 10:30, got to the gate pretty quickly and managed to get on to the Magical Express and to our resort by 12-1pm. My logistical timing was perfect! I've been suggesting to people that it usually takes 2-3 hours just to get to your resort after landing and I was right on the money. So for those of you planning a park day the day you arrive, make sure you add that extra padding. In any case, we arrived at the resort early prior to our rooms being ready. I did the online check in and that worked pretty flawlessly. However, I went up to the front desk and they were able to get me into a room earlier. So that was great.



We rented from Kingdom Strollers and that experience was excellent. The stroller was there waiting for us and it was seamless. We dropped our bags off at luggage storage and went to grab something to eat. No complaints about the dining hall at Riverside. Great food, great people.

Our room became ready. We grabbed our luggage and headed to the room.



The room was a 5th Sleeper. Remember, it's myself, my wife, my mom, and three kids: 6yo, 4yo, 1.5yo. We need to cram in some Disney vacations before my youngest daughter turns 3. In any case, plenty of USB ports, the pull down bed was awesome for my oldest daughter. The curtain separating the bathroom sinks from the room was awesome. For 3 adults and 3 kids, it wasn't crazy packed and terrible. We spent most of the time out of the room, but even at night, it was not a problem at all. Fully recommend this set up if you're looking to save on a 2 bedroom suite or double rooms.

Very clean and the maid service was excellent throughout the trip.

As soon as we got there, my wife ordered water and snacks from Amazon Now which were delivered while I was at the medimerge. (Yay)

Then we hit the pool.



We swam for a while. I brought my youngest back to the room for a nap and then we went to the dining hall for dinner then back to the room for a good night sleep (not for me and the wife).

All in all, it was a great first day except for the illness. Easy flight down, easy ride over. My head was somewhere else, but everyone was feeling great and having a good time.

General Comments about Riverside:

This resort was pretty nice. I don't think I'd go out of my way to stay here again, but if the price is right I have no issues with it. We stayed in the alligator bayou section which is just northwest of the main pool and closest to the West Depot (first bus stop on the loop). We were able to do laundry easily while we were there, and the secondary pool that was in the area was pretty nice too. The walk to the bus was "long-ish" just like the walk to the lobby. Not too big of a deal, but I'd like to be closer.

We were also on the second floor and the request for a first floor room didn't work via Touring Plans. They were full up on the room type we needed. A second floor with three young kids and a stroller suuucks. But what are you going to do?

The resort itself, in that part of the party, is very "over grown" as is the themeing of a Bayou I guess. Very pretty and secluded. Well taken care of in case anyone was wondering. There weren't any real good views, no matter which room you stayed in.

Overall, the service was excellent, the staff was excellent, the food was great for quick service. Pool areas were good too. Perfect for what you expect for a moderate resort. My expectations were met fully. The themeing wasn't something that excited me, that was the only "negative" if you want to call it that. Personal taste.

Now on to the show, Day 2.

 

[YesterDark]

Day 2: The Return to Magic Kingdom

A few thoughts before I go on with the report of our first day back. My first trip planning Disney was two years ago. I wasn't posting on message boards, I wasn't listing to Connecting with Walt or watching the DisUnplugged every week. Disney wasn't part of my daily thinking back then. I planned the trip, looked up some hints, dabbled in the community prior to going. When I got back in 2017 I was fully into the Disney Fandom world.

So for the last two years I've been planning this trip, I've been watching shows and reading blogs. I've been reading the Disney News and Rumors thread every day. I know everything that is going on and so when I got there, I lost something I think but gained something in return. There was a certain level of comfort you have at the parks, and I expect this is what a lot of the DIS team feels when they go. It's not new anymore but it feels like an old friend.

What I'm trying to say is that I didn't get the warm and fuzzies the first day. We were in a bit of a rush, didn't get there AS early as I wanted. But when I got there, I may have been too concerned with the time and schedule (and it wasn't a packed schedule, just fast pass windows) and didn't stop and smell the magic so-to-speak. Time didn't slow down for me this time, it was just normal. I think the analogy of meeting an old friend after a long time is apt. You're not amazed by your friendship, but you feel happy and comfortable when you're together.

Psychologically, I think, when you're so consumed by Disney everything throughout the year, you don't give yourself enough "away" time to attempt to capture that magic. Maybe that's me. Maybe it was the antibiotic.

Anyway on to the show!



It was an extra magic hours day. We arrived around 8:30! Late already! But my wife and I were tired with the ordeal the night before so the fact we got there before 9 was a miracle. So my plans were already tossed out the window. I wanted to rope drop Splash and Thunder mountain before our fast passes. Here was our plan (you can also review the chart above):

• 9 - Pirates
• 10 - Haunted Mansion
• 12 - BOG Lunch
• 1 - Jungle Cruise

Because we were late, we took pictures, hit the restrooms up one last time, did then did Pirates standby then used our fastpass. Pirates is my favorite ride and we got to do it back to back. My kids were terrified (for some reason) but loved it all the same. They've been on the ride before too. Anyway, it was great.



We hoofed it over to Haunted Mansion, again kids were terrified. Something was being sold at the gift shop there, as there was a line back through the Frontierland/Adventurland bathroom cut through. The ride? Not too bad. My son started crying hysterically as the room stretch and an awesome cast member got a flash light and calmed him down.

Then we got stuck on the ride for 5-10 minutes. Oops.

Got off the ride and headed over to Tomorrowland to ride the People Mover and Carousel of Progress.

Oh look Tron!



After Tomorrowland we made it over to Be Our Guest for Lunch. The food is much better than what I remembered! Still a quality quick service lunch credit. (As an aside, I was feeling much better at this point!)



After a nice relaxing lunch, and being out of the sun and heat we headed over to Jungle Cruise for our last fast pass!



Now this is where the real magic happens. Do you think I do standby lines? No. Refreshing time baby! The rest of the day consisted of

• Meeting the Princesses
• Little Mermaid
• Small World (but it closed down just as we were getting on the boat)
• Royal Carousel
• Barnstormer
• Aladdin's Carpet Ride
• Dole Whips
• Tiki Room

Then it was time for dinner at the Crystal Palace



Food was decent, characters were great. Though the characters didn't seem to stay as long as they did the last time I was here. Maybe that's me.

We got out of the Crystal Palace around 6:30-7 and we did another ride or two. We did the Tiki Room and a dole whip at some point. We did Aladdin's Carpet Ride. I don't remember the order exactly but it was a great day. We were heading out of the parks around Main Street as the fireworks started. We were too tired to fight for some space, but we watched the whole show from the side (not the best spot), and Tink sailed over our heads and we headed back to the resort.

Alligator Bayou paid off with being the first stop coming back. Got some good sleep that night. Tomorrow we will attempt to rope drop Epcot. I've never been to the park, so get ready for some of my hot takes which people will probably hate.

Overall, crowd levels were kind of high (EMH day) but it wasn't crazy. What was crazy, as you can guess, were the humidity and temperature.

Lessons Learned: Don't sweat the small stuff. Stop and smell the magic.

 

[YesterDark]

Day 3: My first time at Epcot! Dear God it was HOTHOTHOTHOT

I've never been to Epcot. It was the only park I've never been too and it's mostly because I didn't go as a kid, and as an adult we stayed away because it's not a kids park. Until the Rat and Guardians open, that's still probably the case.

So I have a hot take about Epcot and people are going to get pissed at me about it. I don't care. Epcot is a terrible park in general.

Let me clarify for a second. World Showcase is pretty awesome, but I'm not in the park for a lot of food a beer with my family. So if I were down for the festivals and hitting up booths, it's probably a great time. But I wasn't there for it.

Epcot proper is dead. It feels like a NJ mall from the 80s that should be torn down but hasn't yet. It smells, it's old, it's as it hasn't been touched... ever. Both my mother and my wife had the same opinion. Living with the Land? I know some of you grew up on this ride, or learned something from it when you were 12. I know some of you find no fault with Disney anything. But lets be honest with one another, unless you have memories tied to this ride, this ride awful. My kids learn more from reading books about the weather cycle than something on this ride.

Soarin' in awesome, and deserves a better home.

The Land Pavilion reminds me of a rest stop on the NJ turnpike when they used to have Roy Rogers (did they ever have Roy Rogers??). Brown bricks, dark brown wood queues, the amazingly horrible entrance to the pavilion where you don't even walk in to the rides, but a nice replica of a 1980s mall with no stores and a food court that doesn't look inviting.

The Seas? That thing needs to be torn down. The aquarium is god awful. There is no place to sit, you can't see anything, and all of the "learning modules" are old and stale. My kids were not interested at all. They have more engagement in an aquarium like the one in Camden NJ. The Seas is old and dirty and Nemo is just a bunch of TVs.

The whole front section of Epcot is just old and faded. They are already tearing it apart, and it's necessary. The new restaurant, guardians and some of the other re-dos are a great step in the right direction. The entrance to the park... oh my god. Awful (but I know they are redoing it). What were they originally thinking? Also, if you ever needed a place to shoot a dystonia 1980s thriller movie, the entrance would be a perfect back drop.

Look, I can go on, but I made my point. I won't be returning to Epcot until it's fully done for a park day with the family. If I could sneak away with the wife and do food and wine? Yeah I'm down. Otherwise, I'm skipping it. That being said, my next trip, I'll probably end up doing Akershus breakfast/lunch with the kids. Great restaurant.

Ok let's get on with the report, enough of my rant!



Sooo Epcot. I can't wait to see what all the stories are all about. It's hoooooot out. The kids are already wilting and the wife is already cranky. She doesn't do humidity. But alas, we are late! We wanted to rope drop the park so we could do Soarin then the rest of the attractions.

But we were late again. We still haven't caught up from the late night doctor's visit on Day 1.

We arrive at around 9:00 and get into the park around 9:30 to do our first fastpass: Spaceship Earth.


I loved this ride! My son loved it as well, and I think it was his favorite. He called it the time machine ride. He did Soarin and Frozen and he still wanted to go back to this one.

We were a little backed up in time, so we immediately went to Frozen and road it. The wife and the two older kids went on and Grammy staid back with the baby. Great ride! We then got Grammy to go on and the Cast Members allowed my daughter (Frozen fanatic) to go on a second time. We chilled in the gift shop trying on viking helmets.

Cutting my family out of the picture, I think the helmet is a natural fit if you ask me.


This was ill planned on my part, but I had thought we would have more time. After Frozen we had a Nemo fastpass, so we went up to that direction. Man what a waste of time. I won't bore you with the details of another rant, but suffice it to say, The Seas sucked. I've heard Crush is fun for the kids, but we didn't have time.

Worst part was all the walking SSE > FEA > Nemo wasn't a good strategy. Oh well.

We have dinner reservations at Akershus, so we need to do stuff, but it's now nearly lunch. We started walking around the world starting toward France where we ate at the bakery. The food was awesome! We saved on a few kids quick service credits because we didn't need them. Bonus points is Aurora (my daughter) got to meet Aurora (the princess) near the back entrance.

We then walked around the world stopping at the American Experience and watching the drummers in Japan and stopping for Mickey Bars in Italy I think?

But it was hot man. Very hot. I don't know how people were drinking and not passing out. Maybe I'm getting old.

We then walked to the Land and did the boat ride and Soarin while my mom hung out in Future World somewhere with very smelly carpets in the air conditioning. You want my opinions on the Land, read my rant above if you haven't already.



It rained, then it stopped then we went to Akershus. I think I'm going to do a Restaurant Series "Six Character Dining Reviews in 7 Days" with more detail. Suffice it to say, I was very happy with Akershus. The food was good (appetizer buffet) with a main course and a desert is excellent value. I would love to go again, and we'd probably will do a half day for breakfast here our next trip. Service and characters were great.

Do I need to do another Dining Plan article and the dos and don'ts? Is it worth it? etc?

Maybe another time. No need for clickbaits in this thread my good friends.

After Akershus we were tired, but we met Anna and Elsa and then headed back home. We were drained and my wife didn't want to sit around for another hour and a half for fireworks in the humid weather. I wish we did, but I don't think the kids would have made it.

Was I happy with the day? Yes and no. The park was a disappointment, but the few rides we went on were cool. Once the park has been revitalized, maybe we'll know more at D23, it'll be a great place to go. But as of now, this is a half day at best with the family and only if we're doing a Princess character dinner. Day 4 we're off to Cinderella's royal table, and we'll probably skip that next time, so Akershus is a great fill in if we are on the Dining Plan and we have extra tickets.

We were not happy with Epcot so we cancelled our dinner plans at Marrakesh for Day 7 and used our sit down credit for Skipper Canteen for Day 8. Glad we did!

Lessons Learned: Epcot is not great if you're not wining and dining. Maybe we shouldn't Rope Drop two days in a row and that's ok! I'll talk about my thoughts on planning after Day 9. I learned a lot on how my family Disneys.

Epcot was relatively empty in the morning/afternoon and got more crowded in the evening as you can guess. The park was open and once you got to the World Showcase I can understand why some people love it. The heat killed us though, but that's what we get for going in August (never again).

 

[YesterDark]

Day 4: Resort Day! (Not really) Back to the Magic Kingdom for CRT!

Due to our length of stay, we ended up getting a package of 7 tickets because going from 5 to 7 tickets was relatively cheap. So I had the brilliant idea of going into the parks for dinner on our two off days. You know, a simple stroll on to Main Street and go shopping, grab dinner, and go back to the hotel and relax. Easy peezy right? Hahahahahhahahahahahahahahah....

Ok so the day started off nicely. We woke up a little late (we have three kids, so late is like 7:30am) and grabbed some breakfast (in room) and went to the pool while laundry was being done. We were at one of the non-main pools. It was pretty nice.



We had a 4:30pm res at Cinderella's Royal Table. I wish I was able to get 6pm or later, but I had to settle. I booked this at 180+4 and this was the only availability and nothing opened up at all. That meant we did some lazy pool swimming, had lunch, sat with the baby for a nap and we were off to the Magic Kingdom for dinner.

We also bought some more Amazon Now products for the rest of our trip (water and yogurts).

Before I get to the evening, I just want to say that the morning was very relaxing. No rush, easy lunch and some swimming. I wish we had a few more hours at the pool but that didn't happen. In any case we got showered and ready for the night at around 2pm and headed to the MK at around 3:30ish. We got to the park a little ahead of time, took some pictures and hit of CRT. Before checking in I grabbed a shot of the new pathway that is still being built.



I won't go into the meal in detail since you can read a better write up elsewhere, or you can wait for my article to be published. In any case. the meal was great, the service was amazing, and the princesses were very good with the kids. Is this really a Signature meal? Maaaaaaybe? But I'd rather spend my credit elsewhere next time. Still, it's fun eating in the castle, and we'll probably go again when my youngest daughter is older (few years from now).

So here we go. I wanted a nice relaxing evening. Four years ago, we went to Disney Springs (may have been Downtown Disney at that point still?) and we did nice dinner then walked around and did some casual shopping. I wanted to do that again at the MK, but I mean we're at the parks so why not use fastpasses?

• Space Mountain
• Peter Pan
• Seven Dwarves Mine Train

So we get out of dinner around 5:30/6pm and time to ride rides? First time Space Mountain for me and my daughter who is now tall enough! Theeeen Royal Carousal....



Theeeen Meet Tiana and Rapunzel ....
Theeeeeeen Tomorrowland Speedway with my son (who can't drive!)
Theeeeeeeeeeen Splash Mountain for the first time with the whole family...


Then we went home. So it felt like a full day at the parks. And we were tired. And we went to sleep right away.

My mistake. I wan't a relaxing night and we didn't get it. Ooooops.

Still had fun. Not sorry.

Lessons Learned: You can't not have a park day when you're in the Magic Kingdom. Stopit. If you're going to have a half park day sandwhiched in between double parked days, have the half day in the morning, and not the night. More on this in the recap.

It was a fun night not caring about the fireworks, or where we were going. Refreshed our way on to a whole bunch of good rides and experiences. Man were we tired. I'm probably forgetting something but maybe not.

I can't remember if we used snack credits. Day 7 we realized we'd have 50+ left and we had way too much ice cream. But more to come on that later. Day 5 coming up and it's our second double park day run. Heeeeere weeeeee go.

 

[YesterDark]

Day 5: Animal Kingdom - Flight of Passage! Did it twice!

Ok so my last time at Animal Kingdom was cut short back in 2015 due to my niece not feeling well. We ended the day at Rainforest Cafe (ick) and went home early. I was driven to have a better day at the park! So I thought I had a decent plan. Again this was an EMH day and we got there "late" at around 9am. We couldn't hit a rope drop time at all. But we were moving every day.

So my thoughts on Animal Kingdom. I love this park. I hate this park. Maybe not hate. But still I don't know how to describe it. We had awesome things planned. Dinosaur, Safari, Flight of Passage, Tusker House. I snagged a fastpass for Everest in the afternoon. Outside walking the trails we nearly did everything the park had to offer and I'm not sure it was enough. I love the look of the park, but I don't think it's walk able. It's waaaay too hot (everyone calls it the hottest park) and they are right. It's a giant circle with Discovery Island in the middle. It's just not conducive to walking around like DHS or MK in my opinion. There aren't many site lines except for the entryway to the park. The themeing is fantastic in places like Asia and Africa (not a fan of Dinoland at all).

I don't know. This is a park I think we're skipping next time. Flight of Passage is amazing but it's not enough for me to bring my kids to the park. I think once they can walk and I don't have to do strollers it may change, but at this point in my life, I don't think I want to go back. I finished the day feeling like I was missing something, and we ended up leaving early missing out on the night time show.

Maybe it's just August and the heat killed the day for us. (Never again.) But let's start off the day.



We started off the day heading over to the Safari. We love animals and it was a pretty cool trip. We've done it before, but it was my daughter's first time. We got to see all the animals, nothing was hiding so we were pretty excited. No long waits for the fast pass and we were in and out pretty quickly.

Roar!


From there we hit of Dinosaur with our second fastpass. I actually liked this ride and was pleasantly surprised. My son said it smelled like dead skunk poop. Ok. I didn't know this ride existed a few years ago, but I'd go back. It was a bit darker that I thought it would be, and it was more of a thrill ride than what I thought it was. Pretty fun too.




With all the walking and such, we were hitting up pretty close to lunch time and FoP at 1, so we decided to hit up Setu'li's Canteen for lunch. And let me tell you, this place is awesome! For a quick service credit is probably the best quick service on property. I think. I'm not sure where you can get a better meal if you ask me. The food was on par with Skipper Canteen which is a table service credit. Loved it.

After lunch we got some pictures in Pandora, did Flight of Passage with the daughter, my son was 3 inches too short. My first time, and dear lord it's an amazing ride. I loved how the pre-show loaded you up without you knowing which set of 8 you were in. My mother, who doesn't do thrill rides, or heights, or anything like this (she's a dark rider person and a babysitter) got on. I was able to use my son's fastpass and go on for a second time.



My mom loads up and get into the the chair and is looking down on the screen. And she says, "Do I look down on this screen? Is this the ride?" Mind you, this is before the screen opens up and the ride begins. I laughed and told her yes and she gets ready to go. I laughed when the screen opened up, the floor dropped out and we were off. There were a lot of OMGs and WOOOOWs coming from next to me.

Excellent time.

After FoP there was some torrential down pours and it got very muggy. We hopped up and hit up Festival of the Lion King after that. Cool little show, I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure it's anything to write home about. I liked Nemo (which we did on my last trip where my daughter had a bit of a bathroom accident. Aaah memories of potty training) better.



We walked around a bit, got some Mickey Bars somewhere in Asia near Up! and managed to snag an Everest fastpass. The wife, daughter and I hit it up and got I love this ride. We've been on it before, but this was the kiddo's first reeeeeal rollercoaster. It was crazy fun. At this point we went and walked Dinoland, met Goofy, went on the TriceraTop Spin and walked over to try to meet Mickey and Minnie with a fastpass but the fastpass line was 30+ minutes.

We headed over to Tusker House for dinner. Excellent character meal. Probably the best dinner out of all of them because of the variety. My wife who is a vegetarian was very happy. I highly recommend this place. I'd hit up AK again just for the two meals we had. They were that good.

After this we headed back to the resort and went to bed. No waiting around for the evening show. We were hot, it was wet, and we were tired. On to Hollywood Studios and Day 6.

The park wasn't crowded and we had a good time. Again the heat killed our energy and the rain/mugginess was out of control. We were stinking wet by the time we got back to the resort so we all showered before bed. In the end, I probably won't go back to this park if our time was limited. If we were doing a half day, then maybe with AK. Or if the kids were older, I'd park hop this one with Epcot or DHS. More on planning again after Day 9 review.

One thing we missed was the animal trails. I wish we got a chance to see more of the animals, but we didn't have the stamina at this point in the heat to do more walking. My only regret was not doing that.

Lessons Learned: Don't plan a full day at AK in August. Just don't. get on FOP and get some good food and head out. Hit the park up mid morning and leave in the afternoon or hop it. Not worth a full day with young kiddos and a stroller.

 

[YesterDark]

Day 6: Hollywood Studios - I'm beginning to really love this park!

We went for the first time two years ago and really enjoy this park with the kids (then 4 and 2). We did all the shows and meet and greets and ended the day with Hollywood and Vine and fireworks. This time around Toy Story Land was open and my kids were doing Jedi Training. We had a blast! If it wasn't for our exhaustion we would have stayed for Fantasmic, but didn't feel like waiting for an extra hour or so for the show.

Also the heat. Again. August - never again.

The park was not really crowded but as you could expect all the rides had long waits. I had originally wanted to Rope Drop and hit up Toy Story Mania, but that didn't happen. Again, the best laid plans...

The day started off well, we got there maybe a little after opening. We had three fastpasses for the day which were Star Tours, Frozen Sing-a-long and Slinky Dog Dash. As soon as we got to the park we did up Star Tours and took turns. My Son and I went first, then we hung out with the baby and waited for the girls to go. By the time we were done it was time for our Frozen fastpass.

We spent the time waiting in the gift shop. I came off the ride with my son first just in time to prevent my wife from buying a $30 set of Star Wars bath toys that no one would play with. Phew. Of course, as the girls were on the ride, my son fell in love with a $60 Darth Vader costume. Melt down time.

In any case we met Olaf.


Then sun some songs at the Frozen Singalong. I love this show and I think it's a must do for anyone that remotely enjoyed the movie. It's a great production.

As we were leaving the theater it was raining cats and dogs but that didn't last long. Of course everyone was scared of the rain so it took like 10 minutes to get out. From here we headed over to the ABC Commissary for lunch. Great quick service meal for the dining plan. I think it's better than the Backlot Express.



After lunch we headed over to Slinky Dog and our first time in the land. Man o man is it a well done land and well themed. Hot as anything but awesome looking! My son is on a Toy Story kick and loves Buzz.

Side story: After we got out of Buzz in the MK after our CRT night, I think I forgot to write that we got a FP for the ride, my mom bought him a large Buzz figure with working sound and lights. Cool toy.

Anyway, we got on line to meet Buzz and my son didn't see why we were online. So we were able to distract him somehow until it was our turn and surprised him with a Buzz meet. That was pretty cool.

Overall, TSL was awesome. Woody, Jesse and Bo were always walking around taking breaks from their meet and greets. I wish I had the patience to wait on line for Swirling Saucers but I didn't really feel like waiting for 40 minutes.

SDD was a crazy good coaster but way too short. The fastpass line was super hot too. C'mon Disney, I have a fastpass! Cater to my needs for shade! I'm better than those standby people.

We had early reservations at Hollywood and Vine (4:50) but the awesome Hostess said we could come back any time that evening for a table. Awesome!

So from 1pm to 6:30 when we went to dinner we did a bunch of stuff:

• Ran around and found the exit gift shop of Toy Story Mania for a toy that was only there. I forget which one of the Toy Story stuffies was there for the kids. They have all of them now.
• Disney Jr Dance Party which my kids LOVED. So much better than the old puppet show.
• Lightning McQueen Academy. My son dug this quite a bit.
• Mickey Bars

Oh yeah. Both my kids fought Darth Vader. Jedi Training is aaaamaaaazing. I'm such a proud parent.



So my son was crazy scared and refused to do it. How did I get him to do it? That $60 Darth Vader costume. Yeah, that's right. I bribed him.

Hollywood and Vine was a nice experience. The food was slightly better than last time and the character were great. Got some cool pictures.

The next time we go down, I think DHS will be a day and a half park with SWGE opening at the very least. I really enjoyed my time there and my mother really loved the park as well. She loved the old hollywood vibe. The restaurants here (outside Brown Derby) have not much to be desired for, so next time we're on the dining plan this may be a Quick Service only park and save our credits for a double sit down meal at MK and do a combination of Chef Mickeys/Skipper Canteen/Crystal Palace.



We had a great time and I wish we had the stamina for a full day with fireworks but we were all exhausted.

Lessons Learned: Maybe don't do 2 park days, half park day, 2 park days again? Again, I'm going to talk about planning philosophy at the end of the report.

After SWGE is fully functional this park will be pretty great. If Disney manages to open up another land with some other IP they have in their closet... then this park might actually get close to Magic Kingdom. Bold prediction! In 2018, MK was 20M, DHS was 11M. I'm willing to bet SWGE get them above AK to around 15M. Another land in this park in the next 3-10 years might get it to push 18M.

I'm rambling now, but I was pretty excited with my visit to DHS. It's now my second favorite park. With some continued work, the new Mickey ride and some pathway changes I think this park is going to be extremely popular and probably the second two-day park in the future.

 

[YesterDark]

Day 7: Pool Pool RAIN RAIN .. DATE NIGHT!

Oh man what a day. It rained a lot.

This was our second "resort day" and it started off well enough. We grabbed a late breakfast, we hit up the pool, I took the baby back for a nap, the kids hit up the little pool, finished some laundry. Then it rained. Then we grabbed some lunch/dinner and then we found out we had 50 snack credits left.

Dear god. How? We were buying ice cream all day every day and we have 50 snack credits left? What did we do wrong??? Oh well time to get fat.

So while we were grabbing lunch/dinner I watched the kids. Then when the wife and my mom got back and left to get what I wanted. Of course my wife immediately starts eating my french fries when I sit down. C'mon lady! Hands to yourself!

I know how to solve this. Excuse me sir, 6 orders of your finest french fries please!

We didn't have 50 snack credits any more. Oh and I bought a few snacks for people on line as well. Pay it forward ya know?

Remember we were supposed to go to Marrakesh for dinner this night but we cancelled that on Day 3. So our plans were pretty open. We were probably just going to go the MK and mess around since we had a ticket. But it got later and it still rained so we stayed in. Oh, but Grammy was there right? Guess what.

DATE NIGHT! (insert flashing colorful animated gif with the text "date night" on it here)

There were extra magic hours at the park that night, so it closed at Midnight. We arrived around 8pm or so and the wife and I had a blast. We hadn't been alone for more than 2-3 hours in so long. I've never been to the parks with just adults either. Fun Fun Fun!

Things we did:

• Big Thunder Mountain
• Pirates (my favorite ride) and my wife lost her ears on the drop.
• Jungle Cruise
• Pooh
• Tea Cups
• Ice Cream
• Pictures

The parks were packed! Busier than any other time we went that week. Oh, did I mention that the decorations for fall were up!?



Makes sense. The MNSSHP was starting in two days.

It was a really fun relaxing night in the park as an adult. I forgot how easy it was to move around, in general, without kids and a stroller. God it was a blessing. And Star Bucks was swamped but how do you pass up a nice iced coffee and a stroll up Main Street without kids??? I really love the parks at night all lit up and you don't really get to see that much in the summer since sundown is at 8pm.



This was a nice gem in our trip and a good save on a rainy day where the plans were washed out. We got back around mid night after leaving the parks around 11pm and we had to hit the sack because the next day was a rope drop MK day and we wanted to hit our last day running and make it perfect before going home.

Lessons Learned: I now get @TheMaxRebo trip without kids to Disney last week. I understand! I think this night spurred my wife's DEMAND OF ME! to book our next Disney Vacation for 7 months from now immediately. I AM THE ONE who demands Disney! My wife is turning to the dark side into a Disney fanatic like me. Love it. I also get my my Sister and her husband did a adult only Disney weekend a year ago. My wife an I are already talking about a Disney weekend get away sometime next year in the fall. She's a monster.

I bet DVC is going to be in our future once all of our kids are in school. Also if I had known we were going to turn around and go back so soon, I would have gotten an annual pass! Too late now to apply my tickets to the AP. OH well.

 

[YesterDark]

Day 8: A Well Executed Plan Comes with Magic and Pixie Dust

Man what a day. When I tell you it was THE perfect Magic Kingdom day, I'm not kidding. It was so perfect that I felt typing in "MK" to abbreviate Magic Kingdom might cheapen my message. It was great. The wife was energized with excitement from the night before. She planned and executed getting the kids going in the morning and we arrived at the Magic Kingdom just after 8AM as Main Street was just opening. Perfect.

Ok, my planning was about to kick off, this is what I wanted to do Day 2, but now we're ready to go. ROPE DROP TIME!



Fast Passes for the day:

• Pooh
• Ariel
• Buzz Lightyear

ADRs:

• Chef Mickey 12:50
• Skipper Canteen 6:50

So we rope dropped Adventure Land to hit up Splash and Thunder. We wanted to see if we could grab these two rides before using Fastpasses. Well Splash was down so Thunder it was. Then we did a rush of rides in the morning: Small World > Pooh > Ariel > Dumbo > Buzz right before heading to Chef Mickeys for our 12:50 "Brunch".

I'm going to pause here because I'm forgetting something that's not tracking with my memory. I must have changed our Splash fastpass that's listed above for a Pooh fastpass at some point. Strange my brain can't remember it correctly.

Anyway, while we're at Dumbo and my mom (who doesn't do heights) was waiting out of the exit struck up a conversation with a CM.



I'm not sure why I'm blocking out my family faces, you can easily go find the tweet. Anyway. Hunter gave us a bunch of free fastpasses (more to come in a moment) just to make our day more magical. Awesome guy. My mother and he were talking for a good 30 minutes about his time at Disney and career etc. Cool dude.

That being said after our rush of morning rides we headed over to Chef Mickeys for a welcomed selection of breakfast foods. I was getting tired of the normal buffet food Disney serves at these character meals.



Food was decent, not great. Service was decent, not great. Love the Contemporary and the restaurant though. Character were awesome as usual.

We then wrapped up and headed back to the parks just in time for a big time rain storm around 2 oclock. We were down for about an hour then as it let up we headed out where we did some shopping and played at the shooting range in Frontier Land that was set up for free. Then because of Hunter's awesomeness, here's what we did before dinner at 6:50 at the Skipper Canteen:

• Country Bears
• Thunder Mountain
• Splash Mountain
• Mine Train
• Mine Train
• Tea Cups (where I got a blister from spinning so fast)
• Speedway
• People Mover

Toss in some ice cream somewhere in there too.

Then we had dinner at the Canteen. This restaurant is GREAT! How do people not RAVE about this place. The food is different and delicious. The service was a bit lacking, and not as "Skipper-ish" as I thought it might be, but the restaurant is awesome in side and again, the menu is great. This will now be a go-to for us as a family, especially for my wife the vegetarian.

I cut out of the dinner at 8:30 to hit up the fireworks and we got to my favorite spot in front of the castle and we closed out our night with singing and fireworks. It was the perfect end to the perfect day even if it rained.

Lessons Learned: Perfect day. Don't let the rain get you down. Hanging out in Main Street for a while is a great way to spend some time (and money).

The park wasn't as crowded as other days, but a lot of that was the weather. Great day though.

 

[YesterDark]

Day 9: The Return to Reality - Vacation Over - Lessons Learned - Better Planning



All stories have an ending, even if it's just a chapter. We'll be back next year for a similar visit maybe a day shorter because of school schedules etc. The last day started with a great breakfast and coffee. We pilfered the snack stand with our left over credits. Dropped off the stroller (props to Kingdom Strollers for an awesome service), got our luggage together and we headed out to the airport for an easy ride home. Not much to share about our last day, no parks or dining reservations. We had a 1pm flight and a nice and easy morning.

Here's where I'm going to put some random thoughts that I either forgot to add above and don't feel like editing back in, and some of the broader lessons learned about planning that I'd like to share to the readers of this thread for their own trips.

Stay Hydrated
Anyone is going to tell you to stay hydrated at the parks. We found our selves visiting Cosmic Rays to use the only water bottle filler in the park. The rest of the water fountains didn't have the water pressure to fill bottles. Rays also was nice enough to give us big cups of ice to fill all of our bottles.

Disney really need to install water bottle filling stations throughout the park and be done with it. The Quick Service and other counters are busy enough let alone handing out ice and water to nearly everyone.

Use the App!!! Mobile Order and 4th Fastpasses
Why do people wait on lines at Disney. Shame on you! Unless you have to go on those marquee rides and you don't mind waiting 1-2 hours for a 2-3 minute experience, use your app! Book your fastpasses as early as possible in your day (whenever your start time is) and then keep booking the 4th, 5th etc. fastpasses and constantly refresh for better times and choices. It's how I got Space/Splash and other rides at MK. There will be some you won't be able to get, so if you couldn't get Thunder/Splash/Space/7DMT/Pan right off the bat, and you don't rope drop, you may be waiting in lines.

Otherwise, use your app and jump from ride to ride. Don't wait in standby for most attractions!

Same goes for Mobile Ordering. If Mobile Ordering is offered, use it. You'll save half your time waiting on line.

Don't Book in August
It's hell on earth down there. It saps your strength. Took me two visits to learn that lesson.

How to Plan a Longer Vacation
I consider myself a master planner, but maybe I still need to learn the psychology of my family better as it grows. Like I mentioned in the first post, the last time we went we were four people (Me, Wife, 4yo, 2yo) and we were there for 4 full days. Not many options. This time we did 7 full days and I planned a similar style vacation. That was a mistake I think.

Because we had so many tickets, I planned dinner at the parks thinking that we can easily just go in and out. But they turned into half park days themselves. Because I did this, until Day 7, we had no down time at night, and not time to recap the day before. The way we had set it up we came home from the parks late, and hit the sack every single night. For the wife and I, even on the full day off, we still went in to the parks.

Until the kids are older and they can stay up past 10pm, and the wife and I have more energy from less heat, and less stuff to haul around, we can stay up longer too we're going to try to plan more full down days and more mornings only. For example with a 8 day trip we have tentatively planned in our heads we'll do something like:

• MK Full Day
• Epcot Akershus Breakfast - back to the resort at lunch for a pool day.
• DHS Full day
• Full Day Off
• DHS Half day/Full Day
• MK Full Day

Hoppers aren't worth it to me with small kids. Too much stuff to haul around. Hoppers will be a thing once the kids are older. Because of that, we'll probably skip AK our next trip. FOP is amazing, but not enough of a draw for the whole family. We'll see though. My son needs to grow 3" to get on the ride.

My thought is, the more time we have to unwind at night/afternoon the healthier we will be mentally the next day. I think, as a family, we need time to talk about our day, talk about tomorrow and not do it with whispers in a hotel room full of sleeping kids. While late starts are nice, I think we prefer have a relaxing end of the day, rather than a relaxing start.

I don't regret the vacation we had, but the days blended together. As I wrote this it was tough remember everything we did because each day was just a continuation of the day before. It was incredibly fun, and we had a blast, but I think I can do better. I just need to plan it just right so I don't have TOO much down time and leave Disney thinking we didn't do enough. Planning will start soon enough. Just got to wait for those Spring 2020 discounts that should be announced in September.

Shopping
First time I used "send back to your resort" option when buying things at the resort. WOW Love this option and will always use it. No more carrying things around anymore! I suggest everyone use it if you don't already!

Also, first time using Amazon Now. Picked everything up at the front, and this saved us a lot of money I think. I'll be using this all the time from here on out. Hopefully Disney doesn't screw this up.

Dining Plan Redux
The dining plan allowed me to do an amazing amount of character meals that my kids LOVED. Paying full price, our dining plan I think would have cost $278 a day. Each character meal cost us $200-$300 so it was totally worth it. We used two credit for CRT so we lost something there. But overall, with the alcohol change, you break even easily for the most part.

It is a lot of food though. I was feeling it half way through, so those who say that have a point. We were doing it for the experience not the sustenance. I love a good dining plan debate, maybe I'll write about it again.

Lastly: I may be adding more to this as my thoughts come together. I'm already thinking about how I'm going to write a bunch of contributor articles for the Dis.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Rides/Experiences Done

Magic Kingdom

• Pirates
• Jungle Cruise
• Aladdin
• Tiki Room
• Thunder Mountain
• Splash Mountain
• Country Bears
• Haunted Mansion
• Peter Pan
• Pooh
• Princess Hall
• Small World
• Royal Carousel
• Mine Train
• Dumbo
• Barnstormer
• Tea Cups
• Carousel of Progress
• People Mover
• Buzz Lightyear
• Speedway
• Journey of the Little Mermaid

Epcot

• Frozen
• Soarin
• Living with the Land
• Nemo
• Spaceship Earth
• American Experience

Animal Kingdom

• Safari
• Festival of the Lion King
• Flight of Passage
• Triceratop Spin
• Everest
• Dinosaur

Hollywood Studios

• Frozen Singalong
• Slinkydog Dash
• Disney Jr Dance Party
• Lightning McQueen Racing Academy
• Star Tours
• Jedi Training

 

[Minniemoo15]

Great report !! I really enjoyed your writing style - found myself smiling throughout.

I’m the planner for my family as well and have definitely found that the more down time, the better. You have me going back to my plans to schedule a MK date night with my husband now and leave the kids with grandparents...sounds lovely !!

 

[YesterDark]

Great report !! I really enjoyed your writing style - found myself smiling throughout.

I’m the planner for my family as well and have definitely found that the more down time, the better. You have me going back to my plans to schedule a MK date night with my husband now and leave the kids with grandparents...sounds lovely !!

Glad you enjoyed it. It was fun to write. Downtime has always been my something that I preach as well. I guess the half days that I planned weren't enough. I got a bit overzealous with the bounty of park days we bought.

 

[evlaina]

Love your writing style! I couldn't agree with you more on Animal Kingdom - we simultaneously love and hate it, and consider it a half-day park.

Just wait till your kids don’t need strollers, it’s amazing.

 

[YesterDark]

Love your writing style! I couldn't agree with you more on Animal Kingdom - we simultaneously love and hate it, and consider it a half-day park.

Just wait till your kids don’t need strollers, it’s amazing.

Wait you can do Disney without a stroller? That's a fantasy.

 

[YesterDark]

Love your writing style! I couldn't agree with you more on Animal Kingdom - we simultaneously love and hate it, and consider it a half-day park.

Just wait till your kids don’t need strollers, it’s amazing.

Wait you can do Disney without a stroller? That's a fantasy.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Wait you can do Disney without a stroller? That's a fantasy.

You will get there...someday. And it's lovely - I promise!

I really enjoyed your report as well, and I so agree with including downtime!! An early night can work wonders!

Glad to see another Skipper Canteen fan, too. - We went there for the first time on our most recent trip, and it's a fav now! (report from Dec 2019)

Unlike you, we love AK, but we're all huge animal people...and it wasn't August.

Your plan for next time looks great. - Try to squeeze Turtle Talk into that Epcot breakfast day if you can. It really is cute!

 

[YesterDark]

You will get there...someday. And it's lovely - I promise!

I really enjoyed your report as well, and I so agree with including downtime!! An early night can work wonders!

Glad to see another Skipper Canteen fan, too. - We went there for the first time on our most recent trip, and it's a fav now! (report from Dec 2019)

Unlike you, we love AK, but we're all huge animal people...and it wasn't August.

Your plan for next time looks great. - Try to squeeze Turtle Talk into that Epcot breakfast day if you can. It really is cute!

We love the Safari. But I think we'll like the park when we're older when walking more is easier.

One day.

 

[heaven2dc]

The room was a 5th Sleeper. Remember, it's myself, my wife, my mom, and three kids: 6yo, 4yo, 1.5yo. We need to cram in some Disney vacations before my youngest daughter turns 3. In any case, plenty of USB ports, the pull down bed was awesome for my oldest daughter. The curtain separating the bathroom sinks from the room was awesome. For 3 adults and 3 kids, it wasn't crazy packed and terrible. We spent most of the time out of the room, but even at night, it was not a problem at all. Fully recommend this set up if you're looking to save on a 2 bedroom suite or double rooms.

/QUOTE]

Enjoying your trip report! So glad you got over your strep throat before traveling!

I didn't know Port Orleans rooms can accommodate 6 guests. What room category was this? We are staying at the Yacht Club and even though they have the pull down bed, it only accommodates 5 guests so we had to book a separate room for the additional guest. Thanks!