Who: Myself(49), DH(48), DS(17)- his twin chose not to come with due to too many other commitments
When: November 9-12
How: DH earned an incentive trip through his job.
Previous Trips: took oldest three in 1999, all 5 kids in 2001
SATURDAY: Flew Southwest out of Chicago Midway, car service was waiting to take us to the Contemporary. Had a little bit of a problem getting Magic bands set up. I couldn't get the app to download so we stopped at concierge and they set up some fast pass+ for us.
Headed out to Studios. We did Star Tours, Great Movie Ride, Tower of Terror and RnR. Guys could have done without GMR, but we needed a time filler. Loved the others especially TT.
Back to the resort to try to get some dinner reservations, but nothing was open. I should have looked into it before we left, but we found out about the trip in September and in October found out my sister had cancer-planning fell by the wayside.
Decided to head to MK. Ate at Cosmic Rays, did Buzz & Space Mtn during parade,watched some of the fireworks and made our way to Splash Mtn which was a walk on. MK was open late(2am) but we had been up since 4:30 CST and my husband has a bad hip so we called it a night around 10:30 or so.
SUNDAY: Went down to concierge to try to get magic band straightened out and set up some FP+ for later. Discovery Cove this morning. Took a taxi both ways. Did the dolphin experience. My BIL's sister works there and did our session then gave the 3 of us a little more time with the dolphin for extra pics and gave us a behind the scenes tour. Stayed there until about 1:30 or so before heading back.
Took a short rest then went to Epcot. I can't remember the order but we rode Soaring,Living with the Land,& Test Track and ate at Crown & Rose-very good food and service. My son asked our server Adam if people asked him to say something from Harry Potter all the time. Adam shakes his head yes and DS says "You're a wizard Harry." Adam starts laughing and says "yea that's it."
We called it an early night, but were kept up a little by noise from Chef Mickey's.
MONDAY: Extra Magic hour at AK. Walked right on Safari-animals were pretty active, giraffes were running back and forth. Next was Expedition Everest, our first time. While I was in the store I realized I left my phone and camera in the cargo pouch. By the time I walked back to the exit area, the CMs had found both-crisis averted. We walked on to Everest a second time then decided to grab a quick bite to eat at the bakery in Africa. After that we rode Dinosaur. Since we had just rode the 3 rides we had FP+ for later in the day, I cancelled them in case we wanted to use them for something else later(we didn't). After seeing It's Tough to be a Bug, we left.
We spent some time at the pool before we headed back to Epcot for a late lunch at Le cellier. We roamed the showcase and did some shopping before meeting up with the other trip winners for a reception in the private viewing area between England and France.
MONDAY: Up earlier than I wanted to be due to noise from Chef Mickey's. Shopped, packed and checked out before heading to the airport.
THOUGHTS on Fast Pass+, Magic Bands: I liked the ease of the magic band. We didn't have a chance to plan ahead of time but it still worked out. Did have trouble trying to use the app in the resort due to the wifi being spotty. Also using the app in the parks really drained my phone battery. Also didnt like that all three picks had to be in the same park.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
When: November 9-12
How: DH earned an incentive trip through his job.
Previous Trips: took oldest three in 1999, all 5 kids in 2001
SATURDAY: Flew Southwest out of Chicago Midway, car service was waiting to take us to the Contemporary. Had a little bit of a problem getting Magic bands set up. I couldn't get the app to download so we stopped at concierge and they set up some fast pass+ for us.
Headed out to Studios. We did Star Tours, Great Movie Ride, Tower of Terror and RnR. Guys could have done without GMR, but we needed a time filler. Loved the others especially TT.
Back to the resort to try to get some dinner reservations, but nothing was open. I should have looked into it before we left, but we found out about the trip in September and in October found out my sister had cancer-planning fell by the wayside.
Decided to head to MK. Ate at Cosmic Rays, did Buzz & Space Mtn during parade,watched some of the fireworks and made our way to Splash Mtn which was a walk on. MK was open late(2am) but we had been up since 4:30 CST and my husband has a bad hip so we called it a night around 10:30 or so.
SUNDAY: Went down to concierge to try to get magic band straightened out and set up some FP+ for later. Discovery Cove this morning. Took a taxi both ways. Did the dolphin experience. My BIL's sister works there and did our session then gave the 3 of us a little more time with the dolphin for extra pics and gave us a behind the scenes tour. Stayed there until about 1:30 or so before heading back.
Took a short rest then went to Epcot. I can't remember the order but we rode Soaring,Living with the Land,& Test Track and ate at Crown & Rose-very good food and service. My son asked our server Adam if people asked him to say something from Harry Potter all the time. Adam shakes his head yes and DS says "You're a wizard Harry." Adam starts laughing and says "yea that's it."
We called it an early night, but were kept up a little by noise from Chef Mickey's.
MONDAY: Extra Magic hour at AK. Walked right on Safari-animals were pretty active, giraffes were running back and forth. Next was Expedition Everest, our first time. While I was in the store I realized I left my phone and camera in the cargo pouch. By the time I walked back to the exit area, the CMs had found both-crisis averted. We walked on to Everest a second time then decided to grab a quick bite to eat at the bakery in Africa. After that we rode Dinosaur. Since we had just rode the 3 rides we had FP+ for later in the day, I cancelled them in case we wanted to use them for something else later(we didn't). After seeing It's Tough to be a Bug, we left.
We spent some time at the pool before we headed back to Epcot for a late lunch at Le cellier. We roamed the showcase and did some shopping before meeting up with the other trip winners for a reception in the private viewing area between England and France.
MONDAY: Up earlier than I wanted to be due to noise from Chef Mickey's. Shopped, packed and checked out before heading to the airport.
THOUGHTS on Fast Pass+, Magic Bands: I liked the ease of the magic band. We didn't have a chance to plan ahead of time but it still worked out. Did have trouble trying to use the app in the resort due to the wifi being spotty. Also using the app in the parks really drained my phone battery. Also didnt like that all three picks had to be in the same park.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
