A Spring Break trip review 3/14-3/19

[David G Farr]

Alright folks, I'm going to try to give a rundown of our family spring break trip. Yes, we were there with everyone else in the northern hemisphere this week. I prepped our 3 kids for longer than normal line times. We packed snacks so that we wouldn't go bankrupt feeding our 2 boys who are bottomless pits. Thankfully the girl eats like a bird, unless its chips and cheese dip. We did 4 days in the parks, but skipped AK because EE is down and let's be honest, outside of FoP it's just a glorified zoo and my kids have aged out of the amazement of seeing animals. We took them do the San Diego Zoo last year and it was a big dud so we weren't wasting valuable time and money on AK. We did HS, MK, Epcot, and MK for our 4 park days. We stayed a Caribbean Beach so got the extra 30 minutes which I highly recommend, especially on these crowded days. We were able to knock out 1-3 big attractions per park relatively quickly.

Ok, so now let's go over who all was along for the trip.


You have me, the dummy who made his real name his message board handle, and my beautiful bride. We have been married almost 2 years now and have a blended family. We bonded over our love for Disney when we went on an adults only trip in September of 2019 while we were dating. I had a work conference and she tagged along, I skipped nearly the whole conference and we had a Disney vacation essentially paid for!


Next up you have the financiers of our trip, my parents. They're both retired now and have a decent yearly travel budget and gave us this trip for our Christmas gift. They took my older brother and his wife and daughter in November 2020 when covid restrictions were pretty tight, so they really got to enjoy their trip this time. Also, my niece was 2 at the time so they didn't do any of the thrill rides on that trip, but they definitely made up for it on this trip. My parents honeymooned at the Contemporary when they got married back in 1976.



Next up is my stepdaughter (DD) who will turn 16 next week. She thinks she's a princess in real life. This was her first Disney trip since she was 8, so she got to experience a lot of new things. Her favorite ride this trip was MMRR.



Next up are our 2 boys. No, they aren't twins. They're almost a year apart, both having October birthdays. If you've seen the movie "Stepbrothers" then imagine those characters in elementary school. That is my life with these two.

The one on the right is my stepson (DS1). He's 10 and very, very active. We were worried about him being in lines since he doesn't do stationary very well, but he did great this trip. This was his first trip since he was 18 months old, so needless to say this was all new to him. He rode all the things and ate all the snacks. His favorite ride this trip was Space Mountain.

The boy on the left is my son (DS2) who is 9. He and I have been through a lot together, but I'll spare you all the drama and details as that convo would involve some bourbon and a campfire. His mother and I took him for his 5th birthday in 2017, but the only thing he remembers from that trip was ToT. His favorite ride this trip was also Space Mountain.

We stayed at CBR from 3/15-3/19. We flew in from Atlanta on 3/14 and just stayed by the airport since it was a late flight. We live close enough to drive to Disney, but had credit card points so that was the better option. 8 hours in a car with the three of them wasn't too appealing. We only live 80 miles from the Atlanta airport so flying is super easy, especially when it was basically free.

 

[unbrelievable]

Following along! Hope you enjoyed the trip.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Following along to hear about how you managed with the crowds! I hope you still managed to find the fun while there!

 

[rdkeim]

Following

 

[David G Farr]

Day 0: Travel Day

We had planned on driving to Orlando from where we live in Alabama because its only about an 8 hour drive and flights were about $300 per person when we started planning the trip. My mom is kinda OCD and also likes her creature comforts so she kept stalking the airline prices and they had come down a good bit. At first the sent me a link to Frontier flights for like $80, but then I informed her that you basically have to pay for the oxygen that you breathe on that airline, which ran the price up a good bit. For some reason I had forgotten about all the credit card points that I had, and Southwest allows you to transfer the points 1:1, so about 70k points later I had 5 round trip tickets for a whopping $56. The flight we found left Atlanta at 6:30ish eastern time, which is 5:30 in Alabama time. I takes about 90 minutes to drive to the airport, so I was thinking we leave around 2pm cst (3pm est), and get there by 4:30 est, which gives us a good 2 hours to park, check bags, go through security quickly (thanks pre check!) and settle in. Unfortunately, I was very wrong.

My mom texts me about what time we need to leave, and I tell her around 2pm, but she comes back saying we are leaving at 12pm, or 5 1/2 hours before our flight leaves. My mom is a worrier when she travels. She likes to get places super early just so that nothing is missed. Unfortunately I inherited some of these qualities, but not this severe. Since she's paying for the trip I don't put up a fight and agree to her exaggerated time schedule. We all load up in my parents' Palisade like the Clampetts and head up I-85 way too early for our flight.



We hit a slow patch of traffic about 45 minutes into the drive and my mother starts with the whole "see, this is why you leave early in case you get stopped in Atlanta traffic" bit. Never mind that we were nowhere even in Atlanta. Heck, the airport isn't even in Atlanta. The slowdown was only about 20 minutes, so we made it to the airport with a mere 4 hours to spare. We dropped the car off at a Marriott that allows for long term parking and rode their shuttle to the terminal. I had to get the Southwest agent to add my precheck to my boarding pass since I had just switch to global entry and my precheck number had expired. After that we were off to the precheck security gate which was basically empty whilst my parents waited in the miles long regular security line. We decided to grab and early dinner in the airport at Sweet Georgia Juke Joint. Said it was a southern style restaurant.

Big mistake.

It was terrible. It was glorified pre-made refrigerated sandwiches. 0 stars. Would not recommend. Anyway, after the terrible dinner we went back to the gate, boarded, flew, landed, and took some pics.



Since we were getting in town so late we stayed at a Fairfield Inn close to the airport. We got our bags, took the shuttle to the hotel, and set up shop for the night. It's about 9:30pm by now and the sad early dinner has already been digested by myself, wife, and kids. Thankfully there were plenty of eating options around the hotel that were walkable. It was a beautiful night so we decided on Rock & Brews. This place was perfect. It had good burgers and beer and games to entertain my two busy sons. My dad tried a flight of local Florida beers. I had the Floridian by Funky Buddha and the Big Wave by Kona brewing. 4/5 stars. Would drink again.

We walked back to the hotel and went to bed. We had an early wake up call in the morning as our transportation was picking us up at 6:15am to take us to CBR and start our first day in the parks.

 

[footballmouse]

 

[SEAGULL59]

Excited to hear about your trip!!

 

[rdkeim]

Off to a good start! I, too, like getting to the airport way early. My DH doesn't agree but goes along with it. Hope your first park day is good!

 

[Jess_VacayMode]

I had to laugh when I read yall got there 4 hours early. I used to live by BNA in Nashville and I would get there 50 minutes before my flight LOL. I do not want to spend more time at airport than I have too. Looking forward to reading about your trip.

 

[bsjs0708]

Can't wait for more!

 

[David G Farr]

Day 1: Hollywood Studios Part 1​

Since we stayed offsite the night we arrived, we needed to get our bags to CBR early enough to hop on the skyliner to make it there in time for rope drop. This means that our transportation is picking us up at 6:15am, which for our bodies is 5:15am. Great. My son, stepson, and I are all early risers so not that big of a deal. My wife and stepdaughter are not, but thankfully they were too excited to sleep in and everyone was up and ready without issue. We get dropped off before sunrise and take our bags to bell services where they're nice enough to take us in the shuttle to the skyliner station.



We hop on the skyliner at around 7am and we are walking into HS at 7:15 to await rope drop.





We had decided since this was our only day at HS this trip that we would buy genie+. I managed to book a LL for ToT at 7am (minus my mom who had no interest in the ride), but couldn't get an ILL for RotR, so just figured we would do standby for that at rope drop. Well, while waiting for rope drop I refreshed genie+ and BAM, ILL for RotR was available for that afternoon, so I snagged it. Keep reading to find out if I think it was worth the $15 per person.

Since I had secured both ToT and RotR for LL, we decided to head to Toy Storyland and rope drop SDD, which was a great choice. My stepson is still getting into roller coasters, so this was perfect for him. I give it a 4/5 as far as rides go. Its a nice, smooth ride that isn't too aggressive. Everyone loved it. I'm a more adventurous rider so I enjoyed rockin' roller coaster better. We might have waited 10 minutes tops to ride, and by the time we got off the wait was approaching 60 minutes. While in Toy Storyland we also knocked out the swirling saucers (2/5, wouldn't wait more than 15 minutes for it) and then went to toy story mania (3/5, its a fun ride with good effects). I beat everyone in the family on TSM.

After the first 3 rides I think we walked back out to Sunset Blvd towards Rockin' RC. I think we grabbed a snack somewhere in there too. We then decided to braves the wait for RRC (is that the acronym? That's what I'm going with) which was around 70 minutes. You could definitely tell it was spring break with several high school bands in attendance. I'm so glad my daughter dresses modestly. Anyway, we wait and eventually make it in. Honestly, this was probably our longest wait of the whole trip. I think during the wait I grabbed another LL for MMRR for later on that evening. While in line we were trying to distract my stepson from the announcement that the ride goes upside down. For the first time in his life he actually paid attention and heard them talk about the loops and corkscrews, but he was a trooper and rode anyway. I rode next to a nice lady from Pennsylvania who apparently is obsessed and comes down every few months. Not sure if I like Disney that much.



After RRC we were getting hungry. They boys wanted to see Galaxy's Edge, so we walked that way, let them shop, and mobile ordered ABC Commissary on the way out of SWGE. I was pleasantly surprised by the food there. My wife and daughter got the mediterranean chicken salad and love it. I got the pork carnitas tacos. All were 5/5. The only sad thing was the kid's meals were pretty weak, and our boys are at that in-between adult and kids portions phase right now.


Ok, that's wraps up roughly our first half day in Hollywood Studios. I'll do the second half later.

 

[AliceNDinah]

Great report so far! You are a very entertaining writer, so fun Can't wait to hear more.....

 

[David G Farr]

Day 1: Hollywood Studios Part 2
​

Sorry for the delay folks. The wife and I had a grown ups only beach weekend with some friends. A vacation from our Disney vacation, which was much needed. Caught some redfish and spotted trout in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing better than eating a fish that you caught 2 hours earlier. Anyway, on with the report.

After lunch I think we killed some time at Muppetvision 3D. It's a good time killer, air conditioned, and funny. We also knocked out Star Tours which was basically a walkon. Maybe a 10 minute wait. It was a hit of course. We then made our way back down Sunset Blvd for our ToT LL. Along the way we ran into Donald up on the balcony. My wife asked where Daisy was and Donald motioned that she was out getting her nails done. It was an unexpected, funny answer.



We headed up to ToT for our LL and the line was bonkers of course. It was around 2:30pm and they were still only running one side of the ride, which makes it that much longer of a wait. We had a 10-15 minute wait even with the LL. My mom decided to sit this one out, so just 6 of us rode. It was the first time for my dad, stepson, and stepdaughter. My son rode it when he was 5, and vaguely remembers it.



We are the 6 people in the bottom right corner. I was sitting next to my son and I was looking at him because I thought he was going to throw up when he had his hands over his mouth. Thank goodness he didn't. ToT is always a 5/5, would ride over and over again for me.

After that we headed back to Galaxy's Edge for our RotR ILL. We walked right on basically. The immersion of this ride was amazing! When we got to the part of the ride where the imperial guards were lining you up on your color, my daughter was leaning against the side of the ship, and he told her not to lean on his ship. My wife started laughing and he pointed out that she too was leaning on his ship. No way could I stay in character all day like that.



As for the ride, I give it a 4/5. It was very neat and immersive, but I don't like to be busy while I'm being entertained. I'd rather just sit there and take the spectacle in instead of having to move from place to place. Also, I'm not a super huge Star Wars fan either.

After RotR we killed more time in SWGE. My stepson spent all of his $50 gift card on souvenirs there, which would come back to haunt him later in the trip. We braved the standby line for Smuggler's Run. It took roughly an hour. Smartest idea Disney had was having a beer/soda stand for folks to buy while waiting in line. I give it a 4/5 also, unless you're the pilot, then its a 5/5.

After we were finished in SWGE it was time for dinner. I had grabbed a MMRR LL while in line for ToT earlier, but it wasn't until about 7:20. My wife had been binge watching Disney Food Blog and wanted a wookie cookie from Backlot Express, so we mobile ordered food there and found us a table. I'm pretty sure most everybody got burgers of some sort. I remember that I got the pulled pork burger. Everyone enjoyed their meal from what I remembered. While we were there another family sat at the table next to us. The seats were tall and rotated, and one of their children who looked to be 11 or 12 was sitting and just spinning in it and making a super high pitched squeaking noise. It went on for a few minutes because surely someone in her family would notice and make the kid stop.

You would be wrong. It continued. For too long. I was basically like Squints from "The Sandlot" and I just couldn't take it anymore, so I walked over and politely asked the girl and a woman I assumed to be her grandmother, if she could stop spinning in the chair. Apparently this traumatized the girl and made her cry. My wife said her dad was cutting eyes at me the rest of the meal. Oh well, if you're not going to stop your kid from annoying the rest of the restaurant, then I will.

After the meal and the crying girl, we headed back out to our MMRR LL. It was only a 30 minute wait basically by then, so we walked on. I'm not gonna lie folks, this ride was great. I was expecting a simply little kids ride for 4-7 year olds, but this might have been my favorite of the trip. After that we decided to call it a day. We woke up at 4:30 our time and were at the park from open to close. My son wanted a picture with me in front of the Chinese Theater as we were leaving.

 

[Tatum20]

Sounds like a great day! My daughter (10) and I LOVE Tower of Terror. We were there the 13th, and lines for everything but Star Tours was 60+ min for most of the evening. We had a choice between waiting in line for TOT or Rise at the end of the night (both posted at 120 min standby, but I was hoping those times were inflated because it was 30 min before park closing, and we chose TOT. So worth it to ride TOT at night!

Also, Disney has really stepped up its game for QS. We went to ABC Commissary in 2021 and got some kind of shrimp rice meal that was excellent. I am so glad you can get things besides burgers and chicken nuggets at the counter service places in Disney.

 

[AliceNDinah]

I love the TOT too! And just adored MMRR last June, that was my favorite ride at the Studios. Can't wait to do it again in August. Ughhhh about the spinning girl--how absolutely annoying. Good for you for saying something! Can't wait to read more

 

[ambula603]

Following along! Sounds like a good trip so far!

 

[jrmint427]

Following! It sounds like a fun first day at HS. Do you think the ROTR was worth the $15?

 

[David G Farr]

Following! It sounds like a fun first day at HS. Do you think the ROTR was worth the $15?

For a one time ride, sure. However, I doubt I’d pay to ride that one again. Like I said I’m not the biggest Star Wars fan. I also like to sit back and be entertained instead of playing a role in the ride, so all the moving from one area to another, then being taken over by the Empire and moved into a holding cell, then being broken out of the holding cell was all too distracting for me. The Star Wars hotel would be totally pointless to me.

 

[bamaslp]

Enjoying your trip report! I'm from Alabama too

 

[BellaBaby]

Just read your TR so far. Really enjoying it. Hope to hear more about it soon!