Advice for short trip

[DisneyWishes14]

Thanks! This is very helpful! RNR is a big reason for the trip, but I'm not sure she will ride it more than once. If I get her there and she doesn't ride it at all, I'm not sure what I will do to her (we go to Busch Gardens Williamsburg quite often and she is hit or miss with the roller coasters). Her favorite ride at Disney is EE so I know she will want several rides on that (if thats even possible with this short trip).

LOL! My DS10 AND DH chickened out on RnRCC so I went on it alone - AAAHHHH!! My legs were shaking so hard at the end and I couldn't figure out how to get out of the harness - I thought I was going to be stuck and would have to ride it again - NO!!! The CM did get me out, thank goodness! ANYWAY - I could totally understand if she decides not to ride, LOL

My DS10 LOVES EE and does the single rider line repeatedly. With the combination of FP+ and single rider, he can usually get in 3 or 4 rides in a row!

 

[jaiminee krikit]

DD15 and I did a long weekend back in October. She really wanted to see Pandora, so we needed to do AK. I can't imagine a WDW trip where we don't ride TSMM, so we had to go to HS. And I will not ever go to WDW and not go to MK and Epcot. So we got PHs for 2 days.
We arrived late on Thursday night so we just ate dinner, saw a little bit of Yehaa Bob, and called it a night.
We got up early on Friday and headed to Epcot for F&W. We stayed there until early afternoon, riding a few rides, and then headed back to our room for a break. Later that afternoon, we went to AK to see Pandora at night, for DD to ride FoP, me to eat at Satuli Canteen, ride Kilimanjaro Safaris, and watch RoL, and then snuck in NRJ. (We had FPs for FoP, KS, and RoL).
Saturday we got up early and headed to HS to ride TSMM a few times and then we walked to Epcot to have lunch at Via Napoli. After lunch we hit a couple more F&W booths for treats, then headed back to our room for another break. That evening we went to the HEA dessert party and stayed at MK until we couldn't take it any more. We rode everything we wanted at least once that night. (I think we used a FP for TSMM and then we must have made more for MK that day, but I can't remember what).
Sunday we went to 1900PF for breakfast (another must-do) and went to MK for MNSSHP. Our flight was Monday late morning.
Honestly, it was one of my favorite trips. I didn't have time to get bored or sick of people and we did almost everything we wanted to do. DD just didn't like missing one day of school to do it, so it will probably never happen again (sob sob).

 

[mekay1012]

LOL! My DS10 AND DH chickened out on RnRCC so I went on it alone - AAAHHHH!! My legs were shaking so hard at the end and I couldn't figure out how to get out of the harness - I thought I was going to be stuck and would have to ride it again - NO!!! The CM did get me out, thank goodness! ANYWAY - I could totally understand if she decides not to ride, LOL

My DS10 LOVES EE and does the single rider line repeatedly. With the combination of FP+ and single rider, he can usually get in 3 or 4 rides in a row!

She was actually just tall enough last summer to ride and chickened out while we were waiting to get into the park. We ended up swapping our fp for Disney Junior (I didn't want to ride alone). I think she's regretted it ever since. Hopefully, she will redeem herself!

 

[Shanti]

Yes, I would be willing to switch to just a 4 day ticket. My concern with doing a park day the last day we leave is getting everything packed up and ready to go and still making it to a park for rope drop. We are staying onsite.

Pack up the night before. A day at Disney Springs is a waste on such a short trip.

 

[mekay1012]

Pack up the night before. A day at Disney Springs is a waste on such a short trip.

I can't imagine going to Disney and not getting a Christmas Ornament. Do any of the stores at the parks have ornaments?

 

[Ensusieasm]

I can't imagine going to Disney and not getting a Christmas Ornament. Do any of the stores at the parks have ornaments?

Magic Kingdom has a Christmas store in Liberty Square. They have plenty of ornaments year round.

 

[Skippyboo]

Ornaments at Mousegears at Epcot, Germany has ornaments, the already mentioned Christmas store in Liberty Square. If you buy one early on your trip, you can have it sent to your onsite resort so you don’t have to carry it around. Just don’t try it near end of trip.

 

[MischaOz]

I recently did a mother/daughter short trip in November. It was awesome! Granted my daughter is only 5, but the best advice I can give is to make it about your daughter. Slow down, let her decide what she wants to do, and don’t worry about not squeezing everything in. On what was supposed to be our Epcot day, my daughter decided she would rather go back to AK, so that’s what we did, and we had a blast!

 

[mekay1012]

Another question. Is photopass worth the money for a short trip?

 

[Skippyboo]

Not really because you can just give your phone to the photographer or the assistant to take the pictures at character meetings. How many bad ride photos do you need? You can still see the photos on the photos pass just would have to pay to download one.

 

[roller99]

Hey friend! I'll report back after my 2.5 day trip next weekend.

 

[Lovetherodent]

Sleep is for the weak! I generally get 3 park days on a 4 night trip. We live where there are 3 flights a day, and none of them are direct, so 3 park days it is. Anyway, understand you can’t do it all, but you can do everything you want. FP mornings so you can get a 4th and 5th. What’s worked for us is morning EMH (are you staying on site?), a 2-3 hr break right at lunch time or just after for swimming or a nap (you might need one). Then to whatever park has evening extra magic and close her down! Obviously, we have to have hoppers for the plan to work. And really late nights are great for getting on a lot of rides with few waits.

We get memory maker for our short trips. I think it’s worth it, but I take terrible pictures.

 

[mekay1012]

Hey friend! I'll report back after my 2.5 day trip next weekend.

I can't wait to hear how your trip goes. Take lots of notes for me!

 

[mekay1012]

Sleep is for the weak! I generally get 3 park days on a 4 night trip. We live where there are 3 flights a day, and none of them are direct, so 3 park days it is. Anyway, understand you can’t do it all, but you can do everything you want. FP mornings so you can get a 4th and 5th. What’s worked for us is morning EMH (are you staying on site?), a 2-3 hr break right at lunch time or just after for swimming or a nap (you might need one). Then to whatever park has evening extra magic and close her down! Obviously, we have to have hoppers for the plan to work. And really late nights are great for getting on a lot of rides with few waits.

We get memory maker for our short trips. I think it’s worth it, but I take terrible pictures.

I agree! I can sleep when I get home!

 

[kiramay]

Thanks! This is very helpful! RNR is a big reason for the trip, but I'm not sure she will ride it more than once. If I get her there and she doesn't ride it at all, I'm not sure what I will do to her (we go to Busch Gardens Williamsburg quite often and she is hit or miss with the roller coasters). Her favorite ride at Disney is EE so I know she will want several rides on that (if thats even possible with this short trip).

EE is a great ride to RD because everyone else is going to Pandora. My kids rode it 6 times one morning.

I can't imagine going to Disney and not getting a Christmas Ornament. Do any of the stores at the parks have ornaments?

Lots of places for Christmas ornaments year round. I buy one each year, usually in MK and/or Epcot.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I'm planning on getting the one day memory maker for whichever day I like the most pics.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Do short trips often. We are not heavy ride people, but do enjoy the mainstays. We hit rope drop every day. Do all we can before the crowds come in. Save our fastpasses for whichever park we go to in the evening. We always by hoppers so that we can go to early opening park in the morning, and different park in the evening. We sometimes even hit late night park after that. We are not big breakfast people and usually coordinate lunch around us leaving morning park (monorail lunch leaving MK, duck out of Epcot or Studios to one of the boardwalk restaurants, or go to Springs). Then we take it easy for 2-4 hours in the afternoon at our hotel or shopping at springs. Having the fast passes in the evening gives us a good timeframe to set our sights on when as far as when we need to be back tot he parks.

I will say, once we hit 50 we began to relax and enjoy the quick trips instead of doing a "run and recover" trip. Appreciating just being there as we relax and tour at our own speed enables us to enjoy them more and look forward to them even more as well.

 

[roller99]

I'm planning on getting the one day memory maker for whichever day I like the most pics.

Can you give more details about this? I've never heard of the one-day option.

 

[roller99]

Can you give more details about this? I've never heard of the one-day option.

To quote myself lol, looked this up, $59 for a download of one day's pictures after the fact.

 

[mekay1012]

I'm planning on getting the one day memory maker for whichever day I like the most pics.

Can this be purchased after the trip and then you just decide which day you want the pics from?