We got back last Tuesday after spending 9 days down at the World (DH, DD14, DS9) and just wanted to thank everyone for the info they shared on the boards. I'm not a total planner but like to research and these boards helped me know about some of the ins and outs that just helped make the trip even more magical.
This was our third family trip (others were in Oct. 04 and Sept. 06) and since it will likely be our last since we have some other vacations we'd like to do before DD graduates, we decided to do a longer stay to deal with the heat and the higher crowd levels.
We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside (that was where we stayed on site the first time and we never managed to try any other place since we really loved it). I had requested Parterre Place to be as close as possible to the French Quarter but they placed us in Oak Manor and we ended up loving that location -- corner room and close to a quiet pool and laundry and the bridge over to the main building. We had the 35% off pin for room only and we ended up doing a split stay. The first 7 nights were in a package with the QSDP and the last 3 nights were room only since we knew we wouldn't use up all of the credits for the dining plan over the entire stay. That ended up working out great for us. Thanks to the people on this board, we ended up eating at Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney 3 times during the QSDP portion of our stay -- really made having the plan worth it.
This trip was the first time that DS wanted to try all of the more thrilling rides so we ended up doing many of the 'headliners' multiple times so even though we had 9 days in the parks, we still had things we missed but really enjoyed ourselves. We prepaid for the photopass CD and got a bunch of pictures. We were even fortunate enough to get the Darth Vader magic shot (kids crossing lightsabers with Darth) on the 11th during Star Wars Weekends. We also had a coupon for 20% off the family photo session and did that at the Poly. Really pleased with the job that our photographer Lynne did and glad we had booked a double session since that allowed a storm to blow through so we got the outside pictures on the beach we really wanted. Still working through all of the photos on the photopass site
We were at Hollywood Studios on the 6th and 11th during Star Wars weekends and did a combination of park touring and taking in the Star Wars ambience. Did rides, took pictures with some of the characters, and DD made a trade with a Jawa (which we knew about from here).
Our family had signed up for the Give-a-Day-Get-a-Day program and had 4 vouchers that we used for the GAD fastpasses. We used them on the two Star Wars Weekend days and then on two different days at Epcot. That let us enjoy Toy Story Midway Mania 6 times and Soarin' 6 times and use our regular fastpasses for other attractions such as Rockin' Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, and Test Track. Felt a little guilty about the TSMM fast passes when the standby line was up to 120 minutes. For Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom we were able to do what we wanted just utilizing the regular fast passes.
We did the 'Pick a Pearl' in Japan at Epcot for the first time. DD got a 7mm champagne pearl, DS a 7mm, and I got a 7 3/4mm champagne pearl (originally was going to have DS pick one for me that he could have later but he wanted to keep his pearl so I decided to do my own ). The kids enjoyed doing some pin trading, pressed coins, and collected some autographs. We had used pictures from past trips to put together a photo book with pictures of the kids with the characaters on one page and then left the opposite page blank for autographs this time around. Got some extra attention from some of the characters and the photographers and handlers. Woody was walking around like he was old because of how much the kids had grown, Mr. Incredible hand signed DS's book instead of stamping, and Lady Tremaine and her daughters looked through DD's entire book making comments about the different pictures (sorry if you were waiting in line behind us). Thanks to this board, we knew to check the Animation building around 5pm at Hollywood Studios and were able to get a bunch of characters there. We had been to Animal Kingdom in the morning and they had told us Pocahontas was going to be at Rafiki's Planet Watch, but she ended up not making it. But, we found her that afternoon at the Animation building (made DD very happy since she wanted to go back to Animal Kingdom another day to try again).
We had a great breakfast at the Crystal Palace (love the 8:05 seating). Thanks to the tip about settling the check early, we were finished with pictures taken and boys at the rope in Tomorrowland and girls at Fantasyland by 9am. We also did the character dinner at the Garden Grill on our last night. Really enjoyed both the food and character interaction. Chip was really flirting with DD. We had also put on our reservation that we were celebrating our anniversary and our server brought out a slice of some wonderful chocolate cake and a card signed by the characters. It was a great way to wind down the trip.
Sorry this is so long, but overall a great trip and again, just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the tips and info they shared that just made the experience even better!
This was our third family trip (others were in Oct. 04 and Sept. 06) and since it will likely be our last since we have some other vacations we'd like to do before DD graduates, we decided to do a longer stay to deal with the heat and the higher crowd levels.
We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside (that was where we stayed on site the first time and we never managed to try any other place since we really loved it). I had requested Parterre Place to be as close as possible to the French Quarter but they placed us in Oak Manor and we ended up loving that location -- corner room and close to a quiet pool and laundry and the bridge over to the main building. We had the 35% off pin for room only and we ended up doing a split stay. The first 7 nights were in a package with the QSDP and the last 3 nights were room only since we knew we wouldn't use up all of the credits for the dining plan over the entire stay. That ended up working out great for us. Thanks to the people on this board, we ended up eating at Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney 3 times during the QSDP portion of our stay -- really made having the plan worth it.
This trip was the first time that DS wanted to try all of the more thrilling rides so we ended up doing many of the 'headliners' multiple times so even though we had 9 days in the parks, we still had things we missed but really enjoyed ourselves. We prepaid for the photopass CD and got a bunch of pictures. We were even fortunate enough to get the Darth Vader magic shot (kids crossing lightsabers with Darth) on the 11th during Star Wars Weekends. We also had a coupon for 20% off the family photo session and did that at the Poly. Really pleased with the job that our photographer Lynne did and glad we had booked a double session since that allowed a storm to blow through so we got the outside pictures on the beach we really wanted. Still working through all of the photos on the photopass site
We were at Hollywood Studios on the 6th and 11th during Star Wars weekends and did a combination of park touring and taking in the Star Wars ambience. Did rides, took pictures with some of the characters, and DD made a trade with a Jawa (which we knew about from here).
Our family had signed up for the Give-a-Day-Get-a-Day program and had 4 vouchers that we used for the GAD fastpasses. We used them on the two Star Wars Weekend days and then on two different days at Epcot. That let us enjoy Toy Story Midway Mania 6 times and Soarin' 6 times and use our regular fastpasses for other attractions such as Rockin' Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, and Test Track. Felt a little guilty about the TSMM fast passes when the standby line was up to 120 minutes. For Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom we were able to do what we wanted just utilizing the regular fast passes. We did the 'Pick a Pearl' in Japan at Epcot for the first time. DD got a 7mm champagne pearl, DS a 7mm, and I got a 7 3/4mm champagne pearl (originally was going to have DS pick one for me that he could have later but he wanted to keep his pearl so I decided to do my own
). The kids enjoyed doing some pin trading, pressed coins, and collected some autographs. We had used pictures from past trips to put together a photo book with pictures of the kids with the characaters on one page and then left the opposite page blank for autographs this time around. Got some extra attention from some of the characters and the photographers and handlers. Woody was walking around like he was old because of how much the kids had grown, Mr. Incredible hand signed DS's book instead of stamping, and Lady Tremaine and her daughters looked through DD's entire book making comments about the different pictures (sorry if you were waiting in line behind us). Thanks to this board, we knew to check the Animation building around 5pm at Hollywood Studios and were able to get a bunch of characters there. We had been to Animal Kingdom in the morning and they had told us Pocahontas was going to be at Rafiki's Planet Watch, but she ended up not making it. But, we found her that afternoon at the Animation building (made DD very happy since she wanted to go back to Animal Kingdom another day to try again). We had a great breakfast at the Crystal Palace (love the 8:05 seating). Thanks to the tip about settling the check early, we were finished with pictures taken and boys at the rope in Tomorrowland and girls at Fantasyland by 9am. We also did the character dinner at the Garden Grill on our last night. Really enjoyed both the food and character interaction. Chip was really flirting with DD. We had also put on our reservation that we were celebrating our anniversary and our server brought out a slice of some wonderful chocolate cake and a card signed by the characters. It was a great way to wind down the trip.
Sorry this is so long, but overall a great trip and again, just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the tips and info they shared that just made the experience even better!
