First timers - Just got back - Trip Report

[Forensicmom]

My DH went to Disney back in 1976 and I went to Epcot for 1 day back in 1989 and neither have returned. Now we have 4 kids, DS17, DD12, DD10, and DD7). We always said we would never go with a baby or toddlers so we never considered going since we were always having a baby.

Over the summer it hit me that my oldest is a senior in high school and will be going away to college next year and that we've NEVER taken a big family vacation out of the state of Maryland. We tossed up ideas and the kids and I were NOT interested in Disney at all. DH finally said, "If we don't do it now, we never will". So I gave in and we started planning. The more planning I did, the more excited I got.

After about 2 months of researching everything we could, we had picked mid October to go since the kids were off school for 2 days. Before we booked it, Disney came out with their "Free Dining PLan" and the week we picked wasn't available. So we decided the let the kids miss 3 days of school and go Wed (11-16) through Tue (11-22) since we wanted to be home for Thanksgiving. We finally booked our trip and I started making the ADR's, although I knew nothing about the restaurants. We were limited on availabilities since we were so close to our trip.

I'll post each day below but I don't know how to post pictures?

WED - Nov 16
Our flight left Baltimore at 7:50am and we were at our hotel (The Wilderness Lodge) by 11:30am. It was gorgeous. One of our adjoining rooms was ready, so we took what we had up there and got ready for the parks. We took the boat to Magic Kingdom, which only took a few minutes. We were standing inside Magic Kingdom at 2:00.

We went straight to Space Mountain and found less then a 10 min. wait.

 

[Forensicmom]

I have been type for 45 minutes and finished the entire trip report but for some reason, it cancelled it out. I'll have to start over but can't finish it now.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Joining in on your TR ! Can't wait to hear more.

I HATE it when you spend so much time on a post and it gets erased !! SO frustrating. Hang in there.

 

[Forensicmom]

OK, let's try this again.

Day 1 Wed(continued). Our youngest DD was barely 44" tall so we were thrilled when she made it on all the rides except a
few that had higher height restrictions.

.
We rode all the major rides, saw a parade, another show and the beautiful Cinderella's castle. Our youngest commented how awesome it was that they made it "Raven's" purple!

Next was dinner at Crystal Palace, which the kids really enjoyed.

After the amazing fireworks, we went back to the Wilderness Lodge to get settled in for the night.

Here's the Lodge

DAY 2 (Thursday 11-17)
We were at the rope drop at HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS and went straight to RNRoller Coaster and then Tower of Terror. We saw the stunt shows, Bug shows and rode a bunch of other things. We saw the parade

We ate lunch at the Backlot Express, which was OK, but definately cafeteria style food. Dinner was NOT any better at the Sci Fi Dine In Theatre. It was so dark that we could not read the menus and could barely see our food. To top if off, all 6 of us were in the car and it made communication on the kids orders difficult since we were all facing forward and people around us were watching the movies.

The night ended with the Osborne Christmas light show.

One thing I did notice the entire trip was this nativity at HS was the ONLY REAL Christmas decoration I saw

 

[Forensicmom]

DAY #3 FRIDAY 11-18
Started the day at the rope drop at MAGIC KINGDOM. By 3:00 we were finished everything we wanted to see that we didn't see the first day. The ugly step sisters were so funny when they kept trying to pick up my son.

We ate lunch at Pecos Bill, which was OK. At 3:00 we went back to the lodge for a quick swim and shower before heading to dinner at the Contemporary (The Wave), which was truly fantastic. The BEST meal of the entire trip.

We decided to take advantage of the extra magic hours at Epcot and went there after dinner to ride Test Track and a few others. We finally got back to the lodge around midnight. Whew! That was a long day.


DAY #4 SATURDAY 11-19
Although we had a late night, we still got up early and made it to ANIMAL KINGDOM at rope drop.

We were really impressed with the bus service. This was really a neat park. The landscaping was beautiful and it made me feel like I was in another country. We rode Expedition Everest, Kali River rapids, the safari and everything else there.

The Jingle Jungle parade was neat too. My kids liked the "snow"

Lastly, our youngest HAD to have her face painted as the tinkerbell fairy

We had lunch at Tamu Tamu, which the kids really hated. They didn't like the birds swooping down to our plates and the constant leaves falling from the trees onto our plates. With the bad experience, we were afraid to eat at Tusker House, where we had ressies. Luckily, we were able to cancel without a problem. We went back to the Lodge and ate DINNER at The Whispering Canyon, which was really good. We sat in the back area, which was much more quiet. We were all exhausted so we went back to the room and were ALL asleep by 9pm.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Enjoying it so far ! Great pictures .. you have beautiful children.

 

[Forensicmom]

Moodyzblu - Thanks!

DAY #5 SUNDAY 11-20
This was our EPCOT day.

We started with Soarin and Test Track, followed by Mission Space and a bunch of the shows. We had lunch @ Sunshine Seasons and this was the best quick service meal INSIDE any of the parks. It had great variety but was a little crazy with 4 kids. As we strolled through the World Showcase we really enjoyed the different countries and especially the landscaping. OK, only I was interested in the landscaping.

DINNER was our one and only princess meal, at Akershus in Norway.

The food was pretty good although I wish there was a bigger selection for kids. Our youngest felt so special and the pictures they provided were really nice. Arielle was hysterically funny.

We finished up the night with Illuminations

DAY #6 MONDAY (11-21)
This was our "leftover day". We asked all of the kids what they wanted to ride/see again and they ALL agreed "Expedition Everest", so we started the morning in ANIMAL KINGDOM and rode that again, along with Kali River Rapids and another walking tour. Then we took the bus to HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS to get 5 Fastpasses for RNRoller Coaster and 1 for Tower of Terror. Then we went to the Contempo Cafe @ The Contemporary for lunch. It was really good. It was finally time to relax. We went back to the "lodge" and spent about 3 hours at the pool and beach before (showering) and going to dinner at The Whispering Canyon again. We saved the best for last. Before we left, everyone kept telling us to see "Fantasmic" but the times conflicted with our ADR's, until Monday. We were hoping for good weather because we didn't want to miss it. The weather was fantasic all week long with only a brief shower Monday afternoon. We got to the "Fantasmic" waiting line about 6:30 (for the 8:00 show) and started talking to an employee. He asked us to be the "honorary scorcerer family" for the show. He pulled us out of line and we waited inside until they left everyone in. My kids were announced first and they walked through a special archway of lights. We got VIP seating and free popcorn. I almost cried when one DD said "this is the best way to end our amazing vacation". The show was great and we stayed to use our fast passes for awhile afterwards before heading back to the lodge.

DAY #7 TUE 11-22
Our last day ! We slept in before checking out. We visited Downtown Disney for a little shopping before heading back to the hotel to meet the Magical Express for the airport.

This was definately something our kids will remember for the rest of their lives. It was our first ever BIG vacation and I doubt we will ever top it. We were so impressed with everything Disney, all the way to the clean bathrooms.

One thing we did say that we would do next time (IF there's a next time) is that the food in the resorts were much better then inside the parks, in general anyway. This time we had the free dining plan, which definately saved money but it wasted A LOT of food.

Thanks for reading and I hope I don't bore anyone.

 

[FosterA]

Thanks for sharing! Your report caught my eye since we also just got back from our first time.
Great looking family!! Glad you all had fun. My kids LOVED Expedition Everest too!

 

[padawans]

Glad you had a great time. Your trip sounded exhausting. I have to give you props. We always go for at least 10 days, and never spend more than 5-6 hours a day at the parks. I don't think I could keep up the pace you did. Great job.

 

[Forensicmom]

THanks.

Padawans - Since this was our first time, we wanted to see everything. We were spending so much money that I can't imagine paying for more days and the kids couldn't have missed more school. If we came down more often, then I doubt we would have done so much at one time. For me though, 6 nights of eating out was plenty. We're all still adjusting to "normal" food again.

 

[Moodyzblu]

What a magical Fantasmic experience !! Congratulations.
I have to agree with the food .. I'm not a fan of park food either. I much rather eat at DTD or the resorts. But I agree with Seasons in Epcot .. I love that food. I always get the porkchop.
Thanks for sharing this special trip .. you took some great pictures !

Hopefully you can make it down again sometime.

 

[pld5]

I'm glad to hear you had positive experiences at Whispering Canyon. Does the same hold true for your stay at Wilderness Lodge? We're doing adjoining rooms there in January for our first stay in the resorts.

 

[Forensicmom]

PLD - Yes, we were very pleased with the resort. The lobby and grounds are amazing. The rooms are like regular hotel rooms decorated in the western/indian style theme.

We had absolutely NO bad things to say about it but next time I really want to try the Polynesian or the Contemporary.