Great Trip Despite Crowds 4/9 - 4/14

[martikus]

I wanted to post a quick trip report to tell you that you CAN have a great trip, despite the crowds! We saw everything we wanted too and even found time to relax.

We were originally supposed to go on a Disney Cruise, but due to a work conflict had to cancel. We decided to go WDW instead once we researched and saw that Florida schools would not be on break. We knew it would be crazy busy, but when you have a kid in school what you gonna do.

Who We Are - Me (mom - 40), DH (45), DS (10) and my parents (late 60's). I'm afraid we aren't foodies or late night folks so any evening activities or great dining adventures won't be found here.

We did not by the dining plan as DS & I are small eaters. We did charge all our food/snacks and we saved at least $300 by NOT buying the dining plan. I understand it works for a lot of people, just not for us.

Day 1 - Sunday April 9th - Animal Kingdom - Our big splurge was to fly down from Charlotte, NC. I find it so much less stressful to fly than start a trip with a long drive. We flew out at 7:30am and were landing by 9:30. We rented a car through Budget. I stalked the website and got the price for a small SUV down from $450 to $288 about a month before we left. We signed up for their frequent program so we were able to walk right out to the parking garage and were driving away within 20 minutes of getting our luggage.

My parents were driving down and planned to meet up with us for dinner. They didn't think they would have the energy for a park.

We pulled into Port Orleans French Quarter by 11am. Our room wasn't ready yet. We slapped on our sunblock, dropped our bags with bell services and drove over to Animal Kingdom. We had to park waaaay in back of parking lot, but a parking tram came quickly and it was super easy.

Security was super easy. They had tons of lanes open and bag check was super quick. We quickly headed to Dinosorous for a quick lunch. Having FP+ was so nice. We were guaranteed to get 3 rides in, even with crazy crowds. We headed over to Safari and waited less than 5 minutes. Even at 1pm and in the heat we saw tons of animals. A great ride.

We made our way over to Dinosaur (the ride my son was DYING to do) and was on within 10 min with our FP. We all loved it. Definitely quite jerky though so I'm glad my parents weren't there to try it. We headed over to EE, but my son chickened out when he got to front of the line. He LOVES roller coasters so I know he's going to regret it eventually. We were able to get our 4th FP at this point and got it for Primeval Whirl. Until then, we headed to It's Tough to be a bug. I remember HATING this show about 10 years ago so I was not optimistic. We walked on within 10-15 min. We all LOVED it! I don't know why I hated it so much. My son thought it was fantastic and it wasn't as scary as I remember. He loved it so much we went right back to do it again (10-15 min).

We then headed over to Primeval Whirl. I don't like roller coasters so just DH & DS went. Unfortunately half of the ride broke as they got into line so even with FP it took a while. But they both really enjoyed the ride.

We then saw Dinosaur only had a 30 min wait and DS was dying to ride again so off we went. The wait ended up being only about 15 min. We got the front row which DS thought was amazing. When we got off DS & DH got back into line and waited about 20 min and got to do it again.

We've been to AK several times so had no plans to see the shows, etc. I wanted to see Flights of Wonder but the timing just never worked out. By now it was about 5pm so we headed over to Rainforest Cafe to meet my parents for dinner. They had taken the bus over to AK and said it took about 45 min because there wasn't many people there so the bus did the Riverside loop as well. My mom said bag security took like 15 min as they only had one guy open. So different than what we found at 12pm.

Rainforest Cafe was my son's request as when we went to WDW when he was 4 the restaurant noises scared him to death. He wanted to go back now that he was braver. We waited about 15 min and got in right at our reservation time. We actually all had a great meal and my son really enjoyed watching the "show."

We were all exhausted at this point so we piled into the rental car and headed back to hotel. Unfortunately our rental car was saying low tire pressure . A theme that would continue.

We had been texted our room was ready so after a quick trip to bell services to get our bags (They would have been happy to deliver them but we thought easy to get them) we were in our room. 7th building, top floor. We ended up with a connecting door with my parents even though we hadn't even requested it.

I had faxed a room request 4 days before as suggested on the boards asking for 7th building, top floor and its as honored. I even got a response email after the fax was sent which I wasn't expecting! I had asked for egg crates and they said they were so sorry but they no longer offered that, but they though our other room requests would be honored.

The room was great. We had paid for a river view room since standard rooms were already gone when we booked. We love that quiet building and being so close to Riverside to walk over if we wanted. The room was clean. I thought the mattresses were very uncomfortable, but I have read they are doing refurbs through next year so I am guessing those will be replaced. I'm very picky though so I find many hotel mattresses uncomfortable.

My parents had an identical room and they were very happy (my mom is VERY picky so we stay at French Quarter because we know she likes it).

We went over to the cafeteria to get drink cups and some drinks, then just unpacked and collapsed for the night. Oh and DH went and put air in the tire of the rental car and we crossed our fingers it was just a faulty sensor.

 

[martikus]

 

[martikus]

Day 2 - Monday April 10th - Epcot. My son is always an early riser, even if up late so rope drops are our thing. We went and had breakfast in the French Quarter cafeteria. We didn't think it looked much different than last time, even with the renovations. Sure the masks on walls are gone, but sure seemed very similar. DS got a kids meal with eggs and bacon. They let him sub a mini mickey waffle each day because he didn't want the potatoes. DH always gets a made to order omelette and i usually do a biscuit and bacon. At 7am the place is deserted.

My one gripe is they don't keep the cafe well stocked. They were always out of cold cereal, often out of fruit, etc. They were always happy to go find some if you asked, but we were shocked that every single morning the cereal was gone. Why don't they stock it the night before? From 6am to 7am the only thing you can get is things like cold cereal so shouldn't that be stocked? I agree with some of the reports that they also aren't keeping up with the cleaning. They just don't have enough staff. But not enough to make us not enjoy it. Riverside just seemed to do a better job of keeping their areas clean & stocked.

After breakfast we piled into the rental car and headed to epcot. We got there about 7:45 for a 8am opening. We were able to park super close. It was an easy walk through bag security and we were lined up to get in. The garbage can drummers were playing for the crowd and at exactly 8am they let us in. It was definitely the busiest I've ever had at Disney. Wall to wall people, but we were able to find shade when we needed it. We hoofed it over to soarin and i believe we were the first riders of the day! When we got out the wait was already up to 45 min. We LOVED the new Soarin movie. Even better than the last one.

We then used our first FP on Land of the Living. We didn't need it, zero wait, but there wasn't anything else we wanted a fast pass for since all the good stuff is tier 1. Loved this ride as much as ever. We then headed over and rode Figment which DS loves with no wait. We then went and got a picture with Baymax with about a 10 min wait. I tried to talk DS into meeting Joy & Sadness since their line was short but I had no luck. We never did make it back to them.



We then went to test track to use our second FP. This is one of DS's favorite rides and he loves building really wacky cars. It was my dad's first time on the ride and he loved it. My mom sat out - she isn't a fan of a lot of rides. It probably took us 15 min from time we got into line until we were walking out. Then we went to our FP for Spaceship Earth. Another classic ride that is always enjoyable. The wait was probably 15 min when the standby line was already over 80 min.



We then headed into the world showcase. Thanks to these boards we knew to look for the Easter Egghunt map and for $5.99 it was ours. We stopped to sign up for agent P. I was disappointed that one of the cutbacks was that the only place to sign up for Agent P is now before you enter the world showcase. If there are any issues you have to go all the way back to there. I miss the multiple stations they used to have. You also really have to have a smart phone. If you use one of theirs, it goes inactive after 15 min of non-use and you have to return to there. As you know, some of the countries are so far away that 15 min isn't enough time. I have a smart phone so that is fine, but if DS was there with my parents who don't have a smart phone they would have been out of luck.

We grabbed lunch (America for us & France for my parents) and then on to Agent P. DS loved it as much as ever. He did France & Germany. I sat on a bench in the shade for much of it and chatted with several nice folks while I waited. We then headed over to Mexico to ride the Donald ride. I've always walked on to this ride and we waited 20 min. That should tell you just how busy it was!

We had managed to get another FP so we went and rode Nemo - a ride I refuse to wait for so FP was perfect. Throughout the day we enjoyed seeing all the gardens out for Food & Garden. I think it was about this time we headed to our reservation at Garden Grill. We had done this one when DS was 6 and he asked if we could go back. My parents had never been. Earlier in the day I had been able to move our reservation from 5:30pm to 4:15pm and boy was I glad I did. We were EXHAUSTED and ready to eat and head back to hotel.

We checked in and were seated within 5 min. We were able to get a booth on the outside. We all LOVED our meal. It takes a hour for the restaurant to rotate all the way around and that is about how long our meal took. I know there are mixed reviews about the menu these days, but it was great for us. Buns, delicious fresh salad, platter of corn on cob, stuffing, turkey, pot roast, sausage and peppers. They had no problem putting the dressing & gravy on the side for us picky eaters. Stuffing & pot roast was favorites of the table. They were happy to bring us more of anything. While we ate we got to see all the characters - Chip, Dale, Pluto & Mickey and get photos and autographs. I lost several years off my life when Pluto snuck up on us and "licked" my face. DS thought it was hysterical. We then had strawberry shortcake for desert - I miss the fruit cobbler thing we had last time, but everyone else loved desert. It was just a nice dinner and different than the chicken nugget & fries you end up getting a lot of places. We were all stuffed and headed back to the hotel.

We filled our mugs, had showers and just relaxed that evening. Unfortunately, the rental car had low air again so DH went and filled it and called the rental car company. They told us to come exchange the car at a nearby location tomorrow afternoon.

 

[martikus]

Day 3 - April 11th - Magic Kingdom - DS convinced us to get up early for EMH which began at 7am. While we are early risers, 7am is REALLY early. I really wish the cafeterias would start serving breakfast at 6am when they know parks are opening early. We were able to have some cereal before we headed out, but it just isn't as filling. We caught a bus about 6:30am and were going through security at 6:50am. No issues with bag check or getting in. Stay left folks - so many less people on left side. It was really weird to be there in the dark while moon was out!



We were let in right at 7am and we booked it over to Buzz Lightyear. My mom commented never in her wildest dreams did she think she'd be on Buzz at 7:10am We then went on Winnie the Pooh, Little Mermaid, and Small World with no waits. IT was just about 8am when we finished with that and the rest of the park was opening. We jumped on Haunted Mansion (DS's first time since he was too scared to try last time) and Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise with no waits. It was now about 9am and you knew the parks were going to be super busy today as Pirates was already up to a 30 min wait when we walked by.



DS then did two Pirate Adventures around Frontierland. He sure does love doing those.

We headed over to Big Thunder Mountain to use our first FP of the day. We all enjoyed it and my mom stayed behind to watch. We jumped on the train after that and rode it to main street. We got off and enjoyed the People Mover. Then we went to use our FP on 7 Dwarves Mine Train. We LOVED it. I've never been on such a smooth ride. As everyone says though, waaaaay to short. And I wasn't going to wait 120 min to ride again. But we sure are glad we got to go on it. Unfortunately my mom tried it and had an anxiety attack (not sure what possessed her to try a roller coaster after all these years) so my parents headed back to hotel after that.



We then saw Micky's Philharmonic show which DS loved as much as ever. Then it was on to BOG lunch. DS gave me such grief for insisting we try this "girly lunch". I told him I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. We checked in at 11:30 and were ordering lunch within 10 min (no one knew what they wanted so I couldn't convince anyone to pre-order and since my parents left early ti was probably just as well). When we left at 12:30 the line to check in was PACKED so we really lucked out walking right up. All the rooms were open so we had a great seat in the room with the Beaty & Beast statue. We LOVED our meal. Probably got the food about 10 min after sitting down? I had the turkey sandwich, DH the roast beef and DS the kids shrimp. We also got the Master Cupcake even though we aren't really desert people. Oh man do I wish we had ordered more. It was.so.good!. We all really enjoyed our meal and DS agreed to go again if we are ever back at WDW.



After lunch we headed to our FP at Peter Pan. We haven't ridden this ride in years due to the wait. It sure is cute, I just wish it didn't get such a wait. It was now about 1:30pm so we decided to head back to the hotel for relaxing. We had bought a popcorn bucket at Epcot so we made sure to refill it on our way out. DS probably had 2-3 refills a day. It was such a great easy snack.

We couldn't believe how much we were able to accomplish by just arriving early. We didn't really wait for anything and hit all the rides we wanted too!

We didn't wait too long for a bus back and then relaxed all afternoon. DS went in the pool for about a hour and then we headed offsite for dinner. On our way back we did the Winter Wonderland mini golf. IT was our first time doing a WDW mini golf and we LOVED it. The holes are so clever and a place that plays xmas music the whole round is my kind of place! My parents walked over to riverside instead and enjoyed dinner over there.