We'reGoingToDisney
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2019
We will be taking our first ever WDW/Universal trip this August. We’ll have 7 days at WDW, then move over to Universal for almost 5 full days. On our transition day, Mon Aug 26, we will be checking out of the Beach Club, getting an Uber (probably XL to fit us all) to Portofino Bay hotel. It is myself, DH, and twins DD13 and DS13. I have a few questions about logistics that I’m hoping some more experienced folk could provide some feedback on:
1) Breakfast. I have an 8:45 am ADR at Cape May Cafe which I am on the fence about keeping. We are paying OOP, and will have done a Garden Grill PPO breakfast and Tusker House breakfast/lunch already in the trip. I hear great things about Cape May breakfast, and the price isn’t hugely more than our other nearby sit-down breakfast option of Ale&Compass. It might set us up really well for the day ... or it might be a big time suck and just slow us down on getting underway to Universal. Should I just plan to have something small in the room (instant oatmeal) to tide us over till we get to Universal? I think I’m leaning towards skipping Cape May - the day before is our “foodie” day, with a big splurge on Tiffins late lunch and FEA Dessert party. We might possibly not want to eat anything after that , but don’t want anyone to end up hangry as we go through the check-in process at Universal!
2) Lanyards. Once we get to Portofino, we will drop our bags, pick up our park tickets and EP, and head over to the parks. I had planned to wait until we were there to buy lanyards, on the assumption that there will be a nice big selection of lanyards. DD13 will be wanting a Ravenclaw themed one if possible, not sure about DS13, he’d be happy with either something Harry Potter or Marvel themed. Will I find something like that fairly easily, either at the hotel or as we’re walking through CityWalk? This also might be our chance to grab food if we skipped the big breakfast?
3) Interactive wands. I’m figuring that realistically it might be getting close to noon by the time we’re actually entering the parks, and I think the kids will want to beeline to Diagon Alley. Is Olivander’s going to be crazy by then? (Predicted CL 5 that day on TP) Should I buy the wand at a cart instead? Would it be worth going in to Olivander’s for the show on our 2nd morning (when we can get there earlier, perhaps even use the EE hour if we can get up!) even if we’ve already bought a wand? Kids have agreed to share one wand because they each already have a carefully chosen non-interactive wand from the Harry Potter studio tour in London a few years ago, and wands are $$. Or should I try to get the kids to wait and go to Olivander’s in the evening of that first day? Would it be less crowded?
I’m a little concerned that we’re going to end up losing half a day in the move from BC to PBH, but I’m also trying to be realistic - we’ll be coming off of 7 days at Disney, we’ll all be tired, and it’s going to be hard to rouse everyone for an early start! Hence the breakfast scheduled at Cape May. But kiddos might prefer an extra hour of sleep than that breakfast.
We have the Buy-2-Get-3-Free-Days park-to-park 3-park tickets, with the EP from the hotel, so I do think we’ll have plenty of time to get everything in even if we do end up with a late start on that first day, right? We’d probably dedicate 1 day to Volcano Bay and the rest to USF and IOA. We check out and fly home on Saturday morning (midday flight).
Any feedback would be welcome!
1) Breakfast. I have an 8:45 am ADR at Cape May Cafe which I am on the fence about keeping. We are paying OOP, and will have done a Garden Grill PPO breakfast and Tusker House breakfast/lunch already in the trip. I hear great things about Cape May breakfast, and the price isn’t hugely more than our other nearby sit-down breakfast option of Ale&Compass. It might set us up really well for the day ... or it might be a big time suck and just slow us down on getting underway to Universal. Should I just plan to have something small in the room (instant oatmeal) to tide us over till we get to Universal? I think I’m leaning towards skipping Cape May - the day before is our “foodie” day, with a big splurge on Tiffins late lunch and FEA Dessert party. We might possibly not want to eat anything after that , but don’t want anyone to end up hangry as we go through the check-in process at Universal!
2) Lanyards. Once we get to Portofino, we will drop our bags, pick up our park tickets and EP, and head over to the parks. I had planned to wait until we were there to buy lanyards, on the assumption that there will be a nice big selection of lanyards. DD13 will be wanting a Ravenclaw themed one if possible, not sure about DS13, he’d be happy with either something Harry Potter or Marvel themed. Will I find something like that fairly easily, either at the hotel or as we’re walking through CityWalk? This also might be our chance to grab food if we skipped the big breakfast?
3) Interactive wands. I’m figuring that realistically it might be getting close to noon by the time we’re actually entering the parks, and I think the kids will want to beeline to Diagon Alley. Is Olivander’s going to be crazy by then? (Predicted CL 5 that day on TP) Should I buy the wand at a cart instead? Would it be worth going in to Olivander’s for the show on our 2nd morning (when we can get there earlier, perhaps even use the EE hour if we can get up!) even if we’ve already bought a wand? Kids have agreed to share one wand because they each already have a carefully chosen non-interactive wand from the Harry Potter studio tour in London a few years ago, and wands are $$. Or should I try to get the kids to wait and go to Olivander’s in the evening of that first day? Would it be less crowded?
I’m a little concerned that we’re going to end up losing half a day in the move from BC to PBH, but I’m also trying to be realistic - we’ll be coming off of 7 days at Disney, we’ll all be tired, and it’s going to be hard to rouse everyone for an early start! Hence the breakfast scheduled at Cape May. But kiddos might prefer an extra hour of sleep than that breakfast.
We have the Buy-2-Get-3-Free-Days park-to-park 3-park tickets, with the EP from the hotel, so I do think we’ll have plenty of time to get everything in even if we do end up with a late start on that first day, right? We’d probably dedicate 1 day to Volcano Bay and the rest to USF and IOA. We check out and fly home on Saturday morning (midday flight).
Any feedback would be welcome!