twoolle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2014
- Messages
- 1,358
Me, DH, and our 4 kids ages 7, 5, 3 and 1 stayed at CBR for 6 nights. We had a great time and here are some thoughts from our trip. (This was our 3rd trip in 3years). We had "free" dining.
Jedi Training - we did this on 11/28 and I am very thankful we had a PPO at HV. We arrived at the park at 715 and the ADR line was about 20 deep. The CM came with her tablet to check our name on the ADR list. I had 3 reservations for 2 each and she was able to combine them into 1 which I had been nervous about. Thankful for the pixie dust! We were let in about 745 and signed up before checking in to eat. As we were sitting there, around 845 we saw people running to JTA signups. We were done eating and ready to leave by 9 even tough wr had not seen all the characters but we left anyways. We were still able to ride Toy Story standby with a 10 minute wait. We did the new track! We rode with our paper FP later that we received during JTA signups and it was the old track.
Went to MK the evening of 11/28. It was a CL10 day but didn't feel like it. This was the only night we could see Wishes during our trip. We had saved our prebooked fp for this park instead of HS because we knew it would be busy. With the combination of a good touring plan, fp, and rider switch we had a great time. We watched the Frozen castle lighting from the corner of the hub that leads to Fantasyland. Showed up about 5 minutes early and all the kids could see. Also watched Wishes from the Tomorrowland terrace right next to Monsters Inc. Again arrived about 5 minutes early and saw a great show.
We drove to all the parks and got back that first night at 11:30. We had PPO at BOG the next morning and I had hoped to get a ride on 7dmt, but I know my kids and they need their rest. So I cancelled the ADR. We are true believers in rope drop but we had to change plans and it worked out great! We let the kids sleep in and arrived at MK by 10. Was able to ride BTMRR with a 25 min standby wait. Later had lunch at Skipper Canteen and this was a great quiet place to eat! Kids are picky eaters but they lived the steak. We also got 1st haircuts for our 3 and 1 year olds on this day. Around 2pm I went to the barber shop and the next available was at 415 which worked out perfect for after the FoF parade. Our longest line was on this day, wr had fp for meet mickey and ended up waiting about 35 minutes. Well worth it to meet talking mickey! We got out right at 3 and found a spot for the parade right by town hall. DD3 wanted to meet Tinker bell and I saw the wait was down to 10 minutes so I took a chance and took the 3 big kids in to meet her while DH and DS 1 waited for the parade. While waiting for Tink we had a sweet CM who liked our matching Razorback shirts and gave us 2 extra paper fastpasses for MK. We walked out around 325 and the parade had just made its way to our spot so it was perfect timing. We stayed at MK on this party night until 630 and then hopped to Epcot (totally unplanned but the kids were hanging in there) for evening EmH. Met Anna and elsa and watched Illuminations (loved the Christmas ending) and then rode soarin with 10 minute wait.
Next day we did epcot and only had 2 fp booked so after we used our first FP I was able to book Fantasmic at HS for the evening. We did FEA around 3pm then drove over to HS. Did chewie and Kylo Ren meet and greets (chewie was great with the kids) about 10 min wait each. As we were walking to Fantasmic I was hungry and saw Fairfax Farr with no line. I got the chicken fajitas and was able to carry the tray into Fantasmic. Great food! In fact I dropped my soda while parking the stroller and the CM went over and got me another one. Very sweet.
Our last day we did RD at MK for EMH. I had hoped to do 7DMT but we had a fp for later in the day so we changed plans and did PP first with about a 12 minute wait. We did not rush there. The opening show was at 750 for 8am EMH.
A few last thoughts/tips:
The only souvenir we bought was a $15 balloon that we busted right away but they replaced for us. Souvenirs were a big meltdown in the past, but we told the kids ahead of time we couldn't buy any. I had bought small cheap light up toys and light sabers, bubbles etc that they got every day and I think that helped. They rarely asked for souvenirs.
Since we did rider swap a lot I would keep the other kids busy with suckers, penny press machines, carousel, railroad, peoplemover, etc.
We also ate at Garden Grill, 1900 PF dinner, LTT lunch (we got the AYCTE but I was able to sub the toffee cake for dessert), and Cape May breakfast. Our favorite food was Cape May.
Crowds: I didn't think they were that bad. We had 4,5,6 level crowds this week and somehow we always ended up with extra unused fastpasses or rider swaps that we gave to others when we left the park.
The weather was great. We had previously gone in September when it was hot and that led to meltdowns with the kids. While we still had a few of those this week I was very happy my 7yo and 5yo walked the whole time without much complaint. Our 3yo and 1 yo took up the double stroller and even the 3yo would walk a lot, esp in Fantasyland. We would park the stroller and I would put Ds1 in the baby carrier. I did have to take the baby out and face him forward for Dumbo and Magic Carpets.
That's all I can think of, any questions please ask! Overall a very magical trip but I was tired the last day. We did 2 park days, a rest day, then 2 park days. In the past we stayed a couple more nights with a couple more park days but I think this was a perfect amount of time for us.
Also...we skipped AK this trip as we had to focus on our favorites and/or new experiences.
ETA: we purchased MM and overall I am glad we did. However our family just doesn't stop for photos. We did get a nice pic in front of the tree at the GF and will use it for our Christmas card. While I had hoped for more family pics I am glad for MM so that I could just watch the kids during Jedi Training and also ETWB. Plus we have tons of character photos!
Jedi Training - we did this on 11/28 and I am very thankful we had a PPO at HV. We arrived at the park at 715 and the ADR line was about 20 deep. The CM came with her tablet to check our name on the ADR list. I had 3 reservations for 2 each and she was able to combine them into 1 which I had been nervous about. Thankful for the pixie dust! We were let in about 745 and signed up before checking in to eat. As we were sitting there, around 845 we saw people running to JTA signups. We were done eating and ready to leave by 9 even tough wr had not seen all the characters but we left anyways. We were still able to ride Toy Story standby with a 10 minute wait. We did the new track! We rode with our paper FP later that we received during JTA signups and it was the old track.
Went to MK the evening of 11/28. It was a CL10 day but didn't feel like it. This was the only night we could see Wishes during our trip. We had saved our prebooked fp for this park instead of HS because we knew it would be busy. With the combination of a good touring plan, fp, and rider switch we had a great time. We watched the Frozen castle lighting from the corner of the hub that leads to Fantasyland. Showed up about 5 minutes early and all the kids could see. Also watched Wishes from the Tomorrowland terrace right next to Monsters Inc. Again arrived about 5 minutes early and saw a great show.
We drove to all the parks and got back that first night at 11:30. We had PPO at BOG the next morning and I had hoped to get a ride on 7dmt, but I know my kids and they need their rest. So I cancelled the ADR. We are true believers in rope drop but we had to change plans and it worked out great! We let the kids sleep in and arrived at MK by 10. Was able to ride BTMRR with a 25 min standby wait. Later had lunch at Skipper Canteen and this was a great quiet place to eat! Kids are picky eaters but they lived the steak. We also got 1st haircuts for our 3 and 1 year olds on this day. Around 2pm I went to the barber shop and the next available was at 415 which worked out perfect for after the FoF parade. Our longest line was on this day, wr had fp for meet mickey and ended up waiting about 35 minutes. Well worth it to meet talking mickey! We got out right at 3 and found a spot for the parade right by town hall. DD3 wanted to meet Tinker bell and I saw the wait was down to 10 minutes so I took a chance and took the 3 big kids in to meet her while DH and DS 1 waited for the parade. While waiting for Tink we had a sweet CM who liked our matching Razorback shirts and gave us 2 extra paper fastpasses for MK. We walked out around 325 and the parade had just made its way to our spot so it was perfect timing. We stayed at MK on this party night until 630 and then hopped to Epcot (totally unplanned but the kids were hanging in there) for evening EmH. Met Anna and elsa and watched Illuminations (loved the Christmas ending) and then rode soarin with 10 minute wait.
Next day we did epcot and only had 2 fp booked so after we used our first FP I was able to book Fantasmic at HS for the evening. We did FEA around 3pm then drove over to HS. Did chewie and Kylo Ren meet and greets (chewie was great with the kids) about 10 min wait each. As we were walking to Fantasmic I was hungry and saw Fairfax Farr with no line. I got the chicken fajitas and was able to carry the tray into Fantasmic. Great food! In fact I dropped my soda while parking the stroller and the CM went over and got me another one. Very sweet.
Our last day we did RD at MK for EMH. I had hoped to do 7DMT but we had a fp for later in the day so we changed plans and did PP first with about a 12 minute wait. We did not rush there. The opening show was at 750 for 8am EMH.
A few last thoughts/tips:
The only souvenir we bought was a $15 balloon that we busted right away but they replaced for us. Souvenirs were a big meltdown in the past, but we told the kids ahead of time we couldn't buy any. I had bought small cheap light up toys and light sabers, bubbles etc that they got every day and I think that helped. They rarely asked for souvenirs.
Since we did rider swap a lot I would keep the other kids busy with suckers, penny press machines, carousel, railroad, peoplemover, etc.
We also ate at Garden Grill, 1900 PF dinner, LTT lunch (we got the AYCTE but I was able to sub the toffee cake for dessert), and Cape May breakfast. Our favorite food was Cape May.
Crowds: I didn't think they were that bad. We had 4,5,6 level crowds this week and somehow we always ended up with extra unused fastpasses or rider swaps that we gave to others when we left the park.
The weather was great. We had previously gone in September when it was hot and that led to meltdowns with the kids. While we still had a few of those this week I was very happy my 7yo and 5yo walked the whole time without much complaint. Our 3yo and 1 yo took up the double stroller and even the 3yo would walk a lot, esp in Fantasyland. We would park the stroller and I would put Ds1 in the baby carrier. I did have to take the baby out and face him forward for Dumbo and Magic Carpets.
That's all I can think of, any questions please ask! Overall a very magical trip but I was tired the last day. We did 2 park days, a rest day, then 2 park days. In the past we stayed a couple more nights with a couple more park days but I think this was a perfect amount of time for us.
Also...we skipped AK this trip as we had to focus on our favorites and/or new experiences.
ETA: we purchased MM and overall I am glad we did. However our family just doesn't stop for photos. We did get a nice pic in front of the tree at the GF and will use it for our Christmas card. While I had hoped for more family pics I am glad for MM so that I could just watch the kids during Jedi Training and also ETWB. Plus we have tons of character photos!
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