sweetmama17
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2014
- Messages
- 215
Florida seasonal passholders here. And while we are no stranger to all things Disney this was one of the longest stretches we have done (a whole 4 days and 3 nights!) I have no idea how some of you do weeks at a time. I'm exhausted!
Thursday Aug 31st
Arrive late afternoon to WDW Swan. Loved having a full service hotel with bell service to help with bags when you have kids. Got a nice upgrade to a room with a balcony (though proved to be useless as it rained every night) which was nice since we had booked a $121 priceline deal.
After check in we walked over to EPCOT where it was the first night of F&W. Picked up a birthday button for DS1 who will be 5 this week. He LOVED the attention he got from wearing it. It was hot, and DH is not really into festivals like that so we didn't really get anything. We were quite sweaty by the time we got to Mexico. Kids loved the Mexico ride and ten we split up. DH and DS1 off to TT and me and the 2 year old to Frozen. I have THE best ride photo from Frozen. DS2 was quite surprised by the drop and his eyes showed it every bit! We met back up and the walked on SE with no wait, hoped over to club cool (Pixie dust for a free slushie for DS bday) and met the characters at the spot. Walked onto Nemo and had the aquarium to ourselves practically. Found a spot for illuminations and got a meatball from the New Zealand booth. As soon as we got back to the hotel it started pouring. Great first evening!
Friday Sept 1
I really wanted to take advantage of a weekday when Florida schools were in sessions to hit MK and it was sooo worth it. We arrived by bus to MK just before 8 for EMH. The only issue we had was the speedway which took about 20 min because they only had 1 lane open and a few technical issues. I had no desire to wait in that line later in the day so we stuck it out even thought it ate a lot of our time. So before 9 we hit up Buzz, speedway, Pooh, teacups. We then hit Barnstormer, Dumbo, cinnamon roll break, Ariel ride, HM, mickeys philharmonic, small world, PP (1st FP) before 11AM. We headed over to BTM for our next FP and it was down, we were hungry so we decided to try our lunch reservation early. Skipper Canteen was one of the best meals I've had at WDW. Had the head on shrimp a great server and a pixie dust extra dessert for DS bday. We then watched the pirate show and headed on POC. We were tired at that point so we decided to head back to the hotel instead of trying BTM again.
Checked the app and booked a TSM FP for later in the evening. Took DS1 to the pool while DH and DS2 napped. The weather was looking a little iffy after swim s owe stayed close and ate at Big River grille for dinner. Eh, it was nice that there was no wait but it was unremarkable. We then took the boat to HS when it started to drizzle. We used our FP for toy story and then found a spot for Star Wars FW. At this point there was some lightning and it was raining pretty steadily. The kids were ok in the stroller but i still broke down and went and bought ponchos for us all. They delayed the fireworks by about 10 minutes but we enjoyed them.
Sat Sept 2
Star Wars Day!
I booked a PPO breakfast at H&V mainly to ensure we could sign DS1 up for Jedi training. It went smoothly as we were instructed to sign up before going to the restaurant. The kids enjoyed the Disney Junior characters and H&V was a nice pretty standard breakfast buffet. With the 20% discount and a free 2 year old, $70 for a character meal wasn't bad. Then it was time for Jedi training. What a cool experience. DS1 is still talking about fighting Darth Vader (I'm sure we will have to figure out how to do this again). Photographer got some great shots too. DH took DS1 on star tours while I took the little to meet Mickey and Minnie and then DS1 picked out a new light saber for his birthday present. Hit up TOT (DS1 new favorite ride, even though the ride photo says otherwise) and back to the hotel for pool and rest. After a break we headed back to HS for our TSM FP and to meet the star wars characters. It was raining but we were able to stay pretty dry by staying inside. Luckily the rain stopped and we were able to enjoy Fantasmic! (By far our favorite night show so far, our boys LOVE sorcerer Mickey and Fantasia).
Sunday Sept 3
AK day
We drove to the park as it was check out day. This park was nuts. We had enjoyed light crowds all weekend and had been to AK right before Pandora opened so this was the only crowded day we had. Even with everyone running to Pandora people were all over the place. I thought for half a sec maybe wed try for the river ride early but yeah, no. So we hit up the safari (FP) and was going to do rafiki but it wasnt open yet. Headed over to Dinosaur. DH and DS1 got in line but apparently they had technical difficulties and were asked to leave. I had taken DS2 on the triceratops ride and to the boneyard during this time. Headed to Yak n Yeti for lunch (our cheapest TS meal of the trip) and then to the Nemo show (it was eh but my boys love nemo so they enjoyed it) and back to Dinosaur where we had our FP time and we rider swapped. Headed over to the crowded Pandora area for our FPs there. DH went first on FOP while I took the boys on the River ride. Then I had my turn on FOP (it really is an amazing ride!) and was glad we had stuck around for our FPs. DS2 had fallen asleep in the stroller and was not too happy when he woke up at home a few hours later.
We typically do day trips or 1 nighters so this was nice to experience a little more what a Disney vacation feels like. I loved the convenience of the Swan and even with all the time we spent at HS there is so much we didn't do there. Can't wait for our next weekend away!
Thursday Aug 31st
Arrive late afternoon to WDW Swan. Loved having a full service hotel with bell service to help with bags when you have kids. Got a nice upgrade to a room with a balcony (though proved to be useless as it rained every night) which was nice since we had booked a $121 priceline deal.
After check in we walked over to EPCOT where it was the first night of F&W. Picked up a birthday button for DS1 who will be 5 this week. He LOVED the attention he got from wearing it. It was hot, and DH is not really into festivals like that so we didn't really get anything. We were quite sweaty by the time we got to Mexico. Kids loved the Mexico ride and ten we split up. DH and DS1 off to TT and me and the 2 year old to Frozen. I have THE best ride photo from Frozen. DS2 was quite surprised by the drop and his eyes showed it every bit! We met back up and the walked on SE with no wait, hoped over to club cool (Pixie dust for a free slushie for DS bday) and met the characters at the spot. Walked onto Nemo and had the aquarium to ourselves practically. Found a spot for illuminations and got a meatball from the New Zealand booth. As soon as we got back to the hotel it started pouring. Great first evening!
Friday Sept 1
I really wanted to take advantage of a weekday when Florida schools were in sessions to hit MK and it was sooo worth it. We arrived by bus to MK just before 8 for EMH. The only issue we had was the speedway which took about 20 min because they only had 1 lane open and a few technical issues. I had no desire to wait in that line later in the day so we stuck it out even thought it ate a lot of our time. So before 9 we hit up Buzz, speedway, Pooh, teacups. We then hit Barnstormer, Dumbo, cinnamon roll break, Ariel ride, HM, mickeys philharmonic, small world, PP (1st FP) before 11AM. We headed over to BTM for our next FP and it was down, we were hungry so we decided to try our lunch reservation early. Skipper Canteen was one of the best meals I've had at WDW. Had the head on shrimp a great server and a pixie dust extra dessert for DS bday. We then watched the pirate show and headed on POC. We were tired at that point so we decided to head back to the hotel instead of trying BTM again.
Checked the app and booked a TSM FP for later in the evening. Took DS1 to the pool while DH and DS2 napped. The weather was looking a little iffy after swim s owe stayed close and ate at Big River grille for dinner. Eh, it was nice that there was no wait but it was unremarkable. We then took the boat to HS when it started to drizzle. We used our FP for toy story and then found a spot for Star Wars FW. At this point there was some lightning and it was raining pretty steadily. The kids were ok in the stroller but i still broke down and went and bought ponchos for us all. They delayed the fireworks by about 10 minutes but we enjoyed them.
Sat Sept 2
Star Wars Day!
I booked a PPO breakfast at H&V mainly to ensure we could sign DS1 up for Jedi training. It went smoothly as we were instructed to sign up before going to the restaurant. The kids enjoyed the Disney Junior characters and H&V was a nice pretty standard breakfast buffet. With the 20% discount and a free 2 year old, $70 for a character meal wasn't bad. Then it was time for Jedi training. What a cool experience. DS1 is still talking about fighting Darth Vader (I'm sure we will have to figure out how to do this again). Photographer got some great shots too. DH took DS1 on star tours while I took the little to meet Mickey and Minnie and then DS1 picked out a new light saber for his birthday present. Hit up TOT (DS1 new favorite ride, even though the ride photo says otherwise) and back to the hotel for pool and rest. After a break we headed back to HS for our TSM FP and to meet the star wars characters. It was raining but we were able to stay pretty dry by staying inside. Luckily the rain stopped and we were able to enjoy Fantasmic! (By far our favorite night show so far, our boys LOVE sorcerer Mickey and Fantasia).
Sunday Sept 3
AK day
We drove to the park as it was check out day. This park was nuts. We had enjoyed light crowds all weekend and had been to AK right before Pandora opened so this was the only crowded day we had. Even with everyone running to Pandora people were all over the place. I thought for half a sec maybe wed try for the river ride early but yeah, no. So we hit up the safari (FP) and was going to do rafiki but it wasnt open yet. Headed over to Dinosaur. DH and DS1 got in line but apparently they had technical difficulties and were asked to leave. I had taken DS2 on the triceratops ride and to the boneyard during this time. Headed to Yak n Yeti for lunch (our cheapest TS meal of the trip) and then to the Nemo show (it was eh but my boys love nemo so they enjoyed it) and back to Dinosaur where we had our FP time and we rider swapped. Headed over to the crowded Pandora area for our FPs there. DH went first on FOP while I took the boys on the River ride. Then I had my turn on FOP (it really is an amazing ride!) and was glad we had stuck around for our FPs. DS2 had fallen asleep in the stroller and was not too happy when he woke up at home a few hours later.
We typically do day trips or 1 nighters so this was nice to experience a little more what a Disney vacation feels like. I loved the convenience of the Swan and even with all the time we spent at HS there is so much we didn't do there. Can't wait for our next weekend away!
