Just got back - First Family Trip to US, SW and DC

[Duck143]

Hello All! We just got back from our trip to Orlando. It was DH, DS -11, DS - 8 and myself. We rented a car and stayed at the Sheraton Vistana and one night at Royal Pacific. Both places were super clean and I would definitely stay there again. We LOVED RP. I really wish we had stayed more than one night, but I booked it mainly to get EP for US. Check- In was super quick and easy and we got our room keys, which were our EP for 2 days. We walked to the parks most of the time and it was a relatively quick walk to City Walk/Park entrances. Security and entering the parks were so quick, we entered without any trouble and I wish Disney was this proficient with their security/entrance procedures.
Express Pass was pretty much a must need while we were there and the one night at RP was completely worth it. We were able to ride Gringotts 3x using the EP, and the line for that one got up to 120 minutes one of our days.
We went straight to IoA to try to ride Hagrid's during early entry, but when we got there, we were told it was more than a 4 and a half hour wait. No way were we waiting almost 5 hours for any ride. We went over to Velocicoaster and rode that with a 30 minute wait. We did end up riding Hagrid's, twice during our 3 days at the parks. This ride is so unbelievable and I love it so much. I burst into tears the first time riding it. The parks were very busy and super hot, but we managed to do all of our items on our bucket-lists including Hagrid's, Hogs Head, 3 Broomsticks, meeting Blue, Velocicoaster, spells with wands and I'm sure there are others I am forgetting right now.

Sea World was a lot of fun and I loved the Orca show and the penguins the most. Also, Mako is insane and we rode it 2x with 5 minute waits. The music playing around the park is pretty loud also, Sesame area gets really packed.

Discovery Cove was phenomenal and definitely worth a day of your vacation. We did the dolphin swim, which was a really wonderful experience, but you don't have to do it in order to have a spectacular day at DC. We spent the entire day from park opening until they blew the whistle to get out of the Reef. We brought our own snorkel sets because using community ones sort of skeeved me out. The park was really clean, food was great and the kids LOVED the icee machines and unlimited included snacks.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip and I wish it didn't go by so quickly! Please feel free to ask me anything!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Sounds like a great trip!

Did you do Manta at SW? Such a unique coaster.

DC is a great day! I love the reef, the included everything, the relaxed pace - makes for a great semi-rest day. I never leave early & feel that is just the right amount of stuff to do!

Just to note that DC gives you your own new snorkel, it is not a "community" snorkel situation.

 

[Duck143]

Sounds like a great trip!

Did you do Manta at SW? Such a unique coaster.

DC is a great day! I love the reef, the included everything, the relaxed pace - makes for a great semi-rest day. I never leave early & feel that is just the right amount of stuff to do!

Just to note that DC gives you your own new snorkel, it is not a "community" snorkel situation.

It was a great trip!

We didn't get to go on Manta. We were at SW for about 3/4 of one day, so too much to do to get everything done. Also,DS- 8 is too short to ride any of the SW coasters, so we didn't want to leave him out of all the fun rides. We would have liked to go back to SW, but we did a few hours at Aquatica instead. Aquatica (I felt!) was a waste of time. It was super crowded and the lines for all the slides were really long. The people who purchased the skip-the-line feature would run by while you're waiting in line and they would ride multiple times while the standby line didn't move. I understand they paid for this, but I can think of lots of things I would rather do on my vaca then stand in line for waterslides.

I agree about DC being relaxing and the perfect amount of things to do to keep everyone interested, but not stressed. It was worth every penny and we would do it again without the dolphin swim add-on.

 

[keishashadow]

Thanks for the report

we usually wind up ‘opening up’ aquatica. in the past, seemed to be a rather late crowd. Able to get a few slides in before it gets swamped with people. Was considering it for a half afternoon day in a month on a week day. Not so sure now.

we still enjoy DC, just not as much as food offerings are quite different now. Have been on the fence about just doing DC to lounge, afraid I’d have a bad case of dolphin regret lol

was the aviary open? How is the food there now?

 

[Duck143]

Thanks for the report

we usually wind up ‘opening up’ aquatica. in the past, seemed to be a rather late crowd. Able to get a few slides in before it gets swamped with people. Was considering it for a half afternoon day in a month on a week day. Not so sure now.

we still enjoy DC, just not as much as food offerings are quite different now. Have been on the fence about just doing DC to lounge, afraid I’d have a bad case of dolphin regret lol

was the aviary open? How is the food there now?

Your original plan to hit Aquatica in the morning is the only way we see to get much done there. I'm not sure how the park gets nearer closing time because we left around 3pm. I would rather sit by the pool at the hotel rather than hang out at this park all day.

You could probably add the dolphin swim day-of if you really wanted to do it. I found this park to be so enjoyable and relaxing. The food was good in our opinion. The line to get breakfast was a bit long at 8:15am, so we loaded up our first time around so we wouldn't feel the need to get back in line. There were scrambled eggs, french toast sticks, sausage, variety of pastries, yogurt w/ or w/o granola, milk, cereal, fruit, juices, coffee. Lunch had a nice variety to choose from. We ended up wanting to wait until after our dolphin swim, so we took what was left before the kitchen closed. I would definitely get my lunch earlier if I could do that over. There were never-ending snacks including fresh pretzels, warm cookies, bags of chips, granola bars. The bars offered a selection of beer, white and red wine included and the bartenders were super friendly. The soda machines were great and the kids went crazy for the icee machine. My oldest had so many over the course of the day, he had quite the stomach ache that night.

The aviary was open. The lazy river floated through it and you could also get out and walk through. We didn't get to spend much time there because my kids wanted to be in the water.

 

[keishashadow]

Thanks. I always scheduled dolphin swim asap after quick breakfast, then into the snorkel pond before it got crowded.

Can’t go wrong with a slushee