Live from Hard Rock/Sheraton Vistana/Wilderness Lodge...crazy I know?!

[ansadler]

Sounds awesome! How is the weather?

The weather has been amazing! Clear skies and breezy, no higher than 85ish. I highly recommend going at rope drop, leaving around noon and relax by the pool (hottest part of the day). We would head back between 4-6pm and it has been GREAT and really low crowds.

 

[ansadler]

This morning I let the boys sleep in. Ds5 has been having back/neck problems and needed some rest. (has a spinal cord disorder). So I decided to drive over to DHS (from leaving WLV to turnstiles took 20 minutes!) to grab FPs for a couple of rides for later. I soon realized that you can't get fastpasses with tickets that haven't been activated at entry. DUH!! So, I went to guest relations and explained I was trying to let the boys rest this morning, and he activated all my tickets. He said he wasn't supposed to do it, but was very sympathetic. A little magic for me!!! I got TSM first then my window opened again at 9:45am. Then I grabbed FPs for RnR and then at 11:20am my window opened for Tower of Terror. In between I enjoyed single rider RnR, walked on ToT and walked on Great Movie Ride. I shopped and just people watched. It was fun being alone. First time to be alone at Disney not worried about where and what the boys were doing.

In the meantime Dh fed the kids breakfast and rode the bus to Downtown Disney. (from Wilderness Lodge took a solid 30 minutes) I met them at the Lego store and we shopped and played.

Dh, ds9, ds7 left for Disneyquest and ds5 and myself met our friends over at Vistana. (my good friend and her 4 year old son). We hung out, had lunch and let the boys play.

At 4:30pm I picked the boys back up at DisneyQuest and we headed to DHS. It was unbelievably slow!!! No Fantasmic tonight so I guess that helped. We really didn't need FPs for anything but TSM. (30 minute wait at 5pm). Everything else was practically a walk on. It was GREAT. We went to the 6pm American Idol (my boys LOVED it).

Then we caught a few more rides and then Sci-Fi Diner at 7:15pm. We LOVED it. My boys thought it was the coolest thing ever. I had an incredible shrimp pasta and my husband had the Beef and Blue Salad. He loved it. Two of my boys were celebrating birthdays and got souvenir cups full of caramel popcorn. They even brought my younger son one even though it wasn't his birthday. We left there by 8pm.

The boys wanted to go back to Disneyquest so we jogged to the car and I dropped them back off there. Now ds5 is resting and I'm about to hope in the jacuzzi top (love the villas!). The boys are going to take the bus back tonight, because I'm not leaving this room!

The crowds at DHS today were amazing. We came two years ago this very same week, and dh and I both feel like crowds were much worse then than they are now. I'm following UG, and TGM for least crowded park and so far they have been right on! I know spring break crowds were crazy, but crowds now are absolutely wonderful, atleast at the parks we've chosen!!

Tomorrow we are going to just hang out at the resort and maybe hit Epcot a little later. I have decided I LOVE having a car at Disney. We have had hardly any traffic and I feel like we get places so much quicker (except MK).

Thanks for hanging with me. I hope it helps for your future trips!

 

[ansadler]

We slept too late this morning so missed MK rope drop (again!). Went through the turnstiles around 9:30am....but it ended up not being a problem. yea! We all stayed together for the most part today and this is what we hit:

Laugh Floor (walk on)
Buzz (walk on)
I ran for FPs for Big Thunder and Splash Mountain
Tommorowland Speedway (10 min wait)
Barnstormer (10 min wait)
Toon Park/Donald's Boat/Mickey and Minnie's House (not crowded at all)
Got FPs for Peter Pan
Lunch at Pinnochio Haus- LOVED the Caesar Chicken Salad and the chicken breast nuggets were great. Got great seats where you can view It's a Small World.
Rode It's a Small World (5 min wait)
Haunted Mansion (10 min wait)
Used FP for Peter Pan (45 min standby, thank goodness for FP)
Headed to Frontierland
Rode Splash Mountain with FP (20 min wait) It's around noon.
BTMRR with FP.
Frontierland Shooting Gallery
Jungle Cruise racing boats (my kids LOVE this..it's by Jungle Cruise exit...remote control boat racing...have $1 or $5 bill for tokens)
Ds5 and I jumped on the train to Main Street, then monorail to Contemporary (so ds5 could ride monorail, got front seat first try). Got a water at Contemporary then rode boat back to Wilderness Lodge.
Hung out a beach playground and played tetherball.
Now up at the room resting and doing some Legos that we bought at DTD.

Heading to Trail's End at Fort Wilderness for Dinner then going to check out the Chip N Dale Sing Along Campfire.

Crowds are still very very manageable...guessing that will change heading into a weekend. It was a great day at Magic Kingdom!!

I loved that the cast members had fun games for the little ones to play at the front of Main Street. (ring toss, hula hoops, etc.) My ds5 loved it.

Weather is still amazing. No higher than 85 I imagine and the breeze is still so nice.

Tomorrow is Epcot and possible DHS for Lights Motor Action. (the only thing at DHS we missed).

Can't believe it's almost over. The boys have had a blast. I've been HORRIBLE at taking pictures. So sorry. I'll try to work on that.

 

[familyatdisney]

Thanks for the live report. We arrive Saturday May 2nd and hope the crowds stay managable. It seems the temperature will be slightly higher next week so I hope that breeze stays around.