Mommy/Baby Girls Trip February 2025: Pre-Trip Report

Schneewittchen37

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December 4, 2024

Hey everyone! Long time disboard user. I think it’s time I did a pre-trip report.

I’m a reformed Disney addict who’s been to WDW 22 times since 1985. Most of my visits have been with DH, DS15 and DS12, though I’ve had a couple of solo visits during work trips to Orlando. I can be super compulsive about planning out my Disney and Universal trips, but I haven’t been to WDW since 2022. I was an expert at getting the most out of FP+, but I never got the hang of Genie+. And I’ll be honest, our last trip in April 2022 was not great. But I’m not going to dwell on that.

My next trip will be a little bit different. It will just be DD12 and I. Girls trip! When the two of us are just hanging out, going to the mall, etc. without the boys, we call it Mommy/Baby day. DH and DS did a boys only trip recently to NYC to celebrate DS’s birthday. I wanted to do something similar for DD. She’s been asking to go back to WDW for a while now and the boys aren’t really interested. I’m liking what I hear about LL’s, so I’m willing to give WDW another shot.

This next trip will be in February 2025, basically during President’s Day weekend. I know it will be busy, we’ve done WDW during all the crazy school holidays, it’s fine. Crowds are not a concern for us since we’ve basically done most things before.

Our main goals for this trip are 1. Try out the new rides/overlays we haven’t done yet (Tiana, Guardians of the Galaxy, Tron) and 2. Revisit old favorites that are getting shut down soon (Muppets, Dinosaur, Pizze Rizzo). We were park commandos for the longest time, rope drop to fireworks etc. every night. I guess I'll have to ask DD if she wants to do that or if she wants to do the afternoon room/pool break. (We had APs for one year, during that time we were alot more chill and did take afternoon breaks because I think we had ~20 park days that year.)

At this point, we’ve booked a stay at AoA in a Little Mermaid room with the help of a Dreams Unlimited travel agent. I let DD pick the resort. And I think the deciding factors for her were wanting to be in a Skyliner resort and the general cuteness of the room. I think she might even want to go for a jog around the lake.

It will be a 4 night stay with 3 park days. Yes, we’ll have hoppers. I’m thinking we’ll be doing LLMS and LLSP each day. We won’t do a dining plan, but I’m expecting us to do a QS lunch every day, a TS dinner every night. Breakfast might be in room coffee maker and Belvita bars, or just QS on the park days. I expect DD to demand that I buy a refillable popcorn bucket for our snack. On checkout day, I’m thinking a TS breakfast and either pool time or Disney Springs, I guess it just depends on the weather.

Our 60 day dining reservation window opens up soon, so that’s the next step in the planning process. The goal here is to have a night each in MK, EP and HS and experience the nighttime spectaculars, etc. I guess I might have to make assumptions about the hours for each day and the timing for the shows, and just make dinner reservations around that.

Here are the DD approved dinner locations. She likes buffets so she can just have mac n cheese and random vegetables with too much dessert. I think she still loves character meals but is too big to admit it:

MK dinner
1st choice - Crystal Palace
Backup - Tony’s Town Square

HS
1st choice - Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater (we’ve never been there before, do people like it?)
Backup - Hollywood and Vine

EP
1st choice - Garden Grill
Backup - Chefs de France
 
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I’ll be taking my third mother/daughter trip with DD19 (at time of trip) in May 2025. We took our first in 2018 when she was 12. You will have a great time! Can’t wait to hear all about your planning.
 
First big update:
We're switching from 3 park days to 4 park days to make sure we have a full morning at Animal Kingdom. AK isn't really our favorite, but we've always loved Dinosaur. So we're giving up pool time or Disney Springs on checkout day to go to AK.

New rough plan:
Thursday - Fly to FL and checkin.
Friday - HS in the morning, MK in the evening
Saturday - Epcot in the morning, HS in the evening
Sunday - MK in the morning, Epcot in the evening
Monday - AK in the morning, fly home in the evening
 

Second big update. I've booked our dining reservations for the trip.

It's weird, I didn't log in to book my reservations until 8:30 am or so when my window opened and there was plenty of time availability. I was shocked, it almost felt like planning a Disney trip 10 years ago without all the stress and competitiveness.

Anyway, I got all of my daughter's first choices with ideal times in the early evening.

Dinner at the Crystal Palace at MK for our first day, we'll probably hop from HS.
Dinner at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater at HS for day two, we'll hop from Epcot.
Dinner at Garden Grill at Epcot for day three, we'll hop from MK.
And lunch at Rainforest Cafe at AK for day four/check-out day.

Next step, booking ground transportation and figuring out if we want to do any special tours/experiences, etc.
 
Update #3.
Handled a few minor details today.
I ordered new Magicbands. A park icons one for me, Alice in Wonderland for DD.
Booked a black car service for our rides back and forth from MCO and the resort. There's a local company in Orlando I've been using for years, safe and reliable.

I'm still waffling about special experiences, I guess I better chat with DD about that.
 
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Update #4
Decided not to do any "special" experiences, DD seems mostly interested in doing new rides and roller coasters.
But we are going to splurge on table service lunches, so I just booked those.

It's kind of shocking, I always thought this was a difficult reservation, so I never even tried, but I was able to get us an Oga's Cantina for one day. Never done this before, I'm kind of excited. I might have to watch some reviews on Youtube so I know what to expect with the food. Is anything good? Or will we end up getting a second lunch at PizzeRizzo.

The other two days will be Spice Road Table and the Plaza restaurant. I've been happy with those places in the past. Nothing wrong with a little couscous and kefta. I actually love chicken bastilla and there aren't any Moroccan restaurants left in my area, so this is very exciting for me. And you know what? I happen to love fried chicken sandwiches and turkey club sandwiches! With a shake for dessert. This is sounding pretty great.

I can't express how happy I am to not have to eat theme park burgers and pizza!
 
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This trip looks so fun!! A note for Oga’s is that it’s not really a food place. It’s mostly a bar/experience. There are only like 3-4 food items on the menu.
 
This trip looks so fun!! A note for Oga’s is that it’s not really a food place. It’s mostly a bar/experience. There are only like 3-4 food items on the menu.
Yeah, I had a look at the menu and watched some videos. I'm thinking we'll just get drinks and maybe the pretzel bun thing. The flatbread didn't look that great. I guess we're going to rat pizza.
 
The drinks at Oga’s are great! But if you haven’t tried it, you might like the quick serve offerings in Batuu! Docking Bay was really good, and it’s not pizza/burgers.
 
The drinks at Oga’s are great! But if you haven’t tried it, you might like the quick serve offerings in Batuu! Docking Bay was really good, and it’s not pizza/burgers.
I tried it once for dinner. Went to HS with a friend/co-worker, we had the square fried chicken for dinner. It was weird because it was near the end of the night, so they were out of some of the sides, so we ended up with a strange combination of unpotato chips (can't remember what they were) and square nuggies drenched in hot sauce. I guess it's a matter of how adventurous DD is feeling that day.

DD loves blue milk, I'm a fan of the green milk. I'm planning to get her a Blue Bantha at Oga's. Any non-alcoholic drink recommendations for adults? The Jabba Juice, Blurrgfire, Akivan Tea and Cliff Dweller all sound nice.
 
Hmmmm I’m not a fan of spicey drinks most of the time so the Blurrgfire is out for me. I’ve actually only had alcoholic drinks there, but the Cliff Dweller is the one that I would probably go for if I wasn’t drinking alcohol!
 










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