So I've never done this before, and not sure if anyone cares to read this or not, but I'm posting my report from my very first family trip to WDW. Myself (just recently 40, ugh!), DH, and DS 11. My only previous trip to Disney was with my grandparents in 1984 to visit Epcot with a tour group of seniors. So you can say this was my first REAL trip!
Driving from North Alabama, man, a long drive, but nothing compared to many guests I saw. We tried to avoid Atlanta, so it probably took longer than it should have.
We stayed at POR in Building 18. I had requested Bldg 15, but they had nothing available, and no room ready for us when we arrived, so we got our tickets, parked the car, loaded the backpack and hopped the first bus to Epcot. I had done quite a bit of planning, thanks to an awesome TA and this board. However, I also went with no ADRs and no particular meals planned, and it seemed to work out OK.
The room was nice once we got to it, and I was pleased overall. The longest wait we ever had for a bus was about 15 minutes, and we only had to stand to ride the bus one or two times.
MNSSHP - We attended Tuesday, 10/10. We got into the park at 5:00 with our Halloween tickets. Like everyone said, the park seemed to clear out of non-ticketed guests by 7:00. I got a few autographs and photos, which my DS reluctantly agreed to, and we got 3 nice size bags of candy. Not knowing when or where to stand for the parade, we actually ended up with a fairly decent spot right in front of the castle, and got some great photos of the Villians Mix & Mingle. The parade was very cute and we also got out of the park incredibly quickly judging from the crowds. We made the first bus back to POR, along with many parents holding sleeping children.
Year of A Million Wishes - We went to AK the second? day we were there. I was so angry about the rude woman who kept pushing her family through the waiting line at Kilimanjaro Safari. We finally boarded the ride, after she kept saying to her husband "oh, I'll go to the right, no, I'll go to the left, oh, it doesn't really matter'. Well, she went to the left and we went to the right (so I could get the heck away from her). At the end of our ride with an awesome guide, the cast member guided us all to the side, and said "as part of a YOAMW, you are all winners!". We all won a Dream Fastpass for AK good for that day. So lady, that's what you get for being so rude! Just too bad I couldn't get my DS on EE. I was really wanting to ride that! Anyhow, I was really thrilled to be lucky enough to be part of a YOAMW.
Having had no ADRs and carrying along snacks and sandwich fixins, we came out pretty decent on the eating. Although I would have loved to have several nice seated meals with no french fries, for our first Disney vacation it worked out OK.
Parks - We planned to visit more than one park a day, which seemed to be a good plan for us. One day we visited a park in the morning and just hung out around the pool and washed some clothes that afternoon. The park hopping option was good for our family, mainly because if there was something that was too crowded or that we missed out on the first time, we were able to go back. We also visited both water parks and DTD.
Again, not sure if anyone is interested reading any of this, but here it is just in case. I had a blast, and also if anyone has recommendations for planning the next trip, please post! DH wasn't nearly as excited about this as DS and I were, but even he had fun. Oh, and pin trading - I had bought a lot of pins from Ebay and DS had no problem trading them. He enjoyed the pin trading more than I had expected.
Ready to start planning for the next trip, and hoping our school system doesn't do away with fall break in October!
Driving from North Alabama, man, a long drive, but nothing compared to many guests I saw. We tried to avoid Atlanta, so it probably took longer than it should have.
We stayed at POR in Building 18. I had requested Bldg 15, but they had nothing available, and no room ready for us when we arrived, so we got our tickets, parked the car, loaded the backpack and hopped the first bus to Epcot. I had done quite a bit of planning, thanks to an awesome TA and this board. However, I also went with no ADRs and no particular meals planned, and it seemed to work out OK.
The room was nice once we got to it, and I was pleased overall. The longest wait we ever had for a bus was about 15 minutes, and we only had to stand to ride the bus one or two times.
MNSSHP - We attended Tuesday, 10/10. We got into the park at 5:00 with our Halloween tickets. Like everyone said, the park seemed to clear out of non-ticketed guests by 7:00. I got a few autographs and photos, which my DS reluctantly agreed to, and we got 3 nice size bags of candy. Not knowing when or where to stand for the parade, we actually ended up with a fairly decent spot right in front of the castle, and got some great photos of the Villians Mix & Mingle. The parade was very cute and we also got out of the park incredibly quickly judging from the crowds. We made the first bus back to POR, along with many parents holding sleeping children.
Year of A Million Wishes - We went to AK the second? day we were there. I was so angry about the rude woman who kept pushing her family through the waiting line at Kilimanjaro Safari. We finally boarded the ride, after she kept saying to her husband "oh, I'll go to the right, no, I'll go to the left, oh, it doesn't really matter'. Well, she went to the left and we went to the right (so I could get the heck away from her). At the end of our ride with an awesome guide, the cast member guided us all to the side, and said "as part of a YOAMW, you are all winners!". We all won a Dream Fastpass for AK good for that day. So lady, that's what you get for being so rude! Just too bad I couldn't get my DS on EE. I was really wanting to ride that! Anyhow, I was really thrilled to be lucky enough to be part of a YOAMW.
Having had no ADRs and carrying along snacks and sandwich fixins, we came out pretty decent on the eating. Although I would have loved to have several nice seated meals with no french fries, for our first Disney vacation it worked out OK.
Parks - We planned to visit more than one park a day, which seemed to be a good plan for us. One day we visited a park in the morning and just hung out around the pool and washed some clothes that afternoon. The park hopping option was good for our family, mainly because if there was something that was too crowded or that we missed out on the first time, we were able to go back. We also visited both water parks and DTD.
Again, not sure if anyone is interested reading any of this, but here it is just in case. I had a blast, and also if anyone has recommendations for planning the next trip, please post! DH wasn't nearly as excited about this as DS and I were, but even he had fun. Oh, and pin trading - I had bought a lot of pins from Ebay and DS had no problem trading them. He enjoyed the pin trading more than I had expected.
Ready to start planning for the next trip, and hoping our school system doesn't do away with fall break in October!
