sbrost13
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2013
- Messages
- 303
I haven't been to DW in the Spring since I was in high school (which was a loooong time ago). The last several trips have been summer trips, so I must say I love the weather in April vs. July! Our family- me, DH, DD (9), and DS (6) stayed at AOA from April 7-13. We spent 5 days at the parks. Our basic strategy is to do RD at the EMH park and try to do as much as possible in the first few hours. For the most part we were able to accomplish everything we wanted, except for a few glitches which were beyond anyone's control. Here's a basic summary of our days.
Tuesday- EPCOT: We got there at RD, did Soarin', Test Track, Mission Space (green), Sum of All Thrills, Nemo, and Turtle Talk with Crush (FP+). Around 11:00 we walked leisurely through the WS, and had a lunch reservation at Biergarten at 12:45. We loved this restaurant and will do it again next time. Then we continued through the WS, also rode Spaceship Earth and did some shopping. We had FP+ for Test Track at 4:00 but it was down because of the rain. We went to our Mission Space FP+ and did the Orange side this time - probably won't do that again. Kids were asking to go back to AOA to swim, so we did Spaceship Earth another time before we left.
Wednesday- AK: Got there at RD, rode Expedition Everest 3 times in a row with no waiting. Big mistake for this old lady. I ended up getting sick! I opted out of Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl. Since I was sick, the kids played in the Boneyard while I recovered. We did It's Tough to Be a Bug, then went to our FP for Safaris. We walked the animal trail that's right next to the safaris, then did lunch at Flame Tree. It was our first time there, and we loved the BBQ! We had FP for Kali River Rapids and Expedition Everest. I sat out for the EE FP. We had an 8:00pm reservation for Chef Mickeys, so we went back to AOA to swim and explore the resort. Chef Mickeys was great! I know it gets bad reviews, but it's one of our kids' favorites!
Thursday- MK: got there at RD, rode Peter Pan, Little Mermaid, Dumbo, Barnstormer, Splash Mountain, Pirates, and Jungle Cruise. We had dole whips and waffles from Sleepy Hollow for lunch. This was delicious! Kids wanted to hit the spray station near Dumbo and we also did some shopping over in that area. We did Hall of Presidents (so DH could nap). We had FP for Thunder Mountain and Splash, then we got a spot for the Festival of Fantasy parade - which was awesome! We found a great spot by Country Bear Jamboree about 20 minutes before the parade started. We then hit Tomorrowland for Monsters Inc. and FP for Space Mountain. We had a dinner reservation for Ohana and the kids wanted to take the boat so we headed out to the Polynesian. We've never eaten at Ohana and everyone really liked it except for DS. He was close to meltdown mode during dinner. He didn't nap in the stroller earlier and that definitely messed with his mood. We decided to just head back to AOA after dinner (around 8:00) since we'd been getting up early every morning.
Friday- Divide and conquer in the morning. No park had AM EMH, so the girls decided to RD HS and the boys did EPCOT. At HS we did rock n roller coaster and Tower of Terror twice in a row. At this point I was starting to feel sick again, so we casually strolled around the park and met Mike and Sulley. Then we headed back to AOA for some lunch and pool time. We had FP for Thunder Mountain from 4-5 so we headed to MK around 3. We stopped at Main St. Bakery for some smoothies and snacks before hitting Thunder Mountain. Then we had FP for Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain. We also stumbled on the Incredible Dance Party in Tomorrowland, which the kids loved! We had a late dinner reservation at BOG for 8:20, so we just did some strolling through stores and hit Little Mermaid and mickeys Philharmagic. By this time my daughter had a really bad headache and we had to buy some medicine, and my son was tuckered out. Both kids fell asleep at the table. I joked that I'd been looking forward to that meal for 6 months and my kids slept through it! Food was okay, loved the inside of the castle and meeting the Beast. Next time I will just do lunch here. We watched the castle projection show (can't remember what it's called) as we walked out of the park. At this point DD had a fever, so we knew she'd need extra sleep in the morning.
Saturday- HS: DS and I did RD since DD was sleeping off her fever in the room. We signed up for Jedi Training then did Toy Story, which was a 15 minute wait for us, when we got out of the ride, it was already a 60 minute wait! I let him decide what he wanted to do. So we Star Tours, Muppet Vision, met Phineas and Ferb, then grabbed a snack at Writer's Stop. I had the carrot cake cookie which was delicious! They were showing Frozen so we chilled out there for a bit until our Jedi Training time. There was a mix up with Jedi Training and they could only take half of the group, so we changed our time to the 4:40 show. This allowed us to see the Indiana Stunt show, which is one my DS' favorites! After the show my DH and DD had arrived at the park so we were all able to make our lunch reservation at Sci Fi. After lunch the kids wanted to do the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. After that we did Voyage of the Little Mermaid and the Beauty and the Beast show. DD was also able to get in the 4:40 Jedi Training, which they both loved! We killed some time before our Toy Story FP by doing the Studio Backlot tour then did Toy Story. The boys did the playground again while the girls shopped until our Tower of Terror FP. We didn't use our Star Tours FP because both kids were starting to fade, and they wanted to get in one last swim before we left. We had an early flight the next morning so we skipped Fantasmic.
A couple of highlights- we absolutely loved AOA even though we stayed in the LM rooms and had to hike it to the food court and bus stop. We would definitely stay there again. I had about 15 Starbucks gift cards that we used at EPCOT and MK, this saved us about $50 in snacks and drinks! We didn't get the dining plan, and I was very happy that we weren't tied to it. Every counter service meal somebody in the family split a meal, so that saved us some $. I had about $450 on my Disney Rewards card and that covered our first 3 days of eating. I also highly recommend bringing empty ziplock bags to the parks with you. It really came in handy when I got sick at AK. It wasn't one of my finer moments, but it was better than getting sick all over the place!
All in all we had a great trip. The magicbands worked well and the fastpass lines were quick, no more than a 10 minute wait ever. I still much prefer the old FP system, especially since I didn't get to do Haunted Mansion this trip. But overall, it did force us to do some things we normally wouldn't take the time to do and we did stop and smell the roses more this trip than ever before!
Sorry for the long post, but just thought I'd share our family's experience!
Tuesday- EPCOT: We got there at RD, did Soarin', Test Track, Mission Space (green), Sum of All Thrills, Nemo, and Turtle Talk with Crush (FP+). Around 11:00 we walked leisurely through the WS, and had a lunch reservation at Biergarten at 12:45. We loved this restaurant and will do it again next time. Then we continued through the WS, also rode Spaceship Earth and did some shopping. We had FP+ for Test Track at 4:00 but it was down because of the rain. We went to our Mission Space FP+ and did the Orange side this time - probably won't do that again. Kids were asking to go back to AOA to swim, so we did Spaceship Earth another time before we left.
Wednesday- AK: Got there at RD, rode Expedition Everest 3 times in a row with no waiting. Big mistake for this old lady. I ended up getting sick! I opted out of Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl. Since I was sick, the kids played in the Boneyard while I recovered. We did It's Tough to Be a Bug, then went to our FP for Safaris. We walked the animal trail that's right next to the safaris, then did lunch at Flame Tree. It was our first time there, and we loved the BBQ! We had FP for Kali River Rapids and Expedition Everest. I sat out for the EE FP. We had an 8:00pm reservation for Chef Mickeys, so we went back to AOA to swim and explore the resort. Chef Mickeys was great! I know it gets bad reviews, but it's one of our kids' favorites!
Thursday- MK: got there at RD, rode Peter Pan, Little Mermaid, Dumbo, Barnstormer, Splash Mountain, Pirates, and Jungle Cruise. We had dole whips and waffles from Sleepy Hollow for lunch. This was delicious! Kids wanted to hit the spray station near Dumbo and we also did some shopping over in that area. We did Hall of Presidents (so DH could nap). We had FP for Thunder Mountain and Splash, then we got a spot for the Festival of Fantasy parade - which was awesome! We found a great spot by Country Bear Jamboree about 20 minutes before the parade started. We then hit Tomorrowland for Monsters Inc. and FP for Space Mountain. We had a dinner reservation for Ohana and the kids wanted to take the boat so we headed out to the Polynesian. We've never eaten at Ohana and everyone really liked it except for DS. He was close to meltdown mode during dinner. He didn't nap in the stroller earlier and that definitely messed with his mood. We decided to just head back to AOA after dinner (around 8:00) since we'd been getting up early every morning.
Friday- Divide and conquer in the morning. No park had AM EMH, so the girls decided to RD HS and the boys did EPCOT. At HS we did rock n roller coaster and Tower of Terror twice in a row. At this point I was starting to feel sick again, so we casually strolled around the park and met Mike and Sulley. Then we headed back to AOA for some lunch and pool time. We had FP for Thunder Mountain from 4-5 so we headed to MK around 3. We stopped at Main St. Bakery for some smoothies and snacks before hitting Thunder Mountain. Then we had FP for Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain. We also stumbled on the Incredible Dance Party in Tomorrowland, which the kids loved! We had a late dinner reservation at BOG for 8:20, so we just did some strolling through stores and hit Little Mermaid and mickeys Philharmagic. By this time my daughter had a really bad headache and we had to buy some medicine, and my son was tuckered out. Both kids fell asleep at the table. I joked that I'd been looking forward to that meal for 6 months and my kids slept through it! Food was okay, loved the inside of the castle and meeting the Beast. Next time I will just do lunch here. We watched the castle projection show (can't remember what it's called) as we walked out of the park. At this point DD had a fever, so we knew she'd need extra sleep in the morning.
Saturday- HS: DS and I did RD since DD was sleeping off her fever in the room. We signed up for Jedi Training then did Toy Story, which was a 15 minute wait for us, when we got out of the ride, it was already a 60 minute wait! I let him decide what he wanted to do. So we Star Tours, Muppet Vision, met Phineas and Ferb, then grabbed a snack at Writer's Stop. I had the carrot cake cookie which was delicious! They were showing Frozen so we chilled out there for a bit until our Jedi Training time. There was a mix up with Jedi Training and they could only take half of the group, so we changed our time to the 4:40 show. This allowed us to see the Indiana Stunt show, which is one my DS' favorites! After the show my DH and DD had arrived at the park so we were all able to make our lunch reservation at Sci Fi. After lunch the kids wanted to do the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. After that we did Voyage of the Little Mermaid and the Beauty and the Beast show. DD was also able to get in the 4:40 Jedi Training, which they both loved! We killed some time before our Toy Story FP by doing the Studio Backlot tour then did Toy Story. The boys did the playground again while the girls shopped until our Tower of Terror FP. We didn't use our Star Tours FP because both kids were starting to fade, and they wanted to get in one last swim before we left. We had an early flight the next morning so we skipped Fantasmic.
A couple of highlights- we absolutely loved AOA even though we stayed in the LM rooms and had to hike it to the food court and bus stop. We would definitely stay there again. I had about 15 Starbucks gift cards that we used at EPCOT and MK, this saved us about $50 in snacks and drinks! We didn't get the dining plan, and I was very happy that we weren't tied to it. Every counter service meal somebody in the family split a meal, so that saved us some $. I had about $450 on my Disney Rewards card and that covered our first 3 days of eating. I also highly recommend bringing empty ziplock bags to the parks with you. It really came in handy when I got sick at AK. It wasn't one of my finer moments, but it was better than getting sick all over the place!
All in all we had a great trip. The magicbands worked well and the fastpass lines were quick, no more than a 10 minute wait ever. I still much prefer the old FP system, especially since I didn't get to do Haunted Mansion this trip. But overall, it did force us to do some things we normally wouldn't take the time to do and we did stop and smell the roses more this trip than ever before!
Sorry for the long post, but just thought I'd share our family's experience!
pretty impressive
