Our first WDW trip plan - feedback welcome

[suse66]

First, thank everyone for all the awesome feedback! I made a lot of changes based on the feedback and I can see how they made yesterday (our first day) go much better. We arrived at Epcot just after noon and did Spaceship Earth (FP) (pretty much as I remember), Sum of all Thrills (Son 8)/Color World (Daughter 4) (neat), and then took my son on test track (FP) (he loved it, I thought it was meh). Mission Space actually only had 10 minute wait, but we saved that for Epcot day 2 since we didn't want to do another ride my daughter couldn't do (she's 39.5"). We then went over to Journey into imagination (wow is that different than I remember from 20 years ago), had lunch at the electric umbrella (better than I expected), Mickey/Minnie/Goofy M&G (daughter had a big smile with Minnie), Pixar shorts (we're big fans), Nemo and Friends (kinda lame IMO), Turtle Talk (so-so IMO). At this point (5:30 maybe) my son told us he was beat and wanted to go back. So glad we dropped the dinner/desert reservations and the after 5pm plans!

We headed back to the VWL. The room is nice, but nothing special. I think the lobbies are quite nice and the pool is pretty cool. We had a bunch of food in the room and I thought our day was over. But then I took my son to look at the lobby and grab a refillable mug....and then we realized the fireworks at MK were starting and there was a boat waiting....so we ended up watching the fireworks on the boat and walking into MK. That was really neat. I told my son that even though I'm not a big Disney fan, i still was always impressed with their night shows. Then we walked over to splash mount for no wait (I remember it being hours 20 years ago when it was still quite new). Then while leaving we saw just the beginning of the electric parade....I'm hoping we don't pay today for him being up so late.

Overall, many of the rides did little for me, but my son and daughter were quite happy. I still think MK at night is unique and the ability to be door to door in 15-20 minutes is going to make a big difference in this trip compared to what I remember staying off site. Again, I'm glad we cut down on our plan and it turns out that we made a lot of changes from our main plan, but they were all positive changes.

Off to Hollywood studios today! I pushed almost our whole itinerary today earlier so we can leave 2-3 if we need/want and come back for a rest and pool time (my son really wants to go in the pool). i could see us going out for one of the night shows after that.

I'm not sure anyone is interested in these daily reports, but I wanted to give feedback on how the advice improved our day.

Joseph

I love reading about people's Disney experiences! I was like you, very reluctant to go on our first trip but my husband really pushed for it. Now I am a Disney crazy person...going back for our 4th trip in March! I hope you have a wonderful time with your family and please keep us posted on how things go!

 

[jdrasin]

I love reading about people's Disney experiences! I was like you, very reluctant to go on our first trip but my husband really pushed for it. Now I am a Disney crazy person...going back for our 4th trip in March! I hope you have a wonderful time with your family and please keep us posted on how things go!

We're having a good time. My son is kind of done with it. Interesting thing I learned, he doesn't like to repeating rides other than thrill rides. My daughter I think would live here, lol. My wife is having fun with the kids, but is pretty much ready to go home. I'll take a more detailed poll at the end and get my sons comments from his travel journal. We have a slew of pictures we took and the photopass people took, and I'm really glad we have so many. There are some awesome pictures of the kids smiling and having fun.

Joseph

 

[North of Mouse]

Who says it can't be both??? My wife would certainly say I need to lighten up and relax about most everything. If someone gives me a how-to, I'll read it The kids are having fun, I like seeing them have fun, but it hasn't really resonated with me, at least yet. It's not bad, and many things are much better than I feared. For instance, lines have not been an issue. The weather was awesome earlier in the week, who knew I'd be in a pool in Feb! Big fan of that!!! I probably don't notice the construction as much as regulars as I don't realize what I'm not seeing.

Joseph

As I said, we're here also, so are having firsthand the weather that you are having! Would we have loved to be in the low 80's every day like Tues - Thurs?? You bet! I'm a deep south girl and this weather is killing me - especially with the gusty winds!!

No problems with the way your family is feeling about the rides, or things in general, just find it 'very' unusual, especially for a first visit! At 8 years old, seems your son is pretty jaded, not wanting to repeat rides, etc. - makes me wonder what he really enjoys for fun at that age. Most of the time the 'magic' completely overwhelms, and 'everything' is seen through rose colored glasses!! (even for adult 'kids'!!)

Anyhow, hope you enjoy the rest of your trip!

 

[jdrasin]

As I said, we're here also, so are having firsthand the weather that you are having! Would we have loved to be in the low 80's every day like Tues - Thurs?? You bet! I'm a deep south girl and this weather is killing me - especially with the gusty winds!!

No problems with the way your family is feeling about the rides, or things in general, just find it 'very' unusual, especially for a first visit! At 8 years old, seems your son is pretty jaded, not wanting to repeat rides, etc. - makes me wonder what he really enjoys for fun at that age. Most of the time the 'magic' completely overwhelms, and 'everything' is seen through rose colored glasses!! (even for adult 'kids'!!)

Anyhow, hope you enjoy the rest of your trip!

Last night was downright cold!
He's liking the rides, but he just isn't interested in repeating the non-thrill rides like Haunted Mansion, Pirates, etc... I was surprised at this as well. He is happy to go on Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain all day I am laughing that I keep noticing him humming various songs from parades and rides, he doesn't even notice he's doing it.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'magic'.

Joseph

 

[North of Mouse]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'magic'.

Joseph

Nothing more than you know, 'a fantasy world'? Magic Kingdom!!
'Everything' is 'magical' here!!

 

[leebee]

It's interesting to read North of Mouse's and Joseph's comments together. Clearly the difference between one who sees WDW as "the-Disney-magic-bubble" and one who sees Disney as a theme park. Fortunately, it sounds like both families are having great vacations! I am enjoying reading your comments, Joseph. It's nice to see a "clear/clean" viewpoint and not one that's wearing Pixie Dust glasses. Don't get me wrong- DD22 and I were on our 27th visit in November. I just like hearing the different viewpoint. I agree with Joseph on quite a lot of what he's said, but I also love going to Disney for the total contentment it brings me; I feel like I leave the stress of everyday life at the airport and can just relax (which is interesting as IRL I'd NEVER walk 10 miles a day!).

Joseph- if you have the time, get your kids on the monorail. We find it more than just transportation- it's actually fun to see everything- and where else will they have the experience of riding a monorail? Keep posting- I am enjoying your viewpoints and your writing style!

 

[jdrasin]

For those with reader kids, my son is reading Kingdom Keepers while here (he is a voracious reader). He's liking reading about the rides and areas of the park as he is in them. I assume everyone here already know about this series, but if not....

We also had our first construction-related issue last night (10pm is when I noticed it after going on the balcony). There was a loud piece of construction equipment left on all night. From the sound I'm guessing it was the diesel generator, but no idea really. I called to let the front desk know 'hey, I think someone left something on' and got a call back 10 minutes later (after 10pm at this point) 'this is so-and-so, I heard you requested a new room'....Um...no, i just thought you'd want to know something is left on and it's kinda really loud. It was off when I woke up. It really is the first time the construction has really impacted us and it was no big deal.

Joseph

 

[ArielSRL]

Like I mentioned before, we were booked at VWL but we're really afraid if the construction so we changed our ressie to AoA. It would've been nice to stay there but I think we will wait for a non-construction time. Though...I wonder if we would've received any extra or upgrade bc of the construction....

 

[North of Mouse]

It's interesting to read North of Mouse's and Joseph's comments together. Clearly the difference between one who sees WDW as "the-Disney-magic-bubble" and one who sees Disney as a theme park.

Actually, I don't really look at Disney as just a 'magic bubble', but I 'do' look at the whole of Disney as being fantasy - not to be even compared to the real world. Have made too many trips to count - since the MK was the 'only' park (first trip 1972) and it was a much more simple time - walk on any and all rides, etc.

The OP said 'feedback welcome', and that's all I was doing - seemed he was 'sort of' looking at things from the perspective of 'real' life. I am not disillusioned at all - just slide into the make believe here, then back again to my 'real' life as I leave!

This is no 'one size fits all' vacation place, and the main thing is that if we are enjoying ourselves, our time here has accomplished its purpose!

 

[jdrasin]

Today got cut short by rain, cold, and the little girl getting ill (seems to just be a minor fever). She did even want to use a universal fast pass we had to see a princess again. It was a very free-wheeling day as we had no real plans. The morning was very mountainy: splash-splash-thunder-splash-thunder with a speedway somewhere in there. He then started playing the Sorcerers of Magic Kingdom game and was quite into it, so we did that until the parade (which was delayed several times) and are now back home.
I did think the rainy-day parade was a little sad I understand they don't want the floats out in that weather, but it was such a small little parade.

To the comments, all are welcome. The feedback request was actually about the original planning, but all is welcome. I understand some people are very drawn into the Disney experience, it just has not happened to me, nor I would guess any of my family other than maybe my daughter. There are trips/experiences I've had which take me away from my 'real' world, this just isn't one.

 

[jdrasin]

Day 8 (Animal Kingdom/Magic Kingdom)

Yes, our last full day. We are looking forward to being home, but also a little sad as it’s been a good trip and lots of together time for the family. There weren’t even too many fights between the kids!

Yesterday was cut a bit short, but today made up for that. I had some fast passes for AK since I prognosticated we’d be there. I was lucky and able to move them early so the day started with the Safari. It was just as good as the first time and we saw a few animals that we didn’t see the first time. While we have a great zoo at home (we’re just north of Washington DC), I think the safari is a great attraction. This was followed with one final Expedition Everest. I was a little bummed that my son wanted to go with his mom as I would have been happy to go again. So I took my daughter to see Mickey and Minnie again (seriously, I think this was like the 20th meet and greet). After that, it was wandering through some animal paths and heading out of the park. We didn’t intend to do much at the Magic Kingdom, but yeah, we did. After 20+ years I FINALLY got to do the People Mover and the Carousel of Progress. I quite liked the Carousel and my son was up for going on it again (we had other plans though).

After that we saw the Dreams show in front of the castle. It was cute, kids like it. Of course my son had to ask ‘if she’s a real witch, why didn’t she just kill them’. I laughed. We then did Space Mountain again, my son decided he wasn’t too scared and just grabbed random rides and attractions while doing the sorcerer game. We also got to see the Festival of Fantasy parade again which I liked.

Really the only down side to today was the Alice meet and great never happened. We kept asking and no one seemed to know when it was. Eventually I read through the app and it seemed it was only done earlier in the day. My daughter is a huge Alice in Wonderland friend, but it never occurred to us to try and find her. Oops.

The crowds were MUCH heavier today than during the week. I assume yesterday it was done due to the rain. Holy crap were there a lot of people, and I’m sure this is nothing compared to the summer and holidays. It didn’t quite set off my claustrophobia, but I had to really use my Fast Pass ninjitsu today.

Packing up to head out tomorrow after breakfast at Chef Mickey.

Joseph

 

[jdrasin]

Day 8, yeah there was more

Our last day ended up being just a wee-bit longer….and by that I mean my son and I closed down two parks. We got back from the Magic Kingdom and I really wanted him to see the evening show at Epcot which I remember being good. So he and I headed over (skipping the super bowl) to pick up my wife the last Starbucks cup she didn’t have and see the show. We had some good bonding time and watched Illumination. We both quite liked it, thought it was different than I remember. More fireworks, less lasers. Good rule of thumb in life, never make a decision that involves ‘less lasers’.

So we could have gone home…OR we could head over to Magic Kingdom to catch the fireworks and 11pm electrical parade…so we did that. We caught the very end of wishes (now almost 10:30) and started enjoying an almost empty park. It had such a different feel and vibe at night. I think my son felt like he was one of the cool adults. Before the electrical parade we saw the show where they project a bunch of scenes on the castle. I have no idea what it was, but it was really cool. We then got to see the electrical parade right at the tip of main street so we got to see them approaching us and then veering off to the left which made for a great viewing perspective. I don’t think I liked it quite as much as I liked the old Spectro-Magic parade that I remember, but it was still cool. Plus being in the park at 11 with my son and so few people made for a great father-son adventure. After that we rode the mine train 3 times until they closed the park at midnight. Again, a very different experience at night. Not only were we basically walking on, but at night the ride seemed much more wild and the riders were in a very festive mood. Lots of singing during the mid-point and yelling. But finally, we had to say goodbye to the Magic Kingdom and walk out. I’m sure I lose some responsible father points for having my 8-year-old out past midnight.

Day 9, leaving

This morning we woke up and loaded the car and headed to Chef Mickey’s for our goodbye breakfast. That with a minor heart-attack after we couldn’t find our auto-train tickets (we did eventually). Our kids were both very sad about leaving. But as we always say, all good things end in tears J They both had a great time and we really enjoyed seeing them have so much fun and spending all that family time together. My daughter pretty much was in dream-land the whole time and my son, even though he’s not much for the magic, had a very good time on the rides and exploring.

There were certainly some very memorable moments on the trip. Seeing my daughter’s eyes when she danced with Belle while playing the Beast hit me very hard. To her it was as real as anything and the pictures are just fantastic. I still can’t believe I screwed up getting video of it J. My son was really having fun on the rides and was really interested in the history of the rides and the parks and design. I expect he will be checking out books from the library, he’s quite the little book-worm.

Overall, we are happy with our visit. We have a ton of pictures we took and their photographers took (we ended up buying the photo service). We normally don’t have a ton of pictures from our trips, so we’re really happy we have so many.

Disney has put a lot of time into its craft. Some I think miss their mark, but others are really excellent experiences. There was more than enough to keep us occupied, and while I am more than ready to go home, I have no doubt if we were there another day, we’d fill it up. My son noted, when we asked which park he liked the most, that they are so different it’s hard to compare. I think he’s right on, and the diversity of experiences is really good. I would say the cost of Disney really is a kicker, and some of the experiences are just insane. I realize they are able to pack their parks and dining with those prices, so why would they charge less, but it still clearly prices a lot of people out of it and frankly prohibits any thought we have of going back soon.

I’m sure I’ll write some more wrap-up thoughts when I get home and catch up on some sleep. I was happy that I kept my work at a minimum this week, only a couple issues came up that I needed to attend to.

Again, thank you to everyone on the boards here for all their info as we planned, it helped a ton. You all helped us avoid some mistakes. I can’t imagine what Disney must be like for people who can’t/don’t plan, it must be maddening at times.

Now I need to go start planning my wife and my’s 15th anniversary trip to Ireland in May SANS KIDS!

Joseph

 

[caliope]

I've really enjoyed reading about your experiences and perspective. Thank you for taking the time to share them!

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

Great trip report, thanks so much for sharing.

 

[ArielSRL]

I don't know about losing responsible father points but gaining an irreplaceable experience with your son, no doubt! Loved the report! Looking forward to the next one in a few years... *wink*

 

[c3h3a3r]

Enjoyed reading. Thanks for sharing

 

[jdrasin]

I meant to write some final thoughts, but we have been knocked out of commission since we got back. My wife picked up Bronchitis (diagnosed the day we got back) and two days later I was diagnosed with influenza (the one year I don't get the inoculation!) We are slowly getting on the mend.

We’ve been talking about our trip and both my wife and I said it was a better trip than we expected. Frankly, I was freaking out about it. I’m not a fan of crowds, lines, or spending lots of money – three things Disney has in spades. However, based on when we went, using crowd calendars, lines app, and learning to mange fast pass, we really didn’t feel like we missed out on anything we wanted to do. Again, for people who aren’t big planners, I could see a Disney trip being a disaster. It is really not designed for ad-hoc planning, though we got away with some of that. If someone asked if they should go to Disney, I would give them a very mixed review depending on their vacationing style.

Also, there is just no way getting around how freaking expensive it is, especially the hotels and tickets. Certainly you can stay off-site, but our trip would not have been nearly as good. All those quick trips over to parks, especially the Magic Kingdom would not have happened. Asking people to drop $5,000 for a week vacation is just not something most families can do with any regularity. Plus, when you have dining options like Chef Mickey ($150 for breakfast for 4) and CRT ($250 for dinner for 4), prices can quickly shoot up. I like to joke that when Disney was open, Epcot was a place you could sample the world. Now you can go to many of those countries for cheaper.

As an aside, one other odd thing that stood out which I had not commented on was the number of Disney employees who were very open about their negative view of their employer once I was talking to them for awhile. I’m the kind of guy who starts chatting with people about their jobs and before long they are venting about mismanagement and such. It was really interesting, but very surprising.

I guess at this point I should figure out how to turn this into a trip report.

 

[jdrasin]

Reading this 5 years later after mentioning it to a colleague, there was a post-post-script. We did go back 2 (3?) years later. A friend had DVC points they gave us and I had points for the auto-train again. It was a completely different experience with my kids 6 and 10ish, but just as fullfilling. My daughter did her first roller coaster (BTMRR) and that was the end of meet and greets. She just wanted to do thrill rides over and over. We all had another fun time, and I really enjoyed watching how different the experience was for the kids with just a couple years added.
We stayed at Kidini Village with a Savannah room and it did not disappoint. The whole time I was saying "It's not going to be like the pictures" and.....it was just like the pictures. The restaurant (Sannah?) was also the first Disney restaurant that I think would survive outside of Disney at the price it charged. We went many many times.
We still talk regularly about the fun we had on these trips (and others) and are glad we went. My daughter's picture with Belle is still probably my favorite.

At the end the kids did say they liked it a lot, but they wanted to do something else for our next big vacation (we went to a National Park and then Canada). I came back to Disboards as I'm fascinated at Disney's plan to open and am curious how it works out.

Joseph

 

[ToyStoryManiaMouse]

The Great Movie ride does not exist anymore. It has been replaced with Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. It's an awesome ride though!

 

[jdrasin]

The Great Movie ride does not exist anymore. It has been replaced with Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. It's an awesome ride though!

I read up on that. I'm sure the new ride is well done, the concept sounded neat. I guess now there is just one of the original 'behind the scenes' ride. Great rides are awesome, but it seems it takes away some of the differentiation.