Spring Break - Last Minute Planning

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Hello Everyone!!!!

Hi my name is Ariella... I have a confession... I thougtht I didn't need to do a pre-trip report this time... But here I am... In need of help!

My husband loves going to Disney but weirdly he doesn't want to talk about EVERY detail every day leading up to the trip... Weird?! I know!!!

But I need someone to tell me if I am crazy with my plans or not. So, here I am!

Who are we?
Untitled
From left to right:
Gwen DD13, Morgan DD15, Me! Ariella, and Andy DH

We have been to Disney many times, which is why I was like I don't need to do a pre-trip report. We can just "wing it"... But I am not a "wing it" kind of person.

So, Let's get started...

When?

We are going over the girls Spring Break. This year they have a half day Wednesday and then the following week off. Morgan is a sophomore in high school and Gwen is in 8th Grade. So, missing school is getting harder and harder. But at least they get a decent time off. We just have to deal with spring break crowds and over priced airfare.

Morgan is in indoor drumline this year, and they usually have practice Monday and Wednesdays from 5:30 - 9:00. Soooo, we couldn't leave till Thursday morning. LAST time we flew, we booked an 11:00 am flight, casue we wanted to have a chill travel day. Well, that turned into delay delay and delay. So, THIS time I insisted we book the first flight. So, we fly out 6:35 AM!!! Bright and early. Morgan will be SUPER tired but she agreed that would be best.

Coming home, we are booked for Friday morning. Again early. 8:00 AM. Because... Morgan has a competition on Saturday before school starts back you. So, We will be in Disney Thursday through the following Friday. So, we wanted to get back early enough that Morgan could relax at home before the long day we will have Saturday. (Cause as we all know, Disney is tiring!

So, we are there 8 Full Days and 8 Nights.

Which is still a nice long trip! We are planning on 5 Park Days with a few down days to counter the Spring Break Crowds.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Where?

Where are we staying you ask? Well! Good Question!!!

Last summer we stayed at Caribbean Beach for the entire stay. And it was great. We love it there, but we spent almost every afternoon back at the resort relaxing and we missed having a balcony. The girls were happy on there ipads watching youtube as teens do. Andy and I would have enjoyed the balcony to relax on.

Usually we will start at a moderate and then move over to a deluxe resort. Mostly to keep the $$$ down. And Yacht Club has become our favorite deluxe. It tends be slightly cheaper. (slightly...) And we love being near EPCOT and Hollywood Studios!

So, I started looking and for some strange reason I couldn't book Yacht Club for the last 2 days of the trip. So, I went with staying there first.

Ready to Swim
Our very first time staying here.

But where to stay for the 2nd half? I did ALOT of pricing and stratgizing on what to do for this. I kind of wanted to live it up this trip with a balcony for the WHOLE trip... So, I suggested Wilderness Lodge to DH. Wilderness Lodge was our first resort that we loved. But Yacht Club had stolen our hearts.

So, when I suggested it, DH was all in! YEAH!!!
Screen Shot 2024-02-11 at 5.11.32 PM
It has been a LONG time since we have stayed here. And I am looking forward to taking the boat to MK!!!

So, we are 4 nights at each, nice and even!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day One Plans aka Travel Day

So, like I said we have a VERY early flight out. We are flying out of Philly at 6:35 am and if all goes as scheduled, we will be in Orlando by 9:19. Granted, we will have to get off the plane and get our bags.

We will be just taking an uber to property. We did this last trip and it was fairly easy. The time before we did a private car, we were worried about Spring Break business and it was at the height of Travel Revenge. And that was AMAZING!!! But.. uber and lyft are just soooo much cheaper.

But if Disney ever brought Magical Express back... I would TOTALLY go back to that! Why DIsney?!?! Why?

Anyway, hopefully we will be at Yacht Club somewhere between 11:00 - 12:00, I figure. At the latest.

We will check in, I want to request a room with the couch in it, so the girls don't have to share a bed for at least half the trip.

I assume a room won't be ready, which is fine, we will check our bags with bell services and head to Disney Springs for some lunch.

I have a reservation at Wine Bar George for 2:00. I figured that was more than enough time for us to get from the airport, check in and get to Disney Springs?

Must trys for us at Wine Bar George...

Saganaki On Fire & Crispy Mac & Cheese Bites​

We have never eaten here before. And we always talk about eating here, and always seem to not fit it in. So we will see if it happens. I am actually hoping we can do a few things here, and then also go to Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar as well. Kind of a crawl type lunch and drinks! Maybe Homecomin for a drink to go as well.

Jock Lindsay's would be for the Air Pirate's Cargo Loaded Pretzel & Chicken on the Egg

I am sure we will check out World of Disney and see how long the wait is for Gideon's.

So, speaking of Gideon's... I got my husband a suvie for Christmas during Covid. He needed a "hobby" and slow cooking meat in water was his thing. ANYWAY, the following Christmas I got him a vacuum sealer and it is this slim machine (think a fat ruler) that just sucks the air out of the bag. Long story short... I mentioned bringing the vacuum sealer with us to maximize freshness on Gideon cookies. And I totally thought DH would think I was crazy. But he was kind of into it!

Sorry, I got side tracked. Basically we are trying to keep Disney Springs low key. We will eventually head back to the hotel. Hopefully we can head to our room, but we will probably keep swimsuits handy in a separate bag if we need to kill more time before our room is ready.

And that is really all I have planned for the day! I am sure we will be tired, we will have gotten up early. maybe a night swim if we can get into our room early enough to relax in the room and then go down. But we will want to get to bed at a reasonable time, as the next day will be a park day!!!

What do you think? I wanted to do Wine Bar George earlier but I was just afraid if we had a flight delay we would miss is. I feel like if we walked up earlier, there is a good chance we could get in earlier?

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day Two aka the day I don't know what to do

Is it me, or does everyone have that one day of the trip where they aren't exactly sure how to plan the day.... I always seem to have that one day that is trouble-some.

Well, this trip, it is the first day!

My initial thoughts are EPCOT, we are walking distance from it, and I would like to do it before the weekend crowds really get going. Guardians is also now a must fo for us. So, get a boarding group right off the bat sounds like a good plan.

My thought is to hit Remy and Frozen this morning, take advantage of International Gateway and early park entry to get on one or both with no LL.

Questions for that:

• When do they open up World Showcase fully, so you can walk from Remy to Frozen without having to go around clockwise?
• Do we think we could do BOTH Frozen and Remy before the lines get long?
• Any good breakfast places in world showcase even be open?

I am totally now realizing that I don't think we have EVER rope dropped EPCOT. ever!


I also want to try and enjoy Flower and Garden today. It will be our main day for this. And I have no dinning reservations today, assuming we will just eat our way around the world showcase.

The girls might want to do the Easter Egg Hunt as well today. Easter will be in 2 days, so we could do both the egg hunt and the flower and garden hunt. I assume it will be based on what the prizes are.

And then of course, there is the whole, you don't really know when you will get a boarding group for Guardians.

• I know there is a 1:00 drop, do most of the morning times happen before 1? at this point?

There is a good chance we will want to go back to the room and relax for a bit and then we can decide if we want to go to another park or back to EPCOT.

I did grab a Beaches and Cream reservation for 9:30 that night. My thought was to go JUST for Ice Cream. It was the earliest time they had for the night.

Which now I am wondering, if we went back in to see the new fireworks show in EPCOT, could we see the fireworks and make it in time for our reservation? The fireworks are scheduled for 9:00 that night. I am thinking we could if we watch fairly close to International Gateway. Thoughts? Is it doable?


So, here is where I spiraled with the plans....
We have 5 park days and Morgan and Gwen requested 2 days at Hollywood Studios and we usually plan 2 days at Magic Kingdom. So, that left 1 day for EPCOT and ZERO days for Animal Kingdom.

Now everyone is ok with skipping AK but I still know of want to go, at least for a little bit. So, I was like, we can just park hop over one evening. We did that before and it worked out great!

EXCEPT one problem... right now Animal Kingdom is scheduled to close at 6:00 PM every night!!! What the what, Disney? 6:00?!?! That is soooo early!

So hoping over in the evening is gonna be SUPER hard! Part of me hopes it stays that way, cause that means that the crowds won't be TOO bad but then I am like really? You can't stay open till 8:00 PM? Disney? Come one. As it is, most of the parks are closing at 9 this trip. Feels very Feb trip times.

Anyway, today feels like a good day to hop to AK, so I was thinking, we could do EPCOT in the AM, head to AK for a few hours? Then still have time to go back to EPCOT or even hop over to HS for a ride, maybe get in line for Rise at the end of the night.

Which THEN made me think, maybe we could try and hit all 3 big rides in EPCOT, HS and AK. Like a mini challenge. That could be a fun way to kick off the trip!

I am thinking what will happen is we will wake up see what we get for a boarding group and then decide what to do from there!

 

[rdkeim]

Fun to follow along on another one of your TR's! I think you picked 2 great resorts. WL is my sentimental favorite. Love the lodge-y and national park feel. I've stayed at Yacht Club once and you can't beat the location. I'm no help with the other logistics but interested to read how it turns out

 

[Mollydolly334]

What a GREAT split-stay with WL and YC!! An MK and an Epcot resort is absolutely perfect choice for a split stay. And a nice long trip too

 

[keh422]

YC and WL! Awesome! We're staying at BWV for a couple of nights this summer, and it'll be our first time staying at an Epcot resort. I'm ridiculously excited. We almost got to stay at WL, but then we realized the villas only sleep 4, and there are 5 of us. I don't even know why the website suggested it. So, boo.

Boarding groups really do complicate things, don't they? If you're trying to split your day between parks, anyway. I think your mini challenge would be fun if it works out.

 

[Mle8308]

YC and WL! Awesome! We're staying at BWV for a couple of nights this summer, and it'll be our first time staying at an Epcot resort. I'm ridiculously excited. We almost got to stay at WL, but then we realized the villas only sleep 4, and there are 5 of us. I don't even know why the website suggested it. So, boo.

Boarding groups really do complicate things, don't they? If you're trying to split your day between parks, anyway. I think your mini challenge would be fun if it works out.

FYI, if you can book a Boulder Ridge Studio at the WL, it will sleep 5. One bed is rather small, a drop down bed from under the TV. It's a little shorter and narrower than a twin. But maybe it would work for you?

 

[PoppyJ]

I'm loving your pre-trip report because my husband also doesn't want to hear about Disney 24/7. We will be staying at the Beach Club in May!

Here's my experience rope dropping Epcot from the back entrance. We got there an hour before early entrance, and we were at the front of the line to get in. They let us in a little early and Remy was a walk on. We then walked in the direction of Morocco/Japan, straight to Frozen. It was about a 15-20 minute wait. We finished both rides just after regular opening at 9:00 am. My brother in law scored us Group 1 for Guardians so we went straight there and had ridden all 3 rides by 9:30 am!

But it all depends on what group you get for VQ! If your call back is too late, another option might be to just go back to Epcot later after Animal Kingdom. One time our call back was at 11 am but we didn't go until after 5 pm and they let us on! I had read for Guardians, they will let you ride anytime after your group is called.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Fun to follow along on another one of your TR's!

Thanks for following along!

What a GREAT split-stay with WL and YC!! An MK and an Epcot resort is absolutely perfect choice for a split stay. And a nice long trip too

That is what we were thinking! I was considering AKL but it's so far away from everything!

If you're trying to split your day between parks, anyway. I think your mini challenge would be fun if it works out.

I am so torn!!!!

Here's my experience rope dropping Epcot from the back entrance. We got there an hour before early entrance, and we were at the front of the line to get in. They let us in a little early and Remy was a walk on. We then walked in the direction of Morocco/Japan, straight to Frozen. It was about a 15-20 minute wait. We finished both rides just after regular opening at 9:00 am. My brother in law scored us Group 1 for Guardians so we went straight there and had ridden all 3 rides by 9:30 am!

This would be a dream!!! Was it alot of people waiting to get in? I am leaning toward this also, since we do have extended evening hours later but it would be nice if we didn't have to walk all the way to the back that night.

One time our call back was at 11 am but we didn't go until after 5 pm and they let us on! I had read for Guardians, they will let you ride anytime after your group

I always for get that!

 

[PoppyJ]

This would be a dream!!! Was it alot of people waiting to get in? I am leaning toward this also, since we do have extended evening hours later but it would be nice if we didn't have to walk all the way to the back that night.

Yes! It was a pretty big crowd behind us. I'm glad we were at the front!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day Three our First Rest Day!

A Rest day already?!? I was going to do 2 park days and then a rest day but it was just how the days lined up.

Since this is a rest day, I know we can go hard for our first day, which we do tend to do.

I am hoping we mobile order from Ale and Compass for breakfast. I had booked an actual reservation but that will take up too much time and eating breakfast on our balcony sounds perfect.

Since we will be staying at Yacht Club, the priority will be to swim and enjoy the pool area. Hopefully!

We do have 1 thing planned, dinner... We will have to head to Disney Springs for dinner at Homecomin'. We have a 5:00 reservation, so that way, we can do some shopping after if we want or just head back to the hotel.

Maybe some night swimming or just hang out on the balcony. Or Andy and I talked about just the two of us heading over to the Boardwalk area and try and get into Abracadabra Bar or something.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day Four Easter!!!!

We will be headed back to the parks today. Originally I was going to have this be a rest day but Andy said it felt weird not being in a park for the day. And Touring plans actually had Magic Kingdom with a low crowd level. Maybe since locals will be staying home for the holiday?

At any rate we will be heading to Magic Kingdom for the morning at least.

I booked a Crystal Palace Breakfast for 8:00 AM. But I am not sure I am going to keep it. We have never eaten here before but we are def take advantage of the low lines in the morning. Morgan and Gwen have never really been into Winnie the Pooh.

But I was trying to find something special to do since it was Easter.

I would like to see the parade this day, I think it's just a little part at the beginning with Easter stuff. Hopefully we can see that at the new noon time parade.

Is there anything else special going on for Easter? I guess the Chocolate Eggs at Grand Floridian. We have done that before. And they are amazing,b ut I don't know if it will be a priority this trip.

If we cancel the breakfast, I might suggest we take the monorail to EPCOT and eat at a few food booths for lunch and then head back to the room for a bit.

We have dinner reservations at Beaches and Cream, I couldn't get a 5:00 reservation, so I currently have a 4:40 or a 5:45 reservation. I figure I will hold on both and see what we decide for food the rest of the day. If we don't eat a big meal, early dinner might not be too terrible.

I am thinking we will head to Hollywood Studios for the evening. Get on a ride of 2. I also grabbed a 9:15 Oga's Cantina reservation. It has been awhile since we have been there. And I thought a fun way to end Easter. Plus I got a reservation for 9:15, and as of now the park closes at 9:00, so it will be like bonus time in the park.

 

[jrmint427]

My husband loves going to Disney but weirdly he doesn't want to talk about EVERY detail every day leading up to the trip... Weird?! I know!!!

Yay for a pre trip report! I almost didn’t do one this year too but realized I have questions and want ideas and so odd, my husband doesn’t want to hear about this non-stop too! Thank goodness for the obsessive Disney people!

So, THIS time I insisted we book the first flight. So, we fly out 6:35 AM!!!

So early!! Ours is early this year too, we’ll have to leave for the airport at 5am which sounds absurd. I’m worried my family won’t sleep on the plane and will be grumpy at the start of the trip. But didn’t want to risk later flight times either. This way we can have lunch at Disney!!

I have a reservation at Wine Bar George for 2:00. I figured that was more than enough time for us to get from the airport, check in and get to Disney Springs?

That timing sounds right to me! And if your flight is delayed and you call, they should let you cancel with no issue.

maybe a night swim if we can get into our room early enough to relax in the room and then go down.

I’m torn on swimming when we get in - we could swim until 3pm or so but I’m worried about getting into the rooms on time to shower and get ready before heading to Disney Springs by 4pm. A night swim sounds nice!

My thought is to hit Remy and Frozen this morning, take advantage of International Gateway and early park entry to get on one or both with no LL.

I am about to post the same thing! I’ve been reading and watching videos of people who do it. I’m just not sure my family will move fast enough in the mornings to be front of line for Remy.

Do we think we could do BOTH Frozen and Remy before the lines get long?

We rope dropped Epcot early entry on our last trip (international gateway). We got to the entrance about 10 min before early entry and they had already let people in so there was no line to wait in. And the Remy line was already moving! We waited about 25 min. I think we need to get to the entrance even earlier this time to try to do both.

Any good breakfast places in world showcase even be open?

I’m wondering the same! I think I saw that the Norway bakery opens at 9am so we’re planning to try for Remy and Frozen 8:30-9 and then it should be open by the time we get off. But we also usually prefer eggs and oatmeal type breakfast over pastries, so undecided what to do for breakfast too. Maybe Starbucks after the early rides?

I am totally now realizing that I don't think we have EVER rope dropped EPCOT. ever!

Last time was our first! Aside from an early morning Akershus reservation.

EXCEPT one problem... right now Animal Kingdom is scheduled to close at 6:00 PM every night!!! What the what, Disney? 6:00?!?! That is soooo early!

I know! I’m so bummed! I hoped they would change that but went ahead and made a Boma reservation based on that 6pm time.

As it is, most of the parks are closing at 9 this trip. Feels very Feb trip times.

I was so surprised by that. Are they expecting lower crowds? Having staffing issues? Why?!?

and eating breakfast on our balcony sounds perfect.

That does sound perfect!

 

[SEAGULL59]

We love the French bakery in Epcot. Last year we hit Remi early and then stopped there for breakfast. They were just opening and it was not long of a wait at all. That area is so neat!

 

[Isabelle12345]

We were able to Rope drop Epcot at the international gateway in November (Friday of a Rundisney weekend)
My pics say we were at security at 7:40 for an 8:30 early entry; we were within the first 50 people I would guess.
We were past security at 7:48, on the bridge leading to France at 7:55 and getting to the Ratatouille building at 8:10.
We were off the ride at 8:25 and walked in an empty world showcase to Frozen (taking lots of pictures along the way) where we had maybe a 5 minute line?
It was glorious!!!
We then briskly walked to Soarin and we walked on the next show!

What a great start to the morning - and nothing is prettier than an empty world showcase on a sunny morning!!!

 

[Woth2982]

Wilderness Lodge was our first resort that we loved. But Yacht Club had stolen our hearts.

I feel this so much! Poly was my first, but there is just something magical about Yacht Club!

I am looking forward to taking the boat to MK!

This is my favorite part of WL, especially heading back in the evening!

But if Disney ever brought Magical Express back... I would TOTALLY go back to that!

Yes! But ONLY if they brought back the luggage service. That and RAC are truly the only things I miss about not having Magical Express!

The trip plans thus far sound great! Having a rest day after a first FULL park day preceded by an EARLY arrival day is a good call. I can see your struggle with Crystal Palace. I am also not a huge Pooh fan, but that Pooh Puffed French Toast is what dreams are made of lol.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day Five Switching Hotels

It is so strange that it will be day 5 and only our 3rd park day. I think that is where I am struggling. It is very different planning for this trip. We used to be go every day type of people. Even if we didn't spend all day in the park we were somewhere.

ANYWAY... Today we need to switch hotels, we will be moving over to Wilderness Lodge today. So, we will have to be packed up and bring everything down to bell services before we head to the park for the day.

We are pros and split stays. I usually try to pack at least 1 bag that we don't open at the first hotel. And then at the at the 2nd hotel the one bag become dirty clothes that we again don't need to open.

We are headed to Hollywood Studios today. So, I am hoping we can rope drop Rise today. But we will obviously have to play that by ear! We do have a 2nd HS day after, so we could wait till then to do Rise.

Nothing specific plan wise for rides, I am sure MMRR and Toy Story Mania will be on the hit list.

We have a lunch reservation at Sci-Fi Drive Inn at 12:50. This was Morgan's request for this trip. We haven't eaten here in forever! And I am excited about it. I always enjoyed coming here. it's just a unique experience. And the food is good. nothing special but good.

Plus I figure the timing will work out, hopefully, by the time we eat lunch, shop our way out of the park and get to Wilderness Lodge, our room will be ready. I am slightly worried our room won't be ready when we are ready to head back to the resort. I probably should have a backpack with bathing suits in it, just in case we need to kill more time.

Because.... It will be EPCOT Extra Evening Hours tonight! So, we will want to rest a bit before heading back out for the evening.

We probably won't need a full dinner, but we will probably grab something at Wilderness Lodge, counter service or at Geyser Point. We are suckers for lounges for a meal.

EEH are 9:00 - 11:00 PM this night.

I am hoping to get a boarding group for Guardians. I assume it isn't too hard to get one. Does anyone know, have they ever let people just do standby at the end of the night?

I think the plan will be to stay in the "front" of the park. Assuming we can rope drop the first day for Remy and Frozen. I had thought about getting a a dinner reservation in World Showcase before EEH, but I didn't want to walk all the way to the back from the busses just for dinner. EPCOT is just so big!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I am about to post the same thing! I’ve been reading and watching videos of people who do it. I’m just not sure my family will move fast enough in the mornings to be front of line for Remy.

That is our problem.. We can get there for rope drop but we aren't usually an hour before rope drop people.

We rope dropped Epcot early entry on our last trip (international gateway). We got to the entrance about 10 min before early entry and they had already let people in so there was no line to wait in. And the Remy line was already moving! We waited about 25 min. I think we need to get to the entrance even earlier this time to try to do both.

30 minutes for each ride really wouldn't be terrible.

I’m wondering the same! I think I saw that the Norway bakery opens at 9am so we’re planning to try for Remy and Frozen 8:30-9 and then it should be open by the time we get off. But we also usually prefer eggs and oatmeal type breakfast over pastries, so undecided what to do for breakfast too. Maybe Starbucks after the early rides?

I thought France did breakfast but they don't list breakfast on the website. But it does say they open at 9:00 AM. I guess they just don't make anything different.

What a great start to the morning - and nothing is prettier than an empty world showcase on a sunny morning!!!

That picture makes me want to rope drop just for the views!

This is my favorite part of WL, especially heading back in the evening!

It is just so relaxing!

I can see your struggle with Crystal Palace. I am also not a huge Pooh fan, but that Pooh Puffed French Toast is what dreams are made of lol.

I have seen the churro mickey waffles and they look amazing!!! But I think I will be out voted on that breakfast. It is pricey when we aren't deying to meet the characters.

 

[jrmint427]

I thought France did breakfast but they don't list breakfast on the website. But it does say they open at 9:00 AM. I guess they just don't make anything different.

They do! We did that last time. Early entry was 8am and we were off Remy and had to wait a long time for the bakery in France to open at 9. But it was really good! It was the same menu all day I think.