MightyGitis
Jedi
- Joined
- May 9, 2011
- Messages
- 614
Update: Day One
Hey guys, this is my first ever Pre-Trip Report so hopefully I won't turn out to be incredibly bad at it.
First, let me say that my family and I are huge Disney World goers, despite living in Virginia. It has only became worse so since my sister moved to Orlando with her fiance. This will be my third Disney trip in a year. Mind you the last one was just a weekend in which we squished all four parks into two days! This will be our first trip in a few years with all four members of our immediate family present.
Three of us, my parents (both age 59) and myself (age 28), will be flying from Norfolk, VA to Orlando via Southwest Airlines on Thursday May 19th and will be staying until May 25th. This will be mainly to attend the first Star Wars Weekend of the year, and the re-opening of Star Tours. This will be our second Star Wars Weekend.
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We will be staying at the Port Orleans: Riverside resort for the first time! We have stayed in the French Quarter before and are looking forward to trying the other side. Our first ADR (Advanced Dining Reservation) is for Boatwright's right inside our hotel! This was my father's pick because he wants the Prime Rib. Then in what is our customary Disney tradition we will go shopping in Down Town Disney.
This year is a little unusual, especially since we have the HONOR of attending the after hours Star Tours Meet-Up from 12:00 am to 2:00 am in DHS. Not sure entirely what it will entail, but I do know there will be an Imagineers panel and that we will get to ride the Star Tours attraction early!
Friday the 20th
This will be our first park day, and we will be at DHS for rope drop. Looking forward to attending the opening ceremony for Star Tours, but might just avoid riding again to avoid the line. Also plan on catching the SWW celebrity motorcade on this day too, and eating counter service at ABC Commisary before a mid-day break and a park switch.
Second half of the day will be spent in EPCOT because it will be having evening Extra Magic Hours until midnight. We also have an ADR for the new Via Napoli in Italy. Mom chose it, because the outside seating should have a view of Illuminations, and our reservations are four a half hour before the show starts.
Saturday the 21st
This is our morning Magic Kingdome day, and we will be there for rope drop at 8:00 am to hit the big rides before the crowds get heavy. I love mornings at the Magic Kingdom because its back to back attraction fun! We plan on eating a counter service lunch at either Tortuga's or Tomorrowland Terrace (Mom want's a lobster roll, has anone been?).
After a mid-day break we will return to DHS for evening Star Wars Weekend event the Hyperspace Hooopla. We also have an ADR at the Hollywood & Vine in order to get preferred seating at that nights showing of Fantasmic! Crowds will be heavy that day regardless, but we are hoping that after the show we might find a not so insane line at Star Tours and seize that chance to ride it again before leaving the park.
Sunday the 22nd
We will spend this morning in Animal Kingdom. We only ever spend one half day in Animal Kingdom because it is easy to accomplish everything in this time period. We tend to skip Kali River Rapids because my mother hates to get wet, but I've been trying to convince them that we should hit it if there is time after our late lunch ADR for the Yak & Yeti.
After break we will be venturing back to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. There are EMH until 3 am and though I doubt we will make it that late, having the option is always nice. We plan on catching the Main St. Electrical parade this night, but riding rides during the fireworks. We will be eating dinner at one of our favorite counter service places: Cosmic Ray's. A lot of people short change Cosmic Ray's but we never miss it!
Monday the 23rd
For our last day in the parks we will finally hit EPCOT in the morning. EPCOT is probably my faveorite park! Soarin' and Test Track never disappoint me! We also get to eat lunch at the Sunshine Seasons foodcourt in the Land Pavilion.
Then the final evening will be spent back in the Magic Kingdom. We've got a late dinner at Crystal Palace to get some character fun in. This would be the night we will try to catch The Magic, The Memories, and You! and Wishes. We like to do the fireworks on the last day, and with EMH till one we can catch all our faveorite rides in MK a second time before heading back to the hotel.
_
OTHER THINGS OF NOTE
-We will be using the Lines iPhone app for wait and fastpass times.
-This trip was originally going to be only two days and grew with time.
-This trip was planned almost entirely in the past three weeks. It was a last minute impulse plan.
Hey guys, this is my first ever Pre-Trip Report so hopefully I won't turn out to be incredibly bad at it.
First, let me say that my family and I are huge Disney World goers, despite living in Virginia. It has only became worse so since my sister moved to Orlando with her fiance. This will be my third Disney trip in a year. Mind you the last one was just a weekend in which we squished all four parks into two days! This will be our first trip in a few years with all four members of our immediate family present.
Three of us, my parents (both age 59) and myself (age 28), will be flying from Norfolk, VA to Orlando via Southwest Airlines on Thursday May 19th and will be staying until May 25th. This will be mainly to attend the first Star Wars Weekend of the year, and the re-opening of Star Tours. This will be our second Star Wars Weekend.
We will be staying at the Port Orleans: Riverside resort for the first time! We have stayed in the French Quarter before and are looking forward to trying the other side. Our first ADR (Advanced Dining Reservation) is for Boatwright's right inside our hotel! This was my father's pick because he wants the Prime Rib. Then in what is our customary Disney tradition we will go shopping in Down Town Disney.
This year is a little unusual, especially since we have the HONOR of attending the after hours Star Tours Meet-Up from 12:00 am to 2:00 am in DHS. Not sure entirely what it will entail, but I do know there will be an Imagineers panel and that we will get to ride the Star Tours attraction early!
Friday the 20th
This will be our first park day, and we will be at DHS for rope drop. Looking forward to attending the opening ceremony for Star Tours, but might just avoid riding again to avoid the line. Also plan on catching the SWW celebrity motorcade on this day too, and eating counter service at ABC Commisary before a mid-day break and a park switch.
Second half of the day will be spent in EPCOT because it will be having evening Extra Magic Hours until midnight. We also have an ADR for the new Via Napoli in Italy. Mom chose it, because the outside seating should have a view of Illuminations, and our reservations are four a half hour before the show starts.
Saturday the 21st
This is our morning Magic Kingdome day, and we will be there for rope drop at 8:00 am to hit the big rides before the crowds get heavy. I love mornings at the Magic Kingdom because its back to back attraction fun! We plan on eating a counter service lunch at either Tortuga's or Tomorrowland Terrace (Mom want's a lobster roll, has anone been?).
After a mid-day break we will return to DHS for evening Star Wars Weekend event the Hyperspace Hooopla. We also have an ADR at the Hollywood & Vine in order to get preferred seating at that nights showing of Fantasmic! Crowds will be heavy that day regardless, but we are hoping that after the show we might find a not so insane line at Star Tours and seize that chance to ride it again before leaving the park.
Sunday the 22nd
We will spend this morning in Animal Kingdom. We only ever spend one half day in Animal Kingdom because it is easy to accomplish everything in this time period. We tend to skip Kali River Rapids because my mother hates to get wet, but I've been trying to convince them that we should hit it if there is time after our late lunch ADR for the Yak & Yeti.
After break we will be venturing back to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. There are EMH until 3 am and though I doubt we will make it that late, having the option is always nice. We plan on catching the Main St. Electrical parade this night, but riding rides during the fireworks. We will be eating dinner at one of our favorite counter service places: Cosmic Ray's. A lot of people short change Cosmic Ray's but we never miss it!
Monday the 23rd
For our last day in the parks we will finally hit EPCOT in the morning. EPCOT is probably my faveorite park! Soarin' and Test Track never disappoint me! We also get to eat lunch at the Sunshine Seasons foodcourt in the Land Pavilion.
Then the final evening will be spent back in the Magic Kingdom. We've got a late dinner at Crystal Palace to get some character fun in. This would be the night we will try to catch The Magic, The Memories, and You! and Wishes. We like to do the fireworks on the last day, and with EMH till one we can catch all our faveorite rides in MK a second time before heading back to the hotel.
OTHER THINGS OF NOTE
-We will be using the Lines iPhone app for wait and fastpass times.
-This trip was originally going to be only two days and grew with time.
-This trip was planned almost entirely in the past three weeks. It was a last minute impulse plan.
I am so jealous that you snagged a spot for the after hours star tours event. I sent in an email but not on time. I look forward to hearing all about it. Next week can't get here soon enough!
