Thanksgiving - Have I made a big mistake?

[Tazza]

Hi! I am a WDW veteran and have not been to UOR in 20 years. I have two kids, 6 and 9 and husband who is not thrilled with my WDW "obsession" and not a big fan of theme parks in general. We have limited time to enjoy WDW, as my husband refuses to do more than a few days (3-4 max) at the parks and we live too far away to drive easily. We both love the beach and my parents live at a beach near Orlando, so our MO has been to do a few Disney days when visiting them. Our last WDW vacation was September 2012, we did a long weekend at DL in February of 2013 (Cars Land!) I promised him no more Disney the rest of the year. I have been waiting to take the kids to Universal until they were a little older. My 6yo just reached 48" and I started reading Harry Potter to them this summer, they love it. My 48" 6yo is brave, my 57" 9yo refuses to ride any "scary" rollercoasters. She will ride Space Mountain, she will not ride Rock and Roller Coaster, she will also not ride ToT. I end up riding these by myself. Also, we have no more vacation days for the foreseeable future, we used them up visiting family in Europe this summer.

SOOO... I found reasonable airfare for Thanksgiving and convinced my husband it would be fun and we are heading to UOR for 5 nights. Everyday is supposed to be very busy, I plan on getting 4 day park to park tickets and staying at the Royal Pacific resort. I convinced myself it would be okay with early entry and express passes, now I am having second thoughts and wondering if I made a huge mistake!

We always go to WDW at lower crowd times and I am not a big fan of crowds at all. My kids are spoiled by my Ninja FastPass skills and have never had to wait very long for anything. Hmmm.

It boiled down to going at Thanksgiving, going over MLK holiday or not at all. I've been to FL in January every year and it is always too cold for pool time. We REALLY want to spent afternoons at the resort pool, so in my experience, November is much more likely to be pool weather than January. I know it can be warmish in January, but it was too risky for me! Sooo... have I made a mistake? How bad will it be? I'm a big researcher and feel like I'm prepared, but I'm having a moment of panic!

 

[janek1234]

Hi! I am a WDW veteran and have not been to UOR in 20 years. I have two kids, 6 and 9 and husband who is not thrilled with my WDW "obsession" and not a big fan of theme parks in general. We have limited time to enjoy WDW, as my husband refuses to do more than a few days (3-4 max) at the parks and we live too far away to drive easily. We both love the beach and my parents live at a beach near Orlando, so our MO has been to do a few Disney days when visiting them. Our last WDW vacation was September 2012, we did a long weekend at DL in February of 2013 (Cars Land!) I promised him no more Disney the rest of the year. I have been waiting to take the kids to Universal until they were a little older. My 6yo just reached 48" and I started reading Harry Potter to them this summer, they love it. My 48" 6yo is brave, my 57" 9yo refuses to ride any "scary" rollercoasters. She will ride Space Mountain, she will not ride Rock and Roller Coaster, she will also not ride ToT. I end up riding these by myself. Also, we have no more vacation days for the foreseeable future, we used them up visiting family in Europe this summer.

SOOO... I found reasonable airfare for Thanksgiving and convinced my husband it would be fun and we are heading to UOR for 5 nights. Everyday is supposed to be very busy, I plan on getting 4 day park to park tickets and staying at the Royal Pacific resort. I convinced myself it would be okay with early entry and express passes, now I am having second thoughts and wondering if I made a huge mistake!

We always go to WDW at lower crowd times and I am not a big fan of crowds at all. My kids are spoiled by my Ninja FastPass skills and have never had to wait very long for anything. Hmmm.

It boiled down to going at Thanksgiving, going over MLK holiday or not at all. I've been to FL in January every year and it is always too cold for pool time. We REALLY want to spent afternoons at the resort pool, so in my experience, November is much more likely to be pool weather than January. I know it can be warmish in January, but it was too risky for me! Sooo... have I made a mistake? How bad will it be? I'm a big researcher and feel like I'm prepared, but I'm having a moment of panic!

I went over Xmas week and with express pass found the waits reasonable. Yes it was crowded, but I actually found this past Memorial Day more crowded than Xmas week. I'm sure no matter when u I you'll have a great time

 

[BrianL]

With 4 days you should have enough time to get everything in. I usually do two days in the off-season and that is more than enough for Uni. I am more of a Disney guy anyway though.

The HP stuff will be insane crowded, so go to it early!

 

[bumbershoot]

I end up riding these by myself.



My kids are spoiled by my Ninja FastPass skills and have never had to wait very long for anything. Hmmm.

First, you won't need ANY ninja skills at all on this trip. It will absolutely spoil you for FP, even the new FP+ happening at WDW. The only skills you'll need are for the attractions without Express Pass (Ollivander's, Forbidden Journey, and Pteranodon Flyers, the last of which will only be enjoyed by the younger child and the parent who accompanies him/her b/c there's a height min and max).

And if you are the main one that enjoys the more thrilling rides, then you can do the singles line for FJ while they grab butterbeer or something.


And with the unlimited Express Pass, it will be 1000 times easier to hit the big rides on your own, without having to run around for FPs or have the family wait for you for ages. They do something while you run and ride Hulk and meet them up not too long after. Or Rip Ride Rockit. Or whatever. EP makes it EASY.

Sure there will be crowds, but I bet it will be easier to deal with since you'll be onsite with the EP.

And the hotels are great AND encourage pool hopping, so if it's a pool kind of day, dad can take the kiddoes to the pools while you ride the big rides (and with EP it won't take hours and hours), and everyone has fun.

 

[Tazza]

Thank you for the advice and encouragement! I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will all work out. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that child #2 will be a roller coaster fan and ride with me when he gets tall enough so I can stop having to ride by myself! He just turned 6 last week and is 48", so hopefully we don't have too much longer to wait.

 

[bumbershoot]

Tazza, have the younger one try the Woody Woodpecker coaster. Since he's 48" he can actually go in the line and ride all alone if he wants, and that *can* give a sense of excitement that transfers to other things. DS now LOVES going on that and Flight of the Hippogriff alone, which is nice for us b/c, frankly, riding a going-in-circles rollercoaster literally 14 or 15 times in a row is a *bit* much for me.

Anyway, that and Hippogriff are good starter coasters. And both have Express Pass so it's easy to go multiple times.


Oh, and for flat out FUN, be sure to check out the ball-play area in the back of the Curious George play area. If you don't want to get wet, follow the footprints through the CG area, and go shoot some really soft balls at each other. It is very fun.

 

[Tazza]

Tazza, have the younger one try the Woody Woodpecker coaster. Since he's 48" he can actually go in the line and ride all alone if he wants, and that *can* give a sense of excitement that transfers to other things. DS now LOVES going on that and Flight of the Hippogriff alone, which is nice for us b/c, frankly, riding a going-in-circles rollercoaster literally 14 or 15 times in a row is a *bit* much for me.

Anyway, that and Hippogriff are good starter coasters. And both have Express Pass so it's easy to go multiple times.


Oh, and for flat out FUN, be sure to check out the ball-play area in the back of the Curious George play area. If you don't want to get wet, follow the footprints through the CG area, and go shoot some really soft balls at each other. It is very fun.

This sounds great, thank you so much! He loves Space Mountain, BTMRR and things like that that he is tall enough for, so I have high hopes for the more intense coasters in few years. I wish there was a way a for me to convince my 9yo to ride the larger coasters! She has loved everything she has experienced at Disney, but has a mental block and refuses to do anything that goes upside down or looks scary. I managed to convince (bribe) her to go on Splash mountain last trip, she whimpered and stressed herself out the entire ride about the drop, then loved it and wanted to go again when we got off.

Sending the two of them to ride some of the starter coasters by themselves sounds like something they would enjoy. They would love a taste of independence. Is there a place where mom & dad can wait for them in view of entrance/exit and maybe enjoy a drink or snack?

 

[bumbershoot]

There are seating or leaning areas outside of both rides. Snacks aren't right near by, but easily obtained (may I recommend a rock cake and coffee for Hippogriff, if you're there in the morning and drink coffee and like scone-like treats?).

The area at Woody's even has fans that blow if it's superhot. You can't see the kids IN either of the lines mentioned necessarily, but they have to pass by you from the exit to the entrance so you can keep an eye on them that way.

I found out that DS could go alone AFTER 14 times in a row on Hippogriff. So that afternoon when we got to Woody, I was happy to just sit and watch him rollercoaster himself dizzy.