Just got back from 4 days at WDW. DD5 and I went down for a little mom/daughter get-away for some quality time together. Since it was just the two of us, we opted for the cheapest (and so one of the smallest!) rooms on property we stayed at All Star Movies and did the 4-day park hoppers through AAA.
A few quick observations before I start: 99% of the guests at the resort were polite, happy, nice people. Less than 1% just didnt get it. Those who did a little research before were infinitely more happy than those who didnt. Families just couldnt understand why they couldnt get into a sit-down restaurant in the Magic Kingdom in under an hour without a PS and were highly irate about that. (And demanded to know where another sit-down restaurant was where they could be seated in under an hour ..ha!) Bottom line those who plan have a much better time. That isnt to say that every moment must be scheduled, but a little structure certainly helps.
The other thought a lot of people recommend breaks in the middle of the day or an early day here or there. While Im glad we took that advice one day and cut things short for a swim and an early sleep, that was the one day my DD was a beast. Once we got to the resort and didnt have structured activity, it was a nightmare. The next two days we hit it hard and she was a delight. I know it varies per the child, but that break almost caused me to call it quits and head home!
Day One: Our room was ready when we arrived at 2 pm. I had requested a king bed if available and we were lucky enough to get one! We had a handicapped room, so the bathroom was essentially a huge shower. This worked great for us, but I wouldnt go that route if I had the one-year old with me, too. At check-in I was already able to witness one of the few ridiculous guests we encountered on our entire trip. The lady next to me was irate that the pool was closed and insisted on being transferred to another hotel she was demanding an exact building, an exact floor and room type, etc. all because the pool was closed for two hours. To the CMs credit, they honored her request. And the pool was open again in less than an hour! When we got to our room, it was somewhat warm and humid, so I kicked down the A/C. Otherwise, it was tiny, but workable. We hit Disney Studios and did Tower of Terror for our opening ride. My daughter loved it! We enjoyed a number of other shows and rides before our PS at Hollywood and Vine. The food was pretty good I love the creamed corn spoon bread and the grilled sirloin and we had the Fantasmic package, which made it very much worthwhile. Fantasmic was fabulous! When we got back to the room, it was still hot, but it was 9:30, so decided to wait for morning to call about it.
Day Two: Called engineering about the A/C before we headed to Animal Kingdom. The crowds were very light and we flew through Africa (saw a ton of animals on the safari since it was relatively cool and early in the day), saw the Lion King show, Pocohontos, did the Kali River Rapids with a 15 minute wait, and went to Its Tough to be a Bug. That one did NOT go over well with the 5-year old! (Surprising, since she liked it when she was two!) Ran into one grouch of a guest in line here. I was holding back DD to let a man and his wife into line since she was on a motorized cart (sorry I dont remember the official name for them). I told DD to stand back to let the lady in the wheelchair through first. He turned to us and said it is NOT a wheelchair like he was offended. OK, call me crazy, I know theres name for it, but it IS a chair and it IS on wheels and I think that in order to reinforce manners to a 5-year old using a word with which she is familiar like wheelchair is more than sufficient! Oh well she looked at me and said he was grouchy and that was that. We chilled out with pretzels and headed for EPCOT. The crowds were light there, as well. It was getting hot, though, so our 3:00 PS at the Garden Grill for an Ice Cream Social was well timed. The characters were Mickey, Chip, Dale, and Pluto. We rode Spaceship Earth and decided to go back to the hotel for a swim. The pool was crowded and the water was a little bit murky, but we both needed the break. Our room A/C was kicking when we got back and there was a card on the table saying our room had been serviced. It worked like a champ for the rest of our stay. Had dinner at the Food Court it was pretty much like most food that you get at food courts, but a decent value for the money. I wanted an early night so wed be ready for a full day at the Magic Kingdom. And, I admit, it was Thursday and the Friends finale was on, which I didnt want to miss!
Day Three: We got to the Magic Kingdom at 9am and went straight to Dumbo. The line was only 15 minutes. I loved Mickeys Philarmagic wow! DD thought it was too loud, but liked the story itself. Ariels Grotto opened at 10am and the line was already about 45 minutes long Im not sure how to do that one efficiently! Fortunately, DD decided she was more interested in the Carrousel and Pooh. We knocked out the rest of Fantasyland within two hours, thanks to the Pooh FastPass. Mickeys Toontown Fair was next the line in the Judges Tent was under 10 minutes. Goofys Barnstormer was a hit (although I think its far more jerky than the any of the Mountains!) The surprise of the trip was that we ended up having to do Splash Mountain and Big ThunderMountain Railroad three times each! DD is a certified junkie although she wouldnt consider Space Mountain since it was dark, and she figured that out from taking a spin on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Generally the lines were short the entire day and we didnt Fastpass anything else. We had a 4:30 PS at the Crystal Palace. Pooh and Tigger were at our table within two minutes of being seated. Piglet came by while we were getting food and signed the open book on the table! The food was tasty, but I wasnt up for a lot of heavy, hot food. Eeyore came through but Piglet was just coming out again when we were leaving. The CM who was escorting him let us take a picture when I explained that we had missed him at the table. I know they try to keep people away from the characters except for at the tables, so I was very grateful she was great about it, actually. I think it was at this dinner that my daughter turned to me and said, you know, Mom, theyre just costumes but thats OK. Even though she figured it out, it was still magic to her. Once we had an hour off for dinner we were rejuvenated and took our time through the Haunted Mansion and the rest of Tomorrowland. I wasnt planning on staying for Wishes, but we did, and I am so glad! It was amazing and the look on DDs face (and mine) through the fireworks was priceless. I didnt realize the stores were all open for an hour after the park closes, so instead of walking down Main Street in the crowd, we store hopped and bought presents for people at home. The one transportation glitch we experienced happened this night. Overall the bus system was simply awesome we never waited more than 5-10 minutes anywhere, if that. Usually there was a bus waiting, or it was pulling up when we arrived. Since we were in a building at Movies that was closer to the Music bus-stop, I would catch whichever bus came first there were three distinct bus stops and busses for each of the All-Star resorts. The Music bus pulled up first at the Magic Kingdom, so we got on. DD fell asleep on the way. Got off at the stop in the dark, looked up as the bus pulled away, and found that we were at Sports! This is when DD finally melted down with aching feet, so I carried a 50lb sleeping child to our building. I wasnt going to make that mistake again!
Day Four: Slept late as late as we wanted and hung around in our PJs watching cartoons for a while. Took our time getting ready and had breakfast at the Food Court Mickey waffles! DD wanted to go back to MGM to see Beauty and the Beast and do Tower of Terror, so off we went. Once we got there, Beauty and the Beast wasnt on until mid-afternoon, and DD decided against the Tower after all! Met Lilo and Stitch, and caught a bus to Magic Kingdom, which was a certifiable ZOO! We caught the train to Frontierland and pulled a Splash Mountain Fastpass. To avoid the crowds, we went to Tom Sawyers island and hung out for about 45 minutes playing that was a big hit and the Root Beer Float at Aunt Pollys was great! After Splash Mountain we watched the afternoon parade, did Pirates of the Carribean, Storytime with Belle and Cinderellas Surprise. We had a 5:25 Liberty Tree PS to see Minnie, since we had not found her the day before. My vote for food is definitely Liberty Tree. It was the same price as Hollywood and Vine and Crystal Palace, but so much better quality, in my opinion. We did Tomorrowland again that evening, and headed out of the park right after SpectroMagic.
Day Five: Time to go home. We had a great time and I cant wait to go again in December with the entire family, including DS who will almost be two. But it was so nice to have one-on-one time with my daughter and she is old enough (and tall enough!) now that we both were able to ride the rides we wanted to do.
Other food observations:
1. Nothing beats a Mickey ice cream or a popsicle in the middle of the day.
2. Water, water, water. I probably spent more on $2.50 24oz bottles of water than I did on junk food. I tried keeping the bottle and filling it up, but DD thought it didnt taste as good and it wasnt cool (as in cold, not as in stylish!). I have to admit, I agreed and it was worth every penny. I only drank soda at restaurants and we needed the water to stay hydrated.
A few quick observations before I start: 99% of the guests at the resort were polite, happy, nice people. Less than 1% just didnt get it. Those who did a little research before were infinitely more happy than those who didnt. Families just couldnt understand why they couldnt get into a sit-down restaurant in the Magic Kingdom in under an hour without a PS and were highly irate about that. (And demanded to know where another sit-down restaurant was where they could be seated in under an hour ..ha!) Bottom line those who plan have a much better time. That isnt to say that every moment must be scheduled, but a little structure certainly helps.
The other thought a lot of people recommend breaks in the middle of the day or an early day here or there. While Im glad we took that advice one day and cut things short for a swim and an early sleep, that was the one day my DD was a beast. Once we got to the resort and didnt have structured activity, it was a nightmare. The next two days we hit it hard and she was a delight. I know it varies per the child, but that break almost caused me to call it quits and head home!
Day One: Our room was ready when we arrived at 2 pm. I had requested a king bed if available and we were lucky enough to get one! We had a handicapped room, so the bathroom was essentially a huge shower. This worked great for us, but I wouldnt go that route if I had the one-year old with me, too. At check-in I was already able to witness one of the few ridiculous guests we encountered on our entire trip. The lady next to me was irate that the pool was closed and insisted on being transferred to another hotel she was demanding an exact building, an exact floor and room type, etc. all because the pool was closed for two hours. To the CMs credit, they honored her request. And the pool was open again in less than an hour! When we got to our room, it was somewhat warm and humid, so I kicked down the A/C. Otherwise, it was tiny, but workable. We hit Disney Studios and did Tower of Terror for our opening ride. My daughter loved it! We enjoyed a number of other shows and rides before our PS at Hollywood and Vine. The food was pretty good I love the creamed corn spoon bread and the grilled sirloin and we had the Fantasmic package, which made it very much worthwhile. Fantasmic was fabulous! When we got back to the room, it was still hot, but it was 9:30, so decided to wait for morning to call about it.
Day Two: Called engineering about the A/C before we headed to Animal Kingdom. The crowds were very light and we flew through Africa (saw a ton of animals on the safari since it was relatively cool and early in the day), saw the Lion King show, Pocohontos, did the Kali River Rapids with a 15 minute wait, and went to Its Tough to be a Bug. That one did NOT go over well with the 5-year old! (Surprising, since she liked it when she was two!) Ran into one grouch of a guest in line here. I was holding back DD to let a man and his wife into line since she was on a motorized cart (sorry I dont remember the official name for them). I told DD to stand back to let the lady in the wheelchair through first. He turned to us and said it is NOT a wheelchair like he was offended. OK, call me crazy, I know theres name for it, but it IS a chair and it IS on wheels and I think that in order to reinforce manners to a 5-year old using a word with which she is familiar like wheelchair is more than sufficient! Oh well she looked at me and said he was grouchy and that was that. We chilled out with pretzels and headed for EPCOT. The crowds were light there, as well. It was getting hot, though, so our 3:00 PS at the Garden Grill for an Ice Cream Social was well timed. The characters were Mickey, Chip, Dale, and Pluto. We rode Spaceship Earth and decided to go back to the hotel for a swim. The pool was crowded and the water was a little bit murky, but we both needed the break. Our room A/C was kicking when we got back and there was a card on the table saying our room had been serviced. It worked like a champ for the rest of our stay. Had dinner at the Food Court it was pretty much like most food that you get at food courts, but a decent value for the money. I wanted an early night so wed be ready for a full day at the Magic Kingdom. And, I admit, it was Thursday and the Friends finale was on, which I didnt want to miss!
Day Three: We got to the Magic Kingdom at 9am and went straight to Dumbo. The line was only 15 minutes. I loved Mickeys Philarmagic wow! DD thought it was too loud, but liked the story itself. Ariels Grotto opened at 10am and the line was already about 45 minutes long Im not sure how to do that one efficiently! Fortunately, DD decided she was more interested in the Carrousel and Pooh. We knocked out the rest of Fantasyland within two hours, thanks to the Pooh FastPass. Mickeys Toontown Fair was next the line in the Judges Tent was under 10 minutes. Goofys Barnstormer was a hit (although I think its far more jerky than the any of the Mountains!) The surprise of the trip was that we ended up having to do Splash Mountain and Big ThunderMountain Railroad three times each! DD is a certified junkie although she wouldnt consider Space Mountain since it was dark, and she figured that out from taking a spin on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Generally the lines were short the entire day and we didnt Fastpass anything else. We had a 4:30 PS at the Crystal Palace. Pooh and Tigger were at our table within two minutes of being seated. Piglet came by while we were getting food and signed the open book on the table! The food was tasty, but I wasnt up for a lot of heavy, hot food. Eeyore came through but Piglet was just coming out again when we were leaving. The CM who was escorting him let us take a picture when I explained that we had missed him at the table. I know they try to keep people away from the characters except for at the tables, so I was very grateful she was great about it, actually. I think it was at this dinner that my daughter turned to me and said, you know, Mom, theyre just costumes but thats OK. Even though she figured it out, it was still magic to her. Once we had an hour off for dinner we were rejuvenated and took our time through the Haunted Mansion and the rest of Tomorrowland. I wasnt planning on staying for Wishes, but we did, and I am so glad! It was amazing and the look on DDs face (and mine) through the fireworks was priceless. I didnt realize the stores were all open for an hour after the park closes, so instead of walking down Main Street in the crowd, we store hopped and bought presents for people at home. The one transportation glitch we experienced happened this night. Overall the bus system was simply awesome we never waited more than 5-10 minutes anywhere, if that. Usually there was a bus waiting, or it was pulling up when we arrived. Since we were in a building at Movies that was closer to the Music bus-stop, I would catch whichever bus came first there were three distinct bus stops and busses for each of the All-Star resorts. The Music bus pulled up first at the Magic Kingdom, so we got on. DD fell asleep on the way. Got off at the stop in the dark, looked up as the bus pulled away, and found that we were at Sports! This is when DD finally melted down with aching feet, so I carried a 50lb sleeping child to our building. I wasnt going to make that mistake again!
Day Four: Slept late as late as we wanted and hung around in our PJs watching cartoons for a while. Took our time getting ready and had breakfast at the Food Court Mickey waffles! DD wanted to go back to MGM to see Beauty and the Beast and do Tower of Terror, so off we went. Once we got there, Beauty and the Beast wasnt on until mid-afternoon, and DD decided against the Tower after all! Met Lilo and Stitch, and caught a bus to Magic Kingdom, which was a certifiable ZOO! We caught the train to Frontierland and pulled a Splash Mountain Fastpass. To avoid the crowds, we went to Tom Sawyers island and hung out for about 45 minutes playing that was a big hit and the Root Beer Float at Aunt Pollys was great! After Splash Mountain we watched the afternoon parade, did Pirates of the Carribean, Storytime with Belle and Cinderellas Surprise. We had a 5:25 Liberty Tree PS to see Minnie, since we had not found her the day before. My vote for food is definitely Liberty Tree. It was the same price as Hollywood and Vine and Crystal Palace, but so much better quality, in my opinion. We did Tomorrowland again that evening, and headed out of the park right after SpectroMagic.
Day Five: Time to go home. We had a great time and I cant wait to go again in December with the entire family, including DS who will almost be two. But it was so nice to have one-on-one time with my daughter and she is old enough (and tall enough!) now that we both were able to ride the rides we wanted to do.
Other food observations:
1. Nothing beats a Mickey ice cream or a popsicle in the middle of the day.
2. Water, water, water. I probably spent more on $2.50 24oz bottles of water than I did on junk food. I tried keeping the bottle and filling it up, but DD thought it didnt taste as good and it wasnt cool (as in cold, not as in stylish!). I have to admit, I agreed and it was worth every penny. I only drank soda at restaurants and we needed the water to stay hydrated.
