Winging it with No Dinning Plan! A Feb. Trip Report

[CatNipRules]

Love this Tinkerbell gift idea. Although I have a boy so it would have to be something else. Plus, he's almost 21 so I'm not sure how that would go over. LOL!!

I really hope Morgan is feeling better and ya'll are able to go to the parks.

I'm still debating on whether or not to do the dining plan on my solo trip.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Love this Tinkerbell gift idea. Although I have a boy so it would have to be something else. Plus, he's almost 21 so I'm not sure how that would go over. LOL!!

I really hope Morgan is feeling better and ya'll are able to go to the parks.

I'm still debating on whether or not to do the dining plan on my solo trip.

I saw a party of young adults wearing Mickey Mouse long johns replete w/ ears @ Epcot during the Christmas season soooo you nevah know.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Here's hoping Morgan just needed some sleep and to be off the plane (soft hugs).

 

[vamassey1]

I'm a little late but here. Can't wait to read more. It looks like we just missed each other. We were there Feb 9th-15th. I really hope Morgan was feeling better when she woke up.

 

[MeghanEmily]

Building 7 was def the farthest building and the room was located on the opposite side. When the CM was showing me on the map, I was thinking to myself that, of course we were as far away as possible. I could have asked if there was anything closer but I didn't. And really for the most part it was fine. It def would have been nicer to be a little closer.

Of course! The exact opposite of your request! I always think when this happens that I should just ask if anything else is available, but I never do.

PJ's on the first night/day has become a tradition for the girls. They end up wearing the new Pj's the whole trip and then can wear them at home as well. So, a win win.

This is great! And these pjs in particular are cute!

I caught up to Andy and the girls by the pool and Morgan was crying! Andy wanted to just take a peek at the pool and Morgan just wanted to lay down. But Andy had walked ahead and didn't realize Morgan was just standing there crying. Poor girl.

Poor Morgan! So tough to be sick on vacation.

 

[missjackiemcg]

Gwen said she was surprised how fast Tinkerbell was! She said that we were barely here and she already gave them a gift! Pretty sure they climbed into those pj's almost immediately and climbed into bed to watch some tv and eat dinner.

I love the Tinkerbell gifts and that your girls still get excited about them I usually bring a new bedtime story for Jimmy each night that he thinks is from Mickey Mouse....however, he has moved on from picture books, so now I'll need a new gimmick!!!

Eating dinner in my jammies while watching hotel TV was a really awesome way to spend several of our December/January cold nights after long park days!!

Looking forward to seeing how Morgan felt in the a.m.!

 

[balty74]

Looking forward to reading all about this trip! We are in the middle of planning our November trip and we're thinking of doing a few favorite Signature meals and then a lot of quick service so I can't wait to see how you feel about having fewer ADRs! I love the idea of "planning light" and trying new hidden gems - there are some really good quick service spots!

Hope your daughter wakes up feeling better!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sorry you couldn't get to DS but you made the right call staying at the hotel! I'm sorry Morgan was feeling so crappy The new pjs for the girls were cute!

 

[Tracy161]

I need to go play catch up, but I'm here!

 

[buzzrelly]

Joining in. Your poor daughter…I hope she was just tired and not getting sick

 

[Lalabubbles]

Following along!!

 

[Templemom]

Following. Enjoyed your report last time and excited to read another.

 

[Mich123]

Fun report so far! So sorry to hear that Morgan had a rough start, here's hoping she felt better quickly.

I'm interested in your report because I have just declared that we will be skipping the dining plan on our next trip...I'm not sure I can stick with that, but I am hoping for more flexibility.

 

[ariane37]

t did seem to take awhile, but I am sure part of that was with Morgan being miserable.

I'm sure it didn't help that poor Morgan wasn't feeling good, but this was one of two things I didn't like about POFQ. With all the different stations it always seemed to take long to get our food, and by the time the last person had their meal the first person to be done had cold food. I wasn't really a fan!

Glad the girls fell asleep quickly and while I don't remember seeing anything on FB during your trip about anyone being sick, I'm still crossing my fingers that Morgan felt better by morning

 

[jrmint427]

I’m really hoping to read that Morgan was all better the next day!

I’m eager to see how you fare without the dining plan. We did it last time but didn’t feel like we got our moneh’s worth, so not planning to do it next time.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Joining in, we stayed at POFQ in November and really enjoyed, so much we are staying again in April!

It is no fun to be sick on vacation, I hope Morgan is feeling better the next day! One good thing is kids usually get better pretty fast.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day One: A Ride Down Main Street!

I think I had mentioned that we decided to let the girls (mostly Morgan) sleep as late as they needed this morning. I have that the girls woke up at 7:00, which is a full hour later than they normally wake up. I asked Morgan how she was feeling and she said she thought she felt better. I asked her if she thought she wanted to go to a park today and she said responded with a big YES! Ok, then! I gave her another dose of the kids Ziacam and we started getting moving.


Tinkerbell left her first official gift! I grabbed the jackets off of the Disney Store when they were having a sale, I think I got them for $9 a piece or something. I grabbed new water bottles at Target. See the blue one on the far left? That one I picked out for me. But Morgan decided she liked that one better than the purple one... So, she "stole" it from me. And then I got cheap bubble solution for Gwen to refill her bubble wand.


Once the girls, finally got up, they went and checked out the goods and read the sheet. I put our fast passes on them this time around and what park we were going to that day. Which the girls actually seemed to like!


This was our plan for the day. Andy has made these for each trip we have gone on. This time, he kind of just threw them together. Since we didn't have fully planned out plans. We take them and make them our phone lock screen, so we don't have to open up the disney app every time I forget if our fast pass is 11:20 or 11:25 or what.

I packed up some snacks and a bunch of meds for Morgan, just in case. The Ziacam was recommended to take every 3 hours, so we set reminders to make sure she stayed pumped with meds to kick whatever she had.

We took our time getting ready. We ate breakfast in the room with the items I ordered from Garden Grocer. Mini Muffins, strawberries, grapes and coffee for the adults. We headed out and made it over to the bus stop at 8:30-ish. On the walk over Morgan said that this wasn't that far of a walk! Guess feeling better didn't make it seem that bad!

When we go tot he bus stop we found this:

The line was backed up past the second bus depot spot. So, Andy asked if we want to uber it instead. I said sure, figuring there was at least 2 buses worth of people waiting. So, we stepped to the side and Andy got us an uber. our driver arrived and took us over to the transportation center. (Which Andy didn't realize would happen)

We got to through security fairly easily here. A CM gave the girls some stickers, that they took but kind of also said no thanks at the same time. Apparently Gwen has decided she doesn't like stickers?!? We saw a family with the same sweatshirts that Tinkerbell gave the girls, which they thought was AMAZING! (we ended up seeing these sweatshirts EVERYWHERE, which isn't surprising as they were dirt cheap during the sale) We were through security by 8:50. The monorail wasn't running yet, so they were directing everyone to the Ferry.


I was so happy to be seeing this view this morning! A boat was leaving as we went through security but they opened up the other ferry shortly after that one pulled away. There was a ton of people and Morgan was convinced we wouldn't get on. but those Ferry Boats are HUGE and I knew we would get on with no problem.

We got on and headed up to the top to get a good view. Our boat left right at 9:00 on the dot! And we were off!

We were super excited to be on our way! And I think we took just a couple pics on the boat. It was a much nicer ride over to Magic Kingdom than the bus.









We're coming!!!

Once we got to the other side, we made our way off the ferry and towards the gates.


We made it through the turnstiles by 9:15. Not too bad for taking our time and not rushing. I wasn't sure that taking an uber saved us any time. But it wasn't terrible, either. I said to Andy, we should have taken an uber to the Contemporary and just walked over from there. Oh well. Next time.


I snapped a quick pic as we walked back into our home away from home!

On the ferry over, we discussed what we wanted to do, and the girls wanted to do Space Mountain first. Which we said was fine. BUT I spotted THIS as I was taking the photo above. And said that we should try and ride it!

At first the girls protested, they just wanted to get to Space Mountain. But I said it would be fun! And you can only do it in the morning. So they agreed.

We did have to wait a little bit before it headed out. And when the guy was starting the bus, he couldn't get it to turn over, so he had to try a couple times. And I was holding my breath that he would get it to start. But he did! And we were off!


Our family Selfie on the bus.

We ended up on the top, per Gwen's request and that was the best decision!

It was an awesome view from the top.

We sat down next to a family and the little girl had the same jackets on as Morgan and Gwen. (told you we saw LOTS of them) But the little girl and Gwen just started chatting it up while we waited. It was pretty cute.


We spotted this cute little boy dressed like the dapper dans. How cute!

We were able to see all of the windows on the second floor really well from the bus.





Gwen said she felt like a movie star riding on the bus. This was her Movie star pose....


I said to Morgan it was like we were in a parade. She admitted that it was "kind of" cool to take this ride.

Some more windows:



I really loved being able to see the windows, and I highly recommend doing this for any of us uber fans! I almost feel like we need to do it again and sit on the other side, to see the windows on the other side.


Soon, we were approaching the castle.


And then our ride was over. We arrived at the castle around 9:30, so it was about 15 minutes all said and done to get on, wait, and ride down main street. But so fun!


We got a picture in front of the bus before moving on. It was a really fun thing to do. And something new for us!

It was a great start to our day! It really set the tone for the day! We headed towards Future World and Space Mountain next.

Would there be a long line by the time we get there? (Morgan WAS legit worried about this) Would Morgan make it through the whole day?

 

[missjackiemcg]

This is just so cool! It's something I've always wanted to do!! On our trip in January, the bus was parked and I was SO excited to see it, but we couldn't get on because we were checking in for our Keys to the Kingdom Tour. Getting a better look at the windows would certainly be a draw for me, too!

 

[MeghanEmily]

I asked Morgan how she was feeling and she said she thought she felt better. I asked her if she thought she wanted to go to a park today and she said responded with a big YES! Ok, then! I gave her another dose of the kids Ziacam and we started getting moving.

This sounds promising!! I'm glad she was doing better in the morning.

We made it through the turnstiles by 9:15. Not too bad for taking our time and not rushing. I wasn't sure that taking an uber saved us any time. But it wasn't terrible, either. I said to Andy, we should have taken an uber to the Contemporary and just walked over from there. Oh well. Next time.

It's such a shame that an uber has to take you to the TTC. That would be the reason I wouldn't use one for MK. But taking one to the Contemporary would have worked great! I've heard of people doing that! Either way it sounds like it was definitely a better solution to standing in that lousy bus line!

Omnibus!
At first the girls protested, they just wanted to get to Space Mountain. But I said it would be fun! And you can only do it in the morning. So they agreed.

This is soo cool! I want to do this someday, but we never end up being in the right place at the right time. We're always racing somewhere at rope drop. I loved your views from the top level!

Barber Quartet + one
We spotted this cute little boy dressed like the dapper dans. How cute!

Soo cute!!!

 

[BellaBaby]

What a great start to the day!! We would love to ride the omnibus!!

Awesome that Morgan felt better in the A.M.!!

Love Gwen's movie star pose and the little boy dressed like Dapper Dans!!