Another Disney trip report. Long. Sorry not sorry!

[stephm0188]

We went earlier in the month. The kid is 6. We spent five nights at Wilderness Lodge and 6 days in the Disney parks. We paid for the dining plan. We also spent a day at Legoland.

Saturday: Woke up at 3am for our 6am flight. Ouch. We were at MCO by 8:30 and checking into our hotel by 10:30. Not too shabby.
From there, we headed to Animal Kingdom. We rode Expedition Everest, Primevil Whirl, Kilijamaro Safaris, Dinosaur, and saw Festival of the Lion King. The kid played in the Boneyard for awhile. AK is a park where our experience is slightly different every time we go.

We went to Boma for dinner that evening. I'm not an adventurous eater, but it was pretty good. We headed back to the hotel after dinner. The 3am wakeup time was catching up with us, so we went to bead after watching the water pageant from the dock.


Sunday: Headed to MK for 8am rope drop. Our typical rope drop plan is to hit as much as possible in Fantasyland, but the crowds this year were heading for Anna and Elsa and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, so we switched it up. We started the day in Frontierland and rode Big Thunder Mtn twice, then headed to Adventureland to do all that stuff. Walked onto Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Aladdin's Carpets, then headed back to ride Splash Mtn a couple times.

We had a late breakfast reservation at 1900 Park Fare, so we left MK to head over to Grand Floridian around 10am. 1900 Park Fare is not one I'd do again. I was not impressed.

Headed back to MK  We hit most of the attractions in Fantasyland with minimal wait. Enchanted Tales with Belle was 20 minutes. Had FPs for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Under the Sea, and Buzz Lightyear. We rode the teacups, speedway, Mickey's Philharmonic, the carousel (the kid picked Cinderella's horse), It's a Small World standby. 

Left MK around 4:00 to head back to the hotel, then took a bus over to Hollywood Studios to see the Osbourne Lights. Ate dinner at Pizza Planet, rode Star Tours (kid was the rebel spy) and saw Muppets.  Spent time enjoying the lights and searching for the black cat.


Monday: Went back to MK. It rained that day. It was a fine drizzly mist but it never let up. It was fine to be out in and didn't slow us down, but I wish we had worn flip flops that day. Our shoes were soaked by lunchtime.

We were there for rope drop again. This time we headed for Tomorrowland and rode Buzzlight year 6 or 7 times in a row, trying to earn our Galactic Hero buttons. Rode the Speedway, teacups, Dumbo, Barnstormer, Carousel of Progress standby. Met Ariel. We had lunch FPs at Be Our Guest at 11, then indulged the kid by heading over to Tom Sawyers Island. I hate that island. Don't do it.

We were back at our hotel by 1:00 to swim, but the pool was closed.  Rested in our room for an hour, then headed to Epcot.

We had a FP for Test Track. I don't remember what our other two were, but it doesn't matter because we didn't use them. Soarin had a short wait time, around 30 minutes posted, but it was actually closer to 15. I have never ever seen it with that short of a wait time. So we opted to do that instead of our FP. We also rode Mission Space. The kid hated it but I think he was hangry. His mood improved with a mickey pretzel. Rode Nemo, then headed back to World Showcase. We started in Mexico with the Donald Duck ride, then made our way back to Germany for dinner at Biergarten. It was tasty. I'd totally go back again. We opted to skip Illuminations. It's not our favorite thing and we wanted to beat the crowds at the bus stop instead.

Tuesday: Headed to Epcot for EMH. Rode Test Track 3 times with no wait, then rode Soarin with a 15 minute wait. Rode Livin with the Land, then watched the fish in the aquarium at Nemo until it was time for World Showcase to open at 11:00. The kid wanted to meet Mulan, so that's what we headed for first thing. After that, we spent some of our snack credits at the bakery in France, then headed back to the hotel. The husband challenged me to a race. He thought he and the kid could take the monorail back and transfer boats to get back to Wilderness Lodge in less time than it would take for me to get back via bus. Challenge accepted.

It took 25 minutes for a bus to show up at Epcot, but I STILL beat them back to the hotel by nearly 30 minutes. The monorail stopped and then they ere held up waiting for a boat. Not a fine moment for Disney transportation that day.

We had a late lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe, which was supposed to have been a lot of fun. The best way to kill the fun at WCC? A reservation for 150 senior citizens from an area retirement community. They were not into the whole ketchup thing, so this experience was a dud. The food was good, but that's not why we booked it. Oh well.

Tried visiting the pool. The heater wasn't working so that was a dud. Kind of irritating, really. 

We had tickets for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party but opted to head over to MK early. I had scheduled FPs for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Big Thunder Mtn, and Buzz Lightyear. We watched the Festival of Fantasy parade and rode a few rides before getting our wristbands for the party. The Christmas parade and fireworks were great, and despite the party being a sellout, all the rides were walk ons. We opted not to do character meets this time.

Wednesday: Headed for rope drop at Hollywood Studios. They were only open til 6 that day, so I scheduled a full day there. The original plan was to sign up for Jedi Training, but the kid decided he didn't want to. Rode Rock n Roller Coaster, then went to have breakfast at Hollywood and Vine. After that, we went to meet Hiro and Baymax. Rode Toy Story Mania, visited the Frozen singalong, watched the stuntshow, rode Star Tours again, had late lunch at Pizza Planet, rode Tower of Terror and timed the exit there for the beginning of Characterpalooza. Stayed for Fantasmic.

We had originally planned to go back to the hotel and head over to MK to see the MSEP and watch Wishes, but we decided to skip the buses and walked over to Epcot instead. Grabbed a few snacks in World Showcase, then headed back to the hotel to watch Wishes from our balcony.

Thursday: The kid and I were at MK for rope drop for EMH at 7am. We rode Buzz Lightyear a couple times and I finally got my button. Then I talked him into riding Space Mtn. It was the only big ride he hadn't tried. I thought for sure he'd say he hated it, but I was surprised when he said he wanted to ride again. We rode 2 more times.  Rode the speedway and teacups then crossed Fantasyland to be at  Frontierland for ropedrop there at 8am. Rode Big Thunder a couple times, everything in Adventureland, including that god forsaken treehouse, then rode Splash Mtn three times when it opened at 9am. Husband joined us for Country Bear Jamboree at 10am. We headed to Fantasyland and did pretty much everything. Had FP for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan, and Anna and Elsa.

Had lunch at The Plaza, then rode more rides. I don't even remember what at this point. We did everything except Hall of Presidents. 

Watched the castle lighting, then loaded up on treats from the confectionary to take home with us as the park was closing. Walked to Contemporary for dinner at Chef Mickey, then it was time to leave

Took a cab to the Hyatt Regency by the convention center. Bye Disney

Friday: Husband had to work, kid and I spent the day lounging in bed and swimming. Dropped him off at babysitting in the evening to head to husband's company Christmas party. I won one of the big prizes. Wahoo!

Saturday: Walked to the Legoland shuttle stop. Shuttle was $5 per person. It arrived shortly after the park had opened.

Legoland was fun for the kid. The rides were all pretty small though, so my tall husband didn't really fit on any of them. The kid rode the tamer stuff alone, but I rode the roller coasters with him at his request. The plan I had for the day was pretty efficient and we managed to avoid the lines that built up as the day went by. I thought it was a pretty enjoyable day.

Sunday: Home. Finally.

[krystee]

I am tired just reading that, but it sounds like a lot of fun! I think that would be such a fun age to go for a kid--they can ride everything but still are into the magic of it all.

[jeaniebueller]

Sounds like a great trip. I love reading the different perspectives. My DS loooved Tom Sawyer island. Ha ha

[Deleted]

That sounds awesome!

[spankswife]

Awesome! Sounds like you hit everything!!

[turkletsmom]

AH!! That sounds like it was a BLAST!!! We are going in Jan and I.cannot.wait. DS is only 22mos though so he'll be slowing me down

How is The Plaza?

[stephm0188]

Dec 28, 2014 20:52:23 GMT -5 turkletsmom said:

AH!! That sounds like it was a BLAST!!! We are going in Jan and I.cannot.wait. DS is only 22mos though so he'll be slowing me down

How is The Plaza?

Our first trip was when the kid was 18 months. My husband had to be in Orlando for training, so I tagged along and got a 5 day WDW ticket for $99. I didn't make plans and we just kind of went wiht the flow and had a blast.


The Plaza was good. It's small, quiet and has an intimate feel. The food was good, and it was pretty affordable compared to most table service options at Disney/ One of the citizens of Main Street USA came in to announce that the 100th table of the day had been seated, and then made a big fuss over the head chef, Chef Ken, and pointed out his blue name tag and explained that he had received the Legacy award. I'd go back!

[turkletsmom]

Glad to hear the Plaza is good. We might need to check it out for lunch. I haven't been able to get a BOG lunch FP and most of the other MK restaurants are blah IMO.

[curbsideprophet]

Glad you had a good time!

[Deleted]

Sounds like a great trip! It makes me look forward to a trip with an older kid.