Disney World Trip Report (Novel Length)

[Cowbells]

I don't post often, but got a lot of great advice from all of you about planning our Disney trip and always enjoy reading trip reports, so I thought I would write ours.

We have two DD's, 8 & 3 1/2. We stayed in a one bedroom villa at Wilderness Lodge and used a Disney TA to help us plan our vacation. We had originally planned to stay in a one bedroom at BLT, but got free dining by switching to WL.

We flew in last Saturday, by the time we made it to the resort (used Magical Express) it was about 6:00. We just grabbed a quick dinner at the Roaring Fork, went swimming and went to bed early.

Our first day in the parks we went to the Magic Kingdom. We all had FP+ for Peter Pan's Flight (both girls loved) and 7 dwarfs mine train (also a hit). Then two of us had FP+ for Splash Mountain and 2 of us for Big Thunder Mountain. We used rider swap so that H, DD1, and I could all ride both. We had lunch at BOG, which was a lot of fun. We were able to meet Merida, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, and Suzy and Perla without waiting in line more then 10-15 minutes each. We used our 4th FP+ of the day to do Winnie the Pooh. We ended the day with dinner at Chef Mickey’s. The food was edible, not great. The characters were great with the girls, especially since DD2 was afraid of them all, they included her, but didn’t push her too far.

Day 2 was spent at Epcot. We got there at rope drop and DD1 and H headed to do Mission Space before the line got long. While they were doing that DD2 and I did the Seas with Nemo & Friends twice in a row. Then DD1 and I did Sum of all Thrills. From there we headed to our late breakfast reservation at Askershus, which was a hit with both girls. After breakfast we spent some time at the aquarium at the seas and used a FP+ to do Turtle Talk with Crush. Then two of us had FP+ for Soarin’ and two of us at FP+ for Test Track. We used rider swap again so that someone could stay with DD2. I was able to get on Mission Space with no wait later in the afternoon, and then we did FP+ for Spaceship Earth for all of us.

Day 3 we headed to Animal Kingdom first thing in the morning. While we were walking into the park Dug and Russell were just coming out, so we were first in line to meet them. DD1 & I went to Expedition Everest then. We were able to get on with less than a 5 minute wait. We grabbed a rider swap for H. Then we had FP+ for Kilimanjaros Safaris. After that we killed a little bit of time shopping and people watching and did our second FP+ for Festival of the Lion King, which I highly recommend. We had lunch at Tusker House. The food was good and the character interaction was great. We then used our last FP+ for Kali River Rapids. We had planned to leave the park then to go back to the hotel and rest before MNSSHP, but hadn’t even made it to Dinosaur Land so we wandered over there. DD2 fell in love with the Boneyard, we decided to come back and spend a little more time the next day since I hadn’t planned anything. On the way out we caught It’s Tough to be a Bug, which was absolutely terrifying to DD2. We went back to the hotel and rested for a couple of hours and then headed to the Magic Kingdom for MNSSHP. It was fun to go, but I’m not so sure I would spend the money to do it again. The park was much more crowded during the Halloween party then it had been during the day earlier in the week. We were able to meeting Cinderella and Rapunzel with no wait, and Anna and Elsa with a 10 minute wait, we had a FP+ to see them later in the week, but I was able to change that then. Other than that we didn’t wait in line to meet any special characters because the lines were so long. We were able to do a lot of rides with almost no waits. The Villians Show and the parade were fantastic.

Day 4 we slept in then decided to head back to Animal Kingdom for a couple more hours. I was able to get us FP+ for the Finding Nemo Show and Dinosaur. Mostly we just hung out in the Boneyard. Then we caught the bus from there to Ft. Wilderness for the Hoop Dee Doo Review. H and DD1 loved the review.

Day 5 we got to Hollywood Studios for rope drop. We headed right to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. DD1 and I rode it and got a rider swap for H and he and DD1 rode it right away. We had FP+ for Toy Story Mania. We stood in line for just a couple minutes to meet both Doc McStuffins and Sofia even though we were having early lunch at Hollywood and Vine because DD2 loves them so much and I wanted the pictures with the nice backdrop. We watched the Disney Jr. show and then headed to our lunch at Hollywood and Vine. Of our four character meals, this one was my favorite. After lunch we had FP+ for the Frozen Sing Along. DD1 & I used FP+ for Tower of Terror and H & DD1 used FP+ for Star Tours and we got rider swap for both of those. DD2 and I did the Muppets Show, which she enjoyed. We spent some time just wandering around and shopping and then had an early dinner reservation at Mama Melrose for the Fantasmic Dinner package. The food was great, but there was SO MUCH FOOD.

Day 6 we headed back to Magic Kingdom. We hadn’t been to Tomorrowland at all, so we headed there first. DD1 and I did Space Mountain first thing and grabbed a rider swap for H. Then we did Stitche's Great Escape, which terrified DD2 and Astro Orbiter. There was no wait for Buzz Lightyear, so we did that. I changed the FP+ we had for that to Tomorrowland Speedway so we did that quick. We grabbed a fast lunch and used FP+ for Enchanted Tales with Belle. Of all the things we did all week, I think this was my girl’s favorite. DD1 played Mrs. Potts and DD2 was the pepper shaker. We met Tiana, and then took in the parade. After the parade we waited in a short line to meet Jasmine and Aladdin. We had FP+ to do 7 Dwarves Mine Train one more time before we left DW. We headed back to the hotel early so the girls could swim and we could pack.

We flew out early in the morning on day 7.

My overall impression of our trip was that crowds were fairly light and that I did a fairly good job maximizing and planning FP+. There are very few rides that we did not do at least once, several we did more than once and I don’t think we ever waited in a line longer than 15 minutes.

The Dining Plan was something I was on the fence about so I was excited to get it for free, and it was a bigger cost savings for us then the room discount they were offering. We used all our snack credits (ended up buying some bottled water at the end just to use them up) and all our table service meals and had 4 quick service credits left. If we ever go back though, I won’t do the DP again unless we can get if for free. It was simply just too much food. We ate more then we needed to because we had credits to use up and it felt so wasteful.

We also go Memory Maker. I think it was worth it for us. I’m downloading and going through our pictures today and we got about 500 pictures.

If you made it this far you deserve a Dole Whip!

[jeaniebueller]

Sounds like you had a great trip!

[mellymel]

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing!

[Deleted]

Sounds like a great trip!

[egishere]

Sounds awesome! Can you explain how the rider swap works?

[Cowbells]

Sept 27, 2015 21:23:04 GMT -5 egishere said:

Sounds awesome! Can you explain how the rider swap works?

You go to the cast member at the entrance to the ride that one of your party does not want to/cannot ride and ask for a rider swap.  You can do this whether you have a FP+ for the ride or not.  The cast member will give you a paper FP+ for that ride to come back and it says up to 3 people can ride.  It has a date on it and I was surprised to see that it was several days out, so you don't have to do that ride again immediately.  When the other people are ready to ride the ride, they take the paper FP+ to the FP+ line and give it to the cast member.

[countthestars]

Sounds awesome! I really, really hope at least one of my kids likes thrill rides (like your DD1!!) because my H doesn't. I'm picturing DD and I doing all the fun stuff on our next trip or 2 while H hangs out with the baby

[curbsideprophet]

Sounds like a great trip. Your schedule is very similar to what we have planned for our Oct trip (MK first day, Epcot the second, then AK, then HS).

[bronxgirl]

sounds like an awesome trip!

[Deleted]

Sept 27, 2015 19:46:15 GMT -5 Cowbells said:

  Then we caught the bus from there to Ft. Wilderness for the Hoop Dee Doo Review. H and DD1 loved the review.

What did you think of it? Would you recommend it to people who would be coming from outside Ft. Wilderness? What did you think of the villa btw?

[Cowbells]

Sept 28, 2015 11:07:58 GMT -5 sxia said:

Sounds cool. Could you give a price range of what you paid?

Our room (one bedroom villa at Wilderness lodge w/free dining), memory maker, Halloween party tickets, tips for table service meals, and souvenirs came to right around $6500.  We could have saved some money by renting points (would have lost free dining, but probably would not have done as many character meals), but it was worth it to me to have the help of our travel agent.

[Cowbells]

Sept 28, 2015 11:44:29 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

Sept 27, 2015 19:46:15 GMT -5 Cowbells said:

  Then we caught the bus from there to Ft. Wilderness for the Hoop Dee Doo Review. H and DD1 loved the review.

What did you think of it? Would you recommend it to people who would be coming from outside Ft. Wilderness? What did you think of the villa btw?

I thought the review was fun, DD1 and H absolutely loved it, DD2 was just meh about it, but honestly I think she was just so wore out by that time she was sleep walking :-)  I would allow for extra time to get there from wherever you are coming from.  I didn't realize once we got to Ft. Wilderness we would have to get on another bus just to get to Pioneer Hall.  We left Animal Kingdom over an hour before we were supposed to be there and we got there just as they started checking people in.  It was nice for us going back to Wilderness Lodge that night though because we were able to take a boat.

Our villa was great and I am so glad that we spent the extra money.  I probably could have done a regular hotel room for 3-4 days, but since we were there a whole week I knew that all of us would appreciate a little extra space.  The couch folded out into a queen sized bed and our DD's slept there and then there was a king bed in the bedroom.  It was also nice to have a washer and dryer and two sinks.

[ribollita]

Sept 28, 2015 11:44:29 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

Sept 27, 2015 19:46:15 GMT -5 Cowbells said:

  Then we caught the bus from there to Ft. Wilderness for the Hoop Dee Doo Review. H and DD1 loved the review.

What did you think of it? Would you recommend it to people who would be coming from outside Ft. Wilderness? What did you think of the villa btw?

Not OP but I did not think it was worth it. The food was fine but not great and the show was really cheesy. My kid was not into it and wanted to leave. He was 3.5 at the time.