Walt Disney World Report (Unabridged)

[bexporter]

This gives a new meaning to long, but hopefully it'll be helpful to some. I'll break it up and put subsequent days in replies. Feel free to ask any questions!

Walt Disney World Trip Report - March 26, 2016, to April 3, 2016

We stayed for one week at Sheraton Vistana Resort (Fountains II). We are owners there and love it. My sister and her husband came along and, since it was sort of their honeymoon (about 3 wks after their wedding), we let them have the master. So it was sort like having a regular hotel room (two full beds) with a kitchen, living room, dining, room and patio. We did use the pull out couch so that gave us some breathing room from the kids, though nobody got very much sleep.
Our last night, we switched to the Best Western Lake Buena Vista. It’s a pretty standard hotel, but the kids were fine with a basic pool and swam both Saturday night and Sunday morning. The room was nice, and the service was fantastic. We were able to drive over Saturday morning early, park, and then take their shuttle to the Magic Kingdom, which saved us $20 in parking that day.

In planning the trip, I realized that adding extra days was much cheaper than adding park hopper to our tickets so we bought six day tickets with no park hopper. My kids are 4.5 (girl) and 8.5 (boy). We have taken our son to Disney World one day each on two previous trips, but he was 2.5 and 3.5. We had been “saving” Disney World until they were both old enough to do it right, and this was the time.

We arrived on Saturday and rented a car to get to Vistana. We checked in and got changed and went to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse, primarily chosen for its proximity to the church, but the food was pretty good. We were going to hit the Magic Kingdom early on Sunday (Easter) morning so we made the foolish decision to take the kids to Easter Vigil (read: very long mass) at Mary Queen of the Universe Shrine at 8:00 p.m. It’s a lovely church, and I’ve been there many times. Mass was just too long, and we ended up leaving at 9:45, when they were just getting the water to do the sprinkling rite. They hadn’t even started the Liturgy of the Eucharist so it was going to be at least another hour before mass was over. At least we tried, I suppose.

We got the kids into bed, and then my husband made a Walgreen’s run (very close to Vistana, no need to go on any major road) for some breakfast supplies and the last few things we needed for Easter baskets. He also brought home wine! We unpacked all the Disney-related supplies (magic bands, bit belts, pins, lanyards, Disney Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Character, sharpies, ponchos, sunscreen, flip flops for me, water bottle, snacks, etc.) and got his backpack ready to go for the next day.

[bexporter]

Day One – Magic Kingdom

On Sunday morning, we were up bright and early and left our condo just before 7:00 a.m. We drove to the Transportation and Ticket Center and took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. We were talking from the monorail and going through security while the park opening show was going on, but our timing was still pretty good, I thought. We headed right to the Big Thunder Railroad, and my daughter loved her first real roller coaster. Sadly, Splash Mountain (our next scheduled stop) wasn’t working, and they estimated 10-15 minutes before it would be up and running again. It was just about 8:00 a.m. (official park opening timing) then so we moved on.

I’m not going to remember all the rides we did, but we moved on to Fantasyland, and I know we did the tea cups (and met Alice and the Mad Hatter) and Pooh. We stopped by Castle Couture to get my daughter her (free) pixie dust. It was actually pretty cute, and the cast member did a little ceremony around it. I wish I would have had my camera ready to video it. We spent time in the Big Top area then and rode Dumbo and the Barnstormer and visited all the characters at the side show (Daisy, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald) with almost no wait. After that, I waited with my daughter to meet Ariel (about 25 minutes) while the boys went and did something else (I’m not sure exactly what).

Then it was time to leave the park for a lunch reservation at the Kona Café at the Polynesian. I am so glad we left. This day was one of the most crowded of the year, and I’m sure it would have been hellish to be there during those prime, mid-day hours. We rode the resort monorail to the Polynesian and then interacted with a really great cast member just inside the hotel. My daughter loved him so much that she had to go back to trade pins with him an then just to visit. Lunch at Kona Café was pretty good (the adults mostly had sushi and margaritas), and we didn’t rush at all.

Our next stop on the resort monorail was the Grand Floridian. We checked out all the amazing handcrafted Easter eggs that were on display (my son took a picture of each one) and rested a little. We offered our 8.5 year old son a couple of dollars towards a souvenir if he would just rest a little. He went and sat on a couch nearby and we were shocked about five minutes later to find that he was asleep!! He slept on that couch in the lobby of the hotel (even as a pianist came and did a set on the grand piano) for over an hour! My husband took my daughter (who would not sleep) out to the beach at the Grand Floridian, where she played in the sand and made some friends too. I texted them to come in almost an hour later when the daily princess parade was about to begin. My daughter loved it, hopped right in line, and danced near Cinderella and Eric. My son finally woke up about that time, and we attempted to make our way back to the Magic Kingdom. Sadly, the monorail was not working so we had to take a bus, but it wasn’t too bad.

Once back at the MK, we rode the railroad, used our Peter Pan fast pass, went to the Hall of Presidents (a family favorite), the Riverboat, and used our FP for Enchanted Tales. My daughter got to be Maurice! We met Cinderella and Rapunzel with a 20 minute wait, and my daughter even asked Cinderella if she could stay overnight in her castle (she’d been planning that all day). After that, we went to Philharmagic and rode the carousel (at the kids’ request). We then went to our FP+ spot for Wishes (the FP+ pickings for that first day were slim, and this worked out great). We saw the Castle Show and Wishes and were all impressed. Tink flew right by our area, and my husband says it’s the best fireworks show he’d ever seen.

Right after Wishes, we had 9:25 reservations for Tony’s Town Square. I had mostly booked this reservation as a way to guarantee we could get back into the park if there was a Level 3 closure while we were gone in the afternoon – ADRs get you on that list. It actually turned out to be a pretty nice, late dinner, even though they weren’t able to seat us on the patio or where we could see the Electrical Parade. The kids ate spaghetti, and my husband and I split some calamari and a pizza. The waitress was very nice and had Lady & the Tramp sign the kids’ book. When we were done, we caught the end of the Electrical Parade. The kids were doing great, we were close, and the lines were short so we met Talking Mickey and Tink before taking the monorail back to the TTC and heading home.

The kids went right to bed, but my husband I made the mistake of staying up until 3 talking to my sister and her husband. This should have slowed us down for a few days, but we must have been on some kind of Disney high. We did know that we had Monday off, though, so we could sleep in. Monday was our day to stay at the resort, rest, recover, swim, etc. We went out to Happy Hour at Bahama Breeze (very near Vistana, GREAT happy hour deals, live music).

[bexporter]

Day Two - Epcot

On Tuesday, we were up bright and (thankfully not quite so) early to head to Epcot. The rest of our park days were 9:00 park opens, and we’d leave Vistana about 8:00. We always made it to the parks before they opened the gates.

We split up inside Epcot so my husband and son could do Sum of All Thrills, and my daughter and I met Minnie, Mickey, and Goofy. We also went to Guest Relations and got my daughter her first visit button (no time on Sunday), and they did a special little ceremony for her. She also loved the bubbles that the maintenance staff blew as we were walking in between 8:30 and 9:00.

When we joined up again, we went to Journey Into Imagination. We had a FP+, and I tried to switch it because the wait was only 5 minutes (cast member recommended as I was about to do it), but there was nothing better available. The kids really liked Figmet and the play area at the end. Then we went to the Pixar film festival (which I really enjoyed), Living with the Land, and Turtle Talk with Crush. We then headed towards Akershus for our Princess lunch reservation, but we had enough time first to stop to activate their Agent P game and play one round in Mexico.

Akershus was good. I had never been to a character meal like this so it was a new experience. My husband and I enjoyed the buffet, and all the princesses were very nice and friendly. My daughter wasn’t quite as excited as I expected, but she did enjoy it. After that, we went back to Mexico for the ride, then to Ellen’s Energy adventure (we could see the skies darkening). It was pouring rain by the time we were done, but we went to Mission Space for our FP+. We let them know we were doing child swap, and my husband and son went while my daughter and I hung out in the ending area. The play area there with tubes was one of her favorite things that day! I let her play while I dried out and relaxed. Once the boys came back, I took my son for the second time while my husband let her keep playing. We even hung out for awhile after that second time because it was still raining and my son liked the computer games they had in that area too.

After returning to earth, we poncho-ed up and headed for the World Showcase, which was very very wet. The park had cleared out due to the weather, but we still enjoyed the Garden and Flower festival topiaries. Our big stop was Japan, where we surprised my daughter with a pearl! I had purchased a necklace for it (an adorable silver minnie head with ears and a red bow) on etsy before our trip so it was awesome to be able to whip it out after she got her (silver!) pearl, which they say is only 5% of the pearls there. She liked the whole experience a lot, including watching other people get their pearls. My son did too, though he was a little jealous that this was her thing and not his.

We had a little bit of time before our dinner reservations at Tokyo Dining, but it was still raining so we just checked out the exhibits in Japan, shopped in the department store, and had a drink until it was time for dinner. Tokyo Dining was delicious, we had interesting cocktails in addition to our sushi, the kids’ meals came in monorail trays (one of the only restaurants with these left), and we had a view of Illuminations. We were just finishing up as it began so we were able to take the kids right out on the patio outside the restaurant for a prime viewing area. Thankfully the rain had stopped. We walked out around the world showcase, and my kids had me take pictures of them with lots of the topiaries. There were so many great characters!

[bexporter]

Day Three – Animal Kingdom

We had a little SNAFU this morning. When we pulled into our parking spot at about 8:25, my husband realized that his magic band wasn’t in the backpack with the others. The kids and I headed to the park, and he headed back to the condo to get it. We made it in, saw the bird show to open the park, and then high tailed it to the safari. It took us about 30 minutes to get on a safari, but we had a great experience. By the time we were done, my husband had arrived and was getting us Starbucks. He didn’t mind missing the safari, as he has been on it at least two other times. The kids met Flik, and we went to The Lion King Show, which was a FP+. I love that show and was happy the kids did too! Then we got them signed up for Wilderness Explorers, and they earned some badges and traded some pins. We did the forest walk closer to the safari, and they enjoyed it and earned a bunch of badges.

We had lunch at the Harambe Market, which took awhile but the food was good. While the kids and I were waiting at a table for my husband to bring back food, a cast member came over and chose my kids for a special treat from Mickey. She brought them cake pops (though my kids were not pleased with the coconut on them)! My daughter was especially excited about this and took seriously her promise to thank Mickey the next time she saw him.

After lunch, it was time for our other FP+. We all did Dinosaur (everybody liked it), then we all went to the Finding Nemo Show, which my daughter loved. The next FP+ was Everest. My husband and son went while I hung out with my daughter, got a drink, and did some Wilderness Explorer badges. They found us after their ride, but hadn’t told the cast member at the ride that they wanted to do rider swap. Our solution was for my daughter and I to switch magic bands with them (probably a no no, I’m sure). They rode Everest again while we waited in a modest line (about 15-20 minutes) to meet Pocohantas. After that, they picked up another badge from the main Wilderness Explorer station, and we headed out of the park. We were meeting some friends for dinner and swimming at the resort.

[bexporter]

Day Four – Hollywood Studios

This was the day I had to be flexible. The crowds were really heavy, and Jedi Training was a big question mark in our day. We arrived at least 30 minutes before park opening and got right in line for Jedi Training, which was a must for our kids. We waited almost an hour until we got our time assigned, and we were a little nervous about whether we’d get one (though there was a cast member counting people getting on line and there were tons of people behind us – they must cut it off when they’re full, right?). Finally, we got our time for right after lunch, which was perfect. Then it was time to try to salvage our touring plan.

We went on the Great Movie Ride, to the Disney Jr. Show, took a break with some popcorn, went to Frozen Ever After, and then headed to lunch at Hollywood & Vine. This was a little more chaotic than Akershus, but it was efficient. My kids LOVED the food, especially the pretzel rolls. I appreciated the selection and great choices for dessert. We visited with all the characters (Sophia, Doc, Jake, & Handy Manny) pretty quickly and then headed to Jedi Training.

Be warned, your Jedis wait in the blazing hot sun for a half an hour before coming to the show. My husband stayed with them and pumped them full of water and reapplied sunscreen. I went to get a spot to see the show, not realizing how open the area is. I watched most of the show before ours and then was right at the rope once that crowd cleared. This was a lot of blazing hot sun for me too. I should have stayed with the kids since I could have been in the shade at the Indiana Jones outpost. The show was amazing, though!! Cannot recommend it enough!

After Jedi Training, we had our FP+ for Toy Story Mania (fun, of course), then hiked over to the Beauty & the Beast Live! Show, which was great, and then went back for our Star Tours FP+. Not the most efficient, but we had to work with what we had when it was time to book our FP+ 30 days out. After Star Tours, my daughter was really done and wanted to go back to the condo and swim. She was not tempted by the Muppets or Launch Bay or anything else. My son also wanted to go home, even though it meant missing our Tower of Terror FP+ and Fantasmic, which we had VIP seating for with our Hollywood & Vince lunch reservations. (Note: We had to give up on the idea of Rock’n’Roller Coaster since we needed our Tier One FP+ for Toy Story Mania and we had to prioritize Jedi Training over going there at rope drop – waits were 90-120 minutes long all day). We watched the Path of the Jedi movie, hoping to change their minds. My daughter was excited to see Rey on screen (who was on the shirt she was wearing, even though she has not seen the movies the way my son has), but she still wanted to go to the pool. At that point, we decided to go with the flow. I found a family of four coming in on our way out and asked if they were planning to see Fantasmic! They were very thankful for our four VIP seating passes. We were home by about 6 pm and had a great night swimming.

[bexporter]

Day Five – Epcot

I was so excited to go back to Epcot and spend a lot of time exploring the countries and enjoying food and drinks from the Garden and Flower Festival. The day didn’t turn out quite how I planned.

We got to the park before opening again. We had FP+ for The Seas, Test Track, and Spaceship Earth. My daughter wanted to do Journey into Imagination again first, before our fast past times started. So we did that, then we spent a lot of time in the Aquarium area of the Seas after the ride. The kids also spent a lot of time playing the games after Spaceship Earth. We took a break for a snack and then went to Test Track, which everybody loved, especially my daughter (though she was disappointed that we didn’t get to ride in the purple car she designed).

Test track is where we encountered a small problem. Shortly after the ride, my son began to complain that his ear hurt. It came on so suddenly that we’re almost certain it was swimmers’ ear and that the ride had jostled some water into a place it shouldn’t have been. But he was miserable. He did, with lots of encouragement, make it around the world showcase, but it was tough. We managed to do the Agent P China mission with my daughter, see Mulan from a distance (her line was cut off), stop at Kidcot stations in Germany, Italy (which included gelato for my son and prosecco for me), and France. Miraculously, he did not complain or cry while he was eating a large cookie from the bakery in France. After the baked goods and some champagne, we made our way out of the park. I was sad to give up my dream of relaxing time in the world showcase, but it was the right thing to do. The boys did walk ahead towards the car as my daughter and I took a few more pictures with topiaries and bought a birthday gift for grandma.

When we got back to the condo, my son slept for two hours while my husband and sister went to Bahama Breeze for one more happy hour and my daughter and I watched a movie. My daughter didn’t make it to the pool that night, but she was placated by a float around the Jacuzzi tub in her swimming suit and inner tube. After some swimmer’s ear medication and ibuprofen, my son was ok too. We packed that night to leave the condo the next day and got everyone to bed early to store up energy for our last park day.

[bexporter]

Day Six – Magic Kingdom

We hit the road before 8 with all our belongings and drove 5 minutes to the Best Western Lake Bueuna Vista. We got our parking pass and then jumped on the shuttle bus to the Magic Kingdom. We were a little later than we should have been, and the lines for the monorail were outrageous so we decided to take the ferry. The kids loved it, especially seeing the Polynesian and Grand Floridian, where we’d spent time the weekend before. It’s nice to mix things up a little bit.

We were nearing the end of a long week and dragging a little, and the weather was threatening so we took things pretty slowly this day. We missed park opening, but we were still in the park before 9.
Our first stop was Fairytale Garden to see Merida. We timed it well and arrived as she was finishing one set. We waited outside for about 15 minutes for her to finish and take a break, but we were the first family in the new group they took in. She was charming and joked with the kids.

Then we started our touring plan for the day (Merida was not an option for some reason, so I had to build in a break to see her) in Tomorrowland. We waited for Buzz Lightyear and then the rain came while we headed over to Space Mountain for our FP+. We did child swap and pocketed our extra FP+ to use later while my husband and son went for the first time. Then my daughter and I rode the people mover, which she enjoyed (and got her into Space Mountain) and which was thankfully under cover.

We met up with the boys and used the back path behind the speedway to get to the railroad station in fantasyland as quickly as possible. We rode the rain to Frontierland, and it just started raining harder and harder. Many rides closed, and we took refuge in a covered eating area across from Pirates. Our Jungle Cruise FP+ was out at that point (since the ride was closed) so we went to Pirates, despite a relatively long wait. It was still raining and all the big rides were still closed when were done so we went to the Enchanted Tiki Room show, which was cute and retro (last time we were there, it was the under new management version), and then shared a Dole Whip.

We had lunch reservations at Liberty Tree Tavern, which was very good. I had a big, delicious salad, which was awesome after a week of heavier food. While we were at lunch, the skies cleared, and we finished just in time for the Festival of Fantasy parade, which was awesome!

We had given up on the Jungle Cruise and switched our FP+ to the Haunted Mansion. It was not too scary for my little trooper. We were headed for the Castle for one of the last Dream with Disney shows when I noticed on my touring plans app that Anna and Elsa was only a 30 minute wait, even though it said 45-50 minutes. We high tailed it over there, and my daughter and I waited and enjoyed meeting them. The boys went to use the child swap FP+ for Space Mountain and then they went to the Monsters Inc. laugh floor since we were still waiting. We all met up for Under the Sea and then waited around a bit for the big event, our 7:10 FP+ for Seven Dwarves Mine Train. We were all pretty pooped, but we weren’t going to miss that so we got a snack and shopped and even waited in a 20 minute line for Dumbo, at my daughter’s request. The Mine Train was a big hit, and I loved the video that came with Memory Maker. When we left the ride, my daughter asked if we could go again and, given the 120 minute standby wait, I pretty much said “Hell no.” We made our way out of the park, with a short stop at the shops on Main Street, though we didn’t buy anything, to the Monorail, and back to our bus to the hotel. We just happened to catch one about to leave, which was awesome timing as they’re every 30 minutes.

When we got back to the hotel, my husband took the kids to the pool, and I went out to get us pizza (Flipper’s at Crossroads – it was very tasty). Traffic was a bear heading to Crossroads (where there are lots of restaurants and a not great grocery store), but it was pretty slick coming back since I was going straight onto Hotel Plaza Blvd instead of trying to turn onto 535.
The kids swam again on Sunday morning after the breakfast buffet (that we paid for, not a free continental breakfast) at the hotel, and we packed up and headed to the airport. We almost forgot to gas up the car and had to do it right by the airport, where the gas cost twice as much as by our hotel. Then we were a little nervous about making it through security in time, but the lines moved very quickly and we were at our gate with plenty of time to spare.

[bexporter]

Final Notes

Memory Maker!!

I am really happy we decided to do Memory Maker. We got a lot of good family pictures, some really cute pictures of the kids, and so many awesome professional pictures of Jedi Training and my daughter in Enchanted Tales with Belle. Also, all the character pictures were really worth it for us since my kids met over 25 characters over the course of the week and all had photo pass photographers except the ones we met at character meals.

Disney Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Character

This was a tip I got somewhere online, and it was perfect for character autographs. The only characters we met who weren’t in there were the Disney Jr. characters, and they just signed in the blank pages at the front and the end of the book. We also brought our own retractable Sharpie markers, which the characters liked. I saw some families with 2 or 3 of these, but I made my kids share, and they were fine with that.

Souvenirs

All week long, we bribed our kids to try to foods (and sometimes to do other things, like rest) with certain amounts of money towards souvenirs. In the end, they both had about $30 to spend. They shopped around the stores a little but ultimately decided to pick souvenirs online once we got home (since we told them things like the dolls would be cheaper on amazon). My son ended up with 4 Disney Infinity characters that I had already ordered but decided not to bring for the Easter Baskets, and my daughter picked three Disney Princess Barbie-type dolls. They are both happy with what they got, and we didn’t have to haul anything home. Win, win. (We also would have been fine if they had picked something there – it really was up to them).

Offsite FP+

Note that a real downside of staying off property is not being able to make FP+ reservations until 30 days out. We did not get Anna & Elsa and just barely got Seven Dwarves Mine Train. This problem probably only arises at very busy times like Easter week, but it’s something to think about.

Touring Plans

Finally, I can’t say enough about Touring Plans. I bought the membership ($11 or 12 for the year) about a year before our trip. I LOVED the touring plans app, my ability to customize the plans for each day, and the ability to update them as we went throughout the day and things changes. I know this is more specific than some people like to get, but it did not lead us astray at all.

Also, a shout out to WDW Prep School for some great tips, including the Fantasmic Dining Promotion, and Kenny the Pirate for great character info!

[bexporter]

And it was "only" 89 or 90 the day we were there ... I can't imagine it in the summer.

[ribollita]

I loved your unabridged report!

I'm totally stealing the idea to pay my kid to rest so he can earn souvenirs. Love it.

I thought I had read everything about WDW but didn't know about the princess parade at Grand Floridian. Thanks!

Our next trip will be during hot weather so unless my older kid becomes obsessed with Star Wars in the next couple months, I'm going to skip Jedi Training until we are there in winter sometime after reading your experience!

Glad you had a good time!

[bexporter]

Apr 19, 2016 16:14:57 GMT -5 ribollita said:

Our next trip will be during hot weather so unless my older kid becomes obsessed with Star Wars in the next couple months, I'm going to skip Jedi Training until we are there in winter sometime after reading your experience!

Yeah, unless you have a Star Wars fanatic on your hands, I think it's a good idea to wait until both kids can do it too. I know my daughter would have been really sad to miss out. They just have to be 4, I believe.

[bexporter]

Oh, and I think the technical term is Princess Promenade. They make an announcement from the balcony with a 10 minute warning for everyone to gather. Parents can walk with kids upstairs and then down the grand staircase. At the bottom of the stairs, the parents have to split off and just the kids promenade in and around the grand piano. Then Cinderella and Eric (who led the promenade) are introduced and all the kids take a partner and dance for a song. We just happened upon it, but it was fun!

[curbsideprophet]

Sounds like a great trip! How old do kids need to be for the Agent P stuff at Epcot?

[bronxgirl]

Sounds like an excellent trip! Thanks for sharing.

[bexporter]

As far as I know, there's no age limit for Agent P. Littler ones may need help, but my husband and I thought the missions were cool too and were happy to participate.

[curbsideprophet]

Apr 19, 2016 19:52:34 GMT -5 bexporter said:

As far as I know, there's no age limit for Agent P. Littler ones may need help, but my husband and I thought the missions were cool too and were happy to participate.

Thanks! DD will be five on our next trip so I was not sure if that was too young to try it.

[bexporter]

curbsideprophet My 4.5 year old daughter really enjoyed it. She needed help with reading and getting the instructions/actions right, but she thought she was hot stuff holding the phone and doing it. She does know the Phineas and Ferb characters from watching with her brother so that might have been part of it, but it's worth a try!