Hi Everyone!
So, I have stalked the forums for several years but felt so overwhelmed by everyone's great trip reports that I never took it upon myself to post anything. We are planning a week and a half long trip and I am a super planner, so if nothing else, I'm posting this so I don't forget all the details of our trip! I plan on making photo books when we return for my kiddos as well.
Bear with me as I try to write up my first pre-trip and trip reports! Thank you =)
The Family:
Missy - Me
This will be my 4th trip to the World. I never went as a kid and never even was interested in going. However, we decided to take my Princess obsessed DD Rey when she was about to turn 5 and as soon as I stepped into the Magic Kingdom, I was hooked!
RS - DH
This will be DH's 4th trip as well. Although he enjoys his time in the World, he isn't a Disney fanatic like I am, and so he will only be with us for the first half of the trip.
Rey - DD10
This will be DD's 2nd trip. Her first trip was before New Fantasyland was open so Magic Kingdom is going to be so different for her. On the flipside, all the major attractions at Hollywood Studios were still around, so I've warned her it might be a bit sad to see the state of the park now before Toy Storyland and Star Wars Land open! She has long since grown out of the Princess stage, but still wants to interact with as many characters as she can. She has a severe Peanut/Tree Nut allergy, so we love that Disney provides so many options for food and entertainment that she can enjoy without frustration! She is looking forward to Jedi Training since she has never done that.
Belle - DD7
This is DD's 2nd trip as well, although hers was more recently and she remembers most of the trip. Her very favorite rides are 7 Dwarfs Mine Train and Star Tours (I think we rode ST 7 times in one day!). She is looking forward to riding Space Mountain, Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Rollercoaster since she skipped those on our last trip.
Buzz - DS2
This will be DS' first trip to WDW. He turns 3 in February, so we wanted to sneak in a trip while he was still free, haha! He was clueless about what this trip meant, so we started showing him videos from our previous trips and he is so excited to meet the REAL Buzz, Mickey Mouse and Princesses. He keeps asking to see "Princess Ali" - I have no idea which princess he is talking about, but he giggles and says he wants to give the Princesses hugs, so I don't think it's going to matter which Princess he sees!
When are we going?
We arrive on Jan 17th. The boys will leave on Jan 21st, but us girls will be sticking around until the 26th.
Planning
We went to WDW twice in 2016, so we really had no intention of returning until DS was 4 or 5. However, that's when we are planning an overseas trip and we knew there was no way we could afford both trips in the same year. In fact, the overseas trip will probably cost us enough that we wouldn't be able to make it back to WDW for a couple of years after. By then, DS could be 7 or 8 and the magic of those early years would probably be lost for him. The girls are getting older and we had never done a trip with all of us together. In May of 2017, I was helping my cousin plan an October trip for her and her family when I got the idea that we should try to go in 2018. DH and I talked and at first, DH wasn't really on board, but then as I helped a few others plan their trips and the girls started asking if they could go back, he started to cave. We decided that instead of Christmas presents, this year we would surprise them all with a little trip to Disney! Then, the trip kind of took on a life of it's own.
First, we were going to do 3 park days. Then, we decided we wanted to do at least one day for each park. Then we thought that wouldn't be enough for Epcot and MK, so we needed 6 days. Then we decided we wanted more free time and not be hurried every day to get through everything we wanted to see/do, so we needed at least 2 days for every park. Long story short - our 3 day trip turned into 9!
But, before I could book it, DH was like "okay, slow down. I don't want to take that much vacation time, and especially with a 2 year old." So, we were going to scale back the plans, much to my disappointment. I had a lot of grandiose ideas and they just weren't going to come to fruition in a shorter trip. I thought maybe my parents or DH's parents might want to join us so we could kill two birds with one stone and let them take breaks with the little guy while we took the girls on the bigger rides. Neither set of parents care one iota about going to WDW and, in fact, they looked annoyed that we even thought they might like it - back to square one =(
Finally, my husband decided he would leave early with the little guy and head home while the girls and I ride and explore to our hearts content. I was a little bummed at first, because I really wanted us to have a big vacation all together. We went to Colorado last summer and hiked through the mountains, went exploring in little towns, walked miles and miles in museums and historical sites - and had a GREAT time. But, if DH doesn't like to do something, he will get grumpy (he has a Grumpy t-shirt that he likes to wear which suits him perfectly, haha!) and then he is no fun. It's probably just as well for him and DS to head home before they get too worn out!
Where to Stay?
We have always stayed at POP. We wanted to avoid the All Star hotels, simply because I knew too many people who complained about them. However, we didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for a moderate or deluxe resort because I had no intention of spending much time in my room anyway. So, we settled on POP and we haven't had a bad experience since then.
This time though, we decided to branch out and try something different and we are staying at AoA. Honestly, the rooms are exactly the same size and layout, but mostly, I was thinking of the themes and pools for the little guy since he knows all the movies portrayed onsite there. Plus, if DH wants to take a break and head over to the pool with DS, the Big Blue Pool looked like fun. Hopefully it isn't crazy loud like some people have complained about, although both DS and DH can sleep through pretty much anything (actually, so can both DDs - I'm the only light sleeper!).
Where to Eat?
I started making lists of ADRs I wanted. I couldn't ask the girls, since we were planning to surprise them at Christmas with the trip, so I had to ask them indirectly. I tried asking them for suggestions on ADRs for other people we knew that were going and got their must dos. I also had a few I really wanted to try.
Here was the list from the girls:
Jan 17th - Tony's @ MK for dinner
Jan 18th - Tusker House @ AK for brunch (with FP for ROL), Rainforest Cafe for dinner
Jan 19th - The Plaza @ MK for lunch, Crystal Palace for dinner
Jan 20th - Akershus @ EPCOT for breakfast, Garden Grill for lunch, San Angel Inn for dinner
Jan 21st - Rose & Crown @ EPCOT for lunch, 1900 Park Fare for dinner
Jan 22nd - Sci Fi @ HS for lunch, Hollywood & Vine for dinner (not a big fan, but wanted the seats for Fantasmic!)
Jan 23rd - Yak & Yeti @ AK for lunch, Spirit of Aloha @ Polynesian for dinner
Jan 24th - 50's Prime Time @ HS for lunch, Mama Melrose for dinner
Jan 25th - 1900 Park Fare for Breakfast, CRT @ MK for lunch, BOG for dinner
Jan 26th - Bon Voyage Breakfast (Trattoria al Forno)
What Fastpasses Do I Get?
The hardest thing was figuring out which fastpasses to get. With big age ranges and an odd number of people, I wanted to make sure everyone got to do things they enjoyed. I spent months trying to figure out the perfect plan, but I will spare you the back and forth changes that led up to the last hour before the window came open! Here is what I settled on:
Jan 17th - We don't arrive in Orlando until about 1:30pm, so we don't plan to be in the park until around 4ish. We also will have been up since about 3am, so we don't plan to make it a long night. We will head over to MK for our FPs for Buzz and Winnie the Pooh for all of us, and then after dinner, DH will take DS back to the hotel for a bath and settle down while the girls and I ride our last FP for 7 Dwarfs.
Jan 18th - We plan to spend all day at AK and we got FPs for Kilimanjaro, the Na'vi River for all of us and then Everest for DH and the girls while I take DS on a spin on the Triceratops. We have a super early morning the next day, so we will call it a night early on this day as well.
Jan 19th - We plan to rope drop MK and do as many rides as we can before lunch. We got FPs for Haunted Mansion and Pirates for after lunch and then a late afternoon FP for 7 Dwarfs for DH and the girls while I use an FP for Peter Pan with DS.
Jan 20th - We will be at Epcot early for breakfast at 8am, so we hope to eat and head to FEA right afterwards. We have FPs for Test Track for DH and the girls after that while DS and I can use an FP on FEA to ride again. Since our main focus is riding everything together if we can, our other two FPs are for Journey into Imagination and Living w/ the Land.
Jan 21st - Heading back to Epcot. Since the boys leave this morning, us girls plan to rope drop Test Track and then use our FPs for Soarin' and Mission Space. Didn't really have many good choices for a third one, so we decided we might want to take a break and check out the Disney/Pixar Short film festival for our 3rd FP. All of our FPs are early in the day so we can focus on the WS the rest of the day.
Jan 22nd - Our first day at HS. FPs for Toy Story, ToT and Star Tours. I'm guessing we will be riding Star Tours as many times as possible since DD Belle is obsessed with that ride. She was dressed as Princess Leia last time and was the "spy". She really believed Darth Vader could see her and thought she was Princess Leia, LOL. When Carrie Fisher passed, I swear you'd have thought DD was her child and lost her mother - she cried so much! We had to see Last Jedi 3 times just so she could see her on the screen...
Jan 23rd - Last day at AK - we want to rope drop it and see if we can't get on FoP with less than a 30 minute wait. If not, we have FPs for later that day, but I figured we might want to ride it more than once, and I know I will be in no mood to wait in a 2-3 hour line! We also got FPs for Everest and Primeval Whirl. I hate PW, but the girls love rides like that.
Jan 24th - Last day at HS - we don't plan to be here all day, but that will depend on when Jedi training gets scheduled. We have FPs for Rock 'n' Rollercoaster, ToT and, of course, Star Tours.
Jan 25th - Our last day at MK and our last day in the parks! We got FPs for Space Mountain and 7 Dwarfs. We used our third FP for meeting Cinderella and Elena, only because I really don't want to spend any time waiting for characters! By this point, I am assuming we will have ridden - multiple times - on all the rides we wanted, so FPs aren't going to matter that much. We plan to take it slow and enjoy our last moments!
Extras!
This past year I have helped several people plan their Disney trips - got up before the sun to make FPs, helped them book character meals, created touring plans and was even "on-call" for many of them while they were at the parks. Therefore, a lot of them gifted me Disney gift cards to say thank you. If I hadn't already booked and paid for our trip, I would have used them towards the cost of that. But, I had already paid for everything when I started collecting these gift cards. We had thought we would use them on souvenirs, but my kids don't really need a bunch of junk and I don't want to haul a bunch of stuff home. So, instead, we put them towards experiences we wouldn't have otherwise paid for.
Both DDs have peanut/tree nut allergies, although my oldest is extremely severe, my younger DD's is not as much. However, the dessert parties have never appealed to us, since it seems the offerings vary greatly - I've seen some get awesome dessert plates just for them and I've seen others who were given a bag/box of a couple of prepackaged items that were meant more for gluten free guests and thus half the items were not safe for peanut/tree nut allergies. That's never been worth it to me. However, my DH LOATHES the crowds at the fireworks shows and would rather skip them to avoid the other people. So, I suggested we use some of the gift cards for the HEA dessert party Garden Plaza Viewing, pack up some of our own desserts, just in case, and have a nice area to enjoy the show without 5000 others up in your face. He was sold! We will see how the desserts pan out, but I have already warned the girls they might just have to eat what we bring.
Another thing we used the gift cards for was for the After Hours on the 19th. Honestly, I don't know if we will end up doing it or if we do, if we will stay the whole time. We have a few really packed days back to back and we might just be too tired to do it! I only got passes for the girls and I, since my DH had no interest in it. If we decide not to do it, I might just see if there is a way to gift them to someone else in the park that night.
We thought about doing some of the other tours or something after the boys leave since we still have $$ on the cards, but since my younger DD is only 7, we are limited in which ones we can do. I guess we will see.
Thanks for reading!
Up Next... Surprising the kids and other stuff!
So, I have stalked the forums for several years but felt so overwhelmed by everyone's great trip reports that I never took it upon myself to post anything. We are planning a week and a half long trip and I am a super planner, so if nothing else, I'm posting this so I don't forget all the details of our trip! I plan on making photo books when we return for my kiddos as well.
Bear with me as I try to write up my first pre-trip and trip reports! Thank you =)
The Family:
Missy - Me
This will be my 4th trip to the World. I never went as a kid and never even was interested in going. However, we decided to take my Princess obsessed DD Rey when she was about to turn 5 and as soon as I stepped into the Magic Kingdom, I was hooked!
RS - DH
This will be DH's 4th trip as well. Although he enjoys his time in the World, he isn't a Disney fanatic like I am, and so he will only be with us for the first half of the trip.
Rey - DD10
This will be DD's 2nd trip. Her first trip was before New Fantasyland was open so Magic Kingdom is going to be so different for her. On the flipside, all the major attractions at Hollywood Studios were still around, so I've warned her it might be a bit sad to see the state of the park now before Toy Storyland and Star Wars Land open! She has long since grown out of the Princess stage, but still wants to interact with as many characters as she can. She has a severe Peanut/Tree Nut allergy, so we love that Disney provides so many options for food and entertainment that she can enjoy without frustration! She is looking forward to Jedi Training since she has never done that.
Belle - DD7
This is DD's 2nd trip as well, although hers was more recently and she remembers most of the trip. Her very favorite rides are 7 Dwarfs Mine Train and Star Tours (I think we rode ST 7 times in one day!). She is looking forward to riding Space Mountain, Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Rollercoaster since she skipped those on our last trip.
Buzz - DS2
This will be DS' first trip to WDW. He turns 3 in February, so we wanted to sneak in a trip while he was still free, haha! He was clueless about what this trip meant, so we started showing him videos from our previous trips and he is so excited to meet the REAL Buzz, Mickey Mouse and Princesses. He keeps asking to see "Princess Ali" - I have no idea which princess he is talking about, but he giggles and says he wants to give the Princesses hugs, so I don't think it's going to matter which Princess he sees!
When are we going?
We arrive on Jan 17th. The boys will leave on Jan 21st, but us girls will be sticking around until the 26th.
Planning
We went to WDW twice in 2016, so we really had no intention of returning until DS was 4 or 5. However, that's when we are planning an overseas trip and we knew there was no way we could afford both trips in the same year. In fact, the overseas trip will probably cost us enough that we wouldn't be able to make it back to WDW for a couple of years after. By then, DS could be 7 or 8 and the magic of those early years would probably be lost for him. The girls are getting older and we had never done a trip with all of us together. In May of 2017, I was helping my cousin plan an October trip for her and her family when I got the idea that we should try to go in 2018. DH and I talked and at first, DH wasn't really on board, but then as I helped a few others plan their trips and the girls started asking if they could go back, he started to cave. We decided that instead of Christmas presents, this year we would surprise them all with a little trip to Disney! Then, the trip kind of took on a life of it's own.
First, we were going to do 3 park days. Then, we decided we wanted to do at least one day for each park. Then we thought that wouldn't be enough for Epcot and MK, so we needed 6 days. Then we decided we wanted more free time and not be hurried every day to get through everything we wanted to see/do, so we needed at least 2 days for every park. Long story short - our 3 day trip turned into 9!
But, before I could book it, DH was like "okay, slow down. I don't want to take that much vacation time, and especially with a 2 year old." So, we were going to scale back the plans, much to my disappointment. I had a lot of grandiose ideas and they just weren't going to come to fruition in a shorter trip. I thought maybe my parents or DH's parents might want to join us so we could kill two birds with one stone and let them take breaks with the little guy while we took the girls on the bigger rides. Neither set of parents care one iota about going to WDW and, in fact, they looked annoyed that we even thought they might like it - back to square one =(
Finally, my husband decided he would leave early with the little guy and head home while the girls and I ride and explore to our hearts content. I was a little bummed at first, because I really wanted us to have a big vacation all together. We went to Colorado last summer and hiked through the mountains, went exploring in little towns, walked miles and miles in museums and historical sites - and had a GREAT time. But, if DH doesn't like to do something, he will get grumpy (he has a Grumpy t-shirt that he likes to wear which suits him perfectly, haha!) and then he is no fun. It's probably just as well for him and DS to head home before they get too worn out!
Where to Stay?
We have always stayed at POP. We wanted to avoid the All Star hotels, simply because I knew too many people who complained about them. However, we didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for a moderate or deluxe resort because I had no intention of spending much time in my room anyway. So, we settled on POP and we haven't had a bad experience since then.
This time though, we decided to branch out and try something different and we are staying at AoA. Honestly, the rooms are exactly the same size and layout, but mostly, I was thinking of the themes and pools for the little guy since he knows all the movies portrayed onsite there. Plus, if DH wants to take a break and head over to the pool with DS, the Big Blue Pool looked like fun. Hopefully it isn't crazy loud like some people have complained about, although both DS and DH can sleep through pretty much anything (actually, so can both DDs - I'm the only light sleeper!).
Where to Eat?
I started making lists of ADRs I wanted. I couldn't ask the girls, since we were planning to surprise them at Christmas with the trip, so I had to ask them indirectly. I tried asking them for suggestions on ADRs for other people we knew that were going and got their must dos. I also had a few I really wanted to try.
Here was the list from the girls:
- CRT
- BOG
- Garden Grill
- Sci - Fi Dine In
- 50's Prime Time
- Akershus
- Akershus (breakfast)
- Tony's (tradition - we ALWAYS eat there our first night)
- Anywhere other than CRT, haha
- 1900 Park Fare
- Yak & Yeti
- Rose & Crown
- The Plaza
Jan 17th - Tony's @ MK for dinner
Jan 18th - Tusker House @ AK for brunch (with FP for ROL), Rainforest Cafe for dinner
Jan 19th - The Plaza @ MK for lunch, Crystal Palace for dinner
Jan 20th - Akershus @ EPCOT for breakfast, Garden Grill for lunch, San Angel Inn for dinner
Jan 21st - Rose & Crown @ EPCOT for lunch, 1900 Park Fare for dinner
Jan 22nd - Sci Fi @ HS for lunch, Hollywood & Vine for dinner (not a big fan, but wanted the seats for Fantasmic!)
Jan 23rd - Yak & Yeti @ AK for lunch, Spirit of Aloha @ Polynesian for dinner
Jan 24th - 50's Prime Time @ HS for lunch, Mama Melrose for dinner
Jan 25th - 1900 Park Fare for Breakfast, CRT @ MK for lunch, BOG for dinner
Jan 26th - Bon Voyage Breakfast (Trattoria al Forno)
What Fastpasses Do I Get?
The hardest thing was figuring out which fastpasses to get. With big age ranges and an odd number of people, I wanted to make sure everyone got to do things they enjoyed. I spent months trying to figure out the perfect plan, but I will spare you the back and forth changes that led up to the last hour before the window came open! Here is what I settled on:
Jan 17th - We don't arrive in Orlando until about 1:30pm, so we don't plan to be in the park until around 4ish. We also will have been up since about 3am, so we don't plan to make it a long night. We will head over to MK for our FPs for Buzz and Winnie the Pooh for all of us, and then after dinner, DH will take DS back to the hotel for a bath and settle down while the girls and I ride our last FP for 7 Dwarfs.
Jan 18th - We plan to spend all day at AK and we got FPs for Kilimanjaro, the Na'vi River for all of us and then Everest for DH and the girls while I take DS on a spin on the Triceratops. We have a super early morning the next day, so we will call it a night early on this day as well.
Jan 19th - We plan to rope drop MK and do as many rides as we can before lunch. We got FPs for Haunted Mansion and Pirates for after lunch and then a late afternoon FP for 7 Dwarfs for DH and the girls while I use an FP for Peter Pan with DS.
Jan 20th - We will be at Epcot early for breakfast at 8am, so we hope to eat and head to FEA right afterwards. We have FPs for Test Track for DH and the girls after that while DS and I can use an FP on FEA to ride again. Since our main focus is riding everything together if we can, our other two FPs are for Journey into Imagination and Living w/ the Land.
Jan 21st - Heading back to Epcot. Since the boys leave this morning, us girls plan to rope drop Test Track and then use our FPs for Soarin' and Mission Space. Didn't really have many good choices for a third one, so we decided we might want to take a break and check out the Disney/Pixar Short film festival for our 3rd FP. All of our FPs are early in the day so we can focus on the WS the rest of the day.
Jan 22nd - Our first day at HS. FPs for Toy Story, ToT and Star Tours. I'm guessing we will be riding Star Tours as many times as possible since DD Belle is obsessed with that ride. She was dressed as Princess Leia last time and was the "spy". She really believed Darth Vader could see her and thought she was Princess Leia, LOL. When Carrie Fisher passed, I swear you'd have thought DD was her child and lost her mother - she cried so much! We had to see Last Jedi 3 times just so she could see her on the screen...
Jan 23rd - Last day at AK - we want to rope drop it and see if we can't get on FoP with less than a 30 minute wait. If not, we have FPs for later that day, but I figured we might want to ride it more than once, and I know I will be in no mood to wait in a 2-3 hour line! We also got FPs for Everest and Primeval Whirl. I hate PW, but the girls love rides like that.
Jan 24th - Last day at HS - we don't plan to be here all day, but that will depend on when Jedi training gets scheduled. We have FPs for Rock 'n' Rollercoaster, ToT and, of course, Star Tours.
Jan 25th - Our last day at MK and our last day in the parks! We got FPs for Space Mountain and 7 Dwarfs. We used our third FP for meeting Cinderella and Elena, only because I really don't want to spend any time waiting for characters! By this point, I am assuming we will have ridden - multiple times - on all the rides we wanted, so FPs aren't going to matter that much. We plan to take it slow and enjoy our last moments!
Extras!
This past year I have helped several people plan their Disney trips - got up before the sun to make FPs, helped them book character meals, created touring plans and was even "on-call" for many of them while they were at the parks. Therefore, a lot of them gifted me Disney gift cards to say thank you. If I hadn't already booked and paid for our trip, I would have used them towards the cost of that. But, I had already paid for everything when I started collecting these gift cards. We had thought we would use them on souvenirs, but my kids don't really need a bunch of junk and I don't want to haul a bunch of stuff home. So, instead, we put them towards experiences we wouldn't have otherwise paid for.
Both DDs have peanut/tree nut allergies, although my oldest is extremely severe, my younger DD's is not as much. However, the dessert parties have never appealed to us, since it seems the offerings vary greatly - I've seen some get awesome dessert plates just for them and I've seen others who were given a bag/box of a couple of prepackaged items that were meant more for gluten free guests and thus half the items were not safe for peanut/tree nut allergies. That's never been worth it to me. However, my DH LOATHES the crowds at the fireworks shows and would rather skip them to avoid the other people. So, I suggested we use some of the gift cards for the HEA dessert party Garden Plaza Viewing, pack up some of our own desserts, just in case, and have a nice area to enjoy the show without 5000 others up in your face. He was sold! We will see how the desserts pan out, but I have already warned the girls they might just have to eat what we bring.
Another thing we used the gift cards for was for the After Hours on the 19th. Honestly, I don't know if we will end up doing it or if we do, if we will stay the whole time. We have a few really packed days back to back and we might just be too tired to do it! I only got passes for the girls and I, since my DH had no interest in it. If we decide not to do it, I might just see if there is a way to gift them to someone else in the park that night.
We thought about doing some of the other tours or something after the boys leave since we still have $$ on the cards, but since my younger DD is only 7, we are limited in which ones we can do. I guess we will see.
Thanks for reading!
Up Next... Surprising the kids and other stuff!
