Trip Report A Disnewbie's First Trip: the Good, the Mistakes, & the Spilled Hot Chocolate

I know the vast majority of you guys don't know me, but I thought I'd share my experience from last week's WDW trip primarily to help other Disney newbies like myself. Sometimes planning a trip without having any frame of reference except for websites often geared towards true blue Disneyphiles can be pretty intimidating, so maybe this will help someone in the future. Plus I give beer reviews.



Here goes...

When: Saturday October 10-Friday October 16
Where: Holiday Inn Lake Buena Vista & Wilderness Lodge
Who: Me, my wife, and our 2 daughters: 8 and 4.
ADRs: Tusker House Character Breakfast, Whispering Canyon at Wilderness Lodge, Boma at AKL, Akershus Princess Breakfast, and Be Our Guest breakfast

This was our first trip to WDW as a family. My last trip was probably 30 years ago…long enough ago that I don’t really have many memories of it except of It’s a Small World and being deathly afraid of Haunted Mansion. My wife’s last trip was when she was 16, so needless to say we consider ourselves to be first timers. Thankfully, we had a great group of seasoned veterans to help us especially MyHappyPlace and MrHappyPlace who I know from another forum and are good friends now.

Last year we went on the Disney Dream for our Fall Break and had such a great time we thought it was time to take the plunge and visit WDW proper.

We started off the trip by visiting my sister in law, brother in law, and nieces in Melbourne FL the day before. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Melbourne Beach so we could get a few hours of beach time before heading to Orlando. Unfortunately, there was a terrible thunderstorm that washed most of those plans out, but we did have a great meal with the in-laws at El Ambia Cubano restaurant in Melbourne. If you’re in the area, check it out…very delicious and authentic Cuban food.

Day 0: Resort Hopping

The next morning (Sunday, 10/11) we drove to Lake Buena Vista and checked in to the Holiday Inn Lake Buena Vista, located within walking distance to Disney Springs. We decided to go to Melbourne after booking our WL stay and tried to get an extra day added on to the front end of our trip; however, it was $400+ to add that extra night on, so we decided to stay on the cheap at the HI for $110. It was a great decision. The HI was very conveniently located, excellent service, and had a great pool area. I’d definitely consider staying here again for a short stay in lieu of a Disney resort.

We spent that afternoon resort hopping. We started off at Animal Kingdom Lodge and hoped to tour Boma and Jiko’s culinary tour. I’d read that visitor parking in the resorts was going to be a challenge, so I was prepared to be rejected by the guard at AKL and had a couple of backup plans in place (Uber, Disney Transportation); but fortunately, the guard kindly let us through. I didn’t quite ever figure out why they needed to see my driver’s license, but whatever. I didn’t know that the “Jambo House” was the main lodge…so I drove on past and parked at Kidani Village. Oops. Rookie mistake. A quick ride on the bus and we were where we needed to be, just in time for the Boma tour. My oldest daughter was pretty pumped about this because she wants to be a chef (well, until the last few weeks when she’s decided to become a veterinarian instead). The culinary tour was informative, though wasn’t quite what I expected. I had thought it would include some behind the scenes look at their kitchen, but I guess that’s probably against health regulations. Nevertheless, the tours of Boma and Jiko were worth the time and were pretty tasty…even if my littlest one didn’t like zebra domes at all. Honestly, I was a little disappointed in them as well though I thought they were good (just not quite worth the hype).

Next, we drove over to Art of Animation Resort. This finished a close 2nd to Wilderness Lodge in our final choice and after looking around, I began to think we would regret passing on AoA. The kids loved walking around and exploring Radiator Springs and the Lion King areas. We were really impressed with the theme and could see coming back here again if the kids are still young enough to appreciate it.

We’d intended on ending the night at the Boardwalk, but we all wanted to relax at the hotel and swim a bit. We were glad we did as the Holiday Inn’s pool was a lot of fun, very clean, and spacious.

The next morning, we were up before the sun to load up & drop off our bags at the Wilderness Lodge by 7:00 AM and begin our park experience at Animal Kingdom with our Tusker House Character Breakfast at 8:40.

 

[RyPat]

My oldest daughter was pretty pumped about this because she wants to be a chef (well, until the last few weeks when she’s decided to become a veterinarian instead).

Well, both work with animals - just on very different ends of the spectrum!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

looking forward to hearing more!

 

[DRD]

Well, both work with animals - just on very different ends of the spectrum!

I think the non-homosapiens are probably much easier to deal with.

looking forward to hearing more!

Thanks! I appreciate y'all following this.

 

[DRD]

Day 5: Magic Kingdom & Be Our Guest Breakfast

The final day: Be Our Guest breakfast and a half day at Magic Kingdom!

We woke up early and loaded up the van to be ready to pull out as soon as our MK time was up. We took the bus to MK since we had an early ADR at BoG at 8:05. The Disney photographers were out in force that morning and we got some great mostly empty park photos in front of the castle. I think that's when the first photo in this thread was taken.

Be Our Guest was a mixed bag, but part of that was because of an unfortunate mishap. More on that in a second. The décor was really amazing and immersive. The kids loved it. As I mentioned before, both are a little skittish, so the West Wing was a little too much for them due to the darkness and occasional thunder. So we sat in the main dining room/ballroom. I got the croque madame (better than expected), my wife for some reason bypassed the croissant donut and opted for the uninspiring meat and cheese tray. An odd choice for breakfast, but she doesn’t eat eggs and everything else had eggs. She regretted later not getting the cronut. The kids both ordered French toast.

Obligatory BoG entrance photo:



Here’s the mishap. Apparently our server did not spot that my daughter had a cup of hot chocolate on the table and tipped it over on her. Doused her in hot chocolate. Thankfully, she was not burned, but it could have been a bad situation. He was very very apologetic and I actually felt bad for the guy after the fact. Unfortunately, it did completely cover the front of her skirt, and part of her shirt and socks in brown liquid. Not a great way to spend the rest of the day in the park plus a 12 hour ride home stained in chocolate. She had a great attitude about it at least:



As I was trying to get her cleaned up and began to think of the way to tell Disney to make this right, Stacy (a manager apparently) was on top of things to make sure she was not burned and began making things right. She offered us a free shirt and skirt from the Emporium on Main Street and gave us a free fast pass. Which, honestly, is more than I was going to ask for! I was very impressed with the way she handled this situation and she came back more than once to check in with us after the fact. I have written a letter to Disney Guest Services praising the way Stacy handled this. Hopefully she gets the recognition she deserves!



Unfortunately our momentum of being in the back of the park at rope drop was now lost since we had to go back to Main Street to get fresh clothes. This did give us the opportunity to meet Mary Poppins however, which was a great character interaction.

More unfortunate news…apparently Disney stops selling summer attire in October! You know, because Orlando has such severe winters I guess? So all they had were sweatpants which was not an option for my daughter to wear all day in 85 degree heat. The other choices were a nightgown that kinda looked like a dress, or an actual dress that was way too short for her (I guess from the Miley Cyrus line of tween hooker clothing?!?). She opted for the somewhat embarrassing but modest nightgown to wear in the park.

We explored Adventureland after this and rode Pirates. We all enjoyed that more than we expected. Also picked up a citrus swirl here which was pretty good, but nowhere near the Dole whip in our opinion. We later met some extended family at Buzz Lightyear and the girls re-rode that. Then Space Mountain, which I found to be much more entertaining the second time around. We next rode Dumbo and experienced the standby play area which was a pretty clever way to keep the kids entertained while waiting. Finally, the carrousel. At this point, the kids were starting to get cranky. My oldest was slightly embarrassed by the nightgown and was ready to go.

I thought I’d pull one last rabbit from the hat, however, and use our golden ticket fastpass from the BoG hot chocolate bath to get us in to see Anna and Elsa. Alas, Walt had one last cruel joke on us…even the golden ticket fastpass does not apply for character interactions. Rides only! So much for that idea.

I know this will be sacrilege to some of the hardcore Disney types, but we were just ready to get on the road. So we gave away our fastpass to a random family who looked like they deserved it. They were thankful and it felt good to bless someone’s day.

It was hard to leave, but we had a 12 hour road trip staring us down and had to bid the Magic Kingdom goodbye for now. Thankfully, the girls seemed ready to go home, which was a surprise. They were angels the whole ride home and we were able to make it home right at 12 hours, which definitely is a record for our family.

Next up...a few odds and ends, tips from a newbie to other newbies, and a beer review

 

[ScarletBegonias]

That sucks so much about the hot chocolate! I wonder if anywhere else had other clothes? I probably would have asked nicely if you could go somewhere else and try to find some more summer appropriate clothes. Either way, it sounded like she was a good sport about it.

 

[DRD]

That sucks so much about the hot chocolate! I wonder if anywhere else had other clothes? I probably would have asked nicely if you could go somewhere else and try to find some more summer appropriate clothes. Either way, it sounded like she was a good sport about it.

I guess I should clarify, Stacy at BoG said the best option was MS Emporium for clothes although the certificate was good for anywhere in the park. She said based on her previous experience, the closest stores to BoG didn't have "everyday" kind of clothes and Emporium was the best bet. My wife said the Emporium staff was super-helpful and continued to be apologetic even though they had nothing to do with the spill. She said they told her most of the stores wouldn't have shorts if they didn't...and they were the largest store in the park by sales volume so if they didn't, no one else would. My wife and I used to work in theme park retail so that made sense to us both since our old theme park did the same thing. Of course, that was Opryland in Nashville which actually does get cold in the fall and winter...not WDW in warm Orlando.

Incidentally, my daughter wore her nightgown to sleep last night.

 

[DRD]

Some concluding thoughts...

Apps.

We obviously used the My Disney Experience App before and during the trip. It took me a few days to realize the map function on the app was actually real-time and tracked your movements (relatively well) to guide you to a destination. We did notice that MDE was down most of one day. This is why I also printed hard copies of our ADRs and FPs before we left, just in case the Magic Band didn't register for some reason.

We found the Touring Plans WDW Lines App to be much more accurate predicting line wait times over MDE. We also really appreciated their ride or wait suggestion based on their mineful of data. It's not quite as user-friendly or graphic-heavy as MDE is, but we found it to be a more useful app while in the park.

Beers and Ears was an app I found on a whim in the Apple App Store for free. It gives a very comprehensive list of each beer served at WDW, where you can find them, and in most cases a review. You can also search by park/location to see what location serves what beer. Not 100% accurate, but pretty darn close. We used it a few times in AK to weed out waiting in line to find out they only served Bud or Bud Light. Maybe I am a lush after all. I make no apologies.


Things I wish we’d done:

- Above all, build more rest time in and not try to hit all the parks in 5 days. Maybe with older kids this is not such an issue, but with an 8 and 4 year old…it was too much. Spend more time at the resort…maybe every other afternoon at the pool. Heck, a whole day off midweek is a fine idea. If you're a go-go-go family, then maybe this won't be an issue for you, but I underestimated our need for a break.
- Wish we’d been able to see Gaston. I think the interaction would have been a great memory for all of us since he’s able to express his personality more than the other characters.
- Would’ve liked to have ridden the monorail, but this was not the end of the world. Maybe next time.
- Would've liked to chilled out at Dawa Bar in AK.

Best advice I can give a fellow newbie:

- Once again, overestimate your need for a break. Especially with smaller kids. Block off time at your resort or hotel to recharge and don’t be afraid to cancel plans to accommodate your family’s personality on the trip.
- Stroller rental for kids under 5 is a great idea. We used Orlando Stroller Rental and it was a godsend. Yes, we have a stroller already, and yes, we drove and didn't have to worry about checking one on a plane...still it was so nice to be able to pick it up at the hotel, drop it off at the resort, and not worry about packing it. Plus theirs was much nicer than ours!
- Hydrate more than you think. We brought water bottles and a lanyard to attach them to the stroller which not only help us spot our stroller easier, it was essential for the heat. Don't hesitate to ask counter-service restaurants for free ice water to replenish your water bottles.
- Photopass was absolutely worth it. Great pictures. A no brainer for a first time family trip.
- Don’t forget to tip your Bippity Boppity Boutique godmother.
- Patience, patience, patience. I saw so many meltdowns, temper tantrums, fits. And those were the adults! We spent 10 months planning this trip and a lot of money. I definitely felt the need to push to do more and more and more…but just quickly learned I needed to just take it easy, communicate with my spouse and kids, and try hard to be patient.

Because I forgot to mention it earlier, Roaring Fork at WL was pretty decent. Nothing special as far as food goes. The highlight for me was the roast beef and bleu cheese sandwich. Their chips seemed to have been homemade or at least somewhat different than your typical bagged variety. The flatbread was very forgettable: simple calorie intake. Not flavorful at all. The desserts were pretty good here.

A final quick adult beverage review:

Beers in order of best to mediocre:

BrewDog Punk IPA (Epcot, Scotland booth): everything you want in an IPA. Floral, good hop concentration but not funky, crisp finish. The best beer I bought at WDW.
High 5 Racer IPA by Bear Republic Brewing (Whispering Canyon, WL): Solid IPA. Think it is also high gravity. Could have easily been #1.
Tusker Premium Lager (Boma, AKL...all over Animal Kingdom too): light and refreshing without sacrificing flavor. Went well with food as it didn't overpower. Some might see it as bland, but I thought it had good balance.
Yeti Imperial Stout (Expedition Everest Drink Cart, AK): Tasty but not heavy. Definitely something dark beer fans will want to seek out. Coffee flavor, long finish. Maybe it was because I was worn out and needed a drink but I found it to be oddly drinkable in the heat. Usually stouts and porters don't agree with me in hot weather, but this one did. Not for everyone.
St. George's Lager (Baridi Ice Cream, AK): Easy to drink, light lager. Enough flavor there to be different than a typical US macrobrew offering, but can't say it was memorable on flavor alone. Definitely a good one for a hot day.
Kingfisher Lager (Expedition Everest Drink Cart, AK): Like St. George's...a good and easy drink on a hot day. On par with a macrobrew.

Other drinks:

I enjoyed the frozen lemonade and Jack at Peevy's Frozen Drink stand in Hollywood Studios way more than I should've. WL's Trout Pass Pool Bar was really hopping. We split a bahama mama there (a favorite of my wife on the Disney Dream last year) that was tasty and quite strong. Unfortunately I didn't get to drink as much wine as I'd hoped to at Epcot, but definitely check out the malbec in Patagonia. Jiko definitely had a great wine list that I hate I didn't get to taste.

And if you need a ride home or back to the hotel, I pinged Uber once while we were waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for a Disney bus and there were ample drivers around.

Thank y'all so much for reading and helping out with my planning through your comments on this forum!

 

[sheriffwoody]

Enjoyed your report, and thanks for the beer reviews! I want to try that stout in AK for sure.

Also, hello from a fellow Tennessean! I'm a couple of hours from Nashville and come often since all my friends have moved there.

 

[Zipadeelady]

THanks so much for posting!! My husband thanks you for the Beers and Ears app info. Now we will both be very happy on our next trip!

 

[DRD]

Enjoyed your report, and thanks for the beer reviews! I want to try that stout in AK for sure.

Also, hello from a fellow Tennessean! I'm a couple of hours from Nashville and come often since all my friends have moved there.

Cool! Nashville is booming like crazy these days which is good and bad. But at least now we have high quality places to eat/drink/be entertained.

The stout was not as smooth as a Guinness...definitely had a bite to it, but it was pretty good. And like I said, I was surprised it was so refreshing in 85+ degree weather.

THanks so much for posting!! My husband thanks you for the Beers and Ears app info. Now we will both be very happy on our next trip!

Awesome! Glad to have helped. The app is kinda fun to use and definitely is helpful if you're imbibing in the parks!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Great report! Thanks for posting

 

[cindy101010]

Thanks for posting, I have similar aged children so your report is very helpful

 

[DRD]

Hope it's helpful! Good luck with your trip

 

[jjbuster2]

Thanks for sharing your report! A couple of things:

You are so totally right about BBB bring your own dress. We paid way too much for one of theirs and it was "too itchy". Needless to say we did not get our money's worth with that one.
Many moons ago on our first trip, we had been to another park during the day and had a little break and went to Hollywood Studios (yeah, way back when it was MGM) for extra magic hours so very first time in the park it was dark. We were completely lost and even had a map that was not helping so I agree with you on that point also. First timers beware...
And lastly, thanks for the tip on the beer app. Although me & the hubby have a general knowledge of beers at WDW, knowing who has what and if there is anything new or that we didn't know about could be handy. I'll download it before the January trip!

 

[DRD]

Thanks for sharing your report! A couple of things:

You are so totally right about BBB bring your own dress. We paid way too much for one of theirs and it was "too itchy". Needless to say we did not get our money's worth with that one.

I could see no discernible difference in quality between our <$20 Halloween costume and the no-telling-how-expensive BBB dresses there. I was also surprised at the number of people trying to get walk up appointments. To the cast members' credit, they checked each time but they were booked solid. Probably for weeks but I guess there are cancellations from time to time.

Many moons ago on our first trip, we had been to another park during the day and had a little break and went to Hollywood Studios (yeah, way back when it was MGM) for extra magic hours so very first time in the park it was dark. We were completely lost and even had a map that was not helping so I agree with you on that point also. First timers beware...

I've done some more thinking about this after the fact and I think HS just isn't as well designed as the other parks. It's quite easy to miss some of the attractions, we thought. A few chokepoints as well here and there. That said, we loved the design though.

And lastly, thanks for the tip on the beer app. Although me & the hubby have a general knowledge of beers at WDW, knowing who has what and if there is anything new or that we didn't know about could be handy. I'll download it before the January trip!

You're welcome! I thought I'd maybe use it once, but ended up using it a few times. Hey, it's free too!

 

[NCO91590]

Great TR! I agree with all of your tips. Especially the "resting" part. I have noticed that in the heat, everyone gets super ornery. I'm curious to see what our trip in February will be like. If everyone is in better moods because of the lower temperatures.

Ps...your little girls' freckles are adorable!