Trip Report ***Completed** For the First Time in Forever! Aug 2016 WDW Trip Report

Hi guys! I'm so excited to start my very first trip report! My family and I have just gotten back from Disney World about a week ago and we had a fabulous vacation. It was our first trip to Disney since 2008, so there have been a lot of changes since then. This was our first trip since Fast Pass + and Magic Bands and the DDP, so it was a bit of uncharted territory for us. This was also the first trip where I was primarily in control for most of the planning. My Dad insisted on using a AAA travel agent to book the package even though I told him I could have done it. I planned all our meals, booked all our fast passes, and generally mapped out all of our park days. Overall I think it went really well considering I hadn't actually been to the parks in 8 years. Thank God for these forums and You Tube!

Anyway it was a very memorable trip with its highs and lows and I can't wait to share the craziness with all of you. So here is the outline of our vacation to start:

When: Friday Aug 19th- Mon Aug 29th 2016

Where: All Star Movies Resort

Who: Myself (Melissa), my Mom, my Dad, my younger brother Matt. My younger sister Stephanie and her bf Steve (now fiancee but we'll get to that!) arrived on Tues Aug 23rd.

Anyway I hope you enjoy my trip report!

 

[Scoppin]

I think I'm kind of delaying this last part of the TR because this post will most likely cover the rest of my night and then I'll probably write up a short post about our departure day, followed by some closing thoughts and then my first TR is complete!

I'll pick up after our dinner. We stopped in the study for a meet and greet with the master of the castle himself, the Beast. The Beast LOVED my Mom's Dole Whip shirt. He pointed to the shirt and then gestured to himself as if to say he wanted a Dole Whip. The CM with him played along with him perfectly! She said something like, "I guess we'll have to see about installing a Dole Whip here in your castle, Master." The Beast looked thrilled lol.

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So remember in an earlier post I mentioned we had become accidental thieves? Earlier in the trip I had accidentally "stolen" someone's Micky straw when my lanyard got tangled on someone's backpack. (Luckily, I was able to return it.) Of course the trip wouldn't be complete without another accidental theft. I'm not sure at what point it happened, but as we were leaving the restaurant I noticed something scraping against the floor like it was stuck to my shoe. I thought it may have been a piece of food or a wrapper or something, so I ignored it and kept on walking. Once we exited the restaurant and walked a little bit away, it was still there, so I lifted up my foot to see what the deal was. The chances of this happening are crazy, but stuck into the bottom sole of my sneaker was a Jasmine pin. It must have fallen off someone's lanyard and I stepped on it. Remarkably it was pretty well intact still. I felt really bad for a moment or two and thought about going back to see if anyone lost it, but it would've probably been impossible to find the owner. I decided to take it as a sign from the Disney gods. A farewell present if you will. At least now the pin will have a special memory and will become one of my favorites in my collection.

It was at that point my parents suggested that we call it a night. It was around 8pm and we still needed to go back and finish packing. They figured we could pack and relax. We'd have just enough time to get up, eat breakfast, check out, before heading over to drop off the van and take the shuttle to the airport the following morning. I had other plans though...

I may or may not have mentioned that I used to live in NC. I moved back home about two years ago and unfortunately have not been able to make it back to visit. It just so happened that one of my friends from NC had planned a trip to Disney with her new bf that overlapped with mine. She was pretty much getting to Disney on our last day. Anyway we'd been texting all day to figure out a time and place to meet for a quick drink to catch up. As I mentioned this was their arrival day and they had been pretty much just resort hopping.We had both just finished our dinner plans for the night, so she suggested we meet up at Disney Springs.

She also invited my family along since she's met them before when they came down to visit me. To be honest, I didn't really want them to tag along. I love them, but we were on day ten here and I was feeling just a tiny bit stifled. My Dad wasn't keen on me hopping on a bus to Disney Springs by myself. (Like I said he was a bit weird about things like that this trip.) I had to remind him that I not only had lived on my own for four years in an entirely different state, but I had taken the Disney buses by myself over 10 years earlier when the friend I was traveling with had gotten sick and had to meet up with me later. He finally let me go, but told me to be back at the resort around 11:30. (Come on... Even Cinderella had until midnight!)

I headed out with them though, so we could stop and get our final Disney Photopass pictures in front of the park entrance. These are kind of bittersweet...

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at first thought I was going to have to take the monorail to one of the MK resorts and get a bus to DS from there, but I decided just to double check to see if I couldn't grab a bus from MK directly to DS. Wouldn't you know, they had recently added service from the parks to DS. Score! So I bid my family good bye and practically ran towards the DS bus line. It felt good to be away from them for a while.

I texted my friend to let her know that I was waiting for a bus. They were already almost there and said I should text them when I arrived at DS. I guess I waited about 15-20 minutes for a bus. Then there was a shift change in drivers. Finally, we were loaded up and on our way. No problems.

When we got to DS, I texted my friend who suggested we meet in the Coke store since it was close to the bus stops. I wasn't in there long until she caught me from behind. It was really great to see her again and we joked about having to go all the way to FL just to see each other.

She introduced me to her bf and then we tried to figure out where we should go for a drink. We wandered around a bit aimlessly. DS is totally new to me and there are so many new lounges and restaurants, I wasn't sure what was good. Then we came across Jock Lindsey's Hanger Bar and I remembered hearing some feedback about how it was a good spot to grab a drink, so we decided to go for it

There were some indoor seating available, but the night wasn't too sticky, so we decided to get a table out on the deck. It was a really nice view. We were right over the water. It was a very relaxing atmosphere. I just wished I had the time to change into something a bit more dressy than my theme park clothes.

I went back and forth on what to order, but I finally decided on the Fountain of Youth. Here is the description from the menu: "St. Augustine Cane Vodka, Bols Blue Curacao, White Cranberry Juice, and Sweet and Sour."

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I thought it tasted really good, but I'm a sucker for anything with blue curacao in it. We enjoyed catching up and I told her the highlights of our trip and what she and her bf must do. They also shared their plans with me. I was a bit jealous because the parks were going to be practically empty that upcoming week.

Soon my glass was empty and it was getting pretty close to pumpkin time for me. So we paid our bill and walked to the bus stop. They were staying at Pop Century, so we said our goodbyes and went on our separate ways. Again I wished I had more time to explore DS, but I had to get back and do my packing.

The bus back to All Star Movies was crowded, but I got a seat. I arrived back to the resort around 11:45 (oops)! As I was walking back towards our room, I bumped into Steph and Steve at the pool bar. They invited me to have a drink with them, but I declined so I could go back and do a little packing.

I didn't get too much packing done. I packed most of the stuff I knew I wasn't going to need in the morning, but left my clothes to refold (I just lived out of my suitcase since the drawer space at the All Stars is laughable) for the morning. With a heavy heart I fell asleep for the last night in my Disney bed .

Well sometimes a little time away is what is needed. Not something I was able to do. But then again different crew and situation. I already have a hard enough time not being with them every day so try to make the most of the time we do have together. And I think we took it to a new level this trip.

I can't say we 'accidently' stole anything during our trip. Or on purpose for that matter. We did pickup a few things people dropped and gave it back to them. Silly story, but I almost gave away one of DD's pins as I thought it fell from someone else and not DD. They both had a difficult time keeping some of their pins as the backs kept falling off and they would drop to the ground.

So, the 12 o'clock bell did almost ring for you. You didn't lose a slipper or anything? Maybe this was the time for you to find your Prince Charming.

 

[Scoppin]

I definitely would recommend BOG. We loved our meal there! It was definitely hard trying to map out meals for 6 people and make sure everyone gets at least one meal they want. Factor in my brother the picky eater and everyone's food preferences and i can get complicated. I was overall pretty satisfied with our meals on this trip. Honestly the only place I was a little underwhelmed with was probably Le Cellier and that was more because I had built it up a bit too high in my mind I think.

We had 9 ADRs scheduled and all but one was a character meal. BOG is not actually listed as a character dinner and it was not until afterwards I read the Beast would come out and greet the guests. By this time it was too late to get a reservation. I had thought of getting a QS but didn't end up trying. We only had 8 TS credits, so something had to be dropped. One of our last minute pick ups happened to be one of the biggest hits and enjoyable. (but I will leave the details to come in my TR)

My two, and especially DD, can be very picky. I think her choices revolved around 3 menu items. DS was a little better. But I am glad I had the free dining plan or otherwise we would have never done as many attractions as we did. Because we would have stayed at the restaurant for 2-3 hours while DD finished her plate. I don't think she finished very many plates and at the prices of the meals. Och. And not like we can take a carry out bag and be in the park for another 6 hours.

 

[LeighM]

I love the steak at Be Our Guest!!! We didn't go this trip and I did miss it. I've enjoyed reading your trip report. The last day is always so sad

 

[DimpledDevil18]

Well sometimes a little time away is what is needed. Not something I was able to do. But then again different crew and situation. I already have a hard enough time not being with them every day so try to make the most of the time we do have together. And I think we took it to a new level this trip.

I can't say we 'accidently' stole anything during our trip. Or on purpose for that matter. We did pickup a few things people dropped and gave it back to them. Silly story, but I almost gave away one of DD's pins as I thought it fell from someone else and not DD. They both had a difficult time keeping some of their pins as the backs kept falling off and they would drop to the ground.

So, the 12 o'clock bell did almost ring for you. You didn't lose a slipper or anything? Maybe this was the time for you to find your Prince Charming.

Those pin backs do have a tendency of falling off. I always try to buy extras when I'm down there just in case. On this trip, I had a little scare when a pin that is especially special to me (Minnie as a teacher) that couldn't be replaced very easily fell off my lanyard. I thought it happened in the parks, but luckily I found it a day or two later in the rental car.

I love the steak at Be Our Guest!!! We didn't go this trip and I did miss it. I've enjoyed reading your trip report. The last day is always so sad

It was a really good choice! Thanks for reading!

 

[DimpledDevil18]

Day 11- Monday August 29th- Departure Day

It was sad waking up this morning, knowing that we were going to be back home tonight. We had a long day of traveling up ahead too. Our flight wasn't until 1:35pm, but we still had to return the rental car and be at the airport by 11:30am. Luckily we had some time to finish packing up the room and I had the chance to refold all the clothes in my suitcase since I didn't get the chance to do it before.

We had decided to take advantage of the airline check in counter at our resort, so we wouldn't have to worry about dragging all our luggage with us. Luckily, our flight was just late enough so we could do it. Even though it hadn't been an issue on the way there, now we were 6 people who already just fit in the rental van. Adding 6 suitcases would be a bit of a challenge, plus it would also make life easier on the rental car shuttle. So, we dragged all our suitcases to the main building and we start checking in when I realize my purse was still in the room with my ID. So I had to run back to get that before we could fully check in. Otherwise there were no other issues.

With our suitcases off of our hands, we headed for one last food court breakfast. I believe we had to pay out of pocket for this one, since our dining plan expired the day before. After that we headed back to do one more once over of the room to make sure we had everything and to grab our carry on items. We loaded everything into the van and made one more quick stop to check out and take one last quick look in the gift shop.

I didn't take any departure pictures. Who wants to remember leaving?

Then we go back in the van and headed to the rental car location. There were a lot of people dropping off and waiting for a shuttle this time and we were pretty much jam packed in the shuttle van. I was very glad we didn't have our suitcases with us. It was a quick ride to the airport at least and we were the second stop at the terminal. The wait at security wasn't too bad at least. Before long we were at our gate. We had another layover in Baltimore only this time our layover was like 3 and a half hours. Matt and I went and grabbed some McDonald's to tide us over until we landed in Baltimore.

Our first flight was okay, but definitely less magical than on the way down. We had a wifi enabled plane so that meant I could stream from the in flight entertainment. I watched a little NCIS. We landed around 3:50pm. I had to use the bathroom, so I went on ahead (usually my family likes to let the crowd go first when exiting the plane). I also saw a Fuel Rod station, so I exchanged the Fuel Rod. By the time I was done my family was just getting off the plane. We had landed in a different part of the terminal than we had been in on our arrival day that luckily had a lot more food options. We decided to eat at a diner since we had plenty of time to kill.

The food was pretty good and it did eat up a lot of time. By the time we arrived at the gate for our next flight (which was at 7:15) it was already after 5pm. We only had maybe an hour and a half until boarding. We amused ourselves by helping Steph and Steve come up with an initial guest list for their wedding, so they could get a better idea of how many people we were looking at. Then I watched an episode of Stranger Things on my phone. Before we knew it, it was time to board. Our long layover was not as bad as we had feared it would be.

The last flight into Long Island was a short one, Again we had the wifi so I watched an episode of Modern Family and then shared my headphones with my Dad so he could watch some wrestling. We didn't get to see too much though before we landed. We were officially back on NY ground .

It didn't take us long to gather up our luggage and walk to the residential lot to my Mom's van. It took some creative packing, but we luckily only had a 15 minute ride. Somehow we fit 6 people with 6 suitcases plus carry ons in the car as comfortably as one could under the circumstances. First stop was Steve's house to drop off both Steph and Steve. Then we continued home. I went right to bed because I had to go back to work at 8am the next morning. I technically wasn't even supposed to take off that week period, but my boss let me slide, so I wasn't going to ask for an extra day to recuperate. (Also long story, but I had barely worked in the past month between vacations and a death in our family, so I needed the money..) Back to reality...

And that's the end of our trip! I will be posting some final thoughts though so stay tuned!

 

[Tuvalu]

My daughter had a pin get stuck to the sole of her sneaker once. It was a High School Musical pin with Zac Efron's face.

Your dad's over-protectiveness of you (esp. in regard to your riding the bus by yourself) reminds me of Gus, the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Noooo it can't be over!! I've thoroughly enjoyed your report!! It has helped my countdown pass more quickly!! So thank you so much for that!

Your thoughts on a castle Wishes proposal seem so spot on! While my favorite place in the world is Magic Kingdom, I could see how uneventful anpropsal there could be! I told my boyfriend he can propose in the hotel room, just as long as we're on property! Lol he thinks I'm insane!

Again thanks for sharing!!! May your next Disney trip be soon!!

 

[Scoppin]

Day 11- Monday August 29th- Departure Day

It was sad waking up this morning, knowing that we were going to be back home tonight. We had a long day of traveling up ahead too. Our flight wasn't until 1:35pm, but we still had to return the rental car and be at the airport by 11:30am. Luckily we had some time to finish packing up the room and I had the chance to refold all the clothes in my suitcase since I didn't get the chance to do it before.

We had decided to take advantage of the airline check in counter at our resort, so we wouldn't have to worry about dragging all our luggage with us. Luckily, our flight was just late enough so we could do it. Even though it hadn't been an issue on the way there, now we were 6 people who already just fit in the rental van. Adding 6 suitcases would be a bit of a challenge, plus it would also make life easier on the rental car shuttle. So, we dragged all our suitcases to the main building and we start checking in when I realize my purse was still in the room with my ID. So I had to run back to get that before we could fully check in. Otherwise there were no other issues.

With our suitcases off of our hands, we headed for one last food court breakfast. I believe we had to pay out of pocket for this one, since our dining plan expired the day before. After that we headed back to do one more once over of the room to make sure we had everything and to grab our carry on items. We loaded everything into the van and made one more quick stop to check out and take one last quick look in the gift shop.

I didn't take any departure pictures. Who wants to remember leaving?

Then we go back in the van and headed to the rental car location. There were a lot of people dropping off and waiting for a shuttle this time and we were pretty much jam packed in the shuttle van. I was very glad we didn't have our suitcases with us. It was a quick ride to the airport at least and we were the second stop at the terminal. The wait at security wasn't too bad at least. Before long we were at our gate. We had another layover in Baltimore only this time our layover was like 3 and a half hours. Matt and I went and grabbed some McDonald's to tide us over until we landed in Baltimore.

Our first flight was okay, but definitely less magical than on the way down. We had a wifi enabled plane so that meant I could stream from the in flight entertainment. I watched a little NCIS. We landed around 3:50pm. I had to use the bathroom, so I went on ahead (usually my family likes to let the crowd go first when exiting the plane). I also saw a Fuel Rod station, so I exchanged the Fuel Rod. By the time I was done my family was just getting off the plane. We had landed in a different part of the terminal than we had been in on our arrival day that luckily had a lot more food options. We decided to eat at a diner since we had plenty of time to kill.

The food was pretty good and it did eat up a lot of time. By the time we arrived at the gate for our next flight (which was at 7:15) it was already after 5pm. We only had maybe an hour and a half until boarding. We amused ourselves by helping Steph and Steve come up with an initial guest list for their wedding, so they could get a better idea of how many people we were looking at. Then I watched an episode of Stranger Things on my phone. Before we knew it, it was time to board. Our long layover was not as bad as we had feared it would be.

The last flight into Long Island was a short one, Again we had the wifi so I watched an episode of Modern Family and then shared my headphones with my Dad so he could watch some wrestling. We didn't get to see too much though before we landed. We were officially back on NY ground .

It didn't take us long to gather up our luggage and walk to the residential lot to my Mom's van. It took some creative packing, but we luckily only had a 15 minute ride. Somehow we fit 6 people with 6 suitcases plus carry ons in the car as comfortably as one could under the circumstances. First stop was Steve's house to drop off both Steph and Steve. Then we continued home. I went right to bed because I had to go back to work at 8am the next morning. I technically wasn't even supposed to take off that week period, but my boss let me slide, so I wasn't going to ask for an extra day to recuperate. (Also long story, but I had barely worked in the past month between vacations and a death in our family, so I needed the money..) Back to reality...

And that's the end of our trip! I will be posting some final thoughts though so stay tuned!

Glad your return home was uneventful and you are home safe.

Surely you will be back before you know it.

 

[MinnieM123]

Your TR had it all--fun, a marriage proposal, rides, food, and plenty of Minnie ears!! Glad that your family had such an enjoyable time. Looking forward to your wrap-up observations, too. Oh, and thank you for posting!

 

[gsrjedi]

Those pin backs do have a tendency of falling off. I always try to buy extras when I'm down there just in case. On this trip, I had a little scare when a pin that is especially special to me (Minnie as a teacher) that couldn't be replaced very easily fell off my lanyard. I thought it happened in the parks, but luckily I found it a day or two later in the rental car.

Disney sells locking pin backs in the parks for like $10 for 10, but on Amazon I was able to get like 60 for the same price. They have a little screw in the back that you tighten up to keep the pins from falling off.

Enjoyed reading your report, sounds like you guys had a great time.

 

[DimpledDevil18]

My daughter had a pin get stuck to the sole of her sneaker once. It was a High School Musical pin with Zac Efron's face.

Your dad's over-protectiveness of you (esp. in regard to your riding the bus by yourself) reminds me of Gus, the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

I think if I had gotten a HSM pin in my shoe I'd be more inclined to either find the owner or just trade it away lol.

Sometimes I do laugh about how my life reminds me a bit of Toula's in My Big Fat Greek Wedding only I'm Italian instead of Greek. A lot of the same things ring true though.

Noooo it can't be over!! I've thoroughly enjoyed your report!! It has helped my countdown pass more quickly!! So thank you so much for that!

Your thoughts on a castle Wishes proposal seem so spot on! While my favorite place in the world is Magic Kingdom, I could see how uneventful anpropsal there could be! I told my boyfriend he can propose in the hotel room, just as long as we're on property! Lol he thinks I'm insane!

Again thanks for sharing!!! May your next Disney trip be soon!!

I'm so glad that you enjoyed reading. It means a lot. I can't wait to read yours now! It's coming so fast! And I'm glad you understood where I was coming from with the Disney proposal, I might still want it to happen at Disney someday, but of course under different circumstances. I hope that if you do get a ring at Disney and it's special no matter how he does it!

Glad your return home was uneventful and you are home safe.

Surely you will be back before you know it.

Thanks for following along! I don't know when I'll be back because there are a lot of factors going on in life right now. I have a bit of a wild plan in the back of my mind, but I'll talk about that later.

Your TR had it all--fun, a marriage proposal, rides, food, and plenty of Minnie ears!! Glad that your family had such an enjoyable time. Looking forward to your wrap-up observations, too. Oh, and thank you for posting!

Thanks for reading! I'm so glad that you enjoyed my TR. We did have a lot of fun overall and created a lot of memories.

Disney sells locking pin backs in the parks for like $10 for 10, but on Amazon I was able to get like 60 for the same price. They have a little screw in the back that you tighten up to keep the pins from falling off.

Enjoyed reading your report, sounds like you guys had a great time.

I didn't know that. Thanks for the tip! I'll be on the look out for them next time.

 

[DimpledDevil18]

My Wrap Up Thoughts...

There are a few individual things I would like to comment on about my trip, so first I'll start off by talking about my overall impressions of the parks.

MK: As I've mentioned before this has always been one of my favorite parks. How could it not? It's the OG. The only thing that makes it not my number one is the issues getting in and out of it. I think from now on when I plan to be at MK I'll definitely try to take the bus, unless I plan on leaving at an off peak time. The park was a bit more crowded than I expected for late August, especially on our first MK day. Later in the week crowds were more bearable.

Epcot: Love Epcot! It's probably my number one only slightly edging out MK. Attraction wise MK definitely has the upper hand. A lot of the attractions are a bit dated and I definitely think FW needs help. It also is sad to see so many unused buildings that are only open for seasonal events. I feel like it's such a waste. I still think its a beautiful park. It just screams 80's to me which I think is part of its charm. I love the countries and wish I would of had more time to take them in and fully experience them. There also seemed like so many great character spots that were less crowded than at other parks.

DHS: There is definitely a lot lacking here with all the construction that's going on. You can definitely tell the park is in a transitional stage. There are still some great attractions here, but it seems like the old Hollywood theme is slowly beginning to change which is kind of sad because I did enjoy that. We managed to spend a full day here and see just about everything we wanted. It did seem like a bit of an over-saturation of Star Wars stuff. Then again I may be biased because I'm not really a Star Wars fan. I can't wait to see the park once the new areas are complete!

AK: I want to really like this park more than I do, but I just can't. Maybe it's because I live so close to the Bronx Zoo and grew up going there, so a lot of the animal attractions although nicely themed aren't something I couldn't see at home. The rides that are there are very good! I LOVE the Safari and Everest. I feel like once you get all the must see stuff out of the way though there's not enough to keep me there. Maybe someday my opinion will change, but its probably my least favorite park.

Now here are a few other miscellaneous things that were new to us on this trip that I'll comment on.

Disney Dining Plan: I know that opinion on the dining plan is pretty split down the middle. Some people love it and others think its a waste of money. While planning our trip and trying to finalize our meal choices, some members of the forum pointed out that we probably wouldn't make our money back especially with Matt being so picky. We decided to try it anyway and I'm glad we did. Did we make back what we paid for it? I'm not sure. On some days yes, and others no. I know Matt didn't. I loved it though. Just the freedom of mind knowing that we didn't have to worry about paying for meals outside of tip was worth it. It made us more likely to try new things or order a $30 steak and not feel badly about it. On previous trips growing up, I remember my Dad making us save on meals by allowing us only a big breakfast and an early dinner with maybe a snack to share in between meals. It was nice to have the individual snacks during the day if we needed them. We will definitely do this again on future trips. Now that we understand the system better hopefully we can find ways to make it better work for us.

MemoryMaker: This was another expense that turned out to be well spent. Yea, $150 sounds pretty steep for vacation photos, but if you are like my family getting pictures together is hard. It's hard enough getting us all in one spot at the same time, but someone always has to take the picture and then some people don't really like taking pictures. This ensured that we would get a lot of family photos of a good quality and not have to worry about taking them ourselves. We also enjoyed getting all the attraction photos too. We'd normally buy a few of them plus a family picture at one of the parks anyway, so for only a little bit more we got a ton of more photos. The quality in photographers did vary, but in the end we wound up with a nice selection of photos.

MagicBands: This was also our first vacation with Magic Bands. We loved them! It was way more convenient than the plastic key cards/tickets and saved us time that we had spent rummaging around for our cards at theme park gates. Also wearing these around your wrist made it pretty impossible to lose unlike the key cards. (On our last trip, Matt I think lost about 2 or 3 of them throughout his stay lol). It also made paying for our meals with the dining plan fast and easy and again was easier than trying to keep track of all those Fast Pass tickets.

Fast Pass Plus: I was a bit skeptical about FP Plus at first. It seemed crazy to plan what rides we were going to ride when a whole 60 days before our trip. A lot of the rides that offered FP really didn't need FP's most of the time anyway. I did my best though and made sure to book FP's for the rides that I knew I'd surely need them for. I wasn't sure if I was going to even be able to book other time slots while at the parks. Thankfully I still found availability while we were in the parks and it worked out better than I thought. Like with the DDP, I think now having experienced it, I'm better prepared to make the system work for me on future trips.

Refurbs: Not only were there a lot of things currently under construction on our trip, but there were a lot of refurbs going on as well. In the 10 days we were there in the parks at one time or another the following attractions were down: BTM, IASW, Swiss Family Treehouse, Dinosaur, The Muppet's 3D... I feel like there may be more that I'm forgetting. Luckily, I was able to grab a ride on IASW before it went down, but I never got to make it back to DHS to see The Muppet's. Dinosaur and BTM are both major attractions, so that definitely impacted our vacation. I'm not complaining because I know refurbs need to happen. It just sucked that it was a lot of major things at once.

Missed Attractions: Even with all those refurbs and the fact that I felt we moved at a pretty good pace there was still a lot we didn't get to. It really is impossible to see it all at Disney. The difference in just adding two more people to our trip mid way was really surprising. The more people in your party, the slower you move. There was so many things I look back on like, "How did we not do that?" We usually have our few rides at every park that we always skip, but there was a lot we missed. This is the first trip I didn't go Muppets or the Speedway or Festival of the Lion King, just to name a few. We didn't get to interact with half the characters I wanted, Outside of Mary Poppins I didn't get to meet any face characters. My Mom and I were watching Wheel of Fortune last week when they were filming in Disney and they were talking about the Anna and Elsa meet and greet (that I really wanted to do) and my Mom was like Why didn't we do that?

Final Thoughts: This was an amazing trip that I couldn't believe spent 8 years in the making. It was so great to be back after a long time and to be able to share the Disney wisdom that I had soaked up during our long hiatus away. The lead up to this trip had been crazy. There was so much I wanted to do leading up to this vacation, but then life happened. Long story short, but about a month before our trip my Dad's sister became very ill and she wound up passing away. For about a two week period we were traveling back and forth to where she lived upstate to see her in the hospital and then later make funeral arrangements and all of that. A few days after her funeral my family had plans to go away for a few days and by the time we came home from that trip, it was less than two weeks for us to leave for Disney. So this trip snuck up on us in many ways, but it was definitely a needed vacation. Losing my Aunt really reminded us that we don't know what's up ahead and we don't know if we'll be able to take another trip like this all together again. Thankfully my parents are in great health for their ages, but they are slowing down. It makes more physically demanding trips such as this harder.

So when will my next trip be? I really don't know. I came so close to just throwing $200 down and booking the free dining bounce back offer just to have it. In the end, I decided not to. The rest of my family will probably not be able to afford another trip like this for a while, so if I do go it'll probably have to be a solo trip. At the time, I wasn't sure what my sister's plans were going to be for a wedding. I had spent this past year being involved in two of my friend's weddings, so I was just starting to think about all the things I could do with the extra cash I didn't have to spend on dresses, hair, makeup, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, gifts etc. For my sister, I'd have to do even more than I did for my friends. Plus, the idea of traveling alone is something I'm a little scared to do.

As it turns out, my sister is waiting to get married until fall of 2018. That gives me two years to save up. Here is where my crazy plan is starting to take shape... I've always wanted to visit Orlando in October. I've only ever been in August and once in April. I think it would be a great time to visit because its usually a bit cooler, but still like summer. Crowds are a bit lighter. Also Food and Wine! I'd LOVE to be able to experience that and sample all the different foods from around the world. Not to mention all the Halloween stuff. I also think it would love to check out HHN at Universal (although not by myself because I'd be terrified lol). If I want to do it though it has to be either NEXT year or not until 2019.

There are a few things holding me back. First off it's the whole traveling alone thing. I suffer from anxiety and I'm working through it, but doing things by myself that most people do with another person is REALLY hard for me. I think a solo trip would be a really positive step for me, it's just getting the courage up to do it. Secondly, it is money. Besides the wedding stuff I have our family vacation already planned for the end of July. Every year we go to a resort up near Lake George and as much as I love Disney, this place is probably a bit more special to me since I've grown up there. This is the reason we can't do Disney as often. I could always give it up for a year, but I haven't missed a year there since I was 6.

I might still be able to do it if I really save though. I'm hoping to at some point this year find a better job too. So for now it's at the back of my mind. I'm going to wait until Food and Wine dates are announced for next year and then take it from there. I hope it works out, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high.

Anyway, sorry if this post rambled on too long. I really enjoyed writing my first TR and I hope I'll have another one to write someday soon in the future. Thanks to everyone who followed along!

 

[Scoppin]

My Wrap Up Thoughts...

There are a few individual things I would like to comment on about my trip, so first I'll start off by talking about my overall impressions of the parks.

MK: As I've mentioned before this has always been one of my favorite parks. How could it not? It's the OG. The only thing that makes it not my number one is the issues getting in and out of it. I think from now on when I plan to be at MK I'll definitely try to take the bus, unless I plan on leaving at an off peak time. The park was a bit more crowded than I expected for late August, especially on our first MK day. Later in the week crowds were more bearable.

Epcot: Love Epcot! It's probably my number one only slightly edging out MK. Attraction wise MK definitely has the upper hand. A lot of the attractions are a bit dated and I definitely think FW needs help. It also is sad to see so many unused buildings that are only open for seasonal events. I feel like it's such a waste. I still think its a beautiful park. It just screams 80's to me which I think is part of its charm. I love the countries and wish I would of had more time to take them in and fully experience them. There also seemed like so many great character spots that were less crowded than at other parks.

DHS: There is definitely a lot lacking here with all the construction that's going on. You can definitely tell the park is in a transitional stage. There are still some great attractions here, but it seems like the old Hollywood theme is slowly beginning to change which is kind of sad because I did enjoy that. We managed to spend a full day here and see just about everything we wanted. It did seem like a bit of an over-saturation of Star Wars stuff. Then again I may be biased because I'm not really a Star Wars fan. I can't wait to see the park once the new areas are complete!

AK: I want to really like this park more than I do, but I just can't. Maybe it's because I live so close to the Bronx Zoo and grew up going there, so a lot of the animal attractions although nicely themed aren't something I couldn't see at home. The rides that are there are very good! I LOVE the Safari and Everest. I feel like once you get all the must see stuff out of the way though there's not enough to keep me there. Maybe someday my opinion will change, but its probably my least favorite park.

Now here are a few other miscellaneous things that were new to us on this trip that I'll comment on.

Disney Dining Plan: I know that opinion on the dining plan is pretty split down the middle. Some people love it and others think its a waste of money. While planning our trip and trying to finalize our meal choices, some members of the forum pointed out that we probably wouldn't make our money back especially with Matt being so picky. We decided to try it anyway and I'm glad we did. Did we make back what we paid for it? I'm not sure. On some days yes, and others no. I know Matt didn't. I loved it though. Just the freedom of mind knowing that we didn't have to worry about paying for meals outside of tip was worth it. It made us more likely to try new things or order a $30 steak and not feel badly about it. On previous trips growing up, I remember my Dad making us save on meals by allowing us only a big breakfast and an early dinner with maybe a snack to share in between meals. It was nice to have the individual snacks during the day if we needed them. We will definitely do this again on future trips. Now that we understand the system better hopefully we can find ways to make it better work for us.

MemoryMaker: This was another expense that turned out to be well spent. Yea, $150 sounds pretty steep for vacation photos, but if you are like my family getting pictures together is hard. It's hard enough getting us all in one spot at the same time, but someone always has to take the picture and then some people don't really like taking pictures. This ensured that we would get a lot of family photos of a good quality and not have to worry about taking them ourselves. We also enjoyed getting all the attraction photos too. We'd normally buy a few of them plus a family picture at one of the parks anyway, so for only a little bit more we got a ton of more photos. The quality in photographers did vary, but in the end we wound up with a nice selection of photos.

MagicBands: This was also our first vacation with Magic Bands. We loved them! It was way more convenient than the plastic key cards/tickets and saved us time that we had spent rummaging around for our cards at theme park gates. Also wearing these around your wrist made it pretty impossible to lose unlike the key cards. (On our last trip, Matt I think lost about 2 or 3 of them throughout his stay lol). It also made paying for our meals with the dining plan fast and easy and again was easier than trying to keep track of all those Fast Pass tickets.

Fast Pass Plus: I was a bit skeptical about FP Plus at first. It seemed crazy to plan what rides we were going to ride when a whole 60 days before our trip. A lot of the rides that offered FP really didn't need FP's most of the time anyway. I did my best though and made sure to book FP's for the rides that I knew I'd surely need them for. I wasn't sure if I was going to even be able to book other time slots while at the parks. Thankfully I still found availability while we were in the parks and it worked out better than I thought. Like with the DDP, I think now having experienced it, I'm better prepared to make the system work for me on future trips.

Refurbs: Not only were there a lot of things currently under construction on our trip, but there were a lot of refurbs going on as well. In the 10 days we were there in the parks at one time or another the following attractions were down: BTM, IASW, Swiss Family Treehouse, Dinosaur, The Muppet's 3D... I feel like there may be more that I'm forgetting. Luckily, I was able to grab a ride on IASW before it went down, but I never got to make it back to DHS to see The Muppet's. Dinosaur and BTM are both major attractions, so that definitely impacted our vacation. I'm not complaining because I know refurbs need to happen. It just sucked that it was a lot of major things at once.

Missed Attractions: Even with all those refurbs and the fact that I felt we moved at a pretty good pace there was still a lot we didn't get to. It really is impossible to see it all at Disney. The difference in just adding two more people to our trip mid way was really surprising. The more people in your party, the slower you move. There was so many things I look back on like, "How did we not do that?" We usually have our few rides at every park that we always skip, but there was a lot we missed. This is the first trip I didn't go Muppets or the Speedway or Festival of the Lion King, just to name a few. We didn't get to interact with half the characters I wanted, Outside of Mary Poppins I didn't get to meet any face characters. My Mom and I were watching Wheel of Fortune last week when they were filming in Disney and they were talking about the Anna and Elsa meet and greet (that I really wanted to do) and my Mom was like Why didn't we do that?

Final Thoughts: This was an amazing trip that I couldn't believe spent 8 years in the making. It was so great to be back after a long time and to be able to share the Disney wisdom that I had soaked up during our long hiatus away. The lead up to this trip had been crazy. There was so much I wanted to do leading up to this vacation, but then life happened. Long story short, but about a month before our trip my Dad's sister became very ill and she wound up passing away. For about a two week period we were traveling back and forth to where she lived upstate to see her in the hospital and then later make funeral arrangements and all of that. A few days after her funeral my family had plans to go away for a few days and by the time we came home from that trip, it was less than two weeks for us to leave for Disney. So this trip snuck up on us in many ways, but it was definitely a needed vacation. Losing my Aunt really reminded us that we don't know what's up ahead and we don't know if we'll be able to take another trip like this all together again. Thankfully my parents are in great health for their ages, but they are slowing down. It makes more physically demanding trips such as this harder.

So when will my next trip be? I really don't know. I came so close to just throwing $200 down and booking the free dining bounce back offer just to have it. In the end, I decided not to. The rest of my family will probably not be able to afford another trip like this for a while, so if I do go it'll probably have to be a solo trip. At the time, I wasn't sure what my sister's plans were going to be for a wedding. I had spent this past year being involved in two of my friend's weddings, so I was just starting to think about all the things I could do with the extra cash I didn't have to spend on dresses, hair, makeup, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, gifts etc. For my sister, I'd have to do even more than I did for my friends. Plus, the idea of traveling alone is something I'm a little scared to do.

As it turns out, my sister is waiting to get married until fall of 2018. That gives me two years to save up. Here is where my crazy plan is starting to take shape... I've always wanted to visit Orlando in October. I've only ever been in August and once in April. I think it would be a great time to visit because its usually a bit cooler, but still like summer. Crowds are a bit lighter. Also Food and Wine! I'd LOVE to be able to experience that and sample all the different foods from around the world. Not to mention all the Halloween stuff. I also think it would love to check out HHN at Universal (although not by myself because I'd be terrified lol). If I want to do it though it has to be either NEXT year or not until 2019.

There are a few things holding me back. First off it's the whole traveling alone thing. I suffer from anxiety and I'm working through it, but doing things by myself that most people do with another person is REALLY hard for me. I think a solo trip would be a really positive step for me, it's just getting the courage up to do it. Secondly, it is money. Besides the wedding stuff I have our family vacation already planned for the end of July. Every year we go to a resort up near Lake George and as much as I love Disney, this place is probably a bit more special to me since I've grown up there. This is the reason we can't do Disney as often. I could always give it up for a year, but I haven't missed a year there since I was 6.

I might still be able to do it if I really save though. I'm hoping to at some point this year find a better job too. So for now it's at the back of my mind. I'm going to wait until Food and Wine dates are announced for next year and then take it from there. I hope it works out, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high.

Anyway, sorry if this post rambled on too long. I really enjoyed writing my first TR and I hope I'll have another one to write someday soon in the future. Thanks to everyone who followed along!

I am glad you had a wonderful trip with your family. It appears you accomplished a lot, even though you missed some things along the way.

I have to agree with you on DDP. I think both my stress level and blood pressure would have gone through the roof if I actually had to pay for all the meals DD and DS didn't eat. At least with us, I didn't have to pay for it as it was part of the promotional offer with our trip. One of the other benefits of going in September and October. Not sure about November. Something else for you to think about if you go in October.

Memory Maker was good for us as well. Considering I am the only adult, it is rare I am included in any pictures. I don't mind making the scarfice on ensuring the kids have their memories secured in pictures, but it is nice to be included once in a while.

Magic band/FP+s and MDE App were all new to me and did make things earlier for us. Even though there were issues with DD's magic band for a little while. Not having anything to relate to it but I would still say positive improvements. However, it would be nice to have a more stable WiFi system. Might have been able to get a few extra FPs.

I fully understand the issues of being able to go back. Even thought the kids didn't want to leave and would love to go back, the reality of that happening is very low. There are a number of factors for this including the exchange rate and being a single parent of two. But is something off the bucket list.

I hope you are able to got back again.

 

[Figment Forever]

Loved your TR - thanks for sharing your family adventures with us! Congratulations to your sister! I agree with you about AK. I want to like it so much more - but I just don't see what others do. I have spent my summers vacationing in Lake George since I was 10 years old! Miss Storytown USA (even though we have 6 Flags passes) and Gaslight Village! I love it there- so beautiful and would love to move there one day. (If I can't get my family to move to Texas. lol) We still spend time there but we have sacrificed our vacation there for Disney. It is sometimes bittersweet. Thanks again for an awesome TR - I will look for your future ones!

 

[DimpledDevil18]

I am glad you had a wonderful trip with your family. It appears you accomplished a lot, even though you missed some things along the way.

I have to agree with you on DDP. I think both my stress level and blood pressure would have gone through the roof if I actually had to pay for all the meals DD and DS didn't eat. At least with us, I didn't have to pay for it as it was part of the promotional offer with our trip. One of the other benefits of going in September and October. Not sure about November. Something else for you to think about if you go in October.

If you get the free dining it is a nice bonus. If I go by myself though I'm not sure I'd want a DP because I don't think I'd really do many sit down meals if any by myself. Maybe I'd do the QS dining plan. If I'm going with at least another person I'll definitely upgrade to the standard dining plan.

Loved your TR - thanks for sharing your family adventures with us! Congratulations to your sister! I agree with you about AK. I want to like it so much more - but I just don't see what others do. I have spent my summers vacationing in Lake George since I was 10 years old! Miss Storytown USA (even though we have 6 Flags passes) and Gaslight Village! I love it there- so beautiful and would love to move there one day. (If I can't get my family to move to Texas. lol) We still spend time there but we have sacrificed our vacation there for Disney. It is sometimes bittersweet. Thanks again for an awesome TR - I will look for your future ones!

When I was growing up Storytown was already Great Escape, but I have so many memories of that place as a child in the late 80's- mid 90's. I haven't been back there in over 10 years before Six Flags took it over, but from what I've seen just looking at the ride line up, I think it's lost a lot of its charm.

I also have vague memories of Gaslight Village. It became something like Action Park in the early 90's before it closed. It's crazy how there are still some remnants of the park to this day. I don't think they've built anything on that land. I LOVE the Adirondacks though. It's my home away from home. It's a very different kind of vacation from Disney though. I joked this year about how that was my sit back and relax vacation while Disney was more my "go out and cram in as much as you can" vacation. I just don't think I could choose between the two or if I did I'd probably pick upstate over Disney. Why can't I just be rich and be able to afford to do both each year? LOL

 

[Trisha Lynn]

I loved this TR. Thank you for sharing!

Just the freedom of mind knowing that we didn't have to worry about paying for meals outside of tip was worth it.

I feel very much the same, plus knowing that I paid for those meals in advance and can save that cash for other things like souvenirs is going to be awesome for me. Also if F&W happens during our trip, we'll be using all the Snack credits at the Festival, so no money lost there.

Plus, the idea of traveling alone is something I'm a little scared to do.

I hope this doesn't sound weird, but If I didn't have so many medical issues and if I hadn't promised my hobbit that he gets to plan our next vacation, I'd offer to go with you because you sound like a really cool person. (I used to live in Queens, which is technically on Long Island, so we'd have that in common.)

 

[Khiggs88]

First of all great trip report!

I have always wanted to be proposed to in front of the castle during fireworks, thanks to Full House. So super jealous of your sister! Congrats to her!

I am actually from Lake George, well Pilot area. So I can understand your love for the ADKs, it really is a wonderful place! Its so crazy to me still that people vacation there.

 

[mlegerto]

So, if you are planning a Disney engagement I'd suggest trying to set something up earlier if you want a Photo Pass photographer to capture the moment.

Also although the idea of getting engaged during Wishes may sound amazing take into account that you are surrounded by thousands of sweaty bodies and depending on the time of year it may be very humid. May not be the most romantic setting. In a way, I'm glad that Steph "stole my engagement", because not that it was at all unromantic or not special enough, but the fantasy of it doesn't exactly live up to the reality. There are other ways to get engaged at Disney that I think would be more special if you are looking for a big to do.

Aww, so happy for your sister and new brother in law. I actually (like most of us here I'm sure) always dreamed of being proposed in front of the castle during wishes and my dream DID come true. It was just as magical as I imaged it to be...however my now husband did plan it in advance and had a photopass photographer there to capture it all, then pulled out the bride/groom ears and just engaged buttons. My husband was given instructions on where to "meet" (basically where to stand) so the photographer could capture the moments without us being in the middle of a crowd of sweaty people,but still have a great view of the show and castle. In addition, my husband arranged for us best friends to secretly be there and surprise me just after the proposal happened. I think Steve missed the ball a bit by not making pre-plans because it could have been something more magical. HOWEVER, at the end of the day, as long as Stephanie was happy and said yes and all the love and joy happened, it doesn't really matter. Just letting you know because this was such a special moment for me and you can keep believing in this dream

I was having some mixed emotions about Stephanie and Steve's engagement that were really dumb of me to have

don't feel bad about this. I think this is really quite natural. When one of my girlfriends got engaged before I did I was so jealous of her! At that point I had been with my boyfriend (now husband) for just over 10 years (we were high school sweethearts so at this point we were still only in our early 20's) and I couldn't believe that the guy she had been with for only 2 years proposed before mine did. So there were some mixed emotions - very happy, but wished it was me all the same. At the end of the day, we did some things prior to getting engaged and married that really worked out for the best - finished 2 degrees each, began my masters, traveled and bought our first house. Your prince will come when you least expect it and things happen the way they do for a reason and usually for the best.

Our first stop was Fantasyland because we had a FP for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

I don't mean to sound rude, so if it comes across that way I sincerely apologize and please feel free to disregard. I have been terrified to try 7DMT on our next trip because I have a big butt and am a bit overweight. I've heard horror stories about the seats being extremely small and people having to do the walk of shame after not fitting in the seat or lap bar. Matt is a bigger shape as well, how comfortable was he on this ride?

This was the second person we just happened to run into at Disney.

On one of our trips a few years ago we ran into some friends from high school that we hadn't seen since high school just walking around EPCOT....it really is a "small world"!

It was also at this point that I finally got a thank you from the rest of my family.

So nice that they recognized your hard work. Planning a Disney trip isn't something that can be done overnight or in your sleep LOL. Great job!

 

[DimpledDevil18]

I loved this TR. Thank you for sharing!


I hope this doesn't sound weird, but If I didn't have so many medical issues and if I hadn't promised my hobbit that he gets to plan our next vacation, I'd offer to go with you because you sound like a really cool person. (I used to live in Queens, which is technically on Long Island, so we'd have that in common.)

Aww... That doesn't sound weird at all! Thanks for offering. That was very sweet of you! It's still a long way off though and definitely not close to being set in stone until I get those food and wine dates. We shall see...

First of all great trip report!

I have always wanted to be proposed to in front of the castle during fireworks, thanks to Full House. So super jealous of your sister! Congrats to her!

I am actually from Lake George, well Pilot **** area. So I can understand your love for the ADKs, it really is a wonderful place! Its so crazy to me still that people vacation there.

That's awesome that you live up there! It's just so relaxing and beautiful, plus there is a lot of nostalgia there because we've been going almost every year (except two- one was our first Disney trip in 87 and the other was when Matt as born in 89) since I was 2. A lot of the area hasn't changed, but I think that's part of its charm. It's probably a lot different living there though I bet.

 

[DimpledDevil18]

Aww, so happy for your sister and new brother in law. I actually (like most of us here I'm sure) always dreamed of being proposed in front of the castle during wishes and my dream DID come true. It was just as magical as I imaged it to be...however my now husband did plan it in advance and had a photopass photographer there to capture it all, then pulled out the bride/groom ears and just engaged buttons. My husband was given instructions on where to "meet" (basically where to stand) so the photographer could capture the moments without us being in the middle of a crowd of sweaty people,but still have a great view of the show and castle. In addition, my husband arranged for us best friends to secretly be there and surprise me just after the proposal happened. I think Steve missed the ball a bit by not making pre-plans because it could have been something more magical. HOWEVER, at the end of the day, as long as Stephanie was happy and said yes and all the love and joy happened, it doesn't really matter. Just letting you know because this was such a special moment for me and you can keep believing in this dream

I wish he had figured this all out sooner too! I think he definitely could have arranged something similar for my sister if it hadn't been so spur of the moment, but in the end she was happy, so that's all that ,matters. I know that Disney is full of ,magical experiences if I still decide I'd like to get engaged there. I of course want something a little different from Steph though. Your engagement really did seem truly magical!

don't feel bad about this. I think this is really quite natural. When one of my girlfriends got engaged before I did I was so jealous of her! At that point I had been with my boyfriend (now husband) for just over 10 years (we were high school sweethearts so at this point we were still only in our early 20's) and I couldn't believe that the guy she had been with for only 2 years proposed before mine did. So there were some mixed emotions - very happy, but wished it was me all the same. At the end of the day, we did some things prior to getting engaged and married that really worked out for the best - finished 2 degrees each, began my masters, traveled and bought our first house. Your prince will come when you least expect it and things happen the way they do for a reason and usually for the best.

Thanks! I'm glad I didn't come across as completely selfish. It's been a rough year in the sense that I just watched both my best friends get married and I was MOH at one wedding and a bridesmaid in the other. I literally had one wedding last October and the other in July. So yea... I'm kind of starting to feel a bit like "always the bridesmaid, never the bride." I'm actively dating, but unfortunately I must have terrible taste in men because I'm just always attracted to the ones who aren't into me or don't want a conventional relationship. It's frustrating, but I'm trying to be patient.

I don't mean to sound rude, so if it comes across that way I sincerely apologize and please feel free to disregard. I have been terrified to try 7DMT on our next trip because I have a big butt and am a bit overweight. I've heard horror stories about the seats being extremely small and people having to do the walk of shame after not fitting in the seat or lap bar. Matt is a bigger shape as well, how comfortable was he on this ride?

I don't think you sound rude at all! It is a valid question and I actually did mean to address this for anyone who is a little larger of a build who has concerns about any of the rides at Disney. Matt is a large guy, but not only is he overweight, but he is also very broad shouldered, so he has issues on many roller coaster type rides. Luckily, he was able to fit on everything at Disney. It may not have been 100% comfortable, but he did fit and was able to ride every ride he wanted to at Disney.

I don't know if you are doing Universal, but many of the roller coaster type rides there do have seats in certain rows that are designed for a larger person to ride comfortably. Matt had to use those seats on these rides, but was otherwise fine. Most rides have tester seats out front for you to try before you get on line.

The only ride that Matt could not ride because of his size was Forbidden Journey at Islands of Adventure. We found both parks very accommodating since at our nearest Six Flags, Matt can't fit on most of the coasters.