When my oldest daughter was 9 I took her on a surprise trip to WDW, just her and I. We had an awesome time and it was the first of three trips like that I would take - one for each kid. I've been saving for these trips for years (since before I even thought I'd have kids...) Last week I took my second trip with our middle kid. She's a twin, so I'll be taking her sister in November for the last dad/daughter adventure.
For the first trip we stayed at the Wilderness lodge and had only 3 days at the parks. This trip I extended it so we'd have 4 full days and a partial 5th day, and I rented points to stay at the Poly. We got a second story lake view room in the Moorea building which happened to provide awesome views of the fireworks and a perfect stepping off point to the TTC.
We left on a Saturday, and while we were delayed leaving Boston, we still made it down there in one piece and while on the way to the hotel on MDE I got the text saying our room was ready. We made our way over there then got to rest for a few minutes before heading to the Hoop Dee Doo.
The show was awesome, and we sat at lucky table 13 - right at the front of the stage. My daughter was loving it, and all throughout the show the cast members were interacting with her. Lots and lots of fun.
Got back home to the hotel and crashed out early for the next day's adventures. Here's our schedule and highlights:
Sunday - DHS - hit TSMM 3x before we needed to cash in the fastpass. Got up the courage to try ToT and while she didn't love it, she did way better than her older sister did two years ago. Ate at 50s prime-time and had a great waiter, lots of fun. Ended up calling it quits before the fireworks that night, which was a bummer for me, but little legs get to dictate the schedule... got to swim at the poly before the night was over. She absolutely loved that little murphy bed.
Monday - Animal Kingdom - safari breakfast with Donald followed by a great safari ride where we had close encounters with some playful rhinos and zebras. We took it all in at DAK - Kali twice (soaked) and another courageous moment on Everest. Lunch at yak and yeti then a quick trip to conservation station before it closed down for the night. Raced over to Lion King and had a magical moment when a cast member pulled us out of line and my daughter got to lead the Giraffe section. The show let out to the biggest thunder and lightning storm ive ever seen. Thanks to the MDE app I grabbed a quick reservation at Tusker House (twice in one day?) and we made it over there and sat down to eat. Lots of people waiting outside to get a table weren't happy to see us waltz up and walk right in... maybe they don't know about the app? Made it home exhausted.
Tuesday - MK and the Halloween Party - we were tired but we rallied. Met stitch for breakfast at 'Ohana and then made our way into the parks. Hopped through most of adventureland and fantasy land before heading to the hotel for a mid-day break at the pool. Geared up for the event (re-purposed my ToT bellhop costumes from two years ago) and headed to MK for the night. We hit everything many times over and found out that she absolutely loved Space Mountain. We'd do that 9 times before the trip was over. The party was great, we saw the parade and the fireworks, but spent most of our time on rides. Short lines are the best.
Wednesday - Epcot & MK - a bit of a sleepy park for us as we were pretty tired. I had an Akershus res that I canceled the day before when we realized there was no way we were waking up early. Hit all the majors except for TT then retired to the Poly again for pool time. That night we went back to MK (her choice) and won the fastpass game. Must have redeemed 6 more fastpasses after our initial 3 were up, so we sailed through the lines even though they weren't very long to begin with. We stayed until the bitter end that night - another great sleep after the long day
Thursday - MK and we say goodbye - in the morning we checked our luggage and went to MK one last time to jump on space mountain, peter pan, astro orbiter and a couple others. By noon we were back to the hotel to swim for an hour and then cleaned up (thanks to the showers in the Poly pool bathrooms) and made our way to the lobby for a few last minute items including one final mickey ice cream bar before getting on the MDE bus back to MCO.
The flight home was delayed, so we were a bit grumpy and tired, but all in all it was an amazing trip.
best part was when I asked my daughter what her favorite thing was, and she replied, "spending the whole week with you." must've been some dust in the air cuz my eyes got all watery.
Some pics are attached.
For the first trip we stayed at the Wilderness lodge and had only 3 days at the parks. This trip I extended it so we'd have 4 full days and a partial 5th day, and I rented points to stay at the Poly. We got a second story lake view room in the Moorea building which happened to provide awesome views of the fireworks and a perfect stepping off point to the TTC.
We left on a Saturday, and while we were delayed leaving Boston, we still made it down there in one piece and while on the way to the hotel on MDE I got the text saying our room was ready. We made our way over there then got to rest for a few minutes before heading to the Hoop Dee Doo.
The show was awesome, and we sat at lucky table 13 - right at the front of the stage. My daughter was loving it, and all throughout the show the cast members were interacting with her. Lots and lots of fun.
Got back home to the hotel and crashed out early for the next day's adventures. Here's our schedule and highlights:
Sunday - DHS - hit TSMM 3x before we needed to cash in the fastpass. Got up the courage to try ToT and while she didn't love it, she did way better than her older sister did two years ago. Ate at 50s prime-time and had a great waiter, lots of fun. Ended up calling it quits before the fireworks that night, which was a bummer for me, but little legs get to dictate the schedule... got to swim at the poly before the night was over. She absolutely loved that little murphy bed.
Monday - Animal Kingdom - safari breakfast with Donald followed by a great safari ride where we had close encounters with some playful rhinos and zebras. We took it all in at DAK - Kali twice (soaked) and another courageous moment on Everest. Lunch at yak and yeti then a quick trip to conservation station before it closed down for the night. Raced over to Lion King and had a magical moment when a cast member pulled us out of line and my daughter got to lead the Giraffe section. The show let out to the biggest thunder and lightning storm ive ever seen. Thanks to the MDE app I grabbed a quick reservation at Tusker House (twice in one day?) and we made it over there and sat down to eat. Lots of people waiting outside to get a table weren't happy to see us waltz up and walk right in... maybe they don't know about the app? Made it home exhausted.
Tuesday - MK and the Halloween Party - we were tired but we rallied. Met stitch for breakfast at 'Ohana and then made our way into the parks. Hopped through most of adventureland and fantasy land before heading to the hotel for a mid-day break at the pool. Geared up for the event (re-purposed my ToT bellhop costumes from two years ago) and headed to MK for the night. We hit everything many times over and found out that she absolutely loved Space Mountain. We'd do that 9 times before the trip was over. The party was great, we saw the parade and the fireworks, but spent most of our time on rides. Short lines are the best.
Wednesday - Epcot & MK - a bit of a sleepy park for us as we were pretty tired. I had an Akershus res that I canceled the day before when we realized there was no way we were waking up early. Hit all the majors except for TT then retired to the Poly again for pool time. That night we went back to MK (her choice) and won the fastpass game. Must have redeemed 6 more fastpasses after our initial 3 were up, so we sailed through the lines even though they weren't very long to begin with. We stayed until the bitter end that night - another great sleep after the long day
Thursday - MK and we say goodbye - in the morning we checked our luggage and went to MK one last time to jump on space mountain, peter pan, astro orbiter and a couple others. By noon we were back to the hotel to swim for an hour and then cleaned up (thanks to the showers in the Poly pool bathrooms) and made our way to the lobby for a few last minute items including one final mickey ice cream bar before getting on the MDE bus back to MCO.
The flight home was delayed, so we were a bit grumpy and tired, but all in all it was an amazing trip.
best part was when I asked my daughter what her favorite thing was, and she replied, "spending the whole week with you." must've been some dust in the air cuz my eyes got all watery.
Some pics are attached.
