Trip Report First time with all the kiddos!

We are back and it was awesome! And completely exhausting! We were there April 30-May 7 and split our stay between Wilderness Lodge and Caribbean Beach. We took our three kids ages 5, 3, and 18 months. My parents traveled with us and camped at Fort Wilderness.

Here are the things that worked well or were just awesome!

• Lunch at Be Our Guest. We ordered in advance and were seated with our food less than 15 minutes from checking in--the line for those who had not ordered in advance looked painful. Theming was awesome.
• MagicBands. Goodness this was convenient.
• Boat transportation. This was by far our favorite way to go anywhere and seemed faster than the buses a lot of the time.
• We had the dining plan the first half of the trip (used giftcards for the 2nd half) and really liked it. We were able to stretch 3 days of credits over 4 days pretty easily too. We definitely got our money's worth and liked not looking at prices.
• Fastpasses & Rider switch--we planned these well in advance and rarely waited in long lines. It just was not going to happen with kids the age of ours. We missed out on very few attractions and got to ride 95% of the things we cared about. Walking onto Frozen Ever After was the best feeling in the world!
• Sanaa. This was the favorite meal of everyone, including the 5 and 3 year old.
• Akershus. The $$ was painful (we weren't on the dining plan for that portion), but the princess face time was invaluable.
• Wilderness Lodge. I've always wanted to stay here and it lived up to my hopes. We were in Boulder Ridge Villas and even with the construction, it was magical.
• 'Ohana--this was the other family favorite.
• The pool/Caribbean Cay at Caribbean Beach
• Geyser Point. We had a nice dinner here before going back to the parks for the evening and the food and setting were awesome.
• The end of our evening at Magic Kingdom--we went to see Wishes and shortly before the show ended, I got in line at the ice cream parlor and ordered sundaes for my whole family with almost no wait. A cast member had given me a tip that the line cleared out during the show. They finished the show and then got a seat outside the parlor easily, as everyone was leaving. We ate our sundaes and lingered, then had a perfect view for the castle projection show. Best idea ever.
• The Character Meet & Greet for Anna and Elsa. The setting is so well done--I enjoyed it!
• Trader Sams Grog Grotto--my husband and I went one evening while my parents watched our kids and it was a lot of fun!
• Traveling with grandparents when small children are involved. We saw a lot of other people with the same idea too! It was SO helpful to have the extra hands and we got a kid-free break midweek.

Things that were meh. (Not bad, but I wouldn't go out of my way to do them again)

• Whispering Canyon Cafe. It was fun and the food was good, but it was so loud it was a little jarring.
• Hollywood Studios--at least right now. There is just so little open. I wish we had spent 2 days at Epcot instead.
• The Polite Pig at Disney Springs--maybe we are spoiled by Texas BBQ, but the meat portions were way too small for the price and 1/3-1/2 the meat was pure fat. The sides areunique and tasty, though.
• The crowds. I picked the first week of May based on crowd calendars. It wasn't completely crazy, but the parks were definitely very full most of the days. I don't remember it being this crowded in June of 2012 or any previous trip before that. I cannot imagine what it would be like mid-summer and I never ever ever want to experience that! Disney really needs another park.

Things that weren't awesome:

• 50s Prime Time Cafe. I had GREAT memories of going here as a child, but it was a total bummer this time. The food was meh at best (except for dessert) and our waitress didn't do any fun interactions at all. The whole place felt crowded too. To be fair, we had a cranky 3 year old with us and it's possible the waitress thought it would be best to just leave us alone, but I didn't see her interacting with her other tables either. Biggest disappointment of the trip.
• Caribbean Beach Resort. While we liked the pool and Caribbean Cay, the bus service and layout of the resort was just too big. It was worth it for the $75 gift card, but I wouldn't stay there again. We had to call twice for our luggage, again for the pack and play we had requested, and again for shampoo/conditioner that wasn't replaced when our room was clean. And they still only brought shampoo. The room itself, was nice, though. I just got the feeling the staff was being run ragged. The bus service from the parks always seemed slow. Once we watched 4 buses for another moderate resort go by before one came for us. I think we will save up for a Deluxe the entire time or go to French Quarter or Swan & Dolphin instead next time.
• Switching from a Deluxe to a Mod--wished we had done it the other way around but it wasn't possible with the gift card deal.
• The price at Akershus. We went for lunch and were charged the max price. I went by prices from other Disney sites to try and budget since Disney just gives you a range and it was annoying to be charged the max for lunch.
• Getting to another resort for dinner reservations. Both times we tried this we ended up being late and stressed out. It just takes too long. However, we didn't rent a car and Uber wasn't really an option with three needing carseats. When we go again, we will definitely do Uber. In general, bus transport just sucked up so much time.

Some pics:

(My favorite--my dad asked to take one of us like this because he has a similar one I took of them years ago. My son decided to make it a memorable one!)

At Animal Kingdom, right before it poured and soaked us all.

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• Meeting characters while we were drying out
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  My son's face (black mickey shirt) cracks me up. This was "Not my favorite, mommy"
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• Traveling with our 18 month old was remarkably easy! He was just happy to take it all in as long as he was fed at regular intervals
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• Our 5 year old loved meeting characters
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• He really wanted to meet Mickey the most!
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[TwisterMomma]

And more detailed:

Sunday:

We arrived midday and went straight to Magical Express. We were the first stop and it didn't take long. We checked in and went to Earl of Sandwich at Disney Springs for lunch. We let the kids make their own rice krispy treat at Goofy's and then let them spend their earned "Disney Dollars" and World of Disney. My son had fun with his new Lightning McQueen the entire week. We let the kids take naps and then meet local friends at Whispering Canyon Cafe. My daughter though the "Ketchup Service" was hilarious. The kids portions there are insane! We went for a quick swim after dinner and put the kids to bed--probably too late!

Monday:

We went to the Magic Kingdom at rope drop via boat. We spent the morning in Fantasyland and at lunch at Be Our Guest. By then our kids were losing it, so we went back for naps while my parents stayed. We ate dinner at Geyser Point at Wilderness Lodge and it was quick and really good in a beautiful setting. Back at the parks, we finished Fantasyland and did Tomorrowland. The Buzz Lightyear ride got stuck (someone threw a kid shield on the track and it took awhile for them to figure it out) and terrified our youngest because it was so loud. We saw Wishes and the castle projection show and had ice cream to finish the night. It was a great day.

Tuesday:

We got to Animal Kingdom as it opened. Then the skies just opened up as we walked into the park and it poured most of the morning. We brought ponchos, but couldn't get them on quick enough, so we all ended up soaked. That kind of put a damper on the day, but we really enjoyed Kilimanjaro safaris. The park was beautiful and really well themed--I wish we could have spent more time there, but our kids were done by 2 (and honestly, so were we). We went back to our hotel to rest and then got on the bus back to Animal Kingdom to transfer to Animal Kingdom Lodge and eat at Sanaa. The long bus ride was a disaster with our overtired 3 year old, but we all really enjoyed the meal. We walked around the main lobby and got Zebra domes at The Mara. I'd like to stay there sometime.

Wednesday:

We were pretty tired, so we went to the park a little later. We also checked out of Wilderness Lodge that morning. We intended to do Adventureland and Frontierland, but didn't get to do much in the end. We had fastpasses for Splash Mountain, but it kept stopping repeatedly, so it took us 1.5 hours to complete with rider switch. We did Haunted Mansion (I'm still a wimp and don't like it) and then ate at Columbia Harbor House. After that, I took the little guy to Fort Wilderness for a nap in my parents RV, while my husband stayed with the older two to explore Tom Sawyers Island. Little guy and I shared a frozen banana--which quickly went south when he realized he didn't get to hold it! We went with my parents to 'Ohana to eat and really liked it. I let my daughter wear her Moana costume and the lady singing and running the coconut race gave her a little special attention After that, my parents took my kids to play on the Poly beach and they had more fun than they did in the parks! Although, some grandmother decided to tell her grandkids and my kids (who were playing with them) about the alligator attack last year--thanks lady!! They took them for the night and my husband and I got to spend the evening alone. We went to Trader Sams and ordered an Uh-Oha and I ended up on the trick stool Then we decided to go check in at Caribbean Beach before extra magic hours, which was a total mistake. It took SO long. We still enjoyed extra magic hours and I rode Pirates of the Caribbean for the first time.

Thursday:

We met my parents at the Epcot gate to collect our children and then headed to the Boardwalk to ride a surrey. We didn't realize there was no direct bus from there and we couldn't access the boats, so we had to take a bus to Hollywood Studios and the boat from there. That sucked up more time than I realized and made for some cranky kids. We had lunch at The Fountain at the Dolphin--I've heard the shakes are good, but the food was just okay and very overpriced ($18 for a mediocre burger/fries), so I wouldn't recommend it. We did enjoy the surrey ride. Our youngest screamed with delight the entire time. 30 minutes was enough to wipe out my cyclist husband--the bridges there are not easy to get up! We went back to Caribbean Beach and I took our oldest swimming while the boys napped. We all went to Disney Springs for dinner and ate at the Polite Pig. It was pretty meh.

Friday:

After realizing our kids were not going to make it a full day, we moved all our fastpasses to later in the day and didn't get to the park until 11. We ate at Pizzarizzo, which was decent and surprisingly desolate at noon. Maybe the location? We traumatized the 5 year old on Tower of Terror ("I'm never going on that again") while my mom took the youngest 2 to buy a bubble wand and meet Pluto. My husband checked out the Stars Wars Launch Bay while we did some character meet and greets. Then we all did Toy Story Midway Mania--I really liked that ride! I took the youngest to meet Olaf (he was enamored!) while the rest of the family did Star Tours. We did the Frozen Sing Along--I appreciated the humor aimed at adults, but it seemed odd that Anna and Elsa only show up for like 3 minutes. Seriously Disney? It was basically a recap of the movie--my husband ended up watching it Sat night and said as much. The "snow" at the end was pretty cool, though. After that, we had to kill time til our 5:30 50s Prime time reservation, so my daughter and husband met Olaf and we got into the 25 minute long line to meet Mickey and Minnie. The line turned out to be an hour long...thank God for the bubble wand. I love meeting characters, but that was just too long. 50s Prime Time was a disappointment (see above). Back at the hotel, we let the kids watch a bit of the nightly movie, which they enjoyed very much.

Saturday:

Epcot! This ended up being one of our favorite days. We woke up late and didn't get to the park til 9:30, so we missed the chance to ride Test Track without a long wait, which was our plan. My husband and the kids got to do Soarin' and then we did Mission Space and Turtle Talk (my favorite!). Then we hustled over to Frozen Ever After to burn our last fastpass and get in line for Akershus. We loved meeting the princesses. We let my daughter wear her Snow White costumed and she walked in the procession with such dignity and grace Even the 3 year old wanted to get a picture with each princess! After lunch, we really wanted to stay, but the boys needed a nap BAD. My husband was about to take them back when the 3 year old monster fell asleep in the stroller. A miracle! I got in the single rider line for Test Track and got a rider switch pass while my husband took all 3 around the World Showcase and did the World Showcase Adventure. They had so much fun! They redid Germany and the UK so I could see the clock tower come alive and the windows fill with water. Definitely something to do if you've never done it before. We finished the World Showcase and bought a few items to eat. Tangierine Cafe was okay, but not quite up to the hype. Loved the details in Morocco though! Fish and Chips in the UK were surprisingly good.

After that, my husband and the older two rode Test Track. The 3 year old is car obsessed and was a little scared but had so much fun creating his car. My husband decided to take the boys back, but wanted to ride Spaceship Earth (known to my kids as The Golf Ball Ride) before he left. This ended up being the kids favorite ride of the day. Go figure?? Unfortunately, my car decided to use German despite me selecting English, so it wasn't quite the same! Then they boys left and I took my daughter to ride the Nemo ride and see all the fish. Then decided to go back to Norway and see Anna and Elsa. The line wasn't long at all and the queue is themed so well! We went to Kringla to get School Bread, but they were out, so we ended up with Troll Horns instead. I let her use the rest of her birthday money to buy a Frozen playset and she was over the moon. We watched a bit of the firework show on our way out--it was a really nice day! Back at the hotel, my husband watched Frozen for the first time--I don't get how he had avoided it given the number of times our daughter has watched it over the past 3 years.

Sunday:

We got up at 3:30 am for our 4:10 pickup to the lobby, 4:40 magical express pickup, and 7:40 flight. Oh it was painful, but we were using Southwest points and the flight was cheap! That statue of the man sleeping near the food court is the most unnerving art I've ever seen. At 5 am, my 5 year old announced she felt like she was going to throw up as we were waiting to check our bags. Luckily a false alarm, but boy I didn't want to hear that!

Overall it was a great trip!

 

[Zipadeelady]

Sounds like a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing!

 

[amjt660]

Great report and great pics
Overall the parks are much busier
MK is crazy and having DHS minimized is not helping pull crowds away from it

Thanks for posting your TR

Max

 

[littleroo]

Your children are adorable!! Really love the SM picture!! I appreciate your insight. Ty!

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks for sharing! Great to read!