First trip report!
Disclaimers: This is only my second-ever trip to WDW, so this might be a super boring report to an experienced Disney person. I'm also terrible photographer, sorry in advance for the lack of quality pictures. On the other hand, this is definitely not the type of vacation that most people take, (heck, it's not technically a vacation, were working while we're here) and we're flying in the face of almost all the planning suggestions, so maybe it'll have novelty value.
I'll try to update periodically throughout our stay, and if anyone has questions or wants me to check something out/ask a CM about something specific, just let me know.
Suggestions and insider tips are welcome, too.
----------------
The People: Myself & Mr.Chernaboggles. We are in our mid-30s. He's a big Disney fan, used to go often to WDW in as a kid, up through his teens. I went to Disneyland once as a kid but don't really remember it, and I've only been to WDW once, for our honeymoon. Which was 10 years ago. I planned this trip as a kind of 10th anniversary spectacular for my husband.
The Dog: our 19-month-old yellow lab, Joules.
The Plan: Get the heck out of Pennsylvania for the entire gross, dark, freezing month of February. I'm self-employed, Mr.Chernaboggles telecommutes 100% of the time, and we don't have any kids. Thus, we aren't tied to any physical workplace. We can't just up and take off work for a long vacation, but we CAN change our location as long as we bring all our stuff and still get things done.
That's the whole of the plan. We have no ADRs, no MagicBands and are staying off-property. Basically, we went on VRBO, picked a townhouse near WDW, paid for it, saved up some money and waited until the end of January. Then we arranged a house/cat sitter, packed our stuff and our dog into the car and drove away.
We're not going back until March.
Friday (Day 1 of Drive): We left Pennsylvania on Friday morning around 8:30. We were 13 hours to Savannah, GA, with 4 or 5 short stops to get gas, use facilities and give the dog a break. We did not stop for any kind of food, choosing rather to eat what we'd packed in our cooler, which I think made us feel generally better, no greasy stuff along the way. We ran into very slight traffic in the Baltimore tunnel, but other than that it was smooth sailing all the way down...right up until we got to our hotel, a La Quinta in Pooler, GA.
They had cancelled our reservation.
Now, I've worked as a hotel front desk agent, so I know what actually happened: they overbooked the hotel and needed to walk some guests, which is not a big deal. What you're supposed to do, if you're the hotel and you overbook, is apologize a lot and quickly arrange a room at a neighboring hotel with similar rates.
Unfortunately for us, that's not how it went down. We were told that there was no credit card or phone number attached to the reservation, so the room had been held only until 6pm, then voided. That's nonsense, of course. As far as I know, these days you can't make a hotel reservation without a credit card and phone number, and I'd provided both. They also had my email, I'd gotten a message from them the day before wishing me a good trip, etc. The kid at the desk was unbelievably rude, she didn't even attempt to find us another hotel until I flat out told her that this was not acceptable and to please start making calls.
In the end, we ended up at a Candlewood Suites one exit back, which had a $25 pet fee and no breakfast offered, but was otherwise just fine. At that point, we were too tired to care.
Note: I did get the number of the manager of the La Quinta and called them later to complain about the overbooking and rudeness. She was pretty horrified, I don't think the shady desk agent will be pulling that stunt again.
Saturday (Day 2 of Drive) We drove the last 300 miles to our rental townhouse. It's a 3 bed/3 bath in a very small, mostly residential community. It has a pool but is in no way resort-like, which is fine for us. It's a lot of house for the price, which was really reasonable. We settled in, found the grocery store, had take-out for dinner. Lots of sleep.
Sunday Morning (Day 1): Dog Park & AP Pass Purchase at Animal Kingdom we found the dog park, it's about 10 miles away at a community park, which is gorgeous. Walking trails, playground/splash pad for the kids, beautiful fenced dog area. Joules played for an hour and wore himself right out, so we took him home and then went off to Animal Kingdom to buy our Annual Passes. That was a tip from a friend who works at WDW - apparently Animal Kingdom tends to have the shortest ticketing lines. As it happens, it's also the closest park to where we're staying, so it worked out.
It may stupid to buy Annual Passes when we live in Pennsylvania, but we're here for so long that we think we'll get use out of them. Plus, free parking is good. For me personally, the best part is that having the passes keeps me from feeling like we've wasted a ticket if we only go for a couple hours at a time.
Note: They did not offer us Magic Bands or even mention them. I asked about FastPass+, they said we could reserve 3 Fast Passes for one park a day via the kiosks. I didn't see any kiosks, but I wasn't really looking for them, either.
PeopleWatching: There was a woman at the ticket counter next to us who stood for 20+ minutes insisting to the CM that she couldn't stand for long periods and needed front of line access.
Animal Kingdom was crowded and hot (it was noon), so we just wandered around and looked at things for a while. It was a pretty big (but very welcome!) shock after the snow and negative temperatures we've been dealing with at home. As soon as it started to feel overwhelming (about an hour and a half into it), we left and headed back to check on the dog, since this was our first time leaving him in the townhouse. He was fine, so we decided to chill out for a while and then go to MK to see Wishes.
Sunday Night (Day 1): Wishes at Magic Kingdom
We left the townhouse at 6:45 pm and were on the monorail by 7. Lines moved pretty fast for everything, including bag-inspection. We had no difficulties using our APs. We got to Main Street right as Cinderella's pumpkin carriage was going by. We waved.
The goal for the night was ONLY to see Wishes and then go home. We were too tired from the drive and a little too overwhelmed by how huge Disney is to jump right in and go on rides. With that in mind, we headed towards the castle and -amazingly- found two chairs and a little white table on a low patio to the right of the main walkway, sort of between the walkway and the Tomorrowland Terrace. We parked ourselves there and Mr.Chernaboggles got us a couple of pretzels and a coke.
We'd only been there for about 5 minutes when they announced that Celebrate The Magic would be starting shortly. I remember reading about that on this board but I had completely forgotten about it, so the whole thing was a wonderful surprise. We oohed and ahhhed and I may have sung along with the Let It Go sequence, which was awesome. By this point, there were more people around us, but it was by no means packed. Wishes was up next. I love fireworks, so this was a big high point for me.
After Wishes, we were ready to be done for the night, so we followed the crowd towards the exit. On the way out, I noticed some people veering off to the left, and CMs guiding them, so we went that way and ended up taking what I think is a the shortcut I read about on this site. It's kind of a back-alley thing, definitely "back of house" and not themed. There were CMs with lighted batons directing people through, though, and they all had clickers keeping track of how many people went by.
PeopleWatching: So many tiny, adorable, totally exhausted children. We saw half-a-dozen kids faceplant, knock their heads on their own strollers and randomly fall over. It was like being surrounded by very small drunks. Poor things. I made a mental note to carry a pocket first aid kit in case someone needs a band-aid.
I wasn't a big fan of the monorail - too crowded, and there was a pretty pervasive unpleasant smell, so we opted to take the ferry back. Still lots of people, but more moving air. We were home by 9:10 pm. We made some sandwiches (having totally forgotten about dinner) and gave the dog a snack, and that was it for Sunday.
Monday (Day 2): Regular Workday + Rides at Magic Kingdom
Yesterday was our first "regular" day. We got up, got ready for the day, then Mr.Chernaboggles went to his "office" (luckily our townhouse has a decent desk and chair, we brought all our own computers). I took the dog to the park on my own, did another round of grocery shopping (is it just me, or does the Publix on 192 put things in very illogical places?) and then came home and settled down at my laptop. We ate a late lunch together (normal for us) and finished the workday by 6:00. We fed the dog and geared up for Magic Kingdom.
Having learned a bit from Sunday night, we opted to go bagless - just carried essentials in pockets (including band-aids!), plus a small bottle of water with a carry-strap. (We put the strap in a pocket and carried the water through by hand, then wore it once we were in the park). We zipped over to MK and were able to park closer this time, so we just walked across the parking lot to the transit station instead of waiting for a tram. We took the ferry across, which was a lovely view with the very end of the sunset, the lights and the castle. Beautiful. We sailed through the bagless line, had no trouble getting into the park.
MagicBand Note: It's very clear that the system is still new to a lot of people. The lines were moving, but it was slower than it needed to be because guests were very tentative about the readers. I think once people get used to it, things will speed up considerably. I didn't notice any big problems.
Once we got into the park, the first parade float was appearing so we dove into the crowd, heading for Mr.Chernaboggles' favorite ride: The Haunted Mansion. With two adults, no bags and no strollers, it wasn't too hard to get through, but I have a lot of sympathy for anyone trying to do it with a stroller or a wheelchair. I'm not sure if we made a wrong turn or if this is just the way you're supposed to go, but we ended up in Fantasyland, walking passed Prince Eric's castle. There was no line for The Little Mermaid ride (Journey Under the Sea? Can't remember the name) so we took advantage and walked on.
Motion Sickness Note: I have some trouble with motion sickness. I didn't expect this ride to bother me, but as soon as we got in the shells started jerking this way and that, which I did not expect (or enjoy). I felt better as we went along, though, I think my first reaction might have been a combination of general excitement and having just hurried quickly through the very long, twisty line area in order to get to the ride.
The ride stopped for a minute or two right near the "kiss the girl" scene, but Sebastian the Crab told us it would be fixed in a moment, and it was.
Next stop was The Haunted Mansion - again, we walked right on. We took the entry slower this time, and I had no troubles with that ride, it was great. Crowds were so light we decided to try and hit a couple other favorite things to see if we could walk right on, and indeed we could: Pirates of the Caribbean, The Jungle Cruise (Skipper Anna was great, good deadpan delivery of terrible jokes).
After the Jungle Cruise, we stopped and shared a Dole Whip (the float kind). It was every bit as good as all you people say it is! Thank you for alerting us to its existence.
We almost rode Aladdin's carpets, but I decided to save all the spinning rides for daytime, so the lights wouldn't contribute to any motion problems. We rode It's A Small World instead, which I had never been on. It's kind of terrifying, actually.
After IASW, we went to see Mickey's Philharmagic, which we really loved on our honeymoon. It's still fun. We probably could have walked on to any ride in the park, but we just kind of wandered around going on whatever took our fancy as we passed it. The one ride that DID have a long line was Peter Pan, but by the time we got out of Philharmagic, the line was only about 5 minutes, so we did it.
PeopleWatching: a random group of 3 adults and a child let themselves in through the ropes and cut in to join a person farther up in the line. The people in front of us were annoyed, but the line was moving so fast that cutting it seemed more weird than rude. I mean, they saved themselves maybe a minute. Strange.
Once out of Peter Pan, we were tempted to try Space Mountain (or rather, Mr.Chernaboggles was, I KNOW how I feel about Space Mountain. I feel that other people should enjoy it without me.) but it was nearing closing time and the dog was waiting at home. Despite the Dole Whip, we were starving, so we took the monorail back to the parking lot (less pleasant but faster than the ferry) and caught a tram to the car. We were home within 20 minutes and had another round of sandwiches for dinner.
The interesting thing about yesterday was that we ended the day feeling like we'd had a whole day of vacationing, even though we were actually in the park for less than 3 hours. I don't think that what we're doing would work at most times of year - if the crowds were heavier, we'd never have been able to just bop around the park riding whatever we felt like. It also wouldn't work with children, who'd want to eat at sensible hours and wouldn't like having to wait around all day before hitting the park. For 2 fairly laid-back adults, however, it's working out fine.
Today (Tuesday, Day 3) is a no-parks day. We both have work to do, I'm also doing laundry and cooking ahead a bit so we have something besides sandwiches to eat at whatever weird hour we end up having dinner. A local friend is coming by to visit this evening. Tomorrow, we may try to slip over to AK as soon as it opens to ride a couple things before starting work, but not sure yet. We'll probably go to Epcot tomorrow night to see Illuminations.
Disclaimers: This is only my second-ever trip to WDW, so this might be a super boring report to an experienced Disney person. I'm also terrible photographer, sorry in advance for the lack of quality pictures. On the other hand, this is definitely not the type of vacation that most people take, (heck, it's not technically a vacation, were working while we're here) and we're flying in the face of almost all the planning suggestions, so maybe it'll have novelty value.
I'll try to update periodically throughout our stay, and if anyone has questions or wants me to check something out/ask a CM about something specific, just let me know.
Suggestions and insider tips are welcome, too.
----------------
The People: Myself & Mr.Chernaboggles. We are in our mid-30s. He's a big Disney fan, used to go often to WDW in as a kid, up through his teens. I went to Disneyland once as a kid but don't really remember it, and I've only been to WDW once, for our honeymoon. Which was 10 years ago. I planned this trip as a kind of 10th anniversary spectacular for my husband.
The Dog: our 19-month-old yellow lab, Joules.
The Plan: Get the heck out of Pennsylvania for the entire gross, dark, freezing month of February. I'm self-employed, Mr.Chernaboggles telecommutes 100% of the time, and we don't have any kids. Thus, we aren't tied to any physical workplace. We can't just up and take off work for a long vacation, but we CAN change our location as long as we bring all our stuff and still get things done.
That's the whole of the plan. We have no ADRs, no MagicBands and are staying off-property. Basically, we went on VRBO, picked a townhouse near WDW, paid for it, saved up some money and waited until the end of January. Then we arranged a house/cat sitter, packed our stuff and our dog into the car and drove away.
We're not going back until March.
Friday (Day 1 of Drive): We left Pennsylvania on Friday morning around 8:30. We were 13 hours to Savannah, GA, with 4 or 5 short stops to get gas, use facilities and give the dog a break. We did not stop for any kind of food, choosing rather to eat what we'd packed in our cooler, which I think made us feel generally better, no greasy stuff along the way. We ran into very slight traffic in the Baltimore tunnel, but other than that it was smooth sailing all the way down...right up until we got to our hotel, a La Quinta in Pooler, GA.
They had cancelled our reservation.
Now, I've worked as a hotel front desk agent, so I know what actually happened: they overbooked the hotel and needed to walk some guests, which is not a big deal. What you're supposed to do, if you're the hotel and you overbook, is apologize a lot and quickly arrange a room at a neighboring hotel with similar rates.
Unfortunately for us, that's not how it went down. We were told that there was no credit card or phone number attached to the reservation, so the room had been held only until 6pm, then voided. That's nonsense, of course. As far as I know, these days you can't make a hotel reservation without a credit card and phone number, and I'd provided both. They also had my email, I'd gotten a message from them the day before wishing me a good trip, etc. The kid at the desk was unbelievably rude, she didn't even attempt to find us another hotel until I flat out told her that this was not acceptable and to please start making calls.
In the end, we ended up at a Candlewood Suites one exit back, which had a $25 pet fee and no breakfast offered, but was otherwise just fine. At that point, we were too tired to care.
Note: I did get the number of the manager of the La Quinta and called them later to complain about the overbooking and rudeness. She was pretty horrified, I don't think the shady desk agent will be pulling that stunt again.
Saturday (Day 2 of Drive) We drove the last 300 miles to our rental townhouse. It's a 3 bed/3 bath in a very small, mostly residential community. It has a pool but is in no way resort-like, which is fine for us. It's a lot of house for the price, which was really reasonable. We settled in, found the grocery store, had take-out for dinner. Lots of sleep.
Sunday Morning (Day 1): Dog Park & AP Pass Purchase at Animal Kingdom we found the dog park, it's about 10 miles away at a community park, which is gorgeous. Walking trails, playground/splash pad for the kids, beautiful fenced dog area. Joules played for an hour and wore himself right out, so we took him home and then went off to Animal Kingdom to buy our Annual Passes. That was a tip from a friend who works at WDW - apparently Animal Kingdom tends to have the shortest ticketing lines. As it happens, it's also the closest park to where we're staying, so it worked out.
It may stupid to buy Annual Passes when we live in Pennsylvania, but we're here for so long that we think we'll get use out of them. Plus, free parking is good. For me personally, the best part is that having the passes keeps me from feeling like we've wasted a ticket if we only go for a couple hours at a time.
Note: They did not offer us Magic Bands or even mention them. I asked about FastPass+, they said we could reserve 3 Fast Passes for one park a day via the kiosks. I didn't see any kiosks, but I wasn't really looking for them, either.
PeopleWatching: There was a woman at the ticket counter next to us who stood for 20+ minutes insisting to the CM that she couldn't stand for long periods and needed front of line access.
Animal Kingdom was crowded and hot (it was noon), so we just wandered around and looked at things for a while. It was a pretty big (but very welcome!) shock after the snow and negative temperatures we've been dealing with at home. As soon as it started to feel overwhelming (about an hour and a half into it), we left and headed back to check on the dog, since this was our first time leaving him in the townhouse. He was fine, so we decided to chill out for a while and then go to MK to see Wishes.
Sunday Night (Day 1): Wishes at Magic Kingdom
We left the townhouse at 6:45 pm and were on the monorail by 7. Lines moved pretty fast for everything, including bag-inspection. We had no difficulties using our APs. We got to Main Street right as Cinderella's pumpkin carriage was going by. We waved.
The goal for the night was ONLY to see Wishes and then go home. We were too tired from the drive and a little too overwhelmed by how huge Disney is to jump right in and go on rides. With that in mind, we headed towards the castle and -amazingly- found two chairs and a little white table on a low patio to the right of the main walkway, sort of between the walkway and the Tomorrowland Terrace. We parked ourselves there and Mr.Chernaboggles got us a couple of pretzels and a coke.
We'd only been there for about 5 minutes when they announced that Celebrate The Magic would be starting shortly. I remember reading about that on this board but I had completely forgotten about it, so the whole thing was a wonderful surprise. We oohed and ahhhed and I may have sung along with the Let It Go sequence, which was awesome. By this point, there were more people around us, but it was by no means packed. Wishes was up next. I love fireworks, so this was a big high point for me.
After Wishes, we were ready to be done for the night, so we followed the crowd towards the exit. On the way out, I noticed some people veering off to the left, and CMs guiding them, so we went that way and ended up taking what I think is a the shortcut I read about on this site. It's kind of a back-alley thing, definitely "back of house" and not themed. There were CMs with lighted batons directing people through, though, and they all had clickers keeping track of how many people went by.
PeopleWatching: So many tiny, adorable, totally exhausted children. We saw half-a-dozen kids faceplant, knock their heads on their own strollers and randomly fall over. It was like being surrounded by very small drunks. Poor things. I made a mental note to carry a pocket first aid kit in case someone needs a band-aid.
I wasn't a big fan of the monorail - too crowded, and there was a pretty pervasive unpleasant smell, so we opted to take the ferry back. Still lots of people, but more moving air. We were home by 9:10 pm. We made some sandwiches (having totally forgotten about dinner) and gave the dog a snack, and that was it for Sunday.
Monday (Day 2): Regular Workday + Rides at Magic Kingdom
Yesterday was our first "regular" day. We got up, got ready for the day, then Mr.Chernaboggles went to his "office" (luckily our townhouse has a decent desk and chair, we brought all our own computers). I took the dog to the park on my own, did another round of grocery shopping (is it just me, or does the Publix on 192 put things in very illogical places?) and then came home and settled down at my laptop. We ate a late lunch together (normal for us) and finished the workday by 6:00. We fed the dog and geared up for Magic Kingdom.
Having learned a bit from Sunday night, we opted to go bagless - just carried essentials in pockets (including band-aids!), plus a small bottle of water with a carry-strap. (We put the strap in a pocket and carried the water through by hand, then wore it once we were in the park). We zipped over to MK and were able to park closer this time, so we just walked across the parking lot to the transit station instead of waiting for a tram. We took the ferry across, which was a lovely view with the very end of the sunset, the lights and the castle. Beautiful. We sailed through the bagless line, had no trouble getting into the park.
MagicBand Note: It's very clear that the system is still new to a lot of people. The lines were moving, but it was slower than it needed to be because guests were very tentative about the readers. I think once people get used to it, things will speed up considerably. I didn't notice any big problems.
Once we got into the park, the first parade float was appearing so we dove into the crowd, heading for Mr.Chernaboggles' favorite ride: The Haunted Mansion. With two adults, no bags and no strollers, it wasn't too hard to get through, but I have a lot of sympathy for anyone trying to do it with a stroller or a wheelchair. I'm not sure if we made a wrong turn or if this is just the way you're supposed to go, but we ended up in Fantasyland, walking passed Prince Eric's castle. There was no line for The Little Mermaid ride (Journey Under the Sea? Can't remember the name) so we took advantage and walked on.
Motion Sickness Note: I have some trouble with motion sickness. I didn't expect this ride to bother me, but as soon as we got in the shells started jerking this way and that, which I did not expect (or enjoy). I felt better as we went along, though, I think my first reaction might have been a combination of general excitement and having just hurried quickly through the very long, twisty line area in order to get to the ride.
The ride stopped for a minute or two right near the "kiss the girl" scene, but Sebastian the Crab told us it would be fixed in a moment, and it was.
Next stop was The Haunted Mansion - again, we walked right on. We took the entry slower this time, and I had no troubles with that ride, it was great. Crowds were so light we decided to try and hit a couple other favorite things to see if we could walk right on, and indeed we could: Pirates of the Caribbean, The Jungle Cruise (Skipper Anna was great, good deadpan delivery of terrible jokes).
After the Jungle Cruise, we stopped and shared a Dole Whip (the float kind). It was every bit as good as all you people say it is! Thank you for alerting us to its existence.
We almost rode Aladdin's carpets, but I decided to save all the spinning rides for daytime, so the lights wouldn't contribute to any motion problems. We rode It's A Small World instead, which I had never been on. It's kind of terrifying, actually.
After IASW, we went to see Mickey's Philharmagic, which we really loved on our honeymoon. It's still fun. We probably could have walked on to any ride in the park, but we just kind of wandered around going on whatever took our fancy as we passed it. The one ride that DID have a long line was Peter Pan, but by the time we got out of Philharmagic, the line was only about 5 minutes, so we did it.
PeopleWatching: a random group of 3 adults and a child let themselves in through the ropes and cut in to join a person farther up in the line. The people in front of us were annoyed, but the line was moving so fast that cutting it seemed more weird than rude. I mean, they saved themselves maybe a minute. Strange.
Once out of Peter Pan, we were tempted to try Space Mountain (or rather, Mr.Chernaboggles was, I KNOW how I feel about Space Mountain. I feel that other people should enjoy it without me.) but it was nearing closing time and the dog was waiting at home. Despite the Dole Whip, we were starving, so we took the monorail back to the parking lot (less pleasant but faster than the ferry) and caught a tram to the car. We were home within 20 minutes and had another round of sandwiches for dinner.
The interesting thing about yesterday was that we ended the day feeling like we'd had a whole day of vacationing, even though we were actually in the park for less than 3 hours. I don't think that what we're doing would work at most times of year - if the crowds were heavier, we'd never have been able to just bop around the park riding whatever we felt like. It also wouldn't work with children, who'd want to eat at sensible hours and wouldn't like having to wait around all day before hitting the park. For 2 fairly laid-back adults, however, it's working out fine.
Today (Tuesday, Day 3) is a no-parks day. We both have work to do, I'm also doing laundry and cooking ahead a bit so we have something besides sandwiches to eat at whatever weird hour we end up having dinner. A local friend is coming by to visit this evening. Tomorrow, we may try to slip over to AK as soon as it opens to ride a couple things before starting work, but not sure yet. We'll probably go to Epcot tomorrow night to see Illuminations.
