The bags are unpacked, laundry done and reality is starting to set in but before we get too consumed with real life I wanted to give a brief trip report.
Disney’s “Buy 4 get 3 nights free” promotion, Southwest Airlines “Wanna Get Away” fares combined with smaller than anticipated crowds made for a perfect vacation for myself, wife and two kids.
First, thanks to all of the posters who contribute tips and planning strategies to this board. We employed many of the suggestions learned on this site to maximize our enjoyment at WDW. This was our third trip to the World with the kids, now ages 6 and 9 and the first trip where we were able to properly plan to take full advantage of EMH’s, ADR’s, transportation, etc. etc. The 6 year old topped the 48” mark so no ride swap passes and for the 1st time we were not part of the “stroller brigade”.
Every aspect of the trip was perfect….flights were actually early; DME bus had two other passengers besides our family (we joked about being like the Griswold’s going to Wally World), and all of the CM’s we encountered could not have been friendlier. The weather was unseasonably warm for Florida with highs in the mid 90’s. 97 degrees on 5/10. The summer storm season is starting and the only rookie mistake we made was to leave the raingear at home which forced us to buy the “investment quality” WDW ponchos.
We made the Yacht Club our home for the week primarily because of the convenience to DHS and Epcot along with Stormalong Bay, which the kids love for downtime and recharging the batteries.
Thanks to the Concierge at the YC, we were able to get ADR’s at LeCellier and upgrade our Chef Mickey reservations to a “normal” dining hour. Don’t give up on the ADR’s as there are always cancellations. Our reservation package included a free 5x7 photo which we had taken on Main St on our way to an early character breakfast. How cool to have a family photo in front of the castle without a thousand of your closest friends in the background.
Crowds were very light by Disney standards. No way were these 8 & 9 level crowds. Many of the rides were listed as 20 minute waits but this turned out to be an exaggeration as several were walk ons. We did our favorites more than once, visited both water parks and got to spend time at the World Showcase, which always seems to get pushed to the bottom of the priority list due to time constraints.
Strategic use of fast passes helped us breeze thru lines for Soarin, RnR, TSM and several other of the more popular rides. Never knew you could hold two FP’s at the same time until I found this website. I would definitely recommend getting an early FP for TSM. We got ours around noon on 5/10 with a return time of 6:55pm. This ride is extremely popular. The longest non FP wait we had was for the small coaster in Dinoland, which had some mechanical problems (10 minutes turned into 30). We made up for this when we were randomly selected to be “family of the day” at the flying dinosaurs. We were moved to the front of the line like VIP’s and got to ride twice.
Wife and daughter are thrill ride junkies and they were able to ride Expedition Everest several times in a row with no wait, on the morning of 5/11.
Again thanks to all that contribute to this site and hope that everyone enjoys their trip to the World as much as we did.
