ThreeMountains
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2019
I'm flying out to Tampa with my wife and 20-month-old son for my brother's wedding on Halloween, which will be taking place roughly half way between Tampa and Orlando near my parents' and grandparents' house. We get in on a Wednesday for the rehearsal dinner, the wedding is Thursday, and most of Friday will be spent hanging out with my grandparents (they're really looking forward to seeing their only great-grandchild again, as you can imagine).
Friday late afternoon / evening, we'll have an early dinner and then my wife and I will pack up and get our son ready for bed. Once he's set, we'll get him in the car seat where he'll hopefully sleep on our way to Best Western Disney Springs. My brother- and sister-in-law will be staying there for a few days going to the parks and my parents will be staying right down the road at my brother's apartment to take care of his dogs while he's on his honeymoon, so we're all going to spend some time together in the parks with my son. And that brings us to the "Disney trip firsts" for me.
THE FIRSTS
1) Aside from driving in from my parents' house once or twice, I've never stayed at "off-property" hotels. I know we're technically on-property at Disney Springs but they're not actual Disney hotels. We'll have shuttles, apparently, but I haven't looked into their schedules yet. They don't drop off right at the main gates at Magic Kingdom, I'm assuming. I would guess TTC? Being that we do get to use Extra Magic Hours on Saturday for Magic Kingdom starting at 7am, that will be a very early morning if we want to make it in time to take advantage going through TTC. I guess a Minnie Van is an option if we want to save a little travel time? I assume they will pick you up at non-Disney hotels as long as they're on property?
2) This will probably be my shortest Disney trip ever. Since we have to fly back Monday out of Tampa, we'll be spending all day Saturday at Magic Kingdom and most of the day Sunday at Animal Kingdom, then driving back to my parents' that night. We won't have park hopper passes, which is another first for me. Saturday will easily be filled entirely with Magic Kingdom - hopefully open to close - and then since we have to drive back to Tampa Sunday night, we'll only have time for one park; I doubt we'll even make it until 8pm when AK closes since we won't want to drive back too late.
THE HIGHLIGHTS (hopefully)
Knowing how limited the time would be, we didn't even consider going at all until just recently. Over the past couple of months, our son is all of the sudden recognizing and naming all of the characters, interested in the cartoons/movies, and getting especially obsessed with Mickey, Minnie, and the Winnie the Pooh characters. Because of that, we decided to make it work getting him to the parks since we'll already be so close. We'll do all we can but the highlights will be meeting Mickey in the morning (FastPass), lunch at Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and Friends (11am reservation), and going on the Winnie the Pooh ride. The only thing I wish we could do with him but won't have time is the Lightning McQueen Racing Academy at Hollywood Studios because his number one favorite right now is Cars. Oh well, we can only do so much. Magic Kingdom is a must and we feel like overall there will be more he'll enjoy at Animal Kingdom vs Hollywood Studios on Sunday.
FASTPASSES AND RESERVATION BOOKED
Saturday at Magic Kingdom:
- Meet Mickey Mouse at Town Square Theater 8:30am-9:30am
- Space Mountain 9:30am-10:30am
- Splash Mountain 10:35am-11:30am
- Lunch at Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and Friends
Sunday at Animal Kingdom:
- Expedition Everest 9:25am-10:25am
- Kilimanjaro Safaris 11:00am-12:00pm
- Na'vi River Journey 12:00pm-1:00pm
Meet Mickey was a must, along with the lunch at Crystal Palace. Normally, I would never "waste" the time booking a sit-down meal when I have less than two days in the parks. That said, I think it's actually going to be a better use of time to combine eating lunch with having my son meet all of the Winnie the Pooh characters, being that meeting the Winnie the Pooh characters was one of our primary motivations for deciding to make this short trip work.
As far as the others go, Space Mountain is my favorite. I originally had Peter Pan for 10:30am but my wife really wanted to go on Splash Mountain and I know how hard it can be to get that one same day, so I swapped. I always stick with the philosophy of "the more fun my wife has, the better chance of us coming back sooner" haha. If we don't get on Peter Pan that day, I'm not sweating it.
Everest? Of course. Safaris? We brought my son to Disney for his first birthday and this was probably his favorite thing of the entire trip, so a definite for this one. And finally, Na'vi River Journey is new for me and my wife. We went on Flight of Passage on that last trip but never got to Na'vi, so we figured that would be a good one with our son.
Aside from that, it will be a lot of wandering, snacking, and grabbing other FastPasses as we can. We'll hit as many of the rides that are good for my son as possible, then do rider swap for the others or my parents will watch him if they aren't interested in going on a ride (they live an hour away and are annual passholders, so they already get to the parks quite a bit and don't mind watching him if my wife and I want to go on a ride or two here and there).
LET'S GO!
Even with it being a very short trip and not staying at a Disney hotel, I'm still getting very excited to watch my son's reactions to the characters and be back at my favorite place for a couple of days! Our first trip with him at 12 months old was fun but he was still small enough that it was much more for our memories and seeing family who met us there. Now, he's old enough that he's solidly into toddler range and enjoys all KINDS of things, seeing characters, and even just running around as much as possible (he's been walking since 9 months, so he's a sprinter now...). What better place to do that than Disney?!
Mickey premium bars, here I come!
Friday late afternoon / evening, we'll have an early dinner and then my wife and I will pack up and get our son ready for bed. Once he's set, we'll get him in the car seat where he'll hopefully sleep on our way to Best Western Disney Springs. My brother- and sister-in-law will be staying there for a few days going to the parks and my parents will be staying right down the road at my brother's apartment to take care of his dogs while he's on his honeymoon, so we're all going to spend some time together in the parks with my son. And that brings us to the "Disney trip firsts" for me.
THE FIRSTS
1) Aside from driving in from my parents' house once or twice, I've never stayed at "off-property" hotels. I know we're technically on-property at Disney Springs but they're not actual Disney hotels. We'll have shuttles, apparently, but I haven't looked into their schedules yet. They don't drop off right at the main gates at Magic Kingdom, I'm assuming. I would guess TTC? Being that we do get to use Extra Magic Hours on Saturday for Magic Kingdom starting at 7am, that will be a very early morning if we want to make it in time to take advantage going through TTC. I guess a Minnie Van is an option if we want to save a little travel time? I assume they will pick you up at non-Disney hotels as long as they're on property?
2) This will probably be my shortest Disney trip ever. Since we have to fly back Monday out of Tampa, we'll be spending all day Saturday at Magic Kingdom and most of the day Sunday at Animal Kingdom, then driving back to my parents' that night. We won't have park hopper passes, which is another first for me. Saturday will easily be filled entirely with Magic Kingdom - hopefully open to close - and then since we have to drive back to Tampa Sunday night, we'll only have time for one park; I doubt we'll even make it until 8pm when AK closes since we won't want to drive back too late.
THE HIGHLIGHTS (hopefully)
Knowing how limited the time would be, we didn't even consider going at all until just recently. Over the past couple of months, our son is all of the sudden recognizing and naming all of the characters, interested in the cartoons/movies, and getting especially obsessed with Mickey, Minnie, and the Winnie the Pooh characters. Because of that, we decided to make it work getting him to the parks since we'll already be so close. We'll do all we can but the highlights will be meeting Mickey in the morning (FastPass), lunch at Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and Friends (11am reservation), and going on the Winnie the Pooh ride. The only thing I wish we could do with him but won't have time is the Lightning McQueen Racing Academy at Hollywood Studios because his number one favorite right now is Cars. Oh well, we can only do so much. Magic Kingdom is a must and we feel like overall there will be more he'll enjoy at Animal Kingdom vs Hollywood Studios on Sunday.
FASTPASSES AND RESERVATION BOOKED
Saturday at Magic Kingdom:
- Meet Mickey Mouse at Town Square Theater 8:30am-9:30am
- Space Mountain 9:30am-10:30am
- Splash Mountain 10:35am-11:30am
- Lunch at Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and Friends
Sunday at Animal Kingdom:
- Expedition Everest 9:25am-10:25am
- Kilimanjaro Safaris 11:00am-12:00pm
- Na'vi River Journey 12:00pm-1:00pm
Meet Mickey was a must, along with the lunch at Crystal Palace. Normally, I would never "waste" the time booking a sit-down meal when I have less than two days in the parks. That said, I think it's actually going to be a better use of time to combine eating lunch with having my son meet all of the Winnie the Pooh characters, being that meeting the Winnie the Pooh characters was one of our primary motivations for deciding to make this short trip work.
As far as the others go, Space Mountain is my favorite. I originally had Peter Pan for 10:30am but my wife really wanted to go on Splash Mountain and I know how hard it can be to get that one same day, so I swapped. I always stick with the philosophy of "the more fun my wife has, the better chance of us coming back sooner" haha. If we don't get on Peter Pan that day, I'm not sweating it.
Everest? Of course. Safaris? We brought my son to Disney for his first birthday and this was probably his favorite thing of the entire trip, so a definite for this one. And finally, Na'vi River Journey is new for me and my wife. We went on Flight of Passage on that last trip but never got to Na'vi, so we figured that would be a good one with our son.
Aside from that, it will be a lot of wandering, snacking, and grabbing other FastPasses as we can. We'll hit as many of the rides that are good for my son as possible, then do rider swap for the others or my parents will watch him if they aren't interested in going on a ride (they live an hour away and are annual passholders, so they already get to the parks quite a bit and don't mind watching him if my wife and I want to go on a ride or two here and there).
LET'S GO!
Even with it being a very short trip and not staying at a Disney hotel, I'm still getting very excited to watch my son's reactions to the characters and be back at my favorite place for a couple of days! Our first trip with him at 12 months old was fun but he was still small enough that it was much more for our memories and seeing family who met us there. Now, he's old enough that he's solidly into toddler range and enjoys all KINDS of things, seeing characters, and even just running around as much as possible (he's been walking since 9 months, so he's a sprinter now...). What better place to do that than Disney?!
Mickey premium bars, here I come!
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