TISHLOVESDISNEY
It all started with a duck.
- Joined
- May 9, 2007
SO we are finally adjusting to being back in the real world...
We drove down, my first roadtrip to Disney without DH, from Iowa. Myself, DD22, DD15, DS13, DS5 and DGS8months.
I was nervous, but it went smooth. We did drive to Panama City Beach first for 2 nights (Fantastic Resort there and beaches!), so skipped driving thru Atlanta
(Started our Orlando trip at Loews Portofino on Tuesday the 11th, 1 day park to park on Wednesday, with EP now for Harry Potter, fantastic experience there.)
We had split stays.
BC Wed-Sat, then walking to Epcot, boating to DHS.
Poly Sat-Mon, doing MK Sun and Monday. monorail of course
AKKV Monday-Wednesday, doing AK Tuesday. We drove to AK, easy and painless.
We used Disney to transfer our bags between resorts, (except for a few bags we needed with us) and that was fantastic! They came to our room, loaded them up, and then delivered to our room when we called them.
I will never hesitate to split stay for convenience to parks, it was fantastic to not have to bus anywhere with our crew.
We toured our days RD to lunchtime, went back to resorts to swim and relax, returning around dinner time, and this worked great for our days. It was hot, yes, but the temps at home in Iowa were the exact same, so it helped us knowing we'd get the same if we were home.
We spent time in stores for AC during swaps, we had a stroller fan I got from Amazon that was rechargeable and pretty powerful, loved it! We also invested in an extendable shade off Amazon, since we had a sit/stand double stroller, it was nice to have the whole thing shaded.
The resorts we stayed in gave us a huge water bottle everyday, so that was nice to bring with to the parks.
We had fantastic days at the parks, crowds didn't seem too bad, except after the HEA dessert party and leaving.
And then again at RD at AK, but once they opened Pandora, it went smooth.
We were able to grab 4th FPs at MK, and then snagged TSMM for 5 at DHS so some of us rode it 2x. (Older kids had RR FPs first)
NO issues with rider swap at any parks, I had read reports of people being denied, etc, but we never had an issue. We did a few SB lines, but most headliners we had FPs split.
We didn't rider swap at FOP with FP, we RD'd it, got the swap, and then had FPs later. (WE rode 2x, fantastic ride)
Meets:
Did Baymax meet, lotsa fun. Fp'd characters at Epcot, fun to get those pics, note, Donald was out close to gates at DHS in his blue sailor suit! I was very excited for this pic.
Did the Guardians of Galaxy meet, it was ok, he tried.
Best character experience was Chewie, and then Donald at TH. He was fantastic, and came to our table 2x just bcuz he knew we were Donald fans.
(SW characters are covered in my dessert party review below.)
Surprise note: My kids thoroughly enjoyed the Frozen Sing a long. Even DS13. Hilarious show, I'd say a must do filler!
WE did a lot of extras:
Friday:SW dessert party on a tour night-no issues, we arrived a little later, 8:30ish I think, still found a bar like table thing in the corner to use, the Jawas were out, and one LOVED my DGS, and DGS loved it, laughing away. We did the meet n greets with no waits really, which was so much fun. LOVED my whole crew meeting Chewie (DS5 and I met him Jan 16) I AM A FAN.
Kylo Ren was as intimidating as ever, I think he talked more this trip, talking to almost all of us. Good fun.
BB8 was cute too, DS5 loved that meet.
Fireworks show was great, enjoyed it a lot!
Saturday: SOA We really enjoyed the luau. The story didn't bother us, we were busy eating, the actual luau part was fantastic. I got us Cat 1, front and center.
Sunday: EMM, LOVED this experience. Kids had a blast riding SDMT 5x, then seeing the waits later at 130 minutes...
*We did the Memento Mori pictures. Kids loved this experience, pictures are awesome.
HEA dessert party-BEST SHOW. LOVED.
Monday: CRT 10:10, fun experience for the kids to eat in the castle. Ordered specialty dessert for DD15's sweet 16 celebration, it was cute.
Tiana's ice cream social. Here's the catch on this. The boat was broken, so we had a roped off area that was FANTASTIC views of parade, and they gave us each 2 anytime FPs. We had planned to leave shortly after, so we did Buzz, and then saw a family at the end of the line in a 60 minute wait in the sun for Buzz, so we gave them 5 Fps. They were very appreciative.
On the way out we asked a photographer if he did magic shots on Mainstreet, and he did the balloon one. So my DD22 is the one "floating away" on her tippy toes, DD15 is holding on to DD22's hand, DS13 is holding DD15's hand, and then DS5 is last holding DS13's hand with both hands and looking like he is fighting to hold them all. It really is a great pic in front of the castle of my kids.
Tuesday we had ROL planned, but since EE was shut down earlier from rain, we had an anytime FPs, and opted for EE in the dark instead, FANTASTIC experience for all of us. We watched ROL a little from the bridge on our way to DInosaur.
Oh, note on Safari-We did it right after the rain, and just before sundown. It was our best experience. Lion was roaring, animals all active, it was good.
Lots of meals, B&C for desserts, GG, Via Napoli, Scifi lunch, H&V dinner (LOVED the characters here, fun and cute outfits),
Bon Voyage BF (Not fans unfortunately, characters were cute tho), Homecoming, BOG dinner, Boma dinner, TH BF/lunch
Would I drive again? in a heartbeat. Would I go again in summer, absolutely! Don't have to pull my kids out of school!
I truly loved this vacation, we had a few moments dealing with grumpy guests, and my kids got on each others' nerves a few times
, but nothing that ruined the trip. AND my DDs ended up throwing up in the car ride home for our 2nd day of driving. 
Either from Wendys the night before, or picked up something at Disney.(I never had issues, my DS13 did once we were home, DS5 did at the hotel the night before)
I asked a Walgreens worker for extra bags, after we left the hotel before our 13 hour drive,and he gave me about 30, so we made the trip with those bags. I may have to write a letter thanking him!!
Good times, great memories! Now back to my 500 pics to decide which ones to enlarge.
We drove down, my first roadtrip to Disney without DH, from Iowa. Myself, DD22, DD15, DS13, DS5 and DGS8months.
I was nervous, but it went smooth. We did drive to Panama City Beach first for 2 nights (Fantastic Resort there and beaches!), so skipped driving thru Atlanta
(Started our Orlando trip at Loews Portofino on Tuesday the 11th, 1 day park to park on Wednesday, with EP now for Harry Potter, fantastic experience there.)
We had split stays.
BC Wed-Sat, then walking to Epcot, boating to DHS.
Poly Sat-Mon, doing MK Sun and Monday. monorail of course
AKKV Monday-Wednesday, doing AK Tuesday. We drove to AK, easy and painless.
We used Disney to transfer our bags between resorts, (except for a few bags we needed with us) and that was fantastic! They came to our room, loaded them up, and then delivered to our room when we called them.
I will never hesitate to split stay for convenience to parks, it was fantastic to not have to bus anywhere with our crew.
We toured our days RD to lunchtime, went back to resorts to swim and relax, returning around dinner time, and this worked great for our days. It was hot, yes, but the temps at home in Iowa were the exact same, so it helped us knowing we'd get the same if we were home.
We spent time in stores for AC during swaps, we had a stroller fan I got from Amazon that was rechargeable and pretty powerful, loved it! We also invested in an extendable shade off Amazon, since we had a sit/stand double stroller, it was nice to have the whole thing shaded.
The resorts we stayed in gave us a huge water bottle everyday, so that was nice to bring with to the parks.
We had fantastic days at the parks, crowds didn't seem too bad, except after the HEA dessert party and leaving.
And then again at RD at AK, but once they opened Pandora, it went smooth.We were able to grab 4th FPs at MK, and then snagged TSMM for 5 at DHS so some of us rode it 2x. (Older kids had RR FPs first)
NO issues with rider swap at any parks, I had read reports of people being denied, etc, but we never had an issue. We did a few SB lines, but most headliners we had FPs split.
We didn't rider swap at FOP with FP, we RD'd it, got the swap, and then had FPs later. (WE rode 2x, fantastic ride)
Meets:
Did Baymax meet, lotsa fun. Fp'd characters at Epcot, fun to get those pics, note, Donald was out close to gates at DHS in his blue sailor suit! I was very excited for this pic.
Did the Guardians of Galaxy meet, it was ok, he tried.
Best character experience was Chewie, and then Donald at TH. He was fantastic, and came to our table 2x just bcuz he knew we were Donald fans.
(SW characters are covered in my dessert party review below.)
Surprise note: My kids thoroughly enjoyed the Frozen Sing a long. Even DS13. Hilarious show, I'd say a must do filler!
WE did a lot of extras:
Friday:SW dessert party on a tour night-no issues, we arrived a little later, 8:30ish I think, still found a bar like table thing in the corner to use, the Jawas were out, and one LOVED my DGS, and DGS loved it, laughing away. We did the meet n greets with no waits really, which was so much fun. LOVED my whole crew meeting Chewie (DS5 and I met him Jan 16) I AM A FAN.
Kylo Ren was as intimidating as ever, I think he talked more this trip, talking to almost all of us. Good fun.
BB8 was cute too, DS5 loved that meet.
Fireworks show was great, enjoyed it a lot!
Saturday: SOA We really enjoyed the luau. The story didn't bother us, we were busy eating, the actual luau part was fantastic. I got us Cat 1, front and center.
Sunday: EMM, LOVED this experience. Kids had a blast riding SDMT 5x, then seeing the waits later at 130 minutes...
*We did the Memento Mori pictures. Kids loved this experience, pictures are awesome.
HEA dessert party-BEST SHOW. LOVED.
Monday: CRT 10:10, fun experience for the kids to eat in the castle. Ordered specialty dessert for DD15's sweet 16 celebration, it was cute.
Tiana's ice cream social. Here's the catch on this. The boat was broken, so we had a roped off area that was FANTASTIC views of parade, and they gave us each 2 anytime FPs. We had planned to leave shortly after, so we did Buzz, and then saw a family at the end of the line in a 60 minute wait in the sun for Buzz, so we gave them 5 Fps. They were very appreciative.
On the way out we asked a photographer if he did magic shots on Mainstreet, and he did the balloon one. So my DD22 is the one "floating away" on her tippy toes, DD15 is holding on to DD22's hand, DS13 is holding DD15's hand, and then DS5 is last holding DS13's hand with both hands and looking like he is fighting to hold them all. It really is a great pic in front of the castle of my kids.
Tuesday we had ROL planned, but since EE was shut down earlier from rain, we had an anytime FPs, and opted for EE in the dark instead, FANTASTIC experience for all of us. We watched ROL a little from the bridge on our way to DInosaur.
Oh, note on Safari-We did it right after the rain, and just before sundown. It was our best experience. Lion was roaring, animals all active, it was good.
Lots of meals, B&C for desserts, GG, Via Napoli, Scifi lunch, H&V dinner (LOVED the characters here, fun and cute outfits),
Bon Voyage BF (Not fans unfortunately, characters were cute tho), Homecoming, BOG dinner, Boma dinner, TH BF/lunch
Would I drive again? in a heartbeat. Would I go again in summer, absolutely! Don't have to pull my kids out of school!
I truly loved this vacation, we had a few moments dealing with grumpy guests, and my kids got on each others' nerves a few times
, but nothing that ruined the trip. AND my DDs ended up throwing up in the car ride home for our 2nd day of driving. Either from Wendys the night before, or picked up something at Disney.(I never had issues, my DS13 did once we were home, DS5 did at the hotel the night before)I asked a Walgreens worker for extra bags, after we left the hotel before our 13 hour drive,and he gave me about 30, so we made the trip with those bags. I may have to write a letter thanking him!!
Good times, great memories! Now back to my 500 pics to decide which ones to enlarge.
