Jennkneefir
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2021
Hello! I know that some folks write gloriously detailed and hilarious trip reports but my writing skills aren’t quite up to that level. I thought it might still be worth writing out a brief description of our successes and failures on our recent trip to Walt Disney World!
Our group - family of 4 (kids = 9 and 6), one set of grandparents, and me (aunt).
Accommodations - Fort Wilderness Campground with rental RV.
Transportation - Disney busses/boats, and a rental golf cart from Fort Wilderness.
Parks - 6 days (waaayyyyy too many).
We flew in on Friday, September 9 and departed today, Friday September 16th.
Day 1 - Arrival - landed around 1pm and headed to the resort via Sunshine Flyer bus service. Busses were quick, easy, and reasonably priced. Would recommend. Arrived at Fort Wilderness and checked in. It was a bit of a slow check-in, but we made it to our campsite by a reasonable time. Kids went for a swim at the pool before we grabbed dinner at Trails End (family style). Food was fine, but I wouldn’t have sought it out if I weren’t staying at Fort Wilderness.
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom - Early entry and rope dropped mine train. Lines were short and wait times low. Finished up all of fantasyland, Adventureland, and most of Frontierland. Everyone was overheating by 11am. Lots of water and AC breaks were necessary. Most of the group attended a 4pm Cinderella’s Royal Table reservation. I skipped this and grabbed quick service and hopped onto a few rides. Finished up at MK around 7pm.
Day 3 - Animal Kingdom - Early entry/rope drop again. Made the mistake of thinking Kilimanjaro Safaris would be open for early entry (it wasn’t) so we wandered around the tree of life and snapped some photos before we were let into Africa and could get in line. Today was hot and humid. We all cooked and everyone was grumpy/tired pretty early. We ended up cancelling our evening reservations for Boma and ordered pizza at Fort Wilderness instead.
Day 4 - Hollywood Studios - another rope drop/early entry. Lines were LONG!! Holy smokes. When the park opened Rise of the Resistance, Tower of Terror, and Rock n rollercoaster were all closed. We had planned on going straight to rise so we jumped on Smugglers run instead before heading to Toy story mania. Slinky was already 100+ mins by 930 so we grabbed a snack and watched a few shows. Ended up leaving the park without riding slinky or rock n.
Day 5 - Epcot - Rope drop/early entry….again. Everyone was tired by this point. We had successfully grabbed boarding group 16 for Guardians so we rope dropped test track and then mission space before being called at 1015am for guardians. Half the group headed back to the resort around 1pm while a few of us wandered around the world showcase. We met back together at 6pm for dinner at Teppan Edo. Some of us stayed until fireworks and closed down the park.
Day 6 - Magic Kingdom x 2 - Early start but not a rope drop (finally). Wait times were long today. We planned to ride all the Tomorrowland rides and revisit a few of our favourites from day 1 (Haunted mansion, splash, big thunder) but the heat and crowds chased most of us back to the resort by noon-ish for a swim and rest. Most of the group (minus me) went to Story Book for a 630pm dinner reservation. After dinner we met back up at Magic for a few more rides, and fireworks. There had been a big storm and a bundle of the rides had closed down. Splash took the longest to re-open but we got into a 50 min line at 815pm. It was perfectly timed for us to be on the ride during the fireworks. Super fun. Went straight to a 15 min wait on big thunder and caught some fireworks from there as well.
Day 7 - Hollywood Studios - We we’re all exhausted at this point. Arrived close-ish to open and waited for about 40 mins to get through security and into the park. It was absolutely packed but we waited in a 70 minute slinky line because it was a “must-do” for the kids. 2 of us adults did single-rider for rock n rollercoaster. It took about 35 mins to get through the line and ride. Did some shopping after before leaving the park. 630 pm reservation for hoop-de-doo.
Today - departure day! Packed up this morning and we’re currently waiting to board our plane!
The good/successes -
1) Loved Fort Wilderness campground and the freedom afforded to us with an RV rental. We cooked our own breakfast each morning in our full kitchen. The boats to magic kingdom were quick and convenient! We ordered grocery delivery (including some beer and baileys) and saved $$$ doing some of our own meals.
2) Having 2 days at Magic Kingdom. This was sooo nice and alleviated pressure to see it all in one day. I would have felt rushed if we only had one day planned.
3) packed snacks. We had granola bars, candy, and fresh fruit with us each day. This was an absolute life saver for all of us. Sometimes you don’t want to have to spend $10-15 every time someone is feeling nibbly.
4) The snacks!! We had so many tasty snacks. We planned for one savoury and one sweet/cold snack per park day. The highlights - brioche ice cream sandwich from France in Epcot. Allllll the dole whips. Joffreys cold brew. Zucchini ronto wrap (I’m mostly vegetarian) was the best thing I ate in any of the parks. Mr. Kamals fries from Animal Kingdom.
5) Sunshine flyers bus service. Quick, easy, cheap. If you’re looking for transport from airport to your resort I would definitely recommend them.
6) Cast members. I know some folks have been discussing how the quality of Disney has been dropping, but as a non-regular Disney visitor I didn’t notice any grumpiness or poor interactions. Everyone was kind, patient, and helpful. A few cast members took extra time and effort to interact with the kids and help make their days special.
The bad -
1) Not planning down days. This decision was out of my hands as I was tagging along with family on their dream vacation, but it because extremely apparent by day 2 that the kids were going to burn out, and burn out they did. The heat, walking, and long days filled with excitement were exhausting for them. There was too much pressure placed on rope dropping and park time vs relaxing and enjoying the resort. I totally understand why people constantly suggest afternoons at the resorts or days off between park days. Don’t underestimate how tiring these days are!!!
2) too many dining reservations to work around. Building off of my previous point, there were multiple days where we didn’t have enough time to go back to the resort for a rest because we only had x amount of time before our dinner reservation. We had one booked each day. Next time I would only book dinner every second day.
3) too many rope drop days. Again, similar to my first point I would have preferred to try and open or close a park. Never both. The adults could do it, but the grandparents and kids were not enjoying themselves after 6 hours in the park.
4) 2 Days in Hollywood studios. By our last park day we didn’t really care where we were, but the combo of long lines and a crowded park kind of deterred us from sticking around. I think we would have preferred preferred 2 days in Animal Kingdom or Epcot over Hollywood.
5) some patrons. We had a few weird interactions with folks while there that left a sour taste in our mouths. Luckily they were pretty tame, but it certainly made me empathize with the cast members and the struggles they must experience each day while dealing with the public. During hoop-de-doo we were asked where we were from, and when we answered Canada a table behind us booed us….which was a bit jarring and weird. Another time while boarding Pirates a couple (looked to be in their 50’s) tried to shove in front of my 9 year old niece and I to get on the boat ahead of us. When I (politely) informed her it was our row she got super sassy and rude until the cast member intervened, at which point she did a 180 and apologized sweetly (“I didn’t know”.
Anywho! We all did have a great time, but certainly learned some lessons. Like I mentioned earlier in the post, I was tagging along on a family trip so I didn’t have a ton of influence over the hard logistics of the trip, but I learned lots and have a good idea of how I would book/schedule any future trips I were to take.
Thank you!!
Our group - family of 4 (kids = 9 and 6), one set of grandparents, and me (aunt).
Accommodations - Fort Wilderness Campground with rental RV.
Transportation - Disney busses/boats, and a rental golf cart from Fort Wilderness.
Parks - 6 days (waaayyyyy too many).
We flew in on Friday, September 9 and departed today, Friday September 16th.
Day 1 - Arrival - landed around 1pm and headed to the resort via Sunshine Flyer bus service. Busses were quick, easy, and reasonably priced. Would recommend. Arrived at Fort Wilderness and checked in. It was a bit of a slow check-in, but we made it to our campsite by a reasonable time. Kids went for a swim at the pool before we grabbed dinner at Trails End (family style). Food was fine, but I wouldn’t have sought it out if I weren’t staying at Fort Wilderness.
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom - Early entry and rope dropped mine train. Lines were short and wait times low. Finished up all of fantasyland, Adventureland, and most of Frontierland. Everyone was overheating by 11am. Lots of water and AC breaks were necessary. Most of the group attended a 4pm Cinderella’s Royal Table reservation. I skipped this and grabbed quick service and hopped onto a few rides. Finished up at MK around 7pm.
Day 3 - Animal Kingdom - Early entry/rope drop again. Made the mistake of thinking Kilimanjaro Safaris would be open for early entry (it wasn’t) so we wandered around the tree of life and snapped some photos before we were let into Africa and could get in line. Today was hot and humid. We all cooked and everyone was grumpy/tired pretty early. We ended up cancelling our evening reservations for Boma and ordered pizza at Fort Wilderness instead.
Day 4 - Hollywood Studios - another rope drop/early entry. Lines were LONG!! Holy smokes. When the park opened Rise of the Resistance, Tower of Terror, and Rock n rollercoaster were all closed. We had planned on going straight to rise so we jumped on Smugglers run instead before heading to Toy story mania. Slinky was already 100+ mins by 930 so we grabbed a snack and watched a few shows. Ended up leaving the park without riding slinky or rock n.
Day 5 - Epcot - Rope drop/early entry….again. Everyone was tired by this point. We had successfully grabbed boarding group 16 for Guardians so we rope dropped test track and then mission space before being called at 1015am for guardians. Half the group headed back to the resort around 1pm while a few of us wandered around the world showcase. We met back together at 6pm for dinner at Teppan Edo. Some of us stayed until fireworks and closed down the park.
Day 6 - Magic Kingdom x 2 - Early start but not a rope drop (finally). Wait times were long today. We planned to ride all the Tomorrowland rides and revisit a few of our favourites from day 1 (Haunted mansion, splash, big thunder) but the heat and crowds chased most of us back to the resort by noon-ish for a swim and rest. Most of the group (minus me) went to Story Book for a 630pm dinner reservation. After dinner we met back up at Magic for a few more rides, and fireworks. There had been a big storm and a bundle of the rides had closed down. Splash took the longest to re-open but we got into a 50 min line at 815pm. It was perfectly timed for us to be on the ride during the fireworks. Super fun. Went straight to a 15 min wait on big thunder and caught some fireworks from there as well.
Day 7 - Hollywood Studios - We we’re all exhausted at this point. Arrived close-ish to open and waited for about 40 mins to get through security and into the park. It was absolutely packed but we waited in a 70 minute slinky line because it was a “must-do” for the kids. 2 of us adults did single-rider for rock n rollercoaster. It took about 35 mins to get through the line and ride. Did some shopping after before leaving the park. 630 pm reservation for hoop-de-doo.
Today - departure day! Packed up this morning and we’re currently waiting to board our plane!
The good/successes -
1) Loved Fort Wilderness campground and the freedom afforded to us with an RV rental. We cooked our own breakfast each morning in our full kitchen. The boats to magic kingdom were quick and convenient! We ordered grocery delivery (including some beer and baileys) and saved $$$ doing some of our own meals.
2) Having 2 days at Magic Kingdom. This was sooo nice and alleviated pressure to see it all in one day. I would have felt rushed if we only had one day planned.
3) packed snacks. We had granola bars, candy, and fresh fruit with us each day. This was an absolute life saver for all of us. Sometimes you don’t want to have to spend $10-15 every time someone is feeling nibbly.
4) The snacks!! We had so many tasty snacks. We planned for one savoury and one sweet/cold snack per park day. The highlights - brioche ice cream sandwich from France in Epcot. Allllll the dole whips. Joffreys cold brew. Zucchini ronto wrap (I’m mostly vegetarian) was the best thing I ate in any of the parks. Mr. Kamals fries from Animal Kingdom.
5) Sunshine flyers bus service. Quick, easy, cheap. If you’re looking for transport from airport to your resort I would definitely recommend them.
6) Cast members. I know some folks have been discussing how the quality of Disney has been dropping, but as a non-regular Disney visitor I didn’t notice any grumpiness or poor interactions. Everyone was kind, patient, and helpful. A few cast members took extra time and effort to interact with the kids and help make their days special.
The bad -
1) Not planning down days. This decision was out of my hands as I was tagging along with family on their dream vacation, but it because extremely apparent by day 2 that the kids were going to burn out, and burn out they did. The heat, walking, and long days filled with excitement were exhausting for them. There was too much pressure placed on rope dropping and park time vs relaxing and enjoying the resort. I totally understand why people constantly suggest afternoons at the resorts or days off between park days. Don’t underestimate how tiring these days are!!!
2) too many dining reservations to work around. Building off of my previous point, there were multiple days where we didn’t have enough time to go back to the resort for a rest because we only had x amount of time before our dinner reservation. We had one booked each day. Next time I would only book dinner every second day.
3) too many rope drop days. Again, similar to my first point I would have preferred to try and open or close a park. Never both. The adults could do it, but the grandparents and kids were not enjoying themselves after 6 hours in the park.
4) 2 Days in Hollywood studios. By our last park day we didn’t really care where we were, but the combo of long lines and a crowded park kind of deterred us from sticking around. I think we would have preferred preferred 2 days in Animal Kingdom or Epcot over Hollywood.
5) some patrons. We had a few weird interactions with folks while there that left a sour taste in our mouths. Luckily they were pretty tame, but it certainly made me empathize with the cast members and the struggles they must experience each day while dealing with the public. During hoop-de-doo we were asked where we were from, and when we answered Canada a table behind us booed us….which was a bit jarring and weird. Another time while boarding Pirates a couple (looked to be in their 50’s) tried to shove in front of my 9 year old niece and I to get on the boat ahead of us. When I (politely) informed her it was our row she got super sassy and rude until the cast member intervened, at which point she did a 180 and apologized sweetly (“I didn’t know”.
Anywho! We all did have a great time, but certainly learned some lessons. Like I mentioned earlier in the post, I was tagging along on a family trip so I didn’t have a ton of influence over the hard logistics of the trip, but I learned lots and have a good idea of how I would book/schedule any future trips I were to take.
Thank you!!
