littlepoppy
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2022
When my boyfriend's job sent him to Orlando for a conference, I figured I'd tag along and hit up Disney World for a day or two. Tickets were discounted through his conference, we used airline miles for free flights, and his job covered the hotel. So I was looking at expenses of:
$200 for a two-day ParkHopper ticket
$100-$150 for Lyft
$ god knows how much on food and drink, lol
Anyway, a sub $750 vacation to Disney, why the heck not.
Our first day was poorly planned -- we arrived late, and didn't know how ParkHopper or Genie+ worked. My boyfriend headed back to the hotel after about 5 hours and five rides. He's really not a Disney person, and I get it. At that point I had the next 5-6 hours to myself, and used that time to hit up the pool bar at Grand Floridian, take the free boat around the lake, and then duck on to Thunder and Space mountain a few times before heading home around 11pm.
The second was going to be a solo day for me, and I planned on hitting Disney as hard as I humanly could. I'm a very avid hiker and walker so minimizing steps was not something I would remotely consider. The more steps, the better -- it's all about not waiting in line! So, I made sure I did extensive research and as a result I feel like I nailed it. I was there at MK for rope drop, and immediately went to knock Dwarf Train off my list. That was one of two lines I waited in the whole day. From there I hit Jungle Cruise (no line), Thunder Mountain (no line), and Space Mountain 3x with no line, including one LL. After a coffee and a nice relaxing ride on the PeopleMover, I was done with Tomorrowland.
I snagged an early Haunted Mansion LL and on my way over, hit Small World (no line). While on Haunted Mansion I booked a Pirates LL for immediately after, then hit Pirates, then hit Splash Mountain 2x (no line) waiting for my Thunder Mountain LL. After Thunder, I snagged a Splash LL for my last-ever ride on that classic.
The park was getting busy at that point -- it was about 1pm -- and I was starving. I'm vegetarian, and, while I appreciate MK's new plant-based options, fried food isn't really my thing. So I grabbed an espresso and hopped on the Monorail for Epcot, landing there at about 1:45pm.
They let me in for ParkHopper early and the first thing I did was book a LL for Remy and jump into the Cosmic Rewind virtual queue. From there I made my way to France, enjoying some great vegetarian food from Mexico. Absolutely worth waiting to eat lunch. Did Remy, then booked an LL for Soarin' and Test Drive (not until 5pm and 7pm -- eek) so decided to spent those intervening hours eating and drinking my way around the world. I watched the Canada film, took a looooong break on a bench, and then figured I should get in line for Frozen.
Frozen was the longest line I waited in, and my god, was it long. I regretted not bringing a bottle of water in with me because it got HOT. I think I waited almost an hour. It was enjoyable, but ultimately not worth the wait. I only did it because I had some time to kill before my evening LLs kicked in.
From Frozen I hit Soarin', took a trip on Spaceship Earth, got dinner, and then did my Test Drive LL. Right after Test Drive I received the alert that my Cosmic Rewind group was boarding, so I finished my trip to Disney with a ride on the best roller coaster I have ever had the privilege of riding.
Took a Lyft back to my hotel, passed out, then flew back home to snowy New York.
$200 for a two-day ParkHopper ticket
$100-$150 for Lyft
$ god knows how much on food and drink, lol
Anyway, a sub $750 vacation to Disney, why the heck not.
Our first day was poorly planned -- we arrived late, and didn't know how ParkHopper or Genie+ worked. My boyfriend headed back to the hotel after about 5 hours and five rides. He's really not a Disney person, and I get it. At that point I had the next 5-6 hours to myself, and used that time to hit up the pool bar at Grand Floridian, take the free boat around the lake, and then duck on to Thunder and Space mountain a few times before heading home around 11pm.
The second was going to be a solo day for me, and I planned on hitting Disney as hard as I humanly could. I'm a very avid hiker and walker so minimizing steps was not something I would remotely consider. The more steps, the better -- it's all about not waiting in line! So, I made sure I did extensive research and as a result I feel like I nailed it. I was there at MK for rope drop, and immediately went to knock Dwarf Train off my list. That was one of two lines I waited in the whole day. From there I hit Jungle Cruise (no line), Thunder Mountain (no line), and Space Mountain 3x with no line, including one LL. After a coffee and a nice relaxing ride on the PeopleMover, I was done with Tomorrowland.
I snagged an early Haunted Mansion LL and on my way over, hit Small World (no line). While on Haunted Mansion I booked a Pirates LL for immediately after, then hit Pirates, then hit Splash Mountain 2x (no line) waiting for my Thunder Mountain LL. After Thunder, I snagged a Splash LL for my last-ever ride on that classic.
The park was getting busy at that point -- it was about 1pm -- and I was starving. I'm vegetarian, and, while I appreciate MK's new plant-based options, fried food isn't really my thing. So I grabbed an espresso and hopped on the Monorail for Epcot, landing there at about 1:45pm.
They let me in for ParkHopper early and the first thing I did was book a LL for Remy and jump into the Cosmic Rewind virtual queue. From there I made my way to France, enjoying some great vegetarian food from Mexico. Absolutely worth waiting to eat lunch. Did Remy, then booked an LL for Soarin' and Test Drive (not until 5pm and 7pm -- eek) so decided to spent those intervening hours eating and drinking my way around the world. I watched the Canada film, took a looooong break on a bench, and then figured I should get in line for Frozen.
Frozen was the longest line I waited in, and my god, was it long. I regretted not bringing a bottle of water in with me because it got HOT. I think I waited almost an hour. It was enjoyable, but ultimately not worth the wait. I only did it because I had some time to kill before my evening LLs kicked in.
From Frozen I hit Soarin', took a trip on Spaceship Earth, got dinner, and then did my Test Drive LL. Right after Test Drive I received the alert that my Cosmic Rewind group was boarding, so I finished my trip to Disney with a ride on the best roller coaster I have ever had the privilege of riding.
Took a Lyft back to my hotel, passed out, then flew back home to snowy New York.
