sdk1231
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2017
Having just gone to WDW for NYE, I wasn't planning anything for Spring Break this year. However, as the break grew near, I started thinking "What am I going to do with my 2 teens in cold boring Chicago?". Well, I upped and decided to go to Disney World, with a two week advance.
Fortunately we're not novices to WDW. We typically stay at the MK resorts, but this time opted for a change by spending time at Epcot. I hate Epcot, but with the Flower & Garden Festival, I figured I could handle it. I booked a Standard room at the Beach Club, about all that was available. I jumped on it given the great reviews for Beach Club, and I wasn't disappointed. Our "standard" room came with a full balcony including table and 2 chairs and a view of the beach, the Lighthouse and the Boardwalk across the way. Unexpectedly nice.
I was able to get ADR's for Beaches & Cream lunch on arrival day lunch and Garden Grill for dinner. We enjoyed both, thought I have to say that Beaches & Cream is MASSIVELY over-hyped. It's a tiny ice cream shop with a couple booths and tiny dinette tables with equally tiny cane chairs. Yes, my patty melt was good. Was it great? No. Yes, the ice cream sundae we shared was good. Great? Not even close. We had a good time and it was handy, being at the Beach Club, but I would never, ever, under any circumstances go out of my way to eat there. I cancelled my 2nd lunch reservation for later in the week. Once was fine. Oh, and the famed "Kitchen Sink" $30 eight scoop ice cream extravaganza?? Yeah, it was cute and fun, I get it. But honestly it looked gross. My 13 year old ice cream fanatic even whispered "Ugh, that looks gross" as one went by.
Day 1 - Epcot. Fastpassed Spaceship Earth, Soarin, Frozen and the Land. I donated my fastpasses to the kids, but went on Spaceship Earth with them. It hadn't changed since I went on it in 1982. In fact, all of Epcot was just as I remembered it (hence my avoidance for the rest of my life). Ate dinner at Garden Grill. Decent food, good character interaction. My older daughter declared it her favorite WDW restaurant thus far. I didn't agree, but to each their own. After completing our last fastpasses by about 8PM, we grabbed 4th fastpasses for Illuminations. Fastpass viewing area was quite well positioned and I enjoyed Illuminations MUCH more than I thought I would. In fact, I really liked the show. My teens enjoyed all of Epcot.
Day 2 - Epcot and Hollywood Studios. We had ADR's for Cape May character breakfast at the Beach Club. Great characters, good interaction. Noticeably good coffee. The kids decided to go back to Epcot to chase down characters and do some fastpasses, which included Test Track. They had a great morning and I chilled out at the resort. I was fine doing this as they have SnapChat with family-only SnapMaps viewing, so I knew where they were, and they're teens. They picked up Fish & Chips from "England" for lunch on the way back. They were great. We spent some time at the pool in the afternoon before heading to Hollywood Studios via boat from the Beach Club at about 3:30pm. Super easy, super fast.
We got to HS and headed in through the very short security line. Walked into Frozen Sing Along, which was just starting. What the heck. We all kind of enjoyed that, surprisingly. We sang Let It Go really loud. Ha ha. We visited Olaf, who was one of the best character meets ever. Really fun. We had an ADR for an early dinner at 50's Prime Time, where we split meals and ordered the famous PB&J Shake, which really impressed the heck out of me. It was delicious. Yum!! I had fastpasses for Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania and Star Tours. The kids split those up, and also went to Red Carpet Dreams (the Mickey/Minnie meet) and Muppets 3D. By then it was time for the whole reason I went to HS... the Star Wars Galactic Spectacular Dessert Party. I'm a complete Star Wars geek and I had a blast visiting the Launch Bay exhibits, and doing visits with Chewbacca, Kylo Ren and BB8. Booze, soft drinks, juice and water were plentiful. The desserts and savory options were also plentiful. The kids tried a bunch of stuff, but I just had a couple of bites here and there. Nothing rocked my world, but the frozen Nutella was kind of interesting. We were led out to the viewing area shortly before the show. I am not a concrete-sitter, so I opted to stand and lean against the rail, about as comfortable option as it gets. The viewing area was CLOSE. Almost too close. But I would NOT have wanted to be back with the crowd, that's for sure. For me the Star Wars Dessert Party was totally worth it and the Galactic Spectacular was phenomenal. My older daughter is not a Star Wars fan, but still thought the show was amazing.
Day 3 - Epcot and Magic Kingdom. The kids again ran around Epcot and visited a bunch of the World Showcase countries. They grabbed breakfast at the bakery/patisserie in France. I again lounged at the hotel and enjoyed the almost completely empty adult Quiet Pool. Reading a book poolside in nearly perfect weather was wonderful. Meantime the kids were constantly in touch, texting me about various interesting items in World Showcase. They went over to the Boardwalk for lunch, grabbing pizza slices. They checked out the bakery and ice cream place and headed back for some pool time.
Around 3:00 we headed to the MK via Minnie Van. Don't even get me started on how much I love the Minnie Van service. We made it just in time to catch the afternoon parade in its entirety. We had an ADR for the Plaza at 4:00. We had to wait about 15 minutes past our reservation time, but that was no problem as we just hung out at the tables out front. For dinner we had sandwiches and milk shakes. I'll put the Plaza up against Beaches & Cream any day. I enjoy the service and ambiance at the Plaza, and the Main Street location. The shakes and sundaes there are great. So... let me reiterate. Do NOT get pulled into the Beaches & Cream hype. Just go to the Plaza. The take-out ice cream parlor even has it's own version of the "Kitchen Sink" if you really want to waste $30 on a big mess of ice cream scoope with all kinds of junk poured on it.
After dinner we fastpassed Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain and the kids did Splash Mountain. I sat that one out so I could book Space Mountain for my more adventurous younger daughter. After those rides, we headed over to Tomorrowland Terrace for the Happily Ever After Fireworks Dessert Party (Plaza View - the better view of the castle projections). We had a sundae from the sundae bar, and some drinks. We weren't interested in all the cupcakes and whatnot having eaten earlier, but were there for the reserved viewing area. That said, tables were plentiful, food was plentiful and we enjoyed the sit-down time. As the fireworks time grew close, we headed into the viewing area which was top notch. Once again my kids opted to relax on the ground (grass, thank god) while I leaned against the rail.
Happily Ever After was great, for what it was. The kids LOVED it and declared it much better than Wishes. I thought it was awesome and cool, but I never emotionally connected. At all. The kids on the other hand were hooked from the very first Happily Ever After song sung by Jordan Fisher (who my daughter crushed on while he was on Dancing With the Stars). I found the song overly poppy. I prefer Disney songs with my Disney fireworks, LOL. From there, HEA launched into a massive amount of really cool projections, fireworks, lasers, etc. It went from one cool segment to another. Very fast paced. I thought it was cool, but never really connected with the show. Call me an old Wishes die-hard. I think for me the problem was that I just don't really know (or much care) about all the movies and characters post-Little Mermaid. Actually I don't even really care about Little Mermaid all that much. And why so much Tarzan? Tarzan? Seriously? Did anyone even see that movie? And Hunchback of Notre Dame? Okay, that projection segment was cool, but still. Hunchback? Could have been part of the long "boy" segment. But where were Cinderella and Snow White and Beauty & The Beast, for god's sake?? (yeah, yeah, they pop up in little cameos at the end - not enough for me). I loved Wishes and it always made me get teary-eyed. HEA was cool. That's the difference.
After the fireworks, the kids fastpassed Dumbo, we rode Mermaid with no wait, fastpassed Winnie the Pooh and by then everything was walk on. We walked on Haunted Mansion and Pirates. After that, it was hitting midnight and the park was closing. We enjoyed the Kiss Goodnight and then headed out, to Minnie Van back to the Beach Club (pick up and drop off at the front of the MK, not the Ticket & Transportation Center... awesome).
Day 4 - We got up, lounged around, grabbed breakfast from the Marketplace quick serve. We checked out and headed to Epcot where I had booked my kids on an the Epcot Seven Seas Aquarium Aqua Tour, a combo snorkeling/scuba diving in the Aquarium. I did that as a surprise for our last day and the kids loved it. My younger daughter took to it like a fish to water. It was super fun watching them. Really an amazing experience. We spent the rest of the day hanging around Epcot and World Showcase. The kids fastpassed The Land and Test Track and something else. We wound up our trip with an ADR at Chefs de France for dinner. Had a great time as my younger daughter is learning French in school. We enjoyed our food, and were seated at a window table where we watched an entire performance of Serveur Amusant, the awesome balancing-act street performer in France.
And then we were out! I Uber'd back to the airport because I can't stand the 3 hour advance Magical Express. All in all a great trip, with no problem getting the fast passes, dessert parties and ADR's that we wanted.
A Point On Crowds: I tend to go at crowded times. I just scale back my expectations a bit, and go with the flow. I never felt like the parks or pools were horrible. Honestly. I thought Spring Break would be a nightmare, but it really was not that bad.
Fortunately we're not novices to WDW. We typically stay at the MK resorts, but this time opted for a change by spending time at Epcot. I hate Epcot, but with the Flower & Garden Festival, I figured I could handle it. I booked a Standard room at the Beach Club, about all that was available. I jumped on it given the great reviews for Beach Club, and I wasn't disappointed. Our "standard" room came with a full balcony including table and 2 chairs and a view of the beach, the Lighthouse and the Boardwalk across the way. Unexpectedly nice.
I was able to get ADR's for Beaches & Cream lunch on arrival day lunch and Garden Grill for dinner. We enjoyed both, thought I have to say that Beaches & Cream is MASSIVELY over-hyped. It's a tiny ice cream shop with a couple booths and tiny dinette tables with equally tiny cane chairs. Yes, my patty melt was good. Was it great? No. Yes, the ice cream sundae we shared was good. Great? Not even close. We had a good time and it was handy, being at the Beach Club, but I would never, ever, under any circumstances go out of my way to eat there. I cancelled my 2nd lunch reservation for later in the week. Once was fine. Oh, and the famed "Kitchen Sink" $30 eight scoop ice cream extravaganza?? Yeah, it was cute and fun, I get it. But honestly it looked gross. My 13 year old ice cream fanatic even whispered "Ugh, that looks gross" as one went by.
Day 1 - Epcot. Fastpassed Spaceship Earth, Soarin, Frozen and the Land. I donated my fastpasses to the kids, but went on Spaceship Earth with them. It hadn't changed since I went on it in 1982. In fact, all of Epcot was just as I remembered it (hence my avoidance for the rest of my life). Ate dinner at Garden Grill. Decent food, good character interaction. My older daughter declared it her favorite WDW restaurant thus far. I didn't agree, but to each their own. After completing our last fastpasses by about 8PM, we grabbed 4th fastpasses for Illuminations. Fastpass viewing area was quite well positioned and I enjoyed Illuminations MUCH more than I thought I would. In fact, I really liked the show. My teens enjoyed all of Epcot.
Day 2 - Epcot and Hollywood Studios. We had ADR's for Cape May character breakfast at the Beach Club. Great characters, good interaction. Noticeably good coffee. The kids decided to go back to Epcot to chase down characters and do some fastpasses, which included Test Track. They had a great morning and I chilled out at the resort. I was fine doing this as they have SnapChat with family-only SnapMaps viewing, so I knew where they were, and they're teens. They picked up Fish & Chips from "England" for lunch on the way back. They were great. We spent some time at the pool in the afternoon before heading to Hollywood Studios via boat from the Beach Club at about 3:30pm. Super easy, super fast.
We got to HS and headed in through the very short security line. Walked into Frozen Sing Along, which was just starting. What the heck. We all kind of enjoyed that, surprisingly. We sang Let It Go really loud. Ha ha. We visited Olaf, who was one of the best character meets ever. Really fun. We had an ADR for an early dinner at 50's Prime Time, where we split meals and ordered the famous PB&J Shake, which really impressed the heck out of me. It was delicious. Yum!! I had fastpasses for Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania and Star Tours. The kids split those up, and also went to Red Carpet Dreams (the Mickey/Minnie meet) and Muppets 3D. By then it was time for the whole reason I went to HS... the Star Wars Galactic Spectacular Dessert Party. I'm a complete Star Wars geek and I had a blast visiting the Launch Bay exhibits, and doing visits with Chewbacca, Kylo Ren and BB8. Booze, soft drinks, juice and water were plentiful. The desserts and savory options were also plentiful. The kids tried a bunch of stuff, but I just had a couple of bites here and there. Nothing rocked my world, but the frozen Nutella was kind of interesting. We were led out to the viewing area shortly before the show. I am not a concrete-sitter, so I opted to stand and lean against the rail, about as comfortable option as it gets. The viewing area was CLOSE. Almost too close. But I would NOT have wanted to be back with the crowd, that's for sure. For me the Star Wars Dessert Party was totally worth it and the Galactic Spectacular was phenomenal. My older daughter is not a Star Wars fan, but still thought the show was amazing.
Day 3 - Epcot and Magic Kingdom. The kids again ran around Epcot and visited a bunch of the World Showcase countries. They grabbed breakfast at the bakery/patisserie in France. I again lounged at the hotel and enjoyed the almost completely empty adult Quiet Pool. Reading a book poolside in nearly perfect weather was wonderful. Meantime the kids were constantly in touch, texting me about various interesting items in World Showcase. They went over to the Boardwalk for lunch, grabbing pizza slices. They checked out the bakery and ice cream place and headed back for some pool time.
Around 3:00 we headed to the MK via Minnie Van. Don't even get me started on how much I love the Minnie Van service. We made it just in time to catch the afternoon parade in its entirety. We had an ADR for the Plaza at 4:00. We had to wait about 15 minutes past our reservation time, but that was no problem as we just hung out at the tables out front. For dinner we had sandwiches and milk shakes. I'll put the Plaza up against Beaches & Cream any day. I enjoy the service and ambiance at the Plaza, and the Main Street location. The shakes and sundaes there are great. So... let me reiterate. Do NOT get pulled into the Beaches & Cream hype. Just go to the Plaza. The take-out ice cream parlor even has it's own version of the "Kitchen Sink" if you really want to waste $30 on a big mess of ice cream scoope with all kinds of junk poured on it.
After dinner we fastpassed Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain and the kids did Splash Mountain. I sat that one out so I could book Space Mountain for my more adventurous younger daughter. After those rides, we headed over to Tomorrowland Terrace for the Happily Ever After Fireworks Dessert Party (Plaza View - the better view of the castle projections). We had a sundae from the sundae bar, and some drinks. We weren't interested in all the cupcakes and whatnot having eaten earlier, but were there for the reserved viewing area. That said, tables were plentiful, food was plentiful and we enjoyed the sit-down time. As the fireworks time grew close, we headed into the viewing area which was top notch. Once again my kids opted to relax on the ground (grass, thank god) while I leaned against the rail.
Happily Ever After was great, for what it was. The kids LOVED it and declared it much better than Wishes. I thought it was awesome and cool, but I never emotionally connected. At all. The kids on the other hand were hooked from the very first Happily Ever After song sung by Jordan Fisher (who my daughter crushed on while he was on Dancing With the Stars). I found the song overly poppy. I prefer Disney songs with my Disney fireworks, LOL. From there, HEA launched into a massive amount of really cool projections, fireworks, lasers, etc. It went from one cool segment to another. Very fast paced. I thought it was cool, but never really connected with the show. Call me an old Wishes die-hard. I think for me the problem was that I just don't really know (or much care) about all the movies and characters post-Little Mermaid. Actually I don't even really care about Little Mermaid all that much. And why so much Tarzan? Tarzan? Seriously? Did anyone even see that movie? And Hunchback of Notre Dame? Okay, that projection segment was cool, but still. Hunchback? Could have been part of the long "boy" segment. But where were Cinderella and Snow White and Beauty & The Beast, for god's sake?? (yeah, yeah, they pop up in little cameos at the end - not enough for me). I loved Wishes and it always made me get teary-eyed. HEA was cool. That's the difference.
After the fireworks, the kids fastpassed Dumbo, we rode Mermaid with no wait, fastpassed Winnie the Pooh and by then everything was walk on. We walked on Haunted Mansion and Pirates. After that, it was hitting midnight and the park was closing. We enjoyed the Kiss Goodnight and then headed out, to Minnie Van back to the Beach Club (pick up and drop off at the front of the MK, not the Ticket & Transportation Center... awesome).
Day 4 - We got up, lounged around, grabbed breakfast from the Marketplace quick serve. We checked out and headed to Epcot where I had booked my kids on an the Epcot Seven Seas Aquarium Aqua Tour, a combo snorkeling/scuba diving in the Aquarium. I did that as a surprise for our last day and the kids loved it. My younger daughter took to it like a fish to water. It was super fun watching them. Really an amazing experience. We spent the rest of the day hanging around Epcot and World Showcase. The kids fastpassed The Land and Test Track and something else. We wound up our trip with an ADR at Chefs de France for dinner. Had a great time as my younger daughter is learning French in school. We enjoyed our food, and were seated at a window table where we watched an entire performance of Serveur Amusant, the awesome balancing-act street performer in France.
And then we were out! I Uber'd back to the airport because I can't stand the 3 hour advance Magical Express. All in all a great trip, with no problem getting the fast passes, dessert parties and ADR's that we wanted.
A Point On Crowds: I tend to go at crowded times. I just scale back my expectations a bit, and go with the flow. I never felt like the parks or pools were horrible. Honestly. I thought Spring Break would be a nightmare, but it really was not that bad.
