FeetOffTheTable
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2018
Good morning everyone! We are a week away from out trip, so I figure this is as good a time as any to start our (pre) trip report. This was originiall scheduled way before COVID and we had to make some adjustments. There was concern that my work wouldnt allow me to go either, but after a meeting with my boss late last month where we came up with a plan for after my return, she gave me the OK to go and I was officially allowed to get excited.
Some background: Our family consists of me (37 yo female, actually might as well make that 38) and my husband (who we will refer to as "G", 43) and our son ("B", 4). We are passholders at Universal, but given our sons age we have included short Disney trips with that as well. This trip was supposed to be our "Big" one, spending multiple days at disney because I feel hes at a great age for it. But alas plans got changed, so we not going quite as all out as we originally planned but still planning to have a good trip! My parents are also joining us for the Disney part (and second universal leg) and they are both in their mid 60s
Heres the schedule we have:
Thursday Sept 24th- Flying AA to MCO from VA. Uber to Cabana bay where we will stay in a family suite until the 28th. We will get in too late to enjoy the parks thursday, but will have the next three days.
Friday sept 25th- Sunday sept 27th - Universal/ Islands of adventure. This weekend is the test for the halloween festivities, and presumably they will be happening next weekend based on the extended park hours. We are NOT HHN fans so wont be checking out the houses at all and were a bit disappointed when they announced them, knowing it woult lead to more crowds. But they extended the hours and added a couple things for kids (trick or treating if thats not just this weekend, and the scarecrow hunt), so now im excited again. Plus being passholders there, we have seen it all before
Monday Sept 28th - check out of Cabana bay and Uber to Caribbean Beach resort. We were originally booked at Art of Animation but were moved as it wont be open. Im looking forward to the pool here and the skyliner! We are hoping to get over to the resort and checked in/ bags dropped off by 9 so that we can head over to Hollywood studios for the day and possibily get a boarding group. If we dont, it wont ruin the trip. But we're going to try. My son was scared of alot of rides when we last went in December but he says he wants to do slinky dog and star wars this time, so those are a priority for us. We have dinner reservations at Sci- Fi at 4:05. Early, even for us, but hopefully will give us time to enjoy the park after a bit still
Tuesday Sept 29th - Magic Kingdom day. We have breakfast reservations at Chef Mickeys at 8:25 and the park opens at 9. Im thinking we might have to uber to the Contemporary as it seems to tight to try to bus to magic kingdom then take the monorail to contemporary. I dont want to be late and miss the reservation! There are tons of rides we want to do here and I've never manged to two seven dwarves. We dont really have a "plan" for this park, but hopefully wait times will be low and we can just move through the different lands and hit things as we go, rather than rushing completely across the park to hit fast passes. No more dining reservations for this day, but saw some halloween treats we might try. I'm hoping to witness some of the cavalclades too! Between HS and MK, i expect these to be our busier days
Wednesday Sept 30th - Epcot day. I originally had booked Toppolino's terrace for breakfast, but canceled it after some reviews. It just didnt seem worth it for the price/ interaction right now. Plus we're going to food and wine today! Thats our plan for food for the day, with no dining reservations. There are quite a few yummy snacks we want to check out (i'm looking at you, nitro cake pops). Epcot is probably G and I's favorite park. B, maybe not so much. But he has been watching youtube videos and wants to do test track, so we will see. It is nice that he is 40" (technically 41") now so he can do more if he wishes. We'll definitely try to hit up frozen and soarin too without too much of a wait. This is a day where we might even go back to the hotel in the afternoon for a bit since the park opens at 11 and stay open until 7. Might try to avoid some of the heat after eating and drinking at world showcase by taking some time at the pool
Thursday Oct 1- check out of CBR and head back to Cabana bay. But first, Animal Kingdom! We always skip AK actually; G & B have never been and I havent since college so I know its quite different. I think B will really like the safari and we want to try flight of passage and navi river since those are new. B is too small for flight of passage, so child swap it is. I would also like to try Everest and Dinosaur, so perhaps my mom will be willing to take B for a bit to do something while G, my dad and I do those. We have a lunch reservation at rainforest cafe, which I know is a chain and all but we dont have one near us. I mainly did it for a mid afternoon AC break and thought B would enjoy the atmosphere. I am assuming we will stay here all day until park close, so most likely we wont get back over to universal to enjoy the parks there at all on the 1st
Friday Oct 2- Sunday Oct 4: This leg of our trip was actually supposed to be a cruise until monday, but obviously that isn't happening. So once I got the OK from my boss we met with my parents and decided to go back to universal for a few more days. They bought season passes because with the room discount it was actually $250 cheaper than buying a multi day park ticket and hotel. Plus this way they can go back if they want. We switched our flights from monday to sunday, just to save a little money on hotels and it only cost $10 total to do, which is great!
So stay tuned! This report is going on the Disney trip reports, so I will only be sharing my experience with Disney (as well as flying) here, but will link to the Universal report for those interested! Universal trip report can be found by clicking this link. This post is similar there, but focuses on Universal vs Disney and all subsequent posts will be Disney specific here and Universal there
Some background: Our family consists of me (37 yo female, actually might as well make that 38) and my husband (who we will refer to as "G", 43) and our son ("B", 4). We are passholders at Universal, but given our sons age we have included short Disney trips with that as well. This trip was supposed to be our "Big" one, spending multiple days at disney because I feel hes at a great age for it. But alas plans got changed, so we not going quite as all out as we originally planned but still planning to have a good trip! My parents are also joining us for the Disney part (and second universal leg) and they are both in their mid 60s
Heres the schedule we have:
Thursday Sept 24th- Flying AA to MCO from VA. Uber to Cabana bay where we will stay in a family suite until the 28th. We will get in too late to enjoy the parks thursday, but will have the next three days.
Friday sept 25th- Sunday sept 27th - Universal/ Islands of adventure. This weekend is the test for the halloween festivities, and presumably they will be happening next weekend based on the extended park hours. We are NOT HHN fans so wont be checking out the houses at all and were a bit disappointed when they announced them, knowing it woult lead to more crowds. But they extended the hours and added a couple things for kids (trick or treating if thats not just this weekend, and the scarecrow hunt), so now im excited again. Plus being passholders there, we have seen it all before
Monday Sept 28th - check out of Cabana bay and Uber to Caribbean Beach resort. We were originally booked at Art of Animation but were moved as it wont be open. Im looking forward to the pool here and the skyliner! We are hoping to get over to the resort and checked in/ bags dropped off by 9 so that we can head over to Hollywood studios for the day and possibily get a boarding group. If we dont, it wont ruin the trip. But we're going to try. My son was scared of alot of rides when we last went in December but he says he wants to do slinky dog and star wars this time, so those are a priority for us. We have dinner reservations at Sci- Fi at 4:05. Early, even for us, but hopefully will give us time to enjoy the park after a bit still
Tuesday Sept 29th - Magic Kingdom day. We have breakfast reservations at Chef Mickeys at 8:25 and the park opens at 9. Im thinking we might have to uber to the Contemporary as it seems to tight to try to bus to magic kingdom then take the monorail to contemporary. I dont want to be late and miss the reservation! There are tons of rides we want to do here and I've never manged to two seven dwarves. We dont really have a "plan" for this park, but hopefully wait times will be low and we can just move through the different lands and hit things as we go, rather than rushing completely across the park to hit fast passes. No more dining reservations for this day, but saw some halloween treats we might try. I'm hoping to witness some of the cavalclades too! Between HS and MK, i expect these to be our busier days
Wednesday Sept 30th - Epcot day. I originally had booked Toppolino's terrace for breakfast, but canceled it after some reviews. It just didnt seem worth it for the price/ interaction right now. Plus we're going to food and wine today! Thats our plan for food for the day, with no dining reservations. There are quite a few yummy snacks we want to check out (i'm looking at you, nitro cake pops). Epcot is probably G and I's favorite park. B, maybe not so much. But he has been watching youtube videos and wants to do test track, so we will see. It is nice that he is 40" (technically 41") now so he can do more if he wishes. We'll definitely try to hit up frozen and soarin too without too much of a wait. This is a day where we might even go back to the hotel in the afternoon for a bit since the park opens at 11 and stay open until 7. Might try to avoid some of the heat after eating and drinking at world showcase by taking some time at the pool
Thursday Oct 1- check out of CBR and head back to Cabana bay. But first, Animal Kingdom! We always skip AK actually; G & B have never been and I havent since college so I know its quite different. I think B will really like the safari and we want to try flight of passage and navi river since those are new. B is too small for flight of passage, so child swap it is. I would also like to try Everest and Dinosaur, so perhaps my mom will be willing to take B for a bit to do something while G, my dad and I do those. We have a lunch reservation at rainforest cafe, which I know is a chain and all but we dont have one near us. I mainly did it for a mid afternoon AC break and thought B would enjoy the atmosphere. I am assuming we will stay here all day until park close, so most likely we wont get back over to universal to enjoy the parks there at all on the 1st
Friday Oct 2- Sunday Oct 4: This leg of our trip was actually supposed to be a cruise until monday, but obviously that isn't happening. So once I got the OK from my boss we met with my parents and decided to go back to universal for a few more days. They bought season passes because with the room discount it was actually $250 cheaper than buying a multi day park ticket and hotel. Plus this way they can go back if they want. We switched our flights from monday to sunday, just to save a little money on hotels and it only cost $10 total to do, which is great!
So stay tuned! This report is going on the Disney trip reports, so I will only be sharing my experience with Disney (as well as flying) here, but will link to the Universal report for those interested! Universal trip report can be found by clicking this link. This post is similar there, but focuses on Universal vs Disney and all subsequent posts will be Disney specific here and Universal there
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