andy_dangg
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2020
Hi everyone!
My name is Andy and welcome to my spring 2020 trip report! I'm new to these forums but I have been a longtime lurker and Disney fan. I'm from the Tampa Bay area but I'm usually in Gainesville, FL studying at the University of Florida! I'm a sophomore hoping to become a dentist. I've been utterly obsessed with all things Disney since I was five but ESPECIALLY Disney Parks. I'm hoping that this trip report will cure some of my post-Disney depression, but I am very lucky to have three more trips planned this year (more on that later)! This is my first Disney trip report (I've written a few for cruises) so please bear with me, but I hope you enjoy!
A little background on our trip:
We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside for three nights from February 29-March 3, and visited Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom (with morning EMH at AK). If you'd like more details on me, my trip and how I planned it, keep reading!
For some context, I am a compulsive planner. I plan all of our family vacations, but Disney World is my forte. I used to read guidebooks repeatedly when I was younger and it just feels like second nature to me. I am very grateful for my parents funding this trip, and they are very grateful for me planning the ins and outs of it
My family (me, my mom, dad and younger brother and sister in their teens) haven't been on an overnight trip to Disney World since 2014. My dad and brother haven't visited Magic Kingdom since 2010 and I personally haven't been to Animal Kingdom since 2010! I went on a day trip to EPCOT with my school in 2016, and visited Disney Springs countless times, but beyond that, no trips to the parks. So needless to say I was psyched for this trip.
Due to college, school, and work schedules, we were not able to take one long trip. So we decided to split the trip into two parts: one in February/March and one in May. Based on crowd calendars and EMH days, we decided to do Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom this trip and EPCOT and Hollywood Studios on the May trip. As a sidetone, I'll be making two more short two-night trips this year--my boyfriend's parents bought us Disney tickets for Christmas, so we'll be making a trip in May (returning a day before my family's trip) and one in June for his birthday. What a way to kick off a six year Disney drought, right?? Scenarios like these make me very happy to be a Florida resident and is really helping keep that infamous PDD at bay.
I have always wanted to stay at Port Orleans Riverside. We didn't book this trip until early December so availability was slim. Port Orleans Riverside was the only moderate that fits five that was available for our dates, so we booked it in early December (we're staying at Caribbean Beach in May). This was also our first time at a Disney Resort! We previously stayed at Disney Springs area hotels (back when they were the Downtown Disney hotels).
We purchased the four day Florida Resident Discover Disney tickets for about $200 a person, which is a great deal! We decided not to upgrade to the park hopper. Again, we decided to do two parks on this trip, we will still have two days remaining on our tickets for our May trip.
We decided not to do any table service meals this trip. We personally find Disney table service to generally be a little too pricey for a family of five--those meals easily get into the $150+ range without drinks or appetizers and desserts. We only ate at counter service places this trip. I decided that I wanted to eat at Be Our Guest for lunch on our Magic Kingdom day and I was able to snag a 11a reservation a few days before the trip.
Up next: our arrival day, Port Orleans Riverside, and Disney Springs!
ps: please let me know if any of the photos are not displaying or formatting properly!
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