Hey there! I was at WDW last week for 7days with my hubby and 2kids (infant, 5y) and wanted to share how our trip went! Gonna be long, sorry!
We did purchase Genie plus in advance (was not necessary) and ILL$.
we arrived 1/2at animal kingdom lodge at 6PM so we just stayed in our hotel room. Got apartial savannah view which made our arrival extra special!
I ordered magic bands but there was a glitch and eventhough a CM told me over the phone and chat they are at the front desk - nah. So I bought only ONE new magic band for the entire family for the ride pictures, which worked well at the end. So people, if you order pre arrival magic bands… please double and triple check your orders…
1/3: EPCOT
Woke up at 6:56 to get remy VQ. Got BG 10. call back was 10:15AM. WDW still offered 1h early entry so we arrived exactly at 9:00 (my husband is not an early riser) and rope dropped TT. 30min wait. We did rider swap and also took 30min. After I had FEA LL for 9:30AM (it was still a genie plus selection this day, not ILL$). After riding I got Soarin, Nemo, spaceship earth LLs.
We ate at Garden Grill and the characters came by very frequently and the food tasted delicious!! Highly Recommend!!!
We went back to our hotel around 4PM and came back around 7PM, strolled around and watched harmonious. Everyone was too tired to stay for extra evening hours so we went home.
1/4: ANIMAL KINGDOM
Again, since my husband is not an early riser we arrived at 7:35AM when the early entry has already begun.
i scored Kilimanjaro safari LL and FoP ILL$ so we rode Navi three times (walk on!!) and then had a nice breakfast, rode kilimanjaro safari and watched all the animals and shows. One thing is: the shows they cram all the people together, no social distamce sitting. If you‘re nervous about COVID then I‘m not sure if lion king show is a good option since it is indoors and literally they pack the people, shouting to sit closer to fit more people in. But the show was lovely!
We went home around 5PM so I did not have a chance to look at the light up tree of life but oh well, next time.
1/5: MK
UFF. Uff. Oooff. So.
We decided to sleep in a little and headed to MK at 8AM. I did not know that you have to take the monorail or ferry to MK from the parking lot. It was so so so so so congested. We waited 1.5hour to get on the monorail and when we tapped in into MK it was already past 10AM. We rushed to the jungle cruise LL but the LL was SO. BACKED. UP. Beyond aladdin‘s magic carpet ride amd we waited 1HOUR for the ride. We were so tired after all the waiting that after the JC ride we only redeemed our ILL$ for SDMT and waited for our dessert party to begin. This was a day where I couldn‘t get good use out of genie plus. Because after JC (around noon) all the LL return time was around 3-4PM and we were not sure if we wanted to go back to our hotel or stay.
The fireworks were good! I‘m a fan of wishes and HEA so yeah, but my husband (has been only to WDW once more than 20years ago LOL) and daughter enjoyed the show from the garden view spot! But it was CROWDED!
after the show, my daughter was still awake so we did take advantage of the evening hours. She rode SDMT four times, thunder mountain twice, tea cup and ariel ride.But then it was already 11PM. And we went back.
1/4: HS
I begged my husbnad to wake up early this day which he did. We arrived 1hour early from official early entrx hours. There was a glitch that day of purchasing ILL$ and around 8:30AM i was able to get MMRR ILL$.
I got slinky LL for 9:30AM
We decided NOT to go to starwars land, RnRC, TT since my kids cant ride it and we wanted something what we could do with the family. Rope dropped MMRR(about 10min wait), rushed to TSMM, then Alien swing sourcer and then had a breakfast amd went to SDD. SDD was so much fun!!! Then went to frozen singalong, lunch at sci-fi, went to beauty and the beast show and went home. The LL for beauty and the beast show is great, because they let you in first and olace you to the middle row seat! So we had an excellent view!! With all the other show LLs (lion king, bird show, frozen) they put you together in the stand by people so you never know if you get a good seat… we were always placed to the very end and had a mediocre view.
1/5: EPCOT
so we actually had MK planned for our last day, but traumatized from our wednesday MK, we decided to go to EPCOT. I only got a LL for TT and otherwise we did not do anything. We just strolled around and all the rides were 5-10min wait anyway so genie plus was a total waste of money this day. TT and FEA broke down but had always a 70min wait, soarin 30-40min.
One thing i wish is, that they will give an approximate time for the princesses to come out. We were waiting and strolling around norway for 3hours!!! Just to see Elsa and Anna… we could have done so much more during this „waiting period“. We went home after riding Remy around 7PM.
so in total. For a family trip with kids, a few things i learned:
1) take advantage of the early entry. Even if somebody is not an early riser. They‘ll get over it, wake them up and be there at least 30min before early entry. For HS, be there an HOUR early. Really. Even with kids. This will make a huge difference and is also easier to plan cause if you plan to buy Genie +, then it‘s easier to just tap the first available than waiting few minutes, checking if there is a later time available and then plan around that time.
2) genie plus: i got anxious and purchased it in advance for the whole 5days but i‘d buy it each day. Reason: with kids you never know how they feel that day. On our second epcot day, my entire party was more in a „want to stroll and look“ mood than rides. Also the strategy „stacking up for the afternoon“ did not really work for us with little kids because they‘d get tired and would rather watch the parades or meet the princesses than ride something. I let several hard to get LLs in the afternoon expire (navi, TT, the „mountain“ rides at MK, etc)
3) ILL$: so worth it for US. But it‘s a price. We REALLY enjoyed SDMT, remy and MMRR.
4) rider swap: very easy to set up. The CM asks who will be staying, scans your magic band and then I asked if my daughter can ride twice with me-it was never a problem. Only for FoP, I asked for a rider swap since our ILL$ was running out of time, but they said they couldn‘t. However if the time runs out, you just go to a CM, explain the situation and they‘ll let you in even if your return time has passed.
5) with young kids, i suggest a sit down place for at least lunch to cool down. It is pricey, yes, but i was able to breastfeed, and everyone was happy to be able to sit down and not looking for seats.
6) sit down: takes AT LEAST 90min even if you‘re a fast eater. Plan accordingly
7) double stroller rental: used scooterbug. Easy peasy. Would highly recommend.
8) COVID: so far no one is sick. We did sanitizer our hands frequently and had masks on indoors and outdoors. But the preshows/liveshows are crowded. I think you can‘t 100% avoid „crowds“ at this point
9) shopping: for remy shop, you need to wait in a que and it takes you about 20min to get in and longer in the afternoon/park closure. Do it in the mornings! And also, if you‘re thinking of something, just get it-you can always return. I was like oh but i might be avle to buy it on
shopdisney.com… NAH. All sold out on web and on ebay they sell everything for triple the original price. Just get it even though that tumbler is 50$ or so.
10) if you‘re kids can be awake at night,the extra 2hours for deluxe resort guests is a must. Even if the hours are like 9-11PM. It‘s great. If you cant wake up early then the extra 2h is a great option to do the rides without purchasing genie plus and ILL$. And there were many photographers (for people who bought memory maker)
11) garden dessert
for us it was worth it since the MK day was CROWDED. They open at 6PM so if you want to be fast: stamd in line at 5:50PM, get everything on the plate, head down to the garden at 7:50PM. We went to the garden area around 8PM and the „front row section“ was already taken away.
12) take frequent bathroom breaks with kids
13) if you have little kids, maybe focus on few attractions. For example HS: by just avoiding Starwars, ToT, RnRc gave us so much more time, less stress. Yes I wanted to ride MFSR and RoTR and i even had Oga‘s ADR (which we cancelled) but the kids wouldn‘t have enjoyed it and at the end it was a good decision.
despite the negative changes we all had a blast at disney. Even my not-so-disney-fan husband said we‘ll definitely be back! Do i like the new LL/ILL$ system? Absolutely not but I guess it is what it is. I also wish they‘d do 1hour early entry cause in the 30min realistically you can do only one ride if you have kids in double stroller navigating through the crowd. Hope this helps for people and family with little kids!
