lauris87
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2009
Just back after a wonderful 8 night Disney vacation, from June 7-15 with my husband, my 2 kids, and in-laws including a newborn, 10 of us total. This was my first time staying off site, and I was pleasantly surprised with how quick and easy it was to get from our vacation home in Windsor Hills to the parks (which was my biggest worry going in!) One morning it took us 7 minutes from door to parking lot at HS. Not bad!
Pre-trip, we booked a one night throwaway room at the Wilderness campsites....and I am soooo glad we did this. It saved us money (10 magic bands, and 2 days worth of parking for 2 cars)...and got us fast passes 60 days in advance, otherwise we would not have been able to ride the new Pandora rides. We also got 2 days worth of EMH, so all in all, the throwaway room was a huge success.
First night, we staked out a spot about 1.5 hours early for HEA right in front of the castle. I was devastated when I found out that Wishes was gone forever, but HEA has far exceeded all of my dreams and expectations. It was so amazing...we saw it twice during our trip.
Second day we did PPO BOG and that was wonderful as well. Getting in to the park early and being able to snag a photo pass photographer to take our group pictures with no stress or crowds in front of the castle was worth it's weight in gold. And riding Minetrain immediately after breakfast was also great.
For the next 6 days, we did all 4 parks, plus Typhoon Lagoon, with one no-park day in the middle for a trip to Cigar City, and then Disney Springs. We did rope drop most mornings, mid day break, and hopped to a different park for evenings. Worked out like a charm. With strategic fast passes and ride planning, we barely waited for more than 20 minutes for anything, and we rode every headliner and then some. Made good use of rider swap as well. Rained quite a bit and was cloudy during the entire trip, but no worries, we used our ponchos quite a bit, and the clouds were great. I did not think the weather was as 'brutal' as my last June trip, so that was a plus.
A few tidbits, FOP was absolutely breathtaking, and probably the best ride I have ever been on. Sautuli' Canteen QS was also amazing, and a great 'break' from the usual QS Disney foods like pizza, chicken tenders, and French fries. We also took photos at the photo pass 'studio' at DS, and are very glad we took advantage of this. We have over 500 photo pass photos from the trip, so we made good use of our memory maker purchase. Crowds were also less than I expected compared to my last June trip in 2013, so that was good. ROL was a bit of a letdown for me....don't need to see that one again....Star Wars Galactic Spectacular was amazing as well. Thoroughly enjoyed that.
Trip highlights were my 5 year old son meeting Baymax (my heart melted), my 9 year old riding the big rides for the first time and loving it, HEA, eating at BOG, seeing Pandora, and dinner at Biergarten (so much fun!).
We had a couple magical moments as well, one of them was an unexpected VIP experience for Spaceship Earth. We were approached by a cast member, who took our whole group through a VIP entrance, explained a bit of ride history, then we boarded the ride with no wait. Very cool!
My son also discovered pin trading on the 2nd to last day, and loves it. The Pin Traders store in Frontierland at MK is amazing.
All in all, it was an amazing 8 days. Very sad to see it end. Planning the next one for 2020. Till next time!
Pre-trip, we booked a one night throwaway room at the Wilderness campsites....and I am soooo glad we did this. It saved us money (10 magic bands, and 2 days worth of parking for 2 cars)...and got us fast passes 60 days in advance, otherwise we would not have been able to ride the new Pandora rides. We also got 2 days worth of EMH, so all in all, the throwaway room was a huge success.
First night, we staked out a spot about 1.5 hours early for HEA right in front of the castle. I was devastated when I found out that Wishes was gone forever, but HEA has far exceeded all of my dreams and expectations. It was so amazing...we saw it twice during our trip.
Second day we did PPO BOG and that was wonderful as well. Getting in to the park early and being able to snag a photo pass photographer to take our group pictures with no stress or crowds in front of the castle was worth it's weight in gold. And riding Minetrain immediately after breakfast was also great.
For the next 6 days, we did all 4 parks, plus Typhoon Lagoon, with one no-park day in the middle for a trip to Cigar City, and then Disney Springs. We did rope drop most mornings, mid day break, and hopped to a different park for evenings. Worked out like a charm. With strategic fast passes and ride planning, we barely waited for more than 20 minutes for anything, and we rode every headliner and then some. Made good use of rider swap as well. Rained quite a bit and was cloudy during the entire trip, but no worries, we used our ponchos quite a bit, and the clouds were great. I did not think the weather was as 'brutal' as my last June trip, so that was a plus.
A few tidbits, FOP was absolutely breathtaking, and probably the best ride I have ever been on. Sautuli' Canteen QS was also amazing, and a great 'break' from the usual QS Disney foods like pizza, chicken tenders, and French fries. We also took photos at the photo pass 'studio' at DS, and are very glad we took advantage of this. We have over 500 photo pass photos from the trip, so we made good use of our memory maker purchase. Crowds were also less than I expected compared to my last June trip in 2013, so that was good. ROL was a bit of a letdown for me....don't need to see that one again....Star Wars Galactic Spectacular was amazing as well. Thoroughly enjoyed that.
Trip highlights were my 5 year old son meeting Baymax (my heart melted), my 9 year old riding the big rides for the first time and loving it, HEA, eating at BOG, seeing Pandora, and dinner at Biergarten (so much fun!).
We had a couple magical moments as well, one of them was an unexpected VIP experience for Spaceship Earth. We were approached by a cast member, who took our whole group through a VIP entrance, explained a bit of ride history, then we boarded the ride with no wait. Very cool!
My son also discovered pin trading on the 2nd to last day, and loves it. The Pin Traders store in Frontierland at MK is amazing.
All in all, it was an amazing 8 days. Very sad to see it end. Planning the next one for 2020. Till next time!
Enjoy your trip!
