Last Minute 4 Day Trip in August. How much can you really do with little to no planning and two people?

rnofthesea

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jul 13, 2020
Long post warning! After reading please throw in things we need to do/experience on our next last minute trip out! Please note that these times are approximates and I don't remember them to well.

Me and my grandmother planned a trip to go to Walt Disney World in August 2019 only a couple of weeks before the actual trip. The planning aspect of the trip didn’t require much thought. We picked our days, bought day tickets with no park hopper, picked fast passes (somehow we got space mountain and splash mountain), resolved to eat at quick service spots, and stayed at the Wyndham Lake Buena Vista Hotel (10/10 would recommend). We booked our hotel and tickets separate and saved a bit for it. Yes it was hot as blazes and at some point I was convinced I was melting from the humidity, but it couldn’t have turned out to be a better trip.

We arrived in Orlando airport at 16:00, and walked outside to be greeted by a thunderstorm that looked like it was something serious. It was a little later than we expected due to flight/weather delays, and the typhoon that decided to roll through caused a slight hesitancy, but we were convinced to still enjoy the remainder of the day. We called out a cab and decided on the park we would visit. We naturally chose the park that would remain open latest that night, Magic Kingdom. With only 4 days in the park and 3 hotel nights, we needed to make the most of our time. Luggage in tow, we got our first view of our home.

The hotel wasn’t surrounded by Mickey Mouse or the extravagant Walt Disney theming, but what it lacked in theme it made up for in amenities and benefits. Our room had a gorgeous view of the lake and pools. The coach busses were clean, comfortable, and ran on a schedule of each route having a bus arrive every half an hour and with only 2-3 stops prior to the main park. The resort was also part of the magic hours, being on property, without the back breaking cost that I associate with a typical Disney hotel. All in all it was a wonderful hotel, between the cheaper cost, lake view, immaculate coach bus service, and magic hours, I was more than content. The one downside is the bus only takes you to the ticket and transportation center. Meaning you have to catch the monorail to get to the Magic Kingdom, but that was a price I was willing to pay.

We threw the luggage into the room and changed in record time to Orlando appropriate attire. We kept the items we would carry into the park to a minimum. A small cloth backpack was all that was needed. Wallets, reusable water bottles (so we wouldn’t have to buy drinks in park), phones, and magic bands were all that was needed for the entire trip.

We proceeded to walk out to the bus in the drizzly rain that would take us to Magic Kingdom. It was 17:30 and we had 4 hrs to spend as we pleased. The bus pulled into the ticket and transportation center parking lot and to our surprise, it quit raining. The skies started to clear revealing a pale blue sky that promised a pleasant, if not humid, remainder of the day. Elated by the change in weather, we proceeded to board a half empty monorail, after our directionally challenged selves got turned around amongst the tall barriers they had set up.

Entry into Magic Kingdom couldn’t have gone smoother. Much to my surprise, my fiddling with the app and attempts to sync the current trip to the old magic bands had proved to be a success. Upon arrival to Main Street my jaw dropped. You could count the number of people in front of the castle. I have been to Magic Kingdom more than a few times and let’s just say, I couldn’t see the pavement I was walking on. The copious amounts of puddles ladled on the ground attested that the heavy thunderstorms we had driven through had hit the parks as well. I assumed the park had cleared out due to the rainfall and we celebrated at our fortunate timing.

First things first though, food. Airport food has never proven to be fulfilling, and this southern gal was getting hungry. We had already decided where to eat well in advance due to a past trip. We hadn’t been able to eat there due to the site closing sooner than we thought it would. It was Sleepy Hollow. I ordered the chicken and waffles and my grandmother ordered the fruit and waffles. The wait time took about 20 minutes and the smell coming out of the kitchen couldn’t have been more tempting. Order up and time decide if the food was worth the wait and the money. Ya’ll. This southern heart swelled. The waffles were, dare I say it, better than any Waffle House waffle I’d ever had. I’m not a big fan of Mickey Waffles (Please don’t shoot), but I could eat these all day everyday. The chicken had quite the unapologetic kick that I desired, and the coleslaw topping would hold up in any/every southern restaurant. All in all, I was quite pleased and set to work on it. I could almost have split it had my little sister been there with us. My grandmother devoured her fruit and waffles about as quickly as I demolished mine. Overall, Sleepy Hollow gets my recommendation to anyone wanting to try it. 10/10 would recommend, two thumbs up all the way. Wonderfully sated, we proceeded on with our evening.

I utilized the app quite often to observe wait times in the park, and it proved to be quite helpful. We avoided the high energy attractions that had a longer wait time and settled on the Haunted Mansion, which to our surprise had a 20 minute wait. Both me and my grandmother have a fondness for the ride, and constantly pick out new details to observe as we are walking through the boarding areas. Waiting in line, the night had settled in and the ferry boat lights showed brilliantly onto the water. It created a picture of serenity and peace that eased the recent stress of travel. We also tend to make friends easily while waiting and passed the time by chatting idly with perfect strangers. We entered the ride, thankful for the relief from the heat/humidity, and enjoyed it without worries of what to do next.

Upon exiting we decided to simply meander through Adventure Land and hit the first ride we saw with a low wait time. Pirates of the Caribbean was the lucky winner with a grand total wait time of 10 minutes followed by Jungle Cruise and our all time favorite, the people mover.

A Starbucks drink later, which the line turned out to be longer than any of the ride lines, it was 21:30 and the fireworks were starting. Main Street was no longer the empty sight we had arrived to. We resigned to utilizing the time for rides and rode Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion in record time before deciding to call it a night. We strolled through the gift shops on the way out. We wanted to get to Epcot early the next day to enjoy the full benefits of it, aka Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land, and food.

Leaving has always been an adventure for us at Disney. My family decided to drive once when I was real little and my mom forgot where she parked the car. Pro tip, don’t ever forget where you parked your car. Searching for a black car at 1 am turned out to be an adventure I never want to have the pleasure of re experiencing. We settled in the long line to catch a monorail to the ticket and transportation center, and rapidly became consumed by the humidity. Thankfully the travel back was supremely uneventful and the coach bus was mostly empty. Safely arrived back at the hotel, we picked up a couple of pre packaged sandwiches from the hotel lobby and scarfed them down in the hotel room. We ended up being asleep before our heads hit the pillow.

So waking up at 06:30 to get ready for Epcot turned out to be a no go. Instead we laid in the bed, enjoying the lack of urgency. At 07:00 room service was ordered with no intentions of jumping out of bed evident. My cream cheese toasted bagel and my grandmother’s order of coffee became a staple for the remainder of the trip. At 08:30 we successfully made it out of the room, naturally well behind schedule.

The day promised to be a hot one with a clear blue sky. The bus arrived right on time, and remained reliable throughout the trip. Compared to the Magic Kingdom, we were brought within a 5 minute walk to the main park gate at 09:15. We did have fast passes for the day with Spaceship earth being the first, followed by Soarin and the three caballeros. My grandmother loves history, traveling, and learning about new places so Epcot is always a big hit. I like it all as well, but I adore the food.

First things first though, the Land pavilion had a behind the seeds tour that I had been wanting to try. We typically travelled with family so extra costs would add up and become a no go, but with only two people, it wasn’t that big of an increase. I was determined to give it a try and my grandmother, who has a green thumb, was happy to go along with the ride. I paid for the tour and we waited as a group for the tour to begin. We were given a small earphone that allowed us to hear the tour guide regardless of where he/she was. This was the best $30 I had spent at about any Disney Park. They took us around their facility to view sterile lab environments, innovative plant growing techniques, aqua farming, and their wide variety of plants. It was incredible to see how much this individual facility could produce and utilize throughout the park. We came away from it pleasantly surprised by the hour long experience we received for the price. If you do this though, it does take the full hour so do not do it unless you have the full our to comfortably spare.

By the time tour ended at 11:30 we had some time to spare. We stumbled upon an art shop that we had never really noticed before. I forget the name but we spent quite a bit of time looking through the pictures on display. If you know what it is/find it, stop on by and take a look around.

Afterwards, it was time to eat. That bagel hadn’t lasted long. Our plan was to utilize the quick service options at Morocco. But of course, my directionally challenged self got turned around. Apparently if you go to the World Showcase you take a right for Canada, UK, and Morocco. We walked around and took the left entrance by the Mexican pavilion. ¾ of a mile later we made it to morocco. I kid it wasn’t too bad, we stopped by the Norway pavilion and walked around the small museum of lore they had. It was nothing short of incredible for such a small space and convinced us we needed to take a trip out there. If you stumble on it, take some time and peruse around. It’s definitely worth your while. At morocco I ordered the lamb gyro. I would recommend the lamb gyro as I received a lot of lamb for the price, whereas my grandmother received maybe half the amount with a different dish. Once again, 10/10 would recommend.

13:00 and it was time for spaceship earth, an old classic that gave us an escape from the rising heat outside. Soarin’ was right after spaceship earth so we booked it over there. I had honestly forgotten how big and immersive the ride was and was astounded at the sheer size of the screen and ride vehicles.

Next thing on the list was the three caballeros. We walked around to the Mexico pavilion with the aim of enjoying the items on display and the environment itself. Upon completion we made our way around the world. We had resolved that instead of a big dinner, we would purchase a snack or two to split at any areas that would catch our fancy. We returned to Norway and I resolved to try an item that I had heard about everywhere on every food blog/video about Epcot. School Bread. I’d never had it before but from what I had heard it was basically heaven. Everyone was right, I’d probably go back to Epcot just for it. I’m not a fan of overly sweet foods, especially in the heat, but the school bread turned out to be more bready than I thought it would be and the sweetness was tempered by it. We ate outside on the low wall and my grandmother went inside to get a coffee. She came back with a large coffee and a troll horn. So much for overly sweet foods in the heat lol.

We continued on our walk around with our next big stop being Germany. We ended up getting a beer flight, which on a hot day there’s nothing much better. We resolved to stay away from the Caramel house because I’d certainly be in trouble and unable to walk away. The smell alone was tempting enough.

France came around and we enjoyed a chocolate crepe and a refill on our water bottles. Canada brought about it’s poutine, which I’d never had before. But I’m surprised a southerner hadn’t made it first. It’s fries, gravy, and cheese. You can’t get more southern than that. Okay fine it's cheese curds but still. By the end of our tour we headed for a last ride on spaceship earth and spent some time in Living with the Land. I took home a lavender plant from the land pavilion (their plants live and survive really well through the rough handling of travel and thrive at home as long as you water it every now and then.) Afterwards the fireworks were about to start, so I made a split second decision to get a caramel square and caramel popcorn from Germany before heading towards the park exit. At the end of the day, believe it or not, we had walked 7 miles. I felt I could spare the calories for the caramel popcorn and square.

We got back to the hotel with time left in the night for a swim. We headed for the hot tub and the two pools, one fresh and one salt water and just relaxed. It was nothing short of a good day.

The next day we once again laid around in bed till later in the morning and enjoyed an ordered in breakfast. We had Magic Kingdom that day and pretty good fast passes to boot. Buzz Lightyear at 11:30, Space Mountain at 13:00, and Splash Mountain at 14:30 with magic hours to spare. A little all around the place, but it worked out alright.

True to typical fashion we ended up running late for our first fast pass. We fought the crowds at the ticket and transportation center, ended up missing the monorail, before resigning to board the ferry. The ferry turned out to be a delightful surprise. Had we not been in a rush to begin with, I would have enjoyed it more and it may be our preference of transportation in the future. We rushed through the park entrance to the Buzz Lightyear ride, making it with a minute to spare. Even with the fast passes, we waited 40 minutes for the ride attesting to how busy the park was.

Upon exiting we went over to Space Mountain to unsurprisingly discover that the ride was down. We did discover that when a ride is down they redeem your fast pass for any ride at any time, we’d never been in this situation before. We decided to save it on the off chance that Space Mountain would reopen later in the day. The day proved to be sweltering, at least for me. We had hopes of riding the people mover again, but with wait times at 45 minutes we decided to pass. We made our way over to Adventure Land and treated ourselves to a dole whip float while enjoying the Enchanted Tiki Room show. I hadn’t had a dole whip float before and it was incredible. I was also surprised at the size of it, we could have easily split one. We ate lunch at a location I’ve forgotten but was decent, and resumed our search for AC at the country bear jamboree. This is my favorite show in all of the parks due to the music and slight cheekiness it holds, it never fails to give me a laugh. Plus I’m a big fan of blue grass so I feel right at home when I'm there.

14:30 rolled around and we resigned ourselves to the 45 minute fast pass line at Splash Mountain. The downed Space Mountain had displaced many fast pass holders resulting in extravagant fast pass lines around the park. Once again this is one of my favorite rides and one I never miss when the opportunity arises. Upon exiting, we committed to the 20 minute line of It’s a Small World for nostalgic purposes.

After we reentered the Fantasy Land main walkway, the clouds had gathered and the rain was beginning to come down for a long afternoon shower. Instead of waiting it out, we skipped out on the heat of the day and headed to the monorails for a tour of the resorts. This turned out to be wonderful, with no fast passes to attend to or dining reservations to run to, we took our time at each resort while waiting out the heat and rain. We started with the Contemporary, spending about 20 minutes browsing the gift shop before reboarding for the Polynesian. The Polynesian is a spectacular hotel and one of my favorites, I’ve promised myself I’d be able to afford to stay their one day. The smell of the resort lobby is one of my favorite scents, and I ordered it from the magic candle company (10/10 would recommend). We’ve eaten at Ohana and I’m pretty sure they rolled me out of the restaurant. That will be for a future trip though. Any thoughts on their twilight dinner room service from Ohana or the standard rooms in general please drop it below so I can use it for future reference. We had a lunch at the resort restaurant before continuing to the gift shop. We managed to find an Enchanted Tiki Room coffee mug, much to my grandmother’s delight. I’d never seen Enchanted Tiki Room merchandise before, so if you’re looking for it, that’s where to look! We meandered on down to Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto. I’d seen it on videos and I wanted to see it for myself. We couldn’t go in due to it being at capacity, but I added it to the bucket list for future visits. If anyone would recommend or unrecommend it, let me know. We walked around outside before heading back to the monorail for our final stop, Port Orleans. We didn’t do much here except peruse the gift shops, wash our faces in the bathroom, and headed back to the monorail soon after.

18:00 and we were back in the park. The rain had receded, and Space Mountain had reopened. We boarded in a record time of 15 minutes. I love Space Mountain, but I always have that slight and possibly irrational fear of losing a hand to the track that winds above you due to the tight space. We wandered around afterwards, ate a Mickey’s celebration doughnut, and some food from Casey’s Corner. The night was still young so we hopped in line for the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean during the fireworks. All in all we had accomplished a lot from riding Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear, It’s a Small World, the Enchanted Tiki Room, the Country Bear Jamboree, and touring the resorts on the monorail route. But wait there’s more, we still had time in the night for magic hours.

We hopped in line for Peter Pan’s Flight before the magic hours hit. We normally don’t wait for this ride because it’s always around 2 hours or more, but the wait time was an hour. I loved it. I enjoyed the nostalgia, because the last time I had ridden it was as a child where I seriously thought we were flying when the track dropped away. With magic hours in, we went to the ride we’d been waiting to ride all night, Seven Dwarves Mine Train.

PSA: if you stay in a resort that is not officially a Disney resort but still holds magic hours, make sure to print out and bring a sheet that states you have magic hours. We hadn’t paid much attention to the fact that our resort wouldn’t be linked to our magic bands, since we had the magic band linked to the park, and had neglected to print the sheet off. We managed to get into the line for the ride, but they reminded us for future reference we would need proof. The wait was half an hour long, a great reduction from the typical 2 and a half hour wait time. We ended up in the back and oh my goodness. In the back it felt like a much bigger rollercoaster than it was. We laughed the entire way through from sheer surprise at the speed it would take in the turns. It properly whipped us around. For us that was an excellent way to end the night and we headed back to the hotel. The next morning was Animal Kingdom and we were determined to get there early to hop on Flight of Passage, well early for us anyways.

The next morning rolled around and it was check out day. We laid in bed till 6:30 before ordering breakfast, packing, and getting ready for the day. At 7:30 we had our luggage downstairs for the hotel to take to the airport for us. Bags checked and backpack in hand with our boarding passes, we headed to Animal Kingdom. We arrived at 8:30 to find the park already open and people already in line for the ride before the official queue had even opened. Disney knew what was up because there was a coffee stand at the end of the line. We naturally caved and ordered coffee while waiting in line. The scenery in Pandora was breathtaking. I’d only ever seen pictures but it was way better in person. I wish we had spent the whole day at Animal Kingdom to see the park at night. The wait was about 45 minutes and it was worth every minute. Soaring 5.0. I couldn’t describe how great of a ride it was, and YouTube videos do it no justice. Getting there early was definitely the way to go, without it I couldn’t have imagined waiting in line for the ride.

We ate at pongu pongu afterwards before heading over to Navi River Journey. Once again, Disney knew what was up because there was a drink stand in the middle of the queue. While it was a beautiful ride, we got to the end of it wondering what we had just ridden. It certainly didn’t compare to Flight of Passage. We rushed over to our only fast pass for the day, Kilimanjaro Safaris, an old favorite. We headed over to nomad lounge to get a final drink and snack before leaving the park to head to the airport. I ordered a Lamu Libation. While priced on the high side, you get plenty of liquor for the price. One drink was enough for me. The atmosphere was really relaxed and pleasant, and if I had the time I could’ve spent a couple of hours just relaxing there. I would 10/10 recommend and revisit. With that, we regretfully headed to the park exit to head for the airport.

Overall this was an amazing vacation. For a last minute trip, we managed to do a lot without prime fast passes, dining reservations, and an overall plan. With only two people, we were able to be flexible compared to traveling with our typical full extended family size, about 16 people. I think we lucked out this trip and we are already thinking about our next trip to happen in August/September. Let me know if you have any advice, comments, or hidden gems we should plan to hit on our next trip and thank you for reading this long post!

PS Shout out to all of my fellow and future healthcare workers out there!
 
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Fellow RN here! :wave2: Thanks for your essential services during this difficult time!

We are going in November of this year, and I can't wait! What a lovely vacation with your grandmother! I enjoyed reading your report and how much you got done with it being such a last minute trip! Have fun this year if you go!

Wyndham Hotels have always been "okay" but not great for us. It is good to know that the Disney Springs one is so nice! I have never had Sleepy Hollow on my radar for food options, but it sounds like we might need to keep that as an option! I have heard only good things about the Seeds Tour at the Land Pavilion. I am glad you found it worthwhile. I find stuff like that fascinating!

Thanks for sharing your adventures! :flower1:
 
🤗 thank you! Thank you to you also!

I have never stayed at a Whyndham Resort before this one, but we were both pleasantly surprised. What most surprised us was the bus service.

We were so surprised at how much we actually accomplished! That’s so exciting! I had a coworker just get back from WDW and they said they walked on about every ride. I’m hoping it holds true later in the year.

Sleepy Hollow rather surprised me, and I think it may now be our must go place to eat.

I hope you have so much fun on your trip in November!
 

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