This is our 5th trip in the last 4 years. Every year we have done something different... drove/flown, offsite/onsite, rented car/used Disney transportation, dining plan, no dining plan, different times of year. Every year was a blast in its own way, but there was always room for improvement.
On this trip was myself, dh, dsd (19) and ds (7). Step-daughter going was decided 3 weeks ago. She wasn't going to go unless she finished her highschool classes... and that was confirmed and succeeded.
We stayed overnight at a Park Stay Fly hotel in Indy overnight 11-15. This is one thing that has remained constant in all of our trips that we have flown. I love already being near the airport (it is 2 hours from my town).
We flew Southwest. Previously we had flown AirTran because their schedule was better. Now they are the same, but I did love Southwest 2 free bags... we were able to pack extra empty luggage... no more cramming everything in and foregoing a souvenir because it may not fit.
I bought earlybird for 3 of us. It wasn't necessary. Checking dsd in 24 hours in advance gave her A-56/A-58 boarding. Ours was A-30's. Our flight home was only half full... I had a row to myself!
We went to MK on Sunday 11-17, HS 11-18, Epcot 11-20, AK 11-22, DTD and MK on 11-23. We went to Honeymoon Island in Dunedin on 11-19 (fabulous!) and shopping at the outlet malls 11-21. I would have liked to take advantage of the lower crowds in the middle of the week, but "little legs" ds wasn't able to do more than 2 parks back to back.
We rented a car from Alamo. Fabulous deal, fabulous service... great experience.
We rented a condo from Windsor Hills... Fireworks 402 from Vacation Central Florida. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
The last night we stayed at Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista. As Saturday was a long day and Sunday was an early morning, I was just looking for a decent place to sleep that night, so I did my first ever priceline bid. We stayed here for $45 plus taxes. It was worth it for the night, but I wouldn't want to stay for an extended period. It was too noisy... too many people, too much traffic.
No ADRS. Ate breakfast in the room, went out or did counter service for all other meals.
So... here are the highlights and random thoughts:
1. We rode all of the headliners, some many times. EEX5, RnRCX3, TSMX2, TTX2, and I lost count on the others. We used legacy fastpasses, although they weren't really that necessary. FP+ did not seem to effect our trip at all.
2.Switching our paper UC tickets to the RFID was painless, until we got to the turnstyles and one of them didn't work. That took about 30 minutes to clear up, but we were already early and my sons whining paid off and we got 2 golden fastpasses for any ride at any time that day.
3. Jedi training experience... got to HS about 8:30ish and went straight there. Was able to get in 11am show. He LOVED it.
4. Even when I was a kid, I never really got into Epcot. The new TT is cool... but this will be the 1st park to get cut next trip. We like the thrill rides...enough said.
5. Flights of Wonder at AK is really cool.
6. Glad we saw the lights at HS. Did not do Fantasmic. Went last year and just wasn't worth the hype for us.
7. Saturday night 11-23 was bust at MK... as I expected. We went that night to catch the parade, the castle show (can't remember the name) and fireworks. The castle show, where the pictures were put up on the castle, was awesome. Even though Saturday was a long day I'm glad we didn't miss this.
These are just my random thoughts. I followed easywdw for crowd predictions, and it seemed spot on for my days. Never waited in a SB line more than 20 minutes.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask while everything is fresh in my mind!
On this trip was myself, dh, dsd (19) and ds (7). Step-daughter going was decided 3 weeks ago. She wasn't going to go unless she finished her highschool classes... and that was confirmed and succeeded.
We stayed overnight at a Park Stay Fly hotel in Indy overnight 11-15. This is one thing that has remained constant in all of our trips that we have flown. I love already being near the airport (it is 2 hours from my town).
We flew Southwest. Previously we had flown AirTran because their schedule was better. Now they are the same, but I did love Southwest 2 free bags... we were able to pack extra empty luggage... no more cramming everything in and foregoing a souvenir because it may not fit.
I bought earlybird for 3 of us. It wasn't necessary. Checking dsd in 24 hours in advance gave her A-56/A-58 boarding. Ours was A-30's. Our flight home was only half full... I had a row to myself!
We went to MK on Sunday 11-17, HS 11-18, Epcot 11-20, AK 11-22, DTD and MK on 11-23. We went to Honeymoon Island in Dunedin on 11-19 (fabulous!) and shopping at the outlet malls 11-21. I would have liked to take advantage of the lower crowds in the middle of the week, but "little legs" ds wasn't able to do more than 2 parks back to back.
We rented a car from Alamo. Fabulous deal, fabulous service... great experience.
We rented a condo from Windsor Hills... Fireworks 402 from Vacation Central Florida. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
The last night we stayed at Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista. As Saturday was a long day and Sunday was an early morning, I was just looking for a decent place to sleep that night, so I did my first ever priceline bid. We stayed here for $45 plus taxes. It was worth it for the night, but I wouldn't want to stay for an extended period. It was too noisy... too many people, too much traffic.
No ADRS. Ate breakfast in the room, went out or did counter service for all other meals.
So... here are the highlights and random thoughts:
1. We rode all of the headliners, some many times. EEX5, RnRCX3, TSMX2, TTX2, and I lost count on the others. We used legacy fastpasses, although they weren't really that necessary. FP+ did not seem to effect our trip at all.
2.Switching our paper UC tickets to the RFID was painless, until we got to the turnstyles and one of them didn't work. That took about 30 minutes to clear up, but we were already early and my sons whining paid off and we got 2 golden fastpasses for any ride at any time that day.
3. Jedi training experience... got to HS about 8:30ish and went straight there. Was able to get in 11am show. He LOVED it.
4. Even when I was a kid, I never really got into Epcot. The new TT is cool... but this will be the 1st park to get cut next trip. We like the thrill rides...enough said.
5. Flights of Wonder at AK is really cool.
6. Glad we saw the lights at HS. Did not do Fantasmic. Went last year and just wasn't worth the hype for us.
7. Saturday night 11-23 was bust at MK... as I expected. We went that night to catch the parade, the castle show (can't remember the name) and fireworks. The castle show, where the pictures were put up on the castle, was awesome. Even though Saturday was a long day I'm glad we didn't miss this.
These are just my random thoughts. I followed easywdw for crowd predictions, and it seemed spot on for my days. Never waited in a SB line more than 20 minutes.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask while everything is fresh in my mind!
