February 26- March 2, 2019 trying to maximize DDP

Joysnote

Mouseketeer
Joined
Dec 11, 2005
Cast: Joy and her DH Lynn, AP holders, very experienced Disney travelers, been over 1,000 visits, last trip December 2018.

Resort: All Star Movies, preferred in newly remolded. AP package with regular dining plan.

Details: We flew from Dallas, TX on Southwest airlines on direct flight.
We arrived about 3 pm to airport and boarded our Disney Magical Express by 3:30 and arrived at All Star Movies after making stops at Sports & Music by 4:30 pm. We had done online check in and were bypassing the front desk.


We got the text our room was ready at about 4 pm, we are in preferred room, with my AP discount and the regular Disney dining plan in Fantasia room 8747. We really liked this location and then is our first-time using dining plan now that alcoholic beverages are included. I am not a big drinking so Lynn will be enjoying most of mine. So our dinner would have been $50 plus the price of the length of stay mugs, of $40 for 2.


We went to gift shop to get ponchos because forecast called for rain every day. We also got some gifts for some of Lynn’s co workers and our daughter Maddy at home taking care of our dog Dexter.


We unpacked and turned in for the night.

Wednesday February 27, 2019 Magic Kingdom day!


We woke up about 6;30 am and showered and got ready for our day at the Magic Kingdom. We both had to do a bit of work in the room before leaving and Lynn ran to food court to get us some coffee. They did have a pod system coffee pot in room with cups, lids and so on, but we never used that on this trip. I do recall from our December stay in an All Star Music family suite when we brought the adult kids with us, the lids did not fit the cups and they were same here at Movies.


We’ left resort and got on Magic Kingdom bus and got in just after 8 am but park does not open until 9 am today. We took some photos of the castle and then were able to check in for our Be Our Guest reservation at 9 am and head over. We had pre ordered online in the MDE prior to vacation so once we checked in we went on in the castle and checked in again with no line and paid with dining plan and sat in the West Wind. Our food arrived shortly after sitting.


I had the vegetable quiche with orange juice and Lynn had Gaston’s feast. This counter service meal would have been $28 each for total of $56. We both enjoyed our meals and finished right at 9 am and left Be Our Guest.


We headed toward Dumbo. We seemed to be first guests to ride this morning. Then onto barnstormer and then back to Under Sea with Ariel. All great rides with no waits, we were able to just walk on.


We then rode It’s a Small World with about 7 minute wait. We were in our first fast pass window now for Peter Pan so we rode that. One of my very favorites. I always loved this ride since childhood.


Next, we decided to do Hall of Presidents. It was our first time doing this with President Trump so that was great to see. The park was getting a lot more crowded by noon that is was after noon.


After that we did mobile order to get some chili cheese fries from Casey’s corner using snack credit for lunch. It was first time doing mobile order. These were $6.49 each and used 2 snack credits or would have been $14.


From there we did Enchanted Tiki Room, relaxing as always. Now it was time for our fast pass for Big Thunder Mountain. After that we did Country Bears and then stand by line for Pirates of the Caribbean. It was about 20 minute wait and in the air conditioning so not bad at all to wait.


We decided to head to Tomorrowland and did Laugh Floor with Monster’s Inc. Then we rode mother all time favorited mine, the People Mover. The line took about 15 minutes as it stopped twice before we could board.



It was now time for our dinner reservations at the Crystal Palace. The character interaction was not great this meal. We were here over an hour and half until our first character and we only got two. Never had Piglet or Eeyore ever come by just Tigger and Pooh. This meal used one TS credit each or would have been 116.50 with our 2 Blue Moon beers.


After dinner it was time for our last fast pass for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and we got front row this time! It was great.


We decided to help back to resort after that. A great first day with lots of favorite rides


Thursday February 28, 2019 Animal Kingdom

We slept great, the bed here is so comfortable. We woke up about 6 am and showered and got ready for the day. We both did a bit of work again.

Went to food court for snack credit breakfasts of side of eggs & side of potatoes and coffee in our mugs. We used 4 snack credit and would have paid about $13 without dining plan.


We dropped mugs in room and did some more work and headed out to Animal Kingdom bus and boarded about 10:30 and arrived quickly. Our first fast pass started at 11;40 for Kilimanjaro Safari so we headed there and quickly were on the truck. We had an awesome ride and saw lots of animals. The mail lion even got up and moved around. We saw some animals on the trails after the safari then headed towards Pandora.


We used mobile order at Satu’il Café. We both got the combo bowls and I got a smart water and Lynn one of the green draft beers. So our total would have been $50 but used two counter service credits.


Next, we went on It’s Tough to Be a Bug and then it was time for fast pass for Primaeval whirl. I love this ride, it is short but fun. We then made our way back to Pandora for our fast passes for flight of Passage. We stopped and shared a Gatorade, so one snack credit which would have been $5.


I loved Flight of Passage I cannot believe I have been scared and chickened out on all those other times to ride it. It was not scary at all! I cannot believe I missed out before. I am a bit of a chicken, I waited a long time before doing Tower of Terror years ago too.

After that it was about time to check in for dinner at Tusker House with seating for the 7:15 show. We both had a great buffet and got 2 beers here too. Our character interaction was great here. We had Donald, Daisy, Mickey and Goofy. Each came by a couple of times. Our meal would have been $116 here, but we used 2 TS credits.

The Rivers of Light show as fantastic as usual and then off to crowded buses with lots of traffic leaving the park, but worth it.


We headed back to resort to turn in for evening


Friday March 1, 2019 Epcot!


We slept in a bit to about 7 am and got ready for the day. We headed to food court and I had bagel & coffee in food court 1 snack credit and Lynn just wanted coffee this morning. My bagel would have been $3.


We took bus to Epcot about at about 9 am and arrived just after park opening.

Our first fast pass was for Pixar Shorts, which was our first time seeing this and it was cute, but no need for a fast pass. Then we walked onto Figment which is always a fun time. After that we headed to the land for our Soarin fast pass, We got top row center so that was great, no distortion for us. After that, we did Living with the Land stand by with about 15-minute wait. This is another of my top favorites, so relaxing. Then I went to Sunshine seasons and got a caprese salad with a snack credit to share, which would have been $7.


It was now time for our Mission Space fast pass We did less intense green side and really did not need a fast pass. This was our first time with the change without Gary Sinese and not going to mars.


Lynn had some issues going on at the office, so we went back to resort for Lynn to work nap a bit and relax.


At about 1 I headed to the food court grab us lunch. I had chicken Parmesan sandwich and meatball for Lynn and got 2 bottles of beer using 2 counter service credits. I brought it back to room to eat as Lynn was still working. It would have been $44. I then got on app looking for fast pass for after dinner and took spaceship earth. Always a fun relaxing ride.


We headed out to the bus for Epcot and were back in the park by 4 pm. Many of the Flower & Garden topiaries were out so we got some pictures of those as it was starting in full on Wednesday. We also enjoy the outdoor kitchens and said to miss those this trip we will be back first week of May for those.


We went into World Showcase and looked around and checked in for our 5:30 ADR at Biergarten. We were seated with a great couple from Pensacola who were about our age and we had a lot in common and enjoyed great conversation and dinner with them. We got two German beers and our server Robert was excellent. We used 2 Table Service credits and our dinner would have been $100.


We had to check in for our flight tomorrow but A 34 & 35 with Southwest so that was good. We were now within our window for our Spaceship Earth fast pass. It was a walk on, so really did not need fp but enjoyed our ride.


We then headed back to bus stop and All Star Movies to turn in for the night.




Saturday March 2, 2019 Hollywood Studios

Today is check out day, sadly all good things must come to an end.

We had breakfast again in the food court. Sides of scrambled eggs and potatoes for 2 snack credit each and then coffee in our mugs, we would have spent $13.


We went back to room to pack up and drop off luggage to airline check in of Magical Express and then leave carryon’s with Bell Services. Our ride to airport is at 4:15 tonight for our 7:15 pm direct flight back to Dallas, Tx.

We headed to bus stop for Hollywood Studios ad it arrived just as we walked up, we were only ones in line essentially, we boarded and waited a minute and some more guests boarded, including a friend of mine I had met on the boards years ago, I knew she had arrived the night before, but we had not made any plans to meet up, just see if we would run into each other and sure enough we did on the bus. We visited the bus ride over to DHS and then entered park together to took photo.

Then we parted, she went to ride Toy Story Mania and Lynna and I for our fast pass for Tower of Terror. We had a great ride with lots of drops. Next, we had fast pass for Star Tours, we had a great flight with Yoda and we won the pod race. We looked around in the gift shop for a bit. It was pretty hot out, basically since Thursday it had been mid to upper 80’s and sunny, no more rain since Wednesday. I would have preferred a bit cooler for February trip, but the humidity was not too high so it stayed pleasant in the shade.


We had 11:15 ADRs for Sci Fi so headed there and checked in. I had the pasta with whole wheat penne and chicken, Lynn had a burger. He had a long island Ice Tea type cocktail and I had spicy margarita which was very good, but could only drink about ¼ so he had rest. My meal was huge, I could only eat about 1/3, Lynn ate the rest plus his. He got brownie ice cream for dessert and I got candy bar dessert to go, they boxed it for me with plastic fork and put in bag which was nice. Our meal would have been $90 but we used our last 2 TS credits.


It was now time for our 1 pm Slink Dog Dash fast passes. We had a quick fp walk up and were quickly on the ride and enjoyed it as usual. It feels brutal hot though in the area, not much shade so as soon as we got off ride, we exited the Toy Story land area and back to shade. I do not want to be here when it is humid out like in summer.


We looked around a bit in shops and took photos. We headed out to bus just about 3 to head back to Moves. We had 3 snack credits left so we used those to bring some more snacks home, got a Minnie strawberry shortcake cup cake for Maddy, a bag of brownie bites, I took to a friend’s house for after dinner with them . They had us over for dinner on Sunday and a thing of sour gummy worms. Which would have been about $13.


DME arrived right at 4:15 to go back to airport. Arrived at about 5 pm. Security was not too bad. We were boarded by about 6:40 and sat in front row of plane with no one in middle seat so that was awesome! We landed in Dallas by 8:45 and had parked at the airport so headed to car and home.


We did have an awesome time, and found it fun to try the dining plan again with the included alcoholic beverages. We paid $75.49 per person per night for it with tax for a total of $604. The food we ate would have been $732. I am not sure if we would have ordered all of the drinks without the plan or had all of the snacks, but we enjoyed it. The food is part of the Disney World experience for us and even though we are middle aged with grown children we do still enjoy the character meals, but without dining plan we would have only done one most likely.

Thanks for reading, next trip will be May at Pop Century! We really enjoyed remolded room at Movies, so looking forward to comparing it to Pop's remodel.
 
Thanks for sharing this, I’ve been trying to find reports and blog posts like this but there aren’t that many so it’s reallynuseful to see. I’m going in August and think we will get the DDP because, like you say, the food is part of the trip for us and the DDP essentially gives the green light to trying more places / foods!
 
Thanks for sharing this, I’ve been trying to find reports and blog posts like this but there aren’t that many so it’s reallynuseful to see. I’m going in August and think we will get the DDP because, like you say, the food is part of the trip for us and the DDP essentially gives the green light to trying more places / foods!


You're welcome, have a fantastic time at Disney!

Joy
 


Nice report! We are debating between february march or april next year. How was the weather that week?

It only rained once for about 30 minutes, other than that low 80's during day, low 70's at night for last week of February pretty typical. I was looking at the prices though for February on the new release today and February is really higher for 2020, January is much lower.

Joy
 

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