Just Back - November 14 - 21st

[Disneymom1126]

Just a few quick notes from our most recent trip that I thought could help people when planning, but not long enough for a full trip report:

1. There is a reason Thanksgiving week is listed as a 10/high-crowd time. There was a noticeable difference for us between the 15-17 (week before thanksgiving Thurs., Friday, Saturday) and the week of Thanksgiving (beginning Sunday November 18)! We were thankful to just have our "favorites" to do (with fastpasses) on the 19th and 20th before leaving on the 21st. If you can swing the week before or week after Thanksgiving do it!

2. Everything you hear about Hoop-de-do-Review is correct...definitely make time to check that out. It's a lot of fun! Easy to do on a MK day because you can boat there and back. Also go early and walk through the stables if you have any horse-lovers in your group. We sat in tier 3 in the balcony and would choose that over the floor if we had it to do again. Also loved our meals at Beaches and Cream, Via Napoli, and Sanaa (get the bread service! I could have made a meal of that).

3. Caring for Giants tour at AK - highly recommend. Not too expensive and we learned a lot. It was my DD(10)'s highlight from AK. All proceeds go to their conservation fund which is a bonus!

4. This was our first trip not rope dropping most days (my daughter has some recently diagnosed health concerns that require she gets good sleep every night). I missed rope drop so much...if this is your first trip or you have a lot you want to accomplish each day, it really is a must do in my opinion - especially when the parks are really busy.

5. Got a Kavu sling bag for this trip and I LOVE IT. Apparently so do the bag-checkers...at least 3 of them commented that they "love these bags"

Happy to answer any questions about this time frame or the experiences I posted about!

 

[disneyseniors]

OP, thanks for the quick trip report! We are doing the Caring for Giants tour in 2 weeks, and am glad to hear such a good review. Looking forward to it.
We have gone to WDW up to the week of thanksgiving and left one day before thanksgiving. Like you, we noticed a big uptick in crowds the last 2 days, and it was no fun! Never again at that time.
I was wondering? What is a Kavu sling bag and where did you get one? I'm interested in possibly getting one.
Thanks so much.

 

[Disneymom1126]

OP, thanks for the quick trip report! We are doing the Caring for Giants tour in 2 weeks, and am glad to hear such a good review. Looking forward to it.
We have gone to WDW up to the week of thanksgiving and left one day before thanksgiving. Like you, we noticed a big uptick in crowds the last 2 days, and it was no fun! Never again at that time.
I was wondering? What is a Kavu sling bag and where did you get one? I'm interested in possibly getting one.
Thanks so much.

I hope you enjoy Caring for Giants as much as we did! Kavu is the brand and it's a cross-body style bag. Here's a link - they also sell them on Amazon, etc. https://kavu.com/collections/rope-bag-line

What you can't tell from the picture is that there are two long zippers (two bigger sections) and then the top front pocket has a velcro closure and the bottom front pocket zips closed. The top closure was perfect for a hand sanitizer and my phone fit perfect in the front zip pocket (I have an iPhone X). The larger full side zip held snacks, water bottle, and things I would need more frequently and the smaller full side zip held my daughter's emergency medication and other things we wouldn't need as frequently (e.g. tissues, bandaids, etc.). Inside the larger side zip there's also an interior small pocket with a zipper that my change-purse size wallet with our gift cards and my ID fit in. It fits more than it looks like it should (e.g. my daughter's thin hoodie one day) and I like that I could just sort of slide it around to the front to get into it without having to take it all the way off. I could also slide it around to the front and wear it for a lot of the rides - I only took it off for the "thrill" rides.

 

[disneyseniors]

I hope you enjoy Caring for Giants as much as we did! Kavu is the brand and it's a cross-body style bag. Here's a link - they also sell them on Amazon, etc. https://kavu.com/collections/rope-bag-line

What you can't tell from the picture is that there are two long zippers (two bigger sections) and then the top front pocket has a velcro closure and the bottom front pocket zips closed. The top closure was perfect for a hand sanitizer and my phone fit perfect in the front zip pocket (I have an iPhone X). The larger full side zip held snacks, water bottle, and things I would need more frequently and the smaller full side zip held my daughter's emergency medication and other things we wouldn't need as frequently (e.g. tissues, bandaids, etc.). Inside the larger side zip there's also an interior small pocket with a zipper that my change-purse size wallet with our gift cards and my ID fit in. It fits more than it looks like it should (e.g. my daughter's thin hoodie one day) and I like that I could just sort of slide it around to the front to get into it without having to take it all the way off. I could also slide it around to the front and wear it for a lot of the rides - I only took it off for the "thrill" rides.

Thanks, OP. That bag looks perfect. I'm going to check it out on amazon.