"Let's Ride Every Ride in WDW" - The Trip Where Everything Went Right (April 2018)

What an amazing TR! You'll have to do it all again when the new Toy Story Rides Open!

I have to ask, did doing two dessert parties feel like too much in one trip? I have HEA w/ plaza viewing booked for my next trip but the open bar for FEA dessert party is tempting

Thanks. We really enjoyed both dessert parties, and they are very different experiences (and had substantially different offerings), so it didn't feel repetitive. If we did both again, however, I'm not sure that we would do back to back nights like we did this time. It will be an individual determination, but likely depends on (a) how much of a sweet tooth you have, (b) whether you want to devote two separate nights to dessert parties, and (c) whether it fits in your schedule/plans. As you saw, we crammed a lot into a short trip, and two dessert parties was not overwhelming for us. As I said, they are so different from one another that we were very glad to have done both. Overall, I think HEA is the far superior show to Illuminations, but FEA had the better party (plus the post-party private ride on FEA). If both sound good to you, I'd say go for it :)
 
Thank you for a wonderful trip report! Your daughter will always remember those special trips.

We've been taking my dd at least yearly since she was 8. I love the fact that, at 28, she and her husband and our two grandsons always invite us along to WDW. It wouldn't be the same if we weren't all together. I wish that joy for you, as well.
 
Thank you for a wonderful trip report! Your daughter will always remember those special trips.

We've been taking my dd at least yearly since she was 8. I love the fact that, at 28, she and her husband and our two grandsons always invite us along to WDW. It wouldn't be the same if we weren't all together. I wish that joy for you, as well.

Thanks! We took 3 of the grandparents along back in November and had a great time. I hope that my daughter and I are still close enough when she is grown that I'll get to go to Disney with her then too.
 
Thanks. We really enjoyed both dessert parties, and they are very different experiences (and had substantially different offerings), so it didn't feel repetitive. If we did both again, however, I'm not sure that we would do back to back nights like we did this time. It will be an individual determination, but likely depends on (a) how much of a sweet tooth you have, (b) whether you want to devote two separate nights to dessert parties, and (c) whether it fits in your schedule/plans. As you saw, we crammed a lot into a short trip, and two dessert parties was not overwhelming for us. As I said, they are so different from one another that we were very glad to have done both. Overall, I think HEA is the far superior show to Illuminations, but FEA had the better party (plus the post-party private ride on FEA). If both sound good to you, I'd say go for it :)

Thanks for all the info! SOmething to think about for sure!
 


This has been a fun read. I'm in a similar boat, with just my daughter and I making the trip in October, so I'm hopeful our trip goes as well as yours appears to.

Did you ever feel rushed through any part of this? Or, probably better to ask, did your daughter? It seems like you did everything and more, and still had time to head back off-site for showers and naps. I'd love to similarly put a plan like this together, but I'm fearful I might wear her down too early in the day, if it's a go-go-go situation.

Kudos on the thorough planning and an awesome TR to read.::MickeyMo
 
This has been a fun read. I'm in a similar boat, with just my daughter and I making the trip in October, so I'm hopeful our trip goes as well as yours appears to.

Did you ever feel rushed through any part of this? Or, probably better to ask, did your daughter? It seems like you did everything and more, and still had time to head back off-site for showers and naps. I'd love to similarly put a plan like this together, but I'm fearful I might wear her down too early in the day, if it's a go-go-go situation.

Kudos on the thorough planning and an awesome TR to read.::MickeyMo

Thanks! We honestly did not feel rushed, but are pretty used to being aggressive in our park touring (both at Disney and elsewhere). For me, the basic blueprint for a park day will be: RD (either w or w/o a PPO ADR first), ride high priority rides for which we don't have a FP in the first hour or two, then have our 3 FP+s scheduled for before lunch, which gets us to lunch, after which we do a mix of rides and attractions with low or no waits or use additional FPs for a bit or go straight back to hotel for rest. Either way, we try to go back for at 1.5 to 2 hours of rest before going back out and enjoying a night time event and/or more rides. So I would characterize it more as go-go-stop-go :)

For us, the midday or late afternoon break is key. The only day we didn't do it on our last trip was our first day when we had lots of excited energy and adrenaline, and even then we hit the wall not long after 8 pm. My daughter almost never naps at home, but definitely does at Disney. She is pretty worn out from the day so far, and knows that she will want her energy to be able to enjoy our night back in the parks. We find that AK and HS are our favorite late afternoon and evening parks. Both tend to see lower crowds as the day goes on, as many guests arrive on the earlier side and then leave before dinner. Those that stay often go to ROL/Fantasmic/Star Wars, so lines for rides and other shows and attractions go down (Pandora is obviously an exception, although even the waits there get better as park close approaches).

It will depend on your daughter, and also how flexible your plans are. If you pick a few things each day that are high priority, focus on them, and are willing to take breaks and/or call audibles on the lower priority stuff, you should be fine. Best of luck with the planning, and enjoy your trip!

P.S. I look forward to reading your PTR. If I see anyplace where I might be able to offer a tip or anything, I'll let you know.
 
It will depend on your daughter, and also how flexible your plans are. If you pick a few things each day that are high priority, focus on them, and are willing to take breaks and/or call audibles on the lower priority stuff, you should be fine. Best of luck with the planning, and enjoy your trip!

P.S. I look forward to reading your PTR. If I see anyplace where I might be able to offer a tip or anything, I'll let you know.

I like a lot of how you break that down, in terms of a basic blueprint. We may run that in a somewhat reverse order, as we've got MNSSHP tickets one evening, and a couple of Extra Magic Hours times available a couple of evenings at MK and Epcot. So it may be a little later start for us in the morning, but out later in the parks. I have a list of some priority items and things we'd like to definitely do, but I'm pretty flexible if something goes astray.

And yes, please feel free to chime in as my PTR continues. Always happy to receive useful advice!::MickeyMo
 


Really loved your TR! :goodvibes I feel the same about family vacations and feel like we really get to enjoy each other's company when we go to WDW.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us!! :flower1:
 
I like a lot of how you break that down, in terms of a basic blueprint. We may run that in a somewhat reverse order, as we've got MNSSHP tickets one evening, and a couple of Extra Magic Hours times available a couple of evenings at MK and Epcot. So it may be a little later start for us in the morning, but out later in the parks. I have a list of some priority items and things we'd like to definitely do, but I'm pretty flexible if something goes astray.

And yes, please feel free to chime in as my PTR continues. Always happy to receive useful advice!::MickeyMo

That definitely makes sense for your situation. Staying off-site for our last trip, we could not partake in EMH, so avoided those parks. But EMH can definitely be a big advantage if you can use them, especially at night when the parks really clear out. Being at CR is also a huge plus. The ability to walk to and from MK, and being able to avoid the TTC, is a very valuable asset for touring. We have stayed at BLT twice, and each time it made our MK days so much more pleasant and flexible. Going back to the room for a rest or shower/change of clothes, or even for a dip in the pool, does not seem like nearly the production that it is to leave and return to MK from almost anywhere else. Between the fact that you have a great location, a solid plan, and some pretty moderate crowd days (according to TP and KtP), you should be in excellent shape. I'll take a closer look at your itinerary in your PTR to see if I have any specific thoughts, but your plan looked really good on first glance.
 
I just found this trip report and binge read it. What a fantastic trip you and your darling daughter had! I have three daughters, all grown now, and would have loved to spend one on one time with each of them like that.

Congratulations on the completion of the 46 rides. Very impressive, especially your MK day!

Ultimate Nights of Adventure sounds amazing!

Red Lion appears to be a very good alternative to staying on property. No doubt you made better time than waiting for buses.

Thank you for sharing this awesome trip with all of us!
 
Add me to the list of people who just binge-read your report. This is the best TR I've read in years! I love that you set the 46-ride challenge for yourselves and, WOW, your daughter is quite a daredevil.
Absolutely loved every post and am inspired by you. Going first of June and can't wait!
 
Friday 4/13/18 (Departure Day)

Chapter 16: A Farewell Breakfast at Chef Mickey's

We were able to sleep a little later on Friday as we had no PPO ADR or RD to race off for. As I mentioned back in Chapter 1, it has become a family tradition to eat at Chef Mickey's on our Departure Day. We like this because it is a fun thing to do that does not require a park ticket, and also because it gives us something to look forward to even as we are packing to go home.

After packing, my daughter and I checked out of the Red Lion, which served us very well on the trip. We drove to the Contemporary and checked in at Chef Mickey's. The last time we were at CM's was in November when it was being held in the Convention Center while the usual location was under renovation. That was a very different experience, and didn't quite have the same feel because of the surroundings. Now it was good to be back under the monorail.

We showed up right at our reservation time and were called in almost immediately. A few quick photos and then we were shown to our table.





The breakfast offerings were as I remembered, with lots of options to choose from and pretty good quality overall. As usual, it felt quite crowded, but that's to be expected for such a popular character meal. We had a chance to enjoy our breakfast and even go back for seconds before the characters made their way to our area. Our server was very attentive, refilled our drinks several times, and did a good job of keeping us updated as to when to expect the characters to arrive in our area.

Once the characters started coming, they came in pretty rapid succession, with a new one arriving just moments after the prior one had departed. Our table was near the window, which was nice, but created a bit of a glare in some of the photos. Pluto was first to arrive, followed by Donald.





Goofy was next. He and my daughter got a good laugh when she pointed out that they had something in common: they were both missing their front teeth :)





Next came Minnie.





And finally the main mouse himself, Mickey!





This was a great way to finish off our time at WDW! After breakfast, we spent a few minutes walking around the Contemporary and BLT before returning to our rental car for the drive to MCO. We had plenty of time before our flight, so took one last spin around some of the main roads around the parks on our way out. We stopped to fuel up the rental car as we got closer to the airport, and then dropped the Dodge Grand Caravan off at Alamo when we arrived.

I had never flown Spirit before, so was not really sure what to expect. As my father-in-law likes to say, the key to happiness in life is low expectations. This would actually make a fairly decent slogan for Spirit Airlines. What savings we got by flying Spirit that wasn't wiped out by the exorbitant luggage fees was certainly negated by the very small, cramped seating on the plane. Fortunately I had bought my daughter a few puzzle books that she liked in the airport bookstore, so that kept her occupied for most the return flight. We took off and landed later than expected, but it wasn't too bad.

My parents, who also live in NJ, picked us up at the airport, which was nice. They dropped me off at home and then took my daughter to stay with them for the rest of the weekend. After spending the week with daddy at Disney World, she would then be pampered and spoiled by her grandparents for the weekend. Not a bad spring break ;) And I certainly appreciated the chance to rest at home and catch up on work and other real life stuff that I had successfully avoided even thinking about while down in the Disney bubble.

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Overall, it was a truly phenomenal trip that exceeded all of my expectations. We set a pretty aggressive agenda of rides and other activities that we wanted to do, but with lots of good planning and some good luck we were able to do everything we wanted and more, having a great time in the process. The opportunity to spend this precious time with my daughter was priceless, and since coming back I have genuinely noticed that the trip seemed to bring us closer together. Writing this TR has been lots of fun too, not only for the great feedback I have been getting here, but also because it has been fun to remember and relive all the great times we had. Most nights my daughter and I have been reading one chapter together before she goes to sleep, and it gets her very excited.

Our lives move fast, and kids grow up even faster. As parents, we so rarely get the chance to slow down and, despite our best efforts, we miss a lot along the way. Vacations are a wonderful opportunity to catch up with each other, to do things together, to recenter, and to remind ourselves of what really matters. Sometimes it is a day at the beach, or a few days in the mountains, or a week exploring museums and big cities. For my daughter and me, this time it was 4 crazy days running around WDW riding every ride in all the parks. And I wouldn't have traded it for anything. It was truly the trip where everything went right not only because we did everything we set out to do, but because we got to do it all together.



Thanks to all of you who have followed along on our journey!

Final Trip Stats
Park days: 4
Parks visited: MK, AK, HS, and EP
Rides: 88
Our goal of riding every ride? 46/46, accomplished in 2.5 days (and then we went back and rode our favorite half of them again)
Total distance walked over our 4 park days: 50.41 miles
Laughs, smiles, and hugs: Too many to count
Truly one of the best trip reports. Bravo.
 
I just found this trip report and binge read it. What a fantastic trip you and your darling daughter had! I have three daughters, all grown now, and would have loved to spend one on one time with each of them like that.

Congratulations on the completion of the 46 rides. Very impressive, especially your MK day!

Ultimate Nights of Adventure sounds amazing!

Red Lion appears to be a very good alternative to staying on property. No doubt you made better time than waiting for buses.

Thank you for sharing this awesome trip with all of us!

Thank you so much @annie170. Trips with the whole family are great too, but I really treasure the one on one time. We were very pleased with the Red Lion. Considering that we were really just using it as a place to shower and sleep, its location and convenience were clutch. It actually has 3 pools, but we never even went to one of them :) And driving everywhere definitely saved us lots of time and gave us additional flexibility. I know that some WDW purists consider it sacrilege, but I much prefer driving to Disney transport overall. Thank you for following along and for your very kind words!
 
Add me to the list of people who just binge-read your report. This is the best TR I've read in years! I love that you set the 46-ride challenge for yourselves and, WOW, your daughter is quite a daredevil.
Absolutely loved every post and am inspired by you. Going first of June and can't wait!

Truly one of the best trip reports. Bravo.

Thank you very much @Cotillard and @Ngwira ! This was my first trip report, and I am so glad that you enjoyed reading it. Enjoy your upcoming trip @Cotillard .
 
What a fun trip, with such great memories for you and your daughter. I've done a few mother/daughter trips with my girls and they are so special to me -- I'm planning one now to Disneyland this summer with my girls and can't wait.
 
I've enjoyed reading about your trip! Did you enjoy the Ultimate Nights of Adventure Tour? It seems like a good way to be able to do all the highlights of AK, including the Pandora rides that have long waiting lines. Plus, you saw ROL. It appears to take away all the hassle of trying to cram in all the high priority things at AK.
 

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