Newbie to DIS three days at Disney!!

[Jeffbb]

Good day all! Let me introduce myself, my name is Jeff, and I just spent the last 18 days in Kissimmee staying at a rental house with my wife, 10-year-old son, 8-year-old daughter and my mother and father. We travel to Florida every winter around the same time period, end of January til mid February. I'm not a Disney expert but have been to the Magic Kingdom 5 times in the past 7 years. I did a bit more research before attending this year via this board, touring plants and easywdw. So because of my research I was familiar with Fastpass + going in and also had a bit of a touring plan i place, nothing set in stone, but just the typical rope drop, headliners, etc. So here we go.

Superbowl Sunday, February 2nd, EPCOT!

We (six of us) arrived at EPCOT at about 8:45am, 15 minutes before rope drop. We had already purchased our tickets the night before at Downtown Disney. As soon as the rope dropped we went directly to Test Track, line was about 5 minutes the first time and then we did it a second time and it was 15 minutes, so after our two test track runs it was around 9:45. We next walked back to Spaceship earth stopping along the way to book our fastpass. There was no lineup at the fastpass machine and a cast member was there to help us with our selection. We chose Soarin for our Tier one selection and then chose living with the land and spaceship earth. Probably not the best selections but we don't due Mission Space. We walked to Spaceship earth (not using our fastpass, it was for the afternoon) and walked right on. We then after riding went on it again with about a five minute wait.

We next went on the finding nemo ride, about a five minute wait, and then went to the pavilion where soarin is. We used our fastpass for Living with the Land (wasn't needed as the standbye line was 10 minutes) and then had a delicious lunch. It was now about 11:30 and we went on soarin with our fastpass, the standby line was about an hour I believe. This was the first time I had been on soarin and was amazed by it, it quickly became my favorite Disney ride. It was another one of those magical Disney moments which I'm sure most here can relate to.

After Soarin we did Ellen's energey ride, no line and except for the nice relaxing time to digest lunch, the ride wasn't worth the 45 minutes that your on it. It was now around 1:30 and our fastpasses for Spaceship earth were up so we went back to spaceship earth for our third trip through the golf ball. This time the ride was broken so they gave us a open fastpass which we could use at any fastpass attraction except for soarin and test track.

We went over to the World Show Case and went on the Mexican Grand Fiesta Tour, there was no line up for this at all during the day and we walked on about 5 times over the course of the afternoon. We used our open fastpass from Soarin to ride Maelstrom. Using the fastpass we got right on, the standby line was about 15 minutes. After Maelstrom we slowly walked around the World Showcase taking in shows, the American Adventure and enjoying the atmosphere.

I had reservations for the six of us at the San Angel Inn for 5:45pm. We attended 15 minutes early and requested a table next to the water where the ride goes by. We got a table and again, having dinner, experienced another of those magical Disney moments when all seems right in the world. The dinner itself was decent, not spectacular, and pricey but the atmosphere was amazing.

After dinner we went on Maelstrom again, about a five minute wait, and headed back to Test Track. The lineup at Test Track at about 7:30pm was approximately 20 minutes, though we went through it faster then that. We next walked over to soarin and betwen 8:15 and 9:00 rode Soarin two more times giving us only a few minutes to find a spot to watch illuminations, which we did find and did enjoy the show.

So the day was fantastic for us. We rode both headliners three times and never waited in line for anything else for more then 15 minutes. We did everything we wanted to do and more. Touring plans gave Epcot a 3 for the day I believe and that felt about right. It certainly wasn't busy. We are fortunate enough to head to Florida at a slow time.

Next up first trip to the Magic Kingdom!!

 

[Jeffbb]

So fast forward till Tuesday the 4th of February and my daughter and I did a father daughter trip to the Magic Kingdom. There is a bit of a back story to this. Last year as we were leaving the Magic Kingdom after it closed my daughter came up to me teary eyed and I asked what was wrong, she said that she never got to go on the Peter Pan ride, which was her favorite. This was a huge oversight on my part do to poor planning. Every time we walked by Peter Pan it was so busy that we just moved on. When my daughter said this to me it broke daddies heart. Right then and there I started planning this Magic Kingdom trip just for the two of us.

So we arrived at the MK just before RD and made a bee line to Peter Pan! we were among the first on and I finally made good on my oversite last year!! It is an amazing ride, hard to explain what is so special about it, but it would probably now be my favorite MK ride. Just magical! After Peter pan we walked over to The Little Mermaids under the sea adventure and walked right on. After the Little Mermaid it was nearing 9:30 and we walked over to the Haunted Mansion, walked on to it, and then did pirates twice (5 minute wait or so).

I next found a fastpass kiosk and again with the help of a cast member made reservations for Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan and Space Mountain.

We next visited Tomorrow Land and did Buzz Lightyear which had a 10 minute wait (I scored 999999 though the ride broke down for about a minute so I was able to wrack up my score)! We then did the people mover twice, the Carasoul of Progress and Disney's Laugh Floor. All this was done before lunch and I was quite proud of what we had accomplished.

We ate at our favorite Disney counter service place, Pico Bills, and had a delicious burger with all sorts of toppings. After lunch our Jungle Cruise fastpass was up and we walked over there on a full stomach. The standbye line was almost 40minutes so we were happy to walk past everyone with our fastpasses in hand. We probably waited about 10 minutes even with the fastpasses.

We went on Alladins Magic Carpets and then headed to Peter Pan where we used our 2nd fastpass to go on Peter Pan for the 2nd time. After this we went on a small world. After a small world we went back to Tomorrow Land and used our last fast pass on space mountain. The wait in the standbye line was about 50minutes I believe.

Now that we were in the busy, hot hours, of the day we took it easy and ate a cookie and cream ice cream sandwhich, went into the Hall of Presidents, and then went over to Tom Sawyers Island for about 45 minutes.

After killing about two hours with these activites it was getting on to about four oclock and the times on the rides were starting to go down (not that they were ever very busy). My daughter and I went back to pirates and went on it twice more (not much of a line either time, maybe 10 minutes). We then rode the train to Fantasyland where we went on Dumbo and then walked to Tomorrow Land again where we did Buzz, People Mover and the Carousel of Progress again (yes twice on the COP, I love that ride).

It was now starting to get dark and we ventured over to the Mountain Railroad. This was the only real line we hit over the course of the day and stood in line for about 25 minutes. It was getting dark now and we got dinner before finding a place to watch Wishes. Wishes were as magical as ever and when they ended we had about an hour and a half to do as many more rides as we could. We went on the Haunted Mansion again, POTC twice, Jungle Cruise twice (if you have never ridden the Jungle Cruise at night then you are missing out, it is much better then in the daylight), walked back to Small World and then walked into the line for Peter Pan at approximately 9:50pm. The line for Peter Pan was still 25 minutes this close to park close. We enjoyed our last tour over London and then walked slowly to the ferry and took it home.

What a great day for me and my eight-year-old daughter. Touring Plans had the day as a 4 but afterwards said it actually was a 6. This surprised me as you can read about the quantity of rides we did. It's so important to have a bit of a plan certainly, hit the big rides quick, use fastpasses for three rides during the busy time, and then do the rides again when it's thinning out. It was a magical day and I have no complaints about the fastplus + system at all (and I did make good use of the old fastpass system in years past). I hope you enjoyed a brief walk through these two magical days. In fact they were so magical I talked the rest of my family to head back to the Magic Kingdom the next tuesday, which I will post about later. If you have any questions feel free to ask!