Hi,
Figured I'd share a kind of fun experience from our 48 hours in WDW on 3/12-13. We were supposed to also be in the parks on 3/14 before flying home on 3/15, but after the closure announcement the night of 3/12 we opted to get home sooner and flew home first thing 3/14.
Anyway -- we had a kind of unexpected 90 minutes at the Studios on our arrival day. Here goes.
Our original plan was to land at MCO at 7am on 3/12, take the ME to our hotel and head to MK for FPs that started at 9:45am. What happened was this:
I started to get a little wigged out about the trip while having dinner the night before. After my DH fell asleep that night, I checked at prices for a rental and found a decent price from Hertz. So at 4am on the way to our airport I suggested we get a car to give us more transport options if we felt uncomfortable on crowded buses. DH agreed and I reserved a car from Hertz on their app.
As the plane starts its descent, the pilot announces we would land around 6:30am. I look at DH and say "should we go straight to the Studios?" half joking. Our RotR attempt day was planned for the next day when we had a few other FPs for the studios. We land and taxi forevvvvvvvvvvver to our gate, so I kind of didn't give it another thought. We gather our luggage and head to the rental cars. Didn't have to stop at the desk because we have #1 Gold, so just jumped in the car and left.
At this point I plug the Studios into the GPS and it says we could arrive at 7:45am. Hmmm. We decide to go for it. We park at 7:50am and stuff a pack of wipes and sanitizing gel into pockets and head for the no bag line (we did slow jog a few times on the way). Went right at the tapstiles and after a few tense moments with ill-prepared families, made it thru the tapstiles and found a spot near a storefront. We look at our watches and it's 7:57am! I quickly force close all our apps. At 7:59:15 we open MDE and I'm greeted with many screens informing me I've got a room ready!? I frantically dismiss those screens and then it's 8:00am. We count to 3, each try for a BG and I am able to get BG 20! We had been in WDW for 3 minutes and I feel like the trip is already a success!
We start walking to GE and when I see the sea of people, we decide to backtrack and ride Star Tours with a 5 min wait. We eventually head to GE and decide to use our multi-experience FP (from all that weird FP+ stuff that happened) to ride Smuggler's Run. We are literally THE ONLY PEOPLE in the FP line! Get off SR and find that our BG has been called. We get in RotR line around 9am and ride RotR w/in 30 mins.
We are headed out of the park to the hotel and on a bus for MK in plenty of time for our morning FPs.
While the trip was insanely stressful to me due to a few very crowded buses and realizing how many things you touch (or try not to), those first 90s minutes were just a complete unexpected joy!
Figured I'd share a kind of fun experience from our 48 hours in WDW on 3/12-13. We were supposed to also be in the parks on 3/14 before flying home on 3/15, but after the closure announcement the night of 3/12 we opted to get home sooner and flew home first thing 3/14.
Anyway -- we had a kind of unexpected 90 minutes at the Studios on our arrival day. Here goes.
Our original plan was to land at MCO at 7am on 3/12, take the ME to our hotel and head to MK for FPs that started at 9:45am. What happened was this:
I started to get a little wigged out about the trip while having dinner the night before. After my DH fell asleep that night, I checked at prices for a rental and found a decent price from Hertz. So at 4am on the way to our airport I suggested we get a car to give us more transport options if we felt uncomfortable on crowded buses. DH agreed and I reserved a car from Hertz on their app.
As the plane starts its descent, the pilot announces we would land around 6:30am. I look at DH and say "should we go straight to the Studios?" half joking. Our RotR attempt day was planned for the next day when we had a few other FPs for the studios. We land and taxi forevvvvvvvvvvver to our gate, so I kind of didn't give it another thought. We gather our luggage and head to the rental cars. Didn't have to stop at the desk because we have #1 Gold, so just jumped in the car and left.
At this point I plug the Studios into the GPS and it says we could arrive at 7:45am. Hmmm. We decide to go for it. We park at 7:50am and stuff a pack of wipes and sanitizing gel into pockets and head for the no bag line (we did slow jog a few times on the way). Went right at the tapstiles and after a few tense moments with ill-prepared families, made it thru the tapstiles and found a spot near a storefront. We look at our watches and it's 7:57am! I quickly force close all our apps. At 7:59:15 we open MDE and I'm greeted with many screens informing me I've got a room ready!? I frantically dismiss those screens and then it's 8:00am. We count to 3, each try for a BG and I am able to get BG 20! We had been in WDW for 3 minutes and I feel like the trip is already a success!
We start walking to GE and when I see the sea of people, we decide to backtrack and ride Star Tours with a 5 min wait. We eventually head to GE and decide to use our multi-experience FP (from all that weird FP+ stuff that happened) to ride Smuggler's Run. We are literally THE ONLY PEOPLE in the FP line! Get off SR and find that our BG has been called. We get in RotR line around 9am and ride RotR w/in 30 mins.
We are headed out of the park to the hotel and on a bus for MK in plenty of time for our morning FPs.
While the trip was insanely stressful to me due to a few very crowded buses and realizing how many things you touch (or try not to), those first 90s minutes were just a complete unexpected joy!
