So we went to Disney over Easter. Yes, I am aware that was over 6 months ago, but with nonstop school ever since then, this is my first chance to update the blog. I am not actually on my laptop, so this post will be without pictures, but I wanted to give my take on Disney, what I found worked really well, rides we loved, rides we hated, etc.
Some background: JK and I went to Disney with his Dad, stepmom, half-sister (12 years old), 2 20-something brother, and step-nephew (6 years old). So we had a pretty varied crew. JK and I also stayed a day and a half by ourselves. So we had the "family" experience and the couple experience.
I had been to Disney before, but never as an adult. I was excited to go, no doubt, but I totally didn't anticipate how much fun we actually had.
Now, I am of the school of thought that if you spend as much money as Disney costs, you must absolutely go hard-core with it. Now, I know there is another school of thought that the idea of a vacation running around like a crazy person doesn't sound fun. But I really, really believe that our pre-planning helped curb a lot of frustration and eliminated a lot of wasted time. Here I am going to give a brief run-down of how we approached Disney. It made for a really awesome time. :-)
First, my wonderful husband bought me The Unofficial Guide to Disney. Can I tell you how amazing the book is? It is incredible!!! I want to read it again just for the fun of it. It gives a summary of every attraction in the parks and every restaurant, which was really helpful in determining what we wanted to do. They also have these amazing touring plans in the back. I modified them to meet our needs, cut them out the night before, and stowed them in my purse. It was a game plan, and although we deviated somewhat, it helped get us off on a quick start instead of standing around asking each other where we wanted to go once we got in the park!
We drove to Disney World with the entire family using two vehicles. It wasn't a bad trip and the kids did great. Because of the size of our party, we chose to stay off the Disney property at these condos. Although I love staying in the parks (more on that later), this did work out really well. Everybody had a bedroom, and we were so close to the parks. We did end up paying for parking for both vehicles, but after the fact I found out we could have parked at Downtown Disney or one of the water parks (free parking) and ridden the Disney bus to the parks. Regardless of whether you stay in the Disney resort, you are able to use all of Disney's transportation once you enter the park. We actually needed a break from Magic Kingdom one day, so we all loaded up on the bus and went to Downtown Disney. It was really great.
Since we did not stay on the Disney campus, we took the strategy of avoiding the parks that had Extra Magic Hours on that day. This seemed to work really well, because we did avoid some of the resort guests that were taking advantage of extra Magic Hours. So the first day, we went to Hollywood Studios.
We went to the newest ride, Toy Story Mania, first. This was DEFINITELY our smartest move of the day! We were able to practically walk on to this ride, and later in the day, the wait was over an hour. Fastpasses were gone before 11:00. This is Disney at its very best. The theming in the que was AMAZING. Giant toys everywhere, a talking Mr. potato head, etc. There were some points I was wishing the line WASN'T moving so fast. This ride was a blast for everybody in our group. From the six year old to the fifty year oold, we had the best time. It is basically a 3-D interactive, arcade game. You move through different games along the ride as your car spins.
Some background: JK and I went to Disney with his Dad, stepmom, half-sister (12 years old), 2 20-something brother, and step-nephew (6 years old). So we had a pretty varied crew. JK and I also stayed a day and a half by ourselves. So we had the "family" experience and the couple experience.
I had been to Disney before, but never as an adult. I was excited to go, no doubt, but I totally didn't anticipate how much fun we actually had.
Now, I am of the school of thought that if you spend as much money as Disney costs, you must absolutely go hard-core with it. Now, I know there is another school of thought that the idea of a vacation running around like a crazy person doesn't sound fun. But I really, really believe that our pre-planning helped curb a lot of frustration and eliminated a lot of wasted time. Here I am going to give a brief run-down of how we approached Disney. It made for a really awesome time. :-)
First, my wonderful husband bought me The Unofficial Guide to Disney. Can I tell you how amazing the book is? It is incredible!!! I want to read it again just for the fun of it. It gives a summary of every attraction in the parks and every restaurant, which was really helpful in determining what we wanted to do. They also have these amazing touring plans in the back. I modified them to meet our needs, cut them out the night before, and stowed them in my purse. It was a game plan, and although we deviated somewhat, it helped get us off on a quick start instead of standing around asking each other where we wanted to go once we got in the park!
We drove to Disney World with the entire family using two vehicles. It wasn't a bad trip and the kids did great. Because of the size of our party, we chose to stay off the Disney property at these condos. Although I love staying in the parks (more on that later), this did work out really well. Everybody had a bedroom, and we were so close to the parks. We did end up paying for parking for both vehicles, but after the fact I found out we could have parked at Downtown Disney or one of the water parks (free parking) and ridden the Disney bus to the parks. Regardless of whether you stay in the Disney resort, you are able to use all of Disney's transportation once you enter the park. We actually needed a break from Magic Kingdom one day, so we all loaded up on the bus and went to Downtown Disney. It was really great.
Since we did not stay on the Disney campus, we took the strategy of avoiding the parks that had Extra Magic Hours on that day. This seemed to work really well, because we did avoid some of the resort guests that were taking advantage of extra Magic Hours. So the first day, we went to Hollywood Studios.
We went to the newest ride, Toy Story Mania, first. This was DEFINITELY our smartest move of the day! We were able to practically walk on to this ride, and later in the day, the wait was over an hour. Fastpasses were gone before 11:00. This is Disney at its very best. The theming in the que was AMAZING. Giant toys everywhere, a talking Mr. potato head, etc. There were some points I was wishing the line WASN'T moving so fast. This ride was a blast for everybody in our group. From the six year old to the fifty year oold, we had the best time. It is basically a 3-D interactive, arcade game. You move through different games along the ride as your car spins.
After this, we headed to another portion of the park for the Rock N' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. At this point, we used another WONDERFUL Disney feature- the kid switch. We had a six year old who wasn't quite ready for the Rock N' Roller Coaster, so we just went right up to the attendant and asked to do a Kid Swap. They promptly gave us two fast-pass like tickets. What this allows you to do is for one group to go onto the ride while the other adult stays with the child. Then, the other adult AND another member of your party get the fastpass like tickets and get to go through the fastpass line. This is really awesome because not only do you not have to wait in the regular line the second time, one member of your group gets to ride twice! I think this is one of the "little known" things Disney does (It isn't advertised), but it was really great for us on this particular ride. Because we were able to get to this ride so quickly, we had no need for a fast pass. We were able to pretty much walk right on. JK and I got on the first car on the Rock N' Roller Coaster, and it was AMAZING. The second time I rode (on the Kid Swap) I didn't get on the front car and there is a definite difference. The front car is FAR less jerky and gives you a much better ride. I will be trying to get the front seat from now on!
After the Rockin' Roller Coaster, the boys (JK and his brothers) braved the Tower of Terror. This is another ride that has great theming and has a fun pre-show. However, I do not do dropping rides that well. I have done ToT before, and had no desire to feel my stomach drop again. By this point, the lines I had increased a good deal, so this took a while, but myself and the little kids hung out, people watched, and waited.
Welp, this is going to be like a novel, before I finish, so I will break here. I will continue our first day soon! We love Disney!
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