Our first October Disney vacay!! A full week at Fort Wilderness, golf cart included, with Genie+ dropping during the trip!

[jvz82]

Following!

Thanks for following along!

You midwesterners love your road trips. A good friend from high school married a guy from MN and they had their wedding in Nashville, so there were many folks from MN, Iowa, and SD at the wedding who all drove 12-16 hours.

We live in Alabama only a 7 hour drive from Orlando and I’m already dreading our drive in March for our trip.

Well, I wouldn't say I LOVE the road trips, but the benefits certainly outweigh the challenges for us! Generally only go every 1-2 years, but this year we drove to Florida twice and it was a bit much!

I'm in Alabama too and we used to drive. Its technically about a 10 hour drive for us but with kids it always took about 12. Now since it's just hubby and I or me and our adult daughter we fly. I love the short 2 hours it takes. We love road trips but I have come to despise the drive home since I do most of the driving.

10 hours sounds like a dream drive lol. If it was just me and my husband, we would definitely fly. It's just so expensive for 6 of us and takes away so much of our flexibility! Maybe one day.

On our 2019 trip we resort hopped and I loved the look and feel of AKL. It's one of my wish list resort as well. My top wish list is Grand Floridian but I'm not holding my breath that it will ever happen.

Yesssss Grand Floridian!! We had dinner there once and when we walked in, we were like "this feels too expensive for us" lol.

I am loving your trip report. You have such a lovely family! Can’t wait to hear more.

Thank you so much! <3

 

[jvz82]

Animal Kingdom day!

Monday morning, we set our alarms suuuper early to prepare to arrive at Animal Kingdom close to an hour before opening. We had decided to rope drop FOP and we knew we wanted to get there early. We were also unsure of how early the buses would be running, and had decided to drive to AK.

My daughter was really upset that we were driving because she wanted the magic of Disney transportation but we assured her that we would have other opportunities.

I don't remember how early we ended up making it to the entrance of AK, but I think it ended up being around 30-40 minutes before the park opened (which was 7:30 for resort guests). They were not quite letting people in but we didn't wait more than a few minutes before they let resort guests into the park!



We funneled towards the entrance to Pandora and they stopped us at the entrance there. We waited a few minutes and then we headed into the line for FOP. It moved super fast! I barely even had time to take any pictures and we were on the ride!





It was a slightly chilly morning but sunny and beautiful! After FOP we went to the Na'vi river ride that only had a 5 minute wait.

My 6 year old enjoyed FOP but had decided he was scared of the Na'vi people. He didn't want to go on the river ride because he didn't want to see any of the people, and he kept crying and whining. When it got to the part of the ride where there's a Na'vi person talking, I had to cover his eyes and pull him towards me. He made me promise not to take him back to Pandora the rest of the day!

After the river ride, I noticed on my app that Expedition Everest was down. It had been down for the whole morning at that point! So we headed towards Africa to go on the safari ride.











The safari ended up being a little longer than normal because the giraffes were causing (as identified by our tour guide) a "giraffic jam". At one point, a giraffe was crossing in front of our jeep (sloooowly crossing) and the tour guide says "well as long as we don't get double-crossed by the giraffe..." and then later the giraffe did cross us again so that was funny.

After the safari was over, it appeared that Expedition Everest was up and running again and it was only a 15 minute wait! So we trekked across the park over to Asia!



We all rode Everest, but for some reason none of our pictures worked even though I scanned my magic band. We got random pictures of people. This was a theme during this trip for some reason, I would scan my band and really pay attention to scanning to correct picture and the pictures would never show up. Sooo no pictures this time. But we had a fantastic time!

When we got off, the wait was still short so most of us rode again except my husband and my mom, who felt just a little motion sick.

After the ride, my 6 year old decided to spend some of his money on a yeti hat!



He looked so cute. He wore it throughout our whole vacation and got lots of compliments.

Up next: Jungle Trek, Bird show, and Flametree!

 

[jvz82]

Animal Kingdom, part 2!

It was barely midmorning by the time we rode Everest twice. We were making our way through the park so fast! We planned to go to the bird show at 10:30 but had some time to kill and decided to go on the jungle trek and look at some animals.

A few of our family members waited behind on benches. My husband's back was hurting (he has chronic back pain) and my oldest wanted to rest too but the rest of us went.








Me! I thought this was so beautiful, I needed a picture of myself!

After our trek, we headed towards the bird show and got there around 10:15. While we were waiting for the show to start, we used our apps to order our lunch. We had decided to eat at Flametree Barbeque for lunch so we spent some time deciding what we wanted to eat and selected 11-12 as our time to pick up.

The bird show started, and I was a little disappointed that Russel and Dug weren't here anymore! It had been maybe 3 years since we went to the bird show last, but I really enjoyed Russel and Dug. But we did enjoy the show overall.



Then it was time for lunch! We were all soooo hungry. We checked in, and then went to find a seat. I absolutely love the seating area down by the lake for Flametree! I can't believe I've never been here before! With a view of the mountain and everything.



I ordered the macaroni and cheese with shredded barbeque and onion rings and OMG! So tasty!

While we were eating, we were fortunate that we had a perfect viewing area for the Lion king kite show!





So this was pretty cool, but it didn't last long. The wind had randomly picked up and they made an announcement that they were going to shut it down early after poor Zazu bit the dust.

After we finished eating, we decided to go to It's Tough to be a Bug. We hadn't been to this for quite a while so I didn't know if the kids would like it or not.



As expected, there were lots of crying kids in the theater but my kids seemed to enjoy it!

Up next: Dole whips, Dinos and petting zoos!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Following along!

At one point, a giraffe was crossing in front of our jeep (sloooowly crossing) and the tour guide says "well as long as we don't get double-crossed by the giraffe..." and then later the giraffe did cross us again so that was funny.

It was almost a Jungle Cruise with real animals.

Me! I thought this was so beautiful, I needed a picture of myself!

I never get pictures by myself! I need to remember to get at least one or two. It's alwasy about the kids.

Then it was time for lunch! We were all soooo hungry. We checked in, and then went to find a seat. I absolutely love the seating area down by the lake for Flametree! I

I heard this is a great place to see the Kite Tails!

While we were eating, we were fortunate that we had a perfect viewing area for the Lion king kite show!

Ahh! you got to see it!

 

[footballmouse]

 

[jvz82]

I'm back!!

Sorry for the hiatus. Real life has been busy lately. Time to return to my fantasy world vacation for a while!

I would just like to throw out there that at this point in our Animal Kingdom day, we have gone on FoP, Na'vi river ride, the Safari, Everest (twice!), walked the Jungle Trek, went to the bird show, ate lunch, and watched Tough to be a Bug. It's around 12 pm at this point.

Totally impressed with the time we made that day!

After the Bug show, it was getting hot and we all decided we needed dessert. My husband and boys stopped and grabbed some Mickey ice cream bars, but my daughter and I knew that we needed Dole Whips over in Africa!



This was my daughter's first Dole Whip. She loved it!

We then decided we wanted to take the train over to Rafiki's planet watch.


I know this isn't a popular attraction, but we love getting on the train and cruising across the park. No lines, a nice break off our feet!

We were hoping to make it to the Lion King show after this, and we were cutting it close. The minute the train pulled back up to Africa, we booked it over to the show!



We made it just in time! Zero wait in line and we got right in to sit down.

After Lion King, we decided that the only thing we hadn't seen yet was Dinoland. It's not necessarily our favorite part of AK, but the kids wanted to go on Dinosaur so we started heading across the park!

On our way, we decided to stop and get our picture taken in front of the tree since we hadn't done that yet. They added in some magical birds for us!



My 6 year old then found the Timone and Pumbaa 50th statues. He loved all of these gold statues throughout the parks and these are a couple of his favorite characters!





As we crossed the bridge into Dinoland, we noticed a fun surprise coming towards us! I looooove meeting characters, I would give anything for a Mickey Mouse hug but seeing them on the boat was pretty exciting too.



The last time my 6 year old went on Dinosaur, 3 years ago, he threw up afterwards (he has lots of motion sickness issues) so he absolutely refuses to go on the ride now. My parents also are not crazy about the ride, so they took him to the Dino play area and the rest of us went on Dinosaur!



After the ride was over, my mom texted me that my dad wasn't feeling great and it had hit him suddenly (I think I mentioned earlier that he has cancer). She felt like they were going to need to go home.

The general consensus was that everyone was ready to go except my daughter. You will see that this will be a theme throughout the rest of our trip. It took me towards the end of our trip before I realized she was just so sad to leave every day, and she would make up some story ("but I haven't eaten this food yet!" or "I haven't gone in this store yet"). We finally talked her into leaving, much to her dismay.

Back at Ford Wilderness, we ordered some absolutely delicious pizza for dinner and cupcakes! We were able to rest a bit and spend more time at the pool. It was a much-needed evening "off".





Coming up next: Star Wars, Toy Story, and LOTS OF LONG LINES, omg.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

This was my daughter's first Dole Whip. She loved it!

What!!! Her first one! Glad she liked it.

I know this isn't a popular attraction, but we love getting on the train and cruising across the park. No lines, a nice break off our feet!

the train is def an under rated ride.

The general consensus was that everyone was ready to go except my daughter. You will see that this will be a theme throughout the rest of our trip. It took me towards the end of our trip before I realized she was just so sad to leave every day, and she would make up some story ("but I haven't eaten this food yet!" or "I haven't gone in this store yet"). We finally talked her into leaving, much

it is always hard to leave the parks. But you guys did a lot!

 

[alohamom]

Following along-what a fantastic report so far!
I LOVE all the shirts you made!

 

[Jeepdisney]

Found your trip report and all caught up! I love hearing all about it so far!

 

[jvz82]

What!!! Her first one! Glad she liked it.


the train is def an under rated ride.


it is always hard to leave the parks. But you guys did a lot!

Yes, we did so much in a short day! It was great to have an evening at the resort.

Following along-what a fantastic report so far!
I LOVE all the shirts you made!

Thanks for following along!!

Found your trip report and all caught up! I love hearing all about it so far!

Thanks for joining in!

 

[jvz82]

It's Hollywood Studios day!!!

We were so excited for this trip, because my family hadn't been to Hollywood Studios for a few years (not long after Toy Story Land was built, but before Galaxy's Edge) and my parents haven't been to Hollywood Studios since it was MGM! So there were so many new rides they were going to experience.

Now, we were met with some complications. We went to Hollywood Studios on Tuesday, which just happened to be the very first day that they introduced Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. There were so many unknowns with how Genie+ was going to work and even though I had been trying to read about it, there wasn't much info out there yet.

I will say that we did NOT purchase Genie+, but if I had had a crystal ball, I probably would have for that day. We just weren't prepared.

Sooooooo anyway!

Our plan was to get to the park an hour early and get in line for Rise of the Resistance. We were not sure how early the buses were going to be running so we decided to drive.

We arrived at the parking lot at around 7:15 am (park opened for resort guests at 8:30) but they actually had cones set up and would not let anyone into the parking lot. The parking attendants said they wouldn't let people in until 8. We weren't really sure what to do, so we turned the car around and basically made a big loop and parked on the side of the highway not far from the entrance. We were trying to make a decision about what to do. Fortunately, they actually started letting cars in at 7:25 so I'm glad we waited it out.

It was an absolutely gorgeous morning! I had some major Disney energy going on.

My daughter and I, raring to go.


The sky was amazing (My 6 year old kept saying "the sky's awake so I'm awake!"). It looked so cool with the skyliners in the background.


And the view from the parking lot of the ToT.


I'm pretty sure they immediately let us into the park, we didn't even have to wait. Most people funneled towards Galaxy's Edge. I still remember how happily and enthusiastically the cast members were welcoming us all to the park!

And we finally made it! We immediately got into line for RotR and we moved quickly, but I snapped pictures along the way. We were all so impressed with the theming.









So, the line moved along so smoothly. Too smoothly.

We really weren't that far from entering the queue when everything stopped. Like dead stopped.

And we waited, and waited, and waited.

Sigh.

The lovely woman's voice came on to announce that there was some sort of problem with our mission and our mission was delayed. We heard her announce that several times over the course of our wait, I lost track of how many times.

The wait was long enough that I really started wondering if we should wait it out or not. To be honest, I don't remember how long we waited there. But it was definitely a long time. The kids were whiney. They were bugging each other. People kept leaving the line to find the bathrooms. We were trying to find comfortable spots on the ground.

BUT! Finally, FINALLY, the mission was back on! The line started moving. There was relief radiating from everyone in the line.

I hadn't actually researched this ride much, so I wasn't prepared for the fun, sort of the scary premise of being prisoners of the first order.

My 6 year old said "take a picture of the storm troopers!"


Omg, so fun!

And we are, terrified of being prisoners (but also giving a thumbs up, apparently lol).


This ride was everything! So worth the wait! My husband, who is the biggest Star Wars fan in the family, said for him it was the full size AT AT walkers that really did it for him. I personally loved the drop. What a fun ride!

Unfortunately, the ride breaking down really slowed us down. By the time we got out, it was definitely past the point that the park was open to all guests (past 9 am). But we decided to try and stick to the plan and headed over to Smuggler's Run.



*See next post to continue!

 

[jvz82]

Smuggler's Run was listed as a 20 minute wait, and that was pretty accurate.



The kids really enjoyed Smuggler's Run. The adults liked it too, but the kids in particular loved that each person had a job to do and wanted to ride again (but we didn't think we'd have time for that).

We stopped off at the bathrooms before leaving Galaxy's Edge. We had plans to return later and explore more. I would end up not getting to go back, but most everyone else was able to go back at some point.





Seriously, even the bathroom area was cool!

Our next stop was Toy Story Land.



Slinky Dog Dash was already posted as a 60 minute wait. But we got in line.

Out of curiosity, my mom asked the cast member at the end of the line about Genie+. The cast member informed her that they were already booking out until evening times for SDD with Genie+! Yikes. So, in line we stayed.





My husband and I wore our coordinating Mr and Mrs Potato head shirts. On the back we had "to infinity" "and beyond".




Well, we lucked out and the 60 minute wait that was posted turned out to be just a 35 minute wait! Phew. And everyone loved the ride!





For some reason I didn't get a picture with my husband and 8 year old son on the ride. The ride photos were suuuuuuper flakey this trip! Sometimes I ended up with pictures of people who weren't us, or just missing pictures of certain people. I'm not sure why it was so bad this trip but it was kind of a bummer.

So after SDD, we decided to do Toy Story Mania. It was also listed as a 65 minute wait but we were kinda hoping for a similar story to SDD where it would actually be shorter.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. It was such a long wait! My 6 year old was whiney and mad the whole time and just insistent that this ride would NOT be worth it. And he really stuck to that, even after the ride was done he continued to be negative about it. Oh well.

During the long wait in line, we decided to book lunch for ourselves at Woody's Toy Box. I do really like the fact that we can order ahead now! Makes it feel like we can make use of our time in line.

It was super crowded in the outdoor seating area at Woody's Toy box. Both my dad and my husband were stalking people trying to get a table. We were able to get one to fit us all!

Even though my kids didn't like them as much as I did, the "pop-tart" desserts were absolutely incredible! We got both kinds (one had raspberry filling and one had nutella filling) and they were both delicious.

UP NEXT: We wait in more lines. Omg, the lines.

 

[jvz82]

We finally got to head down Hollywood Boulevard!



Our next stop was going to be Rock 'n Roller Coaster, but not everybody wanted to ride. My husband can't go upside down (makes him too sick) and my 6 year old didn't want to, and for whatever reason my 12 year old also decided he didn't want to ride on it (which surprised me). The 3 of them headed over to the Lightning McQueen show.

The rest of us got into line for RnR, which was posted at a 50 minute wait. Which was wrong, just FYI. It was so long. Ugh. And a lot of the line was outside in the blistering sun and I thought maybe we were all going to die.







The above picture was when we finally got out of the sun and into the shade, but you can see the line behind us in the direct sunlight. Yikes, that was quite the wait.

But after maybe 70 minutes, we finally made it to the ride. And I mean, it's seriously such a great roller coaster.



My husband and two sons had done the Lightning McQueen show, which of course was a super short wait, and then they went back to Galaxy's Edge to explore more. Then we met up over by Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad.

My son had purchased a Porg pet for himself.


I think I forgot to mention that at some point I was soooo done with the long lines. So we decided to buy an ILL for MMRR. It was a long line at that point, so I'm glad we did it.



My kids absolutely adored MMRR! They all love those Mickey shorts on Disney Plus, and this was like an extension of that so it was definitely one of their favorites of the day.

I don't remember exactly what time it was when we got off this ride, but it was somewhere around maybe 2 pm? And my dad and husband were feeling really done and tired. My 12 year old and 8 year old sons also decided they were ready to be done too. So those 4 made the decision that they would swing by Galaxy's Edge to explore just a bit more, and then they'd all drive home. The rest of us would take the bus later. But before they left, we got some pictures done.





My 12 year old had a crossword puzzle on the back of his shirt (for people to do when they're bored in line) and the photographer wanted us to be pretending to do the crossword lol.


So we separated from there and got ready for more fun!

UP NEXT: character sightings and sing-alongs!

 

[alohamom]

The group shot of your family hugging is so sweet.
I'd framed it and put it on the wall, there is so much love right there!

 

[jvz82]

The group shot of your family hugging is so sweet.
I'd framed it and put it on the wall, there is so much love right there!

Thank you so much! I already printed it on a canvas lol.

 

[jvz82]

Hello again!

Welcome back to Hollywood Studios day for our group!

When I left off, half of our party had left to go back to the resort. My dad has cancer, and my husband has chronic back pain so both of them were feeling pretty done by 2 or 3 pm. And my two older sons decided the pool sounded like more fun to them so they left too.

That left this motley crew:


Yep. Nobody wants to mess with us.





Our plan was to go to the Beauty and the Beast show after everyone left, so we rushed down Hollywood Boulevard to reach the show in time. When we got there, we found out there wasn't a show that particular hour for some reason. It was on the schedule on the app, but on the sign out front, it said there was no show until an hour later.

We decided to take it easy and do some shopping, so we strolled through some of the stores for a while. We were getting hot and tired and wanted a break, so we finally found a shady spot to sit out in front of Hollywood and Vine.

While we were sitting there eating a snack and drinking water, we noticed Mickey and Minnie walking by inside. My 6 year old ran to the window to wave to them, it was so sweet.


As we were watching, suddenly Goofy walks by with a fishing pole! My 6 year old took off after Goofy.

Goofy set up with his fishing pole right down by the lake. He was catching all sorts of funny things like rubber chickens and boots.



At one point, Goofy even fell asleep with his fishing pole.


The Goofy interactions were soooo funny. I took some videos, my 6 year old absolutely loved it. Goofy posed for some pictures too.


After we hung out with Goofy for a while, we headed back over to the Beauty and the Beast show! So adorable.


While waiting for the show to start, we preordered our food for dinner at Backlot Express. Such a handy use of our time when we are just waiting!

When the show was done, we walked across the whole park towards Backlot Express. Since we still had a bit of time, we stopped at Star Tours because it was only a 5 minute wait.



I think we actually went on the ride twice. My mom sat out because the rides had started making her kind of dizzy.

And then it was time for dinner at Backlot! I had been very excited to try this amazing Wookie Cookie!


Omg, it did NOT disappoint! I ate soooo much of it, I'm embarrassed to admit. But I found a baggy and saved half of it for the next day lol. Absolutely loved it though, I will make a point to get one again.

Up next: A parade, snow, and a tower!

 

[jvz82]

After dinner, we had to rush to get to the Frozen Sing-Along! On the way, we got to watch a parade that happened to be coming by! We were in a hurry, but my 6 year old was dancing and so excited about the characters that of course we had to slow down and watch.







We made it in plenty of time for the Frozen Sing-along. I remember thinking this was hilarious when we went a few years ago. Of course the "historians" were different this year, but lots of fun, relevant jokes. Lots of social distance jokes.

And then, it snows! Even though we're from MN so snow isn't as exciting to us, it's always fun to see the snow falling.


After Frozen, we went to the Mickey Mouse "Vacation fun" short in the theater next door. As I mentioned before, my kids absolutely love Mickey shorts especially my 6 year old.

In the lobby, there was a picture of Goofy fishing and catching a boot, just like the Goofy we had just been watching! My 6 year old was so excited!


Afterwards, we took some pictures by the props. My 6 year old has seen literally all these episodes repeatedly so he had big ideas on how to pose.




At that point in the evening, the only ride we hadn't been on yet that we still wanted to do was Tower of Terror. The line had dropped to about 20 minutes so we figured it was a good time to go.

I don't know how accurate that wait time was. I think it ended up being a little longer than 20, but at that point we were all getting tired and grumpy so it felt like WAY longer. My 6 year old was bouncing off the walls trying to keep himself awake. But we finally reached the lobby.





So the funny part about this ride was that my 6 year old started panicking when we got inside because of the cobwebs! He hadn't been scared until the cobwebs. He kept asking people if they were real and he started getting really nervous. Strangers around us were comforting him. When we reached the queue, he asked the cast members if the cobwebs were real and of course he stayed in character completely and said they were. That didn't help.

But as we climbed onto the ride, he asked another cast member if they were real and I think she recognized what was happening and she assured him that they were not real. So that helped.

I love ToT and we had a great time! Once again, our picture didn't work even though I scanned my magic band. So frustrating how often that happened!

It was pitch black when we got off the ride. We were tired and ready to go. All except my lovely, lovely daughter.

She was insistent that she needed ice cream because she hadn't gotten any yet. Well, she was being very picky and didn't want just a Mickey Bar, she wanted something fancy. But most of the places were closing because it was getting late.

She also was insistent that she wanted to see Tokyo. She said she saw a sign for Tokyo earlier and she really wanted to see Tokyo. I checked the map, we looked all over, we literally couldn't find anything related to Tokyo. Well, come to find out there was in fact a sign near the front of the park that said Tokyo with an arrow, but it also had several other major cities with arrows but you couldn't actually go to any of those places. Mystery solved.

We finally found a snack she approved of, and we left Hollywood and caught a bus for Fort Wilderness.

Up next: We try to sleep in (but the sky was awake), the monorail, Contemporary, and the ferry!

 

[jvz82]

Hello, all! Happy New Year's Eve!

It's been a while since I updated but tonight felt like a good night to do it while we're having a quiet NYE at home watching Disney movies.

I left off returning to our cabin after a fun-filled day at Hollywood Studios! The following day was a "rest day", although we had plenty of things planned. We had hoped to sleep in! However, my 6 year old doesn't know the meaning of the phrase sleep in. He left our cabin bright and early, knocked on my parents' cabin door and when my mom answered, he said "The sky's awake so I'm awake!" Then he returned to our cabin and did the same thing.

Since we were awake, I decided to order some iced coffee and cinnamon rolls over at PJ's Southern Takeout. I took the golf cart and a couple of kids with me and we went to pick it up. We decided to have a seat down by the lake where the boats launched.







Coffee makes this mama happy!

Fort Wilderness had hidden pumpkins all over and we found one down by the boat launch too.



After we ate and hung out at the beach for a while, we headed back to the cabin.

Most of the day was spent at the pool! We went to the small salt water pool close to our cabin in the morning, and then after a quick lunch at the cabin we went to the big pool to get some quality sunshine. I didn't take many pictures this day! I did enjoy a Mickey pretzel at the pool and captured that picture.



After the pool, it was time to get ready for our transportation adventure. We had dinner reservations at Chef Mickey's! We planned to take the ferry from Fort Wilderness over to Magic Kingdom, and then hop on the monorail and take that to Contemporary. We were so excited! We hadn't ridden the monorail in a long time, and most of my kids didn't even remember the last time we rode it.

Here we are on the golf carts headed towards the ferry launch.




Riding the ferry is one of my favorite parts of Fort Wilderness. It was a little sad knowing that we were going to Magic Kingdom but wouldn't be able to stay there!!! But only a couple more days and we'd have our chance.

Here we are on the ferry!






Up next: The monorail and Chef Mickey's!

 

[Hubie]

Well, as you can tell from the title of my TR, "The Drive from Hell and then Sunk by the Nautilus," we had a terrible drive down and back. Never again! We'll fly if things ever get back to near normal. Your weather in Oct. is too hot for my blood. How was the humidity? We had gorgeous weather on our trip. The first day we were at SSR the high was 72 and it increased by only a degree or two over the next 8 days. Our last two days it reached 78 and then 80, but we had no rain.

You did seem to get a lot done in the parks. We were met with enormous crowds and terrible lines, but we also didn't get anywhere very early.

 

[rdkeim]

Caught up! You're getting a lot done on your park days but nice you can work in some down time. I love your enthusiasm and positive vibe! We'll be in Ft. Wilderness in 60 days! We stayed in cabins twice before when our boys were younger. Now we're taking the whole crew which includes 2 grandsons 3 and 5 3 of our group will be first timers. I think the cabins will be perfect for our group!