Hello! Just got back from a trip to WDW from 8/11-8/18 staying at Yacht Club and wanted to do a full recap! This is probably gonna be long but hopefully helpful to some
The first few days we had a wedding, so I’ll skip to our first real park day.
Saturday 8/14
I already posted about our first full park day and awesome morning at MK. As a recap, the park was extremely empty with no lines for about 12 rides, including all the big hitters and then some (only line was PP flight at 10 min) and left by around 1pm. We went back to the hotel, took a nap, and swam for a bit before coming back out for AK in the evening. We went to animal kingdom at 5:30pm, walked right on Dinosaur and then went to sauli canteen for dinner and nomad lounge for drinks. At 7:55 we walked right on flight of passage, and then exited to see Pandora completely lit up. HIGHLY recommend this, it was INCREDIBLE! Def one of the top moments of the trip. Got back to our hotel around 9:10 and watched the Epcot fireworks from the beach near YC
Sunday 8/15:
We woke up early for a boarding pass for Rise of the Resistance, got boarding group 3!!! We ended up rope dropping HS and got let in at 8:30. We went on Mickey and Minnie’s runaway railway first, about a 10 min wait, and then walked on rockin roller coaster. By then our boarding group was called so we went on Rise for the first time which was AWESOME! Got blue and green milk after that and explored Galaxy’s Edge. We went on Toy Story Mania (15 min wait) and then Frozen Singalong (walk on). Then we got lunch at the Brown Derby. We walked around the Star Wars museum area after that and then watched Muppet Vision. We left Hollywood Studios at about 2pm to go back to the room to nap and pool
In the evening, we went back to Magic Kingdom area for an anniversary dinner at California Grill. We watched the MK fireworks from the balcony there, and then took the Monorail to Epcot where we jumped on Test Track with a 5 min wait. We ended up seeing the fireworks from the speedy outdoor section of the test track ride as we zipped around the bend, which was very fun. Walked back to YC after that.
Monday 8/16:
We got up early for Animal Kingdom this day, but didn’t end up fully rope dropping as we were feeling tired. Got there around 8:15 and walked on Everest three times in a row with no line. We tested the front, middle, and back, and decided the front was our favorite!
then, we walked around Asia some, saw some monkeys, and jumped on Kali as soon as it opened at 9. We did some of the walking paths after that and headed over to Pongu Pongu for breakfast. After breakfast, we went on Navi Journey, which was one of our longest waits of the trip (20 min). It was my first time on this, and it was pretty but def a one time ride for a while. If we hadn’t seen Pandora at night already, I might have been more awed. Still lovely though! We didn’t go on Flight of Passage again since we had walked on that the previous night and the line was up to 30-35 or so. After Navi, we went to Africa and walked on the Safari ride, which was WONDERFUL! Best safari ive ever had. It lasted so long because we were stopped for some giraffes, but I loved it. We saw a lot of the babies too, and all our fav animals were out (lions, elephants, giraffes, hippos). We walked on a lot of the paths after that and then went on Its a Bugs Life before heading out for the day. Back to the hotel for more pool and naps.
In the evening, we went back to Hollywood Studios. We went on Slinky Dog Dash which was another longer wait (~25 min). Then we got food at Docking Bay 7 and went on Smugglers Run for the first time. I was left pilot and my husband was right pilot, so he got to jump to light speed, which he loved! We went and rode Rockin again after that which was about 15 min and Tower of Terror which was a walk on. Then we went on Mickey’s Runaway Railway which was about 15-20 min as well. By then, it was about 8:55 and we had to rush over to our Savi’s reservation to build a light saber. The reservation was at 9:05 for after the park closed, which was so great because then we could run around w the light saber in the dark with most of Galaxy’s edge empty and take pictures. My husband did the building since he is the Star Wars fan and had a great time. I would say it’s only worth the price if you have a mega fan in your group, it was slightly shorter than I expected though worth it for a one time splurge for him. After that, we went back to YC and got the chocolate tower for two at the Crew’s Cup Lounge, which was very tasty and huge.
Tuesday 8/17:
Our last full day! We slept in a bit and went to Ale and compass for breakfast (third time of the trip), and then walked to Epcot at around 10:45. Got let in immediately and walked on Figment, soarin, living w the land, and Nemo and friends in a row. Stopped by the aquarium area and spent some time there checking out the sharks and such. Then we went to spaceship earth, which was about a 10 min wait. We then walked in the Epcot Experience which was much cooler than I expected. We spent the rest of the day exploring food and wine festival and the world showcase, went back to the hotel for pool time and Beaches and Cream early dinner, and came back out for Epcot Forever. We ended the night at Abracadabar and left the next day.
Overall thoughts:
Rides/Parks:
We must have hit some crazy good luck, because the parks did not feel crowded and I would say at least 75% of the rides were walk ons for us and the longest ever was 25 min. It was wild. I definitely recommend rope dropping (getting there ahead of official open) and trying to hit the more popular rides later in the evening. Not going to Pandora at rope drop and doing FoP right before park close is such a great choice, highly recommend. Also just want to add that we had 0 cast members that weren’t kind and considerate at the minimum, if not truly just fabulous. Everyone was awesome!
Food:
Overall, the food was really good. Cali Grill was of course spectacular, and we did Ale and Compass breakfast three times and the lounge once. All were great, especially the chocolate waffles! My husband loved the shrimp and grits. Sauli Canteen was incredible too, and we really liked Nomad Lounge. Brown Derby was solid, with especially delicious bread and salted butter and a great Cobb salad.
I wasn’t especially blown away by anything I tasted at Food and Wine festival. The mimosa flight was good, and my husband got noodles in Japan that were tasty but not part of food and wine. We really liked the Apple Orchard drinks in the back of Canada. Other than that, I didn’t really love anything and wish I had done more research on what we should really prioritize there. Boardwalk Bakery was eh and Abracadbar wasn’t anything special.
Hotel:
Can I never stay anywhere on WDW except the Yacht Club again?? This place was a BLAST!! such great location, easy walk to Epcot, HS, and transportation, and we were upgraded to a Boardwalk view so we could see all the lovely lights as night. Stormalong bay was awesome and such a fun break from the heat. I had heard some people say they thought the lobby was stuffy, but there was too much Disney magic for me to feel that way!
Covid:
Overall, I was very nervous about this trip with everything going on with Covid. Had they not implemented the mask wearing protocols before our trip, we would not have gone, including in outdoor queues like they just announced. I’m so happy that wasn’t the case for us. We are both vaccinated, carried hand sanitizer everywhere, and wore N95s whenever indoors or on transportation, and felt much more comfortable that way and still had a great time. I did feel a little nervous in some of the preshows but felt much better than expected on the buses, which were not packed at all. We even had a bus to MK to ourselves at one point. I felt less nervous than expected but will definitely get tested when we get home. Also, mask compliance was generally very good, about 95-98% of people wore masks properly. I will not be going again until covid is in a better place however, and would definitely not feel comfortable w an unvaccinated person with me, especially a kid. I saw them sticking their fingers in their mouths wayyy too often. We also found the sanitizer stations to be filled almost every time, probably used like 50-60 and only found maybe 2 or 3 empty later in the day.
In all, we had a wonderful anniversary trip and left feeling very sad to leave (though excited to get home to our dog!). While I don’t think we’ll be back for a bit until covid calms down and some of the new attractions and shows open up, we really had a blast and felt the WDW magic in full swing. Thanks to everyone for their tips and trip reports! I hope this trip report helps someone as well!