Lewandowski
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2016
Hey All,
I know I am doing this like 5 years late, but I just joined this site last year do to my next trip, and I thought it would be interesting to share with all of you what my first trip was like. Sorry this is not too detailed, and I don't have pictures with me right now, but just to share my adventures with all of you!
First of all we are a family of four, 2 adults and 2 children who are now 12 and 16 years old but 7 and 11 years old back then. I am actually the 16 year old typing this. But our family planned a disney vacation in July 2011. My mom has been to disneyland about 35 years ago, but otherwise it was our first time going to any amusement park, yes I mean any.
So first of all I thought lines were at maximum 10 min waits, stupidly. My dad also likes to book the week prior to our vacation, and honestly the fact is I never knew it was very important to plan ahead. One good thing is back then there was no such thing as FP+ so we could still use fastpasses.
What we did was we bought a 4 day park ticket about 10 days before going. I never realized the benefits of staying at a hotel, so what we did was because my parents' business headquarters are in orlando, we stayed in one of their rooms, which is about 28 miles away from WDW. We split our stay up into 2 and 2 days. July 15 and 16, and then July 23 and 24. I did look up restaurants there ahead of time especially in Epcot. I wanted to eat at Chefs de France, Tutto Italia, and Biergarten, while my parents wanted to eat in Morocco for one of the meals, I was like hmm, lets decide when we get there. I never even knew about such thing as ADR's. We also wanted to dine with princesses in MK (I never knew what place to do it at, I just knew it was possible in MK), and also Rainforest Cafe in AK.
So here is the story of the real trip now:
P.S. I chose to do the parks in order of: MK, EP, HS, AK (one park per day)
July 15: So we left our place around 9:30am and arrived to Magic Kingdom entering the park around 10.30am. We didn't eat breakfast, so at first we were just looking for a place to eat on the map, and we finally found Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe right next to us, so we decided to eat lunch there. The first thing on my list was to go inside Cinderella's Castle, but then we found out it doesn't open until 6pm, and nothing is that interesting there. We got in line for Tangled as my sister wanted to see her, but then after half way we changed our minds. We were looking for a ride with little wait, so we rode the Carrousel. Dumbo was right next door so we decided to do that next. After that we were across from Snow White's Scary Adventures and that was something huge on my to do list, but before riding it we got ice cream at storybook treats. Snow White was a 20 min wait and we rode it which was the funnest part of the day so far. Then we decided to do Winnie the Pooh but found out it was a 40 min wait, so Dad went to get FP, while my sister, Mom, and I rode Snow White again. We waited a little and our FP for Winnie the Pooh was ready so we rode it. Then my mom and I were trying to work out what next. We decided to do Its a Small World, then Peter Pan, and then go to Frontierland. We rode It's a Small World at a 25 min wait. It was the best ride so far as I enjoyed the song and was very relaxing for my whole family. We went to Peter Pan's Flight after that and saw the wait 55 min, so we just decided to skip it and move on to Frontierland. The Splash Mountain looked fun, but Mom didn't want to do it, but the Big Thunder Mountain was our first target at Frontierland. It was around 3.30pm and we got FP's for BTMR with a return time of 4:25pm. Right after getting them, we went to Splash Mountain and got FP's only to get a sign that we can only do 1 FP at a time so it didn't work. We just waited for our FP to be ready and honestly didn't know what next. Finally our BTMR FP was ready so we started to go through, and then suddenly when we were waiting in line, thunderstorms and rain started to happen, so we waited for a while and then just gave up on that. We decided to have an early dinner, but before that we got new FP's for BTMR with return time around 6.55pm. So we ate dinner at Pinnochio's Village Haus and on our way there, my feet and legs started to ache so bad, I could hardly move anymore. After dinner I felt a bit better, thunderstorms stopped but it was still pouring rain. We weren't sure whether BTMR was running so we debated a little whether to go back to BTMR or try to go inside Cinderella's Castle. We decided to go back to BTMR, and see if they were running it or not. I saw Splash Mountain running on the way so I supposed BTMR would also be running. My family waited under a tent WITH MANY OTHER PEOPLE while I went to check if BTMR was running. I heard it was, so my family and all the other people that heard me started running in the rain to give the FP's and ride the Big Thunder Mountain. We all rode the BTMR and it was fun but in the pouring rain we all got soaked. And after that it seemed like our ride was the last ride for a while because thunderstorms came back just after finishing the ride, so they closed BTMR again. It was 7.30pm and my parents said we had to go back home (I mean where we were staying), and I tried arguing with them, but that was our day done for MK. Honestly I enjoyed it but was really disappointed in what we accomplished. I wanted to do Splash Mountain, but also we never even went anywhere near Adventureland or Tomorrowland.
July 16: As we did the day before, we planned to leave as early as possible. Our plan was to go to Epcot. We left earlier and arrived at Epcot about 10.15am. Honestly it was a nice day that day, and it was less than half as crowded as MK the day before. So after we got the map, my mom and I sat down and made a plan. We completely ignored future world though not knowing it was worth seeing and just decided to go with the world showcase. Something I regret doing long time. We found out that WS opens at 11am, so we just sat in front of the England Pavilion until it opened. I really wanted to eat in France but we needed ADR's so we as a family decided to have lunch at Tangierine Cafe and Dinner at La Catina de San Angel. As soon as the WS opened, we started with Canada and toured around the world. All we did was get the stamp at the Kidcot places and explored a bit. By the time we were in Japan I had a horrible headache and was tired, but still kept moving on. We got to Mexico around 4pm and decided to have an early dinner at La Catina. After dinner we went home as everyone was tired. So there you go, we missed out on all of future world, and also missed out on all the TS places EP has to offer. Again I enjoyed it but was really disappointed on what we missed, especially Les Chefs de France and Biergarten which were two restaurants I really wanted to do.
July 23: We had a better idea on what to expect now as we already had two days there. We arrived at DHS around 10.30am and then my Mom and I sat down to make a plan. We first went to the Studio Backlot Tour which is something we all LOVED. Then we spent like 30 min at Honey I Shrunk the Kids mainly for my sister to have fun. We ate lunch at Backlot Express. Then we went to see the Narnia attraction which doesn't exist anymore. It was mainly for my Mom but she was disappointed in it. Then we saw Voyage of the Little Mermaid and it was a great show as my sister and I loved it, but my Dad fell asleep. My dad and I went to get ice cream after that at Hollywood Scoops, and since we were around we checked out wait times and FP times for Rock N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. It was 4pm by then so we first checked RnR and discovered FP return times were from 9pm and the wait was 55 min. As soon as I found out that the ride went upside down I was too scared anyway, so we skipped it. Although now I am as brave as anyone could be, LOL. My dad and I got FP's for Tower of Terror with a return time of 5.30pm. So until then we all just sat under the huge hat and ran around a bit. At about 5.10pm we started making our way to ToT, and when we were loading on I was so scared and frightened to death, although I still decided to ride it anyway. After we got off the ride I was happy I did it and it was the best ride of the trip so far. After that though we headed back home and had dinner at Outback Steakhouse right across from our staying place. So there you go we missed out on Toy Story Mania, and Fantasmic, which I didn't even know existed back then.
July 24: It was our last day. We arrived at the park around 10.45am, and then there was a lady giving out free FP's for DINOSAUR so our family took four to ride it. Before then Mom and I sat down and made a plan. We decided to eat dinner at Rainforest Cafe, so My dad and I went there in the morning to get an ADR for 6.15pm, and I thought that was easy, but after finding out all of this after the trip, I realized we were very lucky to even get an ADR at that time, and the only reason we got it was probably because RFC didn't accept the DDP at that time. We rode DINOSAUR with FP's then we did Tricera Top Spin which had a really short wait. I then realized that Primeval Whirl was closed and was really sad because it looked like a fun ride to me. We were gonna do Finding Nemo Show, but decided to skip it due to the show being on a time schedule. We ate lunch at Restaurantosaurus, and then went to Asia. We found Expedition Everest had an FP return time around 5.55pm and got FP's for it, but then after my Mom read that its horrible for back problems, she and my Dad said they couldn't do it. I was furious and started to argue, and I was lucky my Mom said that if its a must she will do EE with me when it was time. So after that we strolled through the Maharajah Jungle Trek and honestly I found it boring, but my mom and sister loved it. After that my Dad and I went to grab some ice cream at the Anandapur Ice Cream Truck. That took a long time though. We decided to skip Kali River Rapids because you get wet, but I was disappointed a bit. We then rode Kilimanjaro Safaris with a 30 min wait. It was a fun ride and I loved the train and watching the animals. When we finished it was 4.15pm and we didn't know what else to do, so we decided to go to Rafiki's Planet Watch and check out the Affection Section. That was my sister's favorite part of the whole trip, and she wanted to stay there forever. My Mom and I left early to catch out FP time at Expedition Everest while we arranged to all meet at RFC after that for our ADR. I must say EE was the highlight of the whole trip, I LOVED that ride so much and I was so glad my Mom gave in and was ok to do it with me so I could ride. After that we had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Then Trip Over. Overall I think we did a lot better at AK than all the other parks but still missed some of the best attractions like Kali River Rapids and the Shows.
So I must say I really enjoyed this trip but was VERY VERY VERY disappointed on what we missed. The good news is though that we are going again in August. Within these past years I found the DIS and joined it as well as did tons of research. Although I just joined last year, I have been lurking around since 2012. Now I feel like a Disney expert after knowing all of these stuff and learning a lot. So this time we already have ADR's. We are doing Biergarten, Yak & Yeti, Tutto Italia, and Crystal Palace. I tried to beg for CRT but my parents thought it wasn't worth the price especially since it increased in the past years quite a bit. Anyway I am happy with the ADR's we have. Also I just made FP+ reservations earlier today. This time we are staying onsite and for 6 days. I can't wait. I am sure this will be 10 times better trip than our last one.
I know I am doing this like 5 years late, but I just joined this site last year do to my next trip, and I thought it would be interesting to share with all of you what my first trip was like. Sorry this is not too detailed, and I don't have pictures with me right now, but just to share my adventures with all of you!
First of all we are a family of four, 2 adults and 2 children who are now 12 and 16 years old but 7 and 11 years old back then. I am actually the 16 year old typing this. But our family planned a disney vacation in July 2011. My mom has been to disneyland about 35 years ago, but otherwise it was our first time going to any amusement park, yes I mean any.
So first of all I thought lines were at maximum 10 min waits, stupidly. My dad also likes to book the week prior to our vacation, and honestly the fact is I never knew it was very important to plan ahead. One good thing is back then there was no such thing as FP+ so we could still use fastpasses.
What we did was we bought a 4 day park ticket about 10 days before going. I never realized the benefits of staying at a hotel, so what we did was because my parents' business headquarters are in orlando, we stayed in one of their rooms, which is about 28 miles away from WDW. We split our stay up into 2 and 2 days. July 15 and 16, and then July 23 and 24. I did look up restaurants there ahead of time especially in Epcot. I wanted to eat at Chefs de France, Tutto Italia, and Biergarten, while my parents wanted to eat in Morocco for one of the meals, I was like hmm, lets decide when we get there. I never even knew about such thing as ADR's. We also wanted to dine with princesses in MK (I never knew what place to do it at, I just knew it was possible in MK), and also Rainforest Cafe in AK.
So here is the story of the real trip now:
P.S. I chose to do the parks in order of: MK, EP, HS, AK (one park per day)
July 15: So we left our place around 9:30am and arrived to Magic Kingdom entering the park around 10.30am. We didn't eat breakfast, so at first we were just looking for a place to eat on the map, and we finally found Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe right next to us, so we decided to eat lunch there. The first thing on my list was to go inside Cinderella's Castle, but then we found out it doesn't open until 6pm, and nothing is that interesting there. We got in line for Tangled as my sister wanted to see her, but then after half way we changed our minds. We were looking for a ride with little wait, so we rode the Carrousel. Dumbo was right next door so we decided to do that next. After that we were across from Snow White's Scary Adventures and that was something huge on my to do list, but before riding it we got ice cream at storybook treats. Snow White was a 20 min wait and we rode it which was the funnest part of the day so far. Then we decided to do Winnie the Pooh but found out it was a 40 min wait, so Dad went to get FP, while my sister, Mom, and I rode Snow White again. We waited a little and our FP for Winnie the Pooh was ready so we rode it. Then my mom and I were trying to work out what next. We decided to do Its a Small World, then Peter Pan, and then go to Frontierland. We rode It's a Small World at a 25 min wait. It was the best ride so far as I enjoyed the song and was very relaxing for my whole family. We went to Peter Pan's Flight after that and saw the wait 55 min, so we just decided to skip it and move on to Frontierland. The Splash Mountain looked fun, but Mom didn't want to do it, but the Big Thunder Mountain was our first target at Frontierland. It was around 3.30pm and we got FP's for BTMR with a return time of 4:25pm. Right after getting them, we went to Splash Mountain and got FP's only to get a sign that we can only do 1 FP at a time so it didn't work. We just waited for our FP to be ready and honestly didn't know what next. Finally our BTMR FP was ready so we started to go through, and then suddenly when we were waiting in line, thunderstorms and rain started to happen, so we waited for a while and then just gave up on that. We decided to have an early dinner, but before that we got new FP's for BTMR with return time around 6.55pm. So we ate dinner at Pinnochio's Village Haus and on our way there, my feet and legs started to ache so bad, I could hardly move anymore. After dinner I felt a bit better, thunderstorms stopped but it was still pouring rain. We weren't sure whether BTMR was running so we debated a little whether to go back to BTMR or try to go inside Cinderella's Castle. We decided to go back to BTMR, and see if they were running it or not. I saw Splash Mountain running on the way so I supposed BTMR would also be running. My family waited under a tent WITH MANY OTHER PEOPLE while I went to check if BTMR was running. I heard it was, so my family and all the other people that heard me started running in the rain to give the FP's and ride the Big Thunder Mountain. We all rode the BTMR and it was fun but in the pouring rain we all got soaked. And after that it seemed like our ride was the last ride for a while because thunderstorms came back just after finishing the ride, so they closed BTMR again. It was 7.30pm and my parents said we had to go back home (I mean where we were staying), and I tried arguing with them, but that was our day done for MK. Honestly I enjoyed it but was really disappointed in what we accomplished. I wanted to do Splash Mountain, but also we never even went anywhere near Adventureland or Tomorrowland.
July 16: As we did the day before, we planned to leave as early as possible. Our plan was to go to Epcot. We left earlier and arrived at Epcot about 10.15am. Honestly it was a nice day that day, and it was less than half as crowded as MK the day before. So after we got the map, my mom and I sat down and made a plan. We completely ignored future world though not knowing it was worth seeing and just decided to go with the world showcase. Something I regret doing long time. We found out that WS opens at 11am, so we just sat in front of the England Pavilion until it opened. I really wanted to eat in France but we needed ADR's so we as a family decided to have lunch at Tangierine Cafe and Dinner at La Catina de San Angel. As soon as the WS opened, we started with Canada and toured around the world. All we did was get the stamp at the Kidcot places and explored a bit. By the time we were in Japan I had a horrible headache and was tired, but still kept moving on. We got to Mexico around 4pm and decided to have an early dinner at La Catina. After dinner we went home as everyone was tired. So there you go, we missed out on all of future world, and also missed out on all the TS places EP has to offer. Again I enjoyed it but was really disappointed on what we missed, especially Les Chefs de France and Biergarten which were two restaurants I really wanted to do.
July 23: We had a better idea on what to expect now as we already had two days there. We arrived at DHS around 10.30am and then my Mom and I sat down to make a plan. We first went to the Studio Backlot Tour which is something we all LOVED. Then we spent like 30 min at Honey I Shrunk the Kids mainly for my sister to have fun. We ate lunch at Backlot Express. Then we went to see the Narnia attraction which doesn't exist anymore. It was mainly for my Mom but she was disappointed in it. Then we saw Voyage of the Little Mermaid and it was a great show as my sister and I loved it, but my Dad fell asleep. My dad and I went to get ice cream after that at Hollywood Scoops, and since we were around we checked out wait times and FP times for Rock N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. It was 4pm by then so we first checked RnR and discovered FP return times were from 9pm and the wait was 55 min. As soon as I found out that the ride went upside down I was too scared anyway, so we skipped it. Although now I am as brave as anyone could be, LOL. My dad and I got FP's for Tower of Terror with a return time of 5.30pm. So until then we all just sat under the huge hat and ran around a bit. At about 5.10pm we started making our way to ToT, and when we were loading on I was so scared and frightened to death, although I still decided to ride it anyway. After we got off the ride I was happy I did it and it was the best ride of the trip so far. After that though we headed back home and had dinner at Outback Steakhouse right across from our staying place. So there you go we missed out on Toy Story Mania, and Fantasmic, which I didn't even know existed back then.
July 24: It was our last day. We arrived at the park around 10.45am, and then there was a lady giving out free FP's for DINOSAUR so our family took four to ride it. Before then Mom and I sat down and made a plan. We decided to eat dinner at Rainforest Cafe, so My dad and I went there in the morning to get an ADR for 6.15pm, and I thought that was easy, but after finding out all of this after the trip, I realized we were very lucky to even get an ADR at that time, and the only reason we got it was probably because RFC didn't accept the DDP at that time. We rode DINOSAUR with FP's then we did Tricera Top Spin which had a really short wait. I then realized that Primeval Whirl was closed and was really sad because it looked like a fun ride to me. We were gonna do Finding Nemo Show, but decided to skip it due to the show being on a time schedule. We ate lunch at Restaurantosaurus, and then went to Asia. We found Expedition Everest had an FP return time around 5.55pm and got FP's for it, but then after my Mom read that its horrible for back problems, she and my Dad said they couldn't do it. I was furious and started to argue, and I was lucky my Mom said that if its a must she will do EE with me when it was time. So after that we strolled through the Maharajah Jungle Trek and honestly I found it boring, but my mom and sister loved it. After that my Dad and I went to grab some ice cream at the Anandapur Ice Cream Truck. That took a long time though. We decided to skip Kali River Rapids because you get wet, but I was disappointed a bit. We then rode Kilimanjaro Safaris with a 30 min wait. It was a fun ride and I loved the train and watching the animals. When we finished it was 4.15pm and we didn't know what else to do, so we decided to go to Rafiki's Planet Watch and check out the Affection Section. That was my sister's favorite part of the whole trip, and she wanted to stay there forever. My Mom and I left early to catch out FP time at Expedition Everest while we arranged to all meet at RFC after that for our ADR. I must say EE was the highlight of the whole trip, I LOVED that ride so much and I was so glad my Mom gave in and was ok to do it with me so I could ride. After that we had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Then Trip Over. Overall I think we did a lot better at AK than all the other parks but still missed some of the best attractions like Kali River Rapids and the Shows.
So I must say I really enjoyed this trip but was VERY VERY VERY disappointed on what we missed. The good news is though that we are going again in August. Within these past years I found the DIS and joined it as well as did tons of research. Although I just joined last year, I have been lurking around since 2012. Now I feel like a Disney expert after knowing all of these stuff and learning a lot. So this time we already have ADR's. We are doing Biergarten, Yak & Yeti, Tutto Italia, and Crystal Palace. I tried to beg for CRT but my parents thought it wasn't worth the price especially since it increased in the past years quite a bit. Anyway I am happy with the ADR's we have. Also I just made FP+ reservations earlier today. This time we are staying onsite and for 6 days. I can't wait. I am sure this will be 10 times better trip than our last one.
