Our last minute trip back to Disney World 4th of July week- 7/5 Private VIP tour

[ktak08]

We truly love all things Disney, so when DH suggested we take a last minute trip for 4th of July it was a no brainer that Disney World had to be included! I literally had 3 weeks to plan everything, but surprisingly even with the short planning time we were able to do so much in addition to our private tour.

7/2 - Our trip actually started with a couple of relaxation days at the beach in Destin, FL. We’ve been to beaches in the Bahamas, Mexico and all over the US- Destin beaches are definitely some of the best!

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7/4 - This trip to Orlando was our first time driving. We usually fly in and take DME to our hotel, but it was so nice having more flexibility with transportation and taking our time. One thing we didn’t expect though, were all the tolls we had to go through. We don’t carry a lot of cash, so we were scrambling to find any coins we could! Thankfully we made it through and before we arrived, we got a text that said our room was ready just before 3pm.

We arrived at our favorite resort, the Contemporary, valeted the car and went straight to our room on the 11th floor. We stay at CR every time...I’m sure the other resorts are wonderful too but the view of and walking distance to MK is just perfect for us.

I didn’t get a room pic this time, but it looked the same as our previous trips. Not much “theme” but very nicely decorated:

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We stayed Club Level the last time, but just a standard theme park room on this trip. The view was equally as nice!





We watched the 4th of July Celebrate America fireworks from our balcony, and it was absolutely fantastic! It stormed a lot that evening so the fireworks were delayed, but when they finally went off the skies lit up and it was spectacular.

We were excited to wake up the next morning and start our day at MK, bright and early....

 

[ktak08]

7/5 - We started the day with breakfast at Be Our Guest. I kept refreshing a few days before our trip and was able to get an 8am ADR (ppo). We walked to MK from CR and arrived around 7:45am where people were already lined up. We walked in and headed down Main Street - I really miss the days when pre park ADRs meant we could walk leisurely down Main Street without crowds and get a near empty picture of the Castle.

Before:

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Now:

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And a quick picture behind the castle on our way to breakfast:

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We preordered at BOG, so we got through and found a table very quickly. DH doesn’t like eating in dim rooms, so we decided to sit in the main ballroom near the windows to watch the snow falling. Our food came out really fast...it was delivered by the time we got our drinks and sat back down. DH ordered the Croque Madame and the boys and I each ordered the scrambled eggs from the kids menu. It came with a plate of pastries and all very plentiful. Overall the food was pretty good, but maybe not great. I would definitely do it again though just to get into Fantasy land ahead of the crowds.

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[dvc at last !]

Enjoying your TR.
I agree Destin beaches are beautiful.

 

[heatherly]

We have a PPO breakfast at BOG next week. I’m interested to hear how it went for you regarding getting to the rides. Enjoying your TR.

 

[ktak08]

We finished breakfast around 8:35am and walked over to SDMT to line up. We were the 3rd family there so we were very excited that we’d get to be on the first ride of the day! I snapped a picture while we were waiting:



A CM stood at the entrance and chatted with everyone. It was not long before there was a much longer line formed behind us. But even those in the back of the line were probably able to get onto the ride very quickly. They didn’t open the ride early, but we could hear the Welcome show at the Hub start and once the park opened the CM led us through the long queue to ride SDMT.



We didn’t get a FP for it due to our trip being booked last min, so the boys were beyond excited to ride without any wait! It was so fun that we ended up riding it 3x that day (twice on our private tour). It is probably our favorite ride in all of Disney!

 

[ktak08]

Also, when we got off SDMT, the wait time had already climbed to 45 min. The PPO breakfast at BOG was definitely worth it for us!

 

[ktak08]

We headed towards It’s a Small World next, but it was down for a maintenance issue. So we went to Peter Pan next...The wait time at PP was almost an hour but we decided to get in line anyways. Surprisingly, the line moved very fast and we were on in about 10 min! We had a FP for Haunted Mansion so we went there next.

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After a quick picture, we headed to our 2nd and last FP at POC. I didn’t realize it, but they added a new water cannon on Pirates and we all got wet! It wasn’t too bad, but we definitely weren’t expecting it. We didn’t use a 3rd FP so that we could go back to our room for a break before our tour started. On the way out, we took pics near Crystal Palace...it’s becoming my new favorite area to take a picture with the Castle and very few people in the background.

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And from a previous trip, look how little my boys were!

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Back to the hotel we went for a 2 hour break...

 

[ktak08]

After a much needed break and lunch at CR, we headed down to Valet to meet our guide. I scheduled our tour time to start at 1pm so we could end with Happily Ever After fireworks. Our guide, Pete was already waiting for us when we arrived 5 minutes early. We had requested Lauren, our guide from a previous trip who we absolutely adored!

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Sadly, she is no longer working there. But Pete actually knew her and we were able to say hello to her through him! So after we all introduced ourselves, we immediately hopped into the SUV. Before our trip, I sent a list of our favorites and must dos to Disney signature services, so Pete was already aware of what we wanted to do for the day. Our first stop, Hollywood Studios to see the new Toy Story Land!

We parked behind Rockin’ Roller coaster where several Cast Members were waiting to welcome us. They scanned our magic bands and provided us with a basket of snacks to choose from, plus plenty of cold water. This was a nice new touch and was not done on previous private tours. We decided to skip Rockin’ coaster and also skipped Tower of Terror this time...TOT was the first ride we did many years ago when we took our boys on their first trip. They were so terrified afterwards that they wouldn’t even get on Dumbo! They’ve since gotten past it, and rode again in Disneyland, but TOT just wasn’t a priority that day, maybe next time!

They still cringe when they see the pic:

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We get to Toy Story Land and find it fun, quaint and somewhat crowded. But we were all so excited to just be there to see it. It was smaller than expected, but still had a lot of charm! We rode Slinky Dog Dash first...the ride videos made it look very “easygoing” but it was a lot more thrill than anticipated and of course I screamed the entire time!

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I would have preferred the four of us in the same ride photo, but we still captured the fun!

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The SDD queue area definitely could have used some more shade in my opinion. We didn’t have to wait in it, but it was noticeably scorching hot just walking through and taking a picture.

We then headed to Alien Swirling Saucer...only the boys were going to ride because I get motion sickness fairly easy. Pete told us that it doesn’t just spin around and around, but slings you from side to side while constantly switching tracks. I took his word, and all of us decided to ride. I’m so glad he told us that because I ended up loving it!! To me, it was more fun than SDD. And the queue was shaded so that was a plus too!

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When we got off, we ran into a green army man and woman so we paused to salute with them and thank them for their service.

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We then rode Toy Story Mania, where Pete gave us a lot of good advice on getting a higher score. Aim for the lava!!

We also chose not to do Star Tours this time, or Jedi Training since we’ve done that in the past. I would highly recommend doing Jedi training though if you’re kids haven’t already. I hear it’s very competitive trying to grab a spot, but I can tell you it’s definitely worth it. If you book a private tour though, you can just schedule Jedi Training ahead of time. It was a really fun experience for them to battle Darth Vadar!

If only our babies were still this little:

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[Grumpy's Wife]

I'm loving your trip report so far. Can't wait to read more.

 

[ktak08]

We were very curious to see what the Pandora hype was all about, so Animal Kingdom was our next stop. We parked behind Expedition Everest, so DH and DS11 rode while DS12 and I waited. We all rode Everest on our last trip, but honestly once was more than enough for me!

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DS11 says he liked it, but his terrified expression may say otherwise?!

After Everest, we walked over to ride Dinosaur. Our guide Pete said that most people don’t like this ride, but it’s actually one of my faves! It’s the exact “track” as Indian Jones in Disneyland, but a lot louder. If they turned the volume down a notch, it would be so much better...but I guess they are trying to convey that T-Rexes are very LOUD!

The man’s expression in the center cracks me up!

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And another from a previous trip:

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I have a 3rd pic somewhere, and I’m sure there is a lot of ear covering going on in that picture too.

Finally, we get back into the SUV and Pete drives us around to Pandora. We started with N’avi River Journey...I’m definitely glad we got to ride it, but I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to ride it again. It was a gentle and beautiful ride, but we really didn’t think that much of it. It also seemed very short, and I couldn’t imagine people actually waiting in line very long for this ride.

Pandora Land seemed really crowded, but we enjoyed looking around. It was gorgeous and very well themed.

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We then headed to Flight of Passage. We got through the preshow room quickly and then onto the ride. The “banshee” that we rode on was really neat, but even with my petite size it was borderline uncomfortable. It seems like they may have pushed the back into me a little too tight, as I could barely breathe. But I definitely felt secured and there was no way I was falling off that banshee! The ride itself was amazing!! I couldn’t believe how it all worked. It really did take my breath away (literally and figuratively haha)!

We were planning to see Epcot next, but after riding FOP, I was feeling slightly queasy so I knew I could not ride Soarin’. Also, we rode Test Track and Radiator Springs at Disneyland already so we decided to skip Epcot and head to MK.

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Radiator Springs Racer in Cars Land was our favorite! I do love Test Track too, but the theme in Cars Land is hard to beat!!

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[dvc at last !]

Your tour looks wonderful. Love your pics.
A handsome family.

 

[ktak08]

Your tour looks wonderful. Love your pics.
A handsome family.

That’s so sweet, thank you!!

 

[bluejasmine]

Loving the review!!

 

[jmb4118]

Loving your review! Some of the older pictures of your boys on the rides are beyond cute. It's fun to see them on the same ride later on! I'm glad to hear about Alien Swirling Saucer, it was a bit nervous about that one. I don't love to just spin.

 

[dvc at last !]

Tell us more about how to have the Tour.

 

[ktak08]

Loving your review! Some of the older pictures of your boys on the rides are beyond cute. It's fun to see them on the same ride later on! I'm glad to hear about Alien Swirling Saucer, it was a bit nervous about that one. I don't love to just spin.

Thank you!! I do love looking at old pictures but it also makes me so sad to see them growing up so fast. And yes, Alien Swirling saucer was a lot of fun - I didn’t get dizzy or sick at all!

 

[ktak08]

Tell us more about how to have the Tour.

I’ll update again soon!

 

[dvc at last !]

It is wonderful having all the memories with old pics. It is also sad to see the children growing so fast.

We also have pics taken at the same place each visit and so amazing watching all mature.

 

[ktak08]

We arrived back at MK and parked behind Tomorrow Land where we were greeted by smiling CMs who graciously offered us more snacks/water bottles. After scanning our magic bands, we entered an area close to the main hub. Earlier that morning, we rode SDMT to start our day and absolutely loved it! So we went straight there to ride again.

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And again...

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It truly is our favorite ride...And the ride videos from SDMT are really neat!!

So at this point it was around 5:30pm...and we were already getting hungry and very tired. We had an ADR scheduled at BOG for 9:45pm (only time I could get before our trip). I asked Pete to check with the restaurant and see if we could get an earlier time. He put us on It’s a Small World while he went to ask.

IASW is such a classic and will always be a must do for us. I know a lot of people don’t like the “singing dolls”, but i just love the message behind the song. It always touches my heart. We rode it in Disneyland during Christmas and it made us love the ride even more!


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Pete was waiting for us after we got off the ride. BOG was able to put us on their waitlist and would call Pete when our table was ready. So we headed back to ride SDMT again. Soon as we entered, our table was ready so we left and headed over to BOG for dinner. I know most people would not recommend eating table service during a tour, because your clock is still running. But we were so thankful for the break and the nice sit down dinner...plus I’m sure our guide appreciated the break too. We invited Pete to have dinner with us but only a table for 4 was available. So for the next hour and a half, we feasted on mussels, steak, grilled chicken and shrimp plus each of us had a delicious dessert to end the meal. The food was fantastic and our server was excellent. We were very thankful that Pete was able to get us in earlier...especially since it’s not the easiest adr to get for dinner.

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After our meal, we were so full and wanted to take our time and not rush to anything. So we went to Barnstormer so the boys could ride while DH and I just relaxed. It’s a short, simple ride but it always puts a smile on their faces!

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We then walked over to Tomorrow Land and rode Buzz Lightyear. I never seem to do well on this game...the red dot is so hard to aim and I always lose! I definitely prefer Toy Story Mania over this one.

By this time, we had ridden everything we wanted that day and just felt so happy and content. We were done with rides and just wanted to sit and wait for fireworks. So Pete brought us to a roped off reserved area in front of the castle. It was an excellent spot to watch Happily Ever After! The guides “patrolled” the area and made sure no one walked through or tried to get in. There were only 3 families there with us so we had plenty of room to just spread out and enjoy. The boys got popcorn at the stand nearby, and we all settled in. We had a wonderful view of the castle and loved every minute of the show.

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It was the perfect end to a perfect day! We thanked Pete, tipped him and leisurely walked back to The Contemporary.

 

[ktak08]

The next day, we headed to Universal Studios/IOA...here is our trip report if you want to see how our day at Universal compared:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/first-trip-back-to-universal-ioa-in-20-years-7-6-private-vip-tour.3693841/#post-59492669

We had a great time there, but Disney will always have our hearts!!