Post trip thoughts.
I just arrived home this morning from my 7 day trip that due to a blizzard and cancelled flights, turned into a 10 1/2 day trip. To sum it up, I’m burnt out.
This was probably one of the top two worst trips I’ve had in the past 10 years. The magic just wasn’t there, and a lot of things contributed.
At first all things seemed to be going smoothly. I was assigned my room for 2 days at CR, and moved to a tower room (yay). The room was gorgeous but right above Chef mickey’s so it was LOUD. I’m not really complaining though, as it was a magical upgrade. The shower was amazing. Fast forward to day 2 at the parks- it was cold and rainy all day. The kids (mine and a friends) were freezing, we were freezing, and the lines were long. Right away I realized that it was insanely busy for this time of the year.
Day 3. Rope drop MK, head to space mountain. Lose my phone on space mountain. There goes the rest of my rope drop early entry time, because I spent it waiting at Space mountain to see if it was on a ride vehicle ( spoiler, it wasn’t), so off I go to a blue umbrella to fill out a lost and found. Interestingly enough, my apple watch was still connecting to my phone through the Disney WIFI so I was able to get texts all day.
Hubby is supposed to join us, and his flight gets delayed, then he gets moved to different flights, then another delay. We more over to BLT for our 3 night stay. I track my phone and its made it off space mountain, and up to the town hall. Next stop it goes to Disney springs lost and found.
Day4. HS day. This is the day I tried and failed miserably to use Genie +. Hubby was able to get ROTR (I passed). At 7 am I click on a 9 am SDD only to have it change to 7pm. No good, as we are having dinner at MK at that time. Get a TOT for 10:30. Proceed to only be able to get Star tours and Its a Small world after that. Genie + is a big fat fail.
Insanely crowded again. Cold and cloudy and thankful hubby packed up some hats and gloves for us.
Lines were not worth waiting in. Decided to go to DS to pick my phone up and meet hubby at LTT for our dinner. Eat, and find a spot on main street for the fireworks. It was crowded to the point where it was dangerous. As soon as the show started the person in front of me decided to record the whole thing on his phone, obstructing my view. Thanks!
Day 5. Rainy and cold again. The only positive thing was that this day was when MK closed at 4:30 so the parks were dead. Got to ride almost everything, but we were cold and wet!
Day 6 moved to Beach club. Studio DVC room was beautiful! Slept late before moving, then ubered over, and went to lunch at AK. Lines for everything were crazy. Didn’t ride one ride. had lunch then left after going to Rafikis planet watch. Hopped to epcot. Crazy lines there. Just walked around and saw some sites and rode soarin. The Epcot geosphere show is the greatest addition to the park!
Day 7. Epcot day. Early entry and straight to RAT. Line was almost 90 minutes. Then the ride broke down and we waited another 1/2 hr for it to be back up. IMHO, the ride wasn’t worth the wait.
Another crazy busy crowd level day, but we made our way around the countries and rode Soarin again. Skipped most everything else as far as headliner rides. Relaxed a little at the resort and let DD7 swim to experience the pool (first ever stay at beach club). Came back to room and showered then watched Harmonious. Despite watching from the bridge to France which isn’t the greatest view, we really enjoyed the show!.
Day 8. Check out of Beach club. Head to MK. find out at 2 pm our 8 pm flight is cancelled. Have to scramble to find a room, rebook, and figure out who can take care of the dog at home, hubby has to call into work, and I had to make phone calls to the school because our flight wasn’t rebooked until today (monday). Found 2 nights a POFQ, that was the cheapest room on property available. Have dinner than uber there. Spend the rest of the night in the room because we are mentally exhausted from the day.
Day 9 - Bonus day! Went to HS. Insanely crowded. walked through Batuu, did Star tours and Walt Presents, and the crowds were so insane we left and went to AK. Rode the safari, but alot of the animals were inside because it was 45 degrees out!! But did see the painted dog pack running around and mock hunting, and some giraffe closeups.
Day 10- bonus day. Freezing out again, I’ve worn the same pants and sweatshirt for days. Went to MK again. Insanely packed again. Got stuck on IASM. the ride closed and we got 2 free LL’s ( but couldn’t use them for space, PP, SDMT or JC). Went to thunder mountain and used one and then another on HM. Rode the Liberty belle to get away from people. Watched some shows, rode the people mover. Got pizza at POFQ then ubered to our hotel room near the airport. Barely slept and hopped a 5 am shuttle to our flight.
Got delayed at our connecting flight, but made it home by 1 pm today. Also in time to make it to work tonight.
Looking back, I don’t know if it was the stress of the crowds, the weather, or the whole vacation extension, but I am glad to be home and really perplexed at how this trip was.
I think 10 days was a little too many for me. Possibly because of the crowd levels, or maybe because we didn’t really get a resort/pool day because it was so cold. Or maybe because of the extra unplanned days of living out of a suitcase and the huge extra expense on my wallet.
I don’t know. But I’m a little disheartened. The LL/G+ had major impact on standby line times. And buying it every day is just not affordable to me. Even buying it one day and only getting a few LL’s for rides that aren’t even super popular felt like throwing money down the tube. And the crowds were just, stifling. They gave me so much anxiety. I miss pandemic crowd levels . I miss being able to see the little magical extras that you might not see when there are people everywhere. Cast members were great, and that person who found my phone deserves an award. But overall, the trip was “meh”. I don’t like to complain (oh wait, yes I do), but I’m really hoping that by August (our next trip) this feeling goes away (and crowds do too…) because I don’t want to not love Disney, and right now I just don’t.
