I didn’t have time to take a photo of the fried chicken sandwich, had to shove it straight into my mouth.
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Day 6 (Animal Kingdom)
We woke up early and drove over to AK. Ended up near the front of the line. I guess it was a CL6 day on New Year’s Eve, which was substantially different than what we were used to. I got flagged at the bag check again (I think this time it was the “Spot It” card game in the metal case that did it). Waited aimlessly as wave after wave of people hurried past. DW said after the fact that she and the boys should have just continued and I could have met up with them at the taps, but we’re so not those people.
The floodgates opened and we rushed with everyone else to Pandora, which was very cool looking, especially on a foggy morning. Flight of Passage was amazing (I wasn’t sure the boys would enjoy it as they got a little freaked by Soarin’, but they absolutely loved it), and we made it through quite fast, so we hopped on NRJ which was basically a walk-on.
We then trekked over to Africa to do the Safari, which had basically a 5 minute wait. We saw all the animals – lions, zebras, giraffes, rhinos, you name it. DS9 is a big fan of wild cats, so the cheetahs were his highlight (sadly no jaguars/panthers in AK, at least that we could find).
We then leisurely walked through the gorilla trails, which was very cool. We made our way to Asia where I figured we could ride Everest, but DS9 backed out. DW volunteered to stay behind with him and grab a tea somewhere. So DS8 and I waited about 20 minutes in the line, which was a nice queue. Then we made our way up the mountain (and back down backwards and in the darkness). DS8 tends to just freeze up during the intense parts of rides, but this one he just started screaming at the top of his lungs. I think he was glad he rode it and his brother didn’t, but he kept saying he’ll never do that again. 
We then went to do the River Rapids. We had our ponchos with us, but it was a somewhat warm day, we’d put the kids in swim trunks, and we had quick-dry shirts, so we figured how bad could it get? The answer was: very wet.
Before:
After:
Just absolutely drenched. 
We wringed out our socks (the ponchos probably wouldn’t have done much for the shoes, anyways) and walked through the jungle trail. Boys loved the Komodo dragon and tigers. We then caught the Feathered Friends in Flight show while eating some sandwiches we’d packed.
After the show, we grabbed some cups of Dole Whip + soft serve and went over to the Nemo show. I’d had the times listed on my cheatsheet down wrong and we had a half hour to kill, so the kids ran around the Boneyard for a bit (another huge hit). We also saw Kevin on the way over!
We watched Nemo, then hoofed it over to catch Festival of the Lion King. Both were great, but I think I preferred Nemo – it’s pretty impressive to watch the singing and moving around, all while operating those fish puppets. It also seemed less insane than the line for Lion King, which was pretty intense.
We walked over to the Bugs Life show, which was also cute and fun (with a great view of the tree), then let the kids run around the Boneyard again until they got tired.
Actually, the forecast was showing rain coming, so we stopped them earlier than they may have wanted. We ordered some takeout from Chuy’s which was right down the road, but there was something wrong with one of the traffic lights down the road and traffic was at a crawl for most of that “quick” trip. But we eventually made it, quickly made it back to the hotel, and put on another movie to watch while pigging out on Tex-Mex.
DW and I started packing up stuff and ran most of the bags and toys out to the car to make things easier the next morning. Then we got to watch the TV (we got to finally finish Glass Onion) since the boys passed out again in short order.
Can’t think of anything in the park that we’d missed out on – although the boys LOVE dinosaurs, I didn’t think they’d be that into Dinosaur the ride. Feel a little bad that DW had to miss Everest, which I think she’d have loved, but again we’ll be back sometime soon, hopefully.
I would have definitely loved another day at AK – there’s just so many places you can just sit and get lost – but we just didn’t have enough time to squeeze in another day this trip. It definitely seems to be the lowest “priority” park out of the four, but the animals and the theming are just A+ throughout. You can walk around there, not stand in a single line, and have a great day.
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What a great trip! I love the before-and-after pics from Kali.
I also love your specs.
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Day 7 (Hollywood Studios and Goodbye)
We woke up, packed up the remainder of our stuff, and ran everything out to the car. We figured we’d drive over to HS since we’d be leaving to drive home around lunchtime. 
We made it through bag check without issues and everyone’s taps went green. It was amazing. Made the quick trot to RotR, which was a pretty quick queue (early mornings the day after NYE seems like the way to go), then we walked on to Millenium Falcon. This time around, we seemed to be better at piloting, so we did several more missions than the first time around, which was nice.
DS8 really wanted to do Toy Story Mania one last time, so we did that next (I of course had the high score). We’re not really character meet-and-greet people, but we’re talking droids here, so we went over to say hi to BB-8.
Then we rode Star Tours one last time and hopped back over to Galaxy’s Edge to do some final shopping and try the green/blue milk. I’ve heard mixed reviews, but I thought they both tasted pretty great.
Then it was time to hit the road. One last stop at the bathrooms to let out all the milk, then straight into the ridiculous outer Orlando traffic.
Things settled down for a bit, but we ran into a lot of stop & go around Savannah. Eventually made it back to Durham around 11:15pm (left around 11:30am). But it was worth it for another ride on RotR, that’s for sure.
All-in-all, it was an amazing trip, and I was absolutely blown away by how much we were able to accomplish with such high crowds. It definitely helps to keep things in perspective: you’re in Disney World, don’t let all the idiots get to you or worry about what you may be missing out on, just try to have fun doing what you’re doing. 
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I was just flipping through photos and noticed they were in basically the exact same pose, just completely drenched. Helps when DS9 always makes the same “finger guns” pose in like every picture.
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An excellent mantra for WDW.
You all have great smiles, but DW gets the prize.
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Ok that grilled cheese donut sounds amazing and I have to say… I think your DW’s smile is right up there with @Jeff_AZ’s dw’s smile. Exudes sunshine!
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Just found this in the app. My dumb face and DW’s gritted teeth are great, but the kids’ expressions are just priceless. 
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Misc. Thoughts
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Driving outside of the Disney bubble is absolutely maddening. I-4 on either side of the park seems to be ALWAYS red and full of slowly moving vehicles. Maybe there’s a good way to bypass all that, but Google never suggested any alternative routes. I only packed one pair of shorts (figured lightweight pants would be fine), so I decided to run out to Costco to grab something cheap along with some breakfast danishes for the next couple of days. Took me 40 minutes to get 15 miles down the road. Each way.
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If you’ve got young kids (or even if you don’t) make sure you pack plenty of snacks every day. We had a bunch of those Ritz cheese sandwiches that kept us going while waiting in lines. It’s nicer to spend the 10 minutes waiting in a queue to ride something instead of waiting for a snack at one of the kiosks. We also packed sandwiches for every day we didn’t already have special lunch plans, which saves a lot of both time and money.
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If you’re staying on-site, try to get to the park at least 30 minutes before early entry if possible. That extra bit of waiting in the morning (while snacking on delicious Costco danishes) really makes a difference if you want to rope drop one of the headliner rides. Pack something for breakfast and eat it while waiting for the taps to open.
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The Dolphin is pretty hard to beat on price and location. Being able to walk or boat around and take a mid-day break at two different parks is huge. We didn’t care too much about the room, which was just to crash in, but the beds were comfortable enough for us.
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Don’t worry too much about the crowd levels. True you might not get to do everything, but you’ll still have a fun time and you can knock out a lot of stuff if you’re somewhat flexible (especially if you get there early).
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You can get a lot done on a CL10 day without having to buy Genie+. Every park has nice areas where you can just sit and enjoy the theming, and it’s easy enough to rope drop a few rides (or knock them out at night when crowds wane). I’d suggest only getting it for one or two days, then save the money for toys.
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If part of your group moves faster than the other part, don’t send the fast ones to wait in line so you can just sidle up at a slower pace. Ride separately or walk altogether, I beg of you. That was definitely my biggest pet peeve this entire trip. (I make exceptions for parents with small children or anyone else in line that has to suddenly find a bathroom, they’re free to come and go in my book).
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Driving to the park significantly opens up the possibility of your DW purchasing entirely way too many toys and souvenirs. Beware.
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Love your trip report! The photos of your boys remind me of my boys (5 and 7), especially the one of the two of them sharing a bed, completely wiped out from a great day!
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Thanks for a great trip report! We have 3 sons similar ages and have stayed at Dolphin. Can’t be beat for price and location + perks. Sounds like a complete success!
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Thanks for the great trip report! Sounds like a wonderful vacation!
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We almost crossed paths, but I drove up north on the 12/27 and traffic to Orlando was horrible. I think you dodged a bullet.
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Yes it does!
Me,too! Especially without shelling out big $ for G+ and LL$.
My favorite picture is the one with BB8. Instant classic!
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Not sure if I can really draw any conclusions on when’s the best time to drive, since we left NC around 5:30am but didn’t get on the road back from Orlando until closer to noon, so I’m sure it would have been much better (at least through FL) if we’d have gotten out earlier. And the holiday traffic is always going to be a bit out of the norm.
But all-in-all it wasn’t bad, just more of an annoyance when you’re heading home to be stuck in that stop and go crap.
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We had initially booked a 5 day trip for March, 2020, which would have been when they were 5 and 7, actually. I think it would have been a pretty similar (easier to plan since I had FastPasses), but we’d have probably wanted to push it a little more to squeeze more into each day, so I’m kind of glad we got to do it slower combined with the boys being a little older and able to handle a bit more.
Of course we dragged them all around Paris and Spain the year before that (4 and 6), so I know they’d have been capable, we’d have probably just worn them out quicker.
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Love this so much! Thanks for an awesome trip report!
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When we rope dropped Epcot one morning a family ahead of us had bagels and cream cheese. Dad prepared each one on top of the stroller. No drinks, though, and poor dh was afraid someone was going to choke lol. We were impressed with their dedication.
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What a great trip! Thank you for sharing
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Great trip report!
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