Hello all! I love the trip reports so I thought I would post a quick one here because I found touring plans so helpful! I took my dd(5) and ds(1) along with husband to DW for a quick weekend trip to celebrate DD’s bday. We left Texas Thursday evening to arrive around 8:30 EST. We had originally not planned to return until DS was older and could ride many rides but I wanted to do one more round of princess stuff while my daughter was still young. Soooooo this trip was born. Because it would be a quick trip, I planned to try AofA Mermaid rooms because I knew my daughter would love them and they were cheap! DME picked us up right away and we were the first stop which was nice compared to AKL where we stayed a year ago. I had received my room info earlier in the day, did not get the exact room we wanted but just down the way, ground floor. I did not find the walk to be too far to the LM rooms, honestly my room at AKL seemed farther and when you added the elevator, it took forever to get to the transportation. Plus the walk through the AofA grounds was very nice. Our garden grocery delivery had already been placed in our room, including refrigerated items - very pleased! The room is very basic but had all the decorations we expected which delighted DD. For the price, I can’t complain. We went to bed right away that night.
The first day of our trip (Friday 9/30) (crowd level 3 day, EMH morning hours and evening MNSSHP) we were up at 6:45 Florida time (5:45 TX time!!) to try and get to MK by rope drop. We ate cereal in our room and unfortunately, we are slow, we didn’t make it to the park until about 8:25 or so. It wasn’t too bad at that hour and we still had time to get in some stuff before it was too crowded. We enjoyed a trolley show on the way in to the park. We did both of the princesses at fairytale hall first (DD’s request), Carousel, PP (ride unfortunately broke down and we waited in this line almost an hour!), then headed to Splash Mountain for a 10:30 fp. We used rider swap and let DS1 play on the under the bridge play area (a hidden gem!). DD enjoys that as well despite being way too old for it. We then enjoyed HM and ate lunch at Columbia Harbor House which I thought was pretty decent. We then, in some order that I don’t remember, hit up IASW, Dumbo (including lots of time at play area), Pooh, teacups, little mermaid, another ride on the carousel, Belle. We then attempted Seven Dwarves (sorry I never remember this acronym), but it was shut down due to rain and we were given a fast pass yippee! So we detoured to buzz lightyear and got in some splash pad time, did some shopping and headed back to seven dwarves. We eventually got in our SD with rider swap (loved this ride), did some playing in the pooh playground then headed to my daughter’s BBB appointment around 5:45. BBB was right on schedule and we were very happy with the experience. When she was done, we were all beat and decided to head back rather than try the party. DD wanted to meet Cinderella and Aurora AGAIN so we had time to squeeze in one more m&g repeat before they shepherded us out at 7. No issues getting home, we grabbed dinner at Landscape of Flavors (chicken curry, pretty decent), and kids to bed by about 8:30. We were very pleased with this day. It felt like it could not have gone better, other than the one ride closure and the other long line. We had been gifted some classic ride fast passes but ended up not even needing them because the lines for dumbo, carousel, teacup, little mermaid, were pretty much walk-on. Definitely lower crowds than when we attended in early April, and although it was hot, we are used to the heat and MK is so well shaded. I was pleased to be staying at AofA which is again the first top on the transportation.
You fit a lot in! Looking forward to reading more!
A princess trip!! Your DD will always remember this weekend! Thank you for sharing!!
Day 2!!
After our long day at Magic Kingdom we were pooped. Saturday morning we headed to Hollywood Studios for an 8am Disney Jr. character breakfast at H&V. Before we were seated my husband was able to walk over and sign my daughter up for Jedi training, this was easy as pie and worked like a charm. The sign up people also gave him a free fast pass because they said he looked like a Jedi!! At least, that is his story anyway, I was delighted. The characters were slow moving and as a result we got another fast-pass! I was thrilled as this took the pressure off to run to Toy Story at 9 am since we weren’t done eating and the kids were grumpy. After eating we lingered around echo lake for a while and did one of the star wars short films (don’t remember the title, sorry), before it was time for my DD to meet for Jedi training at 10:15 I think (for the 10:50 show). It was HOT AS CAN BE. She was wearing a princess dress over her clothes and then her jedi robe and I just can’t believe that she wasn’t dying. It was the cutest thing. My dd actually cried that she didn’t want to do it after signing up because she had to go on stage, but by the time they started she was ready to go and had a blast. They do a really good job with the kids, especially considering how young some of them are. Other than the extreme sun at 10:50 and the fact that the stage is not shaded AT ALL (something to consider when choosing your time), it went off seamlessly. My DD fought seventh sister which was great because we had downloaded some of the star wars rebels shows with seventh sister in them for her to watch on the way, and her Jedi leader or whatever was also a girl, and my DD is all about GIRL POWER, so she was totally into it. The photos also turned out fantastic so I highly recommend getting the memory maker if you are doing Jedi training. After this, we dawdled a bit and did Toy Story and Star tours, and watched the launch bay video and looked around the launch bay a bit before heading out to Epcot.
The worst part of our trip was waiting for the epcot bus. There is no shade, my son was cranky, it was mid-day heat, and the bus took forever. At one point an epcot bus pulled up and changed to MK. We sat through 4 or 5 MK busses and at least 3 AK before another Epcot came. I was very annoyed. We got to epcot late and had missed at least one of our fastpasses. Because it was F&W, nothing else really was available to move it to. It was OK, because our goal in going there was really just to do the Akershus dinner, the Frozen ride (we had FP) and meet A&E. We did all these, plus let the kids play in a fountain on the way, which was probably my one year old’s highlight of the day. I was tempted to get in myself after being so hot from the wait outside HS.
As predicted, the world showcase, and pretty much the entire Epcot was busy as can be. I was not prepared for these crowds. It was like standing room only adults everywhere you turned. I would definitely not recommend Epcot during F&W for kids, even during the day! We headed straight to Norway, it took a long time. It was worth it because we LOVED Akershus. We had moved our dinner back to 2:55 so that my DD and DH could get back to HS for the fireworks, and this ended up being perfect because after a big breakfast we hadn’t eaten lunch and having an early dinner or a late lunch was perfect for them and the dessert party (more on that later). We both had the salmon and thought it was fantastic. My DD had the Swedish meatballs kids order and ate lots. The salad bar was awesome and huge. My 1 year old even got a free kids meal!! The waiter said kids under 3 eat free, and that even means they can order a meal! So why not. The dessert was also good. We met Belle, Cinderella, Ariel, Aurora, and… maybe one other I’ve forgotten. This was 3x Cinderella and Aurora this trip for my gal. Then they did a little princess parade through the restaurant and my daughter loved this too. Our waiter was awesome and I really have nothing bad to say about Akershus. We’ve also done Cinderella’s castle and that was great too but I have to give the nod to Akershus, if only because it is cheaper!
After this meal, we headed straight for the Frozen ride which was fantastic!! I suppose this line is very long but it is all indoors. It was even about a 20 minute line with fast pass. Loved the ride. I never rode it when it was the prior ride but the backwards part was a big surprise and very fun. The way they do the faces is really neat too. Then we met A&E and the wait was extremely minimal - we were in and out in 15 minutes even with those crowds. The posted wait time was 25 minutes.
After this, I headed home with the baby and my dd and husband headed to a last minute dessert party booking at HS. They had a blast at the dessert party and while waiting, they met chewy and kylo ren. Unfortunately, the fireworks were rained out but my husband said it was still worth the cost (others might disagree I’m sure, but he enjoyed the time with DD and the desserts and touring the launch bay). All around success AND they still have the fireworks to look forward to the next time around! Day 2 complete.
Finally, our last day was Sunday 10/2. We had considered trying to hit up a park in the morning but were generally too tired to do anything but sleep in, which we did until at least 9 (rare for my gang!!). We hit up the AofA playground and nemo pool, and my kids loved these and would have stayed all day. Sadly, we only had less than an hour before our check-out. We were able to get late check-out, by the way, at 12:30. Unfortunately, I misread the airport check-in and didn’t realize that it had to be done by noon. Luckily, this turned out not to be a big deal and we just put our bag on the bus and arrived at the airport with lots of time to spare. All in all, this was a near perfect weekend trip. I would highly recommend a weekend trip for those who are close enough and not in a position to go for a long trip. DH and I both agreed another day at the parks would be nice, but we would rather go more often than wait until the kids are older and may be into different things. The princess stuff is just so fun with my daughter and I was so glad to experience that with her again. I doubt we will be there next year but I’m hoping for a January or February trip with my parents in 2018. Happy travels to you all!
Really enjoyed reading your report, you certainly had a full weekend 
Thanks
Great read, thanks for sharing!
Sounds like a very fun weekend!!
Thanks for sharing a great trip report. It was nice to hear that you enjoyed Akershus, as I have read some not so good reviews but want to try it so have tried not to be put off!