Quick report from last week’s trip for anyone that is interested. We took my son and his girlfriend down for a few days of fun. We stayed in the Grand Floridian so access to both MK and Epcot were very easy. We had 2 days of park hoppers and I purchased the multi-pass for those and individual lightning lanes for flight of passage and Guardians. We had after hours tickets for Monday at MK and Tuesday at HS.
We arrived Sunday afternoon (3/30) and were unfortunately not able to use the new water park perk on arrival day due to some inclement weather. So we got settled in and headed over to Disney Springs for dinner and a little shopping. This is my son’s gf’s first trip to Disney in a long time so we were a little more relaxed on this trip (although it may not seem that way :)).
Monday morning we were up bright and early heading to AK where we had an early LL for FOP. After that I had LL’s for the safari, Everest, and the Lion King show. We spent some time on some of the trails and around the Tree of Life and enjoyed a dole whip. While we were there I secured some LL’s for Jungle Cruise, Pirates, and Tiana’s as we were hopping to the MK later. We finished up at AK about 2:00, I think my son was a little disappointed as he only got to ride EE one time and that is one of his favorites, but I assure you he made up for it later. Headed back to the room for a little rest as it was going to be a long evening with the After Hours party at MK.
Once at MK we were surprised by low crowds and available LL’s. We got there about 6:00 and by 8:00 we had knocked out Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Tiana’s (got SOAKED), and Haunted Mansion. We then got a nice spot for Happily Ever After. At the end of the show we headed to Buzz as I had a LL for it. As the crowds were dwindling for the party we focused on the big guys. Multiple runs of Tron with little to no wait, 7DMT, Space Mountain, Ice Cream, Popcorn, Pirates, Buzz, etc. Upon leaving we ran into our first hiccup and something that I believe could be better advertised. Staying on the monorail, we were surprised to find out that during the party the monorail closed at 12:30 (more later on this) so we had to get on a bus, not a big deal, but took a bit longer to get back to the room than anticipated.
Tuesday we had no park plans except for After Hours at HS. So we slept in and then headed to Disney Springs for lunch and some time in the Lego Store for the kids (I also got lucky and snagged a Hei Hei). Afterwards back to the room to rest up and kids go to the pool for a bit. We headed to HS about 6:30 to be in the parks at 7:00. This unfortunately didn’t let us have time to see any of the shows, We were able to jump on TSM before dinner at Sci Fi. After dinner it was trying to storm a little bit meaning crowds were pretty sparse. We rode Rise as a walk on, literally no wait, we then hit Smugglers Run. It was still a little stormy so Slinky was not running yet so we headed down to RnR and ToT. Rode them both walking on more times that I can count. About midnight Slinky came back online and had a little wait since most everyone had been waiting for it to come back on. Again, more ice cream and popcorn too :).
Our last day in the parks was Wednesday. Initially had a breakfast reservation for Garden Grill, but we decided we’d prefer to sleep in. I had LL’s for Guardians, Remi, Living with the Land, and Mission Space. We got started a little later than normal and Guardians was first. We then hit Soarin and Living with the Land. Then we headed to France for Remi. Spent some time exploring the countries and getting pictures with Belle and Jasmine. About 2:00 we decided to jump on the Skyliner and hop to HS where I had LL’s for RnR and ToT. Afterwards back to the room for a short break and over to Ohana for dinner. While sitting at dinner the kids decided they wanted to go back to MK for the extended hours for the resort guests. So we hopped back to the room then headed to MK. We got there just after Happily Ever after but the park was a little more crowded than Monday. The wait for Tron looked long so we focused on others and rode Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Buzz, and a couple more. By then the line for Tron was shrinking and we rode it and the kids hit Space Mountain on the way out. A few pictures on the way out and our Disney adventure for 2025 was over. Interestingly the monorail was running until 1:00 AM so travels back from these extended hours was much easier.
I highly recommend the After Hours if you are looking to ride the most popular rides multiple times with low waits. Well worth it. If you want to experience the shows and such, maybe not so much. The extended hours were surprisingly a little more crowded but still worth it as wait times were never more than 20 - 30 minutes. It’s been a couple years since we’ve been able to go. It’s awesome to see my son still enjoy it as much as he does at 17 years old. Everyone had an amazing time. We can’t wait to come back.
