The Best Spring Break in the (Disney) World 2016! - Trip Report

[FKHamer]

We’ve been back a couple of weeks now and I have some time to make a trip report, finally.

I booked this trip in October 2015 at 180 days so I could make the ADRs. I originally booked at All Star Music (maybe?) as a trip with just me and the 3 kids (6, 4, & 2). DH swore up and down he’d never go back to Disney so I didn’t include him. He changed his mind at some point so I switched the reservation to Art of Animation. Yipee - I’ve wanted to stay there since it opened.

I originally booked a lunch at Crystal Palace, pre-RD breakfast at CRT, a pre-RD breakfast at H&V, a pre-RD breakfast at BOG, dinner at BOG, dinner at BOG, dinner at Beaches & Cream, and breakfast at O’Hana. It was easy to get all that I had planned. No problems at all. I had to change all the ADRs from 4 to 5 people when DH decided to go. I did pretty well although had to just get a 1 person ADR at CRT at the same time and we just showed up early to BOG dinner and B&C and they worked it out. We ended up dropping CP, BOG breakfast and Ohana breakfast (all very sad to drop but had to get on track with budget and the plan).

I had the touring plans done before ADR day. But of course tweaked them constantly until we were actually in the parks. But the plans helped me make the fast passes at 60 days out. Again – got everything I wanted and, if not the time I wanted, very close to the time. So once those were made, I had to tweak the touring plans again – no poblem, I would’ve done that anyway. LOL.

So then I was done and needed more stuff to do. So I made t-shirts, dresses, mousekeeping envelopes, stroller tags, planned the kids’ tinkerbell gifts, and wrote the cards to along with those gifts. I finished the last dress for DD the day before we left.

We left Cincinnati the morning of April 9th. It snowed that morning at home -ick. I was so excited to be going to sun! We drove like 8 hours and stopped in Maconsville, GA at a Comfort Inn. It was adequate but smelled bad and wifi was non-existent and it just felt old. The breakfast wasn’t that great either. We drove the rest of the way on the 10th.

I got the room ready text at 1pm. We were still on the road so when we finally did get there a couple of hours later, we went straight to our Lion King suite. I started unpacking while DH took the kids to explore a little bit. While they were gone “tinkerbell called” and told me there was a package at the front desk for us. When they got back we went to see what the package was. The kids got beach towels and pool toys to use at the pool during our stay. They were so excited! So off we went to the pool. It was hot out, but it was cold in the pool. LOL. The kids had a blast. The zero entry pool was handy so we could sit in the water and they could play around us. My kids can swim but I always get so anxious in the pool. It’s not at all relaxing for me. But they had a blast and made some friends. We had dinner at the AoA cafeteria – what’s it called – Landscapes of Flavor. I had a “create-your-own” salad. It was pretty good and big enough to share with my DD (the 2 year old). I’m pretty sure DH had a burger and the kids had mini corndogs – that was the go to menu item for the boys on the trip. We bought the refillable mugs that night too. I hadn’t planned on buying them but it was the easier thing to do and over the course of the week was about $2.50 a person per day- which, considering the amount of soda I drank, was totally worth it.

We went back to the room after dinner, watched an episode of something on Disney Jr and went to bed. We were to get up at 6 to get ready for our first park day - the Magic Kingdom.

I love how I would never consider getting up at 6 at home but at Disney -yep – bounce right out of bed. LOL!

More later…

[Hi_Ho]

Yep, somehow 6 am in Disney isn’t like 6 am at home😴
Look forward to hearing about your second day!

[longwalk]

Thanks for starting a trip report…looking forward to how your trip goes…
Glad your trip to Orlando was reasonably uneventful…

[FKHamer]

Day 2

Turns out we didn’t need an alarm, the kids got up 10 minutes before the alarm went off. The magic of Disney!

We got ready and loaded up the car. Yes – we drove to the parks. I’m not a fan of busses. Not that I’ve ever used them with regularity, I just like having a car and it’s so much easier to be able to load up three kids and all their stuff. DH needed coffee so we stopped at the McDonalds on property (whoa!! That place is way more expensive than real life McDonalds) and ate in the car on the way to MK. We got to MK parking around 7:50. We sat in the car and ate our biscuits and let the kids watch a bit more of whateve DVD was on in the car to kill some time. Then we headed over. We were too early for the Monorail so took the ferry over. We arrived about 10 minutes later, passed through bag check with no problems and waited for the Welcome Show. I’ve always wanted to see it but never was able to get the family out early enough. But this time I did it! We were early, probably earlier than we needed to be – I had some vague hope of being the family of the day. I won’t lie - I knew it was an extremely long shot but the thought crossed my mind. But I got to see the Welcome Show and it was magical and I may have had some pixie dust in my eyes for a bit.

The ropes drop and in we go – with the crazy crush of people. It was April 11th. No idea what the crowd level was but at that moment in time it felt like a really big crowd.

Went first to meet talking Mickey. Oliver, my middle child, had requested to meet him first thing. I had to change the TPs around to get it done, but of course, that’s what we did. Waited like 5 minutes. In hindsight I should have probably warned the kids Mickey would be talking. They aren’t used to talking characters. But they were fine by the time it was our turn. I had made the kids pillowcases to get autorgraphs this trip (previous trips were a picture frame mat and individual character cards I then put in our scrapbook). They like having something to hand the characters, it breaks the ice and gets the interaction started. So they each handed Mickey their pillowcases in turn and then we played for a minute with Mickey, acting like we were lions and roaring at the camera. LOL. It was cute. And the pictures are adorable.

Then we were heading over to Big Thunder Mountain for our first ride of the day. It was a long walk. I had planned to take the train but of course we get there the day it goes out for refubishment. But, no matter, the kids liked seeing everything and stopped along the way to get pictures and window shop. I sent DH on the ride with the boys while DD and I sat it out, as she just didn’t quite make the height cut off. I really really thought Wesley, the oldest, would have graduated to likeing rides by now. We didn’t force him on this one, he went willingly, was even excited. But was in tears, according to DH, as soon as the ride started. Was crying when he got off. My poor baby. He’s so overly cautious. My 4 yo loved it! I got a child swap card to return for me later.

Side note: The CM at the entrance said they were giving out lanyards for child swap at BTMT now and that we would all go through the line together and I’d ride immedietly after they got off. I must have looked really sad at that news because he said I could have a card for later instead. Which was great, because I had not at all planned to ride that right then.

DD and I played at the Laughing Place (is that the name of it?) under Splash while waiting and we got our first pressed pennies there too. I had planned for DH to ride Splash with the boys next but he insisted I ride with Oliver (the 4yo) instead. So Oliver and I went to get in line. I pulled out ponchos on the way – and I have to say I’m glad I did. We were in the fist row and would have gotten soaked without them.

After Splash, we got in line to meet Jesse and Woody, waited maybe 10 minutes but probably less, they had just showed up for their meet when we got in line. My kids love Toy Story (ok I love Toy Story!) so they were excited to meet Jesse – we’ve met Woody and Buzz and they’re always favorites, but Jesse was new to them this trip. It was a fun interaction. Jesse loved DD’s hair ribbons and showed DD her yellow ribbon. It was cute.

After our meet n greet we ran over to watch the Pirate Tutorial. My kids love pirates and stuff but they’ve never seen Pirates of the Caribeean – I just feel they’re too young still. But they enjoyed the show and, though they didn’t get picked to particpate, Captain Jack invited all the kids in the audience up on stage to join his crew at the end. So they were extremely happy to do that – except DD, she clung to me. It was a cute show.

Since we were right there we headed to get on Pirates of the Caribean. So, I’m not sure why I thought this would be ok for my kids. They were pretty much scared from the moment we got on the boat. So not fun. Won’t do that one again with them.

Then we headed to lunch – I had wanted Tortuga Tavern but it was closed (why is it always closed!?). So we walked over to Pecos Bills. I had a bowl and DH and the kids got nachos. Eveyone was happy with the food except DH. But he was already cranky and done with the day so I don’t trust his review of the food.

After lunch we had fastpasses for Jungle Cruise. So we did that. It was ok – I’m glad we did it but I don’t think I need to do it again. It’s just kind of boring, yes? Slow and drifting and I’m guessing the jokes are always the same? But the kids like boats, so they liked it.

Then on to meet Aladdin and Jasmine. We waited a long time for this one because we were the last people in line as the CM there cut the line. I hadn’t planned on a 45 minute meet n greet but that’s what we did becuase the kids said that’s what they wanted to do right then. So I guess this did DH in because he decided that he had to go back to the hotel after this. And he took Wesley with him. So my plan ended mostly. DH leaving put a damper on the rest of us. I got kind of mad at him for this. But I had 2 kids still with me and we went on to ride Magic Carpets. That was fun – Oliver and Ady really enjoyed it and we had a fastpass so no wait. Yipee!

Then my plan was to go meet Peter Pan but we waited so long for Aladdin and Jasmine that I knew we’d be at the end of the line for Peter Pan or not make the cut so I skipped that and we went to ride Pete Pan’s Flight. And while it was fun and we had a fastpass, so no wait, we all were a little off since DH and Wesley left. So I called it and we left to go swimming.

I had planned to watch Mickey’s Philharmagic (I had gems and everything!) and meet Tiana, then see the parade and then meet Tinkerbell. None of those things happend – at all – the whole trip.

But we left and went swimming and it was a great afternoon. Even DH was happier. So, lesson learned, my family can’t hang. So I worked on changing the TPs for all the rest of the days and scale back on the amount of stuff to do. We walked over to POP and ate dinner. It was much better than AoA. And we had a ginourmous – huge - ice cream for dessert. I liked POP’s food and service much better than AoA. The selection at AoA is just not as good as it is at POP.

After dinner, we got the kids ready for bed and I left to meet a law school friend at MK! I’ve not ever been to the park without kids (since I was a kid myself). So I was extremely happy to be going back without them. LOL. My friend picked me up and we parked in disability parking (she’s got a pass). So the walk in was easy. As soon as we got there we had to go to guest services to fix something with her AP. And missed a Space fastpass so Sacha (sp?) at guest services gave us a fastpass for Space. Yay! Off to ride Space, then People Mover, then watched Wishes (I cried). Then we went to got more fastpasses on our mobile apps! And went to ride BTMT and Haunted Mansion (my first time on HM ever!). And then it was like 11 at night and I was fading fast. I had been up since 6 am! So she took me back to the hotel. Everyone was out when I got there. So that was good and I may have taken a few moments to watch the kids sleeping. Because they are so adorable when they’e asleep. Then I crashed. We had another early morning planned for our 2nd park day.

Side note: How to share pictures?

[PrincipalTinker]

Great report! Thank you! You must plan a return trip to see Mickey’s PhilharMagic!

To post photos: when you enter the reply box there is a bar of icons on the top of the box. You hit the one that is a line on the bottom, pointing up arrow.

[Hi_Ho]

It’s so hard to plan around M&Gs…but they are so great when they’re happening!! Love reading your report!! TY!!

[FKHamer]

Splash

Magic Carpets

big ice cream

really early to MK

My first Wishes

Meeting Mickey

Meeting Aladdin & Jasmine

Jessie

[thewonderfulworldofdisney]

I love your matching t-shirts & dress! It’s so much fun when families or groups do that!! Looking forward to more!

[PrincipalTinker]

Such beautiful pictures! Look at those smiles!

[FKHamer]

Thanks! I loved making them!

[Randall1028]

You might have mentioned it, but I missed it: Where’d that ice cream originate from? It’s uh… For my dissertation…that I’m…uh…working on. Yeah, that’s it.

Sound like a great trip. The photos are awesome!

[FKHamer]

LOL! It’s the everything sundae from POP. Enjoy!

[Randall1028]

Thanks!

[FKHamer]

Day 3 – 2nd park day

Back to MK today! We had a pre-rd CRT reservation. So we headed to MK at the same time as yesterday. Got to the park at 8ish and went right in. We did the Main St castle picture but Ady wasn’t all that in to it and so my picture I have dreamt about is not great.

I kept trying to get them to stop for more pictures but the family – not cooperative. So, we went to check out the fountain and pull on the sword in the stone.

And we checked in to CRT a few minutes early. We actually had 2 CRT ressies because DH decided after the fact to join us on the trip. So I had a reservation for 4 and then a reservation for 1. When I checked in, I told them the situation and they put us together – no problem. Went in, picture with Cinderella and up the stairs. I took my time going up and looked at the stained glass windows and the suits of armor and all that jazz – kids ran up. We were sat and ordered and immedietly Snow White came to the table. I wish she had been the last one as Ady hadn’t quite warmed up to meeting yet on this day so she was shy and not interacting and Snow White is my favorite and I was so hoping for a good meet but it really just wasn’t. I think, in the future, I need to really lower my expecations. Anyway, then Aurora, Jasmine, and Ariel came out and the kids warmed up to them and we had fun. The boys loved their swords and Ady loved her wand and they did the wish thing. The food was ok but for the price there really should be a lot more of it. I wish you could get seconds. I really like breakfast and prefer for that to be my big meal, so yeah – more of it. Plus I shared my food with DD. She’s 2 so she got a “complimentary” mickey waffle and a piece of bacon (I think it was bacon). But she doesn’t eat waffles so she pretty much ate my eggs and sausage. But besides the quanitity, I really enjoyed the food and the interactions. We had a great server she was very kind with the kids and quick. We were out of there by 9:15ish. Since we got in early, I’d say we spent a full hour there.

We got out a lot earlier than I had planned, so we were too early for our 7DMT fast pass but too late to ride standby, so we hopped on to the Carousel. I found Cinderella’s horse for Ady to ride! And the kids loved this one.

Still too early for our FPP so we ran over to the Tea Cups and rode that and then to the Tomorrowland Speedway and rode that. All standby – and the kids loved them both. Except maybe Wesley – he didn’t dislike the rides just was apprehensive about it and wouldn’t let us turn the tea cup and wouldn’t drive the car – he rode with me.

So then we could ride 7DMT, Oliver and DH went first. He said he loved it but the picture shows a terrified child. LOL. Then Wesley refused to ride so I skipped it.

Then we headed to Enchanted Tales with Belle – we were early for our FPP there but the CM let us through – not that it mattered, we would have gotten in no problem. I told the kids they had to roar loudly and be up front to be the Beast. But they got shy and hid behind me. DH was acting grumpy and trying to hide and I guess the CM didn’t like that because she chose him to be one of the suites of armor. LOL! So when he was chosen, the kids wanted to be in it too. So they were the barking footstool and salt and pepper shakers. It was so cute. I loved the whole thing. And they seemed to have fun. Ady was in awe when she got to meet Belle. And the boys thought she was “bootifle.” Even DH seemed to be a little smitten and was in a much better mood after the story.

Afterwards we took a snack break and got in line to meet Gaston. LOVE the cinamon rolls! And meeting Gaston was one of the highlights of the trip. He was just great. My boys are still talking about him.

So then we had headed over to Storybook Circus to meet Minnie and Daisy. I wanted to also meet Donald and Goofy but the kids wouldn’t tolerate another line just then. Wish they would just combine those lines – it should would make it easier (for me anyway-LOL).

Then we rode Dumbo after playing in the Dumbo play area for a while. The kids needed a play break and I needed to sit. We skipped the Barnstormer because I was pretty sure Wesley wouldn’t go near it and I didn’t want to deal with half of us waiting while half rode. I had us going for another couple of hours but felt like the family was done. So we started walking out and we were passing 7DMT and the fastpass was still good for me so I ran on and rode by myself. Which, I found I liked. I got to enjoy it without having to entertain a child. It’s fun to experience it with others but also fun to just experience!

So that was it for MK. They were done and I didn’t want to have to fight them to stay. So we headed back to the hotel, stopping at Chick Fil A on the way back to get lunch. We ate in the room and took a quiet break then went swimming.

Then we got ready and went to dinner at a local pizza place, Flippers (I think was the name). It’s near Old Towne, Kissimee. It was pretty good, not the best pizza I’ve ever had, but much better than on property pizza – and cheaper too. LOL.

We called an early night, vegged out for a bit watching a movie and then to bed to rest up for another early day.

Oh - I forgot - tinker bell had sent the kids pool toys & beach towels on our arrival day, Cinderella left the kids an Operation board game after our first park day, and when we got back to our room on our 2nd park day, Jake from the Neverland Pirates, left the kids “treasures”, Ady got a Doc McStuffins microphone to sing a long to, Oliver got a Mickey flashlight that projected fun pictures, and Wesley received a Buzz lightyear flashlight key chain. They all left sweet little cards.

On to DHS tomorrow!

[Hi_Ho]

Wow!! It seems like you did so much to make this a special trip for your family!! Great planning and execution!!

[FKHamer]

I did try! Had to change the plan as we went to accommodate them but it worked out. We all had a great time; well except maybe DH - he still hates all things Disney.

[bciranow]

Great report so far! The one thing I see people talking about all the time at CRT is the portions. Disney does a poor job of making it clear, but the meal is considered all you can eat and you’re allowed to ask for more. At least you know for next time! Thanks again for the great report and pictures.

[disney1974]

Great reporting!
You have a beautiful family. The pictures are just adorable. I’m so glad you went back and rode 7DMT.

[Mom2Girls1980]

Great trip report! The pictures of all of you are adorable. I love reading about other people’s trips!

[FKHamer]

Thanks everyone! I love re-living our trips through the trip report. Thanks for reading and commenting!!

Day 4 – 3rd park day

Hollywood Studios day!

My boys wanted very, very badly to do JTA. They had been watching videos of it for weeks. In order to get in the best position to sign up I made a pre-rd brekafast at Hollywood and Vine. Which we wanted to eat there anyway, so it wasn’t a hardship. But still, I wanted to be really early to the park. My goal was to be first in line. We were actually 3rd. Yipee! Arrived at DHS around 7:25 am and the CMs told us that we could sign up for JTA before going to our breakfast. Which was perfect! They let us in right at 8 am and we and about 20 other families walked with purpose to JTA signups. There were plenty of CMs pointing the way. I didn’t really need directions, I had Liner help! We were the 2nd or 3rd family to sign up and were done within minutes. Our breakfast wasn’t until 8:50 and it was like 8:10 lol!

So we roamed around for a bit and took some pictures.

And then we checked in early to H&V and were seated by 8:30! We’ve done H&V before and loved it and the kids had requested to do it again. It’s a fun character meal. There’s 4 characters – Doc McStuffins, Princess Sophia, Jake from the Neverland Pirates, and Handy Manny. They all do the individual tables meets but they also do a little song and dance thing and the kids love dancing with them and doing the huge conga line they lead through the entire place. The food is yummy and all you can eat! And since it’s a buffet, Ady ate for free (because she’s under 3!). It’s one of the more affordable character meals we did. Even DH likes this one. (I don’t have a single picture from H&V - DH has them all on his phone. I’ll try to remember to post them when I get them from him).

We were done so early! It only took an hour and some change to see all 4 characters and eat till we were stuffed. So we headed out. I had thought we would be there until about 10:30 but it was only 9:30! Fortunelty I had made a TSMM fastpass for 9:30 thinking we’d just make it at the end of our hour, but instead we used it at the beginning. Walked right on. The standby line was already pretty long. This is another one of the rides Wesley (the oldest) likes. He’s just not a thrill rider. He still insisted he had to ride with me because apparently I’m safer than his dad – lol.

But he asked to ride it again. And we were going to, except right as we were turning to get in the standby line, the Green Army Men started marching. So we had to meet them! And he forgot about riding again. (No pics again - DH has them)

We then were racing to make the 10am VotLM but the Storm Troopers started their processional – so we stopped to watch that and try to get pictures with them (they don’t stop but we tried to do selfies of a sort). So we missed VotLM. I’m almost positive the only ones that would have liked it are me and DD but still I would’ve liked to see it. Instead we did Launch Bay and got in line to meet Chewbacca – which I hadn’t planned on but that’s what they wanted. 30 minutes later we had a traumatized DD because she was soooooo scared of Chewbacca but the boys were over the moon. We had to get to our JTA show so we skipped meeting Kylo Ren and saw the Jawas on our way out. Wesley tried to trade with one but he didn’t seem to have anything to trade but was very interested in the clip Wesley was offering. It was a cute interaction.

So we made our way back to the JTA staging area outside Prime Time. They asked that the kids return 30 minutes before the show. We did – but it was silly. If we do it again, we’ll get back there about 15 minutes (maybe even just 10) before the show because we were just sitting there in the balzing sun for 30 minutes before they marched over to the show area. We tried to get in the correct line to fight Darth Vadar but we ended up in the Seventh Sister line. Which was fine for us. But my observation is that, no matter where the staging area is (in front of prime time or in the alley next to Indiana Jones Outpost) the line to fight DV is the left line – so if you’re standing at the front/head of the lines facing the kids on the blue dots, the kids in the line to your left will fight DV and the kids to your right will fight the 7th Sister. Of course that is always subject to change – just my observation from our trip.

(Pictures of the staging area - we were in the area by Prime Time)

Then the young jedi were on the way. The show is fun. Lots of cute kids facing the Dark Side and they all seem to take it pretty seriously. LOL. Oliver (the 4year old) got scared when Kylo Ren came out and cried a little bit and as I was trying to get to him, the CM in the show was comforting him and he was better before I could even get through the crowd to the stage. I don’t know who that CM was but she was great with him and I’m grateful to her! After the show, the kids received a pin for their bravery!

(The CM standing behind the little boy in the green robe toward the right edge of the picture - she’s the one that comforted my son - love her!)

We had FPP for the Frozen Sing A Long next so we made our way over there. It was such a blessing to get inside and sit and be in the AC! We had a snack and water from my park bag and enjoyed. The show is great. We saw it on our last trip and it was fun then too! We had the same CMs as the story tellers this time. Even my boys love Frozen so all 3 kids belted out all the songs and I teared up – ok I full on cried – watching them. I just love seeing the absolute JOY in their little faces! DH laughed at me.

After Frozen we had FPP for the Disney Jr show. So we ran over there, waited about a mintute and then we were let in. We knew from past trips not to get too close to the front, so we found a seat on the floor half way back in the middle. It was great – we could see the characters pretty well from that far back.

By this time is was lunch time. I had hoped to stay in the park but of course my family was done. So we left. We did do everything on the TP except VotLM but since we added in Launch Bay I count that as a very good TP success.

We went back to the resort, ate lunch at the AoA restaurant and then went swimming (of course). We took a nap and everyone was just lounging around. DH slept straight through to morning! We made an in room dinner of spaghetti Os and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (SO LOVE HAVING A MICROWAVE IN ROOM!) It started raining and we had a little thunder storm so that put a damper on my plans to return to DHS to see the fireworks and ride the big rides. Oh well – next time.

Going to MK (again!) tomorrow!!