Another fun day!
I am enjoying your report and pictures, especially in your VT gear. VT Class of 1996 right here!
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Thanks for reading!
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Thanks! My husband is c/o 1995. I am just along for the football - I went to William and Mary, one of the Virginia schools not listed in your user name 
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Day 3: Epcot and Sandcastle Club
This day was a planning challenge. We wanted to sleep in a bit after the game, we wanted to do a pretty comprehensive tour of Future World and the World Showcase, and the kids wanted to go to the Sandcastle Club, which started at 4:30. Thank goodness for customized touring plans, which helped me figured out how to do all of this as sanely as possible!
On the way to our car, an unexpected drizzle added to what was already kind of a bummer of a day, weather wise. We were in winter jackets and lots of layers. It’s amazing what a difference two days can make this time of year, since it basically felt like summer on our Hollywood Studios day.
The rain cleared (and stayed away), and we had an easy time parking at Epcot. We arrived for a 10 AM Fast Pass for Spaceship Earth. This is one of DD’s favorites, and my in laws were riding it for the first time. We allowed time to play around on the interactive games at the exit (almost all Future World rides have something like this, and it’s not easy rushing a video game loving 9 year old past it!).
Our morale was not great (we were all tired and bummed about the cold), but I hoped the next thing on our plan would perk us up. We went to the Coca Cola Club Cool in the Innoventions and tried the Cokes from around the world. We snacked on some Pop Tarts and took some pictures outside the pavilion.
We had Fast Passes for Figment in the Imagination Pavilion, but we took a detour and saw the Pixar Short Film Festival first. We all enjoyed it, especially DH and me. The Imagination ride was cute, and DS loved the interactive games area. Both Pixar and Figment were firsts for us.
We couldn’t agree on a Tier 1 Fast Pass we all wanted to do, so we had split up our reservations. We headed to the Land pavilion for the kids to ride Soarin’. We waited for them at the exit of the ride - very easy to do with kids this age.
By now it was almost 1:00 and time to leave Future World. Our (fairly ambitious) punch list in World Showcase included:
Lunch (sushi for DS and me, fish and chips for everyone else)
Agent P’s World Showcase game, at least one country
Ice cream in France
The American Adventure show
The Donald Duck ride in Mexico
Exit World Showcase by 4:15 to get to the Beach Club by 4:30
Phew! We managed to do it all and not feel too rushed, although I’ll admit I was keeping a close eye on the time for most of the afternoon. I also volunteered myself for some additional walking, such as to snag the sushi in Japan and take it back to the UK, or to take the kids to the Sandcastle Club. But lest you think I didn’t relax enough in the World Showcase, rest assured that I was fully in the spirit of the day.
Note: There were 6 berets in my backpack. Only one other person elected to put one on. Your solidarity will be remembered. 
We continue to love the Agent P game. The kids completed the UK game for the first time (DS completed China later while some of us watched American Adventure).
Our kids just love the Sandcastle Club, the Kids Club at the Beach Club resort. They really wanted to get one more visit in before DD turned 13. It was announced recently that Disney is closing the Kids Clubs this summer, so it is especially lucky that we fit it in on this trip!
After dropping the kids off, I hoofed it back to Norway, where the 4 adults had FPP for Frozen. Then, the in laws headed back and DH and I had a delicious dinner at Chefs de France. Ooh la la! My french onion soup and beef bourguignon were delicious, and so were the bread, and the wine - it was truly a great meal. We picked the kids up and headed back to the B for some rest.
I would never have listed Epcot as one of my favorite parks, but this trip, I really started to appreciate it. I think the key is not trying to do it all in one day. In the last 5 years, we have spent 3 full days and one evening there - and we still have not visited every Future World attraction! The scale of the park can be intimidating, but also means there is more to discover on each trip. Eating at a full service restaurant in one of the countries is definitely an experience I would repeat many times. And if we ever feel like we’ve seen it all in the World Showcase, we can just plan to visit during one of the many festivals held there throughout the year!
Au revoir for now!
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We loved the U.K. adventure! That was the first time we had actually spent any time there, except for drinks in the Rose and Crown. It never seemed worth it when we can see it at home.
Haha, I think this is a related issue to our never having seen American Adventure!
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Yep!
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Were there a lot of kids at the Sandcastle Club? Was curious what attendance was like given that they’re going to close them.
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Attendance seemed low to me. It was a Friday night near Epcot, it was Christmas week and CL 10 in all the parks, and the Sandcastle Club was not full and taking walk-ups. It’s kind of a bargain, too ($55/kid for up to 7 hours with dinner and a snack). I’m surprised it didn’t get more use!
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I grew up in Yorktown so very familiar with W&M. I live in WA State now and miss Virginia quite a lot.
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We put our kids in lilos on boxing Day and observed the same low attendance and wondered how it was possible given the crowds! I didn’t realise they were closing them down soon. Such a shame!
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Day 4: Magic Kingdom
You never know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
That is so true in life, in relationships, and when it comes to Disney resort buses!
I am being silly, but the transition to staying offsite on this trip never bothered me much until the day we went to Magic Kingdom. I had not arrived at MK by car since I was a child, I guess. We’ve only stayed onsite in my adult life. DH and I both had a vague memory of boating across the lagoon as kids. But on December 30, a day so crowded that MK was open from 8 AM till 1 AM to regular park guests (and 7 AM to 3 AM for resort guests!), we were going to Magic Kingdom without the advantage of Disney transportation for the first time we could remember.
Not wanting to scare everyone with a super early departure, I set a goal of leaving by 7:30 AM. I never understood why the Unofficial Guide recommended being so early for Rope Drop. Rope Drop seemed early enough to me! I thought I knew everything. And then I tried to drive to MK at park open on a Crowd Level 10 day. 
To keep it concise, we waited to park, we waited at security, and we waited so long, for a ferry that was so packed with people, that my DD started making Ellis Island references.
We entered the main gates around 9. Of course, I was restless to start the day, and worried that the best hour with the lowest crowds was already behind us.
We waited almost an hour for Buzz Lightyear. Only my intense concentration on Zurg could distract me from my Liner fail of arriving an hour after Rope Drop!
The sun was out, the weather was decent, I beat everyone at Buzz Lightyear. I decided to cheer up as proceeded to Fantasyland, my favorite section of my favorite park. First stop was my MILs’ favorite ride, It’s a Small World. She and my FIL had Fast Passes, but standby didn’t look too bad, so we decided we would all ride together. We went Under the Sea with Ariel and watched the Gaston meet and greet for a while (that guy is awesome!). Then we headed to Adventureland.
We rode the Jungle Cruise, which was the Jingle Cruise for the holidays. My FIL and I cracked up at the corny jokes while the rest of our group looked at us like we were nuts. Speaking of nuts, the standby line for JC was 80 minutes! I have never been so grateful for Fast Pass!
We were hungry, so we headed over to try Pecos Bill for the first time. It was tasty! The restaurant was crowded and there wasn’t much they could do about the long line at the topping bar. But I was very impressed with the efficiency of Mobile Order, and with the seating hosts and hostesses, who seemed to find everyone a table before they could even ask. Gotta love that Disney customer service!
We all had FPP for Splash Mountain. My MIL seemed resolute about not doing it, but my FIL was wavering. We sweetened the deal by offering him a poncho, and then we realized we only had 4 ponchos! Here is brave DH blocking the rest of us ponchoed wimps from the splashes!
We took the train back to Main Street to take a rest break. To be continued! When MK is open for 17 hours, I think it deserves two entries in the trip report! 
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After hanging out in the hotel for a few hours, we headed to Disney Springs for dinner at Rainforest Cafe. I was concerned because, when we’d passed DS on the way back from MK, the billboards had said that all the garages were full. I wasn’t sure how that was going to work, because even though our hotel was “Disney Springs area,” it was farther than any of us felt like walking. Ultimately, we ignored the signs and found parking pretty easily. We had been to Rainforest Cafe on a previous trip and the kids had requested to do it again. We also took this opportunity to surprise my FIL with a dessert for a milestone birthday he would celebrate a week later. That was a fun moment!
Then, the youngest 4 of us drove back to MK for the evening. This time parking was easy and the monorail was running. I had never been on the monorail before. I admit to geeking out completely when it went through the lobby of the Contemporary. So cool!
First up, a few obligatory castle pics!
Our plan was to ride most of the roller coasters, starting with FPP for Space Mountain. We hit the Barnstormer on our way to the 4th FPP we had picked up for the Magic Carpets of Aladdin (since we’d never done this before, FPP was as good a reason as any). There were no FPP left for anything else on our list, so we waited standby for Big Thunder Mountain. The kids had never ridden before. It was not anyone’s favorite but definitely worth doing. We went to the Adventureland train station to head back to Fantasyland, but it was already closed for the fireworks. We considered riding Splash, which had only a 5 minute wait, but thought better of being wet in 45 degree weather. Instead, we walked to Tomorrowland and rode the Astro Orbiter. We hadn’t really planned on still being in the park at midnight, but as we headed up the elevator, we realized our timing might be perfect for the New Year’s Eve (a night early) fireworks. And in fact, we ended up seeing most of the display from the Orbiter, which I highly recommend!
The back exits were open and we headed out of the park to the monorail. I appreciated seeing the Grand Floridian and Polynesian on this part of the loop. We were done with our super-sized day at MK!
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It’s pretty cool seeing the castle appear in the distance though right? Not that I will ever do it again by choice 
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Seeing the fireworks from AO sounds awesome! I enjoy the monorail loop too.
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Cool, yes (just not as cool as a bus ride direct to the main gate )!
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Day 5: Magic Kingdom/Universal
Our group split up for the day on December 31. DD12 and DH headed for Universal to see Harry Potter world for the first time. And DS9, DMIL, DFIL, and I had a late-start day at MK. Guest writer DD will be recapping their day at Universal in a future entry!
A quick flashback. 
On our first family trip to WDW, I awoke on December 31, 2012 with a sore throat. By the time we got home the next afternoon, I had 105 fever and the flu, which I then passed to the rest of the family. We are now understandably cautious about the flu at Disney and wash hands frequently. But it was ominous, indeed, that here on December 31, 2017, DD and I both woke up with bad sore throats. Ack!
The Universal crew headed out, and I did another round of laundry at the B. Then around 10:30, DS and I met up with the in laws and we headed for the Disney Springs resort area park buses. My DILs had taken the buses several times earlier in the week, but it was our first time not driving. My relevant feedback is that the bus was crowded and served 2 parks and 3 hotels on each route. My less relevant feedback is that this is the bus that time forgot! It ran a “Stacy’s Must-Dos” video from at least 5 years ago (featuring areas of DHS that have been gone for a long time) and had a million posters for “Downtown Disney”! Anyway :-). The ride to MK was tough given the traffic, which I kind of expected given our late departure. Then we took a very nice bus from the TTC around the lagoon.
My DILs were up for whatever we had planned. It was fun to have this extra time with them. I let DS call the shots for our plans on this day. He picked two of our FPPs (Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan) and our lunch location (Casey’s). He and I also talked about wanting to explore Main Street, which we’d never really done before. Unfortunately, this was trickier than I expected with the crowds. I was amazed that people already had staked out spots for the fireworks in the hub with blankets, etc. by the time we arrived at noon!
There is no better proof of the miracle of Mobile Ordering than this: we got lunch at Casey’s at noon on a holiday. It only took 10 minutes to get the food. And then we ate it outside while a parade went by! Amazing!
From the hub, we walked to Adventureland. It was so crowded it was like walking in quicksand! We planned to play A Pirate’s Adventure and earn FPP for Pirates of the Caribbean. But I think too many people were already playing, because the little shed was closed. No matter - we decided it would be easier waiting 60 minutes standby than trying to accomplish 2 maps in such heavy traffic! That ride is always worth the wait, anyway. I heard from DH while we were in line. We were having absolutely gorgeous weather in MK, and I was surprised to hear they were frying in the sun at Universal! There must be less shade there.
We waited a while for the railroad (can you tell the railroad had become my go-to way to escape the crowds as well as one of my favorite rides?) to take us to Fantasyland. We used our fast passes at Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan. My DILs have fond memories of taking DH on Peter Pan as a toddler, and we all have fond memories of taking DS on Winnie the Pooh as a preschooler! So, these rides were important from a nostalgia standpoint. We decided to do Mickey’s Philharmagic and let the 3:00 parade pass us by. And then we went to meet Mickey Mouse in the Town Square theater, which was my FPP pick for the day.
Mickey wasn’t talking, but he was happy to pose for some really cute pictures! These are our pirate poses, because of DS’s shirt.
DS, who loves souvenir shopping, bought himself an awesome sweatshirt at the Emporium. We had wanted to ride the Barnstormer with my FIL, but it had an 80 minute wait, and it was just getting too hard to walk around the park. So we said goodbye to DMIL and DFIL, and then DS and I continued swimming upstream toward Fantasyland. We immediately decided we were tired, too! DS wanted candy, and I’d always wanted to go in the circus tent sweet shop, so we did. This was neat, but we also realized it was not really candy. Since we wanted to leave anyway, we made our way back to Main Street and went to the Confectionery. He and I sat on the curb and watched the flag retreat, eating our hand selected flavors of jelly beans (buttered popcorn is my fave). Sometimes it’s the little things, because this was honestly one of my favorite parts of the day!
We grabbed a photo at the entrance and rode the monorail back to the bus. It took 90 minutes to get back to the B Resort via Hollywood Studios! But DS and I had good bonding time (and more jelly beans, and giant marshmelows!) waiting at the bus stop.
It was the last night of our trip! We reunited with the rest of the family and ordered pizza and salads from the B Resort room service. They were delicious and reasonably priced. Even though it was New Year’s Eve, we were in for the night and headed to bed early. Animal Kingdom awaited us on the first morning of 2018!
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Another great instalment! I look forward to hearing about Universal, we absolutely love it there.
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Hello, touring plans! As promised by my mom, TumbleMonkeys, I am going to be “guest writing” on this trip report to talk about my day at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.
My goal for this day was to do all things Harry Potter, from the rides to the interactive “magic.” That was why we chose Park-to-Park tickets for my dad and me. I have been a big fan of Harry Potter for a few years, and had never been to Universal before, so that morning, even after only four hours of sleep the night before, I was up early, ready to see everything I could in the day.
We were out of the hotel around 8 in order to get into the park when it opened at nine. After driving to Universal from the B Resort, we parked in the a Universal garage. Getting into the park was definitely harder than in Disney: we had to ride two moving sidewalks, go through security, and walk through all of CityWalk. While it didn’t take as long as the ferry ride to MK, it was still not as visitor-friendly as most of the Disney entrances, where it’s just park, tap, and you’re in. Either way, we got into the park just a few minutes after 9. We walked through the Simpsons-land, which my dad loved, and then went straight into Diagon Alley. Our plan since the beginning had been to rope drop Escape from Gringott’s in the single rider line. We thought we’d showed up with time to spare, but we arrived at the line to find it was already out of the building and nearly around the corner. After finding out from an employee that single rider was closed, we got into the line, feeling defeated. However, we quickly found out from people around us that different employees had said it was open. After a bit of confusion, we were told that the line was, in fact, open. However, the struggle wasn’t over, as we still had to store our bags.
The lockers were another thing about Universal that I prefer Disney’s system on. While it makes sense that you should have to store your bags, the Universal rides being bigger and all, the lockers themselves open with a fingerprint, which you can never count on working. The free lockers are also very small for a place that sells so much large merchandise (wands, replicas, etc.) I even heard from my mom that a few of the wand models don’t fit in the free lockers, which would be very disappointing if you had one of those wands.
Enough about lockers, though. Once in the single rider, we were on the ride in just about 20-30 minutes, definitely a better than the multi-hour line we saw once we got off. Overall, the single rider lines were our biggest asset in making this day successful, and I recommend them completely. After all, looking at other people in your party isn’t really something you need to do on the HP rides with single rider, as both of them are largely based around watching something playing on a screen.
After we got out of the ride, we got to shopping. I had saved a bunch of my Christmas money towards buying HP-related souvenirs, and I’m glad I did. In Diagon Alley, I picked up a pygmy puff keychain, Hufflepuff (best house) scarf, and an interactive wand.
While the HP merchandise is expensive, I think it was worth it, especially for a big fan like me. If you’re going to pick one thing, though, I would go for an interactive wand. And, yes, the wanding ceremony seemed cool, but we skipped it due to long lines and I don’t think we really missed much. I liked picking my own wand out anyway. Most of the time we spent in the park was trying out all the different interactive spots for the wand. Pro tip: small movements are the key. Try to locate the censor and then point your wand right at it, and move the wand as little as possible. Just a little wiggle is easier for it to see than a big motion (I know from personal experience.) If you’re struggling, there’s normally an employee nearby to help out. The interactive wand was also a great way to see the whole of HP world, and explore all the little areas and storefronts.
After an hour or two in Diagon Alley, my dad and I set out for a little bite to eat, and quickly realized that wasn’t really an option in the alley: it was either butterbeer or a full English breakfast. So we returned to Springfield for pink donuts. Afterwards, we decided to jump on the Hogwarts express. We were relieved to stop and rest our feet on the train, as the uneven cobblestone was starting to get to us. After arriving in Hogsmeade, we quickly jumped in single rider for Forbidden Journey, which had a slightly longer wait than Gringotts, predictable for midday. The ride was probably the highlight of the day, another of my biggest recommendations. Next, we decided to get in line for Flight of the Hippogriff, which, to our dismay, had no single rider line. The line was only 45 or 50 minutes, but it was agony due to the lack of shade. Knowing Florida summer, I would say to steer clear of this one during hotter months.
After the ride, we picked up some classic butterbeer, which I now regret after hearing how good frozen butterbeer is. I feel slightly cheated out of my butterbeer experience anyway, as I had a sort of sore throat that day and wasn’t feeling great, which made everything taste a little off. While sipping butterbeer, we completed the interactive wand spots around Hogsmeade and picked up a chocolate frog. By mid-afternoon we were both getting ready for some solid food, and decided to go back to Springfield, where we’d seen a food court earlier. Our plan was slowed down when we got in line for the train. It was probably almost 45 minutes before we got on the train. I nearly fell asleep in line, with my four hours of sleep the only thing keeping me alive. Once in Universal Studios, we grabbed a pizza in the Simpsons food court (which I loved for the clips from the show it played on the TV’s) and then made our way back to the garage. At that point our legs were completely worn out from walking on cobblestone all day. Even though it was New Years Eve, I was asleep by 8:30. Despite the struggles, though, it was a great day, and I definitely give Universal my seal of Potterhead approval!
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