We survived Spring Break at WDW! (trip report)

Walt Disney World Trip Reports
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I am not an entertaining trip report writer, but I’ll do my best, and I do have details…

Who: Me (40-something), DH (also 40-something), DS21, DS18, and DS21’s gf. Originally, DS18’s friend/gf was going, but she broke up with him and backed out 3 weeks before we left.

Why: DIsney, of course! Also, DS21 has a 14-week internship this summer, so if he was going, it had to be Spring Break. DH & I celebrated our 25th anniversary the day we arrived home, and DS18 graduates in May.

When: March 6-13

We have dealt with a lot of changes in our house last year. Both DH & I found ourselves unemployed during the year (one by choice, one not so much); I found a new job within a month, DH has started his own business that was not planned but is going very well. We didn’t know for sure we would be able to go to WDW until right after Christmas. We started looking for a condo at Windsor Hills, bought tickets from Undercover Tourist, invited DS’ GF, and booked plane tickets for the kids all within four days. I started reading and watching videos about Genie+ and all of the changes that have taken place since our 2018 trip. I made rough touring plans and learned as many Genie+ tricks as I could. I knew this trip would be different than before, I told the kids and DH, and we were determined that we would focus on enjoying what we were able to do and not worry about what we didn’t get to do.

Because of the relatively short spring break (our WDW trips are typically 10 nights), the fact that the all of the kids had classes the Friday before and the Monday after the trip, we decided the kids would fly and we would drive. DS18 drove up to DS21’s school on Saturday, March 5, and spent the night there. The 3 kids went to the airport near campus and flew down together. DH & I were driving; we left on Saturday, March 5, and spent the night in St. Augustine, FL. We spent Sunday morning on the beach and then drove over to Windsor Hills in time to stop at the grocery store, check in to the condo at 4:00 and unpack the van. DH went to the airport (Sanford) to get the kids, while I worked on unpacking and fixed dinner for all of us.

They all arrived at the condo as the lasagna was coming out of the oven. We had dinner, settled in and talked a bit (we hadn’t seen DS21 since Christmas break), and called it a night early. I think the kids stayed up later and played with the Switch, but I don’t know for sure; the rule has always been stay up as late as you want as long as you are able to get up on time and don’t wake mom up.

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I like this rule!

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Ugh. Poor DS. Hope it didn’t put a damper on things for him.

:heart::heart::heart:

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We spent Sunday morning on the beach and then drove over to Windsor Hills in time to stop at the grocery store, check in to the condo at 4:00 and unpack the van.

This is our plan too–we are staying at Windsor Hills in April and making the drive, and hope to hit a beach before heading inland. How was getting to and from the parks from Windsor Hills? Any snafus or things that we should be aware of? Your trip sounds lovely!

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Amanda, I will include drive times to the parks in my report for most days, just because i like details :D. It really isn’t bad at all to drive, you just have to be prepared for traffic lights. If you turn left at the traffic light on 192 and then go right at the next light on 192 onto Sherberth Road, that will put you out on Disney property between AK and Animal Kingdom Lodge in about 4 minutes. We loved Windsor HIlls! We stayed at WIndsor Palms in 2018 and it was great as well, only about a mile or so further than WH.

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Monday, March 7, 2022
Park day #1

Hollywood, here we come!! I was so nervous about getting our G+ for Slinky, I had three alarms set so I wouldn’t “forget”, and I was sitting at the dining room table at 6:50 a.m. with my coffee, my phone, and my laptop; MDE was open on my phone, and on my laptop I was reading over the cheat sheet tips on how to get the early times, and the atomic clock was running in another window. At 659:59, I tapped on the Lightning Lane and hit confirm as fast as I could; it started out at 11:25, but by the time I got through, we had a lightning lane for SDD from 12:35-1:35; not too shabby for my first time!

With the stressful work done for the day, I happily ate my Mickey waffles (courtesy of my wonderful hubby) and bacon with the kids and finished getting ready for the day. We left the condo at 7:42 and were parked at Hollywood Studios at 7:57; we went through security and I was pulled aside for the first (but not last) time on this trip. My small purse was checked and it was determined that my glasses case was the problem. They were letting people in for ETPE, and we made our way to the right hand side to wait our turn to go in. We were all in a good mood, the kids set up their magic mobile stuff and played Pokemon Go while we waited. When they let us go up to the tapstiles, our line looked about as long as the others; however, several groups of people ahead of us had issues and it took a very long time. I thought about jumping to another line, but the lines were so long, we stayed where we were. All of the people who had been in the crowd waiting with us were long gone in their quickly moving tapstile lines before we even got close; I think it literally took 10 minutes to get in. I was frustrated, but I reminded myself that I was NOT going to stress about things on this trip, it isn’t worth it.

Eventually, we made it inside and we went straight to Star Wars Land for MFSR. FIrst problem of the day–we didn’t know where MFSR was, and we had a little trouble finding it! Oops! We went into Star Wars Land through the entrance beside Muppets, and it may have been faster to go through Toy Story Land. We weren’t the only ones struggling, I heard a couple other people say they needed signs; I was going to ask a CM, but I heard someone else ask and followed them. We finally got in line at 8:55, and the posted wait was 60 minutes; I apologized to my group, and the reply was basically that we were going to have to wait for things today, it was a busy day and it was fine. The queue was really cool, even though I have never watched a Star Wars movie as far as I know. We were in the pre-show at 9:29, so we really only waited about 35 minutes. DS21 and GF were the pilots, DH and DS18 were the gunners, and I was an engineer, along with our single rider. I can’t ride Star Tours due to motion sickness, but as long as I didn’t look forward, it wasn’t an issue on MFSR. We enjoyed the ride, but they decided that DS21 and GF didn’t drive very well and should be gunners next time. :joy:

Next up was Toy Story Mania; we got in line at 9:50 with a posted wait of 70 minutes, but we only waited about 55. While we were waiting to be let up the stairs, one of the CMs said that one of the tracks was down, which was probably why the wait was so long. At 10:30, I booked a ToT for 6:15-7:15, and we mobile ordered our lunch from Backlot Express (kids chose). TSM was fun as always. I am NOT good at it and was 4th out of 5 in our group. We had lunch and then went to Muppets because it was really hot outside, the waits for everything were long, and we like it :slight_smile: While we were in Muppets, I tried to get a LL for RnRC for late in the evening, but my app lost connection and by the time we were out of the show, all of the LLs were gone for the day. I was starting to get discouraged with the wait times and Genie+.

After Muppets, we rode Slinky Dog with our G+; it was fun, but I wouldn’t want to wait very long for it. We shopped a little bit and then got in a very long line for MMRR at 2:15. I wanted to ride it but I didn’t want to wait that long. We never (until this trip) got in a line posted higher than 30 minutes. That is out the window now, and GF said we had to wait for something, so it may as well be something I wanted to do. it was posted 70 minutes and then jumped to 90 after we got in line, and we probably waited close to that. The family in front of us had 2 little ones, one was probably 3 and the other was maybe a year or a little less. We enjoyed watching them. We enjoyed MMRR, but decided it wasn’t worth waiting that long for again. At 2:32, I checked for G+ drops and didn’t see anything; finally, I booked TSM for 4:35-5:35. After MMRR, they wanted to ride Star Tours; it was posted a 20 minute wait, but they only waited 10 or maybe 15. Since I ended up back at the hotel for most of the day after I rode ST the last time, I decided to wait for them at the exit.

(continued in next post)

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DH and I went out to the van to grab the rain jackets and he needed to take out his contacts. We met back up with the kids and went to Tower of Terror to use our LL; DS21 and I rode reluctantly and afterwards decided that was definitely the last time we were riding it (we also said that about 10 years ago and hadn’t rode since). I was feeling a little shaky afterwards, so I got a pretzel and a drink while they went on RnRC standby. The wait was posted 55 minutes, but I don’t think they waited that long. I know they were in the pre-show at 7:31 according to a text from DS. I had been sitting outside near the giant guitar, and I put my rain jacket on when it started to rain lightly. About 5 minutes later, the skies opened up and it started to POUR! I grabbed my bag and went to the RnR exit to wait for them under the little roof where it was semi-dry; people were gathering inside and finally the CMs told everyone they had to go.

I handed rain jackets to my family as they came out and they struggled into them as we walked. There was SO much rain, and the jackets weren’t helping much, but at least it wasn’t cold outside! I was so glad I had my sandals on–the rest were wearing running shoes and socks. Yuck! There is nothing more gross that wet socks! We stopped to collect ourselves under an umbrella that was near the entrance to BatB, and we decided to go get in line for Rise of the Resistance. The kids went around by Muppets and DH and I went through Toy Story Land; there was standing water a few inches deep, but we kept on going. When we got into SWL, the water was deeper and at one point, DH didn’t know if he wanted to walk through it or go back around the other way. We went through and it was probably at least 6 inches deep. When we got near the entrance to rise, the wait time was still posted at 120 minutes; the kids had texted that they were already in line, so we got in–it was 8:00. We could see them about 15 people ahead of us. When we got to the covered part of the line, they had moved aside to wait for us. I don’t know how long we waited, but it wasn’t anywhere near 2 hours; probably closer to 35-40 minutes. The ride was amazing, and it would have been worth a longer wait, but I was glad we didn’t have to wait longer. It was just after 9:00 when we got off the ride and it was still pouring rain. It was too hard to try and stay together with all of the rain, so we agreed to meet outside the exit. Over near 50’s Prime Time and Hollywood and Vine, there was so much water standing in the road, it was impossible to avoid! The sidewalk was a bit better, but it was fun to watch the kids splashing in the street and having fun. It was flooded the entire way to the exit, just so much water everywhere! I’ll post pics when I get them off my phone.

We were thankful for our parking space in the 3rd set of rows from the front, and even more thankful for a warm condo when we returned. We realized that we had missed dinner, and ended up having a mix of leftover lasagna, salad, chicken salad sandwiches and fruit. GF commented that she had never spent the entire day from open to close in a park before, and we decided that we would take a break tomorrow if at all possible. We normally do take breaks, but it just didn’t work out today. Even the college kids were worn out, and it was only the end of day 1!

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Sorry for your DS, but man, better 3 weeks before rather than 1 week AFTER spending the $$$ to take another adult to WDW (for Mom and Dad at least).

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So did you decide which was the better route to Star Wars? Through TSL or by the Muppets?

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Perfect timing!

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Those are some crazy wait times!!

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Depends which ride you’re doing, RotR is close to the Muppets entrance and MFSR is nearer to the TSL entrance.

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Definitely! I would not have been able to keep my mouth shut about that.

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It depends on if you are going to Rise or MFSR. Rise is closer to the Muppets side, MFSR is closer to TSL.

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How do I add a pic?

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image
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Assuming you’re on a phone of course.

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If you aren’t on a phone the same icon is in the top row after </>

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Thanks!

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Wow! Crazy stuff.

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