Trip Report--Spring Break

[RobinRocksDisney]

Well fellow Mousekateers, after 2 years of thinking/dreaming/worrying/planning, we FINALLY made it to Disney!

Before I tell you all about it, I would like to thank everyone here for all the tips/advice/ideas, because I have been lurking here for a long time and I have taken everything you said into consideration and you guys were a HUGE help!

We were there from Sat March 27 to Sat April 3. The weather was simply amazing! Cool crip dry air all week, well it did rain buckets the first day at AK (Sunday), but that was okay because everyone left and we had the park to ourselves! You would not believe the rides we just walked onto! We met 12 characters that day! EE is amazing, Fest of LK is amazing, AK is amazing, Kilo Safari was amazing, Jungle Cruise was amazing, Tree of LIfe was amazing, and having our picture taken with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy was amazing! That totally was not supposed to happen, but it was closing time and we were back near Fest of LK and taking pics and all the sudden a CM whispers to me "You must be living right" and I turned and there were my 3 kids getting their pic taken with 4 characters at once! WOW!

MK was great, very crowded, but somehow my husband worked that park like a job because we hardly waited for anything. Dealt with a rude woman during Spectromagic, but other than that, simply loved the park (spent 2 days there). Got my Dole Whip!

I had no idea Epcot was as big as it is. Spent 2 days there as well. Soarin was amazing, TT was amazing, Flower/Garden Fest is beautiful, and had a very considerate CM save me $10 so I appreciated that as well.

DHS was lots of fun, and the Rocking RC was to die for! Fantasmic was great and dinner at Hollywood & Vine was really good, a little loud for me, but the food was great. My husband was an extra in the Backlot Studio tour (got a million gallons of water doused on him). The car stunt show was great! My husband also got picked on during the Monsters Inc show, it was too funny!

We walked a million miles and my legs are killing me, but it was totally worth it! We stayed offsite at Sheraton Vistana and I recommend the property. I also came home with 150 pics on my Photopass--that is a great perk at the parks. My 11 y/o son loved meeting the characters, that was a pleasant surprise. We loved all the 3D shows and using the Fastpass. The only ride we didnt get to was Peter Pan. My girls and I had breakfast at Cinderellas Castle and it was good. I felt the whole experience was a little rushed, we were in and out in 1 hour. When we first went to MK and turned the corner and saw the castle, I must admit, I teared up just a little, I truly fell in love with the parks and was totally taken away with the magic. The characters LOVED my huge fat pen and my favorite meeting was Pocahontas. We had a very nice conversation. When we met Mickey at AK, I told him we were from Ohio and he started doing the OSU O-H-I-O dance, it was hilarious! So I started singing "Hang on Sloopy" and that was a hit!

I miss the parks already, thank you WDW for a WONDERFUL vacation!

[KylesMom]

Wow - what an amazing time your famly had during this usually crazy time of year. I'm so glad that everything worked out and that you quite literally had the time of your lives. Thanks for sharing with us all. Now that you've been truly bitten by the Disney bug, you're going to have to work on that next trip!

[sassy2000]

Sounds like you had a great time. Congrats!

[sgdisney]

I love hearing from first-timers after their trips. Glad you had a magical vacation!

[Ms. Mode]

Loved your trip report. It reminded me of our first trip when my DH walked all over MK to get FP for us (that's the last time he did THAT)

There is just such magic to WDW, when do you think you'll go back?

[faline]

What a great trip you had! I so enjoyed reading your report as I could just hear how happy you are all the way through!

[disneymom15]

Nice trip report. Sounds like you had a great time. You've offically been bitten by the Disney bug. You're probably already thinking about when you can go back!

[BrerGnat]

Glad you had an amazing time! We were also there March 26-April 2 and had a phenomenal time! Really, it was probably my favorite WDW trip. Everything was perfect! There was something magical about last week. The CM's were in GREAT moods (overall), the parks looked in tip top shape, and even the guests (all couple hundred thousand of them) were friendly and well behaved.

Glad your trip was a success!

[obsessive planner]

Great trip report, I could tell just by reading how wonderful it was for you and your family! Hopefully you can return again soon!

[vizsla]

Thanks for the report.

[RobinRocksDisney]

The CM's were in GREAT moods (overall), the parks looked in tip top shape, and even the guests (all couple hundred thousand of them) were friendly and well behaved.

I would agree with that! Only had 1 semi-impatient CM on the Dinosaur ride at AK, the parks were super clean, and I felt the crowds were under "control" as well.

Ahhhh....this time last week, my girls and I were eating with Cinderella........

[RobinRocksDisney]

One more thing, we did not buy a park hopper and that was a very good decision! We didn't need it.

Also, we did alot of quick service meals and our big meal was Hollywood & Vine (Fantasmic dinner pkg). I had made alot of ressies and we didn't keep any of them, we were on the move too much and that worked well too. We just didn't want to spend sooo much time eating a huge meal. We had packed snacks, sandwiches, and drinks and had no trouble at the security checkpoint at the gates.

You could spend hours just browsing at MouseGear--that place is huge! We did spend 1 hour in line waiting to meet the Disney Fairies, my 6 y/o daughter is Tinkerbell crazy and we spent 45 mins waiting for Ariel. Meeting Winnie/Eeyore/Tigger at AK was fun, I can't remember which one of them kept pointing to their face and making a funny noise and I finally realized they wanted a kiss

[DisneyCouture]

Loved reading your report. So nice to hear you had an awesome time. Where did you get a fat pen? I need to get one for a friend.

[RobinRocksDisney]

I found it a long time ago by accident at a Walgreens drug store, paid $1 I think.

The characters LOVED it...the real life ones not so much LOL! Lilo took it, put it on top of her nose, and balanced herself on one foot. Every one of them made gestures about how big the pen was. Tinkerbell said it looked like someone put too much pixie dust on it and it exploded LOL.

[princessgirls]

A great wonderful time!

Thanks for sharing!!

Julie

[Pocahontas]

I loved reading your trip report. It's like I could hear the excitment in your voice. I still love Disney World, but I wish I could experience it again for the first time and be able to feel the awe and surprises. Thanks for a great report.

[BrerGnat]

I had made alot of ressies and we didn't keep any of them, we were on the move too much and that worked well too.

Us too! I made 14 ADR's. We made it to one. And, it was DH and my "date night" which we were NOT going to miss.

We realized that ADRs do NOT work for our family (when the kids are along). I had made the ADR's for "normal" eating times, but we came from CA and our kids never adjusted to the time change, which was great because they stayed up until 10 or 11 most nights, and slept in every morning until 9 or 10 (which I LOVED!). So, we were eating lunch at 3 or 4, and dinner at 8 or 9...

We had no problem walking up to three TS restaurants and being seated promptly, and EVERY night, Epcot had a sign up that there was still TS dining available for that day.

[wildernesslady]

Great report. Glad your enjoyed your first of many visits.

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report!