The day we flew out of Denver became a “Delayed Start” day, with school starting two hours late due to snow. So instead of pulling children out of school early, they ended up not going at all. Well, the children who came with is that is. The original plan, years ago, was for me to purchase an annual pass to Walt Disney World for the 50th anniversary and take 5 trips in 12 months: one for each member of the family. Well, Covid threw that out the window but I still took Kate last October. She and I had so much fun Hubby decided to join Michelle and Natalie on the trip I had planned for them. And Danny? He and I are going to wait until the new Guardians and Tron coasters are open and also go to Universal. At the rate that Tron coaster is moving he and I won’t be back until a year from now! And with the crowds we encountered this trip, it might take me a year to recover!
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Our favorite park was our first day and boy, were we surprised from the very beginning. There was a line for the Skyliner. That was different from when I took Kate in October. I swear the crowds were double what we saw last fall. I was grateful Hubby and I had opted to pay for Genie+ in advance after the Orlando YouTubers I follow reported abnormally high numbers for February. That extra money literally saved us HOURS waiting in line every. single. day. By staying at the Art of Animation we were able to use Early Entry to knock off Rockin’ Roller Coaster and Toy Story Mania (since Tower of Terror was down) and drank the required blue milk after oohing and awing at traveling to Batuu. A huge highlight of the day was using our morning reservation at the Droid Depot for the girls to make an R2 unit that interacted with the droids around Galaxy’s Edge. Natalie gladly carried around the Droid names R2-L0 (pronounced “low” because he is low to the ground) and watching him move around during lines for Smuggler’s Run and Star Tours delighted many guests. I am so thankful that not only did Katie T. give me all the info I needed but she also made the girls stickers to decorate their droid backpack which just made the whole thing even better! And thanks to DFB knowing to say, “Have you seen a mouse?” at Black Spire outpost can get you the best popcorn mix at Disney was a nice perk too.
We bopped around DHS based on the Lightning Lanes we could get and rode Star Tours, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railroad and Alien Swirling Saucers. We also highly recommend using Mobile Order to eat lunch at ABC Commissary if it’s a really crowded day. Michelle and Hubby got to pilot the Millennium Falcon for the first time and then we also got a Lightning Lane so rode that ride twice. They also stuck around in the two hour line to ride Rise of the Resistance (Hubby’s first time!) at the end of the day but when Natalie wanted to go back to the hotel after about half an hour in line, she and I headed back to the Skyliner but couldn’t resist another Star Tours ride when we saw it was only a ten minute wait and a picture when there was no line. They were glad they stayed and Natalie was glad we left so it was all good!
Magic Kingdom
Knowing how crowded it was and how you can’t even get the best Genie+ selections if you don’t pick it first thing, we opted to purchase the extra Lightning Lanes for Seven Dwarves (Natalie’s first time) and Space Mountain (one of Michelle’s favorites). Best photo of the trip, right there!
Hubby and I agreed that we should make Big Thunder Mountain our number one priority since it was the first day back open after an unexpected down time for days so used Early Entry to wait in line there even though we knew only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland were open at first. After Big Thunder and Splash Mountain first thing we were off to a great start! Later, when Buzz Lightyear went down we got to ride Big Thunder again too! Buzz came back up later so we were able to ride that as well and even though we didn’t get Galactic Hero status, we did get our best scores ever thanks for Kyle Pallo’s video. We ate a great lunch at Skipper’s Canteen and went next door for strawberry or orange Dole Whip. After eating at Skipper’s we didn’t even feel like we needed to wait in line for Jungle Cruise because we had already gotten to hear corny jokes in a fake Amazon jungle atmosphere. We used our Genie+ selections every time we could to ride things like Peter Pan’s Flight or Little Mermaid and went to watch shows like Carrousel of Progress or Hall of Presidents in between and got so much done we felt like there was nothing else to do except eat a late dinner at Cosmic Ray’s and head out. I felt like we were lucky to feel that way with so many people around!
Animal Kingdom
After two early, busy days we were so grateful our “appreciate God’s creations day” was next. We slept in and knew we didn’t have to rush at all. I got to introduce these three to Dinosaur and Pandora! That alone would have made our day but we also got to eat dinner at Satu li Canteen by using Mobile Order in the morning when we were in line for It’s Tough to Be a Bug. Seeing the girls get to eat hamburger pods was totally worth it. And it was totally worth using a Genie+ on the Feathered Friends in Flight (or whatever it’s called) because we got to sit where the birds flew right over your head. So neat! Natalie got to get nice and close to the animals on our safari ride too and Natalie and I enjoyed looking out for Easter Eggs thanks to Molly at All Ears’s video. Do you get this one that we found at Kite Tails?
We ended our day with the Na’vi River Journey and saved the best for last with Flight of Passage so we could see Pandora both in the daylight and at night. We were prepared for the two hour wait since I wasn’t able to get a Lightning Lane at 7am by bringing my iPad with Avatar downloaded from Disney+ on it. Yes, we were literally watching Avatar in line and thank goodness I knew there was a bathroom in that ride queue too or we may have had to back out! That ride is so amazing! I am always willing to wait for that one, as long as I have a Simba Sunset Dole Whip in my belly first and a movie to watch. Lol.
EPCOT
Our final day in the parks could have done us in but we survived! It was the last day of the Festival of the Arts & President’s Day and the crowds were there to show it. We waited half an hour just to get on the Skyliner - the line was wrapped all the way down the Pop Century side and backed up to Art of Animation. I couldn’t believe it. We barely made it into EPCOT before Early Entry but we were already in France when we got dropped off so the girls and I stayed in line for Ratatouille while Hubby went to his favorite snack spot at Disney and got chocolate beignets and croissants for an excellent mid morning snack for those who had never ridden the ride before. We felt lucky it was 95 minute wait because the rest of the day it hovered around two hours and even got up to 3.5 hours. Yikes. I would not be willing to wait any longer than we did but am glad we could since we watched the movie and made Ratatouille at home in preparation. We enjoyed going around World Showcase to take in the sights and take a ride in Mexico before eating lunch at Space 220. Now that was a neat experience to cross off our Disney bucket list! Michelle was also lucky enough to score a rare trading card from the packs they give away for getting the fancy nonalcoholic drinks. After lunch those Lightning Lanes started to kick in and we got to enjoy Seas and Land and Future and Club Cool and all sorts of things before eating sushi donuts for dinner and heading back to the hotel early. Hubby and the girls went swimming while I began packing to go home. I was happy to go to sleep knowing the alarm clock wasn’t set for 6:55am for me to try to grab Lightning Lanes!
Our last day we finished packing up our Lion King themed room, dropped off our luggage with baggage services and took our last Skyline rides to and from the Riviera Resort to eat brunch at Topolino’s Terrace with Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy. News flash: our kids have outgrown character breakfasts. I can tell because they were more excited to eat than to meet the characters for the first time. We had to compromise about taking pictures and each table one picture with one character. I can see why it’s such a highly rated place. It was great to eat a huge meal before heading to the airport. I have a feeling the lines at Disney World should be better after today because there were a ton of us in the security line to fly home. But who knows? All I know is that I’ve had my Disney World fix and it should be quite some time before I feel the need to go there again. We ended up spending more money at the Universal Studios store at MCO in half an hour than on souvenirs during four days in the Disney parks. Ha! I think we will just wait until Natalie is old enough to enjoy all of Universal and go there then!
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