Florida Trip

[MoeTE87]

Originally Posted by wtwo3

Starbucks is usually pretty packed.... Joffrey not as much so that should be more doable.

For rides, my absolute favorites were:

1) Guardians of the Galaxy in Epcot - only got to ride it once, but it was by far my favorite ride of the trip. I think the music on the ride made it that much better. It'll be really difficult to ride it more than once - if you get lucky with the virtual queue plus purchasing lightning lane passes, you COULD potentially get on twice. But definitely not something that can be done over and over again.

2) Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom - Underrated coaster IMO. Again we only rode it once, but if time permitted I wouldn't mind riding it again. Has some nice steep falls to get you that punch in the gut feeling.

3) Tower of Terror in Hollywood Studios - An old classic, but such a fun ride - we got on twice and had a blast both times.

4) Fantasmic in Hollywood Studios - I know this isn't a ride, but if you are to catch any one show while you're at Disneyworld, I'd make it this one.

Those are the top ones IMO. I know I didn't include anything from Magic Kingdom. While it did have some good rides, there was nothing that I felt compelled by that I would say as a "must" do ride.

Sounds good! We aren't heading to Epcot this year. So down the road we will.

Great picks! I will make sure we get on #2. We plan on going on #3 and have signed up for #4. By the looks of your above pictures..didn't seem too crowded or no?

Did you and the family get an early start every day? I think we are going to plan on being at the rope drops very early to maximize the day.

Thanks!

[wtwo3]

Originally Posted by MoeTE87

Sounds good! We aren't heading to Epcot this year. So down the road we will.

Great picks! I will make sure we get on #2. We plan on going on #3 and have signed up for #4. By the looks of your above pictures..didn't seem too crowded or no?

Did you and the family get an early start every day? I think we are going to plan on being at the rope drops very early to maximize the day.

Thanks!

It was definitely crowded but hard for me to compare it to anything since we haven't been in over 5 years, and I don't really recall how the crowds were back then.

We tried to get an early start... but difficult with a wife and kids who like to sleep in If staying in a Disney deluxe resort though you do get an earlier than normal start - so while the parks might open at 9am, you can get in at 8:30am and knock out a few rides quickly.

[floridaorange]

Originally Posted by MoeTE87

The wife and I are avid coffee drinkers. Is there a "must" place to go or several "must" places to go for great specialty coffee?

Our bands should be here by the weekend. My daughter is getting very excited! Seems like every morning she is wanting to watch Disney videos!

Ps: She loved your pictures that you shared above! Thank you!

Lineage Coffee in Orlando is fantastic

[MoeTE87]

floridaorange are they one Disney's property? We are staying at Animal Kingdom and won't be venturing out off the grounds when we are in orlando (minus to and from airport).

[Tommy-G]

Great write up. Fine dining def. is not one of Disney's strongpoints but I feel like you really did it right. Especially with kids in tow you are somewhat restricted to what makes them happy. It really is their vacation after all, you're just there to fund it.

Glad you had fun. As a "local" my wife and I like to do most of the things you did but we split it up over multiple trips b/c we can. The biggest difference is Disney Springs and Epcot have become our major spots.

[MoeTE87]

We are leaving next Saturday for Disney. For those who have been, can we bring in any snacks / drinks from the outside or do we need to purchase everything inside the parks?

Also, anyone have a map for each park that shows the best / most efficient route to take to hit all of the rides? Just wondering.

[wtwo3]

Originally Posted by MoeTE87

We are leaving next Saturday for Disney. For those who have been, can we bring in any snacks / drinks from the outside or do we need to purchase everything inside the parks?

Also, anyone have a map for each park that shows the best / most efficient route to take to hit all of the rides? Just wondering.

You can bring light snacks in. You'll probably get flagged for bag inspection, but they won't make you throw out your snacks. Just don't bring in a cheeseburger and fries and you'll be good We were routinely bringing in popcorn, apple slices and grapes for the kids to munch on throughout the day.

As for the route to take... We tried doing that the first day, and quickly realized there is no optimal route - the best way to approach it is to adjust on the fly based on park conditions. Where you go will be dictated by how you schedule your genie+/lightning lanes and how the lines progress throughout the day. If you become to dedicated to a specific route, you'll end up getting stuck in long lines and have a suboptimal day. More important than having a route is having comfortable walking shoes because there will be some back and forth between the different areas.

That being said, I would still have a game plan in terms of high/medium/low priority rides, and try and memorize that list for each day. That way you can slot in rides/activities based on priority, decide how long you're willing to wait for something, and if you should adjust.

[MoeTE87]

Originally Posted by wtwo3

You can bring light snacks in. You'll probably get flagged for bag inspection, but they won't make you throw out your snacks. Just don't bring in a cheeseburger and fries and you'll be good We were routinely bringing in popcorn, apple slices and grapes for the kids to munch on throughout the day.

As for the route to take... We tried doing that the first day, and quickly realized there is no optimal route - the best way to approach it is to adjust on the fly based on park conditions. Where you go will be dictated by how you schedule your genie+/lightning lanes and how the lines progress throughout the day. If you become to dedicated to a specific route, you'll end up getting stuck in long lines and have a suboptimal day. More important than having a route is having comfortable walking shoes because there will be some back and forth between the different areas.

That being said, I would still have a game plan in terms of high/medium/low priority rides, and try and memorize that list for each day. That way you can slot in rides/activities based on priority, decide how long you're willing to wait for something, and if you should adjust.

Thank you for this. I wasn't sure what the policy is and I know my daughter loves to snack so to have apple slices or squeezable pouches will help a lot. I know my wife and daughter will have fanny packs each to store things so I think we will be good to go on that front.

That is a good point and I will talk with my wife about it and maybe her and I can game plan this weekend so we are somewhat prepared.

Wife and daughter have already bought new shoes and have been walking around in them in the house to break them in. So I think we are getting there and can't believe its almost here. I just know it will come and go in a blink of an eye.

I will either post in this thread or make my own with a detailed day by day analysis like what you did to give people more information and reviews.

[wtwo3]

Originally Posted by MoeTE87

Thank you for this. I wasn't sure what the policy is and I know my daughter loves to snack so to have apple slices or squeezable pouches will help a lot. I know my wife and daughter will have fanny packs each to store things so I think we will be good to go on that front.

That is a good point and I will talk with my wife about it and maybe her and I can game plan this weekend so we are somewhat prepared.

Wife and daughter have already bought new shoes and have been walking around in them in the house to break them in. So I think we are getting there and can't believe its almost here. I just know it will come and go in a blink of an eye.

I will either post in this thread or make my own with a detailed day by day analysis like what you did to give people more information and reviews.

Looking forward to it! And so right about the coming and going in the blink of an eye. Barely feels like we were even there at this point.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by MoeTE87

Also, anyone have a map for each park that shows the best / most efficient route to take to hit all of the rides? Just wondering.

Back in the olden days, my plan of attack for seeing everything at Epcot was to be at the entrance gate before opening...and make a bee line for the back of the park as soon as they let me in. Human nature is to stop and look/gawk at everything as soon as you get inside, so the back of the park was empty. By the late afternoon, everyone was already through the front of the park so again the lines were shorter.

Don't know if this still works these days, but it worked for me several times about 30 years ago.....

[MoeTE87]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Back in the olden days, my plan of attack for seeing everything at Epcot was to be at the entrance gate before opening...and make a bee line for the back of the park as soon as they let me in. Human nature is to stop and look/gawk at everything as soon as you get inside, so the back of the park was empty. By the late afternoon, everyone was already through the front of the park so again the lines were shorter.

Don't know if this still works these days, but it worked for me several times about 30 years ago.....

That sounds like a good plan to be honest. We plan on looking at the maps this weekend and getting a game plan together.


Thanks!

[bucketfoot]

Leave tomorrow for our second WDW trip this year. Our daughter is getting married in Animal Kingdom at the Tree of Life.

Will definitely be doing the parks some, but they will not be the primary focus. It helps that just for this year we bought annual passes. So between Disney Vacation Club and annual passes it will actually be a cheap Disney trip (minus all the wedding related stuff).

[wtwo3]

Originally Posted by bucketfoot

Leave tomorrow for our second WDW trip this year. Our daughter is getting married in Animal Kingdom at the Tree of Life.

Will definitely be doing the parks some, but they will not be the primary focus. It helps that just for this year we bought annual passes. So between Disney Vacation Club and annual passes it will actually be a cheap Disney trip (minus all the wedding related stuff).

Wow sounds incredible... congrats to you!

Funny thing is as I reply to you in this moment, I'm sitting at the beach at the Aulani Disney resort in Hawaii

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by wtwo3

Wow sounds incredible... congrats to you!

Funny thing is as I reply to you in this moment, I'm sitting at the beach at the Aulani Disney resort in Hawaii

Looks beautiful! (was just about to fix those pics for you, lol)

[wtwo3]

Originally Posted by Esteban

Looks beautiful! (was just about to fix those pics for you, lol)

My bimmerpost skills are a little rusty . Haven't posted as much lately.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by wtwo3

My bimmerpost skills are a little rusty . Haven't posted as much lately.

You fixed 'em so all is good.

[bucketfoot]

We enjoyed our stay at Aulani. Nice thing is that it is not overly Disneyfied.