3 Families w/12 people & kids ages 4-17... amazing time! (Aug '22 Trip Report)

[triciambe]

This will be a very long and detailed trip report, but I hope it's helpful, especially if you're interested in any of the following:

• planning big multi-family trip
• maximizing Genie+ LLs
• staying off-site
• you're a big planner like me

Here we go! For reading ease, every LL or ILL use is bolded in blue (normal blue when booked), green for stand-by rides, and every restaurant/food stand in purple.

Background

We just finished a big group Disney trip: 3 families, 12 people, including kids ages 4 to 17. Two of our families have been to Disney before (once every 5 years), but this was the first Disney trip for the 4- and 6-year-olds. It was actually a big surprise for their kids: they didn’t know until we met up for lunch at Disney Springs on the first day! We arrived the morning of Thu, 8/18, and left the morning of Fri, 8/26.

We booked this trip back in March and I was in charge of the planning, spreadsheets and all. We used our group chat to discuss regularly, including everyone’s wish list, making sure those experiences were prioritized. This even included a Google form where each person rated their attraction and dining preferences. We had Genie+ each day and decided we would purchase ILLs, factoring these costs into our budget.

To prepare, I did the following:

• read up everything I could on Genie+
• used Touring Plans to create a mock plan (based on everyone’s wish list)
• adjusted the plan based on what I could predict about LL availability (this TP blog post was incredibly helpful)
• monitored return times via the MDE app and predicted what LLs to get and when
• "practiced" using G+ on the app the closer we got to our trip so I could observe ride availability patterns
• read advice here an elsewhere (YouTube videos, podcasts, etc.)

This allowed me to become pretty familiar with what might happen and when. In short, it was a lot of work! But… this was work that I much preferred to do ahead of time rather than figuring things out when we got to the parks. My nightmare is being in a hot, crowded park trying to get 12 different people to come to consensus about what we should do next. This way, I planned as much as you could plan for a trip like this, crossed our fingers, and then executed the plan as best we could. Again, since we only go once every 5-6 years, and we all live in different states, making the most of our time was really important.

• Quick tip: Make sure everyone has their MDE accounts set up so that you are all connected as Friends and Family, with no duplicate accounts from previous trips. This made it very easy for me to book LLs for everyone during our trip. I made sure we were all connected properly months before our vacation so it wasn’t something we had to worry about closer to the trip.

I should also mention that what made this possible was also having very compatible travel friends and family. Not only do we (and our kids) have similar interests, our group is mostly laid back, enjoy each other's company — and were flexible when things didn’t go according to plan (and they didn’t always, as you’ll see!). As the planner, I also tried to set expectations and make sure there were no surprises along the way (for example, reminding everyone to get good walking shoes and breaking them in ahead of time).

When we went

I know the recent consensus is that there’s no off-season at Disney anymore. But with lots of kids back to school already, late-August/early Sept has historically been the slowest season. We found this very much to still be true. While there were lots of people in the parks, it never felt too crowded. DHS and MK were sold out on the days we went, but crowds felt manageable. Other signs of lower crowds: parking was relatively close (although we did have to shuttle at AK), extremely light traffic to/from the parks, and Genie+ LL return times not selling out at the rapid pace they seemed to be earlier in the summer.

It was HOT, to be sure, but we had cooling towels, insulated water bottles w/lots of ice, and mini heat breaks throughout the day (indoor rides, sit-down meals in AC, both table and quick service).

Where we stayed

Our first big decision as a group was where to stay. Two of our families have only stayed on site and loved the experience of being in the Disney bubble. But given our group, we opted to stay at an airbnb.

We rented a 7 BD, 5 BR home in Storey Lake. We were worried about the time and hassle of driving/parking every day, but honestly, we found driving to be just as easy, if not easier, than Disney transportation. Other benefits of staying off-site:

• spending down time before/after parks together
• private pool to cool off, even for 30 min here and there
• lots of room to spread out w/plenty of private space when needed
• snacks on hand (we ordered ahead and picked up groceries from Publix)
• breakfasts every morning, which also saved a lot of money!
• amazing clubhouse w/lazy river and water slide to use on our rest day
• easy to do laundry throughout the trip
• budget-friendly (even including parking and car rental, it was less than staying at a moderate resort, about the same if we stayed at a value resort)

DAY 1 (TH): Arrival, Disney Springs, DHS

Beginning at 7am, while at the airport, I started booking LLs. At 7am, I booked SDD (return time 5:05-6:05). Boarded our flight, connected to wifi, and as offsite guests, at 8:30am, I purchased ILLs for ROTR (return time 7:20-8:20).

After we arrived, we picked up our rental car, had lunch in Disney Springs (Chef Arts - delicious!), and then checked into our AirBnB, about 6 miles from WDW. During this time, I booked more LLs: at 10:30, I booked ToT (return time 5:30-6:30), at 12:30, I booked MMRR (return time 5:35-6:35), and at 2:30, I booked MFSR (return time 7:50-8:50).

We left the house around 3:30 and got to DHS, parked, and were through the gates before 4. With the LLs we had stacked, here's what our day looked like once in the park —

• 4:00pm - arrived at Hollywood Studios
• 4:25 - Savi's (reserved 60 days out)
• 5:10 - Droids (reserved 60 days out)
• 5:50 - SDD LL (reserved at 7am)
• 6:15 - ToT LL (reserved at 10:30am)
• 6:35 - MMRR LL (reserved at 12:30pm)
• 6:50 to 7:40 - Dinner at Docking Bay 7 (order while family rode ToT, mobile pick up time 6:30-7pm)
• 7:40 - ROTR ILL (purchased at 8:30am - we are offsite guests)
• 8:15 - MFSR LL (reserved at 2:30pm)
• 8:30 - TSMM LL (reserved at 4:30pm)

It was a great day! We basically did a big circle around the park so it didn't feel like a lot of zigzagging (logged 7.6 miles walking). The only thing we couldn't do was RNR, but we saved that for our second DHS day.

DAY 2 (FR): Animal Kingdom

Because the day before was incredibly long with travel and staying late at DHS, we decided to sleep in. Before leaving for the parks that morning, my G+ strategy:

• 7:00am - Checked the LL return times for Kilimanjaro Safari and waited for return times closer to when we planned to arrive.
• 7:20 - Booked Kilimanjaro Safari LL for 10:45-11:45am.
• 8:00 (park open) - Purchased FOP ILLs, return time of 3:15-4:15pm.
• 10:00 - Booked a Na’vi River LL, return time of 2:20-3:20pm.

At 11am, we left for the park. We were parked and at the gate by 11:30, but because of an issue with a FL resident ticket needing to be activated at Guest Relations first, we didn’t get through until 12 and missed our LL window. Guest relations was wonderful and gave us an experience redemption pass to use on Kilimanjaro for any time. The rest of our day looked like this:

• 12:15 - It’s Tough to be a Bug, stand-by. While in line, booked Kali River LL, return time 3:30-4:30, then headed to Kilimanjaro Safari.
• 12:45 - Mobile ordered food for Satuli Canteen with a pick-up time of 1:15-1:45pm.
• 1:00 - Kilimanjaro Safari LL
• 1:45 - 2:45 - Lunch at Satul’i Canteen
• 2:00 - Booked DINOSAUR LL, return time 5:45-6:45pm
• 2:45 - Na'vi River Journey LL
• 3:15 - FOP ILL with rider switch
• 4:30 - Kali River Rapids LL
• 5:00 - Tamu Tamu for Dole Whip
• 5:40 - DINOSAUR LL
• 6:10 - Left park for dinner at Boma (AKL)

So by the time we got out of DINOSAUR, there was a huge thunderstorm. We waded through lots of flooding to try to make our Boma reservations at 6:15. But with the rain delay and going to the wrong building (we parked at Kidani Village instead of Jamba House and had to wait for a shuttle to take us), we were 30 min late! Luckily, the restaurant was very understanding and said they’d seat us as soon as they could. We got a drink at the bar while we waited, which only ended up being 15-20 min. I wish I could remember the name of the drink I had because it was delicious! Everyone loved Boma, and my favorites were the butternut squash soup and the 50th anniversary passion fruit mousse.

Some other thoughts about our AK day:

• Food at Satuli Canteen was delicious and easily the best quick service in all the parks. It was also a wonderful way to escape the heat with some indoor AC. I also enjoyed the blue sangria, which while on the sweet side, was very refreshing.
• Kilimanjaro Safari was great! I was worried with the midday heat that we might not see many animals, but we saw a lot! The kids especially enjoyed the friendly ostrich who walked right up to the vehicle, lol.
• FOP is one of the best rides I’ve ever been on, while Nav’i is meh.
• Expedition Everest was down all day, so the kids were disappointed to miss this one.

We were home by 9pm.

DAY 3 (SAT): Hollywood Studios

For our second day at DHS, we decided to do another sleep-in/late start day. While still at home:

• 7:00 - Booked SDD, return time 3:20-4:20
• 8:30 - Purchased ROTR ILL, return time 5:45-6:45

At 10:00am, we left the house, parked, and were through the gate by 10:30

• 10:30 - Booked RNR, return time 12:20-1:20
• 10:45 - Indiana Jones, stand-by
• 11:30 - Frozen Sing-a-Long, stand-by
• 12:15 - RNR LL
• 12:35 - Booked TSMM, return time 1:45-2:45
• 12:50 to 2:15 - Hollywood Brown Derby Lunch for two of our families, while the 3rd family with the 4- and 6-year-olds had a character lunch at Hollywood and Vine
• 2:30 - TSMM LL, and booked MFSR while in line, return time 6:25-7:25
• 3:15 - Alien Swirling Saucer, stand-by 30 min
• 3:45 - SDD LL
• 4:30 - Booked MMRR, return time 7:25-8:25
• 4:35 - Oga’s Cantina (booked 60 days out)
• 5:50 - ROTR LL, w/rider switch
• 6:30 - Star Tours, stand-by 5 min
• 7:00 - MFSR LL
• 7:25 - MMRR LL
• 8:00 - Leave park

This was another wonderful day. Some takeaways:

• Of the headliners, we did not ride ToT since we already rode it on our first day. That said, we probably could have gotten into a shorter line at the very end of the night if we decided to stay for park close.
• Ironically, the 30-min stand-by line for Alien Swirling Saucers was our longest wait of all our rides.
• Everyone agreed that Hollywood Brown Derby was one of the best meals they’d ever had. I thoroughly enjoyed the scallops and shrimp newburg and the margarita flight was heaven! The waiter did mention that you could take drinks to-go but since we were going to Oga’s in a couple hours, I restrained myself, lol.
• Oga’s, another great time! All 12 of us squeezed into a booth with some stools and everyone loved their drinks, although I have to say that the Fuzzy Tauntaun was… different, lol.

DHS is definitely our favorite park in terms of the rides, and once again, none of them disappointed (well, except for the aliens, but we rode that for the 4-year-old, who also loved SDD). My 17-year-old fell asleep during Frozen, lol, but everyone else really enjoyed it, and I personally appreciated the jokes for the grown-ups in the audience.

DAY 4 (SUN): Magic Kingdom

I was very nervous about our next two days at MK and Epcot. I just feel like there are just more variables when it comes to G+ LL availability, especially with the headliner rides. When the time came, I just tried to aim for my ideal plan and be flexible if things didn’t work out.

Magic Kingdom was the first park we rope-dropped during our trip.

At 7:00am, I scrolled through the app to search for a good time for Splash. Splash Mountain was already pushing out towards 12, though, and since we had lunch reservations then, I booked Big Thunder, return time of 9:40-10:40.( I was nervous I made a mistake not booking Jungle or Peter Pan as my first LL, but this turned actually worked out okay!)

We left the house around 7:40, got to the TTTC, boarded the ferry (monorail was down), and were through the gates and on Main St. by 8:20ish. We got our photos taken in front of the castle by a Disney photographer.

• Quick tip: Walking down Main St, there were many long lines of families waiting to get photos taken, but if you keep walking all the way up to the Walt and Mickey statue, there were 3 or 4 photographers there and no line.

At 8:30ish, we walked over to the Adventureland entrance where the other non-resort guests had gathered. It was a light crowd but filled in by about 8:50. A CM came by at that time and announced she would be walking us into Adventureland once the show at the castle was over. Our group was about 20 feet from the front, maybe 10 people deep.

• 8:59 - Adventureland entrance opened, began walking toward Jungle Cruise
• 9:00 - While walking to Jungle Cruise, purchased 7DMT ILL, return time 4:10-5:10.
• 9:00 - Entered Jungle Cruise stand-by, which was walk-on (rode on 2nd boat out).
• 9:20 - Pirates, stand by 5 min
• 9:35 - Big Thunder LL, then booked Haunted Mansion, return time 9:45-10:45
• 9:45 - Finished Big Thunder when my son realized he left his phone on the ride. Thankfully, a CM had it… whew.
• 10:00 - Haunted Mansion LL, then booked It’s a Small World LL, return time 10:10-11:10
• 10:20 - It’s a Small World LL, then booked Winnie-the-Pooh, return time 10:45-11:45
• 10:25 - Barnstormer, stand-by 10 min
• 10:40 - Dumbo, stand-by 5 min
• 11:20 - Winnie-the-Pooh LL
• 11:38 - Booked Splash Mountain, return time 4:25-5:25
• 11:40 - Boarded monorail for our “lunch tour” 12:15 to 1:15 - Steakhouse 71, appetizers and drinks*
• 1:40 to 3:00 - Grand Floridian Cafe, entrees*
• 2:00 - Booked Space Mountain, return time 5:10-6:10 for 10 people and Peter Pan, return time 6:05-7:05 for 2 people
• 3:30 - Aloha Isle Dole Whip Desserts!*
• 4:20 - Splash Mountain LL
• 4:45 - 7DMT ILL
• 5:10 - Space Mountain LL
• 5:15 - Booked Buzz Lightyear LL, return time 5:25-6:25
• 5:30 to 6 - Shopped in Tomorrowland while waiting for the 4-year-old and other adult to come meet us after Mickey’s Philharmagic stand-by 10 min and Peter Pan LL
• 6:10 - Buzz Lightyear LL
• 6:30 to 7 - Shopped on Main St.
• 7:10 - Rode monorail to TTC
• 7:40 - Home

Some thoughts on our MK day:

• We ended up riding 16 different rides total among our entire group, using Genie+ to secure 7 different LLs. Our longest stand-by wait was 10 min.
• My strategy was basically this: Run through as many consecutive LLs quickly in the morning before we had to leave for our lunch reservations, at which point, stack for the evening when we returned.
• Because we were offsite guests, we rope-dropped Adventureland while early entry resort guests were still over in Fantasyland. My goal was to get through the 4 big rides on the left side of the park before we had to leave for our lunch reservations at the monorail resorts. Splash Mountain return times were too far out in the late morning to make this possible, but this actually worked out better because we hit much of Fantasyland instead.
• We ended up rope-dropping Jungle Cruise then riding Pirates as a walk-on, before hitting our 9:40 LL for Big Thunder. Then as soon as we checked-in at Big Thunder, I booked an immediate LL for Haunted Mansion. Then after checking in for that one, I booked another LL with an immediate return time, which was It’s a Small World. Normally I wouldn’t use an LL on this, but the stand-by was already 25 minutes at that point. Basically, my strategy was to hit as many nearby rides with immediate or close enough return times and whose stand-by queues were too long to wait otherwise. So while I could have gotten an LL for rides like Barnstormer or Dumbo, the stand-by queues for those were only 5 minutes. We rode those as stand-by while waiting for our Winnie-the-Pooh LL window to open up, which has a stand-by posted of 40 min.
• For lunch, our three families separated into two groups, with the family w/4- and 6-year-olds eating lunch at Be Our Guest and then doing a few more Fantasyland attractions (Little Mermaid stand-by 5 min, Ariel character-meet, Carousel stand-by 10 min, shopping) before our group with the older kids returned from our monorail lunch.
• We did a long monorail lunch break to escape the heat, get off our feet, and have a taste (literally!) of the monorail resorts as we have never stayed at them. Steakhouse 71 was amazing - I almost wish we had our entire meal there. I had the bacon and eggs app: if you like pork belly, cheesy grits, and eggs, I highly recommend it. My friend and I both got the French 71 drink, and it was also very good! For entrees, GFC was fine, and my sons loved their french toast and chicken & waffles, but it wasn’t anything special.
• Originally we were going to complete our monorail resort tour at Pineapple Lanai at the Polynesian, but by then it was already 3 and we didn’t want to rush for our return time at Splash, so we opted for going back to MK and Aloha Isle. We met back up with our other group there for Dole Whips, which was one of the best decisions we made all trip. Unpopular opinion, but I never loved pineapple Dole Whip, but I could have the Tropical Serenade with the coconut Dole Whip over and over again - it was delicious!
• Our late afternoon at MK was four rides, some shopping, and by then, it was almost 7 and we had pretty much finished the rides everyone wanted to do. Kids voted to go back home instead of staying for fireworks so they could go swimming.
• MK is definitely for the littles. We all agreed, and I reminded our older kids that this day would be for them and that we should enjoy the rides for what they are. So the 4- and 6-year-olds loved everything, especially since the 4-year-old was just tall enough to ride Splash and Big Thunder. The older kids enjoyed Space Mountain, but agreed it was no Rock’n Rollercoaster or Tower of Terror, which they rode the day before.

DAY 5 (MON): EPCOT

I knew when I didn’t get the VQ for Cosmic Rewind at 7AM that this was going to be a challenging day.

The hard thing with EPCOT, based on my research, was that it has three LL headliner rides (Remy’s, Test Track, Frozen) that sell out by mid-morning, really only leaving you two opportunities to get them, the 7AM and 2-hrs after park opening drop, which was 10:30 on our day there. And then there really aren’t a lot of other rides, like MK, and then those rides are really all far away from each other, so it was tons of walking with very little shade!

Here’s what our day looked like —

• 7:00 - Booked Remy’s LL, return time 8:35-9:35; Did not make the VQ for Cosmic Rewind
• 8:30 - Purchased Cosmic Rewind ILL, return time 12:30-1:30
• 8:39 - Remy’s LL, then immediately booked Test Track LL, return time 4:30-5:30
• Walked around World Showcase and previewed Food and Wine booths
• 9:30 - Nemo and Friends, stand-by 5 min
• 10:38 - Began refreshing for Frozen, which sold out (literally) 30 seconds before I was eligible to book at 10:39
• 11:00 - Hawaii and Shimmering Sips booths
• 11:15 - Booked Soarin’ LL, return time 11:50-12:50
• 11:20 - Disney Pixar Shorts, stand-by
• 11:50 - Soarin’ LL, then booked Mission Space, return time 12:35-1:35
• 12:50 - Cosmic Rewind ILL w/rider switch
• 1:00 - Booked VQ for Cosmic Rewind, boarding group 136, return time 7pm
• 1:30 - Mission Space LL
• 2:00 - 5:30 - Walked around World Showcase, eating, stopping, etc. (Fry Basket, Flavors of Fire, Brew Wings, Canada, Appleseed Orchard, Ireland, France, and Beauty and the Beast sing-along)
• 5:35 - Test Track LL
• 6:00 - Cosmic Rewind Boarding Group called (waited 50 min), booked Spaceship Earth while in line for return time of 6:50-7:50
• 7:00 - Spaceship Earth LL
• 7:45 - Shimmering Sips Redemption and shopping
• 8:00 - Leave Park

Some thoughts on our EP day:

• This was, by far, our least successful G+ day. I was excited to grab Remy’s at 7AM with a return time of 8:35-9:35. My hope then was to book another headliner LL immediately after tapping in at Remy’s at 8:35. Then another two hours after that would mean being able to book a third LL by around 10:35. But this is not what happened, lol. By the time we trekked over to Remy’s from the front gate, in the blazing heat and around the giant construction walls, we did not tap in until 8:39. I checked times for Frozen and Test Track. At 8:39, Frozen was showing a return time of 12:20, while Test Track’s return time was already 4:30. I grabbed a LL for Test Track, return time 4:35-5:35, and then prayed that Frozen would still be available in two hours. It was not. I started refreshing at 10:38, and I watched Frozen sell out at 10:38 and 30 seconds, while I waited to be eligible at 10:39. Frozen stand-by was more than 70 min all day, so we did not end up riding at all (luckily, or strategically, the 4-yr-old in our group didn’t even know there was a Frozen ride and she was just happy with the Frozen Sing-Along at DHS).
• Also making Epcot challenging was that the rides are all so far apart. We logged 8 miles walking for the day. After Remy’s, our next ride reservation wasn’t until 12:30. We checked the app and saw Soarin’ with a 5 min stand-by line. So we trekked all the way back only for the stand-by queue to jump to 30 min. We like Soarin’ but knew we could get a LL for later in the day. So we ended up at Nemo, with a stand-by of 5 min. After that, we ate up more time with the Pixar short film fest (Piper and Feast are my favorites) before deciding to try a couple booths when they opened up at 11. We decided not to eat too much before Cosmic Rewind based on the ride sickness some reported.
• Speaking of… Cosmic Rewind was AMAZING! We rode twice, first with the ILL we purchased and then again late in the day after getting in the VQ at 1pm. It was just a really fun ride! One of my sons ended up riding a third time because we used rider swap for the 4-yr-old and he got different songs each time!
• As for the other rides: Remy’s was wonderful, and Test Track and Soarin’ are always favorites. They need to do something with Spaceship Earth, though. It broke down twice on the way down and generally feels so outdated, especially when you’ve experienced Cosmic Rewind and Remy’s in the same park. We also rode Mission Space for the first time (it was down for both our previous trips), and I can’t help wonder, do people actually enjoy that ride? I am not prone to feeling nauseous from rides but that was downright terrible for me. I will happily never go on that again - and my entire party agreed.
• We’d never experienced Food and Wine, and it was great! Everything at the Hawaii booth was delicious, but the best was the filet mignon in Canada. We also escaped the heat for a while in the Canada pavilion where they set up Appleseed Orchards. I quite enjoyed the cider flight and the kids loved the apple crumble tart. Other standouts: the fry flight from Fry Basket and the guava mousse at Shimmering Sips. I did the cheese challenge and also enjoyed the strawberry cheesecake soft serve that came as my prize with the Food and Wine tumbler.
• Unfortunately, a thunderstorm came through right around 7:30, and by then, everyone was tired, so we didn’t get to try other booths we wanted to, and neither did we experience Harmonious (I think I was the only one who really wanted to go anyway, sadly).

DAY 6: Rest Day

I enjoyed a foot massage and pedicure at Mandara Spa at the Dolphin. We hung out at the pool, went swimming, shopping, then headed to Topolino’s Terrace for dinner tonight. Dinner was delicious, and I highly recommend the gnocci appetizer! Also recommend getting a dinner reservation at 7:30 or later so that by the time you finish or are close to finishing, you can go out to the terrace to watch the Harmonious Fireworks. They pump the music from Harmonious right to the terrace, so it's great quality and a beautiful view!

FINAL OVERALL THOUGHTS/TIPS

1. Driving to/from the parks was great! This was our first time as offsite guests and we were afraid of not having the convenience of Disney transportation to/from the resort, but I don’t know if it was where we stayed (just off the Osceola parkway in Storey Lake) or the time of year, but the traffic I read about was non-existent. And the way Disney organizes their parking lots makes it pretty easy to get in and out. Now, we did have to take I-4 to Universal, and I could see how that could be terrible, but our Disney commute was easy!
2. Sitting down for a nice meal in the park was amazing. The park days where we built in a long indoor lunch break at restaurants were much better than the days we just did quick service in the heat. We did a few table service places — Hollywood Brown Derby, Steakhouse 71, Grand Floridian Cafe, and Topolino’s. Would do all but GFC again, which was good but our service was a little slow and the food was just okay. For QS w/AC, Satul’i Canteen is the best QS in the parks while Docking Bay 7 was hit and miss (loved my tuna poke while my kids’ chicken was bland and dry). Another tip: For large groups, book multiple reservations of smaller parties within 5-10 min of each other, then ask to be seated together or close to each other. The restaurants accommodated us each time, with the exception of Boma, but that was because we were already 30 min late with our rain debacle.
3. Planning ahead is my way of dealing with stress, and thankfully, my brain works in a detail-oriented way (being a teacher for 20 yrs has also been good practice!). That said, I really feel for people whose brains don’t work this way or have any difficulty with technology. It’s a lot to figure out and not easy. G+ isn't really a fair system if you’re not tech savvy. Which, yes, it’s 2022, but good tech not only costs money but time to learn. I know a lot of people who would not be able to figure this out.
4. The heat is a lot. We used cooling towels and had plenty of water, but I was dripping sweat, especially in Epcot where there is very little shade. Yes, I know we went in late August at the peak of summer heat, but I guess the trade off was that it seems like our crowds were manageable with much of the country back to school.
5. Our favorite ride was Cosmic Rewind. The queue, the music, the launch, the twists and turns, the smoothness - loved every minute! It’s not the most thrilling (Velocicoaster at Universal is more thrilling and Hagrids is amazing) but Cosmos Rewind is just pure FUN. ROTR and MFSR also amazing and super immersive, and TSMM never gets old!
6. Going with multiple families was wonderful! While it took more planning and we had to often wait because someone was always inevitable behind, getting to experience Disney with your cousins and friends made the whole trip so much more memorable and special. I loved listening to all our different kids plan for the day in the car ride in the morning and then debrief all the things they loved on the way home. Seeing my son and godson get lightsabers and then laugh, high-five as they flew the Millenium Falcon together are definitely memories I will treasure. Plus, spending time with their cousins and friends reduced any complaining by 100%.
7. All the time and prep work I did to study G+ was well-worth it. As I said, we had a great experience for a relatively small up-charge when compared to the overall ticket cost. We paid $15/day x 5 days = $75 per person. That $75 resulted in 27 LLs that saved an average of 45 min/ride for a total = 1,215 minutes. We took that saved time to sleep in, go home early, and have long lunch breaks. The cost isn't nothing, of course, but for us, who only go once every 5-6 years, it was well worth it (and when used well, definitely better than the previous FastPass+ system). Now, there's also the time I spent planning, but at least the pain of that time was isolated to just me, as the planner, lol.
8. We went during Food and Wine, which was yummy! My only regret is not trying more booths. Watching some YouTube preview videos was really helpful because then we knew exactly which booths to prioritize. Also helped me stay on task to complete the Emile's Fromage Montage challenge and get my cute tumbler!
9. Disney service has always been and is still wonderful compared to every other park or resort we’ve been to. Every CM was cheery and friendly. The queues were generally well done and air-conditioned or at least breezy. The longest line we had to wait in at Disney was the virtual queue for Cosmic Rewind, which was 50 min once our boarding group was called. The line was in AC and had lots of things to look at. For comparison, we had the terrible luck to have early entry at Universal, excited to ride Hagrids, only for it to be delayed both mornings. We waited for three hours, and although a Universal employee came by with updates, if it were Disney, I’m fairly certain a CM would have put redemption passes on our MagicBands and we could have been on our way.
10. Speaking of MagicBands… did you know that 5-year-old MagicBands still work?! Because they do!! Most of us just used the MagicMobile passes on our phones, and those of us with Apple watches used those, but the kids without phones used their old MagicBands and were easily able to tap into the park gate and all the rides. As long as that’s all you care about, if you have an older MagicBand that’s still active in your account, then don’t forget to pack it! Much easier than fumbling through multiple passes on your device.
11. Park bag essentials: body glide (chafing is real!), ibuprofen for stiff and sore legs, water bottles, hand sanitizer, sunscreen, battery pack, UV umbrella for when you have to wait someplace with zero shade, and did I mention cooling towels? My husband also carried what he called his "sweat rag" which was basically a washcloth he used to wipe away excess sweat, lol.

Anyway, we had a great time and I hope that something here is helpful to others!

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

Holy cow! You guys killed it!! I can’t believe you got so much done with such a large age gap in kiddo’s. Good job. Gives me hope for my party of 3

 

[rdkeim]

Holy smokes! You did a wonderful job of planning. In my opinion, to have a successful day now requires way too much thought and being glued to your phone. You're right that not everyone could do (or want to do) what you did. I led a group of 7 earlier this year and for the most part I wasn't happy with how it went. I also did lots of research but probably not to the extent you did. I've been to Disney many, many times but this was a different animal. I think the next trip, if there is one, would go better knowing what I know now. That being said, good job! I hope your group was appreciative of your efforts!

 

[triciambe]

Holy smokes! You did a wonderful job of planning. In my opinion, to have a successful day now requires way too much thought and being glued to your phone. You're right that not everyone could do (or want to do) what you did. I led a group of 7 earlier this year and for the most part I wasn't happy with how it went. I also did lots of research but probably not to the extent you did. I've been to Disney many, many times but this was a different animal. I think the next trip, if there is one, would go better knowing what I know now. That being said, good job! I hope your group was appreciative of your efforts!

It was definitely... a lot. We don't go to Disney many times and this was the first time with multiple families, so I spent so long planning. In the end, it was worth it and luck seemed to break in our favor. I really believe two things were key, and they had nothing to do with me or my planning: 1) how flexible and laid back my group was, and 2) the more manageable crowds, at least compared ot the previous months. It made getting G+ so much easier.

 

[Pink Partridge]

This is an amazing trip report. We are going in August of 2023, and just what I needed to read. Thank you so much!