nikmasteed
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2017
Hi everyone!
This is my first ever trip report! I've been to WDW now 5 times in my life, and this was my second trip as a father. In 2017 or so, before our last trip, I found the DIS and became a bit more enthralled in keeping up with WDW news and always now sort-of perpetually planning the next trip in my mind, even if we have no intent to go anymore frequently than every 4-5 years.
We just returned last weekend from an extended (12 night) trip with extended family (10 total people). Throughout this report, for the most part, when I say "we" or "us" I'm usually speaking from the perspective of just my immediate household-- me, my wife, and kids. So here's the beginning of my report!
POST #1: BASICS, OVERALL SCHEDULE, ETC
DATES: 11/19/22 - 12/2/2022 (12 of these nights in WDW)
OUR FAMILY OF 10:
Me: I'm the main planner and the dad, late 30's. I like to do alot and my general inertia is at a much faster pace than the rest of my immediate family, so on occasion I'd stick around the parks a little longer with some of my extended family, if my immediate family was done for the night or not ready. At the same time, I am always pretty mindful of living the moment and making sure I'm actually experiencing and enjoying the pace of my vacation.
My wife and kids: Wife is also late 30's, her 3rd trip to WDW. Two daughters 14 and 10, this was the 2nd trip for both. They all know it so I can say it-- they're all slower to get going in the morning, less apt to stay late, and I know that I need to go at their pace most of the time. My wife picks it up a bit when at WDW, at least in the morning, because I think she knows it's gotta be at least a bit of a different pace there. My older daughter (14) has a condition called POTS which we've only recently learned about that actually affects her energy level heavily. We are still only just learning about how to manage this, so it was a concern heading into a trip like this. You'll see if you follow along, it turned out fine, but I did feel bad for her as she decided to skip some rides that I think she would not have skipped otherwise. In particular, at some points she just was not up for getting onto a rollercoaster. I did pursue and receive a DAS pass for her, which was helpful. Our younger daughter, despite our best efforts, is stubbornly unwilling to even try ANY rollercoaster, even the Barnstormer. But there's so much to do it's all good. One other note about younger daughter-- she is cast as Wendy in her school's upcoming musical Peter Pan Jr, so that will come up a few times during the trip!
My mother: Mid 60's. Unfortunately, she was hit by a drunk driver 3-4 years ago and she had terrible injuries to her feet/ankles, which are all now healed and thank god it did not lead to any permanent disability, but leading up to this trip she was very concerned about how much her feet would be able to handle. She did not want to use an ECV or wheelchair, and none of us pushed on that decision, but the amount of walking did turn out to be too much for her at times and she ultimately skipped a couple of the park days to rest.
My brother's family: He and his wife, mid 30's and their 5 yo daughter. These guys are the marathoners in the group-- our niece was a major trooper the whole trip and they all stayed pretty much until close most of the park nights. This brother joins me in a good amount of the planning and Genie+ finagling.
My other brother and his girlfriend: 30's. These two came for just the second half of the overall trip, and without kids they were pretty focused on rides when in the parks, they did the drink around the world at Epcot, things like that.
THE PLANNING, OUR GOALS, ETC:
This trip was booked at the 500 day mark, in July 2021. We were not delayed by the pandemic or anything like that, we had already been looking towards 2022 for WDW for quite awhile. As you can tell, we're not frequent Disney visitors but we collectively all enjoy Disney and have enjoyed anticipating the trip together over the last 2 years. In 2018, most of this same group went to WDW-- my family went for 10 nights, the rest were there for half that. So this 2022 was a big trip for all of us. We have all always been enamored with going to Disney for the holidays and experiencing the Christmas party, so that was a big focus. And, since they are infrequent, we tend to plan long WDW trips. You'll also see that we really enjoy the Table Service dining at Disney World, so there was alot of that. Alot.
Our 2018 experience did play into how we planned this trip-- my wife and I, again due to the infrequency, have tended to view our WDW vacations as a chance to splurge on deluxe resorts. We really enjoy experiencing the various resorts and you'll see that as I write more. In 2018, we did a split-stay at WL and AKL and loved both. On our departure day in 2018, we ate at Ohana which was our first experience seeing the Polynesian. That day, we walked around that resort a bit and told ourselves THIS is where we must stay next time we go to WDW. So, staying at the Poly was a major focus in the planning-- we were pretty excited about the Moana-themed refresh of the rooms and are glad that whole resort reno worked out well in advance of our trip, since we had tunnel vision for the Poly.
But! We couldn't afford a near 2-week stay at the Poly, and we enjoyed the last split-stay so we did another! Caribbean Beach appealed alot due to the recent renovations at the resort, along with the Skyliner, so that is how we "economized" by booking our first half at CBR. My mom and brother's family stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter as their 1st week moderate resort.
In 2018, we went in August-- never again with that heat. Since we wanted to go for the holidays, we were very much looking forward to much "cooler" weather in late November. Unfortunately, we didn't quite get the 70's weather we'd been hoping for (had mostly 80's and it made a big impact), but I'm getting ahead of myself.
My two kids are major Harry Potter fans, and my wife and I are fans as well, so we also made visiting the Wizarding World at Universal a top priority, having never been. I will have MUCH more to say about this when I get to that post. Spoiler alert: it didn't work out great. Many would tell me we made a mistake by not staying a night or two at a premium Universal resort in order to get the Express Pass. I did raise this with the family when planning, but no one had any interest in switching resorts twice, so we did not go that route. But, again, much more on this later.
Finally, the last impact from our 2018 trip on our 2022 trip planning was that we wanted to build in full days to take a break from theme parks. In 2018 we were in a park every single day. Ultimately, you'll see in my conclusion post that I wish I had built even more resort/break time into this 2022 trip. But finally...
OUR SCHEDULE:
We had 8-day base non-hopper park tickets. + Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. + a 1-day two-park ticket for Universal
We stayed 6 nights at Caribbean Beach (standard view), followed by 6 nights at Polynesian (pool/marina view)
POST #2: SAT NOV 19: DRIVE FROM PENNSYLVANIA TO ORLANDO (The rest of our family flew). Arrive in Orlando mid-evening and stay overnight at an economical hotel off-property.
POST #3: SUN NOV 20: CHECK-IN AT CARIBBEAN BEACH. Spend some general leisure time on-property before check-in with a table service breakfast, etc
POST #4: MON NOV 21: EPCOT
POST #5: TUE NOV 22: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
POST #6: WED NOV 23: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
POST #7: THU NOV 24: MAGIC KINGDOM
POST #8: FRI NOV 25: UNIVERSAL. Really just a focus on Wizarding World.
POST #9: SAT NOV 26: SWITCH FROM CARIBBEAN BEACH TO POLYNESIAN. Plan was to take it easy and get to the Poly relatively early to begin enjoying that resort.
POST #10: SUN NOV 27: Break during the day. MICKEY'S VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS PARTY at night.
POST #11: MON NOV 28: EPCOT
POST #12: TUE NOV 29: ANIMAL KINGDOM
POST #13: WED NOV 30: MAGIC KINGDOM
POST #14: THU DEC 1: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
POST #15: FRI DEC 2: CHECK-OUT. But plan to spend most of the day leisurely at WDW, getting some final resort time in and a last table service dinner before getting a couple hours of driving north in.
POST #16: SAT DEC 3: DRIVE FROM GEORGIA TO PENNSYLVANIA
So, as you can see, we planned alot for this trip. If you've made it this far reading, thank you! Probably will be tomorrow when I write the next post or two.
This is my first ever trip report! I've been to WDW now 5 times in my life, and this was my second trip as a father. In 2017 or so, before our last trip, I found the DIS and became a bit more enthralled in keeping up with WDW news and always now sort-of perpetually planning the next trip in my mind, even if we have no intent to go anymore frequently than every 4-5 years.
We just returned last weekend from an extended (12 night) trip with extended family (10 total people). Throughout this report, for the most part, when I say "we" or "us" I'm usually speaking from the perspective of just my immediate household-- me, my wife, and kids. So here's the beginning of my report!
POST #1: BASICS, OVERALL SCHEDULE, ETC
DATES: 11/19/22 - 12/2/2022 (12 of these nights in WDW)
OUR FAMILY OF 10:
Me: I'm the main planner and the dad, late 30's. I like to do alot and my general inertia is at a much faster pace than the rest of my immediate family, so on occasion I'd stick around the parks a little longer with some of my extended family, if my immediate family was done for the night or not ready. At the same time, I am always pretty mindful of living the moment and making sure I'm actually experiencing and enjoying the pace of my vacation.
My wife and kids: Wife is also late 30's, her 3rd trip to WDW. Two daughters 14 and 10, this was the 2nd trip for both. They all know it so I can say it-- they're all slower to get going in the morning, less apt to stay late, and I know that I need to go at their pace most of the time. My wife picks it up a bit when at WDW, at least in the morning, because I think she knows it's gotta be at least a bit of a different pace there. My older daughter (14) has a condition called POTS which we've only recently learned about that actually affects her energy level heavily. We are still only just learning about how to manage this, so it was a concern heading into a trip like this. You'll see if you follow along, it turned out fine, but I did feel bad for her as she decided to skip some rides that I think she would not have skipped otherwise. In particular, at some points she just was not up for getting onto a rollercoaster. I did pursue and receive a DAS pass for her, which was helpful. Our younger daughter, despite our best efforts, is stubbornly unwilling to even try ANY rollercoaster, even the Barnstormer. But there's so much to do it's all good. One other note about younger daughter-- she is cast as Wendy in her school's upcoming musical Peter Pan Jr, so that will come up a few times during the trip!
My mother: Mid 60's. Unfortunately, she was hit by a drunk driver 3-4 years ago and she had terrible injuries to her feet/ankles, which are all now healed and thank god it did not lead to any permanent disability, but leading up to this trip she was very concerned about how much her feet would be able to handle. She did not want to use an ECV or wheelchair, and none of us pushed on that decision, but the amount of walking did turn out to be too much for her at times and she ultimately skipped a couple of the park days to rest.
My brother's family: He and his wife, mid 30's and their 5 yo daughter. These guys are the marathoners in the group-- our niece was a major trooper the whole trip and they all stayed pretty much until close most of the park nights. This brother joins me in a good amount of the planning and Genie+ finagling.
My other brother and his girlfriend: 30's. These two came for just the second half of the overall trip, and without kids they were pretty focused on rides when in the parks, they did the drink around the world at Epcot, things like that.
THE PLANNING, OUR GOALS, ETC:
This trip was booked at the 500 day mark, in July 2021. We were not delayed by the pandemic or anything like that, we had already been looking towards 2022 for WDW for quite awhile. As you can tell, we're not frequent Disney visitors but we collectively all enjoy Disney and have enjoyed anticipating the trip together over the last 2 years. In 2018, most of this same group went to WDW-- my family went for 10 nights, the rest were there for half that. So this 2022 was a big trip for all of us. We have all always been enamored with going to Disney for the holidays and experiencing the Christmas party, so that was a big focus. And, since they are infrequent, we tend to plan long WDW trips. You'll also see that we really enjoy the Table Service dining at Disney World, so there was alot of that. Alot.
Our 2018 experience did play into how we planned this trip-- my wife and I, again due to the infrequency, have tended to view our WDW vacations as a chance to splurge on deluxe resorts. We really enjoy experiencing the various resorts and you'll see that as I write more. In 2018, we did a split-stay at WL and AKL and loved both. On our departure day in 2018, we ate at Ohana which was our first experience seeing the Polynesian. That day, we walked around that resort a bit and told ourselves THIS is where we must stay next time we go to WDW. So, staying at the Poly was a major focus in the planning-- we were pretty excited about the Moana-themed refresh of the rooms and are glad that whole resort reno worked out well in advance of our trip, since we had tunnel vision for the Poly.
But! We couldn't afford a near 2-week stay at the Poly, and we enjoyed the last split-stay so we did another! Caribbean Beach appealed alot due to the recent renovations at the resort, along with the Skyliner, so that is how we "economized" by booking our first half at CBR. My mom and brother's family stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter as their 1st week moderate resort.
In 2018, we went in August-- never again with that heat. Since we wanted to go for the holidays, we were very much looking forward to much "cooler" weather in late November. Unfortunately, we didn't quite get the 70's weather we'd been hoping for (had mostly 80's and it made a big impact), but I'm getting ahead of myself.
My two kids are major Harry Potter fans, and my wife and I are fans as well, so we also made visiting the Wizarding World at Universal a top priority, having never been. I will have MUCH more to say about this when I get to that post. Spoiler alert: it didn't work out great. Many would tell me we made a mistake by not staying a night or two at a premium Universal resort in order to get the Express Pass. I did raise this with the family when planning, but no one had any interest in switching resorts twice, so we did not go that route. But, again, much more on this later.
Finally, the last impact from our 2018 trip on our 2022 trip planning was that we wanted to build in full days to take a break from theme parks. In 2018 we were in a park every single day. Ultimately, you'll see in my conclusion post that I wish I had built even more resort/break time into this 2022 trip. But finally...
OUR SCHEDULE:
We had 8-day base non-hopper park tickets. + Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. + a 1-day two-park ticket for Universal
We stayed 6 nights at Caribbean Beach (standard view), followed by 6 nights at Polynesian (pool/marina view)
POST #2: SAT NOV 19: DRIVE FROM PENNSYLVANIA TO ORLANDO (The rest of our family flew). Arrive in Orlando mid-evening and stay overnight at an economical hotel off-property.
POST #3: SUN NOV 20: CHECK-IN AT CARIBBEAN BEACH. Spend some general leisure time on-property before check-in with a table service breakfast, etc
POST #4: MON NOV 21: EPCOT
POST #5: TUE NOV 22: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
POST #6: WED NOV 23: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
POST #7: THU NOV 24: MAGIC KINGDOM
POST #8: FRI NOV 25: UNIVERSAL. Really just a focus on Wizarding World.
POST #9: SAT NOV 26: SWITCH FROM CARIBBEAN BEACH TO POLYNESIAN. Plan was to take it easy and get to the Poly relatively early to begin enjoying that resort.
POST #10: SUN NOV 27: Break during the day. MICKEY'S VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS PARTY at night.
POST #11: MON NOV 28: EPCOT
POST #12: TUE NOV 29: ANIMAL KINGDOM
POST #13: WED NOV 30: MAGIC KINGDOM
POST #14: THU DEC 1: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
POST #15: FRI DEC 2: CHECK-OUT. But plan to spend most of the day leisurely at WDW, getting some final resort time in and a last table service dinner before getting a couple hours of driving north in.
POST #16: SAT DEC 3: DRIVE FROM GEORGIA TO PENNSYLVANIA
So, as you can see, we planned alot for this trip. If you've made it this far reading, thank you! Probably will be tomorrow when I write the next post or two.
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