Hello! Here is my Park and Hotel experience from my 10/20--10/24/21 trip. Party of two - me and my college daughter, who had a two day Fall break from school. We stayed at the Contemporary, and took advantage of the Early Entry on 10/21, 10/22, and 10/23. We did purchase
Genie+ for our trip, and I also qualify for a
DAS (Ovarian Cancer stage 3C, and actively going through chemo), and was fortunate to have pre-registered on-line prior to our trip. We also had a rental car, so we were nimble!
10/20 (Wednesday) - Flew from MKE to MCO, early direct flight on Southwest. Arrived at 9:45am. Picked up rental car at Alamo. Had prepaid, so just went to the Full Size aisle and picked out a car. Scored a mini-van, which is easy for me to drive, and reminds me of my former car pool days! Headed to Target on Daryl Carter Parkway (new and clean) to pick up a case of water, breakfast foods, and snacks. Then had some lunch at Chipolte across the street.
I had requested an early check-in at noon at the Contemporary, and received notification at 11:30am that our room was ready! We stayed in the Garden Wing, with the old style room. The room was clean, and since it was only the two of us, the odd bathroom configuration was fine. We spent the rest of day exploring the hotel, and relaxing, knowing we had four ambitious days ahead!
10/21 (Thursday)- Early Entry - Magic Kingdom. We walked over to Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary. Arrived super early to the walking security check point (before 7am). They opened the check point at 7:30am. We were first in line. After security, we walked to the tap styles, and were about the 10th in line. We tapped in at 7:50am, and headed over to the Tomorrowland bridge. Prior to the bridge, they confirmed our on-site resort status. We were then first at the rope. Promptly at 8:30am, we were walked over behind castmembers to the Space Mountain queue. We were first in line! We completed 10 attractions between 8:30am and noon, using rope drop, Genie+ LL, and my DAS pre-registration.
at 7am, we did secure a Genie+ LL for Haunted Mansion, and a ILL$ for Remy at 3pm at Epcot.
1 - Space Mountain - walk on
2 - Buzz lightyear - walk on
3 - Little Mermaid - walk on
4 - Haunted Mansion - Genie+ LL
5 - Tea Cups - walk on
6 - Seven Dwarves - DAS (off of ride at 9:53am)
7 - Winnie the Pooh - DAS
8 - Peter Pan - DAS advanced selection
9 - Pirates of the Caribbean - DAS selection
10 - Big Thunder - Genie+ LL
We enjoyed watching two of the Cavalcades.
We had lunch at Columbia Harbor House at noon (utilizing mobile order) We also made a Genie+ reservation for Soarin' since we were heading to Epcot next.
We walked back to our hotel, freshened up, and hopped over to Epcot. We drove to Epcot in our rental, and utilized Handicapped parking.
As soon as we tapped in at Epcot (right around 2pm), I was able to secure a back-up Boarding Group for Remy. Since we had paid for a spot through ILL$, I did this to just see if it could be done. Our boarding group was called at 9:45pm, but we were well gone by that time.
1 - Soarin' - Genie+ LL - 2:15pm
2 - Remy - Paid ILL$ LL - 3:05pm
3 - Frozen - DAS - 3:48pm
4 - Test Track - DAS - 4:34pm
Enjoyed watching the drum show at Japan
We then hopped to Hollywood Studios
We had dinner at Catalina Eddies utilizing mobile order.
1 - Rock n Rollercoaster - Genie+ LL - 7:25pm
2 - Rise of the Resistance - DAS - 7:48pm
We did a lot of shopping at HS. Overall, our first day was very successful, and a lot of fun!
10/22 (Friday) - Early Entry - Hollywood Studios. We drove in our rental car to Hollywood Studios. Parking lot opening promptly at 7:30am. I was able to utilize the Handicapped parking. Our on-site resort status was confirmed, and we promptly tapped into the park a little after 7:30am. We briskly walked over to Mickey & Minnie Runaway Railway, and were first in line (two days in a row of rope dropping, and being first in line for an attraction!) Mickey and Minnie was a good choice since Rise of Resistance was down that morning. We accomplished 7 attractions prior to our 11:50am lunch at Mama Melrose's.
1 - Mickey & Minnie Runaway Railway - walk on
2 - Alien Saucer Swirl - walk-on
3 - Slinky Dog - DAS (time of 9:15am)
4 - Toy Story Midway Mania - DAS advanced selection 10am
5 - Mickey & Minnie Runaway Railway - DAS 10:28am
6 - Slinky Dog - Genie + LL 10:49am
7 - Rock n Rollercoaster - DAS advanced selection 11:05am
Lunch at Mama Melrose's - 11:50am - had an excellent experience
8 - Rise of the Resistance - DAS - 1:03pm
9 - Star tours - Genie+ LL - 1:49pm
We then drove back to the Contemporary, and relaxed in room and by the pool. Then we freshened up for Boo Bash!
Hopped into Magic Kingdom at about 5pm. We walked over from our hotel.
1 - Jungle Cruise - Genie+ LL - 5:30pm
2 - Big Thunder - DAS - 5:50pm
3 - Peter Pan - DAS - 7pm
4 - Haunted Mansion - Genie+ LL - 7:30pm
5 - Seven Dwarves - DAS - 8:31pm
Boo Bash - We picked up our wrist bands, maps, and candy bags at Tortuga Tavern a little before 7pm. We only did three attractions, primarily due to enjoying the Halloween festivities so much! Trick or treating, Halloween Cavalcades (watched by the Hub), Dance Parties, actors outside the Haunted Mansion, and free popcorn and ice cream! We thought the crowds seemed low, lines were short, and really had a nice time!
1 - Space Mountain - DAS 9:15pm
2 - Seven Dwarves - DAS 10:45pm
3 - Haunted Mansion - DAS 11:15pm
10/23 - (Saturday) - Early Entry - Animal Kingdom. We drove in our rental car to Animal Kingdom. Parking lot opened promptly at 6:30am. I utilized the Handicapped parking. I don't remember when the tap-styles opened, but we waited for a while. We were about 10 back in line. After tapping in, our on-site status was confirmed prior to going to the area where we waited to head back to Flight of Passage. Then we walked back to another waiting area just prior to entering Pandora. Right at 7:30am, we were then walked back by cast members into the Flight of passage queue. Although not first in line this time (lol), we were in the first group on the attraction.
1 - Flight of Passage - 7:30am - walk-on
2 - Na'vi River- 8am - walk-on
3 - Flight of Passage - 8:30am - DAS
4 - Safari - 9am - Genie+ LL
5 - Everest - 9:50am - DAS
6 - Feathered Friends show - 10:30am - walk-on
7 - Everest - 11am - DAS
11:50 lunch at Tusker House - great service, however just too much food for my daughter and I, especially since neither of us are big meat eaters. I much preferred this restaurant as a buffet, rather than family style.
After lunch we headed out, since we were exhausted from attending Boo Bash the night before.
We drove back to the Contemporary, and took two hour naps. After freshening up, we hopped over to Hollywood Studios around 5pm. Again utilized Handicapped parking. Park did not seem crowded at that point in the evening!
1 - Frozen Sing-along - walk-on - 5:30pm
2 - Mickey & Minnie Runaway Railway - DAS 6:15pm
3 - Slinky Dog - DAS 7:15pm
4 - Rock n Rollercoaster - Genie+ LL 7:30pm
We had dinner at the Backlot Express, which was surprisingly good at about 6:30pm utilizing mobile ordering. Restaurant was empty.
We then drove back to our hotel, and decided to resort hop the monorail resorts to do some shopping, Always fun to explore the other hotels and the shopping!
10/24 (Sunday) "Slept in" until 8am, packed up our room and rental car, and checked out of our hotel. We then walked over to Magic Kingdom for pictures, shopping, and a couple of rides
1 - Winnie the Pooh - Genie+ LL - 10:45am
2 - Seven Dwarves - DAS - 11:50am
3 - Pirates of the Caribbean - Genie+ LL - 12:35pm
Enjoyed some Dole Whip floats before taking the monorail back to the Contemporary. We had a quick lunch at the Contempo Cafe, and then drove over to Animal Kingdom.
1 - Dinosaur - Genie+ LL 2:50pm
2 - Everest - DAS 3:20pm
3 - Safari - Genie+ LL 3:45pm (starting pouring rain during the Safari which was interesting!)
4 - Flight of Passage - DAS - 4:30pm
Since we had a super late flight out (10:25pm), we quickly did a little shopping at Disney Springs. Zara is one of my daughter's favorite stores!
Drove back to MCO without incident, returned rental car, and flew out about 30 minutes late (due to wait on flight crew).
Overall a truly Magical Trip!!! We walked over 48 miles in total!
Let me know if you have any questions!