All tagged Disney Trips
You may this post a little backwards than my usual trip report posts. Normally I post about what we did each day, THEN I get into all the details on individual posts about all the specific things we did on our trip. Well I am starting with a very specific thing we did on our early September trip because it is the Halloween party! It ends on November 1st, so I wanted to share our experience as soon as I could!
During our Disney World trip in March 2023, we got to cross a fun experience off our Disney Bucket List…Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique! Prior to COVID, Melody wasn’t old enough. We only went once when she was 3, and it was a quick trip. Then on our trips post COVID, they were not open. But they were finally open for our Spring Break trip, and after a lot of research and stalking, I found an ideal time for us during our trip.
During our trip to Disney World in March 2023, we took advantage of the Facebook group “Ear for Each Other”. It is where castmembers who were laid off during COVID could post different business ventures. One properly option is where different people deliver various goodies to your resort. After looking around on the page, we decided to reach out to Storybook Treats. We were uncertain if they could deliver to Shades of Green (they can!), and once we received confirmation, we decided to order some treats for the trip.
During our trip to Disney World in March 2023, we stayed at Shades of Green. Most people do not even know this resort exists. There is a list of criteria that you must meet to qualify to stay here. The two largest qualifiers is if you are military/former military (some special rules apply to the later) or a Department of Defense Civilian. We found out about the resort a few years ago, and we wanted to give it a try. It is actually located on two golf courses, so that was how we convinced Brad’s dad to come to Disney with us. It also gave us a great opportunity to try out the resort too!
We have made many Disney family shirts over the years, and it does get hard to make up new ones. I hate to re-use themes from the past. And when you are with a larger group, it is harder to make it all unison but different. So when it came time to design a family shirt for us to all wear for our March 2023 Spring Break trip, I had a little bit of a difficult time. I didn’t want to do favorite rides, because I really don’t know that Bob and Vicki had a favorite ride prior to this trip. Brad mentioned everyone being a different park, but I wasn’t sure how we would narrow that down…and there are not five parks. So after some deliberation with Brad, we opted to try and make everyone a character or favorite “thing” and make it have Mickey ears.
Back in March 2023, we were able to ride Guardians of the Galaxy for the very first time. It was quite the experience, and I will say, I do think this is one of the best roller coasters there (we have NOT rode Tron yet). However, my experience afterwards was not the best.
Leaving Disney World is always one of the hardest parts. We really had such a fun time this trip, and we loved almost everything about it. (I will speak to the negatives in a future post. All were in regards to changes (such as Genie+.))
Day Six was our final day at Disney World before heading back to Huntsville. We opted to start our day at Hollywood Studios doing some of the bigger rides we didn’t do on day three. Then we wanted to end with our favorite park, EPCOT.
Our fifth day was a day we had been look forward to for the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique experience. It would be Melody’s first time getting to do it, and Vicki was so looking forward to it. And while the time originally wasn’t ideal, we ended up being happy with it. So this was definitely a Melody kind of day ahead!
Our fourth day at Disney World was our “break” day. We always strive to have a somewhat laidback day in the middle of a big Disney trip. Unlike trips past, we opted to still make it to the parks somewhat early, but leave after lunch. Brad’s parents are morning people, and while at Disney we tend to be too.
Our third day didn’t go quite as planned, but we also all went in different directions at different times. Generally we spent the morning at Magic Kingdom, and we spent the evening at Epcot. Bob planned to play golf that morning, so he did not plan to come to Magic Kingdom. We had plans to meet up with him at some point in between Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. Where things went in a different direction is when I woke up not feeling so great. I had a headache and still had some vertigo issues. I ended up sleeping in and set an alarm to make sure I would make it to Magic Kingdom in time for our dining reservation for a late breakfast. However, Brad, his mom, and Melody went ahead and went to the park in time for rope drop. I did get up and buy Rise of the Resistance for all 5 of us, and Genie+ for the 4 of us doing Magic Kingdom. I booked Big Thunder Mountain first thing since that was a must for Melody.
On our second day, it was our first FULL day at Disney World visiting the parks. We spent the morning at Epcot and the evening at Animal Kingdom. We did open the park, but we made sure we didn’t exhaust ourselves and didn’t close the park. Follow along below.
Our first day at Disney actually consists of two nights and one day. This trip was such a fun trip, so let’s dive in!
For Spring Break, we went to Disney World with Brad’s parents. We opted to drive to save money. We started our trek after school on Friday. We had originally planned to check Melody out once we were packed and ready, but she had a field trip that afternoon. So I check her out from the field trip, and we headed out.
Back in October, we made a last minute decision to head to Disney World for Melody’s fall break. We had Hilton points, so that made the trip more appealing. We had enough to stay for free at DoubleTree at Disney Springs. It was the best deal out of all the Disney Springs Hilton hotels, and we did like the idea of having the separate bedroom and mini-kitchen.
Tuesdays always seem to be a great day to visit Magic Kingdom, so we opted to do that. We ended the night at Epcot for the food! Epcot is our go to for great food, and we always have to fit in our must-dos. We snagged a decent timed reservation for Chefs de France on this evening, so we opted to do that.
We decided our first day would be spent at Hollywood Studios followed by the evening at Animal Kingdom. We opted for Hollywood first for a few reasons. One, we knew we wanted to also do Magic Kingdom and Epcot for sure. And those were fitting on Tuesday and Wednesday. Magic is never a good idea on Monday, and with the Food and Wine Festival going on, Epcot wasn't ideal for Monday either. We love doing Animal Kingdom at night, so that left Hollywood during the day. Melody LOVES Dinoland at Animal Kingdom, and we find it best in the evenings.
Not much fun is involved on travel days to Disney World. Especially when you are driving 10-12 hours. We got up as early as we could and headed down. We had to make the trip in one day, and we needed to get down to Orlando early enough that we could go to Shades of Green to get our park tickets before the ticket office closed.
Months ago, we found out both our in laws (brother/sister/nieces) and best friends were both going to Disney World during Fall Break. While it sounded fun to plan and tag along, several things kept us from booking a trip: money, 50th anniversary, Brad’s travel, crowds, etc. We also didn’t want to invade on their vacations. Well about two weeks before fall break, we still were not sure if Brad would be home or not. So I started looking at several options for Melody and me, including Disney. A few days before fall break, Brad found out he would be home, and we started floating around the idea. We kept going back to not going due to money and just the exhaustion of driving and a short trip. Melody was clueless about our family and friends going. But that changed the Friday before fall break. Her best friend, Lydia, found out she was going, and Melody started asking to go to Disney too. After a lot of talking, negotiating, and even some arguing, we decided Saturday morning we would head to Disney on Sunday. THE NEXT DAY! Thankfully I am a seasoned Disney goer, so this wasn’t impossible.
Something new to Disney World since COVID is their park pass system. It was originally put in place to truly manage park capacity in the early days of reopening after COVID. You could not park hop, so this kept Disney World in complete control of where everyone would be. Then park hopping started. They still require that you book a park pass for your first park, then after 2 pm, you can park hop to any park with availability. It looks like the park pass system is here to stay until at least January 2023. So I wanted to do a post about booking said passes. Check it out below.
