Walt Disney World Trip Recap
My wife, daughter, and I went to Walt Disney World over the winter break and I thought I'd write down my experience for future reference.
We drove from my in-laws house to Atlanta, GA the day after Christmas. There was some pretty heavy traffic around Nashville, TN, and of course the traffic around Atlanta was pretty bad. Google estimated 7 hours for the trip and it took a little over 8. We stayed at the Embassy Suites right by Centennial Olympic Park. The next day we drove the rest of the way, which was estimated to be a little over 6 hours and took a little over 8. The traffic around Atlanta was a little heavy, but not too bad (it was a Saturday). The traffic in northern Florida was horrible. It was pretty well stop-and-go from I-10 to where I-75 splits off (a lot of traffic went to Tampa instead of Orlando).
So we got to Port Orleans Riverside way later than I hoped. We liked the resort and the Tiana room. It was a good compromise between price and size.
Sunday the 28th we went to Animal Kingdom. It was pretty crowded there, but not "the whole time" if that makes sense. We didn't wait overly long for things, but there was one ride we wanted to go on but couldn't because of the wait. We used Touring Plans to plot out our day (and plan our FastPass+ reservations) but didn't stick very well to that - things just kept changing.
Monday the 29th we went to Epcot. It was very crowded there. Touring Plans don't work very well for Epcot, especially with regards to character greetings - there's no option for seeing Pooh and Tigger in the UK, for example. I had to make a lot of guesses and didn't estimate the times very well. So, again, the touring plan didn't help as much as it could have.
Tuesday the 30th we went to Magic Kingdom. We followed the Touring Plan pretty closely here, with a few changes here and there. The park was pretty crowded, but it wasn't ridiculous. The one thing that Touring Plan did not get right was waiting for parades and fireworks. You HAD to get there super early for those, and the plans didn't account for that.
Wednesday the 31st (New Year's Eve) we went to Hollywood Studios. If we ever go to WDW over the holidays again, we will not go to a park on 12/31. It was horrible. So crowded you had trouble walking down the street - just shuffle along with traffic. We weren't able to do a couple of the rides we wanted because the lines were too long. It was just too crazy.
Thursday the 1st we went to Magic Kingdom. This wasn't too bad - the crowds dropped down at least until mid-afternoon. We were able to do the stuff we wanted. We did have one super-long wait for a ride (Buzz Lightyear) but outside of that we had fun.
We heard that Christmas Day in the parks wasn't too bad - not overly crowded, but we weren't there for that. We didn't have any chance to go swimming, but the weather wasn't all that great for swimming, anyway (a little chilly).
If we ever do a trip over this time again, I think I'd like to make it around a 10 day trip - get there a day or two before Christmas and stay until a day or two after New Year's. New Year's Eve would be spent at the hotel - there was a lot of stuff we could have done on property if we had chosen.
We drove from my in-laws house to Atlanta, GA the day after Christmas. There was some pretty heavy traffic around Nashville, TN, and of course the traffic around Atlanta was pretty bad. Google estimated 7 hours for the trip and it took a little over 8. We stayed at the Embassy Suites right by Centennial Olympic Park. The next day we drove the rest of the way, which was estimated to be a little over 6 hours and took a little over 8. The traffic around Atlanta was a little heavy, but not too bad (it was a Saturday). The traffic in northern Florida was horrible. It was pretty well stop-and-go from I-10 to where I-75 splits off (a lot of traffic went to Tampa instead of Orlando).
So we got to Port Orleans Riverside way later than I hoped. We liked the resort and the Tiana room. It was a good compromise between price and size.
Sunday the 28th we went to Animal Kingdom. It was pretty crowded there, but not "the whole time" if that makes sense. We didn't wait overly long for things, but there was one ride we wanted to go on but couldn't because of the wait. We used Touring Plans to plot out our day (and plan our FastPass+ reservations) but didn't stick very well to that - things just kept changing.
Monday the 29th we went to Epcot. It was very crowded there. Touring Plans don't work very well for Epcot, especially with regards to character greetings - there's no option for seeing Pooh and Tigger in the UK, for example. I had to make a lot of guesses and didn't estimate the times very well. So, again, the touring plan didn't help as much as it could have.
Tuesday the 30th we went to Magic Kingdom. We followed the Touring Plan pretty closely here, with a few changes here and there. The park was pretty crowded, but it wasn't ridiculous. The one thing that Touring Plan did not get right was waiting for parades and fireworks. You HAD to get there super early for those, and the plans didn't account for that.
Wednesday the 31st (New Year's Eve) we went to Hollywood Studios. If we ever go to WDW over the holidays again, we will not go to a park on 12/31. It was horrible. So crowded you had trouble walking down the street - just shuffle along with traffic. We weren't able to do a couple of the rides we wanted because the lines were too long. It was just too crazy.
Thursday the 1st we went to Magic Kingdom. This wasn't too bad - the crowds dropped down at least until mid-afternoon. We were able to do the stuff we wanted. We did have one super-long wait for a ride (Buzz Lightyear) but outside of that we had fun.
We heard that Christmas Day in the parks wasn't too bad - not overly crowded, but we weren't there for that. We didn't have any chance to go swimming, but the weather wasn't all that great for swimming, anyway (a little chilly).
If we ever do a trip over this time again, I think I'd like to make it around a 10 day trip - get there a day or two before Christmas and stay until a day or two after New Year's. New Year's Eve would be spent at the hotel - there was a lot of stuff we could have done on property if we had chosen.
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