[tlendway]

Executive summary: all had an awesome time, hard to return to reality after the trip. Just wish the crowds were lighter.

General:
- June 25-July 5 too hot, too crowded. December too cold. Next time try February break for better crowds and temps. Time in the parks felt rushed - always trying to optimize our early entry to avoid lines, in which we succeeded but at the cost of never having time to stop and "smell the flowers".
- Britta water bottles were indispensable – everyone could drink to their fill any time.
- $400 cash was $100 more than needed.
- In-room fridge is nice but not worth the $10 per day. Next time just buy what you need for each in-room breakfast.
- Do WDW with friends or without? With friends, the kids played wonderfully together the entire time, and allowed the adults to not need to entertain them the whole time. But with a larger group, individual agendas are harder to fill, and we seemed to keep wasting time waiting for one group or another. But when it was just the 4 of us, my wife and I missed the adult company. It would be great to be able to break free of the kids a bit.
- Don’t pack towels. Free at resort pools, rentable at Blizzard Beach (or bring from hotel).
- Packed 14 shirts, 6 went unworn.

Wilderness Lodge:
- Bus/boat travel is too slow due to stops at Fort Wilderness. Next time take bus to TTC or boat to Contemporary.
- Nice lodge, everything is close. Studio villa no better than a standard room with a fridge.
- Pool is a bit small, but not bad. Like Port Orleans pool better.

Caribbean Beach:
- Check in took 45 minutes! Need more check-in staff.
- Too big! All walks too long – 30 minutes to get a pop, even though stayed in Jamaica #42.
- Feels impersonal, no easy access to front desk services.
- Pool is OK, not great, not bad, too crowded.

Monday:
Met up with friends, played at pool, checked in. Kids played very well together right from the start! Failed to sunscreen DS well enough – a minor burn lasted the rest of the week for him – sorry big guy! Went to O’Hana’s for dinner – awesome, would definitely return! Took a private boat tour to view Magic Kingdom fireworks. Very nice and informative, but the lake is far from the show, so not sure if it was worth $125. Time for today could have been used more efficiently, because meeting them at 11:00 with 7:00 reservations and check-in at 4:00 fragments the day. Tried to go to Downtown at 4:00, but could only spend an hour there due to slow busses.

Tuesday:
Breakfast at Cinderella Castle was unbelievable! Well worth the $80/family cost. It also got us into the park early, and we were done in 40 minutes, just in time for the opening. Rushed through some rides, then took a break at the hotel in the PM. Dinner at Hollywood and Vine got us into Fantasmic at 8:15, bypassing a line. Dinner was OK, dessert buffet was great! Fantasmic show was awesome! No real time to do anything at MGM between dinner and the show.

Wednesday:
Early entry day to Epcot, but we got too late of a start (9:30 arrival), thus it took until noon to do 2 rides. Then friends wanted to go straight to MGM, but our kids were too tired to do anything there, so we went back to the lodge. Spent over 3 hours there (too long, but DD needed the nap) waiting for friends to return. We went to the Magic Kingdom to see the evening parade (at 9:00). No real time to do any rides with evening return, and all fast-passes were gone. Overall, a bad day since we spent almost no “quality time” in the parks, felt like we just jumped around and stood in lines. Very crowded.

Thursday:
Checked out of WL and went to Blizzard Beach. Spent 6 hours there, had an awesome time. Not too crowded, not too hot. DD spent her time with Theresa at Tikes Peak, not sure how much DW enjoyed that. Corey loved all of the slides and pools. He and his friend played together like angels, a real joy to watch. Had dinner at CBR, slow check-in used up the rest of the evening so dinner did not finish until 8:00. Felt rather depressed tonight, having put the kids to bed after dinner and now no one except DW to talk to.

Friday:
Spent the day at the Animal Kingdom (until 3:00). Did the shows: Lion King, Tarzan, and Pocahontas. All were excellent. Tarzan is now a must see! After some afternoon down-time, went to Downtown Disney for dinner at Wolfgang Puck. PS was for upstairs – too expensive. Do downstairs for pizza (no PS). Dinner was good, but West Side was a bit of a hike from the marketplace. West side is more adult oriented as well. Downtown was very crowded for shopping, very easy to lose the kids!

Saturday:
Early entry to MGM, hit most of the shows we wanted to see except ones like Walt’s dream which would be more for the adults. Left at 2:15 when it got very hot and crowded. Planned on a relaxing night at the hotel, hanging out at the pool and eating at the food court, but the rain started right when we got to the pool and did not let up for over two hours. Everyone was bored, so we went back to the room and put in a movie for Sydney while Corey watched TV and played his game boy. All fell asleep early - this was another night spent wishing we weren’t alone, which would have helped relieve the boredom.

Sunday (7/4/04):
Early entry to MK allowed us to do all of the remaining rides, then had character breakfast at the Crystal Palace. Very well worth the price! Saw the castle stage show, then left by noon since it was getting too crowded to enjoy. Swam at the pool for 90 minutes, then left for Epcot. Note: 12:30 MK departure took until 4:30 to arrive at Epcot – 4 hours, minus 90 minutes of swim equals 2.5 hours of travel/down time. Dinner at Canada’s Le Celier was awesome, kids ate their fill, DW enjoyed her prime rib, and I had the chef’s special for one of the best meals of my life. Then we watched the fire works – 30 minutes long, one of the best shows I’ve ever seen! It took 30 minutes to walk out from Japan, then over an hour wait for the bus due to 200 people in line before us. We did not get to our room until 12:15. But I would do it again!

Monday:
Only non-stop flight out is at 11:00AM, so had to get up early to leave the room at 8:30. Kids are getting hard to wake every morning now. A later flight would be better. Once home, the kids were hellians - unable to adjust to being home. Next time bring them home asleep!

[Willbegone]

Thanks for posting the report! February is a great time to go! We went the last week of Feb this year and the weather was perfect. The crowds were managable. Definetly go then next time!

[inluvwithdisney]

Sorry the crowds were so bad!!! September is a great time to go too!!! We have gone after labor day!! Crowds~~~ NONEXSISTENT!!!! It is still very warm but that makes for good pool weather!!

I agree about going with friends!!! We went with friends last year and it was great!! We even switched and had an adult night out!!!

[TINA]

Thanks for the report. We like to go in Nov, the weather has allways been wonderful and the crowds light. Tina

[lisalovesmickey]

Thank you for the TR.

Lisa

[mickaholic4077]

Very nice trip report.

[ThePrincess60]

I can imagine the crowds around the 4th! One year when we were there on the 4th, MK was closed because of so many people so we went to Epcot leaving our car parked at Mk. We had to be bussed all over the place late at night to get back to Mk parking. We love going in late Nov. (much cooler and Christmas decorations are up) though we just returned from a week in June.

[tinkerbell]

I enjoyed your trip report and think your very brave to go to MK on the 4th of july!!

[WDWaddict]

Thanks for you TR..I second the November suggestion..we have gone in November the last 3 times(twice Vet's day weekend and again the weekend before Tgiving when decorations were up). The weather in November is unbeatable..rare to rain, not too hot nor too cold, the crowds are light and the wait for rides is very short.

[BuzzLightBeer]

Originally Posted by inluvwithdisney

Sorry the crowds were so bad!!! September is a great time to go too!!! We have gone after labor day!! Crowds~~~ NONEXSISTENT!!!! It is still very warm but that makes for good pool weather!!

I agree about going with friends!!! We went with friends last year and it was great!! We even switched and had an adult night out!!!

September is hands-down our favourite time to go! The weather is still nice, and I like rain (not to mention how it thins crowds later in the day). And going with a larger group - friends or extended family - opens up new options, while adding some burdens in trying to keep everybody happy.

And funny enough, the quietest day I ever spent at the Magic Kingdom in my life was Labour Day, 1995. My friend and I hit everything almost 3 times - there wasn't a single line anywhere. It felt like we had the park pretty much to ourselves.

[ilvminnie]

Very nice trip report. We refuse to go in June, July or Aug anymore. (Only exception being last year for DD's 18th birthday in August! Why did she have to be born in Aug???) It's just way too hot, humid & crowded. Oct is becoming our favorite time...

[SeattleRedBear]

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[disneymom]

Nice TR. We have always gone with extended family and friends and had a blast. Now if we could just get back sometime soon.....

[Dana]

It takes awhile to find that perfect time to go for your family, but it's fun testing the different times of year isn't it? February is perfect. I was there for the last week of January and the first few days of February last year...gorgeous! I am going the third week of January this year and hope that I picked a winner. Thanks for sharing the report!