Hey, that mask matches my ears...A First Mom-Daughter Disney Trip: UPDATED - WE ARE ADDING ON!

[kimberwee]

Hi everyone! I am back again with another (this time, unexpected) PTR! Last time I was here, we were planning our Holiday @ "Home" with our best friend family. The trip was a blast and filled with a million "new things" for us.

Just to recap, I am Kimberwee and love all things Disney. I am happily married to my DH, who is happy to placate my love for Disney. We have one DD who is 13 and loves Disney, but not quite as much as me. We are DVC Members and love our home resort, The Polynesian.

So how did this trip get started?

This year, DH, DD and I were excited to go to Aulani in November with his extended family, but then...COVID.
Aulani still isn't open...
Pre-testing is mandatory for Oahu...
Flying on a plane with a mask for 11 hours sounds terrible...
we cancelled our trip.

The caveat to this is that we were using our DVC points for the Aulani trip and some of them are banked...which means we need to use them. The bad news is that once DH found out that a DW trip would require mask wearing and no fast-passes, he was out. The good news is that he already had plans, without us, for DD's school fall break.

SO, DD and I talked and decided to go for it. There was a studio open at the Grand Floridian for the 3 nights we were interested in. Park Passes were wide open. Round-trip flight prices are ridiculously low. I don't have to stress about missing out on FP Windows, plans and dining reservations.

We double checked that DD wouldn't be too devastated about missing the trip...he gave a green light, so we're good to go!

 

[kimberwee]

Where to begin?

The usual trip planning would be centered around a crowd calendar. WELL...COVID. We are showing a crowd level of 1 for every park for every day we are there.

SO, we determined that we really only have 2 park days. We land at 1:30 on Tuesday. We leave at 3:30 on Friday.

Now, which parks...I struggled with this, but DD and I both decided that the two parks with the most exciting rides/attractions are:
AK:

for our love of Expedition Everest and Pandora...

...and DHS for our obsession with Rockin' Roller, the new Runaway Railway, Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge:

So, here's the plan:
Day 1 - Tuesday, October 13th: Travel Day & Disney Springs for Shopping & Dinner
Day 2 - Wednesday, October 14th: Animal Kingdom Day
Day 3 - Thursday, October 15th: Disney Hollywood Studios
Day 4 - Friday, October 16th: Travel Day

 

[kimberwee]

Once we'd gotten the big picture out of the way, it was time to start thinking about any restaurants we'd need reservations for. There are benefits to the two of us going on this trip:
1. We are pretty easy going
2. We love the same types of food
3. We aren't competing for large tables, which can sometimes be tricky

Day 1 Plan: DD loves to shop and has quite a bit saved from birthdays, etc. We are planning on heading to DS after we drop bags off at TGF. Our flight lands at 1:30, so we will probably be getting pretty hungry by the time we land, so I am thinking that we will just head to Gasparilla Island Grill for a quick bite before heading to DS for the rest of the day.
Now, we are pretty familiar with DS and have eaten at several restaurants there during past trips...we'd like to skip them and try something new. SO, I'm using a well known site to help find a reservation for Boathouse. If that falls through, we will end up at Wine Bar George or Maria & Enzo's for a late dinner.

Day 2 Plan: We are headed to Animal Kingdom on Day 2 and it wouldn't be an Animal Kingdom trip without a morning stop at Starbucks once inside the park. We don't have much planned for dining at the park, other than grabbing lunch at Satu'li (which we've never done) between riding FOP over and over. The park closes at 5, but our touring plan doesn't have us there that long, so we will head back to the resort to change clothes before heading back to DS to eat an early dinner at whatever restaurant we didn't get the night before. It's going to be continued light shopping and then back to TGF for some possible pool time. Typically, we eat dinner at Y&Y on an AK day, but we are going to try really hard to experience new things on this trip.

Day 3 Plan: This is our DHS day and the one we are most excited about. Again, we will grab some caffeine from the Trolley Car Cafe, on our way through the park as we head to Runaway Railway. Lunch will be quick service, but with COVID closures, I am not sure where we will end up. I'm really disappointed that Woody's Lunch Box is closed. Anyway, the park doesn't close until 7, so I am trying to snag an early dinner reservation at Brown Derby before heading to ride Rockin Rollercoaster or one last time.

Day 4 Plan: It's a travel day for us and we will probably have to head to the airport around 1. Checkout is at 11. I'm torn on what to do. Maybe a brunch at The Grand Floridian Cafe and a walk around the resort. Maybe we can snag a reservation at Kona Cafe...OR should we head back to Disney Springs for a bit? Any suggestions are welcome here

 

[eliseisawkward]

Following along! For now just commenting to subscribe, I’ll be back to read all the details you posted!!

 

[eliseisawkward]

Okay I decided to read right away...

I think the parks you picked are a great choice for a short trip!! If I had to pick two, those would be them.

IDK where you guys normally eat at DS, but I love Frontera! I’ve also been meaning to get to Homecomin’ but have not yet. My sister really likes it there.

In park for food, Satuli is wonderful and I’m sure you’ll love it! For DHS may I suggest you give Docking Bay 7 a try? It’s quick and delicious! I would argue it’s the best quick service in DHS. Or if you’re looking for a quick sandwich type meal, Ronto Wraps are apparently very good (I’m veg so I have not tried it).

I’ve never tried Kona, but I’m always a big fan of trying new things! Also a fan of brunches... so maybe find somewhere with a yummy looking brunch?

 

[kimberwee]

Okay I decided to read right away...

I think the parks you picked are a great choice for a short trip!! If I had to pick two, those would be them.

IDK where you guys normally eat at DS, but I love Frontera! I’ve also been meaning to get to Homecomin’ but have not yet. My sister really likes it there.

In park for food, Satuli is wonderful and I’m sure you’ll love it! For DHS may I suggest you give Docking Bay 7 a try? It’s quick and delicious! I would argue it’s the best quick service in DHS. Or if you’re looking for a quick sandwich type meal, Ronto Wraps are apparently very good (I’m veg so I have not tried it).

I’ve never tried Kona, but I’m always a big fan of trying new things! Also a fan of brunches... so maybe find somewhere with a yummy looking brunch?

Thanks for following along!! I have heard great things about Frontera! Maybe we should skip Wine Bar George and just visit The Basket to get my fix from there on Day 1... I really want a corkcicle with some boozy Dole Whip inside. We totally recommend Homecomin'...we had brunch there on our last trip and it was delicious.
Thanks for the recommendation on Docking Bay 7! That is not somewhere DH would eat...its a little too adventurous.

 

[kimberwee]

This is where I usually start obsessing about ride order...

But, this is such a strange trip to plan. No Fastpasses to worry about...No strategy to really go by...right?

With our 2 parks, AK and DHS...is there a strategy?

I have a subscription to TP and even that has me scratching my head

Here's what we have so far...and yes I know that these will be all over the place:
Animal Kingdom -
Try to get to Creature Comforts for Coffee @ 9
Head to Kilimanjaro Safaris - EST WAIT TIME = 20 MIN
Expedition Everest - EST WAIT TIME = 21 MIN
Flight of Passage - EST WAIT TIME = 30 MIN
Lunch @ Satu'li Canteen
Flight of Passage (AGAIN)- EST WAIT TIME = 28 MIN
Back to Expedition Everest - EST WAIT TIME = 23 MIN
Kali River Rapids - EST WAIT TIME = 19 MIN

Hollywood Studios -
We've changed up our ride order a bit here...
First, grab some caffeine at Trolley Car Cafe
Head to Millenium Falcon & Grab a Boarding Group for Rise of the Resistance
Depending on wait times, we will hit Slinky Dog or Toy Story Mania
Light Lunch
Then back to Galaxy's Edge
Slow walk over to Rockin Rollercoaster (we will probably ride this a couple of times)
Shop along Hollywood
Early reservation at Brown Derby
Hop in line for the Railway, depending on the wait...if the wait looks terrible, we will pick a ride or two to do 1 more

Whatcha think??

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.
I wish I could give you advice but everything is so different now . Hopefully, some one that’s been recently can help. I am not going until early December.

 

[eliseisawkward]

All the reports I’ve been reading suggest that most of the lines are quite short, sometimes basically walk ons. I have never used touring plans, so not sure how accurate it is normally let alone now.

Your plans seem reasonable to me! In fact, you might even get to re-ride some of the headliners if you want to depending on your actual wait time!

 

[kimberwee]

Just stopping in to say that we only have 27 more days to go!!! Wooohooo!!!

 

[kimberwee]

Does anyone else follow Disney Food Blog? Sometimes they post food and I instantly write it down or make a note that we HAVE to HAVE THAT! We have to have this fall cupcake from Gasparilla Grill...that apple pie filling!!!

 

[kimberwee]

WOOHOO, we scored a great dinner reservation!

Well, I decided to check on available dinner reservations for the 14th and lo and behold, there was an available 5:30 for Narcoossee’s. Originally, we were going to head to DS for the evening again, but the crowd reports have me a little nervous. DD loves to get dressed up, so we will come back from AK and get ready for our "night out"...we will eat early and then walk to the Enchanted Rose for mock-tails, followed by a walk around the resort.

 

[pigletgirl]

WOOHOO, we scored a great dinner reservation!

Well, I decided to check on available dinner reservations for the 14th and lo and behold, there was an available 5:30 for Narcoossee’s. Originally, we were going to head to DS for the evening again, but the crowd reports have me a little nervous. DD loves to get dressed up, so we will come back from AK and get ready for our "night out"...we will eat early and then walk to the Enchanted Rose for mock-tails, followed by a walk around the resort.

Sounds amazing!! I am gearing up for a mother/daughter trip when she turns 10. Following along for sure!

 

[kimberwee]

2 Weeks to go!! We were delighted to see that the FL Covid numbers are down. Is it too early to start packing?

 

[kimberwee]

Sooo, have I told you all how much I love my DH??

At the beginning of this report, I explained how he had other plans and wasn't going to be joining us for this trip. His plans included him being out of town from Thursday-Sunday and didn't include us girls...and with it being fall break...Disney World without the DH....etc...etc.

Last night, during our neighborly Margarita Monday (yep, we are protesting water, one Monday at a time with a select group of amazing neighbors), I started talking about our plans for next week (yep, next week!!)...DH looked at me like I was crazy, when I mentioned that we were skipping Magic Kingdom and coming home Friday instead of Sunday, when he is coming home.

SO, I did some research...changed the flights...added a park day for the Magic Kingdom and now we are resort changers.
The Grand Floridian was booked for the night and we are now going to stay at Boulder @ Wilderness Lodge for Friday night.

I CAN'T EVEN begin to tell you how excited we are. DH is getting some alerts on his phone...like our check-in being complete...and he says he is getting a little sad....BUT, I did remind him of the lack of fast passes and mask requirements...the sadness quickly passed.

1 week from right now, we will be shopping in Disney Springs!!!

 

[eliseisawkward]

Yay for extra days!!!!!!

 

[kimberwee]

We've gotten the suitcases out!...so, here's the new plan:

Day 1 - Tuesday, October 13th: Travel Day & Disney Springs for Shopping & Dinner
Day 2 - Wednesday, October 14th: Animal Kingdom Day & Dinner @ Narcoosee's
Day 3 - Thursday, October 15th: Disney Hollywood Studios & evening at the Grand Floridian pools or more shopping @ Disney Springs
Day 4 - Friday, October 16th: Magic Kingdom Day w/a possible mid-day break to check out our new resort for the night, Wilderness Lodge
Day 5 - Saturday, October 17th: Travel Home

 

[kimberwee]

Check out our trip report: WE HAD A GREAT TRIP!