May 11-17, 2024
Well, it happened. We went back to Disney! Star Wars land was only a concept and the skyliner was being built on our last (Jason’s first ever) visit, so we discussed coming back after about 5 years. A lot has changed! But we are still two big kids at heart. With the help of our friend Ashley (she’s a Magical Vacation Planner) we had a fantastic time.
>>Getting Around
Mears Connect Shuttle – this used to be a free service under a different name, but like much else with Disney these days, we paid for an airport shuttle to and from our resort
Bus Transportation – gets you from any Disney resort to any park and from park to park, we used the bus to and from AK and MK
Water Transportation – still available, but we didn’t use it this time
The Monorail – more direct transportation, runs through some resorts and from Magic Kingdom to Epcot (and vice versa)
SkyLiner – so easy, we intentionally stayed at a resort with this option that took us directly to Epcot & HS
>>Stay
Pop Century Resort – this place was huge! There were numerous pools and a huge cafeteria for food options. It was nice to do a little grab & go for items we could eat for breakfast the next day. The room setup was nice and comfortable. We used the murphy bed for naps or resting before showering, then packed it up and slept in the other bed once clean (we were very stinky and sweaty because it was May). The 24 hour staff was really helpful and even loaned us a box fan for our room. Easy access to bus system and skyliner.
>>Eat
DISNEY DINING PLAN: we booked the regular plan (includes 1 quick-service meal, 1 table-service meal, & 1 snacks or non alcoholic drinks per person, per day) – each actual meal included our choice of one regular or alcoholic (obvious choice) beverage; the table service meals were a drink, (no longer includes an app), entree, and dessert pretty much everywhere that wasn’t buffet style; book your table-service meal reservations 90 days in advance (our Disney agent did this for us); you get a refillable mug to use for coffee, tea, and water all day long at the resorts; at the end CASH OUT everything you have left for airplane snacks
BRINGING FOOD IN: many people don’t realize you can bring a backpack with all your own food and drinks into the parks, just be prepared to lug it around all day, Jason carried a refillable water bottle that we filled at water fountains all over the parks while I lived my best fanny pack life
*DS Art Smith’s Homecomin (brunch) – this place was really good for brunch, the drinks and desserts were something I would have happily paid out of pocket to enjoy, brunch reservation was really difficult to come by but our travel agent worked magic days before our trip
*AK Yak & Yeti – everyone should eat here, it was just as delicious as we remembered! seriously thought we hyped it up in our minds
EC Via Napoli – this place was pretty good, pizza was better than pasta IMO, I think we both preferred Tutto Italia
*HS Roundup Rodeo – I was pretty apprehensive about this one, but our travel agent suggested it and let me tell you… the biscuits are something I will dream of! It is an all you can eat family style bbq with all the fixins, the ribs were tasty and the mac & cheese was a pleasant surprise, super cute Toy Story theme throughout and you have to freeze when Andy’s coming
Ohana – Let me start by telling you NO ONE needs 2 all you can eat meals in one day even at Disney, this was pretty good for something different and the resort (Polynesian) is lovely but it was not a favorite possibly because we weren’t very hungry after all the bbq
*HS Oga’s Cantina – not a meal but required reservation so it’s on this list, I scheduled our reservation for AFTER the park is closed allowing us time to roam around Star Wars land with almost no one else around, the drinks are wacky (bubbling with glitter or tingly lips included) but tasty and really fit the theme, any Star Wars fan should at least have a visit although you can easily wind up with a high bar tab
MK Skipper’s Canteen Lunch – there was lamb on the menu and I wanted Jason to get to eat it, honestly we had already tried so many different types of meals this was keeping the variety in what we ate, the theme is fun and MK doesn’t offer much in the 1 meal credit range so this was not a bad choice
Quick Service Meals – HS Fairfax Fare potato bowls with meat, HS Baseline Tap House for beer flights, AK Pongu Pongu giant pretzel with beer cheese + margaritas, AK Tamu Tamu dole whip float with Ace Pineapple, AK Flame Tree BBQ mac with pulled pork + marg, AK pricky pear marg at random stand, E Kringla Baken Norway sweets + frozen viking coffee with alcohol, E Regal Eagle Smokehouse pulled pork sandwich + draft beer, MK Gastons cinnamon roll, MK Auntie Gravity’s salted caramel soft serve iced coffee, HS Docking Bay 7 breakfast wraps + beer, HS Woody’s Lunchbox breakfast bowl + beer
From my list but didn’t make it there – DS Polite Pig, DS 4 Rivers Cantina Barbacoa Truck, Beaches & Cream for No Way Jose sundae, Jellyroll’s Dueling Piano Bar @ Boardwalk
>>Play
TICKETS: we had a 6-Day Ticket with Park Hopper Option – if you’re trying to do this as cheap as possible, you can go regular ticket option, but we enjoyed visiting multiple parks per day and having dinner reservations at any park
Virtual Que – when we went you could only ride Guardians of the Galaxy & Tron via Virtual Que BUT we purchased tickets for Magic Kingdom After Hours and it was a standby line for Tron; if you wake up at 6:55am and open your Disney app to book a VQ spot then it was VERY easy to obtain one right at 7am when they become available; if you’ve used it and scanned in to the other park you can get one for the opposite ride at 1 pm the same day but not the same ride twice
EXTRA MAGIC HOURS/ROPE DROP: Disney resort guests get extra time in parks that others don’t so it tends to be a little less busy – plan to be waiting at the park for it to open to get in line for any major ride really want to get on quickly that day as long as the ride isn’t “down”, if you stay in the park until it’s closing you can sometimes hop on rides again with a shorter wait
SINGLE RIDER LINES: some rides have a single rider line that has little to no wait time, we rode Everest about 3-4 times in a row within an hour this way, Smuggler’s Run was also extra fast via single rider
GENIE+/LIGHTNING LANES: you can essentially pay extra for Fast Passes (another thing that used to be free) to help preplan your day and theoretically decrease your wait times, we did NOT pay extra for anything and rode all rides we wanted and the longest wait time was 30 minutes
How Our Days Played Out Without Paying For Genie+/LL
SUNDAY @ Hollywood Studios: 7:40a in line for skyliner – rope drop Rise of Resistance, Smuggler’s Run, ToyStory Mania (Slinky & Tower of Terror were down) – left at 10a for brunch – watch 1:15p Indiana Jones show – Star Tours (fun if you’re short because my legs were swinging all over), Muppets 3D, Runaway Railway *30 min wait* – beer break – Lightning McQueen (this was awful), Tower of Terror *30 min wait* – supper break – Smuggler’s Run again – Toy Story Mania again
MONDAY @ Animal Kingdom: 6:45a get on bus – rope drop Flights of Passage, 3 rides in a row in Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safari – boozy Dole Whip break – 10a Festival of Lion King show – margarita break – Macaw flyover, bird show – lunch break – Jungle Trek and Gorilla Falls – margarita break – sipping through Tree of Life gardens, Everest again – dinner break
MONDAY AFTER HOURS (10p-1a) @ Magic Kingdom: 9:20p fireworks in the rain – in line for Tron at 10 & off at 10:20, back in line for Tron at 10:30 & off at 10:55 to ride front row, Haunted Mansion, 2 times on Big Thunder Mountain, Mine Train went down as we walked through line, Space Ranger Spin, meet Cinderella, ride Carousel – I ate 6 mickey ice cream bars and a strawberry bar while Jason had 3 boxes of popcorn and we each had 2 Cokes – we got in bed around 3am after showering
TUESDAY @ Epcot: 6:55a alarm for Guardians VQ and ended up in group 4 so got ready asap – ride Guardian’s *Disco Inferno*, walk through butterfly garden and Moana Way of Water – breakfast break – walk the World Showcase and look at topiaries for Flower & Garden Festival – lunch while it stormed – Beauty and the Beast Sing-a-long while it stayed rainy – dinner and bed because we were so tired
WEDNESDAY Park Hopping: 7am VQ for Guardians – start at Epcot to rope drop Remy’s (delayed for a rainy tornado warning but we got to ride), Mission Space – lunch break – hop to HS to meet Mandalorian, Edna Mode, & Dark Vader then ride Tower of Terror again – hop to Epcot to meet Elsa & Ana, taste all the cokes, and ride Guardians again *I Ran* – dinner break – hop to HS to ride Toy Story Mania, Smugglers Run, and at park close walked onto Slinky Dog Dash – hang around in empty park until reservation at Oga’s Cantina @ 9:45p
THURSDAY Park Hopping: 7am VQ for Guardians – start at HS to rope drop Rise of the Resistance again, Tower of Terror – breakfast break – hop to Epcot for Guardians again *Conga* – hopped to MK and got VQ for Tron at 1:15p – lunch break- Swiss Family Treehouse, Enchanted Tiki Room (mainly for AC bc WTF was that), 3 pm parade – snack break – Meet Stitch – Tron was down all day and our group was 90 something so we went back to resort, showered, packed, had dinner, and called it a night since airport pickup was at 3:30a
Other Stuff Worth Mentioning – don’t try to wear cute shoes because you’re gonna walk til ya drop every day; bring a poncho (some rides will get ya wet and it does rain in Florida); there are really great margaritas all over Animal Kingdom; Magic Band pays for everything, gets you in lines, and is your hotel room key; **VQ info** you cannot be late to a Tron callback window but you can show up to Guardians any time after you were called and they will let you on
Breauxs Geaux 