2017: When Life Gives You Political Strife, Go To Disney World! About This Page:

[MAKHayes-DisneyDiva]

Yesterday's drive was ridiculously long!

My son and I had a magnificently magical day at MK today! I was surprised by the crowd, since this week is in the moderate range on two crowd calendars I viewed, and today was listed as a good day for MK. But we did almost everything we wanted to do, and spent time riding the monorail as well.

Tomorrow we'll spend most of the day at DHS, and I'm hoping to do some shopping at Disney Springs.

[cattailmarsh]

Glad that you had a fun and full day at MK today. Sorry to hear the crowds were more than estimated. Monorail rides always make me smile. Enjoy tomorrow after hopefully another good night's rest.

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[SuperDave]

Sorry to hear about the long drive, but at least you had a great time in the MK! You have to expect large crowds on the weekends in the parks!

[Cam22]

Glad you all enjoyed MK! Have fun at Disney Springs!

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you made it!!

[MAKHayes-DisneyDiva]

Day 1 - Saturday, March 4, 2017
Driving to the World: Ohio to Celebration-ish

Departure: Our goal was to leave at 5 AM. Actual departure: 5:13AM - close enough!
Temperature upon departure: 19* Fahrenheit
I can't lie. Our drive was extremely long: 15 hours, to be exact. Somewhere around hour 13 I began to feel tired, restless, and was pretty sure we'd never get there. Somewhere in the back of my mind I heard a little voice (my own, 7 years ago) saying "I will NEVER drive to Disney World again!" Then, just as negativity began to engulf me, I went the opposite direction. I took inventory of the situation, and this is what I came up with:
1. I'm traveling with my son, and he's among the world's greatest traveling companions!
2. 70* is much nicer than 19*.
3. We are in the state of Florida, not Ohio!
4. We see palm trees, or what we the botanically challenged refer to as such.
5. We're going to Disney World!!!

Arrival: 8:00PM, 72* At Vacation Village at Parkway (VVP)
The day before the trip I read that the best buildings at VVP are 20 and 21. (This is the kind of information I generally gather MONTHS before a trip, but with a 3 week window between idea and reality, improvisation and last minute planning became necessities!) 20 and 21 are much newer than the others. They are also not pet friendly (yay! I have severe allergies) they have washers/dryers in the units, and *may* have a view of Epcot and MK fireworks if facing the right direction and on a high floor. I crossed my fingers and made requests. Upon check in I learned that even though the resort was full, ALL REQUESTS WERE GRANTED! Our room was on the 11th floor (out of 13) building 21, facing the theme parks!
As if a magical hello, we saw the MK fireworks when we opened the curtains and stepped out onto our balcony!

Once we unpacked and settled in, we stepped back out on the balcony and watched the Epcot fireworks. Though a few miles away, our view was completely unobstructed and we could easily see the Epcot geosphere and the fireworks. Though an exhausting day, the view and the anticipation of Sunday's visit to MK made it difficult to fall asleep. I was giddy as a schoolgirl!

About VVP - Our suite was fantastic! Very spacious, clean, and modern, with a kitchen, dining area, breakfast bar, 1 bedroom, pull-out couch in the living room, washer/dryer, a large balcony with a table and 4 chairs, large living room, separate tub and shower in the bathroom, and 2 sinks - one in the bathroom and one adjacent to the bedroom. This extra sink was a wonderful bonus for us, making it quicker to get ready in the morning and more convenient at night. The location is terrific: about 8-12 minutes to each park. Even though it has a Kissimmee address, it is just across the street from Celebration.

[Cam22]

Sorry about the long and tiring road trip! But your resort sounds awesome with a superb view. Nice way to arrive with Wishes and then Illuminations.

[cattailmarsh]

So sorry about the ridiculously long drive but your complete attitude shift was amazing but definitely correct - palm trees, sun, & warmth absolute improvement on OH weather in early March.

Great score on the room requests! Couldn't have planned that better months out. Must have been meant to be.

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[SuperDave]

Nice start to your trip, but such a long drive! Seems like a nice resort outside of WDW with a great view of the various fireworks. I don't know that resort, but am familiar with a lot of the outside resorts nearby. I will have to look this one up as it's within ten minutes.

Which part of WDW is your resort closest to?

[MAKHayes-DisneyDiva]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Which part of WDW is your resort closest to?

AK and DHS were the closest. According to the Unofficial Guide, the drive times are:
MK - 8:30
Epcot - 8:15
AK - 6:45
DHS - 7:45

These seem a bit optimistic, but they might reflect the time from the resort to the exact second one drives under the sign for each park. Our commute from the resort to parking at each park was about 2 minutes longer. Still, all are delightfully close!

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you made it after the long drive!!

[Nemo125]

Just catching onto this TR! Glad you survived the drive. And your room sounds wonderful!

[MAKHayes-DisneyDiva]

Day 2: Sunday, March 5, 2017
Magic Kingdom
Our original plan was to take the resort shuttle each day, but we quickly decided that $20 per day to park at WDW was well worth the convenience of coming and going as we pleased. You see, we are not all-day park people. We like to spend a few hours soaking it all in and using the FP+ system, and then get out when the crowds become heavier. I like to return in the evenings, having napped, swum, or relaxed for a while. Our shuttle stop was not convenient to our building at VVP, and only offered returns once in the afternoon and a few times in the evening. I suppose we could have used Uber, but driving our own car worked really well for us on this trip.

I'm not sure I've ever had to deal with parking at the Ticket and Transportation Center to get to MK. My other stays were either in a WDW resort, or a split stay that was partially off property. I have to say that this process is both time consuming and inconvenient. That being said, I was incredibly glad that we drove! We didn't have to add the extra time and steps of walking to our resort shuttle, taking it to Epcot (our resort's drop off spot) taking the monorail to the T and T center, then taking a monorail or boat to MK... Couple all of that with the entry lines and bag check lines, and one could feel exhausted before the day even begins!

There’s nothing quite like the magic of a sunny morning walk down Main Street USA at rope drop! Everyone is either jockeying for position, stopping for a photo, feeling lost and overwhelmed, or all of the above. We stopped for a few photos and headed to our first attraction, Pirates! Our morning included:
Pirates
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Haunted Mansion
Pirates again
The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
and almost The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Sadly, after 20 minutes in line, we learned that the ride was closing temporarily for repairs.

Midway through the day, we were ready for a break and took a boat to the Wilderness Lodge. We enjoyed lunch at the Geyser Point Bar and Grill, overlooking the water. Peter loved his burger and waffle fries, and my salad with grilled chicken was very tasty. We’ve been to several of the resorts, but this was our first time at WL, so we spent some time walking around. The grounds and main lodge are very attractive, but we were actually in search of the Carolwood Pacific Room. We found it in the Boulder Ridge Villas. The room is a peaceful spot that is decorated with train memorabilia from Walt’s own collection. Carolwood Pacific was the name of Walt’s ⅛ scale backyard railroad. Two cars from his train are on display. I may have mentioned that my son’s passions are trains, photography, and photographing trains. He really liked the Carolwood Pacific Room!

We returned to MK for two attractions:
Mickey’s Philharmagic - an old favorite of ours
Dumbo - our first time!

You may notice the absence of any ride that includes the word Mountain. I love coasters, but Peter is really not a fan. (If I hadn't been an active participant in his birth, I might doubt that we're related!) I didn't miss the trio of Mountains, but I would like to have tried the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. The wait was far too long, and I didn't score a FP+, so I'll just have to come back in the future!

Later in the afternoon we spent some time riding and photographing the monorail, winding up at the Contemporary in time for our dinner reservation at The Wave. We had a great meal! My son ordered the Seared Potato Gnocchi, and I ordered the Grilled Beef Tenderloin. Delicious! I also enjoyed an adult beverage. This ended up being our fanciest meal of the trip.

After dinner we shopped and strolled around at the Contemporary. Peter took numerous pictures of the monorail as it entered and exited the resort. We then rode the monorail for a bit, headed back to our resort, and called it an early evening. Other than the WDW Railroad being out of service, a marvelously magical day was had by both.

[SuperDave]

Quite an active day with so many attraction in under your belt which makes it a success as well as having a great time!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great day!