In November this year, I am headed to Orlando with my husband, parents, and my brother and his fiance. See how we plan our trip!
Accommodations:
For this trip, we are actually staying offsite. There are definitely locations on property that could fit our group, but a rental house fit what we wanted a lot better for a lot less money! We also originally had some other people planning to go on this trip with us too, which may have been harder to find something comfortable enough for all of us on site. A couple years ago when we traveled to Disney, we stayed at Old Key West and loved it! This trip is a little longer than that one was, so we wanted some more space. Our VRBO is just about 2 miles from Disney so it’s pretty convenient. We also have a pool, outdoor eating area, and theater room! There are definitely some benefits we are missing out on by staying off property, but we were willing to give those up for this trip. One of these benefits is being able to book all our dining reservations at 60 days from check in. Since we are offsite, we could only book reservations 60 days out from each day. This means that a lot was already full by the time we could book it! Luckily, I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve!
Arrival and Departure:
We are going for a full week, and wanted to visit the parks on week days which tend to be less crowded. We check in to our VRBO on Sunday and leave on Saturday and Sunday.
Our daily itinerary:
On arrival day, we may actually visit a nearby Scuba diving park before check in! We plan to get our groceries ordered ahead of time and delivered to the house, and we’ll grill out that night for dinner.
Monday
My dad, husband, and I are headed to Universal on day 1! We have express passes, which are actually booked through a hotel (I can help you decide which was is the most economical!). We get early admission to the parks, so we’ll probably arrive early to take advantage of that. With our express passes, we should be able to ride nearly everything! There are two new rides that we are most excited for – Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure and the Velocicoaster. That evening we have reservations for Toothsome Chocolate Emporium, and the rest of our crew will meet us there!
20-47050 Publicity P791 COASTER ON TRACK Jurassic World JW Jurassic Park JP IOA Islands of Adventure
Tuesday
We are headed to Hollywood Studios with everyone! We will probably arrive a little after opening, since we aren’t really “rope drop” kind of people (people who arrive before opening and enter the park right away!) so we can avoid the line of cars waiting to get in before park open. We plan to eat lunch at the Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge, which is an adorable shaded patio outside the Brown Derby. It does not take/require reservations, but most people don’t realize it is there, so you can usually get a seat if you arrive right when they open. We have an early dinner at Sci Fi Drive In, and a reservation at Oga’s Cantina! Some of our favorite rides at HS include Tower of Terror, Rock ‘n Roller Coaster, and Toy Story Mania. Most of our group has not yet ridden Minnie and Mickey’s Runaway Railway, so I’m sure we will ride that too! Michael and I were able to ride it on our trip last year. It’s very cute but I really miss the Great Movie Ride.
Wednesday
Taking a day off of the parks! We’ll have a slow morning around the house, and head to Disney Springs in the afternoon. We plan to visit Gideon’s Bakehouse (personally I can’t wait to try the double frosted cake), World of Disney, and the Lego Store. I plan to build a custom lego person! We have reservations for drinks at the Edison, followed by dinner at Enzo’s. We also always make sure we watch the volcano erupt at Rainforest Cafe at least once! While we wish we could eat at all our favorites on every trip, it’s just not possible! We also love Wine Bar George and City Works. I will definitely be stopping by the Wine Bar George to-go window for a frozen wine beverage made with Dole Whip!
Thursday
Epcot! This will be just my husband and me and my parents, while my brother and his fiance go to Universal (she has to work Monday when the rest of us are going!). We will definitely be eating and drinking around the world! We just found out the Rose and Crown dining package will be open for our trip! You get to sit on the patio and have dinner and drinks as the show goes on! It is some of the most fun we have had. Space 220 also recently opened, but reservations were wacky!! I was not able to snag a lunch reservation, but I’ll keep trying. We love Test Track, the “golf ball ride” aka Spaceship Earth, Soarin’, and The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Remy’s Ratatoullie Adventure opens this October so we will definitely try to ride that, as well as the Frozen ride. Fun fact: did you know that The Seas with Nemo and Friends is the second largest aquarium in the US after the Georgia Aquarium, and the third largest in the world???
Friday
We wrap up our theme park visits with Magic Kingdom! Currently, we plan to visit Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch, but we may cancel that and just eat quick service that day. We are very excited to see the new fireworks show called Disney’s Enchantment, so we’ll definitely be snagging a spot ahead of time! Fireworks dessert parties are back but we decided not to do that this year! Maybe next time! I definitely plan to enjoy some Starbucks on Main Street. It might be cheugy or basic or whatever the kids call it, but I love it! We will definitely be riding Peter Pan, It’s a Small World, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and Space Mountain. I also hope to get a cinnamon roll from Gaston’s (with extra frosting!). At the end of the night after the fireworks, we plan to take the boat to Polynesian Resort to get a drink from Trader Sam’s. It may be busy, but we’re going to try. We can walk from Poly to our car which will be parked at the TTC, so it’s easy enough.
Saturday
Departure day for most of us! My brother and his fiance fly out this day, and Michael and I are driving so we may leave that afternoon as well. We currently have a reservation at Kona Cafe for brunch, but we are hoping to actually get into Trattoria at Boardwalk or Homecomin’ at Disney Springs. That evening, if Michael and I stay in town we may go to Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge (with a view of the savanna!) or Raglan Road (we love an Irish pub) for dinner.
Other things to consider – we know that Genie and Genie+ may come out before our trip. It will be a whole new ball game to decide if we should purchase Genie+ or any individual attraction passes.
You may have noticed we are not visiting Animal Kingdom on this trip! We are “only” going for a week and wanted to visit Universal for a day and also wanted a day off in the middle of our trip, so we decided to skip it this time.
What would you do differently for your trip? If you’re ready to plan your Disney or Universal vacation, reach out!
