Report on our quick trip to WDW

[fivi2]

We just got back last night from a very quick trip to WDW with our almost 3 yo twin girls. My dad lives in the area and he and his wife got us a hotel for two nights to make life easier! I am new at trip reports, so this is mostly random musings... We only did MK and AK. We had a fantastic time!

Hotel - Grand Floridian. Very nice. It was great to be on the monorail, and we came back midday from MK to rest. That made the afternoon much easier on the girls. We ate at the Grand Floridian Cafe one night. It was good - not spectacular, but good. We had ADRs, but I don't think they were necessary. It was pretty slow, though. We watched the fireworks from the hotel the first night - that was great. The view of the castle was nice too.

Magic Kingdom - No waits for anything. (This past Friday). The streets felt very crowded, but I never saw a posted wait longer than 15 minutes - even for the mountains, which we did not ride. IASW and the Dumbo variations we the big favorites with my girls. They did not like any of the dark rides (including Pooh and Peter Pan). The Barnstormer was the worst - they both freaked out! They loved the castle and all the lights and characters. We ate dinner with Pooh & co at Crystal Palace - a lot of fun. The girls loved seeing the characters. The food was mediocre, but it was a great experience. I might do breakfast next time just to be in the park before opening (we did at AK and it was great). I was uncertain about character meals, but ended up thinking they were definitely worth it. Not a ton of character time, but enough for my little ones.

Animal Kingdom - Wow. We absolutely loved it. I don't understand how this is anyone's least favorite park! I had never been before and thought it was amazing. We had Tusker House breakfast before the park opened. It was very cool to walk around with the park empty. We rode the safari right at 9 (on the second car) and the animals were all active - the girls were entranced. (one of them wants to bring home a baby elephant!) We had fun at Rafiki's, but don't need to do it every time. FOTLK was amazing! Again, my girls were entranced. Flights of Wonder was fun, but my girls got tired of it about halfway through - maybe better in a year or two. We did not take a break this day and left a little after 3 because they were wiped out. We could have stayed - there was still more to do! We didn't ride any big rides or see Nemo, but we did a ton. The character greeting trails had short lines and the girls loved that too. And of course Triceratop Spin was a hit!

So - it was a short trip, combined with grandparents. The girls were great - they were exhausted, but did not have any major meltdowns. I think one of them is sick now (sleeping) The parks felt crowded to me, but there weren't any long waits for anything! It was warmer than I wanted (and I live somewhere warm!) but it was cool on the day we left.

I wanted to share since you guys were so helpful in our planning!

[WatchingThemGrow]

That sounds like a fun trip! We will have the g'parent/disney trip as our first too. I LOVE the Grand Floridian from my stays there back in college. I went to rent one of the water sprites (boats) and one of my sorority sisters was working the rental booth. I got to ride free! The monorail just makes life so much easier.

Thanks for sharing all your adventures and thoughts. We hope to do it in a few more years, with *hope* being the key word. Glad you had a great trip.

[JTsMom]

Sounds like you guys had a great time! Lucky you, getting to stay at the GF! Thanks for sharing- so glad to hear you loved AK. That's the only park I haven't been to yet, so I always enjoy hearing different opinions on it.