TRIP REPORT: March 27th-April 2nd

A few weeks ago, my wife and I joined our in-laws at my FIL's timeshare. He has one of those exchanges (interval I think?) so this will give you some insight on what it's like to stay without EPA, Deluxe Magic Hours or Free Disney Transportation. It was also an extremely busy week.

Friday 3/27- Landed in MCO around 7pm, picked up the rental (Alamo Skip the Counter is proof God exists) and drove to Wyndham Garden near Disney Springs for 2 nights. The hotel is fine and is right next to the walking bridge to Disney Springs. There is also a Joffrey's in their lobby. It stunk to pay for parking but it is what it is. We had Deluxe Burger for dinner and waited a really long time, as Springs was absolutely packed this night. However the line for Gideon's was short and we scored some cookies. The cookies and cream is their best in my opinion. The dark coffee cake was also very good, though I like the regular coffee cake beter. I also got the Millionaire Shortbread from the Basket at Wine Bar George. DFB has been hyping this treat for years and sadly, it was disappointing.

Saturday 3/28. Finally after years of trying, I got a brunch reservation at Homecomin' and it was worth the wait. You need to do this meal at least once. The Halleleujah Biscuit was tremendous and much better than my wife's Country fried steak. And even though it was breakfast, i got the mac n' cheese as my side. This is easily the best mac on property, do not @ me. PRO TIP, our server told us to call the restaurant directly if you can't get a reservation on the MDE app. After this we arrived at AK around 11am and it was already crowded. We did the new Zootopia show (it is very cute but you really need to see Zootopia 2 to even understand it) and waited around 50 minutes for a Safari. We then managed to modify our ILL for FOP to an earlier time and rode that. Got a night blossom and cheeseburger pods. Then went back to the hotel for a few hours.

We went to MK, rode our Tron ILL and then met our family for the Pre-Fireworks dessert party. I will say, it is expensive. However, alcohol is included. There are a ton of tasty and themed desserts. The viewing area is awesome, especially as it allows you to not be trampled as soon as HEA ends. We rode Haunted Mansion after and passed out.

Sunday 3/29. Checked out of our room at the Wyndham and tried to take advantage of at least one morning with EPA. Sadly, Guardians and Frozen went down as soon as we entered the park. The line for Test Track was outrageous. We did get a LL since we were almost on Frozen when it went down. We quickly rode 3 Caballeros, single rider line for TT (about 25 min on a 90 min line, not too shabby!) We ate some festival food, redeemed our Frozen LL, did Remy single rider (again, 20 min wait on a 70 minute line!)

I am a huge UConn fan so we went back and checked into the timeshare (Marriott Royal Palms) to watch the game. The room was Huge, probably bigger than most 2br DVCs though I did not bother to check this. After our stunning victory over Duke, i was so fired up I went right to HS to ride Tower of Terror. It was the perfect victory celebration.

Monday 3/30 This was an awesome family morning at MK even though we did not have epa at this point. The rope drop for Mine Train and Peter Pan was long so we rode Jungle Cruise, Pirates and Tiana with short waits. Then we got SUPER LUCKY- Buzz had a surprise soft opening! So we rode that with the new guns. It is much improved and you now get to see your score and targets hit on the photopass. After that we saw Festival ofFantasy and ate Diamond Horseshoe for lunch. The toffee cake dessert is to die for, and the best reason to come here.

We also got into McKim's Mile House for a while. I was actually VERY confused as cast members quoted people a long wait to get in, but when it was our turn (my bro in law has membership extras so we got priority) the place was like 50% empty. So in my opinion, they either lack the staff to operate this at full capacity or are artificially keeping it hard to get into. What are your guys experiences with this place?

Anyway the coke freestlye machine is money. We also got some free snacks. The decor is pretty laid back, sort of like Wilderness Lodge inside.

After an afternoon break we went to HS to see Fantasmic. We also managed to single ride Rise and Smuggler's run. A quick dinner was had at ABC Commissary. The buffalo grilled cheese is so good, and this food is legit much cheaper than Docking Bay 7. Fantasmic, as usual, is the GOAT. Overall a great night!

Tuesday 3/31. This was a tough morning at HS. We tried to ride Slinky as it's my nephew's favorite but the line was 120 minutes before we even got inside. So we rode Smuggler's as a party of 6- 70 minute wait! Met Stitch at the Visa meet and great near Celebrity Spotlight and saw the villains show. We then met up with another family member who is CM. He took us to Coronado for lunch. Rix was just okay- I would not make a special trip to return.

That night we went to Beak & Barrel. Truly it was a lot of fun and the drinks were tasty. It is a 45 minute/2 drink max. If you are in the back room, you will need to get up and go to the front room to see the parrot.

Starlight parade is so gorgeous in person. A must do! We did not stay for fireworks.

Wednesday 4/1. Animal Kingdom morning. Safari was only about 30 minutes. Single rider Everest was short as always. I was not in a mood to be at the parks too long so we went to the Disney outlets. Got some cheap stuff and ate Portillo's for lunch. If you have a car, you need to try! The polish hot dogs and italian beefs are so good. My SIL also said the cake shake was amazing.

We then went to Summer House for an early dinner. I enjoyed the food a great deal. It is heavily seasoned, which i like. The meatballs had a nice kick to them. The chicken paillard was juicy and hit the spot. We got some cookies too. Pinky is my favorite by a lot.

That night the whole family hit up HS. We got on TSM in about 40 minutes, Smuggler's in about 20, and Runaway railway was a walk-on at the end of the night.

Thursday 4/2. Oh no! Time to fly home. We did have time to spend the morning in EPCOT. Rode Soarin', the Land, SSE and Figment. Ate some more festival food. Saw the American adventure. Got some Raising Cane's for lunch on the drive home. Then we turned our car in and went home.

The drive to MCO was around 430pm so, rush hour adjacent. The area near the time share was packed but overall the roads were wide open. We made our slightly delayed flight in plenty of time.

Here were my biggest takeaways of the week.

1- Staying off property is not even close to staying on property/DVC. We had never done this before. The place we stayed at was very nice and spacious, just 10 minutes from the parks, and close to a lot of good places to eat. It did not matter- staying at WDW is just better, if you are there to do the parks. Full stop.

2- Wait times were insane. We had also never gone during a holiday week before. The parks were jam packed by 11am. No lightning lanes to be had. I got a few lucky ILL's early in the week but once that weekend ended and the Monday of holy week began, it was a free for all. So you need to plan for this and be okay riding at off-peak times or seeing shows, doing table service, getting drinks, etc.

3- The weather was amazing. The late March window can be quite balmy but we were mostly spared the heat. The mornings and nights are just perfection. Don't let this trick you into not drinking tons of water, though.

4- New security machines. I thought they were more sensitive, but overall faster. I flagged twice despite holding my battery packs and sunglasses case out in front of me. Come on, man.

5- It was still awesome. If we did the same exact trip every time, the parks would get boring. It was a new way to experience the parks and we were still extremely grateful to be there with our family. As I said, if you've never been during a very busy time, I would say you need to either spend a lot of money on LL (7 day window is needed for it to be worth it) or be happy with a smaller amount of rides. Leverage your shows, meals and other stuff.

Thanks for reading along! We will be back for the 4th of July so I'll post my second novel at that point.