And then there were 7- final summary- live report

[chazb]

#Baulysdodisney
The summary

PICS AT BOTTOM

So we are back from the most amazing holiday, 15 nights in such a magical place.

Before we went i was really worried about the weather and even more so after reading peoples comments on here. We had one day where it did rain all day, one day where it was dry in the morning and poured all afternoon and one really bad lightening and thunder which only lasted 30 mins max. The rest of the time was scorching hot or cloudy but still hot. The rain didnt actually bother me and we ended up getting loads done on those days, i also preferred the days where there was quite a lot of cloud coverage as it made it much more berable especially with the children, and ive still come home with a good tan.

We spent 12 nights at disney at saratoga springs and it was so lovely. A really great resort and out room was within east access to everything. The buses were also fab and apart from 2 times we never waited more than 10 mins for a bus and also only had to stand once. Disney overall was fantastic and we had so much fun and we got some disney magic too, especially with the girls being asked to start the epcot fireworks. All the character interactions were fabulous, but i think rapunzel went above and beyond. All cast members we encountered were fab too.
Our favourite meal was
Mum- turf grill and bar @ saratoga
Dad - same as above
Adam- california grill
Char- same as adam, but I did love my macaroni cheese burger at planet hollywood
Phoebe- coral reef at epcot
Darcey- whispering canyon cafe
Garden grill was also fab

Our favourite ride
Mum- splash mountain
Dad - splash mountain
Adam - splash mountain
Char - kali river rapids
Phoebe- test track
Darcey- kali river rapids
Finley - its a small world

The free DDP is also fab and you really cant go wrong with it. I probably would pay out of pocket for one character dining experience but wouldnt be able to afford to do all the ones we did. Its so nice to be able to wxperience these and some of the other restaurants we did. Apart from tips (which are automatically added to your bill at 18% for parties of 6 or more) we hardly spent any money when in disney.
I also would consider just doing the qs plan in future as there are some really nice qs restaurants in disney and its not all burgers if u dont want it to be.
I know some people dont like to plan, but i did spend quite a lot of time planning and i think it was worth it as we didnt wait more than 20 mins the whole time we were in disney. I did adjsut out plans according to the weather and the kids tiredness but still did everything we wanted to do. Apart from animal kingdom, where i found the wifi rubbish, it was easy to change fp and get new ones also to change any dining reservations.

We then spent 3 nights at universal at the loews royal pacific hotel. This hotel is a stunning hotel. I think moving from a 2 bedroom villa to a single room is hard and i did struggle with the space. I was planning on doing universal 1st but then i thought it made better sense to have the express passes at universal when it was the UK half term and the american schools were finishing and I am glad we did do it that way. The express passes are worth their weight in gold and i dont think we queued more than 15 mins for anything. On the day we did blutos bilge rat barges it was a boiling hot day and the wait time for normal line was 80 mins and we were on in 2 mins. Its also hard going from not paying for any food and drinks being on the ddp at disney to having to pay for everything at universal and having to also carry cash around with me 😂. Again the staff we encountered were all very friendly and fab with the kids and the character interactions were all really good and were amazing especially with finley. I did really enjoy our time at universal.
Fav ride at universal

Mum- spiderman
Dad- gringotts
Adam- hulk
Char- gringotts
Phoebe- bluto bile rat barges
Darcey - harry potter rollercoaster

The last thing i want to talk about is people asking when is the right age to take your children. Phoebe is 5, darcey 4 and finley 13 months. The girls were perfect ages and fully embraced the disney magic. I was worried about taking finley, but i really didnt need too. Yes you have to factor in naps, pushchairs and nappys and things but it was an absolute joy to see his face. He loved meeting the characters he did, he loved all the rides he went on and he just smiled the whole time and so many people commented what a happy baby he was. He was happy to sleep in his buggy and he also slept and ate really well the whole time. So i think he also was a really good age to go to.

We really did have the most amazing time and to see your childrens faces light up on the rides, seeing the fireworks and meeting the characters really is priceless.

We do have plans for next year. We are going in August for 3 weeks, hiring a villa and hiring a car for the 1st time.
Thank you so much for reading everyone xx