3family's first trip - 3 hotels, 4 airports, millions of laughs - Travel day and day 1 Magic Kingdom

[3family]

I started a pre trip report but kinda let it slide towards the end so here's a quick run down on the background to our trip

The cast is me, DW and DD7. We only seriously thought about a trip to Orlando in December and booked it in January. We got a nice package with a travel agent here in Dublin for 14 nights in the Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando. As I did more research I booked a throwaway campsite spot, a night in the RPR and booked some ADRs at 180 day, and some FPs at 60 etc

Anyway here's our experiences which I hope will help some

American Airlines
There's a long thread somewhere here with me being worried when our flight was delayed. It meant we got into Orlando at 11 rather than the scheduled 7 but AA were pretty proactive. I encourage anyone flying with them to download the app as it will update you on anything from delays to gate movements etc. For example when we boarded the first flight we were still hoping to make our scheduled Chicago to Orlando flight. A further delay in departing Dublin meant we'd miss it. Before we took off I had a notification from them telling me they'd rebooked me on later flight as I'd miss it. Departing from Dublin meant we only needed 15 minutes between flights as they were at gates that were very close. Return flight was via Philly. We had 75 minute layover and we were at the second boarding gate with an hour to spare...

Camping at Fort Wilderness
I did online check in. Got lyft from Rosen Inn and brought right to desk at 7.30. Took about 25 minutes as lovely old lady explained all about the campgrounds. Took our magic bands and got the bus to the marina, and then the boat to Magic Kingdom. A pretty magical way to approach our first Florida theme park

Magic Kingdom Day 1
There for rope drop. We headed into Adventure Island and it was empty. We had a FP booked for Pirates but walked on Jungle Cruise first, then walked on Pirates, then used our Pirates FP (DD loved this ride in Paris). We got some much done before 12pm including Splash Mountain and BTM. Feeling quite hot we went to get our first Mickey Ice Cream for DD and some water. The CM gave us them for free. Hurrah for first visit pixie dust. We also went for 'breakfast' at Sleepy Hallow about 11ish. DW had a funnel cake which she said was the nicest thing ever. I had the ice cream sandwich that was literally the size of DD's head and she had waffle and cream. This was great value

Our last scheduled FP as 7DMT. I thought people had exaggerated how short it was... they were right. We then had lunch at BOG. Enjoyed the turkey sandwich. We had preordered and I *highly* recommend this as we walked straight in while there was a queue to order at the machines. We then did a ton more rides using extra FPs for a load of rides. We never queued more than 25 mins for anything. The Monsters Inc laugh factory was a highlight. Every day we asked each other for favourite rides. DD picked Tomorrowland Speedway, DW went with Big Thunder Mountain. I soppily picked Jungle Cruise as it was our first in Disney World

We left (shattered) about 6.30. We got the resort monorail as the queue for the express was half way down the walkway. Lyft/Uber was well signposted. Had a quick freshen up in the hotel and went out for dinner on I drive at about 8.30. Half hour waits at Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze and Millers. We settled for TGI Fridays with a ten minute wait. It was good. Server was OK. Don't know if she meant to but we weren't charged for drinks. DD fell asleep in the restaurant

An amazing first day