First Trip Completed 7/7/11

**MKlover** · 07-11-2011, 08:55 PM

My husband, 10-year old daughter, and I just finished our first trip ever to WDW and I am feeling mixed emotions. I feel so happy that we had an AMAZING trip, but depressed it is all over.... We left last Thursday and returned to home this afternoon. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge which was fantastic. There were 14 of us in all at the resort. 10 of them were from my husbands side. We had the best time of our lives. I did a lot of research and talking with others before we left so there are a lot of things we experienced that were great because of that. Research is key when visiting WDW for the first time! We enjoyed a carrot cake cookie from the Writer's Stop, Dole Whips from Frontierland, extra magic hours at MK, Fantasmic at HS, and much more. It was great knowing what rides to go to first or get a FastPass for (Toy Story Mania, Rock n' Roller Coaster, Soarin, etc.) and which ones that are always easy to get on. We rode 98% of what we wanted and when it rained we headed straight to the busy rides and got on within 15 minutes (Test Track). We saw the Electric Parade and fireworks at MK, which were my favorite. We also experienced the fireworks at Epcot and Fantasmic at HS. I ordered trading pins on Ebay before we left so my daughter had 25 pins to trade while we were there. We booked reservations for Crystal Palace and Boma before we left which was great advice. I wasn't sure if we would want to go to any of the 3D shows while at Disney because I didn't know what to expect, but I am sure glad we did some of them. Our favorites were Muppet 3D and Its Tough to be a Bug. They were awesome and a nice break when you need to sit for a minute in air conditioning! The character spots at Camp Minnie Mickey at AK was great because my daughter met ALL of the major characters (Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, Daisy, Chip and Dale, Goofy) for autographs and pictures within an hour to hour and half. It was well worth it! We saw Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet at the Crystal Palace for autographs and pictures and the food was well worth all of the money. Go at lunch time and save some money! Thank you to everyone who posted tips and tricks at Disney! I enjoyed researching and it paid off ten-fold. I am sad it is all over, but look forward to a trip again soon!