Disney World Background

  Disclaimer:  This post contains lots of Disney World background info.  If you aren't into Disney World details, you might want to skip it.  I will be posting all about our trip with tons and tons of pictures soon! 

    I am starting the very long process of blogging about our Disney World trip.  Its going to take some time, but it's well worth it so we can one day look back and remember every detail.  I'm aiming for a post a day. 
    First, I will start with some background information.  I will admit that I have become obsessed with all things Disney World.  When I'm not in Disney World, I spend a great deal of time planning my next trip, even if I don't actually have one planned.  I was so thrilled when my dad started talking about making a trip to Disney World.  I got right on things and started to research dates.  We have gone all different times of the year.  I suggested September because I have read that is when it is truly the least crowded time of all year.  The only down side was taking Ashlyn out of school for a week, but we spoke with her teacher, arranged all her makeup work, and it ended up being no big deal. 
     This trip was extra special for lots of reasons, but one of the biggest was that my entire family was able to go.  It ended up being my parents, brother, sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew, Joey, the kids, and I.  There was 12 of us that went.  Let me tell you coordinating flights, hotels, restaurant reservations, fast passes, etc. for 12 people was not an easy task, but I was more than happy to do it. 
    Disney World has changed a lot over the years.  When I went as a kid, you bought park tickets and showed up.  If you felt like eating at a restaurant, you booked it that day.  Fast forward 20 some years and so much has changed.  The amount of advanced planning that goes into a Disney World trip is unreal. 
   First,  you have to book your hotel.  There is literally like 30 to pick from . My dad decided to spoil us and picked the Yacht Club.  It is a deluxe resort and one of the nicest on property.  It's a 5 minute walk to Epcot and a 15 minute walk to Hollywood Studios.  It was such a nice treat!  We hardly had to ride packed buses at all.  The hotel was gorgeous, the rooms were great, and the pool was wonderful.  I would love to stay there again and would highly recommend it. 
   Once you have booked your hotel package, you can start booking dining reservations 180 days out.  That's right, they book 6 months out.  Some restaurants have to be booked that far out or you won't get in.  We didn't start planning our trip 6 months out, so we didn't get all the restaurants we wanted, but we did get the majority.   It's quite a task to book dining because you have to commit to what day you will be in each park and so forth.
   After you book your dining, 60 days out you can book your Fast Passes.  They have totally changed the Fast Pass system since last trip.  Now you get these really cool bracelets to wear that store all your info.  You use them as room keys, debit cards, park tickets, and Fast Passes.  You can now book what rides you want to ride in advance.  It's very tricky because like restaurants, you have to do it way in advance because a lot of rides book up.  I had to schedule each day pretty much down to the minute.  It's hard to say in two months what ride you will want to ride at noon on Tuesday.  Katy and I stayed up late the night we were able to start booking and got the most coveted Fast Passes in all of Disney World: Elsa and Anna meet and greet.  (More on that later.)  We ended up loving the new system because despite all the planning before hand, once we got there it was relatively stress free. 
     As we got closer to our trip, we started to watch the weather forecast for Orlando.  We knew going into the trip it was going to be very hot.  We started to see that it was also going to be rainy.  Rain was predicted every day.  We were all so worried that it would rain every day and spoil our fun.  We ended up getting so lucky.  We miraculously planned our trip between two huge tropical storms that dumped a lot of rain.  It only rained three times and it wasn't very long.
       All the crowd predictors were very spot on and the crowds were great.  Disney World is never going to be crowd free.  Its Disney World and people are going to go all times of the year, but I have to say this is the least crowded I have ever seen it.  We tried to plan our last two trips around crowds and we weren't all that impressed with low crowds.  This time we really were.  The ride wait times were so low and we hardly had to wait in line at all.  We were able to ride a ton of rides which was great! 
   We ended up spending 7 days and nights in Disney World and it was paradise. We all had such an amazing time.  The amount of smiles and memories we shared on that trip will truly last all of us a lifetime.  I think this may have been our best trip yet.  I am so sad to be home, but so happy that we got to experience another Disney World trip.