01/15/2023
As most of you have seen, my family of 7 went to Disney World over Christmas Break. I'm going to give you our family review of the trip! Hopefully it's helpful to someone starting to plan!
Dates: December 26-January 2nd
Resorts: First two nights were at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort (Deluxe) and next 5 nights were at Disney's All Star Sports Resort (Value)
Rooms: Because we are a family of 7 we had two connecting rooms at both resorts. This is guaranteed for a large family with one adult in each room.
Transportation from airport: We chose to use Uber/Lyft and it was incredibly easy. We needed two to fit us but requested when we got our bags and they were there in minutes. We were at our hotel in 30 minutes and it cost about $35 per ride.
Stroller Rental: We rented a stroller from Kingdom Strollers for the week in case anyone got tired of walking, we were super glad we had it for John (just turned 6). It was delivered to our resort and they pick up at the resort or we decided to turn it in at the airport. Super easy.
Polynesian Resort: We LOVED the pool, hot tub, view of Magic Kingdom (we watched the fireworks the first night from the beach), the Moana themed large rooms, the beautiful lobby and the monorail access to Magic Kingdom! It was perfect for our Magic Kingdom day and pool day.
Transferring to All Star Sports: We gave our luggage to bell services at the Polynesian and they transported it to All Star Sports. We spent the entire day at the pool and then took monorail to EPCOT and then a bus to All Star Sports.
All Star Sports: I had never stayed at a Value resort and I was very impressed. The boys all loved this resort more than the Polynesian (they loved the football field the most)! We loved the food court and the big Disney theming! We had bus transportation
to the parks (Hollywood Studios, EPCOT and Animal Kingdom). The buses ran great and only took about 10-15 minutes to get to the parks.
We did all 4 parks with two pool/rest days and it was great. We did not go to a park on arrival day. Our schedule was: Magic Kingdom, pool day (transfer day), Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, pool day, Animal Kingdom. Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and EPCOT we were there from early entry to 9-10:00pm.
We did three character dining meals and that was enough for us. We did Ohana breakfast at the Polynesian, Akershus Princess Dinner at EPCOT and Tusker House lunch at Animal Kingdom.
Everyone favorites:
Dan: staying at the Polynesian, loved the feeling of being in Hawaii
Evan (13): Guardians of the Galaxy at EPCOT and Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom
Logan (11): Rockin' Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios
Ryan (7): Guardians of the Galaxy at EPCOT and Cinnamon Rolls at Gaston's Tavern at Magic Kingdom
Emmy (7): Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom and the Princess dinner (met Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Jasmine, and Princess Aurora)
John: (6): Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom and Cinnamon Rolls at Gaston's Tavern
Me: Fantasmic show at Hollywood Studios, I had NEVER seen it and it was magical....I had tears.
Other favorites: Indiana Jones and Frozen show at Hollywood Studios, Olaf Scavenger Hunt in EPCOT, playing football at All Star Sports on the field, and taking the monorail to explore resorts.
We did use Genie+ every day and paid for Individual Lightning Lane rides at all 4 parks. We rode EVERYTHING we wanted.
Any questions, let me know! I know this was long but hopefully helpful!