We just returned after a 10 day stay
Just returned from a 10 day stay at WDW with my wife and sister. First time in 47 years that sis and I were at WDW at the same time. For context, my wife uses and ECV, but can walk short distances. Also, we've been building cash back on our Disney rewards card for 10 years, so decided to spend money on things that we might not have otherwise. Because we're all a little older and don't feel the need to do all the rides in a day, we kept a relaxed pace, did not rope drop. Please reply if you have any specific questions or comments.
We stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort. It was good, but I probably won't go out of my way to stay again. We were in the "Martinique" section, which is what saved the experience for me, as it is closest to the Riviera and the Skyliner there. The rooms (2 queen beds) were nice, but not ECV friendly. The rest of the resort sprawls over a lot of territory and I think staying in any of the other sections means a long walk to something. The "marketplace" food/drink were good, but Art of Animation does it better, IMHO.
Day 1: Arrived at 9:30am, rooms not ready. Explored the resort, then went to Disney Springs. Drinks and lite bites at Jock Lindsay's, which was very good, and nice sitting on the water. To my surprise, I was able to get early dinner reservations at Topolino's. Second best meal I've ever had on a Disney property (stay tuned). A little bit of a transport screw up getting back to the resort, but it worked out.
Day 2: Epcot. We slept in after travel, so got a late start. Flower festival still good. We rode 3 caballeros, thanked the Phoenicians, and visited figment. We re-visited the short films near imagination, I always like that ("Feast"!) Some shopping, then dinner at Space 220. OMG. This one beat Topolino's. I don't care that it's expensive, I'm going back. Be sure to get the Black Hole Fashioned.
Day 3: Animal Kingdom & Magic Kingdom. Animal safari and bird show still great. New Zootopia show actually pretty good. My sister peeled off to go do the Avatar rides. Met back up for lunch at Yak & Yeti. Y&Y has leaned into a spicy curry based menu, so not as appealing to us as it used to be, but sill good if we chose carefully. Walked the jungle path. Sneaked over to MK because sis couldn't wait to see the castle. Rode haunted mansion, then back to the resort.
Day 4: Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Sis wanted to to rise and smuggler's run. As a single rider, she was able to do both with minimal wait. Same for Star Tours; I think she did that twice. Meanwhile, my wife and I did Runaway railroad and the Indiana Jones show. Drinks and noshes at Oga's Cantina. Great theming and good food/drinks, but frankly way too crowded, and too many under supervised children; probably won't re-visit. Rose and crown for dinner, and it was all excellent. I had the fish and chips, and think the fillets came off a whale. Bangers and Mashed were good, as was the meat pie.
Day 5: Epcot. Mostly walking around taking in the topiary and flowers. Some shopping, lunch at the Biergarten which we all enjoyed. A couple little bites from stalls, all good. Geo82 early evening for drinks and bites, and it was awesome. We should have lingered over one more drink to watch the fireworks from there, but I still had PTSD from fighting the crowd to get out a couple days before. We watched them as we were hiking to the skyliner.
Day 6: Rest day. Disney Springs to start buying souvenirs, pool, nap.
Day 7: Magic Kingdom. This is my & sis' home, so we did all the things. Some rides the ECV was allowed through the standby line, on a couple rides we were given return times that let us in through the fast pass lane. In other rides, the ECV was not allowed and my wife had to use a wheelchair to wait in line. Longest wait was Peter Pan (no surprise), at about 50 minutes. Others were 15-25 minutes. Lunch at Cinderella's royal table. Sleepy Hollow corn dogs for dinner (my favorite). Caught the new starlight parade, loved that the last float has music from the old Main Street Electrical parade.
Day 8: Hollywood studios & Magic Kingdom. Caught up on rides we hadn't done at either park. Sis rode RoR and Smuggler's again. Late morning arrival at MK, rode some of the OG things again, shopping, started using upo snack credits. Tony's for dinner, and it was as good as ever.
Day 9: Magic Kingdom. Diamond horseshoe for lunch, but not impressive. No show, same menu as liberty tree. The server told us it’s being shut down soon to make way for a Jessie meet-n-greet. Third time on haunted mansion, because it's my wife's favorite
Day 10: Epcot. B’fast with princesses at Akershus, not quite as good as I remember it but love watching the excitement of little kids meeting princesses. It was a little weird walking to it from the skyliner. We had early entry for breakfast, and everyone was headed straigh to Ratatouille. The upper end of World Affair was completely empty. Ratatouille (only 40 minutes), the land, shopping, back for packing. Sebastian's Bistro for dinner… very good