teacher100
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2006
This is not a full trip report like most of these here, but just a few thoughts about our trip so if moderators need to move this that is fine:
I just got back from Disney Aug. 11. Our party included my husband and 2 sons age 16 and 24. Rather than a whole trip report I thought I would just put my observations/opinions. We got our requested room at Port Orleans Riverside in the Magonolia building. It was convenient to the bus stop and even though it looks a long way from the main building it isn’t that bad. It is an enjoyable walk by the river. Our room had a ceiling fan. Our friends who had a Royal room didn’t have one. Bus service was Ok most of the time. The board didn’t always have times though.
We didn’t make rope drop most of the time. We were there for 10 days so I didn’t push my family to do so. I did go by myself to rope drop at Epcot once. I made SDFP reservations, went to Frozen with a 10 minute wait and Soarin with a 10 minute wait. I didn’t try, but I probably could have gotten to Test Track with a minimal wait. My husband did the same thing another day, but waited until after Frozen to get SDFP and the Tier 1 rides were all gone, so if you’re getting SDFP at Epcot get them before rides.
We were lucky with weather. It wasn’t as hot as I was expecting. I’m used to the heat though since I’m from NC. The forecast didn’t look good, but there were only a few showers that were easy to avoid. It is important for me to take breaks on hot days. The parks are hot and crowded and it just isn’t worth getting tired when there are long lines everywhere. Going to the hotel and resting made touring at night/early evening much more pleasurable.
Epcot:
I loved Frozen. I was able to ride it several times because of getting there at rope drop a couple of days and FP+. The last time we rode it Elsa was singing, but not moving. I didn’t say anything because I had already been on it a plenty times and most of the ride worked, however I got a notification a few minutes later saying I could get another fp for the ride or any other ride at Epcot.
Epcot-I enjoyed the new Soarin movie, but the distorted images are a little distracting. I can take or leave the designing the car part at Test Track. I guess it gives something for people to do if they have to wait in line anyway. I would rather my fast pass just take me to the ride though. I rode Ellen’s Energy Adventure. I agree it’s time to do something different with it, but the Dinosaur part is really cool and it would be a shame to lose that. I would have liked to see the dinosaur part more times, but the length the other stuff makes the ride take too much of a chunk of time. As far as touring, there was no need to wait in line for any of the tier 2 attractions. There were basically walk on before 10:00 and after 6:00.
Hollywood Studios- I loved the Frozen Sing-a-long. I’m surprised this isn’t one of those hard to get attractions. I like it better than the ride. The story tellers are good and the jokes vary a little in different shows. I saw it twice. I love watching the kid’s excitement. If you are a Star Wars lover this is the park for you. I don’t care about Star Wars so the shows etc. don’t do anything for me. We saw Fantasmic the last night they used the Steamboat. It was a last minute decision because the weather looked iffy the next two nights we were going to be there. We didn’t see the accident because it must have happened on the other side from where we were sitting. My son said he noticed the chipmunk was behind everyone in the little area Dopey ended up. I was surprised when I heard about it a couple days later.
Animal Kingdom-This is an easy park to do without FP+. No long lines! If you want them though, fast passes were still available in the afternoon to everything. We enjoyed the night Safari. The lions were more active. Only time I’ve seen them walking around. However, you still want to see this in daylight because you can’t see the animals clearly. Though they are not needed, FP+ is beneficial for shows because you get let in earlier out of the heat. The seating was better for the Nemo show. This is one show you don’t have to move down the row when you get there, so if you want an end seat that puts you more towards the middle of the theater grab it.
Magic Kingdom-I haven’t been since the new Fantasyland was built. I was surprised there was never a line to Little Mermaid. We went on it several times. The new Peter Pan line is cute. Everyone should go though it once. When we got in line it said the wait was 40 minutes, but it was more like 25 or 30. The Seven Dwarfs was cute, but I wouldn’t wait in a long line for it. My kids are grown so that might be why. To me, the best ride is Thunder Mountain Railroad at night, especially during the fireworks. We did EMH from 12-2. I can’t say the rides were all walk on, but the lines quickly went down the later it got. Jungle Cruise is also another ride you want to do at night. Of all the rides they need to redo at Disney I would say would be Stitch. You can still smell the Chili burp when you walk in, it takes up a lot of time with the preshow stuff. It’s a waste of time for me even though there wasn’t a line.
SDFP and 4th fastpasses. I’m so glad I found out about this from these boards. I got some cards for my Non-expiring tickets with waterparks left on them. I was able to get 4th fastpasses to almost anything with our regular magic bands in the afternoon when we were taking a break in the hotel, including tier 1 attractions. The only thing I couldn’t get was Frozen. I found that things were available on my computer that weren’t available on the app, so if you have access to a laptop definitely try it.
Magic Bands! Loved them. Glad to not have to keep up with a credit card at the park. However, if you want to make dinner reservations from the park you need to have your credit card information.
Bag Checks-They are very thorough! When choosing a line, avoid getting behind a lot of people with back packs and strollers. I wished there was an express line for tiny purses that took about a second. If you miss rope drop these lines can be long! For some reason it seemed my son always got picked to do the random metal detector. He has Asperger’s and it was starting to bother him that he was the only one in our group getting picked so I intentionally started making eye contact with the security so I would get chosen to. When I needed to make SDFP though, I would give my small purse to my son who carried our one backpack and would go and do our SDFP.
I love Disney and have been several times. It has been 6 years because we save up points from the Disney Visa to stay there free. If it weren’t for that, I’m not sure we would see the value in it now that it has gotten so expensive! For a little more than what a moderate costs we can stay in deluxe accommodations at Universal with Express Pass. We will probably not go during the expensive season again or stay for as long as we did. We stayed for 10 days so we could take our time and take breaks knowing that it would be hot and crowded. For the price there are many other things we can do rather than repeating a Disney trip. We ate at least one meal sometimes two meals in the room each day. The only “splurge” we had was a lunch at Ohana’s. I never really thought I would ever feel this way. Every time we go there are fewer of the “little Disney things” that make it special. I remember when my kids were little they did the towel animals and did special things with their toys. The first time we went to Fantasmic they had two hilarious young ladies entertaining the crowd. My kids wanted to actually get there early enough to see them! They don’t seem to run the rides at full capacity until they reach a 20 minute plus line.
I just got back from Disney Aug. 11. Our party included my husband and 2 sons age 16 and 24. Rather than a whole trip report I thought I would just put my observations/opinions. We got our requested room at Port Orleans Riverside in the Magonolia building. It was convenient to the bus stop and even though it looks a long way from the main building it isn’t that bad. It is an enjoyable walk by the river. Our room had a ceiling fan. Our friends who had a Royal room didn’t have one. Bus service was Ok most of the time. The board didn’t always have times though.
We didn’t make rope drop most of the time. We were there for 10 days so I didn’t push my family to do so. I did go by myself to rope drop at Epcot once. I made SDFP reservations, went to Frozen with a 10 minute wait and Soarin with a 10 minute wait. I didn’t try, but I probably could have gotten to Test Track with a minimal wait. My husband did the same thing another day, but waited until after Frozen to get SDFP and the Tier 1 rides were all gone, so if you’re getting SDFP at Epcot get them before rides.
We were lucky with weather. It wasn’t as hot as I was expecting. I’m used to the heat though since I’m from NC. The forecast didn’t look good, but there were only a few showers that were easy to avoid. It is important for me to take breaks on hot days. The parks are hot and crowded and it just isn’t worth getting tired when there are long lines everywhere. Going to the hotel and resting made touring at night/early evening much more pleasurable.
Epcot:
I loved Frozen. I was able to ride it several times because of getting there at rope drop a couple of days and FP+. The last time we rode it Elsa was singing, but not moving. I didn’t say anything because I had already been on it a plenty times and most of the ride worked, however I got a notification a few minutes later saying I could get another fp for the ride or any other ride at Epcot.
Epcot-I enjoyed the new Soarin movie, but the distorted images are a little distracting. I can take or leave the designing the car part at Test Track. I guess it gives something for people to do if they have to wait in line anyway. I would rather my fast pass just take me to the ride though. I rode Ellen’s Energy Adventure. I agree it’s time to do something different with it, but the Dinosaur part is really cool and it would be a shame to lose that. I would have liked to see the dinosaur part more times, but the length the other stuff makes the ride take too much of a chunk of time. As far as touring, there was no need to wait in line for any of the tier 2 attractions. There were basically walk on before 10:00 and after 6:00.
Hollywood Studios- I loved the Frozen Sing-a-long. I’m surprised this isn’t one of those hard to get attractions. I like it better than the ride. The story tellers are good and the jokes vary a little in different shows. I saw it twice. I love watching the kid’s excitement. If you are a Star Wars lover this is the park for you. I don’t care about Star Wars so the shows etc. don’t do anything for me. We saw Fantasmic the last night they used the Steamboat. It was a last minute decision because the weather looked iffy the next two nights we were going to be there. We didn’t see the accident because it must have happened on the other side from where we were sitting. My son said he noticed the chipmunk was behind everyone in the little area Dopey ended up. I was surprised when I heard about it a couple days later.
Animal Kingdom-This is an easy park to do without FP+. No long lines! If you want them though, fast passes were still available in the afternoon to everything. We enjoyed the night Safari. The lions were more active. Only time I’ve seen them walking around. However, you still want to see this in daylight because you can’t see the animals clearly. Though they are not needed, FP+ is beneficial for shows because you get let in earlier out of the heat. The seating was better for the Nemo show. This is one show you don’t have to move down the row when you get there, so if you want an end seat that puts you more towards the middle of the theater grab it.
Magic Kingdom-I haven’t been since the new Fantasyland was built. I was surprised there was never a line to Little Mermaid. We went on it several times. The new Peter Pan line is cute. Everyone should go though it once. When we got in line it said the wait was 40 minutes, but it was more like 25 or 30. The Seven Dwarfs was cute, but I wouldn’t wait in a long line for it. My kids are grown so that might be why. To me, the best ride is Thunder Mountain Railroad at night, especially during the fireworks. We did EMH from 12-2. I can’t say the rides were all walk on, but the lines quickly went down the later it got. Jungle Cruise is also another ride you want to do at night. Of all the rides they need to redo at Disney I would say would be Stitch. You can still smell the Chili burp when you walk in, it takes up a lot of time with the preshow stuff. It’s a waste of time for me even though there wasn’t a line.
SDFP and 4th fastpasses. I’m so glad I found out about this from these boards. I got some cards for my Non-expiring tickets with waterparks left on them. I was able to get 4th fastpasses to almost anything with our regular magic bands in the afternoon when we were taking a break in the hotel, including tier 1 attractions. The only thing I couldn’t get was Frozen. I found that things were available on my computer that weren’t available on the app, so if you have access to a laptop definitely try it.
Magic Bands! Loved them. Glad to not have to keep up with a credit card at the park. However, if you want to make dinner reservations from the park you need to have your credit card information.
Bag Checks-They are very thorough! When choosing a line, avoid getting behind a lot of people with back packs and strollers. I wished there was an express line for tiny purses that took about a second. If you miss rope drop these lines can be long! For some reason it seemed my son always got picked to do the random metal detector. He has Asperger’s and it was starting to bother him that he was the only one in our group getting picked so I intentionally started making eye contact with the security so I would get chosen to. When I needed to make SDFP though, I would give my small purse to my son who carried our one backpack and would go and do our SDFP.
I love Disney and have been several times. It has been 6 years because we save up points from the Disney Visa to stay there free. If it weren’t for that, I’m not sure we would see the value in it now that it has gotten so expensive! For a little more than what a moderate costs we can stay in deluxe accommodations at Universal with Express Pass. We will probably not go during the expensive season again or stay for as long as we did. We stayed for 10 days so we could take our time and take breaks knowing that it would be hot and crowded. For the price there are many other things we can do rather than repeating a Disney trip. We ate at least one meal sometimes two meals in the room each day. The only “splurge” we had was a lunch at Ohana’s. I never really thought I would ever feel this way. Every time we go there are fewer of the “little Disney things” that make it special. I remember when my kids were little they did the towel animals and did special things with their toys. The first time we went to Fantasmic they had two hilarious young ladies entertaining the crowd. My kids wanted to actually get there early enough to see them! They don’t seem to run the rides at full capacity until they reach a 20 minute plus line.
