Dizzy Knee
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2013
We are back from our fifth visit to WDW. I thought I would share some of our views from this trip as it was our first that involved sit down meals as part of the DDP and also our first look at the dreaded magicbands and FastPass+
We travelled from the UK, myself, my wife, our 3 year old son and father in law and we stayed at Old Key West in a 2 bed villa.
Disneys Magic Express:
This was the first time we used the DME, it was the slowest we had ever got out of the airport, the lines seemed to be long and we were last onto the bus, the only good thing was that OKW was the first drop off point and the last pick up on the way back. No problems on the way back though and it was quick and easy.
Old Key West:
I have stayed in CSR, POR twice and All Stars resort, we were reluctant to stay away from POR as this was our favourite resort but OKW has completely blown that wide open! It was gorgeous! The two bed villa was huge and the whole resort was lovely and quiet. Although there are a number of bus stops at OKW, it was never busy and we seemed to get a lot of 'bus luck' Busses seemed to show without having to wait more than a few minutes! The quick service area could be a little bigger but we only used it a couple of times.We had a great meal at Olivias and also an average one. We are staying at Wilderness Lodge in 2015 but have come back wondering if we should change to OKW
Magic Bands/Fast Pass+:
I had no problems using the magic band (although two of our bands broke and we had to get some sliders to keep them in place) The bands worked all the time, although getting extra fast passes from the kiosks is difficult, not that working the kiosk is difficult more that there is very little to choose from after lunch time. On one quiet day in Magic Kingdom we managed to get another 3 fast passes but other days there was really limited choices.
There seems to be more people stuck looking at their mobile phones around the park, as they are checking their photos have been added, what time the fast passes are and wait times etc.
We had one panic moment when the other group that were with us managed to delete TSMM for my wife, but I somehow managed to get another one booked in at the correct time (much stressing ensued at this point though!)
Memory maker worked perfectly for me and all photos were added to the magic band without a problem
Magic Kingdom:
We were in Magic Kingdom the night of the infamous 'Mine Train Fire' It was the coldest I have ever been in WDW and the wind was really blowing. But apart from not being allowed into Fantasyland for a short time I wouldnt have known what had happened if it wasnt for social media. It was great to be able to ride Splash in the dark four times without getting off (most sane people were too cold to queue for a wet ride!) We had a lot of fun in the park that night.
A couple of the other days MK seemed really busy, when we were on the people mover it managed to turn into the 'People sitter' we were stuck up there for about 20 mins before we were ushered off and out using an emergency exit. We got fast passes to any ride for our trouble and it was quite funny to be walking around the people mover being ushered off with Batman and Wonder woman (it was a MNSSHP night!)
Shame the walls were up (but walls were a running theme everywhere!)
Mine Train was fine, not great but ok. It was good that my son could ride it as he is 39 inches which is a horrible height to be in Disney! There is a mine train video which is now added to your memory maker, which is cool. Queues were 50-70 mins from within the first hour, getting up to 90-120 mins during the day - no way is this ride worth that wait!
Epcot:
Lots of drunk people...getting accosted by a guy who claimed rather aggresively that the 'muslims had taken the American Spirit' - I think the guy had drunk much of the American spirit!
First time riding the newer Test Track - I thought it was decent but what what I recall I prefer the older version. Innovations is embarassing and the character spot only had three characters, I seem to recall it was four or five last time. Dont really understand why an American band are playing as a British band in the UK? -
Hollywood Studios:
TOT is still the best ride in the park, everything else not so much. Our son enjoyed the Frozen singalong and Disney Junior etc. I remember this being my favourite park the first time i visited in 2001, but if we wasnt with my son we would have showed up for late hours and done TOT and RnR a few times and then gone home.
Animal Kingdom:
First time doing Finding Nemo, thought it was pretty good, Everest is an enjoyable ride as normal and we had some great views on the Safari - I still hate the circus element of Dinoland, it seems so out of place its unreal. Lots of walls up as expected due to Avatarland (something that doesnt fill me with excitement, but then I have never seen the film)
Downtown Disney:
Horrible, walls everywhere, people everywhere, couldnt wait to get away from there. Will be interesting to see the final finished version though.
Cast Members:
A few times we broke out our stock phrase of 'you dont have to be miserable to work at Disney but it helps!' In all honesty we mostly were greeted with happy cast members but there are without a doubt more miserable ones now than every before! More and more of them seem to think they are there to a be a security guard first and a helpful cast member second.
We had a couple of miserable and rude bus drivers, in particular when we were told by guest relations that to catch the bus to Blizzard Beach (we wanted to play mini golf but Blizzard Beach was closed for the day due to cold weather) we needed to ask the bus driver going to Animal Kingdom for a request stop - the bus driver instead told us 'he drove the bus and he didnt care what guest relations said' - he said he wouldnt go to Blizzard Beach and we would have to go to Animal Kingdom and sort it out from there - randomly he then stopped at Blizzard Beach anyway (presume he radioed and was told he should stop there?) But we also had one great bus driver who got on the mic and entertained us while we travelled to MK
Weather:
Great - hot and dry - then a couple of random cold and windy days
Food
We had the 'free' DDP - We had never done sit down dining in Disney but enjoyed it on the whole - there is just too much food and many times ordered the desert and then gave it away.
Liberty Tree Tavern - Good service but really slow - over two hours and we missed our fast passes - food was good
Beaches and Cream - Great service and a decent burger and giant desserts!
Olivias - two meals here, one great meal, one average meal
Sci Fi Dine In - Too dark! but a fun place to eat - great service (apart from the woman who showed us to our table!) food was fine
Rainforest Cafe @ AK - OK service, best steak on holiday and great cheesecake
T-REX - Far too noisy, much more noisy than Rainforest Cafe - rubbish service, food was ok
House of Blues - dissapointing, service was average and food was not as good as I remembered if from when we ate here in 2006.
So there are my thoughts, I still think you have to be a great planner and good with technology to get the best out of Disney and without a doubt the ability to change and do something different to your plans has kind of gone which is a shame - gone is the days of getting on the first bus you see, you can do it now but not if you want to make the best use of fast passes.
In 2015 we will be doing a split stay for the first time, staying at Universal before coming to Disney for the last 9 nights - already counting down the days!
Sorry for the long post - hopefully it is of interest to someone!
We travelled from the UK, myself, my wife, our 3 year old son and father in law and we stayed at Old Key West in a 2 bed villa.
Disneys Magic Express:
This was the first time we used the DME, it was the slowest we had ever got out of the airport, the lines seemed to be long and we were last onto the bus, the only good thing was that OKW was the first drop off point and the last pick up on the way back. No problems on the way back though and it was quick and easy.
Old Key West:
I have stayed in CSR, POR twice and All Stars resort, we were reluctant to stay away from POR as this was our favourite resort but OKW has completely blown that wide open! It was gorgeous! The two bed villa was huge and the whole resort was lovely and quiet. Although there are a number of bus stops at OKW, it was never busy and we seemed to get a lot of 'bus luck' Busses seemed to show without having to wait more than a few minutes! The quick service area could be a little bigger but we only used it a couple of times.We had a great meal at Olivias and also an average one. We are staying at Wilderness Lodge in 2015 but have come back wondering if we should change to OKW
Magic Bands/Fast Pass+:
I had no problems using the magic band (although two of our bands broke and we had to get some sliders to keep them in place) The bands worked all the time, although getting extra fast passes from the kiosks is difficult, not that working the kiosk is difficult more that there is very little to choose from after lunch time. On one quiet day in Magic Kingdom we managed to get another 3 fast passes but other days there was really limited choices.
There seems to be more people stuck looking at their mobile phones around the park, as they are checking their photos have been added, what time the fast passes are and wait times etc.
We had one panic moment when the other group that were with us managed to delete TSMM for my wife, but I somehow managed to get another one booked in at the correct time (much stressing ensued at this point though!)
Memory maker worked perfectly for me and all photos were added to the magic band without a problem
Magic Kingdom:
We were in Magic Kingdom the night of the infamous 'Mine Train Fire' It was the coldest I have ever been in WDW and the wind was really blowing. But apart from not being allowed into Fantasyland for a short time I wouldnt have known what had happened if it wasnt for social media. It was great to be able to ride Splash in the dark four times without getting off (most sane people were too cold to queue for a wet ride!) We had a lot of fun in the park that night.
A couple of the other days MK seemed really busy, when we were on the people mover it managed to turn into the 'People sitter' we were stuck up there for about 20 mins before we were ushered off and out using an emergency exit. We got fast passes to any ride for our trouble and it was quite funny to be walking around the people mover being ushered off with Batman and Wonder woman (it was a MNSSHP night!)
Shame the walls were up (but walls were a running theme everywhere!)
Mine Train was fine, not great but ok. It was good that my son could ride it as he is 39 inches which is a horrible height to be in Disney! There is a mine train video which is now added to your memory maker, which is cool. Queues were 50-70 mins from within the first hour, getting up to 90-120 mins during the day - no way is this ride worth that wait!
Epcot:
Lots of drunk people...getting accosted by a guy who claimed rather aggresively that the 'muslims had taken the American Spirit' - I think the guy had drunk much of the American spirit!
First time riding the newer Test Track - I thought it was decent but what what I recall I prefer the older version. Innovations is embarassing and the character spot only had three characters, I seem to recall it was four or five last time. Dont really understand why an American band are playing as a British band in the UK? -
Hollywood Studios:
TOT is still the best ride in the park, everything else not so much. Our son enjoyed the Frozen singalong and Disney Junior etc. I remember this being my favourite park the first time i visited in 2001, but if we wasnt with my son we would have showed up for late hours and done TOT and RnR a few times and then gone home.
Animal Kingdom:
First time doing Finding Nemo, thought it was pretty good, Everest is an enjoyable ride as normal and we had some great views on the Safari - I still hate the circus element of Dinoland, it seems so out of place its unreal. Lots of walls up as expected due to Avatarland (something that doesnt fill me with excitement, but then I have never seen the film)
Downtown Disney:
Horrible, walls everywhere, people everywhere, couldnt wait to get away from there. Will be interesting to see the final finished version though.
Cast Members:
A few times we broke out our stock phrase of 'you dont have to be miserable to work at Disney but it helps!' In all honesty we mostly were greeted with happy cast members but there are without a doubt more miserable ones now than every before! More and more of them seem to think they are there to a be a security guard first and a helpful cast member second.
We had a couple of miserable and rude bus drivers, in particular when we were told by guest relations that to catch the bus to Blizzard Beach (we wanted to play mini golf but Blizzard Beach was closed for the day due to cold weather) we needed to ask the bus driver going to Animal Kingdom for a request stop - the bus driver instead told us 'he drove the bus and he didnt care what guest relations said' - he said he wouldnt go to Blizzard Beach and we would have to go to Animal Kingdom and sort it out from there - randomly he then stopped at Blizzard Beach anyway (presume he radioed and was told he should stop there?) But we also had one great bus driver who got on the mic and entertained us while we travelled to MK
Weather:
Great - hot and dry - then a couple of random cold and windy days
Food
We had the 'free' DDP - We had never done sit down dining in Disney but enjoyed it on the whole - there is just too much food and many times ordered the desert and then gave it away.
Liberty Tree Tavern - Good service but really slow - over two hours and we missed our fast passes - food was good
Beaches and Cream - Great service and a decent burger and giant desserts!
Olivias - two meals here, one great meal, one average meal
Sci Fi Dine In - Too dark! but a fun place to eat - great service (apart from the woman who showed us to our table!) food was fine
Rainforest Cafe @ AK - OK service, best steak on holiday and great cheesecake
T-REX - Far too noisy, much more noisy than Rainforest Cafe - rubbish service, food was ok
House of Blues - dissapointing, service was average and food was not as good as I remembered if from when we ate here in 2006.
So there are my thoughts, I still think you have to be a great planner and good with technology to get the best out of Disney and without a doubt the ability to change and do something different to your plans has kind of gone which is a shame - gone is the days of getting on the first bus you see, you can do it now but not if you want to make the best use of fast passes.
In 2015 we will be doing a split stay for the first time, staying at Universal before coming to Disney for the last 9 nights - already counting down the days!
Sorry for the long post - hopefully it is of interest to someone!
