We got in late yesterday evening from our trip. We were so tired that the luggage is still in the car, but we had a great time! I'll post a few highlights and be happy to answer any questions!
We were at DL 6/29-7/3.
Crowds: We only thought it crowded on the weekdays, Saturday gave a whole new definition to the word crowded! How to get around it? Use EE when you can. Get to the parks 1/2 hour before they open. Leave around lunchtime, then return late in the evening...and make use of the fastpass system!!!
We managed to get a perfect spot for the fireworks...right at the top of the hub as everyone else has reported is a great spot. I wouldn't get any closer than that. You can sit on the street right up to drawbridge area, but I think that is much too close and you'd miss some of the fireworks because the castle would block your view.
It's really very odd, but all the people who sit at the top of the hub sit down! We didn't see one person standing in front of us...no dads with kiddies on their shoulders! However, if you just look to either side..everyone is standing.
Because that's not the best spot to view the parade, it doesn't fill up as fast and it's very possible to get there just as the late parade is ending and find a spot without much trouble. If you want to watch the parade, you can see it just fine, but it doesn't pass right in front of you so you'll have some crowds blocking your view slightly.
A tip for Blue Bayou water view fans....If you get an 11:30 PS, you're virtually guaranteed a water view table. According to the CM we checked in with for our PS, they have 13 tables available for a water view. They fill those tables first with 11:30 PS's and when they're full, so is the 11:30 time slot. Of course they won't say you're guaranteed a water view even you have an 11:30 PS, but that's the way they do it.
A note about food....We never ate anywhere that we didn't think the portions were HUGE! We started splitting plates everywhere we went...right down to sharing our corndogs with each other (what can I say, we're a close group!!
). Honestly, it had nothing to do with saving money...we just couldn't eat that much food at one sitting.
Btw...The best deal going is the ESPN Zone freebies! There were 4 of us and we all had signed up. Between us, we had $80 in vouchers, got 4 ESPN Zone coolers and $40 worth of game play. We also each had $10 in game play from our passes.
The fine print on the vouchers says that it's one voucher per person, tax not included, but our waitress (without us asking) allowed us to combine our meal and just use as many of the vouchers as we needed. She also included the tax...so other than the tip, the meal was completely free.
We have 4 adults. 3 of us ordered entree's and one ordered an appetizer. We also got a couple of desserts to share. The total bill was just under $60, so we used 3 vouchers and left a cash tip. We used the remaining $20 voucher to buy the sports nut in our group a Tshirt!
We could have easily "spent" less for lunch. Again, the portions were huge and we could have easily spent less by splitting plates. Still, it was free and the food was excellent.
We discovered several "hidden" perks to staying onsite. We stayed at the GC. DCA opens 1/2 hour before their stated opening time but if you're staying at the GC, they have a very short guided tour that they do just before the early opening. If you get to the GC DCA entry gates 20 minutes or so before the early opening, there is a CM who will take those who are there on a quick tour of the front of the park. After the tour, and before anyone else has been allowed into the park you get to ride Soarin!
It was so great! Front row, center seats for Soarin!!! Don't miss taking advantage of this if you can.
Also, definitely use the guest resort line for the monorail...much shorter than the line that forms in DL at the regular line!
We did get to ride Space Mountain! On Saturday, after going to ToonTown Morning Madness, we were headed out of the park to go to DCA and stopped to check out SM and see if they were going to open again. There was a line of about 20 people and the CM's were standing our front. They said they had no idea if and when it would open, but we figured they don't put the CM's out there for nothing so we got in line. It was about 1 hour, but they did finally open!
Ok...enough for now, I could write forever and not tell everything!
Any questions?
We were at DL 6/29-7/3.
Crowds: We only thought it crowded on the weekdays, Saturday gave a whole new definition to the word crowded! How to get around it? Use EE when you can. Get to the parks 1/2 hour before they open. Leave around lunchtime, then return late in the evening...and make use of the fastpass system!!!
We managed to get a perfect spot for the fireworks...right at the top of the hub as everyone else has reported is a great spot. I wouldn't get any closer than that. You can sit on the street right up to drawbridge area, but I think that is much too close and you'd miss some of the fireworks because the castle would block your view.
It's really very odd, but all the people who sit at the top of the hub sit down! We didn't see one person standing in front of us...no dads with kiddies on their shoulders! However, if you just look to either side..everyone is standing.
Because that's not the best spot to view the parade, it doesn't fill up as fast and it's very possible to get there just as the late parade is ending and find a spot without much trouble. If you want to watch the parade, you can see it just fine, but it doesn't pass right in front of you so you'll have some crowds blocking your view slightly.
A tip for Blue Bayou water view fans....If you get an 11:30 PS, you're virtually guaranteed a water view table. According to the CM we checked in with for our PS, they have 13 tables available for a water view. They fill those tables first with 11:30 PS's and when they're full, so is the 11:30 time slot. Of course they won't say you're guaranteed a water view even you have an 11:30 PS, but that's the way they do it.
A note about food....We never ate anywhere that we didn't think the portions were HUGE! We started splitting plates everywhere we went...right down to sharing our corndogs with each other (what can I say, we're a close group!!
). Honestly, it had nothing to do with saving money...we just couldn't eat that much food at one sitting. Btw...The best deal going is the ESPN Zone freebies! There were 4 of us and we all had signed up. Between us, we had $80 in vouchers, got 4 ESPN Zone coolers and $40 worth of game play. We also each had $10 in game play from our passes.
The fine print on the vouchers says that it's one voucher per person, tax not included, but our waitress (without us asking) allowed us to combine our meal and just use as many of the vouchers as we needed. She also included the tax...so other than the tip, the meal was completely free.
We have 4 adults. 3 of us ordered entree's and one ordered an appetizer. We also got a couple of desserts to share. The total bill was just under $60, so we used 3 vouchers and left a cash tip. We used the remaining $20 voucher to buy the sports nut in our group a Tshirt!
We could have easily "spent" less for lunch. Again, the portions were huge and we could have easily spent less by splitting plates. Still, it was free and the food was excellent.
We discovered several "hidden" perks to staying onsite. We stayed at the GC. DCA opens 1/2 hour before their stated opening time but if you're staying at the GC, they have a very short guided tour that they do just before the early opening. If you get to the GC DCA entry gates 20 minutes or so before the early opening, there is a CM who will take those who are there on a quick tour of the front of the park. After the tour, and before anyone else has been allowed into the park you get to ride Soarin!
It was so great! Front row, center seats for Soarin!!! Don't miss taking advantage of this if you can.
Also, definitely use the guest resort line for the monorail...much shorter than the line that forms in DL at the regular line!
We did get to ride Space Mountain! On Saturday, after going to ToonTown Morning Madness, we were headed out of the park to go to DCA and stopped to check out SM and see if they were going to open again. There was a line of about 20 people and the CM's were standing our front. They said they had no idea if and when it would open, but we figured they don't put the CM's out there for nothing so we got in line. It was about 1 hour, but they did finally open!
Ok...enough for now, I could write forever and not tell everything!
Any questions?
