cattywampus
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2010
I appreciated those that posted positive reviews of their experience with MDE, Magic Bands, and FPP to balance out the negative discussions, so I wanted to add our experience.
First off, this was our first visit to WDW. That being said we are DLR vets for the past 35 years, have annual passes, know how to work the paper FP system, etc.
We also were the target demographic they are looking to maximize. We stayed on site at the GF the entire trip (no split stays), are major planners, did a lot of research ahead of time, did not need to maximize every possible ride/attraction, and were willing to spend money on hard ticketed events and extras. We were interested in doing all of the headliners, particularly those that were not duplicates of DL or are, in essence, duplicates, but are reportedly better at WDW.
We also were willing to spend money on MVMCP tickets to extend park hours to meet our west coast time change and ride attractions with little to no wait.
I dutifully got up at 3:00 am at 180 days and made ADR's getting most of the restaurants that we wanted (after making a plan for which parks on which day in advance of that). I stalked the reservations that I did not get the first try (BOG Dinner and Narcossees) and got both through that process. I also was successful at reserving the TTDP at 180 days out.
I also dutifully logged onto MDE at 9:00 pm 60 days out for FPP (the time change worked to my advantage on that one). We were able to get FPP for most of what we wanted. I got 7DMT for days 6,7 and 8. I decided afterwards that we wanted FPP for MSEP on our arrival night and was never able to get it. They added a second parade about 3 weeks before our arrival and I was able to get FPP for that.
We have four people in our group all linked in MDE with our hotel, admission media, MVPCP Tickets, Photopass, and credit card with pin number. Our magic bands worked 100% perfectly every time for everything we used them for: hotel room key; park admission; room charge for restaurants, merchandise, and other purchases; MVMCP access; photopass; and hotel parking access (we rented a car). I can't stress enough --they worked perfectly. We loved them and joked that we wished we had them in real life.
I was concerned because two people in our party were upgrading from parkhopper tickets to annual passes. I worried that they would lose FPP or some other data, but the guest services rep linked them perfectly.
Generally speaking MDE worked very, very well. I would agree with those that says the app can be glitchy or slow at times, and you are better off using the web address. I think it also depends on your phone. My iPhone has an older operating system than recommended. My BIL had it loaded on his iPhone 7 and I tended to grab his phone and make changes because it was very easy, so consider what equipment/phone you are using.
The one thing I did run into with MDE is that if you try to change a FPP experience, there is no going back. I was trying to figure out if we wanted to change FPP on our last day but we had very limited time in the park, so I really needed to see the times available. Once I selected an alternate attraction to see the times, I was could not cancel and keep the original FPP. The times were ok and it worked out, but that could be frustrating.
MVMCP worked exactly the way that I had hoped and we rode almost all MK attractions with no wait, even on sold out party nights. We literally walked into ride vehicles on Space Mountain, BTMRR, Splash Mountain (were able to stay on mulitple times and were surrounded by fireworks at one point -- very magical!), as well as just about everything else. We waited about 5 minutes for Belles Enchanted Tales, which I know can be a hot FPP goal. We still saw parades and fireworks and met a few characters but were able to ride headliners multiple times and get a lot done.
We were all disappointed in DHS, but as a disclosure a lot of the headliners are duplicates of those at DL that we can do with little wait on our trips there: Jedi Training (7 yo has done it many times and is no longer interested); Star Tours, and Midway Mania are all things we do regularly in Anaheim. We did Star Tours and TOT (we liked the way the elevator car moves forward prior to the drop sequences -- the California version does not do that) as well as The Great Movie Ride (um.... bad); Indiana Jones show; RnR Roller coaster (fun but all agreed we like California Screaming in CA better); and then we were bored. We waited out to get to our Sci-Fi reservations but decided to leave the park thereafter and not even stay for Osbourne Lights. It would have been another hour or two and we were finished. We went to WS at Epcot for the evening instead (we had gotten rained out earlier in the week).
We all liked AK better than we thought we would. We all grew up at the San Diego Zoo and just had a private party experience with Rhino petting and special up close presentation of cheetahs, wolves, and other exotic animals, so while the animal presentations were very well done, they weren't our main attraction. We really liked the theming (particularly in the Asia area, since so much of San Diego Zoo safari park is African based) and both the Festival of the Lion King and Flights of Wonder were hits. Expedition Everest is spectacular, both in ride value and theming. I really wish we had it in California. We rode it 3 times as a group not even using our FPP and just walking on around 4:00 pm. Then a slight crowd formed (maybe 5-10 minute wait) and the two grown women of the group rode two additional times -- the look on the 7 yo's face when we said to him and his father "give us your magic bands, we are going again" (for the 5th time) was priceless!!
Epcot was a mixed review. It rained on us this day. Thanks to all the great info, I knew to get us right onto Test Track with rain coming and it closed shortly after our ride and never re-opened, due to rain. We poncho'd up and did Future World in the rain. We did both Green and Orange sides of Mission Space. We did not find Orange overly intense and I was ok in the enclosed space (I can be claustrophobic but we put the 7yo next to me and I felt ok). We did not do Soarin because we can ride it at home and the wait was long (we used our "A" tier FPP on TT). My overall feel of FW is that it is outdated -- kind of like Tomorrowland both in Orlando and California. Like those two lands, it has a few nice attractions but not a lot of magic. I don't know that I would have a need to do that portion of the park again. We went to dinner at LeCellier and had a great experience -- food, atmosphere and service. It is expensive but we expected that. As a side note, one of the reason we got annual passes was to be able to purchase the Tables in Wonderland card to get 20% off food and drinks (including alcohol). It was a great buy. Between the AP discounts at shops and the TIW card, we saved a lot. It was raining hard and dark when we got out. We were determined to march on in our Mickey ponchos, but gave up shortly thereafter and decided to return another partial day to do WS -- which we did the day we left HS early. WS was fun and I can see how regulars enjoy all of the restaurants, etc. To me, it doesn't have enough attractions. It was nice and I would revisit but it isn't enough to draw me back to WDW.
Magic Kingdom was our favorite park by far. It is similar to the California original and some of the WDW attractions are equal or better (Splash, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan are all better at WDW). 7DMT is a great ride. Once the newness wears off, and the waits stabilize, it is a great addition and we were fortunate to ride it four times. It is the next stage of dark rides. BOG was spectacular (food was good but the atmosphere was outstanding). CRT was a lot of fun (even though 7yo decided Cinderella was entirely too terrifying -- we all agreed he will regret his choice not to snuggle up to her in about ten years!). He warmed up to the other princesses throughout the meal. Our server was great and the food (dinner) was surprisingly good. We expected ok food and just going for the experience, but really enjoyed dinner. The FOF parade is a top notch parade - loved the fire breathing dragon! We enjoyed the nostalgia of seeing MSEP again and thought the Christmas parade was great as well. We loved the fact that WDW uses their horses in their parades. DL used to do it many years ago, but don't really do it much anymore. Space Mountain at WDW is awful. It isn't anything like DLR and I wish for all of the visitors that they would tear it down and build the same attraction we have in CA. It is one of my favorite rides in California and I hated it at WDW -- painful so not even a score of zero, it is a negative score. I really missed having a good Space Mountain, New Orleans Square, and our Pirates of the Carribean. We enjoyed attractions like Country Bears and People Mover that we no longer have in California and unique things like Philharmagic, 7DMT and Liberty Square.
Overall, we thought the two sister parks were relatively equal (MK at WDW and DL in California). We like DCA in California better than any of the other parks so that combined with the 5 hour plane trip and extra costs means that we probably won't get back to Florida very often but honestly, we really enjoyed the unique attractions, amazing hotels and great restaurants that we don't have in California. The immersive experience of being at one of the monorail resorts can't be beat and we LOVED the GF! I can see how people stay at the hotels and don't even go to the parks sometimes.
The GF was gorgeous, service was fabulous, and the recent room renovations were great. The self parking for our rental car was very close (I heard it used to be very far away) and all of the ammenities and restaurants were top notch. The monorail seemed to be working at full capacity -- we were able to use it to return home after the parties and EMHs. We did not do rope drop, so I can't give any info on that.
Restaurants were really, really good -- better than I expected. Narcosees, Citricos, Le Cellier, Yak and Yeti, Sci-Fi, CRT, and BOG were all great experiences. Flame Tree BBQ was the best counter service (I almost wish we had one at home!) and the red velvet cupcake at Starring Roles was spectacular.
We had a great time and thank everyone on these boards for all of the information (good and bad) that helped us have a really well planned trip with enough flexibility (and recognition that we weren't going to see it all or exhaust ourselves) to strike the best balance.
First off, this was our first visit to WDW. That being said we are DLR vets for the past 35 years, have annual passes, know how to work the paper FP system, etc.
We also were the target demographic they are looking to maximize. We stayed on site at the GF the entire trip (no split stays), are major planners, did a lot of research ahead of time, did not need to maximize every possible ride/attraction, and were willing to spend money on hard ticketed events and extras. We were interested in doing all of the headliners, particularly those that were not duplicates of DL or are, in essence, duplicates, but are reportedly better at WDW.
We also were willing to spend money on MVMCP tickets to extend park hours to meet our west coast time change and ride attractions with little to no wait.
I dutifully got up at 3:00 am at 180 days and made ADR's getting most of the restaurants that we wanted (after making a plan for which parks on which day in advance of that). I stalked the reservations that I did not get the first try (BOG Dinner and Narcossees) and got both through that process. I also was successful at reserving the TTDP at 180 days out.
I also dutifully logged onto MDE at 9:00 pm 60 days out for FPP (the time change worked to my advantage on that one). We were able to get FPP for most of what we wanted. I got 7DMT for days 6,7 and 8. I decided afterwards that we wanted FPP for MSEP on our arrival night and was never able to get it. They added a second parade about 3 weeks before our arrival and I was able to get FPP for that.
We have four people in our group all linked in MDE with our hotel, admission media, MVPCP Tickets, Photopass, and credit card with pin number. Our magic bands worked 100% perfectly every time for everything we used them for: hotel room key; park admission; room charge for restaurants, merchandise, and other purchases; MVMCP access; photopass; and hotel parking access (we rented a car). I can't stress enough --they worked perfectly. We loved them and joked that we wished we had them in real life.
I was concerned because two people in our party were upgrading from parkhopper tickets to annual passes. I worried that they would lose FPP or some other data, but the guest services rep linked them perfectly.
Generally speaking MDE worked very, very well. I would agree with those that says the app can be glitchy or slow at times, and you are better off using the web address. I think it also depends on your phone. My iPhone has an older operating system than recommended. My BIL had it loaded on his iPhone 7 and I tended to grab his phone and make changes because it was very easy, so consider what equipment/phone you are using.
The one thing I did run into with MDE is that if you try to change a FPP experience, there is no going back. I was trying to figure out if we wanted to change FPP on our last day but we had very limited time in the park, so I really needed to see the times available. Once I selected an alternate attraction to see the times, I was could not cancel and keep the original FPP. The times were ok and it worked out, but that could be frustrating.
MVMCP worked exactly the way that I had hoped and we rode almost all MK attractions with no wait, even on sold out party nights. We literally walked into ride vehicles on Space Mountain, BTMRR, Splash Mountain (were able to stay on mulitple times and were surrounded by fireworks at one point -- very magical!), as well as just about everything else. We waited about 5 minutes for Belles Enchanted Tales, which I know can be a hot FPP goal. We still saw parades and fireworks and met a few characters but were able to ride headliners multiple times and get a lot done.
We were all disappointed in DHS, but as a disclosure a lot of the headliners are duplicates of those at DL that we can do with little wait on our trips there: Jedi Training (7 yo has done it many times and is no longer interested); Star Tours, and Midway Mania are all things we do regularly in Anaheim. We did Star Tours and TOT (we liked the way the elevator car moves forward prior to the drop sequences -- the California version does not do that) as well as The Great Movie Ride (um.... bad); Indiana Jones show; RnR Roller coaster (fun but all agreed we like California Screaming in CA better); and then we were bored. We waited out to get to our Sci-Fi reservations but decided to leave the park thereafter and not even stay for Osbourne Lights. It would have been another hour or two and we were finished. We went to WS at Epcot for the evening instead (we had gotten rained out earlier in the week).
We all liked AK better than we thought we would. We all grew up at the San Diego Zoo and just had a private party experience with Rhino petting and special up close presentation of cheetahs, wolves, and other exotic animals, so while the animal presentations were very well done, they weren't our main attraction. We really liked the theming (particularly in the Asia area, since so much of San Diego Zoo safari park is African based) and both the Festival of the Lion King and Flights of Wonder were hits. Expedition Everest is spectacular, both in ride value and theming. I really wish we had it in California. We rode it 3 times as a group not even using our FPP and just walking on around 4:00 pm. Then a slight crowd formed (maybe 5-10 minute wait) and the two grown women of the group rode two additional times -- the look on the 7 yo's face when we said to him and his father "give us your magic bands, we are going again" (for the 5th time) was priceless!!
Epcot was a mixed review. It rained on us this day. Thanks to all the great info, I knew to get us right onto Test Track with rain coming and it closed shortly after our ride and never re-opened, due to rain. We poncho'd up and did Future World in the rain. We did both Green and Orange sides of Mission Space. We did not find Orange overly intense and I was ok in the enclosed space (I can be claustrophobic but we put the 7yo next to me and I felt ok). We did not do Soarin because we can ride it at home and the wait was long (we used our "A" tier FPP on TT). My overall feel of FW is that it is outdated -- kind of like Tomorrowland both in Orlando and California. Like those two lands, it has a few nice attractions but not a lot of magic. I don't know that I would have a need to do that portion of the park again. We went to dinner at LeCellier and had a great experience -- food, atmosphere and service. It is expensive but we expected that. As a side note, one of the reason we got annual passes was to be able to purchase the Tables in Wonderland card to get 20% off food and drinks (including alcohol). It was a great buy. Between the AP discounts at shops and the TIW card, we saved a lot. It was raining hard and dark when we got out. We were determined to march on in our Mickey ponchos, but gave up shortly thereafter and decided to return another partial day to do WS -- which we did the day we left HS early. WS was fun and I can see how regulars enjoy all of the restaurants, etc. To me, it doesn't have enough attractions. It was nice and I would revisit but it isn't enough to draw me back to WDW.
Magic Kingdom was our favorite park by far. It is similar to the California original and some of the WDW attractions are equal or better (Splash, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan are all better at WDW). 7DMT is a great ride. Once the newness wears off, and the waits stabilize, it is a great addition and we were fortunate to ride it four times. It is the next stage of dark rides. BOG was spectacular (food was good but the atmosphere was outstanding). CRT was a lot of fun (even though 7yo decided Cinderella was entirely too terrifying -- we all agreed he will regret his choice not to snuggle up to her in about ten years!). He warmed up to the other princesses throughout the meal. Our server was great and the food (dinner) was surprisingly good. We expected ok food and just going for the experience, but really enjoyed dinner. The FOF parade is a top notch parade - loved the fire breathing dragon! We enjoyed the nostalgia of seeing MSEP again and thought the Christmas parade was great as well. We loved the fact that WDW uses their horses in their parades. DL used to do it many years ago, but don't really do it much anymore. Space Mountain at WDW is awful. It isn't anything like DLR and I wish for all of the visitors that they would tear it down and build the same attraction we have in CA. It is one of my favorite rides in California and I hated it at WDW -- painful so not even a score of zero, it is a negative score. I really missed having a good Space Mountain, New Orleans Square, and our Pirates of the Carribean. We enjoyed attractions like Country Bears and People Mover that we no longer have in California and unique things like Philharmagic, 7DMT and Liberty Square.
Overall, we thought the two sister parks were relatively equal (MK at WDW and DL in California). We like DCA in California better than any of the other parks so that combined with the 5 hour plane trip and extra costs means that we probably won't get back to Florida very often but honestly, we really enjoyed the unique attractions, amazing hotels and great restaurants that we don't have in California. The immersive experience of being at one of the monorail resorts can't be beat and we LOVED the GF! I can see how people stay at the hotels and don't even go to the parks sometimes.
The GF was gorgeous, service was fabulous, and the recent room renovations were great. The self parking for our rental car was very close (I heard it used to be very far away) and all of the ammenities and restaurants were top notch. The monorail seemed to be working at full capacity -- we were able to use it to return home after the parties and EMHs. We did not do rope drop, so I can't give any info on that.
Restaurants were really, really good -- better than I expected. Narcosees, Citricos, Le Cellier, Yak and Yeti, Sci-Fi, CRT, and BOG were all great experiences. Flame Tree BBQ was the best counter service (I almost wish we had one at home!) and the red velvet cupcake at Starring Roles was spectacular.
We had a great time and thank everyone on these boards for all of the information (good and bad) that helped us have a really well planned trip with enough flexibility (and recognition that we weren't going to see it all or exhaust ourselves) to strike the best balance.
