billyandjj
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2012
Been back from our trip for 48 hours now.....and my feet are still aching! We were there a whole week, and on my iphone health app, it shows I walked an average of 10.87 miles per day!!!!! So, tip # 1: Wear comfortable shoes 
I am nowhere near the Disney expert that many of you are on this board, and I always rely on your expertise to help me plan our trips, especially for the little things. So, I hope this post can pay it forward and help others in some way. Some things to report back (In a very random order):
1) If you are going in the next few weeks, ask the stores for the free shipping promotion. It goes directly to your house! Really helped us with packing and returning home. We shipped EVERYTHING we bought! I am not sure how long the promotion extends, but at least through November. And they do not advertise it, so ASK!
2) Cinderella carriage popcorn buckets: At Magic Kingdom. If you are facing the Train station, heading out of the park, they are at the small popcorn stand there. They are not advertised but they had a whole bin last week. (It is the side of the Guest relations, literally just as you walk out of the park).
3) Another big find: Minnie watch face for magic bands. My favorite souvenir (maybe ever!). I found it at the store by Disney Quest in Disney Springs. Only place I ever saw it in all of the parks.
4) Memory Maker: Worth every penny! Buy it and take advantage of the photographers all over. Ask for magic shots. There some really cool digital ones now. Also, at Disney Springs in the photopass area, they take studio type pictures. Would be great for families. We did not do it, but saw some families getting them done (we just have family portraits the week before we left home, or I would have taken advantage of this)
5) If you get memory maker, you can see the pictures you get taken very shortly afterwards on the MyDisney experience App. Also make sure you download that....very useful in the parks.
6) 7 Dwarf Mine ride was really fun......I have heard some say it was a let down. It was pretty short and the lines can get really long. But, I just thought the themeing was so great, and the interactive queues were wonderful. We rode it a total of 5 times during our stay.... (only once on a FP) and every time, the reported line wait was much longer than actual wait. The last time it say 30 minutes....when in reality it was only 16.
7) Our first time going since FP+ was up and running (our last visit was still in testing mode). I went prepared to hate it. Because I am a planner and have been enough to know how to use the FP runner and all other tricks to maximize the parks. I hated having to get FP's months ahead of time and was not really sure what strategy to use. Gradually the new system won me over. I think we got maybe a little less done than we could have in the parks under the new system.....but I loved the bypassing of check in counter....the ease of not having to worry about taking tickets to the parks and the fact that we could all stay together and not have our FP runner miss out on rides here and there.
SIDENOTE: I think setting your first FP around 10:00ish allows you to do ropedrop and get 1-3 things in before your first FP. Then set them back to back for the next 3. We never tried to get a 4th one. But, we could do some things standby in between our FP. I know other more experienced people could give better advice on this....but just in my limited exposure to the new system, this did seem to work well.
8) A major improvement I saw was the food options and how healthy you can eat at Disney now, especially with kids options. Gone are only chicken nuggest and hot dogs and pizza. Now there are so many delicious options....even in the food courts. Major props to Disney for that.
9) Watch for confusing dining plan quirks......for instance, to get a bowl of cereal, you use 2 snack credits because the cereal is one and the milk is one. Crazy. Just plan ahead. On the flip side, you can make a feast out of some of the quick service options. Study it a little at your resort before you go so you can maximize that. Use your mugs for drinks at meals and get the bottled water (make sure its the BIG one) to take in parks later. We barely bought any water at parks.
10) Animal Kingdom is a great place to use Snack Credits
11) First time doing Ohana dinner....Loved it! Highly recommend it. Our big splurge is always California Grill during fireworks. That continues to be our favorite.
12) Felt the Halloween party was completely overrated. The lines were not much shorter than the day time at Disney. I did not see that many characters out and about (though I did score a picture with the 7 Dwarfs!!!!) like I thought I would. But, the fireworks were spectacular and I enjoyed the parade (headless horseman was cool....as were all the villains). I would not pay for it again though if I went back during this time.
13) If there is a 1 AM closing at Magic Kingdom during your stay, take advantage of it. We did most rides (including 7 Dwarf) as walk on. Better time to go than rope drop. If you can swing it.
14) Peter Pan interactive queue is wonderful. But, surprised at how long that line always is!
15) Loved Be our Guest restaurant. Book it earlier for lunch rather than later if you can. We ate there twice....the first time, we breezed through. The second time was a long wait because it gets backed up with people figuring out the system. The grey stuff really was delicious.....but so were all the other desserts
16) Stayed at Art of Animation. Loved it. The cars section was especially great. You really felt like you were in the movie. Drawing classes each day at 11, 2 and 5. He took requests for us so we drew characters we never have before (and we have done the classes alot over the years). Not sure if this was just at AoA because of the theme, or if all resorts are offering this now?
17) First time at Food and Wine. It met my high expecations. Lines get really long and the first few sections on each side crowds are horrible.....but as you get back to the back of the countries, crowds thin out. Set a limit on what you spend because it can add up.....get a wrist band for it.
18) There is a really cool digital magic shot on the bridge as you head up to Everest, just as you pass the Finding Nemo musical show in Animal Kingdom.
19) Do single rider when possible : Test Track, Everest are the ones we did the most......less than 10 minute wait usually.
20) Anna was the best character interaction I have ever had there.....she was wonderful to everyone, and really engaged so many people. I also got Gaston.....I do not think mine was that great, though I caught him at the very tail end of his shift.
Whew, I think that is it......Hopefully some of this will someone's trip be that more Magical. We had one of our best ever trips to Disney. The crowds were a lot longer than I expected them to be (a 4-6 week on easyWDW) but we survived them. Though as I said, 48 hours later and I am still exhausted!
I am nowhere near the Disney expert that many of you are on this board, and I always rely on your expertise to help me plan our trips, especially for the little things. So, I hope this post can pay it forward and help others in some way. Some things to report back (In a very random order):
1) If you are going in the next few weeks, ask the stores for the free shipping promotion. It goes directly to your house! Really helped us with packing and returning home. We shipped EVERYTHING we bought! I am not sure how long the promotion extends, but at least through November. And they do not advertise it, so ASK!
2) Cinderella carriage popcorn buckets: At Magic Kingdom. If you are facing the Train station, heading out of the park, they are at the small popcorn stand there. They are not advertised but they had a whole bin last week. (It is the side of the Guest relations, literally just as you walk out of the park).
3) Another big find: Minnie watch face for magic bands. My favorite souvenir (maybe ever!). I found it at the store by Disney Quest in Disney Springs. Only place I ever saw it in all of the parks.
4) Memory Maker: Worth every penny! Buy it and take advantage of the photographers all over. Ask for magic shots. There some really cool digital ones now. Also, at Disney Springs in the photopass area, they take studio type pictures. Would be great for families. We did not do it, but saw some families getting them done (we just have family portraits the week before we left home, or I would have taken advantage of this)
5) If you get memory maker, you can see the pictures you get taken very shortly afterwards on the MyDisney experience App. Also make sure you download that....very useful in the parks.
6) 7 Dwarf Mine ride was really fun......I have heard some say it was a let down. It was pretty short and the lines can get really long. But, I just thought the themeing was so great, and the interactive queues were wonderful. We rode it a total of 5 times during our stay.... (only once on a FP) and every time, the reported line wait was much longer than actual wait. The last time it say 30 minutes....when in reality it was only 16.
7) Our first time going since FP+ was up and running (our last visit was still in testing mode). I went prepared to hate it. Because I am a planner and have been enough to know how to use the FP runner and all other tricks to maximize the parks. I hated having to get FP's months ahead of time and was not really sure what strategy to use. Gradually the new system won me over. I think we got maybe a little less done than we could have in the parks under the new system.....but I loved the bypassing of check in counter....the ease of not having to worry about taking tickets to the parks and the fact that we could all stay together and not have our FP runner miss out on rides here and there.
SIDENOTE: I think setting your first FP around 10:00ish allows you to do ropedrop and get 1-3 things in before your first FP. Then set them back to back for the next 3. We never tried to get a 4th one. But, we could do some things standby in between our FP. I know other more experienced people could give better advice on this....but just in my limited exposure to the new system, this did seem to work well.
8) A major improvement I saw was the food options and how healthy you can eat at Disney now, especially with kids options. Gone are only chicken nuggest and hot dogs and pizza. Now there are so many delicious options....even in the food courts. Major props to Disney for that.
9) Watch for confusing dining plan quirks......for instance, to get a bowl of cereal, you use 2 snack credits because the cereal is one and the milk is one. Crazy. Just plan ahead. On the flip side, you can make a feast out of some of the quick service options. Study it a little at your resort before you go so you can maximize that. Use your mugs for drinks at meals and get the bottled water (make sure its the BIG one) to take in parks later. We barely bought any water at parks.
10) Animal Kingdom is a great place to use Snack Credits
11) First time doing Ohana dinner....Loved it! Highly recommend it. Our big splurge is always California Grill during fireworks. That continues to be our favorite.
12) Felt the Halloween party was completely overrated. The lines were not much shorter than the day time at Disney. I did not see that many characters out and about (though I did score a picture with the 7 Dwarfs!!!!) like I thought I would. But, the fireworks were spectacular and I enjoyed the parade (headless horseman was cool....as were all the villains). I would not pay for it again though if I went back during this time.
13) If there is a 1 AM closing at Magic Kingdom during your stay, take advantage of it. We did most rides (including 7 Dwarf) as walk on. Better time to go than rope drop. If you can swing it.
14) Peter Pan interactive queue is wonderful. But, surprised at how long that line always is!
15) Loved Be our Guest restaurant. Book it earlier for lunch rather than later if you can. We ate there twice....the first time, we breezed through. The second time was a long wait because it gets backed up with people figuring out the system. The grey stuff really was delicious.....but so were all the other desserts
16) Stayed at Art of Animation. Loved it. The cars section was especially great. You really felt like you were in the movie. Drawing classes each day at 11, 2 and 5. He took requests for us so we drew characters we never have before (and we have done the classes alot over the years). Not sure if this was just at AoA because of the theme, or if all resorts are offering this now?
17) First time at Food and Wine. It met my high expecations. Lines get really long and the first few sections on each side crowds are horrible.....but as you get back to the back of the countries, crowds thin out. Set a limit on what you spend because it can add up.....get a wrist band for it.
18) There is a really cool digital magic shot on the bridge as you head up to Everest, just as you pass the Finding Nemo musical show in Animal Kingdom.
19) Do single rider when possible : Test Track, Everest are the ones we did the most......less than 10 minute wait usually.
20) Anna was the best character interaction I have ever had there.....she was wonderful to everyone, and really engaged so many people. I also got Gaston.....I do not think mine was that great, though I caught him at the very tail end of his shift.
Whew, I think that is it......Hopefully some of this will someone's trip be that more Magical. We had one of our best ever trips to Disney. The crowds were a lot longer than I expected them to be (a 4-6 week on easyWDW) but we survived them. Though as I said, 48 hours later and I am still exhausted!
)
