Lisa LSR
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2013
Ok, we were there for 8 days. We stayed at AoA, Lion King suite. Travelling with me: My husband, 8 year old son, 11 year old daughter.
This was our second time to stay in a suite. We stayed in Cars last November. I prefer Cars. Many complain about the walk, but it is truly the cutest themed section, in my opinion. I love the little "highway" you walk down to get to the buildings. Lion King was fine. The closer proximity to the main building didn't really seem to be such a perk. I think it's more a psychological thing because you can see the main building. Lol. Anyway, it did seem that there was more hallway noise this time. But I think that's because overall, the crowds were heavier than last year. We love the extra space, and especially the 2nd bathroom that the suites provide. But the food court is a *%#+* nightmare and it's making me wonder if the extra space is worth it.
Now about the crowds. November slow weeks have "caught on" in my opinion. The past week in November is supposed to be one of the lower crowd weeks. We went the week of Veteran's Day last year, and it was wonderful. Walked right on to many rides. From what I understand, that was very different this year. So I wasn't very surprised that crowds were a bit heavier than predicted, especially Sat and Sun. That said, we still never waited more than 20 minutes for anything. Waits were longer for big rides like 7DMT, Soarin, TSMMM, but we had fastpasses, so that didn't affect us.
We also had fastpasses to eat lunch at BOG, and there were actually empty tables there!
We went to every park. The Frozen sing-a-long at Hollywood Studios was wonderful. The whole family loved it. The kids loved playing in the snow at Wandering Oaken. It was just a neat little "new" thing to do.
I've read many complaints that cast members aren't friendly, etc. anymore. This was NOT my experience at all. I really made an effort to speak to every one of them, ask how their day was going, etc. Every one responded nicely, smiling, and friendly. My impression was more that guests are rude and many just ignore the cast members unless something isn't going their way. IMO, people are just more into themselves. I feel strongly that we usually get what we give. That's my motivational speech for the day
Dining: Our first meal was at Rainforest Cafe outside Animal Kingdom. Kids love it. It's a chain restaurant, so you get the sort of food you'd get at any chain. It's loud in there, so not a very relaxing place to eat. We ate at Sci Fi for lunch at HS. This is one we always do. The kids love it, and it's nice, usually kind of quiet and dark in there. It's a wonderful break, and the kids are so entertained by the cheesy movie clips that the parents have time to drink a beer or two. We also ate at BoG, which the kids loved. The food was really good, and my husband said it was one of his favorites. it's truly a beautiful place. This year, I used two dining credits on Hoop-de-doo. The kids loved it. For me, it was a pain to get there. We had to leave HS, take a bus to MK, then the long ferry ride to Ft.Wilderness. I'm not sure it was worth it, but I don't regret that we did it once. The show was funny and cute. The food was good, but nothing to say WOW about. The biggest hit was Biergarten. I totally went out on a limb scheduling this one based on opinions I read here on DIS. I knew my husband would love it (duh, beer). But I was worried the kids would be too picky. We all LOVED it. They had chicken and pork so the kids were happy. And they thought the mac and cheese was the best ever. The show was awesome. The other family that sat with us was nice, but there wasn't a lot of interaction. Everyone was eating and watching the show! I did notice that they seemed to try to sit adults only with other adults only, and families with kids with other families with kids. The last place we ate was Via Napoli. I had high expectations based on opinions here. It was just okay for me. Lovely place, good food, but not great. The kids weren't thrilled with it, and mine was just okay. Hubby liked his, but nothing to write home about. Our waiter, Leonardo, however....
I recommend making reservations at restaurants in World Showcase. It was great to see my kids trying new foods, and being slightly exposed to other cultures and people from other countries. I loved that.
Last, but not least, we ate at Akershus for breakfast. This was wonderful. If you have a daughter, I HIGHLY recommend this. We met all the BIGTIME princesses and the got pictures with everyone. We didn't need to stand in line for any of them for the rest of the trip. Very much worth it!
On that note, we had fastpasses to meet Anna and Elsa. The girls playing these characters were fabulous and interacted so much with the kids. Worth it.
We had Memory Maker for the first time. It was awesome and I can't wait to see all the pictures. Thanks to a MM photographer's post here, I knew to be polite and ask "do you mind taking our picture?", instead of just walking up and posing. That seemed to get us tons of magic shots without even asking. The photographers were great.
Things I have learned from this trip:
1) Schedule fastpasses later in the day. That way, if I'm able to walk onto a ride that morning, I will still be able to change my fps later.
2) Schedule more table service meals early in the day. We had to many counter service meals left over because I kept thinking no one should eat since we had reservations later. Plus it's less interruption of the day.
3) Consider carving out some time away from the kids, if only just for a meal. I think it would help all of us.
4) Magic Kingdom works better in small pieces for us. It overwhelms the kids and they get grumpy. So I will break it up and spread it out over the week next time.
Sorry if this rambled. Wanted to get it all down while fresh on my mind. Let me know if you have any questions!
This was our second time to stay in a suite. We stayed in Cars last November. I prefer Cars. Many complain about the walk, but it is truly the cutest themed section, in my opinion. I love the little "highway" you walk down to get to the buildings. Lion King was fine. The closer proximity to the main building didn't really seem to be such a perk. I think it's more a psychological thing because you can see the main building. Lol. Anyway, it did seem that there was more hallway noise this time. But I think that's because overall, the crowds were heavier than last year. We love the extra space, and especially the 2nd bathroom that the suites provide. But the food court is a *%#+* nightmare and it's making me wonder if the extra space is worth it.
Now about the crowds. November slow weeks have "caught on" in my opinion. The past week in November is supposed to be one of the lower crowd weeks. We went the week of Veteran's Day last year, and it was wonderful. Walked right on to many rides. From what I understand, that was very different this year. So I wasn't very surprised that crowds were a bit heavier than predicted, especially Sat and Sun. That said, we still never waited more than 20 minutes for anything. Waits were longer for big rides like 7DMT, Soarin, TSMMM, but we had fastpasses, so that didn't affect us.
We also had fastpasses to eat lunch at BOG, and there were actually empty tables there!
We went to every park. The Frozen sing-a-long at Hollywood Studios was wonderful. The whole family loved it. The kids loved playing in the snow at Wandering Oaken. It was just a neat little "new" thing to do.
I've read many complaints that cast members aren't friendly, etc. anymore. This was NOT my experience at all. I really made an effort to speak to every one of them, ask how their day was going, etc. Every one responded nicely, smiling, and friendly. My impression was more that guests are rude and many just ignore the cast members unless something isn't going their way. IMO, people are just more into themselves. I feel strongly that we usually get what we give. That's my motivational speech for the day
Dining: Our first meal was at Rainforest Cafe outside Animal Kingdom. Kids love it. It's a chain restaurant, so you get the sort of food you'd get at any chain. It's loud in there, so not a very relaxing place to eat. We ate at Sci Fi for lunch at HS. This is one we always do. The kids love it, and it's nice, usually kind of quiet and dark in there. It's a wonderful break, and the kids are so entertained by the cheesy movie clips that the parents have time to drink a beer or two
. We also ate at BoG, which the kids loved. The food was really good, and my husband said it was one of his favorites. it's truly a beautiful place. This year, I used two dining credits on Hoop-de-doo. The kids loved it. For me, it was a pain to get there. We had to leave HS, take a bus to MK, then the long ferry ride to Ft.Wilderness. I'm not sure it was worth it, but I don't regret that we did it once. The show was funny and cute. The food was good, but nothing to say WOW about. The biggest hit was Biergarten. I totally went out on a limb scheduling this one based on opinions I read here on DIS. I knew my husband would love it (duh, beer). But I was worried the kids would be too picky. We all LOVED it. They had chicken and pork so the kids were happy. And they thought the mac and cheese was the best ever. The show was awesome. The other family that sat with us was nice, but there wasn't a lot of interaction. Everyone was eating and watching the show! I did notice that they seemed to try to sit adults only with other adults only, and families with kids with other families with kids. The last place we ate was Via Napoli. I had high expectations based on opinions here. It was just okay for me. Lovely place, good food, but not great. The kids weren't thrilled with it, and mine was just okay. Hubby liked his, but nothing to write home about. Our waiter, Leonardo, however....I recommend making reservations at restaurants in World Showcase. It was great to see my kids trying new foods, and being slightly exposed to other cultures and people from other countries. I loved that.
Last, but not least, we ate at Akershus for breakfast. This was wonderful. If you have a daughter, I HIGHLY recommend this. We met all the BIGTIME princesses and the got pictures with everyone. We didn't need to stand in line for any of them for the rest of the trip. Very much worth it!
On that note, we had fastpasses to meet Anna and Elsa. The girls playing these characters were fabulous and interacted so much with the kids. Worth it.
We had Memory Maker for the first time. It was awesome and I can't wait to see all the pictures. Thanks to a MM photographer's post here, I knew to be polite and ask "do you mind taking our picture?", instead of just walking up and posing. That seemed to get us tons of magic shots without even asking. The photographers were great.
Things I have learned from this trip:
1) Schedule fastpasses later in the day. That way, if I'm able to walk onto a ride that morning, I will still be able to change my fps later.
2) Schedule more table service meals early in the day. We had to many counter service meals left over because I kept thinking no one should eat since we had reservations later. Plus it's less interruption of the day.
3) Consider carving out some time away from the kids, if only just for a meal. I think it would help all of us.
4) Magic Kingdom works better in small pieces for us. It overwhelms the kids and they get grumpy. So I will break it up and spread it out over the week next time.
Sorry if this rambled. Wanted to get it all down while fresh on my mind. Let me know if you have any questions!
