JAMIESMITH
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2011
Final Thoughts
My cousin told me that I set to bar too high with our first Disney vacation and that this one would never live up to our expectations based on that first trip. In a lot of ways, she was right!
We had a nice family vacation, but the magic was a little harder to come by this trip than it was the first time around. I think it’s sad that our best day at Disney was the one day we didn’t set foot in a park! Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique was definitely one of the highlights!
We enjoyed a lot of things that we didn’t get to experience on our first trip, but there were definitely more people and longer waits pretty much across the board. Keep in mind that I’m complaining about posted wait times that would be nothing compared to waits at busier times of the year, but they were not the walk-ons we experienced before during a similarly rated week on all the crowd calendars. I guess a lot changes in two years!
There was nothing really wrong with The Boardwalk, but I personally liked The Polynesian better. We missed being on the monorail. I liked both the layout and the theming of the Poly more, but I we were reluctant to pay the high price to stay there during DVC construction. I also enjoyed traveling in September more than January. It was windy and cool for most of this trip. Neither of us could get a week off in September this time and I hated to pull Maddy out of school right after it started.
I was very disappointed that we weren’t able to use quick service credits for snacks like we were in the past. The cast member I spoke to after we got home made that right, but really, a few snacks to take home would have made me happier! Despite coming out over $100 ahead with the dining plan, we might have eaten differently without it. I don’t know if I will purchase it on a future trip or not. The quality of food was just as good this trip!
We are tentatively planning a Universal trip for October of 2016
Updated Disney Bucket List
Stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Wilderness Lodge, and try a moderate
Run in a Run Disney Race
Visit while the Christmas decorations are up
Try several new-to-us restaurants
My cousin told me that I set to bar too high with our first Disney vacation and that this one would never live up to our expectations based on that first trip. In a lot of ways, she was right!
We had a nice family vacation, but the magic was a little harder to come by this trip than it was the first time around. I think it’s sad that our best day at Disney was the one day we didn’t set foot in a park! Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique was definitely one of the highlights!
We enjoyed a lot of things that we didn’t get to experience on our first trip, but there were definitely more people and longer waits pretty much across the board. Keep in mind that I’m complaining about posted wait times that would be nothing compared to waits at busier times of the year, but they were not the walk-ons we experienced before during a similarly rated week on all the crowd calendars. I guess a lot changes in two years!
There was nothing really wrong with The Boardwalk, but I personally liked The Polynesian better. We missed being on the monorail. I liked both the layout and the theming of the Poly more, but I we were reluctant to pay the high price to stay there during DVC construction. I also enjoyed traveling in September more than January. It was windy and cool for most of this trip. Neither of us could get a week off in September this time and I hated to pull Maddy out of school right after it started.
I was very disappointed that we weren’t able to use quick service credits for snacks like we were in the past. The cast member I spoke to after we got home made that right, but really, a few snacks to take home would have made me happier! Despite coming out over $100 ahead with the dining plan, we might have eaten differently without it. I don’t know if I will purchase it on a future trip or not. The quality of food was just as good this trip!
We are tentatively planning a Universal trip for October of 2016
Updated Disney Bucket List
Stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Wilderness Lodge, and try a moderate
Run in a Run Disney Race
Visit while the Christmas decorations are up
Try several new-to-us restaurants
Bring on the Universal 2016 planning!
