Our Thoughts From Our Latest Trip

[wdwjeffc37]

Hello everyone!
Sorry for the late report but we all got sick (Some with COVID, some with sinus problems) when we returned home from a week (5/6 - 5/13) in the World. Me (60), DW (56), DS (30), DD (19) traveled from Louisiana using a Costco booked package. Airfare, 6 nights at the WDW Swan and 6 day Park Hopper Passes.
We used MEARS Connect for airport transfer. It was as easy as Magical Express. After arriving at MCO at 10:32 PM getting our bag and making our way to the bus stop there were only 9 people on the bus. Waited about 10 minutes for the bus to leave the airport. One stop at POP to drop off 5 and then to the Swan for us and the other two. The whole trip took about 45 minutes. Cost $128 round trip for 4 people.
We were asked at check-in if we wanted to upgrade to a balcony room for $50 per night. Politely declined. Asked about a theme park view, there were none available. This was our first stay at the WDW Swan and will say that the location is great. The 6th floor resort-view room was nice and we were give options for housekeeping. We chose no housekeeping and called for more towels twice. There were conventions going on every day but that didn't interfere with any of our plans.
Our last trip was on the opening weekend of Pandora in 2017. Our focus this trip (Number 14 for me) was Galaxy's Edge and Rise of the Resistance. Park reservation were made about 2 months prior to travel with 2 mornings at DHS, 2 mornings at MK, 1 at EPCOT, and 1 at AK. Got to DHS about 6:45AM on our first morning, got our tickets activated and got in line. At 7:00 I booked a ILL for RotR at 2-3:00 PM. We had several old Magic Bands (some of them were the original style) from previous trips and they were all still active and we had no trouble using them for entry to the parks, LL tap-ins and ride and Photo Pass pictures. Gates opened at 8:00 AM and we went directly to SDD and got in the queue. The ride started operating exactly when Early Entry time came (8:30). We were on and off in about 15 minutes. We got right back in line and waited about 20 minutes for the second ride. It was now time for the general public to be let in and we made our way to MMRRR and got in the queue just before the crush of people. Waited about 20 minutes for that. The ride is cute and some of the effects are wild. It was too soon for our RotR ILL and RnR was down so we went to TSMM and stand-by was 30 minutes. Made our way over to Batuu and grabbed a snack at Ronto Roasters. First time using Mobile Ordering. A great system. After our snack there was time to walk around and take in the sights of the Black Spire Outpost. It is very cool for Star Wars fans! Droids, fighter ships, Millennium Falcon, Storm troopers, and we even saw Kylo Ren. At 2:00 we tapped into the LL for RotR. Spectacular ride! Kids and I did Smuggler’s Run single rider. It was OK. Single riders never get to be Pilots and the people I rode with had no idea what was happening, so the experience wasn’t great. It would be better if you had a whole crew (pilots and gunners) in your party. Since we had Parkhoppers we decided to boat over to EPCOT to check out the Flower and Garden Festival displays. Let me tell you that EPCOT is a mess. The whole center section is walled off. Not very nice to look at and hard to navigate.

That is all for now. I will continue to type and post soon. Cheers!!!!!!!
Jeff From Louisiana

 

[wdwjeffc37]

My wife is telling me to not be so detailed, so I will shorten this trip report to give our overall impressions.

We always buy Parkhopper passes and they were included in the Costco package at no additional charge. The limitation of not being able hop until 2:00 PM is very restrictive. There were times when we would have liked to hop at 10:30 or 11:00 AM after early opening but had to either wait it out at our morning park or go back to the Swan until later.
The park reservation system takes all of the spontaneity of Disney World. I was in the know so I had made our park reservations months in advance but did see a family our first Magic Kingdom mornings that had a ticket voucher at the tap stiles and were being told to go to a ticket window to get their ticket media. I know for a fact that there were no park reservations for the Magic Kingdom that morning because I had checked to see if I could change our reservations for later in the week and there was no availability for the Magic Kingdom for the rest of that week. I don’t know if they make exceptions for people who do not know about making reservations or do they just get turned away.

Mobile ordering for quick service food is a great system. We were usually able to find a table to sit at, take a look at the menu, place our order, pay with a gift card and wait a few minutes then go pickup our food. Very easy and efficient system. I usually bring a couple of gift cards loaded with $500 - $600 (5% off from Target using my Red Card) for shopping in the parks and was able to use them with Mobile Ordering.

More later. Cheers!!!!!!
Jeff from Louisiana

 

[erinch]

I love all the details! Tell the wife you have an avid reader!

 

[TTechmom]

We stayed at the Swan around the same time frame with a Costco deal. It was a great vacation. We had never stayed at the Swan before, but we would do so in a heartbeat again. Interested in hearing more of your trip report.

 

[wdwjeffc37]

We did not use Genie+ at all and we were able to do everything that we wanted with minimal waits. The longest standby wait we did was for Remy”s Ratatouille Adventure at 55 minutes while waiting to stake out a place for the new EPCOT evening show, Harmonious. We used the half hour early entry to our best advantage and got everything we wanted done early. Like I said in the beginning, we did purchase an ILL for RotR on our first day because we didn’t know how long the standby wait would be. Knowing what I know now I wouldn’t do it again seeing that our next DHS morning we were able to go straight to RotR at early opening and ride with a minimal wait. Granted, thirty minutes early is not very long before the park opens to the general public, but it does make a difference. I would rather have an early hour in the morning and late hours at night, but that is not what you get anymore.
Another place I found Disney World lacking was in the 50th Anniversary merchandise. I know that the actual anniversary was October 2021 but other that a few t-shirts most of the merchandise was sweat shirts, jackets, coats and hoodies. It was way too hot for sweat shirts or coats. I usually buy a refrigerator magnet but could not find one that said 50th anniversary. We did not go to Disney Springs to shop at the Disney store so maybe there would been a better selection.

More coming. Cheers!!!!!!!
Jeff from Louisiana

 

[mickey765]

We did not use Genie+ at all and we were able to do everything that we wanted with minimal waits. The longest standby wait we did was for Remy”s Ratatouille Adventure at 55 minutes while waiting to stake out a place for the new EPCOT evening show, Harmonious. We used the half hour early entry to our best advantage and got everything we wanted done early. Like I said in the beginning, we did purchase an ILL for RotR on our first day because we didn’t know how long the standby wait would be. Knowing what I know now I wouldn’t do it again seeing that our next DHS morning we were able to go straight to RotR at early opening and ride with a minimal wait. Granted, thirty minutes early is not very long before the park opens to the general public, but it does make a difference. I would rather have an early hour in the morning and late hours at night, but that is not what you get anymore.
Another place I found Disney World lacking was in the 50th Anniversary merchandise. I know that the actual anniversary was October 2021 but other that a few t-shirts most of the merchandise was sweat shirts, jackets, coats and hoodies. It was way too hot for sweat shirts or coats. I usually buy a refrigerator magnet but could not find one that said 50th anniversary. We did not go to Disney Springs to shop at the Disney store so maybe there would been a better selection.

More coming. Cheers!!!!!!!
Jeff from Louisiana

Do you think you could give a summary of your park says?

 

[wdwjeffc37]

Sure. Since our focus was on DHS and RotR we did first day at DHS, second day at AK, third at MK, fourth at DHS, fifth at EPCOT and last day at MK. Plus we used our park hoppers to hop every day, sometimes to two other parks.
Cheers!!!!!!
Jeff from Louisiana

 

[wdwjeffc37]

So here are some final thoughts:
Staying at the Swan was great. The Costco package was well within our budget considering it included flights on American Airlines from our local airport and park hopper passes. The only thing we didn’t like about it were the circuitous non-direct flights. Having to fly from Louisiana to Dallas and then to Orlando, then from Orlando to Charlotte to get back to Louisiana both with a couple of hour layovers was tedious. We much prefer direct flights even if we have to drive to a city served by Southwest Airlines. Proximity to two parks and the monorail to MK makes it a preferred place to stay in the future. It has two queen sized beds and good choices for food and drinks in the lobby. The little grab and go place even had bottled Dr. Pepper which made my wife’s day. She always bemoans the lack of Dr.Pepper at Disney. I even walked over to the Speedway gas station and was able to buy a case of bottled water for about $7.00. I brought a small carry-on suit case and wheeled it back to the room. The pool area can get crowded later in the day but late morning the “quiet lap pool” was not crowded at all. We only went to the pool a couple of times. We walked over to the Boardwalk to catch the Disney buses to Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom when we didn’t take the monorail and rode the bus back to the BW in the evenings.

 

[moonshadow]

Thanks for the trip report. I for one enjoy the details!

 

[wdwjeffc37]

A little more. . .

MEARS Connect worked well for us. The price was reasonable and the service was good. Pick up time was approximately 3 hours before our flight, similar to Disney’s ME. We had an early evening flight and was able to push our check out time to 12:00 and then had the hotel store our luggage while we walked over to the BW for some lunch and last minute shopping. MEARS send a text and email on the day of departure with your boarding pass code and the pick up time. There were a few people (conventioneers) who had a later pick up time but the driver was able to take them after checking with his dispatcher. All in all a good experience.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios is becoming a much more entertaining park. There are a some real headliner attractions and enough other stuff to do. We found Tower of Terror and the RnR to be down a lot. We were able to ride both but had to check the app and go when the wait times were low. Galaxy’s Edge is really cool, especially for Star Wars fans. Toy Story land is fun also except there is not a lot of shade. It is also the area that we found most crowded feeling. I think it is because of all the strollers. As I said before the shopping was lacking. Several of the stores were closed up and there was just not good variety in what merchandise was available. Food selection was good. We ate in Batuu a couple of times and at the quick service places by the ToT always using Mobile Ordering. We came back to DHS one evening to see Batuu at night and were surprised that there is an evening projection show on the Chinese Theater.

Cheers!!!!!!!!
Jeff from Louisiana

 

[wdwjeffc37]

And a little more. . .

EPCOT has too much construction going on. I understand that upgrades are scheduled and have to be done and that the pandemic has delayed some things, but it was disheartening to have so much construction during the 50th anniversary celebration. We missed the opening of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind by a few weeks. We really enjoyed the World Showcase. Between the early entry and our park hopper passes we were able to ride everything. Remy at rope drop then over to Frozen then on to Test Track, which was down. Went over to Soarin’ for a short wait. Still like the original film for Soarin’. We miss the scent of the orange grove and the sense of really flying. The transitions in the new film are too abrupt. We caught Test Track later in the day using the single rider line for a couple of quick (10 to 15 minute wait) rides. We got on Spaceship Earth with a 10 minute wait but me and my DDs car had Spanish narration. Food is always good at EPCOT. I like fish and chips from the Yorkshire stand in England. We sampled several things from the Flower and Garden Festival booths and had margaritas from Mexico. We did not really enjoy Harmonious. It lacks the depth of Illuminations. Too much IP and the stages and barges are really eyesores during the day and not very pretty during the show. I did like the fact that there are more fireworks than Illuminations but overall the show didn’t move us.

Cheers!!!!!!!
Jeff from Louisiana

 

[wdwjeffc37]

And a little more. . .

The Magic Kingdom. Nothing says Disney World like the Magic Kingdom. We were able to make our way over to the MK several times during our trip because of our Park Hoppers. The early entry morning isn’t as useful here if you are not wanting to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train of Peter Pan’s Flight, because Frontierland does not open for early entry. We have ridden 7DMT and PP a lot so it was not as high a priority for us. We did Winnie the Pooh while waiting for Frontierland to open and were able to be right at the front when the rope went down and headed to Big Thunder Mountain; which was not operating. My DD and I got in the Splash Mountain line as my DW and DS did not want to experience it this time. After spending about 15 minutes in line somebody said that BTM was working. So we jumped out of line and called DW and DS and found that they were already in the queue. We all were able to ride BTM twice with a very minimal wait. We did get on Splash Mountain later that day. We tried two different days to ride Space Mountain but kept finding it down and were finally able to ride on the second afternoon when we happened to be getting off of the People Mover when SM came back online. Speaking of the People Mover (My wife’s favorite ride) we got to see a TRON Lightcycle Power Run train make a circuit of the track and see Space Mountain with the lights on on one of our many rides on the People Mover. Twice while we were riding and the narration says “the transportation that never stops,” the ride stops and an announcement says this ride has stopped, please remain seated and it will continue shortly. Ironic. We were kind of disappointed with the quick service food in the MK. We used to get the 1/2 chicken dinner at Cosmic Ray’s but it was not on the menu anymore, but we were all able to find something to eat. We had purchased a Skyliner popcorn bucket on our first day and made good use of it at the MK and all the parks except Animal Kingdom. Our first evening in the MK we were in the queue for 7DMT around 8:45 pm and when our train came out of the mountain for the first time the fireworks were just starting. What an incredible experience. Once off of the ride we stayed behind the castle for the rest of the show. It is completely different to watch form there because the fireworks are going off all around you. Great fun! We did see the show from the hub one evening. I love fireworks. I don’t care so much for the projections on the castle during the fireworks. There is too much going on to see everything effectively. The show was good but the crowd was not. We staked out a spot in the hub about an hour early but by the time the show started the people had crowded in so tight it was not comfortable. Then when the fathers started putting kids on their shoulders it was almost too much. My DD who is rather small in stature had to move so she could see the castle. I have a soft spot for Wishes. It will always be my favorite (Like Illuminations @ EPCOT). The MK could really use a night-time parade. The afternoon Festival of Fantasy parade is nice but evenings in the Magic Kingdom are special. The park was open until 11:00 pm and one night there was extra evening hours for deluxe resort guests. Don’t get me started on that. As someone who does not stay in Disney deluxe resorts this perk is not popular in my mind. We normally stay Moderate (Port Orleans French Quarter or mostly Coronado Springs) and could never justify the additional cost for deluxe resorts even with extra evening hours. The bus from the MK to the Boardwalk was quick and easy and the walk to the Swan was a short 5 -10 minutes. We did ride the monorail from EPCOT to the MK on our EPCOT morning when we were able to park hop but other than the fun of riding the monorail and because we were already at EPCOT it is not a very efficient way to get to the MK. The transfer from the EPCOT line to the MK line took awhile. All in all the Magic Kingdom is a great theme park due to the nostalgia aspect but they are keeping it fresh with new attractions. We like the atmosphere of the park and will just sit, eat a Mickey ice cream bar or Dole Whip and relax. I am ready for the Railroad to reopen and things to get back to more normal.

A few more installments coming later.
Cheers!!!!!
Jeff from Louisiana

 

[wdwjeffc37]

Still a little more. . .

On to Animal Kingdom. Our early Animal Kingdom morning came and we actually rode the Swan bus there because when I went to the desk to ask about getting a late check out time (Which they were able to push our check out time to noon) the desk clerk said the Animal Kingdom bus was there and ready to leave. They don’t drop you at the Disney bus stop but in the parking lot where there is a small covered pavilion where you can wait out of the sun and rain to ride back. Where the drop is is actually closer to the from gate than the Disney bus stops so it was all good. This was the only time that we rode the Swan bus. Upon arriving at AK we tapped in and waited until they let people start going into the park. We headed straight to Pandora and Flights of Passage. As I said before we were actually at the opening weekend for Pandora and rode FOP and Navi River Journey a few times with Fast Pass +. The opening weekend the standby waits were unbelievable. We saw it as high as ten hours and people were waiting that long. Crazy. This time we basically walked on and rode in a few minutes. Still an awe inspiring attraction. After hanging out in Pandora for a while taking in the sights we walked over to catch a ride on Dinosaur! because Everest was down. Everest had just reopened after a lengthy refurbishment. We grabbed a snack for lunch and while we were eating we could hear the screams from the forbidden mountain. My wife decided that she did not want to ride so soon after eating so the kids and I ran over to the single rider line and got two pretty quick rides. I wondered if during the refurb the they would remove all of the hair ties from the top of the mountain. I don’t know if they did or not but was kind of disappointed to see that there were a lot of them there. We weren’t interested in walking any of the trails and since it was super hot we didn’t try the safari. I find the safari best first thing in the morning or closer to park close. It was just about 2:00 pm so we caught a bus to the Boardwalk and walked over to EPCOT for the evening after stopping by the Swan for a quick refresh. This was the evening that we waited for Harmonious. We like AK for Pandora and the thrills of Dinosaur! and Everest and the ambiance at less hot times of the year, but this year it was so hot we didn’t really feel like hanging out.

I'll be summing things up in the next couple of posts.
Cheers!!!!!!!
Jeff from Louisiana

 

[wdwjeffc37]

So here is the end. . .

So here are our final thoughts. . .

Costco package - Good - Great deal. Round trip airfare from local airport. Park Hopper passes included in price. Not So Good - Non direct flights. Not refundable.

MEAR Connect Transportation - Good - Good price. Easy reservations. Paid in advance. Easy to navigate. Not So Good - No downsides.

Swan Resort - Good - Great location for parks and transportation. Good food options. Dr. Pepper on site. Comfortable room. Will definitely stay here again. Not So Good - No downsides.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios - Good - Galaxy’s Edge is awesome. Rise of the Resistance is outstanding. Toy Story Land is great. Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway is cool. The other headliner attraction never disappoint. Food options with Mobile Ordering. Not So Good - ToT and RnR downtime. Lack of merchandise. Not very much shade in Toy Story Land.

EPCOT - Good - World Showcase. Food Selection. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is fun for all ages. Frozen is good. Test Track. Spaceship Earth is a classic. New attractions coming. Not So Good - Construction walls. Moving around the park due to the crowds and construction walls. Lack of 50th Anniversary merchandise. Soarin’ film. Harmonious was disappointing.

Magic Kingdom - Good - All of the classic attractions. Dole Whips. Fireworks from behind the castle. New attractions coming. It’s the Magic Kingdom. Not So Good - Food selection. Again, lack of 50th merchandise. Pushy crowds in the hub for the fireworks. No night time parade.

Animal Kingdom - Good - Pandora has aged well. Flights of Passage. Everest’s great. Dinosaur! is fun. Food selection. (We didn’t really spend much time at Animal Kingdom) Not So Good - Nothing really. There are some areas that need some changes (Looking at you DinoLand USA).

Overall impressions about Walt Disney World. I think that WDW still offers pretty good value for your dollar (or DOLLARS!) compared to other vacation options especially if you have an affinity for it. We like WDW and we expect thing to be more expensive there. We don’t have unrealistic expectations. I investigated a Hawaii trip as well as some other destination in the western USA and found some things like hotel room could be slightly cheaper (but not the quality of the Swan), but admission for some attractions is on par with Disney without the variety and quality. We found that the Cast Members were friendly and helpful and for the most part the people that we met in the queues and on the bus to be quite nice. For example in the queue for the Haunted Mansion my DD was charging her phone with one of the many power banks that I carried when the gentleman in front of us offered to pay me $10.00 to let him charge his phone which was extremely low on power. I wouldn’t take his money and loaned him another power bank and charging cord until we got to the ride entrance. We had a nice visit with them. Yes, there are things about the “New” WDW that I don’t particularly like: Park Reservations, Paid Individual Lightning Lane, Extra cost for Genie+, Only 1/2 hour early entry, Park Hopping only after 2:00 pm. None of those are a deal breaker for us. We were able to enjoy our trip and ride just about everything that we wanted to. We will probably be going back in the next 2 - 3 years to experience the new attractions that are scheduled to open. I’m sure that Disney will continue to add new attractions in the years to come to keep things fresh.

That is it for this trip. If anyone has any questions or needs any clarifications just post here and I will try and answer them.

Cheers!!!!!!
Jeff from Louisiana

 

[VicarJT]

This is a fantastic trip report - thank you for posting it!

 

[Genie+]

The limitation of not being able hop until 2:00 PM is very restrictive. (Yes)

Mobile ordering for quick service food is a great system. (Yes!)

Disney’s Hollywood Studios is becoming a much more entertaining park. (Yes! Yes! Yes!)

EPCOT has too much construction going on. (Going on way too long)

We were kind of disappointed with the quick service food in the MK. (Such a shame. MK has very good table service options and snack stops, but quick service there has disappointed us on many occasions. We’re very careful thinking about when and where to eat on MK day now.)

I investigated a Hawaii trip as well as some other destination in the western USA and found some things like hotel room could be slightly cheaper (but not the quality of the Swan), but admission for some attractions is on par with Disney without the variety and quality. (We’ve found the same where WDW isn’t that much different on cost per day by the time we pay room, activities, food, travel expenses, etc.)

…for the most part the people that we met in the queues and on the bus to be quite nice. (Yep! Our encounters with truly rude people are maybe one per trip. Not bad considering we’re rubbing elbows with thousands of people. Much more common are friendly interactions.)

^^^———————————-^^^

Totally agree with these points you made. Thanks so much for the report and great to hear your family had such a lovely time.

 

[DVCjj]

Loved your Trip Report. Such easy reading. Your evaluations were very spot-on.

So glad you had a great time. We've stayed at Swan many, many times prior to DVC. We took out an American Express SPG card years ago literally just to get points for Swan & Dolphin. It was a steal. Once Marriott took over, points went ballistic (way over the normal 'exchange' between companies' differing) and not a deal at all.)

Swolphin sometimes has excellent cash prices.....certainly compared to cash DVC/Resorts, and we wouldn't hesitate to go back. We stay at BCV and BWV a lot and always walk to get coffee/treats/salads/gift shop etc at both Swan and Dolphin. LOVE the smell of the lobbies. Love the ambience there.