Hello everyone! I'm fairly new and quiet on the boards, but after this past trip I wanted to recap and give some of my observations and tips to those who will be going to WDW soon! Before my trip I stalked the boards for information, crowd levels, resort reviews, etc. and thought I would pass along what I've experienced. This trip was just 2 adults, so I realize some of my experiences wouldn't be helpful for families with children or large groups.
Resorts:
I had a split stay between Coronado Springs and AKL. We stayed our first 3 nights at CSR and our last 2 nights at AKL.
Food:
we dined at Homecomin', San Angel Inn, Via Napoli, Polite Pig, Satuli Canteen x3, Rix Bar & Grill, BOG lunch, and The Mara. Homecomin' was our favorite TS meal and Satuli Canteen was our favorite QS. The other meals we had were either just "okay" or not great at all. San Angel Inn, Via Napoli, and BOG lunch were one and done for us. We wouldn't go back.
Crowds:
Surprisingly, we didn't feel the parks were really that crowded. Maybe I prepared myself mentally enough before going, but last year I went around Marathon weekend and the crowds were much more visible then. We did notice A LOT of Spanish/Portuguese speaking groups and families,but they were pleasant and one group even gave us a paper fastpass to ride Tower of Terror just because.
Refresh:
We refreshed A LOT to gain extra fastpasses, but we only did so either while in line or while waiting for our food. Sometimes one of us would guide and the other would look for fastpasses while walking. This was beneficial and we gained a lot of great fastpasses day of from the most popular rides. What we quickly realized after day 1 was that the MDE app was unreliable, so we used Safari (both iPhone users) to log into MDE on the webpage and we were able to refresh much quicker and obtained more fastpasses.
Rope Drop:
We only Rope Dropped 2 days before we realized that we no longer needed to with refreshing and riding all of our favorite attractions with fastpasses later in the day. We only had fastpasses booked for MK for 1 day, so on 1/29 we rope dropped it and was able to ride Jungle Cruise, POC, Splash, HM all before 10:15 on 9am opening day. We then used our fast passes for Buzz and Space before eating at BOG. We had a fastpass for 7DMT at 5pm that evening, but we continued to refresh (about 5 minutes) until we were able to get a fastpass for 7DMT at 12:00pm that we rode before leaving the park that afternoon for our break.
We also rope dropped animal kingdom on 1/30 and was annoyed to find out Na'vi river already had a line that was to the entrance of Pandora at 8:40. We then walked over to ride Dinosaur only to find out that it didn't open with the rest of the park, but opened at 9:30. We then walked over to EE and rode that a couple of times with no wait before backtracking and going to Dinosaur before heading to our first fastpass at the Safari. We quickly realized that we didn't want to rope drop anymore and that we would just continue to refresh to ride the attractions that we wanted when we wanted to, it worked like a charm.
Buses:
We had excellent bus service during our stay at CSR. We found the bus wait times on the app to be slightly off, and after missing the bus once due to the wrong time posted on the app, we always arrived at least 5 minutes earlier than what the app said and the bus would normally pull up about a minute later than our arrival. We never waited more than 5 minutes (most times less) for a bus back to our resort, even in the afternoons. We had no complaints with the buses at CSR. AKL was a bit different in that the app with the wait times seemed much more accurate, but the bus ride to the parks were so long! Also, we stayed in Jambo house and just to return back to Jambo house from AK took 15 minutes after stopping at Kidani, even though AK is less than 5 minutes away from AKL. If you are staying at AKL, just prepare yourself for longer bus rides.
Room Checks:
We took afternoon breaks (2pm-5pm) daily and was never interrupted by housekeeping or anyone doing room checks at either resort. Maybe they did them earlier in the day?
Mobile Order:
I'm sure most of you already do this, but if you don't already, please use mobile order if available. The line at Satuli Canteen to order was SO long each time we went, and we would make our mobile order as we were walking to Pandora and bypass everyone waiting over 30 minutes just to order. The same was true for BOG lunch. The only time we didn't find Mobile order to be that big of a difference from the regular line was at Aloha Aisle when getting a dole whip, but I'd still mobile order if I have the option.
That about wraps it up! We had a great trip overall and cannot wait to return!
Resorts:
I had a split stay between Coronado Springs and AKL. We stayed our first 3 nights at CSR and our last 2 nights at AKL.
- CSR Pros: Quick Bus service to/from parks, quiet and peaceful resort, nice pool and hot tub, beautiful updated rooms, more centrally located.
- CSR Cons: Bell Services & Food.
- AKL Pros: Beautiful and unique resort, ANIMALS, food.
- AKL Cons: bus rides to and from parks and DS (except AK) were so long, a lot more families with children everywhere, bus service was slow, rooms were dark and very dated.
Food:
we dined at Homecomin', San Angel Inn, Via Napoli, Polite Pig, Satuli Canteen x3, Rix Bar & Grill, BOG lunch, and The Mara. Homecomin' was our favorite TS meal and Satuli Canteen was our favorite QS. The other meals we had were either just "okay" or not great at all. San Angel Inn, Via Napoli, and BOG lunch were one and done for us. We wouldn't go back.
Crowds:
Surprisingly, we didn't feel the parks were really that crowded. Maybe I prepared myself mentally enough before going, but last year I went around Marathon weekend and the crowds were much more visible then. We did notice A LOT of Spanish/Portuguese speaking groups and families,but they were pleasant and one group even gave us a paper fastpass to ride Tower of Terror just because.
Refresh:
We refreshed A LOT to gain extra fastpasses, but we only did so either while in line or while waiting for our food. Sometimes one of us would guide and the other would look for fastpasses while walking. This was beneficial and we gained a lot of great fastpasses day of from the most popular rides. What we quickly realized after day 1 was that the MDE app was unreliable, so we used Safari (both iPhone users) to log into MDE on the webpage and we were able to refresh much quicker and obtained more fastpasses.
Rope Drop:
We only Rope Dropped 2 days before we realized that we no longer needed to with refreshing and riding all of our favorite attractions with fastpasses later in the day. We only had fastpasses booked for MK for 1 day, so on 1/29 we rope dropped it and was able to ride Jungle Cruise, POC, Splash, HM all before 10:15 on 9am opening day. We then used our fast passes for Buzz and Space before eating at BOG. We had a fastpass for 7DMT at 5pm that evening, but we continued to refresh (about 5 minutes) until we were able to get a fastpass for 7DMT at 12:00pm that we rode before leaving the park that afternoon for our break.
We also rope dropped animal kingdom on 1/30 and was annoyed to find out Na'vi river already had a line that was to the entrance of Pandora at 8:40. We then walked over to ride Dinosaur only to find out that it didn't open with the rest of the park, but opened at 9:30. We then walked over to EE and rode that a couple of times with no wait before backtracking and going to Dinosaur before heading to our first fastpass at the Safari. We quickly realized that we didn't want to rope drop anymore and that we would just continue to refresh to ride the attractions that we wanted when we wanted to, it worked like a charm.
Buses:
We had excellent bus service during our stay at CSR. We found the bus wait times on the app to be slightly off, and after missing the bus once due to the wrong time posted on the app, we always arrived at least 5 minutes earlier than what the app said and the bus would normally pull up about a minute later than our arrival. We never waited more than 5 minutes (most times less) for a bus back to our resort, even in the afternoons. We had no complaints with the buses at CSR. AKL was a bit different in that the app with the wait times seemed much more accurate, but the bus ride to the parks were so long! Also, we stayed in Jambo house and just to return back to Jambo house from AK took 15 minutes after stopping at Kidani, even though AK is less than 5 minutes away from AKL. If you are staying at AKL, just prepare yourself for longer bus rides.
Room Checks:
We took afternoon breaks (2pm-5pm) daily and was never interrupted by housekeeping or anyone doing room checks at either resort. Maybe they did them earlier in the day?
Mobile Order:
I'm sure most of you already do this, but if you don't already, please use mobile order if available. The line at Satuli Canteen to order was SO long each time we went, and we would make our mobile order as we were walking to Pandora and bypass everyone waiting over 30 minutes just to order. The same was true for BOG lunch. The only time we didn't find Mobile order to be that big of a difference from the regular line was at Aloha Aisle when getting a dole whip, but I'd still mobile order if I have the option.
That about wraps it up! We had a great trip overall and cannot wait to return!
