wallawallakids
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2012
We are back and had an AMAZING trip! We arrived Sunday and left yesterday evening. There were a TON of highlights for us this trip. It was our first trip back in 3 years. I am not sure how to write a real TR, but I will tell you some highlights/tips I learned for anyone who is interested:
1) CARS is as amazing as they say. I was doubting the hype but I was wrong. It is my new favorite ride. We all loved it. It did break down twice while we were in line, but we still managed to ride it 4 times over our trip. I felt so bad for the families that couldn't seem to get it in, so on our last day I waited in line for FPs and gifted them to a nice family I saw. I think they thought I was a tad crazy asking if they had been on it and if they had FP's yet, but the smile I got when I handed them over our passes was awesome and totally worth it!
For those going, FP is the way to go if you have a large family (IMO). We did the mad dash at rope drop but it was crazy and even though we got onto the ride quickly, the shear number of adults that have no issue of running over your children or through your hands while you are holding your 6 year old, is crazy. My oldest DD was crying by the time we got in line. In all, not worth it for us. Esp. when the FP was pretty easy to get (we got them 4 times). We just hoped into line right before park opening and really only had a long line on Thursday. Monday/ Wednesday/ and Friday was fast. Plus you only have to have one person wait, which is another added bonus. Twice when the ride broke down during our FP return window, they let us come back later in the day when it was back up. My vote is to hit TSM at rope drop. Did that the second day and there was no line, then we did Screaming twice, before going over to Cars FP line. Much better than getting run over!
2) I got to meet Kevin and John who were there on an ABD trip! Which was a nice added bonus. (they also probably thought I was crazy! My kids did, because I was so excited to meet them!)
3) It was busy but not crazy crowded. We were able to ride every ride in the park without much of a wait and we rode the headliner rides 3/4/5 times over our stay. This was with 4 kids in tow. We did Rope Drop 3 mornings and stayed until closing. The other 3 days we did more mellow days with time hanging around the pool/ visiting family.
4) My 6 year olds rocked on the walking. They never complained and went from 8am-8pm without needing a stroller. We went to WDW when they were 4 and it was a huge improvement from 4-6 in stamina and ease. I can not tell you how great it is and easy it is to do the parks without a stroller. It is SOOO nice. So don't be afraid to ditch the ride!
5) We encountered some really nice CMs along the way on this trip. In particular we had purchased Carthay WOC for our family of 6 in hopes our youngest DS (who has very poor vision) would be able to see the show. We got in line early but a family of 5 adults were ahead of us and then "saved" the railings for "other family members". (I know this is par for the course as we have been to WOC in the past, but this was the entire railing!) A really nice CM went above and beyond when she saw him and asked him if he could see from so far away. When he said no, she brought him and our family up front to a bench and told us to sit there. We ended up having a great view and he could see it all. There was a waiter at Carthay who also did a special thing for him and another at Steakhouse 55 that gave my DD, who turned 12 on the trip, a cute cake with a candle in it. She was touched.
6) We stayed at the DLH. It was nice. We had a refurb room before, so it was not something new, but the pool was new. The kids loved the pool. Several times they were closed though due to kids getting sick in them. Over all, I think I prefer the Grand though! Esp. now that the kids are walking. It was doable and they did great, but the added convince of being close with the twins would have been nice. But I can not say anything bad about DLH. It is still a solid choice with nice rooms, CMs, etc.
Something I did notice on this trip: EMH/MMH were insanely busy. Much more so than they were 3 years ago. Not sure if it was because the park opened later, so more people made it, or if they have larger numbers of people getting MMH but it was a little bit much. On Friday we skipped it and went to the opposite park and actually got more done. In the past we used to be able to get all of Fantasyland done in that one hour, not this time. We were lucky to get three rides in. That was different for us.
We loved Starbucks being in the parks and the sign went up in DTD on Friday!
We did Fantasmic reserved seating for the second time. (and the last.) It just isn't worth the price IMO. We waited a LONG time and got great seats but it was loud and for $340, just not worth the splurge. We did it for DD's birthday as her special thing. Twice is enough of that.
Lastly, we used DK Livery. We had an amazing driver there but on the way back it was BAD! I didn't think we were going to live to make it to LGB. He almost side swiped a car going 80 and he didn't seem to speak very good English. We tried asking him a few questions and got no where. It was not a great experience.
Any questions about anything? Over all it was an amazing trip and I know we probably won't be back anytime soon, which makes me sad, but I will be dreaming of our next time back!
1) CARS is as amazing as they say. I was doubting the hype but I was wrong. It is my new favorite ride. We all loved it. It did break down twice while we were in line, but we still managed to ride it 4 times over our trip. I felt so bad for the families that couldn't seem to get it in, so on our last day I waited in line for FPs and gifted them to a nice family I saw. I think they thought I was a tad crazy asking if they had been on it and if they had FP's yet, but the smile I got when I handed them over our passes was awesome and totally worth it!
For those going, FP is the way to go if you have a large family (IMO). We did the mad dash at rope drop but it was crazy and even though we got onto the ride quickly, the shear number of adults that have no issue of running over your children or through your hands while you are holding your 6 year old, is crazy. My oldest DD was crying by the time we got in line. In all, not worth it for us. Esp. when the FP was pretty easy to get (we got them 4 times). We just hoped into line right before park opening and really only had a long line on Thursday. Monday/ Wednesday/ and Friday was fast. Plus you only have to have one person wait, which is another added bonus. Twice when the ride broke down during our FP return window, they let us come back later in the day when it was back up. My vote is to hit TSM at rope drop. Did that the second day and there was no line, then we did Screaming twice, before going over to Cars FP line. Much better than getting run over!
2) I got to meet Kevin and John who were there on an ABD trip! Which was a nice added bonus. (they also probably thought I was crazy! My kids did, because I was so excited to meet them!)
3) It was busy but not crazy crowded. We were able to ride every ride in the park without much of a wait and we rode the headliner rides 3/4/5 times over our stay. This was with 4 kids in tow. We did Rope Drop 3 mornings and stayed until closing. The other 3 days we did more mellow days with time hanging around the pool/ visiting family.
4) My 6 year olds rocked on the walking. They never complained and went from 8am-8pm without needing a stroller. We went to WDW when they were 4 and it was a huge improvement from 4-6 in stamina and ease. I can not tell you how great it is and easy it is to do the parks without a stroller. It is SOOO nice. So don't be afraid to ditch the ride!
5) We encountered some really nice CMs along the way on this trip. In particular we had purchased Carthay WOC for our family of 6 in hopes our youngest DS (who has very poor vision) would be able to see the show. We got in line early but a family of 5 adults were ahead of us and then "saved" the railings for "other family members". (I know this is par for the course as we have been to WOC in the past, but this was the entire railing!) A really nice CM went above and beyond when she saw him and asked him if he could see from so far away. When he said no, she brought him and our family up front to a bench and told us to sit there. We ended up having a great view and he could see it all. There was a waiter at Carthay who also did a special thing for him and another at Steakhouse 55 that gave my DD, who turned 12 on the trip, a cute cake with a candle in it. She was touched.
6) We stayed at the DLH. It was nice. We had a refurb room before, so it was not something new, but the pool was new. The kids loved the pool. Several times they were closed though due to kids getting sick in them. Over all, I think I prefer the Grand though! Esp. now that the kids are walking. It was doable and they did great, but the added convince of being close with the twins would have been nice. But I can not say anything bad about DLH. It is still a solid choice with nice rooms, CMs, etc.
Something I did notice on this trip: EMH/MMH were insanely busy. Much more so than they were 3 years ago. Not sure if it was because the park opened later, so more people made it, or if they have larger numbers of people getting MMH but it was a little bit much. On Friday we skipped it and went to the opposite park and actually got more done. In the past we used to be able to get all of Fantasyland done in that one hour, not this time. We were lucky to get three rides in. That was different for us.
We loved Starbucks being in the parks and the sign went up in DTD on Friday!
We did Fantasmic reserved seating for the second time. (and the last.) It just isn't worth the price IMO. We waited a LONG time and got great seats but it was loud and for $340, just not worth the splurge. We did it for DD's birthday as her special thing. Twice is enough of that.
Lastly, we used DK Livery. We had an amazing driver there but on the way back it was BAD! I didn't think we were going to live to make it to LGB. He almost side swiped a car going 80 and he didn't seem to speak very good English. We tried asking him a few questions and got no where. It was not a great experience.
Any questions about anything? Over all it was an amazing trip and I know we probably won't be back anytime soon, which makes me sad, but I will be dreaming of our next time back!