Just hit the hotel after three solid days in the parks and thought I'd share our experiences.
The weather has been hot, and the parks busy - but we have had a wonderful trip.
Day 1 - Saturday: we arrived from LA around 9.30am, checked in and headed for the parks. Got MAXpass up and running and hit the rides. Because we were not sure when we would get in, (or how tired we'd be - we'd flown in from London the night before)we had no game plan for the day. This worked very well.We started at DL, with ITASW, then simply chose the next available FP. We were vigilant about picking them up right on time and used the 5 min early arrival feature a lot.By 5ish we'd ridden BTMR, HMH, SM, GRR, Matterhorn, Screamin, TSMM, some of them more than once, and got out on Davy Crockett's canoes.
We noticed a lot of people using their phones to scan in, and this was much slower than using our tickets. Also still plenty of confusion about multiple scanning points at entries. People tended to cluster around one. Overall very successful and we are now converts.
Headed out for dinner at the Anaheim Packing Co. Not hugely impressed. Very crowded, not enough seating, and hard to navigate. Might be better for lunch.
Day 2 - Sunday: EMH at DCA. We were at the gates by 6.30am. Rode GOTG, FP for TSMM, then Soarin' then Mater and Luigi, then Screamin'. TSMM return was pretty much 8am so we then picked up RSR. Did the midway rides, rode RSR around 9.30 and stopped for coffee...but not before getting an FP for Indy. Hopped to DL and rode pirates, which was the busiest ride of the day it seemed, then continued with FPs till about 1ish, when we headed out for lunch and a rest.
Our plan was to return late afternoon, ride a little (SM), have dinner at Tortilla joe's and then head back into DL as we had a Skyline Lounge booking. (we'd changed dates so had lost a RBT F! booking and this was the substitute).
Underwhelmed by the lounge experience. My youngest daughter had come down with a bug, so I didn't join the rest of the family till 8.40 ish. We had a couch with a pretty good view out over Tomorrowland. As we had expected, the fireworks were cancelled. Which meant we could really only rate the lounge as they sell it - as an experience in its own right. Frankly they need to do a bit more. It's a great escape from the crowds, so maybe for the price they could open from 6pm till close. I'd suggest they offer a cheese or dessert option. The dessert box was fine, but very sweet. And as for character interaction..... Minnie appeared shortly after the announcement that the fireworks were cancelled, and she patiently visited each group and took a photo, but Mickey was nowhere to be seen ...he must have decided to stay home, kick his shoes off and watch tv that night.
Day 3 :Monday
Skipped EMH at DCA and went for rope drop at DL. Hit Fantasyland, then FPS for matterhorn, ST, Indy, splash..then headed back to DCA for GOTG, Heimlich (no good reason....) and GRR. GRR went down so we picked up a multiple experience pass, then headed to Soarin, which also broke down..Another ME pass.RSR was also out. We had an FP for Splash, so used that then headed out for lunch. The plan was to use the MS passes in the pm. Hopefully by then some of the rides would have restarted, as we were limited to FPS in DCA.
We have another EMH tomorrow, but may not use it as the youngest is still unwell and we are checking out in any case. Thanks to MAxpass we have already done far more than we might have ordinarily, even using all the old paper Fp tricks and parkhopping. It also made the trip feel far less pressured. Loved being able to book rides from our hotel room at lunch, then wander into the parks with a plan.
The only negative change I noted has been the new security. They get overwhelmed at odd times of the day, especially coming out of the GCH. It must be hard to predict crowd patterns when it is not just park-goers. And guests could make things easier by unzipping their bags etc before they get to the desk. But it did put me off popping into DTD.
But found all the DLR staff cheerful and helpful, amazing given the crowds they get to deal with.We had a few ups and downs, but overall the whole trip was great fun.
The weather has been hot, and the parks busy - but we have had a wonderful trip.
Day 1 - Saturday: we arrived from LA around 9.30am, checked in and headed for the parks. Got MAXpass up and running and hit the rides. Because we were not sure when we would get in, (or how tired we'd be - we'd flown in from London the night before)we had no game plan for the day. This worked very well.We started at DL, with ITASW, then simply chose the next available FP. We were vigilant about picking them up right on time and used the 5 min early arrival feature a lot.By 5ish we'd ridden BTMR, HMH, SM, GRR, Matterhorn, Screamin, TSMM, some of them more than once, and got out on Davy Crockett's canoes.
We noticed a lot of people using their phones to scan in, and this was much slower than using our tickets. Also still plenty of confusion about multiple scanning points at entries. People tended to cluster around one. Overall very successful and we are now converts.
Headed out for dinner at the Anaheim Packing Co. Not hugely impressed. Very crowded, not enough seating, and hard to navigate. Might be better for lunch.
Day 2 - Sunday: EMH at DCA. We were at the gates by 6.30am. Rode GOTG, FP for TSMM, then Soarin' then Mater and Luigi, then Screamin'. TSMM return was pretty much 8am so we then picked up RSR. Did the midway rides, rode RSR around 9.30 and stopped for coffee...but not before getting an FP for Indy. Hopped to DL and rode pirates, which was the busiest ride of the day it seemed, then continued with FPs till about 1ish, when we headed out for lunch and a rest.
Our plan was to return late afternoon, ride a little (SM), have dinner at Tortilla joe's and then head back into DL as we had a Skyline Lounge booking. (we'd changed dates so had lost a RBT F! booking and this was the substitute).
Underwhelmed by the lounge experience. My youngest daughter had come down with a bug, so I didn't join the rest of the family till 8.40 ish. We had a couch with a pretty good view out over Tomorrowland. As we had expected, the fireworks were cancelled. Which meant we could really only rate the lounge as they sell it - as an experience in its own right. Frankly they need to do a bit more. It's a great escape from the crowds, so maybe for the price they could open from 6pm till close. I'd suggest they offer a cheese or dessert option. The dessert box was fine, but very sweet. And as for character interaction..... Minnie appeared shortly after the announcement that the fireworks were cancelled, and she patiently visited each group and took a photo, but Mickey was nowhere to be seen ...he must have decided to stay home, kick his shoes off and watch tv that night.
Day 3 :Monday
Skipped EMH at DCA and went for rope drop at DL. Hit Fantasyland, then FPS for matterhorn, ST, Indy, splash..then headed back to DCA for GOTG, Heimlich (no good reason....) and GRR. GRR went down so we picked up a multiple experience pass, then headed to Soarin, which also broke down..Another ME pass.RSR was also out. We had an FP for Splash, so used that then headed out for lunch. The plan was to use the MS passes in the pm. Hopefully by then some of the rides would have restarted, as we were limited to FPS in DCA.
We have another EMH tomorrow, but may not use it as the youngest is still unwell and we are checking out in any case. Thanks to MAxpass we have already done far more than we might have ordinarily, even using all the old paper Fp tricks and parkhopping. It also made the trip feel far less pressured. Loved being able to book rides from our hotel room at lunch, then wander into the parks with a plan.
The only negative change I noted has been the new security. They get overwhelmed at odd times of the day, especially coming out of the GCH. It must be hard to predict crowd patterns when it is not just park-goers. And guests could make things easier by unzipping their bags etc before they get to the desk. But it did put me off popping into DTD.
But found all the DLR staff cheerful and helpful, amazing given the crowds they get to deal with.We had a few ups and downs, but overall the whole trip was great fun.