njpyro
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2013
Just got back from our WDW trip. I thought I would write a trip report, nothing too extensive though, since I didn't take notes or many pictures. This trip was me, my husband and my parents. We booked with the stay/play/dine package, so we had the dining plan, 5 day park hoppers and were staying at Port Orleans French Quarter. I was the planner, so I was responsible for making all the fastpass+ and dining reservations. We were on our own for most of our trip, but we met up for a few meals and rides together. The trip was from 1/29-2/3. Living in New Jersey, we were definitely ready for a warm break. We also wanted to get away from the Superbowl. We live about 15 minutes from Giants Stadium, so the traffic actually started the week prior to the actual game, when the teams arrived at their hotels. Add to that the below freezing temperatures over the past month.
To start things out: We loved the Magic Bands and the Fastpass+. Just to clarify we are fastpass users. We would usually pull 5-8 a day. We are also avid park hoppers. I cant remember the last time I went to just one park in a day. We found fastpass+ worked for us, but it took some minor changes in our touring plans. We are early risers anyway, and usually go to rope drop. We found the best way to make the most of fp+ was to go to rope drop and make our fp+ for the afternoon/evening in whatever park we would be hoping to. We tried a few different methods of keeping track of where we were supposed to be at one time. My parents had a note card for each day with their fastpass+ times and any ADRs. They do not have smart phones. They both have an touch screen android phone with no data plan, but wifi enabled. Unfortunately, the MDE App is not compatible with that phone. I have the same phone as them, so I also didn't have the app, but my husband has an iphone, so we were able to check the app on his phone and make on the fly changes to our fp+. He also has a pebble watch, which is synced through Bluetooth to his phone. By setting up a Google calendar with alerts for all fp+ and ADRs, his watch got an alert 15 minutes prior to each fp+ and 60 minutes prior to each ADR. The MDE app does not have a notification system set up as of right now, but we spoke to several cast members about it (after they saw his watch) and two of them wrote down the suggestion to give to the higher ups in the tech department.
We left NJ Wednesday, January 29th. We arrived at Orlando airport around 9:30pm, walked right up to the magical express counter (we only do carry-on bags), scanned our magic bands at the check in desk and were directed to the set of podiums by the lines. We scanned our bands again and were sent into line number 3. We were immediately put on a bus that was ¾ full, but had to wait for a few more people before we could leave. We were the fourth stop, so by the time we checked in at the hotel, it was almost 11. Check in was very simple, since we did online check in ahead of time. We did request a room close to transportation, but got the furthest possible building. The cast member we were dealing with in training, so she was not able to try and move us to a closer room. We were moved to another counter and were eventually moved to building 6, which was a little closer to the bus stop (but still just as far from the food court). We got our new RFID Rapidfill mugs. It was kind of interesting using them. There is a little screen on the soda machine that says when your mug is valid until. Not that Im trying to encourage anyone to cheat the system, but there is no rfid sensor for the coffee or tea, just the soda, which really helped with the lines in the morning.
I know many people will ask why not just fly in Thursday morning, instead of paying for another night at the hotel, but I prefer waking up in Disney. We are early risers and always do rope drop to make the most of our day. Thursday morning we used our mugs for coffee and had some granola bars that we brought with us for breakfast. We were at Magic Kingdom as it opened at 8 for Extra Magic Hours. It was raining and about 45 degrees. That may seem miserable to most (and to us), but it was still 40 degrees warmer than home, so we made the most of it and enjoyed the lack of crowds/lines. In that one extra magic hour, we went through Fantasyland and rode almost everything. Starting with the New Little Mermaid ride, dumbo, the barnstormer (twice- they let us stay in the cars since no one was waiting!), small world, peter pan and the tea cups. The only thing with a line was peter pan, but that was only 10 minutes. Once 9 oclock rolled around and the park officially opened, the crowds were still on the light side. Keep in mind that the end of January/beginning of February is a fairly low-crowd time anyway, but the cold and rain really kept a lot of people inside. Our first fastpass of the day was the Little Mermaid, but since we already went on it with no line at all (we were the only people. The five cars in front of and behind us were empty!), we changed it to Buzz. The rest of the morning was spent going on almost everything in the park with the exception of Pooh and Philharmagic which were both down (there was a honey spill can you guess which one had that problem?). We also skipped the speedway, jungle cruise, Tom Sawyer island and the swiss family tree house. The rain wasn't bothersome for most rides, but I didnt want to spend that much time just standing in it. We had an early lunch at the Columbia Harbor House. We also got a turkey leg as a quick service (comes with chips, cookies and a bottled drink). There was no problem with bringing the turkey leg into CHH. We also got fish and chips, and split both. We did use all of our fastpasses. We needed them for Buzz and Space Mountain. Big Thunder Mountain was only a ten minute wait, but we used it anyway. Around 3pm we left Magic Kingdom and took the monorail to EPCOT. Our ADR for dinner was Via Napoli at 6:20. Since we still had plenty of time, we went on test track (single rider-ten minute wait), Mission to Mars, Sum of all Thrills (one of the best rides in the park!), and of course, we spent some time at Club Cool. Then we headed over to the world showcase. First up was the boat ride in the Mexico Pavilion, then Malstrom (8 minute wait). We saw the line for Anna and Elsa, but didn't wait since it was about two hours long. We then continued wandering through the gift shops until 6, when we went to check in at Via Napoli. We were seated about 10 minutes later. The pizza was excellent (and we've had pizza all over Italy- not to mention New York City and New Jersey). After dinner we finished walking through the countries, but not spending too much time, due to the cold and rain. On the way out, we walked right on Soarin, since Illuminations was about to start. After that was the mad dash to the buses to beat the crowd watching the fireworks.
There was also a lot of pin trading in there. I'll keep typing to get the rest of the trip up there.
To start things out: We loved the Magic Bands and the Fastpass+. Just to clarify we are fastpass users. We would usually pull 5-8 a day. We are also avid park hoppers. I cant remember the last time I went to just one park in a day. We found fastpass+ worked for us, but it took some minor changes in our touring plans. We are early risers anyway, and usually go to rope drop. We found the best way to make the most of fp+ was to go to rope drop and make our fp+ for the afternoon/evening in whatever park we would be hoping to. We tried a few different methods of keeping track of where we were supposed to be at one time. My parents had a note card for each day with their fastpass+ times and any ADRs. They do not have smart phones. They both have an touch screen android phone with no data plan, but wifi enabled. Unfortunately, the MDE App is not compatible with that phone. I have the same phone as them, so I also didn't have the app, but my husband has an iphone, so we were able to check the app on his phone and make on the fly changes to our fp+. He also has a pebble watch, which is synced through Bluetooth to his phone. By setting up a Google calendar with alerts for all fp+ and ADRs, his watch got an alert 15 minutes prior to each fp+ and 60 minutes prior to each ADR. The MDE app does not have a notification system set up as of right now, but we spoke to several cast members about it (after they saw his watch) and two of them wrote down the suggestion to give to the higher ups in the tech department.
We left NJ Wednesday, January 29th. We arrived at Orlando airport around 9:30pm, walked right up to the magical express counter (we only do carry-on bags), scanned our magic bands at the check in desk and were directed to the set of podiums by the lines. We scanned our bands again and were sent into line number 3. We were immediately put on a bus that was ¾ full, but had to wait for a few more people before we could leave. We were the fourth stop, so by the time we checked in at the hotel, it was almost 11. Check in was very simple, since we did online check in ahead of time. We did request a room close to transportation, but got the furthest possible building. The cast member we were dealing with in training, so she was not able to try and move us to a closer room. We were moved to another counter and were eventually moved to building 6, which was a little closer to the bus stop (but still just as far from the food court). We got our new RFID Rapidfill mugs. It was kind of interesting using them. There is a little screen on the soda machine that says when your mug is valid until. Not that Im trying to encourage anyone to cheat the system, but there is no rfid sensor for the coffee or tea, just the soda, which really helped with the lines in the morning.
I know many people will ask why not just fly in Thursday morning, instead of paying for another night at the hotel, but I prefer waking up in Disney. We are early risers and always do rope drop to make the most of our day. Thursday morning we used our mugs for coffee and had some granola bars that we brought with us for breakfast. We were at Magic Kingdom as it opened at 8 for Extra Magic Hours. It was raining and about 45 degrees. That may seem miserable to most (and to us), but it was still 40 degrees warmer than home, so we made the most of it and enjoyed the lack of crowds/lines. In that one extra magic hour, we went through Fantasyland and rode almost everything. Starting with the New Little Mermaid ride, dumbo, the barnstormer (twice- they let us stay in the cars since no one was waiting!), small world, peter pan and the tea cups. The only thing with a line was peter pan, but that was only 10 minutes. Once 9 oclock rolled around and the park officially opened, the crowds were still on the light side. Keep in mind that the end of January/beginning of February is a fairly low-crowd time anyway, but the cold and rain really kept a lot of people inside. Our first fastpass of the day was the Little Mermaid, but since we already went on it with no line at all (we were the only people. The five cars in front of and behind us were empty!), we changed it to Buzz. The rest of the morning was spent going on almost everything in the park with the exception of Pooh and Philharmagic which were both down (there was a honey spill can you guess which one had that problem?). We also skipped the speedway, jungle cruise, Tom Sawyer island and the swiss family tree house. The rain wasn't bothersome for most rides, but I didnt want to spend that much time just standing in it. We had an early lunch at the Columbia Harbor House. We also got a turkey leg as a quick service (comes with chips, cookies and a bottled drink). There was no problem with bringing the turkey leg into CHH. We also got fish and chips, and split both. We did use all of our fastpasses. We needed them for Buzz and Space Mountain. Big Thunder Mountain was only a ten minute wait, but we used it anyway. Around 3pm we left Magic Kingdom and took the monorail to EPCOT. Our ADR for dinner was Via Napoli at 6:20. Since we still had plenty of time, we went on test track (single rider-ten minute wait), Mission to Mars, Sum of all Thrills (one of the best rides in the park!), and of course, we spent some time at Club Cool. Then we headed over to the world showcase. First up was the boat ride in the Mexico Pavilion, then Malstrom (8 minute wait). We saw the line for Anna and Elsa, but didn't wait since it was about two hours long. We then continued wandering through the gift shops until 6, when we went to check in at Via Napoli. We were seated about 10 minutes later. The pizza was excellent (and we've had pizza all over Italy- not to mention New York City and New Jersey). After dinner we finished walking through the countries, but not spending too much time, due to the cold and rain. On the way out, we walked right on Soarin, since Illuminations was about to start. After that was the mad dash to the buses to beat the crowd watching the fireworks.
There was also a lot of pin trading in there. I'll keep typing to get the rest of the trip up there.
