Here now with some live thoughts....

[kydisneyfans]

-free crowd calendars work...except for Wednesday night at epcot

-I don't get the food and wine fest hype

-when the thread started regarding drunks at epcot, I had never seen it......until last night. It will be my last evening in epcot at this time of year for awhile.

-the bus schedule monitors like at kidani should be everywhere

-The bus service to kidani has been perfect,with only 1 wait of over 5 minutes.

-magical express was 1 hr 45 minutes from leaving the plane to our hotel lobby.

-free dining bounce back is still active

-Get a gift for a certain price when spending a certain amount varies by location. I've seen towels, pin sets, backpacks, totes, and throws offered.

-the electric cart rental business is booming

-trip #18 is as amazing as trip #1 was.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

1h45m is rough.

 

[madge]

-free crowd calendars work...except for Wednesday night at epcot

-I don't get the food and wine fest hype

-when the thread started regarding drunks at epcot, I had never seen it......until last night. It will be my last evening in epcot at this time of year for awhile.

-the bus schedule monitors like at kidani should be everywhere

-The bus service to kidani has been perfect,with only 1 wait of over 5 minutes.

-magical express was 1 hr 45 minutes from leaving the plane to our hotel lobby.

-free dining bounce back is still active

-Get a gift for a certain price when spending a certain amount varies by location. I've seen towels, pin sets, backpacks, totes, and throws offered.

-the electric cart rental business is booming

-trip #18 is as amazing as trip #1 was.

Our ME trip was efficient on Monday ... right up to the part where the airline called to tell us they still had our luggage. We were at ASMo. 4 hours later, they could tell us it was on a van somewhere on property. It was midnight at that point

ASMo had the monitors. They were awesome. Our bus service was flawless until today when it took 90 minutes to get back to the resort from DtD. We missed our Magical Express bus as a result. Mears was very helpful, resort was not.

Our park time was awesome -- didn't really notice anything unusual last night at Epcot, but we were so blindsided by the crowds at the MK, that erased anything we experienced at Epcot. LOL

 

[kydisneyfans]

1h45m is rough.

We were the last stop of 4. Animation, pop, and jumbo were the first 3.

 

[epcotty]

Yeah, even with not seeing drunks firsthand we're now avoiding food and wine. Good report

 

[madge]

We were the last stop of 4. Animation, pop, and jumbo were the first 3.

That's how we were -- last stop of 5. Coronado, Pop, then the 3 All-Stars. Thankful we didn't have a full bus. It would have been much worse.

 

[larryz]

Thanks for sharing your impressions.

 

[Cee]

We were the last stop of 4. Animation, pop, and jumbo were the first 3.

I remember once my DH asking our driver, "So.....when does the convenience start?!"

 

[PAcpl]

I thought the busses for the AKL/AKV went direct from park to resort. When did they start stopping at the AS resorts?

 

[hallen4]

I thought the busses for the AKL/AKV went direct from park to resort. When did they start stopping at the AS resorts?

I think they are talking about the bus from the airport to the resort.

 

[patrickpiteo]

-free crowd calendars work...except for Wednesday night at epcot

-I don't get the food and wine fest hype

-when the thread started regarding drunks at epcot, I had never seen it......until last night. It will be my last evening in epcot at this time of year for awhile.

-the bus schedule monitors like at kidani should be everywhere

-The bus service to kidani has been perfect,with only 1 wait of over 5 minutes.

-magical express was 1 hr 45 minutes from leaving the plane to our hotel lobby.

-free dining bounce back is still active

-Get a gift for a certain price when spending a certain amount varies by location. I've seen towels, pin sets, backpacks, totes, and throws offered.

-the electric cart rental business is booming

-trip #18 is as amazing as trip #1 was.

Traffic wow why did it take soon long ?

-magical express was 1 hr 45 minutes from leaving the plane to our hotel lobby.

 

[wdwrich]

Typically, one can expect the trip using Magical Express to be about 90 minutes from plane to resort. The OP says it took 1 hour and 45 minutes (not all on the DME bus, but the entire trip from plane to arrival at the resort). That's only 15 minutes more that the expected 90 minutes. Not really a big difference IMO. Things happen.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Traffic wow why did it take soon long ?

-magical express was 1 hr 45 minutes from leaving the plane to our hotel lobby.

The poster supplied a further explanation above. It wasn't due to traffic it was because they were the 4th stop on the DME route.

 

[patrickpiteo]

The poster supplied a further explanation above. It wasn't due to traffic it was because they were the 4th stop on the DME route.

Guess your right getting in late there tonight hope it's a little quicker LOL

 

[Brave teacher]

I thought the busses for the AKL/AKV went direct from park to resort. When did they start stopping at the AS resorts?

They were referring to the stops for DME, not the stops to go to the parks.

 

[madge]

Guess your right getting in late there tonight hope it's a little quicker LOL

we weren't as long as the OP on Monday ... but our flight landed around 8pm on Monday & we were on property about 45 minutes later. We were the last stop (of 5 resorts) on our ME bus & made it to AS Movies around 9:15pm.

our issues weren't with the time it took using ME, our issues were with the luggage service. that was a mess

 

[PAcpl]

They were referring to the stops for DME, not the stops to go to the parks.

Gotcha, sorry I missed that one. Thanks.

That is the main reason why we started taking our own transportation and avoid DME. I work my butt off for vacation, I want to hit the ground running. Waiting for DME, then waiting for the guests to get onto the bus, waiting for the driver to get all the luggage under the bus and then when we finally did get going we were always the last stop.

A private car is more expensive but you come down the escalators, find your ride, get your bags and GO!

 

[skateshome]

Took us 2 1/2 hours a couple of years ago on Magical Express to get to the Contemporary. I swore I would never do it again....but alas.....we will be taking it
in about a month to All Star Movies. Little different this time since we are getting in a little later and want be trying to get to any parks are ADR.
We missed our BOG lunch last time.

 

[DisneyMandC]

We stayed at Jambo and our trip from waiting in line at DME to Jambo was still probably only an hour MAX, and we made those three stops as well. 1:45 does seem like a long time.

 

[ars0525]

We drove over to Epcot Wednesday night--caught the 6:45 show for Smash Mouth. I didn't think the crowds were bad (but we were also there opening weekend for F&W). Got our AP stamps, visited the festival center, rode TT, walked the WS, watched the concert, stopped at a few booths, sat down for fish & chips (yum!), rode Spaceship Earth when we walked out (no line!), saw the fireworks over the ball as we walked to the car. Not bad for 3.5 hours we thought.

I will say F&W impresses me a little less each year. The portions were even smaller (same items from years past) & more money.