Very abbreviated trip with the fam (DW, DS7, DD9) tacked on to a professional conference i was attending. This was our second trip of the year (never did that before!) after a huge 10 day multi-generational blowout trip in January. Our goals this trip were 1) cost containment (hahahaha) and 2) really focus on things that we have never done before. To those ends, we stayed at Pop (usually rent points at BLT) and found the room to be pretty nice, beds were definitely more comfortable than BLT (and murphy bed is 1000% better than pull out couch at BLT)
10/15 - arrival, text room "not ready" on arrival, despite us getting there at at 3pm so had to stand in line with a lot of other people checking in, not great, took maybe 30 minutes. Went swimming, 3 hours later bags still not there. Took the Skyliner to dinner (i know there have been issues, but the system is quite amazing!) Went to dinner at Ale & Compass (1st time, surprisingly good). Back to hotel on Skyliner (awesome views at night!) early to bed because:
10/16 - EEMH at DHS, got to bus stop before 5:15am, to find a very long line (pretty sure that first bus of the day had yet to arrive). We opted to Uber to DHS instead (of course bus arrived as our Uber did, but we weren't certain that we'd have room on the bus). Got to DHS around 5:35 (before the bus
), held outside of park until 5:45, then held inside part until slightly before 6am. We opted for the do everything else and SWGE last approach which worked AMAZING. 2x SDD, 1x AS2, 1x TSMM before 7, then 2x RRC, 1x ToT by 8 (could have easily done more). To SWGE at around 8:15, SR wait listed at 60min, wait was 20 min, we rode twice. Did our fast passes for the day, (almost seemed unnecessary due to all we did at in the early morning), lots of time at SWGE, lightsaber, Oga's (loved the ambiance, DW not so much). Would have loved to stay for F! or fireworks, but about 12 hours in the park was about all we could muster. Had to take bus back to resort (scheduled skyliner closure)
10/17: Relax in AM, Halloween party at night! Got there for 3:30, let in around 3:45. Used some fast passes, rode our favorite rides, enjoyed the ambiance. Collected 14lbs of candy between the 4 of us, which is absurd. But getting that handful stuffed into your bag, even as an adult... amazing. Got to fireworks around 9:45, in grassy area in front of Casey's -- everyone actually stayed seated for the length of the show which only enhanced the experience. Party was sold out, but the place got noticeably emptier afterwards. Parade in frontierland, got to front row spot at 11. A little more riding, trick or treating and then hocus pocus show at midnight, no problems finding a great spot. Ended up taking bus back to AoA and walking to Pop because the bus line for Pop was just soooo long.
overall, great couple of days really full of new-to-us experiences.
10/15 - arrival, text room "not ready" on arrival, despite us getting there at at 3pm so had to stand in line with a lot of other people checking in, not great, took maybe 30 minutes. Went swimming, 3 hours later bags still not there. Took the Skyliner to dinner (i know there have been issues, but the system is quite amazing!) Went to dinner at Ale & Compass (1st time, surprisingly good). Back to hotel on Skyliner (awesome views at night!) early to bed because:
10/16 - EEMH at DHS, got to bus stop before 5:15am, to find a very long line (pretty sure that first bus of the day had yet to arrive). We opted to Uber to DHS instead (of course bus arrived as our Uber did, but we weren't certain that we'd have room on the bus). Got to DHS around 5:35 (before the bus
), held outside of park until 5:45, then held inside part until slightly before 6am. We opted for the do everything else and SWGE last approach which worked AMAZING. 2x SDD, 1x AS2, 1x TSMM before 7, then 2x RRC, 1x ToT by 8 (could have easily done more). To SWGE at around 8:15, SR wait listed at 60min, wait was 20 min, we rode twice. Did our fast passes for the day, (almost seemed unnecessary due to all we did at in the early morning), lots of time at SWGE, lightsaber, Oga's (loved the ambiance, DW not so much). Would have loved to stay for F! or fireworks, but about 12 hours in the park was about all we could muster. Had to take bus back to resort (scheduled skyliner closure)10/17: Relax in AM, Halloween party at night! Got there for 3:30, let in around 3:45. Used some fast passes, rode our favorite rides, enjoyed the ambiance. Collected 14lbs of candy between the 4 of us, which is absurd. But getting that handful stuffed into your bag, even as an adult... amazing. Got to fireworks around 9:45, in grassy area in front of Casey's -- everyone actually stayed seated for the length of the show which only enhanced the experience. Party was sold out, but the place got noticeably emptier afterwards. Parade in frontierland, got to front row spot at 11. A little more riding, trick or treating and then hocus pocus show at midnight, no problems finding a great spot. Ended up taking bus back to AoA and walking to Pop because the bus line for Pop was just soooo long.
overall, great couple of days really full of new-to-us experiences.
