Just back from 6/9-6/16 trip - strategies that we learned from

VandVsmama

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 28, 2011
We just got back home from a 6/9-6/16 trip to WDW (first ever!). It's been a fun vacation and a learning experience. Here's what I learned this past week. Thought y'all might find this info useful!

Weather:
On the podcast, when they say "it rains, expect it," they're not kidding. We're from AZ. I found it a sweatier version of our Arizona summer monsoon rains. It rained daily, often in late afternoon/early evening. So bring an umbrella and/or poncho so you're prepared. I carried them every day into the park and I'm glad we did!

Weather Part 2:
If you're like us and not used to the humidity, be prepared to sweat. I'm talking about even standing in an A/C space and we would be sweating. I think I've lost a few pounds from all that. LOL. It sapped our energy a lot. Adjust accordingly.

Dealing with the heat:
  • By 11 am, I thought it was stifling and unbearably hot. We often didn't leave the park for our PM break until 1-3 pm (not on purpose, things just took more time than we had planned).
  • For us, the Froggs Toggs cooling towels didn't do a thing. They just made us feel more sticky & humid. Back home in AZ, we use them frequently at swim meets in the warmer months of the year. But for our bodies in Orlando, it felt like the towels were just adding to the humidity.
  • The $3 fans I bought at Cost Plus Imports? BEST THING EVER! ODD's broke in the a.m. of our Animal Kingdom day (which was our last park day).
  • battery-operated fans - bring extra batteries. These things used up batteries something fierce, especially when we were using them all day. YDD's broke (the 1 we'd brought from home), so I plunked down $20 for the WDW version. Expensive, but $$ well spent.
  • Stay hydrated & force your kids to drink even when they say they're not thirsty. Animal Kingdom was brutal in terms of the heat. There's no breeze or air flow in that park. YDD & I both started to feel nauseous on Fri a.m. in AK because of this. That wiped YDD out for almost the rest of the day...like, she laid in bed for a few hours before she felt human again.
  • Those drink flavor things? Test them at home ahead of time so you know that the ones you're bringing are flavors that your kids actually like. I didn't do this. Big mistake. YDD hated the taste of the free water, so we ended up spending a small fortune on bottled water for her.
  • Body Glide on our feet & other parts prone to chafing was a life saver.
Epcot:
  • We thought this park hardly had any shaded outdoor seating.
  • Lots of attractions are very far apart from each other. Lots of walking. Wish this park had some sort of transportation available like MK does.
  • The heat was a kind of a killer.
  • Had lunch at Via Napoli & almost ALL of the CMs there are Italian. The pizza was phenomenal. We should have shared the individual size instead of the next size up. Got a salad for 2 as well...huge amount of salad. The arancini were out of this world. Our cute Italian waiter said that the arancini are the real deal, made just like back home. ODD said it was like heaven in your mouth. The arancini appetizer is something like $13. IT'S WORTH THE $$ FOR THIS!
  • #1 thing we really loved about Epcot? The Voices of Liberty in the American Pavilion. Beautiful singing. You shouldn't miss it. Really.
Magic Kingdom:
  • Some rides here have FP, but you really don't need them if you plan well and if you don't need to go on those rides between 12-5 pm.
  • The mobile ordering never seemed to be operational at any of the QS locations I was going to use it at, so we just ended up ordering the good old fashioned way. Wasn't a big deal since we often ate lunch early or late so we avoided the lunch rush. But keep in mind that glitches can happen, so plan accordingly.
  • The flat bread pizzas at Pinocchio's in Fantasyland are...BLEH...disgusting. But it was well air conditioned and we got to watch people get on It's A Small World, so that was neat. The tables by the windows to IASW are coveted. We were there shortly before 11 am and had our pick of tables. 15-20 min later? Those tables were all taken.
  • The train never ran after fireworks. That was a little frustrating on the evenings that we were really worn out. At Disneyland, we often use the train for transportation to save our tired feet. So we had to hoof it from the Fantasyland train station all the way to BTMRR 1 night.
  • The Fantasyland meet & greet for Minnie Mouse & Daisy Duck always had a much longer line than the Goofy & Donald Duck one. We didn't mind because we've never somehow managed to meet Donald at Disneyland, so we only waited 10 min in the Standby line for it at about 1:00 pm on Tuesday this past week.
  • The fireworks dessert party was totally worth the $$$$ we spent on it. Wonderful experience. It was great. It offered a wide range of food options, so everyone in our family was happy. I wouldn't pay for this every trip, but I'd rather pay the $$$ for this over 1 of the other parks' evening entertainment options.

General park touring:
  • A lot of people here on the boards use Touring Plans and now I see why! I'm so glad that we used TP. It was very helpful. Aside from the 52 min we waited at 10:20 pm on Fri night to get on FOP a second time, we didn't wait more than 20 min for any attraction thanks to this app/tool. I consider the subscription fee $$ well spent!
  • Getting to the park (whichever park it was) early in the day was tiring, yet oh so useful because by 11:30 am each day (w/a reg park opening of 9:00 am daily), the lines for a lot of attractions were 45-60 min long.
  • TP had us go on headliner rides really early in the day and then I noticed a trend of not as popular attractions later in the morning. We stuck to the plan and that worked very well for us.
  • TP also had a feature where you can mark each step of your plan as completed as you go and you can recalculate the itinerary. I used this a lot because things took long to walk to then we thought or we'd stop to look in a store or something, so we were often running a tad "behind schedule." This feature was great because it helped us avoid standing in a queue for long periods of time.
  • FP "refresh" - I did this a bit at other posters' suggestions & comments that I'd read here. This helped us move around our FP a bit on the fly because we changed our plans a little bit each day.
  • Afternoon breaks - were really essential to us to deal with the heat, to deal with the afternoon crowds, and to deal with the Theme Park Fatigue that started to settle in after the 2nd day.
  • Many ride wait times go down during fireworks - Not only DURING fireworks, but starting 1 hr BEFORE fireworks because everybody starts to stake out their real estate for fireworks viewing. This means that the wait times for almost all of the Fantasyland rides from 8 pm on through the end of the night drop like a rock compared to the 45-60 min waits the rest of the day. We waited 5 min to meet Ariel, then WALKED on to Ariel's ride next door. Walked on to Enchanted Tales with Belle. Mad Tea Party was a walk on (it's much faster than at Disneyland!). IASW was posted at ~ 5-10 min, etc., etc. Of course, Peter Pan & 7DMT were still long, but not 2 hr long.
Transportation:
  • People are not joking when they say that it takes time to get around WDW. It's 1 thing to read about it, but it's something else to experience it for yourself. On Thurs a.m., we were going to take the bus from ASMusic to MK...mostly because the bus deposited you right at the MK park entrance instead of having to get on a monorail or ferry boat. But the departure time for the bus kept changing. SO much so that the departure time had changed by 10-15 min and we were still waiting. We got frustrated and just ended up driving (we'd rented a car for the week) and we got there faster than that ASMusic MK bus did.
  • Distance-wise, things are not that far away, but when WDW tells you to allow up to 90 min to get to an ADR, you need to heed their advice and really allow for that much time to get places. I didn't realize how much we'd been spoiled out in Disneyland just walking 8 min from the Howard Johnson's to the park entrance! LOL!
 
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Animal Kingdom:
  • The parking lot really IS super close to the park entrance! Just like it shows on the map! A nice surprise compared to the challenging logistics of getting into MK.
  • NRJ was posted at a 10 min wait ~ 10-15 min after EMH had started, but we walked on. Wish this ride was a little longer though.
  • You really should listen to people when they say to go back to Pandora at night. It's so pretty!
  • We went on FOP 2x on Friday - once w/FP at noon (waited ~ 5 min), once at the very end of the night when ODD, YDD, & I went back to AK before park closing (which was 10:30 pm that night). We got in the line at 10:20 pm. The CM said that they were closing the FOP line very soon. Posted wait time was 120 min, but I timed it with my phone and we waited 52 min before we got on the ride.
  • FOP at park closing - once the park closed, the line moved much faster since there were no more FP people getting in the line. They DID, however, close the queue a few min BEFORE actual park closing. We were in the 2nd to last group of people to ride it that night. It was worth the 52 min wait. The standby queue was really interesting. Once you get to the room where the Avatar person is suspended in a tank, you're very close to getting on the ride.
ASMusic:
  • Stayed here Sat - Fri a.m. CM interaction was hit or miss. At check in, there was no 'welcome to WDW' greeting or anything even though we'd marked it as our 1st trip on our reservation. Not offered "First Visit" buttons. I inquired myself at MK the next morning and got them in the Emporium. So the check in experience was a total dud. BLEH. Other CM were nice though.
  • Transportation to the parks runs quite frequently in the morning, but buses do not run as often in the afternoon. Plan accordingly.
  • On Wed, we had a rest day so we spent the day at the resort. Slept in, did laundry, swam in the pool, etc. We met both Goofy AND Donald on our rest day. They were both just walking around the resort. It was really great!
  • Resort activities - 1 of the DIS podcasts mentioned Mickey tie-dye t-shirts. ASMusic had this available daily. Usually at 4:00 pm at the Calypso pool (the pool shaped like a guitar). Cost was $17.99 + tax per t-shirt, so it isn't free. But my kids loved doing it and their shirts turned out great. We would have spent more than that on tshirts IN the parks, so I thought this was a good value.
  • Pool towels - ASMusic DOES provide pool towels. I thought they didn't. I was wrong!
  • Laundry room @ the piano pool - It's $3.00 to wash and $3.00 to dry a load. The dryer gets you 60 min of drying time. But even if you use the Permanent Press dryer setting, you really only need 30 min. Soap is $2.00 each. The machines take credit & debit cards if you don't have cash. No coins.
  • Breakfast - no Mickey pancakes available in the cafeteria, but Mickey waffles were there daily. Chocolate chip pancakes, too. The bacon was a decent quality and not the floppy paper bacon nonsense that the Disneyland QS locations often have.
  • Refillable mugs - if your kids don't drink soda but they DO like lemonade, make sure that they like pomegranate lemonade before you buy a refillable mug. There isn't any plain lemonade. JUST pomegranate lemonade. And from what I saw at the Polynesian and AKL, it's the same there, too. So buyer beware if you have a picky child like my YDD is.
 
We where with you for our first time to WDW. I agree with everything you said. By photo pass and let the professionals take your picture.

A photographer told us AK is always the hottest park with Pandora being 5 degrees even hotter.

Epcot needs more shade or transportation inside the park.

Go early and ride as much as possible. its amazing how much you can do in 1 or 2 hours because by 11 its like the people multiply.

We stayed in Yacht club and had nightmarish bus issues. For magic kingdom I recommend monrailing it to a resort Polynesian is great, then taking a Uber back to your resort.
 


Clothing in the summer:
  • Fashion trends were much different here compared to Disneyland.
  • Wear WHATEVER works best for YOU in terms of dealing with the high heat & humidity.
  • Lots of people wore variations of work out clothing. Wicking fabrics.
  • Just keep in mind that if you wear a lot of stuff like Under Armour, that clothing tends to get stinky after you've been sweating it in profusely for a couple of hours. So plan on showering at your hotel during your afternoon break. Or do what Rhyno (I'm probably misspelling his name) on the DIS does and bring some sort of body spray stuff to use on yourself. The people standing next to you in line will thank you! :-)
  • Wish I'd gotten my kids Teva sandals before this trip - their sneakers have now had it. I broke in a new pair of ugly Tevas for myself for this vacation. I packed sneakers in my luggage, but never used them once the entire week. Wore the Tevas all week. If I'd had worn my sneakers, I would have felt even hotter than I already did. Usually at Disneyland, we wear sneakers for every park day.
  • Nobody cares what you look like. Seriously, at WDW it clearly is NOT a fashion show. Everybody is in survival mode in the summer, so wear what works best for YOU and throw out any notions of looking fabulous. Glad I never bothered with make up the entire week because it would have just sweated off of me.
Animal Kingdom Lodge:
  • This hotel is AMAZING! We stayed in Jambo House in a club level room for our last night.
  • At Jambo House, self-parking is close to the hotel main entrance. Very convenient compared to parking at the Polynesian (we drove over there 1 evening to eat dinner at Captain Cook's).
  • The savannah at AKL is a certified zoo. The animals only spend 2 hr/day in the barn. The zoo keepers have feeding stations set up at locations where guests can more easily see them. Some animals like the giraffes follow the food around. SO much fun to sit on the balcony and watch Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom unfold in front of us.
  • AKL has a LOT of hotel activities. LOTS of cultural stuff to do that doesn't cost a thing.
  • Jambo House pool has 1 slide. My kids thought the slide was a little short, but they loved it all the same.
  • On check out day (yesterday), we learned that if you arrive at The Mara wanting breakfast at 11:00 am, they WILL still let you order breakfast even though they just started serving lunch. The whipped cream that comes with the adult waffle is homemade whipped cream, not from a can. I hate whipped cream but even I thought it tasted really good.
  • Jambo House club lounge has 2 TVs on all the time. 1 larger TV with usually some sort of animated Disney movie playing. Then a 2nd slightly smaller TV off to the side in a corner with younger child-sized wooden stools to sit on. That TV plays Disney Jr TV shows.
  • The concierge helped us get a reservation to The Void at Disney Springs for yesterday afternoon. That was a lot of fun.
  • The room had a pamphlet about all the different animals on the AKL savannah. That was fun to use as a reference guide so we could figure out what sorts of animals we were looking at.
  • The minifridge does not have a small freezer compartment in it. It's just a fridge.
Hoop Dee Doo & Fort Wilderness:
  • If you've paid for Hoop Dee Doo in full, you really do not need to arrive at Pioneer Hall an hour ahead of time like we thought.
  • Where you are seated for Hoop Dee Doo is based on: (1) the category of ticket you purchased; and (2) how far in advance you bought the tickets.
  • Just like Rhyno says on the DIS podcasts - everybody really SHOULD go to this show at least once. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. It really was great. I could imagine Walt Disney himself going to a show like this.
  • wagon rides - Wagon rides are available just outside Pioneer Hall at Ft Wilderness at 6:30 and 8:30 pm, I believe, if memory serves me correctly. It's a 45 min ride. Cash only. We would have done it, but it was really humid & sweaty and we were tuckered out after a very busy morning at MK. Otherwise, we totally would have done this. I want to do it on our next visit!
  • play ground near Pioneer Hall - if you have younger children, there's a nice play ground pretty close to Pioneer Hall. It has a view of the lake. It's very pretty and picturesque there.
  • trading post near Pioneer Hall - I bought a Fort Wilderness print there and it was too big to fit in my suitcase. For ~ $6-7 extra, you can have them ship it home to you. They can do this with anything you purchase in just about every store anywhere on property.
 


Orlando airport stuff:
  • We followed the WDW Magical Express advice of leaving WDW 3 hr before your flight. GLAD WE DID THIS! We really did need all of that time. I was a bit surprised, but now having experienced it for myself, I understand now!
  • Getting through TSA took 30 min yesterday evening (Saturday, 6/16) at ~ 6:00 pm. They had a wait time posted and I wished we had a FP for it. HAHAHA!
  • It took 50 min to drive to the airport from AKL (we rented a car) on non-toll roads.
  • Finding the Southwest Airlines check in desk at Terminal A was a little confusing, but we asked an airport employee and found it.
  • Quick fun fact: There's a big Catholic church on I-4 along International Dr called "Mary, Queen of the Universe" shrine in case anyone is Catholic and is looking for a church to attend while you are there. We aren't Catholic, but I found the name of the church to be interesting.
Non-WDW park stuff:
  • My DH was in Orlando for a work conference. The conference paid for all of the conference attendees to go to Universal Studios on Wed evening. T-shirts in Harry Potter land are $40 a pop. That makes WDW merchandise prices cheap by comparison.
 
Good to know about the food app - I was planning on using this and the thought that it might be down didn't even occur to me (come on Disney, people can order food on a smartphone at McDonald's and Panera with zero issues, there's no way Disney can't straighten this out!). Good to know as waiting in a food line can add at least 20 minutes to an itinerary!
 
Good to know about the food app - I was planning on using this and the thought that it might be down didn't even occur to me (come on Disney, people can order food on a smartphone at McDonald's and Panera with zero issues, there's no way Disney can't straighten this out!). Good to know as waiting in a food line can add at least 20 minutes to an itinerary!

We were there over the same week as OP and never had an issue with mobile ordering. We used it at each park with great success. So don't be afraid to attempt it!
 
  • Wish I'd gotten my kids Teva sandals before this trip - their sneakers have now had it. I broke in a new pair of ugly Tevas for myself for this vacation. I packed sneakers in my luggage, but never used them once the entire week. Wore the Tevas all week. If I'd had worn my sneakers, I would have felt even hotter than I already did. Usually at Disneyland, we wear sneakers for every park day.
  • Nobody cares what you look like. Seriously, at WDW it clearly is NOT a fashion show. Everybody is in survival mode in the summer, so wear what works best for YOU and throw out any notions of looking fabulous. Glad I never bothered with make up the entire week because it would have just sweated off of me.

We do the total opposite. We definitely dress to impress (and people do notice what other people wear). Photopass pictures of the family in our “comfy” clothes wouldn’t make us happy. And my kids wouldn’t be caught dead wearing or being with me if I wore Tevas. To each their own.
 
We do the total opposite. We definitely dress to impress (and people do notice what other people wear). Photopass pictures of the family in our “comfy” clothes wouldn’t make us happy. And my kids wouldn’t be caught dead wearing or being with me if I wore Tevas. To each their own.

We like to dress nice on our trips too but shoes NEED to be comfortable. We wear Skechers Go Walks and proud of it.
 
Please tell me about the fans you mentioned in your Dealing with the heat paragraph.

Thanks!
 
Please tell me about the fans you mentioned in your Dealing with the heat paragraph.

Thanks!

Not the OP but we have had these fans for 3 years and the kids really like them. They're smaller than the Disney ones and can be clipped to a belt loop, stroller, shoelace around the neck, etc. They've held up pretty well despite being dropped and abused and are not horrible on battery life.

The frog tog cooling towels don't work well for us either.
 

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