Buttrcp16
Beware of hitchhiking ghosts
- Joined
- May 2, 2014
We just got back Friday from our week long trip to the World with DH, my two boys (4 and almost 2), my parents, my brother, and his fiancee. I know I love reading others' recaps and thoughts on various Disney aspects so I thought I'd throw in my two cents. We stayed off site so I can't remark on the resorts, but there is plenty else to cover!
Crowds: We were excited to be going during a "slow" time, since most of our previous trips have been in the summer save for 1 or 2 times in January. I have to say, I was shocked by the sheer number of people. I couldn't believe it! We used the crowd calendars to plan our park days and even then I was surprised by the crowds. And EUROPEANS. EVERYWHERE. A friend later told DH that September is commonly the month Europeans get discounts to Disney, which would make sense. At times I felt like we were the only English speaking people in the vicinity. I don't have anything against foreigners, except at times their, um, differing levels of hygiene and NO sense of personal space whatsoever.
But anyway. Just FYI for September Disers!
Wait Times: You would think this goes hand in hand with crowds, but not quite. There were TONS of people in walkways and open areas in the parks, but getting to the park for rope drop, riding standby early, then using FP+ starting around 10:30-on was key. My youngest DS would NOT wait in any line longer than 10 minutes, and by planning strategically, we didn't have to. This meant skipping Winnie the Pooh which was 25 minutes by about 9:30, waiting 10 minutes for Peter Pan at the same time (which was posted at 20min), and then riding low-priority rides until our FP+ kicked in. We went on literally every attraction in the park except for WtP, Stitch (lol), Speedway, HoP, the Laugh Floor, and 7DMT. But we rode HM, Splash, and Thunder all twice in one day. And speaking of FP+....
FP+: (FYI we used our tickets since we stayed off site and did not have magic bands. Most of the time they scanned with no issue, but there was once or twice where one card didn't work, but the CM always waved us through anyway, so NBD there.) Right now, I have a love/hate relationship with FP+. I love being able to choose ahead of time for the sake of having it already planned and not worrying about running around the park to grab paper tickets. I hate it for the same reason. Don't want to go to a specific park the day you planned on going a month ago? Too bad. You have to, or lose your FP+ resos. That stinks. Thankfully we had zero rain our MK day (about the only day without rain! But more on that in a minute...) I also dislike that you can't choose your 4th and consecutive FP+s from the MDE app. It is pretty lame to have to stand in a line waiting for a kiosk when for 2 billion dollars you would think they would have the technology in place to allow for scheduling from the app. I realize this is in part to prevent people outside the parks from making FP+ resos, but maybe they could allow it for those who are connected to that specific park's wifi? I'm no techie, but maybe it could work. And speaking of the app, It was a MESS in the park. The wifi was horrendous. I wanted to chuck my phone at Splash Mountain. Coverage in Frontierland was a joke. I guess they really want you to feel like you're in the Old West without modern conveniences!
I was desperately trying to switch around our 3rd FP+ but kept getting error messages and finally gave up. We also had 2 people in our party with the same first name, and there is no way to tell who is who at the FP+ kiosk. So if you have a person in your party doing their own thing, you can change their FP+ by mistake. Word to the wise, make someone's name in all caps if you have that issue in your party. This is another glitch I wish they would fix. If they could fix the minor issues, boost the wifi and get the app working consistently (and allow booking of 4th FP+s from the app) then I would love it. Love love love. Even with those annoyances, 6 of us used a total of 6 FP+s and the other 2 (my brother and his fiancee) used about 8 or 9. Overall I would call that a success.
Rides: Mostly everything was in perfect working order and looking great. Was disappointed that Philharmagic's refurbishment was extended to our dates, but I understand the need to make sure everything is perfect. COP and Astro Orbitor were also down for refurbishment but we will catch those next time. Our first of many rides on the HM, we got stuck for about 5 minutes. My youngest DS was NOT happy, and started to scream and make for a getaway. Of all the rides to get stuck on! We were also stuck on Buzz for a few minutes (which gave me a chance to up my score
), IASW boats backed up at the exit both times we rode, and also on Pirates once. You would think it's amusement park procedure 101 to manage pacing, but oh well. We rode Cinderella's Carousel once and the wait for it to start once we were actually ON it took for-e-ver. They really need to figure out a quicker way to do the safety check. Shout out to Ian at the Jungle Cruise - maybe I was a little slap-happy by that point in the day, but he was hilarious. That ride was one of the (many) high points of the day!
CMs: There are thousands of Disney employees so you obviously can't expect 100% magical experiences with every single one. The vast majority were friendly, accommodating, and pleasant. I also believe that you get what you give out. If you strike up conversation with them, smile, LISTEN to their instructions, and let them do their job, they will treat you with all the courtesy you'd expect. Two interactions stand out in my mind as negative. The first, when we showed up for MNSSHP at 4pm and the turnstile CM was very curt with me saying FP+ would not work with our party tickets. I politely informed her I had already linked them in MDE and scheduled FP+ for 4-7pm. She didn't have anything to say after that. The other was when we were about to board Peter Pan. There were 6 of us (2 kids) and we wanted to sit 3/3, and we were trying to let the CM know because he was trying to pair us up in 2s. We couldn't even get a full sentence out before he cut us off saying rudely, "TOO LATE!" Okay, geez man, no big deal! Everyone else was great.
Characters: The characters were AWESOME. It's been a LONG time since I've interacted with characters but it was a priority this trip since it was my kids' first visit. They were in a word, magical! Mickey in Town Square was a moment I will never forget. My boys were in awe and the fact that Mickey talks to you is just amazing. We also met Woody, Jessie, Buzz, Stitch, Goofy, Donald, Frozone, Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and had interactions with Alice and Pluto during the FoF parade and Cruella during the Boo to You parade. I'm not even sure I could pick a favorite character in the bunch. They all have their own personality and things they do that make each meeting unforgettable. Hats off to them - it's got to be difficult to be so "on" all the time, and they do it flawlessly. My one letdown: We walked right by Madame Carlotta as we exited the HM and she was about to take her place on the lawn during MNSSHP, and she called me "Snow" when I was dressed as the tightrope walker from the stretching portrait... You would think she would recognize a character from her own ride!
Weather: Oh, boy. We had some serious rain. We arrived on Friday 9/19 and before we even landed we were greeted with serious downpours (and enough turbulence to evoke a chorus of "WHOA!"s from the people on the plane.). We ate dinner at CA Grill that night and I watched the masses of poor people in ponchos arriving for MNSSHP. From there on out we had what I would say is a LOT more rain than average even for September. Thankfully we are not commandos and lucked out with park days. It stayed mercifully rain-free our MNSSHP night except for literally a few drops just moments before the HH made his ride (but he did ride thank goodness!). It rained for a little bit on Monday at Epcot and didn't rain a drop on Wed at the MK! We were certainly blessed! Most of the rain seemed to fall during the evening hours. But even if it had interfered with our plans, we were prepared to brave the rain and deal with it.
MNSSHP: Wow, wow, wow!! This was the most fun I have had at Disney in a long time. The parade alone was worth the admission. I was smiling like a fool the entire time! We are already planning our return trip next year and although we would LOVE cooler weather and less rain (i.e. January), we are picking Sep/Oct just so that we can attend the party again. What a blast!
Food: We didn't do a ton of on site meals (again because we were off site) but the food at CA Grill was okay. Not worth the price though. You are paying for the view at that place. Narcoosee's is far and away superior. Coral Reef at Epcot was great, Pinocchio Village Haus' flatbreads were delicious and HUGE, Pecos Bill was "eh" (the burger patty looked really questionable and was only improved by the massive toppings bar), and Columbia Harbour House was PHENOMENAL. I'm eating every MK meal there from now on. T-Rex at DTD is as loud as you'd expect, and more. Service was slow (we were there - seated - over 2 hours and had zero apps or desserts!!) and the food was decent. It's a one and done sort of place for us.
Disney Transportation: We didn't make a ton of use of it since again, we were off site. But we RD'd at MK and I was pleasantly surprised to see the ferry running, as I'd expected only buses at that time (it was about an hour prior to open). Upon leaving that night after Wishes, we tried the "trick" I'd read here about using the resort monorail instead of the express because there are less people and it only makes one stop before the TTC. WELL. That was a HUGE mistake. In the time we stood there waiting for the first resort monorail to show up, there were THREE express monorails. On top of that, we just missed getting on the first one. Finally boarded the second one (after another express one came and went) only to stop halfway to the CR because of "traffic clearance." We held there for a few minutes, then made it to the CR, where we waited... and waited... and waited. Then they announced we were delayed because the monorail ahead of us was getting a maintenance check? Which makes me wonder if there were technical difficulties with that one that was the cause of all our delays. Maybe they need to step up on those upgrades! We were exhausted and it took ages just to reach the TTC. Needless to say we won't be trying that tip again.
DTD: Yes, it's a mess. Construction walls up everywhere and they make everything congested. If you want minimal frustrations with parking (if you are driving) then show up before dinnertime. We went twice, once around 2:30 and once around 5 and aside from waiting at the crazy long lights, did not have any trouble getting in and finding a parking spot. My parents and brother/fiancee, on the other hand, attempted to go one night around 9 and said they gave up and went back to the resort because it was such a madhouse.
There you have it! I hope there's info in here that is helpful to those still in the planning stages!
Crowds: We were excited to be going during a "slow" time, since most of our previous trips have been in the summer save for 1 or 2 times in January. I have to say, I was shocked by the sheer number of people. I couldn't believe it! We used the crowd calendars to plan our park days and even then I was surprised by the crowds. And EUROPEANS. EVERYWHERE. A friend later told DH that September is commonly the month Europeans get discounts to Disney, which would make sense. At times I felt like we were the only English speaking people in the vicinity. I don't have anything against foreigners, except at times their, um, differing levels of hygiene and NO sense of personal space whatsoever.
But anyway. Just FYI for September Disers!Wait Times: You would think this goes hand in hand with crowds, but not quite. There were TONS of people in walkways and open areas in the parks, but getting to the park for rope drop, riding standby early, then using FP+ starting around 10:30-on was key. My youngest DS would NOT wait in any line longer than 10 minutes, and by planning strategically, we didn't have to. This meant skipping Winnie the Pooh which was 25 minutes by about 9:30, waiting 10 minutes for Peter Pan at the same time (which was posted at 20min), and then riding low-priority rides until our FP+ kicked in. We went on literally every attraction in the park except for WtP, Stitch (lol), Speedway, HoP, the Laugh Floor, and 7DMT. But we rode HM, Splash, and Thunder all twice in one day. And speaking of FP+....
FP+: (FYI we used our tickets since we stayed off site and did not have magic bands. Most of the time they scanned with no issue, but there was once or twice where one card didn't work, but the CM always waved us through anyway, so NBD there.) Right now, I have a love/hate relationship with FP+. I love being able to choose ahead of time for the sake of having it already planned and not worrying about running around the park to grab paper tickets. I hate it for the same reason. Don't want to go to a specific park the day you planned on going a month ago? Too bad. You have to, or lose your FP+ resos. That stinks. Thankfully we had zero rain our MK day (about the only day without rain! But more on that in a minute...) I also dislike that you can't choose your 4th and consecutive FP+s from the MDE app. It is pretty lame to have to stand in a line waiting for a kiosk when for 2 billion dollars you would think they would have the technology in place to allow for scheduling from the app. I realize this is in part to prevent people outside the parks from making FP+ resos, but maybe they could allow it for those who are connected to that specific park's wifi? I'm no techie, but maybe it could work. And speaking of the app, It was a MESS in the park. The wifi was horrendous. I wanted to chuck my phone at Splash Mountain. Coverage in Frontierland was a joke. I guess they really want you to feel like you're in the Old West without modern conveniences!
I was desperately trying to switch around our 3rd FP+ but kept getting error messages and finally gave up. We also had 2 people in our party with the same first name, and there is no way to tell who is who at the FP+ kiosk. So if you have a person in your party doing their own thing, you can change their FP+ by mistake. Word to the wise, make someone's name in all caps if you have that issue in your party. This is another glitch I wish they would fix. If they could fix the minor issues, boost the wifi and get the app working consistently (and allow booking of 4th FP+s from the app) then I would love it. Love love love. Even with those annoyances, 6 of us used a total of 6 FP+s and the other 2 (my brother and his fiancee) used about 8 or 9. Overall I would call that a success.Rides: Mostly everything was in perfect working order and looking great. Was disappointed that Philharmagic's refurbishment was extended to our dates, but I understand the need to make sure everything is perfect. COP and Astro Orbitor were also down for refurbishment but we will catch those next time. Our first of many rides on the HM, we got stuck for about 5 minutes. My youngest DS was NOT happy, and started to scream and make for a getaway. Of all the rides to get stuck on! We were also stuck on Buzz for a few minutes (which gave me a chance to up my score
), IASW boats backed up at the exit both times we rode, and also on Pirates once. You would think it's amusement park procedure 101 to manage pacing, but oh well. We rode Cinderella's Carousel once and the wait for it to start once we were actually ON it took for-e-ver. They really need to figure out a quicker way to do the safety check. Shout out to Ian at the Jungle Cruise - maybe I was a little slap-happy by that point in the day, but he was hilarious. That ride was one of the (many) high points of the day!CMs: There are thousands of Disney employees so you obviously can't expect 100% magical experiences with every single one. The vast majority were friendly, accommodating, and pleasant. I also believe that you get what you give out. If you strike up conversation with them, smile, LISTEN to their instructions, and let them do their job, they will treat you with all the courtesy you'd expect. Two interactions stand out in my mind as negative. The first, when we showed up for MNSSHP at 4pm and the turnstile CM was very curt with me saying FP+ would not work with our party tickets. I politely informed her I had already linked them in MDE and scheduled FP+ for 4-7pm. She didn't have anything to say after that.
The other was when we were about to board Peter Pan. There were 6 of us (2 kids) and we wanted to sit 3/3, and we were trying to let the CM know because he was trying to pair us up in 2s. We couldn't even get a full sentence out before he cut us off saying rudely, "TOO LATE!" Okay, geez man, no big deal! Everyone else was great. Characters: The characters were AWESOME. It's been a LONG time since I've interacted with characters but it was a priority this trip since it was my kids' first visit. They were in a word, magical! Mickey in Town Square was a moment I will never forget. My boys were in awe and the fact that Mickey talks to you is just amazing. We also met Woody, Jessie, Buzz, Stitch, Goofy, Donald, Frozone, Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and had interactions with Alice and Pluto during the FoF parade and Cruella during the Boo to You parade. I'm not even sure I could pick a favorite character in the bunch. They all have their own personality and things they do that make each meeting unforgettable. Hats off to them - it's got to be difficult to be so "on" all the time, and they do it flawlessly. My one letdown: We walked right by Madame Carlotta as we exited the HM and she was about to take her place on the lawn during MNSSHP, and she called me "Snow" when I was dressed as the tightrope walker from the stretching portrait... You would think she would recognize a character from her own ride!
Weather: Oh, boy. We had some serious rain. We arrived on Friday 9/19 and before we even landed we were greeted with serious downpours (and enough turbulence to evoke a chorus of "WHOA!"s from the people on the plane.). We ate dinner at CA Grill that night and I watched the masses of poor people in ponchos arriving for MNSSHP. From there on out we had what I would say is a LOT more rain than average even for September. Thankfully we are not commandos and lucked out with park days. It stayed mercifully rain-free our MNSSHP night except for literally a few drops just moments before the HH made his ride (but he did ride thank goodness!). It rained for a little bit on Monday at Epcot and didn't rain a drop on Wed at the MK! We were certainly blessed! Most of the rain seemed to fall during the evening hours. But even if it had interfered with our plans, we were prepared to brave the rain and deal with it.
MNSSHP: Wow, wow, wow!! This was the most fun I have had at Disney in a long time. The parade alone was worth the admission. I was smiling like a fool the entire time! We are already planning our return trip next year and although we would LOVE cooler weather and less rain (i.e. January), we are picking Sep/Oct just so that we can attend the party again. What a blast!
Food: We didn't do a ton of on site meals (again because we were off site) but the food at CA Grill was okay. Not worth the price though. You are paying for the view at that place. Narcoosee's is far and away superior. Coral Reef at Epcot was great, Pinocchio Village Haus' flatbreads were delicious and HUGE, Pecos Bill was "eh" (the burger patty looked really questionable and was only improved by the massive toppings bar), and Columbia Harbour House was PHENOMENAL. I'm eating every MK meal there from now on. T-Rex at DTD is as loud as you'd expect, and more. Service was slow (we were there - seated - over 2 hours and had zero apps or desserts!!) and the food was decent. It's a one and done sort of place for us.
Disney Transportation: We didn't make a ton of use of it since again, we were off site. But we RD'd at MK and I was pleasantly surprised to see the ferry running, as I'd expected only buses at that time (it was about an hour prior to open). Upon leaving that night after Wishes, we tried the "trick" I'd read here about using the resort monorail instead of the express because there are less people and it only makes one stop before the TTC. WELL. That was a HUGE mistake. In the time we stood there waiting for the first resort monorail to show up, there were THREE express monorails. On top of that, we just missed getting on the first one. Finally boarded the second one (after another express one came and went) only to stop halfway to the CR because of "traffic clearance." We held there for a few minutes, then made it to the CR, where we waited... and waited... and waited. Then they announced we were delayed because the monorail ahead of us was getting a maintenance check? Which makes me wonder if there were technical difficulties with that one that was the cause of all our delays. Maybe they need to step up on those upgrades! We were exhausted and it took ages just to reach the TTC. Needless to say we won't be trying that tip again.
DTD: Yes, it's a mess. Construction walls up everywhere and they make everything congested. If you want minimal frustrations with parking (if you are driving) then show up before dinnertime. We went twice, once around 2:30 and once around 5 and aside from waiting at the crazy long lights, did not have any trouble getting in and finding a parking spot. My parents and brother/fiancee, on the other hand, attempted to go one night around 9 and said they gave up and went back to the resort because it was such a madhouse.
There you have it! I hope there's info in here that is helpful to those still in the planning stages!
