Rosiemadison
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2014
For those reading these boards who are not Disney experts, I thought I would post a few observations about last week (pre-Easter) at Disney. I was very worried about crowds based on comments on these boards, and in some ways those fears were founded and some ways not. For example:
1. Other than after Wishes and Fantasmic, we did not experience any body-to-body herded sheep type crowds.
2. While the parks were crowded, we generally could move around fine, get quick service food in a reasonable amount of time, find places to sit, etc.
3. The big issue was attraction wait times. I followed the advice to make fastpasses for later in the day and ride headline attractions without fastpass during the first hour. In every instance, I was unable to get any fourth fastpasses of any value. All of the semi-desirable fastpasses (Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Pooh, Movie Ride, Indiana Jones, etc.) were pretty much gone by mid-morning. And without fastpasses, almost nothing had a tolerable wait time. So we either rode within the first hour of park opening, used fast passes, or didn't ride at all. Standby lines were out of control. Test track was at 50 minutes at 9:02 a.m. Mine Train was at 50 minutes by 8:05.
4. The resorts were crammed to the gills. At both Poly and Beach Club (we split our stay), you needed to claim a pool chair by about 10 a.m. or you were out of luck. I ended up spreading out my vinyl tablecloth/picnic blanket) and sitting on the ground at both pools. About 50 percent of the chairs were occupied by towels or a lone pair of flip flops or goggles.
5. Dining reservations were absolutely essential. Even with reservations, we had some fairly significant wait times to eat. Disney Springs on a Wednesday night--we waited an hour for our table at the Boathouse--and we had a reservation. All the other restaurants had even longer waits.
6. Changes in plans were not really possible. If the kids decided to swim a little later or take a break, we just had to forfeit our fastpasses and dinner reservations. It was impossible, for example, to move a fastpass up or back an hour or two--we were stuck with the times we chose when we originally planned. Yesterday (Easter), brunch was quicker than expected so I tried to move a 2 p.m. Little Mermaid show fastpass to an earlier show. The "closest match" for a new time was 5:20 p.m.
I don't have any fabulous lessons learned to share, but thought these observations might be helpful to someone debating the To Spring Break or Not to Spring Break question. I don't think I'll do it again. Spending $500 a night on a hotel room for pool access and sitting on the hot pavement/waiting in line 45 minutes for a smoothie just doesn't make sense to me. There were even lines for the resort pool water slides! It would make a lot more sense to stay offsite at a truly deluxe property, hit the parks early and use early fastpasses, and then hang out at a less crowded resort property for the rest of the day. I don't think I would even bother going back for the evening events unless they are ticketed separate reserved areas. The crowds at Wishes and Fantasmic were really bad--not worth the trouble. And being there late made wait times for rides no better either. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train stayed over 100 minutes until well past 11 p.m. The two exceptions are Star Wars fireworks (we did it with the dessert party) and Club Villain. Both were separate enough that they did not feel crowded at all and are worth venturing into the parks at night for.
That's my 2cents. This was our second Disney vacation within 2 years and the kids even said they feel they have now gotten the Disney bug out of their systems.
1. Other than after Wishes and Fantasmic, we did not experience any body-to-body herded sheep type crowds.
2. While the parks were crowded, we generally could move around fine, get quick service food in a reasonable amount of time, find places to sit, etc.
3. The big issue was attraction wait times. I followed the advice to make fastpasses for later in the day and ride headline attractions without fastpass during the first hour. In every instance, I was unable to get any fourth fastpasses of any value. All of the semi-desirable fastpasses (Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Pooh, Movie Ride, Indiana Jones, etc.) were pretty much gone by mid-morning. And without fastpasses, almost nothing had a tolerable wait time. So we either rode within the first hour of park opening, used fast passes, or didn't ride at all. Standby lines were out of control. Test track was at 50 minutes at 9:02 a.m. Mine Train was at 50 minutes by 8:05.
4. The resorts were crammed to the gills. At both Poly and Beach Club (we split our stay), you needed to claim a pool chair by about 10 a.m. or you were out of luck. I ended up spreading out my vinyl tablecloth/picnic blanket) and sitting on the ground at both pools. About 50 percent of the chairs were occupied by towels or a lone pair of flip flops or goggles.
5. Dining reservations were absolutely essential. Even with reservations, we had some fairly significant wait times to eat. Disney Springs on a Wednesday night--we waited an hour for our table at the Boathouse--and we had a reservation. All the other restaurants had even longer waits.
6. Changes in plans were not really possible. If the kids decided to swim a little later or take a break, we just had to forfeit our fastpasses and dinner reservations. It was impossible, for example, to move a fastpass up or back an hour or two--we were stuck with the times we chose when we originally planned. Yesterday (Easter), brunch was quicker than expected so I tried to move a 2 p.m. Little Mermaid show fastpass to an earlier show. The "closest match" for a new time was 5:20 p.m.
I don't have any fabulous lessons learned to share, but thought these observations might be helpful to someone debating the To Spring Break or Not to Spring Break question. I don't think I'll do it again. Spending $500 a night on a hotel room for pool access and sitting on the hot pavement/waiting in line 45 minutes for a smoothie just doesn't make sense to me. There were even lines for the resort pool water slides! It would make a lot more sense to stay offsite at a truly deluxe property, hit the parks early and use early fastpasses, and then hang out at a less crowded resort property for the rest of the day. I don't think I would even bother going back for the evening events unless they are ticketed separate reserved areas. The crowds at Wishes and Fantasmic were really bad--not worth the trouble. And being there late made wait times for rides no better either. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train stayed over 100 minutes until well past 11 p.m. The two exceptions are Star Wars fireworks (we did it with the dessert party) and Club Villain. Both were separate enough that they did not feel crowded at all and are worth venturing into the parks at night for.
That's my 2cents. This was our second Disney vacation within 2 years and the kids even said they feel they have now gotten the Disney bug out of their systems.
