Just got back from first trip (11/14-11/21)---what we learned

slpeters

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 7, 2017
My tips based on our first trip (I'll probably print this out and file it somewhere for the next time I plan a trip to the World):

1) Disney World is Awesome. We loved it and will be going back, probably not until Star Wars opens though--looking at New York, New Orleans and somewhere in Italy first.

2) Crowds are definitely in the eye of the beholder. We were surprised how little the crowds affected us given the strategies we learned here. I was a little surprised to read upon return that people thought it was busy while we were there. With no point of comparison (first trip) it honestly seemed less crowded than we anticipated.

3) Utilize the FP+ system and a good touring plan. We thought the FP system worked great. I think a handful of times in a week we may have waited longer than 15 minutes to get on a ride, never more than 30. Dh was floored every time we would pass a ride we had already done. He kept saying things like "wait a second they're going to wait fifty minutes for that? Didn't we just walk on to that?"

4) Day of FPs rock! We were surprised at how well the day of fast pass strategy worked the few times we tried it. We didn't really build our plans around this because it was our first trip and we kind of wanted to do everything so it was all pretty planned. We made it to pretty much all attractions but Splash (which went down the morning we were supposed to ride it, we had options to ride it a couple of other times during the trip but it was always at like 11 at night and we just decided we didn't want to get wet at 11 at night) and Voyage of the Little Mermaid (we ended up spending some extra time at the Sunset Seasons Greetings). But when the opportunity presented itself we were able to score lots of FPs that I didn't think we would be able to. Also there were almost always fast passes available for almost immediate use. I think next time we will probably have a day in magic kingdom where we just see how many FPs we can use.

5) Midday breaks may be worth it. Despite having no children we thought naps were a great idea, especially since we opened a park and closed a park each day.

6) If you can handle the hours utilize EMH. We did one each day and found most things (with the exception of the big rope drop rides which we didn't do in EMH because we had FPs for them) were walk on. Don't get me wrong it can take 5 minutes to walk through some of those queues so walk on isn't quite instantaneous but walking through those queues really dramatizes how many people you aren't waiting behind. Even once the park opens you're ahead of the crowd because you've moved on to the sort of third tier rides (FP for first, EMH for second) so we found stuff staid close to walk on for the next hour or two as well, at least at the rides we were going for. We planned the evening EMH days sort of in reverse and that also worked out well.

7) The end of day spectacles were worth planning for. We tried the 5 end of day shows that were on offer while we were there (HEA, JBJB, F!, Illuminations and RoL) and loved them all. It was amazing how different they all were from each other. Dh kept saying things like "seriously they do this every night?" We loved RoL! Of the five we saw if we had to skip one, knowing what we know now, it would be Fantasmic.

8) Consider the dessert parties. We thought the dessert parties were excellent value. We did HEA this past Monday which I guess was supposed to be crazy busy and we literally laid down in the hub and waited for the fireworks. Once it was time people sat up but no one stood, there was plenty of room and it was just a wonderful experience. I don't know that the JBJB party was as necessary for the viewing spot but the holiday cocktails were really on point. I think there were five of them all of which we both enjoyed and then we settled in to the one we really liked--for me it was the hot cocoa with black cherry bourbon, for dh it was the gingerbread martini. Since drinks at Disney seem to run about $10 a pop we definitely recouped our admission in cocktails--now whether we would have had eight or nine cocktails that night in any other setting is another story, but hey we were on vacation. The food at both parties was great as well.

9) Utilize all the ways to skip the line. FastPass, ADRs, advance ordering and mobile ordering. The first time we did mobile ordering, dh literally groaned as we came around the corner to find a huge line of people just waiting to get into Columbia Harbor House. When we walked past the line, sauntered up to the counter and just picked up our food, dh turned to me and said "seriously, you have a fastpass for dinner?" It was a tremendous time saver.

10) The parks are smaller than the maps make them look. Now your mileage may vary on this one. We were two fit adults and thus could move around pretty freely. I spent so much time worrying about not crisscrossing the parks to find, in the end, that everything was so much closer together than I imagined. Walking from one side of the park to another because you scored a FP just wasn't the chore I expected it to be.

11) Don't allow how hard it is to get a FP to overly influence your thoughts about what you actually want to ride. We had FPs on our last night for SDMT, BTMR and SM. By that point we had already ridden them all and while SDMT was fun it just didn't really curl our toes. We pretty much only had time that night with all the other stuff we were doing to do our three FP rides. I kept thinking I wanted to switch SDMT to something else but I kept coming back to the fact that anything I would switch it for was not as "good" of a FP. When SDMT went down I found that I was positively relieved to just use the anytime FP on another ride on IaSW. We could have gotten that FP at any time, unlike SDMT, but, again unlike SDMT, it was actually what we wanted to ride. I should have just gone ahead and switched it myself--sometimes stuff just works out.

12) Sanaa was the only place we ate where, strictly based on the food, we would have found it memorable outside the world. The bread service was remarkable--that and one entrée was enough for the two of us, plus animals kept wandering up like they thought they could actually graze off of our table. Sleepy Hollow was also good and unusual--the chicken waffle and the fruit waffle was enough for the two of us for lunch.

13) If you are celebrating anything wear the button! We were celebrating our wedding anniversary. When we were checking in they asked what we were celebrating, she then asked how long we had been together. We've been together for twenty years, but only married for two. The clerk thought we should put twenty. We agreed and she wrote Twenty Years with an exclamation point with a little mickey head for the dot. We had so many wonderful conversations that started with that stupid button, both with cast members and other guests. Plus it gave the characters something to interact around at first when we weren't so comfortable. I think the buttons were responsible for the comment we got from Anna which was just off color enough to be shocking from a Disney princess. We're still giggling about that one. I'm also pretty sure at least a few of the characters we interacted with were "family friends." I don't think we would have know that without the buttons. It also made it really clear to photographers that we were "together together"--it made a difference. We also got a fair amount of free stuff--four or five free desserts from cast members, plus another guest bought us champagne at the Dolphin lobby bar and a couple we didn't even actually meet picked up our tab at Nomad. Seriously, wear the buttons!

13a) If you are staying at Swan/Dolphin wear their buttons. They are different from Disney's and many cast members won't see them often, which means they have to actually stop and read the button. In a week we never saw anyone wearing the "Happy Anniversary" button we were wearing. I think it made the buttons more "effective."

14) Don't get both the margarita flight and the martini flight at the Hollywood Brown Derby on the same day you are going to do drinks around the world in Epcot. Who am I kidding? Always get both the margarita flight and the martini flight at the Hollywood Brown Derby!


I'm sure there's other stuff but that's it for now. I'm already excited to start planning our next trip.
 
"seriously, you have a fastpass for dinner?" This had me really lol. Now I have a new name for mobile ordering to use. Fastpass dining.

So glad to hear you had a wonderful time. This report and getting our magic bands today just keeps the waves of Disney going.
 


Love your post! My DH, when we were in the "planning" stages, kept commenting on how "stressful" planning a Disney vacation is and how much I was worrying about getting FPs and ADRs down. Then yesterday, as we're moseying around MK avoiding the throngs with our fastpasses and secure in our lunch plans he comments how easy our vaca is despite how crowded it is :) Redemption lol!
 
We found the Mobile ordering thing to be HUGE!! We had same experience at CHH, loooong line and we just breezed past, grabbed our food and went right upstairs. Suckas!!! :)
 


Love your post! My DH, when we were in the "planning" stages, kept commenting on how "stressful" planning a Disney vacation is and how much I was worrying about getting FPs and ADRs down. Then yesterday, as we're moseying around MK avoiding the throngs with our fastpasses and secure in our lunch plans he comments how easy our vaca is despite how crowded it is :) Redemption lol!

I was really pleased at how appreciative my husband was about all the ways the planning helped. All trip he watched the wait times and lines and commented about all the ways we avoided all of that. He kept saying "OMG nobody's getting to do as much as we are!":-)
 
I know this is an older post, but just found it today.
We were at WDW 11/12-20. Just DH and I, celebrating our 23rd anniversary.
I especially agree with 1, 3, and 4.
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
 

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