Rosiemadison
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2014
I just returned from a trip 10/24-10/30 with my husband and 2 kids (11 and 7). My husband and I had both been to WDW as kids/teens, but this was our first trip with our own kids. WE HAD A FANTASTIC VACATION!
I spent a lot of time doing homework, planning, and reading these boards and I must say that I was a bit worried about all the negativity about fastpass and crowds and the magic being gone. That may be true for people who have been to WDW in the last 20 years and became accustomed to a different experience, but for my family, the trip exceeded expectations in every way.
We had 2 small problems with our bands. The dining plan did not initially show up on the bands, so we had to charge meals to the room for a day until they sorted it out. Our last day at AK, we got "blue Mickeys" and had to see guest services, but they fixed the glitch and called Tusker House for us so we wouldn't lose our reservation.
For those who are thinking about dining right now, here are a few thoughts. None of the restaurants were horrible. We ate at almost all of the character meals and Chef Mickey, in particular, had me SO worried. My kids wanted to do it, so I did not cancel, but I was so afraid based on what I've read here. It was totally fine. The food was fine, the characters were hilarious, and the atmosphere is exactly what you would expect. Our worst dining experience was Hollywood & Vine, but even that wasn't as terrible as I have read on these boards. The food was unspectacular and it took the characters awhile to make it all the way around, but my daughter wanted to meet Doc and we got to do that without waiting in line, so it was totally worth it.
Our best meals were breakfasts--Ohana, Tusker House, and Cape May were all fantastic and I highly recommend them. Awesome breakfast choices and a ton of fun. Because of hours of obsessive checking on my part, I was able to get a Be Our Guest dinner reservation and, I won't lie, it was wonderful because my daughter was dressed as Belle for the Halloween party and the pictures of the Beast spinning her around in her gown are absolutely priceless. The atmosphere is amazing, it is nice to be able to order a glass of wine, and the food was fine but not memorable. (The strawberry dessert thingie WAS delicious and the gray stuff tastes like cookies and cream mousse for those who are wondering). In short, it was worth all my time and effort to get the reservation, but unless you are dying for that picture with the Beast (like we were), I wouldn't break my neck trying to get that reservation.
I have 2 comments about fastpass. First, don't use them before 10 a.m. unless it is for the mine train or toy story (I don't get the hype about toy story midway mania, by the way). We didn't need them for any other rides in the morning. Save them for mid-day or afternoon. Second, don't plan on getting more than 3. The lines at the kiosks were significant, so I didn't bother waiting in them. It seemed counterproductive. The FastPass was most valuable for character visits. Every character we visited without a pass took at least 20 minutes (Jasmine & Alladin took 45!), but the fastpass meet and greets were fast and efficient. In retrospect, I should not have wasted fastpasses on most rides and saved them for character meets instead.
We did attend the Halloween party, and it was a lot of fun. The parade is really cool and the fireworks are spectacular. It is a good time to tour the park with slightly lower crowds, but the night I was there (10/26) it was pretty darn crowded and besides the fireworks, parade, and trick or treating, we didn't do much else. Just walking around in costume was so much fun. So, yes, in my view the ticket was worth it. I liked it well enough that we're going to try the Christmas party on our next trip.
Transportation was seamless and the resorts were wonderful (we split between Grand Floridian and Yacht Club). The pool at Yacht Club was a hit--it definitely will be our resort choice for the next visit.
One final note about crowds. When I made my plans, 10/25 was a recommended MK day. Later, they added extra magic hours and the day switched to "NOT RECOMMENDED" on all the sites. My dining was set, though, so we kept the plan as it was. I was so worried because, you know, NOT RECOMMENDED is the end of the world, right? YES, it was a crowded day. But we did Crystal Palace at 8:05 a.m. and experienced a lot of the park by mid-day. This allowed us to go back to the resort, swim, relax, eat dinner, and then come back for some evening fun (we had a 7 p.m. A&E fastpass so we HAD to come back). So don't freak out if the recommended days change on you, or if your plans work better to do a "not recommended park." It'll be fine.
In conclusion, (finally, right?), our trip was awesome, my planning paid off, and my worries were unfounded. If you have been on a decades-long Disney hiatus like I was, do not fear. It is still the magical amazing place you remember, and I hope everyone can experience it as a family at least once.
Thanks to everyone on these boards whose knowledge and experience helped me plan a fantastic trip!
I spent a lot of time doing homework, planning, and reading these boards and I must say that I was a bit worried about all the negativity about fastpass and crowds and the magic being gone. That may be true for people who have been to WDW in the last 20 years and became accustomed to a different experience, but for my family, the trip exceeded expectations in every way.
We had 2 small problems with our bands. The dining plan did not initially show up on the bands, so we had to charge meals to the room for a day until they sorted it out. Our last day at AK, we got "blue Mickeys" and had to see guest services, but they fixed the glitch and called Tusker House for us so we wouldn't lose our reservation.
For those who are thinking about dining right now, here are a few thoughts. None of the restaurants were horrible. We ate at almost all of the character meals and Chef Mickey, in particular, had me SO worried. My kids wanted to do it, so I did not cancel, but I was so afraid based on what I've read here. It was totally fine. The food was fine, the characters were hilarious, and the atmosphere is exactly what you would expect. Our worst dining experience was Hollywood & Vine, but even that wasn't as terrible as I have read on these boards. The food was unspectacular and it took the characters awhile to make it all the way around, but my daughter wanted to meet Doc and we got to do that without waiting in line, so it was totally worth it.
Our best meals were breakfasts--Ohana, Tusker House, and Cape May were all fantastic and I highly recommend them. Awesome breakfast choices and a ton of fun. Because of hours of obsessive checking on my part, I was able to get a Be Our Guest dinner reservation and, I won't lie, it was wonderful because my daughter was dressed as Belle for the Halloween party and the pictures of the Beast spinning her around in her gown are absolutely priceless. The atmosphere is amazing, it is nice to be able to order a glass of wine, and the food was fine but not memorable. (The strawberry dessert thingie WAS delicious and the gray stuff tastes like cookies and cream mousse for those who are wondering). In short, it was worth all my time and effort to get the reservation, but unless you are dying for that picture with the Beast (like we were), I wouldn't break my neck trying to get that reservation.
I have 2 comments about fastpass. First, don't use them before 10 a.m. unless it is for the mine train or toy story (I don't get the hype about toy story midway mania, by the way). We didn't need them for any other rides in the morning. Save them for mid-day or afternoon. Second, don't plan on getting more than 3. The lines at the kiosks were significant, so I didn't bother waiting in them. It seemed counterproductive. The FastPass was most valuable for character visits. Every character we visited without a pass took at least 20 minutes (Jasmine & Alladin took 45!), but the fastpass meet and greets were fast and efficient. In retrospect, I should not have wasted fastpasses on most rides and saved them for character meets instead.
We did attend the Halloween party, and it was a lot of fun. The parade is really cool and the fireworks are spectacular. It is a good time to tour the park with slightly lower crowds, but the night I was there (10/26) it was pretty darn crowded and besides the fireworks, parade, and trick or treating, we didn't do much else. Just walking around in costume was so much fun. So, yes, in my view the ticket was worth it. I liked it well enough that we're going to try the Christmas party on our next trip.
Transportation was seamless and the resorts were wonderful (we split between Grand Floridian and Yacht Club). The pool at Yacht Club was a hit--it definitely will be our resort choice for the next visit.
One final note about crowds. When I made my plans, 10/25 was a recommended MK day. Later, they added extra magic hours and the day switched to "NOT RECOMMENDED" on all the sites. My dining was set, though, so we kept the plan as it was. I was so worried because, you know, NOT RECOMMENDED is the end of the world, right? YES, it was a crowded day. But we did Crystal Palace at 8:05 a.m. and experienced a lot of the park by mid-day. This allowed us to go back to the resort, swim, relax, eat dinner, and then come back for some evening fun (we had a 7 p.m. A&E fastpass so we HAD to come back). So don't freak out if the recommended days change on you, or if your plans work better to do a "not recommended park." It'll be fine.
In conclusion, (finally, right?), our trip was awesome, my planning paid off, and my worries were unfounded. If you have been on a decades-long Disney hiatus like I was, do not fear. It is still the magical amazing place you remember, and I hope everyone can experience it as a family at least once.
Thanks to everyone on these boards whose knowledge and experience helped me plan a fantastic trip!
