*******Official August 2017 Countdown Thread ~ Feeling hot, hot, hot!!!******

[McFlea]

this was our first time at POR and I was super annoyed about the crowds in the food court. I don't mind waiting in a long line for my food, but when I then have to go and wait in a long line to PAY for my food......after which time my food is COLD.....that is unacceptable to me. Especially when there's 8 registers and they only have 3-4 of them open. I'm not sure it's a POR thing but more a Disney cutting staff everywhere thing, but I was pissed. The prices they charge for food, I expect to eat it while it's still hot. I swear, in the future if I encounter that again, I will be getting my food and skipping the cashier line. I wouldnt mind if they had all registers going and it really was just that crowded, but when the crowds are due to them being cheap and cutting staff, screw it.

I totally agree. While I didn't encounter lines that were TOO long, at no time did they have all registers open. And the one's that were open, were pretty slow. On our first night there, the CM charged my dining plan for 2 extra snacks for water, rather than include them as part of the meal. Honest mistake, no biggie, and thankfully I checked my receipt. She was apologetic, said she didn't know how to fix it and started looking around for help. I didn't think she even could fix it, so as I was just about to tell her not to worry about it, that I would go to the front desk, the person in line behind me jumps right in and says "just go to the front desk". Thanks for the tip, I'll get out of your way now.

I saw many grouchy guests - tired and cranky parents, crying kids, bickering families, it made me sad. I'm sure the extreme heat had a lot to do with it. Even the CM's seemed more lethargic this trip. I'm not really complaining, it was a great time, just a little different than past experiences.

 

[TJDisneymama]

Yes! The food court cashiers and the ones serving the food were SO. SLOW (i noticed this at all QS places, not just POR). The guy who made my (build your own) salad -- I swear, it took him 5 minutes to put everything into the bowl and hand it to me. All the ingredients are RIGHT! THERE! pre chopped! (think Chipotle). It shouldnt take more than 30 seconds. And the cashiers too - they all took their sweet time ringing. I havent worked as any kind of cashier in like 20 years but when I did, I hUSTLED! I scanned and bagged everything as fast i humanly could, ESPECIALLY when there was a line of people waiting. I have to think they are specifically instructed to be slow because I don't know any people IRL who do anything that slowly, lol.

 

[JackOliva07013]

Its our 4th day and we didn't see the sun yet but did 3rd park from literally open to close. Another rainy and around 80 degrees day. Once the decision made to go Hollywood in the morning we changed our FP to morning hrs and got 5/6/7/8 during the rest of the day. Frozen sing along - we thought it was nicely done and kept even grown ups interested with some jokes. Stars wars meet and great is a must.

It looks like sun is coming out today and we are going to Halloween party tonight.

 

[QueenGsMama]

It's all happening! On the magical express

 

[Grmnshplvr]

Booked our bounceback for August 2018 Coronado springs. Woohoo

 

[Grmnshplvr]

Quick trip report

Arrived 8/24 at about 9 am, was at the resort by 10:45 AKL

AKL O M G it is AMAZING. the resort is so immersive everything is nicely done there, the drums when you walk in, just everything. We had a savanna view even though we had a standard room. There was a giraffe outside our balcony most days. Our room was 2259 Kudu trail. Not too far from the lobby at all.

We brought swimsuits and were swimming by noon. Room was ready at about 1, we got to our room and got settled, grabbed some food from the food court and then headed to Magic Kingdom. My only complaint is how far the resort is from the parks (aside from AK) it seemed like a half hour each time and if we just missed a bus it really cut into our park time. I dont think we'll stay here again for that reason only.

Weather was not bad at all, mostly cloudy days which really helped keep the heat tolerable. Our first day felt like 103 but after that it was actually kind of nice. Of course the humidity was ridiculous and you're sweating anyways but the sun was not beating on us much at all. Cooling towels definitely helped.

Day 3 our oldest sprained her ankle and needed a wheelchair the rest of the trip, not easy to navigate the parks with that thing at all and I feel for anyone that needs one all the time....the perk is front row seating for the shows and parades and fireworks though. Told her she should do this more often on vacation lol

Flight of passage....absolutely the best ride at disney. I am prone to motion sickness and was a little worried because I heard it was so intense but I felt fine afterwards...just made sure to close my eyes in the beginning when the lights start flashing. It was really incredible and we were so lucky to get fast passes.

Randomly a cast member asked to see our magic bands, scanned each of us and I realized a few hours later we had 2 extra fast passes each. How about that Disney Magic!

Boma - WOW I dont think we'll stay at AKL again but I will go there for breakfast for sure. It was incredible, probably my favorite restaurant.

Trails End - a pain to get to for us but the food was awesome as always, this is definitely a favorite of ours.

Tusker house - great character interaction and food, we do this one every trip, Goofy squeezed my kids together in a hug, it was so awesome.

Garden Grill - great food, characters were meh

Crystal Palace, was a little disappointed with the characters here but never had an issue before, maybe just an off day. We never did see Tigger or Eyeore =(

Halloween Party - was starting to get a little disappointed when we realized at 7:00 characters were already 2 hour wait times and this was for a very low attendance party, we realized we wouldn't see any special characters and made the most of the party anyways, we rode some rides with 5 minute wait times and enjoyed the shows. Hallowishes was spectacular and seeing the park all decked out was definitely worth the extra cost. I dont know that we'd do it again but we dont regret trying it once.

Overall, we had a fantastic trip. Tempers got the best of us a few times once our bodies were exhaused and sore but we got over that quickly and back to the fun.

Oh and Disney Springs, wow we were just there two years ago and its so different! Not sure I care for the mall feel of it now and the higher end stores aren't our thing anyways but it looks really nice.

 

[DisneyFan119]

Home from our short 3 day trip. We had a great time and crammed a lot in. With only 3 adults, we were able to do a lot, even with one on an ECV.

Stayed at Pop Century. Requested to be near transportation during online check in and also called it in, but the room they were going to put us in was literally the furthest away. We asked politely if there was anything they could do, and they moved us to the 70s section, which was sooo much closer and had a beautiful lake view! Resort was nice. Served its purpose: we had beds to sleep in! We loved the buses and not having to share with any other resort. I would definitely stay here again, especially since all the rooms will be renovated!

First day (Mon Aug 28) at MK was rainy and cloudy, used our ponchos and umbrellas most of the time. Didn't affect our touring though and no rides closed for us. Fireworks still happened, and that's what I was really looking forward to! I liked the new show, but still feel sad about Wishes (RIP). MK felt super busy, but we knew going on a Monday and non party night that it would be.

Weather improved for the rest of our days. Typical August - stifling, hot, humid, sunny. The other parks on Tues and Wed had lighter crowds, except for Pandora. However, we did snag a Flight of Passage FP at around 3pm for the 5:30-6:30 time. I literally did a dance in the middle of the path! Stood in line for 55 min for Navi boat ride instead. Okay by me. Saved us our plan of going back to Pandora to ride FoP standby after RoL. Saved us 110 minutes, and we were able to see Pandora at night in a relaxing way! (Note: LOVED both Pandora rides!) It did rain in the afternoon on Tues at AK. We did the Safari around 7pm and it. Was. Amazing! My theory is the cooler temps in the evening and the rain helped! Even the lions were up and moving. It was hands down the best safari I've been on, and the driver was superb.

HS had extremely light crowds yesterday. We did toy story as 4th and 5th fastpasses, and probably didn't need them (the FP line seemed longer lol). Ate at the dockside diner, and I got the "magic yellow tray" - the cast member told me I could get a free item! So, bonus milkshake for us! (Didn't know this was a thing!)

So overall, this last minute trip (we booked it on Aug 15!) was really fun. All the cast members we encountered were great - pleasant, cheerful, helpful. A few were extraordinary. We ignored the rude guests (there are always some of course) and kept on rolling. We were able to do everything we wanted and more, and I'm looking forward to our next trip (date TBD!).

 

[MinnieWebster]

Home from our very hot, rainy, not-so-relaxing vacation to the World. I have started a trip report, if anyone wants to hear about it
https://www.disboards.com/threads/how-many-times-on-fop-in-one-trip-sivako.3631527/