Trip Report 09/30-10/06

[Steve19842015]

Day 1

Not sure where this report should belong. Feel free to move it.

Landed at 430 Saturday 09/01 from PHX.
Took and Uber and at our hotel by 6PM. Hilton Lake Buena Vista Palace. No issues.

After checking in we Instacart groceries while hanging out at the pool. Then at around 8 we went over the bridge to Disney Springs. Easy 5 min walk.

Decided on Earl of Sandwich for food. First time having it. So good! Then I wanted to get some updated magic bands ( I was still using 1st generation bands from 10 years ago lol). Forgot the exact name at DS but this place customs made MB2 at the fraction of the price. $25 for custom made bands. Got 4 of them and had zero issue sat the park and they look cool too.

Everyone was asleep by midnight.

 

[Steve19842015]

Day 2

Woke up at 5:15. We had shuttle service at 6:30. We have EMH. I was on the monorail by 7. Got board group 12 for Tron and got Peter Pan for 11.

We rope dropped SDMNT. The park was empty for the first 2 hours! In 2 hours we did SDMNT,BTMRR, Pirates,Jungle Cruise Tron and Space Mountain.

I still got Genie+. It for sure helped but was it absolutely needed, no. Doubled up on a lot of FP rides with some stuff that I’ve never done like Enchanted with Belle and Astro Orbitor.

We got on SDMNT at 5:55 with a posted 60 min wait. We were done by 6:30. Made our way back to the monorail for our shuttle. Again no issues and Earl again for dinner lol.

The end for day 2. As I write this I’m on the balcony looking at EPCOT fireworks. Tomorrow is HS. Shuttle at 7:30

 

[erinch]

Following.!

 

[Steve19842015]

Day 3

It’s midnight as I type this and tomorrow is our off/resort day.

Day started off at 7am by booking a 1pm for Slinky via Genie. We took our shuttle at 730am for a 9pm park open. Got there before 8 and decided on rope dropping RoR. We were in and out by 845. I then opted to immediately go to slinky before all
Other guests. It was 20 mins total. Not bad. It was about 930 and then decided to wait for MMRR. Total time was another 20 mins. I ended up using every Genie plus. rNR was down the better part of second half of day but came back up around 7pm. Through the day we did most shows, Frozen, Indy, Mickeys Vacation and Beauty and the Beast. We doubled up on Slinky and MMRR. We had plenty of
Time to shop and eat. We went to get our Fantasmic spots at 830. I wanted a good spot. The show was amazing. Got out 10:40 shuttle. All in all great day! Genie for sure saved us a lot of time but definitely it as busy as previous times that I’ve been here. Then again I always come during March
spring Break. Easy and relaxing day tomorrow. No alarm clock.

 

[Steve19842015]

Day 4

I woke up at 12:30. No alarm! My daughter woke up at 1:30. We ended up heading out to Disney Springs at 3pm. We had some lunch at Chicken Guy and got some cookies at Gideons. We then took a shuttle to Polynesian. Checked out Polynesian and Grand Floridian via monorail. After hanging out there for a bit we took a shuttle back to Disney Springs. Strolled through some shops and got some dinner at Earls. When we got to the resort we ate the cookies with some cold milk. Ended the night with some spa time. Tomorrow shuttle comes at 730 for 9am MK day.

 

[mickeymom629]

Great report! I'm looking forward to hearing about the rest of your days! We are headed there in a couple of weeks.

 

[Steve19842015]

Day 5 - Magic Kingdom

Out on the shuttle by 7:40. Already I knew I was about to experience a whole different day from my party day. The shuttle was packed, after getting to the TTC I can see there were some lines. By the time we cleared security and actually entered the park it was 8:35am. Made our way over to SDMNT. Line wasn’t moving much and was still outside. I made an audible. Rode the carousel lol. Just in time for RD frontier for BTMRR. Won’t bore you with the small details but we had Genie Plus and got on all the rides we wanted and did some shows that we didn’t do on our previous party day like the Tiki Room. We stayed for HEA, rode on Goofy and on our shuttle for 10PM. The difference in crowd was very noticeable. Ended up sleeping by midnight.

 

[Steve19842015]

Day 6 - Epcot
On our 7:30am shuttle. We opted to not go Genie plus based on previous experiences (mistake). We were there for RD. Straight to Frozen, in and out by 7:50. We then went straight to test track. We were out by 830. We then started to do the Future rides. The waits weren’t terrible but 30 mins here and 30 mins there adds up. The day just got away from us which is a good thing in a way since I hardly noticed it. By the time we started to do world showcase it was about 4pm. Ate some bites and made our way to Ratatouille. It was about 7:15 by the time we got off the ride. In retrospect I spent too much time looking for a good spot for the firework show. This show I think honestly can be seen anywhere without a need to “reserve” a spot. We got on every ride including GOTG with virtual queue. If we had Genie plus it would have saved us probably 3 hours. Which I would have used to
Explore the world showcase more. Although not a
Requirement to get on all the rides but if you want to do most major rides and also want time to explore world showcase then IMO you have to get Genie+. Great day nonetheless.

 

[Steve19842015]

Last Day 7- Animal Kingdom

Again similar to Epcot, I figured if we rope dropped then no need for Genie Plus.

On the shuttle at 6:30am for 8am park opening. We were there by 7am. As soon as rope dropped we went to FoP. We then saw that Navi had a 40 min wait so we opted to do Everest because it just opened since it was down for a bit. We rode
It 3 times. All walked on. We then went to Kali. Ride it back to back no wait. Dino was down all day until 6pm. We filled our day with ITTBAB, Lunch at Treehouse BBQ, waited in line for Navi, waited for Safari. Best quick service of the trip! Ended up seeing Lion King at 5PM for our last ride.

Similar to Epcot. While Genie Plus wasn’t something that was absolutely needed it for sure would have saved us a bit of time. I’d estimate 3 hours. Maybe a bit more if Dino was up and running.

After 4 trips to WDW with the last two being this trip and 2022 under the new Genie+, here’s my take. If you want to have more time to meander and take it a bit easy while still getting on most of the rides then just built in the added costs for a Genie and possibly for ILL. If your trip is something that you do once every year or every few years then just get it. Your trip will be much more enjoyable. Of course that’s just my opinion.

That wraps up the trip. Our Day 8 was wake
Up late and got to MCO 3 hours early to ensure that we didn’t miss our flight like 2022. All
Went well. Im home now watching NFL.

Thanks everyone for the advice and I hope my trip summary helps out others.

 

[DancinDaisyDuck]

I was there around the same timeframe. October 1 was definitely an anomaly crowd wise. I was in AK that morning during the rain and also 100% did not need G+. The rain kept a lot of folx away. Doing MK on a party morning is a great strategy, crowds are pretty low the first 2-4 hours. I went over on the afternoon of the 5th and did a ton with little waits in standby. Glad you had a great time!