JoyfulHeart
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2022
Several people asked me to give a report when we went on our trip while I was asking questions for the upcoming trip. So, here is goes...
We did 6 Park Days, MK, HS, Epcot, AK, MK, HS. there was 4 of us Myself, DH, DD11 & DD8.
We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge Copper Creek by renting DVC points.
One thing brought up was once you deluxe you won't go back ( My DH co-worker). prior to this we were always at POP.
To answer this, yes, most likely we would never go back to value for several reasons.
It was $230 for POP the week we went and we paid $240 renting points ( + $100 fee). Well worth the little extra. Not only is the hotel nicer, we were closer to the parks and the pool is much better ( Girls LOVED the slide) but the biggest thing was the transportation. Anyone who relies on the disney transportation knows that you can wait FOREVER for a bus, or may have to wait several buses until you fit. Deluxe's have more busses more often and somehow are closer to all the parks. At least for us. The longest bus ride was to Animal which was 12 minutes. This alone was worth the extra money. I have been sitting for an hour waiting for a bus for POP. I think the longest we waited was 10 minutes the entire trip. Also, more options for food too
With this it is also easier to go back to the room and then back to the park. Oh and if you have little ones the constant Meet & Greets would be well worth it.
Water Bottles: We bought Brita filtered water bottles. It took away the FL taste and kept it cold. Well, worth the money! it was Hot and so HUMID while we were there. Just a reminder to drink and drink. DD11 refused day one and ended up getting a bad headache and sick to her stomach. OH! One more thing. an issue us and several people had with the metal water bottles is that they fall out easily. Using those Carabiners clips will keep them from falling out. I only had much, but I wish I had 2!
Fan/ cooling towel: I bought one fan and several cooling towels. I hated the fan, the constant vibration made me itchy. Just hated. DD11 loved it and wore it most days. Cooling towels are fine. They work, but I just didn't love having it on. HOWEVER, twice DD8 started to get too hot and I was able to use it on her face and pulse points to quickly cool her down. This was very helpful and she never realizes she is unwell until she REALLY unwell. Despite giving her tons of water and cool snacks and taking in shows the heat is just a killer this time of year. Plus 80% humidity just makes it so you never quite cool down.
Genie +: Gotta love all the arguments about the Genie Plus.
Was it hard to use? no.
Did I get plenty of LL? Yes.
Was it worth the money? Oh, yeah.
Was I glued to my phone? It depends on you, You roughly look every two hours for a LL unless your stacking. All the other time is just looking at wait times, which is a million times better then going through the park not knowing wait times.
Do you wish FP back and Genie+ gone: Ha, gotta love this one. At this point, who cares FP are gone ( at least for now) and Genie is here. Embrace it and enjoy.
Now my kids are not "thrill" riders so we did not do your main attractions at HS. Mk- we got a LL for everything but 7DMT & Jungle Cruise ( I still don't get this one). We were able to ride everything at lease once and then the kids Favs again. This included a break in the middle of the day and not staying till close ( my girls struggled with the heat). We RD day one, but day 5 we slept in, but we only did 7DMT the day we RD. HS we skipped RR, ToT, Slinky. We were able to LL everything else ( except Rise). Again we RD first day and rode Rise and then slept in the last day so we skipped Rise. The only hick-up was, if you are stacking for later ( Like if you leave the park) you may have to keep refreshing to get a later time. You have to move your day around your LL, where as FP moved around your day. Also, we have times where we had used all our LL by 2-3 and didn't want to wait in line for things they had already ridden. We had similar experiences at AK & epcot. Although the first two parks used Genie the best. I pre-bought for all the parks. If I had to do it again, I would have skipped AK. It was fine but there are only a few rides. Epcot. We hit a day where Remy closed down multiple times so it was never under 85 minutes while we were there so it was nice. We were able to do frozen 2x ( once at RD and once with a LL) which my girls enjoyed ( DH hated-lol).
Oh and battery life of your phone. I do have a newer phone. The issue is not Genie+, DH & myself never ran out ( well DH only looked at times) not even close. The issue is playing on your phone while you wait. yes, your phone will die if you are on it for hours at a time. That is true no matter what. We never needed or used a battery pack.
Rewind: DH & and I both got on exactly at 7am for VQ. I got in DH did not. as for the ride. Like, I said my girls are NOT thrill riders. DD11 cried and hated it ( she is the worse of the two), but despite getting car sick often had no issues with her tummy. DD8 said she didn't hate it or love it, then saw DD11 crying and decided it wasn't great. DH & I enjoyed it. DH thought it was a new and improved Space Mountain. very smooth, but had similar areas of the ride. I did get slightly queasy half way through, but at that point I slightly panicked worried DD11 would get sick- but she just had tears.
As for food. We did 5 sit downs.
Crystal Palace- Not worth the money. food was ok, not bad, but this was the most expensive meal and not the best.
Brown Derby- Very good if a bit pricey.
Yak & Yeti- good, but not "amazing", the price point wasn't bad, though and DD11 shared with DH
Steak House 71: Best meal of our stay. Price point was in the middle and will make sure and eat again. Service was great as well.
Sy-Fi: Meh, it was fine. A little better than Quick Service, A little more money.
Note about Docking bay 7. Several people warned me and I didn't listen. DH & DD didn't eat their food and DD11 & myself barely choked it down. Considering this is the most expensive of the quick services it was disappointing.I had to go by another meal for DD8 somewhere else. Also, not even close to enough tables for those eating. This was an issue with several Quick Services, but this was by far the worst, because there is no where else to sit in the Star Wars area. and its seating was so small compared to the amount of people ordering food. With a heat index of 108 this is just not ok.
Ok, I think that is everything. We had a great time! Although, I don't see us going back anytime soon or for as long. The cost has just gotten so high, that I think we will wait a few years before going again. Plus its so crowded! Goodness.
We did 6 Park Days, MK, HS, Epcot, AK, MK, HS. there was 4 of us Myself, DH, DD11 & DD8.
We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge Copper Creek by renting DVC points.
One thing brought up was once you deluxe you won't go back ( My DH co-worker). prior to this we were always at POP.
To answer this, yes, most likely we would never go back to value for several reasons.
It was $230 for POP the week we went and we paid $240 renting points ( + $100 fee). Well worth the little extra. Not only is the hotel nicer, we were closer to the parks and the pool is much better ( Girls LOVED the slide) but the biggest thing was the transportation. Anyone who relies on the disney transportation knows that you can wait FOREVER for a bus, or may have to wait several buses until you fit. Deluxe's have more busses more often and somehow are closer to all the parks. At least for us. The longest bus ride was to Animal which was 12 minutes. This alone was worth the extra money. I have been sitting for an hour waiting for a bus for POP. I think the longest we waited was 10 minutes the entire trip. Also, more options for food too
With this it is also easier to go back to the room and then back to the park. Oh and if you have little ones the constant Meet & Greets would be well worth it. Water Bottles: We bought Brita filtered water bottles. It took away the FL taste and kept it cold. Well, worth the money! it was Hot and so HUMID while we were there. Just a reminder to drink and drink. DD11 refused day one and ended up getting a bad headache and sick to her stomach. OH! One more thing. an issue us and several people had with the metal water bottles is that they fall out easily. Using those Carabiners clips will keep them from falling out. I only had much, but I wish I had 2!
Fan/ cooling towel: I bought one fan and several cooling towels. I hated the fan, the constant vibration made me itchy. Just hated. DD11 loved it and wore it most days. Cooling towels are fine. They work, but I just didn't love having it on. HOWEVER, twice DD8 started to get too hot and I was able to use it on her face and pulse points to quickly cool her down. This was very helpful and she never realizes she is unwell until she REALLY unwell. Despite giving her tons of water and cool snacks and taking in shows the heat is just a killer this time of year. Plus 80% humidity just makes it so you never quite cool down.
Genie +: Gotta love all the arguments about the Genie Plus.
Was it hard to use? no.
Did I get plenty of LL? Yes.
Was it worth the money? Oh, yeah.
Was I glued to my phone? It depends on you, You roughly look every two hours for a LL unless your stacking. All the other time is just looking at wait times, which is a million times better then going through the park not knowing wait times.
Do you wish FP back and Genie+ gone: Ha, gotta love this one. At this point, who cares FP are gone ( at least for now) and Genie is here. Embrace it and enjoy.
Now my kids are not "thrill" riders so we did not do your main attractions at HS. Mk- we got a LL for everything but 7DMT & Jungle Cruise ( I still don't get this one). We were able to ride everything at lease once and then the kids Favs again. This included a break in the middle of the day and not staying till close ( my girls struggled with the heat). We RD day one, but day 5 we slept in, but we only did 7DMT the day we RD. HS we skipped RR, ToT, Slinky. We were able to LL everything else ( except Rise). Again we RD first day and rode Rise and then slept in the last day so we skipped Rise. The only hick-up was, if you are stacking for later ( Like if you leave the park) you may have to keep refreshing to get a later time. You have to move your day around your LL, where as FP moved around your day. Also, we have times where we had used all our LL by 2-3 and didn't want to wait in line for things they had already ridden. We had similar experiences at AK & epcot. Although the first two parks used Genie the best. I pre-bought for all the parks. If I had to do it again, I would have skipped AK. It was fine but there are only a few rides. Epcot. We hit a day where Remy closed down multiple times so it was never under 85 minutes while we were there so it was nice. We were able to do frozen 2x ( once at RD and once with a LL) which my girls enjoyed ( DH hated-lol).
Oh and battery life of your phone. I do have a newer phone. The issue is not Genie+, DH & myself never ran out ( well DH only looked at times) not even close. The issue is playing on your phone while you wait. yes, your phone will die if you are on it for hours at a time. That is true no matter what. We never needed or used a battery pack.
Rewind: DH & and I both got on exactly at 7am for VQ. I got in DH did not. as for the ride. Like, I said my girls are NOT thrill riders. DD11 cried and hated it ( she is the worse of the two), but despite getting car sick often had no issues with her tummy. DD8 said she didn't hate it or love it, then saw DD11 crying and decided it wasn't great. DH & I enjoyed it. DH thought it was a new and improved Space Mountain. very smooth, but had similar areas of the ride. I did get slightly queasy half way through, but at that point I slightly panicked worried DD11 would get sick- but she just had tears.
As for food. We did 5 sit downs.
Crystal Palace- Not worth the money. food was ok, not bad, but this was the most expensive meal and not the best.
Brown Derby- Very good if a bit pricey.
Yak & Yeti- good, but not "amazing", the price point wasn't bad, though and DD11 shared with DH
Steak House 71: Best meal of our stay. Price point was in the middle and will make sure and eat again. Service was great as well.
Sy-Fi: Meh, it was fine. A little better than Quick Service, A little more money.
Note about Docking bay 7. Several people warned me and I didn't listen. DH & DD didn't eat their food and DD11 & myself barely choked it down. Considering this is the most expensive of the quick services it was disappointing.I had to go by another meal for DD8 somewhere else. Also, not even close to enough tables for those eating. This was an issue with several Quick Services, but this was by far the worst, because there is no where else to sit in the Star Wars area. and its seating was so small compared to the amount of people ordering food. With a heat index of 108 this is just not ok.
Ok, I think that is everything. We had a great time! Although, I don't see us going back anytime soon or for as long. The cost has just gotten so high, that I think we will wait a few years before going again. Plus its so crowded! Goodness.
