liljimmyt
I'm a real boy!!!
- Joined
- May 8, 2014
Greetings all. My family and I just got back from our 5 night/6 day trip to WDW and I wanted to give all of you here on the boards a rundown on our experiences. This won't be a full fledged report (EDIT: At and end, I realized that this is a long report, sorry
), but simply a rundown on what we did and some observations that I had on the trip. I hope that this will help some of you that plan on going down in the next few weeks while it is slow to get an idea of how much you can accomplish.
First off, a big thanks to all of you here on these boards. This was one of the main tools I used to ensure that my family had a great vacation. In general, the trip was a blast. Driving home Friday night my wife and I tried to come up with a list of things that annoyed us, and only one of them was related to the resort, cast members, or anything "Disney" (spoiler: it was DTD
).
To give you a rundown on our situation, it was 5 night/6 days from Sunday, September 7 to Friday, September 12. We stayed off property on the Saturday before and stayed at POP the 5 nights on campus. My family is me, my wife, 4 year old daughter, and 2 year old son. It was my first time at Disney since 1997 and all others first time ever.
I'll give you some general statements that hold true for each day. We were on the DDP QS plan as part of free dining. In general, we did not have to wait in any lines and pretty much walked on to everything we did
. I say have to because, yeah, we could have waited 60 minutes to ride the Mine Train a second time, but since we basically walked on using fast pass, we decided that was good enough. Also, since my kids were both under 40 inches (my little girl missed out by a thumb), we did not even have to consider most big rides as a group (more on these rides for me specifically in the day details). Also, we timed up each day so that we arrived on the bus at park open, but didn't do the rope drop stampede
Now, for the specific days. I'll do this as listings that include where we ate, what we fast passed (and our time vs. posted time), and then some statements on the day. Star ratings by character names indicates and overall rating on how good the character was in terms of friendliness, being "true to character," and just having that "it" factor. (out of 5 stars)
Sunday: Park: Magic Kingdom
Fast passes: Jungle Cruise (Walk On v. 10 minutes), PotC(walk on vs. 20 minutes), Haunted Mansion (straight to Pre-Show vs. 20 minutes).
Lunch: Columbia Harbour House
We checked in a POP at 9 and were at the park by 10. First thing we did was Tinker Bell (***), which ended up being our longest wait of the trip (20 minutes). Also did Philharmagic (last day), Tiki Birds (x2), Country Bears, saw Move It, Shake It, River Boat and Carrousel. Met Marie (**1/2) and Peter Pan (****). Rain came in around 5 and we called it a day. Went to Target for breakfast items for the rest of the week and did dinner at Taco Bell.
Monday: Park: Animal Kingdom
Fast Passes: Finding Nemo (next show vs. next show), Mickey and Minnie Meet (***) (10 minute vs. 60 minutes), Kilimanjaro Safaris (Walk on vs. 15 minutes)
Lunch: Flame Tree
Spent a good hour at Planet Watch (got to see blood work done on a ferret), Girl did a lot of wilderness explorers stuff. Walked on to Everest as a single rider (5 minute posted wait time, but was basically just a two car wait if not single rider), also did Triceratop Spin, Some Walking Trails, played at the boneyard, and saw the 5 pm show of Lion King. Met Rafiki (**) and Daisy (***), Ate dinner at the resort.
Allow me, if I may, to express my feelings on Flame Tree. Everything I saw while doing research for this trip said that Flame Tree was great. Even my friend here in Alabama where I live, who is a big Disney fan, raved about it. However, I was not impressed. Maybe it is because I have been spoiled by eating some great BBQ in my life, but I thought the ribs were dry, the chicken bland, and the beans were over spiced. I guess that if you are not used to BBQ and think that Sonny's off the interstate is a good barometer of what BBQ should be then you would think that Flame Tree is good too, but for me, it was nothing special. That being said, I thought all of my meals (including Flame Tree) were at least "good", especially for "theme park" food, and don't have any real complaints about anything I ate.
Tuesday: Park: Magic Kingdom
Fast Passes: Mine Train (5 minutes vs. 60 minutes), Rapunzel (****) and Cinderella (***) Meet (5 minutes vs. 40 minutes), Ariel (***) in her Grotto (<5 vs. 30 minutes), Tomorrowland Raceway (5 Minutes vs. 20 Minutes), Journey of the Little Mermaid (Walk on vs. 5 minutes), Space Mountain (Walk on vs. 10 minutes), PotC (Walk on vs. 10 minutes)
Lunch: Pinocchio Village Haus
Also rode Peter Pan (x2), Small World (x2), Tea Cups, Barnstormer (x3), Dumbo, Carrousel, People Mover, & WDW Railway. Saw Festival of Fantasy Parade, Monsters Inc, and the Storybook Circus Giggle Gang (little girl got to be part of the act). Met Anastasia (*****) and Drizella (****1/2), Merida (****), Donald (**1/2) & the Great Goofini (***1/2). Left around 6 as the MNSSHP crowd started to show to eat and swim at the resort. In all honesty, we probably could have ridden every ride twice if we hadn't taken breaks and left early. I made the comment to my wife that we had to try to do as little as we did. I also noticed that the wait times can fluctuate quite a bit. In the 5 minutes that it takes to get on a ride the Carrousel, I noticed that the Frozen Meet and Greet wait time went from 40, to 60, and then to 50. Same story with the Mine Train later in the week while I rode Pooh. Also, the Little Mermaid ride broke down during the day when we tried to ride it on stand-by before we could get on and then broke down twice while my wife and kids were on it using fast pass.
Wednesday Park: Hollywood Studios
Fast Passes: Disney Jr. live (Next show vs. Next Show), Voyage of the Little Mermaid (Next show vs. Next show), Toy Story (5 minutes vs. 50 Minutes), Beauty and the Beast (did not use)
Lunch: ABC Commissary.
Rode Great Movie Ride. Saw the Frozen Sing along, Muppets, One Man's Dream, Honey I Shrunk the Kids (x2), Oaken's Wonderland (Played in show and watched a skating show). Met Sophia (***), Jake (***1/2), Vanellope (***) & Wreck it Ralph (**1/2). Characterpalooza took place once. Met Capt. Hook (****), Mulan (***1/2), Geppetto (***), and a Penguin (***). Also there was Mary Poppins with another penguin, Green Army Man & Smee. This was definitely the worst day of the lot as we all just didn't like Hollywood Studios. Characterpalooza and, to my surprise, the Disney Jr show, were the highlights (Disney Jr. likely because the kids liked it so much). Also, I DO NOT see what the big deal is about Toy Story Mania. For me, that is a one and done without a fast pass. No way I'd wait 50 (let alone the reported 90's it can get to) for it.
After the park, we took the bus to POFQ and took the boat to DTD to eat at Earl of Sandwich. We all thought it was really tasty, but DTD itself was a disaster. Just too many people crammed into too small an area.
I know they are increasing the amount of shops for the Disney Springs change, but if they don't do that without expanding the amount of pedestrian space I don't see the point. My wife and I also laughed at the parking situation. It takes the University of Alabama about 3 months to build a parking garage. I don't know why it is taking Disney so long for theirs.
Thursday: Park: Epcot
Fast Passes: Living with the Land (pointless), Turtle Talk with Crush (Next show vs. Next Show), Malestrom (Walk on vs. 10 minutes), Test Track (used single rider instead, Walk on vs. 20 minutes).
Lunch: Lotus Blossom
Rode The Seas with Nemo (Walk on vs. 15 minute posted time. Maybe they just meant the walk from the entrance to the ride), Figment (still humming "One Little Spark" 3 days later), Spaceship Earth, Gran Fiesta Tour. Saw Circle of Life, Reflections of China. Took our time in Innovations West, China, Japan, Germany, UK. Spent a little time in Innovations East, Norway, Canada, France. Breezed through Italy, America, Morocco, Mexico. Just as a note, the longest Stand-by I saw posted for Soarin' all day was 20 minutes. Met Snow White (****), Aurora (**), Mary Poppins (***), Alice (****), and Tigger (****) & Pooh (***). I had heard that these guys were fast pass only, but we saw them after standing in line for about 5 minutes and there was no one waiting to see them after us, so who knows. Crossed the bridge at the resort and ate dinner at AoA.
Friday: Park: Magic Kingdom
Fast Passes: Enchanted Tells with Belle (**, based only on her being a pretty Belle) (Was told at entrance that we didn't need a fast pass, so changed it to Buzz Lightyear), Pooh (5 minutes vs. 20 minutes), Buzz Lightyear (<5 vs. 20 minutes), Anna (***1/2) and Elsa (****) Meet and Greet (<5 vs. 60). My kid wanted to skip Anna and go straight to Elsa, and I'm pretty sure Elsa noticed that and thus spent a little extra time with her.
Did express check out, so that was easy. Rode Peter Pan, Small World, Aladdin's Carpets (Was shut down previous two MK days due to rain and was shut down again soon after this ride), Carrousel (do you notice the kids like the Carrousel), Tea Party (x2), Barnstormer, Thunder Mountain (last train before they shut it down for weather). Saw Carousel of Progress, Tiki Birds (Another kids fave) and followed the Festival of Fantasy Parade down Main Street. Met Chip (***) & Dale (***), and Aladdin (****) & Jasmin (***1/2). Took bus back to POP for a late lunch/early dinner (pigged out on leftover snack credits at the Park) and started driving home around 4:30.
So that is pretty much it. Like I said, the trip was great and we were able to get a lot done. This is the last year I'll be able to go during an off time like this ever again with the oldest starting Kindergarten next year and after having the trip go so well I almost dread what it will be like when we go again, but this time during summer vacation or worse still, Christmas Vacation. In all, I am definitely not going back until both kids are over 44 inches. (the disappointment on my girls face at not getting to ride certain rides, and my disappointment in her not getting to ride Splash Mountain specifically, was heartbreaking.) I figure that means four years, which seems like a good amount of time. However, I could go back right now. I love all this Disney mess and definitely consider myself a Disney nerd. My wife isn't, however, so I'm not pushing it.
If there are any questions about anything, ask them and I'll try to respond. Otherwise, TTFN (Ta Ta for Now)!!!!!
), but simply a rundown on what we did and some observations that I had on the trip. I hope that this will help some of you that plan on going down in the next few weeks while it is slow to get an idea of how much you can accomplish.First off, a big thanks to all of you here on these boards. This was one of the main tools I used to ensure that my family had a great vacation. In general, the trip was a blast. Driving home Friday night my wife and I tried to come up with a list of things that annoyed us, and only one of them was related to the resort, cast members, or anything "Disney" (spoiler: it was DTD
). To give you a rundown on our situation, it was 5 night/6 days from Sunday, September 7 to Friday, September 12. We stayed off property on the Saturday before and stayed at POP the 5 nights on campus. My family is me, my wife, 4 year old daughter, and 2 year old son. It was my first time at Disney since 1997 and all others first time ever.
I'll give you some general statements that hold true for each day. We were on the DDP QS plan as part of free dining. In general, we did not have to wait in any lines and pretty much walked on to everything we did
. I say have to because, yeah, we could have waited 60 minutes to ride the Mine Train a second time, but since we basically walked on using fast pass, we decided that was good enough. Also, since my kids were both under 40 inches (my little girl missed out by a thumb), we did not even have to consider most big rides as a group (more on these rides for me specifically in the day details). Also, we timed up each day so that we arrived on the bus at park open, but didn't do the rope drop stampedeNow, for the specific days. I'll do this as listings that include where we ate, what we fast passed (and our time vs. posted time), and then some statements on the day. Star ratings by character names indicates and overall rating on how good the character was in terms of friendliness, being "true to character," and just having that "it" factor. (out of 5 stars)
Sunday: Park: Magic Kingdom
Fast passes: Jungle Cruise (Walk On v. 10 minutes), PotC(walk on vs. 20 minutes), Haunted Mansion (straight to Pre-Show vs. 20 minutes).
Lunch: Columbia Harbour House
We checked in a POP at 9 and were at the park by 10. First thing we did was Tinker Bell (***), which ended up being our longest wait of the trip (20 minutes). Also did Philharmagic (last day), Tiki Birds (x2), Country Bears, saw Move It, Shake It, River Boat and Carrousel. Met Marie (**1/2) and Peter Pan (****). Rain came in around 5 and we called it a day. Went to Target for breakfast items for the rest of the week and did dinner at Taco Bell.
Monday: Park: Animal Kingdom
Fast Passes: Finding Nemo (next show vs. next show), Mickey and Minnie Meet (***) (10 minute vs. 60 minutes), Kilimanjaro Safaris (Walk on vs. 15 minutes)
Lunch: Flame Tree
Spent a good hour at Planet Watch (got to see blood work done on a ferret), Girl did a lot of wilderness explorers stuff. Walked on to Everest as a single rider (5 minute posted wait time, but was basically just a two car wait if not single rider), also did Triceratop Spin, Some Walking Trails, played at the boneyard, and saw the 5 pm show of Lion King. Met Rafiki (**) and Daisy (***), Ate dinner at the resort.
Allow me, if I may, to express my feelings on Flame Tree. Everything I saw while doing research for this trip said that Flame Tree was great. Even my friend here in Alabama where I live, who is a big Disney fan, raved about it. However, I was not impressed. Maybe it is because I have been spoiled by eating some great BBQ in my life, but I thought the ribs were dry, the chicken bland, and the beans were over spiced. I guess that if you are not used to BBQ and think that Sonny's off the interstate is a good barometer of what BBQ should be then you would think that Flame Tree is good too, but for me, it was nothing special. That being said, I thought all of my meals (including Flame Tree) were at least "good", especially for "theme park" food, and don't have any real complaints about anything I ate. Tuesday: Park: Magic Kingdom
Fast Passes: Mine Train (5 minutes vs. 60 minutes), Rapunzel (****) and Cinderella (***) Meet (5 minutes vs. 40 minutes), Ariel (***) in her Grotto (<5 vs. 30 minutes), Tomorrowland Raceway (5 Minutes vs. 20 Minutes), Journey of the Little Mermaid (Walk on vs. 5 minutes), Space Mountain (Walk on vs. 10 minutes), PotC (Walk on vs. 10 minutes)
Lunch: Pinocchio Village Haus
Also rode Peter Pan (x2), Small World (x2), Tea Cups, Barnstormer (x3), Dumbo, Carrousel, People Mover, & WDW Railway. Saw Festival of Fantasy Parade, Monsters Inc, and the Storybook Circus Giggle Gang (little girl got to be part of the act). Met Anastasia (*****) and Drizella (****1/2), Merida (****), Donald (**1/2) & the Great Goofini (***1/2). Left around 6 as the MNSSHP crowd started to show to eat and swim at the resort. In all honesty, we probably could have ridden every ride twice if we hadn't taken breaks and left early. I made the comment to my wife that we had to try to do as little as we did. I also noticed that the wait times can fluctuate quite a bit. In the 5 minutes that it takes to get on a ride the Carrousel, I noticed that the Frozen Meet and Greet wait time went from 40, to 60, and then to 50. Same story with the Mine Train later in the week while I rode Pooh. Also, the Little Mermaid ride broke down during the day when we tried to ride it on stand-by before we could get on and then broke down twice while my wife and kids were on it using fast pass.
Wednesday Park: Hollywood Studios
Fast Passes: Disney Jr. live (Next show vs. Next Show), Voyage of the Little Mermaid (Next show vs. Next show), Toy Story (5 minutes vs. 50 Minutes), Beauty and the Beast (did not use)
Lunch: ABC Commissary.
Rode Great Movie Ride. Saw the Frozen Sing along, Muppets, One Man's Dream, Honey I Shrunk the Kids (x2), Oaken's Wonderland (Played in show and watched a skating show). Met Sophia (***), Jake (***1/2), Vanellope (***) & Wreck it Ralph (**1/2). Characterpalooza took place once. Met Capt. Hook (****), Mulan (***1/2), Geppetto (***), and a Penguin (***). Also there was Mary Poppins with another penguin, Green Army Man & Smee. This was definitely the worst day of the lot as we all just didn't like Hollywood Studios. Characterpalooza and, to my surprise, the Disney Jr show, were the highlights (Disney Jr. likely because the kids liked it so much). Also, I DO NOT see what the big deal is about Toy Story Mania. For me, that is a one and done without a fast pass. No way I'd wait 50 (let alone the reported 90's it can get to) for it.
After the park, we took the bus to POFQ and took the boat to DTD to eat at Earl of Sandwich. We all thought it was really tasty, but DTD itself was a disaster. Just too many people crammed into too small an area.
I know they are increasing the amount of shops for the Disney Springs change, but if they don't do that without expanding the amount of pedestrian space I don't see the point. My wife and I also laughed at the parking situation. It takes the University of Alabama about 3 months to build a parking garage. I don't know why it is taking Disney so long for theirs. Thursday: Park: Epcot
Fast Passes: Living with the Land (pointless), Turtle Talk with Crush (Next show vs. Next Show), Malestrom (Walk on vs. 10 minutes), Test Track (used single rider instead, Walk on vs. 20 minutes).
Lunch: Lotus Blossom
Rode The Seas with Nemo (Walk on vs. 15 minute posted time. Maybe they just meant the walk from the entrance to the ride), Figment (still humming "One Little Spark" 3 days later), Spaceship Earth, Gran Fiesta Tour. Saw Circle of Life, Reflections of China. Took our time in Innovations West, China, Japan, Germany, UK. Spent a little time in Innovations East, Norway, Canada, France. Breezed through Italy, America, Morocco, Mexico. Just as a note, the longest Stand-by I saw posted for Soarin' all day was 20 minutes. Met Snow White (****), Aurora (**), Mary Poppins (***), Alice (****), and Tigger (****) & Pooh (***). I had heard that these guys were fast pass only, but we saw them after standing in line for about 5 minutes and there was no one waiting to see them after us, so who knows. Crossed the bridge at the resort and ate dinner at AoA.
Friday: Park: Magic Kingdom
Fast Passes: Enchanted Tells with Belle (**, based only on her being a pretty Belle) (Was told at entrance that we didn't need a fast pass, so changed it to Buzz Lightyear), Pooh (5 minutes vs. 20 minutes), Buzz Lightyear (<5 vs. 20 minutes), Anna (***1/2) and Elsa (****) Meet and Greet (<5 vs. 60). My kid wanted to skip Anna and go straight to Elsa, and I'm pretty sure Elsa noticed that and thus spent a little extra time with her.
Did express check out, so that was easy. Rode Peter Pan, Small World, Aladdin's Carpets (Was shut down previous two MK days due to rain and was shut down again soon after this ride), Carrousel (do you notice the kids like the Carrousel), Tea Party (x2), Barnstormer, Thunder Mountain (last train before they shut it down for weather). Saw Carousel of Progress, Tiki Birds (Another kids fave) and followed the Festival of Fantasy Parade down Main Street. Met Chip (***) & Dale (***), and Aladdin (****) & Jasmin (***1/2). Took bus back to POP for a late lunch/early dinner (pigged out on leftover snack credits at the Park) and started driving home around 4:30.
So that is pretty much it. Like I said, the trip was great and we were able to get a lot done. This is the last year I'll be able to go during an off time like this ever again with the oldest starting Kindergarten next year and after having the trip go so well I almost dread what it will be like when we go again, but this time during summer vacation or worse still, Christmas Vacation. In all, I am definitely not going back until both kids are over 44 inches. (the disappointment on my girls face at not getting to ride certain rides, and my disappointment in her not getting to ride Splash Mountain specifically, was heartbreaking.) I figure that means four years, which seems like a good amount of time. However, I could go back right now. I love all this Disney mess and definitely consider myself a Disney nerd. My wife isn't, however, so I'm not pushing it.
If there are any questions about anything, ask them and I'll try to respond. Otherwise, TTFN (Ta Ta for Now)!!!!!
