23-19! An unbiased TR from a lifetime WDW visitor vacationing in April 2015

[MolonLabe]

Twenty Three Nineteen!

The following will be a day by day (each post) report of our April 12-21 2015 trip to WDW. I'm going to reserve the next few posts for each day and update them over the next week.

BACKGROUND.

I am a Florida native by birth and have visited WDW since 1980 at the age of 3. I have been to Mk hundreds of times. I honestly have no idea at this point.

I remember no fast passes. I remember Fast Passes in the early years and I've done FP/FP+ combo testing as well as doing FP+ only... that's why I'm calling it unbiased. I will, at times, compare these experiences and times over the years to offer balance and reference.

For example, seeing "through" lands and areas. I remember a time when you would NEVER be able to see from one land into another. I.e. seeing Rapunzel's Tower from Liberty Square or Frontier Land. Also the huge gaps that have developed when riding the Train around MK, that was simply unheard of 5-10 years ago. Individually these things can be excused, in totality they point to systemic problems.


PREARRIVAL issue-
3 of 5 magic bands arrived incorrect. This was resolved with a phone call and meant we had to actually check in (in person) on the day of arrival and pick up the replacement bands. Minor issue, easily fixed.

DAY 1 CBR.

We're late!

Instead of checking into Caribbean Beach Resort (CBR) at 5-6pm as planned we arrived at 10pm. The good news, the Customs House was dead and it took about 3 minutes to check in and be on our way. The bad news, the pirate pool closes at 10 but by the time we were unpacked we were all ready for bed and it was 11 at that point anyway.

Room-
We were in Martinique and got a water view room (as booked). WOOT! Ground floor! The bad news was between the wall and the 8 foot bushes in front of our room, there was no way to see anything from our window. Not a huge bummer as we rarely stay in the room but still a bit of a disappointment. This is where we came across the Monsters Inc Reference and 2319... we weren't actually in 2319 but at 10pm we thought our room number was what the guy from MI was saying, lol. We figured it out the next day.

Items to note, the doors are all screwy in our building. The front door had to be pushed/ pulled to close fully. The Bathroom door require a decent amount of force to actually get closed enough for the latch to engage and not swing back open.

This really surprised me, I mentioned it the next day at the concierge desk and it was no surprise to them. "Florida heat and humidity". That would be the only indifferent attitude of the trip from the Con Desk. The rest of my experiences with them were top notch.

Queen beds... I can't imagine a moderate not having them prior to a year or so ago but apparently that was the case. The beds were comfortable and we slept well that night.

Overall, the grounds at night are very nice. I walked down to Old Port Royale just before midnight to check it out and buy some tooth paste ($2.19) I seemed to have forgotten. The pool lighting and the rest of the area was really nice at night.

 

[MolonLabe]

Day 2 Epcot

GOOD MORNING FLORIDA!!!

After the late arrival we got a later than expect start.

We had breakfast in the room, some bananas and entemans baked goods we picked up the night before at Publix just before checking in and headed to the bus stop.

WHA?!?! As we walking up to the bus stop I saw a second bus pulling up and it said "Epcot" Perfect timing!!! Actually no. The bus before it was headed to Epcot and that bus behind it changed it's sign to MK as the first drove off.

25 minutes later... Epcot shows back up after 2 more Mk buses and 2 more DHS buses

At the bus stop I change our Meet and Greet FP to crush at noon, since we would miss the first one and had to get crush since Mickey wasn't available for the rest of the day.

We arrive in the park about 10am and head strait to Test Track for our first FP of the day. The wait in the FP line was very short and basically a walk on. Posted times were about 40 minutes from what I recall.

We then grab some Starbucks to wake up and head to the fastpass kiosk for our ScamBands (extra bands not associated with our ticketed MDE, find more info in the parks and strategies forum) ***You will see Magic Bands referred to as everything from MagicBands to TragicBands to ScamBands depending on the context. We grabbed Soarin at 7:15, Figment at 12:30 and something else I didn't want because we have to choose three.

Next we knocked out Nemo and Crush and headed to World Showcase.

I remembered Tokyo Dining has lunch specials and is rarely busy for lunch and that's where we went.

We were promptly seated and the "adults" in the party had Bento Boxes with Miso Soup for $19.99. Always a delicious meal here and break from the heat.

Next we spent about an hour in Japan as it's my wife and step daughters favorite place.

From there we spent time looking at the Flower and Garden topiary displays and ran into a few characters as well. Overall the park felt very slow that day, one of the slowest days I've seen at Epcot.

We made it back to Soarin early and did a quick ride on the Land till our FP window opened up. Soarin FP line wasn't too bad and for the first time in a long time we got the "other" theater... the one on the right. No idea why we always seem to wind up going left?

It seemed clearer than the left but I hear they have cleaned up the film some since our last trip?

Dinner? Oh man, we gotta eat! It was about 7:30 and I've wanted to grab a pizza from Via Napoli for the past two trips and never got around to it. I suckered the family into the long walk back only to realize the Pizza Window closed 2 days earlier?!?!?!

The staff said a wait for a table would only be a few minutes so we did TS for dinner. While good, I didn't enjoy paying the extra money for the pizza in the TS as opposed to the take out window.

At this point it was time to duck into Mouse Gears and call it a night, we're not really fans of the world show at Epcot in the evenings, so watching it isn't a priority, it would have been easy, walking back to the front there was plenty of empty rail space all the way from Italy to Canada.

We got back to CBR around 9:10 (beats the crowds out of Epcot and right onto the bus) and I headed down to Port Royal to apply some gift cards I got at target to the room bill. I discovered their Trivia game and won some toy duckies with my girls. The staff at CBR seems awesome.

Off to bed, it's our first big MK day tomorrow!

FP+ / MB / MDE experiences recap-

FP+ isn't as crucial in Epcot, aside from TT and Soarin, nothing else really requires it.... except The Meet and Greet this day. For whatever reason, it was packed all day and it was a low crowd day. Luckily our other EP day would see a very quick Meet and Greet.

MB's worked fine all day. Other than the initial use of MDE early in the AM I didn't use the app much.

Like previous trips, I learned my 4G made the app much faster than using the in park WiFi. The app had some lag but not much this day... compared to some disasters later in the trip including the full crash on our AK day I'll get into then.

 

[MolonLabe]

Day 3 MK

Slow risers.

In room breakfast again. More fruit and some entemans... I picked up a gallon of OJ on arrival day, it's been awesome sticking to my normal glass every morning. I've been having a ready to drink protein shake (premier) every morning while getting on the bus. I like to keep a high protein intake and 30 grams is a great way to start the day.

The original game plan for today was to hit RD and see Anna and Elsa first thing. The girls drug their feet and we didn't walk out the door till almost 9am.

The bus was quick this morning and we were dropped off around 9:15.... at gate 32?!?!??! Our driver passed up dozens of empty slots to take us the next the farthest away drop off point possible. It's a heck of a hike from 32-34 back to the gates.

Security check in went off smoothly and we were MB'ed in quickly. As our first MK day we went back to see if both A&E and 7DMT had huge waits... they did. 80 min for A&E and 60 min for 7DMT at 9:20.

After a 5 second conference with the family we decided to do other things first. As they headed for VOLMermaid from Pooh I hit the Kiosk for some scamband (SB) action and grabbed HM, PP and POTC and with a quick edit got my times for HM and POTC to line up with our others to minimize walking. We knocked out Pooh, VOLM, Ariel m&G and Dumbo twice by 10:30. At this point it was time to use our first FP+ for Peter Pan.

PP was a walk on with FP+ (standby of 80 min) and that led us to HM with a SB FP+ for 10:45. HM was a walk on for FP+ compared to 45 min standby.

After this it was off to BTMRR for our 2nd FP+. Wait time was about 5 minutes with the FP+.

At this point it was time for our second SB FP+ at POTC (35 minute standby, walk on FP+).

Columbia Harbor house was next up. Lobster Roll for my wife, My two younger girls had tuna sandwiches and I had the shrimp platter. Decent food, I hadn't eaten here in ages, probably 10 years, I'd definitely go back.

After lunch it was off to Main Street for some shopping and Starbucks and I grabbed SOTMK cards for everyone.

Wait!!!! DETOUR!!! A queue for PP (or would it be Hook) m&g with only one group in it? Yep. We hoped in line and about 5 minutes later out came Peter! Perfect timing!

We killed a lot of time on Main Street after that.

From 1-4 I really don't remember what we did other than main street and shopping and StarBucks.

4:30 found us at 7DMT for the first time of the trip and using our 3rd FP+. 1 minute 51 seconds from launch to unloading.. Whaaaa? I purposefully avoided info on this ride as I wanted my first time to be the first time.

I would say it's the best 60 second coaster I've ever been on...

I then hit the kiosk for another FP on our regular bands. I took a slot at BTMRR for 8ish and then a HM at late 8ish on the SB's.

About 5ish found us at PP for our 3rd SB FP+. 90 min wait, walk on FP+.

We then discovered Memento Mori... A Haunted Mansion gift shop? WOOT!!!!! We killed half an hour in there I think.

We had planned on seeing the second parade that night but we were all a little hungry and wanted a snack but not a meal so we crossed over and grabbed 3 fries from Peco's and some cheese sauce and chowed down during the parade after the BTMRR and HM fast passes.

Next we took the long route to view Wishes from the tomorrowland bridge. After that we did walk on Buzz about 5 or 6 times around 10-10:30.

We headed to the hub and sat prime viewing the hub for the second parade and the castle light show we mostly missed because of being on the Tomorrowland side.

After that it was some gift shop action, mostly browsing at this point to let the bus crowds die down and then on the bus with no wait or crowding at around 11:40.

Tomorrow is DHS and I'm glad I had TSM booked for 11am instead of earlier. I knew we'd be getting a late start, lol.

FP+ experiences recap... double dipping was great, it would have sucked to do standby on our other 4 rides and we wouldn't have been able to get as much done. It reminded me a lot of doing the old FP.

Today went off as I expected and being able to do this is the only reason we went back to WDW this time. Crowds were listed as a 4-5 for this day. I'd say they were as well, it didn't feel packed at all and it was recommended park on both TP and by Josh.

****Pin trading!!! We've been pin trading like crazy everyday.... or sometimes just pin looking, lol. Either way, that takes up a lot of time when you start adding up stopping virtually every cast member you see... speaking of which, their may be a Scoop coming up

 

[MolonLabe]

Day 4 DHS

So tired this AM... but TSMM is calling our name!!!

After a quick in room breakfast (misc cereal, entemans, fruit) we left around 8:45.

Sticking to the plan DHS was an "approved" day from both TA and Josh and the crowds wou;ld bear that out today.

After about 10 minutes a DHS pulled up and we were on our way... today Martinique must have been the second stop because we stopped at every other stop before leaving CBR. Very light bus, maybe 1 family got on per stop.

Arrival, drop off was nice and close and we breezed through security again with only a cursory glance into our bags.

The plan was direct.

My wife headed to the Animation area to get in line for BayMax and Hiro (even though they didn't meet until 10) and I took my first born with me to TSMM to see what the walk on was and see if we could score a ScamBand for RNRC or TSMM later in the day.

Score one, I picked up RNRC for 5pm-ish . I had to make additional choices so I grabbed another Star Tours for the same time frame as our regular MB's and then the other for the Little Mermaid show (which I knew we wouldn't need).

Score two, TSMM had a 20 minute wait around 9:10-9:15. Knowing we had plenty of time to do that and get to Baymax, we rode it with an actual wait time of about 15 minutes.

We then headed to Baymax and met up with the rest of the family, my wife was second in line and by 9:30ish the line was already 30+ people deep.

I grabbed my youngest and we walked right into the Minnie meet and greet adjacent to it. Zero line for her, she was actually out of the room, interacting with some people in the Baymax area (since they didn't let the crowd into the actual Baymax area yet).

We then waited as a family for the next 10 minutes or so until Baymax arrived. At 9:55 Baymax and Hiro came out the line at this point completely filled the inside queue and was overflowing. 100+ people? Minnie had a wait of about 5 people at this point for comparison.

Cute meet and greet and like Wreckit ralph and Vanelope they handed out cards in place of signing anything.

Next we went over to Sorcerer Mickey and waited 5 minutes to see him.

From there it was time for our first regular fastpass and it was at TSMM. FP+ wait time was actually about 15 minutes, dang near the same walk on time an hour earlier. Standby was up to 70 minutes.

Next was Star Tours. We all rode as a family once and then my wife and two of the three girls went to see Mike and Sully while my first born and I rode ST 2 more times in a row (utilizing the SB's).

Lunch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We went to the commissary row and had lunch. Myself, wife and step daughter had a burger with shrimp which was actually really good. My two girls had.... I don't remember, lol. We also ordered one Olaf Cupcake and one of the other cupcakes. The other cupcake was EXCELLENT! Crazy good, it had a hint of raspberry to the icing. This was the one I thought I was going to hate. The Olaf cupcake seemed better on paper and visually but it was lacking. Everyone preferred the other one. FWIW one cupcake is an easy split between two people. Large, filling and sweet.

Next it was off to... I don't really remember, I know we walked past TSMM and it was down, this was around 1pm.

After that it was Anna and Else sing along. I had gotten a FP 35 days prior because I heard sometimes it's packed. I liked the idea of mid day break inside as well.

No FP+ was needed, I used it anyway because why bother swapping it out for something equally useless.

It was cute but basically a 15~ minute shortened version of the film. Nice to beat the heat but otherwise a useless (very basic) revamp of an old area. Disney really cheaped out here to seem like DHS got something "new".

After that it was around 2ish and my wife and girls were very tired and basically the park was done, not like they wanted to Indy one more time or the movie ride. Little Mermaid would have been next (that never gets old to me) but they were beat from the night before.

I walked with them to the shops area and browsed for a little bit and then parted ways around 3:30, they headed back to the resort and I went to Lights Motors action. I heard this show was closing and I hadn't seen it in 4 years and I figured I'd watch it one last time.

The show was maybe half full. I felt bad for all the people who used a FP on it.

After that I really didn't feel like RNRC or ToT so I got some Baymax style pressed pennies for a friend and to surprise the girls and grabbed a box of popcorn to sit down and just enjoy by myself.

Note at 4:45ish TSMM was still down, that makes 4+ hours and counting.

I felt bad not having being able to give away my RNRC fast passes. back in the day I would hand out some pixie dust by going by XYZ attraction if I wasn't going to use them and see a family / couple who looked "nice / worthy" and surprise them with a FP.

After that I headed back to the resort to join the family just wrapping up poolside and eat.

PIZZA at CBR!

I was actually pleasantly surprised, the pizza was about $17 for a large, filling and tasted pretty good. My wife had some left overs from Via Napoli I think? and ate some of that too so 1 pizza took care of us. back at the room we cracked into a 6 pack of cupcakes from Publix. Mmmmmm...

We hit the hay around 9pm and slept like rocks.

 

[MolonLabe]

Day 5 Epcot

Epcot is usually a bitter sweet day for us, normally our first and last days are in Epcot. Not necessarily because we want it that way but because the recommended days usually fall that way.

It was weird waking up to our last Epcot day and it being "only" Day 5.

We had a lazy start to the day, I think we woke up around 8:15 or so. Some more in room breakfast, pickings were getting slim and it was down to the last Entemans pound cake IIRC. Otherwise we headed to the bus stop around 9ish.

Arrival was, as usual for Epcot, uneventful. The first fastpass of the day was at the Character Spot, I think around 10ish. Standby was about 15 minutes, a marked improvement over our first EP day, but we used the FP anyway. Interactions were great and I hit the FP kiosk on the way out for some ScamBand action.

I netted TT for 7:55-8:55 (could have gotten one as early as 1pm but planned to be deep in showcase at that point) and then was forced to pick 2 more FP's. I took spaceship earth at 7-8pm and figment at 6-7 (not intending to use either one and knowing it wouldn't hurt anyone elses day by taking them, they are 100% walk on that time of night) and we were off.

Next stop was TT for our regular FP around 10:30ish. Had a great ride and again, FP wait time was basically walk on compared to a 45~ min wait for standby.

After that we hit mouse gears and did some pin trading.

From there it was off to Marrakesh for a walkup no ADR lunch special. We hit a bunch of topiary displays on the way.

My wife and step daughter got the 19.99 special, Chicekn kabobs, medi salad and a beef roll thing. Very tasty. I got the lamb mishou (since it was only a buck more than the special and I didn't want the salad) which was good but I meant to order the other lamb dish. I need to pay more attention, lol.

After a wonderful break from the heat we headed out and found the "hidden room" in Morocco... ok it's not hidden but we never noticed it before... weird.

My two younger daughters went back to Marrakesh for a potty break and came back talking about Jasmin...

Apparently Jasmine and Aladdin now meet in the A/C in the back of Morocco? Who knew? We hoped in line as the 3rd family and 10 minutes later the line was out the door and in walked the thief and princess!

After a very fun M&G with them we headed back around WS counter clockwise. Some rain had us duck into a few places and explore and when it cleared up we were turning the corner in Germany.

I see a PP guy come out from next to the wishing well and I knew it was about go time.

We got in line with no one else around and not 5 minutes later out walks Snow White herself... BOOM!

We basically completely skipped China and Mexico and headed off to our 8pm fastpass on the SB's for an evening ride on TT. Wait time was around 40 minutes and the FP queue was again walk on basically.

If you are wondering how we killed so much time today? Mindless roaming and milling about. Easy to do in Epcot.

After TT we hit mouse gears again and my wife hit the pandora counter... again.

Then it was on the bus and back to CBR. We wound up eating at CBR since no one felt like walking all the back to WS for something. Trying to recall what we had, I don't recall but it was good for the price / location.

Epcot final thoughts....

As my favorite park, second only to Mk itself, this is a dying park. Everywhere you look you see signs of neglect and decay. Every year it gets worse.

Merchandise is down the drain, very few "native" items from their home countries like before... sure there is the obligatory candy section in each country but thats about it.

Benches... Where the heck are they all now? Everywhere Epcot has had benches removed. It's insane. All my favorite places to sit for a minute are gone.

On future trips EP will get a day, tops. It's really a shame... or is it a sham? Probably both.

While the topiary displays are all nice, their quality is... well it's hard to put into words. They look really good BUT they aren't the amazing "natural" looking ones from many years gone by. Most are just large bouquets... i.e. metal understructures with smaller green stuff stuck on it.

This is either a quest to save money or to try and have "perfect" exact displays without the fickle finger of mother nature having a single imperfection. Probably both. Maybe I have too discerning of an eye but they are more parade float things than actual plants at this point. If that makes sense?

 

[MolonLabe]

Day 6 MK

 

[MolonLabe]

Day 7 AK

 

[MolonLabe]

Day 8 MK

 

[MolonLabe]

Day 9 Wild card day... we chose....

 

[KathyM2]

OMG am I the first one here? Looking forward to hearing about your trip especially from someone who has been so many times!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

I'm here too. Looking forward to hearing more

 

[Eema of Pearl]

Following! We leave in 5 days, so I'm anxious to hear what's going on from someone who was just there.

 

[MolonLabe]

I'm here too. Looking forward to hearing more

Following! We leave in 5 days, so I'm anxious to hear what's going on from someone who was just there.

I hope my posts help. Crowd levels were pretty low that week, hopefully it's the same for you!

I was going to do one a day but I'll try and do two a day so you get most of them before you leave.

 

[MolonLabe]

Days 2 and 3 are up!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Sounds like a great at at mk. I take it you're using 2 sets of bands and that's how you're getting all the fp? Or am I reading this wrong??

 

[KathyM2]

Great days so far!!! I'm intrigued by the whole...scambands thing...gonna look into that some more....I'm sure that loophole will be closed before too long but...hopefully not before I get back there! Wow...I had heard 7DMT was short but that's REALLY short! We didn't go on because my DD was scared...but maybe if I tell her how short it is she will reconsider next time!

 

[MolonLabe]

Day 4 is LIVE! See above.

Great days so far!!! I'm intrigued by the whole...scambands thing...gonna look into that some more....I'm sure that loophole will be closed before too long but...hopefully not before I get back there! Wow...I had heard 7DMT was short but that's REALLY short! We didn't go on because my DD was scared...but maybe if I tell her how short it is she will reconsider next time!

Thank you.

Yes 7DMT is that short, I know because of the time on my GoPro hero 3+ from the ride, lol. ***Handheld with strap, not with a narcissistick and risking injury to anyone. Which by the way, the wide angle on the GoPro makes it easy to film yourself/kids close in, without the need for any sticks or anything distracting / dangerous.

Scambands, see link below

Sounds like a great at at mk. I take it you're using 2 sets of bands and that's how you're getting all the fp? Or am I reading this wrong??

yes but it is a bit more than that, I won't get into it here as it's been hashed and rehashed in this thread for those interested in the full details-
http://www.disboards.com/threads/ma...-before-posting.3245463/page-75#post-53490521

 

[MolonLabe]

Day 5 is LIVE!

I include a synopsis of my thoughts and feelings about Epcot at the end of the day 5 report.

 

[KathyM2]

I'm so sad to hear that Epcot has been neglected lately...I haven't been for a few years and it's always been one of my faves...I will be seeing it in October but I hope it isn't a dissapointment. I'm sure I will still love the rides and such but it was always so nice to have it look clean and manicured...it would be sad if they let it go.