Just Back... Aug. 17-26

[tigerlilly]

We just returned home to hot California late last night from an amazing trip to WDW. First let me say that these boards and reading all the threads were invaluable in making for a great trip.


We were onsite Aug. 17-23 at the BWV and Aug. 23-26 at the Grand Floridian. Party of 6 adults for a 21st Birthday celebration

Things I learned:

1. Magic Bands are the best thing ever!
2. Magic Morning in Magic Kingdom is worth every penny. We were a party of 6 adults and we still loved it. We were able to experience Peter Pan X2, 7 dwarves mine train X4, Pooh and the Carrousel all before 8:35 am, the breakfast was great...it was my DD birthday and the staff came over and sang her Happy Bday and brought a special treat. We were then able to rope drop BTMR at 9 AM. If it is in the budget do it!
3.. The crowds were not so heavy in any of the parks while we were there. I would say the heaviest we experienced was the Animal Kingdom on an Early Entry morning. However everyone is going toward FOP ...even when the line was posted at 180 minutes at 8:10 AM people were still going there. We did Everest, Dinosaur and some trails instead with no crowds.
4. I had everything planned down to the minute... but I learned quickly that plans are made to be broken (either your party will want to change them or your 15 year old will get a fever!). It was easy to change Fast passes on the fly...even with 6 people. You could not get FOP or anything but getting Soarin was doable.
5. We did do BOG PPO and it was for 8:50 AM. We were let in at 7:55 AM when we arrived...just to let everyone know.
6. We found the cast members to be great and friendly. We go to Disneyland multiple times a year and we all agreed the CM in WDW are much friendlier and seem to go out of their way to help guests enjoy their trip. **not that DL are not great...WDW just seemed happier?!!***


I could write a lot more but this may already be too much If you have any questions at all let me know!

 

[Micca]

Cool to hear you had such a wonderful time! I know DLR is a tough act to follow, especially for folks who grew up with proximity to it. Interesting comparing the CMs between the two properties. Glad you enjoyed it, would you return to WDW any time soon?

 

[ArwenMarie]

Glad you had fun! I haven't done it yet, but I think that Early Morning Magic looks like a good experience too. How nice that they sang Happy Birthday to your DD!

 

[tigerlilly]

We would love to go back... which I didn't expect to want to do so soon after. We were really afraid of the heat and turns out it was cooler then we have had at home all summer!!! I think of DLR as my home...if that makes sense? WDW is like a true vacation experience

 

[jods]

Glad you had a good trip. We were there similar times, 15-23rd at BC. We usually go the same time yearly. I actually felt the crowds were heavier this year then years past. We were at epcot on the 16th and spaceship earth had almost an hour wait. I thought the crowds were starting to get a bit better by the end of the trip.

 

[tigerlilly]

Glad you had a good trip. We were there similar times, 15-23rd at BC. We usually go the same time yearly. I actually felt the crowds were heavier this year then years past. We were at epcot on the 16th and spaceship earth had almost an hour wait. I thought the crowds were starting to get a bit better by the end of the trip.

We had never been in August so I guess not having anything to compare it to is a good thing lol. Now that you mention it our wait at SSE was rather long even with a fast pass on 8/18 (the standby wait was about 35 minutes) ... that and Splash mtn. were our longest fast pass waits. We left every park we visited by about 1 PM and didn't go back till the evening so I think that helped us crowd wise.

Friday Aug. 25 we were able to do all 4 parks using regular Disney Transportation and we were even back at the GF by 2:30! That was a super fun thing to do

 

[jods]

We had never been in August so I guess not having anything to compare it to is a good thing lol. Now that you mention it our wait at SSE was rather long even with a fast pass on 8/18 (the standby wait was about 35 minutes) ... that and Splash mtn. were our longest fast pass waits. We left every park we visited by about 1 PM and didn't go back till the evening so I think that helped us crowd wise.

Friday Aug. 25 we were able to do all 4 parks using regular Disney Transportation and we were even back at the GF by 2:30! That was a super fun thing to do

We had long fastpass waits for 7 dwarfs and you story mania. They had a cm with a flagpole pointing out the end of the line. Usually at this time I just go right to scam my fastpass, at most a few people ahead of me. The lines moved but I've never seen that long of a line to scan my magic band at a ride. There was also a tour group of what seemed like a million people at AK. They had multiple people leading the group with flags. So many people, that I had to pull my kids 10 and 13, to the side and wait to move so they didn't get swallowed up in the group. I seriously never saw anything like it before. Had to be 100s of people.

 

[mamamelody2]

Sounds like a great trip. Thanks for sharing!

 

[seven dwarfs]

We arrived at Disney on the 18th and left this morning. We thought it was very, very crowded compared to other times we have been in august. We ran into more rude Cm's then nice ones. I could tell Disney was under staffed each and every day including the holloween party. We had a great trip and made the best of any bad situation, but it's not the same Disney of the past.

 

[jods]

We arrived at Disney on the 18th and left this morning. We thought it was very, very crowded compared to other times we have been in august. We ran into more rude Cm's then nice ones. I could tell Disney was under staffed each and every day including the holloween party. We had a great trip and made the best of any bad situation, but it's not the same Disney of the past.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt that way! We go the same time in August every year and this was by far the most crowded I've seen it. We stayed BC CL and I wasn't impressed with the service there either. We still had a great time, I was just surprised at the difference compared to the last few years.

 

[tigerlilly]

Gosh I am surprised we didn't think it was that bad! I guess comparing it to Disneyland in August would be my best comparison and believe me it is FAR less crowded in WDW. In DL by 9:20 AM you cannot move through the Pirates of Caribbean area lol!!

I believe you all when you say it is not the same Disney of the past because we feel that way about DL. My only complaint about WDW would be that Epcot looks very tired and we spent very little time in Disney Studios because frankly there was not much to do... but we were able to do TSMM, RNR, pictures w/Chewbacca, LM show, Beauty and the Beast Show, that march thing with the storm troopers twice, TOT, shop, carrot cake cookie, hard apple cider, Star tours, lunch at Sci-Fi all before 1:30 lol .... I thought that was pretty good...but again maybe not knowing what used to be is a good thing. I missed the GMR that is for sure.

We stayed GF Royal Palm Club concierge and while we never used any of the services the food was amazing...not crowded ever and refreshed constantly.

We stayed BC CL and I wasn't impressed with the service there either. We still had a great time, I was just surprised at the difference compared to the last few years.

would you do BC concierge again? Had you done it before? After our GF stay we considered doing Yacht Club in the far off future. I am glad you still had a great time

 

[jods]

Gosh I am surprised we didn't think it was that bad! I guess comparing it to Disneyland in August would be my best comparison and believe me it is FAR less crowded in WDW. In DL by 9:20 AM you cannot move through the Pirates of Caribbean area lol!!

I believe you all when you say it is not the same Disney of the past because we feel that way about DL. My only complaint about WDW would be that Epcot looks very tired and we spent very little time in Disney Studios because frankly there was not much to do... but we were able to do TSMM, RNR, pictures w/Chewbacca, LM show, Beauty and the Beast Show, that march thing with the storm troopers twice, TOT, shop, carrot cake cookie, hard apple cider, Star tours, lunch at Sci-Fi all before 1:30 lol .... I thought that was pretty good...but again maybe not knowing what used to be is a good thing. I missed the GMR that is for sure.

We stayed GF Royal Palm Club concierge and while we never used any of the services the food was amazing...not crowded ever and refreshed constantly.



would you do BC concierge again? Had you done it before? After our GF stay we considered doing Yacht Club in the far off future. I am glad you still had a great time

You did a lot at HS. BB8 had a 20 minute wait posted and we waited 40. We waited about 30 minutes each for Kylo and Chewy. We wouldn't stay BC CL again. We stayed poly club last year and there was no comparison. In fact, we wouldn't stay BC again at all. The pool was packed, we didn't find it a "warm" resort. We will go back to poly or WL for our next trip, most likely poly. If we stayed epcot area again we would choose the boardwalk. I liked the vibe there much better. The lines for busses at park close was also horrible. We didn't experience that at the poly.