urkalynne
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- May 14, 2016
Just got home from our second Disney trip as a family (8/28-9/3), so we're still pretty new at this. However, here are some observations and personal comparisons based on reviews and threads from these forums!
- DEFINITELY download and use the MDE app and make sure you're leaving the hotel with a fully charged battery. We went as a large group of 9 last year, which was three separate families. I didn't use the app much, because a lot of the planning was already done for us and I hadn't really taken the time to get to know the app much. This time around, it was just DH, DD and I and I drained my battery every single day using it. It seems much more user friendly to me than when I tried to access it, even just a year ago. We rearranged dinner reservations, FP+, checked wait times, etc nonstop during the trip with the ease of MDE. It is definitely worth the download and getting to know before hitting the parks.
- We attended the first night of MNSSHP and I was so on the fence with the amount of additional $$ we spent for tickets and if it was really going to be worth it. It definitely is! DD dressed in a Disney Halloween shirt and pumpkin necklace, simply because the humidity sucked during our trip and I didn't want her miserable in a full costume. We were able to score a meet and greet with Jack and Sally, catch the Hocus Pocus show, the first parade, and most of Wishes. We also walked on to most rides all night with minimal to no wait time (7DMT was a 20 minute wait the majority of our time in the park). However, if you're going to attend an event, make sure you go with a plan! Everyone around you has a plan they're following, so it doesn't even put you "one step ahead" anymore, as much as it just puts you on the same playing field with everyone. We couldn't believe how quickly time passed during the party!
- I'm sad about it, but we were completely unimpressed with BOG this time around. So much so that we had two ADR for BOG (dinner) during our stay and ended up cancelling one. Once you've experienced the atmosphere and the "wow" factor, I don't feel like you're missing out on much by choosing meal options somewhere else. Totally my opinion though, as it's obviously still a hard ADR to snag and a popular place to eat.
- I'd read some reviews about the walk from the lobby to the Mermaid rooms at AoA. Even with a 4 year old in tow and after long days at the park, the walk was nothing horrible. It seemed pretty comparable to our walk from the boats/buses to our rooms last summer at Wilderness Lodge. We enjoyed the smaller (and mainly cheaper) Mermaid rooms, as we didn't spend a lot of time in the room anyways, other than to shower, sleep and get ready for another day. The Mermaid pool also stayed less busy than the bigger Nemo pool and the laundry was a super close trek.
- Laundry! Next time around, we will pack less clothes and take advantage of laundry services on site. I thought I learned this last summer, but apparently not!
There is an app that you can keep track of the status of each washer/dryer and it really is convenient to have access to them on site. We will also take our own soap next time and save all around.
- The Disney Dining Plan was a perfect fit for us. On our previous trip, we utilized the 3 table service, 2 snacks per day and felt like we accomplished nothing but eating and traveling to eat. The DDP (1 QS, 1 TS, 1 snack) was perfect this time around. If we knew we were going to be in the parks all day, we'd use our QS for breakfast, snack for lunch (as we were too hot to eat anyways) and TS for dinner. I think I read somewhere that DDP is actually going to be 1 QS, 1 TS, and 2 snacks in 2017? If so, that would be an even better fit for us! We never went hungry, but also didn't feel like we were drowning in food/snacks.
- No issues with Disney Magical Express or allowing them to handle our luggage. In fact, we ended up at our hotel around 10AM and received a text message on the bus ride there that our room was already ready. After a long morning of traveling that started at 3AM, we were able to walk right in to a room, nap, head in to the parks, and came back to our luggage situated in our rooms. If you need luggage immediately, you're probably better served to handle your own, but if not, DME is super convenient.
- Memory Maker is worth it. We were able to score 100+ pictures from our trip with minimal effort on our part. We did think we lost our pictures with Jack and Sally, but were able to recover them. Take advantage of all the Photo Pass peeps in the parks and let them do all the work - especially for the quality of the character meet and greet photos compared to what would have been cellphone pictures for us.
- We brought our own ponchos (super cheap 97 cent Wal-Mart variety) and ended up trashing them for the more expensive Disney ponchos, which were MUCH better. Next time, we will just bring an umbrella instead.
I'm certain I've missed things, but these came to the front of my mind!
- DEFINITELY download and use the MDE app and make sure you're leaving the hotel with a fully charged battery. We went as a large group of 9 last year, which was three separate families. I didn't use the app much, because a lot of the planning was already done for us and I hadn't really taken the time to get to know the app much. This time around, it was just DH, DD and I and I drained my battery every single day using it. It seems much more user friendly to me than when I tried to access it, even just a year ago. We rearranged dinner reservations, FP+, checked wait times, etc nonstop during the trip with the ease of MDE. It is definitely worth the download and getting to know before hitting the parks.
- We attended the first night of MNSSHP and I was so on the fence with the amount of additional $$ we spent for tickets and if it was really going to be worth it. It definitely is! DD dressed in a Disney Halloween shirt and pumpkin necklace, simply because the humidity sucked during our trip and I didn't want her miserable in a full costume. We were able to score a meet and greet with Jack and Sally, catch the Hocus Pocus show, the first parade, and most of Wishes. We also walked on to most rides all night with minimal to no wait time (7DMT was a 20 minute wait the majority of our time in the park). However, if you're going to attend an event, make sure you go with a plan! Everyone around you has a plan they're following, so it doesn't even put you "one step ahead" anymore, as much as it just puts you on the same playing field with everyone. We couldn't believe how quickly time passed during the party!
- I'm sad about it, but we were completely unimpressed with BOG this time around. So much so that we had two ADR for BOG (dinner) during our stay and ended up cancelling one. Once you've experienced the atmosphere and the "wow" factor, I don't feel like you're missing out on much by choosing meal options somewhere else. Totally my opinion though, as it's obviously still a hard ADR to snag and a popular place to eat.
- I'd read some reviews about the walk from the lobby to the Mermaid rooms at AoA. Even with a 4 year old in tow and after long days at the park, the walk was nothing horrible. It seemed pretty comparable to our walk from the boats/buses to our rooms last summer at Wilderness Lodge. We enjoyed the smaller (and mainly cheaper) Mermaid rooms, as we didn't spend a lot of time in the room anyways, other than to shower, sleep and get ready for another day. The Mermaid pool also stayed less busy than the bigger Nemo pool and the laundry was a super close trek.
- Laundry! Next time around, we will pack less clothes and take advantage of laundry services on site. I thought I learned this last summer, but apparently not!
There is an app that you can keep track of the status of each washer/dryer and it really is convenient to have access to them on site. We will also take our own soap next time and save all around.- The Disney Dining Plan was a perfect fit for us. On our previous trip, we utilized the 3 table service, 2 snacks per day and felt like we accomplished nothing but eating and traveling to eat. The DDP (1 QS, 1 TS, 1 snack) was perfect this time around. If we knew we were going to be in the parks all day, we'd use our QS for breakfast, snack for lunch (as we were too hot to eat anyways) and TS for dinner. I think I read somewhere that DDP is actually going to be 1 QS, 1 TS, and 2 snacks in 2017? If so, that would be an even better fit for us! We never went hungry, but also didn't feel like we were drowning in food/snacks.
- No issues with Disney Magical Express or allowing them to handle our luggage. In fact, we ended up at our hotel around 10AM and received a text message on the bus ride there that our room was already ready. After a long morning of traveling that started at 3AM, we were able to walk right in to a room, nap, head in to the parks, and came back to our luggage situated in our rooms. If you need luggage immediately, you're probably better served to handle your own, but if not, DME is super convenient.
- Memory Maker is worth it. We were able to score 100+ pictures from our trip with minimal effort on our part. We did think we lost our pictures with Jack and Sally, but were able to recover them. Take advantage of all the Photo Pass peeps in the parks and let them do all the work - especially for the quality of the character meet and greet photos compared to what would have been cellphone pictures for us.
- We brought our own ponchos (super cheap 97 cent Wal-Mart variety) and ended up trashing them for the more expensive Disney ponchos, which were MUCH better. Next time, we will just bring an umbrella instead.
I'm certain I've missed things, but these came to the front of my mind!
