Turk February
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2010
Were back from a 5-day trip to WDW (10/26-10/30) and I wanted to write a nice, long review of some of things that a lot of people have questions or concerns about. I hope this information is helpful to at least one person!
Background We is myself, my wife, and our 5-year-old daughter. We are WDW vets and I am the planner and researcher of the group. This was our first trip using Magic Bands, Memory Maker and FP+. The short version is that we absolutely loved everything and had no issues.
We have taken our daughter to WDW 6 times before (3 vacations, 3 MK day trips). While she was enjoyed each trip, this was the one where it really really showed. People always ask when the best time to take a kid is, and Ill usually say to do it whenever you want since our daughter has always enjoyed it. However, after this trip I have to say 5-6. She was completely over the moon, telling me how this was the greatest ever she was on cloud 9 for days. It was absolutely our most magical trip so far.
Magic Bands
We had a continuous stay (1 night room-only; 4 night FD package) so we had 2 sets of bands. Both sets worked flawlessly throughout our trip after the 2nd set was activated at the start of our package. We swapped as we saw fit and never had any issues getting into parks, using FP+, using dining credits, or opening our room. I have nothing but good things to say about the technology or process. My only complaint is they feel a bit awkward to wear (I do not wear bracelets) and it gets a bit sweaty underneath.
I went there thinking I was going to want to buy some LE bands, but for some reason that feeling faded away once we were there. Im not sure why maybe I just came to my senses that $30 for something Id only use or wear for a few days just wasnt worth it. Thats not to say they arent nice though!
Memory Maker
We have long been Photopass users, so the whole concept of Memory Maker was nothing new to us. That said, we loved it and I love how hard they are pushing it in the parks. On our previous trips, we would try to get as many photos are possible but rarely saw photographers outside of the major areas. But now wow. They have photogs EVERYWHERE! Especially at MK, we saw opportunities in so many new places and with more characters. My daughter is a character hunter and we met 35 this time. Only 1 (Stitch in Tomorrowland) did not have a photog with them, which was an amazing improvement from past trips.
I love that we automatically get ride photos included in the cost now, and ride videos are going to be the next big thing. I was a little disappointed with the ToT and 7DMT videos because I guess I was expecting a bit more (theyre :30 videos and the majority is stock footage). However, Im not bothered by it because its new technology and theyre figuring it out and itll only get better.
There are still bugs with the ride photos showing up in your account and I had 3 issues after our trip that I needed to call Disney about. Within 15 minutes they found all my missing photos but were unable to retrieve one of our 7DMT videos because the cameras were out the entire afternoon. That said, I think its pretty amazing that the majority of the time the RFID technology works and works well. My advice would be to mark down the times you ride the rides where photos are included, and also get note that some rides offer with your ride photo number just in case they dont show up. Photos are up online in within minutes most of the time, so it was fun to sit down at lunch and go through them while we were still there.
Another quick thing Im delighted that when editing photos online, all borders are now available for all photos. In the past, I was only able to select certain borders for photos depending on what character it was with or what park it was taken in. Now it is how it should always have been, and I have many more choices, but they have taken some away that I really liked.
FP+
Overall we had an extremely positive experience. However, I do believe our experience was the result of planning and knowing how the system works. I can see how people would hate it if they dont know when to book, how to get single overlapping reservations, how to constantly check for new openings, etc. Your FP+ experience all depends on how prepared you are. But at the same time, there is no exact science to figuring things out. For example, I had 3 FPs booked for 4-7pm on our MNSSHP day. I had Buzz, BTMR, and Pooh (I did not book this date at 60 days out). I thought that BTMR was going to be a good selection, and that Buzz would shave a decent amount of time off our wait. But for both rides, we got there and saw a 10 min standby wait, which I did not expect after 4pm on a party night. So in hindsight I would have changed those but I made an educated guess based on what was available at the time.
We only had 1 instance where a ride went down that we had a FP for (Splash on our last day). We got the email as we were walking over, and immediately walked over to Pirates to use our FP there instead. That worked flawlessly.
We got a 4th FP on 2 days, both in the afternoon around 3:30pm. Not much was left but its still nice to save 15 minutes waiting in line. I look forward to the day where youre able to make those selections through the app instead of finding a kiosk.
Only on the first day did I feel like I was running from one appointment to another and there were a few times where I found we couldnt really do anything because a scheduled FP window was starting soon and we were already close to the area or whatever. Live and learn and Ill use the experience to make the next trip better.
MDE App
The majority of our time there, the app worked great. It could be a bit more user friendly to get to some things easier, and I'd love to schedule additional FPs inside the app, but we found the wait times and character schedules to be correct almost always. There was a day where Tiana wasn't meeting as scheduled and Jaq and Gus were there instead. The app made the adjustment, which I thought was impressive since Jaq and Gus are not regular characters to meet.
MNSSHP
This was our first time going to this party, and it was worth every penny. My more detailed review can be found here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3346115
Random Notes
For months, my daughter has told me that the first thing she wanted to do on our next trip was to see Anna and Elsa (shocker!). I had FP+ for 4:40pm on our first day for them and I had a feeling that wouldn't be good enough for her haha. I was right! After our Crystal Palace breakfast (before park opening) we went over to A&E around 9:15 (RD was at 9) and there was a 75 minute posted wait. So we were good parents and agreed to wait because how can you say no to a kid who just wants to meet her favorite characters ever? Our actual wait was 62 minutes, which wasn't terrible. I no doubt made someones day when I exchanged our FPs for Small World later that day (Small World had a 35 minute posted wait and is a ride that has definitely seen an increase in line size since FP+). Luckily, the A&E FPs I had for our last day didnt get wasted and we used those J
7DMT is a super smooth coaster and its perfect to introduce young kids to that world. Its short, its not intense, and my 5-yo loved it so much we rode it twice. After this, she was down for BTMR. We even convinced her to ride ToT and it ended up being her favorite ride. I was sure shed hate it, and she was nervous about it beforehand but now it's all she'll talk about.
TALKING MICKEY IS AMAZING. We went in trying not to get our hopes up because I had read that its very random because of how intricate the process apparently is. Well we visited twice (once on our first day and once during MNSSHP) and got him twice. This is the future, people. It was so cool to see in person (my wife had avoided all videos and was so overwhelmed she teared up). I think the best part was watching him speak to 2 girls from Japan in Japanese. And not just 1 or 2 words, it was full sentences. They were so happy and giggling and loved it. Its really special and I hope everyone appreciates it like we did.
The Festival of Fantasy parade is everything I had hoped it would be. If you have not seen it, please make a point to do so. I loved it.
Spirit Photos at Memento Mori are so cool. I think this is one of the most unique souvenirs you can pick up at WDW and I was surprised they were only $20 each. We all got one done and will frame them up together as family portraits. Once word gets out about how cool these are I think they will become extremely popular. At the least, check out the samples they have in the store.
The last week of October was a bit hotter than I had expected but the humidity was relatively low (except for the last day) so it was manageable. I never felt overwhelmed by crowds and most rides had wait times that I expected.
The construction in the hub is a bit overwhelming and unfortunately shows in the photos taken down Main Street. I am not a fan of the changes they are making even though I understand the reasoning behind it.
BoG FP worked like a charm and I have nothing to add there. Im glad we had it and the experience was a breeze.
Ill expand on our stay at POP in the POP thread but we had an overall pleasant experience there and the buses were great. It was our first time staying there and I wouldn't hesitate to go back.
Please feel free to ask any questions!
Background We is myself, my wife, and our 5-year-old daughter. We are WDW vets and I am the planner and researcher of the group. This was our first trip using Magic Bands, Memory Maker and FP+. The short version is that we absolutely loved everything and had no issues.
We have taken our daughter to WDW 6 times before (3 vacations, 3 MK day trips). While she was enjoyed each trip, this was the one where it really really showed. People always ask when the best time to take a kid is, and Ill usually say to do it whenever you want since our daughter has always enjoyed it. However, after this trip I have to say 5-6. She was completely over the moon, telling me how this was the greatest ever she was on cloud 9 for days. It was absolutely our most magical trip so far.
Magic Bands
We had a continuous stay (1 night room-only; 4 night FD package) so we had 2 sets of bands. Both sets worked flawlessly throughout our trip after the 2nd set was activated at the start of our package. We swapped as we saw fit and never had any issues getting into parks, using FP+, using dining credits, or opening our room. I have nothing but good things to say about the technology or process. My only complaint is they feel a bit awkward to wear (I do not wear bracelets) and it gets a bit sweaty underneath.
I went there thinking I was going to want to buy some LE bands, but for some reason that feeling faded away once we were there. Im not sure why maybe I just came to my senses that $30 for something Id only use or wear for a few days just wasnt worth it. Thats not to say they arent nice though!
Memory Maker
We have long been Photopass users, so the whole concept of Memory Maker was nothing new to us. That said, we loved it and I love how hard they are pushing it in the parks. On our previous trips, we would try to get as many photos are possible but rarely saw photographers outside of the major areas. But now wow. They have photogs EVERYWHERE! Especially at MK, we saw opportunities in so many new places and with more characters. My daughter is a character hunter and we met 35 this time. Only 1 (Stitch in Tomorrowland) did not have a photog with them, which was an amazing improvement from past trips.
I love that we automatically get ride photos included in the cost now, and ride videos are going to be the next big thing. I was a little disappointed with the ToT and 7DMT videos because I guess I was expecting a bit more (theyre :30 videos and the majority is stock footage). However, Im not bothered by it because its new technology and theyre figuring it out and itll only get better.
There are still bugs with the ride photos showing up in your account and I had 3 issues after our trip that I needed to call Disney about. Within 15 minutes they found all my missing photos but were unable to retrieve one of our 7DMT videos because the cameras were out the entire afternoon. That said, I think its pretty amazing that the majority of the time the RFID technology works and works well. My advice would be to mark down the times you ride the rides where photos are included, and also get note that some rides offer with your ride photo number just in case they dont show up. Photos are up online in within minutes most of the time, so it was fun to sit down at lunch and go through them while we were still there.
Another quick thing Im delighted that when editing photos online, all borders are now available for all photos. In the past, I was only able to select certain borders for photos depending on what character it was with or what park it was taken in. Now it is how it should always have been, and I have many more choices, but they have taken some away that I really liked.
FP+
Overall we had an extremely positive experience. However, I do believe our experience was the result of planning and knowing how the system works. I can see how people would hate it if they dont know when to book, how to get single overlapping reservations, how to constantly check for new openings, etc. Your FP+ experience all depends on how prepared you are. But at the same time, there is no exact science to figuring things out. For example, I had 3 FPs booked for 4-7pm on our MNSSHP day. I had Buzz, BTMR, and Pooh (I did not book this date at 60 days out). I thought that BTMR was going to be a good selection, and that Buzz would shave a decent amount of time off our wait. But for both rides, we got there and saw a 10 min standby wait, which I did not expect after 4pm on a party night. So in hindsight I would have changed those but I made an educated guess based on what was available at the time.
We only had 1 instance where a ride went down that we had a FP for (Splash on our last day). We got the email as we were walking over, and immediately walked over to Pirates to use our FP there instead. That worked flawlessly.
We got a 4th FP on 2 days, both in the afternoon around 3:30pm. Not much was left but its still nice to save 15 minutes waiting in line. I look forward to the day where youre able to make those selections through the app instead of finding a kiosk.
Only on the first day did I feel like I was running from one appointment to another and there were a few times where I found we couldnt really do anything because a scheduled FP window was starting soon and we were already close to the area or whatever. Live and learn and Ill use the experience to make the next trip better.
MDE App
The majority of our time there, the app worked great. It could be a bit more user friendly to get to some things easier, and I'd love to schedule additional FPs inside the app, but we found the wait times and character schedules to be correct almost always. There was a day where Tiana wasn't meeting as scheduled and Jaq and Gus were there instead. The app made the adjustment, which I thought was impressive since Jaq and Gus are not regular characters to meet.
MNSSHP
This was our first time going to this party, and it was worth every penny. My more detailed review can be found here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3346115
Random Notes
For months, my daughter has told me that the first thing she wanted to do on our next trip was to see Anna and Elsa (shocker!). I had FP+ for 4:40pm on our first day for them and I had a feeling that wouldn't be good enough for her haha. I was right! After our Crystal Palace breakfast (before park opening) we went over to A&E around 9:15 (RD was at 9) and there was a 75 minute posted wait. So we were good parents and agreed to wait because how can you say no to a kid who just wants to meet her favorite characters ever? Our actual wait was 62 minutes, which wasn't terrible. I no doubt made someones day when I exchanged our FPs for Small World later that day (Small World had a 35 minute posted wait and is a ride that has definitely seen an increase in line size since FP+). Luckily, the A&E FPs I had for our last day didnt get wasted and we used those J
7DMT is a super smooth coaster and its perfect to introduce young kids to that world. Its short, its not intense, and my 5-yo loved it so much we rode it twice. After this, she was down for BTMR. We even convinced her to ride ToT and it ended up being her favorite ride. I was sure shed hate it, and she was nervous about it beforehand but now it's all she'll talk about.
TALKING MICKEY IS AMAZING. We went in trying not to get our hopes up because I had read that its very random because of how intricate the process apparently is. Well we visited twice (once on our first day and once during MNSSHP) and got him twice. This is the future, people. It was so cool to see in person (my wife had avoided all videos and was so overwhelmed she teared up). I think the best part was watching him speak to 2 girls from Japan in Japanese. And not just 1 or 2 words, it was full sentences. They were so happy and giggling and loved it. Its really special and I hope everyone appreciates it like we did.
The Festival of Fantasy parade is everything I had hoped it would be. If you have not seen it, please make a point to do so. I loved it.
Spirit Photos at Memento Mori are so cool. I think this is one of the most unique souvenirs you can pick up at WDW and I was surprised they were only $20 each. We all got one done and will frame them up together as family portraits. Once word gets out about how cool these are I think they will become extremely popular. At the least, check out the samples they have in the store.
The last week of October was a bit hotter than I had expected but the humidity was relatively low (except for the last day) so it was manageable. I never felt overwhelmed by crowds and most rides had wait times that I expected.
The construction in the hub is a bit overwhelming and unfortunately shows in the photos taken down Main Street. I am not a fan of the changes they are making even though I understand the reasoning behind it.
BoG FP worked like a charm and I have nothing to add there. Im glad we had it and the experience was a breeze.
Ill expand on our stay at POP in the POP thread but we had an overall pleasant experience there and the buses were great. It was our first time staying there and I wouldn't hesitate to go back.
Please feel free to ask any questions!
