mamamelody2
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2016
So we went to Disney World September 17-25. It was My husband and I, our 3 kids (16, 13, 10), my mother-in-law and father-in-law (they paid for the Disney part, we only had to pay for airfare, YAY!)my sister-in-law and brother-in-law with their 2 kids (10, 7) and my brother-in-law with his daughter (11).
We stayed in Port Orleans Riverside and had Free Dining.
After our last trip 6 years ago, I decided I didn't need to go back again for a good while, if ever. It was exhausting, especially with younger kids, and the lines were definitely longer for most things. This time, I am ready to go back NOW! LOL.
Anyway, I know it's long, but I really appreciate info from those who were just there, so here goes:
1. There is absolutely room for a twin air mattress in POR rooms. We could even have fit two in there if needed. It would be tight, but doable. This may be helpful info for people like us who have older kids who REALLY don't want to share a bed with a sibling.
2. September was a great time to go, although super hot. There were lots of people, of course, but lines were not bad at all. We swam many times, and the pool was never crowded. Ate at the food court a number of times, too, and not busy. And supposedly POR was sold out.
3. Thank goodness I knew a bit about Disney and the need for a plan, fastpasses, ADRs, etc. The last trip the in-laws made was 25 years ago, and they were assuming it was pretty much the same thing. If I hadn't offered to be "the planner" we would have gotten there, and been like, "okay what should we do now?" and it would have been AWFUL. I was amazed nobody in our group even asked before-hand what parks we were going to on what days, what ADRS we had, what fastpasses...nothing!
4. It was so nice to have us all be tall enough for everything. Sister-in-law left the 1 and 4 yr olds at home and it would have been a completely different trip if they were there. We spent most of the time in one big group, and would have had to split up a lot with littles in the group. (Not saying it is wrong to bring the little kids, just that it worked out very well for our group.) The cousins really wanted to stay together.
5. It is HARD to get a group of 13 moving. There were times when we got off a ride that I was tempted to see what would happen if I didn't say, "okay, let's move on to_______". I'm pretty sure they would have stood there chatting for an hour before somebody noticed that we weren't moving or doing anything. And once I did say, "okay, let's go" and start moving, I would look back after 20 seconds, and already half of our group was not even visible they had fallen so far back! SHEESH.
6. Almost every single time we got in a line the first people to get in line would have to stand to the side and let people go past so the last people in our group could catch up. I mean, like maybe twice all week everybody got in line together.
7. We had two wheelchairs (both riders were able to transfer) in our group and Disney was very accommodating. They did actually work like a fast pass in a few rides (can't remember which ones, sorry!)
8. I was amazed how many fourth+ fastpasses my husband and I could have/did get the evening we stayed later by ourselves in the Magic Kingdom (it was our last night, and everybody else crapped out by 6:30 even though MK closed at midnight!!) I took Josh's "refresh incessantly" advice and it worked great! We hadn't done Peter Pan yet and were able to get that. Got one for Buzz that started 5 mins after we got it. I really wanted 7DMT in the dark, and it took like 100 refreshes, but we got it! Then we met Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty on the way out. So fun!
9. It was interesting to watch the fastpasses pop in and out as I hit refresh. I would hit it and nothing for Space or Splash, then hit it again, and several times for both. Hit it again, and pretty much nothing at all, then again, and tons of options of rides/times. I want to go just the my husband and I and see how many fastpasses we can get in a day!
10. There were LOTS of "inadequately air-conditioned" areas in Disney World. I was surprised. This included monorails, busses, shops, and elevators. I about had a panic attack in one of the elevators in one of the monorail stations. The Christmas store in MK on the other hand has great AC and you can stand under the vent and cool off quick.
11. In my opinion, there is no excuse for uncovered bus stops at WDW. There should at least be an awning. We were waiting to go from HS to MK in the blazing sun and there was an accident that diverted traffic so we waited at least 45 minutes. I'm surprised no one passed out. And during that whole time, only once did a CM come by and explain the delay. That was early in our 45 minutes, so a lot of the line had no idea what the hold-up was.
12. 7DMT is super-cute and fun, and we enjoyed riding it with our fast passes, but I don't think it's worth more than maybe a 20 minute wait. I can't believe how long the line for that thing gets!
13. I know Chef Mickey's gets a lot of bad reviews, but all 13 of us really enjoyed it. Crystal Palace was great, too.
14. The Garden Grill was my favorite meal. Delicious. They gave us SO MUCH, though. Way more than our group could eat.
15. The DDP is a lot of food. Way more than we needed. We shared a number of meals because we just don't need that much food. For several quick-service meals we got 3 meals for the 5 of us and still didn't finish it. What with our unused meals and snacks, we ended up buying 40(!!) snacks to take home. And that's with me really loosening up about the snacks in the last few days. Letting my daughter get bottled water with a credit instead of getting the free ice water, for instance. And we ate at Le Cellier, so we could have had 15 more snacks left over if we didn't do a "double-credits" meal. JUST SO MUCH FOOD. I shudder to think how much food gets thrown out every day at WDW.
16. We did some pin trading and it was fun, but most CMs seemed to have similar pins and they weren't that good. It's amazing how many pins are of...nobody knows...not even the CMs LOL.
17. The "necklace" fans and tiny mister fans that we brought were life-savers. Really helpful in the oppressive heat. They were cheap at Menards.
18. The Festival of Fantasy parade is awesome. I actually had a stupid grin on my face the whole time and I couldn't wipe it off.
If you actually read the whole thing, thanks! I'll try to answer any questions if there are any.
We stayed in Port Orleans Riverside and had Free Dining.
After our last trip 6 years ago, I decided I didn't need to go back again for a good while, if ever. It was exhausting, especially with younger kids, and the lines were definitely longer for most things. This time, I am ready to go back NOW! LOL.
Anyway, I know it's long, but I really appreciate info from those who were just there, so here goes:
1. There is absolutely room for a twin air mattress in POR rooms. We could even have fit two in there if needed. It would be tight, but doable. This may be helpful info for people like us who have older kids who REALLY don't want to share a bed with a sibling.
2. September was a great time to go, although super hot. There were lots of people, of course, but lines were not bad at all. We swam many times, and the pool was never crowded. Ate at the food court a number of times, too, and not busy. And supposedly POR was sold out.
3. Thank goodness I knew a bit about Disney and the need for a plan, fastpasses, ADRs, etc. The last trip the in-laws made was 25 years ago, and they were assuming it was pretty much the same thing. If I hadn't offered to be "the planner" we would have gotten there, and been like, "okay what should we do now?" and it would have been AWFUL. I was amazed nobody in our group even asked before-hand what parks we were going to on what days, what ADRS we had, what fastpasses...nothing!
4. It was so nice to have us all be tall enough for everything. Sister-in-law left the 1 and 4 yr olds at home and it would have been a completely different trip if they were there. We spent most of the time in one big group, and would have had to split up a lot with littles in the group. (Not saying it is wrong to bring the little kids, just that it worked out very well for our group.) The cousins really wanted to stay together.
5. It is HARD to get a group of 13 moving. There were times when we got off a ride that I was tempted to see what would happen if I didn't say, "okay, let's move on to_______". I'm pretty sure they would have stood there chatting for an hour before somebody noticed that we weren't moving or doing anything. And once I did say, "okay, let's go" and start moving, I would look back after 20 seconds, and already half of our group was not even visible they had fallen so far back! SHEESH.
6. Almost every single time we got in a line the first people to get in line would have to stand to the side and let people go past so the last people in our group could catch up. I mean, like maybe twice all week everybody got in line together.
7. We had two wheelchairs (both riders were able to transfer) in our group and Disney was very accommodating. They did actually work like a fast pass in a few rides (can't remember which ones, sorry!)
8. I was amazed how many fourth+ fastpasses my husband and I could have/did get the evening we stayed later by ourselves in the Magic Kingdom (it was our last night, and everybody else crapped out by 6:30 even though MK closed at midnight!!) I took Josh's "refresh incessantly" advice and it worked great! We hadn't done Peter Pan yet and were able to get that. Got one for Buzz that started 5 mins after we got it. I really wanted 7DMT in the dark, and it took like 100 refreshes, but we got it! Then we met Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty on the way out. So fun!
9. It was interesting to watch the fastpasses pop in and out as I hit refresh. I would hit it and nothing for Space or Splash, then hit it again, and several times for both. Hit it again, and pretty much nothing at all, then again, and tons of options of rides/times. I want to go just the my husband and I and see how many fastpasses we can get in a day!
10. There were LOTS of "inadequately air-conditioned" areas in Disney World. I was surprised. This included monorails, busses, shops, and elevators. I about had a panic attack in one of the elevators in one of the monorail stations. The Christmas store in MK on the other hand has great AC and you can stand under the vent and cool off quick.
11. In my opinion, there is no excuse for uncovered bus stops at WDW. There should at least be an awning. We were waiting to go from HS to MK in the blazing sun and there was an accident that diverted traffic so we waited at least 45 minutes. I'm surprised no one passed out. And during that whole time, only once did a CM come by and explain the delay. That was early in our 45 minutes, so a lot of the line had no idea what the hold-up was.
12. 7DMT is super-cute and fun, and we enjoyed riding it with our fast passes, but I don't think it's worth more than maybe a 20 minute wait. I can't believe how long the line for that thing gets!
13. I know Chef Mickey's gets a lot of bad reviews, but all 13 of us really enjoyed it. Crystal Palace was great, too.
14. The Garden Grill was my favorite meal. Delicious. They gave us SO MUCH, though. Way more than our group could eat.
15. The DDP is a lot of food. Way more than we needed. We shared a number of meals because we just don't need that much food. For several quick-service meals we got 3 meals for the 5 of us and still didn't finish it. What with our unused meals and snacks, we ended up buying 40(!!) snacks to take home. And that's with me really loosening up about the snacks in the last few days. Letting my daughter get bottled water with a credit instead of getting the free ice water, for instance. And we ate at Le Cellier, so we could have had 15 more snacks left over if we didn't do a "double-credits" meal. JUST SO MUCH FOOD. I shudder to think how much food gets thrown out every day at WDW.
16. We did some pin trading and it was fun, but most CMs seemed to have similar pins and they weren't that good. It's amazing how many pins are of...nobody knows...not even the CMs LOL.
17. The "necklace" fans and tiny mister fans that we brought were life-savers. Really helpful in the oppressive heat. They were cheap at Menards.
18. The Festival of Fantasy parade is awesome. I actually had a stupid grin on my face the whole time and I couldn't wipe it off.
If you actually read the whole thing, thanks! I'll try to answer any questions if there are any.
We didn't figure out the refresh trick until the very last day though! We thought that you had to cancel your existing 4th FP in order to look up times and availability. That trick definitely could've helped us out!
