msinformation
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2006
Im afraid Im not as creative as everyone else here, so I apologize if my trip report is more functional and less exciting. I just wanted to fill people in on some details in case our experiences might help someone else with their trip planning. Hopefully I have been able to pare this down to just those pieces of info that will have some relevance to more than just us!
Keep in mind, these are just our own personal experiences and opinions! Also remember that this is DH and my first trip to Disney (at least as adults).
Car Rental:
We rented a car from National and got a GREAT deal for a weekend rental using the tips and codes on Mousesavers.com. I would recommend checking out that site if you need a car! We were visiting family in Orlando for our first weekend, so we picked up the car at the airport. When we got to WDW on Monday, however, we didnt need the car any more. We arranged to drop it off at the National location at the Dolphin hotel. It was extremely quick. One of the Dolphin employees checked the car in right in front of the hotel, took maybe 2 minutes. We then peeked around the Dolphin a bit and hopped on a boat to Epcot.
Hotel:
We stayed in the Wilderness Lodge (room 5119) and thought it was absolutely lovely. Beautiful balcony that we enjoyed a lot. The theming is great. Just unique enough to be fun, but not crazy and over the top like some other Disney properties. We loved that it was close to the MK, and the rooms were beautifully appointed. I would say that the rooms might be just a tiny bit small for a family of 4, but they were plenty big enough for DH and I. We particularly loved our balcony overlooking the inner courtyard creek and spent several evenings sitting out there with a glass of wine. We didnt eat at the cafeteria (Roaring Forks), but we did eat at Whispering Canyon (surprisingly good food and lots of fun) and had a drink in the Territory Lounge (just a lounge, nothing extraordinary). DH went in the pool several times and enjoyed it, though it gets pretty packed with kids. He didnt go try the quiet pool. We also walked around the Villas a bit to see the Sturdy Branches fitness room (nicely equipped and bigger than we expected) and the other pool. Overall, we were extremely pleased with the WL. We did look around the other deluxe resorts (except AKL) and while they were nice we preferred WL. It was beautiful but not stuffy! Perfect for our romantic trip, and also perfect for families looking for something nice.
Groceries:
To save money and time, we ate all breakfasts and several snacks in our room. Before we dropped off our car we stopped at Goodings to stock up on cereal, cookies, etc. It was a nice store, but VERY expensive. If you can make it somewhere else, I would recommend it. We forgot to buy milk and a jug of water at Goodings, though, so we bought those in the store at the WL. (As a side note, we definitely didnt like the FL water. DH doesnt care much about water smell and taste, and even he said it was a bit funky for him! You do sort of get more used to it as you stay longer, though.)
Parks:
All the parks were dead when we were there! I think Ernesto scared people away. In fact, we heard several people mentioning on Monday and Tuesday that they were cutting their trip short because of the storm. We were a little concerned but it all turned out to be no big deal! Monday and Tuesday we pushed ourselves to see as much as possible in case we had to spend Wednesday in our room. Because it was not crowded, we literally saw most of what we wanted at Epcot and MK in just an afternoon and a full day, and we saw the highlights at MGM! We walked on to most rides with no waits. Wednesday turned out to be just fine. It didnt even start raining until the afternoon, and even then I wouldnt say it rained hard. We did Epcot again Wednesday morning and then walked around Downtown Disney in the evening rain. It was certainly wet, but it wasnt wet enough to stop us from going out! By Friday, though, the parks started to pick up. We popped in to MK for a few hours before leaving Saturday, and it was definitely much more crowded. Still, I suspect it wasnt as busy as usual. My reasons for telling you all this are a) dont be scared away by all but serious bad weather because Disney does its best to make sure theres still plenty to do and b) if youre impatient like us I strongly recommend you try and visit at a time when the crowds are lower. Looking back, we are too impatient to wait in tons of lines. If we had waited 45 minutes for all the rides, I can assure you we would have been very cranky. Obviously not everyone feels this way, but we sure do!
Food:
We were not on the dining plan but were going during the free dining time, so we were worried restaurants would be packed. Some were very busy, but in general they were just as dead as the parks. In fact, we changed around almost every ADR we had with absolutely no problems. We ate at several CS locations as well as San Angel Inn, Whispering Canyon, Raglan Road, Beaches & Cream, and California Grill. Im going to post more detailed dining reviews on the dining boards.
Disney Transportation:
We found that the transportation worked very well for us. In fact, it was refreshing to not have to worry about parking and gas. From the WL, we took the boat to the MK since the direct bus is not running from the hotel right now. (You have to take a bus to the TTC and then a monorail or boat to the MK. It took much longer than the direct boat.) We took buses everywhere else. We had terrible luck and ALWAYS seemed to see the boat or bus pulling out just as we were coming up! (Im not kidding when I say we just barely missed the bus about 75% of the time. We have terrible timing I guess!) So I can tell you that we very definitely have experience with the times between boats and buses. Most of the time we waited 15-20 minutes for another boat or bus. Quite a few times it was less, and one time we waited like 25 minutes (I think that was for a bus to DTD). We found the travel times to be very do-able. The boat to the MK took between 20-25 minutes to load, travel, and unload, depending on how busy it was on the water. The buses to Epcot and MGM probably took 20-25 minutes. I dont remember exactly how long the bus to DTD took, but I know it was less than the 60 minutes I had heard about. I also cant remember travel times to AK as we only went there once. Overall I found the system to be great, but then it wasnt crowded when we were there so that might have changed my attitude.
We did utilize cabs on two occasions. First, we saw Illuminations the first night we were there. We had a long day of traveling and didnt feel like fighting our way out the Epcot entrance. Instead, we snuck out the International Gateway, walked to the Boardwalk Inn, and caught a cab out front. I think it cost about $15 with tip to get to the WL, and we were back to our hotel in less than a half hour. Then, we took a cab from the Contemporary after our California Grill dinner. It was nearly 11pm by the time we left, so getting back to WL would have involved several transfers. Since we were exhausted and very happily full, we just hopped in a cab. I think that cost maybe $10-$12? Both times we felt the expense was well worth it!
Favorite/least favorite attractions:
My personal favorite ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We rode it 6 times! DHs favorite was Tower of Terror. We also both really liked Soarin, Space Mountain, the Buzz Lightyear ride, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (especially at night), and Peter Pans Flight (visually very interesting). We enjoyed Expedition Everest and the Rock n Roller Coaster, but we didnt think the theming was as fun on those as on rides like BTMR. They were just intense coasters. Exciting, but we had no desire to ride them again.
Worst rides? Hands down the worst ride was the Universe of Energy at Epcot. Ellen DeGeneres was sort of funny, but overall the ride was boring, uneducational, and skewed towards the petroleum industry perspective. (DH joked it should be called the Universe of Exxon.) We also thought Stitchs Great Escape at MK was awful. It could have been cute or scary, but instead it managed to be neither. The Innovations halls were boring as well. We both enjoy museums and similar educational attractions, but we felt the exhibits (at least those that were open when we were there) were unexciting and didnt really have anything significant or even interesting to say. We looked at a few and then headed out.
Other rides we thought were just OK. We thought the Carousel of Progress was silly. There wasnt really anything wrong with it, but it was just sort of slow and full of nostalgia for generations past. I guess 20-something DH and I just didnt appreciate it properly! We also didnt particularly like the Snow White or Winnie the Pooh rides at MK. Again, they werent bad. We just thought they were too plain. Disney could do a lot more with both of those! Of course, kids would probably love seeing their favorite characters. (Snow White seems like it would be a bit scary, so watch out!) We also didnt enjoy the Maelstrom ride in Norway. We waited in line for a few minutes to get on, definitely a big waste of time!
Shows:
As for shows/parades, we really enjoyed the Festival of the Lion King at AK. Absolutely fantastic music, costumes, dancing! We also loved the Spectromagic Parade and Wishes. Wishes had such amazing timing. The music and the fireworks really do go together beautifully; this will probably far surpass any fireworks show you have seen anywhere else. Fantasmic was neat and lots of fun, but we didnt enjoy it as much as Wishes, and we thought Illuminations wasnt quite as good as either Wishes OR Fantasmic. (The music wasnt as interesting, and the globe thing didnt really impress us much.) None of these shows were bad. We just thought some were better than others.
We were able to show up for Fantasmic only about 20 minutes early and still get a seat off to the side. We were a little surprised it was so full since the parks werent very busy, but I guess thats Fantasmic! Since we wanted to get out early, we watched Wishes from the very end of Main Street, right in front of the train station. We staked out a standing spot about 20 minutes early. Although tons of people rudely pushed their way directly in front of our faces as the show started, we were still able to see plenty. It also gave us a great opportunity to slip out the second the show ended. We were some of the first people on the WL boat and halfway across the lake before most of the crowd even made it to the front! For Illuminations, we sat down and shared a glass of wine on a bench in France, then just got up as the show started and stood near the railing. Worked out perfectly, and there was plenty of room to see the show.
For Spectromagic, we found a nice seat about 20 minutes early on a wall near the border of Liberty Square and Frontierland. We stood up on the wall when the parade came and could see just fine. I was amazed by how rude people were. We let a bunch of kids stand in front of us so they could see better, but several adults tried to just push us out of the way and stand in front. They had no problems blocking us or someone elses view. Its amazing how inconsiderate people can be! I did learn that you cant let it bother you, though. There are rude people everywhere, and if you let it get you upset you will end up ruining your own trip. One thing to remember about the parade is that it takes quite a while to get over to Frontierland if it starts on Main Street. I forgot to look at my watch, but I dont think it made it to where we were until at least 9:15.
I think that about covers the highlights. (If anyone has any questions, let me know.) We had a really excellent trip. Unfortunately we have lots of other places on our list to visit, so we probably won't make it back to WDW for quite a long time. When that time comes, though, we'll be ready!
Keep in mind, these are just our own personal experiences and opinions! Also remember that this is DH and my first trip to Disney (at least as adults).
Car Rental:
We rented a car from National and got a GREAT deal for a weekend rental using the tips and codes on Mousesavers.com. I would recommend checking out that site if you need a car! We were visiting family in Orlando for our first weekend, so we picked up the car at the airport. When we got to WDW on Monday, however, we didnt need the car any more. We arranged to drop it off at the National location at the Dolphin hotel. It was extremely quick. One of the Dolphin employees checked the car in right in front of the hotel, took maybe 2 minutes. We then peeked around the Dolphin a bit and hopped on a boat to Epcot.
Hotel:
We stayed in the Wilderness Lodge (room 5119) and thought it was absolutely lovely. Beautiful balcony that we enjoyed a lot. The theming is great. Just unique enough to be fun, but not crazy and over the top like some other Disney properties. We loved that it was close to the MK, and the rooms were beautifully appointed. I would say that the rooms might be just a tiny bit small for a family of 4, but they were plenty big enough for DH and I. We particularly loved our balcony overlooking the inner courtyard creek and spent several evenings sitting out there with a glass of wine. We didnt eat at the cafeteria (Roaring Forks), but we did eat at Whispering Canyon (surprisingly good food and lots of fun) and had a drink in the Territory Lounge (just a lounge, nothing extraordinary). DH went in the pool several times and enjoyed it, though it gets pretty packed with kids. He didnt go try the quiet pool. We also walked around the Villas a bit to see the Sturdy Branches fitness room (nicely equipped and bigger than we expected) and the other pool. Overall, we were extremely pleased with the WL. We did look around the other deluxe resorts (except AKL) and while they were nice we preferred WL. It was beautiful but not stuffy! Perfect for our romantic trip, and also perfect for families looking for something nice.
Groceries:
To save money and time, we ate all breakfasts and several snacks in our room. Before we dropped off our car we stopped at Goodings to stock up on cereal, cookies, etc. It was a nice store, but VERY expensive. If you can make it somewhere else, I would recommend it. We forgot to buy milk and a jug of water at Goodings, though, so we bought those in the store at the WL. (As a side note, we definitely didnt like the FL water. DH doesnt care much about water smell and taste, and even he said it was a bit funky for him! You do sort of get more used to it as you stay longer, though.)
Parks:
All the parks were dead when we were there! I think Ernesto scared people away. In fact, we heard several people mentioning on Monday and Tuesday that they were cutting their trip short because of the storm. We were a little concerned but it all turned out to be no big deal! Monday and Tuesday we pushed ourselves to see as much as possible in case we had to spend Wednesday in our room. Because it was not crowded, we literally saw most of what we wanted at Epcot and MK in just an afternoon and a full day, and we saw the highlights at MGM! We walked on to most rides with no waits. Wednesday turned out to be just fine. It didnt even start raining until the afternoon, and even then I wouldnt say it rained hard. We did Epcot again Wednesday morning and then walked around Downtown Disney in the evening rain. It was certainly wet, but it wasnt wet enough to stop us from going out! By Friday, though, the parks started to pick up. We popped in to MK for a few hours before leaving Saturday, and it was definitely much more crowded. Still, I suspect it wasnt as busy as usual. My reasons for telling you all this are a) dont be scared away by all but serious bad weather because Disney does its best to make sure theres still plenty to do and b) if youre impatient like us I strongly recommend you try and visit at a time when the crowds are lower. Looking back, we are too impatient to wait in tons of lines. If we had waited 45 minutes for all the rides, I can assure you we would have been very cranky. Obviously not everyone feels this way, but we sure do!
Food:
We were not on the dining plan but were going during the free dining time, so we were worried restaurants would be packed. Some were very busy, but in general they were just as dead as the parks. In fact, we changed around almost every ADR we had with absolutely no problems. We ate at several CS locations as well as San Angel Inn, Whispering Canyon, Raglan Road, Beaches & Cream, and California Grill. Im going to post more detailed dining reviews on the dining boards.
Disney Transportation:
We found that the transportation worked very well for us. In fact, it was refreshing to not have to worry about parking and gas. From the WL, we took the boat to the MK since the direct bus is not running from the hotel right now. (You have to take a bus to the TTC and then a monorail or boat to the MK. It took much longer than the direct boat.) We took buses everywhere else. We had terrible luck and ALWAYS seemed to see the boat or bus pulling out just as we were coming up! (Im not kidding when I say we just barely missed the bus about 75% of the time. We have terrible timing I guess!) So I can tell you that we very definitely have experience with the times between boats and buses. Most of the time we waited 15-20 minutes for another boat or bus. Quite a few times it was less, and one time we waited like 25 minutes (I think that was for a bus to DTD). We found the travel times to be very do-able. The boat to the MK took between 20-25 minutes to load, travel, and unload, depending on how busy it was on the water. The buses to Epcot and MGM probably took 20-25 minutes. I dont remember exactly how long the bus to DTD took, but I know it was less than the 60 minutes I had heard about. I also cant remember travel times to AK as we only went there once. Overall I found the system to be great, but then it wasnt crowded when we were there so that might have changed my attitude.
We did utilize cabs on two occasions. First, we saw Illuminations the first night we were there. We had a long day of traveling and didnt feel like fighting our way out the Epcot entrance. Instead, we snuck out the International Gateway, walked to the Boardwalk Inn, and caught a cab out front. I think it cost about $15 with tip to get to the WL, and we were back to our hotel in less than a half hour. Then, we took a cab from the Contemporary after our California Grill dinner. It was nearly 11pm by the time we left, so getting back to WL would have involved several transfers. Since we were exhausted and very happily full, we just hopped in a cab. I think that cost maybe $10-$12? Both times we felt the expense was well worth it!
Favorite/least favorite attractions:
My personal favorite ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We rode it 6 times! DHs favorite was Tower of Terror. We also both really liked Soarin, Space Mountain, the Buzz Lightyear ride, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (especially at night), and Peter Pans Flight (visually very interesting). We enjoyed Expedition Everest and the Rock n Roller Coaster, but we didnt think the theming was as fun on those as on rides like BTMR. They were just intense coasters. Exciting, but we had no desire to ride them again.
Worst rides? Hands down the worst ride was the Universe of Energy at Epcot. Ellen DeGeneres was sort of funny, but overall the ride was boring, uneducational, and skewed towards the petroleum industry perspective. (DH joked it should be called the Universe of Exxon.) We also thought Stitchs Great Escape at MK was awful. It could have been cute or scary, but instead it managed to be neither. The Innovations halls were boring as well. We both enjoy museums and similar educational attractions, but we felt the exhibits (at least those that were open when we were there) were unexciting and didnt really have anything significant or even interesting to say. We looked at a few and then headed out.
Other rides we thought were just OK. We thought the Carousel of Progress was silly. There wasnt really anything wrong with it, but it was just sort of slow and full of nostalgia for generations past. I guess 20-something DH and I just didnt appreciate it properly! We also didnt particularly like the Snow White or Winnie the Pooh rides at MK. Again, they werent bad. We just thought they were too plain. Disney could do a lot more with both of those! Of course, kids would probably love seeing their favorite characters. (Snow White seems like it would be a bit scary, so watch out!) We also didnt enjoy the Maelstrom ride in Norway. We waited in line for a few minutes to get on, definitely a big waste of time!
Shows:
As for shows/parades, we really enjoyed the Festival of the Lion King at AK. Absolutely fantastic music, costumes, dancing! We also loved the Spectromagic Parade and Wishes. Wishes had such amazing timing. The music and the fireworks really do go together beautifully; this will probably far surpass any fireworks show you have seen anywhere else. Fantasmic was neat and lots of fun, but we didnt enjoy it as much as Wishes, and we thought Illuminations wasnt quite as good as either Wishes OR Fantasmic. (The music wasnt as interesting, and the globe thing didnt really impress us much.) None of these shows were bad. We just thought some were better than others.
We were able to show up for Fantasmic only about 20 minutes early and still get a seat off to the side. We were a little surprised it was so full since the parks werent very busy, but I guess thats Fantasmic! Since we wanted to get out early, we watched Wishes from the very end of Main Street, right in front of the train station. We staked out a standing spot about 20 minutes early. Although tons of people rudely pushed their way directly in front of our faces as the show started, we were still able to see plenty. It also gave us a great opportunity to slip out the second the show ended. We were some of the first people on the WL boat and halfway across the lake before most of the crowd even made it to the front! For Illuminations, we sat down and shared a glass of wine on a bench in France, then just got up as the show started and stood near the railing. Worked out perfectly, and there was plenty of room to see the show.
For Spectromagic, we found a nice seat about 20 minutes early on a wall near the border of Liberty Square and Frontierland. We stood up on the wall when the parade came and could see just fine. I was amazed by how rude people were. We let a bunch of kids stand in front of us so they could see better, but several adults tried to just push us out of the way and stand in front. They had no problems blocking us or someone elses view. Its amazing how inconsiderate people can be! I did learn that you cant let it bother you, though. There are rude people everywhere, and if you let it get you upset you will end up ruining your own trip. One thing to remember about the parade is that it takes quite a while to get over to Frontierland if it starts on Main Street. I forgot to look at my watch, but I dont think it made it to where we were until at least 9:15.
I think that about covers the highlights. (If anyone has any questions, let me know.) We had a really excellent trip. Unfortunately we have lots of other places on our list to visit, so we probably won't make it back to WDW for quite a long time. When that time comes, though, we'll be ready!
