Moon Dreamer
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2007
- Messages
- 36
Returned over the weekend from my latest trip to Walt Disney World and though it wasn't my first trip by any means, there were still a few things I had never experienced before.
My mother and I decided to take our first mother/daughter trip to experience the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot for the first time. We only visited Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. It was well worth it! Epcot is absolutely beautiful this time of year and I loved looking at all of the topiaries. We took the Gardens of the World Tour and it was definitely worth the price. We love gardening and getting different ideas and this tour did not disappoint! Our tour guide is a resident gardener at Epcot so he was able to really explain how everything is done, not just for Flower and Garden, but all year long. So much planning and work goes into making everything is ready and looks beautiful for all of the guests.
Thanks to the spring discount we were able to stay at the Animal King Lodge for the first time. While I have wanted to stay here for a long time, we never stayed at a deluxe hotel because we prefer to spend our time in the parks and not at the resort so the price has never been worth it to us. Animal Kingdom Lodge is an absolutely beautiful resort and I miss it already. We had a standard room but we ended up with a partial view of one of the savannas and I loved waking up every morning being able to sit on the balcony and watch the animals. I would definitely stay there again. It’s now my favorite of the Disney resorts I have stayed at so far.
We did have the option to bypass check in at the desk (we received the text with our room number while we were driving down to Walt Disney World) but we didn’t take advantage of it because I like to stop at the front desk to get a resort map and have a cast member show me where things are at the resort. We did get a parking pass when we checked in with the guard at the entrance gate. As far as the buses to the park, the only bus we waited for than 10 minutes for was to the Magic Kingdom and that was only one time right around the morning rush for park opening. Every other time we were lucky in our timing and never waited more than 5 minutes.
This was our first trip using magic bands and fast pass+. We never had one problem with our magic bands the entire week…everything went smoothly (getting into our room, entering the parks, using dining plan credits). We did see a few people have trouble using their bands to get into their room or into the park but we didn’t experience any trouble. Same with fast pass+…not one problem. We scanned our bands and went right in the line.
At Epcot the only fast pass we needed was for Soarin. In fact I ended up canceling all of our other fast passes for Epcot as we didn’t need them. Everything else pretty much just took as much time as was needed to walk through the line. I will say though that we didn’t do Mission Space or Test Track so I have no idea what the wait times were for them.
At the Magic Kingdom we only really needed our fast pass for Splash Mountain though we did use our others. During the day the standby wait seemed to hover around 40 minutes for Splash. Everything else we went on had a standby wait of 20 minutes or less and most seemed to move even quicker. Big Thunder Mountain is the only one I remember waiting the actual posted time which was 20 minutes. Even had a sprinkle of pixie dust while waiting in line for the Haunted Mansion…the wait time said 20 minutes but within 5 minutes of getting in line, a cast member opened a gate and said “this gate shall remain open for 10 seconds and 10 seconds only.” We went through and walked right into the attraction. We did have a fast pass for the 7 dwarfs mine train but ended up switching to something else because the mine train broke down. After it being down for 30 minutes, I just switched our fast pass to another attraction because I didn’t want to wait anymore.
We did have a fast pass for the Festival of Fantasy Parade because I enjoy seeing every parade at least once and I had yet to see this one. Our fast pass had the times 2:45 pm to 3:05 pm. It was about 2:50 when we used it. I felt like the fast pass area was a bit more crowded than I had expected but they also kept the meet and greet going for Marie and Pluto in that same area until about 3:00 which I’m sure added to that feeling of being crowded. Now that I have experienced it, unless you are able to score a front row seat using your fast pass I don’t really feel the fast pass is necessary. There are better spots to be had around the parade route. Only my opinion of course.
The only character meet and greet we did was the Disney Visa one in Innoventions West and we had our photos taken with Minnie and Pluto. The cast member checking the Visa cards mentioned that rumor has it the meet and greet will move somewhere near the Journey into Imagination with Figment attraction in three to six months. He said they have no idea at this point what they are going to do with Innoventions West.
We did have a reservation for lunch on May 6 at Be Our Guest. We waited about 5 minutes in line to check in and when we did the cast member said they were running behind and it could be up to an hour wait to sit down but in reality we waited 20 minutes. We did pre-order our food that morning before going to the parks so that seemed to save us a few minutes since we didn’t have to wait for a kiosk to order. On this day, not all of the rooms were open for lunch and so a cast member was seating people in the ballroom. We didn’t get to choose where we sat. Our food arrived quickly and our entrees were very delicious (vegetable quiche and the Croque Monsieur (ham and cheese sandwich). The desserts weren’t the best we’ve had at Walt Disney World but they weren’t the worst either (an eclair and a raspberry/lemon cream puff).
As for crowds, I felt like the park was more crowded than I am used to while walking around (we usually go in September) but the crowds didn’t seem to affect the lines for the attractions that much (in my opinion). As I said before most standby waits were 20 minutes or less except for the super popular attractions like Soarin and the mine train. We did utilize rope drop every morning so I am sure that helped. The weather was gorgeous. Not a drop of rain at the parks and while it was hot, there was usually a nice breeze and very little humidity. Definitely less humidity than in September when we’ve gone. I did seem to notice more cast members who weren’t as friendly or seemed as if they didn’t want to be bothered but for every one of those I saw, there were many more who were super friendly and helpful.
It was another fantastic trip and I cannot wait to go back. We were able to get everything done that we wanted to (some multiple times) without feeling rushed to do so. I do get to go back in November with a group from work so I’m super excited!
My mother and I decided to take our first mother/daughter trip to experience the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot for the first time. We only visited Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. It was well worth it! Epcot is absolutely beautiful this time of year and I loved looking at all of the topiaries. We took the Gardens of the World Tour and it was definitely worth the price. We love gardening and getting different ideas and this tour did not disappoint! Our tour guide is a resident gardener at Epcot so he was able to really explain how everything is done, not just for Flower and Garden, but all year long. So much planning and work goes into making everything is ready and looks beautiful for all of the guests.
Thanks to the spring discount we were able to stay at the Animal King Lodge for the first time. While I have wanted to stay here for a long time, we never stayed at a deluxe hotel because we prefer to spend our time in the parks and not at the resort so the price has never been worth it to us. Animal Kingdom Lodge is an absolutely beautiful resort and I miss it already. We had a standard room but we ended up with a partial view of one of the savannas and I loved waking up every morning being able to sit on the balcony and watch the animals. I would definitely stay there again. It’s now my favorite of the Disney resorts I have stayed at so far.
We did have the option to bypass check in at the desk (we received the text with our room number while we were driving down to Walt Disney World) but we didn’t take advantage of it because I like to stop at the front desk to get a resort map and have a cast member show me where things are at the resort. We did get a parking pass when we checked in with the guard at the entrance gate. As far as the buses to the park, the only bus we waited for than 10 minutes for was to the Magic Kingdom and that was only one time right around the morning rush for park opening. Every other time we were lucky in our timing and never waited more than 5 minutes.
This was our first trip using magic bands and fast pass+. We never had one problem with our magic bands the entire week…everything went smoothly (getting into our room, entering the parks, using dining plan credits). We did see a few people have trouble using their bands to get into their room or into the park but we didn’t experience any trouble. Same with fast pass+…not one problem. We scanned our bands and went right in the line.
At Epcot the only fast pass we needed was for Soarin. In fact I ended up canceling all of our other fast passes for Epcot as we didn’t need them. Everything else pretty much just took as much time as was needed to walk through the line. I will say though that we didn’t do Mission Space or Test Track so I have no idea what the wait times were for them.
At the Magic Kingdom we only really needed our fast pass for Splash Mountain though we did use our others. During the day the standby wait seemed to hover around 40 minutes for Splash. Everything else we went on had a standby wait of 20 minutes or less and most seemed to move even quicker. Big Thunder Mountain is the only one I remember waiting the actual posted time which was 20 minutes. Even had a sprinkle of pixie dust while waiting in line for the Haunted Mansion…the wait time said 20 minutes but within 5 minutes of getting in line, a cast member opened a gate and said “this gate shall remain open for 10 seconds and 10 seconds only.” We went through and walked right into the attraction. We did have a fast pass for the 7 dwarfs mine train but ended up switching to something else because the mine train broke down. After it being down for 30 minutes, I just switched our fast pass to another attraction because I didn’t want to wait anymore.
We did have a fast pass for the Festival of Fantasy Parade because I enjoy seeing every parade at least once and I had yet to see this one. Our fast pass had the times 2:45 pm to 3:05 pm. It was about 2:50 when we used it. I felt like the fast pass area was a bit more crowded than I had expected but they also kept the meet and greet going for Marie and Pluto in that same area until about 3:00 which I’m sure added to that feeling of being crowded. Now that I have experienced it, unless you are able to score a front row seat using your fast pass I don’t really feel the fast pass is necessary. There are better spots to be had around the parade route. Only my opinion of course.
The only character meet and greet we did was the Disney Visa one in Innoventions West and we had our photos taken with Minnie and Pluto. The cast member checking the Visa cards mentioned that rumor has it the meet and greet will move somewhere near the Journey into Imagination with Figment attraction in three to six months. He said they have no idea at this point what they are going to do with Innoventions West.
We did have a reservation for lunch on May 6 at Be Our Guest. We waited about 5 minutes in line to check in and when we did the cast member said they were running behind and it could be up to an hour wait to sit down but in reality we waited 20 minutes. We did pre-order our food that morning before going to the parks so that seemed to save us a few minutes since we didn’t have to wait for a kiosk to order. On this day, not all of the rooms were open for lunch and so a cast member was seating people in the ballroom. We didn’t get to choose where we sat. Our food arrived quickly and our entrees were very delicious (vegetable quiche and the Croque Monsieur (ham and cheese sandwich). The desserts weren’t the best we’ve had at Walt Disney World but they weren’t the worst either (an eclair and a raspberry/lemon cream puff).
As for crowds, I felt like the park was more crowded than I am used to while walking around (we usually go in September) but the crowds didn’t seem to affect the lines for the attractions that much (in my opinion). As I said before most standby waits were 20 minutes or less except for the super popular attractions like Soarin and the mine train. We did utilize rope drop every morning so I am sure that helped. The weather was gorgeous. Not a drop of rain at the parks and while it was hot, there was usually a nice breeze and very little humidity. Definitely less humidity than in September when we’ve gone. I did seem to notice more cast members who weren’t as friendly or seemed as if they didn’t want to be bothered but for every one of those I saw, there were many more who were super friendly and helpful.
It was another fantastic trip and I cannot wait to go back. We were able to get everything done that we wanted to (some multiple times) without feeling rushed to do so. I do get to go back in November with a group from work so I’m super excited!
