April 2022 - Offsite Trip Report - Now including offsite ROTR

[Haagen Dawgs]

Let me preface this by saying the amount of trepidation I have had for this trip is enormous and the fact the parks are sold out for our entire trip has not assuaged those fears. Our surprising first day hasn’t assuaged those fears either, but I’ll take the great start.

Day 0/Day 1

We drove down yesterday, Friday, April 1st. We were going to stop 90 minutes outside of Disney, but decided to persevere. We got in a bit after 10 pm and ended up booking a one-night stay at Celebration Inn for $150. It was sketchy from the outside, the surroundings were a bit Lost Boys boardwalk, and the staff at Checkers would have fit in beautifully at Dazed and Confused. I will say this, the Celebration Inn was odd on the inside, but clean and fit the bill for a quick place to sleep and freshen up in the morning.

Left a bit before 8 am. Parked in the Zerg lot and took the ferry into MK. Made it to the castle a few minutes before the welcome show and got to business.

Good time to mention…me, wife, two girls ages 14 and 6. 6-year old’s first trip. Hit Barnstormer, Dumbo, Aerial, Carousel, and Princess Hall in the first hour. Yep. Rockstars.

Went to the Phil-harmonic and then used our first G+ to ride Peter Pan at 10:30. Did some unnecessary walking to Tomorrowland where the People Mover was stalled so caught the Monsters Show. Ran into the Cavalcade on the way. Doubled back for Genie + #2 for Haunted Mansion…one of my favorites.

Went to the Peter Pan Haus or whatever. Said it was a 40-minute wait. Ordered. Ready in 2-minutes. Didn’t have lids for the drinks. Small irritation. Spent 45-minutes catching our breath and enjoying a meal. Headed to Genie + #3, It’s a Small World. Little one loved it. Song will never leave my head all week.

Immediately headed out for G+ #4, Buzz Lightyear. I whooped my 14-year old despite her efforts to spin the car until I vomited. Came out. People mover down again. Hour wait for G+ for the Tomorrow Land Speedway. Elected to leave. Made the 500-mile trip back to our car.

14 rides/shows in five-hours. Happy.

Room not yet ready. Went to Winn-Dixie. Ripoff, but a bargain vs. Disney. Starts hailing. Arguably the hardest rain I’ve ever encountered. Flash flooding a real thing. Room ready.

Sabal Palms. Property is gorgeous. Never staying at Disney again. Done Deluxe rooms before. Never again. Greatest shower ever. Pool looks stupid nice. Place is huge. $6k less than Key West One-Bedroom Deluxe. Staying for 8-nights. I don’t get charged for parking.

Feet have blisters forming about an inch below the pinky toe on both feet. Walked 13,000 steps per my Apple Watch. I’m out of shape. Disney may kill me. Just ordered a Giordano’s stuffed meatball pizza. Was the greatest pizza I ever had last trip when I stayed at Key West. No way it can be as good as I remember. Two-hour delivery time. Don’t care.

MK, late-start tomorrow. Going to conquer the four mountains and see if my six-year old is as brave as she says she is about rides. I’m out.

 

[heaven2dc]

What a fantastic first day with all that you were able to do! Am interested in looking into Sabal Palms for our next visit hopefully next year. Might be more cost effective even with renting a car - will see! Hope your feet heal fast!

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

Day 2:

My feet. My poor feet. I put on body armor this time with mole skin on the bottom of my feet and some body glide in some high friction areas. Life savers.

So today was a test of stacking reservations. Made my first G+ for Jungle Cruise at 7 am. By the time it took it had a return time of 4:15. Crazy quick, especially compared to yesterday. Most crowded I’ve seen the parks in recent memory. I’ll be curious to see the crowd level from Touring Plans. They predicted a 5. No way. Booked 7-Dwarves right at 9 am and got a return time of 7:15 pm. Any false hope I was holding onto for being able to buy a $ILL for ROTR just evaporated. Hung at the resort and relaxed. At 11 am, I booked BTMR for 3:05 pm. At 1 pm, got Splash for 4:30 pm.

Entered the park at 3 pm and booked Pirates for 5:30 pm. Caught the Festival of Fantasy Parade. Very cool. While I’m thinking of it, if there are street performers/parades still missing from Disney, I didn’t notice. There seemed to be some sort of procession in my way every time I tried to cross the street.

Headed to the back of the park for Big Thunder. Got through the 1st checkpoint but not the second. Ride broke down. Headed to Jungle Cruise and then doubled back to Splash Mountain. For the record, it was a posted wait of 115-minutes and took us about 10 minutes with the G+. My favorite ride at the park. As soon as we got off, Big Thunder was up and running so we basically just rope dropped it and got a free pass for the ride breaking down earlier. Back to Pirates.

Needed a breather so hit Gaston’s. Cinnamon roll was ridiculous. No idea they were so big. Regret ordering two. Girls loved them. Waited 10-minutes for the Tea Cups and then used our make-up G+ on Tomorrow Land Speedway. Little one had quite the tummy ache. No more sugar on park days. She just couldn’t slow down on the cinnamon roll. Bad parenting by me and the missus. Okay, there will be more sugar, but a much smaller amount.

Hit the People Mover…longest wait of the day at about 20-minutes. Surprisingly enjoyable. Also booked a G+ for Space Mountain at 9:45 pm. That was FP…or whatever you call it…#7 on the day. Rode 7 Dwarves for first-time ever…was a blast…albeit too short…but a blast nonetheless. Wouldn’t pay $50 for it again.

Left there to get with the mass of humanity for the Enchanted Fireworks show. Last time we attended, it was a sit-down experience. Now? Everyone stands. FWIW, I love the new show. Made the decision to forego Space Mountain. Headed to the ferry and I am amazed at how seamless the process was of getting out of the park, over the water, and into the parking lot.

Over 13,000 steps and nearly 6 miles of tread off the shoes today. Pool day tomorrow. My goal is to walk less than 1,000 steps, even if it involves my wife carrying me.

 

[BellaBaby]

Enjoying your report. We are going end of May and I'm trying to learn Genie +/ILL. We were very adept at FP+. So we're going with trepidation as well, plus we are onsite first few days, then offsite. So my question is, you said you got JC at 7 am, is your hotel apart of the ones that can get that onsite perk? Or am I confused in that it's only ILL$ that can be bought by onsite at 7 am?
And you said you bought 7DMT at 9 am, wouldn't you have been eligible to book another G+ at that time as well tho?
Sorry, I'm just confused and really want to be able to understand this system if we're going to pay for it, especially our offsite portion. Thanks for any help! And I hope you're enjoying your pool day. I had to laugh when you said 1,000 steps incl. your wife carrying you! lol

 

[Tatum20]

I think Genie + is open to everyone at 7 am, while ILL is only at 7 am to resort guests (and Swan and Dolphin and Shades of Green).

 

[BellaBaby]

I think Genie + is open to everyone at 7 am, while ILL is only at 7 am to resort guests (and Swan and Dolphin and Shades of Green).

Ok, I see that now. Guess I'll be up at 7 am everyday of the vacay. Unless we forgo G+ some days. Makes me miss FP+ even more.

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

Enjoying your report. We are going end of May and I'm trying to learn Genie +/ILL. We were very adept at FP+. So we're going with trepidation as well, plus we are onsite first few days, then offsite. So my question is, you said you got JC at 7 am, is your hotel apart of the ones that can get that onsite perk? Or am I confused in that it's only ILL$ that can be bought by onsite at 7 am?
And you said you bought 7DMT at 9 am, wouldn't you have been eligible to book another G+ at that time as well tho?
Sorry, I'm just confused and really want to be able to understand this system if we're going to pay for it, especially our offsite portion. Thanks for any help! And I hope you're enjoying your pool day. I had to laugh when you said 1,000 steps incl. your wife carrying you! lol

It is terribly confusing. We are offsite with no affiliation with Disney at Marriott Sabal Palms. As mentioned in my first post, I can’t imagine ever staying at Disney again. We do have a car though and the property does not offer transportation to Disney. If you fly in, you will need to either rent a car or Uber everywhere…renting a car is expensive, but you’d still save thousands. Uber is wash if there are only three of you vs. paying for parking at the park, but Uber for more than 3-people will run you over double at around $35 each way. The value and quality of the property is superb, but what you save financially is going to cost you some flexibility at the parks.

We forfeit the 30-minute early entry and the 2-hour extended evening one-night at MK and one-night at Epcot. Honestly, we are so exhausted by sunset that I can’t see us using the extended hours even if offered. As for the early entry, we will end up entering the parks at opening twice, so a cumulative hour loss for early entry.

The most painful thing about staying off-property is the inability to purchase the headliner at 7 am. Rise of the Resistance, Flight of Passage, 7-Dwarves and Remy can all be purchased at 7 am for onsite guests. We are unable to book until the park has opened to the general public which is 8:30 am or 9 am this week depending on the park. We got 7-Dwarves for the evening and I expect to get FOP. Remy is questionable and we have no shot at Rise of the Resistance. We are going to have to wait to ride it and we will have to wait a long while I imagine.

I also want to point out that we are forking over real money for G+ and the headliner purchases. I know popular opinion is that you don’t need G+ for Epcot and AK, but we ended up buying all five-days in advance. I had a moment of panic that Spring Break crowds would lead to sold out G+. For the five-days we are touring in the park, we are going to spend $400 - $500 skipping lines. That is a lot of money to spend. If you stay at a Value Resort vs staying off-property and renting a car, you probably aren’t saving enough to justify the added expense. If you drive or are staying at a moderate and certainly any Deluxe, your savings will be $4,000 to $12,000+ for a Deluxe one-bedroom. Larger deluxe properties can add another $5k to $10k for 8-nights. At this point, anything you can do to limit line waiting feels like a steal. This is a controversial topic as some people just love the Disney bubble, but the perks have all but dried up. It is also a separate topic and I digress. My point is that I don’t want to come across that $500 isn’t a big deal for us. It is real money and we appreciate the fact that some families just aren’t in the position to spend their dollars on cutting the line.

Here is what I can tell you definitively. G+ is awesome for MK. Crowd levels were retroactively listed as a 7/10 for both Saturday and Sunday. We toured both days completely differently. I apologize for being long-winded, but here is the answer to your question about G+. Saturday we were there at park open. The rule is that you can book another G+ at 11 am (park opened at 9 am) OR when you use your first G+. I kept booking G+ reservations as I used my existing G+. I was constantly adding a G+ reservation until I ended up with 5 on the day. We toured 9 am to mid-afternoon.

For the 2nd day, I booked my first G+ at 7 am, my $ILL for 7-Dwarves at 9 am (park open), my second G+ at 11 am (2-hours after park opening), third at 1 pm, and fourth at 3 pm as I entered the park. Two downsides to this…first, you are competing with the masses at 7 am, 9 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 3 pm, etc. These are the times the most people will be booking. On Day 1, we were adding a G+ reservation each time we used one so we were booking at non-prime times if that makes sense. The 2nd downside is that you can’t order another G+ once you use one. The reason being is that as soon as I used my first G+ on Jungle Cruise, I still had three more booked so you can’t immediately book another. You can only book another if you have no current G+ reservations or every two-hours.

So two different strategies. Day 1, park open and constantly replacing G+ as I used them. Ended with 5. Day 2 was 3 pm to 9:30 with stacking which resulted in 6 G+ and a $ILL for 7-Dwarves.

I’m so long-winded, but I so want to pay it forward for all the great information I’ve gleamed from people the past year. I also love Disney, but I feel the product has become an absolute rip-off. If people want to use the Dining Plan and stay on-site, I just want them to do it with both eyes open. There are so many options to game the system without sending thousands of extra dollars to Disney. Make no mistake, our trip isn’t cheap. In fact, it will be the most expensive we have taken when all is said and done, but I intend to live it up and make the most of my dollars.

Hope this either helps you with your planning or helped you fall asleep

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

Day 3:

Short entry…unlike the last one. Slept in until 10 am. Glorious. Went to World Center pool. Amazing. Standard pool fare, except I ordered an Ahi Tuna bowl. It was nice to have something healthy, but a couple bites of my wife’s cheeseburger and my youngest’s chicken finger were better.

Five-hours later, home for a nap to sleep off the frozen cocktails. Headed to Disney Springs. Not what I remembered. Place is huge. The Lego store is amazing. Hit a bunch of others, including The Disney Store. Got my youngest a Cinderella and Darth Vader doll. I mean, those go together, right? Merchandise selection much better than parks. My feet hurt. 7,500 steps and over three-miles. Three days and over 30,000 steps. My MVP for the trip so far is mole skin.

 

[AquaGlitter]

It is terribly confusing. We are offsite with no affiliation with Disney at Marriott Sabal Palms. As mentioned in my first post, I can’t imagine ever staying at Disney again. We do have a car though and the property does not offer transportation to Disney. If you fly in, you will need to either rent a car or Uber everywhere…renting a car is expensive, but you’d still save thousands. Uber is wash if there are only three of you vs. paying for parking at the park, but Uber for more than 3-people will run you over double at around $35 each way. The value and quality of the property is superb, but what you save financially is going to cost you some flexibility at the parks.

We forfeit the 30-minute early entry and the 2-hour extended evening one-night at MK and one-night at Epcot. Honestly, we are so exhausted by sunset that I can’t see us using the extended hours even if offered. As for the early entry, we will end up entering the parks at opening twice, so a cumulative hour loss for early entry.

The most painful thing about staying off-property is the inability to purchase the headliner at 7 am. Rise of the Resistance, Flight of Passage, 7-Dwarves and Remy can all be purchased at 7 am for onsite guests. We are unable to book until the park has opened to the general public which is 8:30 am or 9 am this week depending on the park. We got 7-Dwarves for the evening and I expect to get FOP. Remy is questionable and we have no shot at Rise of the Resistance. We are going to have to wait to ride it and we will have to wait a long while I imagine.

I also want to point out that we are forking over real money for G+ and the headliner purchases. I know popular opinion is that you don’t need G+ for Epcot and AK, but we ended up buying all five-days in advance. I had a moment of panic that Spring Break crowds would lead to sold out G+. For the five-days we are touring in the park, we are going to spend $400 - $500 skipping lines. That is a lot of money to spend. If you stay at a Value Resort vs staying off-property and renting a car, you probably aren’t saving enough to justify the added expense. If you drive or are staying at a moderate and certainly any Deluxe, your savings will be $4,000 to $12,000+ for a Deluxe one-bedroom. Larger deluxe properties can add another $5k to $10k for 8-nights. At this point, anything you can do to limit line waiting feels like a steal. This is a controversial topic as some people just love the Disney bubble, but the perks have all but dried up. It is also a separate topic and I digress. My point is that I don’t want to come across that $500 isn’t a big deal for us. It is real money and we appreciate the fact that some families just aren’t in the position to spend their dollars on cutting the line.

Here is what I can tell you definitively. G+ is awesome for MK. Crowd levels were retroactively listed as a 7/10 for both Saturday and Sunday. We toured both days completely differently. I apologize for being long-winded, but here is the answer to your question about G+. Saturday we were there at park open. The rule is that you can book another G+ at 11 am (park opened at 9 am) OR when you use your first G+. I kept booking G+ reservations as I used my existing G+. I was constantly adding a G+ reservation until I ended up with 5 on the day. We toured 9 am to mid-afternoon.

For the 2nd day, I booked my first G+ at 7 am, my $ILL for 7-Dwarves at 9 am (park open), my second G+ at 11 am (2-hours after park opening), third at 1 pm, and fourth at 3 pm as I entered the park. Two downsides to this…first, you are competing with the masses at 7 am, 9 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 3 pm, etc. These are the times the most people will be booking. On Day 1, we were adding a G+ reservation each time we used one so we were booking at non-prime times if that makes sense. The 2nd downside is that you can’t order another G+ once you use one. The reason being is that as soon as I used my first G+ on Jungle Cruise, I still had three more booked so you can’t immediately book another. You can only book another if you have no current G+ reservations or every two-hours.

So two different strategies. Day 1, park open and constantly replacing G+ as I used them. Ended with 5. Day 2 was 3 pm to 9:30 with stacking which resulted in 6 G+ and a $ILL for 7-Dwarves.

I’m so long-winded, but I so want to pay it forward for all the great information I’ve gleamed from people the past year. I also love Disney, but I feel the product has become an absolute rip-off. If people want to use the Dining Plan and stay on-site, I just want them to do it with both eyes open. There are so many options to game the system without sending thousands of extra dollars to Disney. Make no mistake, our trip isn’t cheap. In fact, it will be the most expensive we have taken when all is said and done, but I intend to live it up and make the most of my dollars.

Hope this either helps you with your planning or helped you fall asleep

Out of curiosity, what was your first genie + reservation on the first day? (The on where you were able to be “off schedule” from everyone else and book after riding). I’m also thinking this could be a good strategy!

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

Out of curiosity, what was your first genie + reservation on the first day? (The on where you were able to be “off schedule” from everyone else and book after riding). I’m also thinking this could be a good strategy!

Peter Pan at 10:15. We hit Barnstormer, Dumbo, Aerial Grotto, carousel and philharmonic from 9 am until first G+ for Peter Pan. From that point, we just continued to book and use G+.

My original post is crazy detailed as well.

 

[AquaGlitter]

Thank you! And yup… just realized I’m an idiot… I totally read your original post the other day but got confused on what post I was and didn’t make the connection! my bad! This is why I shouldn’t do anything before coffee. Thanks for all the detail and taking the time to write it all out. Super helpful!

I am hoping to try this technique while snagging Peter Pan as my first G+ as well. It seems like a good way to go to maximize rides.

 

[Tatum20]

Went to World Center pool. Amazing.

The Marriott world center pool? Do all Sabal guests have access to this pool? That's a great perk! When we were making our plans to go to Orlando last year, I was torn between Marriott World Center and Hilton Buena Vista palace. At the time I was picking, both nightly rates were comparable. (Marriott was slightly higher, but not so much that the price would have made it a non starter). I ended up picking Hilton because of the consolation perks (not a Disney property, but you get the early entry and the access to Disney Springs, plus the shuttle). While the shuttle did come in extremely handy (I think our Disney day would have been a huge hassle without it) I SO regret picking the Hilton.

The stay onsite/offsite dilemma is so interesting to me. We've been to Disney 6 times since 2011, and all but one time we stayed off property. I decided I wanted the full Disney experience in 2019 and we stayed at the Boardwalk Inn and got the dining plan. It was nice being able to walk to the parks and get the fast passes at 60 days, but the hotel room itself was underwhelming.We were a family of 5 and a single hotel room for several days for all of us is just not that comfortable. We stayed at a nearby resort in 2021 that had two bedrooms, a full kitchen, a washer/dryer and a nice pool area, and that was less than half the nightly rate of a Boardwalk room. It is unfortunate that unless you can afford the two bedroom deluxe resort prices, you are basically choosing between comfort and convenience.

 

[ams54]

Following along and enjoying reading about your different strategies – especially stacking strategies (and food delivery recommendations!). I did a split stay at Sabal Palms (and BLT) four years ago and am planning another split stay at Sabal Palms (and BCV) this August.

Really loved the Marriott complex (and the big pool!). Are guests of Sabal Palms allowed to use the new Marriott World Center River Falls Water Park as well? The information on the web site is unclear.

Frankly, the only reason I am planning a split stay again is for convenience. My August trip is a multi-generational trip with seven people and I am staying on-site purely for proximity given the parking and tram situation at some of the parks. It’s a *huge* price difference but worth it to me personally.

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

The Marriott world center pool? Do all Sabal guests have access to this pool? That's a great perk! When we were making our plans to go to Orlando last year, I was torn between Marriott World Center and Hilton Buena Vista palace. At the time I was picking, both nightly rates were comparable. (Marriott was slightly higher, but not so much that the price would have made it a non starter). I ended up picking Hilton because of the consolation perks (not a Disney property, but you get the early entry and the access to Disney Springs, plus the shuttle). While the shuttle did come in extremely handy (I think our Disney day would have been a huge hassle without it) I SO regret picking the Hilton.

The stay onsite/offsite dilemma is so interesting to me. We've been to Disney 6 times since 2011, and all but one time we stayed off property. I decided I wanted the full Disney experience in 2019 and we stayed at the Boardwalk Inn and got the dining plan. It was nice being able to walk to the parks and get the fast passes at 60 days, but the hotel room itself was underwhelming.We were a family of 5 and a single hotel room for several days for all of us is just not that comfortable. We stayed at a nearby resort in 2021 that had two bedrooms, a full kitchen, a washer/dryer and a nice pool area, and that was less than half the nightly rate of a Boardwalk room. It is unfortunate that unless you can afford the two bedroom deluxe resort prices, you are basically choosing between comfort and convenience.

Yes, Sabal has access to the main pool, a water slide, and a splash pad. There is a pool onsite as well, but it is pretty standard while the one at World Center is truly gorgeous. They recently opened a couple inner tube water slides and a lazy river but those are strictly for World Center guests. That property is also gorgeous, but won’t give you the space you desire. I’m guessing our condo over here is close to 1,000 sf, full kitchen, screened in back porch, greatest shower known to man, master bed and master bath along with a queen and twin bed in a 2nd bedroom with a bathroom there as well. Sleeps five more than comfortably and allows for privacy as well.

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

Following along and enjoying reading about your different strategies – especially stacking strategies (and food delivery recommendations!). I did a split stay at Sabal Palms (and BLT) four years ago and am planning another split stay at Sabal Palms (and BCV) this August.

Really loved the Marriott complex (and the big pool!). Are guests of Sabal Palms allowed to use the new Marriott World Center River Falls Water Park as well? The information on the web site is unclear.

Frankly, the only reason I am planning a split stay again is for convenience. My August trip is a multi-generational trip with seven people and I am staying on-site purely for proximity given the parking and tram situation at some of the parks. It’s a *huge* price difference but worth it to me personally.

Pool yes, water park no.

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

Day 4:

Let me cut straight through the drama. It sucked. No vacation is perfect and ours won’t buck that trend either.

I’m going to jump into the Delorean for a moment; it speaks to listening to that inner voice. I put serious consideration into just skipping Epcot and taking two-days at Hollywood Studios or just two park days at MK and one each at HS and AK. The reason I ultimately decided to hit Epcot was the Harmonius show, Frozen, and Remy. My little one was exited about those. All the research indicated that Remy would be available until well in the afternoon and Frozen until late morning or more likely early afternoon. This comes into play shortly. I also didn’t follow my own rule to never use table-service at Disney…too much money for a product that I likely will be disappointed with. I’m no professional chef, but I’d hold my own on Master Chef for a round or three. I selected Biergarten as options were limited and I’m a big fan of sauerbraten. I try to make it once a year and it is a colossal pain. Also read good reviews on the hourly show. As we intended to spend nearly the entire day at the park, my plan was to treat the family to a nice sit down meal to recharge the batteries so to speak. The final reason I pulled the trigger on Epcot today is that yesterday was the extra 2-hour magic hours so I figured a lot of onsite guests would get their Epcot on yesterday.

Let’s get to it. 7 am, booked Test Track. It was that or Frozen and my reasoning was that I planned to do the entire north part of Epcot before moving to the World Showcase. Test Track is also notorious for breaking down. At 8:30, I attempted to book Remy. Selected 4 pm and it was sold out when I hit confirm. Tried 5 pm and 6 pm and both were sold out upon trying to confirm. I’d see regular drops throughout the day at the :02 minute and :32 minute mark each hour. Yep, this is when additional drops will show up if available. I’d go through the motions before ultimately being told there were none remaining.

We didn’t make it to the park until 10 am and it opened at 8:30. My oldest daughter’s spirit animal is a sloth. Now, you may think, “Aha, this is where it went wrong!” You’d be mistaken.
Following the app, Frozen never opened at 8:30 am. It didn’t actually open until close to 10 am. Test Track also went down at park open, but only closed for a short time. By the time we made it to World Showcase later in the day, there were a number of CM’s that had the “Please shoot me” look on their face. Speaking to a few, there may have been a parent or 2,000 that were quite upset they got up early to rope drop and either missed Frozen entirely or didn’t get to ride it until three-hours after rope drop. The consequence of this is that many of these ticked off parents with disappointed children hiked 10 minutes to Remy, saw a wait over one hour, and bought the $ILL leaving an offsite like myself SOL.

So back to the park. It’s 10 am. I actually elect to ride Starship Earth. Typically, it is walk-on later in the day, but it was a 20-minute wait and I jumped on it. Why do you ask? So remember my plan to go to Epcot the day after the extra 2 magic hours? Good plan in theory. Bad plan when every park besides Epcot has been sold out for a week and a few thousand people who have never visited a Disboard had no choice but to select Epcot…and they used G+ on the worst rides causing long lines at nearly every ride. Normally I’d smile and arrogantly chuckle to myself at these choices, but it just mucked up my day as Frozen and Remy were never going to recover from the extended close down of Frozen to start the day leaving even the minor rides with long lines.

10:30 hit and used a G+ for Soarin. Frozen never showed up again the rest of the day. I’d say I chose poorly as TT was still available throughout the day, but it would have been relegated to an exit the park ride for us. My strategy was sound on paper, but went to heck in a hand basket after Frozen took two-hours to open. The app was also acting up throughout the day…simply couldn’t handle the traffic. Kicked me out while booking Soarin’. Logged back on and I had the G+ for Soarin for 2:30. This is important for later as I snap a photo of every G+ confirmation.

After Starship Earth, used the G+ on TT. It was a 90-minute wait. We shared a car with a single rider who made it through in about 20 minutes. Ride is still amazing. Then went to Mission: Space. It was an hour for the Orange so we did the Green as a walk-on. It isn’t even the same ride, but the youngest enjoyed it. Headed to the Sea with Nemo and Friends. The heat was brutal. You get some shade and nice wind tunnels around the golf ball and NE section, but holy smokes you are exposed heading to the Land and the Seas area, and absolutely exposed at World Showcase. Heat Index hit 94 with a UV of 9.

Couldn’t remember if Nemo was good. It wasn’t. Waste of 30-minutes. Did Turtle Talk which is awesome. Love it every time I’ve seen it. Left and used a G+ on Living with the Land I had booked at 12:30. We just made it within the grace period around 2 pm. Headed to Soarin. So remember that 2:30 reservation? Well, the app updated it to 2:50 which was our lunch reservation. This is where the day went wrong. My wife suggested just going to Soarin, taking the $40 penalty for no-show at Biergarten and calling it a day. No way, my girls were going to see Frozen, Remy and Harmonious…the three reasons I elected to go to Epcot. Showed the CM my picture, she let us in early. Dang her and her customer service. If she had made me wait, I never would have gone to Biergarten. But she did and we did. Left Soarin and headed to Germany. It is literally further than our car at this point and here is where the day went from bad to awful. It was a 21-minute brisk walk to the Biergarten and I was drenched with sweat.

Now, I’ve written a novel already, so what is the harm in a bit more. The aforementioned table-service reservations were pretty booked up when I selected Biergarten. There were tables available at a ton of table-service restaurants and short lines at worst. You don’t need to settle, go where you want with notable exception like Space 220. You ain’t getting in without a reservation. Disney is catering more and more to the offsite guest and those who make no advanced plans. Good for me and bad for me at the same time. Also, there were a ton of food trucks that had short lines and reasonably priced food.

Back to Biergarten. It sucked. Sauerbraten, sauerkraut, sausages, potato salad…it all sucked. My girls did really enjoy the Apple streusel and brownies. I don’t eat sweets, but they spoke highly of it. Ordered a beer for me and a glass of wine for the wife. The hourly polka show or whatever was just noise, but I may have been so irritated at this point that I would have criticized U2 up there playing. 2 adults, 1 teen and a six-year old…$240 with tip. Holy ************** smokes.

To add insult to injury, I check my app and Remy is available in 45 minutes. Go through the motions of getting the fast pass expecting disappointment once again, but I actually get it. I stand up and high-five the whole family. There is one extra step on the paid G+ as you have to confirm the cost. Hit continue and my time had run out. No Remy. My urge to inflict harm ratcheted up to a level 11.

Family drained. Went to see Anna and Elsa. It was a walk-on. Walked 500 miles back to the car. No Frozen. No Remy. No Harmonious. Paid $240 for a beer, wine, apple streusel and dog food.

I’m back in my room…drinking bourbon…hating rodents in general.

 

[Tatum20]

Back to Biergarten. It sucked. Sauerbraten, sauerkraut, sausages, potato salad…it all sucked. My girls did really enjoy the Apple streusel and brownies. I don’t eat sweets, but they spoke highly of it. Ordered a beer for me and a glass of wine for the wife. The hourly polka show or whatever was just noise, but I may have been so irritated at this point that I would have criticized U2 up there playing. 2 adults, 1 teen and a six-year old…$240 with tip. Holy ************** smokes.

Oh no. We went to Biergarten back in 2019 as part of our dining plan. I picked it specifically because as one of the higher cost 1 credit meals, I wanted to get my money's worth. Definitely a false economy there. I didn't think it was terrible but definitely not something I feel the need to do again- ever (in fairness, I feel no need to repeat any of the sit down Disney meals I've done, even the ones I liked- I don't like any of them to pay the inflated prices more than once).

We liked the dinner show, but it was also our first full night in town, we had a vacation buzz going on plus drinking the beer steins so it's possible that we were influenced by that.

Sorry you had a bad Epcot day, but it sounds like there were a few good moments sprinkled in there, and hope today goes better.

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

Day 5:

I will keep this one short…err, shorter. Took my oldest to Universal. My youngest is just too short to enjoy most of the rides so her and the missus spent the day at the pool. My 14-year old is a huge Potter fan and has never been to Universal. My wife and I went back in 2019, so my wife was fine missing out.

Right off the bat I’ll tell ya, I like Disney more…except Epcot. Boo Epcot! Universal does a lot of things right, but there is just something about the Disney charm that has yet to be duplicated. Disney has a lot of work to do to get some of the magic back and they are going to be further challenged once Universal opens their third gate in a couple years, but that is clearly a separate discussion.

While there are inevitable comparisons between the two and unavoidably some crossover, the parks are truly different. If you like roller coasters, Universal is well worth the visit. Every major roller coaster they have is better than Rocking Rollercoaster…and that is a fun, albeit short, ride. And the Harry Potter parts of the park are the best theming and rides I have encountered…please note, I have yet to visit Galaxy’s Edge. They rely very heavily on movie magic and 3-D glasses while Disney is so much more reliant on just crafted characters and the aforementioned charm. Using XPress today saved us an estimated six-hours…easily could have been more if we didn’t leave late afternoon. It was a nice and cool 96 degrees. The touring sites that say April has the best weather of the year should get some Visine drops in thier morning coffee. It is worth noting that XPress guarantees you will cut the lines in half, so G+ tend to get you on rides quicker, but with a couple exceptions, the XPress was close to walk-on. The parking situation is also superior at Universal. The breezeways and moving sidewalks of the parking decks make a huge difference and a welcome rest for your feet. Even with heavy crowds, we had no issue getting food and an indoor table right at lunch time within 20 minutes.

Some quick criticisms. The XPress is ridiculously expensive on days you actually need it (like today). Universal knows it and extorts a king’s ransom for it. You also can’t use it on two rides, including Hagrid’s. It was a new ride in 2019 when my wife and I went and was consistently three-hour waits. Today we hit that section of the park early and it was nearly three-hours as well. It never dropped below 140 minutes. I still have yet to ride it. If you haven’t noticed, I hate lines which has led me to miss Remy, Frozen, and Hagrid’s so far.

The Harry Potter rides are also going to be anathema to larger individuals. I’m stocky and a couple, cough-cough (read: 20) pounds overweight. The Forbidden Journey about killed my arms. I was like a T-Rex, unable to move my arms the entire ride. For Gringott’s, I had to suck it in to slide into the ride and then my thighs were crunched together to the point it was truly uncomfortable…the only time I’ve come close to experiencing this at Disney is 7-Dwarves Mine Train.

Awesome day overall. My countdown to a cardiac event continues as I racked up over 13,000 steps and just shy of six-miles. Resort Day tomorrow.

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

Day 6:

Bump entry more than anything else. Tried those Bisquick add water and shake pancakes. Absolute failure. Took the fam to IHOP. Been anything from a heavy rain to a monsoon since noon today. Got really fortunate this was one of our two resort days. The next two days should be gorgeous. I feel awful for those families that have to either tour in this weather or be forced to exchange their current reservation for Epcot as is the only thing available in the immediate future. From looking at the app, it seems most people have persevered as wait times are still largely long. Been gusty with some lightning popping in here and there.

I’m sitting here typing while watching the rain on the pond and golf course out our back window while the family is all keeping themselves entertained in various ways. I’ve only walked 2,300 step so far today and it has been glorious. Here’s hoping for some clear skies and empty parks for those families that have stuck through the weather today.

 

[torontominnie]

It’s nice to hear you are enjoying Sabal! It’s our home resort and we have always loved it. If you’re looking for a more low key pool then world centre, royal is worth checking out. They let you carry over your own (non glass) drinks