This is my first trip report! I'm going to try to keep it upbeat despite some of our challenges last week.
Thursday, 9/24 - arrived about 6:00 PM, checked into POR (almost no line for check-in!) and had a spectacular dinner at California Grille. Our only complaint is that we had 9:30 "reservations," and by 10:30 we still hadn't been seated. We ended up just giving up on a regular table and eating at one of the lounge tables, and it worked out just fine. It was about midnight by the time we were done eating, and we were waiting for a taxi in front of the hotel. The Magical Express pulled up to let people off, and the driver asked us if we were waiting for a taxi, and where we were going. We told him, and he offered to drive us back to POR!! It was awesome having the whole bus to ourselves and chatting with our new friend.
(We tipped him a ridiculous amount because it was such a cool thing for him to do for us.)
Friday, 9/25 - Magic Kingdom. Arrived for rope drop, did Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh before our 9:55 Crystal Palace reservation. Breakfast was great, and crowd levels were REALLY low that whole day. We did MNSSHP that evening, and I also did not think the crowds were bad at all. It was a great and productive day!
Saturday, 9/26 - Epcot. I know, I know, Epcot, on a weekend, during the F&WF, especially the FIRST weekend of the F&WF, was a mistake. It was crowded. And hot. Dinner at Tokyo Dining was good, but not amazing. (Though the chocolate ginger cake was delicious.) By the end of the day we were exhausted, and we ended up leaving before Illuminations and going to Jellyrolls, which was tons of fun. (The Super Mario medley is AWESOME!!)
Sunday, 9/27 - DHS & MK EMH (MISTAKE!) - We were late to DHS because we stayed out too late the day before, so we arrived around 10:30. There were still a few TSM fastpasses left, so we got one. Waited about 40 minutes for ToT, and I thought we were going to melt. It was SO hot and humid that morning! Lunch at Mama Melrose, which was good, though their menu could use a few more dishes that don't feature onions. TSM was fun, but I realized that, by using our fastpasses, we missed out on seeing Mr. Potato Head, which is a huge part of the experience. So later in the day, the line was miraculously down to 40 minutes, and we waited in the standby line and got to see him. He was awesome! Since DHS closed at 7 that night, we headed over to MK to see Wishes and try to get on PotC, Splash Mountain, and BTMR one more time. After Wishes ended, there was a CRAZY bottleneck trying to get from the area in front of the castle into Liberty Square. It took us about 45 minutes just to make it through that walkway. We had a quick dinner at Pecos Bill's, which was a zoo, then tried to ride PotC. We picked the wrong side and had about a half hour wait, when the other side was empty. We waited about 40 minutes for Splash Mountain, then decided to bail after that. (It was about 11:15 with the park closing at midnight.) The line for POR's bus went down two other bus areas (so POR's line started at 5, went through all of those turnstiles, then extended all the way down to 3. I have been in the summer, the week after Easter, and during college spring break, and I have NEVER seen a bus line like this. It took 4 full buses going out before we got on one. NEVER AGAIN!!
Monday, 9/28 - Back to Epcot. We had intended to go to AK in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon, but after our ordeal and getting home after 1 am the previous night, we decided to sleep in instead. Epcot was much better, though still very hot. We were disappointed that all of the F&WF stations closed promptly at 9 even though it was an EMH night. I never did get my Greek baklava!
Tuesday, 9/29 - whirlwind trip to AK, Downtown Disney, and back home. We had enough time to do Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safari, and Dinosaur, eat lunch at Flame Tree, and then book it over to DD to buy some last minute souvenirs and gifts before we had to meet the ME at our hotel. Luckily checking our luggage took very little time, and retrieving our carry on items was also quick.
What we learned: We needed at least 1 more day to build in more adequate rest periods. The last week in September is SUBSTANTIALLY hotter than the first week in October (at least this year). Free dining was fun once, but did not make the trip for us. I would rather wait a few weeks and take the discounted rooms instead.
We still had fun, we still want to go back, but this might have been more of a learning experience than a relaxing vacation for us.
Thanks for reading!
Thursday, 9/24 - arrived about 6:00 PM, checked into POR (almost no line for check-in!) and had a spectacular dinner at California Grille. Our only complaint is that we had 9:30 "reservations," and by 10:30 we still hadn't been seated. We ended up just giving up on a regular table and eating at one of the lounge tables, and it worked out just fine. It was about midnight by the time we were done eating, and we were waiting for a taxi in front of the hotel. The Magical Express pulled up to let people off, and the driver asked us if we were waiting for a taxi, and where we were going. We told him, and he offered to drive us back to POR!! It was awesome having the whole bus to ourselves and chatting with our new friend.
(We tipped him a ridiculous amount because it was such a cool thing for him to do for us.)Friday, 9/25 - Magic Kingdom. Arrived for rope drop, did Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh before our 9:55 Crystal Palace reservation. Breakfast was great, and crowd levels were REALLY low that whole day. We did MNSSHP that evening, and I also did not think the crowds were bad at all. It was a great and productive day!
Saturday, 9/26 - Epcot. I know, I know, Epcot, on a weekend, during the F&WF, especially the FIRST weekend of the F&WF, was a mistake. It was crowded. And hot. Dinner at Tokyo Dining was good, but not amazing. (Though the chocolate ginger cake was delicious.) By the end of the day we were exhausted, and we ended up leaving before Illuminations and going to Jellyrolls, which was tons of fun. (The Super Mario medley is AWESOME!!)
Sunday, 9/27 - DHS & MK EMH (MISTAKE!) - We were late to DHS because we stayed out too late the day before, so we arrived around 10:30. There were still a few TSM fastpasses left, so we got one. Waited about 40 minutes for ToT, and I thought we were going to melt. It was SO hot and humid that morning! Lunch at Mama Melrose, which was good, though their menu could use a few more dishes that don't feature onions. TSM was fun, but I realized that, by using our fastpasses, we missed out on seeing Mr. Potato Head, which is a huge part of the experience. So later in the day, the line was miraculously down to 40 minutes, and we waited in the standby line and got to see him. He was awesome! Since DHS closed at 7 that night, we headed over to MK to see Wishes and try to get on PotC, Splash Mountain, and BTMR one more time. After Wishes ended, there was a CRAZY bottleneck trying to get from the area in front of the castle into Liberty Square. It took us about 45 minutes just to make it through that walkway. We had a quick dinner at Pecos Bill's, which was a zoo, then tried to ride PotC. We picked the wrong side and had about a half hour wait, when the other side was empty. We waited about 40 minutes for Splash Mountain, then decided to bail after that. (It was about 11:15 with the park closing at midnight.) The line for POR's bus went down two other bus areas (so POR's line started at 5, went through all of those turnstiles, then extended all the way down to 3. I have been in the summer, the week after Easter, and during college spring break, and I have NEVER seen a bus line like this. It took 4 full buses going out before we got on one. NEVER AGAIN!!
Monday, 9/28 - Back to Epcot. We had intended to go to AK in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon, but after our ordeal and getting home after 1 am the previous night, we decided to sleep in instead. Epcot was much better, though still very hot. We were disappointed that all of the F&WF stations closed promptly at 9 even though it was an EMH night. I never did get my Greek baklava!
Tuesday, 9/29 - whirlwind trip to AK, Downtown Disney, and back home. We had enough time to do Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safari, and Dinosaur, eat lunch at Flame Tree, and then book it over to DD to buy some last minute souvenirs and gifts before we had to meet the ME at our hotel. Luckily checking our luggage took very little time, and retrieving our carry on items was also quick.
What we learned: We needed at least 1 more day to build in more adequate rest periods. The last week in September is SUBSTANTIALLY hotter than the first week in October (at least this year). Free dining was fun once, but did not make the trip for us. I would rather wait a few weeks and take the discounted rooms instead.
We still had fun, we still want to go back, but this might have been more of a learning experience than a relaxing vacation for us.
Thanks for reading!
