Back -- It was WONDERFUL!

[Kirlinale]

Just dropping back in to say we had a wonderful 8 day trip to WDW. Things could not have gone better (except for it being CROWDED and HOT HOT HOT).

We stayed at Fort Wilderness in a Cabin and I highly recomend it for anyone with children who need a 'calm' and quiet' place to rest after the parks. What a great place to unwind and yet still enjoy your Disney Magic. We originally had a requested a Ramped Cabin to avoid Stairs , but, ended up choosing a Cabin near the pool. There were only two stairs to our quiet deck and the rest of the cabin was level.. so it was not a big deal. We rented a Golf Cart to explore the resort and drive to and from the all of the resort areas. We used Disney Transportation (buses and boats) with our Special Needs Stroller NO problems whatsoever.

CM's were fantastic (minus one) and helpful.. Our GAC worked well for her and we also avoided problems using FP and planning to eat, rest and do things when they were the least busy. We even did a few things we hadn't done before. The only park that I hate in the Heat is Animal Kingdom, this time was no exception, it is the hardest park to tour in the heat with the least for my Youngest to do.. though this time we did take the Last Safari out and ALL the animals were UP and about.. AMAZING.. We did Rafiki's Planet Watch for the first time and it was VERY enjoyable.. The Nemo show was just OK.. kind of boring and unless you LOVE Nemo it didn't seem to be that interesting, though it was VERY VERY well done..

Our one and only ODD experience was when we needed to use DD's GAC at Soarin'.. He looked at it (actually studied it) and Laughed at us.. but we have no idea why.. he shook his head, chuckled/laughed and sent up through the FP line.. I have an idea why he thought it was laughable.. but it was downright rude.. I felt like saying something 'not so nice' .. Like, if you had a 5 year old child with an inoperable brain tumor and other serious medical conditions .. would it be OK if I laughed at you? but I bit my tounge and moved on.. hmphhh...

Our only other dissapointment was with Akershus (Princess Storybook Dining). It was VERY expensive (Dinner) and the Princesses were rushed and not in the best of moods.. It was like.. 'Hey, do you want me to sign something!!!, take my picture and let me go'.. My DD loves to hug and interact with the characters so this was a huge letdown.. Chef Mickey's was worth every penny though!!!

We did have a lot of VERY wonderful character interactions which made up for it all..

We did do the Pirate and Princess party , so , if I can be of any assistance for anyone doing this let me know..the fireworks show at this was the best I have ever seen.. EVER! .. It was expensive and rather crowded.. but had it's pluses and minuses..

Anyway, it will be another year before we go back, but we are so glad we went!

Nicole

 

[Carnator]

nice report, sounds like you had a good time!!

 

[jennydep]

We're going to Pirates and Princess Party in two weeks. I'd love to hear more about it!

 

[tacomaranch]

Sound like a wonderful trip!

 

[PinballFamily]

Great post and great report! Glad things went well for you and your family...

That was certainly a bizarre reaction by the Soarin' CM. Holding your tongue - that must have been hard!!!

On our most recent trip, all the Soarin' CMs *really* did study my son's GAC - it was very noteworthy, as they virtually read every last comma on the paper, compared to virtually all the other rides/attractions when we used it (not all that often, as we went to WDW at an off-peak time and didn't need it much) where the CMs kinda just glanced at it and then told or gestured to you where to move. Maybe because it is such a popular ride...? The laughing bit is very strange, though.

 

[Kirlinale]

Hi Jenny...

If there is anything specific you want to know just let me know. I also do not know the ages or abilities of the people in your party so I will just post from our Exp. I was with my 10 yr old DD, 9 yr old DS and 5 yr Old DD who has a Inoperable Brainstem Tumor, Intractible Epilepsy, Mobility, behavior and cognitive issues.

First mistake we made was spending the whole day in the park before this event.. If you have young children and wish to fully participate in this event then I would suggest a 'quiet' morning and arriving either after an early Dinner or Late Lunch.

Magic Kingdom Closes at 7:00 pm for this event and the exiting of people at 7:00 and the Arrival of many more created a very confusing and congested area. They let you in for this event at 4:00 which I would suggest, I would try to arrive no later than 5:45. I am not familiar with the crowd levels at the time you are going, but I assume this may fall into the Free Dining time so I would guess it would be fairly crowded.

You will get a wrist band that identifies you as being a guest for this party. Almost all the kids (and some really scary/interesting adults) dressed up. That is part of the Minuses for this.. The adults really were kind of scary and the kids could not tell who was a Character A'La Disney or not.. It bugged me alot , especially the grown men in the Pirate Costumes - not so much the young teens as Prince/Princesses.. One kid ran up to the Non Dis Dad dressed as a pirate and his father was P'od to say the least.. The mom was Scantily dress as 'something' that I could not identify... So keep that in mind..

Only some of the Counter service resteraunts were open and did not always offer a 'full' menu, Cosmic Rays was one of those, you could only get Burgers (the other offerings not available) though it was very quiet and actually a nice change to eat there while peacful.

There are spots where you can go and Claim your treasure, you get a little black bag and go to the X marks the spot areas to get Candy and necklaces.. it is a mixed lot of chocolate (Hershey's) and many offerings had nuts in them so just a warning in case there is a nut allergy.. Lots of things with Almonds, Peanuts etc.. DD 10 is allergic to Tree Nuts so this was not great.

The parade route is the same as the Afternoon Parade, Handicapped viewing is the same , however, it did get crowded just like normal, the Parade starts in Frontierland so if you plan on seeing any of the Pirates stuff.. this is your best location to start, then you can catch the Parade from there and work your way back. The Parade went twice (8:30 and 11:00) the park was notably quieter at 10:30ish so if you can handle being up late, the 11:00 would give you PRIME viewing. The parade was short but very good .. close to the afternoon parade though.

The Fireworks were AMAZING, our only fault was not getting to see it from in front of the Castle for the Full effect. It was the BEST fireworks show I have seen in a long long time.. It was HOWEVER the loudest too, so I would warn any small children or get ear plugs if it would bother them. You can see the fireworks from anywhere though and it would be fine.

There were Characters about , especially the princesses, The locations were marked . There were some Dance Parties which were fun. The rides we almost all open and lines were very short (10 mins or less for anything).

The queues for the X Mark the spot were hard with the Wheelchair Stroller.. Kids were often lining up alone so lot's of congestion.. If you are using a Wheelchair for a child then make sure you 'get' seen by the CM's handing out the candy.

I am not sure I was prepared for this event, we made a last minute decision to do it on our last day so we were tired , it also rained for the first 45 minutes with lots of lightning.. but all my children LOVED it. The lines for Characters were managable, especially in the Judges Tent. Belle has a little area to the side of the Castle in which she appeared often.. We also saw Tinkerbell (what a treat) , Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Jasmine, Cinderella, Snow White, Mickey and Minnie, Ariel, Captain Jack Sparrow and many more...

Tips..

Stay away from the Front of the Park around 7:00ish.. this is Chaotic getting the Party People in and the others out.

The Dream Along with Mickey show was very quiet during the evening perfromances.. so since it is so hot during the day, this is a good event to 'see' it.

Eat before you come in or before 7:00 for the best selection of foods and to not waste time.

All rides had almost no wait or crowds.. especially the Fantasy Land Rides.. most had a one ride wait (less then 5 minutes).

Pack a towel to sit on for Parades and Fireworks, both were pretty long, and your are likely to have a wet ground from afternoon Showers..

HAve Fun!!!
Nicole

 

[jennydep]

Thanks for the helpful info! We are going in two weeks and will be at the P&PP on Tuesday, Aug. 28. We're going to MGM in the morning/afternoon then heading over to MK after the Stars and Motorcars parade.

Our family includes myself, dh, ds8 and dd10 who has Down syndrome and is 6 months post treatment for leukemia. She will be in a "stroller as wheelchair" since she can't walk long distances. She is a princess at heart while ds is definitely a pirate! Mickey (dd) will be wearing her Cinderella dress and Brad (ds) got a Will Turner tank top since he thought it would be too hot to wear a pirate costume.

Thanks for the tip on eating. We are eating at Sci Fi at 12:35. So I'm not sure what we'll do about dinner. Probably hit Casey's for corn dog nuggets before 7:00. Or long before 7:00 to be away from the front of the park at the 7:00 witching hour.

 

[Kirlinale]

Great post and great report! Glad things went well for you and your family...

That was certainly a bizarre reaction by the Soarin' CM. Holding your tongue - that must have been hard!!!

On our most recent trip, all the Soarin' CMs *really* did study my son's GAC - it was very noteworthy, as they virtually read every last comma on the paper, compared to virtually all the other rides/attractions when we used it (not all that often, as we went to WDW at an off-peak time and didn't need it much) where the CMs kinda just glanced at it and then told or gestured to you where to move. Maybe because it is such a popular ride...? The laughing bit is very strange, though.

YES that is what they did, STUDIED it.. There was a 120 minute wait when we went up there .. We really wanted to get a FP for later because DD (5) did not want to get on at that time.. We originally wanted to ask , since all the FP's were gone, if the Ride was going to be open during the Extra Magic Hours that Evening.. When we walked up to the FP CM, he saw the Red Tag and Said..'Do you have a Card', we showed him our card and he took a long minute to look at it.. Looked at DH and then at Me and just laughed.. and told us to go through FP. I never really did get to explain we didn't want to go just then, but he pissed me off, so we decided to go ahead. It was rather embarassing .. DD does have a few different stamps all for different reasons and not always applicable to the ride or event we are in.. so I assume that was why he 'chuckled' The GM at GR just put all our old stamps from our previous GAC on our new card (copied from our old one) and added some for our new needs .. so I expect he hasn't seen one like that B4 .. either way, he was insensitive.. but really that was the 'only' time we had a problem like that.

 

[Kirlinale]

Thanks for the helpful info! We are going in two weeks and will be at the P&PP on Tuesday, Aug. 28. We're going to MGM in the morning/afternoon then heading over to MK after the Stars and Motorcars parade.

Our family includes myself, dh, ds8 and dd10 who has Down syndrome and is 6 months post treatment for leukemia. She will be in a "stroller as wheelchair" since she can't walk long distances. She is a princess at heart while ds is definitely a pirate! Mickey (dd) will be wearing her Cinderella dress and Brad (ds) got a Will Turner tank top since he thought it would be too hot to wear a pirate costume.

Thanks for the tip on eating. We are eating at Sci Fi at 12:35. So I'm not sure what we'll do about dinner. Probably hit Casey's for corn dog nuggets before 7:00. Or long before 7:00 to be away from the front of the park at the 7:00 witching hour.

if you eat before 7'ish you should be OK. They had all the day tripper's exit the park on the left (Cm's standing center of Main) and people entering on the right..

Tues should be quieter then when we went on Sat. Seemed a lot of locals were there that day (for the weekend).

Have Fun!

 

[SueM in MN]

YES that is what they did, STUDIED it.. There was a 120 minute wait when we went up there .. .............. When we walked up to the FP CM, he saw the Red Tag and Said..'Do you have a Card', we showed him our card and he took a long minute to look at it.. Looked at DH and then at Me and just laughed.. and told us to go through FP. I never really did get to explain we didn't want to go just then, but he pissed me off, so we decided to go ahead. It was rather embarassing .. DD does have a few different stamps all for different reasons and not always applicable to the ride or event we are in.. so I assume that was why he 'chuckled' The GM at GR just put all our old stamps from our previous GAC on our new card (copied from our old one) and added some for our new needs .. so I expect he hasn't seen one like that B4 .. either way, he was insensitive.. but really that was the 'only' time we had a problem like that.

It was rude.
I expect you are correct that the CM had never seen one that had that many stamps on.
I know when we went last April, the CM really studied the card too. Probably the big reason is that it is a very popular ride and depending on what the card says, you may or may not have to go into the standby line. Apparently, they have had people who have a message that does not apply (like waiting out of the sun or sitting close to the front) have tried to flash the GAC quickly to get by the CM.

 

[Kirlinale]

Jenny!!!

Be sure to get your little Cinderella to sit on the Princess Throne near the Rose Garden (they set it out there with some other decorations at the castle photo spot about 6:45 for the event) .. It was one of the best photo's we took.. With the Castle in the back and the set up with the chair.. any princess would love to have that keepsake and you could do a photopass or your own photo there..

Since time was short and DD was not at all interested in the Pirates I wish we had split up for a little and let DS do more Pirate Stuff while DD's doing the Princess stuff.. he had a great time anyway, but, I think he would have like to do more of the 'cool Guy stuff' but he was out numbered so next time we would probably split for a bit so not to feel rushed..

Thanks for the helpful info! We are going in two weeks and will be at the P&PP on Tuesday, Aug. 28. We're going to MGM in the morning/afternoon then heading over to MK after the Stars and Motorcars parade.

Our family includes myself, dh, ds8 and dd10 who has Down syndrome and is 6 months post treatment for leukemia. She will be in a "stroller as wheelchair" since she can't walk long distances. She is a princess at heart while ds is definitely a pirate! Mickey (dd) will be wearing her Cinderella dress and Brad (ds) got a Will Turner tank top since he thought it would be too hot to wear a pirate costume.

Thanks for the tip on eating. We are eating at Sci Fi at 12:35. So I'm not sure what we'll do about dinner. Probably hit Casey's for corn dog nuggets before 7:00. Or long before 7:00 to be away from the front of the park at the 7:00 witching hour.

 

[jennydep]

Thanks for the tip. I'll add that to my list of "must do's". How long was the park open for P&PP?

Jenny!!!

Be sure to get your little Cinderella to sit on the Princess Throne near the Rose Garden (they set it out there with some other decorations at the castle photo spot about 6:45 for the event) .. It was one of the best photo's we took.. With the Castle in the back and the set up with the chair.. any princess would love to have that keepsake and you could do a photopass or your own photo there..

Since time was short and DD was not at all interested in the Pirates I wish we had split up for a little and let DS do more Pirate Stuff while DD's doing the Princess stuff.. he had a great time anyway, but, I think he would have like to do more of the 'cool Guy stuff' but he was out numbered so next time we would probably split for a bit so not to feel rushed..

 

[Kirlinale]

The Park was open from 7-12 for the party.

The parades were at 8:30 - 11:00
The Fireworks were at 9:30

They had 3 shows of the 'Dream along with Mickey' at the stage in front of the Castle (one was early before the parade).

There were 4 or 5 'Zones' of activities (dance parties, character meets etc)..

It quieted down alot at 10:00 , most little ones left after the fireworks. The older kids (10+) stayed later. We left at 10:30ish as we wanted to get out before the parade had us stuck..

 

[TamTab]

Thanks for the helpful info! We are going in two weeks and will be at the P&PP on Tuesday, Aug. 28. We're going to MGM in the morning/afternoon then heading over to MK after the Stars and Motorcars parade.

We will be there for the party on the same day. We are taking my brother (25) who has cerebral palsy. We thought it would be a nice treat for him. .... and us. Maybe we will see you there.

 

[jayandstacey]

We did the P&PP about a week ago and had a blast - a few more tips for anyone going:

- If you can, make it the only thing you do that day. Eat around 3 or 4, then head over to the park. Get a map that says what will be open during the party and ride anything that WON'T be (like the train.) Then, STAY LATE. You will have the park pretty much to yourself after 10pm. Let the kids sleep late and nap that day, do whatever it takes - but STAY til MIDNIGHT!

- The ride lines are very short as someone mentioned. Don't waste too much tmie with the "treasures" - they are just Hershey's kisses and maybe some Mardi Gras beads. Go through one or two lines for treasure, you'll see the treasure is the same everywhere, then go do other stuff.

- Definitely watch the fireworks from in front of the castle. The show is AMAZING. We stood right in front of Casey's, on main street, with nobody jostling us, just mins before the fireworks. Point is - it isn't a real issue to find a place, you just have to be there on time.

- And you might as well watch the parade as well. After the fireworks, we simply sat on the curb at Casey's and had front row seats for the parade. The second parade really clears people out, so I repeat: STAY!

To me, the math makes sense. A regular full day in the park costs maybe $55 depending on the ticket you buy. The party is $38(ish). The party is 4pm to 12, or 8 hours. Your full day (on that day) would be about 9am to 7pm, or 10 hours.

So...
8 hrs, $38, NO LINES, cooler hours, unique fireworks, ...vs...
10 hours, $55, huge lines, hot part of the day, no fireworks.

It was a no-brainer for us to do the party and NOT use normal park tickets that day.

 

[jennydep]

We will be there for the party on the same day. We are taking my brother (25) who has cerebral palsy. We thought it would be a nice treat for him. .... and us. Maybe we will see you there.

We'll have a 10-year-old Cinderella, an 8 year old in a Will Turner tank top and my husband and me in matching Pirates shirts I found at Meijer yesterday. Look for us!