D3 September trip report - 9/11/2016-9/18/2016

[wilkeliza]

Hi guys and welcome to my trip report! I started one of these last time but never finished so here is hoping I keep up with this one. It will be a psudeo live report with me updating as I have down time probably each night or early morning on the bus bavk to the resort. So let's get this thing started.

Cast of characters -

Me, 28 massive Disney fan. Ex-CM. Goes by Ellie. Favorite character is Oswald. Favorite ride is Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

My fiancé - another massive disney fan. I'll call him M in the trip report. His favorite characters are Stitch and Woody. Favorite ride Tower of Terror.

My bff- this is D1 of the D3 portion of the thread. D is my bestie and the reason for the trip. It isnhis birthday and 10th anniversay.

D1s partner aka D2.

There are also 12 other people tracking for the weekend. M and I are arriving on the 11th everyone else is coming on late the 14th.

M and I are at Jambo house the rest of the D3 crew is at Kidani staying through DVC.

Here are the plans

Day 1 - arrival day at Animal Kingdom Lodge around 2 and chill by the pool and relax. We have dinner at Saana

Day 2 - Universal. M, myself, our friend S and her husband will be enjoying both parksnwith Gringotts and Kong being the must dos. I also want to eat at Toothsome.

Day 3 - Animal Kingdom. We will be leaving early as we have a California Grill reservation to have a d at e night and see Hallowishes from the top.

Day 4 - DHS. Main focus is Star Wars. We are doing the dessert party. Probably will hop to Epcot around lunch to check out first day of Food and Wine and get our credit for the cup since we are AP holders. Dinner reservation at Boathouse. D3 party areives.

Day 5 - Food and Wine! We plan to get there for EMH to do Frozen and then move back to Futureworld. Hopefully knock most of that out then go have fun around the world. I promise to keep everyone in line and hydrated well.

Day 6 - Magic Kingdom. We are doing the celebration this day with an early dinner at Be Our Guest. D1 was shocked I was able to get a reservation for 16 but I did. Then some of us are staying for Mickey's Not So Scary. I'll be dressing up as Rey.

Day 7- mixed. As of now it is Epcot for our Frozen fastpass but we may go back to Universal sice D1 and some of the group will be there. D2 and some of the group are doing Animal Kingdom. The big undecided is HHN. I really want to go but M and D1 are easily frightened so they are less willing. We will see.

Day 8 - check out day. We have a latish flight so not sure either MK or Epcot.

That's it for now as we are in route as I type. I hope you have fun following along.

 

[wilkeliza]

So far Day 1 of has been off to a great start. We have a standard room steps from the lobby but on floor 4 so it is quiet.

We got into Orlando around 12:45 and were to Animal Kingdom by 2pm. We got an email and text with the room information while in flight which was wonderful as seasoned travelers. The email had a map you could access and also information about contacting a CM if you needed help getting to your room.

On the cab ride to the hotel we decided to go have lunch at Tiffins. I wanted to try the tasting menu and it would open our lunch time up later in the week. So we got a reservarion no problem and off to DAK. We also grabbed an EE and safari FP just in case. Tiffins was wonderful. I had the Tasting with the pork tamale and chicken as well as 2 servings of the chicken pate (they replaced the head cheese with more pate). M had the adventurers salad and the halibut. Both were great. Oh and we had the bread service. About 2/3 of the way through lunch the travel day hit us and we both agreed we were tired. So I cancelled the FP+s and we paid and headed to the buses. From the bus depot you can see the construction and Pandora. It is really moving along based on where it was in June (or at least it feels that way to someone who only sees it every few months). The bus line back to AKL was the only long line but we thankfully got on with a minimal wait. Now I'm back in the room about to nap. I'm not sure if the Dis supports 360 photos but I'm taking a ton on the trip. It is a novelty I've liked since it first came out and now thag you can put them on FB it isn't just me enjoying them.

 

[wilkeliza]

Day 2 - Universal.

We got up bright an early and headed to Universal. We had originally planned only a 1 day with the possibility of adding a second later in the trip based on how the day went. Well we decided to take a leap of faith that our day would go well and bought the 2 day both parks pass instead of just the 1 day 2 parks. We got to the gates at about 8:30 and there was tops 50 people. The first wonderful surprise. Next wonderful surprise was the park opened 15 minutes early. During this pre-park opening time we had our first great Team Member experience. One of the gate workers was just full of energy and really working to make us have fun while we passed the time waiting for the official open. The "opening" of the park was pretty lackluster and Universal could do a lot there but what they are attempting to do is cute but hinges a lot on the family chosen and ours was dry and nervous. No biggie though.

1st up Diagon Alley. This was causing some anxiety for M but I am happy to report even the tester seat worked (with a tiny push from me) but doing the back row didn't even need my help. So we rode Gringotts with 0 wait back to back. The Team Members were fantastic. We found out you can't ride in the same vehicle twice so to ride back to back when no one else is in the line you have to get out and stand to the side and wait for the next vehicle. Not 100% sure why especially when there was no one waiting. After our 2 rides a wonderful Team Member (I wish I got his name but I forget it now) asked if we had Express pass. We said no and he handed us each a yellow pass so we could chose a ride we could skip the line on. We were so thankful and giddy from Gringotts. After that it was off to experience Diagon Alley.

In Diagon Alley we did Olivanders. It is super cute. After seeing the dragon, we decided to hop over to Islands of Adventuee. We took the King's Cross Hogwarts Express over. We got say with a lovely couple who were so friendly. We all shared our love of Disney and HP as we took the ride over to Hogsmeade. They told us how they met on their CP in 2010. It totally felt like we were first years off to Hogwarts making friends on the train.

From there M decided why not give Dragon Challenge a shot. We were easily able to get on (with no wait again) and had a heck of a time. We stopped for a butterbeer and headed over to Jurassic Park as we've soaked up Hogsmeade before.

This was my first time on Jurassic Park and it was so fun. Again no wait.

From there we went to Kong. The wait was up to 75 minutes so thankfully we had our pass. We rode it and I have to say it is great. I loved Kong at the end. There were some minor issues with the ride that happen at every screen based ride. In some transitions the screen is blank so if you are in the back part of the truck it becomes 100% clear they are just screens. It is similar to the last big scene in Gringotts where it cuts out and is clear it is a screen. Not terrible but just something they could think about extending the scenery or something for a moment longer to preserve the illusions.

From there we grabbed a quick bite at Captain America Dinner. Food was just ok but hit the spot. We discovered the free refill mugs and after finding out you pay about 8 bucks to reactivate on other days it became a no brainier. It definitly paid off just today. So if you drink anything other than water the cups are so so so worth it. I mentioned that I wish Disney would do something similar as we would pay for the mug every single day if it was in the parks. Nothing like getting Powerade when you need to replenish electrolytes and by the 3 or 4th cup you pay for the mug.

From here we met up with one of my local friends and her husband. We went straight to Hulk which had just opened after a lengthy delay. This was about 1pm. Hulk had a 30 minute wait which would be our longest wait all day. I was not a fan of Hulk. I mean I like roller coasters but Hulk was a one and done for the day. It is just a little too intense for me and I left it with a headache that didn't go away until later in the evening.

From Hulk we did Spider-Man then back to the Hogwarts express. On the Express we realized how much the heat was really getting to us. It was about 2:30 and we had been up since 7 which is early for us. Gringotts was up to 20 but we rode it one last time. We walked a little around Diagon alley then headed to Mummy. There was only a 5 minute wait so rode that then headed out for the day. It was a little before 4.

After a great day in the parks we headed to Toothsome. They were able to take us no problem and we had a wonderful time. We got artichoke and spinach rolls, chocolate bread, BBQ Chicken Flatbread, and the tatco. Everything was tasty. The best part was the desserts. I got the brownie milk shake which was like drinking brownie batter yum . It came in a cute (plastic) mason jar that you get to take with you. M got the banana split. The portions here are big so we definitly could have split and still been full.

From there we headed back to the resort for a nap and a pool break.

We had dinner at Jiko and it was one of the best meals I've had on property. The signatures are really worth it. We got the cheese plate and tomato flat bread to start and then the Filet and Halibut for entrees. I don't often eat fish but this Halibut was delicious. I was jealous of M's filet just because it was so good and I love beef so much haha.

The biggest thing I have to say about Universal is Disney needs to keep up or Universal will start getting more and more people to take a few days away from Disney and go there. The Team Members did a complete 180 from what we experienced 2 years ago. Everyone was so nice and helpful! Also just even the TMs whose body language said they were frustrated (the locker attendent when the whole panel at Gringotts went down) they still were trying to be nice and efficient. With that said I did see a ton of Team Members who were off duty and in regular close hanging out with working TMs in non guest areas (but still visible to guests). It was in non critical locations but definitly made the TM not focus on the guest. No biggie just an observation.

Another observation was that many people were commenting on how the felt Universal was so much more expensive than Disney. I was kind of shocked that one guy even said it with no discussion of Disney on the table. We had just been talking about how tired we were and his response was "you got 6 more hours to get your monies worth especially what Universal is charging. Disney was cheaper this time around." The other was just a preception. They said they read all the blogs, did all the research and couldn't make it affordable enough for them to stay onsite and get free express pass so they didn't get them at all and then really could only do one day since you start at the base price all over again and for the park to park single day it was a lot. It is interesting but outside of starting over at base I'm not sure how much more it actually is. We didn't stay all day but the parks closing at 6 today and then 5 next day we'll be going does cut the value especially when the other park is only open until 7. Besides those two things there isn't anything else I could say needs much work at Universal. It really did go above and beyond my expectations.

Another Universal note do not take Yellow Cab from the resort. Do yourself a favor and use Lyft or Uber. I paid $48 from AKL to Universal in no traffic using Meers yellow taxi. There is also a credit card fee. The uber back was $18! The $30 difference is insane to me.

Tomorrow rest in the morning and DAK again in the afternoon.

 

[wilkeliza]

Here are a couple photos from yesterday. I need to edit the others to be a little smaller. These are already resized because they were on social media. The first is my brownie shake from Toothsome and the other is a happy coincidence photo from Diagonal Alley. I was just taking a photo of the dragon and next thing I know it was shooting flames! So cool.

 

[wilkeliza]

Day 3 - a lot of last minute changes

Today has been incredibly easy going. We decided after a wonderful dinner at Jinko last night we didn't need another nice dinner so scrapped California Grill. Instead we slept in and went to DAK. At DAK are at Yak and Yeti and we rode Expedition Everest and Fining Nemo. Neither on FP as Everest was a walk up and Nemo had last call as we walked in. Everest was fun as always. It was actually refreshing to see the regular queue as M hasn't seen it in years and I was cranky tired last time I went through it at the very last Expeditions Everest 5K. I forget how amazing the queue is. Finding Nemo was a ton of fun but there were a few rough choices at today's performance. It is a solid show though. Much to my surprise and enjoyment it was also the ASL showing. ASL is a language I absolutely love and still know from studying it in college. If I went back to working in the parks I would love to work at becoming a translator. I will say I think they could benifit from a 3rd person. 2 doing all the roles left a lot of things either hurried or just had a lot so switching back and forth.

As we left Nemo the rains began. This will be a theme of the day. We had no umbrellas or ponchos so I left M in a dry place and dashed to buy two umbrellas. We decided to leave and dry off at the hotel then go back out. We rested for a couple hours then decided to go to Epcot since it has EMH. We snagged a Test Track FP and barely got in a ride before the weather hit. It was only drizzling so we high tailed it to Tutto Italia. We had a wonderful dinner and wine but it was still raining. So that brings us to where we are now. Sitting in the Tutto Italia Wine Cellar having another glass and letting the weather pass. We hope illuminations goes off and then we can get in line for Frozen.

 

[wilkeliza]

Well the day turned from okay to AMAZING.

The heavy rain finally turned into a drizzle so we made our way to Frozen. The CMs were a little rough in how they told us it was closed but eh it is what it is. We decided to head over to the bakery and get a drink and snack. We found a table in the covering that had a decent view of the lake and figures we could watch a lot of Illuminations from there. Well Illuminations was pushed due to weather. After about 20 minutes I saw Frozen was back up on MDE and Illuminations had no known start time. It had also started into EMH so I figured the line would be tolerable if they were holding to EMH even though it had been down for a while. We walked over to Frozen and it was showing a 90 minute wait. We figured 90 minutes inside was better than 90 outside. Thankfully to our surprise the line was 15 minutes at worst. We rode and it was awesome. I want to give Sven a giant hug. We were in the back row and alone so I took that as an opportunity to take photos and record. Upon exiting we saw the line was actually shorter than before so we got made the long walk back around and got on again. This time no recording or taking pictures, I just wanted to enjoy. A gentleman behind us was clueless about Frozen but he was very impressed by the animatronics and audibly ooded and aaahed through out the ride. At one point he even said Wow that is pretty impressive. I love when grown adults are taken in by the magic. Got off and again the line was even less than before so made the long trek around. The fireworks still hadn't gone off so a lot of people were still waiting for that. We looped back one last time for ride 3 and could hear Illuminations start as we were waiting in the post merge portion of the queue. Again a great ride. We never did get a good photo out of it though. As we left this time the line definitely jumped to at least 30 minutes if not longer so we decided to head out. We have a full Epcot day later in the week so will do Soarin and stuff then.

We got back to the room and discovered the crazy thunderstorm was due to a tropical storm. I'm just glad Disney let all 3 fireworks shows go off with two of them holding for an hour. Gives me hope for tonight.

 

[CaliTex]

This is fun--a quasi-live report!

It's so nice when you can experience the rides without massive waits! Yay!

Interesting report on Universal. Have never been but we are talking about it for upcoming trips--probably not this December, though.

I know exactly what you mean when referring to the employees hanging with their friends--no biggie, but yet it kinda is.

We stayed CL at WL one year and the CMs were playing some sort of game with other WL CMs, looking down at the lobby from the OFC and hooting back and forth. I understand they are young people, and it was late, but still...it's just sort of off-putting. I didn't say anything, but it made a poor impression.

Have fun for the remainder of your trip!

 

[wilkeliza]

Ok so I didn't do yesterday so here goes.

Day 4 - Scorch the Earth hot Epcot and DHS.

We slept in a little and the headed to DHS by the way of Epcot. It was the first day of Food and Wine so I wanted to get my credit for the AP cup. We entered and it was clear it was going to be a hot hot hot day. We were drenched in sweat by the time we made it to the International Gateway. I stopped and said hi to a few ex-coworkers and grabbed maps and festival passports so we could make a plan of attack for the next day. Then off to take the boat the DHS.

At DHS we strolled through the shops (aka travel by A/C) then stopped and grabbed some refreshing beverages from Starbucks to pass the time before our Fastpass. First ride of the day was Star Tours. I have to say as much as I liked the Force Awakens portion it definitly feels shoe horned in. I know the time lines often didn't match with the others but at least you could believe it was happening as presented. The force awakens really takes you out of the zone and then plops you right back inside like nothing happened. Also on this ride it was very clear how negatively the heat was affecting people. I've never seen such a sweet cast member have their head chewed off 3 times during the boarding process before. All 3 issues were very minor and all stemmed from following safety protocols. I had hoped it was a fluke but would be proved wrong.

Next up lunch at Sci Fi. I'm amazed at how quiet it is. For 2 people the seating was good but man did we get sat with a grouchy person! There were two kids in the car next to us just being kids and for a very short period were kicked their foot area of the car. The guy in front of us called a waiter over to tell the kids to stop and be quiet. The waiter did and then of course the parents were upset that a CM was correcting their kid for something that wasn't about safety. They weren't even being destructive if was just that normal boredom kicking kids might do in a chair. The manager came over and appologized to the mom for what happened and gave all the kids the light up toys that come with the specialty drinks. Of course now the guy in front of us is grumbling over the toddler making noise. Again it was just normal toddler noise not screaming and crying or anything. The situation went south fr there when the food runner tried to deliver the wrong food to our car mates. They tore into the poor guy! I was shocked. What should have been a simple oh these aren't ours turned into a short a direct almost aggressive correction of the situation and belittle-ment of the CM. We just kept saying please and thank you as much as we could to try and make up for it. Food wise it was solid as always. M got the turkey club and I got a grilled cheese (not on the adult menu).

Next up Tot....

 

[wilkeliza]

So lets finish Day 4.

We rode Tower of Terror. It was a bunch of fun as per usual. After that we headed to Toy Story Midway. I maintained my winning streak against M. Still trying to break out past the Cat though. After TSMM it was off to Little Mermaid. I love it for all its early 90s wonder haha. First when we sat down I mentioned how damp my chair was. M said it was probably just how old the theater is and the humidity. How quickly did we find out that was wrong. Any time you went under the sea or back on land when it does the mist effect we got sprayed with water. The show is showing its age but still nice to get out of the heat in it.

From the Little Mermaid we went to our dessert party. Check in was easy and there were more than enough of the stand up tables. I loved how well they kept the party managed but used the extra space in launch bay. Saw lots of people get turned away with out the wrist bands and told they couldn't use the tables or have pictures with the Storm Troopers. I will say the handler with the Storm Troopers tonight was kind of mean. She was just very direct and offered no help if you had issues asking the Troopers for photos since you have to ask them directly. I asked them several times and got no replied so ask her and she just kept repeating you have to ask them. I said I don't think they can hear me as it is a little loud here and she just scoffed. Outside of this one CM everyone involved in the dessert party was so nice and wonderful. We left after getting our fill of desserts to use the bathroom and look in the SW shop. When we went to the shop I got challenged to a light-saber duel by a CM there. Tons of fun. It was 8:15ish and so we went ahead out to the viewing area as that is when we were told everyone would be walking out. We got there and there were maybe 10 people there so we got a spot right on the second rope. The first rope was for wheelchair and ecv users. There family was not allowed to stand with them at first and then was told they had to sit if there were going to stay there and were over 8. About 5 minutes before the fireworks started all kids 8 and under were invited to the front. Parents were not allowed to come. The CM running that space asked each kid to point to their parent and then informed them that after the show she would say Jedis to me and they were to come stand with her and she would not release them to any one other than who they pointed to. She was amazing at handling the kids and was very nice. The CMs there try to be accommodating and fair as possible and even handled themselves pretty well when there were issues. A plus to the party was that there were bottles of water as you came in along with your Chewbacca stein. The fireworks were some of the best I've ever seen on property. After the fireworks we waited on a bench for the mass exodus. It was actually clear how low crowd the parks were because there was a ton of space open up near the stage and surrounding the fireworks viewing area. Also the mass exodus took only a minute or two.

After leaving DHS we met our friend at Jambo and drove over to Kidanni to meet everyone else who just arrived. We realized quickly that it was a mistake as there is no quick service at Kidanni so everyone had to go back to Jambo to eat at Mara. I really didn't get what Kidanni didn't have a quick service. This would be the first time our friend realized he'll probably never book Kidanni again and just do Jambo if staying at AKL.

Next up FOOD and WINE.

 

[KnK]

Day 4 - Scorch the Earth hot Epcot and DHS.

What a perfect description. It was mighty hot last week. Heat index in the 105-109 category. This was our 18th visit in September, we just keep saying it was also the hottest.