TikiTikiFan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 1, 2018
Just got back from a trip. Our dates were 10/14-10/20 and it was me and my husband. Here's my quick report on our stay.
Wednesday 10/14 - Arrival and Disney Springs
We landed at MCO at 12:45 pm. There wasn't much of a line for DME and we were the first stop once we arrived on Disney property. Our room was ready so we headed there to drop our bags and refresh a bit. We had a preferred room and ended up in Barbados, Building 33, Room 3330. Our location was perfect, super close to the bus stop and a 5 minute walk to both the Skyliner and the Food Court. We caught a bus (18 minute wait) to DS, shopped, had dinner at Polite Pig and were back in the room by 7 pm.
Thursday 10/15 - Hollywood Studios
We got in line for the Skyliner around 7:30 am and were 6th in line. We made it to HS around 9:10 am and got in line for temperature check which hadn't opened yet. As we stood there, we saw the cars being led into the parking lot so we beat everyone coming by car. The line for temperature check seemed huge to us but once it opened it moved super fast.
We went straight to MRRR and got in line. The ride was already running and we were on and off by 9:30 am. We found a place to sit after that because my husband had a work call. At 10 am I tried to get us a boarding pass but failed. I used every trick I had read here on the DIS and had been practicing from home but no luck.
We then headed back to Galaxy's Edge and waited 20 minutes for MFSR, did some shopping, ate lunch at Docking Bay, had a12:40 pm ADR at Oga's, 5 minute wait for AS2 and 10 minute wait for TSM (did that one twice). In between AS2 and TSM we managed to snag boarding group 90 at the 2 pm drop.
After TSM, we did some shopping and waited 30 minutes for TOT. Then we had a 4:05 reservation to build lightsabers. That was by far my favorite thing of the entire trip. The build ceremony gave me goosebumps more than once.
As soon as we finished with the Lightsabers, our Boarding group was called. Once we were in line, it took forever to get to the first preshow. We even stopped at one point for about 20 minutes, either a cleaning cycle or it was down for a while. Once we made it through all the preshows and were loaded into our vehicle, it wouldn't start. They unloaded us and took us behind the scenes to another loading room where we finally got to ride. The whole process took about an hour and a half but man is that ride worth it!
After ROTR, we had to hurry to our 6:10 ADR at Sci Fi. After Sci Fi the park was closed so we headed out and waited about 10 minutes for the Skyliner.
Friday 10/16 - Epcot
We left the room around 9:15 am to head to the Skyliner and were about 50 families back in line. I wasn't in any hurry to get there because we planned to start with Food and Wine right at 11 am. A CM came around and offered us a "golden Skyliner pass" if we were willing to allow another party of 2 to board with us at Riviera. We took the offer which allowed us to jump to the front of the line. We were asked to sit facing each other at the far end of the car. Once we go to Riviera though, there wasn't another group to place with us so we continued to Epcot by ourselves.
We ate and shopped around the world, rode LWTL, Soarin' and SE, dinner at Rose and Crown at 6:10 pm then headed back to the resort. There was no wait at all for the Skyliner when we left the park around 7 pm (closing was 9 pm that night but we were tired).
Saturday 10/17 - Animal Kingdom
We were out the door by 6:45 am (AK opened at 8 am) and walked right on a bus. We were in the park and in line for FOP by 7:20 am. Rode FOP (about 50th in line) then NRJ with a 15 minute wait. Got a notice that EE would be down all day. As we left Pandora, the line for NRJ stretched all the way back to Tiffin's.
Hit up the Safari with a 20 minute wait then took the train back to Rafiki's Planet Watch. Participated in the 10:45 drawing class, drew Dumbo. Train back and then lunch at Flame Tree. After lunch headed to Dinosaur and waited 45 minutes (wait time said 75 minutes). The lack of EE that day really affected the wait times. We hit up some stores after Dinosaur and then exited the park around 2 pm.
Relaxed in the room and then got dinner at the food court and drinks at the pool bar. The long hot days caught up to us and we ended up falling asleep at 8 pm that night.
Sunday, 10/18 - Hollywood Studios
This trip was mostly about Star Wars stuff so we did a second day at HS. Followed our first morning pretty closely. At the Skyliner at 7:30 am, 4th in line this time. Headed straight to MRRR again and was done with that and in line for Slinky by 9:40. We waited about a half hour once Slinky opened. We were still in the Slinky Dog line at 10 am and once again failed to get a boarding pass for ROTR.
Lines were insane after we finished Slinky so we went to the Frozen show then had lunch at Baseline (giant pretzel and a California Sunset, yum!). Muppets was next and we waited through two shows before we got in, probably about 30 minutes. Then I found a place in the shade while my husband rode Star Tours (makes me very sick). He was on and off in under 20 minutes.
It was almost 2 pm at that time and threatening rain so we found a spot under an awning to try for a Boarding group. Got 94 this time then we headed back to Galaxy's Edge. Hubby wanted some different color Kyber crystals so we waited in line to get into Dok-Ondars. It poured for about 5 minutes while we were waiting, just long enough for us to get soaked.
Next was our 3 pm reservation to build droids. That was a lot of fun, I build a BB-8 unit and the hubby went with a R-5. We already knew we wouldn't have room for them in our suitcases so we had them shipped home. You can do that now right from the Droid Depot. It cost $34.95 to ship the 2 droids.
From there we went back to TSL and rode TSM again. We love that ride and are very competitive. I won this trip with 2 wins to 1. When we finished there, I checked the Boarding status and they were at 89. We headed back that way and after a few PP stops and a restroom stop they were at 93. At that point we did not think we would be able to ride and make our 5:20 ADR but decided we would rather ride ROTR and skip dinner if necessary. So we went to the ride and I keep refreshing and refreshing but they never did move to 94 and then the ride went down.
Disappointed, we made our way to 50s Prime time for our ADR. We ended up at the same exact table that we sat at during our Honeymoon 22 years before! This turned out to be my favorite meal of the trip so I am glad we made it to the ADR. Right as our entrees were delivered we got a notice that our Boarding group had been called and we had until 6:38 pm to get back which was an hour. Not sure if it's an hour all the time now or if it was just because it was the end of the day?
We finished dinner then headed back to Galaxy's Edge and got in line for ROTR. The line moved soooo slowly this time. We would move one line then stop, then one line and stop. This went on for 40 minutes and we were maybe two or three rooms from the first preshow when all the lights came on, the fire alarm went off and we were quickly evacuated to a backstage area. We were escorted back into the park near the Muppets theater as we heard fire trucks coming in. Still have no idea what happened.
The park was closed at that time so we headed out. The line for the Skyliner was a lot longer than the first day but still only took 10 minutes. It was spitting rain and I discovered that the Skyliner is not rain proof. We were pelted by rain the whole way back to Caribbean Beach through the air vents.
Monday 10/19 - Magic Kingdom
Finally my favorite park! Unfortunately this day did not go well at all, I made a huge mistake not listening to the people on here that recommended catching a bus at the Martinique stop. I think I had a false sense of security from how smoothly our AK day went. I had us head out to the Barbados stop around 7:30 am for a 9 am opening. Unfortunately the buses that day didn't even start running until about 8:15. By that time the bus stop was packed and there was zero order to it, some families were pushing their way to the front, disregarding the "stand here" lines. Plus once the buses started coming, they were full by the time they made it to us so they passed right on by.
After the 7th bus passed us without stopping, we ordered an Uber which came in about 10 minutes. The buses were finally loading at that point but I'm really glad we weren't dealing with the free for all that the bus stop was at that point.
With all that mess, we didn't make it into the park until well after rope drop. We still managed Space Mountain (20 mins), Buzz Lightyear (10 minutes) and Pirates (32 minutes) before our lunch ADR at The Plaza. After lunch it was threatening rain so we hit up Big Thunder (20 minutes, Jungle Cruise (20 minutes including a cleaning cycle). While on the Jungle Cruise the skies opened up and it rained off and on the rest of the day. We skipped HM because the line was all the way back to the shooting range in Fronterland and headed to Small World (20 mins), Peter Pan (20 minutes) and Dumbo (5 minutes). It started really raining at this point so we hit up some shows, COP, Tiki Room and Country Bears and then headed out via the Emporium and a few other stores.
A bus came very quickly and we made it on and were back at the resort quickly. We got dinner at the food court again and packed.
Tuesday, 10/20 - Departure
Our DME bus was at 7:45 so we were up and out the door by 7:15 am. We were the first pickup and only one other family got on the bus with us. We made stops at both Yacht Club and Riviera but no one got on at either stop. So we had a semi private trip back to the airport.
Well that turned out to be a bit longer than I intended it to be. If anyone has any questions, ask away!
Thank you this was so helpful! What time did the Skyliner start running each day for Epcot and HS?