Just back from our first Spring Break trip and our first since the start of Magic Bands and Fast Pass+. Thought I might share some thoughts in this (hopefully) brief trip report.
1. Pixie Dust ... we were booked in a standard room at the Boardwalk (our favorite resort). We received a text message indicating that our room was ready when we boarded the MDE at MCO. We were pleased as it was only about 10:00 AM and it was going to be nice to get into the room before we headed over to EPCOT for our first fast pass at 12:30. When we got to the resort we went to check in and were told that we could just go to out room and use our Magic Bands to gain access. When we told the CM our room number to ask for directions he paused then asked us to wait as we had to "check in" after all ... at Club Level! We had been given an upgrade to Club Level ... and a Garden Cottage no less! That was our first ever upgrade and we were thrilled ... we got the complete tour of the "club", met the concierge, and were escorted to our cottage ... which was absolutely lovely. We missed our Fast Pass window ... but we were quite okay with that!
2. Magic Bands ... we really liked the Magic Bands! It took a little while to get used to not doing the "do you have your card?" check every morning but loved the convenience. We had no issues with them and didn't see to many instances where others had problems at the gates or attractions. They did seem to have plenty of assistance ready at the entrances in the few cases where there were issues with either the bands or cards so there weren't many delays getting through the gates. We did not use them to charge things to our room ... but we never used the old KTTW cards for that either.
3. Fast Pass + ... Actually enjoyed our first experience with these! We had the advantage of having used these boards to make the most of the experience and that was certainly the difference! We did see instances where people were "stumbling" around trying to figure them out when they arrived and that was really a shame! There were plenty of CM's at the kiosks to assist with the process but that had to be a tough start to a day! We hit the parks at opening and rode as many rides as possible early then had our fast passes for later in the day. We also found that we rode things we hadn't done in years because the standby lines were short and we were there ... haven't done the Teacups since my daughter was about five! It was fun! We really killed it at the Magic Kingdom ... did about 10 rides and even did a standby of POC before our fast pass time which was good timing as the ride went down later in the morning right around our FastPass time and that pass was cancelled! We were back to the resort and enjoying a cool dip in the pool by 2:00 in the afternoon!
4. Crowds ... it was Spring Break and we knew it would be crowded ... and hot! Here our "rope drop" strategy worked well. It was cool and reasonably "uncrowded" early in the day and by the time things started getting uncomfortable we were ready for a break at the pool. We did return to the parks in the evenings (usually Epcot) and while crowded it was generally cooler. We did go to MK for the fireworks one evening (TT Wishes Dessert Party) and thought about staying a while but the crowds were insane! Got out as soon as we could!
All in all it was a great trip! The planning really helped ... but did leave some time for more "spontaneous" experiences along the way. I will say the DIS boards are a wonderful "tool" in the planning process!
1. Pixie Dust ... we were booked in a standard room at the Boardwalk (our favorite resort). We received a text message indicating that our room was ready when we boarded the MDE at MCO. We were pleased as it was only about 10:00 AM and it was going to be nice to get into the room before we headed over to EPCOT for our first fast pass at 12:30. When we got to the resort we went to check in and were told that we could just go to out room and use our Magic Bands to gain access. When we told the CM our room number to ask for directions he paused then asked us to wait as we had to "check in" after all ... at Club Level! We had been given an upgrade to Club Level ... and a Garden Cottage no less! That was our first ever upgrade and we were thrilled ... we got the complete tour of the "club", met the concierge, and were escorted to our cottage ... which was absolutely lovely. We missed our Fast Pass window ... but we were quite okay with that!
2. Magic Bands ... we really liked the Magic Bands! It took a little while to get used to not doing the "do you have your card?" check every morning but loved the convenience. We had no issues with them and didn't see to many instances where others had problems at the gates or attractions. They did seem to have plenty of assistance ready at the entrances in the few cases where there were issues with either the bands or cards so there weren't many delays getting through the gates. We did not use them to charge things to our room ... but we never used the old KTTW cards for that either.
3. Fast Pass + ... Actually enjoyed our first experience with these! We had the advantage of having used these boards to make the most of the experience and that was certainly the difference! We did see instances where people were "stumbling" around trying to figure them out when they arrived and that was really a shame! There were plenty of CM's at the kiosks to assist with the process but that had to be a tough start to a day! We hit the parks at opening and rode as many rides as possible early then had our fast passes for later in the day. We also found that we rode things we hadn't done in years because the standby lines were short and we were there ... haven't done the Teacups since my daughter was about five! It was fun! We really killed it at the Magic Kingdom ... did about 10 rides and even did a standby of POC before our fast pass time which was good timing as the ride went down later in the morning right around our FastPass time and that pass was cancelled! We were back to the resort and enjoying a cool dip in the pool by 2:00 in the afternoon!
4. Crowds ... it was Spring Break and we knew it would be crowded ... and hot! Here our "rope drop" strategy worked well. It was cool and reasonably "uncrowded" early in the day and by the time things started getting uncomfortable we were ready for a break at the pool. We did return to the parks in the evenings (usually Epcot) and while crowded it was generally cooler. We did go to MK for the fireworks one evening (TT Wishes Dessert Party) and thought about staying a while but the crowds were insane! Got out as soon as we could!
All in all it was a great trip! The planning really helped ... but did leave some time for more "spontaneous" experiences along the way. I will say the DIS boards are a wonderful "tool" in the planning process!
sounds like a great trip!
