This is not a real trip report like I see on here with the nice pics.. just wanted to provide a summary of my trip in the event it can help anyone. We returned home 9/16.
We stayed at POP this was our very first onsite stay, this is my very first long post on here eventhough I am a long time lurker. We were only there 5 days but they have got us returning.. we seemed to have goodluck despite the storm on MNSSHP night.
Room was ok but I can see why refurbishments are being scheduled, our offsite stays at a condo are usually in nicer buildings. But it was good enough, and we agreed to return for FD next year and booked the bounceback.
First day pool time was nice, computer pool was empty.. did some resort touring.
Next day we hit the studios used SDFP for Toy Story, had a nice character lunch and later met all the Star Wars characters. My 4yr old loved the Jawas! Tried Characterpalooza but it started to rain so we hopped to MK and used our regular FPs, got multiple FP's for a couple of more rides and had dinner at BOG. (I tried since May,the first day I booked to get an earlier dinner and I was never able to bump this up before 8p, I tried everyday multiple times up until a cpl hours before the reservation, I'm not sure how ppl get this during FD, it was difficult to even score the 8p) On our way out I asked a CM at a gift shop if they sold cases of water. I was told sure we will sell you one here. I told them I couldnt balance/carry a case and get it on the bus.. they went to their manager, we waited 10 min, they said they had to call somewhere else for a transfer... all this from just a question "can I buy a case of water anywhere" (I had asked at pop earlier that day and everyone looked at me like I had 8 heads and said we dont do that, I know from reading on here that they are avail and price has been anywhere from $7-$17 depending on who you ask) Anyway they took my name and cell down and asked for my rm number and told me they would get back to me soon. Not even 40 min later when I was still in fantasyland they called and said this is management from pop.. what kind of water do you want? I said any, thanked them and they said no problem its on us and it will be in your room in a bit. (we got a case of 24 Dasani) I thought this was funny because we were never persistent.. it all started from a simple question to a CM. Buses on way out super packed I thought this was the only frustrating part, but my husband said eventhough we sometimes waited for 2 buses to get on.. it was way better than finding where you parked and sitting in traffic leaving the parks via a rental car.
Next day pool again and Ohana.. Ohana was the worst, funny because a few months ago it was the best character meal we ever had. We like to sched late close to lunch so my son has more time with Stitch and we can hopefully stick around for 2 parades around the floor. But this time it was an hour wait, our food was out in 10 min and we were rushed out. Stitch barely made it to our table and they started sweeping and cleaning the floors as we were walking away. We were not very last to leave. I would be upset if all the cleaning was going on while I was still eating like the other families remaining there. We were back at POP getting into our costumes when we saw the awful weather forecast. We went to MNSSHP and missed lining up at 430 for Jack and Sally like I wanted to.. it took waiting for 3 buses to get a spot standing on one bus to get us there by 5. By the time I saw the line it looked like it was 2 hrs long and they were not out yet so we went to use our FP, only used 2 FP that day. Lined up for the dwarf meet, we were in a great spot, still no rain and were 10th in line. Moved into the tent to wait, left my husband in line and brought dinner, was able to eat right outside tent and it began to pour. 615p, no dwarves.. pouring thunder and lightning, 7p got excited when party announcement came on.. still no dwarves... 745 CM kept asking to see wristbands, still no dwarves. 8p put on ponchos and battled the storm. puddles were ankle deep, a mess. My husband just wanted to leave and my son kept asking for Dopey. We walked up to entrance very quickly.. I got our sorcerer cards, and wanted a magic shot of anything, but there were no photographers to be found anywhere in this rain. I saw a long line at town hall and ppl were saying they were waiting for a discount/credit. I didnt want to chance waiting in a long line to be told sry no. The greeters under the train said goodbye and smiled, and I think the northerner came out in me.. I said this is a mess, we did nothing today, you guys should provide something in the case of a storm this bad. The young CMs said sry but there is another guest services line over before you enter the park, maybe they can help. I looked at the line and it was only a few ppl deep. I noticed ppl were walking away orderly, and 5 windows were open.. no one looked mad so maybe they were giving a credit. I got on line waited 15 min in the rain and they did provide party tickets for future use with no exp date. (everyone seemed to be getting a diff offer tho.. I heard ppl saying they got a refund, others arguing with a credit card company about refunds, others complaining they did not want another party ticket for that week, others were happy they got anyday after 4pm tickets for MK.. it was confusing, one lady straight up started balling and yelling at the CM behind the glass) I was happy with our replacement tickets even though I didnt get an actual ticket they said it was on my acct. I took a picture of the form I filled out, a picture of the CM/name who helped me and wrote a note in my cell regarding time and window I was at. Its not on my Disney exp acct, but I am hoping its visible to them there. We rode back to Pop in the rain, standing rm only, packed in with the worst of disney rainy/BO smells..
Next day Epcot, HS and MK.
We met multiple characters at Epcot and had a cpl FP Nemo etc. Skipped Joy and Sadness due to long wait. Lunch at via napoli, they let us do something I did not know was possible. From reading on here, I thought no one could share a small pie, however I asked them to bring my son his child TS credit meal, and my husband and I shared an indiv daily special pie. We honestly did not want so much food so figured I would ask. My son had a left over TS because I was not about to have him eat dinner at 830 at BOG the night before. He only had an app at BOG, and he had eaten dinner at 530 using a QS credit.
We were supposed to be at Epcot most of the day, but my son kept asking for Dopey, I decided to give character palooza a shot again. This meant forfeiting my frozen 4p FP at epcot (YES its crazy, this FP was booked at exactly 60days and I was never ever able to bump it to an earlier time but I thought about it and he has no idea the frozen ride exists, I really wanted to ride but if he met Dopey that would have made me happier) so I figured to cancel and just catch it whenever we return. It probably made some family really happy to score our cancelled FP. We made it to mgm and caught the character palooza but no Dopey. (caught the evil queen, stitch, aladdin, mulan and someone I cant remember) Its ok because at least we tried. Had dinner at Minnies halloween party thing (so not worth it, it had good indiv interaction, but there was no extra halloween theme to it, just some funny names on the buffet foods and characters in costume with some decor) WE hopped to MK and closed out the night, EMH.
Booked the FD BouceBack for similar week next year, I called from the airport. Was able to use the leftover giftcards for dep. We booked 5 nights eventhough offer says 6 nights.. not sure how many less nights are allowed. Our dates go past 9/9 but since our check in is before 9/9 we still get FD. Hopefully we will catch the second or third MNSSHP for 2017, and get use of our replacement tickets.
We stayed at POP this was our very first onsite stay, this is my very first long post on here eventhough I am a long time lurker. We were only there 5 days but they have got us returning.. we seemed to have goodluck despite the storm on MNSSHP night.
Room was ok but I can see why refurbishments are being scheduled, our offsite stays at a condo are usually in nicer buildings. But it was good enough, and we agreed to return for FD next year and booked the bounceback.
First day pool time was nice, computer pool was empty.. did some resort touring.
Next day we hit the studios used SDFP for Toy Story, had a nice character lunch and later met all the Star Wars characters. My 4yr old loved the Jawas! Tried Characterpalooza but it started to rain so we hopped to MK and used our regular FPs, got multiple FP's for a couple of more rides and had dinner at BOG. (I tried since May,the first day I booked to get an earlier dinner and I was never able to bump this up before 8p, I tried everyday multiple times up until a cpl hours before the reservation, I'm not sure how ppl get this during FD, it was difficult to even score the 8p) On our way out I asked a CM at a gift shop if they sold cases of water. I was told sure we will sell you one here. I told them I couldnt balance/carry a case and get it on the bus.. they went to their manager, we waited 10 min, they said they had to call somewhere else for a transfer... all this from just a question "can I buy a case of water anywhere" (I had asked at pop earlier that day and everyone looked at me like I had 8 heads and said we dont do that, I know from reading on here that they are avail and price has been anywhere from $7-$17 depending on who you ask) Anyway they took my name and cell down and asked for my rm number and told me they would get back to me soon. Not even 40 min later when I was still in fantasyland they called and said this is management from pop.. what kind of water do you want? I said any, thanked them and they said no problem its on us and it will be in your room in a bit. (we got a case of 24 Dasani) I thought this was funny because we were never persistent.. it all started from a simple question to a CM. Buses on way out super packed I thought this was the only frustrating part, but my husband said eventhough we sometimes waited for 2 buses to get on.. it was way better than finding where you parked and sitting in traffic leaving the parks via a rental car.
Next day pool again and Ohana.. Ohana was the worst, funny because a few months ago it was the best character meal we ever had. We like to sched late close to lunch so my son has more time with Stitch and we can hopefully stick around for 2 parades around the floor. But this time it was an hour wait, our food was out in 10 min and we were rushed out. Stitch barely made it to our table and they started sweeping and cleaning the floors as we were walking away. We were not very last to leave. I would be upset if all the cleaning was going on while I was still eating like the other families remaining there. We were back at POP getting into our costumes when we saw the awful weather forecast. We went to MNSSHP and missed lining up at 430 for Jack and Sally like I wanted to.. it took waiting for 3 buses to get a spot standing on one bus to get us there by 5. By the time I saw the line it looked like it was 2 hrs long and they were not out yet so we went to use our FP, only used 2 FP that day. Lined up for the dwarf meet, we were in a great spot, still no rain and were 10th in line. Moved into the tent to wait, left my husband in line and brought dinner, was able to eat right outside tent and it began to pour. 615p, no dwarves.. pouring thunder and lightning, 7p got excited when party announcement came on.. still no dwarves... 745 CM kept asking to see wristbands, still no dwarves. 8p put on ponchos and battled the storm. puddles were ankle deep, a mess. My husband just wanted to leave and my son kept asking for Dopey. We walked up to entrance very quickly.. I got our sorcerer cards, and wanted a magic shot of anything, but there were no photographers to be found anywhere in this rain. I saw a long line at town hall and ppl were saying they were waiting for a discount/credit. I didnt want to chance waiting in a long line to be told sry no. The greeters under the train said goodbye and smiled, and I think the northerner came out in me.. I said this is a mess, we did nothing today, you guys should provide something in the case of a storm this bad. The young CMs said sry but there is another guest services line over before you enter the park, maybe they can help. I looked at the line and it was only a few ppl deep. I noticed ppl were walking away orderly, and 5 windows were open.. no one looked mad so maybe they were giving a credit. I got on line waited 15 min in the rain and they did provide party tickets for future use with no exp date. (everyone seemed to be getting a diff offer tho.. I heard ppl saying they got a refund, others arguing with a credit card company about refunds, others complaining they did not want another party ticket for that week, others were happy they got anyday after 4pm tickets for MK.. it was confusing, one lady straight up started balling and yelling at the CM behind the glass) I was happy with our replacement tickets even though I didnt get an actual ticket they said it was on my acct. I took a picture of the form I filled out, a picture of the CM/name who helped me and wrote a note in my cell regarding time and window I was at. Its not on my Disney exp acct, but I am hoping its visible to them there. We rode back to Pop in the rain, standing rm only, packed in with the worst of disney rainy/BO smells..
Next day Epcot, HS and MK.
We met multiple characters at Epcot and had a cpl FP Nemo etc. Skipped Joy and Sadness due to long wait. Lunch at via napoli, they let us do something I did not know was possible. From reading on here, I thought no one could share a small pie, however I asked them to bring my son his child TS credit meal, and my husband and I shared an indiv daily special pie. We honestly did not want so much food so figured I would ask. My son had a left over TS because I was not about to have him eat dinner at 830 at BOG the night before. He only had an app at BOG, and he had eaten dinner at 530 using a QS credit.
We were supposed to be at Epcot most of the day, but my son kept asking for Dopey, I decided to give character palooza a shot again. This meant forfeiting my frozen 4p FP at epcot (YES its crazy, this FP was booked at exactly 60days and I was never ever able to bump it to an earlier time but I thought about it and he has no idea the frozen ride exists, I really wanted to ride but if he met Dopey that would have made me happier) so I figured to cancel and just catch it whenever we return. It probably made some family really happy to score our cancelled FP. We made it to mgm and caught the character palooza but no Dopey. (caught the evil queen, stitch, aladdin, mulan and someone I cant remember) Its ok because at least we tried. Had dinner at Minnies halloween party thing (so not worth it, it had good indiv interaction, but there was no extra halloween theme to it, just some funny names on the buffet foods and characters in costume with some decor) WE hopped to MK and closed out the night, EMH.
Booked the FD BouceBack for similar week next year, I called from the airport. Was able to use the leftover giftcards for dep. We booked 5 nights eventhough offer says 6 nights.. not sure how many less nights are allowed. Our dates go past 9/9 but since our check in is before 9/9 we still get FD. Hopefully we will catch the second or third MNSSHP for 2017, and get use of our replacement tickets.
