andyman8
DIS Veteran and WDW Passholder
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2011
- Messages
- 4,664
Yesterday was a complete washout! It was cloudy all morning but at 2pm, the heavens let lose and the rain was on and off the rest of the day all the way into the night past the fireworks. For me, rain can make things difficult but I still think we had a nice day at MK.
Started off with breakfast at CRT, which was amazing as always. We didn't have any young kids or princess-lovers in our group, but we really enjoyed it not as much for the princesses but rather the food and atmosphere (no better way to start your day than IN the castle). Really a great experience and worth it in my opinion. Our ADR was at 10:15 and we were finished just after 11:30.
We headed over to Tomorrowland to ride Buzz then returned to Fantasyland for our FP+ 7DMT. In reality, it's much more fun at night. Maybe because it was my second ride on it but I can't call it amazing by any stretch of the word. It was fun, cute, and nice, but not necessarily an E-ticket in my opinion.
Next, we headed west to grab a snack at the Golden Oak Outpost (great fries and you can also get the free iced water there) and went to Tom Sawyer Island for a bit. This is definitely a neat area and worth exploring. By the time we returned, it was time for our Splash FP+ but it was down. For those who don't know, if an attraction is down during your FP+ window, you will be given a list of attractions (most FP+ ones except 7DMT, Wishes, MSEP, FoF, and character greetings) that you can use your FP+ instead through park close. That said, on that list is also your original FP+ attraction, so for us, that was Splash. We discussed where we wanted to go for about 5 minutes and lo and behold Splash re-opened. Jumped in the standby, waited about 10 minutes (the line had been emptied due to the breakdown), and got onboard. Unfortunately, between the time we entered the line and the time we boarded, a torrential downpour had begun but not enough for them to close the ride. Needless to say, we got a little too wet on Splash. I don't recommend riding it in the rain.
Drying our clothes took a lot more time cause the rain/clouds didn't let up all day. We did a bit of shopping and headed over to Space to use or FP+, but of course, that was down too, so we went over to HM, had lunch at Cosmic Ray's, and attempted to see the new Festival of Fantasy Parade. Biggest disappointment of the trip is that it was canceled. While I understand that it would have been unsafe for the performers, I was still pretty upset. They brought out the MK Rainy Day Calvacade, which consisted of three back-to-back Main Street Vehicles with some characters on them set to the old Countdown to Fun soundtrack except they occasionally inserted "Rain, Rain, Go Away". If you've never seen this, consider yourself lucky. I wish I could have those four minutes back. That said, I'll be back, so I will see FoF then.
We returned to Space to see if it was open and it was, so we rode using FP+. We then got another FP+ for Splash for 7:35 at the kiosk. Tip here is that those kiosks are incredibly stubborn and you've got to press down hard a couple times to make a selection. Scrolling on the list of attractions was particularly difficult. The CM advised me to hit the bottoms of the arrows, which seemed to work. The app needs to be able to book 4th FP+ soon. The kiosks have somewhat sizable lines, are annoying, and were very inconvenient, but I rather have 4th FP+ from a kiosk than none at all.
Rode the TTA and Mad Tea Party than just chilled for a bit. Went on PoTC as another show came in. Walked around New Fantasyland and went to dinner at BOG at 5:30pm. Such a wonderful restaurant but not worth the ADR craze. Don't get me wrong, it was really nice, but I wouldn't do the whole 180+10 thing again for it. Overall, nice dinner though. Be sure to meet the "Master" (the Beast) in his study. Lots of laughs and fun!
We were in there for quite some time but just made our 7:35 Splash FP+ then got another for Space, while some in our group rode Splash again (only had a 15 minute standby due to all the rain). We met up and rode BTMRR and then did Splash one more time. After all that was said and done, it was time for the highlight of the day: the Wishes Dessert Party.
I had never tried the WDP but will certainly be doing it again. This was 100x better than the IllumiNations one. Much more established too, you could tell. We got there at 9pm and were let in about 10 minutes later. The view was fantastic and the desserts were plentiful and delicious. Because of my dairy allergy, I couldn't eat most of the desserts but a chef came out and brought me my own plate of non-dairy desserts. This made my day. There was some sort of chocolate/fudge cake (non-dairy of course) and dairy-free cookies and ice cream and fruit scattered around the plate. Delicious! Watched Celebrate the Magic (which has really grown on me) and Wishes from here and it was perhaps the best view I've had. Oddly, it started raining towards the end of Wishes but they kept going. I've never seen someone launch fireworks in the rain, but because we were undercover, our experience was virtually unchanged. This is, by far, worth the $30!
After the party, we used our FP+ for Space, rode Buzz, Astro, and Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid before doing some shopping at the Emporium on our way out of the park. It was a busy day, but everyone's resting today.
What did we learn? Rain definitely makes navigating the parks tricky but decreases waits, FP+ kiosks are difficult to use and take time so plan accordingly, Golden Oak Outpost (right next to the Pirates game) has free iced water, the Rainy Day Parade is pitiful, FoF does get canceled, BOG is great but not worth the ADR thing, and the Wishes Dessert Party is a must-do.
Overall, we had an enjoyable day! Weather is looking much nicer today with more blue and sun and less crowds. We're doing breakfast at 1900 Park Fare before we head to a water park and top it off with dinner at DTD. Thanks for following along!
Started off with breakfast at CRT, which was amazing as always. We didn't have any young kids or princess-lovers in our group, but we really enjoyed it not as much for the princesses but rather the food and atmosphere (no better way to start your day than IN the castle). Really a great experience and worth it in my opinion. Our ADR was at 10:15 and we were finished just after 11:30.
We headed over to Tomorrowland to ride Buzz then returned to Fantasyland for our FP+ 7DMT. In reality, it's much more fun at night. Maybe because it was my second ride on it but I can't call it amazing by any stretch of the word. It was fun, cute, and nice, but not necessarily an E-ticket in my opinion.
Next, we headed west to grab a snack at the Golden Oak Outpost (great fries and you can also get the free iced water there) and went to Tom Sawyer Island for a bit. This is definitely a neat area and worth exploring. By the time we returned, it was time for our Splash FP+ but it was down. For those who don't know, if an attraction is down during your FP+ window, you will be given a list of attractions (most FP+ ones except 7DMT, Wishes, MSEP, FoF, and character greetings) that you can use your FP+ instead through park close. That said, on that list is also your original FP+ attraction, so for us, that was Splash. We discussed where we wanted to go for about 5 minutes and lo and behold Splash re-opened. Jumped in the standby, waited about 10 minutes (the line had been emptied due to the breakdown), and got onboard. Unfortunately, between the time we entered the line and the time we boarded, a torrential downpour had begun but not enough for them to close the ride. Needless to say, we got a little too wet on Splash. I don't recommend riding it in the rain.
Drying our clothes took a lot more time cause the rain/clouds didn't let up all day. We did a bit of shopping and headed over to Space to use or FP+, but of course, that was down too, so we went over to HM, had lunch at Cosmic Ray's, and attempted to see the new Festival of Fantasy Parade. Biggest disappointment of the trip is that it was canceled. While I understand that it would have been unsafe for the performers, I was still pretty upset. They brought out the MK Rainy Day Calvacade, which consisted of three back-to-back Main Street Vehicles with some characters on them set to the old Countdown to Fun soundtrack except they occasionally inserted "Rain, Rain, Go Away". If you've never seen this, consider yourself lucky. I wish I could have those four minutes back. That said, I'll be back, so I will see FoF then.
We returned to Space to see if it was open and it was, so we rode using FP+. We then got another FP+ for Splash for 7:35 at the kiosk. Tip here is that those kiosks are incredibly stubborn and you've got to press down hard a couple times to make a selection. Scrolling on the list of attractions was particularly difficult. The CM advised me to hit the bottoms of the arrows, which seemed to work. The app needs to be able to book 4th FP+ soon. The kiosks have somewhat sizable lines, are annoying, and were very inconvenient, but I rather have 4th FP+ from a kiosk than none at all.
Rode the TTA and Mad Tea Party than just chilled for a bit. Went on PoTC as another show came in. Walked around New Fantasyland and went to dinner at BOG at 5:30pm. Such a wonderful restaurant but not worth the ADR craze. Don't get me wrong, it was really nice, but I wouldn't do the whole 180+10 thing again for it. Overall, nice dinner though. Be sure to meet the "Master" (the Beast) in his study. Lots of laughs and fun!
We were in there for quite some time but just made our 7:35 Splash FP+ then got another for Space, while some in our group rode Splash again (only had a 15 minute standby due to all the rain). We met up and rode BTMRR and then did Splash one more time. After all that was said and done, it was time for the highlight of the day: the Wishes Dessert Party.
I had never tried the WDP but will certainly be doing it again. This was 100x better than the IllumiNations one. Much more established too, you could tell. We got there at 9pm and were let in about 10 minutes later. The view was fantastic and the desserts were plentiful and delicious. Because of my dairy allergy, I couldn't eat most of the desserts but a chef came out and brought me my own plate of non-dairy desserts. This made my day. There was some sort of chocolate/fudge cake (non-dairy of course) and dairy-free cookies and ice cream and fruit scattered around the plate. Delicious! Watched Celebrate the Magic (which has really grown on me) and Wishes from here and it was perhaps the best view I've had. Oddly, it started raining towards the end of Wishes but they kept going. I've never seen someone launch fireworks in the rain, but because we were undercover, our experience was virtually unchanged. This is, by far, worth the $30!
After the party, we used our FP+ for Space, rode Buzz, Astro, and Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid before doing some shopping at the Emporium on our way out of the park. It was a busy day, but everyone's resting today.
What did we learn? Rain definitely makes navigating the parks tricky but decreases waits, FP+ kiosks are difficult to use and take time so plan accordingly, Golden Oak Outpost (right next to the Pirates game) has free iced water, the Rainy Day Parade is pitiful, FoF does get canceled, BOG is great but not worth the ADR thing, and the Wishes Dessert Party is a must-do.
Overall, we had an enjoyable day! Weather is looking much nicer today with more blue and sun and less crowds. We're doing breakfast at 1900 Park Fare before we head to a water park and top it off with dinner at DTD. Thanks for following along!
