Here Now & Just Back - A Place To Share Your Recent Experiences

[meremac]

Just back from WDW and had an amazing time as always! It was a short 3-nighter, but we got through everything on our list! We found the parks to be quite tolerable in terms of crowds. Got through nine rides at MK (PPF, BTMR, Tiana's, Tron, 7DMT, IASW, PotC, Buzz, HM) plus a funnel cake and lunch in just under four hours. Also got through six rides (MMRR, ToT, SDD, TSM, Swirling Saucers, and Smuggler's Run) plus a morning wrap/coffee/donut/drink at Tune-In Lounge in almost exactly three hours. Rode GotG twice (once on September day!). Got to experience the super fun pop-up bar in DinoLand, eat at Flame Tree for the first time, and hit a few of our fav AK attractions. Also had plenty of time for shopping, Disney Springs, F&W (did maybe ten booths over the course of two 1/2 days there), a monorail crawl, MNSSHP, Scat Cat's Club for a couple of sets, and a visit to Sanaa Lounge. Here's how we did it.

Friday: Took early flight, so we were at Epcot by maybe 12:30pm. Did GotG and half of our F & W must-do's. Swung back to POR to check out our room, then took the boat to Disney Springs. Had a snack and drink at Jock Lindsay's outside by the water, went bowling at Splitsville, walked around to check out the entertainment, then took the boat to POFQ for food/drinks/entertainment at Scat Cat's.

Saturday: Got to Epcot right near the end of Early Entry. Did Soarin', GotG, FEA, MJoW, Seas with Nemo, and the rest of our F & W must-do's. Took the Skyliner to Riviera to relax in the library with a cold brew for an hour or so, then took the bus to AK. Rode EE, Na'Vi, and FoP. Spent a LOT of time in the DinoLand lounge chatting with new friends . Ate a snack at Flame Tree. Took the bus to Kidani and watched the animals for a bit, then had bread service at Sanaa Lounge. Took a Lyft back to POR. In bed by 9:30pm lol.

Sunday: Got to MK right near the end of Early Entry. Did all the rides I mentioned. Back to the hotel for a rest by 12:30pm. Left again a little before 3pm. Took the bus to MK then walked to CR for a drink at Outer Rim. Took the monorail to the Poly. Grabbed a drink at Tambu Lounge and found a nice spot to look out the window and people watch. Took the monorail to GF. Had a drink at Enchanted Rose then grabbed some food from Citricos Lounge. Took the monorail back to MK for MNSSHP (got there at right around 6:40pm). Got TONS of PhotoPass shots, rode SM with the Halloween overlay, rode PeopleMover, then just enjoyed the party. Watched second parade from right outside the Pecos Bill exit then high-tailed it out of there to beat the Main Street crowds. Were the ONLY ONES on the POR bus, so our driver took us directly to our stop. Back in the room by 12:30am-ish.

Monday: Got to HS right after Early Entry started. Tried to ride MMRR standby but it was down, so rode TSM then got breakfast. Walked around leisurely for a bit, then rode all of the rides I mentioned above. Had a drink at Tune-In Lounge then took the bus to POFQ for a gumbo lunch. Strolled back to POR to get our bags and head to the airport.


Note: We DID purchase MultiPass every day except for Friday, and we did some Single Passes as well.

 

[brockash]

Here now. It’s busy & hot. Sun. was an early entry for MK, at our resort no bus showed up & when an AK bus showed up we asked the driver if he could give us an eta for a MK bus since there wasn’t an expected time on the board. He told us MK wasn’t early entry (it was) & the line on the board meant the driver hadn’t checked in yet. Needless to say no one was too happy & most pulled out their phones to get a llift/Uber. That’s what we did & arrived on time. For Tron, we bought a LLSP, my DH has a calf injury so we asked for the lap bar seat. There was a huge line for it & it took twice as long to ride. I heard a CM say the ride is 90sec & the lap car comes every 3min. So double pack your patience if you need the lap bar. Oddly Saturday for guardians, when we went to tap in using our LLSP, there was quite few people on the LLSP lane, but not one person on the VQ side (outside). Disney should open it up to standby I think. CMS, hate to say this, no flames plz, most of the cms at MK, with the exception of the cms at restaurants, were the most unhappy, phoning the job in, I’ve ever seen. Literally, a smile was not seen, lots of scowls, no Peter Pan magic sprinkle over the bar to lower it, good mornings & smiles were meant with frowns. I’ll save everyone from listing all the negativity we encountered from them. And we really do try to go out of our way to be kind cause their job is hard. This is with the exception of an older lady working in one of the Main Street shops who obviously loved her job. And a word of caution when eating in Epcot at the festival, they are putting some foods that should be kept in a fridge out in trays in the sun for faster service, making it warm & most likely not too safe to eat, no one wants food poisoning, just saying. I threw an item away because of this. Also I felt so sorry for a cm at one booth. She was an older lady taking the receipts & calling out the orders to the young ladies inside. She was so frustrated because they were playing around & not listening, the line was backing up, she was the one dealing with the back up on the outside. I told her she doing a great job & thanked her after seeing & hearing her frustration as she tried to get them to do their jobs. Poor lady. All together we have been enjoying ourselves. Guardians has taken the spot of my favorite ride.

Oh no, that's super frustrating about the bus...among other things. What resort are you staying at? I know it can happen anywhere, but curious.

 

[tsme]

Oh no, that's super frustrating about the bus...among other things. What resort are you staying at? I know it can happen anywhere, but curious.

BWI

 

[gottalovepluto]

BWI

Make sure to complain to the front desk, that is ridiculous. (Yes I know BWI has been among the least responsive to guest complaints the last couple years but maybe with the refurbs wrapping up they care again.)

 

[gottalovepluto]

Oh no, that's super frustrating about the bus...among other things. What resort are you staying at? I know it can happen anywhere, but curious.

No. Failure to send even a bus in time for EE rope drop is not a normal thing and is not commonly reported (I don’t even recall other reports of this). This was an epic transportation failure.

 

[VAtink]

No. Failure to send even a bus in time for EE rope drop is not a normal thing and is not commonly reported (I don’t even recall other reports of this). This was an epic transportation failure.

Agree it's not a normal thing, but we've had it happen a few times in the past two years where the first bus didn't get us to the park until the last minute of two of EE. Maybe it's just something with the Crescent Lake resorts since it's only happened to us at the YC.

 

[brockash]

No. Failure to send even a bus in time for EE rope drop is not a normal thing and is not commonly reported (I don’t even recall other reports of this). This was an epic transportation failure.

We had it happen whe staying at CR before and once at CBR. This was a number of years ago, but we have had it happen unfortunately. I agree completely unacceptable. I wonder if they were "sharing" a bus that morning and it was already full by the time they got done with YC & BC. Again, totally agree it should never happen, but that's what we thought may have happened at CBR since there's multiple bus stops. Very frustrating.

 

[conniehar90]

Recent experience with arriving late to Tiana's? We won't arrive to the park until 10 am and want to get a BG at 7 am. So, we might get called earlier. Thanks!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Recent experience with arriving late to Tiana's? We won't arrive to the park until 10 am and want to get a BG at 7 am. So, we might get called earlier. Thanks!

Please take the time to read the past 5-10 pages of this thread. This thread is where guests are sharing their recent experiences so the answer to your question may already be here. Thanks.

 

[kylenne]

Thank you for posting your experiences! Glad you are having a great time. I am going to try to follow this but for our trip with a big group I'm concerned about getting to the parks in time for our first LLMP. Do you know if the first LLMP expires, is it the same as tapping in case we miss it?

Apologies for the late reply, we were on the Wish all week. Expired LLs do NOT count. You have to tap in to unlock the ability to book more/park hop/ignore tiers. This is a hard limit on the system likely to prevent gaming it. If you think someone won’t make it in time then modify the LL beforehand to cancel it for whoever’s not making it. But quite frankly I would not be managing LLs for a gigantic group for this specific reason.

 

[Boardwalk III]

But quite frankly I would not be managing LLs for a gigantic group for this specific reason.

I have done this for many family trips (large & small) over the past few decades: from pre-booked fast passes all the way through Genie+. After the last time, I decided I was done (not an enjoyable way to spend my vacation, and they’re all adults now )

 

[kylenne]

I'm so sorry you had this experience! Prefacing this by saying that I am not trying to downplay your misfortune in any way because I know things like this happen from time to time and it's very frustrating. BUT I will say for others who are reading that we were also at WDW this weekend (Friday-Monday) and our experience was totally different. We found the vast majority of CMs to be super friendly (with maybe one or two exceptions), the buses came regularly and quickly (and were plentiful), and we didn't find the parks to be terribly crowded at all. And while it was definitely hot, we were pleasantly surprised with how comfortable it was on Friday and Saturday especially (then late Sunday into Monday, the humidity definitely started to build lol!).

Can definitely agree with this as well. We were there 9/18-9/23 and had nothing but positive experiences with CMs even on Saturday 9/21 through downpours at Epcot and Guardians being down for a while so the LL was backed up.

We also had zero issues with transportation from the GF fwiw. Monorails were fine, though we didn’t attempt front of the pack rope drop bc we were out late the night before at EEH.

just to be clear, you are able to stack only 2 rides not more for the park you are hopping to later, correct? and you keep 1 of the 3 that you keep refreshing in the current park you are in until you PH?

You can hold three at a time regardless. I only held on to Tiana because I actually planned to use it. Once we did use it I booked for HS. But I could have modified it to anything anywhere else if I felt like it once I tapped in at 8am.

 

[disneyAndi14]

CMS, hate to say this, no flames plz, most of the cms at MK, with the exception of the cms at restaurants, were the most unhappy, phoning the job in, I’ve ever seen. Literally, a smile was not seen, lots of scowls, no Peter Pan magic sprinkle over the bar to lower it, good mornings & smiles were meant with frowns.

Unfortunately we noticed this as well. I have never in all my trips seen so many CMs on their phones and talking to each other about non Disney things on their phones. They barely looked up to acknowledge the guests. I thought MK was the worst of the 4 parks. It is really sad to see so many apathetic CMs now!
We love WDW so much and we always say hello to CMs and thank them every single time we get on and off an attraction. This maybe why we have noticed it more.

 

[AnnaS]

Unfortunately we noticed this as well. I have never in all my trips seen so many CMs on their phones and talking to each other about non Disney things on their phones. They barely looked up to acknowledge the guests. I thought MK was the worst of the 4 parks. It is really sad to see so many apathetic CMs now!
We love WDW so much and we always say hello to CMs and thank them every single time we get on and off an attraction. This maybe why we have noticed it more.

I have noticed the CMs on their phones during the last few trips myself. I know everyone uses their phones now to work also - but it was a bit much without acknowledging guests much.

 

[bluezy]

Unfortunately we noticed this as well. I have never in all my trips seen so many CMs on their phones and talking to each other about non Disney things on their phones. They barely looked up to acknowledge the guests. I thought MK was the worst of the 4 parks. It is really sad to see so many apathetic CMs now!
We love WDW so much and we always say hello to CMs and thank them every single time we get on and off an attraction. This maybe why we have noticed it more.

I'm sorry people are encountering so many "less than magical" CMs during their visits. We were there in June and I can't remember a single unhappy/unmagical CM. In fact, we commented that after hearing so many stories of apathetic CMs, we were surprised at all the overly happy/friendly and engaging CMs we encountered everywhere. Maybe we just didn't notice the unhappy ones because we weren't looking for them. Everyone can have a bad day at work.

I have noticed the CMs on their phones during the last few trips myself. I know everyone uses their phones now to work also - but it was a bit much without acknowledging guests much.

We have a friend whose daughter did the CP about 5 years ago. Her job was emptying trash cans in an area of MK. During her "down" time, she cleaned one large bathroom and she also did the Disney character water drawings on the pavement. I know she would get a text message on her phone whenever a trash can was 3/4 full (she said there was a sensor in the trashcan that sent out the notification) so she knew to go empty it. I'm sure guests saw her looking at her phone frequently throughout the day. She had to look at it every time it went off so she knew which trash can to go to. There are probably other CM jobs where they get notified about things through texts to their phones.

 

[kylenne]

We got home last night and all I can say is MK was absolutely bonkers crowded yesterday even for a non party day. We went in around 10a solely so my gf could buy a Tron backpack from the Launch Depot and I haven’t seen crowds like that in a long time. I suspect it might be pent up demand from the storms affecting operating hours, or maybe we are beginning to see the start of Fall Break season, but we couldn’t get out fast enough. It was markedly different than our pre-cruise experience 9/18-9/22 w crowds, which were relatively light aside from Epcot being slammed on the 21st for obvious reasons. If I was planning a September trip I would definitely aim for the beginning of the month as opposed to now.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

Apologies for the late reply, we were on the Wish all week. Expired LLs do NOT count. You have to tap in to unlock the ability to book more/park hop/ignore tiers. This is a hard limit on the system likely to prevent gaming it. If you think someone won’t make it in time then modify the LL beforehand to cancel it for whoever’s not making it. But quite frankly I would not be managing LLs for a gigantic group for this specific reason.

Thank you! I appreciate the information. Makes sense.

 

[Tigger's ally]

. I suspect it might be pent up demand from the storms affecting operating hours, or maybe we are beginning to see the start of

Yeah, the locals always hit the parks hard on weekends after having to have the kids inside for a bit.

 

[NavyDad]

Agree it's not a normal thing, but we've had it happen a few times in the past two years where the first bus didn't get us to the park until the last minute of two of EE. Maybe it's just something with the Crescent Lake resorts since it's only happened to us at the YC.

We had a similar thing happen to us at Beach Club about 10 years ago.

Ironically I found the bus transportation at Beach Club to the be the very worst of any WDW resort we have ever stayed. It was obviously so convenient for walking to Epcot or DHS but it was like they just gave up on the buses to MK, AK and the water parks. The value resorts had much more reliable bus transportation in our experience. At Beach Club during our visit, the buses were an afterthought. It was the absolute worst.

 

[Gentry2004]

Just returned from a week in WDW. 2 adults, 2 teens, experienced Disney goers. We had 6 park days and also went to Typhoon Lagoon. We had two days each in MK and HS and one day in AK and EP. Overall things went very very well and crowds were very manageable. It was easy to make smart touring plans. We bought LLMP one of our MK and HS days. We didn't need it the other days at those parks nor our AK day and all those days felt fun and also productive.

Now...about Epcot. It was a hard and frustrating day. We were torn about LLMP. We ultimately decided not to buy it because it seemed really difficult to get Frozen same day if choosing Remy in advance and we didn't want to pay $24pp just to ride Remy. Based on Thrill Data, same day Frozen was very minimal our day. World Showcase is so crowded even early in the day and by midafternoon was just unbearable. And we went on a Monday! I don't remember it being like this. Was it just because of Food & Wine? Because Test Track is down? If this is just the "new normal" at Epcot, I'm honestly not sure we will keep going. Or maybe just make it a half day morning park. Did I do something wrong? What should I have done differently? Everyone complains about HS, but I had no trouble getting literally every LL there. I would have been willing to pay at Epcot if LLMP provided more value there, but I just didn't see it.