Here Now -- Some Observations and Tips

[LWILDP]

Hi,
Thought I'd post some observations and tips from our current vacation. I will preface that we were able to get FP for many of the rides (7DMT and A&E) but thought the following may be useful.

1) Parks: we've been following park recommendations on easy WDW and have found they've been dead on. Went to DHS on Mon, MK on TUes and Epcot on Thurs and crowds have been really good. A key tip DO GO EARLY IN THE MORNING. We got to MK a bit after rope drop at 8am and even then was surprised how much we could do. We literally walked on PP and Winnie the Pooh 2x in a row, met Ariel, did Under the Sea, Dumbo, Branstormer 2X, Tomorrowland Speedway, Astro Orbitor, and Space Mountsin 2X (child swap) all before 11am!! And did not use a single FP. Even 7DMT was showing about 30 min waits till almost 9am. All to say we got waay more done in the first 3 hours then we ever expected.

2) Wait Times: posted wait times, especially in the morning were way off. For instance at 8am PP was showing a 20min wait but we walked on 2x in a row.

3) Dining Reservation: DO CHECK DAY OF for reservations you may want. For instance, yesterday we went to Epcot and while waiting for the bus I checked dining avail on MDE and saw one come up for the pizza place which I never saw before. So it doesn't hurt to check for those last minute cancellations.

4) 4th FP are available but don't necessarily expect for the popular rides. For us that was ok as we went in expecting that and used our 4th FP for things like Jingle Cruise and POTC which are surprisingly busy in the afternoon.

5) Use busy times to do less popular rides and other stuff: we went Wed evening to MSEP and it was noticeably busier. Used the time to do Swiss Family, Philharmonic (forgot how good that was!), Dumbo and Sorcerers cards. Had a great time as we weren't expecting to get a lot of rides in and since we had done so many the previous morning didn't feel left out. In fact almost enjoyed it more as didn't feel we were rushing to the next ride. All to say busy times can be good if you adjust expectations and plans.

Hope this may be somewhat helpful!

 

[jfm685]

Thanks for the tips! Hope that you continue to have a wonderful time!

 

[DaisyNY]

Thanks for sharing...PP is my 26 yo DD favorite...we have FP for it but when she heard there was a new queue she is planning for us to go through it. She would love to go on it twice in a row!

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed reading your review and thoughts. Sounds like your trip was a success

 

[Priory]

Were you in epcot yesterday? It was the most recommended park and I thought the amount of people was crazy. That said - I had to leave future world around 12 for a dining reservation and ended up in world showcase the rest of the day. Obviously there's no lines but it was so busy compared to my May 2010 trip I could not believe it. Hard to walk at times. I'm sure the rides and future world felt better. Should have gone back over there. As for Wednesday i chose magic kingdom which was tentatively recommended. Lots of people but lines were good except for the peak times but I was impressed by FP+ in this park. I ended up with 7 fastpasses and even changed my 6th on the fly using my phone when I realized the ride I had my pass for was walk on. Fp+ works great in MK. I imagine the other parks will be a different story.

 

[Cando86]

Great tips and makes me feel better about our upcoming trip after reading so many negative reviews. Enjoy the rest of your trip!

 

[Torgue]

We are here too and 100% agree with OP. We have been following easywdw and parks have been empty in the mornings. A little surprised how many people are here at this time from outside the U.S. Many people walking around with park maps trying to locate things. You can't compare with 2010 because the U.S. economy was so bad. Crowds have been steadily increasing since then. Thanks a lot Obama! I have noticed the increased lines at some rides because of FP+. If you are waiting in standby and one of the large groups from Brazil shows up to use FP+ your wait time doubles. Also noticed that some of the FP* kiosk are a little hidden. The one at Discovery Island at AK doesn't even have signs. No way anyone just walking by knew those CM people were able to add a FP+.

 

[FlipHipster]

We have been following Josh's calendar as well and I agree he is on. We went to MK Sunday 12/1, 7:05 b'fast at Chef Mickey's and we were walking through the gates at 8:30. Rode 7DMT SB with a 22 min wait (60 posted). FP'd PP and A&E, did everything else SB. Thought the crowds were awesome until 4 when the party crowd came in.

Hit DHS on Monday. I personally didn't think it was "crowded" but the headliner lines were terrible. RnRC kept going down as well which made it worse. Pixar place was nuts in the evening. I was hoping to get some SB rides in on TSMM during F! but no luck. We hung out in OL until park close, didn't think it was as crowded as last year's OL. When we walked out, we got on the 1st tram with no waiting.

We were in Epcot yesterday. Again headliner lines were long early. Soarin' was nuts, 80 mins 1 hour after RD but we were the only ones on our boat for LWTL. I don't call that "crowded" just a lot of people fighting for 1 ride. The posted times were very unreliable, lots of FP riders swarming in constantly it seemed. There was a line of people FP'ing Nemo around 10:30am with a posted 10min wait which means no wait. Literally everyone going on the ride for about a 5-10min period was going through the FP line. WTH . We FP'd TT around 11ish and it took 25mins including design time. Later in the evening we walked on SR rider line without stopping and 1/2 our group rode SB with about a 25 min wait. Everything else we walked on. I think we were the only ones on SE. We wad dinner at La Hacienda and got out right when the Fireworks were starting. We had a great spot on the bridge that we just walked up to. We left before they were over and we were back at our resort (BC) 8.5 mins after we started the car. I timed it

We booked a 7:05AM Sunday ADR at CM for 7 the night before we left (Friday night). Walked up to Chefs France yesterday for lunch and didn't wait for a table, sat right down. We've thrown away a bunch of FP's mostly because they just weren't needed and the ones we do need are gone.