ruthies12
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2011
- Messages
- 1,860
Since I found just back threads very helpful prior to my trip, I thought I'd share a few things from our ten night stay that we just got back from yesterday. Our trip included all 4 Disney parks plus 2 days at universal and one night of xmas party at MK, if anyone has any specific questions feel free to ask.
Photopass photographers- A lot more photographers around than I have ever seen before. However, my prior trips have been in less busy times, like end of January, so not sure if that has something to do with it. We were given a ton of magic shots without asking for them, including several animated magic shots. if anybody wants specifics on the magic shots I can go through my pics and try to make a list. I had about 4 or 5 times that photos did not show up, but so far photopass has been able to find them and add them after being emailed. I'm still waiting on one shot that I hope they can find. Make sure you note when, where, and what time you got shots taken so you know when they are missing.
ADR's- we thought our food was good at all the places we ate and surprisingly we were never kept waiting for any of our ADR's, which has never been the case in the past. I actually scheduled everything 30 minutes prior to when I thought my 2 year old would want to eat based on past experiences and we were never kept waiting more than 10 minutes to be seated. Our meals included BOG breakfast and dinner, H&V lunch, Chef Mickey's breakfast, Trail's End breakfast, CRT lunch, Wishes dessert party. We also did a last minute walk up at San Angel's in Mexico in Epcot and were seated immediately with no ADR.
Rider swap- This may have already been posted elsewhere but on almost every ride that did rider swap, they gave us a tag on a lanyard that had to be taken into line and given to a second CM at the end of the line before they gave us the printed FP return ticket. The return tickets, once obtained, were good anytime for the entire month of December.
Also even though it does not have a height restriction we were able to do rider swap at Haunted Mansion, the CM's allowed my dh and dd2 to wait at the exit while myself and older dd rode, then let dh and older dd into the fastpass line. I was not expecting that and I'm not sure if it's policy or up to individual CM's. My 2 year old was obviously freaking out in the line, so if it's not policy, that may be why the CM allowed it.
Wait times- lines weren't too bad but walkways felt very congested and crowded. Getting around was difficult, even on the less busy weekdays.
BBB- did this for my dd's 7th bday. We only waited about 5 minutes past our appointment time and that surprised me. There is no longer a choice of color offered for the fingernail polish, it is now gold glitter. everything else was the same as our last visit 2 years ago.
Guests- For the most part everyone we encountered was very nice. There was one major exception. We were at MK on a party day and wanted to see the 615 castle lighting. We got some snacks and got to the front of the castle at 5:20. We were able to get a very decent spot up pretty close with maybe 6 rows of people in front of us. All the people in front of us stayed seated the entire time which made it very easy for us in the back to see which was nice and unexpected. We watched the 530 show, then hung out for the half hour after that waiting for the 6:15 lighting.
Right about 6 o'clock or so this woman shows up with a bunch of family members and starts pushing them past us so that they are in front of us. Quite a few of us got upset and put a stop to it. The woman starts yelling at all of us that her kids can't see and need to be in front of us and she knows a cast member and something about a dead husband, using curse words and being extremely obnoxious. She got into it with the poor guy next to me when he tried to stop her from moving his stroller (with his kids still in it). It was crazy, she was yelling at the guy that she wanted an apology from him (because he called her evil) and that she wanted security called.
I wanted so badly to tell this woman off but I kept my mouth shut because you can't cure stupid and nothing I or anyone said was going to get through to her that what she was doing was wrong and that she is no more special than the other hundreds of people standing there trying to see. Fortunately her friend talked her into leaving to go have a cigarette before the actual lighting started so we got to watch the show in peace.
I do think the show was worth seeing even with that uncomfortable situation prior to and the difficulty in exiting the park afterwards. We did also have a small box of princess rings that dd had bought from a gift shop stolen out of our stroller. Dd had left it sitting on her seat out in the open and it was gone when we got back from enchanted tales with belle.
Transportation- was good. We never waited long for a bus or a boat from where we were staying at fort wilderness and I really liked the new wait times boards at the bus stop. For some reason knowing when the bus is coming really makes the wait feel not as long.
Pre-opening BOG breakfast- we had an ADR for 8:25 when park was scheduled to open at 9. We were let in at 7:45 with the rest of the breakfast guests. No on was asked what time their appt was, just checked off on a list and all let in at once. Gave us lots of time to get some great shots with several photopass photogs on our way up main street. by the time we got done with breakfast, however, the park had opened and people were already in line. We waited about 25 minutes for peter pan after getting in line at about 9:05. We had FP for mine train so I was not concerned about that. If you wanted to do a pre-opening trip on the train though you'd better schedule breakfast for at 8 o'clock or no later than 8:15, then eat fast. I will say that we found a table with no problems and our food was brought quickly since we had pre-ordered online. The line to order food looked long but I don't know how long it actually took. Food was good and very flavorful, though my eggs were only lukewarm.
Photopass photographers- A lot more photographers around than I have ever seen before. However, my prior trips have been in less busy times, like end of January, so not sure if that has something to do with it. We were given a ton of magic shots without asking for them, including several animated magic shots. if anybody wants specifics on the magic shots I can go through my pics and try to make a list. I had about 4 or 5 times that photos did not show up, but so far photopass has been able to find them and add them after being emailed. I'm still waiting on one shot that I hope they can find. Make sure you note when, where, and what time you got shots taken so you know when they are missing.
ADR's- we thought our food was good at all the places we ate and surprisingly we were never kept waiting for any of our ADR's, which has never been the case in the past. I actually scheduled everything 30 minutes prior to when I thought my 2 year old would want to eat based on past experiences and we were never kept waiting more than 10 minutes to be seated. Our meals included BOG breakfast and dinner, H&V lunch, Chef Mickey's breakfast, Trail's End breakfast, CRT lunch, Wishes dessert party. We also did a last minute walk up at San Angel's in Mexico in Epcot and were seated immediately with no ADR.
Rider swap- This may have already been posted elsewhere but on almost every ride that did rider swap, they gave us a tag on a lanyard that had to be taken into line and given to a second CM at the end of the line before they gave us the printed FP return ticket. The return tickets, once obtained, were good anytime for the entire month of December.
Also even though it does not have a height restriction we were able to do rider swap at Haunted Mansion, the CM's allowed my dh and dd2 to wait at the exit while myself and older dd rode, then let dh and older dd into the fastpass line. I was not expecting that and I'm not sure if it's policy or up to individual CM's. My 2 year old was obviously freaking out in the line, so if it's not policy, that may be why the CM allowed it.
Wait times- lines weren't too bad but walkways felt very congested and crowded. Getting around was difficult, even on the less busy weekdays.
BBB- did this for my dd's 7th bday. We only waited about 5 minutes past our appointment time and that surprised me. There is no longer a choice of color offered for the fingernail polish, it is now gold glitter. everything else was the same as our last visit 2 years ago.
Guests- For the most part everyone we encountered was very nice. There was one major exception. We were at MK on a party day and wanted to see the 615 castle lighting. We got some snacks and got to the front of the castle at 5:20. We were able to get a very decent spot up pretty close with maybe 6 rows of people in front of us. All the people in front of us stayed seated the entire time which made it very easy for us in the back to see which was nice and unexpected. We watched the 530 show, then hung out for the half hour after that waiting for the 6:15 lighting.
Right about 6 o'clock or so this woman shows up with a bunch of family members and starts pushing them past us so that they are in front of us. Quite a few of us got upset and put a stop to it. The woman starts yelling at all of us that her kids can't see and need to be in front of us and she knows a cast member and something about a dead husband, using curse words and being extremely obnoxious. She got into it with the poor guy next to me when he tried to stop her from moving his stroller (with his kids still in it). It was crazy, she was yelling at the guy that she wanted an apology from him (because he called her evil) and that she wanted security called.
I wanted so badly to tell this woman off but I kept my mouth shut because you can't cure stupid and nothing I or anyone said was going to get through to her that what she was doing was wrong and that she is no more special than the other hundreds of people standing there trying to see. Fortunately her friend talked her into leaving to go have a cigarette before the actual lighting started so we got to watch the show in peace.
I do think the show was worth seeing even with that uncomfortable situation prior to and the difficulty in exiting the park afterwards. We did also have a small box of princess rings that dd had bought from a gift shop stolen out of our stroller. Dd had left it sitting on her seat out in the open and it was gone when we got back from enchanted tales with belle.
Transportation- was good. We never waited long for a bus or a boat from where we were staying at fort wilderness and I really liked the new wait times boards at the bus stop. For some reason knowing when the bus is coming really makes the wait feel not as long.
Pre-opening BOG breakfast- we had an ADR for 8:25 when park was scheduled to open at 9. We were let in at 7:45 with the rest of the breakfast guests. No on was asked what time their appt was, just checked off on a list and all let in at once. Gave us lots of time to get some great shots with several photopass photogs on our way up main street. by the time we got done with breakfast, however, the park had opened and people were already in line. We waited about 25 minutes for peter pan after getting in line at about 9:05. We had FP for mine train so I was not concerned about that. If you wanted to do a pre-opening trip on the train though you'd better schedule breakfast for at 8 o'clock or no later than 8:15, then eat fast. I will say that we found a table with no problems and our food was brought quickly since we had pre-ordered online. The line to order food looked long but I don't know how long it actually took. Food was good and very flavorful, though my eggs were only lukewarm.
I've seen them take lots of stuff from strollers at WDW. Mainly food though.
