Just Back .. 2nd trip in a Year

[Bri036]

Took a trip in March 2013 (spring break) with wife for our five year anniversary, this time took my 7 month pregnant wife and 2 year old big sister to be.

A few observations:

All Star Movies was great for us as a family, loved the theming and buses were good. We only shared buses once on a return midday trip from AK. (3 single empty seats and some adults could easily have scooted over one seat to let daughter and mom sit together. Needless to say you had to squeeze her visibly pregnant self between 2 300lb men and put the 2 year old in her lap.) Actually despite that rant thought All Star Movie was nice and seemed to have better clientele than our anniversary trip to Coronado. Will now always stay value unless we rent points for a DVC with a kitchen or stay on monorail.

Magic Bands worked great for us. Did use the glitch to get me Soarin' and the little one Character Spot while all of used it for Illuminations. We took breaks during the midday and actually didn't use all of our fastpasses on Saturday. Granted with the wife and little one we didn't do the mountains.

We found the FP for Illuminations and Wishes to be worth it for us. It was nice to spread out a blanket and watch the shows. Also got a spot right next to MSEP FP section our 1st night and it was great. Snow White planted a big one on daughters forehead during the parade! She didn't want to wash it off!

The biggest negative to me was the Magic Kingdom table services. We had dinner at Crystal Palace and Liberty Tree and breakfast at CRT and had to wait 30 minutes after ADR to be seated at CP and Liberty Tree. Tough with a 2 year old and pregnant wife . Food was not that good. Wife and I on anniversary trip had done a ton of signatures and were impressed with those and Yak and Yeti table service. I was expecting similar results to Yak and Yeti and was terribly disappointed.

The crowds most definitely were impacted by Mardi Gras. At Liberty Tree when they call out the states 30-40% were from Louisiana.

Did get to enjoy BOG lunch, Flame Tree Lunch, and Via Napoli Dinner (sat right on our ADR TIME).

Thanks for all the advice on here!

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

@Bri036

So how would you assess the crowds at all of the parks during your stay and also...did the All Stars Movies Resort seem fully booked?

How was Via Napoli? Was the food good? Was it crowded?

 

[Bri036]

We were at rope drop at Magic Kingdom on Thursday a non recommended day and were able to walk-on whatever we wanted for a good 2 hours. Took a midday break and used fastpasses in the evening had no problems.

On Friday and Saturday we had pre-opening ADR's and were able to hit the what we wanted early with very little wait. I could not believe the number of people that were trying to buy (or pickup?) tickets at noon on Saturday, the park was packed as we were leaving. After Wishes we could walk-on about anything we wanted.

Via Napoli is terrific it was crowded but did not have to wait for 30 minutes after our ADR time like we did at Liberty Tree and Crystal Palace.

We liked All Star movies better than Coronado and a lot cheaper! It seemed busy but we were not cramped. There were a lot of cheerleaders.

 

[tlh]

CP is always very busy. I can not remember ever getting right in with a reservation always 15-30 minute wait no matter what. We normally go once each trip and the food has been pretty good each trip, but it is a buffet.

 

[Bri036]

We enjoyed the Crystal Palace breakfast on our first trip, the dinner not so much. We actually thought Hollywood and Vine's lunch buffet was better than Crystal Palace's dinner.

I understand that there are going to be issues with being late (things happen) and that it is technically not a reservation but it seems to be a given for long waits after your ADR. With all the talk about Fastpass+ (which I enjoyed) getting you out of lines and into the parks/shops to spend money, why they wouldn't improve this. I spent and hour sitting next to restaurants, when I could have been out and about spending money. Saw others that waited close to an hour to be seated at Liberty Tree and Crystal Palace.