Just Back 3/22-25/17

[KatieDarling]

First, thanks to all the lurking I did, I definitely picked up some fantastic tips. Y'all do know your stuff!

Overall, we knew to expect crowd levels would be more then we experienced the earlier 2000s and while they were bad, it wasn't anything a rope drop and EMH couldn't help alleviate. We still rode Everest 3 times, and Tower of Terror twice.... Timing the fast passes for the afternoon was crucial, though. I don't know why you'd waste them in the morning with a good plan before the hordes of people fill the parks.

The strollers and wheelchairs were an epidemic... not judging in the slightest since we're two people in our 30s with no kids cruising through the parks at a fast pace and we hit over 114k steps in 4 days... BUT... the volume of people plus the slow downs and span of families of 6+ walking side by side was the biggest headache of the trip. No solution, just something we notced a lot and learned to be patient with.

We enjoyed trying new to us restaurants: Sanaa, Yak and Yeti, Be Our Guest, Biergarten, Napoli etc... Standards to y'all I'm sure but we loved getting in and trying them.

I am now a big fan of the flower and garden festival. The kisoks were great and I wish I hadn't had ADRs because they filled us up faster then expected.

The biggest thing I can say we learned is that the fast pass for Rivers of Light wasn't as useful as we'd have liked. I typically don't use them for shows since I don't mine lining up a bit early, but at 8:15 for 9:00 show, we used our fast pass and there was no resvered seating or actual preference to having one. What we could tell on our walk over was that people squatted in the seats for at least an hour before that... My recomendation wouldn't be to waste a FP on this, and just plan on setting up earlier then intended.

I did use a Disney travel agent this time, for the first time, and enjoyed that expereince a lot. She was helpful and although I am not a novice, gave me great tips... her one reccomendation I didn't listen to was to upgrade to a moderate hotel. We stood our ground with our budget and went with Art of Animation but it was much more "value" then I remember Pop ever feeling. This of course was our preface of the over arking feeling like it's become a "cattle call" which is a bummer since we typically love it so much.

Next trip we'll defintely try to aim for a non-spring break/ band week and we'll upgrade hotels... but otherwise I am defintely going to lurke the Disboards again

 

[Amanda Hall]

I don't understand. Does a FP for ROL not guarantee you a spot ? Is there not an area just for those with FP? We will be there next week. I have no intention of getting settled in an hour early. We do have a FP.

 

[Traver Freeman]

Moderates are great. This will be our third trip doing moderate, and I don't think I can go back to value. We tried this trip, but I caved and upgraded. Lol.

 

[Branflakes]

The strollers and wheelchairs were an epidemic... not judging in the slightest since we're two people in our 30s with no kids cruising through the parks at a fast pace and we hit over 114k steps in 4 days... BUT... the volume of people plus the slow downs and span of families of 6+ walking side by side was the biggest headache of the trip. No solution, just something we notced a lot and learned to be patient with.

We experienced this as well in late sept/early Oct 2016.
We could not believe the number of double wide strollers with large tires. It was the most distracting and irritating part of our trip. We did Disney when the kids were little and I would have never ever considered a massive stroller like that. Small compact easy to fold. Functional. I always was concerned about making sure I wasn't aggravating anyone with it. On buses they take up an enormous amount of space and we found ourselves wedged a number of times between them on rides to and from park and hotel. I had white pants get filthy from big double stroller wheels on a ride to dinner. We were pretty unhappy about what seemed like not a care in the world by the parents, and that you are gonna get out of the way or deal.
I don't understand the need for them in almost all cases. Kids don't need more stroller now than they did 20 years ago. I understand the need for them for babies and toddlers. Just don't get the need for a huge intrusive jogging stroller.

The side by side walking taking up 10-15 feet across, and stopping is maddening. You don't want to be rude or disrespectful, but I feel like there is a big problem with spacial awareness.

 

[DisneyFive]

Funny thing about moderates is that we've done Port Orleans Riverside the last 4 times to WDW (and we love POR), but our kids would love to go back to POP... Mainly because it holds that nostalgic place for them(and for my wife and I, I must admit) since our first two visits to WDW were staying at POP.

Having visited AoA, I wouldn't mind staying there one bit. Love the theming, the food court, and the awesome main pool.

Dan

 

[BigredNole]

I have to laugh. I too am sick of the Stroller Brigade. These are the people that think they can walk like roadblocks when they are in front of you. Act like they are monster trucks when they are behind you. The looks you get when they run into you is "why did you get in the way of my stroller?" What's worse is the ECV Brigade. I have taken the key from one that ran me over once knocking my daughter from my shoulder. Left hem stranded there with no way to catch up to me at Epcot. It was right before the branch to the countries. I eventually handed the key to a CM in Canada.

 

[jaceraden]

Uhhhh. ***?!?!

To the OP: I'm glad you had a great trip!

 

[KatieDarling]

I don't understand. Does a FP for ROL not guarantee you a spot ? Is there not an area just for those with FP? We will be there next week. I have no intention of getting settled in an hour early. We do have a FP.

I don't know what other people's experiences have been - but there was no reserved seating with my fast pass.

 

[NileNellie]

Uhhhh. ***?!?!

To the OP: I'm glad you had a great trip!

I'm not sure what you are getting at here.

 

[NileNellie]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm a sucker for staying at the moderate hotels too. Glad you had fun!

 

[3darlings]

I have to laugh. I too am sick of the Stroller Brigade. These are the people that think they can walk like roadblocks when they are in front of you. Act like they are monster trucks when they are behind you. The looks you get when they run into you is "why did you get in the way of my stroller?" What's worse is the ECV Brigade. I have taken the key from one that ran me over once knocking my daughter from my shoulder. Left hem stranded there with no way to catch up to me at Epcot. It was right before the branch to the countries. I eventually handed the key to a CM in Canada.

The guide on our Wild Africa Trek called them "scooter beasts" and kept reminding not to eaten by the scooter beasts! A perfect analogy!

 

[jaceraden]

I'm not sure what you are getting at here.

The post right before mine, where the person stole ECV keys and briskly walked away after being hit by said ECV.

It's not excusable to get hit and that ECV'er hopefully did it by accident. But, that does not make it okay to go away with the keys, knowing the person can't get to you "left them stranded". Hello, abuse of a disabled person?!?!

 

[jaceraden]

I have to laugh. I too am sick of the Stroller Brigade. These are the people that think they can walk like roadblocks when they are in front of you. Act like they are monster trucks when they are behind you. The looks you get when they run into you is "why did you get in the way of my stroller?" What's worse is the ECV Brigade. I have taken the key from one that ran me over once knocking my daughter from my shoulder. Left hem stranded there with no way to catch up to me at Epcot. It was right before the branch to the countries. I eventually handed the key to a CM in Canada.

Quoted it in case the person decid s to edit that horror show out.

 

[Davey Jones II]

The post right before mine, where the person stole ECV keys and briskly walked away after being hit by said ECV.

It's not excusable to get hit and that ECV'er hopefully did it by accident. But, that does not make it okay to go away with the keys, knowing the person can't get to you "left them stranded". Hello, abuse of a disabled person?!?!

Give us a break. That ECV road hog knocked his daughter off his shoulders. She could have been injured, or landed on her head and suffered a concussion.

 

[jaceraden]

Give us a break. That ECV road hog knocked his daughter off his shoulders. She could have been injured, or landed on her head and suffered a concussion.

That is the dumbest argument I have ever heard and underlines why the World is going to crap. ASSume this person was a road hog, ASSume it was all the ECV'ers fault, ASSume that the parent isn't responsible for the consequences when carrying a child on their shoulders.

Yup, you heard it right here at the DIS - apparently if I don't take the exact route you predict, I am responsible for any outcome and it's okay for you to run away with my shoes. Or worse.
Here's a thought:try to spend a minute thinking about both sides of a situation before you open your mouth and decide it's okay to abuse someone who is disabled.

SMH

 

[JDOrlando]

I agree with the rope drop and FP later in the day strategy. You can get in the rides you want to early and then relax, eat, take in scenery, and use FP during the busiest times.

I agree that the strollers and ECV's are really becoming a problem. There are so many of them in the parks it can create issues, especially with people who don't know how to drive them. There are definitely people who require these to get around, but there are others who use them because they don't feel like walking and can use them to get through crowds. We'll all seen people get run over with them (or in my case have been run over multiple times myself), or seen the family with the double wide stroller yelling at cast members because they can't find a place to park for a parade. It seems like a very Disney specific problem, you don't see anywhere near as many at parks like Cedar Fair, Busch Gardens, or even Universal. I'm not sure there is anything Disney can do to fix it at this point though. It's just another thing that has to be dealt with at Disney World.

Maybe the travel agent was promoting moderates because you were staying at AoA? I know sometimes the moderate resorts are cheaper than AoA.

 

[ajh88]

First, thanks to all the lurking I did, I definitely picked up some fantastic tips. Y'all do know your stuff!

Overall, we knew to expect crowd levels would be more then we experienced the earlier 2000s and while they were bad, it wasn't anything a rope drop and EMH couldn't help alleviate. We still rode Everest 3 times, and Tower of Terror twice.... Timing the fast passes for the afternoon was crucial, though. I don't know why you'd waste them in the morning with a good plan before the hordes of people fill the parks.

We get our FP's for earlier in the day so that we can schedule 4th, 5th, etc. when possible. We have been numerous times and plan on going back, so there are few things that are do or die. We work our morning touring plan around our morning FP's - I will sometimes make the first one for 9:30 to 10:30, and the second one from 10:30 to 11:30 - and ride other things in between. That let's us tour from, say, 9 to 10:30, taking advantage of low crowds, then we use 2 FP's back to back at like 10:30 (end of one window) and 10:45 (beginning of next window), which is really about the time things start getting a bit busier. By the time we are done with those, we will do more attractions if lines are still low and hit up our 3rd FP between 11:30 and 12:30 (earlier if lines are longer, later if they are still manageable). It doesn't work for everyone, but it can still be part of a well thought out plan.

As for strollers and ECV's, the debate has raged for as long as the DIS has existed. It is unfortunate for all guests that many people who don't need ECV's in "real" life do require (or prefer) one at Disney. My dad is a physical laborer (farmer) and is no stranger to physical activity, but walking for the miles that we do at Disney takes its toll on his 60-something body. He shudders at the idea of an ECV in day to day life, but he does get one on occasion at Disney. My mom is in a motorized chair and unable to walk anywhere. She is a much better driver than him when it comes to their mobility devices at Disney. And I think many people are like my dad - limited experience in driving them and then you ask them to maneuver through big crowds and sometimes tight spaces. And then the people who walk 6 wide in front of you and stop abruptly, also sometimes do that same thing in front of scooters (and strollers), causing potentially dangerous situations for all.

It sounds like you had a great trip and you had a great attitude even about the less than magical things!

 

[twoplustwins]

Cut out the bickering before the OP's thread gets shut down.

OP, glad you had a great trip! We love our moderates too!!

 

[DisTXMom]

Unfortunately, I suspect there are a lot of first timer ECV drivers in the parks. As in "Since Disney is so much walking, how about renting an ECV?" While they are great tools for people that need help, a busy Disney park isn't the ideal place to learn how to maneuver one. Probably not a big deal during less crowded times. That being said, I'd have to be pretty darn enraged to take someone's keys.

Curious to hear more on RoL seating.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]