Just back 7/25-7/30 trip

[ashmac8]

Technically we aren't back yet since our flight is delayed but I had a minute to post our thoughts while they are still fresh....

We were here last month for 7 days with our son and returned for a quick adults only trip. We stayed at Saratoga Springs for the first time. Here are the quick comments:
-Saratoga Springs DVC rental. This was our first time renting points and it went well. We paid for one extra day of trash/towel service and we really didn't miss full service. To be honest it was nice not having to worry about it our room was being serviced.

-Keys to the Kingdom Tour. Was ok but we wouldn't highly recommend or do again. Truthfully In my opinion this could have been done in about 3 hours. Saw some neat things but won't be repeating. A lot of standing which was tough on the already tired legs.

-Sanaa ate here for the first time. Loved the bread service and service was fantastic. Main dishes were pretty good too

-Express bus transportation. Well worth it! We wanted to do 4 parks 1 day this trip and this helped a lot. We used it another day as well.

-Regular bus transportation. Seems to get worse each trip. Longer waits between busses. We will still use it because we hate renting a car but wish it was more efficient.

-Flight of passage was just as awesome the second time. We rope dropped to avoid a crazy wait and it worked well. Had to get there early but it was worth it

We are staying at Saratoga again in November. It is a very nice resort but a bit large for my taste.

-Happily Eber After. Absolutely loved the new show. Did the garden dessert party and it was great.

Hope this is helpful. Happy to try to answer any questions.

 

[adisneyaunt]

Sounds like a lovely visit. Thx for sharing.

 

[HillsboroHoppers]

Sounds like you had a great time. Thank you for sharing the good and not so good, makes me feel even better about my plans to use Express Transportation and attend the garden party!

 

[stace1214]

Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for sharing!

 

[WDW4us2006]

Glad you had a great trip! We are doing the Plaza Garden Dessert Party in a couple of weeks. Any tips? We are a party of 6, all (short) adults.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Hope no more delays getting home.

 

[jameswb94]

Did you use the buses to rope drop AK or take an uber/taxi?

 

[DisneyHardin]

Sounds like you had a nice trip. I'm glad to hear the Express Parks bus worked well for you - my friend and I were discussing it the other day because she is planning to use it during their next stay to park hop.

Sorry you didn't love the tour. When we did it a few years ago I loved every minute, but do agree that there is a lot of standing (our guide did try to find places where there was a wall or something for us to sit/lean on when we stopped for the talking parts of the tour).

 

[LSUfan4444]

Anyone else experience MDE/IT/FP issues on Saturday at Epcot?

We had issues with FP+ not clearing (after we rode them and used our FP+) from our MDE accounts all day long.

 

[ashmac8]

Glad you had a great trip! We are doing the Plaza Garden Dessert Party in a couple of weeks. Any tips? We are a party of 6, all (short) adults.

We showed up about an hour before fireworks and we were escorted to a table. There were a lot of people there but plenty of desserts to go around. About 8:40 we walked out to the garden. Most folks were seated and we headed to the back. Right before the show started most ended up standing but at 5'3" I didn't have a problem seeing. It was an amazing show.

Did you use the buses to rope drop AK or take an uber/taxi?

We used busses to rope drop. We got on a 6:40 bus and were to AK by 7ish for a 9am opening. We were the 4th and 5th people in in annual pass entrance line. They let us through the turnstiles around 825 or so and we were told to walk to the bridge where we were held again. I would say it was mostly orderly and we were about 100 people back from the cast members at the rope. About 840ish we were walked back to pandora and I was through the que and off the ride by about 910am. Yes we got up early and waited before open but it was so nice to be walking away from the masses at park open. We then rode expedition Everest like 3 times in a row with minimal wait. I would do it again for sure.

 

[Monykalyn]

Checking into SSR a week from Wednesday-our first time renting points as well-what section of SSR were you in? I requested Grandstand...A little nervous as it will be 2 adults 2 kids in a studio-but I figure we won't be spending tons of time in room anyway.

Sounds like you had a nice trip! Planning a RD for AK as well (even though we have FP for FoP)...

 

[ashmac8]

Checking into SSR a week from Wednesday-our first time renting points as well-what section of SSR were you in? I requested Grandstand...A little nervous as it will be 2 adults 2 kids in a studio-but I figure we won't be spending tons of time in room anyway.

Sounds like you had a nice trip! Planning a RD for AK as well (even though we have FP for FoP)...

We were in the paddock area. We were also in a studio. I think you'll be fine. We found it roomy enough and like you we don't camp out in our room. There were plenty of bus stops. The carousel stop was right at the bottom of our elevator which was super convenient. We even walked back from Disney springs one night just to see how far it was. It was fine for us but long. I don't think we will try it with the extended family at thanksgiving.

 

[Monykalyn]

We were in the paddock area. We were also in a studio. I think you'll be fine. We found it roomy enough and like you we don't camp out in our room. There were plenty of bus stops. The carousel stop was right at the bottom of our elevator which was super convenient. We even walked back from Disney springs one night just to see how far it was. It was fine for us but long. I don't think we will try it with the extended family at thanksgiving.

Thank you!! And we plan some time in DS as well which is why I chose that resort

 

[ols386]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

 

[jameswb94]

We showed up about an hour before fireworks and we were escorted to a table. There were a lot of people there but plenty of desserts to go around. About 8:40 we walked out to the garden. Most folks were seated and we headed to the back. Right before the show started most ended up standing but at 5'3" I didn't have a problem seeing. It was an amazing show.


We used busses to rope drop. We got on a 6:40 bus and were to AK by 7ish for a 9am opening. We were the 4th and 5th people in in annual pass entrance line. They let us through the turnstiles around 825 or so and we were told to walk to the bridge where we were held again. I would say it was mostly orderly and we were about 100 people back from the cast members at the rope. About 840ish we were walked back to pandora and I was through the que and off the ride by about 910am. Yes we got up early and waited before open but it was so nice to be walking away from the masses at park open. We then rode expedition Everest like 3 times in a row with minimal wait. I would do it again for sure.

Thank you! This helps out a lot. Glad you had a good trip (minus the baby changing gosh what a weird thing)

 

[TriSeb°o°]

+1

 

[DaisyJ]

Anyone else experience MDE/IT/FP issues on Saturday at Epcot?

We had issues with FP+ not clearing (after we rode them and used our FP+) from our MDE accounts all day long.

We were there July 15-21. Our fastpasses didn't clear from our account after using them, either.

 

[jaysmom4285]

Checking into SSR a week from Wednesday-our first time renting points as well-what section of SSR were you in? I requested Grandstand...A little nervous as it will be 2 adults 2 kids in a studio-but I figure we won't be spending tons of time in room anyway.

Sounds like you had a nice trip! Planning a RD for AK as well (even though we have FP for FoP)...

We prefer the Grandstand area. It's next to the Carriage House where the front desk and restaurants/food court are, and, more importantly for us, it's the first bus stop on the property. Since the buses arrive empty, you're virtually guaranteed a seat on busy mornings. More that once, the bus has filled up after the third stop and had to skip the other two and just leave for the parks. And it's the first drop off point, again very handy when you're tired at the end of a long day and just want to get back to the room. It's also a quick walk to the boat launch if you want to go to Disney Springs.

 

[disneyvoice]

Anyone else experience MDE/IT/FP issues on Saturday at Epcot?

We had issues with FP+ not clearing (after we rode them and used our FP+) from our MDE accounts all day long.

We had this issue the entire week during our last two trips. I assumed I was doing something wrong because I never could get a 4th FP. The system kept telling me I couldn't get another FP because you can only have 3 at a time - I got this message both when the "used" FPs continued to show up on my account as well as when they cleared off. It wasn't a big deal since we were able to do everything we wanted. Do you schedule your 4th and subsequent FPs the same way as your 1st-3rd, just after you have used them?? Maybe I was doing something wrong?

 

[DaisyJ]

We had this issue the entire week during our last two trips. I assumed I was doing something wrong because I never could get a 4th FP. The system kept telling me I couldn't get another FP because you can only have 3 at a time - I got this message both when the "used" FPs continued to show up on my account as well as when they cleared off. It wasn't a big deal since we were able to do everything we wanted. Do you schedule your 4th and subsequent FPs the same way as your 1st-3rd, just after you have used them?? Maybe I was doing something wrong?

We had no problems getting a 4th or more fastpass, the fastpasses we had already used just didn't clear the screen. We didn't have that problem in March, so it has to be some "magical" upgrade/glitch with MDE.