DanielNYC
The wand always chooses the wizard!
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2017
- Messages
- 225
Just back (sort of) from a terrific and jam packed visit to WDW (five out of the six days) and Universal. First, a big thank you to EVERYONE for their input on the boards. I received thoughtful/helpful replies to my questions, and also gleaned invaluable information from the questions that others asked and the responses thereto. In writing this recap I’ve decided to focus on the things that people generally are curious about (restaurants, FP availability, crowds, Pandora status, etc).
General Observations
Our trip took place during the first week that Florida (and other states) kids were back in school. Several people on the board felt that it wouldn’t make much of a difference crowd-wise but I honestly think it did. On almost every attraction we visited I noticed that there was extra queue space that was not being utilized. Also, we were in the parks all day from rope drop until closing on most days and the parks never felt unbearably crowded nor were any of the quick service places hard to find seating in. FWIW, the bartender at the pool bar at the Poly also said that the crowd was light, and added that if I wanted to come during a REALLY low crowd time that I should return next year during Labor Day week. He claimed that the Poly is at 50% occupancy during that week.
We were very fortunate that we got to ride EVERY SINGLE RIDE that we wanted to (and several of them twice!). While some rides broke down or had heavy wait times, it just all seemed to work out for us in the end. Nothing worse than having your favorite ride be down, especially when you only have one day in each park. We also made time to enjoy a few attractions that don't usually get a lot of love from most people (Tom Sawyer's Island, Swiss Family Tree house, etc).
We also lucked out with the rain. There was the occasional anemic sprinkle here and there, but the week that was supposed to be rainy was generally either sunny or just cloudy. Thank you weather Gods!
Speaking of water-related things, I discovered that I detest ponchos. Obviously a personal preference thing, but I’d rather be wet than wrap myself in plastic on a hot and humid day. Threw mine in the trash as soon as I got off Kali River Rapids.
My kids and I are very susceptible to motion sickness (fortunately my wife is not), so the three of us took an all-day less drowsy Dramamine with breakfast every day and, just like last year, it worked like a charm. I will say, however, that during Star Tours I could literally feel the Dramamine fighting the motion sickness. Dramamine won!
Cast members seemed to be generally on their game and VERY friendly. We were pixie dusted all over the place and can’t recall anyone being genuinely rude or even unhelpful.
Day One – Sunday August 20 – Polynesian Pool Day – Disney Springs
Our early morning flight from NYC had been delayed so we didn’t arrive in Orlando until around 12:30. Grabbed the rental car and pulled into the Poly at around 1:30 or so. Our theme park view room was ready and just as requested: top floor balcony room, away from the elevators, and a killer view across the lagoon. We all had a great time at the pool for several hours and the kids must have gone down that volcano slide at least 20 times. That night we had dinner at Homecomin’ with my niece. Big thumbs up from all of us on the food and super friendly staff. Glad we had the opportunity to walk a bit around Disney Springs just to see what it’s like, but at the end of the day it’s just a nice mall and doesn’t really register as a necessary part of a Disney vacation for me. Ended the day watching fireworks from our balcony.
Day Two – Monday August 21 – Animal Kingdom – 8:00AM EMH
Got there at 7:00AM. We were the third family in our line. Cleared back check at 7:30 and tapped our bands at 7:35. We were taken through the FP line so only got to see the floating avatar through a window as we walked by (none of us really cared about going through the queue). Looked down at my watch when we got off Flight of Passage and were in the gift shop at 8:22. Bought our banshees (many colors were available) without a long wait at all. FoP is obviously revolutionary and we loved it. We also enjoyed Na’vi River Journey very much and didn’t find it too short or “pointless”. The food at Satu’li Canteen was excellent as others have reported (my daughter swooned over the blue dessert). Pandora overall is beautifully designed and it was a pleasure to stroll around and take in the new land. The Africa path out of Pandora was closed so we had to go back to the main entrance to leave. We did the safari ride right after buying our banshees so it was still pretty early in the morning and every animal imaginable was out and about. Lots of FP availability during the day including sporadic FoP slots. Dinner was with family outside of WDW.
Day Three – Tuesday August 22 – Magic Kingdom – 7:45 EMM entry (9:00AM Regular Opening)
This was an epic MK day that we’ll never forget! My niece joined us for this day. Started with EMM park entry at 7:45. It was incredible to be in Fantasyland with so few people. Headed for 7DMT which we rode three times. Did Pooh once then headed over to Peter Pan only to discover that it was down (we got to ride it later in the day). CM told us we’d have FP for it until noon. They had Small World open instead so we rode that. Went into the buffet and grabbed coffee and a pastry to go. Ran into a cast member who asked us if we were having a good time notwithstanding the issues with PP. We said of course we were having a great time! He gave us an anytime FP “for your upbeat attitude”. Went back for one more 7DMT ride for kicks before heading back to make rope drop next to IASW. Ran down and hit Big Thunder and immediately went to Splash were a temporary shutdown caused us to be 10 minutes late for our 10:00 cutoff for the EMM breakfast buffet. They were VERY nice to let us in regardless. There was a lot in between but I’ll skip to our late lunch at Pecos Bill where we did the “secret” Nacho Challenge. The check in for that was a little clunky, but once everything got started it was a lot of fun and totally worth it. We’d do it again. There was excellent FP availability throughout the day except for 7DMT which didn’t affect us since we were done with it. Dinner was at Be Our Guest where we celebrated my niece’s birthday. A lovely experience from start to finish (a relief after reading all the negative reviews). I even found their pricing on a bottle of yellow label Veuve Clicquot to be fair at $79.
Day Four – Wednesday August 23 – Universal
Not much to say here. We’re HUGE Harry Potter fans so we tend to park it in the Wizarding World for most of the day. We had lunch at the Three Broomsticks and dinner at The Leaky Cauldron. Rode all the rides (including Flight of the Hippogriff twice) and shopped in all the stores including a tremendous haul of “magical” candy from Honeydukes. We already had the interactive wands from our trip last year so it was nice not to have that expense this time around! We also rode a couple of the rides elsewhere in the parks, but as I said the focus for us at Universal is HP.
Day Five – Thursday August 24 – Epcot - 8:00AM EMH
Was worried about the start of this day because at this point we were no longer resort guests and would not have EMH privileges. Long story short it was totally fine. Test Track was already showing a 60 minute wait at 8:50AM so we hoofed it to Soarin’ which was listed at 20 minutes. Then we did our 9:00AM Spaceship Earth FP. Coming off of that I noticed that TT had downticked to 40 minutes so I figured we should jump on that. Unfortunately the ride broke down and what was supposed to be a 40 minute wait ended up being a 90 minute wait which made us late for our 10:00AM Mission Space FP. The CM at TT told me not to sweat it and that she would call over to MS to let them know that we’d be late. When we got to MS the CM there said that she did not get a call from anyone but that she would honor the FP regardless. We did Mission Green and found it to be quite tame. Since the Dramamine clearly did the trick, we’re going to try Orange next time. Lunch was at the quick service Japanese restaurant Katsura Grill. Even though it was hot we enjoyed sitting outside in the garden since the trees provided plenty of shade. At this point I think we had to walk back to Norway for our Frozen FP. Dinner was at the main Moroccan restaurant. Loved it, and the kids had fun with the belly dancer who encourages the kids to come dance with her. FP availability was decent during the day except for Frozen. Managed to get a FP for the fireworks at the last minute so we watched a bit of the show, then decided to leave a little early in order to beat the departing throngs.
Day Six – Friday August 25 – Hollywood Studios - 9:00AM Regular Opening
Arrived at 8:00AM and were among the first people there. Once in (can’t remember the time exactly but it was a bit before 9:00AM) we headed straight for the Jedi training sign up. I was surprised to see a long line when we got there but realized that these must be ADR breakfast folks. No matter, we still got our 11:10AM spot which dovetailed nicely with our FPs. From there we headed to the Rock n' Roller coaster which we did not have a FP for but essentially walked onto. Fast forward to Jedi training which was HOT (don’t know how the kids survived with those Jedi robes on) but very fun. Lunch was at the Brown Derby which was very pleasant and delicious but almost eerily devoid of people. Perhaps the highlight of this day was when we had to be evacuated from Toy Story Midway Mania. We actually found this to be fun since it was our second ride of the day (via FP) and we’d already experienced the ride normally. This day ended earlier than most since there’s not a whole lot more to see here, plus we were driving down to Miami afterwards. We can’t wait to come back next year to see Toy Story Land!
That’s about it. Happy to answer any questions. As we all know, the magic at Disney is all about the details!
General Observations
Our trip took place during the first week that Florida (and other states) kids were back in school. Several people on the board felt that it wouldn’t make much of a difference crowd-wise but I honestly think it did. On almost every attraction we visited I noticed that there was extra queue space that was not being utilized. Also, we were in the parks all day from rope drop until closing on most days and the parks never felt unbearably crowded nor were any of the quick service places hard to find seating in. FWIW, the bartender at the pool bar at the Poly also said that the crowd was light, and added that if I wanted to come during a REALLY low crowd time that I should return next year during Labor Day week. He claimed that the Poly is at 50% occupancy during that week.
We were very fortunate that we got to ride EVERY SINGLE RIDE that we wanted to (and several of them twice!). While some rides broke down or had heavy wait times, it just all seemed to work out for us in the end. Nothing worse than having your favorite ride be down, especially when you only have one day in each park. We also made time to enjoy a few attractions that don't usually get a lot of love from most people (Tom Sawyer's Island, Swiss Family Tree house, etc).
We also lucked out with the rain. There was the occasional anemic sprinkle here and there, but the week that was supposed to be rainy was generally either sunny or just cloudy. Thank you weather Gods!
Speaking of water-related things, I discovered that I detest ponchos. Obviously a personal preference thing, but I’d rather be wet than wrap myself in plastic on a hot and humid day. Threw mine in the trash as soon as I got off Kali River Rapids.
My kids and I are very susceptible to motion sickness (fortunately my wife is not), so the three of us took an all-day less drowsy Dramamine with breakfast every day and, just like last year, it worked like a charm. I will say, however, that during Star Tours I could literally feel the Dramamine fighting the motion sickness. Dramamine won!
Cast members seemed to be generally on their game and VERY friendly. We were pixie dusted all over the place and can’t recall anyone being genuinely rude or even unhelpful.
Day One – Sunday August 20 – Polynesian Pool Day – Disney Springs
Our early morning flight from NYC had been delayed so we didn’t arrive in Orlando until around 12:30. Grabbed the rental car and pulled into the Poly at around 1:30 or so. Our theme park view room was ready and just as requested: top floor balcony room, away from the elevators, and a killer view across the lagoon. We all had a great time at the pool for several hours and the kids must have gone down that volcano slide at least 20 times. That night we had dinner at Homecomin’ with my niece. Big thumbs up from all of us on the food and super friendly staff. Glad we had the opportunity to walk a bit around Disney Springs just to see what it’s like, but at the end of the day it’s just a nice mall and doesn’t really register as a necessary part of a Disney vacation for me. Ended the day watching fireworks from our balcony.
Day Two – Monday August 21 – Animal Kingdom – 8:00AM EMH
Got there at 7:00AM. We were the third family in our line. Cleared back check at 7:30 and tapped our bands at 7:35. We were taken through the FP line so only got to see the floating avatar through a window as we walked by (none of us really cared about going through the queue). Looked down at my watch when we got off Flight of Passage and were in the gift shop at 8:22. Bought our banshees (many colors were available) without a long wait at all. FoP is obviously revolutionary and we loved it. We also enjoyed Na’vi River Journey very much and didn’t find it too short or “pointless”. The food at Satu’li Canteen was excellent as others have reported (my daughter swooned over the blue dessert). Pandora overall is beautifully designed and it was a pleasure to stroll around and take in the new land. The Africa path out of Pandora was closed so we had to go back to the main entrance to leave. We did the safari ride right after buying our banshees so it was still pretty early in the morning and every animal imaginable was out and about. Lots of FP availability during the day including sporadic FoP slots. Dinner was with family outside of WDW.
Day Three – Tuesday August 22 – Magic Kingdom – 7:45 EMM entry (9:00AM Regular Opening)
This was an epic MK day that we’ll never forget! My niece joined us for this day. Started with EMM park entry at 7:45. It was incredible to be in Fantasyland with so few people. Headed for 7DMT which we rode three times. Did Pooh once then headed over to Peter Pan only to discover that it was down (we got to ride it later in the day). CM told us we’d have FP for it until noon. They had Small World open instead so we rode that. Went into the buffet and grabbed coffee and a pastry to go. Ran into a cast member who asked us if we were having a good time notwithstanding the issues with PP. We said of course we were having a great time! He gave us an anytime FP “for your upbeat attitude”. Went back for one more 7DMT ride for kicks before heading back to make rope drop next to IASW. Ran down and hit Big Thunder and immediately went to Splash were a temporary shutdown caused us to be 10 minutes late for our 10:00 cutoff for the EMM breakfast buffet. They were VERY nice to let us in regardless. There was a lot in between but I’ll skip to our late lunch at Pecos Bill where we did the “secret” Nacho Challenge. The check in for that was a little clunky, but once everything got started it was a lot of fun and totally worth it. We’d do it again. There was excellent FP availability throughout the day except for 7DMT which didn’t affect us since we were done with it. Dinner was at Be Our Guest where we celebrated my niece’s birthday. A lovely experience from start to finish (a relief after reading all the negative reviews). I even found their pricing on a bottle of yellow label Veuve Clicquot to be fair at $79.
Day Four – Wednesday August 23 – Universal
Not much to say here. We’re HUGE Harry Potter fans so we tend to park it in the Wizarding World for most of the day. We had lunch at the Three Broomsticks and dinner at The Leaky Cauldron. Rode all the rides (including Flight of the Hippogriff twice) and shopped in all the stores including a tremendous haul of “magical” candy from Honeydukes. We already had the interactive wands from our trip last year so it was nice not to have that expense this time around! We also rode a couple of the rides elsewhere in the parks, but as I said the focus for us at Universal is HP.
Day Five – Thursday August 24 – Epcot - 8:00AM EMH
Was worried about the start of this day because at this point we were no longer resort guests and would not have EMH privileges. Long story short it was totally fine. Test Track was already showing a 60 minute wait at 8:50AM so we hoofed it to Soarin’ which was listed at 20 minutes. Then we did our 9:00AM Spaceship Earth FP. Coming off of that I noticed that TT had downticked to 40 minutes so I figured we should jump on that. Unfortunately the ride broke down and what was supposed to be a 40 minute wait ended up being a 90 minute wait which made us late for our 10:00AM Mission Space FP. The CM at TT told me not to sweat it and that she would call over to MS to let them know that we’d be late. When we got to MS the CM there said that she did not get a call from anyone but that she would honor the FP regardless. We did Mission Green and found it to be quite tame. Since the Dramamine clearly did the trick, we’re going to try Orange next time. Lunch was at the quick service Japanese restaurant Katsura Grill. Even though it was hot we enjoyed sitting outside in the garden since the trees provided plenty of shade. At this point I think we had to walk back to Norway for our Frozen FP. Dinner was at the main Moroccan restaurant. Loved it, and the kids had fun with the belly dancer who encourages the kids to come dance with her. FP availability was decent during the day except for Frozen. Managed to get a FP for the fireworks at the last minute so we watched a bit of the show, then decided to leave a little early in order to beat the departing throngs.
Day Six – Friday August 25 – Hollywood Studios - 9:00AM Regular Opening
Arrived at 8:00AM and were among the first people there. Once in (can’t remember the time exactly but it was a bit before 9:00AM) we headed straight for the Jedi training sign up. I was surprised to see a long line when we got there but realized that these must be ADR breakfast folks. No matter, we still got our 11:10AM spot which dovetailed nicely with our FPs. From there we headed to the Rock n' Roller coaster which we did not have a FP for but essentially walked onto. Fast forward to Jedi training which was HOT (don’t know how the kids survived with those Jedi robes on) but very fun. Lunch was at the Brown Derby which was very pleasant and delicious but almost eerily devoid of people. Perhaps the highlight of this day was when we had to be evacuated from Toy Story Midway Mania. We actually found this to be fun since it was our second ride of the day (via FP) and we’d already experienced the ride normally. This day ended earlier than most since there’s not a whole lot more to see here, plus we were driving down to Miami afterwards. We can’t wait to come back next year to see Toy Story Land!
That’s about it. Happy to answer any questions. As we all know, the magic at Disney is all about the details!
