Just Back! (8/5-8/9)

[Christy702]

Just got back from a 5 day trip. We only booked 3 weeks out and stayed a lot shorter than normal, but I still got to do pretty much everything I wanted! We stayed at BLT in a 2 bedroom villa with a theme park view.
We didn't have any dinner ADRs and minimum FPs. We never got any dinner ADRs that we wanted, but there were still plenty of places to pick from if we did want a sit down dinner. We were able to grab some for lunch. So don't worry if you don't get what you want 180 days out, keep checking! And even if you don't get your top picks, there's still plenty to be had. Same with FPs, there will be some there! Even if it isn't for FOP or NRJ
We had bad luck with transportation (long bus rides, bus break downs, monorail breakdown, you name it), so we ended up buying express transportation and ubering to the parks. Worth it!
The most important piece of advice I can give regarding the parks...
We used the touring plans line app, and it changed our lives. We almost never had to wait in long anywhere close to the posted wait time. Jungle Cruise was posted at a 40 minute wait- we waited 10. 7DMT posted at 90- we waited 45. SM posted at 55- we waited 30. And SO many more. Even FOP was posted at a 120 minute wait and we waited just a little over an hour. Even if you don't use the app, just assume theres a great chance the line is shorter than actually posted.
Life is short, wait in that line!
The only "oh no" moment we had was waiting for FOP on our last day. We got to AK at 8, AK opened at 9. We got in line for FOP, and only expected an hour wait because the last time we rode, we started at the same part in line and only waited an hour. The line moved really fast at first and then we kind of came to a stand still. Due to technical difficulties the ride was only running at half capacity. We ended up waiting for 3 hours. Oh Well!

The crowds honestly weren't too bad. We ended up booking another trip on December 15th-23rd at Pop. Can't wait to go back!

 

[Disney1fan2002]

How did the app "change your life?" Was there anything special you had to do to get the shorter wait times?

 

[Christy702]

How did the app "change your life?" Was there anything special you had to do to get the shorter wait times?

No we just found it useful. Like I said, you don't need it to know the wait times will be shorter. We just weren't aware of "inflated wait times" before reading the boards/using touring plans.

 

[SaintsManiac]

No we just found it useful. Like I said, you don't need it to know the wait times will be shorter. We just weren't aware of "inflated wait times" before reading the boards/using touring plans.

I love that feature and can't wait to use it on our trip. Glad to know it's as useful as it seems!

 

[stinkpickle]

No we just found it useful. Like I said, you don't need it to know the wait times will be shorter. We just weren't aware of "inflated wait times" before reading the boards/using touring plans.

Agreed. Sometimes, the discrepancies between posted and actual wait times are dramatic.

 

[Christy702]

Agreed. Sometimes, the discrepancies between posted and actual wait times are dramatic.

And before I found the boards, I was one of those guests that always just assumed they were accurate. We would easily avoid lines that were posted above 45 minutes. Now we know that we probably won't have to wait that long, but we understand that it's possible we will. So yes, I'm going to call that life changing. Or at least WDW trip changing

 

[bcactus]

Curious if you booked the 2 BR theme park view at BLT or were you upgraded? I have a 1 BR standard view booked starting on Sunday

 

[Christy702]

Curious if you booked the 2 BR theme park view at BLT or were you upgraded? I have a 1 BR standard view booked starting on Sunday

I didn't book the room so I can't be of much help, but I'm pretty sure they originally booked the 2 BR since we had 5 people in the room.

 

[Christy702]

I didn't book the room so I can't be of much help, but I'm pretty sure they originally booked the 2 BR since we had 5 people in the room.

ETA: It was two separate families to it made sense to have 2 BR instead of 1.

oops didn't mean to quote myself and add a separate post

 

[CindyT]

Love the Lines app. It saved us lots of time and was usually very accurate!

 

[Hopefully]

Curious if you booked the 2 BR theme park view at BLT or were you upgraded? I have a 1 BR standard view booked starting on Sunday

Upgrades at DVC resorts are RARE and only for Disney operating needs. Don't ask or expect one.

 

[cmorris303]

What's the touring plans line app?

 

[Christy702]

What's the touring plans line app?

Touring plans is a subscription website (it's $15 for a year) that has useful info for planning a trip to either WDW, DL, and Uni. It just has stuff like crowd levels, plans that help you maximize your time, and they even have a tool that will help you find dining reservations. They have an app, and I'm assuming you need to be a paying member to use the app, that shows posted wait times of attractions and what the actual "expected" time is. So it would say Splash Mountain- Posted: 90 minutes, Expected: 45 minutes, and it even shows you when the next available FP is. Not necessary to have, but it is a good tool.

 

[cmorris303]

Touring plans is a subscription website (it's $15 for a year) that has useful info for planning a trip to either WDW, DL, and Uni. It just has stuff like crowd levels, plans that help you maximize your time, and they even have a tool that will help you find dining reservations. They have an app, and I'm assuming you need to be a paying member to use the app, that shows posted wait times of attractions and what the actual "expected" time is. So it would say Splash Mountain- Posted: 90 minutes, Expected: 45 minutes, and it even shows you when the next available FP is. Not necessary to have, but it is a good tool.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I was familiar with the website, but not the app. I'm going to check it out!

 

[Gehrig1B]

You can get a 20% discount for your Touringplans subscription here at Mousesavers:

https://touringplans.com/discounts/...urce=mousesavers&utm_content=r1&property_id=1

 

[loves to dive]

You can get the wait times ap from Touring Plans for free. Just sign up on their site. I used it last trip, same time as OP but found most of the times the ap and MDE were just about the same. We also timed our waits and the posted wait times at the rides, were pretty spot on give or take 5 min. most of the times.