snowybelle
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2016
- Messages
- 375
Just returned from an almost-solo trip. Stayed for 6 nights at AKL (beautiful!) for the first time, and my mom ended up joining for me a couple days last minute. This was my first time traveling to WDW during Halloween/F&W season. I am considering writing a full trip report, but here's what's top-of-mind for now...
Three Highlights: (hard to choose, there were SO many!)
- MNSSHP!! I went twice and I am now absolutely obsessed with this! Had so much fun despite rain on both of my nights. My favorite part was seeing guests in costume! I had a blast, loved the entertainment, and met so many nice people and some rare characters too!
- EMM! I did both the Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom events and they were amazing. So, so worth the money! Everything was walk-on, the CMs working the events were cheerful and helpful, and both breakfasts were delicious. If you get a chance to book one of these, DO IT! After chatting with a few DHS cast members, I got the impression that their EMM might not be around much longer.. there were less than 20 families on the list when I attended. Park was EMPTY. Do this before they cancel it (my speculation only), it's a super rare and unique opportunity!
- Behind the Scenes at Trader Sam's Grog Grotto. This was a special F&W event, and I had a BLAST. Went solo to this and was seated at a table with 5 other rowdy Disney dorks! (A few DISers!) The presentation by the Skippers was hilarious and informative, the food was excellent and the drinks were plentiful! We even got a sneak preview of the limited edition Hitchhiking Ghosts Tiki Mug! (Unfortunately not yet available for purchase!) I hope this event continues for future F&W festivals. It was awesome and full of hard-core Disney/Trader Sam's fans -- I felt like I had found my people!
Three Lowlights:
- Buses. First time traveling in September, and I've never experienced such unbelievably slow bus service WDW before this trip. I don't know if that's the norm at AKL, or because it was a "slow" time and there were far fewer buses out, or if I just got terribly unlucky... but I've used WDW bus transportation many times before and I've never felt this frustrated or wasted this much time waiting before. I even opted for a(n incredibly expensive) taxi a few times when traveling between resorts just to avoid the buses.
- Heat/humidity. As I said above, this was my first September trip and the heat was truly a force to be reckoned with. It didn't ruin my trip, but I was surprised by how much it really zapped my energy. It was VERY hard to enjoy the Food & Wine booths to the fullest extent because it was just too hot to eat most of the items on offer!
- A few very unpleasant CMs: Let me preface this by saying almost every CM I've ever encountered at a Disney park has been WONDERFUL. I love Disney CMs, and I realize most of them don't make much money, many are there because they love Disney and it is often a thankless job. However, on this trip I witnessed (was not directly involved in) probably a half dozen instances in which CMs were shouty, snappy and inappropriately gruff with guests for no apparent reason. And two of those instances were at a premium hard-ticketed event (Club Villain). I literally saw CM's shout down guests without warning, for silly things like honest misunderstandings about what line they were getting into, etc. This wasn't coming from the DCP kids, but from full-on grown-up Disney CMs. I was honestly shocked, because in every case I didn't see the guests (who were being shouted at) behaving poorly or any such thing. I don't know if the heat was getting to people or what! It was bizarre and created a lot of unnecessary negative energy, and I say this as merely a bystander -- I cannot imagine how crappy it would have felt to be on the receiving end of that. (And one of the people who received that treatment was sitting at my table.. she seemed really down after that happened. I honestly think it ruined her experience.)
Other thoughts/comments:
- Dining: Tried a few new-to-me places. Standouts were Tiffins dinner and Garden Grill breakfast. Thought I was gonna love Boma after reading so many glowing reviews, but just wasn't into it.
- Frozen Ever After: Was down a lot! Thankfully I booked FP+ on a few different days, and I ended up getting on it twice. Really enjoyed it! Hope they work the kinks out soon, as the FP line was frequently backed up.
- Memory Maker is worth EVERY penny! I loved the magic shots especially! (Tip: Hit up the PhotoPass photographer near the water fall in Norway for a fabulous animated shot with Sven!!!)
- Mosquito repellant in my hotel room with a note about Zika prevention, as well as many mosquito prevention "stations" set up throughout the World. I really appreciated the effort on Disney's part to ease everyone's mind about this issue.
- LOVED the new Soarin'. I was never a fan of the ride. Until now.
- Since I was mostly on my own, I thought I'd try to meet a whole bunch of characters on this trip. Historically character meets haven't been my thing, but I needed a solo mission and wanted to have some new experiences. I did 41 total meet and greets (met 63 total characters since some of them met in pairs/groups)! It was actually really fun! I did notice that some "friends" of characters were much more lively and in character than others. It was a weird contrast. For example, I met Minnie once and she was incredibly bouncy and huggy and kissy, and I met her in another location and she just stood there. No hug, no nothing. Also, some characters seemed equally friendly and engaged with both children and adults, while others spent tons of time with kids and just kind of hurried the adults along. Not complaining, just some observations as 34 year old woman who is new to the whole character hunting thing!
- Also on the character front: spotted Rapunzel WITH Flynn Rider greeting guests in Epcot near the International Gateway entrance on 2 different occasions. That one I was excited about! Flynn Rider is a hottie and, apparently, not that easy to meet!
Overall, had a WONDERFUL time and I cannot wait to go back. Feel free to ask questions, and thanks for reading if you made it this far!
Three Highlights: (hard to choose, there were SO many!)
- MNSSHP!! I went twice and I am now absolutely obsessed with this! Had so much fun despite rain on both of my nights. My favorite part was seeing guests in costume! I had a blast, loved the entertainment, and met so many nice people and some rare characters too!
- EMM! I did both the Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom events and they were amazing. So, so worth the money! Everything was walk-on, the CMs working the events were cheerful and helpful, and both breakfasts were delicious. If you get a chance to book one of these, DO IT! After chatting with a few DHS cast members, I got the impression that their EMM might not be around much longer.. there were less than 20 families on the list when I attended. Park was EMPTY. Do this before they cancel it (my speculation only), it's a super rare and unique opportunity!
- Behind the Scenes at Trader Sam's Grog Grotto. This was a special F&W event, and I had a BLAST. Went solo to this and was seated at a table with 5 other rowdy Disney dorks! (A few DISers!) The presentation by the Skippers was hilarious and informative, the food was excellent and the drinks were plentiful! We even got a sneak preview of the limited edition Hitchhiking Ghosts Tiki Mug! (Unfortunately not yet available for purchase!) I hope this event continues for future F&W festivals. It was awesome and full of hard-core Disney/Trader Sam's fans -- I felt like I had found my people!
Three Lowlights:
- Buses. First time traveling in September, and I've never experienced such unbelievably slow bus service WDW before this trip. I don't know if that's the norm at AKL, or because it was a "slow" time and there were far fewer buses out, or if I just got terribly unlucky... but I've used WDW bus transportation many times before and I've never felt this frustrated or wasted this much time waiting before. I even opted for a(n incredibly expensive) taxi a few times when traveling between resorts just to avoid the buses.
- Heat/humidity. As I said above, this was my first September trip and the heat was truly a force to be reckoned with. It didn't ruin my trip, but I was surprised by how much it really zapped my energy. It was VERY hard to enjoy the Food & Wine booths to the fullest extent because it was just too hot to eat most of the items on offer!
- A few very unpleasant CMs: Let me preface this by saying almost every CM I've ever encountered at a Disney park has been WONDERFUL. I love Disney CMs, and I realize most of them don't make much money, many are there because they love Disney and it is often a thankless job. However, on this trip I witnessed (was not directly involved in) probably a half dozen instances in which CMs were shouty, snappy and inappropriately gruff with guests for no apparent reason. And two of those instances were at a premium hard-ticketed event (Club Villain). I literally saw CM's shout down guests without warning, for silly things like honest misunderstandings about what line they were getting into, etc. This wasn't coming from the DCP kids, but from full-on grown-up Disney CMs. I was honestly shocked, because in every case I didn't see the guests (who were being shouted at) behaving poorly or any such thing. I don't know if the heat was getting to people or what! It was bizarre and created a lot of unnecessary negative energy, and I say this as merely a bystander -- I cannot imagine how crappy it would have felt to be on the receiving end of that. (And one of the people who received that treatment was sitting at my table.. she seemed really down after that happened. I honestly think it ruined her experience.)
Other thoughts/comments:
- Dining: Tried a few new-to-me places. Standouts were Tiffins dinner and Garden Grill breakfast. Thought I was gonna love Boma after reading so many glowing reviews, but just wasn't into it.
- Frozen Ever After: Was down a lot! Thankfully I booked FP+ on a few different days, and I ended up getting on it twice. Really enjoyed it! Hope they work the kinks out soon, as the FP line was frequently backed up.
- Memory Maker is worth EVERY penny! I loved the magic shots especially! (Tip: Hit up the PhotoPass photographer near the water fall in Norway for a fabulous animated shot with Sven!!!)
- Mosquito repellant in my hotel room with a note about Zika prevention, as well as many mosquito prevention "stations" set up throughout the World. I really appreciated the effort on Disney's part to ease everyone's mind about this issue.
- LOVED the new Soarin'. I was never a fan of the ride. Until now.
- Since I was mostly on my own, I thought I'd try to meet a whole bunch of characters on this trip. Historically character meets haven't been my thing, but I needed a solo mission and wanted to have some new experiences. I did 41 total meet and greets (met 63 total characters since some of them met in pairs/groups)! It was actually really fun! I did notice that some "friends" of characters were much more lively and in character than others. It was a weird contrast. For example, I met Minnie once and she was incredibly bouncy and huggy and kissy, and I met her in another location and she just stood there. No hug, no nothing. Also, some characters seemed equally friendly and engaged with both children and adults, while others spent tons of time with kids and just kind of hurried the adults along. Not complaining, just some observations as 34 year old woman who is new to the whole character hunting thing!
- Also on the character front: spotted Rapunzel WITH Flynn Rider greeting guests in Epcot near the International Gateway entrance on 2 different occasions. That one I was excited about! Flynn Rider is a hottie and, apparently, not that easy to meet!
Overall, had a WONDERFUL time and I cannot wait to go back. Feel free to ask questions, and thanks for reading if you made it this far!
Last edited:
