Just back and overall thoughts and lessons learned...

[istillbelieve]

Thanks to you all for all of your advice as it helped with a very fun trip! The party consisted of myself, late 30's mom, my husband, DS (7), DD (6), and my mom in her late 50's. We went from April 29th to May 2nd then headed over to the darkside. I just thought I would share my overall thoughts and lessons learned as it might help you as you plan.

• Early Magic Morning was AMAZING on May 2nd and I would do that again in a heart beat! We rode Peter Pan 3 times, Winnie the Pooh twice, and 6 times on 7 dwarfs mine train. We could have ridden a few more times, but my kids wanted to eat and moved on and were tired of riding 7 dwarfs after 6 times in a row. I have nothing but wonderful praise for this event as it jump started us on our day. After a good breakfast, we were off to Big Thunder at 9AM and rode that 4 times in a row and they sent us twice without ever needing to get off. One of the BEST mornings EVER!

• FP+ availability overall was GREAT! By noonish everyday at all parks I could get additional FP+ for many headliners such as Test Track, RNR, TOT, etc. I scored Frozen FP+ for our family of 5 at noon for that evening (May 1st), but our family chose to leave the park and head over to MK. We went and swam and then went over to MK and rode, Buzz x3, Speedway, Dumbo, Small World, Haunted Mansion, Splash and then Pirates before we were tired! Not sure why anyone would wait in line with how much availability we had with additional FP's. I understand it might not be that way a different time of year, but our dates were great.

• My Epcot touring strategy was a bit of a mess. I guess I didn't review the best way to tour Epcot. I planned an early breakfast in Norway so my daughter could meet the princesses. We arrived at Epcot at 7:35 and that was too late. We were at the back of a long line and we arrived at 8:10 at the restaurant and waited til 8:40 before we met Belle. It was the longest line we waited in all week at both Disney and Universal. I do not like how you get the picture of Belle first which is so slow. We enjoyed our breakfast and didn't get out until 9:15 which was behind on what I wanted. We did head to Soarin' with only a 15 min posted wait time,but did miss out on Frozen. If I was to do that over, I would have picked the last Norway breakfast seating, get a 12ish FP for Frozen and started at rope drop with TT or Soarin knowing now that getting additional FP's was going to be fairly easy.

• The food we ate was really good overall. Our favorite lunch was Tusker House, it was so tasty and the character interaction was wonderful! We also really enjoyed our burger at Sci-Fi and breakfast buffet at EMM and the Norway princess breakfast.

• Star Wars Dessert Party is a one and done. The drinks were not to our taste. They reminded me of what a 21 year old would drink as a shot and super super sweet. We didn't find it "valuable" and due to the time of the year we went, we probably could have found a decent spot without the party. It was ok-but after doing the World of Color dessert party at Disneyland, this just didn't compare. The best part is the Chuy cup.

• Pick up your small kids or have them get smashed. I was appalled/mortified at the adults that would run over my 6 year old daughter to get one spot ahead of me through the rides that funnel you through the que's, such as Tower of Terror, Haunted Mansion, Tough to be a bug, etc. I had a grown adult push my small 37lb 6 year old daughter into the wall at Tough to be a bug then to ask me to move so his family could also push past me. We had a small exchange of words as he could have hurt her to get to a seat quicker in a theater. Just does not make sense to me. I just learned to pick her up in those que's because some people got really pushy in those areas.

• Be prepared to feel like you are on the TV show, What Would You Do. We had a wonderful time, but saw some behavior where we did feel like we had to advocate for other people or for our own kids. My husband had a talk with a lady who pushed a 3 year old on the head out of her way at our princess breakfast. The parents didn't see it, but my husband did and he felt the need to let the lady know that was NOT ok and not to touch a child that isn't yours. Yes, he was 3 and jumping around a bit and she was taking a picture of her teenage daughter with the princess and he was getting in the way, but talking to the kid would have been better than touching and moving a kid that isn't yours. We had a lady who came up after us at a roped off area before fireworks and tell my kids to move, her kids needed to see and then tried to ram her stroller at them. My husband once again got involved but this time got a CM involved as well and the CM asked her to move and she threw a FIT. The CM was AWESOME and stood his ground and did a fantastic job at taking care of and diffusing the situation.

• CM's were awesome, but I feel for them. I saw such poor behavior and these CM's really have a tough job of managing these situations where certain people feel entitled over other guests. Every CM I encountered handled their job with amazing patience and that was impressive! Job well done CM's!

• Memory Maker-BUY IT! Seriously, don't even 2nd guess it. It is so easy to download and share, best thing Disney has created! I was a little sad at EMM thinking I would miss out on the ride pictures at 7 dwarfs, but then like Disney magic, they all appeared. They are some of my favorite photos.

• Magic Bands are awesome, but...my kids hated wearing the bands. They kept complaining they got hot and my son's fell off often so I carried them. Not a big deal, but don't be shocked if your kids don't like them.

• Bay Lake Tower location is nice. We liked the location and our room was nice, but this hotel is missing basics that I come to expect at that price point. We rented points and the room was nice with a wonderful bathroom, but the hotel front staff and pool is lacking. The pool chairs are uncomfortable with no cushions and some were just gross. When we moved to Lowe's Portofino Bay.... it made us realize that we would probably not pay Disney rates again unless someone can tell me if one of the hotels has the service level of the Lowe's hotel. I know many like the Disney bubble, but at the price point of these hotels, I can justify being outside the bubble with better service.

Sorry this is long, but just thought I would give my opinions/lessons to help you with your plans. Of course, these are my opinions and not everyone will agree. Please feel free to ask me questions.

Overall, it was a wonderful first half of our vacation. I will be writing my darkside opinion on their boards, but we really loved Universal.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

Good stuff!

 

[MamaCoop]

Thank you for all of the information!

 

[bumbershoot]

When we moved to Lowe's Portofino Bay.... it made us realize that we would probably not pay Disney rates again unless someone can tell me if one of the hotels has the service level of the Lowe's hotel.

I'll preface this with the fact that we own dvc at Bay Lake.

And there's no comparison between even royal pacific and bay lake let alone portofino. Which is to be expected since bay lake is a timeshare, and timeshares are fundamentally different than resorts. But the Loews hotels take it all up several notches. We've been thinking of selling dvc for awhile now, and just stay up at universal for all Orlando trips. (And then we stayed at grand Floridian villas and fell in love with them, darnit)

 

[tigerlilly]

Thank you so much for your review!!

We are considering doing the EMM and the Star Wars Dessert party...

We are actually a party of 7 though and the youngest is 15. We go to DLR frequently (usually 3 to 4 times per year) so Peter Pan is a family favorite. Silly ? but is this worth it even for 7 adults? I know it is crazy expensive for one hour for 7 people and I should not even be considering it (lol) but not having to fight crowds and just enjoying a little space to roam sounds nice. We also have a PPO BOG ADR (boy you can use a lot of acronyms when discussing WDW)... so I am trying to figure out if the EMM is worth it.

On the Star Wars party...I loved your review lol. Here is the deal this trip is for our DD 21st Bday so she actually wanted the party for the drinks lol. Per your description I think maybe it might work for her at least? We are going in August so I anticipate the crowds to be a little heavier? Maybe we just send her and her boyfriend to this on...or is it worth it for two lattteeee 40's parents to go too?

You mentioned you had been to WOC in DCA...are you mainly a Disneyland visitor? I just wonder how WOC compares to like ROL? did you do ROL? How did it compare to WOC? We love WOC and our DL Fantasmic and I am debating the dinner ADR's with the shows? We already have a Fantasmic one booked but I am wondering if it is worth it, or if trying for the ROL is worth it (at this point we would probably just try for FP+)..

On the other guest thing.... we see this some in DLR also but we tend to avoid doing the fireworks shows at night or the big light parades so we don't have to deal with the crush of humanity. WOC and Fantasmic (in the past anyway) seemed to be a little more orderly then the parade spots and big in the sky shows.

Again awesome reviews and I am glad you and your family had an overall great time.

 

[amberpi]

• Pick up your small kids or have them get smashed. I was appalled/mortified at the adults that would run over my 6 year old daughter to get one spot ahead of me through the rides that funnel you through the que's, such as Tower of Terror, Haunted Mansion, Tough to be a bug, etc. I had a grown adult push my small 37lb 6 year old daughter into the wall at Tough to be a bug then to ask me to move so his family could also push past me. We had a small exchange of words as he could have hurt her to get to a seat quicker in a theater. Just does not make sense to me. I just learned to pick her up in those que's because some people got really pushy in those areas.

• Be prepared to feel like you are on the TV show, What Would You Do. We had a wonderful time, but saw some behavior where we did feel like we had to advocate for other people or for our own kids. My husband had a talk with a lady who pushed a 3 year old on the head out of her way at our princess breakfast. The parents didn't see it, but my husband did and he felt the need to let the lady know that was NOT ok and not to touch a child that isn't yours.

Glad you had a great time overall! The above is true if you're a child or not. I've literally fallen to the ground and had a skinned knee (I was going to say bleeding and while true, seems dramatic) from people hitting me with a stroller, and I got a bad bruise from a fall into a que rail when some huge dude nailed me with his backpack on a different trip. People need to generally watch where they are going and be considerate. I think most people try to be mindful of the kids, but I've had some near misses with escapee kids running away from their parents too. I even helped "catch" a kid once when a mom was chasing after a toddler on the run - she said "grab him" and I did. I felt like a kid wrangling hero that day - kid was headed to Its a Small World, I got why he was excited! Some people act like there is no one else in the parks and it means you have to be extra vigilant.

Ugh on the touching someone else's kid. Not cool. Its perfectly ok to ask someone to get their child out of a picture in a nice way. The kid is just being a kid.

 

[CJN]

OP, we must have had the same trip! We were at EMM with you on May 2nd and then moved over to Portofino. That hotel is heaven.

 

[elaine amj]

Really enjoyed your review Awesome to hear you had such good luck with FP+ availability!

 

[Duck143]

Thank you for your post!! Sounds like a great trip and I agree about Memory Maker!

 

[emilyrachael]

We were there last week and agree that FP+ availability was great! We also noticed a lot of the pushing to get a head in lines. We were almost laughing at people rushing to get in the front of the line during the pre-show at the Tiki Room - when we were all going to end up watching the same show!

 

[DisDreaming4116]

I have a hard time justifying the EMM based on the short time and $$, however, it seems to be getting praised and recommended by nearly everyone who does it. Thanks for the reviews.

 

[IrishNYC]

My Epcot touring strategy was a bit of a mess. I guess I didn't review the best way to tour Epcot. I planned an early breakfast in Norway so my daughter could meet the princesses. We arrived at Epcot at 7:35 and that was too late. We were at the back of a long line and we arrived at 8:10 at the restaurant and waited til 8:40 before we met Belle. It was the longest line we waited in all week at both Disney and Universal. I do not like how you get the picture of Belle first which is so slow. We enjoyed our breakfast and didn't get out until 9:15 which was behind on what I wanted. We did head to Soarin' with only a 15 min posted wait time,but did miss out on Frozen. If I was to do that over, I would have picked the last Norway breakfast seating, get a 12ish FP for Frozen and started at rope drop with TT or Soarin knowing now that getting additional FP's was going to be fairly easy.

Was it a morning EMH day at Epcot?

 

[stenmarks]

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

 

[ArwenMarie]

My kid got rammed with a stroller once and I went to Guest Services to tell them (it had to do with the parade and the faulty setup of the tape and ropes etc) and got a heap of FPs and free Mickey Bars.

 

[istillbelieve]

Thank you so much for your review!!

We are considering doing the EMM and the Star Wars Dessert party...

We are actually a party of 7 though and the youngest is 15. We go to DLR frequently (usually 3 to 4 times per year) so Peter Pan is a family favorite. Silly ? but is this worth it even for 7 adults? I know it is crazy expensive for one hour for 7 people and I should not even be considering it (lol) but not having to fight crowds and just enjoying a little space to roam sounds nice. We also have a PPO BOG ADR (boy you can use a lot of acronyms when discussing WDW)... so I am trying to figure out if the EMM is worth it.

On the Star Wars party...I loved your review lol. Here is the deal this trip is for our DD 21st Bday so she actually wanted the party for the drinks lol. Per your description I think maybe it might work for her at least? We are going in August so I anticipate the crowds to be a little heavier? Maybe we just send her and her boyfriend to this on...or is it worth it for two lattteeee 40's parents to go too?

You mentioned you had been to WOC in DCA...are you mainly a Disneyland visitor? I just wonder how WOC compares to like ROL? did you do ROL? How did it compare to WOC? We love WOC and our DL Fantasmic and I am debating the dinner ADR's with the shows? We already have a Fantasmic one booked but I am wondering if it is worth it, or if trying for the ROL is worth it (at this point we would probably just try for FP+)..

On the other guest thing.... we see this some in DLR also but we tend to avoid doing the fireworks shows at night or the big light parades so we don't have to deal with the crush of humanity. WOC and Fantasmic (in the past anyway) seemed to be a little more orderly then the parade spots and big in the sky shows.

Again awesome reviews and I am glad you and your family had an overall great time.

Hi, your daughter may enjoy the drinks as they gave plenty, and I admit, were strong, just too sweet for me. I would have loved them at 21! I would have preferred a simple vodka/soda or even red wine. If the crowds were heavy I guess it would be nice since the standing area is in a nice spot. Leaving this was a mess and probably took close to an hour to get home using the bus system, but most of it was stuck in traffic getting out of HS. We sat next to a great boy and his family that played the game, Would You Rather, with my 7 year old son and it was so funny. Those two boys had the bus laughing and time flew by. I was dredding the long bus ride back, but then it ended up being a nice time.

Regarding early magic morning, Is it worth it for 7 adults, umm, that is tough because it expensive. But let me say, the buffet was good and we were full for a while and the ability to get a jump start on the crowds was great. My mom and husband both said they would do EMM again, so for our family it is a YES! It was so calm and nice having the park quiet for even just a bit.

We went to Disneyland the past 2 years during the first week of May. We love WOC and love the Dessert party at WOC. We did not see ROL as we were only there for 3 nights and chose Star Wars and Wishes. Well, we actually watched Wishes from Bay Lake on both nights as they pump the music and we were out of the crowds. Sorry, I can't help you on ROL.

 

[istillbelieve]

Was it a morning EMH day at Epcot?

It was last Monday, May 1st, so no I don't believe so. I was trying to avoid the EMH or I could have gotten in too if it was.

 

[istillbelieve]

OP, we must have had the same trip! We were at EMM with you on May 2nd and then moved over to Portofino. That hotel is heaven.

I just wasn't expecting Portofino to be that amazing...wow! I want to fly back now and have a cocktail by the pool!

 

[Atc77]

So glad you had a great trip! What time would you recommend getting to Akersus (we have an 8:10 reservation)

 

[TXPyroMom]

Thank you for this review! We are staying at the exact same resorts. 2 nights at Portifino bay starting Thanksgiving day and then we will move to a 2 bdrm at BLT for a week.

Glad to hear your review of EMM, we hope it is offered when we travel.

 

[istillbelieve]

So glad you had a great trip! What time would you recommend getting to Akersus (we have an 8:10 reservation)

Well, we had an 8:10 reservation but they let people in by how fast they get there. I don't know what we were expecting, but it wasn't how slow it was to check in. We entered Epcot and took 2 photos and walked over at a decent pace, but not speed racers. We did not get a stroller this time so my 6 year old can only walk so fast. We checked in at 8:10, they give you this ticket, then waited til 8:40 to meet Belle. So, if I had to do it over, I guess I would have tried to get to Epcot at 7:15ish or no later than 7:30 and then walked with some purpose back to Norway. Or, I would get Frozen FP's for early afternoon and get the last breakfast, whatever that is. Once you are in there, it is good food and the princess were really good with my daughter and took their time. The restaurant wasn't that full at all. The buffet was cold items and we are all lox fans so we ate a ton of lox and then they served warm items of eggs and sausages. They will bring you waffles if you want but that is not included in the warm plate. I enjoyed the meal and the interactions, just didn't plan for the long check in. I would prefer if that sat you and then all the princess come around. My 8:40, my kids were HANGRY! I had probably pushed them trying to do an early breakfast.