Neelloc
In the tiki tiki tiki tiki room!
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2005
- Messages
- 734
We returned late Saturday night from 9 magical days at the world! This trip was fantastic! It's been 4 years since we'd last been to a park, (and our first long trip with the kids to WDW) so I wanted to share a few things.
Keep in mind, this is our 4th trip in September, and our 3rd free dining trip.
CROWDS: I used the crowd calendar from UG to plan my itinerary before my trip, and then supplemented it with the "Lines" app and the UT app when we were in the parks. We went to the recommended parks most of the time, or in a few cases, neutral parks. In one case, we went to the avoid park because we wanted to see Fantasmic that night. (HS) With this is mind, I was VERY pleased with the crowds. We made it to each park at park opening almost every day, doing the headliners early and then collecting fast passes to use later. We were able to ride TSM 4 times because of fast passes. *hint* If you want to walk on to TSM, do it at park closing. My daughter and I walked on at 9pm on Tues 9/13 and were the last ones to ride. Otherwise, it was a long wait and fast passes went quickly.
Because the MK was closed early 5 out of the 8 nights we were there (9/9 and 9/10 for NOJ, 9/13 for MNSSHP, 9/15 for press event, and 9/16 for MNSSHP) we found it affected the Fantasmic crowds. Our dinner at 'Ohana ran late on 9/15, and when we arrived at HS, it was already standing room only for Fantasmic at 7:45pm. This was also the park to avoid for that day, and boy, did we feel the crowds were larger. We went to the MK on Sunday 9/11 at night to see "Wishes" and then went over to Tomorrowland to ride SM (7 minute wait) but I found it to get busier after that.
Within the first hour of park opening, Peter Pan was usually a 10 minute or less wait. We never "walked on" to any headliner during our trip. (Early mornings we always had a few minute wait, or at the very end of the night you might "walk on" with a few people ahead of you. The most we chose to wait for any ride was about 15 minutes.
CHARACTERS: Travelling with girls ages 9 and 7, I expected to wait to see characters. Everytime we approached the line for Rapunzel, we felt it was long and didn't end up waiting. Otherwise we timed our character meetings to coincide with their "refresh times" and skipped a bunch of them because we were dining at Chef Mickeys and Akershus.
TRANSPORTATION: We stayed at POFQ, and found the bus service to be very good. Transferring however, was sometimes a hassle, especially when trying to get to dining. The monorail also had to unique knack of going down right when we needed to get to our dinners at the Contemporary or the Poly. We ended up walking from the MK to the Contemporary, and thank goodness the monorail came back up so we could get to the Poly from the MK. Due to bailing at AK early, we took one cab from POFQ to AKL to the tune of $22 total. Otherwise the busses were sufficient, even at the end of the night.
OTHER GUESTS: We met some lovely people! On Sun 9/11, I saw another Dis'er getting on the bus at POFQ and I said hello! (I saw her LGMH of course!) Another Dis'er then said hello to us but those were the only interactions I had with Dis'ers based on LGMH. I found people to be very chatty waiting for the bus/monorail, etc or riding on the bus. I had a great conversation with 2 families riding the bus back from MNSSHP about planning, which sites to use, crowd calendars and the like! We also walked with another family from the MK to the CR and chatted with them along the way.
However, we also noticed a lot of international guests and there were many who claimed not to speak english. At the LMA show we went to, they chose a boy out of the crowd to do the remote control car, however, it was quickly determined he did not speak english when they asked him his name and he couldn't answer.
I always figured if I were to travel to a foreign country, I would at least learn a few phrases to have a basic understanding.
Yes, there were a few guests that were rude. Like the lady at MNSSHP that shoved me out of her way when I was clearly in front of her in line. Or the incessant flash photography taken on some of the rides.
CAST MEMBERS: Most were great to deal with! We had some great interactions and really appreciated the pixie dust sent our way!
MNSSHP: I had planned on going to this if the weather cooperated, which it did.
I was hesitant to spend the $$$$ for a 5 hour event but to anyone on the fence, GO!!!!! Hallowishes was simply amazing! The parade was fantastic and we really liked the special things they did with the HM for the event. We were pleased with trick or treating but felt the dance parties were just okay. The characters seemed more than happy to stop and pose for pictures, but many a time, they were directed by their handlers to just dance. The Villans Mix and Mingle was awesome! The park ambiance was great! I would go again for sure!
DINING: We were there on free dining on the regular plan and ate at 1900 Park Faire (dinner,) Chef Mickey's (dinner,) Boma, Teppan Edo, Prime Time 50's Cafe, Le Cellier (lunch,) 'Ohana (dinner,) and Akershus (breakfast.) We tried to change to Sci-Fi diner on 9/13 and the earliest they had was 8:45pm which was too late for us. Usually we were seated within 5 minutes of arrival, even though we ate at some of the most popular places.
We also had great service throughout the trip.
And last but not least (gosh this is long).....
THE WEATHER: Having gone in September before I knew it would be hot, humid and rain. However, I was in for a surprise. It was SUNNY, hot, and humid!
It rained for an hour on our arrival day (9/9) but we were at dinner so it didn't affect us, and then it rained for all of 5 minutes on 9/11 during our car ride. Otherwise it was sun sun sun and hot hot hot!!!! We took advantage of the free ice water for sure!!!!
The girls actually cried as we left the MK on Saturday to go back to our resort for the ME bus. The are asking when we can go back!
Keep in mind, this is our 4th trip in September, and our 3rd free dining trip.
CROWDS: I used the crowd calendar from UG to plan my itinerary before my trip, and then supplemented it with the "Lines" app and the UT app when we were in the parks. We went to the recommended parks most of the time, or in a few cases, neutral parks. In one case, we went to the avoid park because we wanted to see Fantasmic that night. (HS) With this is mind, I was VERY pleased with the crowds. We made it to each park at park opening almost every day, doing the headliners early and then collecting fast passes to use later. We were able to ride TSM 4 times because of fast passes. *hint* If you want to walk on to TSM, do it at park closing. My daughter and I walked on at 9pm on Tues 9/13 and were the last ones to ride. Otherwise, it was a long wait and fast passes went quickly.
Because the MK was closed early 5 out of the 8 nights we were there (9/9 and 9/10 for NOJ, 9/13 for MNSSHP, 9/15 for press event, and 9/16 for MNSSHP) we found it affected the Fantasmic crowds. Our dinner at 'Ohana ran late on 9/15, and when we arrived at HS, it was already standing room only for Fantasmic at 7:45pm. This was also the park to avoid for that day, and boy, did we feel the crowds were larger. We went to the MK on Sunday 9/11 at night to see "Wishes" and then went over to Tomorrowland to ride SM (7 minute wait) but I found it to get busier after that.
Within the first hour of park opening, Peter Pan was usually a 10 minute or less wait. We never "walked on" to any headliner during our trip. (Early mornings we always had a few minute wait, or at the very end of the night you might "walk on" with a few people ahead of you. The most we chose to wait for any ride was about 15 minutes.
CHARACTERS: Travelling with girls ages 9 and 7, I expected to wait to see characters. Everytime we approached the line for Rapunzel, we felt it was long and didn't end up waiting. Otherwise we timed our character meetings to coincide with their "refresh times" and skipped a bunch of them because we were dining at Chef Mickeys and Akershus.
TRANSPORTATION: We stayed at POFQ, and found the bus service to be very good. Transferring however, was sometimes a hassle, especially when trying to get to dining. The monorail also had to unique knack of going down right when we needed to get to our dinners at the Contemporary or the Poly. We ended up walking from the MK to the Contemporary, and thank goodness the monorail came back up so we could get to the Poly from the MK. Due to bailing at AK early, we took one cab from POFQ to AKL to the tune of $22 total. Otherwise the busses were sufficient, even at the end of the night.
OTHER GUESTS: We met some lovely people! On Sun 9/11, I saw another Dis'er getting on the bus at POFQ and I said hello! (I saw her LGMH of course!) Another Dis'er then said hello to us but those were the only interactions I had with Dis'ers based on LGMH. I found people to be very chatty waiting for the bus/monorail, etc or riding on the bus. I had a great conversation with 2 families riding the bus back from MNSSHP about planning, which sites to use, crowd calendars and the like! We also walked with another family from the MK to the CR and chatted with them along the way.
However, we also noticed a lot of international guests and there were many who claimed not to speak english. At the LMA show we went to, they chose a boy out of the crowd to do the remote control car, however, it was quickly determined he did not speak english when they asked him his name and he couldn't answer.
I always figured if I were to travel to a foreign country, I would at least learn a few phrases to have a basic understanding.Yes, there were a few guests that were rude. Like the lady at MNSSHP that shoved me out of her way when I was clearly in front of her in line. Or the incessant flash photography taken on some of the rides.
CAST MEMBERS: Most were great to deal with! We had some great interactions and really appreciated the pixie dust sent our way!
MNSSHP: I had planned on going to this if the weather cooperated, which it did.
I was hesitant to spend the $$$$ for a 5 hour event but to anyone on the fence, GO!!!!! Hallowishes was simply amazing! The parade was fantastic and we really liked the special things they did with the HM for the event. We were pleased with trick or treating but felt the dance parties were just okay. The characters seemed more than happy to stop and pose for pictures, but many a time, they were directed by their handlers to just dance. The Villans Mix and Mingle was awesome! The park ambiance was great! I would go again for sure! DINING: We were there on free dining on the regular plan and ate at 1900 Park Faire (dinner,) Chef Mickey's (dinner,) Boma, Teppan Edo, Prime Time 50's Cafe, Le Cellier (lunch,) 'Ohana (dinner,) and Akershus (breakfast.) We tried to change to Sci-Fi diner on 9/13 and the earliest they had was 8:45pm which was too late for us. Usually we were seated within 5 minutes of arrival, even though we ate at some of the most popular places.
We also had great service throughout the trip.
And last but not least (gosh this is long).....
THE WEATHER: Having gone in September before I knew it would be hot, humid and rain. However, I was in for a surprise. It was SUNNY, hot, and humid!
It rained for an hour on our arrival day (9/9) but we were at dinner so it didn't affect us, and then it rained for all of 5 minutes on 9/11 during our car ride. Otherwise it was sun sun sun and hot hot hot!!!! We took advantage of the free ice water for sure!!!!The girls actually cried as we left the MK on Saturday to go back to our resort for the ME bus. The are asking when we can go back!
.
(I wonder if we were sitting close to eachother!) That was the only "issue" with our trip, thankfully! 
