Just back ... any questions?

[luvdisney999]

Just back from a wonderful visit to Disney World!

Of course, it hasn't rained down there since January, but it rained this week! Luckily, it was only a few hours, but it still made it dreary and VERY humid!

Rode EE for the first time - great ride, but made me dizzy! I prefer Rock N RC much better! Saw Beauty and the Beast, rode Tower of Terror and Rock N RC like a total of 15 times. Spend most of my time in that corner of MGM b/c I LOVE it!

Crowds were OK. If you get there right when the park opens it's great. By 11:00 on Thursday at MK, the wait times on most rides were 40-60 minutes (but MK had opened at 8 for morning magic hours).

Had the BEST lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe - the Smoke stack sandwich! It was GREAT!!!! I HIGHLY recommend this restaurant!!

Had a lot of transportation issues - both with buses, boats, and airplanes! My flight was significantly delayed last night b/c of the weather up north. Other than that, it was a GREAT trip!

So, any questions? I'd be glad to answer them!

 

[Mickey's*Chickey]

I hope you had a great trip!

 

[deany]

I am glad you had such a wonderful trip! Welcome home. A couple of questions -
How were the disney buses? We are going Oct 1 -12 and rely totally on the buses.
We have the dining program included as we check in on Sept 30. We almost always eat at counter service (all 5 of us usually go) but this time we are able to try some sit down meals. Are there any resort restaurants you would recommend? Also, how did you get to WL? I was thinking we could catch the boat from MK.
It will probably be too time consuming to eat at different resorts (we are staying at POR) but we would like to try Boma's. From Boma's we would probably go to DD and then catch a second bus to POR. Can you think of a better way. We would do Boma's after our day at AK.
Thanks so much!

 

[luvdisney999]

The Disney buses were mostly really great. The POP buses came really good - no complaints. The only complaint I would state was about Wilderness Lodge. We went over to EPCOT after lunch and it ended up taking 40 minutes ON the bus!! The driver went a long way over to Fort Wilderness, got lodged in between two buses (so we couldn't pull out), then went close to DTD before circling back to EPCOT. That took way too long in my opinion.

Also, the Magical Express bus seemed to take forever! We checked-in right away, but didn't leave the airport for 45 minutes later! Every other resort bus left (some even twice). We had a REALLY long line of people waiting, but we didn't leave. First time that happened, though, so I'm sure it was just something odd. We used ME twice before that and never waited more than 15 minutes before.

As far as resort restaurants, I certainly can recommend:
1. Whispering Canyon Cafe (Wilderness Lodge) = best way is to take a boat to/from Magic Kingdom; the boat system seemed better than the bus
2. Kona Cafe (Polynesian Resort) = they have the BEST breakfasts there; dinner is pretty good too; can take the Monorail from MK and EPCOT
3. Concourse Steakhouse (Contemporary) = we had breakfast here last trip and loved the food; hear dinner is good too; can walk from MK
4. Boardwalk restaurants (near EPCOT and MGM) = walking on the Boardwalk and eating here are some of our favorite things to do

I don't think going from AK -> AKL (have dinner at Boma's) -> then to DTD is that much. You can't go right from AK to DTD without a stop at a resort, so that would be a good choice. I think that would be the BEST combination.

Anyone else have questions?

 

[deany]

Thanks so much for all the great info!! I have printed the ideas out and will stick them in my suitcase.

 

[BamaFan121s]

I have a question if you don't mind me asking. (We just got back Saturday.) Did the wait/availability for the buses completely stink for you too? We were very unhappy with the long wait for buses...not at all like in past trips where they were not as bad. In which resort did you stay? I'm thinking maybe that made a difference?

 

[luvdisney999]

The buses were OK - nothing real bad, nothing real great!

I seem to have the habit of just missing a bus or a boat. But another one came within 20 minutes or so.

We stayed at POP and have always had GREAT bus service! My only complaint would be how long it took with Magical Express. It could also have something to do with the fact that we left very early in the morning and left before park closing. We could almost always have a seat on the bus and they came fairly regularly.

Also, the Wilderness Lodge bus took FOREVER!! It probably does matter which resort you are staying at. I was surprised, since there's a huge price difference between WL and POP, but maybe my bus was just a one time thing. Who knows?

Which resort did you stay at BamaFan121s?

 

[STEAMBOAT209]

Glad you had a great trip, I do have a question on EE, what time of day did you ride, and how was the wait time. What was used during the wait time to occupy your time, TV, Making of the ride, history of the mt.? Thanks in advance,

 

[BamaFan121s]

Which resort did you stay at BamaFan121s?

Wow...we stayed at POP too. We stayed there in November...a change from the norm of Caribbean Beach...and enjoyed it then...not so happy with the stay this time though.

Friday w/ the EMH at Epcot, we waited for well over an hour to get on a bus! There was one point when we stood for nearly 30 minutes without one coming. The line was backed up all the way down the sidewalk and to the vending machines. It was to the point that people were jumping line and finding wheelchairs that had been left to try to get on. At one point some people jumped line and the lots of people in line started shouting and chanting "do the right thing, do the right thing." Scary, really.

Another night leaving MK...granted, they have 2 bus lines for POP there, we waited maybe 20 minutes--1st bus, couldn't get on even standing, same for the 2nd. When the 2nd bus left, that left maybe 10 of us in the one line and we were told by a cast member that we would have to go to the (back) of the the other line as no more buses would come to this one! So we had to wait another 20 minutes!

I noticed both of these times that it seemed the POP and AS's were the only ones with tons of people waiting...all the other lines were empty. Also, and now don't think I'm one of these people that HAS to sit on the bus...I'll stand and give up my seat any day, but...there were TOO MANY people being crammed on those buses for it to be safe, IMO. People crammed into the doorways, standing up even w/ the driver! As someone who was on a WDW bus that wrecked, this was very concerning.

I'm glad you didn't run into these problems like we did!
It wasn't EVERY time we waited, just a few, but that was enough!

 

[luvdisney999]

To STEAMBOAT209:

I didn't have to wait long at all for EE. But then again, we went there right away at park opening and could walk right on it. Later, I rode again using my Fastpass and literally walked right on. The first time was at 8:00 on an earlier EMH day. When I returned with my FP, it was 10:00. The standby line read 40 minutes; by the time I rode and came off, it was 50 minutes. Definately a popular attraction - so get there ASAP!

I know there were all kinds of artifacts and interesting things to read in the line, but I did not stop to look at much. The line kept moving for me, but I did notice that both lines (standby and FP) had the artifacts - different ones, though, I think.


To BamaFan121s:

So sorry that you had that much trouble with the buses. Definately sounds quite odd. I was wondering about that double line at MK, though. I thought that would be more problems than helpful. Had to have been just a coincidence or something that you had such bad problems. The only bad problems we had was timing really. We would arrive at a bus stop just as a bus was leaving. But we went EARLY in the morning - usually caught the first or second bus of the day, then came home 30 minutes before park closing. The one exception was MK, when we saw Wishes! We stayed toward the back of the park (near the train station) and dashed out just as soon as the fireworks were over. We got on the second train leaving, only waited about 10-15 minutes.

Definately sounds odd, though. But I did notice that more and more people are realizing how great POP is! The resort was 100% full when I checked in (I asked a cast member) and she said that the day before it was 100% full as well. I think people are starting to realize how great this resort is and at a cheaper price! Think of it this way, at least you didn't have to make 2 or 3 stops, considering most of the other DIsney resorts share buses with each other!

Any other questions? I like to help fellow disers, since you guys help me so much!

 

[mkpat]

How do you think the crowds were? We did EHM mornings and some regular park openings and rode everything with basically walk-on waits (rode EE at AK 9 times). At MGM, I had a limo all to myself on RnR!!! That was kinda wierd, though.

 

[luvdisney999]

Crowds weren't really that much of an issue. We pushed ourselves to be there at park opening and the morning EMH days, we were there at 8. By doing this and getting FPs, we didn't wait long for anything.

The only thing was Soarin'. We got FPs for this twice and still waited about 30 minutes each time with the FP!! I know it's new and popular, but the standby line was only 40 minutes! When it was like 150 minutes back in November, we still never waited 30 minutes with a FP!

Whichever park had EMH, we noticed, definately was more crowded than the other parks. We went to MK on Thursday and did everything we wanted to by noon. But as we were walking past the attractions, almost everything had a 40+ minute wait time - the most we'd seen all week.

 

[peanutgirl]

If you got a FP for EE at opening what was your return time??
THANKS

 

[Goofy4]

Glad you had a great trip, I do have a question on EE, what time of day did you ride, and how was the wait time. What was used during the wait time to occupy your time, TV, Making of the ride, history of the mt.? Thanks in advance,

Standby wait time was 50 minutes (oops, DW says it was 40 -- as advertised) at 11:30 ish on Saturday.

Overall, the theming was great. Someone who seemed to know someone who worked on the ride was probably correct in saying they could have done more with entertainment/educational material in the queue. There's an "office" area, a store, a... hmm. not coming back to me. No TV.

 

[Shepherdess]

So, would you recommend going to the park with the morning EMH or avoiding it? We're planning a trip in August. When we went 2 years ago, we went to the early EMH. Just wondered how you felt about it.

 

[luvdisney999]

For peanutgirl -

I was the only one in my group to ride. I Fastpassed EE at EMH opening and got a return time of 8:45-9:45. Went back around 9:30 and FPed it again (should have just used my friends' ticket to FP it twice and elminate the back and forth, but whatever). That time I got a return time of 10:45-11:45 I believe. The line fluctuated between 40-50 minutes, so I was confused why more people wouldn't FP it, but whatever!

I still think there are people out there that don't know about FP or think you have to have a special ticket or something. I want to let them in on the secret, but then there's less for me!


For Shepherdess -

I would HIGHLY recommend going during AK's EMH if for no other reason than the time of year you are going. We went in early May and the humidity was OK (not terrible, but you felt it). Well, this park was just unbearable! We were only there for a little over 2 hours and we had to leave. The later in the day, I'm sure it gets worse, so I would definately try to be there as early as you can. I mean, there was a cloud of humidity covering the Tree of Life and EE to the point where I couldn't even take any pictures!