PlutoTheDog89
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2011
- Messages
- 2,088
Currently suffering from a Disney hangover. Man, every year we go into the trip saying "let's enjoy it, because we may skip next year." Then, midway into our trip, we find ourselves planning our next one!
I'm working on a detailed report, but I'll touch on a few things first.
Weather:
The weather was gorgeous 7/9 days; it rained once and a cold front came in for one day (12/30.)
- We finally did rope drop. We were never early risers and it was especially difficult to do on 12/25. We flew in on 12/24 and even after sleeping well Christmas Eve, we were working on 9 hours of sleep over the past 48 hours. Still, we woke up by 5:45am and boarded the bus to Magic Kingdom. We made Space Mountain our first stop, followed by Buzz Lightyear then Pirates. Then the park opened at 8am. We had FP+ for Jungle Cruise, Thunder Mountain and 7DMT. We finished by 2pm and went back to the hotel to nap before dinner. We'll definitely be doing Rope Drop again. We finished 3 main attractions before the park opened!
Crowds
- It didn't feel as crowded on Christmas week. We stayed Beach Club and the lobby was quiet all week. In fact, it wasn't until 1/1 that it got packed. We couldn't believe how many people were checking in. I do think a lot of locals go to the parks on Christmas. The week of New Year's (this week, maybe 12/28 on) is tourists.
- DHS was definitely more crowded than past years. Maybe it just felt that way - who knows. It was certainly more crowded than we expected.
- The lack of a nighttime parade really affected the crowd levels at MK. In past years, guests would hold out until the parade, then leave. Now it seems guests are leaving after the first showing of Wishes (8 or 9pm) rather than 10pm or 11pm.
- The late-night EMH was great at MK on 12/30. We usually save the family rides (Peter Pan, Winnie) for 12/30, as most families are gone by 12 or 1am. This year, rather than arrive at 7pm, we grabbed a nap from 6:30-8pm, then went to the park at 10pm. We were able to stay up later and not feel as tired by 1am, when the EMH started. The park emptied out by 12:30ish.
- We decided to forego the parks next year on 12/31. Every year we try something new with EPCOT. We've tried going early and staking out a spot; we've tried eating later in EPCOT then finding a spot; and this year we tried eating at Yachtsman then walking over around 10pm. After circling the World Showcase, we left around 11pm. We had a great view of the EPCOT AND DHS fireworks from the Yacht Club Boat stop and didn't have to worry about the crowds. We'll be doing this next year.
New Stuff
- D-Luxe burger is outstanding. Disney Springs is really impressive. Save DS for mid-week, though, as it gets crowded on the weekend.
- We saw the Express buses going into/out of the parks, however, we didn't use them. I think it's a great value, however, we don't "park hop" per se. We go back to our room, nap, then head back to the park at night.
- Holidays Around the World was underwhelming. In its defense, we didn't really try anything. The portions were too large to carry around the park and we didn't wanna fill up on too much stuff. If we go again next year, we'll probably have one day with NO dining reservation and just dine around the world.
- We skipped the tree trail. It was raining that day.
- We did the Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam dessert party. OF COURSE it rained this night. They held the party inside and I liked a lot of the food, however, I would have enjoyed it more if it was normal dessert food. They went a little crazy with antipasto and salads and nitro ice cream. Keep it simple. I'd be happy with krispy treats, regular snickerdoodles and chocolate chip cookies, alcohol, popcorn, etc. I did like how generous they were. I looked at a CM and asked if i could bring my drink out with me. She replied "of course... go get another one, grab some cookies! Get your money's worth!"
- Unfortunately the rain put a damper on the show. We couldn't wear our glasses and we didn't get to enjoy it as much, but it was a fun night, nonetheless.
- Overall, a fantastic trip. We were skeptical when we checked into the Beach Club and the room looked a lot like... well, our rooms at POFQ and Coronado. The rooms aren't all that different... but we quickly saw the value when we were able to walk from EPCOT each night and when we used the pool. It's also a better level of service than the mods we've frequented.
I'm working on a detailed report, but I'll touch on a few things first.
Weather:
The weather was gorgeous 7/9 days; it rained once and a cold front came in for one day (12/30.)
- We finally did rope drop. We were never early risers and it was especially difficult to do on 12/25. We flew in on 12/24 and even after sleeping well Christmas Eve, we were working on 9 hours of sleep over the past 48 hours. Still, we woke up by 5:45am and boarded the bus to Magic Kingdom. We made Space Mountain our first stop, followed by Buzz Lightyear then Pirates. Then the park opened at 8am. We had FP+ for Jungle Cruise, Thunder Mountain and 7DMT. We finished by 2pm and went back to the hotel to nap before dinner. We'll definitely be doing Rope Drop again. We finished 3 main attractions before the park opened!
Crowds
- It didn't feel as crowded on Christmas week. We stayed Beach Club and the lobby was quiet all week. In fact, it wasn't until 1/1 that it got packed. We couldn't believe how many people were checking in. I do think a lot of locals go to the parks on Christmas. The week of New Year's (this week, maybe 12/28 on) is tourists.
- DHS was definitely more crowded than past years. Maybe it just felt that way - who knows. It was certainly more crowded than we expected.
- The lack of a nighttime parade really affected the crowd levels at MK. In past years, guests would hold out until the parade, then leave. Now it seems guests are leaving after the first showing of Wishes (8 or 9pm) rather than 10pm or 11pm.
- The late-night EMH was great at MK on 12/30. We usually save the family rides (Peter Pan, Winnie) for 12/30, as most families are gone by 12 or 1am. This year, rather than arrive at 7pm, we grabbed a nap from 6:30-8pm, then went to the park at 10pm. We were able to stay up later and not feel as tired by 1am, when the EMH started. The park emptied out by 12:30ish.
- We decided to forego the parks next year on 12/31. Every year we try something new with EPCOT. We've tried going early and staking out a spot; we've tried eating later in EPCOT then finding a spot; and this year we tried eating at Yachtsman then walking over around 10pm. After circling the World Showcase, we left around 11pm. We had a great view of the EPCOT AND DHS fireworks from the Yacht Club Boat stop and didn't have to worry about the crowds. We'll be doing this next year.
New Stuff
- D-Luxe burger is outstanding. Disney Springs is really impressive. Save DS for mid-week, though, as it gets crowded on the weekend.
- We saw the Express buses going into/out of the parks, however, we didn't use them. I think it's a great value, however, we don't "park hop" per se. We go back to our room, nap, then head back to the park at night.
- Holidays Around the World was underwhelming. In its defense, we didn't really try anything. The portions were too large to carry around the park and we didn't wanna fill up on too much stuff. If we go again next year, we'll probably have one day with NO dining reservation and just dine around the world.
- We skipped the tree trail. It was raining that day.
- We did the Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam dessert party. OF COURSE it rained this night. They held the party inside and I liked a lot of the food, however, I would have enjoyed it more if it was normal dessert food. They went a little crazy with antipasto and salads and nitro ice cream. Keep it simple. I'd be happy with krispy treats, regular snickerdoodles and chocolate chip cookies, alcohol, popcorn, etc. I did like how generous they were. I looked at a CM and asked if i could bring my drink out with me. She replied "of course... go get another one, grab some cookies! Get your money's worth!"
- Unfortunately the rain put a damper on the show. We couldn't wear our glasses and we didn't get to enjoy it as much, but it was a fun night, nonetheless.
- Overall, a fantastic trip. We were skeptical when we checked into the Beach Club and the room looked a lot like... well, our rooms at POFQ and Coronado. The rooms aren't all that different... but we quickly saw the value when we were able to walk from EPCOT each night and when we used the pool. It's also a better level of service than the mods we've frequented.
