Sharpdisney
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2014
- Messages
- 192
Hi all -
We got back yesterday after 7 nights in Disney World, with 6 day park tickets. I did a ton of research and planning before we left including just about memorizing these boards. All the learning paid off and I think we had a great trip. I’ll be compiling a larger trip report (without many pictures through, since we just didn’t take a ton of them). I want to make a post for “first timers” and newbies like I was when I started this process, so maybe others can use it to help in the future.
But, since I can’t hardly wait to write that, and I know I loved reading some “just back” threads, I thought I’d throw a few notes out for now!
- Me and DH, in our 30’s, DMIL in her 50’s, DS 5 years old. Trip 2/24 to 3/2. 6 day park tickets, no hopper. Two days MK, two days Epcot, one day each AK and HS. POP Century with standard dining plan booked on Stay, Play & Dine package.
- Used easywdw to pick days based on crowds. Booked ADR’s at 180 days based on park day. Used touringplans.com to generate general plan – my biggest goal was a leisurely pace with little to no backtracking. This worked great for my group. I just kept evaluating based on my chosen order of rides.
- Booked FP+ at 60 days with no issues – used Mesaboy’s tips for most recommended rides to choose. FP+ worked great for us. We used them on the busy rides so ended up not waiting more than 20 min for any ride when combined with a good touring plan.
In general, we had an excellent trip! We saw and did so much, I almost can’t even remember it all, but we went at our own pace and had some downtime where we were not rushing to make any appointments. We were able to hit a few rides twice, with FP, or waiting till later in the evening when it was slower. We rode almost every single ride I think. My DS at 45” tall did everything he qualified for, including Everest, Space Mountain, and Tower of Terror. He was brave and enjoyed them. We saw Festival of the Lion King which was spectacular, Wishes, Fantasmic, and a good part of Illuminations. Loved Festival of Fantasy Parade.
POP was just fine for us; buses were OK. Some long waits, some short ones. Worked good for my group to have two rooms at a reasonable price. Food court was fine for us. I did bring a coffee maker to avoid one person having to go to food court in the morning to fill up the cups.
Food was awesome. We are not foodies by any means but know when we are getting processed food slapped together at a chain restaurant. We had delicious high quality meals every place we went. Service was good. Be Our Guest was highest rated by my group.
All staff was friendly and we enjoyed consistent customer service.
We visited a few other resorts. Polynesian for O’Hana (delicious food, lovely lobby, great drinks and watched Wishes from our dinner table). Animal Kingdom for Sanaa. Pretty resort but didn’t explore a lot due to rainy weather. Very large a spread out, we had to take a shuttle to get to larger gift shop. Art of Animation – very fun looking resort and would love to try the family suites in the future. The pool area looked like fun. Great food court with real dishes and silverware.
We liked the World Showcase at Epcot but my DS was not too interested. He wanted to go on rides. He loved MK. AK was great, we had a good safari and saw tons of animals. HS was excellent but very cold that day. DS did Jedi Training and it was the best part for him. They really treat the kids special. He said immediately following, “Did you hear? Darth Vader said he was waiting for me!!!” Great experience. Fantasmic was amazing but we sat in the front row. As mentioned here, don’t do that. You can get wet! But show was amazing.
Did tons of rides at MK. We loved Mine Train, Big Thunder, and People Mover so you could see the other rides. Splash Mountain was a huge hit with all of us, had us laughing the whole way, sitting in the back with a little poncho to hold up at the end for the last splash did the trick to keep us dry enough.
Loved Test Track and Soarin’ at Epcot. Loved the margaritas and I am a real connoisseur.
DS met the characters at Tusker House and that was enough for him. He was not that interested to wait in a line and see them any more than that, so I’m glad we did that one opportunity. Food was great there too. DS loved all rides, from People Mover to Everest and everything in between. He liked fireworks and shows, but wasn’t dying to see them, so we did not stake out a primo spot for Wishes as I had previously planned. We went on rides and just caught Wishes from the bridge to Tomorrowland right at 10 pm when they started. DS loved Star Wars stuff, and while much of it was in HS, there were things to be found elsewhere too. We all really liked Downtown Disney where we went our first night. Wanted to go back but never made it there! T-Rex was totally awesome for us.
Some days we got to the park at opening and others we came in mid-day and stayed late. Enjoyed both aspects depending on the day.
Best overall advice for newbies – do some planning so you have a general idea where you want to go. It is a big place and having studied a map before had was invaluable for my group. FP+ for busy rides kept the day going smoothly and family happy. We enjoyed sitting down to one meal a day for rest and visiting; that worked well for my group. Build some “whatever you feel like doing for an hour or so” time into your schedule for shopping, re-rides, snacks, etc. Worked great for us. You do get a lot done in the morning but judge your group; we mixed it up and towards the end of the week enjoyed the late nights as well.
I’ll post a more thorough report in the Trip Report forum soon!!!
We got back yesterday after 7 nights in Disney World, with 6 day park tickets. I did a ton of research and planning before we left including just about memorizing these boards. All the learning paid off and I think we had a great trip. I’ll be compiling a larger trip report (without many pictures through, since we just didn’t take a ton of them). I want to make a post for “first timers” and newbies like I was when I started this process, so maybe others can use it to help in the future.
But, since I can’t hardly wait to write that, and I know I loved reading some “just back” threads, I thought I’d throw a few notes out for now!
- Me and DH, in our 30’s, DMIL in her 50’s, DS 5 years old. Trip 2/24 to 3/2. 6 day park tickets, no hopper. Two days MK, two days Epcot, one day each AK and HS. POP Century with standard dining plan booked on Stay, Play & Dine package.
- Used easywdw to pick days based on crowds. Booked ADR’s at 180 days based on park day. Used touringplans.com to generate general plan – my biggest goal was a leisurely pace with little to no backtracking. This worked great for my group. I just kept evaluating based on my chosen order of rides.
- Booked FP+ at 60 days with no issues – used Mesaboy’s tips for most recommended rides to choose. FP+ worked great for us. We used them on the busy rides so ended up not waiting more than 20 min for any ride when combined with a good touring plan.
In general, we had an excellent trip! We saw and did so much, I almost can’t even remember it all, but we went at our own pace and had some downtime where we were not rushing to make any appointments. We were able to hit a few rides twice, with FP, or waiting till later in the evening when it was slower. We rode almost every single ride I think. My DS at 45” tall did everything he qualified for, including Everest, Space Mountain, and Tower of Terror. He was brave and enjoyed them. We saw Festival of the Lion King which was spectacular, Wishes, Fantasmic, and a good part of Illuminations. Loved Festival of Fantasy Parade.
POP was just fine for us; buses were OK. Some long waits, some short ones. Worked good for my group to have two rooms at a reasonable price. Food court was fine for us. I did bring a coffee maker to avoid one person having to go to food court in the morning to fill up the cups.
Food was awesome. We are not foodies by any means but know when we are getting processed food slapped together at a chain restaurant. We had delicious high quality meals every place we went. Service was good. Be Our Guest was highest rated by my group.
All staff was friendly and we enjoyed consistent customer service.
We visited a few other resorts. Polynesian for O’Hana (delicious food, lovely lobby, great drinks and watched Wishes from our dinner table). Animal Kingdom for Sanaa. Pretty resort but didn’t explore a lot due to rainy weather. Very large a spread out, we had to take a shuttle to get to larger gift shop. Art of Animation – very fun looking resort and would love to try the family suites in the future. The pool area looked like fun. Great food court with real dishes and silverware.
We liked the World Showcase at Epcot but my DS was not too interested. He wanted to go on rides. He loved MK. AK was great, we had a good safari and saw tons of animals. HS was excellent but very cold that day. DS did Jedi Training and it was the best part for him. They really treat the kids special. He said immediately following, “Did you hear? Darth Vader said he was waiting for me!!!” Great experience. Fantasmic was amazing but we sat in the front row. As mentioned here, don’t do that. You can get wet! But show was amazing.
Did tons of rides at MK. We loved Mine Train, Big Thunder, and People Mover so you could see the other rides. Splash Mountain was a huge hit with all of us, had us laughing the whole way, sitting in the back with a little poncho to hold up at the end for the last splash did the trick to keep us dry enough.
Loved Test Track and Soarin’ at Epcot. Loved the margaritas and I am a real connoisseur.
DS met the characters at Tusker House and that was enough for him. He was not that interested to wait in a line and see them any more than that, so I’m glad we did that one opportunity. Food was great there too. DS loved all rides, from People Mover to Everest and everything in between. He liked fireworks and shows, but wasn’t dying to see them, so we did not stake out a primo spot for Wishes as I had previously planned. We went on rides and just caught Wishes from the bridge to Tomorrowland right at 10 pm when they started. DS loved Star Wars stuff, and while much of it was in HS, there were things to be found elsewhere too. We all really liked Downtown Disney where we went our first night. Wanted to go back but never made it there! T-Rex was totally awesome for us.
Some days we got to the park at opening and others we came in mid-day and stayed late. Enjoyed both aspects depending on the day.
Best overall advice for newbies – do some planning so you have a general idea where you want to go. It is a big place and having studied a map before had was invaluable for my group. FP+ for busy rides kept the day going smoothly and family happy. We enjoyed sitting down to one meal a day for rest and visiting; that worked well for my group. Build some “whatever you feel like doing for an hour or so” time into your schedule for shopping, re-rides, snacks, etc. Worked great for us. You do get a lot done in the morning but judge your group; we mixed it up and towards the end of the week enjoyed the late nights as well.
I’ll post a more thorough report in the Trip Report forum soon!!!
that can be found on these boards, sort it out and plan, and have a truly wonderful time!
