Just back from a 9/21 to 9/25 WDW trip, some random thoughts...

[Mickey_Maniac]

Just got back from a 5 day stay, we were there 9/21-9/25. We went to MK and MNSSHP on the 21st, AK on the 22nd, DS and SW Desert Party on the 23rd, EP and Frozen desert party on the 24th and back to MK for our last day on the 25th. We stayed at the Double Tree Suites in Disney Springs and drove to the parks so I cant comment on the bus service.

Here are some random thoughts on our trip...

Weather - Very hot and humid most days. Heat index over 100. Disney was offering free cups of ice water at most restaurant locations but we still spent a ton on bottled water.

Crowds - Fairly heavy on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (I'd say a 6 or 7). Much lower on Monday and Tuesday (about 3-4).

MDE - Very inconsistent the whole trip. Didn't seem to matter which device or where we were. Most of the time, we either could not connect or had incomplete information. Luckily I had saved our daily itineraries to my phone so we had them.

Star Wars Desert Party - This event was absolutely outstanding regardless of whether you are a SW fan or not. Great interaction with the characters. The roaming Storm Troopers kept everyone at the party laughing. Private interaction time with Kylo Ren and Chewbacca was amazing. They spent about 5 minutes each with us and were very engaged. Had us laughing the whole time. BB-8 interaction was OK, but was basically just a photo op, nothing much more you could do with a droid model. The food and drink were very good and very nicely laid out. If you go, you must try the flash frozen Nutella desert, just amazing (and I'm not a Nutella fan). Afterward, we were brought to a private, elevated viewing platform directly in front of the Chinese Theater in time to see both Disney Movie Magic and SW fireworks. I would highly recommend this to anyone, it is definitely worth the price.

MNSSHP - We had been to this a few years ago and loved it. This time it just seemed OK. Character interaction lines were very long, attraction wait times were fairly high considering it was a ticketed event. The candy given out was OK, nothing special. Basic Halloween candy in individual snack size packages and it was the same at all stations. The special fireworks were very good and the synchronization with the music was the best I have ever seen. Overall though, we were kind of disappointed. I don't know for sure, but it seemed like Disney oversold this event, but then again, it was a Friday night.

AK/FOP - Rode this for the first time this trip. We thought it was very nice and would definitely ride it again given the opportunity. That being said, our initial thoughts when we got off were the same. It was basically Soarin' in 3D. More detailed and advanced, but still basically the same technology.

AK Overall - Wait times in Pandora were through the roof. We saw RoL up to 130 minutes, and FOP never went below 60, most times it was up around 100. EE, Safari, Dinosaur were all fairly low, never above 30.

DS Overall - Toy Story Land was packed all day. Wait times for SDD and *** were never below 90 and sometimes went as high as 150. Most of the rest of the Studios was fairly open. We got on ToT 3 times and RnR twice. They really need to get SW/GE open. Other than TSL, ToT and RnR there just really isn't much else to do here.

Frozen Desert Party - In our opinion, this was very, very disappointing. Food and drink options were not great. There was obviously no character interaction whatsoever and the seating was "family style". Basically you were assigned a table with other guests and it all seemed a little forced. Somewhat uncomfortable sitting with complete strangers. This was definitely not worth the money paid and we will not do this again. I realize we may have been spoiled by the SW party, but even if we had not gone to that, this was not very well done.

EP Food and Wine Festival - This was lots of fun and we enjoyed trying the different offerings. Food portions are small enough that you could easily try several before you started to feel full. We didn't really drink much in the way of alcohol though, it was just too hot and we felt the alcohol would just make it worse.

EP Overall - TT was down for most of the day we were there so that affected the other attractions. SE and Soarin' were at about 30 most of the day. MS was empty almost all day, wait times never went above 10. This is a waste of space (no pun intended) and really needs to be either re-engineered or replaced completely. Construction on the Guardians ride seems to be moving along. It is a huge building and towers over the old UoE and WoL pavilions. I think most folks went to the Food and Wine sections so that made it more manageable.

If anyone has any specific questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

 

[chris benton]

For the SW Dessert Party -
If you were there with kids, any viewing issues for the shorter people?
Do you recall what savory food options were included?

 

[SeeDisney]

the raised platform for the viewing area of Star wars fireworks is new to me.. how much higher were you?

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

For the SW Dessert Party -
If you were there with kids, any viewing issues for the shorter people?
Do you recall what savory food options were included?

There were kids in our group. They did not have any issues in the viewing area. We were on a small stage probably about 3-4 feet above the ground. The regular viewing area was at ground level about 5-6 feet behind us so we didnt block any views.

The savory food items included a selection of cheeses, Italian style deli meats (Cappricola, Prosciutto) and Flatbreads with various dipping sauces. This was mostly about the deserts though. I'll upload a few pictures to give you an idea but I have to resize them first.

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

 

[chelseabun76]

Oh those adult bevvies look good!!!!

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

The Galactic Punch was excellent and went down very easily if you know what I mean...

 

[chris benton]

Oh, HELL YEAH!
How long do you have to nibble and drink? Is it generally 7pm until showtime-ish, like 8:30pm?
I'v been on the fence for this one. I like Fantasmic more, but I'm old. DS would love this - he didn't get to see much of the show from the general public viewing area. For the price (he'll be under 10 still!) I think this is a go. We can make dinner out of the offerings, and try to guzzle as much booze as we can to try and get our money's worth. The characters and viewing spot should make this worth it! Thanks for the intel!

 

[reluctantredhead]

Just got back from a 5 day stay, we were there 9/21-9/25. We went to MK and MNSSHP on the 21st, AK on the 22nd, DS and SW Desert Party on the 23rd, EP and Frozen desert party on the 24th and back to MK for our last day on the 25th. We stayed at the Double Tree Suites in Disney Springs and drove to the parks so I cant comment on the bus service.

Here are some random thoughts on our trip...

Weather - Very hot and humid most days. Heat index over 100. Disney was offering free cups of ice water at most restaurant locations but we still spent a ton on bottled water.

Crowds - Fairly heavy on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (I'd say a 6 or 7). Much lower on Monday and Tuesday (about 3-4).

MDE - Very inconsistent the whole trip. Didn't seem to matter which device or where we were. Most of the time, we either could not connect or had incomplete information. Luckily I had saved our daily itineraries to my phone so we had them.

Star Wars Desert Party - This event was absolutely outstanding regardless of whether you are a SW fan or not. Great interaction with the characters. The roaming Storm Troopers kept everyone at the party laughing. Private interaction time with Kylo Ren and Chewbacca was amazing. They spent about 5 minutes each with us and were very engaged. Had us laughing the whole time. BB-8 interaction was OK, but was basically just a photo op, nothing much more you could do with a droid model. The food and drink were very good and very nicely laid out. If you go, you must try the flash frozen Nutella desert, just amazing (and I'm not a Nutella fan). Afterward, we were brought to a private, elevated viewing platform directly in front of the Chinese Theater in time to see both Disney Movie Magic and SW fireworks. I would highly recommend this to anyone, it is definitely worth the price.

MNSSHP - We had been to this a few years ago and loved it. This time it just seemed OK. Character interaction lines were very long, attraction wait times were fairly high considering it was a ticketed event. The candy given out was OK, nothing special. Basic Halloween candy in individual snack size packages and it was the same at all stations. The special fireworks were very good and the synchronization with the music was the best I have ever seen. Overall though, we were kind of disappointed. I don't know for sure, but it seemed like Disney oversold this event, but then again, it was a Friday night.

AK/FOP - Rode this for the first time this trip. We thought it was very nice and would definitely ride it again given the opportunity. That being said, our initial thoughts when we got off were the same. It was basically Soarin' in 3D. More detailed and advanced, but still basically the same technology.

AK Overall - Wait times in Pandora were through the roof. We saw RoL up to 130 minutes, and FOP never went below 60, most times it was up around 100. EE, Safari, Dinosaur were all fairly low, never above 30.

DS Overall - Toy Story Land was packed all day. Wait times for SDD and *** were never below 90 and sometimes went as high as 150. Most of the rest of the Studios was fairly open. We got on ToT 3 times and RnR twice. They really need to get SW/GE open. Other than TSL, ToT and RnR there just really isn't much else to do here.

Frozen Desert Party - In our opinion, this was very, very disappointing. Food and drink options were not great. There was obviously no character interaction whatsoever and the seating was "family style". Basically you were assigned a table with other guests and it all seemed a little forced. Somewhat uncomfortable sitting with complete strangers. This was definitely not worth the money paid and we will not do this again. I realize we may have been spoiled by the SW party, but even if we had not gone to that, this was not very well done.

EP Food and Wine Festival - This was lots of fun and we enjoyed trying the different offerings. Food portions are small enough that you could easily try several before you started to feel full. We didn't really drink much in the way of alcohol though, it was just too hot and we felt the alcohol would just make it worse.

EP Overall - TT was down for most of the day we were there so that affected the other attractions. SE and Soarin' were at about 30 most of the day. MS was empty almost all day, wait times never went above 10. This is a waste of space (no pun intended) and really needs to be either re-engineered or replaced completely. Construction on the Guardians ride seems to be moving along. It is a huge building and towers over the old UoE and WoL pavilions. I think most folks went to the Food and Wine sections so that made it more manageable.

If anyone has any specific questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! We were there for many of the same dates (9/20-9/23) and I concur with much of what you said...we had similar experiences with the heat, crowds, and MDE. We also agree with everything you said about MNSSHP (we also attended the 9/21 party).

Two things you wrote about jumped out at me and I wanted to ask about them. You specifically mentioned that you didn't like having to share a table with strangers at the Frozen dessert party (and being a shy introvert, I agree with you on that one!), but you didn't mention it for SW. We did the SW dessert party on 9/22 and we did have a shared table with two strangers (they were perfectly nice people, but it was still awkward IMHO). Did you guys not have to share one? We're only a party of two so we sort of knew there was a good chance we'd have to share...just curious what your experience was.

Also...is the raised platform area for the SW fireworks and the projection show before that new? I don't remember them having it on Saturday night when we were there. Totally agree with you that the SW party is awesome, and IMHO it's the best one of the 3 we've been to (SW, FEA, and Wishes).

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

Oh, HELL YEAH!
How long do you have to nibble and drink? Is it generally 7pm until showtime-ish, like 8:30pm?
I'v been on the fence for this one. I like Fantasmic more, but I'm old. DS would love this - he didn't get to see much of the show from the general public viewing area. For the price (he'll be under 10 still!) I think this is a go. We can make dinner out of the offerings, and try to guzzle as much booze as we can to try and get our money's worth. The characters and viewing spot should make this worth it! Thanks for the intel!

Your timing is just about right. We checked in about 7 and went right in to the party area. Plenty of time to eat, drink and mingle with the characters. You might want to have something light to eat earlier though. Not sure if you can make a meal out of the savory stuff.

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! We were there for many of the same dates (9/20-9/23) and I concur with much of what you said...we had similar experiences with the heat, crowds, and MDE. We also agree with everything you said about MNSSHP (we also attended the 9/21 party).

Two things you wrote about jumped out at me and I wanted to ask about them. You specifically mentioned that you didn't like having to share a table with strangers at the Frozen dessert party (and being a shy introvert, I agree with you on that one!), but you didn't mention it for SW. We did the SW dessert party on 9/22 and we did have a shared table with two strangers (they were perfectly nice people, but it was still awkward IMHO). Did you guys not have to share one? We're only a party of two so we sort of knew there was a good chance we'd have to share...just curious what your experience was.

Also...is the raised platform area for the SW fireworks and the projection show before that new? I don't remember them having it on Saturday night when we were there. Totally agree with you that the SW party is awesome, and IMHO it's the best one of the 3 we've been to (SW, FEA, and Wishes).

At the SW party, we ended up having a table just for the two of us. Actually, I didnt see many tables for more than 2, a couple with 3, but it looked like they were families.

As for the raised platform, I didnt remember seeing it earlier in the day so I have a feeling it was rolled out before the party. Now that I think more about it, I'm wondering if it was part of the stage they use for the SW show during the day. One of the hostesses told me the regular stage lowers into the ground (?), so maybe they just left part of it up. There were 160 of us at this party and there was plenty of room for everyone.

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

One note about the SW party, watch out for the roving Storm Troopers if you happen to be using your phone... 'Nuff Said...

 

[FastPasser.]

the raised platform for the viewing area of Star wars fireworks is new to me.. how much higher were you?

It's only 1-1/2 to 2 feet higher and used every night.

Also...is the raised platform area for the SW fireworks and the projection show before that new?

Nope, it's been used for a while

As for the raised platform, I didnt remember seeing it earlier in the day so I have a feeling it was rolled out before the party. Now that I think more about it, I'm wondering if it was part of the stage they use for the SW show during the day.

It's a permanent concrete surface.

One of the hostesses told me the regular stage lowers into the ground (?), so maybe they just left part of it up.

Wow, that's a whopper, totally false.

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

FastPasser, Thanks for the clarification. I couldn’t figure how the stage could lower into the ground. Just out of curiosity, is where we sat part of the stage used for the SW show?

 

[FastPasser.]

FastPasser, Thanks for the clarification. I couldn’t figure how the stage could lower into the ground. Just out of curiosity, is where we sat part of the stage used for the SW show?

Hi fellow New Englander (former). I assume you're referring to the SWaGS viewing area. The SW stage show takes place on three movable stages that when in place are in front of the viewing area. The movable stages are motorized and are moved out shortly after the last show.

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

So that makes sense and explains why I didn't see the viewing platform earlier in the day.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Nice write up by the O.P., but I gotta say the following: there`s NO WAY that FOP and Soarin` have even remotely the same technology! FOP is leagues ahead, in terms of immersiveness, detail, flying sensation, etc. No comparison, really.

 

[reluctantredhead]

It's only 1-1/2 to 2 feet higher and used every night.
Nope, it's been used for a while
It's a permanent concrete surface.

Yes...the concrete surface I remember! I remember it because I was using my hands to help support me as I sat and they got those little temporary dents and impressions in them from it. For some reason I was interpreting the way Mickey_Maniac described it as some kind of metal riser or something, lol. So I thought he was saying there was another temporary structure on top of that raised concrete area.

 

[Disnsyncey]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! We were there for many of the same dates (9/20-9/23) and I concur with much of what you said...we had similar experiences with the heat, crowds, and MDE. We also agree with everything you said about MNSSHP (we also attended the 9/21 party).

Two things you wrote about jumped out at me and I wanted to ask about them. You specifically mentioned that you didn't like having to share a table with strangers at the Frozen dessert party (and being a shy introvert, I agree with you on that one!), but you didn't mention it for SW. We did the SW dessert party on 9/22 and we did have a shared table with two strangers (they were perfectly nice people, but it was still awkward IMHO). Did you guys not have to share one? We're only a party of two so we sort of knew there was a good chance we'd have to share...just curious what your experience was.

Also...is the raised platform area for the SW fireworks and the projection show before that new? I don't remember them having it on Saturday night when we were there. Totally agree with you that the SW party is awesome, and IMHO it's the best one of the 3 we've been to (SW, FEA, and Wishes).

So this is so weird.....I was there 9/20-9/25.....and y'all say that MK was crowded? and Epcot? MK was basically empty for us on Friday, and We literally walked onto Soarin during the rainstorm on Monday....

it was SO HOT though, yes.....and when MDE was down on Thursday, I had screen shotted our FP+s, so we were fine. When it went down on Tuesday, the kiosks were working, so we actually got pretty good FP+s that way.....but both of our MK mornings (Friday and Tuesday) were SO EMPTY....it was amazing....

We went to MK on Saturday night for the HEA dessert party (which felt more crowded than last year, but the hub LOOKED less crowded), and we rode a ride or 2, but then we played Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, and that was AWESOME.....

 

[reluctantredhead]

So this is so weird.....I was there 9/20-9/25.....and y'all say that MK was crowded? and Epcot? MK was basically empty for us on Friday, and We literally walked onto Soarin during the rainstorm on Monday....

it was SO HOT though, yes.....and when MDE was down on Thursday, I had screen shotted our FP+s, so we were fine. When it went down on Tuesday, the kiosks were working, so we actually got pretty good FP+s that way.....but both of our MK mornings (Friday and Tuesday) were SO EMPTY....it was amazing....

We went to MK on Saturday night for the HEA dessert party (which felt more crowded than last year, but the hub LOOKED less crowded), and we rode a ride or 2, but then we played Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, and that was AWESOME.....

We were only at MK on Friday for the MNSSHP, and we didn't arrive until 6 pm. It makes sense that you found crowds low during the day though...I've read that on party days crowds are lower because many people don't want to use a ticket for MK on a day when it closes early. So though I can't speak to crowds during the regular park hours, I did find the actual party to be quite crowded. I knew from the Disboards to expect crowds, but I hadn't been to a MNSSHP in 12 years, so it was an incredibly dramatic change in crowd levels for me.

We too had both printed out and taken screen shots of our FP+ so that part wasn't an issue (and TBH, rides weren't the focus of this trip for us, with the exception of during DAH, which was absolutely an incredible and decidedly uncrowded experience). We more found that when we were trying to pull up a 4th or alter plans we'd made that MDE was glitchy, which we had never personally experienced in the parks before (though we had at home when we were trying to do pre-trip planning).

I wasn't there on Sunday or Monday (we were there Thursday afternoon through Saturday night basically...left at the crack of dawn on Sunday). But Saturday was crowded at Epcot WS (as would be expected) due to the F&W festival. As several people here had correctly warned me, weekend crowds would be much heavier than weekday ones. Thursday afternoon at EP was much less crowded than Saturday, and then as I mentioned we went to DAH on Thursday night, arriving at about 7 pm. On Friday we did the AP TS event, which was absolutely incredible, and left HS to go back to the room and nap after riding those rides plus TOT and RNRR after rope drop. We took a loooong nap after doing DAH the night before and then getting up at the crack of dawn for the 7 am TS event, and then slowly made our way through WS at EP (stayed at BC) sampling things from the F&W festival booths, took the monorail over to T&TC, where all modes of transport were broken (including the ferry) for about 20 minutes before they finally let us on the resort monorail because the express one was broken (was anyone else there for that???).