Just Back from a Great Disney Vacation

pfanny37

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Messages
46
My wife myself and our two DS (6,3) just returned from a 6 night stay at POR. We did Epcot, HS, AK, MKx2. This is our second trip in the last three years, but our first staying onsite with the meal plan. We loved both staying onsite and having the meal plan. I know there is a lot of debate about the meal plan, but it really worked for my family.

We loved POR. We had a preferred room in Alligator Bayou and that worked really well for us. We used the main bus stop and never had a problem getting a bus the first time, but we also rope dropped every morning. Our only complaint was how chaotic and unorganized the QS was at our resort.

We are morning people, and rope drop with EMH was great for us. We were able to ride Soarin twice with minimal wait the second time, TSM three times using one fast pass with little to no wait, and Splash Mountain twice by heading to those rides right at RD. Everyone we interacted with was really helpful. We had great servers at our TS meals. Bobbie and Chef Mickey's and Biergit at Biergarten were exceptionally fun (we even got them to take pictures with us).

We loved EMM. We rode 7DMT 8 times, PP x2, and WP once. Our only complain, and I'll be contacting Disney about this is at 8:45 the BOG people arrived and the CM had us wait so they could get on 7DMT. He told us that we were supposed to be at breakfast because it closes at 9. We let him know that was not the case, and he got us on one more time. By no means did that ruin our experience, it was just a little frustrating after spending that much money we had to deal with it. We are already planning to do EMM next year when we return if it is still offered.

We also loved being able to nab extra FP via the app. At one point we went from Barnstormer to Dumbo 4 times and just kept grabbing FP for them. My kids loved it. The key is to just checking because things were constantly opening up.

Thank you for everyone on this site for equipping me with the information to make this the best possible trip for my family. If anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to ask because I'd love to provide any help I can.
 
Sounds like such a fun trip!

You may want to consider sending a compliment email about the 2 wonderful CMs you mentioned!:)

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Glad you had a great trip! My mom and I did EMM on 8/7 and really enjoyed it, but had the same problem as you with the PPO breakfast people cutting our 7DMT rides short by 15 minutes. We could have easily ridden 2-3 more times during that period. I don't think it would hurt to hold those people back until 9am on those days IMO. Either way, I'd also probably do this event again because it still beats waiting in line for these rides!
 
I am really looking forward to EMM! I guess a good strategy is to get a bunch of rides on 7DMT early. Though we will have our 3-year old along. She talks big but we might be doing the other two over and over instead of the mine train.
 
Sounds like a great trip! We have EMM scheduled for next week--what time did you end up eating breakfast? My plan was to have the kids do all the available rides during EMM, and then head over at RD to knock out SM, Buzz, and maybe Speedway (ugh) before heading back to eat around 9:45. Do you think that would be doable?

And please let us know if you get a response to the BoG people being allowed to ride at 8:45. Totally agree that that's just not right.
 
Thanks for the trip report! Sounds like a great time. We just returned on the 12th from a 9 night stay at POR and also had an awesome trip.

What was your opinion of the crowd levels?

Dan
 
EMM was great because it freed us up to do everything else. We didn't have to plan around RD those rides or getting a FP for them so it really freed up our plans. We headed over to Adventureland/Frontierland around 8:50 and got a lot done, then we ate around 9:50. They were cleaning up the breakfast as we were leaving a little after 10:00. That worked really well for us.

The parks were very crowded. We've only traveled to DW one other time (early June 2014) and all of the parks seemed busier. Even with that the longest we waited in line was probably 30 minutes for Joy and Sadness meet and greet. They took a break right after we got into line. I'm now a believe that with RD and a clear plan, you can make even the busiest times work for you.
 
EMM is Extra Morning Magic. It is a paid event at Magic Kingdom. You get let into the park at 7:45 and have until the park opens at 9:00 to ride Mine train, Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh with what is about 400 other guests. You also have access to breakfast buffet until 10:00.
 
Wow, that blows about the EMM. We've done it twice and neither time were we stopped from entering the rides before 9:00. We never went to eat till the rope drop people got there.
1st time we left 7DMT just in time to get in 1 ride on PP and 1 ride on Dumbo, before eating. Last time we did those first and then rode 7D till 9:00.
While you are writing GS about the wonderful CM, include the EMM issue. That is not right.
 
interesting....we did EMM at studios last week and I don't believe they let anyone with PPO ARDS ride TSMM or Star Tours earlier then park opening. As a matter of fact, I have a fantastic video of my family and the 3 Green Army men playing on that street by Pixar Place, right out in front of the TSMM entrance without another guest in sight.
 

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