Just back from offsite stay

[rlh75]

We just got back from our Disney Vacation. We stayed off site at Windor Hills.

Taking into account we were there during spring break......

Out of the four parks....MK was the WORST. We got there at opening and it took us about an hour and a half from parking to main street. YIKES! And of course leaving after the fireworks took about the same amount of time. The longest lines we saw all day were for the monorail! LOL!!

All of the other parks were manageable. AK and HS at rope drop were crowed at the entrance obviously...but thinned out as the day went on.

We set up our fast passes the night before we went to each park. The only fast pass I had problems with was Toy Story Mania at HS. None left till about 7pm, and we knew we were not staying that long.

If I would have used my head...I would have set them all up the night we got there...but oh well.

I saw Disney workers standing around with MagicBands, and wondered what that was about....after we returned my brother said they had just started selling them to the general public to link to your tickets. I think the magicband would have been easier then keeping track of the tickets...but not sure if we would have bought them or not.

Any thing I missed or any other questions...I will be glad to help.

 

[minmate]

What day did you go to MK? I thought fishing out the tix for FP return was a pain too but never looked into buying MB's,

 

[rlh75]

We went to MK on Tuesday. We set our alarms to get out the door and to MK before rope drop...but the power went off!!!!!!!! So we hit the parking lot....close to nine, my first MM picture with mickey...which we did at the theatre on main street says 10:32am. We had no wait in line for mickey...so yep about an hour and a half....just to get in. It was a recommended day for MK to....I guess everyone saw that too!! LOL!

I don't know how much the bands are....or if you can keep using them....but yea, it was a pain getting the tickets out for FP+. And then forgetting that you scan again....and having to get them out again!! LOL!!

But all in all...I like the FP+ theory.

Mind you....I have boys....if you have girls.....and need to see the princesses....OH MY!!!

 

[jahber]

We went to MK on Tuesday. We set our alarms to get out the door and to MK before rope drop...but the power went off!!!!!!!! So we hit the parking lot....close to nine, my first MM picture with mickey...which we did at the theatre on main street says 10:32am. We had no wait in line for mickey...so yep about an hour and a half....just to get in. It was a recommended day for MK to....I guess everyone saw that too!! LOL! I don't know how much the bands are....or if you can keep using them....but yea, it was a pain getting the tickets out for FP+. And then forgetting that you scan again....and having to get them out again!! LOL!! But all in all...I like the FP+ theory. Mind you....I have boys....if you have girls.....and need to see the princesses....OH MY!!!

You'll be able to reuse your MBs next time . Just link the new tickets in MDE. In theory, it's pretty simple.

 

[rlh75]

I hope to get back to Disney more in the future...if that pans out...I will definitely buy MB's for sure. You could link more to them....like memory maker and such.

 

[Greyhound22]

So if you don't purchase MB, when you use your 3 FP+'s.... they scan each of your park tickets when you enter the FP+ line? Thanks for answering this for me. Still trying to get all of the FP+ figured out!

 

[momfeez]

Even if you have a MB, you still scan it or your ticket at the FP+ entrance and again further down when the stand-by and FP+ lines merge.

Having used both the ticket and MB, MB are easier than digging out everybody's ticket each time. Since we are Fl AP, we didn't have to pay for them. Not sure I would pay for them. DH is a tightwad and would not see it as necessary, but I carry all the tickets and not having to dig them out is a plus for me.

 

[MichelleVW]

We went to MK on Tuesday. We set our alarms to get out the door and to MK before rope drop...but the power went off!!!!!!!! So we hit the parking lot....close to nine, my first MM picture with mickey...which we did at the theatre on main street says 10:32am. We had no wait in line for mickey...so yep about an hour and a half....just to get in. It was a recommended day for MK to....I guess everyone saw that too!! LOL!

I don't know how much the bands are....or if you can keep using them....but yea, it was a pain getting the tickets out for FP+. And then forgetting that you scan again....and having to get them out again!! LOL!!

But all in all...I like the FP+ theory.

Mind you....I have boys....if you have girls.....and need to see the princesses....OH MY!!!

Yeah...rope drop only works if you are there at least an hour before the park opens. If we rope drop a park we are at the gates at least 40 minutes before the park opens and at MK that means the parking lot at 8! Any later and you see what happens! By 10:30 we usually are done with most of the attractions we want to do.

 

[dc1969]

We're staying offsite as well and definitely buying a MB or two. I think it's worth it. The thought of 6 days at the parks and digging everyone's tickets out is one less thing I have to worry about, and for $12.95 I can definitely justify it!

 

[rlh75]

What day did you go to MK? I thought fishing out the tix for FP return was a pain too but never looked into buying MB's,

We're staying offsite as well and definitely buying a MB or two. I think it's worth it. The thought of 6 days at the parks and digging everyone's tickets out is one less thing I have to worry about, and for $12.95 I can definitely justify it!

Yea, if I would have known on day one that we could buy them (see what being in disney world with our a smart phone does! LOL!) I probably would have bought them too. $12.95 is not bad at all.

I didn't mind doing the ticket scanning...it wasn't hard....just a little more effort needed to get the job done. So MB's are not a MUST...but definitely seemed very convenient.

And yes......I now know how to properly rope drop MK! LOL!!! Not sure I will ever properly get it done....but I know when NOT to arrive at the park!!
Oh well...lesson learned...and it is a memory we will have forever as well.

I was very impressed with how that parks handled food allergy orders as well. We saw one family place their order at pizza planet it that is definitely awesome that Disney helps out with people who need that.

 

[rlh75]

Yeah...rope drop only works if you are there at least an hour before the park opens. If we rope drop a park we are at the gates at least 40 minutes before the park opens and at MK that means the parking lot at 8! Any later and you see what happens! By 10:30 we usually are done with most of the attractions we want to do.

That was totally my plan...but apparently the universe had another plan for us! LOL!!

I wish in retrospect to have had an ADR for breakfast that early. That would make it so much easier. But...alas...ADR's were booked. I can definitely appreciate why people do that. I don't think I could get my family up to go stand in line for an hour...but to go to a breakfast buffet...that would get them rolling!!!

 

[MichelleVW]

That was totally my plan...but apparently the universe had another plan for us! LOL!!

I wish in retrospect to have had an ADR for breakfast that early. That would make it so much easier. But...alas...ADR's were booked. I can definitely appreciate why people do that. I don't think I could get my family up to go stand in line for an hour...but to go to a breakfast buffet...that would get them rolling!!!

Yeah..the early morning ADR's are nice but honestly ropedrop at the MK is not that bad. They let you through the turnstiles and you can kind of mill around inside the gates before they do the show and open the gates. My kids (are now 21 and 23 lol) know that it's the only line that they usually have to stand it so it's not that bad.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

We just got back from our Disney Vacation. We stayed off site at Windor Hills.

Taking into account we were there during spring break......

Out of the four parks....MK was the WORST. We got there at opening and it took us about an hour and a half from parking to main street. YIKES! And of course leaving after the fireworks took about the same amount of time. The longest lines we saw all day were for the monorail! LOL!!

All of the other parks were manageable. AK and HS at rope drop were crowed at the entrance obviously...but thinned out as the day went on.

We set up our fast passes the night before we went to each park. The only fast pass I had problems with was Toy Story Mania at HS. None left till about 7pm, and we knew we were not staying that long.



If I would have used my head...I would have set them all up the night we got there...but oh well.

I saw Disney workers standing around with MagicBands, and wondered what that was about....after we returned my brother said they had just started selling them to the general public to link to your tickets. I think the magicband would have been easier then keeping track of the tickets...but not sure if we would have bought them or not.

Any thing I missed or any other questions...I will be glad to help.

Rlh75 is yet another guest experiencing huge crowds at the Magic Kingdom but not that many people anywhere else on WDW property. Ahhh...just think what those billions spent on the Magic Bands could have done for the other three parks.

If they could give people something to go for at EPCOT/DHS/AK maybe the Magic Kingdom wouldn't be such a crowded nightmare.

 

[rlh75]

I really wish I could have made the rope drop like I wanted. I would be curious to see the difference in the crowd getting in. It was just jaw dropping to me. I knew MK would be busy and I knew spring break was going to make it worse....just the lines to the boats or monorails...the sea of bodies....LOL!!! I hope to do rope drop right one day...it sounds amazing!

My brother goes to Disney every year....usually february....they are thinking october next year....and I may just try to tag along....

 

[MichelleVW]

Rlh75 is yet another guest experiencing huge crowds at the Magic Kingdom but not that many people anywhere else on WDW property. Ahhh...just think what those billions spent on the Magic Bands could have done for the other three parks. If they could give people something to go for at EPCOT/DHS/AK maybe the Magic Kingdom wouldn't be such a crowded nightmare.

Lol there are plenty of people at the other parks too....it's spring break and that means lots of people.

 

[rlh75]

Lol there are plenty of people at the other parks too....it's spring break and that means lots of people.

Yep, it was busy everywhere.

Personally...I think it is the beautiful princesses that draws the crowds. They should put some more in the other parks too. Little girls just seem to love that fantasy part of it. The longest line in Epcot was for the "princesses", the frozen princess (sorry I have boys! don't know the names! LOL!) and belle, even Alice had a good size line.

My little guy loves the Pixar characters....longest wait I had for them was about 10 minutes.
My longest character meet was Mickey in MK and that was maybe 20 mins....and that was only because the family ahead of us had some kind of drama and it held us up a little.

I think it was just the time of year we went too....a lot of people in one place. Just the traffic in and around Orlando was amazing!!! The amount of restaurants and all the people in them!! WOW!!!!

 

[elaine amj]

Definitely Spring Break craziness. I'd only ever gone in slower times. Then last year I decided to go MK in mid-March just for a day. We had landed in Onralndo super late the night before and a few snafus later, we didnt get to bed until 2am. So I let my family sleep in and we arrived at MK (by car) at 11am. I knew better, but still did it. It was absolutely crazy how long it took to get into the park. The boat line was crazy and the monorail looked worse. Overall, it was a batty day to be at MK and my "plan" was shot to bits. It took me until the evening to get my wits back together and we ended up doing lots at night.

Looking back, we should have just gone to Epcot. But I was dying to see the Fantasyland Expansion. Hmmm..on third thoughts, seeing the expansion was worth it for us Would have gone crazy coming home not having seen all the new stuff.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

Lol there are plenty of people at the other parks too....it's spring break and that means lots of people.

Of course..."the other parks" had "a lot of people" in them beause it's "spring break".

There is going to be spillover. But for most of the year when it's not Peak Time the other three parks are pretty dormant.