Just Back from our 6th trip

[mandaf79]

Our family just returned from our 6th trip, and probably our best yet! It was my husband, 10 year old son, 2 year old son, and myself. We stayed at AKL and loved every minute of it. Our 10 year old really loved the pool. Crowds were pretty much what we expected for June, but definitely very manageable. We could see it really start to pick up on Friday, so we were pretty happy with the week we picked (June 4-11). My son an hubby rode the Flight of Passage and said it was the best ride ever. Dh said he giggled like a little kid. I have to say Animal Kingdom was super fun at night and we will definitely take advantage of night hours there more often. We had park hoppers so we got to experience all the parks. Several times throughout the week. We have decided next time to do a combo of early mornings and leave for the day around 3. Then do some late afternoon arrivals and close the parks. We did use buses quite a bit, and everything went smoothly except after fireworks at Hollywood Studios. We waited for over an hour. But I think that is expected after fireworks. We are at Be Our Guest(good but waited seemed overwhelmed with all his tables) Cape May dinner (very good) Chef Mickey ( food was ok just not much of a selection ) however the experience there made up for it. We were chosen as family of the day. My kids got to drop the rope then we were escorted by Mickey himself to our seats. Plus our older boy got to sign a special book. So so special ! We also had Hollywood and Vine ( food was actually pretty good just a little chaotic. Which we didn't mind because we like louder places with a 2 year old.) Bona ( absolutely my favorite restaurant. Loved dinner there. We were family of the day there too. Super fun walking in to drums playing.) Crystal Palace breakfast ( good actually like it better than dinner. Tigger and Pooh were the best there. They interacted quite a bit with the 2 year old). Last was Ohana ( we only waited for about 5 minutes with a 5:00 ressie and food was good. Hubby really liked it. I thought the meat tasted a little more Smokey than last time we were there. But still very good ) We also ate at Mara for breakfast quite a bit. It was good, but I wish there was a tad more of a selection. I would highly recommend the visa meet and greet. We did the Mickey/Goofy twice during our stay. That was our favorite meet and greet because our wait was only a couple of minutes and the interaction was good. My 2 year old was so excited to see Mickey. I think we actually met Mickey 5 times and he loved him just as much each time. I just wanted to hop on here and give a little review while it's fresh on my mind. I can't wait to start planning our next trip for 2019. People that say 2 year olds won't remember it need to see a child see Mickey in person. It will definitely make you year up.

 

[Kydisneyfamily]

Thanks for your reviews! We're heading down soon. My 2 year old is a huge Mickey fan and has never been before. I can't wait to see his reactions.

 

[colagirl]

We were there at the same time - June 6 - June 11. I would agree that it was crowded but very manageable; I have seen it more crowded in June. It was two families - my DH, my 8 year old son, and me, and then my sister, her DH, and two boys (9 and 13). We had a great trip as well (this was our fourth time there). Stayed at WL, Club Level; the convenience of the boat to the Magic Kingdom makes this our favorite place. However we also had better luck with the bus system this time. The longest we waited for a bus was 15 minutes. Pandora is fantastic - the detail in the land is really great. Flights of Passage is incredible. We had a Fast Pass for that, and elected not to wait for the N'avi River Journey. Folks we talked to indicated that it was "nice" but not really worth waiting for. We also returned at night to AK - all of the crowds were in Pandora, making rides like Everest and the safari walk-ons. The atmosphere was really fun at night. The kids joined some African dancers who were performing in front of Tusker House. We walked around Pandora - would recommend seeing it at night at least once. We would go to the parks in the morning, come back early afternoon, rest and swim, and then go back to the parks at night and stay late.

We ate at O'hana (one of our favorites); Artist Point (just the adults); Rainforest Cafe (chaotic but the kids liked it and the food was good); and Via Napoli (another favorite). We also did the character breakfast at Tusker House, which we have done before and loved. We ate a lot of lunches at the new outdoor eating area at WL which we really liked. I hope they continue serving lunch food once Roarin Forks re-opens. The fireworks at MK start at 9 pm now, which surprised me. We found that the crowds gather to watch the fireworks and that many rides (including Big Thunder and Splash Mountains) were walk-ons from about 8:45 - 9:35 or so. The show itself is really incredible and worth watching.

Security into the parks has tightened since the last time we were there two years ago. I attend a lot of SEC sporting events, and I carried the clear plastic bag I take into those (league requires them now). Almost every security person commented on how great the clear bag was! It helped speed things a little. Probably wouldn't work if you had babies or toddlers, but it was plenty big enough for us (I carried waters, ponchos, sunscreens, and my phone into the park each day, and that was about it).

We have been going every two years and will be excited to start planning the 2019 trip.