Just back from spring break trip

[VitaminC]

My family and I returned from a 5 day trip on Saturday. We have 3 teens/preteens so it was a different experience for us. Here are some thoughts from the trip:

• Our Magic Express experience wasn't our greatest. We waited close to an hour on the bus for more people to get on (no one did for the last half hour) and then sat in tons of traffic trying to get to the hotel. Obviously the traffic was no one's fault, it was just frustrating and we were ready to begin our vacation!
• We stayed at the Polynesian in 1st floor Samoa. We didn't do any kind of room request but the location and room were perfect for us. We love the theming and vibe of this hotel and it was our second time to stay there. Being on the monorail and close to the TTC was great for us.
• We only experienced one monorail closure as we were trying to get to Epcot for rope drop one day. There were plenty of buses just around the corner and we probably ended up getting there quicker that way.
• Magic Kingdom was terribly crowded. We went on our arrival day and pretty much did our 3 fast passes and left. It was the afternoon, so the crowds were somewhat understandable. The fast pass lines were 20-30 minutes long in some cases!! Stand by for Seven Dwarfs Mine train was almost 4 hours that afternoon. We went back another evening from 9-12 and it was still quite crowded. On other spring break trips we have been able to get a lot done during that timeframe, but the lines were still pretty long this time. They did dip down during the fireworks show which was nice but came right back up.
• We did the dining plan and it worked well for us...I know not everyone is a fan. Two snack credits a day per person is a lot! But we ended up eating around the world at the Flower and Garden booths one evening for dinner and used most of our snack credits that way. It was so much fun and we had never done this before!
• Cast interactions were all pretty great. Nothing negative I can think of stands out and may interactions were wonderful. Gary at the 50's Prime Time Diner was a standout.
• We did experience some pretty dirty bathrooms at the parks. Two incidents stand out - one in the evening at Magic Kingdom and one during the day at Magic Kingdom. The rest of the time I thought everything seemed clean.
• Ride closures weren't a huge problem. Test Track was down the morning we went to Epcot but we were able to catch it as it was opening. There weren't any other closures that affected us.
• We scored Soarin' fast passes one night on our 4th fast pass. I just kept refreshing for 5 minutes and it finally appeared. Refreshing the app was a great tip I learned here.
• Pandora was so neat - glad we got to experience it our last day. FOP was incredible. My husband did get the slightest touch of motion sickness from the drops, but the rest of us were fine.
• Despite the unprecedented (to us) crowds we had beautiful weather and a wonderful time!

 

[sjb95u]

Sounds similar to our experiences last week! (I'm posting a trip report, too). My husband said he had several nasty men's bathroom experiences as well. We did experience issues with ride closures, stayed at the Poly and had zero monorail problems.

 

[wdwnut61]

Welcome back love the Poly

 

[VitaminC]

A few other things I forgot to mention:

• We had an issue where my husband's and my daughter's magic bands stopped working to unlock our door. Went to the front desk and they fixed the issue quickly. They told us that if you don't use your band to unlock the door in the first 24 hours it will turn off that feature for your band?? I had not heard this before but wanted to share it.
• We used mobile ordering once at Pinocchio Village Haus. It worked fine but didn't save us any time. In fact, the line at the mobile ordering window was probably longer than the other windows...we waited about 7-8 minutes at that window once they texted that our order was ready. It may be a lifesaver at other quick service restaurants, but it wasn't particularly a time saver in the end for us.
• Our AK day was morning EMH so it opened at 7:00 which meant getting up pretty darn early for our teenagers' liking if we were to try to do Navi River Journey at rope drop. (We had a FP for FOP later in the day.) So we park hopped to AK one evening. The stand by line for Navi at 8:30 said 60 minutes but we decided to wait anyway. It ended up being only 25 minutes and we were so glad we made that decision. We jumped on one of the last trucks for the safari afterwards and were surprised about how many animals we saw at night. It was fun to both a nighttime and daytime safari - I recommend it!

 

[Kim Gillihan]

My family and I returned from a 5 day trip on Saturday. We have 3 teens/preteens so it was a different experience for us. Here are some thoughts from the trip:

• Our Magic Express experience wasn't our greatest. We waited close to an hour on the bus for more people to get on (no one did for the last half hour) and then sat in tons of traffic trying to get to the hotel. Obviously the traffic was no one's fault, it was just frustrating and we were ready to begin our vacation!
• We stayed at the Polynesian in 1st floor Samoa. We didn't do any kind of room request but the location and room were perfect for us. We love the theming and vibe of this hotel and it was our second time to stay there. Being on the monorail and close to the TTC was great for us.
• We only experienced one monorail closure as we were trying to get to Epcot for rope drop one day. There were plenty of buses just around the corner and we probably ended up getting there quicker that way.
• Magic Kingdom was terribly crowded. We went on our arrival day and pretty much did our 3 fast passes and left. It was the afternoon, so the crowds were somewhat understandable. The fast pass lines were 20-30 minutes long in some cases!! Stand by for Seven Dwarfs Mine train was almost 4 hours that afternoon. We went back another evening from 9-12 and it was still quite crowded. On other spring break trips we have been able to get a lot done during that timeframe, but the lines were still pretty long this time. They did dip down during the fireworks show which was nice but came right back up.
• We did the dining plan and it worked well for us...I know not everyone is a fan. Two snack credits a day per person is a lot! But we ended up eating around the world at the Flower and Garden booths one evening for dinner and used most of our snack credits that way. It was so much fun and we had never done this before!
• Cast interactions were all pretty great. Nothing negative I can think of stands out and may interactions were wonderful. Gary at the 50's Prime Time Diner was a standout.
• We did experience some pretty dirty bathrooms at the parks. Two incidents stand out - one in the evening at Magic Kingdom and one during the day at Magic Kingdom. The rest of the time I thought everything seemed clean.
• Ride closures weren't a huge problem. Test Track was down the morning we went to Epcot but we were able to catch it as it was opening. There weren't any other closures that affected us.
• We scored Soarin' fast passes one night on our 4th fast pass. I just kept refreshing for 5 minutes and it finally appeared. Refreshing the app was a great tip I learned here.
• Pandora was so neat - glad we got to experience it our last day. FOP was incredible. My husband did get the slightest touch of motion sickness from the drops, but the rest of us were fine.
• Despite the unprecedented (to us) crowds we had beautiful weather and a wonderful time!

We were there for spring break too, similar crowd experience!! Busy!! Do you own at Poly? I am wanting to take some friends that have always wanted to stay there... and one of the options is spring break 2019... other is 2nd week december.... just curious since you stayed there if you booked at 11 months or 7.. thanks so much.

 

[VitaminC]

We were there for spring break too, similar crowd experience!! Busy!! Do you own at Poly? I am wanting to take some friends that have always wanted to stay there... and one of the options is spring break 2019... other is 2nd week december.... just curious since you stayed there if you booked at 11 months or 7.. thanks so much.

No, we don't own at the Poly. We have stayed there twice though and love it.