Just back....great trip

[bweagle]

After reading all of the posts regarding MagicBands and FP+ I was nervous about our trip this year. This was my 14th trip to WDW (7th as an adult). To others who are worried by posts they are reading, I just wanted to post to say we had a fabulous trip. I loved my magicband......it was great having my park admission, memory maker, room key, and ability to charge to the room all in one place. Our magicbands worked flawlessly throughout our 12 night stay.

Also, with regards to FP+.....I was really worried how this would impact our stay, but I can honestly say we accomplished more this trip than any others. I found FP+ to be most useful at MK where we used our first 3 and then continued to roll FP throughout the day.....it was fairly easy to pick up a FP for many rides within 20-30 minutes of the time you were booking (not the coasters, or meet and greets, but many others). I didn't really find the need to pick up many additional FP at the other parks (did a few at DHS on one of our days) because many of the waits were 15 min or less so we just did standby. In all honesty, the longest lines I stood in all day were at the FP kiosks. They need to have more of them, but that problem will be solved if they are able to be booked by smartphone soon.

Also at MK.....while the morning crowds rushed to Fantasyland we turned in to Adventureland and were able to walk on Aladdin, Jungle Cruise and Pirates as well as head into Liberty Square and walk on Haunted Mansion all within the first hour. On our last day there we were going to do the same thing, but decided to walk on back to Frontierland instead. We walked right on to BTMRR without any wait and my kids were able to reride it 2 more times before heading to Splash Mountain where there was also no wait. (By the time we got off of Splash at about 9:45 the line had grown). So.....if you have FP for Anna & Elsa and the Mine Train (we did) and can wait to head into Fantasyland until later in the day, we found our best bet was enjoying Adventureland and Frontierland attractions early.

 

[tinkerbesh]

Fantastic to hear! I love reading stories from people who are still finding the magic there. We felt the same way about our trip a few weeks ago. And the best part was that even all the guests we encountered seemed to be having the same great time!

 

[cattywampus]

Thank you for posting your experiences! As someone headed to WDW for the first time, I really appreciate the real scoop. Glad you had a great trip.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

@bweagle

Wow...great report. 12 nights? Where did you stay? What restaurants stood out to you either because they were very good or very bad? What were the crowd levels at the three non-MK parks?

 

[Frozen2014]

Also at MK.....while the morning crowds rushed to Fantasyland we turned in to Adventureland and were able to walk on Aladdin, Jungle Cruise and Pirates as well as head into Liberty Square and walk on Haunted Mansion all within the first hour.

On our last day there we were going to do the same thing, but decided to walk on back to Frontierland instead. We walked right on to BTMRR without any wait and my kids were able to reride it 2 more times before heading to Splash Mountain where there was also no wait. (By the time we got off of Splash at about 9:45 the line had grown).

So.....if you have FP for Anna & Elsa and the Mine Train (we did) and can wait to head into Fantasyland until later in the day, we found our best bet was enjoying Adventureland and Frontierland attractions early.

Sounds like you had a great trip.

Sounds like you had great luck. Can I ask what time you came to be able to walk right onto those rides?

And did you book FP for Anna & Elsa and the Mine Train for morning of afternoon?

 

[davale4]

Good to hear something positive!!! I'm a bit nervous with the changes.

 

[bweagle]

Sounds like you had a great trip.

Sounds like you had great luck. Can I ask what time you came to be able to walk right onto those rides?

And did you book FP for Anna & Elsa and the Mine Train for morning of afternoon?

We were able to walk on rides in Adventureland and Frontierland at Rope Drop......huge crowds headed for Fantasyland.....we just headed another direction

Our FP for A & E were around 10:15. We had to wait about 15 minutes to see them. Saw that wait up to 300 minutes first thing that morning. On the first day we had FP for mine train it was for early afternoon, but the ride was down for the day so we were able to use that FP for something else instead. On the 2nd day we had FP for mine train we had it for 11:20 in the morning. Had to wait about 10 minutes once we were in the FP line.

 

[bweagle]

@bweagle

Wow...great report. 12 nights? Where did you stay? What restaurants stood out to you either because they were very good or very bad? What were the crowd levels at the three non-MK parks?

We stayed at Pop......we would rather stay at a value and be able to stay for a longer time.

We didn't do DDP this time because son is now 10 and I couldn't justify paying adult prices so all was OOP. New restaurants we tried and enjoyed this time were Via Napoli, Chefs De France & Cape May breakfast. We did several other character breakfasts that we had enjoyed before and the kids also really enjoyed the Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream and we finally indulged in the fresh fruit and nutella waffes....they didn't disappoint

We always go in the summer so crowds were always large. They were high at all parks......but no more than usual for this time. I did see that rides that didn't usually have high wait times (like Haunted Mansion) were up to 40-50 minutes, but were always avaiable to grab up at FP kiosks and usually return time was no more than 20-30 minutes from when they were booked.

I also can't say enough good things about the Animation Academy. My daughter (8) and I tried the one at Disney Quest last year and drew 2 characters then. When we returned this year we decided to do the other 3 of the Fab 5. We also tried out the one at DHS this year and ended up doing it 4 different times. My kids tend to prefer the ones at Disney Quest, because it is a digital drawing, with an undo and eraser button. The one at DHS is done with paper and pencil and there are no erasers, which was a bit more challenging. Your paper copies are yours to keep at DHS (free souveniers......don't hear that often at Disney) and at Disney Quest they are avaiable for purchase for $5.00. We love them all and plan on framing them.

 

[puffkin]

We were there June 15-21 and had pretty much the EXACT same experience. Our trip was much more relaxing and we got tons more done than ever before. It was awesome

I agree about them needed more kiosks or rolling it out to the app for the 4FP+. That was really my only issue. But we only needed them in the MK anyway and the lines were never more than 5 minutes (even though they looked long). We pretty much could get immediate FP for tons of stuff.

The best part was the days we went to a waterpark in the AM and had FP+ for Soarin or TSMM that evening plus other headliners. We never could have done that in the past.

There was a little more planning on my part this trip, but I think a lot of that was because it was all new. But during the actual trip, it was so much nicer and more relaxed for me and it was a huge positive impact on our families trip.

 

[FlipHipster]

After reading all of the posts regarding MagicBands and FP+ I was nervous about our trip this year. This was my 14th trip to WDW (7th as an adult). To others who are worried by posts they are reading, I just wanted to post to say we had a fabulous trip. I loved my magicband......it was great having my park admission, memory maker, room key, and ability to charge to the room all in one place. Our magicbands worked flawlessly throughout our 12 night stay.

Also, with regards to FP+.....I was really worried how this would impact our stay, but I can honestly say we accomplished more this trip than any others. I found FP+ to be most useful at MK where we used our first 3 and then continued to roll FP throughout the day.....it was fairly easy to pick up a FP for many rides within 20-30 minutes of the time you were booking (not the coasters, or meet and greets, but many others). I didn't really find the need to pick up many additional FP at the other parks (did a few at DHS on one of our days) because many of the waits were 15 min or less so we just did standby. In all honesty, the longest lines I stood in all day were at the FP kiosks. They need to have more of them, but that problem will be solved if they are able to be booked by smartphone soon.

Also at MK.....while the morning crowds rushed to Fantasyland we turned in to Adventureland and were able to walk on Aladdin, Jungle Cruise and Pirates as well as head into Liberty Square and walk on Haunted Mansion all within the first hour. On our last day there we were going to do the same thing, but decided to walk on back to Frontierland instead. We walked right on to BTMRR without any wait and my kids were able to reride it 2 more times before heading to Splash Mountain where there was also no wait. (By the time we got off of Splash at about 9:45 the line had grown). So.....if you have FP for Anna & Elsa and the Mine Train (we did) and can wait to head into Fantasyland until later in the day, we found our best bet was enjoying Adventureland and Frontierland attractions early.

Thanks for the info. I was wondering about a RD strategy like this, head the opposite way of the crowds instead of racing them to the attractions. My kids don't seem to be as excited about 7DMT as I thought they would be, but they love BTMRR. They are also pretty meh about the A&E M&G which would be awesome if we can skip it and spend the time doing other things.

 

[Frozen2014]

We were able to walk on rides in Adventureland and Frontierland at Rope Drop......huge crowds headed for Fantasyland.....we just headed another direction

Our FP for A & E were around 10:15. We had to wait about 15 minutes to see them. Saw that wait up to 300 minutes first thing that morning. On the first day we had FP for mine train it was for early afternoon, but the ride was down for the day so we were able to use that FP for something else instead. On the 2nd day we had FP for mine train we had it for 11:20 in the morning. Had to wait about 10 minutes once we were in the FP line.

Cool. Our first MK day is starting with Adventureland and Frontierland. But our second MK day does start with Fantasyland. I guess either way, those rides are going to get busy so figure morning is better.
Good to hear too that FP did make a difference too.
Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[boltfan]

I wish there was some definite information on when they will start allowing FP+ on smartphones. We go in November and I'm really hoping it's up and running by then!