Just Back! Learn from my Experiences/Mistakes 4/15-4/23

[horse11]

ElaineB55 said: ↑
Why would Disney not fill the attractions to full capacity as the P noted at Dinosaur? I have been seeing this by other posters and just don't understand the concept.
Some people believe it is because of cuts due to Shanghai. The DL and WDW parks management were told to cut costs wherever they could this fiscal quarter to help make up for their cost overruns. I think this is a pretty accurate viewpoint, there are some good articles talking about it but I can't recall any, hopefully someone else will provide a link.

I do not understand how running attractions to half capacity would save money unless that meant half the staff.

 

[soniam]

I have learned about the downgrade during vacation the hard way. We stayed at Hotel del Coronado for a few days in San Diego, before staying at a pretty ratty Hampton Inn. Sometimes, we downgrade from a deluxe at Universal to a mod at WDW, but that doesn't seem quite as bad. Sorry about the bummer parts of your trip. It kind of makes the Disney blues worse sometimes. You will be back in less than 3 months though, and more things will have opened

I do not understand how running attractions to half capacity would save money unless that meant half the staff.

Yes, it means half the staff at a time where there are record profits for the company, and the parks division, excluding Shanghai, is making money hand over fist

 

[aretha30]

Thanks for the report! Sounds like a great trip. My husband really wants to try Y & Y maybe we will see if they will take a walk up the days we are in AK this summer. Can you tell me more about this Epcot tour, we are planning on spending more time in Epcot this year and I would like to know if this is something we could do with our kids. Thanks!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I have learned about the downgrade during vacation the hard way. We stayed at Hotel del Coronado for a few days in San Diego, before staying at a pretty ratty Hampton Inn. Sometimes, we downgrade from a deluxe at Universal to a mod at WDW, but that doesn't seem quite as bad. Sorry about the bummer parts of your trip. It kind of makes the Disney blues worse sometimes. You will be back in less than 3 months though, and more things will have opened



Yes, it means half the staff at a time where there are record profits for the company, and the parks division, excluding Shanghai, is making money hand over fist

Hotel del Coronado looks like it would be really sweet, we walked around in the area on a San Diego trip but never stayed there.

Thanks for the report! Sounds like a great trip. My husband really wants to try Y & Y maybe we will see if they will take a walk up the days we are in AK this summer. Can you tell me more about this Epcot tour, we are planning on spending more time in Epcot this year and I would like to know if this is something we could do with our kids. Thanks!

If you have the Landry's membership I believe you get catapulted to the head of the wait list if they do accept standby.

Kids might be a little bored by the tour. Ours began at 9:15 and lasted about 4 hours, though lunch is included in there. You go in depth through each country and learn fun facts, some about how the pavilion was built, some about the little details in the pavilions. For instance, in the England pavilion we learned about how the building architecture progress through different time periods. We also got a little behind the scenes of Illuminations. We had lunch, included, at Morocco's table service. I think it would depend on the kid's ages and their personalities. They could be into the tour, but I could also see a lot of younger kids being bored.

 

[AngiTN]

Thanks for the report! Sounds like a great trip. My husband really wants to try Y & Y maybe we will see if they will take a walk up the days we are in AK this summer. Can you tell me more about this Epcot tour, we are planning on spending more time in Epcot this year and I would like to know if this is something we could do with our kids. Thanks!

There is a minimum age for the tour. I think it's 12, but may be 10, can't remember now

 

[aretha30]

There is a minimum age for the tour. I think it's 12, but may be 10, can't remember now

Thanks! Sounds like something my boys would love but we will have to wait since our youngest will be 8 tomorrow!

 

[KnittingMom]

I just returned from another great Disney trip. Our dates were 4/15-4/23. We did a split stay, the first couple nights at Port Orleans Riverside and the rest at All Star Sports.

I just wanted to share some things with everyone in case they can help you plan your trip!

Food:

-We tried Yak and Yeti, we'd been there before but not for about 3 years. It was the best meal we had all trip! They've trimmed their menu down to one page and really focused on those items and wow, does it show! I had the dragon roll for 2 as my dinner, and it was really good. My boyfriend got the chicken tikka masala and it was seriously out of this world. I cannot recommend Yak and Yeti enough.

-Some of you may be surprised, but our second best meal was Nine Dragons! I really want to have the General Tso's Chicken Dumplings right now...soooo good. I had the kung pao shrimp and it was excellent and had a very smokey flavor. My boyfriend had the sweet and sour pork which he enjoyed, but he admitted mine was better.

-Flower and Garden food booths: I don't think we had a bad dish here. I remember the DIS Podcasters saying that they thought the food quality was better than at the Food and Wine and I agree with that.

-we also tried the Skipper's Canteen. We thoroughly enjoyed the food, that mac and cheese was so amazing. I can also see how the food wouldn't be for everyone.

Hotels:

We did make one big mistake here. If you are going to switch resorts mid trip, always switch up. We went from Port Orleans Riverside down to All Star Sports which seemed like a sizable downgrade and difference.

We stayed in the Alligator Bayou rooms which must have been renovated pretty recently. I really enjoyed the little bed that folds down from under the TV and the Princess and the Frog artwork was so cute. I liked how rustic the room looked and got a kick out of the wood 'paneling' in the shower.

The resort was quiet and very peaceful and beautiful. We didn't really use the buses here a lot and preferred to drive. I know lots of people like buses at WDW, but we never seem to have good luck with them.

The All Star Sports, on the other hand, was not peaceful or beautiful. Don't get me wrong, I like parts of Sports and usually don't mind staying there. We were there the weekend of a pretty big dance competition. We didn't have any problems with loud people at night, but it is kind of odd to be walking around your resort and have to dodge dance/cheer groups practicing.

We also didn't use the buses here much. We were about as far as you could get from the bus stop even though I'd put 'close to transportation' on my online check in application.

Fastpass +:

It worked out for the most part. Though, my opinion might stem from the fact that we had a much more relaxed trip than usual and focused on things other than rides. Disney had just allowed people to start booking their 4th FP online, which was both helpful and annoying.

Helpful because we park hop a lot and this way we could get a fast pass before even being in our evening park. It was also good because we couldn't constantly check for better fast passes.

It was annoying because I believe there is less fastpass availability with this online booking, since you don't have to be in the park to book I think this meant that any available fastpasses were taken pretty quickly.

RunDisney:

We participated in the 10k Dark Side race. We managed to somehow earn ourselves a spot in Corral B, which was so nice because it wasn't very crowded and we could actually find running room.

The course was ok, we got to run through Future World and a bit of DHS. It ended at WWOS which was kind of boring, but understandable since that doesn't interfere with the operations of any parks.

I was very disappointed in the characters on course. If you don't count the characters before the race, there were an exact total of 3 Disney sponsored characters on the course: Chewbacca (who you can meet in DHS), R2 and Darth Vader. The 501st was there for the event and they saved the day, but it isn't like Disney had to pay them so I still felt let down by the lack of characters on course. RunDisney had also set up a couple backdrops for pictures. There was one with the Emperor's chair and I stopped to ask if the Emperor was on a break and I was told no, it was just his chair.

Crowds:

It is just a fact of life that Disney doesn't have any low crowd times anymore. Sure, you might get lucky and chance upon a random dead week, but it is tough to plan for. I really don't think the crowds were even that bad for this trip, what made it worse was it seemed that Disney was running rides with much less capacity than they should. For example, we were in line to ride Dinosaur and it was taking longer than advertised. We got to the loading area and saw that only one side of vehicles were loading. I have never seen an entire side of that ride shut down, and I've been on Dinosaur half an hour before close when it was a walk on. Many rides just weren't loading all vehicles and it was pretty sad and frustrating.

Random highlights of the trip:

I got to meet Joe Rohde at AK on Earth Day. He had artwork available to purchase and get signed, all proceeds went to the conservation fund. I'm so glad I did this because he was so nice and genuine.

We took the World Showcase tour at Epcot and I have to highly recommend this if you are a fan of the Showcase. We learned so much about all the countries, it was amazing.

DHS really does seem like a shell of itself. I thought people were exaggerating when they said this exact thing, but I have to agree. We managed to do everything we wanted in the park on two separate days, one day we rope dropped it and rode TT twice, RRC, TSMM, GMR, ST and met a bunch of characters and had lunch at Sci Fi and were gone by 12:30. The other day we came over around 4 for characterpalooza and had trouble filling the time until Fantasmic and the SW fireworks (which we did by meeting characters, watching VOTLM, the Frozen show and riding TT and ST some more).

AK on Earth Day was very odd. The park was very packed and we kept hearing people asking about Rivers of Light. We actually ended up leaving midday because it was just too crowded.

I think we hit the jackpot on Orlando weather. I don't think we had more than one day go above mid 80s. There was very little humidity and it actually got a bit chilly at nighttime.

Anyone have any questions feel free to ask

I think you are very wise to observe that one will want to "trade up." I love the Alligator Bayou setting at POR -- tranquil, wooded, quiet, and beautifully decorated rooms. Sports would not seem quite as special. And the Riverside Food Court is my favorite resort CS.

 

[CookieGVB]

World Showcase Tour? Sounds interesting...more info, please!

 

[tlmadden73]

Nice report.

Question - Why did you choose to switch resorts? To save money so you can have a longer stay? I just can't imagine spending the time and hassle to switch hotels in the middle of a stay. *shrug*.

DHS really does seem like a shell of itself. I thought people were exaggerating when they said this exact thing, but I have to agree. We managed to do everything we wanted in the park on two separate days, one day we rope dropped it and rode TT twice, RRC, TSMM, GMR, ST and met a bunch of characters and had lunch at Sci Fi and were gone by 12:30. The other day we came over around 4 for characterpalooza and had trouble filling the time until Fantasmic and the SW fireworks (which we did by meeting characters, watching VOTLM, the Frozen show and riding TT and ST some more).

When you look at it, there really is only two attractions and a playground that have closed at DHS, but a HECK of a lot of space has been closed off. So I can see where "a shell" comes in. I would imagine it would take no time at all now to walk from one end of the park to the other (Muppets to Tower of Terror).

I went in Aug. 2015 and while they had LMA, the Animation building was closed and they didn't have the Star Wars Launch Bay yet, but the park is no different than before. We didn't even do everything between the Frozen parade, meals, shows and the rides we did go on. If you don't do the shows, there really isn't much to do there (never has been).

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

World Showcase Tour? Sounds interesting...more info, please!

It was about a 4 hour tour with lunch at Morocco's table service included. You go from country to country and learn about the history and the details of the pavilions. We also got a back stage look at the Illuminations barges and fireworks and a backstage look around the France and England areas. If you really enjoy the world showcase and like to look at all the details, then this would be for you.

Nice report.

Question - Why did you choose to switch resorts? To save money so you can have a longer stay? I just can't imagine spending the time and hassle to switch hotels in the middle of a stay. *shrug*.

When you look at it, there really is only two attractions and a playground that have closed at DHS, but a HECK of a lot of space has been closed off. So I can see where "a shell" comes in. I would imagine it would take no time at all now to walk from one end of the park to the other (Muppets to Tower of Terror).

I went in Aug. 2015 and while they had LMA, the Animation building was closed and they didn't have the Star Wars Launch Bay yet, but the park is no different than before. We didn't even do everything between the Frozen parade, meals, shows and the rides we did go on. If you don't do the shows, there really isn't much to do there (never has been).

We had a rundisney discount on Riverside and were sharing a room with my boyfriend's mom and sister. When they left we switched to all stars to save some money. It wasn't that much of a hassle to switch, I stay pretty neat and organized on vacation so it took about 10 minutes to pack, we put the bags in the car's trunk, went off to our park of the day and received a text around 2 that our all star room was ready. I don't think switching resorts works for everyone, but it works fine for us as two adults who pack lightly with no kids.

I have mixed feelings about DHS. I think if you've never been there, or don't go very often, then is enough for a full day. We weren't in the mood for Indiana Jones or Beauty and the Beast this trip. I do have to say I really miss the Animation Academy, I also enjoyed going on Backstage Tour which took up a decent amount of time.

 

[AngiTN]

It was about a 4 hour tour with lunch at Morocco's table service included. You go from country to country and learn about the history and the details of the pavilions. We also got a back stage look at the Illuminations barges and fireworks and a backstage look around the France and England areas. If you really enjoy the world showcase and like to look at all the details, then this would be for you.

@OhioStateBuckeye Question, where did you meet for the tour? Was it in Innovations like the website said?

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

@OhioStateBuckeye Question, where did you meet for the tour? Was it in Innovations like the website said?

Yep. The innovations that is closest to mission space. There is a desk in there that the tour guides should be near. Pretty easy to spot.

 

[Kelly25]

i looked up the Landrys card. does anyone know if you can use the "welcome reward" and the birthday reward at the same time?

 

[AngiTN]

Yep. The innovations that is closest to mission space. There is a desk in there that the tour guides should be near. Pretty easy to spot.

Thank you

 

[jenmsmith]

Agree. I think Flower and Garden is now a better event than Food and Wine. The food was as good and perhaps better. And it is way less crowded. I literally (and I know that this is now the world's most overused word), but I mean literally did not encounter a single "line" at any booth. I walked up an ordered without a person in front of me 9 consecutive times over the course of a couple days. And the butterfly exhibit was neat. And the whole park just bursts with colors. Loved, loved, loved Flower and Garden.

We felt the same. The food was great and the lines were non-existent at the booths - even though we were there the week before Easter. They even had several places to sit and eat. It was a much more peaceful vibe than Food & Wine.

 

[momtwoboys]

same dates for us also! Missing it already, but planning again for next April. We did AK on the 20th to avoid the Earth day crowds and the possible ROL crowds. Cant wait for the new stuff next year.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Thank you

Let me know how you like it

 

[AngiTN]

Let me know how you like it

Just got back to the room. We loved the tour. It was just me, DH and one other lady. So it was like a private tour. I loved spending the time to really explore the countries. And I didn't realize we could even get in Epcot with the pre park ADR folks. DH noticed the sign said breakfast and tours so we tried our hands and we got in. We waited for Starbucks to open and we're first in there. Grabbed some breakfast and had a seat. Got to watch the fountains dance for the opening show while we ate.

Our guide also put our names on the list for the VIP Illuminations viewing area in Italy. We'll go back tonight for that

 

[soniam]

Just got back to the room. We loved the tour. It was just me, DH and one other lady. So it was like a private tour. I loved spending the time to really explore the countries. And I didn't realize we could even get in Epcot with the pre park ADR folks. DH noticed the sign said breakfast and tours so we tried our hands and we got in. We waited for Starbucks to open and we're first in there. Grabbed some breakfast and had a seat. Got to watch the fountains dance for the opening show while we ate.

Our guide also put our names on the list for the VIP Illuminations viewing area in Italy. We'll go back tonight for that

That's pretty awesome. Have fun at Illuminations.

 

[AngiTN]

Just got back from Illuminations. The only people in the area were us, the other lady from the tour and 1 other family. Made me curious just who gets in the area. How do other folks get their names on the list? Know a CM? CS does it for some nice gesture following am issue? Really have no idea. But it was very pleasant