princesspiglet
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2001
- Messages
- 2,626
We got back from our trip on 12/9. We stayed at AKV- Kidani and checked in on 11/29. Just a quick report- I still have lots of unpacking to do and I need to get our Christmas tree up! Now on to the good, The bad and The ugly.
The good:
AKV-Kidani- LOVED this resort. It was very peaceful and the animals were amazing. We had savanna view, room 7514. We spent the first entire day there just swimming and watching the animals. My only beef is the looong bus ride from the MK. Other than that, I would stay there again.
Sea World- spent Sunday 12/1 here and we had a wonderful time. Very short lines all day, low crowds. DD and DH rode Manta at least 10 times and Kraken about 5. Stayed through the night and the Christmas shows were amazing. The fireworks at the end, the Christmas market, the decorations in the park..were all very magical and really put us in the holiday spirit. Would definitely do this again! They honestly blew Disney away.
Animal Kingdom day- 12/8. Very low crowds. Had a relaxing day. Saw both shows (what is up with nemo show??- that was very, very strange to all of us!) Loved the decorations in the park, saw lots of characters with very short lines. Had a front row seat for the parade and had great interaction.
HDDR- 12/6. LOVED, LOVED this show!! So funny and the food was very yummy! we were at table 42 on the floor and had a wonderful view and a great server. Six bits and the red head (her name escapes me) both came to our table for a little skit. DD played the washboard and walked around with the other kids and had a blast. We did the carriage ride beforehand through FTW and loved that also.
CP with NPH- 12/2. The CP was wonderful, however, it was total chaos. We had lunch at Beirgarten and our server told us to line up at 4:30 for the 5pm show. We decided to head over to America around 4:00 to check out the line and it was already the whole way back to Japan! I took a seat in line while DH and DD explored Japan. The show was at 5:00 and they started letting the package people in at 4:50!! It was insane. We were lucky to get a seat about 10 rows back, but we saw package guests still coming in at 5:10 who were unable to find a seat!!- and in the meantime they were letting standby's in on the other side. Disney needs to rework their system for this show because it was a hot mess.
The bad
Transportation- overall, we had terrible luck. Every time we got to the bus stop it seemed we just missed a bus and ended up waiting a looong time for anything. For example:
12/5-Leaving MVMCP - we left the park at 11:30 and saw a bus pulling away as soon as we got there. Waited 45 mins for another bus to come. In the meantime, saw numerous empty buses from other resorts come and go multiple times. There was almost a revolt in our line!
12/6-Leaving HDDR - show was done at 10:30 and they had two buses taking everyone back to their resorts. We were on Zone 4 bus. We left FtW at 11:00pm and did not arrive at AKV until 12:30!!! We will never do that again- we will take a taxi next time!
12/6 again-Going from MK to FtW via water taxi - arrived at MK via bus at 5:30 and got in line for the ferry. We were about the 20th people back. Asked those in front of us how long they had been waiting and was told 20 mins, so we assumed another boat would be coming soon. We were wrong. The WL boat came 6 TIMES in the span of 45 mins...that is how long we waited for a FtW boat. Another revolt was brewing!! Finally arrived at FtW at 6:30. We could have swam faster!
Crowds- We have gone this week for the past 6 years straight and have decided after this trip that this is our last year. We followed easywdw advice, but felt like the parks were packed. The ride lines weren't terrible, but there were people everywhere!! You couldn't walk 2 feet without running into someone. The 3 of us never got to walk beside each other, we were always walking in a single file line. People would stop in the middle of the walkway to look at a map or fix their stroller or whatever and we got run over by two ECV's!
MVMCP- This was our 11th party and our last. It's no longer enjoyable when you can't move because you are stuck at the hub with 50,000 of your closest friends after wishes. We literally stood in the same spot for 20 mins before we started moving. We couldn't make it from the hub to Frontierland. We had to backtrack through Fantasyland and go that way instead. Not fun. We found a pretty good spot for the parade in Frontierland at 10:00 but around 10:25 two different families tried to crowd in front of us and I had to stake my ground. Parade seemed a lot shorter this year also. We saw very few characters as the lines were horrible. The shows were terrible. We don't feel you get your moneys worth anymore.
FP+- Although we had no problems with using our bands, forget about changing any of your fast pass choices! Not once could we get to the online app to change anything while in the parks. Even at the Kiosks, it wasn't working. We were lucky that they gave us KTTW cards- we used those a lot to get legacy FPs.
The ugly
Osbourne Lights. The way Disney manages this is beyond comprehension. We went after a great Fantasmic show and there was only one way to get in and one way to get out. That's crazy! We were all herded in like cattle and you literally could not move without hitting someone. To walk the lights at a snails pace took us over 45 mins.
Overall, we had a good time..not great, not wonderful. The crowds were just way too much for us. The fact that we got rear-ended by a wheelchair, were almost crushed after Wishes and were packed in like sardines at Osbourne Lights just did not sit well with us. Instead of leaving the parks happy, we left miserable. We love Disney, we have been drinking the Kool-Aid for over 15 years...but something was missing. The Magic I have always loved was no longer there for us. We've decided to take a break from the parks and do DCL next year instead and maybe actually visit the real countries we love- like Germany and France.
Any questions, just ask.
The good:
AKV-Kidani- LOVED this resort. It was very peaceful and the animals were amazing. We had savanna view, room 7514. We spent the first entire day there just swimming and watching the animals. My only beef is the looong bus ride from the MK. Other than that, I would stay there again.
Sea World- spent Sunday 12/1 here and we had a wonderful time. Very short lines all day, low crowds. DD and DH rode Manta at least 10 times and Kraken about 5. Stayed through the night and the Christmas shows were amazing. The fireworks at the end, the Christmas market, the decorations in the park..were all very magical and really put us in the holiday spirit. Would definitely do this again! They honestly blew Disney away.
Animal Kingdom day- 12/8. Very low crowds. Had a relaxing day. Saw both shows (what is up with nemo show??- that was very, very strange to all of us!) Loved the decorations in the park, saw lots of characters with very short lines. Had a front row seat for the parade and had great interaction.
HDDR- 12/6. LOVED, LOVED this show!! So funny and the food was very yummy! we were at table 42 on the floor and had a wonderful view and a great server. Six bits and the red head (her name escapes me) both came to our table for a little skit. DD played the washboard and walked around with the other kids and had a blast. We did the carriage ride beforehand through FTW and loved that also.
CP with NPH- 12/2. The CP was wonderful, however, it was total chaos. We had lunch at Beirgarten and our server told us to line up at 4:30 for the 5pm show. We decided to head over to America around 4:00 to check out the line and it was already the whole way back to Japan! I took a seat in line while DH and DD explored Japan. The show was at 5:00 and they started letting the package people in at 4:50!! It was insane. We were lucky to get a seat about 10 rows back, but we saw package guests still coming in at 5:10 who were unable to find a seat!!- and in the meantime they were letting standby's in on the other side. Disney needs to rework their system for this show because it was a hot mess.
The bad
Transportation- overall, we had terrible luck. Every time we got to the bus stop it seemed we just missed a bus and ended up waiting a looong time for anything. For example:
12/5-Leaving MVMCP - we left the park at 11:30 and saw a bus pulling away as soon as we got there. Waited 45 mins for another bus to come. In the meantime, saw numerous empty buses from other resorts come and go multiple times. There was almost a revolt in our line!
12/6-Leaving HDDR - show was done at 10:30 and they had two buses taking everyone back to their resorts. We were on Zone 4 bus. We left FtW at 11:00pm and did not arrive at AKV until 12:30!!! We will never do that again- we will take a taxi next time!
12/6 again-Going from MK to FtW via water taxi - arrived at MK via bus at 5:30 and got in line for the ferry. We were about the 20th people back. Asked those in front of us how long they had been waiting and was told 20 mins, so we assumed another boat would be coming soon. We were wrong. The WL boat came 6 TIMES in the span of 45 mins...that is how long we waited for a FtW boat. Another revolt was brewing!! Finally arrived at FtW at 6:30. We could have swam faster!
Crowds- We have gone this week for the past 6 years straight and have decided after this trip that this is our last year. We followed easywdw advice, but felt like the parks were packed. The ride lines weren't terrible, but there were people everywhere!! You couldn't walk 2 feet without running into someone. The 3 of us never got to walk beside each other, we were always walking in a single file line. People would stop in the middle of the walkway to look at a map or fix their stroller or whatever and we got run over by two ECV's!
MVMCP- This was our 11th party and our last. It's no longer enjoyable when you can't move because you are stuck at the hub with 50,000 of your closest friends after wishes. We literally stood in the same spot for 20 mins before we started moving. We couldn't make it from the hub to Frontierland. We had to backtrack through Fantasyland and go that way instead. Not fun. We found a pretty good spot for the parade in Frontierland at 10:00 but around 10:25 two different families tried to crowd in front of us and I had to stake my ground. Parade seemed a lot shorter this year also. We saw very few characters as the lines were horrible. The shows were terrible. We don't feel you get your moneys worth anymore.
FP+- Although we had no problems with using our bands, forget about changing any of your fast pass choices! Not once could we get to the online app to change anything while in the parks. Even at the Kiosks, it wasn't working. We were lucky that they gave us KTTW cards- we used those a lot to get legacy FPs.
The ugly
Osbourne Lights. The way Disney manages this is beyond comprehension. We went after a great Fantasmic show and there was only one way to get in and one way to get out. That's crazy! We were all herded in like cattle and you literally could not move without hitting someone. To walk the lights at a snails pace took us over 45 mins.
Overall, we had a good time..not great, not wonderful. The crowds were just way too much for us. The fact that we got rear-ended by a wheelchair, were almost crushed after Wishes and were packed in like sardines at Osbourne Lights just did not sit well with us. Instead of leaving the parks happy, we left miserable. We love Disney, we have been drinking the Kool-Aid for over 15 years...but something was missing. The Magic I have always loved was no longer there for us. We've decided to take a break from the parks and do DCL next year instead and maybe actually visit the real countries we love- like Germany and France.
Any questions, just ask.
. We did our first cruise this past fall. With the prices of the resorts rising, we will be doing more dcl for our future vacations.
