Just got back and VERY happy!

[kmv]

Our family just had an awesome vacation. The magic bands are the greatest things to come along since sliced bread. It made everything so easy! No separate key, tickets, fast passes, photopass, credit card, even your magical express tickets from the airport....everything is done with a swipe of your band.

As for the parks and FP+, our experience didn't change much, we still got to each park at rope drop and rode several rides in the first few hours. I still believe this is a must, as lines get longer around lunch time. Our first day there though, we actually counted and rode 17 rides from 8-3 (included a LONG lunch at BOG). We planned our FP+ right around lunch when the parks are crowded and normally went back to our hotel to swim and relax (we have 2 kids) and then went back out at night. We also saved two days of FP+ for night use and went to different parks for just a few hours at RD without having the need for FP+ and enjoyed them after dinner at a separate park.

Great:
We met Anna and Elsa twice with FP+ and my daughter was in heaven. They were both great experiences and we definitely got our 5 minutes with them without feeling rushed at all.

Alice rode the tea cups with my daughter and I our first morning there and Anastasia rode the merry go round with us the last day there.

BOG lunch was the best meal we had while on property.

Negative:
We had an 8am ressie at CP to get into the park early. As we were leaving breakfast at 8:40 to enjoy the castle with no one around they had decided to open the park early and we actually walked to the castle with a crowd of ppl. We never even got our family pic with no one in it in front of the castle.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is just okay. It is definitely a ride for the whole family and shouldn't be considered a thrill ride.

All in all, a GREAT vacation!

 

[Hopefully]

Your vacation sounds wonderful. Glad you had a great trip!!!
I don't think Disney has every said that the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was a thrill ride. I think that is the hype of Dis Fan boards like the DIS

 

[Lanie]

Thanks for the info, glad you had a great time!

 

[CNYDisneyFan]

Thanks for the report. Glad you had a good experience.

 

[Mome Rath]

So glad you had a wonderful trip!

 

[disneyjunkie11]

Great report! Glad you and your family had a wonderful trip!

 

[JJsmama]

We are rope drop people too. I get to choose my FP+ in a couple days. Which rides to you still recommend to do right away at RD without FP?

Glad you had a great trip!

 

[DaisyNY]

Always fun to get sprinkled with a little pixie dust on your vacation! Sounds like a great trip!

 

[slappy1974]

We're here now, and follow the same strategy.
Rope drop, then FP+ starting around 11am, when the crowds appear.

I also like FP+ because you can reserve afternoon FP's for when we plan to go and take the morning off. So one day we can hang out at the condo in the morning, then head to Epcot in the afternoon for a 4pm FP. You couldn't do that with FP-.

 

[GillianP1301]

Nice to hear such positive feedback! I loved the MB when we used it last summer, definitely very convenient. Now, that was during the time that double dipping was going on, so I'll have to validate my opinion this summer, but the more positive feedback I read, the more confident I get that I'll still be happy with the new way of doing things.

 

[kmv]

We are rope drop people too. I get to choose my FP+ in a couple days. Which rides to you still recommend to do right away at RD without FP?

Glad you had a great trip!

MK:
Splash, Thunder, Space, Peter Pan
Hollywood:
Toy Story
Epcot:
Soarin and TT
Animal Kingdom:
EE and Safari (we rode EE 5 times at RD, then went to safari and waited about 15 minutes for our tour...I am sure if we only did EE once or twice we would have had a much shorter wait!)

 

[JJsmama]

EE and Safari (we rode EE 5 times at RD, then went to safari and waited about 15 minutes for our tour...I am sure if we only did EE once or twice we would have had a much shorter wait!)

Really? The crowds are not running straight for EE anymore? Or was this a very low crowd day?

Oldest DS wants to do EE (makes me go too!) but 2 younger DS would be waiting for us, so am not sure when to try and plan it.

 

[EPCOTatNight]

Really? The crowds are not running straight for EE anymore? Or was this a very low crowd day?

Oldest DS wants to do EE (makes me go too!) but 2 younger DS would be waiting for us, so am not sure when to try and plan it.

I've always been able to ride EE multiple times in the morning and within the last hour of the day. I've ridden it 6 times in one day. My Ds and Dw did it about 10 times. I felt sick and stopped.

 

[FoundMyPrince]

Really? The crowds are not running straight for EE anymore? Or was this a very low crowd day?

Oldest DS wants to do EE (makes me go too!) but 2 younger DS would be waiting for us, so am not sure when to try and plan it.

We were at WDW last week, returned on 6/2. We did rope drop, went toward SWSD and there was a 90 minute wait at 9:05. We zoomed over to Splash Mtn and walked on, then went to BTM and walked on, then to Small World and walked on, then to our 9:45a.m. FP+ meet and greet with Cinderella. No, it was not a low crowd day. This may not be for everyone, but we loved it. We had a total of 8 FP+ rides in a day.

We found the same for EE at AK.

 

[KELLY]

So glad you had a great trip. We have use the MB and had no issues as well.

 

[Momof2Singers]

Our family just had an awesome vacation. The magic bands are the greatest things to come along since sliced bread. It made everything so easy! No separate key, tickets, fast passes, photopass, credit card, even your magical express tickets from the airport....everything is done with a swipe of your band.

As for the parks and FP+, our experience didn't change much, we still got to each park at rope drop and rode several rides in the first few hours. I still believe this is a must, as lines get longer around lunch time. Our first day there though, we actually counted and rode 17 rides from 8-3 (included a LONG lunch at BOG). We planned our FP+ right around lunch when the parks are crowded and normally went back to our hotel to swim and relax (we have 2 kids) and then went back out at night. We also saved two days of FP+ for night use and went to different parks for just a few hours at RD without having the need for FP+ and enjoyed them after dinner at a separate park.

Great:
We met Anna and Elsa twice with FP+ and my daughter was in heaven. They were both great experiences and we definitely got our 5 minutes with them without feeling rushed at all.

Alice rode the tea cups with my daughter and I our first morning there and Anastasia rode the merry go round with us the last day there.

BOG lunch was the best meal we had while on property.

Negative:
We had an 8am ressie at CP to get into the park early. As we were leaving breakfast at 8:40 to enjoy the castle with no one around they had decided to open the park early and we actually walked to the castle with a crowd of ppl. We never even got our family pic with no one in it in front of the castle.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is just okay. It is definitely a ride for the whole family and shouldn't be considered a thrill ride.

All in all, a GREAT vacation!

Sounds wonderful, reading these reviews really helps to make decisions on what and when. I am hoping our trip will be as positive as yours.

We have an 8:05 at CP and plan to get a picture before we go in hopefully.

Happy about SDMT because I am not a thrill seeker like my girls

By the way, what did you guys eat at BOG for lunch. We are waiting for July 8 to open up and I would like to go ahead and preorder

 

[kmv]

Sounds wonderful, reading these reviews really helps to make decisions on what and when. I am hoping our trip will be as positive as yours.

We have an 8:05 at CP and plan to get a picture before we go in hopefully.

Happy about SDMT because I am not a thrill seeker like my girls

By the way, what did you guys eat at BOG for lunch. We are waiting for July 8 to open up and I would like to go ahead and preorder

Yes, get your pic before you go to breakfast!

I ordered the turkey baguette sandwich. It was warm, the bread was fresh and it was yummy! DH had the roast beef (or whatever it is called), one DD got the mahi mahi and finished every crumb and the other got the macaroni and finished the whole bowl. We also split three desserts, grey stuff cupcake, triple chocolate cupcake and the chocolate cream puff. We all liked them all and all had a different favorite. Enjoy!

 

[kmv]

Really? The crowds are not running straight for EE anymore? Or was this a very low crowd day?

Oldest DS wants to do EE (makes me go too!) but 2 younger DS would be waiting for us, so am not sure when to try and plan it.

We have always done RD at AK and gotten multiple times on EE with no wait. One year after 7 times I had to stop bc I hadn't eaten breakfast and felt sick to my stomach! My DD and DH stopped after 9 that year!

 

[Karbase8]

We're here now, and follow the same strategy.
Rope drop, then FP+ starting around 11am, when the crowds appear.

I also like FP+ because you can reserve afternoon FP's for when we plan to go and take the morning off. So one day we can hang out at the condo in the morning, then head to Epcot in the afternoon for a 4pm FP. You couldn't do that with FP-.

This is a great advantage as I have a DS 14 who likes to sleep in I am going to try and do at least 1-2 RD and then do the afternoons with FP+ as he can't handle the commando behavior of me. Thanks for the trip update.

 

[skywaywaver]

Great to know! Thanks for the full update, especially about FastPass Plus. We make ours tomorrow and I'm really stressed about it.