Just got back.

[angela3676]

We got back from our vacation on Friday, June 5th. We had a great time. What I have to say about our trip mimics the sayings of others. It was crowded but manageable. It was very hot. It only rained on Friday (5/29) when we arrived and Thursday night (6/4) the night before we left. Our plan was to do all four theme parks (no water parks) and repeat MK and Epcot. But what we actually did was a repeat of AK and DHS . We had seven day park tickets and on our last day we were going to go to Epcot for a few hours before our flight, but ended up hanging around the resort. We were just too tired to go to another park. The longest we waited for any ride was 20 - 25 minutes but the majority was less than a 20 minute wait. We got to each park every morning at opening. We did get to MK for the rope drop ceremony (first time), but most days we just got to the park right after it opened. We used fast pass a lot. Some really nice people gave us FP for Soarin and another day some folks gave us FP for Toy Story. I was shocked at that one and very happy. Now I know why so many people love Toy Story Mania. It was a lot of fun, even though my DD beat me every time.

We didn’t have elaborate meal plans, this is what we planned. . .CP, Rainforest Café, Teppan Edo. What we actually did was. . .Rainforest Cafe x2(one at DTD and the other at AK) my DD really loved RFC, Teppan Edo(loved it), 50 Prime Time, Sci Fi, Yak & Yeti(loved it) and Hard Rock Café (DTD). We never waited more than 15 minutes for a table. I think luck was on our side. Fun was had by all (all includes me, DH and DD11). My DD surprised me with her new love of thrill rides. How fast they grow up.

We did several shows, Beauty & the Beast, FOTLK, Finding Nemo the musical. We didn’t do parades. I know, a travesty but we just didn’t want to sit in the sun and hour prior to the parade just to watch it. It was HOT!

Last but not least, my DH wanted me to say something about the ride Maelstrom in Norway. One word, "Terrible"!!!!!!!

Any questions?

 

[Michael623]

Hard Rock Cafe at DTD? Maybe Planet Hollywood?

 

[Peapicker]

Sounds like you had a great time. Did you do Yak & Yeti counter service or sit down. We are thinking about trying the counter service this coming trip and would be interested in your thoughts as to how the food was. Isn't Animal Kingdom great!!!!!

 

[angela3676]

Hard Rock Cafe at DTD? Maybe Planet Hollywood?

You're right, it was Planet Hollywood. I'm still recuperating.

 

[angela3676]

Sounds like you had a great time. Did you do Yak & Yeti counter service or sit down. We are thinking about trying the counter service this coming trip and would be interested in your thoughts as to how the food was. Isn't Animal Kingdom great!!!!!

We were going to do the counter service at first, but when my DH found out the only place to sit was outside we decided to do the sit down so we could enjoy the air conditioning. The food was good. I would do it again. What we did was try several appetizers. We had pot stickers 2 orders, egg rolls, chicken fried rice and the steamed mussels. We shared every thing but the fried rice, we each got our own bowl of rice. We didn't want to spend a lot at this resturant so ordering appetizers saved us a lot be we left with full bellies.

 

[NEdis2009]

Sounds like you had a great time. Did you do Yak & Yeti counter service or sit down. We are thinking about trying the counter service this coming trip and would be interested in your thoughts as to how the food was. Isn't Animal Kingdom great!!!!!

We were there the same time as Angela and did do Yak & Yeti CS...I thought it was really good. DH said just okay. I had the Shrimp LoMein and he had Sweet & Sour Pork. The kids did the usual chicken nuggets. The entree comes in a box so just as other WDW meals...it is a good sized portion!

 

[NEdis2009]

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Funny how similar our trips were, Angela! We just got back on 6/03. And did just as you did with the 7 day tickets/4 parks...but we had planned on MK and Epcot the last day...but ended up doing MK and DHS. We had thought about going to a park on our departure day but ended up going to DTD.

Thanks to DISboards we got to the parks early and did the majority of our rides during the first few hours the parks were open and then took time to do the shows. Since we had gotten up early and eaten in our room (didn't want to waste a DDP meal on breakfast) we were hungry by 11am...CS restaurants hardly had any lines at that time!

Another thing I found out was you could use one QS meal to get 2 "in house" bakery items & 2 drinks at our resort(POR). Since we didn't eat a QS meal one day that we had a character breakfast we had 3 QS meals left on the last day...so used this for breakfast for all 5 of us!

So thank you DISboard members for making our trip a success as well. My very skeptical husband even became a believer of EMHs after starting our trip at MK and getting 8 rides in before 10am!

And sorry, Angela, for hi-jacking your thread. Just wanted to add an "amen" to everything you said!

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Glad to hear about your trip. We are also a early morning family with an 11am lunch time!

 

[angela3676]

Funny how similar our trips were, Angela! We just got back on 6/03. And did just as you did with the 7 day tickets/4 parks...but we had planned on MK and Epcot the last day...but ended up doing MK and DHS. We had thought about going to a park on our departure day but ended up going to DTD.

Thanks to DISboards we got to the parks early and did the majority of our rides during the first few hours the parks were open and then took time to do the shows. Since we had gotten up early and eaten in our room (didn't want to waste a DDP meal on breakfast) we were hungry by 11am...CS restaurants hardly had any lines at that time!

Another thing I found out was you could use one QS meal to get 2 "in house" bakery items & 2 drinks at our resort(POR). Since we didn't eat a QS meal one day that we had a character breakfast we had 3 QS meals left on the last day...so used this for breakfast for all 5 of us!

So thank you DISboard members for making our trip a success as well. My very skeptical husband even became a believer of EMHs after starting our trip at MK and getting 8 rides in before 10am!

And sorry, Angela, for hi-jacking your thread. Just wanted to add an "amen" to everything you said!

No apologies necessary. I'm glad you shared how your trip went. I think that reading about what other people did and what worked and didn't work for them is what helped me to plan our trip. My DH thanked me too because we got to do so much early in the day, thanks to the Disboard! When the crowds got thick we just hung out or went back to the resort. We actually went to DTD twice on this trip because we did everything we wanted early in the day. We didn't do EMH. I may try that on our next trip. We had a lot of fun. I'm glad you guys had a good time too.

 

[ThreeTinks]

Thanks for the report!! Did you walk up to 50's PTC? That is the one ressie I am still trying to get - we leave in 4 days and I am thinking we will try to walk up if we have to....

 

[NEdis2009]

Thanks for the report!! Did you walk up to 50's PTC? That is the one ressie I am still trying to get - we leave in 4 days and I am thinking we will try to walk up if we have to....

We did 50s PTC also, but had an ADR. I would keep trying though...right up until that day. We ended up cancelling ressies at the last minute and getting other ones that were just as good.

 

[Shir Kahn]

Last but not least, my DH wanted me to say something about the ride Maelstrom in Norway. One word, "Terrible"!!!!!!!

Heh, to each their own I guess, we like Maelstrom. Not really worth using a fastpass for, but still, we like it quite well.

 

[ThreeTinks]

Thanks I will keep trying!! I got Chef Mickey's just last week for breakfast, so I am hoping for some more magic

 

[angela3676]

Thanks for the report!! Did you walk up to 50's PTC? That is the one ressie I am still trying to get - we leave in 4 days and I am thinking we will try to walk up if we have to....

Yes, we did walk up to 50's PTC. We went around 1:30 and they told us it would be about 20 minutes before they could seat us. I was surprised when they told us that. The place was packed. We were standing the entire time we waited for our table, but they were seating people quickly. We only waited about 15 minutes maybe less. The only ressie's i made was for CP, Teppan Edo and Rainforest Cafe. Out of those three we only used Teppan Edo. I cancelled the other two. Everything else we just walked up and asked for a table for three. We were told we would have to wait but the wait was never long.

 

[angela3676]

Heh, to each their own I guess, we like Maelstrom. Not really worth using a fastpass for, but still, we like it quite well.

I think the only reason he didn't like it was because he felt the ride itself was incomplete. It didn't tell a complete story. I would be willing to give it another try.

 

[meecemouse]

How were the morning crowds at MK without Space Mtn? What ride did the crowds seem to run to instead?

 

[NEdis2009]

How were the morning crowds at MK without Space Mtn? What ride did the crowds seem to run to instead?

The morning we went to MK at RD we were headed to Fantasyland...and I didn't think "the mass" was headed there, so they must have headed to SplshMt...the FP were out quickly every day we were there. And tell me what is the infatuation with Jungle Cruise??...the wait was always 60min+ the day we were there, so we FP it and didn't see why?

 

[meecemouse]

Good info to know. You know all these "professional" touring plans tell you to get fp's at odd hours of the day. I knew deep down that they "closed" fairly quickly in the day. If you can remember, what time of day did you notice the fp machines were out? Any park in particular? When you base your plan on getting fp's at 11 am, and then find them out...it can be very frustrating.

 

[angela3676]

How were the morning crowds at MK without Space Mtn? What ride did the crowds seem to run to instead?

Standing just outside of MK during the rope drop ceremony it seems extra crowded. That's just because everyone is gathered in the same spot. When we actually entered the park people scatter all over. We ususally go to tomorrowland first, but this trip we went toward adventureland staight through to frontierland and rode BTMR. I would say the majority of the crowd went to fantasyland and frontieland.

After BTMR we did, Splash M, Pirates, JungleC, HM and when we finally made our way to Fantasyland it was crazy. We only did Philharmagic, Peter Pan and got a fast pass for Pooh. When we got to tomorrowland it was not very crowded. We did CP and Buzz and then headed back to frontierland which by that time was crowded but we still managed to ride SplashM again. We did get a fast pass for BTMR for later but I can't remember what time it was actually for. We used both our Pooh and BTMR fast pass one after the other.

 

[NEdis2009]

We usually got a FP right away in each park (SM in MK, TSM in DHS, EE in AK and Soarin' in EP) and then was good to get another one by 11 or so.

I think it was around 2pm that SM was out and TSM was out before noon (we liked this one, but when my DD9 and DD7 had the chance to either get FP for TSM or RNRC they pick the RC).

We were out of luck at AK for Kali, we were wanting to do this one before we left the park and the FP were out around 1pm. So again the gang had the chance to either wait in line 50 min or go see Nemo... Nemo won out.

Don't know when Soarin' ran out we didn't go back there for a second ride. We liked it but one thing that bugged me was that you can see the people's feet in the row above you...took away from the "flying". We did do an afternoon FP for TT at EP and when we rode (around 4:30pm) they were still getting FPs.