momtotwolittleones
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2007
- Messages
- 226
I'm off to bed but thought I'd download a few observations/experiences from our trip. I apologize in advance for the random stream of consciousness . . .
We were in DL Mon and Tues, DCA on Wed, and back in DL on Thu. Mon and Tues am were very light, and with fastpasses very manageable all day long, even into the evening. Tues am was more crowded due to magic morning - we just can't get there before 8am, as our kids get way too tired and cranky if we wake them up. So if you're going to do MM, then great, go on a MM day, but if you want to arrive later, I recommend a non MM day.
On Mon and Tues we did sooo much - rode on all rides, saw shows, etc. Never waited more than 20 mins for anything.
Thursday was insanely crowded. By 1pm you could barely move through the park, and it didn't really let up until 11pm. I have never seen it so crowded, although granted, I have never gone during the summer before. Without fastpasses it would have been unbearable, but even with, we left from 2pm-8pm.
DCA - we easily got WOC fp as hotel guests at 9am, but by 10am the line was already soooo long to get tickets, so if you're not a hotel guest I recommend a picnic or something. Soaring is an awesome, awesome ride. We rode it once after getting our WOC fp at 9:30ish and then again with the fp we got right before we went on. I loved TSMM - only got to ride it once due to long lines, but I really thought it was awesome. GRRR (is that right?) fp were not given out until sometime after 2 or 3, and by the time we finally saw them the return time was 8pm. However, after WOC ended, my son and I decided to jump on as it was only a 5 min wait and we were headed back to the hotel anyway. Super fun, but you do get pretty wet. Bugs Land is lame, IMO, and a lot of the boardwalk rides are the same thing you can do at any county fair. Other than a couple cool rides and some great shows, I just don't love DCA. Plus, it feels so much hotter there than in DL - I think it's the lack of trees and the wide boulevards without the shade.
However, WOC was awesome! I was not psyched for it at all, thinking it would be just another laser light show, and was pretty blown away. We didn't even show up for the 9pm show until after 8pm, and had a great view. We had a front railing, but in the very back of the left blue section, kind of raised up, and we could see it all perfectly. Easy in and out, no shoving, very comfortable. Loved it.
We saw Fantasmic Mon pm at DL, and had crappy views. We were shoved in so tight with people all around us that I literally couldn't move my body and was so hot I was sweating. I didn't enjoy it at all, and I used to love that show. I have no desire to see it that way again. I much preferred the WOC seating.
We saw fireworks Tues evening - we were pretty far down main street, in the middle near Plaza Inn, and the view was great but couldn't see Tinkerbell or Dumbo. We just walked in about 20 mins before it started, though.
What else? The best food we had was at Big Thunder Ranch BBQ. So tasty and really nice ambiance. We also had a great Tuscan salad at DCA at the Trattoria place (blanking on the name). All the other food was highly mediocre. All restaurants were pretty empty all day M, T and Wed - no PS needed. Did Goofy's kitchen for dinner on Thu and food was crappy, but I already knew that from previous experience. Had my neice's birthday dinner at Storytellers and it was pretty bad, IMO.
Stayed at the DLH - never even had time for the pool, but didn't see any construction. Did not get remodeled rooms, but they were fine except for the shower head being so low I had to backbend to get the top of my hair wet, not enough hot water, and some loser was smoking in the room below us and stinking up our room. Staff was super nice and we had a great fireworks show from our parking lot view.
If I can make one PSA: Please, NO FLASH DURING DARK RIDES!!!! My gawd, it was unbelievable how many people flashed all the way through PoC and other dark rides, even during the Aladdin show. And here's another piece of info - even if you have your flash turned off, keep the pics to a minimum, because your bright camera screen is distracting to the people behind you. One woman in Aladdin was taking pictures the entire time, and even though her flash was off, her bright white screen kept popping up in front of me. Very annoying.
Very few rude people, most everyone was super nice. Weather was awesome. I really had such a fantastic time, and much of it was due to all the great advice I got here. The people we were with were just blown away by how much we knew and how much we were able to get done!
We were in DL Mon and Tues, DCA on Wed, and back in DL on Thu. Mon and Tues am were very light, and with fastpasses very manageable all day long, even into the evening. Tues am was more crowded due to magic morning - we just can't get there before 8am, as our kids get way too tired and cranky if we wake them up. So if you're going to do MM, then great, go on a MM day, but if you want to arrive later, I recommend a non MM day.
On Mon and Tues we did sooo much - rode on all rides, saw shows, etc. Never waited more than 20 mins for anything.
Thursday was insanely crowded. By 1pm you could barely move through the park, and it didn't really let up until 11pm. I have never seen it so crowded, although granted, I have never gone during the summer before. Without fastpasses it would have been unbearable, but even with, we left from 2pm-8pm.
DCA - we easily got WOC fp as hotel guests at 9am, but by 10am the line was already soooo long to get tickets, so if you're not a hotel guest I recommend a picnic or something. Soaring is an awesome, awesome ride. We rode it once after getting our WOC fp at 9:30ish and then again with the fp we got right before we went on. I loved TSMM - only got to ride it once due to long lines, but I really thought it was awesome. GRRR (is that right?) fp were not given out until sometime after 2 or 3, and by the time we finally saw them the return time was 8pm. However, after WOC ended, my son and I decided to jump on as it was only a 5 min wait and we were headed back to the hotel anyway. Super fun, but you do get pretty wet. Bugs Land is lame, IMO, and a lot of the boardwalk rides are the same thing you can do at any county fair. Other than a couple cool rides and some great shows, I just don't love DCA. Plus, it feels so much hotter there than in DL - I think it's the lack of trees and the wide boulevards without the shade.
However, WOC was awesome! I was not psyched for it at all, thinking it would be just another laser light show, and was pretty blown away. We didn't even show up for the 9pm show until after 8pm, and had a great view. We had a front railing, but in the very back of the left blue section, kind of raised up, and we could see it all perfectly. Easy in and out, no shoving, very comfortable. Loved it.
We saw Fantasmic Mon pm at DL, and had crappy views. We were shoved in so tight with people all around us that I literally couldn't move my body and was so hot I was sweating. I didn't enjoy it at all, and I used to love that show. I have no desire to see it that way again. I much preferred the WOC seating.
We saw fireworks Tues evening - we were pretty far down main street, in the middle near Plaza Inn, and the view was great but couldn't see Tinkerbell or Dumbo. We just walked in about 20 mins before it started, though.
What else? The best food we had was at Big Thunder Ranch BBQ. So tasty and really nice ambiance. We also had a great Tuscan salad at DCA at the Trattoria place (blanking on the name). All the other food was highly mediocre. All restaurants were pretty empty all day M, T and Wed - no PS needed. Did Goofy's kitchen for dinner on Thu and food was crappy, but I already knew that from previous experience. Had my neice's birthday dinner at Storytellers and it was pretty bad, IMO.
Stayed at the DLH - never even had time for the pool, but didn't see any construction. Did not get remodeled rooms, but they were fine except for the shower head being so low I had to backbend to get the top of my hair wet, not enough hot water, and some loser was smoking in the room below us and stinking up our room. Staff was super nice and we had a great fireworks show from our parking lot view.
If I can make one PSA: Please, NO FLASH DURING DARK RIDES!!!! My gawd, it was unbelievable how many people flashed all the way through PoC and other dark rides, even during the Aladdin show. And here's another piece of info - even if you have your flash turned off, keep the pics to a minimum, because your bright camera screen is distracting to the people behind you. One woman in Aladdin was taking pictures the entire time, and even though her flash was off, her bright white screen kept popping up in front of me. Very annoying.
Very few rude people, most everyone was super nice. Weather was awesome. I really had such a fantastic time, and much of it was due to all the great advice I got here. The people we were with were just blown away by how much we knew and how much we were able to get done!
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