100AcreWood
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2005
- Messages
- 2,712
I always enjoy reading the "just back" threads because they are shorter than trip reports so I wanted to post my own. My family has gone to Disney in October the last several times but our oldest is in high school so we went the day after school let out. That was a fun way to kick off the summer!
Crowds
The crowds were not bad until Monday at the MK. Lines were 60+ for the main attractions. It was still doable and felt about the same as our last October vacation. I noticed a LOT more personalized shirts on tourists this time. One read "I apologize in advance if you have to stand behind my family in line." People were very creative.
Rain
We had rain in the forecast every day. Day 1 of Disney we didn't see rain once. The next three days it rained every afternoon for hours. It wasn't heavy rain, just annoying. We were hoping it would run some of the crowds away but more people stood in line to get cover from the rain so it just increased wait times unfortunately. We did fine in our ponchos except for day 4 when my 10 year old melted down crying. She couldn't take being rained on for the 3rd day in a row. Her feet were soaked. It was a harder rain than the other days. So we left AK early and missed the Rivers of Light show.
Rudeness
I guess I'm too much of a people watcher and notice too much. But this time I only witnessed two people being rude. Most people were so kind! I even saw a gentleman chase down a Dad who dropped a ziploc bag full of diapers. Unfortunately I saw a tour group - the only group we saw, push their way into the crowd of people waiting to see Happily Ever After. We moved from our spot because of all the pushing happening around us.
Food
I thought the food had improved. We really liked the flatbreads. We had one character meal at Crystal Palace. That was a request from my 14 year old. The food was great, the character interaction was great but waiting for the characters was a mess. We were done eating and sat another 45 minutes waiting for the last two characters. For us that was wasted park time and the meal cost our family of 5 $183 after tip. Disney sent us a survey about our experience there so I was able to provide some feedback.
MK
Happily Ever After was FANTASTIC! We saw it twice this week. We arrived 30 minutes prior to the show and had no trouble finding a good spot. I also saw something I did not know existed - the Rainy Day Parade. Lastly, we tried the Sorcerers game and the kids really enjoyed the first activity. Unfortunately when we had to move on to Main Street that game cards did not work. We saw other frustrated families who were having problems too. We decided to move on.
EPCOT
We did not realize the Perry game was now a download on your smart phone. The kids were disappointed we never saw the carts that gave out the game device. We'll know better next time. It wouldn't have been fun in the rain anyway.
AK
Pandora was beautiful and we were able to ride Na'vi with a FP. It was another Disney boat ride which I'm fine with but when we exited my 8 year old ds said what did you think mom? I said it was neat to see but I don't think I will be upset if we skip it next time. We did not go on FoP because the wait never dropped below 90 minutes.
HS
We loved the Star Wars fireworks and only one of us missed Fantasmic.
Harry Potter World
We also visited Universal for one day but park hopped between the two parks. We really enjoyed it but wow it was expensive! I liked having the options to eat better food just outside the parks in Citywalk and I think the food overall in the Universal Parks is better.
Overall another good, exhausting trip. I would consider going again in June.
Crowds
The crowds were not bad until Monday at the MK. Lines were 60+ for the main attractions. It was still doable and felt about the same as our last October vacation. I noticed a LOT more personalized shirts on tourists this time. One read "I apologize in advance if you have to stand behind my family in line." People were very creative.
Rain
We had rain in the forecast every day. Day 1 of Disney we didn't see rain once. The next three days it rained every afternoon for hours. It wasn't heavy rain, just annoying. We were hoping it would run some of the crowds away but more people stood in line to get cover from the rain so it just increased wait times unfortunately. We did fine in our ponchos except for day 4 when my 10 year old melted down crying. She couldn't take being rained on for the 3rd day in a row. Her feet were soaked. It was a harder rain than the other days. So we left AK early and missed the Rivers of Light show.
Rudeness
I guess I'm too much of a people watcher and notice too much. But this time I only witnessed two people being rude. Most people were so kind! I even saw a gentleman chase down a Dad who dropped a ziploc bag full of diapers. Unfortunately I saw a tour group - the only group we saw, push their way into the crowd of people waiting to see Happily Ever After. We moved from our spot because of all the pushing happening around us.
Food
I thought the food had improved. We really liked the flatbreads. We had one character meal at Crystal Palace. That was a request from my 14 year old. The food was great, the character interaction was great but waiting for the characters was a mess. We were done eating and sat another 45 minutes waiting for the last two characters. For us that was wasted park time and the meal cost our family of 5 $183 after tip. Disney sent us a survey about our experience there so I was able to provide some feedback.
MK
Happily Ever After was FANTASTIC! We saw it twice this week. We arrived 30 minutes prior to the show and had no trouble finding a good spot. I also saw something I did not know existed - the Rainy Day Parade. Lastly, we tried the Sorcerers game and the kids really enjoyed the first activity. Unfortunately when we had to move on to Main Street that game cards did not work. We saw other frustrated families who were having problems too. We decided to move on.
EPCOT
We did not realize the Perry game was now a download on your smart phone. The kids were disappointed we never saw the carts that gave out the game device. We'll know better next time. It wouldn't have been fun in the rain anyway.
AK
Pandora was beautiful and we were able to ride Na'vi with a FP. It was another Disney boat ride which I'm fine with but when we exited my 8 year old ds said what did you think mom? I said it was neat to see but I don't think I will be upset if we skip it next time. We did not go on FoP because the wait never dropped below 90 minutes.
HS
We loved the Star Wars fireworks and only one of us missed Fantasmic.
Harry Potter World
We also visited Universal for one day but park hopped between the two parks. We really enjoyed it but wow it was expensive! I liked having the options to eat better food just outside the parks in Citywalk and I think the food overall in the Universal Parks is better.
Overall another good, exhausting trip. I would consider going again in June.
