SAFD:
On our most recent trip for
MNSSHP (we attended the Labor Day party) we spent most of our time at Universal so the pickings were a little slim on new Disney experiences. Our Disney day was the day of MNSSHP and we Uber-ed over from Universal for opening at Disney Springs, did some shopping, got some Gideon’s (which I just remembered I still have my cookie in the freezer), then used the buses to go to Poly for lunch at Kona Cafe.
We picked trying Kona over Summer House on the Lake because we liked the idea of a relaxing lunch and then taking the monorail over to MK before the party (the cuisine also appealed more to my niece). We anticipated Kona being virtually empty for late lunch, but the skies opened up at about 11:00 and didn’t stop until around 2:30 so the resort was packed with people returning from/forgoing the parks for a resort day. Fortunately, we made a reservation a few weeks earlier just to be safe.
Anyway, we’d never tried Kona before and it was a really nice lunch. Nothing outrageously special, but we all really enjoyed what we ate and it allowed us to be a little less food driven during the party. The plan worked perfectly for getting to the party as well.
And…as I’m writing this I remember that our primary concern attraction wise at MNSSHP was Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which was all of our first time on the attraction since it reopened. I’m always going to be partial to Splash Mountain, but I really enjoyed the ride in its new conception as well. Didn’t get to notice many details in the queue, we were fortunate that it was a walk-on when we went (during fireworks), but the on ride experience was really great (definitely boosted by having the previously mentioned fireworks going during the early outdoor portion of the ride).
ETA: Not asked for, but I kind of want to vent. My newest, most unpleasant experience at Disney was the Winnie the Pooh meet and greet at MNSSHP. We got a picture with Pooh and friends 6 years ago during the party and wanted to get an updated pic. We waited nearly 2 hours (fortunately, we had a great run from 4-8 pm and hit almost every ride in the park before getting in the queue or else we would have definitely left). We took turns going for food and drinks during our wait and my niece and nephew left and went on multiple nearby attractions. We tried to make the best of it.
But, watching the reason why it took so long was infuriating. The CMs running the meet and greet allowed things to get completely out of control (in my opinion). Groups were averaging around 5 minutes each with the characters; often taking, what appeared to be, upwards of 10-15 poses and 25 photopass pictures. The line wasn’t taking forever because of the overwhelming popularity of the meet and greet, but because of the complete and utter inefficiency. The characters averaged single digit interactions in their time between breaks (we watched them go to break 6 times).
The characters went on break when we were third in line. When they came back, Tigger was not with them (the first time all 4 were not together in our whole wait) and they’d sent in the coolers. Seems the line was getting out of hand and they needed to start having it actually move. We just wanted our meet and greet and quick single group photo, so this didn’t bother me; it bothered me to no end that this wasn’t how things were run the whole night (and it was disappointing to only get 3/4 of the gang). We would have waited less than half the time we ended up waiting if they had been running things like that all night rather than letting everyone before us take literally every single picture they could conceive. It felt like the equivalent of CMs on a ride asking everyone if they wanted to go again and only allowing new riders if the previous ones willingly vacated.
Sorry, I needed a Disney airing of grievances. It couldn’t wait for Festivus. Rant over.
