Four Swampers
Picture is Disney Wonder at Cabo San Lucas
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2012
- Messages
- 998
WDW Trip Report
Pre-trip: Reservations at the Contemporary Resort (CR) for Thursday to Sunday for three adults, really one adult and two 15 year old girls. We received Magic Bands about four weeks before departure, and I linked our bands to my My Disney Experience (MDE) website account. Using MDE, I made fastpass+ reservations on our four day park hopper tickets.
I attended a conference at the resort. Our plan was for me to go to the conference each morning, and the girls would go to a park. We would then meet at another park in the afternoon, where we would have fastpass+ for three attractions. As most people know, you are allowed three fastpass+ attractions at one park only for each day. Consequently, it works well to do rides in the early morning at one park, then use fastpasses at that park or a different park in the afternoon and early evening, when the parks are busiest.
We went to WDW from Thursday, March 20, 2014 to Sunday, March 23. We landed at MCO Orlando airport at 2:45 pm. We went straight to Disneys Magical Express (DME). We had signed up for DME three weeks before our trip. Our DME reservation was attached to our magic bands, so we bypassed the counter and went straight to the castmembers manning the line. We tapped our magic bands at two checkpoints to enter the line, waited about ten minutes, then tapped our magic bands to enter the bus. We had another few minutes on the bus, then drove to the Contemporary, stopping first at Wilderness Lodge, the Polynesian, and the Grand Floridian.
Having done online check-in, we spent only two minutes checking in at the online check-in desk. The castmember made sure we still wanted to use the credit card on file, answered a couple of our questions, then gave us our packet of information. We walked to our room, tapped our magic band, set down our bags, then high-tailed it to the bus stop to go to Hollywood Studios.
Well, it was now 4:25, and I had reservations at the Brown Derby in Hollywood Studios for 5:05. The bus did not arrive until 4:52. Then the driver could not figure out how to tie down the front end of a womans scooter; eventually I asked another driver to help her. He got it tied down, and we left at 5:02. We stopped at the Polynesian and Grand Floridian to pick up more people, then got to Hollywood Studios. A bag search of our friends clutch purse, then tapped our magic bands, registered our thumbprints, and we were inside the park! We arrived at the Brown Derby at 5:45, a good 40 minutes after our arrival window of 4:45 to 5:05. WDW restaurants will typically hold a reservation for 20 minutes. Our hostess did not seem fazed in the least, and she happily checked us in without my having to explain anything. Go Disney!
We were seated in about 10 minutes for our very first trip to the Brown Derby. Our server was Lynn, originally from Ocean City, MD, and she was fantastic! I explained that we were behind schedule and had fastpass reservations for The Great Movie Ride for 6:30 to 7:30. She worked some Disney Magic and had us out the door by 6:55, all the while being friendly and attentive, despite a full restaurant.
Of note, we had purchased the Fantasmic Dinner Package at the Brown Derby. For $56.99, get a three course meal and priority seating to the 8:30 showing of Fantasmic. The Brown Derby menu for any patron has appetizers, entrées, and desserts. If you were to order all three, your meal would cost anywhere from around $45 to $67. So $57 to order any app, entrée, and dessert from the regular menu plus get priority fantasmic seating is a pretty good deal. I had the lamb chops, which were prepared just as I asked, were tender, not at all fatty. Four chops, served two and two. My daughter had the noodle bowl, which was fine but not outstanding in any particular way, and her friend had the fillet of beef. Our appetizers were the cheese trio: very good, the lobster bisque: very good, and the prawn on cheddar grits: excellent. Desserts are served as a trio of small dishes. You can choose any three, including three of the same. I chose the Brown Derbys signature dessert, grapefruit cake, and let Lynn choose the other two for me. She chose caramel custard with passion fruit glace and banana toffee cake. They were delicious. Of note, I hate grapefruit. I ordered grapefruit cake only to try the signature dessert. It was amazing! I might order three grapefruit cakes the next time I am there.
I dont plan to describe most of our meals as thoroughly, but this was probably the best food we have ever had at WDW. Everything was cooked perfectly and tasted great; well, the noodle bowl was good, not great. Again, the service was outstanding. It is too bad you cant request servers, as I would request Lynn from Ocean City, MD every time we go.
After dinner, we rode The Great Movie Ride. It is a fun trip through the movies, but so darned slow. Really, they could speed the thing up by 30 to 50%. We then did Star Tours, which was very fun. Now 8:00, we hurried to Fantasmic, which we reached at 8:12, just as they were announcing on the PA system that Fantasmic was now standing room only. Not a problem for us, as our fastpass tickets from dinner got us into the middle section. We had great seats and loved the show. The show ended just before 9:00, and we went straight to the Aerosmith Rockin Roller Coaster, where we had fastpass+ for 8:30 to 9:30. We got past the recording studio and neared the ride when it shut down. We were disappointed, but castmembers handed fastpass paper tickets to everyone who was in line as we exited the building. The fastpasses were good for Rockin Roller Coaster or one of several other attractions (notably not Toy Story) for the next three days.
We stopped at guest services on our way out to get my daughters friend (ok, from now on I shall say our friend) a First Time button. She and my daughter were a little taken aback at the temper tantrum some woman threw with a guest services castmember. She too had been in line for Rockin Roller Coaster when it broke down at 9:15 at night. Apparently, she would be unable to use the replacement fastpass, as she had to drive home tomorrow, and that coaster was the entire reason I came to WDW and the one thing I wanted to do. I am not sure why she waited until 9:00 at night her last day to do it, although I suppose it would seem cool to have that be the climax of the trip. Still, she treated that castmember as though the castmember had personally thrown a wrench into the coasters mechanism just to destroy her vacation. My daughter and her friend were appalled. If anyone meets this lady, please thank her for me, as it was a wonderful object lesson in being polite.
We returned to the Contemporary and went to bed. The next morning, I went to my conference while the girls went to Animal Kingdom. They did Safari, happened upon King Louie and Baloo just as they reached their photo spot, so got photographed. Then they rode Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur. Our friend is afraid of slow climbs up large roller coaster hills, so they skipped Expedition Everest. They caught a bus back to the Contemporary where I joined them, and we walked into the Magic Kingdom.
At the Magic Kingdom, we rode the Carousel of Progress and Space Mountain with a fastpass+, and then went to watch the Festival of Fantasy Parade. We got to the parade area early, so went to the Tiki Room, watched the show (better than 30 years ago), and then we watched the parade in Frontierland. We all loved the parade. I think it is the best afternoon MK parade I have ever seen. We then had a fastpass+ for Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin, so a quick jaunt back to Tomorrowland for Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin, then the people mover, then the Tomorrowland Speedway. After that, we took the train from Fantasyland (train station over in the circus area) past the Main Street Station to the Frontierland Station. We got off the train and walked over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, where we used our third fastpass+ of the day. Afterwards, my daughter suggested we find dinner, playing right into my hands. We walked over to Fantasyland, where I suggested we show our friend the area around and under Cinderellas Castle. Neither girl knew we were dining at Cinderellas Royal Table until we walked up to the reservation desk.
The girls got their photo with Cinderella in the lobby, Gus Gus and Jacques looking on from the rafters as always, then up to dinner. Dinner was fine. The food was well prepared, and we enjoyed our server, Gustavo, and the setting. Gustavo was a hoot; he joked with us in a completely age-appropriate way; the girls and I loved it! Despite being teenagers, the girls were delighted to say hi to each princess. We were visitied by Aurora, Jasmine, Snow White, and one other.
After dinner, we rode a couple rides, including Goofys Barnstormer. My daughter was so tired that she decided to return to the hotel. We walked with her to the Mainstreet Train Station; just as we got there, the Mainstreet Electric Parade began, so she stayed for that. Fun, as always. After the parade, she returned to the Contemporary, her friend and I rode Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, walking right on to both rides. We then found a spot next to the Tomorrowland Terrace to watch Wishes. Tinkerbell flew right over our heads, and the show was fun. Afterwards, we returned to the hotel.
Saturday morning, the girls went to Hollywood Studios while I attended my conference. They rode Rockin Roller Coaster, an event which has cost us the trust of our friend. She is unwilling to ride any coaster with loops, so our bold-faced lie of no, no loops here was a bit mean. She is glad she rode it, but has no desire to ride it again. Yes, we lied. Judge away, but be warned that I dont care. After some souvenir shopping in Hollywood Studios, they returned to the Contemporary and we took the monorail to Epcot.
At Epcot, we had a fastpass+ to Mission: Space. The standby line had a 40 minute wait for the intense version and a 10 minute wait for the less intense version. We took the standby line for less intense, figuring we could go back for a fastpass+ ride right afterwards. The girls felt the less intense version was plenty for them, so they went to freshen up while I rode the intense version of Mission: Space. We then went to Soarin, where we had a fastpass+ reservation. Then we went to dinner at the Coral Reef restaurant.
The Coral Reef restaurant has fine food, but not the best food at WDW. It does have a great theme: the huge aquarium is amazing. We were lucky enough to see a scuba group spend about 30 minutes in the aquarium. My daughter had the mahi mahi, which was fine; however, the little shrimp had a very grainy texture. If you told me that they had taken grits and molded them into shrimp, I would have believed you. Our friends steak was good. I will say that the rainbow trout, my dish, was done very well. I was extremely pleased. After dinner, we had a fastpass+ for The Seas with Nemo and Friends. A waste of a fastpass, but really no other option seemed any better. It was a waste only because there was absolutely no line. We actually walked on via standby, otherwise we would have had to wait 15 minutes for our fastpass window to start. Somewhere during the day, we did do the standby line at Test Track. Our friend was a little nervous, so we had to enlist the reassurances of others that she would be fine. This illustrates the disadvantage of lying, not to mention that lying is mean and wrong. We then went to World Showcase.
Walking clockwise, we started with the Mexican showcase boat ride around Mexico with Jose Carioca, Panchito, and Donald Duck. We then rode Maelstrom at the Norway Pavilion. Because Anna and Elsas last meet and greet starts at 4:20, and it was now after 6:00, Norway was not too crowded. Oh, a castmember informed us that the Maelstrom will soon close to be converted to a Frozen ride. Theres a fun rumor for you! We visited more country pavilions, I grabbed a beer from Germany while the girls grabbed gelato from Italy, then we watched Illuminations. Afterwards, we made our way out of Epcot and took the monorail back to the resort. The girls went to the Contemporary and their bed. I made a quick detour to the bar at the Grand Floridian for a glass of Schweiger Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. Schweiger cabernet is not sold in stores, so I never miss a chance to get a glass when I am in WDW.
On Sunday morning, the girls packed, then went to MK. I went to my conference, then packed, took our checked bags to airline check-in/bag drop at the Contemporary, left our carryon bags with the valet, then joined the girls in MK. We used fastpass+ to ride the Haunted Mansion and the Jungle Cruise. I then suggested we walk around Fantasyland and find lunch. What the girls did not know is that we had been lucky enough to get an email inviting us to test a fastpass for lunch at the Be Our Guest Restaurant in the Beasts Castle! Lunch was a blast. The French onion soup is great, the braised pork was very good, and we marveled at how creamy the mashed potatoes were. My daughters tuna nicoise salad was very good. Our friends croque monsieur was fine; it is a grilled sandwich, so pretty hard to go wrong. I had a lemon-raspberry cream puff for dessert: very good. Each girl had a chocolate cupcake with grey frosting. It was delicious. You should definitely try the grey stuff; its delicious.
After lunch, we finished our trip with a fastpass+ to Peter Pans Flight. I am not sure why that ride is so crazy popular, but I do like it. We made our way to Main Street for some souvenir shopping. The girls each got a candy apple: one Mickey version and one Olaf version. I had a bite of my daughters Olaf apple: yum!
Some final thoughts: First, magic bands. They worked flawlessly for us throughout the trip, although you do have to tap them exactly right! Our hotel room door, getting onto attractions with fastpass+, charging at restaurants, and charging for purchases. We had no issues at all.
Second, fastpass+. I was a master of the old fastpass system, rotating fastpasses like a pro. With fastpass+, I could only have three a day, and the tiered fastpasses at Epcot were a little annoying. Also, signing up for a fastpass+ several days in advance meant not knowing if I would need the fastpass+. We certainly did not need it for Nemo; I would have preferred to get one for Test Track, but you can only do Test Track OR Soarin. In hindsight, a fastpass+ for Illuminations would be a better choice than Nemo. I should say, though, that the fastpass+ system worked fine for us, and we did not have to run around gathering fastpasses, and by getting them in advance, I was able to be certain we would ride the attractions we wanted most. I suspect WDW will refine the experience over time. Hopefully, we will eventually have access to more fastpass+es each day. Also, I would like the tiered system to end. If they do keep the tiered system, then they ought to label the top tiered rides as E ticket rides.
Castmembers were great. They were smiling, friendly, and helpful. Ill take a WDW janitor over most Fortune 500 CEOs any day. The moats in MK were drained for maintenance; some people dont like this, but I loved it. I felt like I was getting to see something I am not supposed to see. Also, I just like learning how things work and observing the logistics of things. They were also painting Cinderellas Castle. The crane was a little distracting, but it did not damage our trip at all.
As far as I am concerned, the Magic is alive and well at Walt Disney World.
Pre-trip: Reservations at the Contemporary Resort (CR) for Thursday to Sunday for three adults, really one adult and two 15 year old girls. We received Magic Bands about four weeks before departure, and I linked our bands to my My Disney Experience (MDE) website account. Using MDE, I made fastpass+ reservations on our four day park hopper tickets.
I attended a conference at the resort. Our plan was for me to go to the conference each morning, and the girls would go to a park. We would then meet at another park in the afternoon, where we would have fastpass+ for three attractions. As most people know, you are allowed three fastpass+ attractions at one park only for each day. Consequently, it works well to do rides in the early morning at one park, then use fastpasses at that park or a different park in the afternoon and early evening, when the parks are busiest.
We went to WDW from Thursday, March 20, 2014 to Sunday, March 23. We landed at MCO Orlando airport at 2:45 pm. We went straight to Disneys Magical Express (DME). We had signed up for DME three weeks before our trip. Our DME reservation was attached to our magic bands, so we bypassed the counter and went straight to the castmembers manning the line. We tapped our magic bands at two checkpoints to enter the line, waited about ten minutes, then tapped our magic bands to enter the bus. We had another few minutes on the bus, then drove to the Contemporary, stopping first at Wilderness Lodge, the Polynesian, and the Grand Floridian.
Having done online check-in, we spent only two minutes checking in at the online check-in desk. The castmember made sure we still wanted to use the credit card on file, answered a couple of our questions, then gave us our packet of information. We walked to our room, tapped our magic band, set down our bags, then high-tailed it to the bus stop to go to Hollywood Studios.
Well, it was now 4:25, and I had reservations at the Brown Derby in Hollywood Studios for 5:05. The bus did not arrive until 4:52. Then the driver could not figure out how to tie down the front end of a womans scooter; eventually I asked another driver to help her. He got it tied down, and we left at 5:02. We stopped at the Polynesian and Grand Floridian to pick up more people, then got to Hollywood Studios. A bag search of our friends clutch purse, then tapped our magic bands, registered our thumbprints, and we were inside the park! We arrived at the Brown Derby at 5:45, a good 40 minutes after our arrival window of 4:45 to 5:05. WDW restaurants will typically hold a reservation for 20 minutes. Our hostess did not seem fazed in the least, and she happily checked us in without my having to explain anything. Go Disney!
We were seated in about 10 minutes for our very first trip to the Brown Derby. Our server was Lynn, originally from Ocean City, MD, and she was fantastic! I explained that we were behind schedule and had fastpass reservations for The Great Movie Ride for 6:30 to 7:30. She worked some Disney Magic and had us out the door by 6:55, all the while being friendly and attentive, despite a full restaurant.
Of note, we had purchased the Fantasmic Dinner Package at the Brown Derby. For $56.99, get a three course meal and priority seating to the 8:30 showing of Fantasmic. The Brown Derby menu for any patron has appetizers, entrées, and desserts. If you were to order all three, your meal would cost anywhere from around $45 to $67. So $57 to order any app, entrée, and dessert from the regular menu plus get priority fantasmic seating is a pretty good deal. I had the lamb chops, which were prepared just as I asked, were tender, not at all fatty. Four chops, served two and two. My daughter had the noodle bowl, which was fine but not outstanding in any particular way, and her friend had the fillet of beef. Our appetizers were the cheese trio: very good, the lobster bisque: very good, and the prawn on cheddar grits: excellent. Desserts are served as a trio of small dishes. You can choose any three, including three of the same. I chose the Brown Derbys signature dessert, grapefruit cake, and let Lynn choose the other two for me. She chose caramel custard with passion fruit glace and banana toffee cake. They were delicious. Of note, I hate grapefruit. I ordered grapefruit cake only to try the signature dessert. It was amazing! I might order three grapefruit cakes the next time I am there.
I dont plan to describe most of our meals as thoroughly, but this was probably the best food we have ever had at WDW. Everything was cooked perfectly and tasted great; well, the noodle bowl was good, not great. Again, the service was outstanding. It is too bad you cant request servers, as I would request Lynn from Ocean City, MD every time we go.
After dinner, we rode The Great Movie Ride. It is a fun trip through the movies, but so darned slow. Really, they could speed the thing up by 30 to 50%. We then did Star Tours, which was very fun. Now 8:00, we hurried to Fantasmic, which we reached at 8:12, just as they were announcing on the PA system that Fantasmic was now standing room only. Not a problem for us, as our fastpass tickets from dinner got us into the middle section. We had great seats and loved the show. The show ended just before 9:00, and we went straight to the Aerosmith Rockin Roller Coaster, where we had fastpass+ for 8:30 to 9:30. We got past the recording studio and neared the ride when it shut down. We were disappointed, but castmembers handed fastpass paper tickets to everyone who was in line as we exited the building. The fastpasses were good for Rockin Roller Coaster or one of several other attractions (notably not Toy Story) for the next three days.
We stopped at guest services on our way out to get my daughters friend (ok, from now on I shall say our friend) a First Time button. She and my daughter were a little taken aback at the temper tantrum some woman threw with a guest services castmember. She too had been in line for Rockin Roller Coaster when it broke down at 9:15 at night. Apparently, she would be unable to use the replacement fastpass, as she had to drive home tomorrow, and that coaster was the entire reason I came to WDW and the one thing I wanted to do. I am not sure why she waited until 9:00 at night her last day to do it, although I suppose it would seem cool to have that be the climax of the trip. Still, she treated that castmember as though the castmember had personally thrown a wrench into the coasters mechanism just to destroy her vacation. My daughter and her friend were appalled. If anyone meets this lady, please thank her for me, as it was a wonderful object lesson in being polite.
We returned to the Contemporary and went to bed. The next morning, I went to my conference while the girls went to Animal Kingdom. They did Safari, happened upon King Louie and Baloo just as they reached their photo spot, so got photographed. Then they rode Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur. Our friend is afraid of slow climbs up large roller coaster hills, so they skipped Expedition Everest. They caught a bus back to the Contemporary where I joined them, and we walked into the Magic Kingdom.
At the Magic Kingdom, we rode the Carousel of Progress and Space Mountain with a fastpass+, and then went to watch the Festival of Fantasy Parade. We got to the parade area early, so went to the Tiki Room, watched the show (better than 30 years ago), and then we watched the parade in Frontierland. We all loved the parade. I think it is the best afternoon MK parade I have ever seen. We then had a fastpass+ for Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin, so a quick jaunt back to Tomorrowland for Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin, then the people mover, then the Tomorrowland Speedway. After that, we took the train from Fantasyland (train station over in the circus area) past the Main Street Station to the Frontierland Station. We got off the train and walked over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, where we used our third fastpass+ of the day. Afterwards, my daughter suggested we find dinner, playing right into my hands. We walked over to Fantasyland, where I suggested we show our friend the area around and under Cinderellas Castle. Neither girl knew we were dining at Cinderellas Royal Table until we walked up to the reservation desk.
The girls got their photo with Cinderella in the lobby, Gus Gus and Jacques looking on from the rafters as always, then up to dinner. Dinner was fine. The food was well prepared, and we enjoyed our server, Gustavo, and the setting. Gustavo was a hoot; he joked with us in a completely age-appropriate way; the girls and I loved it! Despite being teenagers, the girls were delighted to say hi to each princess. We were visitied by Aurora, Jasmine, Snow White, and one other.
After dinner, we rode a couple rides, including Goofys Barnstormer. My daughter was so tired that she decided to return to the hotel. We walked with her to the Mainstreet Train Station; just as we got there, the Mainstreet Electric Parade began, so she stayed for that. Fun, as always. After the parade, she returned to the Contemporary, her friend and I rode Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, walking right on to both rides. We then found a spot next to the Tomorrowland Terrace to watch Wishes. Tinkerbell flew right over our heads, and the show was fun. Afterwards, we returned to the hotel.
Saturday morning, the girls went to Hollywood Studios while I attended my conference. They rode Rockin Roller Coaster, an event which has cost us the trust of our friend. She is unwilling to ride any coaster with loops, so our bold-faced lie of no, no loops here was a bit mean. She is glad she rode it, but has no desire to ride it again. Yes, we lied. Judge away, but be warned that I dont care. After some souvenir shopping in Hollywood Studios, they returned to the Contemporary and we took the monorail to Epcot.
At Epcot, we had a fastpass+ to Mission: Space. The standby line had a 40 minute wait for the intense version and a 10 minute wait for the less intense version. We took the standby line for less intense, figuring we could go back for a fastpass+ ride right afterwards. The girls felt the less intense version was plenty for them, so they went to freshen up while I rode the intense version of Mission: Space. We then went to Soarin, where we had a fastpass+ reservation. Then we went to dinner at the Coral Reef restaurant.
The Coral Reef restaurant has fine food, but not the best food at WDW. It does have a great theme: the huge aquarium is amazing. We were lucky enough to see a scuba group spend about 30 minutes in the aquarium. My daughter had the mahi mahi, which was fine; however, the little shrimp had a very grainy texture. If you told me that they had taken grits and molded them into shrimp, I would have believed you. Our friends steak was good. I will say that the rainbow trout, my dish, was done very well. I was extremely pleased. After dinner, we had a fastpass+ for The Seas with Nemo and Friends. A waste of a fastpass, but really no other option seemed any better. It was a waste only because there was absolutely no line. We actually walked on via standby, otherwise we would have had to wait 15 minutes for our fastpass window to start. Somewhere during the day, we did do the standby line at Test Track. Our friend was a little nervous, so we had to enlist the reassurances of others that she would be fine. This illustrates the disadvantage of lying, not to mention that lying is mean and wrong. We then went to World Showcase.
Walking clockwise, we started with the Mexican showcase boat ride around Mexico with Jose Carioca, Panchito, and Donald Duck. We then rode Maelstrom at the Norway Pavilion. Because Anna and Elsas last meet and greet starts at 4:20, and it was now after 6:00, Norway was not too crowded. Oh, a castmember informed us that the Maelstrom will soon close to be converted to a Frozen ride. Theres a fun rumor for you! We visited more country pavilions, I grabbed a beer from Germany while the girls grabbed gelato from Italy, then we watched Illuminations. Afterwards, we made our way out of Epcot and took the monorail back to the resort. The girls went to the Contemporary and their bed. I made a quick detour to the bar at the Grand Floridian for a glass of Schweiger Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. Schweiger cabernet is not sold in stores, so I never miss a chance to get a glass when I am in WDW.
On Sunday morning, the girls packed, then went to MK. I went to my conference, then packed, took our checked bags to airline check-in/bag drop at the Contemporary, left our carryon bags with the valet, then joined the girls in MK. We used fastpass+ to ride the Haunted Mansion and the Jungle Cruise. I then suggested we walk around Fantasyland and find lunch. What the girls did not know is that we had been lucky enough to get an email inviting us to test a fastpass for lunch at the Be Our Guest Restaurant in the Beasts Castle! Lunch was a blast. The French onion soup is great, the braised pork was very good, and we marveled at how creamy the mashed potatoes were. My daughters tuna nicoise salad was very good. Our friends croque monsieur was fine; it is a grilled sandwich, so pretty hard to go wrong. I had a lemon-raspberry cream puff for dessert: very good. Each girl had a chocolate cupcake with grey frosting. It was delicious. You should definitely try the grey stuff; its delicious.
After lunch, we finished our trip with a fastpass+ to Peter Pans Flight. I am not sure why that ride is so crazy popular, but I do like it. We made our way to Main Street for some souvenir shopping. The girls each got a candy apple: one Mickey version and one Olaf version. I had a bite of my daughters Olaf apple: yum!
Some final thoughts: First, magic bands. They worked flawlessly for us throughout the trip, although you do have to tap them exactly right! Our hotel room door, getting onto attractions with fastpass+, charging at restaurants, and charging for purchases. We had no issues at all.
Second, fastpass+. I was a master of the old fastpass system, rotating fastpasses like a pro. With fastpass+, I could only have three a day, and the tiered fastpasses at Epcot were a little annoying. Also, signing up for a fastpass+ several days in advance meant not knowing if I would need the fastpass+. We certainly did not need it for Nemo; I would have preferred to get one for Test Track, but you can only do Test Track OR Soarin. In hindsight, a fastpass+ for Illuminations would be a better choice than Nemo. I should say, though, that the fastpass+ system worked fine for us, and we did not have to run around gathering fastpasses, and by getting them in advance, I was able to be certain we would ride the attractions we wanted most. I suspect WDW will refine the experience over time. Hopefully, we will eventually have access to more fastpass+es each day. Also, I would like the tiered system to end. If they do keep the tiered system, then they ought to label the top tiered rides as E ticket rides.
Castmembers were great. They were smiling, friendly, and helpful. Ill take a WDW janitor over most Fortune 500 CEOs any day. The moats in MK were drained for maintenance; some people dont like this, but I loved it. I felt like I was getting to see something I am not supposed to see. Also, I just like learning how things work and observing the logistics of things. They were also painting Cinderellas Castle. The crane was a little distracting, but it did not damage our trip at all.
As far as I am concerned, the Magic is alive and well at Walt Disney World.
