Our view of FP+, SWW, and the Disney magic!

[MrInfinity]

We just got back from our week in heaven. It was incredible.

FP+: Huge success. This was simply incredible. We did not once have a FP+ scan fail. If something had no wait, we were able to change them around on our phone easy. Either Wi-Fi or cell coverage worked everywhere. I'm guessing it fails 1 in a thousand times or something, and when that happens, it gets posted out here and it starts a "this sucks" debate. But it worked essentially perfectly.

Additional FP+'s were a snap. Ppl complain about not getting them, then complain about getting them but having to use a kiosk, and then about lines. None of those were issues. There was not at any of the 4 parks ever a wait of more than 5 min to get to a FP+ kiosk. There was always a CM standing there to help too. Plenty of availability, excepting of course opening day for SWW. There was nothing but GMR avail that day, which is to be expected. On all the other days we pulled FP after FP. At Epcot we could pull Maelstrom, and at MK we could pull JC, Pirates, HM, many others.

Lines: Lines were not unreasonable. 2 and 4 years ago, the wait for HM was 30 min. This trip, it was again about 30 min. And if you pulled a FP you could get on in 5. We hardly waited in a line more than 20 min the entire trip. And we rode tons. There were no lines to get to the FP+ entrance points. And where there were a few ppl lined up, they went thru fast.

Rope Drop: Is as always, still your best friend. Use it to do what's most important to you with little wait. Lines were not bad at all at RD. Getting on Space Mountain several times in a row was as feasible as ever.

Rider Switch: Essential for families with small kids. Worked well for Soarin and TT, since the other half of the party could go ride Living, Mission, or play w the post-TT/Mission toys.

Quantity: In one day at Epcot, our kids were able to ride Soarin (twice), TT (lost count), Living, Nemo, Turtle Talk, Imagination, Maelstrom, and 3 Caballeros, all by about 2pm. Magic Kingdom was basically limitless, as you could keep pulling FP after FP for things there.

Star Wars Weekend, I'd probly not do again. It was fun, but now been there, done that. Too crowded. Was still able to ride Star Tours about 4 times, Rockin twice, TSMM and TOT, and do JTA all in what was possibly one of their busiest days of the year.

Rain: We got huge downpours 2 days out of the 7. On those days the parks cleared out. Stick it out. Afterwards, the lines are nothing.

Memory Maker: Worked flawlessly. Scanned tons of pics and ride photos right to my band.

Dining: We had 10 TS restaurants and we didn't wait more than 5 min for anything except Akershus. Amazing. I remember in 2012 we waited sometimes a half hour for a table. Even BOG and Galactic Breakfast were on top of things. Awesome experiences there.

CMs were across the board friendly, attentive, and extremely eager to help, especially at the FP kiosks.

The parks were as clean as one might hope of any theme park. I didn't notice any particular mess.

The new rides (Mermaid -- and TT, to us) were awesome. One of the best slow/dark rides I've seen. The animatronics were so life-like. There was some thread about ppl complaining about this ride being low quality. Just... wow. It's not. Amazing. And Belle... Fun experience, but once per trip. Our kids got to be the Beast, Chip, and Wardrobe all in one show.

The uber-planning and worrying that happens out here falls by the way when you arrive and check in to your hotel. All of a sudden you are there living it and the internet is the last thing on your mind. Staying at the CR was wonderful. Walking to the MK was perfect, and many times we took the Monorail just for fun.

Transportation... Monorail was very timely. Every 5 min or so at the CR. Busses were okay, 20 min intervals to AK or HS.

Overall, things worked about as magical as one could hope. For anyone reading the boards, just remember it's Disney World and once you stop planning and start living your vacation, you realize why you booked it all. It goes by WAY too fast. Home now... looking forward to another trip sometime in the next 1-2 years!

Bads?
Akershus. Overrated, don't bother. It was ok, just not worth it. Expensive breakfast w minimal interaction.
Backyard BBQ. Overrated. Luau and HDDR were both way better. Would not do again ever. Looking thru the fence at River Country was fun tho.
SWW opening day was crowded (duh). Of course we knew it would be, but man. Crowded.
Pirate & Pals Voyage. Waste of money. Glad we only did it w me and my son, not whole family. Guide was terrible at engaging the kids.
CR did not have a 0-depth pool like the Poly.
We planned a few too many TS meals, and cancelled a few later in the trip. Just rolling w a less planned day worked better.
The CR pool snack bar was hardly ever open. And then the drink bar seemed to not be open much either, so had to always go in to the Wave to get drinks.

Goods?
FP+. Incredible. Easy to use, worked like a charm, and could readily get extras.
Magic Bands. Incredible. Our kids being able to walk around the hotel and get in the room is a major benefit.
Be Our Guest. Great restaurant. Wonderful addition to the MK.
Lafeu's Brew. Didn't think this woudld be good reading about it, but it really was!
The Plaza. Nice restaurant / Ice Cream shop. Simple, yet we loved our lunch here.
Biergarten. Great show, great entertainment. Our 11- loved it.
Chef Mickey's. Quaint environment, felt like you really got to enjoy the breakfast & characters.
Test Track. We rode this so many times in our 2 EC days. Haven't been on it before!
Water Pageant goes by the CR about 3 times at different angles. Nice surprise.
MK fireworks are awesome to watch from the CR pool. Swimming in the pool... by the beach... watching the fireworks... with the Water Pageant right afterwards and having a Captains Mai Tai is pretty much how we wrapped up every night.
AK Explorers Packs. Our kids loved this. Got everyone to slow down and look around at the AK. Actually taking the time to identify birds instead of running past and going "birds - yep those are birds where is the next ride" or learning something a little more relaxed. We enjoyed our AK day more than any other cuz of the pace it sets being there. Yak & Yeti was nice too.

Any takeaways / tips? Enjoy more. Worry less. It's Disney World.

It was really a wonderful time. Only complaint is that it has to end, and even that is fleeting cuz it just means we look forward to going back.

 

[disneyjunkie11]

I really enjoyed reading this! It's nice to see some positive words about a trip. Glad you all had a good time

 

[FLchick415]

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip!

I must say, The Plaza restaurant is one of my faves. Good food, decent prices, and it's usually not very crowded (at least, when I've gone) so it's a nice quaint place to enjoy a meal.

I also agree with you about AK. I like just walking around and looking at the details.

 

[bhwhiz]

Great, thanks for sharing!

 

[VP037388]

Thanks for the summary. It's nice to have a concise post with all the good, bad and in between! I also feel better about avoiding SWW now. The explorers program at AK, was that the Wilderness Explorers (UP!) where you earn badges or stickers? We are looking forward to trying that this fall. Have you done any other programs like this (Sorcerers or the one at Epcot)?

 

[ampc3]

thank you for the report we have booked for the first time, the pirates and pal cruise for our family next week.. What didn't you like about it if I may ask? We have ALOT of money invested in that night. I have heard mostly positive in the past. TIA

 

[BelleLulu]

Thank you for sharing. We loved FP+ when we were there last October. It is good to hear what worked didn't work for you. I plan our trips to the nth degree, but once we arrive I relax and keep things fluid. Heck, we're at WDW life is good.

 

[mrsp1030]

Glad to hear your success story. I'm monitoring for our trip in November but it will also be during a more crowded time.

 

[cleophus12]

We did the Pirates and Pals a couple of years ago, and while we all enjoyed it, our captain did not turn the boat so that both sides got an equal view of the fireworks. Needless to say, since we were on the other side of the boat our pictures were not great. Still, we liked it, and it was something different for us to do. Snacks were adequate, our guide was fun (if a bit corny, but that is part of the fun), and the character meet and greet was also enjoyable. BTW, we were a group of grown-ups: me, DH, and DD who was 16 at the time. We all had a good time and didn't feel out of place as a group of adults.

 

[boltfan]

SOOOO nice to hear about people enjoying themselves for once. Too many people coming back complaining about FP+, Magic Bands, lines....I'm looking forward to scheduling FP+ and having a Magic Band instead of having to carry multiple cards. Glad you had a wonderful time!

 

[mrsmorrow]

Fantastic!! Ahhh sounds like an amazing trip!! Makes me very excited and hopeful for our trip in 30 days! (although it will be very crowded I'm sure!) Just curious...Did you do a lot of full day parks, or take afternoon breaks at the resort?
Thanks for sharing, it really is great hearing so much positivity!

 

[jjk]

glad you had a great time

 

[Missymouse18]

Thank you soooo much for posting this! I really enjoyed your trip report and could almost envision all that you wrote. I'm glad you had such a great time.
And a special thanks for mentioning the Plaza. Was trying to figure out one more meal and this was one place that hadn't even crossed my mind. Thinking now the Plaza is going to be a must do!

 

[AngiTN]

Loved reading this. You have given me hope. If I can get our trip will run even half this smooth it will be a success.

 

[AngiTN]

We did the Pirates and Pals a couple of years ago, and while we all enjoyed it, our captain did not turn the boat so that both sides got an equal view of the fireworks. Needless to say, since we were on the other side of the boat our pictures were not great. Still, we liked it, and it was something different for us to do. Snacks were adequate, our guide was fun (if a bit corny, but that is part of the fun), and the character meet and greet was also enjoyable. BTW, we were a group of grown-ups: me, DH, and DD who was 16 at the time. We all had a good time and didn't feel out of place as a group of adults.

That is a shame. Our Patch was wonderful and our captain positioned our boat so that everyone had an ideal view. I never realized just how different it could be.

 

[MrInfinity]

Thanks for the summary. It's nice to have a concise post with all the good, bad and in between! I also feel better about avoiding SWW now. The explorers program at AK, was that the Wilderness Explorers (UP!) where you earn badges or stickers? We are looking forward to trying that this fall. Have you done any other programs like this (Sorcerers or the one at Epcot)?

Yep, that's it. You earn stickers. You don't just run and collect stickers tho... you have to interact. 10-15 min at each station. At the bird thing you have to find certain birds. At the bug thing you spot bugs. One was learn a word from another language... It was just a lot of fun. Our kids were 5 and 7 that liked this.

We also did some Adventureland treasure hunts. Those were really cool. The map souvenier was nice. I actually liked those better then the P&F at Epcot. Last trip, we loved the P&F. But then you checked out and kept a phone all day. This time, you had to turn in your phone after each quest. And it was hard to hear or see the blurbs on the phone, and it just wasn't working for us. The Adventureland ones were cool tho, as were the AK Explorer badges.

Next time we'll probly try the Sorcerer ones... we saw a few ppl doing them, they looked cool.

 

[MrInfinity]

thank you for the report we have booked for the first time, the pirates and pal cruise for our family next week.. What didn't you like about it if I may ask? We have ALOT of money invested in that night. I have heard mostly positive in the past. TIA

The food was cool. You meet in the CR ballroom, and get all you can eat soda, mickey ice cream bars and chips. Then you meet Hook, but he had to meet everyone in time to get ppl out onto the boat, so it was really run up, take picture, move on. Not all that cool of interaction. They should have had Hook and Smee doing some piratey shenanigans or something not just stand there.

Then for the cruise you just get a guide. No Hook or Smee. Regular clothes guide. He wasn't really very good. We saw the same guy going out all week. The boat ride amounted to viewing the water pageant (which you can do from the CR beach anyways)... driving by the Floridian and trying to scare the ppl sitting on the dock, and then watching the MK fireworks. Along the way they told a few jokes and did some trivia, giving out cheapo hooks and swords. The trivia reduced to some really bad questions like "how do you spell this person's name"... cuz he was having a hard time coming up w things. He lingered in the same spot on the boat, and ignored common practices like making sure to call on each kid. If you were seated in the front 5 rows by the aisle, you got picked over and over. They did not ensure each kid got a prize by the end (which was fine I guess, I'm not an every kid must be equal kind of person). It was just overall... not magical.

I envisioned exciting boat ride with Captain Hook, and it was tourist blah stuff.

Peter Pan at the end was nice and friendly and in good character. Liked him.

Not a bad experience, I'd just rather have saved the $65 and spent the evening on the beach. But now I tried it, don't need to again.

 

[MrInfinity]

Fantastic!! Ahhh sounds like an amazing trip!! Makes me very excited and hopeful for our trip in 30 days! (although it will be very crowded I'm sure!) Just curious...Did you do a lot of full day parks, or take afternoon breaks at the resort?
Thanks for sharing, it really is great hearing so much positivity!

Hi!
If it was Magic Kingdom, we came and went as we pleased, since it's a quick walk. We'd break midday, come back in the evening. By the time you walk to the furthest MK bus, you're like 60% of the way to the CR. That was so nice.

On our days when we were further away... EC, HS, and AK, we rope dropped, then stayed till we were ready to go, and left. Both EC days we decided to skip Illuminations cuz we were tired and wanted pool time. AK we closed out the park cuz it was so much fun, poured all day, and I think that kept the park cool, crowds out, and it was just so nice there this time. By the last 2 hours, Primeval and Dinosaur had 5 min waits and Everest was only 20. HS, we did pre-open to closing out the day w DJ Lobot and the fireworks. Little kids went home early that night and I stayed w the boys to get some rides on Rockin later.

 

[BrianL]

Glad to hear what a great time you had!

You are definitely in the minority about the Little Mermaid ride, though I never really understood the hate either. I rather like what they did with the animatronics as she looks very "cartoon like" as she should with her hair seeming to float (compare to the real models with actual hair). My only complaint about it is that it is a tad short, and the story a bit too truncated. The queue is amazing!

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

We just got back from our week in heaven. It was incredible.

FP+: Huge success. This was simply incredible. We did not once have a FP+ scan fail. If something had no wait, we were able to change them around on our phone easy. Either Wi-Fi or cell coverage worked everywhere. I'm guessing it fails 1 in a thousand times or something, and when that happens, it gets posted out here and it starts a "this sucks" debate. But it worked essentially perfectly.

Additional FP+'s were a snap. Ppl complain about not getting them, then complain about getting them but having to use a kiosk, and then about lines. None of those were issues. There was not at any of the 4 parks ever a wait of more than 5 min to get to a FP+ kiosk. There was always a CM standing there to help too. Plenty of availability, excepting of course opening day for SWW. There was nothing but GMR avail that day, which is to be expected. On all the other days we pulled FP after FP. At Epcot we could pull Maelstrom, and at MK we could pull JC, Pirates, HM, many others.

Lines: Lines were not unreasonable. 2 and 4 years ago, the wait for HM was 30 min. This trip, it was again about 30 min. And if you pulled a FP you could get on in 5. We hardly waited in a line more than 20 min the entire trip. And we rode tons. There were no lines to get to the FP+ entrance points. And where there were a few ppl lined up, they went thru fast.

Rope Drop: Is as always, still your best friend. Use it to do what's most important to you with little wait. Lines were not bad at all at RD. Getting on Space Mountain several times in a row was as feasible as ever.

Rider Switch: Essential for families with small kids. Worked well for Soarin and TT, since the other half of the party could go ride Living, Mission, or play w the post-TT/Mission toys.

Quantity: In one day at Epcot, our kids were able to ride Soarin (twice), TT (lost count), Living, Nemo, Turtle Talk, Imagination, Maelstrom, and 3 Caballeros, all by about 2pm. Magic Kingdom was basically limitless, as you could keep pulling FP after FP for things there.

Star Wars Weekend, I'd probly not do again. It was fun, but now been there, done that. Too crowded. Was still able to ride Star Tours about 4 times, Rockin twice, TSMM and TOT, and do JTA all in what was possibly one of their busiest days of the year.

Rain: We got huge downpours 2 days out of the 7. On those days the parks cleared out. Stick it out. Afterwards, the lines are nothing.

Memory Maker: Worked flawlessly. Scanned tons of pics and ride photos right to my band.

Dining: We had 10 TS restaurants and we didn't wait more than 5 min for anything except Akershus. Amazing. I remember in 2012 we waited sometimes a half hour for a table. Even BOG and Galactic Breakfast were on top of things. Awesome experiences there.

CMs were across the board friendly, attentive, and extremely eager to help, especially at the FP kiosks.

The parks were as clean as one might hope of any theme park. I didn't notice any particular mess.

The new rides (Mermaid -- and TT, to us) were awesome. One of the best slow/dark rides I've seen. The animatronics were so life-like. There was some thread about ppl complaining about this ride being low quality. Just... wow. It's not. Amazing. And Belle... Fun experience, but once per trip. Our kids got to be the Beast, Chip, and Wardrobe all in one show.

The uber-planning and worrying that happens out here falls by the way when you arrive and check in to your hotel. All of a sudden you are there living it and the internet is the last thing on your mind. Staying at the CR was wonderful. Walking to the MK was perfect, and many times we took the Monorail just for fun.

Transportation... Monorail was very timely. Every 5 min or so at the CR. Busses were okay, 20 min intervals to AK or HS.

Overall, things worked about as magical as one could hope. For anyone reading the boards, just remember it's Disney World and once you stop planning and start living your vacation, you realize why you booked it all. It goes by WAY too fast. Home now... looking forward to another trip sometime in the next 1-2 years!

Bads?
Akershus. Overrated, don't bother. It was ok, just not worth it. Expensive breakfast w minimal interaction.
Backyard BBQ. Overrated. Luau and HDDR were both way better. Would not do again ever. Looking thru the fence at River Country was fun tho.
SWW opening day was crowded (duh). Of course we knew it would be, but man. Crowded.
Pirate & Pals Voyage. Waste of money. Glad we only did it w me and my son, not whole family. Guide was terrible at engaging the kids.
CR did not have a 0-depth pool like the Poly.
We planned a few too many TS meals, and cancelled a few later in the trip. Just rolling w a less planned day worked better.
The CR pool snack bar was hardly ever open. And then the drink bar seemed to not be open much either, so had to always go in to the Wave to get drinks.

Goods?
FP+. Incredible. Easy to use, worked like a charm, and could readily get extras.
Magic Bands. Incredible. Our kids being able to walk around the hotel and get in the room is a major benefit.
Be Our Guest. Great restaurant. Wonderful addition to the MK.
Lafeu's Brew. Didn't think this woudld be good reading about it, but it really was!
The Plaza. Nice restaurant / Ice Cream shop. Simple, yet we loved our lunch here.
Biergarten. Great show, great entertainment. Our 11- loved it.
Chef Mickey's. Quaint environment, felt like you really got to enjoy the breakfast & characters.
Test Track. We rode this so many times in our 2 EC days. Haven't been on it before!
Water Pageant goes by the CR about 3 times at different angles. Nice surprise.
MK fireworks are awesome to watch from the CR pool. Swimming in the pool... by the beach... watching the fireworks... with the Water Pageant right afterwards and having a Captains Mai Tai is pretty much how we wrapped up every night.
AK Explorers Packs. Our kids loved this. Got everyone to slow down and look around at the AK. Actually taking the time to identify birds instead of running past and going "birds - yep those are birds where is the next ride" or learning something a little more relaxed. We enjoyed our AK day more than any other cuz of the pace it sets being there. Yak & Yeti was nice too.

Any takeaways / tips? Enjoy more. Worry less. It's Disney World.

It was really a wonderful time. Only complaint is that it has to end, and even that is fleeting cuz it just means we look forward to going back.

~Wow! This is just a fabulous review! Thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this -- it's so helpful to those of us with upcoming Disney trips -- plus it just adds to the excitement!

~I find FP+ to be incredible, as well! And, I totally agree that it's such bummer when your Disney vacation comes to an end. But, at least you get to start planning another one!