deedubb
Always Grumpy, except when at Disney!
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2017
- Messages
- 1,553
Just got back from a wonderful trip and thought I would post a few random thoughts.
Weather: For the most part, we had wonderful weather but have learned from past trips to never trust the forecast before leaving for Florida, and ALWAYS have gear for extreme cold despite being in FL. Last night was quite chilly at Epcot due to the wind. Lots of people dressed in winter gear with gloves, hats, the whole nine yards (and as usual for Disney, also people in shorts and t-shirts!). I feel sorry for the people arriving for New Years week. Weather forecast looks wet and cold!
DME: It took about 90 mins to get to our resort from the time of landing to arriving at the front doors. The wait for the bus was short and our resort was the first of 4 stops. Luggage arrived by the time we arrived back at the hotel in the evening.
Groceries: Arrived in our room shortly after we arrived. Garden Grocer was fantastic to deal with.
Buses: Read some horror stories on this forum but we had fantastic luck. Only on our last of 7 park days did we have to wait more than 5 mins for a bus.
Xmas day: We went against the sage advice of the forum members and went to MK on the 25th. It was both terrible and fantastic. I am so glad we did it, just to say that we did it. What could be more magical than spending Christmas at MK? However, it took over an hour of driving time on the bus to get there. Thanks to those forum members who advised me not to drive there. Those that did would have spent well over an hour on the road, then have to deal with the tram and ferry/monorail. That would have been brutal.
The quick service lines were just INSANE. Fortunately, we did Liberty Tree for lunch, Skipper Canteen for dinner, and had a dessert party for HEA. If you ever go on Christmas, do not do it without table service unless you are a glutton for punishment.
Rides: We are not a rope drop family. I don't know how people get up for rope drop with kids when they have been out late the night before. Nonetheless, with good FP+ planning and the ability to get extra FP+ when all 3 have been used up, we still had a great time. Some of the FP+ lines were long, but moved very quickly and didn't seem any slower to move than usual.
Illness: Unfortunately, illness is a fact of life, especially in the winter. My daughter was pretty sick for the first few days, and we had to miss HEA our first MK day, and also missed 7DMT twice! You make the best of it and move on. We still had an amazing vacation in the end.
Dining: I can't stress how important it is to do some table service at this time of the year. We had 2 TS every MK day, and at least one in the other parks. IMO it is less crucial at HS and Epcot. AK was quite crowded and I'm glad we had one there but probably could have survived without it. Didn't get a chance to try mobile ordering, but that would probably be a lifesaver provided you could find a table. We paid OOP instead of doing the dining plan as we had a mixture of TS/QS that would not suit the dining plan, and we had next to no snacks as we were always stuffed.
We also learned that a buffet lunch and TS dinner doesn't leave much room in your stomach for a dessert party. Well duh. We did this twice, lol.
Illuminations: We have never done FP+ for this but after refreshing the MDE app multiple times in the evening, I was able to snag one at our last Epcot night. It might have been a combination of the cold weather and late showing (10:30) that made some FP available. We usually watch from the American pavilion with a great view, but OMG, the view from the FP+ location is incredible, and the finale with the holiday tag is just spectacular. Get the FP+ if you are able to do so!
Fog & Fireworks do not mix: HEA on the 28th was a complete disappointment due to fog. You literally could not see anything. To add insult to injury, we did a dessert party for it as well.
Crowds: Yes, MK was wall-to-wall on the 25th and it did close for a period of time in the afternoon (not sure which phase). However, the rest of the days weren't all that bad. I guess it's what you're used to. We have never gone at a low crowd time so we are used to it being very busy. For the most part, I didn't mind it. We tried Frontierland one day for the parade as we read that is a good spot for lower crowds. This might be true, but not during Xmas week. You literally could not move when the parade was over as people were trying to disperse in all different directions and it was complete chaos. We'll stick to the hub.
Xmas eve was at Epcot with the Candlelight Processional, which was a wonderful show. Illuminations was at 10:30 again and it seemed like a virtual ghost town (not exaggerating) Very strange.
Guests & CMs: As usual, there were rude guests, and crazy guests (FOP stand by got up to 310 mins and there were still people getting in line). I could not imagine waiting over 5 hours for any ride.
While waiting for the parade, I watched a CM doing crowd control and have a new found respect for them. She did a wonderful job and was very patient with rude guests. Kudos to all the CMs who worked over the holidays to allow all of us to have a magical holiday!
A bit of pixie dust: After doing a pin trade, a CM gave my daughter a free bag of cotton candy. It made her day!
Well, that's about it. Soon it will be time to start planning for next year, possibly a New Year's trip this time!
Weather: For the most part, we had wonderful weather but have learned from past trips to never trust the forecast before leaving for Florida, and ALWAYS have gear for extreme cold despite being in FL. Last night was quite chilly at Epcot due to the wind. Lots of people dressed in winter gear with gloves, hats, the whole nine yards (and as usual for Disney, also people in shorts and t-shirts!). I feel sorry for the people arriving for New Years week. Weather forecast looks wet and cold!
DME: It took about 90 mins to get to our resort from the time of landing to arriving at the front doors. The wait for the bus was short and our resort was the first of 4 stops. Luggage arrived by the time we arrived back at the hotel in the evening.
Groceries: Arrived in our room shortly after we arrived. Garden Grocer was fantastic to deal with.
Buses: Read some horror stories on this forum but we had fantastic luck. Only on our last of 7 park days did we have to wait more than 5 mins for a bus.
Xmas day: We went against the sage advice of the forum members and went to MK on the 25th. It was both terrible and fantastic. I am so glad we did it, just to say that we did it. What could be more magical than spending Christmas at MK? However, it took over an hour of driving time on the bus to get there. Thanks to those forum members who advised me not to drive there. Those that did would have spent well over an hour on the road, then have to deal with the tram and ferry/monorail. That would have been brutal.
The quick service lines were just INSANE. Fortunately, we did Liberty Tree for lunch, Skipper Canteen for dinner, and had a dessert party for HEA. If you ever go on Christmas, do not do it without table service unless you are a glutton for punishment.
Rides: We are not a rope drop family. I don't know how people get up for rope drop with kids when they have been out late the night before. Nonetheless, with good FP+ planning and the ability to get extra FP+ when all 3 have been used up, we still had a great time. Some of the FP+ lines were long, but moved very quickly and didn't seem any slower to move than usual.
Illness: Unfortunately, illness is a fact of life, especially in the winter. My daughter was pretty sick for the first few days, and we had to miss HEA our first MK day, and also missed 7DMT twice! You make the best of it and move on. We still had an amazing vacation in the end.
Dining: I can't stress how important it is to do some table service at this time of the year. We had 2 TS every MK day, and at least one in the other parks. IMO it is less crucial at HS and Epcot. AK was quite crowded and I'm glad we had one there but probably could have survived without it. Didn't get a chance to try mobile ordering, but that would probably be a lifesaver provided you could find a table. We paid OOP instead of doing the dining plan as we had a mixture of TS/QS that would not suit the dining plan, and we had next to no snacks as we were always stuffed.
We also learned that a buffet lunch and TS dinner doesn't leave much room in your stomach for a dessert party. Well duh. We did this twice, lol.
Illuminations: We have never done FP+ for this but after refreshing the MDE app multiple times in the evening, I was able to snag one at our last Epcot night. It might have been a combination of the cold weather and late showing (10:30) that made some FP available. We usually watch from the American pavilion with a great view, but OMG, the view from the FP+ location is incredible, and the finale with the holiday tag is just spectacular. Get the FP+ if you are able to do so!
Fog & Fireworks do not mix: HEA on the 28th was a complete disappointment due to fog. You literally could not see anything. To add insult to injury, we did a dessert party for it as well.
Crowds: Yes, MK was wall-to-wall on the 25th and it did close for a period of time in the afternoon (not sure which phase). However, the rest of the days weren't all that bad. I guess it's what you're used to. We have never gone at a low crowd time so we are used to it being very busy. For the most part, I didn't mind it. We tried Frontierland one day for the parade as we read that is a good spot for lower crowds. This might be true, but not during Xmas week. You literally could not move when the parade was over as people were trying to disperse in all different directions and it was complete chaos. We'll stick to the hub.
Xmas eve was at Epcot with the Candlelight Processional, which was a wonderful show. Illuminations was at 10:30 again and it seemed like a virtual ghost town (not exaggerating) Very strange.
Guests & CMs: As usual, there were rude guests, and crazy guests (FOP stand by got up to 310 mins and there were still people getting in line). I could not imagine waiting over 5 hours for any ride.
While waiting for the parade, I watched a CM doing crowd control and have a new found respect for them. She did a wonderful job and was very patient with rude guests. Kudos to all the CMs who worked over the holidays to allow all of us to have a magical holiday!
A bit of pixie dust: After doing a pin trade, a CM gave my daughter a free bag of cotton candy. It made her day!
Well, that's about it. Soon it will be time to start planning for next year, possibly a New Year's trip this time!
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