HydroGuy
A Pirate's Life For Me
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2005
- Messages
- 18,415
DS26 and I visited WDW May 24-31. We stayed at the Swan. We had 6 park days in total. We planned this trip for DS26's birthday. It was his first trip to WDW.
o Crowds - it was crowded. Lines were way longer than TP predicted. In fact, 3 days before our trip I printed out the TP predictions to carry with me. Then when we were there. their app showed their "predictions" and they had gone up considerably and were more in line with reality but still too low. Bottom line is they switched their "predictions" at the last minute. Which essentially makes them useless for planning.
o Weather - it was hot, especially Saturday, Sunday and Monday (which hit 95 or 96 degrees F). Humidity was not that bad which made it more tolerable.
o Happily Ever After fireworks - we saw these on our first night, Thursday the 25th. First, we loved this new show. Second, WDW vets who only visit WDW are not completely aware that Disneyland out west has been killing it with their fireworks shows since 2005. When I read WDW vets gushing about Wishes I thought to myself "you have no idea what you are missing". Now with HEA you know. It is every bit as good as the DL shows and puts Wishes to shame. Definitely a "must see". We saw it from the left side of the hub near the entrance to Liberty Square. We arrived about 40 minutes prior to the show and got a great spot.
o Pandora - AK opened Saturday May 27 at 8AM with a 7AM EMH. We used Uber to get to AK by 6:10AM. We rode FOP and NRJ with FP at mid-day Saturday and evening Sunday. FOP is an incredible ride and unlike anything else. See my posts here for opening day Saturday and Sunday.
o Pixar concert - it so happened that our planned DHS day was the opening day of the new Pixar concert (May 26) and we ended up using a dining/ reserved seating (Mama Melrose) to see the very first show at 5PM. It was a fun to do something different. Nothing spectacular. I posted some thoughts here.
o Rivers of Light - I saw this in March. They have added a few things it seems. A nice show for AK. Not super great but nice and relaxing and fitting for AK. Not a must see in the future like HEA. We had FPs for the 9:15 show.
o Saw SWaGS for the first time - we got a good spot fairly center and towards the front but probably 60 ft back from the front row. It was pretty fun. The real news is how fast we got out of the park. I had read a recent thread about this taking a lot of time because everyone is leaving at once. We hightailed it out, carefully dodging folks but keeping a good pace to get to the boat dock to get to the Swan. We had a 5AM wake-up the next day for Pandora opening and I was dreading having to wait for 2-3 boats to come for everyone. We actually made it to the dock right as the boat was there and almost full. So right on the first boat, and barely by like 30 seconds.
o BOG Dinner - Got a dinner ADR at BOG for the first time. Really good food. We tried the Grey Stuff dessert and it was in fact delicious.
o Never again on the chili dogs at Casey's Corner. Maybe regular dogs but not the chili dogs.
o Got a walkup lunch table at Liberty Tree Tavern. Figured my chances were 10% on such a crowded day but got it with a 10 minute wait.
o Illuminations from Rose & Crown - I have never had an ADR during Illuminations and this time I got one. We got a table all the way down on the edge and it was a pretty good view of the show. Better than I was expecting based on the mixed reviews I have read on this forum.
o Ellen's last adventure - with the rumors that Ellen's Energy Adventure is going away, we made a point to ride it. Nice on a hot day for sure, and Ellen is always likeable.
o Rode EE at night right after ROL - the posted wait time was 40 minutes but it was 5-10 minutes. Love EE at night.
o Got stuck on Splash Mtn Tuesday right near the end (like 50 ft) at 9:30 in the morning. They had to let us out. We got to walk backstage and they gave us an anytime FP and a bottle of cold water which was nice.
o DS26 thoroughly enjoyed WDW. He was acting more like he was 6 than 26.
o Keep checking for FPs! We got a second set at SDMT on Tuesday evening.
o Crowds - it was crowded. Lines were way longer than TP predicted. In fact, 3 days before our trip I printed out the TP predictions to carry with me. Then when we were there. their app showed their "predictions" and they had gone up considerably and were more in line with reality but still too low. Bottom line is they switched their "predictions" at the last minute. Which essentially makes them useless for planning.
o Weather - it was hot, especially Saturday, Sunday and Monday (which hit 95 or 96 degrees F). Humidity was not that bad which made it more tolerable.
o Happily Ever After fireworks - we saw these on our first night, Thursday the 25th. First, we loved this new show. Second, WDW vets who only visit WDW are not completely aware that Disneyland out west has been killing it with their fireworks shows since 2005. When I read WDW vets gushing about Wishes I thought to myself "you have no idea what you are missing". Now with HEA you know. It is every bit as good as the DL shows and puts Wishes to shame. Definitely a "must see". We saw it from the left side of the hub near the entrance to Liberty Square. We arrived about 40 minutes prior to the show and got a great spot.
o Pandora - AK opened Saturday May 27 at 8AM with a 7AM EMH. We used Uber to get to AK by 6:10AM. We rode FOP and NRJ with FP at mid-day Saturday and evening Sunday. FOP is an incredible ride and unlike anything else. See my posts here for opening day Saturday and Sunday.
o Pixar concert - it so happened that our planned DHS day was the opening day of the new Pixar concert (May 26) and we ended up using a dining/ reserved seating (Mama Melrose) to see the very first show at 5PM. It was a fun to do something different. Nothing spectacular. I posted some thoughts here.
o Rivers of Light - I saw this in March. They have added a few things it seems. A nice show for AK. Not super great but nice and relaxing and fitting for AK. Not a must see in the future like HEA. We had FPs for the 9:15 show.
o Saw SWaGS for the first time - we got a good spot fairly center and towards the front but probably 60 ft back from the front row. It was pretty fun. The real news is how fast we got out of the park. I had read a recent thread about this taking a lot of time because everyone is leaving at once. We hightailed it out, carefully dodging folks but keeping a good pace to get to the boat dock to get to the Swan. We had a 5AM wake-up the next day for Pandora opening and I was dreading having to wait for 2-3 boats to come for everyone. We actually made it to the dock right as the boat was there and almost full. So right on the first boat, and barely by like 30 seconds.
o BOG Dinner - Got a dinner ADR at BOG for the first time. Really good food. We tried the Grey Stuff dessert and it was in fact delicious.
o Never again on the chili dogs at Casey's Corner. Maybe regular dogs but not the chili dogs.
o Got a walkup lunch table at Liberty Tree Tavern. Figured my chances were 10% on such a crowded day but got it with a 10 minute wait.
o Illuminations from Rose & Crown - I have never had an ADR during Illuminations and this time I got one. We got a table all the way down on the edge and it was a pretty good view of the show. Better than I was expecting based on the mixed reviews I have read on this forum.
o Ellen's last adventure - with the rumors that Ellen's Energy Adventure is going away, we made a point to ride it. Nice on a hot day for sure, and Ellen is always likeable.
o Rode EE at night right after ROL - the posted wait time was 40 minutes but it was 5-10 minutes. Love EE at night.
o Got stuck on Splash Mtn Tuesday right near the end (like 50 ft) at 9:30 in the morning. They had to let us out. We got to walk backstage and they gave us an anytime FP and a bottle of cold water which was nice.
o DS26 thoroughly enjoyed WDW. He was acting more like he was 6 than 26.
o Keep checking for FPs! We got a second set at SDMT on Tuesday evening.
Last edited:
