graceesmom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2008
- Messages
- 1,347
I'll try to update this with more detail and photos, but thought those heading to WDW this week might be looking for feedback on crowds, etc.
We were at WDW from Apr. 3-11. We had a great time. The crowds were tremendous. My advice to you is to make rope drop any day you plan to hit any major attractions this week if the crowds are anything like last week.
Parks:
Epcot: We went to Epcot on a Green Day and rived at 9:30 on a 9:00 a.m. opening day. We only managed to get 1 major attraction in -- Soarin. The lines for everything were LONG. At 9:30 it was a 25 minute wait for Nemo. We stayed for 1/2 day, toured the countries and came back at Rope drop on another green day and was able to ride Test Track w/parent swap, get Test Track fp's (we were skipping Soarin this day), get a FP for Mission Space with a return time of 10:30 or 10:50 a.m. (I can't remember which, but it was early). We rode Nemo 2x without getting off. It was a MUCH better day.
Same for HS. We arrived at 8:55 for a 9:00 a.m. opening (we had arrived a few minutes earlier, but realized we left our bag in the car and had to go back), but they had let people in early. Forgetting the bag was a costly mistake. The FP line for TTSMM was already huge. If this happens to you, get in the FP line anyway. We decided to forget it and go see Playhouse Disney. It was a disappointing show. We have a 2 yr. old and was expecting this to be a big hit with her. It was little puppets and you could only see their heads moving across the stage. Very bizarre looking. I decided to see if the line for TSMM was shorter after the show and to get FP's then since were planning to see F! that night. Our FP return time was 1:50-2:50 p.m. After another fairly disaapointing experience at Muppet Vision, we decided to upgrade to hoppers and hit MK that night for a few rides on the carousel or anything else we could see.
To hop or not? The hopper passes worked great for us b/c we were at the Contemporary and could walk over in 5 minutes and hit a couple or rides and see a parade or fireworks without much hassel. If I were not staying on a monorail resort, we probably would not have used hoppers. It also allowed us to come back to see F! on a different night. We went just after dinner and walked in to F!. We sat in the back, but it was fine with us and there was no wait to get in and no eating dinner at 4:00 in the afternoon.
MK We did MK 2x at 7:00 a.m. openings and finished riding every single ride in Fantasy Land by 7:45 a.m. and rode Dumbo 3 times each time. The first time, we didn't get Philharmagic FP's b/c we thought we wouldn't need them to come see it later in the day. You probably DO need FP's this week. After lunch, it was a 30-40 min. wait for Philharmagic. There was even a wait to do Swiss Family Robinson tree house when we returned after our nap!
AK: We skipped Expedition Everest at AK, but were able to ride everything else we wanted without much wait on a Green day arriving just after rope drop. If you are planning to do EE, I wouldn't miss that rope drop.
Meals: TS in order favorite to least favorite
1. Askerhus Storybook Lunch -- great food, great service, they took time with the photo to make sure they got a great shot.
2. Cinderella's Royal Table -- great food, great service, picture w/Cinderella a little rushed, but everything else was fantastic. It would be tied for 1st w/Askerhus except that it was 2 TS credit (we paid cash) and for the money, I would rate Askerhus as a better value.
3. Ohana --despite some negative reviews, we loved the food, the service, the atmosphere. We had a 6:50 p.m. res. We arrived around 6:20 and thought we'd look around the Polynesian while we waited. But we were seated immediately. I know everyone raves about the bread pudding, but I was not excited about it going in. I just don't like bread pudding. I am now a believer! It was the best dessert we had all week. (and we had some good ones). I had seconds. This is the night we decided we'd try to get into F! since we finished dinner early.
4. Chef Mickey -- we actually did Chef Mickey for dinner 2x. It was very convienent for us since it was in our hotel. Only waited a few minutes to be seated. The food was good, nothing fantastic, but good. They had something for everyone. The characters were great and took plenty of time with our table. We ate once with my sisters family, so we had 3 children at the table that night and each character took plenty of time with each child. Servers were always prompt and courteous.
5. and 6. (Tied) Crystal Palace and 1900 Park Fare.
Park Fare: Food was disappointing. The host may have ruined it for me though. He had a bit of an attitude. We were checking in for a 5:00 p.m. reservation. He couldn't find our name. I told him the concierge had made it a couple of days earlier for us and that it was a hidden table reservation. He insuated I was making this up and that if the reservation had been made, he would have it, but he would see what he could do. I thought I had left my reservation # in the car, but when I reached in my pocket I had it. Take those confirmation #'s with you. The characters were okay. My daughter is not old enough to appreciate the meaness of the step-sisters and Lady Tremaine. She wanted to know when a nice princess was coming to see her. We never saw Prince charming at the table. We had just missed him we were seated, and 1 1/2 hours later he hadn't made it around again and was no where in sight. We decided to just skip him. Our daughter didn't mind leaving.
Crystal Palace: We had a 6:30 reservation. We arrived around 6:15 and were seated around 7:15 p.m. It was just a mad house. The characters were great, but the service was BAD. We never got refills on drinks, it took over 30 minutes to pay the bill. (which might explain why people have to wait so long to get seated) I'm sure there are better servers, but the whole place just seemed hectic and crazy. The food was fine, in fact the grilled salmon was actually quite good -- much better than I would expect for a buffet. But the service and overall hectic atmosphere of the place turned me off.
We were at WDW from Apr. 3-11. We had a great time. The crowds were tremendous. My advice to you is to make rope drop any day you plan to hit any major attractions this week if the crowds are anything like last week.
Parks:
Epcot: We went to Epcot on a Green Day and rived at 9:30 on a 9:00 a.m. opening day. We only managed to get 1 major attraction in -- Soarin. The lines for everything were LONG. At 9:30 it was a 25 minute wait for Nemo. We stayed for 1/2 day, toured the countries and came back at Rope drop on another green day and was able to ride Test Track w/parent swap, get Test Track fp's (we were skipping Soarin this day), get a FP for Mission Space with a return time of 10:30 or 10:50 a.m. (I can't remember which, but it was early). We rode Nemo 2x without getting off. It was a MUCH better day.
Same for HS. We arrived at 8:55 for a 9:00 a.m. opening (we had arrived a few minutes earlier, but realized we left our bag in the car and had to go back), but they had let people in early. Forgetting the bag was a costly mistake. The FP line for TTSMM was already huge. If this happens to you, get in the FP line anyway. We decided to forget it and go see Playhouse Disney. It was a disappointing show. We have a 2 yr. old and was expecting this to be a big hit with her. It was little puppets and you could only see their heads moving across the stage. Very bizarre looking. I decided to see if the line for TSMM was shorter after the show and to get FP's then since were planning to see F! that night. Our FP return time was 1:50-2:50 p.m. After another fairly disaapointing experience at Muppet Vision, we decided to upgrade to hoppers and hit MK that night for a few rides on the carousel or anything else we could see.
To hop or not? The hopper passes worked great for us b/c we were at the Contemporary and could walk over in 5 minutes and hit a couple or rides and see a parade or fireworks without much hassel. If I were not staying on a monorail resort, we probably would not have used hoppers. It also allowed us to come back to see F! on a different night. We went just after dinner and walked in to F!. We sat in the back, but it was fine with us and there was no wait to get in and no eating dinner at 4:00 in the afternoon.
MK We did MK 2x at 7:00 a.m. openings and finished riding every single ride in Fantasy Land by 7:45 a.m. and rode Dumbo 3 times each time. The first time, we didn't get Philharmagic FP's b/c we thought we wouldn't need them to come see it later in the day. You probably DO need FP's this week. After lunch, it was a 30-40 min. wait for Philharmagic. There was even a wait to do Swiss Family Robinson tree house when we returned after our nap!
AK: We skipped Expedition Everest at AK, but were able to ride everything else we wanted without much wait on a Green day arriving just after rope drop. If you are planning to do EE, I wouldn't miss that rope drop.
Meals: TS in order favorite to least favorite
1. Askerhus Storybook Lunch -- great food, great service, they took time with the photo to make sure they got a great shot.
2. Cinderella's Royal Table -- great food, great service, picture w/Cinderella a little rushed, but everything else was fantastic. It would be tied for 1st w/Askerhus except that it was 2 TS credit (we paid cash) and for the money, I would rate Askerhus as a better value.
3. Ohana --despite some negative reviews, we loved the food, the service, the atmosphere. We had a 6:50 p.m. res. We arrived around 6:20 and thought we'd look around the Polynesian while we waited. But we were seated immediately. I know everyone raves about the bread pudding, but I was not excited about it going in. I just don't like bread pudding. I am now a believer! It was the best dessert we had all week. (and we had some good ones). I had seconds. This is the night we decided we'd try to get into F! since we finished dinner early.
4. Chef Mickey -- we actually did Chef Mickey for dinner 2x. It was very convienent for us since it was in our hotel. Only waited a few minutes to be seated. The food was good, nothing fantastic, but good. They had something for everyone. The characters were great and took plenty of time with our table. We ate once with my sisters family, so we had 3 children at the table that night and each character took plenty of time with each child. Servers were always prompt and courteous.
5. and 6. (Tied) Crystal Palace and 1900 Park Fare.
Park Fare: Food was disappointing. The host may have ruined it for me though. He had a bit of an attitude. We were checking in for a 5:00 p.m. reservation. He couldn't find our name. I told him the concierge had made it a couple of days earlier for us and that it was a hidden table reservation. He insuated I was making this up and that if the reservation had been made, he would have it, but he would see what he could do. I thought I had left my reservation # in the car, but when I reached in my pocket I had it. Take those confirmation #'s with you. The characters were okay. My daughter is not old enough to appreciate the meaness of the step-sisters and Lady Tremaine. She wanted to know when a nice princess was coming to see her. We never saw Prince charming at the table. We had just missed him we were seated, and 1 1/2 hours later he hadn't made it around again and was no where in sight. We decided to just skip him. Our daughter didn't mind leaving.
Crystal Palace: We had a 6:30 reservation. We arrived around 6:15 and were seated around 7:15 p.m. It was just a mad house. The characters were great, but the service was BAD. We never got refills on drinks, it took over 30 minutes to pay the bill. (which might explain why people have to wait so long to get seated) I'm sure there are better servers, but the whole place just seemed hectic and crazy. The food was fine, in fact the grilled salmon was actually quite good -- much better than I would expect for a buffet. But the service and overall hectic atmosphere of the place turned me off.
