Stormy-but-fun visit, FP+ & Magic Bands worked great, easy to get 4+ FPs

[hulamom]

We were in WDW June 8 - 13 (me, DH, DD17, and DS11). It seems we had a particularly rainy/stormy week but it didn't really deter us... we just found indoor shows or rides, or even just walked in the rain.

Magic Bands worked wonderfully. The only issue we had was at the park entrance a couple of times but that was because one or both of the kids forgot which finger they used to scan in. But a CM came over to quickly fix that.

Fastpass+ was actually really helpful. Having 3 pre-arranged fastpasses was nice. We didn't have to rush each morning, knowing that we had times already arranged. We did get to parks early enough (mostly before 10am) to get onto rides without too much of a wait but didn't need to be there at rope drop. We were able to get more fastpasses after using our 3 at the kiosks. The exceptions were AK and DHS where we managed to find attractions didn't really need FP+ or we didn't stay long enough to need them. We park hopped and found FP+ for rides as well.

It seems that the kiosks, if each were managed by a CM ran smoothly. But the kiosks that had each person/party figure it out went slowly because people spent so much time trying to figure out what they wanted. We usually got whatever was the soonest in availability and was something we didn't mind doing and then either kept it, or changed it on our phones later.

I used the easywdw recommendations for which park to attend. All parks seemed crowded but it is summer. We usually avoided any parks with early or late hours. For the parks with tiering systems (DHS and Epcot) we rode whichever 1st tier ride we didn't get a FP+ for first (Rock n Roller Coaster at DHS and Soarin' Over California at Epcot). That strategy seemed to work well.

Even using standby we didn't stand in lines for very long. We avoided anything with waits over 30 minutes. But during a thunderstorm we figured standing in a line at Pirates that said 55 minutes was better than standing outside (and that line even went faster -- more like 30 minutes). The longest line was stood in was for Tower of Terror (45 minutes with a FP+!) but that was because 1/2 of the elevators were down at the time.

Neither kid wanted any character/princess meet-up so that was nice not to have to use a FP+ or wait in those lines. Nobody really cared about parades or fireworks... though we managed to see both Illuminations and the MK fireworks (as we rode Thunder Mtn!) and the electrical light parade (eating ice cream from a distance). My kids are all about the rides (the bigger and faster the better).

Coming from CA we've done Disneyland several times, so it was fun to compare attractions. DL wins with Pirates and Space Mtn, but WDW wins with Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise (and ToT at DHS). Also we found ourselves lost several times in MK thinking we knew where something was but then being wrong. SDMT was fun but seemed too short (BTMR is still our favorite).

One tip, since we had a lot of lightning storms... is that if you want to do an outdoor ride that might shut down due to storms, do it (or arrange a FP+) early in the day, probably before noon. We had a FP+ for Test Track at 1pm and when we were getting off the ride we heard the announcement that it was closing due to storms. We missed one of our scheduled FP+ for Big Thunder because of rain but were able to go on it thru the FP+ line later after it opened.

Another saver with the storms was having a DH who works for Hewlett-Packard. We ducked into the VIP lounge at Mission Space and enjoyed dry, air-conditioned with nice bathrooms, and complimentary sodas while we waited out the storm. Then we got walked down to the FP+ entrance when we wanted to ride Mission Space.

We did the lunch fastpass at Be Our Guest which was really nice to bypass the long lunch lines. The restaurant itself is beautiful and service quite nice (not our favorite food-wise but a fun experience).

The rest of our dining was great was fine. We had food allergies (me: shellfish, DH: vegetarian, DS: pizza-only-terian) and for the most part did okay. Boma and Flying Fish in particular seemed to go out of their way to accommodate us (Boma bringing DH out special dairy-free desserts). Counter service at DHS was less than great. DS could eat an entire monster pizza at Via Napoli and got mad when we said the entire family was splitting it. When it's hot, those frozen strawberry bars sold in the ice cream carts are very refreshing.

I'm happy to answer any questions anybody might have.

 

[apicozzi]

sounds like you had a great trip! Glad to hear. We were there for the first week of June and had similar experiences, but seems like it might be a little more crowded now than it was during our stay.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

@hulamom

What park was the least crowded during your stay?

What was the crowd-level at the table service restaurants?

How crowded was your resort?

 

[3happydancers]

I am preparing to schedule our fast passes and was wondering how early we should book them. We will be doing rope drop in hopes to ride a few attractions before the lines grow long.

Should we start with a 10-11 time slot or should we start with 11-12? We will be in the World from Aug 19th to the 26th.

 

[hulamom]

@hulamom

What crowd was the least crowded during your stay?

What was the crowd-level at the table service restaurants?

How crowded was your resort?

I'd say the day we spent at AKL was the least crowded. It was our first day (6/8) and one of the easywdw recommended parks. We arrived around 10am and got on Dinosaur with only 20 min wait then got on Triceratop Spin with a 10 min wait. We had FP+ scheduled for Kilamanjaro Safaris at 11:30am, Expedition Everest at 2pm, and Kali River Rapids at 3pm. EE was only a 20 min wait after our FP+ time so we jumped right back on. Kali was probably the most busy (120 min wait) as it was a particularly hot day.

Of the table service restaurants we ate at, the most crowded were Boma, Flying Fish, and Bongos. Boma and Flying Fish probably due to popularity and Bongos I think because it was raining and people just wanted out from the rain (food was okay). Via Napoli didn't seem crowded but there were lots of parties waiting.

We stayed at the Beach Club and it seemed rather crowded just due to all the people in the lobby, stores, and walking around. But to be honest, we didn't spend a whole lot of time there. We spent one afternoon at the pool and it was crowded but not unbearable and we found chairs easily.

Hope that helped!

 

[hulamom]

I am preparing to schedule our fast passes and was wondering how early we should book them. We will be doing rope drop in hopes to ride a few attractions before the lines grow long.

Should we start with a 10-11 time slot or should we start with 11-12? We will be in the World from Aug 19th to the 26th.

If you're doing rope drop, you should be good to get in at least 2-3 rides before 10am. I think even between 10-11 the lines for most rides (except for the more popular and tier 1 rides) will be manageable. But that might be a good time to start your FP+ selections since you plan to be there early.

I originally booked my FP+ later in the afternoon, but moved them earlier once we knew we could schedule a 4th FP+. I had mine start at 11am mostly because I knew there might be days we couldn't get to the parks before 10am (teenagers like to sleep in) . Most often our 3rd FP+ was completed by 3pm and at the time the availability of good 4th FP+ attractions were plenty.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

@hulamom...thanks for understanding what I meant when I asked which "crowd was the least crowded"! I have since edited my post to correctly ask which *park* was the least crowded.

We are really looking into BC for our next trip during the 2nd week of June next year. Thanks for the info.