The Tale of the Grow Walk ….Hunh?

Port Orleans looks lovely. How nice that you managed to catch up with at least some of your co-workers who were there.

I am glad that they managed to find your ticket on the system without you having to go back for the voucher. I have done something similar before and again they were able to assist.

I hear you on the Magic Bands. I started to wear mine over my watch again. I did not have any issues with my ticket, but every time I went to one of my Fastpass reservations, the Mickey head turned blue. For the whole trip, the only two times it actually worked was when I changed the reservation at the last minute.

Corinna
 
Wow Jen - FP fiasco. I have only stayed on site so I guess I don't understand the whole "copying" thing. But I am glad you got you pass worked out and you didn't have to go back to the room.

More beautiful pictures of the resort.

Strawberry short cake - breakfast of champions!

Soarin is a great way to start the trip. Sorry the bus wait was so stinking long.

I hope you will now be able to enjoy your day without the FP worry!

Part of the problem is that the type of ticket I had had to be picked up and paid for at the park...and normally most tickets can still be linked on MDE...but of course this one couldn't, so when I called tech support they pretty much gauranteed everything would copy over. But being that I was going offsite, the Disney site technically is not supposed to let me pick FP's for those days...but it did because I had an onsite stay first. So the lady at Guest Services could only copy that one day. Had I stayed onsite the whole time it should've worked better.

I do love a good breakfast of Champions! :thumbsup2

Sorry you had such issues with the FP+ and the copying. I personally enjoyed the FP+...we had only one minor issue and that was our fault.

Glad they could find you in the system and you didn't have to go back for your voucher.

Great pics as always. And Soarin' is always a great way to start the day.

I know a lot of people seem to like it or at least have it work for them. I am still annoyed with the whole picking before you go thing....but the whole MDE was awful. The ap didn't work half the time, it wouldn't show wait times most days...wouldn't update, would show me the wrong parks info even if I went to switch it to the right park. Honestly this should not even be available for the public to use....it was that bad. And I know they keep working to improve it, but I still hear there are days where it is still not working correctly.

I enjoyed the early morning walk around your resort. As always. :) I've been on so many early morning resort walks I feel like I was there with you!

I won't sully up your trip report with a big discussion on FP+. Let's just say I knew you had problems at the time. And all these months later I'm still ticked off on your behalf! :p

I want a piece of that strawberry shortcake. NOW. :hyper:

We love Soarin too. But we skipped it at DCA next year. So we're coming up on 2 years. I think we need to put it on our "to do" list this time again. I just love that sensation of flying over things. :)

I do love doing my morning walks. Maybe someday Claire will actually wake up early and join me. :rotfl2:

I am too. And Disney still continues to have issues with this. I laugh everytime I see a commercial that talks about how wonderful the bands or the MDE is. Total lies! ;)

Soarin' was down for refurb when I was at DL. We do like it and if we go back, I am sure Claire will want to ride it too.
 
Ugh on the FP debacle....I hope it gets better!

Jill in CO

I hope it gets better too. The best thing would be for them to take the loss and scap the whole thing! :rotfl2:

Wow, what a PITA - waiting so long for the bus, then not having the right voucher then the FP+ problem! Sheesh!
I sure hope these "glitches and kinks" get worked out soon. I still hear that the app doesn't work well.

I hope so too. The App was awful. I can see how it would be helpful....if it worked, but the majority of the time it did not. Disney really didn't think this whole thing out very well.

Port Orleans looks lovely. How nice that you managed to catch up with at least some of your co-workers who were there.

I am glad that they managed to find your ticket on the system without you having to go back for the voucher. I have done something similar before and again they were able to assist.

I hear you on the Magic Bands. I started to wear mine over my watch again. I did not have any issues with my ticket, but every time I went to one of my Fastpass reservations, the Mickey head turned blue. For the whole trip, the only two times it actually worked was when I changed the reservation at the last minute.

Corinna

I couldn't believe how stupid I was to grab the wrong voucher. I had a yelp of joy when she was able to find me in the system. I really didn't want to take all that extra time to go back and forth and it would've totally messed up the morning plans I had.
 
glad things worked out with not needing the paper voucher - though bummer about all of the FP+ issues. Definitely think the biggest issue with the system is that it is reliant on Disney Tech / web services to work 100% of the time and they just don't have the best systems. Hope everything works out though!

Those are some nice shots of the resort you got!

"Claire said she would just want a bite, so we decided to share….Claire lied!" - that would have been a good TR thread title! .... and no one can have just one bite of the SS strawberry shortcake!
 

Next stop…..Test Track……Time to use our FP+’s.







It was extremely busy and Claire and I were assigned a spot together in the waiting room. I am not sure if during slower times you can get your own or not…but I am thinking you do.

Once were allowed in, we had to make a car together….and I am pretty sure I have seen in other reports where people can make their own cars. That’s ok, it was still neat to see…and for the most part I wasn’t allowed to help. LOL.



Claire did most of the designing and I was only allowed to help when needed.





Next we are scooted off to the loading area.



Claire’s band wouldn’t scan our car, but mine did. I think because I was the one who scanned when we designed it. I am not sure if we both were supposed to scan in or not. I did scan my band in her spot too as we entered the car though.



We loaded in and were ready to go. The guy next to me videoed the whole thing. I am sure he has my dorky laugh in the background.









We came in 3rd for whatever test this was, but for the most part, we were 1st or 2nd through most of them…..Good job Claire.





In the end, our car was the best overall design. I guess Claire knew what she was doing.





Needless to say, we had a blast on the ride and loved it. It is still pretty similar to the old version in the way the ride works, but the new stuff is neat. I wouldn’t say better, but still really neat.

When we exited, we pulled up our car on a big screen and looked over the info.



And then took a quick look around the show room.











I asked Claire if she would be interested in riding again using the single riders line, but she informed me she is too young to go by herself yet. UGH! Ok, I’ll work on her some more…..but hopefully in the future she will get over that fear.
 
glad things worked out with not needing the paper voucher - though bummer about all of the FP+ issues. Definitely think the biggest issue with the system is that it is reliant on Disney Tech / web services to work 100% of the time and they just don't have the best systems. Hope everything works out though!

Those are some nice shots of the resort you got!

"Claire said she would just want a bite, so we decided to share….Claire lied!" - that would have been a good TR thread title! .... and no one can have just one bite of the SS strawberry shortcake!

You are so right....their systems fail constantly! It's sad when they release a promo and the online system crashes... the phone lines crash and if you can get through you can't wait 4-8 hours on hold. It's like everytime they release free dining they forget how this works and how poor their system is.

That would've been a good title!
 
I do love doing my morning walks. Maybe someday Claire will actually wake up early and join me. :rotfl2:

I am too. And Disney still continues to have issues with this. I laugh everytime I see a commercial that talks about how wonderful the bands or the MDE is. Total lies! ;)

Soarin' was down for refurb when I was at DL. We do like it and if we go back, I am sure Claire will want to ride it too.

Katie hasn't done any early morning walks with me yet either. Thankfully she's pretty easy to get up for rope drop, but I try hard not to wake her sooner. We go go go all day and one of us (me!) being sleep deprived is more than enough!

I forgot Soarin was down on your trip. We purposely skipped that and TSMM to focus on stuff we couldn't do at WDW.



I asked Claire if she would be interested in riding again using the single riders line, but she informed me she is too young to go by herself yet. UGH! Ok, I’ll work on her some more…..but hopefully in the future she will get over that fear.

I bet she'll be ready for single rider by her next trip. It's sad to see them grow up, but very freeing when they can gain a little independence. Katie has turned into a good fastpass runner in the last couple of years. Well, at DLR anyway. I guess that ship sort of sailed at WDW. I'm not sure I'd want to send her off to a kiosk line alone since some of those lines are so long.
 
Great pics, Jen. And way to go Claire on designing the winning car.

Sorry she isn't up to the single rider line yet, but hopefully by the next trip she will be.
 
cool car design!
my girls were willing to ride single for RSR, so maybe next trip Claire will be too.
 
Way to go Claire on creating the best overall vehicle!

Jen, my DD10 did the same to me the last time we went on TT. She was all about it being her design. Like you, however, there were still a few things I needed to help her with :)
 

I asked Claire if she would be interested in riding again using the single riders line, but she informed me she is too young to go by herself yet. UGH! Ok, I’ll work on her some more…..but hopefully in the future she will get over that fear.

:rotfl2: Love when kids "scold" parents!

Luvin yer man's costume that was handing out the mardi gras money
 
I was a few updates behind. How great was it that you were able to meet some co-workers at the resort! Speaking of the resort, you got some really good pictures. We thought that the resort was pretty but it didn't wow us at all. Guess that's because we are from Louisiana? Not sure why.

Ugh for waiting on a bus for so long! Seems like when you are just itching to get somewhere quickly, that's the day the transportation is the slowest.

I was glad to read that they were able to pull up your passes for you despite you forgetting the voucher. It would have been a real pain in the rear end if you had to go all the way back to the resort.

Thank goodness Deb was able to at least get some of your FPs for you. We never ran into a single FP+ issue when we were there so we are fans of the new system.
 
Great pics of Test Track! The new elements do look pretty cool, I can't wait to get on it.

Did you see that I have a new ticker?? :yay: I'm so excited, we made the ressies yesterday for 9/25 - 10/2
 
What a mess with the FP+. :( I was nervous how it would go since I heard all of the bad stories but luckily ours didn't have any problems. Great pics of Test Track. My nephews are still a little young so I didn't get to do it last trip but next trip I definitely want to. :)
 
Yikes! What a headache having to deal with all of those FP+ issues! :mad:

Mmm that Strawberry Shortcake looks delicious!

The new Test Track looks fun and I'm looking forward to riding in September! My husband and oldest son were able to ride it on our trip back in Feb '13, but I was pregnant, so I unfortunately had to sit that one out :( They thought it was great though. Too bad Miss Claire didn't want to go through the single rider line with you!
 
I'm following the same plan with Fastpass plus for Epcot. Rope drop for Soarin, fast pass for Test Track.

Our other two are Maelstrom and Spaceship Earth. The kids have no interest in Mission Space and Fastpasses for other things (like Nemo), seemed silly to me.
 
Glad you liked Test Track - that is one ride we haven't gone on yet. Just the wait has been too long and/or FP- were gone ... and now it competes with Soarin' on that tier which is one of our favorites. Hopefully we can get on at some point.

and good design Claire!
 
Katie hasn't done any early morning walks with me yet either. Thankfully she's pretty easy to get up for rope drop, but I try hard not to wake her sooner. We go go go all day and one of us (me!) being sleep deprived is more than enough!

I forgot Soarin was down on your trip. We purposely skipped that and TSMM to focus on stuff we couldn't do at WDW.



I bet she'll be ready for single rider by her next trip. It's sad to see them grow up, but very freeing when they can gain a little independence. Katie has turned into a good fastpass runner in the last couple of years. Well, at DLR anyway. I guess that ship sort of sailed at WDW. I'm not sure I'd want to send her off to a kiosk line alone since some of those lines are so long.

Claire is always over tired. :rotfl2: She does love her sleep, but she is pretty good on trips, but towards the end of this one she would cry over stupid things and Skip would get annoyed, and I had to keep reminding him that she was lacking in sleep...a LOT!
I sure hope she will do single rider soon. It could make some things easier to get on if she would just suck it up. :rotfl:

Great pics, Jen. And way to go Claire on designing the winning car.

Sorry she isn't up to the single rider line yet, but hopefully by the next trip she will be.


I hope so too!

cool car design!
my girls were willing to ride single for RSR, so maybe next trip Claire will be too.

I am hoping she will get brave. She is a chicken about a lot of things, but she did some things this year that I never thought she would do, so we are getting a step closer.

Way to go Claire on creating the best overall vehicle!

Jen, my DD10 did the same to me the last time we went on TT. She was all about it being her design. Like you, however, there were still a few things I needed to help her with :)

She likes to be in control...I have no clue where she gets that from???? :laughing:

:rotfl2: Love when kids "scold" parents!

Luvin yer man's costume that was handing out the mardi gras money

I get scolded a lot! ;)

I was a few updates behind. How great was it that you were able to meet some co-workers at the resort! Speaking of the resort, you got some really good pictures. We thought that the resort was pretty but it didn't wow us at all. Guess that's because we are from Louisiana? Not sure why.

Ugh for waiting on a bus for so long! Seems like when you are just itching to get somewhere quickly, that's the day the transportation is the slowest.

I was glad to read that they were able to pull up your passes for you despite you forgetting the voucher. It would have been a real pain in the rear end if you had to go all the way back to the resort.

Thank goodness Deb was able to at least get some of your FPs for you. We never ran into a single FP+ issue when we were there so we are fans of the new system.

I am so behind again too. The last few days I have been so busy with work and life both. I need to update my links here too so people can follow along easier!
Deb is a good girl! :thumbsup2 She always is one to help someone in a pinch.
I am glad FP+ worked for you. A lot of people like it, but I still am not a fan. I don't like picking them ahead of time to begin with. And now they are bringing back a sort of paper one for a few rides and Anna and Elsa because the standby lines are too long. Right there tells you they don't have the system working right.

Great pics of Test Track! The new elements do look pretty cool, I can't wait to get on it.

Did you see that I have a new ticker?? :yay: I'm so excited, we made the ressies yesterday for 9/25 - 10/2

Yay!!!! I am actually going to be in Florida then too (I arrive the 27th).....but not at Disney...or Orlando! ;)

What a mess with the FP+. :( I was nervous how it would go since I heard all of the bad stories but luckily ours didn't have any problems. Great pics of Test Track. My nephews are still a little young so I didn't get to do it last trip but next trip I definitely want to. :)

I am glad yours worked out well for you. I know some of my issues was because of the copying it over. But the app itself just sucked. It only worked half the time. And I had issues with my FP+ just moving times on it's own.

How neat that Claire's car won.

Corinna

She was pretty proud of her car!
 
Yikes! What a headache having to deal with all of those FP+ issues! :mad:

Mmm that Strawberry Shortcake looks delicious!

The new Test Track looks fun and I'm looking forward to riding in September! My husband and oldest son were able to ride it on our trip back in Feb '13, but I was pregnant, so I unfortunately had to sit that one out :( They thought it was great though. Too bad Miss Claire didn't want to go through the single rider line with you!

The strawberry shortcake was really good. I could go for one right now. That breakfast bar is just not cutting it right now and long gone. :goodvibes
I was impressed with the new version. I wouldn't say better, but still fun.
My oldest daughter Paige asked me why I didn't invite her to come with me in late Sept when I go down to Florida...not Disney ...something else ;) ...and I said...
"Um you are pregnant and due on Oct 14. You are not even allowed to travel then for the most part." :rotfl2: She was like "OH yeah".

I'm following the same plan with Fastpass plus for Epcot. Rope drop for Soarin, fast pass for Test Track.

Our other two are Maelstrom and Spaceship Earth. The kids have no interest in Mission Space and Fastpasses for other things (like Nemo), seemed silly to me.

it is a good plan and really what you have to do if you want to ride both.
We had figment and Crush...total wastes of FP's! :rotfl:

Glad you liked Test Track - that is one ride we haven't gone on yet. Just the wait has been too long and/or FP- were gone ... and now it competes with Soarin' on that tier which is one of our favorites. Hopefully we can get on at some point.

and good design Claire!

Yep, it's hard to chose between the 2. I think the best bet is to go at rope drop and ride one and FP+ the other. Or go at a time that is slow...which now a days doesn't seem like any!
 














Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Walt Disney World!

Save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels when you stay 5 consecutive nights or longer in late summer and early fall. Plus, enjoy other savings for shorter stays.This offer is valid for stays most nights from August 1 to October 11, 2025.
CLICK HERE













DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top