I have been reading the boards for a while now but as you can see, this is my first post. With that being said, the following are my thoughts on many of the topics that I have been reading about in light of a Mardi Gras/Presidents' Day week trip.
My family and I (wife and 2 boys) decided to use the Mardi Gras break for a trip to Disney World. This is my 6 y/o's 3rd visit and the first for my 2 y/o. We are staying on site - arrived on Sunday and leave Friday morning - thus, we have one more day in the parks. While the parks have been crowded, we were prepared for it and actually expected worse. With that being said, this has probably been the most fun that we've had yet.
Magic Bands - This is our first experience with Magic Bands and while we had some problems at first, we've grown to like the convenience. Upon arrival, one of our bands was not working and nobody had charge abilities. A great Cast Member took care of everything and given that we were patient and appreciative of his help, he added some magic to our trip by giving my boys some extra MK FastPass tickets to use during the trip. We saved them to use today to make for a great last day at the parks. As to the convenience, I like being able to leave my wallet, etc. in the room safe.
FP+ - I can see why some dislike it but we love it. While I'm always up early, my family likes to sleep in so we are not rope-droppers (we plan to rope drop at MK this morning for our first time ever...I shall see if they get up in time). With that said, the ability to plan our FastPasses in advance was great. Although we are staying onsite, we booked after the 60 day window (but b/f 30 days) and had no problem getting all of the attractions that we wanted during the time frames that we wanted. We even made a number of changes during the weeks leading up to the trip. I let my 6 y/o son help and we both loved the preliminary planning - he seems to be enjoying the trip more than ever since he was involved in setting it up. Our strategic planning on when and where to be has paid off with a trip with very little waiting despite large crowds (Mine Train has had a 3 hour standby regularly throughout our stay - my 6 y/o was so excited when he got to do it twice in 20 minutes via FP+ and child swap).
Park/Ride Conditions - Given the amount of traffic through this place, it's condition amazes me. While the construction is somewhat unsightly, it's not that bad and I'm sure that if you look closely you can find things that need maintenance - however, you have to look closely. My wife does not read these boards and would not have noticed many of the things that become topics if I had not pointed them out. With that being said, POTC is our favorite ride and it does need a major refurb - it has gone down every day but luckily we've gotten on twice already.
Crowds/Guests/Cast Members - First, as to the crowds, they have been very managable in my opinion. The Cast Members have done a great job keeping everyone moving to avoid bottlenecks.
On the topic of guests, I've seen a few of those that make you roll your eyes (i.e., those that seem surprised that they have to wait in line or that there are a lot of children in Disney World). However, the vast majority of the people that I've seen seem to be having a great time - I've encountered far more friendly guests than unruly ones. Also, neither my wife nor I knew what a selfie-stick was until recently and were expecting to see more - we've only counted 5 so far on the trip (we made that a game upon arrival...thought we'd be much higher by now).
Finally, the Cast Members have been awesome. I honestly don't see how they do it. Disney World would not be what it is without their great work.
My family and I (wife and 2 boys) decided to use the Mardi Gras break for a trip to Disney World. This is my 6 y/o's 3rd visit and the first for my 2 y/o. We are staying on site - arrived on Sunday and leave Friday morning - thus, we have one more day in the parks. While the parks have been crowded, we were prepared for it and actually expected worse. With that being said, this has probably been the most fun that we've had yet.
Magic Bands - This is our first experience with Magic Bands and while we had some problems at first, we've grown to like the convenience. Upon arrival, one of our bands was not working and nobody had charge abilities. A great Cast Member took care of everything and given that we were patient and appreciative of his help, he added some magic to our trip by giving my boys some extra MK FastPass tickets to use during the trip. We saved them to use today to make for a great last day at the parks. As to the convenience, I like being able to leave my wallet, etc. in the room safe.
FP+ - I can see why some dislike it but we love it. While I'm always up early, my family likes to sleep in so we are not rope-droppers (we plan to rope drop at MK this morning for our first time ever...I shall see if they get up in time). With that said, the ability to plan our FastPasses in advance was great. Although we are staying onsite, we booked after the 60 day window (but b/f 30 days) and had no problem getting all of the attractions that we wanted during the time frames that we wanted. We even made a number of changes during the weeks leading up to the trip. I let my 6 y/o son help and we both loved the preliminary planning - he seems to be enjoying the trip more than ever since he was involved in setting it up. Our strategic planning on when and where to be has paid off with a trip with very little waiting despite large crowds (Mine Train has had a 3 hour standby regularly throughout our stay - my 6 y/o was so excited when he got to do it twice in 20 minutes via FP+ and child swap).
Park/Ride Conditions - Given the amount of traffic through this place, it's condition amazes me. While the construction is somewhat unsightly, it's not that bad and I'm sure that if you look closely you can find things that need maintenance - however, you have to look closely. My wife does not read these boards and would not have noticed many of the things that become topics if I had not pointed them out. With that being said, POTC is our favorite ride and it does need a major refurb - it has gone down every day but luckily we've gotten on twice already.
Crowds/Guests/Cast Members - First, as to the crowds, they have been very managable in my opinion. The Cast Members have done a great job keeping everyone moving to avoid bottlenecks.
On the topic of guests, I've seen a few of those that make you roll your eyes (i.e., those that seem surprised that they have to wait in line or that there are a lot of children in Disney World). However, the vast majority of the people that I've seen seem to be having a great time - I've encountered far more friendly guests than unruly ones. Also, neither my wife nor I knew what a selfie-stick was until recently and were expecting to see more - we've only counted 5 so far on the trip (we made that a game upon arrival...thought we'd be much higher by now).
Finally, the Cast Members have been awesome. I honestly don't see how they do it. Disney World would not be what it is without their great work.
