EilonwyWanderer
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2017
- Messages
- 779
I only just found this forum section and wish I'd taken better notes BUT here are my thoughts on our recent trip (3/18-3/27) where we had TWO birthdays (7 to 8 and 5 to 6!) in one week!
It was so extremely crowded when we were there I was amazed we were able to get as much done as we did. It was a great trip but that said there are a few things I never need to do again:
-Hollywood Studios. Star Wars world wasn't a cool as it looked from the pictures. It's tiny and the game made me mad. Rise of the Resistance ride was okay. Star Tours was the clear favorite with my kids and you didn't even have to go to Star Wars land to do that one! The lines at this park are INSANE. 2+ hours for the big ones throughout the day.
-Animal Kingdom Lodge. It's freaking 40 minutes to and from ANYWHERE on buses that may or may not show up 20 minutes after their scheduled time. Are the animals cool? Yes. But it's not worth it. Spend one night here and then another night at a place on a monorail. Seriously, I will never not stay at either a monorail resort or Wilderness Lodge ever again if I'm on property. It didn't help that Kidani's pool AND kid play area were closed. While the shuttle to Jambo house was nice, it was still a hike.
-Most of the restaurants. The food is definitely not as good as it used to be and insanely expensive. I enjoyed San Angel Inn as usual, but even favorites like Le Cellier were a letdown (cheese soup and pretzel bread not withstanding).
-Future World in Epcot until they actually finish building it. The construction funnels everyone into these little corridors that are super disappointing. Also what happened to Mouseworks!? It's now a Target-like store and I hated it.
-7 Dwarves Whatever. We stood in this line for TWO HOURS. We would not have gotten into it if we knew it would be TWO HOURS but it broke down at LEAST twice and they DIDN'T TELL ANYONE. And at that point we were super stuck in the middle of the line that was only supposed to be 70 minutes and there was no escaping. Screw that ride.
-Ordering Cakes. We ordered two very expensive cakes from the Grand Floridian bakery for the two birthdays we were having and my local Stop and Shop could've done a better job decorating them. Also they were gross. Hugely disappointing.
-Any of the fireworks shows. What a let down. The castle show being at the same time as the fireworks means you don't know where to look and there's very little emotional impact. And Epcot's...listen, I used to like SOB at Illuminations. SOB! It was a FANTASTIC show that inspired HOPE and LOVE and omg. This new show should be at MK. It's just Disney movies and music. They make a weird attempt at emotionality with a very weird pull from Hunchback of Notre Dame, but it doesn't work. I was bored. My kids were bored. That water monstrosity that sits in the World Showcase Lagoon is awful. Bring back Illuminations! And really I just want to stress that in the past we would go EVERY NIGHT to the fireworks. Every night. So this is a huge disappointment.
-Having to pay to get on any of the very popular rides. We wouldn't have gotten on Rise of the Resistance or Silnky Dog if we didn't pay extra and that suuuuuuucks considering how expensive everything is in general.
-Use the app. The app was awful. Why is 'My Day' not the front page? Or at least--AT LEAST--show me the park I'm going to on the front page! Telling me that I'm 'good to go!' with a park reservation but not telling me what park was MADDENING. I don't want to have to click through, I want everything on that front page guys!
Highlights were:
-We rode Star Tours twice and each time one of the girls was chosen as the spy! It made their whole day.
-Finishing the Wilderness Explorer badges at Animal Kingdom. It took us a good 4-5 hours but man the kids LOVED it and actually learned things!
-The kids buying into everything. All the 3D movies were hits but ESPECIALLY Mickey's Philharmonic, which I love in general, but which the 6 year old was so insanely excited about she told EVERYONE how "thank goodness" Mickey showed up to fix what Donald did.
-Surprisingly the parades. I hate parades. The kids loved them. Our last day we were the front people following the end of the parade and Mickey paid the girls special attention and they pretended like they were IN the parade and it was great! If you saw a little girl in a sparkly tiara and a white Elsa dress on Sunday 3/27 that was my birthday 6 year old! A truly random magical moment in a sea of Pay To Get Magical Moments.
-Seeing Anna waiting in the wings during the stage show. My kids were wearing Anna and Elsa's summer dresses and we were walking down one of the castle's side pathways when we saw them. I thought we were too far away to be seen, but Anna not only saw my kids waving, she waved back, realized how they were dressed, and CALLED ELSA AND OLAF OVER TO WAVE and make a big deal about them. Sure we were far away but it was still very magical.
-One glorious night of concierge at Jambo House. You can use the lounge all day check in AND check out day so we were in heaven! Thanks to Sarah for always chatting with us and telling us the carrot cake cupcakes were terrible before my kids tried them.
-Everything about Wilderness Lodge.
-The ONE LONE PERSON who gave my kids a free dessert at one of the food stalls at Epcot. Two birthdays in one week, birthday pins galore, and that was the only time anyone did anything very special about it besides saying happy birthday.
-Typhoon Lagoon is still amazing. I love it and my kids LOVED it. Too bad most of the kids play areas were closed.
All in all we still had a great time, but we hadn't been back since 2018 and...boy have things changed.
It was so extremely crowded when we were there I was amazed we were able to get as much done as we did. It was a great trip but that said there are a few things I never need to do again:
-Hollywood Studios. Star Wars world wasn't a cool as it looked from the pictures. It's tiny and the game made me mad. Rise of the Resistance ride was okay. Star Tours was the clear favorite with my kids and you didn't even have to go to Star Wars land to do that one! The lines at this park are INSANE. 2+ hours for the big ones throughout the day.
-Animal Kingdom Lodge. It's freaking 40 minutes to and from ANYWHERE on buses that may or may not show up 20 minutes after their scheduled time. Are the animals cool? Yes. But it's not worth it. Spend one night here and then another night at a place on a monorail. Seriously, I will never not stay at either a monorail resort or Wilderness Lodge ever again if I'm on property. It didn't help that Kidani's pool AND kid play area were closed. While the shuttle to Jambo house was nice, it was still a hike.
-Most of the restaurants. The food is definitely not as good as it used to be and insanely expensive. I enjoyed San Angel Inn as usual, but even favorites like Le Cellier were a letdown (cheese soup and pretzel bread not withstanding).
-Future World in Epcot until they actually finish building it. The construction funnels everyone into these little corridors that are super disappointing. Also what happened to Mouseworks!? It's now a Target-like store and I hated it.
-7 Dwarves Whatever. We stood in this line for TWO HOURS. We would not have gotten into it if we knew it would be TWO HOURS but it broke down at LEAST twice and they DIDN'T TELL ANYONE. And at that point we were super stuck in the middle of the line that was only supposed to be 70 minutes and there was no escaping. Screw that ride.
-Ordering Cakes. We ordered two very expensive cakes from the Grand Floridian bakery for the two birthdays we were having and my local Stop and Shop could've done a better job decorating them. Also they were gross. Hugely disappointing.
-Any of the fireworks shows. What a let down. The castle show being at the same time as the fireworks means you don't know where to look and there's very little emotional impact. And Epcot's...listen, I used to like SOB at Illuminations. SOB! It was a FANTASTIC show that inspired HOPE and LOVE and omg. This new show should be at MK. It's just Disney movies and music. They make a weird attempt at emotionality with a very weird pull from Hunchback of Notre Dame, but it doesn't work. I was bored. My kids were bored. That water monstrosity that sits in the World Showcase Lagoon is awful. Bring back Illuminations! And really I just want to stress that in the past we would go EVERY NIGHT to the fireworks. Every night. So this is a huge disappointment.
-Having to pay to get on any of the very popular rides. We wouldn't have gotten on Rise of the Resistance or Silnky Dog if we didn't pay extra and that suuuuuuucks considering how expensive everything is in general.
-Use the app. The app was awful. Why is 'My Day' not the front page? Or at least--AT LEAST--show me the park I'm going to on the front page! Telling me that I'm 'good to go!' with a park reservation but not telling me what park was MADDENING. I don't want to have to click through, I want everything on that front page guys!
Highlights were:
-We rode Star Tours twice and each time one of the girls was chosen as the spy! It made their whole day.
-Finishing the Wilderness Explorer badges at Animal Kingdom. It took us a good 4-5 hours but man the kids LOVED it and actually learned things!
-The kids buying into everything. All the 3D movies were hits but ESPECIALLY Mickey's Philharmonic, which I love in general, but which the 6 year old was so insanely excited about she told EVERYONE how "thank goodness" Mickey showed up to fix what Donald did.
-Surprisingly the parades. I hate parades. The kids loved them. Our last day we were the front people following the end of the parade and Mickey paid the girls special attention and they pretended like they were IN the parade and it was great! If you saw a little girl in a sparkly tiara and a white Elsa dress on Sunday 3/27 that was my birthday 6 year old! A truly random magical moment in a sea of Pay To Get Magical Moments.
-Seeing Anna waiting in the wings during the stage show. My kids were wearing Anna and Elsa's summer dresses and we were walking down one of the castle's side pathways when we saw them. I thought we were too far away to be seen, but Anna not only saw my kids waving, she waved back, realized how they were dressed, and CALLED ELSA AND OLAF OVER TO WAVE and make a big deal about them. Sure we were far away but it was still very magical.
-One glorious night of concierge at Jambo House. You can use the lounge all day check in AND check out day so we were in heaven! Thanks to Sarah for always chatting with us and telling us the carrot cake cupcakes were terrible before my kids tried them.
-Everything about Wilderness Lodge.
-The ONE LONE PERSON who gave my kids a free dessert at one of the food stalls at Epcot. Two birthdays in one week, birthday pins galore, and that was the only time anyone did anything very special about it besides saying happy birthday.
-Typhoon Lagoon is still amazing. I love it and my kids LOVED it. Too bad most of the kids play areas were closed.
All in all we still had a great time, but we hadn't been back since 2018 and...boy have things changed.
