KisanMcG
The Other Wendy-Lady
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2012
- Messages
- 40
I just got back from our WDW NYE trip. To set the stage: On the trip were my husband, brother, and me. I am an ECV user who can transfer but only walk short distances with no stairs and cannot stand in place for more than a moment, and I have Aspergers. We stayed off property at my brother's house for part of the trip, and on property at Pop for the last few days. I got a DAS card at MK Guest Relations. We had Fastpass + access for three days out of six. All three of us are annual passholders. We used touring plans, and had at least one dining reservation per day. In general we are laid back folks who are willing to leave the parks rather than let ourselves become tired and frustrated.
The parks were obviously very, very crowded. We tried to be realistic about which attractions we *really* wanted to see, and chose one priority for each of us per day. Despite all of the tools at our disposal, it was very difficult to experience attractions. Most of the problems that we encountered were either a result of wait times in wheelchair areas, or with Fastpass return areas.
For example: We got a DAS return time for the Jingle Cruise, standby of 85 minutes and return time of 75 minutes. When we returned, we were put in a wheelchair line and waited an additional 35 minutes for a boat that I was allowed to transfer into. It was very loud and chaotic in the wheelchair line, and I ended up getting almost to the ride (one more family in front of us) before I was just too overwhelmed to be there any longer and we left. At TSMM, we were told that the Fastpass return line was a 45 minute wait, and my inability to do stairs would make it at least 90 minutes. The Fastpass return line was out the door and down to the Captain Jack attraction. At the time, the standby line was only 80 minutes. We elected to skip the attraction.
Of the eight times written on my DAS for the week, we were only able to use the time twice (Living With The Land, Dumbo). Of the nine Fastpass + attractions we had times for, we were only able to use three (Finding Nemo the Musical, Expedition Everest, Kilamanjaro Safari) because the return times were longer than 20 minutes and we were worried I might have issues in the queue. There were a lot of difficulties accessing attractions with alternate entry for less mobile guests. There were also excessively long wait times for Fastpass returns where both legacy and new options were available. Animal Kingdom seemed to be the most consistent and effective in using Fastpass +, and that was the park where the My Disney Experience app worked the best. At other parks, the system would get overloaded and my phone would not work, so we would have to wait at the kiosks to make any changes.
The most successful moments of the week were late nights. Extra Magic Hours at MK, especially, were wonderful. After the fireworks the park was virtually empty; we visited every princess in the park (even Ariel and Belle) with less than a 10 minute wait for any of them. Call us crazy, but taking a long nap in the afternoon and then visiting with Mickey at 1am worked well! The Haunted Mansion was much spookier in the middle of the night
Also important to note is that it was still a lot of fun even without the attractions! We watched shows, learned that New Fantasyland is an uncrowded (but loud!) place to watch fireworks, played Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, enjoyed the dance parties that went on in every park, and got to really interact with CMs who needed a little day-brightening (we handed out thank-you cards to show appreciation for their long hours during the holidays).
We went to Guest Relations twice to provide feedback, and were met with weary Cast Members who immediately tried to offer us more Fastpasses before even hearing the story (we declined, as we simply wanted to give them information as opposed to expecting them to "fix" the crowds), so I am guessing that it was a frequent complaint. Now that we are home I plan to write to Guest Communications as well. I think that there is a learning curve to the new system, to encompass the app and the DAS and the Fastpass +. While visitors like us who will be back soon can work on that, folks who only have the chance to go once will benefit by becoming familiar with that app backwards and forwards before they go, as well as by using a good touring plan or visiting during a low-crowd time.
The parks were obviously very, very crowded. We tried to be realistic about which attractions we *really* wanted to see, and chose one priority for each of us per day. Despite all of the tools at our disposal, it was very difficult to experience attractions. Most of the problems that we encountered were either a result of wait times in wheelchair areas, or with Fastpass return areas.
For example: We got a DAS return time for the Jingle Cruise, standby of 85 minutes and return time of 75 minutes. When we returned, we were put in a wheelchair line and waited an additional 35 minutes for a boat that I was allowed to transfer into. It was very loud and chaotic in the wheelchair line, and I ended up getting almost to the ride (one more family in front of us) before I was just too overwhelmed to be there any longer and we left. At TSMM, we were told that the Fastpass return line was a 45 minute wait, and my inability to do stairs would make it at least 90 minutes. The Fastpass return line was out the door and down to the Captain Jack attraction. At the time, the standby line was only 80 minutes. We elected to skip the attraction.
Of the eight times written on my DAS for the week, we were only able to use the time twice (Living With The Land, Dumbo). Of the nine Fastpass + attractions we had times for, we were only able to use three (Finding Nemo the Musical, Expedition Everest, Kilamanjaro Safari) because the return times were longer than 20 minutes and we were worried I might have issues in the queue. There were a lot of difficulties accessing attractions with alternate entry for less mobile guests. There were also excessively long wait times for Fastpass returns where both legacy and new options were available. Animal Kingdom seemed to be the most consistent and effective in using Fastpass +, and that was the park where the My Disney Experience app worked the best. At other parks, the system would get overloaded and my phone would not work, so we would have to wait at the kiosks to make any changes.
The most successful moments of the week were late nights. Extra Magic Hours at MK, especially, were wonderful. After the fireworks the park was virtually empty; we visited every princess in the park (even Ariel and Belle) with less than a 10 minute wait for any of them. Call us crazy, but taking a long nap in the afternoon and then visiting with Mickey at 1am worked well! The Haunted Mansion was much spookier in the middle of the night
Also important to note is that it was still a lot of fun even without the attractions! We watched shows, learned that New Fantasyland is an uncrowded (but loud!) place to watch fireworks, played Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, enjoyed the dance parties that went on in every park, and got to really interact with CMs who needed a little day-brightening (we handed out thank-you cards to show appreciation for their long hours during the holidays). We went to Guest Relations twice to provide feedback, and were met with weary Cast Members who immediately tried to offer us more Fastpasses before even hearing the story (we declined, as we simply wanted to give them information as opposed to expecting them to "fix" the crowds), so I am guessing that it was a frequent complaint. Now that we are home I plan to write to Guest Communications as well. I think that there is a learning curve to the new system, to encompass the app and the DAS and the Fastpass +. While visitors like us who will be back soon can work on that, folks who only have the chance to go once will benefit by becoming familiar with that app backwards and forwards before they go, as well as by using a good touring plan or visiting during a low-crowd time.
