Lisa Lisa
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Oh my goodness... Just noticed from your signature that you're about to head to Aulani. That'll be so amazing! Have you been before?
We must be crazy! A last minute, fly-by the-seat-of-our-pants trip to WDW. *Updated 3/18
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Lisa Lisa
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That is too funny! I can see from your signature that you've been to WDW a few times, so hopefully you avoided all the rookie mistakes that we made!
Skubygurl72
Earning My Ears
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Very fun to read this..DS and I leave on Friday and I booked and started planning about a month ago!
Carathryn
Mouseketeer
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I am following along. I hope you guys enjoyed CSR as much as we do! We have stayed in Cabanas 8b twice and love the rooms and location especially for the price.
I thought planning a trip three weeks out was last minute but how exciting to get to go to WDW without having to wait forever for your trip to finally come.
I thought planning a trip three weeks out was last minute but how exciting to get to go to WDW without having to wait forever for your trip to finally come.
Lisa Lisa
DIS Veteran
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Before this trip, I would definitely have considered a month short notice for WDW. I'm sure you're much more prepared than we were, though. Hope you have a great trip!
I agree that the location within the resort is great. I'll save our overall feelings about CSR for the end, but for now I'll just say that we were not unhappy there!
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Lisa Lisa
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DAY 1: Friday, February 12
Resort Day, part 2 of 2
When I left off, we had just headed back to our room to shower and get dressed for dinner. We had our suitcase at this point, and I took a few minutes and unpacked for all of us. (I always unpack for all of us, otherwise two of the three of us would live out of their suitcases for the whole trip!) DD had packed the shorts that were in her carry-on, two pairs of longer Bermuda shorts, and a pair of jeans. First she tried on the Bermuda shorts. Too small. Way, way too small. Then she tried the jeans. Also too small. That one baffled me as she had just worn them a few weeks prior. The bottom line (see what I did there?) is that she'd had one heck of a growth spurt and none of her bottoms fit. For the short term, I told her to put the sweater leggings back on and we’d buy her something later.
Once we were all ready, we walked over to the bus stop closest to our building, which was stop #4. There were screens with the wait times for all of the parks and Disney Springs, which was a nice touch. Apparently they were installed relatively recently. We waited about 15 minutes for a bus to HS.
Up until we got off the bus, I was sure that we could eat at one of the full service restaurants at HS without having to pay for park admission. Why was I sure? Because of a single experience eight years ago, at the Rainforest Café in AK. If you can get into one full-service restaurant located in a park without paying park admission, you can get into all of them, right? Obviously I was seriously mistaken. Once we were at the park, it became obvious that the only way in was through the main entrance. Unwilling to give up the dream, I asked one of the CMs at the entrance if there was a way to get into Mama Melrose’s without park admission. Not surprisingly, the answer was an emphatic "no." The CM pointed us toward guest services, but the line was really long (I’m still curious as to why). So I called Disney Dining to see if they could help. The very nice CM tried to switch our reservation to a restaurant (any restaurant) at Disney Springs, but there was no availability at all. Not really surprising since it was the Friday of Presidents’ Day weekend. The CM did waive the $10/person cancellation fee, though, which we appreciated.
So now it was almost 8:00, and we were outside of HS hungry and with no plan. Surprisingly, DD was pretty chill about the whole thing – a relief because she was not always great at rolling with the punches when she was younger. At that point, our options were to go to Disney Springs and try to find something to eat there or to head back to CSR. Since getting to DS would have required taking a bus to a resort and then a second bus to DS, we opted to return to CSR. Just as we were getting in line for the bus, the fireworks started. What a great show! We would probably have seen more if we had been inside the park, but we weren’t complaining. The show was almost over by the time the bus arrived, and we saw the grand finale as we were pulling away. Talk about a great silver lining!
When we arrived at CSR, we got off the bus at stop #1 and made our way to the Pepper Market. The food there was nothing special, but we were so hungry at that point that it didn’t matter! I will say that they had a decent number of choices, although I think the description of PM as a “food court” was a little generous. As soon as we finished dinner, we headed to Panchito’s Gifts & Sundries. DD tried on the sweatpants that I had scouted earlier in the day, and thankfully the small size fit her. You’ll be seeing a lot of those sweatpants in the coming days!
Pepper Market "food court" (Photo credit: WDW web site)
Pepper Market seating area (Photo credit: WDW web site)
Panchito's Gifts & Sundries (Photo credit: WDW web site)
So, did I have any regrets at this point in the trip? Indeed I did. I wished we had bought 3-day tickets and gone to HS on day 1. It was nice to relax by the pool and explore the resort, but for such a short trip we should have made more of an attempt to maximize our time – to get the most bang for the buck. What held me back was that the cost of 2-day tickets was $192/person and the cost of 3-day tickets was a whopping $275/person. You don’t really get a price break until you go to 4+ days. In retrospect, it’s clear that we should have paid the additional $249 for the extra day. All in all it was a very good day, though, and we still had a lot of fun ahead of us!
ETA: DH just told me that he has no regrets about day 1 -- except for the whole HS/Mama Melrose's debacle. He enjoyed our relaxing first day and would do it the same way again.
Up next: Magic Kingdom!
Resort Day, part 2 of 2
When I left off, we had just headed back to our room to shower and get dressed for dinner. We had our suitcase at this point, and I took a few minutes and unpacked for all of us. (I always unpack for all of us, otherwise two of the three of us would live out of their suitcases for the whole trip!) DD had packed the shorts that were in her carry-on, two pairs of longer Bermuda shorts, and a pair of jeans. First she tried on the Bermuda shorts. Too small. Way, way too small. Then she tried the jeans. Also too small. That one baffled me as she had just worn them a few weeks prior. The bottom line (see what I did there?) is that she'd had one heck of a growth spurt and none of her bottoms fit. For the short term, I told her to put the sweater leggings back on and we’d buy her something later.
Once we were all ready, we walked over to the bus stop closest to our building, which was stop #4. There were screens with the wait times for all of the parks and Disney Springs, which was a nice touch. Apparently they were installed relatively recently. We waited about 15 minutes for a bus to HS.
Up until we got off the bus, I was sure that we could eat at one of the full service restaurants at HS without having to pay for park admission. Why was I sure? Because of a single experience eight years ago, at the Rainforest Café in AK. If you can get into one full-service restaurant located in a park without paying park admission, you can get into all of them, right? Obviously I was seriously mistaken. Once we were at the park, it became obvious that the only way in was through the main entrance. Unwilling to give up the dream, I asked one of the CMs at the entrance if there was a way to get into Mama Melrose’s without park admission. Not surprisingly, the answer was an emphatic "no." The CM pointed us toward guest services, but the line was really long (I’m still curious as to why). So I called Disney Dining to see if they could help. The very nice CM tried to switch our reservation to a restaurant (any restaurant) at Disney Springs, but there was no availability at all. Not really surprising since it was the Friday of Presidents’ Day weekend. The CM did waive the $10/person cancellation fee, though, which we appreciated.
So now it was almost 8:00, and we were outside of HS hungry and with no plan. Surprisingly, DD was pretty chill about the whole thing – a relief because she was not always great at rolling with the punches when she was younger. At that point, our options were to go to Disney Springs and try to find something to eat there or to head back to CSR. Since getting to DS would have required taking a bus to a resort and then a second bus to DS, we opted to return to CSR. Just as we were getting in line for the bus, the fireworks started. What a great show! We would probably have seen more if we had been inside the park, but we weren’t complaining. The show was almost over by the time the bus arrived, and we saw the grand finale as we were pulling away. Talk about a great silver lining!
When we arrived at CSR, we got off the bus at stop #1 and made our way to the Pepper Market. The food there was nothing special, but we were so hungry at that point that it didn’t matter! I will say that they had a decent number of choices, although I think the description of PM as a “food court” was a little generous. As soon as we finished dinner, we headed to Panchito’s Gifts & Sundries. DD tried on the sweatpants that I had scouted earlier in the day, and thankfully the small size fit her. You’ll be seeing a lot of those sweatpants in the coming days!
Pepper Market "food court" (Photo credit: WDW web site)
Pepper Market seating area (Photo credit: WDW web site)
Panchito's Gifts & Sundries (Photo credit: WDW web site)
So, did I have any regrets at this point in the trip? Indeed I did. I wished we had bought 3-day tickets and gone to HS on day 1. It was nice to relax by the pool and explore the resort, but for such a short trip we should have made more of an attempt to maximize our time – to get the most bang for the buck. What held me back was that the cost of 2-day tickets was $192/person and the cost of 3-day tickets was a whopping $275/person. You don’t really get a price break until you go to 4+ days. In retrospect, it’s clear that we should have paid the additional $249 for the extra day. All in all it was a very good day, though, and we still had a lot of fun ahead of us!
ETA: DH just told me that he has no regrets about day 1 -- except for the whole HS/Mama Melrose's debacle. He enjoyed our relaxing first day and would do it the same way again.
Up next: Magic Kingdom!
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westcoastfldisneygirl
Close driving distance to the Mouse
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Oops on the mistake, but yay for fireworks!
Lisa Lisa
DIS Veteran
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ITA -- Yay for firewworks!
Lisa Lisa
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DAY 2: Saturday, February 13, 2016
Magic Kingdom Day, part 1 of 2
Saturday morning dawned clear and a bit chilly. We woke up at about 7:30, got showered and dressed, and headed to Pepper Market for breakfast. There were a decent number of choices, but the food was just okay and the prices were high. When we finished, we headed for the bus stop in front of the main entrance of the resort (stop #1). It was packed. Buses for the other parks and DS came and went, but no MK. The time on the screen kept getting later, by a minute or two at a time. In the meantime, more people continued to arrive. We had been there for about 10 minutes when a CM with a clipboard arrived. She was clearly there to assess the situation, and a couple of times she walked a little ways away and talked into a walkie-talkie like device. I was getting stressed out because it was clear that at least two buses were going to be necessary for all the people waiting. We had been there for about 20 minutes when I decided to follow the advice of a DIS friend (Hi, Heather!
) and head for stop #2, which is the first stop for pick-up at CSR. We didn't know where it was, so we stopped at the concierge desk in the lobby to ask. We were pointed in the right direction and started walking over. As we got within sight of the bus stop, what do we see coming? Of course -- a MK bus. So we ran. I lead the pack, with DD right on my heels. DH yelled that we weren't going to make it, but if anything, that only made me run faster. Once we were seated on the bus, DD told me that she'd never seen me run so fast!
We were finally on our way. I think it was about 9:15 when we arrived. There were crowds, but nothing like what we would see later in the day. According to the crowd calendar, the crowd level was going to be an 8 that day. We didn't have any bags, so we went straight to the gates. Once in the park, we stopped to get some photos in front of the castle and then checked out the map to decide where we should start. Yes, we had that conversation after we got to the park!
There they are -- the infamous sweatpants!
Our first FP was for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at 11:25, so we had some time to kill. We decided to head over to Adventureland, and our first stop was Pirates of the Caribbean. We were going to ride The Magic Carpets of Aladdin next, but we noticed that there was no line for the Enchanted Tiki Room so we detoured there first. I thought the show was cute, but DD hated it and couldn't wait for it to end. :-( After that we went back to Aladdin, where the standby line was about 20 minutes.
It was about 11:45 at that point, so we made our way over to Frontierland and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The standby line was 70 minutes when we arrived, and there was a surprisingly long FP line. It moved quickly, though, and soon it was our turn to board. Until recently, DD has been very timid when it comes to rides. She had been telling us for two days that she wanted to ride all of the roller coasters, but I wasn't sure whether she would actually go through with it when push came to shove. BTMR was probably a good place to start. She loved it! Our next FP was for Splash Mountain, but unfortunately it was not operating when we got there. There were CMs holding signs listing alternate rides, and our options were to either use our FP at one of those or wait for Splash Mountain to re-open. Since we had no idea when that would be, we decided to use our FPs at Space Mountain. That was going to be a true test of DD’s resolve. I thought there was probably a 50% chance that she’d change her mind while we were in line. She went through with it, though, and really enjoyed it!
I felt like we were able to get decent FP times, even on such short notice.
After Space Mountain, we walked through Liberty Square and decided to hit Haunted Mansion since the standby line was only 20 minutes. I wasn't sure what DD would think, but she got a big kick out of it. It was fun for DH and me as well since neither of us had experienced it since we were kids! At that point we were getting hungry, and after a quick discussion, we decided to head over to Disney Springs to eat and check things out. I think the name was changed from Downtown Disney to Disney Springs fairly recently and I, for one, don’t care for the new name. I just don’t think it’s very descriptive, especially with “Springs” used in so many other names at WDW. While we’re on that topic, DH in particular found the name very confusing. I explained to him while we were walking to the bus area that we would have to take a bus to a resort, and then another bus from the resort to DS. He could not wrap his head around why that would be necessary. When we got to the big sign showing which stops were for which destinations, he pointed and said, “See, I told you we could go straight there!” He was pointing at Disney’s Saratoga Springs. I had to explain to him that that was a resort, not Disney Springs. We ended up walking to the Contemporary and then taking the bus to DS from there. And that’s where I’ll pick up next time!
Next up: Disney Springs and then back to MK for round 2
Magic Kingdom Day, part 1 of 2
Saturday morning dawned clear and a bit chilly. We woke up at about 7:30, got showered and dressed, and headed to Pepper Market for breakfast. There were a decent number of choices, but the food was just okay and the prices were high. When we finished, we headed for the bus stop in front of the main entrance of the resort (stop #1). It was packed. Buses for the other parks and DS came and went, but no MK. The time on the screen kept getting later, by a minute or two at a time. In the meantime, more people continued to arrive. We had been there for about 10 minutes when a CM with a clipboard arrived. She was clearly there to assess the situation, and a couple of times she walked a little ways away and talked into a walkie-talkie like device. I was getting stressed out because it was clear that at least two buses were going to be necessary for all the people waiting. We had been there for about 20 minutes when I decided to follow the advice of a DIS friend (Hi, Heather!
) and head for stop #2, which is the first stop for pick-up at CSR. We didn't know where it was, so we stopped at the concierge desk in the lobby to ask. We were pointed in the right direction and started walking over. As we got within sight of the bus stop, what do we see coming? Of course -- a MK bus. So we ran. I lead the pack, with DD right on my heels. DH yelled that we weren't going to make it, but if anything, that only made me run faster. Once we were seated on the bus, DD told me that she'd never seen me run so fast!We were finally on our way. I think it was about 9:15 when we arrived. There were crowds, but nothing like what we would see later in the day. According to the crowd calendar, the crowd level was going to be an 8 that day. We didn't have any bags, so we went straight to the gates. Once in the park, we stopped to get some photos in front of the castle and then checked out the map to decide where we should start. Yes, we had that conversation after we got to the park!
There they are -- the infamous sweatpants!
Our first FP was for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at 11:25, so we had some time to kill. We decided to head over to Adventureland, and our first stop was Pirates of the Caribbean. We were going to ride The Magic Carpets of Aladdin next, but we noticed that there was no line for the Enchanted Tiki Room so we detoured there first. I thought the show was cute, but DD hated it and couldn't wait for it to end. :-( After that we went back to Aladdin, where the standby line was about 20 minutes.
It was about 11:45 at that point, so we made our way over to Frontierland and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The standby line was 70 minutes when we arrived, and there was a surprisingly long FP line. It moved quickly, though, and soon it was our turn to board. Until recently, DD has been very timid when it comes to rides. She had been telling us for two days that she wanted to ride all of the roller coasters, but I wasn't sure whether she would actually go through with it when push came to shove. BTMR was probably a good place to start. She loved it! Our next FP was for Splash Mountain, but unfortunately it was not operating when we got there. There were CMs holding signs listing alternate rides, and our options were to either use our FP at one of those or wait for Splash Mountain to re-open. Since we had no idea when that would be, we decided to use our FPs at Space Mountain. That was going to be a true test of DD’s resolve. I thought there was probably a 50% chance that she’d change her mind while we were in line. She went through with it, though, and really enjoyed it!
I felt like we were able to get decent FP times, even on such short notice.
After Space Mountain, we walked through Liberty Square and decided to hit Haunted Mansion since the standby line was only 20 minutes. I wasn't sure what DD would think, but she got a big kick out of it. It was fun for DH and me as well since neither of us had experienced it since we were kids! At that point we were getting hungry, and after a quick discussion, we decided to head over to Disney Springs to eat and check things out. I think the name was changed from Downtown Disney to Disney Springs fairly recently and I, for one, don’t care for the new name. I just don’t think it’s very descriptive, especially with “Springs” used in so many other names at WDW. While we’re on that topic, DH in particular found the name very confusing. I explained to him while we were walking to the bus area that we would have to take a bus to a resort, and then another bus from the resort to DS. He could not wrap his head around why that would be necessary. When we got to the big sign showing which stops were for which destinations, he pointed and said, “See, I told you we could go straight there!” He was pointing at Disney’s Saratoga Springs. I had to explain to him that that was a resort, not Disney Springs. We ended up walking to the Contemporary and then taking the bus to DS from there. And that’s where I’ll pick up next time!
Next up: Disney Springs and then back to MK for round 2
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AllysonL
Mouseketeer
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- Jul 20, 2015
- Messages
- 272
Oh no! Tip for next time, you can absolutely take a park bus to Disney Springs or any other park! You don't have to go back to the resort and wait for a bus there.
I thought the same thing a few trips ago, and discovered there is direct buses to all the parks from whatever park you're at!
(or boat, or monorail - depending where you are and where you want to go).
I don't think the buses pick up as frequently when going park to park, but it's definitely an option!
I thought the same thing a few trips ago, and discovered there is direct buses to all the parks from whatever park you're at!
(or boat, or monorail - depending where you are and where you want to go).
I don't think the buses pick up as frequently when going park to park, but it's definitely an option!
halfpintpeggy
DIS Veteran
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- Aug 12, 2015
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- 1,676
Oh wow, I didn't realize this! I thought they discontinued direct bus service from Disney Springs to the parks???Oh no! Tip for next time, you can absolutely take a park bus to Disney Springs or any other park! You don't have to go back to the resort and wait for a bus there.
I thought the same thing a few trips ago, and discovered there is direct buses to all the parks from whatever park you're at!
(or boat, or monorail - depending where you are and where you want to go).
I don't think the buses pick up as frequently when going park to park, but it's definitely an option!
AllysonL
Mouseketeer
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"There is no direct bus transportation serving Disney Springs from any theme park or from the Transportation and Ticket Center. Check at your resort to see what time the bus for Disney Springs operates!"
I stand corrected! That's from another Disney site. My apologizes! That's definitely new.
I stand corrected! That's from another Disney site. My apologizes! That's definitely new.
ADisneyQueen
DIS Veteran
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- Mar 21, 2005
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- 3,942
They changed it( I think a few years ago) b/c parking at Disney Springs ( Downtown Disney) is free and there were a lot of people parking there and taking a bus to a park to avoid paying the parking fee. Having to go to DS and then a resort makes it more complicated and a longer travel time so many will just pay the parking fee now.
AllysonL
Mouseketeer
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Ohh yea that makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't even think to do that! I remember the days where you used to have to scan your resort card getting on the bus. I know that would cause a bigger back up in the line, but maybe they need to install a magic band scanner or something at the bus queue to avoid that.
Lisa Lisa
DIS Veteran
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- 1,556
DAY 2: Saturday, February 13, 2016
Magic Kingdom Day, part 2 of 2
So where was I before things got cRaZy at work this week? Oh yes… It was a little before 1:00, and we had decided to go to Disney Springs for lunch. We had a 1:55-2:55 FP for Jungle Cruise, and we naively thought we had plenty of time to get to DS, look around a little, eat, and get back. After walking to the Contemporary and taking a bus to DS, we arrived at about 1:40. We had not visited Downtown Disney in 2008, so we had no idea what to expect. I’m not sure how much the area has grown over the years, but WOW – it has a lot going on! We started walking around looking for places to eat and stumbled across Portobello. DH went in to see how long the wait was, and surprisingly they were able to seat us outside right away. We enjoyed the food and the outside table, although it was a bit chilly in the shade. At about 2:15 I started to get stressed out about making it back to MK in time to use our FP. I knew there was a grace period, but I couldn’t remember whether it was 5 minutes before and 15 minutes after, or the other way around! We talked about modifying our FP using the app or just letting it expire and taking our time at DS, but we decided to try to make it. So we settled up and hightailed it for the exit.
We got off the bus at the Contemporary and power walked to the entrance of MK and then to Adventureland. It was about 3:15 when we arrived at the FP entrance to Jungle Cruise. I apologized for our tardiness and held my breath while I waited for the decision. Maybe we were lucky, but the CM let us through! We were excited to have made it, but JC was just so-so. I had forgotten how cheesy it is! The CM steering the boat (do they actually steer??) was hilarious, and that was the saving grace of the whole experience. She was so sarcastic that some of the parents looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Definitely right at the edge for Disney!
Jungle Cruise: Cheesy Fun!
After Jungle Cruise, we headed for the nearest FP kiosk to see what we could get. We were hoping for Splash Mountain or Seven Dwarfs Mine Train -- we didn’t realize that was a pipe dream at the time. We ended up settling for The Barnstormer, which was tame but fun. After that, we hit another FP kiosk to try our luck. Can I just say at this point that I found the whole system of booking FPs at kiosks odd and cumbersome? The lines got progressively longer as the day went on and people struggled to find something good. I wish the whole thing could be done via the app! That second time we were hoping for Astro Orbiter, but ended up with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again, which was fine since we really enjoyed it the first time. After we finished at BTMR, we decided to check the wait time at Splash Mountain. It was almost 5:00, and I really wanted to ride before the sun (and the temperature) started to go down. The standby line was 70 minutes, but we decided there was no time like the present. I must say that, for the most part, the app was fairly accurate with regard to wait times, and it was sort of fun participating in that process. One of the three of us was asked to carry a wait time card to the CM at the loading area on at least half the rides we hit at MK. At just under 70 minutes, it was our turn to board. I was expecting to enjoy the ride, but I had forgotten just how much fun Splash Mountain is! It’s a classic for a reason.
We decided to try a kiosk one more time after Splash Mountain. That time the line was long and slow moving, and after finally getting to the front we left empty handed. Right afterward, I realized we had made a tactical error. We should have chosen something (anything!), and then we could have tried to change it using the app. Oh well – at that time of day I doubt we’d have scored anything good. We walked around for a while and decided to grab something to eat. We had a hard time agreeing on anything, but finally settled on Casey’s Corner in Main Street, USA. It was fine – nothing to write home about, but satisfying.
At that point we had done pretty much everything we wanted to do except for Astro Orbiter and 7DMT. We decided to start with Astro Orbiter and made our way to Tomorrowland. The standby line was only about 20 minutes – not too bad. I don’t know what it is about that ride, but I like it. DD remembered it from our last visit and enjoyed it just as much this time. Next we checked the wait time for Space Mountain, but it was just too long to wait for a second ride. I had been checking the wait time for 7DMT on the app all afternoon, and it was always somewhere between 70 and 100 minutes. I did one last check and saw that it was down to 60 minutes, so we booked over to Fantasyland. This was the one time that the app was way off, and we ended up waiting for about an hour and 25 minutes to get on that ride. On a positive note, I thought that line was pretty fun, but it did begin to wear thin after a while! Having checked the last ride off of our list, we decided to call it a night. Once again we got really lucky and caught the light show and the beginning of the fireworks on our way out. All in all, a fabulous day at MK!
Next up: Animal Kingdom!
Magic Kingdom Day, part 2 of 2
So where was I before things got cRaZy at work this week? Oh yes… It was a little before 1:00, and we had decided to go to Disney Springs for lunch. We had a 1:55-2:55 FP for Jungle Cruise, and we naively thought we had plenty of time to get to DS, look around a little, eat, and get back. After walking to the Contemporary and taking a bus to DS, we arrived at about 1:40. We had not visited Downtown Disney in 2008, so we had no idea what to expect. I’m not sure how much the area has grown over the years, but WOW – it has a lot going on! We started walking around looking for places to eat and stumbled across Portobello. DH went in to see how long the wait was, and surprisingly they were able to seat us outside right away. We enjoyed the food and the outside table, although it was a bit chilly in the shade. At about 2:15 I started to get stressed out about making it back to MK in time to use our FP. I knew there was a grace period, but I couldn’t remember whether it was 5 minutes before and 15 minutes after, or the other way around! We talked about modifying our FP using the app or just letting it expire and taking our time at DS, but we decided to try to make it. So we settled up and hightailed it for the exit.
We got off the bus at the Contemporary and power walked to the entrance of MK and then to Adventureland. It was about 3:15 when we arrived at the FP entrance to Jungle Cruise. I apologized for our tardiness and held my breath while I waited for the decision. Maybe we were lucky, but the CM let us through! We were excited to have made it, but JC was just so-so. I had forgotten how cheesy it is! The CM steering the boat (do they actually steer??) was hilarious, and that was the saving grace of the whole experience. She was so sarcastic that some of the parents looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Definitely right at the edge for Disney!
Jungle Cruise: Cheesy Fun!
After Jungle Cruise, we headed for the nearest FP kiosk to see what we could get. We were hoping for Splash Mountain or Seven Dwarfs Mine Train -- we didn’t realize that was a pipe dream at the time. We ended up settling for The Barnstormer, which was tame but fun. After that, we hit another FP kiosk to try our luck. Can I just say at this point that I found the whole system of booking FPs at kiosks odd and cumbersome? The lines got progressively longer as the day went on and people struggled to find something good. I wish the whole thing could be done via the app! That second time we were hoping for Astro Orbiter, but ended up with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again, which was fine since we really enjoyed it the first time. After we finished at BTMR, we decided to check the wait time at Splash Mountain. It was almost 5:00, and I really wanted to ride before the sun (and the temperature) started to go down. The standby line was 70 minutes, but we decided there was no time like the present. I must say that, for the most part, the app was fairly accurate with regard to wait times, and it was sort of fun participating in that process. One of the three of us was asked to carry a wait time card to the CM at the loading area on at least half the rides we hit at MK. At just under 70 minutes, it was our turn to board. I was expecting to enjoy the ride, but I had forgotten just how much fun Splash Mountain is! It’s a classic for a reason.
We decided to try a kiosk one more time after Splash Mountain. That time the line was long and slow moving, and after finally getting to the front we left empty handed. Right afterward, I realized we had made a tactical error. We should have chosen something (anything!), and then we could have tried to change it using the app. Oh well – at that time of day I doubt we’d have scored anything good. We walked around for a while and decided to grab something to eat. We had a hard time agreeing on anything, but finally settled on Casey’s Corner in Main Street, USA. It was fine – nothing to write home about, but satisfying.
At that point we had done pretty much everything we wanted to do except for Astro Orbiter and 7DMT. We decided to start with Astro Orbiter and made our way to Tomorrowland. The standby line was only about 20 minutes – not too bad. I don’t know what it is about that ride, but I like it. DD remembered it from our last visit and enjoyed it just as much this time. Next we checked the wait time for Space Mountain, but it was just too long to wait for a second ride. I had been checking the wait time for 7DMT on the app all afternoon, and it was always somewhere between 70 and 100 minutes. I did one last check and saw that it was down to 60 minutes, so we booked over to Fantasyland. This was the one time that the app was way off, and we ended up waiting for about an hour and 25 minutes to get on that ride. On a positive note, I thought that line was pretty fun, but it did begin to wear thin after a while! Having checked the last ride off of our list, we decided to call it a night. Once again we got really lucky and caught the light show and the beginning of the fireworks on our way out. All in all, a fabulous day at MK!
Next up: Animal Kingdom!
Last edited:
Skubygurl72
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2016
- Messages
- 72
We ended up having a great time. 7DMT broke for about 3 hrs was the only bad thing so we didnt end up riding it. DS didnt want to ride the coasters in the end but I did SM 2x! Love reading your report!
Enjoyed reading your trip report so far! Thanks for the detailed report with pictures and including the ups and downs of your trip. I'm a major planner so its interesting to read what a last minute would look/feel like. Something I hope to do when my kiddos are a bit older!
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