Here is how it went:
Wednesday 13th:
My 9yo DD and I are waiting and relaxing on the lobby of the Grand Floridian Hotel, waiting for our 4:20 reservation into 1900 Park Fare dinner with Cindy and friends. We found a nice plush sofa, and we are resting there after a morning spent in Epcot. Our plan is to have our early dinner, and then head down to the MK where is EEMH that night.
At 3:05pm I received this enticing email from DVC:
This sounds a lot like EEMH, but I'm intrigued and decided to press the SIGN UP button, and we are in. I received a confirmation email noticing that if I have a magic band I didn't need to go to guess services for our tickets and that we can get in the park as early as 7pm on thursday. We are all set.
We did go to magic kingdom that night but by 8pm it was pouring rain really hard and our shoes were soaked, so we decided to skip the EEMH and go back to the hotel, and try our luck at the mine train the next day instead of during EEMH. I would've liked to be able to compare the crowds level of EEMH on weds against the after hour party on thursday, but we were so miserable in the rain it made no sense.
I put out our stuff to dry in the villa's dryer and watch a netflix movie that night.
Thursday 14th:
We spent our morning at Hollywood studios, had fast passes for ToT and RaRC. It was my 9 yo first time there and she loved her first inverted coaster. We had a fast pass for SW, but we didn't really needed it as it was basically walk in. We ended up riding 3 times trying to see if we had a different second planet, but it was Tatooine everytime.
We had our lunch at Sci Fi Dinner and headed back to the hotel around 3pm. We spent the afternoon watching the animals in our villa in AKLKV. It was drizzling for most of the afternoon. I was getting worried that it was going to be a wash out again that night. But we were lucky that it never rained hard, just a little drizzle. The animals seamed happy with the weather as they were very active. We actually had a quick lesson in how to save an endangered species from the scimitar horned oryxes doing the baby dance right there in front of the kids LOL. Oh well.
I was able to make reservations for the Crystal Palace at 7:30, but since it was raining I was lucky enough to be able to change it to 9 pm. That worked out pretty good for us.
We left AKLKV at 8pm. The driver drop us off (the 2 of us and another couple) at the first bus stop, closest to the entrance. Thanks Disney Transportation! Still drizzling.
The guess service will call had a large line of people picking up their tickets for the party. After the bag check we go directly to the turnstile with the special event sign on it. There is no line. The CM tells me I first need to pick up my tickets. I explained I was directed to go with my magic band directly to the entrance, and he looks at me as he doesn't get it, but tells me to try it anyway. It works!! We are giving a lanyard with a list of all the attractions that will be open during the party. We put it away for now and head to the crystal palace. After our dinner with Pooh and friends, it's time for the fireworks. It just happened that one of the benches of the crystal palace is empty, so we sit there and watch the fireworks from the most amazing location, dry and sitting with absolutely no obstruction in front of you. WOW!! We were running very lucky that night.
By 10:30 as people is leaving the park, we pull our lanyards out and start walking towards liberty square. We want to start with the haunted mansion and walk our way towards fantasy land. HM is a walk in. There is only 20 more people or so in our stretching room.
It's not 11 yet by the time we reach fantasy land, and the lines for the 3 must-do attractions for us there (Mine train, Peter pan and ana & elsa M&G) are still over 20 min long, so we decided to go the opposite way, walk all the way to goofy coaster (rode it 3 times in a row), dumbo (only ones there), Under the sea - nobody there but us, and it was finally time for mine train, the posted time was 10 min, but the time was mostly spent walking through the stand by queue area, which is quite large. I would say it was 6-7 min from the time we started walking to the time we boarded our train.
We rode one more time immediately after, same situation. From there we went to Elsa & Anna. Posted time said 5 min, but it was closer to 15. We had 2 families in front of us when we got there, both large (6 people or more), so it took a little while to go through. Overall, it was much faster than going through with a fastpass.
The other princesses were Cindy and Rapunzel. We went directly to the room and had 2 small groups in front of us, so 5 min wait overall.
After that, we rode our 3rd must do, Peter Pan. I don't usually use a fastpass for this and there is no way I will ever do more than a 10 min wait for this ride, so it has actually being quite a while since the last time we went there, to the point that my 9yo that has being to disney at least 8 times in her life does not remember ever going on it LOL! Again, this is a walk in attraction. It took us a little while to get there as it was both of us first time going through the standby queue. It was so pretty we had to stop to look at some of the details and play with the butterfly projection.
With PP done, we start the long way down adventure land towards BTM. It was still drizzling. Along the way the CM working the carts were offering the ice cream, but we were so full from our dinner, all we got was water and a coke. There were a few people there walking along with us, but to me the whole park looked quite empty at this point. It was around 12:45pm, it was raining lightly and temp was in the high 60.
Splash mountain was open, but only a few boats came down with people on them. Since we had done it on our first day this visit and I didn't want to get soaked again, we pass it on and went straight to BTMR. There were a few people there, but you could select any car you wanted. There was a little line actually for people that wanted to ride the first and last row, so we settled on the middle in hopes we could ride again without getting out. The ride with rain, even if it is little is not as fun, as the drops hit you in the face. So we rode only once and decided to go somewhere drier, like PoC. There is a few people there, but no lines, you can go directly to the boat. From there, Jungle Cruise, directly to the boat with a few others.
DD sees the Aladdin ride and the bored CM waiting for someone to get on it. She convinces me to go for it, we are on our way out anyway, let's get it over with. CM are happy to see us!! It's being quiet for them tonight apparently. So we go up and down, and around. At the end, CM said "please remain seated if you want to ride again" DD asks to please, one more time (what does she like so much about this ride anyway?) Ok, one more time!! By the time we come down the second time there is actually people in line to get in. DD is happy to have attracted customers to the bored CM. Good for them!!
After this, I though I was done. It's around 1:30 pm, but instead of going for the exit, we decided to give the mine train one more ride before we go. This is the one ride that we had only done once before this night, so we set up our hoodies one more time and quickly make a left turn at the restrooms connecting adventure land with liberty square and into fantasyland. By now they are using the fastpass line instead of the standby. We want to ride the first row, and are allowed to do so. It's still raining lightly, but this train does not go as fast as BTMR, so it's not as uncomfortable.
We say our goodbyes to fantasyland and head towards the castle to exit the park. I think this is the first time EVER that I walk under the castle tunnels with no one there. How surreal! We stop to look at the mosaics. I had never looked at them before like this, being able to see then whole, one by one.
As we exit the tunnels, a wet main street is in front of us, all of it's lights are on, a few people are on it's way out or taking pictures, there are photo pass people there so we take one last picture before heading out. Our hair is wet and humidity has taken its course on it, but I don't really have a night picture in front of the castle on an almost empty main street, so we go for it.
We are almost out when we see that the line for magician mickey is only 5 min!! So we look at each other and say, it's now or never. Unfortunately, there was some kind of problem with the M&G and the line wasn't moving. We waited 10 min and nothing happened. DD was already in shutdown mode and we needed to be at the magical express bus by 8am, so we decided to just go. It would be some other time talking mickey!!
All the resort buses were in the front lines. They will simply ask you what resort were you headed and they will take you, the guy did not even waited to see if anyone else was coming.
By 2:45 we were in bed, tired, but satisfied.
I wish I could compare this to EEMH the night before. I've done EEMH before, but the rides we want to do always have long lines anyway (and long for me is anything over 20min), even if the rest of the park is walk on. Please let me know if any of you went to EEMH on Weds April 13th. I want to know how this event compares in the same week in terms of wait times .
I'm glad I was able to take advantage of this one perk of DVC while we were there, as it looks like the rest of the events fall on dates that we will not be able to go.
Would I pay for this myself? Most surely not, as we go frequently enough that we don't need to do all the rides in one day and had so far being able to use fastpass+ effectively, but I see how this can be of value for anyone with limited time, or little patience for the crowds, staying off site maybe.
Most of the people we saw were adults and older kids. There were a few people with younger kids in strollers but by 12:30 there were very little of them. I wonder if they were also DVC members that decided to leave after it started raining.
Please, share your thoughts, tell me if you were there and had a different experience. We didn't do tomorroland as we worked our way through it the day before, so I don't know what the wait times were there, although I assume it was also walk in.
Thanks for reading!
Wednesday 13th:
My 9yo DD and I are waiting and relaxing on the lobby of the Grand Floridian Hotel, waiting for our 4:20 reservation into 1900 Park Fare dinner with Cindy and friends. We found a nice plush sofa, and we are resting there after a morning spent in Epcot. Our plan is to have our early dinner, and then head down to the MK where is EEMH that night.
At 3:05pm I received this enticing email from DVC:
"Enjoy complimentary admission to the new Disney After Hours special event at Magic Kingdom® Park tomorrow, April 14".
We did go to magic kingdom that night but by 8pm it was pouring rain really hard and our shoes were soaked, so we decided to skip the EEMH and go back to the hotel, and try our luck at the mine train the next day instead of during EEMH. I would've liked to be able to compare the crowds level of EEMH on weds against the after hour party on thursday, but we were so miserable in the rain it made no sense.
I put out our stuff to dry in the villa's dryer and watch a netflix movie that night.
Thursday 14th:
We spent our morning at Hollywood studios, had fast passes for ToT and RaRC. It was my 9 yo first time there and she loved her first inverted coaster. We had a fast pass for SW, but we didn't really needed it as it was basically walk in. We ended up riding 3 times trying to see if we had a different second planet, but it was Tatooine everytime.
We had our lunch at Sci Fi Dinner and headed back to the hotel around 3pm. We spent the afternoon watching the animals in our villa in AKLKV. It was drizzling for most of the afternoon. I was getting worried that it was going to be a wash out again that night. But we were lucky that it never rained hard, just a little drizzle. The animals seamed happy with the weather as they were very active. We actually had a quick lesson in how to save an endangered species from the scimitar horned oryxes doing the baby dance right there in front of the kids LOL. Oh well.
I was able to make reservations for the Crystal Palace at 7:30, but since it was raining I was lucky enough to be able to change it to 9 pm. That worked out pretty good for us.
We left AKLKV at 8pm. The driver drop us off (the 2 of us and another couple) at the first bus stop, closest to the entrance. Thanks Disney Transportation! Still drizzling.
The guess service will call had a large line of people picking up their tickets for the party. After the bag check we go directly to the turnstile with the special event sign on it. There is no line. The CM tells me I first need to pick up my tickets. I explained I was directed to go with my magic band directly to the entrance, and he looks at me as he doesn't get it, but tells me to try it anyway. It works!! We are giving a lanyard with a list of all the attractions that will be open during the party. We put it away for now and head to the crystal palace. After our dinner with Pooh and friends, it's time for the fireworks. It just happened that one of the benches of the crystal palace is empty, so we sit there and watch the fireworks from the most amazing location, dry and sitting with absolutely no obstruction in front of you. WOW!! We were running very lucky that night.
By 10:30 as people is leaving the park, we pull our lanyards out and start walking towards liberty square. We want to start with the haunted mansion and walk our way towards fantasy land. HM is a walk in. There is only 20 more people or so in our stretching room.
It's not 11 yet by the time we reach fantasy land, and the lines for the 3 must-do attractions for us there (Mine train, Peter pan and ana & elsa M&G) are still over 20 min long, so we decided to go the opposite way, walk all the way to goofy coaster (rode it 3 times in a row), dumbo (only ones there), Under the sea - nobody there but us, and it was finally time for mine train, the posted time was 10 min, but the time was mostly spent walking through the stand by queue area, which is quite large. I would say it was 6-7 min from the time we started walking to the time we boarded our train.
We rode one more time immediately after, same situation. From there we went to Elsa & Anna. Posted time said 5 min, but it was closer to 15. We had 2 families in front of us when we got there, both large (6 people or more), so it took a little while to go through. Overall, it was much faster than going through with a fastpass.
The other princesses were Cindy and Rapunzel. We went directly to the room and had 2 small groups in front of us, so 5 min wait overall.
After that, we rode our 3rd must do, Peter Pan. I don't usually use a fastpass for this and there is no way I will ever do more than a 10 min wait for this ride, so it has actually being quite a while since the last time we went there, to the point that my 9yo that has being to disney at least 8 times in her life does not remember ever going on it LOL! Again, this is a walk in attraction. It took us a little while to get there as it was both of us first time going through the standby queue. It was so pretty we had to stop to look at some of the details and play with the butterfly projection.
With PP done, we start the long way down adventure land towards BTM. It was still drizzling. Along the way the CM working the carts were offering the ice cream, but we were so full from our dinner, all we got was water and a coke. There were a few people there walking along with us, but to me the whole park looked quite empty at this point. It was around 12:45pm, it was raining lightly and temp was in the high 60.
Splash mountain was open, but only a few boats came down with people on them. Since we had done it on our first day this visit and I didn't want to get soaked again, we pass it on and went straight to BTMR. There were a few people there, but you could select any car you wanted. There was a little line actually for people that wanted to ride the first and last row, so we settled on the middle in hopes we could ride again without getting out. The ride with rain, even if it is little is not as fun, as the drops hit you in the face. So we rode only once and decided to go somewhere drier, like PoC. There is a few people there, but no lines, you can go directly to the boat. From there, Jungle Cruise, directly to the boat with a few others.
DD sees the Aladdin ride and the bored CM waiting for someone to get on it. She convinces me to go for it, we are on our way out anyway, let's get it over with. CM are happy to see us!! It's being quiet for them tonight apparently. So we go up and down, and around. At the end, CM said "please remain seated if you want to ride again" DD asks to please, one more time (what does she like so much about this ride anyway?) Ok, one more time!! By the time we come down the second time there is actually people in line to get in. DD is happy to have attracted customers to the bored CM. Good for them!!
After this, I though I was done. It's around 1:30 pm, but instead of going for the exit, we decided to give the mine train one more ride before we go. This is the one ride that we had only done once before this night, so we set up our hoodies one more time and quickly make a left turn at the restrooms connecting adventure land with liberty square and into fantasyland. By now they are using the fastpass line instead of the standby. We want to ride the first row, and are allowed to do so. It's still raining lightly, but this train does not go as fast as BTMR, so it's not as uncomfortable.
We say our goodbyes to fantasyland and head towards the castle to exit the park. I think this is the first time EVER that I walk under the castle tunnels with no one there. How surreal! We stop to look at the mosaics. I had never looked at them before like this, being able to see then whole, one by one.
As we exit the tunnels, a wet main street is in front of us, all of it's lights are on, a few people are on it's way out or taking pictures, there are photo pass people there so we take one last picture before heading out. Our hair is wet and humidity has taken its course on it, but I don't really have a night picture in front of the castle on an almost empty main street, so we go for it.
We are almost out when we see that the line for magician mickey is only 5 min!! So we look at each other and say, it's now or never. Unfortunately, there was some kind of problem with the M&G and the line wasn't moving. We waited 10 min and nothing happened. DD was already in shutdown mode and we needed to be at the magical express bus by 8am, so we decided to just go. It would be some other time talking mickey!!
All the resort buses were in the front lines. They will simply ask you what resort were you headed and they will take you, the guy did not even waited to see if anyone else was coming.
By 2:45 we were in bed, tired, but satisfied.
I wish I could compare this to EEMH the night before. I've done EEMH before, but the rides we want to do always have long lines anyway (and long for me is anything over 20min), even if the rest of the park is walk on. Please let me know if any of you went to EEMH on Weds April 13th. I want to know how this event compares in the same week in terms of wait times .
I'm glad I was able to take advantage of this one perk of DVC while we were there, as it looks like the rest of the events fall on dates that we will not be able to go.
Would I pay for this myself? Most surely not, as we go frequently enough that we don't need to do all the rides in one day and had so far being able to use fastpass+ effectively, but I see how this can be of value for anyone with limited time, or little patience for the crowds, staying off site maybe.
Most of the people we saw were adults and older kids. There were a few people with younger kids in strollers but by 12:30 there were very little of them. I wonder if they were also DVC members that decided to leave after it started raining.
Please, share your thoughts, tell me if you were there and had a different experience. We didn't do tomorroland as we worked our way through it the day before, so I don't know what the wait times were there, although I assume it was also walk in.
Thanks for reading!
Bill
