Here goes nothing! About This Page:

[SW+7]

Now that I have had time to collect my thoughts I just wanted to give some insight to our experience at WDW. Before I get started I just want to once again thank everyone for their advice before our trip. Your experiences and knowledge made it easier for us to plan. We have been to WDW 5 times since 1985 so I am, by far, not an expert but I have observed and learned in the process. I’ve never done a ‘trip report’ before so wish me luck, although I tend to ramble. A little background, it was me, my husband (we’re in our late fifties), my son and his wife, and their 2 children, grandson 13 (he’d been to WDW before) and granddaughter 6, her first trip (needless to say it was A LOT of Princess time!). As for my own personal observations and thoughts my intent is not to offend but to share what we unfold. We met some very nice people while sitting at a bar, waiting in line for a ride or a show to start.
We were in Orlando for 17 days, the first 10 days were Disney, the next weeks was a timeshare to see other Orlando attractions and rest, play golf. We did 8 days of Disney Parks. The 2 days we did not do a park was because we went to Discovery Cove (a very tiring day), and we didn’t do a park when we did the Princess Tea Party/Golf and Hoop Dee Doo Revue that evening - that day was a much needed and rather quiet one. Fortunately we had pretty good weather whenever we were out and about; yes it was very hot and humid but we were prepared for that with little battery operated fans I purchased at Wal-Mart (tip from these boards), lots of water, and the much needed mid-day break to swim and nap. We were inconvenienced by rain 2 times. Once was a monsoon while we were going to Hoop-Dee-Doo; we decided at the last minute to drive the car and take our ponchos because the skies looked awful and I’m glad we did. The short walk from the parking lot to the bus stop and then the bus stop to Pioneer Hall would have totally soaked us. When I say monsoon, I mean monsoon, it rained so hard they didn’t attempt to take ‘family photos’ beforehand. I felt badly for the folks who got caught in this downpour while they were making the trek to dinner. The next time was a steady rain while we waited for Fantasmic to begin; again we had our ponchos so we were pretty comfortable except for feeling like we were in a sauna. All other times we had that late day shower we were at dinner, watching a show or napping, I couldn’t have planned it better!

CHARACTER & OTHER MEALS: We did Chef Mickey, Breakfast and Dinner in the Castle, Akerhaus Princess Dinner, Hoop-Dee-Doo, Fantasmic Dinner at Hollywood and Vine, and Liberty Street Tavern. The 3 ladies went to the Princess Tea Party at the Grand Floridian while the men played golf. I was a little disappointed in Chef Mickey and Liberty Street Tavern food. I know this is a very personal opinion so please don’t criticize me or not go because I said we didn’t like it! Everyone needs to be their own judge and jury on all things Disney. Someone told us not to bother with Monsters Inc at MK, we thought it was hilarious!

MK: If you consolidated the hours I would say we spent 2 and a half full days there. We utilized Fast Pass and were there early in the morning and later at night so even the most popular rides were not that long of a wait. I think the longest we waited on line for anything was 45 minutes for Dumbo (go figure). We never did EMH for this park but did go the night after an EMH evening and watched the 11PM Spectromagic in Frontierland with about 20 other people; it was great, like having our own personal parade! Our DGD cannot tolerate the loud noise associated with fireworks so if you have a little one like this use ear plugs, these helped a lot.

MGM: We did one full long day there. Three of us were given ‘Fast Passes’ associated with the year of a million dreams (we were not together when this took place) but because we were so diversified with what our preferences were it worked out fine. We utilized Fast Pass for TT only (got that first thing in the am before we were given the Fast Passes) and had booked the Fantasmic Dinner Package. The only thing we missed that day was the Indiana Jones and Drew Carey Show and one child’s show (Playhouse Disney).

EPCOT: If you consolidated the hours I would say we spent 1 and a half full days there. We did one full morning, my DH (walks very fast) got us all a Fast Pass for Soarin, and caught up with us as we walked over to Test Track and waited 20 minutes for that, literally walked on to Nemo, Crush, Spaceship Earth, Image Works, after that we did Soarin and left. We returned another day for a late afternoon, had the Princess Dinner and stayed till after Illuminations. That day we first got a Fast Pass for Mission Space, walked the World Showcase, visited the Pavilions, had dinner, Mission Space and watched Illuminations and left. We did not get to see everything at EPCOT but did the ‘must dos’. My DH was pulled into a theater production of “Romeo and Edna” so that took up some time, well worth the watch I might add.

AK: All in all, this was one full day split into 2 mornings because our past experience showed us it gets REALLY hot and humid at AK as the day goes on. Our first morning (and not in this order) we got our Fast Passes for Kali River Rapids, did some of Dinoland, Kali River Rapids (everyone dressed for it!!), It’s Tough to be a Bug, Nemo the Musical (again a horrible thunder storm and they stopped the show with about 10 minutes to go), they told everyone to leave the theater and maybe 2 did, it was lightening, thundering, pouring down rain, I and 98% of the people were not going out during the storm! It was over within about 45 minutes.
The second morning we took advantage of EMH morning hours and were in commando mode, hubby got us a Fast Pass for EE while we strolled to the Safari where he met us, first Lion King show, EE, headed back to Dinoland where lo and behold all of us were given Year of a Million Dreams Fast Passes! Since we had done and seen just about everything by then we did EE again, and 3 of us redid Kali River Rapids, and Dinosaur. As we were leaving the park we gave our passes to a family of 4 with younger children, since we had used EE and Kali Fast Passes, all the others for the shows and such were more in line with little one’s taste and interest. Sharing the magic!

WATER PARKS: We did Typhoon Lagoon check out day. We had done TL and BB before and prefer TL. We took our time getting on some water rides and made it a rather relaxing day. Rode the Crush N Gusher and I’m glad I read these boards before we did, keep your backside up, those rollers hurt when your bottom gets through the inner tube! Utilize the Lazy River to get from one end of the park to the other.

OBSERVATIONS & WHAT I LEARNED:
All in all I found most people thoughtful and considerate. I’m sure some people had issue with me when I wasn’t paying attention for one reason or another but I tried my best to remember my manners.
That being said…
- If you must talk on a cell phone please do not try and push a stroller or wheelchair while doing so. I cannot count the times we were run into because of this, strollers and wheelchairs hurt when they hit your shins and ankles. Just pull over to the side for a moment to finish up the conversation. If we had not been observant there could have been serious injuries.
- If you’re in a motorized wheel chair and you have your children or grandchildren sitting on your lap, please do not let them control the vehicle, it’s dangerous to the people walking in front, behind or beside you! Again more close calls.
- Whatever you eat you’ll walk off! Have fun! eat ice cream you’re on vacation!
- Making reservations at the 180 day mark was the best thing we ever did. We made 2 adjustments after that date and happy we had our meal reservations.
- Make plans to take a break in the middle of the day, this is the one bit of advice I cannot give enough!
- Catching up on sleep and missing out on EMH is not a bad thing!
- If all you want to do is shop, stay away from Down Town Disney at night, it’s well… a nightmare! Get there when the stores open and you’ll have it to yourself for a good hour! Plus you’ll find a parking spot in the shade! If your there for the nightlife and PI then go for it!
- After reading about Heelys I almost dreaded going but surprisingly we never encountered anyone wearing them or causing other’s problems.
- No matter how much you plan and think you’re going to see everything, you won’t, always be prepared for compromise and adjustments whether it’s due to weather, personal preferences, exhaustion, and outside stimuli beyond your control. For example, rain happens and often, Fast Pass return times don’t always give you the time you want, waiting to see characters for autographs is very time consuming and hence limits the time for attractions, do the ‘Must Dos’ first and everything else as time permits. If need be, split the group up if interests are varied.
- Unless you are very good at sticking to a budget be prepared to spend more then you thought! We did pretty good but bought much more water then we planned, even though we brought our own into the parks, we still needed more!! Of course this also included COLD items such as frozen drinks, ice cream…
- I don’t remember when this became acceptable but I find it rather annoying when more then 2 people cut through lines because someone is waiting for them further ahead. I can understand 1 - 2 at most for bathroom reasons but more then that I find rude, especially when the ride only holds 2 people. Go potty before getting on a line that will take more then 30 minutes! A group of 6 kids came busting through a line on one ride, if I had had my wits about me they would have been stopped, I assure you the next time it happened (which was 10 minutes later) a group of 4 were told they could wait behind us. If we get separated in a line we always let the people behind us through and catch up with our group members that are behind us.
- I found this at Sea World more then WDW but when there are designated ‘kiddie rides’ there should be a policy that only one adult per child can ride the kiddie ride. And I’m not talking about Peter Pan, Snow White’s Great Adventure or Pooh, I’m talking about a genuine kiddie ride. We must have waited an hour to ride one thing because of these factors, a group of teenagers who thought it would be fun to ride and more then 3 and up to 5 adults getting on with one child, I’m sorry but this is a pet peeve of mine! Little ones can’t go on rides that you have to be 55”+ so the reverse should be true, anyone over 48” needs to be accompanied by a child and only one adult per. Sorry just a little venting here. Maybe all kids under a certain height should be able to “Fast Pass” through the line with one adult and all other ‘adults’ have to wait, I don’t know, it just seems a little unfair that they are waiting longer in the heat for a few of the rides they can go on when older, taller people have more options.
So there you have our great adventure to WDW. We had a wonderful time, yes everyone wants to return but our finances are such that it is a trip we make once every 5 years or so. Please don’t take anything I mentioned personally, it is not my intent to throw stones, pass judgment, and hurt feelings, merely observations we had and discussed.
Again, I want to thank everyone on this board for helping me plan and answering my inane questions. I’ll pop in every now and again just to relive some of the magic and if I can offer advice I will, but you are the experts!
Hope Everyone Enjoys The Rest of Their Summer! Take Care
SW+7

[lfredsbo]

It sounds like you did have a wonderful time! Great with the Dream Fast Passes - we are hoping to get some our next trip - which is a surprise for DD (Who still believes she is visiting Wash DC!!!). Don't feel bad about posting your feelings/opinions on food, etc - that's what we are all here for - to hear others!!!

Thanks for sharing!

[jimmymac]

Excellent TR. I especially enjoyed your observations at the end. Nicely done

[RobDVC]

Very interesting observations.
Glad you had a good experience in the parks.

[Momof4gr8boys]

Very nice! I am glad you had such a great time. I think you had some great comments/tips/ideas.

[Colexis Mom]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us I'm glad you got some of the YOMD things And overall had a great time with your family

[SouthernBelle]

Great TR, great comments and tips. How wonderful that you got the FP's A little Disney Magic goes a long way......

[ilovedisney0_0]

ITA with you about the whole cell phone when pushing a stroller thing. I have had my ankles bunged up so hard, they were actually bleeding. People can be rude, and oblivious. Otherwise, though, it sounds like you had a wonderful time! How cool that you all got Dream FP's!!!

[Suzie&Jay]

Glad you had a good time I agree with the line cutting...it drives me nuts!

[JaimeandChad]

Glad you had a great time and thanks for sharing!

[princessesrule]

I appreciate your sharing. I am glad you had a great time. I am looking forward to my trip!

Thanks for your observations.

[jpod523]

TWO dream fast passes!! congrats! i didn't get anywhere near getting one last time...

[stefffe]

sounds like you guys had a gret time thanks for sharing

[ArielsMomto2]

Great trip report. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[disneydani]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and observations!

danielle