First time trip reporter, just back from an 8 day trip to WDW.
Background - Wife and I have roughly 8 trips total to WDW (we are mid-30's), our daughter has 3 trips to her credit, she is 3. My parents came with us, they have been to WDW one other time, 30 years ago when I was a child. I'm going to stick to the most notables for this trip and use a Magic, Mundane, and Misery system.
Flight - Frontier - Misery
We flew Frontier, its our local carrier since we fly out of Denver, and they fly a lot to Orlando.
-Flight out was rescheduled to midnight.
-Boarding system failed and boarding took 40 extra minutes.
-Landed and we had no gate available for 40 minutes.
-Luggage wasn't available for yet another 40 minutes after landing... let's just say we were all incredibly tired.
-The flight back we waiting for 20 minutes for additional supplied.
-Also had a minor (~10 minute) delay as the ground crew wasn't at our landing.
Verdict - Predictably crappy with Frontier, but this was the cheapest option for us by $1200.
Car Rental - Avis - Magic
Landed, got to Avis as Preferred. Walked straight to the cars.
-They upgraded us to a great Jeep and fully loaded Ford Taurus.
-The week of each was only $300 per car, not bad.
-Bonus Avis had someone waiting to help with our ridiculous amount of luggage on the flight home.
Verdict - Avis wins again, love the easy access to the rental cars and the quick return.
Hotel - Cabana Bay - Magic
This place is amazing. This is our second stay there.
-Tower suite, $130/night
-Used the beach and pool, which is fantastic
-Kidding splash area was just okay
-Starbucks!!!!
-The food court is fantastic, we get the steak several nights while we are there, but everything is great.
-The rooms have a fridge and lots of room.
-The beds and pillows are so fluffy!
Verdict - We have stayed at Lake Buena Vista, Regal Sun, French Quarter, and Riverside. I have no idea how Disney can compete, and Riverside is one of our favorite places to stay ever. But it is twice the price, the beds suck (even in the new rooms), and they have way less amenities. This place will be our go to until they start raising the prices beyond the Disney moderates.
Length of Stay Drink Cups - Mundane
These seem like a great deal and they really could be. But with ice they hold approximately 8 ounces (just a guess), and the drink machines were always out of order, or produced crappy mixes, or would not work and then we had to wait 2 minutes to try again. All in all they were a pain in the butt we stopped using quickly.
Verdict - If you don't mind carrying them around and use them for ICEE's probably an okay deal, otherwise they were a hassle.
New (to us) Rides - Mixed Bag
One of the things that defines our Disney experience is we pretty much never wait more than 20 minutes for a ride. We like walking around, eating, and getting on any ride. But each trip we try a few new ones we skipped, or never had a chance due to wait.
-Gringot's was amazing. Really great blend of a coaster and screens. I would have preferred more coaster sections. And having to walk up stairs and then down stairs to load and get off seemed like poor design. But that is nit picky. One of my new favorites.
-Simpson's ride. Really meh. I love the Simpsons but this was just a mid-level motion sim. I did get some joy from seeing the Simpsons, but this ride just didn't do it for me. The preshow was the best thing.
-Country Bear Jamboree. My dad made us ride this... the AC was okay...
It was kinda cute and my daughter liked it, but I know why we skipped it.
-Tiki Room. My dad also made us ride this one. I actually liked it a lot in a really old-school WDW kind of way. It was lame, but fun lame. Plus this also has great AC.
-Astro Orbiter. Wow this was way more intense than I thought it would be. If you crank that thing all the way up you get some good G's. I want to do this at night.
-Walt Disney Railroad. Another dad request. It was fine, it was a train
-Toy Story Midway Mania. Great little ride. Never rode it because of the wait. I still wouldn't wait for it any longer than 20-30 but it was fun.
Pandora - Mundane
I think the area is really well done, but due to timing we didn't get to see it at night. And we never had a fastpass line up for us. We did buy the flying pet and it is fantastic! One interesting thing, the Dino-Land was packed. We usually went there to get away from crowds and get a few rides in, but the triceratops spin was 50 minutes! Looks like it drove more traffic through the whole park.
Verdict - Looks promising, going to wait until crowds die down.
Mobile Ordering - Magic
Mobile ordering is amazing!!!! I would pass around the app, hit the order button and tell the app we were ready when we were about 5 minutes out. Worked great every time. We did it at Casey's, Columbia Harbor House, Deluxe Burger (yum) and Pinocchio's. All had crazy lines and we just walked right in and picked up foot. In one case, I ordered one hotdog for my daughter at the entrance, walked to Casey's, no wait picked up the order. Then ordered Columbia Harbor House, got there, went straight to pickup and walked upstairs. So amazing!
Verdict - I feel terrible but I hope people don't find out about this
Table Service Dining - Magic
We had two table service meals. Yak & Yeti and Chef Mickey's. We have had both before and they didn't disappoint. Yak & Yeti is an amazing 11am ADR. It is empty, quiet, and you get out before the rush. All of the food was good, and since it is a Laundry's we get our 10% points with the Laundry's card, plus we always have gift cards for their chains. Chef Mickey's was also great, though we had some potty using issues that interrupted the flow of characters. But they were great making sure we saw them all. I forgot how expensive it is though, I thought it was like $35, $50 was a lot for the lack of variety of food, though the quality was good. But you are paying for all that great character interaction. And a 6pm reservation on a party night resulted in no one being there and we walked right in.
I did have some problems with ADR's, Fastpass was down about half of a day at one point, and Chef Mickey's didn't have our reservation, but they let us in given the mobile app had our confirmation.
Verdict - I like spontaneity and really don't like how much dinner reservations dictate plans, but the meals were good. Though I think mobile ordering is going to negate ADR's for me.
Disney Springs - Magic
Finally the magic is back at Downtown Disney! This was such a pleasant surprise given the construction and parking hell it has been for several years. The new areas were great. I still feel like it needs more shade, but overall the new improvements are great. Parking and options abound. Though West side needs some love.
Verdict - A huge step forward.
Memento More Photos - Magic
Took maybe 20 minutes to do 3 photos. An hour later we picked them up and they are fantastic. $20 / photo was well spent as these are the highlight of our souvenirs. They are going up right away for Halloween!
Verdict - Absolutely amazing!
Universal Photo Pass - Misery
We love photo pass and memory maker. We have AP's so luckily we get it for free, but we use to buy it. For reference this trip we had 280 photos and that was a low number. We use the heck out of this thing. But Universal's yearly equivalent makes no sense. We paid $150 for this thing and only took 19 photos, of those I can only download 3. Ride photos aren't included, and for some reason other photos are not working. Contacting support has resulted in them barely helping. This is $150 down the drain. Universal should be able to do a lot better than use Amazing Photos.
Verdict - They can do better... they should do better.
Mickey's Not So Scary - Mundane
First let me be clear, I love this party. But a couple of things held it back this year for me. I think this is our third year and it was the most crowded we have seen. I don't know if they are selling more tickets but man was it packed. We did our usual of riding first and then doing the activities when it was winding down but the crowds made it tough. Still we had a great time, but it hasn't changed much.
Verdict - Still fun, but just a little stale.
Valet at the Contemporary - Magic
From other posts I read this might be controversial, but on our last night we had a 6pm ADR at Chef Mickey's so we parked at the Contemporary all day with valet. When we got there, there were two guards, one training the other. The trainee asked if I was a guest and I said I wanted to valet. He started to ask why and the trainer told him that since I want to valet they don't ask where I am going or if I am a guest and to take my name down and let me through. Easy peasy. It made the day fantastic, for about $31 after tip.
Verdict - So helpful in our final day.
Food and Wine - Magic
Man I love food and wine. I could walk around Epcot World Showcase late at night all year long for food and wine. Just an amazing event all around.
Verdict - This one event makes this time of year our favorite.
Transportation, Logistics, Shade, and Crowds - Misery
First, I hate Disney transportation. I rent a car specifically because taking their buses use to make our visits miserable. My main gripe is that Disney seems to be running really tight on the operations side. Basically staffing just enough to keep up. Which means lines for everything. Wait times for our favorites, pirates and haunted mansion hovered between 30 and 45 the entire time we were there. Pre-fastpass these were walkons this time of year. I get that this is good for Disney, spreading lines more evenly. But we had a lot of problems with fastpass and getting anything but the oldest rides was difficult. I also don't like the windows. They should allow some overlap.
It was also very hot our first few days, which always makes me wonder why Disney doesn't build more shade. My favorite areas in Magic Kingdom are in Adventureland where you can sit outside and still get some AC and a breeze, but there just aren't many areas like this. Or at least enough of them. They should look at how great Diagon Alley is at using the environment to create shade.
I also had the unfortunately luck of being that guy yelling at someone late at night in magic kingdom. A lady cut us off while we were trying to get onto the tram to the parking lot and then yelled at me that I was in the wrong lane. Given she had 10 people with her it was pretty clear she had done the math and didn't want to get separated. Had she asked we would have made it work, but she just knocked into us, blocked up while the family got on, and yelled at us... I may have called her an ******... not my proudest moment, but man the magic kingdom late night transportation system sucks all the fun out of a good day.
Also I want to mention, other than this interaction, we had some great interactions with other guests. In fact everyone seemed to be in a great mood overall. I can't think of any other issues. And multiple times other guests helped us, or we helped them. My wife had my daughter give our princess crowns and pirate treasure bags, and everyone loved it. Our daughter thought that was the best thing in the world. In general everyone was fantastic!
Verdict - Disney should invest more in transportation.
Premium Parking - Mundane
The first few days we parked in the normal lots. In general they were further away than ever. For Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom we parked all the way in the back of one of the farthest lots. There wasn't much change of walking. The last three days we paid the premium parking charge. In general I hate that it exists, but the parking was usually really good. The one grip I have is we paid for premium a time or two later in the day and by then they were parking general parking pretty close. But obviously still charged us, and didn't give us a heads up that we might not be saving any time. I really wish they wouldn't do it, but given my hatred of their transportation I will probably pay it...
Verdict - It worked okay, but costs too much.
Overall Rating - Magic
We had a great time overall. Yes, sometimes we get cranky about their operations or transportation, or crowds. But I am already planning another trip! Aren't we always planning another trip.
I will update this cause I am sure I forgot something, but feel free to ask questions.
edit 1 - Updated to include premium parking.
edit 2 - Added table service.
edit 3 - Pandora.
PS (If anyone knows if we can do something with Very Merry Christmas Party tickets we can't use let me know, I don't understand if they are tied to me or not.)
Background - Wife and I have roughly 8 trips total to WDW (we are mid-30's), our daughter has 3 trips to her credit, she is 3. My parents came with us, they have been to WDW one other time, 30 years ago when I was a child. I'm going to stick to the most notables for this trip and use a Magic, Mundane, and Misery system.
Flight - Frontier - Misery
We flew Frontier, its our local carrier since we fly out of Denver, and they fly a lot to Orlando.
-Flight out was rescheduled to midnight.
-Boarding system failed and boarding took 40 extra minutes.
-Landed and we had no gate available for 40 minutes.
-Luggage wasn't available for yet another 40 minutes after landing... let's just say we were all incredibly tired.
-The flight back we waiting for 20 minutes for additional supplied.
-Also had a minor (~10 minute) delay as the ground crew wasn't at our landing.
Verdict - Predictably crappy with Frontier, but this was the cheapest option for us by $1200.
Car Rental - Avis - Magic
Landed, got to Avis as Preferred. Walked straight to the cars.
-They upgraded us to a great Jeep and fully loaded Ford Taurus.
-The week of each was only $300 per car, not bad.
-Bonus Avis had someone waiting to help with our ridiculous amount of luggage on the flight home.
Verdict - Avis wins again, love the easy access to the rental cars and the quick return.
Hotel - Cabana Bay - Magic
This place is amazing. This is our second stay there.
-Tower suite, $130/night
-Used the beach and pool, which is fantastic
-Kidding splash area was just okay
-Starbucks!!!!
-The food court is fantastic, we get the steak several nights while we are there, but everything is great.
-The rooms have a fridge and lots of room.
-The beds and pillows are so fluffy!
Verdict - We have stayed at Lake Buena Vista, Regal Sun, French Quarter, and Riverside. I have no idea how Disney can compete, and Riverside is one of our favorite places to stay ever. But it is twice the price, the beds suck (even in the new rooms), and they have way less amenities. This place will be our go to until they start raising the prices beyond the Disney moderates.
Length of Stay Drink Cups - Mundane
These seem like a great deal and they really could be. But with ice they hold approximately 8 ounces (just a guess), and the drink machines were always out of order, or produced crappy mixes, or would not work and then we had to wait 2 minutes to try again. All in all they were a pain in the butt we stopped using quickly.
Verdict - If you don't mind carrying them around and use them for ICEE's probably an okay deal, otherwise they were a hassle.
New (to us) Rides - Mixed Bag
One of the things that defines our Disney experience is we pretty much never wait more than 20 minutes for a ride. We like walking around, eating, and getting on any ride. But each trip we try a few new ones we skipped, or never had a chance due to wait.
-Gringot's was amazing. Really great blend of a coaster and screens. I would have preferred more coaster sections. And having to walk up stairs and then down stairs to load and get off seemed like poor design. But that is nit picky. One of my new favorites.
-Simpson's ride. Really meh. I love the Simpsons but this was just a mid-level motion sim. I did get some joy from seeing the Simpsons, but this ride just didn't do it for me. The preshow was the best thing.
-Country Bear Jamboree. My dad made us ride this... the AC was okay...
It was kinda cute and my daughter liked it, but I know why we skipped it.-Tiki Room. My dad also made us ride this one. I actually liked it a lot in a really old-school WDW kind of way. It was lame, but fun lame. Plus this also has great AC.
-Astro Orbiter. Wow this was way more intense than I thought it would be. If you crank that thing all the way up you get some good G's. I want to do this at night.
-Walt Disney Railroad. Another dad request. It was fine, it was a train
-Toy Story Midway Mania. Great little ride. Never rode it because of the wait. I still wouldn't wait for it any longer than 20-30 but it was fun.
Pandora - Mundane
I think the area is really well done, but due to timing we didn't get to see it at night. And we never had a fastpass line up for us. We did buy the flying pet and it is fantastic! One interesting thing, the Dino-Land was packed. We usually went there to get away from crowds and get a few rides in, but the triceratops spin was 50 minutes! Looks like it drove more traffic through the whole park.
Verdict - Looks promising, going to wait until crowds die down.
Mobile Ordering - Magic
Mobile ordering is amazing!!!! I would pass around the app, hit the order button and tell the app we were ready when we were about 5 minutes out. Worked great every time. We did it at Casey's, Columbia Harbor House, Deluxe Burger (yum) and Pinocchio's. All had crazy lines and we just walked right in and picked up foot. In one case, I ordered one hotdog for my daughter at the entrance, walked to Casey's, no wait picked up the order. Then ordered Columbia Harbor House, got there, went straight to pickup and walked upstairs. So amazing!
Verdict - I feel terrible but I hope people don't find out about this
Table Service Dining - Magic
We had two table service meals. Yak & Yeti and Chef Mickey's. We have had both before and they didn't disappoint. Yak & Yeti is an amazing 11am ADR. It is empty, quiet, and you get out before the rush. All of the food was good, and since it is a Laundry's we get our 10% points with the Laundry's card, plus we always have gift cards for their chains. Chef Mickey's was also great, though we had some potty using issues that interrupted the flow of characters. But they were great making sure we saw them all. I forgot how expensive it is though, I thought it was like $35, $50 was a lot for the lack of variety of food, though the quality was good. But you are paying for all that great character interaction. And a 6pm reservation on a party night resulted in no one being there and we walked right in.
I did have some problems with ADR's, Fastpass was down about half of a day at one point, and Chef Mickey's didn't have our reservation, but they let us in given the mobile app had our confirmation.
Verdict - I like spontaneity and really don't like how much dinner reservations dictate plans, but the meals were good. Though I think mobile ordering is going to negate ADR's for me.
Disney Springs - Magic
Finally the magic is back at Downtown Disney! This was such a pleasant surprise given the construction and parking hell it has been for several years. The new areas were great. I still feel like it needs more shade, but overall the new improvements are great. Parking and options abound. Though West side needs some love.
Verdict - A huge step forward.
Memento More Photos - Magic
Took maybe 20 minutes to do 3 photos. An hour later we picked them up and they are fantastic. $20 / photo was well spent as these are the highlight of our souvenirs. They are going up right away for Halloween!
Verdict - Absolutely amazing!
Universal Photo Pass - Misery
We love photo pass and memory maker. We have AP's so luckily we get it for free, but we use to buy it. For reference this trip we had 280 photos and that was a low number. We use the heck out of this thing. But Universal's yearly equivalent makes no sense. We paid $150 for this thing and only took 19 photos, of those I can only download 3. Ride photos aren't included, and for some reason other photos are not working. Contacting support has resulted in them barely helping. This is $150 down the drain. Universal should be able to do a lot better than use Amazing Photos.
Verdict - They can do better... they should do better.
Mickey's Not So Scary - Mundane
First let me be clear, I love this party. But a couple of things held it back this year for me. I think this is our third year and it was the most crowded we have seen. I don't know if they are selling more tickets but man was it packed. We did our usual of riding first and then doing the activities when it was winding down but the crowds made it tough. Still we had a great time, but it hasn't changed much.
Verdict - Still fun, but just a little stale.
Valet at the Contemporary - Magic
From other posts I read this might be controversial, but on our last night we had a 6pm ADR at Chef Mickey's so we parked at the Contemporary all day with valet. When we got there, there were two guards, one training the other. The trainee asked if I was a guest and I said I wanted to valet. He started to ask why and the trainer told him that since I want to valet they don't ask where I am going or if I am a guest and to take my name down and let me through. Easy peasy. It made the day fantastic, for about $31 after tip.
Verdict - So helpful in our final day.
Food and Wine - Magic
Man I love food and wine. I could walk around Epcot World Showcase late at night all year long for food and wine. Just an amazing event all around.
Verdict - This one event makes this time of year our favorite.
Transportation, Logistics, Shade, and Crowds - Misery
First, I hate Disney transportation. I rent a car specifically because taking their buses use to make our visits miserable. My main gripe is that Disney seems to be running really tight on the operations side. Basically staffing just enough to keep up. Which means lines for everything. Wait times for our favorites, pirates and haunted mansion hovered between 30 and 45 the entire time we were there. Pre-fastpass these were walkons this time of year. I get that this is good for Disney, spreading lines more evenly. But we had a lot of problems with fastpass and getting anything but the oldest rides was difficult. I also don't like the windows. They should allow some overlap.
It was also very hot our first few days, which always makes me wonder why Disney doesn't build more shade. My favorite areas in Magic Kingdom are in Adventureland where you can sit outside and still get some AC and a breeze, but there just aren't many areas like this. Or at least enough of them. They should look at how great Diagon Alley is at using the environment to create shade.
I also had the unfortunately luck of being that guy yelling at someone late at night in magic kingdom. A lady cut us off while we were trying to get onto the tram to the parking lot and then yelled at me that I was in the wrong lane. Given she had 10 people with her it was pretty clear she had done the math and didn't want to get separated. Had she asked we would have made it work, but she just knocked into us, blocked up while the family got on, and yelled at us... I may have called her an ******... not my proudest moment, but man the magic kingdom late night transportation system sucks all the fun out of a good day.
Also I want to mention, other than this interaction, we had some great interactions with other guests. In fact everyone seemed to be in a great mood overall. I can't think of any other issues. And multiple times other guests helped us, or we helped them. My wife had my daughter give our princess crowns and pirate treasure bags, and everyone loved it. Our daughter thought that was the best thing in the world. In general everyone was fantastic!
Verdict - Disney should invest more in transportation.
Premium Parking - Mundane
The first few days we parked in the normal lots. In general they were further away than ever. For Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom we parked all the way in the back of one of the farthest lots. There wasn't much change of walking. The last three days we paid the premium parking charge. In general I hate that it exists, but the parking was usually really good. The one grip I have is we paid for premium a time or two later in the day and by then they were parking general parking pretty close. But obviously still charged us, and didn't give us a heads up that we might not be saving any time. I really wish they wouldn't do it, but given my hatred of their transportation I will probably pay it...
Verdict - It worked okay, but costs too much.
Overall Rating - Magic
We had a great time overall. Yes, sometimes we get cranky about their operations or transportation, or crowds. But I am already planning another trip! Aren't we always planning another trip.
I will update this cause I am sure I forgot something, but feel free to ask questions.
edit 1 - Updated to include premium parking.
edit 2 - Added table service.
edit 3 - Pandora.
PS (If anyone knows if we can do something with Very Merry Christmas Party tickets we can't use let me know, I don't understand if they are tied to me or not.)
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