droycro
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2004
We were at The World from May 30-June 4.
Wilderness Lodge - We really enjoyed this resort. We arrived at 9:30am, and they had a room ready for us! We had a woods view and faced the Villas. We ate at Roaring Fork a few times, and while it's certainly not the biggest resort QS we've been to, it satisfied our needs. The main pool was always busy, so we ended up swimming in the pool behind the Villas. It was very nice. There is so much to enjoy and explore at the resort. Because we had a car, we drove to Epcot, HS, and AK. The WL has a boat that goes to MK or the Contemporary. In the morning, the Contemporary boat started operating before the boat to MK, so we would take it to the CR, then walk to MK. The walk was about 8-10 min.
The Parks - We arrived at rope drop for each park. We didn't do any EMH. Since the parks opened at 9am, we attempted to arrive between 8:20-8:30. I used EasyWDW for which park to visit on each day. I also used his touring plans, although since my kids are older, we didn't do any character meets.
Magic Kingdom - We were there on Sunday, May 31 and Wednesday, June 3. On May 31, the park closed early (at 6pm) for a private event. The park wasn't "empty," but it was the least crowded I'd seen it in all our visits. We accomplished a lot in the morning and through the early afternoon. Had FP+ for Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, and Mine Train. We accomplished all we wanted to see in Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, and a bit into Liberty Square. Lunch was at Columbia Harbor House. One of our favorites!
When we returned on June 3, we could see the park was quite a bit more crowded. We went straight to Big Thunder and rode 4 times in a row. Then my kids rode Splash with a pretty short wait. Crowds started to build after that. We had FP+ for Pirates, Splash, and Mine Train. We still saw everything we wanted to see, but with the park being open until midnight, crowds were heavy all day. We had lunch at Be Our Guest. Unfortunately, we weren't too impressed with the lunch food. The restaurant was nicely themed, and the way the food is delivered is cool, but the food was just ok.
Epcot - June 1. We went straight to Test Track, then my husband and son went to Sum of all Thrills. Because we had arrived at rope drop, we fit these two in quite easily. After that we went to The Land and rode Living with the Land. There was absolutely no line! We then rode Soarin' with FP+. We rode Imagination with Figment then came back the The Land to eat at Sunshine Seasons. It was at this point that we were glad we had done The Land rides before lunch b/c lines at Living w/ the Land and Soarin' were starting to get crazy. We then went to The Seas, which was ok. It's not our favorite, and we were glad the line was only about 10 min. After that was Spaceship Earth with a FP+. My husband and son then rode Mission Space with FP+, although it was not needed here at all. After that, we toured the countries and had a great time. The crowds were not bad at all, so we enjoyed strolling the shops, seeing the movies (China, U.S., France, Canada), and we rode the boat ride in Mexico. Dinner was at the Tangierine Cafe in Morocco. Delicious! Unfortunately, some rain moved in and hung around, so we didn't get to see Illuminations.
Animal Kingdom - June 2. Rode Kilimanjaro Safari, Primeval Whirl, Dinosaur w/ FP+ (not needed at 10am, but couldn't change it for anything else), saw Bird show, walked the nature paths, kids rode Expedition Everest w/ FP+, saw It's Tough to Be a Bug, and Lion King. Lunch was at Yak and Yeti restaurant, and we all enjoyed the nice break. Park did feel tight in places, not because of crowds, but because of the construction walls. Especially felt this around EE. The weather was cloudy so we skipped our FP+ for Kali, because we just didn't feel like getting soaked when it wasn't that hot out. It rained during the evening, so we explored the Wilderness Lodge and the kids played at the arcade.
Hollywood Studios - June 4. This was the only day when the touring plan failed a bit. We were there at rope drop, but they were really poky about opening the park before 9. (All other parks let people in around 8:45.) We went straight to Toy Story, and there was a 25 minutes wait. We thought, no way, but... yes. The wait at 9am was 25 min. We were then going to get over the Rock n Roller coaster, but the line was 75 min! Crazy!! There were several large tour groups that seemed to monkey up the works at some of these rides. I had a FP+ for Toy Story later. Because of the tiering, I chose an early afternoon ride on Toy Story over a ride on RnR. Oh well. We went over to Star Tours, rode that with a 10 min. wait, then walked back to Tower of Terror for our FP+. Lunch was at Starring Rolls Bakery (love those sandwiches). After lunch, we strolled through the animation area, saw the movie there, saw One Man's Dream, and rode Toy Story and Star Tours, both with a FP+. We weren't interested in seeing anything else, so we left after that. It was a hot day... perfect time for the pool!
A few extra notes: We did visit Downtown Disney twice. Once was Sunday evening and the other was Thursday afternoon. Both times we successfully parked in the garage with no trouble at all. We ate at Wolfgang Puck on the West Side on Sunday, and it was good! The rest of our time at DTD was spent wandering and shopping.
Finally, my husband and I had a special dinner at the California Grill. The food was fabulous, and the view was awesome! Our dinner was at 5:15pm. We went to MK after dinner, then met our kids at the CR around 9:30pm. With our receipt from dinner, we were able to bring them back up to the restaurant to watch Wishes from the balcony. Wow!!
Wilderness Lodge - We really enjoyed this resort. We arrived at 9:30am, and they had a room ready for us! We had a woods view and faced the Villas. We ate at Roaring Fork a few times, and while it's certainly not the biggest resort QS we've been to, it satisfied our needs. The main pool was always busy, so we ended up swimming in the pool behind the Villas. It was very nice. There is so much to enjoy and explore at the resort. Because we had a car, we drove to Epcot, HS, and AK. The WL has a boat that goes to MK or the Contemporary. In the morning, the Contemporary boat started operating before the boat to MK, so we would take it to the CR, then walk to MK. The walk was about 8-10 min.
The Parks - We arrived at rope drop for each park. We didn't do any EMH. Since the parks opened at 9am, we attempted to arrive between 8:20-8:30. I used EasyWDW for which park to visit on each day. I also used his touring plans, although since my kids are older, we didn't do any character meets.
Magic Kingdom - We were there on Sunday, May 31 and Wednesday, June 3. On May 31, the park closed early (at 6pm) for a private event. The park wasn't "empty," but it was the least crowded I'd seen it in all our visits. We accomplished a lot in the morning and through the early afternoon. Had FP+ for Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, and Mine Train. We accomplished all we wanted to see in Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, and a bit into Liberty Square. Lunch was at Columbia Harbor House. One of our favorites!
When we returned on June 3, we could see the park was quite a bit more crowded. We went straight to Big Thunder and rode 4 times in a row. Then my kids rode Splash with a pretty short wait. Crowds started to build after that. We had FP+ for Pirates, Splash, and Mine Train. We still saw everything we wanted to see, but with the park being open until midnight, crowds were heavy all day. We had lunch at Be Our Guest. Unfortunately, we weren't too impressed with the lunch food. The restaurant was nicely themed, and the way the food is delivered is cool, but the food was just ok.
Epcot - June 1. We went straight to Test Track, then my husband and son went to Sum of all Thrills. Because we had arrived at rope drop, we fit these two in quite easily. After that we went to The Land and rode Living with the Land. There was absolutely no line! We then rode Soarin' with FP+. We rode Imagination with Figment then came back the The Land to eat at Sunshine Seasons. It was at this point that we were glad we had done The Land rides before lunch b/c lines at Living w/ the Land and Soarin' were starting to get crazy. We then went to The Seas, which was ok. It's not our favorite, and we were glad the line was only about 10 min. After that was Spaceship Earth with a FP+. My husband and son then rode Mission Space with FP+, although it was not needed here at all. After that, we toured the countries and had a great time. The crowds were not bad at all, so we enjoyed strolling the shops, seeing the movies (China, U.S., France, Canada), and we rode the boat ride in Mexico. Dinner was at the Tangierine Cafe in Morocco. Delicious! Unfortunately, some rain moved in and hung around, so we didn't get to see Illuminations.
Animal Kingdom - June 2. Rode Kilimanjaro Safari, Primeval Whirl, Dinosaur w/ FP+ (not needed at 10am, but couldn't change it for anything else), saw Bird show, walked the nature paths, kids rode Expedition Everest w/ FP+, saw It's Tough to Be a Bug, and Lion King. Lunch was at Yak and Yeti restaurant, and we all enjoyed the nice break. Park did feel tight in places, not because of crowds, but because of the construction walls. Especially felt this around EE. The weather was cloudy so we skipped our FP+ for Kali, because we just didn't feel like getting soaked when it wasn't that hot out. It rained during the evening, so we explored the Wilderness Lodge and the kids played at the arcade.
Hollywood Studios - June 4. This was the only day when the touring plan failed a bit. We were there at rope drop, but they were really poky about opening the park before 9. (All other parks let people in around 8:45.) We went straight to Toy Story, and there was a 25 minutes wait. We thought, no way, but... yes. The wait at 9am was 25 min. We were then going to get over the Rock n Roller coaster, but the line was 75 min! Crazy!! There were several large tour groups that seemed to monkey up the works at some of these rides. I had a FP+ for Toy Story later. Because of the tiering, I chose an early afternoon ride on Toy Story over a ride on RnR. Oh well. We went over to Star Tours, rode that with a 10 min. wait, then walked back to Tower of Terror for our FP+. Lunch was at Starring Rolls Bakery (love those sandwiches). After lunch, we strolled through the animation area, saw the movie there, saw One Man's Dream, and rode Toy Story and Star Tours, both with a FP+. We weren't interested in seeing anything else, so we left after that. It was a hot day... perfect time for the pool!
A few extra notes: We did visit Downtown Disney twice. Once was Sunday evening and the other was Thursday afternoon. Both times we successfully parked in the garage with no trouble at all. We ate at Wolfgang Puck on the West Side on Sunday, and it was good! The rest of our time at DTD was spent wandering and shopping.
Finally, my husband and I had a special dinner at the California Grill. The food was fabulous, and the view was awesome! Our dinner was at 5:15pm. We went to MK after dinner, then met our kids at the CR around 9:30pm. With our receipt from dinner, we were able to bring them back up to the restaurant to watch Wishes from the balcony. Wow!!
