Last week we(extended family of 7) returned from WDW. This was my first time to fly and use WDW Magic Express. What a great experience that was. We had planned ahead like i have read and had any important items with us in our carry-ons. So, off the plane arrival FL time was 2:15) and right on a bus within 10 minutes of landing. As we were riding in i received a text from the AoA where we were staying saying my room was read and i could go straight there. As we got off the bus we were greeted by a CM who had a small package of pins (birthday, 1st visit for some, and such) for us, and proceeded straight to the room. After a quick refreshing we were on a bus to Disney Springs (is that DS now?).
We had an ADR at T-Rex for 9:30 so spent a good time walking/shopping around getting our minds right for the week. Many have said on these forums, i've read before, "why waist an ADR for a non-disney restaurant?" well i'm hear to say this place is just one of our favorite places to experience in WDW. the food is good enough, the atmosphere is great, and even our 10 month old grandson loved it and was not at all shaken by the creatures or noise.
I am by no means a WDW expert but have been just enough times to know whats going on and i read these forums enough to understand when even Disney might be having a bad day. with that being said this was one of our best trips ever.
Park Day 1 for us was to HS. Fast passes for the day were set for ToT, RR, and Indiana Jones. So at the rope drop we were off to Toy Story Mania - My son won with 181,000 points (the all time record is 509,000 - how is that even possible). we loved it and found a few hidden mickeys, too. Over all we rode TM 3 times, ToT 3 time, RR 3 times, ST 3 times, and watched some classic shows Indiana Jones, Muppets, Parade, and Beauty and the Beast. We had an ADR at Hollywood and Vine...the food was great (we didn't know what to expect, it was our first time to eat there and reviews had gone both ways), but it was great. This was a Fantasmic seating meal, too. Because of this we had what i would say are the best seats i've ever had for the show. dead center about 12 rows up. AND i must say that the show was by far the best its ever been. I've seen this show around 15 times. through good times and bad. I had not read anything about refurbishment's, and it had been 2 years from sewing it, but we could tell right away that boats, lights, costumes, and everything in general had been UPGRADED. Nothing was skipped, everything was on point. we loved it. Because we went to the 9 pm show, right as we getting onto Sunset Blvd the Frozen Fireworks started. this was a great place to watch them and they were great. We used our magic hour privileges to hit the main RR and TM one last time.
Park Day 2 was Animal Kingdom. Fast Passes were set for KS, EE, and the lion king show. After rope drop we headed straight to KS (we love it that much). All the animals were out and active. 2 newly introduced giraffe babies were out and i have never seen the lions this well before but they were out and posing. Next was Dinosaur, Its a bugs life, Nemo, all our fast passes, and a stroll through the trails. I've seen the lion king show so many times. It has always been one of my favorites and my kids have grown up watching and loving it with me. Now to watch it with our new grandson and his family for the 1st time was so great...again the upgrades from the move to the new building were great. Our ADR was at The Rain Forest Cafe and lived up to our expectations.
Park Day 3 was a split day for the group. Me and my daughter woke up early and got to the MK for the rope drop and headed in right away. This was autograph day for us and we hit many characters we have not seen before. Tiana, Aladin and Jasmin, Meridia, Tinker Bell, and Gaston (one of her favs). the rest of the family slept in a little, had some pool time, and then met us fast passes for the grandson an Dumbo, Peter Pan, and Winnie the Pooh all in a row. We grabbed a bus to the Board walk then for an early Dinner at the ESPN restaurant. the timing was great, when were were done we headed back to the MK found a great place to watch the Electrical Parade, Castle Show, and wishes. When they were over (great again as usual) we used magic hours to do our first time on the 7DMT. i've heard so many negative things about it and can now say that i think all those remarks are garbage. this was a great ride, smooth, details, hidden mickeys, everything about it was great. Now its no RR but for where and what it is, no disappointments here.
Park Day 4 we were back to MK. Fast passes for the day were set at TM, SM, and 7DMT. so we were fast off to SM at the rope drop. we did the laugh floor, Stitch's great escape, and the haunted mansion before lunch at be our guest for our 11:30 lunch. First time in there and what can i say, we loved it - i mean the detail in everything was just super. the fact that we pre-orderd our food on line and sat where ever and they found us was great. Several hidden mickeys were found and the food was great. After lunch we did our fast passes, saw woodie and jessie and then headed over to O'Hana's for our ADR. We had great window seats and got to watch the MK shows from there while we ate. What a great experience. we love the food and atmosphere there and the vieww made it that much more special. finished off a few rides(HM, TM, SM) at MK after dinner.
Park day 5 (the last day) was at EPCOT. Again my daughter and i woke up for rope drop and ran to Soar'n right away. we then hit up Mulan, Alice, Rafiki, King Louie, Minnie, and Mickey Before meeting up with the rest for our fast passes at TT, MS, we had Meet Spot FP for the 1st timers. Had out ADR at 9 Dragons and loved it - First tie there. Finished off the day with Spaceship Earth and fireworks. all one spot for us. Made it back to AoA sat in the pool for about 45 min, had a beverage or 2, packed up our bags...had to meet the Magic express at 8:15 in the morning.
What a Great Trip
I try to keep up on all the Fast Pass info i could before the trip. there was some questions i had as to how to use them with the baby swap situation, and how many could return for the swap. This is what i learned while there fairly early. Disney states that return riders for the baby swap is the person who waits plus 2. they stick to this fairly good, but here is the loophole i found that had kind of been explained but not good enough for me. If you use it in conjunction with your fast passes, you get an extra person. Why? well the person that waits does not use up his fast pass while waiting. you get a paper fast pass that allows for 3 people (normally the waiting person plus 2) but you can really give that to 3 people who just rode for a second ride and the original waiter can still use his fast pass originally set up. (example: when we used stand by on a ride, i would wait with the grandson. when the others were done, me and 2 others would get to go on the ride. But if we had fast passes for the ride, i would wait with the grandson, when they were all done i would give the ticket paper fast past to 3 who rode. they would go in the fast pass line and i'd use my magic band fast pass to get in. The other trick is Example: i would set up fast passes for 4 of the 6 of us at lets say the tower of terror for 1pm and the other 2 of us at 2 pm. we would all walk up at 1 and say we need to do the baby swap. we get a ticket and 4 go on. when they get off 1 person gets to ride again. then at 2 we do it again but the 2 go one and then when they get off 3 get to go again. if you really sit down and think about it with how many you have in your party, you can get more rides.
Last but not least, I have always been a fan of PhotoPass and this time we did the Memory Maker. It was way better than ever. 756 pics later it was well worth the money. I knew about Magic Pics and ride photos, but there were additions i didn't know about. Tower of Terror an 7DMT came with videos of the ride. Awesome. there were videos added into pics too, that were more than the normal magic pics.
I hope this comes across good and helps anyone who may need some Disney info
We had an ADR at T-Rex for 9:30 so spent a good time walking/shopping around getting our minds right for the week. Many have said on these forums, i've read before, "why waist an ADR for a non-disney restaurant?" well i'm hear to say this place is just one of our favorite places to experience in WDW. the food is good enough, the atmosphere is great, and even our 10 month old grandson loved it and was not at all shaken by the creatures or noise.
I am by no means a WDW expert but have been just enough times to know whats going on and i read these forums enough to understand when even Disney might be having a bad day. with that being said this was one of our best trips ever.
Park Day 1 for us was to HS. Fast passes for the day were set for ToT, RR, and Indiana Jones. So at the rope drop we were off to Toy Story Mania - My son won with 181,000 points (the all time record is 509,000 - how is that even possible). we loved it and found a few hidden mickeys, too. Over all we rode TM 3 times, ToT 3 time, RR 3 times, ST 3 times, and watched some classic shows Indiana Jones, Muppets, Parade, and Beauty and the Beast. We had an ADR at Hollywood and Vine...the food was great (we didn't know what to expect, it was our first time to eat there and reviews had gone both ways), but it was great. This was a Fantasmic seating meal, too. Because of this we had what i would say are the best seats i've ever had for the show. dead center about 12 rows up. AND i must say that the show was by far the best its ever been. I've seen this show around 15 times. through good times and bad. I had not read anything about refurbishment's, and it had been 2 years from sewing it, but we could tell right away that boats, lights, costumes, and everything in general had been UPGRADED. Nothing was skipped, everything was on point. we loved it. Because we went to the 9 pm show, right as we getting onto Sunset Blvd the Frozen Fireworks started. this was a great place to watch them and they were great. We used our magic hour privileges to hit the main RR and TM one last time.
Park Day 2 was Animal Kingdom. Fast Passes were set for KS, EE, and the lion king show. After rope drop we headed straight to KS (we love it that much). All the animals were out and active. 2 newly introduced giraffe babies were out and i have never seen the lions this well before but they were out and posing. Next was Dinosaur, Its a bugs life, Nemo, all our fast passes, and a stroll through the trails. I've seen the lion king show so many times. It has always been one of my favorites and my kids have grown up watching and loving it with me. Now to watch it with our new grandson and his family for the 1st time was so great...again the upgrades from the move to the new building were great. Our ADR was at The Rain Forest Cafe and lived up to our expectations.
Park Day 3 was a split day for the group. Me and my daughter woke up early and got to the MK for the rope drop and headed in right away. This was autograph day for us and we hit many characters we have not seen before. Tiana, Aladin and Jasmin, Meridia, Tinker Bell, and Gaston (one of her favs). the rest of the family slept in a little, had some pool time, and then met us fast passes for the grandson an Dumbo, Peter Pan, and Winnie the Pooh all in a row. We grabbed a bus to the Board walk then for an early Dinner at the ESPN restaurant. the timing was great, when were were done we headed back to the MK found a great place to watch the Electrical Parade, Castle Show, and wishes. When they were over (great again as usual) we used magic hours to do our first time on the 7DMT. i've heard so many negative things about it and can now say that i think all those remarks are garbage. this was a great ride, smooth, details, hidden mickeys, everything about it was great. Now its no RR but for where and what it is, no disappointments here.
Park Day 4 we were back to MK. Fast passes for the day were set at TM, SM, and 7DMT. so we were fast off to SM at the rope drop. we did the laugh floor, Stitch's great escape, and the haunted mansion before lunch at be our guest for our 11:30 lunch. First time in there and what can i say, we loved it - i mean the detail in everything was just super. the fact that we pre-orderd our food on line and sat where ever and they found us was great. Several hidden mickeys were found and the food was great. After lunch we did our fast passes, saw woodie and jessie and then headed over to O'Hana's for our ADR. We had great window seats and got to watch the MK shows from there while we ate. What a great experience. we love the food and atmosphere there and the vieww made it that much more special. finished off a few rides(HM, TM, SM) at MK after dinner.
Park day 5 (the last day) was at EPCOT. Again my daughter and i woke up for rope drop and ran to Soar'n right away. we then hit up Mulan, Alice, Rafiki, King Louie, Minnie, and Mickey Before meeting up with the rest for our fast passes at TT, MS, we had Meet Spot FP for the 1st timers. Had out ADR at 9 Dragons and loved it - First tie there. Finished off the day with Spaceship Earth and fireworks. all one spot for us. Made it back to AoA sat in the pool for about 45 min, had a beverage or 2, packed up our bags...had to meet the Magic express at 8:15 in the morning.
What a Great Trip
I try to keep up on all the Fast Pass info i could before the trip. there was some questions i had as to how to use them with the baby swap situation, and how many could return for the swap. This is what i learned while there fairly early. Disney states that return riders for the baby swap is the person who waits plus 2. they stick to this fairly good, but here is the loophole i found that had kind of been explained but not good enough for me. If you use it in conjunction with your fast passes, you get an extra person. Why? well the person that waits does not use up his fast pass while waiting. you get a paper fast pass that allows for 3 people (normally the waiting person plus 2) but you can really give that to 3 people who just rode for a second ride and the original waiter can still use his fast pass originally set up. (example: when we used stand by on a ride, i would wait with the grandson. when the others were done, me and 2 others would get to go on the ride. But if we had fast passes for the ride, i would wait with the grandson, when they were all done i would give the ticket paper fast past to 3 who rode. they would go in the fast pass line and i'd use my magic band fast pass to get in. The other trick is Example: i would set up fast passes for 4 of the 6 of us at lets say the tower of terror for 1pm and the other 2 of us at 2 pm. we would all walk up at 1 and say we need to do the baby swap. we get a ticket and 4 go on. when they get off 1 person gets to ride again. then at 2 we do it again but the 2 go one and then when they get off 3 get to go again. if you really sit down and think about it with how many you have in your party, you can get more rides.
Last but not least, I have always been a fan of PhotoPass and this time we did the Memory Maker. It was way better than ever. 756 pics later it was well worth the money. I knew about Magic Pics and ride photos, but there were additions i didn't know about. Tower of Terror an 7DMT came with videos of the ride. Awesome. there were videos added into pics too, that were more than the normal magic pics.
I hope this comes across good and helps anyone who may need some Disney info
