Got back a week ago and have finally settled back into a routine (gross), so I thought it'd be a good time to revisit our vacation with a trip report!
We started planning this trip over a year ago with Summer Squires at Kingdom Konsultants. She was the best, can't say enough about how helpful she was and how amazing this service is. If you're going to WDW (or anywhere) it really doesn't make any sense to NOT use this service. I consider myself somewhat of a WDW veteran, but it was nice to have someone else book the reservations and take care of all the small details. Summer was only a text away while we were in the parks, if I had any questions or needed suggestions. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
After some deliberation we decided to give POR a try. I've always heard good things about it, and the pull-down murphy bed is exactly what we needed. I really liked being on the river and the overall feel of this resort. My only complaint would be with the bus service, which was pretty bad. I've stayed at CBR several times and POFQ, and POR easily has the worst bus service of the three. Aside from that ,we loved it and had a great time!
The parks were busier than they've ever been in January, but still manageable. Utilizing Fastpass+ was extremely beneficial and I was surprised at how well the new system worked. I do miss the ticket/free souvenirs, but it does make planning easier.
The Magicbands were also something that I was skeptical of, but they worked perfectly. One day for an hour or so, the system went down and we were unable to use them to purchase stuff or use our dining plan credits, but other than that it worked flawlessly.
Enough talk, here are some photos from the parks, starting with the first park we visited, Hollywood Studios.
TOT was incredible, as always. We were able to get on it 4 times during out stay. The ride videos they take now on this are really cool, although since we've been back the videos have disappeared from my Photopass account and I was only able to download one of them. Disney insists they'll figure it out and let me know when they get them back, but I'm starting to lose hope.
I was very excited to see all the Star Wars stuff that's been added to HS, and I was not disappointed. The Jawas in Launch Bay were a highlight for us, we kept going back to visit them because it was such a hoot.
I am a HUGE Indy fan, and there are some elements of this show that are lots of fun, but it wouldn't break my heart if this show went away or was at least re-worked.
The Beast has had it with Belle's nonsense.
I don't miss the hat, but I do miss the Earful Tower.
Our ice cream stop before Fantasmic. We did the Fantasmic/Dining Package thing, and got great reserved seats, dead center. Which was good, because it was standing room only that night. Seems like when we've done that package in the past we were off to the side, so I was pleasantly surprised when they showed us to our seats.
Onto Magic Kingdom. We were excited to finally get on the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train (it was being built the last time we were there), and it was a family favorite. The crowds at MK lightened up as we got further into our vacation, but by utilizing Fastpass (and multiple days) we were able to do everything multiple times with hardly any wait.
I gotta say, I'm a fan of the blue rocks.
Our Doombuggy came to an E-stop right in front of the Bride in the attic! Was able to get some great photos and video of her, as she usually goes by so quickly.
All my years of marching in place had finally paid off, as I was chosen to be one of the knights at Enchanted Tales w/ Belle. I'm the non-mustachioed knight on the right.
This was also our first time seeing the new parade, and the dragon really is impressive in person!
Our last two January trips saw Splash Mountain under refurbishment, so we were thrilled to see that it was open and operational. We took 5 trips down, just in case it was down during our next trip.
I always liked the different views you can get from Tom Sawyer's island.
This little Muppets diversion was so funny! Big Muppets fan and this was a pleasant surprise.
It was nice to see that Disney (unlike last January) has found a way to hide the crane they use to slowly remove the christmas lights from the castle so that it's not visible during the day. All my castle pictures from last trip had the stupid crane in them.
The sun sets on Storybook Circus
My favorite Wishes picture, taken with my iphone7 of all things (the low light function on that thing is impressive)
Animal Kingdom and Epcot in Part 2!
We started planning this trip over a year ago with Summer Squires at Kingdom Konsultants. She was the best, can't say enough about how helpful she was and how amazing this service is. If you're going to WDW (or anywhere) it really doesn't make any sense to NOT use this service. I consider myself somewhat of a WDW veteran, but it was nice to have someone else book the reservations and take care of all the small details. Summer was only a text away while we were in the parks, if I had any questions or needed suggestions. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
After some deliberation we decided to give POR a try. I've always heard good things about it, and the pull-down murphy bed is exactly what we needed. I really liked being on the river and the overall feel of this resort. My only complaint would be with the bus service, which was pretty bad. I've stayed at CBR several times and POFQ, and POR easily has the worst bus service of the three. Aside from that ,we loved it and had a great time!
The parks were busier than they've ever been in January, but still manageable. Utilizing Fastpass+ was extremely beneficial and I was surprised at how well the new system worked. I do miss the ticket/free souvenirs, but it does make planning easier.
The Magicbands were also something that I was skeptical of, but they worked perfectly. One day for an hour or so, the system went down and we were unable to use them to purchase stuff or use our dining plan credits, but other than that it worked flawlessly.
Enough talk, here are some photos from the parks, starting with the first park we visited, Hollywood Studios.
TOT was incredible, as always. We were able to get on it 4 times during out stay. The ride videos they take now on this are really cool, although since we've been back the videos have disappeared from my Photopass account and I was only able to download one of them. Disney insists they'll figure it out and let me know when they get them back, but I'm starting to lose hope.
I was very excited to see all the Star Wars stuff that's been added to HS, and I was not disappointed. The Jawas in Launch Bay were a highlight for us, we kept going back to visit them because it was such a hoot.
I am a HUGE Indy fan, and there are some elements of this show that are lots of fun, but it wouldn't break my heart if this show went away or was at least re-worked.
The Beast has had it with Belle's nonsense.
I don't miss the hat, but I do miss the Earful Tower.
Our ice cream stop before Fantasmic. We did the Fantasmic/Dining Package thing, and got great reserved seats, dead center. Which was good, because it was standing room only that night. Seems like when we've done that package in the past we were off to the side, so I was pleasantly surprised when they showed us to our seats.
Onto Magic Kingdom. We were excited to finally get on the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train (it was being built the last time we were there), and it was a family favorite. The crowds at MK lightened up as we got further into our vacation, but by utilizing Fastpass (and multiple days) we were able to do everything multiple times with hardly any wait.
I gotta say, I'm a fan of the blue rocks.
Our Doombuggy came to an E-stop right in front of the Bride in the attic! Was able to get some great photos and video of her, as she usually goes by so quickly.
All my years of marching in place had finally paid off, as I was chosen to be one of the knights at Enchanted Tales w/ Belle. I'm the non-mustachioed knight on the right.
This was also our first time seeing the new parade, and the dragon really is impressive in person!
Our last two January trips saw Splash Mountain under refurbishment, so we were thrilled to see that it was open and operational. We took 5 trips down, just in case it was down during our next trip.
I always liked the different views you can get from Tom Sawyer's island.
This little Muppets diversion was so funny! Big Muppets fan and this was a pleasant surprise.
It was nice to see that Disney (unlike last January) has found a way to hide the crane they use to slowly remove the christmas lights from the castle so that it's not visible during the day. All my castle pictures from last trip had the stupid crane in them.
The sun sets on Storybook Circus
My favorite Wishes picture, taken with my iphone7 of all things (the low light function on that thing is impressive)
Animal Kingdom and Epcot in Part 2!
