Trip Report But who's keeping track?

I will make my 43rd (ish) trip to Walt Disney World (still not totally sure how many Florida trips in my youth actually involved WDW)

I will write my 26th Trip Report (re-reading those old ones, what was I thinking?)

We will drive 940 miles, only stopping for quick food and bathrooms (if making good time, maybe a short sleep break)

We will stay in our 21st different WDW resort (depending on how you count DVC vs hotel for some)

We will experience 1 brand new attraction (hopefully more than once)

We will experience 1 favorite attraction that has recently be changed (and are a bit scared by it)

I will experience at least one brand new table service restaurant (and a surprising one, at that)

Our daughter will experience her first true backstage WDW tour (@MeffysMom and I did this one before)

We MAY have our first Genie+ experience (and maybe our last as well??)

But there's really no reason to keep track of all these things. Just join me for a brief pre-trip and then live reporting from WDW.

Couple additional pre-thoughts (that didn't have good Disney pictures to go along)... We will spend far too much money (although we've got quite a bit stored up on Disney Rewards). We will partake in too much food and drink (always claim that I won't, but good luck with that). We will have a heckuva good time despite some obstacles (I think I'm willing to guarantee that, we always do). See you soon!

 

[RememberWhen]

We nabbed a Dessert Party reservation a few years ago and I was very frustrated. I'm not a big dessert person so I wasn't very impressed with the selections. Moreso, I was extremely disgusted with our "exclusive" seating for the fireworks. We were seated on the lawn in front of the castle where two CM's were tasked with the admission to the location. They were too busy talking to each other to police who was getting into the location. I witnessed at least three families hopping over the rope while the CMs were busy talking. So we paid $50 per person while these people just jumped over a rope for preferred seating. My wife had to convince me to not say anything. I tend to run a bit hot.

We’ve seen the same. It’s beyond frustrating, but does seem to be how things go these days. The CMs aren’t really paid enough to police the fireworks viewing places.

 

[BwlrBry212]

I know the cobb salad is what everyone writes home about so maybe we will visit again and go with that.

You can get an appetizer portion of the cobb salad (and those delicious margarita flights) at the Brown Derby Lounge outside without having to commit to a whole sit down meal.

 

[slipperalwaysfits]

Glad you made it home safely!! TTA and SPACE are PERFECT end of the night rides—- we love doing them at that time!
Here’s to an amazing trip to Spain for your daughter!!

 

[lindawdw]

Glad you enjoyed the Dessert Party and your firework views! Love that you ended your evening with TTA!

 

[brifraz]

Alright, it's time for the big Magic Kingdom day!

We were up early so that we could get in for early opening and get onto Seven Dwarfs Mine Train prior to reporting to our tour. Despite a little bit of a delay (forgot the rain gear and I had to run back to the car from TTC), all three of us managed to find each other and get pretty close to the front of the line when they rope dropped. Waited maybe 5-10 minutes total. Since we now had time for another attraction, we decided to get our It's a Small World fix done early.

All the while during both rides, I was checking into Genie Plus to see what times things were available. We had the 9:30am Keys to the Kingdom tour, so we knew we would be done about 2:30pm. Having done far too much research and looking at charts (thanks @lentesta and crew at Touring Plans) we had expected to be booking Peter Pan some time around 8am. But, it just kept staying around 12pm or 1pm as the available time. We headed to the theater (check-in is right next to the Mickey Meet and Greet entry) at about 9:15am and went ahead and booked Pan for 1:30pm since that was the latest we had seen it and were hoping that our tour would end with enough time for us to get to the ride within the 10 minutes extra they allow at the end of the window. And now it was time for...

For those who maybe haven't done the tour before, it is a somewhat strict no cell phones/no cameras activity and (obviously) it is extremely strict about that when you are in the backstage areas. So, get ready for quite a bit of just text!

The tour started a few minutes late (some late arrivers for our group - hey folks... don't book a breakfast reservation at a resort prior to your tour without more than enough time to get to MK) with getting the headsets all figured out so we could hear our guide. The first topic was a little discussion about the Keys and what they are and why everyone at Disney is supposed to keep them in mind while they work. Then we headed down Main Street to take a look at and learn more about numerous of the windows on the second floor and who those people were and their importance to Magic Kingdom. The last window, of course, was Walt's by the ice cream parlor. Then we headed into Adventureland and continued to get lots of information about the attractions, their development and their implementation.

The first attraction of the tour was the Jungle Cruise, but without the usual Skipper spiel. Our tour guide provided lots of background information on the ride as well as other good Disney tidbits as we rode and also kept the lights on in the temple for a bit of a better view. Following the Jungle Cruise, we walked (and continued to get good background information) to the Frontierland train station area, but (after a short bathroom break) headed backstage at that point. The main components of this portion of being backstage was learning about the garbage and water systems, seeing the ride and maintenance buildings, and seeing parade floats being worked on. We had read online that you WANT to get the 9:30am tour because it will put you backstage right as the parade is getting ready to go on. And that was no joke! It was very cool. Not only did we see each of the floats going through preparations, but we also got to see characters getting ready for their portions of the parade as well. No gritty details here, but it's something that I guarantee you will never forget if you get to see it! Since it was parade-prep time, we took a few extra minutes back in that area watching things get ready to go. We then headed back onstage near Pirates and over to Pecos Bill's for our lunch.

After lunch, we walked through Frontierland and into Liberty Square, getting insight and information all the way. Next up was our ride on Haunted Mansion - entering through the coat room to bypass the line. We got some good behind the scenes info about the ride, but the actual experience was just the normal ride. We then headed into Fantasyland, once again getting additional background and development info about those rides and ended up right in front of Mickey's Philharmagic. At which time, our second backstage portion of the tour began. The Utilidors! Lots of behind the scenes excitement and just overall very cool to experience that area of the parks. We walked a bit more of the Utilidors this time than we did about 14 years ago when @MeffysMom and I did this tour. Our daughter absolutely loved it! When we came back up to the second level of Magic Kingdom (IYKYK), we were just about done the adventure. After a bit more question and answer time, it was about 2:20pm so time to head to Peter Pan.

During tour breaks, I was able to also book Space Mountain for about 3:30pm and Big Thunder for 4:30pm. But, now it's time for me to take a break. The rest of the Genie Plus adventure coming soon!

 

[lindawdw]

What a fantastic day you had so far! When I was younger, I never wanted to see the backstage parts because I always thought it might ruin the magic, but I am finally ready to enjoy that type of access and hope to do the tour in the next year! I have to ask you, how were you able to book SM and BTMRR together on the Genie + app? I thought you could only do one at a time or after the two-hour mark of what you booked? It's so confusing to me at times.

 

[pkkurz]

Alright, it's time for the big Magic Kingdom day!

We were up early so that we could get in for early opening and get onto Seven Dwarfs Mine Train prior to reporting to our tour. Despite a little bit of a delay (forgot the rain gear and I had to run back to the car from TTC), all three of us managed to find each other and get pretty close to the front of the line when they rope dropped. Waited maybe 5-10 minutes total. Since we now had time for another attraction, we decided to get our It's a Small World fix done early.
View attachment 647624

All the while during both rides, I was checking into Genie Plus to see what times things were available. We had the 9:30am Keys to the Kingdom tour, so we knew we would be done about 2:30pm. Having done far too much research and looking at charts (thanks @lentesta and crew at Touring Plans) we had expected to be booking Peter Pan some time around 8am. But, it just kept staying around 12pm or 1pm as the available time. We headed to the theater (check-in is right next to the Mickey Meet and Greet entry) at about 9:15am and went ahead and booked Pan for 1:30pm since that was the latest we had seen it and were hoping that our tour would end with enough time for us to get to the ride within the 10 minutes extra they allow at the end of the window. And now it was time for...
View attachment 647625View attachment 647625

For those who maybe haven't done the tour before, it is a somewhat strict no cell phones/no cameras activity and (obviously) it is extremely strict about that when you are in the backstage areas. So, get ready for quite a bit of just text!

The tour started a few minutes late (some late arrivers for our group - hey folks... don't book a breakfast reservation at a resort prior to your tour without more than enough time to get to MK) with getting the headsets all figured out so we could hear our guide. The first topic was a little discussion about the Keys and what they are and why everyone at Disney is supposed to keep them in mind while they work. Then we headed down Main Street to take a look at and learn more about numerous of the windows on the second floor and who those people were and their importance to Magic Kingdom. The last window, of course, was Walt's by the ice cream parlor. Then we headed into Adventureland and continued to get lots of information about the attractions, their development and their implementation.

The first attraction of the tour was the Jungle Cruise, but without the usual Skipper spiel. Our tour guide provided lots of background information on the ride as well as other good Disney tidbits as we rode and also kept the lights on in the temple for a bit of a better view. Following the Jungle Cruise, we walked (and continued to get good background information) to the Frontierland train station area, but (after a short bathroom break) headed backstage at that point. The main components of this portion of being backstage was learning about the garbage and water systems, seeing the ride and maintenance buildings, and seeing parade floats being worked on. We had read online that you WANT to get the 9:30am tour because it will put you backstage right as the parade is getting ready to go on. And that was no joke! It was very cool. Not only did we see each of the floats going through preparations, but we also got to see characters getting ready for their portions of the parade as well. No gritty details here, but it's something that I guarantee you will never forget if you get to see it! Since it was parade-prep time, we took a few extra minutes back in that area watching things get ready to go. We then headed back onstage near Pirates and over to Pecos Bill's for our lunch.

After lunch, we walked through Frontierland and into Liberty Square, getting insight and information all the way. Next up was our ride on Haunted Mansion - entering through the coat room to bypass the line. We got some good behind the scenes info about the ride, but the actual experience was just the normal ride. We then headed into Fantasyland, once again getting additional background and development info about those rides and ended up right in front of Mickey's Philharmagic. At which time, our second backstage portion of the tour began. The Utilidors! Lots of behind the scenes excitement and just overall very cool to experience that area of the parks. We walked a bit more of the Utilidors this time than we did about 14 years ago when @MeffysMom and I did this tour. Our daughter absolutely loved it! When we came back up to the second level of Magic Kingdom (IYKYK), we were just about done the adventure. After a bit more question and answer time, it was about 2:20pm so time to head to Peter Pan.

During tour breaks, I was able to also book Space Mountain for about 3:30pm and Big Thunder for 4:30pm. But, now it's time for me to take a break. The rest of the Genie Plus adventure coming soon!

Awesome experience. We did backstage magic tour several years ago and the MK portion was very similar to your tour this time, except we were later in the day and the parade had already passed. Glad your daughter got to experience it.

 

[slipperalwaysfits]

The Keys to the Kingdom tour sounds fabulous!

 

[brifraz]

What a fantastic day you had so far! When I was younger, I never wanted to see the backstage parts because I always thought it might ruin the magic, but I am finally ready to enjoy that type of access and hope to do the tour in the next year! I have to ask you, how were you able to book SM and BTMRR together on the Genie + app? I thought you could only do one at a time or after the two-hour mark of what you booked? It's so confusing to me at times.

You can book one attraction every two hours starting at park opening OR after you have completed the last one booked. I'll get into some more details later, but basically we 'stacked' our attractions by booking them at about 9am, 11am, and 1pm - but they were all booked for mid-late afternoon times. It is definitely confusing and annoying, but it kind-of works like the original Fastpass system, except instead of running all over the park to kiosks you do it on your phone... and it costs money. We used to 'abuse' the original system the same way where I would run all over the park to get Fastpasses that were hopefully for late in the day so once we got past lunch we were just doing attractions with our FP - and now with our Genie Plus.

 

[brifraz]

Let's get going with our afternoon/evening at Magic Kingdom with Genie Plus!

Tour finished, we rushed a bit to get to Pan in time for our first Genie Plus booking of the day. In case you missed it earlier, we had booked Pan at about 9am for a ride between 1:30 and 2:30pm. We also booked Space Mountain at about 11am for 3:15-4:15pm and Big Thunder Mtn at 1pm for 4pm-5pm.

By the time we finished Pan, it was completely downpouring so we grabbed our ponchos (good thing I had run back to the car for them earlier) and made our way over to Carousel of Progress as a nice way to be out of the rain for a while and also to wait until our Space Mountain time slot was open. Also, it was around 3pm which meant our next booking window was open, so we booked Pirates of the Caribbean for 4:15pm.

By the time we got out of Carousel, the rain had let up and it was time for Space Mountain. Continuing our use of digital means to keep our day going, while in line we Mobile Ordered some dinner to grab at Cosmic Ray's to eat after our ride. We got off the ride just a couple minutes before 4pm and headed over for some early dinner.

While sitting and enjoying some comfort food and listening to the amazing Sonny Eclipse, we saw that Big Thunder was still down from the rain storms which meant our Genie Plus was now a 'multiple experience' one. So, over to Buzz we went! Followed quickly by Pirates. Up to 4 uses of Genie Plus in just over 2 hours of time (plus 2 attractions during the tour and 2 attractions early in the morning and 1 in the afternoon). As soon as we tapped into Pirates, we could book something else, so we tried again for Big Thunder Mountain (even though it still wasn't up and running) and got it for just another hour later.

Since we had a little time, we headed to Fantasyland to watch Philharmagic. But, along the way we paused for a bit as a 'flash mob' was happening in Frontierland. We had heard (only vaguely) about this 'event' and upon watching the whole thing were REALLY impressed with it. Cast and characters out dancing with little kids reminded us a lot of the old Backyard BBQ which was a favorite dinner event of ours when our daughter was young (and it still existed). And, as you can see, somewhat different characters involved and the cast was GREAT with the little kids.

Certainly put into a good mood by the entertainment, we went to Philharmagic and enjoyed the show. The Coco addition is very good and the cleaning up of the film that they have done is excellent. And, as soon as that was over... Big Thunder was back up and running so we went over for the wildest ride in the wilderness.

It was around 7pm at this point and we were pretty tired and a bit wet from the long day so we decided to head back to the resort. We easily could have booked a couple more attractions with Genie Plus. We almost did Haunted Mansion again as it was available for an hour later, and also considered Little Mermaid and Winnie the Pooh which were available in about 20-30 minutes. Although we didn't really use it to the fullest extent, we got quite a bit out of Genie Plus - 5 attractions that all would have had 45+ minute waits, so we each spent about $15 to save 4+ hours of waiting in lines. Had we stuck around for a few more hours, we would have maybe saved another hour of line time - but not likely much more since the attractions still available to us were mainly those without much in terms of waits.

I definitely am not a fan of the monetization of the Fastpass perk, but... we definitely were happy with the way we used it and could see getting it again when in Magic Kingdom. I'm not sure that it would be worth it for us in any other park - maybe Hollywood Studios, but definitely not Animal Kingdom or Epcot. As always with these kind of things, your results will definitely vary!

Oh, by the way, when you get Genie Plus you get access to some other features in the MDE app. I feel obliged to share one of the filters... and I'm sorry for this - maybe you can scroll quickly and not really have to see it.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Lots of good info on Genie+ @fractal . Brifraz explains it better than I did.

 

[brifraz]

Not a whole lot of excitement after we left Magic Kingdom, but... a very enjoyable not-so-late night snack and drink. Back at Saratoga Springs, we grabbed a bottle of wine and ordered a pizza from the counter service. Surprisingly good pizza for Disney and nice to sit and relax and enjoy them in the small seating area outside the Turf Club.

More relaxed and well fed, we headed back to the room and got to sleep so we could be ready for our last day and the dreaded drive home.

 

[cgersic]

So Much Fun!!!! Thanks for the info about Keys to the Kingdom. My high school buddy's wife is a CM and has been begging me for years to do it because he knows how much I would love it. Guess I'm going to have to pull the trigger!

 

[slipperalwaysfits]

Looks like you had a great afternoon and the flash mob looks fun! I hope we run into one of those!

We LOVE the ONCE UPON A VINE wine. We loved the show “Once Upon A Time.”

 

[pkkurz]

Per All-Ears: Ever heard of the Frontierland Hoedown? Nope? Well you’re probably not alone! This is one of those surprising little happenings in Magic Kingdom that you won’t find on a map or a times guide. It’s something you’ve just got to stumble upon, and when you do — it’s MAGIC.
Basically, during the Frontierland Hoedown, Cast Members of all kinds — we’re talking Cast Members from custodial, quick service spots, and more, come out into Frontierland in their fabulous Disney costumes, music starts playing, and characters appear (just like magic!). The characters and Cast Members would then start to dance and essentially do a hoedown. It’s usually a nice chance to dance around, see some great Cast Members and characters, and just have a bit of fun!

We haven’t seen this hoedown taking place in the parks for quite some time now it back.

 

[brifraz]

It's last day time. Once again, it was up early to get a virtual queue spot for Guardians. Group 42 this time! Better each time. Our daughter's fingers continue to show improvement! Got everything packed up and loaded into the car and headed to Epcot for one final morning there.

Since the girls had bailed out on Frozen a couple days earlier when I was waiting for Space 220, we hit that first. A few posts ago, I shared the picture of the rope drop crowd in front of us (just a few people). And, being the seasoned veterans that we are, our 'Disney walk' is strong. The folks from International Gateway which has its rope drop for Frozen up by Canada had a pretty good head start, but we still managed to get in quickly and were on about the 4th boat to dispatch to Arendelle. As soon as we got off the boat, we hoofed it around World Showcase to France so we could take a ride with Remy. Well.. there was one brief pause to get a Flower and Garden Festival picture.

It was still a bit before normal opening when we got there, but the wait was possibly our longest of the week. I think we actually were in line for the stated 35 minutes. After that ride we took our time walking through UK (and the shops) and Canada to head back to Future World to take a ride with another character, Nemo. Really just an excuse to head into the aquarium and meet up with this character.

We also hung out in the main part of the aquarium watching the turtles for a bit. We were getting close to our lunch ADR at the Creperie as well as our Guardians boarding time, so we headed across the front of the park. With a little time still to spare, we decided to get in a ride on Spaceship Earth. One of the big discussion topics all week has been the outfits that we might wear for the races next February. I suggested going as characters from Spaceship Earth, just so @MeffysMom would have the opportunity to go in this outfit.

As we exited the ride, it was time to head back to early lunch at the Creperie. Of course, our Guardians group also got called about the same time, but we decided to do food first and then ride (also knowing that it would still take about 45 minutes for queue and ride and there would be no problem if we were a little late for our boarding group). Last time we ate at the Creperie, we all did the Prix Fixe menu and had far too much food, so this time we just did one of those and then a couple other crepes a la carte. Didn't get pictures of everything, but here is the salad and the dessert crepe (peaches and blueberries).

Our main course crepes (not pictures, sorry) were the goat cheese with spinach and almonds, the raclette with ham and bacon, and the salmon with cream cheese. All delicious.

After lunch it was time for Guardians. But... we also wanted some food for the car, so I went to the Boulangerie in France to grab some food while the girls headed to Guardians. While I did enjoy the ride, I decided that on a very full stomach and right before a LOT of time in the car, maybe it wasn't the best idea. They got "September" again for their song so I'm kind of glad I didn't miss a new music selection. Definitely looking forward to riding again on our next visit.

We headed out right about 1pm to hit the doldrums of I4 and then I95 North. 14 hours of great joy. Once again, we made two stops at Buc-Eees for gas and bathroom visits - it is definitely the cheapest gas on I95 and the cleanest bathrooms by a long way. Since we were having a exciting day on the road, @MeffysMom decided to get a picture of me enjoying my Father's Day dinner. And with that our trip has ended. More thoughts and summary later!

 

[brifraz]

View attachment 647973View attachment 647974View attachment 647977
Per All-Ears: Ever heard of the Frontierland Hoedown? Nope? Well you’re probably not alone! This is one of those surprising little happenings in Magic Kingdom that you won’t find on a map or a times guide. It’s something you’ve just got to stumble upon, and when you do — it’s MAGIC.
Basically, during the Frontierland Hoedown, Cast Members of all kinds — we’re talking Cast Members from custodial, quick service spots, and more, come out into Frontierland in their fabulous Disney costumes, music starts playing, and characters appear (just like magic!). The characters and Cast Members would then start to dance and essentially do a hoedown. It’s usually a nice chance to dance around, see some great Cast Members and characters, and just have a bit of fun!

We haven’t seen this hoedown taking place in the parks for quite some time now it back.

Yup, that was it, of course. However, we learned on our tour... that they aren't really CMs of every kind. They are all parade performers, but are wearing the costumes of all different CMs to make it seem more spur of the moment. Regardless, it was very cool. And the CMs interactions with the kids was excellent.

 

[LisaBelle]

Loved your report! Thanks for sharing your Genie+ information. So happy you had a good trip. Best of luck to your daughter on her study abroad experience!

 

[Swissmiss]

Thanks for giving me something so fun to read with my morning coffee

 

[cgersic]

Great finish and I can't wait to see @MeffysMom dressed up as BOOTS!!