FourFourSeven
Member
Instead of a full trip report (I never read them, so I'll spare the community mine
), I wanted to give my thoughts on WDW from my trip that ended two days ago. I stayed at the Swan (see my separate post on the Swan). With two small kids, we focused almost entirely on the little-kid stuff (my wife and I have ridden the big rides so often we were happy to forego them this time):
Positives:
1) WDW as a whole seemed cleaner, with better upkeep, than my last visit two years ago (when I thought it had slipped some). A very nice development!
2) The CMs were, almost without exception, phenomenal. One example - when we stopped to look at a map for the nearest restroom on the way to Lion King show in AK, two CMs rushed to our side to help direct us, then helpfully suggested we save our seats for the show and exit to use the restroom. We had our best CM experience ever! (Maybe because we have two adorable little girls).
3) The other guests, too, were as friendly and kind as I've ever seen. I was pleasantly surprised at things such as holding doors for us with our big double-stroller, people patiently waiting to meet characters without pushing, giving up seats on a crowded bus so we (holding sleeping kids and a stroller) can sit, and just general overall decency.
4) Disney's attention to detail is still there. We rode "it's a small world" just before closing one night, and noticed that one doll's pom pom had fallen out of her hand. Not a big deal. Anyway, we rode again the next morning (my kids' FAVORITE ride), and the pom pom was back in the doll's hand. Very nice to see they still care about things as little as that.
5) Characters, characters everywhere! A few years ago, I wouldn't have cared. But my oldest daughter LOVES the characters, and it was a fantastic surprise to run into them all over the place.
Negatives:
1) The WDW transit system needs lots of work! Mind you, the CM's driving the buses were excellent. However, we spent more time waiting for buses and boats than for all attractions combined! We had one 40 minute wait for the boat to MGM, and we saw another boat arrive one minute after ours. We had one morning when we waited for 40 minutes, and saw two (empty) Downtown Disney buses come before a Magic Kingdom bus. Finally, worst of all, we waited for a bus at Magic Kingdom closing for over 30 minutes! We (barely) got on that bus, and there was still a huge line of people who were going to have to wait who knows how much longer. The bus line (which served the Epcot resorts) was still huge, when every other line had been emptied out.
2) The frigid weather. Not much Disney can do about that. (Lows in the 20s? Eek! Made for an interesting Magic Kingdom morning, to say the least. Sure kept the crowds down, though).
3) The crowds were very small. Yes, this was a positive for myself, and why we went in the offseason, but I worry for Disney's sake if ToT and RnR have no wait in the early afternoon.
Overall, a positive experience, except for the transit system. Honestly, the buses and boats were so bad as to be unacceptable, and I will probably end up driving to the parks if I stay on property again. Interestingly, it seemed to be more of a scheduling issue than a capacity issue. (Two boats come at once, two buses for one destination well before one for another, etc.) I don't know how they run, but it probably needs to be a bit more dynamically scheduled. (As in - "hmm, the last two buses to the Swan were for Downtown Disney and Animal Kingdom - let's switch the next one from DD to MK!")
), I wanted to give my thoughts on WDW from my trip that ended two days ago. I stayed at the Swan (see my separate post on the Swan). With two small kids, we focused almost entirely on the little-kid stuff (my wife and I have ridden the big rides so often we were happy to forego them this time):Positives:
1) WDW as a whole seemed cleaner, with better upkeep, than my last visit two years ago (when I thought it had slipped some). A very nice development!
2) The CMs were, almost without exception, phenomenal. One example - when we stopped to look at a map for the nearest restroom on the way to Lion King show in AK, two CMs rushed to our side to help direct us, then helpfully suggested we save our seats for the show and exit to use the restroom. We had our best CM experience ever! (Maybe because we have two adorable little girls).
3) The other guests, too, were as friendly and kind as I've ever seen. I was pleasantly surprised at things such as holding doors for us with our big double-stroller, people patiently waiting to meet characters without pushing, giving up seats on a crowded bus so we (holding sleeping kids and a stroller) can sit, and just general overall decency.
4) Disney's attention to detail is still there. We rode "it's a small world" just before closing one night, and noticed that one doll's pom pom had fallen out of her hand. Not a big deal. Anyway, we rode again the next morning (my kids' FAVORITE ride), and the pom pom was back in the doll's hand. Very nice to see they still care about things as little as that.
5) Characters, characters everywhere! A few years ago, I wouldn't have cared. But my oldest daughter LOVES the characters, and it was a fantastic surprise to run into them all over the place.
Negatives:
1) The WDW transit system needs lots of work! Mind you, the CM's driving the buses were excellent. However, we spent more time waiting for buses and boats than for all attractions combined! We had one 40 minute wait for the boat to MGM, and we saw another boat arrive one minute after ours. We had one morning when we waited for 40 minutes, and saw two (empty) Downtown Disney buses come before a Magic Kingdom bus. Finally, worst of all, we waited for a bus at Magic Kingdom closing for over 30 minutes! We (barely) got on that bus, and there was still a huge line of people who were going to have to wait who knows how much longer. The bus line (which served the Epcot resorts) was still huge, when every other line had been emptied out.
2) The frigid weather. Not much Disney can do about that. (Lows in the 20s? Eek! Made for an interesting Magic Kingdom morning, to say the least. Sure kept the crowds down, though).
3) The crowds were very small. Yes, this was a positive for myself, and why we went in the offseason, but I worry for Disney's sake if ToT and RnR have no wait in the early afternoon.
Overall, a positive experience, except for the transit system. Honestly, the buses and boats were so bad as to be unacceptable, and I will probably end up driving to the parks if I stay on property again. Interestingly, it seemed to be more of a scheduling issue than a capacity issue. (Two boats come at once, two buses for one destination well before one for another, etc.) I don't know how they run, but it probably needs to be a bit more dynamically scheduled. (As in - "hmm, the last two buses to the Swan were for Downtown Disney and Animal Kingdom - let's switch the next one from DD to MK!")
