For some reason I thought I had posted this, but here goes. 1st trip report, 4th stay overall:
So here goes, my impressions from the last WDW trip. 4th time there with the family (the DW has been there 7 or 8). I never went as a kid in the 70/80s so I don’t have any memories to trample on “with the way it used to be.”
We went in mid-May 2017; great time to visit and we took the kids out of school to avoid the Easter rush. We did a lot of our research ahead of time and it paid off like in 2015. Humidity had not arrived and minimal rains while we were there.
In general, the trip was a good one. We were previously at Disney for Trip #3 in September 2015. The “problems” (depending on how one chooses to look at it) with WDW are still there in my opinion. Nothing earth shattering, but if you go during peak times? Yikes. The basic take away right from the bat is they have not solved the problem of capacity since our first family visit in 2011. Since I wrote this they have announced a lot of expansions, yes, but still year(s) away.
Resorts- We stayed from 5-9-17 to 5-19-17, staying 3 days a CB and 7 days at POR.
Since it was early on in construction at CB it wasn’t too much of a hassle. Zero issues on our part, liked the pool and the bartenders were great. It was sweet to get a $225 gift card due to construction… promptly used it at the pool bar. Construction was not too much of a issue as it really hadn’t got underway to a great degree and was on the opposite side from where we were staying (Trinidad North). Room was secluded and no noise and a short walk to the regular, non-themed pools.
2nd Time at POR; worked out well. Stayed at Acadian House this time after Paeterre Place in 2015. We like POR, no real issues here either. Third floor, room was clean and in good working order. When we arrived they wanted to place us in Alligator Bayou (I had called and faxed a room request ahead of time). With some polite asking the cast member was able to reassign us. In fact the moral of this tip: be nice to every cast member, above and beyond and it all worked out well; we always are but it benefited us a lot later on (see below).
Parks Overall- During my lurker time on this site I’ve heard the pros and cons on the 5th gate and its painfully obvious that not only do the existing parks need an upgrade which they are doing to varying degrees, but another park needs to be added as well. In other words, BOTH need to happen. Disney has ramped up attendance, but capacity is nowhere close to matching it. I don’t buy Disney “can only do so much”. They are swimming in cash and I don’t hear the stock holders complaining they are not getting enough money on their investment. In fact, if it wasn’t for Universal I’m not sure how much they would have been moving forward. Note: I haven’t been to Universal so I can’t say one way or another from personal experience. We are thinking about going there for a day next time. I use this as an example, it lit a fire under Disney’s butt to get moving. Since writing this: on our next trip we will spend a day and go to Universal.
So back to my main observation: this will come as a surprise to no one here, but the major problem is still capacity. Even at another off-peak times in 2015 (late September/early October) and this last time in 2017 its obvious that Disney has still not acted in terms of the capacity issues at the park. Now, we personally avoid a lot of the hassle by getting going early and avoiding the “sleep-in crowd” rolling in at 11 AM; heading back to the resort at midday, sometimes going to a different park that doesn’t have EMH, and all that. It just strikes me as odd that Disney moves so glacially slow in terms of updating/adding new rides. This isn’t the 1970s where you can’t take 5 years to roll out something new, or maybe they can as evidenced by the long wait times in Avatar Land... Simply put jamming more people into the parks will eventually result in a problem. Now, people having been saying on this site “then don’t go”. That’s not really constructive nor does it address the root problem. Eventually people won’t. As a family we’re fortunate enough to be able to go multiple times; not everyone can, not everyone has childhood memories to fall back on as to a “why” one might need or want to go. I certainly don’t. Eventually everything reaches a breaking point, they are not there yet, but its largely unsustainable IMO.
Epcot- I really like Epcot, I want to like it more, but as other have noted it’s so beyond dated and empty in the front half its almost comical. Wall-E could be a great addition up front IMO. Guardians of the Galaxy? Anything. I can’t understand why the revamped the Maelstrom, only rode Frozen once and it was alright, but my kids are in the tween years fortunately. I do get it, Frozen made something like a billion dollars but can’t imagine riding this thing without a FP.
Animal Kingdom- Sadly we missed on AL grand opening (about a week early and were not selected as part of the lottery. The DS and I like the park, the DW and DD do not so we don’t tend to spend much time there unfortunately. Next time the DS and I are going there by ourselves while the girls do something else.
Had a customer service snafu (not our fault) and had to wait 30 minutes at guest relations. I kept it light while the very flustered cast member apologized to me after the previous "guests" gave him somewhat a hard time. To thank me? Got a fast pass for four, for any ride outside of Frozen. Used it on a packed day at the Rockin' Roller coasted last day of the trip when wait times were insane.
Hollywood Studios- Wow, down to a 1/3 day park right now? Looking forward to the expansions, they are desperately needed. I like this park a lot and it’s good to see that the brass recognizes the park needs a major expansion. But that expansion needed to happen 5 years ago, notice a pattern? The DS did get to do the Jedi training which he liked a lot and the DD (who almost 13) was the rebel spy on Star Tours this time around much to her mortification.
Transportation- in the entire ten days only had one bad experience with the buses. And it was right off the bat at CB waiting to go to Magic Kingdom around 11 AM. As it was the day we got in, not too big of a deal. Had we been thinking clearer that morning we would have hopped over to another park then made the connection elsewhere like Epcot (did that later in the trip and it worked fine). Even at POR we were fine: in the AM we used the East depot, south is OK but more congested in the mornings. I’ve heard about the horror stories of transportation at POR, but both times we’ve stayed there we did not encounter any.
We became big fans of cabs this trip! For me the $20 cab ride back to the resort from various locations where we finished the nights was well worth it. We’re definitely building in more for cab fare next time around into the budget. Sure beats waiting for 3-4 buses out of Epcot after Illuminations for instance when the feet are sore and tired.
Dining- Dining went off without a hitch with only having to wait past our reservation time at Le Cellier which we had anticipated. I chalk it up to being there on Mothers Day. Jungle Navigation was a big hit with the whole family, we’ll be going back. Trails End was nice for me (2nd trip) but it gave the DW heartburn again (something with the ribs). Finally ate at Boatwrights (we had to cancel last time) and we enjoyed it.
Eating in Japan was a letdown for Habachi; I’ve had better elsewhere. Chef was good, the food was adequate, but I’ve had some exceptional hibachi; this wasn’t it. We kind of expected that going in so it wasn’t a surprise.
Lastly on dining: Learned our lesson for “taking a break from sit-down dinners" and opting for QS”; every time except at Casey’s this has not ended well… We will not be doing that again.
Customer service- no bad experiences and several outstanding ones where we recognized members for keys to the kingdom.
As noted excellent bartenders at the Pool bar at CB.
There you have it, my experiences as a person on vacation, not a hater nor a raving fan, just a guy on vacation with his family. Next trip is tentative for just after Thanksgiving into early December 2018 at either PV or BC; vote in the family is 2-2 with the DD and I on one side and the DW and DS on the other… Last update: since writing this the DW caved in and were going to stay at PV this time and BC the time after that. we actually scouted out the PV in the day of our return flight; very much like the look of it and it's location.
So here goes, my impressions from the last WDW trip. 4th time there with the family (the DW has been there 7 or 8). I never went as a kid in the 70/80s so I don’t have any memories to trample on “with the way it used to be.”
We went in mid-May 2017; great time to visit and we took the kids out of school to avoid the Easter rush. We did a lot of our research ahead of time and it paid off like in 2015. Humidity had not arrived and minimal rains while we were there.
In general, the trip was a good one. We were previously at Disney for Trip #3 in September 2015. The “problems” (depending on how one chooses to look at it) with WDW are still there in my opinion. Nothing earth shattering, but if you go during peak times? Yikes. The basic take away right from the bat is they have not solved the problem of capacity since our first family visit in 2011. Since I wrote this they have announced a lot of expansions, yes, but still year(s) away.
Resorts- We stayed from 5-9-17 to 5-19-17, staying 3 days a CB and 7 days at POR.
Since it was early on in construction at CB it wasn’t too much of a hassle. Zero issues on our part, liked the pool and the bartenders were great. It was sweet to get a $225 gift card due to construction… promptly used it at the pool bar. Construction was not too much of a issue as it really hadn’t got underway to a great degree and was on the opposite side from where we were staying (Trinidad North). Room was secluded and no noise and a short walk to the regular, non-themed pools.
2nd Time at POR; worked out well. Stayed at Acadian House this time after Paeterre Place in 2015. We like POR, no real issues here either. Third floor, room was clean and in good working order. When we arrived they wanted to place us in Alligator Bayou (I had called and faxed a room request ahead of time). With some polite asking the cast member was able to reassign us. In fact the moral of this tip: be nice to every cast member, above and beyond and it all worked out well; we always are but it benefited us a lot later on (see below).
Parks Overall- During my lurker time on this site I’ve heard the pros and cons on the 5th gate and its painfully obvious that not only do the existing parks need an upgrade which they are doing to varying degrees, but another park needs to be added as well. In other words, BOTH need to happen. Disney has ramped up attendance, but capacity is nowhere close to matching it. I don’t buy Disney “can only do so much”. They are swimming in cash and I don’t hear the stock holders complaining they are not getting enough money on their investment. In fact, if it wasn’t for Universal I’m not sure how much they would have been moving forward. Note: I haven’t been to Universal so I can’t say one way or another from personal experience. We are thinking about going there for a day next time. I use this as an example, it lit a fire under Disney’s butt to get moving. Since writing this: on our next trip we will spend a day and go to Universal.
So back to my main observation: this will come as a surprise to no one here, but the major problem is still capacity. Even at another off-peak times in 2015 (late September/early October) and this last time in 2017 its obvious that Disney has still not acted in terms of the capacity issues at the park. Now, we personally avoid a lot of the hassle by getting going early and avoiding the “sleep-in crowd” rolling in at 11 AM; heading back to the resort at midday, sometimes going to a different park that doesn’t have EMH, and all that. It just strikes me as odd that Disney moves so glacially slow in terms of updating/adding new rides. This isn’t the 1970s where you can’t take 5 years to roll out something new, or maybe they can as evidenced by the long wait times in Avatar Land... Simply put jamming more people into the parks will eventually result in a problem. Now, people having been saying on this site “then don’t go”. That’s not really constructive nor does it address the root problem. Eventually people won’t. As a family we’re fortunate enough to be able to go multiple times; not everyone can, not everyone has childhood memories to fall back on as to a “why” one might need or want to go. I certainly don’t. Eventually everything reaches a breaking point, they are not there yet, but its largely unsustainable IMO.
Epcot- I really like Epcot, I want to like it more, but as other have noted it’s so beyond dated and empty in the front half its almost comical. Wall-E could be a great addition up front IMO. Guardians of the Galaxy? Anything. I can’t understand why the revamped the Maelstrom, only rode Frozen once and it was alright, but my kids are in the tween years fortunately. I do get it, Frozen made something like a billion dollars but can’t imagine riding this thing without a FP.
Animal Kingdom- Sadly we missed on AL grand opening (about a week early and were not selected as part of the lottery. The DS and I like the park, the DW and DD do not so we don’t tend to spend much time there unfortunately. Next time the DS and I are going there by ourselves while the girls do something else.
Had a customer service snafu (not our fault) and had to wait 30 minutes at guest relations. I kept it light while the very flustered cast member apologized to me after the previous "guests" gave him somewhat a hard time. To thank me? Got a fast pass for four, for any ride outside of Frozen. Used it on a packed day at the Rockin' Roller coasted last day of the trip when wait times were insane.
Hollywood Studios- Wow, down to a 1/3 day park right now? Looking forward to the expansions, they are desperately needed. I like this park a lot and it’s good to see that the brass recognizes the park needs a major expansion. But that expansion needed to happen 5 years ago, notice a pattern? The DS did get to do the Jedi training which he liked a lot and the DD (who almost 13) was the rebel spy on Star Tours this time around much to her mortification.
Transportation- in the entire ten days only had one bad experience with the buses. And it was right off the bat at CB waiting to go to Magic Kingdom around 11 AM. As it was the day we got in, not too big of a deal. Had we been thinking clearer that morning we would have hopped over to another park then made the connection elsewhere like Epcot (did that later in the trip and it worked fine). Even at POR we were fine: in the AM we used the East depot, south is OK but more congested in the mornings. I’ve heard about the horror stories of transportation at POR, but both times we’ve stayed there we did not encounter any.
We became big fans of cabs this trip! For me the $20 cab ride back to the resort from various locations where we finished the nights was well worth it. We’re definitely building in more for cab fare next time around into the budget. Sure beats waiting for 3-4 buses out of Epcot after Illuminations for instance when the feet are sore and tired.
Dining- Dining went off without a hitch with only having to wait past our reservation time at Le Cellier which we had anticipated. I chalk it up to being there on Mothers Day. Jungle Navigation was a big hit with the whole family, we’ll be going back. Trails End was nice for me (2nd trip) but it gave the DW heartburn again (something with the ribs). Finally ate at Boatwrights (we had to cancel last time) and we enjoyed it.
Eating in Japan was a letdown for Habachi; I’ve had better elsewhere. Chef was good, the food was adequate, but I’ve had some exceptional hibachi; this wasn’t it. We kind of expected that going in so it wasn’t a surprise.
Lastly on dining: Learned our lesson for “taking a break from sit-down dinners" and opting for QS”; every time except at Casey’s this has not ended well… We will not be doing that again.
Customer service- no bad experiences and several outstanding ones where we recognized members for keys to the kingdom.
As noted excellent bartenders at the Pool bar at CB.
There you have it, my experiences as a person on vacation, not a hater nor a raving fan, just a guy on vacation with his family. Next trip is tentative for just after Thanksgiving into early December 2018 at either PV or BC; vote in the family is 2-2 with the DD and I on one side and the DW and DS on the other… Last update: since writing this the DW caved in and were going to stay at PV this time and BC the time after that. we actually scouted out the PV in the day of our return flight; very much like the look of it and it's location.
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