So I just returned from four days at WDW and wanted to share my random thoughts and observations from while I was there. BTW, I have been going regularly to WDW since I was four (1975) and currently my family and I go about twice a year since we only live 3 hours away.
MM+/FP+: I must say that I am very impressed with the whole MM+/FP+/Magic Bands system. It was not in place on my last trip so this was my first experience with it. Everything worked flawlessly and exactly as advertised. Worked great as a room key, charging was awesome and managing and changing fast passes on the fly in the park was great. I have to say, I was not really too thrilled with all of this when it was announced, but I really love it now. Knowing that you have three attractions already locked in before you get to the park is a great stress reliever, and adding more once those were used worked really well. As far as using it for payments, I know that a lot of people say that taking out your wallet and using a CC is not a big deal, but I have to say that it was really nice walking up to an ice cream/popcorn cart and just tapping your band and entering a pin. The less that I am taking my wallet in and out of my pocket the better, as that is just one less chance that I am going to drop something or lose something while doing so. And when you are holding a tray of food in your hands, having to only tap your band is very convenient.
Magic Band Magic: One thing that really made me say “This is freakin awesome” was something that happened on my daughter’s sixth birthday on Tuesday. She had already met Anna/Elsa/Auora/Ariel and later that night she met Tianna behind the Christmas Shop. When she walked up to Tianna and Prince Naveen, out of the blue, he said to her “Well hello princess Bella, Happy Birthday! I’ve heard about you… Anna and Elsa told me that they met you earlier today and so did Ariel… I’m glad that I had the chance to meet you as well!” My daughter looked at me with huge eyes like “HOW DID HE KNOW THIS!” At first, even I was like WHAT!!! Then I realized that this was the magic band in action at its finest. Incredibly impressive and the reaction from her was priceless. I was even blown away.
Seven Dwarves Mine Train: The last time I saw this it was just a steel skeleton. Now that it’s complete, it is VERY impressive in person. Pictures cannot do it justice. It just looks huge and the theming is absolutely incredible. The amount of trees and landscaping that they put in just really makes it look like it’s in the middle of the forest. And they were running cast members on the trains while I was there and seeing it in action is also very impressive. Those that keep saying that this is a glorified Barnstormer may be surprised. It looks awesome to me and I’m sad that I just missed the opening by days.
Enchanted Tales with Belle: Was our first time doing this and the mirror blew me away! No clue how they did this.
LeFou’s Brew: First time getting one and I absolutely loved it. Will be getting one every time I go now.
Mickey’s Philharmagic: Had never gone on this in all my times at the MK. We all loved it and it was a nice break for a few minutes. A little shorter than I expected though.
Festival of Fantasy Parade: This was awesome. The floats are spectacular and so were the characters. We all loved it.
Main Street Electrical Parade: No matter how many times that I have seen this parade since I was a kid (seems like hundreds) when the music starts and the synthetic voice comes on that says “Ladies and Gentlemen…” it’s instant goosebumps on my entire body. Holding my daughter during the parade so that she could see it for her first time was an amazing experience. Have to admit that I got misty-eyed at times because I could remember my Dad holding me to watch it when I was her age. It just cannot be beat.
Wooden Rocking Chairs in Frontierland: Hard to come by, but we snagged them and stayed put for about an hour. I could sit there all day though.
Splash Mountain: Looked beautiful. Everything seemed to be working 100%. Probably my favorite ride in the MK.
Princess Fairy Tale Hall: Let’s start by saying that I am not happy that they got rid of Snow White’s Scary Adventure to make room for this instead of building an entire new space and having both, but it is what it is. With that being said, I know that most adults think that having this is ridiculous, but watching these kids meet their beloved princesses that they have seen hundreds of times in the movies is just priceless. We have to put ourselves in their shoes and I can only imagine what is going through their heads when they see a princess live in person that they have watched on TV a hundred times. I even got choked-up watching OTHER peoples kids meet them while we were waiting in line! We had fast passes for Anna and Elsa on my daughter’s actual birthday, and we kept it as a surprise from her. Even once we were in line and inside the building, we still did not tell her who we were meeting. When it was our turn to walk into the room and she turned the corner and saw them both standing there the look on her face was absolutely priceless. Princesses may not be for everybody, especially people with older kids or no kids at all, but they are big business and are part of what makes Disney so magical for the little ones. This was probably my favorite moment on the entire trip.
Magic Kingdom: I really realized on this trip that no matter how many new rides that they build, the simple fact is that the MK was built in 1971 and it is just not able to accommodate the crowds that go there now in 2014. They can expand hubs, they can add alternate exits, they can build more rides, but this park is just going to continue to get more and more crowded. This is just the way that it is. I cannot even imagine what it is going to be like in 10 years.
Expedition Everest: Surprisingly, I had not gone on this ride yet until this trip. Holy. Smokes. Disco Yeti or not, this ride is absolutely incredible. It is fast and furious. It is mean and angry. Backwards in the dark is intense, but that main drop out of the mountain and into the corkscrew is just unreal. You are flying. In my opinion, this is the most impressive ride in all of WDW. The entire area around the ride, the queue, the detail, the story, the mountain, is all second to none. Best themed ride/area that I have ever seen. You truly feel like you are halfway around the world. The Yeti was so dark though. I wish that they lit him up better than just the strobe. I was able to see him, but barely. I rode solo, then took my wife’s magic band and rode it again right after. Got off, walked into the bathroom and puked up my lunch that I had 30 minutes before. And I cannot wait to ride it again.
Dinosaur: I like this ride less and less each time I ride it. The first half of the ride you could at least see different dinosaurs, but about halfway through, it got pitch black and you could not see anything. You are just jerking around in the dark. What a wasted opportunity. They could have so much more going on in this ride in my opinion. And at 5:00 yesterday it was a no wait walk-on.
Animal Kingdom: Being there again just re-emphasized to me that Avatar Land seems like a big mistake. It just seems like they could have come up with something so much better, using a true Disney property and not one that is not from Disney. I do like visiting this park, but to me there is less and less to do there each time that we go. We did KS, EE, Dinosaur, Tough to be a Bug and Nemo in about 4 hours. (Do not ride Kali because I don't want to get soaked). I know that there are all kinds of other little things to do there, but I still find the park somewhat boring after half a day. We should have gone to the MK for our third day in a row instead of going here.
Port Orleans French Quarter: I just love this place. I have probably stayed here at least 15 times since it opened and every time I just marvel at how great it is. Nothing beats strolling the “streets” around the resort and taking it all in. This is probably the only hotel that I will ever stay at, with the exception of the occasional (rare) deluxe resort. But it is truly home for me at WDW.
Well, that’s it. Hope that you all enjoyed my .02 cents on what I saw. If I think of anything else that I forgot I will post it. And it was NOT a magical drive into work this morning, that’s for sure.
MM+/FP+: I must say that I am very impressed with the whole MM+/FP+/Magic Bands system. It was not in place on my last trip so this was my first experience with it. Everything worked flawlessly and exactly as advertised. Worked great as a room key, charging was awesome and managing and changing fast passes on the fly in the park was great. I have to say, I was not really too thrilled with all of this when it was announced, but I really love it now. Knowing that you have three attractions already locked in before you get to the park is a great stress reliever, and adding more once those were used worked really well. As far as using it for payments, I know that a lot of people say that taking out your wallet and using a CC is not a big deal, but I have to say that it was really nice walking up to an ice cream/popcorn cart and just tapping your band and entering a pin. The less that I am taking my wallet in and out of my pocket the better, as that is just one less chance that I am going to drop something or lose something while doing so. And when you are holding a tray of food in your hands, having to only tap your band is very convenient.
Magic Band Magic: One thing that really made me say “This is freakin awesome” was something that happened on my daughter’s sixth birthday on Tuesday. She had already met Anna/Elsa/Auora/Ariel and later that night she met Tianna behind the Christmas Shop. When she walked up to Tianna and Prince Naveen, out of the blue, he said to her “Well hello princess Bella, Happy Birthday! I’ve heard about you… Anna and Elsa told me that they met you earlier today and so did Ariel… I’m glad that I had the chance to meet you as well!” My daughter looked at me with huge eyes like “HOW DID HE KNOW THIS!” At first, even I was like WHAT!!! Then I realized that this was the magic band in action at its finest. Incredibly impressive and the reaction from her was priceless. I was even blown away.
Seven Dwarves Mine Train: The last time I saw this it was just a steel skeleton. Now that it’s complete, it is VERY impressive in person. Pictures cannot do it justice. It just looks huge and the theming is absolutely incredible. The amount of trees and landscaping that they put in just really makes it look like it’s in the middle of the forest. And they were running cast members on the trains while I was there and seeing it in action is also very impressive. Those that keep saying that this is a glorified Barnstormer may be surprised. It looks awesome to me and I’m sad that I just missed the opening by days.
Enchanted Tales with Belle: Was our first time doing this and the mirror blew me away! No clue how they did this.
LeFou’s Brew: First time getting one and I absolutely loved it. Will be getting one every time I go now.
Mickey’s Philharmagic: Had never gone on this in all my times at the MK. We all loved it and it was a nice break for a few minutes. A little shorter than I expected though.
Festival of Fantasy Parade: This was awesome. The floats are spectacular and so were the characters. We all loved it.
Main Street Electrical Parade: No matter how many times that I have seen this parade since I was a kid (seems like hundreds) when the music starts and the synthetic voice comes on that says “Ladies and Gentlemen…” it’s instant goosebumps on my entire body. Holding my daughter during the parade so that she could see it for her first time was an amazing experience. Have to admit that I got misty-eyed at times because I could remember my Dad holding me to watch it when I was her age. It just cannot be beat.
Wooden Rocking Chairs in Frontierland: Hard to come by, but we snagged them and stayed put for about an hour. I could sit there all day though.
Splash Mountain: Looked beautiful. Everything seemed to be working 100%. Probably my favorite ride in the MK.
Princess Fairy Tale Hall: Let’s start by saying that I am not happy that they got rid of Snow White’s Scary Adventure to make room for this instead of building an entire new space and having both, but it is what it is. With that being said, I know that most adults think that having this is ridiculous, but watching these kids meet their beloved princesses that they have seen hundreds of times in the movies is just priceless. We have to put ourselves in their shoes and I can only imagine what is going through their heads when they see a princess live in person that they have watched on TV a hundred times. I even got choked-up watching OTHER peoples kids meet them while we were waiting in line! We had fast passes for Anna and Elsa on my daughter’s actual birthday, and we kept it as a surprise from her. Even once we were in line and inside the building, we still did not tell her who we were meeting. When it was our turn to walk into the room and she turned the corner and saw them both standing there the look on her face was absolutely priceless. Princesses may not be for everybody, especially people with older kids or no kids at all, but they are big business and are part of what makes Disney so magical for the little ones. This was probably my favorite moment on the entire trip.
Magic Kingdom: I really realized on this trip that no matter how many new rides that they build, the simple fact is that the MK was built in 1971 and it is just not able to accommodate the crowds that go there now in 2014. They can expand hubs, they can add alternate exits, they can build more rides, but this park is just going to continue to get more and more crowded. This is just the way that it is. I cannot even imagine what it is going to be like in 10 years.
Expedition Everest: Surprisingly, I had not gone on this ride yet until this trip. Holy. Smokes. Disco Yeti or not, this ride is absolutely incredible. It is fast and furious. It is mean and angry. Backwards in the dark is intense, but that main drop out of the mountain and into the corkscrew is just unreal. You are flying. In my opinion, this is the most impressive ride in all of WDW. The entire area around the ride, the queue, the detail, the story, the mountain, is all second to none. Best themed ride/area that I have ever seen. You truly feel like you are halfway around the world. The Yeti was so dark though. I wish that they lit him up better than just the strobe. I was able to see him, but barely. I rode solo, then took my wife’s magic band and rode it again right after. Got off, walked into the bathroom and puked up my lunch that I had 30 minutes before. And I cannot wait to ride it again.
Dinosaur: I like this ride less and less each time I ride it. The first half of the ride you could at least see different dinosaurs, but about halfway through, it got pitch black and you could not see anything. You are just jerking around in the dark. What a wasted opportunity. They could have so much more going on in this ride in my opinion. And at 5:00 yesterday it was a no wait walk-on.
Animal Kingdom: Being there again just re-emphasized to me that Avatar Land seems like a big mistake. It just seems like they could have come up with something so much better, using a true Disney property and not one that is not from Disney. I do like visiting this park, but to me there is less and less to do there each time that we go. We did KS, EE, Dinosaur, Tough to be a Bug and Nemo in about 4 hours. (Do not ride Kali because I don't want to get soaked). I know that there are all kinds of other little things to do there, but I still find the park somewhat boring after half a day. We should have gone to the MK for our third day in a row instead of going here.
Port Orleans French Quarter: I just love this place. I have probably stayed here at least 15 times since it opened and every time I just marvel at how great it is. Nothing beats strolling the “streets” around the resort and taking it all in. This is probably the only hotel that I will ever stay at, with the exception of the occasional (rare) deluxe resort. But it is truly home for me at WDW.
Well, that’s it. Hope that you all enjoyed my .02 cents on what I saw. If I think of anything else that I forgot I will post it. And it was NOT a magical drive into work this morning, that’s for sure.
Last edited:
