So we where at the world from September 26th to October 3rd. and as a preface im not going to tell you everything we did in what order and such. (any trip report can do that for you) im going to simply talk about what i really liked and what fell short so future visitors can know.
Magic Kingdom:
I found it very busy even this time of year and it is quite apparent that the MK has a crowd issue this made our TWO mk days stressful. The new hub looks very nice and as many have said before allows a quick bypass of any shows that may be going on up on stage. the feel and look of the railings and walls are also top notch it is worth a gander. Pirates of the Caribbean refurb looked very well done (most noticeable to me is the fort/ship fight scene) the audio is much cleaner throughout and oh the skeleton looked fantastic.(in the cave) This was also my first time to experience the new peter pan Que and the seven dwarfs mine train. (both where fantastic IMO) so the peter pan addition was very likable and the Tinkerbell effect and the pixie dust effect where well done. its a shame the ride itself looks like crap compared to the addition. show scenes and technology aside the audio was horrible. this ride screams for on board audio..next the dwarfs and well i was pleasantly surprised especially hearing from some on WDWmagic =) its only issue is how short it is. (we knew this from day one thanks to @Lee) but the few coaster portions are very fun and a notch about the barnstormer for sure. and the show scene was gorgeous. (this coaster was butter smooth so ride length aside kudos to smoothness) if the ride was built to its original concept perfection would be a word i would toss around. we ate in Cinderellas castle and the atmosphere was really cool and the food? not a bad shake not the best but a decent steak. felt like a real meal granted portions where on the smaller side. if Disney is reading this restaurant needs to do wine and beer.
Epcot:
So obviously it was food and wine and this made Friday night awful for regular guests. (the tastings are fun but the prices are insane and if you have no interest in drinking? well go to world showcase to fight through a sea of people) (drunk people mind you) this was opening night i believe? so maybe extra busy? but it was clear that many in attendance where locals simply there to enjoy F&W. (cranberry bog was cool) with that rant out of the way the rose and crown was truly stellar i got the bangers and mash and was delighted (cleaned the plate folks) also enjoyed all the drunks corralled into the bar area...not. The service was also great (i love a British accent)
The doors to test track before the outdoor portion were working and the ride is still as fun as can be but the score cards are not working. Wait times never seemed to spike past 25 or 30 minutes too. (this time of year dont waste a FP+) My remarks on soaring asre not really needed since it will end up getting a reboot soon but....that image quality leaves a lot to be desired as well as the que being ever so plain. (use your tier 1 FP+ here) Wait times where 90 minutes all day long with slightly shorter times in the morning and at night before park close. One last thing to note was how delicious dinner was at Norway in the royal banquette hall. (if you pick a princess meet and greet i would recommend this one) the traditional kjottkake was soooo good.
Animal Kingdom:
It rained all day and on the surface that sounds bleak but let me tell you WALK ON EVERYTHING. We did not wait in line for a single attraction except the lion king show with our FP+ mind you. The plot of the rapids is really lost now without the effects and i really don't get the purpose of the ride anymore. (granted i enjoyed it more than bilge rat barges aka lets get you as wet as humanly possible) Dinosaur was also much too dark to see anything there where points in the ride that had no purpose due to the lighting currently. the condition is deplorable and it is a shame. We also did the character dinner at tusker house and well the characters are nice (especially in the unique attire) but the food was underwelming and felt quick serve, you really get the impression that your ONLY paying for the characters and they happen to have some food. The new harambe expansions are nice and add to the very well done astetics of the area.
Hollywood studios:
Tower of Terror was a blast as always retaining the best ride on property award from myself. wait times across the park seemed a little insane at times. TOT and RRC had 60+ minute waits most of the day and ofcourse midway mania had 90+ minute waits. i recommend FP+ on TOT midway mania and star tours. (even though you don't really need it for the latter there simply aren't much choices) fantasmic FP+ was reliably available for both shows at 2pm the day we visited at the kiosk. We had lunch at the back lot express and the turkey club is awful so please do yourself a favor and don't order it. This solidifies the horrible options of quick serve in the park along with ABC commisionary. At night dined at sci fi drive i and i have had some so so experiences in the past but it was honestly rather yummy. the sci fi specialty burger was very good. tons of food and the apple slaw on top is icing on the cake.
So i wanted to put all other thoughts and tips in a big catch all so here it is. Starbucks drinks count as a single snack credit per drink REGARDLESS of size,type,ect so if your into starbucks ths is a great way to use those snack credits. I must give props to the employees at the main street bakery they were turning out drinks like an assembly line, kudos. Wear your magic bands upside down (mickey down) might help some people who have issues getting it to work well (this is best for the pin pad terminals vs park entry posts) Please do some research into historical ride wait times there are way too many people using FP+ on walk on rides. Ok so we did the mickeys Halloween party and there was alot of rain and lightning in the area so besides being wet outdoor treat stations were closed temporarily due to lightning BUT guests could still line up in throngs for the station to open..so you close outdoor trick or treating due to lightning but allow your customers to continue to line up outside. To me this felt like an HR requirement for employees and no care or concern for guests themselves. i encountered no unpleasant cast members, sure i saw a few that looked less than thrilled to be on the job (a small few) but every single one i interacted with was friendly and helpful. So we did two days at universal studios as well and i finally got to see diagon ally and wow it was incredible. all the little interactive details. (reach for the locksmiths door) and the dragon fire, standing right under it you can feel the heat. in fact my only complaint for the entire wizard world was the people who stood waiting to take a photo of the fire breathing dragon....because google images must be broken. so i have had butter-beer before but wow butter beer ice cream was amazingly good and EVERYONE should try it. (strawberry was also yummy) so the gringotts ride was fun and had some cool effects...that first drop was really neat but as a whole i was a little underwhelmed maybe it was just me. oh if your four year old is almost 42 inches but not really he can ride all the 42 inch requirement rides apparently...in this case my son was right there but technically a tad short and was never checked and i appreciated that. Theirs no reason to be a hard a** over half an inch when your in between two parents. the rip ride rock it was also really fun, nothing earth shattering but my vote is for it to stay. so on that note in summary of universal there where no lines at both parks....walk on everything...and HUGE kudos to HHN not being in the way of regular day guest activity's having never been this time of year i was concerned that it would ruin things for a non HHN ticket holder. but they did an amazing job of keeping it all out of the way and such. the only evidence of the event for me was a single stage and a handful of props here and there. my only real gripe with universal was the apparent fascination with stairs....most attractions features stairs to some degree and i question why ramps couldn't have been used?
that is all for now i might add more later, enjoy!
Magic Kingdom:
I found it very busy even this time of year and it is quite apparent that the MK has a crowd issue this made our TWO mk days stressful. The new hub looks very nice and as many have said before allows a quick bypass of any shows that may be going on up on stage. the feel and look of the railings and walls are also top notch it is worth a gander. Pirates of the Caribbean refurb looked very well done (most noticeable to me is the fort/ship fight scene) the audio is much cleaner throughout and oh the skeleton looked fantastic.(in the cave) This was also my first time to experience the new peter pan Que and the seven dwarfs mine train. (both where fantastic IMO) so the peter pan addition was very likable and the Tinkerbell effect and the pixie dust effect where well done. its a shame the ride itself looks like crap compared to the addition. show scenes and technology aside the audio was horrible. this ride screams for on board audio..next the dwarfs and well i was pleasantly surprised especially hearing from some on WDWmagic =) its only issue is how short it is. (we knew this from day one thanks to @Lee) but the few coaster portions are very fun and a notch about the barnstormer for sure. and the show scene was gorgeous. (this coaster was butter smooth so ride length aside kudos to smoothness) if the ride was built to its original concept perfection would be a word i would toss around. we ate in Cinderellas castle and the atmosphere was really cool and the food? not a bad shake not the best but a decent steak. felt like a real meal granted portions where on the smaller side. if Disney is reading this restaurant needs to do wine and beer.
Epcot:
So obviously it was food and wine and this made Friday night awful for regular guests. (the tastings are fun but the prices are insane and if you have no interest in drinking? well go to world showcase to fight through a sea of people) (drunk people mind you) this was opening night i believe? so maybe extra busy? but it was clear that many in attendance where locals simply there to enjoy F&W. (cranberry bog was cool) with that rant out of the way the rose and crown was truly stellar i got the bangers and mash and was delighted (cleaned the plate folks) also enjoyed all the drunks corralled into the bar area...not. The service was also great (i love a British accent)
The doors to test track before the outdoor portion were working and the ride is still as fun as can be but the score cards are not working. Wait times never seemed to spike past 25 or 30 minutes too. (this time of year dont waste a FP+) My remarks on soaring asre not really needed since it will end up getting a reboot soon but....that image quality leaves a lot to be desired as well as the que being ever so plain. (use your tier 1 FP+ here) Wait times where 90 minutes all day long with slightly shorter times in the morning and at night before park close. One last thing to note was how delicious dinner was at Norway in the royal banquette hall. (if you pick a princess meet and greet i would recommend this one) the traditional kjottkake was soooo good.
Animal Kingdom:
It rained all day and on the surface that sounds bleak but let me tell you WALK ON EVERYTHING. We did not wait in line for a single attraction except the lion king show with our FP+ mind you. The plot of the rapids is really lost now without the effects and i really don't get the purpose of the ride anymore. (granted i enjoyed it more than bilge rat barges aka lets get you as wet as humanly possible) Dinosaur was also much too dark to see anything there where points in the ride that had no purpose due to the lighting currently. the condition is deplorable and it is a shame. We also did the character dinner at tusker house and well the characters are nice (especially in the unique attire) but the food was underwelming and felt quick serve, you really get the impression that your ONLY paying for the characters and they happen to have some food. The new harambe expansions are nice and add to the very well done astetics of the area.
Hollywood studios:
Tower of Terror was a blast as always retaining the best ride on property award from myself. wait times across the park seemed a little insane at times. TOT and RRC had 60+ minute waits most of the day and ofcourse midway mania had 90+ minute waits. i recommend FP+ on TOT midway mania and star tours. (even though you don't really need it for the latter there simply aren't much choices) fantasmic FP+ was reliably available for both shows at 2pm the day we visited at the kiosk. We had lunch at the back lot express and the turkey club is awful so please do yourself a favor and don't order it. This solidifies the horrible options of quick serve in the park along with ABC commisionary. At night dined at sci fi drive i and i have had some so so experiences in the past but it was honestly rather yummy. the sci fi specialty burger was very good. tons of food and the apple slaw on top is icing on the cake.
So i wanted to put all other thoughts and tips in a big catch all so here it is. Starbucks drinks count as a single snack credit per drink REGARDLESS of size,type,ect so if your into starbucks ths is a great way to use those snack credits. I must give props to the employees at the main street bakery they were turning out drinks like an assembly line, kudos. Wear your magic bands upside down (mickey down) might help some people who have issues getting it to work well (this is best for the pin pad terminals vs park entry posts) Please do some research into historical ride wait times there are way too many people using FP+ on walk on rides. Ok so we did the mickeys Halloween party and there was alot of rain and lightning in the area so besides being wet outdoor treat stations were closed temporarily due to lightning BUT guests could still line up in throngs for the station to open..so you close outdoor trick or treating due to lightning but allow your customers to continue to line up outside. To me this felt like an HR requirement for employees and no care or concern for guests themselves. i encountered no unpleasant cast members, sure i saw a few that looked less than thrilled to be on the job (a small few) but every single one i interacted with was friendly and helpful. So we did two days at universal studios as well and i finally got to see diagon ally and wow it was incredible. all the little interactive details. (reach for the locksmiths door) and the dragon fire, standing right under it you can feel the heat. in fact my only complaint for the entire wizard world was the people who stood waiting to take a photo of the fire breathing dragon....because google images must be broken. so i have had butter-beer before but wow butter beer ice cream was amazingly good and EVERYONE should try it. (strawberry was also yummy) so the gringotts ride was fun and had some cool effects...that first drop was really neat but as a whole i was a little underwhelmed maybe it was just me. oh if your four year old is almost 42 inches but not really he can ride all the 42 inch requirement rides apparently...in this case my son was right there but technically a tad short and was never checked and i appreciated that. Theirs no reason to be a hard a** over half an inch when your in between two parents. the rip ride rock it was also really fun, nothing earth shattering but my vote is for it to stay. so on that note in summary of universal there where no lines at both parks....walk on everything...and HUGE kudos to HHN not being in the way of regular day guest activity's having never been this time of year i was concerned that it would ruin things for a non HHN ticket holder. but they did an amazing job of keeping it all out of the way and such. the only evidence of the event for me was a single stage and a handful of props here and there. my only real gripe with universal was the apparent fascination with stairs....most attractions features stairs to some degree and i question why ramps couldn't have been used?
that is all for now i might add more later, enjoy!
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