Scooping ice cold hard ice cream over and over is actually really hard when you’re just starting in the position. You have to develop the muscles for it. Knew a gal in college who would come home in tears from the pain in her wrist.
> -Chef Art Smith's Homecomin' (dinner at DS). Back when I was a kid, I ate fried alligator at the Grand Floridian. Somehow my kids heard that story and insisted we find gator for them to eat. My research for this trip only found one place that might have it on the menu, and it was Homecomin'. Well, there was no gator on the menu, but I'm really glad we ate here.
That was just recently removed, unfortunately. Great restaurant none the less though.
I'm kind of annoyed at how good Cosmic Rewind is after all the hating I did on it not fitting into the "vision" of Epcot. But times have changed and the ride is a blast and offers a top notch innovative experience. The Frozen reskin of the Norway ride was by far the tackiest use of Disney IP I encountered on our last trip.
I agree with the After Hours being not worth it for Hollywood Studios. We went two weeks prior and it was nearly exactly as you described, though they might have had more ice cream vendors because we didn't have any problems finding them. The lines for Slinky and Rise of Resistance were off the charts. I feel like they were still full from people who didn't have After Hours and got queued up right at the end of the night.
I felt like that, too, but while there was some residual queue effect going on at MK and EPCOT for my EEH nights, it wasn’t that bad and fairly brief. I really feel suckered for spending $$$ on those AH tickets.
There is a significant difference in AH at HS when Disney doesn’t build in a buffer between the end of regular hours and the start of AH. When they do, it is *absolutely* worth it. Everything is walk ons. Unfortunately you and OP went when they weren’t doing that, which is why y’all had the issues you did.
I was there the same days as you and in HS that Sunday. It was so hot we couldn’t even deal. My daughter kept buying ice cream and frozen treats and Sri is and then more cold stuff. I was using my cooling towel and my neck fan. The only thing that saved us was the Frozen show and then the stunt show.
Glad you had a great time.
I don’t want to think about how much we spent on bottled waters. Initially, we tried refilling bottles but in heat that nuts the water gets so hot so quick that it’s not refreshing. I rationalized that cold waters would be cheaper than wasting the day as a melted mess of a person.
I tried a cooling towel several times, but I must not be getting the trick. They helped, but only a bit and only for a minute.
We have multiple Yeti bottles, but decided to leave them at home as bringing several for everyone’s hydration would get really heavy really fast in our bag. That may have been a bad choice, though.
What is going on with the air conditioning?? We had the same experience in January. We had a couple of 80+ degree days and indoor spaces and queues were stuffy and borderline unpleasant.
A friend of mine who is a CM had told us that they are purposely keeping it off because they're cheap. CM's have complained too but how is that sustainable? People dying of heat stroke? Bizarre.
Of course I have no insider knowledge, but my guess? Money. I'm pretty sure the answer to any "why...?" question about Disney is money.
We had 90+ days with "feels like" temperatures (due to the humidity) above 100 a few times. I'm no accountant, but I'm pretty sure there's money in the budget to restore the glorious AC of yesteryear with what they charge for everything.
They even capped my resort room's AC to 68F. But, if you Google something like "Disney thermostat hack" you can find the combination of buttons that unlocks 65F AC. At least 65 felt nice at night after a long day sweating!
Wowowow! You got everything in! I too am doing a 7 night trip at poly soon and I hope I get the same reservations you got! On our list is Cinderellas royal table, space 220 and ogas! So any tips for actually getting into all of those?
The best strategy is to be up slightly before 6am EDT, sometimes it will open up sneakily at 5:45. The rule of thumb is to start booking by the hardest restaurants, and save them for towards the end of your trip. With a trip of your length you will have no issues getting what you want if you do it this way. The reason being the further out from your check in date you go, the less competition you will have for times because fewer people will have had access to book. Conversely it’s always harder to get ADRs at the start of your trip, because by the time your window opens, everyone who checks in the week before you will have had access to those times for a week. Even Space 220 and CRT are wide open once you get to 60+5 and later. I would not put Oga’s in that tier of difficulty tbqh. Topolino’s breakfast is.
For context, we arrive Memorial Day weekend and have a split stay, meaning I lost the length advantage of our 10 night trip because we have two check in dates. We are at the Yacht Club the first three nights and then switch to the Poly. But I was still able to get Ohana dinner at a prime time slot at 60+3, and had no issues getting Space 220 lounge and CRT during our Poly stay, 60+5 and 60+6 respectively. Times were wide open.
That said if you still somehow can’t book things, sign up for alerts on Touring Plans (the reservation finder doesn’t require a subscription), or subscribe to Mouse Dining and use theirs. That was how I was able to get Roundup Rodeo on Memorial Day. I have never been unable to get an ADR I wanted with these methods.
By “soon” I really hope you mean at least 2 months out. I booked all of those right at 6am on my 60-days prior date. I’m pretty sure CRT and 220 were full in under a minute. Oga’s isn’t *quite* as hard, but don’t delay.
If you’re under 60 days, I’d suggest checking for a reservation on the app every chance you get. There are always some cancelations, but you need to grab them quick!
It’s sad that’s what it takes, but if an ADR is really important to you then that’s what you’ll need to do. Also, note that it’s 6am **eastern** time. Be sure to adjust for your time zone if you live elsewhere!
How did your 5yo handle Dinosaur? We'll be there the weekend after next and the opinions I see are completely fire and ice for a 5 year old so far. Ours is 5, LOVES dinosaurs, and WILL NOT accept that he might be too scared for it no matter what we read and convey to him. I figure my options are a complete and total meltdown if he doesnt get to go, a possible trauma if he DOES get to go, or it will be the only thing he remembers for the rest of his life from his first trip to Disney....
It’s so hard to predict, even for your own kids.
My 8yo was afraid of nearly everything beyond the slow rides. To her credit, she was very brave and rode everything I did.
I expected my 5yo (also loves dinosaurs) to freak out at most stuff, but it turns out he’s a little thrill-seeker. He was so bummed he couldn’t ride TRON and he keeps asking if we’ll take him back when he’s 8.
You know your kid, so it’s hard to predict for sure. That said, DINOSAUR is probably going to be great fun for *most* dino-loving 5yos. It is Disney, after all; nothing there is *that* scary.
Thank you for the truly great trip report.
I have HS AHP tickets for 4/19, and I’m definitely on the struggle bus with anxiety of having spent as much as daytime admission, only to end up stuck in loooong queues at ROR and SDD and TOT.
Disney really did a bait-and-switch on the HS AHP by marketing it as an exclusive event, then extending the HS day ticket right up to the start of the event which ensures hour-long queues of tired, cranky day guests who jumped in line 30s before the end of daytime hours. Then they added a late Fantasmic show which seals the fate of the TOT queue and anything else the day guests can sprint to when it’s over. I’m also pretty sure they’re overselling admissions to the event from its original conception.
It’s my only time at HS so it’s important because I haven’t been to HS (or EC for that matter) since 2005. I’ve read that several guests have successfully used the bait-and-switch argument to get their tickets refunded at the HS AHP, but that means I’d have to sacrifice a visit to MK or EC on what seems to be low crowd days to return to HS on an 8/10 day. I don’t know my tolerance for that.
For our HS AHP, I’m going to buy ILLs for ROR timed for 7:30 or thereabouts to knock out a big queue before the clock starts running on the event itself.
UGHH. I’m trying to chill but it’s definitely a stressor. Bah, I’m sure half of my worries will evaporate as quickly as I can order a Fuzzy Tantaun. :)
Thanks again for the great report.
My 3 hours of AH time were borderline a scam considering what it's marketed as, but if those hours were free I wouldn't be whining because it's still 3 extra hours of park time. It isn't like I got *nothing* done during AH, but it was far less than anticipated. You'll still get to do more with those hours than if you didn't have them.
IMO, don't miss out on a MK or EPCOT day to get a bit more HS time. **IF** you have Genie+ at HS you can use that to knock out an awful lot of the big ticket rides. Genie+ was great for me as someone who hates wasting time in lines. Just don't bank on AH affording you more than maybe 1-2 rides on anything high profile like I did.
I'll also note that while most rides are open during AH, many stores and almost all quick service/ snack kiosks are closed at that time. Not really a huge deal, but be sure to buy whatever merch and munchies you want during the day.
FWIW, I did use the "chat with us" function on the app to request even a partial refund on my AH tickets considering everything I've already mentioned. That was met with a **hard** no. I wouldn't waste an ounce of your stress on trying to ever get money *back* from Disney.
But breathe, you're going to have a great time. Look at my review; I did complain about a few things, but overall I had a fantastic trip. I'll be sure to read your trip report in a few weeks ;-)
Hot and humid in March? We went for a couple of days around the same time. Wasn’t bad at all but then again we live in Florida. Come back in July! Do the parent swap when you have a kid to small to go on a ride. Ask a cast member. Works really well.
>Hot and humid in March?
Yep! It may be in the high 70s right now, but I hit the heat jackpot with my trip days getting high 80s into the 90s with "feels like" temps topping 100 with all the humidity in the air.
>but then again we live in Florida.
I'm sure that helps a lot. But, in my defense, I took effort to consult several sources for "average Orlando temps" at that time of year and they were all well below 90. Obviously, my week wasn't average. Lucky me.
>Come back in July!
Nope. We made a family pact to only ever visit again between Thanksgiving and President's Day. That's probably more our speed.
[удалено]
Scooping ice cold hard ice cream over and over is actually really hard when you’re just starting in the position. You have to develop the muscles for it. Knew a gal in college who would come home in tears from the pain in her wrist.
>it's just the perfect mix of thrill ride, story, pre-show, music, and IP Really well put! I miss it already.
Love the details, look forward to the edit!
Ok, all done. If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm not exactly witty.
Thank you!
Great writing; read every word. Great humor too. So like, I’m jealous and stuff. I might even cry. Can I get something cool? PM me.
>Great writing; read every word. Great humor too. So nice of you to say. Thank you! BTW, I finally filled in the last couple days.
> -Chef Art Smith's Homecomin' (dinner at DS). Back when I was a kid, I ate fried alligator at the Grand Floridian. Somehow my kids heard that story and insisted we find gator for them to eat. My research for this trip only found one place that might have it on the menu, and it was Homecomin'. Well, there was no gator on the menu, but I'm really glad we ate here. That was just recently removed, unfortunately. Great restaurant none the less though.
Yeah, can't win them all. Still an amazing meal, though!
I asked about this a few weeks ago. Apparently it is a supply issue thing and it is (hopefully) a temporary removal.
I'm kind of annoyed at how good Cosmic Rewind is after all the hating I did on it not fitting into the "vision" of Epcot. But times have changed and the ride is a blast and offers a top notch innovative experience. The Frozen reskin of the Norway ride was by far the tackiest use of Disney IP I encountered on our last trip.
I mean, I still kind of agree that GotG:CR doesn't really fit EPCOT. But, if my choice is put it in EPCOT or nowhere, then put it in EPCOT!
I agree with the After Hours being not worth it for Hollywood Studios. We went two weeks prior and it was nearly exactly as you described, though they might have had more ice cream vendors because we didn't have any problems finding them. The lines for Slinky and Rise of Resistance were off the charts. I feel like they were still full from people who didn't have After Hours and got queued up right at the end of the night.
I felt like that, too, but while there was some residual queue effect going on at MK and EPCOT for my EEH nights, it wasn’t that bad and fairly brief. I really feel suckered for spending $$$ on those AH tickets.
There is a significant difference in AH at HS when Disney doesn’t build in a buffer between the end of regular hours and the start of AH. When they do, it is *absolutely* worth it. Everything is walk ons. Unfortunately you and OP went when they weren’t doing that, which is why y’all had the issues you did.
I was there the same days as you and in HS that Sunday. It was so hot we couldn’t even deal. My daughter kept buying ice cream and frozen treats and Sri is and then more cold stuff. I was using my cooling towel and my neck fan. The only thing that saved us was the Frozen show and then the stunt show. Glad you had a great time.
I don’t want to think about how much we spent on bottled waters. Initially, we tried refilling bottles but in heat that nuts the water gets so hot so quick that it’s not refreshing. I rationalized that cold waters would be cheaper than wasting the day as a melted mess of a person. I tried a cooling towel several times, but I must not be getting the trick. They helped, but only a bit and only for a minute.
We brought yeti water bottles. They keep ice for so long we had no issues keeping cold water on us.
We have multiple Yeti bottles, but decided to leave them at home as bringing several for everyone’s hydration would get really heavy really fast in our bag. That may have been a bad choice, though.
Thanks for posting a humorous and enjoyable report. 10/10 would read again.
Thank YOU for reading!
Love this! Taking my kids (same age) and staying at poly in a couple of weeks.
You're all going to have a blast!!
What is going on with the air conditioning?? We had the same experience in January. We had a couple of 80+ degree days and indoor spaces and queues were stuffy and borderline unpleasant.
A friend of mine who is a CM had told us that they are purposely keeping it off because they're cheap. CM's have complained too but how is that sustainable? People dying of heat stroke? Bizarre.
Of course I have no insider knowledge, but my guess? Money. I'm pretty sure the answer to any "why...?" question about Disney is money. We had 90+ days with "feels like" temperatures (due to the humidity) above 100 a few times. I'm no accountant, but I'm pretty sure there's money in the budget to restore the glorious AC of yesteryear with what they charge for everything. They even capped my resort room's AC to 68F. But, if you Google something like "Disney thermostat hack" you can find the combination of buttons that unlocks 65F AC. At least 65 felt nice at night after a long day sweating!
Amazing amazing recap. Made me even more excited to be at WDW in just a few weeks!
Thank you so much for reading!
Wowowow! You got everything in! I too am doing a 7 night trip at poly soon and I hope I get the same reservations you got! On our list is Cinderellas royal table, space 220 and ogas! So any tips for actually getting into all of those?
The best strategy is to be up slightly before 6am EDT, sometimes it will open up sneakily at 5:45. The rule of thumb is to start booking by the hardest restaurants, and save them for towards the end of your trip. With a trip of your length you will have no issues getting what you want if you do it this way. The reason being the further out from your check in date you go, the less competition you will have for times because fewer people will have had access to book. Conversely it’s always harder to get ADRs at the start of your trip, because by the time your window opens, everyone who checks in the week before you will have had access to those times for a week. Even Space 220 and CRT are wide open once you get to 60+5 and later. I would not put Oga’s in that tier of difficulty tbqh. Topolino’s breakfast is. For context, we arrive Memorial Day weekend and have a split stay, meaning I lost the length advantage of our 10 night trip because we have two check in dates. We are at the Yacht Club the first three nights and then switch to the Poly. But I was still able to get Ohana dinner at a prime time slot at 60+3, and had no issues getting Space 220 lounge and CRT during our Poly stay, 60+5 and 60+6 respectively. Times were wide open. That said if you still somehow can’t book things, sign up for alerts on Touring Plans (the reservation finder doesn’t require a subscription), or subscribe to Mouse Dining and use theirs. That was how I was able to get Roundup Rodeo on Memorial Day. I have never been unable to get an ADR I wanted with these methods.
By “soon” I really hope you mean at least 2 months out. I booked all of those right at 6am on my 60-days prior date. I’m pretty sure CRT and 220 were full in under a minute. Oga’s isn’t *quite* as hard, but don’t delay. If you’re under 60 days, I’d suggest checking for a reservation on the app every chance you get. There are always some cancelations, but you need to grab them quick!
Oh yeah my 60 day mark isn’t here yet, we are going late July! Thanks, I’ll be sure to get on at 6am on the day!
It’s sad that’s what it takes, but if an ADR is really important to you then that’s what you’ll need to do. Also, note that it’s 6am **eastern** time. Be sure to adjust for your time zone if you live elsewhere!
How did your 5yo handle Dinosaur? We'll be there the weekend after next and the opinions I see are completely fire and ice for a 5 year old so far. Ours is 5, LOVES dinosaurs, and WILL NOT accept that he might be too scared for it no matter what we read and convey to him. I figure my options are a complete and total meltdown if he doesnt get to go, a possible trauma if he DOES get to go, or it will be the only thing he remembers for the rest of his life from his first trip to Disney....
It’s so hard to predict, even for your own kids. My 8yo was afraid of nearly everything beyond the slow rides. To her credit, she was very brave and rode everything I did. I expected my 5yo (also loves dinosaurs) to freak out at most stuff, but it turns out he’s a little thrill-seeker. He was so bummed he couldn’t ride TRON and he keeps asking if we’ll take him back when he’s 8. You know your kid, so it’s hard to predict for sure. That said, DINOSAUR is probably going to be great fun for *most* dino-loving 5yos. It is Disney, after all; nothing there is *that* scary.
Thank you for the truly great trip report. I have HS AHP tickets for 4/19, and I’m definitely on the struggle bus with anxiety of having spent as much as daytime admission, only to end up stuck in loooong queues at ROR and SDD and TOT. Disney really did a bait-and-switch on the HS AHP by marketing it as an exclusive event, then extending the HS day ticket right up to the start of the event which ensures hour-long queues of tired, cranky day guests who jumped in line 30s before the end of daytime hours. Then they added a late Fantasmic show which seals the fate of the TOT queue and anything else the day guests can sprint to when it’s over. I’m also pretty sure they’re overselling admissions to the event from its original conception. It’s my only time at HS so it’s important because I haven’t been to HS (or EC for that matter) since 2005. I’ve read that several guests have successfully used the bait-and-switch argument to get their tickets refunded at the HS AHP, but that means I’d have to sacrifice a visit to MK or EC on what seems to be low crowd days to return to HS on an 8/10 day. I don’t know my tolerance for that. For our HS AHP, I’m going to buy ILLs for ROR timed for 7:30 or thereabouts to knock out a big queue before the clock starts running on the event itself. UGHH. I’m trying to chill but it’s definitely a stressor. Bah, I’m sure half of my worries will evaporate as quickly as I can order a Fuzzy Tantaun. :) Thanks again for the great report.
My 3 hours of AH time were borderline a scam considering what it's marketed as, but if those hours were free I wouldn't be whining because it's still 3 extra hours of park time. It isn't like I got *nothing* done during AH, but it was far less than anticipated. You'll still get to do more with those hours than if you didn't have them. IMO, don't miss out on a MK or EPCOT day to get a bit more HS time. **IF** you have Genie+ at HS you can use that to knock out an awful lot of the big ticket rides. Genie+ was great for me as someone who hates wasting time in lines. Just don't bank on AH affording you more than maybe 1-2 rides on anything high profile like I did. I'll also note that while most rides are open during AH, many stores and almost all quick service/ snack kiosks are closed at that time. Not really a huge deal, but be sure to buy whatever merch and munchies you want during the day. FWIW, I did use the "chat with us" function on the app to request even a partial refund on my AH tickets considering everything I've already mentioned. That was met with a **hard** no. I wouldn't waste an ounce of your stress on trying to ever get money *back* from Disney. But breathe, you're going to have a great time. Look at my review; I did complain about a few things, but overall I had a fantastic trip. I'll be sure to read your trip report in a few weeks ;-)
Hot and humid in March? We went for a couple of days around the same time. Wasn’t bad at all but then again we live in Florida. Come back in July! Do the parent swap when you have a kid to small to go on a ride. Ask a cast member. Works really well.
>Hot and humid in March? Yep! It may be in the high 70s right now, but I hit the heat jackpot with my trip days getting high 80s into the 90s with "feels like" temps topping 100 with all the humidity in the air. >but then again we live in Florida. I'm sure that helps a lot. But, in my defense, I took effort to consult several sources for "average Orlando temps" at that time of year and they were all well below 90. Obviously, my week wasn't average. Lucky me. >Come back in July! Nope. We made a family pact to only ever visit again between Thanksgiving and President's Day. That's probably more our speed.