TXStormtrooper
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2013
We just got back from our 9 day Disney vacation! We had a blast, even with one day of solid thunderstorms with rides closed in every park. This isn't really a full trip report, but some notes regarding some hot topics I've seen on here in the weeks/months leading up to our trip.
2nd FP+ turn styles were open on every ride that could allow line cutting, as well as several others (but not all). We saw several people being kicked out of line on Space after hopping into the FP line then getting to that turn style and not having FP+.
4th FP+ (and up) was a breeze using phone with surprising availability some days, and less on others. Example - We arrived on Sn 5/1 after 3p. Our original FP+'s for that day ended at 7p. I was able to schedule consecutively on my phone (each one immediately after scanning our bands in line for the ride before) BTMR, HM and Splash all before we left the park for the night at 10p.
I was able to change FP+ times for several headliners the same morning of our FP+. (TT, RnR, ToT, Space)
Had a pre-park opening BOG reservation for Tu 5/3, which was also an Early Morning Magic day. We arrived at 8a and were sent through bag check and EVERYONE was sent through metal detector. Was quick and easy. We headed down Main Street, which was pretty packed and headed straight to Fantasyland. We stopped to chat with and pin trade with a couple cast members before going in. We had preordered our breakfast, so we got seated and had our food fairly quickly. The food was bad. I had ordered egg whites with fruit and sausage. My daughter had waffles with fruit. It was our worst meal of our trip. We headed out right as the pyrotechnics were going off at the end of the Opening Show. We were able to get in the Standby line for 7DMT and walked right on. The Early Morning Magic people had yellow wrist bands and were in the FP line. We got one ride on 7DMT in before the rope drop crowd arrived. The line was LOOOOOOONG when we got off the ride. From there we walked to Space and walked right on twice. We could have done it another time or two, but crossed the park over to Frontierland where we walked onto Splash and BTMR. We could have done each of those again with no lines, but we went back to Main Street to meet the rest of our party who had decided to sleep late.
Every cast member we came into contact with was amazing and sweet, with the exception of one at the boarding area of EE. She wasn't rude to us, but she was very irritated and rude to some other people. The rest of them were all amazing. Literally, every single one of them.
Crowds and lines were as we expected. Bag check never had a long wait, no matter what time it was or which park. We never had to wait behind more than 3 people to have our bags checked. Security officers were all very friendly.
Each of us got chosen for additional security check on more than one occasion. For those that want specifics, we are a caucasian family with an adopted Korean son. My 15 year old DD was Disneybounding and was chosen more than anyone else for the additional security check. Again, security officers were all very friendly.
We stayed at POR and were very pleased. We have stayed at the Poly our last 2 trips and at Boardwalk the first year it was open. We thought our room was just as nice as the Poly, and the resort was lovely. The only thing we didn't like equally was having to rely exclusively on busses, rather than being on the monorail. Other than that, we really loved everything about POR.
We really didn't see a decline in the number of cast members working in the parks at all, as has previously been reported. The only place we really noticed it was on TSM, where only 1 track was open. The FP+ line stretched way down far beyond the building and had us waiting over 20 minutes. That's long for FP. Every other ride had the same number of people working as past trips and seemed to be running at full capacity.
Bathrooms were clean everywhere except Epcot. Those were NASTY!!!!!
We were able to ride standby on TT with only a 20 minute wait the first time (early evening) and a 5 minute wait the 2nd (8:30p with a 9p close time).
Our best meal was Skipper Canteen. I was able to book that reservation via my phone at 7:45p for an 8:20p reservation time. We arrived closer to 8p and had a seat very quickly, although the restaurant was full. The food was fantastic.
We also always enjoy the rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans available at Bay 1 of Cosmic Rays in Tomorrowland in MK. Food-wise, it is very good. We don't love the atmosphere, but it's worth it to get a good meal that can easily be split between 2 people (it's 1/2 a chicken).
For those curious about SDFP, I tried it in each park using KTTW cards from our last trip, just to see if it would work so I could report back here. It worked in each park, with availability for everything except TSM and 7DMT. Animal Kingdom does not have FP+ kiosks. Instead, a cast member does it for you on an iPad. She did look at the cards and ask about them, but she didn't care and was happy to run them through. We did use them one day, and they worked fine. We cancelled them other days using the kiosks.
The MDE app is okay. As others report, they park WIFI is terrible, and we often couldn't get on. The Lines app was very helpful in assisting us to navigate through the parks. We did not use a touring plan, but were able to ride everything we wanted multiple times with little or no waits.
Photo Pass / Memory Maker is great. We were able to enjoy our vacation instead of taking pictures, but still got some really great ones. They have so many photographers set up, we rarely had to wait behind more than 1 family. 7DMT gives you a great video that is really cute and includes your family's ride. I've had a bit of an issue downloading some of them now. but will keep trying and will call if I can't get them all by later today.
We are big pin traders, and were initially a bit disappointed this trip. Most of the cast members and pin boards had a variation of the same 15 or so pins, plus lots of scrappers (as expected). However, on our last morning, we lucked out and found several Limited Edition and rare pins, as well as a few of the most expensive currently available pins on cast lanyards and the pin board in the POR gift shop. I don't know how they all got there, but we were each able to trade several pins and got some amazing pins to come home with! DD ended up with a Lion King Broadway pin that was in a Limited Edition of 25! We also traded with some fellow pin traders who set up shop behind Pin Traders in Epcot. That's always one of our favorite places to trade. One of them is actually a cast member at Animal Kingdom and saw us the next day while she was working. She was so, so sweet. We also had several cast members look through their secret stash of pins (in drawers at various locations) to see if they had any specific pins we were looking for. That was unexpected and very nice.
DS lost a tooth during our trip. At the suggestion of a couple friends, I told the front desk of the POR. They gave us a cute little tooth shaped box to put it in, along with a little jar of pixie dust so Tinkerbell could help the tooth fairy out. He was also given a special pin at the Disney Store at Disney Springs.
That's all I can remember off the top of my head. Feel free to msg. me if you have any questions.
2nd FP+ turn styles were open on every ride that could allow line cutting, as well as several others (but not all). We saw several people being kicked out of line on Space after hopping into the FP line then getting to that turn style and not having FP+.
4th FP+ (and up) was a breeze using phone with surprising availability some days, and less on others. Example - We arrived on Sn 5/1 after 3p. Our original FP+'s for that day ended at 7p. I was able to schedule consecutively on my phone (each one immediately after scanning our bands in line for the ride before) BTMR, HM and Splash all before we left the park for the night at 10p.
I was able to change FP+ times for several headliners the same morning of our FP+. (TT, RnR, ToT, Space)
Had a pre-park opening BOG reservation for Tu 5/3, which was also an Early Morning Magic day. We arrived at 8a and were sent through bag check and EVERYONE was sent through metal detector. Was quick and easy. We headed down Main Street, which was pretty packed and headed straight to Fantasyland. We stopped to chat with and pin trade with a couple cast members before going in. We had preordered our breakfast, so we got seated and had our food fairly quickly. The food was bad. I had ordered egg whites with fruit and sausage. My daughter had waffles with fruit. It was our worst meal of our trip. We headed out right as the pyrotechnics were going off at the end of the Opening Show. We were able to get in the Standby line for 7DMT and walked right on. The Early Morning Magic people had yellow wrist bands and were in the FP line. We got one ride on 7DMT in before the rope drop crowd arrived. The line was LOOOOOOONG when we got off the ride. From there we walked to Space and walked right on twice. We could have done it another time or two, but crossed the park over to Frontierland where we walked onto Splash and BTMR. We could have done each of those again with no lines, but we went back to Main Street to meet the rest of our party who had decided to sleep late.
Every cast member we came into contact with was amazing and sweet, with the exception of one at the boarding area of EE. She wasn't rude to us, but she was very irritated and rude to some other people. The rest of them were all amazing. Literally, every single one of them.
Crowds and lines were as we expected. Bag check never had a long wait, no matter what time it was or which park. We never had to wait behind more than 3 people to have our bags checked. Security officers were all very friendly.
Each of us got chosen for additional security check on more than one occasion. For those that want specifics, we are a caucasian family with an adopted Korean son. My 15 year old DD was Disneybounding and was chosen more than anyone else for the additional security check. Again, security officers were all very friendly.
We stayed at POR and were very pleased. We have stayed at the Poly our last 2 trips and at Boardwalk the first year it was open. We thought our room was just as nice as the Poly, and the resort was lovely. The only thing we didn't like equally was having to rely exclusively on busses, rather than being on the monorail. Other than that, we really loved everything about POR.
We really didn't see a decline in the number of cast members working in the parks at all, as has previously been reported. The only place we really noticed it was on TSM, where only 1 track was open. The FP+ line stretched way down far beyond the building and had us waiting over 20 minutes. That's long for FP. Every other ride had the same number of people working as past trips and seemed to be running at full capacity.
Bathrooms were clean everywhere except Epcot. Those were NASTY!!!!!
We were able to ride standby on TT with only a 20 minute wait the first time (early evening) and a 5 minute wait the 2nd (8:30p with a 9p close time).
Our best meal was Skipper Canteen. I was able to book that reservation via my phone at 7:45p for an 8:20p reservation time. We arrived closer to 8p and had a seat very quickly, although the restaurant was full. The food was fantastic.
We also always enjoy the rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans available at Bay 1 of Cosmic Rays in Tomorrowland in MK. Food-wise, it is very good. We don't love the atmosphere, but it's worth it to get a good meal that can easily be split between 2 people (it's 1/2 a chicken).
For those curious about SDFP, I tried it in each park using KTTW cards from our last trip, just to see if it would work so I could report back here. It worked in each park, with availability for everything except TSM and 7DMT. Animal Kingdom does not have FP+ kiosks. Instead, a cast member does it for you on an iPad. She did look at the cards and ask about them, but she didn't care and was happy to run them through. We did use them one day, and they worked fine. We cancelled them other days using the kiosks.
The MDE app is okay. As others report, they park WIFI is terrible, and we often couldn't get on. The Lines app was very helpful in assisting us to navigate through the parks. We did not use a touring plan, but were able to ride everything we wanted multiple times with little or no waits.
Photo Pass / Memory Maker is great. We were able to enjoy our vacation instead of taking pictures, but still got some really great ones. They have so many photographers set up, we rarely had to wait behind more than 1 family. 7DMT gives you a great video that is really cute and includes your family's ride. I've had a bit of an issue downloading some of them now. but will keep trying and will call if I can't get them all by later today.
We are big pin traders, and were initially a bit disappointed this trip. Most of the cast members and pin boards had a variation of the same 15 or so pins, plus lots of scrappers (as expected). However, on our last morning, we lucked out and found several Limited Edition and rare pins, as well as a few of the most expensive currently available pins on cast lanyards and the pin board in the POR gift shop. I don't know how they all got there, but we were each able to trade several pins and got some amazing pins to come home with! DD ended up with a Lion King Broadway pin that was in a Limited Edition of 25! We also traded with some fellow pin traders who set up shop behind Pin Traders in Epcot. That's always one of our favorite places to trade. One of them is actually a cast member at Animal Kingdom and saw us the next day while she was working. She was so, so sweet. We also had several cast members look through their secret stash of pins (in drawers at various locations) to see if they had any specific pins we were looking for. That was unexpected and very nice.
DS lost a tooth during our trip. At the suggestion of a couple friends, I told the front desk of the POR. They gave us a cute little tooth shaped box to put it in, along with a little jar of pixie dust so Tinkerbell could help the tooth fairy out. He was also given a special pin at the Disney Store at Disney Springs.
That's all I can remember off the top of my head. Feel free to msg. me if you have any questions.
Last edited:
