Davey Jones II
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2008
- Messages
- 2,475
This may be a little late, but I'm finally getting around to a trip report for our third family reunion trip, Oct. 15-26, 2024 at WDW. Seven people in total, and I had the honor and challenge of planning the whole thing to try to please the whole family. Since we did ten full park days, I'm going to skip to some highlights:
* Lightning Lane: It worked great for us, as it also did at Disneyland Resort (two people, five days) in June. It did necessitate daily support from the blue umbrella/guest services people, particularly when I just had to cancel (as opposed to move) a LL, which didn't work at all for me on the app. Also, since we're Canadian, I had to book my initial LL (both ILL and multi-pass) over the phone with the Internet Help Desk, cuz there's no way it would work from my location in Canada.
I was also able to get refunds for numerous cancelled LLs. YMMV.
* Tron/Guardians: This was our first time experiencing either, and we loved both. My personal fave, of the two, was Tron, because of the amazing forward perspective you get from the "motorcycle" ride vehicle.
Near the end of a Halloween party, everyone else had left, and I headed for Tron. Posted wait time was 20 min., and I breezed in, approx. 10 min. to board. Then, near park close, the posted time was 10 min, so I turned around and tried it again...walk on! I could've ridden three times in a row, but my neck was a bit sore from being in that riding position.
Incidentally, we did two Halloween parties, and the posted wait times on the app. were wildly inaccurate all night. The posted times in front of the attractions were not bad. But don't bother looking them up on the app, they are way off.
* Tiana's: I have to eat crow here. I was one of the posters predicting that this retheme would be a huge disappointment/disaster, but I'm happy to admit I was wrong. The new version is a charmer, loaded with life, great AAs and jaunty music. The only problem is that we only did it once. We rode it on a LL, and I got us all on the VQ (at 1 p.m.) for the same day. But, at the end of the day, they never called my boarding group because the ride capacity maxed out that day. Very happy to see the damn VQ go away for this ride.
Frontierland changes: Personally, i don't much like the changes to Country Bears, but the rest of my group found it charming, so I'm outvoted. Also, I miss the wonderfully retro Shootin' Arcade. At least they still have it at DLR!
Rise of the Resistance: Two of our group first experienced this ride at DLR, but it was new for the rest at WDW. Disney hit it out of the park with this E Ticket, which is a complete experience, from the pre-show to the ride and it's variety of perspectives, due to the versatile use of the trackless ride vehicle.
Journey of Water/Ratatouille: Rat was much better than we expected, given that it's mostly screen-based and looks underwhelming in spoiler videos. Again, Disney optimized use of the trackless ride vehicle. As for Journey of Water, we gave it short shrift, because we had to get to a Guardians ILL before it expired. But I recommend this interactive attraction, which is clearly underrated and long on charm. Carve out some Epcot time for this.
Kevin! We loved meeting this ultra-cute giant bird at AK, and he alone was almost worth the visit. Don't miss him, he always hangs out near Dino Land.
No night-time parade: I understand that this is being addressed for 2025, and it's about tine. Disney parks have been lacking this night-time "icing on the cake" for too long.
Overall, we had a wonderful trip, and the value is still there. Yes, increasingly expensive, but you can see where Disney has massively reinvested in their parks. Yes we are already thinking about return trips!
* Lightning Lane: It worked great for us, as it also did at Disneyland Resort (two people, five days) in June. It did necessitate daily support from the blue umbrella/guest services people, particularly when I just had to cancel (as opposed to move) a LL, which didn't work at all for me on the app. Also, since we're Canadian, I had to book my initial LL (both ILL and multi-pass) over the phone with the Internet Help Desk, cuz there's no way it would work from my location in Canada.
I was also able to get refunds for numerous cancelled LLs. YMMV.
* Tron/Guardians: This was our first time experiencing either, and we loved both. My personal fave, of the two, was Tron, because of the amazing forward perspective you get from the "motorcycle" ride vehicle.
Near the end of a Halloween party, everyone else had left, and I headed for Tron. Posted wait time was 20 min., and I breezed in, approx. 10 min. to board. Then, near park close, the posted time was 10 min, so I turned around and tried it again...walk on! I could've ridden three times in a row, but my neck was a bit sore from being in that riding position.
Incidentally, we did two Halloween parties, and the posted wait times on the app. were wildly inaccurate all night. The posted times in front of the attractions were not bad. But don't bother looking them up on the app, they are way off.
* Tiana's: I have to eat crow here. I was one of the posters predicting that this retheme would be a huge disappointment/disaster, but I'm happy to admit I was wrong. The new version is a charmer, loaded with life, great AAs and jaunty music. The only problem is that we only did it once. We rode it on a LL, and I got us all on the VQ (at 1 p.m.) for the same day. But, at the end of the day, they never called my boarding group because the ride capacity maxed out that day. Very happy to see the damn VQ go away for this ride.
Frontierland changes: Personally, i don't much like the changes to Country Bears, but the rest of my group found it charming, so I'm outvoted. Also, I miss the wonderfully retro Shootin' Arcade. At least they still have it at DLR!
Rise of the Resistance: Two of our group first experienced this ride at DLR, but it was new for the rest at WDW. Disney hit it out of the park with this E Ticket, which is a complete experience, from the pre-show to the ride and it's variety of perspectives, due to the versatile use of the trackless ride vehicle.
Journey of Water/Ratatouille: Rat was much better than we expected, given that it's mostly screen-based and looks underwhelming in spoiler videos. Again, Disney optimized use of the trackless ride vehicle. As for Journey of Water, we gave it short shrift, because we had to get to a Guardians ILL before it expired. But I recommend this interactive attraction, which is clearly underrated and long on charm. Carve out some Epcot time for this.
Kevin! We loved meeting this ultra-cute giant bird at AK, and he alone was almost worth the visit. Don't miss him, he always hangs out near Dino Land.
No night-time parade: I understand that this is being addressed for 2025, and it's about tine. Disney parks have been lacking this night-time "icing on the cake" for too long.
Overall, we had a wonderful trip, and the value is still there. Yes, increasingly expensive, but you can see where Disney has massively reinvested in their parks. Yes we are already thinking about return trips!
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