One Week at the Walt Disney World Resort: A Trip Report

If you follow me on twitter, you know that I just got back from a week at Walt Disney World. During the week, I shared a lot of my thoughts on twitter each day, but I decided that I wanted to write a really quick trip report/review to expand on my thoughts.

I really want this to be a short little summary of my views, but as you know, I am a long writer so who knows how long this will end up. I want to just hit some of the most significant elements of the trip and share what I think about them.

So I think I will try to break this out into each park with a couple thoughts for each.

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But first, I want to talk about planning, My Disney Experience, and Fastpass+. I have very mixed views here. This was my first trip ever to use the new technology so I'd seen the years of people complaining about the system and then getting used to it.

It was mostly successful for us. I got up early so many days out to get the fastpasses we wanted, and got all the difficult to get necessary ones. I set up the My Disney experience app with all our plans and was familiar with the app. All set for it all to work.

But then the first day, I had a series of serious issues. The problem ended up being not with using the initial fastpasses I had, but with the process of getting additional fastpasses later in the day. I think the issue had to do with the irregularity of my party: we included one person in a wheelchair who was not really able to ride much, but all the fastpasses I made were set up for the whole group. So if some members of the party did not go on the attraction, their fastpasses went unused. Plus many attractions do not have a accessible fastpass queue, so we would try to use our fastpasses but be sent to the exit instead without our fastpasses being used. I had assumed that once the window passed, the fastpass would be disappear or be considered used. So we ended up making it to halfway through the day with all our fastpass windows being passed, but the app would not allow me to make any more fastpasses for the group because not everyone used all 3 of their initial fastpasses. Trying to solve this problem was confusing for even me, especially because there were no cast members staffed to assist at any of the fastpass+ kiosks. Plus the app became much more glitchy while in the park, I assume because of the weaker wifi. I frequently had tech errors when trying to alter those fastpasses that went unused. It just wouldn't let me modify them any way I tried. So we were basically stuck without any more fastpasses that day.

The solution ended up being that we had to make sure through the week that no fastpass went unused. If someone didn't want to ride, I went twice. And if a ride sent us to the exit instead of the queue, I made them scan our fastpasses anyway to get the credit. So it works and it definitely makes sense for the normal guest, but in our more specific situation, the fastpass+ system seemed challenging.

Also, I have to say that I honestly miss having to run around the park to get fastpass tickets. It was fun for me, plus there seemed to be way better availability later in the day with the paper system than the digital system. I remember being able to still get good stuff in the afternoon before, but now the main attractions are gone way earlier in the day. I get that overall it is an improvement for the average guest, but I miss being able to use it like I did.

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I don't think I have a ton to say about the Magic Kingdom. It looks good, it is insanely crowded, it needs more attractions to hold that capacity, and it has too many strollers.

Quite honestly, I have somewhat aged out of so much of that park, so there is not as much that I want to do than in past trips. Now I like it just for the atmosphere, which the park is still very good at. 

Now that I have been to Disneyland, I have a different view on so many of the attractions in the Magic Kingdom, all the clones between the resorts. Unfortunately, in most cases, the Disneyland version is way better. I prefer Pirates, Jungle Cruise, The Tiki Room, The Railroad, Big Thunder, The Rivers of America, and Space Mountain in Disneyland. Of the clones, really only Haunted Mansion is better here, but even then I rode that one before the Hat Box Ghost so I don't really even know anymore.

The good news is that the stuff that is unique to the park is really really good and adds a ton of value. The Country Bears, the Peoplemover, and the Carousel of Progress are a super solid top 3 of unique things for the park, and all three are underappreciated attractions that I was happy to see with a big crowd last week.

Also, the park is really strong with entertainment right now I think, even with the lack of a night parade. Festival of Fantasy is a solid parade and infinitely better than what was running before it, there's some cool character interactions, like the Country Bears who wander Frontierland and talking Mickey at Town Hall, and Liberty Square currently has one of the coolest and most entertaining streets shows I've seen with the Muppets. I appreciate how its real actual puppeteering with a pretty big cast, and its a fun show that is in theme yet really entertaining. On top of all that, I am a big fan of Happily Ever After, which is odd because I initially really didn't like it much when I saw it online. It has really grown on me though and is super impressive in person. 

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Even though this is still in the Magic Kingdom, I am giving this it's own grouping. During the trip, I took the Keys to the Kingdom tour in the park and I have mixed thoughts on it. I tweeted about this some that day, but it is definitely a pretty basic look at the history and operations of the park. Not much information at all that I didn't know or that someone with a intermediate knowledge of park history wouldn't know. For example, major segments were about force perspective, windows on Main Street, and the history of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. All good info, but nothing all that out there.

But the good part of the tour was the backstage access, which is really the main reason why anyone takes the tour. It included getting to walk back to the parade barn behind Splash Mountain and about half an hour down in the Utilidors. It really is a little surprising to see just how plain backstage is, but also fascinating to see the reality that runs the park. The parade barn trip was really just a quick look at the empty warehouse where the floats were parked, and I think it was cooler to just be able to walk backstage across the train tracks. The Utilidor walk the highlight, starting below Fantasyland and a lot of the more active areas of the complex, like the exercise room and dressing rooms. The walk then went directly under the Castle and Main Street, towards the area that is more offices and storage for the Emporium, where there were a lot of cool historical features on the walls. We crossed a ton of the park underground which really changes how you view the park above. Its one huge building really. 

So overall, the tour is worth it if you don't have a ton of Disney knowledge already or if you really want to see the backstage areas. 

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EPCOT is the park that I spent the most time in during the trip, but I think EPCOT is the park with the least to do (aside from Hollywood Studios of course). That's not necessarily a bad thing. Its just so much a park that is designed around experience and exploration, not rides, so that really can change how different people view the park.

Personally, Future World just feels underdeveloped right now with so much closed or just not very great, even though there are some really good attractions in the land. I really feel like Spaceship Earth is one of the true peaks of Imagineering even with the weird ending, and attractions like Living with the Land and Misson: Space fully dive into their concept. The rest is a mixed bag of quality. I was less impressed by Test Track and Soarin as in past trips, and the Seas and Imagination are just disappointing in their current states if you know their history.

World Showcase seems way better right now even though it needs more attractions as well. At least there is plenty to explore, learn about, and eat. It's also packed, and really could use that next country or two, whatever they are going to be, and attractions to pull people off the pathway. 

As for the Festival of the Arts, we enjoyed it but to be fair we didn't actually do much of the special stuff. We only saw about 2/3rds of the concert from the path outside, only did a couple photo spots, only got one or two food items, and only watched a few minutes of the special entertainment. But the overall feel that the festival brought to the park was really nice and fit the park well. I think that's the true value to the festivals, they really make the park feel like the World's Fair its meant to be. 

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Hollywood Studios: no thoughts because we didn't go. It's weird to skip a park, but there just wasnt enough to make it worth it when the other three parks are there. Happy with the decision, even if I missed riding Tower of Terror, my previous favorite ride in the resort. I'll be back there in a few years when it is worth it. 

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And then there is Animal Kingdom. I think my new favorite park and where my new favorite attraction is. 

This trip was basically planned because of Pandora. The day after it's first previews, when the first videos all about it were coming out, we decided we should go back. So this was the thing that I was most looking forward to during the trip.

And it lived up the hype. I don't need to describe it to you, there's plenty of info and pictures online. But the beauty and impressive scale of the land outside, and the immersivness of the attractions inside is just incredible. Every view in the land appears to be a carefully designed composition with layers of scale and movement. Just incredible design that put it above so much in the parks. 

Flight of Passage is the big element here to discuss. I was lucky and got to ride it 3 times in one day. First, I rope dropped solo to ride it first thing in the morning, with the intent of seeing the full queue. Getting there 40 minutes before park opening got me on and off the ride by about 30 minutes after open. Unfortunately, for the first hour of so of the day, they don't open the full queue and instead route everyone through fastpass. So I missed the indoor jungle, the lab, and the Navi in the tank, which is super disappointing. But the ride after that made up for it. I then got to ride it two more times that afternoon with our fastpasses and rider switching.

It's really incredible how realistic the sensation of flight is with just a couple effects and a moving seat. It really seriously feels like you are flying. On the third ride I mostly looked behind me and to the side to see how it works. It was fun to see how the full link room bounces up and down in coordination with the film and to watch the rows on the opposite side of you. Funny to think that people called this just a Soarin clone before it opened. It's way more and I think it might be my favorite ride in the parks. It's hard to decide so close after the trip, and it might be the newness of the ride, but its the thing that I most want to ride again right now. Definitely up there with the best of the resort at a minimum. 

Different thoughts about Navi River Journey though. Its very nice for what it is, but isn't worth the waits it is getting right now. Its the kind of thing that should be 15-30 minutes max. Luckily, I didn't wait that long, so I am not regretting the decision to ride it. Its a nice little boat ride with some cool effects, like the frogs on the leafs above, which I think is one of the most well done special effects I've seen in a long time. And the AA figure at the end is fantastic. But it really could use a couple more things along the way and it should have been longer. It should have like 2 more Navi figures and a couple animals along the water, all just basic figures with limited motion to add more to look at on the way. Maybe that'll happen in a distant future refurb.

The rest of the park is just as strong and like I said, I think it is my new favorite park of the resort, and I think that has to do with my tastes changing from rides to more enjoying the experience of the park. It's an environment strong park, with plenty of areas to explore, plenty of things to watch, and a lot of space to just relax and enjoy being in a themed environment. That's what I want out of a theme park now, plus having good rides helps too. I really don't understand how anyone could say that it is a half day park anymore, as I didn't even get to everything in a full day.

It really is incredible to look at this park and think about how lucky we are to have it and how amazing it is that it happened just 20 years ago. It breaks so many rules for theme parks and I absolutely think it would never be built now. It really hit me while on Kilamajaro Safaris when I realized that I'm on a ride that's the size of its own theme park, on free driving vehicles, seeing dozens and dozens of real animals, and hearing a spiel about serious topics like ecology and recycling. Thats 4 rules broken and it makes a great attraction and a great park. 

Last, this was the first trip where I got to be in the park at night so that was really cool, but I wish it was open even later because there was so much to see. We focused on Rivers of Light and the Tree of Life Awakenings, both good, both beautiful, but I agree with the general consensus that Rivers of Light needs some kind of story. It's interesting how the Tree of Life projections have a significantly stronger throughline in just a couple minutes yet are still as beautiful and abstract and don't need narration to make sense. Rivers of Light has all the elements it needs and the visuals are great, but I think just some organization and structure to the show would help create more of a story you can follow. My quick opinion is that they should have used the 4 animal barges more in the middle of the show. Maybe structure the show with 4 segments highlighting the 4 animals. 

As I sit here a week later, Animal Kingdom is definitely the park I want to be back at and Flight of Passage is the ride I definitely want to be riding, so I think that makes this park recent growth a big success. 

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Beyond the parks, here's a couple other things worth mentioning. 

Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire rivals Flight of Passage as the coolest thing I did all week. I've never done anything VR before so this was a totally new experience. Groundbreaking and makes me think more about how VR should be used in themed entertainment. The talk so often is that VR is impersonal and you can't share experiences with you friends and family. And I felt that a bit in this case, but it was not very bad. Definitely worth doing.

We stayed at the Polynesian, which was a step up for us and a really nice place to stay. We've done moderates and values in the past aside from one Wilderness Lodge stay, but wanted to do something nicer this time. This is definitely the best Monorail loop hotel in my opinion, but I don't like fancy and it is my style so that is probably why. The hotel definitely has some special amenities that you have to take advantage of if you stay there. I mean dole whips, Trader Sams, and watching fireworks from the beach. 

Last, I'll mention the crowds. Before getting there, the wait times were appearing to be higher than expected and then I think the day before getting there, a Touring Plans article came out talking about how the crowds are just way higher now than anyone expected and they don't know why. We were a little worried. 

It turned out that yes the crowds were higher than normal, but as it was January, not yet bad enough to cause issue. All the big rides were constantly over an hour and there were a ton of areas of the parks that were overcrowded. It was definitely challenging at times, but if you know how to properly tour the parks and use fastpass, it was not that bad. I can only image how it is going to be in the summer though if it stays like this. Guess that is why we are getting both a lot of expansion and higher ticket prices soon. I think were just at the point that the parks are always going to have some level of crowd, Disney has done too well at spreading the density through the whole year with special events and discounts. Planning strategy is just going to have to respond now. 

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So I think that is everything I want to say about our trip. It was a great time even with the challenges. And the trip really reconfirmed to me to this is what I want to do.

So thanks for being a reader here and helping me do what I enjoy. 

The goal is to get back to one post a month for this year, and this is a bonus post. So EPCOT was January and I'll have something else up later this month, either an attraction I am working on or a part two to the How To essay with more information about what I think about when putting a plan together.