Have just returned from 16 wonderful days at WDW - myself, DW and DDs 14,12 and 12. While there is not much here that experienced liners will not know I thought I would share some thoughts from our trip (and no- you still cannot do everything, even with 16 days:).
- I continue to love the YC. The staff are great and the location and facilities are second to none. Only downside is the argument when some of the family want to go to a park in the evenings and others want to stay in the pool.
- I really liked FPP+ for every park except DHS. Arriving at a park knowing that you have fastpasses that fit in with your touring plan felt really good. Made the days feel smoother and less hurried
- However, at DHS I was really frustrated at having to choose between TSMM and RnR. IMO these are the two best rides in the park and not being able to chooses both limited our options if we were not there at RD
- Our pre RD breakfast at CP was wonderful, even with our older daughters. An empty Main Street was great and the characters were great fun. My daughters thought it was funny that I looked so happy when I met Tigger.
- Cali Grill and Flying Fish remain out two favourite signature restaurants. We tried Artist Point and we were split - myself and DW liked it, my DDs not so much.
- I and my DW are Brits and do not normally drink milkshakes, but we both loved the PB&J milkshake at 50s. Thanks to all the liners that recommended this - I would never have tried it without you.
- We tried a new strategy of having most of our TS meals at lunchtime. This worked really well, giving a nice flow to the day and providing some respite from the midday heat. It also gave us more flexibility in the evenings
- We tried 50s, Y&Y, VN and Raglan Road for the first time on this trip. We really enjoyed three of them, but found VN just so-so.
- My DW does not like the water parks so we hired a polar patio at BB to see if that helped. While this is expensive, it was really nice to have a base in the shade and we ended up staying longer than we normally do. We will definitely do this again
- While I love Disney my favourite day out in Florida continues to be Discovery Cove. The whole family loves the feel and look of the park and the snorkelling is brilliant. It is so different that you are busy all day and still feel like you have had a rest day.
- We saw the blue man show at Universal - my DDs loved it and rated or above La nouba. I enjoyed it, but not quite as much. We all agreed that HDDR is better.
- We did four parks in one day and had great fun - it was our best day in the parks. While it is tiring it does allow you to hit all your favourite rides and makes for an action packed day. We finished off with EMH at MK and loved that we could walk on to most rides. We took advantage of this to do some of the rides we don’t normally do eg Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh.
- We tried snacking and drinking around the world for the first time - it was fun but it is a lot of alcohol and, with children to look after, we had to pace ourselves. If we did it again I would start earlier earlier and use the whole afternoon and not just the evening.
- We did a day at DTD - It was not as bad as I expected, given the construction, but only having one bus stop was a real pain.
- The “make your own” confectionary option at Goofy’s candy store was new for us - the girls loved it and I really enjoyed my creation of marshmallows covered in milk chocolate, crushed pecans and
dark chocolate. - Somehow we had missed club cool on previous trips - I had kept the “delights” of the Beverley flavour from my family - I had a good laugh watching their reactions.
- In Epcot I would really recommend the Katsura Grill and Tangerine Cafe for QS meals - both are excellent. The Chinese QS meal was awful - the worst meal I have ever had at Disney.
