This board was so helpful in planning my trip that I thought i’d give some “live” feedback on some of the questions i’ve seen posted most often.
Family of five from US: 2 adults and 3 11 year olds.
Started at Universal (3 day PTP passes). Stayed at RPR to get Express passes. So worth it. Made touring Universal a breeze. We loved USO and IOA. Forbidden Journey might be our favorite ride ever. We love HP. Spent an entire day immersed in the two lands. Loved. Got to castle lights about an hour early. Had a good view. Teary during the “show.” On one day, ride Hulk 5x. Got as many rides in as we wanted. Only Gringotts was slow. We would not recommend experiencing the queue without the express pass. At Gringotts, especially, you merge before all the preshow stuff. Even with EP we waited 45 minutes for Gringotts one night.
On Rain: it has rained every day we have been here. Usually between 3 and 6 pm. 3 days has been downpour with lightning for 30-60 minutes. 5 days only drizzle. At MK it was most annoying as so many rides were outdoors and crowds were massive. Otherwise, we tried to find a place to settle in for 30+ minutes. Got stuck in small alcove at Hogsmeade. Would have been fine, but then 4 more adults squished in. Got hot and stuffy for 30 minutes. Next to cauldron shop, so “blurp blurp” was stuck in our heads. Only suggestion: Schedule your must do outdoor rides for pre-3 pm or post 7 pm.
On crowds: Big. TP predicted 4, 6, and 7s, but we have seen mostly 8s. Long wait times at WDW. We were able to modify to get lots of FP at MK and AK, but only 3 rides open at HS so didn’t work there. Waited 60 minutes (!)(posted as 20) for RRC at 9:20 am. Not fun. Epcot also has ridiculous waits until about 3 pm. Waited 45 minutes for Nemo (kids not happy). Posted 25. I think there are LOADS of locals right now…not as many as DLR gets, but way more than we have seen here before. I think the fact they opened to resident passholders “hurt” us a lot. More teen groups, etc. lots of off duty CMs at HEA in the crowd and at MK in general.
On heat: Wow. It is hot. We have done each day, 9 am to close in the parks, though. We hate traveling back to resort. Chilly Toggs help. Drink lots. Dress cool. Do water rides and splash water on yourself whenever you can.
On HEA: I cancelled dessert party week before. Decided if I had to invest 2 hours either way, might as well do it for free. Got a great spot, spread widely, stayed firm. Did not let others push into our space to protect the kids’ view. I ended up touching shoulders with the off-duty CMs next to me, but it was okay. They sang loudly (mildly annoying but it was clear the show was very emotional for them so I decided to just enjoy their heartfelt emotions …). Beautiful show.
On Tusker House: did the ROL package. Still ridiculously expensive to pay that amount for an 11 year olds buffet, but we made it our only meal of the day. Ate at 2 pm. Told the kids to eat big. Especially ate a lot of fruit. Characters moved quickly but were cute. Thought they used to do something like broomball? We were in/out in 70 minutes. Saw all four characters. Food was great. DH still reeling from cost, but I thought it was worth it this trip. And I loved ROL. Went in with really low expectations and show was great.
On FOP: great ride. Did once withFP. Then went again after first ROL show. (9:45 pm) Posted 70 minutes wait. Took 70 minutes.
On line cutting: Did not observe this, but we are a group of five and horizontally block. Only at FOP had two single guys pushing past us. I told them to back off. One did. The other pushed through and ended up joining a group about 50 people in front of us. If he had said excuse me or anything, would have been less annoying. Had to tap in twice for almost all our FP. Rider switch seemed annoying for the CMs. Every interaction looked negative. People seemed very entitled and rude and demanding. I actually hope they get more stringent with it. Of anything I saw getting “abused” while there, it was RS. Even adults with no kids were getting them? Maybe I was missing what was going on, but I saw more than one CM pleading with people to tap bands, switch who rode, etc.
Overall, having a great trip. Leaving in two days. Not sure when we will be back. Love exploring other places also, but have had a great time. Had a great photo session this morning with Disney Fine Art photography, and headed to the pool now!