Warning, this is long!
I've been posting quite a bit as we went along so this isn't a travelog (most of that can be found in the G+ strategy thread), but this post is more overall impressions from our week spent from 12/19-12/26. (Our most recent trip before this was Thanksgiving week 2018, for reference.)
Our group: Me, hubby, 20yo daughter, 15yo son. This was our 4th trip to WDW as a whole family since 2010 (although we have also done DL California 2x and DL Paris 3x, so we are pretty savvy Disney-goers or "friends of the monster.") We have not been since pre-covid.
Our touring style: We normally rope drop to get the most of less-busy AM hours, eat a table service lunch & then take a hotel break, returning around 5PM until park close. We use fp+ (or now ILL$ and G+) and tend not to wait longer than 25-30 minutes for anything.
Thoughts on this visit:
PARK RESERVATIONS: It worked out OK for us, since we generally plan what parks we are doing ahead of time anyway. Waiting until 2pm to park hop wasn't usually a big deal since we normally don't head to our second park until after a break, however it meant that our lunch reservation had to be in park #1 unless it was after 2pm, which is later than we usually get hungry since we hit the parks so early. It was also less flexible, obviously. One day we considered altering plans, but couldn't, since there were no park reservations to switch to.
RESORT: We are usually Beach Club/Yacht Club people, but went out on a limb and tried Riviera this time. It's It's a lovely property with an upscale feel. The standard studio room we got was ideal for our family with 2 Murphy beds that easily pulled up for space, but gave everyone their own bed. Also, two showers in the room was great. Laundry down the hall was free (soap available for $1 with credit card swipe) and I never had to wait for a machine. The elevators were fast. The resort felt compact and we could get to the lobby, pool, busses, Skyliner, and restaurants so quickly. It never felt crowded. Pools and hot tub were lovely. Always plentiful recliner chairs, etc. (And this was all while the hotel was at capacity.) Definitely plan to stay again.
SKYLINER: We were firm believers in our own 2 feet, which is why we like Epcot resorts because you can walk to Epcot and DHS for early rope drop. I was worried about timing with Skyliner, especially for DHS days considering we would have to transfer at Caribbean Beach Resort. But the Riviera Skyliner opened early enough that we could take a gondola to Caribbean Beach before they started up, so we were never "behind" or waiting to catch a Skyliner when we got off to transfer. We were easily able to arrive at DHS to be first in line at one of the entry turnstiles. In fact, we never really waited longer than 2 minutes to catch a gondola even at park closing on busy days. One of our favorite things was watching Harmonious at the end of the day on the Skyliner from DHS or Epcot to Riviera. Super magical!
MOBILE ORDER: This was our first time using mobile order and we loved it. We had no trouble getting order times and nearly every time we clicked the "we're here" button, the "your order is ready" alert came almost instantaneously. We used this at Sleepy Hollow, Woody's Lunchbox, Ronto Roasters, Docking Bay 7, and Primo Piatto at Riviera. (Also, why did we never try Ronto Roasters before? They are a sleeper hit!)
GENIE+ AND ILL$: While we miss the old days of FP+ we had used MaxPass before and found it easy to adjust to using G+. Without it during the very crowded week we were there, we would not have done all we wanted to do. In general, our touring style is set up to avoid crowded mid-day times in the park because we don't like waiting in lines. Using rope drop, virtual queue, a few ILL$ and G+ we were able to do everything we wanted with our longest wait being 30 minutes to ride TSMM one morning (after failing rope drop because ROTR and TOT both broke down after we were at the front of the line.) We actually welcomed the indoor line for TSMM because it was pouring rain.
I found it most useful for DHS and MK, but can also be useful if hopping to or from AK or Epcot if you stack for arrival at the 2nd park.
There is a little learning curve with using the G+ reservation system that you really can't do until you are booking your first selection. I recommend playing with the app before you arrive. Refreshing immediately on the second the universal clock hits 7am yielded the best results. We had different members of our party on their phones all at once to get different things. Eg: 1 getting ILL$, one getting G+, one getting virtual queue. With this method we were able to get boarding group 1 twice on Remy (teenagers both times got that!) Our choice of return time for ILL$ and even a 9:40 return time for Slinky (also the teenager).
A FEW TIPS & WARNINGS: Make sure you click ALL the way through when securing ILL$. One morning I thought I had snagged FOP for our group, only to realize half an hour later that even though I had signed into my account, seen the $ total and confirmed time, I had not hit the final "next" button and my reservation was incomplete. By the time I realized my error, that reservation had been released. I tried refreshing, but it was too late. Lesson learned the hard way.
I ascribe my failure there to the fact that I was actively rope-dropping the park with my son that morning so hubby & daughter were sleeping in. The CMs at the park opening generally give you about 3 minutes after 7am to do reservations before they let the floodgates open. But it's very nerve-wracking trying to rope drop AND get reservations at the same time. I thought I had got the reservation, so switched my attention the the hoarde that was about to trample me if I did not move along. So at least my son and I got to ride FOP for rope drop, but hubby & daughter missed out since I didn't get the ILL$. Luckily, we were able to purchase it a different day in the afternoon, so they did get to go once.
Last tip: REFRESHING!
On my first try to buy a ROTR ILL$, I tried for an early time and it was already gone. Instead of searching further out, I tried the next earliest and then it was out...you see the pattern. Within 3 tries for a new time, the ressies were gone. I was crushed, but remembered the 10-minute refresh phenomenon I had learned on this board. At 7:10, I refreshed again and was able to score a morning return for ROTR. There were several times available. So if you miss the first time, try again in 10 minutes, 20 minutes.
Refreshing G+ can also be rewarding, especially in morning and afternoon. It usually only took a few minutes, but I was usually able to get an earlier return time for most rides for 4 people. This is really useful when trying to maintain a rolling G+ or when stacking for later use. I feel like we got our money's worth from G+ most days. And like I said earlier, we pretty much only did rides if they were G+, ILL$, or short rope drop AM standby lines.
DINING & ADRs: These were hard to come by this time around, even with a 7-night stay, but I eventually managed to get everything we wanted, mostly by using Mousekepros. Having reservations was usually very smooth. We generally ate breakfast in our room (groceries delivered by Kevin the Orlando Butler, A+ check him our if you need groceries delivered) and then ate 1-2 sit down meals per day. Most of the time we were seated instantly, with the exception of The Crepery (30 minute wait), Be Our Guest (30 minute wait), Yak & Yeti (10 minute wait), Cinderella's Royal Table (30 minute wait) and Hollywood Brown Derby (15 minute wait). We also ate at Nine Dragons, Rose & Crown Fireworks package, Space 220 lunch dining room, Biergarten Candlelight package, Teppan Edo, Le Cellier, Topolinos (dinner and breakfast). I will note that the servers on most of the restaurants seemed overworked, holding down a lot of tables, and multi-tasking. They were all still very cordial and friendly. In fact, I don't think we encountered any rude CMs at all. Food was good all around. We really enjoyed our dining experience.
EARLY ENTRY HOURS: I am so glad they changed early entry to be one hour instead of half hour during the busy season. It made a real difference in how many rides we could squeeze in before crowds arrived. On Christmas Day at DHS we were able to ride standby on ROTR, MFSR, MMRR, RnR, ToT, TSMM all before our first G+ of Slinky at 9:40. I will say that if you are staying off property, rope drop may no longer be an effective strategy. Early entry across all 4 parks every day means that the early crowd is more spread out (as opposed to when it was only Early Entry at one park per day) which is good for resort guests who are rope-dropping however, it also means that off-site guests can never get ahead of the crowd.
EXTENDED EVENING HOURS: Seeing as we stayed at a Deluxe resort, I was pleased with this offering. We had it at Epcot on the 20th, which was the horrible rainy day. Despite the rain, during the extra time we were able to ride Soarin and Frozen walk-on. Test Track was closed because of rain. We were wet and tired, so didn't stay the whole time, but that was the only time we managed to actually ride Soarin, despite having 2 G+ for it on different days (had to bail for ADRs both times because the G+ line was taking way too long.) Our Magic Kingdom late night was supposed to be the 23rd, but at the last minute they scrapped the Deluxe hours and just extended the regular park hours until 11. That was fine, since we were still able to pull and stack G+ for that evening and got a ton of rides in without waiting anyway.
HARMONIOUS: The show, itself, is fine. We enjoyed the line-up of songs and the fireworks and energy, but found that the whole giant-tacos-stargate-with-tentacles contraption didn't really add enough amazingness to the show to justify polluting the landscape and ruining the view across the World Showcase. Honestly, the show is carried by the music and fireworks, not by the odd projections. I got more "feels" just feeling the music boom in my chest while walking through World Showcase during the show than by actually seeing the projections.
LIGHT SABER EXPERIENCE: We hadn't planned to do this, so had not made reservations, but when we arrived, my husband seemed interested whenever he saw people carrying around their light sabers. I knew it was probably a lost cause, but I secretly started checking availability every now and then for cancelations. It took a few days, but I eventually scored a reservation for 2 on Christmas day. It was a great surprise for hubby & son (and daughter and I got to go along as their guests). The actor who did the ceremony was fantastic and we all really enjoyed the experience. Definitely recommend.
THE MAGIC: Well, despite things feeling like Disney was still a bit understaffed and let a few too many people back too early, we still felt the magic. The frequency of ride break-downs was our biggest complaint. But our family still had a really good time. This was all the more apparent after we left Disney and headed for 4 days at Universal. Even with the Express Pass (we stayed at Portofino Bay, which includes it as a perk) we just weren't as enchanted by the offerings and didn't feel the need to repeat many of the rides. All the Harry Potter areas were wall-to-wall people from morning until night. Forget trying to cast spells or even just take in the atmosphere. Sadly, we avoided going to those areas, even though they are favorites. (Not going to lie, I enjoyed Hagrid's motorbikes more than ROTR, and Velocicoaster is a seriously fun coaster, but we left Universal feeling a little hollow.) I don't know exactly what it is, but maybe it's just the little things like how Disney CM's smile and wave to you when you enter or exit the parks...somehow, the magic is still there. ♥
Just something to keep in mind if you have timed reservations after dining (although Guest Relations was able to help us out when we had a snafu, and the line wasn’t long at all!). And the counter service restaurants had tons of mobile order availability, so we didn’t run into the problem of there being no slots for hours or a long wait after hitting prepare my order. Our longest wait was for Dole Whip haha.
