We got back yesterday after a week staying offsite - 12/19-25 going to parks 12/21-24. We started at the Clarion just south of Animal Kingdom area. DW complained about the hotel, Though it was in pretty poor condition, so we moved to the new airport Cambria. It was rough, instead of 5-10 minute drives, it became 25-30 minute. She was also dealing with a shoulder/neck injury, so had to visit the chiropractor a couple times before heading to the parks. We ended up typically leaving for the parks around 1030 most days, so there by 11.
I had bought G+ with the tickets because I knew they'd be busy and we had some things we'd want to do. The extra hours, plus extra rides/shows available with G+ in each park definitely made it worth it to us, in some ways. Being able to get a guaranteed parade viewing spot was awesome on Wednesday for the first daytime showing of the parade. Heres our view if you're interested:h ttps://youtu.be/EuS5CGhjDK8.
We ended up getting 4 or 5 G+ rides in each park. Most of the parks, we could have gotten more LLs, but was trying hard not to push my wife, but still getting yelled at for going too hard
. I also was able to get an ILL$ for myself on FoP and 7DMT and the whole family on Remy. I got lucky with FoP as it sold out before offsite could get them, but they reloaded more a couple times during the morning that I saw. I wasn't planning for RotR, and that was a good thing. I guess it was down a lot on Friday. I had rode once at DHS in January and twice at
Disneyland this summer, so wasn't even going to go to Galaxy's Edge this trip. We also barely used standby lines. We did iasw, Gran Fiesta Tour, and AS2 standby, but otherwise, we used Genie or didn't do it, besides a couple shows like Presidents in MK and Cars in DHS. We were down there for the tower of terror lighting so figured it'd be fun to check out. I missed arrival times for FoP and Peter Pan, but due to other appointments, so they fortunately let me on the rides. I know they don't have to do that, but glad they did.
Crowds were heavy in some parts but felt light in other parts. Obviously parade and fireworks crowds were intense. World showcase in Epcot was insanely packed. We were pushing the kid in the stroller and swerving everywhere to avoid people, lol. Animal Kingdom was rainy most of the day, so wasn't as crowded as it could have been. It mostly felt like our first trip in 2018 though. Lots of people.
Character meals are changing a bit now with allowing kids to stand a few feet in front of characters, so it's easier to get their pictures now. I had noticed they let us stand up for the pix, but didn't realize it was a new change until DFB posted about it this morning.
Table service meals are generally taking about 90 minutes for us now. It seemed like before we could get in and out in 60, but we did Story Book Dining, Rose and Crown Candlelight package and Hollywood and Vine and they all took about 90 minutes. We also did the Space 220 lounge, but kept it to apps and drinks, so wasn't in for as long. Looking at time stamps of my videos, about 50 minutes in there. Cool experience tho.
Traffic in the WDW resort area wasn't bad for us at the times we went, but I-4 going North was always backed up during the day and sometimes at night if we left the parks early enough. Southbound wasn't as bad, but still had a decent amount of traffic and some slowdowns. At WDW, we used Trams, monorail, bus and skyliner and they were all keeping people moving quickly at the times we were on them. Of course we didn't use at high capacity times either, but was good to get where we wanted to go quickly and efficiently.
