A great few days!

I am in Orlando visiting my parents with my two boys. We spent 4 nights on property and did the MK and Epcot, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. We stayed at the Grand Floridian with a military discount in a Theme Park view room (we got upgraded from a Lagoon View).

We had a fabulous 4 days! Every CM was genuinely friendly and helpful, rides were all fully operational, crowds were moderate but lines were quite short, often under 10 min standby, transportation was good via monorail. We did not use resort buses...used Uber to go to/from the water parks which was a pleasant surprise how fast and cheap it was (my first time using Uber). Dining was all CS and with the exception of two food items, everything was fresh and tasty.

We came down two years ago in August and I swore I would NEVER do that again, but this time it was not too hot. Coming from CA, I took advantage of the time change and kept my kids on Pacific time, so we slept in, ate late breakfast then headed to the water parks around 11, stayed for a few hours, left and had lunch around 3, showered and sheltered in our room during the afternoon storms, then headed to the main parks around 6pm. The parks were open until late but we would only stay until about 10pm, which gave us plenty of time to hit all the rides my kids wanted. We used FP+ and rode our favorites on each visit and used the DAS as well for two other rides (Soarin and Astro Orbiter). Evenings were nice and cool and breezy, due to cloud cover. We only had rain on one evening and we just used ponchos. That was at Epcot and on that night we rode literally everything in Future World in 2.5 hours. It was great!

We were able to watch MK fireworks from our room one night, from the GF marina one night, and saw the DHS Star Wars fireworks from the monorail platform at Epcot. Those were cool fireworks.

Overall, it was a really fun 4 days and I really don't have much criticism this time around. I'm all about these lower summer crowds and if it is the result of higher prices, fine by me! I didn't really notice any obvious "cost cutting" measures. I had read some reports about inadequate A/C in shops and restaurants and such, and I found it to be the opposite...most indoor locations were freezing! Staffing levels seemed adequate, etc.

We did not get to Disney Springs this time which I regret, but I will be returning sans kids i November so I will check it out then.

I have read so much negative stuff about WDW lately so I felt compelled to report that we had a good experience. And trust me, I am fully capable of being critical of WDW...

Anyway, my kids and I had a fun trip and they can't wait to come back!

Although, I will say, Disneyland still looks much prettier and well kept overall...I was struck by how OLD a lot of MK and Epcot looked (Tomorrowland in particular and parts of Future World in Epcot, the TTC, and a lot of Typhoon Lagoon. Those areas need some fresh paint and a power wash, among other things.

Glad it was a good trip, Natalie!! Thanks for reporting!!

Thanks for the report

Glad you're having such a good trip, thanks for checking in!

I love reading about things going well! Glad you had a good trip. It's amazing the amount of stress you avoid by not using the buses. Thanks for the Uber update.

Glad you had a great time in WDW!!! It is good when all things go smooth, and the kids enjoy it!
Julie

So glad you had a great trip!

Sounds like you guys had a great game plan! Thanks for the report!