One and dones, and things that met expectations....

[vicb]

My family was at Disney May 3-8, we had not been in four years so there were several rides/shows that were new to us.

Met or Exceeded Expectations:
FoP: Wow, great ride. I have trouble with motion sickness and was VERY nervous about riding this. I can do Soarin but not ST and no spinning rides for me. I took a Dramaine that day and was fine on the ride, so worth it!
7DMT: Loved the theming of the ride and it was smooth. Like the traditional Disney content. Was really happy to ride this twice.
Soarin: Had been on Soaring before with old movie, enjoyed the new around the world movie, nice update.
Rivers of Light: count us in as those that enjoyed the show, really beautiful in a different way.
Movie Magic and Star Wars Fireworks: awesome shows both, had a great spot to see everything.
HDDR: Had never been, DD requested we try it and it was really fun. Not sure I would do it every trip but would be nice to see the Christmas version I think.
Trader Sams: wow, such fun. Was a hassle to wait on line 30 min but worth it.


One and Done rides for us included:
Navi River: pretty but what a let down and certainly not worth the 40 min. wait. When we got to the end everyone in our boat was like "that's it?" I just feel like they could have done so much more.
FEA: Not really a Frozen fan so my expectations were low but again... they could have added more to this ride in terms of keeping kids interest.
BOG: Not a ride or show but wow sort of a let down. Four years ago we couldn't get in for any meal the whole trip so was excited to get a breakfast reservation. Too chaotic, loud, like a cafeteria.

Disney Springs: This was a mixed bag for us. Many trips we have skipped DTD but decided to devote an evening here with all the new stuff. Dinner at Boathouse was ok, good food but loud, crowded and out of a few menu items. Walking around and shopping was also crowded but there were some good stores and street performers to watch. I would probably do this again with there being so many great new restaurants to try.

 

[AngiTN]

Great summation.

For me, the worse part about Navi River, they could do one thing with it now, and it would go far in my mind to fix a lot of the problems, slow it down. Yes I realize that would increase the wait times but at least it would let you take in what you are seeing. There is a lot of beautiful things there to look at. The Imaginers put a lot of effort in to designing elements in that ride and they rush you through it so fast you miss over half of them. And then it's so lacking in the end no one cares to go back to try and catch everything they missed.

 

[StacyStrong]

I'm not into Disney Springs mainly because I'm not a shopper on vacations. I know there are great restaurants, but they are at the parks and resorts too and generally more convenient. It's a pass for me.

 

[Kwdsue]

What are HDDR and Trader Sam's?

 

[SarahC97]

What are HDDR and Trader Sam's?

Hoop-De-Doo Musical review at Fort Wilderness (it's a dinner show) and Trader Sam's Grogg Grotto at the Polynesian is a tiki bar.

 

[AngiTN]

What are HDDR and Trader Sam's?

HDDR, HoopDeDoo Revue, a dinner and show at Fort Wilderness
Trader Sam's, a bar at the Polynesian Hotel

 

[vicb]

What are HDDR and Trader Sam's?

Hoop De Doo Review at Fort Wilderness Campground is a dinner and show.

Trader Sam's is a tiki themed bar at the Poly Resort.

 

[nkereina]

Thanks for posting.

FEA was actually one that exceeded my expectations. I don't have kids, so I guess I didn't look at it from a kid's perspective, but I thought the animatronics on this ride were so unique and different than anything else in the parks. We also didn't expect there to be the slight drop or to get wet, so that was a fun surprise. We actually enjoyed this one.

Disney Springs is hit or miss for us too. Even though it's doubled in size, it always feels very crowded to us. In the past, we could go there during the day and it was virtually empty. In Februrary, we visited on a Tuesday when the parks were relatively slow but Disney Springs was packed! There's also SO many new places to see and try that I find it a bit overwhelming.

 

[SarahC97]

My family was at Disney May 3-8, we had not been in four years so there were several rides/shows that were new to us.

Met or Exceeded Expectations:
FoP: Wow, great ride. I have trouble with motion sickness and was VERY nervous about riding this. I can do Soarin but not ST and no spinning rides for me. I took a Dramaine that day and was fine on the ride, so worth it!
7DMT: Loved the theming of the ride and it was smooth. Like the traditional Disney content. Was really happy to ride this twice.
Soarin: Had been on Soaring before with old movie, enjoyed the new around the world movie, nice update.
Rivers of Light: count us in as those that enjoyed the show, really beautiful in a different way.
Movie Magic and Star Wars Fireworks: awesome shows both, had a great spot to see everything.
HDDR: Had never been, DD requested we try it and it was really fun. Not sure I would do it every trip but would be nice to see the Christmas version I think.
Trader Sams: wow, such fun. Was a hassle to wait on line 30 min but worth it.


One and Done rides for us included:
Navi River: pretty but what a let down and certainly not worth the 40 min. wait. When we got to the end everyone in our boat was like "that's it?" I just feel like they could have done so much more.
FEA: Not really a Frozen fan so my expectations were low but again... they could have added more to this ride in terms of keeping kids interest.
BOG: Not a ride or show but wow sort of a let down. Four years ago we couldn't get in for any meal the whole trip so was excited to get a breakfast reservation. Too chaotic, loud, like a cafeteria.

Disney Springs: This was a mixed bag for us. Many trips we have skipped DTD but decided to devote an evening here with all the new stuff. Dinner at Boathouse was ok, good food but loud, crowded and out of a few menu items. Walking around and shopping was also crowded but there were some good stores and street performers to watch. I would probably do this again with there being so many great new restaurants to try.

I totally agree with all this. I'm am intrigued to see how BOG dinner is after the changes at the end of July.

 

[vicb]

I totally agree with all this. I'm am intrigued to see how BOG dinner is after the changes at the end of July.

I'm sure the dinner would be nicer due to table service. When we were there they closed off Belle's library room and the beast's room was so dark my DH said "no way am I eating breakfast in there" so we were stuck with the loud ballroom. I think the fact it was a rainy day added to the din and chaos. The food was not bad though.

 

[SarahC97]

I'm sure the dinner would be nicer due to table service. When we were there they closed off Belle's library room and the beast's room was so dark my DH said "no way am I eating breakfast in there" so we were stuck with the loud ballroom. I think the fact it was a rainy day added to the din and chaos. The food was not bad though.

Oh yeah, we've had lunch there and that main room was really loud. It's also been that way at dinner. I doubt that will ever change!! My husband has always found BOG to be disappointing.

 

[ww52]

Thanks for posting!

We are skipping 7DMT because of the small kids we have with us and the likely difficulty of getting a FP (will use our advance ones elsewhere); I think that's the one I'll really regret missing. We love Splash Mountain because of the theming - it sounds like 7DMT might be worth considering...

FOP and FEA are our two top "really want to do it" rides - FEA for my granddaughters and FOP for the big kids like me.

(Note - I intentionally NEVER call anything a "must see" attraction. The only "must see" to me is being at WDW itself. Whatever we do will be fantastic. No such thing as a let down.)

 

[walker0829]

I'm going to borrow OP's list because many of these were new for us or we had new experiences at them:

Met or Exceeded:
FoP: Really amazing ride. Take's Universal's favorite concept(motion simulator ride) and really did it well. The graphical quality, the scents, the motion. Everything was dead on nailed.
7DMT: Until this last trip I had thought it was meh. Then I discovered I could rock my train side to side pretty hard while riding. It literally took the ride to a whole new level and I had my party laughing and yelling that I was going to break the ride. Soarin: Rode the old one about 3 years ago. Thought it was ok. The remake is even worse. The repeating way they cut scenes gets overused and cheesy. Scents weren't really on point for me. DS6's first time riding and he didn't have much to say about it(never a good sign).


One and Done rides for us included:
FEA: Bring back Maelstrom! You can tell they crammed Frozen's story line in much to small a space. Then again, did it really need it's own ride? This is like Epcot's Peter Pan(long waits and quick ride) but at least Peter Pan tells the story pretty well!
BOG: Menu changed from the last time. Not a fan of the new one. Portions incredibly small for the price. Pasta was not cooked well.

None and Done:

ROL: Had a FP+ but cared so little to watch it that we ended up not even going.

Also, my thoughts on Disney Springs are mixed as well. I don't really care for the shops that are essentially what I could find at any mall around town. We tried a new place (Homecoming) and found the meal to be pretty underwhelming for the price. I don't mind paying the Disney premium but most of the buffet's tasted better than my meal at Homecoming. Ghirardelli is delicious but talk about the Disney premium!! Thank goodness for my dad's AP discount at most of these places.

 

[KenHutch]

Really enjoyed your entire review. And as to Disney Springs I keep calling it Downtown Disney because we all know in 10 years or so they are going to change the name again.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Agree about Navi. That was just meh for sure. Nice but not long wait nice.

 

[JennyMP03]

I won't be rushing back to Navi either, but that shaman animatronic is wild. Massive and gorgeously fluid, but bordering on uncanny valley. I can't stop thinking about it.

On the other hand, Flight of Passage was one of the most impressive attractions I've ever been on. I did the same as OP and took a Dramamine a few hours beforehand to combat motion sickness. I was fortunate enough to ride it twice in our trip but I'd still love to do it again.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I haven’t been to DS in ten years. I live in an area with tons of shopping malls. Indoor and outdoor. With tons of great restaurants. I also really dislike shopping and do 98% of my shopping online so DS doesn’t appeal to me at all.

 

[1GoldenSun]

I agree with all of this except I've never tried HDDR. It's never appealed to me, but it gets such great reviews, maybe we should give it a try sometime.

I disliked BOG for sort of the opposite reason. We had the first lunch ADR of the day and it was EMPTY. I can imagine what it would be like completely full, but it's kind of cavernous and lacking in ambience when only a few families are scattered about that vast space. The food was just ok, and I didn't really care for the Grey Stuff I'd heard so much about. We're going back for dinner next week, though, so maybe we'll like that better.

I haven't cared much for Disney Springs since back when they still had the playground out by the Lego store. My kids love T-Rex (and the Lego Store!) and I like Raglan Road so we still go, but it seems to be always so crowded all the time. Plus, Disney Springs just sounds like a mattress company to me.

 

[AngiTN]

I agree with all of this except I've never tried HDDR. It's never appealed to me, but it gets such great reviews, maybe we should give it a try sometime.

You should.
We avoided it for a while because it didn't appeal to me but finally went, because I want to try most everything, eventually.
It is quite cute. We did laugh a lot. Food is good. Basic. Chicken is best thing, ribs are really bad. DGD ate her weight, and then some, in chicken legs. They lost money on that girl that night!
I don't see us going back anytime soon, if ever, but I don't regret going.

 

[Minniemouse07]

You should.
We avoided it for a while because it didn't appeal to me but finally went, because I want to try most everything, eventually.
It is quite cute. We did laugh a lot. Food is good. Basic. Chicken is best thing, ribs are really bad. DGD ate her weight, and then some, in chicken legs. They lost money on that girl that night!
I don't see us going back anytime soon, if ever, but I don't regret going.

I've always wanted to do this but there is nothing that either of my kids will eat there other than the vegetable and dessert. I just can't rationalize spending all the money for them to not eat. :-(