Merf NYE @ Epcot (Crowded!)

So merf left MK at midnight/1am on the 30th, and made it into Epcot for EMH just after the gates opened at 7:10ish.

Whoo.. It was crowded.

Nemo's line went into the West Breezeway.

After the first illuminations, got diverted into backstage behind China to walk from there all the way to back between Test Track and M:S. Note - the VIP lounge at M:S never got finished - did HP bail out?

And there's big metal parts backstage all labeled "Starship" Earth.

Energy had a 3 show wait, and a line that back up into Wonder's ramp into the pavilion.

Soarin was 4 hours.

Guest Relations for reasons unknown blocked the entrance to the monorail, i didnt venture out of the park to investigate. I assume they were checking resort ID.

I never left the park from 7am to Now

Full shows at Impressions de France and American Adventure.

Tapestry puppets were in the park dancing near Soarin as part of a dance party.

Test Track broke. It was the scariest breakdown ever! Ever breakdown in the "near miss" tunnel? Lordy that's dark and scary...

SSE used its full queue plus some and a switch back or two and stil coulnt be contained. It went to over and hour.

Body Wars got up to like 45mins - just outside the main queue hallway thing.

Took photos, not many, but some, will post when i get home... This is what i recall for now

Soarin was 4 hours.

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When? Never saw it get past 150 min.

Guest Relations for reasons unknown blocked the entrance to the monorail, i didnt venture out of the park to investigate. I assume they were checking resort ID.

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We were told it was because MK was full (though I doubt that was the real reason).

Body Wars got up to like 45mins - just outside the main queue hallway thing.

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When did that happen? My girlfriend and I were in a probe with three other people at around 10pm. Cranium Command after that had four other people.

NemoRocks said:

When? Never saw it get past 150 min.

We were told it was because MK was full (though I doubt that was the real reason).


When did that happen? My girlfriend and I were in a probe with three other people at around 10pm. Cranium Command after that had four other people.

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Soarin - prior to 6pm. We think it was around 3ish.

We heard MK was full too.

Body Wars was like that right before that midday drizzle came through.. so what? 2ish? Sequentially most of the day is a blur.

NemoRocks said:

When? Never saw it get past 150 min.

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It was definitely *posted* at 240 minutes. I have a picture of the wait time sign. It was definitely *not* 240 minutes in reality, however. We got in line, and it took us about 65 minutes to get to the merge point, at which point both sides broke down and they dumped the entire queue without even so much as a "sorry for the trouble". I truthfully don't care about getting on the ride because I can do it whenever, but it seemed like it could have been handled better.

We were told it was because MK was full (though I doubt that was the real reason).

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Why would you doubt that? Other than trying to stir up conspiracy? Magic Kingdom went to strictly admitting Resort guests only around 1130am. That would be exactly what you saw at the Monorail station. I believe the restriction was lifted later in the evening however.

When did that happen? My girlfriend and I were in a probe with three other people at around 10pm. Cranium Command after that had four other people.

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Body Wars was complete walk-on when I made it over there, as was Cranium Command (though a fairly full theater). As for the pavillion itself, it would have taken throwing a *very large* rock to be able to hit someone inside. Of course it probably didn't help that the guide map did not list it as an attraction.

csm said:

It was definitely *posted* at 240 minutes. I have a picture of the wait time sign. It was definitely *not* 240 minutes in reality, however. We got in line, and it took us about 65 minutes to get to the merge point, at which point both sides broke down and they dumped the entire queue without even so much as a "sorry for the trouble". I truthfully don't care about getting on the ride because I can do it whenever, but it seemed like it could have been handled better.

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Could you post your picture of the sign? I'd just love to see it that long.:lookaroun :lol:

Anyway- thanks for the reports...looking forward to seeing all the photos!

csm said:

As for the pavillion itself, it would have taken throwing a *very large* rock to be able to hit someone inside.

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Wouldn't a small rock travel farther?

Thanks for the updates- whew, I can't even imagine. Glad to you're in one piece after all that! Get some much needed rest and we'll all be looking forward to the pictures... Happy New Year!

At about 3:45pm when walking to work (CM at Mouse Gear), Test Track had the wait display as 60 minutes, but the line went from The entrance following the walkway and out towards the breezeway.

I was there as well. I don't think I've ever seen lines so long for Test Track. I got there around 1:30P and the standby line was nearly all the way back to the East Breezeway. It seemed to be there the better part of the afternoon. The Single Rider line was over 60 minutes and I ended up at the top of the ramp when TT broke down for a brief period.

I also got routed around the backstage area and was surprised that they didn't stop the women in front of me from videotaping her route through the area. I always thought it was a rule that there was no photography backstage.

The wait time sign showed Soarin at 240 minutes most of the afternoon. Once I saw that all FP's where gone @ ~1:30 I didn't even go into the building. To be honest, I couldn't figure out where they could possibly put a 240 minute wait; the queue only holds about 180 minutes max so they'd have to have been outside and beyond to be at that length.

As I was driving in on Epcot Center drive there was a highway construction signs saying that MK was closed and telling people to go to the Epcot lot.

The crowds hit their most insane just before the final fireworks performance. I had stopped in Mexico to get a Margarita and was on the way to Canada to watch the fireworks. Unfortunately the crowd control along that path was non-existent. There were countless people sitting on the ground narrowing the path so much nothing could move. At some points there was less than 10 feet of path space available for everyone to move through. They had all sorts of crowd control once you got up to the countries, but absolutely nothing on either side of the Christmas Tree.

Ah it was nuts indeed.

Not much to add to it except I saw on the waitboard today that JIIWF had a 45 minute wait...

Pics and other stuff to come later or tomorrow, Im beat.

How About Imagination?

How long was that line or Journey into Imagination with Figment? I've never, ever seen a line for that, so I'm very curious.

Ryan

That's just insane. I hope everyone there had fun, even though you were with thousands of people you don't know.

Happy New Year!

rdour@techminds said:

How long was that line or Journey into Imagination with Figment? I've never, ever seen a line for that, so I'm very curious.

Ryan

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Im not sure how long actually was, I never made way over until later. I just know I saw the board said 45 minutes which was followed by me laughing quite loud.

mousermerf said:

Note - the VIP lounge at M:S never got finished - did HP bail out?

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Which part are you talking about? There is a lounge area up above the indoor queue that is finished and staffed with an attendant. It was part of the undiscovered future world tour. we were told it was the HP lounge. There is an unfinished section near the outdoor overflow queue near the VIP enterance. It's like a totally seperate building. The tour guide didn't have a good answer as to what it was supposed to be.

rdour@techminds said:

How long was that line or Journey into Imagination with Figment? I've never, ever seen a line for that, so I'm very curious.

Ryan

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It was about 45 minutes when I went on it around 5P. The line came out of the building and wrapped down toward the rest rooms and back again. The line for HISTA was all the way down thw ramp toward the sign most of the afternoon.

Moustronaut said:

Which part are you talking about? There is a lounge area up above the indoor queue that is finished and staffed with an attendant. It was part of the undiscovered future world tour. we were told it was the HP lounge. There is an unfinished section near the outdoor overflow queue near the VIP enterance. It's like a totally seperate building. The tour guide didn't have a good answer as to what it was supposed to be.

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Confirmed. HP has a very nice lounge with a couple of really cool games and a couple of computers to check email, etc...

donsullivan said:

I had stopped in Mexico to get a Margarita and was on the way to Canada to watch the fireworks. .

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Only in Epcot! :lol:

This was the wait times for everything around 8:00 last night:






El Rio was definitely wrong..The entire left side of the building was used for the line.


By time we walked to Nemo, the wait was under 20 minutes.




Test Track on the other hand had a line reaching almost into the breezeway...



Body Wars @ 7pm


Space Ship Earths clock. (Turned off a few minutes later)


Mission Space's line @ 6:51


Supposedly the park reached capacity at approx 85,000 guests (told from a Test Track CM)

50 minutes for Maelstrom! :lol:

To help traffic flow, they put tape down and had CMs holding ropes to keep people on the right sides when walking.


By time the fireworks ended it was hard to see across the lake. Ive never heard the fireworks so loud. It was amazing.