A few updates from Saturday, March 14th (Epcot and MK)

When plans fell through with friends at the last minute for this weekend, we decided to pop over to Disney instead. Yay for living a little over an hour away and being Passholders! We hit Epcot and Magic Kingdom, so here's a few things observed this weekend...

EPCOT

First off, it was FREE PIN PARKING again. They did this in December but it stopped when the holiday stuff was over. But I guess it's back.



Then we noticed a lot of work either going up or already installed for the Flower and Garden Festival. I know the pics have been posted elsewhere, so I won't post mine, but they looked really nice. I look forward to going back in a few weeks and seeing it when it's fully opened. (It was funny to see them actively working on it. There was a CM standing with a hose, watering the flowers around the lagoon which is just something you don't normally see.)

Since the Electric Umbrella is still closed for reno, we grabbed lunch at the American Pavilion. But they've made changes to their menu. For example, the only way to get a single cheeseburger is on the kid's menu. (The adult portions are Bacon Double or just Double Cheeseburger.) It's smaller than the adult one but if you're not a big eater like me, the kid's burger with choice of two sides and kid's beverage at $4.99 is a good deal. (I got fries and a cookie plus apple juice for example with my kid's burger.)





Also, instead of your choice of apples or french fries it's now grapes or french fries. I thought that was odd. It's a little baggy of red grapes. (Presumably seedless.)

AND, they've changed the options at the condiment station as well. The BBQ sauce that they had in little packets is GONE. It's now a BBQ pump along with the ketchup, mustard, mayo pumps.

The Honey Dijon Mustard they had in little packets is GONE. You now have to ASK for it at the counter. They're not charging for it but they don't mention it so if you don't know to ask, you have to get back in line. Love found out the hard way when they were no longer at the condiment station to go with his chicken nuggets.

Moving on....

Bay Lake

Took the ferry over to MK, so snagged a shot of BLT:



Still not a bad looking building. I just don't like it's location. To me, it would have been better suited to Downtown Disney or something. It just looks very heavy now on that side of the lagoon compared to the lighter and airier Grand Floridian across the way. Too much concrete and glass. *shrugs*

Magic Kingdom

Construction continues on the Stitch stage. In fact, there were once again workers clearly visible from ground level doing work on the two main parts of the set up.





As well as work on the old Galaxy Theater:





Overall, the parks were pretty busy. I was surprised at how there really hasn't been any dead/quiet/slow weekends at all this year. Every time we're there, we're surprised at the crowds. There were definite "pockets" of people on Saturday where you'd hit a big bit of congestion and then it'd thin out a bit, only to hit another pocket. It wasn't crazy busy, but there were a good number of people overall.

There was also a lot of teens there in groups of matching shirts for some kind of music festival going on. In Epcot, they had a chorus singing on the main stage and there was a band performing on the smaller one back behind Innovations. That didn't help the feeling of people because wherever they traveled, they went in groups.

Magic Kingdom was supposed to be open until 10pm, but they announced over the PA system - which I thought was funny! - that they were staying open an additional hour and that they were doing an encore of SpectroMagic at 10pm. So it went Spectro 8pm & 10pm, Wishes 9pm, park closure 11pm.

We left around 9:30pm after Wishes since I had to get up for work Sunday morning but thought it was weird to hear them make an announcement like that park-wide.

Anyway, that's about it! Just a few updates I thought you might enjoy.

Man, I remember from my golden years of Park Visiting all the Honey Mustard Stealing we did at American Adventure.

Grab as many as you can, stuff em' in the bag!
:lol:

Thanks for the great Update!
:sohappy:

Glad to hear about the increased hours. Sounds like things are a little better than we thought.

Now if they would only greenlight something substantial... :brick:

SirGoofy said:

Glad to hear about the increased hours. Sounds like things are a little better than we thought.

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Yeah it's weird. Every time Love and I are there, we're like...where's the recession? The only good thing about people being frugal with money is that you tend to get some nice, wide open days at the parks. But so far, that just hasn't happened. Even late January and early February didn't have the lovely wastelands you normally get. It's weird. I don't know if people are just saying "screw it" and going despite being broke, or if the deals are too good to pass up or what...?

Thanks for the great update. Good to hear you had additional hours in the park.

Magic Kingdom was supposed to be open until 10pm, but they announced over the PA system

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Assuming it was park-wide that`s very unusual I think. The last time I heard of a park wide announcement was 9/11.

marni1971 said:

Assuming it was park-wide that`s very unusual I think. The last time I heard of a park wide announcement was 9/11.

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Yeah it was strange! It sounded pre-recorded though, because it was the same tone of voice as the monorail announcements. (Might have been the same guy or someone trying to do that voice.) Sounded very "Disney" if you know what I mean.

MissM said:

Yeah it's weird. Every time Love and I are there, we're like...where's the recession? The only good thing about people being frugal with money is that you tend to get some nice, wide open days at the parks. But so far, that just hasn't happened. Even late January and early February didn't have the lovely wastelands you normally get. It's weird. I don't know if people are just saying "screw it" and going despite being broke, or if the deals are too good to pass up or what...?

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Actually, I think part of it may be because of the recession...

Here's my logic:

1. More Florida residents - many people that live here in Florida don't visit WDW regularly because they think it's for tourists. When the economy gets bad, people don't want to shell out the money to go to the islands, or skiing, or wherever we Florida residents to on vacation, so they go to WDW just to get away. It is a bit cheaper - no airfare, and for most no more than a single tank of gas.

2. More regional visitors. The same basic logic from above applies - a long weekend at WDW is a good deal cheaper than a trip up to the northeast or Colorado for skiing, definitly cheaper than a trip to Europe (and you'll miss less work - right now less vacation is probably good). Again, many southeasterners will probably drive, and for most of the southeast, it is a single day drive.

3. More foreign visitors. The dollar, while doing better than it had been, is still relatively cheap compared to most other currencies, which means a WDW vacation is still a relatively inexpensive trip for many in other countries.

Those are my theories, anyway.

scpergj said:

Actually, I think part of it may be because of the recession... *snip*

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Probably all very true. I know it's pretty cheap and easy for us to go out for a day and it's a LOT of entertainment value. The AP's are paid for so might as well use 'em!

Plus, I did notice a lot more non-English-speaking Asian guests this time. I know that sounds weird, but you don't tend to see that as much as European guests. Which makes me think we're getting more International guests from more regions overall.

Park Wide announcements are pretty common, especially concerning changes in park hours. It's happened several times at the MK here in FL, and I even heard it in Disneyland in December.

And it's not the monorail guy, but it is a very professional voice over artist (go see the flag retreat on Main Street)

MissM said:

Yeah it's weird. Every time Love and I are there, we're like...where's the recession? The only good thing about people being frugal with money is that you tend to get some nice, wide open days at the parks. But so far, that just hasn't happened. Even late January and early February didn't have the lovely wastelands you normally get. It's weird. I don't know if people are just saying "screw it" and going despite being broke, or if the deals are too good to pass up or what...?

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Or perhaps things are not as "bad" as we are being led to believe.

marni1971 said:

Assuming it was park-wide that`s very unusual I think. The last time I heard of a park wide announcement was 9/11.

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Anytime there's a change in parades, fireworks, or park hours, they will have a park-wide "program announcement". It's been happening a lot lately because of the increased attendance. It sounds pre-recorded because it is. It's usually recorded soon after whatever decision is made and played at the appropriate time. It is wierd only because listening to it I have to remember that it is going through the whole park.

When I was in DACS a few years ago, I asked one of the engineers who told me that also have the ability to do super-park-wide public address to spiel inside buildings and attractions. I'm pretty sure this one has never been used.

VERY nice update.

I certainly hope I get that free pin thing. That's a very nice promo.

wesTcoastY said:

Or perhaps things are not as "bad" as we are being led to believe.

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Or it actually is and people just want to stick their heads in the sand and pretend it's not. Seeing as Florida is at a record-level of unemployment and a full percentage point higher than the national average and all. It may not be as bad in Texas, but things aren't going well in the Sunshine State.

MissM said:

For example, the only way to get a single cheeseburger is on the kid's menu. (The adult portions are Bacon Double or just Double Cheeseburger.) It's smaller than the adult one but if you're not a big eater like me, the kid's burger with choice of two sides and kid's beverage at $4.99 is a good deal. (I got fries and a cookie plus apple juice for example with my kid's burger.)

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Did you ask the cashier if a single was available? I know that in many places there are options available on the register that aren't listed anywhere on the menu boards. You should be able to get what you want, as long as it's made from the available ingredients for the other menu items.

Something else that often isn't known is that you can order sandwiches without the combo. You just have to ask. So if two people are fine splitting one combo-meal's worth of fries, you can order one combo meal, and then just a sandwich for the second person.

Chape19714 said:

And it's not the monorail guy, but it is a very professional voice over artist (go see the flag retreat on Main Street)

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Yeah, they have the guy on staff (or at least as a contracted voice talent) and he makes new recordings almost on a daily basis. Any time there is a high school band marching before the parade, a choral group singing at Cosmic Ray's, the veteran-of-the-day at the Flag Retreat, it's always the same gentleman who's done the recording.

I don't know who the man is, but it's possible that he doesn't even live in the Orlando area.
I saw a piece online or on the Discovery Channel, etc about voiceover artists, and it featured this one guy who does a lot of movie trailer work (but he isn't one of the "big five" voice talent men). He lives well away from Hollywood (I'm thinking it was Palm Springs) and he has a recording studio setup in his house with a fiber optic Internet connection for instant transfer of recordings (I think he said he can also do live feeds, if necessary).

-Rob

These stories about this mysterious "man" fascinate me.

FYI, they did this the week I was down one night, too. They added another Spectro at 10 (which no one stayed for, it was pathetic) and closed at 11.

Rob562 said:

Did you ask the cashier if a single was available? I know that in many places there are options available on the register that aren't listed anywhere on the menu boards. You should be able to get what you want, as long as it's made from the available ingredients for the other menu items.

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I didn't but the lady in front of me did. The cashier told her that it was only doubles or the kid's version. She opted for the kids. It used to be a double was the featured, numbered item, and the single was listed under "additional options." My guess is that there's probably no dedicated button for a single anymore so he didn't know how to ring it up. It may certainly be possible, but he might not have known how to do it.

Rob562 said:

Something else that often isn't known is that you can order sandwiches without the combo. You just have to ask. So if two people are fine splitting one combo-meal's worth of fries, you can order one combo meal, and then just a sandwich for the second person.

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That I knew. And we've done that before as well but since I wound up getting the kid's meal it came with two sides anyway.