New Years wait times, details, and observations... now in living color!!

Always wanted to do one of these. ^_^ Mods, I didn't know whether this counted as a trip report or not, but if you decide it does, feel free to move accordingly.

So because we like to live on the edge, we decided to make a 5-night stop at WDW between Christmas and New Years. True to my previous thread on this subject, we stopped by DHS, Epcot, and SeaWorld during our trip (that’s right! No Magic Kingdom!!), with a few off-days which we spent boating and mini-golfing our way around property. A couple of thoughts and observations from our trip:

- DHS crowds were rough but not the worst I’ve seen, compared to previous years’ trips at around this time. Wait times below:

Rock’n’Roller Coaster: 120
Tower: 70
Star Tours: 60-70, at various times throughout the day
Midway Mania: 180 (yowza)
MuppetVision: 30

- Pleased to say that the Swedish chef worked fine in MuppetVision, as far as I can tell.

- ...But the missile explosion in the orchestra didn’t! It was weird to see Sweetums throw a bucket of water for apparently no reason

- When was the last time the arrows in the wall worked? They didn’t on this trip and now that I think about it, I think it’s been a long time since I’ve seen them working properly

- The digital projection looks great.

- For the first time in as long as I can remember, we stopped by the Muppet-style store right by the exit to MuppetVision. So… where was all the Muppet merchandise? There was virtually nothing on sale related to the Muppets here. Between the Muppet heads on the exterior, the Miss Piggy mural on the interior, the convenient location next to MuppetVision, and the recent Muppets movie, you’d think there would be something, but all we found was the generic Disney stuff…

- Star Tours was excellent both times we rode it.

- Requested the western scene on the Great Movie Ride, and managed to catch it for the first time… it was spectacular! The explosion effect in particular made me decide to try and catch this scene on future trips.

- New to me, but the Hunchback Theater was converted to a venue for makeshift screening of Prep & Landing, and TV holiday specials for shows like Phineas & Ferb. Pretty clever solution for quickly dealing with capacity, if you ask me. Is this the first time they've done this?



...And now on to Epcot!

- We mainly stuck around World Showcase until evening EMH started, so I don't have wait times to report for Future World. Here's what I noticed below:

Maelstrom: 45 mins
Gran Fiesta Tour: 20 mins
American Adventure: Walk-on

- Our main reason for visiting Epcot was to fulfill a long-standing desire to try out the new Hacienda de San Angel restaurant on the Mexican waterfront. If you’re reading this, grab a friend and run, don't walk, as soon as you possibly, possibly can. When you get there, order “La Hacienda” and split it with said friend. It amounts to $25 per person, tastes delicious, and even split will leave both of you with more than you can eat. We ate at the Californian Grill the night before and thought the food compared favorably, for less than half the price. Seriously… just go!

- On a related note: that evening, we went up to the podium at La Hacienda to see if we could push up our reservation to ensure we would be finished before the fireworks, and were told that we could be seated within 10 minutes if we wanted to… on December 29... one of the busiest days of the year. Good to see someplace the DDP hasn’t invaded yet!

- I was surrounded by a particularly appreciative crowd during Illuminations. Not one "this is boring!!" comment or loud phone conversation during the globe scene. I noticed a similar level of respectfulness at American Adventure, and even the guests at the DHS Backlot Tour (don't ask) seemed particularly entertained. Apparently guests that go to WDW this week make the best of it.

- Boy, this park was EMPTY for EMH. Everything was a walk-on. Even Soarin was down to a 20 min wait about a half hour before closing. Land and Seas were both completely deserted.

- Old news, but digital projection on Gran Fiesta Tour looks great. This seems like one of the simplest and most effective methods for refreshing a projection-based attraction at WDW.

- Not one piece of Jose Carioca merchandise to be found in the entire Mexican pavilion. Que lástima…

- You know you pass under a giant, physically-built oil rig in the last scene of Maelstrom? None of us had ever noticed this…

- The Phoenicians’ boats were rocking properly in Spaceship Earth. IMO, this is one of the most impressive scenes in SSE when working correctly. Thank you, Phoenicians!

- In a continuing string of good maintenance, the KUKA angler fish was in full function. Apparently we visited on a good day.

- Turtle Talk was running during EMH, about an hour after park closing… is this normal? The crowd was kinda silent, but Crush took this to his hilarious advantage. Either way, the attraction was shut down as soon as we left.

- Games in line were Soarin’ were kinda glitchy. Apparently the camera was centered correctly on only one of the screens; on the others, the playable area was either too high or too low out of reach to manipulate any of the onscreen objects.

- Speaking of digital projection… Soarin’ looks BAD. Bad as in, it looked like they were projecting somebody’s camera recording of the original film. Please, please, please give this attraction the refurb it deserves.

- Apparently monorails were running during EMH? We hitched a ride back to Bay Lake Tower at around 1 in the morning. Naturally, we had the train completely to ourselves. No complaints here!

Now for some pics!


Our fair tower:




Look at all the guests enjoying the handprints in the Chinese theater! I thought it was just me that did that, lol.




The previously mentioned Western scene. They don't always run this, do they?




...I'll get you, my pretty!




The Spectacle of Lights was spectacular, as always:



Here's a good ol' panorama. This should give you an idea of DHS crowds that day:




There's always time for some Fantasia Gardens goodness (we're night owls, if you couldn't tell). Wasn't there once a dancing elephant on that podium...?*



*Rhetorical question; I know there was ;-)

Closing down California Grill that night:



Walking around World Showcase. Let's hope those lights are temporary...



LED pavement looks great as always...



More Epcot pics in a sec!

There are always moments of tranquility to be found in Epcot for those who look for them:





Gran Fiesta Tour is always a great ride to kick your feet up on:





Within 20 mins of the end of Illuminations, this pavilion was pretty well empty. I'm always surprised how quickly even non-resort guests vacate the parks - they don't card you to shop, ya know!



The Seas pavilion is always so tranquil at night:



This little guy in Turtle Talk's holding room was all tuckered out from the New Years crowds.



Even the Land was deserted by the last stretch of EMH:



On the night of New Years Eve, we skipped the parks entirely. The Grand Floridian throws a pretty good party in the public areas of the hotel, so we stopped by for a bit and enjoyed the jazz band (upper left):



I'm pleased to report that although this band had been cut from the New Years festivities in 2008 (although in fairness, after years of attending this party, I'd never seen it so empty as that year), this year they made their brassy return.

But by 11:30, we'd hopped the monorail back to Bay Lake Tower to catch the fireworks from a distance.



That's it for this time! Thanks for reading.

I love the Land picture. Never thought I'd see that place empty!

Very cool photos. Thanks for sharing.

The Orchestra at the Grand Floridian has always been a part of the Grand Floridian experience. They play throughout the evening for about 30 mins then take the next 30 mins off. A piano player plays in the lobby when the orchestra is on break.

wdwfan22 said:

The Orchestra at the Grand Floridian has always been a part of the Grand Floridian experience. They play throughout the evening for about 30 mins then take the next 30 mins off. A piano player plays in the lobby when the orchestra is on break.

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Oh really? For the past few years, we've only peeked momentarily into the GF to see if the band was playing, and if it wasn't, then we would leave. This was the first year in a while that the band was playing when we went, so I guess that's what led me to believe they'd been temporarily cut.

MarkTwain said:

Oh really? For the past few years, we've only peeked momentarily into the GF to see if the band was playing, and if it wasn't, then we would leave. This was the first year in a while that the band was playing when we went, so I guess that's what led me to believe they'd been temporarily cut.

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yeah the Orchestra starts in the afternoon normally around 2 or 3 and they finish around 9pm They play 30 min sets that switch between the them and the piano player. I can see how if you peeked in and they were not playing while you were there you may have thought that, but they have been playing non-stop since the resort opened.

Aww, that little tired fish was so cute! I hope I get a chance to see the the parks semi deserted like that during EMH. MK is open till 3am one night I'm there next week. Fingers crossed. Great pictures, love the one from Rio del Tiempo. :animwink:

MarkTwain said:

LED pavement looks great as always...

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I posted a question about these a few weeks ago..Good to see that they are still there.

nothing beats those early and late hours, even during the holidays. you can get so much dome by starting early or staying late! thanks for the update. looking forward to our summer trip, but already planning for next christmas, too!!!

Cmdr_Crimson said:

I posted a question about these a few weeks ago..Good to see that they are still there.

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Great, you found it! :sohappy: I knew someone had asked about the pavement, so I was sure to include that pic in case they were reading.

I also couldn't remember whether you were asking about the fiber-optic style pavement pictured here, or the more checkers-style tiles that do the glittering effect. But both are working and I got pictures of both, just FYI.

OK I just have to ask, what do you mean about requesting the Western scene in the GMR? I've never known there were diffrent scenes? Just curious?

wdwmom2 said:

OK I just have to ask, what do you mean about requesting the Western scene in the GMR? I've never known there were diffrent scenes? Just curious?

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I'm not certain this is how it works, but supposedly, on busier days, the park will double up the scenes the number of show scenes going on at once, showing two simultaneously. One is the more familiar gangster scene, with the shootout happening in the alleyway and where the host is replaced by Mugsy. But when both scenes are offered, one of the cars will keep driving through the gangster scene and instead make a stop in the Western scene (while the other car is stopped in the gangster scene). Then the shootout takes here, with the bank "exploding" and the host replaced by a cowboy. Usually, when boarding, you can request which scene you want, and you can be seated accordingly (although we had to wait for the next batch of vehicles in order to get the Western).

I think this is how it works - I just remember reading about it on here a year or so ago.

Walking around World Showcase. Let's hope those lights are temporary...




These were up during food & wine when I was there in Oct, they were horrible. Ruined the whole ambiance of world showcase. Hopefully they go away soon!

Pirate~Princess said:

Walking around World Showcase. Let's hope those lights are temporary...

These were up during food & wine when I was there in Oct, they were horrible. Ruined the whole ambiance of world showcase. Hopefully they go away soon!

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Those lights are permanent, they have been used up there for over 12 years, originally used for the Tapestry of Nations parade. They are just using them more nowadays because of the crowds from Flower & Garden, Food & Wine, and holiday periods.

Alektronic said:

Those lights are permanent, they have been used up there for over 12 years, originally used for the Tapestry of Nations parade. They are just using them more nowadays because of the crowds from Flower & Garden, Food & Wine, and holiday periods.

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Interesting! I guess I've just become more discerning about this stuff over the years... or haven't spent enough time in the French pavilion at night.