Trip Report Come in February they said...it will be fun they said....Dray's attempt at a live report Part Deux!!

Forgive me if this first post is short. I had 4 paragraphs written earlier but they got erased. Most of you know my style, so the pictures won't be posted until we get home but don't let that stop you from following along.

So it's the four of us as usual, me, the Mrs. and the two teens (Ashley-14 and Justin-13). We flew in yesterday from Memphis. Take off was at 1030 with a 120 landing. After we got our rental SUV we headed to the Super Target and then to All Star Sports. We got checked in and then headed to Epcot for a couple of hours.

The first ride we hit was Spaceship Earth and that's when four cheerleaders showed why they have such a bad reputation. Two of them spent half of the ride standing up and dangling their leg over the side of the vehicle. Then we went to the Japan pavilion followed by thr Three Caballeros, Imagination and then Living with the Land.

After that we headed to Hollywood Studios for their EMH. We took a couple of spins on TSMM and TGMR while the gals hit the ToT and ARnRC. Then we went off site for some grub and back to the resort to sleep.

Today we came to the MK and honestly, it's no longer magical at this park. Heck, I almost got into a fight getting ONTO the ferry, but I'll finish this up later.
 
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draybook

draybook

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Today we decided to hit Universal, since our two planned days for Uni were scrapped. It's not too crowded and this breeze feels great. The wait times aren't bad, and that Krusty Burger really hit the spot. To give a little perspective, Gringotts is only at 45 minutes. And as always we absolutely loved the Horror Make Up show.
 
draybook

draybook

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Universal was awesome as usual. Of course it rained from about 430 until the end of the night. We left Uni around 530 and headed out to go to Target and grab a bite before going to the MK. Man oh man the traffic. It took an easy hour and a half to get from Universal to the Super Target on 192. It was insane. We got to the MK around 930 and it was awesome.

Late hours + rain = low waits. It was great, I think the big rides were around 15 minutes, even the Mine Train. I think that Justin and I rode Buzz about 11 times. We literally always max out our score and we no longer even request the buttons. I think we're going good to start practicing with our feet, for the challenge.

We even got our own Jungle Cruise boat to ourselves and Skipper Matt was hilarious. Heck, even Pirates stayed running while we were there so we got a few rides in. Does anyone know why they turned off the cannon shot splashes? And to end the night we took a trip on the Haunted Mansion, perfection.

Now we're up and packing for the trip home. My main concern now is the snow and ice back in Memphis. I know that many of you are used to that stuff and I'm accustomed to it too, having lived up north for a few years, but the folks in the South aren't. And they really don't take care of the roads in that stuff either.

Anyhow, I'll post more later and put up some pics when we get home.
 
mrdrift

mrdrift

Well-Known Member
Glad to hear that you had a great time at Universal. Traffic at 530pm is a nightmare to drive but you made it without any incidents. Glad to hear the crowd level at MK was was small enough to reduce all the wait times. 11 times on Buzz, my son would love to ride it that many times in a day. Following along.
 
draybook

draybook

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We're in line for Buzz right now, got here about 20 minutes ago. Holy crap is it busy here today. Almost glad that we're leaving. You know it's going to be busy when they have busses going from the TTC to the MK at 10 in the morning.

I think we'll have time for the People Mover and then the Speedway before we head out. More posts to follow and thanks for hanging in there with us!
 
draybook

draybook

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
That was an interesting end to the trip. We were leaving right in the middle of the FoF parade, so you can imagine how foot traffic was along the sidewalks of Main Street. Well, we got to the covered part right in front of the Bakery and our side came to a stand still. The oncoming traffic was making it impossible for the guy in front of us (holding his daughter AND pushing the stroller) to move forward. After about 5 seconds of that nonsense I did my best Andre the Giant impression and yelled "everybody MOVE"!

Well, it worked. I had some other things to say to that side as they looked at me with bewilderment and possible caution. My kids said that a couple of people commended me but I can look back on it and laugh now. Anyhow, we're at the airport waiting. Luckily we went through the side that didn't require scanners, shoes off and all of that jazz, but I did get my hands swabbed. Meh, whatever makes them think it's keeping America safe, right?
 
draybook

draybook

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Just walked in the door about 30 minutes ago. I'm glad to say that the roads were mostly clear on the way here. Oh wow was it quite the difference between Florida and home. I know that you Northerners will laugh at this but to go from a nice 60's temperature back to the low 30's/high 20's that it is here, yikes.

Getting your luggage from the Memphis baggage claim is such a hassle compared to Orlando. At Orlando you have these nice big, snaking belts. At Memphis you have to line up along this almost straight line belt and get ready to throw elbows.

Anyhow, I'll post pictures either tonight or tomorrow and thanks for following along!
 
L

lincolnryan

Member
dizneycraig said:
I was surprised at our wait times and the crowds for our trip at the end of January. I use Touring Plans web site for the crowd tracker. It was my opinion that the web site is totally off, or there is some drastic change to crowd levels.
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I think TP tries to come across like they are real statisticians back there crunching numbers, but I think it's a bunch of hogwash for the most part. I've seen the days where the amount of users submitted ride times is REALLY REALLY low, but it doesn't stop them from giving an estimate on what they think the wait time will be. I have a feeling all they are just doing big picture analysis and saying "On average, our user submitted ride times tend to be 75% of the amount of Disney's posted wait time" and then just taking the wait time and multiplying by 75% to get the "actual wait time".

One of my buddies has been telling me for years that late Jan/early feb was the best time of the year to go. Maybe more people are going to Disney in general? Maybe more people are using crowd calendars to plan their trips making the really low times get more busy than normal? Maybe both? I agree though, I think one of the issues is that TP recalibrates its scale of 1-10. So an "old 1/10" is not the same as a current 1/10. Apparently, I was there on a 1/10 day (Thursday 1/29) and it didn't feel like a 1/10 day to me!
 
FlaggNL

FlaggNL

Well-Known Member
Great to see that you also liked Universal as usual! It's a great addition to a Florida trip, although in our opinion there are too much simulators, and besides the great rides and the HP part they still can learn a lot from Disney! But next October there will be absolutely a Universal day!
 
rob0519

rob0519

Well-Known Member
mrdrift said:
Glad to hear that you had a great time at Universal. Traffic at 530pm is a nightmare to drive but you made it without any incidents. Glad to hear the crowd level at MK was was small enough to reduce all the wait times. 11 times on Buzz, my son would love to ride it that many times in a day. Following along.
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We made that mistake of going to Walgreens on a week night during the evening rush hour. As a visitor, I could not believe the amount of traffic and how long it took to get almost anywhere. I cannot imagine having to face that every eveinng.
 
draybook

draybook

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Okay folks, you know how I do this. I'll be posting all of the pictures I can. Sorry, we forgot our camera charger so the only pictures I have are the ones that didn't come out looking like poo on my Note 2 and the ones we got from Memory Maker. As per usual, they won't be in order but please do enjoy!

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