Just got back from our two week trip, and everything was great except one thing kept annoying me and it really came to a head the last night we were in MK. The castle is closed now almost all the time!
Between six daily showings of "Dream Along with Mickey" using the Castle as a backstage and stage access, closing it from 9:00 to 6:00 and then closing it again for Wishes, most days there was a one hour window or less the Castle was open to walk through. This is not only a problem for those who like to look at the murals or those who just want the experience of walking through WDW's most popular icon, but also it causes major headaches in terms of traffic flow around the castle, especially at night when the parade and Wishes are on top of each other and Wishes closes additional access around the Castle. The last night there we decided to skip the parade and Wishes heading for Fantasyland so our three year old could do all of it one more time before our trip was over. It took almost 20 minutes to almost push (and who wants to push people at WDW?) our way from the Plaza Inn around to the front of the Castle only to find it was closed off for Wishes which was still over one and half hours away! The cast member advised us to take the bridge which leads to Starlight Cafe and MTP, but we told her that was absolutly packed with people trying to come into the hub, there was even a guy over there stuck in a wheelchair with no where to go, totally locked in the crowd! She gave us some Peter Pan FPs and told us to run for Liberty Square before they cut that route off for the parade. Not the kind of stress I want at WDW and yes we complained at City Hall after and I even offered a bit of advice to have a Parade Crossing added at the "Starlight Cafe Bridge" to improve the traffic flow there. I even mentioned the poor guy in the wheelchair.
So I wonder two things, seeing Castle stage shows are a regular thing, shouldn't Disney by now figured out a better way to get cast to and from the show. I seem to remember one version of the castle stage that used to raise and lower with the cast entering the stage while lowered, could be wrong on that, but if not, is there a utildor under the hub near the stage so they could set up underground access? Also I wonder with the addition of the Celebrate Street Party, there is almost always something happening in the hub, so maybe another possibility would be to reduce the number of Castle shows during the day allowing for the Castle time to be open. Maybe every two hours for shows, rather than almost every hour. This one I have mixed feelings on as the constant shows in the hub seem to really help to reduce the lines in the park!
Between six daily showings of "Dream Along with Mickey" using the Castle as a backstage and stage access, closing it from 9:00 to 6:00 and then closing it again for Wishes, most days there was a one hour window or less the Castle was open to walk through. This is not only a problem for those who like to look at the murals or those who just want the experience of walking through WDW's most popular icon, but also it causes major headaches in terms of traffic flow around the castle, especially at night when the parade and Wishes are on top of each other and Wishes closes additional access around the Castle. The last night there we decided to skip the parade and Wishes heading for Fantasyland so our three year old could do all of it one more time before our trip was over. It took almost 20 minutes to almost push (and who wants to push people at WDW?) our way from the Plaza Inn around to the front of the Castle only to find it was closed off for Wishes which was still over one and half hours away! The cast member advised us to take the bridge which leads to Starlight Cafe and MTP, but we told her that was absolutly packed with people trying to come into the hub, there was even a guy over there stuck in a wheelchair with no where to go, totally locked in the crowd! She gave us some Peter Pan FPs and told us to run for Liberty Square before they cut that route off for the parade. Not the kind of stress I want at WDW and yes we complained at City Hall after and I even offered a bit of advice to have a Parade Crossing added at the "Starlight Cafe Bridge" to improve the traffic flow there. I even mentioned the poor guy in the wheelchair.
So I wonder two things, seeing Castle stage shows are a regular thing, shouldn't Disney by now figured out a better way to get cast to and from the show. I seem to remember one version of the castle stage that used to raise and lower with the cast entering the stage while lowered, could be wrong on that, but if not, is there a utildor under the hub near the stage so they could set up underground access? Also I wonder with the addition of the Celebrate Street Party, there is almost always something happening in the hub, so maybe another possibility would be to reduce the number of Castle shows during the day allowing for the Castle time to be open. Maybe every two hours for shows, rather than almost every hour. This one I have mixed feelings on as the constant shows in the hub seem to really help to reduce the lines in the park!
