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.

 

[LilWalt]

I am leaving Louisiana in time to miss the "cold", it will be in the 20s here Tuesday. I do see in the forecast that next week WDW will have one cooler day with rain. Not looking forward to that.

 

[draybook]

Never again will we come in February. These crowds are insane compared to what we're used to. We are making the best of things but my God, so much could be improved. The Fastpass Plus system is a joke. By that I mean the additional selection process and the kiosks. Seriously, can we get an English only lane for them?

And having to wait in line to avoid waiting in line....right. And the system was down this morning so when we had to scan all of our bands for our additional selection as opposed to just one as usual.

What really chapped my hide last night was finding a parking spot at the resort. Thanks to the numerous coach busses I had the pleasure of parking an entire building away and then walking back to the room with a jacked up foot.

That's being said, we absolutely love Epcot at night and we're excited about being here at Animal Kingdom after dark again. I think it's been about 5 years since they were open after dark while we were here.

 

[Sudcaro- Sudcaro]

Sorry you guys had to deal with all those issues.

 

[draybook]

Going on 2 hours in the park and we've done the safari. We're now waiting in this ridiculous line at Pizzafari just to grab a bite to eat. Never, ever, ever again will we ever, ever come here in February. I won't even look at the Disney website during this month, this is crazy.

 

[Sudcaro- Sudcaro]

Dray, take a deep breath... Hopefully this afternoon will be fun.

 

[stevehousse]

Do you have park hoppers? Can you hop to anther park that isn't too crowded?

 

[draybook]

We ended up going off site for lunch and we'll head back to AK for a bit and then over to the MK after AK closes. Love having the flexibility of annual passes.

 

[draybook]

We've been back for a couple of hours now. A fair amount of people are still here but it's much better than it was. We all did ITtbaB and then the ladies went to ride Everest while we headed to Dinosaur. Now we're over at the Dino dumbo thing (I know, not the right name) and we might hit the safari next, since it's down to 30 minutes.

 

[draybook]

We just got off of the safari and we literally saw one gnu and two cheetahs. I've never seen it that empty. We saw three human workers along the trail, the first time we've seen more humans than animals. Now it's back to riding Dino over and over until closing. Good stuff!

 

[draybook]

So, we ended the AK portion of the night by riding Dinosaur 4 times in a row while the ladies did Everest. Then we went off site to grab a bite.

And then we made the mistake of coming to the MK on a Saturday night in which they are closing at 3 am........ouch. Did I mention that we got here smack dab in the middle of the MSEP? Yeah, there's nothing "magical" about foot traffic coming to a dead stop for 30 minutes in front of Tony's. Talk about an angry mob. And seriously, where do the managers and suits hide during these times, because they sure as heck aren't out there running crowd control. So far we've managed TTA peoplemover, Astro Orbiter, CoP, and now we're in line for Buzz.

 

[Andsome]

Now we're in line for Buzz.

Don't worry, it will just be 2 more hours.

 

[Mickey81]

Not trying to be negative, but so true about the fast pass + kiosks. I really enjoy the overall concept of fast pass +, however the sheer stupidity of the average person is amazing. It's not that hard to figure out, plus you can change/ manage after on the app. I'm not sure if it's ever going to get to the point that you can just select them yourself on the app after you use the first 3, but it really needs to. I don't need to stand in line and watch somebody yell at a CM that they can't get a fast pass for Anna and Elsa right that second and then just end up blowing it on something they don't even need one for to begin with. I feel really bad for the CM's who have to deal with the people who just feel entitled to whatever FP+ they want or refuse to actually listen to the CM try to explain it to them.

 

[draybook]

Got a very late start today. As a matter of fact, the wife and kids headed to the MK after lunch while I napped in the room. I parked at the MK lot right at 7 and they're open until 1am, so no rush. So far we've done Buzz and the Speedway. It's pretty crowded but it'll thin out soon.


Now I'm taking a spin on the Peoplemover while they take a spin on the tea cups. It feels great out here, unlike last night's chilly breeze.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

Have fun! Will u be going in September agAin too?

 

[draybook]

Have fun! Will u be going in September agAin too?

As of right now we are booked for August 31st through September 9th on a bounce back.


Finally got another ride in on Pirates and Skipper Robert was hilarious on the Jungle Cruise.

 

[draybook]

So, the last two hours at the MK were great, as most people had gone home. We got a ton of rides in and the Haunted Mansion was last. The closing crew there was great. It was just the four of us and this couple and the guy working the door stayed over the girl's shoulder and kept scaring her. Then the guy inside walked slowly like a zombie into the stretching room and tried to scare the kids after the "there's always my way" part.

We had an absolute blast. Another lazy day today and we're headed to Walmart, followed by lunch and then Hollywood Studios.

 

[draybook]

We got to the Studios around 130 and man is it packed. We made it into the 230 animation class and now we're standing in this 60+ minute wait to meet the Big Hero 6 characters. It's pretty nuts here.

 

[DisneyMorgan]

Just be happy you aren't in all this icy mess!! Everything here is closed again tomorrow pretty much! Not sure how bad Olive Branch got.

Hate that the crowds are bad and that some people are idiots But I'm also glad y'all are having a good time!

 

[draybook]

Just be happy you aren't in all this icy mess!! Everything here is closed again tomorrow pretty much! Not sure how bad Olive Branch got.

Hate that the crowds are bad and that some people are idiots But I'm also glad y'all are having a good time!

We're just hoping that we can fly in tomorrow.

 

[dizneycraig]

Just for measure, Pirates and Jungle Cruise are hovering between 50-60 minutes a piece. These are not the waits that we're used to, not even in September.

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.