Hi folks,
Being Disney regulars (but new to this board), I thought I'd pass along a few notes from our recent trip! We've stayed at just about every hotel over the years (we're annual pass holders), BUT, we're fortunate enough now to have parents that live near Disney, so we stay at their house to save a few $$$
Crowds were light, with the exception of Columbus Day weekend, with that Monday (Columbus Day) being the worst. Otherwise, short lines, loads of fun!
Travelling around Magic Kingdom:
With Alien Encounter gone (not one of my favorites anyway), I was glad to see the Carousel Of Progress open (which IS one of my favorites). Space Mountain same as always, but with short lines. I noticed that the Buzz Lightyear cars may be in need of some touch up. Lots of bare spots, especially when going from scene 1 to scene 2 under the ultra violet. Splash Mountain was as fun as always, but I noticed a few odd things. The soundtrack didn't work on the outside portion of the ride (going under the birdhouse, with Big Thunder to your left), and the Laughing Place shooting streams of water were not working. Also noticed Brer Rabbit no longer "hops by", carrying a sack on a stick over his shoulder. And even after riding Splash Mountain about 7 times across a two week period, these effects were not working, but it did not detract from the ride for us, just something we noticed.
Big surprise was Jungle Cruise! We haven't ridden this ride in about 5 years because we thought the animatronics were a little tired, but we stayed late in the park one night to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks, and I was shocked to see Jungle Cruise open at night! This may be one of those, "Didn't you KNOW that?" things that I should be embarrssed about, but I always thought Jungle Crusie closed at dusk? Anyway, the ride was great! The animatronics look fantastic with floodlights from the boat hitting them, and I loved the fact that you couldn't see where the boat was going because of the darkness, and the you couldn't see what was coming up next.
Mickey's Philharmagic was fantastic! Great effects, huge screens! Don't miss this one! My only complaint was that the story line was obviously slanted towards showcasing Disney movies, so the story line was bit awkward. After seeing Shrek 4-D at Universal (which is a TOTAL ripoff off Disney technology, but what else is new?), my wife and I agreed the best 3-D "active theater" attraction is still "It's Tough To Be A Bug" in Animal Kingdom. My second favorite is now "Philharmagic", while my wife places Shrek second because she likes "Donkey".
Big Thunder still closed for rehab (although the rocks have already been repainted, and now match the recent repaint of the rocks entering Tomorrowland), and Tom Sawyer Island was still fun, although Aunt Polly's is closed (seasonal). Pirates Of The Caribbean great as always, but VERY crowded thanks to the movie release.
Had a disturbing incident occur in Frontierland, which I have NEVER seen in a Disney park before. I won't go into details, but we witnessed several Disney Security officers, as well as what appeared to be plain clothes police, corner a rebellious (and obviously guilty) guest.
After the Magic Kingdom fireworks (incredible, as usual) and park closing, we decided to let the crowds thin out. We finally headed towards the Monorail about 1-1/2 hours after closing, thinking it would be easy to get on a train. Wrong! They stopped running the express Monorail, and informed everyone they had to use the hotel Monorail. We waited almost 30 more minutes through at least 4 Monorail loads. When we finally were on board, the Monorail did not move! After another 5 minutes, they informed us the hotel Monorail was down, and they were sending the express Monorail back out. We unloaded and crossed the platform to the express. We finally made it to the trams, but just in time! They stopped tram service (2 hours after park closing), and we were lucky enough to be the second to last load. Good thing too, because the Funai Golf Tournament parking caused us to be diverted to parking lot "Bashful", and it would have been a looong walk if we missed the tram. But it didn't detract us from having a typically magical day at the Magic Kingdom. We were back again the next day, but didn't stay until park closing this time. :animwink:
Travelling Around Epcot:
Light crowds, until the Food and Wine Festival started up! Mission Space was simply awesome. The lines were very light at this ride, surprising since it just opened! I'm not sure if this is a multiple repeat ride like Splash Mountain or Test Track, but we still loved it. We rode 3 times in a row, and several more times over the 2 weeks period. Test Track was crowded as usual, with 45 minute wait times. Our FastPass was used almost exclusively here. The ride broke down once, and we were stuck in the area just before the ABS launch. In all the times we've ridden TT over the last 4 years, this was the FIRST time it broke down with us on it!
Maelstrom was great as usual, in fact, the whole World Showcase was wonderful! Jorney Into Imagination (version 3) was disappointing. I think I liked version 2 better than version 3! The current version seems like Figment is tossed in as an afterthought. The room where "the explosion" occurs looked a bit cheap. Chalk up another vote to bring back the original version!! :sohappy:
The huge crane for "Soarin" was swinging around during our visit. Can't wait for this to open!! The Land was wonderful again, but I'm still confused as to the long wait times. The digital sign said 45 minutes on a few occasions, but we knew it was MUCH shorter than that (more like 7 minutes). In fact, we walked on once, and the sign said 30 minutes. I guess Disney has to account for active Fast Passers showing up in groups?
Travelling around MGM:
Probably now my LEAST favorite park, but with my favorite ride (Rock N' Rollercoaster). Short lines here too. We saw the Haunted Mansion display, which was a short walk thru of the movie props, with a 5 minute trailer promoting the movie. Unfortunately, not a lot to see here. Our usual lunch at the Sci-Fi was great, although their menu changed AGAIN! My wife tried the avacado and spinach dip, and well, we ended up going back to Sci-Fi three more times before our trip was over! She just loved it! The milkshakes were great (the main reason we hit Sci-Fi).
The Great Movie Ride was disappointing. Having ridden this ride every trip since MGM opened in 1989, I've always loved it. Our last two trips, the ride has been closed for rehab (seems like ever since Mickey's Sorcerer hat was placed in front). Over the years, we noticed several spots in the ride that needed rehab (the sky behind John Wayne has had ripples in the fabric for 5 years now), and the film at the end of the ride needed updating (most recent clip is "Independence Day"?). So after a two year hiatus, I was absolutely shocked that nothing on this ride has changed! John Wayne's sky is still bubbly, the film still has a poor, grainy print of the Wizard Of Oz (even after Wiz has been released for years in restored DVD format), and the whole movie clip montage was a big of a downer. Disney, PLEASE update this ride, it's still one of my favorites!
Around Animal Kingdom:
Beautilful as always, we loved the usual "must see's", like It's Tough To Be A Bug, Dinosaur, Primevil Whirl, and the Safari. Lines were VERY short for all these attractions during our trip. We normally ride Safari in the morning (more animals out and about), but this time we chose mid afternoon. Hardly ANY animals out, and in fact, we had to hold up just before the wobbly bridge for the car in front (probably because an animal was crossing the road somewhere ahead). The driver was a perennial pro, but I could tell she was grasping for dialogue after about 5 minutes of us sitting still. Typical Disney Cast Member, always kept us entertained!
Miscellaneous
We drove back into to Saratoga Springs (asked the guard if we could), and I took several digital pictures of what was once The Disney Institute. This looks like it will be a great hotel, and very impressive looking, especially from the Downtown Disney side!
Pop Century will open in December, and I can't wait to see inside!
We ate at the Concourse Steakhouse one evening, and the food was absolutely superb (as usual). If you go, make sure you get the Five Onion Soup (French Onion), it's the best in the Kingdom. I believe this is the same soup they used to have at BonFamilles in Dixie Landings (restaurant has been closed for a few years now).
Overall, the service around the parks, from food service to ride operators, was "a little" (and I mean minscule amount) off from the norm. We had two different "sort of quiet" Cast Members attend to us at the Sci-Fi on two seperate occasions, yet the Cast Member at Concourse Steakhouse was phenomenal. At Plaza Pavillion in MK, I had to wait about 5 minutes for our pizzas to come out. No big deal at all! But the Cast Member, without any hesitation, gave us two Mickey ice cream bars because I had to wait!
Overall, an excellent trip!!! :sohappy:
Being Disney regulars (but new to this board), I thought I'd pass along a few notes from our recent trip! We've stayed at just about every hotel over the years (we're annual pass holders), BUT, we're fortunate enough now to have parents that live near Disney, so we stay at their house to save a few $$$
Crowds were light, with the exception of Columbus Day weekend, with that Monday (Columbus Day) being the worst. Otherwise, short lines, loads of fun!
Travelling around Magic Kingdom:
With Alien Encounter gone (not one of my favorites anyway), I was glad to see the Carousel Of Progress open (which IS one of my favorites). Space Mountain same as always, but with short lines. I noticed that the Buzz Lightyear cars may be in need of some touch up. Lots of bare spots, especially when going from scene 1 to scene 2 under the ultra violet. Splash Mountain was as fun as always, but I noticed a few odd things. The soundtrack didn't work on the outside portion of the ride (going under the birdhouse, with Big Thunder to your left), and the Laughing Place shooting streams of water were not working. Also noticed Brer Rabbit no longer "hops by", carrying a sack on a stick over his shoulder. And even after riding Splash Mountain about 7 times across a two week period, these effects were not working, but it did not detract from the ride for us, just something we noticed.
Big surprise was Jungle Cruise! We haven't ridden this ride in about 5 years because we thought the animatronics were a little tired, but we stayed late in the park one night to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks, and I was shocked to see Jungle Cruise open at night! This may be one of those, "Didn't you KNOW that?" things that I should be embarrssed about, but I always thought Jungle Crusie closed at dusk? Anyway, the ride was great! The animatronics look fantastic with floodlights from the boat hitting them, and I loved the fact that you couldn't see where the boat was going because of the darkness, and the you couldn't see what was coming up next.
Mickey's Philharmagic was fantastic! Great effects, huge screens! Don't miss this one! My only complaint was that the story line was obviously slanted towards showcasing Disney movies, so the story line was bit awkward. After seeing Shrek 4-D at Universal (which is a TOTAL ripoff off Disney technology, but what else is new?), my wife and I agreed the best 3-D "active theater" attraction is still "It's Tough To Be A Bug" in Animal Kingdom. My second favorite is now "Philharmagic", while my wife places Shrek second because she likes "Donkey".
Big Thunder still closed for rehab (although the rocks have already been repainted, and now match the recent repaint of the rocks entering Tomorrowland), and Tom Sawyer Island was still fun, although Aunt Polly's is closed (seasonal). Pirates Of The Caribbean great as always, but VERY crowded thanks to the movie release.
Had a disturbing incident occur in Frontierland, which I have NEVER seen in a Disney park before. I won't go into details, but we witnessed several Disney Security officers, as well as what appeared to be plain clothes police, corner a rebellious (and obviously guilty) guest.
After the Magic Kingdom fireworks (incredible, as usual) and park closing, we decided to let the crowds thin out. We finally headed towards the Monorail about 1-1/2 hours after closing, thinking it would be easy to get on a train. Wrong! They stopped running the express Monorail, and informed everyone they had to use the hotel Monorail. We waited almost 30 more minutes through at least 4 Monorail loads. When we finally were on board, the Monorail did not move! After another 5 minutes, they informed us the hotel Monorail was down, and they were sending the express Monorail back out. We unloaded and crossed the platform to the express. We finally made it to the trams, but just in time! They stopped tram service (2 hours after park closing), and we were lucky enough to be the second to last load. Good thing too, because the Funai Golf Tournament parking caused us to be diverted to parking lot "Bashful", and it would have been a looong walk if we missed the tram. But it didn't detract us from having a typically magical day at the Magic Kingdom. We were back again the next day, but didn't stay until park closing this time. :animwink:
Travelling Around Epcot:
Light crowds, until the Food and Wine Festival started up! Mission Space was simply awesome. The lines were very light at this ride, surprising since it just opened! I'm not sure if this is a multiple repeat ride like Splash Mountain or Test Track, but we still loved it. We rode 3 times in a row, and several more times over the 2 weeks period. Test Track was crowded as usual, with 45 minute wait times. Our FastPass was used almost exclusively here. The ride broke down once, and we were stuck in the area just before the ABS launch. In all the times we've ridden TT over the last 4 years, this was the FIRST time it broke down with us on it!
Maelstrom was great as usual, in fact, the whole World Showcase was wonderful! Jorney Into Imagination (version 3) was disappointing. I think I liked version 2 better than version 3! The current version seems like Figment is tossed in as an afterthought. The room where "the explosion" occurs looked a bit cheap. Chalk up another vote to bring back the original version!! :sohappy:
The huge crane for "Soarin" was swinging around during our visit. Can't wait for this to open!! The Land was wonderful again, but I'm still confused as to the long wait times. The digital sign said 45 minutes on a few occasions, but we knew it was MUCH shorter than that (more like 7 minutes). In fact, we walked on once, and the sign said 30 minutes. I guess Disney has to account for active Fast Passers showing up in groups?
Travelling around MGM:
Probably now my LEAST favorite park, but with my favorite ride (Rock N' Rollercoaster). Short lines here too. We saw the Haunted Mansion display, which was a short walk thru of the movie props, with a 5 minute trailer promoting the movie. Unfortunately, not a lot to see here. Our usual lunch at the Sci-Fi was great, although their menu changed AGAIN! My wife tried the avacado and spinach dip, and well, we ended up going back to Sci-Fi three more times before our trip was over! She just loved it! The milkshakes were great (the main reason we hit Sci-Fi).
The Great Movie Ride was disappointing. Having ridden this ride every trip since MGM opened in 1989, I've always loved it. Our last two trips, the ride has been closed for rehab (seems like ever since Mickey's Sorcerer hat was placed in front). Over the years, we noticed several spots in the ride that needed rehab (the sky behind John Wayne has had ripples in the fabric for 5 years now), and the film at the end of the ride needed updating (most recent clip is "Independence Day"?). So after a two year hiatus, I was absolutely shocked that nothing on this ride has changed! John Wayne's sky is still bubbly, the film still has a poor, grainy print of the Wizard Of Oz (even after Wiz has been released for years in restored DVD format), and the whole movie clip montage was a big of a downer. Disney, PLEASE update this ride, it's still one of my favorites!
Around Animal Kingdom:
Beautilful as always, we loved the usual "must see's", like It's Tough To Be A Bug, Dinosaur, Primevil Whirl, and the Safari. Lines were VERY short for all these attractions during our trip. We normally ride Safari in the morning (more animals out and about), but this time we chose mid afternoon. Hardly ANY animals out, and in fact, we had to hold up just before the wobbly bridge for the car in front (probably because an animal was crossing the road somewhere ahead). The driver was a perennial pro, but I could tell she was grasping for dialogue after about 5 minutes of us sitting still. Typical Disney Cast Member, always kept us entertained!
Miscellaneous
We drove back into to Saratoga Springs (asked the guard if we could), and I took several digital pictures of what was once The Disney Institute. This looks like it will be a great hotel, and very impressive looking, especially from the Downtown Disney side!
Pop Century will open in December, and I can't wait to see inside!
We ate at the Concourse Steakhouse one evening, and the food was absolutely superb (as usual). If you go, make sure you get the Five Onion Soup (French Onion), it's the best in the Kingdom. I believe this is the same soup they used to have at BonFamilles in Dixie Landings (restaurant has been closed for a few years now).
Overall, the service around the parks, from food service to ride operators, was "a little" (and I mean minscule amount) off from the norm. We had two different "sort of quiet" Cast Members attend to us at the Sci-Fi on two seperate occasions, yet the Cast Member at Concourse Steakhouse was phenomenal. At Plaza Pavillion in MK, I had to wait about 5 minutes for our pizzas to come out. No big deal at all! But the Cast Member, without any hesitation, gave us two Mickey ice cream bars because I had to wait!
Overall, an excellent trip!!! :sohappy:
