Hello all - just wanted to give a report for our trip from the first week of 2013. We stayed at WL for the second time, a 6 night trip. Our folks joined us for a couple of days, staying over at FW in their camper. The kids were able to stay a couple of nights with them so DW and I were able to enjoy a couple of "quiet" dinners.
Tues - we spent our first day (New Years Day) at MK. It was busy but not unmanageable - little did we know how busy it would be later on in the week. Ostensibly, folks were sleeping in due to a late night of fireworks and .. other stuff .. on NYE. Christmas decorations were still up in full force. We got to use the new RFID entrances which helped a bit I guess. The larger benefit was being able to pay for things by touching the RFID scanner. The weather was quite nice - cool in the morning, warm in the afternoon. Splash was still operating (I believe its last day before refurb) so our 6yo rode that for the first time with my DW and went on BTMRR with me .. great moments there, I'm sure the first of many more thrill rides to come. I thought the park looked great in general.
Ok, on to FLE -- the simple fact is, it looks awesome. Some of the landscaping has yet to fully come in, of course, but on the whole it's magnificently detailed. Our wait time on Ariels attraction was only 5-10mins - we must've caught it just ride, as it ballooned up to 100+ mins later on in the day. The queue is as good as you'd imagine. Not quite to IJA levels, but right up there plus it provides a good amount of shade, useful during the summer months. We ended up skipping Belle's cottage - wait time bounced between 90-120mins all day - Pass.
Also went over to StoryBook circus and visited the new Dumbo. Novel idea, pretty successful in execution. Found it a bit hard to keep track of the kids but all things being equal, it was better to wait in the shade and A/C rather than in an outside queue. The rest of the land is pretty well done although traffic flow definitely left something to be desired. There was a pretty big line at the railroad station as well. The RAILROAD had a line. Ugh.
Wed - Epcot was our next port of call. I love Epcot, probably my fav park, but it's definitely in need of some love. There just isn't enough to do in FW for our family (notice I said 'our'). Our 3yo can only do 3 attractions - that is unacceptable to me (ok, UoE is an option .. for our 3yo, not so much). World showcase, excellent as always. Ate lunch in Japan at the CS location - a hidden gem, and found a couple hidden mickeys. The kids are just getting into that now. DD6 went on TT and Soarin too.
This takes me to the TT refurb. Lots of people won't agree with me but I found the changes rather .. boring. Some new colors and flashy lights and what not, but not much substance. Gone are the environmental rooms and overall theme of the old TT. For me, a step in the wrong direction. Sorry GM, doesn't work for me.
RoE, always a winner for me. Its always been the best night show on property IMO but it now has serious competition. More on that later.
Thurs - headed to MK for the second time. This was a lazy day .. late start, good b'fast, a quick stroll around the ground. Got over to the park around 11am and the park was packed. PACKED. Probably about the busiest I've seen it - I've never been on July 4th or during Xmas week, but I've been to Epcot on NYE before and this was comparable. Belle's cottage was still up around 100++ mins, still too high for me. We did a couple of rides and had lunch, then headed over to BBB for the first time. Our girls are 6 and 3 and let me tell you something - whoever originally came up with this idea should be given a lifetime bonus - what a racket! LOL. The place was jammed and the girls just had a great time. Kind of expensive, but absolutely worth it. Their hair stayed in place for days (thats right, it didn't get washed .. eww) so it kind of added to the value. We'll go again for sure. I had gotten a fastpass for the princess M&G so we basically went straight from BBB to see the princesses - the resulting pictures are epic, what with the girls in their dresses, makeup and new hairdos. We'll be printing those out for sure.
Fri - Animal Kingdom on this day, not really much to say here. I love sauntering around this park. It rained all day, off and on, which I think is the perfect ambiance for AK. Ducking under branches for cover, bundling up for warmth and finding little alcoves to rest in .. I think it totally complements the feel of the park. Saw FotLK on this trip for the first time, and loved it - have always had a tough time working it in, but it was fully worth the wait. I can see why people always complain about amount of attraction content here. If you really look at everything and enjoy taking your time, its a full day park. Otherwise, its 2-3 attractions short, which will hopefully be addressed in the soon-to-come expansion.
Sat - went over to MK again (that's right, again), this time with the folks. Having the girls and our parents together in MK is, well, magical. Yes, I went there. No other way to say it, all else is forgotten and we proceeded to have a wonderful day. Finally braved the wait at Belle's, turned out to be only about an hour. I can now see why the line is so long. Its a fantastic twist on the common M&G, with crowd interaction plus new addt'l show elements thrown in. I enjoyed it, I have to say. If you have kids, its a MUST do.
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train seems to be coming along nicely as well. They have little peak holes in the walls surrounding the area too as a teaser. Lots of the track has been installed as has a lot of the metal for the rockwork. I have big expectations for the finished FLE. I think it'll likely be crown jewel of the park, as far as scenery goes. The Tangled area and tower is really quite nice too. Another win there.
Sun - DHS is last for us, as usual. Although this park is smaller and seems to have less content for us, we always have trouble fitting everything in. The numerous shows and difficult scheduling makes for a sometimes aggravating day of criss crossing around to try and see as much as possible. Our girls saw the Indy Stunt show for the first time and were actually able to sit through it (they've been too scared before). I hadn't seen it in a while and I'm glad we decided to give it a go. Its a gem of a show but I can see why people want to see it updated or replaced. 13-14 years for a show is a pretty good run methinks. We passed by the Idol bldg a few times and it always seemed empty. Is it just me, or was that a colossal waste of space? I admit I don't know the attendance numbers but what a miss - hopefully it gets combined with adjacent bldgs and is made into something useful.
We ended the day with the early showing of Fantasmic. Got there around an hour early and had great seats. Wow, the show was just great. I had forgotten how scary it could be for little kids, so there were a few iffy moments. But as far as nighttime shows go, this could possibly be the best on property. I prefer the music and overall grown-up theme of RoE, but as a show for kids, specifically themed to WDW, F! has to be the best now.
Well, that's about it. Another wonderful trip, as usual. Not looking forward to even more planning next time (fastpass plus, anyone?), not to mention increased cost. I must say that the trip cost was right against the max I want to pay for weeks vacation, so I don't know how it'll be next year. WL was amazing with it's decorations, and even more amazing when they removed the gigantic Christmas tree in one night .. poof, one morning it was just gone.
Tues - we spent our first day (New Years Day) at MK. It was busy but not unmanageable - little did we know how busy it would be later on in the week. Ostensibly, folks were sleeping in due to a late night of fireworks and .. other stuff .. on NYE. Christmas decorations were still up in full force. We got to use the new RFID entrances which helped a bit I guess. The larger benefit was being able to pay for things by touching the RFID scanner. The weather was quite nice - cool in the morning, warm in the afternoon. Splash was still operating (I believe its last day before refurb) so our 6yo rode that for the first time with my DW and went on BTMRR with me .. great moments there, I'm sure the first of many more thrill rides to come. I thought the park looked great in general.
Ok, on to FLE -- the simple fact is, it looks awesome. Some of the landscaping has yet to fully come in, of course, but on the whole it's magnificently detailed. Our wait time on Ariels attraction was only 5-10mins - we must've caught it just ride, as it ballooned up to 100+ mins later on in the day. The queue is as good as you'd imagine. Not quite to IJA levels, but right up there plus it provides a good amount of shade, useful during the summer months. We ended up skipping Belle's cottage - wait time bounced between 90-120mins all day - Pass.
Also went over to StoryBook circus and visited the new Dumbo. Novel idea, pretty successful in execution. Found it a bit hard to keep track of the kids but all things being equal, it was better to wait in the shade and A/C rather than in an outside queue. The rest of the land is pretty well done although traffic flow definitely left something to be desired. There was a pretty big line at the railroad station as well. The RAILROAD had a line. Ugh.
Wed - Epcot was our next port of call. I love Epcot, probably my fav park, but it's definitely in need of some love. There just isn't enough to do in FW for our family (notice I said 'our'). Our 3yo can only do 3 attractions - that is unacceptable to me (ok, UoE is an option .. for our 3yo, not so much). World showcase, excellent as always. Ate lunch in Japan at the CS location - a hidden gem, and found a couple hidden mickeys. The kids are just getting into that now. DD6 went on TT and Soarin too.
This takes me to the TT refurb. Lots of people won't agree with me but I found the changes rather .. boring. Some new colors and flashy lights and what not, but not much substance. Gone are the environmental rooms and overall theme of the old TT. For me, a step in the wrong direction. Sorry GM, doesn't work for me.
RoE, always a winner for me. Its always been the best night show on property IMO but it now has serious competition. More on that later.
Thurs - headed to MK for the second time. This was a lazy day .. late start, good b'fast, a quick stroll around the ground. Got over to the park around 11am and the park was packed. PACKED. Probably about the busiest I've seen it - I've never been on July 4th or during Xmas week, but I've been to Epcot on NYE before and this was comparable. Belle's cottage was still up around 100++ mins, still too high for me. We did a couple of rides and had lunch, then headed over to BBB for the first time. Our girls are 6 and 3 and let me tell you something - whoever originally came up with this idea should be given a lifetime bonus - what a racket! LOL. The place was jammed and the girls just had a great time. Kind of expensive, but absolutely worth it. Their hair stayed in place for days (thats right, it didn't get washed .. eww) so it kind of added to the value. We'll go again for sure. I had gotten a fastpass for the princess M&G so we basically went straight from BBB to see the princesses - the resulting pictures are epic, what with the girls in their dresses, makeup and new hairdos. We'll be printing those out for sure.
Fri - Animal Kingdom on this day, not really much to say here. I love sauntering around this park. It rained all day, off and on, which I think is the perfect ambiance for AK. Ducking under branches for cover, bundling up for warmth and finding little alcoves to rest in .. I think it totally complements the feel of the park. Saw FotLK on this trip for the first time, and loved it - have always had a tough time working it in, but it was fully worth the wait. I can see why people always complain about amount of attraction content here. If you really look at everything and enjoy taking your time, its a full day park. Otherwise, its 2-3 attractions short, which will hopefully be addressed in the soon-to-come expansion.
Sat - went over to MK again (that's right, again), this time with the folks. Having the girls and our parents together in MK is, well, magical. Yes, I went there. No other way to say it, all else is forgotten and we proceeded to have a wonderful day. Finally braved the wait at Belle's, turned out to be only about an hour. I can now see why the line is so long. Its a fantastic twist on the common M&G, with crowd interaction plus new addt'l show elements thrown in. I enjoyed it, I have to say. If you have kids, its a MUST do.
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train seems to be coming along nicely as well. They have little peak holes in the walls surrounding the area too as a teaser. Lots of the track has been installed as has a lot of the metal for the rockwork. I have big expectations for the finished FLE. I think it'll likely be crown jewel of the park, as far as scenery goes. The Tangled area and tower is really quite nice too. Another win there.
Sun - DHS is last for us, as usual. Although this park is smaller and seems to have less content for us, we always have trouble fitting everything in. The numerous shows and difficult scheduling makes for a sometimes aggravating day of criss crossing around to try and see as much as possible. Our girls saw the Indy Stunt show for the first time and were actually able to sit through it (they've been too scared before). I hadn't seen it in a while and I'm glad we decided to give it a go. Its a gem of a show but I can see why people want to see it updated or replaced. 13-14 years for a show is a pretty good run methinks. We passed by the Idol bldg a few times and it always seemed empty. Is it just me, or was that a colossal waste of space? I admit I don't know the attendance numbers but what a miss - hopefully it gets combined with adjacent bldgs and is made into something useful.
We ended the day with the early showing of Fantasmic. Got there around an hour early and had great seats. Wow, the show was just great. I had forgotten how scary it could be for little kids, so there were a few iffy moments. But as far as nighttime shows go, this could possibly be the best on property. I prefer the music and overall grown-up theme of RoE, but as a show for kids, specifically themed to WDW, F! has to be the best now.
Well, that's about it. Another wonderful trip, as usual. Not looking forward to even more planning next time (fastpass plus, anyone?), not to mention increased cost. I must say that the trip cost was right against the max I want to pay for weeks vacation, so I don't know how it'll be next year. WL was amazing with it's decorations, and even more amazing when they removed the gigantic Christmas tree in one night .. poof, one morning it was just gone.
Secondly, it sounds like you had an awesome trip and I completely agree with you about the Indy stunt show. I think, next summer, I will make my DH sit thru it with our DS!