Hi All,
Just got back from the Smee family biannual trip, 11 nights at WDW. Spent 4 nights at AKL, 3 at Beach Club, and the final 4 at WL. Used up a 7 day park hopper and went to Universal, Busch Gardens, and Discovery Cove as well. I'll do a more detailed report but first these observations:
MK looked great, lots of fresh paint. Splash Mountain looked as fresh as any time I can recall since it's opening.
The castle looks very impressive with all the celebration embellishments. I don't usually like anything being done to the castle, but I have to admit it looks good.
All cast members we encountered were on their game, no negative experiences. Even the seasonal employees and CP kids were performing well.
The crowds were large, biggest we've ever seen for early June.
The weather was the wettest we ever dealt with but did not ruin the trip by any means,and we had some torrential downpours.
COP was open the whole time, Timekeeper was not. I sat in the last row one time on COP and felt the leak in the roof in room 2, COP needs some attention.
Small World looks great, many costumes looked fresh and new. The new entry and clock tower looks good.
Lines were long, we fastpassed everything we could. Even ther extra magic evening hours were crowded. Made me long for the days of E-Ride.We had extra evening hours on a day when MK regular closing was 11:00 PM, stayed in the park until 2:00 AM.
Philharmagic is the best 3-D show I've seen at any park, vivid animation.
We observed more characters out than ever before, in all the parks.
We enjoy AK but it needs Everest badly. It seemed a little stale for us this trip. Everest construction is going well but I was surprised at how few workers seemed to be on the project. I expected more visible effort.
For you coaster nuts, Shakiera at BG is a good one. Didn't make my top 10, but a good ride. Mummy is a well done ride as well, the effects are good.
More later,
Smee
Just got back from the Smee family biannual trip, 11 nights at WDW. Spent 4 nights at AKL, 3 at Beach Club, and the final 4 at WL. Used up a 7 day park hopper and went to Universal, Busch Gardens, and Discovery Cove as well. I'll do a more detailed report but first these observations:
MK looked great, lots of fresh paint. Splash Mountain looked as fresh as any time I can recall since it's opening.
The castle looks very impressive with all the celebration embellishments. I don't usually like anything being done to the castle, but I have to admit it looks good.
All cast members we encountered were on their game, no negative experiences. Even the seasonal employees and CP kids were performing well.
The crowds were large, biggest we've ever seen for early June.
The weather was the wettest we ever dealt with but did not ruin the trip by any means,and we had some torrential downpours.
COP was open the whole time, Timekeeper was not. I sat in the last row one time on COP and felt the leak in the roof in room 2, COP needs some attention.
Small World looks great, many costumes looked fresh and new. The new entry and clock tower looks good.
Lines were long, we fastpassed everything we could. Even ther extra magic evening hours were crowded. Made me long for the days of E-Ride.We had extra evening hours on a day when MK regular closing was 11:00 PM, stayed in the park until 2:00 AM.
Philharmagic is the best 3-D show I've seen at any park, vivid animation.
We observed more characters out than ever before, in all the parks.
We enjoy AK but it needs Everest badly. It seemed a little stale for us this trip. Everest construction is going well but I was surprised at how few workers seemed to be on the project. I expected more visible effort.
For you coaster nuts, Shakiera at BG is a good one. Didn't make my top 10, but a good ride. Mummy is a well done ride as well, the effects are good.
More later,
Smee
