Greetings, everyone! Have any of you ever wondered what it would really be like to take your family of four to Walt Disney World during a true off-season when the parks close early and it isn’t hot and the crowds aren’t bad? I want to share my experience last week so you can decide for yourself whether it would be worth taking an off-peak trip.
It has been a long time since we have been able to go in the off-season, as we have very school aged children – grades 9 and 7. Our holiday schedules are wrapped around school breaks, but we live in an area that celebrates Mardi Gras, and schools close for the Monday and “Fat Tuesday” before Ash Wednesday. This year Mardi Gras was before Spring Break, so it worked out that we could go before things begin picking up in later-February. Mrs. MKCP has a college roommate who lives near Orlando and was having a big birthday party (the real reason for the trip – originally), so that had to be worked in and planned around as well.
We drove down on Friday, February 4 and checked into an All Star resort. We have twice stayed in All Stars before (Music and Sports), but during our last two visits to Orlando in 2003 and 2004 we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal and the Coronado Springs Resort. For me, the All Stars are NOT the place to be with all the hotels available within the Disney property and the surrounding area. For one thing, there are no coffee pots in the rooms. That may be a minor point, but those in-room coffee pots are pretty much standard anywhere I go these days, and to have to walk to the dining hall for a morning cup of coffee – “That’s not magic!” Secondly, my room had a combination body wash/shampoo dispenser built into the shower. No little Mickey Mouse shampoo bottles for this trip! Lastly, the rooms are tiny at 220 square feet. I will say, though, to be fair, the service was great! There was a big group of junior high and high school aged dancers checked in for a big dance competition, so my teenaged son had no complaints at all!
Saturday, February 5 (Day 1) Disney-MGM Studios
Something I picked up on this board – ask for a wake up call, and Mickey Mouse and the gang are on the other end of the line when the telephone rings at the appointed time. I “made” my daughter answer the phone the first morning, hoping the unmistakable sound of Mickey’s voice would soften the blow of having to wake up so early. We were determined to be cheap on this trip (remember, we stayed at the All Star Music for $75 per night), so it was agreed we would hit that big McDonalds for breakfast on the way to the Disney-MGM Studios park.
Truly, All Stars resorts have THE WORST bus transportation in all of the Walt Disney World. Each resort has ten buildings and each bus stops at all three resorts coming and going, so we decided going into the trip that we would skip the bus transportation as much as possible. Even if they send more buses, every experience I’ve had has been the buses are jammed to capacity and you wait for two or three buses before you ever get on.
So, we get our Mc-breakfast and cruise into the lot at the Disney-MGM Studios right at park opening time – 9:00! We had purchased our park tickets at guest services before leaving the hotel, so we walked right into the park with no waiting. Well, that’s not completely true. At the turnstiles, you have to put your two fingers in a scanner and make a “peace sign.” When you do this, the scanner is supposed to associate your fingerprints with your ticket (presumably so you don’t give a multi-day pass to someone else). This was a pain, as the reader didn’t readily figure out the finger prints. On busy days, this will be a major bother if they don’t get it working better!
We stopped on the main drag and had family photos taken by a Disney photographer who gave us the new DisneyPhotoPass.com card and told us that each time we see a Disney photographer, we could give him/her that card and then at the end of our trip, we could access the pass code printed on the card to view all our photos online and purchase 5” x 7” prints of the ones we want for only $12.95 plus shipping! So we did, and we asked her to take a photo with our disposable camera, too, and she happily obliged. There’s a tip – those great Disney photographers will take a photo of your entire group with your own camera if you ask them to do so. Most people don’t ask because they assume the photographers won’t do it since they are taking photos they charge you to purchase.
After getting the “here we are!” photos, we skipped down to Sunset Blvd for our opening run at the Rock n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror one-two punch. There was no need for fast passes – there was no wait at all. Zero. Walk on. My Personal Heaven! One cure for the complaint that Rock n’ Roller Coaster is too short at 90 seconds is to do it twice in a row without having to wait in between. That made for a very nice experience, indeed.
After the second run, we walked over to Tower of Terror, my very favorite attraction in all of Walt Disney World. The posted wait time was 13 minutes, but that was just for show. There was no wait at all. We did it twice, too.
The next stop was the Great Movie Ride. It was about 10:00 a.m. by this point, and we had to wait somewhere around ten minutes before boarding our ride vehicle. We waited just long enough to watch the entire reel of trailers in the theater, and as they were starting the second round, in we went. Darin (?) was our energetic and well-trained master of ceremonies and we drew the gangster shootout scene (my favorite!). He was replaced by a “youse-guys” talking mobster cast member who truly fit the bill. The gangster was just about to rob us of our valuables, starting with the jewelry, when he saw the enormous jewel in the Indiana Jones scene, and couldn’t resist it. This was the best-performed run of GMR I’ve experienced in years.
From there, Walt Disney- One Man’s Dream and the Muppets called (Bean Bunny ran away – again!) and then Star Tours (all with NO WAIT) and it was time for lunch in my favorite restaurant in all the Studios: the Sci-Fi Drive in Theater. Our priority seating reservations were for 12:30, and those without reservations were being told they would be able to be seated at the picnic tables right away, or they could be served sometime after 2:30.
The food here is “basic burger,” but that’s not why we like it. We love to eat in the replica convertibles and we love to watch the campy sci-fi trailers and cartoons. We asked for a glow in the dark anything and were served sodas in a glow in the dark plastic cup with a logo that matched the glow in the dark Frisbee plate my kids had been served children’s meals five years ago! These came with illuminated ice cubes – sweet, but pricey!
After lunch, we met Mike and Sully from Monsters, Inc., then walked over to the back lot tour and, for the first time ever our whole family was asked to be the stunt people in the “air attack on a boat” deal. Mrs. MKCP begged off, claiming that she wanted to take photos of this madness, so the three of us, plus a female CPer from Animal Kingdom did our duty. What fun! I highly recommend making a fool of one’s self if afforded the opportunity, but have someone in your group available to tape the silliness or take photos, because you don’t get to see the playback of yourself, and there is no record of it. On the tram tour, Walt Disney’s plane is still on display (cool!) and you get a good preview of Lights Motors Action, but little else. Catastrophe Canyon was good, though the tanker truck still didn’t slide down the canyon when pushed by water. Is it awaiting a rehab for this effect to return? At the end of the tour, there are some excellent villain costumes on display at the tour exit.
When the back lot tour was complete, we figured to have time for one more go at the Rock n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, but there was one thing we had to do first – the Animation Tour.
Why the animation tour? A big deal had been made here on some threads about the animators being replaced at the animation tour, so we made the effort to check this out as they were in what may have been their final days. When I was last at the Disney-MGM Studios park in October of 2004, animation was completely closed, so this was my first time to see what had been opened. We sat through the main show, with a cast member having a conversation with the dragon from Mulan, then saw the Incredibles in a meet and greet, and then we left. So my point is this – we were looking to meet the animator. While waiting to go into the theater, I spoke with two different cast members who confirmed the animators who teach you to draw a character were still there, but the original tour of the animators’ work stations had been replaced (which we already knew). Most people don’t know what to expect when they go inside the Animation Theater, so we had prior knowledge about real animators working there that most people don’t get. Even knowing what to look for, we didn’t see the animator and we didn’t see any publicity for meeting the animator. I know it was there, but after the main show and the meet and greet we’d invested about 45 minutes in the pavilion and we were ready to move on. After personally experiencing the Animation pavilion, I believe most park guests will not even know they have missed out on anything if the animators’ contracts are not renewed. Sorry, but I’m giving you a first hand account of the attraction.
After walking back over to Sunset Blvd, it was a little after 5:00 p.m., and the park was closing at 7:00 with a showing of Fantasmic. For the first time all day, there was a wait time for an attraction! RnRC was about 35-40 minutes and ToT was the same. Our friend’s birthday party was that night, so the Mrs. and I left our teens to close out the park while we went back to the room to freshen up for the party. They stayed to park close, then took the bus back to the All Stars and reported that they waited in line for three buses, then boarded to standing room only, and it took an hour to get back to the hotel. Gotta love All Stars transportation!
But as for off-season: We didn’t use a single fast pass all day, and never had to wait for anything until the very end of the day when wait time for the major attractions on Sunset Blvd was roughly 40 minutes apiece, and this was a Saturday – traditionally the busiest day of the week for the Studios park! I didn’t mention the weather, but it was partly cloudy and the temperature approached 70 degrees Fahrenheit, with no humidity. No crowds, no hot, humid weather, and most everything was working. I LOVE THE STUDIOS in FEBRUARY!
(Next: Super Bowl Sunday)
It has been a long time since we have been able to go in the off-season, as we have very school aged children – grades 9 and 7. Our holiday schedules are wrapped around school breaks, but we live in an area that celebrates Mardi Gras, and schools close for the Monday and “Fat Tuesday” before Ash Wednesday. This year Mardi Gras was before Spring Break, so it worked out that we could go before things begin picking up in later-February. Mrs. MKCP has a college roommate who lives near Orlando and was having a big birthday party (the real reason for the trip – originally), so that had to be worked in and planned around as well.
We drove down on Friday, February 4 and checked into an All Star resort. We have twice stayed in All Stars before (Music and Sports), but during our last two visits to Orlando in 2003 and 2004 we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal and the Coronado Springs Resort. For me, the All Stars are NOT the place to be with all the hotels available within the Disney property and the surrounding area. For one thing, there are no coffee pots in the rooms. That may be a minor point, but those in-room coffee pots are pretty much standard anywhere I go these days, and to have to walk to the dining hall for a morning cup of coffee – “That’s not magic!” Secondly, my room had a combination body wash/shampoo dispenser built into the shower. No little Mickey Mouse shampoo bottles for this trip! Lastly, the rooms are tiny at 220 square feet. I will say, though, to be fair, the service was great! There was a big group of junior high and high school aged dancers checked in for a big dance competition, so my teenaged son had no complaints at all!
Saturday, February 5 (Day 1) Disney-MGM Studios
Something I picked up on this board – ask for a wake up call, and Mickey Mouse and the gang are on the other end of the line when the telephone rings at the appointed time. I “made” my daughter answer the phone the first morning, hoping the unmistakable sound of Mickey’s voice would soften the blow of having to wake up so early. We were determined to be cheap on this trip (remember, we stayed at the All Star Music for $75 per night), so it was agreed we would hit that big McDonalds for breakfast on the way to the Disney-MGM Studios park.
Truly, All Stars resorts have THE WORST bus transportation in all of the Walt Disney World. Each resort has ten buildings and each bus stops at all three resorts coming and going, so we decided going into the trip that we would skip the bus transportation as much as possible. Even if they send more buses, every experience I’ve had has been the buses are jammed to capacity and you wait for two or three buses before you ever get on.
So, we get our Mc-breakfast and cruise into the lot at the Disney-MGM Studios right at park opening time – 9:00! We had purchased our park tickets at guest services before leaving the hotel, so we walked right into the park with no waiting. Well, that’s not completely true. At the turnstiles, you have to put your two fingers in a scanner and make a “peace sign.” When you do this, the scanner is supposed to associate your fingerprints with your ticket (presumably so you don’t give a multi-day pass to someone else). This was a pain, as the reader didn’t readily figure out the finger prints. On busy days, this will be a major bother if they don’t get it working better!
We stopped on the main drag and had family photos taken by a Disney photographer who gave us the new DisneyPhotoPass.com card and told us that each time we see a Disney photographer, we could give him/her that card and then at the end of our trip, we could access the pass code printed on the card to view all our photos online and purchase 5” x 7” prints of the ones we want for only $12.95 plus shipping! So we did, and we asked her to take a photo with our disposable camera, too, and she happily obliged. There’s a tip – those great Disney photographers will take a photo of your entire group with your own camera if you ask them to do so. Most people don’t ask because they assume the photographers won’t do it since they are taking photos they charge you to purchase.
After getting the “here we are!” photos, we skipped down to Sunset Blvd for our opening run at the Rock n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror one-two punch. There was no need for fast passes – there was no wait at all. Zero. Walk on. My Personal Heaven! One cure for the complaint that Rock n’ Roller Coaster is too short at 90 seconds is to do it twice in a row without having to wait in between. That made for a very nice experience, indeed.
After the second run, we walked over to Tower of Terror, my very favorite attraction in all of Walt Disney World. The posted wait time was 13 minutes, but that was just for show. There was no wait at all. We did it twice, too.
The next stop was the Great Movie Ride. It was about 10:00 a.m. by this point, and we had to wait somewhere around ten minutes before boarding our ride vehicle. We waited just long enough to watch the entire reel of trailers in the theater, and as they were starting the second round, in we went. Darin (?) was our energetic and well-trained master of ceremonies and we drew the gangster shootout scene (my favorite!). He was replaced by a “youse-guys” talking mobster cast member who truly fit the bill. The gangster was just about to rob us of our valuables, starting with the jewelry, when he saw the enormous jewel in the Indiana Jones scene, and couldn’t resist it. This was the best-performed run of GMR I’ve experienced in years.
From there, Walt Disney- One Man’s Dream and the Muppets called (Bean Bunny ran away – again!) and then Star Tours (all with NO WAIT) and it was time for lunch in my favorite restaurant in all the Studios: the Sci-Fi Drive in Theater. Our priority seating reservations were for 12:30, and those without reservations were being told they would be able to be seated at the picnic tables right away, or they could be served sometime after 2:30.
The food here is “basic burger,” but that’s not why we like it. We love to eat in the replica convertibles and we love to watch the campy sci-fi trailers and cartoons. We asked for a glow in the dark anything and were served sodas in a glow in the dark plastic cup with a logo that matched the glow in the dark Frisbee plate my kids had been served children’s meals five years ago! These came with illuminated ice cubes – sweet, but pricey!
After lunch, we met Mike and Sully from Monsters, Inc., then walked over to the back lot tour and, for the first time ever our whole family was asked to be the stunt people in the “air attack on a boat” deal. Mrs. MKCP begged off, claiming that she wanted to take photos of this madness, so the three of us, plus a female CPer from Animal Kingdom did our duty. What fun! I highly recommend making a fool of one’s self if afforded the opportunity, but have someone in your group available to tape the silliness or take photos, because you don’t get to see the playback of yourself, and there is no record of it. On the tram tour, Walt Disney’s plane is still on display (cool!) and you get a good preview of Lights Motors Action, but little else. Catastrophe Canyon was good, though the tanker truck still didn’t slide down the canyon when pushed by water. Is it awaiting a rehab for this effect to return? At the end of the tour, there are some excellent villain costumes on display at the tour exit.
When the back lot tour was complete, we figured to have time for one more go at the Rock n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, but there was one thing we had to do first – the Animation Tour.
Why the animation tour? A big deal had been made here on some threads about the animators being replaced at the animation tour, so we made the effort to check this out as they were in what may have been their final days. When I was last at the Disney-MGM Studios park in October of 2004, animation was completely closed, so this was my first time to see what had been opened. We sat through the main show, with a cast member having a conversation with the dragon from Mulan, then saw the Incredibles in a meet and greet, and then we left. So my point is this – we were looking to meet the animator. While waiting to go into the theater, I spoke with two different cast members who confirmed the animators who teach you to draw a character were still there, but the original tour of the animators’ work stations had been replaced (which we already knew). Most people don’t know what to expect when they go inside the Animation Theater, so we had prior knowledge about real animators working there that most people don’t get. Even knowing what to look for, we didn’t see the animator and we didn’t see any publicity for meeting the animator. I know it was there, but after the main show and the meet and greet we’d invested about 45 minutes in the pavilion and we were ready to move on. After personally experiencing the Animation pavilion, I believe most park guests will not even know they have missed out on anything if the animators’ contracts are not renewed. Sorry, but I’m giving you a first hand account of the attraction.
After walking back over to Sunset Blvd, it was a little after 5:00 p.m., and the park was closing at 7:00 with a showing of Fantasmic. For the first time all day, there was a wait time for an attraction! RnRC was about 35-40 minutes and ToT was the same. Our friend’s birthday party was that night, so the Mrs. and I left our teens to close out the park while we went back to the room to freshen up for the party. They stayed to park close, then took the bus back to the All Stars and reported that they waited in line for three buses, then boarded to standing room only, and it took an hour to get back to the hotel. Gotta love All Stars transportation!
But as for off-season: We didn’t use a single fast pass all day, and never had to wait for anything until the very end of the day when wait time for the major attractions on Sunset Blvd was roughly 40 minutes apiece, and this was a Saturday – traditionally the busiest day of the week for the Studios park! I didn’t mention the weather, but it was partly cloudy and the temperature approached 70 degrees Fahrenheit, with no humidity. No crowds, no hot, humid weather, and most everything was working. I LOVE THE STUDIOS in FEBRUARY!
(Next: Super Bowl Sunday)
Apparently, the good mountie failed to tell me that cruel, sadistic meanies can pay 25 cents to shoot water cannons at people who’ve come off the splashdown and are waiting to unload! And there was no shortage of cruel, sadistic meanies who wanted to soak us good! :lol: We were very wet when we came off the ride.
Our daughter had a spot where she had viewed Wishes last year at Easter, and she wanted us to watch the show from that spot – in Tomorrowland, where you view the fireworks over the top of the the teacups. This turned out to be a really good spot, because the trademark white flares are fired from right in front of where you are viewing, and there are no crowds watching the show from that spot, I can guarantee you! 
I couldn't help myself - they were calling to me. 