I went down to WDW for a week with the family from 6/3 to 6/10. Crowds were very light in all parks on Thursday and Friday, almost everything was a walk on. Gaydays started on Friday and by Saturday the crowd levels increased significantly thru the weekend but wait times for most attractions were still reasonable (20 min +/-) . By Monday the crowds had increased from all the vacationers pouring in for the start of the summer season, the wait times for rides jumped a good bit but were still bearable.
Observations:
Magic Kingdom
Space Mountain - I like the new updates, but there is a HUGE problem with the games in the tunnel. People get involved in the game and don't realize the line is moving. We stood in the tunnel for a good 5 minutes not moving at all, then suddenly the whole line moved forward into the queue area, all because people were engulfed in the game and not watching the line. Also it may just be me but the lift hill is now super noisy, much more than I remember. All in all the updates were nice, its kind of a bummer that you can't see the track anymore from the queue, but its nice that the ride is that much darker when riding now.
Splash Mountain - I see why they are taking this attraction down for a refurb soon. I counted at least 5-6 AAs that had damaged parts that were not moving, 3 of them had an eye that had all the paint scraped off one side and would not move properly. None of the A/C units in there are working except a single unit in the lowest part in the beehive laughing place scene. Hopefully this attraction will be returned to its former glory after the refurb.
Haunted Mansion - We got stuck on this ride for a good 5 minutes right in the little Leota area, I was about to go nuts if I had to hear her say "Hurry Baaaaaaaaack" one more time. A CM walked past us with a flashlight then came back right before the ride resumed. Any CMs here that know what happened? It was on Thursday evening.
Peter Pan - Why the heck does this ride always have a 45+ minute wait, even when all other attractions are walk ons? It never ceases to amaze me how people pour into an almost 40 year old attraction that has never been updated and choose to bypass many more superior attraction. I haven't ridden Peter Pan in almost a decade and from what I remember its pretty bad.
MSEP - Had the pleasure of enjoying the opening night of this parade with MasterYoda, we met up in the hub area and got to watch the parade from a pretty good vantage point. Thanks MasterYoda for grabbing that spot. :wave: It was nice to see the parade again after 20+ years, there were a few hiccups mainly all the floats getting stuck on the bridge heading to Liberty square and a couple floats having lights that weren't working. But all in all a great opening night.
I didn't get a chance to really enjoy the new fireworks show, since my daughter and I were dashing onto rides during the show, since it was a new show every single attraction was a walk on during that time.
Beyond that everything in the park seems to be in great shape. I love the fact that along the walls infront of the FLE area, they have huge murals with descriptions of the new attractions coming with the expansion.
EPCOT
Test Track - This ride broke down while we were in line and then faulted out while I was on it. The ABS break test didn't work and we coasted down the track at about 2 miles an hour then took off just before the breaks kicked in, it was rather funny. They really need to take this attraction down and upgrade the cars and computer system, its 10 years old now and could really used an overhaul.
SSE - Good as always, but was shut down on Wednesday when we went back to the park, no clue why. Anyone know?
The construction on the new Mexico restaurant is still ongoing, I love the little temporary food counter they put out there next to it, looks like its always been there, fits the themeing perfectly.
Hollywood Studios
It was ridiculously hot on the day we hit DHS so we didn't stay long past doing lunch at 50's Prime Time, ToT, RnRC, and Playhouse Disney stage show for my son. The wait for TSM was 120 minutes and FP were long gone by 2PM, so we didn't even bother. Everything seemed good from what I could tell, we went on the Monday following SWW and crowds were not too bad aside from TSM. ToT was a 15 minute wait and RnRC was only 30.
Animal Kingdom
Dinosaur - When we rode the Carnotaurus was in full working order, and it seemed to me like they had fixed some of the lighting in the attraction. There was a lot more visible than I remember and more of the meteorite effects were working. My teenage daughter had the snot scared out of her. I should have gotten the pic so you guys could see, it was rather funny.
Expedition Everest - One waterfall was working but the bird was not and the Yeti room was completely dark. We shot thru there so fast I could not tell if there was a tarp up or if it was just dark. The audio of the Yeti growling was turned way down too so it looks like they are finally starting work on his repairs.
It was super hot when we hit this park as well so we didn't get to hit all the attractions, but everything I saw seemed to be in tip top shape aside from EE.
Observations:
Magic Kingdom
Space Mountain - I like the new updates, but there is a HUGE problem with the games in the tunnel. People get involved in the game and don't realize the line is moving. We stood in the tunnel for a good 5 minutes not moving at all, then suddenly the whole line moved forward into the queue area, all because people were engulfed in the game and not watching the line. Also it may just be me but the lift hill is now super noisy, much more than I remember. All in all the updates were nice, its kind of a bummer that you can't see the track anymore from the queue, but its nice that the ride is that much darker when riding now.
Splash Mountain - I see why they are taking this attraction down for a refurb soon. I counted at least 5-6 AAs that had damaged parts that were not moving, 3 of them had an eye that had all the paint scraped off one side and would not move properly. None of the A/C units in there are working except a single unit in the lowest part in the beehive laughing place scene. Hopefully this attraction will be returned to its former glory after the refurb.
Haunted Mansion - We got stuck on this ride for a good 5 minutes right in the little Leota area, I was about to go nuts if I had to hear her say "Hurry Baaaaaaaaack" one more time. A CM walked past us with a flashlight then came back right before the ride resumed. Any CMs here that know what happened? It was on Thursday evening.
Peter Pan - Why the heck does this ride always have a 45+ minute wait, even when all other attractions are walk ons? It never ceases to amaze me how people pour into an almost 40 year old attraction that has never been updated and choose to bypass many more superior attraction. I haven't ridden Peter Pan in almost a decade and from what I remember its pretty bad.
MSEP - Had the pleasure of enjoying the opening night of this parade with MasterYoda, we met up in the hub area and got to watch the parade from a pretty good vantage point. Thanks MasterYoda for grabbing that spot. :wave: It was nice to see the parade again after 20+ years, there were a few hiccups mainly all the floats getting stuck on the bridge heading to Liberty square and a couple floats having lights that weren't working. But all in all a great opening night.
I didn't get a chance to really enjoy the new fireworks show, since my daughter and I were dashing onto rides during the show, since it was a new show every single attraction was a walk on during that time.
Beyond that everything in the park seems to be in great shape. I love the fact that along the walls infront of the FLE area, they have huge murals with descriptions of the new attractions coming with the expansion.
EPCOT
Test Track - This ride broke down while we were in line and then faulted out while I was on it. The ABS break test didn't work and we coasted down the track at about 2 miles an hour then took off just before the breaks kicked in, it was rather funny. They really need to take this attraction down and upgrade the cars and computer system, its 10 years old now and could really used an overhaul.
SSE - Good as always, but was shut down on Wednesday when we went back to the park, no clue why. Anyone know?
The construction on the new Mexico restaurant is still ongoing, I love the little temporary food counter they put out there next to it, looks like its always been there, fits the themeing perfectly.
Hollywood Studios
It was ridiculously hot on the day we hit DHS so we didn't stay long past doing lunch at 50's Prime Time, ToT, RnRC, and Playhouse Disney stage show for my son. The wait for TSM was 120 minutes and FP were long gone by 2PM, so we didn't even bother. Everything seemed good from what I could tell, we went on the Monday following SWW and crowds were not too bad aside from TSM. ToT was a 15 minute wait and RnRC was only 30.
Animal Kingdom
Dinosaur - When we rode the Carnotaurus was in full working order, and it seemed to me like they had fixed some of the lighting in the attraction. There was a lot more visible than I remember and more of the meteorite effects were working. My teenage daughter had the snot scared out of her. I should have gotten the pic so you guys could see, it was rather funny.
Expedition Everest - One waterfall was working but the bird was not and the Yeti room was completely dark. We shot thru there so fast I could not tell if there was a tarp up or if it was just dark. The audio of the Yeti growling was turned way down too so it looks like they are finally starting work on his repairs.
It was super hot when we hit this park as well so we didn't get to hit all the attractions, but everything I saw seemed to be in tip top shape aside from EE.
