We also were there from 1/21 through 1/28. We noticed many of the same things. A couple of our observations below.
We had a very good/great food for all of our lunches & dinners (however we were on the deluxe plan, so we did not eat any quick service food). Prime Time was perfectly fine for us, and we actually had better food at Yachtsman and Nine Dragons this time.
The one thing we did notice is that other than our breakfasts at 'Ohana and Cape May, the breakfast buffet food quality was much lower this year than last year. Most notably the eggs. We both noticed it; however the food was very good at 'Ohana and Cape May. Tusker House wasn't as good as last year, but Crystal Palace, 1900 Park Fare, and a few others were not good at all.
Actually this was our second time to Crystal Palace, and we won't be going back anytime soon. Bleh.
Secondly...parks over flowing with Brazil touring groups.
We noticed the same thing, but fortunately we did not have the same experiences with ride wait times. I suppose we just got lucky for the most part. When we went to Dinosaur, we saw a group heading that way. A LARGE group, so we started walking faster. One of the leaders in the group somehow twisted her ankle at the front entrance into the walkway to Dinosaur. The ENTIRE group stopped and nearly clogged up the entrance. My wife was in front of me with our son in the middle. We had to literally push our way through because everyone just stopped, literally stopped in the walkway without any regard to other people around them. Ordinarily we would have stopped to see if she was ok, but there were at least a dozen people around her helping her to her feet.
One thing we did notice is the copious amounts of excessive PDA. Now, I'm all for affection, and I try to show my wife and son plenty of affection; however I'm not going to make out with my wife while standing in line at Toy Story Mania with tons of little kids around. We had the pleasure of standing in line behind a couple of teens that couldn't keep their hands off each other. There's a time and place for everything, and that was neither the time nor the place!!! :brick:
We did have one group of teen girls from the tour group on Dinosaur that happen to make it into our pre-ride briefing. They talked the entire time, despite a couple of requests for them to stop. Then they got on our car (luckily behind us), but commenced to screaming for the *entire* ride. That's ok, at least Dinosaur is (too) loud so we didn't hear them for the most part!
And this may sound evil but...
We always seem to run into at least one exceptionally rude family on each trip.
This time we were at Rose and Crown on Thursday (I think). We had read the forecast and knew it might rain. So we picked R&C for lunch as the patio was covered and it was slightly misting. Well, it turned into a pretty good 10 minute downpour. So we're sitting at our table out on the patio near the "check in" stand and this family runs onto the patio (after the rain let up, but it was still raining), completely soaked and sits at this table close to us. Actually they took up two tables. Anyway, they get everything completely wet, the table, chairs, napkins, flatware, etc. A CM comes over and says to them that they were not accepting walk ins at this time as they were fully booked. One guy (I guess the head of the family) says to him that he doesn't care. He wants menus for everyone and they'd like to order. After the CM explained to them *again* and told them that they would not serve them as all the tables were already reserved for guests with reservations, they begrudgingly left (it had stopped raining by this point). They left everything in shambles and didn't even push their chairs in. Ugh...
We did have a guy (a very big and tall guy) step right in front of us at Illuminations and my son could not see the show. My son told me (very loudly) and the guy moved, but I don't think he moved to be nice. He found a closer spot in front of another family with children. :brick:
My only other complaint is personal space. When we're waiting in line it almost never fails that if a foreign (and sometimes American) family is behind us, whoever is standing in the back (my wife or I) get bumped, repeatedly, especially if one of us is wearing a backpack. I also don't get the kids that get up so close to you that they're basically standing next to you... We're somewhat guilty of it as well. Not us, but my son. I had to remind him a few times to back up from the person in front of him. :hammer:
Overally great trip, though. Can't wait to go back in Dec and see the decorations.
