Spirited WDW Observations, News and Provocative Comments

[EPCOT Explorer]

Hope you had fun ... and am anxious to hear what you experienced.



It can certainly be a value. That's something Kevin Yee mentioned in his column and something I addressed in responding to him (the post I pasted in this thread).

I'm just looking at it in the big picture. MK offers far less holiday entertainment than ANY of the other MK style parks world-wide and unless you arrive 12/19 or later, you have to pay an extra $59 (although many tix sold this year were $39 discounted ones).



Well, the price has just sky-rocketed over the years. It wasn't all that long ago that the Party offered far more and was half the price it is now. But that's just part of the magic of TWDC.



sadly, I think the rain often makes the parks look better than they normally would. on 12/10, MK looked very clean ... it was near empty and poured overnight ... and then we had 2-3 brief storms during the day.

It was my favorite time!



At least operationally, the Studios are really run very well. Most people tell me they are the best of the four parks BY FAR. operating schedules don't get made by Rilous so much as the entire TDO management/Erin.



I'll do my best!:xmas::wave:

Had a great time. One of our best Disney trips. I'm going to start with the updates tomorrow morning...I have to unpack!

In that respect, I agree. It IS a lot of money, especially for some guests who expect less attractions and more entertainment for the Holidays. On the flip side, I want my attractions. :lol: This was perfect.

Ticket prices and parking prices really are foolish.... Expectorant and really show's that they have no bounds. Granted, they are a business, but there's other ways. And they know it. However, they offer discounts....and that's why you see the nice new little number in my signature.

MK looked good...with rain...in some areas. I'll elaborate more, I promise!

Studios did look great, I must say, as well. Rilous is a great VP. Shame that there are some flaws in the park itself and it's current direction. Regardless...It is fun. And a VERY pretty park. (in most places...again...later...:lol

 

[PhotoDave219]

Just a thought about DELUXE resorts versus WDW-Deluxe resorts.

Ive stayed at some seriously high end resorts in this country and even Y&B club doesnt come close to what the Ritz or a Westin or a Four Seasons comes to offer.

 

[WDW1974]

Because of the holidays, family and life, may not have as much time with this thread the rest of the week, so I am going to just jot some general points down, so I don't forget them later on ...

Only 'new' thing I experienced at EPCOT was Sum of All Thrills. Did it once near closing. It's fun, but hardly special. It's simply a repackaged Cyber Space Mountain. I designed a coaster that was pretty intense, although I'm told the jet is the really intense experience. Anyway, not a bad addition, but not a major one.

Art of Disney at DAK is being phased out. Or at least it sure appears to be.

What is the deal with Vinylmation? Those things look spooky. And they clearly aren't selling all that well.

Some PI signs are on sale (auction) at Property Control.

Where's the prime rib at WDW? At Boatwright's for $25.99.

Best burger at WDW? Still, Fulton's (although it's gone up to $11.99 plus $1.50 if you want bacon and cheese).

DD had more of a holiday vibe than most parks did.

Espresso has gone up to $2.69 across property (used to be a bargain at Goofy's Candy Shop, but no more).

Captain Jack's has gone to an all-day menu, which features more dinner entrees and higher price points.

Food court at Dixie Landings (will always be that to me) was renovated recently and looks nice with pasta and salad stations much like a buffet on a cruise ship.

Merchandise was largely forgettable. Second year in a row I repeatedly turned down CM pals offers to use their 50% discounts.

Speaking of which, resort specific items were available at Poly, BC and PO off the top of my head. Didn't get to check out shops at BW and WL somehow.

Nice line of classic tees (they can be seen in Andy Castro's DL update on Micechat today), which likely won't sell well and wind up at outlets.

Mansion merchandise cart had some nice new items and the shirt from DL early in my trip. Gone a few days later.

You don't want to order a burger at Sanaa (or anywhere really) that isn't well done.

Do you think it's gouging guests when the weather suddenly turns cold and shops like Mousegear suddenly bring out portable racks of say ... Grumpy hoodies at $55 a pop?

Show quality at DAK isn't getting better. EE and CTX both still have the same major issues.

You can keep your Dole Whip. I'll take a midnight sundae on Main Street or an afternoon gelatto at the BC Marketplace.

Even at 50% off, Pirate Makeovers weren't exactly a big deal ... who would have guessed that most boys don't wanna be made over into gay pirates?

MK's shuttered QSRs remained so. But on Saturday they did have Diamond Horseshoe open as a food location ... can't recall menu other than items like turkey and meatball sandwiches and ceasar salads.

The drinks at the new tequila bar at EPCOT are among the best in The World.

Horticulture, except at MK near where parade was filmed is hurting badly. Wood chips, dead leaves, empty spaces ... very bad especially in Beach Club parking lot.

My magical WDW trip was ruined because Aladdin's Magic Carpets were down the entire time I was there.

Did I mention that Space Mountain still sucks?

But at least they have attraction-specific items in the shop there now ... instead of Jack Sparrow, Jack Skellington and the JonasBros.

Great to see santizer machines in parks and resorts. This is something that should have happened years ago ... and they should have them at QSR and someone making sure that everyone uses them like cruise ship buffets.

WDW's guests aren't always the brightest bulbs.

No lady, it isn't OK for you to change a poopy diaper of an 18-month boy on the pavement at DAK, when folks are eating just feet away and a bathroom is across the walkway. No excuses. Boorish (female dog).

Great Princess and Frog decorations at Port Orleans.

Westside looks so dead. But Balloon looks much kewler at night.

Nice to see Minute Maid Lite Pomegranate Lemonade over property (Sprite Zero is also appearing).

Biggest regret: forgetting to buy some gingerbread at the GF.

Should 2009 merchandise be full price in December of 2009?

Why do people buy items with years on them to begin with? (yes, I did own a pair of 1998 WDW boxers ... long gone!)

10 days at WDW, one magical bus ride.

The boats from WL to MK and from DD to PO are attractions in their own right. And nice to hear CM on one of them mention how what Disney did in cutting the FLA property up with canals in the 1960s has come to be known as very bad environmentally now, even if it isn't on the official spiel.

Heard some new material on JC trips ... some was funny, some was not (Golden Girls ... ah, don't think so Skipper Michael).

Strange but true: rode TT three times, rode EE three times and climbed Treehouse three times, yet didn't go on Soarin, ToT or Splash Mountain the whole trip.

Sorry, but that new Camaro is UGGGGGGGGLLY.

Biggest find that was free (WDCC figures were biggest 'find' that I had to pay for) was a Minnie Mouse LE 600 pin (part of a holiday set of character heads as ornaments from what I've been told).

Biggest find by someone I know who isn't me: $116 cash at EPCOT (no, no wallet, so no return) just wadded up on a walkway.

Best meal on WDW property: Sanaa (I didn't have the raw burger ... twice).
Best meal off property: new Longhorn Steakhouse on 192 just west of DAK.

Park with best holiday vibe: TPFKaTD-MGMS (shockingly)
Park with least/worst holiday vive: EPCOT (sad, but true)

Best theme park food value: $10.99 Christmas turkey dinner at SW's Voyager restaurant.
Best non-theme park food value: (tie) salad bar lunch at Sweet Tomatoes in LBV; cheesesteak at Fuddruckers's at LBV.

More when I can ...

 

[_Scar]

What is the deal with Vinylmation? Those things look spooky. And they clearly aren't selling all that well.

I agree. Most are creepy and they never have any worth buying. Are they really not selling well or are you assuming?

Where's the prime rib at WDW? At Boatwright's for $25.99.

A major factor in why my family has never eaten table service :/

Merchandise was largely forgettable. Second year in a row I repeatedly turned down CM pals offers to use their 50% discounts.

Wish I had this discount :lol:

Do you think it's gouging guests when the weather suddenly turns cold and shops like Mousegear suddenly bring out portable racks of say ... Grumpy hoodies at $55 a pop?

Of course it is- and it's sad. Just the opposite, during Summer DAK got really hot... 16 dollars for a water fan!!

Show quality at DAK isn't getting better. EE and CTX both still have the same major issues.

Sad, but true. When's EE's refurb going to be in 2010?

Did I mention that Space Mountain still sucks?

No it doesn't! :lol: :lookaroun IDK I really enjoyed it my last trip- more than I remembered

WDW's guests aren't always the brightest bulbs.

Most people aren't :lol:

No lady, it isn't OK for you to change a poopy diaper of an 18-month boy on the pavement at DAK, when folks are eating just feet away and a bathroom is across the walkway. No excuses. Boorish (female dog).

ROFL.

Strange but true: rode TT three times, rode EE three times and climbed Treehouse three times, yet didn't go on Soarin, ToT or Splash Mountain the whole trip.

Oh my....

More when I can ...

You've already outdone yourself. Thanks and looking forward to reading more! :xmas:

 

[CaptainMichael]

The boats from WL to MK and from DD to PO are attractions in their own right. And nice to hear CM on one of them mention how what Disney did in cutting the FLA property up with canals in the 1960s has come to be known as very bad environmentally now, even if it isn't on the official spiel.

:king: Nice to hear someone gush over transportation that is not a monorail.

We don't have a spiel per say. We're just required to go over safety and docking procedures. Most don't spiel at all. I always do.

Wish I had this discount :lol:

If you did, you still wouldn't be able to afford the things you want (on cast pay)...the irony.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Because of the holidays, family and life, may not have as much time with this thread the rest of the week, so I am going to just jot some general points down, so I don't forget them later on ...

...

Sanna, is indeed good, but the "curry" isnt exactly on par with what we get in the UK, one of the advantages of having former colonies I guess.

The tequila bar is indeed magnificent, if over priced, however the better maragrita (to my drink addled pallet) is available at Bubbu Gumps.

The current Mrs Sak purchased a gingerbread tile and it was pretty good, so you did miss out.

The Longhorn is a must visit for us every trip to Orlando, just love their dead cow.

Why no coke Zero property wide, coke is bogging but at least Zero is tolerable, Why no Irn Bru in the UK pavillion? Another cpatalist yankee conspiracy I tells thee.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

And Id like to point out that my head is in proportion with the rest of my body. And you know what they say about big heads

































need big hats

 

[MousDad]

need big hats

with Minnie Mouse bows on them.

 

[fosse76]

http://blog.touringplans.com/2009/12/21/crowds-larger-than-expected-this-pre-christmas/


Who to believe? :shrug:

That blog seems to be overstating things a bit. I went to Epcot on that particular Saturday (but not until mid-afternoon after I arrived in Florida). Soarin' had it's typical long wait, but I managed to grab a FP for a return time for the hour before the park closed. I walked right onto Living with the Land, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Journey Into Imagination, and The Seas with Nemo and Friends. I always use the single-rider line for Test Track, but the wait posted was an hour. Mission:Space was unusually long (15 minutes), but I attribute that to incomeptent CMs (and it was very clear they wanted people to believe it was no-wait, because they weren't monitoring th wait time and were insisting people double up so the line didn't look as long). Spaceship Earth did have a wait, but I don't think it was more than 15 minutes.

Now, I can't say Epcot wasn't busier earlier in the day, but based on my observation it was no more crowded than when I went in September.

The parks I visited throughout the rest of my trip didn't seem as busy either (compared to my September trip). The longest wait I ever saw for Toy Story was 70 minutes (and even that was off...it was only an hour). The only other attraction I saw at the Studios with any kind of wait was RNR, which I used the single-rider line. Everything else was a walk-on.

The Magic Kingdom, which is the busiest park, did have waits, but they were typical of my September trip (25-40 minutes for Big Thunder, 5 minutes for Splash Mountain, Winnie the Pooh was about 15 minutes when I walked by it. Peter Pan was its typical 45 minutes. No wait for the Haunted Mansion. Space Mountain had a long line...and I attribute it to the nonsense way they are handling FPs. they seemed to very rarely let standby queue up on the right side, so the wait was extremely disproportional.

Since I only went to Epcot on the aforementioned Saturday, I cannot comment on the conditions of the other parks. However, based on my observations alone, the crowds seemed more typpical from my September trip than what that blog was saying.

 

[DisneyParksFan1]

Yep. It's that time again. One where I try and put forth my experiences and opinions based on 10 days at The Discounted Timeshare Kingdom of the World (Someone needs to tell the analysts that the Weatherman lied about the discounting since today my 10% AP merchandise discount doubled ... on the heels of a 40% deluxe resort offer for Christmas week ... and let's not forget the massive discounts that have already been offered through JUNE!) and inevitably some fanbois call me a hater and the fun really begins.

Let's start with one point. I had a GREAT time. But that largely had to do with the people I spent time with at holiday time. WDW is doing almost nothing to earn my business and loyalty.

In 10 days, I spent multiple days at MK, EPCOT, TPFKaTD-MGMS and singles at DAK and SW. Also, spent time at DD multiple days and hit the following resorts for holiday checks -- GF, Poly, Contemp, BW, BC, WL, WLV, DAK Lodge and Villas, PO (both sections).

First, just for shock value, I'll state the parks that had the best holiday vibe and that I enjoyed the most were --shockingly -- Studios, Sea World and DAK ... and by a large margin. Still, do to operating hours, family, friends from out of the area and weather, I wound up spending more time at MK and EPCOT by far.

There was plenty of news that came out of my visit.

Some newsbits to start:

Former EPCOT VP Jim MacPhee's promotion from a nebulous 'special projects' title to one with 'New Technology' in the title (not that Disney wants you to know what that means yet ... but the initials RFID and DDK seem to play a large role!)

There was testing RFID virtual queuing at RnRC and other 'uses' at the McPooh Playground last week.

Also, word that Small World will be undergoing another large scale rehab in 2010 (no word on characters, was told this is needed work and to redo the queue yet again).

Flamingo Crossings is done, finished, completed and ready ... for tenants ... unfortunately, for Disney, it might as well be a housing development in central Fla that was started before the lie that was our economy crashed because it's empty and will be for a long time to come.

Guest complaints about LoW at EPCOT have been heard loud and clear and the park will receive more decor for the holidays in 2010 and a new lighting display/show will appear in the next few years (but likely not 2010).

A major celeb Imagineer is being wooed by another company since he doesn't seem to have much to do at WDW these days.

Resort load levels have been healthy, but entirely due to massive discounting.

Parks were VERY uncrowded. Well, except for Saturday when MK was open from 9-1 (thank the Mickey Extorts Christmas From Bumpkin Tourists Parties for that) and was what I would call moderately crowded. Other than that, SW on Sunday and CP times at EPCOT (only in that area), parks were uncrowded to near empty.

Next up: a little of this, a little of that ... and why I love WL. :xmas:

Woah, Small World getting major re-do? Is this just a rumor?

 

[Buried20KLeague]

YOU WERE THERE??!??!? Shocking ... and I never even noticed you.:ROFLOL::xmas:



You can tell simply by looking at park operating schedules for the next 10 days how they progressively get longer this week ... at all of the parks.

It's always like that ...

I will say there's something quaint about the fact in Anaheim DL closes at 9 and DCA at 6 on X-mas Eve. They used to do that when WDW was just two parks too ... 6 p.m. hard close so CMs could go home ... no more. Just like all the places that will be open on Christmas ...:xmas:

Too bad you didn't notice me... I'd have bought you a drink! Or two. :lookaroun

The wife and I have already talked about it, and southern California will be getting our tourist dollars next December. World of Color, here we come!

Truthfully, I'm not sure why we didn't do that this year. Oh wait... Yes I am. It's because of the MONSTEROUS discounts we got that were too hard to pass up. :hammer:

 

[draybook]

We were there from 12/4-12/15. For all of you people saying that it wasn't crowded, exactly what is your definition of not crowded? I'm wondering because every day we were there most rides were 20+ minutes standby with the major E-rides going at 50+. You guys think that's not crowded?

Maybe we really got spoiled from last year, because the longest we waited was 15 minutes for Peter Pan.

That being said, I agree with WDW1974 completely. We're definitely not going back in December and next time it will be when we went last year.

 

[SirGoofy]

We were there from 12/4-12/15. For all of you people saying that it wasn't crowded, exactly what is your definition of not crowded? I'm wondering because every day we were there most rides were 20+ minutes standby with the major E-rides going at 50+. You guys think that's not crowded?

That's not really crowded at all, IMO. Very normal waits, IMO.

Crowded would be 90-120 minute waits for E-Tickets.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

We were there from 12/4-12/15. For all of you people saying that it wasn't crowded, exactly what is your definition of not crowded? I'm wondering because every day we were there most rides were 20+ minutes standby with the major E-rides going at 50+. You guys think that's not crowded?

Maybe we really got spoiled from last year, because the longest we waited was 15 minutes for Peter Pan.

That being said, I agree with WDW1974 completely. We're definitely not going back in December and next time it will be when we went last year.

We must have just timed it differently, because the only 20+ minute stand-by waits I saw were on BTMRR, Space, and obviously Pan. Everything else at MK was walk-on, or close to it, for almost the whole trip. We didn't even bother with fastpasses until our last day at the MK (the 18th), just to cram as many rides in as possible.

At Epcot, Soarin' had long lines, but it always does. TT was 30+, but again, it always does.

At AK, Dino was 10 mins, the safari was between 20-30 most times we were around it, and EE was 20-30 also.

TSMM was always nuts, but that's to be expected. ToT was walk on, and RnRC was 20-30 standby.

I call those plenty "doable" times. :shrug: Epcot and AK don't have that many "E" type attractions... Hence the longer lines. Made sense to me.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

We must have just timed it differently, because the only 20+ minute stand-by waits I saw were on BTMRR, Space, and obviously Pan. Everything else at MK was walk-on, or close to it, for almost the whole trip. We didn't even bother with fastpasses until our last day at the MK (the 18th), just to cram as many rides in as possible.

At Epcot, Soarin' had long lines, but it always does. TT was 30+, but again, it always does.

At AK, Dino was 10 mins, the safari was between 20-30 most times we were around it, and EE was 20-30 also.

TSMM was always nuts, but that's to be expected. ToT was walk on, and RnRC was 20-30 standby.

I call those plenty "doable" times. :shrug: Epcot and AK don't have that many "E" type attractions... Hence the longer lines. Made sense to me.

EXACTLY. I saw much of the same, if maybe a bit longer lines over the weekend. Really manageable if you know how to use FP to your advantage. Crowds were heavy, yes, but never overwhelming.

 

[Brian Noble]

the "curry" isnt exactly on par with what we get in the UK

Almost every restaurant that's even vaguely ethnic at WDW is watered down, so no surprise there.

 

[draybook]

So I guess we were just spoiled last year then. We were at the parks from open(or earlier for TS's) until closing and I think we might have had 3 or 4 walk ons, and we used FP's to the fullest, we even have a huge stack left over from the trip.

 

[StageFrenzy]

What is the deal with Vinylmation? Those things look spooky. And they clearly aren't selling all that well

They are on their 8th set including the clear and holiday sets since this time last year and variety of event and special release vinyls. The Clear set is open edition. 16 more sets by the end of 2010 and I imagine they wouldn't keep making them if they didn't sell well, not to mention there is a website devoted to them.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Siemens is sponsoring "it's a small world" in Disneyland, could it be that Siemens will be sponsoring Disney World's as well?

 

[DisneyParksFan1]

Siemens is sponsoring "it's a small world" in Disneyland, could it be that Siemens will be sponsoring Disney World's as well?

Well, if it does get sponsored by Siemens, then let's hope that brings some great enhancements. I would like for the queue to get upgraded. It would be great to see the queue in better shape same with the facade, both inside the facade and the outside one. Some more cool and complex effects would be great. And of course, I don't mind getting the characters that DL got.I hope this does happen.