Just Back! Quick rundown and random gossip

[Tinkh]

Just got back from our trip yesterday. Thought I would share a few observations.

The weather was insanely good the first 4-5 days. Got rainy, windy and cold on one day. Still chilly by Friday, but sunny. We arrived a day early so we checked in at ASMo for a night. This was a fun resort. Morning of the 20th we checked into POR. We had never stayed here and we loved it! The fishing hole with CM Eddie is very fun! The kids loved catching fish with cane poles. We were in Magnolia Terrace which is a wonderful location.

The parks were not busy at all. 35 minute wait times for Soarin ( still used fastpass instead). Walk ons to basically everything at the slower parts of the day. Had a 20 minute SM wait on Monday, but by that evening we literally walked on. ToT on Tuesday was walk-on. Very great time to travel. We have not done February in quite a few years because we usually are there at Christmas. Now, I am wondering why we ever stopped. Missed the decorations, but the weather and the lines more than make up for that. Vast difference from the Christmas to New Years crowd we experienced.

Loved the food at Boma, Primetime, and The Plaza. For the 2nd visit in a row the Rose and Crown was HORRIBLE. Truly horrible. I have never missed a visit there in our trips, but I seriously do not think we will go back. It has gotten that bad. Loved the POR foodcourt for breakfast.

Had only one less than happy CM and that was at TsM. Not surprising to some I am sure. I bet she was just tired and overwhelmed. Even at that slow season the line was still 40-60 minutes long. All the other CMs were amazing.

We always ride the bus to MK to avoid the monorail, tram congestion, so was excited to hear some random bus driver gossip. Not sure how true it is, but our driver said he heard that "past Coronado on Western Way by the toll road" was where they are going to be rebuilding some of the clubs that were so popular at Pleasure Island and that Disney had to do something to deal with the problems that were occuring in DD and that is why the changes were made. Take with a grain of salt, but nice to hear rumors anyway

Hope everyone else who was there had a lovely time too.

 

[Dixiemom]

Sounds like you had a great trip and the gossip is interesting

 

[JasonDVC]

Not for nothin'...and I know a lot of people make fun of what bus drivers say...but this makes sense. Pleasure Island is in the middle of Marketplace and West Side, so families wanting to get from one side to the other have to pass thru Pleasure Island where I'm sure there are plenty of intoxitated goofballs. Building an adults only area off the beaten path makes sense. What would have been ideal would have been if Pleasure Island was off to one end of DTD

 

[stephie1012]

we were there as well, just got home yesterday...agree crowds were awesome...Friday was more crowded at MK then i expected, even CM commented on it. Character interaction was amazing. Encountered one rude CM at CHH in MK. Rode TSM 5times on Wednesday, DD was in heaven, i was sick after the 3rd ride lol

 

[Tinkh]

Not for nothin'...and I know a lot of people make fun of what bus drivers say...but this makes sense. Pleasure Island is in the middle of Marketplace and West Side, so families wanting to get from one side to the other have to pass thru Pleasure Island where I'm sure there are plenty of intoxitated goofballs. Building an adults only area off the beaten path makes sense. What would have been ideal would have been if Pleasure Island was off to one end of DTD

Well this one for sure I would love to see come true. Never thought about it but that does make sense about Pleasure Island being in the middle where people need to cross or walk on that slim sidewalk all the way down.

 

[Tinkh]

we were there as well, just got home yesterday...agree crowds were awesome...Friday was more crowded at MK then i expected, even CM commented on it. Character interaction was amazing. Encountered one rude CM at CHH in MK. Rode TSM 5times on Wednesday, DD was in heaven, i was sick after the 3rd ride lol

I would have been too! Goodness, that was awesome riding 5 times. I can only take the spinning so many times lol. Glad you had a great time

 

[FluffedMojo]

Encountered one rude CM at CHH in MK.

Sorry for my noob-ness, but I'm still trying to get the hang of all the shorthand. What is CHH?

 

[MYD714]

Sorry for my noob-ness, but I'm still trying to get the hang of all the shorthand. What is CHH?

Don't apologize. This one took me a minute...Colombia Harbor House

 

[FluffedMojo]

Don't apologize. This one took me a minute...Colombia Harbor House

Thanks! Never would have gotten that one. Is there a list of all these on the site? Somebody should make a sticky lol

 

[vicb]

We were there last week too and at times felt like we had the parks all to ourselves, especially at the pm emh nights at MK and Studios. But Friday was like a switch flipped and the crowds came. We hopped 3 parks on Friday and all were much busier than the previous days. That is a good week, between President's Day week and the start of college spring breaks.

 

[doconeill]

The rumor of "PI2" being built at the Western Way construction area has been around for a bit...and yes, it makes a bit of sense (although it wouldn't be an "island" any more.

The development is called "Flamingo Crossings", and was originally intended to be non-Disney run motels, food, etc. Although a third-party club is feasible, it would seem less likely something like Adventurer's Club would end up there. Time will tell - but last I knew they haven't actually built anything there - all prep work and landscaping, after two years.

 

[xyymom]

We too were there 20-27 and had a great time with the low crowds. We hopped 3 parks on Friday, and were shocked at MK. It was nutty. Glad we were just there to see the afternoon parade & not waiting in lines for rides!

 

[vicb]

We too were there 20-27 and had a great time with the low crowds. We hopped 3 parks on Friday, and were shocked at MK. It was nutty. Glad we were just there to see the afternoon parade & not waiting in lines for rides!

totally agree the wait for BTMRR was 60 min and 50 min for SM ! We were totally spoiled. We did HoP which we had missed earlier in the week and 15 min wait for PoC but that was it. We had to wait 10 min in line just to get a Mickey Bar!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We always ride the bus to MK to avoid the monorail, tram congestion, so was excited to hear some random bus driver gossip.

Bus drivers are the face of Disney's misinformation campaign. It's like the CIA. Never trust 'em

 

[Mitch_in_GA]

The kind of trip report I like -- short but packed with good information.

Interesting about Rose and Crown. We've never been, but were considering an ADR mainly for a spot to watch Illuminations.

 

[PalmettoPrincess]

Glad you had a great time! Must have been nice to be there with no crowds!! =)

 

[suzicute20]

Glad you had a mostly good trip. I agree about POR and their breakfast - it was really good when we were there.

 

[stormer]

The rumor of "PI2" being built at the Western Way construction area has been around for a bit...and yes, it makes a bit of sense (although it wouldn't be an "island" any more.

The development is called "Flamingo Crossings", and was originally intended to be non-Disney run motels, food, etc. Although a third-party club is feasible, it would seem less likely something like Adventurer's Club would end up there. Time will tell - but last I knew they haven't actually built anything there - all prep work and landscaping, after two years.

We were there President's week and the van driver who took us over to the DVC told us about Flamingo Crossing. She said they are working on it now. She said it is to be like a second DTD somewhere near AK. Don't know how true, but that is what she said. Just thought I'd share.

 

[doconeill]

We were there President's week and the van driver who took us over to the DVC told us about Flamingo Crossing. She said they are working on it now. She said it is to be like a second DTD somewhere near AK. Don't know how true, but that is what she said. Just thought I'd share.

It being more like a second DTD means it is to be more like the shopping areas more than the club areas, and that might be were some of the confusion comes in.

But I think all the potential tenants they originally lined up disappeared quickly when the recession hit full force, so things have been pretty idle, unless something has happened in the past couple months.

 

[aaarcher86]

We were there Feb. 20 - 27 as well. Crowds were great other then Friday. I noticed a lot of cheer groups at the All Star Movie resort on Friday.

Do more characters come out during the weekends? Friday we spotted Fairy Godmother, Peter and Wendy and the White Rabbit who weren't out the previous days we were there during the week.