Just Got Back... 1-25-11

[DisneyFan32WI]

Hi Everyone! I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack. Here is a brief synposis of my trip:

1. Went to the Magic Kingdom on Monday (1-24). I have never, ever seen it this busy in my ENTIRE life. I am not kidding. the brazilion tour groups were out in full force. NOBODY was rude or skipped lines or even chanted for that matter. BUT I made sure I went the other direction when I saw them coming. They added greatly to the wait times all day. I took 2 pictures of these groups, so I will be sure to share them when I have time. I can honestly say that Americans were the minority on this trip. It was truly amazing.
2. Lots of construction skrims up eveywhere. I can't wait to see how Fantasyland turns out!
3. CM's WERE rude this trip. I know people have been talking about it on this board, so that is why I'm bringing it up. They were short, trying to rush people, and generally not what I am used to.
4. The park guests were NOT rude, but I saw lots of people having meltdowns. One guy, however, actually tried to stuff his granddaughter in front of me 2 minutes before the nighttime parade. I told him NO because I had been waiting for over an hour for this front row spot!
5. We stayed at Universal's Royal Pacific Resort since this was mostly a Universal trip. We were bored with Universal after 2 days though. I wish we would've stayed at Disney. There is so much more to see & do at the 4 parks.
* I'm happy to answer any questions you may have!

 

[Kay1]

Disney is really filling their parks all year, aren't they? We're heading over in a few weeks and hope it won't be such a madhouse.

Sorry about the rude CMs. They must be working extra hard with all these crowds.

 

[Snape]

The good news, or bad news for some, is the touring plans you have to buy are now rendered useless. There is no quiet time to visit Disney World. We did the opposite of what the touring people recommended last trip and there were virtually no lines where we were.

 

[SaraJayne]

We went in January a few years ago and were actually surprised when we heard people speaking English.

 

[SunShineGurl]

we were there Monday, too! I was surprised to see it that crowded! We got to Orlando Saturday afternoon. Froze to death at the fireworks and it was really quiet Sunday afternoon too. Monday morning - I couldn't believe the difference. We went to say goodbye to ToonTown before the closing in February. Flags and groups everywhere!

 

[gator75]

Thanks for posting this. we are going in a few weeks, but i also have some questions

1. how was the weather?

2. what type of clothes did you wear?

3. did you notice any of the stomach flu going around?

 

[mom2kazkids]

We returned on Monday Jan 24, and I can tell you that I will not go back in January again. The Brazilian tour groups were terrible. Down right rude and way too many of them. Our nice early breakfasts at Tusker House and Crystal Palace were terrible thanks to them.

No problem with any cast members.

It was really nice on Wed and Thursday that we were there, but the last weekend was cold.

Love the memories show on the castle before wishes, not a fan of the Electrical light parade, mush prefer spectromagic.

Looking forward to April 2013 as our return trip. The only way that I would ge back in January is if DD competes in the Sand Dollar Invite again, and then it would only be her and I for the weekend.

 

[tiink3rbella]

Can't believe Jan. is becoming a crowded month! I went to Disney in Jan 2008 i believe Jan 10-20 it was great I barely remeber there being any lines, EE we walked right on Soarin was the only ride we really had to wait for but we went on an EMH night at Epcot. I also remeber going to Disney one time at Easter (Maybe 05 or 06) and I dont really even remember the crowds being to to bad. Maybe I was just happy to be there? lol. Anyways Sorry you had no luck with crowds or CM's but I hope you had a great time besides those little hiccups

 

[jackal]

Hi Everyone! I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack. Here is a brief synposis of my trip:

5. We stayed at Universal's Royal Pacific Resort since this was mostly a Universal trip. We were bored with Universal after 2 days though. I wish we would've stayed at Disney. There is so much more to see & do at the 4 parks.
* I'm happy to answer any questions you may have!

hey DisneyFan, another Wisconsinite here! We are going to Universal in a few months and staying at the Royal Pacific. I am rethinking our plans because I am thinking we might get bored with Universal for 10 days. YOu were only there two days and you were bored? Can you give me any details?

 

[Darcy03231]

hey DisneyFan, another Wisconsinite here! We are going to Universal in a few months and staying at the Royal Pacific. I am rethinking our plans because I am thinking we might get bored with Universal for 10 days. YOu were only there two days and you were bored? Can you give me any details?

I'm a huge Universal fan and I think 10 days at US/IOA is too much. I haven't been since they added Harry Potter, but we found with staying on-site you can pretty much do a park each day and then go back on the 3rd day for your favorites. I've stayed as long as 7 days, but have taken a day out for WDW, a day out for SeaWorld and another day for hitting the outlet malls. We also tend to not tour commando at US/IOA - its a much slower pace. We get up later and go do a few things, hang out at the pool for the afternoon and go back at night to do more stuff.

I would say with Harry Potter I would plan a split stay of 3-4 days at US/IOA and the remainder at WDW (or somewhere else). If doing a split stay I would do US/IOA at the end. I did it at the beginning for the first split stay and my kids got really used to the unlimited Express Pass offered for on-site guests. They did nothing but complain about standing in line at WDW (and the lines weren't bad) after having just walked on everything at US/IOA.

Hope this helps.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

The good news, or bad news for some, is the touring plans you have to buy are now rendered useless. There is no quiet time to visit Disney World. We did the opposite of what the touring people recommended last trip and there were virtually no lines where we were.

Interesting how you say something you didn't even use didn't work, I bet it didn't since you didn't use it. I'm glad not following thier plans worked for you but that is very unusual, those who know how to follow the plans and use them as they are intended see great results. Regardless of crowd levels from 'empty' to 'Christmas week' crowds there is tons of data to back up TP's claims of cutting your time in line if you use the plans as designed, so no its not something you buy that is useless and if you tried them out you might find that out for yourself.

 

[nytimez]

hey DisneyFan, another Wisconsinite here! We are going to Universal in a few months and staying at the Royal Pacific. I am rethinking our plans because I am thinking we might get bored with Universal for 10 days. YOu were only there two days and you were bored? Can you give me any details?

I love Universal, but I would never do more than three days there. Two is usually fine, although I haven't been there since Harry Potter opened so I can't say for sure, and a third day is always nice to have to go back and enjoy the things you loved most one more time, no matter what the crowds are.

Also, Universal restaurants are on average much better than Disney's. I'm not comparing the best to the best, but the average to the average -- I know some of Disney's top restaurants are fantastic, but Universal's average is way better that the typical Disney dining experience.

In any case, enjoy your trip.

 

[Minnesota!]

We went in January a few years ago and were actually surprised when we heard people speaking English.

Ha! When we were there earlier this month, I told DH I only heard 2 languages spoken - Portuguese and New Yorker!!! But seriously, the amount of tour groups surprised me - but like you said, when we saw them, we went the other way. Always a mad dash to get somewhere before they did!

We went from the 8 - 17 and it was dead until the 15. I was talking to a few CM's (who...all were above and beyond helpful...not a grouchy one to be found), and they said the week before MLK is always that dead. it was so dead that on 1/9 we got EVERYTHING done at Epcot. Every ride, show, spent time in each pavillion, etc. And that was all before our 6 pm ADR. It was crazy! And on 1/10, MK was the same way. We had most everything done there within about 6 hours. That includes the hour or so we spent playing on Tom Sawyer Island!! It was wonderful!

 

[Snape]

Interesting how you say something you didn't even use didn't work, I bet it didn't since you didn't use it. I'm glad not following thier plans worked for you but that is very unusual, those who know how to follow the plans and use them as they are intended see great results. Regardless of crowd levels from 'empty' to 'Christmas week' crowds there is tons of data to back up TP's claims of cutting your time in line if you use the plans as designed, so no its not something you buy that is useless and if you tried them out you might find that out for yourself.

What exactly do you find interesting? That I don't render touring plans useful? They aren't. I've used them, hence my opinion they don't work.


Oh, and

 

[lakelandgal70]

I was also at Magic Kingdom 1/24 with friends. Didn't realize till we got there some of the local counties schools were out. So that probably added to the crowds. Tons of the tour groups. But for the most part everyone seemed to be behaving.

 

[jackal]

I'm a huge Universal fan and I think 10 days at US/IOA is too much.
I would say with Harry Potter I would plan a split stay of 3-4 days at US/IOA and the remainder at WDW (or somewhere else). If doing a split stay I would do US/IOA at the end. I did it at the beginning for the first split stay and my kids got really used to the unlimited Express Pass offered for on-site guests. They did nothing but complain about standing in line at WDW (and the lines weren't bad) after having just walked on everything at US/IOA.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, Darcy. My only problem with doing US/IOA at the end is that Disney has no discounts at all in the beginning of our trip. THe discounts start the last 4 nights of our trip and it's a substantial amount difference so economically, we would have to disney last.

 

[mrsz06]

I was at Disney from Jan 8 -14 and we didn't have big crowds at all! Yes there were a lot of people there for the marathon but they did not cause the parks to be too crowded at least not in my opinion. I did follow the park calendars and planned our days accordingly and didn't have one problem. However, I did notice on Thursday that the crowds had picked up from earlier in the week but I figured it had something to do with MLK weekend.

We did notice there were a lot of people there that didn't speak english but did not notice this at AKL. I only saw 1 tour group while we were there with a total of maybe 15 people in it.

The CM's we encountered were GREAT no problem with them!

I will admit I had a problem at the parade on Thursday night. My hubby and I were standing in a spot for about 40 minutes behind a couple that were sitting on the curb we figured it would be a great spot since they were sitting. Well 2 minutes before the parade started thier whole extended family comes out of no where and gets in front of us. I got rather heated and my hubby and I had to move b/c I couldn't see anything. We found another spot and as soon as the parade started this Polish guy and his daughter get right in front of me. I was rather MAD b/c we were already in the back row and I'm 5 foot tall so I really couldn't see anything.

 

[kmvand1]

What exactly do you find interesting? That I don't render touring plans useful? They aren't. I've used them, hence my opinion they don't work.


Oh, and

I agree with you! I am glad we cancelled our trip for this week. I think those touring plans, etc. are useless. There is no more "slow time" for Disney period. And one day it may seem empty, the next day it can be a madhouse, you will never know.

 

[nancyc]

FYI - Regarding dates of Brazilian summer and winter breaks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_term#Brazil

 

[holliedd]

FYI - Regarding dates of Brazilian summer and winter breaks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_term#Brazil

Thanks so much for that info...so it sounds like they will be gone for feb?

I hope so..if I have to deal with someone shoving or pushing my 3 year old you are not going to see a pretty mama.