May 9th - 17th A Quick Overview

[libinatorsmom]

WOW - What an exhausting nine days we just had. The Mouse sure did exhaust us. We had a terrific time overall – only one trip to the emergency GOODNESS…

This is a quick overview I will try and find the time to do a more detailed TR but thought some of you going down soon would be interested were were there May 9th - May 17th...

A quick overview: FOOD AS A WHOLE WAS AWESOME, Port Orleans French Quarter was nice and relaxing, Crowds were not bad in our eyes longest wait room our second night there which we thought would be a trip ending event but luckily our daughter popped out of it. And she is ok now… THANK was 20 mins for Splash Mtn… Longest Fast Pass Wait was 2 hours for Animal Kingdom Safari, Having the Dulx Dinning Plan was GREAT we loved the flexibility and used up all our snacks....

Only things I regret is missing illuminations at Epcot – we were just too exhausted to ever make it there… we had it planned several times. I thought Lunch at Cinderellas Royal Table is very over priced and I was not impressed with the food but maybe since the rest of our meals were so incredible it over-shawdowed it… and it was the only place my daughter saw Cinderella… next time we will do park fair instead… My favorite meals were Flying Fish & Artist Point – The service at Artist Point was INCREDIBLE… Narcoosees, Chef Mickeys, Biergarten, the Counter Serivce in Japan, Cape May Clam Bake were good to great (my hubbys fave was Narcoosees – he picked a better meal choice then I did) The Flowers at Epcot were beautiful… we spend a day basically just walking around and looking at them… This was the day we broke down and bought our daughter a stroller… LOL…

 

[duketennisgal]

We were there at the exact same time and our longest wait was for the Safari and was only 20 minutes. I think our longest Fast Pass return time was an hour.

It was a beautiful week weather wise don't you think? Friday was pretty hot but other than that I was so pleased with both the crowds and the weather.

Did you run into any of the middle school groups? Our last two days in the parks (Thursday and Friday) we were running into them everywhere! I didn't really have a problem with them, the chaperones though, I had a big problem with them. We had a group behind us and two of the chaperones (mothers) were talking about how they wanted to drink (beer and wine) desperately but how they couldn't do it b/c the school didn't want the kids seeing them drink. I was extremely annoyed because they were surrounded by the kids and even had two in between them. So the kids can't see you drink but they can listen to you complain for half an hour about wanting badly to have a drink? They also complained the entire time about having to constantly watch the kids, the reasoning was that they were 13 years old, they should be allowed to go off and do whatever they want. No thought to the fact that the school is responsible for these kids therefore they need chaperones with them.

 

[libinatorsmom]

yes I noticed a lot of middle school tee's on people... the last few days... I thought they all seemed well behaved though.... only rude person we ran into the whole trip was with the gal checking people into Cinderellas Table... talk about RUDE... i dont know but it put a bad taste in our mouth...

Weather was great... got hot during the afternoon but nothing unbareable... I was impressed that the crowds were not bad at all

 

[ChrisMouse]

I was there during this same time (10-17) and we had a fantastic time as well. Our wait times were terrific...standby lines for Everest & other thrills were only 20 mins (though we did single rider line on Everest because our kids are too short and were on in 5 mins.)

I concur on the food at CRT lunch. I made the mistake of having the major domo pie and it was terrible. Service was also "snooty", though I guess that goes with the theme Our waiter was SUCH a snob, and I agree..the check in lady was awful. I'll be going on and on about that in my trip report, I am sure. We were there for lunch Thursday. For us, though, the atmosphere was worth it. My daughter was thrilled to eat in the castle. I think next time we'll either do a breakfast or switch and try PF to see the Stepmother and crew.

We also saw the middle school groups at the end of the week, but they didn't bug us much.

Did you guys run into any other DIS'ers? I ran into some in line for Captain Jack at the P&PP on Friday--we had such a nice chat.

It was a GREAT week to be at WDW. I'm still enjoying being home and getting some rest, but in a few days I will be SO SAD it's over!

 

[mathgal]

We also just got back. What a pleasant surprise we had with the weather. Being from Minnesota I was worried we would melt in the heat & humidity, but it was wonderful! I agree that by Friday it was starting to get a bit warm, but hey...that's the day we got Dream Fastpasses in the AK so life was good!

By getting to each park before rope drop we encountered almost no lines. Everyday we would take a break from about 2:00 to 5:00 and would head back to our condo at Windsor Hills for a nap (just DH and I on this trip...no kids.) That gave us our second wind to enjoy the parks till close at night.

My only encounter with extreme rudeness was in line for the Safari first thing Friday morning (before we got the Dream Fastpass.) Some lady (the grandma) and her little granddaughter in a stroller got separated from the rest of the family who had rushed to get ahead in the line. When she caught up with them she was complaining that she couldn't get through because of the crowds. Her daughter yelled at her and told her to push and shove to get through if she had to. At that point this lady tried to get past me in line. I calmly told her that I was ahead of her and she proceeded to tell me that she should have been in front of me. I refused to lose my cool and stepped aside so that she could get by me. The other people in the line all had snide comments to make as she pushed by them as well. I was just glad I wasn't spending the rest of the day with that family...they just seemed like the type of people that weren't happy about anything.

Sunday night we went to Epcot to catch Davey Jones' last show at 8:15. We messed around doing some rides in Future World so we didn't get to the theater until 8:05 so I assumed we wouldn't get a seat. What a surprise to find that the theater was only about 1/3 full at that time...and it never did fill up during the show. DH hated Davey Jones, but I thought it was fun to see one of the Monkees (OK...I'm 52 years old but I still thought it was neat!)

Overall it was a great week and we did all that we had planned and more! It had been 8 years since our last visit so seeing all of the new attractions was fun.

 

[libinatorsmom]

Interesting we werent the only ones with a bad castle lunch experience... if dd4 wasnt so excited about it - and happy I would have been really upset about the situation... I too had the d-pie and it was awful and the desert was the worst i had the whole trip... (buckle) I was very disapointed in it... but dd4 got to see cindy so it was worth it i suppose...

We saw a lot of characters... lots of autographs (so I think anyways) we really enjoyed Epcot and Studios... mk was always the busiest park...

We didnt have a problem with love bugs... I was actually surprised at the lack of bugs... in iowa we have BUGS... lol...

Only dreams we got were the ones we created ourselves... I am thankful for the boards I was able to use a lot of what I learned to have a great trip...

 

[tinkntraining]

We just got back, too! What a wonderful week! The weather was beautiful (felt a little hot one day at Epcot). The flowers were gorgeous, the lovebugs were almost gone (I only saw a few). I was very impressed by the bus transportation. I had prepared myself for long waits in line, but thankfully, that did not happen. The food was wonderful and WAY too much, even on just the regular dining plan. We loved Narcooses, Crystal Palace was great. Crab legs at Coral Reef were delicious, but a little hard to get out of the shells, since they cut them open. Our diver arrived right on time and the girls were so surprised! Really enjoyed our steak at Tony's (the service was incredible) and will definitely go back to Teppan Edo again. The crowds were not bad at all, except for Saturday at the Magic Kingdom. Still, even then the stand-by line was only 50 minutes for that. We were behind a group of middle-school cheerleaders who wanted us to learn all their cheers whether we wanted to or not (that was a little monotonous) but was really impressed by the kindness of the CMs and the guests. Loved, loved, loved Fantasmic and Wishes -- could have done without Stitch's Great Escape -- I'm still smelling that chili dog burp Got up the nerve to try Mission Space Orange and soooo glad we did! It turned out to be our favorite ride, along with RNR coaster. Wish I would have taken a pedometer -- I'm sure we walked at least 8-10 miles per day for 7 days straight. Loved my crocs and moisture-wick socks, but nothing prepared me for the way my ankles would swell up like balloons. Next time, I'll walk more before our trip to prepare my feet. Ran into a couple of DISers and that was cool. Loved the secret about watching Wishes under Tinkerbell's line on the bridge to Tomorrowland, and SpectroMagic from Liberty Square near the boat. The girls loved handing out glow necklaces and bracelets before the fireworks. We learned that a little kindness goes a long, long way........
We had so many magical moments -- I can't imagine ever having a better week, unless of course, we had been lucky enough to win the night in the castle!
Now we start saving to go back!

 

[jordancej]

I too was there from the 10-17th... not sure i'll ever go in May again...too many people for me... i usually go at Halloween or the first few weeks of Dec, so say the least i'm spoiled on low crowds... plus it was just way to hot... total sweatfest!!! I WAS surprised on the low wait times... guess people werent riding the rides.... I was able to ride Toy Story 5 times in a row using the single rider line on Sat the 17th! Was super excited to ride it!!! I had been checkin all week, and it had been closed... so i got super lucky!! Other than that i had a great trip!!! Oh, and I also won ears from the Dream Team!!!

Never ran into any disers, i wore my lgmh's all week...

OH yea!!! the rudeness i witnessed... is what is this new thing about people from behind your reaching around and putting their cameras in your face so that they can get front row pics??? Cant say i've ever seen it before.... luckily the last time it happened, it personally didnt happen to me, but it did for the people in front of me, we were at the P&P Party parade....cant believe they didnt say anything... but i would of!!!

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

... only rude person we ran into the whole trip was with the gal checking people into Cinderellas Table... talk about RUDE... i dont know but it put a bad taste in our mouth...

Disney likes to hear comments positive and negative. I sent a positive email to them regarding a CM from our trip a few weeks ago. If you and others felt the CM at CRT could have been more pleasant make sure to let Disney know.

OH yea!!! the rudeness i witnessed... is what is this new thing about people from behind your reaching around and putting their cameras in your face so that they can get front row pics??? Cant say i've ever seen it before.... luckily the last time it happened, it personally didnt happen to me, but it did for the people in front of me, we were at the P&P Party parade....cant believe they didnt say anything... but i would of!!!

I had this happen to me a few weeks ago at DHS. We were at WDW the last week of April/first week of May. We attended the very "secret" Disney Channel Games parade at DHS. When the Jonas Brothers were coming down the street, a woman in her fifties was leaning over my DS2's stroller with her camera right in my face. I repeatedly told her she was squishing and hurting my son and to stop putting her camera in front of my face. She acted like she didn't speak English and did it a few more times before I pushed DS2's stroller back into her. She was pushing and hurting him. So, I just honestly got upset and wanted her to go away. She should have been embarressed but gave me a look and then walked off. What is wrong with people?????? She was very rude and it didn't seem to phase her one bit. Another things is that I need my personal space. Another pet peeve from our last trip was when I was in line for rides and people were right on my heels. Like they were going to get to the ride faster. I would take a step back or wait for the people in front of me to get about four steps in front of me. That drove them crazy. As much as other countries complain about us rude Americans, they need to check themselves. I ran into many friendly Americans not hesitating to strike up a conversation in line. I will give the Brits props. We've met many, many friendly Brits.

- Jennifer

 

[USCGamecocks]

OH yea!!! the rudeness i witnessed... is what is this new thing about people from behind your reaching around and putting their cameras in your face so that they can get front row pics??? Cant say i've ever seen it before.... luckily the last time it happened, it personally didnt happen to me, but it did for the people in front of me, we were at the P&P Party parade....cant believe they didnt say anything... but i would of!!!

Wow. I cannot believe people would think it ok to stick a camera around someone else to take a picture. Maybe they asked (one would sure hope) but if not, that is terrible. I think if someone tried to reach around me, it would startle me to the point I knock the camera right out of their hand.

 

[catsrule]

LOL! I was just there for those exact same dates.

 

[poteat_3177]

WE JUST GOT BACK AS WELL!! we were at pop from may 10-17th, It just makes me want to cry that our trip is already over and we are now so far away from the disney magic!! I'll be doing a trip report soon! the weather and the lines were perfect! our longest wait was almost an hour for the safari, it was after they stopped passing out fastpasses- I didn't know they limited fastpasses. we also won ears from the dreamteam - it was on monday at magic kingdom after we got off of tom sawyers island. we were excited!

 

[3mickeymom]

We usually go at the end of June /July so we thought the crowds were light. You could actually see the sidewalk. We thought the weather was PERFECT. No afternoon thunderstorms!!! Hope everyone had a wonderful time. We did!!

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

I too was there from the 10-17th... not sure i'll ever go in May again...too many people for me... i usually go at Halloween or the first few weeks of Dec, so say the least i'm spoiled on low crowds... plus it was just way to hot... total sweatfest!!!

Uh-oh!! You're from Texas, and you thought it was too hot? We've had some 95+ days this week in OK. I thought we'd be ok with the heat. Hmmm... Time to get those mister fans!!

WOW - What an exhausting nine days we just had. The Mouse sure did exhaust us. We had a terrific time overall – only one trip to the emergency GOODNESS…

This is a quick overview I will try and find the time to do a more detailed TR but thought some of you going down soon would be interested were were there May 9th - May 17th...

A quick overview: FOOD AS A WHOLE WAS AWESOME, Port Orleans French Quarter was nice and relaxing, Crowds were not bad in our eyes longest wait room our second night there which we thought would be a trip ending event but luckily our daughter popped out of it. And she is ok now… THANK was 20 mins for Splash Mtn… Longest Fast Pass Wait was 2 hours for Animal Kingdom Safari, Having the Dulx Dinning Plan was GREAT we loved the flexibility and used up all our snacks....

Only things I regret is missing illuminations at Epcot – we were just too exhausted to ever make it there… we had it planned several times. I thought Lunch at Cinderellas Royal Table is very over priced and I was not impressed with the food but maybe since the rest of our meals were so incredible it over-shawdowed it… and it was the only place my daughter saw Cinderella… next time we will do park fair instead… My favorite meals were Flying Fish & Artist Point – The service at Artist Point was INCREDIBLE… Narcoosees, Chef Mickeys, Biergarten, the Counter Serivce in Japan, Cape May Clam Bake were good to great (my hubbys fave was Narcoosees – he picked a better meal choice then I did) The Flowers at Epcot were beautiful… we spend a day basically just walking around and looking at them… This was the day we broke down and bought our daughter a stroller… LOL…

We're sending my grandparents to Artist Point for their anniversary while the rest of us are at the P&PP on the 31st. If you don't mind me asking, about what did you spend on your meal? We're sending them with a gift card, and I am wondering how much to put on it. Dinner, possibly wine, for two?

 

[jordancej]

I know right!!! Yes, mister fans were well in use this week, along with the sale of lots of water and ice cream!!! I mean its wasnt like a scorcher like it does down here in the Houston area... but yea, it was a change of clothes twice a day... guess i rather prefer Disney in the cooler months.... my ideal weather is about 70-75 during the day, instead of the 90+ degrees it was this past week....

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

I know right!!! Yes, mister fans were well in use this week, along with the sale of lots of water and ice cream!!! I mean its wasnt like a scorcher like it does down here in the Houston area... but yea, it was a change of clothes twice a day... guess i rather prefer Disney in the cooler months.... my ideal weather is about 70-75 during the day, instead of the 90+ degrees it was this past week....

Hmm...I might need a bigger suitcase.

 

[jordancej]

Oh your right!! one tip i found out the hard way.... leave the blue jean shorts at home!!! hehe.... Luckily i brought along alot of my Nike workout shorts, they are mainly a silky nylon, and they ended up working perfectly!!

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

Oh your right!! one tip i found out the hard way.... leave the blue jean shorts at home!!! hehe.... Luckily i brought along alot of my Nike workout shorts, they are mainly a silky nylon, and they ended up working perfectly!!

Oh man! I just bought some super cute denim bermudas!! Guess I'll have to go shopping again. Oh, darn.