9/8/24 trip: just back and some questions / observations

[BusterBluth]

We had a great visit to WDW this past week but wanted to share some observations and gather some answers to questions we came away with:

1) Where's all the Disney buses? In past trips, the roads in WDW were full of Disney buses. My wife and I both remarked on the notable reduction in their number this time. Is this because of the gondola? If so, I imagine they'll be expanding the Skyliner to more resorts. And, if that happens, I wonder if the monorail's days are numbered.

2) Wow, the humidity was awful. Wicking clothing, especially socks, saved us. Another product, some kind of 2nd skin spray - I forget the name - helped with blisters about to appear. I'd love to visit during a cooler period of the year, but per Touring Plan's crowd calendar, the slowest weeks now are the first 2 or 3 weeks in Sept. On the drive back home, we stopped for the night only 3 hours north of Kissimmee, just across the state line. I was amazed at how different the air felt, from only a distance of a 3 hour drive.

3) I think all the parks are letting folks inside prior to opening now, which is great. I knew MK had been doing this since they finished expanding the castle hub years ago, but was surprised to see it in Epcot as well. Back in the day, you didn't get past that turnstile until it was exactly opening time. Can someone confirm that HS and AK do the same? It just goes to show, you gotta get there early. It pays to get done with security and ticketing, and to get several feet into the parks prior to opening.

4) On our first day, we were in MK, and we were getting off Buzz, when we came across a cast member in Fantasyland garb. Are they not using the utilidors as much nowadays?

5) We didn't get to ride Tron; we didn't get to ride Guardians. I was too slow getting to the VQ. Oh well, they'll be there next time.

6) Has Galaxy Edge lost its prior intense popularity? Last week, on our HS day, the posted waits on either ride never topped an hour. I skipped Fantasmic and about 30 mins before that show started, both were walk-ons. I couldn't believe it! And, are they ever going to fix the cannons so they rock back & forth again on Rise? We also only saw the Kylo in the TIE Interceptor screen; isn't that a substitute for another animatronic?

7) Again, on Rise, can't the Imperial captains be a little ruder? I loved it when they hammed things up. Yeah, it's a fine line, when dealing with the public. But, these folks were great.

8) Every cast member we interacted with was superb. Every. Single. One. Disney, you need to pay your folks more.

9) Big complaint about the Food & Wine. I wanted to try several more booths; after about 3, I was satiated and didn't want to think about food anymore. Make sure to grab the Toscani in Italy.

I hope I'm putting this in the correct forum; I had put this someplace else and it got deleted. Apologies for the mis-filing!

 

[Tina1]

Thank you for the reviews

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We didn't get to ride Tron

I was too slow getting to the VQ. Oh well, they'll be there next time

Just to give some information Tron went to Standby as opposed to VQ on September 9th. You said your trip was "this past week" which would make me think it was covering the 9th but maybe not.

Single Pass Lightning Lane is still available with Tron, they just removed the VQ.

 

[loves to dive]

1) Where's all the Disney buses? In past trips, the roads in WDW were full of Disney buses. My wife and I both remarked on the notable reduction in their number this time. Is this because of the gondola? If so, I imagine they'll be expanding the Skyliner to more resorts. And, if that happens, I wonder if the monorail's days are numbered

I was there last week as well and didn't notice this but to be honest, I was riding the WDW buses any time I was on the road and am not really tall enough to see out the windows to notice if there were more or less buses on the road. I know that when I was waiting for a bus at any of the parks I never had longer than a 10 min. wait so I'm going to assume the parks/locations that only have bus transportation have not changed.

2) Wow, the humidity was awful. Wicking clothing, especially socks, saved us. Another product, some kind of 2nd skin spray - I forget the name - helped with blisters about to appear. I'd love to visit during a cooler period of the year, but per Touring Plan's crowd calendar, the slowest weeks now are the first 2 or 3 weeks in Sept. On the drive back home, we stopped for the night only 3 hours north of Kissimmee, just across the state line. I was amazed at how different the air felt, from only a distance of a 3 hour drive.

LoL, I'm from Georgia and even though we are pretty humid as well, I notice the difference when at WDW. I was sopping wet every day after about 2 hours walking around and that doesn't happen at home, even in 90+ degree temp. I use a anti-chaffing stick on the top and sides of my feet no matter what shoe I'm wearing but apply extra if I'm wearing sandals.

3) I think all the parks are letting folks inside prior to opening now, which is great. I knew MK had been doing this since they finished expanding the castle hub years ago, but was surprised to see it in Epcot as well. Back in the day, you didn't get past that turnstile until it was exactly opening time. Can someone confirm that HS and AK do the same? It just goes to show, you gotta get there early. It pays to get done with security and ticketing, and to get several feet into the parks prior to opening.

Usually if I'm at either of those parks close to rope drop it's during early entry for resort guests. I can say that during the EE time frame AK will let people past the turn stiles but have CM's posted at spots pretty close to the turnstiles checking MBs for EE people. At HS I noticed during EE that you could get past security and in the area of the ticket booths but not past the ticket booths if you didn't have EE.

4) On our first day, we were in MK, and we were getting off Buzz, when we came across a cast member in Fantasyland garb. Are they not using the utilidors as much nowadays?

The only time I've noticed CM's dressed in costumes not of the land they are in is during parades, then they pull from different lands for crowd control. Can't say I've noticed them otherwise.

5) We didn't get to ride Tron; we didn't get to ride Guardians. I was too slow getting to the VQ. Oh well, they'll be there next time.

I left the day Tron went to stand by but got into the VQ pretty easy the morning I tried, I was actually something like BG 19, which boarded pretty early. I missed GoTG first morning I tried because I forgot about it until 7 am on the nose and that was too late. The second morning I tried it, I got it but the BG was something like 197 and didn't get called until around 3 pm. I often forget about the VQs but have had luck on both of them at the 1 pm drop. You do have to be in the park for that one.

6) Has Galaxy Edge lost its prior intense popularity? Last week, on our HS day, the posted waits on either ride never topped an hour. I skipped Fantasmic and about 30 mins before that show started, both were walk-ons. I couldn't believe it! And, are they ever going to fix the cannons so they rock back & forth again on Rise? We also only saw the Kylo in the TIE Interceptor screen; isn't that a substitute for another animatronic?

Any rides in both MK and HS tend to be quicker to get on right before or during the night time shows. I didn't try to ride MF but I rode Rise one evening around 7 or so and it was about a 30 min. wait. Just depends on the night/month/week. I don't think the cannons will ever be fixed, it's a shame because that scene makes more sense when they moved. They often have to do the B scenes with the animatronics on that ride, it breaks a lot. About the CM's being rude on that ride, I actually like that they have toned that down. The first time I rode that ride and they were really doing the whole thing, it was a little difficult to understand what they wanted. It might be an age thing or it might be a southern thing but I don't need to be yelled/fussed at by someone or rushed to enjoy anything (one of the reasons I also don't eat at 50s Prime Time, that and it's too heavy food).

8) Every cast member we interacted with was superb. Every. Single. One. Disney, you need to pay your folks more.

9) Big complaint about the Food & Wine. I wanted to try several more booths; after about 3, I was satiated and didn't want to think about food anymore. Make sure to grab the Toscani in Italy.

I agree about the CM's they were really doing a good job. It was a real cluster the night I went to Fantasmic with some poor woman trying to get her son who was in a mobility device in the right spot. The whole fill in all the space thing just causes a lot of pushing and shoving. That combined with the lack of information as to where she was supposed to take him caused her to attempt to get him to drive into a regular handicapped row, which obviously didn't work. He got stuck, some people were trying to hold back the crowd so he could get out, she was frustrated and when the CM came over an told her that wasn't the right place she went off on the poor girl. I get the Mom's frustration but it wasn't that CM's fault, the CM held it all in and got the situation under control. Another family decided they had picked the perfect spot for their child to see everything, which was smack dab in the middle of a row instead of moving all the way down. The CM came over and told them they had to scoot down, the Mom was having none of it because that was where her child could see the best. Poor CM told her 3 times she had to move down and she kept saying nope. Finally, CM had to say I'm sorry if you aren't going to move you are going to have to leave, to which Dad finally got Mom to move. I really felt sorry for the poor CM.

I usually can only eat at 2 food booths before getting full. Thankfully, I am an AP holder and stay at one of the Epcot resorts so I just pop over there every day and try a booth or two.