That green wall was no biggie for us either. My husband even commented about the wall & postings... when we arrived on Thursday the 13th it was BEAUTIFUL!! Mid to upper 70's, light breeze, sunshine, and NO CROWDS!
We arrived about 12:30pm, got to the Contempary, checked in, changed clothes, had a late lunch, then headed over to MGM. We had No Waits! The longest thing we waited for was to see Jo Jo & Golith... maybe 15-20 minutes. But believe it or not NO Wait to see Mickey! We walked right in to see the the big mouse himself without a single person in front of us! A CM standing there told me it had been like that all week! I did not go in because our 1 year old daughter was asleep in her stroller & they would not let me push it inside (that is a whole other board!) so I waited until my 2 older daughters & husband came out, then the baby woke up, so I deceided to take he in to see Mickey and then there were only 2 people in front of me plus a cast change, so I waited like 5 minutes, maybe. My husband waited about 10-15 minutes for Tower of Terror.
Now I do have to say that we were there on a Magical Gatherings trip with my Husband's family. They missed their flight (they were suppose to be on the same flight as us, but were late... as usual! LOL) and didn't get there until 9 hours later. My sister in law always says that she turns the Florida weather cold... and boy did it ever get cold!
On Friday, we went to MK. It was still warm enough to wear shorts (I live in coastal NC & temps are close to Orlando's), but it was raining. We put on rainjackets & went anyway... we were so excited to be there. It was uncrowed. We practically walked on to everything! If we had to wait, it was on 10-15 minutes. (Oh, yeah, we had to wait 25 minutes to see Ariel in her Grotto. I asked a CM, if we should get in line now or come back, she said "go now, it is rarely this short of a wait." So my husband took our older girls while I pushed the sleeping infant around, she woke up a few minutes later, she & I rode Pooh, then walked back over to Ariel's grotto & still had to wait a few minutes for the to finish! Minimal wait for Pooh!) But as soon as the rain let up after lunch a sea of people started coming up Main Street. If you don't mind getting wet & it is not frigid out, I highly recommend staying/going in the rain. It was virtually uncrowded!
By Saturday, it was cold. But getting busier... we were there when it was a long weekend (Martin Luther King Weekend.) Saturday night after dinner, and getting the kids in bed, we asked my mother in law if she would keep an eye on the kids so my husband & I could go to SpectroMagic. She said "sure," so we went to the 11:00pm parade... we walked up to Frontierland, were able to get a couple of rocking chairs, and see the parade from a porch without a single person in front of us!! If you have not seen SpectroMagic, go see it!! It is FABULOUS! (My favorite by far!) By Sunday, it was freezing! And busier! We were at MGM again. It was bitter cold with the wind chill. By the afternoon, the sun broke through & the wind stopped howling. By Monday, still cold & busy. We went to Epcot, we left early (by 3:00, because by 5 year old, slipped of a chair at the mexican restaurant in Epcot and smacked her head on the concrete. She was hurt from the hard fall, so we called it a day)... but by Tuesday, it was not as busy. We went to Epcot (again), it was a little warmer. We left Epcot around 5:30 or 6:00. While on the monorail my husband said, "Let's get off here (at the Magic Kingdom)... the fireworks will be soon." So we got off looking for dinner & found out it was Extra Magic Hours! Boy, we had a blast! Saw the fireworks & rode rides with no lines again!
And when I say busier, don't take it the wrong way, I am sure for most "Busy" days at the park, a 30-45 minute stand-by wait is nothing, but it was busier than when we got there. I would rather dress in lots of layers & gloves with no wait, than deal with the heat & long waits! Same for Wednesday & the morning of Thursday (we left Thursday afternoon, the 20th.)
So, that was my first WDW experience in over 20 years... I am no expert, but just thought I would share my trip with those planning for 2006! January seems like a great time to go... I'll do it again, but I'll pack more cold weather clothes (I only packed a few... even though I watched the weather like crazy... it was not suppose to so cold, for so many days!! LOL)
Thanks!
Tiffany
