Animal Kingdom on May 1, '05 - no crowds MK too!

[netposer]

Took the family to AK yesterday and it was great. No waits and no lines on any of the rides.

We arrived at the park 20 mins before opening and we had to wait for about 10 mins in the ticket insert line, then we waited about 10 mins in the Oasis.

We went to Dinoland first and there was hardly anyone there. We walked right on to "Dinasaur" (5-10 mins). We hung out at Dinoland and rode a couple of rides then headed for "It's tough to be a bug" and we basically walked right in (5 min wait). After that we went to the Kilimangaro Safari and the wait time was 5 mins.

Throughout the day it never got real crowded. Around 1:45 we went to Kali River Rapids and it said "20 min wait" but we kept walking and walking almost to where you load before we stopped. I think it really didn't even take 10 minutes to get on. When we were leaving the ride I saw a few people going to ride again.

It was the best AK experience we've had in 4 years. It was cloudy all day and in the 80's.

Getting ready to walk out the door to the MK today

I'll post some photos of the new Everest on Tuesday (our day of rest).

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Have a great day!! Let us know how the MK crowds are later, would you? Thanks!

 

[jiggerj]

Awesome! Thank you for the update! Hope the crowds are in your favor for MK today too- Enjoy!

 

[Christine]

I'm so jealous. My favorite time to go is May. I'm going in June and I seriously doubt I will have your crowd levels...

 

[netposer]

Have a great day!! Let us know how the MK crowds are later, would you? Thanks!

Arrived at MK about 20 minutes before opening. At 8:55 they let everyone in and we headed straight for Space Mountain and it took about 5 minutes from the time we walked in the building to the time we were in our car.

Headed over to Lilo and Stich and it was about a 10 min wait. After that we headed to Buzz Lightyear and even though the time said "15" it really took less than 10.

Most of the other rides like Pooh and Snow white were less than 15 mins. Mickey's Philharmagic was only half-full-which was nice but we still had to wait about 15 minutes for the previous show to finish.

Around noon most of the waits were hovering around 25-30 minutes or less. The Tea Cup ride said "25" but it took about 15 minutes.

It doesn't seem that crowded today (May 2) and I'm just taking a break for lunch and a dip in the pool.

We will head back around 4ish and hit the other side of the park, like Adventureland and Frontierland. That'll give us 5-6 hours more of MK.

From the looks of it I don't see the late afternoon/evening to be that crowded. I doubt most of the younger kids can hang from 8 am to 10 pm.

I'm off to the pool.

 

[MsSpinShady]

Thanks for posting during your trip! I'm living vicariously through you this week (btw, which resort are we staying at?).

Hope the rest of your trip goes well, I'll keep checking back for updates so I know what we're doing

MsSpinShady

 

[netposer]

Thanks for posting during your trip! I'm living vicariously through you this week (btw, which resort are we staying at?).

Hope the rest of your trip goes well, I'll keep checking back for updates so I know what we're doing

MsSpinShady

Not at a Disney Resort. We are staying at Westgate just a few miles away on 192. I takes about 10 minutes or less from our door to Disney parking.

I only wish I had broadband in the room so I could post photos. Next year we'll be in a brand new unit with broadband--w00t.

We are taking Tuesday off so I'll post some photos. I have a few of the in-progess Everest ride at AK.

We are 30 minutes away from heading back to MK (leaving at 4 pm).

 

[Mom2Ashli]

Wow. I wonder if everyone is waiting until after the start of the Happiest Celebration (May 5th) to hit the parks. Glad you are having a great time.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Glad to hear the crowds aren't bad. A friend of mine was there about a week ago and she complained she was only able to do two rides at MK in 6 hrs! She had a baby with her so maybe that was the problem...

Enjoy the rest of your trip!!

 

[dcibrando]

I honestly think it's due to all the spring breakers... sure the happiest celebration will attract some guests, but most people that go to disney world go when they want to go, not just because of a celebration. People aren't going to go in may when it last over a year long in my opinion...and there are a lot of schools in session throughout may still.

 

[Disney-Kim]

Looking forward to hearing how the night crowds at MK were

 

[netposer]

Looking forward to hearing how the night crowds at MK were

Finally got a chance to sit down at my laptop and reply rather than transfer all my photos and burn them to CD.

MK at night (May 2, 2005).

We walked parked our van, jumped on the tram, and walked to the ferry. We only waited about 10 minutes for the next ferry. We jumped on the train and headed for Frontierland. First ride, Big Thunder Mt. RR. Standby time said 25 minutes but I timed it and only took 15 to get in our car. From there we headed to the Haunted Mansion and walked right in (total wait time was less than 5 mins). You have to congregate in those two rooms so that's what takes up the time.

After the HM we headed for the Jungle Cruise and the wait was 20 mins. After that we watched the new Cinderellabration show at the castle. Then we headed for Pirates of the Caribbean and only waited about 10-15 minutes.

After that we headed back to the HM at the request of my 6 yr. old daughter.

We headed to Mickey's ToonTown and noticed it was quite crowded in Fantasyland and I noticed Poo's ride had a 50 minute wait whereas around 10 am this morning it was less than 10.

We toured Mickey's and Minnie's houses than went to "It's a Small World" and it had about a 20 minute wait but by the time we got in our boat I noticed the line was about half as long as when we started.

After that we headed back to Frontieland and got some ice cream and settled down under the rope for the parade (this was around 8:30). It's better to find a spot on the parad route in Frontierland then on Main Street only because you don't have to get there so early.

After the parad we headed to the ferry dock, and boarded the ferry about 10:05. We saw almost the entire fireworks show from the top deck of the ferry. At one point I think the ferry stopped to let us enjoy the show. I'm not sure why we stopped but it was nice.

Overall I'd have to say it's our best MK experience since we started going in 2002 (this is our 4th time since). The weather was amazing for May. Seemed it was in the low 70's when the sun went down and very little humidity.

I'll post a photo album when we get back to NC on Friday. I took over 650 photos on Sunday (AK) and Monday (MK)--yikes!

 

[newscick27]

Thank You!!! Thank You!!!
This is such good news, to hear that the crowds weren't all that bad. We leave on Saturday and I have been worried about the waits after reading the boards. I know the weekends at MK will be crowded, but Im hoping they thin out after that!!