Back on 10/9- the Good, the Bad & the Ugly

[Alice28]

Just got back last night- will post food reviews on restaurant board later and my whole trip report as well.

The Good- Mickey's Philharmagic was AWESOME, we saw it twice and just loved it. If you like the music of the recent Disney classics (Lion King, Beauty & the Beast, Little Mermaid) you're going to love it. No wait when we saw it.

Kona Cafe- first time we ate here and we liked it so much we went back again! yummy!

Dole Whips- need I say more?

The Bad- for me the weather was too hot. Quite humid and sticky most days, but it only rained once.

The Ugly- WARNING to you folks who are headed to WDW in the next few weeks....the crowds are getting HUGE! This is my third time to the world, the first time in mid- Jan, the second time in early March, and this is the thirds and the crowds were super duper heavy every day except our first day at Epcot, which was last Saturday. It took us 25 minutes just to get in the GATE at Animal Kingdom on Sunday; and we got there after they opened the park- 9:10. Monday we went to the MK and by 2:00 there were huge waits for almost all rides- even Small World was 30 minutes! Peter Pan was 90 and the FP time was way later. If you can't get to the parks when they open, you are going to be very disappointed- I would say get there at least 15-20 minutes before opening time and really have a plan. And I would like to add that I thought it was pretty lame that there were such HUGE crowds and they still didn't open Adventureland until 10:00! Even on EE day (we went yesterday- were at the gates at 7:30!), they don't open Adventureland til 10- I thought they would have bumped it back to 9 on those days since there are already so many people touring the park.

All and all it was still great and we were able to see just about everything we wanted to--just be prepared to boogie early in the AM in order to ride the rides!

 

[MinnieGi]

Wow Alice, things have changed crowd wise quite a bit since last week. I was reading so many reports of empty parks and now you're back from the second week and its much more packed. We go the last week in October and will be prepared for the crowds. Thanks for the report!

 

[Piglet]

Do you think it is getting crowded because of the Holiday on Monday??

I hope so - we are heading down the last week of October also.

Melinda

 

[beatnik]

We are back from a two week trip that ended Oct 5. Had a great time, light crowds and so forth, but we have an "ugly" share: lots of broken down rides when we were there:

Sept 24 Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh broken down (not all day but when it was up and running lines were too long for us)

Sept 24 Mickey's Philharmagic stopped running with us in it. Never got back to it that day. (Attraction was not yet officially open, so we will have to spot Disney this one).

Sept 24 Splash Mountain broken down. Up and running an hour later, at which time we were able to ride.

Sept 26 Mission Space broken down. Up and running 2 hours later. Another ride not officially open, so I guess we have to spot Disney this one too.

Sept 26 Universe of Energy broken down. Went back 45 minutes later-- still broken down. Never got back to it again that day.

Sept 26 TestTrack broke down with us in in for about 5-10 minutes.

Oct 3 Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh broken down (during Halloween Party). Up and running later but line was about 30-40 minutes-- too long for us to wait during the party.

We never did get back to ride the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, but eventually rode everything else. Fortunately lines were pretty non-existant when we were there, so all these breakdowns did not crimp our style too much and we still had a really good time.

Beatnik

PS As to the Animal Kingdom opening, I will quote you the note I made in my PDA during our visit on Sept 27, 2003: "Arrived 8:50 am. Two serious thumbs down on opening procedure. Took 20 minutes to get thru the gates. There was a mob and chaos. Started the day sorry that I came. Almost left." We had a fine time the rest of the day, and I understand there is soon to be a new (and much-needed) opening procedure at AK, but we came very close to just bagging it and doing something else that day.

 

[DebbieB]

We were there Oct 1 to 6 and didn't run into many crowds.

Oct 1 - Wed - did not go to a park

Oct 2 - Thurs - went to outlets in the morning and MGM in the late afternoon. RnR was walk-on. ToT was only 1 side open, line was about 30-40 min, did not ride.

Oct 3 - Fri - MK - everything was less than 15 min.

Oct 4 - Sat - Epcot in the morning/afternoon - crowds not bad, MK in the evening for Spectro, it was crowded (as always)

Oct 5 - Sun - We arrived at AK around 11:00. No problem getting in. Safari was about 30 min, we used fastpass. Did MNSSHP at night, lines short.

Oct 6 - Mon - We just went to Downtown Disney

 

[shelleyz]

Oh no, We leave next Saturday for our first trip, getting worried about the crowds. Picked October cause heard the crowds arent too bad but seems like that has changed.

 

[ragu]

Could it be the fairytale package is the reason for the HUGE spike in attendance?

What about schools down south? Are they on a break now? I'm just curious and nervous that it will be packed when we head down Nov 14th-21st.

 

[Alice28]

I agree- on Oct 4, Epcot was empty. We walked on Mission Space at around 9:30 or so; it was interesting, pretty intense, but not the kind of thrill ride I would want to do over and over. And I enjoy thrill rides as well.

Part of the crowds of Tuesday/Wednesday (we went to Seaworld this day so I don't know how the Disney park crowds were, although it was quite crowded at Dtd in the evening, but that's normal) & Thursday were definitely due to press and travel agents all being there for the preview they showed to them...we were staying at the Contemporary and the big thing that was going on in their convention space was the travel agents all getting special passes to go see Philharmagic and the new Wishes show....which would have to be in the "bad" catagory for us......we didn't ever actually catch the show as our rooms didn't face the fireworks, but at 11:00 every night Sunday/Monday/Tuesday night they shot off fireworks and it is a LONG show!!!We would just be drifting off and BOOM!!! I'm sure it's a good show tho.

 

[n2mm]

We were expecting this and now you confirmed it. We go every Oct., but with the success of the FTP we knew that everything has changed. I've posted many times about my recent September trip and my conversation with my friend who works at Dixie Landing/POR. She said that her resort was at 100% capacity for ALL of October and the CMs are going to be on a mandatory 6 day work week (she not happy about that). So I've been trying to pass the word around. I do get a little tire of folks posting to people going soon and saying "my trip last year...or two years ago...", I have to say that ALL bets are off this year. Disney has never done such a great package as the FTP and fear that it may be repeated because of its success. We were there for 11 days in July and noticed the heavier than usual crowds (though July is pretty crowded anyway). Then we were there in September, and was doeable most days, but the weekends were bad. I've been in September, but the increased attendance showed. So as I expected, October will be packed. Anyway we will still be there for our last trip this year (only 4 this year because we were cutting back). We'll be there 10 days, and don't look forward to the crowds, but love WDW in October. We learned in July and September to comletely avoid EE. In the past we always attended EE mornings at MK and AK and tried it since the beginning of the FTP and NO more for us. It was just plain ugly. Just think, with these crowds and BB is closing on the 25th for refurbishing, TL will be packed the last week of October and so on. Thanks to the OP for posting the ugly, but we're not surprised.

 

[Pammy_from_WI]

We got there last Wed. and until Sat. all the rides, including Mission Space and Test Track were walk ons, we didn't wait once. Then on Sat it went from bad to terrible. On Oct. 3 for the party it was like we had the park to ourself. When we went on the 5th it was busy, but still not terrible. AKL was a ghost town, I think us and a few other families were the only ones there. LOL

I spoke with several CMs and with the press events, there are 4 VERY LARGE conventions going on this week/weekend, several schools started their 2 week fall breaks this past Mon. and other things like the FP packages, they are running at almost 100% booking rates. Our driver said this past Wed. he did 8 runs from the airport in just that one day and he said last year and the year before he would be lucky to get 1 run on a Wed. Wed. night the AKL was 100% booked, you couldn't get a room there that night if we begged and pleaded. Oh and the Wayne Brady show was down there this week and that was some of the crowd factor.

The crowds were very simular to summer crowds, so this time I was glad to be leaving WDW, yes, I did say that! LOL So our trip started out great and by the end I was glad to be outta there!!

Good luck to all that are heading down this week, just prepare for the crowds! And no need to warm clothes, it's very warm and even at night there was no need for jackets.

I'll be doing a report in a couple of days.

Pammy

 

[polkadotminnie]

We were there Sunday - Thursday. The only Disney thing we attended was MNSSHP on Oct. 5. It was not crowded at all. We stayed at Hard Rock thinking we would go to IOA again, but it was hot so the pool beckoned us instead. We also did Seaworld and Busch Gardens. There were minimal waits for rides. Busch Gardens is a traffic nightmare and chaos entering the gate, but after that it is a nice park. We talked to some friends who had been to MK and MGM and said it was extremely crowded (75 minute wait on TOT). Many Alabama schools are on fall break this week and next.

 

[Alice28]

ToT was esp crowded, as they only had half the elevators running- the rest were down for rehab. FP's ran out very early. We were lucky to ride it one- we went for EE and 10 minutes (I'm serious) into EE the line wait was already 60 minutes. insanity. We got a FP and went on RnRC (20 minute wait) and did Walt Disney One Man's Dream and got FP's for Millionaire and went back to the Tower and had a GREAT drop sequence- over and over and over- it was awesome! For our only ride on the tower, it was great. At Millionaire- both people in the hot seat were from Alabama (going along with Alabama's break time mentioned by a previous poster) AND they were father and son! It was strange and I was a little bummed cause I was #4 on the leader board--I wished I could have been in the hot seat!

 

[Alice28]

I meant to add this as well----we were talking with some people behind us yesterday (!-Gosh was it really yesterday I was at the MK) in line waiting for the gates to open and we asked them if they went on ToT (they said they had gone to MGM the day before)- they said no because the wait time was two hours and the FP time was 40 minutes!!!!!! And there were no more FP's anyway...I guess the ride broke down so it completely backed up both lines. Nuts! When we were on Buzz yesterday, we had a FP and still waited a good 10-15 minutes, and while we were on the ride it stopped twice for a few minutes each time...by the time we exited the FP line had extended at LEAST 30-40 feet outside the FP entrance----not pretty! It was really, really crazy and I do hope it calms down for upcoming travelers..I did ask our check in gal at the Contemporary if the rooms were all booked and she said for the 4th-8th it was about 90% capacity and from the 8th on it was 100% for the next few weeks. Eek.

 

[txSleepingBeauty]

I jist gopt back too, and I mi=ust have been in the wrong parks on the wrong days, because every park I was in was PACKED!! Last Thursday when we got there we went to MGM at about 4:15, TOT was 40 min long during the parade, lines for the buses (especially the All Stars) were long, I think I actually sat on a bus 3 times....by tuesday, at 1:30, all the ToT FP were GONE, and RnR was down, endeed up giving up our FP......Space Mountain was VERY crowded on Sat. night....and to me the MNSSHP on the 5th was fairly crowded, but we didn't try to go on too many rides, it had been a long day, just watched the late parade fireworks and the cruise...

 

[pewing]

I know in my neck of the woods...the schools are all out a week or two in October for 'Fall Break'. I know lots of folks take that time to visit the World.

But...last year a lot of our friends went during the break. They saw lots of people they knew but said it was not crowded.

 

[Mermaid02]

We were there from 9-30 thru 10-8 and we didn't know what a good thing we had the first few days we were there! Up until Saturday (10-4) we walked on just about EVERYTHING in every park! Things were really busy Saturday, Sunday and Monday- but our last day on Tuesday we were pleasantly surprised the Epcot and MK were pretty empty and we did a lot of rides walk on again. MGM was packed, but it was the EE park of the day- my dh and son got fast pass for ToT and we killed an hour waiting for that, then they rode it and we left and went to Epcot then MK.

 

[maci]

Ok...
Is there anyone out there who thinks that it might be ok the week of the 19-26th???
I am hoping that maybe the school breaks are the weeks of the 6-17th, the weeks around columbus day. ANd that the press event is the reason for alot of the crowds.

Anyone else agree that maybe by the 19th, it will have calmed down just a little bit??????


I am freaking out here!!! LOL!!

 

[maci]

Ok...
Is there anyone out there who thinks that it might be ok the week of the 19-26th???
I am hoping that maybe the school breaks are the weeks of the 6-17th, the weeks around columbus day. ANd that the press event is the reason for alot of the crowds.

Anyone else agree that maybe by the 19th, it will have calmed down just a little bit??????


I am freaking out here!!! LOL!!

oops hit it twice I guess..I really am freaking out LOL!!

 

[pewing]

We head back tomorrow Hope it's quiet for your visit! We are going the week before President's Week...and hoping to miss the crowds

 

[disneyvoice]

Last week was fall break in our neck of the woods for the year round school systems. I would be willing to bet that was the reason for the increase in crowds. We went to Chuck E. Cheese one day during the week and it was a mad house. We couldn't figure out how come there were all these young school aged kids running around and about 8 birthdays parties schedules during school hours. We discovered the year round school had their big fall break and all the other school had a short fall break.