Finally! Back and busy!

[Meagansmom]

Okay you know the story, we need a vacation from the vacation! I am sorry I haven't stop to say hi and thank everyone for their input in our vacation. I will get a trip report up soon. Just some of our thoughts of our vacation.

1) We use to be die hards of early entry. It was TOO PACKED! Do
the opposite! We went to all of the parks for early entry. It
was crazy. Not like the early entry in the past years. We
decided to change the pattern. We went to Epcot one day,
it was DEAD! Our daughter walked up to everyone of the
characters. It was great. Also the other parks except the
Magic Kingdom were great.

2) There were a few instances that the bus transportation
needs to be tweeked. One time leaving the Magic Kingdom
the line for the bus and I am not kidding was backed up to
where you catch the ferry. This was not just for the Caribbean
Beach. There were lines for some of the other hotels. It was
a little bit ridiculous. Another instance, we went to the HDDR,
bad transportation. We took a bus to the main housing for
the camp grounds, then we waited for a bus to go to
Downtown Disney for an HOUR! Now there were alot of
people. They finally called in four buses to pick up people. This
is the only way we were ALL told that we could get back to our
hotels. Just alittle info: we went to the 7:15 show. Other than
that is was good!

3) The Hard Rock Hotel is GREAT!!!! FOTL is GREAT!!!!! Can't say
enough. BobNC - I couldn't remember which cabana. And then
I tried that Sat later in the day, it started to pour!!! Sorry, I
wanted to meet a fellow diser. How was your trip?


Our vacation was GREAT! Thanks again to this website and
everyone that helps out! Everytime we visit WDW and Universal, we get such support from everyone here! Any questions, let me know! Trip report coming!

 

[mickeymom629]

we are leaving on Friday to be at CBR on Sat. and then Sun. to be at OKW for 4 nights. I am trying to figure out where to be and your report on the crowds and EE were very informative!

I was going to plan MGM for EE, but maybe we'll go the night before and hope to catch the 9:00 Fantasmic! MK is open late that night and maybe everyone will be there . We are going to do MK e-ticket night and hope the kids can enjoy riding with little lines. We were also going to do AK EE, what do you think?

We were there in Spring 2002 and it was so horribly crowded everywhere except TL after a storm. We had the park to ourselves (it was rather chilly and drizzly after).

I have the Fantasmic! package at H&V for our last night in case we didn't get to see before then, but it looks like thunderstorms are predicted for next week

Anything else you can tell me would be great! Glad you had a great trip even though it was wall to wall people!

 

[Uncle Scar]

We're planning on bad crowds when we go too, 7/25-8/1.

Your thoughts about EE seem to match others. It's not something to take advantage of right now. I think we're going to try and do all the E-Ride nights we can to get our MK time.

Did you do any E-Ride? If so, how were the crowds then?

 

[WDWfanatic288]

you soo said everything I thought about our last trip!!

I dunno what it is EE now but they are really crowded...we have decided no more EEs
2)bus transportation needsa HELP at the stop with Swan and Dolphin and BC and YC and BW! technically that's 6 resorts if you count the Villas on one bus! when we were leaving E-nite, the line for our bus was all the way thru the queue and sticking out...no one else had a line!

3)you said it ALL!

 

[FINFAN]

And these are the crowds BEFORE FTP people start arriving? I am REALLY getting nervous about our Aug trip now!

 

[nativetxn]

Great tips! Welcome back, I'm glad you enjoyed your trip.

Katholyn

 

[Meagansmom]

Hey everyone - First you all are going to have a great trip!!!It is summer so it will be alittle busier. But enjoy! Here are a couple things we would do next time. I hope this helps everyone.

1) Pass on the EE mornings except the Magic Kingdom. There were alot of people at the Magic Kingdom but we did get alot done that first hour, then move to another park. BTW - we only worked our way through Fantasyland that hour. Another thing we figured out - there were only two nights that had fireworks and Spectromagic when we were there. Avoided them days. It seemed it was busy there all day.

2) Catch the first bus at the bus stop. It seemed some of the parks were so few in between. Alot of people try to catch the bus that runs 20 minutes before the park opens and some of the people did not get on the bus a/c too many people.

Uncle Scar - we did not do any E ride nights this time. I did not even hear any comments this time on the subject. Sorry! It would be an advantage if you ride the rides that they offer, especially if it is busy.

mickeymom629 - It said rain for us everyday. It did a few times for at the most an hour. We were at Disney last year, last part of April, first part of May. It was also busy I thought. I really did not think it was any different this year than last year except for EE.

You all are going to have fun!!!! I will gladly go with you!

 

[scakul]

My advice is to avoid EE.

We went to AK on EE day this week and it was an absolute zoo. After that, we stayed away from EE day parks and things seemed much better.

But beware, the crowds are definitely back. We went to MGM on Tuesday afternoon (not an EE day) and it was packed. There were no fast passes left for TOT and the standby line was 120 minutes!

 

[n2mm]

Thanks for the post. It seems that many folks are posting the same thing. I must defend EE though. EE is a great perk but combined with the FTP and the heavier than usual crowds because of the other promotions, military salute, locals, EE is not as great as usual. We were there in early May and as usual EE was great at the only 2 parks we use it at (MK and AK). So folks shouldn't judge EE so badly, it mostly depends on the time of year you go. I'm sure on my September and October trips it will be better. I've read that the water parks have been filling to capacity early in the day, any info on that would be great.

UncleScar, we'll be there the same time (July 23-Aug 1) and plan to do e-ticket that Monday and Friday too just because of the crowd situation. We don't usually do e-ticket in the summer because of the late hours, but looks like a must this time.

Glad to hear the OP had a great time at Hardrock too. We have added Portofino to our first night stay and cut back on the Disney side by 2 days. Got a great rate at Portofino through these boards and am staying there because of the front of the line access. Can't wait.

ALSO: Megansmom, how were the restaurants? Did you have PS. I have encouraged folks going to make PS arrangements because the crowds seem the worse they've been in many years. We have made most of ours, but since I've changed my plans slightly we need to make some modifications. Let us know if it was crazy during meal time.

 

[Brier Rose]

We did EE for the first time in 27 trips this past Sunday at MK,and we thought it was great!
Granted I don't know how it has been in the past,but compared to later morning crowds, I am planning on always using EE for MK for all our future trips.
We got to the MK at 8:05am, and by the time we got to Fantasy Land there were a few lines, but we still rode Dumbo,Snow White,Small World, Peter Pan twice,and the Tea Cups. Then we moved over to Tomorrow Land, did TL Transit Authority, before lining up at the entrance to ToonTown, saw Mickey and rode Barnstormer twice, caught the train to Main St., and was on the monorail headed for Epcot by 11:00am.
And all with no heat or rain!! (well, there was a small shower,but we were in Small World,and it was over by the time we were done)

On the other hand, we also did E-night on June 24th, and out of the whole 3 hours, only did Splash MT. twice, Big Thunder twice, Buzz once, Space Mt. once, and TL Transit Authority twice. And we spent none of the 3 hours shopping or eating.
Not really sure if we want to do E-night again or not, but I know we'll do EE again, so I guess we liked it better.

 

[Minniespal]

Thanks for the tips - Looking forward to reading your trip reports!!!