Part 2: Crowds and Parks
We knew going into this trip that the crowds were going to be up, especially beginning on the 18th or 19th. It didnt really concern us a whole lot, having survived the 4th of July twice. From what I read, only NYE can compete with that day in the MK!
The first four days (Dec 14, 15, 16, 17) were very manageable. We still had typical wait times for TSM and Soarin, but other than that the longest line we had was for Buzz, which said it was 15 and turned out to be 25.
During those four days we walked onto:
At MK: HM, SM, PofC, Splash, Teacups, Small World, Pooh, Peter Pan (less than 5 min during am EMH) Snow White(it was cold!)
Under 15 min for Jungle Cruise and BTMR.
Walk on at EP: Mission Space, Journey into Imagination, Nemo, Maelstrom, Three Caballeros, The Land and Spaceship Earth
Test Track had long waits as did Soarin, but we FPd those.
Walk on at DHS: TOT, Muppets, Great Movie Ride, Backlot tour, Art of Animation
My boys went to DHS early one morning before we arrived and rode RNRC and TOT back and forth several times in the first couple of hours of opening.
We waited around 20 min late in the day for RNRC. Not bad. We saw Fantasmic on the 15th, heading into the theater about 25 min before show time. We were off to the side, but not a problem! Its a good thing we saw it then, because the lines we saw later that week just to get in the theater would have sent me over the edge! LOL
Not much was walk on at AK because we went there on Sunday the 19th, when the crowds had arrived. In fact, we were surprised at just how busy it was, thinking most people would hit the other parks first, if they were just arriving on the weekend.
We arrived around 9am, although the park opened at 8am and after getting FPs for Everest, headed to the Safari. A 25 min wait the longest weve ever waited, but it was worth it! The first truck we were put on, stalled or something and they had to unload us and pull up another vehicle. While we were on the savannah, an ostrich decided to park itself in the road (in front of another group) and would NOT move. During our delay, a giraffe came up to our truck and tried to stick her head in at my DH and DD. DD screamed! LOL!
They eventually had to call in a park ranger to coax her to move and we were on our way. The giraffe stayed oddly curious, as she followed us for a bit on the path, while our truck moved slowly through area, allowing for traffic to clear from the back-up.
We were guided around for about 5 min, when the same ostrich parked herself back in the road in front of another truck! LOL This was a longer wait, with not much to see, however our guide joked about how five Adax came into view. He explained how there are only about 500 left in the wild and we were seeing 10% of the population, right there in front of us!
After they moved the ostrich AGAIN, we saw the cheetahs walking around and both lionsAWAKE! They seemed to pose for us, side by side. Very cool! All together, our safari lasted 50 minutes! You can now imagine the back up waiting in the line queue!!!! As we exited, we saw the stand by line had gone to 90 min!
On the 20th and 21st we hardly rode anything. The wait times were too long. For example Space Mountain was 120, TSM 150, RNRC 90
even Pirates clocked in at 60 min! Because we had friends at other parks, we were able to get accurate times and knew hopping wasnt going to do us any good. Even FP didnt work for us, due to ADRs . So, after watching some of the Bears game in the TofTWL, we walked over to MK for the 11 pm MSEP and EMH. Since Wishes was at 10, the park was emptying quickly. We had a front row spot for MSEP! We thought this was a good sign! Unfortunately, wait times for Space and Buzz were still 40-50 min and we just dont wait that long anymore! We even saw FP return times for 1:30-2:30am. That seemed funny! At 1:30am we called it a day!
One morning, early, my DH went ahead to DHS to get FPs for TSM for us as I rounded up the rest of our family and waited for our friends, staying with us. He arrived 10 min before rope drop and could only explain it as the running of the bulls! He said people went nuts RUNNING, leaping, jumping and nearly trampling each other to get to TSM. There were CMs yelling, directing traffic towards the FP machines and/or the standby line. Our FP return time? 11:55!!! Three hours later! By the he turned around from the FP machines, the ENTIRE street wall to wall, all the way down to the Little Mermaid entrance was a line for FPs! We arrived about 20 min later and by then, they were all gone! Its nuts! I dont get it
its cute, but its a video game! If my DH hadnt gone ahead, we wouldve skipped it this time.
On the 21st we walked around WS and let the kids stop at all the kidcot stations. If anyone saw a group of people holding up Duffy Bears like a tour group, parading around
well that was us!!!
On our last day, we needed to get some rides in, so we headed over to MK just after opening. Gotta love BLT for that!!! It felt like everyone went home! We hit all the majors and some Fantasyland rides, plus had a few character greetings all by noon! Friends were at EP and said the lines were nowhere near what they had been in the two days prior.
We ended the trip at DHS, getting one last look at the Osborne Lights! Simply amazing!!!
My family and I agreed that these few days were much busier than the week of the 4th of July. Yes, the 4th itself is busy, but after that, its nothing compared to this!
UP NEXT: DINING
