Just back 5/14- no crowds, saw a celeb

[DisneyDreamer2]

Just back and there were no crowds! Really! We went 5/10-5/14. On Wed 5/11 it started pouring rain around 6pm. We went to the MK anyway for EMH. While everyone left we put on our ponchos and just walked from ride to ride. It stopped raining about 845 and we had a front row view of Wishes at 9. Then we stayed at EMH and kept walking on rides, especially splash mountain, we actually were allowed to stay on because no one was in line. We were the only ones on a Jungle Cruise boat and had a wonderful skipper from Hong Kong.

At Animal Kingdom we were walking right behind the lead actor from Law and Order:Criminal Intent. He was holding his sleeping daughter and was with his wife. They did have a CM guide in a plaid vest, but no one bothered them. We walked behind them on the Pangani Trail until the CM took them through a private gate to the safari. Seemed nice and very, very tall.

Overall, no crowds anywhere. We did all 4 parks and Typhoon Lagoon. On Thursday, there were still plenty of seats for Fantasmic 30 min before showtime. Most waits were less than 5 min, I think the most we waited was 20 minutes for Pooh.

Favorites were Crush n Gusher and Shark Reef, Fantasmic, Beauty and the Beast, All of Animal Kingdom, Lights Motors Action, Philharmagic, Splash Mountain, Schoolbread in Norway, Dolewhip float, the lead singer of Off Kilter , Wishes from the Poly beach, and our resort- PO Riverside.

Great trip and I'm happy to answer any questions.

 

[scoutsmom99]

No questions! Glad you had a wonderful trip

 

[WaltD4Me]

I just back on the 13th and the crowds were minimal during the week. We got caught in the same rainstorm Wednesday night at MK, we were headed to do the Magic Carpets in Adventureland when it started pouring. We were going to hang around, but it didn't look like it was going to let up enough for Wishes so we went over to the Contemporary to try and sneak in at Chef Mickey's, but they weren't taking any walk-ups so we went back to the hotel then to Downtown Disney when it stopped raining.

I love Mickey's Philharmagic too, we did it twice in a row.

Did you do Small World? We walked on with no wait and I loved everything they did to it, it seemed very fresh. My niece had never been on it before and she loved it so much we got off and got right back on!

 

[pumpkinfish]

Now, when you say lead actor from L&O: CI, do you mean the one and only Vincent D'Onofrio ?!?! If so, I think I would have died (<---very much has the hots for him)!!! WOW!

 

[traumamama]

Can you see wishes really good from POR(riverside)? that is where I think we are gonna stay there most likely but I was also thinking about the swan??? choices choices I suck at choices wich would you suggest for my DH and DS12, DS15. edited to add me too of course

 

[DisneyDreamer2]

That was him. Had to look it up on the internet to find his name. It was so funny because my husband had been on me the whole trip for talking so soft he couldnt hear me...well he noticed Vincent first, and we were literally 4 feet behind him and my husband is trying to whisper to me who was in front of us. Well, I of course say really loud "What? I can't hear what you are trying to say. Quit whispering!" Vincent turns around and looks directly at me. I recognized him immediately, smiled them shoved my Mickey ice cream bar in my big mouth. My husband wanted me to take a picture of the "termite mound he was looking at" but i thought that would rude so i waited until i got a nice view of just the back of his head behind a tree branch as the cm took them backstage. Hey! we know who we saw. Anyway, he had a cute daughter about age 3 asleep on his shoulder. And yes, he is even hotter in person.

 

[DisneyDreamer2]

I never saw wishes from Riverside but we did see the fireworks from pleasure island from Riverside. We watched wishes from the beach at the Poly which was awesome. I listed Riverside as one our favorite things about the trip because it was AMAZING! We loved it!

 

[weluvdisney]

Please tell me more about POR. I just booked our Oct trip @POR and I of course am second guessing myself. Convince me somemore since you seem to have loved it... This will be our first moderate, and I am excited but you hear so many conflicting reports about all the resorts...Thanks

 

[DisneyDreamer2]

POR was stunning. The resort was suppose to be 98% full when we were there but it never felt busy. We were in Magnolia Terrace on the mansion side. There were beautiful rose gardens, fountains, a white gazebo with hanging flower baskets, lots of well manicured shrubs and wonderfully smelling magnolia trees and large expanses of lawn down the river. There are beautiful bridges over the river to the island pool and the main building. It was only a 4 min walk to the main building and 2 min to the bus stop. The buses were very frequent, never waited more than 10 minutes. We always had a seat going to the parks. After park closing they sent one bus after another, once at MK we had 2 buses at once, to get people back to the resort. Riverside was always separate from French Quarter at closing time. The food court was great and they had an awesome singing piano man, BOB, in the lounge every night. The bayou area was very lush with trees and wildlife. We were happy we were in the mansions though. I had originally wanted French Quarter but it was full. After seeing French Quarter now, I MUCH prefer Riverside, although I did love the FQ pool better. I loved the ambiance of being a small city on the river with all the boats going. It was very peaceful and relaxing. the quiet pools were very empty and the water was warm. With all the pools and bus stops it was very convenient. The room was very clean, newly refurbished and mousekeeping was wonderful! I really did love it!

 

[jenr812]

Great posts! : THanks for all the info - glad you had a great time!

 

[rowmac2000]

Just back and there were no crowds! Really! We went 5/10-5/14. On Wed 5/11 it started pouring rain around 6pm. We went to the MK anyway for EMH. While everyone left we put on our ponchos and just walked from ride to ride. It stopped raining about 845 and we had a front row view of Wishes at 9. Then we stayed at EMH and kept walking on rides, especially splash mountain, we actually were allowed to stay on because no one was in line. We were the only ones on a Jungle Cruise boat and had a wonderful skipper from Hong Kong.

At Animal Kingdom we were walking right behind the lead actor from Law and Order:Criminal Intent. He was holding his sleeping daughter and was with his wife. They did have a CM guide in a plaid vest, but no one bothered them. We walked behind them on the Pangani Trail until the CM took them through a private gate to the safari. Seemed nice and very, very tall.

Overall, no crowds anywhere. We did all 4 parks and Typhoon Lagoon. On Thursday, there were still plenty of seats for Fantasmic 30 min before showtime. Most waits were less than 5 min, I think the most we waited was 20 minutes for Pooh.

Favorites were Crush n Gusher and Shark Reef, Fantasmic, Beauty and the Beast, All of Animal Kingdom, Lights Motors Action, Philharmagic, Splash Mountain, Schoolbread in Norway, Dolewhip float, the lead singer of Off Kilter , Wishes from the Poly beach, and our resort- PO Riverside.

Great trip and I'm happy to answer any questions.

How did you like AK? I am debating to go.

June 3-7 2005

 

[traumamama]

I never saw wishes from Riverside but we did see the fireworks from pleasure island from Riverside. We watched wishes from the beach at the Poly which was awesome. I listed Riverside as one our favorite things about the trip because it was AMAZING! We loved it!

can anyone go to the beach at poly or do you have to be staying there or something special tia

 

[CleveRocks]

I wonder if we were at the same WDW as you!!! We were there 5/8 - 5/14. In MK on 5/9, we waited 40 minutes for Dumbo, 20 minutes for It's a Small World. We FastPassed Pooh (30 min. standby) and Mickey's PhilharMagic (20 min. standby), and a manager gave us "priority" FastPasses to Peter Pan which had the longest wait of all, a 45 minute standby line and about a 2 hour wait for FastPass return.

I was also in MK for the rain before and during EMH on Wednesday 5/11 after our 5:00 p.m. Hoop Dee Doo Revue show, and I agree lines were absolutely nonexistent then -- did Adventureland, Liberty Square, and Frontierland.

Friday was the most crowded of the week (for us) in MK. By about 3:00 p.m., standby at Splash Mountain was 60 minutes and at BTMR was 45 minutes, both with FastPass returns at about 2 hours.

-- Eric

 

[Mickey Fliers]

CleveRocks- We were there from 5/7-5/14 and we had barely any lines at all! We were at the MK on 5/8 as well and we walked onto every ride in Fantasy Land with no lines what so ever. Now, I must preface this by saying that we were at the front gates by 8:45 and went straight back to FL. We had it all done, including Philhargmagic and the teacups, by 11:00. We saved the rest of MK for Thursday, the 12th and again, we completed everything with no waits by utilizing FP.

Sorry you had long waits.

 

[WDWLinda]

What did you think of the Crush & Gusher at Typhoon Lagoon? Think its OK for an almost-4 yr old, with his Dad holding him? What if you go by yourself - do you get a raft to yourself, or do they put you on with other people? It looks like you all sit on a tobaggon (sp?)...

Glad you had a nice trip!

Thanks,
Linda

 

[IwasatWDWforamonth]

At Animal Kingdom we were walking right behind the lead actor from Law and Order:Criminal Intent. He was holding his sleeping daughter and was with his wife. They did have a CM guide in a plaid vest, but no one bothered them. We walked behind them on the Pangani Trail until the CM took them through a private gate to the safari. Seemed nice and very, very tall.





We did the EXACT same thing only we were behind gary sinese,,, how weird

 

[DisneyDreamer2]

We loved AK, It was our favorite park. We were done with everything by 2pm though. We did the safari, then grabbed a fp for it for later, went to the 945 FOTLK show, then did dinosaur 2x with no wait, rode kali and grabbed a fp for later, had lunch at flame tree bbq (yummy), saw tarzan rocks, rode kali again with fp, did the maharajah jungle trek, did safari with fp, walked pangani trail, did ITTBAB, then left at 205pm. Wonderful day! Saw lots of animals on the safari- esp elephants with their babies and we had to wait for girraffe in the road. Beautiful scenery!

I am scared of water slides but loved crusn n gusher. there were many small children w parents. the rafts are for 2 or 3, or 1 person rides in a 2 person raft. there are 3 slides. stay away from pineapple plunger, it literally plunges the person in front face first in the water at the end. btw- definately do shark reef first in the morning- we were the only ones in the pool, then do crush n gusher, we had no waits and walked on 7 times in a row.

 

[greenyskp]

Haha we saw Kelly Ripa at Epcot! - abundence of celebs in the parks over the weekend.....

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

You guys are all such nice people to let the celebs enjoy a normal moment. As much as I enjoy the concerts on the America stage I never stand in line for an autograph as I really would rather see the performers get a few minutes to rest between shows.

Slightly Goofy

 

[mommyrom]

More for the celebrity sightings report! Was at MK to enjoy the festivities on May 5th and enjoyed seeing Wayne Brady at the 1 p.m. castle simulcast show...Pretty cool! On Friday, we visited AK and my DH was outside with napping toddler and I took DS 7 and DD3 to the Tarzan Rocks! show...We sat in upper section behind two roped off rows of seats...Regular people were being seated there, so I figured AP holders or something like that, since they were walking in the same way I did...As we were waiting for the show to start, in walks a group of about 8 people from the side section and I was thrilled to notice that it was Wayne Brady, his wife and daughter, together with a few other people. Wayne Brady sat in the front row just nearby our seats and then the crowd began humming. I was not close enough to speak, but don't think I would have evenso. I was surprised though that some teenagers walked up right beside them in the aisle and started flashing photos right in front of them! I, personally, though that was quite rude. Yeah, he is a celebrity, but let them be...They are on vacation just like everyone else!!!!! A few minutes later, some more teenagers stood beside his seats and tried to strike up a chat and asked if they could take his picture...Wayne Brady shook their hands, but I guess he also declined their request, as they did not take any pictures...Then the show started and he was not mentioned, but was paid alot of "quiet"attention by the performers! Just a nice surprise to add to our magical vacation!!!