BigGreen73
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2007
- Messages
- 2,772
Just got back from a great trip yesterday. We went from 9/21 - 9/30 and stayed at AOA. We did MNSSHP twice, TUES and FRI. I thought that I would share a few thoughts and comments just in case I can help enyomne prepare.AOA - Beautiful resort. Very well themed. The pics that I have seen online did not do it justice. We enjoyed staying there. Only issues that I has was there is very little drawer space in the LM rooms, and the food court food area is small and slow. I think Josh was spot on with his review. The food court seating was plentiful, but at meal times, the food lines always looked busy even if there was only a few in line. With the food being prepared as ordered, the food service was slow. The burger and pizza/pasta sections were always busy, barely anyone went for the mongolian stir fry section.
CROWDS- I would say the crowds were double what I experienced in Sept 2010. At times, it felt like moderate season crowds instead of low Sept season. Many guests that I spoke to stated it felt like spring crowds, but I have experienced spring and it wasn't THAT busy. As usual, TSM ran out of fastpasses by the afternoon, and the days that we went to Epcot, Soarin was out of fastpasses by 5pm (recommended and non recommend days). Soarin I blame on Test Track being down. MK was always busy. In 2010, even on not recommended days, we were walking on almost everything w/ a peak wait of maybe 10-20 minutes (this included the mtns and PP), this year Splash & Space hit 60mins +, and BTRR hit 40mins+ in the afternoon. The day we went to DHS was a recommended day and RNR hit 80mins in the afternoon. But with planning etc, we did everything we wanted with ease. Don't get me wrong, at times waits were 10-15mins on most things, but we did experience larger crowds and longer waits than in 2010. In 2010, except for TSM, we never saw a wait break 30mins even in peak afternoon crowds. We spoke to many 1st time visiters and they all said that a lot of websites said this was the bext time to and more and more families seem to have no problem pulling their kids from school to go during this recommened times. So here is where I blame the Dis. Dis is a great site, but more and more people are becoming aware of easywdw, the dis, touringplans etc year after year. And with discounts and free ddp This just causes the window of small crowds to shrink. Pretty soon, it will just be moderate and peak season crowds.
MNSSHP - This was the biggest surprise. Holy busy!! I don't think they were sell outs, but they were way busier that what I experienced during our two parties in 2010. The lines for all the characters AND trick or treating were long from the beginning of the party right through midnight or the close of the lines, whichever came first. Even getting in line at 6pm for Capt Jack for example, it still took 30 mins to get through. When we left the line at 7:30, the line was from Pirates past Jungle Cruise. The line for the princesses moves slooooooow. We were at the Princesses at 6:15 and there was maybe 10 families in front of us, took 30 mins again to get through. The lines for all characters were long. Period. On average 30 mins+ and people seemed to have no problem waiting in line. Best bet is to hit characters is to line up EARLY for your must see, and do others during parades and FW's if those lines are open to avoid most of your party in line. Everyone seemed to know where and when characters were meeting and lines up well in advance. The Villains mix and mingle was also nuts. Every show was packed and that secition in front of the castle always had hundreds of people watching the show and waiting to get in line. We didn't bother trying to see the Villains this time as we easily got them all in 2010. Both parades were equally busy, crowds on main street and in front of the castle were pretty thick all night. Oh and when I say trick or treating was busy, I don't mean 10-12 people, I means 50+ person lines at 11:30pm. Yikes, at least the the lines moved somewhat quickly. I spoke with a lot of CM and they too stated the 1st two parties were dead, barely anyone, but since then, busy, busy, BUSY!!
Well, that's it for now. Got stuff to get done. I'll try and post more later. If anyone has any specific questions, post them and I will try to answer.
CROWDS- I would say the crowds were double what I experienced in Sept 2010. At times, it felt like moderate season crowds instead of low Sept season. Many guests that I spoke to stated it felt like spring crowds, but I have experienced spring and it wasn't THAT busy. As usual, TSM ran out of fastpasses by the afternoon, and the days that we went to Epcot, Soarin was out of fastpasses by 5pm (recommended and non recommend days). Soarin I blame on Test Track being down. MK was always busy. In 2010, even on not recommended days, we were walking on almost everything w/ a peak wait of maybe 10-20 minutes (this included the mtns and PP), this year Splash & Space hit 60mins +, and BTRR hit 40mins+ in the afternoon. The day we went to DHS was a recommended day and RNR hit 80mins in the afternoon. But with planning etc, we did everything we wanted with ease. Don't get me wrong, at times waits were 10-15mins on most things, but we did experience larger crowds and longer waits than in 2010. In 2010, except for TSM, we never saw a wait break 30mins even in peak afternoon crowds. We spoke to many 1st time visiters and they all said that a lot of websites said this was the bext time to and more and more families seem to have no problem pulling their kids from school to go during this recommened times. So here is where I blame the Dis. Dis is a great site, but more and more people are becoming aware of easywdw, the dis, touringplans etc year after year. And with discounts and free ddp This just causes the window of small crowds to shrink. Pretty soon, it will just be moderate and peak season crowds.
MNSSHP - This was the biggest surprise. Holy busy!! I don't think they were sell outs, but they were way busier that what I experienced during our two parties in 2010. The lines for all the characters AND trick or treating were long from the beginning of the party right through midnight or the close of the lines, whichever came first. Even getting in line at 6pm for Capt Jack for example, it still took 30 mins to get through. When we left the line at 7:30, the line was from Pirates past Jungle Cruise. The line for the princesses moves slooooooow. We were at the Princesses at 6:15 and there was maybe 10 families in front of us, took 30 mins again to get through. The lines for all characters were long. Period. On average 30 mins+ and people seemed to have no problem waiting in line. Best bet is to hit characters is to line up EARLY for your must see, and do others during parades and FW's if those lines are open to avoid most of your party in line. Everyone seemed to know where and when characters were meeting and lines up well in advance. The Villains mix and mingle was also nuts. Every show was packed and that secition in front of the castle always had hundreds of people watching the show and waiting to get in line. We didn't bother trying to see the Villains this time as we easily got them all in 2010. Both parades were equally busy, crowds on main street and in front of the castle were pretty thick all night. Oh and when I say trick or treating was busy, I don't mean 10-12 people, I means 50+ person lines at 11:30pm. Yikes, at least the the lines moved somewhat quickly. I spoke with a lot of CM and they too stated the 1st two parties were dead, barely anyone, but since then, busy, busy, BUSY!!
Well, that's it for now. Got stuff to get done. I'll try and post more later. If anyone has any specific questions, post them and I will try to answer.
