Just back from Jan 29th - Feb 4th trip!

[jennymouse]

Just returned from WDW Jan 29 – Feb 4th. The weather was upper sixties/lower seventies during the day and 40/50’s at night. One day with showers. I was there with my 80yo father and aunt/uncle in their late 70’s who had never been before.

We did all the main parks, Hoop Dee Doo and Cirque du Soleil. The only thrill ride we did was Splash (if you call that a thrill ride, I really don’t but it was to my seniors!) We found the parks very easy to manage, didn’t pull a Fastpass the whole trip, but like I said, we didn’t do the biggies. However, I did take note of the wait times on the biggies and everything was a walk on. We also stayed away from any park that had early entry or extra magic hours and I do believe that made a difference. It’s my opinion that so many folks have caught on to the early entry thing that it just makes that park even more crowded. Maybe even more so now that folks can skip the park hopping perk and save money.

We did Epcot beginning around 2 o’clock on Saturday, Jan 29th even checked out the Colgate Country Music Showdown at the American Pavilion which we enjoyed, all day on Sunday 30th, and a half day on Wed, February 1st. I’d planned lots of time here as my seniors were most interested in this park. We did everything but Mission Space, Test Track, and of course The Land which was closed which was disappointing because my aunt/uncle are farmers and I know they would’ve enjoyed it.

We did MGM on Monday January 31st and it was the most crowded park we went to all week but certainly not packed. Everyone enjoyed MGM the least of the parks and truly, there’s not much there for seniors. We did everything but ToT and R&R and I don’t think anything was a stand out. I’m even growing tired of MGM as well. In hindsight, I wish we’d skipped this one and spent more time at Magic Kingdom as they ended up really enjoying MK more than they thought they would.

We did Animal Kingdom on Wednesday, Feb 2nd and it was showering off and on all day which did effect our enjoyment. Everyone loved Festival of the Lion King of course. The safari wasn’t that great either, not many animals out and about and the ones that were out were off in the distance. Probably the worst safari I've been on. If we’d had more time we would’ve tried it again so see if we had better luck. Flights of Wonder was great. We wished it was drier and we had longer to stay here but we had to go get ready for Cirque.

I’d saved Magic Kingdom for our last day in hopes of working my guests into it. I’d also only planned a half day here because before we left, they weren’t showing much interest in it. We arrived early and had breakfast in the castle and were just walking onto rides right & left with no waits all day. We were having so much fun; we ended up staying the entire day and seeing Wishes with only a quick monorail ride to the Grand Floridian Café for dinner. Carousel of Progress was open and I enjoyed seeing it for the first time in many years. We did everything except for Space Mtn., Barnstormer and GTMRR. Of course Dumbo, IASM, and Astro were closed. There were lots of gold added to the castle already but it wasn’t covered with drop cloths or scaffolding. It was looking really good with the gold! Lots of street entertainment, but we never saw the show on the castle so don’t know if they had it or not.

All in all we had a fantastic trip. Never ran into any rude CM's or guests. Everyone seemed to be having a magical time. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

 

[calena]

I was interested to read your report. We are going to visit with parents, 78, in a few weeks. Last year we went to MK with them one day and this year I would like to do a park for one day. I was thinking either MK or Epcot. MK just seems to be the most magic with stuff for all ages. There is also the option of doing Universal for one day. We will be with DH, DD, 10, DS, 8, DS, 4 and grandparents!

 

[jennymouse]

I was interested to read your report. We are going to visit with parents, 78, in a few weeks. Last year we went to MK with them one day and this year I would like to do a park for one day. I was thinking either MK or Epcot. MK just seems to be the most magic with stuff for all ages. There is also the option of doing Universal for one day. We will be with DH, DD, 10, DS, 8, DS, 4 and grandparents!

Whichever park you chose, I recommend renting scooters for the seniors. It really helps them conserve their energy. We were at the parks from opening to close everyday without afternoon breaks and they never got overly tired with the scooters.