Just Back From The World With An Update

[CamColt]

Im just back from a magical week in the World (7/18-25), and wanted to post some info for anyone going soon.

Weather- I was worried about it being unbearably hot and surprisingly it wasnt. The first 3 days were very rainy, but it usually cleared up by 3:00pm. The next 5 days we had no rain so that worked out well. Temps were high 80s-low 90s and if you werent in direct sunlight it really wasnt bad. Saturday was the first day we found it really hot & muggy, and I heard it was 94 degrees that day.

Crowds- The parks were very crowded, but very managable too. Getting ther early, and using FPs helped us immensely. We had some extras that we gave away and we were lucky enough to be on the receiving end of some too. Some real Disney Magic there!

Food- All I can say is WOW! We didnt have a bad meal the whole week. Ill be doing reviews soon.

Guests- We saw quite a few rude people, people who didnt listen to CMs(the Peter Pan ride actually had to shut down because 1 woman wouldnt get in a boat), and some who didnt follow the rules(smoking, dropping trash). We even saw some unattneded children probably about ages 6&2. Overall the other guests were great, but its the few bad apples that you really notice.

Mission Space- I was worried about this ride after hearing all the to do about people getting sick. Well, I did fine, but.....the girl in our capsule didnt. Thank God, I had grabbed a barf bag before the ride started and when she saw me do that, she asked DH to pass her one too. I liked the ride a lot, but as for thrill factor, I definitely prefer TOT or RNR.

Segway Tour- I had booked this for DH as a surprise for his birthday gift. He ended up in a group with a family of 9 (older parents, grown kids) and he really enjoyed it. They almost didnt get to go outside because of the rain, but he said the guides sort of observed the group to see if they would go slow and not goof off, and they seemed like a good group so they took them out, with some precautions.

Overall I found the parks to be clean and well kept as usual, however we all noticed the bathrooms were pretty dirty. Id say about 50% of the time I had to check out more than 1 stall before using one. That wasnt a horrible thing, but it was surprising. Thats not the norm in WDW, or at least it hasnt been for us in the past.

I think I covered all the highlights. If you have any questions ask away.

 

[fairytinkerbell]

That's too bad about the bathrooms ! I hope Disney hears all this and keeps up w/ cleaning everything, bec. i've heard this in other posts....


Did you happen to pass by "Hotel Plaza Blvd?" or "I-4 in Kissimmee"??

I am debating staying off I-4 area VS HOliday Inn on Hotel Plaza Blvd
supposedly that is across from Disney Marketplace, but i can't remember- did you notice???

thanks! any photos of this stuff appreciatd!

 

[CamColt]

Unfortunately I didnt notice those hotels. We surprised my mother, by taking a limo from the airport so we were all having fun in the car.

I do have some good pictures and I will try to post some when I do my trip report. Sometimes it works for me and other times it doesnt, so Im hoping.

 

[Ms. WDW]

CamColt - we were there the same time. I too found the parks to be crowded but manageable. I think on those couple of days that it rained kept some of the attendance down. If I remember, we walked onto Mission Space that Monday.

Oh...DH and I did NOT do well on that. We didn't need "the bag" but let's just say we missed our PS for lunch that afternoon. Of course we cancelled them and rescheduled later on in the week!

Welcome home....But if you're like me, you'd rather be in WDW right about now.

 

[CamColt]

Oh Im glad you didnt need the bag. I could definitely see how someone could get that way. It was funny I so wanted to turn my head or close my eyes just to "test" it, but I didnt dare.

Yep, Id rather still be there, but somehow reality has gotten in the way. Hope you had a great trip too, but if you still want to be there Im guessing you did.

 

[candykisses]

Thanks for the report.

We'll be leaving next week and I'm glad to hear the crowds are managable.

This willbe our first time to ride Mission Space and I hope I don't need "the bag". I'll be sure to take my Bonine .

As for the bathrooms....eeeeewwwww....clean bathrooms are one of the things I appreciate about being in Disney. But, I guess it's not Disney's fault if some guests are pigs.

 

[PKK/MJK]

fairytinkerbelle

We just returned Saturday from WDW. We were on Hotel Plaza Blvd several times and there is a Holiday Inn on that road--it was formerly a Courtyard by Mariott--I believe the change came within the past year. We stayed there several times when it was a Courtyard and it is a lovely hotel. It is definitely just down the road from Downtown Disney--very convenient.

 

[Taximom]

Can you tell me if the Carousel of Progress was open? I'm hoping it will be when we are there in August!

 

[CamColt]

Yes, COP was open. We saw it Thursday with a little resistance from DS. Surprisingly when DH took the kids back to MK on our last morning while I packed up, that was one of DS's requests to do, LOL! I think it grew on him.

 

[danny1649]

Thank you for sharing

 

[bjakmom]

Thanks for the update!

What parks did you do on what days and did you use EMH ? I'm trying to help my sister plan her trip in Aug and I think they will be happier (2 teens) doing non EMH touring - wondering what worked for you.

Also wondering if your son was on the 2nd segway tour of the day - I booked my nephews on the 9:30 - 11:30 tour instead of the 8:30 - 10:30 (at least that's the times they gave me to choose from) - they said at booking that they still get a full hour in World showcase, but I'm curious as to how it will work once that section of the park is open at 11:00.

Glad you had such a wonderful trip - can't wait to see your photos!

 

[cooldisneymom]

CamColt - We were there the same week!!! Just got back too. Same thoughts on the weather and crowds. Had a wonderful time. Glad you did too!!! Don't know about you, but I'm already planning a Jan. trip!!! Can't be away from MICKEY for very long!!!

 

[madcoco]

Thanks for sharing your report. I did the Segway tour with relatives and a few other folks last month and we really enjoyed it! Had the fingers crossed if it rained and was wondering what they would do if it did. Glad to see he still made it out.

 

[jennymouse]

Welcome home! Looking forward to those food reports!

 

[Daxx]

We were there from 7/16 - 7/26 and thought the weather was just fine ... even the slight rain. Yep, I call it slight b/c when we were at WDW last year, it poured every day, all day, non-stop. That was miserable!! So, to us, the rain this year was a tolerable drizzle.

I have to agree w/the OP about the bathrooms! I don't know about the men's room ... but the ladies' room left a lot to be desired. Like the OP stated, you often had to search out a clean toilet. That made me far more nauseous than Mission Space! lol!

Speaking of Mission Space ... I have to take dramamine to even ride Goofy's Barnstormer ... so I was nervous to try Mission Space. Well, for me, the dramamine worked out super! I wasn't even slightly loopy getting off. If you can manage the teacups w/dramamine, you'd prob. be able to manage MS. DH however, who tolerates all rides well, was green after MS. DS (7 yo) was slightly loopy but took a few deep breaths and was ok.

I was amazed at the number of tour groups from Brazil! There had to be at least 4 while we were there ... and large groups, at that!

We did encounter some rude guests ... dashing up to characters when there was a visible line going on. BTW - something has to be done about lines when there aren't any roped queues. People just dart up even though there's a makeshift line. Kind of annoying. Isn't there something that can be done?! Seems like the CM's bring the characters out and then ignore the guests and don't try to create or maintain lines!? Maybe they should bring out one cast member to watch the characters and another cast member per character to maintain the guests?

While we were there, we heard from an All Stars manager that the All Star resorts were at 50% capacity and Pop Century was at 100% capacity. Wow!

 

[CamColt]

Bjakmom, we did EE at AK on Mon and EE at MK on Thur. AK wasnt crowded at all(it was rainy though) but MK was very crowded...the most Ive ever seen at EE. Ill be doing a trip report and should have I up by this weekend, but in short we did...
Mon-AK & MGM for Fantasmic
Tues-Epcot
Wed-MGM
Thurs MK, then DH went our for our anniversary and we did stop in Epcot for Illuminations only. The kids went to dinner at MGM with my mother.
Fri-MK & DTD
Sat-MK,took a break, then MK again for Spectro(we caught Wishes back at the Poly)
The kids and DH hit MK Sun morning before leaving.

There was still only 1 segaway tour,which was 9:00-11:00. DH had to meet up with them at 8:45

Cooldisneymom, unfortuantely our APs expire in less than a month so this will be it for a while. Although sine I have a reason to be in Orlando in early Dec, I am considering a solo trip for a long weekend, where I probably wont do the parks much, maybe just MVMCP. Glad you had a great time too.

Madcoco,my guess is if it were pouring they would have been out of luck, but the rain that morning was off and on, light at sometimes, heavier at others... It seemed like everytime it got heavy enough to put on the ponchos, by the time we got them all on, we didnt need them anymore...quite aggravating, LOL!

Jennymouse, the dinig reviews are up.

LOL, Daxx. Yes the rain was mangable, and it could have been worse, but it just enough to make my hair look horrible and get our butts wet on the rides.

 

[bjakmom]

Thanks !

 

[Horizons16]

are we talking Christmas time crowded or less?

 

[CamColt]

Overall, less crowded and less waits than Christmastime, but it was definitely more crowded than the last 2 Augusts when Ive gone.
But if I were to compare EE from Sun, Dec 21 to Thurs July 22, the EE hour was more crowded in July. When we did EE 12/21 it was practically deserted. This time there were about 20 minute waits at the quick little rides like Peter Pan, Snow White and Pooh(which actually had to close down for a while, but we were lucky enough to get on right as it opened up again, so not much of a line then, only about 5-10 minutes). Most FP times were for 10:20. The Tea Cups also closed down for a time and there were men working on them. In fact the waits we had this morning were pretty much the first waits we had all week.

 

[limabeanmom2003]

Glad to hear that DH enjoyed the Segway tour! I booked it for my DH as a surprise birthday gift too. We are both taking the tour in September. Can't wait!!