Looking for trip reports for Oct. 29 thru Nov.4 2005

[mma]

Is there anyone out there who went during any of this time in 2005 and has not posted a trip report yet? I am looking for an indication of how crowded the parks, transportation and restaurants were during this time last year before we book for 2006. Thanks for any help, Melissa

 

[mma]

I am going to bump so it doesn't get overlooked.

 

[zulaya]

We were there Oct. 26-Nov 2, 2005. I didn't feel that the parks were terribly crowded at all (except for the Saturday night we went to Food & Wine Fest ~ that was busy, but we heard in line that a lot of locals were there ~ our mistake) and we usually go in early December. Restaurants were busy, but with the new Dining Plan, I expect it to be that way for the foreseeable future. Good weather, too. If you are going that week in 2006, it's a good time.

 

[mjh8955]

MMA, we were there October 29 - November 5, 2005. This is a modified version of the trip report I posted. Send me a PM if you have any specific questions. I think we picked the ideal time to go. Right after the Halloween crowds and before Jersey Week

Trip Report 10/29 - 11/05
Just back and ready to post some observations/comments:

We had 7 in our group; DH, DD11, DS14, Me, BIL, SIL and DN4. We stayed at our timeshare at HGVC International Drive. Plenty of room, beautiful resort, lots of activities for the kids. It was the first Disney experience for BIL, SIL and their 4-year-old son.

Sunday - House of Blues and Downtown Disney
Monday - MGM and Epcot (avoided MK and MNSSHP)
Tuesday - MK and Epcot
Wednesday - pool day
Thursday - part of us did Disneyquest (11 hours!); the rest to AK and MK
Friday - pool day
Saturday - Downtown Disney

Found the crowds to be very manageable. We avoided any early or late extra magic hour parks. The only attractions that weren't walk ons were Soarin' (we all loved it), Haunted Mansion and Rock'N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror (never again on those last two I kept my eyes shut the entire time and I know I said bad words the whole ride).

On Monday while all the crowds were packing MK we went to MGM and the place was empty.

Our 11 and 14-year-olds loved the little pocket guides for each park that I printed from themouseforless.com/tripplanning/pocketguides. They asked for them at each park we went to. Huge success - something I read about on this board. I made little letters from Disney characters from clip art and stickers for my 4-year-old nephew. He got a surprise letter and a small item (like stickers) each morning, to keep him occupied while waiting, etc.

Tried Rose and Crown for the first time, literally ran in there because we were drenched. Didn't research it in advance and I guess we just ordered the wrong things - food wasn't that great.

Visited Norway and rode the Maelstrom this time, mostly to get out of the rain, and enjoyed it so much we actually talked about going to Norway on vacation someday.

We tried Disneyquest for the first time and all loved it. It was not crowded until late in the evening. Our kids designed and rode their Cyberspace rollercoasters about 20 times in a row. Husband was having a flashback to his youth with all the old pinball machines and games. Daughter enjoyed the "Create" area with the animation classes and making her own cd's. Went on Pirates of the Caribbean having no clue what it even was. We loved it all. Stayed until the place closed. Would NOT have had the same experience had it been crowded.

Saw Fantasmic for the first time and enjoyed it. It was very crowded, even on a non-crowded day.

Had a wonderful meal at Bahama Breeze and Fish Bones (off-site). Part of us anyway. Dear BIL just can't find his way outside the box and he stuck with McDonalds, Wendy's and Red Lobster. We split up alot to accomodate our different food preferences.

The character breakfast at the Crystal Palace was wonderful. Husband and I are still talking about the breakfast casserole with blueberries in it. We did this on Tuesday (day after Halloween). We had an early reservation and after we ate we went straight to Fantasyland and walked right on to everything. Worked our way down to Space Mountain before our two families split up. That park started getting crowded early afternoon so we moved on to Epcot.

In-laws went to AK on Thursday, said it was crowded. But actually they went on their own and did only the Safari. It was their first Disney trip and hadn't researched what all was there so they left and went back to MK where they knew where things were. It was probably not crowded at all.

Great trip - used alot of tips and tricks from this board!
__________________
mjh

 

[mma]

Thanks for info. We went last week of Sept. 2005 and it was so slow we could stay on rides so now that I'm spoiled I really don't want to go when it is crowded ever.

 

[Scottish-Helen]

Thanks for the report. We are going this same week this year. We went at the same time in 2002 and it was great