*** New Official February 2013 Thread ***

[momof2gr8kids]

Starting to see changes for the following week, too. Longer evening hours and different EMH information showing up on the updated app.

Just noticed the changes on easywdw website. Just when I thought I had everything finalized ...... Now have to go and re-evaluate LOL

 

[melissarose]

Just noticed the changes on easywdw website. Just when I thought I had everything finalized ...... Now have to go and re-evaluate LOL

DARN IT!! lol i knew it would happen but now that it has i'm stressed out LOL this trip has turned me into a basket-case!!!

 

[Kathymford]

It looks like for my week they mostly just added a second electrical parade. That's a good thing. It seems odd that they are doing Wishes before closing and the electrical parade at closing. Maybe less crowds exiting at closing? We have a late BOG reservation on our MK day, so hopefully a more empty park when we leave.

 

[Coyotesweat]

I have Magic Kingdom planned for Super Bowl Sunday. I think they added the extra hours in hopes of enticing resort people back after the game. I bet it doesn't work, and will happily take advantage of more mid afternoon time to monorail monorail monorail, and then return to enjoy the park during and after the game! Two more hours of Disney goodness for us!

And a pork shank instead of a tv!

Katie

 

[Coyotesweat]

Ooh and they extended close and EMH at Hollywood studios on the 4th so there is a second Fantasmic for us to attend!! Yippee! More hours to enjoy!

 

[Wood Nymph]

The WDW site doesn't list Fantasmic on Thursday, Feb 7th. I wonder if that is correct? We had planned to go to it that night.
ETA: Never mind - i see it now.

Three weeks from tomorrow we'll be at WDW. I hope the weather is nice.

 

[melissarose]

i have recently started to panic. i would like to hear what everyone has to say about this plan i have:

i figured myself and my boyfriend would want one day to sleep in a little bit before going to the parks, since most of our days are early early for breakfast in the parks. i thought since HS is the smallest and there are only a few rides i want to do anyways (ToT, RnR, TSM) and since i have been there before (not the case with AK and epcot and MK i would never cut short lol), it would make sense to go later in the day. it isn't very big and i figured we could sleep in and go to captain's grille for lunch at 1:15 and then head to HS around 2. this would give us 8 hours in the park because it's EMH until 10 pm that day (feb 4). all i really REALLY want to do is: ToT, RnR, TSM, Beauty and the Beast, and Indiana Jones. am i going to get screw us over if we don't get to HS early in the morning? will i have time to do these things? maybe ride the rides a few times? i also want to see fantasmic but they've added a second showing at 8:30 and if i don't see it i won't die or anything. i am just worried that i will not have enough time, but HS is so small to me and 8 hours seems like a lot of time, considering everyone says it is so quiet the first week of february. we are NOT morning people at all and would love a day to sleep in!! JUST ONE lol

I AM PANICKING.

input would be appreciated lol

 

[meowmarie]

Got my official vacation booklet in the mail today!

 

[Coyotesweat]

i have recently started to panic. i would like to hear what everyone has to say about this plan i have:

i figured myself and my boyfriend would want one day to sleep in a little bit before going to the parks, since most of our days are early early for breakfast in the parks. i thought since HS is the smallest and there are only a few rides i want to do anyways (ToT, RnR, TSM) and since i have been there before (not the case with AK and epcot and MK i would never cut short lol), it would make sense to go later in the day. it isn't very big and i figured we could sleep in and go to captain's grille for lunch at 1:15 and then head to HS around 2. this would give us 8 hours in the park because it's EMH until 10 pm that day (feb 4). all i really REALLY want to do is: ToT, RnR, TSM, Beauty and the Beast, and Indiana Jones. am i going to get screw us over if we don't get to HS early in the morning? will i have time to do these things? maybe ride the rides a few times? i also want to see fantasmic but they've added a second showing at 8:30 and if i don't see it i won't die or anything. i am just worried that i will not have enough time, but HS is so small to me and 8 hours seems like a lot of time, considering everyone says it is so quiet the first week of february. we are NOT morning people at all and would love a day to sleep in!! JUST ONE lol

I AM PANICKING.

input would be appreciated lol

I have been watching the wait time apps. If TSM is a must-do you need to get there earlier or be prepared to wait 60 min all the way up to couple of hours or more in stand by line if you are there on a busy day. On the slowest crowd level days in jan so far, I haven't seen less than an hour wait for that one by afternoon. Fast passes seem to be gone for the day by about 11am on even the slower mornings. Everyone can and wants to ride TSM and many want to ride multiple times to improve their scores. If you can stomach the wait, the others are a bit better, later in evening RnR and ToT seem to let up a bit on wait times, probably because fewer kids and adults can and are willing to ride the scary rides. I've heard the second Fantasmic show is less crowded, and you could maybe do ToT and/or RnR during first Fantasmic while everyone not resort guest is lining up, or at end of night. I hear star tours is awesome, and frequently has short lines on slow days. 50 possible tours, so I'm gonna ride that one at least twice!

But don't panic...nothing awful will happen if you guys sleep in and decide you can live without TSM. You'll still have a great time, and maybe have a better trip for the rest! And maybe fast pass plus will appear and let you choose a time in advance? We could still get lucky!

Katie

 

[melissarose]

I have been watching the wait time apps. If TSM is a must-do you need to get there earlier or be prepared to wait 60 min all the way up to couple of hours or more in stand by line if you are there on a busy day. On the slowest crowd level days in jan so far, I haven't seen less than an hour wait for that one by afternoon. Fast passes seem to be gone for the day by about 11am on even the slower mornings. Everyone can and wants to ride TSM and many want to ride multiple times to improve their scores. If you can stomach the wait, the others are a bit better, later in evening RnR and ToT seem to let up a bit on wait times, probably because fewer kids and adults can and are willing to ride the scary rides. I've heard the second Fantasmic show is less crowded, and you could maybe do ToT and/or RnR during first Fantasmic while everyone not resort guest is lining up, or at end of night. I hear star tours is awesome, and frequently has short lines on slow days. 50 possible tours, so I'm gonna ride that one at least twice!

But don't panic...nothing awful will happen if you guys sleep in and decide you can live without TSM. You'll still have a great time, and maybe have a better trip for the rest! And maybe fast pass plus will appear and let you choose a time in advance? We could still get lucky!

Katie

You're right, I forgot about riding ToT and RnR when everyone is at the first Fantasmic! That's a good idea. And TSM is something I do want to do because I didn't do it last time but I probably would get over it if I couldn't. I am more into big kid rides anyways! Lol. I did Star Tours last time and it made me kinda dizzy so I will probably give it a miss this time around. Thanks for your input!

 

[Angebee]

It looks like for my week they mostly just added a second electrical parade. That's a good thing. It seems odd that they are doing Wishes before closing and the electrical parade at closing. Maybe less crowds exiting at closing? We have a late BOG reservation on our MK day, so hopefully a more empty park when we leave.

I'm really hoping they extend hours on Friday of that week. I want to stay as long as possible in a park on my last night and everything being closed by 9pm just doesn't cut it for me. */first..err.. Disney World problems* They DID extend hours the night we get there, though. How hard can it be to stay awake from 2:30am to 11pm?

 

[WDWaddictt]

This is really making me worried. I usually go to WDW in the fall when the crowds are low and you don't have to worry about standing more then a half hour on the biggest ride. We chose to go in feb because of all the websites saying its the slowest/value time to go. But now with all the resorts booked up, extending hours, second shows it sounds like it is going to be busy. Is the first week of Feb usually busy? Feb 1-8?

 

[brobrosmom]

This is really making me worried. I usually go to WDW in the fall when the crowds are low and you don't have to worry about standing more then a half hour on the biggest ride. We chose to go in feb because of all the websites saying its the slowest/value time to go. But now with all the resorts booked up, extending hours, second shows it sounds like it is going to be busy. Is the first week of Feb usually busy? Feb 1-8?

I've never been the 1st week of February but have been the last week of January several times. It has always been low crowds even with the cheer/dance groups and Brazilian tour groups. A lot of times we were the only ones on the bus in the mornings.

 

[vacationer1954]

We have been visiting in early February for a while and it is always less crowded than most other times of the year but still crowded.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

This is really making me worried. I usually go to WDW in the fall when the crowds are low and you don't have to worry about standing more then a half hour on the biggest ride. We chose to go in feb because of all the websites saying its the slowest/value time to go. But now with all the resorts booked up, extending hours, second shows it sounds like it is going to be busy. Is the first week of Feb usually busy? Feb 1-8?

I'm trying not to worry about the crowds b/c I don't think there are true SLOW times anymore at WDW, so it can't be helped sometimes. Last year they told us the end of January was DEAD...I didn't think it was! BUT, I do feel a little better b/c I went to check out whether the resorts were booked and sure enough when I put my dates (Tues 5th-Sat 9th) it was booked...BUT when I put the 5th-8th (friday) instead, there were still rooms! This tells me that most of the crowds for mardi gras and the cheer competition are arriving on the 8th and 9th, which is the day we leave!

Also...if a lot of the booked up hotels are from the cheer girls, I would think hitting rope drop will be the best choice ever now! I don't think the cheerleaders will be at RD!

Of course this is all guessing, but I'm trying to make myself feel better.

 

[brobrosmom]

I'm trying not to worry about the crowds b/c I don't think there are true SLOW times anymore at WDW, so it can't be helped sometimes. Last year they told us the end of January was DEAD...I didn't think it was! BUT, I do feel a little better b/c I went to check out whether the resorts were booked and sure enough when I put my dates (Tues 5th-Sat 9th) it was booked...BUT when I put the 5th-8th (friday) instead, there were still rooms! This tells me that most of the crowds for mardi gras and the cheer competition are arriving on the 8th and 9th, which is the day we leave!

Also...if a lot of the booked up hotels are from the cheer girls, I would think hitting rope drop will be the best choice ever now! I don't think the cheerleaders will be at RD!

Of course this is all guessing, but I'm trying to make myself feel better.

We went last year during the last week of January and didn't think the crowds were bad at all. We stayed at All Star Sports during a competition week and there were dance and cheer groups everywhere. Because of this the hotel itself was busy but we didn't think the parks were crowded. We are a rope drop family so we would hit the parks in the morning and leave around lunch. In the afternoon we would shop, swim, visit other hotels, etc. That may be the reason we didn't find the crowds as bad. We also don't do parades or fireworks so we tend to stay away from the large crowds.

My husband and I stayed at AKV the beginning part of Thanksgiving week and followed the same type of touring plan of getting to the parks at rope drop. While we found the crowds worse than January we did everything we wanted and couldn't really complain about the crowds. The buses from AKV were at times almost empty.

I guess sometimes it depends on the hotel and your touring plans....unless you go around Christmas and New Years! I saw the wait times during those weeks and both the DH and I agreed NEVER!

 

[meowmarie]

Got our magical express tags yesterday! Close to choosing a kennel for dawg...found a nice value resort in the country, no spa or grooming, but plenty of room to run and get muddy. Sounds like his kind of place. Can hardly wait til Feb 1!!!

Katie

Which place are you looking at? We've had really good luck with Dog Boys and Doggy Day Out, both out in P-ville.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

We went last year during the last week of January and didn't think the crowds were bad at all. We stayed at All Star Sports during a competition week and there were dance and cheer groups everywhere. Because of this the hotel itself was busy but we didn't think the parks were crowded. We are a rope drop family so we would hit the parks in the morning and leave around lunch. In the afternoon we would shop, swim, visit other hotels, etc. That may be the reason we didn't find the crowds as bad. We also don't do parades or fireworks so we tend to stay away from the large crowds.

My husband and I stayed at AKV the beginning part of Thanksgiving week and followed the same type of touring plan of getting to the parks at rope drop. While we found the crowds worse than January we did everything we wanted and couldn't really complain about the crowds. The buses from AKV were at times almost empty.

I guess sometimes it depends on the hotel and your touring plans....unless you go around Christmas and New Years! I saw the wait times during those weeks and both the DH and I agreed NEVER!

It's so bizarre the different perspectives! I used to think it was about touring b/c we are BIG on rope drop, but I think there are other factors as well. I'm a big planner and followed rope drop, avoiding EMH parks, TGM and easyWDW best days...but we still thought the crowds were pretty big once lunchtime hit. I will say that RD was great and we certainly got everything done we wanted, but since I went on my first trip in Sept. of 2008, I think each trip the crowds have grown, regardless of when we went. (Sept 2008, Oct. 2009, Jan. 2012, and Nov 2012)

It certainly wasn't like BUSY times at all, but it wasn't dead either. I took pictures as proof b/c I was shocked at certain times the amount of people in the parks! I knew people wouldn't believe me!

Granted, the first few hours after RD wasn't like this, but we are ALL DAY type people, so by afternoon at the end of Jan/beginning of Feb 2012, I saw crowds like this:

NOT dead. Luckily we get all our rides done in the morning, so this type of thing isn't a deal breaker, but still something I have to prepare for in my mind!

 

[PrincessHanasMom]

Help!! After planning my park days and booking my ADRs based on touring recommendations months ago, now things have changed around a bit. So, I checked three different planning websites (Touring Plans, Tour Guide Mike and Easy WDW) - which are completely inconsistent for my week (Presidents Day week). The only thing they all have the same is recommending to stay away from Magic Kingdom on the day we have our BBB appointment followed by lunch at CRT.

I am a novice, so i am hoping the more experienced/wise ones on this board can help me out:
Which website should I rely on?
Should I even try rearranging everything at this point or just not stress and stick with the current plan?

(FYI: I'll be 7 months pregnant and keeping up with my 4yo princess lover, if that makes a difference.)

 

[Ds4angels]

Uhg, so I checked the website and they extended the hours on Super Bowl Sunday? Are they really expecting crowds to be that crazy that they need to be open till 12?
We've got an 8yo & a 5yo. The plan was RP at MK that day and just stay at the park. Maybe take trip around the monorail to have a little break in the afternoon. Watch Wishes from Tomorrowland bridge (don't think we can handle the crowds on main street) then figured the parks would empty out after Wishes and just walk on the rides.
Most sites were saying it should be pretty empty after 3 that day. Now I'm wondering if that will hold true. Don't know that the kids will nap if we actually go back to the hotel in the afternoon. Just when I think I've got it all planned out.