Ah the Emporium does look pretty sad with the scrims on top! But you got some great castle shots and PP pics!
Glad you enjoyed the welcome show, sounds like you were already off to a great start!
It was just so weird! I've never seen one up in such a prominent location with no decoration painted over it. I did not understand!
It was a great start! I was surprised by the low key feeling in the park before the welcome show. Such a departure from the "real" way with the good show out front. I wish there was a way to keep the train station show from before while also doing the early opening of Main Street.
Have a great weekend looking forward to more MK
Thank you!! Tomorrow I should be able to get rolling with more!

my eyebrows always seem to go above my sunglasses when I take pictures.
haha yes I love them both! The song that came on was actually from Rent
I wanted to find it when it was on tv, but the first one never seems to be!
I always plan to and never get to because it's too hot! We tried to take in more when we went in Dec.
We've never gotten a cowboy!
I agree it was so ugly! And I didn't hear anything about it either beforehand.
The bigger the shades the better, in my opinion:
LOL!
Hooray Rent! I think it was in 2008, maybe 2009, when I saw Rent at the Fox in St. Louis when original Roger and Mark went out on the tour. It was amazing!
Freeform went through a phase where it felt like they played Cars every weekend, but I haven't seen it on there in forever. Hopefully you can catch it soon. It's really cute.
Getting the cowboy felt like a lottery win - I think we've had it twice since 2014, otherwise it's always the gangster.
I hated the brown scrim

I just pretended like it wasn't there. I didn't spend much time over there because I didn't want to look at it!!
Sad view with the scrim. How un-Disney-like of them! But the castle still shines in all her glory <3 I know I need to give the new welcome show more of a chance, but I soo miss the show at the train station. I guess I don't adapt well to change. Looking forward to more MK!
I miss the old welcome show, too. The new one is pretty pointless outside of getting to see all the characters out on stage. Thank goodness for the castle! I feel like it's probably going to have the crane up when I'm there in October. Boo.
I love the B&B topiary.... my fave of all!
The quintessential Epcot experience.....I love it too!
I enjoy DHS too. I'm visiting it twice this summer on my solo trips and have lots planned, including several new experiences.
This is just the best sight ever........fun T and ears too!
This is my favourite area of the park for hidden Mickey hunting. There are some really hard to find ones right at the entrance to Adventureland.
Looking forward to hearing more!
The B&B topiary was so beautiful!! I just love looking at their faces, it amazes me how intricately they can design them!
I'm excited about the new night show and I STILL haven't seen the Star Wars galactic spectacular. There's always so much to go back and see...I love that about Disney parks!
Hidden Mickey hunting is one of those things we never spend much time doing, but we are always like excited little kids when we find them!!
How do they not have AC in dorms? Crazy pants.
Hehehe
What?? When did this happen? I wonder if it was because of the drought or it is permanent?
Loving the report!
Oh, I know! No a/c does not compute in my southern half of the US brain!!
I don't know why they took the fountain out. I had read another report with a picture of it as a planter and was hoping it was just temporary...maybe that will end up being the case??? I hate it not as a fountain
Thank you!!
Mine also

I still love it although I'm not afraid to say a little less so with Maelstrom gone and the huge crowds it draws now.
We totally missed these topiaries and we had TWO F&G trips

Again, me too

I listed HS, well, MGM as my favorite park for years. My two favorite rides are there and I adore(d) the Old Hollywood theming. I am sad that seems to be going away, especially as I'm not a SW fan however I understand why that pretty much needs to be. And I was
devastated when the Animation Academy closed!! And then again when they got rid of Mulch, Sweat and Sheers! Now I'm sad again

One of my favorite lines from any park-related...."thing" lol is "the Hollywood that never was and always will be". Speaking of, they just introduced a new nighttime projection show at HS, snuk it in last week, have you seen the reviews? I watched it on
YouTube and while it's not anything ground breaking it did bring me back somewhat to that Old Hollywood feel
However it does have a downside..............
We had her last month!! We also seem to get the gangster scene like, 9 out of 10x.
Yuck, it wasn't there on the 19th! Well there was still a scrim, but it was a painted facade of the Emporium so actually much better. They make those painted facade scrims look pretty darn realistic!
Oh man, what IS her name

We've stopped and watched her and the guy over by the Sword in the Stone a few times, and then during our Marceline to the MK tour just a couple weeks ago she came over and chatted with our guide and he said her name, but I just can't remember.............
Maelstrom. #NeverForget. I'm still bitter about it being removed. I love the look of the Wandering Reindeer and the Somerhaus, but I really miss the old fashioned feeling of Maelstrom (and of Rio del Tiempo in Mexico...even though I love Fiesta Tour!). Part of the charm of the world showcase to me is the not-so-glossy picture perfect attractions like the movies, and those two old rides. I get the need for updates, but that's one thing I don't mind staying the same. I will be so sad when they inevitably change Impressions de France.
I hope they never touch Hollywood Blvd and Sunset at DHS, because I would be so angry at the loss of the Hollywood theming there. I agree about the Star Wars Creep that's going on...and I love star wars! I just wish it was contained in its own little area instead of splashing across the park right now. I get why, but I feel like it needs to be more compartmentalized. Hopefully that'll be fixed when the section opens at the park.
I have not read many reviews of the new show, but it looks like something I would enjoy. I'm struggling with planning evenings for October, and I hope I can get it worked in somewhere. I just have no idea how my mom is going to feel at the end of every day...she has a lot of energy and likes to go, go, go, but her medication doesn't always allow for her to do as much as she wants.
And what a downside it is...bleh. (i was sad I couldn't get into scifi as a party of one at the last minute!!)
Woohoo lady gangster! I'm glad she's getting to work a lot, I thought she was great!
I'm glad the scrim was painted when you were there, it was so ugly! There was also a plain brown one up at the monorail station at MK, too. I think I have pictures of that in another update. I remember taking one quickly at least! I've never seen them up and unpainted, it was so strange!
Congrats on completing your oddessy. Despite the food and rooms, glad it otherwise went well.
Loving all your WS photos. With the kiddo in tow we never seem to have time to really look around and take it in, so really appreciate the time you took to do that. Speaking of appreciate, hope all the selfies stick around. Loving them!!!
Food aside, looks like a great night in MGM. I gotta admit I'm a bit of a hater, but we did extra magic night hours on the last trip and with less people and a park we could check out in fairly short order I may have appreciated it slightly more
What is that disaster of the emporium? I've never seen them do such a poor job of covering construction up
Thank you!! It was quite the experience, that's for sure!
It was so nice to take in so many of the details in the WS! It was a different way of touring that part of the park...I missed the shops a little, didn't spend any time shopping there really, which is a lot different from family trips. Haha, the selfies will definitely stick around. I'm not sure if they get any better or not, but I think there's at least one where I actually get the whole castle in there with me, LOL!!
I was blessed with VERY low crowds at DHS, which always makes that park more enjoyable. I just always seem to feel the magic there, and it's so pretty at night!
Oh my gosh, right?? WHY did they leave it plain and ugly?? It was that way the whole week I was there and I did not understand. I agree - I've never seen any construction so obvious and gross before!
This makes so little sense to me, like I physically cannot wrap my brain around it. Okay, so you go under(?) it to reach Sunshine Tree? If you're going under it then what's the point? Ugh, I'm so confused!!!!! lol
It was super weird! It was like a tent or something, they had the end open for you to go under for the line. Disney scrim people were losing it this week between this and the ugly brown one on Main St!
Really liking your trip report- I'm a solo-tripper myself and love reading other people's experiences. It's actually kind of funny, I'm planning a trip very similar to yours (solo, AKL, 1st week of May). How were the crowds during the time that you were there?
Thank you, welcome aboard!
The crowds were AMAZING during the week this year! I noticed an uptick as the weekend drew closer and more cheerleaders were out and about in the parks, but otherwise it was super manageable. I could get extra FPs easily and wait times were manageable anyway. Also, being alone, I think that what crowds WERE there, I was kind of oblivious to, because it was just me and I wasn't trying to drag my whole family through them. I thought it was the lowest crowd level I've seen in the past three years. And AKL is wonderful for a solo trip!