Parks are packed! & other tidbits (3/17 &3/18)

[caribear]

We just got home last night from a short trip to Disney, as DH had a conference in Orlando. Just DD & I went to MK on Thursday, 3/17. What a messy & wet day! It was raining when we arrived at 9:15am and still raining when we left at 1:30pm. All dd, 2 1/2 , wanted to do was jump in the puddles...so by the time we left we were both soaked With all of the rain, the park was pretty empty. Buzz & Snow White had 10 minute waits and we got a Fast Pass for Pooh, as that wait was about 25 minutes. It almost felt like we had the park to ourselves. We had breakfast with Pooh and Friends and it was great as usual. There were some brave souls with ponchos going on Dumbo, AstoOrbiter & Speedway....lines for these rides were nonexistant. We saw a train go up on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. If dd was older we could of had a blast...but walking around with a 2 1/2 year old in the rain.... by myself....with no stroller...was a challenge. We had fun though! Walls around It's a Small World were still up.

Now Friday was a completely different story! The parks were packed!!! We saw many cheer groups. Nothing to complain about as most we encountered were just having fun....but one group got off the monorail screaming cheers. Waits were very long.....Space Mountain was 65 minutes...Buzz was 55 minutes....Pooh was 55 minutes....I could go on...so if you are going this week....be prepared! At 3 pm the fast pass for Pooh was at 7:30pm!

The walls for Small World were finally down! We went to go on around 7:30pm only to find out that the ride had been running for a very short time....and then technical difficulties occured. There was still a line of die hard fans waiting to go on and the CM's were saying they weren't sure when it would reopen. You could smell the new paint and everything looked so fresh! We walked away to go on Pooh and came back 1/2 hour later....CM's were now saying the ride may not reopen tonight and to check back in an hour or so. We were sad, as we won't be back until May....but here's hoping all the glitches are ironed out soon!

We took a look at the new Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station....it was around 5pm and the place was empty!

Anyway, looks like the spring break crowds have arrived! Have fun and bring your patience and you will have a great time!!

 

[minmate]

Thanks for the updates! Sorry you didn't get on IASW... does the exterior look the same? I was hoping they changed it to reflect the one in DL...I'm guessing they didn't though, did they?

 

[Disneyonmymind]

What is Autopia???

Jackie

 

[caribear]

ooops, sorry...I meant the speedway. The outside of Small World is not nearly as extensive as the Disneyland version. They did update a lot of the area to resemble the California version though.

 

[Hippychickali]

We took a look at the new Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station....it was around 5pm and the place was empty!

I can't wait to eat here. Could you tell us what it looked like?

Ali

 

[safetymom]

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=1770063

I have pictures from Small World. I was there yesterday hoping to ride it but it wasn't open. I did get to ride it this morning. The queue area looks like DL.

Pics are in the Small World album. I also have pics of Cinderellabration.

 

[cdpa4d]

A big reason MK was packed on Friday was because people that were going to go on Thursday did not go because of the weather. So what happens is that everyone that was going to go on Thursday went Friday. Everyone that planned to go on Friday went as well. So, basically you had two days worth of crowds at the MK in one day. That can be a big mess. With it getting closer to Easter crowds are building regardless. If you have a bad weather taking advantage of it would be a benefit.
ADP

 

[caribear]

cdpa4d, you are right! I thought that the crowds were probably larger due to those who decided to stay out of the rain on Thursday plus the early spring breakers.

Thanks for the pictures safetymom!! I can't wait to go back in May!

hippychickali, I do not think the area looked much different than it did before. I really can't remember though. The pictures of the food look good though! Starlight Cafe was very crowded...and then the Noodle Station was empty. Maybe it will catch on soon.

 

[Bluenoser]

Thanks for the pictures safetymom! I can't wait to ISM and Cinderellabration - 16 more days.

 

[mhingher]

Wow I can't believe the difference in crowds a week makes- I was there the week of 3/5-3/12, and we walked on everything, didn't wait more than 20 minutes! Towards the end of the trip there were slightly heavier crowds, Test Track had a wait of 180 minutes! But that was the one and only ride we had to use Fast Pass for... every other line was reasonable... and I know what you mean about the rain... it only rained one day during my trip, but I mean it rained ALL day, didn't stop until close to dinner time. We put our ponchos on and toughed it out...but we had to go back to the room and change our pants, socks and sneakers before we went to MK for EMH, we were soaked! (Not to mention it was only like 60 degrees...)