v_gan
I can go the distance!
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2007
- Messages
- 1,135
(I'm going to be comparing a lot of this to our September '07 trip.)
Weather: Unbelievebly hot! During planning, I kept reading that May was warm, but not as hot as September, and that it was a lot less humid than September. I found it pretty much the same. I literally couldn't keep the sweat off my face for more than a minute at any point during the day. Not good for pictures.
We also had two days of scattered rain and thunderstorms. The rain lightened the crowds slightly and cooled us down for the night. So it wasn't too bad. I just wish it would choose not to rain on our MK days every trip 
Crowds: Definitely higher than I was anticipating, but the waits weren't bad, especially with Fastpass. It seemed like there were a LOT more people walking around than during our September trip. We usually had a few Fastpasses lined up throughout the day. Sometimes we didn't even have to use them. Walked onto many rides throughout the day. Evening EMH at MK and DHS were GREAT. Lots of school groups later in the week. Saw a few kids being escorted out of Epcot, and it was only 10:00 in the morning.
Highest wait times we saw: Soarin', 65 minutes; Test Track, 60 minutes; Toy Story Mania, 75 minutes; BTMRR, 30 minutes; Splash Mountain, 40 minutes; Rockin' Roller Coaster, 30 minutes; Tower of Terror, 30 minutes; Peter Pan, 40 minutes.
Of course, we never rode during these times. We either rode early morning, late at night, or used Fastpass. TSM fastpasses were gone by 12:30 on our DHS day. Other than that, FP times were only about an hour away from the time you got them.
Transportation: We only used Disney transportation a few times on this trip, because we discovered the quick and efficient method of driving ourselves to the parks. The few times we did use the buses, it wasn't too bad. We stayed at Pop and we used the buses once going to and from MK, and once going to and from Epcot. We held back a bit after park closing so we wouldn't have such a long wait to get on a bus. We did have to stand one night, but we only had to wait on one bus each time.
Photopass: I've got a big complaint here. In 2007, there were multiple Photopass photographers at all of the main park entrances, most of the bigger ride entrances, nice photo areas throughout the parks, and at nearly every character greeting we attended, even the smaller ones. The photographers are still at the main park icons and at the bigger character interactions, but they were definitely few and far between beyond that. On our last trip, we ended up with over 300 Photopass pictures during a 4.5 day period. I doubt we got over 150 during our 8 days during this trip. The photographers only took an average of 2 photos per spot, and never offered any fun pose ideas or anything like last time. It was just "Smile." *click* "Thank you." And they were SO unenthusiastic. We met maybe 3-4 really nice photographers throughout the trip. I was very dissappointed.
Pop Century: We checked in on Saturday the 9th, around 3:00. There wasn't a line at all to check in. We were given anniversary buttons, and I requested to be in the 50s section. Our room was ready and we were in 50s section, building 2, floor 3. We were close to the stairs, had a view of the lake, and we were right next to the 50s parking lot on the side. It was a great location! Only about a 3 minute walk to the lobby and food court. Food court was great. Very crowded in the morning, up until at least 11:00. Not bad late at night. Pool was always crowded. There were even people in it after it was supposed to be closed!
Disney Quest: NEVER AGAIN. After the first "ride" (Aladdin's Magic Carpets), both me and my boyfriend felt quesy. My boyfriend didn't start feeling better until about 4-5 hours later. The Animation Academy doesn't even compare to the one in DHS, and I had to close my eyes on Virtual Jungle Cruise to keep from feeling sick. The only thing I enjoyed was the Pirates of the Caribbean game. We didn't do Ride the Comix or Virtual Space Mountain, because we just didn't want to waste anymore time.
There was also a point were a chaperone of a school group was waiting in line in front of us for Pirates and proceeded to let about 7-8 kids (and another adult!) in front of us. They just pretended like were weren't there and crawled through the bars. When there was an open space and they weren't paying attention, we weasled our way back in front of them. But it was ridiculous we even had to do that.
Other than that, absolutely no line cutting during out trip
Blizzard Beach: Got there for rope drop at 10:00 on Monday morning and finished all the slides by 11:30 (Summit Plummet twice during that time). We enjoyed going to a waterpark on our trip, so we'll definitely try out Typhoon Lagoon next time.
Dining: We had SO many good dining experiences, I'm not even going to start on them here. I'll be writing a dining review soon Only one really bad experience: The Plaza 
Restaurantasarous wasn't too far behind in the bad experience department, but it was the guests and not the restaurant this time.
If anyone has any questions, please ask! We had a great trip, but it's good to be home and relax
Weather: Unbelievebly hot! During planning, I kept reading that May was warm, but not as hot as September, and that it was a lot less humid than September. I found it pretty much the same. I literally couldn't keep the sweat off my face for more than a minute at any point during the day. Not good for pictures.
We also had two days of scattered rain and thunderstorms. The rain lightened the crowds slightly and cooled us down for the night. So it wasn't too bad. I just wish it would choose not to rain on our MK days every trip Crowds: Definitely higher than I was anticipating, but the waits weren't bad, especially with Fastpass. It seemed like there were a LOT more people walking around than during our September trip. We usually had a few Fastpasses lined up throughout the day. Sometimes we didn't even have to use them. Walked onto many rides throughout the day. Evening EMH at MK and DHS were GREAT. Lots of school groups later in the week. Saw a few kids being escorted out of Epcot, and it was only 10:00 in the morning.
Highest wait times we saw: Soarin', 65 minutes; Test Track, 60 minutes; Toy Story Mania, 75 minutes; BTMRR, 30 minutes; Splash Mountain, 40 minutes; Rockin' Roller Coaster, 30 minutes; Tower of Terror, 30 minutes; Peter Pan, 40 minutes.
Of course, we never rode during these times. We either rode early morning, late at night, or used Fastpass. TSM fastpasses were gone by 12:30 on our DHS day. Other than that, FP times were only about an hour away from the time you got them.
Transportation: We only used Disney transportation a few times on this trip, because we discovered the quick and efficient method of driving ourselves to the parks. The few times we did use the buses, it wasn't too bad. We stayed at Pop and we used the buses once going to and from MK, and once going to and from Epcot. We held back a bit after park closing so we wouldn't have such a long wait to get on a bus. We did have to stand one night, but we only had to wait on one bus each time.
Photopass: I've got a big complaint here. In 2007, there were multiple Photopass photographers at all of the main park entrances, most of the bigger ride entrances, nice photo areas throughout the parks, and at nearly every character greeting we attended, even the smaller ones. The photographers are still at the main park icons and at the bigger character interactions, but they were definitely few and far between beyond that. On our last trip, we ended up with over 300 Photopass pictures during a 4.5 day period. I doubt we got over 150 during our 8 days during this trip. The photographers only took an average of 2 photos per spot, and never offered any fun pose ideas or anything like last time. It was just "Smile." *click* "Thank you." And they were SO unenthusiastic. We met maybe 3-4 really nice photographers throughout the trip. I was very dissappointed.
Pop Century: We checked in on Saturday the 9th, around 3:00. There wasn't a line at all to check in. We were given anniversary buttons, and I requested to be in the 50s section. Our room was ready and we were in 50s section, building 2, floor 3. We were close to the stairs, had a view of the lake, and we were right next to the 50s parking lot on the side. It was a great location! Only about a 3 minute walk to the lobby and food court. Food court was great. Very crowded in the morning, up until at least 11:00. Not bad late at night. Pool was always crowded. There were even people in it after it was supposed to be closed!
Disney Quest: NEVER AGAIN. After the first "ride" (Aladdin's Magic Carpets), both me and my boyfriend felt quesy. My boyfriend didn't start feeling better until about 4-5 hours later. The Animation Academy doesn't even compare to the one in DHS, and I had to close my eyes on Virtual Jungle Cruise to keep from feeling sick. The only thing I enjoyed was the Pirates of the Caribbean game. We didn't do Ride the Comix or Virtual Space Mountain, because we just didn't want to waste anymore time.
There was also a point were a chaperone of a school group was waiting in line in front of us for Pirates and proceeded to let about 7-8 kids (and another adult!) in front of us. They just pretended like were weren't there and crawled through the bars. When there was an open space and they weren't paying attention, we weasled our way back in front of them. But it was ridiculous we even had to do that.
Other than that, absolutely no line cutting during out trip
Blizzard Beach: Got there for rope drop at 10:00 on Monday morning and finished all the slides by 11:30 (Summit Plummet twice during that time). We enjoyed going to a waterpark on our trip, so we'll definitely try out Typhoon Lagoon next time.
Dining: We had SO many good dining experiences, I'm not even going to start on them here. I'll be writing a dining review soon
Only one really bad experience: The Plaza Restaurantasarous wasn't too far behind in the bad experience department, but it was the guests and not the restaurant this time.If anyone has any questions, please ask! We had a great trip, but it's good to be home and relax
The people I heard were adults, and I don't think we were ever back in our room before 10:00, so it was later in the night when we heard the people outside.
. 
