Quick visit to CCV

[Brian Noble]

Sitting in the SkyClub at MCO waiting to board my flight back. A few very brief notes.

The MCO Hyatt is a godsend for late-arriving flights---especially if you have Chase URs that can transfer to Hyatt. I appreciated the sensor-activated slipper lights, but I'm bougie like that.

I didn't think the ongoing exterior work was particularly disruptive for those whose rooms are not directly impacted. I also think it is timely; the "logs" are definitely showing signs of wear, and the material underneath is much lighter in color so wear can be pretty obvious.

The trees around the cascade cabins have really started to grow in. We were overlooking the quiet pool on the 5th floor, and the cabins were barely noticeable.

Shenanigans at Whispering Canyon were in full force.

Yes, LSL is visible from CCV/BRV. But, I did not think it was the terrible eyesore from that angle that many make it out to be. Yes, it is big, but Bay Lake is bigger. It is not hard to still enjoy the larger view. I also suspect that once they have the final exterior, it will blend in a bit better than the bright colors of the construction material.

I am not a studio person. It was fine for a long weekend. I don't think I want to do that for my longer trips.

The current guard shack is on Timberline, west of the intersection with the first connector to the parking lot. It looks like they are pouring footers for something---maybe gate access---to the east of that intersection. If that's what they are doing suspect that might end up being related to whatever the plan is for Guest vehicle access to LSL.

I know that @lentesta and the folks at Touring Plans have mentioned that the LL/Standby mix has been changed in favor of Standby. Even knowing that, I was surprised at how much more smoothly the Standby lines seem to be moving. I got in a couple lines that I was sure were longer than posted based on how far back they went given my past experiences. They were either posted a little high, or right on the nose.

I did not purchase a single LL nor do a single rope drop. We were show/entertainment focused this time, and were only in the parks in the afternoons/evenings. Even so, we hit a few more popular attractions with what I thought were tolerable waits. I can imagine taking this approach to the parks given the current state of Operations.

MNSSHP was a lot of fun! I don't think it's a thing I need to do more than once every many years, unless I am with a first-timer who is a fan of spooky season.

The Litlte Mermaid update is very well done. The bones of the show are the same, but the experience has been plussed. The Villains show is fun, though maybe not a ton of repeat value? Not sure yet. I thought the Hook character was spectacularly funny and campy. Semi-relatedly: Cruella is experiencing a serious renaissance. I lost count of how many Cruellas were at the Party.

Harmonious is growing on me after a few viewings.

More if I think of it!

 

[VGCgroupie]

Sitting in the SkyClub at MCO waiting to board my flight back. A few very brief notes.

The MCO Hyatt is a godsend for late-arriving flights---especially if you have Chase URs that can transfer to Hyatt. I appreciated the sensor-activated slipper lights, but I'm bougie like that.

I didn't think the ongoing exterior work was particularly disruptive for those whose rooms are not directly impacted. I also think it is timely; the "logs" are definitely showing signs of wear, and the material underneath is much lighter in color so wear can be pretty obvious.

The trees around the cascade cabins have really started to grow in. We were overlooking the quiet pool on the 5th floor, and the cabins were barely noticeable.

Shenanigans at Whispering Canyon were in full force.

Yes, LSL is visible from CCV/BRV. But, I did not think it was the terrible eyesore from that angle that many make it out to be. Yes, it is big, but Bay Lake is bigger. It is not hard to still enjoy the larger view. I also suspect that once they have the final exterior, it will blend in a bit better than the bright colors of the construction material.

I am not a studio person. It was fine for a long weekend. I don't think I want to do that for my longer trips.

The current guard shack is on Timberline, west of the intersection with the first connector to the parking lot. It looks like they are pouring footers for something---maybe gate access---to the east of that intersection. If that's what they are doing suspect that might end up being related to whatever the plan is for Guest vehicle access to LSL.

I know that @lentesta and the folks at Touring Plans have mentioned that the LL/Standby mix has been changed in favor of Standby. Even knowing that, I was surprised at how much more smoothly the Standby lines seem to be moving. I got in a couple lines that I was sure were longer than posted based on how far back they went given my past experiences. They were either posted a little high, or right on the nose.

I did not purchase a single LL nor do a single rope drop. We were show/entertainment focused this time, and were only in the parks in the afternoons/evenings. Even so, we hit a few more popular attractions with what I thought were tolerable waits. I can imagine taking this approach to the parks given the current state of Operations.

MNSSHP was a lot of fun! I don't think it's a thing I need to do more than once every many years, unless I am with a first-timer who is a fan of spooky season.

The Litlte Mermaid update is very well done. The bones of the show are the same, but the experience has been plussed. The Villains show is fun, though maybe not a ton of repeat value? Not sure yet. I thought the Hook character was spectacularly funny and campy. Semi-relatedly: Cruella is experiencing a serious renaissance. I lost count of how many Cruellas were at the Party.

Harmonious is growing on me after a few viewings.

More if I think of it!

More if I think of it.

I can get on board with motion activated slipper lights.

 

[Brian Noble]

Ah, one more note: Test Track 3.0 is a worthy successor. Not necessarily better or worse. There is one WOW moment that I won’t spoil for those who don’t want to know.

 

[kes601]

I know that @lentesta and the folks at Touring Plans have mentioned that the LL/Standby mix has been changed in favor of Standby. Even knowing that, I was surprised at how much more smoothly the Standby lines seem to be moving. I got in a couple lines that I was sure were longer than posted based on how far back they went given my past experiences. They were either posted a little high, or right on the nose.

Can you provide a link for this discussion? Very interested in it but hadn't seen this yet.

 

[Brian Noble]

Start here:

Post in thread 'Crowds summer'

Jul 24, 2025

Today Touring Plans dropped crowd levels for next week. Are they usually correct with the predictions?

We've been consistently overpredicting crowds. This is an adjustment for that.

Some background that might help this thread:

Since 2023 we've had staff in the parks counting the number of people who get into the standby and Lightning Lane lines, by minute, at key attractions at different times of the day. Every hour or two we ask them to hop in the standby line and time their actual wait. Here's an example of that data:



Besides telling us how many people are in...

• lentesta

• 

 

[kes601]

Start here:

Post in thread 'Crowds summer'

Jul 24, 2025

Today Touring Plans dropped crowd levels for next week. Are they usually correct with the predictions?

We've been consistently overpredicting crowds. This is an adjustment for that.

Some background that might help this thread:

Since 2023 we've had staff in the parks counting the number of people who get into the standby and Lightning Lane lines, by minute, at key attractions at different times of the day. Every hour or two we ask them to hop in the standby line and time their actual wait. Here's an example of that data:



Besides telling us how many people are in...

• lentesta

• 

Thanks for this. We always buy LLMP. Have contemplated not purchasing it at Thanksgiving / Christmas weeks this year, but it seems like a bad time to test our ability to stand in lines (not because of accessibility, but because we hate it...lol). If they are actually constantly moving then I might be able to do it.

 

[Brian Noble]

I thought I hated lines too. It turns out I hate them less than I thought they did---at least, that's true when they are moving. I got twitchy when Safari had what I suspect was a giraffic jam and the line paused for a while, but even with that, we ended up waiting less than I expected for it.

 

[kes601]

I thought I hated lines too. It turns out I hate them less than I thought they did---at least, that's true when they are moving. I got twitchy when Safari had what I suspect was a giraffic jam and the line paused for a while, but even with that, we ended up waiting less than I expected for it.

Thanks. My guess is if the price of LLMP is what it was when it peaked last Wednesday then we won't want to pay that every day and may just pick the days we plan to do the parks in both the morning and evening. A lot of times we just do Early Entry and stay until lunch.

ETA: We may just try it w/o at Thanksgiving, the worst case is that we can enjoy Poly and the Tower since I somehow scored a room last week for 4 nights that week.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

We were there this past long weekend too, also in a studio at CC. It was a quick trip to use some points freed up by changing another reservation, I missed the one bedroom, but still loved the room refresh. I wasn't put off by the work at WL except for those window clings. It makes that area seem clausterphopic to me.

We are normally LL people but used this trip as a test to go without. Early Entry got us a solid 2 rides in quick succession before things picked up. I think in the future we may still get it but not every day. Waits got pretty long in the afternoon so we bugged out to rest at the resort.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Thanks. My guess is if the price of LLMP is what it was when it peaked last Wednesday then we won't want to pay that every day and may just pick the days we plan to do the parks in both the morning and evening. A lot of times we just do Early Entry and stay until lunch.

ETA: We may just try it w/o at Thanksgiving, the worst case is that we can enjoy Poly and the Tower since I somehow scored a room last week for 4 nights that week.

We had LL last year Thanksgiving week and you can probably get by without it earlier in the week, but we definitely thought it was worth it Wed - Fri.

 

[kes601]

We had LL last year Thanksgiving week and you can probably get by without it earlier in the week, but we definitely thought it was worth it Wed - Fri.

Yep, we were there the entire week last week also and felt like the weekend before and Mon/Tues were definitely less crowded. This year we unfortunately don't fly in until way late on Tuesday so are only there the busy days, however are planning on doing 2 MK days with early entry on party days (so should be smaller crowds) and doing one Christmas party.

 

[hardcorestitch]

Sitting in the SkyClub at MCO waiting to board my flight back. A few very brief notes.

The MCO Hyatt is a godsend for late-arriving flights---especially if you have Chase URs that can transfer to Hyatt. I appreciated the sensor-activated slipper lights, but I'm bougie like that.

I didn't think the ongoing exterior work was particularly disruptive for those whose rooms are not directly impacted. I also think it is timely; the "logs" are definitely showing signs of wear, and the material underneath is much lighter in color so wear can be pretty obvious.

The trees around the cascade cabins have really started to grow in. We were overlooking the quiet pool on the 5th floor, and the cabins were barely noticeable.

Shenanigans at Whispering Canyon were in full force.

Yes, LSL is visible from CCV/BRV. But, I did not think it was the terrible eyesore from that angle that many make it out to be. Yes, it is big, but Bay Lake is bigger. It is not hard to still enjoy the larger view. I also suspect that once they have the final exterior, it will blend in a bit better than the bright colors of the construction material.

I am not a studio person. It was fine for a long weekend. I don't think I want to do that for my longer trips.

The current guard shack is on Timberline, west of the intersection with the first connector to the parking lot. It looks like they are pouring footers for something---maybe gate access---to the east of that intersection. If that's what they are doing suspect that might end up being related to whatever the plan is for Guest vehicle access to LSL.

I know that @lentesta and the folks at Touring Plans have mentioned that the LL/Standby mix has been changed in favor of Standby. Even knowing that, I was surprised at how much more smoothly the Standby lines seem to be moving. I got in a couple lines that I was sure were longer than posted based on how far back they went given my past experiences. They were either posted a little high, or right on the nose.

I did not purchase a single LL nor do a single rope drop. We were show/entertainment focused this time, and were only in the parks in the afternoons/evenings. Even so, we hit a few more popular attractions with what I thought were tolerable waits. I can imagine taking this approach to the parks given the current state of Operations.

MNSSHP was a lot of fun! I don't think it's a thing I need to do more than once every many years, unless I am with a first-timer who is a fan of spooky season.

The Litlte Mermaid update is very well done. The bones of the show are the same, but the experience has been plussed. The Villains show is fun, though maybe not a ton of repeat value? Not sure yet. I thought the Hook character was spectacularly funny and campy. Semi-relatedly: Cruella is experiencing a serious renaissance. I lost count of how many Cruellas were at the Party.

Harmonious is growing on me after a few viewings.

More if I think of it!

Ugh, the Orlando International Airport, the Leaving Your Attractions experience. Hope you enjoyed CCV though!