We're back! We had gorgeous weather. No Rain the entire time!
Wait times were almost nonexistent. Even in the middle of the day, most attractions had less than 30 minute waits. TSMM fast passes were for 3pm at 10am though...which was expected.
Caribbean Beach was wonderful. We're glad that we tried a Moderate. I'm sure we'll return there again some day. I'm supposed to start planning a trip for next year at the Wilderness Lodge though.
WE'RE BACK TOO! We were also at CBR, what building were you in? We were in 26, garden view, it was fantastic! We actually used the bus stop at Old Port Royale instead of the Martinique stop b/c it was closer. And while I didn't end up with any hotel time, we would have been less than a minute from the "beach" had we been able to get there. (To those who asked a few pages back about CBR, busses, and building requests: we had NO bus issues except for one relating to my w/c which was quickly resolved. That said, Martinque 25 and 26 are awesome locations to OPR, beach/lake, and bus. I wouldn't hesitate to call and request a specific building, and probably will request 26 again in the future.)
Weather last week was absolutely gorgeous. Sunday night when we arrived was quite chilly mostly due to wind, we all needed long sleeves & pants, plus jackets (zip-up hooded sweatshirts), and bought hot chocolate to warm up with while watching Illuminations. Monday was the only other day we did jeans (wore capris or shorts the rest of the week, with jeans for DD after dark on M-W), I did 3/4 sleeve shirts Monday & Tuesday then short sleeves, and DH and DD wore short sleeves the rest of the week with our sweatshirts in the bottom of the stroller for DD and I.
Crowd levels were amazing; the only time we ever felt crowded in the parks was at AK on Friday, particularly around Africa. This could be largely due to park configuration though. As danceintherain said, TSMM fastpasses went extremely fast, and the wait times were posted at 70-90 minutes at times, but we waited to do it after PM EMH hours kicked in, and were able to walk on in about 20 minutes. I don't think we ever had more than a 20-30 minute wait for anything else, most of the time even less, with minimal FP usage.
The only time we really had crowd issues was at DTD on Saturday afternoon; it took nearly 30 minutes for DH to find a place to park, and the stores were crazy! The only reason we drove over was b/c it was our last stop before leaving for home, but next time we'll def. take the bus, even if it does mean hauling lots of bags back. Not sure how much Festival of the Masters was affecting things, but I was def. rushed and didn't get to shop as much as I wanted.
I'll try to start a TR tomorrow (I am absolutely EXHAUSTED) but I wanted to offer one tip for those whose travels are still upcoming: if you're at DHS during PM EMH, head over to the theater used for the Playhouse Disney show. While waiting for a showing of "Voyage of the Little Mermaid", we stumbled upon a walk-in dance party with the characters; it was a BLAST! There were people giving out balloon animals/hats, the music was jamming, bubbles were flying, and DD had such a great time dancing with the characters. She line danced to the Cha-cha slide with Handy Manny, and Mickey took her by the hand to help her "roll" while dancing to Proud Mary! (Sadly, DH was in the bathroom with the camera, but they will be priceless memories for me.) Minnie and Goofy were also there, it was such a wonderful surprise!