Trip Report

[RvUsa]

Hey lawnspecialties, what were the parks like, busy, medium etc?? We get there in about 2 weeks and I hope its not packed.

Just wondering, sounds like you had fun. and the weather looked awesome in the pics.

John

 

[Us3]

RVUSA, sounds like you're going at a great time. You'll just beat the spring break crowds! A lot of schools in Tx etc start spring break the first full week in March! Have fun!

 

[RvUsa]

UH OH, I thought most spring breaks started 2nd week of march, we are there until the 8th. I guess we should enjoy the first week.

Lol

 

[Colson39]

Great report so far and great pics!

When we were there in November, they already were replanting some of the native Florida species, so they are moving right along in that department. Mainly along the main roads, near the sidewalks, you could see where they had recently planted some saplings to get some of the privacy back.

Per Spring Break, yea, some schools start it as early as the first week of March, although you still shouldn't have that many crowds. It will be busier than it was in most of February, but still decent.

 

[lawnspecialties]

Hey lawnspecialties, what were the parks like, busy, medium etc?? We get there in about 2 weeks and I hope its not packed.

Just wondering, sounds like you had fun. and the weather looked awesome in the pics.

John

We had some friends go down the week before we went. As a matter of fact, we passed them on the bridge in Jacksonville. They were disappointed in the crowds but that was coming off MLK weekend.

The 26th - 1st, the crowds were great. Our first four days, we hit each park when they opened and for a couple of hours, most rides had less than a five minute wait. By lunchtime, things picked up some but still I don't think we waited more than 10 - 15 minutes for rides like Soarin', Tower of Terror, and Space Mountain.

The weekend of the 2nd and 3rd, things picked up quite a bit but not terrible. Saturday the 1st, we went to Animal Kingdom and were able to do everything except the Safari that afternoon. The line there was 50 minutes and they weren't issuing Fast Passes. Sunday the 2nd, we hit the Studios and were able to do everything easily with Fast Passes. Rock and Roller Coaster was up to about 50 minutes in the standby line by the afternoon.

Monday was Epcot and Tuesday was MK. Both days were pretty good but not as good as the week before.

One thing I will recommend if money is no object and you want low crowds for a while at MK. We did the Pirates and Princesses Party Tuesday the 26th. My youngest Luke, is a huge Jack Sparrow fan. The party starts at 7:00 and if you don't have a ticket, you gotta' get out. It lasts until midnight. Talk about low crowds! Most rides had zero wait time and onbviously, the later it got, the less crowded it got. When we rode the boat back, the CM told us there was 8000 people there and the park maximum capacity is right near 80,000. So at the busiest point of the night, the Magic Kingdom had 90% less people than Christmas week and it only kept getting better.

 

[drafthorsecrazy]

I'm glad Country Oaks CG in Georgia worked out for you! Sounds like you had a good time at the fort.

 

[lawnspecialties]

Some crowd pics.

Hollywood Studios the first day, Sunday the 27th.

Magic Kingdom our third day, Tuesday the 29th.

It's a Small World, isn't it?

All these crowd shots were in the morning hours.

 

[Escape Artist]

Loved your pictures and your trip report! Thanks for sharing them. You're getting me all wistful for our trip in August.

But I have to ask...does anybody know what kind of bird that is in the background of the canoe shot?

Thanks,

Sue...now in Texas, but surrounded by birds I don't know!

 

[Colson39]

Loved your pictures and your trip report! Thanks for sharing them. You're getting me all wistful for our trip in August.

But I have to ask...does anybody know what kind of bird that is in the background of the canoe shot?

Thanks,

Sue...now in Texas, but surrounded by birds I don't know!

That would be a Great White Egret, it's a species of Heron

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egret

 

[Us3]

Wow, WHAT crowds? That's great! What a great time to go!

 

[BigDaddyRog]

Its called an EGRET....many people call them "cranes"



(edit)Wow....Colson...your quick.....if you happen to have a KOI pond...you will hate these birds!!!

 

[lawnspecialties]

Loved your pictures and your trip report! Thanks for sharing them. You're getting me all wistful for our trip in August.

But I have to ask...does anybody know what kind of bird that is in the background of the canoe shot?

Thanks,

Sue...now in Texas, but surrounded by birds I don't know!

I believe it's one of the Heron species. But not positive. We have them up here in NC as well.

 

[Escape Artist]

That would be a Great White Egret, it's a species of Heron

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egret

Thank you so much, Colson! That explains why sometimes people around here call them egrets, and sometimes they call them herons.

It's so confusing to this old Ohio farm kid, who doesn't want to teach my kids the wrong names for stuff.

Sue in Texas

 

[Us3]

Wow...Sonya......new avatars is ...um,....very professional!!! You Do realize that "very professional" may mean that you are a knock out, but that would seem very forward of me and not my place to say, so Im just gonna stick to "Very Professional"

Are you a realtor?

Ha, I just saw this post BDR...and I did have my real estate license in Texas, but not here in GA....we just had to move closer to WDW and FW! ha

Oh, and I changed my avatar to a doggie pic just for Terri!

 

[Colson39]

Its called an EGRET....many people call them "cranes"



(edit)Wow....Colson...your quick.....if you happen to have a KOI pond...you will hate these birds!!!

There is not a bird you will come to hate more (and love more) than a wild peacock. Our neighborhood is full of them.

Advantages
-----------

1) Good "watch birds", if anyone even walks down the street at night they let you know

2) It's quite cool to look out your picture window in the morning and sometimes see a male peacock showing it's colors, it mesmerizes you

3) Good at keeping bugs out of your plants yards

Those advantages are good enough to make me not entirely hate them, and I like them much more than my wife, who hates them because:

Disadvantages
-------------

1) They poop like a dog (size wise). I've never seen a bird do that.

2) They have a tendency to eat your plants as well as your bugs. We finally have figured out what they will and won't eat (plus I have to keep our garden chicken wired at all times).

3) The loud screeching bothers some people (but not me, reminds me of the Fort).

4) They are very "regal" animals. They will NOT get out of the way of your car, even if it's coming at them at 30 MPH. They wait for you to get out of their way....lol.

All in all, I think it's amazing that we have wild peacocks in our neighborhood, it's just not something you see all the time in Florida. And it's only our U-Shaped street, they don't go anywhere else. I'll take the advantages over the disadvantages (although I wish they didn't eat so many flowers, just have to trial and error to see which one's they don't like, we know now ).

Thank you so much, Colson! That explains why sometimes people around here call them egrets, and sometimes they call them herons.

It's so confusing to this old Ohio farm kid, who doesn't want to teach my kids the wrong names for stuff.

Sue in Texas

You're welcome! They're one of my favorites here in Florida!

 

[terri01p]

Ha, I just saw this post BDR...and I did have my real estate license in Texas, but not here in GA....we just had to move closer to WDW and FW! ha

Oh, and I changed my avatar to a doggie pic just for Terri!

Hehehe, you go girl, I love it !

 

[BigDaddyRog]

lol..............Colson....Im now equipped with all the peacock info I need to form an opinion....I once thought about buying a pair of peacocks for my backyard, I now know better.

The Egrets had a sushi dinner on me one summer....over $500 worth of medium koi. I tried everything to get them to stop....after I gave up and filled in the pond....I found out that all I needed to do was put a plastic flamingo next to the pond...that the flamingo acts as a scare crow....or in this case, a scare egret!!!

 

[RvUsa]

WOW what crowds??? Thanks for the pictures. When we booked we stuck our trip right after presedents week, and right before spring breaks. We hope it won't be crowded, but cant be as bad as the summer right?

Pres week ends sunday, we check in monday. Most spring breaks start the 2nd week of march, and we will be long gone. I am going to call today and try to add a day onto the end of our stay, if they still have openings, then I hope that means they will not be tooooo busy.

John

 

[lawnspecialties]

WOW what crowds??? Thanks for the pictures. When we booked we stuck our trip right after presedents week, and right before spring breaks. We hope it won't be crowded, but cant be as bad as the summer right?

Pres week ends sunday, we check in monday. Most spring breaks start the 2nd week of march, and we will be long gone. I am going to call today and try to add a day onto the end of our stay, if they still have openings, then I hope that means they will not be tooooo busy.

John

Just remember, these were around 9:30-10:00 am. By lunchtime, you could start to really see the standby line times increasing. But then you start working the Fast Passes.

The ones where we were at MK, I remember we went directly to Pirates of the Carribean. By 10:00, we had ridden POTC, Thunder Mountain RR, Haunted Mansion, and were getting on Small World. Not bad for one hour.

 

[RvUsa]

Cool thanks, last time we were there we did morning EMH and we did buzz 2x, stitch, the indy cars, peter pan, and carousel of progress before 9:30, we were clear around to pirates by 1ish and did everything. It was in october.