casperthegm
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2010
Arrived evening 1/23 (Wed) and left morning of 1/27 (Sunday), staying at Pop Music, our first visit to a value resort (almost always stay at CBR). We figured, short trip and we're just using the hotel room for coming back in the evening to sleep and not much more, why not see if we like it?
The hotel room was fine (no coffee maker or microwave) so I got to make the morning coffee run for the group (DW, DS, and mother in law). Twin beds were a little cozy for the wife and I but we managed. I was actually glad to have coffee run duties, as it's honestly the only time I got to really get out and view Pop Music at all. Melody Hall (at least at 6:45 am) was nice and well run. Probably would go back to a moderate in the future, or at least a room with a queen bed and more basic things like a coffee maker, but Pop Music served its purpose just fine, and there were no problems at all.
Thursday started out raining at Epcot, but we were able to get there early on during morning emh and ride Soarin twice (about 15 min wait each time), grab breakfast right there at sunshine seasons, and move along. TT took a while to come back online after the rain, so we figured the Land would be an option, but that went down too, as did Spaceship Earth. Eh, it happens. We (and many others) hit the Nemo ride. Nice ride but that que wait time was pushing it for me. Things got back to normal after that, as we fp'd Figment, Spaceship Earth (back up and running), MS and single rider for TT when it came back up. Fp's for Frozen, which we hadn't seen since it had replaced Maelstrom (son grudgingly rode it and wasn't a fan). DW and I enjoyed it. A nice leisurely walk through the countries (enjoyed the art exhibits along the way) in the mid afternoon, and dinner at Le Cellier (their filet is sooo good). A couple of us had birthday pins so the staff was kind enough to bring out our desserts (I got the kids version of chocolate mousse; yum) with candles and happy birthday chocolate signs. Very nice touch. We capped things off with the closing evening show (personally my favorite of all the parks). As far as crowd levels- morning rain helped, but crowds really ramped up in the pm.
Friday at MK. Our first time going with the bag check at the monorail station instead of MK itself. Morning emh crowd was building when we arrived. I swear, I should not be allowed to pick which line to stand in. It just crawled, while others moved along. Then, with crowds continuing to build behind us, a bunch of new lines opened up further down and everyone behind us ran to those open lines. Grrr. Anyway, we eventually got to the park and got off to a nice start, hitting Buzz and Space Mtn a couple of times before we started using our fp's (7dmr, BTR, and SM). Nice lunch at Liberty Tree. Crowds were really building up by noon We never had any major issues though- we just refreshed our selection options any time we looked for new fp's and picked the earliest one for a ride we liked. Got a free popcorn "courtesy of Mickey" because of my birthday pin. Another nice touch. Glad to see there's still some of that Disney magic (remember Year of a Million Dreams? Wish they'd bring that back).
But the crowds- a nearly full showing for Carousel of Progress? And long, winding lines for the People Mover? Guess there really is no offseason, huh? Also- Disney is still the best at keeping their parks clean, but noticed it wasn't quite like it had been in the past. We saw a garbage can at the que for HM that was overflowing and garbage had dropped to the ground surrounding it. Still like that when we got off the ride, with a couple of cast member standing right by it. Anyway, we managed to play the fp game just fine at MK and rode everything we wanted to multiple times regardless of the large crowds.
Saturday at AK. Wow- crowded. EMH 8-9 am, we arrived around 8:30 and followed the crowd to FOP's line. It snaked around forever but it actually moved at a good clip. We were done with the ride about 75-80 minutes after first getting in line. What an amazing ride. So glad we waited in line for it (we generally don't like to wait for any ride longer than 30ish minutes) Fp's for Navi River. Very pretty, but felt short to me. Additional fp's for Safari and Dinosaur. It became evident early on that things had changed since we'd last visited AK (1 year prior to FOP opened). The crowds on Saturday were pretty intense. The fp's worked well, as did single rider for EE. But by early afternoon (luckily we'd been efficient and hit everything by then) it was clear that we were not going to be getting on many more rides. My wife and son rode Primeval Whirl and one more round of single rider EE. Then it was pretty much snack and chill, as fp's for every ride were gone and lines were nuts.
We stopped by FOP around 5:40 pm and it said 240 minutes. But here's the thing; the que line didn't extend to even the entrance where it showed the wait time. In the morning, when it only took us about 75 minutes, we were well beyond that, snaking up and down the sidewalks outside the ride. I have to wonder if that 240 minute wait time toward the end is inflated to discourage people from getting in line in the evening, so that they don't have to keep it open 2+ hours after the park closes. Anyone have any thoughts or knowledge regarding this?
After a nice evening water show at AK we headed out to dinner at the Grand Floridian Cafe. Nice enough restaurant and good food. Didn't wow me but it didn't disappointment me either. It was fine.
Last note- we decided to leave with a breakfast at CBR, where we almost always stay but hadn't been to in a couple of years. I'm old fashioned, so maybe it's my aversion to change, but I wasn't a huge fan of the changes. There's some big hotel or DVC going up on one side that looks out of place. And that new transport system, with huge towers is kind of an eye sore. Neither of these things are the end of the world, but I wouldn't call them aesthetically pleasing either. I miss the old fashioned, quiet lobby we'd check into. Now check in is shoehorned into the back corner of Port Royale. Meh. Not a huge fan of the food court update either. There seemed to be less available seating than before. Maybe we came at a bad time or bad day. Ordering was fine, and pretty efficient. But the wait for the food... Yeesh. I'm a pretty patient guy, but it was a looong wait. We'd been hoping to visit our old favorite and hit the road quickly for our drive home. But now we may be rethinking about staying at CBR going forward.
Anyway, don't mean to end on a down note- just an opinion regarding CBR. Overall, good trip (with a couple bits of Disney magic sprinkled in), where we managed to mostly make it work by doing rope drops (or close to it) and strategic fp's but crowds were definitely larger than I recall. Definitely won't visit AK on a Saturday again. We thought that would be our best bet for a bit of a slower day. Whoops.
The hotel room was fine (no coffee maker or microwave) so I got to make the morning coffee run for the group (DW, DS, and mother in law). Twin beds were a little cozy for the wife and I but we managed. I was actually glad to have coffee run duties, as it's honestly the only time I got to really get out and view Pop Music at all. Melody Hall (at least at 6:45 am) was nice and well run. Probably would go back to a moderate in the future, or at least a room with a queen bed and more basic things like a coffee maker, but Pop Music served its purpose just fine, and there were no problems at all.
Thursday started out raining at Epcot, but we were able to get there early on during morning emh and ride Soarin twice (about 15 min wait each time), grab breakfast right there at sunshine seasons, and move along. TT took a while to come back online after the rain, so we figured the Land would be an option, but that went down too, as did Spaceship Earth. Eh, it happens. We (and many others) hit the Nemo ride. Nice ride but that que wait time was pushing it for me. Things got back to normal after that, as we fp'd Figment, Spaceship Earth (back up and running), MS and single rider for TT when it came back up. Fp's for Frozen, which we hadn't seen since it had replaced Maelstrom (son grudgingly rode it and wasn't a fan). DW and I enjoyed it. A nice leisurely walk through the countries (enjoyed the art exhibits along the way) in the mid afternoon, and dinner at Le Cellier (their filet is sooo good). A couple of us had birthday pins so the staff was kind enough to bring out our desserts (I got the kids version of chocolate mousse; yum) with candles and happy birthday chocolate signs. Very nice touch. We capped things off with the closing evening show (personally my favorite of all the parks). As far as crowd levels- morning rain helped, but crowds really ramped up in the pm.
Friday at MK. Our first time going with the bag check at the monorail station instead of MK itself. Morning emh crowd was building when we arrived. I swear, I should not be allowed to pick which line to stand in. It just crawled, while others moved along. Then, with crowds continuing to build behind us, a bunch of new lines opened up further down and everyone behind us ran to those open lines. Grrr. Anyway, we eventually got to the park and got off to a nice start, hitting Buzz and Space Mtn a couple of times before we started using our fp's (7dmr, BTR, and SM). Nice lunch at Liberty Tree. Crowds were really building up by noon We never had any major issues though- we just refreshed our selection options any time we looked for new fp's and picked the earliest one for a ride we liked. Got a free popcorn "courtesy of Mickey" because of my birthday pin. Another nice touch. Glad to see there's still some of that Disney magic (remember Year of a Million Dreams? Wish they'd bring that back).
But the crowds- a nearly full showing for Carousel of Progress? And long, winding lines for the People Mover? Guess there really is no offseason, huh? Also- Disney is still the best at keeping their parks clean, but noticed it wasn't quite like it had been in the past. We saw a garbage can at the que for HM that was overflowing and garbage had dropped to the ground surrounding it. Still like that when we got off the ride, with a couple of cast member standing right by it. Anyway, we managed to play the fp game just fine at MK and rode everything we wanted to multiple times regardless of the large crowds.
Saturday at AK. Wow- crowded. EMH 8-9 am, we arrived around 8:30 and followed the crowd to FOP's line. It snaked around forever but it actually moved at a good clip. We were done with the ride about 75-80 minutes after first getting in line. What an amazing ride. So glad we waited in line for it (we generally don't like to wait for any ride longer than 30ish minutes) Fp's for Navi River. Very pretty, but felt short to me. Additional fp's for Safari and Dinosaur. It became evident early on that things had changed since we'd last visited AK (1 year prior to FOP opened). The crowds on Saturday were pretty intense. The fp's worked well, as did single rider for EE. But by early afternoon (luckily we'd been efficient and hit everything by then) it was clear that we were not going to be getting on many more rides. My wife and son rode Primeval Whirl and one more round of single rider EE. Then it was pretty much snack and chill, as fp's for every ride were gone and lines were nuts.
We stopped by FOP around 5:40 pm and it said 240 minutes. But here's the thing; the que line didn't extend to even the entrance where it showed the wait time. In the morning, when it only took us about 75 minutes, we were well beyond that, snaking up and down the sidewalks outside the ride. I have to wonder if that 240 minute wait time toward the end is inflated to discourage people from getting in line in the evening, so that they don't have to keep it open 2+ hours after the park closes. Anyone have any thoughts or knowledge regarding this?
After a nice evening water show at AK we headed out to dinner at the Grand Floridian Cafe. Nice enough restaurant and good food. Didn't wow me but it didn't disappointment me either. It was fine.
Last note- we decided to leave with a breakfast at CBR, where we almost always stay but hadn't been to in a couple of years. I'm old fashioned, so maybe it's my aversion to change, but I wasn't a huge fan of the changes. There's some big hotel or DVC going up on one side that looks out of place. And that new transport system, with huge towers is kind of an eye sore. Neither of these things are the end of the world, but I wouldn't call them aesthetically pleasing either. I miss the old fashioned, quiet lobby we'd check into. Now check in is shoehorned into the back corner of Port Royale. Meh. Not a huge fan of the food court update either. There seemed to be less available seating than before. Maybe we came at a bad time or bad day. Ordering was fine, and pretty efficient. But the wait for the food... Yeesh. I'm a pretty patient guy, but it was a looong wait. We'd been hoping to visit our old favorite and hit the road quickly for our drive home. But now we may be rethinking about staying at CBR going forward.
Anyway, don't mean to end on a down note- just an opinion regarding CBR. Overall, good trip (with a couple bits of Disney magic sprinkled in), where we managed to mostly make it work by doing rope drops (or close to it) and strategic fp's but crowds were definitely larger than I recall. Definitely won't visit AK on a Saturday again. We thought that would be our best bet for a bit of a slower day. Whoops.
