We went 1/27 - 2/2/13... We expected dramatically higher crowds at MK due to the new FL opening, and MK was busier then I'd expect normally, but the rest of the parks were still great. We pulled FP's for Soarin at 5pm for 8:30, and TT never ran out of FPs for the day. ToT and RRC were walk ons right up until about 1030 on one of the days. We did experience ride closures... Pooh was closed on Friday, but they let us use our FPs for it at PPF with no issues, and RRC closed... In fact, it evacuated and was shut down for several hours... But we were allowed to come back later in the day and use our FPs twice.
The only issues we had, per say, was the BTG's that would break into song in enclosed areas, which was obnoxious, and a herd of them plowed into my 2-year-old, who was with me and holding my hand as we left the bathroom... He was knocked onto his butt, smacked his head off the tile, and we didn't even get a sorry as he was turning blue from crying. But rude guests... That's not really something Disney can do anything about.
Our big fail came when a bus broke down from DTD back to the Poly and we were stuck by the side of the road, while half-empty buses to our resort passed by, for about an hour. No manager came to talk to us, no sort of apology from anybody besides a deeply embarrassed bus driver. And again, at the Poly, when the bus to HS arrived, people swarmed the bus, separating our party. I tried to board about 7 people after my parents and my son, and I was pulled aside and said they couldn't accommodate me with the folded stroller (while they continued to load the bus with others). When I said my party was already on the bus, I was told either they could get off or we could meet up at the park when I took the next bus, but they couldn't fit me and a folded stroller. By this time the bus was full, my parents were standing at the back of the bus and I couldn't communicate with them and they couldn't get off without asking others to get out of their way anyway, so my brother and I took a later bus.
The worst incident was when bell services at the Poly lost my laptop bag, which was supposed to be secured in their cage, while we toured the park one last time. Despite being told they knew it had gone into their luggage room, the bag was gone and missing for about an hour and a half, causing us to miss our ME. It ended up being found in the hotel somewhere and we never got an explanation as to what happened or how it left.
That said, I wrote Disney a letter and we were more then amply compensated for the bus issues, as well as the laptop they mishandled and we're set for a trip back to the Poly or Pop in April/May.
Aside from the circumstances I mentioned as my complaints, which were highly unusual Disney fails and not at all typical, everything else seemed great and I can't say that, even with the ride closures, the issues weren't handled perfectly by the staff. I even got to talk to a Disney employee about the new bracelets and FP+ system, and play with the FastPass+ reservation system, which actually turned me into a believer in the whole system. And I was totally hardcore against the new FP+, to the point where I had anticipated this as our last trip for quite awhile, but it's actually a pretty neat setup. And the bracelets look pretty cool. Though we ended up being there the first day that HS and AK were supposed to use the new system at the giftshops. That was a hassle. You could tell that EPCOT has been doing it for awhile, they were much more streamlined.
I am sure you will get all kinds of responses like... it is you and not Disney. Perhaps there is a tad truth to that as I became a little too aware of the details and did not like the changes I was seeing.
Perhaps we should wait some more??
We went back later and were able to walk on. We didn't have any trouble with the new turnstiles, but I did see several people have to walk up to the CM's with the handhelds to get let in, that was kind of annoying for them. Hopefully they will work the kinks out and it will flow better soon.
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