Well, got back from our quick trip to the World over Columbus Day weekend. Unfortunately we ‘lost’ our camera while we were there (to find later it was under the car seat), so no pictures this go around.
In acknowledgement of my pursuit of a job with Disney this year, we let our season passes expire back in August so we didn’t do much in the way of park hopping this time either. And it was HOT. However, I do have a few cool things to share for those of you who don’t mind venturing beyond the World when you are in Orlando. Though I’ll save those for other posts this week.
First, we did do a couple of things at the parks while we were there. Friday night my wife, my 15 month old daughter, my father-in-law and I did take in the Not So Scary party at the Magic Kingdom. This is our second year doing it, and I have to say it’s probably our favorite hard ticket event.
I’d call the crowds moderate to light. . . we didn’t have any problems getting a nice parade spot for the early parade in Frontierland 15 minutes before the show, nor did we have any problems getting into the main hub to watch the fireworks (which are arguably the best part of the show with the 180 degree ending). We didn’t partake in any of the candy this year, but they did have a new overall sponsor I think in Ghirardelli, whose chocolate I’ve always really liked. We rode most of what we wanted, though the line at the Haunted Mansion and in most Fantasyland rides were 30-40 minute waits vice the 5-10 for Pirates and Splash, so you know the crowds skewed young. It didn’t quite have the same pop as last years, several web folks have noted that the fireworks have been trimmed slightly and I think the parade may have been shortened just a bit as well, but overall it was still fun and I got my Dole Whip so life was good.
On Sunday we did finally break down and go to EPCOT after much nashing of teeth over the price of a one day ticket and got to the park at about 1 in the afternoon. The park was pretty crowded for the Wine and Food festival and we parked further out than I’ve parked in quite some time too.
We stuck to the A/C’ed rides in the front of the park at first since most people were in the back by that point and rode Spaceship Earth (which I still have issues with, see my previous post), Nemo, Turtle Talk, The Land, 2 on Test Track in the single rider line, a snack and the baby and I checked out the new Stormstruck exhibit all in a short couple of hours. Soarin was toast of course.
In the back of the park we did our usual tour starting with my wife’s margarita in Mexico (and my churro!), waited for the acrobat’s in China (who didn’t come, which became a strange theme with more than one act in the park that didn’t ‘show’ at their designated time), wife ate dinner with a brat in Germany (and I had a nasty bitter cherry chocolate thing that was just gross). I made up for that with a Sam Adams EPCOT Anniversary beer in America (always like the Sam booth each year, though I think they should separate the food line from the beer line personally), took in American Adventure and we watched a little bit of The Shenanigans show in the Eat to the Beat concert series.
Then on to catch the end of the drummers in Japan, I stopped for my favorite meal at the Tangerine Cafe in Morrocco (I love the chicken and lamb platter and the baklava, yum!) while my wife, father-in-law and the little one pushed ahead to England where Marc could get some of the fish and chips. We took in Off Kilter in Canada (a family favorite) as well as the British Invasion in England for the first time. I think both of those acts have been there well over a decade now and they have a pretty tight following, but always pull new people in as well. Back to France for desert and then back towards Mexico for a final margarita for the father-in-law (though we got there too late by minutes) and to watch Illuminations up wind (the breeze was definitely blowing towards France). By that point the park crowd had gotten very thin however, thinner than I thought it would for as busy as the park was just a few hours before.
One special note about Illuminations – don’t miss it if you haven’t seen it in awhile. The new updated Globe, while subtle at first since it’s not THAT different from what it was in physical form, is substantially better on the video front. I mean like night and day better. I’ve watched that show 20 times over the last decade plus and there were things in the globe scenes I’ve never seen but I know must have always been there. And no, I didn’t get new glasses, the clarity is just that much better!
We looked at most of the menus for the Cities of the World, but I didn’t see where they were that much different than last year. They did offer a pre-paid ‘bracelet’ debit card this year which I’m sure sped things up considerably for those who used it. You could put as little as $5 to as much as $1500 on it, and I believe it could be used anywhere in the parks, it just happened to be small enough to be convenient for the food crowd. We also tried to squeeze into a wine tasting again this year, but the line for it was one of the few LONG lines around even a half hour before the show. I don’t think I saw anything happening in the old Omni restaurant building this time around either.
The one thing I did notice this year in the crowd over last year was the lack of people with New Jersey or New York accents. That’s not to say they weren’t there and I just wasn’t in the right places (and it’s certainly not scientific), but last year I noticed it enough to comment to my wife that I’d stood in line and heard so many people I felt like I was in Brooklyn or the Bronx vice central Florida.
It’s entirely possible that is was more of a ‘locals’ crowd this year, but the hotel’s on property were almost all booked out so I find that hard to believe (I’ll post more about the really nice place we stayed in another post). Both of the parks were pretty light as the night moved on however, but the parking lots were pretty busy so it’s hard to say if the crowds were normal or not. I’d hazard to say at least a little lighter than last year, but that’s just a guess.
Later this weekend I’ll post more about our in depth exploration of Celebration, the great place we stayed, and some other Orlando area comments in general.
Stay tuned!
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