Strmchsr Family Not So Scary Working Vacation

[Strmchsr]

Cast: Me, DW (Renae), Caleb (DS11) and Cole (DS5)
Dates: Sept 20-24, 2011

So this time I was coming down to teach at a leadership conference for Disney and was able to bring the family with me, which is always nice. Some general impressions: It's been hot and humid, but I expected that. No surprise there. However, there's been enough of a little breeze and afternoon thunderstorms to keep things from being unbearably hot. Just normal, seasonal weather. Crowds have also not been bad. Mostly in the 10-15 min range. I have seen sporadic rides hit the 30+ min range, especially the popular ones, but overall not bad and it hasn't "felt" crowded (except once - but more on that in a min).

We arrived Tuesday evening and spent a nice evening at Epcot. Since a thunderstorm had passed early it was a very pleasant evening and I got some awesome shots of the sky at sunset. Wednesday and Thursday I had to teach in the mornings. Renae and the boys went to MK on Wednesday and I joined the in the afternoon. I was able to go with them for a Crystal Palace breakfast before my first session, which was great. Using Fastpass we easily did everything we wanted. Really enjoyed the new (old) Tiki Room. It was liking having an old friend back. Closed out the day with Whispering Canyon. Cole gets no end of joy from yelling "We need ketchup!" He waits for that moment. When our food arrives he's (literally) shaking with excitement to ask for ketchup. Then he giggles himself silly as all the bottles arrive at our table. A great end to the day (and great food, too).

Spent Thursday at Epcot. Again, using fastpass was able to easily do everything we wanted. Some standby lines were even short enough to do stuff twice. However, rain started about 3 pm and lasted the entire rest of the afternoon until around 7:30 pm. Normally we just throw on a poncho and keep going but I was tired from teaching, and the kids were tired, too, so we called it a day. Once the thunderstorms left we were able to get a little swimming done, which was nice.

Friday was at DHS. LOVED the new interactive Phineas and Ferb Meet n Greet. All 4 of us got picked to be in some part of the show (I was the Aglet spokesperson, Renae the Aglet spokesmodel, Caleb played the guitar solo on Gitchee Gitchee Goo, and Cole was able to chase the director around with the garden gnome). Awesome set up. Also really enjoyed the new Star Tours. Saw my buddy Kevin play Indiana Jones, and rode most everything we wanted to. Later another friend was performing at Monsters' Inc and she got us in for that. Even got to see how the show works afterwords, which was VERY cool. Sent Caleb to the Pirate's League in the late afternoon. Jack Sparrow happened to walk in from a show while we were waiting and Caleb got some cool quality one on one time with Capt Jack (about 5 min) and a very cool pic with him. Once Caleb was turned officially into a pirate we were ready for the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (Cole wanted to be Capt America). I'm thinking it might be the last time we do the party. Now that they don't limit the number of tickets it was NUTS. 10-15 min waits at every trick or treat station, 20ish minute waits for all rides, and the character lines were a mile long. And it felt packed. We were running into people everywhere we turned. HalloWishes is awesome, as is the parade, but it's just not worth the money for those two things when you can't do anything else. Lines were just too crazy. Even the second parade was jam packed with people. The difference was it was only 2 lines deep instead of 4 like the earlier parade. Most things where people complain about Disney just doing a "money-grab" I shrug off because they're a for-profit company. Of course they're going to do whatever they can to increase the bottom line. But with the party, they've really ruined it by no longer capping the number of guests. So, that's probably it for us on the MNSSHP. The only good part is that the rain missed us at the party. There were thunderstorms all over the place, and we did get soaked during a brief spell, but though I could see lightning all night it never rained on the party.

Got up this morning for breakfast at 'Ohana. Wonderful as always. Then we went to DTD to finish off our shopping. Once we finished there, we headed to Epcot to spend some time in World Showcase, ending the evening with Rose n Crown, one of my favorite meals. Since today was a Saturday and college football is king in the south (Roll Tide and Go State!) we had a great conversation with our server about the differences between the atmosphere at an American Football college game and an English Premiere League game (he was a big Leeds fan). 2 more days to go, so looking forward to AK tomorrow and wherever we choose on Monday.

Oh, and a love bug report - they are out, but not in droves. Not annoying at all. You see them, but they aren't a problem.

[SBETigg]

Sounds like a great time! Thanks for reporting. Enjoy your next few days.

[MinnieMommie]

Great detailed trip report. Have to agree with you about MNSSHP. I remember this back so many years ago when it was well organized and with crowd control. We used to get a beautiful photograph (was free) and never had to wait in line for rides. The last time we did the Halloween Party not only was it mobbed but it also poured! Will likely be a long time if we ever do this again. Used to so look forward to the Halloween Party.

[Melanie]

I'm thinking it might be the last time we do the party. Now that they don't limit the number of tickets it was NUTS. 10-15 min waits at every trick or treat station, 20ish minute waits for all rides, and the character lines were a mile long. And it felt packed. We were running into people everywhere we turned. HalloWishes is awesome, as is the parade, but it's just not worth the money for those two things when you can't do anything else. Lines were just too crazy. Even the second parade was jam packed with people. The difference was it was only 2 lines deep instead of 4 like the earlier parade. Most things where people complain about Disney just doing a "money-grab" I shrug off because they're a for-profit company. Of course they're going to do whatever they can to increase the bottom line. But with the party, they've really ruined it by no longer capping the number of guests. So, that's probably it for us on the MNSSHP. The only good part is that the rain missed us at the party. There were thunderstorms all over the place, and we did get soaked during a brief spell, but though I could see lightning all night it never rained on the party.

Wow Chris, we were there Friday night as well (didn't know you guys were doing the party that night!) and we didn't experience this at all. In fact, that was one of the least crowded after/holiday parties I'd ever been to. I guess everyone has different interpretations of 'crowded'.

We hit probably 6-7 treat stations throughout the night and breezed through each of them, waiting no more than 5 minutes if that. We didn't ride a ton of rides, but the ones we did and saw were no more than 10 minutes. Both times my boys rode Space Mt. it was 10 minutes, Haunted Mansion and Pirates were 5 minutes, Speedway 10, TTA walk-on, Fantasyland rides were 10 minutes and even Peter Pan was only 20 minutes later in the evening.

The character situation could have been a result of the lightning in the area which forced all outside greeting characters to go in for over an hour. That said, the longest character line we waited in was maybe 10 minutes, and we met rare characters like Frollo, Abu and Jane. The Villains lines were longer, but that's expected since it's Halloween. Those are rare, rare characters.

We walked up to a great viewing spot in the Hub for HalloWishes about 15 minutes prior and did the same for a front row spot in Liberty Square for the late parade. Didn't pay attention how crowded it was the first parade. Have you seen it before where the parade route wasn't at least 2 people deep?

I'm sorry you guys didn't fully enjoy. I'm going to another party at the end of next month and expect it to be much more crowded since it's closer to Halloween. Love this party though, so I can't wait!

[vizsla]

Thanks for the report.

[Strmchsr]

I guess everyone has different interpretations of 'crowded'.

You're right about that. Of course, I've also noticed that you can hit the wrong places at the wrong times and it feels packed in one part of the park and totally uncrowded in another, and that could very well be the case of what happened to us. Now, when the party first started we were able to ride HM and POTC pretty much walk-on, but later in the night I saw both of them with 30 min listed waits. Another part of that, though, could have been due to mechanical problems. Several rides seemed to be having them. The one time we got on HM we stopped 3 times. Talked to another lady that sat on Splash for 90 min. So, that would definitely contribute to lines.

I wish I had known you were going to be there. I'm glad you guys had a good time!

[faline]

Great trip so far, Chris! Very cool to see the workings of Monster Inc!

[Joannelet]

Great trip report thus far! I am hoping we hit our MNSSHP just right. If it ends up being the way you said I am going to be miserable at 7 months pregnant waiting on candy lines with my son!

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report!

[HeadFairyInCharge]

Hey Strmchaser...just wondering if you had a Friday night MNSSHP ? Sounded like it in TR but I was not sure. We are holding tickets for a Tuesday night in October and have never done Halloween in Disney so I hope it does not disappoint. We were in that same mode a few years ago when I spoke to you about the Christmas Day Parade taping and how crowded that week ended up. The Tuesday Night Christmas Party was extremely crowded. I didn't know they are selling out Halloween Party tickets to no limit ??? Ugg !

[Strmchsr]

Hey Strmchaser...just wondering if you had a Friday night MNSSHP ?

It was a Friday night, which I'm sure had something to do with crowds. However, it may have also been wrong place/wrong time on my part as Mel indicated above she didn't hit the crowds I did. So maybe I was just following the crowds around. Not sure. But, hopefully Tuesday night will work better for you.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Thanks for the report, sounds like a pretty good trip so far

[Tigerinvestigator]

Thanks for the report Chris. I'm still trying to find that one thing in life that I am good enuf at to be invited to WDW to do it!

[Jennifer_and_Chris]

Thanks for the report! I too would love to be invited to teach at Disney....

Can't wait to get there in 14 days!

[January-2007]

Thanks for reporting.