Walt Disney World, January 2010

Having not been to WDW in 3 years, it was time for another trip to Orlando. Unfortunately, without knowing when Dueling Dragons would be closed for the transformation to Dragon Challenge and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter not open yet, it was another trip without getting to IOA. I already have 4, 2 day passes from credit card rewards so hopefully next trip I'll finally get there.

Day 1, 12/31. We left the house around 8:00 and started the almost 19 hour drive. Not much to say about this day, we passed South of the Border and saw the SBNO wild mouse, but the whole place looks horrible as usual.

Day 2, 1/1. After more driving, we got to Pop Century around 4:00. This was my first time staying onsite in almost 10 years, and we got the 80's decade. As expected the weather was very cold, but we knew that before leaving. We checked out the hotel and went to Downtown Disney. It was packed, you could barely walk in World of Disney. The next day was the real start of the trip.

Day 3, 1/2. Touring Plans had the day as an 8 with the Magic Kingdom listed as the park to avoid but since it was the last day Splash Mountain was open before an almost 2 month long refurbishment, we still went to the park. There was a long line for the monorail but once in the park the lines weren't bad at first walking into the park a little before 10:00.

The first ride was the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. The wait was about 30 seconds, which was perfect since it is such a short ride. Next was the Jungle Cruise. Just under a 5 minute wait. Pirates was listed as 10 minutes but with everyone going to the left, we went to the right line and found a completely empty line so we walked right onto the front 2 rows. I still don't like how they added Jack Sparrow to the ride as he really looks out of place and don't like the dialogue they added about him to the ride.

Heading into Frontierland, we grabbed Fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain and went to Splash Mountain. Since it was so cold out (the low 40's), the standby was listed as 5 minutes but it was really only a 1 or 2 minute wait. The only time I had ever seen the line so empty before was when we got to the park right at opening during Christmas week at least 8 years ago. My sister and I got the front row. The seats are so much better than a regular log flume and I really hope the ride doesn't get lap bars as rumored. The first few drops got some splashes of water on us but the final drop was soaking, I wasn't expecting it. Thankfully we had our jackets.

Since the Christmas parade was starting, we found a spot and watched it until some rude jerks pushed there way in front of us after the parade started. We told them we were there first and they were blocking our view of the parade but they didn't care and wouldn't move. We still got to see most of the parade but it was still annoying.

After that it was time to go to Big Thunder Mountain. The wait with fastpass was 7 minutes. We got the front row and the 2010 coaster season officially started. I had always thought the ride was too tame on the past few trips, but I tried to focus on having fun rather than worrying about the intensity. There is so much to see it is hard to take it all in especially moving so quickly.

We had lunch reservations at the Crystal Palace, the last day it was open before a refurb but I first grabbed fastpasses for Space Mountain while the rest of my family checked in at the restaurant. The food was very good, a lot better than expected.

After lunch we went to the Haunted Mansion, about a 25 minute wait. I thought the changes to the ride were ok. I don't want to spoil anything but some the new effects were impressive.

We were going to stop at Hall of Presidents but it was over 20 minutes until the next show and went to Tomorrowland. We went to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, about a 30 minute wait. This is still one of my favorite rides in the Magic Kingdom and one of the few rides where I felt the new ride was better than the previous ones (Dreamflight and If You Had Wings).

We still had some time before Space Mountain, so we went to Carousel of Progress which had no wait and I always enjoy seeing how life was with different new inventions at the time. In the final room, the TV wasn't working so when the kid mentioned about putting the game on the screen so everyone could see nothing happened and when he kept mentioning the score in the game the grandmother got, it didn't make sense to anyone who hadn't seen the show before.

By now the park was getting a lot more crowded, even Tomorrowland Transit Authority had a short wait. With the new covered station, you can't see Space Mountain anymore from the loading area.

It was time for Space Mountain, the line was in switchbacks outside the entrance and the entire line for standby inside was filled. With fastpass it was a little less than 15 minutes. I had heard it was darker in the ride now but didn't notice much of a difference. On my last trip in 2006, I found the ride to be very rough to the point it wasn't that much fun. Thankfully, the refurbishment made the ride a lot more smooth. We were going to get the on ride photo, but found out that our car (#18) has a bad timing on it so the picture doesn't come out right, so I wasn't in the picture at all.

We went to Fantasyland next, the Mad Tea Party was around 15 minutes. Compared to the tea cups at Great Adventure, these have hardly any leg room and wasn't that comfortable for someone who is tall.

Winnie The Pooh was 30 minutes, Snow White had a wait listed as 20 but broke down right as we were going to enter the line. Peter Pan was out of fastpasses and had a 70 minute line so we saved it for another day. Philhar Magic was a wait just for the next show. Great as usual, and we then went to It's A Small World. Around 15 minutes.

We wanted to get a spot for Spectro Magic and got a 2nd row spot about 20 minutes before the parade started. Thankfully, no one got in our way this time. I'm not much of a parade fan but this is always impressive to see though the Glow In The Park parade is a close 2nd. Holiday Wishes were next, impressive as always. Even though the park was open until midnight, we left after Wishes because we were exhausted.

Day 4, 1/3. Touring Plans had the day listed as a 7 with the Studios as the park to avoid because of Fantasmic. We got to the park a little after 10 and went to Toy Story Mania to grab fastpasses. While the rest of my family shopped (there was a 20% off coupon that expired at noon) I went to Rock N Roller Coaster. It was already 50 minutes standby but thanks to the single rider line I had a little less than a 15 minute wait. This was my first launched coaster and I was curious to see how it felt now after going on Storm Runner and Kingda Ka. The launch felt like nothing this time. I guess once you ride Kingda Ka, every launched coaster except I guess TTD is going to feel weak after that. The ride was very smooth and if I had made the restraint a little tighter, my neck wouldn't have been a little sore.

We went to Great Movie Ride next, 15 minute wait. Not one of my favorites but it is a once a trip ride. Voyage of the Little Mermaid had a short wait so we saw that and headed back to Toy Story Mania. Fastpasses were still available for later in the day so we got more fastpasses and went to use our first set of fastpasses. Standby was 80 minutes but there was no line to the merge point so it was a little over 10 minutes. After hearing such great reviews about the ride, I was expecting a lot. Overall I thought the ride was very good and a lot of fun but I still prefer Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger spin because that makes you feel like you are in a video game compared to Toy Story Mania that makes you feel like you are playing a video game.

We saw One Man's Dream and then went to lunch at the Backlot Express. This was the worst part of the trip. Despite it being late for lunch the place was packed and it was impossible to find a table. People were standing around waiting for tables and even when I was waiting for a table while everyone else ordered, people were being very rude. One example was I was waiting 2 minutes for a family to finish up eating to get the table. They saw me waiting and when they got up they offered it to other people. I said I had been waiting but of course no one cared. It was horrible after 20 minutes we finally got a table. I heard in some counter service places you aren't allowed to hold tables and a cast member directs you to an empty table. I wish that was the case at all counter service locations during busy times so this could be avoided.

After lunch we walked into Muppet Vision, still my favorite 3D show and saw Lights Motor Action. It was cool to see but not as impressive the 2nd time around.

By then it was time to use the 2nd set of Toy Story Mania fastpasses. The standby line was now 120 minutes and the fastpass line was completely full. It took around 25 minutes and when we exited, it was up to 140 minutes. There is no way I would wait that long for any ride.

We headed over to Fantasmic to get seats for the 6:30 show. We got there about 30 minutes before the show started we were still able to find seats. I decided to leave the show about 10 minutes early to get ahead of exiting crowds ride ToT and possibly RnR again with hopefully short waits.

ToT had no wait except a few minutes to get into the pre-show room. Once in the boiler room they asked for a single rider so I got so skip ahead a few minutes. Last trip was my first time going on the ride and wasn't impressed. The theming was cool but the actual drops were disappointing. This time the drop program was much better, still not as good as the drops on Atmosfear at Morey's or the Turbo Drop side of Dominator at Dorney but a lot better than the drops on my first trip. It was just after 7 and I went back to RnR, using the single rider again since standby was 40 minutes and again waited around 15 minutes. This time I stapled myself in and had a better ride.

We had reservations at The Wave in the Contemporary so left the park for the day.

Next is Epcot, to be posted later

Interesting about your thoughts towards ToT. I actually think its the opposite, and even without the theming I would put it as my favorite drop ride due to its awesome (lack of) restraints, upredictable programing and longer drop sequence then any other drop ride save the S&S Combo towers. I love how the seat belt does not engage for a second so that you completly leave your seat.

I know it is going so sound crazy but I really don't like the seating in the ride. The seats are so close together and there isn't a lot of leg room and I prefer the individual seats on S&S towers even if they have the OTSR.

Day 5, 1/4. Touring Plans had this day as a 6 with Epcot as neither the park to avoid or go to so I was hoping for low crowds. Magic Kingdom was the suggested park to go to and I read it was jammed and lines were horrible so I guess they aren't always right. We go to the park a little after 9:30.

The first ride was Spaceship Earth. A little over a 5 minute wait. I didn't care for the new additions especially the part at the end where it takes your picture and puts you into a scene. It was neat so see but I always liked the older Disney dark rides to feel classic with the audio animatronics rather than using computers and screens for parts of the ride.

We went to Test Track next, standby was 30 minutes, single rider was 5 minutes and a fastpass with the return time was only 40 minutes away. I have never seen such a short line or fastpass return time for this ride. Rather than wait in line we went to The Universe of Energy since that is a 45 minute attraction so by the time we exited we could go to the fastpass return on Test Track. Not much to say about The Universe of Energy, when you have seen it so many times and know the lines it is just ok.

On the way back to Test Track we passed Wonders of Life just sitting there SBNO. My last trip in December 2006 was one of the final weeks it was open and although the pavillion was in horrible shape, it was better than having it closed. Better yet, I wish they would have torn it down years ago, put Mission Space there and kept Horizons open.

Test Track had no wait to get to the pre-show was fastpass but had the usual line after the pre-show. Thankfully everything was working on this trip, and the high speed outdoor part of the ride is still one of my favorite parts of any ride at WDW, I just wish it was longer. We grabbed more fastpasses for a 2nd ride and headed to the Land.

Soarin' was only a 50 minute wait but since I got disoriented and a headache from it last trip, I skipped it and no one else wanted to ride it. We went to the food court area for lunch which is one of the nicest counter service places because there is such a variety of items.

Living With The Land was around 5 minutes, I miss the cast member giving the narration rather than the pre-recorded speaker. We went to the Seas with Nemo, another 5 minute wait. Just like last trip I couldn't believe the amount of switchbacks they have set up and it's even more crazy to hear sometimes they are all full and overflowing out of the ride entrance. I liked the ride better than last trip even though I wish they wouldn't have used computer generated images for most of the characters.

Imagination also had a 5 minute wait, an ok ride, way better than the first revision around 2000 but it still doesn't compare to the original ride. I also miss the old Image Works upstairs especially compared to the new one. The stations where you can take a picture of yourself and edit it were in horrible shape. There are around 8 stations, 1 was broken and turned off, we tried 4 or 5 others and none of them worked right. Honey I Shrunk the Audience was next door so we saw that, my least favorite of all the 3D shows at WDW.

We went back to Test Track to use the fastpasses only to find out the ride was broken. Hoping to try again later we went to World Showcase. We got fastpasses for the Maelstrom. We then went to Mexico and went to the Grand Fiesta Tour, 10 minute wait. Again I don't like how they added the characters using computers and video screens. Even though the old ride, El Rio De Tiempo wasn't anything special I liked that version better. After walking around the shops in Mexico and Norway, we went back to Maelstrom. It's a fun ride but you move so fast through the ride and it is kind of short. It's still worth riding without a long wait.

We had dinner reservations in Italy so we walked around a bunch of stores in the countries. It's a shame they never added the Rhine River boat ride in Germany or the Mt. Fuji coaster in Japan since World Showcase really could use another ride or two. The food at Italy was good but without the dining plan, it would not have been worth it. I got Lobster Ravioli it was $29 and had 5 pieces of Ravioli. Dessert was $14 for some ice cream and berries. Add a soda for around $3 and with tax it is a $50 meal before adding in a tip.

There wasn't much time left before the park closed so we walked around the rest of the countries but never got back to Test Track and skipped Illuminations because it was very cold and none of us like the show that much.

Day 6, 1/5. Touring Plans had this day as a 4 (the lowest it gets) and Animal Kingdom as the suggested park so I was expecting hardly any lines.

Seeing that Primevial Whirl was not on fastpass on the tip board (despite the map saying it was) we went there first. After just under a 10 minute wait we got to to the coaster. I don't remember it braking so often and slowing you down. It also caused us not to spin much but that was probably because we had a somewhat balanced car. We got fastpasses for Dinosaur and went to the first Finding Nemo show. It was good, but I'd rather spend the time going on rides. We went back to Dinosaur and saw that Primevial Whirl had a posted wait of 50 minutes, I was glad we got the ride out of the way first. Dinosaur was temporarily closed so we went to Triceratops Spin which was a 1 cycle wait and went to Restaurantosaurus for lunch. I went over to Everest to get fastpasses while everyone else got the food which had a return time of 45 minutes later. Dinosaur was fixed but we stopped for a few seconds in the ride, not in areas where you normally stop so I don't know if they were still having problems or not.

Since it was too cold for the Kali River Rapids, it was time for Everest. My sister wasn't sure about the coaster because of the backwards section but tried it. I heard a mother and kid ask the cast member out front about the intensity of the ride. He said it was smoother than Big Thunder Mountain and if she liked that, she would like this ride. I don't know they can say that. The backwards part is very intense, one of the few coasters to still give me that stomach dropping feeling and the drop is bigger than any drop on Big Thunder Mountain. There was no wait to get to the fastpass merge and 2 minutes later we were boarding the train. It is still my favorite coaster at WDW, but it was a shame to see the bird on a stick at the backwards section not working and the Yeti not working either. If I hadn't ridden the coaster before and seen the Yeti working properly, I wouldn't have even known where to look for it and missed it completely. I barely saw it and all and even telling my sister when we were going to get to the Yeti, she still missed it because it is almost impossible to see unless you know exactly where to look for it.

We went to Kilamanjaro Safari's next. The wait time said 20 minutes but it was another 5 minute wait. The line was past the fastpass merge where you board the ride. It is a fun ride but Great Adventure's safari blows it away. Again I noticed parts of the attraction not working. The collapsing bridge didn't do anything. I hear they don't run that effect during busy times but it was about as empty as it can get so that didn't seem like a reason not to run it today. We walked on a few trails and went to Festival of the Lion King. 10 minutes before the show started and we still were able to get seats. That was a nice surprise compared to seeing people waiting up to an hour before showtimes when we usually go to Disney. It's Tough to Be A Bug was next, just a wait for the next show. I always like to see how people react at the end when the bugs "crawl" over the benches at the end of the show.

Since everyone else wanted to look in stores, I went back to Everest. The single rider line was still open and I got 2 rides waiting less than 10 minutes each time. The single rider line then closed so I went to standby which was 10 minutes. I have never ridden the front row before and never thought to ask but figured I would try. I was told there was a front row line which I never knew existed. It was an extra 5 train wait but with 4 or 5 trains running, it only meant an extra few minutes of waiting. Sitting on the right side, it was a little easier to see the Yeti and the backwards section felt more intense in the front row.

I met my family and we went over to Grand Floridian for dinner at Narcoossee's. It is a signature restaurant so it used 2 table service meal credits. We had a reservation around when Wishes started so were able to see Wishes right from the window at our table and then the Eletrical Water Pagent passed right by the restaurant which was cool.

Magic Kingdom and the Keys to The Kingdom Tour is the next part

Nice and easy to follow along TR thus far. Did you use an actual publication to plan your days or was this research you did on your own and pieced together?

We only used Touring Plans to check what level crowds were at but really didn't use it to pick which parks to go to on which day.

We basically toured the park based on past trips. For example, looking at when we could get another fastpass and get more fastpasses even if we didn't use the first set we had, and trying to get to the park at a somewhat early time. We didn't get there at rope drop like a lot of people do, but still got there early enough to get fastpasses with not too long of a return time and shorter standby waits.

Here is the final 2 days of the trip.

Day 7, 1/6. Touring Plans had this day listed as a 6 with the Magic Kingdom as neither the suggested park or the park to avoid. We had the Keys to the Kingdom Tour at 9:00 so we left the hotel a little after 8:00. The express monorail was having problems so we had to take the resort monorail to the park and walked onto Mainstreet just before 9:00 to check in next to City Hall. Being so early, I almost wish the tour had started later so we could get some rides in without a wait but the rides would have to wait until later.

We started on Mainstreet talking about the names on the windows on the buildings and how Mainstreet is sloped upward because at the beginning of the day, you have more energy and when leaving the park after being tired, it is easier to walk downhill. We then went into Adventureland and sat and discussed the opening of Disneyland and went to the Jungle Cruise where everyone on the tour got into the boat and our guide instead of the skipper gave us backstage information about the ride like where the audio animatronics open up to be serviced and how the part of the hippo bodies that you see on the ride is all there is to them (they have no feet for example).

We then went to outside Pirates of the Caribbean and talked about the ride but unfortunately did not ride. While there was a bathroom break I went over to Big Thunder Mountain and got fastpasses. We then went into Frontierland and went backstage. Woody was outside on stage for a meet and greet but soon walked past us backstage taking off the head part of his costume. That was kind of a shock even though you know there is a person inside the costume. We then took a look at the regular parade floats and got to walk up to the Spectro Magic float area and see the floats without any lights on. Next we went to the trough at Splash Mountain (not the trough the logs ride through) and there was water in it even though the ride was closed for a refurb.

We went back to Frontierland and had lunch at the Columbia Harbor House. Since we had a half hour for lunch and were able to get more fastpasses, I went and grabbed fastpasses for Peter Pan's Flight before eating.

Next we went outside the Haunted Mansion, talked about the features of the ride and building like how the chess pieces on the building were because they were put on the model as a joke by coworkers of an Imagineer that had a chess board on his desk and how the hidden mickey dinner plate setup in the dining scene was added by cast members and not by the Imagineer's. We then went to the ride, I didn't like how we were put in the stretching room with everyone else (non tour people) because the group was supposed to stick together and there was no way to not get split up and the guide said she would point out a hidden Mickey at the Grim Reaper at the end and then everyone could point it out with their arm and the next car could repeat that so everyone saw it.

We then went into the Emporium and backstage through a door there and saw Cinderella wearing sneakers leaving after her shift. It was then time for the Utilidors. After some discussion about their purpose we walked down the hall and turned left where there were a bunch of pictures on the wall. The guide stopped to explain most of them many of which had nothing to do with the Utilidors such as a Silly Symphonies poster. I would have liked to have spent more time walking around the Utilidors stopping at various spots but we really didn't get to see much.

The tour was supposed to be 4 1/2 - 5 hours but took 5 1/2 hours. Overall it was an interesting tour but I felt it was too long and I would have liked to have spent more time learning about the attractions, for example instead of sitting in Adventureland for 20 minutes dicussing various things such as the 1964 World's Fair, I would have liked to have ridden Pirates after the guide discussed the ride. I also heard the guide can make or break the tour. I'm not going to mention the name of the guide but overall thought they should have been more knowledgable. For example, 1 person asked the guide when the Magic Carpets of Aladdin was built. The guide responsed they were built before Splash Mountain and then said 1989 before correcting themselves and saying it opened after Splash Mountain (but still did not say the year). I know you can't expect a guide to know every possible thing but to say that ride was it opened in 1989, when it opened in 2001 is bad enough but to say it opened in 1989 when Aladdin didn't even come out until 1992 was fusturating to hear.

I would probably recommend the tour but only if you have time for it since it took up over half of our day and don't mind not seeing a lot of backstage areas.

We went over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, used our fastpasses and since it was just before 3:10, we decided to watch the parade that started at 3:00 on Mainstreet. It was amazing that late were able to get a front row spot and there was still plenty of room. After that we went to Fantasyland to use the fastpasses for Peter Pan's Flight. The ride was broken down so we went to Snow White's Scary Adventure which was 15 minutes. Peter Pan had reopened so we got in the fastpass line and waited around 10 minutes. It was amazing to see the standby line jump to 50 minutes by the time we exited the ride. It is one of my favorite rides in the Magic Kingdom, especially the part when you fly over London at night with the little cars moving.

Tomorrowland Speedway was 50 minutes. I couldn't believe it was the park wasn't nearly as crowded as it was 4 days ago yet the line was longer. It turns out they were only running 2 tracks instead of the 4 they were running on Saturday. It was annoying to see they were running at half capacity with such a long line. Monster Incorporated Laugh Floor had a 10 minute wait so we went there next, it was way better than Turtle Talk and was better than I was expecting. Even though Stitch's Great Escape had a short line, no one had any interest in seeing it so we went to Buzz Lightyear's Spaceranger Spin again. It was only a 10 minute wait. Since we had reservations at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian we didn't have much time left for any major rides with waits and stopped at the train ride on Main Street and took a full circuit. It was interesting going past Splash Mountain since I wasn't sure if they were going to cover up the windows where you can see the River Boat. It wasn't covered but the lights were on and none of the audio animatronics were moving which was cool to see.

We were originally going to Epcot the next day but because we still had more to see in the Magic Kingdom and had done everything we wanted in Epcot except the American Adventure and another ride on Test Track, we decided to spend the last day in the Magic Kingdom.

Day 8, 1/7. Touring Plans has the day listed as a 4 with the Magic Kingdom and Studios as the parks to avoid. After checking out of the Pop Century, we headed to the park one last time. The first thing we did was grab fastpasses for Space Mountain and went to Toontown. Normally we skip Toontown but because it is leaving sometime this year, we decided to see it for the last time and walk through Mickey and Minnie's Houses. We also stopped at Barnstomer since my sister needed the credit and it was just over a 5 minute wait since they run 2 trains. It was funny getting to the brake run and hearing people in front of us say "That's It?!" It is only around 22 seconds from the top of the lift hill to the brake run at the end but I wondered how they would feel if they had waited 45+ minutes like I have seen in past visits.

We went back to Fantasyland and stopped at Dumbo because it was the last chance to go on the ride in its current location. It was a little less than 15 minutes, and has a very short ride cycle but I guess they have to do that to keep the line moving since it has such a low capacity. We also went back to It's A Small World since it was a 5 minute wait and finally went back to Tomorrowland. The Speedway was 20 minutes and we decided to wait. It is so much better than any car ride out there. The only other one that even seemed comparable was LeMans at BGW. We went to Space Mountain to use our fastpasses. The standby was 40 minutes and was the first time I can remember not seeing the line outside the building. My sister wanted to ride the Alpha side this time and we still waited about 15 minutes with the fastpass. That side was smooth like the Omega side.

We had reservations at Kona at the Polynesian and stopped again at Buzz Lightyear since it was only 5 minutes. Walking out of the park for the last time is always sad. Kona was empty and after exploring the hotel for a few minutes, we left to go to Fantasia Gardens. Since we had 2 rooms we got 2 free game coupons but it was still over $25 total to add 2 more people playing. We chose the Gardens course which is easier. The course was themed very well, especially the water effects at the last few holes. They said it took 45 minute to an hour to play through but even without waiting for others to finish in front of us, it still took close to 90 minutes. I wouldn't rush back to it so fast but it was nice for something different.

Unfortunately, that marked the end of our trip and we spent the next day and a half driving back home.

Overall it was a very nice trip, especially being able to ride coasters in January and it was also nice after the first 2 days to not have horrible crowds to deal with. It was a lot more fun not having to walk through walkways so crowded you could barely move and see standby waits that were excessive like 3 hours for Test Track on my last trip (we had used fastpasses earlier in the week on that trip).

hello was wondering if disneyworld is realy busy in sep

Wow. Way to resurrect.

By the way, it's Disney World. It'll always be busy.

Except when it's closed.

i know disney world is always busy smart ass but is it less busy in sep.

Let me get our my crystal ball, and I'll tell you.

Stand by.

never mind i havent been here in years and i rember why a bunch of jerks not nice people at all

Awesome, if you havn't noticed people really don't like to answer stupid questions in a 6 month old thread. Where is Indian located too?

Your lack of grammar and capitalization usage will not win you many friends here, either.

Yeah, I was trying to figure out where the insult was in her last post, but I couldn't because there was no separation between thoughts.

Whatever, you guys are all jerks. ;)

(And that's why I love you... :) )

And here I thought it was for my sporty sombrero. ;)

See, and people wonder why we rarely need any actual moderation here. :)