ttintagel
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2011
We had a great time!
Guests:
Never in my life have I seen so many people of all ages, nationalities, and socioeconomic classes acting so thoroughly like a bunch of animals. Although we had our share of big tour groups and rowdy EPCOT drunks, the bad guest behavior was pretty evenly distributed between them and the average families. Whatever Disney is paying cast members to deal with the ill-mannered [public, it isn’t enough. I ran into one or two grumpy CM’s, but I honestly couldn’t blame them after seeing what they have to put up with all day. Screaming, pushing, fighting, throwing garbage all over, smoking outside of DSA’s, letting kids run around unsupervised (and get themselves into potentially dangerous situations), people seeming shocked at the very existence of their fellow human beings, people not wanting rules applied to them or their kids, etc… We ran into some really nice people, but they certainly seemed to be the exception to the rule.
CM's:
Again, almost all the CM’s were friendly and efficient. The only less-than-great experiences I had were where it seemed like management hadn’t given one or two of them enough training or guidance. They do a hard job, and almost always do it well. The streetmosphere performers in DHS were a standout.
Food:
Food was great as always. The free QSDP worked out well for us, and the couple of TS meals we had were absolutely delicious and reasonably priced.
Fantasyland Expansion:
The new Fantasyland additions were absolutely gorgeous. I could probably spend a couple of happy hours just exploring all the details in the Little Mermaid queue. It’s great to see a return to building things right the first time.
Maintenance:
Maintenance seems to have improved since last time. Maybe they did a general spruce-up while decorating for the holidays. Some of the more popular bathrooms were trashed at the end of the night, but I can imagine it’s hard to keep them cleaned at that hour even with extra staffing. Only once was a ride I went to down for maintenance, and I saw very few non-working effects.
Crowd levels:
I concur with recent posters who have said that while lines for attractions aren’t long, there’s a general feeling of “being crowded.” There were areas where you couldn’t get through at all, and other areas that were nearly deserted. I’d like to see them do some traffic studies and try to relieve the major bottlenecks. I’m sure having the MK close early for MVMCP every other night didn’t help.
Transportation:
Bless the Disney bus drivers! They do a hard job, and do it well. Several times there seemed to be a lot of buses going to and from places that didn’t need them as much, while there were fewer going between crowded ones. To the company’s credit, they did eventually call more in when needed, but I hope they’ll find a way to improve that response time. More trains would certainly help, even if it's not feasible to expand the Monorail.
ETA: Strollers:
If you have a healthy, neurotypical, non-special-needs child, and are using anything bigger than an umbrella stroller, you are making WDW harder than it needs to be for everybody, including yourself.
Guests:
Never in my life have I seen so many people of all ages, nationalities, and socioeconomic classes acting so thoroughly like a bunch of animals. Although we had our share of big tour groups and rowdy EPCOT drunks, the bad guest behavior was pretty evenly distributed between them and the average families. Whatever Disney is paying cast members to deal with the ill-mannered [public, it isn’t enough. I ran into one or two grumpy CM’s, but I honestly couldn’t blame them after seeing what they have to put up with all day. Screaming, pushing, fighting, throwing garbage all over, smoking outside of DSA’s, letting kids run around unsupervised (and get themselves into potentially dangerous situations), people seeming shocked at the very existence of their fellow human beings, people not wanting rules applied to them or their kids, etc… We ran into some really nice people, but they certainly seemed to be the exception to the rule.
CM's:
Again, almost all the CM’s were friendly and efficient. The only less-than-great experiences I had were where it seemed like management hadn’t given one or two of them enough training or guidance. They do a hard job, and almost always do it well. The streetmosphere performers in DHS were a standout.
Food:
Food was great as always. The free QSDP worked out well for us, and the couple of TS meals we had were absolutely delicious and reasonably priced.
Fantasyland Expansion:
The new Fantasyland additions were absolutely gorgeous. I could probably spend a couple of happy hours just exploring all the details in the Little Mermaid queue. It’s great to see a return to building things right the first time.
Maintenance:
Maintenance seems to have improved since last time. Maybe they did a general spruce-up while decorating for the holidays. Some of the more popular bathrooms were trashed at the end of the night, but I can imagine it’s hard to keep them cleaned at that hour even with extra staffing. Only once was a ride I went to down for maintenance, and I saw very few non-working effects.
Crowd levels:
I concur with recent posters who have said that while lines for attractions aren’t long, there’s a general feeling of “being crowded.” There were areas where you couldn’t get through at all, and other areas that were nearly deserted. I’d like to see them do some traffic studies and try to relieve the major bottlenecks. I’m sure having the MK close early for MVMCP every other night didn’t help.
Transportation:
Bless the Disney bus drivers! They do a hard job, and do it well. Several times there seemed to be a lot of buses going to and from places that didn’t need them as much, while there were fewer going between crowded ones. To the company’s credit, they did eventually call more in when needed, but I hope they’ll find a way to improve that response time. More trains would certainly help, even if it's not feasible to expand the Monorail.
ETA: Strollers:
If you have a healthy, neurotypical, non-special-needs child, and are using anything bigger than an umbrella stroller, you are making WDW harder than it needs to be for everybody, including yourself.
