Where has all of the magic gone? Our November 2015 Trip

[GAN]

Loving your report! Sounds like you could have used the "Lines App" from Touring Plans..

http://touringplans.com/disney-world-app#

...as Yogi Berra says, "Nobody goes there anymore -it's too crowded"

There is almost no "good" time of year to visit anymore, and being a teacher really limits your options.

 

[BridgetR3]

Loving your report! Sounds like you could have used the "Lines App" from Touring Plans..

http://touringplans.com/disney-world-app#

...as Yogi Berra says, "Nobody goes there anymore -it's too crowded"

There is almost no "good" time of year to visit anymore, and being a teacher really limits your options.

lol...thanks! Actually we use line apps quite a bit but there was no helping us on this crazy morning!! The listed wait for Great Movie Ride was actually 30 minutes even though we were in line for 15 and never really moved much. The wait for Watto's Grotto was zero minutes! It all worked out in the end!

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Following along POFQ is one of the resorts I'd love to try someday

 

[hfrink13]

I am enjoying your report!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[BridgetR3]

Following along POFQ is one of the resorts I'd love to try someday

It's a gorgeous resort! We love it but do not love that it is very seldom included in discounts!!

I am enjoying your report!! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! I'm going to be updating today!

 

[BridgetR3]

So far on this gorgeous morning we have wasted a LOT of time walking around and looking at pretty things in stores. Now, we are off to our first fast pass - the gorgeous Hollywood Hotel. Since I do not ride the Tower of Terror, I have never seen the inside of the Hollywood Tower Hotel but I decided that this trip I was going to walk through every cue with DH so that I can see them all.

And we were off......

Our trip was before Star Wars released so this billboard was super exciting to us.

We stopped for a photopass pic along the way.....

....and then continued our journey towards the "beautiful" Hollywood Tower Hotel.

As we got to the entrance, we scanned our bands and walked right through. I stopped a few times along the way to take a few pictures.

Yes I take random photos of plants.....

...more plants....

...and we entered the hotel.

Disney did a great job of decorating this place!

While in the boiler room, we waited about 15-20 minutes. We noticed that our line was not moving at all and suddenly a large group of people appeared out of the CM elevator. We found out that those poor folks had gotten stuck on the ride and were given a second ride for their troubles. (I don't think I would have ridden it a second time if I had gotten stuck the first time.)

While Disney repaired the left elevator, EVERYONE was being put in the right elevator which is what was causing the wait. We had a great time visiting while we waited. Soon DH was on the ride and we were taken to the ground level in the CM elevator.

We waited for a few minutes and then captured his ride photo....

...his ENTIRE elevator was transported into the Twilight Zone.....

......just kidding!! There is his elevator!


Leaving the shop after the ride we realized just how backed up the line had gotten. We turned left onto Sunset Boulevard and stopped to use the restrooms at the corner. While the boys were in the restroom, I grabbed this picture.

This is the end of the line for Tower of Terror!!!!! YIKES!!!!

At this point, my plan was to run over to Frozen singalong and join the show just before it started. DH came out of the bathroom and said, "I think we are just in time for Beauty and the Beast." DOH!!!

I told him that I didn't plan on seeing Beauty and the Beast this trip. He wouldn't hear of it so guess where we headed.....yep, Beauty and the Beast.

The theater was packed but we were able to find a seat fairly close to the front on the far right side. As soon as we were seated, the show began.

Sweet little girl in front of me kept bouncing up to see at JUST the right/wrong time. Sorry for her head! She loved the show!

So.....BE.OUR.GUEST.....be our guest....put our service to the test....oh sorry, back to the pictures.....

Her headpiece has to weigh a lot! Geez!

Very soon the show was over and we headed towards lunch. We enjoy Backlot Express at Hollywood Studios and almost always eat here. We got inside just in time as it began to rain and Frozen Sing along had just let out. We were the first people in line for lunch and soon the entire place was full.
After lunch we headed over to Muppets as I enjoy the show no matter how cheesy it really is. I was shocked as we walked into the preshow area.

VERY blurry photo of a really packed (like sardines) preview room. Luckily soon we were in the theater and the show was on. DS2 was upset that we weren't close enough to really see Animal this time but we were able to see the show and it was fine for us.

On the way out, we grabbed a photo with one of our favorite snowmen.

"Take a picture of me with Boba Fett, Mom."

Up next - Our return to Great Movie Ride, a spin on Toy Story, and that kid stole my money!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I am with you, not sure I would want to ride after being stuck on the ride.

I don't think I have ever seen Muppets that packed!

 

[GAN]

Great update! Muppets cheesy? I never noticed -I love it and never miss it when we go. Of course, my children are older now so I don't have to drag them along ...only my wife. What do you think of the Muppets TV series? Lots of "smart" humor.

 

[DynamicDisney]

Joining in. Love your report so far! Would have loved to surprise my family with a trip to see Osborne Lights this year, but it just was not in the cards. I never did get to see them...

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Loving your trip report so far! You have a beautiful family!

Ahh POFQ! It's so pretty there!

Those CROWDS! My anxiety would be through the roof for sure! Thank goodness for FP right?

Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[ariane37]

DH and I just returned last night from a 5 night trip to the World, so I'm catching up on everyone's TR's and trying to get moving on my Nov. one! Isn't the Hollywood Hotel cool inside? It's my favorite ride in all the parks so I've been on it "a few" times, and I definitely would've ridden again after getting stuck lol.
I've never seen the Muppets pre-show area so crowded We all like it and do it once every trip; I will admit though we skipped it this time since the kids were home with Nana

 

[GatorChris]

I've been thinking about switching from DL to WDW at the end of the year. I was thinking mid-Nov or early Dec. But after seeing your photos, it looks like it's just nuts at WDW all the time. And then with all these rides with FP attached, there's nothing to get in line for that isn't being slowed down by FP. This thread is making me think I should save my money. And you haven't even got to the bad part yet!!!!

 

[amazingact21]

Joining in!
Love the trip so far. I've heard horror stories about how busy the holiday season was at Disney, and your pictures just back that statement up. Some of those crowd pics surprised me. I'm sure it was a little disheartening to see such long waits wherever you went.


Love the shot of you and your DH on the Speedway.


I'm already looking forward to hearing about the stepsister proposals in May.



Glad to hear the Wishes FP allowed for at least one thing not to be crowded. Small favors...


Very curious to hear about the alternative TR title story. Also a little worried, though. Certainly doesn't sound very magical.

 

[ALEXandFAB]

Following along!

That TOT line

 

[oceanmarina]

Hi joining in! Fantastic trip report so far

This is my favorite picture so far:

I have a similar one with my DS from when we ate dinner at 1900 park Fare...she was doing the kissy-kissy thing and he was like whhaaattt???? too funny

Wow the parks sure looked crowded! When we went this past summer (we always go the 3rd week of August since I teach too and have to be back by labor day) its was PACKED (they had given free dining to the UK was what I heard as well as free dining to the US which is why it was much more crowded than it usually is in late August. There were 30 minute + waits for just about everything.... we weren't used to it so it definitely put a little damper on going to the parks, you know?

Anyway, happy to be joining in and can't wait to read more!

~ Marina

 

[BridgetR3]

I am with you, not sure I would want to ride after being stuck on the ride.

I don't think I have ever seen Muppets that packed!

I don't ride it to begin with so I would never ride it after seeing it stuck. My hubby on the other hand jumped right on!

Oh the crowds!! Our favorite saying became, "These people are all going home soon, right??" Spoiler alert - They stick around for a while!

Great update! Muppets cheesy? I never noticed -I love it and never miss it when we go. Of course, my children are older now so I don't have to drag them along ...only my wife. What do you think of the Muppets TV series? Lots of "smart" humor.

We love the Muppets too! I've never heard of the Muppets series. I may have to look that up!

Joining in. Love your report so far! Would have loved to surprise my family with a trip to see Osborne Lights this year, but it just was not in the cards. I never did get to see them...

It was such a sad night on our last night there. We literally stood in the center of the street with hubby's arms wrapped around us as we cried. It had become our family tradition....our way to start Christmas season and now it's gone forever. I will surely miss them!

Loving your trip report so far! You have a beautiful family!

Ahh POFQ! It's so pretty there!

Those CROWDS! My anxiety would be through the roof for sure! Thank goodness for FP right?

Looking forward to hearing more!

Thank you for the compliment! I think my boys are cute but then again, I may be totally biased!!

We love POFQ. I wish it were included in more discounts.

FP was great but with only three we still waited in LOADS of lines!!

DH and I just returned last night from a 5 night trip to the World, so I'm catching up on everyone's TR's and trying to get moving on my Nov. one! Isn't the Hollywood Hotel cool inside? It's my favorite ride in all the parks so I've been on it "a few" times, and I definitely would've ridden again after getting stuck lol.
I've never seen the Muppets pre-show area so crowded We all like it and do it once every trip; I will admit though we skipped it this time since the kids were home with Nana

Can't wait to read your November one! Definitely share here when you start it. It is such a cool ride queue. I'm glad that I finally walked through it. OH Hubby had no problem jumping on it. Me on the other hand.....I never ride it.

We like Muppets but that was more like Sardines!

I've been thinking about switching from DL to WDW at the end of the year. I was thinking mid-Nov or early Dec. But after seeing your photos, it looks like it's just nuts at WDW all the time. And then with all these rides with FP attached, there's nothing to get in line for that isn't being slowed down by FP. This thread is making me think I should save my money. And you haven't even got to the bad part yet!!!!

We love WDW and have never been to DL so I can't compare. I think going on weeks that aren't school holidays works a lot better crowd-wise. However, being a teacher, my days are limited.

Joining in!
Love the trip so far. I've heard horror stories about how busy the holiday season was at Disney, and your pictures just back that statement up. Some of those crowd pics surprised me. I'm sure it was a little disheartening to see such long waits wherever you went.


Love the shot of you and your DH on the Speedway.


I'm already looking forward to hearing about the stepsister proposals in May.



Glad to hear the Wishes FP allowed for at least one thing not to be crowded. Small favors...


Very curious to hear about the alternative TR title story. Also a little worried, though. Certainly doesn't sound very magical.

Yeah this was the worst crowds we have ever seen. I really think that the Osborne Lights drew more people than normal.

Oh DH is a hoot and was cracking me up on the Speedway. Our poor car was going from one side to the other while he had pretend "road rage".

Yes we need to bring our ring pops in May!

We LOVE the Wishes FP!

Oh yeah it's coming up! I may not get to it tonight but I will get there soon.

Following along!

That TOT line

Isn't it crazy!!??!?! I had to snap a picture of that craziness!! Why would you even get in that line?

Hi joining in! Fantastic trip report so far

This is my favorite picture so far:

I have a similar one with my DS from when we ate dinner at 1900 park Fare...she was doing the kissy-kissy thing and he was like whhaaattt???? too funny

Wow the parks sure looked crowded! When we went this past summer (we always go the 3rd week of August since I teach too and have to be back by labor day) its was PACKED (they had given free dining to the UK was what I heard as well as free dining to the US which is why it was much more crowded than it usually is in late August. There were 30 minute + waits for just about everything.... we weren't used to it so it definitely put a little damper on going to the parks, you know?

Anyway, happy to be joining in and can't wait to read more!

~ Marina

Free dining does bring in the crowds!!! This DS actually puckered up at one point and the step sister pulled away very very surprised!! lol.....



Okay guys, I'm worn out. I promise I will get to the next update but not tonight! Have a great week!

 

[GAN]

Hi joining in! Fantastic trip report so far

This is my favorite picture so far:

I have a similar one with my DS from when we ate dinner at 1900 park Fare...she was doing the kissy-kissy thing and he was like whhaaattt???? too funny

Wow the parks sure looked crowded! When we went this past summer (we always go the 3rd week of August since I teach too and have to be back by labor day) its was PACKED (they had given free dining to the UK was what I heard as well as free dining to the US which is why it was much more crowded than it usually is in late August. There were 30 minute + waits for just about everything.... we weren't used to it so it definitely put a little damper on going to the parks, you know?

Anyway, happy to be joining in and can't wait to read more!

~ Marina

Yeah ...talk about eye contact! Great shot....

 

[BridgetR3]

After Muppets, we made a quick stop at Star Tours for our fast pass. Since I have no pictures to prove it, we will just keep going!

Here's where we almost got our thread title from -

We hopped into line for the Frozen Sing Along. As we were entering the line, the CM said that we would likely not make the show. We figured it was worth a shot and entered the line anyways. There was a family in front of us that had an older gentleman on a scooter. We visited and moseyed our way through the queue. At one point in the line, I heard a coin hitting the ground as the man in the scooter zoomed to catch up with the line. My oldest son grabbed the coin and ran after the man. We began to follow him when we heard screaming from the line next to us. "OH MY GAWD!!!!! THAT KID JUST STOLE MY MONEY!!!!!!!!!!! HE STOLE MY MONEY!! MY MONEY!!!!" As she was screaming, I realized with horror that "THAT KID" was my son who was kindly trying to give the quarter to the man on the scooter. You see, in his teenaged brain, the man had lost a quarter from his pocket as he zoomed away. Not thinking twice, my son grabbed it and chased him to give it to him. We all realized about the same time that it belonged to screaming lady and not to the man in the scooter. My son ran back and gave the woman her quarter and we quickly caught up with the rest of the line. Poor boy, he was mortified over a quarter. On that day, it was NOT funny but to this day, we still randomly holler at him "THAT KID JUST STOLE MY MONEY!!!" just to get his attention. He still turns red.

Long story short....we made another two rounds and were on the incline about to go through the gate. We were so excited because we were going to get in. Yes!!! We made it to the gate and an important looking person came out and made the cut sign at her throat. Nope, line stops here but hey you can totally wait for the next show. Umm....no thank you!

So we left line and headed back to Great Movie Ride. The wait times were fairly short and soon we were inside the theater taking pictures.

I have a thing for light fixtures and chandeliers.

See, here we have both!

I don't think I have ever really noticed the detail in this section of carpet before. Each color is a different level so it gives the carpet texture. It's really a neat piece!

We got to the podium and the cast member sent us all the way to the right side. I immediately grabbed DH's arm and started celebrating, "We got cowboy!! Yes, it's the cowboy scene!!! I'm so excited!" The cast member giggled at me as if it was no big deal but I LOVE that section!!

Soon we were in the movies!

And we were singin' in the rain, just singin' in the rain!

Why hello, blurry John Wayne!

Funny story about the cowboy scene - Quite a few years ago on a trip with DH's parents, I asked the CM to give us the cowboy scene. She agreed but said we would have to wait for the next car. I told her I didn't mind waiting. (I mean after all I had heard about it on the DIS and I was so sure that everyone was going to love all the new movie sets that you don't see in gangster scene.) My father-in-law never likes waiting and wasn't really happy that after waiting for 30 minutes to get to the desk, I would ask to wait some more but he didn't grumble too much, after all I had told him that it was a different set of scenes. Yeah.......you see where this is going too!! Imagine my surprise when it was the same sets but you just lose the driver in a different room. Father-in-law was not really fond of my decision after that. However, I've been hooked on cowboy scene ever since!!

Hello blurry cowboy!!


You see I find the gangster scene a little cheesy and well,boring, but when you can blow up the bank in the middle of the ride......well, that excites me!

Well we zoomed past some aliens and saw some snakes.....why did it have to be snakes??? Then we headed on over to munchkinland to see our favorite people.....

But then.....

SHE showed up, hollering "I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too. I'm melting!! I'm melting!!!"

Soon we were off to see the.....

wizard? Not really....we finished our ride and headed over to Toy Story for our fast pass.

Toy Story is my favorite ride in Walt Disney World. I only get to ride it once per trip usually because we only go to Hollywood Studios once. If I do get to ride it twice, that's a great trip!

We hop in the fastpass line which was WAY back here and notice that there was a 105 minute wait for standby. Well at least we won't be waiting that long. Soon we were inside and saw.....

....an empty queue? Where were they sending all the standby people?!?!

After we got our glasses, I started trash talking DH. You see, we have this thing where I try to beat him EVERY.SINGLE.TRIP but somehow he always wins. So it went a bit like this......
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Today's my day! I'm going to beat you!!
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You are going DOWN!!
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I"m going to crush you!!
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In the end our scores looked like this!

I won the first and second game but then lost the rest and well I came in a real close second! Shucks, lost again! But I was so so close!!!

Blurry photo as proof that DH was best in vehicle! It was his first time ever getting that so he was pumping his fists in the air all excited and I was trying to be happy for him.....but I wanted to win!

After riding Toy Story we decided to go play at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids play area. This isn't a must do for us but youngest son decided that we HAD to do it this trip because it may not be there in May. (We didn't know for sure in November but he wasn't willing to chance it.) So we headed over there, I stopped in the restroom as the boys went to play. As I walked out the skies opened up. I ran for cover and looked for them.

They were soaked and the playground was closed until it could be dried. Youngest DS lost his mind because we may not get to play on it ever again.

We took the opportunity to have a snack and head back over to Frozen Sing Along in hopes that the rain would keep people from getting in line.

We were put in the cattle pen where they hold all 8 million of you before opening the theater doors. At one point while we were super smashed in, a lady came pushing through. As she bumped into me, I said, "Excuse me" meaning I am sorry for bumping you. I guess she took it to me "excuse me" like what the heck are you doing? because she jumped my case with a mix of English and Spanish hollering about how she was just going meet her family and I had better move over. Geez, Frozen queue - 2, Us - 0 .....let's just say, we didn't make any friends in the Frozen line!

Very soon, we were seated and ready for the show. I love this show!! It's so funny!!

Anna is never ready for us but the historians always are!!

This was a new guy for us. We usually have the older gentleman but this guy was HILARIOUS (not that the other guy isn't). This guy kept cracking up at his own jokes and would sometimes have to turn to the screens and away from the audience to try to compose himself. DH and I were reduced to tears on more than one occasion. This really has become a family favorite for us.

Of course, Elsa came in and saved the day!

By the end we were all covered with "snow".

After the show, we headed back to see if the playground was open so that DS could play before dinner.

It was but oh my goodness was it a madhouse.

Let's just say that I'm really glad that my boys are older and independent. If I had smaller kids, there is NO way I would have let them go alone into this!

Crisis averted - we played on the playground one.last.time. and DS was happy again. (We haven't told him yet that this will be gone in May. It's a surprise....kinda like the loss of Star Wars weekends......I just don't have the heart to tell them yet.)

Up next - Dinner and the reason for the trip!

 

[ariane37]

Ha, I prefer the cowboy scenario, too! We got it once in Nov. and the gangster one once. Then last week DH and I lucked out and got the cowboy one, and had 2 of the best CM's I think we ever had on the ride!

Funny that you posted a picture of the dragon carpet in GMR. I noticed this also for the first time last week and took a picture, too.

We've only seen the Frozen sing-a-long once but we had the guy you had this time and I agree, he was hysterical

 

[Jasperann]

I have finally been able to bring your report up!! Love reading about everything so far.