October 2018 D-Cot Meet 10/12-10/21/18 – day 9

Activity Forums Travel Trip Planning & Reports October 2018 D-Cot Meet 10/12-10/21/18 – day 9

Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
View New Replies View Legacy Forums Reply to Thread
  • Author
    Posts
  • #96678

    Nascfan
    499 XP
    SUPPORTER
    MOD

    Saturday 10/20/18

    We didn’t have a big rope drop plan so we slept in just a bit from most previous mornings. It felt good as the 8 days of heat and walking were starting to take a toll on us. We were actually able to arrive at Magic Kingdom earlier than we planned so we took a Main Street vehicle up to the Castle. It’s so nice to be able to do that on a longer trip! We caught the trolley show again and saw the Welcome show from the Tomorrowland bridge. We could tell it was a Saturday and going to be busier based on the number of people lined up for the running of the Dwarfs and at the Tomorrowland bridge. Just a couple days previous we had commented on how few people there were for those two spots. No matter, we let the majority of people run the Space Mountain Marathon while we strolled to Buzz for our first ride. We also noticed they had all of the Tomorrowland walkway open with the wall down by Monsters Inc. That was nice! I got a very respectable score of 333,900. Kathy never fired her gun, she just looked around and enjoyed the ride! LOL After we exited Buzz we could see Stitch’s meet area in his old ride. There was no one there! So we literally just walked in and up to him! He’s so fun! We popped across Main Street to Adventureland and rode Pirates as a walk on and then saw Aladdin and Jasmine with minimal wait in their spot by the Carpets in Adventureland. I don’t know that I’ve met them together before! We had a nice chat about where to park our carpets! By that time we were ready for our Pooh FP, purposely wanting to hit it at the end of our window. I texted Heather just before boarding so we could mentally ride it together. We then rode Peter Pan’s Flight with our FP. There wasn’t going to be time for another ride before our Splash FP window opened so we looked around in the Briar Patch shop and sat in the rocking chairs for a few minutes just listening to the background music. It felt so good to just be in our happy place and do nothing! We got on Splash right as our window opened, bypassing a 55 minute standby! Oh yeah, it was a busy day at Magic Kingdom! I got a fastpass for an evening Safari before leaving the gift shop. We planned to try to hit it right about sunset on our date night. By now Big Thunder was 50 minutes standby and so was Buzz for example. It was a busy day but we felt gloriously un-crowded by getting there in the morning and not having to rush. We realized we hadn’t had a hot dog this trip! Since we really like them, we got chili/cheese dogs at Casey’s and then left for Animal Kingdom for a very special extra unofficial D-cot meet that had been secretly planned. The crowds pouring in made us both say “Whoa!” as we were leaving! MK on a Saturday, definitely a park to avoid or hit early and leave early!

    The bus for Animal Kingdom unfortunately took just this side of forever to get there and Stephen and I were texting as he was trying to keep the family occupied so we could meet up with him and his sister. It finally did get there and we arrived at AK and I texted Stephen that we were there! Fortunately Kathy and I can move very fast when we need and we were able to meet him and Emelia at the entrance to Dinosaur! Epic squishy squeeze hugs ensued, except the part where I think I bruised his rib! LOL I gave him the Skittles that Heather and I had saved for him from MNSSHP and we got some pictures and were able to ride Dinosaur with them with a nice 20ish minute standby. I actually wish the wait would have been a little longer as we were having a great time talking with them in line and it really seemed to move very quickly. It was so great to meet him! What a wonderful final D-Cot meet of the trip! I really enjoyed being the first D-Cotter he’s been able to ride a ride with and we look forward to more meetings in the future! After a way too short of a time together we separated in the gift shop and we made our way out via an AoA bus. It always seemed their buses were right there for us at AK! Took a brief nap back at Pop and got packed what we could for tomorrow and freshened up for our date night at AK. We had no plans other than the sunset Safari and hopefully standby at the end of the night for FoP so we could see the queue and the avatar. We grabbed a quick dinner at Pop and headed over to AK. We still had a bit of time before our Safari time so we just strolled the Tree of Life trails hand in hand, fascinated at the carvings and details. The more you stare at it, the more animals you see. Finally it was time to head back to Africa and this is where things went wrong, the only time they really went wrong on the trip but it was a big one! FP line was backed up, a full queue and backed up past the entrance and extended out. Standby was listed at a 70 minute wait but there was absolutely no one in it! It was way too early for staging purposes, we couldn’t figure out what was going on! We thought for sure that FP would move quicker but it just crawled! People behind us actually sent a “runner” into standby to check and see if there was anyone in it up near the entrance. They came back and said there were about 20 people at the merge point. We still didn’t move! Even when we got to the merge point, they were just letting standby in with FP people! I’m sorry, but when you have that big of a backup in FP, you better be letting 9 people in that line go for every 1 standby. It was just ridiculous! 45 minutes later, yes, a 45 minute wait in FP!, we were on a nighttime Safari, not a sunset. I did manage to score a 5th FP while in line to meet Mickey and Minnie so we went and did that after. That was just a 5 minute wait! But by now Kathy’s feet were hurting and done for after waiting in line so long so any hope I had to hang out and see the FoP queue was dashed. As it was, when we went over into Pandora to take a look at the nighttime plant life and bioluminescence we saw that it had a 2 hour wait, and it looked true as the entire standby queue including external was full. Even if we had waited until just before closing, with the way people were pouring into the FP line, it would have been at least an hour and a half at that time. Wasn’t going to happen. So our date night started well and then ended poorly and we headed home for a good night’s rest.

    Steps: 22,688
    Miles: 10.23
    Wheel Spin: 5

    #96687

    eeyorepoohfan
    499 XP
    SUPPORTER

    That heat was seriously relentless and exhausting!! I can’t blame you for not moving too quickly that morning! Great job catching a Main Street Vehicle up to the hub! I love that idea! It’s crazy how busy the weekends get, especially at MK! I like you method of hitting it early in the day and then switching parks. You guys still did quite a bit that morning, even with the increasing crowds. I love when you walk out of a park and see a wall of people walking in! It reminds you that you made a good choice on planning your day and going elsewhere! Ugh! That’s frustrating with the bus situation. Thankfully that seemed like your only bus issue on the trip. But it’s super frustrating when you are trying to get somewhere in a hurry but it’s just not going your way! Like me with the meet up! EEK! Big giant awesome squishy hugs!! I wish the standby line had been longer for you guys. But how awesome that you got to ride a ride with Stephen!!!! I’m totally jealous. But thank you for taking him the Skittles from me! I do spoil him! I’m sorry your date night didn’t go as planned. That’s ridiculous on the FP queue for the safari. That CM really should have been paying better attention. We had that issue once at Kali. I think the CM literally forgot which side was FP and which was standby. They kept having all the standby people go and us FP people waited over 20 minutes. And that only happened because the CM’s changed roles and the new CM just started having the FP line clear out. I say with that big of a backup it should be at least 20 FP people to 1 standby! How sad that that family sent someone through the standby line and it was half the time! I’m super sad you missed the sunset safari. The ones in the dark are a let down since most of the animals have gone to bed or hunkered down for the night. I am still amazing that the FoP standby line is that long close to park closing! Crazy!!!! At least you were already mostly packed up for your travels back home.

    #96691

    SEJ101
    499 XP
    CONTRIBUTOR

    Hey, not bad for a MK morning on a Saturday! Main Street vehicles are awesome! I need to ride those more often…
    That’s not a bad score for Buzz! And I love Kathy’s method! I’ve always wanted to do something like that!
    Whaaaaaaaat? No wait for Stitch?!?!? That’s crazy! :surprised:
    Oh my gosh, we had FP for Splash Mountain and Peter Pan that night! We almost had reversed plans in a sense! LOL Twinsies!
    The crowds at MK were only gonna get worse, dude. When we got there, we parked in the last row of Ursula!!! That was the second to last lot being filled!!!! :surprised:

    That bus really did take forever! But he booked it, that’s for sure! I remember the text, “we’re on the bus” and then like two or three minutes later, “we’re here!” LOL I did a pretty good job with stalling! It really helped having the Toddler along to distract my Mom!
    And holy cow you guys really booked it through the park! It took you guys like…five minutes from Security to Dinosaur! I was amazed!
    It was such a pleasure to finally meet you and Kathy, bruised rib and all. I wish the wait was a little longer, but with it being short, it definitely drawed less suspicions on time. And thank you and @eeyorepoohfan again for the Skittles!!! They tasted extra special for some reason! You really do spoil me!!! :mickey-rainbow: :heart: Although I’m still…what’s the word…annoyed is a bit severe, but it still bugs me….anyhow, I didn’t like when we took the pictures! I was in the middle of stuffing things into my bag!!!! And I was holding an empty Skittles wrapper!!!! It looks so awkward! LOL
    And yes, you hold a special honor in my life achievements! First D-Cotter ride!….and first bruised rib :goofy: This was honestly one of the few good parts to that day for me! It was one of the worst Disney days for me with all the crowds, weather, and the Toddler! Oh, and I got a ton of bug bites by Splash Mountain! But this was worth it :heart:

    Aw, I’m sorry your date night didn’t go well! That must’ve been really bad. I can’t believe the Safari!!! That’s insane! I’m so sorry! :surprised: And I’m also bummed you didn’t get to go on FoP. 2 hours is a bit long for closing :surprised:

    #96692

    eeyorepoohfan
    499 XP
    SUPPORTER

    @sej101 You’re very welcome! I should have sent more with Scott though! We had so many!!!! I do my bestest to spoil you!! I love your picture and didn’t notice anything awkward about it! I assumed the Skittles wrapper was in the pic to show me that you enjoyed them! I’m glad they tasted extra yummy!

    #96693

    SEJ101
    499 XP
    CONTRIBUTOR

    I would’ve loved more Skittles! That definitely would’ve made my days much brighter! But like you told me, it’d be alarming if I went into Dinosaur with nothing and came out with pockets full of Skittles! LOL Don’t get me wrong, I love the picture too, but I feel like there could’ve been a better time to take it. But no matter, it’s still an awesome picture!!!

    #96698

    Nascfan
    499 XP
    SUPPORTER
    MOD

    I like your thinking of 20 to 1 Heather! They should have been doing that with FP on Safari! You’re right, in the dark it’s just not the same.

    I love our pictures! We had to take them pretty quickly since it took so long to get to AK, we had a very limited time to get in what we wanted without raising suspicion or your mom coming with the toddler. So we just had to do what we had to do. I think they came out great!


    #96703

    SEJ101
    499 XP
    CONTRIBUTOR

    Yeah, I do suppose you are right once again. But it’s not like she could’ve done anything, there’s a height requirement to get in! :smirk: :P But I like the pictures. They always put a smile on my face. :heart:

    #96728

    warrsm
    499 XP
    SUPPORTER

    Oh no, sorry the day (and the trip) was ending on a sour note. That really does irritate me, the place I see it most for us in on the Safari and on the Rapids….if you see a huge line for FP, then stand by should be doing just that, standing by to wait. but cool you had a nice meet up!!! that is always something to look forward to!

    #96729

    Nascfan
    499 XP
    SUPPORTER
    MOD

    Don’t worry, we make up for it the next day! ;)

    #96758

    eeyorepoohfan
    499 XP
    SUPPORTER

    @sej101 Yes, if you had gotten more Skittles it would have raised suspicions! LOL I’m glad you still love your picture!

    @nascfan
    See, I’m full of great ideas! I mean, isn’t that the point of FP? To push those people through faster? So a 20:1 ration seems reasonable when there’s a large line! Shoot, sometimes they need to let 100 FP people go before letting in standby!

    #96762

    Nascfan
    499 XP
    SUPPORTER
    MOD

    @eeyorepoohfan You are totally full of great ideas! And yes, I thought that was the whole point of FP too! It was just crazy!

    #96775

    eeyorepoohfan
    499 XP
    SUPPORTER

    I’m full of something! ;) LOL LOL LOL I agree that that’s the whole point of FP!! But like Ryan and I saw at MNSSHP the FP’s make the wait times at least double to triple than they are without any FP’s! We rode Space Mountain in 20 minutes and we were queued up outside and queued the entire inside as well!

    #96776

    Nascfan
    499 XP
    SUPPORTER
    MOD

    LOL Totally full of something! I know what you mean, what started out as a great idea, a placeholder in line so you could go do something else, has morphed and created a whole new separate set of issues.

Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

New Report

Close