Quick strange trip

[Travisma 1,317]

Yesterday 9/22 we made a quick trip to WDW.

I was working at a convention all weekend and finished up around 1:15 so we headed over to the parks.

Our plan was to hit EPCOT just to get our 3rd entrance click for the coasters and leave. We figured  it was going to be a mad house with Food and Wine and it was a slightly cooler day then it's been.

Well imagine our surprise when we hit the toll booth and there were empty lanes going in!

A bigger shocker , was that they sent us up passed rows of cars to the front of the Discover lot and were filling in tons of empty spaces!?

Of course we still had the long walk to the makeshift entrance but it was better than being in the last few rows.

But wait there were more oddities.  Only a handful of people going thru bag check, and we walked right thru the the entrance to scan our bands.  I had 1 person in front of me that walked away as I walked up (and this was not the passholder line).

I asked my wife is she wanted to go into the park since it wasn't crowded but she said no since we were just there Labor Day.

So we stuck to our plan and hopped on the monorail to go to the MK to get our picture with the Muppets at the bottom before they are kicked out of the MK.

Going past the MK parking lot I mentioned to my wife how empty it looked.  

No wait time getting onto the Express Monorail.

No wait to scan our MB, again person if front of me was walking away as I walked up.

No wait for get our picture taken on Main Street, in fact there were 3 photographers talking to each other.

We asked about the Muppet picture and the one photographer said she didn't think they started until 4.  What?

it was only a little after 2, so we went to get our Zoomy picture.

Again we waited maybe less than 5 minutes.

We sidetracked around the parade, went over to where the Muppet photos were and gosh darn I guess the other photographer was correct, no one was there.  We were hoping she was mistaken.

So we went on Small World.  Ten minute wait time on the sign, but it was maybe 3.

Same thing with Mickey's Philharmagic. No wait to go in.

Left there and walked back down to see about the pictures.  No one was there so we started walking towards Liberty Square and ran into a photographer.  Asked about the Muppets and he walked us back over the spot and took our pictures.

Headed out to leave, and decided to get our pictures by the pumpkins at the flag pole.  Again about a 5 minute or less wait.

It was a MNSSHP night so that might have attributed to the small crowds.  It was like the MK of old.  Not too crowded at all.

Headed out and started going towards the Express Monorail and saw huge crowds so turned around to go to the resort one which we just missed.

While waiting for the next one, the express just sat there It was packed, eventually they opened the doors on both sides.  Lots of CMs pacing back and forth, walkie talkies and phones ringing.

Just as we were pulling away they finally left and of course the waiting crowd was now gigantic.

Ours was packed, but they managed to squeeze riders on at the Contemporary.

We arrive at the TTC, announcement goes off about gathering your belongings etc, and nothing happens.

Then we creep forward a couple of feet, stop and no doors open, then we back up a few feet and nothing.  

This happens about 4 times.  Finally they back up about 15 feet, pull forward again, and the doors open.

This is just after they had the EPCOT monorail rescue Thursday night.

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Late last night, Walt Disney World guests had to be rescued from a broken-down monorail after the iconic train that takes guests around the resort “…just kind of died,” according to guests.

Guests were traveling along the Epcot monorail, which takes park guests from the Transportation and Ticket center to the theme park when the train lost power on the tracks. The train first lost power around 10:30 P.M. last night and guests traveling in the train were not rescued until closer to 1:30 a.m.

In order to take guests off of the train, they had to exit with the guidance of rescue crews through the monorail’s roof. To get guests back on the ground, rescue crews utilized buckets, which were able to remove only two passengers at a time from the suspended train.

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Hey Bob take some of your bonus $$ and put towards fixing the parks infrastructure!

The ride to EPCOT was uneventful. 

We saw the entrance to the MK toll booth, and every lane was packed solid out past where the 2 or 3 lanes open up to the multiple lanes.  Looks like it was going to be another mobbed MNSSHP night.  At least it was a couple of degrees cooler then when we went labor Day weekend.

Still don't understand why EPCOT doesn't make a separate entrance for the monorail riders since they have already been vetted and are inside of the security bubble.

Seems like it's a waste of the guests time and the security guards time to have to recheck people that have already been checked.

Maybe they will fix it with their big remodeling plans.

So that was our quick but odd trip the WDW.

 

Oh, and the park still wasn't that crowded. Very few in line for bag check, and no a lot walking in from the parking lots.

 

[ImDownWithDisney 342]

That sounds like our post hurricane trip a few weeks ago. Low crowds are the best. it did seem a bit strange though

[Travisma 1,317]

52 minutes ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

That sounds like our post hurricane trip a few weeks ago. Low crowds are the best. it did seem a bit strange though

We were there Labor Day weekend while the storm was approaching and the MK was like that, but EPCOT was still pretty crowded.

Labor Day Monday the MK was very light and the Fort was deserted.  Took a picture from the bus stop facing Pioneer Hall and there were only 2 people in the picture, rocking chairs were empty, only 2 people besides us on the boat the MK, and we were the only people on the bus to the parking lot when we were heading out.  And I had the first parking spot in the row right across from the Outpost bus stop!