Many folks are getting ready for a new school year rather than flying down to Florida so the parks tend to be less busy. However, you'll still find it crowded at times if you "follow the herd". We had a great 4-day weekend at Disney World.
FRIDAY - MAGIC KINGDOM
It felt a little strange entering the Magic Kingdom during Labor Day weekend and finding the park already decked out for Halloween. C'mon Disney, Labor Day symbolizes the end of summer not pumpkins!
Worse... Casey's Corner was closed for refurb so we missed out on the Chicago Dog we desperately wanted to try during this visit. So... we headed over to the Lunching Pad for a specialty hot dog - also closed for refurb. Really? We diverted to Cosmic Rays only to find out that their soda machines were out of order (I really wanted a Coke). So... we trudge over to Pecos Bills and the place is packed (gee, I wonder why). It takes forever for the food orders to be processed, it is crowded and so noisy we can't hear ourselves. Luckily, getting lunch was the worst of it. Or, at least we thought. Trying to get dinner proved equally challenging. The only place left open at 7 pm was Cosmic Rays.
Anyway, most lines were super short (walk right in) including Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Small World, and another of my favorites, Hall of Presidents. The longest lines were for Winnie the Pooh (about 20 min) and Peter Pan's Flight (we got a FastPass).
The highlight of our day was the new night time show, The Magic, The Memories and You! Cinderella's Castle literally transforms before your eyes during the approximate 10 minute show. Incredible! Can't wait to see it again soon. There's a short 5 minute break after the show prior to the Wishes fireworks show.
SATURDAY - ANIMAL KINGDOM
Another great day - but hot. The BEST way to cool off at this park is with a frozen drink. When we start to feel really hot, we share a Frozen Coke. A few minutes in the shade with a frozen Coke and we're completely re-charged.
We walked right into all of our favorite attractions with just a few minutes of wait time including, Kilimanjaro Safari, Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo and Bug's Life.
Our best safari ever! We highly recommend getting on the safari early in the day because it gives you your best chance of seeing the most animals up close. We saw rhinos, hippos, giraffes, gators, elephants (including a baby) zebras, ostriches and even the elusive lion among many other very active animals.
Lion King was always my favorite stage show (still is a "must do") until Finding Nemo came along. We had the BEST seats in the house - first row, second tier, center stage.
I love the creativity of this live stage performance of Finding Nemo and how well the performers "become one" with the puppets. It took my husband a few times before fully appreciating the style of this show. Now he loves it almost as much as I do.
SUNDAY - HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
We arrived a little later than we had hoped (just before 10 am) and almost missed out on getting a Fast Pass for Toy Story Midway Mania. In fact, Fast Passes were fully distributed by 11 am or so. Hands down, Toy Story Midway Mania is the MOST fun we had all day. You just can't help but come out grinning ear to to ear. Tip: if you missed out on Fast Pass and the stand-by line is 40 minutes or less, get on line. Throughout the day, we saw the wait time range from 25 minutes to 95 minutes.
Again, we walked right into many of our favorite attractions including, Beauty and the Beast; the Great Movie Ride, the Little Mermaid and Lights, Motors, Action. Lights, Motors, Action had been updated since we last saw the show. Toy Story's Lightening McQueen replaced Herbie the Lovebug as the entertainment between the stunt setups.
Lights, Motors, Action really is packed with action. The drivers who perform the stunts are expertly skilled. I'm always holding my breath and curling my toes. The grand finale (above) is stunning. The other change we noticed, the Flower Truck was replaced (I assume temporarily). Normally, there is a small European-looking delivery van. Today's performance used a full-size white minivan with a floral delivery sticker on the side.
MONDAY - EPCOT
On the last day of our Labor Day Disney staycation we went to Epcot. We typically visit Epcot late in the day to catch a concert or festival so it was a lot of fun to do many of the things we don't normally get to do at this park.
We did many attractions with no wait, including Spaceship Earth (love the go-go boots in this history of communication attraction), Ellen's Energy Adventure (a must-do for dinosaur fans); Journey Into Imagination; Gran Fiesta Tour (the reinvented Rio de Tiempo Mexico boat ride); and Norway's Maelstrom boat ride.
Fast Passes were required for both Soarin' and Test Track today. Soarin' was amazing as always. We almost didn't get to do Test Track due to weather. The sun was shining bright when we entered Test Track. A few minutes later and just before we were about to board our car, the attraction was shut down. Luckily, it was only shut down for a few minutes as a small rain shower passed by and we were on our way. Biggest thrill of the day!
FOOD
For the most part during our Labor Day weekend at Disney, we had some pretty good food. We shared a delicious meatball sub at Epcot's Electric Umbrella. The roll was bakery-style with a crusty outside and soft chewy inside - perfect. Even though I have complained about the pizza at Animal Kingdom, the pizza I had at Pizzafari on Saturday was hot and perfectly prepared. Our burger at Pecos Bills was cold, but they make up for it with a great fixin's bar. I've also complained a lot about the change in chicken nuggets at Disney, but the ones we had from Cosmic Rays on Friday weren't awful (that's the best I can say). I still can't stand the Heinz honey mustard (bring back Ken's).
Our biggest disappointment, however, was the churros from Epcot Mexico.
My husband had been looking forward to these for almost a year. We decided as our last snack before heading out that we'd grab an order to share. WORST CHURROS EVER!
The "Churros con Cajeta" (churros with milk caramel) cost $3.95 + tax for 4 small sticks of churros. They were cold, hard, and greasy. Worse, they were flavorless. Even if they were hot and fresh, they would not have tasted good. The milk caramel dip was very fluid (milk-like in consistency) and also void of flavor. I LOVE caramel so I was very disappointed. I'm not even sure if the dip should have been that soupy.
We ate one churro stick each and decided it wasn't even worth the calories to finish the remaining two and threw them out in the trash - which is hard to do when these crunchy little sticks of nothing cost a buck each. Never again, I'm afraid.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time we were disappointed by La Cantina de San Angel in Epcot. This used to be one of our favorite spots to grab a bite to eat.