August Trip - Highs and Lows

HappyPanda

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 9, 2012
We are back from our amazing stay last week. We stayed from Sunday - Friday in the Santa Fe and it was myself, my Mum and my two Daughters (Age 18months and 10 years). It was our first visit during August and I'd read lots of horror stories about how busy it would be so was a little dubious but I needn't had been. We had a fantastic time.

I thought I would share some Highs and Lows with you:

HIGHS

Mickey & The Magician - WOW! What a show, I really felt like I'd be missing Animagique but this show was in an other league. If it is on when you go I urge to make to make sure you watch it at least once; you won't be disappointed.

Ride Refurbs - Since our last visit in 2015 so many rides have been refurbished and the whole park is looking much fresher and new again. I particularly loved the new Star Tours revamp, it adds a whole new element to the ride!

Crowd Levels - From Sunday - Thursday the crowd levels were really manageable. We never queued for more than 30 minutes for a ride (but did queue 2 hours to meet Cinderella at Princess Pavilion! Eek!). Friday however was a different kettle of fish. Even It's a Small World had a 60 minute queue!

Smoking - Finally, DLP seem to have noticed what a problem smoking is around the park. On a number of occasions we witnessed CMs telling people not to smoke unless in a designated area and there were also announcements in the queue lines on certain rides.

Wild West Show - As always, this show was the absolute highlight of our visit. I will never tire of seeing this show.

LOWS:

Illuminations - I'm probably in the minority here but I really didn't enjoy Illuminations at all. Comparing it to dreams where I cried each and every time I watch it this show just didn't evoke any kind of emotion in me. I especially disliked the Beauty & The Beast section which was effectively just the trailer to the live action film projected on the castle.

Inventions - I love inventions normally but on this trip the only time we could get was at 2.15. The characters are only out until 3 which meant that we saw all 7 hours characters (Mickey, Minnie, Chip & Dale, Pinnochio, Geppeto and Pluto) within about 20 minutes. It just felt incredibly rushed and not the type of experience you would expect when paying almost £200 for a meal!
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Sounds like a good trip!

We loved all the shows this time too - agree Mickey and the Magician is fantastic, I hope they keep it on full-time instead of just seasonal.

I know what you mean about Illuminations - although I shouldn't really comment as we didn't actually watch it in the end....we had too much fun on BTM late at night, lol. I'd watched it on youtube (did the same with Dreams before we ever saw it live) and honestly wasn't overly bothered about seeing it. I'm sure it's technically fantastic, but I cried every time watching Dreams too and still hope that they'll bring it back one day.

And I agree re Inventions - we ate there a few years ago in the evening and only saw a few characters, I felt it was a very overpriced buffet and the food not much different to the other buffet restaurants. Obviously paying for the setting and characters, but just too expensive to make me rush there again.

thanks for posting :)
 
I know what you mean about Illuminations - although I shouldn't really comment as we didn't actually watch it in the end....we had too much fun on BTM late at night, lol. I'd watched it on youtube (did the same with Dreams before we ever saw it live) and honestly wasn't overly bothered about seeing it. I'm sure it's technically fantastic, but I cried every time watching Dreams too and still hope that they'll bring it back one day.

We watched illuminations on the first night only. After that we took advantage of the low crowds to go on more rides. On our final night my Mum and my eldest Daughter went on Phantom Manor at 10.59... they were the only ones on the ride and said the CMs were all totally in character! We also rode BTM three times in 40 minutes!
 
Sounds like you had a great time! I agree with you about Illuminations, such a shame! We only saw it once too, although we're clearly lightweights as we were just too tired to stay out!
 


Totally agree about Mickey and the Magician. Extraordinary. My wife isn't really a Disney fanatic like me, but she thought it was one of the best things she has ever seen! I also didn't see much smoking at all, which is good.

I loved Illuminations. Saw it twice and everyone applauded after. But those who love dreams often say this. Never saw it live myself - have started watching on YouTube but it's not the same!
 
Welcome back and glad you had an amazing time and with generally manageable crowds - good planning with Sunday to Friday. :thumbsup2

Agree, MATM is fantastic! I have seen Illuminations a few times now and really enjoy it but like you I don't quite get the emotion I felt with Dreams. Then again I do appreciate a change after so many Dreams viewings and guess I just have to accept that nothing will match my very first Dreams show.
 



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