For now, I thought I give you my review of traveling during the "value season" at Walt Disney World. Overall, I was very impressed. All the great things I had heard and read proved true, and some of the not-so-good things turned out to be wrong (at least for us). Let me break it down into the most notable pros and cons:
Pros
*Weather - We had absolutely PERFECT weather! It was about 80 during the day and about 65 to 70 at night. It wasn't miserable hot or freezing cold either. On our third day, it was overcast which made for a really comfortable day. This was also the first time I've ever been when it didn't rain at all during our stay. For Florida that's a rare occurance indeed!
*Crowds - This is probably what I was most impressed by. We arrived at Magic Kingdom around mid-morning on our first day. Usually by then Main St. is so packed you can't move. I was pleasantly surprise to find it fairly empty! We took our time taking photos without worry of getting run over. Then we headed to Peter Pan's Flight, where I'm used to wait times of an hour or more. We only waited about 10 minutes! The next day we went to Animal Kingdom and rode Expedition Everest twice in less than 30 minutes. Our longest wait time was for Space Mountain, where we waited about 30 minutes (I've waited an hour and a half before). I also noticed a big difference when it came to the firework shows. We had spectacular spots for both Epcot and Magic Kingdom without getting there super early.
Characters - I'm not sure why, but apparently this time of year is a great time to meet some rare characters. We met Pocahontas, the Evil Queen, Mary Poppins, Thumper, Chip and Dale, Pluto, Phineas and Ferb, Tinkerbell, Goofy and Max, Pooh, Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters, Woody, Buzz, Mickey, Minnie, and my favorite: Peter Pan! We also saw several other characters that I had never seen do meet-and-greets before. The lines were also fairly short, so it was easy to meet several of them quickly. Sometimes we didn't even have to stand in line at all.
Cons
Refurbishment - When doing research, this was just about the only con that kept popping up, although for us, it wasn't much of one. There was a lot of refurbishing on Main Street, with several of the buildings being covered in construction wrap, but all the main attractions were still open. The only thing that was closed that we wanted to do was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, so the whole refurb thing didn't affect us much.
Seasonal show and parade cancellations - While refurbisment wasn't an issue, this was. Fantasmic does not show this time of year, and for the week that we were there, Main St. Electrical Parade wasn't showing either. This really bummed me out, as they are two of my favorite things. On the bright side, we were able to get in bed a little earlier on a couple of nights.
So there you have it. Would I plan another trip for February? You bet! Other than October, it's probably my new favorite time to visit. The pros definitely outweigh the cons (and did I mention it's cheaper too!). Until next time, I'll leave you with one of my favorite shots from Wishes. See ya real soon!
Miranda
