Thursday is almost always a recommended day at Epcot. For most of the year, it’s the day before or day after evening Extra Magic Hours at Epcot and Magic Kingdom usually has morning Extra Magic Hour/Main Street Electrical Parade/Wishes/longer hours. In the past, Thursday was also a more popular day at Hollywood Studios because it was one of only two or three nights during the week where it offered Fantasmic. Now that Fantasmic is scheduled much more often, the Studios isn’t quite the attractive force that it used to be. We also had shorter hours at Magic Kingdom and no evening entertainment during regular Park hours because of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Nonetheless, we’re coming off of a morning Extra Magic Hour on Tuesday, evening Extra Magic Hours on Wednesday, and it’s not the weekend, which is especially important during the Food and Wine Festival. Let’s see how it looks.
The reduction in monorail hours continues to be a hotly debated topic. Over the last three months, the Epcot Monorail has operated from 8am – 10pm almost every day and signs have indicated that the monorail will only run “up to one hour after regular Park close.” Today (Thursday), the stated hours were 8am – 11pm, which is two hours after regular Park close.
And the Magic Kingdom Resort Monorail, which normally runs until 10:30pm on Mickey’s Party nights, operated until 12:30am:
I’ll keep an eye on it.
I’m not real popular. Actually, because the Epcot Monorail runs less frequently than the Magic Kingdom Express Monorail, it tends to sit until it’s mostly full. Sooner or later, people have no choice other than to join me.
The number of people we’re accustomed to seeing at Spaceship Earth just after 3pm.
I almost always take a picture from this angle for whatever reason, so today should be no exception.
Wait times at 3:15pm:
Much better than yesterday, where Soarin’ FASTPASSes were long gone and Test Track’s FASTPASSes were three hours out instead of 50 minutes. Still, we don’t want to be in the standby line at Soarin’ or Test Track at 3pm most any day. The lower waits and FASTPASSes with return times that aren’t as far out are indicative of lower crowds and a less crowded morning though.
To the bog!
I basically take a picture every three steps:
I like how you can see the color of the ground today. Won’t be true on Saturday.
And looking the other way.
Seriously, every three steps:
Short lines at the booths and fewer people around.
And in the other direction. It’s about 3:25pm.
Into Norway.
From my favorite perch in Norway looking toward China.
No one in line at China.
And in the opposite direction. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful ground!
Ruh roh!! Where did they come from!!! Actually, the bridge was up (and just went down) to allow the stupid globe for IllumiNations into the World Showcase Lagoon. A delay of a few minutes – just long enough to demand that Grand Floridian upgrade. Okay, okay, we’ll take the Beach Club.
Following them into Germany.
And Italy.
Italy zoomed out.
And in.
Looking in the opposite direction towards Germany.
More people in Japan – watching the Taiko D(r)ummers.
A better look than yesterday. Somehow, I always manage to arrive just as they are saying goodbye and announcing when the next show will begin.
A super long line for Aladdin and Jasmine. See them in Magic Kingdom!
Into Morocco.
And back to Italy.
And into Germany looking toward the Brewers Collection and Germany booth. Though I didn’t take a picture (it looked like a dark beer), I “sampled” the 22-ounce BraufactuM Roog (Smoked Wheat Bier) from the Brewers Collection. No, I don’t know how to pronounce it either. No one does. I like the Brewers Collection the most of any of the booths (for obvious reasons) because you’ll find a variety of rarer beers that you probably won’t have an opportunity to try elsewhere. I’m not “big” on paying a 500% upcharge for a beer that I can buy from the store and pop open at home.
We’re going to skip ahead here to the Rose & Crown Pub, which is attached to the Rose & Crown Dining Room in the United Kingdom Pavilion. I don’t like the Pub much, though as a Disney blogger I have to fall in line and say I love it there. It’s loud, cramped, crowded, and expensive. And those are its good points.
On draft.
The bar.
A marriage proposal. I was standing in the back yelling “fake!!!!!!” as I do whenever I see a marriage proposal at Disney World on a Thursday. This one might have been real though.
Also the bar.
Your $8 beer. It tastes better in the Pub though.
Cramped.
The Dining Room is attached, making this part of the restaurant loud as well.
Over to the Beach Club:
It’s nicely themed and feels more approachable than the blander Yacht Club next door.
Club Level, baby.
The Club Level spread:
Make your own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Very classy(?).
Cheese, crackers, and vegetables.
We timed this just right because this is the last of the Lobster Salad. They didn’t restock.
Crab Rangoon and some sort of spanakopita sort of thing. The Rangoon was really good, though they tricked us by serving a similar looking dessert item last night. Had you been expecting something sweet, you probably would have been disappointed by the very different crab taste.
The liquid:
Club Level is really all about the booze. We have a variety of cheap wines and some good looking beer. They were stocking Heineken, Bud Light, Widmer Brother Drifter Ale (YAY), Yuengling, Samuel Adams Octoberfest, and several popular soft drinks. Considering beer runs $5+ out in the theme parks, you can really get your money’s worth if you go to town (like I do). The food selection left something to be desired, depending on what you’re expecting.
The view from the room:
A great view of the BoardWalk and some of the fireworks from IllumiNations are visible over the Beach Club on the other side.
Overall, it was the least busy day of the week at Epcot with far fewer people in World Showcase in the afternoon and lower crowds and wait times throughout the day in Future World. We’re going into a more crowded weekend with Columbus Day on Monday, so we’ll see how things look this weekend and moving into next week.
All I can say is you eat and drink like a champ!!! Good for you, awesome!
So Josh, does the Resort monorail stop at the TTC during those after hours when MK is closed?
If not I guess the way to get back to TTC would be to hop on it and take it to Poly and walk using your walking picture guide.
So glad to see your report of the Beach Club Club level. We will be arriving October 23, our first time on the club level. Do you know if you can request a different beer, Coors Light for example?
So, Josh, the important question: what did the 22-ounce BraufactuM Roog (Smoked Wheat Bier) from the Brewers Collection actually taste like?? I’m very excited to try these German beers that I’ve never seen elsewhere.
While I am not Josh, I can tell you that the last time we stayed Club Level at the Beach Club in June one of the cast members asked my husband what kind of beer he preferred. My husband told him Blue Moon and they kept that there for us the length of our stay. We arrive on the 29th for our next visit, can’t wait!
Ah, club level. Had at AKL several years ago. Beer for a friend, wine for me, and desserts for my sister. Everyone was happy. OK, desserts for all three of us.
Hey Josh! Tell me about that smoked beer! I’ve never tried that variety before. Any good?
I saw three people out of all your photos wearing pants. It makes me laugh. I live in FL and we are going to the world the day after tomorrow and I will be wearing pants. I wore pants in May there for SWW. Here is our schedule if your going to be around one of these days. I will be looking for you. It would be like finding Waldo. I would be so excited! And thankful for your help.
10 Epcot
11 MK/MNSSHP
12 HS
13 AK/ maybe Epcot in the evening or HS
14 ? Whatever we haven’t done. Park Hopping.
The Rose and Crown, ‘Noisy, cramped, crowded and expensive’ at least its authentic then.
Thanks you Linda!
Haven’t been to Food and Wine for a few years. In the past they had a couple of countries that had larger areas that included music, dancers, gift shops, demonstrations, etc. We saw American Indian dancers and Turkish dancers for example a few years back. We’re headed out there on the 20th. Do they have anything like that this year?
BraufactuM Roog. Man that’s fun to say.
So how was it?
Beach Club Club level looked good.
I’ll never be able to afford it though, so just can enjoy others’ pics.
Vi – Yes, the resort monorail stops at the ticket/transportation center.
Andrew, Mike, and Julia – it was a quality brew. I recommend the both of the beer flights to get a nice sample of six of the beers. I can help drink them.
Startraveler – No, nothing like that this year. Just the food booths themselves.
Man, over $400/night for club level, and they server you Nescafe coffee there? For real? The syrups look like they could help, though. Thanks for the pictures–we are considering YC club level for our stay in May.