This hard-crashed my browser (Firefox 35 Window 7). Not the "script is taking a long time" or even the "(Not responding)", but some obscure little Windows fail intervention box that I can't say I've ever seen before.

If I open it in Chrome (where I have cookies enabled), then it's about the experience others describe.

I keep thinking that I've hit the bottom of how bad the cookies-blocked experience can be on a web site, but this is actually a new low.

With all that said, I think alternate front-ends to Wikipedia are a great idea, and I happen to be working on one right now, notwithstanding that I am here.