Stephicakes' trip report 9/20-9/25

[stephicakes]

Hi pals!
DH and I just returned from a quick 5 day anniversary/birthday trip to the World, 9/20-9/25. Below are some highlights from the trip. Enjoy!

TRAVELLING
We flew JetBlue down for the first time and really enjoyed that airline. TV! Since I don’t love flying, watching TV seemed to make the flight go so much faster and I loved being able to see exactly where we were on the US map. “Almost there Honey!” Would fly JetBlue again in a heartbeat. Flew Southwest (was AirTran) home. Meh. But it flies direct so that is what I like about it. We used ME to get to the resort so we didn’t rent a car.

RESORT
We stayed at the Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa for the first time. We were in “The Springs”, DVC studio room #3232, 2nd floor with a small balcony. Not much of a view (the road), but the view doesn’t matter to us as we don’t spend too much time in the room lounging. This resort reminds me of OKW and CBR in the fact that you have to walk outside to get to the food court & the pool (unlike BC). It is very well kept, clean, beautiful and serene. The only con for us, which it may be a “plus” for someone else, is that this resort is SPRAWLING. Very large & spread out. Now that being said, it is a perfect resort if you want to spend lots of time there relaxing away from the hustle & bustle of the parks. But for us, it just seemed really too time consuming to get everywhere. 5 bus stops within the resort. Often times on our way back from the parks we would get off at “The Paddocks” and walk across the pond on the bridge to get to our room faster than the bus did. Again, I compare it to BC which is my favorite resort – everything is walking distance. So it is all relative. But the staff was very friendly and everything was clean. Our room was spotless (which I always inspect). Walking to DTD was convenient, but it’s a nice little walk having to take the golf course walkway since the other one is closed due to the construction going on there. But we hiked it a couple times and took a boat over once as well. At the resort we ate at Artist Palette, The Paddock Grill, and The Turf Club Lounge. We used our TIW card many times and are so glad we purchased that on our last trip. Good food everywhere, no complaints. The main pool was nice but we enjoyed the pool at the Paddocks for a few hours one day and decided that it was our favorite. I used the fitness room and at 5am only a couple other people made quick appearances. It is a BEAUTIFUL gym - very clean with great equipment. Free laundry. No Magic Bands at this resort yet.

PARKS
The parks seemed crowded at times, but wait times were never too bad. Used FP a few times. I’ll echo others that there really doesn’t seem to be a “slow season” anymore. I remember a couple years ago that September seemed dead, but not this year or last. Must be due to free dining or room discounts. Still doable. Magic Bands and FP+ was everywhere and it seems like a great system and we can’t wait to try it next year. I heard people discussing it with confusion as it was their first trip. I am glad for all the updates we constantly get here on ICOT . We were able to ride everything we wanted to (multiple times), and even went to TL for a couple hours one day. MK would close early for MNSSHP but other than that, everything seemed to be running as normal. Love the “touch to pay” technology with our KTTW card – so convenient. Everything seemed clean and CMs were friendly. LOVE this place.

One gripe we had to deal with constantly – FLASH PICTURES ON DARK RIDES! Really people??! Like the announcement at the beginning of the ride was not enough? Nemo, Spaceship Earth, Pirates. We were not the only people irritated by this – other people were telling the folks to put their cameras away. We dealt with this in July too. I really feel that more needs to be done to deter this – signs in the queue in multiple languages – something. It really ruins the experience when flashes go off every other second. My favorite is when they turn around to take a picture of something they missed and you get it right in the eyes. Grrrrrrr…..

WEATHER
Lots of rain but not a big deal to us. Put on our ponchos & rain coats and off we go! We actually spent more time in the parks on rainy days because we are not at the pool lounging. We were “park commandos” this trip! So nice just the two of us – no agenda

FIRSTS
Tiki Room, Dole Whip, Winnie the Pooh ride. Good times!

All-in-all, great trip! Fast but WONDERFUL. Thanks for reading!!

steph

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Thanks for the report!

[DisneyDINK]

I was there during the same time. I think you summed up the crowd situation perfectly. You could do a LOT if you plan it well, but it wasn't "dead".

I can't believe you went this long without a Dole Whip!? What did you think? Overhyped?

Thanks for the report. I enjoyed it.

[stephicakes]

I can't believe you went this long without a Dole Whip!? What did you think? Overhyped?

The Dole Whip was quite tasty! I'm not a big dessert person unless I'm craving chocolate, but it was light & refreshing. I think I just haven't tried it sooner because that area near the Tiki Room always seems congested and creates a bottleneck so I just keep moving. But I would definitely get it again!

[faline]

Nice trip! We stayed at Saratoga last year during the Intercot meet. It worked well for us and we enjoyed our stay.

I'm with you on the flashes on dark rides!! More than annoying!! I'll add the folks who take pictures with the tables to that list (and people used to think camcorders were an irritant!!). When someone in front of you is holding up a tablet to record the ride, you miss most of the ride because all you can see is the ride through that darn tablet - if I wanted to do that I could stay home and peruse You Tube!!

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

I too used to go right by the Aloha Isle. Never knew what it was until I read about it here. Now it's a must do every trip.
It sounds like a great trip in spite of the rain. We went one year in the summer and it rained and rained and rained. Once the sun came out, we prayed for more rain. The crowds were really low when it was raining but it didn't slow us down much at all!
thanks for sharing your trip with us.

[January-2007]

Thanks for reporting.

[k10]

Thanks for sharing your trip! "Park Commandos". love it!!!