faline
10-31-2007, 07:16 PM
When: October 4 – 15, 2007
Weather:
We had several days at the beginning of our trip where we had a bit of rain. Things just worked out, overall. Oftentimes, we found ourselves inside attractions during showers. We got a bit wet some of the time. On one day, we carried our ponchos with us but never put them on despite the rain. For the rest of our trip, we had excellent weather with not a drop of rain! At one point in our trip, they were predicting a significant drop in humidity with rather cool temperatures – never happened! Overall, weather was excellent!
Flights:
We flew Southwest. I think I’ve fallen into the Southwest trap! I prefer having assigned seats and dislike Southwest’s policies around seating. However, we had credits on Southwest from a previous trip which needed to be used so we booked again with Southwest. Guess what? We now have additional credits that need to be used on Southwest. I’m on to their game and I’m trapped!
Both of our flights were full and both were the last flight of the day with late arrivals in Orlando and in Manchester. I was surprised that flights at that time of day were so packed. Both flights were relatively smooth and both actually landed ahead of schedule.
Transfers:
Overall, Magical Express worked well for us. Because we landed so late at night, we opted to collect our own luggage and bring it with us to the resort. On the way to our resort, we needed to wait more than ½ hour before departing the airport – a difficult wait when it’s after midnight and all you want to do is crawl into bed. When you add in a bus driver who wanted all the passengers to be full of good cheer in the wee hours, it was a bit much.
On the way back to the airport, our bus was right on time. On this occasion, though, our driver was uncommunicative. We didn’t know if we were headed for another resort or for the airport!
Regardless – the drivers were polite and we got to where we were going.
Accommodations:
We spent two nights at Pop Century and an additional nine nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge – savannah view. Check-in was quick, efficient and courteous at both resorts.
The beds at Pop Century were small (two twin beds) but we knew that going in so were fine with what we had. Our space was adequate. The room was clean and quiet. Towels were very skimpy and barely adequate for my little body (What do larger folks do?). Our room was close to the bus stops and the main building. I would stay here again if I were on a solo trip or trying to save money. We were not here long enough to comment on any of the resort amenities or ambience. In total, we were registered here for about 36 hours.
At Animal Kingdom Lodge, we had a king bed (very comfy!) and a savannah view room. This was a good value for us as we had been lucky enough to receive a post card with a great offer. Our first choice had been Wilderness Lodge but the only availability there was a room with bunk beds. I didn’t want to use up real estate that was useless for us so settled on Animal Kingdom Lodge. We were very happy with our choice, our location, the animals we were able to see from our room, and the ambience of the resort.
The cast member who checked us into Animal Kingdom Lodge was such a nice person! I wish I had gotten her name as I would definitely have sent a letter of commendation. She took the time to look at, and then act upon, our requests for a king bed and 3rd or 4th floor room.
The towels, however, at Animal Kingdom Lodge are the same skimpy towels in evidence at Pop Century. Certainly not my idea of deluxe resort amenities.
Crowds:
They varied throughout our trip. On some occasions, we found the crowds to be much heavier than we had hoped. At other times, we just walked right into attractions with little or no waits whatsoever. One of the most crowded days was our last day in the Magic Kingdom.
Transportation:
We were very pleased with Disney World Transportation. There were only a couple of occasions when we waited for what I would consider a long time for buses to our destinations. Most of the time, we waited only a few minutes for a bus to arrive – even when we suspected we had just missed a bus.
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party: We went twice and had a great time on both occasions. It was clear that neither of our parties were sold out. We were able to accomplish a lot on both nights; had lots of fun; found cast members to be “in the spirit” of the occasion; and collected lots of candy!
The parade was wonderful – the fireworks were even better! This event is a must do!
And….please do dress up if you go. It adds so much to the fun!
Dining:
We had some wonderful meals and some mediocre meals. Wonderful meals included Narcoosee’s, California Grill, Le Cellier, and Boma. My favorite was California Grill but it only edged out Le Cellier by a nose. If Le Cellier had a view, it would have been a tough choice!
Mediocre meals included Liberty Tree Tavern (great character interaction; bland food), and Flame Tree Barbecue. This place used to be terrific but we found more bread than pork in our pork sandwich and beans that were more mush than beans.
Intercot Meets:
Big thumbs up! What more can I say? It’s such a privilege to be a moderator here in this wonderful community! I’m always amazed by the wonderful people who frequent this site and love the opportunity to put real faces to the names I see on-line!
During our stay, we were a little out of kilter so missed some of the meets that we would have liked to go to. (Gene was recovering from an illness and was still on antibiotics when we arrived so we were a little slow-moving at times and just didn’t make it to some of the early meet times.)
Tambu Lounge Meet – probably my most favorite meet because it was an opportunity to chat with people in a very informal setting without having any external distractions (except for the server who didn’t like how we had rearranged the furniture!).
Illuminations Meet – totally wonderful! Great desserts! Wonderful location! Great stuff! My only regret here is that I did not get to interact with more of the folks who were here. It was already after sunset when we arrived and the darkness made it a bit difficult to see who was there and to mingle.
Finding Nemo Musical – this was a great time shared with 20-30 other Intercotees! Great fun!
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party – Wonderful to share Hallowishes with such a great group of people!
No mention of the Intercot meet would be complete without a big thank you to John and to all the Intercot sponsors who helped make the meet possible and/or provided support in various ways!
A special mention goes to the wonderful contingent of ladies from Magical Journeys who attended (and supported) the meet! It was great to meet these folks who are as nice in person as we all knew they would be from our internet contacts with them!
Kudos also to Stan who created a wonderful group picture!
It was also wonderful to reconnect with some of my special Intercot friends like Donna and Carol!
Staff breakfast – On Sunday morning, Intercot staff met at Boma’s for a staff breakfast. This was so much fun! This, alone, was worth the trip to Disney! What a great group of folks!
The best and the worst:
Best (in no particular order):
Cast member who check us into Animal Kingdom Lodge
Dinner at Le Cellier
Illuminations VIP viewing
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party
Dinner at California Grill
Tambu Lounge Meet
Finding Nemo with all my Intercot friends
Staff Breakfast at Boma
Illuminations Meet at Epcot
Worst (in no particular order):
Beds at Pop Century
Resort towels
Liberty Tree Tavern dinner (blah)
I’m glad to see that there’s not much on my “worst” list! After all, this was really a wonderful trip!
Random Thoughts:
This was a longer trip than most of our trips over the last year or two. We had almost forgotten how lovely it is to have a trip of this length. It allowed us to tour at a more relaxed pace and even allowed us to take a “day off” to just sit back and enjoy our resort.
Even with the amount of time we had, though, there were still a number of things we did not do. We never got on Dinosaur (one of my favorites) and left some other things undone at both Animal Kingdom and Disney Studios. On the other hand, we had a good amount of time to spend at the Magic Kingdom and were able to do some things multiple times.
At the beginning our trip, it was so nice to wake up every morning knowing that the bulk of our trip was still ahead of us. At the end, it was nice to know how much we had accomplished – including some of the “smaller” attractions that are often overlooked when shorter trips require that we head for all the “E” ticket rides at the expense of losing the overall relaxed, Disney feeling.
At the end of our trip, I did buy that sweatshirt I’d had my eye on. The forecasts had predicted it might become cool enough to need it but it never did. I finally just had to buy it because I wanted it – not because I needed it!
While I was definitely ready to come home at the end of this trip, I am, of course, already missing my time at Disney World and would love to head back again – though I know it might be a little while (not a long while) before I’m able to return!
For those of you who have read each of my missives, thank you! Writing these reports gives me the opportunity to extend my vacation by reliving it in print! While not as much fun as being at Disney World, it does provide extra Disney time!
Until our next trip……………….
Weather:
We had several days at the beginning of our trip where we had a bit of rain. Things just worked out, overall. Oftentimes, we found ourselves inside attractions during showers. We got a bit wet some of the time. On one day, we carried our ponchos with us but never put them on despite the rain. For the rest of our trip, we had excellent weather with not a drop of rain! At one point in our trip, they were predicting a significant drop in humidity with rather cool temperatures – never happened! Overall, weather was excellent!
Flights:
We flew Southwest. I think I’ve fallen into the Southwest trap! I prefer having assigned seats and dislike Southwest’s policies around seating. However, we had credits on Southwest from a previous trip which needed to be used so we booked again with Southwest. Guess what? We now have additional credits that need to be used on Southwest. I’m on to their game and I’m trapped!
Both of our flights were full and both were the last flight of the day with late arrivals in Orlando and in Manchester. I was surprised that flights at that time of day were so packed. Both flights were relatively smooth and both actually landed ahead of schedule.
Transfers:
Overall, Magical Express worked well for us. Because we landed so late at night, we opted to collect our own luggage and bring it with us to the resort. On the way to our resort, we needed to wait more than ½ hour before departing the airport – a difficult wait when it’s after midnight and all you want to do is crawl into bed. When you add in a bus driver who wanted all the passengers to be full of good cheer in the wee hours, it was a bit much.
On the way back to the airport, our bus was right on time. On this occasion, though, our driver was uncommunicative. We didn’t know if we were headed for another resort or for the airport!
Regardless – the drivers were polite and we got to where we were going.
Accommodations:
We spent two nights at Pop Century and an additional nine nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge – savannah view. Check-in was quick, efficient and courteous at both resorts.
The beds at Pop Century were small (two twin beds) but we knew that going in so were fine with what we had. Our space was adequate. The room was clean and quiet. Towels were very skimpy and barely adequate for my little body (What do larger folks do?). Our room was close to the bus stops and the main building. I would stay here again if I were on a solo trip or trying to save money. We were not here long enough to comment on any of the resort amenities or ambience. In total, we were registered here for about 36 hours.
At Animal Kingdom Lodge, we had a king bed (very comfy!) and a savannah view room. This was a good value for us as we had been lucky enough to receive a post card with a great offer. Our first choice had been Wilderness Lodge but the only availability there was a room with bunk beds. I didn’t want to use up real estate that was useless for us so settled on Animal Kingdom Lodge. We were very happy with our choice, our location, the animals we were able to see from our room, and the ambience of the resort.
The cast member who checked us into Animal Kingdom Lodge was such a nice person! I wish I had gotten her name as I would definitely have sent a letter of commendation. She took the time to look at, and then act upon, our requests for a king bed and 3rd or 4th floor room.
The towels, however, at Animal Kingdom Lodge are the same skimpy towels in evidence at Pop Century. Certainly not my idea of deluxe resort amenities.
Crowds:
They varied throughout our trip. On some occasions, we found the crowds to be much heavier than we had hoped. At other times, we just walked right into attractions with little or no waits whatsoever. One of the most crowded days was our last day in the Magic Kingdom.
Transportation:
We were very pleased with Disney World Transportation. There were only a couple of occasions when we waited for what I would consider a long time for buses to our destinations. Most of the time, we waited only a few minutes for a bus to arrive – even when we suspected we had just missed a bus.
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party: We went twice and had a great time on both occasions. It was clear that neither of our parties were sold out. We were able to accomplish a lot on both nights; had lots of fun; found cast members to be “in the spirit” of the occasion; and collected lots of candy!
The parade was wonderful – the fireworks were even better! This event is a must do!
And….please do dress up if you go. It adds so much to the fun!
Dining:
We had some wonderful meals and some mediocre meals. Wonderful meals included Narcoosee’s, California Grill, Le Cellier, and Boma. My favorite was California Grill but it only edged out Le Cellier by a nose. If Le Cellier had a view, it would have been a tough choice!
Mediocre meals included Liberty Tree Tavern (great character interaction; bland food), and Flame Tree Barbecue. This place used to be terrific but we found more bread than pork in our pork sandwich and beans that were more mush than beans.
Intercot Meets:
Big thumbs up! What more can I say? It’s such a privilege to be a moderator here in this wonderful community! I’m always amazed by the wonderful people who frequent this site and love the opportunity to put real faces to the names I see on-line!
During our stay, we were a little out of kilter so missed some of the meets that we would have liked to go to. (Gene was recovering from an illness and was still on antibiotics when we arrived so we were a little slow-moving at times and just didn’t make it to some of the early meet times.)
Tambu Lounge Meet – probably my most favorite meet because it was an opportunity to chat with people in a very informal setting without having any external distractions (except for the server who didn’t like how we had rearranged the furniture!).
Illuminations Meet – totally wonderful! Great desserts! Wonderful location! Great stuff! My only regret here is that I did not get to interact with more of the folks who were here. It was already after sunset when we arrived and the darkness made it a bit difficult to see who was there and to mingle.
Finding Nemo Musical – this was a great time shared with 20-30 other Intercotees! Great fun!
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party – Wonderful to share Hallowishes with such a great group of people!
No mention of the Intercot meet would be complete without a big thank you to John and to all the Intercot sponsors who helped make the meet possible and/or provided support in various ways!
A special mention goes to the wonderful contingent of ladies from Magical Journeys who attended (and supported) the meet! It was great to meet these folks who are as nice in person as we all knew they would be from our internet contacts with them!
Kudos also to Stan who created a wonderful group picture!
It was also wonderful to reconnect with some of my special Intercot friends like Donna and Carol!
Staff breakfast – On Sunday morning, Intercot staff met at Boma’s for a staff breakfast. This was so much fun! This, alone, was worth the trip to Disney! What a great group of folks!
The best and the worst:
Best (in no particular order):
Cast member who check us into Animal Kingdom Lodge
Dinner at Le Cellier
Illuminations VIP viewing
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party
Dinner at California Grill
Tambu Lounge Meet
Finding Nemo with all my Intercot friends
Staff Breakfast at Boma
Illuminations Meet at Epcot
Worst (in no particular order):
Beds at Pop Century
Resort towels
Liberty Tree Tavern dinner (blah)
I’m glad to see that there’s not much on my “worst” list! After all, this was really a wonderful trip!
Random Thoughts:
This was a longer trip than most of our trips over the last year or two. We had almost forgotten how lovely it is to have a trip of this length. It allowed us to tour at a more relaxed pace and even allowed us to take a “day off” to just sit back and enjoy our resort.
Even with the amount of time we had, though, there were still a number of things we did not do. We never got on Dinosaur (one of my favorites) and left some other things undone at both Animal Kingdom and Disney Studios. On the other hand, we had a good amount of time to spend at the Magic Kingdom and were able to do some things multiple times.
At the beginning our trip, it was so nice to wake up every morning knowing that the bulk of our trip was still ahead of us. At the end, it was nice to know how much we had accomplished – including some of the “smaller” attractions that are often overlooked when shorter trips require that we head for all the “E” ticket rides at the expense of losing the overall relaxed, Disney feeling.
At the end of our trip, I did buy that sweatshirt I’d had my eye on. The forecasts had predicted it might become cool enough to need it but it never did. I finally just had to buy it because I wanted it – not because I needed it!
While I was definitely ready to come home at the end of this trip, I am, of course, already missing my time at Disney World and would love to head back again – though I know it might be a little while (not a long while) before I’m able to return!
For those of you who have read each of my missives, thank you! Writing these reports gives me the opportunity to extend my vacation by reliving it in print! While not as much fun as being at Disney World, it does provide extra Disney time!
Until our next trip……………….