johnO
10-03-2009, 10:05 PM
Walt Disney World & Disney Wonder Cruise ‘Trip Report’ 2009
September 21st, 2009 through October 1st, 2009
Attendees: Me, DW, DD 11yoa, DD’s BFF (11yoa) and DS (17yoa)
Accommodations: All Star Movies, Fantasia Building #5, Disney Wonder, Ocean view Staterooms, deck #2
September 21st, 2009, DW, DD, DDBFF and I left straight from the girls’ school at approximately 1230 EST. DS did not make the drive for work / school reasons and would fly down to join us on the 25th just before the cruise portion of the trip.
We arrived at the ASMovies Resort at approximately 730pm EST, checked into room #5741, which was not as kept up as expected from WDW. We ate dinner in the food court which was mediocre at best. I actually saw a cobb web above the drink station. Unbelievable! The girls and I went for a swim afterwards. In retrospect, I should have raised ‘Holy Heck’ with management about the uncleanliness beneath the beds which looked like they had never been vacuumed despite a card being left in the room explaining that the carpet in the room had just been steam cleaned, but I was too exhausted from the drive. A bulb was also burned out in the bathroom light fixture leaving it pretty dim in the bathroom. This bulb was not changed during our stay.
September 22nd, 2009, It was great to be back in WDW. We woke up early and headed out to MK and the Crystal Palace for Breakfast. The wait for the bus was very long. I counted FIVE AK busses for every MK bus. It seemed ridiculously backward. We finally arrived at MK. Breakfast was fantastic as it always is at the Crystal Palace.
The lines on all the rides were short and we got in most of the things that we wanted to see except SM as it was down for refurb. We had lunch at Pecos Bill which was not as good as I remembered the last time we had it. DW agrees. We were heading toward Mickey’s house when we realized the park was switching over to MNSSHP. It seemed we were the only ones without the MNSSHP wristbands.
We headed out of the park to the Monorail and rode to the Contemporary Resort to make our ADR at The Wave. Once inside the Wave we observed appropriate décor that matched the resort. Our server, Jimmy from Illinois was fantastic. DW, a vegetarian, was having trouble locating a meal to suit her palate. Jimmy promptly went back to the kitchen and summoned Thomas, the Chef. The Chef made a vegetarian adaptation to one of the meals which DW loved. The food and desserts were excellent! Headed back to MK via the Monorail and then on to ASmov.
September 23rd, 2009, we woke up and headed out to AK. We arrived and headed straight for EE. We then got fastpasses for K Safari and went to Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. Then we used our fastpasses. Didn’t get to see elephants or lions but the others were visible. We headed to Tusker House for a lunch ADR. The atmosphere at Tusker House was fantastic as well as the food. Neil from Long Island, NY was our server and he was friendly, funny and an excellent server. DW loved the Samosas, cous cous…..well everything. We highly recommend Tusker House.
We then hit Kali River Rapids, Jungle Trek and EE again. We bought the girls dresses they saw in Asia as well as new flip-flops. The girls and I rode Dinosaur and then we all headed to the Festival of the Lion King which was great as always. DW loves the vocals. It was time for the park to close. We boarded the bus to AKL to make our ADR for Boma that night. We had never been to Boma or the AKL for that matter. The AKL grounds did not disappoint. The lobby is incredible. DW and the girls headed down to Boma while I snapped a few photos. I walked down to Boma and was again in aw of the décor. The atmosphere at Boma was fantastic, as was our server, Gilbert (Gilberto) from Puerto Rico. The food was wonderfully amazing and we HIGHLY recommend giving Boma a try. We headed back to ASMovies via Epcot.
September 24th, 2009, we woke up late and headed to DTD. The bus stops at the Marketplace were not in service so we had to get off near PH. We noticed that Planet Hollywood’s refurb was done and it actually looked presentable. We talked about taking the balloon ride but opted for lunch at Earl of Sandwich instead. The food was great. After some shopping we decided to head to MK as Spectro and Wishes would be seen that night, the only showing that week that worked for our schedule since Wishes, Spectro and Fantasmic at DHS are only shown on a limited basis now. Once there our fears were realized, it was quite apparent that EVERYONE else on WDW property planned for MK that day as well for the same reasons.
The park was packed when we arrived and got worse as the evening approached. We hit the highpoints and went to the Crystal Palace for dinner. The food was great. I loved the mashed potatoes and the cornbread was awesome! We left to try and catch Spectromagic. Later we would realize that something sinister had happened while at the Crystal Palace.
We couldn’t find a good spot for Spectro as it was about to begin by the time dinner was over. We did some shopping; I bought a WDW ‘safari/recon’ looking hat that I’ve had my eye on for a couple of years. We headed to Mickey and Minnie’s Houses and then took in Wishes from a tree obstructed spot on a bridge near ‘Story Time with Belle’. The area in front of the Castle was nearly IMPASSABLE as we came to find out earlier after Spectro so we didn’t even attempt to head towards the ‘castle forecourt’.
We decided to wait a good while before heading to the bus which turned out not to make a difference. We waited an hour and 15 minutes to get onto a bus. It was so hot and humid that people were actually getting sick in the line and someone even vomited. This was very poor planning by WDW transportation. Resorts with very small lines at that point were still receiving just as many busses as the values. I guess you get what you pay for. We finally made it to the room at nearly midnight. DW was furious.
September 21st, 2009 through October 1st, 2009
Attendees: Me, DW, DD 11yoa, DD’s BFF (11yoa) and DS (17yoa)
Accommodations: All Star Movies, Fantasia Building #5, Disney Wonder, Ocean view Staterooms, deck #2
September 21st, 2009, DW, DD, DDBFF and I left straight from the girls’ school at approximately 1230 EST. DS did not make the drive for work / school reasons and would fly down to join us on the 25th just before the cruise portion of the trip.
We arrived at the ASMovies Resort at approximately 730pm EST, checked into room #5741, which was not as kept up as expected from WDW. We ate dinner in the food court which was mediocre at best. I actually saw a cobb web above the drink station. Unbelievable! The girls and I went for a swim afterwards. In retrospect, I should have raised ‘Holy Heck’ with management about the uncleanliness beneath the beds which looked like they had never been vacuumed despite a card being left in the room explaining that the carpet in the room had just been steam cleaned, but I was too exhausted from the drive. A bulb was also burned out in the bathroom light fixture leaving it pretty dim in the bathroom. This bulb was not changed during our stay.
September 22nd, 2009, It was great to be back in WDW. We woke up early and headed out to MK and the Crystal Palace for Breakfast. The wait for the bus was very long. I counted FIVE AK busses for every MK bus. It seemed ridiculously backward. We finally arrived at MK. Breakfast was fantastic as it always is at the Crystal Palace.
The lines on all the rides were short and we got in most of the things that we wanted to see except SM as it was down for refurb. We had lunch at Pecos Bill which was not as good as I remembered the last time we had it. DW agrees. We were heading toward Mickey’s house when we realized the park was switching over to MNSSHP. It seemed we were the only ones without the MNSSHP wristbands.
We headed out of the park to the Monorail and rode to the Contemporary Resort to make our ADR at The Wave. Once inside the Wave we observed appropriate décor that matched the resort. Our server, Jimmy from Illinois was fantastic. DW, a vegetarian, was having trouble locating a meal to suit her palate. Jimmy promptly went back to the kitchen and summoned Thomas, the Chef. The Chef made a vegetarian adaptation to one of the meals which DW loved. The food and desserts were excellent! Headed back to MK via the Monorail and then on to ASmov.
September 23rd, 2009, we woke up and headed out to AK. We arrived and headed straight for EE. We then got fastpasses for K Safari and went to Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. Then we used our fastpasses. Didn’t get to see elephants or lions but the others were visible. We headed to Tusker House for a lunch ADR. The atmosphere at Tusker House was fantastic as well as the food. Neil from Long Island, NY was our server and he was friendly, funny and an excellent server. DW loved the Samosas, cous cous…..well everything. We highly recommend Tusker House.
We then hit Kali River Rapids, Jungle Trek and EE again. We bought the girls dresses they saw in Asia as well as new flip-flops. The girls and I rode Dinosaur and then we all headed to the Festival of the Lion King which was great as always. DW loves the vocals. It was time for the park to close. We boarded the bus to AKL to make our ADR for Boma that night. We had never been to Boma or the AKL for that matter. The AKL grounds did not disappoint. The lobby is incredible. DW and the girls headed down to Boma while I snapped a few photos. I walked down to Boma and was again in aw of the décor. The atmosphere at Boma was fantastic, as was our server, Gilbert (Gilberto) from Puerto Rico. The food was wonderfully amazing and we HIGHLY recommend giving Boma a try. We headed back to ASMovies via Epcot.
September 24th, 2009, we woke up late and headed to DTD. The bus stops at the Marketplace were not in service so we had to get off near PH. We noticed that Planet Hollywood’s refurb was done and it actually looked presentable. We talked about taking the balloon ride but opted for lunch at Earl of Sandwich instead. The food was great. After some shopping we decided to head to MK as Spectro and Wishes would be seen that night, the only showing that week that worked for our schedule since Wishes, Spectro and Fantasmic at DHS are only shown on a limited basis now. Once there our fears were realized, it was quite apparent that EVERYONE else on WDW property planned for MK that day as well for the same reasons.
The park was packed when we arrived and got worse as the evening approached. We hit the highpoints and went to the Crystal Palace for dinner. The food was great. I loved the mashed potatoes and the cornbread was awesome! We left to try and catch Spectromagic. Later we would realize that something sinister had happened while at the Crystal Palace.
We couldn’t find a good spot for Spectro as it was about to begin by the time dinner was over. We did some shopping; I bought a WDW ‘safari/recon’ looking hat that I’ve had my eye on for a couple of years. We headed to Mickey and Minnie’s Houses and then took in Wishes from a tree obstructed spot on a bridge near ‘Story Time with Belle’. The area in front of the Castle was nearly IMPASSABLE as we came to find out earlier after Spectro so we didn’t even attempt to head towards the ‘castle forecourt’.
We decided to wait a good while before heading to the bus which turned out not to make a difference. We waited an hour and 15 minutes to get onto a bus. It was so hot and humid that people were actually getting sick in the line and someone even vomited. This was very poor planning by WDW transportation. Resorts with very small lines at that point were still receiving just as many busses as the values. I guess you get what you pay for. We finally made it to the room at nearly midnight. DW was furious.