WDWRox
10-04-2009, 10:15 PM
We (our party of 7, later joined by 8 other family and friends who came up from another part of Florida to spend time with us) have, sadly, completed our latest WDW vacation. We had a really great time, and part of the enjoyment of it all was in knowing that we were able to give our parents an anniversary gift of this trip. With my Dad's job loss last year, money for them has been extremely tight, and so we were glad to be able to do this for them and we know they enjoyed it.
So, on this trip it was myself, my wife, my parents, 2 of my siblings (a third was unable to make the trip) and my brother-in-law. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge in rooms 4004/4005 (right across from each other and very conveniently close to the Roaring Forks quick-service area). Their room overlooked the pool area and ours had a view of the Magic Kingdom although it was somewhat blocked by the woods, but we had a fantastic view of the Wishes fireworks show as well as the fireworks show in place during the Halloween parties at the MK.
We park-hopped every day, starting with the day after we arrived in WDW. I was able to see and do everything that I'd intended to see......with my one, single disappointing exception being the still-down Space Mountain. But we did get to ride the TTA a few times, and in the span of a few days in between rides, you could see that the work being done to SM and the former skyride station in Tomorrowland was quickly proceeding. Couldn't see much at all in SM while on the TTA, but even though some sites are saying it'll be back up on November 21st, we got it directly from the Cast Members' mouths that they're hoping it'll be back up before Christmas.
I really had my concerns about the lines, but all-in-all, they weren't really bad. We rarely needed to use Fastpass except on things that were routinely packed (i.e. Soarin, Expedition Everest, etc...). I do need to make a point of saying a big "THANK YOU" to Disney for having some Single Rider entrances on some of their attractions like EE and TT, which we took full advantage of, but they definitely need to make an arrangement for it on TSMM and I would hope it's being added to Space Mtn as well.
Weather-wise, this past week was the hottest we've experienced in all of our many September trips to Disney. Someone had mentioned that it was an unusual heat wave, and though we had a quick passing shower or two one day, the rest of the time it was just HOT HOT HOT.
As far as where we ate, there were plenty of new places for some of our family, but just a few new spots for us, and there were some definite issues we faced with (1) getting to the restaurant, and (2) screw-ups with the time that I verified a meal for before we left and getting to the restaurant only to be told it was another time on their sheet. For issue #1........we've learned that you can't always go by the word of the people who work in Disney World as to how and where to go in order to make it to a dining reservation. For instance, we had a 9:00 breakfast appointment at Boma in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. My wife was told by a Wilderness Lodge CM that the quickest way to get there was to take the 8:00 am boat to Magic Kingdom and then take the AKL bus from there. Well.....we got to the boat dock around 7:50 am, and proceeded to wait, and wait, and wait until the boat finally came around 8:27. We took it to the park, walked down to the area of the AKL buses, only to be told by the CMs there that they weren't expecting any AKL buses and would have to make a special call for one to come by for us. Then they told us that we should have taken the AK bus and caught the AKL bus from there. So we're already running late by the time the bus gets us. We approach the AKL with the bus driver telling us that the first stop would be to the building for dining. We get out, and walk in the building (none of us had ever been there before) only to be told that we were at the check-in/front desk area and would have to wait for another bus to take us to the right building. Eventually we made it to Boma, about 45 minutes past our ADR time, but they got us right in within 5 minutes. But the whole ordeal was very irritating.
For issue #2, I had made a 3:10 pm ADR for lunch in Teppan Edo in Japan.......and we got there right at 3:00, where I was promptly told that they had me down for a 2:10 meal. I know that I wasn't wrong because I verified all of my ADRs the day before we left. But.....after another 20+ minute wait, we got our table and our meal.
Otherwise, all of our other meals went off without a hitch.
Now for my biggest problems of this trip:
(1) People can really be idiots.....and this includes CMs. I'll elaborate: one morning we went down to the dock to try and catch the boat to MK. The boat was there when we got there and they hadn't even untied it from the dock, but the CM (who definitely saw us) ignored us waiting there and proceeded to send the boat on its way. There was nobody else coming up behind us and the guy could have easily let us come through, but didn't. What a jerk. Secondly, I get extremely frustrated over people who walk out in front of you as you're walking down Main Street (for instance) and then just stop. I know the difference between people just not seeing you or people who do see you and then do it anyway. It's the latter group I'm referring to. And then, when we were in Cosmic Ray's, there was this couple taking forever and a day to pick out a plastic fork/knife/spoon and then were using the recycling bin as their trash can, even though they knew full well it wasn't for trash. Even another person who came up next to me also waiting on those people spoke up and just got a 'look' from these inconsiderate people.
(2) I HATE.....HATE.....the (IMO) moronic Halloween Party that they have special at the Magic Kingdom. I hate that I'm paying money to be able to visit the parks and would like to be able to stay as late as I can, only to be told that it was closing early for the general public and that only if you were wearing a costume could you stay. Why do they push this garbage in September, first of all.......and then why can't they just let the regular people stay during that time? If some of us aren't participating in that stupid Halloween garbage, then we won't be interfering in any of their little fun-n-games. I think how early on they start in with it is what bugs me the most. Don't the people at Disney have a calendar? Halloween is at the END of October......not the first week of September and through the first few days of November. Come on....
BUT.....
I will always love the fact that even if we haven't gone on any rides yet, just BEING in WDW and knowing you're there is relaxing in itself. Our trip was only about 8 days, but now that I'm home again, I feel like I've been away for a month. We're not planning on another trip until probably 2011 at the earliest. By then we'll get to experience the supposedly new-and-improved Space Mountain, hopefully another new ride/attraction will be in as well somewhere.
We had a great time with family and friends in what I consider to be the BEST vacation spot in the world and I look forward to more future trips there.
So, on this trip it was myself, my wife, my parents, 2 of my siblings (a third was unable to make the trip) and my brother-in-law. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge in rooms 4004/4005 (right across from each other and very conveniently close to the Roaring Forks quick-service area). Their room overlooked the pool area and ours had a view of the Magic Kingdom although it was somewhat blocked by the woods, but we had a fantastic view of the Wishes fireworks show as well as the fireworks show in place during the Halloween parties at the MK.
We park-hopped every day, starting with the day after we arrived in WDW. I was able to see and do everything that I'd intended to see......with my one, single disappointing exception being the still-down Space Mountain. But we did get to ride the TTA a few times, and in the span of a few days in between rides, you could see that the work being done to SM and the former skyride station in Tomorrowland was quickly proceeding. Couldn't see much at all in SM while on the TTA, but even though some sites are saying it'll be back up on November 21st, we got it directly from the Cast Members' mouths that they're hoping it'll be back up before Christmas.
I really had my concerns about the lines, but all-in-all, they weren't really bad. We rarely needed to use Fastpass except on things that were routinely packed (i.e. Soarin, Expedition Everest, etc...). I do need to make a point of saying a big "THANK YOU" to Disney for having some Single Rider entrances on some of their attractions like EE and TT, which we took full advantage of, but they definitely need to make an arrangement for it on TSMM and I would hope it's being added to Space Mtn as well.
Weather-wise, this past week was the hottest we've experienced in all of our many September trips to Disney. Someone had mentioned that it was an unusual heat wave, and though we had a quick passing shower or two one day, the rest of the time it was just HOT HOT HOT.
As far as where we ate, there were plenty of new places for some of our family, but just a few new spots for us, and there were some definite issues we faced with (1) getting to the restaurant, and (2) screw-ups with the time that I verified a meal for before we left and getting to the restaurant only to be told it was another time on their sheet. For issue #1........we've learned that you can't always go by the word of the people who work in Disney World as to how and where to go in order to make it to a dining reservation. For instance, we had a 9:00 breakfast appointment at Boma in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. My wife was told by a Wilderness Lodge CM that the quickest way to get there was to take the 8:00 am boat to Magic Kingdom and then take the AKL bus from there. Well.....we got to the boat dock around 7:50 am, and proceeded to wait, and wait, and wait until the boat finally came around 8:27. We took it to the park, walked down to the area of the AKL buses, only to be told by the CMs there that they weren't expecting any AKL buses and would have to make a special call for one to come by for us. Then they told us that we should have taken the AK bus and caught the AKL bus from there. So we're already running late by the time the bus gets us. We approach the AKL with the bus driver telling us that the first stop would be to the building for dining. We get out, and walk in the building (none of us had ever been there before) only to be told that we were at the check-in/front desk area and would have to wait for another bus to take us to the right building. Eventually we made it to Boma, about 45 minutes past our ADR time, but they got us right in within 5 minutes. But the whole ordeal was very irritating.
For issue #2, I had made a 3:10 pm ADR for lunch in Teppan Edo in Japan.......and we got there right at 3:00, where I was promptly told that they had me down for a 2:10 meal. I know that I wasn't wrong because I verified all of my ADRs the day before we left. But.....after another 20+ minute wait, we got our table and our meal.
Otherwise, all of our other meals went off without a hitch.
Now for my biggest problems of this trip:
(1) People can really be idiots.....and this includes CMs. I'll elaborate: one morning we went down to the dock to try and catch the boat to MK. The boat was there when we got there and they hadn't even untied it from the dock, but the CM (who definitely saw us) ignored us waiting there and proceeded to send the boat on its way. There was nobody else coming up behind us and the guy could have easily let us come through, but didn't. What a jerk. Secondly, I get extremely frustrated over people who walk out in front of you as you're walking down Main Street (for instance) and then just stop. I know the difference between people just not seeing you or people who do see you and then do it anyway. It's the latter group I'm referring to. And then, when we were in Cosmic Ray's, there was this couple taking forever and a day to pick out a plastic fork/knife/spoon and then were using the recycling bin as their trash can, even though they knew full well it wasn't for trash. Even another person who came up next to me also waiting on those people spoke up and just got a 'look' from these inconsiderate people.
(2) I HATE.....HATE.....the (IMO) moronic Halloween Party that they have special at the Magic Kingdom. I hate that I'm paying money to be able to visit the parks and would like to be able to stay as late as I can, only to be told that it was closing early for the general public and that only if you were wearing a costume could you stay. Why do they push this garbage in September, first of all.......and then why can't they just let the regular people stay during that time? If some of us aren't participating in that stupid Halloween garbage, then we won't be interfering in any of their little fun-n-games. I think how early on they start in with it is what bugs me the most. Don't the people at Disney have a calendar? Halloween is at the END of October......not the first week of September and through the first few days of November. Come on....
BUT.....
I will always love the fact that even if we haven't gone on any rides yet, just BEING in WDW and knowing you're there is relaxing in itself. Our trip was only about 8 days, but now that I'm home again, I feel like I've been away for a month. We're not planning on another trip until probably 2011 at the earliest. By then we'll get to experience the supposedly new-and-improved Space Mountain, hopefully another new ride/attraction will be in as well somewhere.
We had a great time with family and friends in what I consider to be the BEST vacation spot in the world and I look forward to more future trips there.