dlpmikki
02-17-2013, 01:39 PM
Day 19 - Friday 8th February
We go to Hollywood Studios, take pictures and ride the Great Movie Ride. We again think the park is busier than we expect for this time of year.
The humans have lunch at Studio Caterers. One chicken sandwich is sufficient for my two humans.
At 3 o' clock in the afternoon we had to be in the lobby of Bay Lake Tower. This was to meet a lady from Disney Claims Department, who was finally going to pay Mikki for the camera dropped and broken when she was here last October. She recognised us at once: Mikki told her to look out for the two people with the toy Figaro cat. That business quickly finished, we spend some time in the main Contemporary building. Mikki checks the special Valentine's menu at "The Wave". It is a long and interesting menu - and may not be bad value at $70 - but there was more food than my humans would want.
And while talking about Valentine's Day, my humans have bought a new plush toy. It is Mickey Mouse holding a big heart with "LOVE" written on it. He came from Wal-Mart.
Back at the room, we had a small problem. The room safe stopped working - with our valuables inside. Fortunately, room maintenance came quite soon after being called. The. Keypad had stopped working and the door had to be replaced.
The maintenance man told us the resort is getting a refurbishment and our unit had it only a month ago. No wonder everything looks so smart. And it's still worth noting some vacation club companies refurbish carpet in the living room with new carpet (DVC at Old Key West again note).
Day 20 - Saturday 9th February
Off early again hoping to be in Epcot for opening. I let Beanie go with the humans today. This is weekend and the place is busy. There are the longest lines we've seen this trip at the turnstiles.
Mikki gets fastpasses for Soarin but we give up on the standby line as soon as it becomes apparent that the claimed 10 minute wait is wildly inaccurate. A 5 minute wait claim tempts us into Test Track. This was probably even more inaccurate but that was far from the only disappointment with the revamped ride.
Yes, they've got rid of the previous "music" in the wait area; but they have managed to find a replacement that is just as monotonous and fries human brain cells just as quickly. Then there's the "design your car" pre-show. Ours froze half way through. "Over-ambitious technology that doesn't work": is that the story for Disney or Chevrolet? And a small note for guests with visual impairments like Andrew. You may not see everything in a film like the old pre-show but you haven't a chance of keeping up with what you have to do here.
The ride follows the same track but inside the building the story is quite different. Mikki said she felt like she was in "Tron". The rough blocks and hot and cold rooms have gone (or were they not working?) but there appear to be a lot of new visuals on the walls in places. All in all, it sounds like my party didn't take to the new Test Track on first meeting.
It was fun for them to move on to Mission Space. At least one cast member recognised Andrew! Beanie was Pilot.
The humans had some business to do in Crossroads at 12 noon, so they left the park to go there. They had lunch at Bahama Breeze. In the evening, as well as packing, they made their only visit to the World Center hotel during our two week stay here.
Day 21 - Sunday 10th February
Moving day: we check out of Royal Palms for our final two nights in a studio with Theme Park View at Bay Lake Tower. We are delighted that the room is ready when we arrive. We are on the 11th floor and have a lovely view.
We are walking towards the Magic Kingdom when Mikki gets a text message from our friend Jared. We arrange to meet in Bay Lake Tower and show him our room and view. We then all go to the Magic Kingdom (I mean, the humans all walked. I was carried). The park was quite busy but we find a nice place for lunch in the upstairs room of Columbia Harbour House.
After checking wait times (all long!), we ride the steamboat along the Rivers of America. It's a long time since we have done this and it gives a chance for interesting views of attractions like the Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Later, we took the monorail to the Polynesian Resort where we got some nice pictures in the evening light and Mikki bought a cute little Mickey figurine. The humans then went to the Top of the World lounge for a drink.
My human, Andrew, has poor sight and so far this trip he has been content not to see or read things. But something came over him today. He felt like having a cocktail and (not being a regular cocktail drinker) felt like reading the menu. But the menu is in small print in a lightweight and difficult font. He decided to ask if they had a menu that was in larger or clearer print. With recent advances in provision for people with a visual impairment in the UK, many places have large print menus and in the best the staff notice someone having difficulty and offer it before being asked. Even among places that don't have one, it would be rare indeed for anyone in the hospitality business not to know what a large print menu was.
So, Andrew was prepared for his request to get a "no" response from the current, bottom line- focused Disney/ DVC but was surprised by the server's look of total incomprehension, as if Andrew was the one talking nonsense! After calming down, Andrew asked very gently to whom he should write with the suggestion. Mikki was surprised when the server gave them a card for the Claims Department, the very office she had dealt with over her broken camera. She wondered why Top of the World has that office's cards. Do they frequently spill drinks over guests? After this, the server became attentive with standard questions about where we'd been and whether we'd like another. She'd guessed the humans were upset, but too late - her gratuity was blown.
With a couple of hours to go before "Wishes", the humans went to the Contemporary where Mikki remembered a pleasant evening with Intercot in October in the lounge area of The Wave. What a difference! It's dark, but the server has a torch. It's the same drinks menu, but to the server immediately offers to read it. Andrew has a mai tai, they both have something to eat and the server gets an enhanced gratuity and a "see you tomorrow".
So now it was time to go back to the room, turn on channel 105 and watch "Wishes". Wonderful - and a great experience to see it from our own balcony.
But Bay Lake Tower has one more disappointment for us. Neither human sleeps well - which means we toys don't either. All the pillows are too big and thick.
We go to Hollywood Studios, take pictures and ride the Great Movie Ride. We again think the park is busier than we expect for this time of year.
The humans have lunch at Studio Caterers. One chicken sandwich is sufficient for my two humans.
At 3 o' clock in the afternoon we had to be in the lobby of Bay Lake Tower. This was to meet a lady from Disney Claims Department, who was finally going to pay Mikki for the camera dropped and broken when she was here last October. She recognised us at once: Mikki told her to look out for the two people with the toy Figaro cat. That business quickly finished, we spend some time in the main Contemporary building. Mikki checks the special Valentine's menu at "The Wave". It is a long and interesting menu - and may not be bad value at $70 - but there was more food than my humans would want.
And while talking about Valentine's Day, my humans have bought a new plush toy. It is Mickey Mouse holding a big heart with "LOVE" written on it. He came from Wal-Mart.
Back at the room, we had a small problem. The room safe stopped working - with our valuables inside. Fortunately, room maintenance came quite soon after being called. The. Keypad had stopped working and the door had to be replaced.
The maintenance man told us the resort is getting a refurbishment and our unit had it only a month ago. No wonder everything looks so smart. And it's still worth noting some vacation club companies refurbish carpet in the living room with new carpet (DVC at Old Key West again note).
Day 20 - Saturday 9th February
Off early again hoping to be in Epcot for opening. I let Beanie go with the humans today. This is weekend and the place is busy. There are the longest lines we've seen this trip at the turnstiles.
Mikki gets fastpasses for Soarin but we give up on the standby line as soon as it becomes apparent that the claimed 10 minute wait is wildly inaccurate. A 5 minute wait claim tempts us into Test Track. This was probably even more inaccurate but that was far from the only disappointment with the revamped ride.
Yes, they've got rid of the previous "music" in the wait area; but they have managed to find a replacement that is just as monotonous and fries human brain cells just as quickly. Then there's the "design your car" pre-show. Ours froze half way through. "Over-ambitious technology that doesn't work": is that the story for Disney or Chevrolet? And a small note for guests with visual impairments like Andrew. You may not see everything in a film like the old pre-show but you haven't a chance of keeping up with what you have to do here.
The ride follows the same track but inside the building the story is quite different. Mikki said she felt like she was in "Tron". The rough blocks and hot and cold rooms have gone (or were they not working?) but there appear to be a lot of new visuals on the walls in places. All in all, it sounds like my party didn't take to the new Test Track on first meeting.
It was fun for them to move on to Mission Space. At least one cast member recognised Andrew! Beanie was Pilot.
The humans had some business to do in Crossroads at 12 noon, so they left the park to go there. They had lunch at Bahama Breeze. In the evening, as well as packing, they made their only visit to the World Center hotel during our two week stay here.
Day 21 - Sunday 10th February
Moving day: we check out of Royal Palms for our final two nights in a studio with Theme Park View at Bay Lake Tower. We are delighted that the room is ready when we arrive. We are on the 11th floor and have a lovely view.
We are walking towards the Magic Kingdom when Mikki gets a text message from our friend Jared. We arrange to meet in Bay Lake Tower and show him our room and view. We then all go to the Magic Kingdom (I mean, the humans all walked. I was carried). The park was quite busy but we find a nice place for lunch in the upstairs room of Columbia Harbour House.
After checking wait times (all long!), we ride the steamboat along the Rivers of America. It's a long time since we have done this and it gives a chance for interesting views of attractions like the Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Later, we took the monorail to the Polynesian Resort where we got some nice pictures in the evening light and Mikki bought a cute little Mickey figurine. The humans then went to the Top of the World lounge for a drink.
My human, Andrew, has poor sight and so far this trip he has been content not to see or read things. But something came over him today. He felt like having a cocktail and (not being a regular cocktail drinker) felt like reading the menu. But the menu is in small print in a lightweight and difficult font. He decided to ask if they had a menu that was in larger or clearer print. With recent advances in provision for people with a visual impairment in the UK, many places have large print menus and in the best the staff notice someone having difficulty and offer it before being asked. Even among places that don't have one, it would be rare indeed for anyone in the hospitality business not to know what a large print menu was.
So, Andrew was prepared for his request to get a "no" response from the current, bottom line- focused Disney/ DVC but was surprised by the server's look of total incomprehension, as if Andrew was the one talking nonsense! After calming down, Andrew asked very gently to whom he should write with the suggestion. Mikki was surprised when the server gave them a card for the Claims Department, the very office she had dealt with over her broken camera. She wondered why Top of the World has that office's cards. Do they frequently spill drinks over guests? After this, the server became attentive with standard questions about where we'd been and whether we'd like another. She'd guessed the humans were upset, but too late - her gratuity was blown.
With a couple of hours to go before "Wishes", the humans went to the Contemporary where Mikki remembered a pleasant evening with Intercot in October in the lounge area of The Wave. What a difference! It's dark, but the server has a torch. It's the same drinks menu, but to the server immediately offers to read it. Andrew has a mai tai, they both have something to eat and the server gets an enhanced gratuity and a "see you tomorrow".
So now it was time to go back to the room, turn on channel 105 and watch "Wishes". Wonderful - and a great experience to see it from our own balcony.
But Bay Lake Tower has one more disappointment for us. Neither human sleeps well - which means we toys don't either. All the pillows are too big and thick.