azcavalier
06-02-2014, 12:56 PM
I like to be concise, and you don't want to hear/read about every little detail. So, here goes the summarized version.
The Good:
1. The Blue Heron Beach Resort! This is our first time staying off site. They had a great rate, which averaged out to around $120/night for a one bedroom suite with full kitchen that sleeps six. Nice and roomy, and just across I-4 from WDW. It was just as easy and fast to get to the parks as it would have been had we been staying on property.
2. The Mine Cart Ride - Really good ride. Very smooth. VERY smooth. I cannot stress this enough. I do wish it were longer. It went by FAST.
3. Disney Service - Our first morning we had to exchange our silly "Exchange Vouchers" for AP cards at the Guest Services window. It took longer than expected, and the lady told us she would give us a fast pass for anything we wanted. We chose Test Track, since we hadn't gotten one for it. Good thing, too. The line for TT was about 90 minutes. The fast pass was good all day long.
4. Surprising our children! They had no idea we were going on the trip. We picked them up from school around noon, told them where we were going, and left! It was awesome!
5. Darth's Mall - It was amazing! So much cool stuff!
6. My DD9 was the rebel spy! She totally got a t-shirt for that.
The Bad
1. The hide-a-bed mattress at the Blue Heron Beach resort. Quite possibly the worst mattress i've ever seen. My son had to sleep on it for three nights. The fourth night, he instead piled up the couch cushions and slept on them.
2. Spending $500 on two character meals. I mean, the food was good (the food at the Sci Fi breakfast was VERY good), and the character interaction was great, but $55 a person? Holy cow.
3. Fast Pass + system - Hate it. I mean, we did get to ride most everything we wanted to in three parks in three days (with the exceptions of Mission Space and Spaceship Earth), but it completely takes the spontaneity out of your day. Previously, we could pick and choose what to ride and when, and what to grab FP for, based on lines. Now, you have to guess and hope. We love SSE, but the wait for it was an insane 60 minutes long! On a Thursday! Seriously? We never would have guessed that 60 days out, so we didn't FP+ it. And, on our last day, we had used all of our FPs by noon, went to the "kiosk", tried to snag FPs for Toy Story or RnRC, but they were all gone. Bummer.
4. The lines for the FP+ Kiosk - What's up with not being able to choose your fourth FP from the app? Maybe this feature will come in a future update.
The Ugly
1. The Shell station in Little Lake Bryan charging $6/gallon for gas. WOW. Every other station in the area? $3.60 - $3.70.
2. Watching someone behind me on I-95 almost get in a huge accident. It was raining on our way home, and going up I-95, I happened to see the car behind me hydroplane, lose control, and do a 360 spin. Luckily, there was no one in the next lane, and there was space behind us and them, so they didn't hit anyone. And they managed to get it going the right way again. But that was *scary*.
The Good:
1. The Blue Heron Beach Resort! This is our first time staying off site. They had a great rate, which averaged out to around $120/night for a one bedroom suite with full kitchen that sleeps six. Nice and roomy, and just across I-4 from WDW. It was just as easy and fast to get to the parks as it would have been had we been staying on property.
2. The Mine Cart Ride - Really good ride. Very smooth. VERY smooth. I cannot stress this enough. I do wish it were longer. It went by FAST.
3. Disney Service - Our first morning we had to exchange our silly "Exchange Vouchers" for AP cards at the Guest Services window. It took longer than expected, and the lady told us she would give us a fast pass for anything we wanted. We chose Test Track, since we hadn't gotten one for it. Good thing, too. The line for TT was about 90 minutes. The fast pass was good all day long.
4. Surprising our children! They had no idea we were going on the trip. We picked them up from school around noon, told them where we were going, and left! It was awesome!
5. Darth's Mall - It was amazing! So much cool stuff!
6. My DD9 was the rebel spy! She totally got a t-shirt for that.
The Bad
1. The hide-a-bed mattress at the Blue Heron Beach resort. Quite possibly the worst mattress i've ever seen. My son had to sleep on it for three nights. The fourth night, he instead piled up the couch cushions and slept on them.
2. Spending $500 on two character meals. I mean, the food was good (the food at the Sci Fi breakfast was VERY good), and the character interaction was great, but $55 a person? Holy cow.
3. Fast Pass + system - Hate it. I mean, we did get to ride most everything we wanted to in three parks in three days (with the exceptions of Mission Space and Spaceship Earth), but it completely takes the spontaneity out of your day. Previously, we could pick and choose what to ride and when, and what to grab FP for, based on lines. Now, you have to guess and hope. We love SSE, but the wait for it was an insane 60 minutes long! On a Thursday! Seriously? We never would have guessed that 60 days out, so we didn't FP+ it. And, on our last day, we had used all of our FPs by noon, went to the "kiosk", tried to snag FPs for Toy Story or RnRC, but they were all gone. Bummer.
4. The lines for the FP+ Kiosk - What's up with not being able to choose your fourth FP from the app? Maybe this feature will come in a future update.
The Ugly
1. The Shell station in Little Lake Bryan charging $6/gallon for gas. WOW. Every other station in the area? $3.60 - $3.70.
2. Watching someone behind me on I-95 almost get in a huge accident. It was raining on our way home, and going up I-95, I happened to see the car behind me hydroplane, lose control, and do a 360 spin. Luckily, there was no one in the next lane, and there was space behind us and them, so they didn't hit anyone. And they managed to get it going the right way again. But that was *scary*.