We just got back from our 8 days at the world. We spent aug. 2nd thru the 9th at Old key west. It was my wife and daughter and myself and we had a very good time. All in all everything was very nice. The weather was great, almost no rain except a sprinkle for a few min. on 2 different days. It was not super hot, usually in the high 80s. (it was actually cooler most of the time than at our home in chicagoland) The parks were not overly crowded, the wait time for the most part was not bad. Even with no fastpass, most wait times averaged about half the posted time. The photo CD for a 100$ is a great buy as long as you use that photo pass in as many places as you can. If you have multiple photo passes they will merge them all on to one CD, very cool.
The Magic Kingdom
First off Pirates was fantastic I love what they did. The water wall is awesome, the best was the reaction from everyone who thought they would get wet. I tried my first pineapple dole whip and it was pretty good. Im not a huge pineapple fan but it was very refreshing on a hot day. The highlight for me was my 4yr old daughter getting up the courage to go on splash mountain on the last day. We have priceless video of her going down the drop, very very funny. They did a great job on the guy who plays Jack Sparrow. I do think it stinks that they have all the princesses yet I cant get a picture with Jack, I do hope they have a photo thing in the future. Space mountain and Haunted mansion are in DESPERATE need of a refresh. Space was almost hard to ride it was so rough and it was very light inside, someone else said that in a thread earlier too. Haunted mansion we rode at least 5 times and only once did the audio work the whole way through. They could stand for some new effects too.
EPCOT
Not much new to report here, M:S green was pretty good, not near as exciting as the orange but still a very good simulator. The seas was still all covered up so nothing new to see. The Disney visa card free picture thing worked very well, you could pick any picture off of your photo pass not just the ones you take at that meet and greet. My daughter really liked doing that kidcot color your mask and get a stamp from the countries. World showcase needs some rides, they dont need to be E-tickets but something on scale with the maelstrom or Winnie the pooh would be nice.
Animal Kingdom
OK, Everest kicks butt. Its the best coaster in Disney in my opinion, by far. The theming is some of the best in Disney. the mountain itself is fantastic, you can see it as you are pulling in on the bus and its just so cool. All I can say is way to go Disney. I say that Everest should be the park icon and not the tree of life. I think that animal kingdom is 1 major ride and 1 smaller dark ride from being an absolutely awesome park.
Disney Studios
Not much to say here except that this park needs some work, a lot of work. I saw the Indiana stunt show for the first time in about 6 or 7 years and its an OK show if you have never seen it or only seen it a couple times, Its well past its time. As much as I love Star Tours it too needs a big time update. In the middle of the day we walked into the ride and to the loading platform without stopping. The Muppets is still great but the fountain was still covered. I know its been said that Kermit and piggy come out for pictures, but they don’t. We asked multiple people and they all had the same story, they are only in the parade. The only part of the park that doesn’t seem to need work is the tower of terror area, and it was the busiest area as well. I was happy to see they added Darth Vader to the parade, that was cool, he wasn’t in it last year. Lightning McQueen and Mater in the parade are very cool as well. My daughter LOVED meeting the little Einstein’s and the incredibles.
Meals
*** The little Einstein’s lunch at the Hollywood and vine was very good. I wasn’t expecting it to be but it was. The food was great for a buffet, and they had a great selection. The pot roast was Awesome. The character interaction was great, they had a guy who went around singing songs and interacting with the kids. If you have a playhouse Disney fan I highly recommend it.
*** Chef Mickey was good as always. The food was good as normal and the characters as always are great.
*** The whispering canyon cafe was very nice. We had the all you can eat skillet and the food was very good. The horse race around the restaurant for the kids was pretty funny. This is a defenite do again for us.
*** The only disappointing meal for me was the was the princess breakfast in Norway. The problem was that it was SO rushed. The character time at the table was very short, that surprised me because it wasn’t all that busy so their wasn’t any real reason to rush. The food was average, eggs, bacon, sausage and potatoes. The potatoes were the best part, they are very good. It seemed to me that Disney sold out on is one. People are going to go because of the princesses no matter what, so I don’t think they are not putting their full effort into it. After some of the great character meals we have had, this just was not very good.
*** We went to the ESPN club for lunch one day and it was good, like normal. As good as a burger with grilled onions can be. My wife had a grilled chicken sandwich and she said it was very good.
Like I said we had a very good time and we are already planning next years trip!!!!!! Its a bit long so I hope I didnt bore anyone.:wave:
The Magic Kingdom
First off Pirates was fantastic I love what they did. The water wall is awesome, the best was the reaction from everyone who thought they would get wet. I tried my first pineapple dole whip and it was pretty good. Im not a huge pineapple fan but it was very refreshing on a hot day. The highlight for me was my 4yr old daughter getting up the courage to go on splash mountain on the last day. We have priceless video of her going down the drop, very very funny. They did a great job on the guy who plays Jack Sparrow. I do think it stinks that they have all the princesses yet I cant get a picture with Jack, I do hope they have a photo thing in the future. Space mountain and Haunted mansion are in DESPERATE need of a refresh. Space was almost hard to ride it was so rough and it was very light inside, someone else said that in a thread earlier too. Haunted mansion we rode at least 5 times and only once did the audio work the whole way through. They could stand for some new effects too.
EPCOT
Not much new to report here, M:S green was pretty good, not near as exciting as the orange but still a very good simulator. The seas was still all covered up so nothing new to see. The Disney visa card free picture thing worked very well, you could pick any picture off of your photo pass not just the ones you take at that meet and greet. My daughter really liked doing that kidcot color your mask and get a stamp from the countries. World showcase needs some rides, they dont need to be E-tickets but something on scale with the maelstrom or Winnie the pooh would be nice.
Animal Kingdom
OK, Everest kicks butt. Its the best coaster in Disney in my opinion, by far. The theming is some of the best in Disney. the mountain itself is fantastic, you can see it as you are pulling in on the bus and its just so cool. All I can say is way to go Disney. I say that Everest should be the park icon and not the tree of life. I think that animal kingdom is 1 major ride and 1 smaller dark ride from being an absolutely awesome park.
Disney Studios
Not much to say here except that this park needs some work, a lot of work. I saw the Indiana stunt show for the first time in about 6 or 7 years and its an OK show if you have never seen it or only seen it a couple times, Its well past its time. As much as I love Star Tours it too needs a big time update. In the middle of the day we walked into the ride and to the loading platform without stopping. The Muppets is still great but the fountain was still covered. I know its been said that Kermit and piggy come out for pictures, but they don’t. We asked multiple people and they all had the same story, they are only in the parade. The only part of the park that doesn’t seem to need work is the tower of terror area, and it was the busiest area as well. I was happy to see they added Darth Vader to the parade, that was cool, he wasn’t in it last year. Lightning McQueen and Mater in the parade are very cool as well. My daughter LOVED meeting the little Einstein’s and the incredibles.
Meals
*** The little Einstein’s lunch at the Hollywood and vine was very good. I wasn’t expecting it to be but it was. The food was great for a buffet, and they had a great selection. The pot roast was Awesome. The character interaction was great, they had a guy who went around singing songs and interacting with the kids. If you have a playhouse Disney fan I highly recommend it.
*** Chef Mickey was good as always. The food was good as normal and the characters as always are great.
*** The whispering canyon cafe was very nice. We had the all you can eat skillet and the food was very good. The horse race around the restaurant for the kids was pretty funny. This is a defenite do again for us.
*** The only disappointing meal for me was the was the princess breakfast in Norway. The problem was that it was SO rushed. The character time at the table was very short, that surprised me because it wasn’t all that busy so their wasn’t any real reason to rush. The food was average, eggs, bacon, sausage and potatoes. The potatoes were the best part, they are very good. It seemed to me that Disney sold out on is one. People are going to go because of the princesses no matter what, so I don’t think they are not putting their full effort into it. After some of the great character meals we have had, this just was not very good.
*** We went to the ESPN club for lunch one day and it was good, like normal. As good as a burger with grilled onions can be. My wife had a grilled chicken sandwich and she said it was very good.
Like I said we had a very good time and we are already planning next years trip!!!!!! Its a bit long so I hope I didnt bore anyone.:wave:
