Dates
May 23-31, 2003 @ The Dolphin Hotel
Introduction
Since I did not even realize the Dolphin had free high-speed internet access that I could have posted a detailed trip report on daily until the last day, this will be a merely summarized version with my commentary here and there.
The Hotel
The Dolphin was absolutely phenomenal. Way exceeded my expectations. We has the nurse's discounted room rate of $129/night and had pre-requested a room as high as possible and on the East side (facing Epcot). We were in room 7029 which came complete with a terrific view of Epcot. From the room you could also see the top of The Land, Journey Into Imagination, and some of the World Showcase. I HIGHLY reccomend the Dolphin and I highly reccomend requesting an East side, high room (ahead of time, and INSISTING on it at check-in). Every night we saw Illuminations outside of the room and every morning we saw the breathtaking view of that silver globe that awes me every time. The Dolphin Fountain was my favorite place to eat at, and to get root beer floats at. The employees at the Fountain were truly exceptional. The location of the hotel was amazing. We were right in the center of it all. The only thing I didn't like was being FORCED to take a boat to Epoct or MGM with the only other option being to walk. Not only did they not offer bus service, but htat boat had to stop at Yacht Club, Beach Club, and Boardwalk also. The busses did the same thing. It becomes aggravating after a while. The boat to Epcot is in the World Showcase, too. One night we rode the Monorail from MK to Epcot and when we got there Epcot was long-closed, and there was no way back to the hotel. No bus, no path to walk, no boat (because the path and boats were in the World Showcase). So we had to ride back to MK and catch a bus from there.
General Park Comments
I was dissapointed this trip with many things. If Disney is having attendance problems, it did not show at all. Folks, this place was packed to the brim. People were all over the place and each time I go the stroller count doubles. People rent buggies and wheelchairs even when they can walk perfectly fine (which is fine and all if you have knee problems or something, but don't use it to cut lines). Every single park was packed with people and the e-rides were at 65 minute waits on average. FASTpasses ran out by 3-4 PM every day at the latest. We got a FASTpass as soon as we arrived for the e-rides which usually told us to return sometime after 1.
Every Disney trip, I do something different lately. For instance, last time I went it was trying to figure out how things worked (looking for the lights, the machines, where that darned Spaceship earth "fire" smell was coming from, etc.) This time it was evaluating the employees from how they liked their job to what I would think about it / want to do. Only abut 20% of the total employees there seemed to be enthusiastic, willing to help, and pleasant. Everyone else seemed SO bored, SO tired, and SO not wanting to be there. You know, I was thinking, if you don't like where they put you, ask to be moved. On personal notes: Bobby, the greeter at the Haunted Mansion, was EXCEPTIONALY friendly in showing me where the ring was and giving my girlfriend the 5-minute version of the story and then let us cut the whole line. Jackie, the CM in MGM near Star Tours was very nice in taking me around backstage corners just so I could get to my Star Wars trivia.
Much of the parks was dirty, in need of new paint jobs, and just old and aged in general. I noticed the wheel on the McDonalds wagon near PoTC and Liberty Square had been shattered and never fixed. Little things like that irk me.
More Comments on Staffing...
For Disney saying they cut a ton of jobs in cutbacks, it didn't show. Some places were SO overstaffed. Now I'm not sure if there is such a thing, but if there is, Disney did it. They had 6-8 people in every restaurant in the food line picking up the tickets as they printed out and gathering the food on the trays the cooks slide it down. They didn't need that many people, is my point. The poor cashiers and servers in these restaurants looked SO stressed. It drug me down that they weren't all hoppy and happy and such. The girl working in the Dinosaur in MGM (across from Indiana Jones) looked so mad, so stressed, and so angry. You don't say "Yeah?". You say "Hi, what can I get you?". People like htis almost make me feel guilty that I order.
Employees on rides that they ride with you and narrate (Jungle Cruise, Saffari, etc.) ALL need to get new jobs. They act about as enthused as a rock and talk like a machine. GET INTO IT! Instead of "Oh look ... a tiger," make me GLAD to see it even if I don't care. I know it's repetitive and such, but you choose to do it, no one is forcing you.
Dining in Disney
My 2nd night at Disney, I had reservations at the California Grill that I made WAY back earlier this year. I was SO excited to try their world-famous pizza, watch the fireworks, etc. We booked a 9:15 pm seating, as the fireworks were for 9:30. We arrived at 8 PM so we could request a window seat. We were told we would only be able to get one AFTER the fireworks. That frustrated me alone. We are told they will beep us with the little lighting pager thing when they are ready. Folks, it was 9:50 (yes, almost 2 hrs later) that we are seated. We sat there and watched the same people who were eating at tables when we got there sit at the tables 2 hrs, not eating, just waiting for the fireworks. And we saw like 2-3 tables that sat open for like 45 minutes. We never even got beeped. One waiter finally got tired of seeing us sitting there for so long he finally went and told the host to seat us. We finally were seated (yes, at the window long after MK was closed). I ordered the pizza (the waitress told me it was a "gourmet" cheese pizza) and my girlfriend got the pork tenderloin. The food was absolutely the worst I have ever had. The pizza was about as pizza-tasting as a rock is. My girlfriend's pork was bleeding as if she just caught the food. But since it was so much ($10 and $21, respectively), we suffered through every last bite of that, paid our bill, and RAN as fast as we could to the bathroom as the hotel. An anniversary dinner for us and something I looked forward to for months turned out to be a DISASTER.
In Epcot, we ate at Italy. It was truly an exceptional place and I reccomend it.
In Downtown Disney, we, as per tradition, pigged out at the Rainforrest Cafe. Oh how I love that place and my bathroom in my house will one day look just like that place. How do they do the stars on the ceiling?! Is it fiber-optics? I reccomend the RC and I also reccomend ordering the Chocolate Volcano for dessert. MMMMMMmmmm Good! They even yell out "VOLCANO!" when they bring one out. =D
In MK, also as per tradition, we ate at the Pinnochio restaurant next to Small World. Although of course super-expensive, we love pigging out there. We ate there twice. Be careful, it's always packed as it is at a part of the park most people are inching to at lunchtime.
In Islands of Adventure, we ate at Mythos. Awesome, quiet restaurant with spectacular food that I do reccomend.
Overall ... meals with a drink run about $7-10 for counter service and $13-30 for restaurant per person. My girlfriend spent exactly $295 on food on our 8-day trip. I spent about $200 (I usually still order pizza's and chicken fingers off Kid menu's =D)
I truly despise the monoploy they have on food in every theme park. I wish normal businesses could go in there and actually use pricing, etc. to compete.
Downed Attractions
I must have picked the worst time of the year to go for refurbishments, shutdowns, failures, etc. Primevial Whirl is up about 25% of each day. I've memorized the Technical Difficulties message on Test Track. Pirates breaks down in the same spot for me every single time I go. This time for like 10 minutes. Haunted Mansion breaks every time I go also. This time right when we leaned back out of the attic. Which is comfy but also kind of scary to just be hanging there. Terminator 3-D in Universal shut down mid-show because the 3-D wasn't working. It was down the rest of the day. We went to Twister from there and, yes, it too broke down. From there we went to Earthquake - take a guess - it was down. Universal original was just very dissapointing this time. But also more packed than I have ever seen it before. They get just as many people in each park as Disney seems like.
As far as attractions being refurbished/finished ... Great Movie Ride, PhilarMagic, Pooh, Mission Space, and Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Shrek 4D, Scorpion King. It pained me SO much to see Mission Space and not be able to go in and ride it. It looks SO good at night, ya'll. Go ride the monorail around and see it if you go soon. That place will be so packed to the brim when it opens. I think I'll go back later htis year just for one day to ride it.
Day-By-Day at a Glance
Day 1 (Friday May 23):
Arrived in Orlando after an unusually rough flight. I left my Mears boarding pass at the airport on a seat while we were waiting and the driver wouldn't let me go inside to get it. When we got to the hotel he said he'd have to charge me $32 now and I was like Um, no. I gave him my receipt and said have a nice day. Because I DID pay and I did have a receipt, I just lost their little yellow sheet of paper with "Boarding Pass" written on it.
Day 2 (Saturday May 24):
Universal Orlando was PACKED PACKED PACKED. The Universal website SPECIFICALLY said May 23rd would be the day Shrek 4-D was openning. We went and the boards are all still up and now it says Comming Late Summer 2003. Give me a break, don't say the day before you open it that something is opening then when that day comes change your mind. This was my 3rd time here, and my worst if not my last for a while. Every line standby was 40+ minutes and Twister, Terminator, and Earthquake all broke down - as I said. King Kong is no more and the big wooden signs for Scorpion King are in front of the building. Nothing was new for me here this trip, so it was kind of bland.
Day 3 (Sunday May 25):
Star Wars weekends is twice what it's cracked up to be. There's so much action, so many characters, and SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many people. You couldn't move most of the day. You usually stood in a crowd of hundreds of people taking one step a minute. I signed up for the Star Wars trivia. I saw on the clipboard that like 70 people had signed up but maybe 20 showed. Some were COMPLETELY way too into Star Wars. Sitting there studying and such. They took us to the stage next to Star Tours and lined us up shoulder to shoulder. We were given plastic cards with A, B, C on them. Needless to say, me and my brother, along with 3/4ths of the people participating were eliminated in the first question. "How many times did Luke Skywalker ignite his lightsaber in his final battle with Darth Vader?" Stupid question, in my opinion...even the geeks who were studying were eliminated right there and then. The correct answer is 3 by the way. Everyone else, including myself, said 2. I need to go watch the movie again to see that 3rd time. Everything was running smooth here with the exception of Great Movie Ride which, of course, is still being refurbished. That dissapointed me. That's the icon ride. We actually got my mom, 40-something, on RnRC!!! She liked the experience, but said she'd never go again ... hehe. Man that ride is FAST.
Day 4 (Monday May 26):
My favorite park was the most crowded I've ever seen it. PLEASE someone re-paint Ice Station Cool. It looks like it's been hit by a tornado that ripped all the paint off. Mission Space looks awesome in person. We didn't do Universe of Energy because it utterly bores me. They have that HUGE building and that's what they come up with? Needs another update from the '96 one. The Land is always fun, but it's been the same forever. Think it needs a change also. Spaceship Earth better never leave, that's all I have to say about that (oh, and that smell is awesome in the fire scene!). Journey into your Imagination with Figment was SO SO SO terrible. I wanted to get off the ride and walk out. I had ridden the one that they revised w/o Figment and actually enjoyed it. This new one is nothing but annoying. El Rio del Tiempo = please update. Norway = also please update. As you can tell, I think Epcot needs a nice big facelift. For those curious, yes, everyone in my family rode Test Track together this time and loved it.
Day 5 (Tuesday May 27):
My first trip to Islands of Adventure. It was not crowded AT ALL in the first hour or two. In fact, we walked right on ALL of the e-rides and had the ENTIRE park's attractions ride-wise done by noon. Everything was very well-done, but it too needs a lot more stuff to do. Seemed like we were done really quick.
Day 6 (Wednesday May 28):
Animal Kingdom, er, Boiling Hot Kingdom. The Saffari this time was superb. GO IN THE MORNING. All the animals are out then. This is my least favorite park, just doesn't have that Disney feel to me. I'll offend AK fanatics when I say this, but just feels like I'm in a big zoo with one good thing to do (Dinosaur, which now that I've been on it 3 times isn't as exciting). That night we saw Indiana Jones in MGM (we missed it the first day. They cut a lot of the showings out. Last show was at 6:15 PM). Indiana needs - you guessed I'd say it - an update. That night I saw Illuminations for the first time up-close. Spectacular! Don't miss it.
Day 7 (Thursday May 29):
Magic Kingom of One Bazillion People. That's my new name for the park. We had to miss some e-rides because our Fastpasses didn't allow us to get another one till MUCH later, and we weren't about to wait 90 minutes for anything, especially Peter Pan. I think this park is ALWAYS packed. On a personal note, Space Mountain still scared the wazoo outta me. And not the ride itself. I am 6'2" tall, and it feels like my head is going to fly off every time. I duck down the whole ride every time because of the closeness of the steel bars. Still my fav ride tho
Day 8 (Friday May 30):
Downtown Disney is really done well. DisneyQuest gets REALLY crowded midday and afternoon, so if you go hit it in the morning. That place is a blast and if you have pre-teens they will be in heaven. The food choices in DD are great, too!
Day 9 (Saturday May 31):
We were ALL ready to come home. I always get teary-eyed looking out my window when we're leaving. Seems like Disney is home to me. Hopefully it will be work someday (see my sig!)
Overall...
Overall it was a nice trip. We did more than we ever have, and still found ourselves wanting to come back mid-day and nap. If you go during hot months, PLAN on 2-3 hours to come back and sleep. You'll need it. I love Disney World more than any other vacation spot and am already looking to go back (which is ironic because while in the parks, I was begging to go back to the hotel and sleep some days).
If you have any questions, or comments feel free to send me a private message. For those of you going in Fall/Winter this year, you will have a BLAST. For those going this summer...bring sunblock and LOTS to drink and snack on.
May 23-31, 2003 @ The Dolphin Hotel
Introduction
Since I did not even realize the Dolphin had free high-speed internet access that I could have posted a detailed trip report on daily until the last day, this will be a merely summarized version with my commentary here and there.
The Hotel
The Dolphin was absolutely phenomenal. Way exceeded my expectations. We has the nurse's discounted room rate of $129/night and had pre-requested a room as high as possible and on the East side (facing Epcot). We were in room 7029 which came complete with a terrific view of Epcot. From the room you could also see the top of The Land, Journey Into Imagination, and some of the World Showcase. I HIGHLY reccomend the Dolphin and I highly reccomend requesting an East side, high room (ahead of time, and INSISTING on it at check-in). Every night we saw Illuminations outside of the room and every morning we saw the breathtaking view of that silver globe that awes me every time. The Dolphin Fountain was my favorite place to eat at, and to get root beer floats at. The employees at the Fountain were truly exceptional. The location of the hotel was amazing. We were right in the center of it all. The only thing I didn't like was being FORCED to take a boat to Epoct or MGM with the only other option being to walk. Not only did they not offer bus service, but htat boat had to stop at Yacht Club, Beach Club, and Boardwalk also. The busses did the same thing. It becomes aggravating after a while. The boat to Epcot is in the World Showcase, too. One night we rode the Monorail from MK to Epcot and when we got there Epcot was long-closed, and there was no way back to the hotel. No bus, no path to walk, no boat (because the path and boats were in the World Showcase). So we had to ride back to MK and catch a bus from there.
General Park Comments
I was dissapointed this trip with many things. If Disney is having attendance problems, it did not show at all. Folks, this place was packed to the brim. People were all over the place and each time I go the stroller count doubles. People rent buggies and wheelchairs even when they can walk perfectly fine (which is fine and all if you have knee problems or something, but don't use it to cut lines). Every single park was packed with people and the e-rides were at 65 minute waits on average. FASTpasses ran out by 3-4 PM every day at the latest. We got a FASTpass as soon as we arrived for the e-rides which usually told us to return sometime after 1.
Every Disney trip, I do something different lately. For instance, last time I went it was trying to figure out how things worked (looking for the lights, the machines, where that darned Spaceship earth "fire" smell was coming from, etc.) This time it was evaluating the employees from how they liked their job to what I would think about it / want to do. Only abut 20% of the total employees there seemed to be enthusiastic, willing to help, and pleasant. Everyone else seemed SO bored, SO tired, and SO not wanting to be there. You know, I was thinking, if you don't like where they put you, ask to be moved. On personal notes: Bobby, the greeter at the Haunted Mansion, was EXCEPTIONALY friendly in showing me where the ring was and giving my girlfriend the 5-minute version of the story and then let us cut the whole line. Jackie, the CM in MGM near Star Tours was very nice in taking me around backstage corners just so I could get to my Star Wars trivia.
Much of the parks was dirty, in need of new paint jobs, and just old and aged in general. I noticed the wheel on the McDonalds wagon near PoTC and Liberty Square had been shattered and never fixed. Little things like that irk me.
More Comments on Staffing...
For Disney saying they cut a ton of jobs in cutbacks, it didn't show. Some places were SO overstaffed. Now I'm not sure if there is such a thing, but if there is, Disney did it. They had 6-8 people in every restaurant in the food line picking up the tickets as they printed out and gathering the food on the trays the cooks slide it down. They didn't need that many people, is my point. The poor cashiers and servers in these restaurants looked SO stressed. It drug me down that they weren't all hoppy and happy and such. The girl working in the Dinosaur in MGM (across from Indiana Jones) looked so mad, so stressed, and so angry. You don't say "Yeah?". You say "Hi, what can I get you?". People like htis almost make me feel guilty that I order.
Employees on rides that they ride with you and narrate (Jungle Cruise, Saffari, etc.) ALL need to get new jobs. They act about as enthused as a rock and talk like a machine. GET INTO IT! Instead of "Oh look ... a tiger," make me GLAD to see it even if I don't care. I know it's repetitive and such, but you choose to do it, no one is forcing you.
Dining in Disney
My 2nd night at Disney, I had reservations at the California Grill that I made WAY back earlier this year. I was SO excited to try their world-famous pizza, watch the fireworks, etc. We booked a 9:15 pm seating, as the fireworks were for 9:30. We arrived at 8 PM so we could request a window seat. We were told we would only be able to get one AFTER the fireworks. That frustrated me alone. We are told they will beep us with the little lighting pager thing when they are ready. Folks, it was 9:50 (yes, almost 2 hrs later) that we are seated. We sat there and watched the same people who were eating at tables when we got there sit at the tables 2 hrs, not eating, just waiting for the fireworks. And we saw like 2-3 tables that sat open for like 45 minutes. We never even got beeped. One waiter finally got tired of seeing us sitting there for so long he finally went and told the host to seat us. We finally were seated (yes, at the window long after MK was closed). I ordered the pizza (the waitress told me it was a "gourmet" cheese pizza) and my girlfriend got the pork tenderloin. The food was absolutely the worst I have ever had. The pizza was about as pizza-tasting as a rock is. My girlfriend's pork was bleeding as if she just caught the food. But since it was so much ($10 and $21, respectively), we suffered through every last bite of that, paid our bill, and RAN as fast as we could to the bathroom as the hotel. An anniversary dinner for us and something I looked forward to for months turned out to be a DISASTER.
In Epcot, we ate at Italy. It was truly an exceptional place and I reccomend it.
In Downtown Disney, we, as per tradition, pigged out at the Rainforrest Cafe. Oh how I love that place and my bathroom in my house will one day look just like that place. How do they do the stars on the ceiling?! Is it fiber-optics? I reccomend the RC and I also reccomend ordering the Chocolate Volcano for dessert. MMMMMMmmmm Good! They even yell out "VOLCANO!" when they bring one out. =D
In MK, also as per tradition, we ate at the Pinnochio restaurant next to Small World. Although of course super-expensive, we love pigging out there. We ate there twice. Be careful, it's always packed as it is at a part of the park most people are inching to at lunchtime.
In Islands of Adventure, we ate at Mythos. Awesome, quiet restaurant with spectacular food that I do reccomend.
Overall ... meals with a drink run about $7-10 for counter service and $13-30 for restaurant per person. My girlfriend spent exactly $295 on food on our 8-day trip. I spent about $200 (I usually still order pizza's and chicken fingers off Kid menu's =D)
I truly despise the monoploy they have on food in every theme park. I wish normal businesses could go in there and actually use pricing, etc. to compete.
Downed Attractions
I must have picked the worst time of the year to go for refurbishments, shutdowns, failures, etc. Primevial Whirl is up about 25% of each day. I've memorized the Technical Difficulties message on Test Track. Pirates breaks down in the same spot for me every single time I go. This time for like 10 minutes. Haunted Mansion breaks every time I go also. This time right when we leaned back out of the attic. Which is comfy but also kind of scary to just be hanging there. Terminator 3-D in Universal shut down mid-show because the 3-D wasn't working. It was down the rest of the day. We went to Twister from there and, yes, it too broke down. From there we went to Earthquake - take a guess - it was down. Universal original was just very dissapointing this time. But also more packed than I have ever seen it before. They get just as many people in each park as Disney seems like.
As far as attractions being refurbished/finished ... Great Movie Ride, PhilarMagic, Pooh, Mission Space, and Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Shrek 4D, Scorpion King. It pained me SO much to see Mission Space and not be able to go in and ride it. It looks SO good at night, ya'll. Go ride the monorail around and see it if you go soon. That place will be so packed to the brim when it opens. I think I'll go back later htis year just for one day to ride it.
Day-By-Day at a Glance
Day 1 (Friday May 23):
Arrived in Orlando after an unusually rough flight. I left my Mears boarding pass at the airport on a seat while we were waiting and the driver wouldn't let me go inside to get it. When we got to the hotel he said he'd have to charge me $32 now and I was like Um, no. I gave him my receipt and said have a nice day. Because I DID pay and I did have a receipt, I just lost their little yellow sheet of paper with "Boarding Pass" written on it.
Day 2 (Saturday May 24):
Universal Orlando was PACKED PACKED PACKED. The Universal website SPECIFICALLY said May 23rd would be the day Shrek 4-D was openning. We went and the boards are all still up and now it says Comming Late Summer 2003. Give me a break, don't say the day before you open it that something is opening then when that day comes change your mind. This was my 3rd time here, and my worst if not my last for a while. Every line standby was 40+ minutes and Twister, Terminator, and Earthquake all broke down - as I said. King Kong is no more and the big wooden signs for Scorpion King are in front of the building. Nothing was new for me here this trip, so it was kind of bland.
Day 3 (Sunday May 25):
Star Wars weekends is twice what it's cracked up to be. There's so much action, so many characters, and SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many people. You couldn't move most of the day. You usually stood in a crowd of hundreds of people taking one step a minute. I signed up for the Star Wars trivia. I saw on the clipboard that like 70 people had signed up but maybe 20 showed. Some were COMPLETELY way too into Star Wars. Sitting there studying and such. They took us to the stage next to Star Tours and lined us up shoulder to shoulder. We were given plastic cards with A, B, C on them. Needless to say, me and my brother, along with 3/4ths of the people participating were eliminated in the first question. "How many times did Luke Skywalker ignite his lightsaber in his final battle with Darth Vader?" Stupid question, in my opinion...even the geeks who were studying were eliminated right there and then. The correct answer is 3 by the way. Everyone else, including myself, said 2. I need to go watch the movie again to see that 3rd time. Everything was running smooth here with the exception of Great Movie Ride which, of course, is still being refurbished. That dissapointed me. That's the icon ride. We actually got my mom, 40-something, on RnRC!!! She liked the experience, but said she'd never go again ... hehe. Man that ride is FAST.
Day 4 (Monday May 26):
My favorite park was the most crowded I've ever seen it. PLEASE someone re-paint Ice Station Cool. It looks like it's been hit by a tornado that ripped all the paint off. Mission Space looks awesome in person. We didn't do Universe of Energy because it utterly bores me. They have that HUGE building and that's what they come up with? Needs another update from the '96 one. The Land is always fun, but it's been the same forever. Think it needs a change also. Spaceship Earth better never leave, that's all I have to say about that (oh, and that smell is awesome in the fire scene!). Journey into your Imagination with Figment was SO SO SO terrible. I wanted to get off the ride and walk out. I had ridden the one that they revised w/o Figment and actually enjoyed it. This new one is nothing but annoying. El Rio del Tiempo = please update. Norway = also please update. As you can tell, I think Epcot needs a nice big facelift. For those curious, yes, everyone in my family rode Test Track together this time and loved it.
Day 5 (Tuesday May 27):
My first trip to Islands of Adventure. It was not crowded AT ALL in the first hour or two. In fact, we walked right on ALL of the e-rides and had the ENTIRE park's attractions ride-wise done by noon. Everything was very well-done, but it too needs a lot more stuff to do. Seemed like we were done really quick.
Day 6 (Wednesday May 28):
Animal Kingdom, er, Boiling Hot Kingdom. The Saffari this time was superb. GO IN THE MORNING. All the animals are out then. This is my least favorite park, just doesn't have that Disney feel to me. I'll offend AK fanatics when I say this, but just feels like I'm in a big zoo with one good thing to do (Dinosaur, which now that I've been on it 3 times isn't as exciting). That night we saw Indiana Jones in MGM (we missed it the first day. They cut a lot of the showings out. Last show was at 6:15 PM). Indiana needs - you guessed I'd say it - an update. That night I saw Illuminations for the first time up-close. Spectacular! Don't miss it.
Day 7 (Thursday May 29):
Magic Kingom of One Bazillion People. That's my new name for the park. We had to miss some e-rides because our Fastpasses didn't allow us to get another one till MUCH later, and we weren't about to wait 90 minutes for anything, especially Peter Pan. I think this park is ALWAYS packed. On a personal note, Space Mountain still scared the wazoo outta me. And not the ride itself. I am 6'2" tall, and it feels like my head is going to fly off every time. I duck down the whole ride every time because of the closeness of the steel bars. Still my fav ride tho
Day 8 (Friday May 30):
Downtown Disney is really done well. DisneyQuest gets REALLY crowded midday and afternoon, so if you go hit it in the morning. That place is a blast and if you have pre-teens they will be in heaven. The food choices in DD are great, too!
Day 9 (Saturday May 31):
We were ALL ready to come home. I always get teary-eyed looking out my window when we're leaving. Seems like Disney is home to me. Hopefully it will be work someday (see my sig!)
Overall...
Overall it was a nice trip. We did more than we ever have, and still found ourselves wanting to come back mid-day and nap. If you go during hot months, PLAN on 2-3 hours to come back and sleep. You'll need it. I love Disney World more than any other vacation spot and am already looking to go back (which is ironic because while in the parks, I was begging to go back to the hotel and sleep some days).
If you have any questions, or comments feel free to send me a private message. For those of you going in Fall/Winter this year, you will have a BLAST. For those going this summer...bring sunblock and LOTS to drink and snack on.
