Hot Times in the World: A June 2011 Trip Report!

DisneySam · Jul 11, 2011

Great trip report, I really enjoyed reading it this morning. :wave:

I was excited to read about your visit to WWOHP, I am going for the first time in October when I'm at Disney and I am SO EXCITED!

Ariel484 · Jul 11, 2011

DisneySam said:
Great trip report, I really enjoyed reading it this morning. :wave:

I was excited to read about your visit to WWOHP, I am going for the first time in October when I'm at Disney and I am SO EXCITED!

Thank you!

I hope that you enjoy your time in the Wizarding World...it really is an amazing land to see.

KYfriedPanda · Jul 11, 2011

Thanks for the excellent report... Sorry you couldn't get a Bort license plate... Just don't ask about a hole where you can crawl into it and die :lookaroun

oommggitskait · Jul 11, 2011

Literally, I started tearing up FOR you just reading about that womans snide comment. I am, admittedly, a very sensitive person also and I would have felt the exact same way. I would have either choked back tears or said something nasty and probably unladylike to her haha. I commend you for brushing it off and getting some fresh air (and some beautiful photos!!).

I hope your last day turns out much better

Ariel484 · Jul 12, 2011

KYfriedPanda said:
Thanks for the excellent report... Sorry you couldn't get a Bort license plate... Just don't ask about a hole where you can crawl into it and die :lookaroun

Thank you for reading! You know, with a dry cool wit like that, you could be an action hero!

:lol:

oommggitskait said:
Literally, I started tearing up FOR you just reading about that womans snide comment. I am, admittedly, a very sensitive person also and I would have felt the exact same way. I would have either choked back tears or said something nasty and probably unladylike to her haha. I commend you for brushing it off and getting some fresh air (and some beautiful photos!!).

I hope your last day turns out much better

Aww, thanks for the sympathy and compliments on the photos! It was upsetting, but just one small incident in an otherwise excellent trip. Having said that, it did still bother me a bit for a few days (er...weeks :lookaroun) after we got home. I think I'm over it now.

Thanks for reading! :wave:

grwnupprincess · Jul 12, 2011

I can't believe how snotty that woman at california grill was...how is it even possible to be so rude when you are at WDW?

I so enjoyed reading your trip report!! thanks for taking the time to write it and share all the fabulous details!!:sohappy:

Ariel484 · Jul 12, 2011

grwnupprincess said:
I can't believe how snotty that woman at california grill was...how is it even possible to be so rude when you are at WDW?

I so enjoyed reading your trip report!! thanks for taking the time to write it and share all the fabulous details!!:sohappy:

My theory is that she had a big mouth (didn't think before she spoke) and was amused/annoyed by the touristy behavior I was exhibiting...:shrug: Who knows.

Thanks for reading the report, glad you liked it! :wave:

DisneySam · Jul 12, 2011

Ariel484 said:
My theory is that she had a big mouth (didn't think before she spoke) and was amused/annoyed by the touristy behavior I was exhibiting...:shrug: Who knows.

That still stinks that she was so rude.

Something similar happened to me on Magical Express one time. I was the odd gal out in our group and had a seat by myself, another family (Father, Mother and I'd say around 8 year old boy) sat near me. The mother actually took the seat next to me. During the video she turned and said to me and said "Okay, we get it with the magic geez."

I remained calm, and just responded with "I paid a lot of money for this magical vacation, if you would please excuse me I'd like to change seats." She was SHOCKED that I was so offended I would get up and move, but what I said was true. Why would you say that to a perfect stranger who is clearly super excited for Disney. People kill me sometimes.

Ariel484 · Jul 12, 2011

DisneySam said:
That still stinks that she was so rude.

Something similar happened to me on Magical Express one time. I was the odd gal out in our group and had a seat by myself, another family (Father, Mother and I'd say around 8 year old boy) sat near me. The mother actually took the seat next to me. During the video she turned and said to me and said "Okay, we get it with the magic geez."

I remained calm, and just responded with "I paid a lot of money for this magical vacation, if you would please excuse me I'd like to change seats." She was SHOCKED that I was so offended I would get up and move, but what I said was true. Why would you say that to a perfect stranger who is clearly super excited for Disney. People kill me sometimes.

Ugh, that's mean! Good for you for sticking up for yourself. I love the Welcome video! (Well, except for all of the excited children screaming :lookaroun) I agree with you, I don't know why people cannot be a bit more tactful. I hope that doesn't happen to you on your next trip!!

HouCuseChickie · Jul 12, 2011

Whew- finally got to read everything and still sad to get to the end.

I'm glad to see your positive review of breakfast at 'Ohana. We're scheduled to do that as our farewell breakfast.

Also sad to see your bad experience at California Grill. First off- that woman who made the picture comment has some nerve!!! :fork: Of course I'm a bit of a hot head and probably would have said something...that probably would have made it worse.

Oh well- what an awful situation either way. The desserts looked really good, but I just can't order anything with foam...will have to make a mental note of your entree.

Speaking of Cali Grill- we have a 7:35p for our trip (best time I've been able to get- will keep trying for better through to the day of our ADR). We'll probably take a bit longer with first courses of some sort + our kids seem to make everything take longer :lol::lookaroun but how much time would you say you had between finishing dinner and Wishes starting? I want to get my tripod set up, but I also need to factor in kid entertainment time.

Funny to see your part on Roaring Fork- I got that exact same sandwich one night. I really liked it, but mine I think came with a side of cucumber salad. Funny to see WL in the heat- it was frrrreeeezzzing when we stayed.

All in all, looks like you guys had a GREAT trip! And CONGRATS again on your anniversary! :wave:

HouCuseChickie · Jul 12, 2011

Whew- finally got to read everything and still sad to get to the end.

I'm glad to see your positive review of breakfast at 'Ohana. We're scheduled to do that as our farewell breakfast.

Also sad to see your bad experience at California Grill. First off- that woman who made the picture comment has some nerve!!! :fork: Of course I'm a bit of a hot head and probably would have said something...that probably would have made it worse.

Oh well- what an awful situation either way. The desserts looked really good, but I just can't order anything with foam...will have to make a mental note of your entree.

Speaking of Cali Grill- we have a 7:35p for our trip (best time I've been able to get- will keep trying for better through to the day of our ADR). We'll probably take a bit longer with first courses of some sort + our kids seem to make everything take longer :lol::lookaroun but how much time would you say you had between finishing dinner and Wishes starting? I want to get my tripod set up, but I also need to factor in kid entertainment time.

Funny to see your part on Roaring Fork- I got that exact same sandwich one night. I really liked it, but mine I think came with a side of cucumber salad. Funny to see WL in the heat- it was frrrreeeezzzing when we stayed.

All in all, looks like you guys had a GREAT trip! And CONGRATS again on your anniversary! :wave:

Ariel484 · Jul 13, 2011

HouCuseChickie said:
Whew- finally got to read everything and still sad to get to the end.

I'm glad to see your positive review of breakfast at 'Ohana. We're scheduled to do that as our farewell breakfast.

I think the character meals are fun in general, but we thought this one edged out Crystal Palace because the food was a little better. Hope you like it too!

HouCuseChickie said:
Also sad to see your bad experience at California Grill. First off- that woman who made the picture comment has some nerve!!! :fork: Of course I'm a bit of a hot head and probably would have said something...that probably would have made it worse. Oh well- what an awful situation either way. The desserts looked really good, but I just can't order anything with foam...will have to make a mental note of your entree.

I think I was too stunned to say anything, to tell you the truth. :shrug: Everyone here is suggesting great things I could have done, but my mind just went blank at the time.

The desserts and the flatbread were deeeeeeeeelicious. If there are any vegetarians in your group, I'd recommend going with a flatbread and a salad over the ravioli entree...it just wasn't that great.

HouCuseChickie said:
Speaking of Cali Grill- we have a 7:35p for our trip (best time I've been able to get- will keep trying for better through to the day of our ADR). We'll probably take a bit longer with first courses of some sort + our kids seem to make everything take longer :lol::lookaroun but how much time would you say you had between finishing dinner and Wishes starting? I want to get my tripod set up, but I also need to factor in kid entertainment time.

Okay, I looked at the time stamps on my photos...our reservation was at 7:50PM. I have a picture of Will holding up the table pager that is stamped at 7:53. The picture of my dessert is stamped at 9:26. Now that I think about it, our server was a little slow, so that helped us spread the meal out a bit. We had just enough time to settle our bill and head out to the observation deck for Magic, the Memories and You. Also keep in mind that there are observation decks on both sides of the restaurant, so you can eat up a bit of time by going to the observation deck that faces Epcot to watch Illuminations. There was a group near us with 3-4 kids that ran outside as soon as the show started...the view isn't as good as watching Wishes but it's still fun.

HouCuseChickie said:
Funny to see your part on Roaring Fork- I got that exact same sandwich one night. I really liked it, but mine I think came with a side of cucumber salad. Funny to see WL in the heat- it was frrrreeeezzzing when we stayed.

All in all, looks like you guys had a GREAT trip! And CONGRATS again on your anniversary! :wave:

We had the option to get salad...of course we both went with chips :lol: :lookaroun

Thanks for the congrats! Hope you have a fabulous time in August! :wave:

NewfieFan · Jul 16, 2011

I finally got to finish this TR! It was great from start to finish and I enjoyed a lot of your pictures (you have some different angles and shots which I haven't seen before). Your trip is a little similar to our last trip. We celebrated our 11th anniversary in May at AKL (Kidani Village) but we had the kids in tow. We did send the kids out to Simba's Club one night and dined at Jiko alone. Thanks for taking all of the pictures of your meals... your meal at Jiko was really similar to ours so I'll just look at your pictures to remember (I never took our my camera during our meal at Jiko). :animwink:

And concerning Ms. Cranky Pants at the CG I would have said "Say cheese!" and taken a picture of her!

Ariel484 · Jul 17, 2011

NewfieFan said:
I finally got to finish this TR! It was great from start to finish and I enjoyed a lot of your pictures (you have some different angles and shots which I haven't seen before). Your trip is a little similar to our last trip. We celebrated our 11th anniversary in May at AKL (Kidani Village) but we had the kids in tow. We did send the kids out to Simba's Club one night and dined at Jiko alone. Thanks for taking all of the pictures of your meals... your meal at Jiko was really similar to ours so I'll just look at your pictures to remember (I never took our my camera during our meal at Jiko). :animwink:

And concerning Ms. Cranky Pants at the CG I would have said "Say cheese!" and taken a picture of her!

Thanks! Glad to hear I got some different angles...there were times during the trip where I'd take a picture, look at it and go, "Yep, I've definitely seen this on WDWMagic before!"

Happy belated 11th anniversary! Did you like Kidani?

Hopefully I won't run into that lady again, but thanks for the suggestion!

NewfieFan · Jul 17, 2011

Ariel484 said:
Thanks! Glad to hear I got some different angles...there were times during the trip where I'd take a picture, look at it and go, "Yep, I've definitely seen this on WDWMagic before!"

Happy belated 11th anniversary! Did you like Kidani?

Hopefully I won't run into that lady again, but thanks for the suggestion!

Thank you... and happy belated anniversary to you (I forgot the wishes in the first post *doh*)!

I loved Kidani! The only con that I can think of is the lack of CS. There's a small pool bar with limited offerings and other than that you have to hike over to Jambo House to get a quick meal. And the pool bar closes or stops serving food at 9pm. (That's too early at WDW, IMO!) Other than that, everything else was great. We used the bus the whole time we were there and we never had a hitch. I was concerned as well b/c it is kind of removed from every park (well, except for AK) and it shares a bus with Jambo. Kidani is the first stop so we never had a crowded a bus and I usually had a seat (unless I stood up and offered it to someone else). The resort had such a laid back feel to it and no one seemed in a rush. Even though the pool is smaller than Jambo it was never crowded and the kids water play area is amazing.

Anyways, we liked it enough that we're going back. We're booked for Sept. at Kidani again!

Ariel484 · Jul 18, 2011

NewfieFan said:
Thank you... and happy belated anniversary to you (I forgot the wishes in the first post *doh*)!

I loved Kidani! The only con that I can think of is the lack of CS. There's a small pool bar with limited offerings and other than that you have to hike over to Jambo House to get a quick meal. And the pool bar closes or stops serving food at 9pm. (That's too early at WDW, IMO!) Other than that, everything else was great. We used the bus the whole time we were there and we never had a hitch. I was concerned as well b/c it is kind of removed from every park (well, except for AK) and it shares a bus with Jambo. Kidani is the first stop so we never had a crowded a bus and I usually had a seat (unless I stood up and offered it to someone else). The resort had such a laid back feel to it and no one seemed in a rush. Even though the pool is smaller than Jambo it was never crowded and the kids water play area is amazing.

Anyways, we liked it enough that we're going back. We're booked for Sept. at Kidani again!

Thanks for the anniversary wishes! :wave:

As I said in my report, we were supposed to stay at Kidani but it got canceled, and though I was disappointed I remember thinking "well, at least we'll be close to QS now." I cannot believe they don't have QS INSIDE Kidani! That seems like a huge oversight to me. Like you, I was concerned about the buses but it really wasn't bad at all, except for going to Downtown Disney, which always takes FOREVER. But laid back, you say? That sounds like my cup of tea for sure...hmm, you're making me want to try to book Kidani again!

WildcatDen · Jul 20, 2011

GREAT Trip Report!!

Loved the pics and the humor. Looks like you both had a great time. Congrats on the anniversary!

Our trips overlapped a bit as we were "in the June Orlando Heat" from the 15th thru the 22nd. Of course, with the heat we are having in Ohio right now, I should not complain.

Ariel484 · Jul 20, 2011

WildcatDen said:
GREAT Trip Report!!

Loved the pics and the humor. Looks like you both had a great time. Congrats on the anniversary!

Our trips overlapped a bit as we were "in the June Orlando Heat" from the 15th thru the 22nd. Of course, with the heat we are having in Ohio right now, I should not complain.

Thanks for the congrats! :wave:

Yes, it's brutal in Ohio right now. Tomorrow's forecast is 98 with a heat index of 110...yowza.

Stay cool down in Cincy!

WildcatDen · Jul 21, 2011

Heat Index. :fork: It has been crazy hot.

We took a day at Universal Thursday, June 16. Like you, I was a bit worried about motion sickness as I do not do well on motion simulators. Aging has not been kind. Used to be able to do all the rides at King's Island back, to back, to back. . . now, if I do not take a Dramamine, I am relagated to a choice few rides. Needless to say, for our day at Islands of Adventure, I took the meds. Was able to rice FJ 2 times, Hulk, Spiderman, and a few others (as time would allow). I have to say, as a fan of the books and movies, the WWoHP was FANTASTIC. Exceeded my expectations in practcally everyway, well, almost everyway. The wand experience at Olivander's WAS NOT worth the wait. You can only people watch for so long and even though that was entertaining, a 70 minute plus wait was the worst part of our day. Tip for those who want to do Olivander's but do not want to do the wand experience, there is a back door closer to the exit walkway from Dueling Dragons. If only I had known earlier.

Either way, glad you had a good time. Those views from both rooms are sweet!

Ariel484 · Jul 22, 2011

WildcatDen said:
Heat Index. :fork: It has been crazy hot.

Yes...and guess who doesn't have air conditioning at work today??? :hammer: :cry:

WildcatDen said:
We took a day at Universal Thursday, June 16. Like you, I was a bit worried about motion sickness as I do not do well on motion simulators. Aging has not been kind. Used to be able to do all the rides at King's Island back, to back, to back. . . now, if I do not take a Dramamine, I am relagated to a choice few rides. Needless to say, for our day at Islands of Adventure, I took the meds. Was able to rice FJ 2 times, Hulk, Spiderman, and a few others (as time would allow). I have to say, as a fan of the books and movies, the WWoHP was FANTASTIC. Exceeded my expectations in practcally everyway, well, almost everyway. The wand experience at Olivander's WAS NOT worth the wait. You can only people watch for so long and even though that was entertaining, a 70 minute plus wait was the worst part of our day. Tip for those who want to do Olivander's but do not want to do the wand experience, there is a back door closer to the exit walkway from Dueling Dragons. If only I had known earlier.

Sounds like you and I have similar issues. I grew up going to Cedar Point at least once every summer and had a season pass for Geauga Lake/Six Flags all through middle and high school. I totally wanted to join that national roller coaster club (forget what it's called)...and I've found that now I go on Everest or even Big Thunder Mountain once and I can't do it again for hours. :shrug: Funny how things change as you get older. Forbidden Journey go me like no other right though...I have NEVER felt so awful after a themepark ride in my life.

WildcatDen said:
Either way, glad you had a good time. Those views from both rooms are sweet!

Thanks...and yes, those WERE sweet views! :sohappy:

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