We arrived home at 4:30AM today (after the drive from hell) after a week in the World and we had a fantastic time, as usual. Please understand that this was our first trip in three years, so some of these observations, some good, some bad, will seem to be old news for most of you. Feel free to comment or just rip me apart if it suits you. :
--We stayed off-site this trip. A single room just doesn't work for our family any more. After a little shopping, for $500.00 we got 6 nights in a 1400sf, three bedroom condo at Windsor Hills, which was safe and beautifully kept. A similar place on the property would have probably would have cost five times that. I love the Disney resorts, but I think they've hit the breaking point with their prices.
--The parks looked great!. Everything looked clean and well kept and I was hard-pressed to find any missing effects on any of the attractions. (There is the Yeti, of course, but with my glasses off I could have been in the dentists office anyway). There were some effects that had been inoperative for so long I didn't even remember they existed.
--Every single CM we met and talked with was polite, professional, and seemed really enthused about what they were doing. No attitudes whatsoever. My 10 year old daughter had designed and made our own "Perry" hats (see avatar) and several CM's went out of their way to complement her ingenuity. Thanks to Josh at Star Tours, who gave us fastpasses for her originality. We even got a complement from a stone-faced host at the Haunted Mansion. The attention made DD very proud.
--Transportation in general was a bit of a let down. As others have posted, the monorails were troublesome and it seems like the parking trams are getting fewer in number and less frequent.
--I think its time that TDO considers going back to running the MK evening parade and/or fireworks twice each night, every night, as they did years ago. With just one showing, every guest in the park winds up shoulder-to-shoulder in the same small area with CM's yelling at them to stay within a taped box. Then everybody tries to leave the park at the same time, overwhelming the monorail and ferry. Tempers were flaring and it really ended the day on a sour note for us.
--For some reason, we all enjoyed the Studios much more than in previous years. Perhaps TDO is heading in the right direction with the entertainment/attraction mix?
--Loved the new Star Tours. We rode twice and got completely different story lines.
--Space Mountain- It was my first ride after the refurb a couple of years ago. The queue and scenery look much improved and it certainly is darker and feels faster. However, the track is getting really rough-to the point that it was getting a little painful for someone my age. (Just for reference, I really enjoyed RNRC.) Both my son and I felt one point where the car's rollers seemed to leave the track then slammed back down. I actually sat out a second ride while the kids went on just because of it.
--I couldn't visualize how big the FLE was until I saw it. Very impressive.
--The lighting in HM seems much darker that it was, making it tough to see some of the great details in the scenes. Was the lighting purposely dimmed recently?
--Lots of construction walls at the TTC. Is this for major changes or just re-paving?
--Saw HOP for the first time in many years. The attraction itself looks great. I know that WDW is a place of diversity and can accept that, but it would probably be a good idea to have a host(ess) than can speak clear English making the announcements.
--We saw LMA with the new Lightening McQueen sequence. It seems to be flowing much better than it did in the early videos posted here. It's still a little awkward, but the kids in the audience seemed to love it and in the end that's what matters. It seemed like there were many new effects here since the last time I saw it, and the show moved along much, much better.
The only mystery for me is where they found a 1972 AMC Gremlin that runs?
--$8.25 for a rain poncho? Really???
--Greater Orlando. No offense to locals, but what the hell happened here? Every single news story we read or saw on TV was about shootings, child abuse, or robbery. Is this just the media coverage of the area or has the crime rate gotten that bad?
So there's my trip report. Feel free to discuss.
Miles.
--We stayed off-site this trip. A single room just doesn't work for our family any more. After a little shopping, for $500.00 we got 6 nights in a 1400sf, three bedroom condo at Windsor Hills, which was safe and beautifully kept. A similar place on the property would have probably would have cost five times that. I love the Disney resorts, but I think they've hit the breaking point with their prices.
--The parks looked great!. Everything looked clean and well kept and I was hard-pressed to find any missing effects on any of the attractions. (There is the Yeti, of course, but with my glasses off I could have been in the dentists office anyway). There were some effects that had been inoperative for so long I didn't even remember they existed.
--Every single CM we met and talked with was polite, professional, and seemed really enthused about what they were doing. No attitudes whatsoever. My 10 year old daughter had designed and made our own "Perry" hats (see avatar) and several CM's went out of their way to complement her ingenuity. Thanks to Josh at Star Tours, who gave us fastpasses for her originality. We even got a complement from a stone-faced host at the Haunted Mansion. The attention made DD very proud.
--Transportation in general was a bit of a let down. As others have posted, the monorails were troublesome and it seems like the parking trams are getting fewer in number and less frequent.
--I think its time that TDO considers going back to running the MK evening parade and/or fireworks twice each night, every night, as they did years ago. With just one showing, every guest in the park winds up shoulder-to-shoulder in the same small area with CM's yelling at them to stay within a taped box. Then everybody tries to leave the park at the same time, overwhelming the monorail and ferry. Tempers were flaring and it really ended the day on a sour note for us.
--For some reason, we all enjoyed the Studios much more than in previous years. Perhaps TDO is heading in the right direction with the entertainment/attraction mix?
--Loved the new Star Tours. We rode twice and got completely different story lines.
--Space Mountain- It was my first ride after the refurb a couple of years ago. The queue and scenery look much improved and it certainly is darker and feels faster. However, the track is getting really rough-to the point that it was getting a little painful for someone my age. (Just for reference, I really enjoyed RNRC.) Both my son and I felt one point where the car's rollers seemed to leave the track then slammed back down. I actually sat out a second ride while the kids went on just because of it.
--I couldn't visualize how big the FLE was until I saw it. Very impressive.
--The lighting in HM seems much darker that it was, making it tough to see some of the great details in the scenes. Was the lighting purposely dimmed recently?
--Lots of construction walls at the TTC. Is this for major changes or just re-paving?
--Saw HOP for the first time in many years. The attraction itself looks great. I know that WDW is a place of diversity and can accept that, but it would probably be a good idea to have a host(ess) than can speak clear English making the announcements.
--We saw LMA with the new Lightening McQueen sequence. It seems to be flowing much better than it did in the early videos posted here. It's still a little awkward, but the kids in the audience seemed to love it and in the end that's what matters. It seemed like there were many new effects here since the last time I saw it, and the show moved along much, much better.
The only mystery for me is where they found a 1972 AMC Gremlin that runs?
--$8.25 for a rain poncho? Really???
--Greater Orlando. No offense to locals, but what the hell happened here? Every single news story we read or saw on TV was about shootings, child abuse, or robbery. Is this just the media coverage of the area or has the crime rate gotten that bad?
So there's my trip report. Feel free to discuss.
Miles.
