I just returned from my first and probably last solo trip to the world. I say that because I enjoyed my trip immensely but was very lonely after a couple of days and was missing my wife and son who were not able to go this trip.
Having said that, as I am sure anyone who has gone solo can attest to this....Being alone is like getting a backstage pass into other guests lives and gives a unique perspective on other guests and the parks in general.
This is not a trip report so I am posting here because I would like to get a few things off my chest.
First....Kudos to EVERY CAST MEMBER that I ran into....Did not have one foul or grumpy cast member my entire trip. One odd Bus Driver who liked to hear himself talk on the intercom and told me his entire history of what when and where he likes to Drink (Tequila by the way...and he likes to get the tequila flights in the Mexico Pavilion...but prefers Silver Patron)
Brazilian Tour Groups......There were alot around last week, the most I have ever seen, but I never go in the summer so I have no point of reference. Overall, I found them to be well behaved....some chanting here and there but not too bad....I stayed at POR(Loved it BTW) and there was at least one or two groups staying there and never heard or saw any trouble.
POR....First time at this resort...Absolutely fell in love with it.
Reason I bring it up, I faxed in a room request 3 days prior to arrival (First Time I have ever Done This)..Requested a ground floor room in Magnolia Terrace near transportation. Now I realize it is a slower time of year, but I received exactly what I asked for. Could not have handpicked a better room for myself! Good Job Room Assigner!!!!!
Universal Islands of Adventure.....Hogwarts looking Kick A$@...Cant wait till its finished.
Paradisio 37......Eat here...Skirt steak with Chimmichuri (SP) .....Awesome....Best thing I ate all week....Otherwise food was just so-so.... Biggest disappointment in food was breakfast at Liberty Tree (they are serving character breakfast because of CP rehab)....YUCK!
Teppan Edo....Yummy....I sat at a table with non english speakers but still had a good time!
Weather.....started the week in the 20's ended in the 70's.......was awesome standing on main street watching wishes with the castle dream lights still up drinking hot chocolate and seeing your breath....priceless!
Crowds...Light and very enjoyable
Undiscovered Future World Tour......I can see if you don't know anything about Epcot or Walt Disney or WDW in general how it might be interesting, however if I were to guess most if not all the people on this board already know 100% of the info on the tour. Backstage areas....not very interesting, VIP lounges look old tired and dated...and ALOT of WALKING!!!!!!
OK...Now on to the bad.....now remember, being by myself and not engaged in my own conversations, I am sure my perception was amplified due to all I did was listen to others. I came to a realization....ALL CAST MEMBERS SHOULD HAVE A FASTPASS TO HEAVEN BECAUSE.........(wait for it)..........On a whole WDW GUESTS ARE A HUGE GROUP OF SELF ABSORBED, SELFISH A-HOLES!!!!!!!!
I say this with the greatest respect and admiration for those guests that aren't because it seemed to me that the A-Holes outnumbered the good 2-1.
Now I know that I am going to get lambasted for the following remarks but I just call it the way I see it.
To our Latin spanish speaking friends.......THERE IS NO REASON TO SHOUT........ALLLLLLLL TTHHHHEEEEE TIMEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Also pretending that you don't understand english does not give you an excuse to cut lines and ignore cast members.
To people who take flash photos on dark rides.......I HOPE U GO BLIND!
I cannot tell you how many....I take that back....there was not one dark ride all week where some a-hole was not shooting pics facing backward in the row in front of me so all I saw all ride long was FLASH FLASH....then orange green spots while my eyes readjust..then FLASH FLASH.......I got so mad I finally said something and the jerk just shrugged and kept on.....
OK here goes.....Deep breath......Ready for my verbal lambast!
I am from the south.....I am not a hick or a redneck....I live in a city...we have running water and toilets.....
We also live by a code of unspoken politeness.....If two people are approaching each other in opposite directions, one has no room to go anywhere, the other has all the room in the world, the southern or IMO polite thing to do is to step aside and give the oncoming person some room.....not just plow ahead oblivious to anyone or anything.
All Week......Plowed over by people who will not budge....Drives me insane!
Now I am sure this is a cultural difference between people in our own country, but almost exclusively when this happened to me and the other party was talking.....they were always from the North....(yankees as we might call them)
Maybe this is a learned behavior in Boston or NY because of the sheer number of people, but we are at WDW and its not that busy or crowded....I beg of You....Please show a little respect for those around you.
Also all the complaining, screaming at cast members, beating of kids, verbally abusing kids (You would be shocked at the frequency and things I heard people say to there kids....Its no wonder our kids grow up all F up'd)
Again the common string running through all these incidents was that they all seemed to have heavy thick northern accents....I just point this out not because other people are immune from these activities, this was just my experience.
Overall I had a great trip.....my only complaint as far as Disney Goes...is that I think that they owe people an explanation as to why people are scratching their heads when they get off Everest going....Did anyone see the Yeti? Where was the Yeti? Thats not what I saw on TV.....
I rode Everest 6 times last week and heard it everytime I got off the ride.....they should post something so people can understand why they cant find the yeti.
WDW is awesome...I love it....I just wish people would be a little kinder to each other and to the people that make the magic happen, the Cast members.....If any of you read this....please know that I appreciate what you do...and I think you all ROCK![/FONT]
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Having said that, as I am sure anyone who has gone solo can attest to this....Being alone is like getting a backstage pass into other guests lives and gives a unique perspective on other guests and the parks in general.
This is not a trip report so I am posting here because I would like to get a few things off my chest.
First....Kudos to EVERY CAST MEMBER that I ran into....Did not have one foul or grumpy cast member my entire trip. One odd Bus Driver who liked to hear himself talk on the intercom and told me his entire history of what when and where he likes to Drink (Tequila by the way...and he likes to get the tequila flights in the Mexico Pavilion...but prefers Silver Patron)
Brazilian Tour Groups......There were alot around last week, the most I have ever seen, but I never go in the summer so I have no point of reference. Overall, I found them to be well behaved....some chanting here and there but not too bad....I stayed at POR(Loved it BTW) and there was at least one or two groups staying there and never heard or saw any trouble.
POR....First time at this resort...Absolutely fell in love with it.
Reason I bring it up, I faxed in a room request 3 days prior to arrival (First Time I have ever Done This)..Requested a ground floor room in Magnolia Terrace near transportation. Now I realize it is a slower time of year, but I received exactly what I asked for. Could not have handpicked a better room for myself! Good Job Room Assigner!!!!!
Universal Islands of Adventure.....Hogwarts looking Kick A$@...Cant wait till its finished.
Paradisio 37......Eat here...Skirt steak with Chimmichuri (SP) .....Awesome....Best thing I ate all week....Otherwise food was just so-so.... Biggest disappointment in food was breakfast at Liberty Tree (they are serving character breakfast because of CP rehab)....YUCK!
Teppan Edo....Yummy....I sat at a table with non english speakers but still had a good time!
Weather.....started the week in the 20's ended in the 70's.......was awesome standing on main street watching wishes with the castle dream lights still up drinking hot chocolate and seeing your breath....priceless!
Crowds...Light and very enjoyable
Undiscovered Future World Tour......I can see if you don't know anything about Epcot or Walt Disney or WDW in general how it might be interesting, however if I were to guess most if not all the people on this board already know 100% of the info on the tour. Backstage areas....not very interesting, VIP lounges look old tired and dated...and ALOT of WALKING!!!!!!
OK...Now on to the bad.....now remember, being by myself and not engaged in my own conversations, I am sure my perception was amplified due to all I did was listen to others. I came to a realization....ALL CAST MEMBERS SHOULD HAVE A FASTPASS TO HEAVEN BECAUSE.........(wait for it)..........On a whole WDW GUESTS ARE A HUGE GROUP OF SELF ABSORBED, SELFISH A-HOLES!!!!!!!!
I say this with the greatest respect and admiration for those guests that aren't because it seemed to me that the A-Holes outnumbered the good 2-1.
Now I know that I am going to get lambasted for the following remarks but I just call it the way I see it.
To our Latin spanish speaking friends.......THERE IS NO REASON TO SHOUT........ALLLLLLLL TTHHHHEEEEE TIMEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Also pretending that you don't understand english does not give you an excuse to cut lines and ignore cast members.
To people who take flash photos on dark rides.......I HOPE U GO BLIND!
I cannot tell you how many....I take that back....there was not one dark ride all week where some a-hole was not shooting pics facing backward in the row in front of me so all I saw all ride long was FLASH FLASH....then orange green spots while my eyes readjust..then FLASH FLASH.......I got so mad I finally said something and the jerk just shrugged and kept on.....
OK here goes.....Deep breath......Ready for my verbal lambast!
I am from the south.....I am not a hick or a redneck....I live in a city...we have running water and toilets.....
We also live by a code of unspoken politeness.....If two people are approaching each other in opposite directions, one has no room to go anywhere, the other has all the room in the world, the southern or IMO polite thing to do is to step aside and give the oncoming person some room.....not just plow ahead oblivious to anyone or anything.
All Week......Plowed over by people who will not budge....Drives me insane!
Now I am sure this is a cultural difference between people in our own country, but almost exclusively when this happened to me and the other party was talking.....they were always from the North....(yankees as we might call them)
Maybe this is a learned behavior in Boston or NY because of the sheer number of people, but we are at WDW and its not that busy or crowded....I beg of You....Please show a little respect for those around you.
Also all the complaining, screaming at cast members, beating of kids, verbally abusing kids (You would be shocked at the frequency and things I heard people say to there kids....Its no wonder our kids grow up all F up'd)
Again the common string running through all these incidents was that they all seemed to have heavy thick northern accents....I just point this out not because other people are immune from these activities, this was just my experience.
Overall I had a great trip.....my only complaint as far as Disney Goes...is that I think that they owe people an explanation as to why people are scratching their heads when they get off Everest going....Did anyone see the Yeti? Where was the Yeti? Thats not what I saw on TV.....
I rode Everest 6 times last week and heard it everytime I got off the ride.....they should post something so people can understand why they cant find the yeti.
WDW is awesome...I love it....I just wish people would be a little kinder to each other and to the people that make the magic happen, the Cast members.....If any of you read this....please know that I appreciate what you do...and I think you all ROCK![/FONT]
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