Right, here goes then!
I would like everyone to bear in mind that this was designed as a relaxing trip and not to hit the parks too much.
Friday: Arrived after a merry 8 ½ hour flight to wonderful Sanford “International” – not my fave airport in the world. Travelled through rush hour towards Dixie Landings. Arrived and checked in to the merry sound of about 5 people complaining about the severe drop in standards and quality of service, not just in the resort, but with Disney as a whole. My concern seemed to by added to further when, despite me asking prior to arrival, and when I checked in, we were not given a 2nd floor room, but a ground floor one – nothing major but I wasn’t happy. Anyhoo, nothing a quick call to guest relations didn’t solve, and lo an behold we were installed in our shiny new 2nd floor room in Alligator Bayou, lodge #16.
Saturday: What can I say – IT RAINED AND WAS COLD!!!!!
Sunday through Thursday : We managed to take in MK/AK/EC/DS and SW without putting down specifics, we thoroughly enjoyed all of them. All parks were EMPTY! We usually go in June/July when the heat and humidity is really high, the parks are packed and there are numerous tour groups. I am delighted to say that not one tour group was seen in any of the parks at all – it was wonderful.
We did our usual plan of staying in the parks till about 2pm and then going to chill at our pool for a few hours before venturing back out again.
MK – Looked wonderful, like a shiny new pin. It appeared to me that there had been quite a bit of effort put into making it look good for October 1st As I have said, I have changed my mind over SM now, I thoroughly enjoyed it – brilliant. Best of all was that each time we visited, there was no waiting for anything. Rode Splash 3 times running and same on BTMRR. Walked straight into Buzz Lightyear and Alien Encounter. One real high point had to be running onto HM at 6.55! As we headed to the door we realised that we were on our own. There was an older lady CM who greated us with an evil look and " Come on, lets get this over with" I have to say - SHE WAS BRILLIANT. In the stretch room she just circled us constantly staring at us, then when we weren't looking she jumped at us, scaring the bejesus out of us. The scarries thing though was once the room went pitch black and we didn't know where she was! It was such a relief when the door opened! She chased us towards the Doom Buggies screaming at us " I don't care if you are scared, GET OUUTA HERE!!" She really was brillient, I just wish I could have got her name to write and say what a great job she had done.
EC – Love it. We decided to “do” JIYI, and you know what? That ride really is crap isn’t it? Jeez, it’s a sorry state when the area after a ride is better than the ride! Huge wait for that one, we were the only people in there!! Got a FP for Test Track. The standby line was at about 20 mins, FP line was literally no waiting, just walked straight through. Enjoyed UoE – not been in for a while. New sign looks cool. Mission Space building seems to be really coming along well. The sphere looks brilliant! It seems to change colour depending on how the light shines on it – very nice. Only real disappointment was that the one evening we put aside to watch ToN and RoE, it was really windy, and the cancelled ToN. Oh well always next year. Naturally RoE was fantastic. I really don’t think you appreciate it enough until you have seen it a few times. Then to finish, even though the park closed at 9pm, TT was open until 10pm!! Superb, rode it 3 times running!! Oh yes, and I have to say the Epcot wand over SE doesn’t look as bad when you are close up as it does on pictures.
MGM – The infamous hat! Well…..it is great to look at…but it’s sooooo in the wrong place! I know we have discussed it countless times, but why in god name have they put it there? I mean sure it looks OK in front of the Chinese Theatre, but the sight line is all wrong. As you walk towards it, you can see the top corner of the theatre poking out from behind it! PLUS all that is under it, is some merchandise, a pin shop and some of the interactive info booths. Surely these could have been put somewhere else? In One Mans Dream, perhaps. Basically it is a shop, which is a shame coz I am sure if it was somewhere else, they could have made better use of it. Again, the park was very quiet. Got a FP for RnR but didn’t need it! Rode it twice one after the other, with no waiting – great! Rode ToT over and over with no wait too – it was like Christmas!! Didn’t do WWTBAM, will have to wait till next year for that one! Surprise morning was great too, did ToT, RnR, Star Tours and Muppets 4D all before the park had officially opened.
AK – Loved it. I think it’s a great park. Nice and relaxing, saw plenty of animals on the safari. Got FP for Dinosaur, but didn’t need it, and managed to ride it 3 times without any wait. Got a FP for later in the day and walked straight on bypassing the 15 minute wait. Had been looking forward to lunch at the Flame Tree café, but it was shut. Spent a very relaxing day at AK, which I think it’s perfect for. The Jungle Trek was great, high point being when all the Tigers came over for a play in the water!
SW – Like all the Disney Parks, very quiet! Did Kraken 3 times and Atlantis 4 times with no waits! Didn't do any of the shows, just wanted to chill out and feed some dolphin’s etc. All in all good fun though. Just bought 1 day and got a second free. Clyde and Seymore closed on 1st October until December .
Other Stuff – Had dinner at BOMA, very nice, as checking in with them, was greeted by the mighty Disneynut and arranged to partake of a few beverages later in the week at PI. BOMA was very nice, only park I wasn’t fond of was the hot meat part of the entrees – just not really to my liking. But everything else was wonderful, especially the Zebra Domes!
Had lunch at Planet Hollywood. We had decided to eat at the bar, so we wouldn’t have to wait. When we got there, there was no waiting, and only about 4 tables in use! And this was at about 12.30 in the afternoon! Usually when I go there is about an hour’s wait by about 11.30am!
Also had dinner at Bongo’s – brilliant!! If you haven’t tried it before – give it a go. Maria you were right! And of course went to PI when we met Disneynut @ the Adventurers Club, great fun! Apart from when he got the bar tender to drop my wife’s seat so she was practically sat on the floor!!!
Oh yeah, we also heard that the reason they changed the name from Dixie Landings to P.O.R. was coz is was seen to be politically incorrect to call it Dixie Landings! Sounds like a loads of old tosh to me but who knows!
All in all, a really great holiday. Already counting the days for next year!!
I would like everyone to bear in mind that this was designed as a relaxing trip and not to hit the parks too much.
Friday: Arrived after a merry 8 ½ hour flight to wonderful Sanford “International” – not my fave airport in the world. Travelled through rush hour towards Dixie Landings. Arrived and checked in to the merry sound of about 5 people complaining about the severe drop in standards and quality of service, not just in the resort, but with Disney as a whole. My concern seemed to by added to further when, despite me asking prior to arrival, and when I checked in, we were not given a 2nd floor room, but a ground floor one – nothing major but I wasn’t happy. Anyhoo, nothing a quick call to guest relations didn’t solve, and lo an behold we were installed in our shiny new 2nd floor room in Alligator Bayou, lodge #16.
Saturday: What can I say – IT RAINED AND WAS COLD!!!!!
Sunday through Thursday : We managed to take in MK/AK/EC/DS and SW without putting down specifics, we thoroughly enjoyed all of them. All parks were EMPTY! We usually go in June/July when the heat and humidity is really high, the parks are packed and there are numerous tour groups. I am delighted to say that not one tour group was seen in any of the parks at all – it was wonderful.
We did our usual plan of staying in the parks till about 2pm and then going to chill at our pool for a few hours before venturing back out again.
MK – Looked wonderful, like a shiny new pin. It appeared to me that there had been quite a bit of effort put into making it look good for October 1st As I have said, I have changed my mind over SM now, I thoroughly enjoyed it – brilliant. Best of all was that each time we visited, there was no waiting for anything. Rode Splash 3 times running and same on BTMRR. Walked straight into Buzz Lightyear and Alien Encounter. One real high point had to be running onto HM at 6.55! As we headed to the door we realised that we were on our own. There was an older lady CM who greated us with an evil look and " Come on, lets get this over with" I have to say - SHE WAS BRILLIANT. In the stretch room she just circled us constantly staring at us, then when we weren't looking she jumped at us, scaring the bejesus out of us. The scarries thing though was once the room went pitch black and we didn't know where she was! It was such a relief when the door opened! She chased us towards the Doom Buggies screaming at us " I don't care if you are scared, GET OUUTA HERE!!" She really was brillient, I just wish I could have got her name to write and say what a great job she had done.
EC – Love it. We decided to “do” JIYI, and you know what? That ride really is crap isn’t it? Jeez, it’s a sorry state when the area after a ride is better than the ride! Huge wait for that one, we were the only people in there!! Got a FP for Test Track. The standby line was at about 20 mins, FP line was literally no waiting, just walked straight through. Enjoyed UoE – not been in for a while. New sign looks cool. Mission Space building seems to be really coming along well. The sphere looks brilliant! It seems to change colour depending on how the light shines on it – very nice. Only real disappointment was that the one evening we put aside to watch ToN and RoE, it was really windy, and the cancelled ToN. Oh well always next year. Naturally RoE was fantastic. I really don’t think you appreciate it enough until you have seen it a few times. Then to finish, even though the park closed at 9pm, TT was open until 10pm!! Superb, rode it 3 times running!! Oh yes, and I have to say the Epcot wand over SE doesn’t look as bad when you are close up as it does on pictures.
MGM – The infamous hat! Well…..it is great to look at…but it’s sooooo in the wrong place! I know we have discussed it countless times, but why in god name have they put it there? I mean sure it looks OK in front of the Chinese Theatre, but the sight line is all wrong. As you walk towards it, you can see the top corner of the theatre poking out from behind it! PLUS all that is under it, is some merchandise, a pin shop and some of the interactive info booths. Surely these could have been put somewhere else? In One Mans Dream, perhaps. Basically it is a shop, which is a shame coz I am sure if it was somewhere else, they could have made better use of it. Again, the park was very quiet. Got a FP for RnR but didn’t need it! Rode it twice one after the other, with no waiting – great! Rode ToT over and over with no wait too – it was like Christmas!! Didn’t do WWTBAM, will have to wait till next year for that one! Surprise morning was great too, did ToT, RnR, Star Tours and Muppets 4D all before the park had officially opened.
AK – Loved it. I think it’s a great park. Nice and relaxing, saw plenty of animals on the safari. Got FP for Dinosaur, but didn’t need it, and managed to ride it 3 times without any wait. Got a FP for later in the day and walked straight on bypassing the 15 minute wait. Had been looking forward to lunch at the Flame Tree café, but it was shut
. Spent a very relaxing day at AK, which I think it’s perfect for. The Jungle Trek was great, high point being when all the Tigers came over for a play in the water!SW – Like all the Disney Parks, very quiet! Did Kraken 3 times and Atlantis 4 times with no waits! Didn't do any of the shows, just wanted to chill out and feed some dolphin’s etc. All in all good fun though. Just bought 1 day and got a second free. Clyde and Seymore closed on 1st October until December .
Other Stuff – Had dinner at BOMA, very nice, as checking in with them, was greeted by the mighty Disneynut
and arranged to partake of a few beverages later in the week at PI. BOMA was very nice, only park I wasn’t fond of was the hot meat part of the entrees – just not really to my liking. But everything else was wonderful, especially the Zebra Domes!Had lunch at Planet Hollywood. We had decided to eat at the bar, so we wouldn’t have to wait. When we got there, there was no waiting, and only about 4 tables in use! And this was at about 12.30 in the afternoon! Usually when I go there is about an hour’s wait by about 11.30am!
Also had dinner at Bongo’s – brilliant!! If you haven’t tried it before – give it a go. Maria you were right! And of course went to PI when we met Disneynut @ the Adventurers Club, great fun! Apart from when he got the bar tender to drop my wife’s seat so she was practically sat on the floor!!!
Oh yeah, we also heard that the reason they changed the name from Dixie Landings to P.O.R. was coz is was seen to be politically incorrect to call it Dixie Landings! Sounds like a loads of old tosh to me but who knows!
All in all, a really great holiday. Already counting the days for next year!!
