Went to the world this past weekend, for what will most likely be our final trip to disney for a while. We were passholders for a couple of years, but decided not to renew this year.
Since it was our last time we decided to splurge a little bit and spend the night at the contemporary. Our room was originally supposed to be in the garden wing. We checked in and headed to the room, the room was literally the last room all the way at the end of the building, and after what seemed like countless turns and a really long walk, we found out the key did not work, even though they told us the room was ready. We had requested that the room be on the first floor and near transportation. This was on the second floor, and really really far from transportation.
So we walked back, told them our key didnt work, and asked them if they had something closer. After a long search one of the managers came over and let us stay in the main tower, on the 5th floor, literally right above chef mickey's.
We were very grateful as we had never stayed in the main tower before, and this was a very nice treat to end the many years of being a passholder.
The room was great, it was nice to open the door and see the characters down in chef mickey's. The view of the pools and the lake were amazing as well.
By the time we had brought our bags up and settled in we were hungry, so we decided to head over to the Grand Floridian to eat. We went to the quick service area there for some burgers and salads. Food was blah, and mgmt should really consider moving those games inside to their own dedicated area, it felt like a chuck e. cheese in there and as their flagship hotel, you would think they would be able to find a more suitable place to put those games, but I digress. The main reason we went there was because you have such a beautiful view of the castle when dining outside, but being that it was really cold, we decided to just eat inside and put up with the arcade games/noise.
At this point I had not slept in over 24+ hours due to work and other stuff. So I decided to head back to the hotel for a nap while the rest of the family went to epcot for a bit.
The nap was awesome, I couldn't believe how quiet it was in those rooms, until they announced the opening of chef mickey's for dinner over the microphone. I woke up for a moment when they did that, but I was too tired to stay up and fell right back to sleep.
After about an hour and a half or so I woke up, took a shower, and took a walk around the hotel. The place still has that "magic disney feel" it had back in the 80s and 90s when we used to stay here, the one area I do not like is what they did to the other side of the grand concourse with the shop in the middle and the arcade, that area just looks so cluttered now but I guess it is what it is now.
I decided to wait for my family so we can watch the fireworks from the little outdoor area, I called them up around 6:45 they told me they were waiting for a monorail, after many delays and unexpected stops on the monorail they finally got back to the contemporary at 7:50 (over an hour just to get from epcot to the contemporary!)
Well they finally got there and we watched wishes from the outdoor area, it was a nice change as we have seen wishes from pretty much every area in the park. It was nice, but I think to truly appreciate the fireworks you just gotta be INSIDE the magic kingdom, seeing the fireworks so far off from the castle just doesnt have the same effect.
With the monorail constantly stopping somewhere along the track for "further clearance" we decided to just walk over to mk. Park looks good. Headed over to Frontierland as everyone was hungry again, and being that pecos bill is one of the few places left that actually HAS a toppings bar we decided to eat there. Food was great, although I do remember the burgers having a nice onion ring in the sandwich, it wasnt a big deal, but I definitely preferred the cheeseburger with the onion ring.
After eating me and my brother decided to ride splash mountain, its kind of our tradition to ride that every time we go up there. Since it was really really cold it was the only ride that was a walk-on.
Splash seems to be doing better than when I saw it on my last trip in November. One of the chickens on the riverboat in the final scene had looked like she threw her back out last time, thankfully she was singing fine this time. All the rest of the effects seemed to be working alright, but the ride can definitely use a cleaning.
After splash we walked around for a little bit, wanted to try riding peter pan's flight and ofcourse it was the only ride in the park that had a 50 minute wait Sigh, I really wanted to ride that one last time, but that darn ride always has such a long wait for such a short ride. When all the rest of fl has wait times of no more than 15 minutes, there is no reason that ppf should have a wait of 50 min! It just doesnt make sense, and I really wish it could have moved to the new area being used for the snow white coaster, with an updated queue and faster load/unload area.
After walking around a little more, we decided to just head back to the hotel. It was really cold, and we had pretty much done everything we wanted. I am definitely going to miss seeing the castle and all the areas lit up at night, as many gripes as I may have with the way some things are run here there is definitely no denying that this park truly is gorgeous and a sight to behold anytime, but especially at night.
Took us 19 minutes from the time we stepped on to the monorail platform to the time we disembarked at the contemporary. No unexpected stops on the monorail beam, but spent a while waiting for one to come.
The following morning I woke up to a beautiful sunrise around 7 am. I swear seeing the lake that early with early morning fog on it,a picture perfect clear blue sky,and the sun beeming brightly peeking over the trees was definitely one of the more beautiful sunrises I have seen in a long time. I included a link to a quick video of it here: http://youtu.be/KhlnaZwpxtw
After the family taking a while to get ready, we finally got out the door to make our reservation at the Crystal Palace. Got on to the monorail, and what a suprise, we ended up just sitting and waiting there for over 15 minutes while they waited for "further traffic clearance." It ended up taking over 35 minutes from the time we got on to the time we got off. I really do think its time they upgraded the monorail/update/change/fix/whatever because everytime we go it just seems to have more and more issues. It shouldnt take over an hour to get from epcot to the contemporary, and it shouldnt take over half an hour just to get from the contemporary to the mk. I won't complain too much as it was my last trip up there for a while, but they definitely need to do something with this.
Back to Breakfast at the Crystal Palace:
It was my first time eating here, it was nice. The food was ok, the sausages tasted funny though, and pooh's breakfast lasagna was definitely a new taste for me. The real treat was taking pics with pooh and eeyore though, because noone in my family really likes piglet, he is way to pink and was just never a favorite of ours, and tigger kind of had an attitude, the second time he passed by our table he just walked by gave us a wave and then kept walking. But eeyore and pooh really played with us and took their time with us. Pooh even sat down for a little while, we enjoyed him the most.
After breakfast we walked around for a little bit, didnt get to ride anything as it was packed with people, and fantasyland was just completely overrun by strollers. Got to see a couple of people playing the sorcerers in the kingdom game. It just looked like a bunch of tv screens embedded in a couple of windows here and there with some cartoons on it. I think I like epcot's version of this next gen thing more, more interesting stuff happening there rather than just oval shaped tv screens with some cartoons on them, but I guess some people will be in to that.
We ended our trip with a ride on the railroad one last time. It was a nice way to end our years of being disney passholders. I will miss the place, there truly is nothing in the world like it, wdw might have many flaws, but its still a beautiful place and a sight to behold. We might return when wdw has more to offer, maybe when the mine train is open, but for now it kinda just seems like we have done it all in wdw and our trips were growing a bit stale and too expensive. So hopefully I will see her again in a couple of years, until then... its off to disneyland! jk (but not really):animwink:
Since it was our last time we decided to splurge a little bit and spend the night at the contemporary. Our room was originally supposed to be in the garden wing. We checked in and headed to the room, the room was literally the last room all the way at the end of the building, and after what seemed like countless turns and a really long walk, we found out the key did not work, even though they told us the room was ready. We had requested that the room be on the first floor and near transportation. This was on the second floor, and really really far from transportation.
So we walked back, told them our key didnt work, and asked them if they had something closer. After a long search one of the managers came over and let us stay in the main tower, on the 5th floor, literally right above chef mickey's.
We were very grateful as we had never stayed in the main tower before, and this was a very nice treat to end the many years of being a passholder.
The room was great, it was nice to open the door and see the characters down in chef mickey's. The view of the pools and the lake were amazing as well.
By the time we had brought our bags up and settled in we were hungry, so we decided to head over to the Grand Floridian to eat. We went to the quick service area there for some burgers and salads. Food was blah, and mgmt should really consider moving those games inside to their own dedicated area, it felt like a chuck e. cheese in there and as their flagship hotel, you would think they would be able to find a more suitable place to put those games, but I digress. The main reason we went there was because you have such a beautiful view of the castle when dining outside, but being that it was really cold, we decided to just eat inside and put up with the arcade games/noise.
At this point I had not slept in over 24+ hours due to work and other stuff. So I decided to head back to the hotel for a nap while the rest of the family went to epcot for a bit.
The nap was awesome, I couldn't believe how quiet it was in those rooms, until they announced the opening of chef mickey's for dinner over the microphone. I woke up for a moment when they did that, but I was too tired to stay up and fell right back to sleep.
After about an hour and a half or so I woke up, took a shower, and took a walk around the hotel. The place still has that "magic disney feel" it had back in the 80s and 90s when we used to stay here, the one area I do not like is what they did to the other side of the grand concourse with the shop in the middle and the arcade, that area just looks so cluttered now but I guess it is what it is now.
I decided to wait for my family so we can watch the fireworks from the little outdoor area, I called them up around 6:45 they told me they were waiting for a monorail, after many delays and unexpected stops on the monorail they finally got back to the contemporary at 7:50 (over an hour just to get from epcot to the contemporary!)
Well they finally got there and we watched wishes from the outdoor area, it was a nice change as we have seen wishes from pretty much every area in the park. It was nice, but I think to truly appreciate the fireworks you just gotta be INSIDE the magic kingdom, seeing the fireworks so far off from the castle just doesnt have the same effect.
With the monorail constantly stopping somewhere along the track for "further clearance" we decided to just walk over to mk. Park looks good. Headed over to Frontierland as everyone was hungry again, and being that pecos bill is one of the few places left that actually HAS a toppings bar we decided to eat there. Food was great, although I do remember the burgers having a nice onion ring in the sandwich, it wasnt a big deal, but I definitely preferred the cheeseburger with the onion ring.
After eating me and my brother decided to ride splash mountain, its kind of our tradition to ride that every time we go up there. Since it was really really cold it was the only ride that was a walk-on.
Splash seems to be doing better than when I saw it on my last trip in November. One of the chickens on the riverboat in the final scene had looked like she threw her back out last time, thankfully she was singing fine this time. All the rest of the effects seemed to be working alright, but the ride can definitely use a cleaning.
After splash we walked around for a little bit, wanted to try riding peter pan's flight and ofcourse it was the only ride in the park that had a 50 minute wait Sigh, I really wanted to ride that one last time, but that darn ride always has such a long wait for such a short ride. When all the rest of fl has wait times of no more than 15 minutes, there is no reason that ppf should have a wait of 50 min! It just doesnt make sense, and I really wish it could have moved to the new area being used for the snow white coaster, with an updated queue and faster load/unload area.
After walking around a little more, we decided to just head back to the hotel. It was really cold, and we had pretty much done everything we wanted. I am definitely going to miss seeing the castle and all the areas lit up at night, as many gripes as I may have with the way some things are run here there is definitely no denying that this park truly is gorgeous and a sight to behold anytime, but especially at night.
Took us 19 minutes from the time we stepped on to the monorail platform to the time we disembarked at the contemporary. No unexpected stops on the monorail beam, but spent a while waiting for one to come.
The following morning I woke up to a beautiful sunrise around 7 am. I swear seeing the lake that early with early morning fog on it,a picture perfect clear blue sky,and the sun beeming brightly peeking over the trees was definitely one of the more beautiful sunrises I have seen in a long time. I included a link to a quick video of it here: http://youtu.be/KhlnaZwpxtw
After the family taking a while to get ready, we finally got out the door to make our reservation at the Crystal Palace. Got on to the monorail, and what a suprise, we ended up just sitting and waiting there for over 15 minutes while they waited for "further traffic clearance." It ended up taking over 35 minutes from the time we got on to the time we got off. I really do think its time they upgraded the monorail/update/change/fix/whatever because everytime we go it just seems to have more and more issues. It shouldnt take over an hour to get from epcot to the contemporary, and it shouldnt take over half an hour just to get from the contemporary to the mk. I won't complain too much as it was my last trip up there for a while, but they definitely need to do something with this.
Back to Breakfast at the Crystal Palace:
It was my first time eating here, it was nice. The food was ok, the sausages tasted funny though, and pooh's breakfast lasagna was definitely a new taste for me. The real treat was taking pics with pooh and eeyore though, because noone in my family really likes piglet, he is way to pink and was just never a favorite of ours, and tigger kind of had an attitude, the second time he passed by our table he just walked by gave us a wave and then kept walking. But eeyore and pooh really played with us and took their time with us. Pooh even sat down for a little while, we enjoyed him the most.
After breakfast we walked around for a little bit, didnt get to ride anything as it was packed with people, and fantasyland was just completely overrun by strollers. Got to see a couple of people playing the sorcerers in the kingdom game. It just looked like a bunch of tv screens embedded in a couple of windows here and there with some cartoons on it. I think I like epcot's version of this next gen thing more, more interesting stuff happening there rather than just oval shaped tv screens with some cartoons on them, but I guess some people will be in to that.
We ended our trip with a ride on the railroad one last time. It was a nice way to end our years of being disney passholders. I will miss the place, there truly is nothing in the world like it, wdw might have many flaws, but its still a beautiful place and a sight to behold. We might return when wdw has more to offer, maybe when the mine train is open, but for now it kinda just seems like we have done it all in wdw and our trips were growing a bit stale and too expensive. So hopefully I will see her again in a couple of years, until then... its off to disneyland! jk (but not really):animwink:
