Old, New & Long Lost Friends, with a Side of Frump: A January 2013 TR! Updated 5/14x2

[khertz]

Joined in on your TR today! I have not read many TR's of people staying at Saratoga Springs, so it's nice to get a new resort to check out through pictures. Being close to DTD is great too, since that seems to be the hardest place to get to by bus or to park when taking a car!

Looking forward to the rest!

[danimaroo]

Oh man, Matt and I were just discussing the possibility of leaving Disney to check out WWoHP at some point and I just feel like I'd think it was so weird! I know that sounds silly, but obviously you get it.

At least it sounds like you guys had a great time catching up with old friends!

OH! And that little Princess Parade is too adorable! I'm sure those girls felt very special.

[beachphotog]

I LOVE resort specific merchandise! I'm so so so glad they are working it back in!

I love the princess parade, it's pretty adorbs!

I'm glad to see you made it off property and back in one piece! My parents went off property on our last trip to see a friend of my dad's and I know my mother was a little worried about leaving her happy place! But all was fab!

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Yay for successfully navigating outside of the Disney Bubble!! Hahaha I like the pickle with a face, very cute!

I always always always think it is a brilliant idea to get a case of water rather than keep buying the $2.50 bottles on-property. Was the Walmart far from SSR?

[arbolita]

Originally Posted by khertz

Joined in on your TR today! I have not read many TR's of people staying at Saratoga Springs, so it's nice to get a new resort to check out through pictures. Being close to DTD is great too, since that seems to be the hardest place to get to by bus or to park when taking a car!

Looking forward to the rest!

I totally agree with you about DTD being difficult to get to when at other resorts (aside from the ones with boat access) - it really was one of the best parts about staying there!

Originally Posted by danimaroo

Oh man, Matt and I were just discussing the possibility of leaving Disney to check out WWoHP at some point and I just feel like I'd think it was so weird! I know that sounds silly, but obviously you get it.

At least it sounds like you guys had a great time catching up with old friends!

OH! And that little Princess Parade is too adorable! I'm sure those girls felt very special.

We've done side trips to Universal before - it's actually where we got engaged - and I'd say it's worth doing at some point! They have some great rides (The Mummy, Spiderman & Forbidden Journey) and the butterbeer is as amazing as everyone says it is. And with the two parks being set up near each other, like at Disneyland, it's easy to see what you want at both in one day.

That being said, they are going through so much expansion right now, I would definitely wait until after they've opened the new Harry Potter area, or even after they finish Transformers and the new Simpsons area they have coming.

Originally Posted by beachphotog

I LOVE resort specific merchandise! I'm so so so glad they are working it back in!

I love the princess parade, it's pretty adorbs!

I'm glad to see you made it off property and back in one piece! My parents went off property on our last trip to see a friend of my dad's and I know my mother was a little worried about leaving her happy place! But all was fab!

Same here! I didn't buy anything for Saratoga Springs, but I probably would have bought something from Coronado or Port Orleans when we stayed at those resorts during our honeymoon and anniversary if they'd had them.

[arbolita]

Originally Posted by Stringbean&Wingnut

Yay for successfully navigating outside of the Disney Bubble!! Hahaha I like the pickle with a face, very cute!

I always always always think it is a brilliant idea to get a case of water rather than keep buying the $2.50 bottles on-property. Was the Walmart far from SSR?

I'm glad somebody else appreciated the pickle-face, hahaha. I was laughing so hard when I saw it.

We were so happy we made the choice to get the bottled water - it was great not having to buy it in the parks, and to have at night when we got back to the resort.

The Wal-Mart we went to was by Universal, since we were driving back that way from dinner, so it's probably about 15-20 minutes away. I'm sure there's a Wal-Mart (or Publix) closer than that one, though. And I've heard a lot of people use GardenGrocer to deliver water to their resort the day they arrive.

[RachelNinja]

I got home from work and saw that you commented on my TR and was highly entertained by it because I JUST bookmarked yours yesterday and read the first few pages! I'm caught up now. Love your sense of humor!

You make Raglan Road sound so yummy. That's what I'll be writing about in my next TR update. It wasn't our favorite, but I think a LOT of it had to do with the atmosphere. We went during dinner when the bar area was packed, and we were sitting at the end of the round connected booth around the stage. These guys behind me were leaning on the booth, and one kept moving! I was getting booth-sick! I said to my husband that if we were to ever return, it would have to be for lunch. We're old farts, and we didn't appreciate the music, dancing, and the loud people all at once.

Ooo, I'm curious to see all the light fixtures you took pictures of on this trip! My husband is OBSESSED with Disney light fixtures. He takes a ton during each trip and even started a Flickr group for it, haha (http://www.flickr.com/groups/disneylights/).

[arbolita]

Originally Posted by RachelNinja

I got home from work and saw that you commented on my TR and was highly entertained by it because I JUST bookmarked yours yesterday and read the first few pages! I'm caught up now. Love your sense of humor!

You make Raglan Road sound so yummy. That's what I'll be writing about in my next TR update. It wasn't our favorite, but I think a LOT of it had to do with the atmosphere. We went during dinner when the bar area was packed, and we were sitting at the end of the round connected booth around the stage. These guys behind me were leaning on the booth, and one kept moving! I was getting booth-sick! I said to my husband that if we were to ever return, it would have to be for lunch. We're old farts, and we didn't appreciate the music, dancing, and the loud people all at once.

Ooo, I'm curious to see all the light fixtures you took pictures of on this trip! My husband is OBSESSED with Disney light fixtures. He takes a ton during each trip and even started a Flickr group for it, haha (http://www.flickr.com/groups/disneylights/).

Ugh, I'm sorry your experience at Raglan Road wasn't great - I think even I would have had a bad time with the booth rocking like that! And as much as I love the restaurant, I also don't love being seated in the center room while eating dinner - it's just so difficult to hear the people at your table. I hope you do try again for lunch though, because it was pretty empty/quiet while we were there.

The pictures in the Flickr group are awesome!! Makes me wish I had upgraded to a better camera before we had taken this trip so I could get even more of the detail in them.

[laurenvic1312959]

Joining in great report so far!
I love the look of Saratoga springs, considering staying there the next time I go, definitely with a DTD view, it looks amazing!
I've never ate at Raglan road either and now I feel like I'm missing out haha
I don't like leaving disney once we get there either, next time we go I don't think I'll leave there at all If I can help it x

[wdwgirl03]

I'm joining in! I follow a lot of DIS friends on twitter and I think I might've recently started following you because you were in the list of people to follow!

OMG, you make Stacey GIFs? When I saw that I had to click on your link. Those are pretty awesome.

Subscribing to catch up!

ETA: OK, I totally love that picture of the princess parade at DTD! My sister works at DTD and I also had no idea they did this until she told me about it. SO CUTE!

[arbolita]

Originally Posted by laurenvic1312959

Joining in great report so far!
I love the look of Saratoga springs, considering staying there the next time I go, definitely with a DTD view, it looks amazing!
I've never ate at Raglan road either and now I feel like I'm missing out haha
I don't like leaving disney once we get there either, next time we go I don't think I'll leave there at all If I can help it x

Saratoga Springs really surprised me with how much I enjoyed it! It had never been much on my radar before, so I'm really happy that it worked out to be where we ended up staying on this trip!

Originally Posted by wdwgirl03

I'm joining in! I follow a lot of DIS friends on twitter and I think I might've recently started following you because you were in the list of people to follow!

OMG, you make Stacey GIFs? When I saw that I had to click on your link. Those are pretty awesome.

Subscribing to catch up!

ETA: OK, I totally love that picture of the princess parade at DTD! My sister works at DTD and I also had no idea they did this until she told me about it. SO CUTE!

Is your Twitter name the same as your Dis name?

I am so happy you like the Stacey gifs!! They were seriously so much fun to make, and I can't wait until I have a higher quality version of the new video so I can make some more!

One of the things I liked most about the Princess parade was the fact that it was something about Disney that was completely new to me! I feel like I spend so much time reading about it through blogs and trip reports that it's always such a great treat when I discover something new while in the Parks.

[arbolita]

Quick apologies to those of you who have just found my Trip Report and aren't seeing any photos. I seem to have exceeded my bandwidth on Photobucket. I'm going to work on figuring out a better solution for my pictures, so any suggestions you have will be great!

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I'm in the process of transitioning my pictures to Flickr and am planning on ditching Photobucket. Their new website has been very slow and frustrating to use with a lot of glitches. And in the process of implementing their new website it appears that they decided to suddenly and without any warning apply a much smaller space limitation and start charging for access to larger memory space.

[khertz]

Oh my gosh I'm so OVER that atrocity that is called new photobucket. I ran out of space now on my account anyway, so I'm moving elsewhere.

[RachelNinja]

Yeah, Photobucket is ridiculous! Suddenly I have like, NO space! I had to start a new acct. But even then, I'm already at 7% capacity for just a few updates! Plus, I can't resize them automatically from the upload or even at all. Frustrating. I was thinking about Flickr.