Just got back on 8/27...some impressions

[DisneyNutinNJ]

HI everyone.. DW and I just got home last night from our latest 7 day/6 night trip to the World. We had a wonderful time "celebrating" our first anniversary and the birth of our first little one, though they were 2 and 6 months early, respectively. To help answer some questions and hopefully organize what you're looking for, I'm breaking down my "review"

TRANSPORTATION:

Well, you have to GET there first! We flew Southwest out of PHL on Friday 8/21 VERY early in the AM. Great flight down, especially with our hilarious flight attendant, James. DME was also great again, and after maybe a 10 minute wait at MCO, we were off to CBR. Now, for the Disney buses to the parks, for the most part they were about par for the course. I wasn't too happy with the waits sometimes (about 40 minutes for a DAK bus one morning) and they need new brakes, or drivers who can handle them, since I think that our little one will be a bobblehead now from all the shaking on the road.

ACCOMMODATIONS:

We stayed at Caribbean Beach, in Jamaica and had a Nemo Room. It was a room...no more, no less. I frankly was NOT a fan... it was too big, the theming wasn't the greatest, IMO, and we both said we won;t be there again. on the upside, the air conditioning was nice and cold, which felt great in the afternoon. We're not pool people, so aside from walking through there, we didn't spend any time there. Old Port Royale was servicable, we only ate there twice. I got the Beef and Blue sandwich first day, which was great, but ordered a disgrace of a cheesesteak later in the week that was absolutely abominable. Which gets me to the next item...

DINING:

We DID do the DDP and loved it again, with one exception (coming later). ADRs worked perfectly, and we had TS which included: CP for dinner (we got the heart glitter); Kona for lunch; Mama Melrose for dinner; Tusker House for a breakfast; San Angel Inn for a lunch; Garden Grill for a dinner. We did our QS/CS when we felt hungry, and enjoyed all the food, aside from that despicable cheesesteak We did have to laugh at some of the many many meltdowns (especially the excuses) you saw from people trying to walk up to TS locations and trying to make the reservations the same morning with Guest Relations or the Concierge. We saved up all our snack credits until the end, and did some damage at Goofy's

CROWDS & WEATHER:

Crowds were there but manageable. We purposely avoided EMH wherever possible and this DID help quite a lot. I got the feeling people were not really park hopping like they used to I did notice a great number of foreign visitors though... lots of British accents!! I know we went during the first week of school for many, so Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were heavier than the rest of the week. Our longest wait time was about 35 minutes for TSMM, and we did Fastpass it, so we got 2 rides. We did NOT really do any of the other E-tickets though, except I rode ToT twice on a FP and standby wait of 5 minutes, and RnR in the single rider line... took me about 10 minutes. MANY of the posted wait times GROSSLY exaggerated the actual waits.

For the weather... It's Florida. It's August. It was exactly what we expected.

SPECIAL EVENTS:

We took more time to relax and resort hop and take tours this time around. We took the KTTK tour on Saturday morning and LOVED it. Our guide was Patrick, and while he was a little long winded sometimes, his knowledge of WDW and the company in general was extensive. While the walking did get to my wife after a while, we were able to catch breaks where we could I also loved that the tour lasted longer than advertised We also got some insider tips about the SM refurb too It's going to be WELL worth the wait I think, if what we heard is true!!

We took the Behind the Seeds tour on Sunday with Danny. He was a proud "bug guy" but the tours of the greenhouses were fantastic as well. I was so glad we were able to do this as LWTL is our favorite ride and we were very disappointed to miss it! (Yes, we are more about the old, educational EPCOT... you can have your TT and Mission Space) Again, the tour was much longer than the advertised hour but you never knew it!

Finally, on Tuesday we attended the Wishes Dessert Party. It was packed, but you didn't know it, it was VERY well organized. All the desserts were appetizer portioned (for lack of a better comparison) and quickly replenished when low...with the exception of the fresh fruit which decimated by the vultures every time as soon as the plate hit the buffet The fireworks themselves were good. There was no Tinkerbell (it was pouring!) and the rest were just fireworks to me, but I know DW loved it! I was more there for the desserts

THE AFTERMATH:

My only disappointments were that on Thursday, when we went to Mouse Gear, the EPCOT shirt I wanted, (the one with all the old logos) was pulled overnight to make room for the Halloween merchandise...(DON'T get me started on Halloween decorations in August...OR the big crane over the Castle setting up Xmas lights all week ). So, I never got my shirt. The second disappointment was having to come home!!! We did have a great flight back on Southwest, again, thanks to James, the same flight attendant we flew down with...and our front row seats .

Anyone with specific questions about anything, feel free to ask, either here or in a PM, and I will answer ASAP. As an FYI, we did NOT ride the following, so I cannot answer specifics about these E-Tickets:

BTMRR; Peter Pan; Test Track; Mission Space; Maelstrom; KRR; EE.

Overall, we spent time in all the major parks, as well as DTD. We visited the Poly, Wilderness Lodge, Contemporary, and Saratoga Springs in our resort hopping.

[auntfrannie]

Originally Posted by DisneyNutinNJ

TRANSPORTATION:

Well, you have to GET there first! We flew Southwest out of PHL on Friday 8/21 VERY early in the AM. Great flight down, especially with our hilarious flight attendant, James. DME was also great again, and after maybe a 10 minute wait at MCO, we were off to CBR. Now, for the Disney buses to the parks, for the most part they were about par for the course. I wasn't too happy with the waits sometimes (about 40 minutes for a DAK bus one morning) and they need new brakes, or drivers who can handle them, since I think that our little one will be a bobblehead now from all the shaking on the road.

I love this line!! Glad you had a great time!

[OhioStateBuckeye]

What kind of snacks were you able to get from Goofy's, some people have been saying there were some recent changes?

I am thinking of going on the Behind the Seeds Tour as well. Does it really have that much information different from the ride?

Glad to hear you had a good time. I think maybe we'll have to listen for people's excuses/pleadings with the restaurant people too. May be an entertaining way to pass the time.

[nanceliz]

Can you give more info on what you heard about the SM referb?
I am so excited! It it supposed to re-open while we are there

[KellyNY]

Glad you had a good time.

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Loved your review. I always try to talk DH into avoiding EMH but for some reason he still feels like he should go to them to "Get his money's worth." I'm glad it worked for you.

Try calling Disney Merchandising at 407/363-6200 for your Epcot shirt. They could probably sell you one and ship it to you.

[KSDisneyDad]

Great Report. We love flying Southwest!!

Have you tried calling the Merchandise line for that t-shirt? Perhaps you could have it shipped to you.

I too wanted a shirt from MouseGear that wasn't epcot specific, so I decided to wait. I never located that shirt anywhere else and I looked at all 3 parks and DTD. Oh well, I really didn't need another MM shirt anyway.

How was the bus service to DTD?

[DisneyNutinNJ]

Originally Posted by OhioStateBuckeye

What kind of snacks were you able to get from Goofy's, some people have been saying there were some recent changes?

I am thinking of going on the Behind the Seeds Tour as well. Does it really have that much information different from the ride?

At Goofy's we were able to get just about everything that was NOT specially made, or covered in lots of toppings. We got the regular dipped pretzels (3 were a snack), 2 Mickey PB cups, a haystack, 2 chocolate covered Smores, and an English toffee slab. Almost anythign else would have counted too... fudge, chocolate covered strawberries, Michey gingerbread men, rice krispie treats, plain and chocolate (no toppings), most of the plain covered marshmallows... there was TOO much to pick from

For the Behind the Seeds, you get to spend much more time in the areas than you do on the ride, so if you are more interested in how the hydro- and aeroponics work you will love it. If you have kids, there is lots they let them do too... you get to taste something from the garden (we had cucumbers), feed the Tilapia in the fish farm, play "guess that spice" and also the ladybug release. It was WELL worth the price, especially with the ride down!

[DisneyNutinNJ]

Originally Posted by nanceliz

Can you give more info on what you heard about the SM referb?
I am so excited! It it supposed to re-open while we are there

Not too too much I can say. The ride is currently gutted (according to Patrick from KTTK) and brand new track is being put in, but the ride sequence is the same. He also said the queue was being redone, and hinted at something akin to either TSMM with the interaction/theming, or like Soarin' with the interactive gaming. Nothing specific, but he brought those 2 up as examples, so I am deducing that something similar will go into SM.

[DisneyNutinNJ]

Originally Posted by GaSleepingBeautyFan

Loved your review. I always try to talk DH into avoiding EMH but for some reason he still feels like he should go to them to "Get his money's worth." I'm glad it worked for you.

Try calling Disney Merchandising at 407/363-6200 for your Epcot shirt. They could probably sell you one and ship it to you.

Originally Posted by KSDisneyDad

Great Report. We love flying Southwest!!

Have you tried calling the Merchandise line for that t-shirt? Perhaps you could have it shipped to you.

I too wanted a shirt from MouseGear that wasn't epcot specific, so I decided to wait. I never located that shirt anywhere else and I looked at all 3 parks and DTD. Oh well, I really didn't need another MM shirt anyway.

How was the bus service to DTD?

Thanks for the tips for the shirt I will try both, since I was so disappointed, and kicking myself for putting it off If there is no luck there, then it wasn't meant to be!!

The buses to DTD weren't bad at all. We went on Saturday (BIG mistake, since it was mobbed) then again on Monday and yesterday. My only complaint is that it seems they take a roundabout way to get there and it seems like it takes much longer than it needs to be!

[DizzDoll]

Hey Fellow Jerseyan!! We were down roughly the same time you were (our dates were 8/14 - 8/19). We flew Continental, and I'm seriously thinkin' that that particular airline is starting to suck big time. Have you flown Southwest before? Would you recommend it? Stupid question. Ignore it. I'm already in the planning stages for next year () and am seriously considering dumping Continental altogether. Since we're from Middletown, it would take us about 2 hours to get to Philly, correct? Are your check-through bags free? Continental ripped me off for $15 each way. Service sucked. Attendants rude. Definitely slipshod. Sorry you didn't like CBR, but I can thoroughly recommend Pop Century. We'll be staying there from now on, although we do like the deluxes, we don't stay in the room long enough to justify the expense anymore.

[nanceliz]

Thanks for the info and the trip report!!

[DisneyNutinNJ]

I would recommend Southwest to ANYONE!! As long as you can get your boarding pass early (remember, open seating) and get in the A or B group, you are set...as long as you want to sit with your family We were A 57 & 58 yesterday coming home (it goes to 60) and we got the front row!!

They still allow you 2 checked bags at NO CHARGE! as well as a carry-on and a "personal item" -- I used my backpack and DW used her insulated giant purse. All of those are no charge. Frankly, I don't think I would fly with anyone else!

CBR was the first resort I was disappointed in. We stayed in '03 in All Star Movies, which worked, and our Honeymoon was at Coronado, and I LOVED it there! We won't be down for another 5 years or so at least, considering the little one will be WAY too young until then, but Pop is definitely in the running for then

[ShannonMB]

Thanks for the great report! I appreciated your thoughts, and glad you had an awesome time!!!