Shuttergirl taking on the US hehe - NOW WITH some PHOTOS See Post 1 for links

[kylieh]

Welcome home Ms Shuttergirl! Glad the travel home went well (well, i'm assuming so...) 4500 photos. Wow! Can't wait to see your selection.

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Free dining - I thought this was fabulous and although you pay full price for your room, if your family are foodies and love to eat at nice restaurants, this is a very good value.

ADR's - These are obviously a must do. We had everything planned out but as we went along and we wanted to change a few plans, it was almost impossible to get an ADR anywhere (free dining made the restaurants busy). The other thing we discovered was that either a sit down breakfast or a sit down lunch was better for our family than a dinner. The dinner ADR's were the ones we ended up cancelling or changing the most because the kids were too tired by then etc. We will definitely be more aware of that for next time.

Disney transport - I was worried about how the bus system would work, whether we would spend all of our time waiting waiting waiting for a bus etc. You learn quickly to get to the parks early if you can, between 9-10am is busy on the buses, as is at park closing when 25000 of your closest friends are all trying to get on a bus . Overall, we didn't have to wait long for the buses at all (except for Blizzard Beach which I mentioned a few pages back). It was easy to find which bus stop to go to, most people were courteous and made room for older people, our children were wonderful about giving up their seats for others and they made us really proud. Some people stunned me filling up seats will little kids when the bus was full when they could've easily popped them on their knee to let an older person have a seat. The buses were clean, the drivers were friendly and I think the system works really well.

WDW - Please don't flame me but I think it would be hard to go back to Disneyland now after visiting WDW. I loved DL so much but I feel for our family that WDW has alot more to offer. Better dining by far, more diverse activities, esp Epcot which was my DH and my favourite park. My son loved AK the best, he loved the animals so much. I felt like WDW was an overall holiday experience, where DL is more a place to visit for a few days. I guess they are different experiences for me now. As I said, I loved both so much and would never turn down a visit to DL, it is the original park and just so special , but WDW will be my preference for the future.

US toilets - What the hell? Why is that water so damn close to your butt? Our whole family found it unnerving . And the self flushing is great, unless you are actually sitting on the toilet when it decides to do that, then you get a little shock . We love the automatic taps and I laughed at DD yesterday at Sydney airport when she had her hands under the tap and was wondering why nothing was coming out, haha, she was so used to not having to turn the tap on.

Planning - well I just think you would be mad to go to WDW and not have done some planning about which park which day, ride lines, where to eat etc. It just makes the whole experience more relaxed and you get more out of each day. As I mentioned earlier, we saw nearly 3 hour lines for TSM and people were actually jumping into those lines. That is an incredible waste of precious time and could be easily avoided with a little information which luckily all of us crazy DISers have .

Accom - I think each of the resorts have alot to offer and it was wonderful to see all of the theming. I cannot imagine even considering not staying onsite as you would spend alot of time travelling too and from the parks I think. We loved Wilderness Lodge, the theming had me enthralled, it was so detailed. We also enjoyed POP, much cheaper and the rooms were newly refurbed, clean, the resort was lots of fun for the kids with all of the POP culture statues and the pool was good. I definitely think you can't go wrong with the WDW resorts, with something for every budget. We loved doing the split stay and think we would do that each time. We enjoyed checking out the two resorts.

Live shows - we loved all of the live stage shows. The quality was excellent and I would recommend everyone finding time to check out at least a few. Beauty and the Beast, Festival of the Lion King and Nemo were our favourites.

Amount of time - we found 11 days to be just right for us. People here in Canberra thought we were mad going for so long and I am really grateful to my DH for trusting me on this timeframe. I mean, it's alot to ask of a guy who isn't crazy about Disney like me to spend 11 whole days at WDW. But he agreed on the way home that it was just the right amount of time. We got to see everything we wanted, didn't have to rush and still had time to relax when we wanted.

Food and Wine Festival - love love loved it. As much as I would love to visit WDW at Christmastime, I would find it hard to choose to go at anytime other than F&W time. We loved checking out the different foods and beers (we skipped wine) and our favourite part was the Eat to the Beat Concerts. Taylor Dayne was the best, followed by Sugar Ray and third was Kool & the Gang. We really loved the live concerts alot, as did our kids who love music just as much as us.


Okay well I think that is all I have to say on the whole trip. At times we were rushing, at times we weren't, we swam, we ATE, we laughed, we cried, we ATE, we rode, we watched, we shopped, we had a really great trip.

Back to reality!!!!!!!!

[Travel Mum]

WOW, thanks so much for your wonderful summing up of your trip Ms Shuttergirl! It is all so helpful for me with planning our trip and you have shared a lot of great advice

[shaz105]

Thanks for the update

I had the same feeling about the US toilets and the taps.

My husband nearly had a heart attack when he went to the toilet for the first time.

[Jade+3]

Love the way you keep saying 'next time'. WDW is not a place you can just go to once.

[aussiegirls]

Thanks so much for taking us along to WDW with you Shuttergirl. I thoroughly enjoyed reading along with you.

xxx

[darren123]

Thanks for the Final Thoughts great information,

We still have a few trips to DL to do, planning to go WDW maybe in the next 5 years or so but when we do I will be here first to get all the good tips.

Again Welcome Home and hope you do not get the Disney Blues to much.

[jacs1234]

You wouldn't believe my excitement when I decided to pop back onto the boards (in the hope to cure my Disney longing) to find so many familiar disney friends here, and that you were there RIGHT at the time was just soooooooooooo exciting. I loved reading about your trip. Thanks so much for sharing. I remember your pics from last year and look forward to seeing this years. I must admit you make me a bit scared to go to WDW because I don't want to lose the magic of Disneyland It sounds so full on at WDW, i might stick with Disneyland till my kids are a bit older. I'm so glad that I'm not the only Disney crazy person in Oz who can't get enough of it.

And btw, hopping back on the boards and reading your TR has NOT cured my disney longing. It's made it sooooooooooo much worse that dh and I are talking about sneaking a quick trip in before christmas

[Jade+3]

Hi jacs Nice to see you back here!

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Originally Posted by jacs1234

You wouldn't believe my excitement when I decided to pop back onto the boards (in the hope to cure my Disney longing) to find so many familiar disney friends here, and that you were there RIGHT at the time was just soooooooooooo exciting. I loved reading about your trip. Thanks so much for sharing. I remember your pics from last year and look forward to seeing this years. I must admit you make me a bit scared to go to WDW because I don't want to lose the magic of Disneyland It sounds so full on at WDW, i might stick with Disneyland till my kids are a bit older. I'm so glad that I'm not the only Disney crazy person in Oz who can't get enough of it.

And btw, hopping back on the boards and reading your TR has NOT cured my disney longing. It's made it sooooooooooo much worse that dh and I are talking about sneaking a quick trip in before christmas

Hey Jacs, nice to see you. I say do it, sneak in a trip before Christmas. We snuck this one in and had such a great time. Don't be scared of WDW, it was not scary at all. It was full of wonderful things to do and I did not feel overwhelmed at all while we were there.

Good to see you back on the boards. I had to take a few months off from the DIS last year when we got back because I was too depressed about no other trips planned and I need to step away for a while. I have my fingers crossed that the depression doesn't set in this time .

[heidispidi]

What a great way to wrap-up your trip. I can still hear the excitement in your words, I hope your transition to 'real life' is smooth :-) Can't wait to see your pics!

[aussietravellers]

What a fabulous report! Have enjoyed reading it, particularly being there at the time to follow along.

I have to say that I was drinking when I was reading your summary and I almost choked on my water when I started reading the toilet part That was just so funny and I think something that every Aussie thinks when they use an american toilet.

I am still struggling with the taps at the hotel, at both YC and BC the taps turn on the wrong way! So I go to turn it off and turn it on full blast and saturate myself. We have all been doing it.

Anyway, loved the report and am looking forward to the photos. We leave tomorrow Although I am looking forward to getting home. This time tomorrow we will be on the plane from MCO to LAX so may catch up on a few days of my reporting whilst waiting during the 6 hour stopover at LAX on our way home

[5ofus]

Welcome home!

Great summary too. I've been to the US 7 or 8 times now and I don't think I'll EVER get use to their loos!

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Originally Posted by heidispidi

What a great way to wrap-up your trip. I can still hear the excitement in your words, I hope your transition to 'real life' is smooth :-) Can't wait to see your pics!

Thanks Heidi, it was an exciting trip and I've been browsing through our photos today and reliving it all.

Originally Posted by aussietravellers

What a fabulous report! Have enjoyed reading it, particularly being there at the time to follow along.

I have to say that I was drinking when I was reading your summary and I almost choked on my water when I started reading the toilet part That was just so funny and I think something that every Aussie thinks when they use an american toilet.

I am still struggling with the taps at the hotel, at both YC and BC the taps turn on the wrong way! So I go to turn it off and turn it on full blast and saturate myself. We have all been doing it.

Anyway, loved the report and am looking forward to the photos. We leave tomorrow Although I am looking forward to getting home. This time tomorrow we will be on the plane from MCO to LAX so may catch up on a few days of my reporting whilst waiting during the 6 hour stopover at LAX on our way home

Boo hoo about you leaving tomorrow but yay for the hope of getting more updates about your trip. I have loved reading your report too, esp since you were sharing photos (much better than me).

Sorry to make you spit water everywhere hahaha, but seriously those toilets are freaky. I will spare you the details but my husband had much to say about them, none of it for public sharing but all of it funny .

How weird that the taps are turning the opposite way? What is that all about?

Have a safe trip home lovely.

Originally Posted by 5ofus

Welcome home!

Great summary too. I've been to the US 7 or 8 times now and I don't think I'll EVER get use to their loos!

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed the toilets

[1rocky]

thanks you so much for you trip report.
Hoping one day to be able to go to WDW.