Hi Guys
Got back from an excellent 19 day stay in Florida a couple of weeks ago, so thought I'd let you know some positives and negatives from our trip.....
Positive : Cape May Cafe
Although we have visited this restaurant before it has never been one of our must-do's....until now! Since our last visit crab legs have been added to the buffet and they were worth the cost of the meal alone. Everything else was fantastic also and this proved to be easily the best meal of the vacation.
Negative : Sci-Fi Dine-In
I know, I know, the ratings for this restaurant have never been good, but it was requested by my 15-year old daughter. We ordered 1 appetizer and 3 entres (plus a side of fries) and it was all sent back to the kitchen after a 40 minute wait it arrived at our table stone cold! Quite an argument then ensued between myself and the manager, but the result was we only paid for the drinks. Never again!
Positive : Magical Express
Maybe we were just lucky, but from collecting our cases to leaving on the bus was 25 minutes no hold ups at all. I did see other people in lines for other hotels so I guess our timing was just right.
Negative : Magical Express Bus
Every window on the bus (except the driver's) was blacked out with Disney adverts. I like to see my surroundings as we journey to the World, but this was both impossible and ridiculous.
Positive : Not having a car for the first part of our trip
I am always the designated driver on our vacations so it was nice to be able to have a beer or glass of wine with my meals without the though of driving later.
Negative : Not having a car for the first part of our trip
Disney transportation is excellent, but get from hotel to hotel for meals is somewhat of a ball ache, particularly on the return journey when the parks are closing. Poly back to POP took an hour.
Positive : Dreams Unlimited Travel
Dorothy is amazing!
Negative : UK Travel Companies
Way more expensive than using Dreams. Everyone booking flights, hotel etc.. independent of each other should compare UK prices for hotel, tickets etc., with Dreams!
Positive : Food & Wine Festival with snack credits
The first part of our trip was with free dining so we saved our snack credits (20 of them) for F&W. Between the 4 of us we actually used 17 at F&W. The Lobster Roll at $7.50 was a real deal using the snack credit. We had a great night!
Negative - Positive : Food & Wine Festival without snack credits
OK, we returned to F&W later in our trip without free dining and the food options suddenly seemed quite expensive for the size of the portions the tiny Lobster Roll was no longer a real deal!
Positive : Wolfgang Puck Express
This is a real bargain with free dining. 3 large pizzas, a pasta dish, 4 wonderful deserts and drinks and although you order at the counter you are served the food at the table. Excellent.
Negative : Wishes Desert Party
It's a bit unfair for me to give this a negative, but let me explain. The weather was terrible on the night we were there and Wishes was less than perfect (lots of smoke from fireworks drifting our way), and it was very cold. The deserts themselves were good (except the mango shot that tasted very strange), and there was loads I wanted to try, but there is only so much sugary goodness you can take!
Positive : Osbourne Lights
This is my favorite thing at Disney World and we extended our vacation must so that we could attend the opening night (strangely only the week before we were at MNSSHP.....Halloween and Christmas on the same trip!!). The lights dancing to Trans-Siberian Orchestra is always the highlight.
Negative : Phineas & Ferbs intrusion into Osbourne Lights (!)
Erm, what was this all about? Suddenly the lights dimmed and these 2 Disney TV characters begin to speak, fix the lights, and then the lights dance to part of their upcoming album soundtrack. Really!!!
Positive : The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
OK, as well as being a Disney Obsessive, I also like the Harry Potter novels (read them on a previous vacation). I was worried that Universal would not do the land justice, and not as well as Disney would have. I was wrong what Universal has put together theming wise is amazingly good. It's not without it's problems the shops, particularly HoneyDukes are way too small and were rammed; there was a 90 minute wait to get inside the wand shop we didn't bother; at 6'4 and 17.5 stone I did have to test the fat chair but was OK to ride. But, that all being said, the positives way outweighed the negatives. The ride is amazing!
Negative : The Simpsons Ride
The other attraction I was really looking forward to at Universal and I was really disappointed. The waiting area is fun, but I thought the screen on the ride itself was dim and not as good as say Spiderman.
Positive : Week 1 Temperatures
Record highs for that time of year
Negative : Week 3 Temperatures
Record lows on some days for time of year it was cold!
Positive : Roger Hodgson from Supertramp at Eat to the Beat
Wonderful, particularly as we didn't realize he was performing and it was a nice suprise.
Negative : Billy Ocean at Eat to the Beat
I'm not a fan and he looks kinda weird these days would not have been out of place in Cirque du Soleil!
Positive : Spending time with Family
During the last 10 days of the trip we were joined by my wife's family from Miami. It was great to see my nephews and niece again after so long (nine years in one case)
Negative : Spending time with Family (!)
When everyone wants to do different things it is quite stressful and even more stressful when we did theme parks together. I feel a solo trip coming on to do all the things I missed due to hold-ups!
Finally I have to put the negatives first or you won't understand...
Negative : House Flood
With 2 days remaining on our vacation we found out we had had a flood at our home in the UK. The leak was in the loft and our bedroom was ruined!
Positive : My sister's quick actions
The flood could have been much worse, but my sister was checking our house and got a plumber to fix the problem straight away. It will still be at least a month before we can use bedroom again.
Negative : Wife's illness on journey home Big Negative
Our flights home were Orlando Washington, Washington London. My wife began to feel ill on return journey from Orlando to Washington. On arrival at Washington she was very ill. Paramedics attended and it was thought at on point that she may have had bleeding on the brain. Here blood pressure was also through the roof. She was rushed to hospital were she was treated for 7 hours before being released. It wasn't a brain issue, although we are still not sure what it was she is having various tests back here in the UK.
Positive : The Paramedics, Emergency Room staff and United Airlines
All were fantastic and I am massively grateful to them.
Well that was longer than I expected! Would love to hear your thoughts.
Richie
Got back from an excellent 19 day stay in Florida a couple of weeks ago, so thought I'd let you know some positives and negatives from our trip.....
Positive : Cape May Cafe
Although we have visited this restaurant before it has never been one of our must-do's....until now! Since our last visit crab legs have been added to the buffet and they were worth the cost of the meal alone. Everything else was fantastic also and this proved to be easily the best meal of the vacation.
Negative : Sci-Fi Dine-In
I know, I know, the ratings for this restaurant have never been good, but it was requested by my 15-year old daughter. We ordered 1 appetizer and 3 entres (plus a side of fries) and it was all sent back to the kitchen after a 40 minute wait it arrived at our table stone cold! Quite an argument then ensued between myself and the manager, but the result was we only paid for the drinks. Never again!
Positive : Magical Express
Maybe we were just lucky, but from collecting our cases to leaving on the bus was 25 minutes no hold ups at all. I did see other people in lines for other hotels so I guess our timing was just right.
Negative : Magical Express Bus
Every window on the bus (except the driver's) was blacked out with Disney adverts. I like to see my surroundings as we journey to the World, but this was both impossible and ridiculous.
Positive : Not having a car for the first part of our trip
I am always the designated driver on our vacations so it was nice to be able to have a beer or glass of wine with my meals without the though of driving later.
Negative : Not having a car for the first part of our trip
Disney transportation is excellent, but get from hotel to hotel for meals is somewhat of a ball ache, particularly on the return journey when the parks are closing. Poly back to POP took an hour.
Positive : Dreams Unlimited Travel
Dorothy is amazing!
Negative : UK Travel Companies
Way more expensive than using Dreams. Everyone booking flights, hotel etc.. independent of each other should compare UK prices for hotel, tickets etc., with Dreams!
Positive : Food & Wine Festival with snack credits
The first part of our trip was with free dining so we saved our snack credits (20 of them) for F&W. Between the 4 of us we actually used 17 at F&W. The Lobster Roll at $7.50 was a real deal using the snack credit. We had a great night!
Negative - Positive : Food & Wine Festival without snack credits
OK, we returned to F&W later in our trip without free dining and the food options suddenly seemed quite expensive for the size of the portions the tiny Lobster Roll was no longer a real deal!
Positive : Wolfgang Puck Express
This is a real bargain with free dining. 3 large pizzas, a pasta dish, 4 wonderful deserts and drinks and although you order at the counter you are served the food at the table. Excellent.
Negative : Wishes Desert Party
It's a bit unfair for me to give this a negative, but let me explain. The weather was terrible on the night we were there and Wishes was less than perfect (lots of smoke from fireworks drifting our way), and it was very cold. The deserts themselves were good (except the mango shot that tasted very strange), and there was loads I wanted to try, but there is only so much sugary goodness you can take!
Positive : Osbourne Lights
This is my favorite thing at Disney World and we extended our vacation must so that we could attend the opening night (strangely only the week before we were at MNSSHP.....Halloween and Christmas on the same trip!!). The lights dancing to Trans-Siberian Orchestra is always the highlight.
Negative : Phineas & Ferbs intrusion into Osbourne Lights (!)
Erm, what was this all about? Suddenly the lights dimmed and these 2 Disney TV characters begin to speak, fix the lights, and then the lights dance to part of their upcoming album soundtrack. Really!!!
Positive : The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
OK, as well as being a Disney Obsessive, I also like the Harry Potter novels (read them on a previous vacation). I was worried that Universal would not do the land justice, and not as well as Disney would have. I was wrong what Universal has put together theming wise is amazingly good. It's not without it's problems the shops, particularly HoneyDukes are way too small and were rammed; there was a 90 minute wait to get inside the wand shop we didn't bother; at 6'4 and 17.5 stone I did have to test the fat chair but was OK to ride. But, that all being said, the positives way outweighed the negatives. The ride is amazing!
Negative : The Simpsons Ride
The other attraction I was really looking forward to at Universal and I was really disappointed. The waiting area is fun, but I thought the screen on the ride itself was dim and not as good as say Spiderman.
Positive : Week 1 Temperatures
Record highs for that time of year
Negative : Week 3 Temperatures
Record lows on some days for time of year it was cold!
Positive : Roger Hodgson from Supertramp at Eat to the Beat
Wonderful, particularly as we didn't realize he was performing and it was a nice suprise.
Negative : Billy Ocean at Eat to the Beat
I'm not a fan and he looks kinda weird these days would not have been out of place in Cirque du Soleil!
Positive : Spending time with Family
During the last 10 days of the trip we were joined by my wife's family from Miami. It was great to see my nephews and niece again after so long (nine years in one case)
Negative : Spending time with Family (!)
When everyone wants to do different things it is quite stressful and even more stressful when we did theme parks together. I feel a solo trip coming on to do all the things I missed due to hold-ups!
Finally I have to put the negatives first or you won't understand...
Negative : House Flood
With 2 days remaining on our vacation we found out we had had a flood at our home in the UK. The leak was in the loft and our bedroom was ruined!
Positive : My sister's quick actions
The flood could have been much worse, but my sister was checking our house and got a plumber to fix the problem straight away. It will still be at least a month before we can use bedroom again.
Negative : Wife's illness on journey home Big Negative
Our flights home were Orlando Washington, Washington London. My wife began to feel ill on return journey from Orlando to Washington. On arrival at Washington she was very ill. Paramedics attended and it was thought at on point that she may have had bleeding on the brain. Here blood pressure was also through the roof. She was rushed to hospital were she was treated for 7 hours before being released. It wasn't a brain issue, although we are still not sure what it was she is having various tests back here in the UK.
Positive : The Paramedics, Emergency Room staff and United Airlines
All were fantastic and I am massively grateful to them.
Well that was longer than I expected! Would love to hear your thoughts.
Richie
I would have thought that I died and went to heaven to stumble upon a RH concert on my WDW trip. How was it?
