knucklehead
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2002
- Messages
- 44
Hello everyone, knucklehead here with a few quick notes from our latest Disney experience, our first WDW visit since January 2004. Unfortunately our previously annual Disney excursions have been replaced with a strange new phenomenon, similar to a black hole that sucks time and money from us. Many of our other friends have encountered it also. They call it high school and extracurricular activities.
I would like to send out a very special thank you to Ernie (username and location withheld to protect the innocent) for all of his extraordinary efforts in securing us otherwise unavailable DVC accomodations.
Field notes from November 5th-12th 2007 Disney trip, in no particular order:
Four of us, Wife & I , son (14) & his best friend (16).
All out park hopping assault tactics, fast and furious pace for the most part, with parents limping back to the room with mandatory hot-tubbing and showers in the late hours before bed while the boys hit Extra Magic Hours or Disney Quest. Lots of attractions, lots of food, and still a lot that we missed/forgot/ran out of time to do.
Just the basic highlights.
Weather was absolutely gorgeous all week, rarely a cloud in the sky, low to mid 70s, zero precipitation.
New (to us) attractions:
Soarin really fun, went twice, hour wait both times. Fastpasses go quickly.
Expedition Everest Great coaster for Disney parks. Three trips. Single rider line moves too slow IMHO. (Regular line actually moved faster than single rider line our first time on).
Lights, Motors, Action Show actually made me want to go car shopping, my kind of show.
Monsters, Inc Very funny show, only went once, shouldve went twice.
Turtle Talk Well done too, once also, would have gone again but ran out of time.
Updated attractions:
Mission Space formerly known as Mission
uke, almost lost my cookies a few years ago on this sucker. The new version with the no spin cycle was a pleasant option for the wife and I. The boys handled the old version just fine.
Mexico Boat Ride with the Three Cabelleros Who would have thought I would have missed the old hokey version. Disney/Epcot/Mexico should have left well enough alone. Heritage replaced with cartoons. Bad move. Thumbs down.
Pirates of the Caribbean Jack Sparrow makes his debut here, big yawn from a long time original WDW POC fan. Be a bit more daring, please. Smoke waterfall/lighting effect at beginning was a pleasant surprise.
Haunted Mansion Very well executed updates to an already satisfying attraction. Another all time favorite made better.
Non-updated attraction:
Carousel of Progress and like an old friend I enjoyed every minute of my time there. Some things should just be left alone. OK, maybe the last act could use a change or two from time to time, but this is honest to goodness nostalgic W.E. Disney.
Blizzard Beach Laws of physics taken to new levels as I tested my XXL 40 year old body on Summit Plummet. First plunge did enough damage to my right rear cheek ( zip-a-dee-do-da tip for the day: dont put the locker key in your back pocket when doing this one ), but I had to go again to finish off the calf muscles with matching bruises. Scary sight Im sure for the poor people watching me from the bottom. Snow Stormers was next in line, first time for me and that was fun. I then proceeded to annihilate the competition many times over at the toboggan racers. Second dip is all air and feels like the turbo kicks in. For those of you familiar with this one, I literally have to dig in elbows and knees to avoid slamming into the end wall. No kidding. Got the scraped knees to prove it. Time for a major diet and exercise program.
Bummer list:
Spaceship Earth closed for whatever reason. Very disappointed. A favorite.
Great Movie Ride needs help. The drivers/actors that we had lacked enthusiasm. This was also noticed several times during our last several visits.
Backlot Tour not running either.
Kilimanjaro Safari over an hour wait in the standby line each visit with all fast passes gone by noontime is a travesty for this park. Kids want to see animals here, Disney needs to speed this guy up. Not an isolated observation here, this attraction has had long lines during our previous visits, also.
Animal Kingdom Park in general Strollers, scooters and lines, oh my! What a navigational nightmare this park was. Winding narrow paths clogged with pedestrian congestion, but what can you do? Then again, I did spend rush hour crawling along a highway coming home from work the past week, Id rather be standing in long lines at WDW!!!
Food for thought:
Caseys Corner hot dog with spicy relish, a traditional addiction, mmmmmm...
Dole Whip Stand pineapple float, dee-lish
Pecos Bills fixins bar never disappoints
Sunshine Seasons was a pleasant new find
Mexico (San Angel Inn) food and dinner service barely just OK.
Biergarten dinner had a packed house with a shortened and lackluster show. Service was impersonal and average.
France Boulangerie Patisserie Napoleon, cest encroyable!
Le Cellier continues to satisfy the palate, eh.
Cape May Café still a favorite.
Pizza Planet quick and reasonable for WDW.
Wolfgang Puck Express, Downtown Disney Margherita Pizza and Caesar salad was good, but the spicy tuna roll was absolute crap. Granted, it was premade, prepackaged and refrigerated, and Im sure that it doesnt represent the quality of the sushi and sashimi offerings inside the restaurant itself, but why bother serving the premade garbage you get at a supermarket seafood section?
Food and Wine Festival at Epcot We tried a few drinks and tidbits here and there, not too bad overall, but the real stinker was the spicy tuna roll at the Japan stand. We figured that the quality should be similar to what was served inside the actual restaurant. Wrong. Just as bad as the stuff from Wolfies Express at DTD.
Rainforest Café, Animal Kingdom Slow, expensive, predictable, unexciting. Probably our last visit. I do miss the meatloaf.
50s Prime Time Café Get the right waitress (Mom this time) and youve got a winner. Our favorite meal this trip, our best time ever at this restaurant so far. Food was really keen, and it was really swell dining with all of our cousins from New Jersey.
Our Saratoga Springs studio notes:
Good:
Its still Disney.
Grandstand section room (86XX) was very convenient to a quiet pool and hot tub.
Free, clean and convenient washer and dryer setup at quiet pool area.
Easy access to extra pool towels for room use (before criticizing and blaming me for global warming and pollution, see Not so good list below).
Short walk to Downtown Disney boat transportation.
Fairly close bus stop and first stop when coming back from parks.
Not so good:
Room was just clean enough to not complain. It had a clammy musty odor present until the central air ran for a while. Not from smokers, just not pleasant smelling. Very surprising since these are brand new rooms. Forget about asking for another room, resort was at full capacity. Deal with it.
Outdoor hallway setup, similar to All Stars, encouraged noisy traffic early am and late pm (and after PI closing hours)
Sorry, but 4 tiny towels slightly larger than hand towels for four people for half a week just isnt magical.
Next door neighbors were smokers (non-smoking rooms?). Smell from balcony and through lock off door. Stuffing several towels between the doors helped a little.
Able to share in a morning 60s flashback from our balcony; Close neighbor groovin to California Dreaming (twice) and Good Vibrations tunes for one and all to hear from their open sliding door, completing the psychedelic experience with the distinct wafting aroma resulting from his/her cannabis communion. Guess we're just "lucky".
Variety shop expensive (duh) and selection wanting.
Five bus stops when leaving the resort for the parks.
Fifty five minutes from SSR to Animal Kingdom? Fuhgeddaboudit!
Our favorite resort is the Boardwalk Villas, unfortunately the only DVC resort that was able to conveniently accommodate us for our time slot was SSR. BWV has spoiled us. Dining options are plentiful and excellent. So much more convenient to get around with faster bus service, along with the close proximity to Epcot and MGM. That said, SSR is still a very nice resort to unwind at after the Mickey Mouse March through the parks day and evening.
Other notes for future reference:
Goodings at Crossroads, shelves inconsistently stocked, half of bottled water aisle completely empty, literally only two (2) nasty looking full gallon jugs on the shelf, the only other H2O offerings were cases of 20-ish ounce bottles; noticed some milk jugs with an OCT 30th expiration date (shopped on NOV 7th); many light bulbs out and in need of replacement; pricing on many items just as high as at the SSR variety shop; overall a really weird shopping experience that I will not repeat in the future. Say it with me now bo-de-ga.
The state of New Jersey was represented quite well this week due to NJ Teachers Convention. Helps that the boys only missed three days of school.
One of the more attended times at WDW for us, my favorite time to go is Super Bowl Week (late Jan - early Feb ). No lines at all and a good break from the cold and snow in NJ.
Super Soap Weekend at MGM Studios was also quite an experience. Lotsa-lotsa peoples. Avoid MGM unless you like crowds and soaps are your thing. I prefer Ivory. Wife likes Dove.
I would like to send out a very special thank you to Ernie (username and location withheld to protect the innocent) for all of his extraordinary efforts in securing us otherwise unavailable DVC accomodations.
Field notes from November 5th-12th 2007 Disney trip, in no particular order:
Four of us, Wife & I , son (14) & his best friend (16).
All out park hopping assault tactics, fast and furious pace for the most part, with parents limping back to the room with mandatory hot-tubbing and showers in the late hours before bed while the boys hit Extra Magic Hours or Disney Quest. Lots of attractions, lots of food, and still a lot that we missed/forgot/ran out of time to do.
Just the basic highlights.
Weather was absolutely gorgeous all week, rarely a cloud in the sky, low to mid 70s, zero precipitation.
New (to us) attractions:
Soarin really fun, went twice, hour wait both times. Fastpasses go quickly.
Expedition Everest Great coaster for Disney parks. Three trips. Single rider line moves too slow IMHO. (Regular line actually moved faster than single rider line our first time on).
Lights, Motors, Action Show actually made me want to go car shopping, my kind of show.
Monsters, Inc Very funny show, only went once, shouldve went twice.
Turtle Talk Well done too, once also, would have gone again but ran out of time.
Updated attractions:
Mission Space formerly known as Mission
uke, almost lost my cookies a few years ago on this sucker. The new version with the no spin cycle was a pleasant option for the wife and I. The boys handled the old version just fine.Mexico Boat Ride with the Three Cabelleros Who would have thought I would have missed the old hokey version. Disney/Epcot/Mexico should have left well enough alone. Heritage replaced with cartoons. Bad move. Thumbs down.
Pirates of the Caribbean Jack Sparrow makes his debut here, big yawn from a long time original WDW POC fan. Be a bit more daring, please. Smoke waterfall/lighting effect at beginning was a pleasant surprise.
Haunted Mansion Very well executed updates to an already satisfying attraction. Another all time favorite made better.
Non-updated attraction:
Carousel of Progress and like an old friend I enjoyed every minute of my time there. Some things should just be left alone. OK, maybe the last act could use a change or two from time to time, but this is honest to goodness nostalgic W.E. Disney.
Blizzard Beach Laws of physics taken to new levels as I tested my XXL 40 year old body on Summit Plummet. First plunge did enough damage to my right rear cheek ( zip-a-dee-do-da tip for the day: dont put the locker key in your back pocket when doing this one ), but I had to go again to finish off the calf muscles with matching bruises. Scary sight Im sure for the poor people watching me from the bottom. Snow Stormers was next in line, first time for me and that was fun. I then proceeded to annihilate the competition many times over at the toboggan racers. Second dip is all air and feels like the turbo kicks in. For those of you familiar with this one, I literally have to dig in elbows and knees to avoid slamming into the end wall. No kidding. Got the scraped knees to prove it. Time for a major diet and exercise program.
Bummer list:
Spaceship Earth closed for whatever reason. Very disappointed. A favorite.
Great Movie Ride needs help. The drivers/actors that we had lacked enthusiasm. This was also noticed several times during our last several visits.
Backlot Tour not running either.
Kilimanjaro Safari over an hour wait in the standby line each visit with all fast passes gone by noontime is a travesty for this park. Kids want to see animals here, Disney needs to speed this guy up. Not an isolated observation here, this attraction has had long lines during our previous visits, also.
Animal Kingdom Park in general Strollers, scooters and lines, oh my! What a navigational nightmare this park was. Winding narrow paths clogged with pedestrian congestion, but what can you do? Then again, I did spend rush hour crawling along a highway coming home from work the past week, Id rather be standing in long lines at WDW!!!
Food for thought:
Caseys Corner hot dog with spicy relish, a traditional addiction, mmmmmm...
Dole Whip Stand pineapple float, dee-lish
Pecos Bills fixins bar never disappoints
Sunshine Seasons was a pleasant new find
Mexico (San Angel Inn) food and dinner service barely just OK.
Biergarten dinner had a packed house with a shortened and lackluster show. Service was impersonal and average.
France Boulangerie Patisserie Napoleon, cest encroyable!
Le Cellier continues to satisfy the palate, eh.
Cape May Café still a favorite.
Pizza Planet quick and reasonable for WDW.
Wolfgang Puck Express, Downtown Disney Margherita Pizza and Caesar salad was good, but the spicy tuna roll was absolute crap. Granted, it was premade, prepackaged and refrigerated, and Im sure that it doesnt represent the quality of the sushi and sashimi offerings inside the restaurant itself, but why bother serving the premade garbage you get at a supermarket seafood section?
Food and Wine Festival at Epcot We tried a few drinks and tidbits here and there, not too bad overall, but the real stinker was the spicy tuna roll at the Japan stand. We figured that the quality should be similar to what was served inside the actual restaurant. Wrong. Just as bad as the stuff from Wolfies Express at DTD.
Rainforest Café, Animal Kingdom Slow, expensive, predictable, unexciting. Probably our last visit. I do miss the meatloaf.
50s Prime Time Café Get the right waitress (Mom this time) and youve got a winner. Our favorite meal this trip, our best time ever at this restaurant so far. Food was really keen, and it was really swell dining with all of our cousins from New Jersey.
Our Saratoga Springs studio notes:
Good:
Its still Disney.
Grandstand section room (86XX) was very convenient to a quiet pool and hot tub.
Free, clean and convenient washer and dryer setup at quiet pool area.
Easy access to extra pool towels for room use (before criticizing and blaming me for global warming and pollution, see Not so good list below).
Short walk to Downtown Disney boat transportation.
Fairly close bus stop and first stop when coming back from parks.
Not so good:
Room was just clean enough to not complain. It had a clammy musty odor present until the central air ran for a while. Not from smokers, just not pleasant smelling. Very surprising since these are brand new rooms. Forget about asking for another room, resort was at full capacity. Deal with it.
Outdoor hallway setup, similar to All Stars, encouraged noisy traffic early am and late pm (and after PI closing hours)
Sorry, but 4 tiny towels slightly larger than hand towels for four people for half a week just isnt magical.
Next door neighbors were smokers (non-smoking rooms?). Smell from balcony and through lock off door. Stuffing several towels between the doors helped a little.
Able to share in a morning 60s flashback from our balcony; Close neighbor groovin to California Dreaming (twice) and Good Vibrations tunes for one and all to hear from their open sliding door, completing the psychedelic experience with the distinct wafting aroma resulting from his/her cannabis communion. Guess we're just "lucky".
Variety shop expensive (duh) and selection wanting.
Five bus stops when leaving the resort for the parks.
Fifty five minutes from SSR to Animal Kingdom? Fuhgeddaboudit!
Our favorite resort is the Boardwalk Villas, unfortunately the only DVC resort that was able to conveniently accommodate us for our time slot was SSR. BWV has spoiled us. Dining options are plentiful and excellent. So much more convenient to get around with faster bus service, along with the close proximity to Epcot and MGM. That said, SSR is still a very nice resort to unwind at after the Mickey Mouse March through the parks day and evening.
Other notes for future reference:
Goodings at Crossroads, shelves inconsistently stocked, half of bottled water aisle completely empty, literally only two (2) nasty looking full gallon jugs on the shelf, the only other H2O offerings were cases of 20-ish ounce bottles; noticed some milk jugs with an OCT 30th expiration date (shopped on NOV 7th); many light bulbs out and in need of replacement; pricing on many items just as high as at the SSR variety shop; overall a really weird shopping experience that I will not repeat in the future. Say it with me now bo-de-ga.
The state of New Jersey was represented quite well this week due to NJ Teachers Convention. Helps that the boys only missed three days of school.
One of the more attended times at WDW for us, my favorite time to go is Super Bowl Week (late Jan - early Feb ). No lines at all and a good break from the cold and snow in NJ.
Super Soap Weekend at MGM Studios was also quite an experience. Lotsa-lotsa peoples. Avoid MGM unless you like crowds and soaps are your thing. I prefer Ivory. Wife likes Dove.
