9/15 - 9/25 Review

[Judge Fudge]

I really have no specific order for this, and I will probably go back and add things to this first post as I think of them.

Hotel
Pop Century was pretty nice. IMO it was a step up over AS* in quality. The bed was hard but livable. We were in the 4th floor of 60's building 4 I think. My wife colored pictures for our window, so if you saw that you saw our room.

Overall we would choose to stay at PC again versus AS*. Buses to MK took FOREVER during the day. We once waited over 45 minutes for a bus, which is not acceptable.

Crowds
On the week days, pretty light. Over all the longest line we waited on (other than for a bus TO MK), was about 30 minutes for Soarin. If you got out of bed and got to the park when it opened, there were 0-10 minute waits on pretty much everything. For instance I was able to ride Everest 4 times in a row before it got a 10 minute wait.

Rides
There were a few new attractions for me this time around, Philharmagic, Mummy (Universal), Shrek 4d(Universal), Mission Space, but the best of all was Soarin. I can't say enough things about this ride. Wife and I loved it each and every time we rode. (Which was close to 7 times I think) Mummy was second, quite a cool thrill ride if you can tolerate easy roller coasters.

As for Mission Space being as harrowing as people make it out to be, it was a cake walk. (Yes, I rode orange) I was nervous about it and it turned out to be just nothing much at all.

Food
First and foremost, we were not treated badly by ANY waiter because we were on the DDP. Each and every waiter or waitress was extremely nice and I can't complain about a single one.

I guess I should subcatagorize this TS vs. CS

• Le Celleir
  We both had the filet mignon, asked for medium, got hockey puck. The place was a mad house, so we did not send it back. On second thought, we should have. Cream Cheese mashed potatoes were GREAT, and the sorbet was tasty as well. Overall we were disappointed bigtime.
• Nine Dragons
  Delicious. We live in NY so we get some pretty good Chinese around here, but holy good. Honey Seasame Chicken was fantastic. Scallion Pancake was good. Pepper Beef was fantastic. Soup was great too. We did this one for lunch and were some of the only customers in the place. We had a nice table by the window and it was fantastic. Also had the red-bean ice cream which tasted like strawberry vanilla. I don't see how people can say this place is bad. It was the best food we had all vacation long.
• 50's Prime Time
  It was all about experience here. The waitress tortured me! She got mad I finished my drink quick, so she gets me 4 sodas... My chicken sandwich was just ok, wife liked her meatloaf. But man it was just an awesomely good time.
• SCI-FI Dine-in
  Good food, although it got shotgunned to us which I was not happy about. Wife loved the atrichoke spinich dip and forgot to ask for receipe. Oh well. Atmosphere was really cool, and milk shakes were great.
• 1900 Parkfare Breakfast
  PITA to get to. We drove in a rental, then had to park what seemed like 20 miles away. Food was good, nothing to write home about. Characters were cool, I got to meet Alice and get a picture with her.
• Crystal Palace
  Standard fare breakfast buffet. Since it was my birthday they decorated my table, the waitress and my wife sung and I got a cupcake. So that was fun.
• Luai
  I've been to a real Luai in Maui so comparing these is hard. The food was pretty awful, and the first half performance was pretty awful. The second half which was the authentic part was much better. IMO I would say it's worth it only if you have free DDP.
  
  Oh yes and the fire sword guy was fantastic. Much better than the guy in Hawaii was.
  
• Boma
  Umm...yuck? This place was very hyped up to me, and it was just...not my thing I guess. Even the zebra domes didn't live up to the hype. I would not eat here again, probably the worst meal I had.
• Tony's
  You'd think an Italian resturant would know how to cook spaghetti. It was mushy, like almost paste. The sauce was bland and boring. The cheese cake stunk too. My wife very much liked her Eggplant. I wouldn't go back, she would. Go figure.

• Tusker House
  Fried Chicken Sandwich was amazing. Best tasting one I have ever had, bar none. YUM! Wife got rotiseree chicken which she did not like at all. Desserts were eh.
• Pecos Bill
  I love melted cheese. Do I need to say anymore?

Birthday
My wife called in advance of the trip to say it would be my birthday and they said the whole "we have a florist" thing but they would note it down. When we arrived home from MNSSHP there were balloons and a card sent from all the characters wishing me a happy birthday. (though it was the night before) That was really nice of them to do, and I wasn't expecting it.

I got the button, and it was pretty fun having people in the park, and employees wishing me happy birthday. Even more so the characters from the float also saw the pin and wished me happy B-Day. Definitely fun having your birthday there.

 

[kaysmommie]

Thanks for the reviews. I thought about trying Pop for a mother/daughter trip but waiting 30 minutes for a bus to MK would be pretty aggravating! We all loved Soarin too!