E&As Mom
Disney Loving Mom
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2010
- Messages
- 202
We had an amazing time! I didn't know what to expect (we are WDW regulars) and I was pleasantly surprised.
Pros:
Hotel - We stayed @ PP and really loved it (3rd floor, room 344). We paid for a standard view room, but ended up facing the Grand California hotel and could see some of the parks. Pool was small, but totally adequate. Loved that there were a lot of chairs and comfy shaded areas to get out of the sun. It was great to get to watch the DL fireworks from the pool deck, although they were only able to launch them 2 times of the week due to upper winds.
Proximity - I really appreciated how close everything was and the ease to get around the entire Disney property. No busses to have to try to catch! It was so easy for us to hop back and forth between the parks when we wanted or to walk back to our hotel or DTD for a break from the parks.
Paper Fast Passes - I am so glad we got to enjoy using the paper FPs while they are still there, which by the sounds of some of the CMs may not be for long. We were able to use them to our advantage a number of times for Soarin and RSR, among other rides and attractions.
Crowds - I don't know if we got lucky when we randomly picked a week to go for our first trip, but I think the crowd levels were very manageable. I was surprised to see people lining up at like 5:00 for the evening parade. But that worked to our advantage so that we could ride some things with lower waits. I don't think we personally got in a stand by line that was longer than 20-25 minutes. If we saw something that had a long line, we either grabbed a FP or decided to ride it another time/day.
Cons:
Food selection - I am probably spoiled by how many sit down restaurants/variety there are at WDW. Our favorite sit down meal was our dinner at Carnation Cafe on our first park day. We also ate at Wine Country Trattoria, ESPN Zone, Tortilla Joe's, and Storytellers Cafe (for lunch). Our other favorite place was Flo's V8 Cafe. Very well priced and our breakfast was soooo good!
Shuttle Service - Wasn't crazy about Super Shuttle. Thought both of the ones we took were dirty (one of them had a broken bench that made the seat lopsided, and another one had 2 broken seat belts!). We had to wait for 40 minutes before we were picked up @ LAX. Maybe just bad timing on our part, but I wasn't thrilled standing around that long.
If anyone has any questions, ask away! DH has already said he'd like to go back next year and I think I might have talked the rest of our family (2 sisters with families, plus my parents) into going!
Pros:
Hotel - We stayed @ PP and really loved it (3rd floor, room 344). We paid for a standard view room, but ended up facing the Grand California hotel and could see some of the parks. Pool was small, but totally adequate. Loved that there were a lot of chairs and comfy shaded areas to get out of the sun. It was great to get to watch the DL fireworks from the pool deck, although they were only able to launch them 2 times of the week due to upper winds.
Proximity - I really appreciated how close everything was and the ease to get around the entire Disney property. No busses to have to try to catch! It was so easy for us to hop back and forth between the parks when we wanted or to walk back to our hotel or DTD for a break from the parks.
Paper Fast Passes - I am so glad we got to enjoy using the paper FPs while they are still there, which by the sounds of some of the CMs may not be for long. We were able to use them to our advantage a number of times for Soarin and RSR, among other rides and attractions.
Crowds - I don't know if we got lucky when we randomly picked a week to go for our first trip, but I think the crowd levels were very manageable. I was surprised to see people lining up at like 5:00 for the evening parade. But that worked to our advantage so that we could ride some things with lower waits. I don't think we personally got in a stand by line that was longer than 20-25 minutes. If we saw something that had a long line, we either grabbed a FP or decided to ride it another time/day.
Cons:
Food selection - I am probably spoiled by how many sit down restaurants/variety there are at WDW. Our favorite sit down meal was our dinner at Carnation Cafe on our first park day. We also ate at Wine Country Trattoria, ESPN Zone, Tortilla Joe's, and Storytellers Cafe (for lunch). Our other favorite place was Flo's V8 Cafe. Very well priced and our breakfast was soooo good!
Shuttle Service - Wasn't crazy about Super Shuttle. Thought both of the ones we took were dirty (one of them had a broken bench that made the seat lopsided, and another one had 2 broken seat belts!). We had to wait for 40 minutes before we were picked up @ LAX. Maybe just bad timing on our part, but I wasn't thrilled standing around that long.
If anyone has any questions, ask away! DH has already said he'd like to go back next year and I think I might have talked the rest of our family (2 sisters with families, plus my parents) into going!
