A few observations from my most recent trip...

[Tiziminchac]

There's been two trips now since my last (and only) trip report. I think I may have waited too long to do one any justice now. But after last weekend I had a few observations I wanted to share.


* Never, and I mean never, under any circumstances, decide to stay on Disney property at the last minute. Rack rates can really depress you and kill your wallet. Especially when you know about discounts available to passholders who plan ahead. You have to learn for yourself sooner or later I guess.
* And if you do decide you must stay don't start the room search at 11 o'clock on a Friday night.
* After reading the threads about hotels and the cleaning and changing of bedspreads and such you may never be the same! I thought about this every time I went to sleep.
* Three hotel arcades and three galaga video games with bad fire buttons. Old favorites never die, they just get played out.
* Evening Extra Magic Hours are probably better than the morning ones. One hour is hardly enough time. It was already 8:30 before I rode a single ride.
* Some CMs will let you on a ride if you have just a couple of minutes left before you FP is valid. Some will refuse even if your down to 1 minute and there isn't a single other person around with a FP waiting.
* The Maya Grill is serving a lunch buffet. I didn't know this until this weekend. I need to lurk on the Restaurant Board more often. The menu really didn't look so appetizing so the jury is still out on this one.
* Vincent Van Gough, wasn't he Dutch? I noticed that they were selling fridge magnets with his paintings in France. I always thought they only sold stuff from the host countries in WS.
* Soarin' is a great ride! I wish it were longer though. And it didn't really flow from one scene to the next. It seemed choppy. (Note to self - Stop thinking about how you could improve everything!)
* The Flower & Garden Festival really looks good this year.

 

[TrickyFish]

* Three hotel arcades and three galaga video games with bad fire buttons. Old favorites never die, they just get played out.

My BF LOVES Galaga, so this made me laugh!! Which arcades have it?

 

[Tiziminchac]

I think every resort arcade has Galaga. On the same game you can choose between Galaga and Mrs. Pacman. They're classics. The three resorts I'm speaking of were The All Star Music, All Star Sports, and Coronado Springs.

 

[Took]

Yes, Van Gogh was Dutch but since he painted many of his most famous works while living in France and associating with French artists, he often gets included with other French painters. Not exactly fair to the Netherlands, but not exactly wrong either...Many of the things that appear at the countries in EPCOT are a bit "misplaced" in that it comes from neighboring countries that don't have their own pavillion. We always see or used to see Swiss chocolate in Germany!

took

Leavin' in 19 days!!

 

[Tiziminchac]

Many of the stuff that appears at the countries in EPCOT is a bit "misplaced" in that it comes from neighboring countries that don't have their own pavillion. We always see or used to see Swiss chocolate in Germany!

I never really noticed this before, now I'm gonna have to start looking more closely. And by the way, the Van Gough magnet was made in the U.S.A.

 

[blueberry22]

Van Gough did most of his paintings in France- of French settings. Hence what you see in the magnets are pictures of France- or of Frenchmen- with the exception of his self portrait- although his ear at least was left in France.

 

[ColoradoBelle1]

And I always thought it was his RIGHT ear

 

[crazyj4488]

The biggest blunder of all in the World Showcase is the tower in the Piazza of San Marco being on the wrong side!!! This is well documented....someone in imagineering had the slide of the plaza in backwards while designing it from the pictures they had taken in Venice. Wow...what a screw up.

 

[wicket2005]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

 

[Pennsy22]

The biggest blunder of all in the World Showcase is the tower in the Piazza of San Marco being on the wrong side!!! This is well documented....someone in imagineering had the slide of the plaza in backwards while designing it from the pictures they had taken in Venice. Wow...what a screw up.

Well documented? I just read in Disney's Imagineering book that they did the reverse on purpose. I guess they must be lieing.

 

[Pennsy22]

* Never, and I mean never, under any circumstances, decide to stay on Disney property at the last minute. Rack rates can really depress you and kill your wallet. Especially when you know about discounts available to passholders who plan ahead. You have to learn for yourself sooner or later I guess.

How do you define last minute? We called at 5:00 p.m. on April 1st (Friday)to book for the week of April 3rd (Sunday - Friday) and got a great rate at POR. We got our passholder rates. This was even during Spring Break!

 

[crazyj4488]

That book published by DISNEY is a great excuse and cover-up of their screw up. Think about that for a second and then think about this . The UNOFFICIAL guide book to WDW is the best for a reason...it's not affiliated with Disney.

 

[Tiziminchac]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Your very welcome.

How do you define last minute? We called at 5:00 p.m. on April 1st (Friday)to book for the week of April 3rd (Sunday - Friday) and got a great rate at POR. We got our passholder rates. This was even during Spring Break!

I didn't try and get a room until I walked into the hotel lobby around 11 p.m. on the evening I decided to stay. And you can't get passholder rates unless you book in advance. How far in advance I don't know. At least that's what the desk clerk told me.

That book published by DISNEY is a great excuse and cover-up of their screw up. Think about that for a second and then think about this . The UNOFFICIAL guide book to WDW is the best for a reason...it's not affiliated with Disney.

I've heard that this was done on purpose too. It's a mirror image from real life because the Imagineers felt that they couldn't duplicate the real scene from Venice on the scale they had to work with.