Also just arrived home and a BIG thank you!

[mumwiththree]

We are home from a wonderful 3 week trip to Orlando and Palm Beach, arriving home from Miami yesterday. We stayed at OKW and I have to agree with others the South Point location can be rather noisy with the road - I did try and change but this was only possible the following day and I couldn't face the prospect of packing up and moving. More importantly each day had been planned and there was no "window" for room changing!

Anyway the location of the pool and the fact we spent so much time out of the villa we hardly noticed the rumble of traffic. In fact I would be happy to stay there again.

We too struggled to eat our way through the dining plan we ended up bringing desserts back and saving them in the fridge! Our saving grace was the fact we were moving onto to Palm Beach for a week, so on our last day with 18 counter service meals and 21 snacks left. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner CS, bought lunch from the Earl of Sandwich for the following day and went mad in the shop buying snacks to take with us!

Our Hi's were
Seeing the children's faces with each new "First"
Watching the children interact with the characters at Chef Mickeys, 1900 Park Fare and Crystal Palace all on the DDP
The Dining Plan! fantastic and allowed you to eat at so many wonderful places that may have otherwise been too expensive
Favourite dining experiences Ohana at the Polynesisan and Whispering Canyon at the Wilderness Lodge - what fun! if you have children they are a must.
The staff - everyone we encountered was friendly - sometimes a bit much but you do get used to it. I think its just the British reserve when someone is over nice.
OKW - great location. Having visited many other disney resorts during our stay it was always really good to return.
DTD - a boat runs from OKW and its a lovely 15 min ride especially at night.
MNSSHP - fantastic, I booked this purely from reading others responses on DIS and it turned out to be one of our best evenings. It had such a buzz about it and crowd numbers were perfect.
Soaring at Epcot - brilliant, my favourite ride and we did them all!

Low's
Fortunately not too many.
Disney Express - Somehow and still not sure, we ended up with our luggage which was no bad thing. But there is no signposting when you exit immigration and locating the DExpress involved asking a number of people the location. Eventually we found it but its not obvious until you are on the level where the desk is.
ADR's - Our days were very much governed by our dining reservations, which had to be but it didn't allow us to be overly flexible with our day planning if maybe we wanted to change things once out there.
MissionSpace - I have never suffered from claustrophobia before but I had an almighty panic attack with my 5 year next to me. I was so shocked at my response, fortunatly I managed to keep it together for the 4 minutes or so I was "locked in" - but boy I never want to experience that again and it was the milder version of the two!
Leaving - My hubby was the only one out of 5 of us ready to move onto the beach. We all kept saying "I want to go back to disney!"

Can't wait to return but unlikely when we have so many other locations in the world on our immediate "to do" list. Anyway so many of our experiences may not have happened unless I had stumbled across this board sometime ago. The wealth of information and genuine interest in making sure everyone has a fantastic disney experience has been priceless! Thank you for all your input and to Crabbie1 who kindly gave our daughter a free SeaWorld ticket.

Au revoir

 

[2Tiggies]

Welcome home! It sounds like you had an amazing time and all your hard work and planning paid off.

I have to agree about ADRs ruling your day, but I also think it is more noticeable on a first trip when you are overwhelmed by all there is to see or do. At least you got some good character meals though. It would be great to see some pics and hear some more when you have got back into routine again. Whether or not you return in the next few years, I am sure this is something each of you will remember fondly for all time to come.

Welcome back.

 

[cantwait!!!!!!!!!!!!]

Sounds like you had a fantastic time Im pleased you liked OKW as we are going there next year.

In the guide book I had it said that there had been a couple of deaths after people had been on mission space so we didnt fancy it, your experience sounds frightening.

We also found the magical express difficult to find, I was expecting big signposts but there was nothing and we ended up asking a rep who was waiting for her guests.

 

[wayneg]

Welcome home.

I will go any ride but Mission Space is one I don't do every time, I have to be feeling 100% fit. Once did it after a cruise when I had been ill for 3 days, illness, sea legs and Mission Space was not a good combo.

 

[igk]

Welcome back - it seemed they stuck all of us out at South Point this time We really were right at the very end and it wasn't a nice room (particularly as last year's was perfect), so was pleased to be moved.

I was terrified of Mission Space the first time - all the warnings at various points added to the apprehension, and that was the green version. Last year I was bullied onto the orange version by DS, and I fared better than I thought I would, but fortunately DS felt queasy for the rest of the day so that put an end to that!

 

[mumwiththree]

It must be the jet lag but I was wrong yesterday and should have said - we were in Old Turtle Pond Road, block 42 near the Turtle Shack and pool - not South Point! Anyway, we were close to the road too the noise was mostly noticeable first thing in the morning.

The location was a comfortable walk to the main amenities and if we were feeling a bit lazy would jump on a passing bus and get out at Hospitality House.

The Disney Express service sounds great. But there is absolutely no guidance or signage for arriving guests as to where luggage should be left, hence we ended up with ours on the bus.

I also read in the Unofficial Guide about 2 people dying on Mission Space - this was after I had been on the ride! I too read all the warning signs but didn't feel overly concerned until I saw the size of the simulator and the fact they lock you in. I gave my daughter the option to leave, but she was keen to continue.

Once the door closed panic took over and I started banging on the inside to be let out, I quickly realised there was no way of being heard and would just have to continue. I apologised to another parent and child in the simulator and tried to make light of it to my 5 year and just closed my eyes and prayed for it to end as soon as possible.

I have never, ever in my life ever felt like that before.

 

[dixonsontour]

Glad you had a good trip overall.

We were in block 42 and loved the location but we were in a studio.

I only realised the road was there, behind the trees towards the end of the holiday.

 

[Linda67]

Lovely to hear that you had such a great trip - welcome home