Punisherthunder
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2010
- Messages
- 9
That's right my friends. DisneyWorld is a compltely overrated theme park? Not so, you say? I have an honest trip report that is broken down into 4 easy to read parts. Feel free to PM me on any other questions. And for the record I'm a 28yr old male and my wife is 27yr old. I was at MK once in 1985 and she hadn't been since 1991. I will rate things between 1-10. 10 being the best and 1 the worst.
RESORT: We stayed at POP Century. I debated for the longest time about which resort to stay at. My way of thinking was that if I went with a value resort then I would save money so that we could eat at nicer places and have more money to spend on souvenirs, etc. This was my first mistake. POP's staff is through the roof friendly. It was hard not to smile because they do go out of their way to be friendly. The staff I would rate at 10. They are just the best.
The room is a different story. We were put in the 70s building on the back side of the resort with an unpleasant view of a slimy, cruddy lake. There was some small industrial building that was a total eyesore. So the view is bad, but what about the room? The room was very small. I knew from looking at the pictures that it would be small, so I didn't have a problem with that. YES YOU CAN HEAR THE TOILETS FLUSHING FROM OTHER ROOMS AROUND YOU! Don't let anyone tell you that you don't hear them. That's a lie. Imagine relaxing from a day at a park in your room and you hear a loud toilet flush. You can also hear showers, vents, and televisions through the wall as well. The TV was a flat screen so that was nice. The beds were average at best. The mattress on mine actually dipped in a bit and made a bad squeak when you laid down on it.
I will say that mousekeeping was pretty good. Everything was clean and fresh smelling. However, I have a problem with them washing the sheets EVERY FOUR DAYS! Imagine my first night there and I peel back the sheets and see some hairs on them. Overall, I would rate the room at 5 and that is being horribly generous.
PARKS: I could actually go on for a while about how boring the parks are, but I will try to keep it short.
Magic Kingdom is old and dated. Sure Teacups and Dumbo are fun at first. Splash Mtn and Space Mtn are the old standbys too. But that's it folks. I did all of these rides plus Thunder Railroad and Small World within 90 minutes of being in the park. This left me wondering what to do for the other 10hrs of being in the park. We looked in some shops, but after a minute that's bad because all the shops sell the same Disney merchandise. There were some other things like the Presidents and looking in and around Main Street. Overall I rate MK at a 5. It's just way too old and outdated. I believe Walt Disney wanted to constantly expand and improve his parks. At this point it's obvious whoever runs it now, sold out for the almighty dollar.
Animal Kingdom was very fun. The safaris are really neat and all the animals they have to see is just staggering. There are some decent rides like the Yeti roller coaster and Dinosaur. The Kali Rapids started out nice, but it was very boring, neither my wife nor I got wet?!? A Bugs Life was great, as was the NEMO musical. There was obviously more to do here than MK. I rate this park at 8. Just needed a couple more rides is all.
Hollywood was the park that we actually spent the least in. Like MK, it's looking old and very outdated. Indiana Jones stunt show was great, I really enjoyed it. The Star Wars ride was good. Muppets 3D and the backlot tour were both fun. The wait that day for Tower Terror was 120 minutes, so I didn't get to go on it. The Toy Story Buzz Lightyear ride was worse at 170 minute wait. Don't even think about a fastpass because they were all out around 1pm from what a CM told me. There were some cool shops here with a great Hollywood theme. The Great Movie ride needs to go, it brought nothing to the table at all. Overall, this park I rate a 6. It just looks to old and worn. It needs more improvements.
Epcot was the park we spent the longest in. World Showcase was absolutely fantastic. We enjoyed extra magic hours here. Boy did we need them. Test track however was totally lame. Mission Space was cool. And Captain EO is the one experience in all the parks that needs no improvements. The group I saw it with gave a standing ovation. Overall I give Epcot a 9. There's lots to do and you won't be disappointed.
Typhoon Lagoon was good. I rented the $40 so I wouldn't have to put up with rude foreigners stealing our spots. It was worth it, plus we got free towels too. The food was horrible quick service junk that wasn't worth it. Although I will say the Hurricane Amber Beer was great! The rides were nice,although I did see several foreign kids get hurt because they didn't know English and couldn't follow instructions. The Humunga Cowabunga ride had to be stopped briefly because a Hispanic girl tried sitting up during the ride and cracked her head open once she hit the bottom of the slide. I do recommend the Crush N Gusher and Shark reef. Both were awesome. I rate Typhoon Lagoon at 8.
FOOD: The food was terrible at POP and all quick service places. I have sous chef experience and I can tell you that this food was very, very low quality. The menus for quick service are the same. Double bacon cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, pizza, etc. All very low quality and all are served with fries. You can get apple slices, but who eats apples with a cheeseburger? I do recommend the Liberty Tree and Rose and Crown restaurants. Both were far beyond the best we ate there. The Rainforest Cafe and Sci Fi Drive in were okay too. The SciFI Drive it has a very weird menu. Gourmet Steak, Reuben sandwiches, and shrimp pesto? You would think a drive in theme place would have gourmet burgers but oh well.
I can also tell you that every time we got food, a CM would ask us if we were on the Disney Dining Plan, which we weren't. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM would breathe a sigh of relief. A CM told me that there are nonstop problems with the dining plan. People who buy it think they can get anything they want but can't. People getting upset and yelling over it.
You will need reservations. Again, you will need reservations to eat at a table service. I saw some poor soul come up while we were being seated at Liberty Tree and they were told that there is a 2hr walk-in wait time.
Refillable mugs are a ripoff. I saw all kinds of people using anything but the mugs to get refills and no CM's said anything to these people at all. I feel like an idiot for paying $26 for two mugs that I didn't need, when I could have just walked right up with whatever I had and got a refill. Also, the drinks are bad. Soda, coffee, and weak Gold Peak Tea. All are pre mixed with lots of water and they all had no flavor. What a joke.
TRANSPORTATION: The buses were great. We only had to stand up one time the entire stay, so that was good. Also, there is never more than a 10min wait for a bus. Only once did my bus to EPCOT take about 45min because some Hispanic child accidentally got on our bus by himself. So we had turn around and go back so he could find his parents. Even then, it took them another 15min to find a senile grandparent that realized the child was even missing. All the buses were air conditioned which felt great at the end of a long day.
Overall, I won't be going back to Disney anytime soon. I feel that they are in it for the dollar and offer very little in return. The resort was bad, the food is very low quality and the theme parks were outdated. For July, the heat was pretty bad, a heat index of 103 or higher each day we were there. The crowds weren't too bad. I will say though, that there are lots of foreigners who don't speak English and are horribly rude. If anyone can look past all of this and still have a good time, then you are better than me. Thanks for reading.
RESORT: We stayed at POP Century. I debated for the longest time about which resort to stay at. My way of thinking was that if I went with a value resort then I would save money so that we could eat at nicer places and have more money to spend on souvenirs, etc. This was my first mistake. POP's staff is through the roof friendly. It was hard not to smile because they do go out of their way to be friendly. The staff I would rate at 10. They are just the best.
The room is a different story. We were put in the 70s building on the back side of the resort with an unpleasant view of a slimy, cruddy lake. There was some small industrial building that was a total eyesore. So the view is bad, but what about the room? The room was very small. I knew from looking at the pictures that it would be small, so I didn't have a problem with that. YES YOU CAN HEAR THE TOILETS FLUSHING FROM OTHER ROOMS AROUND YOU! Don't let anyone tell you that you don't hear them. That's a lie. Imagine relaxing from a day at a park in your room and you hear a loud toilet flush. You can also hear showers, vents, and televisions through the wall as well. The TV was a flat screen so that was nice. The beds were average at best. The mattress on mine actually dipped in a bit and made a bad squeak when you laid down on it.
I will say that mousekeeping was pretty good. Everything was clean and fresh smelling. However, I have a problem with them washing the sheets EVERY FOUR DAYS! Imagine my first night there and I peel back the sheets and see some hairs on them. Overall, I would rate the room at 5 and that is being horribly generous.
PARKS: I could actually go on for a while about how boring the parks are, but I will try to keep it short.
Magic Kingdom is old and dated. Sure Teacups and Dumbo are fun at first. Splash Mtn and Space Mtn are the old standbys too. But that's it folks. I did all of these rides plus Thunder Railroad and Small World within 90 minutes of being in the park. This left me wondering what to do for the other 10hrs of being in the park. We looked in some shops, but after a minute that's bad because all the shops sell the same Disney merchandise. There were some other things like the Presidents and looking in and around Main Street. Overall I rate MK at a 5. It's just way too old and outdated. I believe Walt Disney wanted to constantly expand and improve his parks. At this point it's obvious whoever runs it now, sold out for the almighty dollar.
Animal Kingdom was very fun. The safaris are really neat and all the animals they have to see is just staggering. There are some decent rides like the Yeti roller coaster and Dinosaur. The Kali Rapids started out nice, but it was very boring, neither my wife nor I got wet?!? A Bugs Life was great, as was the NEMO musical. There was obviously more to do here than MK. I rate this park at 8. Just needed a couple more rides is all.
Hollywood was the park that we actually spent the least in. Like MK, it's looking old and very outdated. Indiana Jones stunt show was great, I really enjoyed it. The Star Wars ride was good. Muppets 3D and the backlot tour were both fun. The wait that day for Tower Terror was 120 minutes, so I didn't get to go on it. The Toy Story Buzz Lightyear ride was worse at 170 minute wait. Don't even think about a fastpass because they were all out around 1pm from what a CM told me. There were some cool shops here with a great Hollywood theme. The Great Movie ride needs to go, it brought nothing to the table at all. Overall, this park I rate a 6. It just looks to old and worn. It needs more improvements.
Epcot was the park we spent the longest in. World Showcase was absolutely fantastic. We enjoyed extra magic hours here. Boy did we need them. Test track however was totally lame. Mission Space was cool. And Captain EO is the one experience in all the parks that needs no improvements. The group I saw it with gave a standing ovation. Overall I give Epcot a 9. There's lots to do and you won't be disappointed.
Typhoon Lagoon was good. I rented the $40 so I wouldn't have to put up with rude foreigners stealing our spots. It was worth it, plus we got free towels too. The food was horrible quick service junk that wasn't worth it. Although I will say the Hurricane Amber Beer was great! The rides were nice,although I did see several foreign kids get hurt because they didn't know English and couldn't follow instructions. The Humunga Cowabunga ride had to be stopped briefly because a Hispanic girl tried sitting up during the ride and cracked her head open once she hit the bottom of the slide. I do recommend the Crush N Gusher and Shark reef. Both were awesome. I rate Typhoon Lagoon at 8.
FOOD: The food was terrible at POP and all quick service places. I have sous chef experience and I can tell you that this food was very, very low quality. The menus for quick service are the same. Double bacon cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, pizza, etc. All very low quality and all are served with fries. You can get apple slices, but who eats apples with a cheeseburger? I do recommend the Liberty Tree and Rose and Crown restaurants. Both were far beyond the best we ate there. The Rainforest Cafe and Sci Fi Drive in were okay too. The SciFI Drive it has a very weird menu. Gourmet Steak, Reuben sandwiches, and shrimp pesto? You would think a drive in theme place would have gourmet burgers but oh well.
I can also tell you that every time we got food, a CM would ask us if we were on the Disney Dining Plan, which we weren't. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM would breathe a sigh of relief. A CM told me that there are nonstop problems with the dining plan. People who buy it think they can get anything they want but can't. People getting upset and yelling over it.
You will need reservations. Again, you will need reservations to eat at a table service. I saw some poor soul come up while we were being seated at Liberty Tree and they were told that there is a 2hr walk-in wait time.
Refillable mugs are a ripoff. I saw all kinds of people using anything but the mugs to get refills and no CM's said anything to these people at all. I feel like an idiot for paying $26 for two mugs that I didn't need, when I could have just walked right up with whatever I had and got a refill. Also, the drinks are bad. Soda, coffee, and weak Gold Peak Tea. All are pre mixed with lots of water and they all had no flavor. What a joke.
TRANSPORTATION: The buses were great. We only had to stand up one time the entire stay, so that was good. Also, there is never more than a 10min wait for a bus. Only once did my bus to EPCOT take about 45min because some Hispanic child accidentally got on our bus by himself. So we had turn around and go back so he could find his parents. Even then, it took them another 15min to find a senile grandparent that realized the child was even missing. All the buses were air conditioned which felt great at the end of a long day.
Overall, I won't be going back to Disney anytime soon. I feel that they are in it for the dollar and offer very little in return. The resort was bad, the food is very low quality and the theme parks were outdated. For July, the heat was pretty bad, a heat index of 103 or higher each day we were there. The crowds weren't too bad. I will say though, that there are lots of foreigners who don't speak English and are horribly rude. If anyone can look past all of this and still have a good time, then you are better than me. Thanks for reading.
How shocking.
