Arrrgh! Thread closed as I was posting!

[roadtripper]

Hi--
Never posted on the trip reports board before, but I was there April 16-23, and was wondering if taylorstimac and I were in the same place?

Here's a little pixie dust we experienced--

The weather was absolutely gorgeous-- pool days all week, with pool chairs to spare! yay!

The parks were ALL READY for the 50th celebration, which doesn't officially start until May 5th! We felt so blessed to do the Soarin preview (talk about magical!), see the castle trimmed in gold, (especially Wendy and Peter Pan flying around) and my daughter loved Cinderellabration. After watching the new planning DVD, I had told them we were missing the celebration, and it was such a treat to see these things-- and we didn't even get to the stunt show, etc.

We stoppped to smell the roses and see the butterflies at the Epcot Flower and Garden festival

I saw grownups skipping into the MK in the AM (besides me, I mean )

After going President's week for the last three years, we found the parks to be a bit crowded, but MUCH better than Pres week, and I was a little off my game with planning this trip. Still, we didn't wait more than 15 minutes for anything.

We finally got to ride Test Track, which is always mobbed, even with a Fast Pass. Standby singles line was 20 min, singles for Mission Space 10 minutes in the middle of the afternoon! Now it's my daughter's favorite ride.

We didn't get the OKW bldg we wanted (worst yet, actually), the trip to the Hoop Dee Doo was a nightmare, my son decided the only ride he wanted to go on was the monorail, and I have never gotten a towel animal in 8 trips to the world. Plus, we were next to the most obnoxious group at Chef Mickey's breakfast-- I thought Mickey would run away before coming to see our kids.

Some things that weren't what I expected? YEP.
Glass half full? You betcha.
Next year's trip is already booked

Hope your next vacation is much better, taylorstimac

 

[pumba]

my husband and I had an awesome time with our two oldest grandkids....we did Soaring and test track numerous times......we ran into mobs of people.......we had a great time eating everywhere we could get a ressie........Our hotel was full of teens and they were not HALF BAD.......we did get two towel animals in our window at ALL STAR SPORTS.. Weather was fantastic and Typhoon Lagoon was a great place to relax and get run overed......hahaha.......Yes I love Disney and Yes we had a great time.

 

[pumpkinfish]

roadtripper ~ When were you at Chef Mickey's? We had 11:10 am PS on Monday the 18th. I loved it and am hooked on Mickey waffles and their bacon...mmm....craving some now!

 

[Vivianne]

I enjoy reading trip reports. I learn alot from them. Even some negative reports to learn about other people's mistakes to avoid them but these should be balanced. Not everything is all good or all bad. Most people have already made a decision to go and don't really want to focus on the negative. Every trip has a little bit of everything.

But life is too short. So I am glad when I read people can report they had a great trip!

 

[roadtripper]

I know you guys weren't the obnoxious family, pumpkinfish plus, we were there on Thursday AM--
Family had a big group of kids, they were running up and down the aisles, crashing into servers. They had (no lie) ten autograph books for about seven kids, which they kept putting away and taking out again, so they weren't ready to go when the characters got there, and the little kids kept losing the pens. Each adult had a camcorder AND and camera going at once--one guy had three-- I'm serious. Each kid had to have a separate pic with each character, then a siblings shot, then a whole kid group photo, then each family got a pic, then a whole group photo. My sis in law (WDW newbie) was disgusted, but we were cracking up, it was so over the top. I have waited tables in many types of places, but those Chef Mickey's servers (and characters) must have a special kind of pixie dust to deal with those crowds!

 

[pumpkinfish]

I wonder if timing is a factor. I think we had one of the last seatings for CM, and it wasn't bad at all. In fact, Goofy (DH's fave character) interacted with DH while we were waiting to be seated. It was so slow and I think Goofy may have been a little bored. He was super nice

I think it is funny when families go over the top! It was like that at LTT on Wed night for us. Except the large family in there allowed their kids to run across the resturant and chase down the characters that were interacting at other tables. Very inconsiderate....

 

[MommyPoppins]

I don't understand how some people can be sooooooooo negative. We have pretty much experienced every bad thing mentioned in the closed thread trip report. Our first trip to the world with out children was in Sept. 2003. We went over labor day weekend for 4 days. We stayed at All-Stars Music(I didn't have the DIS and I didn't know you could get great deals on the other resorts, which I don't really think I realized exsisted. ). It was my DH, Me, DS3, DS2, and DS5 months. We brought a regular full size stroller and a double stroller. We never had towel animals(I didn't expect them though), but they did always make little toothbrush holders for our toothbrushes. We had the BEST trip EVER that year even though it was a holiday and was super crowed. I couldn't think of any complaints. Last year we went to POR for 4 days again. It was DH, me, DS4, DS3, and DS 1, also my Dsis came with us and a family friend. I was 5 months preg and even though our room requests weren't granted(even though I could count on 2 hands the amount of cars in the parking lot), we NEVER got any kind of towel animal, our glasses were never changed the sinks were never cleaned well and DH and I were at eachothers throats the whole time(I was very emotional and he gets stressed with other people, my sis and DHs friend) around.). It was still an awesome trip. We almost had MK to ourselves the day we went and AK too. There were never lines longer than 10 minutes. We always run into rude CM's, but everyone, even disney CMs have bad days. Last Oct. DH and I went to PC for 3 days. We hated every second of that resort. Stood in the check-in line for 40 minutes, stood in the bus stop lines for never shorter than 20 minutes and ALWAYS had to stand on the bus. We hated the noise in the food court. But we had a wonderful time. You can't love every resort and if you don't try them and find out you don't know that. Now we know that we probably won't go back there unless it's a last resort. lol no pun intended. Again no towel animals. Oh and the crowds were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO horrible that weekend that we never rode anything. lol But it was still so magical. My very best friends always asks me why we go to WDW so much. You can't make people understand unless they feel the magic too. And we have all run into those people at WDW who aren't feeling the magic. Personally seeing rude people or bad kids, even if they are sitting next to us doesn't bother me because at least its not my kids, and thankfully it never has been.

 

[vicb]

roadtripper: just curious why you changed weeks this year? Also appreciate any insite/advice on Pres. week as we probably have to go during that week this coming Feb. (Although we hope to stay Sun-Sun and avoid MK on the actual Pres. Day monday).


I never read the original closed thread so can't comment on that. Sometimes I think because we learn so much info on these boards we all want everything to be soooo perfect and that effects our view when we are there. Almost always the very best moments on my trips to WDW were the ones I never saw coming, could never have planned or scripted!

 

[cabloom]

My first trip to WDW was back in '98. Like the OP in the closed thread, it was just me and my husband (not our honeymoon though, but a sort of anniversary trip) and I did a ton of research ahead of time. I fanatically read all of the available books and whatever I could find on the internet. My hopes were impossibly high and I was worried that it couldn't possibly live up to my expectations. Added to the fact that my DH was lukewarm about the whole trip, it very well could have ended up a huge letdown.

However, our trip was fabulous! Every hope that I had was exceeded and my DH became a Disney convert. We got no special treatment - no towel animals, no extras, no upgrades ... I knew it was possible, but wasn't disappointed that we didn't. But we enjoyed every minute that we were there. So - I think the difference between my trip and the other person's trip is just the point that has already been made - WDW isn't for everybody.

 

[Disney Enthusiast]

Every single bump in the road that I encountered at WDW turned into something magical, either by sheer luck, a CM's doing or my doing.

It rained for 10 days (our entire trip) but it was our anniversary trip and so we stayed inside the Floridian the whole time. What a place to be stuck. It was the first time we tried concierge, and we got our money's worth for sure, dining on that level late into the morning, while reading a good book or playing board games, stopping by for snacks later in the day, etc. Has anyone tried the board games in their hotels? My DH hates playing cards or board games at home, and yet we giggled and laughed so hard our stomachs hurt that we never even noticed Louis Gossett Jr. walk by. He finally stopped, turned around and walked over to us to find out what all the hoopla was about. And he was so nice and cool. What an added bonus.

This past time I got the dreaded letter about SAB being partly closed. It was our first time at BCV or Y&B Club and we really really wanted to try out the pool. Talk about bummed. But 2/3 of the pool was open and we were lucky enough to be able to use the kiddie area and slide (just perfect for our age children) and so we still had a perfect time.

I'm a type A personality, schedule everything to a "T". I'm the person who schedules dinner at CG at the same time the fireworks go off in the MK, or dinner at Narcoosee's for the light parade on the water, or dinner at LTT one hour before Spectromagic, but my scheduling doesn't always go the way I planned. Our dinner at LTT occurred during a horrible rain storm and so Spectro was cancelled and we had to get to the front of the park in the pouring rain. Oh well. We still had a marvelous dinner and some great pics. We were so late to the Poly Luau after running like 5 miles to get there from the BW area (we were red faced and pooped) that the photographers had already left and the show started, but we got the BEST table there. One table was left, right up front and our children so enjoyed the show and we had a delightful and peaceful dinner. And the CM's were sooo nice to us. I am never late for anything, and I figured we were meant to be late that day for some reason. Our plane was late and we came w/in moments of missing our next plane. The airline had a golf cart waiting for our family, and whisked us off to the next flight which was already boarded and waiting for us. We found out then that no seats were left and we were being bumped to first class. Magic.

Although I'm a planner, I'm also pretty flexible and I try to see the finer things.... the subtle magic, esp. when magic happens that you don't plan. I really think that almost everything can be resolved w/ a smile and a kind word. I have encountered rude CM's (not often but in the last 30 yrs) and no towel animals, food poisoning, ride or pool closings, crazed taxi drivers, bad weather, etc etc, but have NEVER had a bad trip to WDW. This past trip, it took 3 mentions, to 3 different CM's that our top lock on our sliding glass door didn't work, hence my DS could get out easily and fall. I just kept asking and finally someone came and fixed it. I figure if you don't get the answer you want, like the story a previous poster on the other thread mentioned about the "Grumpy" CM, then you step back into line and wait for the next available person and ask again. It's not perfect, but you can certainly get the level of magic you want by making it yourself, or by getting the help from another CM who might have more of the magic spark than the previous CM. There are so many CM's that want to make your vacation special and resolve any issues you may have. They are easy to find if you search for a moment or 2.

So as cabloom stated, WDW is not for everyone and that is a good thing. Leaves more room for us who understand and love it so.

 

[DisneyGirl2005]

This is really a great thread. I mean there are so many pixie dust stories on the board that I think people feel like if they don't get something over the top than their trip was not all it should have been. This thread shows that your trip is as "Magical" as you make it. If you can just work around what appears to be a problem, it often turns out to be even better than what was originally planned. I have been to Disney many times so I know that we all can get hot, grumpy and tired - that includes the CM's. For those like the OP of the closed thread that read only the positive pixie dust stories, the reality might actually be a shock. I don't think I have ever had an absolutely perfect vacation. So I think we need to continue to post the positive and negative aspects of our trips, this way, hopefully, first timers will realize Disney(or any vacation) is only as "Magical" as you allow it to be.

By the way does anyone else get that guilty feeling when you have posted on a thread that ends up closing? I mean I feel like I am 16 again and my mom just caught me smoking or something. Is it just me?

 

[pumba]

I had a few requests to close the thread because some people were saying that it was not right to say things against Disney and hostility was coming out........but like I pointed out on that post if everyone loved a certain hotel and a certain restaurant then we would NOT HAVE ANY ROOM for when we wanted to go... We all have likes and dislikes and I for one am glad.....or else we would not had gotten reservations at le Cellier on our third try. Thanks guys for this great thread......it is true we are not all Disney people ...I am but I was a late bloomer!!

 

[DisneyGirl2005]

You are so right pumba! Can you imagine how crowded the parks would be if everyone loved Disney??
Just want to add : I know it must be sooo hard as a moderator to keep up with all the threads and then decide what needs to be closed. I knew that thread was probably gonna close yesterday and yet I still got sucked into it. My new goal along with all my old goals (lose 5 pounds, keep up with housework, etc.) is to stay away from the controversial threads. Thanks for what you do!!

 

[pumba]

I agree with all you just said


EXCEPT

Keeping up with the housework........well try to do a better job at it MAYBE!!

thanks also for your kind words.....means alot to me ....BELIEVE ME!!!

 

[roadtripper]

roadtripper: just curious why you changed weeks this year? Also appreciate any insite/advice on Pres. week as we probably have to go during that week this coming Feb. (Although we hope to stay Sun-Sun and avoid MK on the actual Pres. Day monday).

Sorry-- Just checking in after a few days away. We changed to April for several reasons. It was the first year in a while that all our schools had the same April break. Last Feb was quite chilly-- although my kids from MA swam almost every day while the lifeguards sat freezing in their heavy coats. The crowds were really rough, although we used all the strategies and did not wait, it still requires more energy to navigate with all those people around. Also, when the weather is iffy, there are more people in the parks and fewer at the pools. We have the same April break next year as well, but it's Easter, so no way! We will be back in Feb again next year, crowds, chilly weather and all. If your party can stand it, I would hold off of the MK until Wednesday--crowds seemed to thin out as the week went on.