August 2015 Highs & Lows

[NatalieMT]

Overall we had a great trip! Been back about a week now and really missing it!

Highs

Sublime meals at both Citricos and California Grill, better than I remembered and really attentive service (thanks Ray and Randall!). In fact we couldn't really fault any of our dining choices.

For all the messing around AKL did (see lows...), they did upgrade our rooms to pool view and gave us 3 extra FP+ choices per day, which did help with avoiding queues.

Great time at Universal - loved the new Diagon Alley section. Booked a taxi with Mears from AKL and back, taxis always on time, friendly staff and the day went really smoothly apart from the torrential downpour in the afternoon.

All the great staff in the Disney Parks that we formed friendships with, really nice when staff recognise that they've served you before and follow up the conversation when they next see you.

The fact I go to go to Tulsa after the trip to visit friends (not Disney related but it was great to be able to see them).

All flights ran near enough to time and good service. We were on a Virgin/Delta codeshare flight via Atlanta, got through customs really quickly and everything went as planned. I then used Southwest to get from Orlando to Tulsa (via Dallas Love Field) and again all good! Almost missed my flight home from Tulsa due to having too much fun but they still let me on. :lol:

Got a great cake delivered at AKL for a birthday that we were celebrating - bakery staff were really easy to work with, private dining delivered about 30 minutes late which was a bit of a pain but got there in the end!

Lows

Weather wasn't the best but I'm just glad we avoided any sort of serious storm! We usually go every August and the weather this year was the worst it's been for years.

Whilst I cannot fault Animal Kingdom Lodge as a hotel itself, we had an absolute nightmare checking in and with various other technical things. We had 3 rooms booked and they were all linked. Initially they tried to give us 3 rooms dotted about in different corners of the hotel and as one of our party members pointed out we came on holiday because we wanted to spend time together. Eventually they found us 2 rooms together and 1 a bit further away and then they moved the room further away to a closer one a couple of days in to the trip but it was a hassle.

The front desk at Animal Kingdom Lodge added my card for charging to a totally incorrect room and then failed to add it altogether on a second attempt. We ended up at the front desk with regards to this rather frequently!

 

[Vikiic]

Overall we had a great trip! Been back about a week now and really missing it!

Highs

Sublime meals at both Citricos and California Grill, better than I remembered and really attentive service (thanks Ray and Randall!). In fact we couldn't really fault any of our dining choices.

For all the messing around AKL did (see lows...), they did upgrade our rooms to pool view and gave us 3 extra FP+ choices per day, which did help with avoiding queues.

Great time at Universal - loved the new Diagon Alley section. Booked a taxi with Mears from AKL and back, taxis always on time, friendly staff and the day went really smoothly apart from the torrential downpour in the afternoon.

All the great staff in the Disney Parks that we formed friendships with, really nice when staff recognise that they've served you before and follow up the conversation when they next see you.

The fact I go to go to Tulsa after the trip to visit friends (not Disney related but it was great to be able to see them).

All flights ran near enough to time and good service. We were on a Virgin/Delta codeshare flight via Atlanta, got through customs really quickly and everything went as planned. I then used Southwest to get from Orlando to Tulsa (via Dallas Love Field) and again all good! Almost missed my flight home from Tulsa due to having too much fun but they still let me on. :lol:

Got a great cake delivered at AKL for a birthday that we were celebrating - bakery staff were really easy to work with, private dining delivered about 30 minutes late which was a bit of a pain but got there in the end!

Lows

Weather wasn't the best but I'm just glad we avoided any sort of serious storm! We usually go every August and the weather this year was the worst it's been for years.

Whilst I cannot fault Animal Kingdom Lodge as a hotel itself, we had an absolute nightmare checking in and with various other technical things. We had 3 rooms booked and they were all linked. Initially they tried to give us 3 rooms dotted about in different corners of the hotel and as one of our party members pointed out we came on holiday because we wanted to spend time together. Eventually they found us 2 rooms together and 1 a bit further away and then they moved the room further away to a closer one a couple of days in to the trip but it was a hassle.

The front desk at Animal Kingdom Lodge added my card for charging to a totally incorrect room and then failed to add it altogether on a second attempt. We ended up at the front desk with regards to this rather frequently!

We are flying via Atlanta with our Virgin package next year, so good to hear it was straightforward for you! Did you have to recheck bags? How long inbetween flights?

 

[NatalieMT]

We are flying via Atlanta with our Virgin package next year, so good to hear it was straightforward for you! Did you have to recheck bags? How long inbetween flights?

Well a member in our party is in a wheelchair so I think we got through customs a little quicker because of that and yes you have to collect your bags and then recheck them, but it's an easy as collecting them from one carousel and then placing them on another one about 200m away. I think our connection time was about 2 hours all in all so we had 45 mins or so to get food before boarding ATL to MCO.

 

[buzz242]

Overall we had a great trip! Been back about a week now and really missing it!


Lows

Weather wasn't the best but I'm just glad we avoided any sort of serious storm! We usually go every August and the weather this year was the worst it's been for years.



!

We were there for the last two weeks in August And although we have visited at the same time on numerous occasions I agree with with you that the weather this year was the worst. We managed to work our way around the downpours but our Discovery Cove day was cut slightly short as there was so much thunder and lightening.

 

[onestitchloose]

Great time at Universal - loved the new Diagon Alley section. Booked a taxi with Mears from AKL and back, taxis always on time, friendly staff and the day went really smoothly apart from the torrential downpour in the afternoon.

Agreed about Diagon alley, attention to detail is amazing, we loved the ride too.

What do Taxis cost nowadays?

 

[dixonsontour]

Thanks for posting your highs and lows. We are on that Delta/Virgin codeshare flight back at end of October.

 

[NatalieMT]

Agreed about Diagon alley, attention to detail is amazing, we loved the ride too.

What do Taxis cost nowadays?

It was $118.80 including tip for the return journey from AKL to Universal and back. It was for 8 people so per person it was a little less than $15 which really wasn't bad at all.