pigby
<font color=66CC33>This one might be a little more
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2000
- Messages
- 3,410
Finally home after a long flight
Started on a bad note - our flight via London Heathrow was turned back due to technical difficulties - got as far as Western Ireland! Pilot would'nt fly over the Atlantic. British Airways put us up in a hotel near Heathrow and we flew 24 hours later - not happy that we were still in London when we could have been in Disney.
When we arrived at the Howard Johnson, got our Deluxe room in building 2 but was really disappointed - it wasnt the pool view we had hoped for - it was right on the end of the block by the freeway and you had to lean over the balcony (sideways) to see the pool. Went back to the front desk as couldnt see us wanting to stay in such a noisy room for 2 weeks - it was really noisy even with the doors closed. They couldnt find another room available in the block so gave us an upgrade to a Premium room on the sixth floor of Block 1 - what a difference - I loved this room - it was HUGE - far bigger than any onsite WDW room we had stayed in and had a clear view of the fireworks - I would pick these rooms for sure over the deluxe next time.
First impressions of DL Park were great - it was (by now) Sunday morning and we hit the parks at 8am - did all of Fantasyland (except Peter Pan), Space Mountain - no wait - we were still in UK time.
Our plan of getting to the parks early, taking an afternoon break and going back later worked to a certain extent. Mornings were always good (though none so good as that first Sunday) but found that DD (16) less inclined to get out of bed as time rolled on. Also evenings seemed much busier than afternoons - stayed till 12 midnight on our last night yet crowds were still there (90 mins for Indiana). So some days we stayed till early evening and had dinner outside Disney.
On the subject of food - we loved Bubba Gump, Millies, Mimi's, Naples - must be many others too. Biggest disappointment was Cafe Orleans - we all had Monte Cristos and loathed them (sorry I know this place has it's fans!)
Noticed that the parks seemed more crowded than WDW at similar time of year yet the lines were shorter - most we saw was 90 mins (Space, Splash, Indiana) - we have seen waits of over 2 hours at Splash in WDW in July - I would never wait this long BTW - most we waited was 45 mins for TSMM - this ride always had a wait of 40/45 mins constant - weird!
New favorite ride - Indiana Jones! One of my favorites in WDW - Splash, wasn't a favorite here - got too drenched! We also really liked California Screamin.
WOC - had preferred dining at Ariels which was pretty good food - went back earlier than time on fastpass but should have been there much earlier - they HAD let people line up and there was already a long line - still managed to stand one row back from the railing and had a reasonable view.
Fantasmic - Our first attempt watching this failed miserably - tried to go to second show on our first Tuesday after fireworks had ended - big mistake - couldnt even walk down Frontierland. Then changed our plan and decided to get in a spot before the first show on another day instead - picked a spot which was raised up over the people waiting at the front - to the right (as you look from the water) of POC. Seemed like a good idea but when the show started there was a CM ushering people along the path directly in front of us and at times all we could see was her glowstick. She didnt do such a good job of ushering as people were stopping with kids and hoisting them up on their shoulders in front of us. Still - could see most of what was going on - but still prefer Fantasmic at WDW - just to sit down (and get a better view)
Also went on 3 trips out - 2 with Grayline - Universal and LA/Hollywood and with OC Tours - Woody bus. The Universal tour was spoilt a little for us by some extremely rude people from 'another country' - unfortunately fellow Europeans - I'll not say from where! Universal was good with some similar rides as Orlando - as we were there on a busy day it's probably a good job there wasn't as many attractions - really enjoyed the Horror Maze - but DD wouldnt do it. The LA trip was good - well organised by Grayline once again but didn't stay in places long enough - only had 1 1/2 hours for lunch at Farmers Market and another 1 1/2 on Santa Monica beach - would have liked more in these locations.
The Woody bus was OK - I booked online - the trip was changed from Saturday to Monday (Tom e-mailed me) but then the night before the trip, Tom rang in room to change to Tuesday - I didnt say anything but we had gone back early to be up for the trip next day. On the Tuesday (nobody's fault) the weather wasnt great and the sun failed to show all day - I had envisioned a day sunning on beautiful beaches and nothing much to do at Laguna apart from the beach - stayed there 3 hours and another 3 at Newport. Then we waited about half an hour or so for the bus to turn up - there had been an accident on the freeway and another driver had to pick us up. Tom rang to apologise taht evening and offered a trip to a shopping mall free of charge but we only had 2 days left and we wanted those to be Disney days (as you do)
Summary - great time generally - enjoyed the weather more than Orlando - especially on the hotter days (told you I like hot) - got to 96 on a couple of days.
Started on a bad note - our flight via London Heathrow was turned back due to technical difficulties - got as far as Western Ireland! Pilot would'nt fly over the Atlantic. British Airways put us up in a hotel near Heathrow and we flew 24 hours later - not happy that we were still in London when we could have been in Disney.
When we arrived at the Howard Johnson, got our Deluxe room in building 2 but was really disappointed - it wasnt the pool view we had hoped for - it was right on the end of the block by the freeway and you had to lean over the balcony (sideways) to see the pool. Went back to the front desk as couldnt see us wanting to stay in such a noisy room for 2 weeks - it was really noisy even with the doors closed. They couldnt find another room available in the block so gave us an upgrade to a Premium room on the sixth floor of Block 1 - what a difference - I loved this room - it was HUGE - far bigger than any onsite WDW room we had stayed in and had a clear view of the fireworks - I would pick these rooms for sure over the deluxe next time.
First impressions of DL Park were great - it was (by now) Sunday morning and we hit the parks at 8am - did all of Fantasyland (except Peter Pan), Space Mountain - no wait - we were still in UK time.
Our plan of getting to the parks early, taking an afternoon break and going back later worked to a certain extent. Mornings were always good (though none so good as that first Sunday) but found that DD (16) less inclined to get out of bed as time rolled on. Also evenings seemed much busier than afternoons - stayed till 12 midnight on our last night yet crowds were still there (90 mins for Indiana). So some days we stayed till early evening and had dinner outside Disney.
On the subject of food - we loved Bubba Gump, Millies, Mimi's, Naples - must be many others too. Biggest disappointment was Cafe Orleans - we all had Monte Cristos and loathed them (sorry I know this place has it's fans!)
Noticed that the parks seemed more crowded than WDW at similar time of year yet the lines were shorter - most we saw was 90 mins (Space, Splash, Indiana) - we have seen waits of over 2 hours at Splash in WDW in July - I would never wait this long BTW - most we waited was 45 mins for TSMM - this ride always had a wait of 40/45 mins constant - weird!
New favorite ride - Indiana Jones! One of my favorites in WDW - Splash, wasn't a favorite here - got too drenched! We also really liked California Screamin.
WOC - had preferred dining at Ariels which was pretty good food - went back earlier than time on fastpass but should have been there much earlier - they HAD let people line up and there was already a long line - still managed to stand one row back from the railing and had a reasonable view.
Fantasmic - Our first attempt watching this failed miserably - tried to go to second show on our first Tuesday after fireworks had ended - big mistake - couldnt even walk down Frontierland. Then changed our plan and decided to get in a spot before the first show on another day instead - picked a spot which was raised up over the people waiting at the front - to the right (as you look from the water) of POC. Seemed like a good idea but when the show started there was a CM ushering people along the path directly in front of us and at times all we could see was her glowstick. She didnt do such a good job of ushering as people were stopping with kids and hoisting them up on their shoulders in front of us. Still - could see most of what was going on - but still prefer Fantasmic at WDW - just to sit down (and get a better view)
Also went on 3 trips out - 2 with Grayline - Universal and LA/Hollywood and with OC Tours - Woody bus. The Universal tour was spoilt a little for us by some extremely rude people from 'another country' - unfortunately fellow Europeans - I'll not say from where! Universal was good with some similar rides as Orlando - as we were there on a busy day it's probably a good job there wasn't as many attractions - really enjoyed the Horror Maze - but DD wouldnt do it. The LA trip was good - well organised by Grayline once again but didn't stay in places long enough - only had 1 1/2 hours for lunch at Farmers Market and another 1 1/2 on Santa Monica beach - would have liked more in these locations.
The Woody bus was OK - I booked online - the trip was changed from Saturday to Monday (Tom e-mailed me) but then the night before the trip, Tom rang in room to change to Tuesday - I didnt say anything but we had gone back early to be up for the trip next day. On the Tuesday (nobody's fault) the weather wasnt great and the sun failed to show all day - I had envisioned a day sunning on beautiful beaches and nothing much to do at Laguna apart from the beach - stayed there 3 hours and another 3 at Newport. Then we waited about half an hour or so for the bus to turn up - there had been an accident on the freeway and another driver had to pick us up. Tom rang to apologise taht evening and offered a trip to a shopping mall free of charge but we only had 2 days left and we wanted those to be Disney days (as you do)
Summary - great time generally - enjoyed the weather more than Orlando - especially on the hotter days (told you I like hot) - got to 96 on a couple of days.
I'm willing to pay a bit more for them.
