Portugal1000
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2007
- Messages
- 1,718
We arrived back on Wednesday morning after the most fantastic holiday. This was the 10th trip since 2005 but we still love it as much as ever. My brothers family were with us for 18 days, he has 6 year old twins so definitely made for a different type of holiday for us. Our son was 13 whilst we were there and he loved having the girls around.
We flew Delta via Boston on the way there and JFK on the way back. We only paid £420 for flights but upgrade to economy comfort and on both long flights had the front row which was great as loads of leg room. other than that the service in EC was no different to economy as far as I could tell. I was happy with the flights apart from being delayed in Boston 2.5 hours on the way there. Delta definitely different to Virgin though. Complete disregard for seat belt signs and no enforcement which surprised me. People stood up a couple of minutes after take off to get stuff out of their bags and go to the toilet. Cabin crew still standing and chatting 20 seconds before we landed. didn't effect us but was just surprised.
Anyway, we stayed the whole 23 days at Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort which is next door to Caribbean Beach. It still amazes me that this hasn't caught on with the British. Once again never heard another English accent but kinda nice because everytime we spoke to anyone they were so keen to talk because we were from England. Great excitement when we got there about the new Prince being born! The resort is wonderful. 5 pools, 2 lazy rivers, slides and lots of family entertainment which we joined in with whenever we were at the pool. Our room as always was great. We had a 2 bedroom in tower 6 right by the pirate pool. Cant be faulted, bigger than my house. Paid $140 including taxes. No extra charge except for shuttle but we don't use it anyway. Please feel free to ask any questions about this resort as I could fill pages just talking about it.
We had tickets for literally all the parks as my brothers first trip, they wanted to see everything. We wouldn't have done so much if we had been on our own and it was like going back for the first time again. My son rode 159 rides whilst we were there and I recommend getting to the parks before opening and utilising the fast pass system. You can get a lot done if you do. The parks were busy but the longest line we joined the whole time was 25 minutes for pirates and the actual wait time was 11. We have a rule not to join anything that says more than 30, no ride is worth that.
We also spent one night at the Royal Pacific to make use of the Express pass. My son rode 50 rides at Universal (some multiple of course) wouldn't go there in the summer without it as it was busy but not as busy as last year. Loved the new transformers ride.
Also went to Discovery Cove for first time which was really good. Only £30 more than buying the SeaWorld/Aquatica ticket so well worth it. We were in the water for 8 hours straight apart from when we ate lunch.
The weather was great. I don't don't if we were lucky or just happened to miss the rain but it hardly rained atall apart from the first couple of days. I don't even mind the rain as it cools it down a bit.
The only think I was disappointed with was the Disney restaurants (apart form Teppen Edo which was great) Tusker House in AK was awful and we only got one character photo. Gave up waiting in the end. It cost us $250 and I really resented paying the 18% tip which I am usually more than happy to pay. I might actually make a comment to Disney. It was my nieces first character meal so a real let down. Actually prompted us to cancel Chef Mickey and 1900 Park Fare which were even more expensive. The food was shocking and not refilled. I just think Disney is so overpriced now and we enjoyed the offsite meals far more. I don't envisage ever doing the DP again even if its free.
So only one bad thing in 3 weeks which is pretty good. It really is a fantastic holiday. Just sad that we will have to wait another year to go back. We do have a week in Italy in October school holidays which will hopefully soften the blow, then it will be back to the usual hunt for cheap flights!!
So theres so much more I could say but I would be here all night.
We flew Delta via Boston on the way there and JFK on the way back. We only paid £420 for flights but upgrade to economy comfort and on both long flights had the front row which was great as loads of leg room. other than that the service in EC was no different to economy as far as I could tell. I was happy with the flights apart from being delayed in Boston 2.5 hours on the way there. Delta definitely different to Virgin though. Complete disregard for seat belt signs and no enforcement which surprised me. People stood up a couple of minutes after take off to get stuff out of their bags and go to the toilet. Cabin crew still standing and chatting 20 seconds before we landed. didn't effect us but was just surprised.
Anyway, we stayed the whole 23 days at Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort which is next door to Caribbean Beach. It still amazes me that this hasn't caught on with the British. Once again never heard another English accent but kinda nice because everytime we spoke to anyone they were so keen to talk because we were from England. Great excitement when we got there about the new Prince being born! The resort is wonderful. 5 pools, 2 lazy rivers, slides and lots of family entertainment which we joined in with whenever we were at the pool. Our room as always was great. We had a 2 bedroom in tower 6 right by the pirate pool. Cant be faulted, bigger than my house. Paid $140 including taxes. No extra charge except for shuttle but we don't use it anyway. Please feel free to ask any questions about this resort as I could fill pages just talking about it.
We had tickets for literally all the parks as my brothers first trip, they wanted to see everything. We wouldn't have done so much if we had been on our own and it was like going back for the first time again. My son rode 159 rides whilst we were there and I recommend getting to the parks before opening and utilising the fast pass system. You can get a lot done if you do. The parks were busy but the longest line we joined the whole time was 25 minutes for pirates and the actual wait time was 11. We have a rule not to join anything that says more than 30, no ride is worth that.
We also spent one night at the Royal Pacific to make use of the Express pass. My son rode 50 rides at Universal (some multiple of course) wouldn't go there in the summer without it as it was busy but not as busy as last year. Loved the new transformers ride.
Also went to Discovery Cove for first time which was really good. Only £30 more than buying the SeaWorld/Aquatica ticket so well worth it. We were in the water for 8 hours straight apart from when we ate lunch.
The weather was great. I don't don't if we were lucky or just happened to miss the rain but it hardly rained atall apart from the first couple of days. I don't even mind the rain as it cools it down a bit.
The only think I was disappointed with was the Disney restaurants (apart form Teppen Edo which was great) Tusker House in AK was awful and we only got one character photo. Gave up waiting in the end. It cost us $250 and I really resented paying the 18% tip which I am usually more than happy to pay. I might actually make a comment to Disney. It was my nieces first character meal so a real let down. Actually prompted us to cancel Chef Mickey and 1900 Park Fare which were even more expensive. The food was shocking and not refilled. I just think Disney is so overpriced now and we enjoyed the offsite meals far more. I don't envisage ever doing the DP again even if its free.
So only one bad thing in 3 weeks which is pretty good. It really is a fantastic holiday. Just sad that we will have to wait another year to go back. We do have a week in Italy in October school holidays which will hopefully soften the blow, then it will be back to the usual hunt for cheap flights!!
So theres so much more I could say but I would be here all night.
Sounds like you all had a great holiday seeing it from a newbies point of view again
