carolfoy
<font color=cc6633>One has Ones hat and One's orf.
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2005
- Messages
- 8,316
For the boys and me...
starring, (drum roll please....)
Me! Carol (now 36 -feeling 136!)
Mummy Liz (Happy its home-going day)
Callum (11) Upset its home-going day
Connor (11) Mixed feelings, can't wait to see Mum but going to miss DLRP
Thursday April 12th and the last day has rolled round so quick, we're not quite as quick to leave the hotel this morning as we'd all the packing to do and these boys are terrors for leaving things lying around - I'd spent the last 2 days picking up lanyards, sunglasses, drinks etc - so a check of the room and back to baggage holding to leave our stuff there until later.
We catch the bus down to the park and it really makes you realise the busses at WDW are very well organised, there's no real need for elbows at WDW as busy as the buses can get!
Its about 8:30 today when we get into the park today and its looking much busier than yesterday, checking on Frontierland we discover you can't get access until 10am when the park officially opens so we head across to discovery land, there's queus forming already for Autopia and Buzz and Space mountain and they don't open until 10!!! so we head back to Fantasyland.
We join the already long queue for Snow White as its the one 'baby' ride we hadn't yet done. There was a little doll of a girl aged about 2 in the line in front of us with the full Snow White costume on, she was a real little sweetie yet when she got to the front of the queue the cast member just waved her family on to the ride like everyone else - I couldn't help but think that in Florida the cm's would have made a real fuss of her.
It was now about 10 to 9 so we walked back to La Belle Notte for our breakfast again. It was just as nice as yesterday and I encouraged the boys to eat loads so we wouldn't have to stop again before lunch.
Discoveryland was still ridiculously overcrowded but the boys joined the queue waiting for the opening of Autopia. We took turns at going to see the Nautilus at 20, 000 leagues under the sea to while away some time.
The ride opened late at 10:45 and the crowd surged forward. Mum and I waited on a bench and at 11:15 the boys arrived back to say they were bored of queueing! Great! we'd just wasted an hour waiting in a line for a ride they didn't even ride.
Frontierland was also packed to the hilt and I was very pissed off at this point for wasting a whole morning - we'd ridden Snow White and that was all! they Fast passed Big Thunder but the return time was 14:35, we took a wonder through The Enchanted Passage Of Aladdin, which was cute and uncrowded but a bit of a waste of time.
Deciding to cut our losses and head over to the studios as Mum and I were wanting to see Cinemagique again (they really should install this in the 'France' pavilion in Epcot!). We arrive in the Studios for the 12:30 showing of Cinemagique and needless to say it was even better the second time round.
We join the very long but always moving queue for the Backlot tour, its not something we usually bother with in MGM as its a case of once seen, don't bother but we thought Connor might enjoy the effects of catastrophe canyon. It was actually a better tour than the one in Florida as there were two seperate 'events'.
Its now 2 o'clock so we have to skedaddle back to Frontierland in MK to make the BTM fatspass time. The fatspass queue was huge but there were an awful lot of people queuing who had return times of 20:00 and after
it seems they thought you just queued to get a ticket at the fastpass machine then joined the fastpass queue, it seemed pretty typical that there were no cast members at the fastpass machines to explain how you use it.
We made the most of our final ride on Big Thunder by all holding our arms in the air all the way round and whooping accordingly.
We stopped for Pizza in Colonel Hathis Pizza outpost then went back to Main Street for a final wander round the shops, the boys had money burning holes in their pockets so they were desperate for a final souvenir grab.
We took the opportunity to go to the Main Street Station and ride the train all round the park, the parade was about to start so the queues were less than an hour
we could see part of the parade and it looked quite good, it was a shame we couldn't see more but with such ridiculous queues everywhere there was just no point in wasting ride time watching it.
A final ride completely round the outside of the park on the train and it was now ten past 5.
we are all sorry to leave the park but we have to get back to the Sequoia to get our bags. The next VEA shuttle was at 6 and the bus queues are as long, if more dangerous, than at WDW.
We only had to wait a couple of minutes for a bus so had enough time at Sequoia for mum to go get a coffee. While she was gone a taxi drew up dropping guests off, he asked me if we were going back to Charles De Gaulle as he was going back there anyway and would take us back for 50 euros. As this was cheaper than the VEA shuttle and certainly more comfortable we agreed so unfortunately Mum had to throw her coffee down her neck sharpish
.
We were back to Charles De Gaulle earlier than we could have been but as Connor had got tired again, hot and a bit tearful in the car it gave him time to just text his mum to say we were on our way back.
Check in was very slow (reminiscent of POP! century) and it was 19:15 by the time we went through to departures. Enough time to avail myself of some goodies from Dior and a quick drink and we boarded promptly at 20:00. The plane was due to take off at 20:45 but it was a long taxi to our slot. we took off on time and landed into Exeter at 20:55 local time. A short wait for the car parking payment machine and we were on our way back to Launceston, Connor called his mum to say we were nearly home and I dropped him first, warning his mum that he'd probably sleep until Sunday
.
Dropped my mum and then Callum and I crawled into our beds at around 11:00.
That's it then, another holiday over
Pro's and Cons
DLRP Vs WDW
WDW better because: Cast members actually enjoy their job, we've all encountered one or two that were a bit miserable or snappy but 99% of them are great and will interact with the public, the whole reason that DLRP doesn't have a jungle cruise is because they couldn't find an employee to crack a smile or a joke!
The cleanliness of the parks in general, the loos are always spotless. I know people always reckon they've seen people smoking in non-smoking spots in WDW but generally the smokers do keep to their areas and if they are out of them at least they are discreet and not smoking while in line or at a restaurant table.
The general behaviour of other guests - we've had some great conversations with other Brits and Americans whilst in WDW, everyone acts more like one big family united by the mutual love of the place, in DLRP everyone was pushing and shoving each other. Also what is it with the dress code? is 'streetwalker chic' really in and no one told me? We lost count of the number of bare bottoms we saw under mini skirts
funny yes but also highly inappropriate. (even more so as all these women seemed to be more Weather Girls than Pussycat Dolls)
DLRP better its only an hours flight which has to be a bonus! you can actually arrive in time to get into the parks.
Some of the rides have a lot more detail, are much longer and are quite different to WDW. Main ones I noticed are Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder, Pirates, Small World and the Backlot Tour (Of course its better to queue less and ride shorter so you can do it again but some of the differences were really nice)
The passes and breakfast are included for on site guests, I know the ticket options and systems are so complicated for florida its ridiculous but wouldn't it be easier if when you stayed on site you automatically had entry?
That's about it, WDW wins every time but I enjoyed DLRP more than I thought I would and if it hadn't been so crowded it would bean even closer contest.
starring, (drum roll please....)
Me! Carol (now 36 -feeling 136!)
Mummy Liz (Happy its home-going day)
Callum (11) Upset its home-going day
Connor (11) Mixed feelings, can't wait to see Mum but going to miss DLRP
Thursday April 12th and the last day has rolled round so quick, we're not quite as quick to leave the hotel this morning as we'd all the packing to do and these boys are terrors for leaving things lying around - I'd spent the last 2 days picking up lanyards, sunglasses, drinks etc - so a check of the room and back to baggage holding to leave our stuff there until later.
We catch the bus down to the park and it really makes you realise the busses at WDW are very well organised, there's no real need for elbows at WDW as busy as the buses can get!
Its about 8:30 today when we get into the park today and its looking much busier than yesterday, checking on Frontierland we discover you can't get access until 10am when the park officially opens so we head across to discovery land, there's queus forming already for Autopia and Buzz and Space mountain and they don't open until 10!!! so we head back to Fantasyland.
We join the already long queue for Snow White as its the one 'baby' ride we hadn't yet done. There was a little doll of a girl aged about 2 in the line in front of us with the full Snow White costume on, she was a real little sweetie yet when she got to the front of the queue the cast member just waved her family on to the ride like everyone else - I couldn't help but think that in Florida the cm's would have made a real fuss of her.
It was now about 10 to 9 so we walked back to La Belle Notte for our breakfast again. It was just as nice as yesterday and I encouraged the boys to eat loads so we wouldn't have to stop again before lunch.
Discoveryland was still ridiculously overcrowded but the boys joined the queue waiting for the opening of Autopia. We took turns at going to see the Nautilus at 20, 000 leagues under the sea to while away some time.
The ride opened late at 10:45 and the crowd surged forward. Mum and I waited on a bench and at 11:15 the boys arrived back to say they were bored of queueing! Great! we'd just wasted an hour waiting in a line for a ride they didn't even ride.
Frontierland was also packed to the hilt and I was very pissed off at this point for wasting a whole morning - we'd ridden Snow White and that was all! they Fast passed Big Thunder but the return time was 14:35, we took a wonder through The Enchanted Passage Of Aladdin, which was cute and uncrowded but a bit of a waste of time.
Deciding to cut our losses and head over to the studios as Mum and I were wanting to see Cinemagique again (they really should install this in the 'France' pavilion in Epcot!). We arrive in the Studios for the 12:30 showing of Cinemagique and needless to say it was even better the second time round.
We join the very long but always moving queue for the Backlot tour, its not something we usually bother with in MGM as its a case of once seen, don't bother but we thought Connor might enjoy the effects of catastrophe canyon. It was actually a better tour than the one in Florida as there were two seperate 'events'.
Its now 2 o'clock so we have to skedaddle back to Frontierland in MK to make the BTM fatspass time. The fatspass queue was huge but there were an awful lot of people queuing who had return times of 20:00 and after
it seems they thought you just queued to get a ticket at the fastpass machine then joined the fastpass queue, it seemed pretty typical that there were no cast members at the fastpass machines to explain how you use it.We made the most of our final ride on Big Thunder by all holding our arms in the air all the way round and whooping accordingly.
We stopped for Pizza in Colonel Hathis Pizza outpost then went back to Main Street for a final wander round the shops, the boys had money burning holes in their pockets so they were desperate for a final souvenir grab.
We took the opportunity to go to the Main Street Station and ride the train all round the park, the parade was about to start so the queues were less than an hour
we could see part of the parade and it looked quite good, it was a shame we couldn't see more but with such ridiculous queues everywhere there was just no point in wasting ride time watching it.A final ride completely round the outside of the park on the train and it was now ten past 5.
we are all sorry to leave the park but we have to get back to the Sequoia to get our bags. The next VEA shuttle was at 6 and the bus queues are as long, if more dangerous, than at WDW.
We only had to wait a couple of minutes for a bus so had enough time at Sequoia for mum to go get a coffee. While she was gone a taxi drew up dropping guests off, he asked me if we were going back to Charles De Gaulle as he was going back there anyway and would take us back for 50 euros. As this was cheaper than the VEA shuttle and certainly more comfortable we agreed so unfortunately Mum had to throw her coffee down her neck sharpish
.We were back to Charles De Gaulle earlier than we could have been but as Connor had got tired again, hot and a bit tearful in the car it gave him time to just text his mum to say we were on our way back.
Check in was very slow (reminiscent of POP! century) and it was 19:15 by the time we went through to departures. Enough time to avail myself of some goodies from Dior and a quick drink and we boarded promptly at 20:00. The plane was due to take off at 20:45 but it was a long taxi to our slot. we took off on time and landed into Exeter at 20:55 local time. A short wait for the car parking payment machine and we were on our way back to Launceston, Connor called his mum to say we were nearly home and I dropped him first, warning his mum that he'd probably sleep until Sunday
.Dropped my mum and then Callum and I crawled into our beds at around 11:00.
That's it then, another holiday over
Pro's and Cons
DLRP Vs WDW
WDW better because: Cast members actually enjoy their job, we've all encountered one or two that were a bit miserable or snappy but 99% of them are great and will interact with the public, the whole reason that DLRP doesn't have a jungle cruise is because they couldn't find an employee to crack a smile or a joke!
The cleanliness of the parks in general, the loos are always spotless. I know people always reckon they've seen people smoking in non-smoking spots in WDW but generally the smokers do keep to their areas and if they are out of them at least they are discreet and not smoking while in line or at a restaurant table.
The general behaviour of other guests - we've had some great conversations with other Brits and Americans whilst in WDW, everyone acts more like one big family united by the mutual love of the place, in DLRP everyone was pushing and shoving each other. Also what is it with the dress code? is 'streetwalker chic' really in and no one told me? We lost count of the number of bare bottoms we saw under mini skirts
funny yes but also highly inappropriate. (even more so as all these women seemed to be more Weather Girls than Pussycat Dolls)DLRP better its only an hours flight which has to be a bonus! you can actually arrive in time to get into the parks.
Some of the rides have a lot more detail, are much longer and are quite different to WDW. Main ones I noticed are Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder, Pirates, Small World and the Backlot Tour (Of course its better to queue less and ride shorter so you can do it again but some of the differences were really nice)
The passes and breakfast are included for on site guests, I know the ticket options and systems are so complicated for florida its ridiculous but wouldn't it be easier if when you stayed on site you automatically had entry?
That's about it, WDW wins every time but I enjoyed DLRP more than I thought I would and if it hadn't been so crowded it would bean even closer contest.
Ive never been to DLRP and I dont think I would bother unless it was really cheap, it just doesnt sound like it has the same magic. 
i agree with you about the mini snow white 
