cchevela1023
Turning into a darn Disney World Relic!
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2008
- Messages
- 46
Hello. First, I wanted to say thanks to everyone who has posted before. I've been able to glean a lot of useful information when perusing the message board. I'm going to try and keep this brief and point out major things I noticed on this trip:
Trip Info
- Dates: 9/10 - 9/16
- Family: Myself, wife, son (5), son (3)
- Travel method: Northwest flight from Detroit, MI to Orlando (MCO), rental car from Hertz for the week
- Resort: Port Orleans Riverside, std view room
- Package: Park hoppers, dining-plan (quick note -- we were able to get the free dining plan offer. Pretty much the same as last year, but no appetizer and you pay the tip. We still didn't worry too much about what we ordered -- we still left good tips).
- Weather: Sunny most days, low-mid 90's w/ high humidity. 2 afternoon storms
Day 1
We actually flew in a day before we checked in and stayed at the Marriott Springhill Suites Mariott Village. I was able to use some rewards points. The hotel is very nice and we like the pool -- zero entry with spray jets and a mini spary water park for the kids. The hotel is fairly large and has a large dining area (breakfast is included with stay). The breakfast includes waffles, cerals, yogurt, fruit, and pastries. I rented a vehicle from Hertz. If you rent from hertz, you will need to exit from baggage claim to a rental car shuttle. The hertz area is about a mile down the road.
Day 2
We checked out of the hotel and drove over to the Riverside resort. No problems with check in and we actually had our room right then. We didn't have to wait until 3:00 to go in the room. We opted to go right to the parks and chose DHS. We saw most of the major attractions. Some highlights:
- This was the final day of the lights, motors, actions stunt show. It is closed until the end of the month.
- My 3 year old went on Hollywood Tower of Terror -- big mistake. He was frightend of most rides after that -- even one's he had gone on before. It was my fault. I had forgotten there are some freaky moments. The good news is that it wore off near the end of the trip, so he was going on everything near the end.
- Toy Story Mania is a lot like Buzz Lightyear's Spaceranger Spin -- but much more modern. It is a virtual ride w/ 3D glasses -- very cool. The blasters don't have a button, but a pull knob, so your hand get's tired very quick.
- I like the new makeover of the Pixar place area -- everything was coordinated w/ a Pixar look.
- They were busy building up the new American Idol attraction.
- Dinner was at Spoodles. This was probably our most "high-end" meal. Service was very attentive at this restaurant
- Crowd levels for the park were low to medium. We walked on to most everything.
Day 2
This was our 1st day at Epcot. Again, we rode most of the rides and spent most of the say up in front at Future World.
- Spaceship Earth is very cool. The ride car now has a touchscreen panel where you can customize what a future can look like for you. There are also some different sections to the ride.
- The postshow area is completely updated by Siemens and has a lot of virtual games. The place was kind of busy
- Crowd levels were low until afternoon then picked up a little. We were still able to ride Test Track w/ only a 15 minute wait. We walked on to Soarin twice.
- Lunch at Electric Umbrella -- good food
- Dinner at Biergarten. Awesome restaurant. High quality food, and probably a favorite of the boys.
Day 3
2nd day at Epcot -- we re-rode some of the front attractions and spent more time at World Showcase
Lunch - Tangerine Cafe -- Very good, authentic, middle eastern food. Living in the Dearborn, MI area, we have a wide variety of middle eastern restaurants, and the menu and quality was very close.
Dinner - San Angel Inn. We were disappointed with this restaurant. The food was okay, but the service was horrible and it was way to dark. From the time we finished dessert, to the time we got the bill, it was probably a 20 minute wait.
- Illuminations was different from last year. There were more lasers in the effects, and there was no globe. The show itself was still very good.
Day 4-6
The last 3 days were all at Magic Kingdom. I know -- I didn't think it was possible, but we were truly busy for 3 days at one park, and we never felt like we were repeating too much. BTW, this was a Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Crowd levels were medium - high. We rode most attractions. A couple things I noticed:
- The new bridge going to liberty square looks great
- I saw two major areas under construction, and I'd like to know what they are for. The first was over in Adventureland, right next to Pirates of the caribbean -- there was a big section boarded off. The other was in Frontier land to the left of Splash Mountain (I hope I got that one right).
- Lunches were at Columbia harbor house and Cosmic Rays (twice). They were fine.
- Dinners were at Ohana (great food, great atomsphere), Liberty Tree Taven (great food and the characters spent several minutes with us) and Boatwrights Dining Hall (suprisingly very good food, but we had to wait 1/2 hour due to a late reservation change).
- We saw SpectroMagic on Saturday night, the daytime parade on Sunday, and the firework and water pagent on Monday night. They were all fantastic.
- Crowd levels were fine in the morning. Pretty hectic in the afternoon. There were 45-50 minute waits for Pooh and Pan's Flight around 2:00-3:00. However, on Monday morning, we were able to ride Big Thunder Mountain twice in a row w/ no wait. So, the crowds were sporatic.
The hotel was very nice -- it was also very large. We stayed at French Quarter last year and that was much easier to get around. We stayed in Acadia House on the magnolia bend side and the decor was very similar. The pool has a great water slide and falling water cascades.
In all, a very nice trip. We were fine with the changes to the dining plan, and crowd levels were not bad.
Trip Info
- Dates: 9/10 - 9/16
- Family: Myself, wife, son (5), son (3)
- Travel method: Northwest flight from Detroit, MI to Orlando (MCO), rental car from Hertz for the week
- Resort: Port Orleans Riverside, std view room
- Package: Park hoppers, dining-plan (quick note -- we were able to get the free dining plan offer. Pretty much the same as last year, but no appetizer and you pay the tip. We still didn't worry too much about what we ordered -- we still left good tips).
- Weather: Sunny most days, low-mid 90's w/ high humidity. 2 afternoon storms
Day 1
We actually flew in a day before we checked in and stayed at the Marriott Springhill Suites Mariott Village. I was able to use some rewards points. The hotel is very nice and we like the pool -- zero entry with spray jets and a mini spary water park for the kids. The hotel is fairly large and has a large dining area (breakfast is included with stay). The breakfast includes waffles, cerals, yogurt, fruit, and pastries. I rented a vehicle from Hertz. If you rent from hertz, you will need to exit from baggage claim to a rental car shuttle. The hertz area is about a mile down the road.
Day 2
We checked out of the hotel and drove over to the Riverside resort. No problems with check in and we actually had our room right then. We didn't have to wait until 3:00 to go in the room. We opted to go right to the parks and chose DHS. We saw most of the major attractions. Some highlights:
- This was the final day of the lights, motors, actions stunt show. It is closed until the end of the month.
- My 3 year old went on Hollywood Tower of Terror -- big mistake. He was frightend of most rides after that -- even one's he had gone on before. It was my fault. I had forgotten there are some freaky moments. The good news is that it wore off near the end of the trip, so he was going on everything near the end.
- Toy Story Mania is a lot like Buzz Lightyear's Spaceranger Spin -- but much more modern. It is a virtual ride w/ 3D glasses -- very cool. The blasters don't have a button, but a pull knob, so your hand get's tired very quick.
- I like the new makeover of the Pixar place area -- everything was coordinated w/ a Pixar look.
- They were busy building up the new American Idol attraction.
- Dinner was at Spoodles. This was probably our most "high-end" meal. Service was very attentive at this restaurant
- Crowd levels for the park were low to medium. We walked on to most everything.
Day 2
This was our 1st day at Epcot. Again, we rode most of the rides and spent most of the say up in front at Future World.
- Spaceship Earth is very cool. The ride car now has a touchscreen panel where you can customize what a future can look like for you. There are also some different sections to the ride.
- The postshow area is completely updated by Siemens and has a lot of virtual games. The place was kind of busy
- Crowd levels were low until afternoon then picked up a little. We were still able to ride Test Track w/ only a 15 minute wait. We walked on to Soarin twice.
- Lunch at Electric Umbrella -- good food
- Dinner at Biergarten. Awesome restaurant. High quality food, and probably a favorite of the boys.
Day 3
2nd day at Epcot -- we re-rode some of the front attractions and spent more time at World Showcase
Lunch - Tangerine Cafe -- Very good, authentic, middle eastern food. Living in the Dearborn, MI area, we have a wide variety of middle eastern restaurants, and the menu and quality was very close.
Dinner - San Angel Inn. We were disappointed with this restaurant. The food was okay, but the service was horrible and it was way to dark. From the time we finished dessert, to the time we got the bill, it was probably a 20 minute wait.
- Illuminations was different from last year. There were more lasers in the effects, and there was no globe. The show itself was still very good.
Day 4-6
The last 3 days were all at Magic Kingdom. I know -- I didn't think it was possible, but we were truly busy for 3 days at one park, and we never felt like we were repeating too much. BTW, this was a Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Crowd levels were medium - high. We rode most attractions. A couple things I noticed:
- The new bridge going to liberty square looks great
- I saw two major areas under construction, and I'd like to know what they are for. The first was over in Adventureland, right next to Pirates of the caribbean -- there was a big section boarded off. The other was in Frontier land to the left of Splash Mountain (I hope I got that one right).
- Lunches were at Columbia harbor house and Cosmic Rays (twice). They were fine.
- Dinners were at Ohana (great food, great atomsphere), Liberty Tree Taven (great food and the characters spent several minutes with us) and Boatwrights Dining Hall (suprisingly very good food, but we had to wait 1/2 hour due to a late reservation change).
- We saw SpectroMagic on Saturday night, the daytime parade on Sunday, and the firework and water pagent on Monday night. They were all fantastic.
- Crowd levels were fine in the morning. Pretty hectic in the afternoon. There were 45-50 minute waits for Pooh and Pan's Flight around 2:00-3:00. However, on Monday morning, we were able to ride Big Thunder Mountain twice in a row w/ no wait. So, the crowds were sporatic.
The hotel was very nice -- it was also very large. We stayed at French Quarter last year and that was much easier to get around. We stayed in Acadia House on the magnolia bend side and the decor was very similar. The pool has a great water slide and falling water cascades.
In all, a very nice trip. We were fine with the changes to the dining plan, and crowd levels were not bad.
