Day 4 Of Our Return To WDW – The Last Day & Final Thoughts

[LT Hambone]

Day four dawned with rain, and we were glad to be leaving in the rain. It’s bad enough to have to leave WDW, but it’s even worse when the sun is out and the weather is perfect.

The only special thing we did before we left for the airport was head to the French Quarter for breakfast – our Pop Tart supply was gone! Enjoyed some hot beignets – boy will I miss this tasty puff of fried dough smothered in powdered sugar! Walked around French Quarter for a while and noticed that they were already starting to tear the rooms apart. We saw mattresses and box springs piled up outside the rooms, and many empty rooms. By empty I mean empty – no furniture, no fixtures, no nothing. How sad.

Headed to the airport and tempted the security gods again. Still no response – we must have done a good job packing! Once again we had “A”s on our boarding passes, and we played the silly little game of jockeying for position to board.

Nothing exciting happened from that point on. After all, what’s so exciting about leaving WDW?

Some final thoughts –

• Port Orleans rocks! But I would never do a water view room. Save the money! The resort is so sprawling, you are pretty much guaranteed a quiet room location anywhere! The rooms are very nice – I was quite impressed with everything. And the theming is first-rate – I really enjoyed the lush landscaping. My wife had a suggestion, and maybe somebody from Disney will pick this one up for the rehab. Why not put a few audio-animatronic alligators in the water or on the island next to Old Man Island? This would really enhance the overall feeling of being in the deep south!
• Refillable Mugs! Use them! We refilled them 13 times during our three day stay. Do the math and you’ll see we saved some money using the mugs.
• Use caution if you are taking small kids to Universal, there is not much there for them (if I am wrong, I apologize)! As for bigger people, if you go, you won’t need all day, so plan accordingly. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I wasn’t too pleased with either Universal park.
• Bike riding! Just because you are in WDW doesn’t mean you have to spend everyday in a park! Take a break, rent some bikes, and relax!
• Transportation – make a game out of it! See how creative you can get going from Point A to Point B! Challenge your family to find a way to use every mode of transportation in one trip!
• If you really want to save some money, take your own breakfasts and lunches. We brought Pop Tarts for breakfast, and snacks for lunch. It worked great – we only had to buy dinner and breakfast on the last day.
• Do a load of laundry in the middle of your stay. Yes, it will cost you $4.00 plus soap, but the advantage is fewer clothes to pack and a smaller suitcase. We went for three days and carried only a small bag for each of us! It made things a whole lot easier in the airports!
• If you must have a rental car, use one of the agencies that is located in the airport. By doing this, we saved at least an hour both coming and going. This meant more time to enjoy ourselves!
• Going during the week between Easter and Memorial Day seems to be a great time. The weather is nearly perfect, and the crowds are very light. Maybe it’s the tourism slump, maybe it’s not. But it worked for us.
• Mug Men Rule!

Well, that’s it for this trip. Our next trip will be in a few years when our little boy is old enough to understand and appreciate the wonders of WDW. If anyone has any specific questions/comments/complaints about our trip, yell. I’ll be happy to entertain your thoughts!

 

[B'rer Karen]

Thanks again for your trip report. I'm glad you like POR. I stayed there last September and also thought it was beautiful.

 

[>>^..^<<]

Hi there...

Thanx for the great trip report - I will keep an eye out for the mug men - next time I am in Disney!

Sorry your wife's last day was a little spoiled by the allergy attack - and did I miss some days or did you not do any Disney parks???

I was interested to your reaction to the Universal Parks.... we just love them - we love Disney too - dont' get me wrong - but we have a great time at Universal and find lots to do... we are going again for 6 nights this year.

It sounds like you didn't do any shows - or city walk... maybe you will get a chance to try it again one day and enjoy it more.. it is a totally different feeling then Disney parks - but definately first class theming, rides & shows.

Thanx again for your fun report

>>^..^<<

 

[Krissalee]

Thanks for the reports. I enjoyed each and every one of them.

 

[LT Hambone]

>>^..^<< –

No, you didn’t miss something. We did not go to any Disney park! We did that on our Honeymoon, this trip was for visiting Universal!

As for my reaction to Universal - I’m just biased towards Disney! Having seen the lengths to which Disney will go to create their magic, I just do not seem the same thing in Universal.

Need an example? The next time you are in the Magic Kingdom, walk from the hub to Adventureland. Now take a good look, and I mean a good look, at the scenery. Everything gradually changes from the generic hub theme to the Adventureland theme. Unless you are paying attention, you will never notice! I just don’t see the same attention to detail in Universal.

I also get the impression that Universal is trying to copy Disney, and if this is so, then they are failing miserably. If Universal wants to trump Disney, they need to stop imitating the mouse and be there own entity!

Take a good look at Islands of Adventure the next time you visit. Don’t parts of it look like Disney? Ever wonder why? Did you ever hear about what happened to Beastly Kingdom, the proposed second phase of Animal Kingdom?

In case you haven’t, before Beastly Kingdom could be built at Animal Kingdom, Disney had to let go many of its Imagineers go due to budget cut-backs. Some of those Imgaineers found employment at Universal, and brought their ideas with them. Among them was a dragon-themed roller coaster. Disney was originally going to build a coaster to tie in with their new movie “Reign of Fire”, and it was going to be the e-ticket ride for Animal Kingdom. The coaster was built, only it’s in IOA as Dueling Dragons.

We didn’t do many shows at Universal because of time – we were ready to go and didn’t feel like waiting an hour for the next show. We did see the Animal Planet show (awesome) and the makeup show (a dud). I did see the Wild, Wild West show on my Oct 99 trip – Indian Jones at MGM was better.

We did walk through City Walk, but were not impressed – it looked like a carbon copy of Pleasure Island to us. What struck us as odd was that if we wanted to come back and see the clubs, we would have to pay for parking and admission! Downtown Disney at least has free parking.

I did like a few of the rides at IOA – Spiderman is the best ride in a class of it’s own, and Rip Saw Falls was great (even though it is a copy of Splash Mountain). As for the coasters, here’s where my bias comes in again. Having ridden some of the tallest, fastest, and longest coasters in this country, Hulk & Dragons did very little for me. But the queue for Dragons was one of the best!

Finally, I will agree with you about the theming, but only at IOA. Each island is done very well – the effort put into each detail shows. From the curvy lines of Seuss Landing to the “used” captions at Toon Lagoon – exquisite. My only gripe is that there is no smooth transition between the lands – see above for an example.

Overall I would say that Universal is a great time for most people, but for my wife and I, we were not too impressed. But that’s only our opinion!


Have a good trip, and beware of the mug men!

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Great reports, but too short of a trip. You'll have to go back and do it again!

Mug on!

 

[sixcats]

Thanks for taking the time to write up reports!

 

[Minniespal]

Thanks for your trip reports - just luv reading them!!!!

 

[vald1977]

Thanks for posting your trip reports.

 

[Chicago526]

Great reports!

I think the same about IOA as you. My brother and I ditched the family for one day and went to IOA to hit the big rides. While the rides were fantastic, we whipped through the park in about 3 hours. It was much smaller and had fewer rides than I thought. Not really worth the $50 to get in. Didn't do US but from what I've read I didn't miss much there, either. IOA is fun, it's cleaner than the Six Flags parks I've been to, and it does have great coasters (the one thing Disney lacks) but it just doesn't rise to the level of Disney overall.

By the way, there are some mug ladies too, I was one of them. Had to do a coffee run just about every morning. Wore my pj's, which were shorts and a t-shirt, along with flip flops. Un-combed hair, un-brushed teeth, and squinted eyes completed the look. Long live the mug people!

 

[billybaruch1]

Great stories, LT Hambone!

I got the impression you carried the mugs on your bike ride. Did you have a way to carry them that leaves your hands free?

 

[franw]

Ohmygosh, I can't believe you stayed on Disney property and went to Universal each day. We have a hard time getting over to Universal for a couple of hours on a two week stay. The only thing we go to Universal for is a quick Blue's Brothers fix every couple of trips down. I agree with you that Universal just doesn't compare. From the staff to the ambience - it just feels second rate to us. But then WDW is a pretty tough act to follow. Better get back soon before Mickey finds out you cheated on him.

 

[LT Hambone]

Originally posted by billybaruch1
I got the impression you carried the mugs on your bike ride. Did you have a way to carry them that leaves your hands free?

Yes and no. My wife had a backpack, so she carried her mug in there, and I had a camera bag with an easily detachable strap. I simply unhooked one of the strap, threaded the strap through the handle of my mug, and then reattached the strap. Viola! Instant mug carrier!

Originally posted by franw
Ohmygosh, I can't believe you stayed on Disney property and went to Universal each day. We have a hard time getting over to Universal for a couple of hours on a two week stay. The only thing we go to Universal for is a quick Blue's Brothers fix every couple of trips down. I agree with you that Universal just doesn't compare. From the staff to the ambience - it just feels second rate to us. But then WDW is a pretty tough act to follow. Better get back soon before Mickey finds out you cheated on him.

Hey! We paid the mouse his due! 10 nights on our honeymoon, plus another three nights this past April equals 13 nights in a year and a half! Add in all that we spent on tickets, meals, and other junk, and we have definitely contributed to the WDW fiscal well-being.

Keep in mind what I had said in my first post – Universal was the one place we were not able to go to on our Honeymoon. We love WDW, but we are saving our next visit for when our kid is old enough to enjoy, and appreciate, the magic.

As for Universal, I’ve been getting mixed feedback on this one, and it’s split down the middle. I would definitely favor WDW over Universal any day, but there are people out there who go the other way. One thing that has been pointed out to me – Universal is cheaper, especially for lodging. Yeah, you may not get the same ambiance, but you can save some $$$$.

And so I end it here – this is one of those debates that ranks up there with pool and mug hopping!

 

[jumpnjack]

Sounds like you had a great time thanks for the report. Ok I think I know but just to be sure. When you say the French quarter I assume you mean France yes no wee wee..

 

[LT Hambone]

Originally posted by jumpnjack
Sounds like you had a great time thanks for the report. Ok I think I know but just to be sure. When you say the French quarter I assume you mean France yes no wee wee..

No, I meant French Quarter, not France.


Port Orleans is divided into two parts - Riverside (which is where we stayed), and the French Quarter. The French Quarter is themed to the French Quarter in New Orleans, while Riverside is themed to old southern mansion homes and bayou homes. The whole Port Orleans complex is like a slice of the Mississippi!


Does this answer your question?

 

[jumpnjack]

Thanks for replying so quickly. Have a great day.

 

[C.Ann]

When we're in Orlando we always go for two weeks and make the rounds.. Disney - US/IOA - and Sea World.. Each has wonderful things to offer - if you go in with an open mind and don't expect everything to be "Disney".. That's part of what makes the other parks so enjoyable - it's a break from Disney..

On our last trip my granddaughter wasn't quite 3 years old and she found plenty to do and things she absolutely LOVED in each of those places.. It all boils down to expectations and what you are open to..

We'll be going again in December and she's already reminding me of all the things she wants to do over again..