Christine
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Aug 31, 1999
- Messages
- 32,567
Day 7, our last day, and the kids wanted to do another waterpark. We decided to have breakfast out as we had run out of food, so we headed over to the Cape May Character Breakfast. This was pretty good and Chip and Dale were a riot. They were throwing banana peels at each other, dancing on them, and slipping and falling on the ground. They even took some cute teenage girl from her table and brought her over to some equally cute teenage boy and introduced them in front of the whole restaurant. It was all very funny. We then decided on Blizzard Beach. I still can't say that I have a favorite water park but I *think* if forced to choose it would be Typhoon Lagoon. Both of the parks have their good points that kind of equal out--guess it just depends what you're looking for. We decided to do Teamboat Springs first after about an hour in the wave pool. I don't really care for the BB wave pool. That constant chopping motion of the waves becomes annoying after about 20 minutes. TL's wave pool definitely is superior. As we were lining up for Teamboat Springs, DS starts crying and saying that his suntan lotion is in his eyes and is burning. I walk him out of the line down to the water fountain (he stops crying), I rinse his eyes (still no crying), and go back to our place in line (crying starts again). He is just WAILING about his eyes burning. So I repeat the process above. After the third crying attack in line, I finally realize that he is having another "anxiety issue" with this raft ride and the suntan lotion really isn't as bad as he is making it. I offer to sit out with him but he INSISTS on staying in the line, yet screaming his head off. I couldn't stand the embarrassment and could only remember some of the scathing posts on these boards about people being annoyed with screaming kids and their obnoxious parents forcing them on rides. Really people, sometimes things just go on with these kids that you cannot possibly imagine!!!! Anyway, I was totally disgusted with him at this point and his grandfather takes him kicking and screaming out of the line. The rest of us ride and when we get to the bottom he is still there having a fit with his poor grandfather. He continues to throw a tantrum about going on this ride, so the grandparents once again give in and take him back into the line (I would not tolerate this crap on my own!!). DD and I left in disgust and went to do all the other stuff. DS ends up riding Teamboat Springs 3 times and manages to do a tube ride on his own. Amazing. My DD and I decide to have a hotdog during all of this. After buying the food, we desperately began our search for a picnic table in the shade. I guess this is a big complaint of mine--not enough shade or tables at BB--there is almost no escape without walking very far from the rest of the attractions. We finally find a dining area with about 10 picnic tables. No one is sitting at nine of them except there is "stuff" on each table. The one table with people were some of the Brazilian tourists I have read about here. This trip was my first experience with the Brazilian tour groups and we saw them every day. So, in looking around, I recognized that all the stuff on the tables had their trademark "Turismo" or "Kontik" tag on it and new that they were reserving this section for themselves. Well, this really irritated me. You just can't do that. So, I decided to just sit down at the end of one of the picnic tables and eat my darned hot dog and I dared them to say anything. I heard them speaking with each other but of course couldn't tell what they were saying. DD finally said "I think they are talking about us." Now DD has been in a Spanish immersion class since 1st grade and I was VERY happy that it was finally paying off. It sure comes in handy to have a person fluent in Spanish with you when you are around nothing but Spanish speakers--you just KNOW they are talking about you!! Anyway, as my eyes narrowed, I got real serious and said "What are they saying?" She translated that they were going on about "we went to all the trouble to get these tables and THOSE two just sit down at them." HA!! I was ready for combat. The nerve. I tried to encourage DD to go over and tell them that it was inappropriate to reserve tables like that. DD started looking very nervous and pale and said "Mommy, I don't know the Spanish word for "reserve". I didn't believe her but decided to let it go. Geesh. We finished our hot dog in about 15 minutes and nary a Brazilian showed up. We left BB at 2:00 and head back to Tampa.
My final thoughts:
My son: How do you EVER know when they are old enough? I think in his case, he will be 16 on his next trip. I thought 6.5 would be good for him but it wasn't. I also felt like I knew my child well enough but apparantly I don't. So please, take pity on people who end up there with a disagreeable child--these things happen unexpectedly.
Fast Pass: When you have one in hand it is wonderful. Unfortunately, you have to wait 2 hours before you can attempt to get your next pass so when you are trying to ride the other rides that use Fast Pass and you don't have one, it is horrendous. Fast Pass really slows down the Standby line and makes it worse then it probably ever was. I wish they could fix this in some way. On some rides, the cast member did a very good job of keeping the standby line moving, others did a horrible job and the standby line would not move for 15 minutes at a time. I don't mind waiting in line, but it is terrible when it is stagnant. For rides that did not use the Fast Pass system, the lines were a breeze but, then again, they were not the most popular rides. We were unable to do Winnie the Pooh or Peter Pan on this trip because our timing never worked out for the pass and both of these rides were having 70 minute waits on the two days we were there.
Off-site: I was a die-hard purist about staying ON site. I said I woud NEVER stay off site. But, when someone gives you a free place to stay, well, you change your attitude a bit. It wasn't nearly as inconvenient as I thought. Commutes to and from the park from Vistana were never longer than 10 minutes. We never hit any traffic. I definitely miss the Disney feel though, but if staying off site is the only way to do Disney, then it is fine. I do think that it is wise to research your off-site choice and make sure it is nice. There were some places that didn't look too great or some places that seemed far out. But again, it depends on what is important to you. Besides the park, my accommodations and meals are part of the "experience". I need to have a resort feel to kind of round it all out. If you feel that way too, then be very careful picking your offsite resort. It was also nice to have a larger place to hang out in. We have been used to the Shades of Green (which is a nice large room) but it is still 4 walls and a bathroom. No one really ever wanted to sit in there and relax for a few hours. Having a 2-bedroom apartment made us more apt to relax and hang out.
Winging It: Not bad as long as you dine early. If we had dined around 6:30 or 7:00 (when most of the world does) we would have had some long waits or been turned away. Even off-site would have been tough. I definitely regret not researching the restaurant options/board better. I would have liked to try some different places but I was not prepared and felt like a fish out of water. Maybe next trip.
Summer Trips: I think I'll stick to May. DD better keep her grades up from now on. There are still lines in May and park is never empty, but I definitely noticed that there were many more people in the parks in June than in May. Also, as I stated earlier, there were tons of those Brazilian tour groups. Either that or the same group was following us. Mostly they were well-behaved and I didn't experience any of the negative behaviors I've read about. I wonder how they can want to travel from ride to ride with 50 people. That can't be fun.
Well, thanks for reading my report and thanks to all who have given good tips that helped me out on my trip.
My final thoughts:
My son: How do you EVER know when they are old enough? I think in his case, he will be 16 on his next trip. I thought 6.5 would be good for him but it wasn't. I also felt like I knew my child well enough but apparantly I don't. So please, take pity on people who end up there with a disagreeable child--these things happen unexpectedly.
Fast Pass: When you have one in hand it is wonderful. Unfortunately, you have to wait 2 hours before you can attempt to get your next pass so when you are trying to ride the other rides that use Fast Pass and you don't have one, it is horrendous. Fast Pass really slows down the Standby line and makes it worse then it probably ever was. I wish they could fix this in some way. On some rides, the cast member did a very good job of keeping the standby line moving, others did a horrible job and the standby line would not move for 15 minutes at a time. I don't mind waiting in line, but it is terrible when it is stagnant. For rides that did not use the Fast Pass system, the lines were a breeze but, then again, they were not the most popular rides. We were unable to do Winnie the Pooh or Peter Pan on this trip because our timing never worked out for the pass and both of these rides were having 70 minute waits on the two days we were there.
Off-site: I was a die-hard purist about staying ON site. I said I woud NEVER stay off site. But, when someone gives you a free place to stay, well, you change your attitude a bit. It wasn't nearly as inconvenient as I thought. Commutes to and from the park from Vistana were never longer than 10 minutes. We never hit any traffic. I definitely miss the Disney feel though, but if staying off site is the only way to do Disney, then it is fine. I do think that it is wise to research your off-site choice and make sure it is nice. There were some places that didn't look too great or some places that seemed far out. But again, it depends on what is important to you. Besides the park, my accommodations and meals are part of the "experience". I need to have a resort feel to kind of round it all out. If you feel that way too, then be very careful picking your offsite resort. It was also nice to have a larger place to hang out in. We have been used to the Shades of Green (which is a nice large room) but it is still 4 walls and a bathroom. No one really ever wanted to sit in there and relax for a few hours. Having a 2-bedroom apartment made us more apt to relax and hang out.
Winging It: Not bad as long as you dine early. If we had dined around 6:30 or 7:00 (when most of the world does) we would have had some long waits or been turned away. Even off-site would have been tough. I definitely regret not researching the restaurant options/board better. I would have liked to try some different places but I was not prepared and felt like a fish out of water. Maybe next trip.
Summer Trips: I think I'll stick to May. DD better keep her grades up from now on. There are still lines in May and park is never empty, but I definitely noticed that there were many more people in the parks in June than in May. Also, as I stated earlier, there were tons of those Brazilian tour groups. Either that or the same group was following us. Mostly they were well-behaved and I didn't experience any of the negative behaviors I've read about. I wonder how they can want to travel from ride to ride with 50 people. That can't be fun.
Well, thanks for reading my report and thanks to all who have given good tips that helped me out on my trip.
