skier_pete
DIsney-holics Anon
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2006
- Messages
- 13,059
So, first goal was to ride Haunted Mansion. We had a FP+ for the ride, but there was no line to speak of so we just walked right in. This is way too late in the trip to be first riding HM!
After that, we headed over to BTMRR, but it was DOWN. (ARGH!) So, while DD didnt want to ride Splash Mountain, I did, so DW took her over to Pirates while I rode Splash:
When I got off the ride, DW and DD were just coming back, and BTMRR was still down. Well, we didnt have time to wait, so we decided to ride to Storybook Circus on the train and let DD do her Splash park thing. The funny thing is we got off the train, DD went into the area while DW went to use the bathroom. She got squirted one time, and that was it she was done! We were like What? All that fuss and thats it?
We tried to catch the train before it left the station, but they were just closing the gates and wouldnt let us on, so we saw time was growing short we decided to walk back to the front. We stopped to get some SofMK cards, and we were headed for the buses at 10:35 AM, with about 25 minutes to get back to our room for check-out.
So, we get to the bus area, and we a bus that looks like its sitting in the CBR bay. DD and DW runs ahead to see, and sure enough it is. So I get there and hop on the bus all out of breath, and we sit down and as they start to pull away the recording plays Welcome Aboard! We hope you enjoyed your day at Magic Kingdom as we make our way back to Animal Kingdom Lodge. :O We look at eachother in disbelief and confirm the sign over the door said CBR when we got on it. We go to the bus driver and tell him we need to go to CBR. He says he cant do anything about it now, but can drop us off (at AKL) so we can catch another bus back.
We are kind of all upset about this as you might imagine as we are supposed to be checking out of the room. At that point, the other people on the bus tell us that this had been in fact a CBR bus when it pulled up, but they had been standing there for almost an hour waiting for an AKL bus, at which point they switched the bus to an AKL bus for THEM. Now, thats all well and good, but how about telling us that when we get ON THE DAMN BUS!!
As most of you know, AKL is WAAAAAYYYY out of the way from CBR, so we clearly know we are not going to be making it back to our room for check-out. So, we call CBR from our cell phone and tell them we are going to be late. Well, apparently the system is set up that when it is your check-out time, the computers automatically lock your room, so there is no way to get into the room, so when we DO get back to CBR, we have to come back to the Custom House for them to send someone to unlock our room.
We ride out to AKL, at which point the driver tells us to hop on this other bus, which will take us to AK, which will allow us to get back to CBR. Well, thats not a lot of help, but sure well do that. So, we ride over to AK, then go and wait in a third queue for a bus heading to CBR. Fortunately we only waited about 10 minutes for one to show up, but that bus also had to stop at Blizzard Beach before heading to CBR.
But wait, it gets better, the driver turns into Pop Century BY MISTAKE. Yup, yet another detour!! Once hes turned in, he has to go through the whole bus loop and pull back out again before finally pulling into CBR. (Thats three theme parks and three hotels on a single bus ride wheeeee!)
At this point weve been riding busses for almost an hour and a half and its close to noon-time. We get back to custom house and they let us know that we have to check our bags for the airport by 1 PM or else we will have to bring them to the airport ourselves. We explain the situation and they get us a bell service person (who was named Aladdin and was VERY nice and helpful) who took us by bus back to our room. We had to finish packing up (which we had mostly done but were not really prepared to be checked out the second we got to our room) and take most of our bags back to Custom House. I let DD and DW go to the pool and rode back with the bags. I then checked the bags into the bag check just as they were closing things down, and were able to store our carry-ons in preparation for the ME later in the day.
The final bit was having to catch another bus from Custom House to Port Royal, which somehow took another 20 minutes. So, in all this mess, our several hours by the pool evaporated to be 20 minutes by the pool and our relaxation time turned to a stressful day. I really think THIS was the last impression of the trip, that on top of the other things that went wrong throughout the trip left us with kind of a sour taste in our mouth. In fact, in all the debacle, we never ran into any cast members that werent more than friendly and helpful, yet that still didnt mitigate the giant mess that was our final experience at WDW of this trip.
The rest of the day was actually pretty uneventful. We traveled home by a direct flight and had no real issues to speak of at the airport or on the flights.
Overall, there were a lot of really good parts to the trip, but many no-so-good parts. Not a complete disaster by far, but really between my foot injury, the bus issues, the MB issues, the MVMCP mess, and the weather, it was enough to make me rank this as one of our poorer trips. Now, that said, DW and DD have already put those things out of their minds and are ready to go back. And me, well, I cant say I forget the past as easily as DW does. Maybe its the painstaking notes I take to allow me to write a TR, or maybe its the fact that I usually feel well-prepared for all problems and were not prepared for most of these. Either way, it was a trip that I hope we dont repeat very often!
The Good:
Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain finally!
The Bad:
Food at Crystal Palace
Big Thunder Mountain RR down so we missed it on BOTH coasts.
The Ugly
Need I repeat that
FP vs FP+: We did use ONE FP+ today, but didnt get to use the one we had for BTMRR. However, regular FP would have done us no good whatsoever, so FP+ still wins.
Overall FP vs FP+: In the end, Im going to give it to FP+. Now, understand we were not on the Tier system at Epcot/DHS so I might change my mind if that is still around next visit. Overall though I think the benefits of the new system outweigh the negatives. Its the problem with Disney, the analog to Heroin that I am always using when talking about going there. The first (great) trip you have to WDW has such a huge high to it. So many things go right usually, and you just want to experience that same high. But not every experience, or even the same experience, can give you that same high. So, you end up trying to up your experience nicer hotels, longer stays, hard ticket events to try and maintain that high. But even when you do that, sometimes you get a bad trip as this one was. But do you stop? Nope, you get right back up and stick that needle in your arm again.
Now, the analogy really breaks down in that Disney World isnt (probably) going to kill you or make you lose your friends or start up a criminal lifestyle. But weve spent way over our means on Disney in the last 12 months (hitting the full trifecta) and we know we have to slow it down yet here we are - putting money into DVC and planning a weekend without our DD. Is the first step admitting you have a problem? It definitely isnt the last.
Sorry to end this TR on a bit of a philosophical/downer note. I dont think we are spiraling out of control. We are definitely only doing one trip in 2015, and our little weekend in the fall should cost us relatively little due to the freebies we are taking advantage of. The plan behind joining DVC is that it will SAVE us money in the long run and allow us to enjoy many more Disney trips for years in the future.
One of the great things I love about going to WDW is that every vacation is a UNIQUE experience. I talk about our trips to Myrtle Beach, which we seem to do every 2-3 years, and they really blend together as in we do many of the same things over and over again. Every Disney trip feels distinct in my memory, and while not every single thing we did stands out, each trip has its own feel and memory in my mind.
While this trip may be remembered for not being the perfect trip, it will also be remembered for a time where we spent the most time at Disney with friends friends that we met BECAUSE of a shared love of Disney. Friends that dont frown at us for wanting to go back again. Friends that we hope to see again on future trips, or maybe even outside of the world. And still 10 trips into our family Disney travels new experiences Blizzard Beach, New Fantasyland. Five restaurants we havent tried before.
So, toss out the bad stuff, and remember the good stuff, because as one trip report ends, another one begins. Yes, thats right part three of the Disney Trifecta Once Upon a Time in the Carribean will be coming soon. Keep an eye on this spot and I will be posting a link when I get it started!
After that, we headed over to BTMRR, but it was DOWN. (ARGH!) So, while DD didnt want to ride Splash Mountain, I did, so DW took her over to Pirates while I rode Splash:
When I got off the ride, DW and DD were just coming back, and BTMRR was still down. Well, we didnt have time to wait, so we decided to ride to Storybook Circus on the train and let DD do her Splash park thing. The funny thing is we got off the train, DD went into the area while DW went to use the bathroom. She got squirted one time, and that was it she was done! We were like What? All that fuss and thats it?
We tried to catch the train before it left the station, but they were just closing the gates and wouldnt let us on, so we saw time was growing short we decided to walk back to the front. We stopped to get some SofMK cards, and we were headed for the buses at 10:35 AM, with about 25 minutes to get back to our room for check-out.
So, we get to the bus area, and we a bus that looks like its sitting in the CBR bay. DD and DW runs ahead to see, and sure enough it is. So I get there and hop on the bus all out of breath, and we sit down and as they start to pull away the recording plays Welcome Aboard! We hope you enjoyed your day at Magic Kingdom as we make our way back to Animal Kingdom Lodge. :O We look at eachother in disbelief and confirm the sign over the door said CBR when we got on it. We go to the bus driver and tell him we need to go to CBR. He says he cant do anything about it now, but can drop us off (at AKL) so we can catch another bus back.
We are kind of all upset about this as you might imagine as we are supposed to be checking out of the room. At that point, the other people on the bus tell us that this had been in fact a CBR bus when it pulled up, but they had been standing there for almost an hour waiting for an AKL bus, at which point they switched the bus to an AKL bus for THEM. Now, thats all well and good, but how about telling us that when we get ON THE DAMN BUS!!
As most of you know, AKL is WAAAAAYYYY out of the way from CBR, so we clearly know we are not going to be making it back to our room for check-out. So, we call CBR from our cell phone and tell them we are going to be late. Well, apparently the system is set up that when it is your check-out time, the computers automatically lock your room, so there is no way to get into the room, so when we DO get back to CBR, we have to come back to the Custom House for them to send someone to unlock our room.
We ride out to AKL, at which point the driver tells us to hop on this other bus, which will take us to AK, which will allow us to get back to CBR. Well, thats not a lot of help, but sure well do that. So, we ride over to AK, then go and wait in a third queue for a bus heading to CBR. Fortunately we only waited about 10 minutes for one to show up, but that bus also had to stop at Blizzard Beach before heading to CBR.
But wait, it gets better, the driver turns into Pop Century BY MISTAKE. Yup, yet another detour!! Once hes turned in, he has to go through the whole bus loop and pull back out again before finally pulling into CBR. (Thats three theme parks and three hotels on a single bus ride wheeeee!)
At this point weve been riding busses for almost an hour and a half and its close to noon-time. We get back to custom house and they let us know that we have to check our bags for the airport by 1 PM or else we will have to bring them to the airport ourselves. We explain the situation and they get us a bell service person (who was named Aladdin and was VERY nice and helpful) who took us by bus back to our room. We had to finish packing up (which we had mostly done but were not really prepared to be checked out the second we got to our room) and take most of our bags back to Custom House. I let DD and DW go to the pool and rode back with the bags. I then checked the bags into the bag check just as they were closing things down, and were able to store our carry-ons in preparation for the ME later in the day.
The final bit was having to catch another bus from Custom House to Port Royal, which somehow took another 20 minutes. So, in all this mess, our several hours by the pool evaporated to be 20 minutes by the pool and our relaxation time turned to a stressful day. I really think THIS was the last impression of the trip, that on top of the other things that went wrong throughout the trip left us with kind of a sour taste in our mouth. In fact, in all the debacle, we never ran into any cast members that werent more than friendly and helpful, yet that still didnt mitigate the giant mess that was our final experience at WDW of this trip.
The rest of the day was actually pretty uneventful. We traveled home by a direct flight and had no real issues to speak of at the airport or on the flights.
Overall, there were a lot of really good parts to the trip, but many no-so-good parts. Not a complete disaster by far, but really between my foot injury, the bus issues, the MB issues, the MVMCP mess, and the weather, it was enough to make me rank this as one of our poorer trips. Now, that said, DW and DD have already put those things out of their minds and are ready to go back. And me, well, I cant say I forget the past as easily as DW does. Maybe its the painstaking notes I take to allow me to write a TR, or maybe its the fact that I usually feel well-prepared for all problems and were not prepared for most of these. Either way, it was a trip that I hope we dont repeat very often!
The Good:
Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain finally!
The Bad:
Food at Crystal Palace
Big Thunder Mountain RR down so we missed it on BOTH coasts.
The Ugly
Need I repeat that
FP vs FP+: We did use ONE FP+ today, but didnt get to use the one we had for BTMRR. However, regular FP would have done us no good whatsoever, so FP+ still wins.
Overall FP vs FP+: In the end, Im going to give it to FP+. Now, understand we were not on the Tier system at Epcot/DHS so I might change my mind if that is still around next visit. Overall though I think the benefits of the new system outweigh the negatives. Its the problem with Disney, the analog to Heroin that I am always using when talking about going there. The first (great) trip you have to WDW has such a huge high to it. So many things go right usually, and you just want to experience that same high. But not every experience, or even the same experience, can give you that same high. So, you end up trying to up your experience nicer hotels, longer stays, hard ticket events to try and maintain that high. But even when you do that, sometimes you get a bad trip as this one was. But do you stop? Nope, you get right back up and stick that needle in your arm again.
Now, the analogy really breaks down in that Disney World isnt (probably) going to kill you or make you lose your friends or start up a criminal lifestyle. But weve spent way over our means on Disney in the last 12 months (hitting the full trifecta) and we know we have to slow it down yet here we are - putting money into DVC and planning a weekend without our DD. Is the first step admitting you have a problem? It definitely isnt the last.
Sorry to end this TR on a bit of a philosophical/downer note. I dont think we are spiraling out of control. We are definitely only doing one trip in 2015, and our little weekend in the fall should cost us relatively little due to the freebies we are taking advantage of. The plan behind joining DVC is that it will SAVE us money in the long run and allow us to enjoy many more Disney trips for years in the future.
One of the great things I love about going to WDW is that every vacation is a UNIQUE experience. I talk about our trips to Myrtle Beach, which we seem to do every 2-3 years, and they really blend together as in we do many of the same things over and over again. Every Disney trip feels distinct in my memory, and while not every single thing we did stands out, each trip has its own feel and memory in my mind.
While this trip may be remembered for not being the perfect trip, it will also be remembered for a time where we spent the most time at Disney with friends friends that we met BECAUSE of a shared love of Disney. Friends that dont frown at us for wanting to go back again. Friends that we hope to see again on future trips, or maybe even outside of the world. And still 10 trips into our family Disney travels new experiences Blizzard Beach, New Fantasyland. Five restaurants we havent tried before.
So, toss out the bad stuff, and remember the good stuff, because as one trip report ends, another one begins. Yes, thats right part three of the Disney Trifecta Once Upon a Time in the Carribean will be coming soon. Keep an eye on this spot and I will be posting a link when I get it started!
I guess they don't really care for some reason!
)
