We got back last Friday evening so I really should get my highs and lows written down before I forget them!
Highs
Getting a bit of pixie dust at the Sequoia Lodge. We had paid for a lodge room but were upgraded to the main building (I had sent a nice email a few days previously mentioning that the trip was part of DHs 40th birthday celebrations, which could have helped). We also had some chocolate coins and a bottle of water in the room.
Good weather and low crowds. The parks felt quite busy but the queue times were low most of the time. BTM was often 15 minutes or so. Peter Pan was down to 5 minutes while the parade was on!! EMH was quiet too - I had a ride on the teacups all by myself!
Cocktails! I finally achieved my ambition to have a Glowtini in the Fantasia Bar and oh boy was it worth it! Sooo delicious! We also had a "Big Bern" cocktail at the Sequoia Lodge (very nice) and a "Lights and Colours" at the Hotel New York (gorgeous). We were going to have one at the Newport Bay aswell but the bar was really busy when we got there and we were really tired so we gave in and went to bed.
Vinylmations (although a low for my bank balance) - I didn't get these when I first heard about them but I seemed to have developed an addiction!
Dreams - I will never ever tire of this show!
Lows (most of these were Disney's fault and didn't do much to spoil our trip)
No almondy pain au chocolat in Salon Mickey - gutted!!
A train broke down in the tunnel (not our train luckily!) on the way there so we arrived about an hour late. They were only using one tunnel so it could have been worse.
Not getting to go on Star Tours (one of my favourite rides). This was only because I couldn't be bothered to queue for 20 minutes though and the fast pass wasn't open.
We had booked for lunch at Inventions but I hadn't realised that it was still a character lunch. We're not into meeting characters and definitely didn't want to pay the extra money so we were left in that awful position of being in DLP at the busiest time of day for restaurants with nowhere to eat. All the counter service places were too busy and I didn't fancy them anyway after looking forward to the lovely Inventions buffet
In the end DH went to Videopolis and I had an ice cream waffle from Gibson Girl!
General state of the parks etc - I though the parks looked great overall although I admit there were a few places were I wished I could have done a bit of touching up with a paint brush or sweeping with a broom. The rides were all working fine (except Dumbo was shut during EMH for some reason) and we didn't encounter any unexpected breakdowns. There were a few things missing on Pirates though (the swinging pirate, the sword fighters and some of the cats on the boxes) which was a shame.
We didn't notice much smoking or queue jumping but we were there at a quiet time of year.
We enjoyed all of the food we had and I still stand by my comment that, for a theme park, it's not hideously overpriced. I also noticed that salad is now being offered in some of the counter service places instead of garlic bread etc, which is good to see.
All in all it was a fab trip. We had a great time and there is still plenty of Disney magic to be found in the parks. I can't wait to go back next year!
Highs
Getting a bit of pixie dust at the Sequoia Lodge. We had paid for a lodge room but were upgraded to the main building (I had sent a nice email a few days previously mentioning that the trip was part of DHs 40th birthday celebrations, which could have helped). We also had some chocolate coins and a bottle of water in the room.
Good weather and low crowds. The parks felt quite busy but the queue times were low most of the time. BTM was often 15 minutes or so. Peter Pan was down to 5 minutes while the parade was on!! EMH was quiet too - I had a ride on the teacups all by myself!
Cocktails! I finally achieved my ambition to have a Glowtini in the Fantasia Bar and oh boy was it worth it! Sooo delicious! We also had a "Big Bern" cocktail at the Sequoia Lodge (very nice) and a "Lights and Colours" at the Hotel New York (gorgeous). We were going to have one at the Newport Bay aswell but the bar was really busy when we got there and we were really tired so we gave in and went to bed.
Vinylmations (although a low for my bank balance) - I didn't get these when I first heard about them but I seemed to have developed an addiction!
Dreams - I will never ever tire of this show!
Lows (most of these were Disney's fault and didn't do much to spoil our trip)
No almondy pain au chocolat in Salon Mickey - gutted!!
A train broke down in the tunnel (not our train luckily!) on the way there so we arrived about an hour late. They were only using one tunnel so it could have been worse.
Not getting to go on Star Tours (one of my favourite rides). This was only because I couldn't be bothered to queue for 20 minutes though and the fast pass wasn't open.
We had booked for lunch at Inventions but I hadn't realised that it was still a character lunch. We're not into meeting characters and definitely didn't want to pay the extra money so we were left in that awful position of being in DLP at the busiest time of day for restaurants with nowhere to eat. All the counter service places were too busy and I didn't fancy them anyway after looking forward to the lovely Inventions buffet
In the end DH went to Videopolis and I had an ice cream waffle from Gibson Girl! General state of the parks etc - I though the parks looked great overall although I admit there were a few places were I wished I could have done a bit of touching up with a paint brush or sweeping with a broom. The rides were all working fine (except Dumbo was shut during EMH for some reason) and we didn't encounter any unexpected breakdowns. There were a few things missing on Pirates though (the swinging pirate, the sword fighters and some of the cats on the boxes) which was a shame.
We didn't notice much smoking or queue jumping but we were there at a quiet time of year.
We enjoyed all of the food we had and I still stand by my comment that, for a theme park, it's not hideously overpriced. I also noticed that salad is now being offered in some of the counter service places instead of garlic bread etc, which is good to see.
All in all it was a fab trip. We had a great time and there is still plenty of Disney magic to be found in the parks. I can't wait to go back next year!
