Trouty
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2009
- Messages
- 48
Hi.
Not done one of these before so I will have a little bash.
Flew with TC from Newcastle, no complaints regarding the flight about from what I mention in the other thread regarding drunks throwing up. Both flights were on time or early and we scooted through customs in the USA due to a nice chap opening a new booth when we were in the long queue.
Hotel was the Holiday Inn Sunspree in LBV. First time in this area and it was great. Very close to all our favourite restaurants and shops etc. Very handy for all attractions due to close nature of the I-4 and other major roads. We got a room exactly where we wanted and even after 4 days were offered a free upgrade. Good job Holiday Inn.
Disney - No complaints really about Disney and liked the new fast pass system at AK. They were even giving out on the spot fast passes through out the day to anyone.... yay. The last day were were there we went to see the Wishes etc and it got cancelled due to the rain.... groan.
NASA - nice ride out to something my daughter and I are interested in. Seemed a shorter ride than 12 years ago hehe. Good organisation and good interesting exhibits. Great day out.
Seaworld - no problems here and we used the 'quick queue' passes for the kids to bypass all the queues.... good value for money even though there are only a small number of rides.
Universal - Here is when our problems/whinges start. We did as mentioned on here book into the Royal Pacific for one night to get the FOTL passes. That was a good idea and had no complaints about the hotel apart from the $15 a day parking charge.... a bit steep this IMO. Our first week US was open to 9pm during the second week they shut at 6pm... WHY???? I found this very bad as it restricted our planning. Not only did they shut early but when they did open at 9am a great deal of the park did not open till 11am or even 12pm depending on the attraction. To me this is a total joke. I was also disappointed by the number of 'crew' harassing you to take a survey which turns out to be a credit card application and also for them banging on for you to buy their photos or constantly asking you to have your photo took. I guess they are on commission for this as I was sitting next to the Shrek photo stand and a manager was berating his staff for not getting enough people to buy the pictures..... horrible horrible atmosphere to be fair. Funny how different Disney and Universal approach this similar system.
Other complaint about US was the rides and how often they broke down. Must admit it was strange going round Jaws and NOT seeing a shark. I think all told 8 rides broke down whilst we were there when we were either on them or waiting to get on them and considering we already had FOTL passes we got no 'compensation.' Good to see the Rip Ride Rockit 'working' but no way would I wait for 2 hours to ride it when it was acting so temperamental.
So that is it in a nutshell really. Not much about Disney I know because - well no real issues. As normal there - good service, polite cast members etc etc. Oh actually one complaint.... who's idea was it to make a bloody Diana shop instead of keeping it a Virgin megastore..... Diana dresses for God sake..... pfffft.
Not done one of these before so I will have a little bash.
Flew with TC from Newcastle, no complaints regarding the flight about from what I mention in the other thread regarding drunks throwing up. Both flights were on time or early and we scooted through customs in the USA due to a nice chap opening a new booth when we were in the long queue.
Hotel was the Holiday Inn Sunspree in LBV. First time in this area and it was great. Very close to all our favourite restaurants and shops etc. Very handy for all attractions due to close nature of the I-4 and other major roads. We got a room exactly where we wanted and even after 4 days were offered a free upgrade. Good job Holiday Inn.
Disney - No complaints really about Disney and liked the new fast pass system at AK. They were even giving out on the spot fast passes through out the day to anyone.... yay. The last day were were there we went to see the Wishes etc and it got cancelled due to the rain.... groan.
NASA - nice ride out to something my daughter and I are interested in. Seemed a shorter ride than 12 years ago hehe. Good organisation and good interesting exhibits. Great day out.
Seaworld - no problems here and we used the 'quick queue' passes for the kids to bypass all the queues.... good value for money even though there are only a small number of rides.
Universal - Here is when our problems/whinges start. We did as mentioned on here book into the Royal Pacific for one night to get the FOTL passes. That was a good idea and had no complaints about the hotel apart from the $15 a day parking charge.... a bit steep this IMO. Our first week US was open to 9pm during the second week they shut at 6pm... WHY???? I found this very bad as it restricted our planning. Not only did they shut early but when they did open at 9am a great deal of the park did not open till 11am or even 12pm depending on the attraction. To me this is a total joke. I was also disappointed by the number of 'crew' harassing you to take a survey which turns out to be a credit card application and also for them banging on for you to buy their photos or constantly asking you to have your photo took. I guess they are on commission for this as I was sitting next to the Shrek photo stand and a manager was berating his staff for not getting enough people to buy the pictures..... horrible horrible atmosphere to be fair. Funny how different Disney and Universal approach this similar system.
Other complaint about US was the rides and how often they broke down. Must admit it was strange going round Jaws and NOT seeing a shark. I think all told 8 rides broke down whilst we were there when we were either on them or waiting to get on them and considering we already had FOTL passes we got no 'compensation.' Good to see the Rip Ride Rockit 'working' but no way would I wait for 2 hours to ride it when it was acting so temperamental.
So that is it in a nutshell really. Not much about Disney I know because - well no real issues. As normal there - good service, polite cast members etc etc. Oh actually one complaint.... who's idea was it to make a bloody Diana shop instead of keeping it a Virgin megastore..... Diana dresses for God sake..... pfffft.
