kristieuk
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2005
- Messages
- 1,906
We arrived home Sunday afternoon, and now I feel so blue - it never gets any easier coming home does it?
We were only in Orlando for a couple of days as we love the beach too much and we had wedding stuff to sort out, but I thought I would do a review of what we did do and see that stuck in my mind:-
Crowds - (MK and MGM) - the lowest we have ever ever experienced, even at this time of year. It was obvious just walking around that there were so few people there, and there were virtually no queues at all for anything - max we waited was maybe 5 mins, but most things were just walk on. Fantastic!
Cinderella's Breakfast - DD loved this, although she was really shy. The breakfast itself is quite poor, but then that's not why we go is it! Cinderella was greeting downstairs, and then doing the tables were Belle, Mary Poppins, Fairy Godmother, Wendy, and Snow White. They were really attentive, and they didn't rush us at all. It was really well worth it.
Cinderellabration - I was quite disappointed with the new show. I can't remember what it was called before, but is was so much more 'Disney' before - the new show has too few real characters in it - a few princesses, but a lot of other 'fillers'. It needs Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy to be a proper Disney show! It just wasn't the same. I don't know whether others would agree or not.
Cinderella's Castle - was absolutely beautiful all decorated for the 50th anniversary celebrations. It's a shame that they will ever take them down, they were really special.
Christmas Decorations - were up this time last week, which seems earlier than previous years, but maybe we didn't go at the same time. Anyway, they were fanastic, and just added to the Disney magic! It really gets you in the spirit of things - for all of you going over the next few weeks, I am so jealous. It was just lovely.
The New Stunt Show at MGM - can't recall it's proper name, but it was awesome, real hair raising stuff. Those guys are awesome (and something about real life stuntmen in leathers to cheer up an afternoon!). This is definitely something to see if you haven't had chance yet.
Fantasmic - as fantastic as ever! What else is there to say?
Sheraton Safari - a really nice hotel, 5 - 10 mins drive from the Disney gateway. We had a suite which was huge with good quality furniture. We didn't really get use of it, but if you are staying in Orlando, it would be great to have the extra space, and we payed just $99 / night on special rate. The pool looked really nice too. We would definitely stay there again.
Delta - where to start? I actually like the flight itself - the planes always seem new, the food is good as far as airplane food goes, the crew are super friendly, and even the pilots are down to earth humans (ours was telling us the football scores as he was getting them through halfway across the Atlantic, and just chatting generally).
But : when we arrived at Tampa for our connecting flight through Atlanta home to Gatwick, we were told that flight no longer existed. It had been replaced by a new flight number leaving 15 mins later. We were told by Delta that our UK agent (Airline Network) were informed, and they should have rebooked us onto the new flight. They hadn't, and the new flight was full. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and about an hour at the check-in desk with a bored 6 yr old, they eventually managed to get us a flight to Gatwick out of Cincinnati, but we ended up waiting hours, and losing our allocated seats to Gatwick - the only seats available were in row 41 that don't recline. This is the last thing you need after 2 weeks of trying to relax - all that hassle!
I've called Airline Network and they say it's not their fault. Their system does automatically update with new flights, but Delta should rebook passengers, not them. I can see we're just going to become the ball in a ping-pong match, but it's just so annoying when you spend time planning and making sure everything is ok to be messed around, and no-one will even apologise!
Another gripe, even though I called before we flew to check baggage allowance (and told 32kgs x per person), checked in at Gatwick without problems, checking in at Tampa coming home, we were told we would be charged $25 for each bag over 50lb (I think about 22kgs!). I explained what we had been told, and even pointed to the boarding card holder we had from the way out that states 32kg x 2 per person, but she wouldn't budge. There were 5 of us with 8 peices of luggage ($200!!). Her attitude was that 'London were mistaken', and pulled out one of her boarding card holders to prove her point - but this said 32kgs!! Despite this, and much arguing, she insisted we pay, and refused to check us in if we didn't.
By now, I was so cross, and much to her annoyance, I emptied the heaviest things from the cases, put them into our hand luggage holdalls, and checked them (there was luckily no queue!). It was just so annoying - and what does it achieve?? Health and safety is 32kgs, so it's not that, and none of us were over the total 100lb per person, or anywhere close. Had we been given the right information, we would have just taken more bags, that's no problem - I just didn't appreciate being held to ransom at the check-in desk.
She did say most of the major airlines were introducing a similar policy over the coming months - whether that is true or not remains to be seen.
Anyway, we are home, safe, sound (but cold and sad), so I suppose that's all that matters. Thank you so much for everyone for all the information and advice. Here's to planning next year!
We were only in Orlando for a couple of days as we love the beach too much and we had wedding stuff to sort out, but I thought I would do a review of what we did do and see that stuck in my mind:-
Crowds - (MK and MGM) - the lowest we have ever ever experienced, even at this time of year. It was obvious just walking around that there were so few people there, and there were virtually no queues at all for anything - max we waited was maybe 5 mins, but most things were just walk on. Fantastic!
Cinderella's Breakfast - DD loved this, although she was really shy. The breakfast itself is quite poor, but then that's not why we go is it! Cinderella was greeting downstairs, and then doing the tables were Belle, Mary Poppins, Fairy Godmother, Wendy, and Snow White. They were really attentive, and they didn't rush us at all. It was really well worth it.
Cinderellabration - I was quite disappointed with the new show. I can't remember what it was called before, but is was so much more 'Disney' before - the new show has too few real characters in it - a few princesses, but a lot of other 'fillers'. It needs Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy to be a proper Disney show! It just wasn't the same. I don't know whether others would agree or not.
Cinderella's Castle - was absolutely beautiful all decorated for the 50th anniversary celebrations. It's a shame that they will ever take them down, they were really special.
Christmas Decorations - were up this time last week, which seems earlier than previous years, but maybe we didn't go at the same time. Anyway, they were fanastic, and just added to the Disney magic! It really gets you in the spirit of things - for all of you going over the next few weeks, I am so jealous. It was just lovely.
The New Stunt Show at MGM - can't recall it's proper name, but it was awesome, real hair raising stuff. Those guys are awesome (and something about real life stuntmen in leathers to cheer up an afternoon!). This is definitely something to see if you haven't had chance yet.
Fantasmic - as fantastic as ever! What else is there to say?
Sheraton Safari - a really nice hotel, 5 - 10 mins drive from the Disney gateway. We had a suite which was huge with good quality furniture. We didn't really get use of it, but if you are staying in Orlando, it would be great to have the extra space, and we payed just $99 / night on special rate. The pool looked really nice too. We would definitely stay there again.
Delta - where to start? I actually like the flight itself - the planes always seem new, the food is good as far as airplane food goes, the crew are super friendly, and even the pilots are down to earth humans (ours was telling us the football scores as he was getting them through halfway across the Atlantic, and just chatting generally).
But : when we arrived at Tampa for our connecting flight through Atlanta home to Gatwick, we were told that flight no longer existed. It had been replaced by a new flight number leaving 15 mins later. We were told by Delta that our UK agent (Airline Network) were informed, and they should have rebooked us onto the new flight. They hadn't, and the new flight was full. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and about an hour at the check-in desk with a bored 6 yr old, they eventually managed to get us a flight to Gatwick out of Cincinnati, but we ended up waiting hours, and losing our allocated seats to Gatwick - the only seats available were in row 41 that don't recline. This is the last thing you need after 2 weeks of trying to relax - all that hassle!
I've called Airline Network and they say it's not their fault. Their system does automatically update with new flights, but Delta should rebook passengers, not them. I can see we're just going to become the ball in a ping-pong match, but it's just so annoying when you spend time planning and making sure everything is ok to be messed around, and no-one will even apologise!
Another gripe, even though I called before we flew to check baggage allowance (and told 32kgs x per person), checked in at Gatwick without problems, checking in at Tampa coming home, we were told we would be charged $25 for each bag over 50lb (I think about 22kgs!). I explained what we had been told, and even pointed to the boarding card holder we had from the way out that states 32kg x 2 per person, but she wouldn't budge. There were 5 of us with 8 peices of luggage ($200!!). Her attitude was that 'London were mistaken', and pulled out one of her boarding card holders to prove her point - but this said 32kgs!! Despite this, and much arguing, she insisted we pay, and refused to check us in if we didn't.
By now, I was so cross, and much to her annoyance, I emptied the heaviest things from the cases, put them into our hand luggage holdalls, and checked them (there was luckily no queue!). It was just so annoying - and what does it achieve?? Health and safety is 32kgs, so it's not that, and none of us were over the total 100lb per person, or anywhere close. Had we been given the right information, we would have just taken more bags, that's no problem - I just didn't appreciate being held to ransom at the check-in desk.
She did say most of the major airlines were introducing a similar policy over the coming months - whether that is true or not remains to be seen.
Anyway, we are home, safe, sound (but cold and sad), so I suppose that's all that matters. Thank you so much for everyone for all the information and advice. Here's to planning next year!
Welcome back Kristie 
) As you booked in the UK can trading standards help? 
