MaddieinWonderland
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2003
- Messages
- 103
I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet rather than giving a moment by moment description of our exploits. Besides, most of it was pointless childish behavior and hissy fits.
There will likely be a companion trip report on the Universal trip reports board soon detailing that part of our stay.
FLIGHT:
- jetBlue from JFK to MCO left 20 minutes late as they were still recovering from schedule disruptions due to the blackout. Arrived early thanks to schedule padding. jetBlue flight from MCO to JFK was comfortable and on time, if a bit early.
- Terra Blue chips were stale.
- Ear plugs for equalizing the pressure in my ears had mixed results. On the flight down, they did a lot to minimize the pain I experience -- which is usually tear-inducing -- but didn't make it go away entirely. On the flight home, I experienced no pain, but was very nauseous with the ear plugs in my ears.
CAR RENTAL:
- rented from National at MCO, using Carlson Wagonlit code. Paid $190.75 for an intermediate car for one week, had no trouble at 12:30 am arrival.
- There were two intermediate cars left in their parking garage -- we had two simultaneous reservations but took only one, so both cars were ours. We were worried that they wouldn't have a car for us.
- Opted to prepay for a tank of gas at $1.55/gal. We only used 3/4 of a tank of gas, but gas prices were quite high, so it was a safe bet.
- Car return was a breeze.
HOTEL:
- Arrived at the Hotel Royal Plaza in Downtown Disney at 1 am. Pre-paid through hotels.com and called a few weeks ago about switching to a package offered by travelzoo.com. While they wouldn't change the package for us, we were offered a complimentary room upgrade.
- When checking in, they asked us which floor we'd like to be on and I asked for a view of Downtown Disney. We ended up on the 17th floor (very, very top) with a view of everything. From our modest balcony, we could see all four Disney parks as well as Islands of Adventure.
- Toilet didn't really flush too well. Or, maybe it flushed too well. It'd take a bit of jostling to get it to stop.
- Returned to hotel last night to find bathroom somewhat flooded and light fixture over the sink full of water. Maintenance was prompt in cleaning it out. Housekeeping was not thrilled with cleaning the bathroom floor. This only happened last night, possibly due to heavy rain.
- Awoke this morning to an end table overrun with ants. This only happened this morning.
- Breakfast buffet was cold, but staff was helpful and accomodating in providing a la carte food in its place.
- Mother reported that shuttle bus back from Magic Kingdom was packed and she was left to stand in the rain for an additional 30 minutes. We didn't use their transportation beyond that.
MAGIC KINGDOM:
- Bought tickets for Friday night's E-Ride Night and was quite unhappy when it began pouring rain at about 5 PM. Guest Services at City Hall was amazing. We went to ask if they could refund the price of the E-Ride tickets as we'd held off on riding both Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with hope of riding them during the hard-ticketed event. Of course, both of those rides do not operate in inclement weather. Jane at Guest Services asked which rides we were hoping to ride that were closed and we told her about Splash and Big Thunder -- she promptly gave us four priority access passes for our party of four so that we were assured a chance to ride our favorite rides. She also told us to stick around and see if the rain let up before we decided to get refunds for our E-Ride Night tickets. If the rain didn't let up in an hour's time, she said they'd gladly refund our money. Well, the rain did let up a bit and we had a great time.
- Space Mountain emergency-stopped while our rocket was midway up the lift. The work lights came on and every train in the building was stopped at a block brake. In a few minutes CMs came up to tell us what was going on and they broke the good news -- we'd have to ride with the lights on and then they were going to put us right back on and gives us a second ride with the lights off! Woohoo! Let me tell you, though, even though Space Mountain is visually impressive with the lights on, the ride is far, far better in the dark.
- Shoot the top target on the volcano in Space Ranger Spin. It's 25,000 points per shot.
- I was asked to carry a card from the entrance of Pirates to Load to measure wait times. It was a walk-on, but when we exited, the sign still said 10 minute wait.
- Upon exiting It's A Small World, we were greeted with a terrible thunderstorm. The CM seemed as if she was new or otherwise not used to this, as she was entirely too flustered about people taking shelter on the exit ramp.
ANIMAL KINGDOM:
- Umm, not really a lot to say about this park. We visited for 2.5 hours, rode Primeval Whirl, Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and saw It's Tought to Be a Bug.
DISNEY STUDIOS:
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror's new randomized drop sequence is amazing. I can't believe how they continue to make this ride better and better.
- Rockin' Roller Coaster is showing its heritage these days. It's riding considerably rougher than even last year, and much worse than when it was in previews. Change those wheels!
- A height requirement is a height requirement is a height requirement. My wait time for Rockin' Roller Coaster was lengthened because I had to listen to some moron yell at the CM because his son was too short to ride. His insistence that, since his children were twins, they had to be the exact same size gave me a good chuckle.
- The Dance Dance Revolution machine in the Pizza Planet arcade is in atrocious condition.
EPCOT:
- Mission: SPACE is an incredible simulator, but not much more. It lacks the heart, mission, purpose, and quality of Disney's other top-notch attractions. During Tower of Terror, there's buildup and payoff. Splash Mountain has the same. Even Test Track, arguably much weaker than Splash and ToT has the same varied level of intensity and engagement. Mission: SPACE is always "on." It's intense from start to finish with no buildup, no respite, and no time to recover.
I didn't get nauseous nor did I feel any real sensation of spinning. I did have trouble focusing on the video screen during the ride and I had trouble concentrating on the in-flight instructions. After exiting, I experienced a bit of discomfort in my head. I felt aloof and a bit "spaced-out," a bit like a hang over, almost.
I rode twice on the same day and the effect was amplified the second time. I skipped a chance to ride a third time, but mostly in favor of see The American Adventure rather than because I was afraid of being sick.
- Living with the Land's artificially inflated wait times bug me. This ride doesn't need Fastpass.
- American Vybe is a really incredible group of singers. I bought their album available in the gift shop in the United States Pavilion.
DISNEYQUEST:
- I used to be quite the geeky little thing and enjoyed hours at play among the toys and games here. In the past year, my interested has shifted pretty radically toward parties and dancing and "older" forms of socialization. I guess, at 22, I'm a late bloomer. I would've been happier at PI, but my family would have none of that.
- Disneyquest's repeat value is low.
- For $31+tax, Disneyquest's repeat value is really, really low.
MISC:
- My father insisted on driving our rental car from park to park when we hopped on the same day. I'm not sure if this is more or less efficient than parking in one place and using Disney Transportation.
- Dinner at 'Ohana was good, but we felt a bit like part of a system there rather than a family dining and getting specific attention. My brother was feeling ill at the start of our meal and didn't eat much from the skewers when they first came around. After the rest of us were stuffed, he felt better and wanted to eat, but the skewers were nowhere to be found and it took some cajoling to get the server to bring them back to our table.
- We ate a dinner at Pebbles in the Crossroads complex and found it to be very good and reasonably priced.
...I think that's it, more or less. If anyone has questions, I'll do what I can to answer them and if I think of anything more to add, I'll do that, too.
There will likely be a companion trip report on the Universal trip reports board soon detailing that part of our stay.
FLIGHT:
- jetBlue from JFK to MCO left 20 minutes late as they were still recovering from schedule disruptions due to the blackout. Arrived early thanks to schedule padding. jetBlue flight from MCO to JFK was comfortable and on time, if a bit early.
- Terra Blue chips were stale.
- Ear plugs for equalizing the pressure in my ears had mixed results. On the flight down, they did a lot to minimize the pain I experience -- which is usually tear-inducing -- but didn't make it go away entirely. On the flight home, I experienced no pain, but was very nauseous with the ear plugs in my ears.
CAR RENTAL:
- rented from National at MCO, using Carlson Wagonlit code. Paid $190.75 for an intermediate car for one week, had no trouble at 12:30 am arrival.
- There were two intermediate cars left in their parking garage -- we had two simultaneous reservations but took only one, so both cars were ours. We were worried that they wouldn't have a car for us.
- Opted to prepay for a tank of gas at $1.55/gal. We only used 3/4 of a tank of gas, but gas prices were quite high, so it was a safe bet.
- Car return was a breeze.
HOTEL:
- Arrived at the Hotel Royal Plaza in Downtown Disney at 1 am. Pre-paid through hotels.com and called a few weeks ago about switching to a package offered by travelzoo.com. While they wouldn't change the package for us, we were offered a complimentary room upgrade.
- When checking in, they asked us which floor we'd like to be on and I asked for a view of Downtown Disney. We ended up on the 17th floor (very, very top) with a view of everything. From our modest balcony, we could see all four Disney parks as well as Islands of Adventure.
- Toilet didn't really flush too well. Or, maybe it flushed too well. It'd take a bit of jostling to get it to stop.
- Returned to hotel last night to find bathroom somewhat flooded and light fixture over the sink full of water. Maintenance was prompt in cleaning it out. Housekeeping was not thrilled with cleaning the bathroom floor. This only happened last night, possibly due to heavy rain.
- Awoke this morning to an end table overrun with ants. This only happened this morning.
- Breakfast buffet was cold, but staff was helpful and accomodating in providing a la carte food in its place.
- Mother reported that shuttle bus back from Magic Kingdom was packed and she was left to stand in the rain for an additional 30 minutes. We didn't use their transportation beyond that.
MAGIC KINGDOM:
- Bought tickets for Friday night's E-Ride Night and was quite unhappy when it began pouring rain at about 5 PM. Guest Services at City Hall was amazing. We went to ask if they could refund the price of the E-Ride tickets as we'd held off on riding both Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with hope of riding them during the hard-ticketed event. Of course, both of those rides do not operate in inclement weather. Jane at Guest Services asked which rides we were hoping to ride that were closed and we told her about Splash and Big Thunder -- she promptly gave us four priority access passes for our party of four so that we were assured a chance to ride our favorite rides. She also told us to stick around and see if the rain let up before we decided to get refunds for our E-Ride Night tickets. If the rain didn't let up in an hour's time, she said they'd gladly refund our money. Well, the rain did let up a bit and we had a great time.
- Space Mountain emergency-stopped while our rocket was midway up the lift. The work lights came on and every train in the building was stopped at a block brake. In a few minutes CMs came up to tell us what was going on and they broke the good news -- we'd have to ride with the lights on and then they were going to put us right back on and gives us a second ride with the lights off! Woohoo! Let me tell you, though, even though Space Mountain is visually impressive with the lights on, the ride is far, far better in the dark.
- Shoot the top target on the volcano in Space Ranger Spin. It's 25,000 points per shot.
- I was asked to carry a card from the entrance of Pirates to Load to measure wait times. It was a walk-on, but when we exited, the sign still said 10 minute wait.
- Upon exiting It's A Small World, we were greeted with a terrible thunderstorm. The CM seemed as if she was new or otherwise not used to this, as she was entirely too flustered about people taking shelter on the exit ramp.
ANIMAL KINGDOM:
- Umm, not really a lot to say about this park. We visited for 2.5 hours, rode Primeval Whirl, Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and saw It's Tought to Be a Bug.
DISNEY STUDIOS:
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror's new randomized drop sequence is amazing. I can't believe how they continue to make this ride better and better.
- Rockin' Roller Coaster is showing its heritage these days. It's riding considerably rougher than even last year, and much worse than when it was in previews. Change those wheels!
- A height requirement is a height requirement is a height requirement. My wait time for Rockin' Roller Coaster was lengthened because I had to listen to some moron yell at the CM because his son was too short to ride. His insistence that, since his children were twins, they had to be the exact same size gave me a good chuckle.
- The Dance Dance Revolution machine in the Pizza Planet arcade is in atrocious condition.
EPCOT:
- Mission: SPACE is an incredible simulator, but not much more. It lacks the heart, mission, purpose, and quality of Disney's other top-notch attractions. During Tower of Terror, there's buildup and payoff. Splash Mountain has the same. Even Test Track, arguably much weaker than Splash and ToT has the same varied level of intensity and engagement. Mission: SPACE is always "on." It's intense from start to finish with no buildup, no respite, and no time to recover.
I didn't get nauseous nor did I feel any real sensation of spinning. I did have trouble focusing on the video screen during the ride and I had trouble concentrating on the in-flight instructions. After exiting, I experienced a bit of discomfort in my head. I felt aloof and a bit "spaced-out," a bit like a hang over, almost.
I rode twice on the same day and the effect was amplified the second time. I skipped a chance to ride a third time, but mostly in favor of see The American Adventure rather than because I was afraid of being sick.
- Living with the Land's artificially inflated wait times bug me. This ride doesn't need Fastpass.
- American Vybe is a really incredible group of singers. I bought their album available in the gift shop in the United States Pavilion.
DISNEYQUEST:
- I used to be quite the geeky little thing and enjoyed hours at play among the toys and games here. In the past year, my interested has shifted pretty radically toward parties and dancing and "older" forms of socialization. I guess, at 22, I'm a late bloomer. I would've been happier at PI, but my family would have none of that.
- Disneyquest's repeat value is low.
- For $31+tax, Disneyquest's repeat value is really, really low.
MISC:
- My father insisted on driving our rental car from park to park when we hopped on the same day. I'm not sure if this is more or less efficient than parking in one place and using Disney Transportation.
- Dinner at 'Ohana was good, but we felt a bit like part of a system there rather than a family dining and getting specific attention. My brother was feeling ill at the start of our meal and didn't eat much from the skewers when they first came around. After the rest of us were stuffed, he felt better and wanted to eat, but the skewers were nowhere to be found and it took some cajoling to get the server to bring them back to our table.
- We ate a dinner at Pebbles in the Crossroads complex and found it to be very good and reasonably priced.
...I think that's it, more or less. If anyone has questions, I'll do what I can to answer them and if I think of anything more to add, I'll do that, too.
