With all the refurbs, ride closures and weather worries, at times it felt like a January trip wasn't really going to be worthwhile, especially as we were coming from a far off land! But I'd have to say, it really was worth it. Here are a few of our highs and a couple of lows too.
Highs: THE DLH! The GCH has been our usual, but this time we though we'd give the redecorated DLH a try. Comfortable, understated and definitely in better shape than the GCH, we really enjoyed our stay here. Due to a conference the hotel was 100% full, but our 4 rooms were all on the same floor, next to each other, room service was better than prompt and housekeeping was excellent. What was a tired hotel has a new lease of life.
Lower crowds: the park was reasonably quiet, making for easy touring...especially when it rained Monday night!
Carthay Circle's Bar: a good place to wait out the rain..try the Sparkling Mare. Great service, and good quality food and drinks.
BB Fantasmic dinner - so much better than we expected. We've eaten here before and been underwhelmed. Not this time. Looks like the kinks for F! are well ironed out. We found our way without a hitch and the new system certainly made the park less congested in this area.
Revamped BTMRR, Alice...can't wait till they add some of this to the other dark rides!
And a very big thumbs up to Tortilla Joes, who seated 8 people at 7.30 on a Saturday night no problem, made guacamole tableside and entertained us with the great mariachi women whose smiles never flagged even after the tenth happy birthday.
Best of all... none of us came home with Mickey's magical measles!
Lows ;(Well just a few)
Ride breakdowns: maybe we were jinxed, but I've never had so many breakdowns. Indy, RSR (half an hour at the finish line....), TSMM, even the Little Mermaid. From one ride to the next there were hiccups and outright stoppages. We gave away our RSR FPs after the second stall.
Closures: Not as bad as we had anticipated, but still noticeable. We did miss the bobsleds, and of course the water rides, esp when it hit the late 70s, early 80s. There were some unexpected additions too like "its tough to be a bug' also being down.
Cast members: am I nostalgic or was there a time when they waved as you entered Main street, and got into the spirit of the rides (like TOT or HM)? We still met with some great CMs but most were pretty humdrum, bored-looking and at one point busy chatting with each other that and ignoring the growing queue. A few characters seemed to be out and about without minders, and at one point I saw Goofy physically shake off someone trying to put their arm around him as he headed into Main St. The guest was definitely in the wrong, but a minder would have made it unnecessary.
A big cheer for Sully's minder, Chris ,though - he made it all fun.
Naples: just don't do it! Run down, inefficient, totally ordinary.
And finally...though there is lots still to like about F! I really missed the chairs
. Felt like I was back in a school group sitting on the ground, and I noticed quite a few people had trouble sitting.
Overall, though, a very successful trip...so if you're worried about an off season visit, don't : there are plenty of compensations for a few missing rides.
Highs: THE DLH! The GCH has been our usual, but this time we though we'd give the redecorated DLH a try. Comfortable, understated and definitely in better shape than the GCH, we really enjoyed our stay here. Due to a conference the hotel was 100% full, but our 4 rooms were all on the same floor, next to each other, room service was better than prompt and housekeeping was excellent. What was a tired hotel has a new lease of life.
Lower crowds: the park was reasonably quiet, making for easy touring...especially when it rained Monday night!
Carthay Circle's Bar: a good place to wait out the rain..try the Sparkling Mare. Great service, and good quality food and drinks.
BB Fantasmic dinner - so much better than we expected. We've eaten here before and been underwhelmed. Not this time. Looks like the kinks for F! are well ironed out. We found our way without a hitch and the new system certainly made the park less congested in this area.
Revamped BTMRR, Alice...can't wait till they add some of this to the other dark rides!
And a very big thumbs up to Tortilla Joes, who seated 8 people at 7.30 on a Saturday night no problem, made guacamole tableside and entertained us with the great mariachi women whose smiles never flagged even after the tenth happy birthday.
Best of all... none of us came home with Mickey's magical measles!
Lows ;(Well just a few)
Ride breakdowns: maybe we were jinxed, but I've never had so many breakdowns. Indy, RSR (half an hour at the finish line....), TSMM, even the Little Mermaid. From one ride to the next there were hiccups and outright stoppages. We gave away our RSR FPs after the second stall.
Closures: Not as bad as we had anticipated, but still noticeable. We did miss the bobsleds, and of course the water rides, esp when it hit the late 70s, early 80s. There were some unexpected additions too like "its tough to be a bug' also being down.
Cast members: am I nostalgic or was there a time when they waved as you entered Main street, and got into the spirit of the rides (like TOT or HM)? We still met with some great CMs but most were pretty humdrum, bored-looking and at one point busy chatting with each other that and ignoring the growing queue. A few characters seemed to be out and about without minders, and at one point I saw Goofy physically shake off someone trying to put their arm around him as he headed into Main St. The guest was definitely in the wrong, but a minder would have made it unnecessary.
A big cheer for Sully's minder, Chris ,though - he made it all fun.
Naples: just don't do it! Run down, inefficient, totally ordinary.
And finally...though there is lots still to like about F! I really missed the chairs
. Felt like I was back in a school group sitting on the ground, and I noticed quite a few people had trouble sitting.Overall, though, a very successful trip...so if you're worried about an off season visit, don't : there are plenty of compensations for a few missing rides.
and 2) coming from the East coast I'm not sure when we'll get back to California (hopefully not another almost 20 years like last time) and I'm not sure I could be soooo close to DL and skip it all together. What I am considering though is shortening our time there by maybe just doing two park days (1 full day in each park) and skipping the third day and hopper option. This will save us some money and also give us time to linger in San Diego our last day instead of beating the path up to get a partial park day in. Still mulling it over.
