BellyDaisy
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2003
- Messages
- 60
We just got back from our extended honeymoon which included a week at Disney. It was unbelievably hot the entire time - I actually passed out after becoming overheated one day! I have to thank the lady that stopped to ask if I was ok and offered to get a doctor for me. I was fine, just very embarrassed. 
The parks, IMO, were terribly crowded and we saw too many rude people. We got on very few rides because we are too impatient to wait in a 40 min. or longer line. We just kept saying, "At least we're at Disneyworld! Could be worse!" Fastpasses were usually set for return later in the evening, sometimes 8-9pm, when we got there around 1 or 2. Occasionally, they were sold out early in the afternoon.
The daily storms were actually quite beautiful. We learned to work around them - it stormed daily around 6pm, so that's when we took our break from the parks. I was amazed by how bright the lightning was and how much rain was dumped in a short time! I saw on the news that DeLand got 10" of rain over the weekend... tons of rain!
AKL was the most amazing, beautiful resort I've ever stayed at. We had a Savannah room on Zebra Trail, 4th floor, near the end of the "trail." They gave us a room at the end of the hall so it had a nice little hallway entrance. The animals... WOW! I wanted to stay there specifically to see the animals, and I was not disappointed at all! We spent a lot of time on our balcony and took tons of pictures of them. There were 4 giraffes who hung around near our balcony the entire time. I can't say enough about how beautiful the entire hotel was! Our only complaint was that Mousekeeping seemed a little lacking this time, compared to our last time. We had several lights that were out and never replaced, though we would leave our lights on when we left so that they could see they were out. A couple days I was not given coffee... and nobody wants to see me without my morning caffeine!!!
I called and they brought some up for me, so it wasn't a big problem... I just was a little sad that Mousekeeping didn't live up to what it had been before (at least for me.) No towel animals, but that wasn't anything big for us because we have no kids. I can't say enough about AKL! So wonderful!
We did the Keys to the Kingdom tour one morning. Our tour guide, Lilla, was absolutely wonderful. It was extremely hot already in the morning, and the poor girl had to wear that heavy costume while we were all in shorts. There were two people in our group who kept asking offstage questions when we were onstage, constantly asking silly questions and keeping us out in the heat. Lilla handled it very well, although at the end you could tell she was giving the shortest possible answer (almost all of us were very grateful for the short answer!!! We just wanted out of the heat!) But the group was great and we were glad we did the tour. I'd definitely recommend it!!!
All in all, our trip was great because we were at Disney. It was a bit disappointing, but we've been there before and we'll be back again. There was nothing Disney could do about the heat or the crowds. The Disney magic was still there! I can't wait to go back!!!
Edited to add: I read some complaining recently about CM's not being as friendly anymore. All the CM's we encountered were extremely friendly and nice, outside of the ones working food counters (counter service only.) Many of the counter service CM's seemed to be very young, high school or college students working a summer job. Other than that, CM's were friendly, helpful, and all-around wonderful.
Our favorite restaurant by far was Jiko. The food was unbelievable! Our waitress was hilarious and paid us the perfect amount of attention - not too much, not too little. She was great! We also ordered room service a few times, including the Romance Package for 2. Wouldn't recommend the romance package (waste of $) but the food was always very good and service was timely.
The parks, IMO, were terribly crowded and we saw too many rude people. We got on very few rides because we are too impatient to wait in a 40 min. or longer line. We just kept saying, "At least we're at Disneyworld! Could be worse!" Fastpasses were usually set for return later in the evening, sometimes 8-9pm, when we got there around 1 or 2. Occasionally, they were sold out early in the afternoon. The daily storms were actually quite beautiful. We learned to work around them - it stormed daily around 6pm, so that's when we took our break from the parks. I was amazed by how bright the lightning was and how much rain was dumped in a short time! I saw on the news that DeLand got 10" of rain over the weekend... tons of rain!
AKL was the most amazing, beautiful resort I've ever stayed at. We had a Savannah room on Zebra Trail, 4th floor, near the end of the "trail." They gave us a room at the end of the hall so it had a nice little hallway entrance. The animals... WOW! I wanted to stay there specifically to see the animals, and I was not disappointed at all! We spent a lot of time on our balcony and took tons of pictures of them. There were 4 giraffes who hung around near our balcony the entire time. I can't say enough about how beautiful the entire hotel was! Our only complaint was that Mousekeeping seemed a little lacking this time, compared to our last time. We had several lights that were out and never replaced, though we would leave our lights on when we left so that they could see they were out. A couple days I was not given coffee... and nobody wants to see me without my morning caffeine!!!
I called and they brought some up for me, so it wasn't a big problem... I just was a little sad that Mousekeeping didn't live up to what it had been before (at least for me.) No towel animals, but that wasn't anything big for us because we have no kids. I can't say enough about AKL! So wonderful!We did the Keys to the Kingdom tour one morning. Our tour guide, Lilla, was absolutely wonderful. It was extremely hot already in the morning, and the poor girl had to wear that heavy costume while we were all in shorts. There were two people in our group who kept asking offstage questions when we were onstage, constantly asking silly questions and keeping us out in the heat. Lilla handled it very well, although at the end you could tell she was giving the shortest possible answer (almost all of us were very grateful for the short answer!!! We just wanted out of the heat!) But the group was great and we were glad we did the tour. I'd definitely recommend it!!!
All in all, our trip was great because we were at Disney. It was a bit disappointing, but we've been there before and we'll be back again. There was nothing Disney could do about the heat or the crowds. The Disney magic was still there!
I can't wait to go back!!!Edited to add: I read some complaining recently about CM's not being as friendly anymore. All the CM's we encountered were extremely friendly and nice, outside of the ones working food counters (counter service only.) Many of the counter service CM's seemed to be very young, high school or college students working a summer job. Other than that, CM's were friendly, helpful, and all-around wonderful.
Our favorite restaurant by far was Jiko. The food was unbelievable! Our waitress was hilarious and paid us the perfect amount of attention - not too much, not too little. She was great! We also ordered room service a few times, including the Romance Package for 2. Wouldn't recommend the romance package (waste of $) but the food was always very good and service was timely.
until we went to 
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