Dragon0525
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2001
- Messages
- 87
Hi,
We're just back from 10 days at WDW and Universal. I have to say that Universal has Disney beat with the front of the line access for those staying on property!!
We flew in Friday 11/30 and went to Portofino Bay. Sat we went to IOA which is fantastic (especially with NO wait in lines for the rides). We ate lunch at the Enchanted Oak Tavern and dinner at Margaritaville. Sunday was SeaWorld-our 5 year old liked getting soaked by Shamu the best!
On Monday we switched over to the Polynesian Concierge. We spent the day at the MK. We had lunch at the Crystal Palace which was ok-not great-but not bad either. Ride lines weren't too bad. We got fast pass for Peter Pan and were able to walk on all of the rest with very short waits. We watched the MK fireworks from the concierge lounge at the Poly.
Tuesday our daughter did the Grand Adventures in Cooking over at the Grand Floridian. It was great-well worth it. She decorated a chefs hat and an apron and they made little chocolate chip cupcakes with different colored Mickey sprinkles. She had a great time handing them out to us and others. After the GA we went back to the Polynesian. Unfortunately the Resort Monorail was having problems and we were sent to take the boat back. Had we known how long the walk to the boat was-we would have just walked back to the Poly! After lunch we went swimming and then we took the monorail to Epcot and went through the International Gateway and took the boat to check out the Christmas decorations at the Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach Clubs. We then went on to MGM to see the Osborne lights. The lights were great!! But very, very crowded. I don't know if it's always like that or if that's because the next night MGM was closing at 4PM for the media so more people were coming this night. Make sure you get the special glasses to see the lights!!
We had a special treat Tuesday night. When we got back to the Polynesian there was a message saying there would be a special fireworks show. Apparently Regis and a bunch of NBC people were over at the Contemporary and they were putting on the special fireworks show that night. It was fantastic!! And lasted about 15 minutes long. Although at the end they started a fire in the trees!
We spent Wednesday at Epcot and saw the new parade-we really enjoyed it. The kidcot stations are still pretty much the same except now the mask comes with a star like attachment and the center pops out for the parade's dreamcatcher. We had lunch at England's Fish and Chips-one of my favorite. Dinner was at the Mexican cantina-and it was pretty good. We got in line for the special pins for Walt's birthday but as someone else posted earlier-they didn't have any. They said they will have more coming out-that it was not a limited edition. We'll see. If we had not already known it was Walt's birthday-we never would have known. There was nothing indicating that it was his birthday which kind of surprised me. I know we stayed away from MGM because that was where the main celebration was taking place-but still you'd think that the other parks would have something small. We watched the fireworks from the Poly beach again-but they didn't compare to NBC's fireworks. And this was even Walt's birthday.
Thursday we'd had enough of the bad beds at the Polynesian and other problems so we decided to check out early the next day. (We were doing the MVMCP that night or we would have left that day). So we spent the morning packing up and going swimming. We had lunch at Kona Cafe (which wasn't that great) and then looked around the Polynesian. Our daughter did the stamping in the lobby and coloring in the stamped pictures. Then we went over to MK. We had dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern which was great!! MVMCP was fantastic as well. We went to the Haunted Mansion first and had no wait. Then we went back to Fantasyland-got our picture outside It's a Small World with no wait and went on most of the rides there a couple of times each without any wait (we didn't do Snow White although there was no line or the tea cups)! It was great! Dumbo had the Santa hats on which was very cute. We did Buzz Lightyear 2 times in a row with just a few minutes wait and also Pirates of the Caribbean. We got our hot chocolate and cookies and saw some of the fireworks.
Friday we checked out and went back to Portofino Bay which was superb! We went to the Belz outlet mall. I can't stress enough the good deals you get here. I'd read about them and we decided to do it if we have time. We got $24 tshirts for $10. A $40 Monsters Inc costume for $20 and much much more. At the Universal store we got $65 silk pajamas for $17! If you have time-check out the stores!
Saturday we went back to Universal and IOA. We had planned on spending Friday and Saturday at Disney since we had annual passes. But we decided the front of the line access was much better at Universal-plus the attitude at concierge when we checked out left a "sour" taste. So we took our business over to Universal.
Any questions-I'll answer what I can. I hope I haven't been too negative about Disney. The cuts definitely show and can put a damper on things-but we still had a good time because we weren't about to let things ruin our trip. MVMCP was the best and well worth it. And GA in Cooking was great too. We skipped AK and MGM this time (except for Osborne lights) since we'd just gone in Jan. Universal is definitely doing a better job right now than Disney-but that's just my opinion.
Joy
We're just back from 10 days at WDW and Universal. I have to say that Universal has Disney beat with the front of the line access for those staying on property!!
We flew in Friday 11/30 and went to Portofino Bay. Sat we went to IOA which is fantastic (especially with NO wait in lines for the rides). We ate lunch at the Enchanted Oak Tavern and dinner at Margaritaville. Sunday was SeaWorld-our 5 year old liked getting soaked by Shamu the best!
On Monday we switched over to the Polynesian Concierge. We spent the day at the MK. We had lunch at the Crystal Palace which was ok-not great-but not bad either. Ride lines weren't too bad. We got fast pass for Peter Pan and were able to walk on all of the rest with very short waits. We watched the MK fireworks from the concierge lounge at the Poly.
Tuesday our daughter did the Grand Adventures in Cooking over at the Grand Floridian. It was great-well worth it. She decorated a chefs hat and an apron and they made little chocolate chip cupcakes with different colored Mickey sprinkles. She had a great time handing them out to us and others. After the GA we went back to the Polynesian. Unfortunately the Resort Monorail was having problems and we were sent to take the boat back. Had we known how long the walk to the boat was-we would have just walked back to the Poly! After lunch we went swimming and then we took the monorail to Epcot and went through the International Gateway and took the boat to check out the Christmas decorations at the Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach Clubs. We then went on to MGM to see the Osborne lights. The lights were great!! But very, very crowded. I don't know if it's always like that or if that's because the next night MGM was closing at 4PM for the media so more people were coming this night. Make sure you get the special glasses to see the lights!!
We had a special treat Tuesday night. When we got back to the Polynesian there was a message saying there would be a special fireworks show. Apparently Regis and a bunch of NBC people were over at the Contemporary and they were putting on the special fireworks show that night. It was fantastic!! And lasted about 15 minutes long. Although at the end they started a fire in the trees!
We spent Wednesday at Epcot and saw the new parade-we really enjoyed it. The kidcot stations are still pretty much the same except now the mask comes with a star like attachment and the center pops out for the parade's dreamcatcher. We had lunch at England's Fish and Chips-one of my favorite. Dinner was at the Mexican cantina-and it was pretty good. We got in line for the special pins for Walt's birthday but as someone else posted earlier-they didn't have any. They said they will have more coming out-that it was not a limited edition. We'll see. If we had not already known it was Walt's birthday-we never would have known. There was nothing indicating that it was his birthday which kind of surprised me. I know we stayed away from MGM because that was where the main celebration was taking place-but still you'd think that the other parks would have something small. We watched the fireworks from the Poly beach again-but they didn't compare to NBC's fireworks. And this was even Walt's birthday.
Thursday we'd had enough of the bad beds at the Polynesian and other problems so we decided to check out early the next day. (We were doing the MVMCP that night or we would have left that day). So we spent the morning packing up and going swimming. We had lunch at Kona Cafe (which wasn't that great) and then looked around the Polynesian. Our daughter did the stamping in the lobby and coloring in the stamped pictures. Then we went over to MK. We had dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern which was great!! MVMCP was fantastic as well. We went to the Haunted Mansion first and had no wait. Then we went back to Fantasyland-got our picture outside It's a Small World with no wait and went on most of the rides there a couple of times each without any wait (we didn't do Snow White although there was no line or the tea cups)! It was great! Dumbo had the Santa hats on which was very cute. We did Buzz Lightyear 2 times in a row with just a few minutes wait and also Pirates of the Caribbean. We got our hot chocolate and cookies and saw some of the fireworks.
Friday we checked out and went back to Portofino Bay which was superb! We went to the Belz outlet mall. I can't stress enough the good deals you get here. I'd read about them and we decided to do it if we have time. We got $24 tshirts for $10. A $40 Monsters Inc costume for $20 and much much more. At the Universal store we got $65 silk pajamas for $17! If you have time-check out the stores!
Saturday we went back to Universal and IOA. We had planned on spending Friday and Saturday at Disney since we had annual passes. But we decided the front of the line access was much better at Universal-plus the attitude at concierge when we checked out left a "sour" taste. So we took our business over to Universal.
Any questions-I'll answer what I can. I hope I haven't been too negative about Disney. The cuts definitely show and can put a damper on things-but we still had a good time because we weren't about to let things ruin our trip. MVMCP was the best and well worth it. And GA in Cooking was great too. We skipped AK and MGM this time (except for Osborne lights) since we'd just gone in Jan. Universal is definitely doing a better job right now than Disney-but that's just my opinion.
Joy
