Just back 9/10-16 thoughts

[Jennasis]

We're still in the car, driving home to NC, so I figured I would share my thoughts about our trip thisweek while it's all fresh in my head.

1. Stayed in a Poly studio. Room was fantastic. Really loved the resort (first stay here). We never visited the Lava pool...too chaotic, but the Oasis pool is totes where it's at! Peaceful and lovely! We ate at Kona for breakfast, Capt. Cook's, and the Oasis pool bar and Trader Sam's. Everything we ate was good to excellent.

2. CM'a were on point throughout the world. Parks and resort CMS alike. Not a surly one in the bunch. Got pixie dusted for our anniversary as did my parents who were with us.

3. Parks and resorts were clean. Bathrooms were mostly kept up. Only a few that were getting sketchy but there were attendants in every one wiping, mopping etc.

4. The DVC Animal Kingdom event was a wash out. It rained terribly almost the whole night. Night safari a bust...too dark to see anything. Poor communication about where event things were moved to because of rain. Thankfully it was a free event. The Tree of Life awakening...not as impressive as I'd been led to believe. It was a meh for us.

5. New Soarin'? Magnificent!

6. F&W was great. Opening day and very short lines. Food was all very tasty.

7. Crowds very manageable. Our longest wait was maybe 15 minutes. I've made peace with FP+...even slept in the day after our Animal Kingdom party.

8. Okay...here goes...Disney has got to do something about broken rides. effects not working, AA's not working, screens not working and on and on. Inexcusable. The screens at the end with the photos on Spaceship Earth have been broken since our May trip. Audio on some rides barely audible.

9. Sanaa was a highlight. So good!! We ate good this trip. Biergarten, the Wave, Skippers Canteen, Tusker House, Kona, Sanaa and a walk up at Morimoto. All fantastic.

10. Frozen? Seriously? ?? Waste of space. Lovely outer theming but the ride looked like an afterthought. Huge sections with a blank wall on one side and a scene on the other. Would it have killed them to decorate the whole ride?? And the disjointed story...my parents haven't seen the movie and had no idea what was happening.

11. The bubble wands are OUT OF CONTROL. If you have any aversion to the little soap bubbles you may need to reconsider your visit. They were everywhere. Standing waiting for parades or fireworks and the kids are just non stop spraying bubbles (and the wands play music). Walking the streets and almost every stroller had a little hand clutching a wand spraying bubbles.

12. That said, we saw NO drunk or obnoxious behavior at Epcot F&W or and rude guests elsewhere (just a few kids in the Oasis pool who were chasing or splashing the ducks who frequent the pool...until I told them to stop). No pushing, shoving, line cutting etc. All happy folks!

13. Did see a LOT of sunburn on kids and babies. Please cover up the littles. Put a hat on your baby in the stroller or in the chest carrier.

All in all a fabulous trip with reasonably low crowds and great weather (yes hot but we're from NC and didn't think it was bad...my parents from NY were struggling a bit).

Happy to answer any questions!

 

[missnic]

We are here now and noticed the bubbles too! Seems like everyone has them this trip!

We've also noticed the audio tracks on several rides are off - From timing to just down.

 

[travelbug]

Sounds like you had a great trip overall. I enjoyed reading all your thoughts. Thanks for sharing!

At Morimoto, did you eat at the table service or did you go to the street food part? What did you enjoy eating there? We're thinking of catching some of the street food on our trip in January.

 

[kappyfamily]

Great report thank you!

 

[Jennasis]

Sounds like you had a great trip overall. I enjoyed reading all your thoughts. Thanks for sharing!

At Morimoto, did you eat at the table service or did you go to the street food part? What did you enjoy eating there? We're thinking of catching some of the street food on our trip in January.

We ate at the restaurant part of Morimoto. No ADR but we're seated in about 15 minures at 8pm. It is SO beautiful in there! I had the pork Ramen (spicy) while my dad and DH had the ribs. DH declared them the best ribs he's ever tasted (and we live in the land of NC bbq!). My mom had the local mein and said it was outstanding. Our server was such a nice guy. Service was a bit slow but we could see he had a lot of "high maintenance " tables lol.

 

[Farro]

Great review! Glad especially to read about Polynesian Village. We are staying over Halloween 2017. We've been at Beach/Yacht Club the past few trips. I haven't stayed at the Polynesian since I was 12 in 1985!!! So much nostalgia, I'm sure our stay will be bittersweet and wonderful at the same time.

 

[ariane37]

We were a bit disappointed last month with the non-working screens on SE-had no idea they hadn't been working (since or on and off) for so long
I don't post negative stuff often but yes, OMG those bubble wands They were everywhere last month!! We don't mind them here or there but at least twice a day we felt like we'd been dropped in a vat of soapy dishwater we were surrounded by so many bubbles!

 

[Farro]

I'm sorry - for Spacehip Earth, what screens with photos? Do you mean in the actual omnimover itself, you don't see your picture?

 

[teddygurl28]

I'm here now and agree with the bubbles! Some kid had it going off inside the monorail. Some people weren't happy but the parents didn't stop it. We decided against getting our 2 year old one because I knew I couldn't control her and she would melt if I took it away

 

[teddygurl28]

I'm sorry - for Spacehip Earth, what screens with photos? Do you mean in the actual omnimover itself, you don't see your picture?

Yes. It looks like the flash goes off in the beginning of the ride but when your story comes up they are generic heads

 

[Farro]

Yes. It looks like the flash goes off in the beginning of the ride but when your story comes up they are generic heads

Oh no! That's truly bad. I have some wonderful pictures of that screen!!! Look at his face!

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

My partner and I thought the same thing about the bubble wands. So did my eyeglasses and any food and open-topped drinks I may have been consuming during some of the bubble onslaughts. Just enough already.

I bet the SE screens not being fixed (which surprised us too in August) were deferred maintenance because of the Shanghai Disneyland-generated budget cuts. I'm curious what other maintenance/show issues you experienced?

 

[loves to dive]

I'm here now and agree 100% about the bubbles, I had to walk around with my had over my cup to keep them out a number of times. That soap also hurts when it gets in your eyes.

I just thought it was my picture that didn't show up since it happens a lot, now I know it was everyone's. I'm guessing to fix it they would have to take the ride down for a while and just don't want to do that now.

I haven't been on Frozen yet, I haven't booked any FPs this trip, have just done stand by and no way am I standing in line for 60 min. or more for it.

I have only come across pleasant CMS as well and other than a few things late at night on the streets, the parks have all been clean. I agree about the crowds too, it has really been easy to get around. I was at F&W until 8 tonight and it was fine.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I don't mind some bubbles here and there from an old fashioned wand, but that bubble making thing they sell is out of control. People need to use common sense and not allow them to be used in crowded spaces.

 

[disneyAndi14]

I must agree with the bubbles and the state of some rides, we were there the end of August and this was the first time I commented to my DD about the many non functioning attractions. I love Disney, however for the amount of money I spend there I wish the attractions would be up and functioning a little better then what we saw.

 

[mandy200587]

We just left and I agree with you about the bubble wands! I was waiting for the Halloween parade and sitting and a kid was just using it constantly and not listening to the parents much. Some of the rides were in sad shape.

 

[anniemae]

I must agree with the bubbles and the state of some rides, we were there the end of August and this was the first time I commented to my DD about the many non functioning attractions. I love Disney, however for the amount of money I spend there I wish the attractions would be up and functioning a little better then what we saw.

I agree. It's crazy how often rides go down. I understand things happen occasionally and need to be taken down, but it seems like it is constant.

 

[JoseeM]

Thanks for the report. I'm sorry to hear about the Frozen stuff. That's what I was looking forward the most to for our November trip.

 

[Jennasis]

It really was a fantastic trip. Loads of laughs and smiles all around. We didn't do MNSSHP this year, mostly due to the price increase but we also wanted to take it easy this trip. We took a midday break every day to swim/relax/nap. Made things very pleasant. We really wanted to enjoy our time at the Poly and we did. My only complaint about the Poly was that they didn't pipe in the Hallowishes music on the beach...at least not on Sunday the 11th. That was kind of disappointing as we had planned our evening around watching them from the beach. It was still beautiful (especially the finale!).

Finally got to meet talking Mickey...what a hoot! We watched him speak Japanese to the couple in front of us, who were Japanese! It was fascinating. Really cool stuff.

Brought lots of stuff to trade with the Jawas, and notice a family with 3 boys digging through mom's purse for stuff to trade. All she had was gum but of course the Jawas won't take food, so I gave the kids some of my trinkets. Also watched the Jawas sitting on the floor playing with a baby (maybe 10 months old?). Too stinkin' cute!! Te baby just wanted to touch their faces and the Jawas returned the favor. LOVED the new Star Wars fireworks!

My poor dad...he's a HUGE Goofy fan. We got to meet Goofy at DHS where he and my dad had a "moment". So sweet...and Goofy even signed the bill of dad's favorite Goofy baseball cap! Then the next day dad forgot to take it off on Everest and the hat flew off. We checked Lost & Found everyday and filed a report. Hopefully it turns up someday.

Worst part of the trip was the drive home. Took 2 hours to get from the resort to just north of Universal Studios due to I-4 being shut down from a gas line break. Then more traffic in Jacksonville due to an accident. Needless to say, we are beat LOL!

 

[Jennasis]

Thanks for the report. I'm sorry to hear about the Frozen stuff. That's what I was looking forward the most to for our November trip.

If you have kids who are gaga for Frozen, I'm sure they'll like it just fine. For me, it was a total let down. It also broke down just as we were about to board on our first day, and they evac'd the whole ride. We watched maintenance come rushing in and some Emergency services guys. Didn't find out what happened but saw CM's with grabbers. Maybe someone dropped something? They gave us anytime passes to ride it later in the week which we did. The regular line appears to be some special form of hell...brutal. A slow loading ride with a line full of cranky families.