citygirl27712
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2009
- Messages
- 53
Just back from a mostly amazing trip. Our 1st time going at Christmas. Travelers included myself(12th trip), my mother(5th trip) and my daughter (6th trip). We drove down from NC on the 22nd and spent 8 nights at Pop Century. This was my 5th time staying there and my mother's 1st. Our requests of a ground floor room and close to transportation/classic hall were met.
Pros
1- parks were beautifully decorated
2- hit rope drop or within 30 minutes of it each day
3- found wait times to be manageable. of course big ticket items like: space, thunder, splash soaring, etc had big wait times but if you didn't have a fast pass, i found the times dropped to under 25minutes in the evenings.
4- purposefully avoided the MK on Christmas Eve and Day
5- was able to obtain multiple fast passes each day once the initial 3 were utilized and was even able to change some initial fast passes on the fly for a different time.
6- all interactions, except for 2, with cast members were great. They were happy to help you
7- Gaston continues to be one of the best meet and greets around
8- walked at least 7 miles a day.... good for my waistline
9- bag check was quick along with security
10-never waited more than 10 minutes at the hotel for a bus or for a returning bus from the parks
11- lunch at Crystal Palace, breakfast at Chef Mickey's and lunch at Tusker House... Amazing
12-Disney Springs is beautiful and big
Cons
1- the bathrooms in the Living Seas/Nemo & over by Test Track in EPCOT were filthy
2- the bathrooms in Adventureland by the treehouse and the ones by Space Mountain in the MK with filthy as well **complained in EPCOT and MK about those bathrooms & both times was met with a look of confusion**
3- 50's Prime Time Cafe: had never ate there before & thought it would be good. Never again! Server as horrid & the food was overcooked and bland. I got the mom's pot roast. It was suppose to have garlic mashed potatoes and carrots. Ummmm, I got what was probably an entire small pot roast, that was over cooked, maybe 3 spoonfuls of mashed potatoes & shaved carrots. My daughter got the chicken pot pie. It was basically soup with a piece of cooked puff pastry lying on one corner of the bowl. I don't even remember what my mother ordered and we were not the only people in our section of the diner complaining about the food.
4-no bus service from Disney Springs to the parks, you must go to a hotel and transfer **honestly, in previous trips to what was Downtown Disney, I was always going back to my hotel so I don't know if there was bus service from there to the parks before**
5- not a deal breaker but it would have been nice for there to still be the old bus stops at the original Downtown Disney stores if those were all you were going too
6-the MK on the afternoon of the 27th was CRAZY. Wait times were horrible without fast passes and and it was hard to maneuver. That was the only time I really noticed the crowds.
7- noticed one large foreign nationality, not sure if they were a tour group, but were quite rude and not above pushing and shoving to get where they wanted to go. One man carrying his child kept swinging his bag and hit my mother no less than 3 times, while being oblivious, almost knocking her down the steps while being seated for Fantasmic
8-also had several people pushing strollers run into my mother, almost knocking her down and just moved on, never apologized.
**my mom has had 2 hip replacements in 2 years with the most recent just being this past July**
9- no fast passes available for Frozen & the wait was 2 hrs both times we were in EPCOT. However, according the Disney Experience App when I would check the wait times....the ride was down was at least once everyday we were at Disney.
My personal con: Never left the room after we came in on the 27th. Woke up on Wednesday sick and stayed behind in bed. Thought I could rally on Thursday to go to the parks but no such luck. Pretty sure I got the flu. Not how I wanted to end my vacay and needless to say it was a long drive home to NC on Friday. Luckily though, my mom and daughter were spared the sickness & were able to enjoy the parks those 2 days without me.
I would totally go again at Christmas but until I am retired, I doubt it will happen. I am a nurse and never get this much time off at the holidays but the stars aligned this year for this trip to be possible.
Overall, had an amazing time despite getting sick. My plan is to head back in 2 years to celebrate my 50th.
Thanks for hanging in to read this
Pros
1- parks were beautifully decorated
2- hit rope drop or within 30 minutes of it each day
3- found wait times to be manageable. of course big ticket items like: space, thunder, splash soaring, etc had big wait times but if you didn't have a fast pass, i found the times dropped to under 25minutes in the evenings.
4- purposefully avoided the MK on Christmas Eve and Day
5- was able to obtain multiple fast passes each day once the initial 3 were utilized and was even able to change some initial fast passes on the fly for a different time.
6- all interactions, except for 2, with cast members were great. They were happy to help you
7- Gaston continues to be one of the best meet and greets around
8- walked at least 7 miles a day.... good for my waistline
9- bag check was quick along with security
10-never waited more than 10 minutes at the hotel for a bus or for a returning bus from the parks
11- lunch at Crystal Palace, breakfast at Chef Mickey's and lunch at Tusker House... Amazing
12-Disney Springs is beautiful and big
Cons
1- the bathrooms in the Living Seas/Nemo & over by Test Track in EPCOT were filthy
2- the bathrooms in Adventureland by the treehouse and the ones by Space Mountain in the MK with filthy as well **complained in EPCOT and MK about those bathrooms & both times was met with a look of confusion**
3- 50's Prime Time Cafe: had never ate there before & thought it would be good. Never again! Server as horrid & the food was overcooked and bland. I got the mom's pot roast. It was suppose to have garlic mashed potatoes and carrots. Ummmm, I got what was probably an entire small pot roast, that was over cooked, maybe 3 spoonfuls of mashed potatoes & shaved carrots. My daughter got the chicken pot pie. It was basically soup with a piece of cooked puff pastry lying on one corner of the bowl. I don't even remember what my mother ordered and we were not the only people in our section of the diner complaining about the food.
4-no bus service from Disney Springs to the parks, you must go to a hotel and transfer **honestly, in previous trips to what was Downtown Disney, I was always going back to my hotel so I don't know if there was bus service from there to the parks before**
5- not a deal breaker but it would have been nice for there to still be the old bus stops at the original Downtown Disney stores if those were all you were going too
6-the MK on the afternoon of the 27th was CRAZY. Wait times were horrible without fast passes and and it was hard to maneuver. That was the only time I really noticed the crowds.
7- noticed one large foreign nationality, not sure if they were a tour group, but were quite rude and not above pushing and shoving to get where they wanted to go. One man carrying his child kept swinging his bag and hit my mother no less than 3 times, while being oblivious, almost knocking her down the steps while being seated for Fantasmic
8-also had several people pushing strollers run into my mother, almost knocking her down and just moved on, never apologized.
**my mom has had 2 hip replacements in 2 years with the most recent just being this past July**
9- no fast passes available for Frozen & the wait was 2 hrs both times we were in EPCOT. However, according the Disney Experience App when I would check the wait times....the ride was down was at least once everyday we were at Disney.
My personal con: Never left the room after we came in on the 27th. Woke up on Wednesday sick and stayed behind in bed. Thought I could rally on Thursday to go to the parks but no such luck. Pretty sure I got the flu. Not how I wanted to end my vacay and needless to say it was a long drive home to NC on Friday. Luckily though, my mom and daughter were spared the sickness & were able to enjoy the parks those 2 days without me.
I would totally go again at Christmas but until I am retired, I doubt it will happen. I am a nurse and never get this much time off at the holidays but the stars aligned this year for this trip to be possible.
Overall, had an amazing time despite getting sick. My plan is to head back in 2 years to celebrate my 50th.
Thanks for hanging in to read this
