We just got back from a fairly long trip to WDW (Oct 1-9).
To save some points, we spent the first 2 nights (Oct 1-2) at Shades of Green. My brother is an Army officer, and he and our sister-in-law had an adjoining room in the new wing of SoG. I was very impressed with the resort and particularly liked the parking garage! We ate at the buffet in the Garden Grill one night and had pizza at Evergreens the next night. Both places were pretty good and reasonably priced. As for transportation... we hoofed it over to the Polynesian and caught monorail there. A couple of times, the golf cart guy picked us up and drove us down to the end of the driveway, which was nice.
Then we moved over to a one-bedroom at OKW (our home) for 5 nights (Oct 3-7). The first room we had was 3011 (I think). It had really strong paint fumes in the living area, but didn't think much about it. Until 3am that morning when our kids both woke up coughing their heads off. The next day, I called the front desk and asked to be moved to a different room. They were able to move us to 2721 which was better -- no paint fumes! The room did have some problems... the shower door handle was broken on the inside, the light above the tub was burned out, and the hot water knob on the tub was broken. Nothing major... we let them know but didn't insist on having them fixed right away. I think they had enough on their hands trying to get hurricane damage repaired. 2721 also had a new sofa bed, i think. I had never seen one like that before, the way it folded out was unusual, but it made for a much more solid mattress, and it was much more comfortable and sturdy.
On our final night, we moved over to All-Star Movies (for only $49, we couldn't pass it up). We had a room in on the 3rd floor of Love Bug Bldng 7. It was OK... smelled a little moldy, but the beds were more comfortable than either SoG or OKW. The beds were just too small! The kids really liked ASMov (being 4 yrs old and 2 1/2 years old... they thought the giant Buzz Lightyear and Woody were awesome).
As for the parks... I couldn't believe how crowded they were. We've been at WDW in Oct. 2001 and 2002, and we weren't expecting it to be so busy. I think that many people who had their vacations delayed by the hurricanes were there last week. It was also a little too warm and humid for us. We're from Houston, so the weather is pretty much the same here, but wished it had been a few degrees cooler.
We had a great time, though, and our kids were able to try some attractions they had never experienced before: Star Tours, SpaceShip Earth, Goofy's Barnstormer, The Maelstrom, Great Movie Ride, Indiana Jones Stunt Show and Pirates of the Caribbean.
The only "bad" thing that happened was the wife and I came down with an upper respiratory infection the last few days. My wife had an especially bad case. We're both still recovering!
Now we just need to start planning our trip for next year!
To save some points, we spent the first 2 nights (Oct 1-2) at Shades of Green. My brother is an Army officer, and he and our sister-in-law had an adjoining room in the new wing of SoG. I was very impressed with the resort and particularly liked the parking garage! We ate at the buffet in the Garden Grill one night and had pizza at Evergreens the next night. Both places were pretty good and reasonably priced. As for transportation... we hoofed it over to the Polynesian and caught monorail there. A couple of times, the golf cart guy picked us up and drove us down to the end of the driveway, which was nice.
Then we moved over to a one-bedroom at OKW (our home) for 5 nights (Oct 3-7). The first room we had was 3011 (I think). It had really strong paint fumes in the living area, but didn't think much about it. Until 3am that morning when our kids both woke up coughing their heads off. The next day, I called the front desk and asked to be moved to a different room. They were able to move us to 2721 which was better -- no paint fumes! The room did have some problems... the shower door handle was broken on the inside, the light above the tub was burned out, and the hot water knob on the tub was broken. Nothing major... we let them know but didn't insist on having them fixed right away. I think they had enough on their hands trying to get hurricane damage repaired. 2721 also had a new sofa bed, i think. I had never seen one like that before, the way it folded out was unusual, but it made for a much more solid mattress, and it was much more comfortable and sturdy.
On our final night, we moved over to All-Star Movies (for only $49, we couldn't pass it up). We had a room in on the 3rd floor of Love Bug Bldng 7. It was OK... smelled a little moldy, but the beds were more comfortable than either SoG or OKW. The beds were just too small! The kids really liked ASMov (being 4 yrs old and 2 1/2 years old... they thought the giant Buzz Lightyear and Woody were awesome).
As for the parks... I couldn't believe how crowded they were. We've been at WDW in Oct. 2001 and 2002, and we weren't expecting it to be so busy. I think that many people who had their vacations delayed by the hurricanes were there last week. It was also a little too warm and humid for us. We're from Houston, so the weather is pretty much the same here, but wished it had been a few degrees cooler.
We had a great time, though, and our kids were able to try some attractions they had never experienced before: Star Tours, SpaceShip Earth, Goofy's Barnstormer, The Maelstrom, Great Movie Ride, Indiana Jones Stunt Show and Pirates of the Caribbean.
The only "bad" thing that happened was the wife and I came down with an upper respiratory infection the last few days. My wife had an especially bad case. We're both still recovering!
Now we just need to start planning our trip for next year!
