Just Back - Highs/Lows

[Simba UK]

Firstly Lows

1. Crowds - wow, I was really surprised with how busy it was, we usually go in August but decided to go to Asia during summer so this was a quick 9 night stay during October half term as it was my son's birthday. It was more busy then August, you know the crowds are really bad when you walk upto "its a small world" ride and it says 30 min wait. On last day the TSM ride was over 120 mins. As we are regulars and knew how best to make use of fastpass we coped but definately was different experience

2. Cast members and general atmosphere - felt less "magic", alot of cast members did look quite drained and less motivated

3. Disney magical express - no issue on way out but on the way back we had to change our pick up time as Disney got it wrong, had it all confirmed by front desk and magical express guys to go on earlier bus. In the morning it was chaos, bus was overbooked by 30% and then driver tried to tell me I should be on the later bus. I stuck to my guns as I had confirmation number, time, name of person we spoke to etc. Positive was that several other people also complained to say that bus was well over booked and they needed to sort it out.

4. Free Dining - probably put on at least 3lbs during the stay, time to diet a little

Highs

1. My son had a great birthday at Magic Kingdom, we spoilt him

2. Great family time - as someone who works non stop it was nice to leave the Blackberry in the suitcase and spend some good time with the family

3. I got my Ipad 2 - wife and kids knew I have wanted one for a while so they insisted I got one when we went to the mall

4. Halloween party - was good to see decorations and so many people dressed up. Son and Daughter found it fun

5. Already booked for next August, took advantage of the bounceback offer with free dining, 18 August for 13 nights

6. And to top it all off booked my flights for next year whilst I was on holiday. Email alert popped up. I couldn't believe the price so got my sister in law to call "travel agent" (won't say name, not sure if allowed), she got them to call my mobile in the US. Managed to get all 4 of us booked, great price £395 each with United/Continental. So those phantom August prices do exist if you are quick. I never imagined I would get such a great price for August

Back to work now, look forward to next year

 

[wayneg]

Welcome home.
3lb would be in the high section for me, I put on at least 7lb in August, thankfully within a week I was back down.
We found crowds low over half term but only went into Disney for MNSSHP(mostly no lines-10 mins) we did SW, Busch, Universal & IOA, all quieter than expected.
Glad you got flights sorted, there has been quite a few offers for next summer from around £400, looks like you picked up some of these.

Where did you stay? same place next year? did they offer you a better rate/deal than Disney.co.uk?

 

[Simba UK]

Stayed at Pop Century and again next year

Have been to other resorts but kids really love this resort (so do we)

Can't really compare to UK Site price as it never offers free dining for the value resorts but good deal for sure. Shame they have reduced the snacks to 1 per day but must admit we do struggle to use them all anyway

 

[chocomochamouse]

Know what you mean about the cast members - we got back saturday morning but had commented while we were there that some of them were not their usual happy selves, things seemed a bit more of an effort. Even some of the Disney bus drivers were not very friendly or pleasant, one in particular made us feel like an inconvenience!!

Found the crowds to be fine though. Last time we went was in august a couple of years ago and the parks were ridiculously busy, this time it was much quieter so I was surprised you found it to be that busy. Longest queue we stayed in was Test Track 40 mins and that was in the middle of the day! Generally we have not queued long for anything, straight on POTC, Aladdin, BTMR, Splash Mountain etc.

As for the free dining, well after 2 weeks on it I would be happy to have only put 3lb on back to the dieting . . .

 

[disneyholic family]

congrats on booking flights for next august at such a fantastic rate!!! well done!!

interesting about ME - DS and DDIL used ME on arrival and it was fine, but i didn't let them use it going back to the airport - i was worried they wouldn't get there quickly enough, so they went by town car....that way i was sure they got to the airport exactly when i thought they would and without dealing with other people/bus/etc. (we had a rental, so no need for ME for us)....

regarding the CMs - i was worried about that for this trip as i'd encountered that on my solo trip last year....but almost every single CM was wonderful....in fact i don't remember even one CM that wasn't up to disney standards on our trip this august....but maybe the crowds were lower and they had more staff (summer staff)?