Shel
<font color=6600CC>Keep those alligators under the
- Joined
- Aug 17, 1999
- Messages
- 1,472
Hi all! Trip dates - Oct 4 - 11, DH - 52, Me - 50ish. Temps - too high! 85 ave. Celebrating our 25th anniversary (a little early)
Not Disney but in Dayton our seats on the plane got upgraded to business class - row 2! That was pretty awesome!
ALL STAR MOVIES:
Positive: This is a great family resort. It's definitely "ears" above Pop Century. The food court was clean, and ran smoothly. Lots of little kids, the pool was always crazy full. We enjoyed finding an umbrella table, reading a good book & listening to the laughter of the children during the evening. We stayed in a preferred room in Fantasia. I'm not sure why a backside of a building with a view of a parking lot is preferred, but it is what it is. Buses were ran efficiently & we rarely had to wait more than 5 or 10 minutes.
Negative: My DH mentioned the yellow deodorant tabs in the Cinema Hall men's rooms made the urinals always look unflushed.
Our room was left unmade twice, and no, I didn't complain. Maybe I should've, but I didn't.
MAGIC KINGDOM:
Positives: No matter how many millions of people it looks like in line, they can run them thru the bag checks & ticket lines amazingly fast! We found this in all parks, not just the MK.
It was nicely decorated for fall. The crowds were manageable. CMs were friendly. We had lunch at the LTT for our anniversary & our server, Michelle, gave us mugs & a certificate, and also a cupcake along with our Gooey cake. What a sweetie.
We also ate at BOG & loved it. They had CMs offering cups of lemonade/lemon water while we waited outside for our PS. It was crazy hot outside, so that was an appreciated perk. We ate in the ballroom and the food was very good!
MNSSHP was a lot of fun. It was our first time & we enjoyed seeing all the costumes. The HM was awesome, and the parade was fantastic. We didn't trick or treat. The highlight was a meet & great with Capt. Jack Sparrow. I loved that!
NEGATIVE: We weren't impressed with the "new & improved" Starbucks MSB. The yummy cinnamon rolls were gone, there's no place to sit, and both pastries we sampled were dried out.
EPCOT/F & W FESTIVAL:
POSITIVE: We spent the majority of our time at Epcot in WS gorging ourselves on the seemingly unlimited amount of food to sample. We love, love, loved the F & W Festival. They really have it down to a science & can move what seems to be a very long line incredibly fast. Don't let a long line discourage you from sampling the food, because they have really mainstreamed it.
NEGATIVE: If I could make one teensy, weensy tweak to the F & W Festival it would be to please put the plasticware & napkins before the food pickup. It would make things so much easier. If we both got one sample & a drink, we had to do a balancing act to get the utensils.
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS:
All positive here. We spent about 3 1/2 hours here & did TSM, the Jack Sparrow Adventure & GMR. I'd forgotten how much fun TSM is, so thanks to the Magic Bands we secured a FP. (more about that below)
BUSES: We had bus drivers ranging from not interested in putting the ramp down for my wheelchair (need one for terribly arthritic knees). My DH, bless his heart, pushes me, and we don't use a GAC. Anyway, back to the bus drivers - some made us wheel the chair down (I transferred) without the ramp, and others were "by the book", strapped the folded chair in.
We never waited long for a bus at all, despite the crowds.
MAGIC BANDS: We never encountered one problem and we loved them! How convenient not to have to mess around with tickets or a room key. The biggest plus IMO was FPplus. On the evening before our final day at the MK we decided what we wanted to ride the next morning, scheduled our FP & were good to go.
Also, before we left home we scheduled a FP for TSM, and realized that actual morning at breakfast that we weren't going to make it. I got on the MDE app & pushed it back an hour and we were again, good to go!
BIGGEST MISTAKE: We forgot to put our ME tags on our luggage. DUH! We've used ME multiple times, and somehow this slipped both of our minds. So my DH had to push me, and pull a suitcase thru the Orlando airport. Not a great start, but we were on our way to Disney, so we couldn't stay upset. Luckily (I guess!) it hit me on the plane that we'd forgotten that little detail. At least we knew to pick up our luggage. Otherwise who knows how we would've gotten it to the resort!
I think that's it! PM me if you have any questions I can answer.
Not Disney but in Dayton our seats on the plane got upgraded to business class - row 2! That was pretty awesome!
ALL STAR MOVIES:
Positive: This is a great family resort. It's definitely "ears" above Pop Century. The food court was clean, and ran smoothly. Lots of little kids, the pool was always crazy full. We enjoyed finding an umbrella table, reading a good book & listening to the laughter of the children during the evening. We stayed in a preferred room in Fantasia. I'm not sure why a backside of a building with a view of a parking lot is preferred, but it is what it is. Buses were ran efficiently & we rarely had to wait more than 5 or 10 minutes.
Negative: My DH mentioned the yellow deodorant tabs in the Cinema Hall men's rooms made the urinals always look unflushed.
Our room was left unmade twice, and no, I didn't complain. Maybe I should've, but I didn't.
MAGIC KINGDOM:
Positives: No matter how many millions of people it looks like in line, they can run them thru the bag checks & ticket lines amazingly fast! We found this in all parks, not just the MK.
It was nicely decorated for fall. The crowds were manageable. CMs were friendly. We had lunch at the LTT for our anniversary & our server, Michelle, gave us mugs & a certificate, and also a cupcake along with our Gooey cake. What a sweetie.
We also ate at BOG & loved it. They had CMs offering cups of lemonade/lemon water while we waited outside for our PS. It was crazy hot outside, so that was an appreciated perk. We ate in the ballroom and the food was very good!
MNSSHP was a lot of fun. It was our first time & we enjoyed seeing all the costumes. The HM was awesome, and the parade was fantastic. We didn't trick or treat. The highlight was a meet & great with Capt. Jack Sparrow. I loved that!
NEGATIVE: We weren't impressed with the "new & improved" Starbucks MSB. The yummy cinnamon rolls were gone, there's no place to sit, and both pastries we sampled were dried out.
EPCOT/F & W FESTIVAL:
POSITIVE: We spent the majority of our time at Epcot in WS gorging ourselves on the seemingly unlimited amount of food to sample. We love, love, loved the F & W Festival. They really have it down to a science & can move what seems to be a very long line incredibly fast. Don't let a long line discourage you from sampling the food, because they have really mainstreamed it.
NEGATIVE: If I could make one teensy, weensy tweak to the F & W Festival it would be to please put the plasticware & napkins before the food pickup. It would make things so much easier. If we both got one sample & a drink, we had to do a balancing act to get the utensils.
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS:
All positive here. We spent about 3 1/2 hours here & did TSM, the Jack Sparrow Adventure & GMR. I'd forgotten how much fun TSM is, so thanks to the Magic Bands we secured a FP. (more about that below)
BUSES: We had bus drivers ranging from not interested in putting the ramp down for my wheelchair (need one for terribly arthritic knees). My DH, bless his heart, pushes me, and we don't use a GAC. Anyway, back to the bus drivers - some made us wheel the chair down (I transferred) without the ramp, and others were "by the book", strapped the folded chair in.
We never waited long for a bus at all, despite the crowds.
MAGIC BANDS: We never encountered one problem and we loved them! How convenient not to have to mess around with tickets or a room key. The biggest plus IMO was FPplus. On the evening before our final day at the MK we decided what we wanted to ride the next morning, scheduled our FP & were good to go.
Also, before we left home we scheduled a FP for TSM, and realized that actual morning at breakfast that we weren't going to make it. I got on the MDE app & pushed it back an hour and we were again, good to go!
BIGGEST MISTAKE: We forgot to put our ME tags on our luggage. DUH! We've used ME multiple times, and somehow this slipped both of our minds. So my DH had to push me, and pull a suitcase thru the Orlando airport. Not a great start, but we were on our way to Disney, so we couldn't stay upset. Luckily (I guess!) it hit me on the plane that we'd forgotten that little detail. At least we knew to pick up our luggage. Otherwise who knows how we would've gotten it to the resort!
I think that's it! PM me if you have any questions I can answer.
