Just Back - My thoughts

[Shanti]

THe deluxe resorts all have those long REDRUM hallways

So true.

But very pretty, shaded and air-conditioned redrum hallways.

 

[Jennasis]

Ideally you put it on the spots where you feel the irritation before the blister has formed, in which case you just apply a single layer, adhesive side down. The only reason for putting it fuzzy side down is to avoid tearing open the blister if you need to remove it, but by then, you've already waited too long for applying the moleskin.

If you're prone to blisters, I suggest sitting down after the first hour and checking your feet before it's too late. At the latest, just after lunch assuming you started around park opening time. But you might be able to tell as early as standing in line for the first ride.

I prefer my way. I treat hot spots like blisters. Has worked for me.

 

[aretha30]

Sounds like you had a great trip! We go every August and stay at the values and don't mind the walks. I get up a lot earlier than my family and I enjoy my morning stroll to get my coffee. Last year we were all the way at the back of ASMusic, it didn't take more than 10 minutes if all 6 of us were walking together and maybe 6 if I was by myself. My DH actually preferred it because we were right next to the parking lot and he didn't have to drag the suitcases across the resort!

Good to know about the WP. We have never been to BB and haven't been to TL in years but added the WP's to our passes this year. We figured we wouldn't be there all day, but knowing it gets busy so quickly helps me plan.

 

[ariane37]

I'm glad overall you had a great trip, and thanks for sharing your thoughts. As you can see already it's helped a few people!
I agree with pp's, long walks aren't isolated to the values. While our walk at AKL wasn't super long it wasn't exactly quick, but it was inside and pleasant. One of our BWV stays we had a fairly long walk from our room to the lobby, and on our last stay at BWV in Nov. we had the farthest room possible from the lobby and it was ANNOYING. So while we had many great amenities not present at values, and of course were within walking distance to 2 parks, we still had to deal with a long walk.


An afternoon break, especially during the hot months, works for many people. We tried it on our first Aug. trip and found that we hated it! Nobody wanted to sleep, after day 2 the boys didn't want to swim, and just sitting in our room watching TV was boring. We finally said, "why aren't we in a park??" So for the rest of that trip and our trip last Aug. we mainly skipped the break. We booked TS lunches rather than dinners so we had a nice break in the a/c during the hottest part of the day, and just figured out how to manage our time in the heat. And I for one don't like the heat lol!

I can't imagine organizing 12 people in WDW so kudos to you for doing that!

 

[maxiesmom]

The value resorts have been switching to the hairdryers in a bag, not mounted to the wall. Could be that you missed it, I almost did my last stay at Pop.

 

[Mikie]

Thanks for your report! Lots of good specific notes about various aspects of your trip.

Your Tiki Room and Teppan Edo and even Value resort comments remind me of something I thought was tough bringing my family group of 12, including a few first-timers and a couple who hadn't been in YEARS. As we've seen on these boards, everyone has a different take on every attraction, restaurant, resort. It is so hard to try to explain something and share your excitement without over-selling it ("I thought you said this restaurant was amazing?!") or convey what a resort is like ("these rooms are so small/loud/pricey/far from buses - why didn't we rent offsite?") Hopefully if everyone has the right attitude, the magic of sharing a trip with loved ones outweighs those small complaints.

 

[GaryDis]

temperature on the thermostat would go no lower than 68 degrees.

Is that correct or a typo? I remember 68 being the recommended winter setting back during the energy crisis, the assumption being that people would keep their sweaters on at home. Everyone hated it, and I don't know anyone who keeps their heat set that way these days. I keep my A/C set to 74.

Our last trip to Toronto, a few weeks ago, either the housekeeper or the thermostat program kept setting it to 19C. I had to do the conversion to figure out that 22.5 was more to out liking. Otherwise we'd freeze, coming into a cold room in damp, sweaty tee shirts.

Edit: I should have read the "how cool do you keep your house" thread first. Apparently there are people who find 68 stifling instead of freezing.

 

[lindsey]

Thank you for your post. I understand about being a long walk _ we have been in Country section of AS music twice, and it seemed a long way to front.

 

[GovieMom]

I wasn't able to tell if you really liked the Tiki room, or hated it. We happen to love it, and are glad they changed it back to its original state. As for Teppan Edo, we dined there years ago, and had a similar chef. All he did was the volcano, and that was it. As the "show" is supposedly part of the experience, it was very disappointing to say the least, not to have had one. That being said, great account of your trip; thanks for sharing!

 

[GaryDis]

Thanks for your report! Lots of good specific notes about various aspects of your trip.

Your Tiki Room and Teppan Edo and even Value resort comments remind me of something I thought was tough bringing my family group of 12, including a few first-timers and a couple who hadn't been in YEARS. As we've seen on these boards, everyone has a different take on every attraction, restaurant, resort. It is so hard to try to explain something and share your excitement without over-selling it ("I thought you said this restaurant was amazing?!") or convey what a resort is like ("these rooms are so small/loud/pricey/far from buses - why didn't we rent offsite?") Hopefully if everyone has the right attitude, the magic of sharing a trip with loved ones outweighs those small complaints.

That's largely why I put more emphasis on consensus and trends, as well as reviews that give specifics instead of generic adjectives.

Overselling and hyperbole seem to be the norm on many boards. It's as though terms like "good", "very good", "enjoyable", or "pleasant" have fallen out of favor. Everything is either awesome or amazing or as good as your favorite profanity. (And that's ignoring the next generation of sick slang, pun quite intentional.)

 

[TAK]

Is that correct or a typo? I remember 68 being the recommended winter setting back during the energy crisis, the assumption being that people would keep their sweaters on at home. Everyone hated it, and I don't know anyone who keeps their heat set that way these days. I keep my A/C set to 74.

Our last trip to Toronto, a few weeks ago, either the housekeeper or the thermostat program kept setting it to 19C. I had to do the conversion to figure out that 22.5 was more to out liking. Otherwise we'd freeze, coming into a cold room in damp, sweaty tee shirts.

Edit: I should have read the "how cool do you keep your house" thread first. Apparently there are people who find 68 stifling instead of freezing.

Temperature comfort levels are totally a YMMV kind of thing, aren't they? I'd be *miserable* at 68 degrees AC during the summer, let alone 74, but I hate to be warm and don't mind the cold anywhere -- when some folks are talking about "freezing" on cool nights at Disney in the winter months, I'm finally comfortable.

It's also a gender/age thing, too. As a lady of a certain age, I'm not ashamed to admit there are times I'm quite uncomfortably warm. ;-)

 

[WEDWDW]

The value resorts have been switching to the hairdryers in a bag, not mounted to the wall. Could be that you missed it, I almost did my last stay at Pop.

Yes,my room at Sports had the new dryers.

So if anyone checks in at the All-Stars and finds they don't have a hairdryer,call Housekeeping-I'm sure they'll bring you one.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Is that correct or a typo? I remember 68 being the recommended winter setting back during the energy crisis, the assumption being that people would keep their sweaters on at home. Everyone hated it, and I don't know anyone who keeps their heat set that way these days. I keep my A/C set to 74.

Our last trip to Toronto, a few weeks ago, either the housekeeper or the thermostat program kept setting it to 19C. I had to do the conversion to figure out that 22.5 was more to out liking. Otherwise we'd freeze, coming into a cold room in damp, sweaty tee shirts.

Edit: I should have read the "how cool do you keep your house" thread first. Apparently there are people who find 68 stifling instead of freezing.

That would be my mother-in-law. When she comes to visit we know we have to turn the thermostat down. We generally keep it at 77 in spring/summer for most of the day save for a few hrs at night when it goes to 76 (right around bed time). I broke down though and this past week when we baked in the long heat wave (I'm in KS) and dropped it to 75/76 for a few hrs during the hottest part of the day.

In the fall/winter it is set at around 68/69 but if the outside temp gets to single or below zero temps I will adjust it a few degrees for a few hrs.

Even though our house is an energy star rated home and less than 2 years old we do it mostly for cost-saving reasons (every little penny helps here).

 

[Jennasis]

Temperature comfort levels are totally a YMMV kind of thing, aren't they? I'd be *miserable* at 68 degrees AC during the summer, let alone 74, but I hate to be warm and don't mind the cold anywhere -- when some folks are talking about "freezing" on cool nights at Disney in the winter months, I'm finally comfortable.

It's also a gender/age thing, too. As a lady of a certain age, I'm not ashamed to admit there are times I'm quite uncomfortably warm. ;-)

Comfort with temp is absolutely subjective. 68 is way too cold for a tiny resort room for me...do AC thermostats even go lower than that?? Our AC is set at 72 and it's delightful for our whole house (and I work outdoors on a farm in the south all day so I am hot and sweaty and ready for the AC to be kicking when I come inside).

 

[cleophus12]

Longest walk to the lobby we ever had was at the Beach Club. We were on the Epcot side, and I think it was closer to the Epcot gate than to the lobby! (especially when you factor in all those twists and turns). Not complaining--we loved that our room was so close to the park.

Our last stay at Pop we had no hairdryer and before the end of the evening after a call to housekeeping, we had two delivered.

 

[WEDWDW]

1st, at least at this time of year tourist groups were all over the All Star Resort we stayed at. They were often out sitting with their entire group in our courtyard at all hours. Many times I woke up to noise from them.

Does this look familiar?lol

 

[minera]

Comfort with temp is absolutely subjective. 68 is way too cold for a tiny resort room for me...do AC thermostats even go lower than that?? Our AC is set at 72 and it's delightful for our whole house (and I work outdoors on a farm in the south all day so I am hot and sweaty and ready for the AC to be kicking when I come inside).

Our A/C at home is typically set to 60 so 68 was very warm for us. I guess it does vary based on person's comfort level.

 

[minera]

Yes,my room at Sports had the new dryers.

So if anyone checks in at the All-Stars and finds they don't have a hairdryer,call Housekeeping-I'm sure they'll bring you one.

Didn't know this. We didn't have one in a bag either. If there is a next time, which there probably will not be at a value, we will call.

 

[minera]

I wasn't able to tell if you really liked the Tiki room, or hated it. We happen to love it, and are glad they changed it back to its original state. As for Teppan Edo, we dined there years ago, and had a similar chef. All he did was the volcano, and that was it. As the "show" is supposedly part of the experience, it was very disappointing to say the least, not to have had one. That being said, great account of your trip; thanks for sharing!

Sorry, no we didn't like it, but certainly got a kick out of our family reactions to it. I guess some people really like it. We were not among that crowd.

 

[minera]

Thank you for your post. I understand about being a long walk _ we have been in Country section of AS music twice, and it seemed a long way to front.

We were in Country too!