Just back from a week at the world. The trip went great, many small magical moments for the kids (the received free ice cream at AK, free big cookie at the bakery at MK, DS was chosen to "drive" the jungle cruise boat, free fastpasses from CM's at MK, etc...). I saw more "magical moments" for the kids this past trip, which was very nice.
As for the bad, well, can't say the lines, because for the most part, the were very managable. My DS 3 is exactly 40 inches tall. We were excited because that is the magic height for BTMRR, Splash Mtn, Soarin, Test Track and the raft ride at AK. The only problem was that at every attraction he just barely made the official disney height measuring stick thing, and in many cases, the CM would not let him ride. (this problem was solved by simply re-visiting that same attraction later in the day when a different CM was working the line. Sure, it was a pain and frustrating at times, but he did eventually got to ride them all.
Now for the ugly. On our last day after we checked out, we decided to spend the day again at MK. The day went great, low lines and perfect weather. We rode Splash Mtn around 3pm and decided to purchase the pic, and we had it sent to the front of the park for pickup (available at 7:30) so we figured we would eat dinner and leave at 7:30 (long drive home). So after dinner DW decides we should ride Peter Pan one last time, we park our stroller and hop on. Upon exiting, my DD5 wants to ride IASW since there was no line at all, so we jump on that. Now its 8:30 and we goto the stroller to head out of the park. Our bag of souvenirs that we bought during the day (about $200 worth) was gone.
Now I have been to disney about 20 times in my life, and have left camera bags, video cam bags, etc on the stroller with never a problem. Even at epcot my DW accidently left her iphone on the stroller while we were in Soarin, and that was still there when we got back.
Needless to say we were all very upset by this. Who steals a bag full of souveniers obviously for little kids? I mean it was a big disney world bag. People who goto disney to steal things from little kids should be taken to a MK back alley and beaten senseless by the goofy police.
That being said, this is where the Disney customer service machine kicked into high gear, the whole process I was impressed with. A CM parking strollers offered to help us find the bag, and once it was determined that it was obviously stolen, she called security who arrived a minute later with a manager. The stroller CM took our kids onto the Peter Pan ride while we told security and the manager what happened. I had receipts so I knew what was missing. About 10 minutes later, the stroller CM returned with our kids, each one carrying one of those huge 5-pound lollipops. We were done giving our names and info to security for their report. The manager then gave us a form and instructed us to return to the gift shop(s) where we purchased our souvenirs that day and Disney replaced everything that was missing. That part shocked me. I was not expecting that at all.
Of course, lesson learned. nothing will be left in the stroller in the future, and we will simply have our purchases brought to the park entrance for pickup.
As for the bad, well, can't say the lines, because for the most part, the were very managable. My DS 3 is exactly 40 inches tall. We were excited because that is the magic height for BTMRR, Splash Mtn, Soarin, Test Track and the raft ride at AK. The only problem was that at every attraction he just barely made the official disney height measuring stick thing, and in many cases, the CM would not let him ride. (this problem was solved by simply re-visiting that same attraction later in the day when a different CM was working the line. Sure, it was a pain and frustrating at times, but he did eventually got to ride them all.
Now for the ugly. On our last day after we checked out, we decided to spend the day again at MK. The day went great, low lines and perfect weather. We rode Splash Mtn around 3pm and decided to purchase the pic, and we had it sent to the front of the park for pickup (available at 7:30) so we figured we would eat dinner and leave at 7:30 (long drive home). So after dinner DW decides we should ride Peter Pan one last time, we park our stroller and hop on. Upon exiting, my DD5 wants to ride IASW since there was no line at all, so we jump on that. Now its 8:30 and we goto the stroller to head out of the park. Our bag of souvenirs that we bought during the day (about $200 worth) was gone.
Now I have been to disney about 20 times in my life, and have left camera bags, video cam bags, etc on the stroller with never a problem. Even at epcot my DW accidently left her iphone on the stroller while we were in Soarin, and that was still there when we got back.
Needless to say we were all very upset by this. Who steals a bag full of souveniers obviously for little kids? I mean it was a big disney world bag. People who goto disney to steal things from little kids should be taken to a MK back alley and beaten senseless by the goofy police.
That being said, this is where the Disney customer service machine kicked into high gear, the whole process I was impressed with. A CM parking strollers offered to help us find the bag, and once it was determined that it was obviously stolen, she called security who arrived a minute later with a manager. The stroller CM took our kids onto the Peter Pan ride while we told security and the manager what happened. I had receipts so I knew what was missing. About 10 minutes later, the stroller CM returned with our kids, each one carrying one of those huge 5-pound lollipops. We were done giving our names and info to security for their report. The manager then gave us a form and instructed us to return to the gift shop(s) where we purchased our souvenirs that day and Disney replaced everything that was missing. That part shocked me. I was not expecting that at all.
Of course, lesson learned. nothing will be left in the stroller in the future, and we will simply have our purchases brought to the park entrance for pickup.
It's Disney for Pete's sake! I'm with ya on calling the Goofy Police. I pity the person who makes us happy Micky fans angry with their anti-magical behavior...
