KiminChicago
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 19, 1999
- Messages
- 926
Near record-setting heat for the whole 7 days we were there. I've never been there in October and had it be that hot.
The good: My sister, BIL and nieces were able to join us and we were all able to co-exist in a two-bedroom villa (there were 8 of us including me, DH, DD and DS) for a week without getting tired of each other's company. We did split up a couple of times, but never for very long. It was their first time down so I was acting as tour guide. I had bought a three month subscription to Ridemax and my sister was amazed at how we were able to practically walk on everything the first couple of days (Thur Oct 8th and Fri Oct 9th). We used a lot of Fastpasses and she couldn't get over the fact that Disney doesn't charge for them. I can't tell you how many times she asked me why everyone else wasn't using Fastpasses if they were free. Fortunately, we had my DS(12) to act as our Fastpass runner and he was able to get up to the rope at park opening so we were able to ride Toy Story Mania twice on the 9th at park opening and only had to wait 15 minutes.
The weekend got a little more crowded, but we still never waited more than half an hour for anything. My BIL kept joking that I must have some kind of special magic at Disney, because we never even had to wait more than a few minutes for the busses. We ate at the 50's PrimeTime Cafe, Chef Mickey's, Boma, Cinderella's Castle, San Angel Inn and the Biergarten and we never waited more than a few minutes to be seated. I've had trips that went well before, but even I was amazed at how well everything went. I pre-ordered the CD (sis and I are splitting the cost) and we were able to get 90 pictures on it, so we felt that it was a great deal for us too.
The only bad: Somehow my request for an upper floor room at Kidani Village as close to the lobby as possible landed us in the room farthest away from anything. Room 7979 was on the fifth floor and it was at the very end and around the corner of the very long hallway. It was also on the opposite end of the resort from the walkway to Jambo House, so we never bothered to walk (it was 10 minutes of brisk walking to get from our villa to the lobby -- we timed it one day). Our villa also overlooked only a small offshoot of the Pembe Savannah, so the only animal we ever saw from our balcony was a lone Okapi. Fortunately, the girls were able to see lots of animals from all the viewing windows along the hallway, so they didn't feel disappointed at all. And we were able to make a few great jokes about the room even the housekeepers didn't know was there (ours was literally the only door with a number on it on our little side hallway). Other than the room location and the heat, it was a great trip!
The good: My sister, BIL and nieces were able to join us and we were all able to co-exist in a two-bedroom villa (there were 8 of us including me, DH, DD and DS) for a week without getting tired of each other's company. We did split up a couple of times, but never for very long. It was their first time down so I was acting as tour guide. I had bought a three month subscription to Ridemax and my sister was amazed at how we were able to practically walk on everything the first couple of days (Thur Oct 8th and Fri Oct 9th). We used a lot of Fastpasses and she couldn't get over the fact that Disney doesn't charge for them. I can't tell you how many times she asked me why everyone else wasn't using Fastpasses if they were free. Fortunately, we had my DS(12) to act as our Fastpass runner and he was able to get up to the rope at park opening so we were able to ride Toy Story Mania twice on the 9th at park opening and only had to wait 15 minutes.
The weekend got a little more crowded, but we still never waited more than half an hour for anything. My BIL kept joking that I must have some kind of special magic at Disney, because we never even had to wait more than a few minutes for the busses. We ate at the 50's PrimeTime Cafe, Chef Mickey's, Boma, Cinderella's Castle, San Angel Inn and the Biergarten and we never waited more than a few minutes to be seated. I've had trips that went well before, but even I was amazed at how well everything went. I pre-ordered the CD (sis and I are splitting the cost) and we were able to get 90 pictures on it, so we felt that it was a great deal for us too.
The only bad: Somehow my request for an upper floor room at Kidani Village as close to the lobby as possible landed us in the room farthest away from anything. Room 7979 was on the fifth floor and it was at the very end and around the corner of the very long hallway. It was also on the opposite end of the resort from the walkway to Jambo House, so we never bothered to walk (it was 10 minutes of brisk walking to get from our villa to the lobby -- we timed it one day). Our villa also overlooked only a small offshoot of the Pembe Savannah, so the only animal we ever saw from our balcony was a lone Okapi. Fortunately, the girls were able to see lots of animals from all the viewing windows along the hallway, so they didn't feel disappointed at all. And we were able to make a few great jokes about the room even the housekeepers didn't know was there (ours was literally the only door with a number on it on our little side hallway). Other than the room location and the heat, it was a great trip!
