Just Got Back - Short Trip Report

[Familyx4]

DW, DS (15), DD (12) and I just got back fron 10 days.

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside. Great resort, first time stay there. Staff very friendly and accommodating. They are all non-smoking now and our building (38 in Aligator Bayou) was always NS however the guests before us had smoked in the room. I am allergic and the smell was in the carpet, bedding, towels, curtains, chairs, etc. The first evening housekeeping sprayed an ionizer which barely helped but I made it through. The next morning I went to the desk and they had a "process" they could use on the room that supposedly would remove all traces of smoke by completely exchanging ALL the air in the room. It would take 4 hours and since we were going to the parks anyway it worked for us. I was very skeptical but it actually did work and we had no problems the rest of the stay. Housekeeping even placed an "Ionic Breeze" type of machine in the room for our complete stay. I was impressed.

Now for the parks... It was very hot and all the parks were very crowded. It seems to me that they let a lot more people in the parks than all our other trips. (We always go in mid June) Fastpass was good but the return times were sometimes hours away and occasionally you even waited in line to get on the ride then. We did find that most standby wait times were less than posted - except for Soarin' which was right on the money. 20 to 40 minutes usually meant 4 - 20 minutes. We had a few park days with fewer crowds at EPCOT, MGM, and AK but never MK. It is definitely best to hit the parks early. Ride as many rides as you can then when the crowds come in go to Fastpasses. The late night extended hours were not worth it. It used to be you had to pay $10 but they limited the number of people in the park. That was great and you could literaly get off a ride and right back on. Now there is no cost but they let a lot more people in. We saw no difference in regular hours and EMH. You still needed fastpass to ride anything. You were lucky to ride 4 rides from 11pm - 2am.

Highlights: Everest, Soarin', AND as a surprise from my wife I got to dive the living seas at EPCOT (DiveQuest) on Saturday the 16th. The kids had a great time with everything.

I now need a vacation to get over the vacation!! I'll be happy to answer any question....

 

[kimbac3]

I'm glad to see that housekeeping handled the smoking issue so well. My DS and I are also allergic to smoke (and cats!! Worst night of my life was in a hotel room that previously housed an occupant and a cat).

We will be at POR in about 25 days!

Thanks for the review

Kimba

 

[wilderness01]

I think the poster probably meant the groups with the flags that chant, cut in line, are loud, etc. We have encountered them as well, and they are annoying. They were speaking spanish, etc. so that is probably why he labeled as such. Sorry your feelings are hurt. I agree that you don't group people, but there are such large, loud groups of these people that were indeed so rude, that it is very hard to overlook. We have gone several times during the summer and these groups are always there. I would have to say that every single group that we encountered were so abrasive that when I saw them coming I would cringe. They pushed, shoved, were loud, would walk right in front of you as you were waiting in line, talked during shows, etc. that I was sick of them as a whole by the end of every one of our trips. Sorry, but this is true of EVERY trip we have taken in the summer. I haven't encountered that as much any other time of the year, but in the summer it is unfortunately very true.