I always love reading the just returned posts so I thought I would write some random thoughts.
Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I understand that many people will not agree with what I write and what I think.
We stayed 10 nights at AKL and had a wonderful time with our family. I traveled with my DH, DS (4) and my parents. Here are some random thoughts and observations from our time there...
*AKL was beautiful, as always. We had a partial savanna view and really enjoyed seeing the animals.
*The bus situation at AKL was slightly better than last year. The busses did come on a more consistent basis (every 20 min. or so) compared to last year EXCEPT in the mornings that we went to MK. We ended up taking a taxi several times.
*It wasn't as busy as last year for the majority of our time there. That made for a wonderful, easy time walking through the parks.
*We used online check in but I felt that we "lost" something with it. In the past, my son received a safari hat, binoculars and stickers when we first arrived and checked in. This year he wasn't offered anything. I know it isn't much but we were really looking forward to those items.
*Cinderella's Royal Table was a HUGE disappointment. Going in we knew that our son would not be interested in the princesses but he really wanted to look inside the castle so we booked for breakfast anyways. I felt that the food was terrible and the waitress was unable (unwilling?) to adjust the kids menu to something my son would eat. Yes, I did look on the menu ahead of time, I just assumed we could make some changes. Our waitress was absolutely awful. She was openly hostile and made the experience the worst dining experience we have ever had. I *thought* that I had read that boys were given a sword and that the servers make a big deal about it when they are given the sword and I was really looking forward to that. Unfortunately, our waitress handed the sword to my husband as she was passing our table on her way to deliver drinks to another table. She never even made eye contact with my son and never even made a comment about it. At the end of the meal she asked us if we were on the dining plan and if we were in one room. I answered that we were on the plan in two different rooms. I then said it is the 3 of us (pointing to my husband and son) and my parents in the other room. She just stood there and stared at me to the point that I became extremely uncomfortable. Yes, I guess she would have been able to figure that out when I said 2 separate rooms, but I never gave her a reason to be so hostile. I was a server for 4 years through college and make it a point to be nice to the people that wait on us. I am still considering contacting guest services about it.
*EPCOT was, let's just say, quite surprising. On June 23rd we had a fast pass for Frozen at 1:10 p.m. We entered World Showcase around 11 a.m. and started on the left with Mexico. We went through all of the countries up to and including the American Adventure before our fast pass time arrived. We braved the heat (102 with the heat index) and went back to Norway. As soon as we arrived the Frozen ride shut down due to a problem. We were told that we could come back at any time during the rest of the day. So... back around World Showcase we went to our lunch reservation in Italy. (Thankfully, they were able to take us 1/2 hour early.) We finished World Showcase and made our way back to Norway around 4 pm. After about a 1/2 hour wait in the fast pass it was finally our turn. We got on the boat, rode to the boat to the first scene, and the ride broke down. After about 15 minutes we were helped off the boat and walked out of the ride. We were unable to just wait for the ride to be fixed even though the people in the boat right behind us were allowed to wait because they were still in line at the boat. We were told we would have to leave and come back at another time... While I understand the need to keep everyone organized I don't understand why we had to leave Norway and were not even permitted back into line to wait. (We never did get to experience the ride because we only had one day left at WDW and we didn't want to go to EPCOT if the ride was broken. It was broken down 2 additional times the following day according to my Disney app.)
After leaving Frozen we walked over to test track to use our
DAS pass there. As soon as we arrived we noticed that the ride was not working. (The cars weren't zooming around every 20 seconds or so.) We waited in line for about 10-15 minutes before we finally gave up. As we were leaving another guest told us that this was the second time that she knew of that the ride was broken down that day. I looked on my Disney app and saw that Frozen, Test Track and the Gran Fiesta Tour were all closed due to problems.
*Soarin' Over the World was definitely different than the first ride. There were times when items seemed to "jump out" at you or other items seemed to almost hit you. There were many guests that were screaming on the ride as these items "popped up". The whole experience (probably because of the screaming) terrified my 4 year old son who loved the original Soarin' as a 3 year old. If you have a child who is a little nervous I would NOT let them on the new Soarin'.
*We had great meals at both Yak and Yeti and England.
*Most servers were great and we enjoyed talking to them and learning where they were from.
*We ate at the Crystal Palace for the first time this trip. When we arrived at our table the characters were just finishing up that area and started to greet our son before any of us even had the chance to sit down. We didn't have our cameras ready as we hadn't even pulled our chairs out yet. We go to at least 3-4 character meals per year and we have never felt so rushed. We had to stand as the characters posed with my son because we didn't want to miss any opportunities. Well, the hostess had sat our party of six a table for 4 and brought over additional chairs. We could barely fit at the table without food so we requested a table change from our server and he moved us to a bigger table. During this process we watch Eeyore skip our table and he was the one character my son wanted to see. He never made it back to us in the 75 minutes we were there. I'm unsure if our experience was "normal" but I don't think I will ever eat here again.
*Each night we noticed several families taking their toddlers into the pool with regular diapers on instead of swim diapers. While some may think that this is no big deal, they are very wrong. Our pool closed several times during our trip due to having feces in the pool. Please follow the rules and put your children in swim diapers. Yes, I understand how much these parents are paying for their vacation. We are all paying the same amount and wanting a pool free of urine and feces should be expected.
Overall we had an amazing trip! The only true disappointments were the meals at CRT and Crystal Palace. If you have a trip planned I know that you will have a great time!!
Happy planning!!
(FYI: we only book a standard view room but have been very lucky with partial savanna view rooms.)
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