Just returned from an 11 day stay -- Please read

[jennyjinx3]

hooray for all the glass half fullers!!

 

[frankieeyre]

That is really nice to hear!!

Sometimes I get sucked in accidentally looking for problems, my trip is just under a year away and I keep seeing possible predictions of problems and panicking.

Glad to see you had an amazing time!!

 

[aprilgail2]

I just got back today from 2 weeks staying at Port Orleans Riverside. I love that hotel! We ate at Ohana like we do EVERY trip and loved it, we ate at Whispering Canyon once and my daughter liked the food so much we went back a second time!

The heat was a killer for me, but we ended up sleeping in and going to the parks later in the day. You were sweating by the time you walked from your hotel room to your car--but its July, I expected as much!
I wasn't prepared for all those tour groups. We ran into them at Universal first but there was no chanting until we got to Disney-then the chanting began! They were not "bad" just different and certainly don't believe in any personal space! I made the mistake of taking the bus to Magic Kingdom just to see if I still hated the buses instead of driving my rental car---yup---still hate them! We were packed in like sardines with a Brazillian Tour group and I seriously felt violated with how close they were into my space. Our second to last day there it was pm and out room wasn't made up yet, I called housekeeping and they send one to make up our room. She was telling me stories about those tour groups and that they were all backed up with housekeeping because one of the groups just checked out and all the rooms were so trashed it was taking them forever to clean up after them!

The A/C in the stores was as cold as it ever was- downright chilly in some!

 

[willowsnn3]

Love WDW, can't say I've had a bad trip yet!!! Looking so forward for our 3rd trip this year coming up in 8 more days.
When the wait times are long you just have to look at where the end of the line is at the time & judge for yourself. When you go enough you will be able to realize that some of those times can't be right depending on where the line is at the time.
The posts that I don't understand the most are the ones where the poster says "I'm in the parks right now, if you need to know anything just ask & I'll check it out for you" or something similar.....
Now I have to be truthful....as much as I love my fellow Dis'ers, I'm gonna be enjoying myself and not posting from the parks, lol.

 

[OllieDannyandMe]

Ok, so I promised I wasn't going to do this because I am strongly a believer (especially after this trip) that your experience at Disney is going to be your experience....and that's that.

While it is nice to read "just back" reports....always remember to take them with a grain of salt because you are not the person giving the report and your personal experience will vary.

Anywho....before I left for our trip, I read (and worried) about A/C not being utilized as much...as in attractions and stores being hotter. Well, I can tell you that in our experience...the stores and attractions were freezing as always

And for that matter, not having been in July in quite some time (we usually go in fall or winter)...I was worried about face-melting-off type of heat that our children would be miserable in...well, our first 3 days there, it was hotter in NH (where we come from - WAY up north) than it was in Florida. DD5 even wanted a sweatshirt during Wishes one night. . There were two days that were hot....but we didn't sweat thru our clothes, our deodorant didn't fail...and no one passed out....it was very manageable. . Again, in our
Experience.

Also in July, we worried about hoards of BTG's swooping into line, taking all of the fast passes, chanting in line....well, ok...that DID happen. But, in our experience, on two rides that they had two or three of their representatives jump in front of us....to be quickly followed by 70-100 of the rest of them, CM's saw what happened and quickly escorted us to the front of the tour group.

We also read about rides not working the way they were supposed to...the Splash Mountain boat not running (it was), effects on Kali River Rapids not working (they were). I mean a particular individual could have hit Disney on a bad day where maybe an a/c unit wasn't working, or someone forgot to flip a switch on a ride element.... But sometimes, a poster will take these experiences and come back with a whole "decline of Disney" post....and before you say anything....I have been visiting Disney since 1985 through its sometimes referred to "Hey Days" and I'll tell you what...Disney is still providing magic every day. Really, they are...grounds always clean (my DD5 dropped some popcorn at MK, and a CM appeared out of nowhere with a broom within 45 seconds to sweep it up), the rides are well kept up. The food was mostly excellent (yes, even at Ohana, Le Cellier, and Whispering Canyon Cafe) ...several restaurants that people like to dump on. Again, maybe these folks hit these issues on a bad day, which can happen

My point is, if your going to Disney, GO! Experience the magic yourselves. Don't go looking for problems (which I honestly believe some people do), and create your own experiences. It is indeed a magical and beautiful place (even now).

One other note...I do believe that Disney inflates their ride times...twice we got into a 115 min line for Soarin' and only waited 30 mins...
Similar experiences on Splash Mountain and several other rides.

Sorry for my rant, that is all.

So wonderful to read this report! You have me VERY excited about my trip to Disney next month. (BTW, I have found that they inflate their ride times, too, which makes me very happy. I do the same with my alarm clock. Me and Disney, we're sympatico! )

 

[zippy001]

I also just left today from a two week stay at Fort Wilderness. I didn't think the crowds, heat, and tour groups were as bad as everyone was saying. I did see more tour groups the first week ( week of July 15). They never cut in line or were rude to us. I heard some chanting as they were leaving park but overall not bad at all. The weather was hot, but you could manage. The crowds were not bad, the first week we made rope drop to each park. Second week we slept in and didn't go to parks until lunch or later. We still managed to ride rides we wanted without waiting. We also had a very magical stay!

 

[cm8]

I'm gonna have to talk to the mods, but honestly I've never seen someone be allowed to keep their membership with all this evidence against them. I'm sorry that it has to be this way.

Tsk! You seem to have missed the "Desperados" thread on the Community Board. Not surprising, though -- most people who take that approach are too laid back to post!

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2522331

 

[Mommy2Jameson]

I don't subscribe to touring plans either!
We sleep late and attend evening EMH's!

But guess what? We rode every single ride, and all of the headliners at least twice. DD8 rode EE 3 x in a half hour time period...

I love the Dis, it has a wealth of information, just most of the information that I tend to ignore.

Haha!! We follow the same plan you do.... Stay up late at PM EMH, sleep in and get to the parks when we can! It works well for us! Glad to hear it worked for you!!

 

[emmabemmainc]

Your trip report really made me smile! I agree, I think people go into their vacation waiting for something bad to happen, and unfortunately for them, most of the time it will. I have only had a few not so nice experiences, but they definitely did not ruin my trip or my love for WDW. It was so nice to read someone's report who also does not wake up really early or follow a plan. I loved it!

BTW--next time you go to WDW, can we go with you?

 

[DisneyFanJon]

Great post OP, only recently started viewing and posting here and - although I have only been twice - am always surprised to hear restaurants and suchlike being dumped on that were excellent when I went.

The real test for me will be Chef Mickey's - as we have never been before - and I rarely hear anything great about it on the DIS, but the last two times we left it too late to get in, so this time its (different days) breakfast and dinner Can something really be so bad that its nearly always fully booked ? I know about the characters but even so, I do not honestly believe that Disney would allow something so iconic, in one of the higher grade hotels, which is largely in full view of the monorail and other non-eating guests, to be as bad as some make it out to be......

I'll be posting our experiences when I get back

 

[Mousemommy1]

Great post OP, only recently started viewing and posting here and - although I have only been twice - am always surprised to hear restaurants and suchlike being dumped on that were excellent when I went.

The real test for me will be Chef Mickey's - as we have never been before - and I rarely hear anything great about it on the DIS, but the last two times we left it too late to get in, so this time its (different days) breakfast and dinner Can something really be so bad that its nearly always fully booked ? I know about the characters but even so, I do not honestly believe that Disney would allow something so iconic, in one of the higher grade hotels, which is largely in full view of the monorail and other non-eating guests, to be as bad as some make it out to be......

I'll be posting our experiences when I get back

I'll be interested to hear your observations!
We've eaten at Chef Mickeys twice (both breakfast)...I will hold my judgement on that place, and let you experience it.

 

[Missytara]

I'll be interested to hear your observations!
We've eaten at Chef Mickeys twice (both breakfast)...I will hold my judgement on that place, and let you experience it.

You can find lots of information about the specific restaurants on the dining board.

 

[aprilgail2]

It was so nice to read someone's report who also does not wake up really early or follow a plan. I loved it!

BTW--next time you go to WDW, can we go with you?

The only park we got to at opening was EPCOT-just happened we went to sleep early and got up early.
We actually did things other than Disney while we were there too! We spent a day in Discovery Cove (which was the best time the entire vacation!! LOVED it there!), we went to Universal Studios, Sea World, Indoor skydiving, ziplining at an Eco Safari place and to wonder works! We love Disney but there are SO many other things to do in that area that we can't just get stuck in Disney World the whole trip!

 

[Mousemommy1]

You can find lots of information about the specific restaurants on the dining board.

Oh yes, I'm aware! I just was interested to see what PP thoughts were. I have my thoughts...