Had a couple of days at Disney last week...MK and HS. All in all a nice time with great weather as we didn't top 74 degrees, wasn't too humid, and not terribly crowded. Scooter usage seemed down. Large touring groups were there but well behaved. A brief shut down on Space Mountain. It reopened and the first rides were completely, and I mean completely in the dark. Pretty awesome, actually.
My one, semi-negative comment for MK is that in Disney's neverending quest to move people efficiently and allow for opportunity for folks to do the things they really want to do (debate that point elsewhere), it's far easier to sort of forget to slow down and take it all in, if that's important to you. By the time you schedule it all and then begin to make your way around the park, you may find that you're overly consumed with the schedule and therefore less inclined to feel the magic of the place and be present for the spontaneous things that can happen. Scheduling and treating the park like a thing to be conquered can have great benefits - we've never ridden as many rides and "done" as much in a single day - but upon reflection, I did sort of feel that we'd conquered it instead of experienced it. As I said, maybe only a semi-negative comment and one that is generated from a self inflicted experience.
My one negative for HS was a pretty rotten experience with the 50s Prime Time Cafe. Our server wasn't "into" it, had too many tables (according to him) resulting in his feeling rushed and his inability to be as attentive as he should have been in terms of basic table service. The food wasn't very good either, and we left feeling over charged, underwhelmed, and pretty dissatisfied. With some sympathy for our server, I think he did have too many tables, and I think he felt he had to dedicate himself to taking orders and getting the food out instead of playing along, but it turned into sort of a jack of all trades master of none situation. Nothing was done particularly well.
We caught the stunt show for the first time, and I was pretty impressed with what we saw. Nice to have a new experience even after a jillion or so visits to the parks.
So this was it for awhile. Too many other places to see and things to do as the kids get older and only so many dollars to spread around. Maybe will go back to a park when my kids have kids.
Side Note: We also spent a couple of days at Universal. I was impressed with the level of in park service and cleanliness even compared to about three years ago. The new Harry Potter area is nicely done, but they could stand to add another couple of rides and experiences in there. One thing about Universal, if you get there early and avoid Potter world(s) until later in the day, you can ride anything you want with a 10 minute wait or less, especially if you use the single rider lines. Universal, I feel, is a place to conquer as opposed to "taking it all in."
My one, semi-negative comment for MK is that in Disney's neverending quest to move people efficiently and allow for opportunity for folks to do the things they really want to do (debate that point elsewhere), it's far easier to sort of forget to slow down and take it all in, if that's important to you. By the time you schedule it all and then begin to make your way around the park, you may find that you're overly consumed with the schedule and therefore less inclined to feel the magic of the place and be present for the spontaneous things that can happen. Scheduling and treating the park like a thing to be conquered can have great benefits - we've never ridden as many rides and "done" as much in a single day - but upon reflection, I did sort of feel that we'd conquered it instead of experienced it. As I said, maybe only a semi-negative comment and one that is generated from a self inflicted experience.
My one negative for HS was a pretty rotten experience with the 50s Prime Time Cafe. Our server wasn't "into" it, had too many tables (according to him) resulting in his feeling rushed and his inability to be as attentive as he should have been in terms of basic table service. The food wasn't very good either, and we left feeling over charged, underwhelmed, and pretty dissatisfied. With some sympathy for our server, I think he did have too many tables, and I think he felt he had to dedicate himself to taking orders and getting the food out instead of playing along, but it turned into sort of a jack of all trades master of none situation. Nothing was done particularly well.
We caught the stunt show for the first time, and I was pretty impressed with what we saw. Nice to have a new experience even after a jillion or so visits to the parks.
So this was it for awhile. Too many other places to see and things to do as the kids get older and only so many dollars to spread around. Maybe will go back to a park when my kids have kids.
Side Note: We also spent a couple of days at Universal. I was impressed with the level of in park service and cleanliness even compared to about three years ago. The new Harry Potter area is nicely done, but they could stand to add another couple of rides and experiences in there. One thing about Universal, if you get there early and avoid Potter world(s) until later in the day, you can ride anything you want with a 10 minute wait or less, especially if you use the single rider lines. Universal, I feel, is a place to conquer as opposed to "taking it all in."
