BethEJo
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 27, 2008
- Messages
- 2,098
Hello 
First of all, I'm just going to apologise for how extensive this is going to be! There are just so many things to mention!!! And second of all, apologies for how late this is! You see, I've just more or less finished writing my TR, so now that it's all down, it allowed me to go back through the holiday again noting down the highs and lows!
As many people also say, I always enjoy reading through others highs and lows, so thought I would give back with my own
For those of you who are not familiar/who have not seen my TR, we went 27 April - May 11. We stayed in OKW with the free DDP and "we" were a group of four twenty something year old girls who had all met at WDW in the summer of 2011 whilst we worked there on the College Program.
So, without further ado...
THE HIGHS:
* Just being back at WDW after two years, and being there with great friends who I don't get to see nearly enough!
* Staying at OKW, but just staying onsite in general! My first time ever staying onsite and I loved the resort!
* The free DDP. It was nice not to worry about the cost of food so much, and I didn't feel so bad about going for the expensive things
We budgeted for tips before our trip so this wasn't a problem. We put our free $200 giftcard towards them too!
We got to try so many new places, both QS and TS and we didn't have a bad meal anywhere really. Apart from one questionable grey vegetable sandwich from Cosmic Rays on our last night, but the fries were still good!
Some favourite QS: Mexico and Sunshine Seasons in Epcot.
Some favourite TS: Ohana, Biergarten (so random!), 50s Prime Time, Raglan Road and Jiko
* Ohana and the Lapu Lapus deserve a special mention! Fantastic food, great drinks, a lovely atmosphere and attentive service. I can see what the hype is about.
* Jiko. The beef. Enough said.
* Discovery Cove and SeaWorld - my two favouritest places in the world!! Still can't believe we swam with the dolphins and snorkelled with stingrays - easily one of the best days of my life! Will return every trip if I can! And SeaWorld definitely has to be my favourite theme park! I love anything marine-y Loved Turtle Trek - this wasn't there during my last visit. So many things bring a tear to my eye in this park! Manta and Kraken were... fast! Loved them, but I forgot how crazy they were; I felt drunk coming off them! Also feeding the stingrays was an experience... very splashy! Read my TR to find out how I stuffed a prawn in a stingray’s nostril!
* Dine with Shamu. Fantastic value in my opinion: buffet, unlimited drinks, and being sat in the tank area behind the Shamu Stadium stage being treated to a little Shamu display and a presentation from the trainers.
* Character interactions. We met the Three Caballeros as part of the Limited Time Magic Promotion - they were so cheeky I also got to have a photo with Clarabelle on our last day! Eeeeeeeeeep 
And I can't forget Lady Tremaine and the step sisters! They are always hilarious and we had such a laugh when they teased when we met them after having breakfast at CRT!
* The Keys To The Kingdom Tour. I learnt so much even though I thought I already knew lots from reading various books and sites like this. There is a very detailed description of the tour in my TR if anyone is interested. The only problem is that I now want to do it again and all of the other tour-things that are offered around WDW too!
* Returning to our old workplaces and catching up with old co-workers. Being back was strange, it felt like we had never left and I was half expecting to turn up for some shifts
* All the shows and fireworks - Wishes, Illuminations, Fantasmic, FOTLK, Nemo The Musical, Beauty and the Beast etc, etc. All great and all brought a tear to my eye (again). Watching Wishes on the last night was especially emotional
This was the first time we saw the new castle projection show but for us, it didn't quite compare to The Magic, The Memories & You. Still enjoyed it though!
* Illuminations viewing area for WDTC UK bookings. It was pretty much empty when we had booked it and it was such a great spot (near the dock in Morocco).
* Shopping! We only spent one day at the malls due to all the other stuff we had planned, but we made the most of it! We spent the day at the Premium Outlets which we used to frequent in 2011. Forgot how big they were!! I also managed to pick up a dress for my graduation ceremony next month which was my ultimate aim for that day
* Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It on our first day. We will always spend our first day at MK on any trip. Even though we arrived shortly after opening, by the time we got to the hub the first of the parades was starting. We had a great time dancing and singing along, and it just felt like the official start to our holiday!
* Photopass Plus. We split the cost between the four of us and it really was money well spent. Having photos of everyone is priceless Ride photos were an added bonus - we had sooo many! I will post some of my favourite Photopass pics in my TR soon.
* Cocktails and drinks. We sampled so many different ones during the two weeks; too many to list here but all delicious! Lots of pics in the TR.
* Orlando Ale House. We had a great night here with some of my friends' old co-workers. Again, lots of cocktails and we got to have our beloved 'Mountain Melts' again. Basically a huge platter of fries, cheese, bacon bits and breaded chickeny things in a range of sauces. Lush!
* The breakfast panini from Sunshine Seasons in Epcot. There's a special place in my heart for that! Nom!
* Soarin'. The BEST ride IMO! Each time we rode it we were somehow in the central section and in the top or middle rows. Perfect viewing!
* Cheese and jalapeno pretzels! What a wonderful use of a snack credit! I am distraught that I don't have one to hand now! The cinnamon sugar pretzels were also similarly yummy!
* Flower & Garden Festival. We loved all of the displays and the food carts were a nice addition. I only regret not being able to try more snacks and drinks!
* Turtle Talk with Crush and the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. Two of our favourite attractions purely due to hilarious guest interactions!
* Front row for Fantasmic. Everything was just bigger, sparklier and louder! We felt the bangs and explosions! It just bought a different perspective for me; I loved being able to see the performer's faces!
* Kilimanjaro Safari. The best safari we have ever had; this is the first time we had ever done it early on in the morning however, so not sure if that made a difference! Got some great photos. Shame they have got rid of the poacher story line though!
* Nights out at DTD. My friend and I spent a Saturday night out in DTD. We ate (and drank) at Paradiso 37 and loved it! Easily one of the best burgers I have ever had, and we somehow ended up with cocktails that were bigger than our heads! Also enjoyed the live entertainment that night! We spent another night at Raglan Road after it was one of our favourite places from the College Program. Great dancing and live music!
* Spirit of Aloha dinner show. Had read a lot of mixed reviews prior to the trip but we wanted to try something new after having already done Hoop Dee Doo. What a fantastic evening! We really enjoyed the food, and I still crave the ribs! The end of the show was perfect timing in allowing us to catch Wishes from the beach afterwards.
* Breakfast at CRT. We had an early reservation with the intention of going into MK before it was officially open. And boy was the early morning worth it! The lighting at that time in the morning was lovely and the lack of people made for a lovely atmosphere and some great pictures. The steak and eggs weren't half bad either! I was an extremely happy girl that morning (after I had managed to block out the fact that it was our last full day of the holiday).
THE LOWS:
(Just want to begin by saying that some of these are really minor! Feel free to ignore!)
* Our location within OKW. We loved the resort as I mentioned but we were right at the back. A good 15 minute walk from the main reception area. This meant that we didn't get round to using the main pool and we didn't really get to use our refillable mugs as much as we would have liked.
* Not having a car. A car really wasn't necessary, it just would have been handy! If our budget allows next time, then I'll go for one, especially as I'll be over 25 then. The buses were great and I can't fault them; it's just that things like shopping and heading to the pharmacy like I had to would have been slightly easier with a car.
* Tea at the Garden View Tearoom at the GF. We just didn't have a pleasant experience there. All the info is in my TR to save me explaining here. I doubt I'll return to give it another go
* Service during dinner at Be Our Guest. Lovely atmosphere and food, but didn't appreciate plates being whipped away whilst people were mid-bite and clearly hadn't finished with their meal! We had dessert too, but couldn't have been in there for longer than 30-40 minutes. Understand that they have a lot of people to accommodate, but we weren't expecting that!
* The weather. I have only been to WDW in the summer months and am used to it being hot, hot, HOT. Didn't quite anticipate the chilly mornings and evenings this trip and could have done with another jacket! We also had a lot of rain and grey-ness at the beginning but I'd rather be in FL in the rain, rather than home in the rain Thankfully the weather really improved towards the end!
* Missing Merida's crowning ceremony on departure day (May 11th). Basically I just couldn't keep my eyes open and had a bit of a lie-in instead. Regrets.
* The bikini incident. Again, details in the TR, but basically involves a maintenance worker at OKW being caught swinging one of our group's swimsuits around. Just didn't expect it somewhere like this!
* ADR/itinerary mix up. My fault! Had put so much planning into this, but I still managed to mix up our plans and ADRs for our second and third days. Only realised as we were about to check in for an ADR at the Rose & Crown in Epcot and realised that we should have been at HS and 50s Prime Time instead. Luckily R&C accepted us as a walk-up but we had to wait an hour and couldn't request to sit outside. Could have been worse though - luckily it worked out in the end!
* My feet. I got them in an absolute mess after wearing the wrong shows on the first day. Got a lot of blisters on the soles of my feet and walking was agony. They also got infected! Visited first aid in AK and was advised to see a doctor as soon as possible. I just never got round to that...
* Not taking enough advantage of EMH. We pretty much did everything we wanted to do at least once, but doing EMH or ropedrop more meant we could have done all those things more times! I suppose it was because we were very familiar with everything and just felt comfortable wandering around with no real agenda.
* Not trying the rum dole whip. Travesty! This was available from one of the F&G food stands, but for some reason we just never got round to it
* Breaking my favourite sunglasses. Cracked the frames and lost a lens whilst in Epcot on our second day. I just had to cheer myself up with a pair of Raybans...
* Rowdy cheerleading/dance groups. There was some big dance competition taking place at Epcot. They were very loud and pretty foul at times, especially on one occasion whilst we were enjoying some drinks in the Rose & Crown.
* iPads. Everywhere. People hold them up, videoing everything, and just don't look where they are going! It's especially annoying during nighttime shows where screens are being held up in front of your faces left, right and centre. There are far better videos on YouTube people!
* Time going way to fast!
OK, OK, I'm really scraping the barrel now! The truth is is that none of these 'lows' affected the holiday at all; as I mentioned they were all really minor. I just felt obliged to come up with some!!
Thanks for reading!
First of all, I'm just going to apologise for how extensive this is going to be! There are just so many things to mention!!! And second of all, apologies for how late this is! You see, I've just more or less finished writing my TR, so now that it's all down, it allowed me to go back through the holiday again noting down the highs and lows!
As many people also say, I always enjoy reading through others highs and lows, so thought I would give back with my own
For those of you who are not familiar/who have not seen my TR, we went 27 April - May 11. We stayed in OKW with the free DDP and "we" were a group of four twenty something year old girls who had all met at WDW in the summer of 2011 whilst we worked there on the College Program.
So, without further ado...
THE HIGHS:
* Just being back at WDW after two years, and being there with great friends who I don't get to see nearly enough!
* Staying at OKW, but just staying onsite in general! My first time ever staying onsite and I loved the resort!
* The free DDP. It was nice not to worry about the cost of food so much, and I didn't feel so bad about going for the expensive things
We budgeted for tips before our trip so this wasn't a problem. We put our free $200 giftcard towards them too!We got to try so many new places, both QS and TS and we didn't have a bad meal anywhere really. Apart from one questionable grey vegetable sandwich from Cosmic Rays on our last night, but the fries were still good!
Some favourite QS: Mexico and Sunshine Seasons in Epcot.
Some favourite TS: Ohana, Biergarten (so random!), 50s Prime Time, Raglan Road and Jiko
* Ohana and the Lapu Lapus deserve a special mention! Fantastic food, great drinks, a lovely atmosphere and attentive service. I can see what the hype is about.
* Jiko. The beef. Enough said.
* Discovery Cove and SeaWorld - my two favouritest places in the world!! Still can't believe we swam with the dolphins and snorkelled with stingrays - easily one of the best days of my life! Will return every trip if I can! And SeaWorld definitely has to be my favourite theme park! I love anything marine-y
Loved Turtle Trek - this wasn't there during my last visit. So many things bring a tear to my eye in this park! Manta and Kraken were... fast! Loved them, but I forgot how crazy they were; I felt drunk coming off them! Also feeding the stingrays was an experience... very splashy! Read my TR to find out how I stuffed a prawn in a stingray’s nostril!* Dine with Shamu. Fantastic value in my opinion: buffet, unlimited drinks, and being sat in the tank area behind the Shamu Stadium stage being treated to a little Shamu display and a presentation from the trainers.
* Character interactions. We met the Three Caballeros as part of the Limited Time Magic Promotion - they were so cheeky
I also got to have a photo with Clarabelle on our last day! Eeeeeeeeeep And I can't forget Lady Tremaine and the step sisters! They are always hilarious and we had such a laugh when they teased when we met them after having breakfast at CRT!* The Keys To The Kingdom Tour. I learnt so much even though I thought I already knew lots from reading various books and sites like this. There is a very detailed description of the tour in my TR if anyone is interested. The only problem is that I now want to do it again and all of the other tour-things that are offered around WDW too!
* Returning to our old workplaces and catching up with old co-workers. Being back was strange, it felt like we had never left and I was half expecting to turn up for some shifts
* All the shows and fireworks - Wishes, Illuminations, Fantasmic, FOTLK, Nemo The Musical, Beauty and the Beast etc, etc. All great and all brought a tear to my eye (again). Watching Wishes on the last night was especially emotional
This was the first time we saw the new castle projection show but for us, it didn't quite compare to The Magic, The Memories & You. Still enjoyed it though!* Illuminations viewing area for WDTC UK bookings. It was pretty much empty when we had booked it and it was such a great spot (near the dock in Morocco).
* Shopping! We only spent one day at the malls due to all the other stuff we had planned, but we made the most of it! We spent the day at the Premium Outlets which we used to frequent in 2011. Forgot how big they were!! I also managed to pick up a dress for my graduation ceremony next month which was my ultimate aim for that day
* Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It on our first day. We will always spend our first day at MK on any trip. Even though we arrived shortly after opening, by the time we got to the hub the first of the parades was starting. We had a great time dancing and singing along, and it just felt like the official start to our holiday!
* Photopass Plus. We split the cost between the four of us and it really was money well spent. Having photos of everyone is priceless
Ride photos were an added bonus - we had sooo many! I will post some of my favourite Photopass pics in my TR soon.* Cocktails and drinks. We sampled so many different ones during the two weeks; too many to list here but all delicious! Lots of pics in the TR.
* Orlando Ale House. We had a great night here with some of my friends' old co-workers. Again, lots of cocktails and we got to have our beloved 'Mountain Melts' again. Basically a huge platter of fries, cheese, bacon bits and breaded chickeny things in a range of sauces. Lush!
* The breakfast panini from Sunshine Seasons in Epcot. There's a special place in my heart for that! Nom!
* Soarin'. The BEST ride IMO! Each time we rode it we were somehow in the central section and in the top or middle rows. Perfect viewing!
* Cheese and jalapeno pretzels! What a wonderful use of a snack credit! I am distraught that I don't have one to hand now! The cinnamon sugar pretzels were also similarly yummy!
* Flower & Garden Festival. We loved all of the displays and the food carts were a nice addition. I only regret not being able to try more snacks and drinks!
* Turtle Talk with Crush and the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. Two of our favourite attractions purely due to hilarious guest interactions!
* Front row for Fantasmic. Everything was just bigger, sparklier and louder! We felt the bangs and explosions! It just bought a different perspective for me; I loved being able to see the performer's faces!
* Kilimanjaro Safari. The best safari we have ever had; this is the first time we had ever done it early on in the morning however, so not sure if that made a difference! Got some great photos. Shame they have got rid of the poacher story line though!
* Nights out at DTD. My friend and I spent a Saturday night out in DTD. We ate (and drank) at Paradiso 37 and loved it! Easily one of the best burgers I have ever had, and we somehow ended up with cocktails that were bigger than our heads! Also enjoyed the live entertainment that night! We spent another night at Raglan Road after it was one of our favourite places from the College Program. Great dancing and live music!
* Spirit of Aloha dinner show. Had read a lot of mixed reviews prior to the trip but we wanted to try something new after having already done Hoop Dee Doo. What a fantastic evening! We really enjoyed the food, and I still crave the ribs! The end of the show was perfect timing in allowing us to catch Wishes from the beach afterwards.
* Breakfast at CRT. We had an early reservation with the intention of going into MK before it was officially open. And boy was the early morning worth it! The lighting at that time in the morning was lovely and the lack of people made for a lovely atmosphere and some great pictures. The steak and eggs weren't half bad either! I was an extremely happy girl that morning (after I had managed to block out the fact that it was our last full day of the holiday).
THE LOWS:
(Just want to begin by saying that some of these are really minor! Feel free to ignore!)
* Our location within OKW. We loved the resort as I mentioned but we were right at the back. A good 15 minute walk from the main reception area. This meant that we didn't get round to using the main pool and we didn't really get to use our refillable mugs as much as we would have liked.
* Not having a car. A car really wasn't necessary, it just would have been handy! If our budget allows next time, then I'll go for one, especially as I'll be over 25 then. The buses were great and I can't fault them; it's just that things like shopping and heading to the pharmacy like I had to would have been slightly easier with a car.
* Tea at the Garden View Tearoom at the GF. We just didn't have a pleasant experience there. All the info is in my TR to save me explaining here. I doubt I'll return to give it another go
* Service during dinner at Be Our Guest. Lovely atmosphere and food, but didn't appreciate plates being whipped away whilst people were mid-bite and clearly hadn't finished with their meal! We had dessert too, but couldn't have been in there for longer than 30-40 minutes. Understand that they have a lot of people to accommodate, but we weren't expecting that!
* The weather. I have only been to WDW in the summer months and am used to it being hot, hot, HOT. Didn't quite anticipate the chilly mornings and evenings this trip and could have done with another jacket! We also had a lot of rain and grey-ness at the beginning but I'd rather be in FL in the rain, rather than home in the rain
Thankfully the weather really improved towards the end!* Missing Merida's crowning ceremony on departure day (May 11th). Basically I just couldn't keep my eyes open and had a bit of a lie-in instead. Regrets.
* The bikini incident. Again, details in the TR, but basically involves a maintenance worker at OKW being caught swinging one of our group's swimsuits around. Just didn't expect it somewhere like this!
* ADR/itinerary mix up. My fault! Had put so much planning into this, but I still managed to mix up our plans and ADRs for our second and third days. Only realised as we were about to check in for an ADR at the Rose & Crown in Epcot and realised that we should have been at HS and 50s Prime Time instead. Luckily R&C accepted us as a walk-up but we had to wait an hour and couldn't request to sit outside. Could have been worse though - luckily it worked out in the end!
* My feet. I got them in an absolute mess after wearing the wrong shows on the first day. Got a lot of blisters on the soles of my feet and walking was agony. They also got infected! Visited first aid in AK and was advised to see a doctor as soon as possible. I just never got round to that...
* Not taking enough advantage of EMH. We pretty much did everything we wanted to do at least once, but doing EMH or ropedrop more meant we could have done all those things more times! I suppose it was because we were very familiar with everything and just felt comfortable wandering around with no real agenda.
* Not trying the rum dole whip. Travesty! This was available from one of the F&G food stands, but for some reason we just never got round to it
* Breaking my favourite sunglasses. Cracked the frames and lost a lens whilst in Epcot on our second day. I just had to cheer myself up with a pair of Raybans...
* Rowdy cheerleading/dance groups. There was some big dance competition taking place at Epcot. They were very loud and pretty foul at times, especially on one occasion whilst we were enjoying some drinks in the Rose & Crown.
* iPads. Everywhere. People hold them up, videoing everything, and just don't look where they are going! It's especially annoying during nighttime shows where screens are being held up in front of your faces left, right and centre. There are far better videos on YouTube people!
* Time going way to fast!
OK, OK, I'm really scraping the barrel now! The truth is is that none of these 'lows' affected the holiday at all; as I mentioned they were all really minor. I just felt obliged to come up with some!!
Thanks for reading!
We had one frozen drink in AK like that... some blueberry mango frozen rum swirl or something! It was lovely until we all collectively hit the straight rum at the bottom and all fell into a coughing fit as it caught the backs of our throats 
