Spassvogel
6'7" 350lbs of Fun
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2009
- Messages
- 94
My work schedule was up in the air until just three weeks ago, but finally the last days were ironed out and I had 10 days between gigs. Our favorite hotels were filled at this late point, but we were able to find a room at the Carousel by directly booking from their website. (Usually we go through Costco, but only premium rooms were available through Costco, so we saved about $100/night by booking directly).
The drive from Oregon was...the drive, hehe. We split it into two days though, which was nice.
Now, the Carousel up until recently offered a continental breakfast for free, and when we booked we were still under the impression that they offered one, but it turns out that it was ended back in April. If we had booked through Costco or another wholsesaler, apparently they will give you breakfast vouchers to use in their restaurant. We booked direct, remember, so we got nothing. In my opinion, they have been slow in correcting their information on various sites so we were surprised not to be getting breakfast. Dennys was a short walk away, and we were able to eat cheaply there, but it was still a bit disappointing.
The Carousel also allows smoking on their property, so we were often greeted by people lined up outside their rooms smoking as we walked by. They force you to pay $10/day for Valet parking. Even if you don't move your vehicle, it's $10/day. Internet access was also $9.95/day. The rooftop pool is small, but the kids still enjoyed watching the fireworks from it. Overall we will not return there. The short walk to the gate is nice, but the room was so tiny we barely had room to set up our suitcases and still be able to walk from one side to the other.
We had 4 day Park hoppers for Thursday through Sunday. The weather was hot but the crowds weren't really that bad. Our longest wait was for Radiator Springs Racers (what else?) but even that was only 35-40mins because people kept dropping out of the line. (We joined the line about 30mins before DCA closed). It was worth the wait though!
I was happy to find that they had added the Droid Factory to the Star Trader after I saw it in Florida. (They have bins of action figure droid parts and you can build your own, complete with Disney hats, hehe). They will even give you stickers to put the names of the droids on the packaging.
The Iron Man "Hall of Armor" was a neat addition to Innoventions. (and was by far the most popular thing there). We opted not to wait in line for the Virtual Suit thing, but it was still fun seeing all of the Iron Man designs.
Saturday it rained off and on and I think all the locals stayed home, the lines were all much shorter than usual. They did cancel Jedi Training because the stage was wet, but the kids were able to do it the next day. (Another big thank you to posters on this board who suggested having the kids wear Star Wars related shirts when doing Jedi Training. They have been picked *every* time since!).
Another thing we did differently this time, was to use single rider lines for Radiator Springs Racers (again based on a suggestion here) as well as Splash Mountain and Grizzly River Rapids. Why we didn't do this before, I don't know. It's fun to be together (and most of the time we ended up together anyway!) but it beat waiting in the line.
We tried to eat on the cheap, but man it's sure getting harder and harder. Pizza Port was $59 for four of us. The average was probably $45. The kids are 11 and 9 now and are getting too big to share a meal. Denny's, In 'N Out Burger, were both around $20 for four of us. We try to only eat on property once per day and to bring in a backpack with water and snacks.
Friday we had no problems getting World of Color fast-passes. (we were in the yellow section, which personally I think is the best angle). We liked the new (at least to us) Brave stuff in WoC. We were closer than usual, though, and got a lot of the mist spray. Still worth it.
Ooooh, I don't know if this is new either, but we charged up our Disney Rewards Card (using points from the Disney Rewards Visa) and whenever we bought something, we got a 20% off coupon for our entire merch transaction. (before 1pm is the caveat). We did all of our shopping one morning and then brought it back to the hotel, ate lunch, and then returned. Usually they will give us 10% off on a purchase of $50 or more, but 20% was nice.
Finally, my wife wore a pedometer for our trip. We averaged 8 miles per day! And that was with a hotel room across the street from the gate practically. I wonder what it was like when we stayed at Motel 6, hehe.
The drive from Oregon was...the drive, hehe. We split it into two days though, which was nice.
Now, the Carousel up until recently offered a continental breakfast for free, and when we booked we were still under the impression that they offered one, but it turns out that it was ended back in April. If we had booked through Costco or another wholsesaler, apparently they will give you breakfast vouchers to use in their restaurant. We booked direct, remember, so we got nothing. In my opinion, they have been slow in correcting their information on various sites so we were surprised not to be getting breakfast. Dennys was a short walk away, and we were able to eat cheaply there, but it was still a bit disappointing.
The Carousel also allows smoking on their property, so we were often greeted by people lined up outside their rooms smoking as we walked by. They force you to pay $10/day for Valet parking. Even if you don't move your vehicle, it's $10/day. Internet access was also $9.95/day. The rooftop pool is small, but the kids still enjoyed watching the fireworks from it. Overall we will not return there. The short walk to the gate is nice, but the room was so tiny we barely had room to set up our suitcases and still be able to walk from one side to the other.
We had 4 day Park hoppers for Thursday through Sunday. The weather was hot but the crowds weren't really that bad. Our longest wait was for Radiator Springs Racers (what else?) but even that was only 35-40mins because people kept dropping out of the line. (We joined the line about 30mins before DCA closed). It was worth the wait though!
I was happy to find that they had added the Droid Factory to the Star Trader after I saw it in Florida. (They have bins of action figure droid parts and you can build your own, complete with Disney hats, hehe). They will even give you stickers to put the names of the droids on the packaging.
The Iron Man "Hall of Armor" was a neat addition to Innoventions. (and was by far the most popular thing there). We opted not to wait in line for the Virtual Suit thing, but it was still fun seeing all of the Iron Man designs.
Saturday it rained off and on and I think all the locals stayed home, the lines were all much shorter than usual. They did cancel Jedi Training because the stage was wet, but the kids were able to do it the next day. (Another big thank you to posters on this board who suggested having the kids wear Star Wars related shirts when doing Jedi Training. They have been picked *every* time since!).
Another thing we did differently this time, was to use single rider lines for Radiator Springs Racers (again based on a suggestion here) as well as Splash Mountain and Grizzly River Rapids. Why we didn't do this before, I don't know. It's fun to be together (and most of the time we ended up together anyway!) but it beat waiting in the line.
We tried to eat on the cheap, but man it's sure getting harder and harder. Pizza Port was $59 for four of us. The average was probably $45. The kids are 11 and 9 now and are getting too big to share a meal. Denny's, In 'N Out Burger, were both around $20 for four of us. We try to only eat on property once per day and to bring in a backpack with water and snacks.
Friday we had no problems getting World of Color fast-passes. (we were in the yellow section, which personally I think is the best angle). We liked the new (at least to us) Brave stuff in WoC. We were closer than usual, though, and got a lot of the mist spray. Still worth it.
Ooooh, I don't know if this is new either, but we charged up our Disney Rewards Card (using points from the Disney Rewards Visa) and whenever we bought something, we got a 20% off coupon for our entire merch transaction. (before 1pm is the caveat). We did all of our shopping one morning and then brought it back to the hotel, ate lunch, and then returned. Usually they will give us 10% off on a purchase of $50 or more, but 20% was nice.
Finally, my wife wore a pedometer for our trip. We averaged 8 miles per day! And that was with a hotel room across the street from the gate practically. I wonder what it was like when we stayed at Motel 6, hehe.
