Laniy
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2012
- Messages
- 31
Hi everyone!
In the process of (slowly) putting together a trip report and thought it might help to do a quick highs and lows to get into the swing of things.
Lows:
Single rider at RRR - On our penultimate evening we decided to do a bit of evening touring of US and when we walked past RRR I saw that the single riders line was only 5 minutes long and the standby was 15. Decided to have a quick ride without my mum as she didn't like it the first time we went on and I wanted to try it at night. Long story short I was in that line for 40 minutes and by the time I got out my mum was understandably a bit panicked as she had seen people exiting the ride who had got on after me. It was unfortuantely one of those situations where I had no idea how long I'd been in the line and kept thinking, it can't be that much longer! It was my first time using single rider lines and I'm not sure I would trust the wait time again, at least not on a ride where you have to stow your phone. It would have been no problem if I'd have had my phone to check the time and to check in with the people waiting for you.
The temp on the buses - About half of the Disney bus journeys we took were absolutely freezing. Air con to the point where it was super uncomfortable. It was just so over the top, especially at night when it was warm but by no means to the point that justified that level of air con. I had to start packing a jacket if I knew we were coming home late which was a bit annoying considering that I didn't need it the whole rest of the day! (Just to add that the buses at Cabana Bay were absolutely fine, and the DME and the LYNX buses. It was literally just a handful of perhaps the newer model Disney buses?)
Packing for home - All I'm going to say is that an extra emergency suitcase run to Walmart was needed at 10pm on our penultimate night. Not ideal but also my own fault for cleaning out the reduced Halloween section at Target a few days prior.
Not quite lows:
Missing my pug at home - it's the first time I had left her for more than one night and it was really tough handing her over to the kennels knowing we would be away for so long and be so far away. What was really nice was the fact that they send you pictures every couple of days which made it a tiny bit easier as it felt like we could check up on her a bit
Room Change at OKW - this is a not quite low as it was my own decision to change room so can't really moan too much. When we checked in our room request hadn't been satisfied so I tried to work out with the lady at the front desk what the best option for us was. I wanted to be as close to hospitality house as possible as we were staying without a car and I knew that there would be a chance that all the walking would make some of our aches and pains spring up. I had been assigned a room in Old Turtle Pond Road, building 38 and wanted Peninsular Road or Miller's Road area ideally. There was not one other room available closer than building 38 for our whole stay but I was told we could get building 18 in Miller's Road if we waited one night. After going over our plans for the next day (which included an 8am breakfast res) we worked out a battle plan for getting our bags in the right places at the right time. It all went okay but I didn't like not being able to unpack properly when we got there. It was also another big difference from Cabana Bay where the as soon as I was checking in they explained that they had taken care of our room request and was it okay for us. I know that Disney have a much higher demand than at Cabana Bay but I just had the feeling that something had been mismanaged in the chain of process as when I called to make the room request the woman on the phone didn't seem to be with it in regards to what sort of rooms you can request.
LYNX bus stops - Waiting 30 minutes for a LYNX bus and getting bitten alive by bugs. Also I'm sure the bus stop opposite Walmart is a well used area for homeless people at night time. It was more than a bit gross.
The hard sell - I was almost arguing with a woman in Sephora that I didn't want a second gift collection box. Both her and her colleague were trying to give me the same pitch and would not stop even when I explained that I already had half the items in there at home. There was also a CM who is in the shop in Tomorrowland (can't remember the name) where they take your photo on the green screen to edit into pictures. I believe from what I heard that they are a seperate company working within Disney but all I can say is he misjudged his patter and we brought the photo just to get out of there quickly (which may be their intention all along!).
City Walk lack of QSR - We found that when the parks shut at 7pm you were left with not very many options in City Walk if you wanted a quick service meal for dinner.
Highs:
Old Key West Itself - We were so impressed with the resort. Clean, efficient and such friendly CM's. Even the guests here were so relaxed and friendly. Would not hesitate to reccomend, even to people without a car. It might be a bit more effort using an internal bus loop but just walking around the resort makes it worth it (plus nice big rooms!).
Target and Walmart - People might think I am crazy but I spent hours in these two stores. So fantastic, especially with all the new Star Wars stuff!
BB-8 - SO much good BB-8 stuff in and outside of WDW. It feels like we have a tenth of the merchandise which is specific to the new movie.
Uber - So glad I gave Uber a chance, it was our first time using it but it went 100% smoothly. Must have made around 10 trips and no complaints.
The hotel rooms - Both Cabana Bay and OKW room's were spotless. They were also in good condition and we had no problems with noise. We were right by the elevators and heard people walking past in the early evening but come night time it was quiet as anything.
CMs - I am super happy to report that at Disney we did not have one negative interaction with a CM. I have nothing but respect for the levels of service I saw them providing at all hours of the day and night and to guests who did not always deserve it!
The shopping - again not much to say here other than 2 suitcases out, 4 suitcases back.
Seaworld - What a unexpected gem. I've always reserved judgement on the many issues at play with Seaworld and thought that as we had free tickets from going to DC we would go for the day (if not just to ride Manta). We had the most thouroughly enjoyable day and whilst I still have a few reservations about particular areas of their operations, I think overall they do a fantastic job of looking after all of their animals there.
I could go on forever so I will leave the rest to the TR but here's a little taste of how it went anyway
In the process of (slowly) putting together a trip report and thought it might help to do a quick highs and lows to get into the swing of things.
Lows:
Single rider at RRR - On our penultimate evening we decided to do a bit of evening touring of US and when we walked past RRR I saw that the single riders line was only 5 minutes long and the standby was 15. Decided to have a quick ride without my mum as she didn't like it the first time we went on and I wanted to try it at night. Long story short I was in that line for 40 minutes and by the time I got out my mum was understandably a bit panicked as she had seen people exiting the ride who had got on after me. It was unfortuantely one of those situations where I had no idea how long I'd been in the line and kept thinking, it can't be that much longer! It was my first time using single rider lines and I'm not sure I would trust the wait time again, at least not on a ride where you have to stow your phone. It would have been no problem if I'd have had my phone to check the time and to check in with the people waiting for you.
The temp on the buses - About half of the Disney bus journeys we took were absolutely freezing. Air con to the point where it was super uncomfortable. It was just so over the top, especially at night when it was warm but by no means to the point that justified that level of air con. I had to start packing a jacket if I knew we were coming home late which was a bit annoying considering that I didn't need it the whole rest of the day! (Just to add that the buses at Cabana Bay were absolutely fine, and the DME and the LYNX buses. It was literally just a handful of perhaps the newer model Disney buses?)
Packing for home - All I'm going to say is that an extra emergency suitcase run to Walmart was needed at 10pm on our penultimate night. Not ideal but also my own fault for cleaning out the reduced Halloween section at Target a few days prior.
Not quite lows:
Missing my pug at home - it's the first time I had left her for more than one night and it was really tough handing her over to the kennels knowing we would be away for so long and be so far away. What was really nice was the fact that they send you pictures every couple of days which made it a tiny bit easier as it felt like we could check up on her a bit
Room Change at OKW - this is a not quite low as it was my own decision to change room so can't really moan too much. When we checked in our room request hadn't been satisfied so I tried to work out with the lady at the front desk what the best option for us was. I wanted to be as close to hospitality house as possible as we were staying without a car and I knew that there would be a chance that all the walking would make some of our aches and pains spring up. I had been assigned a room in Old Turtle Pond Road, building 38 and wanted Peninsular Road or Miller's Road area ideally. There was not one other room available closer than building 38 for our whole stay but I was told we could get building 18 in Miller's Road if we waited one night. After going over our plans for the next day (which included an 8am breakfast res) we worked out a battle plan for getting our bags in the right places at the right time. It all went okay but I didn't like not being able to unpack properly when we got there. It was also another big difference from Cabana Bay where the as soon as I was checking in they explained that they had taken care of our room request and was it okay for us. I know that Disney have a much higher demand than at Cabana Bay but I just had the feeling that something had been mismanaged in the chain of process as when I called to make the room request the woman on the phone didn't seem to be with it in regards to what sort of rooms you can request.
LYNX bus stops - Waiting 30 minutes for a LYNX bus and getting bitten alive by bugs. Also I'm sure the bus stop opposite Walmart is a well used area for homeless people at night time. It was more than a bit gross.
The hard sell - I was almost arguing with a woman in Sephora that I didn't want a second gift collection box. Both her and her colleague were trying to give me the same pitch and would not stop even when I explained that I already had half the items in there at home. There was also a CM who is in the shop in Tomorrowland (can't remember the name) where they take your photo on the green screen to edit into pictures. I believe from what I heard that they are a seperate company working within Disney but all I can say is he misjudged his patter and we brought the photo just to get out of there quickly (which may be their intention all along!).
City Walk lack of QSR - We found that when the parks shut at 7pm you were left with not very many options in City Walk if you wanted a quick service meal for dinner.
Highs:
Old Key West Itself - We were so impressed with the resort. Clean, efficient and such friendly CM's. Even the guests here were so relaxed and friendly. Would not hesitate to reccomend, even to people without a car. It might be a bit more effort using an internal bus loop but just walking around the resort makes it worth it (plus nice big rooms!).
Target and Walmart - People might think I am crazy but I spent hours in these two stores. So fantastic, especially with all the new Star Wars stuff!
BB-8 - SO much good BB-8 stuff in and outside of WDW. It feels like we have a tenth of the merchandise which is specific to the new movie.
Uber - So glad I gave Uber a chance, it was our first time using it but it went 100% smoothly. Must have made around 10 trips and no complaints.
The hotel rooms - Both Cabana Bay and OKW room's were spotless. They were also in good condition and we had no problems with noise. We were right by the elevators and heard people walking past in the early evening but come night time it was quiet as anything.
CMs - I am super happy to report that at Disney we did not have one negative interaction with a CM. I have nothing but respect for the levels of service I saw them providing at all hours of the day and night and to guests who did not always deserve it!
The shopping - again not much to say here other than 2 suitcases out, 4 suitcases back.
Seaworld - What a unexpected gem. I've always reserved judgement on the many issues at play with Seaworld and thought that as we had free tickets from going to DC we would go for the day (if not just to ride Manta). We had the most thouroughly enjoyable day and whilst I still have a few reservations about particular areas of their operations, I think overall they do a fantastic job of looking after all of their animals there.
I could go on forever so I will leave the rest to the TR but here's a little taste of how it went anyway
