OneMoreTry
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- Joined
- May 9, 2003
- Messages
- 2,632
Before I start the report, which will be short and incomplete, I will say up front that the OKW pool slide is awesome. I'm not a big pool slide person and was not too excited about OKW getting one, but it's the fastest resort pool slide I've been on. When you come out the bottom of that thing you are moving, especially if you get up on your shoulder blades and hold your suit off the slide. I rode it 5 times and would have done more if I didn't have kids to watch. And normally I would ride a pool slide once, then yawn, and ride it again.
Now it doesn't have the twists like SAB slide and it's not as cool as the ship slide -- it's just a spiral, but it moves.
I mentioned how fast it was to a lifeguard and he offered, for what it's worth, "It's the fastest resort pool slide."
So there you have it. I know the OKW lovers will not like this because it will lead to pool-hopping.
But I think the true OKW lovers will not be at the big pool most of the time anyway. They will be at the quiet pools.
The trip was great. 7 nights at OKW. My sister and brother had Vistana condos, so our kids spent some nights over there. One night we had only 5 in the 2BR. But we had 2 birthday parties at our condo with all 25 of the cousins celebrating. Yes, that's 25 in a 2BR. Although not to spend the night. We had some of our group meals at Vistana.
Arrived at HH at 12 midnight, concerned we might get a horrible leftover condo. Not so. We had a downstairs 2BR as requested (for DD8 who has trouble climbing stairs). Not HA, but downstairs. Bldg 25 -- quite close to HH as requested. Excellent view of a lake. Good shape. A little frayed in a couple of places, but I think acceptable for a time share. Ie. I don't think the slight flaws were ready for repair. In comparison to my sib's condos at Vistana it was FAR SUPERIOR in quality.
Early week was warm. Late week was summer-hot in the daytime. Afternoons were beautiful for swimming. Evenings were pleasantly cool.
We did Xmas day at Sea World. The dolphin show was mind blowing fantastic. The whale show was embarrassingly boring. The polar express was a waste of a ride. I will go back on our next trip and see the dolphin show twice and catch some of the stuff we missed.
We weren't going to do any Disney parks but through a fortunate set of circumstances were able to get in, let's say, real cheap. So we did Epcot on Sat the 29th.
The candlelight processional was worth the price of admission -- even if we had paid the $60. The Hallelujah Chorus had me choking back some tears. Marlee Martin did the narration in sign language with an English translator. Watching her was beautiful. So expressive. If you haven't seen her do it, try to schedule when she's there.
Then we saw Illuminations from just in front of Le Cellier. A torch post was in the way, but we were right by a speaker so the sound was great. next time I will go for the same spot, but a little to the right or left.
It was my best trip to Epcot ever BECAUSE I only did ONE RIDE -- Soarin'. After that I gave a couple of my fastpasses to the kids and just enjoyed the beautiful day. We spent the afternoon at OKW on the aforementioned slide. Ate lunch at the Japanese sushi place. Not as good as our local sushi place, but still excellent at a good price.
We rented a wheelchair from Care Medical again for my DD8. Once again they gave us great service and I would recommend them to anyone.
All the staff were friendly. But I'm not too picky. I don't expect them to treat me like royalty. We took the boat to DD twice and the captains weren't too impressive.
For those of you who like to walk and aren't going to parks, the trail from OKW to SS and DD is nice and quiet. I got a little lost in SS. It would have been nice to have a map. They have a couple posted, but not where I needed them.
SS has some beautiful areas. I would say these rival
OKW in beauty. Almost
. However, some areas appear plain to me. I think they should have romanticized the design a little. Maybe it's too realistic.
The proximity to DD is cool. I don't like the look of the outside motel-style corridors as much as OKW, but that's personal preference. Also, I prefer the 3-story bldgs to the 4-story.
That theater is too nice to just sit there. Something needs to be done with it. How about just playing some Silly Symphony cartoons there and selling popcorn?? Have a magician.
I have one real suggestion: pave that street along the main drag with something other than asphalt. Maybe even just use the red pavement the MK has. Or splurge and make it brick. I think it would make it look more Disney and less like an empty street in the off-season at Saratoga Springs.
One night we rode a bus and monorail to Poly to watch fireworks on the beach. We stood by a speaker so could hear the Wishes music. I like the regular Wishes better than the holiday one they had. But the view and fireworks were great.
I guess this wasn't too short. It was the best trip to WDW I've had in many years I think because we did more OKW and non-park stuff AND I only stood in ONE LINE at Epcot. (Two at Sea World.) Can't wait to go back.
Now it doesn't have the twists like SAB slide and it's not as cool as the ship slide -- it's just a spiral, but it moves.
I mentioned how fast it was to a lifeguard and he offered, for what it's worth, "It's the fastest resort pool slide."
So there you have it. I know the OKW lovers will not like this because it will lead to pool-hopping.
But I think the true OKW lovers will not be at the big pool most of the time anyway. They will be at the quiet pools.The trip was great. 7 nights at OKW. My sister and brother had Vistana condos, so our kids spent some nights over there. One night we had only 5 in the 2BR. But we had 2 birthday parties at our condo with all 25 of the cousins celebrating. Yes, that's 25 in a 2BR. Although not to spend the night. We had some of our group meals at Vistana.
Arrived at HH at 12 midnight, concerned we might get a horrible leftover condo. Not so. We had a downstairs 2BR as requested (for DD8 who has trouble climbing stairs). Not HA, but downstairs. Bldg 25 -- quite close to HH as requested. Excellent view of a lake. Good shape. A little frayed in a couple of places, but I think acceptable for a time share. Ie. I don't think the slight flaws were ready for repair. In comparison to my sib's condos at Vistana it was FAR SUPERIOR in quality.
Early week was warm. Late week was summer-hot in the daytime. Afternoons were beautiful for swimming. Evenings were pleasantly cool.
We did Xmas day at Sea World. The dolphin show was mind blowing fantastic. The whale show was embarrassingly boring. The polar express was a waste of a ride. I will go back on our next trip and see the dolphin show twice and catch some of the stuff we missed.
We weren't going to do any Disney parks but through a fortunate set of circumstances were able to get in, let's say, real cheap. So we did Epcot on Sat the 29th.
The candlelight processional was worth the price of admission -- even if we had paid the $60. The Hallelujah Chorus had me choking back some tears. Marlee Martin did the narration in sign language with an English translator. Watching her was beautiful. So expressive. If you haven't seen her do it, try to schedule when she's there.
Then we saw Illuminations from just in front of Le Cellier. A torch post was in the way, but we were right by a speaker so the sound was great. next time I will go for the same spot, but a little to the right or left.
It was my best trip to Epcot ever BECAUSE I only did ONE RIDE -- Soarin'. After that I gave a couple of my fastpasses to the kids and just enjoyed the beautiful day. We spent the afternoon at OKW on the aforementioned slide. Ate lunch at the Japanese sushi place. Not as good as our local sushi place, but still excellent at a good price.
We rented a wheelchair from Care Medical again for my DD8. Once again they gave us great service and I would recommend them to anyone.
All the staff were friendly. But I'm not too picky. I don't expect them to treat me like royalty. We took the boat to DD twice and the captains weren't too impressive.
For those of you who like to walk and aren't going to parks, the trail from OKW to SS and DD is nice and quiet. I got a little lost in SS. It would have been nice to have a map. They have a couple posted, but not where I needed them.
SS has some beautiful areas. I would say these rival
OKW in beauty. Almost . However, some areas appear plain to me. I think they should have romanticized the design a little. Maybe it's too realistic. The proximity to DD is cool. I don't like the look of the outside motel-style corridors as much as OKW, but that's personal preference. Also, I prefer the 3-story bldgs to the 4-story.
That theater is too nice to just sit there. Something needs to be done with it. How about just playing some Silly Symphony cartoons there and selling popcorn?? Have a magician.
I have one real suggestion: pave that street along the main drag with something other than asphalt. Maybe even just use the red pavement the MK has. Or splurge and make it brick. I think it would make it look more Disney and less like an empty street in the off-season at Saratoga Springs.
One night we rode a bus and monorail to Poly to watch fireworks on the beach. We stood by a speaker so could hear the Wishes music. I like the regular Wishes better than the holiday one they had. But the view and fireworks were great.
I guess this wasn't too short. It was the best trip to WDW I've had in many years I think because we did more OKW and non-park stuff AND I only stood in ONE LINE at Epcot. (Two at Sea World.) Can't wait to go back.
