I'm not one for writing huge long trip reports, so here are some highlights. I might write up a longer version over the weekend if I get the urge though 
The travellers were myself and my wife (both 31, no kids).
- Flights were reward travel tickets with Continental. I was able to check-in on their website the day before and scored exit row seats. For someone like me who's over 6' tall, exit row seats are almost as good as an upgrade so that made me happy!
- On picking the car up at MCO, Dollar upgraded us from a compact to a Sebring coupe (I'd joined Fastlane for this trip and had a one-class upgrade coupon). Nice!
- Then 30 minutes later when we arrived at the AKL, they upgraded us from a standard view to a savannah view, without my asking! Our trip was an FTP package, and when we booked we went back and forth for a while on standard vs savannah views, but decided to go with the standard view to save $400. So the upgrade was a wonderful surprise. Plenty of people were staying in the standard and pool-view rooms (you could see the lights on at night) so I have no idea what we did to get the upgrade. We did stay there for 6 nights in a savannah room last year, wonder if that had anything to do with it?
- Weather was great most of the time, couple of large afternoon-and-evening storms earlier this week but nothing that spoiled anything for us.
- Crowds seemed about the same as when we were there August 2000, a little heavier than September '02. Again, no problems, especially using Fastpass (and Express at Universal).
- Talking of Universal... we spent Sunday there. We got there right after the park opened (like 9.20am) and the wait for Shrek was 60 minutes! By 12.30pm (our Express pass time) the wait was posted as 100 minutes. The Express pass got us in instantly - no wait whatsoever. For other rides, we'd bought the Kodak cameras with the free express booklets, and that was a lifesaver. We managed to do both Universal parks, on a weekend day, with NO WAITING AT ALL.
- One other cool thing that happened at Universal IOA. When we rode Jurassic Park, the attendant didn't take our passes from us (there are no times or codes of any kind on the Kodak passes). When we left the ride I was taking photos of the boats hitting the bottom of the drop, and we got talking to a friendly younger couple. The guy was trying to persuade the girl to go on the ride and she was a bit hesitant, plus the wait was 45 minutes. Well, I remembered our "unused" express passes and handed them over, and they were overjoyed. This fastpass karma came back to us later on as you'll see!
- I enjoyed the rides at Universal, but was overall disappointed with the way they run their parks. Parking was a mess with long lines and conflicting instructions from different employees; and when we got into the Studios just after 9am, we found that most of the rides were closed until 10am or later! No wonder the line for Shrek was so long, it was the only damn thing open.
- Had a great time at all the Disney parks, especially Epcot. Mission Space is fantastic. We rode it twice (it had no ill effects on either of us by the way). The second time was on our last night (which was, erm, last night). We got into the park late, just to walk around the world and see Illuminations. As we wandered by Mission Space we thought we'd see if there were any fastpasses left. There weren't, of course. The posted wait time was 90 minutes so we were just leaving when a family came up to us and offered us two fastpasses! Two of their group had chickened out of riding, and rather than throw the passes away like a lot of people would do, they gave them on to someone else. It really made our night, and afterwards we waited for those who had ridden to come out, and thanked them again. If you're reading this guys, you did a great thing
- Did the E-ride night on August 15th (10pm-1am). Perfect weather, perfect night. Would pay the money again in a heartbeat.
- We ate at Ohana's for the first time this trip and we both LOVED it. Despite a long thread detailing problems with the place over in the restaurants section of this board, we had great service and thought the food was awesome. The meat was perfectly cooked; I'm a medium-rare beef person and that's what we got. The pork was fantastic too. We ate at the California Grill also, and yet Ohana's was my meal of the trip this time.
- Went to Typhoon Lagoon for the first time. I don't think it was that crowded, never waited more than 5 minutes for a ride on anything, but it's not really my thing and I doubt we'll go back to a water park on future visits.
- Don't go to Downtown Disney on a Saturday night. Just don't.
- So overall, a great time. Don't know when we'll be going back, so we made sure to make the most of it this time. The blisters on my feet say we did
W
The travellers were myself and my wife (both 31, no kids).
- Flights were reward travel tickets with Continental. I was able to check-in on their website the day before and scored exit row seats. For someone like me who's over 6' tall, exit row seats are almost as good as an upgrade so that made me happy!
- On picking the car up at MCO, Dollar upgraded us from a compact to a Sebring coupe (I'd joined Fastlane for this trip and had a one-class upgrade coupon). Nice!
- Then 30 minutes later when we arrived at the AKL, they upgraded us from a standard view to a savannah view, without my asking! Our trip was an FTP package, and when we booked we went back and forth for a while on standard vs savannah views, but decided to go with the standard view to save $400. So the upgrade was a wonderful surprise. Plenty of people were staying in the standard and pool-view rooms (you could see the lights on at night) so I have no idea what we did to get the upgrade. We did stay there for 6 nights in a savannah room last year, wonder if that had anything to do with it?
- Weather was great most of the time, couple of large afternoon-and-evening storms earlier this week but nothing that spoiled anything for us.
- Crowds seemed about the same as when we were there August 2000, a little heavier than September '02. Again, no problems, especially using Fastpass (and Express at Universal).
- Talking of Universal... we spent Sunday there. We got there right after the park opened (like 9.20am) and the wait for Shrek was 60 minutes! By 12.30pm (our Express pass time) the wait was posted as 100 minutes. The Express pass got us in instantly - no wait whatsoever. For other rides, we'd bought the Kodak cameras with the free express booklets, and that was a lifesaver. We managed to do both Universal parks, on a weekend day, with NO WAITING AT ALL.
- One other cool thing that happened at Universal IOA. When we rode Jurassic Park, the attendant didn't take our passes from us (there are no times or codes of any kind on the Kodak passes). When we left the ride I was taking photos of the boats hitting the bottom of the drop, and we got talking to a friendly younger couple. The guy was trying to persuade the girl to go on the ride and she was a bit hesitant, plus the wait was 45 minutes. Well, I remembered our "unused" express passes and handed them over, and they were overjoyed. This fastpass karma came back to us later on as you'll see!
- I enjoyed the rides at Universal, but was overall disappointed with the way they run their parks. Parking was a mess with long lines and conflicting instructions from different employees; and when we got into the Studios just after 9am, we found that most of the rides were closed until 10am or later! No wonder the line for Shrek was so long, it was the only damn thing open.
- Had a great time at all the Disney parks, especially Epcot. Mission Space is fantastic. We rode it twice (it had no ill effects on either of us by the way). The second time was on our last night (which was, erm, last night). We got into the park late, just to walk around the world and see Illuminations. As we wandered by Mission Space we thought we'd see if there were any fastpasses left. There weren't, of course. The posted wait time was 90 minutes so we were just leaving when a family came up to us and offered us two fastpasses! Two of their group had chickened out of riding, and rather than throw the passes away like a lot of people would do, they gave them on to someone else. It really made our night, and afterwards we waited for those who had ridden to come out, and thanked them again. If you're reading this guys, you did a great thing
- Did the E-ride night on August 15th (10pm-1am). Perfect weather, perfect night. Would pay the money again in a heartbeat.
- We ate at Ohana's for the first time this trip and we both LOVED it. Despite a long thread detailing problems with the place over in the restaurants section of this board, we had great service and thought the food was awesome. The meat was perfectly cooked; I'm a medium-rare beef person and that's what we got. The pork was fantastic too. We ate at the California Grill also, and yet Ohana's was my meal of the trip this time.
- Went to Typhoon Lagoon for the first time. I don't think it was that crowded, never waited more than 5 minutes for a ride on anything, but it's not really my thing and I doubt we'll go back to a water park on future visits.
- Don't go to Downtown Disney on a Saturday night. Just don't.
- So overall, a great time. Don't know when we'll be going back, so we made sure to make the most of it this time. The blisters on my feet say we did
W
