tink20
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2008
- Messages
- 3,378
We went to SW and BG for the first time and really enjoyed both parks. It was DH, DS (11) and myself. We are big coaster chickens...so we did not do any of those. I got a really great deal on a 5 night stay at Residence Inn at SW and unlimited tickets to both parks, plus one day of the All Day Dining at each park, free for the 3 of us.
First, we loved Residence Inn. Everyone there was very nice. Our room location was perfect, first level close to the lobby and the pool. We had the free continental breakfast, which was okay, nothing special, but was enough to get us to lunch and so convenient. Plus, RI is soooo close to SW. We did the shuttle one day and drove the second day. If you have a car, I would suggest driving yourself. The shuttle was fine, but since you are this close, it was easier and quicker to drive yourself.
We did SW 2 days. We took our time, did all the shows, fed everything except the dolphins. DS loved feeding the stingrays, sharks and sea lions. We would have fed the dolphins, but we had already spent $15 on feeding the other guys, so we skipped it.
We enjoyed all the shows, if you want to sit in the splash zone arrive early. We missed it for the Shamu show, but DS was able to get wet at the dolphin show, which he loved. The sea lion show was funny and we really liked the mime at the beginning, he was hilarious. The pet show was very cute. We have a dog, so we enjoyed this show, even though it made us miss our little girl at home LOL. We tried to do the new penguin ride the first day, we waited in line at rope drop for 1hr., then the ride closed do to technical difficulties. The second day, we waited 45mins at rope drop and finally got to see the penguins. We enjoyed seeing the penguins, but if you only have one day, I wouldn't wait any longer than 1hr. to ride this, the ride is very short.
The All Day Dining was great and the food at SW was pretty good. DH liked the Barbeque the best.
We had planned to do BG 2 days also, but tropical storm Andrea came in Thurs., so we just stayed in Orlando that day and went to the Walmart on Turkey Lake Rd (they have a lot of WDW merchandise and prices cheaper than the WDW parks, just to let you know) We bought some food and cards. We played cards and watched TV, the rain let up, we went out for dinner. Residence Inn is in a great location. The traffic didn't seem bad either. We went swimming and I enjoyed the hot tub.
We got up early Fri. to go to BG. We arrived at BG a little before 9a (park was opening at 930) parking lot opened at 9a. We parked and caught the tram to the front gate. It was not crowed, weather was awesome. The back of the park didn't open until 10 and 2 of the water rides we wanted to do, didn't open until 1030a, which was kind of annoying. We only did one show, Madagascar. I wanted to do Iceploration, but DH and DS didn't really want to, and since we only had one day to do BG, I did worry about it.
We looked at all the animal exhibits, we rode most everything, except all the big coaster. We also had the All day dining, the food was okay, it was nice to get free drinks throughout the day. The crowds were not bad at all. We did everything we wanted to do in one day. I really liked BG, the only thing I don't like is the 1hr and 15min drive there. The drive there went well, the drive back to Orlando, well the traffic was pretty heavy..which it was 5 o'clock, so I understand.
We will probably go back to SW the next time we go to WDW. Its so close to WDW it would be easy to add it on to a WDW trip. If we go back to BG, we would probably drive straight to Tampa first, and stay the night near BG, then go to BG and then drive up to Orlando.
We had a wonderful time, the weather only messed up one day. I would definitely stay at Residence Inn again.
First, we loved Residence Inn. Everyone there was very nice. Our room location was perfect, first level close to the lobby and the pool. We had the free continental breakfast, which was okay, nothing special, but was enough to get us to lunch and so convenient. Plus, RI is soooo close to SW. We did the shuttle one day and drove the second day. If you have a car, I would suggest driving yourself. The shuttle was fine, but since you are this close, it was easier and quicker to drive yourself.
We did SW 2 days. We took our time, did all the shows, fed everything except the dolphins. DS loved feeding the stingrays, sharks and sea lions. We would have fed the dolphins, but we had already spent $15 on feeding the other guys, so we skipped it.
We enjoyed all the shows, if you want to sit in the splash zone arrive early. We missed it for the Shamu show, but DS was able to get wet at the dolphin show, which he loved. The sea lion show was funny and we really liked the mime at the beginning, he was hilarious. The pet show was very cute. We have a dog, so we enjoyed this show, even though it made us miss our little girl at home LOL. We tried to do the new penguin ride the first day, we waited in line at rope drop for 1hr., then the ride closed do to technical difficulties. The second day, we waited 45mins at rope drop and finally got to see the penguins. We enjoyed seeing the penguins, but if you only have one day, I wouldn't wait any longer than 1hr. to ride this, the ride is very short.
The All Day Dining was great and the food at SW was pretty good. DH liked the Barbeque the best.
We had planned to do BG 2 days also, but tropical storm Andrea came in Thurs., so we just stayed in Orlando that day and went to the Walmart on Turkey Lake Rd (they have a lot of WDW merchandise and prices cheaper than the WDW parks, just to let you know) We bought some food and cards. We played cards and watched TV, the rain let up, we went out for dinner. Residence Inn is in a great location. The traffic didn't seem bad either. We went swimming and I enjoyed the hot tub.
We got up early Fri. to go to BG. We arrived at BG a little before 9a (park was opening at 930) parking lot opened at 9a. We parked and caught the tram to the front gate. It was not crowed, weather was awesome. The back of the park didn't open until 10 and 2 of the water rides we wanted to do, didn't open until 1030a, which was kind of annoying. We only did one show, Madagascar. I wanted to do Iceploration, but DH and DS didn't really want to, and since we only had one day to do BG, I did worry about it.
We looked at all the animal exhibits, we rode most everything, except all the big coaster. We also had the All day dining, the food was okay, it was nice to get free drinks throughout the day. The crowds were not bad at all. We did everything we wanted to do in one day. I really liked BG, the only thing I don't like is the 1hr and 15min drive there. The drive there went well, the drive back to Orlando, well the traffic was pretty heavy..which it was 5 o'clock, so I understand.
We will probably go back to SW the next time we go to WDW. Its so close to WDW it would be easy to add it on to a WDW trip. If we go back to BG, we would probably drive straight to Tampa first, and stay the night near BG, then go to BG and then drive up to Orlando.
We had a wonderful time, the weather only messed up one day. I would definitely stay at Residence Inn again.
. Sounds like an awesome trip!
