Anemone
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 29, 2013
- Messages
- 1,110
A quick Highs and Lows from our trip - just got back last night.
Lows - there weren't many so let’s just get them over with.
• Smoking! - I'm one of those awful ex-smokers who can't abide the smell of cigarette smoke at all so it is always annoying when the parks are smoky but this trip it was worse than ever. Firstly, the cold damp air doesn't seem to let smoke disperse easily and it just hangs in the air and secondly, I have picked up some sort of respiratory infection/virus and found the smog painful to breathe. My kids smoke and started out trying to observe the designated areas in the parks but by the time we left they were just standing to one side to smoke as there were so many people smoking around them.
• Hakuna Matata - I'd been so looking forward to this restaurant, especially to the fries which I've heard so much about so we went there for lunch on our first day. The fries turned out to be wedges, very ordinary wedges which you might buy from the freezer section of Asda or Tesco etc. and cook in the oven at home. The chicken was tasty but the kids weren't impressed with the kebabs either.
• Beauvais Airport – I won’t be flying there again if I can possibly help it. It’s too far away, the facilities are shockingly primitive – I was almost sick last night at the stench from the loos – the savings on flight costs wasn’t enough to balance things.
Highs
• Crowd levels - we arrived on Tuesday and were expecting the parks to be busy but they weren't at all. 10 minute queues for Space Mountain, Star Tours - walked onto Buzz with fastpasses. Crush main queue was 30 minutes and single rider 10 – 15 mins all week until Saturday when the parks were noticeably busier.
• Thrill rides – this was the first trip I’ve been able to do roller coasters and I loved them. Space Mountain, Rock n Roller, Crush, Indiana Jones. I’m so chuffed I did everything and would do all again except perhaps Crush which was a bit twisty for me.
• Family rides – was lovely to do Buzz, all 5 of us and Ratatouille as well. Small World is sparkling after its refurb and the hated Christmas music wasn’t playing – yay! The kids didn’t enjoy Peter Pan as much as I do so we only did it once. I got to sit on a horse on the carousel which I’ve never been able to do before – usually Catherine and I are in a carriage.
• Very few breakdowns – only once did we go to do a ride and find it closed – Ratatouille on Friday afternoon. I know that’s because so many are already closed for refurb but it was good not to have the constant disappointments of unexpectedly closed rides that we’ve all experienced in the past.
• Meeting the lovely Carrie. Unfortunately, I missed meeting Giulia so will have to do that another trip.
• Shopping – was sponsored for an annual pass which I think I saved the price of in shopping and food discounts alone this trip. Got quite a few bargains in the sales and found some Christmas stuff which I wanted to put away for next year.
• Character interaction – Tyler is only 20 months old and still very wary of the characters but for the few meets we did – Pluto in the hotel, Spiderman and Inventions, the characters went out of their way to engage with him while still giving him space. I’m always amazed at how they so quickly and accurately pick up on the appropriate way to interact with different people. Hats off to them.
• Santa Fe – having only stayed in DLH and HNY before I had been a little nervous about staying in the SF because of reviews from other people but I liked it. We were given the interconnecting rooms I had asked for by e-mail. The rooms were spotless and serviced every day. They were a bit mean with the Disney toiletries – 2 bottles of shower gel in the 4 nights we were there – but it wasn’t important enough for me to ask for more. We didn’t make breakfast before 10 any day. There was no queue at that time and still plenty of food. I ate a huge bowl of fresh fruit salad every morning with pineapple and mango in it. The croissants and ham were fine for me – I didn’t bother slicing cubes of cheese to go with it though I could have. The OJ was lovely too and the hot chocolate to die for.
• Proper Disney Dreams – I’m not a fan of Dreams of Christmas so we went on the Wednesday evening before Inventions so the kids could see it but I was so pleased to see “Proper” Dreams back on Thursday night with the Brave section back in it. That was truly magical.
Lows - there weren't many so let’s just get them over with.
• Smoking! - I'm one of those awful ex-smokers who can't abide the smell of cigarette smoke at all so it is always annoying when the parks are smoky but this trip it was worse than ever. Firstly, the cold damp air doesn't seem to let smoke disperse easily and it just hangs in the air and secondly, I have picked up some sort of respiratory infection/virus and found the smog painful to breathe. My kids smoke and started out trying to observe the designated areas in the parks but by the time we left they were just standing to one side to smoke as there were so many people smoking around them.
• Hakuna Matata - I'd been so looking forward to this restaurant, especially to the fries which I've heard so much about so we went there for lunch on our first day. The fries turned out to be wedges, very ordinary wedges which you might buy from the freezer section of Asda or Tesco etc. and cook in the oven at home. The chicken was tasty but the kids weren't impressed with the kebabs either.
• Beauvais Airport – I won’t be flying there again if I can possibly help it. It’s too far away, the facilities are shockingly primitive – I was almost sick last night at the stench from the loos – the savings on flight costs wasn’t enough to balance things.
Highs
• Crowd levels - we arrived on Tuesday and were expecting the parks to be busy but they weren't at all. 10 minute queues for Space Mountain, Star Tours - walked onto Buzz with fastpasses. Crush main queue was 30 minutes and single rider 10 – 15 mins all week until Saturday when the parks were noticeably busier.
• Thrill rides – this was the first trip I’ve been able to do roller coasters and I loved them. Space Mountain, Rock n Roller, Crush, Indiana Jones. I’m so chuffed I did everything and would do all again except perhaps Crush which was a bit twisty for me.
• Family rides – was lovely to do Buzz, all 5 of us and Ratatouille as well. Small World is sparkling after its refurb and the hated Christmas music wasn’t playing – yay! The kids didn’t enjoy Peter Pan as much as I do so we only did it once. I got to sit on a horse on the carousel which I’ve never been able to do before – usually Catherine and I are in a carriage.
• Very few breakdowns – only once did we go to do a ride and find it closed – Ratatouille on Friday afternoon. I know that’s because so many are already closed for refurb but it was good not to have the constant disappointments of unexpectedly closed rides that we’ve all experienced in the past.
• Meeting the lovely Carrie. Unfortunately, I missed meeting Giulia so will have to do that another trip.
• Shopping – was sponsored for an annual pass which I think I saved the price of in shopping and food discounts alone this trip. Got quite a few bargains in the sales and found some Christmas stuff which I wanted to put away for next year.
• Character interaction – Tyler is only 20 months old and still very wary of the characters but for the few meets we did – Pluto in the hotel, Spiderman and Inventions, the characters went out of their way to engage with him while still giving him space. I’m always amazed at how they so quickly and accurately pick up on the appropriate way to interact with different people. Hats off to them.
• Santa Fe – having only stayed in DLH and HNY before I had been a little nervous about staying in the SF because of reviews from other people but I liked it. We were given the interconnecting rooms I had asked for by e-mail. The rooms were spotless and serviced every day. They were a bit mean with the Disney toiletries – 2 bottles of shower gel in the 4 nights we were there – but it wasn’t important enough for me to ask for more. We didn’t make breakfast before 10 any day. There was no queue at that time and still plenty of food. I ate a huge bowl of fresh fruit salad every morning with pineapple and mango in it. The croissants and ham were fine for me – I didn’t bother slicing cubes of cheese to go with it though I could have. The OJ was lovely too and the hot chocolate to die for.
• Proper Disney Dreams – I’m not a fan of Dreams of Christmas so we went on the Wednesday evening before Inventions so the kids could see it but I was so pleased to see “Proper” Dreams back on Thursday night with the Brave section back in it. That was truly magical.
