This was my first trip home as a DVC member.
Saratoga Springs was just awesome. The resort was spotlessly clean. I enjoyed the subtle theme-ing. Check in was a breeze, all cast members from the guard shack attendant to the valet service to the desk attendants were awesome.
My only minor complaint concerning the resorts structure was the walking distance between Congress Park Buildings & the Main Pool & Lobby Area. IMHO I would recommend engineering an improved direct walkway to take you off of walking next to the main road and/or a shuttle service around the resort. After walking all day in the parks no one felt like hiking up to the main pool. The quiet pool was beautiful and relaxing.
Weather was outstanding
Notable Happenings at the Resort:
On one afternoon the quiet pool was not so quiet as there was a Father and Son loudly playing catch and horsing around with a hard football across the whole length of the quiet pool and basically hogging the whole pool. Everyone was afraid to enter the pool because they might get pegged by the football. I called the main desk to complain and nothing was done. This is a beef of mine with Disney is that they allow guests to blatantly violate rules that they ( Disney) establish, I understand about not offending your customers but if someone had their eye taken out by the football, Disney would have a problem.
On Friday of our stay we were getting ready to hit the parks when our room door was opened and the security latch inverted to hold the door open. This scared me at first and I went the door and looked out and the maintenance engineering guy, who had a strange resemblance to Doc of the seven dwarfs was opening another room. He was startled to see me emerge from the room. He stated, they told me the room was empty. Apparently the contractor had failed to install hair dryers in the suite. I said thats nice you but weve been here five days and havent missed having a hair dryer so please dont have the contractor fix our room until we leave. He said OK
Notable Happenings at the Parks
No lines , No waiting at all of the parks. Several rides we did not have to get off but went around several times, Peter Pan, Pooh, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion, and the best ride of all the Safari at the AK. We saw the baby elephants which were just too cute.
The longest wait was when Test Track which broke down and it was about 20-25 minutes for them to fix-it. The que area sound effects are really cool but they get really annoying after waiting 20 minutes.
Fantasmic & Wishes were awesome. Saw Tinkerbell fly one night. When I saw Wishes for the first time last year in December, it seemed bigger and larger than life. Wishes was still outstanding just seemed different.
I am kinda getting bored with Illuminations. I know I might get flamed by Illuminations lovers, but IMHO it needs a change. The most exiting thing that happened during Illuminations was that, it had just rained about 10 minutes prior to and the metal benches were very wet and it was quite dark in that part of the park. A very intelligent parent was letting their 3 or 4 year old climb all over one of the benches and guess what ??? She fell and hit her head and started screaming. Hello ??? What are the parents thinking metal bench, wet & slippery, dont let your three year old use it as a jungle gym.
I was the idiot on Kali River Rapids at AK. I know you get soaked and I know you can lift your feet to prevent them from getting as wet. I didnt lift my feet or bring extra socks/shoes to the park. I got soaked and was slogging around all day in wet socks & sneakers and I developed a large blister. I am a Disney Veteran and know better than that.
Spent a morning at Disney Quest, love that place. The Pirate Battle and Build your own Coaster, Alien Ride are outstanding. I love the old time video games, Galaga, Pac Man, Burgertime. DQ can get very crowed and I have observed the most un-Disney like behavior there. This trip however there was a very small number of rude little rug rats running around to spoil our fun.
Many tourists from Great Britain. I love the British Accent. Observed one British family having a major family spat at the happiest place on earth and its amazing how you can make a rude statement to your family member with a British accent and yet you still sound polite.
Went to Adventures Club, love that place. Also went to Comedy Club, went to the first show and the Comdians just were not as on as they have been in the past. Never made it to Jelly Rolls, that was disappointing.
Spent an afternoon hanging out at the GF Beech and in the late afternoon went to the lobby and listened to the Orchestra. I love the GF. I wish they had a DVC membership for that resort. (Hey, anything your heart desires will come to you).
Final Thought - Marching Along Were Adventures, Singing the Song of Adventures, Up or Down, North South, East or West an Adventures Life is best !!! Kungaloosh !!!!!!
Saratoga Springs was just awesome. The resort was spotlessly clean. I enjoyed the subtle theme-ing. Check in was a breeze, all cast members from the guard shack attendant to the valet service to the desk attendants were awesome.
My only minor complaint concerning the resorts structure was the walking distance between Congress Park Buildings & the Main Pool & Lobby Area. IMHO I would recommend engineering an improved direct walkway to take you off of walking next to the main road and/or a shuttle service around the resort. After walking all day in the parks no one felt like hiking up to the main pool. The quiet pool was beautiful and relaxing.
Weather was outstanding
Notable Happenings at the Resort:
On one afternoon the quiet pool was not so quiet as there was a Father and Son loudly playing catch and horsing around with a hard football across the whole length of the quiet pool and basically hogging the whole pool. Everyone was afraid to enter the pool because they might get pegged by the football. I called the main desk to complain and nothing was done. This is a beef of mine with Disney is that they allow guests to blatantly violate rules that they ( Disney) establish, I understand about not offending your customers but if someone had their eye taken out by the football, Disney would have a problem.
On Friday of our stay we were getting ready to hit the parks when our room door was opened and the security latch inverted to hold the door open. This scared me at first and I went the door and looked out and the maintenance engineering guy, who had a strange resemblance to Doc of the seven dwarfs was opening another room. He was startled to see me emerge from the room. He stated, they told me the room was empty. Apparently the contractor had failed to install hair dryers in the suite. I said thats nice you but weve been here five days and havent missed having a hair dryer so please dont have the contractor fix our room until we leave. He said OK
Notable Happenings at the Parks
No lines , No waiting at all of the parks. Several rides we did not have to get off but went around several times, Peter Pan, Pooh, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion, and the best ride of all the Safari at the AK. We saw the baby elephants which were just too cute.
The longest wait was when Test Track which broke down and it was about 20-25 minutes for them to fix-it. The que area sound effects are really cool but they get really annoying after waiting 20 minutes.
Fantasmic & Wishes were awesome. Saw Tinkerbell fly one night. When I saw Wishes for the first time last year in December, it seemed bigger and larger than life. Wishes was still outstanding just seemed different.
I am kinda getting bored with Illuminations. I know I might get flamed by Illuminations lovers, but IMHO it needs a change. The most exiting thing that happened during Illuminations was that, it had just rained about 10 minutes prior to and the metal benches were very wet and it was quite dark in that part of the park. A very intelligent parent was letting their 3 or 4 year old climb all over one of the benches and guess what ??? She fell and hit her head and started screaming. Hello ??? What are the parents thinking metal bench, wet & slippery, dont let your three year old use it as a jungle gym.
I was the idiot on Kali River Rapids at AK. I know you get soaked and I know you can lift your feet to prevent them from getting as wet. I didnt lift my feet or bring extra socks/shoes to the park. I got soaked and was slogging around all day in wet socks & sneakers and I developed a large blister. I am a Disney Veteran and know better than that.
Spent a morning at Disney Quest, love that place. The Pirate Battle and Build your own Coaster, Alien Ride are outstanding. I love the old time video games, Galaga, Pac Man, Burgertime. DQ can get very crowed and I have observed the most un-Disney like behavior there. This trip however there was a very small number of rude little rug rats running around to spoil our fun.
Many tourists from Great Britain. I love the British Accent. Observed one British family having a major family spat at the happiest place on earth and its amazing how you can make a rude statement to your family member with a British accent and yet you still sound polite.
Went to Adventures Club, love that place. Also went to Comedy Club, went to the first show and the Comdians just were not as on as they have been in the past. Never made it to Jelly Rolls, that was disappointing.
Spent an afternoon hanging out at the GF Beech and in the late afternoon went to the lobby and listened to the Orchestra. I love the GF. I wish they had a DVC membership for that resort. (Hey, anything your heart desires will come to you).
Final Thought - Marching Along Were Adventures, Singing the Song of Adventures, Up or Down, North South, East or West an Adventures Life is best !!! Kungaloosh !!!!!!
