Thats me home

[Bigbluebear]

Seems like only yesterday that we left!

We had a fantastic time, however i will never spend a full fortnight on disney property again. We stayed at POP, which for all the fantastic theming outside the rooms, was nothing more than an overpriced travellodge. You cant even choose a payperview movie! The food court was okay for the first few days, then it got boring and repetitive, and the food wasnt particularly nice or appealing. The refillable mug is a great deal mind you. We didnt have a car, so we felt trapped at night time.

The transportation was good, but i lost count of how many idiots were deaf to the words "move the whole way up the bus". Every single time people would stop halfway. Infuriating.

Visited all the disney parks and both universal parks. Universal and IOA we did both on the same day, and covered every major attraction by 6pm. The Simpsons is awesome!

We didnt get to see fantasmic. Had decided to watch it on our last night, but it got cancelled due to bad weather. We never got on toy story mania either since the queue was 120mins+ at just about all hours of the day! That was the only two attraction we didnt see that we watned to, and we only made it to a park for opening once, and it was IOA!!!

We also didnt make it to the adventurers club either, which im now a bit gutted about. I had heard great things, and had planned to go, but the night we were going we got caught up listentning to a fantastic performer at the House of Blues. Ryan Winford i belive his name. We did buy a CD but my better half managed to lose it in the 3 minutes she was holding it whie i went to the loo! Ah well.

All in all, a fabulous trip. Im already thinking of the next one now! I suppose i should get some sleep. 30 hours now since i last woke up

And i have to add, i feel sorry for those poor Americancs having to pay 50pence for a litre of fuel!!

 

[PoppyAnna]

Glad you had a good time - welcome home!

 

[Snowy-girls]

Welcome Home,sorry to hear that not all was well with certain parts to your holiday.We have never stayed onsite(although there is talk from Dh that he thinks we should try it just once to see what it's all about,think of the girls he says),as i think that some of the things you said are the same as what i think.Food court(as not everone can afford Disney dining every day+night),and having no car to go other places in the evenings.We don't drive so we stay on I-Drive,which i know is'nt every ones cup of tea either,but we go to the parks during the day+then have I-Drive to explore in the evenings,have a nice cheap meal or expensive along there the choice is yours.Or visit Seaworld,UNI or IOA in the evening if we have'nt already done a park in the day.I think i would also feel trapped as such.
Shame you never got to do Toy Story,i can't wait for that,and i also can't wait for the Simpsons,is it as good as the reviews on here say?Shame about the cd.
I can't remember who you flew with was it Virgin?If yes was there any problems or delays?.x.

 

[CHEK]

Glad you enjoyed the majority of your hols , we've never stayed onsite, we did on our 1st trip stay on International Drive, but since then we've stayed in villa's and we love the space and our own pool , but each to their own Sleep well and happy planning for the next trip

 

[paulh]

a lot of folks dont think about getting a taxi to resturants just ofsite,quite a few within a $15 ride,plus while ofsite you can stock up on surplys
even without a car you dont have to eat everything onsite
As for the rooms even the deluxes are gloryfied travel lodges,hasent stoped us staying there
Paulh

 

[Bigbluebear]

Welcome Home,sorry to hear that not all was well with certain parts to your holiday.We have never stayed onsite(although there is talk from Dh that he thinks we should try it just once to see what it's all about,think of the girls he says),as i think that some of the things you said are the same as what i think.Food court(as not everone can afford Disney dining every day+night),and having no car to go other places in the evenings.We don't drive so we stay on I-Drive,which i know is'nt every ones cup of tea either,but we go to the parks during the day+then have I-Drive to explore in the evenings,have a nice cheap meal or expensive along there the choice is yours.Or visit Seaworld,UNI or IOA in the evening if we have'nt already done a park in the day.I think i would also feel trapped as such.
Shame you never got to do Toy Story,i can't wait for that,and i also can't wait for the Simpsons,is it as good as the reviews on here say?Shame about the cd.
I can't remember who you flew with was it Virgin?If yes was there any problems or delays?.x.

Flew with TCD from glasgow. We had a 45 minute delay coming home, but still arrived on time. It was the most cramped ive ever been on plane though. The outward flight was gine though.

I would stay onsite again, but only for a week maximum.

A villa beats a hotel hands down in my opinion, but not without a car!

 

[Bigbluebear]

a lot of folks dont think about getting a taxi to resturants just ofsite,quite a few within a $15 ride,plus while ofsite you can stock up on surplys
even without a car you dont have to eat everything onsite
As for the rooms even the deluxes are gloryfied travel lodges,hasent stoped us staying there
Paulh

We walked to the Crossroads from DTD twice and ate at TGI's. Best food we had the entire fortnight!

This was the first time i have been without my parents who have always hired a car. I'll be doing so in future!

 

[Belle68]

Welcome home, but sorry to hear you didnt like Pop, we love staying on site. I must agree the food court can get a bit repetative but there are lots of other places in disney to eat.

 

[PoppyAnna]

I'm sure when you look back on the holiday, you'll only remember the good stuff and know that you learnt from your experience.
I'm pretty much like you - I like to stay in a villa at the moment, we have small children and just wonder what DH and I would do when they went to bed if we stayed in a conventional hotel room. With a villa, we can swim in the pool, have a few drinks, watch a DVD all without disturbing them.
When they're older and can handle staying up later, no doubt we'll try an on-site stay.

 

[Goofysmate]

Welcome home

 

[jonkatony]

stayed at pop last year and loved it. Only ate at the food court once though, but seemed fine. We were always at parks or dtd etc did not spend ant time at pop in the evening.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Sounds like you had a good time

 

[Dimplenose]

Welcome back.

A villa beats a hotel hands down in my opinion, but not without a car!

Everyone is different, we tried a villa but didn't like it so are returning to All Star Resort next year, but we wouldn't do WDW without a car even when staying on site.

 

[Lizzybear]

Glad you had a great trip I agree that the resort food courts can be a bit samey, we only ate some breakfasts and one dinner at POFQ and I wouldn't have wanted to rely on it for more than that.

 

[wayneg]

We had a fantastic time, however i will never spend a full fortnight on disney property again. We stayed at POP, which for all the fantastic theming outside the rooms, was nothing more than an overpriced travellodge. You cant even choose a payperview movie! The food court was okay for the first few days, then it got boring and repetitive, and the food wasnt particularly nice or appealing. The refillable mug is a great deal mind you. We didnt have a car, so we felt trapped at night time.

The transportation was good, but i lost count of how many idiots were deaf to the words "move the whole way up the bus". Every single time people would stop halfway. Infuriating.

I was beginning to think this was only my view on a value resort at Disney, We stayed at ASMovies 8 years ago and said never again. Small under equipped, overpriced rooms. We didn't get the "Disney Magic" that people talk about and because it was Xmas it was upto 1 hour waiting for packed buses full of ignorant people. Foodcourt also did't like but thankfully after the 1st day Alamo eventually got us a car so we could eat offsite.
For £20/night this August we are staying at LBV fridge, microwave, coffee maker, includes breakfast and internet access. no choice for us as we love being around LBV but other people love being in the Disney resorts.
Good thing we are all different, there are options there for everyone.
After 8 years we have decided to try a deluxe resort, AKL for 3 nights, lets see in August if that lives upto expectations.
Glad you had a great trip.

 

[paulh]

We walked to the Crossroads from DTD twice and ate at TGI's. Best food we had the entire fortnight!

This was the first time i have been without my parents who have always hired a car. I'll be doing so in future!

there are lots more eating places than those at crossroads,just look further afield and within walking distance(not for wayne),not far is angus steak house,olive garden, sizzlers,orlando alehouse(at chrossroads),tex mex,a chinese bufet and within a taxi ride of $10 baharma brezze,$15 outback
Paulh

 

[UKDEB]

Whilst I wouldn't want to knock the value resorts per se, they wouldn't be for us at our particular life stage. When compared directly with its offsite counterpart, no Disney resort makes the grade in my opinion. For me, then, an onsite stay is all about location and clearly the values don't have that benefit. For precisely the reasons you mention, I would never contemplate staying at one - it just wouldn't represent what the holiday is all about for us. For the first time ever, we have a totally "onsite" trip planned for November (albeit part Disney, part Universal) and we're looking forward to a different experience, but my heart will always pull me towards a villa stay with a few nights onsite mid-trip.

 

[shellbell]

Hiya, I'm glad you enjoyed most of your holiday.

We always stay at Pop and love it, for the amount of time we are actually in the rooms it is ideal, and with having a 6yr old the theme is perfect. This time we were there for the full 21 nights and are doing the same in 2010 . We have also done villas too but its the location of being onsite, the buses, extra magic hours, DTD check in, & Refillable mugs. I must admit the tv dosen't have much choice for the nights you do go home slighty earlier, but we managed. We do hire a car for the full stay so we have access to lots of different restaurants, but we do eat in pop too.

As Lucy gets older though i am sure we will go back to a villa as she will want her privacy.

 

[dc1964]

only stayed on site once on our first visit 10 years ago (all satr sports), had no car and did not have any local knowledge regarding restaurants or shopping malls, i dont thing we even did any shopping on that trip or ate out, oh except for TGI's at crossroads, We did have a great time but i remenmber been sick of the site of Disney by the end. We have been back many times and always stayed offsite with a car, plus the odd night at Universal resort hotel.
For me the freedom that offsite gives with a car far outweighs any perceived benefits of been onsite, mind you if you have young kids then onsite might be good for them to feel part of the alleged disney magic, which i, to be honest dont get.

 

[~Fisharefriends~]

glad you had a good trip. we ave stayed both onsite and offsite and there are benefits to both, however we havent stayed in a value and dont plan too (no offense they just arent my thing)

thats the great thing about orlando though there is a type of accomadation that will suit everyone.