The Skeptical First-Timers made it back home, here's the TR! Completed!

[FiveBoys]

I love the picture of the kids on RnR, it is perfect, LOL.

I also agree with the explanation Skier_Pete gave for why TSM is so busy, as a mom of a lot of littler kids, DHS is not a high priority for us because there is so little for the kids to do.
Sorry you were feeling so yucky, it never fails that someone gets sick on vacation!

 

[204charity]

Love the review of RnR! I wasn't sure we'd be able to manage it, but I think we may ALL be able to do it! Can't wait till April......

 

[CdnCarrie]

Enjoying your report!

 

[WelovMickey!]

I can't wait to ride the new Star Tours. I never got the whole Star Wars thing and never watched it until my son. He is 5. Now we love Star Wars, so much that we planned our trip to Disney around Star Wars Weekend!

 

[joy13]

I like RnR too, I love that start and the music! I felt DHS is really empty that day, it was great!

 

[FosterA]

We are planning on doing the exact same dates next year Tuesday thru Teusday, actually I'm torn we may do Wednesday thru Wednesday, I'm nervous about how the school will handle it, mostly worried about my daughter who will then be in 9th grade..........thinking of picking them up from school a lil' early on Tuesday and heading down there.......we also get the whole week off for Thanksgiving, i just do not want to be there for the crowds that weekend and the prices are higher too!

Well, in my case anyway, I wouldn't hesitate to pull them out again. It depends on your kids and your school district of course. There were soooo many times that Dave and I commented to each other that we were so glad it wasn't too hot and we were so glad it wasn't crowded! There were some times waiting in a group for something (Fantasmic) and I probably would have died if it was the middle of summer. Plus...it's so nice to go "off season" when prices are lower too. We got our room where 5 of the nights were heavily discounted and only our last 2 were full price. That's why I'd rather have done Sat-Sat and then I could have had all 7 discounted. But...I wanted kids to go to school on the Monday so they could be there to pick up work and also so it wasn't like they were missing the "full" week. Just 4 days. It just sounded better to me.

What a great day at HS! I am loving your TR and you have been busy with updates!
I cannot wait to hear about the luau

Cool glad to have you!

I totally agree! i think it is overrated.I do really like the theme of the whole toy story..
The new star tours? That was amazing!!
Love the pictures to go with your story!!!

Thanks! I'm glad you are still reading along.

Had to chime in with a few things.

I had noticed your DD Queen shirt earlier...don't know if she's a fan or just likes the shirt - but if she is - very good musical taste for a teenager!

Normally there is no music in the queue area of R'n'RC. You are supposed to be in a back alley of a recording studios waiting for the limo to take you to a concert, so there wouldn't be any music there.

I agree the ride is way to short. This is part of putting a coaster with inversions inside a building...the ride can't be very long. I also agree with your DH - since they put it in the dark, the inversions aren't very impressive. My favorite part of the ride is the launch.

And there's a very simple reason that TSMM is so popular - EVERYONE can ride it. Think about the total # of rides at DHS - ToT, RnRC, TSMM, ST and GMR. Five rides total. Two of them are purely for thrill riders and Star Tours has some limited appeal that way as well. That leaves GMR and TSMM, and regardless of what you think of GMR, it's not one that has a lot of repeatability. Since a lot of people come to Disney for the rides more than anything....TSMM draws huge crowds because of what the competition in that park is. But it's the ride that Grandma, baby Danny, Uncle Sam and teen Darla can all ride and have a ball on. You saw this reaction yourself - that coupled with there's nothing else in DHS to compete. If TSMM was in MK - it wouldn't draw nearly the crowds. (Why the one in California doesn't draw as much.) It's just an example of how badly DHS needs rides.

Also, your shot of the entrance of RnRC where you describe as "plenty of people around", that's a pretty empty shot in my view. But it is pretty typical that the number of people walking around the parks looks much worse than the number of people waiting in lines for rides. I don't know why that is true, but it is!

Enough of my rambling...it's your TR, not mine!

I love it when you chime in! Yep, she likes Queen and the Beatles and all sort of old stuff. David has told her the music nowadays is junk and he gets her to listen to all his stuff
Funny about the music at RnR. That totally makes sense. I guess I'm just forgetting and mixing up things in my old age
Yep, I get that about Toy Story. I saw so many super old people and little babies too. Great Family ride!

RnR is my favorite coaster! I was so scared to go on it the first time. We ended up going on it three times in a row and now I'm kind of a coaster junkie.

FosterA: I noticed that we have almost exactly the same tastes/pace for touring the parks.

Yep, I'd say my touring style is "middle of the road". Not crazy but not too slow either.

OH on Great Movie Ride... did you know there are two variations of the guide? we had the gangster last year and this year we had the western cowboy guide!! both pretty much the same but didn't know there were two! I LOVE the GMR!!! think it is totally under rated!!!

Did not know about the 2 variations. That's pretty cool. I really liked this attraction alot! The kids loved it when the gangster climbed up the Indiana Jones thing and turned into a skeleton!

 

[FosterA]

I love the picture of the kids on RnR, it is perfect, LOL.

I also agree with the explanation Skier_Pete gave for why TSM is so busy, as a mom of a lot of littler kids, DHS is not a high priority for us because there is so little for the kids to do.
Sorry you were feeling so yucky, it never fails that someone gets sick on vacation!

I never would have dreamed I would have gotten sick on vacation. Luckily it was just a bad cold/sinus issue versus a stomach bug. If I'm not throwing up, I'll keep trucking. I did try not to breathe on anybody though As a matter of fact, nobody else in my family got sick which is a miracle beings we all shared a room for 7 days!

Love the review of RnR! I wasn't sure we'd be able to manage it, but I think we may ALL be able to do it! Can't wait till April......

You need to do it! And I'm a huge chicken and loved it. Granted, once is enough for me. Yay!! i see you will be staying at the Poly

Enjoying your report!

I enjoy having you read along!

I can't wait to ride the new Star Tours. I never got the whole Star Wars thing and never watched it until my son. He is 5. Now we love Star Wars, so much that we planned our trip to Disney around Star Wars Weekend!

How fun! You will love the ride then! I didn't so much and I'll talk about that in a minute when I update my report. p.s. it was a sick thing in my case

I like RnR too, I love that start and the music! I felt DHS is really empty that day, it was great!

Great day to be at DHS. Still wish I would have looked harder for you though!

 

[skier_pete]

I love it when you chime in! Yep, she likes Queen and the Beatles and all sort of old stuff. David has told her the music nowadays is junk and he gets her to listen to all his stuff
Funny about the music at RnR. That totally makes sense. I guess I'm just forgetting and mixing up things in my old age
Yep, I get that about Toy Story. I saw so many super old people and little babies too. Great Family ride!

Oh good, now I don't have to shut up...hope to get DD to have similar tastes. Been working on that since childhood. I also lead her TV tastes as well, as she is more into Scooby Doo, Looney Tunes, and the Muppets than anything currently on TV. Her friends think she's nuts. It's her Dad's fault.

I never would have dreamed I would have gotten sick on vacation. Luckily it was just a bad cold/sinus issue versus a stomach bug. If I'm not throwing up, I'll keep trucking. I did try not to breathe on anybody though As a matter of fact, nobody else in my family got sick which is a miracle beings we all shared a room for 7 days!

Ya know, the first two times I travelled to Disney as an adult, I got really sick with sinus/cold symptoms. This was back in 1997 and 2000. The first time we thought it was a cold. The second time we became pretty certain it was some sinus response- as the syptoms were identical. Made me feel like total crap - but all head cold. Once was in May and once in October, but still, it was really strange. When we went back in 2007 I was anticipating the same problem and brought a bottle of Claritin, but it never re-occurred. I wonder if it's possible you had a similar allergy. Glad you were able to push through it. We waited to get home to get sick...whole family is now sick, started with DD and her policy of "rub my hands all over everything and then stick my fingers in my mouth!"

 

[onelilspark]

Joining in!

I have a non-Disney husband. It took a few trips, but now he enjoys it...not as much as I do, but I've learned his quirks and try to avoid them (really heavy crowds are bad, he just shuts down.) Really though, he's okay because he's an enabler. I wanted to go by myself in September and he thought that sounded great because he could sit all weekend on the couch in his boxers playing video games

 

[FosterA]

Oh good, now I don't have to shut up...hope to get DD to have similar tastes. Been working on that since childhood. I also lead her TV tastes as well, as she is more into Scooby Doo, Looney Tunes, and the Muppets than anything currently on TV. Her friends think she's nuts. It's her Dad's fault.



Ya know, the first two times I travelled to Disney as an adult, I got really sick with sinus/cold symptoms. This was back in 1997 and 2000. The first time we thought it was a cold. The second time we became pretty certain it was some sinus response- as the syptoms were identical. Made me feel like total crap - but all head cold. Once was in May and once in October, but still, it was really strange. When we went back in 2007 I was anticipating the same problem and brought a bottle of Claritin, but it never re-occurred. I wonder if it's possible you had a similar allergy. Glad you were able to push through it. We waited to get home to get sick...whole family is now sick, started with DD and her policy of "rub my hands all over everything and then stick my fingers in my mouth!"

Very interesting that you got sick two different times at Disney. I remember when I went back in Feb for my weekend trip, I came home and fought a cough for almost a month! Now that I think about it, this is only the second time I've been sick in a couple years and both times were either at Disney or right when I got back. I wonder if it's something about Florida or just so many different people Neither time was it a stomach bug or anything horrendous, just running nose and cough. Maybe I need to go more often to work up an immunity

Joining in!

I have a non-Disney husband. It took a few trips, but now he enjoys it...not as much as I do, but I've learned his quirks and try to avoid them (really heavy crowds are bad, he just shuts down.) Really though, he's okay because he's an enabler. I wanted to go by myself in September and he thought that sounded great because he could sit all weekend on the couch in his boxers playing video games

I wish my husband would enable me to go!! You're lucky! He'd probably be ok as long as I took the kids I suppose that way he wouldn't have to get them to school or make lunches or anything!

 

[FosterA]

OK, what is the deal!!
I just sat here for an hour and did a huge update about the Luau and everything and it disappeared and logged me out. waaaaaaaah

What did I do wrong? Was I taking too long?

 

[swwake]

That happens with the posts. A lot of people type in Word or Notepad first, then copy/paste to the DIS. Sorry it happened to you

I loved your DHS day. I haven't done GMR in over a decade and you make me want to try it again.

Disney is the master of crowd control. They have a way of making it feel less crowded than it is most of the time, and in lines where there tend to be crowds, they provide queue entertainment, so you don't feel like you're waiting as long. They also add "weave mazes" so that you always feel like you're moving. An example is overhead TVs that started in the 80s and 90s, and now the interactive queues for attractions like TSMM, Buzz, HM, Pooh, etc.

The exceptions are large shows (Fantasmic!) and parades. They haven't been able to figure out a way around crowds for those.

My DD Katie also is into GOOD music. Posters of Jim Morrison and Pink Floyd in her bedroom, GNR, Sublime, and Beatles T shirts since she was about 7. (She's 19 now and still wears some of the same shirts) I noticed your Allison's Queen shirt earlier in the report and meant to comment on that as well.

A little under the weather - so enough of my ramblings for now...

 

[FosterA]

DAY 3-part 4

let me try this again since I just wrote a huge update and then it logged me out and it all went away. waaah I may break updates into smaller segments in case I was getting too long winded or something.

I last left off with us doing Toy Story. It was getting to be around 5 pm and we had to be back at Poly for Luau at 8. No problem since we still had a good amount of time. We had those passes for Star Tours still but I honestly wouldn't have cared if everybody just wanted to bag it and get back to our room. I was feeling worse by the minute. I suggested that we could just go back to the Poly and not do the ride but David (of all people!) said No, he really wanted to try it. He really likes Star Wars. Not a huge fan but he certainly likes the movies. So we headed over that way and got right on with our passes, which we didn't even need since there was no wait.

The bad news is that I really didn't like this attraction It made me nauseous and motion-sickness feeling. I handled it but I was pretty anxious for it to be over. Now, take my review with a grain of salt since I was feeling sick to begin with. The rest of the family really liked it!! This was not one that they necessarily wanted to do again (like Tot and RnR) but they did enjoy it. I think it's a super cool attraction if you are a Star Wars fan. I'm embarrassed to say that I've seen the movies but couldn't tell you the name of any of the characters hardly. I don't even know what was going on during our particular ride

Well, it's now 5:30 or so and we were ready to wrap up our one and only Studios day planned for the trip (I don't count the night before when we came just to see F!). The really strange this is that there were hardly any waits for anything, the weather was great, and we had older kids to tour with that were able to keep up and we still got just a fraction done of what I wanted to do. It's crazy, I would have thought we'd do everything I wanted and have time to spare but not the case. The parks are so much bigger and spread out than I imagined. Plus my group took plenty of time to smell the roses which is fine I guess. We did not get to Indiana Jones, Beauty and the Beast, muppets, or Backlot tour and those were all things I wanted to check out. Of course since we had some teenage attitude issues, we never once made a rope drop the entire trip (we did usually get to the parks within the first hour or two though). If we were good about rope drop we could have done so much more. Not so much because there is no lines, since we didn't deal with long lines anyway, but simply to have more time. In November, the hours aren't near as long at the parks and you can really do open-close which is what I wish we could have done. I can't blame it all on the teenager though since I was running a little on empty myself.

All in all, we really liked Studios and that may be because the kids are older too. Also, David seemed to be happier at this park than he was at MK so that was good.

We then headed for the bus stops and David saw a TTC bus all ready and waiting and wanted to do that one. I would have preferred the one that went right to the Poly but since there wasn't one there yet, we went with what was available. WE walked to the Poly from TTC which isn't bad. I did watch my feet though since I have a severe snake phobia and was scared something would grab me from the bushes! Oh...the Poly is the most beautiful thing ever at night. I couldn't quit talking about how much I loved the tiki torches the whole trip!

since I'm scared of being booted off again, I'm going to wrap this up now but continue on soon with all the deets on the Luau!

 

[BridgetR3]

When I'm typing out my updates, I always type them in my OpenOffice (word-type program) so it doesn't get deleted on me as the PP said. I'm sorry you had to retype it all but I did want you to know that I am enjoying your updates!

 

[FosterA]

DAY 3-part 5

So after we got back to our room, it was probably only 6 pm and the Luau wasn't until 8 so we had some chill time. I took a bath and tried to feel like a human again. Ian went swimming and down the slide for the 400th time. David probably played on his laptop. Allison took off for a hammock on the beach and I think she even roasted some marshmallows and watched part of a movie on the beach.

At one point there was a child at the pool that shrieked one long continuous shriek that lasted an hour, I swear. I was up in the room and was concerned that maybe it was Ian getting his hyper on. He has been known to scream like a girl. Luckily, it wasn't my child and whatever parent had this child wasn't the least bit concerned that their kid was waking up the dead. The child was having fun and happy, not in trouble or anything. But....if you are looking for quiet, the rooms facing the volcano pool are not for you!

Here's a couple pics from the Poly at night:

Around 7:30 I thought we should head to Luau Cove. I called Allison to tell her that we would pick her up at the pool on our way and she better be ready. She assured us she was. Low and behold, we get down to the pool and she doesn't have any shoes or flip flops or anything I'm thinking that we're about to go eat a 200 dollar dinner so shoes on my kid would be nice! So back up to the room we sent her to get dressed.

We made our way to Luau Cove and it's just so amazing and pretty there at night Why I have no photos of the area is a mystery.
You make a couple stops before you get into the building to eat. First stop is a ticket-taker guy who is out on the walkway. I got up to him and gave him our name BUT.....nobody reminded me and I forgot, but we were supposed to pick up tickets at the front desk when we checked in the other day. oooops. It took some minor confusion but eventually we got cleared to continue on. However, the guy handed Dave a piece of paper and I assumed it was just a seating assignment or something. It turned out to be the ticket basically with the full prices I paid right there in bold print Now....my poor clueless husband gave me the ok to spend the total amount of our vacation (as long as I promised not to charge anything) but he never really knew the breakdown of anything, like how much party was, how much dinner shows were, etc etc. He just knew the big picture. I wanted to keep him out of the loop since he wasn't feeling so magical on the trip and no need for him to be grumpy that certain meals cost certain amounts, yada yada. Anyway....he saw the price and was like "whoa!". I snatched the ticket back from him and told him to mind his own business and go buy a drink

After the ticket taker guy you go to the next stop and they have somebody that takes your family photo and then they will bring it to your table later to see if you want to buy it. We did it but unfortunately all 4 of us were too vain and didn't like how we looked so we didn't buy it.

After the photo guy, you move into a court-yard type place that is so pretty and you look out over the water and we even saw MK fireworks going off. You just sort of mingle around this area while you wait to be seated. They had a bartender set up and you could buy drinks. Of course since I had sent David over there, he was ordering us margaritas. He was disappointed though because they were just pre-mixed and not "real" margaritas. I agree...I'd think with an expensive type show like this, that you should have "real" drinks. We didn't mind paying for them of course, but I'd expect more than just pre-mixed margaritas for 8 dollars or whatever they were.

So then they took us to our seats. The seats are super duper close together and I think it's supposed to make it like a family/party/bonding thing. I didn't mind at all really. We were actually on the end of a row so we only had neighbors on one side. I knew David wouldn't be comfortable chatting with other people (when he eats, he eats and doesn't like to bother with talking) I didn't strike up any conversations since I was feeling kind of blah.

Right off the bat they came out and took drink orders and brought us salad and bread and fruit. Allison thought she died and went to heaven since those are her 3 favorite foods! Ian just ate the bread. We liked ALL of that food so far. Since it had been 5 minutes since Dave's last drink, he had to order one right away. He insisted on this Monkey head souvenir cup. Remember, he also bought a skull souvenir back at Pirates of Carribbean ride the other day. What's with this head/skull collecting thing??

Since I'm so paranoid of being logged off again, I'm going to wrap this up. More real soon! Like...was this Luau worth it and would I do it again?

 

[joy13]

It sounds like the Poly was the perfect place for you guys to stay! Can't wait to hear more about the Luau!

 

[disneylovin24]

I had to come and catch up, I havent read in a few days.

Im sorry you werent feeling great for Star Tours I love that ride, I havent been on it since they re-did it though

Cant wait to hear about the Luau!

 

[Chicago Mo]

Need to know about the Luau!!! When we do return to WDW we are DEFINITELY going back to the Poly. we haven't done the Luau!!!
So Sorry to hear you didn't like Star Tours! but can understand it is NOT for someone who has motion sickness.

 

[FosterA]

That happens with the posts. A lot of people type in Word or Notepad first, then copy/paste to the DIS. Sorry it happened to you

I loved your DHS day. I haven't done GMR in over a decade and you make me want to try it again.

Disney is the master of crowd control. They have a way of making it feel less crowded than it is most of the time, and in lines where there tend to be crowds, they provide queue entertainment, so you don't feel like you're waiting as long. They also add "weave mazes" so that you always feel like you're moving. An example is overhead TVs that started in the 80s and 90s, and now the interactive queues for attractions like TSMM, Buzz, HM, Pooh, etc.

The exceptions are large shows (Fantasmic!) and parades. They haven't been able to figure out a way around crowds for those.

My DD Katie also is into GOOD music. Posters of Jim Morrison and Pink Floyd in her bedroom, GNR, Sublime, and Beatles T shirts since she was about 7. (She's 19 now and still wears some of the same shirts) I noticed your Allison's Queen shirt earlier in the report and meant to comment on that as well.

A little under the weather - so enough of my ramblings for now...

Ok, I'm going to start typing in Word now. David suggested that when I told him about how I lost everything but I wasn't sure it would work. Now that a Dis person says it can, I believe it. yay.
You are so right about the crowd control and how Disney manages to make lines look small when they aren't! I commented on that to Dave several times on the trip. They are experts for sure!

When I'm typing out my updates, I always type them in my OpenOffice (word-type program) so it doesn't get deleted on me as the PP said. I'm sorry you had to retype it all but I did want you to know that I am enjoying your updates!

Thanks for the advice which I'm going to take for sure! Glad to have you along on the TR

It sounds like the Poly was the perfect place for you guys to stay! Can't wait to hear more about the Luau!

Luau info coming right up

I had to come and catch up, I havent read in a few days.

Im sorry you werent feeling great for Star Tours I love that ride, I havent been on it since they re-did it though

Cant wait to hear about the Luau!

Welcome back If you loved Star Tours before, you will really love it now. Though I felt bad on it, I could see that it was actually a super cool ride. If you don't get motion sick easy of course....

Need to know about the Luau!!! When we do return to WDW we are DEFINITELY going back to the Poly. we haven't done the Luau!!!
So Sorry to hear you didn't like Star Tours! but can understand it is NOT for someone who has motion sickness.

Lucky, you at least know you will return one day. I'm not sure we will. I might with friends or Allison but not sure I can talk Dave into another family trip. I might have to bribe him and work my magic.

 

[FosterA]

DAY 3-part 6


Ok so we got all settled at our table and we got the drinks started and all that. The meal comes with free wine and beer which I would have been fine with but David is sort of a beer snob and none of the choices were acceptable to him so he ordered specialty drinks. I already felt like we spent enough on this dinner so I didn’t love that he was spending more on drinks but he is sort of the bread-winner in the family and if he needed fancy alcohol to help him survive WDW, then so be it. I had calculated up a rough idea on how much to budget for each of our days and we were quite under-budget (nice!) since our kids eat even less than we thought they did so we weren’t spending near as much on food as I figured we would. That left more money for Dave’s fancy drinks!

Our server was a nice lady but she seemed very rushed the whole time so she wasn’t near as talkative and friendly and some of the other servers we had dealt with on the trip. Well, we’d only been to Kona and Sci fi at this point as far as table service places I guess. Anyway….the server was very old I thought, which is fine, but the Luau is sort of a fast-paced serving situation since things are brought out during certain segments of the show and such. She seemed like she was really struggling to keep up.

The tables are super close, like I said. You can see in this photo, to the right of the monkey head, how close our neighbors were to us.

They do very well at the show with the timing as far as bringing the food out and letting you eat during down-times. I was worried about that because David eats like a crazy person and is completely focused on his food when he eats and would not be watching the show. However, they time it out nice so you don’t miss things.

The main dish ,which was chicken and ribs, was fine. We all liked the chicken and David said the chicken was really good. However, the ribs not so much. They seemed to be just boiled with BBQ sauce poured over them. Dave is particular about his BBQ stuff since he’s a Texan and Texans come out of the womb smoking ribs. The food is unlimited so you can really chow down if you want. We only had one round since the kids don’t eat much and I wasn’t at my full appetite or couldn’t taste much anyway.

The table right next to us had two small girls (10 or 11ish) sitting at it and they had ordered the PB&J uncrustables. I have a super picky kid too but I thought it was funny to pay that much and eat PB&J! All Ian had was the bread and chicken and ribs and he wont eat things on the bone really so I had to tear it up for him. Ugh…picky picky. At least I only have one child with eating problems!


OK….as much as I want to say we LOVED this show, I really can’t. I’ve loved everything else so far on this trip but this Luau is the one thing (besides Star Tours) that I don’t really want to do again. I mean, I wouldn’t say we regretted it at all since it was different and the setting is stunning as far as the open-air theatre and it was a beautiful night with the tiki torches all over the place and such. But…I’d say the first half or first ¾ of the show was pretty boring and cheesy. The last part was the best with the authentic Hawaiian dancing and stuff. I had read the reviews and was aware that the show wasn’t super popular and I had heard that the first part was dumb but I still wanted to do it. Mainly because David had requested to do it and he only requested two things the entire trip. Stay at poly, do Luau. He had seen a tiny clip of it on our Disney Planning DVD and thought it would be cool. I had read the negative reviews and almost didn’t book it but I didn’t want to hear David say “you want my advice and to be part of the planning, yet when I do pick something you turn it down!”. So….that’s why we booked it.

Like I said, the last part was pretty cool with the fire dancers and such. At one point they brought 3 or 4 guys up from the guests to dance with the hula dancers. There was one big African American guy that they drug up there and 2 or 3 nerdy white guys. I thought “oh this is going to be good because I bet that guy can get his groove on”. Turns out he couldn’t dance at all and the white guys were shaking it all over the place! Everybody really laughed at this part.

After the show, I interviewed David on what he thought and he said “it was ok, but not worth the price and the ribs were horrible”. I told him that I had read some negative reviews and he’s like “well, then how come you didn’t tell me to pick something else”. I was like “because then you’d say I always change your plans and I didn’t want to discourage you from giving me planning input in the future”. Out of us 4, Allison loved it the most simply because she’s obsessed with fruit and salad and there was plenty of that. She still talks about the bread!

So, in a nutshell…I don’t “regret” doing the Luau but I would not do it again.

Stay tuned for Day 4. Animal Kingdom Day!