Unimpressed

[Rob6458]

Well just got back yesterday after 21 days in Florida. We stayed at the Howard Johnson Maingate West, If anyone has ever been to Butlins at Ayr in Scotland then they will know what I am on about. Although the rooms were clean they were in need of decorating, The sheets were changed once in 3 weeks and the blankets could have done with a boil wash, Thank god they had a launderette. The 1st day we ate at the Golden Corral and it was great, The 2nd day we ate ate the hotel and it was disgusting. The pool although heated was dirty the bottom was covered in leaves and a lump of tissue was on the bottom of the pool when we arrived and departed. They had a bar which opened and closed when it wanted. Every Friday coach loads of teenagers would arrive for the weekend and they spent most of the night running up and down making as much noise as they could. My advice give this motel a miss. We have 2 boys aged 8 and 10 so we bought tickets for every park, By day 9 they had had enough, The only parks they enjoyed were Busch gardens, Epcot, Gatorland, and Seaworld. Wet and Wild was the best waterpark then we had to use Typhoon lagoon as Blizzard beach closed. We visited Kennedy Space Centre but you don't have time to see everything in one day. Now onto the parades and fireworks. Fantasmic was good, and the Fireworks at Epcot. But as for the parade and fireworks at Magic Kingdom pathetic. There is a better parade at weston supermare carnival and better fireworks at weymouth. The good points were, The people were friendly probably due to the fact that you were paying a lot of money for very little, The driving was easy due to the fact that the roads were full of Brits cruising along at 20mph. My kids did enjoy Disneyquest and could have happily played there for 21 days and they enjoyed the meal at the rainforrest cafe, but I thought the prices were a bit high for a few stuffed animals and a tape recording of rainfall. Now the big question would I go back Florida. Never, but I am considering doing a tour of the north and maybe visiting Graceland in a couple of years.

 

[Disneyolic]

Sorry to hear about your trip. To spend that much money to feel that way is very sad. Hope your next vacation, wherever it may be, is much better for you.

~DawnMaree

 

[Memaw2Wm]

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your vacation ... but I gotta admit I don't think I could spent more than 10-14 days in FL at a stretch before I'd burn out (I'm exhausted after 7 days) and I LOVE Disney.

Hope your next visited to the States is better!

 

[geffric]

Sorry your trip wasn't what you had expected.

I agree and Busch Gardens and SeaWorld are great places. Hope your next trip is better... and by all means come North or West and see the MOuntains, etc.

 

[brownsoup]

If Orlando did little for you ... Graceland will hardly make you yawn....Steve

 

[>>^..^<<]

Florida is expensive no matter what type of accomodation you have... but it is so much more enjoyable to stay at a nicer hotel.

Some people don't care - they just plan to sleep there and be out and about the rest of the time. I wouldn't want to sleep anywhere I wouldn't spend time awake.

Maybe you were there too long? 21 days is quite a stretch, maybe 2 weeks at a nicer resort would have been better.

You are the first person I have ever heard of being disappointed in the parades and fireworks... that is interesting as they don't do anything for me either and I never make any special plans to see them, but I love the rest of Disney.

Hope you enjoy the next trip you are planning.

>>^..^<<

 

[Pamlur]

You can tour Graceland in a half day or less, and the surrounding area is not a place you'd want to linger.

I am sorry you didn't enjoy Orlando. We stayed 7 days onsite, and although the kids and grandkids could have stayed another 7, my husband was ready to come home 2 days earlier.

 

[lisa raino]

If you and your family plan such vacations every year (in terms of time spent and exposure to what are, for most of us, once-in-a-lifetime adventures) you are probably immune to the novelty and fun that most get out of an Orlando vacation. Try taking a couple years off (how about Yosemite or Yellowstone?) and then spend a week at WDW. I bet you will all rediscover the magic!

You are likely suffering from too-much-of-a-good-thing.

 

[billybaruch1]

You might want to consider staying at a Disney resort instead of HoJo. By doing so, you may avoid most of the negatives about which you wrote.

I would imagine that for a 3-week stay you could get Annual Passes and save a bundle on accommodations and park tickets. Or, you could rent a house with a pool for less than a 3-week stay at Howard Johnson's, I believe.

Of course, if only Epcot and DisneyQuest were enjoyable, there ARE lots of other places to have a holiday.

 

[dianemb]

HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO TAKE A 8 AND 10 YEAR OLD OUT OF SCHOOL FOR 21 DAYS? IT DOES SOUND LIKE YOU WERE THERE FOR TOO LONG OF A TRIP.

 

[jiminyfan]

and please come back. We have lots to offer, try to visit as much of it as you can. If you are disappointed at one place come backa nd try another. I am sure you will find a happy place somewhere.


It is a great place to visit and explore. If you come back every year for a few weeks you can cover ost tourist areas in the next 15 or so years. we appreciate you open honest opinoins, too bad the trip didn't meet your expectations, but then again you never know what to expect until you get there.

 

[CrayzeeDiz]

The first and Biggest mistake is that you stayed outside of DW. Next time I would suggest Either the Beach Club or Boardwalk resorts. You sure as hell wont have any problems with the Pools at these resorts.

I would suggest that if you wanted to visit Florida for 21 days that you would break up your trip into different segments.

Maybe spend a week at Disney, Maybe a few days in Cocoa Beach and maybe a few days in Southern florida - Maybe Key West. Or Sanibel Island. Seems that you wasted alot of time. Florida is a beautiful fun place and I'm sorry you missed it.

I have never been to England but I hope that if I went there for 3 weeks that I would see evrything there was to offer and stayed at good accomadations before I decided to put the place down..

 

[Montana Minnies]

Sorry to hear you did not enjoy your stay.
Not everyone is a "Mouse fan" and that's OK. I'm from Montana and the first time I went to WDW was Aug of 1977 and it was so hot I felt as if I had stepped into a sauna! My sister told me it was a trip of a life time and we would probably never be back because it cost so much. Nine years later we went again with my parents and then in 1988 we went with my older brother and his family. We took a 15 year break and decided to go last summer when the FTP came out, we were able to stay for 6 days at the AKL and it was great! A lot had changed in 15 years.
I have found out that people have different preferences on where they like to vacation and my sister and I just enjoy WDW. We will go again next year for 10 days with 8 members of our family. My brother, his wife and 3 daughters and our 84 year old mother. My brother would rather be doing something else, but his wife insists he goes because his youngest daughter has not been there yet. He' s more interested in history than in "Mickey Mouse". So I hope he will be able to sight see some of the historical places while we are there.
If you are interested in the outdoors the states have some wonderful national parks to see as was suggested earlier. I live about 150 miles from one of them.
When I was 16 I went to Europe for a month and to tell you the truth as educational and fun as it was I did get homesick. Now that was a trip of a life time!
I hope you come and visit us again and have a better time.
Enid

 

[Miffy2003]

Originally posted by Rob6458
Well just got back yesterday after 21 days in Florida. We stayed at the Howard Johnson Maingate West, If anyone has ever been to Butlins at Ayr in Scotland then they will know what I am on about. Although the rooms were clean they were in need of decorating, The sheets were changed once in 3 weeks and the blankets could have done with a boil wash, Thank god they had a launderette.

What a shame you had such a bad time. We stayed at this HoJo's last year and although it was basic it was perfectly clean and there was no noise. To be honest we did not expect more than basic due to the price we paid for it though!

I'm surprised you prefer the fireworks & parade at Weymouth & Weston Super Mare as I have seen both and IMHO neither even vaguely compares to the Disney equivalent.

I hope you have a much better holiday next time, whatever you do - if you're like me, a holiday is something you look forward to all year round and there is nothing worse than when it disappoints!

Karen

 

[justynsaunt]

Originally posted by Rob6458
Well just got back yesterday after 21 days in Florida. We stayed at the Howard Johnson Maingate West, If anyone has ever been to Butlins at Ayr in Scotland then they will know what I am on about.

Rob,

You stayed far too long. A week to 10 days is plenty. As for the accomodations, same as in Britain, you often get what you pay for. I personally would never have stayed at that hotel. For your length of stay you could have easily rented a house with a pool (sans paper in it) that I think you would have found far more satisfactory.

Was your vacation a package deal? I suspect so otherwise you probably would have changed hotels. Did you research the hotel and the various places you wanted to go? Invest in a good guide book? To my way of thinking if I were going to any place (I'm going to DW for a week in December and have done all of these things) for that amount of time I would have to do some serious planning. I'm not trying to say you didn't plan for this it's just that I can't fathom why you wanted to stay for 3 weeks. Ferry around the Greek Islands sure! France or Italy absolutely! Orlando...couldn't do it.


If it's just a situation where Orlando and it's attractions did not meet expectations I'm sorry to hear that. It sucks when you spend so much money on a vacation and it doesn't come out the way you want.

 

[Kay1]

Thanks for all the honest info. Also, HoJo's can be iffy.

 

[Rob6458]

I don't think 21 days was to long as we wanted to do all the parks in the first 14 days then go to the beach and waterparks for the last 7 days. I also posted on this site for info on the howard johnson maingate and there were no negative replies. If I do return then I would definetly stay at a walt disney hotel as we went to one for the character breakfast and the atmosphere was completly different to hojo's. The thing that annoys me is that cost didn't come into it and I would happily have paid extra to stay at a Disney hotel if the travel agent or someone had advised me to do so. So my advice to anyone planning the 1st trip to WDW stay at a disney hotel if you can afford the extra cost.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Wow!

I think I noticed that this was your 4th post. Did you come to the boards beforehand to give your itinerary or ask for ideas?

You deserved clean rooms and a pool and quiet, sorry for that.
I feel bad that you came all the way to Florida and didn't enjoy yourselves as much as I did when I was there last weekend for 3 nights.

May the road that you travel next be kinder!

Bobbi

 

[Evil Princess]

Originally posted by Rob6458
I don't think 21 days was to long as we wanted to do all the parks in the first 14 days then go to the beach and waterparks for the last 7 days. I also posted on this site for info on the howard johnson maingate and there were no negative replies. If I do return then I would definetly stay at a walt disney hotel as we went to one for the character breakfast and the atmosphere was completly different to hojo's. The thing that annoys me is that cost didn't come into it and I would happily have paid extra to stay at a Disney hotel if the travel agent or someone had advised me to do so. So my advice to anyone planning the 1st trip to WDW stay at a disney hotel if you can afford the extra cost.

14 days for all the parks? Let see, thats 4 Disney parks, 2 Universal, say you did Busch Gardens and Seaworld..8 parks. A little less than 2 days for each parks. Not all of those parks are two day parks.

Personally, I definitely think that you stayed too long. I couldn't go ANYWHERE for 21 days only on a vacation, even Disney. Two weeks would be more than enough time for me.

Like someone else said, you get what you pay for. HoJo's are not exactly amazing places to stay for the weekend, let alone three weeks. If you came here posting your situation beforehand I'm sure someone would've steered you towards a Disney resort.

 

[tazz23]

We stayed for 12 days in a hojo and apart from the first night, when the fire alarm went off, our stay was wonderful! we stayed at howard johnson plaza and suites in hawaiian court but we had researched the accomodation to begin with as we were told that hojos can be iffy- but this one is near the convention centre and so they get a lot of business people, which meant that service had to be on top form. However, saying that, if we could afford to stay onsite (we only paid $22 per room per night for the hojo througha special deal) we would definately choose to do so!