milomummy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 15, 2007
- Messages
- 339
Well, we're back, and what a shock it is too! On Wednesday we were in Miami and it was 32 degrees at 12pm, landed yesterday in Dusseldorf, local time of 11am and it was -6 and snow everywhere, bah!
Anyways, about our holiday...
As I have mentioned in another post, Disney was heaving!
We arrived in Orlando on 23rd and mooched around at DTD for the evening just checking it all out.
On 24th we went to Hollywood Studios and rode TSM twice with minimal wait times, also wandered around it all, met a few characters and just had a lovely few hours there.
Christmas Day we spent at Seaworld (free, due to hubby being in forces, yay!). It was really good, low crowd levels, there was a heavy rain shower but we just so happened to be undercover watching the Shamu show at the time so it didn't affect us! Loved the Sealion show, the guy who 'entertains' before the show was SO funny, I was literally crying! We had a lovely meal at Sharks Grill, they allowed me a kid's portion as I don't eat much meat and nothing on the adult menu appealed. Lovely food, good surrounding. We had a really enjoyable, but also kind of surreal day! Mad to be in shorts and vest top eating pasta on Christmas Day. Had a lovely evening meal at a Dennys too.
Boxing Day we spent at Blizzard Beach. Also felt very surreal with weather being so good. It got pretty busy pretty quickly and there were a few obnoxious people around. Loved the family raft ride thingy (can't remember name) and DS loved the toboggan slide. I hated it myself, got proper bashed around but he loved it. Loads to do here and spent a very enjoyable day.
Hit the shops on Saturday. Never been to the States before so can't compare prices, but we certainly weren't complaining at the prices of things!
Sunday evening we ventured into Magic Kingdom, arrived in time to watch the Parade, got DS a stroller here due to the vast amount of people, figured he'd be safer contained. All rides were stupidly busy initially, but we vowed to stay for the fireworks so ambled around for a while, managed to go on Buzz ride and its a small world watched the fireworks and then went back to the hotel. We were all amazed by the fireworks, will never be able to watch a local display again without thinking of what we saw that evening. The lighting of the castle etc with Tinkerbell flying was a memory I'll treasure.
For the rest of our stay we meandered around, a few hours shopping, time by the pool, and a few forays into Disney. The crowd levels really put us off, we tried getting to Studios for opening to get back on TSM but as Wayne (I think) mentioned, even the FP line was massive, so not a chance. We tried it on a different day later on, but same situation.
We went to AK early one morning and spent a few hours there, did 'It's tough to be a bug', Dinosaur, Triceratops spin and a few other bits, but then suddenly it was jam packed, so we left.
None of us fancied Epcot, and having spoken with a few other holiday makers regarding the crowds there, we decided not to even try it. Probably wrong, but hey ho!
Did contemplate Universal but didn't get round to it, we decided that the queues would be similar to Disney and therefore a waste of money as we'd already spent over £500 on our Disney tickets.
Our hotel was fab..Best Western Lakeside. I was really pleased with all of it, it was spotlessly cleaned each day, the maid was really courteous, left us little notes (prob because we tipped well lol!), the pool was good, the staff were friendly, yes the timeshare lady was pushy but I just walked away, bad me! The location was perfect for us, some eateries nearby, walgreens on the parking lot, Winn Dixie over the road. The room was a good size, good sized fridge, safe, bath with overhead shower, excellent storage facilities and a laundry downstairs that was cheap enough. One minor grumble, the walls are quite thin and next door were incredibly noisy, to the point that one night I was tempted to hammer on their door and tell them to shut up! I have lived in flats for the past 5 years so am extra sensitive on being mindful of others and I expect the same in return!
The Disney experience had one sour point for me aside from the sheer volume of people (which I did expect!) and it was at the Studios. DH got me and him a FP for RNR coaster. We went just after the alloted time, and showed our FP tickets to the CM, we said that we needed to parent switch too as DS is only 5 and not at all able to ride. Initially she said one of us could get in the FP line and the other could go through the exit and wait with DS to switch. Then suddenly she changed her mind and said that one of us could go in the FP line and the other would have to sit and wait with DS for the other to come off the ride before having to line up all over again.
I wasn't very happy as in DLRP we were able to do it as she first said. DH went first and after 40 minutes he returned. I was furious as I would have had a smililar wait in the FP line which would have meant poor DS would have waited over an hour in the heat for us both to ride. So I spoke to the CM who literally turned her back on me! I wasn't rude at all, I just said that I felt she had been unfair on us. I went to Guest relations and made a complaint and was given 6 FP tokens (not valid for TSM) but didn't use them, I was really angry and I must admit that I cried in frustration. A really sour taste was in my mouth!
So, our highlights were:
MK Fireworks
Osborne Lights (wow, they are amazing!)
SHOPPING! (went out with 3 half filled cases, came back with 3 full cases and 2 full large holdalls!)
TSM - loved it, but won't line up for 2 and a half hours for it, no way.
Low Points
CM at R N R coaster
T-Rex meal...rubbish food, noisy inside, slow staff, expensive!
As a final note, I have to thank Mapman..his map saved many an argument, it was so fabulous, and helped us avoid the car park that is also known as the I4 a few times. I strongly recommend it to anyone and everyone. Today we went in to the Travel Agents and thanked them for their help in organising it all etc and one of the guys in there is off in April, so I have promised to lend him mine, I swear it is utterly indespensible
Anyways, about our holiday...
As I have mentioned in another post, Disney was heaving!
We arrived in Orlando on 23rd and mooched around at DTD for the evening just checking it all out.
On 24th we went to Hollywood Studios and rode TSM twice with minimal wait times, also wandered around it all, met a few characters and just had a lovely few hours there.
Christmas Day we spent at Seaworld (free, due to hubby being in forces, yay!). It was really good, low crowd levels, there was a heavy rain shower but we just so happened to be undercover watching the Shamu show at the time so it didn't affect us! Loved the Sealion show, the guy who 'entertains' before the show was SO funny, I was literally crying! We had a lovely meal at Sharks Grill, they allowed me a kid's portion as I don't eat much meat and nothing on the adult menu appealed. Lovely food, good surrounding. We had a really enjoyable, but also kind of surreal day! Mad to be in shorts and vest top eating pasta on Christmas Day. Had a lovely evening meal at a Dennys too.
Boxing Day we spent at Blizzard Beach. Also felt very surreal with weather being so good. It got pretty busy pretty quickly and there were a few obnoxious people around. Loved the family raft ride thingy (can't remember name) and DS loved the toboggan slide. I hated it myself, got proper bashed around but he loved it. Loads to do here and spent a very enjoyable day.
Hit the shops on Saturday. Never been to the States before so can't compare prices, but we certainly weren't complaining at the prices of things!
Sunday evening we ventured into Magic Kingdom, arrived in time to watch the Parade, got DS a stroller here due to the vast amount of people, figured he'd be safer contained. All rides were stupidly busy initially, but we vowed to stay for the fireworks so ambled around for a while, managed to go on Buzz ride and its a small world watched the fireworks and then went back to the hotel. We were all amazed by the fireworks, will never be able to watch a local display again without thinking of what we saw that evening. The lighting of the castle etc with Tinkerbell flying was a memory I'll treasure.
For the rest of our stay we meandered around, a few hours shopping, time by the pool, and a few forays into Disney. The crowd levels really put us off, we tried getting to Studios for opening to get back on TSM but as Wayne (I think) mentioned, even the FP line was massive, so not a chance. We tried it on a different day later on, but same situation.
We went to AK early one morning and spent a few hours there, did 'It's tough to be a bug', Dinosaur, Triceratops spin and a few other bits, but then suddenly it was jam packed, so we left.
None of us fancied Epcot, and having spoken with a few other holiday makers regarding the crowds there, we decided not to even try it. Probably wrong, but hey ho!
Did contemplate Universal but didn't get round to it, we decided that the queues would be similar to Disney and therefore a waste of money as we'd already spent over £500 on our Disney tickets.
Our hotel was fab..Best Western Lakeside. I was really pleased with all of it, it was spotlessly cleaned each day, the maid was really courteous, left us little notes (prob because we tipped well lol!), the pool was good, the staff were friendly, yes the timeshare lady was pushy but I just walked away, bad me! The location was perfect for us, some eateries nearby, walgreens on the parking lot, Winn Dixie over the road. The room was a good size, good sized fridge, safe, bath with overhead shower, excellent storage facilities and a laundry downstairs that was cheap enough. One minor grumble, the walls are quite thin and next door were incredibly noisy, to the point that one night I was tempted to hammer on their door and tell them to shut up! I have lived in flats for the past 5 years so am extra sensitive on being mindful of others and I expect the same in return!
The Disney experience had one sour point for me aside from the sheer volume of people (which I did expect!) and it was at the Studios. DH got me and him a FP for RNR coaster. We went just after the alloted time, and showed our FP tickets to the CM, we said that we needed to parent switch too as DS is only 5 and not at all able to ride. Initially she said one of us could get in the FP line and the other could go through the exit and wait with DS to switch. Then suddenly she changed her mind and said that one of us could go in the FP line and the other would have to sit and wait with DS for the other to come off the ride before having to line up all over again.
I wasn't very happy as in DLRP we were able to do it as she first said. DH went first and after 40 minutes he returned. I was furious as I would have had a smililar wait in the FP line which would have meant poor DS would have waited over an hour in the heat for us both to ride. So I spoke to the CM who literally turned her back on me! I wasn't rude at all, I just said that I felt she had been unfair on us. I went to Guest relations and made a complaint and was given 6 FP tokens (not valid for TSM) but didn't use them, I was really angry and I must admit that I cried in frustration. A really sour taste was in my mouth!
So, our highlights were:
MK Fireworks
Osborne Lights (wow, they are amazing!)
SHOPPING! (went out with 3 half filled cases, came back with 3 full cases and 2 full large holdalls!)
TSM - loved it, but won't line up for 2 and a half hours for it, no way.
Low Points
CM at R N R coaster
T-Rex meal...rubbish food, noisy inside, slow staff, expensive!
As a final note, I have to thank Mapman..his map saved many an argument, it was so fabulous, and helped us avoid the car park that is also known as the I4 a few times. I strongly recommend it to anyone and everyone. Today we went in to the Travel Agents and thanked them for their help in organising it all etc and one of the guys in there is off in April, so I have promised to lend him mine, I swear it is utterly indespensible
.
