princess_ariel_85
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2011
- Messages
- 1,837
We landed back home this morning *sob* I can't believe we're back already. On the whole it was a pretty awesome trip. Disney did not disappoint.
Our lows...
~ We flew with Thomson and we can't really fault the staff on the flight. However we (and not for the first time) found the resort reps a little disorganised. I'm glad we've been enough times now to know how to do things and to do things the way we like them. On our arrival we were given a time sheet of when and where the Thomson rep would be available and that on our first morning in All Star Sports a rep would be there 8am for the welcome meeting.
We figured we'd go down, get breakfast early, get some shuttle passes to get to Universal a few days later from the rep and head out to Magic Kingdom. Good plan right? Wrong ha ha. No rep showed up. Like I said earlier I'm glad we know what we're doing and how we want to do it. We called Mears ourselves. I felt very sorry for a family with small children who were also waiting for the rep to show. They had never been to WDW and didn't really know what to expect or what to do.
This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Last year we arranged to meet a rep in the Pop Century lobby. They never showed. So I went back to the hotel room in case they went there, which they hadn't. We went to Epcot for a few hours and came back. At this point they'd left an answer phone message saying the rep was poorly and someone else will meet us later, no time or anything, just 'later' ha ha.
~ This one was a little frustrating. One night we had dinner booked at Planet Hollywood, we ate there last year and really liked it. I was particulary looking forward to a cocktail. We got ready and got the bus down to Disney Springs. We hadn't eaten much during the day and were getting quite hungry. When we reached Planet Hollywood the gentleman at the bottom of the stairs told us all reservations had been cancelled due to a private event. Apparently they told Disney two weeks ago and Disney should have informed us. Only thing we got from Disney was the email the day before reminding us of the reservation.
They were the only real lows so can't complain too much. The highs were much better.
~ MNSSHP is always a high. I love the costumes and the candy. DH dressed up as Fix it Felix and as we were coming out of Haunted Mansion he found some 'friends'. King Candy, Ralph and Vanellope were there and as soon as they saw DH they came straight over. It did rain but it wasn't too much of an issue. We got loads of candy. I love candy corn and we hit every trick or treat station in MK. I never got a single candy corn, DH got a few but was mean and wouldn't swap ha ha. At our last station I asked the CM if she would let me have a packet. The CM then said I could have all the candy corn and handed me loads, made my night.
~ HHN. This is the second time we have done this and even though I think our previous time was better we still had an amazing night. I don't like the sound of chainsaws so of course everyone had chainsaws. The houses were good, the Walking Dead wasn't as good as previous but the Purge was brilliant. Our favourite house was the Asylum in Wonderland 3D. The Bill and Ted show was funny too.
~ Le Cellier was top notch as always. Service was very good and food was wonderful. We also ate at Rainforest Café which was a let down, over half an hour wait for starters and it was so so cold. Biergarten was as good as previous visits. Crystal Palace was fun and we had the best server of the vacation there. Tried Yak and Yeti for the first time and enjoyed that too.
~ Half way through our vacation we were headed to Le Cellier and DH's parents surprised us. We had initially invited them to come to Florida but they couldn't get the time off. Somehow they managed to get the second week and didn't tell us. Before we flew out they came to visit us and our plans were stuck on the fridge so they knew exactly where we'd be on the day they landed. Some impressive stalkery going on there lol
~ We rented a beach shack at Typhoon Lagoon. Originally we weren't going to bother with there just being two of us, but when DH's parents joined us we decided it was a good idea. Absolutely loved it, no fighting for space, could relax without being disturbed and CM's to fetch food for you so you could stay seated and not queue up. Worth the money imo.
~ Food and Wine festival. I personally enjoyed it, DH not so much. It was pretty hectic and quite probably a dumb decision to go in the evening on a weekend but we'll learn from that. We tried some of the food and apart from the croissant escargot (far too much garlic, didn't notice the snail) from France I enjoyed everything I tasted. My favourite was either the Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey Caramel from the Chew Lab or the Tuna Poke from Hawaii. Delicious.
Other points - Weather was pretty good, had the odd bit of rain. I still love Columbia Harbour House and it's shrimp. Most of the other guests were polite and friendly, CM's were nice and the new Star Wars shop was great (though I was hoping for the remote control BB8)
Our lows...
~ We flew with Thomson and we can't really fault the staff on the flight. However we (and not for the first time) found the resort reps a little disorganised. I'm glad we've been enough times now to know how to do things and to do things the way we like them. On our arrival we were given a time sheet of when and where the Thomson rep would be available and that on our first morning in All Star Sports a rep would be there 8am for the welcome meeting.
We figured we'd go down, get breakfast early, get some shuttle passes to get to Universal a few days later from the rep and head out to Magic Kingdom. Good plan right? Wrong ha ha. No rep showed up. Like I said earlier I'm glad we know what we're doing and how we want to do it. We called Mears ourselves. I felt very sorry for a family with small children who were also waiting for the rep to show. They had never been to WDW and didn't really know what to expect or what to do.
This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Last year we arranged to meet a rep in the Pop Century lobby. They never showed. So I went back to the hotel room in case they went there, which they hadn't. We went to Epcot for a few hours and came back. At this point they'd left an answer phone message saying the rep was poorly and someone else will meet us later, no time or anything, just 'later' ha ha.
~ This one was a little frustrating. One night we had dinner booked at Planet Hollywood, we ate there last year and really liked it. I was particulary looking forward to a cocktail. We got ready and got the bus down to Disney Springs. We hadn't eaten much during the day and were getting quite hungry. When we reached Planet Hollywood the gentleman at the bottom of the stairs told us all reservations had been cancelled due to a private event. Apparently they told Disney two weeks ago and Disney should have informed us. Only thing we got from Disney was the email the day before reminding us of the reservation.
They were the only real lows so can't complain too much. The highs were much better.
~ MNSSHP is always a high. I love the costumes and the candy. DH dressed up as Fix it Felix and as we were coming out of Haunted Mansion he found some 'friends'. King Candy, Ralph and Vanellope were there and as soon as they saw DH they came straight over. It did rain but it wasn't too much of an issue. We got loads of candy. I love candy corn and we hit every trick or treat station in MK. I never got a single candy corn, DH got a few but was mean and wouldn't swap ha ha. At our last station I asked the CM if she would let me have a packet. The CM then said I could have all the candy corn and handed me loads, made my night.
~ HHN. This is the second time we have done this and even though I think our previous time was better we still had an amazing night. I don't like the sound of chainsaws so of course everyone had chainsaws. The houses were good, the Walking Dead wasn't as good as previous but the Purge was brilliant. Our favourite house was the Asylum in Wonderland 3D. The Bill and Ted show was funny too.
~ Le Cellier was top notch as always. Service was very good and food was wonderful. We also ate at Rainforest Café which was a let down, over half an hour wait for starters and it was so so cold. Biergarten was as good as previous visits. Crystal Palace was fun and we had the best server of the vacation there. Tried Yak and Yeti for the first time and enjoyed that too.
~ Half way through our vacation we were headed to Le Cellier and DH's parents surprised us. We had initially invited them to come to Florida but they couldn't get the time off. Somehow they managed to get the second week and didn't tell us. Before we flew out they came to visit us and our plans were stuck on the fridge so they knew exactly where we'd be on the day they landed. Some impressive stalkery going on there lol
~ We rented a beach shack at Typhoon Lagoon. Originally we weren't going to bother with there just being two of us, but when DH's parents joined us we decided it was a good idea. Absolutely loved it, no fighting for space, could relax without being disturbed and CM's to fetch food for you so you could stay seated and not queue up. Worth the money imo.
~ Food and Wine festival. I personally enjoyed it, DH not so much. It was pretty hectic and quite probably a dumb decision to go in the evening on a weekend but we'll learn from that. We tried some of the food and apart from the croissant escargot (far too much garlic, didn't notice the snail) from France I enjoyed everything I tasted. My favourite was either the Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey Caramel from the Chew Lab or the Tuna Poke from Hawaii. Delicious.
Other points - Weather was pretty good, had the odd bit of rain. I still love Columbia Harbour House and it's shrimp. Most of the other guests were polite and friendly, CM's were nice and the new Star Wars shop was great (though I was hoping for the remote control BB8)
