we're home :( live updates started page 2, summary on page 7

[fairytale]

Hiya Karen.

Great report so far

Were due to arrive in just over three weeks, staying at SSR and would love to hear more about the resort.

I have requested the Grandstand section, mainly for the pool as I hear its great for children, but just slightly concerned how long it will take for us to walk to DTD from this section.

 

[karentan]

wayne, where do you live? we'll post the raisins out to you!! i dont think we'll be eating them.....

fairytale, not sure about the grandstand section, but we're in the carousel and it takes us about 20 mins to walk to DTD, but its a really nice walk so we dont mind. apparently the buses come approx every 20 mins so it might be easier for you to get the bus?

buses have been great so far, went to AK today, timed it from when we sat down at the bus stop to when the bus came, took 8 mins for bus to AK, then 8 mins again for bus from AKL to SSR. while we were sat waiting for the bus (at about 10am) to AK, 2 buses for MK went past. really impressed with the buses so far.
i know a lot of people complain that it takes ages to get to the parks, but we dont find it that bad. from AKL to SSR took about 35 mins, but we went via blizzard beach and then carousel is the second stop. if we had a car, we might get to the parking lots quicker, but then you have to park and get the tram to the front of the park, which takes time, especially with MK where you have to get the boat/monorail to the park itself, whereas the buses go straight to the front gate.
we might be being lucky, and if so i've just majorly jinxed it, but the buses are fine in my opinion.

anyway, went to AKL today, it's EMH tonight, so were planning to stay late, but it was a lot busier, i think my plan of hitting EMH might get changed. ride queues were noticably longer today, about 40-50 mins for the main rides. fastpass were not on at kali which i think is stupid given how hot it was, but oh well.
went to camp minnie mickey first, got a few photos, we're in a photopass share so this is the first time that we're actually getting all the photos so trying to take more this time.
had to pizzafari for lunch, had pepperoni pizza which was one of the best pizzas i've had in ages, followed by choc cake and apple pie, me and gary went half-ers on both, and they were both yummy.
got fast passes for the safari then went over to asia, waited 45 mins in the standby queue for kali (no fastpasses, grr), then i went on EE, went in the single rider line and got on within 5 mins, went back to the safari, good as always, but i dont remember that bridge shaking last time! then went to dinoland, went on primieval (sp?) whirl and dinosaur, then decided to come back to SSR.
got back, went for a dip in the paddock pool while doing some laundry, and about to go out for dinner to WCC.

still got the remnants of this cold so annoyingly had to postpone divequest, the only time i can fit it in is next tuesday, which means i had to change my sanaa dinner to a lunch, which wasnt too happy with but i cant dive with blocked sinuses

fairytale, is there anything specific you want to know about SSR?

anyway, gotta go, got to get ready to go out for dinner!

 

[wayneg]

Enjoy Dinner, we enjoyed WCC last month.

 

[Pegasus928]

Sounds great so far - apart form your cold of course so I hope that clears up for you soon, especially as it is already meaning you have to rearrange things.
I also hope you haven't jinxed your buses - though I am sure you will tell us if you have

 

[torsie24]

Your trip sounds super so far!

Can't wait to hear more! Here's hoping the parks stay as quiet for the next two weeks!

 

[Laurafoster]

Sounds like your having a wonderful time. We're going to SSR in November so glad to hear the resort is so lovely!

 

[howlongtillsummer?]

Hope you get rid of your cold soon. Thanks for thinking of us.

 

[karentan]

hi everyone,
went to WCC last night, took the bus from SSR to MK, then the boat from MK to WL. bus from the carousel stop was there in 12 mins, and took 22 mins to get to MK. i've still got absolutely no issues with the buses, not sure what people are complaing about? i mean it'll take the same amount of time if not longer to drive to MK, park, get the parking tram, then get the ferry to the main gates. the buses drop off right outside the park, whats the problem??!! resort hopping would definately be easier with a car but its still not that bad with a bit of thought.

anyway, WCC was cool, we werent sat in the main dining room, which at first i was a bit disappointed with. theres what seems to be an overflow area through the back of the restaurant, that backs onto the pin trading cart, with 8 tables in it. we were sat there. didnt see too much of the WCC goings on, we were a bit out of the way, but we heard a lot going on. saw the ketchup thing one time and a lot of shouting. it was very loud in the main room, so it was probably a good thing that we were out back.
gary ordered the skillet and i got the rib eye steak. the cornbread was as good as i remember it being from last year, its the only cornbread i've eaten that tasted nice! they bought out garys skillet with 2 plates which i thought was odd, and then our server asked what was wrong when i put the second plate over the other side of the table, i said i ordered the steak, he looked at his pad, realised he made a mistake, apologised, and 5 mins later i had a perfectly cooked steak. after that we realised gary must have got the skillet for 2 as there were 2 of everything on there, and i had probably the best steak i've ever eaten, it was soooo good. very nice tender steak, nice cut and perfectly cooked.
i presume they get a lot of requests for dessert to go as he offered us it to eat in or take out without us having to ask. we got 2 smores cheesecakes to go, one of which i'm eating right now and its GOOD!!!
got the bus from WL to DTD, only waited about 4-5 mins for the bus to turn up, gary got a rum runner from the margarita booth and we walked back.

gary played a round of golf this morning, had a 7.36am tee time so had to get up way too early, but he played the lake buena vista course, and the pro shop is right on SSR so we walked there. great course, winds through OKW, SSR and round the back of POR and POFQ, i drove the cart (they have GPS on them which is a nice touch, shows yardages and such!), then we went back to DTD to get some lunch. went to wolfgang puck express again, we both had pizza and frozen yogurt for dessert.

really liking the dining plan so far, although you do have to do quite a bit of advance planning, which doesnt work for some people, its nice being able to order anything you want off the menu without having to worry about price, or having to skip restaurants if you overspent the day before etc.

we've got chef mickeys tonight, havent been in 4 years, we went there for our wedding meal, so will be nice to see if its changed any.

 

[karentan]

just copied all my photos so far from the memory card to the computer, we've only been here since saturday night and i've taken 1275 photos already lol
not all of them are keepers, but even i was shocked when i added them up!

 

[wayneg]

You were sat where we were last month at WCC. Same with us disappointed at 1st but still enjoyed it there. Sounded very loud in the main area. Maybe next time we will get in there to try it. Matt had his dessert to go, Myself and Karen had fruit salad for dessert and ate it there, it was really good.

Matt eats cornbread wherever available, I don't get it, I feel as though it should have custard on

Only bus we tried was to Hoop Dee Doo, would have taken 5 mins in car but took about 1hr 15mins by bus, the 1st 20 mins waiting at resort bus stop in the August sun was enough for us without the next 55 mins getting to DTD chamging buses and getting on a bus with a really stroppy driver. Then another change at outpost to get to pioneer hall. We are just not a bus friendly family, hate everything about them. Glad eveyone is not the same though or the roads would have more cars blocking my way

We only did CM at breakfast, fully booked for evening meal so never got to try it.

Photos I cut back a bit this trip, usually do 1,000's but used photopass and didn't take as many myself. Just doing borders again on photopass website, taking hours to do.

Keep having fun!!

 

[Cyrano]

Sounds like you are having a great time

 

[hunty]

We had lunch on Monday at WWC as part of the backstage tour, it was my birthday , I had my badge on and I expected as per previous visits to be in big trouble

I must say they have calmed down a lot, no throwing of straws, no cheering, no extra large coke refills

Maybe people have complained , but to me its not as good as it was.

Might see you in Chef Mickey tonight Karen, as we are now checkin at Bay Lake Towers and still figuring out what to do with these DDP maybe I will see if I can turn them into beer

I agree with you on the bus, but we always hire a car

 

[wayneg]

We had lunch on Monday at WWC as part of the backstage tour, it was my birthday , I had my badge on and I expected as per previous visits to be in big trouble

I must say they have calmed down a lot, no throwing of straws, no cheering, no extra large coke refills

Maybe people have complained , but to me its not as good as it was.

No idea what it was like before but last month we had straws and serviettes thrown at us, told me to move my camera off the table if I didn't want food all over it. Every 2 mins Ketchup routine, very noisy in main area but I can't compare it to what it was like before as 1st visit.

 

[karentan]

i had the cornbread for the first time as part of the backstage magic tour last year, never had it before so didnt know what to expect. really liked it at WCC, bought some from publix a week or so later, didnt eat much of it, it wasnt nice. i bought some packet mix to make at home and that was totally inedible. but last nights was good!

we've just got back from chef mickeys. first of all, buses were no prob, waited 3 mins for a bus to MK, and 1 min at MK for the bus back. walked between MK and CR.
now the last time we went to chef mickeys was 4 years ago, we got married in the wedding pavilion, then went to chef mickeys for our wedding meal (i wanted the characters but couldnt afford the extortionate price to have them at the actual wedding). so any memory i have of chef mickeys is probably tainted by the great experience of being there as a 9 strong wedding party with me in my wedding dress and gary in a kilt. we got quite a bit of character interaction that time as i think it was something a bit different for the cast members.
we got to CR at about 6.40, had a quick look round the shops, but then decided to get in the queue as there were about 30-40 people in the queue. got checked in no prob and got our pager, i think we were maybe 5 mins or so past our ADR time.
we got taken to our seats by a CM who told us who the characters were, then she left. mickey and donald came straight over, good timing i think, then we went to get our dinner. i asked a passing waiter for a coke, who then came over, introduced himself as our waiter, but then almost got in a strop over the fact that we obviously hadnt been told to wait for him before hitting the buffet and that we should have waited for him.
he just seemed really stroppy and like he didnt want to be there. now i get that it is a very busy place, and their turnover of tables is very high and fast, but i dont think we should have got the grief because we didnt wait for him.
the food was good though, not a huge amount of variety, seemed to be a lot of salad stuff but not a huge amount of "mains", but the beef was very good, lots of shrimp (but i couldnt find any mayo anywhere to make some proper cocktail sauce - i cant stand the american cocktail sauce ), and the mash potato was great. we made our own sundae for dessert and they had a nice selection of "posh"er desserts too.

i cant fault the food, but we only got 3 of the 5 characters, and the waiter left a lot to be desired. we did leave a tip, but only $5, i think leaving nothing would have been a bit harsh because he was good at clearing and getting drinks, just a bit of an attitude check would have been great!!

to be honest i dont think we'll be going to chef mickeys or WCC a third time, the food was good but the experience wasnt as good as last time. i think next visit its time to try new places

we've got le cellier for dinner tomorrow, were supposed to be doing divequest too but i've had to postpone it because of this damn cold. never eaten there before so should be good.

 

[karentan]

hunty, did you like the backstage magic tour? we did it last year and were a bit disappointed with it, we seemed to rush through all the cool bits then spent ages in the boring bits. we spent an hour and a half in the laundry building for crying out loud!!

 

[karentan]

oops forgot to add, not sure if a load of people have just turned up today (maybe because of the weekend?) but the buses to and from MK tonight were both standing room only.
there still seems to be hardly anyone in our building but i think a load of people are staying in the grandstand because the buses seem to pretty much empty out there.
me and gary both did the nice thing and gave up our seats to kids and families, but i'm still surprised at the amount of adults who dont, then sit looking at the floor to avoid eye contact with the people carrying small children

 

[hunty]

Hi Karen
I agree with you , the backstage tour was a let down, we also spent a long time in the laundry , and the greenhouses, and the paint shop (where there was no painting going on!)
The best bit of the tour was in MK, and we spent 30 minutes of that watching the 3pm parade

Like you I am not sure what happened today with the crowds we were in MK, and it was as busy as it is between Christmas and New year

However the Bar at the top of the world in BLT is fantastic and we spent all evening there after watching the fireworks from our bedroom balcony.

btw Think I saw you driving the golf buggy at LBV golf when I went for coffee this morning, I thought who are these crazy people playing golf this early

 

[Pegasus928]

Good reporting again Karen - can't wait to see some photos.
We normally take loads of pics as well - and I can't see this October being any different as we will have some 'newbies' with us

I definately noticed a difference between out 2 visits to WCC. 1st time was laugh a minute with all the stuff being shouted out, one woman got her fork taped to her hand *** she kept dropping it, people being shouted at for being on a mobile phone etc. 2nd time all that happened was the ketchup routine. We mentioned the difference to our server and she said that because of complaints they had been told to tone it down Shame in my opinion as it is what made the place so much fun.

Keep on havin fun

 

[karentan]

our original plan for today was to hit epcot as we'd had divequest booked, and le cellier for dinner, tomorrow was to be HS for EMH. but we decided to change that round after we realised how much busier parks get with the EMH (epcot EMH today, HS EMH tomorrow). so we went to HS today instead.
there was a meet and greet with one of the hannah montana stars, and fantasmic was on too so it was still busy. got there about 10.30, went down to ToT to get fastpasses ( my plan was to get gary to try and ride it - back story, gary HATES rollercoasters, he's scared of them, but so far i've managed to get him to ride splash, and even managed BTMRR), then i went on rock and roller coaster. the single rider queue took ages because it seemed that everyone was riding in 2s. got there eventually though, went outside to meet gary, and was shocked when he said that he'd been watching all the little kids coming out saying they love it, and if they can manage it, he should too.
so we rejoined the queue, he spent the whole 20 mins trying to fight the temptation to walk back out down the queue line. got through to the pre show then loaded. he actually really enjoyed it. so much so that he said he wants to go back on it again! so i think i've cured his coaster fear. still cant get him to go on ToT though. as a reward for not dying on it i bought him a beer
went and got some fastpasses for toy story, but didnt look at the sign first, and got a return time of 6.55-7.55 (we got them at about 11.30am). cant make this time as we've got a 7.45pm le cellier reservation, so we're going to go back tomorrow morning to ride it. went on the backstage lot tour, its starting to look really tired and old, i think its time they either did something to revamp this or tear it out totally.
had lunch at pizza planet, then went to muppets 3d and star tours. we went back to rock and roller coaster, then came back to the hotel. its wayyyyy too hot here today. i think its hotter than it has been the last few days.
bus to HS came within 1 minute, and on the way back we waited 14 mins. stopped at the springs stop on the way back for a drink at the pool bar, and bought a couple of bottles of diet coke from artists palatte.
off to epcot at about 6.30, got a 7.45 le cellier reservation. the plan for tomorrow is to hit HS for morning EMH, then maybe come back to the hotel in the afternoon, then off to MK in the evening, i've booked the dessert party for the fireworks. should be yummy!!

 

[karentan]

i think i'm going to leave the posting of photos til i get back as i need to sort them all out and upload them, and the net connection and garys mini laptop probably cant handle it!!

oh forgot to add:
yesterday on the way to MK in the evening we stopped at the entrance of the bus stops at MK by a big white van, then buses were quite backed up, but as it was nearly park closing i just thought that there were too many buses and that we had to wait for a stop.
when we got back to SSR we had a voicemail from the hotel apologising for the delays in the buses. we didnt have any delays so again didnt think anything of it.

just seen on the news that they found a suspicious package attached under one of the disney buses, apparently it wasnt a bomb but they're refusing to say what it was. there were aerial photos of all the buses lined up down one of the roads obviously waiting to be checked out.

i'm guessing that the white van at the front of MK was checking under all the buses as they were coming into the park to make sure its all ok.

to us this shows that disney are very competent at coping with things like this, we took a few buses yesterday and didnt notice any problems at all.

well done disney!