what others rave about and you just dont get it

[aoffhaus]

Dole Whip. I wanted my money back.

Me too, was not impressed!! LOL! I love pineapple too. I was wishing after I bought it that I would have gotten the chunk of pineapple instead.

 

[Maleficent Dragon]

I have more than one myself. Dole Whips, Duffy and Tonga Toast.

 

[MJMcBride]

Le Cellier

 

[samacita]

BBB. Will never understand that one.

 

[DisMN]

Well, as long as you asked...

There's a line from Macbeth: "...full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." That, to me, is Illuminations.

Lots of fire, lots of generically majestic orchestral music, a giant globe that shows fuzzy video of... something... old National Geographic Explorer episodes perhaps... more fire, a few seemingly random fireworks, more majestic orchestral music underscoring more fuzzy video and more fire...

...and all in service of... I just don't know what. I'm a reasonably intelligent, sensitive, well-educated fellow, but I couldn't make heads or tales of what Illuminations was all about.

If it's a celebration of life on Earth (as its subtitle suggests), what's with all the fire? It looks more like a celebration of Dante's Inferno.

The globe is technologically impressive, I guess, but in the end it's a giant, oddly-shaped, and not very sharp video monitor showing rather generic images of nature. (At least 50% of the time I couldn't even be sure what exactly the globe video was showing us, so poor was the resolution.)

I love majestic orchestral music... it's mostly what I listen to, in fact... but I honestly don't know what this music was supposed to be underscoring. It seemed calculated to be generically "inspiring" without being clear about what, exactly, was supposed to inspire me.

I didn't expect or need illuminations to have a story, per se, but I did want it to be cohesive and have a clear theme or thesis or reason for being. In fact, I assume it does have an intended cohesive theme, that it is trying to make a clear statement about... something. Something other than the planet Earth being engulfed in flames.

Unfortunately, for me, whatever that something is gets lost in all the sound and fury, and in the end Illuminations signifies nothing.

As long as you asked.

I'd be willing to bet that you feel this way because you're really only seeing a watered down version of the old original. (unless you are talking about the original, then...well....LOL nevermind )

The original definitely had a story line and the parade that was held there had a similar story line as the fireworks. Much much too much to adequately explain here but take my word for it, it USED to be scads better than it is now. Although I still really enjoy it, but probably because my memories of the old one linger in my brain.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

The dining plans

The food in general

The bus transportation and ME

 

[Radiorox]

It's a small world. I cringe just passing by it.

 

[Bee2u]

Vinylmation. I think they're all ugly and I just don't get it

This.

 

[afnaechiquita]

I don't know that I've ever heard anyone rave but I never understood how Duffy was so popular until I went to Tokyo Disney. The gift shops were FULL of him and his lady friend. I don't know if I even saw any other plush characters for sale (although I didn't look very hard).

 

[siskaren]

The bus transportation and ME

I wasn't aware anyone raved about the bus transportation. Don't get me wrong, I always use the buses and I love the fact that I don't have to spend the money to rent a car to get around or have to worry about driving on unfamiliar roads by myself ( I always go solo). That doesn't mean I think it's perfect though.

But what don't you like about ME? I love the fact that I get free transportation to the hotel and back to the airport, and I particularly love that I can bypass baggage claim and let them deal with getting my luggage to my room.

 

[o0junebug0o]

This is a very entertaining thread!

Most of mine have already been mentioned, but here it goes:
- AK - We'll go there to ride KS and Dinosaur, but most trips we skip the park altogether. We have multiple zoos near our house, so we'll spend our time looking at animals at home.
- Tonga Toast - Like many others have said, it was very dry and tough with little to no flavor, blech!
- Duffy - Although I'll admit some of the costumes for the bear are cute, I'll see lines to meet Duffy, just like you would meet any character from a movie, that's the part I really don't understand.
- Soarin' - Cool idea, but definitely not worth the wait.
-The Dumbo ride in general - I have still never ridden it, I am never willing to stand in the long line to fly in circles.

To each his own though! It's great that Disney has a great variety so everyone can enjoy their trip!

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

I wasn't aware anyone raved about the bus transportation. Don't get me wrong, I always use the buses and I love the fact that I don't have to spend the money to rent a car to get around or have to worry about driving on unfamiliar roads by myself ( I always go solo). That doesn't mean I think it's perfect though.

But what don't you like about ME? I love the fact that I get free transportation to the hotel and back to the airport, and I particularly love that I can bypass baggage claim and let them deal with getting my luggage to my room.

Oh I have read many times how people love the fact that WDW offers buses. You just stated that you love the fact that you don't have to rent a car

Traveling solo is a different prospect. I would possibly use ME or bus transport if I was solo, but probably not, lol. I don't like waiting for the buses or to get to the resort. I like to be able to control when and how I will get somewhere and I love the convenience of being able to go offsite if I want, and I do some days.

ME is a way to get and keep guests on property so they will spend all of the vacation funds there. If I want to leave it isn't a hassle because I will have a car.

 

[aristocatz]

Staying at the WL for Christmas. So many people told us it was the best place to stay for Christmas, so we booked a CL honeymoon room for the second half of our honeymoon. Spent the first half at a GV CL room at the Poly.

While the lobby was pretty enough and I enjoyed the carolers, it definitely wasn't breathtaking to us. Room was sorta blah, the lounge and CM's did not compare to the ones at the Poly, and transportation was a let down. Pool, AP, & RF were good, but WCC was also a total letdown.

The only saving grace was it was nice to have a dedicated bus to FW for when we rented a golf cart for the day and saw the HDDR.

We made the most of it and had a great time (it was our HM and Christmas!), but if we could have gone back in time, we definitely would have stayed at the Poly for our entire trip.

 

[RIPaula]

As many have said,"to each his own" but I don't get the Grand Floridian! Now, if someone gave me a free stay there, I would gladly take it but really don't get why people pay all those extra bucks.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

As many have said,"to each his own" but I don't get the Grand Floridian! Now, if someone gave me a free stay there, I would gladly take it but really don't get why people pay all those extra bucks.

Actually not sure if I would stay there for free lol. Just not me at all. I am a laid back resort sort of gal. I felt the CMs were staring at me the whole time when we visited as if to say 'madam please go back to your value resort' lol. Give me SSR anytime.... I felt like Jack from the film Titanic when he dined with the upper class...

 

[World Showcaser]

The original definitely had a story line and the parade that was held there had a similar story line as the fireworks. Much much too much to adequately explain here but take my word for it, it USED to be scads better than it is now. Although I still really enjoy it, but probably because my memories of the old one linger in my brain.

The new version is pretty clear as to what it's about too. I'm not sure what the PP doesn't get? The narrator says it all.

From Wikipedia:

The beginning of the show is narrated by Jim Cummings, who says: "Good evening. On behalf of Walt Disney World, the place where dreams come true, we welcome all of you to Epcot and World Showcase. We've gathered here tonight around the fire, as people of all lands have gathered for thousands and thousands of years before us, to share the light and to share a story -- an amazing story, as old as time itself, but still being written. And though each of us has our own individual stories to tell, a true adventure emerges when we bring them all together as one. We hope you enjoy our story tonight: Reflections of Earth."

And then the show continues with images from around the Earth and celebratory fireworks.

I will agree though that the images on the globe always seem blurry to me but I get the jist of it.

ME is a way to get and keep guests on property so they will spend all of the vacation funds there. If I want to leave it isn't a hassle because I will have a car.

Sounds like you "get" ME perfectly.

 

[Chuckers]

ME is a way to get and keep guests on property so they will spend all of the vacation funds there. If I want to leave it isn't a hassle because I will have a car.

For those of us who don't plan on leaving WDW, ME is a blessing so that we don't have to rent a car for the time we are there or pay for a cab to and from the airport.

We also don't have to worry about getting our luggage to and from the airport.

 

[World Showcaser]

For those of us who don't plan on leaving WDW, ME is a blessing so that we don't have to rent a car for the time we are there or pay for a cab to and from the airport.

We also don't have to worry about getting our luggage to and from the airport.

Exactly! I can see someone saying, "I have no use for ME," but I don't understand why someone would dislike it or not get it.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

Exactly! I can see someone saying, "I have no use for ME," but I don't understand why someone would dislike it or not get it.

My comments about ME were a response to a PP who asked why I didn't like it. And I explained why. You really can't understand why someone wouldn't like it? . I didn't say it shouldn't exist or people shouldn't use it. I just explained why I don't.

I don't want to have to wait for everyone else, stop at a bunch of other resorts, I like having the ability to go anywhere I want at the drop of a hat, even offsite. All things considered we spend less money by renting a car and having that access to dining alternatives. But we are prone to stay at WDW longer than the average guests and visit around three times a year. So we have our system down pat. . Maybe if I was staying only three or four days or going solo I might consider ME. But that is the only way I would.

 

[Missy29]

For me it was the Dole Whip. I was so excited to try it on my first trip, waited in line for 10 min. to be kind of disappointed. It was not bad, but after all the talk about it I guess I was expecting it to be throwing pixie dust at my face or something