Talya wrote:
Arathain Kelvar wrote:
French Quarter. Yes, we got the dining plan per your previous recommendation. We actually relied on your advice pretty heavily. We got the book you suggested, and did some research based on what you mentioned, and it all made sense.
So thank you.
When you wish upon a Taly, makes no difference if you dally, all the info you desire will come to you!
Damn. Now you need to have a really good time so my advice looks good, okay?
Ok, so here’s how it went.
Wife, 4YO boy, and 10MO baby girl stayed at the Port Orleans for 6 nights, with the meal plan. Then went to Clearwater Beach for 2 nights, then back to Orlando where we stayed at Caribe Royal (off-Disney) for 2 nights.
Day 1: Woke up 4AM, got to the airport, got on plane. Wife put her drink within the baby “dangerzone” and ended up wearing it. While cleaning this up, the four year old spilled his. Baby wet herself. Was a long 2 hours. Got to hotel around 11, crashed a bit, went to Downtown Disney for dinner at the Irish Pub. Kids were very tired, wandered around DTD for a bit, when home.
Day 2: Early morning hours at Magic Kingdom. Went home mid day and came back that night for the fireworks. It rained on us, but son and I had rain coats and ended up with the best seats in the house (train station platform).
Day 3: Animal Kingdom.
Day 4: Hollywood Studios. Left in the early afternoon and came back for Fantasmic. I watched what I could from the back with crying baby.
Day 5: Epcot. Place is big.
Day 6: Magic Kingdom again.
Day 7: Check out, rent car, drive to Clearwater Beach.
Day 8: Beach
Day 9: Beach, drive back to Orlando.
Day 10: Magic Kingdom
Day 11: Fly home. Another long, long 2-hour flight.
First, let me get the ***** out of the way, because there are some things that kind of sucked.
1) The buses to and from Disney hotels. These suck. They were few and irregular. Frequently, we’d see 3-4 buses to a different park before ours showed up.
2) There was no baby formula at any of the parks, or at the hotel. WTF. My wife calculated baby wipes to cost around $0.50 EACH.
3) People were ANGRY at the parks. I guess heat and crowds piss people off. My lord, though, it’s your vacation.
4) People on scooters. Ok, I get it, it’s hard to navigate and people keep getting in your way. But the later it got in the day, the more you saw these folks just plowing through crowds like they own the place. I am not above laying out a cripple that runs over my kid.
5) The bus from Carib Royale. In the morning, it took us straight to the parking lot, we got on the ferry, and were in the park in 30 minutes. In the evening, we left the park at 6:30 with hungry children, took the monorail to get to the parking lot by 7 and got on the bus. It then proceeded to go to every other park and several hotels before dropping us off at ours at 8:30. Hour and a half on the bus. I was livid. Kids were hungry, cranky, baby wet all over the place (and me). There was no warning for this. No indication anywhere that it wouldn’t be a quick trip back. Soooooo angry.
6) Fantasyland in MK, where Peter Pan, Small World, Winnie the Pooh, etc. rides are is the sixth ring of hell. I guess it’s a conglomeration of rides that babies can go on, and everyone is there. It was always super packed, there’s no shade, and everyone is angry. This was a no-go zone for us on day 3.
Ok, with that out of the way, here’s how it went. This was my first time there.
The book you suggested was SPOT ON. From suggesting where to watch the fireworks, to suggesting which rides and shows to watch with small kids, etc., it was great.
1) My #1 impression from the trip is that everything is incredibly over the top. We all know that each park has its central feature that is large and borderline ridiculous (Cinderella’s castle, tree of life, sorcerer’s hat, epcot golf ball), but every building and ride was overdone. Example, the Tower of Terror. It’s one of those rides where you go up high and it drops you, but catches you before you crash. You’ve seen these, it’s generally a big pole with some seats strapped to it (think the ride in the movie zombieland the girls hid on). That would have been ok. But instead, Disney models this after a Twilight Zone show where folks went to the 13th floor of a hotel or something. So… they build a hotel. There’s this huge, amazingly detailed hotel for this one ride. Splash mountain? Yeah. They constructed a mountain. You know those trees they have in Africa, the ones with the big trunks and stubby branches? They were everywhere on the African Safari ride. Even waaaaay in the back where you can barely see them. Huge, man-made constructed trees. You know how each park has the river rapids ride? All you need is a raft. But no, they strapped a bunch of expedition gear all over the raft to make it look like you were on a real expedition.
And don’t get me started on the shows, fireworks, and Fantasmic. I’ll just leave it at during the Fantasmic show, a dragon came out of the mountain, fought Mickey, breathed fire, and lit the lake on fire. Dragon was easily 4 stories tall.
2) My #2 impression is that all of the staff were incredible. Smiling at all times, extremely friendly, funny, and helpful. I’ve never seen anything like it. Worked amazingly hard to keep the "magic" vibe going. For example, on the "meet Mickey and Minnie" "ride", there was this long hallway with lots of doors. Obviously, each contained a Mickey and Minnie. But, they were careful to only allow one door open at a time so you couldn't catch a glimpse of a second Mickey. There was construction ongoing but it was kept well out of the way. Very well done.
3) My kid was really into collecting autographs from characters. He got over 20.
4) The rides pale in comparison to many other parks if you’re looking for “exciting”. But if you’re looking for over-the-top, this was great.
5) The technology used was also amazing. The animatronics were very well done. Haunted Mansion was incredible (hologram ghosts in 3D), singing statues, etc.
6) We had trouble getting through the shows without having the baby get fussy. Not sure what her problem was. She loved the lion king show at Animal Kingdom.
7) The “it’s a small world” ride is one seriously happy ride.
8) My son’s favorite ride? The monorail. Second favorite? The hotel pool. /sigh
All in all it was an excellent time (although expensive). We’ll be back in a few years. Thanks again for the tips.
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