Wackdawg
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2013
I decided in August 2013 to pay back my Dad for all the times he took my sister and myself down to WDW. I wanted it to be just a nice father and son trip and success was achieved. I scheduled our trip for April 29th - May 7th 2014 and I am happy to report we had a great time despite some adversity. Our overall experience was fantastic. Let me start with all the great things I really noticed.
We both enjoyed POP Century resort. The room was always clean, Towel animals, requests all granted and for my fathers sake more then mine was only 25 feet from a DSA. The bus service from and to the parks and POP was excellent and I wouldn't do it any other way. The most we ever waited was 10 minutes on average though once we waited 25 minutes for a bus to arrive to MK. Our meals just kept on getting better and better everyday. We did the DDP and even though I probably lost about $100 on the deal due to my dads eating habits it was well worth the cost in having all that pre paid and no worries about when the bill came....Just tipping which was real sweet. We ate at Chefs de France, BOG, Yak & Yeti, Coral Reef, Mama Melrose Fantasmic Package, Liberty Tree Tavern, Sci Fi, and Tutto Italia and every meal was better then the previous and each was good on its own merits. Note....Sci Fi was real neat but most of all really quiet with the trailers being shown and every kid in a trance like state remaining quiet through a meal...it was fantastic! We also had CS meals at Pecos Bill's, Electric Umbrella, ABC Commissary, Columbia Harbor House, Studio Catering Co, and Sommerfest and all were good as well. Also the food Kiosks of China, UK and smokehouse were excellent as well. Long live the Piggylicious Cupcake!!!
FP+ in our opinion was a godsend. We absolutely loved the ease we got on most attractions and really liked that after our initial 3 we were able to gain even more. The tiering at EPCOT and HS really didn't bother us but for people to wait in the middle of the day 45+ minutes for an attraction that's when you should hit the shows and films throughout each Park. It's just insane to wait that long for an attraction that may only last 2 minutes at best. The Magic Bands worked well also and to be able to charge extra purchases to your room is just magical. Having the Magic Band pretty much makes carrying a wallet useless. Overall I think the Magic Band and the use of FP+ makes a vacation at WDW very enjoyable and relaxing. For people who fretted over this aspect of Disney...DON'T.
The parks were all great as usual, however EPCOT and HS could use some love. Sometimes nostalgia is a good thing and EPCOT should pay heed to this with Imagination, The old horizons and UOE. Bring back the old rides or at least bring it back with some innovation. Test Track was great but the FP system for it is ridiculous with going from one queue to the next. Even with FP for TT it took like 30+ minutes to get on. Another thing I noticed about EPCOT was that the CM's in FW did not seem very happy for the most part and in fact some seemed pretty annoyed through observation. In WS though all the CM's seemed to be in good spirits and seemed to enjoy what they were doing whatever the task was at hand. The same can be said for the other parks as well that all CM's were happily moving along with their days work. The Flower and Garden Festival at EPCOT was amazing with all the Topiaries around the park and food kiosks are amazing as well. We really enjoyed the night time entertainment as well with Illuminations, MSEP, and Wishes but fantasmic didn't impress me much especially with the rain...that was a bummer being wet already and having to dry my glasses off several times from getting wet from mist from the show to boot. Our experience at Animal Kingdom was also great until we entered Asia and a monsoon took place for the rest of the day on that friday. What a wash out that was. It was also amusing to watch people gather in front of SDMT in hopes of getting on and made me jealous to see press pass people get on at will...I will conquer SDMT in October. Also I discovered what a thrill BTMRR is at night...what a blast. And the Festival of Fantasy Parade is not to be missed.
The entire vacation experience at WDW was amazing with really no complaints for Disney itself. Some of the things my father and I noticed were more about people quality then anything. When I say this I mean it only in the sense of the following. Like sitting in a DSA at HS near the TGMR and seeing 3 trashy people smoking....wait for it....with one of them pregnant! Thats right a pregnant women smoking away....I felt tempted to say something but in reality me getting all pissy would just ruin my day and of course wasn't gonna change here behavior. Besides I felt like it was a setup for that show on ABC What would you do? Another instance was in the same place later in the day with a honey boo boo type kid literally walking in and out of the plant beds and attacking ducks. People need to get a grip on their kids especially when they are borderline destructive. Which brings me to kids. I know people camp out for things like MSEP, which I think Disney should stop, but when adults are sitting there and kids can't see there seems to be no initiative from people old enough to know better to let kids get up front and adults behind. My father noticed this more then myself to be honest and he seemed to remember back in the day most adults let children no matter when they arrived to sit/stand in front of them...it was just a given...I guess no longer the case. The only gripe I had with Disney was the DSA's. I have no problem with the amount of them but why on earth when the have smokers tucked away throughout the park do they have one near the castle where kids have to walk through. Makes no sense to me. They can't find another more suitable spot and one is needed on Main street badly.
So this is what we experienced in part among other things but I am not gonna keep rambling on even though I could. Overall it was a great bonding trip between Father and Son and most of all a relaxing and enjoyable experience. Can't wait to get back in October for MNSSHP and Food and Wine Festival. The new count down begins!
We both enjoyed POP Century resort. The room was always clean, Towel animals, requests all granted and for my fathers sake more then mine was only 25 feet from a DSA. The bus service from and to the parks and POP was excellent and I wouldn't do it any other way. The most we ever waited was 10 minutes on average though once we waited 25 minutes for a bus to arrive to MK. Our meals just kept on getting better and better everyday. We did the DDP and even though I probably lost about $100 on the deal due to my dads eating habits it was well worth the cost in having all that pre paid and no worries about when the bill came....Just tipping which was real sweet. We ate at Chefs de France, BOG, Yak & Yeti, Coral Reef, Mama Melrose Fantasmic Package, Liberty Tree Tavern, Sci Fi, and Tutto Italia and every meal was better then the previous and each was good on its own merits. Note....Sci Fi was real neat but most of all really quiet with the trailers being shown and every kid in a trance like state remaining quiet through a meal...it was fantastic! We also had CS meals at Pecos Bill's, Electric Umbrella, ABC Commissary, Columbia Harbor House, Studio Catering Co, and Sommerfest and all were good as well. Also the food Kiosks of China, UK and smokehouse were excellent as well. Long live the Piggylicious Cupcake!!!
FP+ in our opinion was a godsend. We absolutely loved the ease we got on most attractions and really liked that after our initial 3 we were able to gain even more. The tiering at EPCOT and HS really didn't bother us but for people to wait in the middle of the day 45+ minutes for an attraction that's when you should hit the shows and films throughout each Park. It's just insane to wait that long for an attraction that may only last 2 minutes at best. The Magic Bands worked well also and to be able to charge extra purchases to your room is just magical. Having the Magic Band pretty much makes carrying a wallet useless. Overall I think the Magic Band and the use of FP+ makes a vacation at WDW very enjoyable and relaxing. For people who fretted over this aspect of Disney...DON'T.
The parks were all great as usual, however EPCOT and HS could use some love. Sometimes nostalgia is a good thing and EPCOT should pay heed to this with Imagination, The old horizons and UOE. Bring back the old rides or at least bring it back with some innovation. Test Track was great but the FP system for it is ridiculous with going from one queue to the next. Even with FP for TT it took like 30+ minutes to get on. Another thing I noticed about EPCOT was that the CM's in FW did not seem very happy for the most part and in fact some seemed pretty annoyed through observation. In WS though all the CM's seemed to be in good spirits and seemed to enjoy what they were doing whatever the task was at hand. The same can be said for the other parks as well that all CM's were happily moving along with their days work. The Flower and Garden Festival at EPCOT was amazing with all the Topiaries around the park and food kiosks are amazing as well. We really enjoyed the night time entertainment as well with Illuminations, MSEP, and Wishes but fantasmic didn't impress me much especially with the rain...that was a bummer being wet already and having to dry my glasses off several times from getting wet from mist from the show to boot. Our experience at Animal Kingdom was also great until we entered Asia and a monsoon took place for the rest of the day on that friday. What a wash out that was. It was also amusing to watch people gather in front of SDMT in hopes of getting on and made me jealous to see press pass people get on at will...I will conquer SDMT in October. Also I discovered what a thrill BTMRR is at night...what a blast. And the Festival of Fantasy Parade is not to be missed.
The entire vacation experience at WDW was amazing with really no complaints for Disney itself. Some of the things my father and I noticed were more about people quality then anything. When I say this I mean it only in the sense of the following. Like sitting in a DSA at HS near the TGMR and seeing 3 trashy people smoking....wait for it....with one of them pregnant! Thats right a pregnant women smoking away....I felt tempted to say something but in reality me getting all pissy would just ruin my day and of course wasn't gonna change here behavior. Besides I felt like it was a setup for that show on ABC What would you do? Another instance was in the same place later in the day with a honey boo boo type kid literally walking in and out of the plant beds and attacking ducks. People need to get a grip on their kids especially when they are borderline destructive. Which brings me to kids. I know people camp out for things like MSEP, which I think Disney should stop, but when adults are sitting there and kids can't see there seems to be no initiative from people old enough to know better to let kids get up front and adults behind. My father noticed this more then myself to be honest and he seemed to remember back in the day most adults let children no matter when they arrived to sit/stand in front of them...it was just a given...I guess no longer the case. The only gripe I had with Disney was the DSA's. I have no problem with the amount of them but why on earth when the have smokers tucked away throughout the park do they have one near the castle where kids have to walk through. Makes no sense to me. They can't find another more suitable spot and one is needed on Main street badly.
So this is what we experienced in part among other things but I am not gonna keep rambling on even though I could. Overall it was a great bonding trip between Father and Son and most of all a relaxing and enjoyable experience. Can't wait to get back in October for MNSSHP and Food and Wine Festival. The new count down begins!
