Tinkaboo
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2017
This is no5 going to be your typical day-to-day report, I’m not into that cause no one cares whatI did or didn’t eat for breakfast 
What I will tell you is how IMHO WDW has changed in 15 years and post COVID. And since there will be CONSTANT comparisons to my beloved DL, I felt like it belonged here.
HOTEL: Port Orleans Riverside FKA Dixie Landings. Beautiful place, this is our sixth time there, it’s so quiet and such lush surrounding. Took the boat to Disney Springs FKA Downtown Disney first day. The biggest difference is that through app check in and check out, you literally have no interaction with staff. Whereas the lobby was once a bustling meeting place, it’s a ghost town. No bell men offer to help with luggage when you arrive. Nor were there any just hanging about that you could approach. Very different. But room was nice, clean, everything worked. Nice big TV for football on rainy nights of which there were plenty.
FOOD: all of you who know me know I am not a ”foodie” due to numerous allergies. I knew this was going to be a problem going in and did my research to compensate for that. That said, it appears that somewhere below WDW there is a giant kitchen spewing out generic food for all. Though there might be cooktops and steam tables in a restaurant, that does not mean food is prepared there…it might be “warmed” there. Exceptions of course being the high-end signature places like Jiko, where my husband thoroughly enjoyed his meal. ALSO NO BEIGNETS!
SNACKS: This is where I give them a “F”…they were all pre-packaged. The caramel apples were so bad, I threw mine away, couldn’t even eat it all. Caramel was crystallized but still soft…The selection was dismal, you know how our apples are so beautifully decorated to look like Minnie, etc? Zip, nada, nothing. And the selection was identical at every candy store…which they don’t even have in HS and AK! I don’t think there is any in EPCOT either, now that I think about it. All the gingerbread was the same. Maybe two cupcakes to choose from and not fancy either. SO SAD. My hubby kept asking if I wanted something….”no, I’ll just wait until I get to Disneyland “…
Good news is I lost 4 pounds and walked over 60 miles!
ADDED: i forgot, hubby got a piece of fudge and it was so sugary..nothing but crystals! You’d think they could get that right! Maybe they should switch to the Fantasy Fudge recipe on the marshmallow crème jar, it always turns out !
There are many great attractions, I don’t need to go into that. They have upgraded TestTrack so it’s finally worth it. I couldn’t go on it but hubby said they didn’t even bother with preshow at RNRC so I guess we don’t need to see Steven Tyler in his youth anymore. LOL. Loved 7DMT, that and SDD my two fave coasters now (yep I’m a wuss). TRON is greatly overhyped IMHO, I know lots of people love it but it was very short for all the hassle you go through.
FANTASMIC is a lot longer, too long IMHO. I miss ours and am hoping they don’t incorporate all this feel good hero nonsense in ours.
NO ROAMING CHARACTERS…very few. Character meet and greets are part of Genie +, you schedule it like a meeting. How do you do, Mickey? Very well, take picture, move along. I love the spontaneity of our park where Cruella might be getting off the train, or Alice is walking around, where Wendy and Peter Pan are skipping through Fantasyland, Jack Sparrow shoplifting in the pirate store. All wondrous things I’ve experienced in DL.
I think this is all because the smart folks at DL know they have regulars. At WDW, they are getting fresh people every 4-5 days who are probably going to be one and done. This will be their experience, good, bad, indifferent. I know there are AP holders and DVC people who are regulars, but I think they are accepting of it. I talked to several different DVC people, they just seem to like resort hopping mostly It seemed to me.
ALL IN ALL, I’ll be smiling on December 4 when I walk through those gates, gaze upon my DECORATED castle (apparently they don’t do that anymore, maybe it interferes with the big projection show they do). I thought their Christmas decorations sucked compared to ours too!
So, though we whine and complain about petty little things, I’ll stand by my DL/CA parks to the end!
long live the park that Walt built!
PS-yes, drinking around the World is a thing, they even have t-shirts for it! At $10-$20 per drink, you wouldn’t think most people could afford to get drunk, but Saturday night was pretty crazy!
PSS-another weird thing is no Christmas parade unless you go to Christmas party, wow, talk about stingy…that’s so Grinchy it belongs at Universal!
What I will tell you is how IMHO WDW has changed in 15 years and post COVID. And since there will be CONSTANT comparisons to my beloved DL, I felt like it belonged here.
HOTEL: Port Orleans Riverside FKA Dixie Landings. Beautiful place, this is our sixth time there, it’s so quiet and such lush surrounding. Took the boat to Disney Springs FKA Downtown Disney first day. The biggest difference is that through app check in and check out, you literally have no interaction with staff. Whereas the lobby was once a bustling meeting place, it’s a ghost town. No bell men offer to help with luggage when you arrive. Nor were there any just hanging about that you could approach. Very different. But room was nice, clean, everything worked. Nice big TV for football on rainy nights of which there were plenty.
FOOD: all of you who know me know I am not a ”foodie” due to numerous allergies. I knew this was going to be a problem going in and did my research to compensate for that. That said, it appears that somewhere below WDW there is a giant kitchen spewing out generic food for all. Though there might be cooktops and steam tables in a restaurant, that does not mean food is prepared there…it might be “warmed” there. Exceptions of course being the high-end signature places like Jiko, where my husband thoroughly enjoyed his meal. ALSO NO BEIGNETS!
SNACKS: This is where I give them a “F”…they were all pre-packaged. The caramel apples were so bad, I threw mine away, couldn’t even eat it all. Caramel was crystallized but still soft…The selection was dismal, you know how our apples are so beautifully decorated to look like Minnie, etc? Zip, nada, nothing. And the selection was identical at every candy store…which they don’t even have in HS and AK! I don’t think there is any in EPCOT either, now that I think about it. All the gingerbread was the same. Maybe two cupcakes to choose from and not fancy either. SO SAD. My hubby kept asking if I wanted something….”no, I’ll just wait until I get to Disneyland “…
Good news is I lost 4 pounds and walked over 60 miles!ADDED: i forgot, hubby got a piece of fudge and it was so sugary..nothing but crystals! You’d think they could get that right! Maybe they should switch to the Fantasy Fudge recipe on the marshmallow crème jar, it always turns out !
There are many great attractions, I don’t need to go into that. They have upgraded TestTrack so it’s finally worth it. I couldn’t go on it but hubby said they didn’t even bother with preshow at RNRC so I guess we don’t need to see Steven Tyler in his youth anymore. LOL. Loved 7DMT, that and SDD my two fave coasters now (yep I’m a wuss). TRON is greatly overhyped IMHO, I know lots of people love it but it was very short for all the hassle you go through.
FANTASMIC is a lot longer, too long IMHO. I miss ours and am hoping they don’t incorporate all this feel good hero nonsense in ours.
NO ROAMING CHARACTERS…very few. Character meet and greets are part of Genie +, you schedule it like a meeting. How do you do, Mickey? Very well, take picture, move along. I love the spontaneity of our park where Cruella might be getting off the train, or Alice is walking around, where Wendy and Peter Pan are skipping through Fantasyland, Jack Sparrow shoplifting in the pirate store. All wondrous things I’ve experienced in DL.
I think this is all because the smart folks at DL know they have regulars. At WDW, they are getting fresh people every 4-5 days who are probably going to be one and done. This will be their experience, good, bad, indifferent. I know there are AP holders and DVC people who are regulars, but I think they are accepting of it. I talked to several different DVC people, they just seem to like resort hopping mostly It seemed to me.
ALL IN ALL, I’ll be smiling on December 4 when I walk through those gates, gaze upon my DECORATED castle (apparently they don’t do that anymore, maybe it interferes with the big projection show they do). I thought their Christmas decorations sucked compared to ours too!
So, though we whine and complain about petty little things, I’ll stand by my DL/CA parks to the end!
long live the park that Walt built!
PS-yes, drinking around the World is a thing, they even have t-shirts for it! At $10-$20 per drink, you wouldn’t think most people could afford to get drunk, but Saturday night was pretty crazy!
PSS-another weird thing is no Christmas parade unless you go to Christmas party, wow, talk about stingy…that’s so Grinchy it belongs at Universal!
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