Puffy2
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2000
These are just some tips and observations from our Nov. 7 - 11 trip.
Hotel: The Contemporary Tower Club, definately worth the extra $55.00 for concierge. I think we saved a lot on food, plus they booked Cinderella's Breakfast for us prior to the trip with no problem. Convienent hotel. Monorail great (no "smells"). Hotel very clean, nice marbel baths, beds comfortable. Staff professional although some "new" and unsure of themselves. Being onsite, very helpful for rests during the day. Would recommend.
My impression, faxing the room controller doesn't do anything - they may have it in the computer but I really get the impression that it is first come first served as far as requests go.
Food: Counter service better than I thought and we ate more of it than I thought we would. Sit down dinners took a lot of time, were expensive and in the case of Chef Mickey - over rated and LOUD!
Counter service at THe LAnd in Epcot was GREAT!! Good , healthy food. and not nearly as expensive as sit down.
Cinderella's breakfast - GREAT! What a wonderful way to get 6 - 7 autographs and pics all at once with no lines. Outstanding. Food was fine. Had 8am ressie on non ee day - the best!, put us right at rope drop at 9am.
If I was going to do a character breakfast again, I'd always try to get the first or last seating. Otherwise, you wait for a table anyway and I think character interaction isn't as good.
Parks: I thought they were very clean!! Nice.
I loved the "piped in music" everywhere you went - it was like being in a movie.
Get the park photographers to take your picture at least one. A very nice souvenier- my pics I took myself were just so so.
Use fast pass!! This is excellent! Only once, with test track did it not work well, my husband waited an hour even with fast pass.
Transportation:
Tiffany town car worth every penny, will do again.
Tip: give yourself plenty of time to get to the airport and keep phone numbers handy in case your driver isn't "on time" like ours for pick up. This was corrected very quickly and I have no problem using them again. Although I'll probably call the morning of to confirm our departure time next time.
Cab rides - we took two and although expensive (20.00 and 15.00) they were worth not having to wait at those times (took one after illuminaions from the boardwalk back to Cont. and took on on arrival day to AK)
Buses, had to wait about 15 min for them .
Other:
Disney is really Spread OUt!! Takes a long time to get from place to place. Next time I won't park hop nearly as much - it's exhausting. And if you need a wheelchair, consider the extra money for an ECV - these seem to be working much better for those using them in the parks. It IS needed for anyone with a mobility (or fatigue) problem. Don't be shy and try Walker Mobility for rental.
A day at Disney parks wears the kids out. Don't expect too much from them in the evenings if you have been at it all day. We even took breaks during the day and mine were exhausted by 8pm - they didn't care about characters or fireworks anymore, they just wanted to sleep.
Don't get all bent out of shape over seeing fireworks or the "electrical water pagent" - they are "nice" but not spectacular and there is so much at disney that is pretty spectacular that you really aren't missing anything if you can't work them in to your schedule.
Thought that some of the attractions were really pretty amazing visually -
Buzz Light Year Space Ranger Spin (although, give me a break about getting "points" - I got around 156,000 points on the first ride, and 5,000 on the second - I don't think the guns work that well.)
The Dinosaur ride is outstanding as a ride -physically, the seats are very comfortable. I wish it wasn't so "dark" so you could see more while you experience this great ride.
Ellens Energy Adventure at Epcot - pretty amazing.
Spaceship Earth , Epcot, really a good ride.
I loved Dumbo - not sure why, maybe it brought out the child in me. Although my six year old exited the ride and said, "What a jip!" because the ride was too short.
THe Little Mermaid, this is something to see! Very good. Disney's improved technology at it's best.
It's a Bugs Life, Over rated. I'll skip this next time. and the line - wow! even with no waiting you still have to walk around that tree lord knows how many times to get to the movie. I thought it was lame and my kids didn't like it.
Boneyard, skip this one if you can. If not, hit it first and send someone in your party to Dinosaur to grap fastpasses while you wait.
Lion king show at AK, pretty good.
Waiting in lines for autographs, VERY LAME, unless you can find a line with no waiting (yeah, right...)
Illuminaions Cruise. KathyR was nice enough to let us join her party for this (and Gina2000 too.) Sharing is the way to go. Ended up being about $50.00 inc. tip. But, the show itself, well, I was disappointed. I really didn't think it was all that big of a deal. Was nice to be taxied back to the dock right after though. My 8 year old slept through it she was so tired. Won't do this again.
Having all info - PS # , telephone #, dates, times, etc... written on a piece of paper and kept handy was helpful.
Putting kids outfits for the day in zip locks very helpful but I wish I brought TWO outfits for each day. They liked to change clothes during their daily break.
Take moleskin WITH YOU TO THE PARK -PRE CUT. It doesn't do you any good back in the hotel room.
Take water bottles with you to parks. I used mine a lot.
Notice those "picture taking spots" - some of them really did have great backgrounds for pictures.
Don't get all bent out of shape over little things (like your kid being picked to "open" fantsay land or ride dumbo with Mickey - these are nice little touches but really not that big of a deal and only one kid in hundreds gets to do it each day - and it's NOT worth making your kids wait an hour to "try" to be the "very first" - whose dream is that anyway?)
Questions?
[This message was edited by Puffy2 on 11-22-00 at 07:02 PM.]
Hotel: The Contemporary Tower Club, definately worth the extra $55.00 for concierge. I think we saved a lot on food, plus they booked Cinderella's Breakfast for us prior to the trip with no problem. Convienent hotel. Monorail great (no "smells"). Hotel very clean, nice marbel baths, beds comfortable. Staff professional although some "new" and unsure of themselves. Being onsite, very helpful for rests during the day. Would recommend.
My impression, faxing the room controller doesn't do anything - they may have it in the computer but I really get the impression that it is first come first served as far as requests go.
Food: Counter service better than I thought and we ate more of it than I thought we would. Sit down dinners took a lot of time, were expensive and in the case of Chef Mickey - over rated and LOUD!
Counter service at THe LAnd in Epcot was GREAT!! Good , healthy food. and not nearly as expensive as sit down.
Cinderella's breakfast - GREAT! What a wonderful way to get 6 - 7 autographs and pics all at once with no lines. Outstanding. Food was fine. Had 8am ressie on non ee day - the best!, put us right at rope drop at 9am.
If I was going to do a character breakfast again, I'd always try to get the first or last seating. Otherwise, you wait for a table anyway and I think character interaction isn't as good.
Parks: I thought they were very clean!! Nice.
I loved the "piped in music" everywhere you went - it was like being in a movie.
Get the park photographers to take your picture at least one. A very nice souvenier- my pics I took myself were just so so.
Use fast pass!! This is excellent! Only once, with test track did it not work well, my husband waited an hour even with fast pass.
Transportation:
Tiffany town car worth every penny, will do again.
Tip: give yourself plenty of time to get to the airport and keep phone numbers handy in case your driver isn't "on time" like ours for pick up. This was corrected very quickly and I have no problem using them again. Although I'll probably call the morning of to confirm our departure time next time.
Cab rides - we took two and although expensive (20.00 and 15.00) they were worth not having to wait at those times (took one after illuminaions from the boardwalk back to Cont. and took on on arrival day to AK)
Buses, had to wait about 15 min for them .
Other:
Disney is really Spread OUt!! Takes a long time to get from place to place. Next time I won't park hop nearly as much - it's exhausting. And if you need a wheelchair, consider the extra money for an ECV - these seem to be working much better for those using them in the parks. It IS needed for anyone with a mobility (or fatigue) problem. Don't be shy and try Walker Mobility for rental.
A day at Disney parks wears the kids out. Don't expect too much from them in the evenings if you have been at it all day. We even took breaks during the day and mine were exhausted by 8pm - they didn't care about characters or fireworks anymore, they just wanted to sleep.
Don't get all bent out of shape over seeing fireworks or the "electrical water pagent" - they are "nice" but not spectacular and there is so much at disney that is pretty spectacular that you really aren't missing anything if you can't work them in to your schedule.
Thought that some of the attractions were really pretty amazing visually -
Buzz Light Year Space Ranger Spin (although, give me a break about getting "points" - I got around 156,000 points on the first ride, and 5,000 on the second - I don't think the guns work that well.)
The Dinosaur ride is outstanding as a ride -physically, the seats are very comfortable. I wish it wasn't so "dark" so you could see more while you experience this great ride.
Ellens Energy Adventure at Epcot - pretty amazing.
Spaceship Earth , Epcot, really a good ride.
I loved Dumbo - not sure why, maybe it brought out the child in me. Although my six year old exited the ride and said, "What a jip!" because the ride was too short.
THe Little Mermaid, this is something to see! Very good. Disney's improved technology at it's best.
It's a Bugs Life, Over rated. I'll skip this next time. and the line - wow! even with no waiting you still have to walk around that tree lord knows how many times to get to the movie. I thought it was lame and my kids didn't like it.
Boneyard, skip this one if you can. If not, hit it first and send someone in your party to Dinosaur to grap fastpasses while you wait.
Lion king show at AK, pretty good.
Waiting in lines for autographs, VERY LAME, unless you can find a line with no waiting (yeah, right...)
Illuminaions Cruise. KathyR was nice enough to let us join her party for this (and Gina2000 too.) Sharing is the way to go. Ended up being about $50.00 inc. tip. But, the show itself, well, I was disappointed. I really didn't think it was all that big of a deal. Was nice to be taxied back to the dock right after though. My 8 year old slept through it she was so tired. Won't do this again.
Having all info - PS # , telephone #, dates, times, etc... written on a piece of paper and kept handy was helpful.
Putting kids outfits for the day in zip locks very helpful but I wish I brought TWO outfits for each day. They liked to change clothes during their daily break.
Take moleskin WITH YOU TO THE PARK -PRE CUT. It doesn't do you any good back in the hotel room.
Take water bottles with you to parks. I used mine a lot.
Notice those "picture taking spots" - some of them really did have great backgrounds for pictures.
Don't get all bent out of shape over little things (like your kid being picked to "open" fantsay land or ride dumbo with Mickey - these are nice little touches but really not that big of a deal and only one kid in hundreds gets to do it each day - and it's NOT worth making your kids wait an hour to "try" to be the "very first" - whose dream is that anyway?)
Questions?
[This message was edited by Puffy2 on 11-22-00 at 07:02 PM.]
