Some Random Thoughts on our January '09 WDW Trip

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Sun, 02/01/2009 - 22:04

Imagineer

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Some Random Thoughts on our January '09 WDW Trip

We got back late last night, and so for now, instead of a full blown trip report, I'd like to just list some points that stand out.

-January is not what it once was as far as crowd levels, but with some good planning there will be periods of your stay in which you'll feel like you have the parks to yourself.

-Saratoga Springs is a much nicer resort than most people give it credit for being.

-I'm convinced that 80% of people that move around WDW in scooters or wheelchairs are not really handicapped.

-Sorry if it sounds like a generalization or a stereotype, but large groups of South American teenagers are usually purposefully annoying, and if they are rude and obnoxious, they don't care.

-For all the publicity that Off Kilter gets, British Invasion, for my money, is the best musical group to be found at World Showcase.

-Kidani Village, the new DVC section of Animal Kingdom Lodge, is coming along nicely, and it's going to be beautiful.

-The same can be said about Bay Lake Towers, at the Contemporary.

-The cast members that work in the Morocco pavillion at World Showcase at Epcot may be some of the nicest in WDW.

-The reason that the Disney Dining Experience discount changed it's name to Tables in Wonderland, is because too many guests and cast members were getting the name confused with the Disney Dining Plan.

-The green "less intense" version of Mission:Space is almost not worth doing. Either do the orange, or don't do it at all.

-Every time I go to Disney's Animal Kingdom I am more impressed with the themeing than the time before. The place oozes atmosphere. I truly could enjoy myself spending a whole day there without riding a thing. Of course that didn't stop us from riding Expedition Everest five times.

-Speaking of EE, the backstory and themeing is fascinating. It's Joe Rohde's masterpice, and that's saying something, since Rohde is also the Imagineer who designed Epcot's Norway and Mexico pavillions, as well as the Adventurer's Club, among other projects.

-Remember what I said about careful planning as far as beating the crowds? For the first time in my life, I was asked if I wanted to stay in my log at the end of Splash Mountain to ride again, without going through the queue. The same thing happened minutes later at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

-I still say that the best place to watch Wishes is on the bridge between the hub and Tomorrowland.

-I'm not sure why Mexico is such a popular place to watch Illuminations. There are too many trees to obstruct your view.

I could go on and on, but I'll stop here for now. Joy is busy at the moment, but she'll want to contribute to the list, and we'd like to hear your thoughts.

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Sun, 02/01/2009 - 23:52

bali

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Welcome home!

Agreed the Morocco's cast members are wonderful and that British Invasion is tops.

I think Saratoga is nice and the furnishings are incredibly high-end. The resort as a whole just didn't do it for me, though. I'd love to hear what you guys liked and didn't like about it.

Thanks for the feedback on the green version vs. orange version and the Mexico viewing.

Looking forward to your insights elsewhere! Settle in and enjoy the snow!

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Mon, 02/02/2009 - 01:53

SoloFriendly

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Great feedback, thank you! Can you elaborate on your Mission Space comment? I was thinking about doing the green version.

Agreed on the scooters. I see this a lot in Vegas, too.

Where do you think is the best place to watch Illuminations?

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Mon, 02/02/2009 - 02:29

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bali wrote:

Welcome home!

Agreed the Morocco's cast members are wonderful and that British Invasion is tops.

I think Saratoga is nice and the furnishings are incredibly high-end. The resort as a whole just didn't do it for me, though. I'd love to hear what you guys liked and didn't like about it.

Thanks for the feedback on the green version vs. orange version and the Mexico viewing.

Looking forward to your insights elsewhere! Settle in and enjoy the snow!

Thanks Bali, it's kinda good to be home I guess.

Yes, this isn't the first time I've had positive interaction with some of the Moroccan cast members. Most of them seem generally happy to be there, and really enjoy meeting and talking to people.

I had only visited SSR before this trip, and not being impressed on that visit, I was afraid I'd be disappointed on this stay. As I said, I was pleasantly surprised. I loved the theming and it's proximity to DtD. I will say, if I were to stay again, I'd definitely request Grandstand section again.

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Mon, 02/02/2009 - 02:44

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SoloFriendly wrote:

Great feedback, thank you! Can you elaborate on your Mission Space comment? I was thinking about doing the green version.

Agreed on the scooters. I see this a lot in Vegas, too.

Where do you think is the best place to watch Illuminations?

Hi Solo Friendly.

If you truly have issues with motion sickness, I would say try the green version. But don't forgo the orange just because of stories you may have heard. Joy and I both agree that the intensity of Mission:Space is completely overhyped. It's realistic, of this there is no doubt, but honestly, if you keep your head back and watch the screen without looking away from it, not only will it nullify the motion sickness inducing affects, but it'll also make the attraction more realistic and even enjoyable.

You actually will be experiencing twice the force of gravity during the takeoff, which is the best part of the experience. You'll literally feel your cheeks pull back. At this point you will be spinning, but if you keep you eyes forward, you won't feel the spinning at all. Tip: look for the hidden Mickey in the clouds just before take off. I'm guessing a lot of people miss it because of the fact that they are so preoccupied with what they are about to experience.

Again, if you DO experience motion sickness on less intense rides, you might want to do the green. If not, I think you'll be fine with orange.

Regarding the best viewing spot for Illuminations, I'd say it's in the area between Future World and World Showcase, preferably right on the lagoon, near the boat launches. Obviously these spots are popular so if you're intent on watching the show, you might want to stake out your spot early.

Another good, but very popular spot is a waterfront table at Rose and Crown, at the UK pavillion. But even if you book early, you are never guaranteed awaterfront table.

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Mon, 02/02/2009 - 04:27

dsoup

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I'm very excited to read the trip report!

As far as Mission: Space, while I might avoid it if I were very prone to motion sickness, I still wouldn't bother with the green.

Mon, 02/02/2009 - 14:47

bali

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Imagineer wrote:

I had only visited SSR before this trip, and not being impressed on that visit, I was afraid I'd be disappointed on this stay. As I said, I was pleasantly surprised. I loved the theming and it's proximity to DtD. I will say, if I were to stay again, I'd definitely request Grandstand section again.

I was in congress park when I was at SSR and I hated that it was so far from the lobby, main pool, etc. Maybe grandstand wasn't built yet when I was there (I think there were only 2 sections available). Where is grandstand?

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Mon, 02/02/2009 - 20:19

cdub

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Did you enjoy all your new DVC member perks?!

Mon, 02/02/2009 - 21:26

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bali wrote:

Imagineer wrote:

I had only visited SSR before this trip, and not being impressed on that visit, I was afraid I'd be disappointed on this stay. As I said, I was pleasantly surprised. I loved the theming and it's proximity to DtD. I will say, if I were to stay again, I'd definitely request Grandstand section again.

I was in congress park when I was at SSR and I hated that it was so far from the lobby, main pool, etc. Maybe grandstand wasn't built yet when I was there (I think there were only 2 sections available). Where is grandstand?

Yes, Congress Park is quite far away from The Springs, which is where the Artist's Palette, registration, main pool etc is. It's a very sprawling resort. The only good thing about Congress Park is that it is close to the walking path to Downtown Disney. The path probably hadn't opened yet when you were there.

Grandstand is one section over from the main section (to the right if you are facing the main lobby). We were lucky enough to have a studio which faced the back of the property, with a view of the golf course (10th tee I believe). Our studio was also on the far left of the left-most building in Grandstand, so it was very close to the Springs (main section). In addition, our bus stop was the first pickup, so leaving the property we had to stop at four more, but coming home tired, we were the first dropped off. We were also very close to the boat launch and the walking path to DtD West Side.

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Mon, 02/02/2009 - 21:29

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cdub wrote:

Did you enjoy all your new DVC member perks?!

The perks aren't as many as I'd like of course, but I can't be greedy. We were very happy with the free internet usage for DVC members. We brought the laptop and logged on at least once a day. Otherwise, it would've cost $9.95 a day.

We also got big savings on Annual Passes, which saved us a ton of money. And of course the annual pass gets you further savings, such as a discount on the Tables in Wonderland card, 10% on purchases at World of Disney etc.

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Mon, 02/02/2009 - 22:30

Annie

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Imagineer wrote:

Tip: look for the hidden Mickey in the clouds just before take off. I'm guessing a lot of people miss it because of the fact that they are so preoccupied with what they are about to experience.

Another good, but very popular spot is a waterfront table at Rose and Crown, at the UK pavillion. But even if you book early, you are never guaranteed awaterfront table.

Thanks for the hidden mickey tip. I had no idea!

Also, on the UK Pavilion, it's a great show from there, SF, but sometimes the hassle of fighting the (often utterly rude) people determined to get a waterfront table is just not worth it. There's a little spot next to the UK pavilion (to the left, facing the water) with tables and chairs. This is a great spot, too, and you don't have to fight quite as hard.

Mon, 02/02/2009 - 23:43

dsoup

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Imagineer wrote:

cdub wrote:
Did you enjoy all your new DVC member perks?!

The perks aren't as many as I'd like of course, but I can't be greedy. We were very happy with the free internet usage for DVC members. We brought the laptop and logged on at least once a day. Otherwise, it would've cost $9.95 a day.

We also got big savings on Annual Passes, which saved us a ton of money. And of course the annual pass gets you further savings, such as a discount on the Tables in Wonderland card, 10% on purchases at World of Disney etc.

Yeah most of the DVC benefits are inferior to the AP benefits, but you get about $100 of the AP if you're a DVC member if I'm not mistaken? Plus you can get APs at that discount for 8 members of your family? That's nothing to sneeze at. Then you can use your AP to get all kinds of discounts on other things!

I would think it would be pretty rare for someone to have a DVC membership and not windup with an AP?

Tue, 02/03/2009 - 15:06

Imagineer

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dsoup wrote:

Imagineer wrote:
cdub wrote:
Did you enjoy all your new DVC member perks?!

The perks aren't as many as I'd like of course, but I can't be greedy. We were very happy with the free internet usage for DVC members. We brought the laptop and logged on at least once a day. Otherwise, it would've cost $9.95 a day.

We also got big savings on Annual Passes, which saved us a ton of money. And of course the annual pass gets you further savings, such as a discount on the Tables in Wonderland card, 10% on purchases at World of Disney etc.

Yeah most of the DVC benefits are inferior to the AP benefits, but you get about $100 of the AP if you're a DVC member if I'm not mistaken? Plus you can get APs at that discount for 8 members of your family? That's nothing to sneeze at. Then you can use your AP to get all kinds of discounts on other things!

I would think it would be pretty rare for someone to have a DVC membership and not windup with an AP?

Yes, the DVC benefits aren't as good as the AP benefits, but when you consider the AP discount for being DVC, it all kind of falls into place nicely.

Consider this:

Adult AP without DVC: $499.49
Adult AP with DVC $392.99

Adult AP renewal without DVC $456.89
Adult AP renewal with DVC $345.06

So the savings are substantial.

And yes, I agree that there won't be too many years in which we won't purchase APs. Especially when you consider the discount for renewal rather than buying a new one, it makes the "break-even" even easier to achieve.

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Tue, 02/03/2009 - 22:54

dsoup

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Yeah the renewal is an even better deal. For me I never renew my AP because I usually have several months before I will go again, but with the DVC membership I'd probably just tell them to auto-bill me every year. Do they have that option?

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