curtandlisa1
06-24-2007, 02:11 PM
We just got back last night from WDW. We live in the Los Angeles Area.
We stayed at the CBR from 6-16 to 6-23 and had the park hopper and water park package, water view. First off, the hotel is VERY nice, the pics do not do it justice..and I mean...I looked at every site possible to get a good idea of where we were staying. We were in Martinique, the top of the lake, with our rooms right on the corner 2224 and 2223....amazing views..amazing lake...very nice place. I spoke to a number of employees..and they all agreed that the CBR is the best VALUE for your money.
We got the drink cups, those were nice to fill up when ever we wanted...morning coffee and coco became the trend...and mid day ice tea and soda. Id recomend you get the mugs/cups right up front when you get there and your all excited walking around. One thing...you cannot bring them to the parks...I thought you could, but you cant, they are for your hotel only.
The bus system. I was very worried about the bus system, and how some pages or books said how bad it was, how long you have to wait. Hog wash...the longest I think we waited was about 15 min and that was when we were late and saw it leave when we came out to go to the bus stop. The parks are also very well organized, you have to pay attention to the bus stop #, some parks the CBR was #11 and some were #6, but you need to find out from the driver when he drops you off, most dont drop you off at the # station, but up front or close. Some will mention the bus pick up spot, but again...its easy and very well marked even if you were paying attention to somthing else when he may mention the #. The one complaint I do have about the bus system is the mad rush at close or after a big firework show. At Epcot, I think we waited about 1.5 hours due to the mad rush after their show that ended at 9. Either sit around the park on a bench, or make sure your some of the first people in line...dont wait for the end...the end is up in the sky anyways really. I just felt they should have had more busses running at that momment...no other park closes at that time..MGM's show runs at the same time, but it didnt seem like a huge mass of people leaving at that time since it was open another few hours.
Eating. We took my wifes parents along with us, so we couldnt really afford the dining plan, nor did I really want it after reading it, but Im kind of more into freedom of choice vs stuck in a plan with point values and that kind of thing. That freedom didnt really affect us though, all we did each day was call the wdw-dine # around lunch and ask them to see where we could go at the rough time we wanted to eat. They would do a search say between 5-6 and they would list off what places had openings. Cancellations, or whatever, there was always a place and a choice. We never did get into the 50's diner...my oldest daughter wanted to go there, but just couldnt get in. I heard there are a couple of places like that, so do some homework on the restauranst and which ones are poplar. Id call the dine # and just ask them..they are very helpful. For breakfast and lunch, we just ate a simple breakfast in our room and either came back to the hotel or took our lunch with us.
This leads me to our food. I didnt want to buy breakfast lunch and dinner every day...so, we got intouch with Marg at wegoshop, the local franchise owner. I highly recommend this service if your not into paying $7.00 per person every morning for breakfast. Their site was very cool..and easy..and I paid when she got to the room. I have no connection to them, I just found it very simple and saved me a ton of money...yes...the groceries cost $ the delivery fee + a tip, but, I did the math and saved more than half my cost.
We spent more time in our room and at the hotel than I thought we would. With the simple bus system, we did the Early Magic Hours every morning, yes...that means you have to get up EARLY....the kids will be ok..and so will you. We saw the night time magic hours..and really the park didnt change as far as lines and crowd. The huge majority of people us the night time magic hours vs the morning ones. When we got tired, or it got too hot, we got on the bus..went to the room for a bit, swam...laid down, played cards...what ever, and went back to the parks around 4. We rode EVERY ride we wanted at each of the parks. Epcot was the one place where we went more than once, but that was due to rain on the day we went, and we wanted to spend more time in the World part. Speaking of that, we ate at San Angel Inn, and wouldnt recomend it...not worth it. The cost is way out of line for what you get.
The weather was actualy nice...in the direct sun...it was hot. I think it ranged from 89-91 but, being from southern california, im use to hot...this is a different hot. The humidity obviously changes things, in the shade it was nice, or if there was a breeze, it was nice...but, once the wind would stop and that sun had time to bake, it was hot.
Parks. Epcot was my favorite, test track and the space thing was pretty cool. I did both the less motion and more aggresive motion on mission space, and the aggressive one is just that...Id say that ride for the end of the day like I did. It really gives you some amazing G's Its the same little video and ride basicaly, but the aggresive one I think spins much faster giving you that blastoff feel. Also, make sure you get the only FREE coke in WDW. next to the dancing fountain, the big one, there is an exhibit inside a building (air conditioned) that serves for free coke products from around the world. And a slushy kind of drink from the guy behind the counter. Epcot is just cool...France is excellent, I liked that they had seats in their movie theater, and great video. Chinas is VERY good, but you stand and its a total round, so your always looking around. The other countries I think need to mimick this concept. USA's was down, so I have no idea whats inside. I could spend a lot more time there by myself just slowly checking things out.
MGM....Im not a big fan of Hollywood and all that goes with that crowd...but the park is ok...hot and laid out very strange. Its like a Z, with lots of strange corners and angles, didnt like that at all. The Tower of Terror is by far the best ride in all of WDW though. We rode it 3 times, and yes, every time was a little different. It makes ours at Cali Adventure seem lame. The rocken roller coaster was cool, a drop would have been nice. The stunt show was also pretty cool...kind of corny, but fun to watch, and they set up the stands with the roof for shade, which I thought was a nice touch. If your late you will be in the sun though, the two main sides and the very front of the stands seems to be in the sun the whole time, depending on the time of day.
Wild Animal Park. Wow, what an amazing job they did in building that park, the detail in the design and layout is top notch, the whole place is just cool. We had a plan of action at every park, and this time, I did the walk run that happens at every park at opening right over to the Everest ride and got the fastpasses for all of us, while the family walked over to the Safari bus ride. I met up with them and got on pretty quickly, I think we waited for 10 min. The safari ride was pretty good, I thought they could have paused a bit longer at sites of animals, but they REALLY pumped the busses through that ride. We then made our way back to everest whilst doing other things on the way. We did the fastpass and rode the ride...which I thought could have been a little more of a thrill ride, but in true disney mode, they tried to please as many as possible, so im glad little guys can get on. Its a good ride, just would be cool with a bigger drop. We then rode it again, but this time we all went on the single line, and I think it took like 5 min....we then just all met in the gift shop. Dinosour is a ride you HAVE to ride...we did 2 times, the first time, It scared the you know what out of me. And there is photo proof. Im not going to give anything away, but lets just say if you ride this ride, and your as freaked out as I was, you will be the laughing stock of your family...best seat to be in, FRONT RIGHT side.
Magic Kingdom: What a cool park, the main street is wider and higher than disneylands, and its just nicer. The place is laid out very nice, easy to get around, the only area I thought was bogged down was the alley into tomorrow land, seems to be a people log jam there when it got busy. Space Mtn is tamer at wdw, its very similar to the Matterhorn actualy. The Hall of Presidents was very cool. And no one made any lame comments about their political feelings which I was glad to see. Lets all keep it that way, the darn message itself should tell you to agree to disagree but lets keep this great place going on the right track, the track of freedom, integrity and charicter. The buses here also drop you off close by...vs having to take the monorail at all.
Blizzard Beach; We went to this park since my wife and oldest daughter went to typhoon lagoon last year with a girl scout trip. The girls went on summit plummit, and said it was very scary going up the stairs, but the ride itself was very fun, and not too bad. I didnt go on it, it looked pretty crazy to me. The one next to it, dont recall the name...was fun...and got some air on one of the bumps. Get some of the water shoes or bring some yourself, your feet get pretty sore.
Our Free Day: Yes, we actualy had a free day and you will to if you stay a week or more. Unless your in very good shape, the amount of walking you do will amaze you, my calvs and hips (Im 39) were sore and your theighs also get pretty sore. Just a lot of walking, so we wanted a free day, which we spent at the Space Center. The plan here was to rent a van or suv from Enterprise. I called when we were at the water park to reserve a vehicle. The guy was very nice and helpful, set up everything and said he would be there at our part of CBR near the bus pick up at 9:15. We got up, did our morning routine and got out to the pick up spot at 9:10 just to be on the safe side. Around 9:30 I called to find out where our guy was....and we were told they had no record of our reservation and that no one was coming. Obviously a little ticked off, I told him what was supposed to happen and the guy sent their driver right away, which was from the World Marriott about a 7 min drive. The driver got there about 9:45 and we all rode over to the Marriott and counter...did the rental contract and were on our way in our Chevy Suburban...very nice ride btw. Went to KSS and did the bus tour and Imax movies...the tour is longer than you think if you only spend a little time at each of the 3 stops, so be ready for that. I highly recomend a visit there just have a long time to spend.
All in all, Im very impressed with how the Whole thing is run. Its very clean, the roads are very nice, the busses are well organized, and the lines move good at the parks. The only thing I got tired of was getting up for a lady or a Sr, it really is strange having a woman standing in front of you (men) holding on the railing while your sitting there. My girls are 14 and 9 and they both Loved it.
We stayed at the CBR from 6-16 to 6-23 and had the park hopper and water park package, water view. First off, the hotel is VERY nice, the pics do not do it justice..and I mean...I looked at every site possible to get a good idea of where we were staying. We were in Martinique, the top of the lake, with our rooms right on the corner 2224 and 2223....amazing views..amazing lake...very nice place. I spoke to a number of employees..and they all agreed that the CBR is the best VALUE for your money.
We got the drink cups, those were nice to fill up when ever we wanted...morning coffee and coco became the trend...and mid day ice tea and soda. Id recomend you get the mugs/cups right up front when you get there and your all excited walking around. One thing...you cannot bring them to the parks...I thought you could, but you cant, they are for your hotel only.
The bus system. I was very worried about the bus system, and how some pages or books said how bad it was, how long you have to wait. Hog wash...the longest I think we waited was about 15 min and that was when we were late and saw it leave when we came out to go to the bus stop. The parks are also very well organized, you have to pay attention to the bus stop #, some parks the CBR was #11 and some were #6, but you need to find out from the driver when he drops you off, most dont drop you off at the # station, but up front or close. Some will mention the bus pick up spot, but again...its easy and very well marked even if you were paying attention to somthing else when he may mention the #. The one complaint I do have about the bus system is the mad rush at close or after a big firework show. At Epcot, I think we waited about 1.5 hours due to the mad rush after their show that ended at 9. Either sit around the park on a bench, or make sure your some of the first people in line...dont wait for the end...the end is up in the sky anyways really. I just felt they should have had more busses running at that momment...no other park closes at that time..MGM's show runs at the same time, but it didnt seem like a huge mass of people leaving at that time since it was open another few hours.
Eating. We took my wifes parents along with us, so we couldnt really afford the dining plan, nor did I really want it after reading it, but Im kind of more into freedom of choice vs stuck in a plan with point values and that kind of thing. That freedom didnt really affect us though, all we did each day was call the wdw-dine # around lunch and ask them to see where we could go at the rough time we wanted to eat. They would do a search say between 5-6 and they would list off what places had openings. Cancellations, or whatever, there was always a place and a choice. We never did get into the 50's diner...my oldest daughter wanted to go there, but just couldnt get in. I heard there are a couple of places like that, so do some homework on the restauranst and which ones are poplar. Id call the dine # and just ask them..they are very helpful. For breakfast and lunch, we just ate a simple breakfast in our room and either came back to the hotel or took our lunch with us.
This leads me to our food. I didnt want to buy breakfast lunch and dinner every day...so, we got intouch with Marg at wegoshop, the local franchise owner. I highly recommend this service if your not into paying $7.00 per person every morning for breakfast. Their site was very cool..and easy..and I paid when she got to the room. I have no connection to them, I just found it very simple and saved me a ton of money...yes...the groceries cost $ the delivery fee + a tip, but, I did the math and saved more than half my cost.
We spent more time in our room and at the hotel than I thought we would. With the simple bus system, we did the Early Magic Hours every morning, yes...that means you have to get up EARLY....the kids will be ok..and so will you. We saw the night time magic hours..and really the park didnt change as far as lines and crowd. The huge majority of people us the night time magic hours vs the morning ones. When we got tired, or it got too hot, we got on the bus..went to the room for a bit, swam...laid down, played cards...what ever, and went back to the parks around 4. We rode EVERY ride we wanted at each of the parks. Epcot was the one place where we went more than once, but that was due to rain on the day we went, and we wanted to spend more time in the World part. Speaking of that, we ate at San Angel Inn, and wouldnt recomend it...not worth it. The cost is way out of line for what you get.
The weather was actualy nice...in the direct sun...it was hot. I think it ranged from 89-91 but, being from southern california, im use to hot...this is a different hot. The humidity obviously changes things, in the shade it was nice, or if there was a breeze, it was nice...but, once the wind would stop and that sun had time to bake, it was hot.
Parks. Epcot was my favorite, test track and the space thing was pretty cool. I did both the less motion and more aggresive motion on mission space, and the aggressive one is just that...Id say that ride for the end of the day like I did. It really gives you some amazing G's Its the same little video and ride basicaly, but the aggresive one I think spins much faster giving you that blastoff feel. Also, make sure you get the only FREE coke in WDW. next to the dancing fountain, the big one, there is an exhibit inside a building (air conditioned) that serves for free coke products from around the world. And a slushy kind of drink from the guy behind the counter. Epcot is just cool...France is excellent, I liked that they had seats in their movie theater, and great video. Chinas is VERY good, but you stand and its a total round, so your always looking around. The other countries I think need to mimick this concept. USA's was down, so I have no idea whats inside. I could spend a lot more time there by myself just slowly checking things out.
MGM....Im not a big fan of Hollywood and all that goes with that crowd...but the park is ok...hot and laid out very strange. Its like a Z, with lots of strange corners and angles, didnt like that at all. The Tower of Terror is by far the best ride in all of WDW though. We rode it 3 times, and yes, every time was a little different. It makes ours at Cali Adventure seem lame. The rocken roller coaster was cool, a drop would have been nice. The stunt show was also pretty cool...kind of corny, but fun to watch, and they set up the stands with the roof for shade, which I thought was a nice touch. If your late you will be in the sun though, the two main sides and the very front of the stands seems to be in the sun the whole time, depending on the time of day.
Wild Animal Park. Wow, what an amazing job they did in building that park, the detail in the design and layout is top notch, the whole place is just cool. We had a plan of action at every park, and this time, I did the walk run that happens at every park at opening right over to the Everest ride and got the fastpasses for all of us, while the family walked over to the Safari bus ride. I met up with them and got on pretty quickly, I think we waited for 10 min. The safari ride was pretty good, I thought they could have paused a bit longer at sites of animals, but they REALLY pumped the busses through that ride. We then made our way back to everest whilst doing other things on the way. We did the fastpass and rode the ride...which I thought could have been a little more of a thrill ride, but in true disney mode, they tried to please as many as possible, so im glad little guys can get on. Its a good ride, just would be cool with a bigger drop. We then rode it again, but this time we all went on the single line, and I think it took like 5 min....we then just all met in the gift shop. Dinosour is a ride you HAVE to ride...we did 2 times, the first time, It scared the you know what out of me. And there is photo proof. Im not going to give anything away, but lets just say if you ride this ride, and your as freaked out as I was, you will be the laughing stock of your family...best seat to be in, FRONT RIGHT side.
Magic Kingdom: What a cool park, the main street is wider and higher than disneylands, and its just nicer. The place is laid out very nice, easy to get around, the only area I thought was bogged down was the alley into tomorrow land, seems to be a people log jam there when it got busy. Space Mtn is tamer at wdw, its very similar to the Matterhorn actualy. The Hall of Presidents was very cool. And no one made any lame comments about their political feelings which I was glad to see. Lets all keep it that way, the darn message itself should tell you to agree to disagree but lets keep this great place going on the right track, the track of freedom, integrity and charicter. The buses here also drop you off close by...vs having to take the monorail at all.
Blizzard Beach; We went to this park since my wife and oldest daughter went to typhoon lagoon last year with a girl scout trip. The girls went on summit plummit, and said it was very scary going up the stairs, but the ride itself was very fun, and not too bad. I didnt go on it, it looked pretty crazy to me. The one next to it, dont recall the name...was fun...and got some air on one of the bumps. Get some of the water shoes or bring some yourself, your feet get pretty sore.
Our Free Day: Yes, we actualy had a free day and you will to if you stay a week or more. Unless your in very good shape, the amount of walking you do will amaze you, my calvs and hips (Im 39) were sore and your theighs also get pretty sore. Just a lot of walking, so we wanted a free day, which we spent at the Space Center. The plan here was to rent a van or suv from Enterprise. I called when we were at the water park to reserve a vehicle. The guy was very nice and helpful, set up everything and said he would be there at our part of CBR near the bus pick up at 9:15. We got up, did our morning routine and got out to the pick up spot at 9:10 just to be on the safe side. Around 9:30 I called to find out where our guy was....and we were told they had no record of our reservation and that no one was coming. Obviously a little ticked off, I told him what was supposed to happen and the guy sent their driver right away, which was from the World Marriott about a 7 min drive. The driver got there about 9:45 and we all rode over to the Marriott and counter...did the rental contract and were on our way in our Chevy Suburban...very nice ride btw. Went to KSS and did the bus tour and Imax movies...the tour is longer than you think if you only spend a little time at each of the 3 stops, so be ready for that. I highly recomend a visit there just have a long time to spend.
All in all, Im very impressed with how the Whole thing is run. Its very clean, the roads are very nice, the busses are well organized, and the lines move good at the parks. The only thing I got tired of was getting up for a lady or a Sr, it really is strange having a woman standing in front of you (men) holding on the railing while your sitting there. My girls are 14 and 9 and they both Loved it.