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Old 26 Jun 19, 04:28 PM  
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Tea
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Join Date: Feb 10
Weather: First week was hot but overcast a lot which was welcome to acclimatise. We had a few real wash out days and I was on the verge of vowing never to go in the summer again, when we had a few lovely scorchers in the last week.

Parks:
Felt many of the Disney staff were really dead behind the eyes this time- they may need to look at their organisational culture as it is starting to become more and more apparent IMO. Universal staff seemed a lot more with it (except for, irony, Guest Services, see below)

We did one day MK and it was park open to park close which was pretty intense. We took it easy and took lots of time outs in the form of water breaks, and attractions which the kids had never done like Country Bears and Carousel of Progress. We made full use of FP.

There was a huge downpour and park cleared a little which was helpful in trying to squash more stuff in.

AK: saw Divine again- you have to check with CMs when she comes out- I adore Divine.

We got loads done here too but it poured at 2pm until 7pm so we left about 3.30 which, on a one day base ticket with no chance for a do-over, gave me palpitations. We had done most of the rides but none of the trails, and kids were being seriously grumpy anyway- and by the time we went back in the evening, they were shut.

Next time, I would do a few headliners, then trails, then FP for lesser headliners. There isn't a whole lot in AK that needs FP once you have Pandora out of the way (We did FOP on DAS return time, then FP for Navi, Kali and KS, went to Everest after Pandora so walk on, and so on ... and went again in evening after downpour so again walk on, the rest were low waits as we rode in the morning). We went to the later showing of ROL and it was empty (rain helped)- sad that umbrella lady is gone- when did she leave?

Kids got a lot more out of the Wilderness Explorer this time as they are a little older.

US/ IOA: The first day we went to US (9th June) was a Sunday and it was remarkably uncrowded. We rode everything with low/ no wait and left the park at 5 p.m all done.

When we went back subsequently it was far busier as was IOA. In the end, especially with mine being late risers/ night owls, we would go after 6pm for a few hours and take advantage of lower wait times then.

We got on Hagrids after 3 attempts on our last night. We had AAP. The system was thus: Queue or after the first few days, single rider (which apparently was no advantage and queue was as long). No express pass.
For AAP, even if the ride was showing as "At Capacity", they would still let you on. You went through the exit / Express and queued. The ride broke down a fair bit and weather stops it too. On the night we got to ride, it was up and running, it was at capacity and we waited 45 mins. Very good ride; probably would not go over my max queue time of 30 mins to ride though- very few rides I would bar possibly Mako (exception made for DS who is recipient of AAP who "had" to ride it and spoke of nothing else in advance of the holiday).

Very frustrating experiences with Guest Services at IOA. On first day, we were told AAP would be valid etc etc. Part way through the holiday, we were told at the ride entrance that there was an issue. I explained to staff member that GS had told me it would be fine... no dice. I went to GS near Spidey. He was very nice but told me I would need my tickets. I had to walk all the way back and get tickets. Then asked a staff member if any other GS- and was told one near Jurassic Park... went there and queued again to be told... you need tickets AND i.d.
Went back to get I.D to be told that the wait time I had on the current AAP that needed changing would be lost if he changed it. :Could he not have told me this beforehand?! At this stage I had lost an hour running back and forth. We used the return time we had and went back. Luckily (for him!) it was a different staff member. I think he was just doing a computer says no routine to irritate me. He gave me dribs and drabs of info and then sat there impassively when I started getting upset.

A very odd experience as well at the talking fountain. I asked DS (13) to go up and ask when he might get to ride on Hagrids. Instead of coming back with a funny answer, he came back with "We have to look out for your safety and if the ride breaks down, we need to ensure that our guests... " I was sort of expecting a joke response instead of a Health and Safety lecture. This was on the back of a hilarious exchange with other guests on the meaning of life (it's 42)
I heard a similar question to ours being asked to a female fountain the next evening and it was a much wittier response.

Other than that, excellent time and very good staff members at the US suite of parks. Theming at HP area is a match for any at Disney, we had good food at Simpson land (tacos at Bumblebee) and the tickets are less expensive. The free parking after 6pm is a huge bonus too esp when parks open til 10pm

VB: Such a frustrating park. theming is beautiful but this makes it very hard to see where the rides are and the signage is terrible. They actually have paper maps if you ask I discovered on the 2nd day as there are not enough maps dotted around the park at all.

The beach is very crowded and the chairs are extremely close together.

The names of the slides are very confusing.

The tapu tapu is not a good system, IMO. We arrived early one morning to find 40+ minutes for everything bar Puihi. We tapped in to one, and by the time we had ridden it, everything else was 60+ minutes. We tapped into the 2nd one (and don't forget this requires physically walking over to the ride and tapping in before retreating all the way back to wave pool/ lazy river) and waited another hour... there are only so many times you can circle around the wave pool. It poured at lunch time and we waited, rode one more ride, it rained again and we gave up. The poor signage meant that except for a kind and observant staff member who overheard us, we would have been circling around this large park all day... he heard me saying to kids that we would need to walk around the park to X ride and he told us that there was a shortcut through the volcano... (there is zero signage for this )

2nd day was worse again. Rode 2 things (our fault for arriving a bit later), massive downpour and left.

One day we waited at the villa til AFTER the downpour and rode everything in record time.


Other stuff:
There is something about DS that it traps the heat. It was very warm this time. NB the shops don't open til 10 or 11 and the ferries to POR don't start til then either...as we found out when trying to go for brekkie. Some of the shops aren't as pricey as I thought. I got a dress with a pattern I preferred in Columbia for only $5 more than the outlets (same dress, different pattern)

We did the Surrey Bike. I was the only adult and I got a good work out! THis was super fun. Loved it. Love POR and had a fab brekkie there.

KSC was good but I think my younger ones are still a bit too young. Again it poured so we were running from exhibit to exhibit. Very interesting but a little hard for the younger ones to conceptualise.

Void: the lads said it was fun but definitely over priced

AMC Dine in: food is passable and the seats are super comfy. Watched Toy Story 4. A good concept and fun evening.

AoA: Kids had great fun at the animation classes. Dead-behind-eyes CM did complex characters on both occasions, in record time, but they still managed to get funny drawings done.

HAving the lifeguards at AoA vs Wyndham is very relaxing

Wyndham location could not have been better- the walk to DS was less then 5 mins. Also, I dropped back the hire car after the airport run to the Hilton adjacent to it and told reception and was only charged one night's parking

Used the services of Debbie (angelbabe) and she was fantastic. Excellent customer service. Buying stuff online saves time and there are very good bargains to be had online.

Tips:

Keep at it with FP. I only got my Disney tickets a few days before I visited each park (MK and AK only) and still managed to get everything I wanted at times that I wanted- with a lot of app tapping- bar FOP and 7DMT.
I tapped on the FP I wanted and then relentlessly refreshed the app til I got it back to times that I wanted (note that this was done over 3 days, and I talking about a LOT of refreshing in some cases). can be a bit annoying but paid off as I got all the FP I wanted for morning times so I could go get 4th, 5th etc FP (and did the same with these too).

Go to parks after a big downpour. VB was annoying me with the long wait times and inability to queue for more than one thing at a time (unlike e.g. Disney, where in essence, you are "queuing" for 3 things with FP and then can also get in a physical queue) . We went after a massive thunderstorm. Arrived after 6pm (no parking charges) and got on all the rides as park was deserted. It is also really pretty at night with the volcano lit up. Similar experience at US parks and AK.

Get to Kelly Springs early. They only let 200 or so cars in for the day. once it's full, that is it. When it opens at 8 a.m., it could be full by 09.30

I know some people swear by water shoes and the ground at VB was sizzling... but you have to remove them at most rides which can be a bit of a faff (esp if assisting smallies) so cheap £1 flip flops from Primark might be easier to just pop on and off

Don't forget your coupons: I had a VIP Dine card that I got on groupon (lots of ticket companies give them for free too ). Forgot to use it at Teak but server was lovely so I don't mind. The VIP card takes off 15% of food most cases, so the saving covers the best part of the cost of the tip which is great.

Parks no longer consider lost MBs as a lost item- I asked a CM but he said as so many get lost now they really just chuck them out rather than bringing to lost property . We lost 2 (one in MK and one in VB) and got neither back. Make sure they are fastened properly!
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Edited at 05:52 PM.
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