I'm back - conclusion

[mickey house]

Back yesterday morning (Saturday), and the best trip regards short wait times in the park we can recall having for many years, but sadly this was due to Dorian so we all feel a slight sense of guilt.

Did Smugglers Run (star wars) 3 times with wait times varying from as little as 20 to 60 minutes. The ride is okay, but not brilliant and we wouldn't rush to do it again with a long queue.

Did FOP twice and navi river once within 75 minutes of AK opening (FOP is our favourite ride).

Nightmare trying to cancel one night at a Disneyworld hotel due to pending Dorian because although I booked it direct with Disneyworld, it apparently goes through their UK website, and 75 minutes later and I gave up.

Moved our one night at RPR to last weekend due to Dorian, and that was a waste of time as parks so quiet didn't need FLP. Hagrids kept breaking down so never even got to do it that weekend, but fortunately did it before then and we all thought it was a good ride (45 minutes wait one afternoon).

My family enjoyed pin trading, and wished they had done it before now.

We've been doing seaworld for around 30 years, but none of us got the love for it this time and we felt more sorry for the lovely big animals kept in small tanks. The staff looked as bored as the animals, and no staff at the entrance to Kraken, no staff at the entrance to the antartic ride. The new water ride out of action. 3 little fish was £5 to feed the stingrays which is a bit steep.

Longhorn rolling oaks let us down again, but we tried 2 other branches and they were better. Millers was generally best service and value than most other restaurants. Cheesecake factory twice was fine, but not the attentive service we once got. Mannys at Lake Buena Vista was poor quality food, and by far worse than the other 2 branches. The food is generally far to salty in Florida and just too much seasoning on it. Eating salmon last night at home with no salt or seasoning on it was heaven.

Tampa airport as quick as always to get though security both ways, and plenty of seats for everyone.

We had a newish nice car with alamo (only 1,700 miles) and skip the queue was great.

BA are going down in our estimations with each trip. My son and his girlfriend got better service going in economy than we got in club. Plane was so quiet, but cabin crew in club were lazy (one cup of coffee for 9 plus hour flight). The steaks going out in club were as tough as old boots (food on return not much better).

Sadly the villa we've used over half a dozen times has been sold by the English owners, and the new owners didn't even contact us, and we don't have their details. The chap who was ringing the bell to come in at 10am when we left didn't even speak English (the new owner appears to be South American), and they threw all the patio furniture in the pool before Dorian, filled up the living area with the cushions and tables etc, and left us to drag the heavy furniture out of the pool and put everything back. We don't feel the same about the villa now, as the original owners were so nice and helpful.

Despite appearing a grump highlighting some negatives, we all agreed this was a great trip and we wished the parks were always as quiet as they were, but I doubt we will ever experience such low crowd levels ever again.

Both me and Mrs MH feel we might actually give Florida a miss for a few years, as we have done it so often over the past 30 years, including 4 times in just under three years. So have the funds to return when we want, but we don't feel it is worth the increased cost to us.

So in conclusion, all 4 of us had a very good holiday.

[disney332]

Glad you had a good, safe and healthy time

Your reasonable conclusions, i am sure will resonate with many fellow Dibbers.

Welcome back

Disney332.

[EssexSue]

Welcome back and thanks for the review. If you're looking for a villa I can recommend one.

[Colette-S]

Originally Posted by EssexSue

Welcome back and thanks for the review. If you're looking for a villa I can recommend one.

See more...

Something tells me you are going to regret saying that!
Welcome home MH

[mick]

Mickey

Thanks for taking the time to do this report.

As you know we regularly share opinions on restaurants in the Rolling Oaks area and disappointed with your experience of Longhorn at RO - an opinion shared by a few regular Dibbers now it seems. We ditched Manny's at 192 after one visit but return to Haines regularly.

At least Alamo STC was good although we've not done it at TPA.

Back to a full diary of work commitments now I guess.

Mick

[BevS97]

I think furniture in the pool is standard hurricane preparations. But they could have assisted you with retrieving it after the storm passed.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

MH. A good review, well done.

I agree with Bev, no issues with the furniture being put in the pool but they should have retrieved it.
Sad to hear about Longhorns at R.O. Hope it isn't heading the way of the Vinelands one as that is really hit and miss.

Welcome home.

[Sandra & co]

Glad you are at home safe, Sea World is not a place we visit but went once in 2004. My kids refuse because dolphins shouldn’t be in tanks but swimming in the sea. The same with Discovery cove even though my dd wanted to swim with Dolphins when she was younger. My sil just went and photos all over Facebook of them swimming with dolphins, my kids were disgusted. They wouldn’t go to Bush Gardens for the Same reason, we were staying up at the Gulf coast and I wanted to go but they refused. We were in Florida for Hurricane Hermine and didn’t put any furniture in the pool! Now you have plenty of time to fix the sink!

[3disneykids]

Glad you had a good holiday

[blusteryday]

Welcome home MH.