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Old 11 Dec 21, 01:23 AM  
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Hammerstone
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Join Date: Jul 21
Location: Maidstone
My unique take on my trip so far.

I will update my return journey leg tomorrow but here we have the folks, as you will agree I am a modern day Shakespeare.

Edit..video clips from trip here.. (Not a vlog, just a planes black box version of my trip to show what occured)



The flight

Not going to mince my words. BA are shocking. Our flight was delayed 4 hours because the original plane was knackered (technical term). When the replacement arrived it was a different spec aircraft (older and different configuration). It was so dire I was surprised there wasn’t an ashtray in the armrest and a VCR projector. Anyway, many people including myself who paid for special seats were given nothing of the sort. Groups were also separated massively. To top it off, we were spoilt for choice. I had the conundrum of choosing veggie, or veggie for my meal. 5 hours into the flight it ran out of most soft drinks and booze, probably because people like me were trying to imagine they were on the new airbus. But it does not end there! The snack before landing was a sandwich. Well, I say a sandwich, it was essentially one slice of bread halved with the amount of filling that even Kate Moss would be left asking for more.

The highlight of the flight was when the pilot landed 3hrs and 17 minutes late, as under BA policy I’ll be entitled to some compo if it arrives at the destination 3 hours late. It was touch and go for a while as the ETA put it at what would be 2hrs 55m late, but I erupted with applause when we touched down 17 minutes on from that magical period.

Hollywood Studios.
BUSY. It’s mental. I only go to parks midweek but it was still fairly heaving on our full day there. Genie Plus here in my view is pointless as quite often SDD gets used up and then in reality come 2pm you will be offered slots for what’s left many hours later, so in reality If you are spending the entire day there, don’t bother. It did though help me get everything done in my full day (I skipped ROTR as I did this another day) which allowed me to have more downtime in the park shop, have food and stare at attractive women whilst Mrs Hammerstone wasn’t watching.

Rise is a great ride, one of the best and the gold standard in my view for non track type coasters. However, it’s more temperamental than a 14 year old who’s denied access to their tiktok. Whilst there I reckon it was down around 20% of the time.

Magic Kingdom.
Solid steady eddy park. Nothing too wild but the experience is top notch. The crowds are mental, and be prepared for your ankles to be rammed by morbidly obese people on scooters, who you can’t help but feel wouldnt be as fat if they used their stumpy legs.

Enchantment was a good display, and we also did the after hours gig which in my view was the better of the two. Jungle Cruise/ seven Dwarfs are the big hitters and will always have waits of 60-70 right up until the ≈≈≈≈ end of the day.

Genie Plus here probably is the best. I got luckily and bagged Jungle Cruise first knockings, but even being smart one full day here isn’t enough. (Normal park hours). I recommend the hall of presidents as it was nice to get away from Micky for a bit with something vaguely educational. I was disappointed when the Biden animatronic spoke it was clear and concise with no rambling, maybe that’s another show.

Animal Kingdom

Probably the lightest crowd park. Get the Safari done as that can creep up early doors.Genie Plus May be an advantage if you bagged Navi and then worked around that, coupled with an individual purchase for avatar. Expedition Everest does not need any purchase as when I was there the wait times were about 75% lesstime than being stuck on the blower to BA, so around 15-20 minutes.

Epcot

Having never been here before I was pleasantly surprised. If you are a mason and are lucky enough to have a reservation for Space 220 then well done you. But for those of us in the cheap seats, if this is a must do get to the walk up queue for the lounge at opening. There’s no come back later type gig as it’s take it now or leave it, but we had a 25 minute wait and were in. The cast member said basically we wouldn’t have a better chance any other time of day. Not much else to say, other than make sure you full your boots with the Coca Cola shop which name escapes me. I regretted not taking a flask getting my moneys worth of free Beverley.

Universal Studios

That wise older brother everyone loves of the theme park world. Most rides were no more than 20-25 minutes wait midweek. Bourne is excellent, and has more special effects and trickery to blow your mind than watching Boris at a press conference.

However, where Universal let’s itself down is the bread and butter staff. You will often not have staff in the same “character” as Disney. For example, at Olivanders someone asked the team member a question about HP, their reply was essentially they only know enough about it to get by. Poor show Universal.

At Hagrids some sarcastic team member was also as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike (see what I did there?). Overall the team members buy in is at best average for keeping up the experience, but they aren’t as bad as Seaworld/Busch Gardens.

Islands of Adventure

As above, nothing too hairy wait time rise. Hagrids still dominates and will often be 60-70+. It was down a fair bit when I was there, so my advice is just go there at opening as unless you arrive towards the end of the day the queue won’t go down too much. If you have slower, fatter relatives who can’t keep up with your pace as you sprint through Sueuss Landing, just leave them. Velocicoaster is hands down the best thrill ride in Florida, and really never peaked 40m for a wait even on a Sunday.

Discovery cove.

Epic. Dolphins, as much beer as I can sink, women in Bakinis, and a low crowd? Ideal.
Seriously though, at least do it once in your life. The swimming with stingrays and other fish milling around minding their own business was a great experience. Only thing I think was lacking was a box jellyfish swim or a bull shark encounter.


Seaworld

Everything a walk on. Shows have been changed a bit since my last visit in 2019 but still good.
Food crap and staff are on par with Tesco checkout workers, just doing a job with no cares given. Mako is second best coaster. If you come back a second day it’s worth getting the refillable bottle and sharing it as you’ll defo save money.

Busch Gardens

Like that grandad who lives far away you make excuses not to visit because you are busy, it’s still a great park. Solid all rounder with next to no wait times. Iron Gwazi looks immense and will be a treat for visitors next year. Falcons Fury is the most horrendous drop ride I’ve done, let’s put it this way I can’t release my go pro footage as it may contravene the public order act.

Misc

Lots of great places visited for food but for me Boathouse, Mannys Chop House (Haines city) and the melting pot were epic.

Boston Lobster Feast is good but about $25 per head too dear for what it is, and that’s generous.

If like me you are a superior athlete, check out the Clermont park run. Great flat course and a real nice community town. Great breakfast in Cheesers after who often put a table aside for athletes, which is a touch as regular walk ins it usually is fully booked.

Gripes

Not many which is funny for me. I found Disney in particular to be on point for amazing service, and to the Americans in general including park goers all fairly respectable. The litmus test for this is bumping into you and saying sorry, doors held open etc, you know - nice human actions.

My personal observation is across all the parks when I had issues with families/groups (namely pushing in, talking over pre shows in a prickish manner, bumping into you, not moving in the queue..) was ALWAYS Latin Americans. A complete disregard for anyone else but themselves. Build the wall 10 feet higher. I’m not racist though as one of my best mates is Colombian and he concurs with my assessment, and has organised a mini sub trip for me to visit the US very soon, which is nice of him. (Seriously though, nothing against Latin Americans..just a generalisation from the encounters..)

Can anyone drive properly in Florida? The amount of people suddenly realising they are in the wrong lane (3 over) and suddenly needing that exit is astonishing. I had to do a double take the late legend Prince Phillip hadn’t returned to walk among us it was so carefree.

I won the punching game in O shucks on I drive which is a GREAT bar. Great down to earth locals. I got challenged to the classic drunk game of the punch machine and like a true silverback I stepped up and buried all their scores by some distance. I spent the rest of the evening sitting in a tyre, beating my chest shouting come on England


Update 1:
Ride suggestion - TOP GUN. Why has there been no top gun rollercoaster? Kenny Loggins danger zone blasting on speakers as you wizz around some coaster would be epic. Thank me later

Edited at 12:01 PM.
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Old 11 Dec 21, 02:30 AM  
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sully301
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We were on the BA flight. They could have saved themselves paying compensation by reissuing boarding cards in the 3/4 hours we were sat in the waiting area. I was erring on the side of not claiming due to the pandemics is effect on travel but I'm afraid their unwillingness to help or even let me know when the new guidelines came out has severely peed me off.
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Old 11 Dec 21, 03:34 AM  
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Hammerstone
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Originally Posted by sully301 View Post
We were on the BA flight. They could have saved themselves paying compensation by reissuing boarding cards in the 3/4 hours we were sat in the waiting area. I was erring on the side of not claiming due to the pandemics is effect on travel but I'm afraid their unwillingness to help or even let me know when the new guidelines came out has severely peed me off.

I spoke to the captain and he spun it as they were getting a “bigger aircraft” which obviously was a bit of a lie considering how many unempty seats there were. Maybe the plane was physically bigger I guess without passenger increase
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Old 11 Dec 21, 04:04 AM  
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nursetina
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Anyone who made a claim from that flight heard anything back from BA yet? I've just had a general, we are looking into it, e mail so far.
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Old 11 Dec 21, 04:06 AM  
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sully301
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Originally Posted by nursetina View Post
Anyone who made a claim from that flight heard anything back from BA yet? I've just had a general, we are looking into it, e mail so far.
Not made it yet
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Feb 2003 AKL, April 2003 Villa, June 2003 ASMu Nov 2003 OKW, Dec 2003 CSR & PVR, Aug 2007 Pop Century, Aug 2011 RPR & OKW, Dec 2012 POFQ & BLT. Aug 2015 Disney Magic, Sep 2016 ASsports, Sep 2019 OKW, March 2020, Holiday Inn Celebration. 2021 CSR, Sep 22 Pop Century, BLT & AKL. Feb23 Dockside US. Aug 23 Disney Dream, Jan 24 ASSp Sep 2024 ASSp
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Old 11 Dec 21, 04:12 AM  
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sully301
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Originally Posted by Hammerstone View Post
I spoke to the captain and he spun it as they were getting a “bigger aircraft” which obviously was a bit of a lie considering how many unempty seats there were. Maybe the plane was physically bigger I guess without passenger increase
It went from a 3 class to a 4 class which are not used in Orlando flights as first not needed. I think meant that there were less seats in economy. Hence the problems. I took a screen shot of the map which shows landing time if anyone needs it
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1997 Main gate East, 2001 Villa,
April 2002 ASMu, Dec 2002 Villa,
Feb 2003 AKL, April 2003 Villa, June 2003 ASMu Nov 2003 OKW, Dec 2003 CSR & PVR, Aug 2007 Pop Century, Aug 2011 RPR & OKW, Dec 2012 POFQ & BLT. Aug 2015 Disney Magic, Sep 2016 ASsports, Sep 2019 OKW, March 2020, Holiday Inn Celebration. 2021 CSR, Sep 22 Pop Century, BLT & AKL. Feb23 Dockside US. Aug 23 Disney Dream, Jan 24 ASSp Sep 2024 ASSp
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Old 11 Dec 21, 04:12 AM  
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nursetina
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Originally Posted by sully301 View Post
Not made it yet
I did mine the next day as I was still pretty cross at BA 🤣
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Old 11 Dec 21, 04:20 AM  
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sully301
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Originally Posted by nursetina View Post
I did mine the next day as I was still pretty cross at BA 🤣
I didn't want to jinx the return 😂
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1997 Main gate East, 2001 Villa,
April 2002 ASMu, Dec 2002 Villa,
Feb 2003 AKL, April 2003 Villa, June 2003 ASMu Nov 2003 OKW, Dec 2003 CSR & PVR, Aug 2007 Pop Century, Aug 2011 RPR & OKW, Dec 2012 POFQ & BLT. Aug 2015 Disney Magic, Sep 2016 ASsports, Sep 2019 OKW, March 2020, Holiday Inn Celebration. 2021 CSR, Sep 22 Pop Century, BLT & AKL. Feb23 Dockside US. Aug 23 Disney Dream, Jan 24 ASSp Sep 2024 ASSp
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Old 11 Dec 21, 06:01 AM  
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Hammerstone
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Originally Posted by nursetina View Post
Anyone who made a claim from that flight heard anything back from BA yet? I've just had a general, we are looking into it, e mail so far.

I had an email to say they were busy. For reference I submitted mine an hour after landing.

In summary They are busy dealing with complaints because they are terrible
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Old 11 Dec 21, 07:35 AM  
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YorkshireT
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‘Hammerstone’ is obviously in reference to the right hook.
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