Another just back and highs and lows report

[dippiedawnie]

Hi all, we got back yesterday and wanted to share our highs and lows.

Highs
BA version of premium economy was good- food was really nice, staff were great. We have always flown Virgin so was slightly nervous of changing to BA but it was fine. (We flew LGR-MCO)

Disney and Universal hotels-spotless, good customer service and we had no issue with housekeeping. We stayed at Boardwalk, Saratoga Tree Houses and Royal Pacific.

Happy Limo for transfers to and from the airport were great. Not the cheapest but very reliable with good communication and service.

Hired our car from Disneys car care centre via National. Great pick up and drop off service and the car was lovely. So high tech we couldn’t figure out how to do anything - needed the instruction booklet. 😂

Food- oh how we were looking forward to the food and it didn’t disappoint. Best TS meals were in 9 Dragons in EPCOT and Toothsomes on City Walk. We also enjoyed Regal Eagle for BBQ in EPCOT and offsite Steak and Shake and IHOP.

Genie + worked well to stack rides later in the day. We could not have done HS and MK without it.

MCO- very civilised - customs was about a 30 min wait on way in but about 5 mins on way back.

Weather was HOT- had only 3 days where we had some rain and got wet.

Lows
Weather-it was HOT! We did struggle a bit.

Crowds- never seem it so busy. Took longer than usual to do what we wanted and in the heat it was gruelling. HS was especially bad on all 3 days we went. (Not helped by the fact ToT is only running at 50% capacity as one of the Towers is down and has been fir a while so most days the wait is over 100 minutes. And RoTR is down regularly)

Genie + although we made it work for us mostly it’s a pain to constantly be on the phone all the time.

Treehouses at SS- lovely but they are out of the way. We had a car so made it work but wouldn’t want to be there without one.

Heathrow T3 and 5 were carnage on way out and back. (We flew Newcastle to LHR then to Orlando) so busy it was hard to find a seat and couldn’t get anywhere to have food without very long waits. On the way out from T3 the shops were empty of basic stuff like water, crisps, mints etc.

Florida is rife with COVID and flu. I caught flu but luckily none of us got COVID. DS did end up in Emergency Care one day as got sideswiped by a wave at Typhoon lagoon and has a perforated eardrum from it (he is 6ft 2, heavy set, muscular and a dolphin in water but the wave totally knocked him for 6 - so keep an eye on your smaller adults in the wave pool &#128522 Everyone in the waiting room was there fir a COVID or flu test and lots were already COVID positive and ill. the doctor they saw said it was their main source of business at the moment.

The cost - we expected it to be more expensive and it is. (Not helped by the poor exchange rate). We did find bargains in the outlets fir souvenirs, trainers and clothes do still worth a visit there.

Overall
We had a brilliant time.

Will any of the above stop us going back? No they won’t- already booked part of our holiday for next year. yes it was different in some ways but we got used to the changes and worked with them

Any questions just ask.

Off to start the washing - back to reality. 🙄🙄🙄

[munmun]

Originally Posted by dippiedawnie

Hi all, we got back yesterday and wanted to share our highs and lows.

Highs
BA version of premium economy was good- food was really nice, staff were great. We have always flown Virgin so was slightly nervous of changing to BA but it was fine. (We flew LGR-MCO)

Disney and Universal hotels-spotless, good customer service and we had no issue with housekeeping. We stayed at Boardwalk, Saratoga Tree Houses and Royal Pacific.

Happy Limo for transfers to and from the airport were great. Not the cheapest but very reliable with good communication and service.

Hired our car from Disneys car care centre via National. Great pick up and drop off service and the car was lovely. So high tech we couldn’t figure out how to do anything - needed the instruction booklet. 😂

Food- oh how we were looking forward to the food and it didn’t disappoint. Best TS meals were in 9 Dragons in EPCOT and Toothsomes on City Walk. We also enjoyed Regal Eagle for BBQ in EPCOT and offsite Steak and Shake and IHOP.

Genie + worked well to stack rides later in the day. We could not have done HS and MK without it.

MCO- very civilised - customs was about a 30 min wait on way in but about 5 mins on way back.

Weather was HOT- had only 3 days where we had some rain and got wet.

Lows
Weather-it was HOT! We did struggle a bit.

Crowds- never seem it so busy. Took longer than usual to do what we wanted and in the heat it was gruelling. HS was especially bad on all 3 days we went. (Not helped by the fact ToT is only running at 50% capacity as one of the Towers is down and has been fir a while so most days the wait is over 100 minutes. And RoTR is down regularly)

Genie + although we made it work for us mostly it’s a pain to constantly be on the phone all the time.

Treehouses at SS- lovely but they are out of the way. We had a car so made it work but wouldn’t want to be there without one.

Heathrow T3 and 5 were carnage on way out and back. (We flew Newcastle to LHR then to Orlando) so busy it was hard to find a seat and couldn’t get anywhere to have food without very long waits. On the way out from T3 the shops were empty of basic stuff like water, crisps, mints etc.

Florida is rife with COVID and flu. I caught flu but luckily none of us got COVID. DS did end up in Emergency Care one day as got sideswiped by a wave at Typhoon lagoon and has a perforated eardrum from it (he is 6ft 2, heavy set, muscular and a dolphin in water but the wave totally knocked him for 6 - so keep an eye on your smaller adults in the wave pool &#128522 Everyone in the waiting room was there fir a COVID or flu test and lots were already COVID positive and ill. the doctor they saw said it was their main source of business at the moment.

The cost - we expected it to be more expensive and it is. (Not helped by the poor exchange rate). We did find bargains in the outlets fir souvenirs, trainers and clothes do still worth a visit there.

Overall
We had a brilliant time.

Will any of the above stop us going back? No they won’t- already booked part of our holiday for next year. yes it was different in some ways but we got used to the changes and worked with them

Any questions just ask.

Off to start the washing - back to reality. 🙄🙄🙄

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Thanks, really useful, pleased you had fun, sorry about your son.

[margyloveswdw]

Nice to hear some positive feedback. Sounds like you had a great trip batting the visit to the ER!

[Goldia]

Those treehouses at Saratoga look so great from the outside and on the boat from port Orleans to springs, but I can imagine they are a pain to get to as they are in the middle of nowhere. Your poor DS with his ear drums! Ouch! It seems you had a fun time though and already booked up for next year. Thanks for sharing your highs and lows with us.

[ClaireNJ]

Awww thanks for sharing ❤️🇺🇸
Sounds absolutely amazing, well apart from the heat 🥵🥵🥵
Typhoon Lagoon should have more warnings up about the danger of the waves 😳
I stand right at the back and you can still feel the force of it
I hope your son will be ok, a perforated eardrum is horrible, bet it was even worse on the plane
Good luck with all the washing & ironing 🤷🤦I usually manage 5 loads on my first day back

[Cha cha]

Thanks for the highs and lows report.
It’s great that you had lots of good meals out there 😊
Must say I’m kind of dreading the crowds and the 7am wake up call to start getting our genie+ rides booked, but on the same hand so glad to finally be getting back out there 😊
I remember last time we went to TL those waves bring pretty fierce. I wish Blizzard Beach were open, I much prefer that water park. I hope your son is ok, that must have been very scary 😟
Not good about Covid being everywhere either!
I think I’ll take a few masks so that we can wear them in queues & very crowded areas …… so .. basically .. all the time 😂
Hope you enjoy your countdown to your cruise 😊

[dippiedawnie]

Thanks all for your best wishes for DS. He is fine and on the plane. The H20 Glow night at Typhoon was great apart from that one wave lol! We had a great time and can recommend doing one of those evenings as the lines fir the slides were shorter and you don’t need to worry about getting sun burnt. Event it from 8-12 but they let you in from 6.

The 7am wake up call in reality needs to be 6.45am to get into the app and be ready- particularly for GoTG. Start refreshing the app at least 5 mins before 7am for that one to test your connection. Do NOT wait till 7am to log into the app- the virtual Q goes in about 3 seconds.

Only got 3 loads of washing done today which felt like a good result with the jet lag 😊

Now catching up on some TV and enjoying some English chocolate with a proper cup of tea 😎

[mick]

Sounds like you had a good time apart from your son’s ear problem! Glad to hear he is doing ok


Joan