Kelly O'Connor - A little bit of WDW but mostly other Orlando parks - September 2012

Sorry this has taken so long to finish! Its out of date now, but Im still posting.

The Cast & Experience:

Kelly - male, 41, Southern California native, Disneyland annual passholder and former cast member, 9th trip to Florida (I think Im starting to lose count)
Jaime - male, 25, Disney fan, Disneyland passholder, 1st trip to Florida and 1st plane ride ANYwhere

Guest Appearance:

Noreen Chin - fellow trip report writer friend from NJ whom I met through the message boards and have met in person 3 times before. Her trip partially overlaps ours.

The Dates:

September 22 - 27, 2012

Resorts: Offsite Radisson International Drive (1 night); Disneys Animal Kingdom Villas, Kidani Village side (4 nights)


Background and Planning:

I met Jaime in October of 2011 and we began dating soon thereafter. I knew that he was a Disneyland passholder right off the bat, which helped seal our connection and eventual relationship. Its so much easier to date someone who shares Disney as one of their biggest common hobbies than to have to fight to get your other half to understand the magic. In this case, there was no issue Jaime loves Disney. He doesnt have the same in-depth background knowledge of its past and doesnt care about the trivia and the removed attractions/parades like I do, but he is open to hearing anything and everything I tell him about my experience working there, as well as all the rumors and news I read about online.

That said, early on in the dating process I asked him if he had ever been to WDW. Turns out he hadnt been ANYwhere by plane in his life just a few road trips to surrounding states and to Mexico. I told him that Id be willing to pay for a package deal the next time they offered Free Dining if he would just cover his own airfare and then pay a few incidentals like the airline baggage fees, and maybe a few tips and gas for a rental car. He was good with that and immediately began saving.

I was only finding offers thru August, which was way too hot for my liking, so I said we might have to wait until 2013. Then, friends of mine who recently bought into DVC, Susan and Scott, informed me that they were planning to go in September and were getting a 1 bedroom villa. Its only them and their young son, which left the living room open, and they graciously offered it to us. At first, I politely declined, telling them Jaime and I were planning our own trip a little bit later in the year when Free Dining was announced. Then, after a few days passed, I thought about it Im being offered a free place to stay in one of Disneys finest accomodations. How can I make use of this?

Easy. Jaime was already aware of the new Harry Potter area at Islands of Adventure (IoA) and I knew that going all the way to Orlando without seeing that would be a shame. I also knew that if we did the Dining Plan trip, wed likely not rent a car, use Magical Express, and stay onsite at Disney the entire time. Doing both Disney and Universal in one trip would prove exhausting, especially at my advanced age having newly entered my 40s <g>. So, I thought, why dont we just take a NON-Disney parks trip now, use the free room, and get all of that out of the way and then return for WDW at a later date? Jaime was good with the idea.

With that plan in mind, I figured wed do all the biggies: Universal, IoA, Sea World, and Busch Gardens. Both pairs of parks have multi-day discounted tickets which makes them relative bargains. By arriving a day before Susan & Scott, I also figured we could throw Aquatica in to the mix since its only about $20 more to add that on to a Sea World/Busch ticket. Id been to all of the above previously except Sea World, which Id already grown up with having visited the San Diego one many times in my life, but wanted to check out this one because of the added roller coasters it has that we dont have in San Diego. I tossed around dates and decided to arrive one day before Susan and Scott and get the first night in our own hotel, just to give them some time to settle into their villa at Kidani Village.

Flight arrangements were a nightmare. Jaime and I would text eachother day in and day out researching the fares and trying to find the best deals and times. The best prices were actually leaving from our local airport rather than from Los Angeles, which is unusual, but convenient. The only downside is there are no direct flights to Orlando from there, and I didnt want to risk any problems with missed connections interrupting our vacation time. Then, one Tuesday (when flight sales are usually announced) prices dropped to under $300 per round trip. I hemmed and hawed even longer, still wanting the direct flight from LAX, but eventually, when prices inched slightly above $300 a few days later, gave in and booked Delta one-way direct from LAX to MCO, and then a connecting flight home from MCO-SNA. I figured we could miss a connection home; we would have already finished the vacation by then <g>. So, that was booked.

Weeks later, a co-worker friend of mine, who was also planning a WDW trip right after my own, told me that flights had dropped even more. I looked online and it was now cheaper to fly nonstop in BOTH directions. I was furious! Making a change on Delta costs $75 per leg per person, wiping out any chance of saving money by doing so, so I just left it. But, definitely learned a new lesson: flight prices seem to drop almost up until the actual departure date these days. In the past, this was SO not true. If you werent booked a minimum of 21 days in advance you were going to pay full retail. Apparently, the tides are changing. And it has little to do with whether a flight is sold out or not, because ours were.

Side note: Susan and Scott had originally booked Southwest and then found the cheaper flights later; Southwest lets you cancel flights and simply puts your funds into a holding account to use at a later date, freeing you up to book on another airline. I wish they all made it this easy.

Im going to make the rest of this report summary-style, since I didnt take notes walking around the parks this time. This was the first time I didnt, and my excuse is simple: It was WAY TOO HOT! I was barely standing and functioning most days; one morning I felt so light headed I thought I was going to pass out, and other evenings I almost didnt have the strength to head to the resort pools after getting back from full theme park days. So the fact is, I dont remember the exact order of attractions, shows and restaurants we did. Instead, Im just going to give some opinions to hopefully give you some ideas on what you may want to see or not see at all the Orlando parks on your next trip.


Flights

Everything went amazingly well in both directions. Flights took off and landed on time, there were no screaming children, and stopping for the connection home in Atlanta was no problem. I will say, however, that flight attendants on each leg were all very unremarkable. There was no above and beyond in any way, and there were zero attempts at friendliness from anyone. Simply employees doing their jobs. That was a bit of a letdown for me. In particular, since it was Jaimes first flight, I asked on inbound and outbound flights if they still gave out wings, the pins for new or children flyers. Both times the response was, We might, Id have to check, ask me again later. Now, I purposely chose times when these people appeared at their least busy to ask but once Id been given that answer, I didnt bother bothering them again, so no wings. Its depressing that something as simple as a wing pin, or a second bag of peanuts, or being asked more than once if I wanted a beverage, let alone whether I wanted beef or fish for my entre, are all things of the past.

Radisson International Drive

Do NOT stay at the Radisson on International Drive. Yech. I tend to like old hotels since they usually have more character and better bones, but this one can be left out of that equation. There appears to be two buildings, one much older than the other on a sprawling campus of disjointed architectural styles, colors and dcor choices. Check-in was a joke. We arrived early morning direct off a red eye flight and I swung by to just check if we could check in early. No, check in time is 4pm and we have no rooms right now but give us a call around 11am and we should have something. Fair enough. We came back at 3pm and the front desk clerk checked me in, took my credit card and had me sign papers, and THEN told me they didnt have any rooms and that check in was not officially for another hour. So, we hung out in the lobby waiting area, exhausted from our first day at Aquatica. 4pm came and went and nobody bothered to come update us. Finally, I went out to the car for something and when I came back, we were given our keys. It was about 4:30, and not another soul was around the entire time we waited. Could this place possibly be THAT full? By this point we had been awake approximately 35 hours. Turns out most of the housekeeping staff had walked out (quit) either that day or the day before. The front desk clerk told me hed just come back from a few days off and didnt know all the details, so I can only imagine what happened.

The room itself was in the newer tower, which was fine except that the older tower appeared to be of a higher quality build. Oh well. It would have been nice if not for the torn/missing piece of carpet at the entrance in the hall or the spot of wet carpet in front of the refrigerator or the trickle water pressure in the shower. It was only one night, I got it at a cheap rate thru Priceline, and now I know not to bid that star quality level in that zone ever again.

Oh, and there was a $10 resort fee charged to my card how anyone considers this a resort is just laughable but I knew about it beforehand, so I did not contest it.

Kidani Village

Animal Kingdom Villas, on the other hand, was a near-perfect experience. We arrived after dark and boy, is this place DARK. If you dont know where youre going it will feel like camping getting your car parked. You really feel like youre out in the middle of the desert here, which is great, even though youre about a mile away from the flashy tackiness of Highway 192.

Even inside the villas, lighting is very subdued. That, combined with the dark furniture, really creates a cave-like feeling, which was fine by me since Im somewhat of a vampire when it comes to sunlight.

The one bedroom units in Kidani Village have an extra bathroom right at the entrance of the villa, and it has a complete tub & shower. Susan had told me that wed have our own bathroom, but I never imagined it would have its own shower too what a treat! The sofabed was a true queen size, which was great for Jaime and me. The mattress isnt all that, but I didnt expect it to be. We slept like logs all 4 nights I usually wake up and move to another room when Jaime snores, but he either didnt snore very loud or I was knocked out enough (probably snoring myself!) to not notice it.

Housekeeping only came once during our 4 days there for the trash & towel service, but we kept things tidy so it was fine. It was great to get a preview of DVC this way, since Ill hopefully be purchasing within the next few months after almost 2 years of saving up. Once that happens, Ill be able to offer my spare living room to Susan and Scott in return, lol!

We used both pools here: the Kidani one and the main resort pool, and both are very nice. The prize does go to the Kidani one, however. By the time we got around to using them, it was 8 or 9pm and they were rather empty, which made for a lovely time. Of course, no matter what time of day or night at WDW, the jacuzzis are always packed to the gills. When will Disney EVER learn that you cant have a single hot tub for 20 guests in a resort with 2,000 rooms? This has been my pet peeve for a decade now. One evening, lifeguard training was happening at the main pool and we happened to be there and watched some of it. It was really interesting to see what the applicants go through to become certified.

Aquatica

Aquatica is Sea Worlds water park, located basically next door. Id wanted to visit since I first read a review of the park on another site, and since it was such a bargain to add it on to the Sea World/Busch Gardens ticket. Plus, since we were arriving early morning from the red eye, I knew going to a regular park on that first day would be too much, so I figured we could use that first day to ride a few slides and relax on beach chairs to ease into vacation mode.

Its a fairly lush park with mature trees and shade, but still has plenty of open sunny space. I love both Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach because they have so much atmosphere for water parks, but Aquatica comes pretty close. I wont detail all the slides, but we honestly didnt encounter any bad ones. We were able to ride almost everything once, and a couple of them more than once, in the 5 or so hours we spent there. We did miss the special feature slide that has a clear slide tube where you can see dolphins, but honestly its more of a novelty you glide by so fast, youd be lucky if you even caught a glimpse of one. Its much easier to see them from the outside viewing area they have. Crowds were fairly light in the morning, but quickly built up to a point where most slides had a 15-20 minute wait. It was VERY hot in fact, the hottest and most humid September I can remember in Orlando so you do completely dry off between rides, but the water temps were warm enough that it wasnt shocking to keep getting wet over and over.

We only had a small snack here a kids chicken nugget meal served in a Shamu container but some of the other options looked to be a step above Six Flags. Sea World parks in general have very good food, and I would assume that carries over here. Theres also an all-day buffet option. I didnt see the actual food though, and they have it completely blocked off, so as not to allow any intruders in.

If you have a down day in your vacation, Id recommend going here, especially if you can get admission as part of a multi-day ticket. If I were a local, Id definitely have an annual pass here.

Islands of Adventure

Whats to be said about a park that everybody already knows and loves? Well, its a lot better now that Potter has been added, Ill start with that. The main new attraction is an amazing hybrid system somewhat like that of Spiderman, but with the capability of turning your body in many more directions than before. If you happen to think of it during the ride and can stomach sticking your head out and looking off to the side, youll see that youre on a track system and your vehicle is attached to an arm that has you raised up high and free, able to point in virtually any direction. I have EXTREME motion sickness I cant ride in the back seat of a car or watch any handheld video-style movie (Paranormal Activity?) anymore. This didnt bother me. Of course, I had also received some patches to wear behind my ear from the doctor, so that was an added blessing.

The rest of the land is charming not huge, but gives one a nice feel of being in the films. The small gift shop with the wands has a ridiculous line outside in the sun; only do it if youre dying for a wand. The rest of the merchandise is available elsewhere. Butter Beer is completely delicious, if not expensive. Flight of the Hippogriff was slightly better than Goofys Barnstormer or Gadgets Go-Coaster and with more adult theming. It also had no wait at all on the day we were there.

The park is maintained pretty well for a place full of 90s expenditures that would never make the cut if the place was built again today. Im grateful its all still there and hope its left intact. In fact, since Ive been, there have been several painting/rehab projects in the park that have made it look even better than it did in September. What is that huge theatre near Dudleys for? By the time I first visited here around 2003, it was already mothballed but it looks like an ideal place to have massive shows. Speaking of massive, I still enjoy Poseidons Fury, however corny the script may be. The exterior faade is beautiful. If this were a Universe of Energy-style ride, I think itd be 10 times better.

On the Cat in the Hat ride (which, by the way, is full of basic level animatronics that all need serious maintenance) they stress that you cannot have hats or glasses on. They are not kidding. The ride vehicles produce a whip sensation and its amazing how much force that little C-ticket ride can have. Jaimes glasses flew off in the middle of the ride and they were around his neck at the time. We had to have a supervisor board a vehicle, look for the glasses, locate them, and then unfortunately let us know that he couldnt safely grab them until the ride had closed for the day. So, we ended up waiting at Guest Relations after park closing for the attractions crew to come by with a bucket full of lost articles. Thankfully, his glasses were there, but that afternoon in the bright sun without them was not a pleasant one for him.

Jaime loved the Hulk coaster; I really did not. Ive been on it before and liked it, but its just too jarring for me these days. If there werent bars right around your skull region that inevitably bang into you, itd be a different story. Its probably perfect for those 6 and over but not this 58 wimp. Jaime is 57 and had no problem, but his brain is much younger than mine.

On the other hand, the dueling coasters formerly known as Fire and Ice are still great. There was NO line whatsoever we walked directly into a waiting vehicle and it was smooth and enjoyable. The queue is still pretty spectacular, if simply for the fact that its so long, so dark, and so air conditioned. All three are blessings in September Florida weather.

As mentioned before on the Cat in the Hat animatronics, the park has more of them scattered around, some on rides, some in common areas such as restaurants. Theyre all delightful to see, but some need maintenance, especially the ones on Dudleys ride and the elevated train ride in Seuss Landing. Id like to see more attention paid to those or perhaps simply enclose those sections of the rides to better preserve them.

Ive only been to IoA in various off seasons, so I know nothing of the potential crowds that can descend here other than what I can see from the endless queues on the rides. I dont think Id last long under those conditions, but a weekday in September is very pleasant, setting aside the temperatures of the day.

Universal Orlando

Ive grown up visiting the Hollywood park, so when I first saw this one a few years ago I was impressed. Now, I still appreciate how many more rides Orlando has, but the park itself leaves me feeling a bit nonplussed. Thank goodness someone came to their senses and preserved their E.T. ride, unlike the merciless killing off that was done in Hollywood to make room for a subpar Mummy coaster. Mummy here is FANTASTIC do not miss it. Rip Ride Rockit was pretty cool, too, and not painful at all. Apparently it had a LOT of trouble in its first year with reliability but it ran from open to close with no issues on the day we visited.

The construction of London and for Transformers leaves a massive space of walls and rebar not attractive at all at the moment but obviously meant to bring hoardes of new guests in. The parade is mediocre it was cute enough to stop and watch, but Noreen proclaimed it lame. I tend to agree, but since it was the first time Id seen it, I enjoyed it. As a local, Id never bother watching again, though. Even worse was the nighttime show on the lake. Boring!!! If I wanted a home version of Illuminations, Id create it in my swimming pool. I can safely tell you all that you dont have to stay at the park until dark if you were thinking about leaving sooner and skipping this show.

The Beetlejuice show is still a ton of fun, and I love that they still have it. Good old live singers and dancers; you cant really go wrong especially with a fun theme like this.

My biggest complaint with Uni is the tired, constant formula of each attraction to have a pre-show warm up, then another holding pen, then another, then another, then finally you get to sit for a few moments (or sometimes not at all), experience the actual show, and then youre back out into the heat. Im so sick of the motion simulators and that appears to be the wave of the future. If Im going on a ride, I want to actually ride somewhere, not pretend that Ive done so and fool my motion-sick mind into pretending to enjoy it. This being said, the new Despicable Me film is very cute and fun. We got stuck on it in the middle of the film, which froze and went silent. Then, the show rebooted and we saw the whole thing again from start to finish.

Food at both Universal parks is mediocre. I opted to do the All Day Dine deal where you pay a flat rate for unlimited trips through the lines of a few locations scattered throughout the park. Beverages are separate, and I skipped that in favor of refilling our water bottle constantly. One can only consume so many burgers, chicken fingers, pizzas and Caesar salads. Next time Ill probably make sure to arrive full from breakfast, eat a simple lunch there, and then have dinner after leaving the parks for the night.

As far as CityWalk, it felt a lot smaller than the one in Hollywood. I cant see spending that much time here, although Jaime was elated to see the NBA City restaurant between the two parks. We did try the new miniature golf, choosing the alien/UFO side, and that was fun, even after a very humid and sweaty day at Universal. Its a little pricey, but not ridiculous. Id prefer to do the Haunted House looking side next time. I grew up playing mini golf with my dad many weekends in the 80s this course definitely shows the improvements that have been made in lighting and astroturf quality since then.

Sea World Orlando

Sea World was a big surprise. Again, Id grown up visiting the San Diego park and while its a nice diversion for a weekend, its not a place I need to see more than once every 5-10 years. Orlando is a different story its awesome! It doesnt hurt that it has two GREAT coasters and one vastly better Atlantis ride than San Diego does. I did not realize this park had been here since the 60s and I loved knowing it had some real history to it. Kraken and Manta are so much fun do them both. Both are smooth and unique and again, on this day, had minimal lines. Atlantis gets you VERY wet so be prepared! I couldnt believe how much longer of a ride it was here. We got extremely short-changed back home.

The shows have really evolved in the past few years. Yes, we know the trainers can no longer get in the water with the Killer Whales and it does make a difference, but safety has to come first. I remember when they premiered the Believe show and I snickered, thinking really? You had to steal the name from Disneylands old fireworks show? But now I see what they were going for. In the old days the shows were more like combo whale education coupled with presenting some of the Tricks that they can do. Now, its a full theatrical production with a storyline. It worked for me; others may find it corny. The best example was Blue Horizons, the dolphin show. Id never cried during a Dolphin show until now. The music, the actors, the dancers and the production value were all excellent. I immediately knew I had to have the CD of the soundtrack. Wed seen it in one shop but I figured they would all have it, and then at the end of the day the main store near the entrance did not. Thankfully, back at the airport, that shop did have it. I ended up picking up that CD as well as the one from Believe (now retired, so only $5) as well as the one from the current Shamu show called One Ocean.

The food at the Sea World parks is about 10 times better than that at Universal. And theres so many choices. On a slow weekday, the number of restaurants seemed like overkill but for us, it was like having the entire park to ourselves.

Busch Gardens Tampa

Again, this is a Sea World park that has been around longer than I have. This was, I believe, my fourth trip in the past decade and its still great. Busch Gardens manages to balance thrill rides with quality shows, good food, and animal education. Even on this slow weekday, everything was open except Gwazi, which was disappointing since it wasnt listed on the refurb schedule. I came to find out later that, while the employee stationed at the entrance told us Theyre just doing maintenance on it that they had actually voluntarily closed the ride for budget reasons. Thats fine but please list the ride as closed on your website.

The new ride since my last visit was Cheetah Hunt. We were in line for it right at park opening, but unfortunately it was having some technical difficulty so we bailed after about 20 minutes. We came back a couple hours later and only had a short wait. GREAT ride. In terms of todays latest giga coasters, its not an extreme thrill but more of a family coaster that almost everyone can ride. Theres no loops, and the launches are electric, so very smooth. The track layout is meant to simulate what a Cheetah might see as theyre sprinting through the desert. We loved it.

Now, theres one small problem which is a very big complaint on my part: to build Cheetah Hunt, they borrowed half of the sky ride station, which is fine, but they also completely camouflaged (hid) the former Clydesdale barn. A casual visitor would not even know its there anymore. I realize that Anheuser-Busch no longer exists as a Company, but this is important to the parks heritage and I was very disappointed to see history simply covered up with new foliage. They have that huge facility there fine; it doesnt have to be filled with horses on display but do something with it instead of hiding the fact that it exists.

The former beer tasting garden is also now just a food location. This is sad, since the Busch Hospitality Center was a very important feature in a theme park of the past which is now all but wiped out.

The other older big coasters, Kumba and Montu, are still excellent. Both are smooth as silk and running great; I highly recommend both. SheikRa, now several years old, packs a huge thrill on the first drop but is otherwise quite short.

Since my last visit, the Python has been replaced with Jungala, a complex combination of animal meet & greets and rope climbs/bridge crosses and other physical activities. Its very well done, but personally Id rather have a classic 70s coaster there.

The original log flume is still there and is a classic. The newer of the water rides, Congo River Rapids, is a complete soaker. Be prepared to be drenched head to toe. It doesnt help that passersby can pay a quarter to press a button to drench you even further. Its a blast to watch from the bridge, but not as fun when youre on the ride itself.

This was the first time on any of my visits that the old sky ride was open. Loved it! Weve lost so many of these over the years that it was great to remember how fun it is to simply glide along in the sky. The views are excellent and this is a unique ride in that it descends halfway into the journey to make a full 90 degree angle turn and then continue along. Its pretty labor intensive for the employees too, but I hope they let it run for many years to come.

Food here is comparable in quality and price to Sea World. I didnt opt for the all-day dine this time, so we only had lunch here. I chose the Crown Colony restaurant because its so pretty. It has a table service restaurant on the top floor and a counter service in the middle. From what Ive read, its been through several iterations since the 60s but as of now, its still very nice inside.

On the way home to Orlando, we encountered our first major rain of the trip. We were in Lakeland, I believe, and it started off mild and I told Jaime, This is nothing like what a Florida rainstorm can be. Within minutes, it turned into one of those Florida rainstorms. I had to slow down to like 10 MPH because visibility disappeared. Finally, I gave up and got off and we waited out the rest of the storm in a Wendys parking lot. It was actually fun, but I can see how this could be highly dangerous at times. Luckily, most of these downpours only last a few minutes. This one was around hour.

Id seen a few Cracker Barrels on the way to Tampa and thought we should do that for dinner, so after getting back on the freeway for a bit we pulled off and enjoyed a meal there. Jaime had never been and really enjoyed his meal, as did I. I know these are a dime a dozen in the South, much like Dennys would be for me, but for us it was a rare treat. On our first morning before Aquatica, wed also hit a Waffle House, which is equally as fun.

Magic Kingdom/Mickeys Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

Our time in the actual Magic Kingdom was limited to 7-midnight on one evening only, so very brief. Asking Jaime about it now, he says I dont even remember it as a joke. It was a whirlwind of running to as many trick or treat locations as possible, getting photo ops, and riding a very few attractions. Not ideal for a first trip, for sure but we still had fun. Also, we had already spent a full day at a non-Disney park, AND it was brutally hot, so our costumes were not at all pleasant to wear. We looked good, though: Jaime was a green alien from Toy Story and I was Tron. Well, actually at my old age of 41 I was actually Trons dad wearing his son Sams outfit, lol.

The park never felt overly crowded or dirty like so many posts have been saying as of late. The parade is still awesome, but make sure to stake a spot early as it gets incredibly crowded, even in the lesser areas of Frontierland and Liberty Square.

At this point, there wasnt much to see of the New Fantasyland except for the dual spinners and train station, but what we did quickly see looked nice.

We only had one meal, which was at Pecos Bill because I love the fixins bar so much. I made sure to pile on the cheese and mushrooms on top of my fries.

Trick or treat stations had quite lengthy queues, which I always find amusing since its mostly junk candy you can get at the 99 cents store. There were a few exceptions, and even one barrel full of Chiquita bananas, which was a refreshing change. If youre really looking to load up on candy, revisit all the stations around 11pm they become nearly deserted by that time.

Summary

Despite the high heat and limited time at each park, we had a really great time. Jaimes first flight went off without a hitch, and almost immediately from the time we arrived back home hes been talking about wanting to get on a plane again. Little does he know how things can sometimes go horribly wrong but we wont tell him until he experiences it himself <g>.

Now that weve done all the non-Disney parks, were ready to go back at see all of WDW. Free Dining offers were made available for the beginning of 2013, so I booked a package for 7 nights starting February 23 of this year. We cant wait, and hopefully the weather will be much better.

Ill also have an update on my DVC status in that report, which hopefully wont take me 4 months to write!

Until then, thanks for reading.