Disney World! Basics, plus the Ride Stats

Okay, this whole Disney trip is quite a bit to process, really. We were there a full week and we did a good two-thirds, at least, of each of the four major parks. One thing that most of us didn’t do was go to Downtown Disney. You know I’m not a shopper, and any pre-departure urges for a date were vanquished by sheer exhaustion, so the oh-so-appealing sounding clubs were more than I could handle. Ssshhhh. Don’t tell me that I should have gone. It’s too late. I’m back to our snow-forecasted reality.

So, the basics?

We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort, which worked out well for us. This is a big, spread-out resort, and I think, depending on exactly where you’re placed and when you’re there, it could be a bad place to stay. We were fortunately quite close to Old Port Royale, where the restaurants, fancier pool, and concierge are located. I can imagine that the shuttle buses here would be quite time-consuming in the busy season, but in mid-October that wasn’t a problem. The room was absolutely fine, although they had no Wifi and you had to pay $10 to plug yourself in for 24 hours, which is why I neglected the blog.  It’s really a beach-like setting, with sandy spots with hammocks where you’re not supposed to swim. But honestly? The kids loved the little beach. The pool was super-fun, with two water slides, a zero-entry area, and a water park-ish pirate ship for the toddler-preschool set. We allowed the girls to walk around the resort, and they appreciated that freedom, so that was also a perk.

We did the Disney Dining Plan. Many of our “Table Service” meals were very yummy, and the “Quick Service” meals were fast food. If you eat fast food regularly, you’d be quite happy. We don’t eat fast food much at all, so that was difficult, and the dining plan was smart budgeting, but it sometimes made for challenging choices. All the various meals deserve their own post, really, so we’ll come back to that.

Anyway, I spent much of my writing time today working on a review of the  Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, but that’s not at all presentable for you at this time. Instead, I thought that I’d give you a list about our favorite and least favorite rides.

Individual Winners:

• Katie’s favorite rides: Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom & Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios
• Cute W’s favorite rides: Toy Story Midway Mania! and Star Tours at Hollywood Studios (Prior to leaving for our trip, Cute W thought that we might not want to bother going to Hollywood Studios. Thank goodness I went into my guidebook frenzy and prevailed upon him to reconsider).
• M’s favorite rides: Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom and Toy Story Midway Mania! (actually, these are my best guesses–M’s sleeping over at her friend’s house tonight)
• J’s favorite rides: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Haunted Mansion, both at Magic Kingdom

Individual Losers:

• Katie’s least favorite ride that others loved: Star Tours (ugh! the motion sickness!) and Toy Story (3D glasses + spinning + shooting at video screens=bored, queasy Katie)
• Cute W’s least favorite ride that others loved: Spaceship Earth at Epcot (the girls wanted a repeat, Cute W found it nap-inducing)
• J’s least favorite ride that others loved: Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (she loves the rollercoasters, but up & down was too scary)
• M’s least favorite ride that others loved: pretty much every rollercoaster that didn’t involve water

Group Winners & Losers:

• Single Lamest ride overall: Tomorrowland Speedway at Magic Kingdom (like a local carnival, except that the line was much longer, and the car in front of ours kept stopping from, it seemed, sheer exhaustion)
• Whole-Family Favorite at Animal Kingdom: Kilimanjaro Safari (morning=excellent views of all kinds of animals)
• Whole-Family Favorites at Magic Kingdom: Splash Mountain & Haunted Mansion (both a teensy bit scary without being actually, you know scary)
• Whole-Family Favorites at Epcot: Soarin’ (fun & lovely without inspiring nausea) & The Seas with Nemo & Friends (cute & fun with some learning snuck in)
• Whole-Family Favorite at Hollywood Studios: Toy Story Midway Mania! (part ride, part video game, so people want to do it repeatedly. And by people I mean everyone except me.)