Drron's Do Disney.

[drron]

Saturday the family was off to Cape Canaveral.All enjoyed it and adults rated this 8/10 for value.Very little waiting and better food options for the kids with the bonus being alligators beside the road.
For us another days shopping.As they say Happy wife,Happy life.A much better day for mrsdrron with handbags and a pair of Coach shoes.

Dinner was with the family on their return from the Space centre.Bahama Breeze was the location.An enjoyable night.We shared some conch fritters first then the mains.For the ladies it was salad-avocado and blue crab for mrsdrron and blackened salmon for our D.I.L.

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Our 2 eldest grandkids had an adult burger,the youngest the kids sliders.

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Our son had the Jamaican combo plate-

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Whilst I had 2 appetisers-Stufft pork=pulled pork,roast potatoes,chorizo,jerk shrimp and caramelised onion with melted cheese.And shrimp and lobster quesadilla.

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It was good to see mrsdrron finish her meal for the first time in nearly 2 weeks.And then she backed up for key lime pie!

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So all that with a bottle of wine,4 coughtails and kids drink was $200.

 

[GarrettM]

The rest before the storm.A couple of days to brace ourselves for 4 days of Disney.Friday the family went to Universal Studios and mainly the Harry potter experience.The adults thought it a chore.7.5 hours in queues,0.5 hours on rides and 2 hours walking around.General admission $165 for adults(over 10)Children 3-9 $160 and if you want express passes an extra $90 each.Express passes halved the waiting time.
Rated value for money-2/10.
Now to our meals.Early dinner on thursday was at Longhorn Steakhouse-closest restaurant.Mrsdrron had a half rack of ribs,I the pork chops.We both had a sweet potato + 1 other side.

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Reasonable quality at a reasonable price.

Friday and a walk out the side gate to the Outlet mall.Not much bought but met up with mrsdrron's sister and our neice.They wanted to go to Red Lobster.I had the south west shrimp tacos.the girls shared plates of king crab legs.

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Those admission fees are crazy.

 

[drron]

Today we put the family up at the Legoland hotel with admission to Legoland.It was the same price as simple admission to Universal studios.
Tomorrow though we are all moving to the Polynesian resort in Disneyworld.The cost is ridiculous.Ordinary folk with a large family would have to sell a kidney to afford it.
So for usit was supposed to be another relaxed day before 4 days at Disneyworld.Didn't get off to a good start when I left my hearing aids at the HGVC.Got them back but my Brownie point status is now negative.
Went to the Premium outlets at the north end of International Drive.Mrsdrron only got 1 sports shirt.The outlets and ordinary shopping in the USA this time has been really poor.Not the real sales with 80-90% off we are used to.Maybe because they think their economy is going gangbusters or maybe because shopping,especially outlet shopping,has become very popular with tourists.Hordes of Chinese at all outlets and always buying lots-no need to take extra off.

So tonight in the 4 Points Orlando.Not a great hotel but I need to get 27 stays up reasonably quickly so I make sure of LTP before the merger.Even going to do a mattress run in Bangkok.Here is our room,a bit of a mess.

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There is a Red Lobster directly across the road so that's where we ate.Mrsdrron's sister and our neice joined us as they had been at Universal studios today.I had the Bal Harbour lobster bake and the women shared 2 Seaside seafood plates-small lobster tail,scallops and shrimp 2 ways.

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So now 4 days of Disneyworld.Not sure if I will have enough energy to post until it is over!

 

[jastel]

Bringing back nice memories of Charleston and Savannah for me...minus the snow.
Did you tour the Yorktown?

 

[drron]

We didn't tour the Yorktown as we had been there in 1989.Ironically the last time it snowed heavily in Savannah and Charleston.

But just a quick recommendation as long days at present.Yesterday we did a half day VIP tour with the family.Nine of us.It was fantastic.6 hours from picking us up at the hotel to leaving us in front row positions for the parade.Went on 14 rides plus able to get a table at a sit down restaurant at 1245 for lunch.The guides were fantastic and knew the Magic Kingdom like the back of their hands.All this and one of our party was in a wheelchair.
It was arranged through this company-
Index - Stone VIPS | Disney VIP Tours
An amazing record on Trip advisor-231 reviews,230 excellent.Interesting to read their response to the one poor review.
Yes expensive but you get so much done you can cut a days park entrance out.

 

[Atleastonce]

Great read drron.

 

[lakeman]

Great read drron.

Thanks for taking the time to tell us of your adventures.
Hope MrsDrron finds some bargains and feels better !
Sounds like status with the hotels hasnt been that helpful?
Does complaining when you get a deficient room help or does it aggravate the situation?
What level of tipping in the restaurants have you had to do?
Jestines sounded so cheap, especially for new years day .Was it expected to leave a bigger tip?

 

[drron]

Basic tip ~ 15%.Occasionally less if poor service and tonight it was 20% because of really good service.
A couple of times with 9 of us dining an 18% tip automatically added-has been so for some time now.
No extra tip at Jestines.
As always I tip on the pre tax figure not as the restaurant normally quotes as the after tax figure.
Will resume in ~ 2 days-off early tomorrow for Singapore the BKK.
And another tip-Houston had by far the best shopping.

 

[carls888]

I would love to know more about the VIP tour at WDW, do they take you to the front of the line for whatever rides you choose? Or do they have a set selection? Great to have front row for the parade...Just wondering for when Star Wars world opens in 2019 as it will be bedlam.

 

[drron]

Ours was a VIP run by a private company.The cost $150 per hour minimum 6 hours but is for up to 10 people and we were a group of 9.
About 12 months ago Disney banned such tours from going to the front of the line.Disney,of course,offer such tours but the cost is $425 and up per hour.Minimum 4 hours.I guess it is easy to see the reason Disney put those restrictions on the private companies.
So all though we weren't able to go to the front of any line our waiting times were quite short.In about 4.5 hours of rides we were able to get on 14.We also had front row positions at the opening show at the Castle and at the Parade.
Also we were able to get 2 adjoining tables for lunch for the 9 of us at one of the restaurants.They do have their contacts and know who to ask.
I will soon return to programing and the full details will be revealed.
But Stone VIP who we used has now over 230 5 star reviews on Trip Advisor and only one 1 star review-it turns out that fellow never spoke to Stone before their tour whereas mrsdrron was in contact with them by email regularly in the months before our visit so they could plan what we wanted to visit.

 

[drron]

After 3 nights in the HGVC we moved to the Four Points for a night.The family were moving to the Legoland hotel so we started our quest for SPG LTP.
After checking out we drove to the Premium Outlets at the northern end of International drive.When we got there I realised I had left my hearing aids behind.So I drove back.Mrsdrron managed to find their number so I was expected when i arrived and soon had them back in their right place.
The outlets were again very crowded with the vast majority being Chinese Tourists.In fact the only place in Orlando where there weren't too many Chinese was in Disneyworld itself.
The shopping was once again unproductive though I did get myself a GPS watch.

So to the Four Points.There was a suite assigned to us but it wasn't ready.So we said we will take a standard room.It is a problem with SPG that they will upgrade Plats to a suite but then give them a 4 pm checkout so suites often not available before 4pm.The room-

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The view isn't great-

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Straight across the road from the hotel is a Red Lobster.Mrsdrron's sister and our neice went to Universal studios for the day which is basically just over I-4 from the hotel so we met there for dinner.I had the seafood on linguini-I could have said hold the linguini as I didn't eat it-

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It was nice with stone crab claws,a lobster tail,mussels,scallops and shrimp.
The girls shared 2 servings of the seafood feast-one with asparagus as a side,one with broccoli.

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[carls888]

Thanks for the WDW info. Loving all of this!

 

[drron]

The next day it was off to Disneyworld.Our son had managed to get a National car rental in Charleston no dearer than the alternatives.It is the best if you want to drop off your car in Disneyworld.You can only do it with National and Alamo.But from MIA both were $US500 dearer than Avis.So I had to drop mrsdrron and our luggage at our hotel-the Polynesian Resort and drive back to MIA to drop the car back and then get the Disney Magical Express back to our hotel.Caused a bit of a problem as there were 7 in our booking and I was the only one using the transport.Finally allowed on.You are assigned to a line-there are 10-but they depend on the resort you are going too.All were very long.
Got back to the hotel just before 1100.Our family arrived a few minutes later-they had spent a couple of hours morein Legoland that morning.No rooms ready so dropped our bags and off we went to Epcot.
But first mrsdrron took a few pics of the resort whilst I was away-

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Going to the Magic Kingdom by ferry is popular at times-

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Not sure why you would want to pay twice as much for an overwater bungalow here but some do.I didn't have a kidney to spare.

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Now a couple of mine-

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[drron]

Some more views-

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And now the entry and lobby.Extensive use of orchids.

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And a little humour.

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[drron]

At 1130 our rooms weren't ready so off to Epcot.The grandkids only had a few rides on their list here so it was the half day.

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Superficially not a lot of change since our first visit 35 years ago apart from the prices and crowds.The first experience was turtle talk with crush.An interactive show which the young ones enjoyed.Before you go into the theatre there is an aquarium with rays and manatees.

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Then to test track using a fast pass.Various things to look at in line especially if not using a fast pass.An electric car concept-

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One thing that is noticeable is how many strollers there are-

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Then it was lunch at a cafeteria.Whilst we were getting a very healthy Creme Brulee the young woman next to us was questioning the staff about a dish labelled Vegan Fruit salad.She wanted to know was it quaranteed the knives hadn't cut up any non vegan food.She called for a supervisor who actually had a printed out list of things that were processed in the kitchen which produced the vegan fruit salad.She still wasn't satisfied that the knives were pure and called for the manager.Why didn't she bring her own food?We left at this stage.
After lunch we went on Soaring and Spaceship Earth.The kids were happy and so back to the resort by 1830.Our room was ready but our son's wasn't-we had been told our room numbers before we went to Epcot.Because of that we were all given 2 untimed fast passes for the Wednesday as Tuesday was our VIP tour.Ironically no sooner than the fast passes loaded that the room became available.We kept the fast passes.

So our room-

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Mrsdrron was already exhausted.

 

[drron]

As soon as we had our bags in the room it was down to their cafeteria style restaurant for dinner.Wasn't too bad.I had a burger,mrsdrron a caesar salad with chicken-

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Mrsdrron had a small bottle of pinot grigio with an elegant wineglass whilst I had a longboard lager.

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Soon after we got back to the room we realised that the nocturnal view wasn't too bad.Disney fireworks at 8.30pm every night.

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[drron]

The fireworks went for some time.

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[drron]

The last of the fireworks.

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So now it was time for sleep.The plan for this stay was that one of our grandchildren would sleep in our room and they would rotate.Our eldest granddaughter took the first night.She made my day when next morning with her parents she said-"Nanna snores loudly all night".She then followed up with-"Poor Poppie he has had to put up with Nanna his whole life."She has moved to the position of favourite grandchild.

The next day was the day of our VIP tour.Whilst waiting for our guides to meet us at the resort I took a few more flower shots but will only bore you with two.

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Next we set off on a very enjoyable day.

 

[drron]

Our guides,Carlos and Salina,arrived before the agreed time and off we set getting to the Magic Kingdom gates not long after they opened.Disney gets free pest control here-

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I do look a little disinterested here beside Carlos.One of the guides was always on their phone checking crowds,waiting times etc.

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Another reason this experience is worthwhile is that there is always someone to take your photo.

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The timing of our visit was deliberate.In the USA school goes back after the first weekend in January but at Disney the Christmas decorations dont come down until the second weekend.So you get to see Disney at Christmas with significantly less crowds.

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Now here is where the guide's knowledge was first apparent.The day starts with a show at Cinderella's castle so everyone heads there.Now when the show finishes everyone rushes to their favourite ride.The most popular are to the right of the Castle so we go left-

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Now the only problem is young children are encouraged to be at the front.Their parents then accompany them so unless you have very young children you do lose your front positions.

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[drron]

The opening show.

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Everyone needs a Fairy Godmother-

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