Portugal1000
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2007
Villains night on Saturday didn't start well. Massive parking detour in place so took us 30 minutes to get there despite being 4 minutes away.. Then we got there and no maps or times as all the leaflets had run out so if you didn't have a phone it was a pain. Luckily for first time we had taken I pad so could get one on line but people weren't happy. Then I saw the queues for characters. OMG. There were hundreds of people in queues for characters that weren't even appearing for an hour. The schedules showed they would be out for 30 minutes then gone for 30 minutes so those people were going to be queuing all night I thought. On a good point we did TS, RNR and TOT in less than an hour but to be honest we had done them before using free fast passes. Thankfully the Star Wars area was packed with characters both roaming and stationary so we were able to get them all except Palpatine who we found too late which was a shame. Harry loved running after the roaming characters and got more confident as the night went on about being forceful and getting a photo. He loved taking selfies to send to his friends.. The night would have been a disaster if not for Star Wars. Biggest mistake of the night was going to Fantasmic. The programme made it sound like there was a special pre show, well it was exactly the same except the quiz was about villains.. A CM had told me it was a special Fantasmic show, it was exactly the same and such a waste of time, its already old but when you use over an hour of time on a night you paid $200 for then it was quite annoying also.. Anyway we weren't going to let it ruin the night. We really just wandered around looking at the queues for characters after that. However the biggest queue I saw was for merchandise, it was massive. I just don't get it.
The fireworks were amazing however, but I had seen frozen ones night before and hadn't had to pay extra so that kind of put it into perspective.
This is first hard ticket event I had been too and was very disappointed but loved seeing Harry in Star Wars area. I heard lots of people requested and got refunds. I really hate complaining on holiday and just wanted to make the best of it. I am going to complain that none of my photo pass photos have appeared on my account which is really annoying, guess they are lost forever. Thankfully I took loads.
So all in all it was ok but definitely not worth the money. Disney either over sold or just did not have enough characters or other things going on. Also told there was a goody bag at the end of the night. Well we left as soon as fireworks had finished and CM told us they were all gone.
Definitely wouldn't buy again. Hope others had a better time.
When we bought our universal tickets from ATD we got free legoland tickets. Had never really considered going before. Have been to legoland Windsor several times and really enjoyed it but last time we went in school holidays crowds were insane so never went back. So it's a really easy drive and got there in under an hour right at 10am opening. There are loads of rides and I don't think I have been on as many in one day. The longest we waited was 10 minutes for boating school. Everything else was walk on, no one in the queue. It's such a lovely park the way it's set out. However the highlight was a ride called Chima. It's a water ride where you fire water guns at people watching and visa versa. All done in good spirits and you get absolutely drenched.Harry went on it seven times and would have been more but spent alot of time firing the water guns on the other side. Wei literally had to drag him away. I got lots of video of him, he just loved it. Lots of people didn't realise they were standing in a splash zone, it was just to funny. Anyway, it's the most fun we have had for free in a long time. Luckily it finally cooled down a bit yesterday and really made a difference. I hope the same deal is on next year as will definitely go back. Great if you have young kids or really like Lego.
On the way home we stopped at Carrabbas again for their Monday night deal which is excellent. $50 for so much delicious food. A great find
Days are going too fast now.
Thank you for the TR, been great following along. Which Steak & Shake did you goto? I think I have only seen one on SR535 about half a mile past Crossroads. Never been to a Longhorn, always goto Texas Roadhouse or Manny's for a steak. Next Saturday we board the cruise in Barcelona then 3 weeks today we check in at BC, hope we like it now you have built it up so much
That's the steak and shake we went to. Longhorns is bet popular. Always lots of people in there. Steaks are great and best baked potatoes I have ever tasted. Just don't eat too much if their delicious honey oat bread, addictive. I really hope you enjoy Bonnet Creek. I have loved all six of our trips there. So glad we stumbled across it all those years ago. Rooms are great and in 18 nights I never heard a sound in our room from anywhere , except the nightly fireworks.
Thanks for the great trip report! We've just booked bonnet creek through ken and Denise for summer 2015. It will be our first trip to orlando and wdw very excited! Thanks for sharing.
Been very happy with them so far! We are from Australia so will be in the USA for a month. 19 nights in orlando so we are splitting the stay to try it all out. On site at POR 4 nights - 11 night bonnet creek and then 4 nights a t one of the universal ones. Loved all your bonnet creek pics and will certainly appreciate the extra space and facilities the resort provides given the time we will be there!Oh that's great. They are fantastic to deal with and I hope you love Bonnet Creek. We won't stay anywhere else.