September:
For me, never again. Crowd-wise it is pretty nice, especially if you don't have to cater to a five year old. (Although I have heard that Septembers are getting more crowded than they used to be; I guess the secret is out). Weather-wise it was horrible. Just too hot and waaaay too humid. By the end of the trip I was so sick of standing still and feeling sweat trickling down my back and feeling slimy. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of rain. (And kudos to Secret Clinical Strength Waterproof Deoderant - great for humid days!) Love-bug wise, it was mostly okay except for the pool at Old Port Royale.
Cast Members:
Were totally awesome. For every CM that was phoning it in, there were 99 who were friendly, cheerful, helpful and very very good at making E2 feel like a Princess and the Center of Attention. Seriously, just wonderful.
Other Guests:
Also awesome. Since I didn't have B to talk to and E2 didn't have her siblings, we interacted with other people a lot more this trip. Talked to a lot of very nice people and observed a lot of very friendly, polite behavior. Each day E2 made at least one little friend. Even if it was only for 30 minutes in a character line, those encounters really helped make her trip enjoyable.
Caribbean Beach Resort/Barbados Village:
E2 would like to live there forever. She liked the quiet pool as much as if not more than the parks. I did not dislike the CBR, but I was not feeling the love. And I never could quite figure out why.
- Our mousekeeper was fantastic.
- The quiet pool, little beach and little playground were nice.
- The bus stop wasn't too bad a walk.
- We were very close to the Customs House.
- We only went to Old Port Royale once, but it was not a bad walk from Barbados.
- The food at the food court was not good.
- The big pool would have been nice if not for the love bugs.
- It is a very big resort.
- The buses aren't great but they aren't terrible. Barbados did seem to be the last picked up/dropped off for the MK which wasn't always fun (6 or 7 stops as you go around the resort). Disney definitely tries however to make the bus situation go as smoothly as possible; there were staff monitoring some of the CBR stops each morning and there were times at day's end when they would send two buses to the parks to get people home quicker.
- Some of the villages have lovely paint colors. Our buildings were a putrid pinky/peach.
- Our room was on the first floor and was more than big enough for two people - I think it would have been fine with four people. The view from our room was meh.
I don't know. I think it is just too big, too spread out, too bland and the landscaping was too meh or something. I am glad I decided not to stay at All-Star Movies again, simply because we spent so much time at the resort. I do wish Coronado Springs would have had availability, but then again we stayed in a waterfront room last time and I don't think I would have spent the money on that this trip. Our room's location last time is a big part of why I loved CSR and the view from our room was (to me) awesome.
Fantasyland Expansion/Construction:
I was a little bummed out the week before our trip. It's a Small World was going to be down for refurbishment. The crane was going to be out putting Christmas lights on the Castle. There were going to be tarps up all along Main Street (painted to look like the buildings but still tarps) - I guess they are freshening up the buildings? There were going to be construction walls up through out Fantasyland and the expansion area would be filled with dirt, equipment and not very pretty.
Once we got there, however it was all okay. Got used to everything so quickly I didn't even really notice it, and unless you are on Main Street or in Fantasyland, it isn't really even an issue. Now I'm just interested to see what the expansion actually ends up adding to the park. Apparently the only things that are for certain are the Ariel ride and the Beauty & the Beast restaurant. The Cindy/Snow White/Aurora elaborate meet and greets have apparently been scrapped as has Pixie Hollow (disappointed about that one!). Dueling Dumbos (Personally I think Dumbo's current location adds a lot to its charm) and a rethemed Barnstormer are supposedly still a go. Toontown's destruction keeps getting pushed back so who knows what's going on there. There are rumors that Snow White's Scary Adventure will be torn down for a temporary? meet and greet area and that eventually a Seven Dwarves mine ride will be added. I guess we'll see!
