ML Starkey's Weblog: Service with a smile!
Providing Technical Support to Sun's customers and other topics

Florida was beautiful, but a bit chilly for the first half of our stay. Fortunately, the Hippie Dippie pool was heated. We had no rain, tons of sun and the sunburns to prove it.

This time, we stayed at Disney's Pop Century Resort, which is one of the more affordable of the onsite hotels there. (Disney also has other "budget" hotels like the All Star Music where we stayed on our last trip in '98) The theme of this resort is popular culture of the last century. It's where you can really feel how old you are by taking stock of how many decades from the past century that you actually lived through and/or remember. The food court is handy but there is not much variety from day to day. It's good to plan ahead and use the "priority seating" for the various Disney restaurants to break up your daily menu.

Disney being Disney, alot has changed since our last vist but much has stayed the same. The Disney experience is one of the most cleanest (literally and figuratively) you can have. The place is spotless, the "cast members" are friendly, helpful and efficient and the guests are having a great time. That hasn't changed. There are some new attractions and features: EPCOT has "Mission: Space" which no one in my party wanted to do and Disney/MGM Studios has the "Rockin rollercoaster starring Aerosmith", which a few in my party tried. That brings me to the "fastpass" system for the popular rides with long wait times. This is new and seems to work well to help keep waits under an hour for those who wish to wait (they call it standby) and waits to under a half hour (or less) for fastpass holders. (That was based on our experience, YMMV).

We were able to get to the Animal Kingdom park this time, unlike when we were there in April 1998, arriving on the very day of the grand opening. At least 7 years later, the place isn't at capacity by 10:00am. The Animal Kingdom park is the smallest park in the group. The best things to do there was the Safari ride, the "It's tough to be a bug" show and the "Primeval Whirl" rollercoaster (we all chickened out on the Dino roller coaster).

The Disney transportation system is still very efficient, even if they do pack you in like sardines when it's busy. We didn't see the cattlecar-like people movers in use this time, only regular buses.

The best buffet/character interaction is the Crystal Palace at the Magic Kingdom. A wide selection of goodies to suit every taste. We went this time for dinner. A big thumbs up for their glazed vegetable medley, the kale dish and the curry chicken. Mmm Mmm good!

But all that fun, fun, fun takes it's toll on your wallet, feet and tummy. So it was good to get home. Or as the old saying goes: East or West, home is best.