well, generally the holiday was fantastic - isn't it always when you're in Disney? I hate to think its my last trip and will be looking into DLRP soon to get my 'fix'.
Pop Century - the resort was clean and tidy but it never really got under our skin, last years stay at ASMo was fantastic, but we were situated in the Toy Story block which has since become 'preferred', I wouldn't stay at Pop in unpreferred again, it was too far to walk to go to the food court and busses, we were taking our refillable mugs with us every day into the parks so we could get drinks when we arrived back to resort. The resort is huge and the pools were always noisy, the icons were nice but we didn't miss them when we moved on.
POFQ - we really felt like our holiday started when we moved here - it was so relaxing, I'd booked it for mum for a surprise and to be honest I did think that Callum wouldn't enjoy it much here as it maybe wasn't 'Disney' enough, but no, he says he preferred it. The Staff in the food court seemed happier and more chatty too. Mousekeeping weren't quite as adventurous on the towel animals, buy, hey, a small price to pay!
The Dining Plan - We hadn't booked for free dining because by the time it was announced, I would have lost £400 on the original booking to re book it, if that makes sense? I'm glad I had a few ADR's though as every table service place was packed and at every counter service there was always that family in front of you saying to the cashier 'can we swap x for x and can we get x on the plan etc?' which just held everyone else up. We probably spent around £400 on food total for the three of us anyway so it was much the same. We really couldn't have eaten enough to justify the plan, very often we were getting a meal of, soup, breadstick, chicken strips and fries, and that would feed all three of us! we only had 2 ice creams and 1 tub of popcorn the whole time. I was very upset though to hear numerous families encouraging their kids to order this and that because 'its free, Hon, just take it' only to see food being thrown away. Honestly the gluttony is appalling and the food thrown away in Disney every day could feed Africa for weeks. rant over
TCD - no problems at all having flown to Sanford with Thomsons Brittania, I'd choose TCD any day, Having flown to MCO with Virgin I'd have to say that if Virgin Premium was the same price, I'd probably choose them, but, and its a big but - they are more expensive, MCO is slower to get out of and the fact that TCD kept us
informed when we were (slightly) delayed travelling out and Virgin who think they are gods gift to aviation couldn't be bothered with info when we were (very) delayed last year, makes us think again
The weather - it was too hot to really enjoy the parks at the height of the day, once we'd got into the routine of spending mornings by the pool and using afternoons and evenings it was a lot more enjoyable.
EMH fabulous! a great use of time, not busy and crowded like it seems to suggest in all the guides, almost everything was a walk on during these times, and the extra hour in the mornings at the water parks was very useful for getting good sun lounger spots.
Overall it was fantastic, I choke up when I think I can't go back for ages, if at all, it really is a magical place. I may not be around on these boards for much longer as I don't think I can bear to hear everyones Disney tales without being able to experience it myself, but I thank all of you for your friendship, advice and laughs these past couple of years. Its been great.
xxx