We arrived (barely speaking to each other, but that's a story for another day!) this afternoon, rushing ahead of the foot of snow that was expected in Syracuse today. We had a good trip, for the most part, did 2 days at MK, a full day on Saturday and then the MVMCP on Tuesday night. I have to say that Mk did not overly impress us, with the very notable exceptions of Mickey's Philharmagic and SpectroMagic which were both incredible. They were filming the ABC Christmas Parade while we were there, and Kelly Ripa is my absolute favourite celebrity, however I DIDN"T KNOW she was the parade marshall until 3 days later so I didn't even watch much of the filming. I am kicking myself now!
I impressed my entire family by requesting to ride up front in the monorail. The look on their faces when they realized where we would be sitting was priceless. My children's first look at MK was through the front glass of the monorail, and they have their co-pilot's license to show their friends!
Our accomodations at CPGV were breathtaking, again, we were all pretty astonished at the space and decor. ( After a few days we started noticing that the room was due for a major spring cleaning, stains on the carpet, fingerprints on the walls, etc, but all of the bedding, appliances, bathroom fixtures were immaculate so it took a couple of days before we really had time to notice the other things). The property is lovely and a very easy drive to the parks, groceries, restaurants, etc. On the day we went to MK for the full day, we actually left the park at about 6:50 to go back to get heavier coats ( low 60's, I didn't think we would last til after 11 with the fleece sweaters) and we were back to the apartment and had supper in less than an hour from the time we sat down on the monorail. We did a very painless time share tour and saved about $140 (CDN) on our single day admission for 2 adults/ 2 children. They let us pick up the ticket vouchers Friday night to use on Saturday, even though we didn't do the sales pitch until Tuesday. We would recommend this property, and would stay there again in a heartbeat, however next time we would take a good look at the condition and cleanliness of the unit before getting too comfortable; we were just starstruck this time.
Feeding the dolphins and stingrays at SeaWorld was great, and Shark Encounter alone is worth the price of admission.
We absolutely loved Islands of Adventure and Universal. The attention to detail at IOA in the Port of Entry and The Lost Continent was spectacular. I found this to be true for the parades at MK as well, but many of the rides were dated and a little young for my family, we prefered the thrill rides at the other parks. I think that the only way we would do MK again would be with a PH ticket, so we could just go to see the parade, spectromagic, fireworks, and do the 3 or 4 rides we enjoyed after enjoying another park during the day.
We had terrific offsite meals at Olive Garden (fabulous), Golden Corral (very good) and Cici's Pizza (terrific, and excellent value). We used vouchers at B&C ($46. bill, used two Q&C vouchers) and at Cosmic Rays twice. Most other meals were in the room, although we did try the uber McDonald's because I had coupons, DH liked the Gourmet Burger, I hated it, wouldn't be bothered going again.
In total we had 2 visits to MK, 2 days at SW, and 5 days split between Universal & IOA. My children were very well behaved ( it was the adults who had the problems) and barely asked for anything. We had collected & cleaned as many American pennies as we could find, so the souveniers they have are mostly pressed pennies, we spent a total of about $30 on them thoughout the 8 days we visited the parks, they are excellent souveiners! We bought a couple of other things, light chaser for each of them (which they didn't even ask for, we were just rewarding them for excellent behaviour on a very long day) and a couple of t-shirts/sweatshirts, other than that they spent their own money and came home with lots left over.
I'm not sure if my nerves can take another family holiday, but if we are speaking by next year, maybe we'll try it again!
I impressed my entire family by requesting to ride up front in the monorail. The look on their faces when they realized where we would be sitting was priceless. My children's first look at MK was through the front glass of the monorail, and they have their co-pilot's license to show their friends!
Our accomodations at CPGV were breathtaking, again, we were all pretty astonished at the space and decor. ( After a few days we started noticing that the room was due for a major spring cleaning, stains on the carpet, fingerprints on the walls, etc, but all of the bedding, appliances, bathroom fixtures were immaculate so it took a couple of days before we really had time to notice the other things). The property is lovely and a very easy drive to the parks, groceries, restaurants, etc. On the day we went to MK for the full day, we actually left the park at about 6:50 to go back to get heavier coats ( low 60's, I didn't think we would last til after 11 with the fleece sweaters) and we were back to the apartment and had supper in less than an hour from the time we sat down on the monorail. We did a very painless time share tour and saved about $140 (CDN) on our single day admission for 2 adults/ 2 children. They let us pick up the ticket vouchers Friday night to use on Saturday, even though we didn't do the sales pitch until Tuesday. We would recommend this property, and would stay there again in a heartbeat, however next time we would take a good look at the condition and cleanliness of the unit before getting too comfortable; we were just starstruck this time.
Feeding the dolphins and stingrays at SeaWorld was great, and Shark Encounter alone is worth the price of admission.
We absolutely loved Islands of Adventure and Universal. The attention to detail at IOA in the Port of Entry and The Lost Continent was spectacular. I found this to be true for the parades at MK as well, but many of the rides were dated and a little young for my family, we prefered the thrill rides at the other parks. I think that the only way we would do MK again would be with a PH ticket, so we could just go to see the parade, spectromagic, fireworks, and do the 3 or 4 rides we enjoyed after enjoying another park during the day.
We had terrific offsite meals at Olive Garden (fabulous), Golden Corral (very good) and Cici's Pizza (terrific, and excellent value). We used vouchers at B&C ($46. bill, used two Q&C vouchers) and at Cosmic Rays twice. Most other meals were in the room, although we did try the uber McDonald's because I had coupons, DH liked the Gourmet Burger, I hated it, wouldn't be bothered going again.
In total we had 2 visits to MK, 2 days at SW, and 5 days split between Universal & IOA. My children were very well behaved ( it was the adults who had the problems) and barely asked for anything. We had collected & cleaned as many American pennies as we could find, so the souveniers they have are mostly pressed pennies, we spent a total of about $30 on them thoughout the 8 days we visited the parks, they are excellent souveiners! We bought a couple of other things, light chaser for each of them (which they didn't even ask for, we were just rewarding them for excellent behaviour on a very long day) and a couple of t-shirts/sweatshirts, other than that they spent their own money and came home with lots left over.
I'm not sure if my nerves can take another family holiday, but if we are speaking by next year, maybe we'll try it again!
