AFG's Trip Down Vacation Memory Lane:
The Good:
-JetBlue. Good (free!) snacks, good seats, good on-board entertainment to distract from the prospect of plummeting to one's death. How can you lose?
-Our lodging, both at the Omni in Orlando and at the Saratoga Springs resort on Disney property. Both of these properties were - in different ways - pretty spectacular. The Omni was beautiful, modern, and luxurious. Saratoga was a bit more family-friendly and worn in, but Disney gets the details right. Disney solves problems. Any issue we had was a) minor and b) solved incredibly quickly, often before we even noticed a problem.
-California Grill, Contemporary Resort. I know I raved about this in an earlier post, but several days have gone by and I am still thinking about my meal. Friends and I have spent much time discussing the demise of "fine" dining here in Massachusetts (our standards aren't even that high, but when nearly every restaurant now requires you to bus your own dishes, you start to long for something better), so it was refreshing to have a meal that involved good food, service, views, and company. We really are missing the boat by rejecting slow food. Just saying.
The Not-so-Good:
-Florida weather. August is not for the faint of heart. When you're not dodging tropical storms and hurricanes (See: Fay; Gustav; Hanna), you still have afternoon thunderstorms, oppressive heat and humidity, and evening temperatures that rarely fall below 80. Even in our air-conditioned room, we could still feel dampness and see mold growing between the panes of glass in the windows. Bring the Benadryl, folks; you're going to need it.
-Bad parenting. I know I sound like an 85-year-old curmudgeon, but seriously parents; let's do some parenting, ok? I'm not sure when personal boundaries or clean language went out of style, but it was weird to feel out of place because I wasn't touching strangers lewdly or swearing at the other members of my party. Isolated incidents are one thing, but we saw a lot of bad behavior from both kids and parents.
-Disney bus system. I generally had high hopes for Disney in this age of environmentalism, but my hopes were dashed. The bus system is now so inefficient and unreliable that I can see why the masses bring their cars, RVs, and Hummers-replete-with-car-toppers. If you're a family with a limited time schedule, you don't want to spend half of your day in the hot Florida sun waiting for a bus that may or may not come.
And on that note, wherefore art, Disney, thou innovative recycling system and energy efficiency plans, etc? Disney has a captive audience of young minds it could educate about the importance of recycling and resource conservation, and yet generally does little to earn its "green" lodging designation. It was nice to see plastic recycling receptacles in the theme parks, but our hotel room/buildings didn't have receptacles to recycle anything, plastic, paper, or otherwise. I shudder to think at the amount of unnecessary waste Disney creates in a day. I mean, COME ON - even Wal Mart has gone green (?!).
-Disney Dining. Disney has made changes in dining options and prices that punish users who don't buy the Disney Dining Plan, and yet sometimes punish those who do, as well. Confused? So were we. If we go again we may buy into the Plan, but I think I'll need to obtain an advanced degree in calculus to figure out the cost benefit analysis. And while prices in general were lower than I expected (we spend more on food at Fenway for similar things), I think the quality has declined in some areas.
The Horrible, and/or Will-Never-EVER-Do-or-See-Again:
-Universe of Energy, aka Ellen's Energy Adventure, Epcot. With gas nearing 5 bucks a gallon, do we *really* need to see free advertising for Exxon? I mean, I know it's novel when you combine propaganda with a moving ride vehicle, but enough is enough. Two thumbs WAY DOWN.
-Beverly, the Italian (and Coke-produced) beverage featured at Club Cool, Epcot.
OK, so for those of you who aren't familiar with this particular "attraction," it's basically Coca-Cola propaganda disguised in the form of a beverage tasting center where you can taste Coke products from around the world. Some of them, like the Coke/orange soda mix from Germany are quite good. Beverly from Italy has a notorious reputation as being disgusting; stupidly, I doubted this and thought that other tasters must not have discerning palettes. I was wrong. So wrong. So wrong I actually spit it out of my mouth in public, manners be damned. Never again.
Other thoughts:
-It's readily apparent that the American dollar has tanked. During the week we noticed many American visitors (like ourselves) eating lower-cost meals or snacking while many European and Canadian visitors flocked to the more expensive signature restaurants and stayed at the deluxe resorts. There is no judgment meant by this observation, except to suggest that it's really a strange turn to think that so many Americans cannot as easily afford amusement and leisure in their own country, to say nothing of our inability to enjoy the value of the dollar abroad. I suppose we were overdue for this. We spoke to many Canadians throughout the week who were laughing at our present misfortune; one woman said that never in her lifetime had she seen the Canadian dollar higher than the American!
-Disney is still great, but it's not the Disney of my youth. I suppose this is true for most things in our lives we try to revisit; they never stay as they were. But I think there is an undeniable reality that in this time of economic uncertainty, Disney is cutting costs with the best of them. It really did feel at times like Disney had outgrown itself, and you could see these new found limitations in a decline in service, a rise in wait times, and a lack of property upkeep that would be unthinkable just ten years ago. I'm about to read this book to learn more about this shift.
Nevertheless, we had a great time and agreed that Disney has an edge on hospitality and professionalism that most other tourism outfits can't match. Our left-brain critiques were no match for our right-brain fun, and thus, we find ourselves eager to return. If and when we do, expect a report here!
In the meantime, we're busily crafting our list of fun, blog-worthy things to see, do, and recount. Stay tuned!
-JetBlue. Good (free!) snacks, good seats, good on-board entertainment to distract from the prospect of plummeting to one's death. How can you lose?
-Our lodging, both at the Omni in Orlando and at the Saratoga Springs resort on Disney property. Both of these properties were - in different ways - pretty spectacular. The Omni was beautiful, modern, and luxurious. Saratoga was a bit more family-friendly and worn in, but Disney gets the details right. Disney solves problems. Any issue we had was a) minor and b) solved incredibly quickly, often before we even noticed a problem.
-California Grill, Contemporary Resort. I know I raved about this in an earlier post, but several days have gone by and I am still thinking about my meal. Friends and I have spent much time discussing the demise of "fine" dining here in Massachusetts (our standards aren't even that high, but when nearly every restaurant now requires you to bus your own dishes, you start to long for something better), so it was refreshing to have a meal that involved good food, service, views, and company. We really are missing the boat by rejecting slow food. Just saying.
The Not-so-Good:
-Florida weather. August is not for the faint of heart. When you're not dodging tropical storms and hurricanes (See: Fay; Gustav; Hanna), you still have afternoon thunderstorms, oppressive heat and humidity, and evening temperatures that rarely fall below 80. Even in our air-conditioned room, we could still feel dampness and see mold growing between the panes of glass in the windows. Bring the Benadryl, folks; you're going to need it.
-Bad parenting. I know I sound like an 85-year-old curmudgeon, but seriously parents; let's do some parenting, ok? I'm not sure when personal boundaries or clean language went out of style, but it was weird to feel out of place because I wasn't touching strangers lewdly or swearing at the other members of my party. Isolated incidents are one thing, but we saw a lot of bad behavior from both kids and parents.
-Disney bus system. I generally had high hopes for Disney in this age of environmentalism, but my hopes were dashed. The bus system is now so inefficient and unreliable that I can see why the masses bring their cars, RVs, and Hummers-replete-with-car-toppers. If you're a family with a limited time schedule, you don't want to spend half of your day in the hot Florida sun waiting for a bus that may or may not come.
And on that note, wherefore art, Disney, thou innovative recycling system and energy efficiency plans, etc? Disney has a captive audience of young minds it could educate about the importance of recycling and resource conservation, and yet generally does little to earn its "green" lodging designation. It was nice to see plastic recycling receptacles in the theme parks, but our hotel room/buildings didn't have receptacles to recycle anything, plastic, paper, or otherwise. I shudder to think at the amount of unnecessary waste Disney creates in a day. I mean, COME ON - even Wal Mart has gone green (?!).
-Disney Dining. Disney has made changes in dining options and prices that punish users who don't buy the Disney Dining Plan, and yet sometimes punish those who do, as well. Confused? So were we. If we go again we may buy into the Plan, but I think I'll need to obtain an advanced degree in calculus to figure out the cost benefit analysis. And while prices in general were lower than I expected (we spend more on food at Fenway for similar things), I think the quality has declined in some areas.
The Horrible, and/or Will-Never-EVER-Do-or-See-Again:
-Universe of Energy, aka Ellen's Energy Adventure, Epcot. With gas nearing 5 bucks a gallon, do we *really* need to see free advertising for Exxon? I mean, I know it's novel when you combine propaganda with a moving ride vehicle, but enough is enough. Two thumbs WAY DOWN.
-Beverly, the Italian (and Coke-produced) beverage featured at Club Cool, Epcot.
OK, so for those of you who aren't familiar with this particular "attraction," it's basically Coca-Cola propaganda disguised in the form of a beverage tasting center where you can taste Coke products from around the world. Some of them, like the Coke/orange soda mix from Germany are quite good. Beverly from Italy has a notorious reputation as being disgusting; stupidly, I doubted this and thought that other tasters must not have discerning palettes. I was wrong. So wrong. So wrong I actually spit it out of my mouth in public, manners be damned. Never again.
Other thoughts:
-It's readily apparent that the American dollar has tanked. During the week we noticed many American visitors (like ourselves) eating lower-cost meals or snacking while many European and Canadian visitors flocked to the more expensive signature restaurants and stayed at the deluxe resorts. There is no judgment meant by this observation, except to suggest that it's really a strange turn to think that so many Americans cannot as easily afford amusement and leisure in their own country, to say nothing of our inability to enjoy the value of the dollar abroad. I suppose we were overdue for this. We spoke to many Canadians throughout the week who were laughing at our present misfortune; one woman said that never in her lifetime had she seen the Canadian dollar higher than the American!
-Disney is still great, but it's not the Disney of my youth. I suppose this is true for most things in our lives we try to revisit; they never stay as they were. But I think there is an undeniable reality that in this time of economic uncertainty, Disney is cutting costs with the best of them. It really did feel at times like Disney had outgrown itself, and you could see these new found limitations in a decline in service, a rise in wait times, and a lack of property upkeep that would be unthinkable just ten years ago. I'm about to read this book to learn more about this shift.
Nevertheless, we had a great time and agreed that Disney has an edge on hospitality and professionalism that most other tourism outfits can't match. Our left-brain critiques were no match for our right-brain fun, and thus, we find ourselves eager to return. If and when we do, expect a report here!
In the meantime, we're busily crafting our list of fun, blog-worthy things to see, do, and recount. Stay tuned!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment