Originally Posted By Friar Tuck and Roll I went to the parks this last weekend and instead of giving a play by play I'm just going to give random thoughts I have about the weekend. Going early to a park just to get a stamp for an online game does seem to be a litle over the top. I did however go to the Animal Kingdom and do just that for VMK. The only reason for this is because it will be my last chance at it and Disney is closing down VMK Central on Main Street. Where did all of the small animal exhibits go by the Tree of Life. I searching the paths the only area that still had an animal in it was the lemer one. The rest were there but devoid of life. Winning the Dream fast passes was a nice surprise and so was the added bonus of the Dreams pins and lanyard. Are all of the Dream fastpasses given on rides with large capacity vehicles? This trip we won ours after going on BTMRR and had previously won after riding Everest. I have also seen the fastpasses being awarded to riders on the Twilight Zone as well as Living with the Land. All of these attractions have rider capacity of greater than 20 people. We were able to use all of the Magic Kingdom Dream fastpasses except the one for Splash Mountain. The ride shut down late in the afternoon and it looked like there was some sort of accident near the bottom of the main drop as there were several inspectors looking at something under the main bridge over the drop. Voyage of the Little Mermaid has the worst sightlines of any Disney theater production. We were seated on the far left side and due to the way the side rock scenery was I could only see about half of Ariel's face. I was not at the very edge of the seating so I know it must have been worse for those further left than me. The "Splash" fountain was MIA. The sign identifying it was still in place but the statue itself was missing. I had seen it broken before after Hurricane Irene but this is the first time I have seen it completely gone. The walk between Epcot and the Studios is very hot on a summer day. However, we walked forms the Studios to Epcot because going the opposite way there was no AC on the Friendship boats. The skipper of the boat did call the Studios Disney's Hollywoodland instead of the proper Disney-MGM Studios well before the name change and if you notice did not even get the name change correct. On the walk between the Studios and Epcot I witnessed a family on one of those 4 seat bicycles not able to make the journey up the incline on the bridge between the Boardwalk and the Swan & Dolphin. They had to get off the bike and push it. I really liked the room I had at the Coronado. It is nice to see a mini-fridge in the room that is pretty much standard at most non Disney hotels now. If only Disney would also include the microwave that other hotels do. I did not like Coronado's Peppers Market food court. I did not eat there because there did not seem to be any way to take food back to my room. Also ther were no visibe prices on the outside of the food court and a sign that said a 10% gratuity was automatically included in all purchases. Gratuity should be based on service on forced upon clients. That being said I did end up ordering room service with a higher mandatory service charge but that does require more effort on the server's part and I wanted to eat my meal in my room so I could watch the Jaguars game. I know this was long and rambling and I know I missed points I wanted to make but thanks for reading anyways.
Originally Posted By sherrytodd <<<The "Splash" fountain was MIA. The sign identifying it was still in place but the statue itself was missing. I had seen it broken before after Hurricane Irene but this is the first time I have seen it completely gone.>>> Awww, this is my husband's favorite WDW landmark. I hope they bring it back for him.
