We've been back a week now. Which is long enough for mixed feelings to settle down into a more sensible appraisal.

I should explain....

Late May we went for a two week holiday in Sunny Orlando and for the very first time we went, we didn't really enjoy it. Sure the kids had a fantastic time, rides, food... more rides. But on the whole, I cannot say that Sue and I had a the best time ever.

But what was the reason? Well, for the first time we didn't go during our preferred Winter or Autumn season. This was purely down to the dates and duration of the school holiday. But the rise in humidity really was a killer and it was affecting Floridians as well as tourists. So now I feel less wimpy

Worse though, it was holiday season for America. Which caused huge crowds and a shocking decrease in what could be best described as 'polite behaviour'.

Now being thoughtful, I've looked back and figured our relaxed, polite gate could well have been a little too time consuming. Whilst most Europeans enjoy at least two weeks paid holiday at year (not me, mind, it's MY company) most of America seems to get just a week or less. In fact the average number of vacation days seemed to be around the 4 day mark! Add to this the obsession with driving their own cars down from New Jersey, Montana, New York, Los Angeles; to name just three licence plates we saw... The bottom line is that American tourists seem to be 'on a clock' and anybody who gets in their way is only wasting their vacation time.

Now I have a little sympathy. Whilst it's a regular occurrence for me to put in a sixty hour week; I do have the benefit of taking at LEAST a fortnight off. But some of the less than amusing antics and sheer rudeness of some of the 'flat out' tourists left us with a seriously bad taste in our mouths. Having our three year old pushed out of the way so a family of New Jersey could make it to Splash Mountain before us. A guy with a pram who we opened the doors for en mass to help him in; who couldn't be bothered to thank or indeed look at us (am I being over sensitive?) and just the sheer levels of queue jumping/pushing. We have kids, show a little restraint!

All in all, not the Disney experience we were looking for. Our flight was 6.5 hours delayed, Disney moved our villa location far away from the facilities (despite it being obvious that The Springs, at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, were more or less empty (no cars in car park). Then we had a terrible time booking dinning locations for our Disney Dining Plan.

Oh... I'm going into a rank again.

Then things got a lot better and the holiday turned around. But it still wasn't as successful as our Niagara trip or our previous trip to Saratoga in October.

So here are my suggestions;

1. Don't fly with Thomas Cook. They are just not setup yet. MyTravel or Virgin as MUCH better.


2. Travel from October to March. But avoid Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year. The temperatures are hot but not humid and the park attendance is much lower*

* This is five minutes after The Magic Kingdom opened.


And just less the ten minutes later.....


Considerably quieter.