Wazzo
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2005
Hello fellow DISers! I am back from our amazing Disney wedding, and although I didnt have a PJ (or a TR), I wanted to post reviews. I found them super helpful, so I want to return the favour. I hope you find my blabbering helpful!
Wedding Info:
Ceremony Location: Epcot Japanese Pavilion
Ceremony Backup Location: Epcot Chinese Pavilion
Reception Location: The Attic
Dessert Party Location: UK Lochside
Dessert Party Backup Location: American Adventure Parlor
Vendor/Experience Reviews:
Passporters Disney Weddings & Honeymoons by Carrie Hayward
If you are planning a Disney wedding, you need no, you have to go and buy this book! It answered more questions for me than any message board and Disney employee combined! Heck, if youre even thinking of having a Disney wedding, I still recommend buying this book. It not only answers all of your questions, but it helps you come up with ideas, solutions and ways to plan and stay organzied. Nuff said. Now, go buy it. Really!
TourGuideMiKE
I was hesitant signing up for this service since I know a lot about WDW already. But, a little birdy told me that it was worth the price alone just for his ratings of the parks for each individual day. TGM tells you every day which parks are best, and which ones to avoid and why. I really enjoyed learning the reasons behind his schedules, and I was very impressed with the results. TGM warned us that July was a very busy time of year, and he even gave tips and reminders on staying out of the heat. The parks were always busy, but following his recommendations helped. A lot. For example, we had a group of 30 touring the MK on a Sunday morning (his recommendation, since I would have avoided the weekend at all cost!) and we had five minute waits at all of the rides. (Except for Fantasyland because we werent interested in a lot of those rides, and we disobeyed TGM by not going there first!) All in all, I found the website a big overwhelming and confusing, but just sticking to the recommended days was well worth the price. And dont forget to sign up through the DIS link for a reduced price!
Karen Heyn
Ah, what to say about Karen. Im pretty sure she is my guardian angel and not my wedding planner. Right from day one she was fantastic. She was always there when I needed her. I am an email queen, and she was always very quick to get back to me. If I knew she had a rehearsal or wedding, I would email her assistant who was ridiculously fast at getting me any answers I needed. Karen was great at working with any requests that I had. She made it possible for us to have some pretty cool backup solutions for rain (which we didnt need yay!), and she was very helpful with sticking to the budget. I think she cared more about that than I did, which I found very impressive! On the actual day I realized that I think she is made of magic.
She was always behind the scenes, but seemed to magically appear whenever I needed her or had a question. There were absolutely no glitches in our day that I was made aware of, so Im sure that means she was working extra hard in the background. Our morning ceremony was beautiful, and the original chair setup was in full sun. No problem though, Karen had the whole setup moved to a beautiful and shaded location in what felt like seconds. She was simply amazing. I love her! All of our locations were perfect and set up beautifully. I would rate them separately, but I know that I loved them because of Karen. She and her team did such a great job, that I need to give her all the credit! If you have any questions about the venues though, Id be happy to answer them!
Elizabeth Motoc
Elizabeth was our floral coordinator. She was fantastic! She was also ridiculously fast at emailing me back, and was great at working towards exactly what I wanted. She was very on top of things, and everything was perfect on the day. I chose to have a silk bouquet, and she worked super hard at getting just the right flowers. She came up with alternatives for items that wouldnt work, and everything was on time and beautiful. I met her at our planning session, but I didnt see her again after that. But, I know she worked very hard and everything was just perfect as a result.
Ron Rosenzweig
Our officiant, Ron, was early and he went through everything with us before our guests arrived. I really liked him. He was the perfect balance between calming and direct. He got stuff done right, and he was nice about it! He had memorized our entire ceremony, and did an awesome job. I remember trying to stay focused during that moment so that I would remember it, and I did a pretty good job. I listened to what he said, and took my time during the vows. He was great to work with, and I recommend him if you are looking for a non-religious officiant.
Root Photography
I have only seen preview photos, but man, these people are fantastic! I fell in love with their work, and now I think I love them too.
They are great people, and we had so much fun working with them. Their personalities alone made me so glad that we chose them for our day. They made us feel so comfortable, and as a result, we had so much fun! Awesome people, awesome photography. What else can I say to convince you of their awesomeness? Me loves them.
Cinema Chic
Unfortunately I wont be able to comment on our video for a while, but I must say that to work with Kat Small was so great! I couldnt wait to meet her, because she was so much fun to email back and forth with. She also helped me calm down during my very brief freak-out phase, and I much appreciated the free counseling.
She and Doug (the second videographer) were great with direction, and just seemed to melt into the background. They were never obtrusive, and were great to work with. I cant wait to see our video!
Patricia LeJeune
Patricia was fantastic. She came to our room for 4:00 AM, and she and her assistant unpacked super fast and were ready to go. Both of them were super sweet and excellent at what they do. Patricia did everyones hair and my makeup, while her assistant did everyone elses makeup. I remember feeling a bit nauseous in the morning because it was SO early, and I had to stay so still. I was trying not to fall asleep in the chair! Patricia was very calming and even rubbed my back for me. I loved her for that! Everyone looked great, and both hair and makeup lasted all day in the heat. The only thing I needed to touch up before the dessert party was my face with a bit of pressed powder because it had been SO hot during the day. I was so impressed with how everything lasted all day though especially since I even had a nap before the dessert party!
Wedding Entertainment
Since our ceremony was in Japan, we wanted to have something unique to the location, and we chose to have the Taiko drummers perform at our ceremony. They were simply amazing! It was a group of three women, and they played softer music for the wedding. They ended up drumming in our guests, and everyone thought it was so cool that you could hear them walking in from the bus. They also drummed me in and then again when the guests were leaving. This experience was definitely worth it, and I was so happy that they were there to help make our day even more unique and special. For when the drummers were silent, we asked if Epcot could turn on the background music for Japan, which they did for FREE! This worked super well, and I loved the price.
We had the fab four, Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy, arrive to help us cut the cake and interact with all of our guests. They were so great! We had a lot of kids at our wedding, and the characters all took their time with them taking pictures, and even sat down at the kids table to colour with them for a while! They were definitely there longer than 30 minutes, and everyone loved them! I am so glad we did this. It was actually hard to stop at four, since they just keep getting cheaper the more you add on!
Epcot Dessert Party
We got there earlier than our guests, and the desserts looked great. The Epcot people were freaking out with the heat and kept refreshing the trays even before anyone had gotten there yet. They were definitely way more uptight than I was, and that was okay with me! It was all delicious, and I was really happy we customized our menu, since they really went all out for us. We had profiteroles, mini pies, the works! The servers were fantastic, and the guests seemed very happy. They brought out cool Mickey glasses
for us to wear during the fireworks, and the show was great. A storm was rolling in, but the Epcot people told me they were tracking it on radar, and that we would be fine. Also, the wind was blowing away from us, so we didnt get any smoke or ashes at all. It was great! It was kinda freaky looking around Epcot and seeing everyone else staring at us. But, I just tried to feel more special. After the party, they let our guests walk out on their own, and it was kind of fun walking through the park in my wedding dress. I got a lot of cheers and congratulations!
Disney Photography MK Photoshoot (Amy)
I dont have these photos back yet, but Amy was a lot of fun. She was on-time and had my DHs boutonnière ready to go. She even pinned it on for him in seconds flat. She was quick with set ups, and very thorough, and even showed us a couple of pictures. She was a lot of fun to chat with and had us out for pictures for closer to an hour and 20 minutes than the hour I was expecting. We chose the 6:00 am slot, which was perfect since we had about half dark and half light shots.
Disneys Honeymoon Registry
Oi, where to begin? We all know that the registry has problems. Its up, its down. Its down again. I didnt have too many problems with the website itself, but I know it happens. What I had problems with was booking our gifted items. My travel agent booked the Wilderness Back Trail Adventure (Fort Wilderness Segway Tour) for us, and it took her over two hours to do it. Normally you have to prepay with a credit card for tours, and no one could figure out how to get the system to let you pay with a gift card. After a lot of persistence, she finally booked it for us, and it was set up for us to pay with our gift card when we arrived at the Barn at Fort Wilderness. I booked the Epcot Seas Aqua tour for us on my own, and guess how long that booking took? TWO WEEKS. Yes, twwooooo weeks!! And this also involved the Registry department themselves! No one knew what they were doing. The registry people said it could be booked and paid with a gift card (and I should hope so, because its on my registry!), but the tour reservation system said no. I finally had to get my wedding planner involved, and it was resolved and booked.
Or so I thought. When we went to the two tours we had booked, it was even more chaos! BOTH tour operators spoke to us away from the group to ask us what had gone on during booking because we had so many reservations under our names. The Segway tour had us booked three times, and the Seas Aqua tour had us booked five times! So, as a result, our groups were really small since there were no spots left! It all worked out at the end to our satisfaction, but geez!
Wilderness Back Trail Adventures
This tour was really fun. It was about two hours long, and went all around the Fort Wilderness campground. It was a great way to see the grounds. You start out near the bike barn and have a quick lesson. Then, you whisk around everywhere and listen to the guide on a head set while he tells you about the resort, and WDW itself. We also went over to the Wilderness Lodge for a quick visit too. About midway through we stopped at the horse barn where the MK horses are kept (including Cinderellas ponies) and got to visit with them. The Segways are limited to 6 MPH, and after a while we just wanted to go faster! Its amazing how quickly you get used to them and are so confident riding them. It was really a lot of fun. Oh, and dont forget to ask for the AAA or AP discount!
Epcot Seas Aqua Tour
This was one of my favourite things of the whole trip. It was about two hours, with a full half hour in the tank. You get a quick tour of behind the scenes at the Living Seas, and then you are fitted with shortie wetsuits. The hardest part is getting in those darn suits and shoes! You get very friendly with strangers very fast, because everyone needs help getting them on! Once theyre on, you walk through the Living Seas (smiling at everyone staring at you), and walking up the tower to the top of the tank. The gear you are given is like SCUBA gear, but you have a floaty vest to keep you on the surface of the water. There are dive masters in the tank with you at all times, but they pretty much let you swim around and tour on your own. It was amazing! It was very cool to see people looking in at the fish, and we could even see the people eating at the Coral Reef restaurant. It was an amazing experience, and I would do it again in a heartbeat! We also got a great AP discount here too, and I think its the same discount for AAA members.
Victoria & Alberts
Fancy, schmancy! Its a bit intimidating at first. We were a bit early, so the Citricos people let us know to wait outside and someone would come and get us from V&As. They must have pressed a secret button because a nice lady came out seconds later to let us know that we would be seated very shortly. She came back about five minutes later and took us to our table. The restaurant was bigger than I expected, and very nice. It was quite dark and provided a very intimate setting. We got personalized menus congratulating us on our marriage to take home, and then we had to get to work. We needed to pick six courses. It was hard! We both chose to upgrade to the Kobe beef, but otherwise stuck to the regular options. The food was very good. I felt a little like I was a judge on Iron Chef. They just kept bringing out these small dishes, each fancier than the last! We felt a bit out of place, but both of our servers were very friendly and down-to-earth. The highlight was the seafood course. Perhaps because neither of us really like seafood and we werent expecting much, but holy crap that salmon and crab was fantastic! It was definitely worth the experience, but Im glad it was paid for by our registry. Oh, and our Tables In Wonderland card paid for itself that night! All the ladies receive a long stem rose at the end of the night, which I thought was a nice touch. Definitely the fanciest restaurant Ive ever been to, thats for sure!
Animal Kingdom Lodge
We stayed for a week at the AKL in a savannah view room, and it was fantastic. We received a king bed room, and our view was awesome on the Arusha savannah. We were on the second floor, which is the lowest floor, and my favourite floor. Ive stayed on the higher floors before, and I like the lowest one. I think it gives you the best vantage of the animals. You literally feel like you could reach out and touch them! The service here was great, and we received two lovey-dovey towel animals. The Mara also deserves high marks. It had some of the best food of the trip! Very yummy couscous, and very good breakfasts. We kept going back because it was just that good! Jiko was also excellent, and the filet with macaroni and cheese is still my favourite.
Contemporary Resort
We stayed for four nights in the garden wing of the CR. This was disappointing. Im glad we were there, because the wedding rate was crazy good, and the location is the best. But, the hallways of the garden wing are kinda scary. I would use the words dark and dank to describe it. The room was very nice, but it needed a dehumidifier. We had a great ground floor room with a patio overlooking greenspace though, and we were lucky enough to get another king bed. The styling of this resort is too modern for me. One of the groomsmen said we should call the font desk and complain that it was too contemporary for us.
Also, after our amazing experiences at the Mara, the Contempo Café was a huge letdown. It wasnt very good, so we didnt return much. It was such a long hike from the room too, that we would just choose to go elsewhere instead. Like Earl of Sandwich or Beaches & Cream! We had a good meal at the California Grill, but because of the heat, the blinds were closed. I was disappointed we couldnt really enjoy the view, but we had a seat near the kitchen, so it was fun to watch the action. Overall, Ive never been a fan of the CR, and this didnt change my mind. It never felt very Disney to me.
Grand Floridian Resort
We stayed for two nights at the GF and one was our complimentary night. We got a room in Sago Cay, and it was a super cute dormer room with a king bed. We got VIP service for check-in, and had a flower arrangement in our room when we first arrived. We also got turn down service each night. The first night they left champagne in the room with extra chocolate and slippers. The rooms were a lot nicer than I was expecting. They were very light and airy. I loved the dormer room! We also really liked the Sago Cay location for viewing fireworks at the MK. I was glad that I didnt pick Sago Cay as a DP location though, because they were renovating the very end of the building! It was a fun stay, and I would definitely stay there again if the price was right. The only downside was that self-parking was across the street and pretty far away.
Alright, I guess thats it for now! If I think of any other reviews, I will definitely post them! Also, please feel free to ask me any questions Im sure I forgot something!
Wedding Info:
Ceremony Location: Epcot Japanese Pavilion
Ceremony Backup Location: Epcot Chinese Pavilion
Reception Location: The Attic
Dessert Party Location: UK Lochside
Dessert Party Backup Location: American Adventure Parlor
Vendor/Experience Reviews:
Passporters Disney Weddings & Honeymoons by Carrie Hayward
If you are planning a Disney wedding, you need no, you have to go and buy this book! It answered more questions for me than any message board and Disney employee combined! Heck, if youre even thinking of having a Disney wedding, I still recommend buying this book. It not only answers all of your questions, but it helps you come up with ideas, solutions and ways to plan and stay organzied. Nuff said. Now, go buy it. Really!
TourGuideMiKE
I was hesitant signing up for this service since I know a lot about WDW already. But, a little birdy told me that it was worth the price alone just for his ratings of the parks for each individual day. TGM tells you every day which parks are best, and which ones to avoid and why. I really enjoyed learning the reasons behind his schedules, and I was very impressed with the results. TGM warned us that July was a very busy time of year, and he even gave tips and reminders on staying out of the heat. The parks were always busy, but following his recommendations helped. A lot. For example, we had a group of 30 touring the MK on a Sunday morning (his recommendation, since I would have avoided the weekend at all cost!) and we had five minute waits at all of the rides. (Except for Fantasyland because we werent interested in a lot of those rides, and we disobeyed TGM by not going there first!) All in all, I found the website a big overwhelming and confusing, but just sticking to the recommended days was well worth the price. And dont forget to sign up through the DIS link for a reduced price!
Karen Heyn
Ah, what to say about Karen. Im pretty sure she is my guardian angel and not my wedding planner. Right from day one she was fantastic. She was always there when I needed her. I am an email queen, and she was always very quick to get back to me. If I knew she had a rehearsal or wedding, I would email her assistant who was ridiculously fast at getting me any answers I needed. Karen was great at working with any requests that I had. She made it possible for us to have some pretty cool backup solutions for rain (which we didnt need yay!), and she was very helpful with sticking to the budget. I think she cared more about that than I did, which I found very impressive! On the actual day I realized that I think she is made of magic.
She was always behind the scenes, but seemed to magically appear whenever I needed her or had a question. There were absolutely no glitches in our day that I was made aware of, so Im sure that means she was working extra hard in the background. Our morning ceremony was beautiful, and the original chair setup was in full sun. No problem though, Karen had the whole setup moved to a beautiful and shaded location in what felt like seconds. She was simply amazing. I love her! All of our locations were perfect and set up beautifully. I would rate them separately, but I know that I loved them because of Karen. She and her team did such a great job, that I need to give her all the credit! If you have any questions about the venues though, Id be happy to answer them!Elizabeth Motoc
Elizabeth was our floral coordinator. She was fantastic! She was also ridiculously fast at emailing me back, and was great at working towards exactly what I wanted. She was very on top of things, and everything was perfect on the day. I chose to have a silk bouquet, and she worked super hard at getting just the right flowers. She came up with alternatives for items that wouldnt work, and everything was on time and beautiful. I met her at our planning session, but I didnt see her again after that. But, I know she worked very hard and everything was just perfect as a result.
Ron Rosenzweig
Our officiant, Ron, was early and he went through everything with us before our guests arrived. I really liked him. He was the perfect balance between calming and direct. He got stuff done right, and he was nice about it! He had memorized our entire ceremony, and did an awesome job. I remember trying to stay focused during that moment so that I would remember it, and I did a pretty good job. I listened to what he said, and took my time during the vows. He was great to work with, and I recommend him if you are looking for a non-religious officiant.
Root Photography
I have only seen preview photos, but man, these people are fantastic! I fell in love with their work, and now I think I love them too.
They are great people, and we had so much fun working with them. Their personalities alone made me so glad that we chose them for our day. They made us feel so comfortable, and as a result, we had so much fun! Awesome people, awesome photography. What else can I say to convince you of their awesomeness? Me loves them.Cinema Chic
Unfortunately I wont be able to comment on our video for a while, but I must say that to work with Kat Small was so great! I couldnt wait to meet her, because she was so much fun to email back and forth with. She also helped me calm down during my very brief freak-out phase, and I much appreciated the free counseling.
She and Doug (the second videographer) were great with direction, and just seemed to melt into the background. They were never obtrusive, and were great to work with. I cant wait to see our video!Patricia LeJeune
Patricia was fantastic. She came to our room for 4:00 AM, and she and her assistant unpacked super fast and were ready to go. Both of them were super sweet and excellent at what they do. Patricia did everyones hair and my makeup, while her assistant did everyone elses makeup. I remember feeling a bit nauseous in the morning because it was SO early, and I had to stay so still. I was trying not to fall asleep in the chair! Patricia was very calming and even rubbed my back for me. I loved her for that! Everyone looked great, and both hair and makeup lasted all day in the heat. The only thing I needed to touch up before the dessert party was my face with a bit of pressed powder because it had been SO hot during the day. I was so impressed with how everything lasted all day though especially since I even had a nap before the dessert party!
Wedding Entertainment
Since our ceremony was in Japan, we wanted to have something unique to the location, and we chose to have the Taiko drummers perform at our ceremony. They were simply amazing! It was a group of three women, and they played softer music for the wedding. They ended up drumming in our guests, and everyone thought it was so cool that you could hear them walking in from the bus. They also drummed me in and then again when the guests were leaving. This experience was definitely worth it, and I was so happy that they were there to help make our day even more unique and special. For when the drummers were silent, we asked if Epcot could turn on the background music for Japan, which they did for FREE! This worked super well, and I loved the price.
We had the fab four, Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy, arrive to help us cut the cake and interact with all of our guests. They were so great! We had a lot of kids at our wedding, and the characters all took their time with them taking pictures, and even sat down at the kids table to colour with them for a while! They were definitely there longer than 30 minutes, and everyone loved them! I am so glad we did this. It was actually hard to stop at four, since they just keep getting cheaper the more you add on!
Epcot Dessert Party
We got there earlier than our guests, and the desserts looked great. The Epcot people were freaking out with the heat and kept refreshing the trays even before anyone had gotten there yet. They were definitely way more uptight than I was, and that was okay with me! It was all delicious, and I was really happy we customized our menu, since they really went all out for us. We had profiteroles, mini pies, the works! The servers were fantastic, and the guests seemed very happy. They brought out cool Mickey glasses
for us to wear during the fireworks, and the show was great. A storm was rolling in, but the Epcot people told me they were tracking it on radar, and that we would be fine. Also, the wind was blowing away from us, so we didnt get any smoke or ashes at all. It was great! It was kinda freaky looking around Epcot and seeing everyone else staring at us. But, I just tried to feel more special. After the party, they let our guests walk out on their own, and it was kind of fun walking through the park in my wedding dress. I got a lot of cheers and congratulations!Disney Photography MK Photoshoot (Amy)
I dont have these photos back yet, but Amy was a lot of fun. She was on-time and had my DHs boutonnière ready to go. She even pinned it on for him in seconds flat. She was quick with set ups, and very thorough, and even showed us a couple of pictures. She was a lot of fun to chat with and had us out for pictures for closer to an hour and 20 minutes than the hour I was expecting. We chose the 6:00 am slot, which was perfect since we had about half dark and half light shots.
Disneys Honeymoon Registry
Oi, where to begin? We all know that the registry has problems. Its up, its down. Its down again. I didnt have too many problems with the website itself, but I know it happens. What I had problems with was booking our gifted items. My travel agent booked the Wilderness Back Trail Adventure (Fort Wilderness Segway Tour) for us, and it took her over two hours to do it. Normally you have to prepay with a credit card for tours, and no one could figure out how to get the system to let you pay with a gift card. After a lot of persistence, she finally booked it for us, and it was set up for us to pay with our gift card when we arrived at the Barn at Fort Wilderness. I booked the Epcot Seas Aqua tour for us on my own, and guess how long that booking took? TWO WEEKS. Yes, twwooooo weeks!! And this also involved the Registry department themselves! No one knew what they were doing. The registry people said it could be booked and paid with a gift card (and I should hope so, because its on my registry!), but the tour reservation system said no. I finally had to get my wedding planner involved, and it was resolved and booked.
Or so I thought. When we went to the two tours we had booked, it was even more chaos! BOTH tour operators spoke to us away from the group to ask us what had gone on during booking because we had so many reservations under our names. The Segway tour had us booked three times, and the Seas Aqua tour had us booked five times! So, as a result, our groups were really small since there were no spots left! It all worked out at the end to our satisfaction, but geez!
Wilderness Back Trail Adventures
This tour was really fun. It was about two hours long, and went all around the Fort Wilderness campground. It was a great way to see the grounds. You start out near the bike barn and have a quick lesson. Then, you whisk around everywhere and listen to the guide on a head set while he tells you about the resort, and WDW itself. We also went over to the Wilderness Lodge for a quick visit too. About midway through we stopped at the horse barn where the MK horses are kept (including Cinderellas ponies) and got to visit with them. The Segways are limited to 6 MPH, and after a while we just wanted to go faster! Its amazing how quickly you get used to them and are so confident riding them. It was really a lot of fun. Oh, and dont forget to ask for the AAA or AP discount!
Epcot Seas Aqua Tour
This was one of my favourite things of the whole trip. It was about two hours, with a full half hour in the tank. You get a quick tour of behind the scenes at the Living Seas, and then you are fitted with shortie wetsuits. The hardest part is getting in those darn suits and shoes! You get very friendly with strangers very fast, because everyone needs help getting them on! Once theyre on, you walk through the Living Seas (smiling at everyone staring at you), and walking up the tower to the top of the tank. The gear you are given is like SCUBA gear, but you have a floaty vest to keep you on the surface of the water. There are dive masters in the tank with you at all times, but they pretty much let you swim around and tour on your own. It was amazing! It was very cool to see people looking in at the fish, and we could even see the people eating at the Coral Reef restaurant. It was an amazing experience, and I would do it again in a heartbeat! We also got a great AP discount here too, and I think its the same discount for AAA members.
Victoria & Alberts
Fancy, schmancy! Its a bit intimidating at first. We were a bit early, so the Citricos people let us know to wait outside and someone would come and get us from V&As. They must have pressed a secret button because a nice lady came out seconds later to let us know that we would be seated very shortly. She came back about five minutes later and took us to our table. The restaurant was bigger than I expected, and very nice. It was quite dark and provided a very intimate setting. We got personalized menus congratulating us on our marriage to take home, and then we had to get to work. We needed to pick six courses. It was hard! We both chose to upgrade to the Kobe beef, but otherwise stuck to the regular options. The food was very good. I felt a little like I was a judge on Iron Chef. They just kept bringing out these small dishes, each fancier than the last! We felt a bit out of place, but both of our servers were very friendly and down-to-earth. The highlight was the seafood course. Perhaps because neither of us really like seafood and we werent expecting much, but holy crap that salmon and crab was fantastic! It was definitely worth the experience, but Im glad it was paid for by our registry. Oh, and our Tables In Wonderland card paid for itself that night! All the ladies receive a long stem rose at the end of the night, which I thought was a nice touch. Definitely the fanciest restaurant Ive ever been to, thats for sure!
Animal Kingdom Lodge
We stayed for a week at the AKL in a savannah view room, and it was fantastic. We received a king bed room, and our view was awesome on the Arusha savannah. We were on the second floor, which is the lowest floor, and my favourite floor. Ive stayed on the higher floors before, and I like the lowest one. I think it gives you the best vantage of the animals. You literally feel like you could reach out and touch them! The service here was great, and we received two lovey-dovey towel animals. The Mara also deserves high marks. It had some of the best food of the trip! Very yummy couscous, and very good breakfasts. We kept going back because it was just that good! Jiko was also excellent, and the filet with macaroni and cheese is still my favourite.
Contemporary Resort
We stayed for four nights in the garden wing of the CR. This was disappointing. Im glad we were there, because the wedding rate was crazy good, and the location is the best. But, the hallways of the garden wing are kinda scary. I would use the words dark and dank to describe it. The room was very nice, but it needed a dehumidifier. We had a great ground floor room with a patio overlooking greenspace though, and we were lucky enough to get another king bed. The styling of this resort is too modern for me. One of the groomsmen said we should call the font desk and complain that it was too contemporary for us.
Also, after our amazing experiences at the Mara, the Contempo Café was a huge letdown. It wasnt very good, so we didnt return much. It was such a long hike from the room too, that we would just choose to go elsewhere instead. Like Earl of Sandwich or Beaches & Cream! We had a good meal at the California Grill, but because of the heat, the blinds were closed. I was disappointed we couldnt really enjoy the view, but we had a seat near the kitchen, so it was fun to watch the action. Overall, Ive never been a fan of the CR, and this didnt change my mind. It never felt very Disney to me. Grand Floridian Resort
We stayed for two nights at the GF and one was our complimentary night. We got a room in Sago Cay, and it was a super cute dormer room with a king bed. We got VIP service for check-in, and had a flower arrangement in our room when we first arrived. We also got turn down service each night. The first night they left champagne in the room with extra chocolate and slippers. The rooms were a lot nicer than I was expecting. They were very light and airy. I loved the dormer room! We also really liked the Sago Cay location for viewing fireworks at the MK. I was glad that I didnt pick Sago Cay as a DP location though, because they were renovating the very end of the building! It was a fun stay, and I would definitely stay there again if the price was right. The only downside was that self-parking was across the street and pretty far away.
Alright, I guess thats it for now! If I think of any other reviews, I will definitely post them! Also, please feel free to ask me any questions Im sure I forgot something!
Your review is so helpful. I am so grateful that you decided to post on the DIS even if you did not make a PJ. We are in the planning stages of our Disney Wishes wedding, and I am bookmarking your thread to show it to my fiance.
