12/13-12/18 Our trip/food/WL report

[laura12581]

I have never done this before, but I really enjoyed reading other's reports, so I am going to attempt my own, it will be a slow process but I will try to include details for everyone!

Background: My DH & I (both in our 20s) honeymooned at my favorite place in the world in 2004 and had a pretty BAD experience to say the least at the Grand Floridian. We were unable to stay in the HM suite we booked and paid for, so this time I was determined to get the HM suite that I had saved for 2 years for, with the refunded money from that trip (took nearly 4 months and 2 letters and 3 calls to get- but that's a different story alltogether).

So just DH & I returned 12/13-12/18 and stayed in a HM suite at the WL on the 7th floor-concierge level.

Day 1- 12/13- Arrived in Orlando after a very nice flight on USair around 1:00pm. Had an effortless trip with ME, which I think is a great feature! We were the last ones to be dropped off, and I was so excited I could almost burst!
When we arrived at the majestic WL, we were greeted outside by the Concierge, who was very happy and pleasant. She gave us a little tour of the lobby, which I have seen in pictures before, but was absolutely breathtaking to see in person.
We grabbed a quick bite at Roaring forks- very good and were off to MK, where we spent only a little time (closing early for MVMCP). We then went to EPCOT and had a ressie at San Angel Inn in Mexico for dinner. I thought that the food was a little overpriced here and our entree that we spilt was not that good, but the atmosphere was neat. (We were not on the Dining Plan in the hopes of splitting a lot of food.. you will see later that this was not the case.) We saw Illuminations, which was awesome, even though our view was quite obstructed (duh no wonder there was no one in that spot at 9:15)! All in all a great first day!

 

[agotta]

Sorry to hear your HM wasn't great, but this sounds like it was a fantastic trip. We are going to VWL for one night in a couple weeks and have only heard great things about it. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[laura12581]

Some more details about our room.. We were in 7096, woods? view (not on the MK side), which at first I was a little sad about, but it turned out to be perfect! There was a jacuzzy-like tub, which ppl. told me could not possibly fit 2 ppl., but I disagree, I thought it was fabulous with beautiful tile around. The room was very spacious and our balcony was neat. The only complaint was that we heard the screaming from Whispering Canyon sometimes in the morning and at night, because we were right on the lobby, but this was not that big of a deal. THe concierge offerings were great. DH couldn't believe that he could get a beer for free in Disney. (ok it wasn't free, we paid a LOT per night, but you know what I mean.)

I had arranged with the concierge team to have a surprise for my DH when we got there. If I can, I will post pics. I had two Christmas ornaments, each in the shape of Mickey- one was red with our names and the year on it, and one was black with gold ears reading- "THe happiest celebration on earth", which were on the bed in a towel configuration shaped like Mickey. THere were also two of the Gold Mickey ears, with our names embroidered on them, this was a big hit. OUr chocolate covered strawberries I ordered came later that night when we returned from EPCOT.

 

[laura12581]

This trip more than made up for our Honeymoon! We did have a good time in Disney on our HM, but the GF was not what I had expected out of the flagship hotel!

I will be posting more tomorrow....

 

[goodeats]

I want to hear more about your food splitting situation!

I personally think *not* being on the dining plan worked well for my sister and I as we're light eaters and share often. Plus I had a AAA discount on the room. I would imagine with concierge I really wouldn't need the dining plan.

 

[laura12581]

I was up early because I heard "Come and get it!" from the WCC at 8:30 am. I had to drag DH out of bed (he is not as Disney enthuasiastic as I am).
We ate delicious crossaints and muffins in the concierge lounge for breakfast. We headed over to EPCOT and I went on Soarin for the first time, then we headed to Le Cellier for lunch (with ADRs) we arrived at 12:15 and were seated by 12:30. I had never eaten here before, but thanks to the Disboards, I know all about it now. I thought that this was the best meal I had in WDW! My DH will argue that dinner at California Grill was better, but I beg to differ.
For starters we had: The Cheddar Cheese soup- which was very good and it reminded me of Potato soup, which I was surprised about, I thought that it would come out and be orange. We both really liked the soup. My favorite bread was the pretzel bread followed in close 2nd by sourdough.

For the Main course: (THIS IS WHERE THE SHARING WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN, but DH and I tend to like different foods, so that money saving tactic was pretty much out the window, we would have saved a ton of money if we went on the dining plan, I think, he disagrees still)-I digress...
I had the french dip roast beef with potato salad and a pickle- Very good crunchy bread! My meal was great!

Dh had a salmon salad, which did not appeal to me but he liked it. ( I was surprised that he didn't get a steak)

For dessert: DH had Creme Brulee, which he says was good, but France's was better. I had the chocolate mousse!! It was not only adorable (shaped like a moose) but yummy! The waitress, who was great took our picture with it.

We spent the rest of the day and early afternoon at Epcot, I thought Soarin was great and my DH went on it too (he gets very motion sick, but he was FINE on this ride!!)

 

[laura12581]

We had ressies at the California Grill for 8:00 pm, which was the time that the fireworks were supposed to start. We did this on our HM, but we were in the middle of our first course when the fireworks went off and we were able to see them from our table. We were not able to be seated until after the fireworks, because most people were still holding their tables until after the fireworks. This was the longest wait that we endured on our trip- it was about 35 minutes before we were seated. We did see the bottoms of the fireworks( couldn't see them all- the observation deck was mobbed so we couldn't go out).

When we were seated, we had a great waiter. Because we waited for so long, we were starved and our eyes were definately bigger than our stomachs. I had a flatbread- four cheese with sundried tomatoes I think, and DH had sushi- which he said was the best he has had in his life.

We were going to SPLIT the oak-fired beef filet, but we decided we could always take home leftovers (I had already had half a flatbread to take), so he got the Pork Tenderloin. Both were great but neither of us could really eat very much- we were FULL!!! DH wanted so bad to get dessert, but he really couldn't. Overall this meal was good, but we ordered enough food for several days!!
We took the monorail to the MK then the boat to the WL- great ride! We didn't think that the boat was running from the Contemporary b/c it was after 10:00pm.

All in all a great 2nd day in the world!

 

[laura12581]

We tried to sleep in b/c this was MVMCP day, but couldn't. We headed over to MGM for lunch at Sci-Fi. I had a chicken ceasar salad, DH had a burger and a cookies and cream milkshake. We both had really good meals, which I was worried about from the bad reviews I had read. The atmosphere was great! We spilt a hot fudge sundae for dessert.


We then headed back and took a nap before the party. We grabbed some cheese and grapes and DH had a Heinekin (sp?) from the concierge and headed to the party around 5:30.

A little background: DH does not appreciate Disney the way I do, he has never seen most popular Disney Movies- doesn't even know the story of Peter Pan!! ON our HM, I wore the bridal ears, but he WOULD NOT even try the groom hat for a picture. On this trip, DH was a sport, he wore the Santa hat with mickey ears with me to the party!

He never usually goes on the "roller coasters" with me, but he even was willing to try Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, then he went on Splash Mtn. with me! We had so much fun! Not to mention we walked right on everything- several times!

We ate at Pecos Bill"s. I had a chicken wrap which was delicious. He had the chicken salad, which he said was good. We got hot chocolate and a cookie for free and continued to ride.

Later we got a great spot for the Holiday Wishes, which were great! THe rain then came. We went and got our free picture and then the 10:45 parade was delayed for a while because of rain but we stayed in our spot right by the castle, which was great! We took a million pitcures. I had so much fun at the party and it was not crowded at all! It was my first time there. The only thing that disappointed me was that I never saw the snow on main street, but I saw the snow in the MGM lights a few days later!