Mary Diehl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2001
- Messages
- 700
This is our fourth year in a row for US and we yet again had a nice trip. We stayed at the PBH again like last year. We really like this hotel but wish it would be a shorter walk to the parks. It's very beneficial though if you want to work off all the sweets you inhaled during your stay.
6/19-At check-in we were given our free upgrade to the Portifino suite because of being a Loews Platinum cardholder. I asked for another upgrade and they said they were totally booked. We got the Portifino suite with parlor on the first floor facing the loading dock for the ferries on the bayside. Nice little porch area outside one set of doors while the other had a nice bench. What a great room. Nice and spacious. Our 17 year old son took over the parlor area. Poor room ended up looking like his bedroom at home-YIKES!!!
Since we had to wait for our room to be ready, we headed out to Nascar Cafe for lunch. It's tradition we start here since we have 3 boys and love Nascar. Service was good as so was the food. I had used a 10% off coupon I printed off the internet. We walked US and did Shrek, Mummy, MIB and Jaws. No wait thanks to FOTL!! We treated ourselves to sundaes and milkshakes at Schwab's Pharmacy. This place is so good but it takes them forever to make your shakes! Was able to get 10% off using the Orlando Magicard.
When returning to our room, I was expecting our welcome amenity of milk and cookies. They didn't show up till 10:30pm. I thought this to be quite unusual and late!! They also brought up three kids welcome packs of sweets including snickers bars, chips, Hershey kisses and poprocks. She also gave us ice and chocolates, the ones you get at turn-down service. Off to bed-they are sooo comfortable.
6/20-We started off in IOA and did Hulk, Spiderman, Dr. Dooms, Dueling Dragons, Cat in the Hat and so on... We ate at Mythos which is also tradition. The first year was our best experience. We had two waiters that were very attentive and chatty and was there constantly to fill your drinks. Every consecutive year it seems to go downhill. The food was o.k. but was disappointed with our waitress. She lacked social skills, didn't talk, didn't smile and it just kind of ruined the atmosphere. In spite of all that, me and my one son treated ourselves to the Tasting of chocolate. We each had our own and could barely finish it. It's so rich but yummy. We were able to get 15% off this meal using a coupon from the booklet I received from ordering our tickets on line. By the way, no problem retrieving our tickets from the kiosk but had to wait a little at Guest Services for our coupon booklet. We left the park to go out and walk around the Bass Pro shop. My boys gave my husband a gift card for Father's day so we HAD to go here. Went back to the hotel to swim. Boy do I(& all my boys) love the pool slide. I felt like a little kid. What a nice relaxing time. Treated myself to a virgin Seaside smoothie-very good. We later ate at Sal's Market and ordered two pizzas. They messed up our order and had only made one. So while we waited for the other, we were offered soda and a complimentary cheesecake-which we took. Always good here. When returning to our room, they had done turndown service for us-very nice low lighting, soft music playing and chocolates on our pillows.
6/21-Went into IOA again and did the usual. Ate at the Oak Tree Tavern. We all love the ribs, smoked turkey legs and cornbread. Everything was good until my husband found a big roach, beetle, whatever it was lying on its back right where my one son was sitting. Needless to say, I was done and lost my appetite. Oh by the way, it was still alive and kicking!! We later went to the Cinneplex to see Star Wars Episode III. My one son was dying to see this so we all tortured ourselves to sit through it with him. I had seen the first and second one-how many years ago??? It actually wasn't too bad. Went into US to do more rides and then back to hotel to eat at Sal's again. This time ordering sandwiches to eat back at the room. Talk about expensive sandwiches. Cost $60 for 4 sandwiches and one mac-n-cheese. I think we'll stick with the pizza there. Had rain this day.
6/22-all got out into the park early since my husband was told the parks opened an hour earlier today. He misunderstood and I guess it was just for the AP's. All was o.k. since they started letting people through the gates by 8:45 and we had all walk-ons for two hours. I mean there was literally no one in the park. Since we had FOTL, getting to the parks early was never an issue but it was really nice not having to whip out those keys for every ride. The attendants said we wouldn't even need them for the first couple hours and they were right. Ate at Mel's Drive-in and enjoyed burgers, fries and shakes. I think they really put just icecream in those cups because we couldn't suck anything up through the straws. We had to use spoons. Could use our Orlando Magicard again for 10% off. Went back to swim and started raining about an hour into our swimming. It rained from 2 o'clock on. Went to Margaritaville for dinner. We actually got to see the volcano erupt. Still had to wait 45min. for a table even after showing our room key. Since it was raining so hard, we decided to pick up a 6 pack of Cinnobons for $10.99 to eat back at our room. I thought this was a great deal considering what you normally pay for just one-came out to less than $2per bun. YUM!!
6/23-Ate breakfast at Trattoria Del Porto. We were the only ones in there at 7:45. Nice atmosphere but the waiter was a little quiet which came across to me as being a little snotty. Considering he was laughing it up with a mom and son later on. I looked to see if we were dressed inappropriately or maybe it's because we didn't order the $16.95 breakfast buffet. Sorry, I can't eat $17 worth of breakfast food. All in all was good and we all ate for $36 including tip. After breakfast we all went into IOA to do the "wet stuff". I'm not one for walking around in wet clothes so I dreaded this all week. I wanted to do it for my boys though. Even with our swimsuits on I felt uncomfortable. The one thing I love is watching clueless people get on the Bilrat Barges wondering if they're going to get wet. It's worth getting out of my comfort zone just to watch the unsuspecting people. After riding all the wet rides, we went back to the hotel to wash up and meet up with my sister-in-law and two nieces. They flew in this day for her girls are part of a dance group that will be performing along Citywalk and Magic Kingdom. We met up with them and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. She treated-what a nice surprise! Our family then treated them to cheesecake at the cheesecake factory. They wouldn't honor any of my discount cards but in the end gave us the AAA discount even though my sister-in-law didn't have her card on her. She also bought me a picture of all of us on the Mummy ride. We said our good-byes around 8:30pm since they had a bus to catch that took them to their hotel on Disney property. Came back to our hotel to turndown service again.
It was a great vacation and don't know if we'll return next year. The boys like it but I think they're getting a little tired of doing the same thing every year. We keep hoping for Disney, but when you have 5 people in your family, it can get very expensive. Oldest son says this is his last "family" vacation. We will miss him ....but then again....it would be cheaper!!!
Any questions I'd be glad to answer.
6/19-At check-in we were given our free upgrade to the Portifino suite because of being a Loews Platinum cardholder. I asked for another upgrade and they said they were totally booked. We got the Portifino suite with parlor on the first floor facing the loading dock for the ferries on the bayside. Nice little porch area outside one set of doors while the other had a nice bench. What a great room. Nice and spacious. Our 17 year old son took over the parlor area. Poor room ended up looking like his bedroom at home-YIKES!!!
Since we had to wait for our room to be ready, we headed out to Nascar Cafe for lunch. It's tradition we start here since we have 3 boys and love Nascar. Service was good as so was the food. I had used a 10% off coupon I printed off the internet. We walked US and did Shrek, Mummy, MIB and Jaws. No wait thanks to FOTL!! We treated ourselves to sundaes and milkshakes at Schwab's Pharmacy. This place is so good but it takes them forever to make your shakes! Was able to get 10% off using the Orlando Magicard.
When returning to our room, I was expecting our welcome amenity of milk and cookies. They didn't show up till 10:30pm. I thought this to be quite unusual and late!! They also brought up three kids welcome packs of sweets including snickers bars, chips, Hershey kisses and poprocks. She also gave us ice and chocolates, the ones you get at turn-down service. Off to bed-they are sooo comfortable.
6/20-We started off in IOA and did Hulk, Spiderman, Dr. Dooms, Dueling Dragons, Cat in the Hat and so on... We ate at Mythos which is also tradition. The first year was our best experience. We had two waiters that were very attentive and chatty and was there constantly to fill your drinks. Every consecutive year it seems to go downhill. The food was o.k. but was disappointed with our waitress. She lacked social skills, didn't talk, didn't smile and it just kind of ruined the atmosphere. In spite of all that, me and my one son treated ourselves to the Tasting of chocolate. We each had our own and could barely finish it. It's so rich but yummy. We were able to get 15% off this meal using a coupon from the booklet I received from ordering our tickets on line. By the way, no problem retrieving our tickets from the kiosk but had to wait a little at Guest Services for our coupon booklet. We left the park to go out and walk around the Bass Pro shop. My boys gave my husband a gift card for Father's day so we HAD to go here. Went back to the hotel to swim. Boy do I(& all my boys) love the pool slide. I felt like a little kid. What a nice relaxing time. Treated myself to a virgin Seaside smoothie-very good. We later ate at Sal's Market and ordered two pizzas. They messed up our order and had only made one. So while we waited for the other, we were offered soda and a complimentary cheesecake-which we took. Always good here. When returning to our room, they had done turndown service for us-very nice low lighting, soft music playing and chocolates on our pillows.
6/21-Went into IOA again and did the usual. Ate at the Oak Tree Tavern. We all love the ribs, smoked turkey legs and cornbread. Everything was good until my husband found a big roach, beetle, whatever it was lying on its back right where my one son was sitting. Needless to say, I was done and lost my appetite. Oh by the way, it was still alive and kicking!! We later went to the Cinneplex to see Star Wars Episode III. My one son was dying to see this so we all tortured ourselves to sit through it with him. I had seen the first and second one-how many years ago??? It actually wasn't too bad. Went into US to do more rides and then back to hotel to eat at Sal's again. This time ordering sandwiches to eat back at the room. Talk about expensive sandwiches. Cost $60 for 4 sandwiches and one mac-n-cheese. I think we'll stick with the pizza there. Had rain this day.
6/22-all got out into the park early since my husband was told the parks opened an hour earlier today. He misunderstood and I guess it was just for the AP's. All was o.k. since they started letting people through the gates by 8:45 and we had all walk-ons for two hours. I mean there was literally no one in the park. Since we had FOTL, getting to the parks early was never an issue but it was really nice not having to whip out those keys for every ride. The attendants said we wouldn't even need them for the first couple hours and they were right. Ate at Mel's Drive-in and enjoyed burgers, fries and shakes. I think they really put just icecream in those cups because we couldn't suck anything up through the straws. We had to use spoons. Could use our Orlando Magicard again for 10% off. Went back to swim and started raining about an hour into our swimming. It rained from 2 o'clock on. Went to Margaritaville for dinner. We actually got to see the volcano erupt. Still had to wait 45min. for a table even after showing our room key. Since it was raining so hard, we decided to pick up a 6 pack of Cinnobons for $10.99 to eat back at our room. I thought this was a great deal considering what you normally pay for just one-came out to less than $2per bun. YUM!!
6/23-Ate breakfast at Trattoria Del Porto. We were the only ones in there at 7:45. Nice atmosphere but the waiter was a little quiet which came across to me as being a little snotty. Considering he was laughing it up with a mom and son later on. I looked to see if we were dressed inappropriately or maybe it's because we didn't order the $16.95 breakfast buffet. Sorry, I can't eat $17 worth of breakfast food. All in all was good and we all ate for $36 including tip. After breakfast we all went into IOA to do the "wet stuff". I'm not one for walking around in wet clothes so I dreaded this all week. I wanted to do it for my boys though. Even with our swimsuits on I felt uncomfortable. The one thing I love is watching clueless people get on the Bilrat Barges wondering if they're going to get wet. It's worth getting out of my comfort zone just to watch the unsuspecting people. After riding all the wet rides, we went back to the hotel to wash up and meet up with my sister-in-law and two nieces. They flew in this day for her girls are part of a dance group that will be performing along Citywalk and Magic Kingdom. We met up with them and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. She treated-what a nice surprise! Our family then treated them to cheesecake at the cheesecake factory. They wouldn't honor any of my discount cards but in the end gave us the AAA discount even though my sister-in-law didn't have her card on her. She also bought me a picture of all of us on the Mummy ride. We said our good-byes around 8:30pm since they had a bus to catch that took them to their hotel on Disney property. Came back to our hotel to turndown service again.
It was a great vacation and don't know if we'll return next year. The boys like it but I think they're getting a little tired of doing the same thing every year. We keep hoping for Disney, but when you have 5 people in your family, it can get very expensive. Oldest son says this is his last "family" vacation. We will miss him ....but then again....it would be cheaper!!!
Any questions I'd be glad to answer.
