eastendlights
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2015
- Messages
- 1,330
DD and I spent 10 nights/11 days Beach Club deluxe room from 2/27 to 3/9-the latest in a series of yearly trips-the last two mother/ daughter as she is in college and has a different spring break than our son-who at 14 is now way more content to go off road jeep/dirt bike riding with DH in Utah (where they are right now) than go to WDW-go figure!!!???
The newly renovated Stone Harbor Club is amazing-so spacious and comfortable and the concierge CM's were as helpful as they have always been in the past. The FoF parade was cancelled due to rain one day and they issued us new FP's for our next day at MK even though none were available. They were able to same day cancel and rebook our HDDR ADR's and cancel a few others with no penalty as well. This, unfortunately was due to the second year in a row cases of food poisoning!! Our 5th day there we ate potato salad in Epcot-I had one bite-DD ate the rest, and 36 hours later she was very sick and I was mildly so. That was the only food we both ate and I had the same symptoms-but much more severe-last year after eating flautas that were improperly cooked-still frozen in the middle-at Maya Grill. This put quite the damper on a few days-DD spent a whole day in bed and was not feeling better until really the last two days of our trip. I know I will now hear-how can we be sure that is what it was-believe me, I know, and apparently so do the CM's at the Stone Harbor Club who acknowledged that it happens more than you would think.
We loved the room-our first deluxe-when we travel as a family we have always had 2 bedroom suites (minus the surprise upgrade to the Presidential 2 years ago). Last year we stayed in a CL water view room-the extra room in the deluxe was great and well worth it.
It was DD's 19th birthday while we were there. Ordered an awesome cake from CR to be delivered to BOG. The cake was fabulous, they honored our request to IPO to be seated in the West Wing (I actually inquired when I checked in and was told there would be at least a 45 minute wait to be seated there and voila, the IPO ADR request was honored.) Due to the lingering food poisoning, however, she only ate two bites of a $110 dollar cake.
We had some issues with FP's on our MB's-more so than last year.
Our best meal by a mile was at Shula's. Looking back over the years, the food quality has really suffered at WDW, this being the first time that we noticed a steep decline. The following are all places we had enjoyed tremendously in the past on many trips. These are, of course, our opinions, but I think they are fair as we had dined every place I mention often.
Breakfast buffets/ meals at 'Ohana and Cape May Cafe were mediocre-eggs at CMC tasted powdered and the biscuits were soggy, potatoes at 'Ohana were undercooked, fruit was not ripe at both.
The use of salt has gotten out of hand at most TS restaurants. I had previously loved the potato leek soup at BOG-it was a salt lick this time as were the chicken breast and braised pork at dinner (slightly less than the soup-I actually sent it back it was so bad and I never send anything back). While I enjoyed my chicken at The Wave and both of our apps (crab cakes, pretzel bites) were good, DD's short ribs were insanely salty and her carrots and asparagus still very crunchy and undercooked.
'Ohana dinner was not good either. The apps and dessert were the best parts of the meal. The chicken and beef were very fatty and salty and the vegetables mushy. The shrimp were pretty good.
HDDR-I hate to say it-minus side dishes-the food was awful. This was our 6th time there and I can't see going back until I have grandchildren to take there-LOL. The ribs and chicken were downright nasty and the dessert was inedible-too syrupy sweet strawberries with tasteless whipped cream-really bad.
Most consistent and enjoyable meals other than Shula's-Yak and Yeti, Tusker House, Liberty Tree dinner and lunch, Plaza and Mama Melrose.
We had major issues with our ADR's. Our reservations disappeared from the system about 5 times. We checked in at Prime Time, it took 10 minutes to determine that our ADR was not there, were told it would be 15 minutes, waited almost an hour, went back to check, and were told that our ADR was cancelled!!!! We were then told it would be another 15 minutes and I told them to forget it. Sure enough, we were charged the $20 penalty (which was then credited by the CM at our hotel). We had our ADR go missing at Rose and Crown, were taken as walk ups, ate and were then charged a penalty for missing an ADR that disappeared even after we ate there anyway!!! In all we had 4 false penalty charges-all reversed- but it is ridiculous that I had to spend precious vacation time sorting all of this out. We were told they are converting to a new ADR system-who knows?? Make sure to check your charges though.
SDMT-rode it 6 times-lots of fun-love the smaller seats-we are small so we always feel like the last two peas being thrown around in a can on most roller coasters-but we thought it was very short-a third the time of SM and half of BTM.
FoF parade was cool-the dragon and costumes of the stilt walkers were amazing but the rest was lacking something. I remember being more impressed by other parades in the past.
The Hub looks great-lots of people laying around on the fake grass though-DD thought that was "gross"-LOL-like using someone's old beach towel.
I hate to sound like we were miserable-we did have a good time and will go back next year-but I do see lots of areas that could improve. I do think the parks were not as clean as in the past and the CM's in the parks don't have the same positive attitudes we previously experienced. There were lots of annoying people who do not monitor their kids enough (or at all), people bumping into us constantly on lines, taking flash pictures in dark rides, etc-things we unfortunately have come to expect and try our best to ignore. My DD is studying Entertainment Event management with an idea of maybe working at WDW some day and she vehemently decided she would do so only if she did not have to deal with the guests-ever-LOL. I can understand why some CM's have changed their attitudes-it can't be easy putting up with that every day.
I'd be happy to answer any questions if I can.
The newly renovated Stone Harbor Club is amazing-so spacious and comfortable and the concierge CM's were as helpful as they have always been in the past. The FoF parade was cancelled due to rain one day and they issued us new FP's for our next day at MK even though none were available. They were able to same day cancel and rebook our HDDR ADR's and cancel a few others with no penalty as well. This, unfortunately was due to the second year in a row cases of food poisoning!! Our 5th day there we ate potato salad in Epcot-I had one bite-DD ate the rest, and 36 hours later she was very sick and I was mildly so. That was the only food we both ate and I had the same symptoms-but much more severe-last year after eating flautas that were improperly cooked-still frozen in the middle-at Maya Grill. This put quite the damper on a few days-DD spent a whole day in bed and was not feeling better until really the last two days of our trip. I know I will now hear-how can we be sure that is what it was-believe me, I know, and apparently so do the CM's at the Stone Harbor Club who acknowledged that it happens more than you would think.
We loved the room-our first deluxe-when we travel as a family we have always had 2 bedroom suites (minus the surprise upgrade to the Presidential 2 years ago). Last year we stayed in a CL water view room-the extra room in the deluxe was great and well worth it.
It was DD's 19th birthday while we were there. Ordered an awesome cake from CR to be delivered to BOG. The cake was fabulous, they honored our request to IPO to be seated in the West Wing (I actually inquired when I checked in and was told there would be at least a 45 minute wait to be seated there and voila, the IPO ADR request was honored.) Due to the lingering food poisoning, however, she only ate two bites of a $110 dollar cake.
We had some issues with FP's on our MB's-more so than last year.
Our best meal by a mile was at Shula's. Looking back over the years, the food quality has really suffered at WDW, this being the first time that we noticed a steep decline. The following are all places we had enjoyed tremendously in the past on many trips. These are, of course, our opinions, but I think they are fair as we had dined every place I mention often.
Breakfast buffets/ meals at 'Ohana and Cape May Cafe were mediocre-eggs at CMC tasted powdered and the biscuits were soggy, potatoes at 'Ohana were undercooked, fruit was not ripe at both.
The use of salt has gotten out of hand at most TS restaurants. I had previously loved the potato leek soup at BOG-it was a salt lick this time as were the chicken breast and braised pork at dinner (slightly less than the soup-I actually sent it back it was so bad and I never send anything back). While I enjoyed my chicken at The Wave and both of our apps (crab cakes, pretzel bites) were good, DD's short ribs were insanely salty and her carrots and asparagus still very crunchy and undercooked.
'Ohana dinner was not good either. The apps and dessert were the best parts of the meal. The chicken and beef were very fatty and salty and the vegetables mushy. The shrimp were pretty good.
HDDR-I hate to say it-minus side dishes-the food was awful. This was our 6th time there and I can't see going back until I have grandchildren to take there-LOL. The ribs and chicken were downright nasty and the dessert was inedible-too syrupy sweet strawberries with tasteless whipped cream-really bad.
Most consistent and enjoyable meals other than Shula's-Yak and Yeti, Tusker House, Liberty Tree dinner and lunch, Plaza and Mama Melrose.
We had major issues with our ADR's. Our reservations disappeared from the system about 5 times. We checked in at Prime Time, it took 10 minutes to determine that our ADR was not there, were told it would be 15 minutes, waited almost an hour, went back to check, and were told that our ADR was cancelled!!!! We were then told it would be another 15 minutes and I told them to forget it. Sure enough, we were charged the $20 penalty (which was then credited by the CM at our hotel). We had our ADR go missing at Rose and Crown, were taken as walk ups, ate and were then charged a penalty for missing an ADR that disappeared even after we ate there anyway!!! In all we had 4 false penalty charges-all reversed- but it is ridiculous that I had to spend precious vacation time sorting all of this out. We were told they are converting to a new ADR system-who knows?? Make sure to check your charges though.
SDMT-rode it 6 times-lots of fun-love the smaller seats-we are small so we always feel like the last two peas being thrown around in a can on most roller coasters-but we thought it was very short-a third the time of SM and half of BTM.
FoF parade was cool-the dragon and costumes of the stilt walkers were amazing but the rest was lacking something. I remember being more impressed by other parades in the past.
The Hub looks great-lots of people laying around on the fake grass though-DD thought that was "gross"-LOL-like using someone's old beach towel.
I hate to sound like we were miserable-we did have a good time and will go back next year-but I do see lots of areas that could improve. I do think the parks were not as clean as in the past and the CM's in the parks don't have the same positive attitudes we previously experienced. There were lots of annoying people who do not monitor their kids enough (or at all), people bumping into us constantly on lines, taking flash pictures in dark rides, etc-things we unfortunately have come to expect and try our best to ignore. My DD is studying Entertainment Event management with an idea of maybe working at WDW some day and she vehemently decided she would do so only if she did not have to deal with the guests-ever-LOL. I can understand why some CM's have changed their attitudes-it can't be easy putting up with that every day.
I'd be happy to answer any questions if I can.
That sounds so stressful. Glad you and your daughter enjoyed yourselves anyway!
