Another just back highs and lows :)

starrysky

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 31, 2009
Messages
2,615
Hi all just back last night after two weeks at OKW.

Highs:
Aer Lingus great as usual on time on the way there and even though we left half an hour late on the way back we were still almost 45 mins early. Staff on board super and could not have been more help.

Booked into the Aer Lingus lounge at Dublin on the way back as we had a 5 hour wait. 25euros each but more than worth it nice and quiet we had a nap and even made use of the wonderful showers, good selection of food. DH said we will do that again.

Pre clearance at Dublin was amazing got to MCO and we were on the ME with our bags in about 1/2 an hour. At OKW in just over an hour.

OKW was lovely we were to be in building 50 but asked if there was any chance we could be closer to the front and got building 17 (room 1724) on Millers road. This was a 5min walk to the Hospitality House and a couple of mins walk to both a pool and bus stop. I had the quiet pool to myself most of the time.

Cast members were all lovely got Disney Boat stickers from one of the Captains on the way back from DTD one night. The rest were just so helpful and friendly all had more than enough time for you some you could not get to stop. Special shout out to Jorge from the Sousa Cigar bar at DTD what a lovely guy.

DDP was great we did not think we would like to be so tied to planned meals but we ended up loving not having to layout so much money on food and we still had 3CS left. We ate so much. We ended up not going to our planned Shulas as we just did not feel up to paying that much for a meal.

Lows
Weather was great the first week but we could have done without the 27 hours of monsson like we got on the middle weekend.

Food at Olivia's was not good at all. Was surprised as it has always been said to be very good but my pasta was yuck and DH steak only came with a very small lump of watery mash. Not happy at all.

Saw a few rude peole and was mostly annoyed by a group of very rude racist (comments of which I really don't want to post) So much so we got off the bus we were on and changed buses. I was going to report them but we were all staying in the same area of OKW and knew it would cause problems if we ran into them again. These were college age american students.

Tour groups not for their behaviour but the got in the way kept stopping in large groups in front of you. Blocking the way past. But overall not a problem with any chanting etc.

Housekeeping were a bit strange on their times, some mornings we would be up at the crack of dawn and get back mid afternoon and the room was still not done. Other times they were at the door knocking to see if we needed anything at 8am!!

Food:
We ate at the following
Ohanas, Not so pleased eith the food or service here, meat all tasted the same and had the BBQ lighter taste could not find the server to complain and to be honest even if we got more it would have been the same as its all cooked the same way, BREAD PUDDING WAS AMAZING. Cocktails were good too. DH loves his backscratcher. The View of the fireworks from the beach did make up for it though. Thats a spectacular place to see them from and we were luck to see Hallowishes.

Teppan Edo, Great food and service, Chef we has was amazing and we would eat there again, steak cooked to perfection and the chicken was lovely. Desert was good too, Ginger cake was ritch and DH had the very light tasty Green Tea Ice cream.

San Angel Inn, Again great food and service. We ate there twice, DH was sad to see the Crab Tostada were off the menu but he loved the Shrimp. I had the Chicken with peppers and both times just lovely, DH had the Chicken with the Mole and then the chefs special which was pork but great. Chips and Salsa were good too. Was worried about the changes to the tables but it was fine and we manged to get a water side table on both occaisons.

Cali Grill both visits was excellent, Had the Bison and the Beef Tenderloin and both were amazing. DH had sushi and was amazed at the size of the portion it was huge. He loved the Bison so much he had it twice. Desert was the Chocolat mouse which was not so good DH was dissappointed. I had the Cali Grill version of Smores and all i can say is YUMMY.

Boma, Good service but not too impressed with the Choice it was not not as much as we expected and the much talked up soups were not so great. Not going to make it on to next years list. There was a nice Lamb curry and some of the sides were nice. Only liked one of the deserts too. Was also VERY LOUD.

Crystal Palace and Tusker house both excellent and the Characters were great in both, Selection of food was great and the Puffed french toast at Crystal palace was AMAZING.

Sci Fi, Was again great good service and the usual huge portions of both pasta and the steak. The red velvet cheescake was lovely. Adult milkshakes were great as well.

Ragaln road, was good but our friend has to send her risotto back as the mushrooms were mia, the server was shocked as well. DH had the fish and I had the Curried beef pie both excellent.Deserts were great, DH loved the bread pudding and my trifle was good too.

Paradiso 37, this was bonus meal and we only had starters but they were great, the quasidilla (sorry not sure that is spelt right) Beef skewers and DH had the fish/crab cakes. Big enough portions so we did not need a main.

House of Blues, another bonus meal as we used the voucher we got though booking with Disney. Service was good, DH like his starter (can't remember what it was) My black bean soup was ok but very heavy and slightly too salty. Steak I had was lovely but DH was not too happy with his Jambalya (again sorry about the spelling) It was all one flavour and so he ended up finishing my steak.

Various CS places we ate at were all good though the morroco one was not as good as we remembered and we only went the once and normally we would go at least twice.

Food and Wine Festival booths we made good use of our snack credits on those. Had some really nice stuff. The biggest hit was the Beef from Argentina.

Over all we had a great time so much so the DH wants to book for next year already. Looks like it will be OKW again too.

Sorry for the long post. Any questions feel free to ask.
 
sounds like a wonderful trip over all!!

sorry about that group of american kids...

when i encounter groups like that, they make me very nervous...

last time it happened at disney, we were on the monorail....in the same car as they were....i was actually quite scared....i've never felt comfortable on the monorail since that incident...i felt trapped with them....
 

Thanks for sharing your highs and lows :)

With your DH 100% on the House of Blues Jambalya ............ a bit of a chore to eat really, my sons friend struggled with his too (and he'll eat anything lol)

We used a restaurant.com voucher so didnt complain - would have felt cheated if we'd paid full price though - very medioce meal indeed.
 
Thanks for sharing your highs and lows :)

With your DH 100% on the House of Blues Jambalya ............ a bit of a chore to eat really, my sons friend struggled with his too (and he'll eat anything lol)

We used a restaurant.com voucher so didnt complain - would have felt cheated if we'd paid full price though - very medioce meal indeed.

Yeah DH was so disappointed as he had heard rave reviews but it just did not live up to the hype.

Still it was not all bad. DH thought he was going to get swapped in for the Waiter he was Yummy :rotfl2:
 
I had the Jambalaya in Feb and really enjoyed it. Would only go back with another voucher though, never worth full price. Been looking for another voucher for a few months, never listed anymore.

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Meant to ask how you get pre clearance at Dublin? This sounds great and must be good to get quickly through at Orlando :)
 
I had the Jambalaya in Feb and really enjoyed it. Would only go back with another voucher though, never worth full price. Been looking for another voucher for a few months, never listed anymore.

P1050918Medium.jpg

Yeah thats the stuff. But like you said not worth it without the voucher. I see you still get a voucher if you book with Disney.

Yes Mrs Doubtfire it was great never been so fast out of the airport. The officer we had in Dublin was great ended up having a long chat about speed cameras?!?! very random.

All they ask is the same info as you are asked in the US and they have a monitor that shows your suitcase and you have to say if its yours or not. Its all very clever. It only to 1/2 hour to 45mins.

Once you get through there is another security check but again its just like a normal security check.

Crabbie1 Paradiso 37 is pretty good from the starters we have had but we have never eaten a main course there so can't say what those are like. Can be really busy so you might have a wait for a table. Like Wayneg said its right by the boat dock for OKW.

Forgot to say I got DH good when we got to DTD for the first time this trip he was gutted when he saw that the harley store was now a womens clothing store. I knew it had moved but played all innocent and told him I was gutted too. HAHA he fell for it, the look on his face when he saw the new store was priceless. That will teach him for letting me do all the research for all the trips :rotfl::rotfl: Think he is going to take more of an interest in future.
 
Welcome back, the weather that weekend was unbelievable and undescribable (sp) in words.

I found a lot of rude people this time, mainly queue jumping. Though it was acceptable to change queue and push in front of me. Until I said excuse me, his reply was it goes into two turnstiles, I then replied but yes your in my line. He then proceeded to leave and jump into another queue but without waking my DS up.

Once he was through all he did was sit on the wall waiting right in front of the turnstiles. :confused:
 
Welcome back, the weather that weekend was unbelievable and undescribable (sp) in words.

I found a lot of rude people this time, mainly queue jumping. Though it was acceptable to change queue and push in front of me. Until I said excuse me, his reply was it goes into two turnstiles, I then replied but yes your in my line. He then proceeded to leave and jump into another queue but without waking my DS up.

Once he was through all he did was sit on the wall waiting right in front of the turnstiles. :confused:

Yeah we did have a couple of times where people were just plain rude. Nasty comments and looks when they/kids could not get a seat on the bus, I always offered but was told no it was ok they would stand :confused3 then the adult would spend the whole time moaning that their little darling had to stand!!

Oh and the bus ques were the worse, people joining the que at the front and just getting on the bus ahead of everyone else who had been waiting. I do understand with the shared stop (DTD is the worst) that its not clear who is waiting for what bus but maybe take a moment to see if anyone else is waiting before trying to push your way on past people who were trying to get off.
 








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