The cast:
Me, DH, DS7, DS9
The dates:
Arrived Tuesday, May 29, 2007 (late), got back today, Monday, June 4, 2007
First, I will give a letter grade A-F for the resort and dining:
Resort:
Poly Garden View: A for location, B- for service, C+ for room quality, A for resort atmosphere & ambiance.
Notes: At first I was displeased by the lodge location. We arrived late that night and there was basically nothing to choose from. We were in the Rapa Nui with a view of the garden. Turned out to be very convenient to the Epcot monorail and to our rental car parking. Ceremonial house was a little hike compared to other lodges.
Room quality was just okay. Bedding felt nappy, lights were burned out all over, housekeeping was marginal at best. I was also not real happy with the service this trip. More on that later. As always, the atmosphere was relaxing and pretty,
Dining:
Crystal Palace (dinner): A for food, D for service, A for character interaction & atmosphere.
The grades speak for themselves. The server we had was a woman in her 60s or so. She was angry all night and even snapped at me once when I politely told her we were done with some of our plates!
Gorgeous restaurant with excellent food. Ate there our first night.
Liberty Tree Tavern (dinner): A for food, C for service, A for character interaction & atmosphere.
Again, grades speak for themselves. The C is because even with reservations we had a 45 minute wait. Waitress was okay, but she brought me and DH coffee which was stone-cold. Yuck!
At there our last night and the food was great!
Kona Kafe (breakfast): A for food, C for service, B for atmosphere.
Had breakfast there several times. C is because, again, servers were cranky and, again, brought us stone-cold coffee. What is up with that?
Flying Fish (dinner): A for food, B+ for service, A- for atmosphere.
Citricos (dinner): A- for food, B- for service, A for atmosphere.
The B- for service is because they sat us in the worst table in the restaurant (right smack in front of the swinging kitchen doors). This was supposed to be a romantic dinner for DH and I.
There were lovely tables wide open everywhere. I asked the Maitre D if we could be moved, and he rolled his eyes and huffed about it so I said never mind. Our waitress was excellent, but he brought the overall grade down.
Biergarten (for dinner): B- for food, B for entertainment/atmosphere, B for service
Food was a little rich for me. We really went for the atmosphere and the show, which was great. I had welcomed the idea of the "community table". However, they sat us with 4 adults who didn't seem to like the idea of having family + kids as table mates. Tried to start a conversation with one of the women: "So, where are you all from"? She rolls her eyes and says "Here. I work at Disney." Then they kindof turned away and froze us out. I guess she was a CM sick of conversing w/ tourists.
What-ever... Glad we went once, but once was enough.
Toy Story Pizza Planet (for lunch): C for food, B for location. We took a nice table by the alley that was quiet. We ate there just for a fast lunch. Had read previous reviews and wasn't expecting much.
Flame Tree Barbq (for lunch): C- for food, B- for location. Was really disappointed with this one. I had read decent reviews but the food was just not good. We took a nice private table near the water, but the water smelled bad. Would probably not do this one again, but there isn't much option at AK.
Pecos Bills (for lunch): A for food, B- for location. This was a delightful surprise! Great burgers and toppings! Service was fast and location was convenient.
Hilights:
Splash Mountain - this is our favorite
Lowlights:
Next Times:
On-Notice:
Here comes the rant:
Dead-To-Me
So as not to end on a negative note, I give this trip an overall A. Such a special time for my family! We would love to make it an annual tradition!!
Me, DH, DS7, DS9
The dates:
Arrived Tuesday, May 29, 2007 (late), got back today, Monday, June 4, 2007
First, I will give a letter grade A-F for the resort and dining:
Resort:
Poly Garden View: A for location, B- for service, C+ for room quality, A for resort atmosphere & ambiance.
Notes: At first I was displeased by the lodge location. We arrived late that night and there was basically nothing to choose from. We were in the Rapa Nui with a view of the garden. Turned out to be very convenient to the Epcot monorail and to our rental car parking. Ceremonial house was a little hike compared to other lodges.
Room quality was just okay. Bedding felt nappy, lights were burned out all over, housekeeping was marginal at best. I was also not real happy with the service this trip. More on that later. As always, the atmosphere was relaxing and pretty,
Dining:
Crystal Palace (dinner): A for food, D for service, A for character interaction & atmosphere.
The grades speak for themselves. The server we had was a woman in her 60s or so. She was angry all night and even snapped at me once when I politely told her we were done with some of our plates!
Gorgeous restaurant with excellent food. Ate there our first night.Liberty Tree Tavern (dinner): A for food, C for service, A for character interaction & atmosphere.
Again, grades speak for themselves. The C is because even with reservations we had a 45 minute wait. Waitress was okay, but she brought me and DH coffee which was stone-cold. Yuck!
At there our last night and the food was great!Kona Kafe (breakfast): A for food, C for service, B for atmosphere.
Had breakfast there several times. C is because, again, servers were cranky and, again, brought us stone-cold coffee. What is up with that?
Flying Fish (dinner): A for food, B+ for service, A- for atmosphere.
Citricos (dinner): A- for food, B- for service, A for atmosphere.
The B- for service is because they sat us in the worst table in the restaurant (right smack in front of the swinging kitchen doors). This was supposed to be a romantic dinner for DH and I.
There were lovely tables wide open everywhere. I asked the Maitre D if we could be moved, and he rolled his eyes and huffed about it so I said never mind. Our waitress was excellent, but he brought the overall grade down.Biergarten (for dinner): B- for food, B for entertainment/atmosphere, B for service
Food was a little rich for me. We really went for the atmosphere and the show, which was great. I had welcomed the idea of the "community table". However, they sat us with 4 adults who didn't seem to like the idea of having family + kids as table mates. Tried to start a conversation with one of the women: "So, where are you all from"? She rolls her eyes and says "Here. I work at Disney." Then they kindof turned away and froze us out. I guess she was a CM sick of conversing w/ tourists.
What-ever... Glad we went once, but once was enough.Toy Story Pizza Planet (for lunch): C for food, B for location. We took a nice table by the alley that was quiet. We ate there just for a fast lunch. Had read previous reviews and wasn't expecting much.
Flame Tree Barbq (for lunch): C- for food, B- for location. Was really disappointed with this one. I had read decent reviews but the food was just not good. We took a nice private table near the water, but the water smelled bad. Would probably not do this one again, but there isn't much option at AK.
Pecos Bills (for lunch): A for food, B- for location. This was a delightful surprise! Great burgers and toppings! Service was fast and location was convenient.
Hilights:
SpectroMagic is always so awesome! DSs loved it.
Splash Mountain - this is our favorite
Winter Summerland Miniature Golf - we went twice! Had a blast and was a nice break from the parks
The Weather! As close to perfect as it could be. Rained one evening. Rest of the time was pleasant and mild with a nice breeze.
First and last nights at the Magic Kingdom. This started off and wrapped up the trip beautifully
Lowlights:
Crowds at MGM on Sunday. Couldn't even get close to the Star Wars characters. Didn't get much done at the park either.
Grouchy CMs again and again. Will get into this again later.
The airport today. It was utter chaos. You would think Orlando's international airport would be more efficient given the level of tourism.
Next Times:
- WILL pay the extra $ and go Concierge at Poly. Got a free upgrade last time and I could really tell the difference. I've decided it's worth the money for the extra conveniences, the snacks, the special treatment, etc.
- Will NOT fly in so late the first night. We were all exhausted the first morning.
- Will NOT worry about GayDays. This was so not a big deal. Saw a few gay couples going about their business. No PDAs or political rallys or anything like that, though.
- WILL go a little earlier in May if at all possible. The crowds got much worse starting June 1st but were great before then.
- WILL do the resort airline check-in. We were too late to do it this time. This would have cut down on alot of the frustration at the airport today.
On-Notice:
Here comes the rant:
- CMs. Okay, this is my 3rd time to WDW. It was NOT my imagination. I was shocked by how often we encountered rude, testy, unhelpful CMs. This is not the WDW I have known before. I am so friendly to servers, even when I have to tell them the coffee is cold I do it with a smile and a "That's okay! Not a big deal, really!" Just ask if you want specifics, but there were MANY instances where I would have been within my right to ask for their supervisor and make an official complaint. I don't know what is going on out there. I hear a strike is a possibility. Maybe WDW should pull a Reagan and just fire them all like the government did with the Airtraffic controllers. All I know is that CMs who offend their customers are making themselves expendable to WDW. Not a position they should put themselves in if they want more money.
- Extra Magic Hours. Again, I've been to WDW before and it used to be that the evening EMHs were a pleasant time to enjoy lighter crowds. NOT the case this time. It was just as crowded and was not worth staying for. I would like to see them do something to make EMHs worth it again.
- Character greetings. They seem to get worse each time. WDW needs to do something to make it possible for little ones to meet a character without standing in a long, long line only to have the character leave on break before they get to meet them. They could do something to make the characters more available.
Dead-To-Me
- DisneyQuest. This was beyond a low-light. It wasn't worth the low-light list. I hear it's closing. The sooner the better IMHO. What a waste of time and money. We waited an hour to play the stupid Pirates game. Everything was so lame that we left shortly after.
- Heely's. I have been a staunch defender of Heely's on this board. However, they are now dead to me. Yes, there were many in the park. It was obnoxious and caused people to scatter on several occassions. They are supposed to be banned. I support their effort to enforce it. I have been converted and Heelys are now dead to me.
- Star Wars weekend. This was so rediculously crowded. The adults hogged all the characters. All of the activities were packed into one area of the park. Will never go during this time again.
So as not to end on a negative note, I give this trip an overall A. Such a special time for my family! We would love to make it an annual tradition!!
