mamaprincess
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2005
- Messages
- 2,909
My mom stayed at Kidani with the kids 1 night in a 1 br (amazing) the other nights in a studio. Hubby and I stayed at Jambo in a 1 bedroom Value (sometimes with the little one). We lucked out and got the fabulous parking lot view which is really a bunch of trees and hardly any view of the parking lot. We could have moved to a savanna view value the next day but didn't feel like the hassle. We were fine. The room is a little small but not impossibly so. Jambo and Kidani are both gorgeous. Kidani reminds me of a jewel box. Because it's lobby is smaller, the effect is that the decor is really impactful. Lots of sparkle everywhere. Lot's of art every where. It's just inundated with beautiful fixtures, furnishings and high quality finishes everywhere you look. kidani feels very private and like it is for DVC members only, where as Jambo feels like everyone is there to gawk. Jambo however, is very grand and impressive.
We found no problem getting back and forth between the two resorts as there is a shuttle (van) running back and forth between the buildings constantly so no worries. We used it often.
We normally rent a car from the airport but since this trip was an ammended one, we found the cheapest rates at Enterprize near AKV. We took Magical Express for the first time and were picked up at our resort and at the end of our trip we dropped the car off at Enterprize and were dropped off at AKV to wait for ME. We will do this from now on. ME was a great convenience in so many ways. Not having to deal with luggage, rental car lines, being able to check into our airline at the resort and not seeing our luggage until we got to baggage claim was all wonderful.
We had some issues with the new dining system. We got snacks right away and found that our plan was not showing up. We had linked reservations so they said this was to blame, but on the first night? Anyway, if you are afraid of this happening to you, put a credit card on your room and if it does happen charge your meals back to your room, keep your receipts and concierge will deduct your dining credits and cancel the charges.
We ate at Mara, Sanaa and Boma. Mara was just really for breakfast snacks in the morning. We used many of our snack credits for pastries and fruit.
We went to Sanaa for dinner on Christmas night. It was wonderful. My mother, my sister and I had the sustainable fish which was excellent. My husband had the New York strip which he said was cooked to perfection. He sent it back and they added a little more time to it and it was perfect. My little one had the braised short ribs which she enjoyed (though she eats like a bird). My older girls and my nephew each had the Chicken with red curry sauce and the coconut-curry lamb which they all said were excellent. We had appetizers as well. Many of us had the mustard seed crusted scallops which were just melt in your mouth. My mom and I shared the sampler for two with no pulled duck, just the cauliflower and samosas. The majority of us had Mango Lassi's for drinks which are not at all like the ones you have in Indian restaurants. We all had the dessert sample except mom who had the mango pudding. Service was excellent, setting was stunning.
Boma was delicious as always. It was our last dinner before check out the next day. This time we all seemed to concentrate on the soups and salads. We all really enjoyed the seafood gumbo and the cornbread muffins. The salads are really good and refreshing. We enjoyed the bread pudding and I personally enjoyed the passion fruit desserts and had a few. The frunch juice was excellent as always.
We also ate at Crystal Palace which was good. Ohana was delicious and we saw wishes there. We visited the Wilderness Lodge for the first time and ate at Whispering Canyon Cafe. We all enjoyed the food very much. We went for lunch so it was more subdued but just looking at the lobby in all it's christmas splendor while dining was just lovely. Youngest dd and I had lunch in the castle. Food was marginal, atmosphere was magical. On our HS day, we had lunch at Sci-fi since the girls really wanted to do it and the CS is so lacking there. Everything we had was excellent except for the youngest dd's chicken sandwich ( she wasn't thrilled). The ribs were the best according to my older dd's and the shrimp pasta was very good. The oreo shakes were splendiforous!!! I did't care for the apple crumble but youngest dd's sundae looked yummy and huge!
For CS we ate at Wolfgang Puck Cafe which is by far the best CS on property. We also ate at Captain Cooke's in the Polynesian which is good and has dole whips and the Restaurantasauras (this one isn't great but indoor seating is a plus). We had breakfast pastries and drinks at Casey's corner on our MK morning. It was a darn sight less crowded than Mainstreet Bakery and the cinnamon rolls were just as ginormous.
A few of us got sick or were recovering from an illness. My youngest daughter had just gotten over rotovirus. The difference between roto and noro is the duration, roto lasts longer. Luckily she was done before we left for our trip. None of the rest of us caught it thankfully and she was really a trooper. She developed a cold that she shared with her dad but it wasn't at all bad for her at least. We all were taking emergency immune defense. My dh who went without a coat for a full day at MK and then refused to go home during Epcot EMH finally went down for the count on our HS day and unfortunately had to be wheeled out of the park (apologizing all the way poor sweety). A couple of hours rest and he was able to go to Ohana with us for dinner that same night. He ate a ton and was his old self. I never developed anything nor did one of my oldest, the other had a little cold for maybe a day but I think immune defense kicked it out.
We had one not so magical thing happen. When coming out of Epcot evening EMH on December 24th which ended at 12:30am, when we arrived at the tram pick up location at 12:45pm, the trams had already stop running. Because we were going to Epcot for Evening EMH we arrived late in the afternoon so we were essentially as far back in the parking lot as you could be and we wound up having to walk to our car along with several other families. Luckily my elderly mother was not with us. Needless to say I fired off an email when we arrived home and called guest relations later on that morning. I was assured by the guest relations manager that they would look into it. I will be following up.
Theme Park stroller rentals is excellent. We tend to burn the midnight oil at the parks so our youngest gets really tired. It was excellent to have a stroller delivered to us that worked for a child older than a toddler and was very easy to collapse.
We used the park buses for the first time not purposefully. When DH got sick. We had to take the bus home. Wonder of wonders it was excellent. We all decided to stick with the buses for our next park day that way DH who is a spa princess in the bathroom, could leave later for the parks and us early birds could get on our way without having to wait. It worked brilliantly. We have decided that this is the way to go from now on.
Our older girls did really well seperating from us for periods of time in the parks. They had cellphones and were really responsible about answering them and calling us to let us know where they were. We will give them more freedom to do what they want to do next time and we will do the 'lame' things we want to do and meet up with them from time to time.
The girls really enjoyed community hall at Kidani. They've decided they need a couple of day just for that.
As far as park crowds, we didn't find an issue with them at all. If you get into the parks at opening and start fast passing, you will never wait in any lines. Our longest line was Soarin' at 25 minutes during EMH (last ride of the evening). All other waits were 15 minutes and shorter. Christmas week should not intimidate veterans, early risers who can get in for park opening or morning emh or those willing to go during evening emh. We had a blast and did every major attraction most more than once and plenty of smaller ones. The older girls did splash mountain twice with no wait because of the weather.
It was a magical trip overall. We may be going during Christmas week again if DH's company strikes this year. His company shuts down for 2 weeks around the holidays and if they strike, he won't be able to take a vacation or plan for one except for one during shut down.
If you want to go during the holiday season and have to go during Christmas vacation week because of school schedules, be not afraid. Get in early or go to evening emh and have a list of what you want to do and see and it will not be a problem.
We found no problem getting back and forth between the two resorts as there is a shuttle (van) running back and forth between the buildings constantly so no worries. We used it often.
We normally rent a car from the airport but since this trip was an ammended one, we found the cheapest rates at Enterprize near AKV. We took Magical Express for the first time and were picked up at our resort and at the end of our trip we dropped the car off at Enterprize and were dropped off at AKV to wait for ME. We will do this from now on. ME was a great convenience in so many ways. Not having to deal with luggage, rental car lines, being able to check into our airline at the resort and not seeing our luggage until we got to baggage claim was all wonderful.
We had some issues with the new dining system. We got snacks right away and found that our plan was not showing up. We had linked reservations so they said this was to blame, but on the first night? Anyway, if you are afraid of this happening to you, put a credit card on your room and if it does happen charge your meals back to your room, keep your receipts and concierge will deduct your dining credits and cancel the charges.
We ate at Mara, Sanaa and Boma. Mara was just really for breakfast snacks in the morning. We used many of our snack credits for pastries and fruit.
We went to Sanaa for dinner on Christmas night. It was wonderful. My mother, my sister and I had the sustainable fish which was excellent. My husband had the New York strip which he said was cooked to perfection. He sent it back and they added a little more time to it and it was perfect. My little one had the braised short ribs which she enjoyed (though she eats like a bird). My older girls and my nephew each had the Chicken with red curry sauce and the coconut-curry lamb which they all said were excellent. We had appetizers as well. Many of us had the mustard seed crusted scallops which were just melt in your mouth. My mom and I shared the sampler for two with no pulled duck, just the cauliflower and samosas. The majority of us had Mango Lassi's for drinks which are not at all like the ones you have in Indian restaurants. We all had the dessert sample except mom who had the mango pudding. Service was excellent, setting was stunning.
Boma was delicious as always. It was our last dinner before check out the next day. This time we all seemed to concentrate on the soups and salads. We all really enjoyed the seafood gumbo and the cornbread muffins. The salads are really good and refreshing. We enjoyed the bread pudding and I personally enjoyed the passion fruit desserts and had a few. The frunch juice was excellent as always.
We also ate at Crystal Palace which was good. Ohana was delicious and we saw wishes there. We visited the Wilderness Lodge for the first time and ate at Whispering Canyon Cafe. We all enjoyed the food very much. We went for lunch so it was more subdued but just looking at the lobby in all it's christmas splendor while dining was just lovely. Youngest dd and I had lunch in the castle. Food was marginal, atmosphere was magical. On our HS day, we had lunch at Sci-fi since the girls really wanted to do it and the CS is so lacking there. Everything we had was excellent except for the youngest dd's chicken sandwich ( she wasn't thrilled). The ribs were the best according to my older dd's and the shrimp pasta was very good. The oreo shakes were splendiforous!!! I did't care for the apple crumble but youngest dd's sundae looked yummy and huge!
For CS we ate at Wolfgang Puck Cafe which is by far the best CS on property. We also ate at Captain Cooke's in the Polynesian which is good and has dole whips and the Restaurantasauras (this one isn't great but indoor seating is a plus). We had breakfast pastries and drinks at Casey's corner on our MK morning. It was a darn sight less crowded than Mainstreet Bakery and the cinnamon rolls were just as ginormous.
A few of us got sick or were recovering from an illness. My youngest daughter had just gotten over rotovirus. The difference between roto and noro is the duration, roto lasts longer. Luckily she was done before we left for our trip. None of the rest of us caught it thankfully and she was really a trooper. She developed a cold that she shared with her dad but it wasn't at all bad for her at least. We all were taking emergency immune defense. My dh who went without a coat for a full day at MK and then refused to go home during Epcot EMH finally went down for the count on our HS day and unfortunately had to be wheeled out of the park (apologizing all the way poor sweety). A couple of hours rest and he was able to go to Ohana with us for dinner that same night. He ate a ton and was his old self. I never developed anything nor did one of my oldest, the other had a little cold for maybe a day but I think immune defense kicked it out.
We had one not so magical thing happen. When coming out of Epcot evening EMH on December 24th which ended at 12:30am, when we arrived at the tram pick up location at 12:45pm, the trams had already stop running. Because we were going to Epcot for Evening EMH we arrived late in the afternoon so we were essentially as far back in the parking lot as you could be and we wound up having to walk to our car along with several other families. Luckily my elderly mother was not with us. Needless to say I fired off an email when we arrived home and called guest relations later on that morning. I was assured by the guest relations manager that they would look into it. I will be following up.
Theme Park stroller rentals is excellent. We tend to burn the midnight oil at the parks so our youngest gets really tired. It was excellent to have a stroller delivered to us that worked for a child older than a toddler and was very easy to collapse.
We used the park buses for the first time not purposefully. When DH got sick. We had to take the bus home. Wonder of wonders it was excellent. We all decided to stick with the buses for our next park day that way DH who is a spa princess in the bathroom, could leave later for the parks and us early birds could get on our way without having to wait. It worked brilliantly. We have decided that this is the way to go from now on.
Our older girls did really well seperating from us for periods of time in the parks. They had cellphones and were really responsible about answering them and calling us to let us know where they were. We will give them more freedom to do what they want to do next time and we will do the 'lame' things we want to do and meet up with them from time to time.
The girls really enjoyed community hall at Kidani. They've decided they need a couple of day just for that.
As far as park crowds, we didn't find an issue with them at all. If you get into the parks at opening and start fast passing, you will never wait in any lines. Our longest line was Soarin' at 25 minutes during EMH (last ride of the evening). All other waits were 15 minutes and shorter. Christmas week should not intimidate veterans, early risers who can get in for park opening or morning emh or those willing to go during evening emh. We had a blast and did every major attraction most more than once and plenty of smaller ones. The older girls did splash mountain twice with no wait because of the weather.
It was a magical trip overall. We may be going during Christmas week again if DH's company strikes this year. His company shuts down for 2 weeks around the holidays and if they strike, he won't be able to take a vacation or plan for one except for one during shut down.
If you want to go during the holiday season and have to go during Christmas vacation week because of school schedules, be not afraid. Get in early or go to evening emh and have a list of what you want to do and see and it will not be a problem.
