Disney 2010, Bay Lake Tower at Contemporary Resort - August 1-7, 2010
Hey, so we just got back from Bay Lake today. It was our first stay there and our first DVC stay since becoming members last summer.
I would like to share some information with you about the parks (we go every year to either Disney or a cruise so I would just like to share new information about the parks that some may not know. I'm sure it's all on here somewhere but this will combine all new info that I can think of).
I would also like to share some cool/informative pics of Bay Lake. There are a few things I wish we knew before staying there..or would have at least been cool to know! So anyway where to begin...?
First off we went with 12 people, some of which were not very cooperative, but I know how to really work the parks and utilize fast passes so I coordinated us to getting on to every ride without waiting more than 20 minutes for anything.
Something I did not know: when traveling with a handicapped person, the entire party can go in the fast pass line without a fast pass..didn't find that out until the last night..but not a big deal because the handicapped members didn't go on any of the "fun" rides anyway.
I much prefer the cruise at this point in my life, but I still love Disney. I noticed only a few minor changes around the parks, that I will try to recall hear (not all are changes just..facts?)
-The backlot tour in studios now has a recorded voice track through most of the ride as oppose to the tour guide talking the whole time, also they do not pretend to "accidentally" go onto the canyon set during a live filming anymore- they still go, but just don't use that storyline.
-toy story mania has added a couple of characters from the 3rd movie to some of the scenes
I want to remind everyone that we have gone on mostly cruises lately so last year we were on a 7 day cruise and just went in the parks 1 day so I may be late to the party on some of this stuff.
-tower of terror added a special effect where it supposedly shows you disappearing..but it's just a blurry picture of random people
-the new drop sequence for the summer is not random, but programmed.
it's actually really cool because it keeps you in the middle most of the time in limbo not knowing if youre going up or down.
-star tours is being refurbished on august 14th. theres a last tour to endor sign in the front of the park. so im guessing it's going somewhere else after that..?
-captain EO personal review: very very random and not very entertaining unless you're a big MJ fan IMO. very 80s. it's a nice tribute though I suppose.
-small world closed the day i got there for refurb. wonder why..they just closed 2 years ago did they not?
That's all I can think of right now, but I would just like to share a very awful story with everyone and to watch out for this and get some thoughts!
My family was in the laugh floor- I actually was not there at this time, but here's what happened. As you probably know, they select someone to be "that guy," and continually go back to him to make a joke. He actually becomes the star of the show. They usually try to pick someone who looks like they don't want to be picked. Apparently they picked well. They Selected someone who was very tattooed and large, you get the idea. He got increasingly more angry every time they went to him. Finally at the end, he flipped the old bird right to the camera, as the crowd booed him. He even had his children right next to him. From what I heard, they only saw a guard come over to him and give him a ticket. That should be immediate ejection IMO. This could lead to an altering of this ride if more incidents like this happen. What a jerk.
One more thing, about 4-5 buildings were under construction on main street, Idt they should work on so many at once. Ruins pictures.
EATING REVIEWS
I must warn you, I am not a very fancy eater, I like mostly American / Italian food. But I do eat anything besides seafood.
Sunday-
Chef Mickey's Dinner- (Reservation)
Was not impressed for the price. Nothing really wowed me to be honest. Even the mac and cheese wasn't that good, really basic things.
Monday-
House of Blues Dinner- (Kind of Reservation)
I called there same day and left a message and actually got called back and was given a 630 reservation, we got there so late but the people there were so nice. They accommodated our large party of 12 perfectly. The food was good too. Our waiter was awesome as well, he was honest and nice. Recommend! We forgot to use our DVC discount and they are even mailing us a check for the difference!
Tuesday-
German Restaurant Dinner in Epcot..Octoberfest?? Buffet (Reservation)
I must admit I never had german before this..I am even 1/4 german, but I really didn't like the food. It was all normal things, like beef and chicken, etc. So I was open to trying it all but it all had a different taste than I am accustomed to, so I really didn't have the taste buds for it.
Wednesday-
Chef Mickey's Breakfast (Reservation)
It was good but how much can you really eat for breakfast..I'm fine with just cereal honestly.
T-REX Dinner (No Reservation)
We went there about 6 and just put our name in and got in within 20 minutes. Once again, most of the party was about 30 minutes late but we still got right in when we all got there. The food was great and the place was so cool inside! Definitely check it out.
Thursday
Rainforest Dinner (AK) (No reservation)
Waited about 20 minutes just putting in our name once again. Rainforest isn't that special, we have one in CT so it's whatever, but I enjoy it more than the one back home because we have different menus here.
Friday
Tony's Italian Restaurant (MK) (No Reservation)
They told us to come about 430 and put our name in to get us in, and it worked. The foods fine, really liked the bread. Like I said I'm not fancy, I'd prefer Olive Garden to it, but it was fine. I shared the chicken parm and we still didn't finish.
Now I'd like to talk a little bit about the resort and our first DVC experience, followed by some pics to come!
When we got there it was a little rocky. Some rooms were ready early at noon when we checked in, most were not (we had 7). None of them were next to each other! They were spread out on 3 different floors. Thats a little ridiculous. They couldn't work it out with the standard views we had, but I think they should have moved us to the empty rooms they had on the same floor complimentary. My mom had to use 13 points to get my gf on the same floor as me...The luggage was an issue, she didn't get hers until about 8 oclock because they brought it to her old room, and late at that. The rooms weren't really up to par on a quality check. Someone found a piece of cake under their bed, the clothesline was broke in another as well as the safe, etc.
Our toilet broke the day we got there, but we still had 2 others in our 2 bedroom.
The bathrooms do NOT LOCK..why.....they are just sliders that hardly even shut. You can literally see right in. There's no privacy.
The bell service was really bad. We had our Garden Grocer order delivered ( Which was awesome, I highly recommend. Everything was perfect and we ordered breakfast foods, plus drinks and snacks. It's so nice to eat breakfast in room and not rush to do that, and it's great to have your own drinks for the park, just throw them in a draw string back pack!). It was just hard to acquire this food from bell service.
First we call from the house phone downstairs as instructed, I say they can bring it up but they tell me to go to my room and call back, even though I insisted I was going right up there.
I do that and they say theyll bring it up now and after 30 minutes (keep in mind we had a dinner reservation coming up) I finally called back and said wed get it ourselves because they told me its only 7 bags. I go down there and nobody seems to know what to tell me. Bell services says go to valet and valet pretty much laughs. So finally some guy who knows whats going on comes over and gets the food out. Come to find out it takes 15 minutes and its way more than 7 bags. So we have to have them bring it up because we arent allowed to use a cart. So we actually have to tip them......
the resort was really BUGGY. literally. so many bugs. not the annoying kind, but the ones that pack together and hang out for no reason. there was a ton of nats on the balconies, and one night i saw a lot in the pool. they werent too bothersome though. on the last night, a HUGE bug got in my room, about 3 inches long and BIG.
Anyway everything else was cool at the resort. I'm finally done and here are some fun facts / pictures coming
-You can rent free movies in the community room. Must return by noon the next day. Limit 2 per room. Not only disney movies, but mostly. Some R movies even. (DVC only)
-You can also rent tennis equipment there for the courts. must return by 10pm that day.
-skwalk to contemporary is on the 5th level of bay lake
-the slide closes at 10 at the pool but you can swim anytime. the slide is awesome, you can really pick up some speed. we started doing time trials for fun.
-the ping pong equipment never gets put away outside (1 table)
-the pool/slide etc are not crowded
-must have room key to get in the hotel, only place that doesnt apply is the skywalk, the doors just opened..but everywhere else including the pool required a key.
-to get to the 16th floor/top of the world you need to go to the desk and ask for someone to escort you up and you need a DVC room key. You cant even go upstairs to watch the fireworks from outside without them
-one time I went up to 15th and walked up to 16 without a key, but that was before I knew what to even do to get up there, and the next time it was locked.
-going to a DVC meeting at 1pm earns you a card good for 3 fast passes that are for the current time, whenever you decide to cash them in. also works on rides that have ran out of fast passes for the day, more often than not.
Here's some cool pics now. More to come.
Hey, so we just got back from Bay Lake today. It was our first stay there and our first DVC stay since becoming members last summer.
I would like to share some information with you about the parks (we go every year to either Disney or a cruise so I would just like to share new information about the parks that some may not know. I'm sure it's all on here somewhere but this will combine all new info that I can think of).
I would also like to share some cool/informative pics of Bay Lake. There are a few things I wish we knew before staying there..or would have at least been cool to know! So anyway where to begin...?
First off we went with 12 people, some of which were not very cooperative, but I know how to really work the parks and utilize fast passes so I coordinated us to getting on to every ride without waiting more than 20 minutes for anything.
Something I did not know: when traveling with a handicapped person, the entire party can go in the fast pass line without a fast pass..didn't find that out until the last night..but not a big deal because the handicapped members didn't go on any of the "fun" rides anyway.
I much prefer the cruise at this point in my life, but I still love Disney. I noticed only a few minor changes around the parks, that I will try to recall hear (not all are changes just..facts?)
-The backlot tour in studios now has a recorded voice track through most of the ride as oppose to the tour guide talking the whole time, also they do not pretend to "accidentally" go onto the canyon set during a live filming anymore- they still go, but just don't use that storyline.
-toy story mania has added a couple of characters from the 3rd movie to some of the scenes
I want to remind everyone that we have gone on mostly cruises lately so last year we were on a 7 day cruise and just went in the parks 1 day so I may be late to the party on some of this stuff.
-tower of terror added a special effect where it supposedly shows you disappearing..but it's just a blurry picture of random people
-the new drop sequence for the summer is not random, but programmed.
it's actually really cool because it keeps you in the middle most of the time in limbo not knowing if youre going up or down.
-star tours is being refurbished on august 14th. theres a last tour to endor sign in the front of the park. so im guessing it's going somewhere else after that..?
-captain EO personal review: very very random and not very entertaining unless you're a big MJ fan IMO. very 80s. it's a nice tribute though I suppose.
-small world closed the day i got there for refurb. wonder why..they just closed 2 years ago did they not?
That's all I can think of right now, but I would just like to share a very awful story with everyone and to watch out for this and get some thoughts!
My family was in the laugh floor- I actually was not there at this time, but here's what happened. As you probably know, they select someone to be "that guy," and continually go back to him to make a joke. He actually becomes the star of the show. They usually try to pick someone who looks like they don't want to be picked. Apparently they picked well. They Selected someone who was very tattooed and large, you get the idea. He got increasingly more angry every time they went to him. Finally at the end, he flipped the old bird right to the camera, as the crowd booed him. He even had his children right next to him. From what I heard, they only saw a guard come over to him and give him a ticket. That should be immediate ejection IMO. This could lead to an altering of this ride if more incidents like this happen. What a jerk.
One more thing, about 4-5 buildings were under construction on main street, Idt they should work on so many at once. Ruins pictures.
EATING REVIEWS
I must warn you, I am not a very fancy eater, I like mostly American / Italian food. But I do eat anything besides seafood.
Sunday-
Chef Mickey's Dinner- (Reservation)
Was not impressed for the price. Nothing really wowed me to be honest. Even the mac and cheese wasn't that good, really basic things.
Monday-
House of Blues Dinner- (Kind of Reservation)
I called there same day and left a message and actually got called back and was given a 630 reservation, we got there so late but the people there were so nice. They accommodated our large party of 12 perfectly. The food was good too. Our waiter was awesome as well, he was honest and nice. Recommend! We forgot to use our DVC discount and they are even mailing us a check for the difference!
Tuesday-
German Restaurant Dinner in Epcot..Octoberfest?? Buffet (Reservation)
I must admit I never had german before this..I am even 1/4 german, but I really didn't like the food. It was all normal things, like beef and chicken, etc. So I was open to trying it all but it all had a different taste than I am accustomed to, so I really didn't have the taste buds for it.
Wednesday-
Chef Mickey's Breakfast (Reservation)
It was good but how much can you really eat for breakfast..I'm fine with just cereal honestly.
T-REX Dinner (No Reservation)
We went there about 6 and just put our name in and got in within 20 minutes. Once again, most of the party was about 30 minutes late but we still got right in when we all got there. The food was great and the place was so cool inside! Definitely check it out.
Thursday
Rainforest Dinner (AK) (No reservation)
Waited about 20 minutes just putting in our name once again. Rainforest isn't that special, we have one in CT so it's whatever, but I enjoy it more than the one back home because we have different menus here.
Friday
Tony's Italian Restaurant (MK) (No Reservation)
They told us to come about 430 and put our name in to get us in, and it worked. The foods fine, really liked the bread. Like I said I'm not fancy, I'd prefer Olive Garden to it, but it was fine. I shared the chicken parm and we still didn't finish.
Now I'd like to talk a little bit about the resort and our first DVC experience, followed by some pics to come!
When we got there it was a little rocky. Some rooms were ready early at noon when we checked in, most were not (we had 7). None of them were next to each other! They were spread out on 3 different floors. Thats a little ridiculous. They couldn't work it out with the standard views we had, but I think they should have moved us to the empty rooms they had on the same floor complimentary. My mom had to use 13 points to get my gf on the same floor as me...The luggage was an issue, she didn't get hers until about 8 oclock because they brought it to her old room, and late at that. The rooms weren't really up to par on a quality check. Someone found a piece of cake under their bed, the clothesline was broke in another as well as the safe, etc.
Our toilet broke the day we got there, but we still had 2 others in our 2 bedroom.
The bathrooms do NOT LOCK..why.....they are just sliders that hardly even shut. You can literally see right in. There's no privacy.
The bell service was really bad. We had our Garden Grocer order delivered ( Which was awesome, I highly recommend. Everything was perfect and we ordered breakfast foods, plus drinks and snacks. It's so nice to eat breakfast in room and not rush to do that, and it's great to have your own drinks for the park, just throw them in a draw string back pack!). It was just hard to acquire this food from bell service.
First we call from the house phone downstairs as instructed, I say they can bring it up but they tell me to go to my room and call back, even though I insisted I was going right up there.
I do that and they say theyll bring it up now and after 30 minutes (keep in mind we had a dinner reservation coming up) I finally called back and said wed get it ourselves because they told me its only 7 bags. I go down there and nobody seems to know what to tell me. Bell services says go to valet and valet pretty much laughs. So finally some guy who knows whats going on comes over and gets the food out. Come to find out it takes 15 minutes and its way more than 7 bags. So we have to have them bring it up because we arent allowed to use a cart. So we actually have to tip them......
the resort was really BUGGY. literally. so many bugs. not the annoying kind, but the ones that pack together and hang out for no reason. there was a ton of nats on the balconies, and one night i saw a lot in the pool. they werent too bothersome though. on the last night, a HUGE bug got in my room, about 3 inches long and BIG.
Anyway everything else was cool at the resort. I'm finally done and here are some fun facts / pictures coming
-You can rent free movies in the community room. Must return by noon the next day. Limit 2 per room. Not only disney movies, but mostly. Some R movies even. (DVC only)
-You can also rent tennis equipment there for the courts. must return by 10pm that day.
-skwalk to contemporary is on the 5th level of bay lake
-the slide closes at 10 at the pool but you can swim anytime. the slide is awesome, you can really pick up some speed. we started doing time trials for fun.
-the ping pong equipment never gets put away outside (1 table)
-the pool/slide etc are not crowded
-must have room key to get in the hotel, only place that doesnt apply is the skywalk, the doors just opened..but everywhere else including the pool required a key.
-to get to the 16th floor/top of the world you need to go to the desk and ask for someone to escort you up and you need a DVC room key. You cant even go upstairs to watch the fireworks from outside without them
-one time I went up to 15th and walked up to 16 without a key, but that was before I knew what to even do to get up there, and the next time it was locked.
-going to a DVC meeting at 1pm earns you a card good for 3 fast passes that are for the current time, whenever you decide to cash them in. also works on rides that have ran out of fast passes for the day, more often than not.
Here's some cool pics now. More to come.
