GF Wildlife Safari/P&P quick trip Pt.1

[milkshake]

HI Everyone, Here's my attempt to do a trip report for a payback for all the wonderful info I've received on this board. Lots of unpacking and back and forth on the computer... so bare with me

On this trip was myself, hubby, and 13 year old son. Left behind was our darling little baby "milkshake" 1 1/2 year old shih tsu that we had never left before.... can you say ~ puppy withdrawal!!!~ I was so surprised how much my husband and son missed her the most.

I'm a part time mystery shopper so I'm constantly rating my experiences with CM as a habit. Here is a link to some photo's I took on my trip . Hopefully you can cut and paste it to view. I'll periodically repost the link for anyone who jumps in..

file://C:\Documents and Settings\spee\My Documents\Picasa HTML Exports\Disneyworld 2007\index.html

 

[milkshake]

Ok... so our trip starts off dropping of Milkshake at Wag hotel for dogs... what a place... drive through drop off ... very high class
It's all for the baby so it was worth it

We originally had planned to go to Disneyworld for 3 nights then onto Playa Del Carmen for three nights but Hurricane dean said No way... so we came home after the GF stay..

WE used ME and no problems but it did take 4 hours after we landed to get our bags. If that's a problem for you... pack a carry on with tooth brush, swim suits, change of light clothes ect.

We arrived at MCO and followed the directions of various Disney CM to the bus pick up local. We actually got right on the bus and within 10 min. we were on our way. We stopped at Poly first for a quick drop off then onto the Grand Flo.

When we arrived we loved the look of the hotel right away. Right at the entrance of the hotel there is a small podium to the left of the door where Concierge guest will meet their CM to take them to their room. Our CM was pleasant but not overly excited CM like we experience at the Calif. local.
She was a little quiet but walked us to the Sugar Loaf lodge and explaned the food options and escorted us right to our room. It was a little strange having her check us in right in our room but that's ok. Hubby was impressed that she was waiting just for us at the entrance.

Room was not too big but nice. The GF price you are paying is for the ambiance, local (on monorail) and lighter crowd. The other hotels I visited on the track (Poly and Contemp) seemed to have alot more families. Some people don't like the GF as they feel it to be "stuffy" I didn't feel this but there were a few CM who rushed around and seemed to be in a zone. Could it be because they are wearing heavy winter wear "wool" uniforms.. HHmmmm maybe..

My experience at Disney's Grand Californian in California is that every CM who walks within your zone (10 ft) will acknowledge you with a hello or good evening. As a mystery shopper, maybe companies feel this is exceptional customer service. For the high standards of this hotel, they would benefit if they applied this to their customer service standards.

I did enjoy the feel of relaxation at this resort. Pools are not crowded and lobby is relaxing. Monorail is a major plus!

Since we got upgraded to this resort because of the construction at the Animal kingdom lodge we were able to experience this beautiful hotel.

 

[milkshake]

After we checked in , we had reservations at Kona cafe at Poly.
Poly was nice but I thought it seemed crowded with people. Could be because alot of people were on the level of the restaurant to go to the ohana dinner. We arrived and waited about 15 min for our table. They gave us a pager so we wondered over to the gift shop for a few min. wait.

I would rate the service at this restaurant the best out of all the places we had dined. We were on the dining plan so there was alot of food to be eaten.
Loved the plan. Let me know if you have any questions as I would love to answer them.

I had the Steak,,,, very good,,, hubby had filet minon... average... son unfortunatly is very picky and didn't get his money worth on the dining plan so he ordered his entree from the kids menu. Some restaurants let him pick from the adult menu as far as appetizer and dessert. Others didn't. That was not too good as far as I was concerned but I didn't make a big deal with it.

I had crab cakes and hubby had ceasar salad for appetizer. Dessert was two cheese cakes to go and cotton candy laced ice cream dessert for the boy to go as well.

 

[milkshake]

Epcot:
We woke up and headed on the monorail to the transportation center to change trains to epcot. Only took about 15-20 min total travel time to get there. It was a hot day so we didn't do too much.. China exibit of the stone soldier replica's of Xian was really neat. Hopefully one day I can go to see them in person.
Epcot was beautiful I just wished it wasn't so hot so we could keep the energy up.

 

[milkshake]

We went on the Wildlife expedition safari at the Animal kindom on Tuesday at 10am. Only 10 others joined us and it was very nice. I did think we would see more animals but that's ok because the tour guide did give us lots of info on the ones we saw. We rode in an air conditioned van with open top half windows so we could get some great pictures. I was really hoping to see the Gorilla bachelor group and the beautiful lion that I have seen pictures of but no luck this trip. Along with the P&P party, this was one of the high lights of the trip.

Pirate and Princess party was great! I really didnt' see too many Princesses out and about but for the rides alone it was worth it. NO lines at all. Splash mountain and Space mountain had "10" wait times listed. That 10 min. was just the time to walk to the beginning of the ride as each ride was walk on. Loved that. It was still very warm outside , so that alone was worth it to me. Fireworks were fantastic and so was the parade. Some shops were closed as well as some of the restaurants .We ate at a burger place by Space mountain and it was fine. They had a topping bar with mushrooms, lots of fresh tomatoes and fixings that were really nice to have.

Just looking at the families all dressed up together in Pirate andPrincess outfits was very sweet. Thanks to all the families as it was fun to see them all.

 

[milkshake]

My last morning there I headed over to the Contemporary to do some shopping. They had a pretty large gift shop right below the monorail station.They are doing remodeling so the gift shop there was expanded temporarily with a combined space.
If you do shop and spend at least $50, you can purchase a special disney pin picture with a princess, minney and mickey and pluto I believe on the scene. VEry cute and it's only $15 with purchase. I bought over $100, so I was allowed to buy two pictures. Also with a $25 purchase, you were able to buy a mickey and minney photo frame for $5 extra.

Have fun

 

[milkshake]

Maybe this photo link will work..
http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc115/milkshakefor3/