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TwistGrl101

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Thought I would give some input on my trip...we leave tomorrow:

1. Stayed at ASMo...we were pleasantly surprised as we usually stay deluxe...the CMs were great, bus service great. Stayed in Toy Story which was great for the kids and had a short walk to the pool, food court, and buses. The room could have been cleaned better. The double beds didn't bother me like I thought they would. The bathroom is no better than that of BC. What we miss is towels by the pool, poolside service, hotel vs motel (there was a cockroach outside our door...CM said it's very common, and they were going to spray outside our door as a precaution). Also, little things like thinner toilet paper and thinner towels at value resort.

2. We did Memory Maker. Got some really nice pics. However, some photographers were terrible. My husband actually had to ask 2 separate photographers if they could take our kids pictures because they were turned around talking. This literally happened twice, and on one of the occasions the family who went before us requested to speak to a manager. Their children were interacting with a character and the photographer completely had his back turned casually speaking to another CM and ignoring the family. I'm not sure what the outcome was when the manager came.
Our best interactions were with the Jungle Book guys in AK, army men in HS, and Peter Pan in MK. They were wonderful. Our worst character experience was at Tusker House...they were very rushed.

3. I did not care for HBD. It did not live up to a signature IMO. However, I can't complain because the bill came to be half the price than the bill at Biergarten.
Speaking of food prices, we watched a family steal food at 2 different meals at the ASMo food court. We told the cashier the first time, but the family had already walked outside with trays of food. They obviously didn't catch them, because they did it again the next day. My husband again made a comment to the cashier, and she stopped the last family member. DH blood was boiling so bad that he actually confronted the father of the family. He was using a scooter and would go to all of the stations, get a tray full of food, and wheel right out. His wife and 2 children would each follow out separately with more food and not one CM took notice. I can't believe that the children were roped into this behavior. DH can't stop talking about it. The guy told my husband that he wasn't stealing because he was on the meal plan. DH said oh I didn't realize that you just walk out with all of the food you want, don't you see everyone else scanning their band at the register?
We did not care for the food or character interactions at Tusker House. The characters at H&V were great, but the breakfast food was lukewarm, not hot.
We enjoyed our meals at Kona Cafe and Contempo Cafe. We did not do DDP this trip, and so we did a lot of on the go counter service meals.
4. Today, Monday Nov 10 was the most crowded we have ever seen MK. Especially when the MVMCP partygoers started entering between 4-5pm...it was completely packed. The lines were mostly consistent at 30-60 min for most attractions. We overslept and missed 7DMT. We waited about 15 min with Anna and Elsa FP. Same with Haunted Mansion. I do not recommend getting a FP for HS Frozen Celebration show. We sat all the way in the back and still had a good view.

5. We did the first MVMCP. Even though it was sold out, it didn't seem unbearably crowded. We did leave by 10:30, because the kids were cranky. It really is late for little ones. The lines for cocoa and cookies were much longer than last year. The Toy Story friends are no longer at the Diamond Horseshoe dance party...it was Clarabelle and a few other random characters. The parade was great... I liked the Christmas parade better than Festival of Fantasy. We never got to see the castle lighting. Splash and Thunder Mountains were walk ons which was a hit with the kids. We should have done Fantasyland that night, because today it was a mad house.

6. I loved the Magic Bands. I found them very convenient; however, they were uncomfortable for my kids and left marks on their wrists. We had no issues using the bands for FP+ or to purchase food or souvenirs.

7. We really enjoyed F&W...DH said he wishes it was like that all the time. It was fun as it was our first time. It was a little crowded our night though.

8. We did Pirates League. Because the place is so small, I did feel like it was so loud and crowded in there. I prefer BBB...but it was a cute experience and they did a nice job.

9. We stayed until closing at AK and walked on rides multiple times at the end...it was great.

10. I read on the boards that the bathroom cleanliness has been lacking. I noticed too many wet floors, dirty stalls, and overflowing garbage bins. DH actually couldn't believe how many overflowing trash cans he saw throughout the trip. Something you usually do not see in Disney.

If anyone has questions, feel free to ask. 'Ohana in the AM :)
 
Great report! :thumbsup2
Thanks for taking the time to share your trip with us! :hug:

~NM
 
Thanks for all of the great info! Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip! :goodvibes
 
Awesome update, thanks! I'm glad you had a magical trip and happy that even with a sold out MVMCP, crowds weren't too outrageous. I hope you have a delicious breakfast at 'Ohana tomorrow and a safe trip home! pixiedust:
 

Sounds like a great trip...we always take notice of how clean everything seems and how you never see garbage around...that's unusual!
 
Could you elaborate a little about Tusker House? We are going for the food, characters are secondary. We do like different type foods and variety. Thanks.
 
Thanks for the update! We'll be there on Saturday! I had also booked Tusker House both for a good lunch and character interaction. Hope lunch is better than what you experienced at breakfast!
 
Wow, that family stealing food? Good for you guys for pointing it out. Thought I don't know about your DH actually confronting the guy himself.
 
One quick comment:

At AoA last year I could not believe the number of people getting food and completely bypassing checkout food! Maybe they got so sick and tired of the slow service and long lines for everything that they felt justified...but it is still wrong.
 
Could you elaborate a little about Tusker House? We are going for the food, characters are secondary. We do like different type foods and variety. Thanks.

I'm not OP, but we actually love Tusker House. It's a must-do every trip now, and we'll be going for the 4th time next week. We're two adults so I can't speak much to the character interaction, but we think it has the best food offerings with lots of "safe" options and more African style foods as well. Sorry you didn't care for it, OP!
 
Could you elaborate a little about Tusker House? We are going for the food, characters are secondary. We do like different type foods and variety. Thanks.


There was a nice variety of food, but I expected something a little more grand after reading all of the reviews. To me, it was like any other buffet but with an African flair.
 
One quick comment: At AoA last year I could not believe the number of people getting food and completely bypassing checkout food! Maybe they got so sick and tired of the slow service and long lines for everything that they felt justified...but it is still wrong.

With the magic bands, it also does seem easier to get into the parks. I feel like anyone could slide through a crowd without scanning. My son scanned his band at Epcot, and the CM asked me if he scanned yet. I said yes and we kept going.
 
We are fairly new to table service meals, and we are not harsh critics. We've probably eaten at 12 places now and the only one where we left unhappy was Tusker House breakfast.

We had to wait forever (in the sun) to be allowed inside and seated. Then we waited and waited for a character - they kept coming almost to our table, but not entering our room. After 45 minutes I found a manager and asked. Then they arrived bam-bam-bam and were completely rushed, with no time to do anything but take a quick photo.

I think they were filling our room, and we were the first ones seated. So we had to wait for 14 (or whatever) more tables to be filled, before we got any characters. It was a really dumb way to handle it. Maybe we just had bad luck. We've done several other character meals (Crystal Palace, 1900 Park Fare, and Cinderella's Table), and at all of those the characters came around spaced out at intervals.

The food was okay, not great, not terrible.
 














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