Idyllic Trip 11/28-12/4

[theSurlyMermaid]

Well, we're back. I have to say, I had such a great time this trip, as opposed to our last vacation at AKL which for some reason was not great. I am very sad to be back, although I missed my dogs.

We stayed at the Boardwalk....we LOVED it. We went on a special postcard rate, so we got very, very lucky. Walk to Epcot, walk to MGM, walk to Beaches and Cream...you name it. Rent a Surrey bike, watch Illuminations from your resort every night. Hang out at Jellyrolls. We decided all future stays will be in this area. We couldn't stop babbling about how much we loved it.

We ate at:

Beaches & Cream (No Way Jose....OMG, DH and I are still talking about it. We arrived at the Boardwalk at 11:00am on Sunday, checked in and went straight here for lunch. No wait, fantastic experience.)

Rose & Crown Pub: a very good restaurant, but not great. Glad I tried it, don't need to do it again.

Flying Fish Cafe: lovely, wonderful restaurant. Also our first time.

Jiko: we always go here and are never disappointed.

Kona Cafe: SO glad we hopped over to the Grand Floridian and the Poly. I'd never seen the Poly and enjoyed my lunch there so much!

Coral Reef: I see so many complaints about this place, and we've NEVER had a bad experience here. I love this place, will always go back.

50s Prime Time: DH's fave new place. To die for PB&J shake.

Hollywood Brown Derby: Classic. Always eat here, will never miss it.

Tusker House: Great food at AK. Another won't miss.


Another thing....going around this time...we lucked out with the weather because it was perfect. 80s during the day, cooler and comfortable at night. Just idyllic. It was absolutely ridiculous how perfect it was. The Osborne family lights were so lovely we went back 3 times. Wishes made me cry...so did Spectro-Magic.....we had perfect seats right along Main Street. Lemme tell you, sitting there in perfect weather eating Rice Krispie Mickey Ears and holding the Tinkerbell balloon my DH bought me...it was postcard perfect. Yeah, it was a little more crowded than we expected, but we waited no more than 15 minutes for anything, and used our Fastpasses on Peter Pan and Winnie the Poo, as usual. It was no problem. Oh, I also killed DH at Buzz Lightyear, but that's just gravy.

Oh, one thing: I preferred Alien Encounter to Stitch Encounter, but the kids really seemed to love Stitch. He is quite the popular character.

And Epcot became one of my favorite parks. When I was younger, I didn't like it, but now, I completely love it. I had never done things like The Land, and Universe of Energy, and I had a great time seeing new things. Mission:Space was incredible, and this time when I rode Test Track, I wanted to go again and again. I first rode it three years ago and didn't like it....don't know what's happened since then.

And we saw La Nouba......wow. Wow, wow, wow. I am so glad we did that, and I would definitely see it again. It was absolutely worth every penny...and I have no clue how I lucked out with our fantastic seats.

To sum it up, Disney World was just idyllic...we saw Fantasmic twice, Wishes, SpectroMagic, the Candlelight Processional, Illuminations....we just couldn't get enough. What a GREAT time of year to visit....I'll be doing it again even when we have children. The shows, the decorations, the atmosphere....it's just how to do Disney.


Quick note: we did one day and one night at the Hard Rock Hotel in Universal...lemme just say now I know why we stay at Disney. We had Oreo cookies crumbled in the sheets of the beds at the Hard Rock. How did they get there? Who knows....but either way, Housekeeping doesn't look too good. It took an hour and 3 phone calls to get anyone up to change the sheets too....nice! And the hottubs close at 9pm over there....at Disney they close at midnight! Whatever....at least the Mummy was worth it!!!!

 

[lspongberg]

Thanks for sharing. You got to see a lot!

 

[lulubelle]

Thanks for the great mini trip report Surly Mermaid!
You sure ate at some wonderful places. We loved The Boardwalk when we stayed there, too as Epcot is our favorite park. But the Poly is our favorite. Just and ambiance there that is different from all the other resorts. Anyway, thanks again for sharing

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

Thanks for the great mini trip report Surly Mermaid!
You sure ate at some wonderful places. We loved The Boardwalk when we stayed there, too as Epcot is our favorite park. But the Poly is our favorite. Just and ambiance there that is different from all the other resorts. Anyway, thanks again for sharing

Thanks!

I really loved the Poly as well (one of our trip goals was to see different resorts, and we did...visiting the Yacht and Beach Clubs, the Swan and the Dolphin and the Grand Floridian and Poly. Half the fun is seeing their decorations and and seeing what other resorts are like!) DH thought it looked like a Magnum PI set , but hello, it's themed perfectly. Not to mention it has beautiful grounds and a short walk (or monorail ride) to all the fine dining of the GF, not to mention the wonderful dining they have right on resort! We'll try Ohana next time, but I really enjoyed the Kona Cafe.

I think the key with the deluxe resorts (and I used to stay at moderates and really like those as well) is the convenience. Just look at the stuff you have access to at the Magic Kingdom resorts and the Epcot resorts. Not just parks, but other resorts. It makes a difference. That must be why Animal Kingdom and Wilderness Lodge are considered deluxe but priced slightly lower....the convenience. we stayed at AKL last vacation but stupidly didn't take a car. What a mistake. It was just a hassle getting everywhere, and we really try to avoid the bus. We ended up staying on resort most of the time which was a huge no-no. No wonder we felt like that last vacation was empty.

Now, for the restaurants we wish we had tried, but alas, didn't work out: The Earl of Sandwich (! I can't believe we couldn't squeeze this one in, but I'm glad we did Kona instead) and Narcoosee's, which just took our food budget too high. We like to eat at alot of nice places, but try to keep the bill reasonable in other ways (eg., share appetizers, no wine, no dessert, etc.) However you still spend around 5 to 6 hundred on food that way for a 6 day trip. We'll do Narcoosee's next time...the menu looked fantastic.

I forgot to mention we also ate at the Plaza at Magic Kingdom for lunch, which was good, but for some reason always provides slow service. Not bad, not incompetent, but slow. It's been that way for more than one trip. However, compared to where we ate at Universal (the Kitchen), it was speedy. It's really unfortunate that we had such an eyebrow-raising stay at Universal. In one day we found many things to grumble about. It just isn't Disney, and for me, it never will be.

 

[Fortuosity]

Thank you for posting your trip report. I enjoyed reading it very much. It sounds like you had a really nice trip.

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Thanks for your report.

For some reason, intially, the Boardwalk, didn't interest, however after reading reports like yours and checking out the area a bit, I REALLY want to stay there! (just don't have the funds at this point to do it).

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

Thanks for your report.

For some reason, intially, the Boardwalk, didn't interest, however after reading reports like yours and checking out the area a bit, I REALLY want to stay there! (just don't have the funds at this point to do it).

Yeah, the funds were an issue here, but we managed to get it on a postcard rate. In fact, I did a room only reservation and got Park Hopper Plus tickets seperately....saved us over 700 dollars on what it would have cost if had gotten a standard rack rate package through Disney. It took a bit more research on my part, but money-wise it was so worth it!

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Thank you for such a wonderful trip report! Reading these reports are the next best thing to being there!! Like you, I want to try to go to WDW around the same time next year--never been at this time before. It sounds absolutely magical. Glad to hear you had such a great time!
PS...I understand how sad it is to come home but at the same time missing your animals! Maybe Disney can start trying to solve that delema.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

Thank you for such a wonderful trip report! Reading these reports are the next best thing to being there!! Like you, I want to try to go to WDW around the same time next year--never been at this time before. It sounds absolutely magical. Glad to hear you had such a great time!
PS...I understand how sad it is to come home but at the same time missing your animals! Maybe Disney can start trying to solve that delema.

I wish they would! I realize it would be hard, but couldn't ONE resort be pet friendly? They couldn't do a bring your pet to the park day once? My little dogs would be just fine on It's a Small World!

I mean...Disney has made SO much of its fortune off of animals....you'd think there would be at least one pet friendly resort. I think you can bring pets to the campground...but why not a resort?