Hi- Just returned from 10 days at Poly / AKL concierge (12/29/03); and just felt compelled to put in my 2 cents worth regarding the Food Offerings and eating your meals at the concierge lounges.
I have read in countless threads on DIS boards of people who stay concierge and justify the cost by eating all of their meals at the concierge lounge- some people tell of doing a "cost-analysis" and that they will almost "break even and can stay concierge too.... It's a topic that comes up fairly frequently. I noticed during our recent 10 day stay at WDW that there were quite a few families that were doing just this (at the Poly more so than AKL); and I wanted to add my humble opinion on the subject... (This has nothing to do with the other services that Concierge offers- which are wonderful if you use them (PS planning, etc.)....
With all of the wonderful restaurants at WDW- why would anyone want to eat almost the exact same meal every night?? (Okay- the main event changed- but otherwise it was veggies with ranch dip, fruit with caramel dip, cheese cubes and the "variable" (spring rolls and rice one night, sushi one night, chicken satay one night, BBQ pulled pork on buns) (This is at the Poly).
Plus, if you are spending the day at a park other than the MK, why would you want to come all the way back to yhe resort at 4:45 in order to get those crudites? Some families also got the added bonus of listening to their children whine about not getting anything they liked ("I don't want another peanut butter sandwich- this place never has anything I want!")(the other guests also got to listen to them whine). We saw all of these things at the Poly- where the guests started lining up at 4:45 pm for that night's appetizers (on a side note, they never run out of food- so if you show up at 6:45 pm- they still have the same stuff).
I think the worst example I saw was the family of 5 (Mom, Dad, 3 daughters- who showed up at the lounge at AKL one night at 7:30 - they came around the corner and the girls started crying because there was no food and they were starving! The Mom got them a milk and told them to sit down- that they could have the desserts for dinner at 8:00pm when they brought them out - honestly!!! (They have a food court downstairs for pete's sake- could you imagine making your kids starve because you missed the bus from Epcot or something like that!) .
Sort of sounds like I spent all my time in the lounge huh? Nope- we ate at Jiko, Boma, San Angel Inn, 50's prime time, Hoop Dee Doo, Biergarten, Trail's end, Le Cellier, PF Changs (off prop.), cinderella's table, and Vic and Als (kind of blurring at this point- think I'm still in a food coma) - but our son like to hang in front of the big screen TV for awhile to relax before we went back out after nap time, and one of us had to hang out with him (He's only just 4). (actually we did eat our last "meal" in the lounge- but that was because we were too stuffed from eating for 10 days straight!)
At any rate- This is just my opinion- and I'm sure that everyone's experiences vary tremendously depending on who else is sharing the lounge with you on your vacation-- but I'd just thought I'd point out a couple things to keep in mind if you were planning on eating all of your meals in the concierge lounges...
1- No choice in what you eat ( for instance; you better like lentils and hummus if you stay at AKL)
2- Very little variety (it's not like you have german one night and hamburgers the next---the AKL was fairly well spiced african flavored food (think Boma), and the Poly was Polynesian (spring rolls, chicken and beef satay, chow mein, sushi) (kids at AKL had nuggetts, PBJ at Poly).
3- Sort of inconvenient to plan your park touring around being at the resort between 5 and 7 pm for "dinner" .
Okay- that's the end of my rant- which isn't really a rant- because I personally don't care if you do go to the Poly and eat all of your meals in the lounge- because they will still have enough pineapple and caramel sauce left over for me!
It's just that the folks I saw doing it, didn't look all that happy- and isn't that what a vacation is supposed to be?? Especially at wdw
Thanks for listening and have a Happy New Year!! Jill
I have read in countless threads on DIS boards of people who stay concierge and justify the cost by eating all of their meals at the concierge lounge- some people tell of doing a "cost-analysis" and that they will almost "break even and can stay concierge too.... It's a topic that comes up fairly frequently. I noticed during our recent 10 day stay at WDW that there were quite a few families that were doing just this (at the Poly more so than AKL); and I wanted to add my humble opinion on the subject... (This has nothing to do with the other services that Concierge offers- which are wonderful if you use them (PS planning, etc.)....
With all of the wonderful restaurants at WDW- why would anyone want to eat almost the exact same meal every night?? (Okay- the main event changed- but otherwise it was veggies with ranch dip, fruit with caramel dip, cheese cubes and the "variable" (spring rolls and rice one night, sushi one night, chicken satay one night, BBQ pulled pork on buns) (This is at the Poly).
Plus, if you are spending the day at a park other than the MK, why would you want to come all the way back to yhe resort at 4:45 in order to get those crudites? Some families also got the added bonus of listening to their children whine about not getting anything they liked ("I don't want another peanut butter sandwich- this place never has anything I want!")(the other guests also got to listen to them whine). We saw all of these things at the Poly- where the guests started lining up at 4:45 pm for that night's appetizers (on a side note, they never run out of food- so if you show up at 6:45 pm- they still have the same stuff).
I think the worst example I saw was the family of 5 (Mom, Dad, 3 daughters- who showed up at the lounge at AKL one night at 7:30 - they came around the corner and the girls started crying because there was no food and they were starving! The Mom got them a milk and told them to sit down- that they could have the desserts for dinner at 8:00pm when they brought them out - honestly!!! (They have a food court downstairs for pete's sake- could you imagine making your kids starve because you missed the bus from Epcot or something like that!) .
Sort of sounds like I spent all my time in the lounge huh? Nope- we ate at Jiko, Boma, San Angel Inn, 50's prime time, Hoop Dee Doo, Biergarten, Trail's end, Le Cellier, PF Changs (off prop.), cinderella's table, and Vic and Als (kind of blurring at this point- think I'm still in a food coma) - but our son like to hang in front of the big screen TV for awhile to relax before we went back out after nap time, and one of us had to hang out with him (He's only just 4). (actually we did eat our last "meal" in the lounge- but that was because we were too stuffed from eating for 10 days straight!)
At any rate- This is just my opinion- and I'm sure that everyone's experiences vary tremendously depending on who else is sharing the lounge with you on your vacation-- but I'd just thought I'd point out a couple things to keep in mind if you were planning on eating all of your meals in the concierge lounges...
1- No choice in what you eat ( for instance; you better like lentils and hummus if you stay at AKL)
2- Very little variety (it's not like you have german one night and hamburgers the next---the AKL was fairly well spiced african flavored food (think Boma), and the Poly was Polynesian (spring rolls, chicken and beef satay, chow mein, sushi) (kids at AKL had nuggetts, PBJ at Poly).
3- Sort of inconvenient to plan your park touring around being at the resort between 5 and 7 pm for "dinner" .
Okay- that's the end of my rant- which isn't really a rant- because I personally don't care if you do go to the Poly and eat all of your meals in the lounge- because they will still have enough pineapple and caramel sauce left over for me!
It's just that the folks I saw doing it, didn't look all that happy- and isn't that what a vacation is supposed to be?? Especially at wdw Thanks for listening and have a Happy New Year!! Jill
. 
. As for the lineup- there were 2 days that I wanted to try something that Chef Dick had prepared (sushi for one, and I can't remember the other)- and the line for the food was too long until at least 5:30 that I didn't bother (the trip was about relaxing, not standing in lines for a single piece of sushi) because we had to leave for our PS. People were standing around in the lounge waiting for a table to become available (it was like a bad cafeteria scene). (Have I mentioned that I will never go at Christmas again (we've always gone early Dec. before)). We had a marvelous time anyway! Jill
