Just back from 23 night trip......any questions!??

[Debs Hill]

Hi guys,
We have just returned from our 23 night trip.......couple of nights at the Waldorf Astoria, followed by 6 nights at the Beach Club Villas, 7 nights at Bay Lake and 8 nights in a beautiful house on Anna Maria Island.......plus lunch and a sneaky look around Art of Animation!!!!!

Any questions please just fire away and I will do my best to answer them!
Debsxxx

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Welcome home! What type of room did you stay in at Waldorf Astoria? Did you get a good deal on it?

 

[Twinkly-Tink]

Wow.....that sounds like a fantastic trip! How was AoA? Thinking of popping over in October for a nosey!

 

[wilma-bride]

Interested to know how your room was at Beach Club Villas. What view did you have?

Any recommendations for Anna Maria Island, we are spending a day there in a couple of weeks.

 

[Debs Hill]

Fantasia Sam; Well, there is a story behind the Waldorf part of our trip I'm afraid! I booked a double room with a Disney view ( I think it was about $220 per night) but we also signed up at the time of booking for the scheme where you can pay a discounted amount for a suite if available.
So, on arrival we were offered the opportunity to upgrade to a Waldorf Suite for $170 per night and of course we said yes as this was a HUGE saving! First impressions of the suite were good....we had two big bathrooms, a sitting room, kitchen, master bedroom and balcony with amazing Disney view. (Ironically we could see AOA...but more on that later!!).
However, that is where the good bit ended! There were no utensils in the 'full kitchen' at all, not even a spoon...there was no bedding for our son's bed and we had to ask repeatedly for this to be sent up.....the soundproofing was terrible and we were woken up in the night with the next door neighbour's tv and plumbing and everything we asked for seemed to be a huge inconvenience to staff.
It is compulsory to valet park which is a complete rip off as our car was left outside the hotel with the windows open and no air con on!!!! And you had to ask for your car about 30 mins before you wanted to go anywhere as there was a confernence on.
My husband played golf there and they offered to deliver his clubs back to our suite and promptly lost them!!!!!

To cut a very long story short it was one disaster after another and I would never,ever go back there. It was not in the least bit child friendly, everything was super expensive and it was mostly geared up to adult only trips and conferences. There was also a cheerleading/dance competition on!!!!!! Horrible!!!!

Thankfully we were only there for 2 nights and then off to Disney!!
Debsxx

 

[Debs Hill]

Twinkly-Tink; AOA
So, we have booked to stay at AOA for 2 nights in December and on our last day of this trip I couldn't resist popping over for lunch and a nose around!!
I was super impressed and my son said he thought it was better than the Beach Club and Bay Lake!!!! ha! ha! It goes without saying that the resort was spotless, all new and shiny and the cast members were very friendly and helpful. There is a nice shop which has some unique merchandise which is cool and we loved the food court............lots of healthy and different options to please everyone! My son made his own smoothie and I made my own pasta! Yummy!!!! And it wasn't at all crowded.
The Nemo pool looked fun (couldn't go in because not staying there) but they have done an amazing job of the Cars Section!!! Just brilliant and can't wait to stay there in Dec, so well themed! The Lion King Section looked ready too, although there was a fence up.
Very positive first impressions and my son said the arcade looked brilliant too!! ha!
Debx

 

[Debs Hill]

Wilma Bride;
Our view at the Beach Club Villas was of trees.....if you stood on tip toes you could see over the top but really it was a complete 'non-view' especially in comparison to Bay Lake Towers.

Loved Anna Maria island......just so, so relaxing! We rented a villa from pineapplefish.com and I can't recommend them highly enough. We were in 'Mintfish' and saw dolphins and manatees from the deck! We didn't do much there, hung out on the beach, fished from the deck and we did a segway tour which was fun! The North end of the island is the quiet part and the beaches were beautiful. Go!!
Debx

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

It sounds like you had a fantastic holiday. Where did you have a great meal?

 

[Debs Hill]

Mrs Doubtfire,
We did a lot of eating in at the villa as hubby likes to cook! However, we had a good meal at Flying fish at the Boardwalk but my favourite place was Teppan Endo in Epcot. It was our first time there and we had a really entertaining chef, yummy food and were sat next to two lovely ladies from New York so had nice table mates too! We would definitely go back!
Off property we tried Sweet Tomatoes for the first time and loved it!!!! Fresh, great choice and amazing value! Wish there was one on property!!!!
Debx

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Thanks Deb for the info on Waldorf - I'm just shopping around for deals for my first 2 nights before coincidentally I move over to AoA Little Mermaid Room for the rest of my holiday in November... I have the room booked there to cover my first 2 nights if I want it but I was thinking of doing something else.... I'm also considering one of the other Disney ones that I've not stayed at yet. Too many decisions.

Edit - Oops pressed return before finishing - sounds like you had a bit of a nightmare though.... sorry to hear that, eek!

 

[RDP]

Sounds like a great trip, so many different types of accommodation. What was the best place you had food at?

 

[disneyholic family]

i'll be at the art of animation in October....
the only downside is the single room accommodations are a very long walk from the main building..

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Mrs Doubtfire,
We did a lot of eating in at the villa as hubby likes to cook! However, we had a good meal at Flying fish at the Boardwalk but my favourite place was Teppan Endo in Epcot. It was our first time there and we had a really entertaining chef, yummy food and were sat next to two lovely ladies from New York so had nice table mates too! We would definitely go back!
Off property we tried Sweet Tomatoes for the first time and loved it!!!! Fresh, great choice and amazing value! Wish there was one on property!!!!
Debx

Thanks for that - we haven't tried ST yet but may give it a go.

 

[tinkerpea]

i'll be at the art of animation in October....
the only downside is the single room accommodations are a very long walk from the main building..

What date in October will you be at AOA were going to stay there from 23rd -26th for 3 nights at the end of our 15night SSR stay so we can do MNSSHP we will go to Universal from AOA on the bus for 2 days or shop as friends did it from DTD and said it was really simple and only 40mins or we might get a taxi to Universal and the bus back...then we will transfer to I-drive for the last 3 nights I know its alot of changing but i dont mind it after the 15nights in 1 place plus i was desperate to stay at AOA and we only go every other yr,we would stay there and go to Universal from their everyday but i dont want to really rent a car and pay parking at Universal each day!

I cant wait to stay at AOA im way more excited about staying there then i am SSR we was going to change our whole stay to AOA BUT with the free DDP that comes with SSR we would end up paying around £2000 or more!! because we would have to pay for the DDP!

I know what you mean about the long walk from the Little mermaid rooms why oh why could they not have made each section with single rooms we will prob stay in a LMR too instead of a suite just looking at prices one US site has LMR at only $105 woohoo.

 

[Netty]

Wilma Bride;
Our view at the Beach Club Villas was of trees.....if you stood on tip toes you could see over the top but really it was a complete 'non-view' especially in comparison to Bay Lake Towers.

Loved Anna Maria island......just so, so relaxing! We rented a villa from pineapplefish.com and I can't recommend them highly enough. We were in 'Mintfish' and saw dolphins and manatees from the deck! We didn't do much there, hung out on the beach, fished from the deck and we did a segway tour which was fun! The North end of the island is the quiet part and the beaches were beautiful. Go!!
Debx

we are booked in here for 4 nights at the end of this month! I hope we don't get a tree view.
sounds like you have had a wonderful trip!!

 

[Debs Hill]

Hi Netty,
I hope you don't get the tree view too!!! Although there were worse rooms than ours...on the ground floor looking into bushes, very dark!
My advice would be to ask for a pool view room on any floor...which would be preferable to the trees! Good luck! It all balanced out though with the amazing view we had at Bay Lake.....we had a lake view on the north side so had a great view of the castle and space mountain and could watch Wishes from the sofa!! ha! ha!
Swings and roundabouts!!
debsx

 

[Twinkly-Tink]

Thanks for the info on AoA.....looks like a little rejig if the plan to fit it in ;-) !!

 

[Debs Hill]

You are welcome! Funnily enough we were originally booked into Port Orleans and I made a switch before this trip......definitely the right decision for us! I have a feeling that it may become a regular addition to our trips, such a shame its not offered on DVC points!!
debsx

 

[Netty]

Hi Netty,
I hope you don't get the tree view too!!! Although there were worse rooms than ours...on the ground floor looking into bushes, very dark!
My advice would be to ask for a pool view room on any floor...which would be preferable to the trees! Good luck! It all balanced out though with the amazing view we had at Bay Lake.....we had a lake view on the north side so had a great view of the castle and space mountain and could watch Wishes from the sofa!! ha! ha!
Swings and roundabouts!!
debsx

Thanks for the tip, I'm going to email them and ask for a pool view room after reading that!

 

[Wills Mom]

Oh I love that you stayed at Anna Maria Island. We're looking at renting a villa if.possible for a couple of days. Were the prices reasonable and do they do shorter stays of only 3/4 days do you know? Is there anything you would recomend about this area? Also love the sound of AOA so will keep in mind for future trips however this time we're going with family so a villa suits us better with a large group Sounds like you guys had a lovely holiday