We stayed in the AB section during Hurricane Floyd in '99 and we thoroughly enjoyed it. That was our first time at a WDW resort. We like to try something different each trip so we asked for a mansion this time and got it. Overall, I would say we enjoyed Acadian House a lot but we like the theme of the AB better. It's very lush with meandering paths while the mansions are much more formal. It's just a matter of taste as both sections are very nice. We tend to eat in the food courts a lot when at WDW and the Riverside Mill is a pretty good one. The food court at CSR is our favorite, though. Boatwright's is a good restaurant with pretty reasonable prices for WDW. We did eat breakfast at the food court several mornings and opted for the adult breakfast platter for less than $6. It included scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, home fries and a biscuit. The breakfasts at Boatwright's were very good, especially the sweet potato pancakes and the omelettes.
The pool area is nice and I was surprised by the number of life guards keeping an eye on the swimmers. We spent several evenings at the spa and enjoyed that, although the spa at POFQ is more secluded.
As for recommendations, many people who like the AB prefer Building 14. For us, Acadian House was fine. We had a one minute walk to the North Bus Depot, a 4 or 5 minute walk to the pool and a 6 or 7 minute walk to the main building. We were in room 8030 which was a ground level room in Acadian House very near to the AB. Although this is a non-smoking building, someone was smoking in their room two mornings and our bathroom area reeked of smoke when we came back from breakfast. The CM's made an effort to contact the guests in the rooms near ours to remind them that it is a non-smoking building. They also offered to de-smoke our room but the bathroom fan cleared it up fairly quickly.
The rooms now include a 'fridge, iron and ironing board, coffee pot, and hairdryer. BTW, there is a night light on the hairdryer.
A boat runs daily from POR to POFQ and DTD. Surrey bikes are available for tental ($30 per 1/2 hour) and there is also a horse drawn carriage ride available for the same cost. We didn't do either. The bus service was very good.
On the down side: Mousekeeping wasn't as good as usual and there was more litter around the grounds than we would have expected.
We really enjoy this resort and would recommend it.
Don't miss the opportunity to see Bob "The Piano Man" Jackson perform in the River Roost Lounge! He's there Wednesday-Sunday evenings, 8:30 PM to midnight. This is family entertainment at its best!
