We are just back from our 2011 trip and I am sad that we will not be returning to the world until 2013.
We arrived on the the 3rd of September at Jambo House. I had completed on-line check in and was please to find when we arrived that we had been assigned a Savannah view room as we had booked a Value villa. The view was fabulous right across the Sunset Savannah - better than any view that we had had booking that category. As my parents were staying with for the first 7 night i had booked the 2 bed lock off. It was a lot smaller than the huge villa we had last year at KV but as there were only 4 adults and my DD (23 months) it was just fine. It really is great value for the points.
I am also pleased to report that the room was spotless, i could find not fault although I did not go looking under beds etc.
The staff a Jambo House were all lovely and as always the resort was breath taking. The only thing that irritated me slightly was the lack of life jackets provided for little ones. Some of the lifeguards would allow her swim ring or arm bands but others asked that she wear the ones provided, however there was rarely one available that fitter her - a bit annoying but nothing that would ruin my holiday.
We visited the parks in the morning and then came back to the villa for my daughters nap and a swim at the pool. This worked great for us and allowed us all to chill out and not get too tired - gone are the days when I do Disney Commando style.
The only meal worth mentioning was our anniversary meal at the California Grill. My Mum was looking after the little one so we were able to go out just the two of us. When we arrived we were shown into the semi private room at the far end we hadn't eaten it there since our honeymoon so it was lovely and very romantic. They had sprinkled mickey confetti on the table and even the Manager came through to wish us a happy anniversary. We could not have been treated any better and the food was superb. They even gave us a free piece of Chocolate cake with happy anniversary written on it for free at the end of our meal. What a fabulous night. It is service like this that keeps us coming back to Disney.
As the 8th day arrived we said goodbye to my parents and were delighted to find that we were able to stay in the same room but just close off the studio portion. It was great not to have to pack again and we were able to keep the view for another 5 days. Linking my reservations with MS must have worked.
For our last two days we moved over to Bay Lake Tower, we had booked a Lake view and were delighted when we arrived to find that we had a room the had an uninterrupted view of the lake but if you looked to the left you could see the castle and space mountain. This allowed us to watch the fire works at night from the balcony which was very special. The room again was clean and felt so much more spacious than the value villa we had come from.
The only thing that let this stay down was decision by Disney to close the monorail one hour after MK closing. On our first night there the MK closed a 6pm as it was hosting the Halloween party. We decided to go to EPCOT - bad mistake. My DD was getting really tired when we left EPCOT at about 8pm an hour before it closed. We were advised that we had to get the EPCOT monorail to the TTC as there was no direct bus from EPCOT. When we got to the TTC we found that not only had they stopped the MK monorail but the resort monorail as well. Buses were being provided but BLT had to share with the Poly and the GF.- Dreadful. It took nearly an hour to get from the TTC to BLT as the buses were queued to drop off at the GF which to not equipped to handle 5 buses at one time. My DD was screaming by the time we got back - it was very stressful. Had I been paying Rack rate for a monorail resort I would have been furious. Even as DVC member I was not pleased and this may well put me off buying an expensive add on at BLT.
All in all we had a fabulous stay at both AKV and BLT, I don't think that standards have slipped and there is still a lot of pixie dust to be found in the parks and the resorts. I will say though that the merchandise is not good. All this Disney Parks stuff is awful - you can't even buy a Typhoon Lagoon refillable mug any more. The one they are offering says Disney water parks on it and is not closable - dreadful. I complained about it on my end of stay survey, let hope someone takes note. There was also hardly any resort specific merchandise. Still the lack of good merchandise saves me money!!
Let me know if you have any questions, unfortunately I do not have any photos as my camera is broken.
We arrived on the the 3rd of September at Jambo House. I had completed on-line check in and was please to find when we arrived that we had been assigned a Savannah view room as we had booked a Value villa. The view was fabulous right across the Sunset Savannah - better than any view that we had had booking that category. As my parents were staying with for the first 7 night i had booked the 2 bed lock off. It was a lot smaller than the huge villa we had last year at KV but as there were only 4 adults and my DD (23 months) it was just fine. It really is great value for the points.
I am also pleased to report that the room was spotless, i could find not fault although I did not go looking under beds etc.
The staff a Jambo House were all lovely and as always the resort was breath taking. The only thing that irritated me slightly was the lack of life jackets provided for little ones. Some of the lifeguards would allow her swim ring or arm bands but others asked that she wear the ones provided, however there was rarely one available that fitter her - a bit annoying but nothing that would ruin my holiday.
We visited the parks in the morning and then came back to the villa for my daughters nap and a swim at the pool. This worked great for us and allowed us all to chill out and not get too tired - gone are the days when I do Disney Commando style.
The only meal worth mentioning was our anniversary meal at the California Grill. My Mum was looking after the little one so we were able to go out just the two of us. When we arrived we were shown into the semi private room at the far end we hadn't eaten it there since our honeymoon so it was lovely and very romantic. They had sprinkled mickey confetti on the table and even the Manager came through to wish us a happy anniversary. We could not have been treated any better and the food was superb. They even gave us a free piece of Chocolate cake with happy anniversary written on it for free at the end of our meal. What a fabulous night. It is service like this that keeps us coming back to Disney.
As the 8th day arrived we said goodbye to my parents and were delighted to find that we were able to stay in the same room but just close off the studio portion. It was great not to have to pack again and we were able to keep the view for another 5 days. Linking my reservations with MS must have worked.
For our last two days we moved over to Bay Lake Tower, we had booked a Lake view and were delighted when we arrived to find that we had a room the had an uninterrupted view of the lake but if you looked to the left you could see the castle and space mountain. This allowed us to watch the fire works at night from the balcony which was very special. The room again was clean and felt so much more spacious than the value villa we had come from.
The only thing that let this stay down was decision by Disney to close the monorail one hour after MK closing. On our first night there the MK closed a 6pm as it was hosting the Halloween party. We decided to go to EPCOT - bad mistake. My DD was getting really tired when we left EPCOT at about 8pm an hour before it closed. We were advised that we had to get the EPCOT monorail to the TTC as there was no direct bus from EPCOT. When we got to the TTC we found that not only had they stopped the MK monorail but the resort monorail as well. Buses were being provided but BLT had to share with the Poly and the GF.- Dreadful. It took nearly an hour to get from the TTC to BLT as the buses were queued to drop off at the GF which to not equipped to handle 5 buses at one time. My DD was screaming by the time we got back - it was very stressful. Had I been paying Rack rate for a monorail resort I would have been furious. Even as DVC member I was not pleased and this may well put me off buying an expensive add on at BLT.
All in all we had a fabulous stay at both AKV and BLT, I don't think that standards have slipped and there is still a lot of pixie dust to be found in the parks and the resorts. I will say though that the merchandise is not good. All this Disney Parks stuff is awful - you can't even buy a Typhoon Lagoon refillable mug any more. The one they are offering says Disney water parks on it and is not closable - dreadful. I complained about it on my end of stay survey, let hope someone takes note. There was also hardly any resort specific merchandise. Still the lack of good merchandise saves me money!!
Let me know if you have any questions, unfortunately I do not have any photos as my camera is broken.
