OhioStateBuckeye
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2007
- Messages
- 7,614
We were at DL from Saturday, June 7 through Tuesday, June 10.
Saturday we checked into the Del Sol and had a down day to rest up and do laundry (we'd already had a week in California).
Del Sol: not really too impressed for the price. The room was clean and really big, otherwise it was nothing special. I really think your paying for the location. Parking is additional, but internet is included.
Crowds:
I have to agree with everyone else and say the parks were slammed. We went Saturday night (which we expected to be bad) all day Sunday (also expected to be bad), all day Monday and then half a day Tuesday.
I thought crowds would let up Monday, but they really didn't. Tuesday was the same. I thought I had read on the boards that 7 am magic hours were the absolute best and were empty. We used ours Tuesday and it was packed. We had a 20 minute wait for PP and when we were done all the other fantasyland dark rides had long looking lines. We walked by the Matterhorn and it was down, even though there were a lot of people in line. ST was down as well so we went on Buzz twice with 5 minute waits.
Not sure if the rehab of Space and Alice and the fact that Matterhorn and ST were down made the morning hour busier, but it was pretty bad.
Food:
-corn dogs were great as usual but we waited 20 minutes at 7 pm
-Cafe Orleans: amazing food, we saw a ton of Monte Cristo's being delivered, do yourself a favor and try a different dish. We got the salmon sandwich and the sea food crepe, both were amazing.
-Plaza Inn: after having hundreds of meals in WDW and DL, this was the absolute worst ever. We ate at 10 because I didn't wait to miss the earlier park hours and shorter lines. The following characters were there: Chip, Dale, Fairy Godmother, Hook, Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Max, Rafiki, Minnie and maybe a few others I forget. First, I thought the food was pretty near awful, with the exception of the fruit and the mickey waffles. I'm not picky with food usually, but I couldn't eat a lot of it. We were stuck in a corner in the restaurant, and a lot of characters skipped us and the other two tables (that had lots of kids) that were in the corner with us. We told some random CMs, and they said they'd tell the character attendants but the characters never came back. So we never got to see Chip, Dale, Fairy Godmother, Max, Minnie and we basically had to chase down Eeyore on our way out.
I don't think I would have hated it so much if the food were edible. But it is bad enough when you pay a premium to see characters and most of them skip you, when the food is awful that is the final straw. We complained on the way out about the characters and basically got a shrug in return.
-Storytellers Cafe bfast: we scheduled this for our final morning because we had been so let down by Plaza Inn. This was probably the best bfast I have had at a Disney park or hotel. The food was amazing, its also the only buffet I've ever seen offer eggs benedict. The characters were all also amazing, they were playful and spent plenty of time at our table (we saw Brer Bear, Chip, Dale, and the brother bears).
-Big Thunder Ranch BBQ: amazing meal as usual, no complaints. Just make sure to go in hungry.
Characters:
we usually aren't big character people, but our last trip to WDW we really got into them so we decided to meet a lot at DL. I think our best interactions were at the Big Thunder Ranch area, we got to meet Rabbit, Brer Rabbit and Bear, Mickey, Minnie, Roger Rabbit, Baloo and Thumper. They were all super playful and fun.
We also got to meet Donald on his birthday.
We really wanted to meet Steamboat Willie, and they have 4 Mickeys back in his house. The character attendant was really great and had us wait aside until they were ready to load Steamboat Willie's room.
Tips:
Don't forget to stay after Rapunzel and Belle's stories. I think they usually come out for meet and greats after their first 2 performances of the day. We got to meet Rapunzel and Flynn with only 2 other families.
We did the F! dessert package, and I really don't think it was necessary. We had seats for the first showing. The second showing we walked by and we could have walked right up and had been able to see. Granted, we don't have kids, but I am 5'2 and usually have trouble being able to see.
If you have must dos, try to get them done the first day so you don't miss out.
If the parks have really long hours like they did for us (8 am until midnight) and you don't feel like taking a hotel break, save all the shows and walk on attractions for midday, we did this Sunday and felt refreshed. We saw: Mickey and the Magical Map, Mr. Lincoln, Tiki Room, the train and so on.
Any questions?
Saturday we checked into the Del Sol and had a down day to rest up and do laundry (we'd already had a week in California).
Del Sol: not really too impressed for the price. The room was clean and really big, otherwise it was nothing special. I really think your paying for the location. Parking is additional, but internet is included.
Crowds:
I have to agree with everyone else and say the parks were slammed. We went Saturday night (which we expected to be bad) all day Sunday (also expected to be bad), all day Monday and then half a day Tuesday.
I thought crowds would let up Monday, but they really didn't. Tuesday was the same. I thought I had read on the boards that 7 am magic hours were the absolute best and were empty. We used ours Tuesday and it was packed. We had a 20 minute wait for PP and when we were done all the other fantasyland dark rides had long looking lines. We walked by the Matterhorn and it was down, even though there were a lot of people in line. ST was down as well so we went on Buzz twice with 5 minute waits.
Not sure if the rehab of Space and Alice and the fact that Matterhorn and ST were down made the morning hour busier, but it was pretty bad.
Food:
-corn dogs were great as usual but we waited 20 minutes at 7 pm
-Cafe Orleans: amazing food, we saw a ton of Monte Cristo's being delivered, do yourself a favor and try a different dish. We got the salmon sandwich and the sea food crepe, both were amazing.
-Plaza Inn: after having hundreds of meals in WDW and DL, this was the absolute worst ever. We ate at 10 because I didn't wait to miss the earlier park hours and shorter lines. The following characters were there: Chip, Dale, Fairy Godmother, Hook, Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Max, Rafiki, Minnie and maybe a few others I forget. First, I thought the food was pretty near awful, with the exception of the fruit and the mickey waffles. I'm not picky with food usually, but I couldn't eat a lot of it. We were stuck in a corner in the restaurant, and a lot of characters skipped us and the other two tables (that had lots of kids) that were in the corner with us. We told some random CMs, and they said they'd tell the character attendants but the characters never came back. So we never got to see Chip, Dale, Fairy Godmother, Max, Minnie and we basically had to chase down Eeyore on our way out.
I don't think I would have hated it so much if the food were edible. But it is bad enough when you pay a premium to see characters and most of them skip you, when the food is awful that is the final straw. We complained on the way out about the characters and basically got a shrug in return.
-Storytellers Cafe bfast: we scheduled this for our final morning because we had been so let down by Plaza Inn. This was probably the best bfast I have had at a Disney park or hotel. The food was amazing, its also the only buffet I've ever seen offer eggs benedict. The characters were all also amazing, they were playful and spent plenty of time at our table (we saw Brer Bear, Chip, Dale, and the brother bears).
-Big Thunder Ranch BBQ: amazing meal as usual, no complaints. Just make sure to go in hungry.
Characters:
we usually aren't big character people, but our last trip to WDW we really got into them so we decided to meet a lot at DL. I think our best interactions were at the Big Thunder Ranch area, we got to meet Rabbit, Brer Rabbit and Bear, Mickey, Minnie, Roger Rabbit, Baloo and Thumper. They were all super playful and fun.
We also got to meet Donald on his birthday.
We really wanted to meet Steamboat Willie, and they have 4 Mickeys back in his house. The character attendant was really great and had us wait aside until they were ready to load Steamboat Willie's room.
Tips:
Don't forget to stay after Rapunzel and Belle's stories. I think they usually come out for meet and greats after their first 2 performances of the day. We got to meet Rapunzel and Flynn with only 2 other families.
We did the F! dessert package, and I really don't think it was necessary. We had seats for the first showing. The second showing we walked by and we could have walked right up and had been able to see. Granted, we don't have kids, but I am 5'2 and usually have trouble being able to see.
If you have must dos, try to get them done the first day so you don't miss out.
If the parks have really long hours like they did for us (8 am until midnight) and you don't feel like taking a hotel break, save all the shows and walk on attractions for midday, we did this Sunday and felt refreshed. We saw: Mickey and the Magical Map, Mr. Lincoln, Tiki Room, the train and so on.
Any questions?
