PamNC
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 19, 1999
- Messages
- 4,597
Hello hello - I'm back from a two-year hiatus. We were there 10/9 - 10/16. Came home yesterday to reality.
Very nice trip - will try to write trip reports and recap the experience. I would be happy to answer any questions. Here's a quickie recap. Well, once I get to writing it may not be so quick....
First night 10/9, we stayed at the Dolphin to take advantage of the Food & Wine event they were hosting. In a word, it was excellent and included in the price of the room ($169...great deal). The S/D restaurants were featured as well as wines that are sold at the resort. Very good.. loved the Falafel from The Fountain. And the steak from Shulas was delicious along with their creamed spinach. Had plenty of wine, champagne, chocolate desserts......need I say more? It was a wonderful setting with great music, food & drink. A good way to start out the trip (although we got a little tipsy and tired for the next day's activities). Met a lot of nice people and really enjoyed ourselves. Much more laid back than the "real" Food & Wine Festival at Epcot. And cheaper.
Overall thoughts:
I had read threads about Disney going downhill. Honestly, I didn't get that impression. CM's were wonderful as usual, everything was beautiful and pristine. The only thing I noticed was that the flowers and greenery were not perfect. Not everywhere, but I noticed dead plants/leaves here and there. And bermuda grass growing in certain spots. Maybe it's the time of year, don't know - I've never been in October before.
We stayed at the Beach Club Villas 5 nights (Sun-Thursday) and then back to the Dolphin for 2 more nights (Fri-Sat). We had a studio room - it was nice enough, but the studios have not been remodeled in a while. I think they could use a sprucing. Nothing bad - it was very clean but I'll have to say that the Dolphin felt more luxurious. Dolphin was great with the exception of self-parking. There was a huge convention and parking was nearly impossible to find.
Perfect weather!! No rain, hardly any clouds really. Mid to upper 80's and low humidity. Loved it!! Nice and cool at night, but not cool enough to irritate me (I'm sure you can tell by now I like warm weather) My boyfriend thought it was a little hot during the day.
Crowds - a bit more crowded than I imagined. F&W at Epcot was crazy crowded, as was Illuminations each night that we attended. Other parks not awful except MK on the final Saturday.
Food & Wine - Fun, but we felt the portions were small and for the price not a great value. We preferred eating a full meal (although that's obviously not cheap) rather than getting just a taste. Lines were long. Did enjoy it, don't get me wrong, but this is not an event I feel like I have to attend again. Glad I did it. Liked the food at Mexico and the beer in Belgium and Germany. Oh, Italy had a nice pasta dish. Didn't really partake in everything due to crowds and $$.
Restaurant dining - one of my favorite Disney subjects. We had breakfast at Kona Cafe, Fresh and Kouzzina. Loved the first two - didn't really like Kouzzina. In fact, I'm sure I'm spelling it incorrectly and don't even feel like looking up the correct spelling. I had french toast which was very dry...bacon was shriveled up and awful. The bacon at Kona was as well, but the tonga toast made up for it. Fresh was DELICIOUS! For the other mornings, we ate in the room (brought oatmeal and breakfast bars).
We also dined at Brown Derby, 50's Prime Time, California Grill, Blue Zoo, Jiko, Beaches & Cream, Big River Grill & Brewing, the Wave, Rose & Crown. Brown Derby - okay...got the Cobb Salad, and Grapefruit cake which I remembered fondly. But it was quite dry. Loved CA Grille to pieces! Also, Jiko was fantastic as was Blue Zoo. Others were quite good as well. Overall, very very good dining experiences for us.
To sum it up - we had a great trip. Did most of what we wanted...did miss Finding Nemo show and riding the Riverboat (darn it, I love that silly thing!).
We were celebrating our 2 year anniversary (dating anniversary not marriage) and had buttons on....CM's were very nice to offer congratulations. Also The Wave gave us a free glass of champagne.
More to come! Feel free to ask questions.
PamNC
Very nice trip - will try to write trip reports and recap the experience. I would be happy to answer any questions. Here's a quickie recap. Well, once I get to writing it may not be so quick....
First night 10/9, we stayed at the Dolphin to take advantage of the Food & Wine event they were hosting. In a word, it was excellent and included in the price of the room ($169...great deal). The S/D restaurants were featured as well as wines that are sold at the resort. Very good.. loved the Falafel from The Fountain. And the steak from Shulas was delicious along with their creamed spinach. Had plenty of wine, champagne, chocolate desserts......need I say more? It was a wonderful setting with great music, food & drink. A good way to start out the trip (although we got a little tipsy and tired for the next day's activities). Met a lot of nice people and really enjoyed ourselves. Much more laid back than the "real" Food & Wine Festival at Epcot. And cheaper.

Overall thoughts:
I had read threads about Disney going downhill. Honestly, I didn't get that impression. CM's were wonderful as usual, everything was beautiful and pristine. The only thing I noticed was that the flowers and greenery were not perfect. Not everywhere, but I noticed dead plants/leaves here and there. And bermuda grass growing in certain spots. Maybe it's the time of year, don't know - I've never been in October before.
We stayed at the Beach Club Villas 5 nights (Sun-Thursday) and then back to the Dolphin for 2 more nights (Fri-Sat). We had a studio room - it was nice enough, but the studios have not been remodeled in a while. I think they could use a sprucing. Nothing bad - it was very clean but I'll have to say that the Dolphin felt more luxurious. Dolphin was great with the exception of self-parking. There was a huge convention and parking was nearly impossible to find.
Perfect weather!! No rain, hardly any clouds really. Mid to upper 80's and low humidity. Loved it!! Nice and cool at night, but not cool enough to irritate me (I'm sure you can tell by now I like warm weather) My boyfriend thought it was a little hot during the day.

Crowds - a bit more crowded than I imagined. F&W at Epcot was crazy crowded, as was Illuminations each night that we attended. Other parks not awful except MK on the final Saturday.
Food & Wine - Fun, but we felt the portions were small and for the price not a great value. We preferred eating a full meal (although that's obviously not cheap) rather than getting just a taste. Lines were long. Did enjoy it, don't get me wrong, but this is not an event I feel like I have to attend again. Glad I did it. Liked the food at Mexico and the beer in Belgium and Germany. Oh, Italy had a nice pasta dish. Didn't really partake in everything due to crowds and $$.
Restaurant dining - one of my favorite Disney subjects. We had breakfast at Kona Cafe, Fresh and Kouzzina. Loved the first two - didn't really like Kouzzina. In fact, I'm sure I'm spelling it incorrectly and don't even feel like looking up the correct spelling. I had french toast which was very dry...bacon was shriveled up and awful. The bacon at Kona was as well, but the tonga toast made up for it. Fresh was DELICIOUS! For the other mornings, we ate in the room (brought oatmeal and breakfast bars).
We also dined at Brown Derby, 50's Prime Time, California Grill, Blue Zoo, Jiko, Beaches & Cream, Big River Grill & Brewing, the Wave, Rose & Crown. Brown Derby - okay...got the Cobb Salad, and Grapefruit cake which I remembered fondly. But it was quite dry. Loved CA Grille to pieces! Also, Jiko was fantastic as was Blue Zoo. Others were quite good as well. Overall, very very good dining experiences for us.
To sum it up - we had a great trip. Did most of what we wanted...did miss Finding Nemo show and riding the Riverboat (darn it, I love that silly thing!).
We were celebrating our 2 year anniversary (dating anniversary not marriage) and had buttons on....CM's were very nice to offer congratulations. Also The Wave gave us a free glass of champagne.
More to come! Feel free to ask questions.
PamNC