Just back

[Snurk71]

Just got back last night from 5/21 - 5/26 trip. Below are highlights. Feel free to ask any questions.

Grand Californian
Location, location, location. We had stayed at DLH a couple of times prior and thought the location was good. But GC was heads above. From our room it was not even 5 minutes to be on Soarin' or be at WOD. Being right there in the middle of things was awesome. Also loved the pool - having the three different sections.

Food
Brennans - the double chocolate bread pudding is one of the best desserts I've ever had. It was nothing like any other bread pudding I've ever had. It was like a warm chocolate chip cookie or brownie oozing with chocolate. Well worth the $8.50 price.

Storytellers - had both breakfast and dinner. The dessert person at Storytellers deserves a raise. I've had a lot of Disney buffets (DL and WDW) and Storytellers has the best dessert of any of them (topping my old #1 Cape May at WDW).

Hook's Point - Split a NY steak with DW. Food was good and they were very accomodating in our split requests.

Wetzel Pretzel - DD had a cinnamon pretzel that was soooo good. The pretzel was huge and was very well covered in cinnamon and sugar.

Goofy's Kitchen - had brunch on Sunday. The food quality was very good - better than we had remembered the couple of times prior. A special note to their toffee bread pudding. It was a more traditional bread pudding delicious.

Plaza Inn - breakfast with Pooh. The food is fair - we go for Pooh and buddies. And they were great (especially Tigger). The made to order omelets (sp???) were very good though.

Fantasmic Dessert Buffet - the desserts weren't very much to my liking. I think Storytellers and even Goofy's outshine the offerings. The view is excellent. So consider your $50 spent on the view and not the desserts.

Fresh Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich from the little shop on main street - so much better than the prepackaged Nestle variety sold in the carts.

Parks
DL felt crowded every day. Though the wait times on rides didn't seem too bad. It just felt like there was a lot of people there. The mornings were great, and then we would usually leave around noon to swim or shop.

CA - also felt more crowded than expected on Monday. TOT had a fairly long stand-by wait time. But other things weren't that bad for wait, especially with a little planning and FP use.

 

[Horizons16]

Have you ever eaten at the restraunt in the PoTC? I forget the name. We wanted to go last time but my sister was sick when we had the PS. Just curious if you know anything about it.
Thanks A lot

Steve

 

[BurleyGirl]

Can you compare the Plaza Inn to the Crystal Palace (if you've eaten there)? I loved the food at Crystal Palace (especially the French Puff Toast)--anything similar at Plaza?

Also, how's the walk from DLH to the parks? (I don't think I want to spend an extra $200 just to be closer to the parks--I might change my mind, but I don't think so.)

Thanks for posting your reviews!

 

[Horizons16]

BG
I stayed at DLH 2 years ago. I thought the walk was fine. Its not that long at all maybe 10-15 minutes tops. Plus its a nice little way to get into the spirit of the park day. Also if you are going to the MK the monorail is only a 5 minute walk. Its lets you off right inside of Tomorrowland.
I have only been there 1 time so im not an expert. But thats where i stayed.
Have fun

 

[BurleyGirl]

thanks for taking the time to respond!

 

[disgirl]

Thanks so much for your trip report. We are going to the GC for four nights in August. I am so glad you had a good time and can not wait until we go!!

 

[LADYnTRAMP]

Steve, it's the Blue Bayou in New Orleans Square. We haven't been yet but have priority seating for 11:30am on June 10th. Hoping for a table by the water! I understand the food is good (especialy the famous Monte Cristo sandwich!) and also a bit pricey but this will be a once in a lifetime event for my family since my daughter is going on 17. (And since we live in Tennessee We usually go to WDW.) Can anybody else comment on the menu?

 

[Amberle3]

I can comment on some stuff on the Blue Bayou menu!

I'm a strange sort of bird and I keep receipts from all my trips. Yes, it adds to the clutter, but it also means that I can look back and see exactly where we ate, what we had and how much it cost!

We was there for lunch in February with my Dear Fiance (DF). We each had a mint julep, he had the Jamablaya and I had the Chicken Florentine. Both were very, very good. Some people do not like the mint juleps at DL, and feel they taste more like sweet mint mouthwash. I still like 'em . You also get rolls with your meal, and unfortunately I just can't remember if there was a soup/salad course.

The juleps were $2.99 each, and each of the entrees was $14.99. Grand total with tax (not including tip) $38.74 for lunch for two. (NOTE: I will never again complain about Disney pricing after going to the movie this weekend and get 2 drinks (one large, one small) and 2 popcorn (one large, one small) and paying almost $20!)

And I had forgotten until the bill came about their special chocolates! I bought a box of those to bring home one time.

The food is probably the best that most of us are going to get in Disneyland itself (unless you can get into Club 33). The service is great, the ambience and atmosphere are incredible. Disneyland itself is a marvel to me, how you can walk in and leave the world behind. But even then you still know you're in a park. But when you walk into the Blue Bayou, and you're seated, it's somehow not like you're in the park anymore. Except for the people wearing Mickey Mouse ears and the occasional scream for PotC!

The dinner menu looked to be pretty much like the lunch menu, except that I don't believe you can get the Monte Cristo at dinner and the prices were much higher.

 

[Snurk71]

First, I forgot a couple of other food samplings.

Red Rocket Pizza - Thought it was fair. The pizza was very cheesy (positive points in my book). But it seemed to lack taste - neither bad or good. I would have liked some spice to it. And it was fairly expensive ($6 for a huge slice), but what isn't.

Bengal BBQ - Don't remember the name, but it was the hot and spicy beef. I will agree that it was hot and spicy - very good tasting. But there were only three small beef chunks on the kabob. Probably in line for $3.50 at Disney. But it definitely wouldn't fill up most people. I did like the sauce though - even wiped up the leftover on the dish with my finger.

On to the questions...

Blue Bayou - Ate there two trips ago and didn't care that much for it. We tried the Monte Cristo and thought they were gross by about the 4th bite - way too much grease for our tastes and stomachs. We may go back sometime to try something different - like the jumbalaya. We also didn't have a water view. I'm not sure, but I think they sat the first seating (which we had) according to when you make your PS. So we were furthest away from the water. It is also very dark - not much light to see.

Plaza Inn - Physically, I think PI has very much the same feel as CP (very light and open). PI also has available seating outside, if you choose. I think the similarities end there though. PI seems to just have the standard breakfast fare and doesn't have the extra dishes you find at CP (like the fritatta, breakfast lasagna, and probably something else I'm forgetting). PI also serves the food to you - there are CMs behind the counter that fill your plate for you. Just a little difference. You're also responsible for getting your own drink and silverware at PI. And nothing like the puffed french toast at PI. They have regular french toast.

One quick comment on french toast. At Storytellers, they do something a little unusual with their french toast - they drizzle/soak it in a caramel syrup. I had eaten a couple of pieces and couldn't recognize the taste. So I asked and they said it was a caramel syrup (not the traditional maple). Also, they pour the syrup over the toast and then serve it in the pan. So the toast is sitting in the pan, soaking it all up. If you like french toast and caramel, this would be heaven.

DLH - agree that it is only 5-10 minutes further down and not worth the extra money for most. It wasn't worth the extra money to us on our other trips for the price difference. But this trip was partially free, so GC was an obvious choice to try. It will be tempting to do GC for the convenience and extras (we stay at GF in WDW for similar reasons) vs DLH. But the price difference may win out for DLH, since DLH is so nice too.

 

[DisneyDreamer2]

Thanks so much for the details of your trip. Sounds like you had a great time.

Just to note for others though, we also just got back from DL a few weeks ago. We had the chicken fussilli at Red Rockets Pizza Port and thought it was some of the best food anywhere at DL. Also we greatly enjoyed the food at Plaza Inn, especially the crepes with the different choices of toppings and the omlette bar. It had everything else available too- lots of breads, lots of fresh fruits, meats, eggs every way, fresh waffles and french toast, biscuits and gravy and every possible breakfast beverage choice. We were the first people there, so everything was very fresh and there were no crowds. It was far superior to Goofys in our opinion although we missed Goofys desserts. We saw Pooh, Tigger, eeyore, Mary Poppins, Pluto and Max.

 

[BurleyGirl]

Thanks for answering all my questions! (Perhaps you know the answer to this one, which I previously posted, do they have the package delivery system at DLH for when you make purchases in the parks and they deliver it to the hotel for you?)

 

[Amberle3]

I haven't stayed at a Disney hotel, but when I was there in February I asked about having something to the front gate for parcel pickup and was told they don't do even that anymore.

But it could be that the CM I had was just misinformed.

 

[iceskatejen]

Yes, you can no longer have them deliver something to the front gate to pick up later, but if you want you can take it up there yourself and have them hold it.

 

[Horizons16]

Blue Bayou..
thats what it was.. thanks for all that info.. ill be making a PS as soon as i can!