PantherPete
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 13, 2015
- Messages
- 445
Just got back from a week at the Disney Beach Club and wanted to mention a few of my thoughts on some topics that have been greatly discussed here.
Feel free to ask me any questions you'd like. I'll do my best give you answers that are as honest and unbiased as possible.
- FP+: this was our first trip using on FP+ (last trip we had the luxury of using both). It was just OK. The good part is that we were able to get on everything we wanted. No rushing to the park to get FP's as we already had them. The bad is that no matter how aggressive you are, you just aren't going to get many extra FP's anymore for rides that actually need a FP. Sure there are plenty of FP's left every day if you want to get a FP to ride Figment or the Mad Tea Party so that you only have to wait 3 minutes instead of 6. But don't think that you are going to get a Soarin FP and a second ride on Test Track after you use up your first 3 FP's.
- Hollywood Studios: Depite the changes/closures and general negativity about this place, it is still a good park and is an all day park as well if you plan to do most everything. We got there about 11:30am and couldn't get in everything we wanted to do. We ended up going back later in the week for a few hours to finish up everything.
- Epcot: this park is getting a little long in the tooth. We did everything in 1 day. The only things we missed were by choice (Captain EO and Ellen's Energy Adventure - although we went back and did EEA on Saturday AM). Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed it. But it used to be our favorite park and now it is just a little stale.
- Epcot F&W: This may be one of the reasons we didn't enjoy Epcot as much as in the past. We've been there for F&W before, but this time it was not pleasant. Too many people, lines were too long, and quite honestly the food wasn't any better than a good ethnic festival in your hometown. If you live close to any halfway decent Metropolitan area you have many better options for ethnic food in your backyard. There has been a ton of talk here about the drunks. And there were some. Not quite what I'd consider out of hand, but it was enough for my kids to notice. I expect those of you who aren't big drinkers to be put off by it and those of you, like me, who do drink and have been big party drinkers in the past to be able to look past it somewhat. But nonetheless, it does detract from the overall atmosphere in my opinion.
- Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party: Still awesome. Great parade, fireworks, projection show, character greetings, etc. And waiting 5 min or less for nearly every attraction is a huge plus. And the hot chocolate was actually warm this year (of course the weather was also really warm). Only complaint is that the food offerings are slim on party night. Left hungry.
- Beach Club renovations: The rooms are much nicer and seemed bigger (I think the furniture is just smaller). And the Club Room at the Stone Harbor Club was 3 times the size that it used to be. In the past, at breakfast time, we'd have to have someone sit at the table the entire time so that someone wouldn't take it. This time around we had our pick of places to sit. Only downside is now they won't give you beer with the cap, so taking a stash for your room to enjoy after a long day in the park isn't much of an option (although if you get there before closing, they will get you a beer if you ask). And the food was slightly better and way more plentiful than in the past. The concierges are all very nice, but still add almost zero value unless you are totally clueless about Disney.
- Character meals: we did character meals at the Tusker House, Chef Mickey's and Cape May. Food was ok (more on that below), but the character experiences were very rushed vs past years. It seems that Disney is way more focused on table turnover than in past years so they hustle you in and hustle you out.
- Transportation: Huge plus. Only waited about 5 minutes for the Magic Express and our longest wait for other transportation was about 10 minutes on a Magic Kingdom bus in the middle of the afternoon. Even the wait for a boat from POR to Disney Springs was short (we always bus to POR then take the boat to DTD).
- Disney Springs: basically the same as it always has been. If you liked it before, you'll still like it, if you hated it before, you'll still hate it. We had no problem getting there (as mentioned in my transportation blurb above). We like it there, but I can see why someone would avoid it.
- Food: The quality of food everywhere seemed to be a step down from previous years. Granted, we did a number of buffets, but they were the same places that we loved in the past and only just kind of liked this time around. If we go back, we'd skip the dining plan (unless it is free dining) as I'm not sure it is a good value unless you want to eat dessert with every meal. Staying at Club Level and having the dining plan is overkill, IMO.
- Animal Kingdom is going to be awesome after the work is complete.
- 7DMT: some think it is a bit overrated and I can see that argument. But overall it is very well themed and not quite as tame as I thought it was going to be.
- Buzz Lightyear needs a refurb. Just feels kind of beaten up and a little dirty. Still a good and fun ride, but not Disney quality in appearance.
- Disney CM's: Disney still shines here. A+ customer service. Except for Mousekeeping.
- Mousekeeping: just OK. Our room was cleaned, but never seemed like Mousekeeping put a huge effort into it. Garbage left in the can, TP not replenished all week (had to grab a roll off a cart in the hall), ice bucket never emptied/cleaned. And I even tipped daily. I'd hate to see what kind of job is done in the non-tipper rooms. I heard others complain as well. I overheard one woman said her room service tray sat in the hall for close to 2 days. Just because you leave me a few chocolates, it doesn't mean you don't have to do a good job cleaning my room. I'm not one to complain, so I never mentioned it to managment. But I was disappointed.
- Osborne Lights: as spectacular as ever. Glad we got to see them 1 last time.
Feel free to ask me any questions you'd like. I'll do my best give you answers that are as honest and unbiased as possible.
) break from WDW. Our oldest is hitting high school next fall, and we won't pull her out of school then. I'm not sure we are willing to 1) pay higher prices, for 2) a busier time of year... (All of our trips have been late Sept, with free dining)
