Just Got Back!!!!

[aurora15]

Hi Everyone!! Well, we just got back from our trip and let me tell you... WE HAD A BLAST!!!!! First off, I have to thank everyone for all their great tips and all the advice!! We had 23 people in our group and everyone had so much fun. Just a couple of things things to pass on... We stayed at Desert Inn & Suites. The rooms were fine but we had tons of problems with the hot water!! Ugh, I had to call pretty much everyday, and the weird thing is that they could resolve the problem quickly, so why they choose to let people bathe in chilly water is beyond me..... Anyway, if this happens to you, call the front desk, it CAN be fixed!! The other thing I ended up really bummed out with was Goofys Kitchen. I have been there at least once on each of the last 4 times to DLR, and LOVED it!! So I really pushed it for our big family reunion/birthday dinner on Thursday night. I had PS for all of us and got the cheaper vouchers from GAT, so we were ready and excited. Fast forward 75 min into our meal, we had only seen Belle (so sweet and hung out for quite a while), kids were done eating and ready to get going, as were the rest of us. I went up to the front desk and asked what was going on with all the characters, we didn't even see any walking around at other tables. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for the "magic" and all, but if one more person tells me Minnie is checking on her cheesescake..., or Goofy is putting away his pots and pans, or Mulan is preparing her tea.... AHHH!!! I just want grown up talk for 1 minute to find out why I just spent almost $700 for a character dinner, and am not seeing any characters!!!!!!!! Well, to make a long story short, they brought Mulan, Goofy, Chip and Dale out to our Table all within 30 seconds of each other, so we got cute pics, and our waitrees hooked us up with 2 free birthday buckets for our birthday people. I was happy with how they dealt with it, but I wished it would have just been that way from the start. Oh well, the food was very good though!!! Our other character dining experience was at Ariel's Grotto. We had Ps at 11:30 on Friday and also got the vouchers at GAT. That was a great deal cause they ended up being almost $13 cheaper per adult than at the door, so that was cool!! Lunch was great!! The princesses were beautiful and patient with all our little princesses, so we all had a great time and very good food. My tri tip was very good!!! The last unfortunate thing about our trip was Toy Story at CA. On Friday the ride was down when we tried to get on it, and then on Saturday, we stood in line with all 23 of us for over 40 minutes till the announcement came on that the ride was down again. We waited 10 more minutes and they repeated the announcement and this time included that they didn't know how long it would be down. We left the line very disappointed cause this was one ride that we really wanted to do, and it was the only ride we waited in a long line for during our whole trip!! So as we loaded everyone back in strollers and started to walk to the next ride, we saw the ride was still going!! People were still boarding, so I went up to the CM and told him we just left our spot in the building just before you get your glasses and now the ride was going again... He said that it was down, they were just "moving people along"?? Anyway, I explained that we had waited for 2 days to get on the ride and we were leaving that night etc, etc, so he called over the supervising CM and gave us By pass tickets to come back later that afternoon!!! It was awesome, so a couple hours later we walked back up that way, and walked straight up to the exit and they let all 23 of us get on next!!! So during all 3 days at DLR, these were the only negative things!!, and they were all solved quickly!! Every other part of our trip was AWESOME!!!!!!! Thank you so much to all of you !!!!

 

[tinkermell]

Hi Everyone!! Well, we just got back from our trip and let me tell you... WE HAD A BLAST!!!!! First off, I have to thank everyone for all their great tips and all the advice!! We had 23 people in our group and everyone had so much fun. Just a couple of things things to pass on... We stayed at Desert Inn & Suites. The rooms were fine but we had tons of problems with the hot water!! Ugh, I had to call pretty much everyday, and the weird thing is that they could resolve the problem quickly, so why they choose to let people bathe in chilly water is beyond me..... Anyway, if this happens to you, call the front desk, it CAN be fixed!! The other thing I ended up really bummed out with was Goofys Kitchen. I have been there at least once on each of the last 4 times to DLR, and LOVED it!! So I really pushed it for our big family reunion/birthday dinner on Thursday night. I had PS for all of us and got the cheaper vouchers from GAT, so we were ready and excited. Fast forward 75 min into our meal, we had only seen Belle (so sweet and hung out for quite a while), kids were done eating and ready to get going, as were the rest of us. I went up to the front desk and asked what was going on with all the characters, we didn't even see any walking around at other tables. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for the "magic" and all, but if one more person tells me Minnie is checking on her cheesescake..., or Goofy is putting away his pots and pans, or Mulan is preparing her tea.... AHHH!!! I just want grown up talk for 1 minute to find out why I just spent almost $700 for a character dinner, and am not seeing any characters!!!!!!!! Well, to make a long story short, they brought Mulan, Goofy, Chip and Dale out to our Table all within 30 seconds of each other, so we got cute pics, and our waitrees hooked us up with 2 free birthday buckets for our birthday people. I was happy with how they dealt with it, but I wished it would have just been that way from the start. Oh well, the food was very good though!!! Our other character dining experience was at Ariel's Grotto. We had Ps at 11:30 on Friday and also got the vouchers at GAT. That was a great deal cause they ended up being almost $13 cheaper per adult than at the door, so that was cool!! Lunch was great!! The princesses were beautiful and patient with all our little princesses, so we all had a great time and very good food. My tri tip was very good!!! The last unfortunate thing about our trip was Toy Story at CA. On Friday the ride was down when we tried to get on it, and then on Saturday, we stood in line with all 23 of us for over 40 minutes till the announcement came on that the ride was down again. We waited 10 more minutes and they repeated the announcement and this time included that they didn't know how long it would be down. We left the line very disappointed cause this was one ride that we really wanted to do, and it was the only ride we waited in a long line for during our whole trip!! So as we loaded everyone back in strollers and started to walk to the next ride, we saw the ride was still going!! People were still boarding, so I went up to the CM and told him we just left our spot in the building just before you get your glasses and now the ride was going again... He said that it was down, they were just "moving people along"?? Anyway, I explained that we had waited for 2 days to get on the ride and we were leaving that night etc, etc, so he called over the supervising CM and gave us By pass tickets to come back later that afternoon!!! It was awesome, so a couple hours later we walked back up that way, and walked straight up to the exit and they let all 23 of us get on next!!! So during all 3 days at DLR, these were the only negative things!!, and they were all solved quickly!! Every other part of our trip was AWESOME!!!!!!! Thank you so much to all of you !!!!

Thanks for your nice update and TR. We were there last weekend also! We went to the party Friday night, and rode Toy Story first thing 2 times in a row. Boy am I glad it wasn't shut down then, cuz the rest of my family only had DL tickets for Saturday. Whew!

 

[Sophie_2003]

Can you tell me which princesses were at the Grotto for your meal? we are doing lunch on 11/8 and DD is princess obsessed...tia

 

[aurora15]

We got a picture with Ariel right as we entered, she was dressed in an aqua ball gown (I only remember cause one of my nieces wished she had been in "mermaid form"). Once we sat down, they would ring a bell every couple of minutes and announce a princess. First was Snow White, then Cinderella, then Aurora and finally Belle. They walked by every single table and took pics and chatted, it was really fun!!

 

[Davids-Coco]

Ok, tell me about GAT... I have no idea what this is and want to save $$.

 

[sternfanla]

Hello All. Hopefully my wife and I will be going to DL Oct 29 and 30th. I want to take her to GK and would like to know where I can get the GAT tickets? I have seen people talk about them but cannot figure it out. Thanks so much.

 

[aurora15]

GAT is Getawaytoday.com, you can also call them. Just go to tickets and where it says attraction, click the drop down menu and scroll down to dining. If you are just getting 2 GK vouchers, it's not really worth it cause you have to pay a $10 transaction fee. But if you are getting several, or any for Ariels Grotto, it's totally worth it. The price at the door for Ariels is $39.64, $26.50 on GAT.