Just returned from 8-21- 8/27 trip

[Hanover]

Overall we had a great time and pretty much stuck to our overall planned itinerary. We were worried about tour groups due to recent past trip reports, but we did not see one tour group the entire trip. We stayed at CBR and had an easy and quick check in. We had a 2nd story corner room in Aruba which was a nice size and very clean.
The only day we tried WDW transportation was Monday and after waiting an hour at night after Wishes and Spectromagic for a bus and holding up a sleeping 8 year old (we were the last of 5 or 6 stops) we took our rental car the rest of the trip. We did use the monorail to hop parks a couple days and that was quick and easy.
We were told upon check in that our meal credits were on each card, but that was not the case, they were all pooled. The child credits and adult credits were combined and when we were given receipts, there was not any differentiation between adult/child meal credits left.
The highlights of our trip were getting to wake up Tinkerbell, riding in the front of the monorail a few times and trying out the new rides, shows and restaurants since our last trip.
The only thing that continues to surprise me is the people that have no regard for waiting in lines or that push their kids in front of your kids at shows/parades when there is all of 6 inches to the rope and your own children. We made sure to get spots early, and have no problem sitting so people behind us can see. However, we had 3 kids at different parades and shows jump in front of us while we were trying to videotape and take pictures. I've got one child's hand waving in every single picture I took during the MK parade and another one's head during Cinderellabration. We were pleased that CM's seem to be cracking down on line savers during meet and greet sessions at MK. On the other hand, at MGM it was awful. We were 3rd in line at one time for meeting a Power Ranger and a whole group showed up for the line saver in front of us and we ended up 11th. I have a lot of patience and let it go, even though there was only 5 minutes for them to sign and we were in the soaring heat. The same family did it to us at Al's Toy barn and I finally told my son loudly that I couldn't believe how rude and inconsiderate some people were when there was a long line behind us (this time they just went from one character straight to the one next to them without getting in line). The mom turned around and said "sorry I didn't know there was a line." So instead of telling her group of kids to get to the back of the line, she told them to hurry and get the autographs and pose. The CM's there didn't really seem to care if there people cutting in lines.

Our trip itinerary was:
8/22 MK with meals at Cosmic Rays and Liberty Tree Tavern

8/23 AK with meals at Donalds Breakfastsaurus, lunch at restaurantasaurus (air conditioning!) and dinner at the Crystal Palace

8/24 MK with meals as Cosmic Rays; parked hopped to Epcot when it rained, then returned to Chef Mickey's for dinner

8/25 Epcot; meals at Princess Story book breakfast; park hopped to MK to see parade and then back to Epcot for Garden Grill dinner

8/26 Boys did Albatross Pirate Adventure at Yacht club (they LOVED it). Husband and I went to Epcot during their 2 hour trip. Went to MGM for the day with lunch at Pizza Planet and dinner (Fantasmic package) at Hollywood and Vine.

8/27 Went to pool at CBR and had lunch at DTD at Wolfgang Puck's. We still had meal credits left so we got food for the plane at Earl of Sandwich.


Our favorite meals were at Liberty Tree Tavern, Crystal Palace and Garden Grill. We had good service everywhere except Chef Mickey's. The best character interaction was at the Garden Grill. We were so worried about it being awful due to bad reviews, but we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We would never do either the PSB breakfast or Donald's breakfastsaurus again. We just felt it wasn't worth the money for the food. It also seemed to take a large chunk of our morning time, when it would have been better spent riding rides while the crowds were low. We had to wait each time for a good half hour to get seated, then another half hour for the characters to get to our table. We were at each one about an hour and a half. We were skipped twice at PSB and had to sit in an empty room (everyone else was done and gone) for the princesses to return to our table.
We had very good service at Hollywood and Vine, but really didn't like much of the food except the rice and flank steak. We figured that getting the guaranteed seating at Fantasmic was worth it though.
This was our first time using the meal plan and will most likely do it again. We had more than enough food, and at times we skipped lunch or shared because there was so much. We had to throw away our dessert a couple times because we were too full to eat it and it melted.
We took advantage of fast pass and the baby swap cards as much as possible and got to go on all the rides we wanted.

I'd be happy to answer any questions

 

[natalielongstaff]

hi
glad to hear you had a good trip......i cannot bear people cutting in line and i always comment loudly to my family !!

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[MMPC123]

Thanks for posting the great review. How many children were with you and how old? It has been 4 years since I've been last and the baby swap thing has changed some. How did it work for you exactly? I seem to remember waiting in the single rider line at Test Track and then swapping our 4 yr old so that each of us adults only rode. We will need to swap a 2 yr old and ride with the now 8 yr old. Anyone help me out with how this will go?

Are the fast passes different too? I bought a Pal Mickey on E-bay and the seller sent some extra fast passes. I seem to remember that our passes were for a specific ride and for a stated time period. The ones given to me are just "passes" no ride mentioned or time... how do I use those?

thanks for any and all info

 

[donaldtutter]

thank you for your report

 

[Hanover]

Our youngest son is 4 and is only 39 3/4 inches. We measured him in front of CM's so that we could get the baby swap pass. He actually did measure 40 inches at Dinosaur in AK but did not pass the height minimum for space mountain, BTMR, Soarin' or Test Track. At that time we got the pass and I also got him a little card from the CM's (they just gave it to me) saying he could ride when he was bigger. My husband and DS8 would either wait in stand by or use their fast passes while I waited outside, and then I would go again with DS8 in the fast pass line using the baby swap pass. The baby swap pass did not have a time on it, so we could use it right away too if we wanted. It had the date August 31st stamped on them, so I guess we could have used them any day until they expired. They are good for up to 3 riders, and the CM collected them where fast passes were also collected. All our fast passes had specific times on them and dates. On the bottom, times were printed when we could get our next fast pass.
I have no idea about the passes you were sent, maybe someone else could help out???

 

[eeyore45]

Thanks for the report...

about the Fantasmic Dining Pkg, and H&V... did you pay out of pocket, did you make an adr for the FDP? Did anyone question you if you used the dining plan for FDP?

tia for the exta info!!

 

[Kaycee]

Thanks for the report!

 

[danny1649]

Thank you for taking the time to post it.

 

[DW mouser]

What was the food like at Garden Grille? Was it served famiy style? What was wrong with Chef Mickey's? Just trying to get my ressie's figured out! We hae always done both but heard a lot of bad on G.G. TIA

 

[bevon]

I enjoyed reading about your trip. I was interested in the Pirate Adventure from the Yacht Club. Is this the same cruise as the Pirate Cruise that I keep hearing about? I thought it left from the GF! Please tell me more about the pirate adventure that your son went on and how far in advance did you book it. Thanks for your help!

 

[Hanover]

Eeyore45-
I booked the Fantasmic package about a month away from our trip. I had an ADR for H&V before that for 5:30, but when I read they also do the Fantasmic package, I rebooked it and could only get a 4:10. The day we went to MGM (8/26) we asked the hostess if we could come later and they said to get there between 4:30 and 5:00. We got there about 4:45 and were done in time to see the parade at 5:30. We only had 2 TS credits left on our meal plan, so the waiter suggested (and we were happy to oblige) that we use them for the adult meals and pay the kids meals out of pocket. As I said before, we barely ate anything since we had a late lunch and the kids had also eaten on their pirate adventure. We were never asked at any meal if we were on the meal plan until we received the bill. I noticed that most of the people around us at all our meals were not on the meal plan, and none of the restaurants that we had been to before appeared any more crowded than previous trips.

 

[Hanover]

DWMouser- At Garden Grill we were served family style. to start, we had rolls with a type of honey butter and salad with a caesar type dressing. The main platter had flank steak, pork with chutney salsa, catfish, shredded potatoes,
and literally one green bean and one carrot. I thought the portions were very tiny for 2 adults, but I guess it was a way of getting to experience everything and not wasting food. It was all you-can-eat, so we ordered more steak, potatoes and veggies. We also asked to try the vegetarian ravioli, which was mushrooms and asiago cheese in a tomato/veggie sauce. I love both mushrooms and asiago cheese, but would not suggest that meal. The boys had a platter of chicken tenders, mararoni and cheese and french fries. For dessert, the boys got a plain cupcake and could decorate them with mickey sprinkles, gummy worms and m&m's. Our dessert had 4 pieces of cake/pie stacked in a pyramid of sorts with whip cream in the middle. I believe there was a piece of lemon type pie, a piece of chocolate pie, a piece of pecan/chocolate pie and a piece of chocolate/turtle pie. We were so full we just took a bite of each to try them and they were all good.
As I said before, the character interaction was extremely good, especially Pluto and Chip and Dale. They spent a lot of time with the kids and were really funny. Chip and Dale even got into a "fight" when one threw some sugar packets at the other one. Chip threw some back and then jumped right over the wall between the tables and booths and took off his bandana and pretended to whip Dale. Dale took off his and they chased each other until Mickey broke it up. Pluto spent a lot of time pretending to write with a straw, licking the boys and sticking their heads in his mouth. The boys were laughing so hard, they could hardly swallow. Luckily we taped it all and can enjoy watching it again.

As for Chef Mickeys---we had to wait at least 30 minutes beyond our ADR (which was 7:50 PM to begin with and could not get in earlier after trying for weeks). I thought there would be more of a Crystal Palace parade type thing and not just waving napkins around. After the characters did their initial picture and autograph, they just waved at the kids and didn't come up to them again through out the meal. Our service was very slow. We had empty used plates on the table for longer than usual at CM than at all the other buffets we've experienced. We never had our drinks filled fast, and our DS8 waited almost a half hour for a milk refilling and that was after reminding the waiter again to please bring another glass. The people next to us had the same waiter and were complaining he was so bad.
I also thought they could have done a better job of refilling dwindling food in the buffet line. The whole time we were there they didn't refill certain foods that we would have liked to have tried. I'm glad to have had the experience, but would not do it again. We absolutely loved the Crystal Palace and Liberty Tree Tavern too.

 

[Hanover]

Bevon-
I tried for weeks to get the boys into the Pirate Adventure at the GF, but could only get one of them in after at least a dozen calls. About 4 days before our trip, they had 2 openings at the Yacht club for Friday 8/26. The paperwork I had said it only went from there on Wednesdays, so I didn't even think to try it for any other days. We went ahead and booked it. The weather was looking really bad with tons of dark clouds and it got really windy for about 20 minutes before the trip was to begin, but it quickly passed and the morning sky turned beautiful. The kids all got name tags, bandanas put on their heads, and life jackets were put on. The CM's, Fred and Amanda were great. They talked about their first clue, which was part of a map to find their next clue. There were about 10 children in all, with 3 that didn't show up. They boarded the boat and headed off in the water near the boardwalk, later going to the Epcot Lagoon. They stopped off in Canada and Mexico for more clues. My DH and I were walking near Canada when they docked (we didn't know which countries they'd go to) so we hid and took pictures and video taped while they did their thing. They had lunch (peanut butter and jelly uncrustables and a chocolate chip cookie) and then eventually found the treasure at the Yacht club pirate ship pool. I thought it was so cute, and the boys really seemed to enjoy it. My husband and I had breakfast at the bakery on the boardwalk and then walked to Epcot for a while. We then took the boat back to the Yacht club and were there in plenty of time to see the kids find the treasure. They each got a bag full of their own "treasure" to bring home (beads, rings, fake coins, a little treasure box, whistle, etc). It was well worth the money, which was just about $60.

 

[kitty2kidz]

I would like to know more about waking Tink in the MK! We have 805 am ressies at the Crystal Palace breakfast, and I am toying with idea of trying to be done in time for 9am park opening to try to wake Tink!! Were there alot of people rushing to do this? How (if you know) would we get there from CP? I'd hate to leave breakfast early--depending on how long it takes to get seated and see the characters---if there probably isn't much chance to wake Tink--BUT in the other hand if it's possible I'd love to wake her as this is our last morning in WDW, and it would be a Magical Moment for us!!! Thanks for the reviews!!

 

[Hanover]

kitty2kidz-
The shop to wake up Tinkerbell is Tinkerbell's Treasures. It's located to the immediate left after walking through Cinderella's Castle. We did get to MK at least a half hour early and walked briskly to the shop at 9:00. We did not run. I figured if someone was going to run, then they wanted it more than we did.
Once we got there, our kids were given a wand and a sword to tap on the treasure box and the lights flickered behind them showing Tink "flying." The CM's were really nice and even gave the kids hats to borrow for a picture. They also presented our children with certificates stating that they'd woken Tink up.
Several other families came in within 10 or 15 minutes asking if Tink had been awakened, and they let 2 other families do the same, with their kids getting certificates as well. I'd ask others to see if they were allowed to walk around after breakfast/before the park opened. I know that at PSB in Epcot, we were there for an 8:30 ADR and did not get out until nearly 10:00 (it opened at 9:00 that day).
Good luck!