First, I'll start with the GC. It was our first time staying there. We arrived at 8:00 where we were checked in and given a room immediately. Even though we didn't say we were celebrating, they knew it was my birthday and gave me a pin. It was a very nice touch. We had decided not to do a room request and were put in the 200 block which is pretty much the furthest away from everything. But we liked being far away as there were few people and lots of silence, a nice break from the parks. It was a very convenient location to the pools.
When we arrived in the room, it hadn't been cleaned from the previous occupants. We weren't too put out, though, as we were just happy to have a room so early. Was a bit more put out when we came back from the parks after lunch for a swim and it still wasn't clean even though we'd called first thing. It was clean by the time we came back from the swim, though.
We did the Grand Quest and had fun poking around the hotel. When we turned in our worksheet, we were informed that we were the Grand Family of the day and got to go to the concierge lounge for dessert and to watch the fireworks. It was awesome.
Even though the Grand was wonderful, overall I have to say that I like the DLH better. I understand why everyone is so taken with the Grand, it has such wonderful ambiance and a fairly easy walk to the parks. But we decided we liked the rooms and pools better at the DLH. We don't mind the additional walking.
The parks were great! God love everyone for telling such scary stories about AP holders. I think all those stories are actually affecting when people go. For the second year in a row, we have gone during the week when the blockouts lifted to find very manageable crowds on Monday and Tuesday both. The big rides always had a wait around an hour, but fastpass machines never ran out (except for Star Tours, of course), and the less popular rides - Autopia, BTMRR, IASM, for example - all had waits around 15-20 minutes. We rode everything as many times as we wanted all day, both days. 21 rides in all and that includes two afternoons at the pool plus lots of shopping, arcade games and sit down meals.
Which brings me to the Jazz Kitchen! I'd never been in all the years of going to DLR and we went both days. We had the steak salad, the appetizer plate, the club sandwhich and the bleu cheese filet mignon burger. All fabulous. The jalepeno bacon potato salad was especially yummy and I recommend this place to any foodies who may not be thrilled with Disney food (I'd skip the beignets, though. Very greasy and spongy).
I also highly recommend Mousewait. It is very easy to navigate and pretty accurate. We saved lots of running around time by checking wait times and seeing where the closures were. We have a droid, rather than an iphone and it worked just fine.
Sad to be home and missing DLR, but we had such a great time. If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer.
When we arrived in the room, it hadn't been cleaned from the previous occupants. We weren't too put out, though, as we were just happy to have a room so early. Was a bit more put out when we came back from the parks after lunch for a swim and it still wasn't clean even though we'd called first thing. It was clean by the time we came back from the swim, though.
We did the Grand Quest and had fun poking around the hotel. When we turned in our worksheet, we were informed that we were the Grand Family of the day and got to go to the concierge lounge for dessert and to watch the fireworks. It was awesome.
Even though the Grand was wonderful, overall I have to say that I like the DLH better. I understand why everyone is so taken with the Grand, it has such wonderful ambiance and a fairly easy walk to the parks. But we decided we liked the rooms and pools better at the DLH. We don't mind the additional walking.
The parks were great! God love everyone for telling such scary stories about AP holders. I think all those stories are actually affecting when people go. For the second year in a row, we have gone during the week when the blockouts lifted to find very manageable crowds on Monday and Tuesday both. The big rides always had a wait around an hour, but fastpass machines never ran out (except for Star Tours, of course), and the less popular rides - Autopia, BTMRR, IASM, for example - all had waits around 15-20 minutes. We rode everything as many times as we wanted all day, both days. 21 rides in all and that includes two afternoons at the pool plus lots of shopping, arcade games and sit down meals.
Which brings me to the Jazz Kitchen! I'd never been in all the years of going to DLR and we went both days. We had the steak salad, the appetizer plate, the club sandwhich and the bleu cheese filet mignon burger. All fabulous. The jalepeno bacon potato salad was especially yummy and I recommend this place to any foodies who may not be thrilled with Disney food (I'd skip the beignets, though. Very greasy and spongy).
I also highly recommend Mousewait. It is very easy to navigate and pretty accurate. We saved lots of running around time by checking wait times and seeing where the closures were. We have a droid, rather than an iphone and it worked just fine.
Sad to be home and missing DLR, but we had such a great time. If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer.
We loved our last stay (splurge) at the GCH, but I would love to try the DLH - I agree the walk is not bad at all. I think the rates right now are a little high though with all the construction going on. We may just go with GCH again for our upcoming mini-trip.
