halfway there
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2002
- Messages
- 506
We were in WDW for four days, August 1-4 with four family members (plus an additional four on some occasions!) and visited all four parks! We had a great time!!
Here's an overview:
Home resort - CSR
Day 1 - Pepper Market for lunch, afternoon at pool, Mickey's Backyard BBQ for dinner and Campfire Movie both at Ft Wilderness
Day 2 - Character Caravan, AK, Restaurantosuarus for lunch, MK, Boma for dinner, E-nite at MK
Day 3 - Maya Grill for breakfast buffet, MGM, EPCOT, Alfredo's for dinner
Day 4 - DTD, Rainforest Cafe for lunch
This was our first time at CSR and we had been looking forward to staying here for a few years but just hadn't made it there yet. We normally prefer the deluxes but have stayed in both POFQ and CBR before. We liked it well enough but would rather stay at a deluxe. We ranked it ahead of CBR and after POFQ in terms of our favorite place to stay.
Some observations: It is very spread out but each 'area' is pretty well self contained. We requested Cabanas 8A but got 9B. After the initial disappointment we realized we couldn't be in a better location! I originally wanted to be closer to the Dig Site and of course, I gazed longingly at bldg 8A every time I had to walk across the bridge to the pool but I never so much as glanced backward at it while heading to bus stop #1 every morning!
It was very close, as were the restaurants, the lobby and all of El Centro.
One thing I especially did not like about this resort is the golf carts that whiz around with people and luggage. They drive very fast and on more than one occasion came right up behind us and beeped! That is an accident waiting to happen! I know they have these at the Poly as well but they do not drive any where near as fast and they always stopped to let people pass.
The rooms were adequate and typical of most moderates. The a/c works a little differently I think as I called maintenance when I thought it wasn't working properly. They said there is a sensor near the door that tells it when no one is home and it turns off automatically. Thus, it never seemed to get cold as we were in and out that first day unloading the car. They gladly reset it for me and we had no other problems with it. As a FL resident, I like my a/c!
Our room faced the Dig Site and took a bit of finagling to get. Initially they had us on the other side of the building still facing a lake since we had paid for a water view but I just explained that I had hoped to be facing the inner circle and besides what I really wanted in the first place was bldg 8A so because that wasn't available would it be possible to put us on the other side. It took some time (and my humblest demeanor) but we got it and a first floor to boot!
So we were happy but my sister had yet to check in and their room was NOT ready, not by a long shot. She finally got in at midnight!
We had lunch at the Pepper Market. Good food but not so great set up. We were fine because our kids could stay at the table by themselves while we fetched food. (We have established a pretty good system over the years). My sister, on the other hand, has a 2yo so one adult had to stay while the other got food for everybody. By then we were all eating and db-i-l didn't want to go get his own food. Too bad, his loss. Among us we had Fettucine Alfredo, kid's spaghetti, soup (Chicken Rice and Beef Barley - YUM), salad, Kung Pao Chicken and bread. All delicious! I really wish we had had another opportunity to eat here as I love Mexican food and the bakery items were to die for!
We spent a few hours in the pool waiting for ds's room to be ready. The kids loved the slide! The pool is beautiful. We had a light sprinkle and soon headed off to our dinner reservations. Room was still not ready and ds's CM ressies were for 5:30. We took a bus to MK when the driver offered to drop us at the Contemporary. We were thrilled to have some magic thrown our way! They headed up to CM and we took the launch to Ft Wilderness.
We arrived an hour early for Mickey's BBQ. Got our picture taken which we later purchased and waited in line for it to open. The kids were hot and sweaty and waving away bugs. I realized how late it was and doused them with bug spray. They wandered over to the pettign zoo while I kept our place in the ever increasing line. They came around with wristbands for those over 21, never checking our ID (Boy do I feel old!
) Shortly thereafter we were all led through the gate and around to the buffet tables laden with food. There was tons of food - hot dogs, baked chicken, ribs with extra sauce on the side, potato salad, mac'ncheese, baked beans and cornbread which my kids liked best! We chose one end of a long picnic table and went for beer! They had the alcohol in the furthest corner from where we sat as well as ice tea, lemonade in water in two corners then watermelon and corn on the cob in another corner. We ate to our hearts content or should I say stomach?!
The only thing that went wrong here in my estimation is that they quickly ran out of Coors Light then Miller Lite and substituted with Bud and Bud Lite (Yuck!) after only an hour or so! They also had wine which I was not in the mood for, wine and hot dogs??
Fortunately, the characters came out for pictures. We got a few snapshots of all but Mickey who had the longest line. We weren't dismayed but were able to make an early exit before the dancing started in order to catch the Campfire movie at 8pm.
This was the highlight of the night and I would recommend it to anyone. Of course, it could have been that Jungle Book was the choice that night but we really enjoyed our time here. The kids toasted marshmallows and my dd made S'mores (her absolute favorite). I bought a kit that cost about $5 for a good sized bag of marshmallows, 2 regular sized Heshey bars, a 4.8oz box of Honey Maid graham crackers and two sticks. My sister's family joined us here and we both got on the yellow bus and were dropped off quite a distance from the Campfire and had to walk through the pool area. We returned to the marina on the Orange bus which was much closer. We went back to our resort via the launch to MK and then the bus.
What a great first day! Boy did we accomplish a lot!!
I didn't realize I would end up being so long winded so I guess I will have to divide this up after all. Stay tuned for Day 2!
BTW, my sister never checked on her room again after 5pm due to her dinner reservations so that's why she never made it into her room till we got back from the movie. I tried to make her call, I really did....
Here's an overview:
Home resort - CSR
Day 1 - Pepper Market for lunch, afternoon at pool, Mickey's Backyard BBQ for dinner and Campfire Movie both at Ft Wilderness
Day 2 - Character Caravan, AK, Restaurantosuarus for lunch, MK, Boma for dinner, E-nite at MK
Day 3 - Maya Grill for breakfast buffet, MGM, EPCOT, Alfredo's for dinner
Day 4 - DTD, Rainforest Cafe for lunch
This was our first time at CSR and we had been looking forward to staying here for a few years but just hadn't made it there yet. We normally prefer the deluxes but have stayed in both POFQ and CBR before. We liked it well enough but would rather stay at a deluxe. We ranked it ahead of CBR and after POFQ in terms of our favorite place to stay.
Some observations: It is very spread out but each 'area' is pretty well self contained. We requested Cabanas 8A but got 9B. After the initial disappointment we realized we couldn't be in a better location! I originally wanted to be closer to the Dig Site and of course, I gazed longingly at bldg 8A every time I had to walk across the bridge to the pool but I never so much as glanced backward at it while heading to bus stop #1 every morning!
It was very close, as were the restaurants, the lobby and all of El Centro.One thing I especially did not like about this resort is the golf carts that whiz around with people and luggage. They drive very fast and on more than one occasion came right up behind us and beeped! That is an accident waiting to happen! I know they have these at the Poly as well but they do not drive any where near as fast and they always stopped to let people pass.
The rooms were adequate and typical of most moderates. The a/c works a little differently I think as I called maintenance when I thought it wasn't working properly. They said there is a sensor near the door that tells it when no one is home and it turns off automatically. Thus, it never seemed to get cold as we were in and out that first day unloading the car. They gladly reset it for me and we had no other problems with it. As a FL resident, I like my a/c!
Our room faced the Dig Site and took a bit of finagling to get. Initially they had us on the other side of the building still facing a lake since we had paid for a water view but I just explained that I had hoped to be facing the inner circle and besides what I really wanted in the first place was bldg 8A so because that wasn't available would it be possible to put us on the other side. It took some time (and my humblest demeanor) but we got it and a first floor to boot!
So we were happy but my sister had yet to check in and their room was NOT ready, not by a long shot. She finally got in at midnight!
We had lunch at the Pepper Market. Good food but not so great set up. We were fine because our kids could stay at the table by themselves while we fetched food. (We have established a pretty good system over the years). My sister, on the other hand, has a 2yo so one adult had to stay while the other got food for everybody. By then we were all eating and db-i-l didn't want to go get his own food. Too bad, his loss. Among us we had Fettucine Alfredo, kid's spaghetti, soup (Chicken Rice and Beef Barley - YUM), salad, Kung Pao Chicken and bread. All delicious! I really wish we had had another opportunity to eat here as I love Mexican food and the bakery items were to die for!
We spent a few hours in the pool waiting for ds's room to be ready. The kids loved the slide! The pool is beautiful. We had a light sprinkle and soon headed off to our dinner reservations. Room was still not ready and ds's CM ressies were for 5:30. We took a bus to MK when the driver offered to drop us at the Contemporary. We were thrilled to have some magic thrown our way! They headed up to CM and we took the launch to Ft Wilderness.
We arrived an hour early for Mickey's BBQ. Got our picture taken which we later purchased and waited in line for it to open. The kids were hot and sweaty and waving away bugs. I realized how late it was and doused them with bug spray. They wandered over to the pettign zoo while I kept our place in the ever increasing line. They came around with wristbands for those over 21, never checking our ID (Boy do I feel old!
) Shortly thereafter we were all led through the gate and around to the buffet tables laden with food. There was tons of food - hot dogs, baked chicken, ribs with extra sauce on the side, potato salad, mac'ncheese, baked beans and cornbread which my kids liked best! We chose one end of a long picnic table and went for beer! They had the alcohol in the furthest corner from where we sat as well as ice tea, lemonade in water in two corners then watermelon and corn on the cob in another corner. We ate to our hearts content or should I say stomach?! The only thing that went wrong here in my estimation is that they quickly ran out of Coors Light then Miller Lite and substituted with Bud and Bud Lite (Yuck!) after only an hour or so! They also had wine which I was not in the mood for, wine and hot dogs??
Fortunately, the characters came out for pictures. We got a few snapshots of all but Mickey who had the longest line. We weren't dismayed but were able to make an early exit before the dancing started in order to catch the Campfire movie at 8pm.
This was the highlight of the night and I would recommend it to anyone. Of course, it could have been that Jungle Book was the choice that night but we really enjoyed our time here. The kids toasted marshmallows and my dd made S'mores (her absolute favorite). I bought a kit that cost about $5 for a good sized bag of marshmallows, 2 regular sized Heshey bars, a 4.8oz box of Honey Maid graham crackers and two sticks. My sister's family joined us here and we both got on the yellow bus and were dropped off quite a distance from the Campfire and had to walk through the pool area. We returned to the marina on the Orange bus which was much closer. We went back to our resort via the launch to MK and then the bus.
What a great first day! Boy did we accomplish a lot!!
I didn't realize I would end up being so long winded so I guess I will have to divide this up after all. Stay tuned for Day 2!
BTW, my sister never checked on her room again after 5pm due to her dinner reservations so that's why she never made it into her room till we got back from the movie. I tried to make her call, I really did....
