mamamary
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2006
- Messages
- 6,914
Hi. Finally getting around to write up a review of our stay. I have to say we loved it 
. Here are some of the specifics:
Arrival: We arrived on Magical Express by 10:30am. We had done online check-in. POFQ was the last stop of the ME bus and maybe one or two other families got off with us. I went inside while my DH and kids grabbed the luggage (they were given mardi gras beads while getting the luggage). There was no one in line (regular or online check in). The person checking me in told me our room was all ready
Off to a good start. I did not put in any requests at all so I was curious to see where we would be.
Room: We were located in Building 5, third floor, room 6307, garden view. We paid for garden view as standard was not available. It was just over a 2 minute walk to our room. We took the elevator and we had our luggage. Upon entering the room I first noticed a mickey head towel animal on one bed. If you are curious we did receive one other towel animal during our stay. While my two kids explored the pool area my DH and I gave the room the old once over. Very clean. I am a bed checker so we pulled off sheets and checked mattresses. Everything actually looked quite new. OK now that my inspection was over we unpacked. We mostly hung our clothes up so three drawers was plenty to hold our socks, bathing suits, underwear, pjs etc.
Room noise: pretty much non-existant. Our room had a connecting door so I had hoped we wouldn't hear any neighbors. Never heard them till our last day and I heard the toilet flush and heard them leave their room. I saw they were checking out - can't believe we never heard them cause I hear everything. There was also never any noise coming in from the outside. The four of us slept so soundly all week.
Food: We had bkfst at the resort a few days. Finally got to try the Beignets I've been hearing so much about. All bkfst items we tried were good (eggs, pancakes, oatmeal). Had dinner here twice (chicken casadillas (don't think I'm spelling that right), ribs, sandwiches. All were very good. Desserts were very good also - we had alot of icecream.
Grounds: Very clean and nice. While the resort was very pretty I feel if we had a riverview it would have been alot nicer. We only saw the river if we walked over to it. All in all still very nice but no wow factor on looks.
Castmembers: Everyone was friendly and helpful when we needed it. I needed something to put my syrup in to get back to the room and someone went in the back for me and got me a cup with a lid. Yep - all very nice workers there.
Transportation: Took the boat from the resort to DTD on our first day to have lunch. We did not fit on the first boat as it already had guests from Riverside on it. So we waited at least 20 mts. for the next one. Again, only a few were able to get on but luckily we were able to board. Felt bad for the people behind us as they were starting to have a long wait. Took the boat back one othere day from Riverside to POFQ. Only waited a few mts that time. Buses: Ok - I'm going to say we did pretty good with them. We shared with Riverside everytime except for two trips to and from the MK and our trip to and from AK we stopped at a waterpark (sorry forget which one it was). On one of the MK morning trips the Riverside people were already on it - huh? I was surprised at that. On at least 5 different occassions the bus was waiting when we got to it. That is such a good feeling. We did stand a few times going and I think only once at the end of the day. One time we let a full bus go by because we wanted to sit. So i think we did pretty good. The one time we had a long wait was our AK morning. We waited at least 40 mts. for a bus. The bus stop was packed. Two busses came at once and still couldn't fit everyone. We were late for the park opening but that was the only time all week. But I will say a few times when we got to the bus stop, even though we caught a bus fairly quickly the bus stop was packed so some people had long waits but not us but I just wanted to mention that since that happened a few times also.
Mousekeeping: They did a good job. Coffee, soaps, shampoo replaced everyday. Room always made up by the time we returned.
Pool: Used it a few times. Was pleasantly surprised cause i heard it was small, etc. but it was fine for our needs. Slide was kinda lame. My son said he even stopped on it - lol. But the pool wouldn't be a deciding factor for us. Thought we'd hit Riverside's pool once but it didn't seem worth going there for us.
I hope I hit on everything. Sorry but didn't mean for this to be so long.
Would we return? For sure. I really feel the small resort sold me. We previously stayed at CBR and CSR. While I loved both and rec. both it was truly nice being so close to the food, pool and bus stops. I had to laugh - on our next to last day we realized we could go down past Building 4 right to the bus stop. We had been going thru the main building area and then back tracking. Duh. So a 3 mt. walk could have been a 2 mt. walk. Can't beat that for sure.
Oh and my DH used the laundry facilities one evening when he realized he didn't pack enough shorts. He said that went very smoothly. I think the only thing my DH didn't like was being on the third floor. He would have preferred ground floor. My DH runs marathons but hates stairs. Go figure. I kinda liked it cause I kept telling myself lizards won't get in - lol.
Let me know if you have any questions.
. Here are some of the specifics:Arrival: We arrived on Magical Express by 10:30am. We had done online check-in. POFQ was the last stop of the ME bus and maybe one or two other families got off with us. I went inside while my DH and kids grabbed the luggage (they were given mardi gras beads while getting the luggage). There was no one in line (regular or online check in). The person checking me in told me our room was all ready
Off to a good start. I did not put in any requests at all so I was curious to see where we would be. Room: We were located in Building 5, third floor, room 6307, garden view. We paid for garden view as standard was not available. It was just over a 2 minute walk to our room. We took the elevator and we had our luggage. Upon entering the room I first noticed a mickey head towel animal on one bed. If you are curious we did receive one other towel animal during our stay. While my two kids explored the pool area my DH and I gave the room the old once over. Very clean. I am a bed checker so we pulled off sheets and checked mattresses. Everything actually looked quite new. OK now that my inspection was over we unpacked. We mostly hung our clothes up so three drawers was plenty to hold our socks, bathing suits, underwear, pjs etc.
Room noise: pretty much non-existant. Our room had a connecting door so I had hoped we wouldn't hear any neighbors. Never heard them till our last day and I heard the toilet flush and heard them leave their room. I saw they were checking out - can't believe we never heard them cause I hear everything. There was also never any noise coming in from the outside. The four of us slept so soundly all week.
Food: We had bkfst at the resort a few days. Finally got to try the Beignets I've been hearing so much about. All bkfst items we tried were good (eggs, pancakes, oatmeal). Had dinner here twice (chicken casadillas (don't think I'm spelling that right), ribs, sandwiches. All were very good. Desserts were very good also - we had alot of icecream.
Grounds: Very clean and nice. While the resort was very pretty I feel if we had a riverview it would have been alot nicer. We only saw the river if we walked over to it. All in all still very nice but no wow factor on looks.
Castmembers: Everyone was friendly and helpful when we needed it. I needed something to put my syrup in to get back to the room and someone went in the back for me and got me a cup with a lid. Yep - all very nice workers there.
Transportation: Took the boat from the resort to DTD on our first day to have lunch. We did not fit on the first boat as it already had guests from Riverside on it. So we waited at least 20 mts. for the next one. Again, only a few were able to get on but luckily we were able to board. Felt bad for the people behind us as they were starting to have a long wait. Took the boat back one othere day from Riverside to POFQ. Only waited a few mts that time. Buses: Ok - I'm going to say we did pretty good with them. We shared with Riverside everytime except for two trips to and from the MK and our trip to and from AK we stopped at a waterpark (sorry forget which one it was). On one of the MK morning trips the Riverside people were already on it - huh? I was surprised at that. On at least 5 different occassions the bus was waiting when we got to it. That is such a good feeling. We did stand a few times going and I think only once at the end of the day. One time we let a full bus go by because we wanted to sit. So i think we did pretty good. The one time we had a long wait was our AK morning. We waited at least 40 mts. for a bus. The bus stop was packed. Two busses came at once and still couldn't fit everyone. We were late for the park opening but that was the only time all week. But I will say a few times when we got to the bus stop, even though we caught a bus fairly quickly the bus stop was packed so some people had long waits but not us but I just wanted to mention that since that happened a few times also.
Mousekeeping: They did a good job. Coffee, soaps, shampoo replaced everyday. Room always made up by the time we returned.
Pool: Used it a few times. Was pleasantly surprised cause i heard it was small, etc. but it was fine for our needs. Slide was kinda lame. My son said he even stopped on it - lol. But the pool wouldn't be a deciding factor for us. Thought we'd hit Riverside's pool once but it didn't seem worth going there for us.
I hope I hit on everything. Sorry but didn't mean for this to be so long.
Would we return? For sure. I really feel the small resort sold me. We previously stayed at CBR and CSR. While I loved both and rec. both it was truly nice being so close to the food, pool and bus stops. I had to laugh - on our next to last day we realized we could go down past Building 4 right to the bus stop. We had been going thru the main building area and then back tracking. Duh. So a 3 mt. walk could have been a 2 mt. walk. Can't beat that for sure.
Oh and my DH used the laundry facilities one evening when he realized he didn't pack enough shorts. He said that went very smoothly. I think the only thing my DH didn't like was being on the third floor. He would have preferred ground floor. My DH runs marathons but hates stairs. Go figure. I kinda liked it cause I kept telling myself lizards won't get in - lol.
Let me know if you have any questions.
for your review! Sounds like you had a great time. Glad to hear all good things - with our upcoming trip to POFQ, I am paying very close attention to reviews now.
when you mentioned running and hating stairs. It's like parking as close to the building as possible when going to workout. That's what I do. I run, too.
