Post Trip Report 10/10 - 10/24 It's a long one!!!

[thebadger]

Well what can I say!! Words can't really describe it but I can sum it all up with four simple words...

"Holiday Of A Lifetime!" So many many highs with only two lows!!

This was our 1st visit and it lived up to all previous hopes and expectations which what we thought it would be and more so!

Starting with the flight with TC from Glasgow - We are not frequent flyers but it ticked all the boxes for us, 9 hours is a long time to be stuck anywhere but it was comfy enough, meals better than expected and a good range of entertainment although I just read my books and listened to my podcasts but i was sitting on my own with the mrs badger and the kids in the other row of 3!

Our first low though was the wait at the first security desk at MCO. Our flight and a flight from Manchester both arrived close to each other and they had 5 booths open! thankfully we were close to the front but waited over an hour god knows how long the folks behind us waited! Magical express was a breeze and so was check in! Mouse keeping was excellent "Margareta" was a star and I let our resort know! She couldn't do enough for us and we came back to a different animal every day our room ended up like a zoo! Sometimes it looked like the Tasmanian devil had been through our room but we always came home to a spotless environment, she even stocked up the beers in the fridge

The added bonus was the unexpected family reunion with my cousin and his wife & DD from Canada who not only were there for 7 days the same time as us but the same resort and the same area!!! Walmart got hit for some miller high life that day I tell you! Our DD and his got on like they had known each other all their life's and there was a few tears when it was time to say goodbye to them, Thankfully we still had 6 days left to take the edge off it!

We did all the parks including the water parks and enjoyed them all in there own way, MK was great but the amount of folk screaming at their kids sort of took the magic away. HWS - I loved rock n roller coaster & tower of terror kids loved toy story mania but we only had 1 FP+ for is and it was sooo busy the rest of our trip with zero FP left! AK - was our least favourite park out of them all but we did have a great meal in Yak & Yeti and our server "Seth" was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet! He got a very good tip!! We all liked the laid back feel of Epcot, I got a few beers (Einstok being my personal fav from Norway) kids loved the rides test track and soarin and mrs b loved world showcase. A real surprise as I thought epcot would be just so-so.

We did all the headliners, only Everest spooked DD (7). Really like monsters inc laugh floor and turtle talk with crush and story time with belle and also the unofficial app "lines" that app got us on rides with low wait times when we would have wondered what to do!

Character meets were also brilliant!! I loved meeting green army man, buzz, chip & dale and also princess jasmine who looked like a supermodel! Mrs B and DD loved meeting Gaston though and I have to say he played the part very well! DD loved the princesses and our son loved meeting Stitch! Kids liked Disney quest and I got addicted to fix it felix! although it was good it could have been so much better imo if they had sugar rush or hero's duty or even more Disney themed games??

We loved Illuminations, Wishes, Fantasmic & MNSSHP! We all got dressed up, if I can work out how to post photos i'll fire some up. Internal bus service was great and being at CBR we were on the bus for a max of 10 minutes going anywhere! and staying in Jamaica we were usually the 1st pick up so always got a seat!

Memory maker is a must! we ended up with over 350 photos and it's more than paid for itself! Some really great pictures with wonderful memories

Speaking of paying for itself, premium outlets on international drive took a hammering from me! Got so many bargains it was unreal!! Mrs B got some really nice stuff from World of Disney , she likes cross stitch stuff and got some "home" stuff. kids got loads as well in there.

Also to the kind gentleman who found my wallet in CBR with about $400 (I took the kids money off them that morning incase they lost it ) and credit cards intact you sir are a saint, I asked if he left a name or room number for a reward but he didn't! When we found out I lost it ,it was a frantic 2 hours thankfully later we spotted we had a message on our in room phone it was handed in!!

DDP was brilliant and worth every penny in our opinion, so much food though and we were left with 18 snack credits on our last day so goofy's candy bags got hit for extra presents for family!

Highlight meals from....

Yak & Yeti (Seth) , House Of Blues (Tasha), Paradiso 37, BoG (frankie our server was great as was the steak!!!), Akershus breakfast (proper sausages not these flat mc muffin sausges we got sick of haha!), Chef Mickeys & Hollywood & Vine.

All our other meals were pleasant enough with great servers but now the low, now this will be long but I hope that it shows how bad it was and please avoid this place like the plague!

The one to avoid - Bongos cuban cafe - A disaster of a place! I'm going to leave a report on trip advisor and anywhere else I can. We waited over 30 minutes to be seated with no offer of a seat anywhere or even the offer of a drink from the bar, poor sloppy service all round we then waited well over 1 hour waiting on our mains, When my "bongos special fried rice" arrived I thought it was a kids portion. The bowl was tiny I actually burst out laughing I literally finished it with 4 fork fulls and had mine done while they came out with the rest of the meals. We left the dessert and the guy had the audacity to ask for a tip! I asked to speak to a manager but none were available. If I wasn't on the DDP I wouldn't have paid 1 thin dime for the service we got. Said I wasn't leaving until I spoke to whoever was in charge, eventually got a young woman and explained the situation as we were on the DDP she gave off the attitude that she really couldn't care, said our meals were "free" as we were on the DDP!!! . Said I wasn't leaving a tip or paying for our drinks (4 alcoholic drinks) and if I seen any charges on my card I'd be back! Horrible horrendous place. Actually feel like taking it further but don't know who to contact.

Anyway I hope that rant doesn't take the edge off my post trip report but it really was so bad I want folk to take note how bad! If you've booked it please reconsider!!

So in closing will we be back? 100% definitely probably 2016! Now how do I upload photos??

 

[dixonsontour]

Thanks for taking the time to do this sounds like you had a fab time and meeting up with family was the icing on the cake.

Never been to Bongos - sounds awful.

 

[Pootle]

Especially good to read of someone's first visit. Happy that it seemed to exceed your expectations - well, apart from Bongos.

How amazing that you should meet up with your Canadian cousin and family

 

[scoobydooby]

I'm so glad you had a great time after reading your planning posts. You sound like you've got 'the bug' to me now for sure. You'll be back lol!!!!

Regarding Bongos. That sounds truly ugly and totally unacceptable. I would though just say one thing. Le Cellier used to be our favourite restaurant and we had five gorgeous meals there. Our fifth meal was when it had just changed to a two credit place. It was awful. The service was rubbish, the food was late/cold/raw and randomly, we got sat next to a couple, their (poor) kids and one set of their parents while they were clearly having a very public forever separation. It was horrendous. (Obviously the warring couple was nothing to do with Le Cellier, it just added to the general horrible experience.....) However, it did show me even a great place can have an truly awful off night.

Personally, I would eat somewhere twice before I publicly dissed it. But I would have done like you at the time re demanding to speak to a manager.

 

[SilentK]

Thanks for posting, sounds like an amazing trip.

Gaston is probably the best character I've met, he was hilarious. Sorry to hear about Bongos, you expect better service than that and certainly better from management!

To upload photos you need an account on a photo sharing site, like Photobucket (free)

What great luck with your wallet, that must have been terrifying

 

[Elise79]

Glad you had a great trip

If you want to take the bongos thing further try emailing WDW.guest.communications@disney.com however I think Bongos is an operating participant - which means they are not owned by Disney but they will probably give you there contact details plus feed back to Disney will be noted when it comes to contract renewals.

 

[pickers1982]

I quite like bongo s earlier in the year. Was quiet and we were sat outside but as something different we liked it. Saying that we arent rushing back to the restaurant. Maybe it was an off night but NO excuse for the attitude!

 

[chmurf]

As much as you feel the need to post reviews regarding Bongo's, I think I need to share my own experience for balance.

First of all, I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience

Bongo's is in our top 5 best restaurant experiences ever (at WDW), and is in our must do list (actually it was one of Wayne's review that had us book that restaurant in the first place)

yes, we did wait to be seated. The guy at the counter told us about the range of the pager and we were able to spend our waiting time inside the stores across the path
We also did wait a lot (over 45 minutes) for our mains. But TBH we were sat inside the pinapple in a small alcove and it was so nice and we were so busy talking, DW and I, that we wouldn't have noticed if DS had not started whining about being hungry.

DS's appetizer came, ham croquettes, the appetizer was so large that DS ate half of it and was almost full (looks like they were actually an adult appetizer)
He barely managed to eat his main course.

We had the Parillada de Marescos (DW) and the Cuban Tour (Me) respectively $40 and $30, making it one of the best value on property when on the DDP.
I'm a big guy (almost 300lbs) with a "hefty, happy appetite" and I struggled to finish my plate and we didn't even have any appetizer or alcoholic beverages to start the meal.
Food was amazingly good and in large quantities.


I'm deeply sorry that you didn't enjoy that restaurant as much as we did. But sometimes, someone's worst experience is someone else's best.

Definitely write Disney's guest relations about your experience, because what you describe in unacceptable, by Disney's standards, and by that restaurant's standards which I hope my own review gives some insight upon.

 

[wayneg]

Especially good to read of someone's first visit.

The first visit reports/reviews are always the best.

Only eaten at Bongo's once and it was 2 years ago but we enjoyed it, this was a quote from my review "End of the meal we all agreed it would be somewhere we would eat at again, a totally different experience to other Disney dining. Happily left a $20 tip"

See post #161 here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2954922&highlight=bongos&page=11

As said above you can eat somewhere many times then go back and have a bad meal/experience. I doubt you will return but you could easily have a great meal next time.
With the exception of a few (Grand Floridian Café, Sanaa & Hoop Dee Doo spring to mind) many restaurants we have been back to multiple times we have ended up with a poor meal or bad service. Le Cellier, Tutto Italia are 2 I recall going back to and being disappointed.

 

[thebadger]

Thanks for the replies folks! I'll do the contact via Disney for bongos, Understand places can have off nights but as it was near the end of our trip and we had experienced great servers and food elsewhere it was a bit of a shock how the bongos thing went! It sort of shows how bad it was when there was no "real" manager on site and as i said as soon as the woman found out I was on the DDP her attitude completely changed! But there are a lot of places to eat so we will try new places the next time! raglan road being one that looked really good!

Are the building more restaurants at DTD just now as there was so much building works going on, i seen an area for "Food trucks" arriving fall 2014 but counted 3 new "buildings" so wonder if its more food places or more shops?

I'll join photo bucket and pop up a few pics for you all to laugh at later

 

[SilentK]

Thanks for the replies folks! I'll do the contact via Disney for bongos, Understand places can have off nights but as it was near the end of our trip and we had experienced great servers and food elsewhere it was a bit of a shock how the bongos thing went! It sort of shows how bad it was when there was no "real" manager on site and as i said as soon as the woman found out I was on the DDP her attitude completely changed! But there are a lot of places to eat so we will try new places the next time! raglan road being one that looked really good!

Are the building more restaurants at DTD just now as there was so much building works going on, i seen an area for "Food trucks" arriving fall 2014 but counted 3 new "buildings" so wonder if its more food places or more shops?

I'll join photo bucket and pop up a few pics for you all to laugh at later

Raglan Road is great. Looking forward to pics

 

[scoobydooby]

Thanks for the replies folks! I'll do the contact via Disney for bongos, Understand places can have off nights but as it was near the end of our trip and we had experienced great servers and food elsewhere it was a bit of a shock how the bongos thing went! It sort of shows how bad it was when there was no "real" manager on site and as i said as soon as the woman found out I was on the DDP her attitude completely changed! But there are a lot of places to eat so we will try new places the next time! raglan road being one that looked really good! Are the building more restaurants at DTD just now as there was so much building works going on, i seen an area for "Food trucks" arriving fall 2014 but counted 3 new "buildings" so wonder if its more food places or more shops? I'll join photo bucket and pop up a few pics for you all to laugh at later

Raglan Road is a great night out. Try for a table near the entertainment Yes, DTD is been remodelled completely to Disney Springs so at last the ghost town that was Pleasure island will be revamped, there will be a desperately needed parking garage and yes there will be lots of new shops and restaurants. Two new restaurants have been announced this week. The construction walls said that the food carts would be coming in Summer 2014 when I was last there so typical Disney slow building as you now say they read fall 2014.......

 

[pickers1982]

Just announced two new restaurants.

Re raglan, this illustrates the point a few people have made, went once and it was fantatic, great food and atmosphere. Next time average food and sat near the entertainment and hates it. Literally couldnt hear a wor we were both saying

 

[disneyholic family]

sounds like a wonderful holiday!!
thanks for taking the time to share your experience..
for a while i was wondering where you stayed, but from the lost wallet i understood you stayed at caribbean beach

i loved the lost wallet story!!! restores my faith in humanity!!!

 

[mickeyforpresident]

Aren't restaurant reviews funny?! People on here rave about Raglan Road and Yak and Yeti, but the last time we went, these were our most awful experiences (not food related, but with terrible servers!)

 

[crabbie1]

Aren't restaurant reviews funny?! People on here rave about Raglan Road and Yak and Yeti, but the last time we went, these were our most awful experiences (not food related, but with terrible servers!)

Just shows how opinions differ.

 

[queendisney]

Aren't restaurant reviews funny?! People on here rave about Raglan Road and Yak and Yeti, but the last time we went, these were our most awful experiences (not food related, but with terrible servers!)

yes agree with this..everybody raves about Teppan Edo but I would never eat there again...The food was nothing special at all, they only used soy sauce to season it on the grill and then made a volcano out of onions and made it steam....I just can't get enthusiastic about people playing with food and it not tasting anything special yet it costs a lot...

 

[wayneg]

Aren't restaurant reviews funny?! People on here rave about Raglan Road and Yak and Yeti, but the last time we went, these were our most awful experiences (not food related, but with terrible servers!)

Yak & Yeti is the one place we are split on, I think its overpriced average food, Karen loves it. We both like Raglan rd (bread & butter pud one of my all time faves)
You just can't go on reviews, we put off going to The Rose & Crowne for years due to the reviews but when we eventually tried it we had one of the best meals we have ever had in Disney.

yes agree with this..everybody raves about Teppan Edo but I would never eat there again...The food was nothing special at all, they only used soy sauce to season it on the grill and then made a volcano out of onions and made it steam....I just can't get enthusiastic about people playing with food and it not tasting anything special yet it costs a lot...

We really enjoyed TE on our first visit, so much so we made another reservation straight away, went back a few nights later and realised it was just the novelty factor, 2nd time it was just OK, food nothing special, doubt we will go back.

 

[joolz1910]

I loved the story about your wallet. We had a similar story at DLP and it warmed my heart that people are honest.

 

[wayneg]

I loved the story about your wallet. We had a similar story at DLP and it warmed my heart that people are honest.

Lost mine in East Midlands airport a few years back, had 500-600 euros in it. Someone handed it in thankfully.