jmassey1samchi
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2014
Just got back from a 3 night split stay at vwl and ak jambo house. First timer here so go easy. I really just wanted to give some thoughts from the perspective of someone who hasn't been to the world since December 2013.
This was also our first time staying at the wilderness lodge, which is our home resort. I chose Wilderness Lodge due to the fact that we mostly go to Disney in early December. After being there for all the decorations, I am very happy to have made the lodge our home base. While animal kingdom was also very nicely decorated for Christmas, the lodge won me over by capturing the essence of the holidays better due to its rustic charm. I really appreciated the coziness of the villas lobby, and my wife and I enjoyed sitting by the fireplaces having a late night meal and nightcap after the parks while the kids were sleeping.
After getting a text that our room was ready at 1:00 and arriving an hour later, we breezed right into our room with our magic bands with no issues. We were on the ground floor with what is currently a construction view. Not too happy about that as it is not what I requested, but decided not to try and bother getting moved. I was just excited to be there and get our vacation started!
We took the bus to Hollywood studios. This took from about 4:15 to almost 5:00. The traffic getting into the parking lot was high, as were the crowds once we got inside. We had fastpasses to Star Tours, HTH and Fantasmic. The standy lines for both rides were only about 25 minutes, so I would have waited for both. Having the fast pass, however, made it almost a no wait for both, and I was glad to have them.
We went into the Osborne lights around 5:40 or so. This I where the crowds showed themselves. The entrance is in a different place than I remember, and this is probably due to the crowd levels. We shuffled our way through about a 10 minute hoard of people just to get into the attraction. Once in, yes it was busier than I remember, but since you are just walking around looking, it was fine. It was as beautiful as I remember, and I was really glad we got to see it for the last time.
Magic Kingdom day: I really love Magic Kingdom, but I don't love the hassle of getting there if you are staying offsite like we normally do. Having a boat take me from my resort straight to the entrance was great, especially if you only plan on staying for half the day. We arrived around 10:00am. The initial crowd of rope-droppers was gone, but there were still a ton of people pouring into the park. We headed over to adventureland and got right onto Pirates with about a 5 minute wait. We also rode Haunted Mansion, thunder mountain, peter pan, Little Mermaid, space mountain, and 7DMT. I couldn't get passes for 7DMT but had every intention of waiting for it no matter how long the wait as we had never been on it. The standby entrance said 60 minutes, and about halfway through the line it went down to 50. Our actual wait was just over 30, so we were thrilled. I enjoyed it a lot and think it is a great pre-teen type of ride. We left around 1:30 having gone on 8 rides and our total wait time was not over 60 minutes for everything. I was very pleased with this after reading all the news on the boards having to do with crowd levels lately. I thought we may have only been able to do our fast pass rides and 7DMT, but this was not the case, and I was very happy!
We went to Epcot that night around 5:00 with only the intention of cruising the countries, getting a bite to eat, and watching illuminations. Crowds seemed to be about normal for Epcot at nighttime. Not only is Epcot my favorite park to be in at nighttime, but perhaps my favorite place anywhere at night. I love seeing the countries all lit up, and enjoying a nice imported beer while taking in the sights of the world showcase. Its one of those places where I can be doing nothing and be happy doing it. We ate at Spice Road Table. I rarely eat at the parks as I have been really disappointed in the past and just try not to put myself in that position. I decided to give this place a try as it seemed like a good spot to watch the show, and I get 20% off with my dvc. The food was good. Not bad, not great, but good. Actually, the flavors were quite good, but you could just tell the food was not freshly prepared. We ordered the garlic shrimp, baked brie, and calamari tapas. The flavors were nice, but nothing was hot (at all) and the bread that was served with the dishes was certainly pre-baked and sitting under a heat lamp for a long time. I went into this thinking if the food were just good, I would be happy. so overall, we were happy with it, and it would have been a nice place to watch the fireworks.
We made our way over to the Canada pavilion to watch Illuminations. We stood on the top of the steps near the totem poles. This was actually a pretty good place to watch as our youngest daughter(9) could get a good view due to being elevated. I really love Illuminations, and especially love the extended holiday version. Arms wrapped around my wife and kids, I get a warm fuzzy feeling every time I see it. (in addition to the spiced eggnog and beer)
Our only other dinner reservation was at Sanaa on Saturday. I recalled the reviews for both it and spice road table being about the same, so went into this dinner thinking I would have about the same reaction. On this occasion, however, I was very nicely surprised. My mil and fil were with us, and they are from Mozambique. We invited them to stay with us for our night at akl, and thought taking them to Sanaa would be a nice treat. Plus, we have never been there and always wanted to try it. We started out with the bread service, and it is as good as everyone talks it up to be. The bread is hot, and freshly baked. the sauces, which range from mild to something I would say is the same as hot wings, are all very flavorful. Dishes ranged from the fish special of grouper, to the seafood curry to the chicken tandoori, and an oxtail app. Everyone was very happy with their dishes, and I personally thought the oxtail was the best on the table. It was braised oxtail, with a mixture of fresh onion, cilantro, and black eyed peas. Really delicious and flavorful.I am rarely surprised when it comes to dining, and sanaa really was a delight. It was my mil's birthday, and they brought out a complimentary dessert that was both delicious, and beautifully presented. This topped off an already very happy table! My faith in Disney food is restored, and I will look forward to trying other places in the future.
Overall, this may have been the best trip we've had to date, and we have been going to Disney for about 15 years. As this was our first time staying onsite, and having the amenities that go along with it such as boat transportation, it really helped add to the vacation. Being at the resorts, for me, felt as much a part of the vacation as being at the parks. The crowd levels were really not any different than I remember from 2013, and this was something I was really worried about having been on the boards a while. I know many people don't like all the planning required with the new fp+ system, but for us it worked very well, and allowed us to go on more rides than we would have in the past. To anyone hesitant about staying at the lodge due to the construction, I would say don't be. It was very minimal in the noise, and the construction areas are nicely blocked off.
Looking forward to next year already!
This was also our first time staying at the wilderness lodge, which is our home resort. I chose Wilderness Lodge due to the fact that we mostly go to Disney in early December. After being there for all the decorations, I am very happy to have made the lodge our home base. While animal kingdom was also very nicely decorated for Christmas, the lodge won me over by capturing the essence of the holidays better due to its rustic charm. I really appreciated the coziness of the villas lobby, and my wife and I enjoyed sitting by the fireplaces having a late night meal and nightcap after the parks while the kids were sleeping.
After getting a text that our room was ready at 1:00 and arriving an hour later, we breezed right into our room with our magic bands with no issues. We were on the ground floor with what is currently a construction view. Not too happy about that as it is not what I requested, but decided not to try and bother getting moved. I was just excited to be there and get our vacation started!
We took the bus to Hollywood studios. This took from about 4:15 to almost 5:00. The traffic getting into the parking lot was high, as were the crowds once we got inside. We had fastpasses to Star Tours, HTH and Fantasmic. The standy lines for both rides were only about 25 minutes, so I would have waited for both. Having the fast pass, however, made it almost a no wait for both, and I was glad to have them.
We went into the Osborne lights around 5:40 or so. This I where the crowds showed themselves. The entrance is in a different place than I remember, and this is probably due to the crowd levels. We shuffled our way through about a 10 minute hoard of people just to get into the attraction. Once in, yes it was busier than I remember, but since you are just walking around looking, it was fine. It was as beautiful as I remember, and I was really glad we got to see it for the last time.
Magic Kingdom day: I really love Magic Kingdom, but I don't love the hassle of getting there if you are staying offsite like we normally do. Having a boat take me from my resort straight to the entrance was great, especially if you only plan on staying for half the day. We arrived around 10:00am. The initial crowd of rope-droppers was gone, but there were still a ton of people pouring into the park. We headed over to adventureland and got right onto Pirates with about a 5 minute wait. We also rode Haunted Mansion, thunder mountain, peter pan, Little Mermaid, space mountain, and 7DMT. I couldn't get passes for 7DMT but had every intention of waiting for it no matter how long the wait as we had never been on it. The standby entrance said 60 minutes, and about halfway through the line it went down to 50. Our actual wait was just over 30, so we were thrilled. I enjoyed it a lot and think it is a great pre-teen type of ride. We left around 1:30 having gone on 8 rides and our total wait time was not over 60 minutes for everything. I was very pleased with this after reading all the news on the boards having to do with crowd levels lately. I thought we may have only been able to do our fast pass rides and 7DMT, but this was not the case, and I was very happy!
We went to Epcot that night around 5:00 with only the intention of cruising the countries, getting a bite to eat, and watching illuminations. Crowds seemed to be about normal for Epcot at nighttime. Not only is Epcot my favorite park to be in at nighttime, but perhaps my favorite place anywhere at night. I love seeing the countries all lit up, and enjoying a nice imported beer while taking in the sights of the world showcase. Its one of those places where I can be doing nothing and be happy doing it. We ate at Spice Road Table. I rarely eat at the parks as I have been really disappointed in the past and just try not to put myself in that position. I decided to give this place a try as it seemed like a good spot to watch the show, and I get 20% off with my dvc. The food was good. Not bad, not great, but good. Actually, the flavors were quite good, but you could just tell the food was not freshly prepared. We ordered the garlic shrimp, baked brie, and calamari tapas. The flavors were nice, but nothing was hot (at all) and the bread that was served with the dishes was certainly pre-baked and sitting under a heat lamp for a long time. I went into this thinking if the food were just good, I would be happy. so overall, we were happy with it, and it would have been a nice place to watch the fireworks.
We made our way over to the Canada pavilion to watch Illuminations. We stood on the top of the steps near the totem poles. This was actually a pretty good place to watch as our youngest daughter(9) could get a good view due to being elevated. I really love Illuminations, and especially love the extended holiday version. Arms wrapped around my wife and kids, I get a warm fuzzy feeling every time I see it. (in addition to the spiced eggnog and beer)
Our only other dinner reservation was at Sanaa on Saturday. I recalled the reviews for both it and spice road table being about the same, so went into this dinner thinking I would have about the same reaction. On this occasion, however, I was very nicely surprised. My mil and fil were with us, and they are from Mozambique. We invited them to stay with us for our night at akl, and thought taking them to Sanaa would be a nice treat. Plus, we have never been there and always wanted to try it. We started out with the bread service, and it is as good as everyone talks it up to be. The bread is hot, and freshly baked. the sauces, which range from mild to something I would say is the same as hot wings, are all very flavorful. Dishes ranged from the fish special of grouper, to the seafood curry to the chicken tandoori, and an oxtail app. Everyone was very happy with their dishes, and I personally thought the oxtail was the best on the table. It was braised oxtail, with a mixture of fresh onion, cilantro, and black eyed peas. Really delicious and flavorful.I am rarely surprised when it comes to dining, and sanaa really was a delight. It was my mil's birthday, and they brought out a complimentary dessert that was both delicious, and beautifully presented. This topped off an already very happy table! My faith in Disney food is restored, and I will look forward to trying other places in the future.
Overall, this may have been the best trip we've had to date, and we have been going to Disney for about 15 years. As this was our first time staying onsite, and having the amenities that go along with it such as boat transportation, it really helped add to the vacation. Being at the resorts, for me, felt as much a part of the vacation as being at the parks. The crowd levels were really not any different than I remember from 2013, and this was something I was really worried about having been on the boards a while. I know many people don't like all the planning required with the new fp+ system, but for us it worked very well, and allowed us to go on more rides than we would have in the past. To anyone hesitant about staying at the lodge due to the construction, I would say don't be. It was very minimal in the noise, and the construction areas are nicely blocked off.
Looking forward to next year already!
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