chabs
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2005
- Messages
- 1,274
I'm not a picture taker, but I do have a few things to say about our recent 12 day trip to Disney. We stayed primarily at the All Star Sports with a 3 night side trip over at the WL Club Level. I'll put everything in bullet points style to make it easier for you to read and only post the most memorable stuff:
New Southwest Earlier Check-In This unexpectedly started a couple of days before we came home. We did not buy the earlier check-in but we were still able to get A-30 tickets when I checked us in. I checked in exactly 24 hours before our flight.
Magical Express Don't rip your tickets out of the booklet like I did. They need the back page to scan for your luggage. Service was quick and easy with hardly no wait. We happened to get there when the bus was arriving. Our luggage was brought up to our room about an hour after we checked in at the ASSp.
All Star Sports We usually stay at one of the All Stars so we knew what to expect. This is the first time that we ever encountered any of the groups that people are always complaining about and now I know why. Two different groups arrived around 11pm one night and we had to make several calls to the front desk because there were kids out screaming in the courtyard at midnight. The room was clean and we didn't have any problems other than the sink running a little slow. The maid must have reported it because someone came to fix it one night around 10pm (we told them to come back the next day because we were going to bed). Food court was always crowded at night and the line for ice cream was ridiculously slow. Food court food was ok-typical CS food. We ordered pizza a couple of times and the kids thought it was good, although I think the DW pizza is just average. Bus service was terrible-slow and always crowded. I can't think of one bus ride where I actually was able to sit down during the ride.
Wilderness Lodge Club Level Loved it! I can't say enough about how great it was. The food in the lounge was better than anything that we had during free dining (especially the breakfasts). Our room overlooked the MK and we could watch the fireworks at night. Our room seemed clean enough, but I found 3 trading pins on the floor at the end of the bed so I'm not sure how great of a vacumming job the maid did. This was on the last day of our trip when I was checking around to see if the kids left anything behind. Bus service and boats were great-never had to wait too long and never had to stand on the bus.
Free dining I found it odd that it was so difficult to get reservations for many of the restaurants that we ate at, but when we got there, they were only 1/2 full or less. I especially noticed this at LeCellier, Mama Melrose, Norway princess breakfast and the Yachtman's Steakhouse. You could tell that the servers were not in a hurry to turn tables. I have to say that we had really good service everywhere we ate all around.
Character Breakfast Buffets Never again! We go to free dining every year and the character breakfasts were so bad that we are crossing them off of our list for next year. Chef Mickey's was especially bad-so was the Tusker House. Crystal Palace was mediocre. I do have to say that we ate at Norway and that would be the only character breakfast that we would return to next year. Hot food was greasy and usually cold, muffins and bread were soggy like they just came out of the freezer and fruit looked like it came out of can, although I don't think it did. Also, there were long waits at everywhere but Norway. We actually paid out of pocket for these meals so that we could eat at some of the signature restaurants and I was sorry that I wasted my money.
LeCellier Food here is always good, but I could not believe how small the portions have become. One of the kids ordered the chicken breast kids meal and it was literally about 3 kid sized bites. We were a party of 5 adults and 5 kids and all of the kids were laughing when the waitress put the dish on the table. She even had to hide a smile when she heard the kids making fun of how small the meal was. Great service and tasty food though.
Other Great Meals Le Chefs de France, Yachtsman Steakhouse, Tony's, Narcoosee's-Food was excellent, especially the filet at the Yachtsman. Remy was still at France, even though he was supposed to be gone the day before. The person pushing his cart made sure that she took a minute to stop at each and every table.
T-Rex We ate here twice and thought the food was ok-nothing special. Beware that it is VERY loud inside. You almost have to yell to hear the person sitting next to you. Also, my DH would not sit in the ice room because he was afraid that it would give him a migrane. Something to see once, although I prefer the Rainforest.
That's about it. If you have any questions, feel free to post.
New Southwest Earlier Check-In This unexpectedly started a couple of days before we came home. We did not buy the earlier check-in but we were still able to get A-30 tickets when I checked us in. I checked in exactly 24 hours before our flight.
Magical Express Don't rip your tickets out of the booklet like I did. They need the back page to scan for your luggage. Service was quick and easy with hardly no wait. We happened to get there when the bus was arriving. Our luggage was brought up to our room about an hour after we checked in at the ASSp.
All Star Sports We usually stay at one of the All Stars so we knew what to expect. This is the first time that we ever encountered any of the groups that people are always complaining about and now I know why. Two different groups arrived around 11pm one night and we had to make several calls to the front desk because there were kids out screaming in the courtyard at midnight. The room was clean and we didn't have any problems other than the sink running a little slow. The maid must have reported it because someone came to fix it one night around 10pm (we told them to come back the next day because we were going to bed). Food court was always crowded at night and the line for ice cream was ridiculously slow. Food court food was ok-typical CS food. We ordered pizza a couple of times and the kids thought it was good, although I think the DW pizza is just average. Bus service was terrible-slow and always crowded. I can't think of one bus ride where I actually was able to sit down during the ride.
Wilderness Lodge Club Level Loved it! I can't say enough about how great it was. The food in the lounge was better than anything that we had during free dining (especially the breakfasts). Our room overlooked the MK and we could watch the fireworks at night. Our room seemed clean enough, but I found 3 trading pins on the floor at the end of the bed so I'm not sure how great of a vacumming job the maid did. This was on the last day of our trip when I was checking around to see if the kids left anything behind. Bus service and boats were great-never had to wait too long and never had to stand on the bus.
Free dining I found it odd that it was so difficult to get reservations for many of the restaurants that we ate at, but when we got there, they were only 1/2 full or less. I especially noticed this at LeCellier, Mama Melrose, Norway princess breakfast and the Yachtman's Steakhouse. You could tell that the servers were not in a hurry to turn tables. I have to say that we had really good service everywhere we ate all around.
Character Breakfast Buffets Never again! We go to free dining every year and the character breakfasts were so bad that we are crossing them off of our list for next year. Chef Mickey's was especially bad-so was the Tusker House. Crystal Palace was mediocre. I do have to say that we ate at Norway and that would be the only character breakfast that we would return to next year. Hot food was greasy and usually cold, muffins and bread were soggy like they just came out of the freezer and fruit looked like it came out of can, although I don't think it did. Also, there were long waits at everywhere but Norway. We actually paid out of pocket for these meals so that we could eat at some of the signature restaurants and I was sorry that I wasted my money.
LeCellier Food here is always good, but I could not believe how small the portions have become. One of the kids ordered the chicken breast kids meal and it was literally about 3 kid sized bites. We were a party of 5 adults and 5 kids and all of the kids were laughing when the waitress put the dish on the table. She even had to hide a smile when she heard the kids making fun of how small the meal was. Great service and tasty food though.
Other Great Meals Le Chefs de France, Yachtsman Steakhouse, Tony's, Narcoosee's-Food was excellent, especially the filet at the Yachtsman. Remy was still at France, even though he was supposed to be gone the day before. The person pushing his cart made sure that she took a minute to stop at each and every table.
T-Rex We ate here twice and thought the food was ok-nothing special. Beware that it is VERY loud inside. You almost have to yell to hear the person sitting next to you. Also, my DH would not sit in the ice room because he was afraid that it would give him a migrane. Something to see once, although I prefer the Rainforest.
That's about it. If you have any questions, feel free to post.
