Here is a quick report / review.
A family of 4, with my daughter 12 and son 10. We have been to Disney too many times to count and have stayed at many resorts on and off site, including GF, All Star, Poly and Boardwalk, as well as Hilton and Marriott World Center.
We stayed 3 nights at Doubletree DTD. This is a nice hotel, freindly people and big rooms. Seemed slow and the pool area was dead, the pool bar was closed. Pool itself is small but clean and the game room was failry large and my son like it. We ate breakfast at the resort as I had coupons from Hilton Honors for breakfast. If I had to pay for it, it would have been disappointing. Not much is fresh and mainly doughnuts and cereal. Although they do have waffles, eggs etc..., just looked old and stayle. We had omelettes from the station and they were okay.
Bottom line:
Stay here if you 1 - need extra room, 2 - do not plan on eating / hanging out at the resort, 3 - looking for a good bargain, based on the above and 4 - do not plan attending multiple parks and coming back to hotel between and 5 - want to stay away from the crowds. (Also, if you like PI and DTD)
Do not stay if you - 1 - Want that Disney feel, 2 - Looking for a theme hotel with multiple dining options, 3 - want an all inclusive type resort.
We then spent 3 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I have seen mixed reviews on both extremes on this hotel and I have to say we would be in the middle. The resort is very well themed. You really get a genuine feel of a lodge from the lobby, to the pool, to the resturants to the rooms and views. We had a deluxe savannah room. Checkin was easy and the staff was nice. We had requested a bunk room, but were told those were not available if you book a deluxe. Our view was nice, we saw animals at almost all times we looked out. Due to bad timing on our part, we had planned to have bfast in the room on the day of checkout and watch the animals, only to see it was maintenance time and we got to see people mowing the grass and no animals. We had no trouble with busses, always seemed to be around coming and going. It is a long bus ride to anywhere other than AK and not sure why they did not put in some sort of quick access to AK as it is very close. A cool monorail over the savannah would have been nice. Pool was nice and quiet, if not fairly small. The pool bar staff was nice and they had good fresh drinks. We did have an issue with the pool being closed (and on the day we had planned to enjoy it), but it was not their fault and we went to the Cornado pool, which was actually more fun for the kids and AKL gave us a late check out so we could enjoy the pool on day of departure. We ate at Jiko and the snack area. Jiko is fantastic and I would go back there even if we were not staying. The snack area was also nice as there was plenty of variety and prices were decent.
So the Bottom Line is Stay here if: 1 - You are into a real theme, 2 - You plan on going to animal kingdom, 3 - you love animals, 4 - you want Disney propery with out all the "Disney Hype", 5 - Your not staying for a long trip (I think the animals would get a little old after 5 or 6 days at $400.00 per).
Do not stay here if: 1 - The theme just does not sound good to you. 2 - You are looking for full fledged Disney environment, 3 - you plan on hitting multiple parks each day with breaks, 4 - You are afraid to try new things (food) or want a lot of options for fine dining. You are looking for large rooms (the bathroom is so small that multiple times the closing door caugt our toes).
Quick Park and Dining review.
We did all the parks, including Typhoon Lagoon. Sorian is a hit (get a fast pass), MNSSHP is awesome (as usual), no waits for any of the big rides, kids rode splash mountain 3 times, no wait, fireworks are great on these nights, seem like less characters / treats than last year. You can enter early, but not before 4 pm. Epcot was packed, long lines for food and all three thrill rides. MGM now bores us, they need to revamp some of their shows / rides (star tours, muppet movie, raiders show), but tot and r&R are great. At MK the Stitch ride is horrible, do not (repeat do NOT) waste your time on this. Loved the new gusher at Typhoon, get a spot by the pool down by the bar right behind the rock structures for more privacy and good views. AKL is good, but man it is just too spread out, the new ride going up (something alpine) looks incredible (bigger than splash mountain).
Dinining
LTT is great, especially at MNSSHP. Eat here if you like Thanksgiving Dinner.
Jiko, as mentioned, was awesome. Great flatbread and sampler for apps and Steak was awesome. Kids actually ordered of the adult menu and enjoyed it. The aroma here is worth the price not to mention good African wines.
50's prime time - Do it once, if you have kids, nough said.
Le Cellar - AWESOME. We do low carb, usually, but ate a ton of the breadsticks. Ceasar salad was out of this world, along with the cheese soup, of course. Steaks were good, but I thought the Jiko steak was better (more flavor, but not as big). I had one of the best cobblers I have ever eaten, served hot and it seemed like right out of the oven, not the microwave.
A quick review - When we go back we would stay at AKL again, only for a couple days and when we were doing AK and the pool. Jiko is a must and we would do LTT again for MNSSHP. Doubletree and 50's won't be on our list again, not because it was bad, just too many other options to explore. Looking towards next years MNSSHP, but will probably try either the Poly, Wilderness or Contemporary, ANY Suggestions???
A family of 4, with my daughter 12 and son 10. We have been to Disney too many times to count and have stayed at many resorts on and off site, including GF, All Star, Poly and Boardwalk, as well as Hilton and Marriott World Center.
We stayed 3 nights at Doubletree DTD. This is a nice hotel, freindly people and big rooms. Seemed slow and the pool area was dead, the pool bar was closed. Pool itself is small but clean and the game room was failry large and my son like it. We ate breakfast at the resort as I had coupons from Hilton Honors for breakfast. If I had to pay for it, it would have been disappointing. Not much is fresh and mainly doughnuts and cereal. Although they do have waffles, eggs etc..., just looked old and stayle. We had omelettes from the station and they were okay.
Bottom line:
Stay here if you 1 - need extra room, 2 - do not plan on eating / hanging out at the resort, 3 - looking for a good bargain, based on the above and 4 - do not plan attending multiple parks and coming back to hotel between and 5 - want to stay away from the crowds. (Also, if you like PI and DTD)
Do not stay if you - 1 - Want that Disney feel, 2 - Looking for a theme hotel with multiple dining options, 3 - want an all inclusive type resort.
We then spent 3 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I have seen mixed reviews on both extremes on this hotel and I have to say we would be in the middle. The resort is very well themed. You really get a genuine feel of a lodge from the lobby, to the pool, to the resturants to the rooms and views. We had a deluxe savannah room. Checkin was easy and the staff was nice. We had requested a bunk room, but were told those were not available if you book a deluxe. Our view was nice, we saw animals at almost all times we looked out. Due to bad timing on our part, we had planned to have bfast in the room on the day of checkout and watch the animals, only to see it was maintenance time and we got to see people mowing the grass and no animals. We had no trouble with busses, always seemed to be around coming and going. It is a long bus ride to anywhere other than AK and not sure why they did not put in some sort of quick access to AK as it is very close. A cool monorail over the savannah would have been nice. Pool was nice and quiet, if not fairly small. The pool bar staff was nice and they had good fresh drinks. We did have an issue with the pool being closed (and on the day we had planned to enjoy it), but it was not their fault and we went to the Cornado pool, which was actually more fun for the kids and AKL gave us a late check out so we could enjoy the pool on day of departure. We ate at Jiko and the snack area. Jiko is fantastic and I would go back there even if we were not staying. The snack area was also nice as there was plenty of variety and prices were decent.
So the Bottom Line is Stay here if: 1 - You are into a real theme, 2 - You plan on going to animal kingdom, 3 - you love animals, 4 - you want Disney propery with out all the "Disney Hype", 5 - Your not staying for a long trip (I think the animals would get a little old after 5 or 6 days at $400.00 per).
Do not stay here if: 1 - The theme just does not sound good to you. 2 - You are looking for full fledged Disney environment, 3 - you plan on hitting multiple parks each day with breaks, 4 - You are afraid to try new things (food) or want a lot of options for fine dining. You are looking for large rooms (the bathroom is so small that multiple times the closing door caugt our toes).
Quick Park and Dining review.
We did all the parks, including Typhoon Lagoon. Sorian is a hit (get a fast pass), MNSSHP is awesome (as usual), no waits for any of the big rides, kids rode splash mountain 3 times, no wait, fireworks are great on these nights, seem like less characters / treats than last year. You can enter early, but not before 4 pm. Epcot was packed, long lines for food and all three thrill rides. MGM now bores us, they need to revamp some of their shows / rides (star tours, muppet movie, raiders show), but tot and r&R are great. At MK the Stitch ride is horrible, do not (repeat do NOT) waste your time on this. Loved the new gusher at Typhoon, get a spot by the pool down by the bar right behind the rock structures for more privacy and good views. AKL is good, but man it is just too spread out, the new ride going up (something alpine) looks incredible (bigger than splash mountain).
Dinining
LTT is great, especially at MNSSHP. Eat here if you like Thanksgiving Dinner.
Jiko, as mentioned, was awesome. Great flatbread and sampler for apps and Steak was awesome. Kids actually ordered of the adult menu and enjoyed it. The aroma here is worth the price not to mention good African wines.
50's prime time - Do it once, if you have kids, nough said.
Le Cellar - AWESOME. We do low carb, usually, but ate a ton of the breadsticks. Ceasar salad was out of this world, along with the cheese soup, of course. Steaks were good, but I thought the Jiko steak was better (more flavor, but not as big). I had one of the best cobblers I have ever eaten, served hot and it seemed like right out of the oven, not the microwave.
A quick review - When we go back we would stay at AKL again, only for a couple days and when we were doing AK and the pool. Jiko is a must and we would do LTT again for MNSSHP. Doubletree and 50's won't be on our list again, not because it was bad, just too many other options to explore. Looking towards next years MNSSHP, but will probably try either the Poly, Wilderness or Contemporary, ANY Suggestions???
