That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up; A Feb. '21 birthday TR with a little "extra" thrown in *LINK TO NEW TR! 10/9!*

[Wood Nymph]

We were there 4 nights the 5-9th and we stayed at CSR in a preferred room. We haven't stayed in the CSR part for awhile, just the tower, and I do not think we'll be staying here again soon lol.

It seems like there have been a lot of negative reports about CSR during the Covid restrictions. My sister and I were originally booked at CSR for our quick weekend get away last January. I checked the restaurant menus in preparation and was disappointed at the few options there were. I was looking forward to staying there until I saw how limited the menus were. So the free upgrade to GF came at the right time.

Croque Monsieur
Classic French Ham and Swiss served with choice of Side

I've never seen a ham and cheese sandwich with cheese melted on top of the sandwich.

I like resorts like BC Marketplace where you have the option to mobile order or pick up your food yourself. I didn't like the fact that places like Gasparilla's were mobile order only. It made it hard to pick up snacks.

 

[CruellaNY]

Welcome back! Glad to hear you had a great trip! I will be eager to hear your thoughts on CSR as we are there on arrival night in a standard room. Any recommendations for pool drinks? BTW, I booked my plane tickets on Sunday.... it's official! 58 days and counting.

Ugh I missed answering you! I saw that you booked your tickets So so happy it appears you're finally getting to go back!! So for 1 night I think CSR will be fine. The rooms are nice so that's not an issue, it's really the transportation. And the qs stinks for breakfast as everything is grab and go, the breakfast "platters" are all pre-wrapped up now which I didn't like. But I know you want to eat at Three Bridges- do it! We had nachos and grouper tacos at the pool, nachos were basic and Steve loved his tacos! I had the El Mojito
El Mojito
Rum, Elderflower Liquor, Mint, Lime
Which was really good and Steve of course had a Mule. As I said it was super duper hot, we went to the pool mid afternoon and had no problem getting chairs!

I like resorts like BC Marketplace where you have the option to mobile order or pick up your food yourself. I didn't like the fact that places like Gasparilla's were mobile order only. It made it hard to pick up snacks.

Yup that was the thing at Primo Piatto. We had to mobile order- there were 2 tables taken in the place- waited 22 minutes for food. Steve had gotten a bottle of water which he downed almost right away and to get another bottle he'd have had to mobile order again rather than walking up to the cooler and getting one! Ridiculous I feel.

Not sure why CSR didn't handle reopening well lol. They definitely need more buses/drivers all around and maybe due to the multiple stops you feel it here; wondering if you feel it at CBR as well. And other qs seem to have decent offerings so not sure why the company that runs theirs is choosing to do it this way but it does stink since Rix never has same day openings and while Three Bridges is wonderful you can't guarantee getting in at a certain time. We did see that Maya Grill is reopening on the 24th of this month so that may help.

 

[missjackiemcg]

The hash brown patty looking thing underneath are the grits! He was drooling over this in between bites and now I want to go back here when we return in Sept.

Fried grits are AMAZING, aren't they?! The first time I had them was at Pat O'Brien's in New Orleans, and I was in LOVE!!!
We did not enjoy using mobile order on our trip last July, but it was pretty easy and everything was ready quickly with so few guests in the parks. The lines and crazy waits I've been reading about/seeing at WDW and USO for food are legit INSANE! I'm so glad you suggested we make dining reservations for next week because I would have cried having to wait every time I'm hungry LOL

 

[kclark9830]

Buses were bad last week. Two thumbs down from us .

 

[pkondz]

we stayed at CSR in a preferred room. We haven't stayed in the CSR part for awhile, just the tower, and I do not think we'll be staying here again soon lol.

Uh, oh...

This was our 7th trip post-COVID and while we had a good time and I'm always happy to be there, we definitely felt the influx of increased travelers and the need to bring back more CM's for the first time in those 7 trips!

I hope they get to hiring, quickly. We need these people back!

My filet outside at STK:

I am going to assume it's the lighting and your steak is not in fact, black?

Verdict: I'll take Narcoossee's, Citricos, Flying Fish, Jiko, California Grill over STK any day. It wasn't BAD but for the reputation and price it was not worth it.

That's a shame. For the price, I better get what I pay for.

it was just so ungodly hot there was no way we were eating outside.

Oh! I hadn't followed the weather down there much.

Anyway we got 2 sandwiches to share:

Those both look good!

We ate at Biergarten for the first time in years and that was really really good as well, especially not being seated with others.

Was it buffet? Or something else? Family style?

The hash brown patty looking thing underneath are the grits! He was drooling over this in between bites and now I want to go back here when we return in Sept.

Okay... surely that's not from Biergarten? Where did you get that?

This trip every place we had to mobile order and then we'd wait 15-20 minutes past the window time for our food. The pick up lines were ridiculous too!

Huh! That's odd. You'd think it would lower wait times, not increase them. Hopefully they'll get the kinks out of the system.

Mojitos by the CSR pool.

Ahhhhh...

Speaking of pools there was no capacity sign up, chairs weren't as distanced as they had been previously and the 2 times we went it was wide open so I don't believe they are limiting pool capacity anymore.

Good news! )

LOL my friend did this! The first day we went to Kohl's once vaccinated people didn't need to wear a mask she kept hers on because she hadn't put makeup on the bottom of her face It was/is a real thing!

 

[suse66]

I really don't complain about our Disney trips as far as lines, crowds, and transportation, but transportation this trip was a HUGE and part of that was due to our resort. This was our 7th trip post-COVID and while we had a good time and I'm always happy to be there, we definitely felt the influx of increased travelers and the need to bring back more CM's for the first time in those 7 trips!

Oh dear! They really do need to bring more buses back online.

Verdict: I'll take Narcoossee's, Citricos, Flying Fish, Jiko, California Grill over STK any day. It wasn't BAD but for the reputation and price it was not worth it. Food cost is something else we don't concern ourselves with in Disney and just eat what we want and where we want; we'll pay for good food! I like the Victoria Filet at Outback better. Sides weren't stand-out either; Steve liked his veggies but my mashed potatoes weren't smooth and creamy and I basically ate the parmesan crusted top off of the dish

I read a few STK reviews and was not impressed. It is SO expensive too!

We also tried a new QS and now I can so proudly say I've eaten at every WDW resort qs location. Yay......but this was a good thing last Tuesday. We left Hollywood Studios via Skyliner to try Primo Piatto at the Riviera. I would have liked to try Bar Riva over there since @Jenny Sanders always says how good it is but it was just so ungodly hot there was no way we were eating outside.
It was worth the trip! Other than having to mobile order rather than walking in to a just about empty dining area at 2pm (mobile ordering was another nope this trip that hasn't really bothered us to this point) Anyway we got 2 sandwiches to share:

Definitely taking your Primo Piatto tip. I actually tagged you in my PTR about it...I know Jack will love that Italian sandwich!

Mojitos by the CSR pool. Speaking of pools there was no capacity sign up, chairs weren't as distanced as they had been previously and the 2 times we went it was wide open so I don't believe they are limiting pool capacity anymore. It was bloomin' hot but the pool wasn't insanely crowded either time. And the line at La Cava wasn't long either! Cheers to drinking in Epcot!

The pool drinks look great. Glad to hear it wasn't to crowded either. Drinks in Epcot are always the best!

Ugh I missed answering you! I saw that you booked your tickets So so happy it appears you're finally getting to go back!! So for 1 night I think CSR will be fine. The rooms are nice so that's not an issue, it's really the transportation. And the qs stinks for breakfast as everything is grab and go, the breakfast "platters" are all pre-wrapped up now which I didn't like. But I know you want to eat at Three Bridges- do it! We had nachos and grouper tacos at the pool, nachos were basic and Steve loved his tacos! I had the El Mojito
El Mojito
Rum, Elderflower Liquor, Mint, Lime
Which was really good and Steve of course had a Mule. As I said it was super duper hot, we went to the pool mid afternoon and had no problem getting chairs!

I am so excited for Three Bridges! Super excited for the whole trip of course! I am planning up a storm and Jack is laughing at me as he doesn't think we need so many plans. He has no idea of my true level of Disney obsession!

 

[Steppesister]

Totally agree about mobile ordering. It'd be way faster if they just did away with it or did away with MAKING you do it. I too, even in April waited a few times LONG past our pick up window and it wasn't fun.

The El Mojito sounds absolutely amazing!!! I really want to try that!

The bus system is a total disaster right now and yes, it's CSR that's the worst. Truly there were times it just sucked. We did Lyft WAY more, but sadly had to wait for those too at times.

I will! We'll figure it out and post in our "group" I'm trying to work out dining and still playing around with park days a bit but once we do dining we'll have a better idea of good nights/afternoons. With the crowds I do expect to be spending quite a bit of time relaxing at GP!

Sounds like a (non) plan.

 

[kastoney]

I really don't complain about our Disney trips as far as lines, crowds, and transportation, but transportation this trip was a HUGE and part of that was due to our resort. This was our 7th trip post-COVID and while we had a good time and I'm always happy to be there, we definitely felt the influx of increased travelers and the need to bring back more CM's for the first time in those 7 trips!

Crowds certainly seem like they are mounting and without the influx of the college program yet it certainly seems like it is having an effect. Not sure If I told you but we ended up switching to the Swan for this trip. At Shades of Green we ususally uber a lot of places and I've read that even getting an uber is getting hard. Thought it would be good to be where we could walk to 2 parks, 3 other resorts, and of course have the skyliner. We've never stayed there before but I was able to get a government rate so its not much more than shades. 2 days and counting

That does not even look remotely appetizing. If Outback is better ya know that isn't a selling point. Of course I also haven't eaten at an Outback in probably 20 years so maybe it got better

hese were definitely some of, if not THE best, qs sandwiches we've had down there and although it was just 2 meal I put this up with Artist Palette (my favorite resort qs). It's a quick trip from HS and I think a great alternative especially if you want to see the resort!

This is on my list of places to try as those sandwiches look divine. I've read that that nicose salad is really good too. So nice to see that Disney is elevating the QS game. Still not my preferred eating style but good to have options.

Steve got the shrimp and grits and lo and behold, those grits were fried!

YUM!!!! I love me some shrimp and grits (not as much as Steve of course) and frying it up sounds all the better.

Cheers to drinking in Epcot!

Cheers to me finally being back in 2 days. Did I mention 2 days???

 

[CruellaNY]

We did not enjoy using mobile order on our trip last July, but it was pretty easy and everything was ready quickly with so few guests in the parks. The lines and crazy waits I've been reading about/seeing at WDW and USO for food are legit INSANE! I'm so glad you suggested we make dining reservations for next week because I would have cried having to wait every time I'm hungry LOL

I hope you enjoy where you're eating! They need to get that all worked out in both places and soon.

Buses were bad last week. Two thumbs down from us .

LOL I hope between that and Miles' bout with fever are the only things that get a thumbs down about your trip! But yup they were..................

I am going to assume it's the lighting and your steak is not in fact, black?

Well yes and no....it was pretty dark-the steak. It did have a darker seasoning on it but otherwise it didn't have an appealing look. It wasn't terrible! But no need to ever have it again lol

Was it buffet? Or something else? Family style?

Family style! It's been that way since reopening and while I don't care if they go back to a buffet but I do hope they keep seating each party separately rather than putting multiple parties at the same table; much more comfortable that way.

Okay... surely that's not from Biergarten? Where did you get that?

No lol that's House of Blues. Another great meal!

I read a few STK reviews and was not impressed. It is SO expensive too!

Yes and we don't mind expensive if the food is worth it as we've found at just about every signature; but not here. It wasn't a terrible meal but we did both leave a bit disappointed and felt it was NOT worth the price. But on the other hand I can now say I've been there!

Definitely taking your Primo Piatto tip. I actually tagged you in my PTR about it...I know Jack will love that Italian sandwich!

I saw that you tagged me and read it and meant to respond but I'm so bad with responding lately! And getting to the PTR page!! But definitely do it, I think my boys would enjoy it and sure Jack will too.

I am so excited for Three Bridges! Super excited for the whole trip of course! I am planning up a storm and Jack is laughing at me as he doesn't think we need so many plans. He has no idea of my true level of Disney obsession!

Haha once you're there and he sees how smoothly everything is going he'll understand the planning and be glad you did it

Totally agree about mobile ordering. It'd be way faster if they just did away with it or did away with MAKING you do it. I too, even in April waited a few times LONG past our pick up window and it wasn't fun.

I like quite a few of the post-COVID changes but this is not one of them, the mobile ordering mandate needs to GO!!

The bus system is a total disaster right now and yes, it's CSR that's the worst. Truly there were times it just sucked. We did Lyft WAY more, but sadly had to wait for those too at times.

We usually do more Uber/Lyft than buses as well but we're also usually at a resort that has at least one other transportation option too. I worry what it'll be like - transportation all around - for the 50th..................

Sounds like a (non) plan.

Well you know me, the non planner!!!!

 

[CruellaNY]

Not sure If I told you but we ended up switching to the Swan for this trip. At Shades of Green we ususally uber a lot of places and I've read that even getting an uber is getting hard. Thought it would be good to be where we could walk to 2 parks, 3 other resorts, and of course have the skyliner. We've never stayed there before but I was able to get a government rate so its not much more than shades. 2 days and counting

Oh you did not! That's great, we haven't stayed there either but you can't beat the area and we do want to try sometime but it usually doesn't compare to the rates I can get. I just had a client stay at the Dolphin and they loved it. Just remember to take the bus from BC or Yacht when you go to MK so you don't go to the TTC!

Of course I also haven't eaten at an Outback in probably 20 years so maybe it got better

LOL the boys love Outback so I can attest that I rather go there than back to STK. I do not recommend you guys try it.

Still not my preferred eating style but good to have options.

Yes same for us, I rather do a lounge for lunch if not a TS but at least there are a handful of decent qs options around now. One in each park or easy access to one from each park works for me!

Cheers to me finally being back in 2 days. Did I mention 2 days???

I am seriously so excited for you all

 

[pkondz]

Well yes and no....it was pretty dark-the steak. It did have a darker seasoning on it but otherwise it didn't have an appealing look. It wasn't terrible! But no need to ever have it again lol

Yeah, you're not exactly selling it here. Pass.

Family style! It's been that way since reopening and while I don't care if they go back to a buffet but I do hope they keep seating each party separately rather than putting multiple parties at the same table; much more comfortable that way.

So you're saying you're not an extreme extrovert...

 

[Steppesister]

We usually do more Uber/Lyft than buses as well but we're also usually at a resort that has at least one other transportation option too. I worry what it'll be like - transportation all around - for the 50th..................

OH man. I hope they are gearing up. But, I do think they'll open the EPCOT mono by then, so that should help at least a tiny bit.

Well you know me, the non planner!!!!

 

[CruellaNY]

o you're saying you're not an extreme extrovert...

You know I'm not, despite how outgoing I seem here and how often I meet up with strangers (who become friends) in Disney lol. I like being social but it's weird when you're there at a long table with folks you don't know and you're eating.
We went twice with the kids over the years; one time I don't remember; the other we sat with a bigger family from Tampa. They were there with family members from out of state and we did talk about NY, AP's, kids as their grandkids were there and ours were young but Chris was being Chris and as you probably know by now he has not always been......appealing in public I mean he showed his displeasure at being involved when he and I met Kari @kastoney and Casey for brunch in MD. a few years back by uttering "no" a few times during the meal along with letting it be known he hated the wings he ordered and that was the extent of his communication other than facial expressions Then Steve and I went to Biergarten alone once and sat with a couple from the UK. I asked quite a few questions and the husband seemed annoyed lol and the table was small- we were directly across from them like they were our traveling BFF's. So for a dinner experience I prefer the way it is now!

OH man. I hope they are gearing up. But, I do think they'll open the EPCOT mono by then, so that should help at least a tiny bit.

I agree they'll open it and most likely have more buses/drivers; one can only hope!

 

[pkondz]

You know I'm not, despite how outgoing I seem here and how often I meet up with strangers (who become friends) in Disney lol. I like being social but it's weird when you're there at a long table with folks you don't know and you're eating.

I couldn't agree more.

Chris was being Chris and as you probably know by now he has not always been......appealing in public I mean he showed his displeasure at being involved when he and I met Kari @kastoney and Casey for brunch in MD. a few years back by uttering "no" a few times during the meal along with letting it be known he hated the wings he ordered and that was the extent of his communication other than facial expressions

Oh, dear. But... boys will be boys?

I asked quite a few questions and the husband seemed annoyed lol

 

[CruellaNY]

Hi hi hi! Hope you all enjoyed your weekend! We had a full house yesterday as we do most Sundays:



And next Sunday we'll be celebrating this cutie's 3rd birthday!

In other news my sister will be up in a couple weeks from Georgia with her boys and I'm looking forward to that as we haven't seen each other since Xmas. Plus I need to start getting it together for our trip to Punta Cana next month! I was thinking I might still have this going then and I'd be able to do a little PC TR but looks like I'll be done, and that's so weird not to have another Disney trip to write about! Usually if I'm finishing one up I have another one to start or another trip coming to write about soon but now we aren't going back until September-I know poor me- so I'll be relying on all of you who are visiting to write reports for me to read But I will do one more update on this trip and finish our Thanksgiving trip before I'm out!
​

I went over the food already so I'll just do a recap of our days. We started at AK on arrival day and it happened to be the day the electricity died. Or really the day that there was a huge outage and all that was open for a few hours basically was Pandora. And it just so happened that's where we went first so we had no knowledge of the outage until I had 3 co-workers texting going "what's happening in AK? Aren't you there???" because clients were going nuts. We were in Satuli and headed to the safari which was also open so hadn't even looked at anything! Waits weren't bad and after the safari we watched the new FOTLK and by then all areas were open but boy were there a lot of unhappy people! Dinoland and Asia had been down including ITTBAB; and all dining in those areas was unavailable so people who had placed mobile orders were then unable to claim them once the outage hit. Ah well we were fine lol! And that was our only visit to AK this time.
Next was MK and we had a great day! We arrived about 45 minutes after opening and rode 9 rides in 3.5 hours plus ate breakfast. Got a great view of TRON construction on the Peoplemover:



And caught BTMRR before it went down for a short refurb. Also got a good shot of Rosita's birdcage in the queue; anyone know the significance of this?



I had no idea about it until our February trip; no googling! I'll answer next time if nobody knows!

We also rode Jungle Cruise once the wait went down. We'd ridden in April and neither of us thought the poor Rhino nudging nothing was cute at all. However at that time we could still see Trader Sam even though they didn't mention him. I wanted to see what was up now; funny there was an older woman on line behind us (and by older I mean older than me which at this stage in life does NOT really mean old) and she was riding for the same reason and not looking forward to the changes.
Our skipper did as good a job she could with what she had; three areas covered with green tarps and chains including our friend Sam and in all 3 spots she was like "hey what the heck is that? I've never seen that in the jungle!" which was lame and I wonder if they HAD to say it. When we got to the new totem pole she started explaining who everyone was; ok, but I never really needed their names before:



Well at least that's back. And while it's not one of my favorite rides I'll probably do it next trip to see the finished product.
It was such a great day in the MK and the most we got done in any park this trip! We left to get lunch at Geyser Point and then came back and then had dinner at the Wave and later is when we met up with Renee and family in Epcot.

The next morning before a park we tried breakfast at Cape May. We'd done it once before with the buffet and characters and found it to be one of like 3 buffets we liked in Disney; no longer a buffet and no characters we found the food fine enough to start the day; nothing special although the did have custom omelets- and MINNIE waffles




We didn't try many festival booths this trip mainly because it was HOT and we did have lots of meals planned. Steve got his shrimp a couple times though! And I got my cider flight while chatting with Caroline @disneyAndi14. I got pictures with nobody I met for some reason! Anyway we didn't even ride anything there other than the 3 Caballeros and Soarin'; we mainly roamed and shopped and saw some entertainment. Hollywood Studios was a different story though! Other than our one MK morning we got the most done there and had a really good morning minus a 3o minute line for Starbucks

We didn't get a BG which I assume was our punishment for getting BG's like 3 times and not using them; this did not ruin our day and probably made it better because we didn't need to keep checking on it and then possibly be ready to go but need to stick around to ride. We did get there before opening; it's rough riding what you want here with low waits and I had to do dining that morning anyway so it worked out! Park opened at 9, we were on line at 8:15 and within a few minutes this was behind us to the right:




Yup and getting there early worked because not only were we on and off Slinky before official opening but I got to ride TOT 3x with no wait longer than 20 minutes!




We also did RnRC and MMRR, both were under 40 minutes and honestly I STILL after almost 10 visits with no FP, prefer those lines to FP because they move! For instance MMRR was 60 earlier in the day and when we rode at about 11:30 it went down to 40; with FP that would NOT happen if you didn't have a FP. Anyway that's where we happened to get in line behind @WishesQueen and had a nice conversation with her and her DH!

We left around 12:30ish I believe and skyliner'ed it over to the Riviera for our lunch at Primo Piatto and those yummy sandwiches I showed you before. I leave you with a few pictures I took on our walk inside. It's a pretty resort and the rooms look spacious and fresh (fresh??) but honestly the resort does nothing for me; no desire to stay here. I'm sure I will at some point just to say I have even for a night or two and I know people who love it, which is the beauty of so many resorts to choose from.

 

[CruellaNY]

Oh, dear. But... boys will be boys?

Yes boys will be boys, with 4 of them I definitely know that! Chris is in a whole 'nother category- Chris will be Chris........................

 

[pkondz]

our trip to Punta Cana next month!

Very nice! I've never been to the Caribbean. Unless you count Key West... and I don't think you do.

looks like I'll be done, and that's so weird not to have another Disney trip to write about!

What???? I beg your pardon??? What are you trying to pull, lady?


On second thought, don't answer that. Family board and all.

I'll be relying on all of you who are visiting to write reports for me to read

Don't look at me! I can't even get to North Dakota!

the day the electricity died. Or really the day that there was a huge outage and all that was open for a few hours basically was Pandora.

Well, sure. It's on a whole 'nother planet and all.

boy were there a lot of unhappy people!

Yeah, I bet.

Got a great view of TRON construction on the Peoplemover:

Really looking forward to that one.

Also got a good shot of Rosita's birdcage in the queue; anyone know the significance of this?

Hmmm... that depends. I didn't know it was "Rosita's"... but I do know the use of birds in mining.

there was an older woman on line behind us (and by older I mean older than me which at this stage in life does NOT really mean old)

in all 3 spots she was like "hey what the heck is that? I've never seen that in the jungle!"

Hmm... Yeah, they could've come up with something a bit more clever.

And while it's not one of my favorite rides I'll probably do it next trip to see the finished product.

That's pretty much how I feel about it. I mean... I remember seeing it on TV when I was a kid and being fascinated by it... so it's probably more of a nostalgic thing with a bit of hoping for a good skipper thrown in.

Steve got his shrimp a couple times though!

I got my cider flight while chatting with Caroline @disneyAndi14.

Dismeets are always good.

I got pictures with nobody I met for some reason!

I had to read that twice! It's like a double or triple negative.
Okay... she got pictures... with nobody she met... so other people? No... pictures of nobody... so... pictures with no one... which means... no pictures of people she met! Got it!

We didn't get a BG which I assume was our punishment for getting BG's like 3 times and not using them;

That'll learn ya!

Park opened at 9, we were on line at 8:15 and within a few minutes this was behind us to the right:

not only were we on and off Slinky before official opening but I got to ride TOT 3x with no wait longer than 20 minutes!

not bad!

Yes boys will be boys, with 4 of them I definitely know that! Chris is in a whole 'nother category- Chris will be Chris........................

Yes, you'd know! Maybe Chris got his wires crossed somewhere. Chris Cross.

 

[disneyAndi14]

We went over to Riviera and had the parmigiana French fries as a snack, these were really tasty.
I like the resort, it is fresh and does remind me of when I was in the French Riviera region. Spot on!
ahh Steve could have snapped a picture of us, oh well, it was nice visiting with you. We loved the pink lemonade cider, our favorite, Andi did get a good one at the Hanger Bar it was Ace Pineapple cider, very good. She also had the drink you like there. I had the cool headed monkey again. The empanada and pretzel were yummy!

 

[EvilVillainess]

Im.going to take a guess about Rosita's cage...did they perhaps use Rosita in the mine? When the bird stops singing its time to leave the mine???

 

[kclark9830]

Oh my goodness, when I heard about the power outtages I was so glad to have missed that!