ADLFAN
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2015
- Messages
- 1,061
Oh maaaaaan, I'm in the first day of Post Disney Sadness and I am still reliving the fun in my mind!
We had a lot of fun on our short little 2 night, 3 day vacation as we celebrated our 5th Anniversary. It was pretty busy for mid-week in February but we did alright. We used FP to it's full potential, snagging a new one as soon as possible, either 2 hours from the time we got the first one, or after the start of the window. For the first half of the day, the start of the window circumstance would happen, making it easy to collect FP's to get on the big rides. I didn't do as well on non-FP rides! We wanted to wait for Peter Pan and Casey Jr., but PP was always so intimidating and the one time we tried, we stood still for 10 minutes and gave up in favor of the Matterhorn and it's 10 minute line! Casey Jr. broke down while we were in line, and since we were on our last day, we never saw it with a short line again.
We enjoyed the neon lighting moment in Carsland even though it was raining. I brought our raincoats but couldn't locate our rain pants at the last minute and gave up, so we ended up paying 20 bucks for 2 Disney Parks ponchos! They had them all over the counter at every store, ready to make those profits!
They actually provided a good amount of coverage, except for the forearms! We went back soaked still! We rode RSR in the rain and it was painfully fun, but there were definitely fewer things we wanted to do in the drizzle.
We ate at the Plaza Inn and it was SO DELICIOUS! I loved the legendary chicken and my hubby enjoyed the pot roast, which was very tender in his opinion. We thought the restaurant was beautiful and we sat with a view of the parade and then the fireworks. We finished dinner and got outside to the right of the restaurant and got a semi blocked view of the finale, which was surprisingly loud without the soundtrack blasting right at you!
The next night, the wind and rain cancelled the fireworks, so I was happy we watched them, even if it was a lame spot!
We also enjoyed the traditional DLR corndogs, lunch at Paradise Garden Grill, and a perfect churro / hot cocoa combination one morning! We grabbed breakfast at the Galactic Grill the other morning and ate some Bantha Blue Milk Bread French toast, very fun! My hubby said, 'hmmm... it tastes blue!' Very fun menu there right now. I wanted to try the First Order burger or the Jedi chicken sandwich, but we never made it back! We tried to grab Panera on the way back to the hotel one night, and after watching us decide for 5 minutes, someone finally said that they were experiencing a 30-40 minute back up in the kitchen (she actually said something like, 'I feel like I should actually be telling you longer, like 45 minutes...) and additionally they were out of Flatbreads, Chicken, and most of the breads were gone and would have to be substituted, too. Thanks, no thanks! I may have felt better about it if someone had called out and given me that information before I took forever to decide on... Chicken tortellini and a flatbread. Pizza Press had a massive line, so we had to make due with McDonalds, lame! But that was the wet night, and we were about done overall.
I thought it was very odd that they move the River Belle Terrace breakfast menu to Rancho del Zocalo and then it wasn't even open for breakfast! I was so looking forward to my Mickey Mouse pancake darn it! Does anyone know what is up with that schedule?
I stocked up on treats at trolley treats before I left and scored myself a Minnie Mouse anniversary rice krispy treats and the Mickey anniversary caramel apple and some of those delicious soft baked cookies all the peanut butter was so good! I also got some English toffee which I overheard a CM telling another customer they had just gotten back in but only in the family size.
We stayed at the Hotel Menage, just over the overpass and across the street from the Hojo. I booked it because it was cheaper than the closer places on Harbor by just a few bucks and they advertised a 24 hour pool / hot tub that I imagined using at all hours. In reality, we were so beat at night that we weren't up for any late night trips down there! We did use the pool and especially the small hot tub a few times during normal hours, and they were nice, but a little cloudy and used salt rather than chlorine to treat the water. There were also several tiles missing from the top row all along the pool, which seems like a fairly easy aesthetic improvement to make... We were on the top (5th) floor close to the freeway and it was loud, but like I said, we were BEAT and hardly noticed. The Hotel Menage had a room for us early, at like 10 AM, which I really appreciated! They'll deliver room service from their restaurant, which we took advantage of one morning, but it wasn't very good! Their steamed red breakfast potatoes were a bit raw and the scrambled eggs were a bit overdone and brown in spots. Dinner would probably be a little better with their selections of sandwiches and fried frozen items... No other issues with the hotel, but I was prepared for a little neglect and sloppy workmanship from reading about a million Yelp / Trip Advisor reviews so the caulk on the faucet and the hard water stained shower head didn't bother me much. The bed was comfortable but the pillows were terrible! All of the employees we talked to were great and helpful, even providing me a comb when i forgot my brush, and a second comb in case I broke the first one in my hair, haha! They had an outdoor bar near the pool but it was never staffed. They would make drinks inside and let you bring them out there where there were also several nice seating areas. Overall, unless the prices at the closer places (like the Tropicana, BWPPI, and the others I haven't tried yet) don't continue to creep up, I'd rather stay closer and probably won't repeat the Menage any time too soon.
The bus stop on harbor across from the hotels was a little funky and on two occasions I saw homeless people urinating into cups and throwing them in the garbage. Which wouldn't have been so bad if they had only been able to avoid eye contact with me during their efforts.
The ROA area looks so good, still! We caught a glimpse of a dozer tearing up something while we climbed a hill on Big Thunder! The closures and construction were not very noticeable yet, aside from extra foot traffic because no one was taking the train!
We loved our trip and of course I'm already trying to plan another one before our AP'S are done in late August!
We had a lot of fun on our short little 2 night, 3 day vacation as we celebrated our 5th Anniversary. It was pretty busy for mid-week in February but we did alright. We used FP to it's full potential, snagging a new one as soon as possible, either 2 hours from the time we got the first one, or after the start of the window. For the first half of the day, the start of the window circumstance would happen, making it easy to collect FP's to get on the big rides. I didn't do as well on non-FP rides! We wanted to wait for Peter Pan and Casey Jr., but PP was always so intimidating and the one time we tried, we stood still for 10 minutes and gave up in favor of the Matterhorn and it's 10 minute line! Casey Jr. broke down while we were in line, and since we were on our last day, we never saw it with a short line again.
We enjoyed the neon lighting moment in Carsland even though it was raining. I brought our raincoats but couldn't locate our rain pants at the last minute and gave up, so we ended up paying 20 bucks for 2 Disney Parks ponchos! They had them all over the counter at every store, ready to make those profits!
They actually provided a good amount of coverage, except for the forearms! We went back soaked still! We rode RSR in the rain and it was painfully fun, but there were definitely fewer things we wanted to do in the drizzle.We ate at the Plaza Inn and it was SO DELICIOUS! I loved the legendary chicken and my hubby enjoyed the pot roast, which was very tender in his opinion. We thought the restaurant was beautiful and we sat with a view of the parade and then the fireworks. We finished dinner and got outside to the right of the restaurant and got a semi blocked view of the finale, which was surprisingly loud without the soundtrack blasting right at you!
The next night, the wind and rain cancelled the fireworks, so I was happy we watched them, even if it was a lame spot!
We also enjoyed the traditional DLR corndogs, lunch at Paradise Garden Grill, and a perfect churro / hot cocoa combination one morning! We grabbed breakfast at the Galactic Grill the other morning and ate some Bantha Blue Milk Bread French toast, very fun! My hubby said, 'hmmm... it tastes blue!' Very fun menu there right now. I wanted to try the First Order burger or the Jedi chicken sandwich, but we never made it back! We tried to grab Panera on the way back to the hotel one night, and after watching us decide for 5 minutes, someone finally said that they were experiencing a 30-40 minute back up in the kitchen (she actually said something like, 'I feel like I should actually be telling you longer, like 45 minutes...) and additionally they were out of Flatbreads, Chicken, and most of the breads were gone and would have to be substituted, too. Thanks, no thanks! I may have felt better about it if someone had called out and given me that information before I took forever to decide on... Chicken tortellini and a flatbread. Pizza Press had a massive line, so we had to make due with McDonalds, lame! But that was the wet night, and we were about done overall.
I thought it was very odd that they move the River Belle Terrace breakfast menu to Rancho del Zocalo and then it wasn't even open for breakfast! I was so looking forward to my Mickey Mouse pancake darn it! Does anyone know what is up with that schedule?
I stocked up on treats at trolley treats before I left and scored myself a Minnie Mouse anniversary rice krispy treats and the Mickey anniversary caramel apple and some of those delicious soft baked cookies all the peanut butter was so good! I also got some English toffee which I overheard a CM telling another customer they had just gotten back in but only in the family size.
We stayed at the Hotel Menage, just over the overpass and across the street from the Hojo. I booked it because it was cheaper than the closer places on Harbor by just a few bucks and they advertised a 24 hour pool / hot tub that I imagined using at all hours. In reality, we were so beat at night that we weren't up for any late night trips down there! We did use the pool and especially the small hot tub a few times during normal hours, and they were nice, but a little cloudy and used salt rather than chlorine to treat the water. There were also several tiles missing from the top row all along the pool, which seems like a fairly easy aesthetic improvement to make... We were on the top (5th) floor close to the freeway and it was loud, but like I said, we were BEAT and hardly noticed. The Hotel Menage had a room for us early, at like 10 AM, which I really appreciated! They'll deliver room service from their restaurant, which we took advantage of one morning, but it wasn't very good! Their steamed red breakfast potatoes were a bit raw and the scrambled eggs were a bit overdone and brown in spots. Dinner would probably be a little better with their selections of sandwiches and fried frozen items... No other issues with the hotel, but I was prepared for a little neglect and sloppy workmanship from reading about a million Yelp / Trip Advisor reviews so the caulk on the faucet and the hard water stained shower head didn't bother me much. The bed was comfortable but the pillows were terrible! All of the employees we talked to were great and helpful, even providing me a comb when i forgot my brush, and a second comb in case I broke the first one in my hair, haha! They had an outdoor bar near the pool but it was never staffed. They would make drinks inside and let you bring them out there where there were also several nice seating areas. Overall, unless the prices at the closer places (like the Tropicana, BWPPI, and the others I haven't tried yet) don't continue to creep up, I'd rather stay closer and probably won't repeat the Menage any time too soon.
The bus stop on harbor across from the hotels was a little funky and on two occasions I saw homeless people urinating into cups and throwing them in the garbage. Which wouldn't have been so bad if they had only been able to avoid eye contact with me during their efforts.
The ROA area looks so good, still! We caught a glimpse of a dozer tearing up something while we climbed a hill on Big Thunder! The closures and construction were not very noticeable yet, aside from extra foot traffic because no one was taking the train!
We loved our trip and of course I'm already trying to plan another one before our AP'S are done in late August!
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