Just got back from a nine day trip.
We are DVC members, but this was a not quite but almost spur of the moment trip and our points have already been allocated to a Christmas vacation.
We have kids currently taking part in the college program at WDW so for the most part this was a trip to visit them, and at the same time enjoy a little of the food and wine festival and attend one of the Hallowee parties.
We stayed at All Star Sports, it wouldn't be my first choice for future accomodation, but it was perfectly adequate. The room was clean and comfortable though a bit small. We didn;t spend much time at the hotel or use the pool, but we did take a walk around all three of the All Star Resorts and I know that had we stayed there when our kids were younger they would have enjoyed the theming and the play areas.
We never had long to wait for a bus to any of the parks. The cast members were friendly and helpful, especially those in merchandising.
We enjoyed Food & Wine festival, tried but failed to eat from every country, but managed to eat at least half of them. My favourite was probably the Lamb Slider from New Zealand, the Pork Slider from Hawaii was pretty good too. I also liked the Empanada from Argentina. Irelands Lava cake was delicious. My husband's favourite was the beef dish from Singapore and the lamb chop from Australia, the lamb chop would have been his favourite had it not been almost cold. My only complaint regarding food & wine festival is the lack of somewhere to sit and eat.
Halloween Party - I have to say that on the whole I was a little disappointed but only because last year we went to Disnayland's Halloween Party. The parade in Florida is excellent, the best part of party. Just about everything else though, Disneyland wins hands down. There seemes to be more opportunities for character meet & greets, more candy stations, better decorations, more atmosphere in California and of course Haunted Mansion is spectaculat at this time of year in Disneyland.
Dining - apart from Food & Wine, we ate a few places, Boatwrights, Raglan Road, Kouzina, Captain's Grill, Garden View Terrrace (Afternoon Tea) Kona Cafe, and one more (at least that I am not remembering right now).
Raglan Road was excellent as it has been everytime we have earen there. Good Food, good service and good atmosphere.
Afternoon Tea was also as good as ever - this is now one of our favourite things to do in WDW
but don't tell anyone else as I don't it to become too popular so that I can't get reservations
We had breakfast at Kouzina, it was okay, but nothing special, Tusker House is still our favourite place for breakfast.
We won't be going back to Captain's Grille - the service wasn't great and the fod was so -so. Also, we had made this particualr resevation from Guest Relations at Studios one day after asking to look at the menus for nearby restaurants. When we were goven menus at the Grille, it was different to the one shown to us. The chef came to our table because of food allergies two of our party have - I mentioned the out of date menu at the park, and he (the chef), was very dismissive of me and seemed not to give a damn.
The other not so great experience was at Boatwrights - though we are going to give this one another try at some point in the future. We had a reservation for 8.20pm ( alittle later than we normally like to dine which is around 7.30pm) - we were eventually seated at 9.05pm and didn't get our entrees until 10pm, when they were served, all but one entree was wrong or incomplete. Having said all of that though, the food was pretty good.
One of my main observations this trip is about cast members - we met or observed some truly great cast members, the type that understand the magic, that enjoy what they are doing, love being part of the magic and clearly enjoy what they are doing. Unfortunately we also met or observed the opposite, cast members that just don't care. As a former cast member myself (Disney Stores), it disappoints me to see cast not giving 101%, not caring. Some of the worse offenders seemed to be older cast members, maybe a little bit jaded, I don't know, sad to see though.
I did speak to managers or guest services any time I saw really good cast members, I have always tried to do that but I make an even more determined effort now since my kids have been CP's and I know how much it means for them to get GSF's (Guest Service Fanatics).
*******SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN"T BEEN ALREADY YHIS YEAR******
Oh, almost forgot, the pre-firewoks show on the castle is lovely, I'm sure I wasn;t the only one that got a lump in my throat and a little teary eyed when Walt's image was projected on to the caslte
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We are DVC members, but this was a not quite but almost spur of the moment trip and our points have already been allocated to a Christmas vacation.
We have kids currently taking part in the college program at WDW so for the most part this was a trip to visit them, and at the same time enjoy a little of the food and wine festival and attend one of the Hallowee parties.
We stayed at All Star Sports, it wouldn't be my first choice for future accomodation, but it was perfectly adequate. The room was clean and comfortable though a bit small. We didn;t spend much time at the hotel or use the pool, but we did take a walk around all three of the All Star Resorts and I know that had we stayed there when our kids were younger they would have enjoyed the theming and the play areas.
We never had long to wait for a bus to any of the parks. The cast members were friendly and helpful, especially those in merchandising.
We enjoyed Food & Wine festival, tried but failed to eat from every country, but managed to eat at least half of them. My favourite was probably the Lamb Slider from New Zealand, the Pork Slider from Hawaii was pretty good too. I also liked the Empanada from Argentina. Irelands Lava cake was delicious. My husband's favourite was the beef dish from Singapore and the lamb chop from Australia, the lamb chop would have been his favourite had it not been almost cold. My only complaint regarding food & wine festival is the lack of somewhere to sit and eat.
Halloween Party - I have to say that on the whole I was a little disappointed but only because last year we went to Disnayland's Halloween Party. The parade in Florida is excellent, the best part of party. Just about everything else though, Disneyland wins hands down. There seemes to be more opportunities for character meet & greets, more candy stations, better decorations, more atmosphere in California and of course Haunted Mansion is spectaculat at this time of year in Disneyland.
Dining - apart from Food & Wine, we ate a few places, Boatwrights, Raglan Road, Kouzina, Captain's Grill, Garden View Terrrace (Afternoon Tea) Kona Cafe, and one more (at least that I am not remembering right now).
Raglan Road was excellent as it has been everytime we have earen there. Good Food, good service and good atmosphere.
Afternoon Tea was also as good as ever - this is now one of our favourite things to do in WDW
but don't tell anyone else as I don't it to become too popular so that I can't get reservationsWe had breakfast at Kouzina, it was okay, but nothing special, Tusker House is still our favourite place for breakfast.
We won't be going back to Captain's Grille - the service wasn't great and the fod was so -so. Also, we had made this particualr resevation from Guest Relations at Studios one day after asking to look at the menus for nearby restaurants. When we were goven menus at the Grille, it was different to the one shown to us. The chef came to our table because of food allergies two of our party have - I mentioned the out of date menu at the park, and he (the chef), was very dismissive of me and seemed not to give a damn.
The other not so great experience was at Boatwrights - though we are going to give this one another try at some point in the future. We had a reservation for 8.20pm ( alittle later than we normally like to dine which is around 7.30pm) - we were eventually seated at 9.05pm and didn't get our entrees until 10pm, when they were served, all but one entree was wrong or incomplete. Having said all of that though, the food was pretty good.
One of my main observations this trip is about cast members - we met or observed some truly great cast members, the type that understand the magic, that enjoy what they are doing, love being part of the magic and clearly enjoy what they are doing. Unfortunately we also met or observed the opposite, cast members that just don't care. As a former cast member myself (Disney Stores), it disappoints me to see cast not giving 101%, not caring. Some of the worse offenders seemed to be older cast members, maybe a little bit jaded, I don't know, sad to see though.
I did speak to managers or guest services any time I saw really good cast members, I have always tried to do that but I make an even more determined effort now since my kids have been CP's and I know how much it means for them to get GSF's (Guest Service Fanatics).
*******SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN"T BEEN ALREADY YHIS YEAR******
Oh, almost forgot, the pre-firewoks show on the castle is lovely, I'm sure I wasn;t the only one that got a lump in my throat and a little teary eyed when Walt's image was projected on to the caslte
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