Most Recent Reviews
Review of Grand Cayman
Reviewed by jld325 Review Date: 01/14/2016
Rating: (8) Recommended
We cruised on the Fantasy the week after Thanksgiving. For our Cayman port adventure, we chose to surprise our 2 kids, ages 12 & 14, (and fulfill a dream of mine) and do the extreme dolphin swim. I'll start out by saying the experience itself was FABULOUS! We had so much fun interacting with the dolphins, and we had plenty of time with them. Now, here's the catch. We were a group of 8, and we ALL participated, which left no one out of the water to take pictures. No problem, they put you in groups of 12, and you have your own photographer. And boy, does he take a ton of pictures. After the experience, we were shown into the store, where there were computers to look at the pictures. I fully expected to pay an inflated price for pictures. It is a resort area, it is a kind of tourist thing. I definitely wanted a few and was taking my time browsing them when my husband insistently said he thinks they are a lot of money. I called an employee over, and she very curtly asked how many people are in the group. I told her I had several pictures I wanted, and pulled up a specific one of my immediate family (4 of us) with the dolphin in front of us. She picked up a frame from the table and held it up (she was not very polite at all) and said THESE are the prices. $38/per person in the picture. Are you kidding me? So the picture of my family would have cost me $160. For 1 picture. That is absolutely astronomical. And stupid business sense. We bought no pictures, which was a shame, but we have some great memories.
Pros:
SO much funCons:
PICTURE PRICES!!!Review of Tokyo Dining
Reviewed by DisneyBride1013 Review Date: 10/04/2014
Rating: (3) Not Recommended
We go to WDW at least once a year and always stay for two weeks minimum. We are such huge fans of Tokyo Dining and always eat there at least three times per trip because the food is delicious and it's very easy to eat there if you have food allergies. But, during our most recent trip in March of 2014 we were horribly disappointed in the service and changes to the menu. We were promptly seated but waited more than 10 minutes for a waitress to appear at the table. After she took our drink order it was another 10 minutes to get the drinks. Then, it was 30 minutes before receiving food and we never got drink refills. After we were done eating it took 15 minutes and waving down the manager to get the check. What should have been a 45 minute lunch was nearly three hours. I'm not kidding. And, we were shocked to see a more limited menu (especially sushi) and we were disappointed to receive cold paper wipes instead of nice warm cotton towels at the beginning of the meal. Overall, not a good experience.
Pros:
Food was tasty and allergy friendly managerCons:
Slow waitress, new limited menu and paper wipes replaced warm towelsReviewed by mkymouse4ever Review Date: 10/04/2014
Rating: (8) Recommended
This was our first stay at CSR 9/16 > 9/18. We have stayed moderates before: CBR & PORS. We actually thought we now prefer CSR. Being adult only trip it was nice to have less children and more adult atmosphere. Due to the convention area, we did see more adult only's here.
Room was very clean, quiet, and we had a great location in Rancheros. Short walk to main pool area. We also liked the smaller quiet pool areas. We used our car to get to the main building. We never heard people from our room.
Pros:
grounds are beauitful, pool area, More adult atmosphereCons:
walking distanceReview of Contemporary Resort (Deluxe Resort)
Reviewed by mkymouse4ever Review Date: 10/04/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
We stayed at CR mkv tower room, sept 18 > 30. We had requested 1 room request to be over the shops and far from chef mickey's. We checked in at 9 am > so I am sure we had a good shot at getting our request. The front desk CM said your room is ready > I asked about the request and she said yep no problem you are very far down the hall from chef mickey's. Turned out we where the closest room to the side of chef mickey's. I didn't go back down we just did our usual of putting pillows around the door at night so as not to wake up very early with the loud resturant. Just kinda odd that the cm was unaware where these rooms really are.
We are regular's at CR and again loved our stay. Room had a few issues. The floor lamp and the desk lamp did not work and a few bulb's where burned out in bathroom too. I did call maintaneous > they fixed the desk, but not the others. Mousekeeping overall was excellent. 1 day we left the room after 11am and upon return late that night our room was not done. The night cm replaced towel for us.
Elevators are a big issue on friday night they locked 3 elevators for california grille during a busy time. And I think a sign for the escalator's would be a good idea since no one seems to try them, some where totally unaware of escalator's being available.
Parking lot is a problem, due to the amount of people parking for mk, resturants, or employee's going to mk.
We did have a major issue with room service. Since there is not a review area for room service I will add this here. Our order was incorrect the 2 meals we ordered. Things where missing and oddly a cobb salad was a bunch of greens with a dressing I could not figure out. Not chopped up or green goddess dressing. They added a large piece of chocholate to a carrot cake, which is ok but sis is allergic to chocholate and we thought carrot cake would be safe.
Overall, yes we had a few issues. But, I would still stay here again. None of these issues bothered us or our trip.
The pool area is super, as is the boat rental. We love to spend time out on the lakes. Taking the monorail is always a plus. A little long going to Epcot, but a nice ride. Buses ran efficent for us. But, we also use a rental car and drive to ak and ds.
Pros:
location! MK view!Cons:
elevatorsReview of Main Street Bakery Serving Starbucks
Reviewed by disneymom35 Review Date: 10/03/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
It's so nice to get good coffee, iced tea and baked goods on Main Street once again. The old bakery was getting to be a little run down with their products, and we all know how hard it is to get a good cup of coffee in WDW. I wanted to hate it, but I love it.
People complain about no seating but if you take a very short walk over by Casey's Corner (at least in the a.m.), there are plenty of places to sit and view the park or crowd.
Pros:
Great productsCons:
Can be long linesReview of All Star Movies Resort (Value Resort)
Reviewed by disneymom35 Review Date: 10/03/2014
Rating: (8) Recommended
We stayed here for a quick (cheap) weekend getaway. Was fine for what we paid.
I always make my own morning coffee and tea when at WDW and was disappointed to find that rooms no longer come with a coffeemaker. Mousekeeping was kind of rude when we called to see if we could request one and was told "You can buy cups of coffee in the food court."
Anyway, room was very clean. Mighty Ducks section was very quiet but far away from anything. We actually walked to AS Music bus stop as it was closer to our room.
Pros:
Mousekeeping, quietCons:
Long walk to anything, no coffee makerReview of IllumiNations Sparkling Dessert Party
Reviewed by DanInNH Review Date: 10/03/2014
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
First, it hadn't rained for hours & hours. We called to ask where we should go for the event since it was not listed on the mobile app & was told to go over by Mexico. When we were there, and the event wasn't, they told us Norway. So we went. Nope, not there. They told us to go back to Mexico, so we went back. Still not there. Walked to between the two gift shops by entrance to World Showcase, who then told us due to weather (?) it was moved to the American Pavillion. Boats were idle and my Aunt with a bad hip had to walk completely around to exactly opposite where we were. And with the Food & Wine event going it, there were way too many people, and many drunken fools, the walk was at best tedious and annoying.
Upon getting there, there was a plethora of people milling about and then they started to let us in - we were stopped as we did not have the requisite stickers on our shirts. We said what stickers? Apparently there was only ONE person out there taking names and handing out stickers...so everyone who didn't have one - most - stood in line again. The dessert selections were few - multiple tables dishing out the same items. Nothing at all worth while. The lighting was so low, you couldn't read the signs or make out what you were scooping. After all the walking we did to get to it, they then told us to get to the viewing area we had to walk to the bridge between France and UK. Really? Someone else booked the viewing area nearest where we were.
Since we have to give our cell numbers and make advance reservations, and they have our email, they had to know they were moving the event ahead of time - you don't just move everything on a spur of the moment. Why didn't they contact people with reservations to let us know where the event was now being held. Why take the information if they are not going to use it.
All in all, poor management, cast members were unable to tell us where to go, no communication attempt to attendees, desserts were poor...the ice water was great. They didn't mess that up!
We walked out and on our way exiting EPCOT, found a family of 4 waiting near the bridge to view the fireworks, and we gave them our stickers and told them to enjoy the viewing! We made their day magical at least.
We had this event booked for another trip in October and cancelled that immediately. Fool me once....
Pros:
I didn't have to stayCons:
Poor Communication, Poor selection of desserts, Poor lightingReviewed by Jazzfool20 Review Date: 10/03/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
My family and I just returned from a stay (Sept. 23rd - Oct. 1st) at my "home" the GF Villas, and Everything was almost perfect. This was my premier stay, and it had been a dream to stay at the Grand Floridian for many years. Having been a DVC member by association for many years (my parents own at OKW) I've come to expect a lot, and was not disappointed. The grounds and building are stunning. The theme and period music, i.e. Paul Whiteman, The Mills Blue Rhythm Band, Artie Shaw, etc...are par excellence (though sadly most people don't notice, and it's lost on them). Covered walkway from the villas to the main building is wonderful, especially when it rains. The rooms are equally exceptional. We were in a studio, and had a great view of the monorail and grounds. There's one bed, and a pull-out sofa, which my parents said was the best they'd ever slept on. Closet/drawer space was fine for three people, though might be a bit tough for four. Linens, and robes were lovely, as was the split bathroom.
There were a few very minor negatives: There was almost nowhere to hang anything - only one double hook in one bathroom. Very little drawer space - in fact only one, and a weird pull down drawer on the other side. Also only one sink. The overall size of the room was a bit on the small side, but I think that's because the bathrooms are so big, and I'm comparing them mainly to OKW which as the biggest DVC studios on property.
Overall would highly recommend, and can't wait to return!
Pros:
Beautiful room, exceptional theme, lovely grounds, and location...Cons:
noneReview of FastPass+ (Retired)
Reviewed by MM from Connecticut Review Date: 10/02/2014
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
Fast Pass+ forced me to micro-manage our vacation. Not only did we have to select 3 attractions per day, but now I had to coordinate those attractions with my dining reservations (location, time to get from one to the other, etc.) and had to predict a month in advance where and what time I wanted to be at a certain attraction?!? And what if we woke up in the morning and decided to go to a different park? Or decided to stay at the pool and go to the park in the evening? Out of luck -- no way to get any decent Fast Pass attractions. Completely took out all the spontaneity of the trip. Not a fan ...
Pros:
Can get Character Greetings and other non-attractionsCons:
Way too much planning ... impossible to change for anything decent last-minute, app doesn't always workReview of Backlot Express
Reviewed by nlg0517 Review Date: 10/02/2014
Rating: (5) Recommended
This is the second time we ate here & not much has changed since 2012. The food is your basic QS, burgers, nuggets. I had the bacon cheeseburger, it was a little bland. DH had the turkey sandwich, he thought it was good. The kids all had nuggets, which were okay. They only had one condiments bar open which people continually tried to use. I hate to admit I kind of enjoyed watching people trying to get ice & drinks from a station that had 2 signs explaining that they needed to go down the ramp to get drinks & condiments.
