Most Recent Reviews
Review of Epcot After Hours Wind Down
Reviewed by heavenlyfood Review Date: 07/24/2014
Rating: (6) Recommended
Even though the price is expensive for what you get, if you take a hard look at the value, its really, probably worth it. On the night that I attended, there was only one other table with two gentlemen who ultimately aslked me to join them. The beer flight is a sampler of all of the English beers that they have on tap and if there is one that you would prefer to skip, they are happy to substitute another style. They easily could have increased the size of this offering a bit because compared to the large offering of food, the beverages seem a bit skimpy. On the food side, we received a slab of English cheese along with a scotch egg and a sausage roll. After already eatying dinner, I was wishing that they simply offered a beverage option. There were several real positive aspects to the event in that first, you miss the huge rush to the gate after the fireworks. This may well be worth the price alone! Second, the cast members at the Rose and Crown who are normally very rushed and cannot take time to talk, were animated and very willing to stop at our table and join in conversations. The managers also came by and were enjoying the slow yime to tell a few stories. All in all, for the money only, its a bit much; but in the overall scheme of things it is probably worth it
Pros:
Individual attention, beer flight, good foodCons:
no dessert, expensiveReview of Liberty Tree Tavern Lunch
Reviewed by StacyLovesDisney Review Date: 07/20/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
I love this gem of Magic Kingdom.
The food is fresh and delicious. My kids love the kid's meals.
The Colony salad is full of crisp veggies, perfectly grilled chicken and a light dressing. Husband's sirloin cheese burgers was one of the best he's had--he said. Also, cooked perfectly to his liking.
Celebrated bday here. Didn't know they would give me a birthday cupcake with a candle. Really nice of them, but it was really stale. My sugar-aholic child didn't even like it.
Best of all for me, who doesn't enjoy soft drinks and the tea at the fast food places, this place as freshly brewed iced-tea. YUM and refreshing!
Waiter was VERY friendly and nice. He was understanding of the grandpa, who still couldn't eat anything because he was getting over the flu. (He only ordered a coke.) Waiter seemed very understanding of the situation. Didn't drop quality of service even when he knew the bill wouldn't be as high as it could be. Don't worry, we tipped him well.
We will go back again.
Pros:
food, cool, REAL brewed iced-teaCons:
noneReviewed by StacyLovesDisney Review Date: 07/20/2014
Rating: (7) Recommended
This is a favorite of my two kids, girl 8, boy 5 and me too!
We love the character dancing and singing. My kids love the Mickey Waffles and Tater Tots.
This year, perhaps due to the new characters, the wait time was massive. We arrived in time for our ADR. We had to wait on the front porch to be called. We were taken to our seats where it took another 10-15 minutes to be greeted by our waitress. (My kids were really starving by now) Chef came out to take care of my son's food allergies---stellar job, Chef. Waitress was unfriendly (the first time I have ever had this experience at Disney and I've been going for years) and I actually had to yell out to her," May I please have more tea." as she went sailing by. No stopping at our table to ask if everything was ok. The characters took long to come around. (The last time we ate at H&V we saw each character 3 times during the hour we were there.) Finally, the moment my daughter was waiting for--Doc was coming to the table. My 8 year old daughter was wearing a Doc outfit, I had put her short hair in Doc pigtails, had the Doc headband, she was wearing a Doc bracelet, and had her talking Doc doll with her. I'll have to say this was disappointing.....Doc came stood for a photo and left. No pointing at my daughter's outfit or a hug for the baby doll. No clapping for the outfit and knowing that Doc is a favorite. (We've had this happen with Handy Manny for my son, Donald when he saw my daughter's Donald Duck dress, etc.) In fact, Doc started walking away before my son could get a photo in with her. I had to ask her to wait. (We do not do autographs, so we're quickies as it is with the photos.) We were ready to leave after being in there for an hour and 15 minutes. We kept waiting to see Sophia. We were actually giving up and walking out-- because we had a fast pass--when she finally arrived. We got our photo, but we were frustrated with the money we spent on this event. We will try it again to see if this was just a one-time occurrence.
Pros:
food--dancing with charactersCons:
wait!! lack of character interactionReview of Kusafiri Coffee Shop and Bakery
Reviewed by StacyLovesDisney Review Date: 07/20/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
We were here in the first part of May. We ordered the chocolate cupcake with the white chocolate elephant. My daughter's eyes "bugged-out" when she saw the size of the cupcake. It had a vanilla frosting topped with toasted coconut. Inside was a german chocolate filling ---oh so good and gooey.
The cupcake was moist and delicious. FABULOUS treat. Yes, this will be a must-do on our next AK trip.
Pros:
Great Cupcakes!Cons:
NoneReview of FastPass+ (Retired)
Reviewed by StacyLovesDisney Review Date: 07/20/2014
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
I am a planner by nature and thought I would love this product. However, after using the FastPass+ system twice, I have decided this is not a great addition to Walt Disney World.
Problem #1--My family got the flu as soon as we arrived to WDW--domino style. First son, then me. I had to spend a day and a half in the hotel room. This meant all of my fast passes for Tues. were unusable. I had to switch around my park days to accommodate a must do breakfast at Hollywood Studios. What did this mean?
*Some attractions were already "sold out" because people get to choose what they want before arrival. We missed a few of our favs.
*When the grandpa got the flu, grandma had to switch around her days to join my kids and me. She had to go wait at Guest Relations for them to change around her Fast Passes.
*The grandma's fast pass times did not sync up with what we had scheduled.
*All the fast passes that were wasted and unused on the days the family couldn't make it to the theme parks could have been used by others who were actually at the parks.
Problem#2 I do not have a smart phone. I have to carry around return times on a piece of paper. Terrible on the day when I forgot my sheet of paper with the times.
Problem #3 The portable iPads would not work on my MagicBand, so I was told I'd have to go to Guest Services at the FRONT of each park to have a Fast Pass modified.
Problem #4 Waiting in Line to get a Fast Pass at a Kiosk. LONG LINES!!! I did the parks a couple of days w/ 2 kids, age 8 and age5-by myself w/o adult help. They couldn't last in a long line in the heat.
Problem #5--My husband decided at the last minute to join us at MK on our last day (he had been golfing each day minus the sick days) When we got to MK NONE of our Fast Pass times would sync with our band. Here we go again. He could not ride any of those rides with us---one of which was Splash Mountain. Kids disappointed Daddy couldn't go with them.
Problem #6--We finish our day in the parks around 2-3pm so kids can go enjoy resort pool. When one has to modify a fast pass the morning times or early afternoon times have been taken. So, we either didn't get to ride some of them. We had to leave Hollywood Studios in the early afternoon and return at 5:45 just so we could ride Toy Story Mania!
Problem 7# --A couple of times we arrived to use our fast pass and there was only a 0-15 minute wait! For example, Character Greetings at Epcot for Mickey was a 5 minute wait! We could have used that fast pass for something else. Yet, more waste.
Problem #8 -I was thinking about going to Disney at the last minute in a couple of weeks. (I've been so many times I don't need that much time for planning....) Then I remembered about the new fast pass system. Because guests can reserve their attractions so far in advance, I bet the fast passes have already been taken.
Here is my suggestion....BRING BACK the old Fast Pass system and modify it so you can tap your Magic Band and get a fast pass return time on the spot. The old system let you plan SOOOO much better by actually not really letting people plan that much into the future.
Pros:
NoneCons:
inability to change attractions when plans change, waiting for more fast passes after 3 are used, sometimes I did NOT need to use fast pass because line was short--waste!!!Review of MagicBand
Reviewed by StacyLovesDisney Review Date: 07/20/2014
Rating: (8) Recommended
Using the band for park entry is great. Waterproof--great. Connecting credit card to it--great. Using the band for fastpass+ did NOT work well for us--see that posting under Fast Pass+. We were not able to use or update our fast passes/bands with portable readers.
Pros:
ease of useCons:
doesn't always workReview of 'Ohana Best Friends Character Breakfast
Reviewed by abmadmo Review Date: 07/19/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
We've done the character breakfast at Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey on past trips and decided to try O'hana for the first time on this trip. It was SO much better! The food was amazing (especially the juice!), was so very much quieter and we really liked that it was served family style. We honestly could only get our forks to our mouths two or three times before a character would come back to play or take pics with us. It didn't feel rushed at all either. CM's kept the food coming and the drinks filled. We definitely recommend this one!
Pros:
relaxed, quiet (for a character breakfast), food, THE JUICE!Cons:
absolutely nothing!Review of Be Our Guest -Counter Service Lunch
Reviewed by abmadmo Review Date: 07/19/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
We had FP reservations for lunch @11 on July 7th. The food was very good though we really didn't think we were hungry when we got there. It's nice to have a cool, indoor quick service choice for lunch in any park and we were happy to have been given the opportunity to try out this new place w/ ADR. The line outside looked pretty depressing when we were leaving and we're not sure we would've been nearly as pleased with our experience if we'd had to wait in that line but for 2 adults, a teenager and a tween to have gotten our bellies FULL on really good food, at an air conditioned venue for no more than we would have paid to sit outside in the sun and heat eating the common theme park fare? Yeah, it was definitely worth it!
Pros:
Beautiful, good AC, good food, self serve drinksCons:
was pretty dark insideReview of Pop Century Resort (Value Resort)
Reviewed by abmadmo Review Date: 07/19/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
Stayed at Pop for the 1st time July 6-13 with my husband and 2 daughters. We loved the resort. More than plenty lifeguards (at the Hippy Dippy pool anyway) so that we felt ok letting our 16 yo and 10 yo swim w/o us being right on top of them. I requested a standard room in the 60's section for easier access to the buses and food court and we were put in building 5 in the 60's (5316) which overlooked the lake and AoA. Being on the 3rd floor and away from the pool, it was SO quiet. Never heard a sound while in our room. Though there were several LARGE quincenera groups, dance competition groups and international groups all over WDW as well as Pop, they were polite and kind of fun to watch, if not a little hard to deal with in the food court. At times 1 register would be partitioned off for one of these groups only. Not a huge ordeal though. We didn't eat a great deal at the food court but what we did was very good. We always get the refillable resort mugs and this was our 1st time using the RFID ones. It was a little obnoxious getting the cup aligned right at first and irritating if the station I was at had run out of drink syrup b/c I'd then move to another drink station to read that I still had X minutes or seconds til my next refill. No worries though b/c you can get another refill in 3 minutes. Mousekeeping was wonderful before and during our stay. CM's were very friendly and helpful. My only issues, which are small, is that if it's raining and you're en route to your room, there's not much cover and the parking for the 60's section is WAAAAAY far away from the actual 60's buildings. Not a huge ordeal as we stay on WDW transportation from the second we check in til the moment we leave. Just kind of a pain to lug luggage so far. All in all? A great resort w/ ample seating in food court, plentiful gift shop, fun poolside activities director at the (main) pool and clean with comfy beds (though the pillows could've been better).
Pros:
the happy energy, good lifeguard presence, price, cleanlinessCons:
would be nice to have more cover between buildings during rainReviewed by tootiee6 Review Date: 07/19/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
We got a discounted rate. We stayed in building 25. It was a little confusing to figure out the paths but I'm a good navigator so it wasn't an issue. It wasnt terribly far since we'd already been walking a lot anyways, it wasn't very noticeable to us. Either we were very lucky or there are tons of buses bc we never waited more than five mins on a bus and the west bus stop was like a minute from our room. The quiet pool was awesome and actually was quiet and wonderful after a long day in the parks. Old man island pool was very fun and the kids loved the waterslide. The boat ride to downtown disney was one of best parts. The rooms were fun and I loved the beds made out of trees. We left mousekeeping tips and they left us lots of extra soaps and shampoos! Our mousekeepers also had to deal with a wet murphy bed each night bc our 5 yr old had some drinking liquids too late and being so tired not waking up issues, so Id strip the bed and pile them up for them at least bc I felt so badly. So being as they had to deal w pee pee sheets and still left us goodies, I was very pleased!! The food at the food court , we only ate breakfast was good. All of the staff was very helpful and kind. The only issue we had was the thermostat and they sent someone up within five mins to look at it as we didn't know how to get it off the set temp. Also the drink machine at our bus stop didnt work and the food p, ace was closed and we prolly would have paid $10 for a cold refreshing beverage then!!
