Most Recent Reviews
Reviewed by mzznlink Review Date: 07/27/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
The only reason we tried Hollywood & Vine for breakfast is because we were there with our 1 year old granddaughter who loves Disney Junior.
She had fun dancing with the characters and bouncing and waving her hands during the songs.
Crystal Palace used to be our favorite breakfast, but Hollywood & Vine may just beat it out with its selection. I think the chocolate sauce was the clincher.
Pros:
SelectionCons:
—Review of Caribbean Beach Resort (Moderate Resort)
Reviewed by CaptainQuick Review Date: 07/27/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
*2nd time staying at CBR, first time was a Pirate-themed room which is totally not worth it*
This time much better.
We stayed in Jamaica section of CBR for nine days in the middle of July, 2014.
Check-in was incredibly smooth with no wait time and free pirate swords for the kids. Room was ready well before the required time, as we checked in early in the morning.
Upon entering our room we noticed a brand new smell as the entire room had been renovated. Gone were the small beds with new Queen sized beds. Gone was the putrid green looking furniture, replaced with beautiful looking new furniture in its place. New paint, decor, furnishings, etc. Our favorite part was the nightstand and Dressers each had outlets/USB ports in them for charging phones etc. making it extra easy to charge our electronics each night. The bathroom doors were replaced with Caribbean styled sliding doors which were great (needs a lock... kids loved these...). All in all the renovations were terrific and a much needed change to the rooms. It looked like they were moving quickly in renovating the other sections of CBR, compared to our arrival and upon departure they had completed the rest of Jamaica and had started on Aruba, in just the small time we were there.
As far as the rest of CBR goes, the kids loved the pirate themed pool and activities CBR offered throughout the afternoon, and the Camp Fire and Movie Night were great as well. Caribbean Cay is beautiful and we loved walking along the various paths and trails.
A few negatives, busing system is dreadful. Incredibly long wait times, and it seemed like they would change their routes or skip Jamaica entirely. Not sure if it was because not a whole lot of people were staying in Jamaica or not due to renovations but it was terrible. We ended up just walking to Old Port Royale most of the time. In addition to the long waits it takes 12 minutes for the buses to get fully around, so definitely plan on extra time.
We did notice the service from employees left a little bit more to be desired. It just seemed like a lot of them were going through the motions and not making that extra effort to make something magical. This was one step backwards we noticed from our previous trip. One terrific story from our previous trip 3 years ago was my son fell and bloodied his lip just outside of OPR near the pool area. the staff went above and beyond to make sure he was okay and even gave him a free stuffed Mickey and a special conch shell. It really turned a bad situation into something magical. I just hope they are still trying to make magical moments and not purely looking at the clock.
Also, food court is nothing to write home about, with incredibly high prices. Someone please explain to me why the Grab N' Go has no prices listed, was incredibly annoying.
All in all, some much needed improvements to CBR. We really enjoyed our stay and look forward to coming back to CBR in the future.
Pros:
New Room Renovations, Pool, AtmosphereCons:
BusingReviewed by Under the Grits Tree Review Date: 07/26/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
Hello Allears Readers! My family just returned from Frozen Summer Fun, and I wanted to share our experiences in hopes of helping others to plan their magical day with the royal visitors from Arendelle.
First a little back ground. We are a family of four; my husband, me, our daughter (age 2), and our son (still in utero). We are frequent visitors to the House of Mouse making 3 trips a year; one week long Disney extravaganza in February, a shorty in the Summer, and finally returning in October for the MNSSHP and Food and Wine.
We are always excited to experience anything new and we were extra excited for the opportunity to experience something FROZEN! Before we left home I did as much reading and research on the Frozen Summer Fun event as possible. THANK YOU Allears for the wonderful TV episode. I found it extremely helpful and would recommend it to anyone planning a vacation that includes the Frozen Summer Fun activities. While planning I had two main concerns. First, how could I best use my time? Our summer vacations are short and time in Disney comes at a premium so I was anxious to use it well. Second, could I deliver on all the events? A two year old does not understand about long lines. The plan that I came up with and executed worked wonderfully for my family and may work well for you too.
Our day began by arriving at the Studios for Rope Drop. I think a major key to success at Frozen Summer Fun (and indeed at all Disney Parks) is to get there EARLY! We cleared bag check (did I mention that we are potty training and carting a potty seat around with us all over property? And the best part of that, security never even blinked…apparently this happens a lot!) and picked up our Take-A-Long Olaf. A word about Take-A-Long Olaf; he is very cute and signed by all our Frozen friends, he is not particularly sturdy. Get spares! The cast members will be very accommodating. One of our Olafs got one too many warm hugs and another was lost along the way…after that we started get them two at the time.
Once we had Olaf we hiked it back to the Sing-A-Long location to get our return tickets. We selected the 1:30 show. There was not a line to get tickets when we arrived. From there we went straight to Wondering Oaken’s. We were able to walk right in with no wait. Upon entering the first thing we did was build a Snowman. We are from the Deep South, and our daughter had never seen snow. She was very impressed. I also found the Snowman build to be more fun than I’d anticipated. The area is not at all crowed and it was really a lot of fun.
After the snow it was time for our morning snack break. We had the Olaf carrot cake cupcake, huge and delicious and a hot chocolate. While we ate we watched the people crazy enough or brave enough to try to ice skate. The Ice Show was scheduled to start just as we were finishing up our snack so we decided to stick around and see it. I am so glad that we stayed for the Ice Show! I’ve read little or nothing about it in other reviews but my whole family LOVED it. After the Ice Show it was gift shop time. Be prepared all the small sizes in the Anna and Elsa dresses were sold out when we were there. This was the biggest disappointment of our day.
Now laded with packages from the Wondering Oaken’s gift shop we headed to lunch. I opted to skip the Welcome Parade. Here is why…both the parade and the parade route are very short, making for huge crowds. Watch it on YouTube and judge for yourself. Also, we’d seen Festival of Fantasy the day before at the Magic Kingdom which includes a float featuring Anna and Elsa. Skipping the parade really worked for us. It gave us plenty of time for lunch at Play & Dine and gave us a break from the crowds and heat of the park.
After lunch it was time for the Sing-A-Long. We arrived before our scheduled return time and were still well back in the line. However, seating in the theater is very well arranged and we had no issue with our seats. If you are just going to do one Frozen event I recommend the Sing-A-Long…yes, sometimes the narration lags, and yes, my daughter did ask three different times when Elsa would be there…but it was still wonderful! The finally with all those voices raised in song, and the snow blowing down…pure magic. It was the highlight of the day.
Pros:
Do you wanna build a SNOWMAN?Cons:
Sing-A-Long location...get ready for a hike!Reviewed by esilvestre Review Date: 07/25/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
This was our 4th stay at this resort. We were there from June 28 through July 8th. On line check in was great. Only 1 problem. We needed a handicapped accessible room and we were not assigned one. I called front desk and we had a new room in one hour.
Our buses were always available. We never waited more than 10 minutes. Television screen with bus times was a great new edition.
The room was spotless. Everyday we had extra towels and plenty of soaps and shampoos.
The food court was a little busy in the morning,but at least we knew the food was always fresh. I have stayed at deluxe, moderate , and value resorts. This is by far our favorite Disney Hotel. Trust me we have stayed at many different hotels in Disney, this was our 22 visit. We love the Port Orleans Riverside.
Pros:
front desk , maid service, buses,food courtCons:
NoneReview of Spice Road Table
Reviewed by Environmentalist Review Date: 07/24/2014
Rating: (8) Recommended
Spice Road Table is a fantastic place to eat. The food tastes wonderful, it's relatively uncrowded for a new restaurant and the view is amazing - right along the World Showcase lagoon. The theming of the restaurant is vintage Disney - you really do feel like you have stepped into an outdoor cafe. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there.
One note - it is pricey. Food is served tapas style, which is fine, but the prices are pretty outrageous, even at Disney levels, for the amount of food you get. Moreover, some plates provide far more food than other for the same price. We were aware of this going in and the prices still surprised us. Definitely be prepared to pay more than you expect here!
Pros:
Tasty food, great location, beautiful themingCons:
Not enough food for priceReview of Harambe Nights at Animal Kingdom
Reviewed by mzznlink Review Date: 07/23/2014
Rating: (8) Recommended
We attended the night of 12th, which was our last night at WDW after a 2 week stay at OKW. Givven that we had to get up at 5:00 AM then next morning, this wasn't a rational decision. Our daughter-in-law has an old school friend who's a cast member and he said it was a must do, so we did.
It started raining the moment we got off the bus, got harder as we approached the park entrance. CMs had plain plastic ponchos to hand out as you got your wrist bands.
We were directed to Pizzafari where we found a table and enjoyed the appetizers (spicy but tasty) and drinks. They are quite liberal with the rum so don't be surprised with the punch. Don’t spend the full time here because you’ll be left with seats that nobody else wanted once you get to the show. (ask me how I know)
Next stop is the new building they recently finished for The Lion King Show. It’s somewhat smaller, but then the show’s different. It’s now a combination of narration, dance, singing, and video from the movie giving you a condensed version of the movie. We preferred the energy of the old show. It was still a good show, but the seats we ended up with were on the left side of the stage and had top look over the orchestra. The drummer pacing back and forth checking things in between actually hitting something got a little irritating, but we did arrive later than the rest.
Afterwards we found that the rain had stopped and we would be dining outside. Given the number of tables and people, along with the numerous buffet line, bars, and entertainment, I can’t imagine experiencing this part inside. This was the best part for me; 3 or 4 bars, numerous buffets (always stocked) and a band/DJ. They even had various characters and photographers.
We left at 10:00 because of having to get up early the next morning and were picked up almost immediately by the bus back to OKW.
I’d do something similar in the future, but not on the last night of our stay.
Pros:
Selection/amount of food and drink, entertainment.Cons:
Show seating.Reviewed by abmadmo Review Date: 07/23/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
Feeling pretty lucky to have been a part of the nightly party featuring a live band and fireworks finale. It was all pure magic! I curse snow from November to April at home but somehow seeing snow bubbles flying down from all the buildings in HS with the fireworks and Frozen songs blaring everywhere, well it was just glorious <3
Pros:
Beauty and excitementCons:
crowdsReview of Flame Tree Barbecue
Reviewed by abmadmo Review Date: 07/23/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
This is a counter service we look forward to on every trip and it's not disappointed us yet! The food is very good, portions are large enough that my husband, teen, tween and myself shared 3 meals and still threw food away. The line moves very quickly and there is ample seating, much of it under canopies and there's a never ending parade of various birds roaming around searching for a dropped french fry- very fun to watch and not to be missed!
Pros:
Good sized portions, amazing food, beautiful covered outside seating, the birds wandering aroundCons:
Nothing!Review of Sanaa Lunch/Dinner - Kidani Village
Reviewed by Environmentalist Review Date: 07/23/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
This was my second time eating at Sanaa. It won't be my last. The atmosphere is great, with the unique dining room and unusual table placements, along with the view of the savannah and the little tricks the staff uses to get the animals close to the windows.
The food is very good - similar to what you would find at a good Indian restaurant. Sanaa has a fusion emphasis - Indian and African flavors, so anyone looking solely for African cuisine should go to Jiko or Boma. But Sanaa has tremendous value and variety and is a bit daring for Disney with its spices and ethnic cuisine. Overall, very good.
My only complaint was how Sanaa handled our large group of eleven. Due to the unusual table placements, our group was squished into a table area that should have handled eight at most. We had asked to be as close as possible to the windows, so kudos to them for trying, but it was a bit too cramped.
