Most Recent Reviews
Review of MagicBand
Reviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 04/02/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
In early January I had written a review about how it took the front desk staff 2.5 hours to activate our MagicBands. I'm happy to say that this time there were no problems at all!
From the beginning at Magical Express, they pulled up our reservation right away. We had no problems charging to the room (on separate credit cards), opening up the room door, and I was even able to attach my Annual Pass almost instantly after exchanging the voucher for the real thing. Once I got FP+ set up, it worked for that too, no problem. I took the leap and bought a couple of the Mickey head MagicBandits because I plan to use this band for the rest of my AP year. I only wish they had purple bands, but I'll settle for pink.
There was a slight problem when we switched over to the Boardwalk unexpectedly for an extra night. The reservation had been made by someone else and then transferred to me, so I couldn't link it in my MDE account. As such, my current band couldn't link up. We were given a KTTW card (and told to guard it with our lives!) for the night. Lobby concierge said they could give us new gray bands, and did try to link the reservation to my current band, but it was not working and we said the KTTW card would be fine.
Pros:
Easy to use, actually worked this time aroundCons:
Minor glitch at second hotelReview of Outdoor Kitchens
Reviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 04/02/2014
Rating: (8) Recommended
I tried at least one item from almost every booth, with the exception of Morocco. Disappointed to find out that the booths do not stay open for Evening Extra Magic Hours but was able to come back another day to finish eating!
Ghost Pepper Tilapia was very good but definitely spicy. I liked the Sweet Potato Cinnamon Waffle with Pineapple Dole Whip. Loved the non-alchololic Frozen Desert Violet Lemonade (a return from last year) and the Watermelon Passion Fruit Slush (previously alcoholic). The Pineapple Dream Sake slush from Japan was very good as well. Appreciated the return of the Pulled Pig Slider at USA.
Did not care so much for the Bubble Tea, the Watermelon Salad, or the Salmon Tartare from UK (though the actual cheddar and potato biscuit was heavenly).
Items that were just so-so were from booths in Mexico, Italy, and France.
I'm glad that F&GF serves food now; it's like a mini Food & Wine Festival for those of us who can't make it down to WDW during the fall.
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—Review of Boardwalk Inn (Deluxe Resort)
Reviewed by rpayer Review Date: 03/31/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
My mom (uses a wheelchair), my DD (celebrating her 16th bday) and I checked in to the Boardwalk Inn on March 15th and checked out on March 24th. I did online check in before we arrived, so we only spent a few minutes at the front desk. We had our magic bands in hand and were ready to go. We were in room 1292 which was handicapped accessible with a roll in shower on the 1st floor. The room was in excellent condition, was quite large, had a patio with a view of the interior courtyard and was very close to the elevators. We did not hear any noise from the rooms on either side or from the hallway. We arrived on a Sat night and the covered entrance area in front of the Boardwalk was quite busy. We received luggage assistance immediately (we had driven from NJ, so we had tons of luggage and two wheelchairs) and valet parked our car. Since my Mom has a handicap placard we received free valet parking at all disney resorts. This was quite a savings since valet parking is $15. We used valet parking our entire stay which was quite convenient since self parking was a short walk away. We purchased two refillable mugs which we used numerous times. The only slight inconvenience was that we had to go outside the hotel to the bakery to refill them. Too bad there isn't a refill station at the Belle Vue Lounge or the small store that is inside the hotel. We used the quiet pool and hot tub a few times and found it to be quite nice. Pool towels are provided at the pool. The only problem we had during our stay was when we arrived. We had only lukewarm water in our shower, but we called maintenance and they fixed it by the next day. We then had hot, hot water in our shower which was great. Since we were celebrating my DD's 16th bday, there was a bday balloon in our room upon arrival. I also had a bouquet of flowers and balloons delivered the next day which arrived without problem. We loved having the college size refrigerator which we filled with drinks, milk and breakfast stuff. We mostly ate breakfast in our room to save time. We found the store on the boardwalk to have all we needed. We also ate at the bakery, pizza window and the Big River Grille which were all excellent. Walking along the boardwalk was always fun and walking to Epcot and Disney Studios was quite a time saver. That was one of the big reasons for staying at the Boardwalk. We received assistance from the Concierge and all cast members were very helpful. A big thank you to all the valet members. We received help from them every day. I believe that Disney uses a third party for valet services and they were all excellent. We never waited long for our car and they were always offering assistance to my Mom who was in a wheelchair. We had an amazing time at the Boardwalk Inn and I would highly recommend staying there and can't wait to go back again some time soon!
Pros:
beautiful resort, large handicap accessible room, valet parking, helpful cast membersCons:
rapid fill refills only outside, no quick serviceReview of Keys to the Kingdom - Magic Kingdom
Reviewed by ruthann Review Date: 03/31/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
My husband and I are seniors, age 63 and 66, when we took the Keys to the Kingdom tour. We have never gone a tour before, but wanted to try something different. The 5 hours long tour was broken up in some rest areas not listed, but still a lot of walking. It was worth it though. Our tour guide made the tour for us. He was enthusiastic, entertaining, and seemed like this was his first time giving the tour, that is, he was as awestruck as the rest of us. The info and behind the scenes tours were great. The food was really good too, and the special gift at the end was a nice surprise! I would recommend this tour to anyone who can keep up, but if you are at WDW you do a lot of walking every day. One of my favorite parts of the tour was not on the tour! Before the 8:30am tour, we were able to walk about the empty park (main street area only and the castle area) before the tour and before the park opened. It was a real treat to walk about practically alone and to actually see the store window displays all spruced up for Christmas. It was awesome! Would we do it again? Probably not but only because we have done it once. It is well worth the money and the experience is unforgettable. If you have health, walking issues you should probably take a shorter, easier tour. One older couple had a difficult time with the walking, heat, etc. I would recommend this tour to anyone, and would definitely take another WDW tour!
Pros:
fun! great tour guide, lots of infoCons:
just the amount of walking on a very hot day!Review of ESPN Club
Reviewed by HFW Review Date: 03/31/2014
Rating: (7) Recommended
Waitress was excellent. Our drinks never went empty. I ordered nachos for 2 they were delicious, I'm almost ashamed to admit I cleaned the plate of them by myself. DW had cheesesteak which she thought was dry, and lacking cheese and onions, plenty of meat though. We would go back, she'd just try something else next time.
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serviceCons:
foodReview of Whispering Canyon Cafe Lunch/Dinner
Reviewed by Lizh1500 Review Date: 03/30/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
Food was great- except we never got our salad. Atmosphere was energetic, most servers were having a lot of fun with their tables. Our server was very nice and friendly but didn't "play along"-- just brought my son a bottle of ketchup, brought regular refills, etc...
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Food, atmosphereCons:
Some servers are no funReview of Cape May Cafe - Character Breakfast
Reviewed by Lizh1500 Review Date: 03/30/2014
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
We went for breakfast and were at the 8am seating. After being seated, it took our server 25 minutes to bring our drinks which he dropped off without saying a word (cold coffee and oj). We went to buffet to get food which was below average especially for a Disney restaurant (eggs & bacon were cold, even the Mickey waffles were hard). We sat at the table for over an hour before we saw our server again (I had to stop a manager to get him). He brought the check and I told him we were on the meal plan- I gave him a Disney gift card and wrote in my tip (I was a server for 10 years so tip at least 15% regardless of quality of service) he came back with receipt saying I still owed $30 (when I asked why he showed me that he tried to charge the whole bill instead of applying my meal plans) after asking for a manager AGAIN they "refunded" my card and charged my meal plan. (Later in the park I tried to use my card which I found out did NOT get refunded- and now they refuse to do anything about)
Goofy came to our table within the first 5 min of being seated and Pluto arrived before our server. Donald and Minnie didn't arrive until we were getting ready to walk out the door. By this point, my 6 year old was over the whole thing & I was irate at the whole experience.
Pros:
NoneCons:
Service, character interaction, foodReview of Palo Dinner - Disney Magic and Wonder
Reviewed by adamsmommy09 Review Date: 03/29/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
We ate at Palo our 2nd night on the cruise. Right away, our waiter was wonderfully attentive and answered ALL questions our party asked him. He was also VERY knowledgeable about every dish and the wine. My FIL ordered the tasting menu that paired dishes with wine. He asked if he could order a different dish during one of the courses and his wish was granted. I ordered the arugala salad which was very fresh and tasty and beautifully presented along with the filet with gorganzola cheese on top-the best steak I've had in awhile! For dessert, I am a chocolate lover and so I couldn't pass up the chocolate soufflé that the waiter recommended. There were a few other dishes that my FIL wasn't satisfied and so the manager had the chef come to our table. He was very accommodating and explained the dishes to my FIL. So although my FIL wasn't too pleased with his dining experience, I certainly was.
Pros:
delicious food, very friendly and attentive waiter, views, very accomodatingCons:
dress code not enforcedReview of My Disney Experience
Reviewed by mcmouse Review Date: 03/29/2014
Rating: (3) Recommended
Took me a while to navigate through when making fastpasses. Needs to be more user friendly with less steps involved. Dining ressies were done more easily. Could never tell whether my passes and ressies were linked because half the time it said their server was busy. Had to call Disney myself to see if everything was linked. This, as well as Fast Pass + needs some tweaking.
Pros:
has lots of infoCons:
needs some streamliningReview of FastPass+ (Retired)
Reviewed by mcmouse Review Date: 03/29/2014
Rating: (3) Not Recommended
I only rated this a 3 because I feel that the prices you pay to go to the parks is high and only allowing 1 or maybe 2 "big name rides" to be chosen per day at only 1 park isn't what we expect from our beloved Disney. It eliminates the need to purchase Park Hopper tickets. Maybe Disney can tweak this product to better suit it's guests. Even offering Resort guests more options would be great. I realize this is a new product, so I hope by our next trip to the World, they have made it a little friendlier. Why was the old system put to rest? Day visitors are really paying the price because they are wasting precious park time standing in line to obtain passes. Not everyone wants to be on their smart phones and computers all the time. We go to Disney because we want to create memories, not be glued to our smart phones. Hopefully Disney will modify the Fast Pass + .
