Most Recent Reviews
Reviewed by David Carrano Review Date: 09/18/2013
Rating: (6) Recommended
Stayed at the AKL the week of Sept 8, 2013. Overall a very nice experience, friendly staff. The resort is beautiful,clean and nicely themed. Somewhat disappointed with the room, small in comparison to Disney's other Deluxe resorts. Our room was showing signs of wear and tear, has a worn look not what you would expect from a deluxe resort and price. Lighting was a big issue, very poor in the bathroom sink area. Had an issue second day with house keeping. We returned back to our room at 3:30 p.m. from being gone all day and our room was still not cleaned. I complained and they said that they have until 4p.m. By 4p.m still no show. We had early dinner reservations and needed to shower. After making a fuss, they came back at some point after we left and cleaned the room. No other issues for the remaining days. Overall the resort is beautiful, well themed. The rooms are not great.
Pros:
Quite, Friendly check-in, Nice theme, Animals, PoolCons:
Out of the way, long bus rides, small roomsReview of Pizzafari
Reviewed by MichelleV Review Date: 09/18/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
I had the sandwich with the chips, which was very good. There was plenty of seating and it was a nice and cool spot to sit and relax while we ate lunch. Lines were long but moved quickly.
Pros:
—Cons:
—Review of Garden Grocer
Reviewed by secondstar2rt Review Date: 09/17/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
There were many of us in our party. We ordered several cases of beer from Garden Grocer. They were about $25 for a case of 24 beers, about $7 to $10 more per case than we pay at home but much much cheaper than buying from Disney. The order was brought on time with no problems.
Pros:
deliveryCons:
price and selectionReview of La Hacienda de San Angel
Reviewed by secondstar2rt Review Date: 09/17/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
Seven adults and one child believe this was the best food we had at WDW
Pros:
foodCons:
—Review of Le Cellier Lunch/Dinner
Reviewed by Kathyb Review Date: 09/17/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
This was a special night we got dressed appropriately according to the dress code posted. However, we were disappointed because people were there that just came from the park, flip flops, t shirts, etc.
We were told we couldn't have bread until we ordered our dinner.
Chef de France is so much better and the food is superior and for only 1 dining plan point.
Pros:
Food was very goodCons:
Confused servers and patronsReview of Limited Time Magic - 2013 Celebration
Reviewed by there7777 Review Date: 09/17/2013
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
My daughter and I were so excited to plan and go to this event until we arrived at the event. I have never seen Disney so ill prepared for an event!!! The special merchandise for the event didn't event last a couple hours in to the event and you had to wait in line to get in to the store that had it!! There was so many people try to attend the event, it was difficult to move!!! It was a limited time magic event all right-The magic ended when we entered the front gate. It was a real disappointment for me!!!!
Pros:
Wonderful idea with villan eventCons:
disney unprepared for event on every aspectReview of Cabanas - Casual Dining
Reviewed by shannie0615 Review Date: 09/16/2013
Rating: (3) Not Recommended
I just got home from my cruise today. Cabanas had a poor layout. There really needs to be extended he's for breakfast & dinner, as the ship is packed and tries to cram too many people in one place, thus making seating an issue. We went to cabanas for dinner at 730pm on the last night, after Disney Believe show, to find it closed. The only food available to eat was hamburger, hotdog, or chicken tenders....very disappointed. Carnival Cruise lines have buffets up until 11pm or so most nights. Perhaps DCL should consider a 24 hr pizzeria & sandwich option. Room service leaves few choices as well. Breakfast at cabanas has great potatoes; hash browns were overcooked/very crunchy; scrambled eggs were too runny; Mexican breakfast wrap was best thing I ate during the whole cruise. Overall, in comparison to CCL, the food on DCL leaves a lot to be desired. Even in the dining room at night, the serving portions seem like they wouldn't satisfy a 3 year old. On Castaway Cay, my bun on my spicy chicken sandwich was so hard, i could crush it with my thumb; i had to take off the top portion of my sandwich, just to eat it, as I wasn't going to stand back in the super long line. And seating for lunch on Castaway Cay really was awful...felt like a school kid on a field trip. I'm not sure I would sail DCL again.
The soft drinks are free, but the cups are too small...and the cups at breakfast are even smaller!! There is also a need for more beverage stations outside, esp near the 18+ pool & at the pizza/hamburger area.
Pros:
some food was goodCons:
need extended hrsReview of Be Our Guest Dinner
Reviewed by aurora3000 Review Date: 09/15/2013
Rating: (5) Not Recommended
We arrived at the restaurant about 30 minutes before our 9:15 reservation, to see if we could get in any earlier. However, we were seated right at 9:15. Sadly, there are no benches to wait for your meal, so we had to stand outside in the heat. The theming of the main ballroom where we were seated was spectacular. We had a table right next to the window with the falling snow and french countryside mural. The Beast, or the Master, walked through the ballroom about once an hour which was a nice touch. Our server was great, and very accommodating. However, the whole meal felt very rushed like they were trying to push us out, since the restaurant closed at 10pm.
We enjoyed the duck appetizer and trio of salads. Our server recommended the French onion soup, so I ordered. It ended up consisting of a very weak vegetable broth and undercooked onions. Our entrees were a fatty, thin, gristly strip loin and overcooked shrimp and scallop dish- they were pretty much terrible. Then, we were brought the dessert cart which consisted of cupcakes that are served at lunch. I was expecting plated desserts at a fine dining restaurant, so this was terribly disappointing. Also, before our meal ended we were told we needed to rush if we wanted to get our picture with the Beast since the restaurant was closing. Again, disappointing. While it was nice to be able to order a bottle of wine, the selection was incredibly limited.
Overall, the theming was very nice and the servers were fabulous. However, the poor food and rushed meal were enough to make this our last meal. I might recommend to someone just looking for a meal to make their kids happy. However, if you appreciate good food quality, don't bother.
Pros:
Theming, good serviceCons:
Rushed meal, poor dessertsReview of Le Cellier Lunch/Dinner
Reviewed by aurora3000 Review Date: 09/15/2013
Rating: (4) Not Recommended
We had visited this restaurant a couple of years ago, and had a decent experience. Therefore, we assumed that it would be nice to take my parents for dinner. However, this was a complete waste. We were seated at a far back table and pretty much neglected. Our server acted like she didn't want to be there and we had to flag her down to get a water refill. My steak was overcooked, and our food was overall lack luster. We actually skipped dessert just so we could get out of there. The only plus was that we could walk right out of the restaurant to a good location to view Illuminations. I will not be going back to this restaurant. Very disappointed.
Pros:
Convenient location for Illuminations after dinnerCons:
Poor Service and FoodReview of Limited Time Magic - 2013 Celebration
Reviewed by Tampa Mom Review Date: 09/15/2013
Rating: (7) Recommended
My family and I went to the Friday the Thirteenth Unleash the Villains event at the Hollywood Studios. It was a bit of a mixed bag.
The music from the stage set up in front of the Sorcerer Hat was fun, and the villain 'musicians' were a hoot. We decided not to fight the lines for the meet and greets, but there were quite a few villains out, which was good. And the fireworks were simply amazing. They were as good as the Magic Kingdom Halloween party.
However, there were problems with the event due to Disney seriously underestimating the attraction of a villain night. The event items, which were limited to a shirt and hat, vanished before we even saw them. Even cast members told us they were gone so fast they never saw what they looked like. But there was no event pin or any other item.
The crowd problems continued. Since it was not a hard ticket event, we expected that since the park was supposed to open until 1 AM, it would actually be open until 1 AM. But they started closing rides around 9 PM, and all the restaurants were open no later than 10PM. They set up ropes to limit where you could go, so the massive crowds were squashed into an ever-smaller area. Since they didn't expect so many people, there were no additional snack carts. Lines just to get a bottled drink were huge. Lines for beer or other alcoholic drinks were even longer, which in a way is good since it cut down on the drunks, but irritated many people.
I cannot confirm it, but the rumor was that they had to close admission, or limit it to only let people in as others left. I know for a fact that a friend of my husband was stuck on a Disney bus from her hotel for over two hours because traffic was so jammed. And I have never seen cast members standing in store doorways to limit how many people could come it. This happened at the Villains in Vogue store, and the candy store next door. Having to stand in line just to shop??? Around midnight we left, no longer able to stand the crush of bodies.
Despite all this, we had fun. My family came away exhausted but smiling. And the reason I said yes, I would recommend it is that hopefully now that Disney has proof that an event like this will be strongly attended, they will be better prepared. This event would have gone much better if they had taken the steps to deal with the situation beforehand.
