Most Recent Reviews
Review of Tutto Italia Restaurant - Italy
Reviewed by LoriC Review Date: 08/02/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
We dined on the patio for dinner and loved the ambience of the restaurant. The bread and olive oil was delicious, as was the appetizers - we shared the prosciutto and the mozzarella dishes. The main meal was a bit bland, we all ordered spaghetti and meatballs. Dessert was delicious as we enjoyed the childrens chocolate "basket" and the lemon and raspberry sorbets. As with all Epcot restaurants, I wish that the children's choices included favorites such as a pbj.
Pros:
Food, AtmosphereCons:
Childrens ChoicesReview of Rose and Crown Lunch/Dinner
Reviewed by LoriC Review Date: 08/02/2013
Rating: (6) Recommended
We stopped here for lunch and were very disappointed by both the food choices and the long wait. It seemed our server might have been new. It took over a half an hour just to get our appetizers. Overall the food was very greasy and bland. The wait staff also seemed bothered that we made a special request for a grilled cheese sandwich for my six year old son. They charged me extra for French fries on the side because it was a "special order".
Pros:
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Service, Food, Childrens ChoicesReview of Liberty Tree Tavern Lunch
Reviewed by LoriC Review Date: 08/02/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
My children and I arrived early for our lunch reservations and were surprised when asked if we would like to be the host family. We were escorted upstairs where we were able to ring the bell and open the restaurant for the day. They then seated us and presented us with a very nice certificate. What a great way to start the day! The food was terrific. We started with the cheese sticks for appetizers, the turkey feast for lunch, and chocolate cake for dessert. The chocolate cake was served with the freshest homemade whipped topping I've ever tasted. We had a wonderful meal and the service was amazing.
Pros:
Service, Food, AmbienceCons:
—Reviewed by LoriC Review Date: 08/02/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
We checked in for a seven night stay at Jambo house on July 10th and were thrilled to be upgraded from a pool view to a savannah view. Our room was on the second floor of the Zebra trail facing the Uzima savannah. We love the Zebra trail because you have the savannahs on one side and the pool and restaurants on the other side. Very quick walk to anything you need. My children love the pools and Jacuzzis at both the Jambo and Kidani sides of the resort. The pool games, though, were a bit of a disappointment. However, the nightly movies were a big hit.
Mousekeeping did a great job keeping our room clean, and left my boys towel animals upon request.
The food at Boma and Sanaa was great, but we really like room service. The food is plentiful and delicious, and the room service is prompt and polite.
My only complaint was that the air conditioning in the common areas is very high. We had to take sweatshirts with us to eat or even to grab a refill in our mugs!
My son used Simba's clubhouse twice and had a great time!
Pros:
Cleanliness, Service, Pool Area, FoodCons:
Air Conditioning Too High In Common AreasReview of Wild Africa Trek - Animal Kingdom
Reviewed by dvcnut Review Date: 08/01/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
This tour was awesome!! I will never view the safari tour the same way again. You learn so much more about the animals and get to see them more closely from vantage points that the vehicles can't give you. It was fun to watch the safari vehicles go by and have people take pictures of us as we stood above them. The lunch was light, but gave you the needed energy to finish the tour. Definitely worth the cost!
Pros:
EverythingCons:
NoneReview of Keys to the Kingdom - Magic Kingdom
Reviewed by dvcnut Review Date: 08/01/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
This is a great tour for the money. You learn so much and begin to appreciate what sets Disney apart from other theme parks. The only downside, if there is one, to the tour is that you are literally standing for five hours. The jungle ride, lunch, and haunted mansion are nice breaks but don't give your feet much of a break.
Pros:
Info learnedCons:
Standing for five hoursReview of Art of Animation Resort (Value Resort)
Reviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 08/01/2013
Rating: (9) Recommended
I stayed at Art of Animation with my two friends for the first time for six nights, 7/24-30. I had been twice prior to walk around and was able to previously tour a Cars suite with allears. This time I wanted a Lion King suite, and was able to book with a 60% off cast member discount.
I'll start with the minor negatives.
1)At check in, Pat forewarned us that cell phone service in the rooms and buildings might be poor as they were designed for hurricane weather, not wi-fi and cell towers. We had AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon as carriers, and none of us got great reception-one bar or no service at all.
2)The bathroom lighting, at least in the "guest" bathroom, was super dim due to the energy saving lightbulbs. It was so dark in there at first that I couldn't even tell I'd turned on the light.
3)Mousekeeping, particularly during the weekend, was a little odd. One day, they didn't make up the sofa bed at all, and while they replaced a few towels in the bathroom, the rest were just left in a pile (and not even a folded one, at that) on the Inovabed. We also came back to the room on Saturday night to find the safe locked and unable to be opened. Perhaps mousekeeping saw that there was money and medication in it and locked it? We called the desk and they sent up the Duty Manager quickly to help us out. Also, for the first two days we couldn't find the privacy tag (it was behind the emergency exit plakaed on the door), so I was woken up at 8:30am by mousekeeping knocking. Once we found it, we had no more disturbances.
4)When we first got to the room, my room key, and only mine, wouldn't work to open the door. I went down that evening to get it fixed. They told me that they would print me a new key and hopefully that would fix the problem. If not, it may be that a Magicband error was attached to the reservation and that would take longer to fix. Of course, it couldn't be the easy solution. On our second day I called the desk and they told me they would have to essentially re-book the reservation and cut us all new keys, which they did promptly. However, I didn't have my credit card with me, so the PIN and charging privileges were unable to be set up. This caused some confusion with the dining plan and purchases until I was able to go back again to add it back on. We also ended up with an extra day of CS credits on the DDP and a second set of mug credits as a result of the re-booking. Thankfully all cast members were extremely eager to help fix the problems I encountered.
All of these were pretty minor things and did not influence my choice of staying here again.
When we arrived around 1pm, our room was ready. I had requested a highest floor lake view room prior to arrival, and we were given a third floor lake view room. Our room was 6738, the second door from the exterior stairs, which made it a quick jaunt to the parking lot. The lake view was great! We hardly ever heard neighbors upstairs or to the sides, so either we didn't have any, they were very quiet, or the insulation was fantastic!
We found the suite to be spacious for the three of us and it allowed us to separate: the two girls took the living area and we gave the boy the bedroom. I slept on the Inovabed and found it perfectly comfortable, and nobody else complained about their beds either. The bathroom vanity had enough space for two females to spread out all their stuff. I did find the towels to be uncomfortable scratchy and thin, but hey, it's a value resort.
We liked having the kitchenette for drinks, breakfasts, snacks, and leftovers. I was sad that that they've done away with the colorful bedspreads; now they are just white with a runner at the bottom. We did have enough drawer and closet space, but the male in our group also basically lived out of his suitcase (his choice, not due to space restrictions). There was enough room to put luggage, albeit not out of the way-I kept mine against the wall between the living and bedrooms. We left the sofa and table beds pulled out all the time and mousekeeping left them that way. The floor by the living area windows was crowded with suitcases, the bug chair, and the couch cushions, but this wasn't a big deal. We also found there to be plenty of outlets, which is kind of a rarity in Disney hotels. The wi-fi in the rooms was great.
I did go down to the Flippin' Fins pool one night, but sadly, never made it to the Nemo pool. It wasn't crowded, but the water was warm, so it was relaxing. We enjoyed walking around the resort and exploring the different areas. I do feel the Lion King got a bit jipped on outdoor theming. There was construction on the "playground" the whole time, so perhaps Disney is finally converting it to something resembling more of a play space.
We used the buses only a few times: once coming back from Downtown Disney late at night, and one time each to and from Magic Kingdom in late afternoon/early evening. The wait was 10 minutes or less for all trips.
Landscape of Flavors was very good. The Ink and Paint shop had some cool stuff, and the cast members were very easy going and helpful when we had to return a couple of items. Pizza delivery was also satisfactory.
I highly recommend using Resort Airline Check In if eligible. Although they had a bit of difficulty finding our info at first, we were able to check in, get our boarding passes, and leave our luggage. It arrived back in Buffalo with no problem, and this also allowed us more space for souvenirs from Downtown Disney!
I absolutely adored this resort, and would not hesitate to stay here again. In fact, I may stay here in December or January with my mom and brother. None of the minor complaints inconvenienced us enough to influence our thoughts on the resort.
Pros:
Fun theme, friendly cast, great roomsCons:
Bathroom lighting, spotty mousekeeping, room key snafuReview of 50's Prime Time Cafe Lunch/Dinner
Reviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 08/01/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
I dined here for (I think) the fourth time on 7/29. This might be the table service restaurant I've eaten at the most! Our reservation was for 1:40pm. We arrived a few minutes early and spent some time in the "living room" but were seated by 1:45. Our party of four was given a TV table, which we were happy with!
Three of us were on the dining plan, and my other friend who joined us used my cast member discount for his meal. We ordered the awesome fried cheese appetizer to share and it was just as great as I remember it being this past December.
For our entrees, we had the Olive Oil Poached Salmon, Mom's Favorite Recipes (fried chicken, pot roast, and meatloaf with green beans, mashed potatoes, and collard greens), the Pot Roast, and the Fried Chicken. Everyone loved their meals and I'm fairly certain we all cleaned our plates.
Between desserts and beverages we had two PB&J shakes, a vanilla shake, Dad's Brownie Sundae (minus the whipped cream), and the Smores. I really don't get the smores hoopla. I didn't think they were all that great.
Our server was a bit brusque bordering on rude, and not in the fun spirit of the restaurant. When she seated us, she literally gave us the menu rundown and DDP inclusions twice in a row without starting over, like she totally forgot she had already said all of it. I experienced a bit of deja vu! She told us we couldn't have clean plate stickers even when we asked AND cleaned our plates, and didn't do any fun interaction with us. At the end of the meal she was kind of snarky about my discount and how I "should have told her sooner" that I would be using it.
While the food and environment were great, the poor service kind of ruined the experience. I will return but hope I don't get the same server again.
Pros:
Great foodCons:
So-so serviceReview of Main Street Bakery Serving Starbucks
Reviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 08/01/2013
Rating: (9) Recommended
I was very sad that they decided to replace the old bakery, which was always a favorite. I chose to stop in here on 7/28 with a friend who loves Starbucks during evening extra magic hours. He said it was the most well staffed Starbucks he'd ever seen!
We did enjoy the fact that literally everything on the menu in any size is considered a snack credit on the DDP. He was able to order a Venti caramel coffee drink of some sort, and I got a strawberry & creme frappuccino (I am not a coffee drinker!). My friend was so happy to be able to get real coffee! If you're a Starbucks fan then this is a great addition to the parks, but if you prefer nostalgic, classic Disney then I think you may be disappointed.
Pros:
Real coffee, snack credit options, well staffedCons:
Not the same anymore =(Reviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 08/01/2013
Rating: (9) Recommended
We dined here for breakfast at 10:50am on 7/30. I had previously dined here alone in May 2010, and thought it was just okay bordering on poor quality. However, I wanted something relaxed but filling for our last day of vacation.
We were seated nearly right away, and our server was Laura. She brought us coffee, chocolate milk, and water with no problems, and was great about promptly clearing away our dishes and keeping the drinks refilled.
I started with breads and fruit: banana bread, blueberry muffin, croissant, and cinnamon roll, plus cantaloupe and pineapple. Another person in my group had a sticky bun and said it was great.
For my next course I had a waffle, a blueberry pancake, bacon, sausage, and oatmeal with brown sugar. I thought the oatmeal was a bit on the watery side, but I'm also used to instant oatmeal with milk. All other items were great.
My last trip up to the buffet was for the amazing Goat Cheese & Chive scrambled eggs. I remembered these being the best thing I ate during my last time here, and this time was no different. Everyone in my party loved them, and I normally HATE eggs of any kind.
This was a much better experience than the last time, and I now understand the Boma hype. Will definitely be joining on the bandwagon for this restaurant!
