Most Recent Reviews
Review of Teppan Edo - Japan
Reviewed by rose Review Date: 02/27/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
We visited in February 2013. There were 8 in our party (perfect for our table), including 4 children.
I cannot way enough positive about Teppan Edo. We have eaten here on several previous visits and have never been disappointed. Yet this time was the best ever.
We had our first female chef, who was awesome. Her name is Mai. Not only was she as competent as our other chefs have been, her personality was the best. She interacted with all of us, especially the children.
The food was delicious as always, the staff friendly and courteous, and the evening was wonderful.
Highly recommend. In fact I give it a 10+++++.
Pros:
EVERYTHING!!!Cons:
NothingReview of Mama Melrose's Lunch/Dinner
Reviewed by rose Review Date: 02/27/2013
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
This was my fifth or sixth time booking a reservation at Mama Melrose's. Very disappointing.
The service was slow and our server seemed bored to have our table. One entree was totally forgotten!
In the past the food was marvelous -- not so this time. One of our party ordered the vodka shrimp penne - all of FOUR SHRIMP! The menu did not say the dish was garnished with shrimp!
I ordered the charred steak, and it was tough. Actually had steak at two other locations and it melted in my mouth, so it must have been the chef.
Anyhow, I won't be eating here again...so sad to say goodbye to what had been my favorite.
Pros:
locationCons:
food and serviceReviewed by calves Review Date: 02/27/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
This is an absolutely gorgeous resort! The ground are beautiful and peaceful and the mansion side at night is so romantic! We stayed in the Princess room and my eleven year old daughter just fell in love with the room. She cried when we had to leave and we were transferring to the Beach Club! We watched YeeHaw Bob which was a treat and took the boat to Downtown Disney and swam in the pool and just really took the time to enjoy this resort...we usually stay Deluxe but will definitely be staying here again!!!!
Pros:
Beautiful resort with excellent ammenitiesCons:
NoneReview of Art of Animation Resort (Value Resort)
Reviewed by calves Review Date: 02/27/2013
Rating: (7) Recommended
Stayed here for one night after Thanksgiving 2012. We thought the theme was excellent and each section was beautiful But LM rooms were far from everything! Loved the pool and the food court but just prefer the moderate to deluxe hotels
Pros:
Beautiful theming!Cons:
CrowdedReview of Spirit of Aloha Dinner
Reviewed by rose Review Date: 02/27/2013
Rating: (9) Recommended
We went in February 2013 - there were 12 of us, including children aged 4, 6, 7, 8, and 12. It was a dismal evening - raining and a bit chilly.
The staff was wonderful - provided everyone with ponchos for the walk through the rain to the stage area (our 4-year-old told everyone to put on their "nachos").
While the food may not be the best at Disney, it was plentiful and tasty. Our waitress (one for our whole table) was superb!!!
Most of the adults had seen the show at some point in the past, so we had more fun watching the kids, who loved it.
We had several allergies at our table and they were handled professionally and courteously by the staff.
It was a great evening, despite the nasty weather, and we appreciated the positive aspects.
Pros:
ServiceCons:
Food not the greatestReview of Beach Club Villas (Disney Vacation Club)
Reviewed by calves Review Date: 02/27/2013
Rating: (5) Not Recommended
We love staying at the Beach Club Resort so we decided to rent DVC points and stay in the villas...what a mistake! The room was worn out and grubby...my husband and I were shocked at the room! We had transferred from Port Orleans and had a much nicer room there. We did enjoy the pool area and love the resort itself but will never go back to the villas until they are updated!
Pros:
Location,ammenities and POOLCons:
rooms were so outdated!!!!!Reviewed by mouserdh1984 Review Date: 02/28/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
Our stay was 2-16thru 2-23 our second visit, have stayed at POR 2 tmes also. We love the size of this resort. Only 2 times did our bus share with Riverside. We never waited more than 15 min for buses. Room was great love the update and the queen beds. We were in Building 4 close to the bus stop, only noise we has was the trucks bringing supplies early in the morn, you could hear the back up beeps.It was DDD 14 birthday while we were there night before her big day when we returned to the room there was a Birthday card from Mickey for her and on the big day returning there was a phone message from Mickey wishing her a Happy Birthday. We did walk over to Riverside on morning and one evening for meals just to get something differnt. Freindly staff no complaints from us. We would for sure stay here again.
Pros:
Size, Closeness to parksCons:
Limited foodReview of 1900 Park Fare Character Dinner
Reviewed by dyej Review Date: 02/28/2013
Rating: (5) Not Recommended
The food was good but the noise level was almost unbearable. The wait staff was good but rushed. The most important reason for coming to this buffet are the characters and I found them to be lacking. They were not very interactive and because we were at the end of their rounds they rushed. Anastasia was by far the best. I have dined at CRT and the princess lunch at EPOCT and prefer the character interactions there. The chef was very helpful in dealing with our allergies. We did enjoy our evening however, due to the cost and characters I cannot recommend.
Pros:
food and chefCons:
characters and noise levelReview of The Wave - Breakfast
Reviewed by dyej Review Date: 02/28/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
We had a wonderful late breakfast at the Wave, 10:30. There were few people, no need for an ADR. The buffet is great, $20 adult, $10 kid. Most items on the menu are also on the buffet. The food good with a lot of variety. The best thing was the peace and quiet. After three days in the park the Wave was a nice meal to end our trip. Highly recommend.
Pros:
good food, peacefulCons:
noneReviewed by Disney6Pack Review Date: 02/28/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
Stayed four nights in a standard view studio 2/9 – 2/13 on rented vacation club points. My group was me, DD15, DD13, and DD10. This was a surprise vacation for my DD13’s 14th birthday since they were off from school for Mardi Gras break. Drove overnight and arrived early at 8am. Had done online check-in 10 days prior with no special requests (other than noting the birthday) because I wasn’t familiar with the layout of this resort. When I checked in, they said no rooms were ready that early. I asked to see a layout of the resort and an explanation of where the studios were located. I wanted easy access to bus, food, and pool. They said they could give me a room facing the pool on the main lobby on the 5th floor and they would text me the room number when it was ready. Never received text message with room assignment, and I’ve always received the text during other stays on Disney property. CM did give me a Birthday button for my daughter. Since we drove, we left all our stuff in the van, changed clothes in the locker room by the pool, then headed to Universal Studios for the day. I know, how could I do that… well Universal was having a Mardi Gras parade and concert that evening and we wanted to enjoy that during this trip. Arrived back at the resort at around 10:30pm and had to go to front desk for room assignment and keys. Had the bell-hop bring our luggage up to room. He was very friendly; asking if we had any questions about the layout or amenities of the resort, and provided some useful information about pool and activities. He asked us where we were from (Louisiana – escaping the crazy Mardi Gras people) and said that over half of the resort was full with La people with the same idea. Didn’t realize that we were going to be there during the cheerleading competitions, so there were a lot of cheerleaders around the resort (the resort was “at capacity†according to the CM who checked us in). Didn’t have any issues with them at the hotel, but we encountered a lot of rude behavior by them at the parks.
Since this was a short trip, we didn't spend much time at the resort. Room was somewhat clean. Bedroom and bathroom appeared to be clean enough, but I did see some dust in bedroom. I dropped something in the sink area. When I retrieved it from the floor, I noticed that the floor under the sinks was extremely dirty (which was extremely gross to me). The lighting here is extremely dim. We would open the curtains if we were there during the daytime if we needed to be able to see anything. There was barely enough space and storage for four people for a four night stay, but if we would have had more clothes then we wouldn’t have had enough room. I tried the sofa sleeper and found it a bit uncomfortable myself, but DD15 and DD13 slept on it and said it was fine. I thought the bed was too soft (I’m used to a more firm mattress) so I woke every morning with a slight backache. The only tv we watched as maybe a few hours of the Disney channel, so I didn't really notice anything about the channel selection. TV reception seemed fine to me. Room stayed very cold and I had to turn up the temp in the mornings so that everyone would get out of bed. Had a laptop, smart phone, and ipod touch. Could not get the phone or ipod to connect to the wi-fi. Could not get the laptop to stay connected for more that 15 minutes at the time before it would drop (I did not have this many problems with connections at Saratoga Springs or The Art of Animation on our last visits there). We have verizon family plan with four phones and no trouble with reception in the room. Kids were able to text and talk with no issues. Even called the kids down by the pool without issue. Refrigerator and coffee pot work well, but did not use microwave, toaster, or hair dryer. The safe in these rooms are still the old ones with a key to lock and unlock – no problem with that. Our room was a lock-off that connected to the next room. Heard nothing from outside or from the adjoining room and did not hear any toilets or showers. I loved the location of our room (5406). Room door overlooked the lobby and balcony overlooked the pool. It was a short walk to the elevators and out the front door to the bus stop. Since we were staying on rented points, we did not have mousekeeping until day 3 of trip. Not an issue for us, but we did bring extra towels from the pool area because 4 females with a lot of hair need more that one towel each to make it through 3 days of showering. On the day that the room was serviced, they only took away all the dirty towels and replenished all supplies. Couldn’t tell if they vacuumed the floor, but they definitely didn’t make the beds or straighten anything in the room.
On the morning of my DD13's birthday, there was a voice message with all the Disney characters singing Happy Birthday to her. We all enjoyed that.
Ended up not going to any of the food areas so I have no comments on those areas. I liked the gift shop. There was a good selection of the standard Disney items that you see everywhere at Disney, but there was also a good selection of hotel themed and African inspired items. CMs in gift shop were very friendly. Pool and hot tub was very nice. We went there every evening and one time during the day. Only issue was this: the last night I let the kids go to the pool while I packed. My DD10 decided to wear her sneakers rather than her flip-flops (I have no idea why) and set them down in the hot tub area. They went back and forth between the pool and hot tub several times. When they were ready to come in for the night, they could not find her sneakers. I went down to look for them myself and went to the front desk to report them missing. Checked at the pool and front desk again the next morning before checking out, but they never showed up. I filled out a missing item report, but haven’t received anything yet. We lost an item years ago at Disney and it was eventually mailed to us, but nothing yet from this one and it’s been 2 weeks since we checked out. Really, who would take someone’s shoes from the pool area??? Luckily, they weren’t expensive or very nice sneakers.
Bus system was horrible this trip. Bus system seemed to run very slowly and there were long waits for buses every day. Because the resort was at capacity and the buses stopped at Kidani Village first, the buses were always full and we had to stand on every trip to a park. Only took bus once each to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios. On the day going to MK, the bus was full and we had to wait another 40 minutes for another bus which was also standing room only. There was a CM at the bus stop talking to the bus system people about it, but it did not help. We drove to Animal Kingdom because it was our last day there. Checked out of hotel, went to AK for ½ a day, then drove home. Had no issues with buses returning to resort from any of the parks. We did not leave any of the parks at “closing†time though. The parking lot was huge and full and quite a distance from the main lobby. It was a long walk to the car whenever we did use it.
I love staying at Disney resorts and I would recommend this one to anyone, but Disney did not provide that extra magic this trip. I liked that everything was inside one building and not a long walk away (I did have a conveniently located room though). If it had rained and we had wanted to go to one of the dining rooms, then we would not have had to get out in the weather and get wet. I probably won't stay here again for a while because it's my goal to try all of the Disney resorts.
