Most Recent Reviews
Review of Tomorrowland Terrace - Open Seasonally
Reviewed by jm26 Review Date: 06/06/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
They dropped the "noodle station" a while back I guess. I ate lunch here, it opens at 11 am, just happened to be walking by when it opened and the lines were short. I had the lobster role and chips, it was a nice change and tasted excellent.
We also attended the fireworks dessert party here. The buffet had a lot of good desserts but it was a bit chaotic and could have been set up better. When the fireworks started there was a mad rush to the railing to stake out a spot. After I shoved a few kids down and elbowed an old lady (not really) I was able to get a good spot to watch the fireworks. It was OK but I probably wont do it again.
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—Reviewed by jm26 Review Date: 06/06/2013
Rating: (9) Recommended
We ate dinner here on June 4, 2013. We had a reservation and only waited a few minutes. We sat in the upper portion of the restaurant at a table, if I would have been more familiar with this restaurant I would have requested a lower level booth which offers a much better few of the Living With the land ride, but the table was fine. The staff was friendly and it was an overall good experience. My 5 year old son loved the characters ( Pluto, Mickey, Chip and Dale). The food was excellent, first they brought us rolls and salad. Then the main course; beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, tilapia,broccoli,carrots,turkey and stuffing. They brought my son a huge plate of sweet potato fries, chicken, and macaroni and cheese with goldfish crackers on top. Dessert was a small farm style yellow cake with berries in it and covered in cream, they also brought 2 small cone shaped cakes with chocolate icing. All of the food was excellent and in my opinion was the best tasting meal I have ever had at WDW.
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Good food, charactersCons:
—Reviewed by jm26 Review Date: 06/06/2013
Rating: (8) Not Recommended
My family of 3 stayed in an Old Key West resort studio from May 28 to June 4, 2013. I requested a room near transportation and was given a room close to the Turtle Pond bus stop. I used the online check in and the room was ready upon our arrival. The size of the room was adequate and met all of our needs.The nearby pool was nice, it had a snack bar, arcade, shuffleboard, hot tub and playground and wasn't crowded most of the time. Overall we were satisfied with the room and service but I don't think I would recommend this resort for the following reasons. The room seemed old and run down, the carpet was worn and the appliances (coffee pot, toaster) were functional but broken and dirty. The bathroom was dark and had paint peeling. We were on the ground floor and the glass door to the patio was so dirty that you couldn't see out, basically the room was showing it's age and needed freshened up. We could basically hear everything that was going on in the room next to us. Every morning our neighbor whistled the Star Wars theme song while his children screamed at the top of their lungs. I complained to guest services but they didn't do anything about it as far as I could tell. After a few days I determined that they probably weren't being exceptionally loud but that the walls were just that thin, we also had a door that could be used to connect the rooms and I think that was the main source of the noise, but we spent most of our time at the parks or pool so it wasn't that big of a problem.
I have a mixed opinion about the bus service at this resort. The typical order the bus picks up if going to the parks is Peninsula Road, South Point, Turtle Pond, Miller Road and then the Hospitality House. It might go in a different order occasionally depending your destination,in my experience at other Disney resorts the Downtown Disney bus usually goes to the Hospitality House first but I didn't go downtown this visit so I'm not sure about this particular resort. Our stop was Turtle Pond, which for some reason was almost always the most crowded. I only had to stand a few times, once going to the Magic Kingdom for morning magic hours and maybe once or twice when returning home after park closing, but any of those times I could have sat but gave up my seat. I have read several reviews that state that the bus service to this resort is inadequate, obviously these people have never stayed at a value resort where the buses are packed full and at peak hours you might have to wait for several buses to come and go before you get on, compared to that the service here was remarkable. The buses do seem slow however, we had to wait about 30 minutes a few times, and the way the resort is laid out means they have to turn around a few times but overall the bus service was fine.
I am rating this resort an 8. I rented DVC points which saved me a lot of money, if I would have paid the WDW website price for this room I would have been furious and rated it much lower, probably 4. If you are thinking about staying here or any DVC resort I would advise renting points, either directly from a DVC owner or an online points broker.
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bus service, pool, friendly staffCons:
loud, oldReviewed by peytonshea02 Review Date: 06/05/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
It had been quite a few years since we had visited BOMA. We didn't love it our first try but we were staying at AKL and I felt like we should give it another go. We had dinner there the first night we checked in. WOW!!!
It was by far my favorite meal of the trip. All 4 of us loved it! We tried a little of everything and enjoyed it all. Some of our favorites: The
BBQ ribs, spiced chicken, salmon,the different flavored hummus.. and the Carrot Ginger soup was heavenly! - the watermelon rind salad was an unexpected hit with all. The deserts were very good...I know Zebra Domes are the big thing here...but we didn't love them. BUT - they had little coffee tarts with a chocolate crust that were absolutely to die for. I could eat my weight in those little beauties...(I actually may very well did, but it's vacation so I am not telling).
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—Review of Mara - Jambo House
Reviewed by peytonshea02 Review Date: 06/05/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
We stayed 9 fabulous days @ AKL - so we had quite a few meals here. Some of the things we tried...
Breakfast:
African Inspired Breakfast Platter - Very good! I could eat chakalaka all day long. The Merguez sausage was also very good, but had a very strong flavor.
Bounty Platter, Mickey Waffle and Croissant Sandwich were also very good - the same as you will get anywhere in the World.
The Cream Cheese Coffee Cake was DD11 favorite breakfast sweet. The strawberry scone was my favorite.
For lunch/dinner:
Chicken Flatbread - interesting and quite tasty.
Vegetable Flatbread - very tasty but salty. I love artichokes and olives so this was yummy for me!
The nuggets, hand carved sandwich (turkey that day) and Angus burger were good as well.
We love AKL but the Mara is not something we consider a huge plus here. We have no complaints but it isn't a place we would rave about.
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—Review of Captain Cook's
Reviewed by peytonshea02 Review Date: 06/05/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
On our way to the Magic Kingdom, we decided last minute to stop by the Poly for a quick breakfast. We were considering staying here on our next trip so we decided to check out Captain Cook's. We ordered the bounty platter, Mickey Waffle and Tonga Toast (one of our favorites from Kona) - It was all fantastic! The Tonga Toast was outstanding. Super light and fluffy but filling. Sweet but not too sweet. It was heavenly! It was one of our favorite breakfasts in the World.
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Tonga Toast!!!Cons:
—Review of Kona Cafe Lunch/Dinner
Reviewed by peytonshea02 Review Date: 06/05/2013
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
I am so sad to write this review. 🙁
We have enjoyed many meals here and have always loved them. I was very excited to see a new menu for KONA! - I was so looking forward to our dinner here...but....read on if you dare.
DD11 had the Teriyaki Style New York Strip - it was the best dish of the night and it was not that good. Very tough piece of meat and the broccolini was one step from raw. DH had the Togarashi Spiced Ahi Tuna. The Tuna was fine - cooked well, but had very little flavor/seasoning. The deep fried veggie roll was nasty. VERY greasy and odd. A veggie roll with sushi rice and seaweed isn't something that should be deep fried. Absolutely nothing appealing about this. The winner for worst dish - was mine - Sesame Seared Sea Scallops - with rice, wakami salad and tarragon-champagne beurre blanc. Translation: 3 scallops, over cooked with no taste other than a bit of large black peppercorns cooked into them. The wakami salad was inedible. I am not sure what sort of flavor profile they were going for here..but it was a fail.
The one saving grace of this meal was the desserts. The Banana-Chocolate Creme Brulee and the Chocolate Fondue were excellent...thankfully. Had it not been for the yummy bread and desserts, I would have left hungry. It will be a very long time before we find the strength to try Kona again.
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dessertsCons:
—Reviewed by Trishadono Review Date: 06/05/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
Took my daughter for mom and me trip for her 18th bday. So fun to be met outside and walked to the Hawaii building to check in. Our request for 3rd floor balcony was met too!
We loved the new rooms. Fresh looking! The new brown sheers on the sliders are a nice relaxing touch. The new bathrooms have lots of counter space.
The lounge was just so beautiful I would sit there and just look out the windows at that fantastic view of the castle and seven seas lagoon area. The staff was great, the food tasty and there was always plenty of seating.
I made a special request which was honored too 🙂
All in all, the birthday was so special in such a great place!
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Newly remodeled lounge and roomsCons:
some construction going onReviewed by peytonshea02 Review Date: 06/05/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
This was THE surprise winner of our QS meals during our stay.
DH and the kids had pizza with side salads and really enjoyed them. I had the antipasto salad (which I was missing from another QS place) and LOVED it. It was exactly what I was craving! Super fresh greens with some yummy salami and pepperoni, sweet baby tomatoes and a perfect dressing. It was so good!
The perfect ending to the meal were the cupcakes. We are not a cupcake lovin family - but oh my! We had 2 of the cappuccino cupcakes and 2 of the Darth Vader cupcakes. The Darth ones were super moist, chocolately and filled with a light, creamy peanut butter filling. It was topped with a rich chocolate frosting and a big piece of chocolate Darth Vader. Evil but good.
My favorite - the cappuccino one. I would eat here again if for just for this. The light but super chocolately cupcake topped with a fluffy chocolate/coffee bit of heavenly frosting with crunchy little chocolate bits in it. PERFECTION! yes - my best lunch was a salad and a cupcake. I love vacation. 😉
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—Review of Tusker House Character Breakfast
Reviewed by peytonshea02 Review Date: 06/05/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
LOVE LOVE LOVE Tusker House breakfast. We had an ADR at 8:05 before the park opened at 9:00. We had a delicious breakfast. We filled up on typical breakfast items (Mickey Waffles!) and some interesting and tasty African inspired dishes. The juice is so yummy and the coffee is very good. We met Mickey, Daisy and Goofy in their snazzy safari gear. =) When we were finished, we stepped outside to an empty Africa and waited for 5 minutes before we heard the rumbling ...turned around and saw the crowd coming over the bridge (thankfully with a rope in front of them)!! The CM's, with perfect timing, dropped the rope in front of us before the masses arrived - just in time for us to walk on the safari and be on the very first truck out for the day! Perfect start of our AK day!!!
