Most Recent Reviews
Review of Pop Century Resort (Value Resort)
Reviewed by Oneanne Review Date: 05/21/2013
Rating: (9) Recommended
My May 11-17 trip was the second time in a row staying at POP... it is really starting to feel like home-away-from-home.
I arrived at 7am, having taken a red eye from the west coast. I was tired and had my fingers crossed a room would be available so I could take a power nap! No one else was in the lobby at that hour, so I walked right up to the counter to check in. I had booked a superior pool-view room and had made special requests for a king size bed and a room in the 60's building... it took around 5 minutes, but they were able to find me a room and to fulfill both special requests. My room was on the second floor facing the Hippy Dippy pool which was exactly what I was looking for. For this trip I was on my own and wanted to be right in the middle of the action: the happy noise coming from the pool was never an intrusion, and it was a super short walk to the dining hall and the bus stop.
As with the previous trip, bus karma was amazing! More often than not I was running for a bus already sitting at the bus stop - both at the hotel and the parks. The longest wait I ever had was about 10 minutes. Having only the one hotel bus stop is a huge plus, as is the central location of the hotel... when I went to Hollywood Studios it felt like we pulled out of the hotel drive way, went around a corner and pulled in to the park drive way.
Having just the king bed made the room feel much bigger - no hitting the side of the bed with the door. The room was in good shape and Mousekeeping did a great job, putting out wash cloth animals, even though it was evident an adult was staying in the room.
I was very happy with my stay and prepared to give POP a 10 rating - until I got to checking out. I did express check out and had the email notification of my room charges before I left the room: they had pre-printed my boarding passes and luggage tag and left them on the door knob, so up to this point everything was perfect. But I still had to check my bag in at the Bell station and pay the baggage fee, so I was still standing in line - a very long line. My Magic Express pick-up was at 11:55am, so I was at the Bell Station at 11am along with everyone else who was having to leave their rooms because it was check-out time, even though their pick-up times were much later in the afternoon. I felt like I might be doing something wrong, but couldn't get anyone's attention so I stood in line for over half an hour.... turns out I did need to be in that line, and I was done before the shuttle arrived so it all worked out. Bell services got a negative mark in my previous review and they do this time as well: seems like there has to be a better system - the 11am crush has to happen every day.
I am getting to love the POP and will stay there next trip as well.
Pros:
Location and transportationCons:
—Review of Tangierine Cafe
Reviewed by Bobdes Review Date: 05/20/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
Loves the shwarma platters. I had the lamb and chicken. The chicken had a bit of fat on it, but other than that, it was well seasoned. The lamb was great! Good filling meal and the atmosphere is a great athentic setting. We will be going back again! 😉
Pros:
Shwarma, no wait, great atmosphere!Cons:
chicken in shwarma had a bit of fat on it.Review of Le Cellier Lunch/Dinner
Reviewed by Bobdes Review Date: 05/20/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
So, this was our annual visit to LeCellier for our anniversary. Al usual, the highlights were the pretzel bread, the filet mignon and my wife's martini sampler. The waitress also had some friendly fun facts about the area of Canada that she was from and where we were sitting.
On the negative, the wine sampler I ordered seemed to have less wine in the glasses than I remembered. I also told the reservationist that we were celebrating our 19trh anniversary. It sounded like she added it to the notes section. Then, when I checked in at the counter, I told the girl there and she just congratulated me. Meanwhile, right on the check-in desk was a stamp that said "celebrating" that they must use to stamp the paper they give the waitress. A few years ago, they gave us complimentary champagne and dessert becayse it was our anniversary. It's the small things that count, that is what makes Disney....DISNEY! 😉
Next time, I may be tempted to give another restaurant a chance. But the food here is great. 🙂
Pros:
Food and waitressCons:
lack of caring about celebrationReviewed by TheGrumpyDwarf Review Date: 05/20/2013
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
If I could give the buses in Disney a 0 rating it would still be too high.
complained about waits to/from parks to Wilderness lodge my entire stay, but got nothing but crickets in response.
1 hour was a common wait time for a bus to/return from a park.
spent over $200 getting around in cabs the service was so bad.
Repeated complaints were met with yawns as I guess this is not the first time someone has had issues with the bus service.
Actually would have been better not to have bus service at all. At least we would have known what to expect.
Disney has lost not only my family of 6 vacation dollars, but my son's and daughter will not be bringing our future grandkids to a Disney property.
Next time we'll skip Orlando....
Pros:
absolutely no positives to reportCons:
wait times, wait times and wait times. Oh did I mention the wait times?Review of Columbia Harbour House
Reviewed by Oneanne Review Date: 05/18/2013
Rating: (9) Recommended
This is a regular stop each trip and my recent 05.11-17 was no exception. I had the salmon - again - which is such a treat at a counter service restaurant. I marked down a point this time because the scrims up for refurbishment totally blocked the view out the windows and it's usually such relaxing fun to sit in the bridge section and people watch.
Pros:
Food selection and decorCons:
—Review of Boulangerie Patisserie les Halles
Reviewed by Oneanne Review Date: 05/18/2013
Rating: (9) Recommended
I have mixed feelings about the new layout... It was nice to be able to peer into the cases and see everything before circling back to order but it was packed with people when I stopped in, as all were picking up a snack before Illuminations, and kind of a confusing mess. I could see there wasn't going to be any seating available so I got one of the sweet treats in a cup so I could walk and eat. I've forgotten the name but it was a raspberry mousse and was divine. This is a can't miss every trip.
Pros:
Quality and selectionCons:
Limited seatingReview of Tangierine Cafe
Reviewed by Oneanne Review Date: 05/18/2013
Rating: (7) Recommended
I ate here for the first time on my 05.11-17 trip. I had the Chicken Shawarma and have to say I didn't love the chicken... The flavoring was fine but the quality of the chicken was lacking. The hummas and bread were quite good. The ordering process was chaotic... One of the servers was even getting frustrated so I think something wasn't happening quite right. I'll probably have another go next trip, possibly ordering something different.
Pros:
HummasCons:
Chaotic orderingReviewed by Oneanne Review Date: 05/18/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
I ate here for the first time during my 05.11 - 17 trip and was really pleasantly surprised. I had the Sweet and Sour Chicken and some iced tea. The chicken was best quality white meat with not too much coating and there was a bit of vinegar twang to the sauce. The iced tea was unsweetened which was nice and refreshing. I ate an early lunch so there was seating available in the courtyard which was lovely. Will definitely eat here again next trip.
Pros:
Food quality: ambiance of the courtyard seating areaCons:
—Review of Mama Melrose's Lunch/Dinner
Reviewed by forufromu Review Date: 05/17/2013
Rating: (5) Not Recommended
First the good (its short). Really good pizza and it is part of the fantasmic package, which gave us awesome seats! Service was slow and shoty. Restaurant not even half way full. Marinara tasted like someone put a flavor extractor in it. (rather of them put pizza sauce on the chicken parm than that.) Gelato tasted like regular ice cream. Other than that it was just Peachy! Would not recommend to any one.
Pros:
fantasmic package, pizzaCons:
so so italianReview of Flying Fish Cafe
Reviewed by cappy7651 Review Date: 05/17/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
WOW!!!! WHAT CAN I SAY THE FOOD HERE IS AMAZING. THE MUSSELS IN THE GREEN SAUCE IS A (MUST)! YOU WILL LICK THE BOWL AT THE END I KNOW I DO. MY FAMILY AND I GO HERE EVERY YEAR. WE ALWAYS MAKE IT A POINT TO BOOK A RESERVATION WHEN WE COME HERE. IF YOU LIKE SEAFOOD, YOU WILL LOVE IT. ALSO FOR THE MAIN COURSE, YOU MUST HAVE THE SNAPPER WRAPPED IN A THIN POTATO SHELL. THEY WRAP IT IN THIS SLICES OF POTATO.
