Most Recent Reviews
Review of Liberty Tree Tavern Lunch
Reviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 04/10/2015
Rating: (8) Recommended
Dined at LTT on 3/21. ADR was at 1:45pm and we were seated pretty quickly. They had a water cooler in the lobby but were out of cups-it was a hot day.
Seated in the John Paul Jones room at the same table I ate at in 2012. I think Cheryl was our server. This is definitely one of the most efficient restaurants at WDW, we were in and out within an hour and got to step right outside to watch the 3pm parade!
My friend and I split the Tavern Fried Cheese, and I'm still mourning the loss of the cheddar bites that disappeared several years ago. The mozzarella sticks are still great though! We each got our own Pot Roast and I ate every last bite of mine, it's definitely one of my favorite entrees. Then we shared the famous Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake for dessert and it was just as good as I remembered.
Nice place to get out of the sun and sit down, and especially great if you want a fast meal but also want to be waited on.
Pros:
Great pot roast and dessertsCons:
—Reviewed by mare54 Review Date: 04/09/2015
Rating: (3) Not Recommended
Very disappointing...no transportation from or to airport. Taxi was $60 each way. The bus to Magic Kingdom came about every 45 minutes and was packed...when returning, we had a 30 minute wait for bus to return to hotel. Many ducks in pool and pooping, pool opens early but life jackets and towel shack not open till 10:30 and closed at 6. One meal in their casual restaurant for 4 adults ( choice of 4 meals, and each one was $40) toddlers charged $25 each. One meal came to $ 240 with tip. At checkout I was charged over $200 for " service fees " and parking...$25 a night for use of gym, ( never used), 2 bottles of water, and little coffee maker, $18 per day for parking..all of this plus tax...soooooooo, with $120 cab fare, $200 for service fees, and $240 for a casual dinner, and the horrible bus service to Magic Kingdom, we could have stayed at the Floridian with less stress and a truly deluxe hotel. It is not considered a Disney Hotel, so the bus service goes to the Swan and Dolphin less and with fewer busses. Never again...
Pros:
Closeness to EpcotCons:
Bus to magic kingdom every 45 minutesReview of Theme Park Photo Pass
Reviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 04/10/2015
Rating: (7) Recommended
If you're going with a large group, I feel this is a better value when the cost can be split up. No way did my friend and I take enough photos to justify the $170 price on our own. We did get photos from almost all the rides that offer them (did not ride the Mine Train this trip) and those were a nice thing to have. We did get some beautiful shots on Main Street at night.
I was disappointed that as two adults, we were not offered any "magic" shots, or the magic videos that I see other people getting. They also lost one of my sets of photos with the Anna & Elsa topiaries at the Flower & Garden Festivals. I would not be so upset if it was one of the other more common pictures that I have many, many copies from over the years, but this was new, unique one. Filled out the lost photo form but they could not find it for me.
Pros:
Some nice pictures and border/sticker optionsCons:
Missing photos, no magic shots or videosReviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 04/10/2015
Rating: (9) Recommended
My friend and I ate here for lunch around 1pm on 3/20. Obviously this is prime lunch time. The lines were moving pretty quickly, but then there was some confusion with the family ahead of us at the register and a manager had to come over, so that slowed things down. We did finally find a table directly in the sun and then had to hunt down chairs-not an ideal situation.
The food is very good and portions are large. My friend and I each got the Honey Chicken. While I miss the "takeout" containers they used to serve the entrees in, the new dishes are definitely easier to eat out of. They have one of my favorite desserts here, the banana pudding, which was great as always.
Pros:
Banana pudding! Huge portionsCons:
Very crowded and hard to find a seatReview of Cirque du Soleil La Nouba
Reviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 04/10/2015
Rating: (10) Recommended
I finally decided to give this show a try and am so glad I did! We purchased tickets to the 6:00pm show on 3/17, in category 2. Our seats were a little off center from the stage but we still had a great view. The seats were very cramped, both width and depth wise, and that was our only complaint. My friend that I was with is 6'6" and his knees were hitting the back of the person in front of us.
The show was beyond words. At times there was so much going on that I couldn't even watch it all! Loved that they had a live band and singers, and the music was great. Was very impressed with the performers who kept the show going even when something didn't go as planned (ie, one of the trapeze artists didn't make the fling across to the other side).
It was definitely a different kind of show but I recommend every one give it a try at least once!
As a side note, the woman next to me spent the first half of the show playing on her phone. The screen was bright and it was just very rude, especially since they specifically ask you to turn off your phones (also no photography or video recording at all, but people ignored that too) before the show begins. Was very distracting to me. It did not appear that she was with anyone, and I could not understand why someone would pay quite a bit of money to see this show and then NOT watch it! Eventually the usher attempted to make her put it away and I got mad enough that I spoke up, so she did manage to refrain from using it for the remainder of the performance.
Pros:
Absolutely fantastic!Cons:
Cramped seatingReview of FastPass+ (Retired)
Reviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 04/10/2015
Rating: (8) Recommended
I still don't love this new system, having used it about four times now. The two big tickets, Anna & Elsa and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, were things we skipped this time so that helped with making selections and it was easy enough to make changes up to a couple of days before. Day of changes can be nearly impossible.
Another friend wanted to join my party of two on our first day at Epcot, and we couldn't get any rides to line up (among Soarin' and Spaceship Earth-but he could get one for IllumiNations!). Our day at Hollywood Studios, the bus took a long time to arrive so I needed to move some things around-no availability for Tower of Terror. On another day at Animal Kingdom, wanted to move our Dinosaur and Kali River Rapids passes back just a bit. Dinosaur was fine; KRR had no more availability until 2 hours later, much longer than we wanted to stay in the park.
We did do pretty well at Magic Kingdom. Entering the park around 1pm, we used our original three options on Buzz Lightyear (they weren't even scanning at the second check point), Space Mountain, and Winnie the Pooh by 5:35. We visited a kiosk and were able to get a fourth almost immediately for it's a small world. It took us a few more kiosks and tries [CM tip: go back and forth between the "choose the ride" and "choose the time" pages a few times, and more times will become available - or try a different kiosk location] but were eventually able to get a fifth for Peter Pan's Flight and then a sixth for Jungle Cruise (11:40pm-12:40am), and I suspect we only had such luck because the park was open so late. Doubtful this could have occurred on a night when the park was only open until 9pm.
Pros:
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—Review of Disney Quest
Reviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 04/10/2015
Rating: (3) Not Recommended
I've been to DisneyQuest three times now and have never once enjoyed it, so I doubt I'll ever be back. We got in line for the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and the ride broke down. Pirates of the Caribbean: Buccaneer 3D ride had a very long line. Virtual Jungle Cruise moved very slowly as there was only one attendant, and it made me motion sick (that has not happened before). Alien Encounter had no line but I feel the instructions are not clear. The games on the first floor were all full and they can go on up to 30 minutes, so you can waste a lot of time waiting.
I most enjoyed playing endless rounds of Skeeball and Bejeweled in the area near the cafe. Also played a game of PacMan and a few rounds of a trivia game.
Admission is included in my premium annual pass and I bought a discounted ticket for my friend (who enjoyed the place a bit more than I did) but I won't pay extra in the future and won't waste my time here anymore. There are many other things in WDW better suited to my tastes!
Pros:
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Loud and crowdedReview of MagicBand
Reviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 04/10/2015
Rating: (8) Recommended
I now have a full set of all seven color bands, which is totally unnecessary. They're reusable for up to three years, so I think Disney needs to figure out a way to actually let them be reused and stop sending new ones!
We got the text that our room was ready while on Magical Express, so we could skip the check in desk. That was nice, and our bands worked to open the door right away. We did have to visit the desk later to add a second credit card to my traveling partner's band, separate from mine.
I've used MagicBands on four trips now, so I'm pretty experienced with getting the Mickey head to turn green when paying for things, but one of my bands was particularly finnicky about that. It often took me several tries to line it up juuuust right-and only with that band. Also, depending how you wear it and on which wrist, it can be difficult to open your room door without either just taking it off or pulling a muscle in your wrist!
It is very nice to be able to not have go digging for a Key to the World card, tickets, credit cards, Fastpasses, etc. Now if only they could figure out a way for a) a person's ID to be embedded (for drinking at Epcot, for example) and b) passholders to attach a credit card without staying at a resort.
Pros:
Easy to use, nice to have everything literally at your fingertipsCons:
Occasionally finnicky bandsReview of Walt Disney World's Magical Express
Reviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 04/10/2015
Rating: (8) Recommended
It had been about a year since I used Magical Express because I rented a car the last two trips I took.
The DVC owner I rented points from was nice enough to call and ask them to send me extra yellow tags because this was an extra long trip with multiple destinations and I simply needed more than one bag! They did so in plenty of time.
We tagged our luggage at the Buffalo airport and off we went. Found the ME location with no trouble (so much closer coming from the JetBlue gates than the Southwest gates!) and they waved us into the line. We did wait for about 10 minutes before boarding the bus and then sat on it for another 10 minutes before we were on our way!
I enjoyed that they played the tilt shift park videos on the ride, as I adore them. It took us about 45 minutes to arrive at our resort, Saratoga Springs, because first we stopped at both Port Orleans French Quarter and Riverside, then Old Key West, and finally SSR. Still arrived at our room right before 2pm.
When we checked out, we had no problems with the airline check in. The bus was scheduled to pick us up at 2:50pm, I think, and our flight was at 5:45. Plenty of time. There were people on the bus already and it was a few minutes late...but then it made the very odd trek to Coronado Springs, totally on the other side of the property so that definitely added a lot of time.
When we arrived at the airport there were some new policies that I am still confused about. They no longer drop off at terminals A & B, but B only. Then, they won't let you off the bus until the driver has unloaded all the luggage for "safety purposes". That makes no sense to me and has never been a thing in the eight years I've been using this service!
There was a rather irate group of adults who were all up in the CMs face (she boarded the bus to tell us where we were and what was going on while the driver was unloading). They were outraged because their flight was going to begin boarding in 45 minutes and the bus took so long and they almost rushed the driver before she closed the door so they could not get off (as they were supposed to be waiting).
I don't even know if that's coherent but they were rude. Disney schedules your pickup for about 3 hours before your flight. For them to be leaving in 1 hour (boarding in 45 minutes) that means they had to be on the bus for over two hours and I find that very difficult to believe. It was crazy.
Thankfully the CM handled them very well and my friend and I apologized for this group's behavior and said it was certainly not her fault. So just be aware of these new changes to airport return policies.
Pros:
Convenient, don't have to handle luggage, freeCons:
Odd choice of return pick-up hotels, new airport policiesReview of Walt Disney World's Magical Express
Reviewed by 19hokie81 Review Date: 04/11/2015
Rating: (10) Recommended
Had 3 recent trips using this service. Oct (business w/ family) trip in was made interesting by a tire blow-out. Figured we were stuck (just outside the Welcome gateway) for an extended period, but replacement bus was on-site and passengers / luggage transferred and on the road again within 15 minutes - i was most impressed. Dec (family only) we experienced a rather long wait to leave the airport - were first boarders - so sat for about 20 minutes while bus filled up. Contrast that with March (Business, no family) where i walked on bus and almost immediately we hit the road. We were able to catch earlier than scheduled departure buses on the last two trips with no problem, just asked the driver if we could board. All in all, removes the stress and cost of arranging other transportation and lets someone else deal with the traffic and the route. Our next trip we may be looking at a one way use case - just found (on this site) that this was an option.
