Jenbabe411
06-11-2009, 01:04 PM
I was recently at the world from may 28- June 4 with my mom, dad, sister(15), cousin(14), and BF(28)...Oh and im 24!
Our family goes to the world about every 5 years, Let's us save the money and makes it really exciting! This year my parents were kind enough to take my cousin and my boyfriend along as well.
I'm not going to do an extensive trip report but touch on the subjects that were important to me before the trip. Hope it helps people out!
Resort: We stayed at Saratoga Springs resort in a 2 bedroom villa. We used to stay at the Disney Institute a long time ago and have stayed at Saratoga Springs ever since. We like the closeness to downtown and it never seems that busy and crazy. We stayed in the grandstand section which was nice. Our room was great and we always enjoy having a full kitchen where we ate breakfast almost every morning. The grandstand pool was nice and my mom enjoyed sitting out there and baking in the sun. My dad would have a cocktail at the bar and hang out. Another perk about grandstand is you get on and off the busses first. I kind of felt bad for the people at the Spring who were picked up and dropped off last. Next time we're hoping to try something new but we just enjoy Saratoga so much its hard to move away!
Busses: I have never stayed at another resort so I can't compare but the busses ran very well in my opinion. We did have one instance where people had been waiting 30-40 min. for a magic kingdom bus and a bus pulled up saying it was blizzard beach, blizzard beach was closed by then so everyone ignored that bus. Well it sat there for a few minutes then out of nowhere changed its sign to Magic Kingdom while driving away! Everyone was in shock! An MK bus came about 10 min. later but im still baffled at why he did that! Other than that we got our busses in a timely manner and they were never completely packed unless you decided to leave right at closing.
We were there when the treehouse villas had there grand opening. If you are staying there you have to take the Saratoga bus then get off at grandstand and take a treehouse villas bus to get there. Now to me this seems annoying but I did about 75% of the time always see a treehouse villas bus parked at grandstand waiting to pick up people.
Weather: We arrived on May 28 and went straight to epcot that afternoon. It rained for about 2-3 hours from around 7-10ish making Illuminations a little less fun to watch but it DID clear out most of the crowds for EMH and made rides very quick to get on. May 29 it rained for about an hour and then didn't rain again till June 3 for about an hour. The weather for the rest of the trip was beautiful. High 80s maybe 90 but clear and nice. My mom(the always cold one) brought around her jacket everywhere for indoor activities and the busses. We couldn't have asked for better weather!
Crowds: I was nervous about crowds from reading about the Spring Break crowds but was very pleasantly suprised. I never saw a wait above 60 min. and that was only on a couple of rides like soarin or peter pan. My family loves rollercoasters and we road RNR and TOT at least 4 times each time we went to DHS. If you get there early and use the fast passes you could ride anything you wanted more than once! We went to DHS for Star Wars Weekends and though it was a little congested over in the Star Wars area the rest of the park was easily manageable. Blizzard beach was also not very and it was easy to get some chairs and the lines for the slides were not bad at all 15-20min which was more like 10 for most and 40 min for summit plummit which felt like 20 min. All in all the crowds were great at all the parks and a pleasant suprise!
Big & Tall: My boyfriend came with us on this trip and he is about 6'8" and almost 400 pds so even though he put on an excited face for me I knew he was nervous about not being able to fit on any of the rides. I was nervous too but from all my research I was pretty confident it would be ok. Well the first ride we rode was Mission Space in Epcot and he fit fine! From there it was smooth sailing with him riding every ride at all the parks! We always got a front seat for his long legs but other than that he got on and road with ease! I am just so proud of Disney and their dedication to making all people welcome.
Dining:
Sci-Fi- Always a fun atmosphere and good burgers. Like everyone says stick with the burgers, onion rings and a shake and youll have a great time!
50s diner- We had the best waitress and best food here! It was my parents anniversary and she made them feed each other cupcake to redo their wedding. It was hillarious! My DBF asked where the bathroom was and she started screaming directions at him and sent him this long way around and all the waiters would yell directions too it was just too funny! My dad and DBF had the Fried Chicken which they loved and I had the pot pie which was everyones fave! My mom had the meatloaf which she got reheated cause the greenbeans were cold. She said it was alright but she would definitly get the pot roast next time and I agree!
Marrakesh- This was our first meal upon arrival and all in all it goes in the "im glad I did it but prob not again pile" Food was decent, atmosphere beautiful, waiter ok. If you are new to that food you can't go wrong with the shish kabob. I much more enjoy eating around the world, which we did another day, over sitting down.
Crystal Palace- Good breakfast, we enjoyed ourselves. Characters were fun. It was nice to have a big buffet breakfast. I do enjoy Chef Mickeys better but couldn't get in.
Ragland Road- Really fun place! We got seated in a booth right near the entrance and next time I would request to be seated in the main area because you cant see anything from the booths and it is very dark. But the food and beer was very good! Me and my DBF wanted to go back and eat the bar but never got the chance.
Bongos- We ate outside here and it started to rain just a little so they moved us to another table outside that was more covered. We weren't that hungry so we got a sampler appetizer and my DBF got this pork platter. Everything was very good but the highlight of it for me was there mojitos! Very very good! Huge mint leaves! Fun atmosphere. While we eating there though a roach flew from somewhere outside into her hair then flew away.....funny for us, not so funny for her!LOL
T-Rex Downtown Disney- Did not eat there but just wanted to note that it was PACKED! Like overflowing people everywhere packed! I know it just opened but just a warning to anyone thinking theyll walk up and get seated...not gonna happen!
California Grill- Me and my DBF at here for our anniversary dinner and had the best time ever! We got a great seat right by the window which we could watch wishes from.
Side note: We had reservations at 8:10 because wishes was supposed to be at 9pm. I even called to confirm once and was talking to the reservation lady and she was telling me how I had a perfect time for wished at 9. Well we got there and after a while the manager came up to say hi and she informed us that wishes was actually at 10. Well we knew we were definitly not leaving our seats before wishes so we took our time with dinner and it worked out perfectly with us getting our dessert right after Wishes. Our waiter was also very nice and we tipped him extra since we probably ended up taking up an extra seating he could have had.
We had the Spicy Kazan sushi which was amazing! He had a chinese salad which he like a lot and i had the goat cheese ravioli was was awesome! We split the beef tenderloin which I was too full to eat so he ate it all and loved it. We had the dessert sampler which was great. This was definitly a very romantic, special evening and we will definitly be going back to the California Grill again!
Dining Plan: We did not do the dining plan but I just wanted to share my opinion on it.
We were originally signed up for the dining plan but I decided to cancel for a few reasons. 1) me and my mom are both post-op gastric bypass so we only eat about half of our food and would probably be splitting a lot. 2) my sister and cousin would be charged as adults but would mainly be eating from the kids menu cause they don't like anything but burgers and chicken nuggets haha3) We wanted to eat appetizers but didn't want to pay OOP for them.
The total for everyone on the dining plan would be around $1600 for all 6 of us.
Now the result of our trip was that we did spend around $1600 on food BUT we got so many different things. We got appetizers and split things for meals but what our family does a lot is snack. Each person probably had about 4 or so snacks a day (including bev.)
So in my opinion doing the Dining Plan was not for us. We spent the same amount but got more of the things we wanted and weren't left with extra food being wasted.
Conclusion: All in all our trip turned out to be a GREAT one! We did the 4-3 deal and it was really great to spend 7 nights instead of the 5 we usually do. If they did that deal again later im sure we would use it. But from the weather to the crowds to eating it all worked out beautifully and I CAN'T WAIT to go back again!:mickey:
Our family goes to the world about every 5 years, Let's us save the money and makes it really exciting! This year my parents were kind enough to take my cousin and my boyfriend along as well.
I'm not going to do an extensive trip report but touch on the subjects that were important to me before the trip. Hope it helps people out!
Resort: We stayed at Saratoga Springs resort in a 2 bedroom villa. We used to stay at the Disney Institute a long time ago and have stayed at Saratoga Springs ever since. We like the closeness to downtown and it never seems that busy and crazy. We stayed in the grandstand section which was nice. Our room was great and we always enjoy having a full kitchen where we ate breakfast almost every morning. The grandstand pool was nice and my mom enjoyed sitting out there and baking in the sun. My dad would have a cocktail at the bar and hang out. Another perk about grandstand is you get on and off the busses first. I kind of felt bad for the people at the Spring who were picked up and dropped off last. Next time we're hoping to try something new but we just enjoy Saratoga so much its hard to move away!
Busses: I have never stayed at another resort so I can't compare but the busses ran very well in my opinion. We did have one instance where people had been waiting 30-40 min. for a magic kingdom bus and a bus pulled up saying it was blizzard beach, blizzard beach was closed by then so everyone ignored that bus. Well it sat there for a few minutes then out of nowhere changed its sign to Magic Kingdom while driving away! Everyone was in shock! An MK bus came about 10 min. later but im still baffled at why he did that! Other than that we got our busses in a timely manner and they were never completely packed unless you decided to leave right at closing.
We were there when the treehouse villas had there grand opening. If you are staying there you have to take the Saratoga bus then get off at grandstand and take a treehouse villas bus to get there. Now to me this seems annoying but I did about 75% of the time always see a treehouse villas bus parked at grandstand waiting to pick up people.
Weather: We arrived on May 28 and went straight to epcot that afternoon. It rained for about 2-3 hours from around 7-10ish making Illuminations a little less fun to watch but it DID clear out most of the crowds for EMH and made rides very quick to get on. May 29 it rained for about an hour and then didn't rain again till June 3 for about an hour. The weather for the rest of the trip was beautiful. High 80s maybe 90 but clear and nice. My mom(the always cold one) brought around her jacket everywhere for indoor activities and the busses. We couldn't have asked for better weather!
Crowds: I was nervous about crowds from reading about the Spring Break crowds but was very pleasantly suprised. I never saw a wait above 60 min. and that was only on a couple of rides like soarin or peter pan. My family loves rollercoasters and we road RNR and TOT at least 4 times each time we went to DHS. If you get there early and use the fast passes you could ride anything you wanted more than once! We went to DHS for Star Wars Weekends and though it was a little congested over in the Star Wars area the rest of the park was easily manageable. Blizzard beach was also not very and it was easy to get some chairs and the lines for the slides were not bad at all 15-20min which was more like 10 for most and 40 min for summit plummit which felt like 20 min. All in all the crowds were great at all the parks and a pleasant suprise!
Big & Tall: My boyfriend came with us on this trip and he is about 6'8" and almost 400 pds so even though he put on an excited face for me I knew he was nervous about not being able to fit on any of the rides. I was nervous too but from all my research I was pretty confident it would be ok. Well the first ride we rode was Mission Space in Epcot and he fit fine! From there it was smooth sailing with him riding every ride at all the parks! We always got a front seat for his long legs but other than that he got on and road with ease! I am just so proud of Disney and their dedication to making all people welcome.
Dining:
Sci-Fi- Always a fun atmosphere and good burgers. Like everyone says stick with the burgers, onion rings and a shake and youll have a great time!
50s diner- We had the best waitress and best food here! It was my parents anniversary and she made them feed each other cupcake to redo their wedding. It was hillarious! My DBF asked where the bathroom was and she started screaming directions at him and sent him this long way around and all the waiters would yell directions too it was just too funny! My dad and DBF had the Fried Chicken which they loved and I had the pot pie which was everyones fave! My mom had the meatloaf which she got reheated cause the greenbeans were cold. She said it was alright but she would definitly get the pot roast next time and I agree!
Marrakesh- This was our first meal upon arrival and all in all it goes in the "im glad I did it but prob not again pile" Food was decent, atmosphere beautiful, waiter ok. If you are new to that food you can't go wrong with the shish kabob. I much more enjoy eating around the world, which we did another day, over sitting down.
Crystal Palace- Good breakfast, we enjoyed ourselves. Characters were fun. It was nice to have a big buffet breakfast. I do enjoy Chef Mickeys better but couldn't get in.
Ragland Road- Really fun place! We got seated in a booth right near the entrance and next time I would request to be seated in the main area because you cant see anything from the booths and it is very dark. But the food and beer was very good! Me and my DBF wanted to go back and eat the bar but never got the chance.
Bongos- We ate outside here and it started to rain just a little so they moved us to another table outside that was more covered. We weren't that hungry so we got a sampler appetizer and my DBF got this pork platter. Everything was very good but the highlight of it for me was there mojitos! Very very good! Huge mint leaves! Fun atmosphere. While we eating there though a roach flew from somewhere outside into her hair then flew away.....funny for us, not so funny for her!LOL
T-Rex Downtown Disney- Did not eat there but just wanted to note that it was PACKED! Like overflowing people everywhere packed! I know it just opened but just a warning to anyone thinking theyll walk up and get seated...not gonna happen!
California Grill- Me and my DBF at here for our anniversary dinner and had the best time ever! We got a great seat right by the window which we could watch wishes from.
Side note: We had reservations at 8:10 because wishes was supposed to be at 9pm. I even called to confirm once and was talking to the reservation lady and she was telling me how I had a perfect time for wished at 9. Well we got there and after a while the manager came up to say hi and she informed us that wishes was actually at 10. Well we knew we were definitly not leaving our seats before wishes so we took our time with dinner and it worked out perfectly with us getting our dessert right after Wishes. Our waiter was also very nice and we tipped him extra since we probably ended up taking up an extra seating he could have had.
We had the Spicy Kazan sushi which was amazing! He had a chinese salad which he like a lot and i had the goat cheese ravioli was was awesome! We split the beef tenderloin which I was too full to eat so he ate it all and loved it. We had the dessert sampler which was great. This was definitly a very romantic, special evening and we will definitly be going back to the California Grill again!
Dining Plan: We did not do the dining plan but I just wanted to share my opinion on it.
We were originally signed up for the dining plan but I decided to cancel for a few reasons. 1) me and my mom are both post-op gastric bypass so we only eat about half of our food and would probably be splitting a lot. 2) my sister and cousin would be charged as adults but would mainly be eating from the kids menu cause they don't like anything but burgers and chicken nuggets haha3) We wanted to eat appetizers but didn't want to pay OOP for them.
The total for everyone on the dining plan would be around $1600 for all 6 of us.
Now the result of our trip was that we did spend around $1600 on food BUT we got so many different things. We got appetizers and split things for meals but what our family does a lot is snack. Each person probably had about 4 or so snacks a day (including bev.)
So in my opinion doing the Dining Plan was not for us. We spent the same amount but got more of the things we wanted and weren't left with extra food being wasted.
Conclusion: All in all our trip turned out to be a GREAT one! We did the 4-3 deal and it was really great to spend 7 nights instead of the 5 we usually do. If they did that deal again later im sure we would use it. But from the weather to the crowds to eating it all worked out beautifully and I CAN'T WAIT to go back again!:mickey: