BrerGnat
06-08-2011, 12:07 AM
Saturday, May 28
Cast:
Me
My sister, C
6:00 a.m. came WAY too quickly. I had been awake until about 1:30, unable to sleep. So, it was rough being up so early. I got dressed quickly, and had a bite to eat in the room. We headed down to the lobby around 6:45 to the RAC desk to check in, get rid of our bags, and get our boarding passes. That was quickly done, and we went over to the front desk to check out (since we had not left a credit card on the account, we had to physically check out). When we were done with that, we headed out to the porch for a few minutes before our DME bus pickup time rolled around. I took some last pictures from up there, and it was a damp, sort of foggy morning (but already VERY humid and warm...I could tell it would be a hot day today). Our DME bus picked us up on time and we were at MCO within about 20 min. We had lots of time to kill, so C shopped in the Harley Davidson shop for a souvenir for T (who just bought his first Harley). She found a nice keychain for him and purchased it. We headed off to our gate and had a non-eventful filght up to Dulles Airport.
Final thoughts:
Boardwalk Inn-
Okay, this is hard for me to get across in writing, but the BWI just didn't do it for me. This was my first stay here. I hadn't even really visited it too much. Last year, we stayed at the Beach Club, and I had visited the pool area with my boys just to have a look around. At that time (and I commented on this in my trip reports last year), I just got a weird vibe from the place,and I swore I would never stay there, because it just didn't do anything for me. This trip was a very last minute thing. When I called for availability at the deluxes using the military discount, my only options were GF, Poly, WL, or BWI. GF was just way out of the budget...they quoted me a theme park view room. WL we've stayed at a few times before and wanted to try something new. It was between BWI and Poly. C wanted to try BWI, and I agreed since, price wise, it would work out better for us, and it offered something new. So, I dropped my preconceived notion of the resort and went in with an open mind.
The resort was beautiful, visually. It was clean and very well kept in the public spaces. The staff was all extremely friendly. In fact, the CMs here were among the friendliest I've encountered at the resort level. Room service was excellent the one night we had it, with prompt and friendly service. And, the beds were VERY comfortable, as C can attest to after spending so much time in hers. ;)
The location was great, but honestly, I like BC's location just a bit better. Epcot is really my favorite park, and the walk between it and BWI was just a wee bit too far. I liked the distance to BC much better last year. Plus, DHS isn't a park I tend to visit often, so being closer (walking distance wise) to DHS isn't really much of a plus for me. And, it was a longer walk to the Swan/Dolphin from the BWI as well.
One thing that annoyed me was how confusing the resort was to navigate (once you are inside). The hallways are long and winding, and there are hidden "secret shortcut" staircases all over, but you have to learn how to use them efficiently. We got lost a few times trying to get back to our room. There are too many entrances to this resort, and it's hard to get your bearings when you enter one door and end up somewhere you were not expecting. Plus, the lobby level lacks signage and it's sort of all like a big open floor plan, with rooms off to the sides that you just have to physically walk into to know what they are. Up until our checkout day, I was STILL getting turned around in the lobby, and whenever I wanted to go out to the Boardwalk. I don't like feeling so lost like that.
In all fairness, I can't really find too much fault with the resort itself. The only thing I was put off by was the shabbiness of the room, but that can happen anywhere, so that aside, the resort just didn't give me "that feeilng" that I get from some of the other WDW resorts that makes me feel like I am HOME. I know some of you will understand what I mean here. I get "that feeling" at the Wilderness Lodge, the Contemporary, and the Beach Club. The MINUTE we arrived at the Beach Club last year, I felt at ease, and like we were exactly where we belonged, and my whole family loved staying there! I also just never tire of either visiting or staying at CR and WL. Those two resorts are practically perfect, when I want an MK resort.
In the future, I'm going to go with my gut. That means, I will NOT stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, the Polynesian, or the Yacht Club. Those three properties give me the "negative vibe" feeling for whatever reason, and I'm going to trust in that! :mickey:
BUT, as a purely objective review, the BWI is a pretty fantastic hotel. C liked it, and said she'd stay there again. It is beautiful, and has a great location. I'd give it a slight edge in catering to adults without children, as the overall ambiance in there is sort of adult in nature and to be perfectly honest, the pool was sort of lame, after staying at the Beach Club.
As for the Club Level, if you can score a good discount, it's a nice perk. The lounge was very nice (albeit a bit small) and the food was very good, although it had a decidedly Mediterranean edge to it, which was mostly good, except when it was VERY bad (i.e. roasted beet hummus and lamb spanikopita) :ack:
Parks:
Busy. Busy. Busy. I would probably avoid this week in the future. Unfortunately, DH has made it known that he WILL attend Star Wars weekends at some point, so I might have to deal with it. However, we still had a good time. Our fellow guests, though...BAD BEHAVIOR was rampant, probably due to the sheer number of people around. There will always be bad apples, but I think Ian and I can share some stories from that week that would curl your hair. Honestly...not cool. Parks were clean, though, and the CMs were friendly too, so no complaints there.
Restaurants:
Almost everything we ate was really good, fresh, and satisfying. My advice is to AVOID the baked goods at Karamell Kuche. Apparently, Germany either hasn't discovered how to use ovens properly, or they are using all the butter in the delicious caramel, because those baked goods were dry enough to stick to the inside of your mouth. The standout star of the week was VIA NAPOLI. Oh, heaven. Just heaven. If you've ever wanted to eat REAL pizza at WDW, you have to go here...more than once! Whispering Canyon Cafe was also really great this time around. I preferred the relative quiet of the earlier dinner hour (5:15). We missed 'Ohana this trip, but it'll be a must do for next time.
Thanks for reading my reports! I've liked sharing them with you all. :mickey:
Cast:
Me
My sister, C
6:00 a.m. came WAY too quickly. I had been awake until about 1:30, unable to sleep. So, it was rough being up so early. I got dressed quickly, and had a bite to eat in the room. We headed down to the lobby around 6:45 to the RAC desk to check in, get rid of our bags, and get our boarding passes. That was quickly done, and we went over to the front desk to check out (since we had not left a credit card on the account, we had to physically check out). When we were done with that, we headed out to the porch for a few minutes before our DME bus pickup time rolled around. I took some last pictures from up there, and it was a damp, sort of foggy morning (but already VERY humid and warm...I could tell it would be a hot day today). Our DME bus picked us up on time and we were at MCO within about 20 min. We had lots of time to kill, so C shopped in the Harley Davidson shop for a souvenir for T (who just bought his first Harley). She found a nice keychain for him and purchased it. We headed off to our gate and had a non-eventful filght up to Dulles Airport.
Final thoughts:
Boardwalk Inn-
Okay, this is hard for me to get across in writing, but the BWI just didn't do it for me. This was my first stay here. I hadn't even really visited it too much. Last year, we stayed at the Beach Club, and I had visited the pool area with my boys just to have a look around. At that time (and I commented on this in my trip reports last year), I just got a weird vibe from the place,and I swore I would never stay there, because it just didn't do anything for me. This trip was a very last minute thing. When I called for availability at the deluxes using the military discount, my only options were GF, Poly, WL, or BWI. GF was just way out of the budget...they quoted me a theme park view room. WL we've stayed at a few times before and wanted to try something new. It was between BWI and Poly. C wanted to try BWI, and I agreed since, price wise, it would work out better for us, and it offered something new. So, I dropped my preconceived notion of the resort and went in with an open mind.
The resort was beautiful, visually. It was clean and very well kept in the public spaces. The staff was all extremely friendly. In fact, the CMs here were among the friendliest I've encountered at the resort level. Room service was excellent the one night we had it, with prompt and friendly service. And, the beds were VERY comfortable, as C can attest to after spending so much time in hers. ;)
The location was great, but honestly, I like BC's location just a bit better. Epcot is really my favorite park, and the walk between it and BWI was just a wee bit too far. I liked the distance to BC much better last year. Plus, DHS isn't a park I tend to visit often, so being closer (walking distance wise) to DHS isn't really much of a plus for me. And, it was a longer walk to the Swan/Dolphin from the BWI as well.
One thing that annoyed me was how confusing the resort was to navigate (once you are inside). The hallways are long and winding, and there are hidden "secret shortcut" staircases all over, but you have to learn how to use them efficiently. We got lost a few times trying to get back to our room. There are too many entrances to this resort, and it's hard to get your bearings when you enter one door and end up somewhere you were not expecting. Plus, the lobby level lacks signage and it's sort of all like a big open floor plan, with rooms off to the sides that you just have to physically walk into to know what they are. Up until our checkout day, I was STILL getting turned around in the lobby, and whenever I wanted to go out to the Boardwalk. I don't like feeling so lost like that.
In all fairness, I can't really find too much fault with the resort itself. The only thing I was put off by was the shabbiness of the room, but that can happen anywhere, so that aside, the resort just didn't give me "that feeilng" that I get from some of the other WDW resorts that makes me feel like I am HOME. I know some of you will understand what I mean here. I get "that feeling" at the Wilderness Lodge, the Contemporary, and the Beach Club. The MINUTE we arrived at the Beach Club last year, I felt at ease, and like we were exactly where we belonged, and my whole family loved staying there! I also just never tire of either visiting or staying at CR and WL. Those two resorts are practically perfect, when I want an MK resort.
In the future, I'm going to go with my gut. That means, I will NOT stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, the Polynesian, or the Yacht Club. Those three properties give me the "negative vibe" feeling for whatever reason, and I'm going to trust in that! :mickey:
BUT, as a purely objective review, the BWI is a pretty fantastic hotel. C liked it, and said she'd stay there again. It is beautiful, and has a great location. I'd give it a slight edge in catering to adults without children, as the overall ambiance in there is sort of adult in nature and to be perfectly honest, the pool was sort of lame, after staying at the Beach Club.
As for the Club Level, if you can score a good discount, it's a nice perk. The lounge was very nice (albeit a bit small) and the food was very good, although it had a decidedly Mediterranean edge to it, which was mostly good, except when it was VERY bad (i.e. roasted beet hummus and lamb spanikopita) :ack:
Parks:
Busy. Busy. Busy. I would probably avoid this week in the future. Unfortunately, DH has made it known that he WILL attend Star Wars weekends at some point, so I might have to deal with it. However, we still had a good time. Our fellow guests, though...BAD BEHAVIOR was rampant, probably due to the sheer number of people around. There will always be bad apples, but I think Ian and I can share some stories from that week that would curl your hair. Honestly...not cool. Parks were clean, though, and the CMs were friendly too, so no complaints there.
Restaurants:
Almost everything we ate was really good, fresh, and satisfying. My advice is to AVOID the baked goods at Karamell Kuche. Apparently, Germany either hasn't discovered how to use ovens properly, or they are using all the butter in the delicious caramel, because those baked goods were dry enough to stick to the inside of your mouth. The standout star of the week was VIA NAPOLI. Oh, heaven. Just heaven. If you've ever wanted to eat REAL pizza at WDW, you have to go here...more than once! Whispering Canyon Cafe was also really great this time around. I preferred the relative quiet of the earlier dinner hour (5:15). We missed 'Ohana this trip, but it'll be a must do for next time.
Thanks for reading my reports! I've liked sharing them with you all. :mickey: