Mendelson
01-24-2015, 11:33 AM
Just got back from six nights at the Beach Club (Jan 9 to 16). Me (40), my wife (bit more than 40), our 4yo son, and for the first time we were travelling with my wife’s husband and his wife and two young kids and his wife’s sister and her young son. All of the above are thoroughly WDW knowledgeable. BIL was celebrating his 40th and niece was celebrating her 8th on this trip.
The report will be in general themes, rather than chronological.
Eating!
We had some good stuff on this trip! Highlights: The single best food highlight from the whole trip – the croquet gleces in France. Go get it the next time you’re there...let nothing stop you and do this before you do anything else!
I liked that the kids’ meal steak at BoG is filet! I enjoyed my entrée at Mama Melrose (a seafood-and-pasta thing). I finally got the avocado margarita in Mexico – it was good, but at $37 (after tip) for two, it was waaay not worth the price. We also had the old standards - Mickey bar and Mickey waffle and Mickey Rice Crispy Treat, and a Dole Whip float. Okay, three of those. At one point the fam went to TSI and I bought two floats and caught up with them. Carrying two HEAPING DW floats through Adventure and Tomorrowland, as they melt and collapse and drip, and then getting on the ferry over to TSI etc., is quite the challenge and draws many amused looks from passersby. BTW, that line to get the floats, at approximately 25 minutes, was the longest line I was in all week (save to see Baymax, which was close to 30).
We were traveling with folks who wanted to do the DP and who made sit-down ressies every night. I'll vent a bit about the dining plan, which I do not like for us, personally. If you want a sit-down meal every single night and if you plan to do things like character meals and have bigger ticket items like the Fantasmic dinner package, I suppose it pays for itself. But for us it’s A. too much food and B. just not a great value, I think.
Firstly, with a four year old, the commitment to two hours for a typical dinner is just not a good use of our Disney time, nor very pleasant, trying to keep him settled/entertained. For two of our six sit-downs, we waited well over 30 minutes to actually be seated. And then dinner can just takes soooo long.
Secondly, I found myself a couple times wanting to get a snack (not a DP snack but other snack that’s too pricey for the DP…like one of the super fancy candy apples you can get at a few locations or a No Way Jose) but not doing it because I had just had lunch, knew we were having a heavy dinner, and still had a snack to burn in my pocket (well, on my wrist). Don’t get me wrong – I didn’t mind my Dole Whip floats or chocolate-covered pineapple skewers, or Mickey bars, but I would just rather have the freedom of not feeling boxed in to times or menu choices, or pre-set allotments. But that’s just me.
Thirdly, a benefit of living in the DC area and working downtown, as we do, is having a remarkable collection of great and diverse restaurants within minutes. But this spoils me. Boma was a good meal, but nothing overly exotic or unique for us. The character buffets just have okay food, of course. Be Our Guest is really cool inside, of course, but the food didn’t wow me and I’ve been in there twice now and so okay with that. So the sit-downs aren’t always worth the trouble to us.
The food trucks are an odd thing, aren’t they? They sit there at DtD and offer nothing interesting. The Namaste truck is really, really pretty and well done, but offers, as my wife put it, least-common-denominator Indian food.
I don’t like that Starbucks is in the parks because, yes, I have this weird thing that having Starbucks there it becomes too much like my regular work-a-day world meeting the parks world, but I do like that there is good coffee to be had now. We always bring our own Starbucks from home because, why? Well, when I was brave and decided to try the house coffee at our Cape May Café breakfast, my wife and I both laughed heartily as I poured the liquid into my cup and it had the appearance of slightly tinted hot water. So yes, I will take in-park Starbucks!
CMs
Cast members by-and-large were terrific. A highlight was Will, the manager at Captain’s Grille at the Yacht Club. My BIL was having his 40th birthday party there that night (we would not be joining them that night) and we had a gag gift to give him (a severed doll’s head; long story). It was in a plain box and I wanted him to think it was from Disney and not us so he’d be totally surprised. Will arranged for a very, very nice presentation of the box, with wrapping and a printed card, etc. etc. The joke worked like a charm. John, a Scottish Memory Maker photog at DtD also deserves to be called out for being particularly awesome.
My in-laws are big pin traders, a culture to which heretofore I’ve only been tangentially exposed. There was at least one CM who clearly wanted to have nothing to do with being bothered about trading pins (especially when he was trying to serve a line of people at his kiosk). But other than his bad attitude (which actually we all chuckled about later), the CMs were pretty good.
I’m not much of a birthday guy, but I celebrated my 40th a couple weeks before the trip and so I was included with my in-laws as part of the birthday crew. I wore my Happy Birthday pin on the first day and I was just so impressed at how CMs respond when they see that. Nearly every single one made a point to give me a big, pleasant, “Happy Birthday.” It’s a nice touch.
The report will be in general themes, rather than chronological.
Eating!
We had some good stuff on this trip! Highlights: The single best food highlight from the whole trip – the croquet gleces in France. Go get it the next time you’re there...let nothing stop you and do this before you do anything else!
I liked that the kids’ meal steak at BoG is filet! I enjoyed my entrée at Mama Melrose (a seafood-and-pasta thing). I finally got the avocado margarita in Mexico – it was good, but at $37 (after tip) for two, it was waaay not worth the price. We also had the old standards - Mickey bar and Mickey waffle and Mickey Rice Crispy Treat, and a Dole Whip float. Okay, three of those. At one point the fam went to TSI and I bought two floats and caught up with them. Carrying two HEAPING DW floats through Adventure and Tomorrowland, as they melt and collapse and drip, and then getting on the ferry over to TSI etc., is quite the challenge and draws many amused looks from passersby. BTW, that line to get the floats, at approximately 25 minutes, was the longest line I was in all week (save to see Baymax, which was close to 30).
We were traveling with folks who wanted to do the DP and who made sit-down ressies every night. I'll vent a bit about the dining plan, which I do not like for us, personally. If you want a sit-down meal every single night and if you plan to do things like character meals and have bigger ticket items like the Fantasmic dinner package, I suppose it pays for itself. But for us it’s A. too much food and B. just not a great value, I think.
Firstly, with a four year old, the commitment to two hours for a typical dinner is just not a good use of our Disney time, nor very pleasant, trying to keep him settled/entertained. For two of our six sit-downs, we waited well over 30 minutes to actually be seated. And then dinner can just takes soooo long.
Secondly, I found myself a couple times wanting to get a snack (not a DP snack but other snack that’s too pricey for the DP…like one of the super fancy candy apples you can get at a few locations or a No Way Jose) but not doing it because I had just had lunch, knew we were having a heavy dinner, and still had a snack to burn in my pocket (well, on my wrist). Don’t get me wrong – I didn’t mind my Dole Whip floats or chocolate-covered pineapple skewers, or Mickey bars, but I would just rather have the freedom of not feeling boxed in to times or menu choices, or pre-set allotments. But that’s just me.
Thirdly, a benefit of living in the DC area and working downtown, as we do, is having a remarkable collection of great and diverse restaurants within minutes. But this spoils me. Boma was a good meal, but nothing overly exotic or unique for us. The character buffets just have okay food, of course. Be Our Guest is really cool inside, of course, but the food didn’t wow me and I’ve been in there twice now and so okay with that. So the sit-downs aren’t always worth the trouble to us.
The food trucks are an odd thing, aren’t they? They sit there at DtD and offer nothing interesting. The Namaste truck is really, really pretty and well done, but offers, as my wife put it, least-common-denominator Indian food.
I don’t like that Starbucks is in the parks because, yes, I have this weird thing that having Starbucks there it becomes too much like my regular work-a-day world meeting the parks world, but I do like that there is good coffee to be had now. We always bring our own Starbucks from home because, why? Well, when I was brave and decided to try the house coffee at our Cape May Café breakfast, my wife and I both laughed heartily as I poured the liquid into my cup and it had the appearance of slightly tinted hot water. So yes, I will take in-park Starbucks!
CMs
Cast members by-and-large were terrific. A highlight was Will, the manager at Captain’s Grille at the Yacht Club. My BIL was having his 40th birthday party there that night (we would not be joining them that night) and we had a gag gift to give him (a severed doll’s head; long story). It was in a plain box and I wanted him to think it was from Disney and not us so he’d be totally surprised. Will arranged for a very, very nice presentation of the box, with wrapping and a printed card, etc. etc. The joke worked like a charm. John, a Scottish Memory Maker photog at DtD also deserves to be called out for being particularly awesome.
My in-laws are big pin traders, a culture to which heretofore I’ve only been tangentially exposed. There was at least one CM who clearly wanted to have nothing to do with being bothered about trading pins (especially when he was trying to serve a line of people at his kiosk). But other than his bad attitude (which actually we all chuckled about later), the CMs were pretty good.
I’m not much of a birthday guy, but I celebrated my 40th a couple weeks before the trip and so I was included with my in-laws as part of the birthday crew. I wore my Happy Birthday pin on the first day and I was just so impressed at how CMs respond when they see that. Nearly every single one made a point to give me a big, pleasant, “Happy Birthday.” It’s a nice touch.