My wife and I just got back into the house after a 4 night trip to the World. It really was great, and we packed in as much fun as we could.
1. Loved the Port Orleans Riverside. We stayed in the Alligator Bayou section and loved it! I think if you have younger kids, there really would be no need for the water park as the Ol' Man Island is a great place for them. The walls were a little thin but only because I think my next door neighbor was very excited about his trip and thats cool. The caffeteria there was AWESOME for lunch..great pasta and sandwhiches(blue chees and roast beef). Check in was OK, very slow, and I the cast member who checked us in didn't seem to happy. But everyone in housekeeping and food was great.
2. Trasportation, only took Disney trasportation twice. The boat to Downtown Disney, which really is wonderful, and the bus back which was terrible. Waited nearly a half hour for it to come, while many other buses for other resorts came and went. One even showed up with Port Orleans as the sign, when we all walked up to it, he said he was going to the Boardwalk, and the sign changed.
When a bus finally showed, we all loaded up and.........the bus sat there for another half hour. It didn't go anywhere we all sat there, when we asked why it wouln't leave they said their bus manager was going to wait for everyone to leave Pleasure Island, then it would leave. I spoke with the manager...not a nice lady...but we finally did get going.
3. The parks were awesome, but that goes without saying. Lines were nill and we got fast passes whenever we saw a wait of more than 15 mins. We got to go on Expedition Everest twice! Which is awesome(they have it run in hard rain even butI wasn't on it then thank goodness).
All in all a great time, Tower of Terror was the best, I could go on, but you all know how great this stuff is.
4. Restaurants...we ate at Chefs de France..eh it was ok, I have had better french food and service but it's Disney, so I didn't have the highest expectations, but dinner took over two hours, so plan on being there awhile which was fine with us. Tokyo Dining was much better, great food, more space and abiance, it was our favorite meal, and we could see the fireworks from our seat. 50's Primetime was cute, I probably would it again, but maybe when I have little ones I will. The surprise was Yak and Yeti. We sat in the main area, and they seemed to try to restrict that area to couples and adults, which was nice, it made for a relaxing meal and the food was pretty good, this place had the best service by far, our waiter was hands down awesome. Side note, if on the DD Plan and eating there, try to take note the cost of everything, because when your bill comes, it will just say zero right off that bat with no tip suggestion...I asked the waiter and if they ever get screwed and he said they sometimes end up with nothing.
5. Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween. Awesome, got to go on all the rides with no line, and my wife, who did not think she would like the parade ended up loving it. I just wish they did the fireworks at the end of the night, but I guess they wanna give the tikes a chance to head home early(I don't think this happened anyway!). I only got candy once, and it was the classics like Dum Dum Lollypops and Bottlecaps.
6. The other Guests. There was a lot of Euros, and thats always fun, from a fashion standpoint, especially at the pools. But seriously, great people. I don't know if it's like this when it's super crowded, but nearly everyone I encountered seemed really happy, and there was a very great mood all around, and that vibe really helped make it a great time all around, and people were really nice about helping my wife and I get some pictures of us together.
1. Loved the Port Orleans Riverside. We stayed in the Alligator Bayou section and loved it! I think if you have younger kids, there really would be no need for the water park as the Ol' Man Island is a great place for them. The walls were a little thin but only because I think my next door neighbor was very excited about his trip and thats cool. The caffeteria there was AWESOME for lunch..great pasta and sandwhiches(blue chees and roast beef). Check in was OK, very slow, and I the cast member who checked us in didn't seem to happy. But everyone in housekeeping and food was great.
2. Trasportation, only took Disney trasportation twice. The boat to Downtown Disney, which really is wonderful, and the bus back which was terrible. Waited nearly a half hour for it to come, while many other buses for other resorts came and went. One even showed up with Port Orleans as the sign, when we all walked up to it, he said he was going to the Boardwalk, and the sign changed.
When a bus finally showed, we all loaded up and.........the bus sat there for another half hour. It didn't go anywhere we all sat there, when we asked why it wouln't leave they said their bus manager was going to wait for everyone to leave Pleasure Island, then it would leave. I spoke with the manager...not a nice lady...but we finally did get going.
3. The parks were awesome, but that goes without saying. Lines were nill and we got fast passes whenever we saw a wait of more than 15 mins. We got to go on Expedition Everest twice! Which is awesome(they have it run in hard rain even butI wasn't on it then thank goodness).
All in all a great time, Tower of Terror was the best, I could go on, but you all know how great this stuff is.
4. Restaurants...we ate at Chefs de France..eh it was ok, I have had better french food and service but it's Disney, so I didn't have the highest expectations, but dinner took over two hours, so plan on being there awhile which was fine with us. Tokyo Dining was much better, great food, more space and abiance, it was our favorite meal, and we could see the fireworks from our seat. 50's Primetime was cute, I probably would it again, but maybe when I have little ones I will. The surprise was Yak and Yeti. We sat in the main area, and they seemed to try to restrict that area to couples and adults, which was nice, it made for a relaxing meal and the food was pretty good, this place had the best service by far, our waiter was hands down awesome. Side note, if on the DD Plan and eating there, try to take note the cost of everything, because when your bill comes, it will just say zero right off that bat with no tip suggestion...I asked the waiter and if they ever get screwed and he said they sometimes end up with nothing.
5. Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween. Awesome, got to go on all the rides with no line, and my wife, who did not think she would like the parade ended up loving it. I just wish they did the fireworks at the end of the night, but I guess they wanna give the tikes a chance to head home early(I don't think this happened anyway!). I only got candy once, and it was the classics like Dum Dum Lollypops and Bottlecaps.
6. The other Guests. There was a lot of Euros, and thats always fun, from a fashion standpoint, especially at the pools. But seriously, great people. I don't know if it's like this when it's super crowded, but nearly everyone I encountered seemed really happy, and there was a very great mood all around, and that vibe really helped make it a great time all around, and people were really nice about helping my wife and I get some pictures of us together.
