The Wilderness Lodge. I loved our location at the lodge. It was soooo super convenient to everything we would’ve needed access to: pool, lobby, dining, laundry, and boat launch. The view was gorgeous and serene. The room itself is laid out soooo much like the Animal Kingdom Lodge room we had in January 2010, which we anticipated because the 2 resorts were designed by the same person and are quite similar. When we stayed at AKL one of our big thumbs-down items was the small rooms which we also disliked in the Wilderness Lodge. Lots of people say the rooms are dark which I totally see why. They feel dim because of all the darker furniture and decor which is in keeping with the theme. Some of the furniture shows wear which is something that doesn’t ruin my stay but I can’t not acknowledge at the prices Disney asks for their deluxe resorts. And, OMG! This is 2011, folks. Noooooo hotel should be allowed to refer to themselves as ‘deluxe’ if they still have scratchy bedspreads. Duvets are badly needed here! I hate hate haaaate bedspreads. They make me feel like I’m at Motel 6. I *think* I read somewhere that room refurbs/refreshes are soon to be underway or maybe they already are or maybe they were supposed to be but they got pushed off. I dunno. Someone needs to ditch those bedspreads, tho. The pool is fun albeit slightly on the small side. I really liked the side of the pool where the water flows in from (what appears to be) upstream. That was my happy spot. Food offerings were good to great. We love Whispering Canyon so that makes me lean towards great. Roaring Fork was adequate but felt sorta small. I wasn’t particularly drawn to any of the lunch/dinner offerings I saw. I don’t think we ever made it for breakfast which I wish we had. Huuuuuge perk to Wilderness Lodge is the boat to the MK! That was sooooo wonderful to have. It’s like hitting an attraction before you ever make it to the park. Love it. Cast friendliness/helpfulness was fine. What interaction we had was on-par. No problems. Bus service was just fine. Whenever we utilized busses we had no problems and no crazy waits come to mind. Oh! And the Mercantile (shop) was nice. They had a nice little assortment of stuff. I especially loved the handmade soaps. I forget the names just now but they were like ‘Beaver Spit’ and ‘Bigfoot Sweat’ etc. They smelled really good. I intended to get my mom a couple but then I forgot. Duh! The overall interpretation of theme is spot-on. That's what Disney does best and the Wilderness Lodge is no different. However, in case you didn't already guess, I'm not the campy-type. I appreciate the wilderness-y touches and theme. In the end, it feels like glorified camping and camping is really not for me. I'm always happy to see my guys off on their fishing/camping trips then escape to visit friends or do my own thing. If I was going to go camping this would be the way to go but I'll always prefer to avoid every sense of the word.
The Yacht Club. **sigh** I believe this is our new WDW home. We looooved it! For years we had the bad juju going with the Yacht Club. Everytime we booked it something would come up and that trip would get cancelled or postponed. In November 2010 we made it a point to go to the Yacht Club and address the bad juju Gods because we really wanted to stay there. Thankfully, all went well for us to get there this time. The room felt nice and big. We didn’t feel overly cramped even with 5 virtual adults in the room. Loved our view as long as we looked out and not down. Down was a rooftop area that wasn’t so picturesque. Out towards the water and Stormalong Bay was absolutely gorgeous. Again, some of the furniture showed a little wear which isn’t a total trip-killer but at those prices you always hope for perfection. The resort itself shows a little wear like with the dinginess and scratches on the surfaces around the elevator buttons, the broken laundry facilities (which didn’t get fixed all week we were there), and the trim that had been refreshed with another coat of paint no less than 600 times. Too much paint build-up shows and it doesn’t look as nice as I’m sure it’s intended to. The room corridors were long and often freeeeeezing. The concierge level lounge, the Regatta Club, was tiny and confined. They need that space to be at least twice as big or have some sort of overflow seating for busier times. Maybe if they opened it up so it’s not so closed-in, too. It was disappointing to not be able to utilize the space better. When we stayed at the AKL on the club level we spent waaaaay more time in the lounge area because it was a large open space with tons of seating which was conducive to using as a common area when just relaxing without everyone sitting around on the beds in the rooms. The food offerings you had to hit during very specified times to take advantage. During between times the doors to the lounge were closed and there was only a few items left available on tables outside the lounge. Again, AKL had a much better layout which was waaaaay better for handling transition times. You never felt outta-luck. I’d say Disney should revisit the club lounge and service areas at the Yacht Club and update the layout of everything. I feel like they could do much better in bringing these spaces up to date while maintaining the theming. Food offerings at the resort itself are somewhat lacking which is no big secret. Both the Yacht Club and Beach Club could really benefit from a larger, dedicated quick-service space. I won’t even go into the Yachtsman because you all know how I feel about that from my report. The big discovery for us came from the Captain’s Grill. I almost hesitate to even say it because I don’t want my hidden gem to become so popular that it goes the way of all the other popular eateries at Disney resorts with their insane inflating prices and impossible to obtain ADRs. If you’re looking for a peaceful atmosphere with subtle elegance in the decor, a scaled down breakfast buffet or adequate menu, and decent service...all without the hefty price point...then the Captain’s Grill is for you! This would be a snooze-fest for little kids who appreciate the entertainment of the characters, rambunctious interactive parades, and vibrant decor. We have found a new favorite restaurant to go with our new favorite resort. I only wish we’d taken the time to eat lunch and dinner here. If/when we make it back those meals will certainly be a priority. The overall theme and decor of the resort itself is much like what we found in the Captain’s Grill. It’s an understated elegance with solid references to the nautical. I’m not a frilly girl when it comes to decor or design. I didn’t find the spaces to be overly busy. Everything fit and worked well. No complaints. Cast service and interaction was fantastic, especially with the Regatta Club cast. Man, those people were amazing! I’m telling you, they never got annoyed when we had to ask their assistance with locating Brian’s belongings. They always went above & beyond. Even when one of the boys asked their assistance they were treated no differently than Tracey or I were. The night Chandler wanted to eat Cape May’s clam bake on his own he went to the concierge desk and they booked his ADR for him. He felt all grown-up and great which, as a mom, makes me appreciate how well they treat their younger guests. Big thumbs-up for the attentive, wonderful concierge folks at the Regatta Club.
Because we valeted our car every day and drove from resort to resort often we were double-charged for valet parking many times. Also, because we have Tables in Wonderland, on days we ate at resort table service restaurants the valet charged was removed. We watched our portfolio carefully throughout our resort stays and had to make many corrections. This really applies to both the resorts we stayed at. The hotel staff were always very helpful with keeping things straight which we appreciated. Just know that if you valet your car then have other variables that could affect being double-charged or over-charged you should probably keep a close eye on that.
Then there’s Stormalong Bay. What can I say? It looks incredible from outside the white picket fence and it truly is amazing on the inside. If you’re going to be at WDW in warm weather months, particularly when daily cool-downs in the pool are a must, then this is THE place to be. It’s often described as a mini-waterpark which I used to think was a bit of a stretch but it’s true. It is! There’s distinct sections to the pool complex that are each not to be missed. Very fun place. And, of course, the poolside service is top-notch. **wink-wink** If you see Miss Rocky you’re in for a treat. She’s fabulous! In case you’re wondering if the access to Stormalong Bay is strict during off-peak season, we never entered without having to show each of our room keys. Jerry was even given a bit of a hard time once because his room key said something on it slightly different from ours (due to him being a last-minute addition to the room). That afternoon we brought that to the Regatta Club concierge’s attention and it was resolved quickly. To say access is strict is an understatement. If you don’t have a valid room key that said all the right things you weren’t getting in. Period. I have no problem with that, either. We never found the pool overcrowded. We enjoyed Stormalong Bay sooooo much. Every day after our first visit we found ourselves in the parks always saying things like, “I wish we were at the resort by the pool.” or “Let’s just leave and go to the pool.” We could easily go to WDW and not step foot in a park. Easily. Stormalong Bay is a huge factor in that.
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. I suppose if Halloween and fall is a big deal for you or something you normally enjoy than this party is going to blow your mind. I’m not that big on Halloween. I’m glad I went, don’t get me wrong. The parade was fun and I can say I’ve seen the Headless Horseman ride. As with other hard-ticket events, I think they’re way oversold in general. If you have to wait in a line more than 15 minutes for trick-or-treating there might be too many people there or not enough distribution points. The characters in the different costumes are soooo cool but I refuse to spend that extra $$ to spend that precious time standing in lines. The result is appreciating the costumes from afar but never from a’near...which is sorta a sad thing. We didn’t see the castle stage show. We did good to be in the Main Street area for the parade. I wouldn’t battle the masses to see a show. I think the party was fun but we enjoyed the Christmas party we attended last year more. Don’t mistake the Christmas party from last year with our first Christmas party in December ’07 when it was a sold out event. That was pure misery. LOL! In the grand scheme of hard ticket events that we’ve attended (MVMCP 2x’s, MNSSHP 1x, & the now defunct Pirate & Princess Party 2x’s) we enjoyed the Pirate & Princess parties far more just for the fact that they weren’t very crowded at all. It made those parties feel truly special and we were able to take advantage of way more of the special offerings thus making the extra $$ paid a better bang-for-the-buck.
The cruise. O.M.G. I don’t even know what to say!!! Words can’t touch it. I never dreamed I’d enjoy it as much as I did. I certainly never in a bazillion years would’ve thought we’d fall madly in love with it the way we did. It’s insane! When we got off the cruise, even in the awesomeness of the Yacht Club and WDW, we constantly were wishing we were back on the ship and not where we were. A great way to describe it is to recall what ‘Disney service’ was back in the day when it was so far beyond anything anyone else would ever dream of doing that to say ‘Disney service’ there was this whole other definition of service you were referring to. I’ve read where the cruises were described as “Disney at it’s very best”. I agree with that. It truly is. The attention to detail is pure excellence. There’s sooooo much to do every minute of every day you’ll never be able to do it all which is like being at the WDW resort only it’s a much smaller space. The Dream is the only ship I’ve been on so it’s the only one I can refer to. That ship is majestic and opulent in how I always imagined the Titanic to be when reading about her details. The Dream, however, conveys this oober-classiness as it infuses all the witt and whimsey that comes with Disney’s vibrant character personalities which is mind-boggling when you think about it. Emcompassing those 2 very different things and melding them into seamless perfection is a true testament to the superior skill of those who designed the spaces. The craftsmanship in all the details of the surroundings blows me away. I listen to my grandmother tell us about the social club her parents belonged to when she was growing up and the opulance of the hall and parks and other places that belonged to it. I read about how no expenses were spared in outfitting every inch of the place with all the best so that everything maintained the utmost in quality and elegance. This is what I thought of when on the Dream, dining in her incredible dining rooms, sitting in her gorgeous theater, etc. This must be as close as I’ll ever get to actually being at the old Carpathia Club. It’s like nothing else anyone does anymore. It totally reaffirms my belief that perhaps I was born of the wrong generation. I love that people take time to dress for dinner as if it’s an event. Is spending quality time fully-focused on your family, friends, or loved ones as your very bestest you not THAT important and high on the list of life’s priorities? If it’s not, well, it should be! Our lives are busy and we don’t always sit at the table together to eat on a daily basis with the television off and the finest of food prepared. Understandable. For the magical time that you are on a Disney cruise (or most cruises) you can. I love that. Love it. The Dream offers so many dining choices all the time. Who can beat propping up in bed with Mickey’s Premium bars served to you from a platter? Oh yeah! The food was all plentiful and delicious. The activities offerings were as well. The entertainment was top-notch. The surroundings are fabulous. The destinations, eh, not perfection for an anti-beach girl but the ship makes that detail more of an option and not at all necessary to full-enjoyment of the trip. Tracey and I both feel the same way...forget WDW, put us back on a Disney ship. In fact, we’ve totally opened our eyes to other cruise-lines as well. We approach them more cautiously as far as what we’re willing to spend just because we aren’t as confident in the bang-for-the-buck but we are not at all opposed to them either. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next year or 2 we popped onto a Carnival or Royal Caribbean ship from a port near us just to get away and enjoy ourselves. Does this mean less WDW and/or parks travel for our future? Most likely but the eye-opener we’ve had in cruising makes us totally okay with that.
As far as WDW as a whole, it’s not the end-all-be-all it once was for us. We find ourselves in the parks more often not really knowing what we want to and unable to think of anything that’s high on our wish list. I think that’s a lot of the reason why we were always so eager to simply go back to our resort and hang out there. The resorts we stayed at were both new to us. The 4 parks and their offerings mostly are not. Once we hit the few things that we hadn’t done before that we wanted to we were pretty well done. There’s a whole lot of Disney still out there to see and do outside of WDW. I don’t forsee us going back to WDW before we’ve gone out to California to experience the Disneyland Resort. We also have a handful of other destinations we’re more eager to go see as well (like the 9/11 museum when it’s finished along with NYC, Washington DC now that the boys are old enough to understand the history, the Grand Canyon & Hoover Dam, etc. etc.). The boys are growing up so fast....it’s almost like we’ve got a whole lot to do in less time. LOL! Dream trips would include Tokyo and Tokyo Disney! Oh yes! I will see this place, too!!!
Another factor in my lack of enthusiasm to go back to WDW is the insane prices there. Do they compare to what it would cost us to go to other places? Sure. It’s all in the same ballpark. These days I don’t think I’d even consider staying in a WDW resort without a hefty discount (this trip was done via a 40% off pin code). The rack rates are beyond outrageous, they’re plain stupid. The ‘deluxe’ term is totally relative to the other accomodation levels and pricepoints WDW offers, not what the hotel industry as a whole offers. There are far finer places to stay within spitting distance for rates that are comparable or less. Same with the dining. It’s all relative to WDW’s offerings and not that of the rest of the food-service world. So, if you’re going to WDW get ready to live by WDW’s standards at WDW’s prices. It’s less quality overall from what the rest of the world puts out there. This is a consistant theme that we have found at WDW that as time goes by, prices go up, and our interest wanes becomes more and more of an unacceptable variable.
As the members of our family grow older our vacationing style is evolving which is as it should be. For instance, we used to live for the excitement of Chef Mickey’s, sat at our table anticipating each character’s visit, pigged-out on the grub, loved that there was a huge variety to choose from, and didn’t really care what it cost to do this. It was worth it. Nowadays this isn’t the case at all. We want to relax while we dine free of interuptions and craziness. We don’t need a huge variety to be satisfied and eating until we’re gorged isn’t enjoyable. Paying crazy inflated prices for a meal that would aggravate us is NOT the thing to do anymore. Not by a long shot. More emphasis is on quality vs. quantity for us now. Paying $300 for a steak dinner that doesn’t blow our minds is pretty much an insult. There’s no nice way to say that. The parks aren’t the epitome of fun. We can have just as satisfying an experience at our resort relaxing at a leisurely pace or at a museum intelligently processing concepts...all without fighting or dodging crowds. We enjoy that stuff more now which makes the simple park experiences not the only option anymore. Navigating crazy masses of people and tolerating annoying people in close quarters pretty much brings the parks fun down a notch or two. Why fight the masses when we can relax and enjoy ourselves more elsewhere? Sure, the parks can be visited without the masses. As most know, Disney doesn’t have true “slow seasons” anymore. Even short attraction waits doesn’t mean there’s not a bazillion people in the parks. It’s not about wait times. It’s about full-on masses. The only way to enjoy the parks anymore without the masses of people is to get up and be there when they open. As you all know, I’m not a morning person. Getting up early is not fun for me. Unless there’s something I reeeaally want to do, getting up early makes me want to punch somebody square in the nose. There’s nothing more infuriating to me than waking up. Literally. Ask Tracey. He leaves me alone. If he has to wake me up for something his best bet for success is to make a pot of coffee beforehand. I sound like a miserable human-being, huh? I just looove the bliss of sleeping that much. LOL!
So you see, unless there’s new and exciting stuff to do I’m just not real eager to go back to WDW. Nah. Not when there’s Disney stuff I haven’t done yet. There’s discoveries out there. There’s new-to-us Disney ground to be covered. I want the excitement of the fresh (to us). I want to see “Walt’s” park and learn all about it. I want to see other places and experience more all with the promise of Disney infusion and wimsy. And, yes, I’d totally rather go on another Disney cruise than go back to WDW. Three days wasn’t enough to even begin to scratch that surface! LOL!
Jerry get’s pretty aggravated with me, I think, about my lack of interest in going back to WDW. He’s sorta where we were when we started doing all the TRs. It’s still his cat’s meow. I can understand that. I used to feel the same way: How can anyone NOT wanna go to WDW?! It’s the BEST! It’s not that I never want to go back. There’s just other stuff I think I want to do before I go back. That’s all. I still love WDW. I just want to go do other stuff, too. We joke with Jerry that we’ll wave to him as we pass up WDW on our way to Port Canaveral. LOL!
As of right now the future Disney travel plans are as follows:
September 2012: Disney Cruise Line / Fantasy / 7-day Eastern Caribbean (already booked)
November 2012 (week before Thanksgiving week): Disneyland Resort, California (not yet booked)
September 2013: unOfficial WDWMagic Girls Cruise / Disney Cruise Line / Dream / 4-day Bahamaian (already booked)
September 2013: Disney Cruise Line / Fantasy / 7-day Western Caribbean (already booked)
Perhaps, biiiiig perhaps, we'll also shoot for WDW again in November 2013 or early 2014. That hinges on a lot, tho. If we're impressed with California I could see us going back there. Also, if Tokyo becomes doable I could see us going there instead, too.
Anywhoo, so that’s where we are now. I guess I’ll just leave it at that.
