Sorry for the delay, but here I go with some final thoughts.
1. We had stayed in the Riverside Royal rooms soon after they first opened many years ago and enjoyed our stay then, but I always thought the resort was huge. We stayed at Riverside again the past Thanksgiving and it definitely is smaller than I remember. We returned to the Royal rooms again this trip and enjoyed our recent stays at Riverside. The royal rooms themselves are in need of an update as plugs are limited for charging phones.
2. We loved our stay at Saratoga. The Congress Park area was fantastic. In general, we loved our first stay there and the 2-bedroom suite was perfect for our family during this trip.
3. Transportation the entire trip was great. We had no issues between resorts, parks, anything. We did have one unfortunate incident on a return o Saratoga one night from MK. There were three late teenaged boys who had terrible mouths and were rude and disrespectful to those on the the bus asking them to stop swearing. Several passengers even alerted the bus driver. It was so bad, we decided to exit the bus at the first stop and walk to our building to avoid the escalating situation.
4. One disappointing aspect was the time we waited beyond our reservation time to eat . We waited more then 30 minutes past out time twice. Whispering Canyon was definitely not prepared for the influx of patrons with the 40% discount for APs, and our server even told us so. 2 1/2 hours to sit for lunch is entirely too long. The other was Garden Grill on July 4. We waited well past our reservation time with several empty booths going by. We even told our server we wanted to get out in time for the July 4th fireworks, and things were still slow. Overall, it worked out. But again, I don't need to sit for over 2 hours at either of these restaurants.
5. Guest behavior for the most part was good. A few minor incidents of swearing, vaping in parks, smoking at bus stops, but nothing that had any impact on us. The worst incident was on POTC. A large family jumped the queue as they entered the ride, then several times accessed restricted areas and climbed on props and posed for pictures there. Crystal and I tried to avoided them, but unfortunately got put on their boat. Then, it got worse! They had their phones with lights on the entire time and not a single warning from a cast members to not use flash for photos or flashlights during the ride. This began not long after loading. Then after the small drop, they began using their hands to splash everyone on the boat! It was insane. It took everything for us not to say anything and all I uttered at one point was, "are you kidding me?" I normally don't rant in these reports, but this was just awful.
6. Lack of spatial awareness
and Im guilty of this. You have to use your phones for multiple things in Disney and we all forget that it's crowded. Youre walking along, then bam, someone right in front stops. Or you exit a ride and a family of five is blocking the exit. We've all done it. I just started joking when it happened and would say no spatial awareness.
7. We witnessed multiple outstanding cast members and Crystal wrote several CM compliments, but nobody was better than the two who had to work so hard in the pouring rain on July 3rd between the Ice Cream Parlor and Caseys to keep people from stopping in the walkway as we waited for fireworks. Wow is all I can say. Multiple guests were downright nasty to them, and they handled themselves in a way that Disney should be proud. There was even an incident near Caseys when a family refused to move and suddenly multiple Disney security members were there with additional cast to settle the situation. This young man and woman were exceptional and we wish we got their names, but it was dark and they had rain gear on.
8. Even though we waited at times for dining, our meals this trip were generally really good. Some real highlights were Boatwrights (Crystal loved the GF cornbread and the salmon), Kona lunch, and Yak and Yeti. Two disappointments were the lack of GF bread for a grilled cheese at Beaches and Cream (but No Way Jose was spot on) and Summerhouse this time was just meh (highlighted by a hair in Maddy's food). Another bonus was Erin McKenna's cookie sandwiches and cookie tacos. Good stuff!
9. We love the dessert party, but I wish they had ice cream. Also really enjoyed Savor the Savanna, Keys to the Kingdom, and Sip, Savor, Sparkle. All four of these events are worth doing, and some more than once. After hours in Hollywood Studios were excellent. We had done Epcot twice before, and HS to us was was better.
10. Loved both MK and Epcot Fourth of July Fireworks.
11. We had to visit guest services several times to make changes to our daily plans, and they were always excellent in addressing our needs.
12. We lucked out with the heat and rain. Rain only really impacted us on July third, more so the kids than Crystal and I.
Think thats about it. Thanks again for taking the time to follow along. Best wishes to those with upcoming trips.
) We have it reserved for our August trip, made even better by the fact that our daughter will be joining us AND we're staying at BLT so it's just a short stumble "home"! 