wolf359
Well-Known Member
My wife and I have been back for a few days (and getting settled back into work) so I figured I'd mention a few highlights from our trip.
We were married on the 8th and drove to WDW after breakfast on the 9th...about an 8 hour drive.
We were staying at the Contemporary Resort on the 14th floor concierge level. We were planning to be in our room in time for the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom but rain and traffic slowed us a little more than we had planned.
We *did* get to see the fireworks going off over our hotel as we drove up, so it was still very "mood-setting" regardless.
We had always wanted to stay at the Contemporary and we figured it *was* our honeymoon, so why not got the best room we could afford, so we booked a king bed room on the 14th floor with a Magic Kingdom view.
The room and the level of service up there was amazing. The view of the lagoon, Poly, and the GF was really nice but it was SO great to have the MK right...there!
The staff made several of our reservations for us and even got us a last minute breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table even after we had tried ourselves with no luck.
The room came stocked with sodas and bottled water, and whatever else we might have needed was right around the corner in the lounge.
The stocked fridge included coke, diet coke, sprite, apple and grape juice, and bottled water. Housekeeping re-stocked it daily.
The breakfast had croissants, toast, bagles, cereal, muffins and juice. afternoon had PB&J and ham and cheese sandwiches, nuts and chips, and sodas. evening had wine and cheese a choice of three starters from the concourse steakhouse, and late night had desserts and cordials. Also coffee and tea were always available.
They also had a few nice gifts for us when we arrived...a gift wrapped picture frame, autographed photo of "wedding" Mickey and Minnie, some balloons and a glass jar of cashews.
We used the silver plan since we wanted some flexibility in our "add-on's" and we knew we didn't want three meals a day (like the gold plan) and we had already planned to fill in some snacks and breakfast at the hotel.
I really think that the silver plan is the best bet for us. We normally don't eat three meals a day, especially when we're on vacation, so the gold plan would have been massive overkill for us. Because we shared wishes a few times for meals we actually had a few wishes left over to get some of the cool merchandise, the MK tour and La Nouba tickets.
Several times my wife and I split a "wish" getting one appetizer, entree and dessert and just shared. The portions were large enough at most restaurants and if there was two things we wanted we would just pay for the one extra entree. The general rule is the more expensive the restaurant, the smaller the portions.
We had our first dinner at the California Grill. The food was wonderful although our particular server was pretty slow. The cheese and garlic flatbread was our favorite appetizer from the whole vacation.
Liberty Tree Tavern...Nice lunch, great service.
50's Prime Time...Again, nice lunch and great service. The milkshakes really are as good as they say...
Coral Reef...This was our Valentine's Day dinner. The service was painfully slow, the food was stunningly mediocre, and when we checked in for our 6:45 seating at 6:30 i didn't expect we'd still be waiting for the bill at 9pm. So much for Illuminations...
Concourse Steakhouse...This made for a very nice late night dinner. For as many complaints as I've heard about the noise I thought it was quite quiet (granted, it *was* 9pm)
San Angel...We had lunch here and it was very cool 'cause my wife had never been. And the frozen margaritas only improved the meal
Marrikesh...Neither of us had been but we thought it was one of the highlights of our dining. Somewhat exotic, very friendly, and well prepared food. Oh, and belly dancers...how bad could it be?!?
O'Hana...This was my idea because my wife really wanted the Luau but it was being rehabbed... The food was tasty (though they bring WAY too much food for two people) though I don't think any of the meats were cooked enough and made both of us sick.
The Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table was another standout. The food was SO good and because they knew it was our honeymoon they had a table at the window waiting for us that they decorated with streamers and little Mickey confetti.
There were a few other places we wanted to go but our "vacation stomachs" always seem smaller than normal.
The parks were steady, but not even remotely full so all of our waits from Monday to Thursday were under 10 minutes.
We took the Keys to the Kingdom tour and we both really enjoyed it. Seeing the backstage areas were highlights for both of us but the background info they give is interesting and something we don't normally take the time to notice while we're there.
I was really happy the COP opened on Friday since the concierge told us when we arrived that it wouldn't be open 'till April.
Of course I was REALLY surprised that it and Timekeeper were closed on Saturday.
It was SOOOOOO busy on Saturday, but only in the MK. They REALLY needed two more things open in Tomorrowland. When we walked by even the TTA had a line!
However, over in Epcot it wasn't any more crowded than it had been all week...Surprising, but a nice change of pace.
The Animal Kingdom also seemed busy when we went, but we only stayed a half day. We mostly just walked around and enjoyed looking at all of the detail in the park. And Dinosaur
The Studios were pretty calm and we spent a good amount of time there since it's the park my wife has spent the least amount of time in. The "One Man's Dream" display was very well done and I think I used a whole roll of film just in there.
The new Tower of Terror drop design is really cool. I think that's one of the few rides that only gets better the more it's changed.
Overall, we had a great time. Staying on the concierge floor was a nice touch for a honeymoon. My wife is a must-have breakfast person and it was so convenient to just grab juice and rolls on the way to the elevator. And I would have spent SO much on sodas it was nice having the fridge stocked every day. Not that the nightly wine and cheesecake was too shabby either...
Because we were there for a whole week we were able to take a leisurely pace and still see everything we wanted to.
I was really impressed that the parks are looking a lot better than when I visited in '99. Everything seemed clean and fresh. This was without a doubt our ultimate WDW trip...Now we just have to be patient 'cause it'll probably a while before we make it back.
Thanks for reading my (really long) report!!
We were married on the 8th and drove to WDW after breakfast on the 9th...about an 8 hour drive.
We were staying at the Contemporary Resort on the 14th floor concierge level. We were planning to be in our room in time for the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom but rain and traffic slowed us a little more than we had planned.
We *did* get to see the fireworks going off over our hotel as we drove up, so it was still very "mood-setting" regardless.
We had always wanted to stay at the Contemporary and we figured it *was* our honeymoon, so why not got the best room we could afford, so we booked a king bed room on the 14th floor with a Magic Kingdom view.
The room and the level of service up there was amazing. The view of the lagoon, Poly, and the GF was really nice but it was SO great to have the MK right...there!
The staff made several of our reservations for us and even got us a last minute breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table even after we had tried ourselves with no luck.
The room came stocked with sodas and bottled water, and whatever else we might have needed was right around the corner in the lounge.
The stocked fridge included coke, diet coke, sprite, apple and grape juice, and bottled water. Housekeeping re-stocked it daily.
The breakfast had croissants, toast, bagles, cereal, muffins and juice. afternoon had PB&J and ham and cheese sandwiches, nuts and chips, and sodas. evening had wine and cheese a choice of three starters from the concourse steakhouse, and late night had desserts and cordials. Also coffee and tea were always available.
They also had a few nice gifts for us when we arrived...a gift wrapped picture frame, autographed photo of "wedding" Mickey and Minnie, some balloons and a glass jar of cashews.
We used the silver plan since we wanted some flexibility in our "add-on's" and we knew we didn't want three meals a day (like the gold plan) and we had already planned to fill in some snacks and breakfast at the hotel.
I really think that the silver plan is the best bet for us. We normally don't eat three meals a day, especially when we're on vacation, so the gold plan would have been massive overkill for us. Because we shared wishes a few times for meals we actually had a few wishes left over to get some of the cool merchandise, the MK tour and La Nouba tickets.
Several times my wife and I split a "wish" getting one appetizer, entree and dessert and just shared. The portions were large enough at most restaurants and if there was two things we wanted we would just pay for the one extra entree. The general rule is the more expensive the restaurant, the smaller the portions.
We had our first dinner at the California Grill. The food was wonderful although our particular server was pretty slow. The cheese and garlic flatbread was our favorite appetizer from the whole vacation.
Liberty Tree Tavern...Nice lunch, great service.
50's Prime Time...Again, nice lunch and great service. The milkshakes really are as good as they say...
Coral Reef...This was our Valentine's Day dinner. The service was painfully slow, the food was stunningly mediocre, and when we checked in for our 6:45 seating at 6:30 i didn't expect we'd still be waiting for the bill at 9pm. So much for Illuminations...
Concourse Steakhouse...This made for a very nice late night dinner. For as many complaints as I've heard about the noise I thought it was quite quiet (granted, it *was* 9pm)
San Angel...We had lunch here and it was very cool 'cause my wife had never been. And the frozen margaritas only improved the meal
Marrikesh...Neither of us had been but we thought it was one of the highlights of our dining. Somewhat exotic, very friendly, and well prepared food. Oh, and belly dancers...how bad could it be?!?
O'Hana...This was my idea because my wife really wanted the Luau but it was being rehabbed... The food was tasty (though they bring WAY too much food for two people) though I don't think any of the meats were cooked enough and made both of us sick.
The Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table was another standout. The food was SO good and because they knew it was our honeymoon they had a table at the window waiting for us that they decorated with streamers and little Mickey confetti.
There were a few other places we wanted to go but our "vacation stomachs" always seem smaller than normal.
The parks were steady, but not even remotely full so all of our waits from Monday to Thursday were under 10 minutes.
We took the Keys to the Kingdom tour and we both really enjoyed it. Seeing the backstage areas were highlights for both of us but the background info they give is interesting and something we don't normally take the time to notice while we're there.
I was really happy the COP opened on Friday since the concierge told us when we arrived that it wouldn't be open 'till April.
Of course I was REALLY surprised that it and Timekeeper were closed on Saturday.
It was SOOOOOO busy on Saturday, but only in the MK. They REALLY needed two more things open in Tomorrowland. When we walked by even the TTA had a line!
However, over in Epcot it wasn't any more crowded than it had been all week...Surprising, but a nice change of pace.
The Animal Kingdom also seemed busy when we went, but we only stayed a half day. We mostly just walked around and enjoyed looking at all of the detail in the park. And Dinosaur
The Studios were pretty calm and we spent a good amount of time there since it's the park my wife has spent the least amount of time in. The "One Man's Dream" display was very well done and I think I used a whole roll of film just in there.
The new Tower of Terror drop design is really cool. I think that's one of the few rides that only gets better the more it's changed.
Overall, we had a great time. Staying on the concierge floor was a nice touch for a honeymoon. My wife is a must-have breakfast person and it was so convenient to just grab juice and rolls on the way to the elevator. And I would have spent SO much on sodas it was nice having the fridge stocked every day. Not that the nightly wine and cheesecake was too shabby either...
Because we were there for a whole week we were able to take a leisurely pace and still see everything we wanted to.
I was really impressed that the parks are looking a lot better than when I visited in '99. Everything seemed clean and fresh. This was without a doubt our ultimate WDW trip...Now we just have to be patient 'cause it'll probably a while before we make it back.
Thanks for reading my (really long) report!!
