Here's the link to where I have about a tenth of my photos: http://photogreetingsgalore.com/family/tripreport.htm (The captions were written for my friends and family to read so ignore all the Disney kindergarden language and explanations of things. I'm too lazy to type up another copy for Disney smarties to read. :lol: )
Here's some mini reviews too...
WILDERNESS LODGE - Absolutely loved it. Loved that I could watch Wishes and the EWP from my room. Did not really like having a wall instead of a railing on my balcony though, so next time I'll request 4th or 5th floor. The whole place was immaculate, even our balcony was spotless! Everyone there was super friendly and it was a really gorgeous, cozy resort to stay at. The boat transportation was an extra perk. I will definitely stay there again!
POLYNESIAN - I loved the Polynesian too, but I didn't feel like it was as "perfect" as the Wilderness Lodge. The first lagoon view room they tried to give us was horrible - you could hardly see the lagoon at all because there were trees and buildings in the way. As soon as we saw the view we went back and requested a new room. We got a much nicer room in Tahiti, but I was upset because there was a palm tree blocking the castle, and all I wanted was to be able to see the castle from our room. So we requested yet another room and finally got a great one where we could see the castle, though we had to go to the smelly smoking side of the building to have that room. Our room was very clean again, but one day we left for the day and came back in the late afternoon and housekeeping never came by! They showed up at dinnertime while the kids were napping in the room and gave us some towels. I was pretty irked that we had to have a messy room the entire last day of our trip, which was the day we were going to spend lounging at the resort. Also, Captain Cook's was awful. I'm glad they are redoing it. It was filthy, the cashier's were not too friendly, and they were terrible about keeping things like trays, napkins, and even snacks in stock. There was also a really long wait to receive our food each time we ordered. Roaring Fork at Wilderness Lodge was a hundred times nicer. But despite my "complaints", I still LOVED the Polynesian. I loved the convenience of it, the gorgeous views, the great sit down restaurants, watching fireworks on the beach, I could go on and on. I will definitely stay there again too after they finish the renovations.
SIT DOWN MEALS - We ate at Chef Mickeys (dinner), Whispering Canyon (dinner), Beaches & Cream (dinner), Trail's End Buffet (breakfast), Boma (breakfast), Liberty Tree Tavern (dinner), 'Ohana (breakfast and dinner), 1900 Park Fare (breakfast), and Kona Cafe (breakfast). Most of the meals were delicious and we had the typical friendly Disney service. The best service we had was at Beaches & Cream, and we loved the food too. Our service at Whispering Canyon was very disappointing - our server was preoccupied and didn't pay much attention to us, and we had to wait forever to get our skillet refilled. It seemed almost unfair because all the other tables around us had really hilarious, awesome servers and they were all having so much fun while we got ignored. 'Ohana's dinner setup has definitely taken a turn for the worse. Even though I just eat kid's meals there, I still noticed a huge difference in how they served the food to everyone else at the table from when I was there a few months ago. Instead of a big turntable of different things, they just bring a couple small bowls of stuff. If I remember right there was a bowl of some kind of fried fish and another dish of veggies and a couple dipping sauces, which was pretty pathetic. Then they took FOREVER to bring out the meat. Probably at least 20-30 minutes between each skewer, where a few months ago they were bombarding the tables with skewer refills. Our server was almost non-existant throughout the meal, and we almost missed the fireworks waiting a hundred years for her to appear after we finished eating. I still loved the atmosphere and will probably eat there again, but it was definitely not the 'Ohana from a few months back.
PARKS - I thought the parks looked really great, and all the CM's were so friendly. I keep reading so many complaints about the state of the parks and the horrible CM's, but I think that's insane. I thought everything was incredible!! I've never seen a cleaner bathroom than the bathroom at Blizzard Beach, and normally water parks have nasty bathrooms. I was very impressed with the "World" as a whole, and for me it was as magical as always. The one thing I was not impressed with was Lights, Motors, Action. I thought it was a flop. There was hardly any "action" at all. Indiana Jones is WAY better. I will not waste my time with LMA again.
But I hate to end on a bad note. Disney is definitely awesome and I had a total blast, and so did the rest of my family. I can't wait to go back!
Here's some mini reviews too...
WILDERNESS LODGE - Absolutely loved it. Loved that I could watch Wishes and the EWP from my room. Did not really like having a wall instead of a railing on my balcony though, so next time I'll request 4th or 5th floor. The whole place was immaculate, even our balcony was spotless! Everyone there was super friendly and it was a really gorgeous, cozy resort to stay at. The boat transportation was an extra perk. I will definitely stay there again!
POLYNESIAN - I loved the Polynesian too, but I didn't feel like it was as "perfect" as the Wilderness Lodge. The first lagoon view room they tried to give us was horrible - you could hardly see the lagoon at all because there were trees and buildings in the way. As soon as we saw the view we went back and requested a new room. We got a much nicer room in Tahiti, but I was upset because there was a palm tree blocking the castle, and all I wanted was to be able to see the castle from our room. So we requested yet another room and finally got a great one where we could see the castle, though we had to go to the smelly smoking side of the building to have that room. Our room was very clean again, but one day we left for the day and came back in the late afternoon and housekeeping never came by! They showed up at dinnertime while the kids were napping in the room and gave us some towels. I was pretty irked that we had to have a messy room the entire last day of our trip, which was the day we were going to spend lounging at the resort. Also, Captain Cook's was awful. I'm glad they are redoing it. It was filthy, the cashier's were not too friendly, and they were terrible about keeping things like trays, napkins, and even snacks in stock. There was also a really long wait to receive our food each time we ordered. Roaring Fork at Wilderness Lodge was a hundred times nicer. But despite my "complaints", I still LOVED the Polynesian. I loved the convenience of it, the gorgeous views, the great sit down restaurants, watching fireworks on the beach, I could go on and on. I will definitely stay there again too after they finish the renovations.
SIT DOWN MEALS - We ate at Chef Mickeys (dinner), Whispering Canyon (dinner), Beaches & Cream (dinner), Trail's End Buffet (breakfast), Boma (breakfast), Liberty Tree Tavern (dinner), 'Ohana (breakfast and dinner), 1900 Park Fare (breakfast), and Kona Cafe (breakfast). Most of the meals were delicious and we had the typical friendly Disney service. The best service we had was at Beaches & Cream, and we loved the food too. Our service at Whispering Canyon was very disappointing - our server was preoccupied and didn't pay much attention to us, and we had to wait forever to get our skillet refilled. It seemed almost unfair because all the other tables around us had really hilarious, awesome servers and they were all having so much fun while we got ignored. 'Ohana's dinner setup has definitely taken a turn for the worse. Even though I just eat kid's meals there, I still noticed a huge difference in how they served the food to everyone else at the table from when I was there a few months ago. Instead of a big turntable of different things, they just bring a couple small bowls of stuff. If I remember right there was a bowl of some kind of fried fish and another dish of veggies and a couple dipping sauces, which was pretty pathetic. Then they took FOREVER to bring out the meat. Probably at least 20-30 minutes between each skewer, where a few months ago they were bombarding the tables with skewer refills. Our server was almost non-existant throughout the meal, and we almost missed the fireworks waiting a hundred years for her to appear after we finished eating. I still loved the atmosphere and will probably eat there again, but it was definitely not the 'Ohana from a few months back.
PARKS - I thought the parks looked really great, and all the CM's were so friendly. I keep reading so many complaints about the state of the parks and the horrible CM's, but I think that's insane. I thought everything was incredible!! I've never seen a cleaner bathroom than the bathroom at Blizzard Beach, and normally water parks have nasty bathrooms. I was very impressed with the "World" as a whole, and for me it was as magical as always. The one thing I was not impressed with was Lights, Motors, Action. I thought it was a flop. There was hardly any "action" at all. Indiana Jones is WAY better. I will not waste my time with LMA again.
But I hate to end on a bad note. Disney is definitely awesome and I had a total blast, and so did the rest of my family. I can't wait to go back!
