The ABCs of a New 'Ohana Adventure-G is for: Greetings From Teppan, Good-Byes, and Good News!!! - COMPLETED 1/7

[Steppesister]

I'm going to spoil my next update here, but...
Mama Melrose was by far my best meal of my last trip.

OH my!! That is interesting! Lesley, Su-Lynn, and now you.... .maybe I should put this on my list...

Nope. Just a young grandmother.

I may never know. Have no plans to go there anytime soon.

Me neither

That might be a good idea, except...

Remember how everyone reacted at Fran & Alison's? You all thought it would taste fishy or slimy or...

No one would order it.

Well, that is a good point. I did hear "clam juice" and thought, "guard up!".

 

[Steppesister]

I am here. I remember when you were All7ofUs.

You do!!! And as I told Magdalene, I was SURE I'd inadvertently miss a few! If @jordanyoshi was still here, he'd have been mentioned, and @winkers and @englishrose47. and @Poolrat and @GoofyFan1515 . So many wonderful friends I've made along the way!

Must do's are Tiffins (dd's), Le Cellier (dh's though we have never had a bad meal here), and me well I don't really have must do. I do try to pick some new places every trip.

I'm the same, new places to try all the time. Tiffins is one I love but Le Cellier was not amazing for me. Food was fine, even good, but the service and atmosphere was average.

One and done was Chef Mickey's. We were forgotten about while waiting to be seated and I even went up to ask how much longer when people who had checked in after us were being seated. The food was forgettable and we have never been back.

OH my goodness! What a horrible experience. I think I'd have simply left - totally inexcusable.

Mama Melrose was one of the best meals we had on our last trip in Sept 2018.

Whoa!! ANOTHER vote for Mama's. I am seriously starting to re-evaluate my hesitancy.

We have only stayed at POP, AOA, and AKL SV Club level so that was my favorite by far.

You know what? I'd be quite happy at any of those 3. I enjoyed my stay at both of those values quite a lot, but yeah.... AKL sure does a bang up job and whisking you away "to Africa".

 

[Steppesister]

SSR is our home resort...if you want to rent points, let me know...you can ask @pkondz is it was a good deal.

Well, since I do have the goal of staying at all the resorts over time, I just may take you up on that at some point.

This is funny...we have a lady at or church that stopped eating Caesar salad (even though she loved em) when she found out the dressing has anchovies in it.

LOLOLOL!!

I guess I'm one of the only ones that didn't like mama melroses. Might be because my wife is Italian and she makes amazing meals, so maybe I'm just harder to please.

Interesting! It's hard to beat homecooked when homecooked is better.

"I love this! It's delicious!.. it has anchovies in it? I've never had anchovies, but I'm sure I don't like them, so I've changed my mind. I hate the salad."

 

[Steppesister]

My wife and I should be there also, but not that early (stupid work ).

Awesome!! Maybe a Meetup at EPCOT would be a good time to hang out a bit!

We love it and we always do the Rivers of Light package too.

I think if ROL knocked my socks off more, I'd do that. Been a while since I"ve seen it though. My kids may want to see it, so I guess we'll see...

Even after I went up to ask we still ended up waiting about 30 more minutes. We were seated about an hour after our adr time.

NOpe! I'd have given them half an hour. I almost walked away from Flying Fish after 40 minutes.

Well to tell you the truth we had avoided it for many years because I kept hearing bad reviews but we wanted to try something new and we were pleasantly surprised.

That is so good to know! I'm wondering if I screwed up and should have done this instead of Prime Time. My kids are major party poopers and I'm afraid they might have enjoyed MMs instead.

 

[glennbo123]

If @jordanyoshi was still here, he'd have been mentioned, and @winkers and @englishrose47. and @Poolrat and @GoofyFan1515 . So many wonderful friends I've made along the way!

 

[Steppesister]

Thanks for the breakdown of your rationale of when to visit. Though Galaxy's Edge certainly throws a bit of a wrench in a lot of people's plans, I'm sure!! It sounds like you're going to have just the right amount of time to really bask in the glow of a Disney vacation, get all kinds of fun things done, and even have a bit of downtime!

I hadn't thought about Nomad Lounge when I was choosing my restaurant selections, but that's another great pick! I'm hoping we'll get back there when we go on our trip next week.

I think the menu is so nice that I'd consider it a restaurant, not really a lounge.

Ooooh....this is too tricky! I like so many resorts for different reasons!! I think my favourite resort might be Wilderness Lodge.

YAY!! Another for WL!

Possibly. I also actually really like All Star Sports. Not sure why, but I think it's my favourite of the All Star resorts.

Those are next on my list. Still need to round out my values list.

And Nathan likes a lot of them, too, but he has a soft spot for Pop Century because it was where we stayed on his first trip ever.

I think any first trip place is going to leave a soft spot. Kinda like my soft spot for the Campground. I know... weird, but there it is.

But for the purposes of this question, and because of the incredibly special place it holds in my heart, and that we keep going back to visit and to eat over and over again, I'm gonna pick Animal Kingdom Lodge. My advice is always Boma. But something that not everyone knows about Boma is that they will make you a mimosa with jungle juice (instead of orange juice) if you ask for it. *slurp!*

Interesting that WL and AKL got the most votes while GF and CR (for deluxes) got ZERO. Also, even more intestesting, is that NO Mods got a single vote. I have a soft spot for French Quarter and would put it above any Value I've stayed at and even over GF.

THat is a massively excellent hint for the mimosas!!! Nice!!!

 

[Steppesister]

Yes, you need to put Aulani on the list. We like the quiet feel at SSR after a busy park day. I hear Turf club cooks up a mean steam but haven't tried it yet.

Maybe with my new job I'll be able to take a few of those vacations that are on my list: Southern Italy, a REAL Safari to Kenya/Tanzania, Hawaii...

I think I will get to SSR someday, but have a couple more other resorts to knock off first.

 

[Steppesister]

For the ROL package, it's a really good deal for what you get. Last time I gave my ROL tickets away since (speaking of one and done) it's just okay....nothing going boom...no good!

I need to look into that!! I just assumed you paid more FOR the tickets, but maybe it is a good deal. I'm not in love with ROL; I'll watch it, but yeah, meh.

I still need to get there for breakfast. We did dinner and it was good, but not fantastic for me. I'm a pretty finicky eater and I'm not big on spicy foods, so I had to pick and choose wisely. The one thing that kinda makes it great....zebra domes!

I prefer breakfast but both are great!

For the record, I find breakfast bit more "finicky"-friendly than dinner. Dinner is a bit more adventurous, I find.

Which is funny because... I've done both and find very little there that is truly "spicy" . As in heat. Flavorful with lots of herbs like curry and such, but nothing spicy. Not your average, typical American fare, sure, but also quite "dumbed-down" (just an expression! No one is dumb here!) compared to the authentic versions found IN Africa.

 

[ariane37]

Then we shall make a plan!

Definitely!

My wife and I should be there also, but not that early (stupid work ).

Cool! I can't remember our evening plans off the top of my head but I will let you know how long after the seminar we plan to be there

 

[Malia78]

feel free to add a little intro since you're part of this motley crew!

Yes this is Karilynn-- I pop up here and there as Malia78 on other trip reports, most recently some EPIC adventures. And I will be crashing the party in Liesa's room 14-17 Sept and joining some early morning park blitzes and gluttonous escapades around the world . Technically I stagger off my red eye bright and early Sept 13 to spend one night at Old Key West--need to lull Liesa into a sense of calm before I burst on the scene After a smashing Halloween party on the 17th, I will discretely make my way over to Universal Studios for a couple days before returning to WDW once more for a week (21-28 Sept) of Disney with my parents and almost 7 yr old niece.

 

[irene_dsc]

I think the longest standing readers I have are @franandaj , @glennbo123 , @Captain_Oblivious and @irene_dsc

I'm only done with page 2, but I had to quote this one! Wow - I guess the first one of your TRs I read *was* sorta your more recent comeback. I definitely wasn't around for your first TR. I'm honored to make your list!

Since we've only done 2 trips, I can't really have an "always" restaurnt. I don't think we repeated any of our meals? I also don't think anyplace was bad enough to be a one-and-done. Since we go so rarely, we do tend to try out new places. I do have a running list for whenever we do get around to planning a return trip.

Resorts are a similar issue. On-site, we've only done CBR - largely because I wanted the faux beach for the kids at the time. Then we did off-site. I'd probably want to try someplace different, but it will depend a ton on the type of trip it ends up being.

 

[docsoliday1]

Awesome!! Maybe a Meetup at EPCOT would be a good time to hang out a bit!

Yay!

I think if ROL knocked my socks off more, I'd do that. Been a while since I"ve seen it though. My kids may want to see it, so I guess we'll see...

ROL does NOT knock my socks off at all. I get it simply for the value at Tiffins. When you consider it gets you a non-alcoholic drink, appetizer, entree and dessert and compare that to what each of those would cost individually and the ROL tickets are (for me) throwaway.

I need to look into that!! I just assumed you paid more FOR the tickets, but maybe it is a good deal. I'm not in love with ROL; I'll watch it, but yeah, meh.

See above. I think it's a good deal.

Cool! I can't remember our evening plans off the top of my head but I will let you know how long after the seminar we plan to be there

Okay, cool. It would be good to have more than a hi and bye with you and Steve.

 

[docsoliday1]

Yes this is Karilynn-- I pop up here and there as Malia78 on other trip reports, most recently some EPIC adventures. And I will be crashing the party in Liesa's room 14-17 Sept and joining some early morning park blitzes and gluttonous escapades around the world . Technically I stagger off my red eye bright and early Sept 13 to spend one night at Old Key West--need to lull Liesa into a sense of calm before I burst on the scene After a smashing Halloween party on the 17th, I will discretely make my way over to Universal Studios for a couple days before returning to WDW once more for a week (21-28 Sept) of Disney with my parents and almost 7 yr old niece.

Hey Kari. Enjoyed meeting you at O'hana. As you know, I'm local, so if you'd like to meet up again, I'd enjoy that. PM me if interested. I work during the day, but can do most afternoons/evenings and weekends.

 

[pkondz]

That is almost EXACTLY how it played out. I found it hilarious.

 

[pkondz]

Well, that is a good point. I did hear "clam juice" and thought, "guard up!".

Seeee????

 

[Malia78]

Hey Kari. Enjoyed meeting you at O'hana. As you know, I'm local, so if you'd like to meet up again, I'd enjoy that. PM me if interested. I work during the day, but can do most afternoons/evenings and weekends.

Definitely,,,will see how things look on the schedule Maybe I will cross paths with you at Epcot too if you meet with Liesa

 

[DLo]

I've not tried the Ale and Compass for a meal, but the EPIC Girls (a large group of us anyways, not everyone) ended up there after our Illuminations Cruise was cancelled due to a hellacious storm. It was cozy and many of the ladies ordered appies and we all got drinks and it was really yummy. What about your experience there was poor? Service? the food? Do tell!

Never been to Captain's Grill.

So, it was an odd breakfast experience. The restaurant was pretty much empty but the host sat my DH and at a small two top right next to a large party . If that was all that was available- totally fine with that but there were maybe 5 tables being used at the time. We asked the host if we could move to another table - he acted like this was a ridiculous request and got on his little earpiece to call up to the stand to say we were demanding a different table - was that ok ? I wasn’t asking for a table on the other side of the empty place just a few feet away ! Needless to say that set the tone for the meal . The eggs tasted fake and the rest was fine just not great . DH tolerates WDW for me and I booked this instead of Cape May so he wouldn’t have to deal with characters. Next time , he will just have to deal with them !

On to the resort question , I love the EPCOT area resorts the most. The YC slightly edges out the BC for my favorite. I don’t have any tips / tricks for staying there. Sorry . I have been staying at moderates more recently and POFQ is my favorite of those.

 

[MeghanEmily]

I'm going to spoil my next update here, but...
Mama Melrose was by far my best meal of my last trip.

Ooh, that's good to know! I've heard the steak is very good. We're going there for the first time this trip, and now I'm even more excited to give it a try!

Also, even more intestesting, is that NO Mods got a single vote. I have a soft spot for French Quarter and would put it above any Value I've stayed at and even over GF.

I almost put French Quarter on my list, too! So hard to choose! But still, that is an interesting trend. It's definitely my favourite mod, and I would agree that it matches or surpasses some deluxe resorts.

Not your average, typical American fare, sure, but also quite "dumbed-down" (just an expression! No one is dumb here!) compared to the authentic versions found IN Africa.

I believe this!

I didn't find the dinner offerings particularly spicy either, really. But possibly more outside the comfort zone if your palate is used to eating mostly American fare? I thought some of the selections were just maybe further from what I typically eat at home than a lot of the breakfast selections tended to be.

 

[pooh'smate]

I think if ROL knocked my socks off more, I'd do that. Been a while since I"ve seen it though. My kids may want to see it, so I guess we'll see...

We have only seen it once. We gave our tickets away too like @docsoliday1 but it is the better value to do the package.

NOpe! I'd have given them half an hour. I almost walked away from Flying Fish after 40 minutes.

Well it was our first trip (2011) and I didn't know better lol. It was a non-park day and dd really wanted to see the characters. If it were today we would have walked out.

That is so good to know! I'm wondering if I screwed up and should have done this instead of Prime Time. My kids are major party poopers and I'm afraid they might have enjoyed MMs instead.

We had a good time at Prime Time but the last time we ate there was in 2016. We had a good waitress who was just enough engaged but not so over the top to make my dh uncomfortable. I was worried about that too and it worked out great.

 

[Mousemom234]

What was your favorite resort you’ve stayed and why? And what is a little hidden secret or piece of advice you can share about it?

Favorite resort no longer exists, in a manner of speaking. The Villas at Disney Institute - now remodeled into Saratoga Springs.
Favorite existing resort would have to be OKW (when I can mentally afford it) and surprisingly, I was downright pleased with our room at AllStar Music.
Not much of a secret tip, but we had a room way down back in Broadway 7, and it was about 50 steps to the car. That was also the last time we were gifted with any towel critters.