Anniversary Plus One, Winter 2019: Looking for Advice!

fizzymint

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jan 5, 2018
Hey all! I'm a former College Program CM from loooong ago (2002!) who stuck around and worked at UO for a few years. I've since moved to Oregon and finally went back to WDW for my honeymoon last month. Things have really changed! I'd never stayed at an on-site resort before and it was wonderful. It was my husband's first time and we both had such a blast that we want to go back for our anniversary/my birthday! The goal is January 2019, and we're bringing a friend with us to experience the magic.

Resort Thoughts?


We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, which we liked, but would prefer to try something new this time around. We stayed in a standard room (though we got upgraded to a pool view, which was awesome!) because we decided a bit impromptu to go to WDW for our honeymoon and didn't have time to save for a savanna view. Since we're planning a year out and don't have to pay for a wedding anymore (whew), we can splurge a little bit.

We found the AKL room to be a bit dated. We liked it, but there were some inconveniences, like only one plug by the bed (which had to be taken up by my cpap machine).

I don't need anything state of the art, and am honestly fine with a similar room, but I am hoping for something a bit more convenient this time. We're considering the following:
  • Polynesian (my first choice, but every time I seem to look up "test dates" during off peak times, it still appears unavailable!)
  • Contemporary (Tower Room, after reading great reviews about it compared to the Garden)
  • Wilderness Lodge
  • Yacht/Beach Club (lowest preference, but the lazy river looks so cool, and walking to Epcot sounds neat)
What are your favorites out of this list and why? Do you have any recommendations? Food is a big plus for us -- we LOVED the food options at AKL and ate at Jiko, Sanaa, and the Mara multiple times. We'd love to have great food available.

Parks with Limited Time!

While I'm lucky to have a job that allows me a lot of time off, my husband doesn't. We'll only be able to have about a week there, and that's stretching it. How would you balance your time if you have five days at the parks?
  • Epcot is our favorite and we definitely want to do two days there.
  • We skipped HS last time because neither of us were interested in Tower of Tower or Rock n Roller Coaster. I know Star Wars won't be open yet, so it might be a good idea to skip again? Or should we just do two days at MK and one day at AK?
Restaurants!

We really love to eat. A lot. We LOVED Jiko and Sanaa (the latter for the naan service alone!). We also did Coral Reef and Tokyo Dining, which I don't think we need to do again (though I found Tokyo Dining to be pretty awesome).

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on the best Character Dining experience for adults. I didn't expect to want much character interaction, but we met some to take advantage of Memory Maker last time, and ended up with having some of my favorite pictures!! Our friend doesn't care about characters much, but she's all about food/buffets, too. For adults who like good food, what are your recommendations? I see Tusker House come up a lot ...

We also plan on trying to get ADRs here:
  • Le Cellier (we hear people don't love it as much, but I'm doing to try it. We love steak and poutine!)
  • Be Our Guest
  • Via Napoli
  • 'Ohana
I'd love to hear other suggestions! Even for must-try snacks. (The waffle fries by Country Bears were surprisingly amazing?!)

Extras

We did the Frozen Dessert Party with Illuminations last time and kind of loved it. Do you have a favorite add-on experience? I see parade + lunch at MK, Star Wars desserts at HS, Tomorrowland dessert and fireworks viewing at MK, etc. I'm interested in doing one or two.

Thank you all so much for letting me ramble on about this! I'm so excited for this opportunity to go back and do the things we missed the first time around.
 

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