Jaime4004
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2010
Just stepped off the plane and back home to 39 degrees yesterday. (boo)
I love reading trip reports, especially those with tons of great pictures. Unfortunately, this will not be one of those because i'm way too lazy. Haven't even downloaded the MM photos yet. But here's a few thoughts from a family of 5 who have been to WDW many times. We used to go 1-2 times/year off site, but have taken a disney break for the last 4 years. So this was our first onsite trip with FP+.
We stayed used the Magical Express bus, which was great, though it was a bit of a wait at the airport.
Stayed at the Caribbean Beach resort, in Barbados building 11, 2nd floor. My family and I all loved this resort. We were so busy during the week (even with 2 non park days) that we only went to the main pool on the very last day (actually night). If there's a next time, we need to do this more.
Kids (12 and under) took turn sleeping on the murphy bed, which they all prefered so they didn't have to sleep with each other. DH wasn't impressed with the housekeeping services.
I had changed our original flight so we ended up arriving on Saturday by noon. After checking out the resort, we decided to add a day to our ticket package and head to MK. We were able to do this at guest relations just before entering the park. The line was in the sun and hot. I almost melted before it was my turn. But the CM was able to assist us with adding a day to our ticket package and in we headed a little after 3pm, just as the parade was starting. So we watched it from main st (what we could see of it). So MK on a saturday afternoon with no FP prebooked. Imagine how that went! Actually it was fabulous, we had a great time. Just booked some FP that were left over, bounced around to whatever area they were in at the time. No complaints! Finally saw the Jingle Cruise, which was not quite as christmassy as I was expecting.
Saw the electrical light parade. We stayed until just before the fireworks started, didn't want to deal with the mass exodus after. Actually watched some of it from the bus stop.
I have to say, I am not a huge fan of the buses. We had a lot of 20 min waits, twice 30 mins for MK. My usual luck was to have the bus we needed pulling away as we got to the bus stop. There were occasional times that there was hardly any wait, so i'm sure it evened itself out. But if we stay onsite again, I would probably take a car.
I also have to say, all the parks felt pretty crowded. All the time. We were always RD people and used to be able to do a lot in the mornings but this time it felt much more crowded in the mornings (non-EMH days).
Some meal thoughts: Breakfast buffets were the same as usual. We did crystal palace and chef mickey's. They were fine, not inedible as I frequently read. My kids love breakfast buffets. Tried Tusker for lunch one day, that was probably the least favorite. We were on the "free" dining package so did a lot more restaurants than I would have normally, because with 2 of my children disney "adults" they don't eat nearly as much as they are charged. For example DD12 at one plate of mac and cheese and a cookie at Tusker. For $40. Not worth it, even with characters. My family's favorite was Whispering Canyon Cafe, they loved it and begged to go back (which we didn't, not in the plan) DH raved about his steak, and he's picky about his steaks. I had the roasted chicken, which was very tasty. We took dessert to go because we were so full and the caramel cheesecake that I finally ate later, was sooooo good. We also tried BOG lunch for the first time. We liked it. DH really enjoyed his tuna nicoise salad. I had the turkey sandwich. Cupcakes were all tasty. Love the theme of the restaurant. We preordered which was great, just walked in and was told to find a seat. The people ordering had a bit of a line. DH thought I was a genius when he saw this.
Tried Hoop de doo for the first time! Always wanted to do this but wouldn't due to the price. It was cute, glad we did it, but wouldn't do it again. Food was pretty good. Way too much, felt bad about all that got wasted. Funny story is that the chef came out (first one that did so wasn't expecting it) because DS10 has fresh fruit/veggie allergy listed. I did this because some of the kids meals come with fresh fruits/veggies as a side and I didn't want any issues with substitutions. I let him know why the allergies were listed, said that DS would be fine, I knew what he could eat. Chef let me know that there was fresh strawberries folded in the strawberry shortcake, which I appreciated. I wasn't concerned because his strawberry allergy is not severe, I could just scrape them off. He offered an alternative, which I declined, he'd be fine with the strawberry shortcake. When the dessert came out, we had strawberry shortcake and he was given an alternative anyway - A nice big plate of fresh fruit... which is his allergy. And included lots of watermelon and other melons, which he actually has an anaphylactic reaction to.. So apparently we had some communication problems. DS's eyes went wide when he saw it "I'm not eating THAT!" DH and I were laughing about it, he even took a pic.
DH tried his best to eat around the world at EPCOT, which was what I was looking forward to the most. My goal in life was to try the loaded mac and cheese. Unfortunately I got really sick and only lasted 2 hrs in EPCOT. DH was a trooper and took the kids the rest of the day, while I pretty much slept. DD tried my mac and cheese instead, sending me a pic of it. She was not a fan, but DH liked it. I somewhat made it up to myself my getting wolfgang puck express mac and cheese later in the week, so it's all good.
Some other stops were sci fi diner (while the food is not stellar, it's still a favorite family stop) and snacks at the writer's stop, which were tasty.
So we enjoyed the dining plan a lot. It was so nice to go to the more expensive (buffets, hoop de doo) places without worrying about the price. Even whispering canyon was $200 for the 5 of us. That is way more than we would normally spend on a restaurant. I probably would not pay OOP, especially for buffets, because my kids are light eaters and it's not worth it, IMO. So you can guess that we are not signature restaurant people. I am way too cheap to spend a fortune on food. We are usually lunch packers. We ended up with 15, yes 15, unused QS credits. The regualar dining plan was so much food. My kids all prefer their usual yogurt/cereal breakfast so we usually ate breakfast in the room. Having one TS/day was pretty filling. Combined with the heat, me being sick for a lot of the trip, we just didn't eat as much as we thought we would. We are all dessert people so everyone enjoyed that part. We used up all the snacks also. So DH, wanting to get the most of his $$, converted the last 15 QS credits to snacks and him and the kids picked out 45 snacks and BROUGHT THEM HOME! OMG. They had a great time picking them out, as you can imagine...
This ended up way longer than I was expecting, sorry. One last thought: my kids LOVED disneyquest. So sad it's closing. We actually went 3 times, had the waterpark and more option. DD12 went in pouting because we were going to plan video games, which she is not a fan of, but she ended up converted and had a great time.
We had such a great time.
DH thought I was a genius with the FP. I still prefer the older style, but i'm sure it's all what you're used to. Wish we had a few more days there to get done all that we had wanted to. Good thing i'm doing a quick trip with DH in April for the star wars marathon (he's running, i'm an expert spectator.)
As this looks as long as a book, i'm skipping the editing. So ignore any typos.
I love reading trip reports, especially those with tons of great pictures. Unfortunately, this will not be one of those because i'm way too lazy. Haven't even downloaded the MM photos yet. But here's a few thoughts from a family of 5 who have been to WDW many times. We used to go 1-2 times/year off site, but have taken a disney break for the last 4 years. So this was our first onsite trip with FP+.
We stayed used the Magical Express bus, which was great, though it was a bit of a wait at the airport.
Stayed at the Caribbean Beach resort, in Barbados building 11, 2nd floor. My family and I all loved this resort. We were so busy during the week (even with 2 non park days) that we only went to the main pool on the very last day (actually night). If there's a next time, we need to do this more.
Kids (12 and under) took turn sleeping on the murphy bed, which they all prefered so they didn't have to sleep with each other. DH wasn't impressed with the housekeeping services. I had changed our original flight so we ended up arriving on Saturday by noon. After checking out the resort, we decided to add a day to our ticket package and head to MK. We were able to do this at guest relations just before entering the park. The line was in the sun and hot. I almost melted before it was my turn. But the CM was able to assist us with adding a day to our ticket package and in we headed a little after 3pm, just as the parade was starting. So we watched it from main st (what we could see of it). So MK on a saturday afternoon with no FP prebooked. Imagine how that went! Actually it was fabulous, we had a great time. Just booked some FP that were left over, bounced around to whatever area they were in at the time. No complaints! Finally saw the Jingle Cruise, which was not quite as christmassy as I was expecting.
Saw the electrical light parade. We stayed until just before the fireworks started, didn't want to deal with the mass exodus after. Actually watched some of it from the bus stop.I have to say, I am not a huge fan of the buses. We had a lot of 20 min waits, twice 30 mins for MK. My usual luck was to have the bus we needed pulling away as we got to the bus stop. There were occasional times that there was hardly any wait, so i'm sure it evened itself out. But if we stay onsite again, I would probably take a car.
I also have to say, all the parks felt pretty crowded. All the time. We were always RD people and used to be able to do a lot in the mornings but this time it felt much more crowded in the mornings (non-EMH days).
Some meal thoughts: Breakfast buffets were the same as usual. We did crystal palace and chef mickey's. They were fine, not inedible as I frequently read. My kids love breakfast buffets. Tried Tusker for lunch one day, that was probably the least favorite. We were on the "free" dining package so did a lot more restaurants than I would have normally, because with 2 of my children disney "adults" they don't eat nearly as much as they are charged. For example DD12 at one plate of mac and cheese and a cookie at Tusker. For $40. Not worth it, even with characters. My family's favorite was Whispering Canyon Cafe, they loved it and begged to go back (which we didn't, not in the plan
) DH raved about his steak, and he's picky about his steaks. I had the roasted chicken, which was very tasty. We took dessert to go because we were so full and the caramel cheesecake that I finally ate later, was sooooo good. We also tried BOG lunch for the first time. We liked it. DH really enjoyed his tuna nicoise salad. I had the turkey sandwich. Cupcakes were all tasty. Love the theme of the restaurant. We preordered which was great, just walked in and was told to find a seat. The people ordering had a bit of a line. DH thought I was a genius when he saw this. Tried Hoop de doo for the first time! Always wanted to do this but wouldn't due to the price. It was cute, glad we did it, but wouldn't do it again. Food was pretty good. Way too much, felt bad about all that got wasted. Funny story is that the chef came out (first one that did so wasn't expecting it) because DS10 has fresh fruit/veggie allergy listed. I did this because some of the kids meals come with fresh fruits/veggies as a side and I didn't want any issues with substitutions. I let him know why the allergies were listed, said that DS would be fine, I knew what he could eat. Chef let me know that there was fresh strawberries folded in the strawberry shortcake, which I appreciated. I wasn't concerned because his strawberry allergy is not severe, I could just scrape them off. He offered an alternative, which I declined, he'd be fine with the strawberry shortcake. When the dessert came out, we had strawberry shortcake and he was given an alternative anyway - A nice big plate of fresh fruit... which is his allergy. And included lots of watermelon and other melons, which he actually has an anaphylactic reaction to.. So apparently we had some communication problems. DS's eyes went wide when he saw it "I'm not eating THAT!" DH and I were laughing about it, he even took a pic.
DH tried his best to eat around the world at EPCOT, which was what I was looking forward to the most. My goal in life was to try the loaded mac and cheese. Unfortunately I got really sick and only lasted 2 hrs in EPCOT. DH was a trooper and took the kids the rest of the day, while I pretty much slept. DD tried my mac and cheese instead, sending me a pic of it. She was not a fan, but DH liked it. I somewhat made it up to myself my getting wolfgang puck express mac and cheese later in the week, so it's all good.
Some other stops were sci fi diner (while the food is not stellar, it's still a favorite family stop) and snacks at the writer's stop, which were tasty.
So we enjoyed the dining plan a lot. It was so nice to go to the more expensive (buffets, hoop de doo) places without worrying about the price. Even whispering canyon was $200 for the 5 of us. That is way more than we would normally spend on a restaurant. I probably would not pay OOP, especially for buffets, because my kids are light eaters and it's not worth it, IMO. So you can guess that we are not signature restaurant people. I am way too cheap to spend a fortune on food. We are usually lunch packers
. We ended up with 15, yes 15, unused QS credits. The regualar dining plan was so much food. My kids all prefer their usual yogurt/cereal breakfast so we usually ate breakfast in the room. Having one TS/day was pretty filling. Combined with the heat, me being sick for a lot of the trip, we just didn't eat as much as we thought we would. We are all dessert people so everyone enjoyed that part. We used up all the snacks also. So DH, wanting to get the most of his $$, converted the last 15 QS credits to snacks and him and the kids picked out 45 snacks and BROUGHT THEM HOME! OMG. They had a great time picking them out, as you can imagine... This ended up way longer than I was expecting, sorry. One last thought: my kids LOVED disneyquest. So sad it's closing. We actually went 3 times, had the waterpark and more option. DD12 went in pouting because we were going to plan video games, which she is not a fan of, but she ended up converted and had a great time.
We had such a great time.
DH thought I was a genius with the FP. I still prefer the older style, but i'm sure it's all what you're used to. Wish we had a few more days there to get done all that we had wanted to. Good thing i'm doing a quick trip with DH in April for the star wars marathon (he's running, i'm an expert spectator.)As this looks as long as a book, i'm skipping the editing. So ignore any typos.
