Trip Reports
06-09-2006, 12:04 PM
Time of Year: Spring
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: CBR
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent
Comments: Sue and her family (including two sons) visited WDW in March for ten days. In addition to a nice blow-by-blow trip report, Sue wrote an itemized restaurant review. Lots of useful details in this report.
STATS:
When: March 13 - March 23
Where: Caribbean Beach Resort - Martinique - Bldg 24 - Waterview
Who: Myself, Sue 35 and a Disney nut! My husband , Steve, 39 and also a Disney fan (not a nutty as me though!) and our sons made their first trip - Michael, 8 years old, and Daniel, 5 ˝ years old.
Thursday, March 13, 1997:
Delta Express flight out of Philadelphia at 8:15 PM. Arrived in Orlando, 10:35 PM(slight delay getting out of Philadelphia) and immediately got our luggage, and headed out to find an Alamo bus. We found one within minutes and by 11:00 PM were standing at the Alamo counter! We got our car (a must for us, we don't waste precious WDW time waiting for buses - although see my note on Tuesday - I tried it once!) We were on the road by 11:15 PM, and despite the torrential downpour of rain, arrived at CBR by 11:45 PM. We checked in, and to our delight, they gave us our waterview room (we had booked first night standard, no package ) then, and explained that we wouldn't have to move at all! Great!
In our room and asleep by 12:45 PM - WOW!
Friday, March 14, 1997:
Stopped at the Customs house at 7 am, picked up our LOS passes, and Food & Fun passes. (they had to reprint these, as the night before was room only).
We made it to Wilderness Lodge by 7:25 AM, and had breakfast at Artist Point - Pocohontas. We then headed off to the Polynesian (sorry this is where we parked all week - I know I will hear about this one!!!) and started on our day!
Michael's first priority was to ride the monorail, so it was the first thing we did! He was so excited, and enjoyed the short ride to Magic Kingdom. We then went through the gates, and had no trouble at all! The boys' eyes were huge as they saw the magic of Disney unfold before their eyes! They walked down Main Street, staring at the castle (our poor castle, I can't wait until it isn't wearing icing!) and thanking us a hundred times for bringing them!
We went left into Adventureland. The lines were short, it was drizzling slightly, and that always shortens up the lines! We walked onto Swiss Family Treehouse, and then we only waited 5 minutes for the Jungle Cruise. Pirates of the Caribbean was a short 10 minute wait, and the favorite so far! Daniel was a little worried about PoC, but soon learned that Disney has a way of keeping you from getting shot!
Next, on to Daniel's first wish - the Haunted Mansion! We got lucky here, no line! We walked right in and had a blast - Daniel still blames a lot of the little "mishaps" on his ghost! (Michael and I got the short one with funny ears, Daniel and Dad got the tall one with the long chin! He still laughs at that!)
We saved the mountain rides for later in the trip, and went over to Fantasyland. All of the rides were walk-ons - We just got lucky I guess! Anyway, by 3:00 PM we had done almost all of MK except the mountains and alien encounter - yep, we even had a family portrait taken with Mickey in Mickey's Toon Town! And we rode Goofy's rollercoaster- short but neat!
A ride on the Disney Railroad back to Main Street, and we were off to our next stop - Epcot! A brief visit gave us the opportunity to walk on to Spaceship Earth (we just couldn't believe there was no line) and get stuck on the ride 3 times! It is still a great ride, however, the whole trip it seemed to be having trouble.(as reported by other visitors and first hand, we went on again on our last day).
We walked around enough for the kids to see Futureworld, and plan for the next day. Then we went to Chef Mickey's for dinner, 7:00 PM ressies (sat down at 6:58!) and had a great time! We were all exhausted, and hit the bed at 9:00 PM. A wonderful way to start the trip!
Saturday, March 15, 1997:
A quick breakfast, then off to Magic Kingdom for a quick morning trip to visit a few more attractions (not the mountains - no way on Saturday!) - we spent some time on Tom Sawyers' Island.
We spent most of our time today in Frontierland & Liberty Square, the children really enjoyed riding the paddle boat, and the Country Bear Jamboree. I wish I could show you the picture my husband took in the Hall of Presidents - you know President Clinton's picture wasn't hung straight at all! ;) (oh well - what's a vacation without someone's opinion!)
We had lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern and by then we exited the park, true to everyone's reports, the crowds were getting heavy!
We left and went over to use the Watersprites at the Contemporary - they were great! On our Food & Fun plan, we were not limited to any amount of time, and we stayed out for about 2 hours! The kids had a blast, and I enjoyed watching my husband act like a kid with the best toy ever!
After this, we went back to CBR, to get ready for the Hoop De Doo Revue, we had 7:30 PM reservations. We drove over to Fort Wilderness around 6:30 PM, caught the bus and got to Pioneer Hall around 7:10 PM. We had made our preference known that we wanted ground floor seats, we got them - right in the front near the piano player! It was a fabulous show, and Rob or Bor, our waiter, was a real kick! ( He is known as Rob or Bor because he's been at Disney for 17 years and he still doesn't know if he's comin' or goin'!)
We got back to CBR and considered going down to the pool for a late night swim, but we were all bushed, and chose sleep instead!
Sunday, March 16, 1997:
Early to rise, a quick breakfast and off to MGM! We arrived in time for early entry, and walked onto The Great Movie Ride! We have always enjoyed this ride, and it still is one of our favorites. It was fun to watch the expressions of the unexpecting guest when our "tram" got taken over by the "bad guy" and I was happy to be able to help the woman in front of us, as her young daughter was afraid of witches! I here her say something about the Wizard of Oz portion, and I thought about the "acting" the cast members do! I warned her ahead of time (a spoiler I guess, but I couldn't imagine that poor little girl being scared out of her mind at 8 AM), and she questioned the CM when she got to the doorway. They graciously helped her get into the correct car, and all went well (they were seated in front of us!).
We then quickly went over for the next showing of The Little Mermaid, a show even my husband & I hadn't seen! It was a great show - one I was glad we didn't write off!
Next, it was a Star Wars weekend, so we went over to catch the characters - we has pictures taken with the Ewoks, Chewbacca and Darth Vader! The kids were so excited that the 20 minute wait for Star Tours went like a flash!
Off to Muppet 3-D, and the Backstage Tour - the Muppets are great and Catastrophe Canyon is still a good show (better the first time - otherwise the element of surprise is gone!)
We went over to confirm 11:30 AM lunch reservations at Mama Melrose's and then took the kids over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground to get rid of some energy! We went over for lunch, and it was fabulous! With 11:30 reservations, we were done at 12:30, walked out and found a place to view the parade.
I have to admit, I didn't research this well, but boy did we luck out! I knew about what time we would get done, and figured we would be able to get a spot - we did, right on the curb by the Entrance to Star Tours! It was a great seat, and the parade was really cute. The kids shook hands with the soldiers, and got nose to nose with Slinky!
Then I made an error - I took everyone to see the 101 Dalmatian Exhibit! Well, to put it mildly - boring! After a long wait we finally got going through the exhibit, only to realize it was a walking tour, and not really exciting for kids or adults! By the time we were done here, we were ready to go!
I have to tell you we didn't get to do Indiana Jones, because of timing of the Cheerleading Competition, and we all chickened out for Tower of Terror - I used the excuse, "we'll save it for next time!" (I like to keep my stomach away from my throat!)
Around 2 PM we headed over to River Country, the first of the three water parks - we visited all three! We spent two hours swimming and playing around there, that is really all you need. It is a nice place, obviously Disney's first attempt at a water park, but it does have a nostalgic feel to it, and actually is very enjoyable for an afternoon!
We headed back to CBR, changed and went over to Epcot. We walked over to the Dancing Fountain and watched it for a while - what a relaxing feeling! We then walked around the world, and settled in at Chef's de France for dinner. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and the lovely waitress who taught our children French, and gave us a lesson in French wines (I still am not sure what we actually drank, but it was wonderful!).
After dinner, we headed over to Futureworld , as we planned on viewing Illuminations on Tuesday with our friends. This proved to be a great idea - we walked on to Journey Into Imagination, saw the entire Land exhibit, and viewed all of the Living Seas exhibit in 1 hour! A great time to see them, and a wonderful way to end the day!
Monday, March 17, 1997:
The Character Breakfast at the Polynesian was a let down, the food was mediocre at best, and the service was just OK.
We tried to rush out to get into the park for early entry, but we finally ,made it to the park at 8:45 AM.
Anyway, the only thing we had planned for the Magic Kingdom that day were the Mountains!!! And we did them! First, Space Mountain, then Splash, then Thunder! The longest wait was for Splash Mountain - about 45 minutes. The others were both under 20 minutes, and we had a blast!
The kids loved all three, and it is still a debate over which one is the favorite! Since the mountains were the only thing planned at MK today, we left the park around 11:00 AM.
We went back to our room, changed into swim suits, called and canceled the remaining two character breakfasts (Neither I nor my husband could stand one more morning with slimy sausage, luke warm scrambled eggs, and hard Mickey waffles), and went and had lunch at the food court. It took almost as long to get lunch as it would have to drive out to International Drive and buy it there! This area of CBR really needs some help!
After lunch, we went to try out the pools. First, the main pool was so busy that we just gave up and went to our quiet pool by Martinique. It was your average pool, nothing spectacular.
We relaxed for a while, then went to get ready for a 6:30 dinner reservation at Artist Point, Wilderness Lodge. After a wonderful meal, we called upstairs to friends staying there, and they came down to the lounge area and we had drinks and made final plans to meet them the next day for dinner (actually this was pre-planned before we had even left home!). Back to CBR and Sleep!
Tuesday, March 18,1997:
We went to Boatwright's this morning for breakfast. On Sunday night, we had stopped at the bar at CBR, and the Bartender - Mike, told us the best breakfasts were at Dixie Landings (funny, I thought I recognized him - he worked at the pool bar there in '93, our last visit!). Anyway, the breakfast was wonderful (even though our youngest was not feeling well at the time - some sort of stomach thing, ugh!) and we finally had breakfast from a menu!
It was an early entry Epcot day, and we took advantage of that. We went over and got directly into Honey I Shrunk the Audience (only waited about 10 minutes). I have to admit, I put my little ones feet up on the seat, I didn't need him any more stressed than he already was (you know, that stomach thing!). We all thought this was an excellent show, and my husband & I agree it was a welcome improvement over Captain EO!!!
Believe it or not, we did Body Wars (Daniel was fine on the rides, it was food that started the violent reactions!) and visited Innoventions. We watched the fountain again, and my husband talked to the Kodak VIP people about a problem he was having with his 1600 speed film at night. They offered him a job (wish he had taken it! J), and gave him the phone number of the instructor at the Disney Institute, who he did contact later during the day, and got some ideas how to fix his problem.
Anyway, we had lunch reservations at San Angels Inn, we love hot foods, and Mexican foods are one of our favorites. We enjoy the atmosphere and have always had good food. Well, other than Daniel's stomach problem, and the computers being down (they had to call CBR direct to use our food & fun account) it was a good lunch.
By this time my husband had had enough of Daniel, and left to go back to the hotel, we stayed at Epcot. I walked them around for about another hour, and then decided to go back and let Daniel sleep before we met our friends later that evening. Well, let me tell you, I used the buses this one time - and thanked God for our car the rest of the week! We waited for 40 minutes for a bus, and then it took another 20 minutes to get to CBR (a maximum drive of 8 minutes by car) - this just reinforced my "rent a car" opinion!
By the time I got back to CBR, I was madder than my husband - it was not a nice scene!
Anyway, we all took a nap, and went to meet our friends at Teppanyaki Steakhouse for dinner. We had a table all to ourselves (there was 8 of us) and Heroshi, our waiter was great. The food was very good, and the atmosphere was wonderful. It was our friends' first trip down since the late 70's, and they were excited about seeing Illuminations. We had 6:00 dinner reservations, we got out around 7:15 and staked out a place by Italy to watch and use that 1600 speed film! You know - tripods, two cameras, two men being a little retentive - oh well, we did get nice pictures! All in all it was a great evening, we walked around the world after Illuminations (which by the way was better in 1993) and took pictures and enjoyed the walkway not being crowded with people. We left the park around 10:30 PM. And hit the pillows!
Wednesday, March, 19, 1997:
One of two scheduled days "out of the parks", we grabbed breakfast at the food court (we continued to do this because of the great refillable mug thing - not because it was a fabulous place!) and headed off to the local grocery store for Mylanta for Daniel, and then on to Universal.
Daniel and Dad were having a stressful time, and I was hoping today would make it better. Well, it didn't start off to good - Daniel managed to not make the bathroom just as we got to the park - ah yes, the joys of parenting! Ok, so I got him cleaned up and we took our ticket voucher to the special entrance window. Oh no, they say - you still need to stand in the general admission line - wait until I get my hands on that travel agent! (I should have done it myself!)
Anyway, by 9:45 AM, we are finally in the park. We enjoy Universal, as it is a park that is easily navigated. We turned left after entering, and made our way around the entire park, getting on all the rides we wanted to, and ate lunch all by 2:00 PM! We really enjoyed the Hanna Barbara ride, and of course the King Kong ride is always great. The Jaws ride was OK, I think the kids enjoyed it more because they didn't know what was going to happen! Back to the Future is always fun, and the Earthquake ride is my favorite!
We ate lunch at the International Food Market I think that is what it was called), then headed over to Terminator 3-D. This is a great 3-D effect show, and was really enjoyable! By 2:00 PM, we were done what we wanted to do, and believe it or not, were ready to leave.
So here goes, we decided to head over to Sea World and start our visit. I knew from previous experience that we could extend our tickets another day for a small amount ($5.00 per person) and we had planned on doing that if we had to anyway! We had a voucher for here to , but it was worth it here! They have special window for people with pre-purchased tickets, and you enter quickly.
We went in around 3:00 PM, and stayed until around 6:00 PM. We saw half the park, and planned on the balance later in the week. It was great, Dad needed to see the Baywatch Ski Show - he is an avid skier when he gets the chance, and the kids really needed time to settle down a bit, and they enjoyed the Clyde & Seamore show the best! The mime outside of this show is hysterical - he was entertainment all by himself!
Daniel kept saying he wanted to see sharks, well if you would have seen his face when they swam over his head! The lines were not long, and the events well done. We left in time to get back to CBR to change and go over to Alfredo's in Italy for dinner. Again, we had a very nice dinner, and the service and atmosphere was good. After a day like today, we hit the pillows quickly around 9:30 PM!
Thursday, March 20, 1997
We had planned on this being the day to go to Sea World, but because we had accomplished so much the day before, we found ourselves with a day to ourselves (so to speak)! We went over to Magic Kingdom in the morning, to do a couple more things - the Speedway for the kids - Alien Encounters for Dad & Michael (Daniel was to short, and Mom waited with him).
We then went over to Typhoon Lagoon and proceeded to spend the rest of the day having a ball! (By the way, Daniel's "stomach" problems seemed to have disappeared sometime on Wednesday - to never resurface!) Daniel & I spent the day finding all the kid's stuff, while Dad & Michael went on just about every slide possible! We grabbed a hot dog & beer (soda for the kids of course! J ) for lunch, and continued to stay for the afternoon! It started to rain just a little, and half the park cleared out. We enjoyed it even more then! No Lines, tubes everywhere, and no lines for the showers!
We stayed until closing (5:00 PM) and went back to get ready for dinner at the Yachtsmen Steakhouse, at the Yacht & Beach Club. If you read my restaurant review, you will know that this was the best meal ever! We toured the resort area, and went back for a good night's sleep!
Friday, March 21, 1997:
This was an Epcot day, and we started off with a light breakfast at the Land Pavilion. We did not eat at the Character Breakfast here, just grabbed a muffin & juice to go! We took another look around Futureworld, making sure we had seen all we wanted to see! We stopped in Innoventions, and used an AT&T Family Phone to call home to make sure they remembered us, and our flight time on Sunday night! It was fun to talk on that giant phone, although my mother-in-law said it sounded like we were in a trash can - she was close - a phone booth!
Anyway, we played around until 11:30 AM, and went over for our lunch reservations at Coral Reef. We were seated at 11:35 AM, and got exactly what I had requested - a window seat! The kids were so excited to watch the fish, and my husband & I were equally thrilled when Mickey came swimming up! It was the highlight to the morning! The meal was only so-so, the menu only had two options for those who do not like seafood (my husband is one of the many who do not eat fish). The children's menu is very nice, and overall the atmosphere is wonderful. Our waiter seemed to be suffering from a hangover, making our service not very good. As I stated in my restaurant review, I'll have to think about this before going again!
Anyway, we then went over to the World Showcase for an afternoon of learning and visiting. We had purchased passports for the boys, and they were anxious to get started. They learned so much that afternoon, and we really enjoyed meeting and talking to the cast members from the different countries. The whole afternoon we visited the countries, rode the rides (Mexico, Norway), saw the movies or presentations for each country (except China) and the boys stopped at least 6 of the Kids Zones to learn about the cultures and language of the country. I highly recommend this to any parent, it is a learning experience of a lifetime!
After a long afternoon, we went back and ate dinner at the sit down restaurant at CBR - Captain's Tavern. We had 5:00 PM reservations, so we could eat and get over to see SpectroMagic & the fireworks. We found a spot in the upstairs of the Main Street Railroad Station, with a lovely couple who had 15 grandchildren! They were thrilled with our children, and had them both sit with them to watch! It was the greatest thrill of a lifetime, to watch our sons eyes when the first float arrived! The joy, the magic, the love of Disney, and the wonderful feeling of accomplishment came over my husband & I as we watched the boys eyes and faces just light up every time they saw yet another character! The lovely couple sitting with us thanked our Daniel for narrating the parade, and telling them who each character was! Michael kept saying " Wow, look at that" at least every two minutes, and we all loved every minute of it! We are not parade people, and we never did get to see the Remember the Magic parade (one of my regrets) but the joy we saw this night will last me a lifetime!
After the parade, we walked through the mass of people (cut through the shops it takes away some of the crowd) and sat in the Tomorrowland Café (I think that is what it's called) area to watch the fireworks. This was also a great idea, as we later then walked out of the park after the crowds, taking great shots of the castle and the streets (here comes that 1600 film again!). We got back to CBR around 10:30 PM, and dreamt Disney dreams!
Saturday, March 22, 1997:
What better way to spend you 11th Wedding anniversary than in WDW! We went there on our honeymoon (our 3rd trip together down to WDW - we knew we'd have fun!) and wanted to spend our anniversary there again! We spent the day in the sun & fun of Blizzard Beach! This is by far the best water park that Disney has! The variety is great, I went on a few of the tube slides, one or two of the body slides, and my husband DID SUMMIT PLUMMIT! We all stood and watched (I like to keep my suit where it belongs, and the kids were too small) and the look on his face when he came off was a priceless as the look on Daniel's face at Spectromagic! My husband loved it!
We then went on the family tube ride - this is a great addition to the water parks, as Daniel was starting to get a little tired of wading pools! But then we went over to the kid's area (Dad & Michael went off to "do the slides" again) and Daniel had a blast! The tube rides and body slides in the pre-teen area are great, as are the slides in the smaller child area. We toured the park on tubes, and at lunch at Lottawatta Lodge - a counter service restaurant with an above average menu, and very good food!
Ok so here is where I may let some of you down - we have a romantic dinner planned for us at either Narcoosee's or California Grill (yes, I had two reservations) and we had planned for child care. Well . . . We decided to go to see the fireworks at MGM instead! Every other time we have been down, they were not having them, and we had never seen them! So we bagged childcare, dinner at either place, and off we went (you got it tripod and 1600 speed film in tow!) to MGM for Sorcery in the Sky! I will never regret this idea, as we celebrated our anniversary watching the best fireworks display yet! It was a commemorative event for Star Wars, and they went all out! The fireworks were great, and Mickey rising up at the end was a wonderful way to end an almost perfect trip to our special laughing place! After the fireworks, we went back to CBR and ate at Captain's Tavern, reminisced with the bartender about Dixie Landings in 1993, and went for a walk around the lake at CBR. It was a great evening, and we all slept well that evening!
Sunday, March 23, 1997:
We woke up and having taken advantage of quick checkout, our checkout information was on the door. We looked it over, called the front desk to check a couple of things out, and were pleased with the results. We went and had breakfast at the food court (one last time) and decided to go over to Disney Village for our souvenirs.
We were there until around 10:30 AM, then we headed over to Sea World to see the rest of the park. We had no problems entering with our 2nd day tickets, and enjoyed the balance of the park. We spent a lot of time watching the baby animals, as Daniel had to report back to his kindergarten class about the baby animals he saw. Michael had to do a report on any one of the animals he saw- he chose the Manatee. We saw everything but the Arctic exhibit (my only other regret), the line was just to long!
We left and proceeded to go out on International Drive to get lunch. We ate at a Mexican restaurant called Jose O'Days - don't do this! The food was excellent, but boy did it come back to haunt us the next day! We showed the boys the different places we didn't get to off site, and promised to visit them next time! We got to the Alamo around 3:45 PM, and were at the airport by 4:15 PM. We got our 5:00 Delta Express (sardine can) flight home and began our deep depression. We had left the happiest place on earth!
Summary:
As you can see, we did a lot. We enjoyed almost every minute, and if I had it all to do over, I would only change a couple of things! I would make time to see the Remember the Magic parade, I would get my timing better & look into the schedule so my kids could have seen Indiana Jones, and I would have booked us for another two nights! We did spend one night walking the Boardwalk into Epcot - it is a lovely walk, and a beautiful resort. I am not sure where we will stay next, we enjoyed visiting a lot of the resorts and can't choose right now! My thanks goes out to all of the members of RADP, you guys are wonderful - I am a permanent member!
Restaurant Reviews
Our children are not finicky eaters, and love to try new foods. We also enjoy various food, although my husband is not a fish eater! Ok enough said - I will dispense with when we went (other than - B,L or D) unless it is important, and just give you my impressions - here goes! :)
Artist Pointe - Wilderness Lodge:
* Breakfast: Character interaction is great,service was wonderful, atmosphere was beautiful, food was just OK
* Dinner: Again Atmosphere was fabulous, service was fabulous, this time the food was also fabulous! Michael had venison (adult menu), Steve had buffalo & a sausage sampler, I had venison, Daniel had chicken fingers (oh well!) - it was our second best meal on the trip!
Chef Mickey's - Contemporary Resort:
* Dinner: great atmosphere, although very busy.
* Character interaction was great, food selection was very good. Overall a wonderful place to "Set the mood" for the rest of your trip - a great first day dining location!
Liberty Tree Tavern- Magic Kingdom:
* Lunch: great service, calming atmosphere (even though you are smack dab in the middle of the park) very good food
Hoop Dee Doo Revue - Pioneer Hall, Fort Wilderness:
* Our waiter made the night - he has been on this group before - Rob or Bob - he's been doing the HDD for 17 years and Disney doesn't know if he is coming or goin'! Anyway, great entertainment, happy atmosphere - food was good except we did not like the ribs. A very fun, Disney expereince - we will do it again!
Mama Melrose's - Studios:
* Lunch: a wonderful surprise - we very rarely eat at MGM, (not our favorite park) but the article in the Dsiney mag. made me make this ressie. We will be back- great atmosphere - the Italian market, the staff is fabulous, the food - so good you don't want to leave! The bottomless bowl with meat bolognese was the best, with all of us sharing a dessert sampler to end a perfect lunch!
O'Hana's - Polynesian Beach Resort:
* Character Breakfast: not good! same old boring, greasy sausage, hard Mickey waffles, scrambled eggs done either too much or not enough, etc. We miss the old buffet at the Minnie's Menehune Character breakfast, and this experience forced us to cancel the other two we had scheduled. I just couldn't start another day off with the same food - you know preplated, family style, buffet - it is all the same! Sorry, we won't be back!
Food Court - Carribean Beach Resort:
* Overall to small, food average, prices to high. not worth it - we preferred going out!
Boatwright's - Dixie Landings:
* Breakfast: Finally, a breakfast my way! Wonderful service, great food - we had eaten here before and will go back again - they are one of the few places that serves breakfast from a menu!
San Angels Inn - Epcot:
* Lunch: great atmosphere, ok service (computers were down), and good food. Our family prefers spicy foods, and we enjoy eating Mexicanevenat home, so we do enjoy this restaurant. We always return.
Teppanyaki Dining room - Epcot:
* Dinner: we met friends here for a planned dinner together. They had traveled down at the same time as we did, and so we had dinner togeter. We had a table to ourselves (there were 8 of us) and is was wonderful to wathc Heroshi amuse the kids with his antics! The food was very good,as were the drinks! The atmosphere speaks for itself - a very enjoyable evening!
Alfredo's - Epcot:
* Dinner: this is a hit or miss restaurant. We had a bad experince in '93, but really wanted our children to eat at as many of the countries as we could, so we went. It was wonderful - excellent service, very good food - nice atmosphere, although very noisy. Again, it's a hit or miss I guess!
Yachtsmen Steakhouse - Yacht Club Resort:
* Dinner: Now here is the number 10 all the way thru! This was our best meal the whole trip- we have never had service & excellent food like this anywhere else. The food was to die for and the waitress was wonderful! the children's menu actually had real food on it! We will refer people here for special occasion meals from now on - it was fabulous!
Coral Reef - Epcot:
* Lunch: atmosphere was wonderful, service was fair (waiter seemed to be suffering from a hangover) and the food was Ok - hubby was not pleased with only two selections to choose from. Oh well, everything can't be wonderful right? We may not go back, I am not sure.
Captain's Tavern - Carribean Beach Resort:
* Dinner: A nice surprise also. Although not the quality of the Yachtsmen (nothing meets that) the food was good, with a limited selection. We enjoyed eating at the resort, it was relaxing and helped "slow" us down a little - service was quick & efficient, atmosphere was quiet & relaxed, food was good. A nice alternative.
If anyone would like to ask me anything else, I have my dining costs saved, and also all the kid's menus - or almost all of them. I love to help & hope this may help some of you, and humor the rest of you!
Closing thoughts:
Disney is Disney. Yes it is expensive. But where else in this world can you . .
* Play with Tigger, See pirates fight, Relish in the triumphs of Simba, Visit Braer Rabbits Laughing Place and . .
* Learn about the Manatees and other Aquatic animals, Expand your Imagination, learn how to grow plants without water, play every video game imaginable . . and more!
* Learn about the world, experience their culture, their foods, their languages and view their customs - all without leaving Florida!
* And where else on this earth can you see joy, love, excitement and happiness in everyone's' eyes - regardless of age, when they see Mickey for the first time! The hugs of characters, the screams of joy, and the wonderful sound of laughter in this troubled world - I thank Walt Disney for giving us this special place - a special laughing place.
Sue Bani
Remembering the Magic & Dreaming Disney Dreams!
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: CBR
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent
Comments: Sue and her family (including two sons) visited WDW in March for ten days. In addition to a nice blow-by-blow trip report, Sue wrote an itemized restaurant review. Lots of useful details in this report.
STATS:
When: March 13 - March 23
Where: Caribbean Beach Resort - Martinique - Bldg 24 - Waterview
Who: Myself, Sue 35 and a Disney nut! My husband , Steve, 39 and also a Disney fan (not a nutty as me though!) and our sons made their first trip - Michael, 8 years old, and Daniel, 5 ˝ years old.
Thursday, March 13, 1997:
Delta Express flight out of Philadelphia at 8:15 PM. Arrived in Orlando, 10:35 PM(slight delay getting out of Philadelphia) and immediately got our luggage, and headed out to find an Alamo bus. We found one within minutes and by 11:00 PM were standing at the Alamo counter! We got our car (a must for us, we don't waste precious WDW time waiting for buses - although see my note on Tuesday - I tried it once!) We were on the road by 11:15 PM, and despite the torrential downpour of rain, arrived at CBR by 11:45 PM. We checked in, and to our delight, they gave us our waterview room (we had booked first night standard, no package ) then, and explained that we wouldn't have to move at all! Great!
In our room and asleep by 12:45 PM - WOW!
Friday, March 14, 1997:
Stopped at the Customs house at 7 am, picked up our LOS passes, and Food & Fun passes. (they had to reprint these, as the night before was room only).
We made it to Wilderness Lodge by 7:25 AM, and had breakfast at Artist Point - Pocohontas. We then headed off to the Polynesian (sorry this is where we parked all week - I know I will hear about this one!!!) and started on our day!
Michael's first priority was to ride the monorail, so it was the first thing we did! He was so excited, and enjoyed the short ride to Magic Kingdom. We then went through the gates, and had no trouble at all! The boys' eyes were huge as they saw the magic of Disney unfold before their eyes! They walked down Main Street, staring at the castle (our poor castle, I can't wait until it isn't wearing icing!) and thanking us a hundred times for bringing them!
We went left into Adventureland. The lines were short, it was drizzling slightly, and that always shortens up the lines! We walked onto Swiss Family Treehouse, and then we only waited 5 minutes for the Jungle Cruise. Pirates of the Caribbean was a short 10 minute wait, and the favorite so far! Daniel was a little worried about PoC, but soon learned that Disney has a way of keeping you from getting shot!
Next, on to Daniel's first wish - the Haunted Mansion! We got lucky here, no line! We walked right in and had a blast - Daniel still blames a lot of the little "mishaps" on his ghost! (Michael and I got the short one with funny ears, Daniel and Dad got the tall one with the long chin! He still laughs at that!)
We saved the mountain rides for later in the trip, and went over to Fantasyland. All of the rides were walk-ons - We just got lucky I guess! Anyway, by 3:00 PM we had done almost all of MK except the mountains and alien encounter - yep, we even had a family portrait taken with Mickey in Mickey's Toon Town! And we rode Goofy's rollercoaster- short but neat!
A ride on the Disney Railroad back to Main Street, and we were off to our next stop - Epcot! A brief visit gave us the opportunity to walk on to Spaceship Earth (we just couldn't believe there was no line) and get stuck on the ride 3 times! It is still a great ride, however, the whole trip it seemed to be having trouble.(as reported by other visitors and first hand, we went on again on our last day).
We walked around enough for the kids to see Futureworld, and plan for the next day. Then we went to Chef Mickey's for dinner, 7:00 PM ressies (sat down at 6:58!) and had a great time! We were all exhausted, and hit the bed at 9:00 PM. A wonderful way to start the trip!
Saturday, March 15, 1997:
A quick breakfast, then off to Magic Kingdom for a quick morning trip to visit a few more attractions (not the mountains - no way on Saturday!) - we spent some time on Tom Sawyers' Island.
We spent most of our time today in Frontierland & Liberty Square, the children really enjoyed riding the paddle boat, and the Country Bear Jamboree. I wish I could show you the picture my husband took in the Hall of Presidents - you know President Clinton's picture wasn't hung straight at all! ;) (oh well - what's a vacation without someone's opinion!)
We had lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern and by then we exited the park, true to everyone's reports, the crowds were getting heavy!
We left and went over to use the Watersprites at the Contemporary - they were great! On our Food & Fun plan, we were not limited to any amount of time, and we stayed out for about 2 hours! The kids had a blast, and I enjoyed watching my husband act like a kid with the best toy ever!
After this, we went back to CBR, to get ready for the Hoop De Doo Revue, we had 7:30 PM reservations. We drove over to Fort Wilderness around 6:30 PM, caught the bus and got to Pioneer Hall around 7:10 PM. We had made our preference known that we wanted ground floor seats, we got them - right in the front near the piano player! It was a fabulous show, and Rob or Bor, our waiter, was a real kick! ( He is known as Rob or Bor because he's been at Disney for 17 years and he still doesn't know if he's comin' or goin'!)
We got back to CBR and considered going down to the pool for a late night swim, but we were all bushed, and chose sleep instead!
Sunday, March 16, 1997:
Early to rise, a quick breakfast and off to MGM! We arrived in time for early entry, and walked onto The Great Movie Ride! We have always enjoyed this ride, and it still is one of our favorites. It was fun to watch the expressions of the unexpecting guest when our "tram" got taken over by the "bad guy" and I was happy to be able to help the woman in front of us, as her young daughter was afraid of witches! I here her say something about the Wizard of Oz portion, and I thought about the "acting" the cast members do! I warned her ahead of time (a spoiler I guess, but I couldn't imagine that poor little girl being scared out of her mind at 8 AM), and she questioned the CM when she got to the doorway. They graciously helped her get into the correct car, and all went well (they were seated in front of us!).
We then quickly went over for the next showing of The Little Mermaid, a show even my husband & I hadn't seen! It was a great show - one I was glad we didn't write off!
Next, it was a Star Wars weekend, so we went over to catch the characters - we has pictures taken with the Ewoks, Chewbacca and Darth Vader! The kids were so excited that the 20 minute wait for Star Tours went like a flash!
Off to Muppet 3-D, and the Backstage Tour - the Muppets are great and Catastrophe Canyon is still a good show (better the first time - otherwise the element of surprise is gone!)
We went over to confirm 11:30 AM lunch reservations at Mama Melrose's and then took the kids over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground to get rid of some energy! We went over for lunch, and it was fabulous! With 11:30 reservations, we were done at 12:30, walked out and found a place to view the parade.
I have to admit, I didn't research this well, but boy did we luck out! I knew about what time we would get done, and figured we would be able to get a spot - we did, right on the curb by the Entrance to Star Tours! It was a great seat, and the parade was really cute. The kids shook hands with the soldiers, and got nose to nose with Slinky!
Then I made an error - I took everyone to see the 101 Dalmatian Exhibit! Well, to put it mildly - boring! After a long wait we finally got going through the exhibit, only to realize it was a walking tour, and not really exciting for kids or adults! By the time we were done here, we were ready to go!
I have to tell you we didn't get to do Indiana Jones, because of timing of the Cheerleading Competition, and we all chickened out for Tower of Terror - I used the excuse, "we'll save it for next time!" (I like to keep my stomach away from my throat!)
Around 2 PM we headed over to River Country, the first of the three water parks - we visited all three! We spent two hours swimming and playing around there, that is really all you need. It is a nice place, obviously Disney's first attempt at a water park, but it does have a nostalgic feel to it, and actually is very enjoyable for an afternoon!
We headed back to CBR, changed and went over to Epcot. We walked over to the Dancing Fountain and watched it for a while - what a relaxing feeling! We then walked around the world, and settled in at Chef's de France for dinner. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and the lovely waitress who taught our children French, and gave us a lesson in French wines (I still am not sure what we actually drank, but it was wonderful!).
After dinner, we headed over to Futureworld , as we planned on viewing Illuminations on Tuesday with our friends. This proved to be a great idea - we walked on to Journey Into Imagination, saw the entire Land exhibit, and viewed all of the Living Seas exhibit in 1 hour! A great time to see them, and a wonderful way to end the day!
Monday, March 17, 1997:
The Character Breakfast at the Polynesian was a let down, the food was mediocre at best, and the service was just OK.
We tried to rush out to get into the park for early entry, but we finally ,made it to the park at 8:45 AM.
Anyway, the only thing we had planned for the Magic Kingdom that day were the Mountains!!! And we did them! First, Space Mountain, then Splash, then Thunder! The longest wait was for Splash Mountain - about 45 minutes. The others were both under 20 minutes, and we had a blast!
The kids loved all three, and it is still a debate over which one is the favorite! Since the mountains were the only thing planned at MK today, we left the park around 11:00 AM.
We went back to our room, changed into swim suits, called and canceled the remaining two character breakfasts (Neither I nor my husband could stand one more morning with slimy sausage, luke warm scrambled eggs, and hard Mickey waffles), and went and had lunch at the food court. It took almost as long to get lunch as it would have to drive out to International Drive and buy it there! This area of CBR really needs some help!
After lunch, we went to try out the pools. First, the main pool was so busy that we just gave up and went to our quiet pool by Martinique. It was your average pool, nothing spectacular.
We relaxed for a while, then went to get ready for a 6:30 dinner reservation at Artist Point, Wilderness Lodge. After a wonderful meal, we called upstairs to friends staying there, and they came down to the lounge area and we had drinks and made final plans to meet them the next day for dinner (actually this was pre-planned before we had even left home!). Back to CBR and Sleep!
Tuesday, March 18,1997:
We went to Boatwright's this morning for breakfast. On Sunday night, we had stopped at the bar at CBR, and the Bartender - Mike, told us the best breakfasts were at Dixie Landings (funny, I thought I recognized him - he worked at the pool bar there in '93, our last visit!). Anyway, the breakfast was wonderful (even though our youngest was not feeling well at the time - some sort of stomach thing, ugh!) and we finally had breakfast from a menu!
It was an early entry Epcot day, and we took advantage of that. We went over and got directly into Honey I Shrunk the Audience (only waited about 10 minutes). I have to admit, I put my little ones feet up on the seat, I didn't need him any more stressed than he already was (you know, that stomach thing!). We all thought this was an excellent show, and my husband & I agree it was a welcome improvement over Captain EO!!!
Believe it or not, we did Body Wars (Daniel was fine on the rides, it was food that started the violent reactions!) and visited Innoventions. We watched the fountain again, and my husband talked to the Kodak VIP people about a problem he was having with his 1600 speed film at night. They offered him a job (wish he had taken it! J), and gave him the phone number of the instructor at the Disney Institute, who he did contact later during the day, and got some ideas how to fix his problem.
Anyway, we had lunch reservations at San Angels Inn, we love hot foods, and Mexican foods are one of our favorites. We enjoy the atmosphere and have always had good food. Well, other than Daniel's stomach problem, and the computers being down (they had to call CBR direct to use our food & fun account) it was a good lunch.
By this time my husband had had enough of Daniel, and left to go back to the hotel, we stayed at Epcot. I walked them around for about another hour, and then decided to go back and let Daniel sleep before we met our friends later that evening. Well, let me tell you, I used the buses this one time - and thanked God for our car the rest of the week! We waited for 40 minutes for a bus, and then it took another 20 minutes to get to CBR (a maximum drive of 8 minutes by car) - this just reinforced my "rent a car" opinion!
By the time I got back to CBR, I was madder than my husband - it was not a nice scene!
Anyway, we all took a nap, and went to meet our friends at Teppanyaki Steakhouse for dinner. We had a table all to ourselves (there was 8 of us) and Heroshi, our waiter was great. The food was very good, and the atmosphere was wonderful. It was our friends' first trip down since the late 70's, and they were excited about seeing Illuminations. We had 6:00 dinner reservations, we got out around 7:15 and staked out a place by Italy to watch and use that 1600 speed film! You know - tripods, two cameras, two men being a little retentive - oh well, we did get nice pictures! All in all it was a great evening, we walked around the world after Illuminations (which by the way was better in 1993) and took pictures and enjoyed the walkway not being crowded with people. We left the park around 10:30 PM. And hit the pillows!
Wednesday, March, 19, 1997:
One of two scheduled days "out of the parks", we grabbed breakfast at the food court (we continued to do this because of the great refillable mug thing - not because it was a fabulous place!) and headed off to the local grocery store for Mylanta for Daniel, and then on to Universal.
Daniel and Dad were having a stressful time, and I was hoping today would make it better. Well, it didn't start off to good - Daniel managed to not make the bathroom just as we got to the park - ah yes, the joys of parenting! Ok, so I got him cleaned up and we took our ticket voucher to the special entrance window. Oh no, they say - you still need to stand in the general admission line - wait until I get my hands on that travel agent! (I should have done it myself!)
Anyway, by 9:45 AM, we are finally in the park. We enjoy Universal, as it is a park that is easily navigated. We turned left after entering, and made our way around the entire park, getting on all the rides we wanted to, and ate lunch all by 2:00 PM! We really enjoyed the Hanna Barbara ride, and of course the King Kong ride is always great. The Jaws ride was OK, I think the kids enjoyed it more because they didn't know what was going to happen! Back to the Future is always fun, and the Earthquake ride is my favorite!
We ate lunch at the International Food Market I think that is what it was called), then headed over to Terminator 3-D. This is a great 3-D effect show, and was really enjoyable! By 2:00 PM, we were done what we wanted to do, and believe it or not, were ready to leave.
So here goes, we decided to head over to Sea World and start our visit. I knew from previous experience that we could extend our tickets another day for a small amount ($5.00 per person) and we had planned on doing that if we had to anyway! We had a voucher for here to , but it was worth it here! They have special window for people with pre-purchased tickets, and you enter quickly.
We went in around 3:00 PM, and stayed until around 6:00 PM. We saw half the park, and planned on the balance later in the week. It was great, Dad needed to see the Baywatch Ski Show - he is an avid skier when he gets the chance, and the kids really needed time to settle down a bit, and they enjoyed the Clyde & Seamore show the best! The mime outside of this show is hysterical - he was entertainment all by himself!
Daniel kept saying he wanted to see sharks, well if you would have seen his face when they swam over his head! The lines were not long, and the events well done. We left in time to get back to CBR to change and go over to Alfredo's in Italy for dinner. Again, we had a very nice dinner, and the service and atmosphere was good. After a day like today, we hit the pillows quickly around 9:30 PM!
Thursday, March 20, 1997
We had planned on this being the day to go to Sea World, but because we had accomplished so much the day before, we found ourselves with a day to ourselves (so to speak)! We went over to Magic Kingdom in the morning, to do a couple more things - the Speedway for the kids - Alien Encounters for Dad & Michael (Daniel was to short, and Mom waited with him).
We then went over to Typhoon Lagoon and proceeded to spend the rest of the day having a ball! (By the way, Daniel's "stomach" problems seemed to have disappeared sometime on Wednesday - to never resurface!) Daniel & I spent the day finding all the kid's stuff, while Dad & Michael went on just about every slide possible! We grabbed a hot dog & beer (soda for the kids of course! J ) for lunch, and continued to stay for the afternoon! It started to rain just a little, and half the park cleared out. We enjoyed it even more then! No Lines, tubes everywhere, and no lines for the showers!
We stayed until closing (5:00 PM) and went back to get ready for dinner at the Yachtsmen Steakhouse, at the Yacht & Beach Club. If you read my restaurant review, you will know that this was the best meal ever! We toured the resort area, and went back for a good night's sleep!
Friday, March 21, 1997:
This was an Epcot day, and we started off with a light breakfast at the Land Pavilion. We did not eat at the Character Breakfast here, just grabbed a muffin & juice to go! We took another look around Futureworld, making sure we had seen all we wanted to see! We stopped in Innoventions, and used an AT&T Family Phone to call home to make sure they remembered us, and our flight time on Sunday night! It was fun to talk on that giant phone, although my mother-in-law said it sounded like we were in a trash can - she was close - a phone booth!
Anyway, we played around until 11:30 AM, and went over for our lunch reservations at Coral Reef. We were seated at 11:35 AM, and got exactly what I had requested - a window seat! The kids were so excited to watch the fish, and my husband & I were equally thrilled when Mickey came swimming up! It was the highlight to the morning! The meal was only so-so, the menu only had two options for those who do not like seafood (my husband is one of the many who do not eat fish). The children's menu is very nice, and overall the atmosphere is wonderful. Our waiter seemed to be suffering from a hangover, making our service not very good. As I stated in my restaurant review, I'll have to think about this before going again!
Anyway, we then went over to the World Showcase for an afternoon of learning and visiting. We had purchased passports for the boys, and they were anxious to get started. They learned so much that afternoon, and we really enjoyed meeting and talking to the cast members from the different countries. The whole afternoon we visited the countries, rode the rides (Mexico, Norway), saw the movies or presentations for each country (except China) and the boys stopped at least 6 of the Kids Zones to learn about the cultures and language of the country. I highly recommend this to any parent, it is a learning experience of a lifetime!
After a long afternoon, we went back and ate dinner at the sit down restaurant at CBR - Captain's Tavern. We had 5:00 PM reservations, so we could eat and get over to see SpectroMagic & the fireworks. We found a spot in the upstairs of the Main Street Railroad Station, with a lovely couple who had 15 grandchildren! They were thrilled with our children, and had them both sit with them to watch! It was the greatest thrill of a lifetime, to watch our sons eyes when the first float arrived! The joy, the magic, the love of Disney, and the wonderful feeling of accomplishment came over my husband & I as we watched the boys eyes and faces just light up every time they saw yet another character! The lovely couple sitting with us thanked our Daniel for narrating the parade, and telling them who each character was! Michael kept saying " Wow, look at that" at least every two minutes, and we all loved every minute of it! We are not parade people, and we never did get to see the Remember the Magic parade (one of my regrets) but the joy we saw this night will last me a lifetime!
After the parade, we walked through the mass of people (cut through the shops it takes away some of the crowd) and sat in the Tomorrowland Café (I think that is what it's called) area to watch the fireworks. This was also a great idea, as we later then walked out of the park after the crowds, taking great shots of the castle and the streets (here comes that 1600 film again!). We got back to CBR around 10:30 PM, and dreamt Disney dreams!
Saturday, March 22, 1997:
What better way to spend you 11th Wedding anniversary than in WDW! We went there on our honeymoon (our 3rd trip together down to WDW - we knew we'd have fun!) and wanted to spend our anniversary there again! We spent the day in the sun & fun of Blizzard Beach! This is by far the best water park that Disney has! The variety is great, I went on a few of the tube slides, one or two of the body slides, and my husband DID SUMMIT PLUMMIT! We all stood and watched (I like to keep my suit where it belongs, and the kids were too small) and the look on his face when he came off was a priceless as the look on Daniel's face at Spectromagic! My husband loved it!
We then went on the family tube ride - this is a great addition to the water parks, as Daniel was starting to get a little tired of wading pools! But then we went over to the kid's area (Dad & Michael went off to "do the slides" again) and Daniel had a blast! The tube rides and body slides in the pre-teen area are great, as are the slides in the smaller child area. We toured the park on tubes, and at lunch at Lottawatta Lodge - a counter service restaurant with an above average menu, and very good food!
Ok so here is where I may let some of you down - we have a romantic dinner planned for us at either Narcoosee's or California Grill (yes, I had two reservations) and we had planned for child care. Well . . . We decided to go to see the fireworks at MGM instead! Every other time we have been down, they were not having them, and we had never seen them! So we bagged childcare, dinner at either place, and off we went (you got it tripod and 1600 speed film in tow!) to MGM for Sorcery in the Sky! I will never regret this idea, as we celebrated our anniversary watching the best fireworks display yet! It was a commemorative event for Star Wars, and they went all out! The fireworks were great, and Mickey rising up at the end was a wonderful way to end an almost perfect trip to our special laughing place! After the fireworks, we went back to CBR and ate at Captain's Tavern, reminisced with the bartender about Dixie Landings in 1993, and went for a walk around the lake at CBR. It was a great evening, and we all slept well that evening!
Sunday, March 23, 1997:
We woke up and having taken advantage of quick checkout, our checkout information was on the door. We looked it over, called the front desk to check a couple of things out, and were pleased with the results. We went and had breakfast at the food court (one last time) and decided to go over to Disney Village for our souvenirs.
We were there until around 10:30 AM, then we headed over to Sea World to see the rest of the park. We had no problems entering with our 2nd day tickets, and enjoyed the balance of the park. We spent a lot of time watching the baby animals, as Daniel had to report back to his kindergarten class about the baby animals he saw. Michael had to do a report on any one of the animals he saw- he chose the Manatee. We saw everything but the Arctic exhibit (my only other regret), the line was just to long!
We left and proceeded to go out on International Drive to get lunch. We ate at a Mexican restaurant called Jose O'Days - don't do this! The food was excellent, but boy did it come back to haunt us the next day! We showed the boys the different places we didn't get to off site, and promised to visit them next time! We got to the Alamo around 3:45 PM, and were at the airport by 4:15 PM. We got our 5:00 Delta Express (sardine can) flight home and began our deep depression. We had left the happiest place on earth!
Summary:
As you can see, we did a lot. We enjoyed almost every minute, and if I had it all to do over, I would only change a couple of things! I would make time to see the Remember the Magic parade, I would get my timing better & look into the schedule so my kids could have seen Indiana Jones, and I would have booked us for another two nights! We did spend one night walking the Boardwalk into Epcot - it is a lovely walk, and a beautiful resort. I am not sure where we will stay next, we enjoyed visiting a lot of the resorts and can't choose right now! My thanks goes out to all of the members of RADP, you guys are wonderful - I am a permanent member!
Restaurant Reviews
Our children are not finicky eaters, and love to try new foods. We also enjoy various food, although my husband is not a fish eater! Ok enough said - I will dispense with when we went (other than - B,L or D) unless it is important, and just give you my impressions - here goes! :)
Artist Pointe - Wilderness Lodge:
* Breakfast: Character interaction is great,service was wonderful, atmosphere was beautiful, food was just OK
* Dinner: Again Atmosphere was fabulous, service was fabulous, this time the food was also fabulous! Michael had venison (adult menu), Steve had buffalo & a sausage sampler, I had venison, Daniel had chicken fingers (oh well!) - it was our second best meal on the trip!
Chef Mickey's - Contemporary Resort:
* Dinner: great atmosphere, although very busy.
* Character interaction was great, food selection was very good. Overall a wonderful place to "Set the mood" for the rest of your trip - a great first day dining location!
Liberty Tree Tavern- Magic Kingdom:
* Lunch: great service, calming atmosphere (even though you are smack dab in the middle of the park) very good food
Hoop Dee Doo Revue - Pioneer Hall, Fort Wilderness:
* Our waiter made the night - he has been on this group before - Rob or Bob - he's been doing the HDD for 17 years and Disney doesn't know if he is coming or goin'! Anyway, great entertainment, happy atmosphere - food was good except we did not like the ribs. A very fun, Disney expereince - we will do it again!
Mama Melrose's - Studios:
* Lunch: a wonderful surprise - we very rarely eat at MGM, (not our favorite park) but the article in the Dsiney mag. made me make this ressie. We will be back- great atmosphere - the Italian market, the staff is fabulous, the food - so good you don't want to leave! The bottomless bowl with meat bolognese was the best, with all of us sharing a dessert sampler to end a perfect lunch!
O'Hana's - Polynesian Beach Resort:
* Character Breakfast: not good! same old boring, greasy sausage, hard Mickey waffles, scrambled eggs done either too much or not enough, etc. We miss the old buffet at the Minnie's Menehune Character breakfast, and this experience forced us to cancel the other two we had scheduled. I just couldn't start another day off with the same food - you know preplated, family style, buffet - it is all the same! Sorry, we won't be back!
Food Court - Carribean Beach Resort:
* Overall to small, food average, prices to high. not worth it - we preferred going out!
Boatwright's - Dixie Landings:
* Breakfast: Finally, a breakfast my way! Wonderful service, great food - we had eaten here before and will go back again - they are one of the few places that serves breakfast from a menu!
San Angels Inn - Epcot:
* Lunch: great atmosphere, ok service (computers were down), and good food. Our family prefers spicy foods, and we enjoy eating Mexicanevenat home, so we do enjoy this restaurant. We always return.
Teppanyaki Dining room - Epcot:
* Dinner: we met friends here for a planned dinner together. They had traveled down at the same time as we did, and so we had dinner togeter. We had a table to ourselves (there were 8 of us) and is was wonderful to wathc Heroshi amuse the kids with his antics! The food was very good,as were the drinks! The atmosphere speaks for itself - a very enjoyable evening!
Alfredo's - Epcot:
* Dinner: this is a hit or miss restaurant. We had a bad experince in '93, but really wanted our children to eat at as many of the countries as we could, so we went. It was wonderful - excellent service, very good food - nice atmosphere, although very noisy. Again, it's a hit or miss I guess!
Yachtsmen Steakhouse - Yacht Club Resort:
* Dinner: Now here is the number 10 all the way thru! This was our best meal the whole trip- we have never had service & excellent food like this anywhere else. The food was to die for and the waitress was wonderful! the children's menu actually had real food on it! We will refer people here for special occasion meals from now on - it was fabulous!
Coral Reef - Epcot:
* Lunch: atmosphere was wonderful, service was fair (waiter seemed to be suffering from a hangover) and the food was Ok - hubby was not pleased with only two selections to choose from. Oh well, everything can't be wonderful right? We may not go back, I am not sure.
Captain's Tavern - Carribean Beach Resort:
* Dinner: A nice surprise also. Although not the quality of the Yachtsmen (nothing meets that) the food was good, with a limited selection. We enjoyed eating at the resort, it was relaxing and helped "slow" us down a little - service was quick & efficient, atmosphere was quiet & relaxed, food was good. A nice alternative.
If anyone would like to ask me anything else, I have my dining costs saved, and also all the kid's menus - or almost all of them. I love to help & hope this may help some of you, and humor the rest of you!
Closing thoughts:
Disney is Disney. Yes it is expensive. But where else in this world can you . .
* Play with Tigger, See pirates fight, Relish in the triumphs of Simba, Visit Braer Rabbits Laughing Place and . .
* Learn about the Manatees and other Aquatic animals, Expand your Imagination, learn how to grow plants without water, play every video game imaginable . . and more!
* Learn about the world, experience their culture, their foods, their languages and view their customs - all without leaving Florida!
* And where else on this earth can you see joy, love, excitement and happiness in everyone's' eyes - regardless of age, when they see Mickey for the first time! The hugs of characters, the screams of joy, and the wonderful sound of laughter in this troubled world - I thank Walt Disney for giving us this special place - a special laughing place.
Sue Bani
Remembering the Magic & Dreaming Disney Dreams!