EdD
06-07-2004, 01:37 PM
Trip Report
Part 1
1. Travel Day
2. Grand California Hotel
3. Goofy’s Kitchen
4. Plaza Inn
5. Whitewater Snacks
Part 2
6. Vineyard Room
7. Park Stuff
8. Vacation Planning
Day 1 -Travel Day
Opened eyes, got out of bed, scratched...wait a minute! I know some folks like to include every detail of their travel to and from DL, and I am sure there are lots of folks who love to read about it, but I am not one of those. Lets just leave it at...left home, four hours later we are there. Nuff said. I will also not give a blow by blow account, but just present major impressions and highlights. So here we go...
Staying and Sleeping - Grand Californian Hotel
Very pretty hotel, and as most of you know it is a little pricey. Luckily my wife gets a cast member discount of 35% for merchandise and 20% for food by virtue of her employment with ABC, so room was $215/night+tax+resort fee for a “park view” room. Still not cheap, but certainly not the most expensive hotel we have stayed at. I would not spring for “park view” again, mostly trees and the top of Grizzly Mountain, not much of a view from the 3rd floor. Hotel still has that “new” look and feel. Beautiful lobby and a nice pool area with a large and small water slide, plenty of towels and life jackets for the kids, and even a small children’s pool. Service at the hotel was good, but not Ritz-Carlton quality. Rooms are small, but nicely appointed and very family friendly, with the queen plus bunk beds with a trundle underneath, crib in the closet ready to go, iron and board, small safe, nice size TV, good toiletries and nice bathrobes. No fridge in room but a quick call got one delivered at no cost. The hotel is non-smoking, and they make you initial that there will be a $200 change if you smoke in the room OR on your balcony. The hotel is set up so that inside the lobby is huge and open, but the room areas are winding, so it can be a little confusing at first to find your way around. Private entrance to DCA, also onto DTD, short 5 minute walk to front gates. We did experience one unpleasant event, returning to our room at about 11pm, our door would not unlock. The front desk sent up new keys, they also did not work. We waited in the hallway for about 20 minutes for the engineers to arrive and they started to work on the door, then security showed up and had a “special” key even the engineers did not know about. Apparently the door deadbolt (normally you push door handle up in your room to set the deadbolt and keep the maid from coming in while you are in the shower, and this is only supposed to be able to be set from the inside) stuck, but the key security had bypassed the deadbolt feature. So for those of you who want to be SURE, use the latch while you are in the rooms. Because of this, we had not had turndown service that night, as I am sure the maid assumed we were in the room asleep. Not a whole lot of “Disney” touches to this hotel, outside of Bambi shower curtain. As is typical of the resort, they do charge you for EVERYTING. $12/day to valet park, $2.50 for a soda from the hotel machines, $9/day resort fee for use of the telephone and a newspaper during the week. Perks include the ability to charge everything in the parks to your room so you don’t have to carry a lot of cash, proximity to the gates, and the stores will deliver purchases to your hotel (not candy purchases). Overall we liked it very much, but will probably stay at the DLH next time, with a little more Disneyness about it (and a little cheaper too). If you are on a budget, stay elsewhere. If you have small kids and want to Disney, stay at the DLH, if you want a little more romance or higher end, stay here.
Eatin, Munchin and Crunchin
I had arranged priority seating already for most of our meals so the waits were never long. I would definitely recommend this if you want to go by any kind of a schedule for your dining, or want to get into the character dining or busier restaurants. We never waited more than 15 mins to be seated, while people doing walkups were being told 45 min on up.
Goofy’s Kitchen - We took our daughter (4) here for dinner the first night, before entering the park the next day so she could get used to the characters and get ready to do Disney. It is not cheap, but it worked well. Buffet style, tip is included in price. Food was fine, decent variety. Character interaction with Pluto, Goofy, Chip & Dale, Mad Hatter, Alice. At first she was VERY apprehensive about the characters, but got over it and was then asking dad to call them over. Server was very attentive, our drink glasses never got more than half empty. Some people had left their birthday balloons on one of the tables, and the server overheard my daughter asking me to get her one, next thing she gave my daughter all the balloons. Very nice. Do this at least once if you have kids.
Plaza Inn Breakfast – Park opened at 9am, so went in at 8:30 for breakfast. At first I had no idea how to get there, and there is a huge crowd crunched in like sardines waiting at the rope drop. Finally discovered that you go through the shops on the right to get there (after fighting my way through the sardines). Ok for breakfast, food was good, all self serve including drinks. Character interaction with Pooh, Tigger, Eore. Nice if you want to be in the park right at opening, otherwise Goofy’s was better.
Blue Bayou – Wanted daughter to get used to the place before we went to Pirates, so had lunch here at noon. VERY busy, I was glad we had PS already, waited 15mins to get in. Service was very good, food was good (split a Monte Cristo with the wife, had stuffed mushroom appetizer and got daughter nuggets), and was cheaper than dinner at Goofy’s because the portions were so large we could split the sandwich. Eating here is cool.
Bengal BBQ – I heard about this place on the boards, never would have tried it otherwise. I LOVED it! We ate here twice. The beef and chicken skewers were great, the bacon wrapped asparagus skewers were wonderful, veggie skewers much better than expected! Accompanied by a nice bowl of fresh fruit, everybody liked this. Downsides are: there is almost no seating here! If you see an open table, snag it FAST! Also not cheap, thank goodness for 20% discount. Thanks to the board for this find!
Whitewater Snacks – Had breakfast here. Right at the pool, very close to our elevator and the DCA entrance. Breakfast burrito and French Toast sticks were good, food was cheap for Disney, very convenient. Had to wait 20 min for a manager who knew how to ring up our discount (they rang it up wrong the first time) but we were eating while this happened so no big deal. For a quick bite, if you are close this is a good spot.
Part 1
1. Travel Day
2. Grand California Hotel
3. Goofy’s Kitchen
4. Plaza Inn
5. Whitewater Snacks
Part 2
6. Vineyard Room
7. Park Stuff
8. Vacation Planning
Day 1 -Travel Day
Opened eyes, got out of bed, scratched...wait a minute! I know some folks like to include every detail of their travel to and from DL, and I am sure there are lots of folks who love to read about it, but I am not one of those. Lets just leave it at...left home, four hours later we are there. Nuff said. I will also not give a blow by blow account, but just present major impressions and highlights. So here we go...
Staying and Sleeping - Grand Californian Hotel
Very pretty hotel, and as most of you know it is a little pricey. Luckily my wife gets a cast member discount of 35% for merchandise and 20% for food by virtue of her employment with ABC, so room was $215/night+tax+resort fee for a “park view” room. Still not cheap, but certainly not the most expensive hotel we have stayed at. I would not spring for “park view” again, mostly trees and the top of Grizzly Mountain, not much of a view from the 3rd floor. Hotel still has that “new” look and feel. Beautiful lobby and a nice pool area with a large and small water slide, plenty of towels and life jackets for the kids, and even a small children’s pool. Service at the hotel was good, but not Ritz-Carlton quality. Rooms are small, but nicely appointed and very family friendly, with the queen plus bunk beds with a trundle underneath, crib in the closet ready to go, iron and board, small safe, nice size TV, good toiletries and nice bathrobes. No fridge in room but a quick call got one delivered at no cost. The hotel is non-smoking, and they make you initial that there will be a $200 change if you smoke in the room OR on your balcony. The hotel is set up so that inside the lobby is huge and open, but the room areas are winding, so it can be a little confusing at first to find your way around. Private entrance to DCA, also onto DTD, short 5 minute walk to front gates. We did experience one unpleasant event, returning to our room at about 11pm, our door would not unlock. The front desk sent up new keys, they also did not work. We waited in the hallway for about 20 minutes for the engineers to arrive and they started to work on the door, then security showed up and had a “special” key even the engineers did not know about. Apparently the door deadbolt (normally you push door handle up in your room to set the deadbolt and keep the maid from coming in while you are in the shower, and this is only supposed to be able to be set from the inside) stuck, but the key security had bypassed the deadbolt feature. So for those of you who want to be SURE, use the latch while you are in the rooms. Because of this, we had not had turndown service that night, as I am sure the maid assumed we were in the room asleep. Not a whole lot of “Disney” touches to this hotel, outside of Bambi shower curtain. As is typical of the resort, they do charge you for EVERYTING. $12/day to valet park, $2.50 for a soda from the hotel machines, $9/day resort fee for use of the telephone and a newspaper during the week. Perks include the ability to charge everything in the parks to your room so you don’t have to carry a lot of cash, proximity to the gates, and the stores will deliver purchases to your hotel (not candy purchases). Overall we liked it very much, but will probably stay at the DLH next time, with a little more Disneyness about it (and a little cheaper too). If you are on a budget, stay elsewhere. If you have small kids and want to Disney, stay at the DLH, if you want a little more romance or higher end, stay here.
Eatin, Munchin and Crunchin
I had arranged priority seating already for most of our meals so the waits were never long. I would definitely recommend this if you want to go by any kind of a schedule for your dining, or want to get into the character dining or busier restaurants. We never waited more than 15 mins to be seated, while people doing walkups were being told 45 min on up.
Goofy’s Kitchen - We took our daughter (4) here for dinner the first night, before entering the park the next day so she could get used to the characters and get ready to do Disney. It is not cheap, but it worked well. Buffet style, tip is included in price. Food was fine, decent variety. Character interaction with Pluto, Goofy, Chip & Dale, Mad Hatter, Alice. At first she was VERY apprehensive about the characters, but got over it and was then asking dad to call them over. Server was very attentive, our drink glasses never got more than half empty. Some people had left their birthday balloons on one of the tables, and the server overheard my daughter asking me to get her one, next thing she gave my daughter all the balloons. Very nice. Do this at least once if you have kids.
Plaza Inn Breakfast – Park opened at 9am, so went in at 8:30 for breakfast. At first I had no idea how to get there, and there is a huge crowd crunched in like sardines waiting at the rope drop. Finally discovered that you go through the shops on the right to get there (after fighting my way through the sardines). Ok for breakfast, food was good, all self serve including drinks. Character interaction with Pooh, Tigger, Eore. Nice if you want to be in the park right at opening, otherwise Goofy’s was better.
Blue Bayou – Wanted daughter to get used to the place before we went to Pirates, so had lunch here at noon. VERY busy, I was glad we had PS already, waited 15mins to get in. Service was very good, food was good (split a Monte Cristo with the wife, had stuffed mushroom appetizer and got daughter nuggets), and was cheaper than dinner at Goofy’s because the portions were so large we could split the sandwich. Eating here is cool.
Bengal BBQ – I heard about this place on the boards, never would have tried it otherwise. I LOVED it! We ate here twice. The beef and chicken skewers were great, the bacon wrapped asparagus skewers were wonderful, veggie skewers much better than expected! Accompanied by a nice bowl of fresh fruit, everybody liked this. Downsides are: there is almost no seating here! If you see an open table, snag it FAST! Also not cheap, thank goodness for 20% discount. Thanks to the board for this find!
Whitewater Snacks – Had breakfast here. Right at the pool, very close to our elevator and the DCA entrance. Breakfast burrito and French Toast sticks were good, food was cheap for Disney, very convenient. Had to wait 20 min for a manager who knew how to ring up our discount (they rang it up wrong the first time) but we were eating while this happened so no big deal. For a quick bite, if you are close this is a good spot.