buzzgirls&dad
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
This was a bonus trip for our DD's Birthday/HS graduation. We had this long weekend planned since July and were only going to go to the parks on one day as we were going to use an old ticket with one day left on it. On our annual trip in Oct. we decided to get an AP as it would last 13 months so two trips plus this long weekend. We stayed at BLT with TPV for the first time. We were on the 8th floor and had an amazing view of MK and the other MK resorts. We stayed here for our DD so this was a very special treat for us. Here are our random thoughts from this trip. As a reminder comparisons are to when we go in Oct. and to the BCV as that is were we stay.
-room view is beyond words
-loved having the extra bathroom in the 1 bdrm villa, the bench in the shower and the jetted tub. All NOT available at the BCV
-Fireworks (Wishes)are very early at this time of year- most nights are 8pm. So we were a little bummed that we didn't get to see them from the room very often.
-Our worst part of the trip was mousekeeping as we stayed on CASH. We left a note for decaf coffee, some extra cream and sugar and 2 extra pillows. We got a few extra cream and sugar. I called when we got back to the room and eventually the extra things were delivered. Every day except one our dishwasher was never run and our coffee maker was never rinsed out. What resort doesn't rinse out the coffeemaker? I have to go back to the almighty dollar and say for the price of this room it is beyond ridiculous that these things are not done. Does this ruin a trip, of course not, but I shouldn't have to wonder each day what I'm going to have to clean up or request when I get back to the room.
-The pool area is very nice and tropical drinks were good. I liked the touches of complementary cookies being past out and free glasses cleaning.
-Monorailing took longer than we thought to get to ressies and the parks. While we didn't have any problems it just seemed we waited for people and had to "hold" everywhere. YMMV
-We had a PPO for BOG. We still lined up on the left and they checked our bands for our ressies before letting us go to the tapstiles. There are still a ton of people going in for these ressies and they let us in at 8:00. We finished about 8:40 and went to SDMT and everyone went on through the FP line. We did three rides and then went to get in line for PP when the park opened.
-We felt crowds were very light until Tuesday. We did the things we wanted but we are just not going to wait 25 min for small world. FP+ has definitely changed how we ride and wait for things. As yearly visitors we just are not going to wait in long lines nor are we going to go shopping between every FP to kill time. When things got crowded and we couldn't get a FP for what we wanted in a reasonable amount of time(30min) we just left and went back to the pool. Honestly, I think this is part of the reason that attendance is down. Also, at one point MDE said all FPs for the day at all parks were distributed, really????? of course 30 mins later you can get just about anything but we already decided to leave.
-Best meals Citrico, Narcossee, Kona Breakfast, HDD, and Shula's. Worst was Prime time which was really sad as we love it here. Meal was luke warm. Server was awful. We waited over ten minutes just to get acknowledged. We ordered water and wine. He brought the water out after another wait, and we had to ask for the wine after not having it for the appetizer and our dinner was already served. We never got anymore water and he never came to check how things were. Hopefully, this was just a bad night.
-The art festival was very nice. Cute art stations. Picture stations were fun. Food was more expensive than F & W but portions were bigger. Personally, I like the small portions as I like to try different things and don't feel bad if I don't like something and throw the item out. It was a little different when you spend $9 on risotto and it's crunchy and inedible.
- Weather was fairly decent. We did have rain and a cold front come through so I think it would be hard at this time of year to plan a specific day as a pool day.
Over all a very good trip with many firsts for some long time visitors.
If anyone has any questions I would be happy to answer.
-room view is beyond words
-loved having the extra bathroom in the 1 bdrm villa, the bench in the shower and the jetted tub. All NOT available at the BCV
-Fireworks (Wishes)are very early at this time of year- most nights are 8pm. So we were a little bummed that we didn't get to see them from the room very often.
-Our worst part of the trip was mousekeeping as we stayed on CASH. We left a note for decaf coffee, some extra cream and sugar and 2 extra pillows. We got a few extra cream and sugar. I called when we got back to the room and eventually the extra things were delivered. Every day except one our dishwasher was never run and our coffee maker was never rinsed out. What resort doesn't rinse out the coffeemaker? I have to go back to the almighty dollar and say for the price of this room it is beyond ridiculous that these things are not done. Does this ruin a trip, of course not, but I shouldn't have to wonder each day what I'm going to have to clean up or request when I get back to the room.
-The pool area is very nice and tropical drinks were good. I liked the touches of complementary cookies being past out and free glasses cleaning.
-Monorailing took longer than we thought to get to ressies and the parks. While we didn't have any problems it just seemed we waited for people and had to "hold" everywhere. YMMV
-We had a PPO for BOG. We still lined up on the left and they checked our bands for our ressies before letting us go to the tapstiles. There are still a ton of people going in for these ressies and they let us in at 8:00. We finished about 8:40 and went to SDMT and everyone went on through the FP line. We did three rides and then went to get in line for PP when the park opened.
-We felt crowds were very light until Tuesday. We did the things we wanted but we are just not going to wait 25 min for small world. FP+ has definitely changed how we ride and wait for things. As yearly visitors we just are not going to wait in long lines nor are we going to go shopping between every FP to kill time. When things got crowded and we couldn't get a FP for what we wanted in a reasonable amount of time(30min) we just left and went back to the pool. Honestly, I think this is part of the reason that attendance is down. Also, at one point MDE said all FPs for the day at all parks were distributed, really????? of course 30 mins later you can get just about anything but we already decided to leave.
-Best meals Citrico, Narcossee, Kona Breakfast, HDD, and Shula's. Worst was Prime time which was really sad as we love it here. Meal was luke warm. Server was awful. We waited over ten minutes just to get acknowledged. We ordered water and wine. He brought the water out after another wait, and we had to ask for the wine after not having it for the appetizer and our dinner was already served. We never got anymore water and he never came to check how things were. Hopefully, this was just a bad night.
-The art festival was very nice. Cute art stations. Picture stations were fun. Food was more expensive than F & W but portions were bigger. Personally, I like the small portions as I like to try different things and don't feel bad if I don't like something and throw the item out. It was a little different when you spend $9 on risotto and it's crunchy and inedible.
- Weather was fairly decent. We did have rain and a cold front come through so I think it would be hard at this time of year to plan a specific day as a pool day.
Over all a very good trip with many firsts for some long time visitors.
If anyone has any questions I would be happy to answer.
