Just left....My thoughts...

[kimiel13]

1) Port Orleans Riverside was wonderful. Will stay there again!

2) Garden Grocerer worked out great. Would use it again.

3) Loved having the dining plan, and for our family it was a value. Will totally do it again!

4) I could never go to Disney Springs again and be fine. Big shopping mall, and dinner at Raglan Road was not good. Although I will say they were very nice and comped our drinks.

5) I could also skip Animal Kingdom, if not for Everest, which was really an awesome ride!

6) Be Our Guest dinner in the West Wing was the favorite of our entire family, just a really cool experience, and sooooooo good!!!
Best meal of the trip.

7) Star Wars at Hollywood Studios fireworks were really great, worth staying for, even if you are not a huge fan.

Other meals we did were San Angel Inn, Crystal Palace, Mama Melrose, and Ohana breakfast. Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[jerseygal]

Thanks for posting. Looking forward to Star Wars Fireworks, hoping they keep them for October. Have ADR at San Angel, have read some "mixed reviews", but mostly good. How did you like San Angel? TIA, hope you had a great trip!

 

[kimiel13]

Thanks for posting. Looking forward to Star Wars Fireworks, hoping they keep them for October. Have ADR at San Angel, have read some "mixed reviews", but mostly good. How did you like San Angel? TIA, hope you had a great trip!

San Angel was definitely good, not amazing, but good. We all enjoyed the atmosphere, margaritas were enjoyed by husband and I, girls (7 and 9 had the tacos), liked them. I had a combination platter with shrimp, pork and some other stuff, husband had carne asada. We were all happy! And cheesecake for dessert! staff was super friendly.

 

[jerseygal]

San Angel was definitely good, not amazing, but good. We all enjoyed the atmosphere, margaritas were enjoyed by husband and I, girls (7 and 9 had the tacos), liked them. I had a combination platter with shrimp, pork and some other stuff, husband had carne asada. We were all happy! And cheesecake for dessert! staff was super friendly.

 

[chigirl]

Omg...I cant stand Disney Springs!!! My husband likes to go to Wolfgang Puck Cafe and I like the boat ride from POR, but malls...why would you go to a mall on vacation? We have like 3 outdoor malls in the Chicago suburbs. Just not for me...but I dont like to shop. I do, however, like Animal Kingdom.

 

[loves to dive]

I agree about Disney Springs, in all honesty I haven't been since it was finished but I stopped going to Downtown Disney about 5 years ago. I can shop in the parks and not waste 2 hours bus time getting there and back.

I love AK but I don't really ride a lot of rides any more at any of the parks, the good thing about getting to twice a year is I'm able to actually slow down and actually enjoy the place. I can walk the trails at AK for hours and be happy as a clam.

I agree about POR, I've started trying out the moderate resorts, normally stay in the deluxe, and doing split stays and POR was the first one I stayed at. I enjoyed it so much I was sad to move on to OKW. Would gladly stay at POR again. So peaceful.

Saw a version of SW FWs in March, I don't know if it's the same they are doing now but I really enjoyed them. Well worth fighting the crowd for.

 

[Nora03]

I agree about Disney Springs. It was one of our biggest disappointments in March. We went on a Sunday evening with no dinner reservations. It was so crowded and we couldn't get in anywhere to eat. I used to love Downtown Disney. We were also so disappointed in the Magic Kingdom this year. We found it too crowded and only went for a few hours one day and we were glad to leave and go to Epcot. It used to be my favourite park, but we can't take the crowds any more.

 

[MagicAddict123]

The issues with Disney Springs is virtually anybody can go there. It gets so unbelievably crowded especially at night. I'd love if Disney just made it available to resort guests but obviously that will never happen. The best time to go is the morning if you have to. Typically, the only reason we go is to shop at the World of Disney store. I will say that you do see some items in there that you do not in the parks.
As far as MK, that park is always crowded! I don't know of any time that the park is not crowded. Literally 10 million people visit the park every year.