Random thoughts from my trip...

[TinkerTay]

First 2 days (Sun/Mon)

Sunday - The check in line @ GCH was insane!
I was pleasantly surprised with how light the crowds were, I was really expecting it to be much busier!
Mickey beignets are still my fave.
Garlic cheddar twists with marinara make an awesome snack.
It was pretty hot during the day but cooled down quickly in the evening (I needed a light sweatshirt)
The wall around Bug’s Land is a huge bummer, and an even bigger bummer is no longer having the shortcut from Cars Land.
I’m once again very happy with the choice to stay at GCH, and room 5313 is an awesome room! King bed, woods view with a peek of DTD across the way, solid wall balcony (privacy), close to Napa elevators, new shower/no tub. Everything I wanted, and the only actual request was the shower part, lol

Monday - It was much busier, but still tolerable.
Finally got MaxPass today for the first time... It. Was. Awesome.
The French toast breakfast at Flo’s is very yummy, more of a bread pudding (almost dessert IMO), but the bananas and caramel sauce were SO good!
Mornings at DCA are still my favorite.
No wait for the monorail was so much nicer than the looooooong lines to get into DL, and it took us right to our FP at SM.
A mid-day break/nap may have to be my new routine... my feet need the break!
I like Pixar Pier, and think they did a pretty good job with it, but I like Pixar anyway... will be nice when completely finished.
DTD needs help... there are too many empty shops now. However, I LOVE the Disney Home and Disney Dress Shops!

Again, there have been several accounts of rude or unfriendly CMs, but almost everyone I have come in contact with so far has been very smiley, friendly, helpful, and generally nice and cheerful! With all the talk about it in recent weeks, I was expecting less from them, but have seen nothing of the sort... I’ll try to remember to take some pics (I’m really bad at that) and will post another round of random thoughts in a couple more days...

 

[pennym]

Thanks for posting - always fun to read trip reports!

 

[ShadowCross]

I enjoyed this. Thank you for sharing!
Where did you get the garlic twists and marinara? They sound delicious!

 

[Princess Katelet]

How did the monorail help you?? It doesn't go to GCH...

 

[lalasmama]

I enjoyed this. Thank you for sharing!
Where did you get the garlic twists and marinara? They sound delicious!

Maurice's Treats next to Princess Fantasy Faire.

 

[Staceycs]

How did the monorail help you?? It doesn't go to GCH...

I’m also at the GCH and we’ve been using the monorail all week as the walk to the DTD stop is much quicker than the walk to the DL front gates.

 

[TinkerTay]

How did the monorail help you?? It doesn't go to GCH...

It doesn’t STOP at GCH, but it’s no hassle to take a quick walk to the DTD monorail station since it’s so close... then it just drops us to Tomorrowland, which was where we needed to go at the time...

 

[TinkerTay]

I enjoyed this. Thank you for sharing!
Where did you get the garlic twists and marinara? They sound delicious!

They are very yummy! As one of the PPs replied, they are at Maurice’s by Fantasy Faire... it’s more of a cart, and there are a couple other flavors too, a strawberry one, and something else that I can’t recall. My favorite is still the garlic cheddar!

 

[lalasmama]

They are very yummy! As one of the PPs replied, they are at Maurice’s by Fantasy Faire... it’s more of a cart, and there are a couple other flavors too, a strawberry one, and something else that I can’t recall. My favorite is still the garlic cheddar!

The last one is the Gray Stuff twist YUMMY!

 

[Eve & Wall-e]

I really enjoyed reading your post. I agree, MaxPass is awesome! I like midday breaks, too. So many hotels within walking distance makes it easy to do. Glad you had a good time on your trip.

 

[TinkerTay]

The last one is the Gray Stuff twist YUMMY!

That’s right! I’ll have to try that one, too!

 

[julieheyer]

Thanks! I like your observations and agree! Going back soon and hoping it’s not too crowded in early November!

 

[Darkhaund]

After our 1st family trip back in MAY... we desperately want to go back... hopefully in 2020

 

[hootey]

Happy to see a positive trip report! We LOVE the GCH & DLH, we stay at one or the other or we stay home! We absolutely take afternoon breaks everyday to hit the pools & hot-tubs. Gotta L O V E IT !

 

[Echo queen]

Enjoyed your report we will going this time next year so I need to catch up on DL.

 

[TinkerTay]

So we got too busy enjoying our vacation, so I am a little late from when I said I was gonna post more... so this is days 3-6, now that we’re home, haha...

Tues/Weds (days 3 & 4)
Fire alarm testing is not fun when you are trying to sleep in a bit and get ready for the day at a slower pace, so it wasn’t the best start to the day.
Had the seafood gratin and the seasonal crab/corn chowder at Café Orleans... both were so yummy!
Went to Red Rose Tavern just for dessert after, got a Grey Stuff, and the Halloween Black Rose dessert, and omg the Black Rose was SO good! It’s very rich, and like a dense, flourless torte type of thing... I wish I would have had another one later on... had a Tigger Tail later in the day, I thought it was ok, but I wish I had gotten the plain chocolate one they had.
The “no straws, no lids” thing is not really a huge deal like some think it is, we got all drinks (in the parks) given with no lid or straw, but there are straws out if you need one, and I think you can ask for lids but I never bothered since I just drink ice water and just ask for one at a CS place when I’m thirsty.
Back to the room for a rest, and I love the new robes at GCH. I wanted to buy one at the gift shop, but all they had was XXL, so I’m a little sad I didn’t get one. They are so soft now, and I think they’re better than the waffle knit ones from before.
We went to Splitsville in DTD on Tues for dinner, the sushi is so good there! I had the Fantasy roll, and fiancé had the Ninja roll... I loved them both, we actually went back Thurs and took it to-go up to the room for dinner in.
Weds we got into DCA towards the end of our EMH and rides were still walk-on, so that was nice. The screen at the end of our TSMM ride was blank, so they gave us a multi-experience pass for later, which we used for Cars at night. The day in general was busier than the day before, but with MaxPass we could still do everything we wanted.
Award Wieners is so much better than I thought, I always just passed it by, but I got a portabello mushroom thing that was awesome! And the fries are some of the better ones I’ve had.
I’ve learned that if you see something you want to buy and think “I’ll get it later,” DON’T! There are several things that I wanted to buy, and went back to get them and they’re sold out resort wide! So from now on, I will just get it if it’s something I know I really want, and send it to the room if I don’t want to carry it. One thing actually worked out, because the guy told me to check Amazon (it was a book) and I actually found it for about 14 bucks cheaper, so yay!
On Weds we walked down to Cheesecake Factory for a late dinner since parks closed at 9... one of my favorite restaurants, so it’s always good!

Thursday/Friday (days 5 & 6)
More fire alarm testing... blah...
We had planned on taking Thurs as a very leisurely day, since DCA closed at 5 for a CM thing that night. Didn’t bother with MaxPass, if we saw a short line we just jumped in it.
Had fish & chips Thurs at Golden Horseshoe, which is always good, and only 10 bucks. Also got (I think seasonal) vegetarian Mac and cheese bites, and it was super good! Little fried bites, covered in cheese and cowboy caviar. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was!
Got a Maleficent churro, with marshmallow sauce, it was just meh... I’ve learned that I just like the good ol regular churros the best.
Did some shopping before going up to the room for a rest. Got more of the Olszewski Gallery of Light boxes, so now my collection is up to 10, I think. I just love them, and the little details that are put into them! (Dave Avanzino was at Disneyana on Sun, but we didn’t get to talk to him, as he was busy. Had a custom name done by him a couple of years ago, it’s one of my fave things!)
Friday was so hot, we tried to stay out of the direct sun as much as possible. It was our last day, so we made the effort to actually get there for the EMH, which paid off. Did RSR, Guardians, Coaster, and TSMM all under an hour.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when people just stop in the middle of a walkway, road, sidewalk, aisle. DLR is the Mecca for these people, it drives me crazy when someone will just stop and not pay attention to anyone else around them, or at least move to the side to do whatever they need to do... anyway...
I was trying to time our rides for the end of the night, so got MP for Guardians and RSR after dark. We had plans to meet a friend in DTD for dinner/drinks, so timing was important. We ate at Jazz Kitchen, walked to Trader Sam’s, but that was a zoo. Ended up back at Splitsville for drinks, which were very good. Made it back for out MP rides (barely, lol) as DCA closed at 10. Walked over to DL and rode Pirates. I always start my trip with Pirates as my first ride, and I like to end it that way as well. It had gotten pretty late, so we needed get back to pack for flight in the morn.
Next morning, we had to walk across the street again (with all of our luggage) to PPH, as the buses still can’t get to GCH. Waited, bus never came. Thank goodness for the other lady that called the company, since the bus apparently broke down, and they just thought it was cool to leave us and not let anyone know. We all had flights to catch, so they sent a couple of private SUVs to pick us up and get us to the airport. So that wasn’t the best end to our trip, it was pretty ridiculous that the bus line just wasn’t going to show up or even let anyone know.

All in all, we had a great week though, I loved our room, we ate LOTS of yummy food, and didn’t eat the same thing twice. (Except the sushi) Crowds were manageable, (except DL after DCA closed early on thurs) weather was a little warmer than I’d hoped, but still tolerable. Naps/rests in the middle of the day helped a lot. Cast members were friendly, and Max Pass was super awesome! I’m a little sad, since it’ll prob be a couple of years before we go back after the hysteria that will be Star Wars calms down a little. So now, I’ll just live vicariously through everyone else that posts about their trips, haha!

 

[MemoriesintheMaking]

That sounds like a great trip! Thank you for telling us all about it!

Could you please tell me what the fire alarm testing entailed at GCH? Was it just the alarm going off as a test, or did you have to leave your room each time, as well? We are staying there next summer. We were there last year, but never encountered any testing, so I was just wondering what to expect if we ran into it on our next trip.

Thanks so much!

 

[TinkerTay]

The first time that I heard them testing, was when we went back for a rest (didn’t get much of one) around 2 pm, I think on Monday. They announce they are doing it, and to disregard the alarms. It started as hallway sirens, and then was our room sirens. It went off and on for probably close to an hour. The next morning they started it at about 9, and we were still in our room getting ready. Sometimes it’s shorter blips with the sirens, some were long. It was pretty distracting trying to get ready, because it was really loud! There was more testing Weds and Thurs too, in the morning. I’m kinda glad I didn’t have young kids with me, I don’t think they would have loved it, lol. I know they need to do it, I just wouldn’t think it needed to be an almost every day thing. Most people are already at the parks, but some people (like us) are more relaxed with their time and don’t rush in the morning. It just would have been nicer to have some kind of notice the days before, no one said anything at check-in on Sunday, and if you have the tv on in the room, it’s kinda hard to hear the hallway announcements. I mean, it’s not the worst thing in the world, but it is very loud when you’re trying to lay down for a bit and alarm sirens are going off above your head... hopefully you’ll have better luck and they’ll have their testing done at different times, or you’ll be in the parks at the time!

 

[TinkerTay]

Oh, I forgot to add in my notes that the Bug’s Land entrance arch thing was up at the beginning of our trip and it was down and gone by Friday...

 

[IvyWinter]

I live in NYC...imagine a whole city full of people, tourists AND locals, who stop dead in the middle of sidewalks, subway train stairs, etc. I've spent my entire life learning how to dodge and juke around them ha! sounds like a wonderful trip and getting me excited for mine in 3 weeks!