steg
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2013
Just got back from the first trip we've taken to WDW in October.
The Weather:
Rain held out for the whole trip except coming in on the bus from Magic Kingdom on the party night, but the rain skirted MK altogether luckily. Much hotter than our usual trip in January. We'll be sticking to early December or mid January from now on.
The Resort:
We decided to give Saratoga Springs a second chance and we're so glad we did! The last time I was at SSR I was in a party of 5 and we were staying at Congress Park, we had so many issues with Disney busses being full (in January) and taking forever to get there there that we swore we'd never be back but there we were! This time it was just me and the wife.
We tried to alleviate the previous resort issues by staying elsewhere in the resort, after consulting the Disney Resorts subforum we took their advice by requesting Grandstands near Pool, what we got was Grandstands near Transportation and it worked out even better than expected! We were placed in an upper floor room about 50 feet from the (first) bus stop. It was like staying at a completely different hotel than Congress Park! Being at the first stop we were always guaranteed a seat and were always the first to be dropped off when returning from the park (except Disney Springs). In our previous visit we either couldn't fit or had to stand in almost every bus.
There were two incidents where the busses were completely full by the second bus stop and we drove right past the full third bus stop and onto the full fourth bus stop (because that's where SSR folks staying at the Treehouses have to connect to their Treehouse bus) where very few others could get on. They called up an idle bus they had in waiting in the Grandstands parking lot to help the capacity.
Transportation:
The Disney Busses also seemed much improved, or we just got lucky, our longest bus wait was 15 minutes and most of the time it was under 5 minutes. I spoke to a few CM's at the bus stop over the course of the vacation and heard the following about improvements to the Disney Bus Transportation:
This was our first party experience of any kind and it was a great one, we went on a night that wasn't sold out on a Sunday it wasn't crowded but it wasn't mid January crowds either, regardless we got some trick or treating in, rode Haunted Mansion 3 times, got to see the Haunted Mansion lady, and walked on to every ride except Mine Train (which we only waited 20 Minutes for because we went during the first parade) and generally had a great, yet exhausting time.
Food and Wine:
This was also our first food and wine experience, went on a Saturday (early), Monday, and Wednesday. We enjoyed it but both agreed that the lines were a (little) too long and that between the heat, we were able to get a good chunk of the booths done but it seemed futile to attempt to complete the passport at the rate we were going. Can't say we'll be running back to Food and Wine any time soon mainly due to the heat.
The Food:
Wolfgang Puck's Grand Cafe: our first stop because EoS was insanely full was the sleeper hit of the trip, we returned twice more after that. Sushi was very good, Mac and Cheese (kids) was very good, Pizzas (BBQ and Pepperoni) were great as well. This place seemed dead each time we went, I'm worried it won't be there long if this keeps up. Although we were told that it was getting some refurbishment love as part of the Disney Springs revamp.
The Weather:
Rain held out for the whole trip except coming in on the bus from Magic Kingdom on the party night, but the rain skirted MK altogether luckily. Much hotter than our usual trip in January. We'll be sticking to early December or mid January from now on.
The Resort:
We decided to give Saratoga Springs a second chance and we're so glad we did! The last time I was at SSR I was in a party of 5 and we were staying at Congress Park, we had so many issues with Disney busses being full (in January) and taking forever to get there there that we swore we'd never be back but there we were! This time it was just me and the wife.
We tried to alleviate the previous resort issues by staying elsewhere in the resort, after consulting the Disney Resorts subforum we took their advice by requesting Grandstands near Pool, what we got was Grandstands near Transportation and it worked out even better than expected! We were placed in an upper floor room about 50 feet from the (first) bus stop. It was like staying at a completely different hotel than Congress Park! Being at the first stop we were always guaranteed a seat and were always the first to be dropped off when returning from the park (except Disney Springs). In our previous visit we either couldn't fit or had to stand in almost every bus.
There were two incidents where the busses were completely full by the second bus stop and we drove right past the full third bus stop and onto the full fourth bus stop (because that's where SSR folks staying at the Treehouses have to connect to their Treehouse bus) where very few others could get on. They called up an idle bus they had in waiting in the Grandstands parking lot to help the capacity.
Transportation:
The Disney Busses also seemed much improved, or we just got lucky, our longest bus wait was 15 minutes and most of the time it was under 5 minutes. I spoke to a few CM's at the bus stop over the course of the vacation and heard the following about improvements to the Disney Bus Transportation:
- Disney has been adding 30 busses every few months.
- Cast Members at the bus stops now have iPads instead of clipboards that have an app (that we all may receive in May 2016) that tracks the busses via GPS The main issues with the app have been issues with the drivers not hitting a button when they have to pick up a scooter which is supposed to add 10 minutes to the expected arrival time.
- There are four separate "hubs" around WDW that track the bus locations and field the information between each other, there is a central hub that is being built now to consolidate all 4 hubs with the intention of centralizing all the information and improving the tracking so that the app is more accurate when we get it.
- There's one resort in each area that now has a screen that pulls from the same data the CM's at the bus stop's app does to show when the next bus is supposed to arrive for a given park. This is a beta test before the screens get rolled out across all the resorts sometime next year. The resorts that have the screens in each area are Contemporary for the MK resorts, Boardwalk for the Epcot resorts, POFQ for the Disney Springs resorts, and AKL (can't remember if it was just Kidani) for the AK resorts.
This was our first party experience of any kind and it was a great one, we went on a night that wasn't sold out on a Sunday it wasn't crowded but it wasn't mid January crowds either, regardless we got some trick or treating in, rode Haunted Mansion 3 times, got to see the Haunted Mansion lady, and walked on to every ride except Mine Train (which we only waited 20 Minutes for because we went during the first parade) and generally had a great, yet exhausting time.
Food and Wine:
This was also our first food and wine experience, went on a Saturday (early), Monday, and Wednesday. We enjoyed it but both agreed that the lines were a (little) too long and that between the heat, we were able to get a good chunk of the booths done but it seemed futile to attempt to complete the passport at the rate we were going. Can't say we'll be running back to Food and Wine any time soon mainly due to the heat.
The Food:
Wolfgang Puck's Grand Cafe: our first stop because EoS was insanely full was the sleeper hit of the trip, we returned twice more after that. Sushi was very good, Mac and Cheese (kids) was very good, Pizzas (BBQ and Pepperoni) were great as well. This place seemed dead each time we went, I'm worried it won't be there long if this keeps up. Although we were told that it was getting some refurbishment love as part of the Disney Springs revamp.
- Fulton's Crab house: a mainstay of our Disney Trips, did not disappoint with the exception of the lack of Florida Stone crab, now the 4th time I've missed it in a row. I had to fall back on the Alaskan Broiler claws and split the seafood tower.
- Shula's Steakhouse: the best meal we had on property with the exception of Victoria and Alberts. We met 3 others for dinner and split the 24 ounce porterhouse and a 32 day dry aged 38 ounce tomahawk rib chop they had as a special for the same price as their 48 ounce porterhouse. Diners were split between the filet on the porterhouse and the Tomahawk as their favorite. We all ordered a side as well, the crab mac and cheese was, as usual unbelievably good. The Creamed spinach and twice baked potato were solid as well.
- Splitsville: Sushi here was solid, loaded fried and the blackened chicken caesar were pretty good too. Not sure if we'd go back though.
- Raglan Road: Stopped by here for brunch, had to wait more than a half hour for a table with a reservation (arrived 5 minutes early) and was taken back to a largely empty section of restaurant. Had the Smoked Salmon with potato pancakes and the irish breakfast with their insane bread pudding as dessert. This is our 4th time at Raglan and we can only say that we'll be back only for beer and bread pudding.
- Gastons: Stopped by before the party for the pork shank and a cinnamon roll well worth it. The pork shank is easily enough for a snack for 2.
- Cosmic Rays: Starving and exhausted near the end of the party the bacon cheeseburger here hit the spot.
- Be Our Guest Lunch: Absolutely insane at 11:00am, I'm glad we pre ordered the food. We had the pork, and the turkey sandwich and one of each cupcake. Cupcakes were solid, lunch entrees were just ok. I enjoyed the potatoes that came with the pork the most and would have prefered the Pork Shank at Gaston's with the potatoes at BoG
- Boathouse, another seating nightmare like Raglan, had a party of 5 (same 3 from Shula's) got there more than 5 minutes early with a reservation, watched parties of 6, 7, and 9 all get seated with no reservations for more than 20 minutes, I said something and they tried to cram us into a table for 4 in a corner between two tables for 6 on the docks, someone else in the party said something and they moved us to a table for 6 inside, Oysters were great, buffalo chicken salad was great, filet was good but not nearly as good as the one we had at Shula's, mac and cheese was ok. Won't be back for a while unless I have a serious craving for oysters.
- Morimoto Asia: Here with the 3 from Shulas/Boathouse I started with a single piece each of Chu and Oh Toro which are grades of tuna belly with high fat content. These two pieces of fish were some of best things I had the entire trip easily worth the $8 and $12 single bites. We also split 3 different Dim Sum, the Chicken Dumplings, Shumai, and 2 orders of the Pork Belly Bao, all were great the Bao was the favorite, We also got a half rack of the pork ribs after them being constantly recommended by the staff. They did not disappoint. We split 4 Sushi rolls, spider, spicy tuna, spicy yellowtail, and shrimp tempura, this place easily has the best sushi on property, and I'm looking forward to an Omakase menu should they have one. Starting to get full we then split the peking duck, long beans, and Whole fried Bronzino. All 3 were excellent as was the service. We will definitely be back.
- Victoria and Albert's main dining room, this is the second time I've been at Victoria and Albert's previously in Queen Victoria's Room. They recently added the 10 course degustation menu and two tiers of wine pairings to go with that menu. Back again with the 3 from Shula's/Boathouse, myself and two others opted for the 10 course, the other 2 got the 7 course and split the wine pairing (sat next to each other, ordered the same course choices and drank from the same wine glass). I opted for the top tier pairing while the other 10 coursers got the normal 10 course wine pairing. One of the top three meals if not the top meal in my entire life, one of other top 3 would be my previous meal in Queen Victoria's room. This place is also the a place to try things that they have in very few other places. I tried an ounce of port from 1935 ($63/ounce), and an ounce of Madeira from 1922 ($75/ounce), and a port from 1982 (which was part of the upgraded wine pairing) all with the cheese course.
