Just Back: Random Thoughts and Reviews

[Vaughn4380]

Just got back from a seven night stay (June 1-8). I find it helpful when others have posted "mini-TR" threads, so I thought I would do the same. Here we go in no specific order:

• We stayed at AKL, the place was well kept and the staff was friendly and helpful. This is my favorite resort and I am extra critical of the staff and condition of the resort. No complaints here. I even saw staff vacuuming the air ducts in a hallway, now that is some attention to a little noticed location. We paid for a standard view, but our "standard view" still included a pretty good view of the sunset savannah. We made no room requests and were happy with what we got.
• We noticed the overall demeanor and attitude of the guests and staff members was much better than our previous trips. We had no line cutters or rudeness this trip AT ALL, which I am sorry to say has not been our experience on previous trips. We moved our trip dates up a few weeks compared to previous trips and I am wondering if the earlier time made a difference. I mean, other guests were actually walking around smiling and would say “hello” when you approached them. This is how Disney should be.
• Temps were downright pleasant compared to our usual late June/early July time periods of previous trips.
• Yak and Yeti Restaurant is one of our favorites. This trip I got the ribs for the first time and they were excellent! Highly recommended.
• Bus service was great, I think we waited ten minutes for a Studio bus once. Otherwise the wait was never noticed. The drivers were more courteous than I remember in previous trips as well, often saying hello and engaging in conversation.
• The monorails are looking “well used”, I think at this point they have been in operation five years longer than the previous model and they are starting to show the wear and tear. Plastic panels were chipped, cracked, and dirty. Seats and carpet showed signs of hard use as well. For a signature feature of the resort, it might be time for Disney to consider upgrading or replacing the current fleet.
• We ate at the California Grill for the first time since the refurb, this used to be my wife’s favorite place to eat and often we scheduled a late dinner to catch the fireworks from the observation location. Well after the refurb, the place is much louder than before the refurb. We were seated in the main dining area and we had trouble hearing each other across the table due to the ambient noise from the other guest conversations and the kitchen (and my wife can be LOUD when needed). It was stupid loud in there. Additionally, our server did not know the menu very well and had no clue about the wine list. He was also not very good in general, often leaving water and sodas empty for a long period of time. This turned off several members of our group that had never eaten there before. Not sure if he was new or just not a good waiter, but it effected the whole experience. We will probably give it one more chance but if the experience is not better, we won’t be back.
• Magic bands worked flawlessly for the room and charging to our account. Neat idea for those uses. Very nice to go to the pool and not have to worry about where to hide the key. However, FP+ was a complete failure for us. After the first day my wife's magic band quit working for park entry and fast passes. When we stopped by guest services at the MK they said they had to "reload" or "re-connect" her park ticket to our account. After they did this, she lost all of her fast passes for the remainder of our trip. Since we had made them months in advance, there was no way to get her back into our planned fast passes. This was in addition to the inability to add additional fast passes from our phone app after the first three were used (which we found out at Disney is how the system was designed on purpose). My family also prefers to "wing it" when we go, often choosing which park we are going to the night before. The need to plan out months in advance which park we were going to or forgo the use of fast passes (at least for the popular attractions) was absolutely despised by our family.
• Standby lines were not bad at all. Peter Pan had a 25 minute wait at 8 PM one of the nights we were there, so we just stood in line for a lot of things even though the fast passes weren’t working for us. Compared to our usual travel times in the past, this was a nice surprise. I think the Dwarf’s mine train was 80 minutes most of the time we were there, but we had enough people in our group that didn’t want to do coasters that we never tried to wait for it. Everything else was downright reasonable.
• The cinnamon rolls at Gaston’s are freakishly huge! How much are they? Like $4? And they hang over the plate and stand like 5 inches tall? I saw several kids order one and their eyes about shot out of their head when they saw them. Very cool treat for a reasonable price. Easily shareable for two (or three) people if you are wondering.
• Cape May does have all you care to eat crab legs. This was a favorite of our travel group, most of whom do not like buffets.
• Overall a good trip, the only real problem was the FP+ system and my wife’s magic band. Other than that, this was an earlier time of year for us to go and the parks just felt different (almost like there was less tension in the air if that makes sense). While there were crowds, there were no pushy guests, my ankles were never hit by a scooter or stroller (which always happened when we went in July), overall it just felt like the Disney World I remembered as a kid. We will probably try to go as early in the summer as possible from now on. This trip was the first week my wife was off for the summer (she is a teacher), usually we wait a few weeks then go in July.

 

[wdwrich]

Thanks for the report, and I'm glad you had a good time!

 

[wdwjeffc37]

We traveled at that time last year and found it a great time to go. The weather was good, not too hot or too rainy and the crowd levels were not too bad. I think that a lot of schools have not let out for the summer yet. We were lucky to not have any issues with our Magic Bands or our FP+s. Most of the attractions had reasonable stand-by wait times, even 7DMT (60-75 minute posted wait was actually 45-50 minutes).

We stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort again and had a great stay as usual. Great bus service except to Downtown Disney.

We also had dinner at the California Grill for the first time and had almost a totally opposite experience from you. Our server was fantastic. He made very good suggestions for appetizers and wine after we told him what we were going to be ordering. He timed everything perfectly so that we were able to go out and watch Wishes between our apps and main course. I didn't notice that the restaurant was overly loud. It was the highlight meal of our trip.

We had cinnamon rolls at Gaston's and you are right, they are monstrous. Also, the pork shanks are quite large. The cast member warned us when we ordered one of each for each of us that it was going to be too much food, so we ordered two and two and split them.

I wouldn't hesitate to go at this time again. Thanks for your report. Cheers!!

 

[DisneyFive]

Great report. We also love Yak and Yeti, but I noticed they changed out our favorite entree, which was the strip steak with tandori shrimp. I think it's now something like a flank steak with a mango chutney and coconut shrimp. Still might give it a try, but your comment about the ribs really intrigues me. My #1 favorite food is BBQ (like real smoke BBQ) ribs. I love smoking ribs and pork butt. Anyway, I know the version at Yak & Yeti must be a little different, so can you give your take on them? Flavor type? Sweet, Smoky, Grilled, Asian flare? I might go for these in Sept when we're there.

Oh, and if that FP+ situation happened to us, I would be ROYALLY, ROYALLY peeved. Yes, force you to set them all up months in advance only to lose them as the most inoportune time, and not get them back!.

Dan

 

[eeyore45]

Thank you for your report - we are heading there in a week or so, and I'm trying to do some catch up planning!

I have seen a Gaston's Cinnamon roll in the Restaurant Review thread - its on my list! Did you try the Lefor Brew? (I know that's not the correct name/spelling, but it sounds like we are going to have to try that with the cinnamon roll!)

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

I always view a trip a success if I can count on one hand the number of "issues" I have. Sounds like you had a great trip and I think the time of year was a factor.

 

[itchin2go]

Glad you had a good trip. HATE that your wife's FPs were wiped out. I would have been livid. You will likely live longer than me with your "roll with it" attitude!

AKL is my favorite resort too. It's a magical place!

We liked Cali Grill last trip, but we had a good waitress.

May have to try a Cinnamon Roll at Gaston's next trip based on your review!

 

[Jess_S]

Thanks for your review. I'm glad you had a good trip. I appreciate hearing about your FP+ issue. This will be my first time using FP+. After reading your report, I'm going to print a hard copy of my reservations to pack in my suitcase just in case.

 

[prettypatchesmsu]

Glad you had a great trip, sounds like you had a lot of fun! I am sorry about your wife's FP+ trouble. I am really surprised that Guest Relations just left it with wiping out her FP+ reservations! I would have been horrified. They should have fixed it by rebooking them all for her. Or at the least given some anytime paper FPs.

 

[Hootch]

We were the week before you. The temps were in the 85-88 degree range which was a pleasant surprise.

I had a print out of all of our FP+s. This was mainly so we could track them. I have a Blackberry and MDE doesn't really work on it. I would have pulled that out and shown it to the Guest relations people. They should have at least offered you some anytime FPs.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

Just got back from a seven night stay (June 1-8). I find it helpful when others have posted "mini-TR" threads, so I thought I would do the same. Here we go in no specific order:

• We noticed the overall demeanor and attitude of the guests and staff members was much better than our previous trips. We had no line cutters or rudeness this trip AT ALL, which I am sorry to say has not been our experience on previous trips. We moved our trip dates up a few weeks compared to previous trips and I am wondering if the earlier time made a difference. I mean, other guests were actually walking around smiling and would say “hello” when you approached them. This is how Disney should be.

It's because all us Jerseyans are still in school

Seriously though, good report. Agreed fully the monorails are in dire need of some TLC, I thought they just underwent some type of refurb, but it must have been mechanical rather than aesthetic.

It's insane to me Guest Relations did nothing to make your wife whole with her FPs.

 

[Vaughn4380]

Did you try the Lefor Brew?

Yes, It is basically a good apple flavored slushy. Also big enough to share (but I am not a huge fan of frozen drinks). Definitely worth a try. The mango whipped topping they put on it was good too.

Not sure if everyone knows this, but you can order the Lafou's brew without the collector mug. We have a ton of "collectable" cups already. By not ordering the mug, you get a standard Disney plastic cup and it knocks the price down to around $4-ish.

 

[Vaughn4380]

I love smoking ribs and pork butt. Anyway, I know the version at Yak & Yeti must be a little different, so can you give your take on them? Flavor type? Sweet, Smoky, Grilled, Asian flare? I might go for these in Sept when we're there.

Sure can, I really like the ribs we get in Nashville at a place called Jack's on the main strip and these are what I compare all ribs in my life too. I am not sure how the Yak and Yeti's ribs are prepared, but I am guessing they are not smoked much, they remind me more of an oven baked type that are finished off on a flamed grill. But unlike the cruddy oven baked ribs we get in Ohio, the Yak and Yeti ribs were not dried out in any way.They were tender enough that when you went to pick up one of the bones, the meat just fell off. And there was a ton of meat on them. Also, here in Ohio, some of the rib places keep the ribs in a pan of water until your order, which gives them a boiled pot roast kind of texture (horrible). Again, Yak and Yeti ribs did not have this this quality at all (which is good). The sauce is best described as a sweet and tangy BBQ, leaning mores towards the tangy side, with hints of asian spices in it. I am probably not explaining it very well, lol. While tasting different from Jack's ribs, easily on par with them.

I used to get ribs every trip at the Flame Tree BBQ. Well this time it was closed for refurbishment. I would say the ribs at Yak and Yeti were easily better than Flame Tree (which are pretty decent themselves).

 

[trivial]

Oh man, that's a real shame about losing all of your FP+s. I'm shocked that guest services wasn't able to just override and manually re-enter your reservations... could they not do anything at all?

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Does the cinnamon roll at Gaston’s still come with Maple icing?

 

[Vaughn4380]

Oh man, that's a real shame about losing all of your FP+s. I'm shocked that guest services wasn't able to just override and manually re-enter your reservations... could they not do anything at all?

By the time we figured it out we were at the back of the park, had already spent considerable time with guest relations dealing with the ticket issue, and my wife was ready to be done with the whole fiasco, so we let it go.

 

[Vaughn4380]

Does the cinnamon roll at Gaston’s still come with Maple icing?

Sorry, no clue, I didn't get one, others in the group did but I didn't ask what the icing was.

 

[DisneyFive]

Sure can, I really like the ribs we get in Nashville at a place called Jack's on the main strip and these are what I compare all ribs in my life too. I am not sure how the Yak and Yeti's ribs are prepared, but I am guessing they are not smoked much, they remind me more of an oven baked type that are finished off on a flamed grill. But unlike the cruddy oven baked ribs we get in Ohio, the Yak and Yeti ribs were not dried out in any way.They were tender enough that when you went to pick up one of the bones, the meat just fell off. And there was a ton of meat on them. Also, here in Ohio, some of the rib places keep the ribs in a pan of water until your order, which gives them a boiled pot roast kind of texture (horrible). Again, Yak and Yeti ribs did not have this this quality at all (which is good). The sauce is best described as a sweet and tangy BBQ, leaning mores towards the tangy side, with hints of asian spices in it. I am probably not explaining it very well, lol. While tasting different from Jack's ribs, easily on par with them.

I used to get ribs every trip at the Flame Tree BBQ. Well this time it was closed for refurbishment. I would say the ribs at Yak and Yeti were easily better than Flame Tree (which are pretty decent themselves).

Perfect. Thank you! ...and, as with you, Flame Tree BBQ has been our go to QS location at AK for all of our visits. Agree that their ribs are pretty good. Much better than any other QS on property for sure.

Dan

 

[AllieBoo]

Temps were downright pleasant compared to our usual late June/early July time periods of previous trips.

You are so right about this! We were there last week too and could not get over how nice temps were. We always go during this time period and it is usually much hotter!

 

[midnightlouise]

Thanks for sharing! Sorry about your FP, though. I'm pretty sure I would have spontaneously combusted if that had happened to me! Glad that overall you had a great time!