dwheaton
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2006
I just returned for a great trip to the world from January 23-31. As part of coping with being back in the real world, I'm doing this trip report to remind me of all the fun. I'll add new messages for eachpark day since I'm going to give a lot of details in each one.
To summarize, I've been to Disney World many times as both a kid and adult. We had our second daughter in early 2013, so I haven't been there since January 2012. Three years later, we made the drive from St. Louis with me, my wife, and my daughters Elise and Etta (5 1/2 and 22 months). We spent six glorious and exhausting days at the parks. I finally experienced Fastpass Plus (more on that later), many of the character greetings, and even a character breakfast. Elise also showed quite the knack for thrill rides.
This first post will be about our drive and first evening at Downtown Disney.
Day 1 - The Drive
I'll keep this part very short since it isn't about Disney World directly. We left St. Louis and made the first leg of our journey, stopping in McDonough, Georgia at a very good Holiday Inn Express. We've stayed there on our last three trips. We drove on a Friday and hit some awful traffic in Nashville but got through Atlanta easily. Elise's nose started running profusely on our drive, which made me nervous for how the rest of the trip would go. There's always an unexpected challenge when traveling with young kids. Elise was crazy at Disney World when she was around Etta's age, but Etta is more laid-back and handled everything differently (in a good way).
Day 2 - The Drive, Pushy Timeshare Employees, and Downtown Disney (Raglan Road)
Our second day was pretty easy in terms of the drive, and Elise's cold was already going away (thankfully). We stayed at the Grand Beach as a guest through a timeshare exchange from my wife (Erin)'s parents. We loved it in 2012, but this time my reaction was more mixed. We had a giant three-bedroom unit, which was so nice after days at the parks. The location on I-535 near I-536 was great. You could get to EPCOT in like seven minutes! The state of the resort and our unit wasn't so hot, however. There was an ant problem, the dishwasher was partially broken, and everything just looked a little worn down after three years.
When we arrived at the resort, I hoped the check-in process would be easy because we had a reservation at Raglan Road at 5:15. We got there at 3:35, and the woman at the check-in desk was very nice. I thought it was going to flow smoothly without any sales pitch, but then she sent me to the concierge desk. They immediately started pushing the "open house", which I politely declined. The people at the desk than got condescending and talked to me like I was a kid who didn't understand how great it was. I calmly explained that my kids were in the car with my wife, and we weren't interested. They eventually conceded, but it was really awkward. I guess it comes with the territory when staying at a resort that is connected to timeshares. I thought that Diamond Resorts might be better than Westgate given how they were last time, but that wasn't the case. They also called our unit frequently during our stay and left cryptic messages about our account to get me to call back. It wasn't as bad as Westgate, but I did consider just unplugging the phone.
Downtown Disney
I'd spent a lot of time before the trip fretting on if we should just avoid Downtown Disney and eat dinner at a resort. I decided to take a chance and try to get to DTD early and just mosey over to Raglan Road. Our reservation was at 5:15, so we pulled into the parking lot about 4:25. We turned at the first light and parked in the West Side lot. I'm unsure if the garage would have been a better move. We were far away but got a space after a few cycles. It was a long walk, but we made it to Raglan Road around 4:45. It was a Saturday so there were a lot of people. but it was January at least.
The fun began when Etta needed a diaper change and we realized that we'd left the diapers in the car. We were already outside Raglan Road at that point. I took off back to the car and rushed through the crowd. Then i couldn't find the car. After finally locating it, I rushed back and got there about 5:10. It was a lot of walking, but I was on the high of being at Disney after three years. After checking in, we stood in another line for 10 minutes and finally were seated. I'm not sure that's the best way to do things, but it wasn't so bad. We were seated in a side room to the left of the main one by the big stage. It was a little quieter, but we didn't have the fun of the dancers on the big stage. I do wonder if people expect to sit in full view of the dancers and then are disappointed. I'd been to Raglan Road before and understood it might not happen. We did have some dancers in the smaller spot in our room, and Elise even got picked to dance. She was thrilled by it and got a certificate for her efforts. That was a nice touch. The employees at the parks and outside were super nice to our girls throughout the trip, and that was one of the best parts of the whole thing.
I like pubs and relaxing bars, and Raglan Road has that look. It's at Disney, so it isn't so relaxing. Still, it's my kind of place. They have a good beer selection, and I really enjoyed the Hopsecutioner by the Terrapin Beer Company. I ordered fish and chips, which were good but not a huge portion of fish. Erin had the special pot pie (Chicken) and liked it but was stuffed. The Irish soda bread was also very good. Elise enjoyed the macaroni and cheese, which was different than your typical M&C at Disney. We also had the bread pudding for dessert, which was awesome.
I find that Raglan Road is a bit pricey for what you get. You're paying for the atmosphere as much as the food, and while it's in the middle by Disney standards, we dropped over $100 with Etta not wanting to eat very much and Elise having a child's meal. Erin also just had a soda, and I had two beers. I can't imagine what you'd spend with four adults all drinking beer and eating entrees. Still, we had a good time.
Before I finish this first post, a quick note about Downtown Disney. It really is a mess with all the walls and the parking closures. That said, it's still probably fine to visit on most days. When we left around 7:30 after doing a little shopping, there were tons of open spaces in the parking lot. I think all the warnings are keeping some people away from going there. I know that Disney is e-mailing hotel guests and recommending they don't drive there. That probably helped our cause. I will say that we typically eat multiple times at Earl of Sandwich during our trips, but we only went there on our departure day. Even that wasn't really worth the effort given the walking. It takes quite a bit of walking to get the Marketplace area. We are in good shape and don't mind the walking, but doing it with young kids is a real challenge. Luckily, we didn't have to rush to make our reservation (beyond me having to go back to the car).
I do think that Disney Springs is going to be cool. Just walking through and seeing the construction made me realize what it could be when it's finished. It's still sad to see The Adventurer's Club peeking over the walls and knowing it won't come back. I expect that Disney Springs will be mostly open by the time we get there again.
Coming Up - Day 3 (The Magic Kingdom!)
To summarize, I've been to Disney World many times as both a kid and adult. We had our second daughter in early 2013, so I haven't been there since January 2012. Three years later, we made the drive from St. Louis with me, my wife, and my daughters Elise and Etta (5 1/2 and 22 months). We spent six glorious and exhausting days at the parks. I finally experienced Fastpass Plus (more on that later), many of the character greetings, and even a character breakfast. Elise also showed quite the knack for thrill rides.
This first post will be about our drive and first evening at Downtown Disney.
Day 1 - The Drive
I'll keep this part very short since it isn't about Disney World directly. We left St. Louis and made the first leg of our journey, stopping in McDonough, Georgia at a very good Holiday Inn Express. We've stayed there on our last three trips. We drove on a Friday and hit some awful traffic in Nashville but got through Atlanta easily. Elise's nose started running profusely on our drive, which made me nervous for how the rest of the trip would go. There's always an unexpected challenge when traveling with young kids. Elise was crazy at Disney World when she was around Etta's age, but Etta is more laid-back and handled everything differently (in a good way).
Day 2 - The Drive, Pushy Timeshare Employees, and Downtown Disney (Raglan Road)
Our second day was pretty easy in terms of the drive, and Elise's cold was already going away (thankfully). We stayed at the Grand Beach as a guest through a timeshare exchange from my wife (Erin)'s parents. We loved it in 2012, but this time my reaction was more mixed. We had a giant three-bedroom unit, which was so nice after days at the parks. The location on I-535 near I-536 was great. You could get to EPCOT in like seven minutes! The state of the resort and our unit wasn't so hot, however. There was an ant problem, the dishwasher was partially broken, and everything just looked a little worn down after three years.
When we arrived at the resort, I hoped the check-in process would be easy because we had a reservation at Raglan Road at 5:15. We got there at 3:35, and the woman at the check-in desk was very nice. I thought it was going to flow smoothly without any sales pitch, but then she sent me to the concierge desk. They immediately started pushing the "open house", which I politely declined. The people at the desk than got condescending and talked to me like I was a kid who didn't understand how great it was. I calmly explained that my kids were in the car with my wife, and we weren't interested. They eventually conceded, but it was really awkward. I guess it comes with the territory when staying at a resort that is connected to timeshares. I thought that Diamond Resorts might be better than Westgate given how they were last time, but that wasn't the case. They also called our unit frequently during our stay and left cryptic messages about our account to get me to call back. It wasn't as bad as Westgate, but I did consider just unplugging the phone.
Downtown Disney
I'd spent a lot of time before the trip fretting on if we should just avoid Downtown Disney and eat dinner at a resort. I decided to take a chance and try to get to DTD early and just mosey over to Raglan Road. Our reservation was at 5:15, so we pulled into the parking lot about 4:25. We turned at the first light and parked in the West Side lot. I'm unsure if the garage would have been a better move. We were far away but got a space after a few cycles. It was a long walk, but we made it to Raglan Road around 4:45. It was a Saturday so there were a lot of people. but it was January at least.
The fun began when Etta needed a diaper change and we realized that we'd left the diapers in the car. We were already outside Raglan Road at that point. I took off back to the car and rushed through the crowd. Then i couldn't find the car. After finally locating it, I rushed back and got there about 5:10. It was a lot of walking, but I was on the high of being at Disney after three years. After checking in, we stood in another line for 10 minutes and finally were seated. I'm not sure that's the best way to do things, but it wasn't so bad. We were seated in a side room to the left of the main one by the big stage. It was a little quieter, but we didn't have the fun of the dancers on the big stage. I do wonder if people expect to sit in full view of the dancers and then are disappointed. I'd been to Raglan Road before and understood it might not happen. We did have some dancers in the smaller spot in our room, and Elise even got picked to dance. She was thrilled by it and got a certificate for her efforts. That was a nice touch. The employees at the parks and outside were super nice to our girls throughout the trip, and that was one of the best parts of the whole thing.
I like pubs and relaxing bars, and Raglan Road has that look. It's at Disney, so it isn't so relaxing. Still, it's my kind of place. They have a good beer selection, and I really enjoyed the Hopsecutioner by the Terrapin Beer Company. I ordered fish and chips, which were good but not a huge portion of fish. Erin had the special pot pie (Chicken) and liked it but was stuffed. The Irish soda bread was also very good. Elise enjoyed the macaroni and cheese, which was different than your typical M&C at Disney. We also had the bread pudding for dessert, which was awesome.
I find that Raglan Road is a bit pricey for what you get. You're paying for the atmosphere as much as the food, and while it's in the middle by Disney standards, we dropped over $100 with Etta not wanting to eat very much and Elise having a child's meal. Erin also just had a soda, and I had two beers. I can't imagine what you'd spend with four adults all drinking beer and eating entrees. Still, we had a good time.
Before I finish this first post, a quick note about Downtown Disney. It really is a mess with all the walls and the parking closures. That said, it's still probably fine to visit on most days. When we left around 7:30 after doing a little shopping, there were tons of open spaces in the parking lot. I think all the warnings are keeping some people away from going there. I know that Disney is e-mailing hotel guests and recommending they don't drive there. That probably helped our cause. I will say that we typically eat multiple times at Earl of Sandwich during our trips, but we only went there on our departure day. Even that wasn't really worth the effort given the walking. It takes quite a bit of walking to get the Marketplace area. We are in good shape and don't mind the walking, but doing it with young kids is a real challenge. Luckily, we didn't have to rush to make our reservation (beyond me having to go back to the car).
I do think that Disney Springs is going to be cool. Just walking through and seeing the construction made me realize what it could be when it's finished. It's still sad to see The Adventurer's Club peeking over the walls and knowing it won't come back. I expect that Disney Springs will be mostly open by the time we get there again.
Coming Up - Day 3 (The Magic Kingdom!)