[jo-jo]

Disclaimer................This is not a "day one- we ate at Casey's corner, ate hot dogs, fries ( 9.95) rode dumbo at 12:37, then did buzz lightyear at 1:15......." type report. I can't remember what my phone number is half the time, I don't know how people remember all the details when they write reports. Same thing with pictures. I see all the wonderful pictures from others and I always plan to take great pictures, but it never happens. This will be more like grouping of thoughts on rides, meals, hotels, etc. But if there are any questions, I will be happy to try to answer them.


Our very jumbled family trip.

Cast -me Jo-jo AKA mom AKA grandma (51)
DH AKA dad AKA grandpa (62)
DD AKA Becky AKA mommy (28)
DS AKA John AKA uncle Joohnnnn (25)
DSIL AKA Casey AKA daddy (28)
DS's friend AKA Steve AKA (for this trip) uncle Steve AKA son (25)

AND THE STAR OF OUR CAST

DGD AKA Alex (Alexandria) AKA sweetie pie AKA honey pots(2 1/2)



This was Steve's first trip to disney. He like so many others, thought disneyworld was just the MK and he was surprised that the MK was soooo big. He and John have been friends since about 2nd grade. I was glad he could go. Last time we (as a family) went on a trip, John wandered about by himself a lot. We just aren't into spending 3 hrs at ESPN or running out to PI at 11P.M.



John and Steve left on Sept 22. They stayed at POP. We came in on the 26th and also stayed at POP. My DD,DSIL and DGD stayed at the POLY for a few days.

John and Steve went with the free dining. Before we came down, they ate at Planet Hollywood, ESPN, Corel Reef, LTT. They thought the steak at Corel Reef was dry, but didn't say much about the other places so I guess the food was ok. They enjoyed watching the Eagles win at ESPN. They never made it to AK. Spent two days at the water parks and wished they had spent more time Disney Quest. Went to PI several times. The new ticket structure with 7 days and 7 pluses worked out best for them. Under the old plan they would have had only 5 pluses and would have ran out.



As a whole family, we ate at Ohana and CP.

At Ohana, John ordered some chicken strips and fries, but we all enjoyed the rest of the meal. I didn't eat any of the wonton chips, shrimp, turkey or sausage, but still needed to roll out the door. My rest of the family ate most everything else. The only downside to the meal was we could have used the wet towels. We asked one of the servers and he said he would check on them, but we never got them. We also got charged for Alex but when I pointed it out that she was 2 1/2, it was taken off with no problem. One side note, John and Steve were on the dining plan, at this point we were paying OOP using DDE. So we had 2 on the dining plan and 4 (plus toddler) on DDE. 18 % tip was added to our bill. I thought it was odd.


The next day we ate CP for a late lunch. The bill (same set up as above) didn't have a tip included and since our server was so good, we ended up putting in a bit more. Food was good, but John made himself a PB&J sandwich. He did eat other things, but PB&J????? Alex was being cranky so we took turns carting her back and forth to the food line getting a dab of this or that, giving the others a chance to eat.

On Saturday the boys were leaving, DH and I were going to trails end for breakfast but John asked us on Friday night if we wanted to meet them for breakfast. As we were keeping Alex overnight, we thought this might be a better idea. So saturday, we stayed at POP for breakfast and saw the boys off at 7:45 for the ME bus. Hugs and kisses all around. Alex really enjoyed buttering the mickey waffles. Didn't eat any until an hour later, but at least we know they were well buttered.

[Dopey]

Well, it's only a really great Mickey waffle when it's buttered proprerly.

I thought you were DVC member, Jo-Jo

[alilmagical32]

sounds like a craaazy and fun time! Cant wait for more!

[lovemysons]

So, just what did you eat at Ohana then??

Would you say it was a good meal? Other than the wet towels never showing up, was it a good experience?

[jo-jo]

Sept 28 was my DD's 5th anniversay, so we kept DGD overnight. We had planned to get a pizza (half pepperoni /half mushroom), but was told at POP's food court you could only order a pizza like that from your room. The only pizza from the food court is cheese or pepperoni. Well, we wanted to use our DDE card but pizza delivery adds 18% plus a delivery charge, so we forgot about getting pizza. We just got food at the food court and watched tv in the food court for a while. DD and DSIL went to fultons for their dinner, they enjoyed it but it was expensive.



Just a few thoughts about the parks and crowds. It seemed crowded to us, but maybe we are just spoiled. A few rides,like soaring or the rollar coasters) did at times have waits of 45 -60 min. But most things were 20 mins or less. We had gone to the morning EMH for MK and had rides were there were no one in front of us. Epcot (food and wine) seemed to have lots of people. My DH and I were going to go back in mid April, but I convinced him we should move the trip to sept again. April is still is the spring break period and although not as busy as Easter, I'm sure a lot busier than sept.


Rides......My DGD was afraid of most of them. Even small world. I know, some of you are thinking "smart kid, those dolls are scary". LOL But she didn't like buzz, couldn't get her on peterpan or winnie the pooh. She did like dumbo and tea cups. Her parents took her to the Nemo ride, scared, We took her to the Nemo show and she asked after ever song, "done"? She sat on my lap the whole time. The only way I got her into small world was a promise of ice cream. The first time I tried , we stood at the railing just looking at people and pointing out how all the kids seem to like the ride. No go. We walked down and the wonderful CM tried so hard to work with me. He offered a boat all to ourselves. (a pink princess boat) He told Alex how it wasn't scary and all about the happy dolls. No go. So we left. A few days later we tried again with the ice cream plan. She sat on my lap the whole time, but she did point at this or that doll. But if you ask her if she liked it, she'll say no.

Now I'm sorry Dixie, but I'm no longer part of the never ridden splash mountain club. I was really really afraid to go but I said I would go as a joke thinking I would never have to do it. But since a promise is a promise. My DD sat in front, my DH was next to me. So we go thru the little drops, everything is ok. When we get to the big one, I closed my eyes, ducked my head, and just about broke my DH arm trying to hold on. I have to say, the drop seem to last about 2 secs. I don't know if I would ever do the drop with my eyes open, but I did it and lived. I also went on dinosauar (last time, I scream so much, my DD couldn't stop laughing at me). And primevil whirl (is that the right name?), once again eyes closed.

[jo-jo]

Originally Posted by Dopey

Well, it's only a really great Mickey waffle when it's buttered proprerly.

I thought you were DVC member, Jo-Jo

Yes, we are. But Casey had gotten a 40% discount card and they wanted to stay at the POLY for a few days. They got a garden room for 200 a night. We are too cheap to do that, so we stayed at pop for about 60 a night. We did move to BCV in a few days and it was wonderful.

[jo-jo]

Originally Posted by lovemysons

So, just what did you eat at Ohana then??

Would you say it was a good meal? Other than the wet towels never showing up, was it a good experience?

I had salad, chicken wings, potatoes, steak, pork and the bread pudding.
The others ate some of everything. Except John.....picky, picky eater, but he did like the messy chicken wings.

And yes it was a nice family meal. My DD and DGD did the limbo and other games. I know she annoys some people but I really like the "ukulele lady". After the show, I told her how glad I was that her work problem had been fixed and that all was well. She was so sweet, she got a cupcake for us to go. One other bad thing I just remembered, we ate at about 6ish, the sun was started to set. You know just at the right angle to burn your eyes out. We asked for the shade to be pulled down and was told,"oh that shade is broken". So we played musical chairs, we kept shifting chairs around, so no one was looking right at the sun.

[jo-jo]

More on meals.

Most of the meals from here out my DH and I ate alone. We did eat one meal with DD, DSIL and DGD at Corel Reef. We had asked to sit on the lower level, but was told it would be anywhere from 30 min to 1 1/2 hr wait. We said "no thank you". We sat on the second level in a booth. The room was very loud and we could hardly hear our server. My DSIL wanted water with his meal and for some reason, the server kept pushing bottled water. We couldn't understand what the problem was. The rest of us wanted water and coffee/soda, so I guess she wanted to make sure the tab added up. Once again DGD showed off her buttering skills. And was very good eating her soup. And then that was the end of the quiet meal. My DD and DH had blacken catfish, they said it was good but spicey. The server warned them about the spice. I had a steak and I can't remember what DSIL had. I thought my steak was good. I had the chocolate wave. The cherries almost put me under the table. I don't drink, and I couldn't believe how strong they were. My DGD was going after my dessert, so we let her smear some of her fruit in the chocolate the was drizzled on the plate. (Her mom pretasted it and didn't taste any alcohol).


DH and I ate at Le Cellier twice. First time we both had the 14 NY strip steak, cheese soup and I had the cake and he the creme brulee. I thought the meat would have a bone so I didn't think 14 oz would be all meat. Neither of us could finish the meat, but we boxed it up and made sandwiches for breakfast. The second time we both had the filet. He had the dish with risotto (sp) and I with the maple BBQ sause and mashed potatoes. We both enjoyed them. I had had the cheese soup again and DH had some chicken and sausage dish served in a small skillet. He really liked that dish. Again he had the brulee and I had the apple pumpkin cobbler with maple ice cream. Both good, but really to full to enjoy. One weird thing from our server. As we were still eating our entrees, our server walks by and drops off the dessert menu. We thought that was really pushy. But when she stopped to asked about dessert, we said we needed a few mins.

We also ate at Mexico. We asked to be seated near the water. We were told there would be a bit of a wait but not too long. We waited maybe 20 mins. We were giving a choice of sitting near, but not next to the water, but we said we would wait. I really was unsure about mexico. I had heard so many bad reports about it and how the tables were crammed together. So I thought if we sit next to the water, at least we couldn't be bumped on that side. DH had the tacos and I had sopa something or other. They were good, just wasn't sure what I was eating. I had the combination plate. A steak, refried beans, rice, a rolled up something and a folded over something with cheese. I thought my dish was very good. I needed to share some with DH. Too much to eat! DH was a little disappointed with his meal. It had potatoes, mixed vegs., shrimp and steak. It didn't taste bad, just not very mexican. We got the flan and bread pudding, neither really thrilled us. But my DH would go back again. He would just order something else. Also we didn't have any trouble reading the menu. I have read it was soooo dark, but it didn't bother us. Maybe because we sat in the building for 20 mins, our eyes had time to adjust.

[jo-jo]

more meal stuff

Boma...first time for us. We checked in upstairs. Got a buzzer and when downstairs. And waited and waited. It didn't seem real busy and we saw people coming and going and we were still waiting. After 20 min or so, I went up to the desk to ask about how long. The CM told me "we have been buzzing you". It turns out our buzzer wasn't registered or something. So now we had to wait for the next table. After about ten min we saw a manager type person and just as we thought to talk to him, our buzzer went off. So we were seated and we started eating, but a bit later the manager turns up again. I mean we were thinking "our first visit to boma's and we are sitting for 1/2 hr on an empty night because someone slipped up" So I go and told my story. The manager thanked me and when off to talk to people. Back to the food. My DH loved it. I thought it was ok. Some things were really good, a few things were yuck (at least to me)..but I didn't go away hungry. I tried the zebra domes that everyone raves about. I didn't like them. I mean they were ok, but not something I would rush over to get. So after we are just about ready to pop, a chef walks over with a special dessert. Tells us we have to eat it our fingers, no forks. It was small globs of fried something on skewers stuck into a large hunk of pineapple, with chocolate drizzeled all over the place. Okkkkkk.....and we are thinking, does he have us confused with someone else. Maybe someone it's someone birthday. So we sort of sat there, feeling bad that (a) we might have someone else's treat and (b) we were so full we couldn't eat it. So at that point the manager walks up and asks how we like it. We weren't sure what we were eating, it was good, just didn't know what it was. Turned out it was fried oreos. We thanked him, but we said we were so full. He offered to have it boxed up. Our server brought out a box and said she would be back in a min to boxed it up. We transfer it ourselves. It seemed silly to wait for her to do it. So anyway the manager told us, sorry about the wait for the meal. He said he told the CM, if someone doesn't response to a pager, you have to go look for them. We were quite pleased with the outcome. As long as we don't get the feeling of, "we don't care lady, don't bother us", we are ok.

[jo-jo]

Last of the meal talk.

Morocco. We were going for dinner, but DH got sick. Early that day we had a spicey cheese pretzel and I think it just didn't sit right with him. It just seem to hit him all of a sudden and then he thought he would die, then three hours later he was almost fine. So we ended going for lunch the next day. It was good, but not WOW. I don't think I would plan to go again, but if for some reason I HAD to fill a meal spot, I'd eat there again.



Counter meals....we ate at seasons at the land. Huge sandwich, my DH had the roasted chicken. Very good. We got some sandwiches from the maketplace at BC and of course a couple of hamburgers from pecos' bill.


The dining plan.......although it saved us money, we really didn't enjoy it. Having a TS everyday seemed like it took a lot of time and you couldn't really just do whatever. You had to plan around your meals that you made 6 months ago. In the past we would have a TS maybe half the days of the trip. And with DH sick one evening, we ended up with having snacks and CS meals to use up on the day we left. And that was with using some snack credits for our DGD. I think with 24 hours left, we had 7 snacks and 5 CS and 2 TS to use. We ended up buying stuff for the plane and was eating some cookies today from the trip. Before the trip, we had visions of hot fudge sundaes, dole whips, funnel cakes but we were to full from the meals to even think about junk food. What a disappointment. I think if we did it again, we would only do it for maybe 3 or 4 nights and wing it the rest of the trip. With staying at DVC and switching resorts, it would be possible to do that.

[DisneyTeacher]

Great reviews!!

I know what you're saying about the dining plan. We like it but at the same time we are looking forward to not using it. THe two trips we've used it were too long to be on the dining plan (10 days and 13 days). We are big eaters and we were tired of all the food by the time we were done. I think it would be great for shorter trips but I began to feel chained to a table after about day 6 or 7. Like you, we were too full from the huge meals to truly enjoy the snack credits. We used at least 6 in big boxed of cookies to take home on our last day. Other than that Nate used a lot of the credits for popcorn and drinks. I can't remember any treat my DH and I got using a snack credit.

My DH also got sick on our 2006 trip and we wasted several credits where he didn't eat. We went to the restaurants but he wasn't back to full eating mode yet so he just picked here and there.

[cinderbella]

Yummy yummy yummy this TR makes Bella's tummy hungry!!!

The first time we did the DDP The Dave was sick with some very strange stomach virus and just didn't feel like eating anything so I know how you feel about the dining plan being sort of restrictive. Usually he eats like a hog--but that time we just barley broke even.

I was glad to hear about the good customer service at Boma even though you didn't love the food there...but my gosh fried oreos sound delicious! I have never tried those!!

And YAYA!!! Splash Mountain!! I an proud of you Jo Jo!! I LOVVVVVVVEEEE that ride..and I bet if you ride it again you'll open your eyes!! I can't wait to hear more TR!!!

[WishUponAStar]

I really appreciate your restaurant reviews, it's nice to hear everything from different people's perspectives. For instance, I understand what you are saying about the DDP & how having ADRs every night can feel restricting but DH and I see it totally different. At this point I think we go to WDW for three primary reasons; to eat, relax, and for atmosphere. For us the dining plan is like heaven! Pre-paid meals, good dinners at sit-down restaurants every night, and I like forming my days around where I have ADRs.

I am sorry to hear about your so/so experience at Boma, it's always been one of our favorites, but with all these mediocre reviews lately I'm gettin' nervous!

Can't wait to hear more!!! WHERE ARE THE PICTURES??

[lovemysons]

Those were some thorough meal reviews. I really want to eat at Le Cellier, right now!

I love the fact that you tried Splash! Good for you!!

[Soundgod]

I saw 18% tip added to our bill at Jiko only. At Flying Fish, the tip was left up to me for the OOP portion. At Jiko, it was explained that if part of the party is dining plan, they automatically add the tip to non plan guests.
For people who are worrying about Boma, I'm wondering if it's because of the big build up, or if it's part of a seeming trend that has all of the buffets' dinners tasting less than spectacular as they dumb down and streamline restaurants' offerings. Could they have swapped executive chefs? Or maybe some of the offerings are too off the path for mainstream tastes?
You won't know for yourself until you've dined there yourself.