Trip Report 4/14 - 4/21

KEVD

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Dates: Sat 4/14/2018 - Sun 4/22/2018
Traveled with: My wife, 2 sons (12 and 15)
Resorts: 1 night at All Star Sports and 7 nights at Saratoga Springs

First time using DME:
This was the first time not renting a car and we didn’t miss it at all
My wife and I both dislike/distrust any type of public transpo. But no issues with Disney's transpo
Loved DME, especially because you can skip baggage claim and bag check-in at MCO
Used Uber on the rare occasions that we wanted to save some time

Weather was fantastic. Sunny, dry, only rained once

All Star Sports... didn't love it
Room was small
Too much hustle/bustle
Long walk to transportation and dining
The restaurant was crowded, with sub par food and poor menu options
Theming is over the top (not impressed by the gargantuan football helmets and baseball bats) However, the “under the lights” baseball stadium themed pool was pretty cool at night
If faced with the choice, I'd go with a nicer off property resort than a stay at All Star Sports
You get what you pay for at the value resorts and I can’t complain about the price

Saratoga Springs... loved it (second time staying here)
Quiet, low key, beautiful surroundings
Lacks the hustle and bustle of other resorts
Provides a relaxing reprieve from long, busy days at the parks
It's really nice to be a walk or short boat ride to/from Disney Springs
My only two complaints: 1- the snack/drink bar at the smaller pool near our room was rarely open; 2- it's a long bus ride to/from Animal Kingdom
This is the only deluxe resort we've stayed at so I can’t do a true comparison but I see no reason to pay extra to stay at the higher demand deluxe resorts

Love the advanced / online ordering at QS

Glad to see AK now has more QS options than in the past

New-to-us attractions:
Re-vamped Soarin- awesome, did it three times
Frozen Ever After- Good but didn't knock my socks off
Na'Vi River Cruise- I loved it and thought it was by far the best "river boat" attraction. Really loved the music and animatronics. The rest of my family was not quite as impressed as I was
Flight Of Passage- WOW... just WOW. That's all I can say

Attractions skipped that we usually attend:
Figment; Tough To Be A Bug

Restaurants tried for the first time this trip. (For more detail, I’ll post a more detailed review of each on the food section)
Le Cellier; Yak n Yeti; Tusker House (lunch); Sci Fi; The Plaza; Kona Café (breakfast); Tortuga Tavern

Restaurants this trip that we've been to in the past:
Beaches & Cream; Sanaa; BOG (ppo breakfast); T-Rex; Crystal Palace; Pecos Bills; Cosmic Ray; La Cantina de San Angel; Casey’s

Pretty much done with character buffets
One... our kids are older now; two... they're absurdly overpriced
Made the mistake of booking two character buffets (long story as to why we did this)... we could have done a lot with the $470 we spent between the two

Mistakes made:
Booking two character buffets
Too many sit downs, not enough QS
Not confirming park hours the night prior (on Sat 4/21, all parks opened an hour earlier). I assume this was posted the days prior.

Nice surprises:
-Unbeknownst to us, AK opened to the general public at 8a on Sat 4/21. We arrived around 8:15a expecting to wait 45 min, then deal with the hoards heading to Pandora. But instead we walked right into the park and only waited about 15 mins for Na’Vi.
-At SSR our room was not in the section we stayed at last trip and really wanted again (The Springs). However, we enjoyed our room location this trip (Grandstand) even more.
-Because Starring Rolls (at DHS) closed down we reluctantly went over to Starbucks for breakfast. I've never had their breakfast sandwiches. I tried the sausage, egg and cheese and it was the best I’ve ever had. By far.

Disappointments (first world problems):
-Went to DHS for morning EMH so we could ride RnR two or three times w/lower wait time only to find it was down until 11am
-Splash was down in the AM both days we were at MK. Rope Drop strategy foiled... we like to ride Splash early when wait times are low as opposed to FP. It worked out fine though as we got on with minimal wait once it opened.
-Auntie Gravities no longer serves Ice Cream Floats. So I got ice cream there, then went to Joffrey’s for an iced coffee and made my own god damn float.
-Starring Rolls closed. It’s a loved tradition of ours to get a mid-morning cinnamon roll for breakfast there. Bummer!

Needless to say, it was a wonderful trip and we can't wait to go back!
 
Nice report! We went that time of year in 2016 and the weather was amazing. We went a month later this year, and already the humidity was rough.

And I totally agree about character buffets. I could never eat enough to justify the price and it’s not a relaxing meal with timing the visits and trips to the buffet.
 

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