“Life is Grand, it Yacht to be, we are at Disney! 1/29 New TR link, a question, and this TR is complete!

[pkondz]

I was surprised the Destino tower had such good pricing especially for the water view

I am too! That's a really good rate!

I highly recommend the Mac and cheese, it is a smaller portion, perfect for a side or snack!

Thanks for the tip!

No I just loved it because of the people mover theme, favorite ride!

Okay, your Plan next time at DS, Polite Pig with dessert at Ghiradelli

I like this plan!

I know! I was fine with our room, however, I think I am giving up on the TP fax system, my requests have been ignored the last several times. I am trying the Disney system this time to compare if I have better luck. Do you remember the room you and your daughter had at OKW? We will be there our first part of January trip. I want to be close to the hospitality house.

Hmmm...

Okay, checked my TR.
Building 64, room 6433.

 

[MinnieWebster]

Great find for the Destino Tower! Can't wait to hear about your stay there!

got the brisket with mac and cheese, coleslaw, and cornbread. This was so good. The brisket was smoky, tender, and very flavorful.

This sounds delicious!

picked a cute lantern with the castle on it and put a battery operated candle in it.

Adorable! Great choice!

Ghiradelli brownie sundae was our choice.

Yum.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

hope this lets people know how fun these parties can be especially when the crowds are lower!!

We are doing the Christmas Party and I am just hoping that it isn't too crowded! Fingers Crossed!

We had plans to try the Polite Pig for lunch. I read about the macaroni and cheese and knew Andi would like this. I got the brisket with mac and cheese, coleslaw, and cornbread. This was so good. The brisket was smoky, tender, and very flavorful.

OMG! Polite Pig was sooooo good!!!! Andy LOVED IT! And good to know that the mac n cheese is good.

 

[schumigirl]

How’d I miss this update??

I love the lantern you chose....it’s perfect for a birthday gift!

And how good does that food look! Brisket, mac n cheese, cornbread and waffle fries......doesn’t get much better than that! We saw the Polite Pig when we went there, now I know where we’re going if we ever venture back over there!

I do love the vaulted ceilings in your room, it looks lovely, and still a beautiful view.......

Looking forward to next update......

 

[disneyAndi14]

What a great deal on the Destino Tower! It will be so fun to stay there - and you're right, CSR is ridiculously centrally located and super close to three of the four parks! I really enjoyed the proximity to the parks when I stayed there.

That sounds like a great morning at Disney Springs! Your lunch at Polite Pig looks SO good! I love a good brisket!

It's a bummer that you didn't get your requests at the Grand Floridian, but I hope you ended up enjoying your room location. I stayed in Sago Cay when we stayed at GF in 2015 and loved that it was so close to the main building (and close to the best spot to watch the MK fireworks). Perhaps they thought they fulfilled your water request with the "view" of the inlet of the Seven Seas Lagoon? Nonetheless, the GF is a beautiful resort no matter where your room location!

I am excited to try the Destino Tower, the lobby and restaurant look amazing! I hope we get a higher floor.
I was quite happy with our lunch at The Polite Pig, it is fun to try new places.
Our room was really quite nice, I do like Conch Key a little better. This was our second stay in Sago Cay. I watched HEA from the spot in front of Gaspirilla and it is so perfect! No need to fight crowds there.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Great update for your January trip!!

I am excited for this trip. I like the amount of days we have, this will make easier to relax on some days!

What a cute lantern you picked out for yourself!

I really like it, it comes in every night with my battery operated candle, it has a timer. It looks so pretty

Your room at the GF looked really nice!

it really was

We are going to have so much fun!!!!

Yes we sure are!!

He sure did

ahh Walt sure was a dreamer and a doer all at the same time!

This is so beautiful, Caroline!

Thank you, it sure is pretty glowing at night

Cute lantern

Thanks Glenda!

Love your dress

Thanks again, this was super comfortable and very reasonably priced.

You were facing our room from our last stay. The building on rt. side 3'rd floor, aabout 2 doors to the right of the exit. I found this location very loud, did you hear all of the linen carts they carted to your building to send out to the laundry? They echoed so loudly across the water.

We were very lucky, we didn’t hear anything in the morning or night, very quiet.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Nice Halloween party photos from past years! I loved your BB-8 and Rey costumes!

How exciting to be able to switch to Destino for such a reasonable price! I hope you enjoy it there.

Too bad your Grand room wasn’t anything like what you requested. But it still looked like a nice room from your pictures

So kind of Doc to make one of his cheesecakes!

Thank you Meghan! It is fun to look back at all the pictures.
I am excited to stay at Destino, the place looks amazing
Our room was nice, I was just hoping for the area we stayed the first time at GF. That was my fav
Doc is so nice to think of us, the cheesecake is so delicious

 

[disneyAndi14]

Hmmm...

Okay, checked my TR.
Building 64, room 6433.

Thank you I am going to try sending my own fax and I called, will see.

Great find for the Destino Tower! Can't wait to hear about your stay there!

It really is a good price, the regular CSR rooms were as slow as 140.00

This sounds delicious!

Two thumbs up for Polite Pig

Adorable! Great choice!

Its so pretty glowing at night

Yum

Cant beat a Ghiradelli brownie sundae yum!

We are doing the Christmas Party and I am just hoping that it isn't too crowded! Fingers Crossed!

Oh boy, I sure hope it is not wall to wall people for you! So much more enjoyable with lower crowds, like it is suppose to be!

OMG! Polite Pig was sooooo good!!!! Andy LOVED IT! And good to know that the mac n cheese is good.

Yay, I’m glad you two enjoyed it. We really liked it and next time try the Mac and cheese yum!

 

[disneyAndi14]

How’d I miss this update??

I love the lantern you chose....it’s perfect for a birthday gift!

And how good does that food look! Brisket, mac n cheese, cornbread and waffle fries......doesn’t get much better than that! We saw the Polite Pig when we went there, now I know where we’re going if we ever venture back over there!

I do love the vaulted ceilings in your room, it looks lovely, and still a beautiful view.......

Looking forward to next update......

Thank you Carole
The lantern is so pretty glowing every night!
I know how much Tom and you like a good Brisket from your reports! This really was yummy. I rarely will order Mac and cheese and I am so glad I did. This was homemade and very tasty
I did like our room overall, nice and quiet and Andi loves the vaulted ceiling, I did too

 

[pkondz]

Thank you I am going to try sending my own fax and I called, will see.

Just so you know, (think I wrote about it in the TR), I did not get a good room from my fax request. I actually got a terrible location. But when we went to check in, I told the CM that I wanted something closer. That worked.

So when you get there, ask them where your room is and if you're not happy, ASK.

 

[ariane37]

I have some exciting news about my January trip. I was checking prices this morning on the Disney website and found The Destino Tower for about $160.00 a night with a water view. I jumped on this for our last 4 nights at WDW.

That's awesome! We toured all the room types at the Gran Destino last weekend and they are really super nice. I like CSR but the rooms in the tower blow them away! Good move!

t was no where close to what I requested It was in Sago Cay facing the interior of the resort. I had requested Conch Key facing the water, oh well it was on the upper floor so that was a plus. Sago Cay is close to the bus stop, the QS, and main building. Our room was very nice and clean. We had the vaulted ceilings which is a plus.

I never really make room requests; sorry you didn't get what you want. We were in Big Pine last month and thought the location was great!

And I love all your throwback MNSSHP pics I went last Thursday and just like last year it was too crowded unfortunately. I didn't mind as much since I didn't have to pay for the ticket lol but I think I'll be skipping it for a year or two.

 

[afwdwfan]

I have some exciting news about my January trip. I was checking prices this morning on the Disney website and found The Destino Tower for about $160.00 a night with a water view. I jumped on this for our last 4 nights at WDW.

Awesome! I've heard great things about it so that is most definitely an easy choice to make!

It was time for ice cream next. Ghiradelli brownie sundae was our choice. We shared this and it was so delicious.

That looks incredible!!!

 

[amazingact21]

How exciting you were able to switch to Destino in January. You're right, 160 isn't much more than Pop nowadays.

Your lantern is beautiful; I love the castle on the glass. Definitely a subtle Disney touch, and I'm sure it's great lit up.


That brisket looks yummy. Looks like cancelling breakfast and grabbing food at DS was the way to go!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Just so you know, (think I wrote about it in the TR), I did not get a good room from my fax request. I actually got a terrible location. But when we went to check in, I told the CM that I wanted something closer. That worked.

So when you get there, ask them where your room is and if you're not happy, ASK.

Thank you! I definitely will ask. I am excited to stay here since it is new to us!

 

[disneyAndi14]

That's awesome! We toured all the room types at the Gran Destino last weekend and they are really super nice. I like CSR but the rooms in the tower blow them away! Good move!

Yay, nice to hear this. I am excited for this trip. We will be at 2 new to us resorts! I figured if the buses are a pain at both these big resorts we can Lyft a fair amount.

I never really make room requests; sorry you didn't get what you want. We were in Big Pine last month and thought the location was great!

And I love all your throwback MNSSHP pics I went last Thursday and just like last year it was too crowded unfortunately. I didn't mind as much since I didn't have to pay for the ticket lol but I think I'll be skipping it for a year or two.

i was having pretty good success with TP request and then it went totally down hill. January trip, I requested upper floor. Funny thing in August I didn’t request anything other than upper floor at YC and we got a great one! Just never know.
It is fun to look back at all our pictures!

Awesome! I've heard great things about it so that is most definitely an easy choice to make!

I am excited to stay in the tower and try some of the new restaurants

That looks incredible!!!

Ghiradelli sundae=yummy!! The brownie was so delicious

 

[disneyAndi14]

How exciting you were able to switch to Destino in January. You're right, 160 isn't much more than Pop nowadays.

Your lantern is beautiful; I love the castle on the glass. Definitely a subtle Disney touch, and I'm sure it's great lit up.


That brisket looks yummy. Looks like cancelling breakfast and grabbing food at DS was the way to go!

It really looks like a deluxe from the pictures I have been looking at.
The lantern is really nice and definitely subtle, it glows so nice.
The Polite Pig was a favorite of this trip, I am glad we tried it out!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Time to continue with August trip reporting!
This post could be called “Doc should change his name to Chef”, ”Andi becomes the mom, while her mom freaks out”, It’s so hot, will my cheesecake melt?”. Okay, I think you all get a little snapshot of this evening.

Need I say more? Oh I do, okay on with the show!

After we rested in our new room, I decided to go buy some lotion, ugh! The Grand did not have lotion either. I went to Basin and found a really nice body butter. It is called “Wishes” It has a very soft and light fragrance. Andi was intrigued with the candle making. She decided to come back and make a couple candles to bring back for herself and her friends.

We caught a bus to AK and Soon we were walking into my favorite park! It was very hot again, are you surprised? The plan was to meet @docsoliday1 his wife and Tracy by the Island Mercantile. Remember my cold, well yes it was basically gone except now I had a very scratchy throat. When I would start talking, I would cough and cough! I sent Andi to get me a bottled water, while I found everyone.


We all met up and visited for awhile. This was so fun. Doc had prepackaged cheesecake for both Tracy and I. This was so sweet. It was nice meeting his wife this time as well. Tracy was working on a 4 park day and we unfortunately put a kink in her plans. We spent a good hour visiting before we parted ways. Andi and I had a Dinosaur FP to get too.

look at our photobomber in the background.
We said our goodbyes and headed to Dinoland. We had a fun ride and brought back a dinosaur “extra large”. We started walking towards EE and on the bridge I decided to take my phone out to get a picture. Um... my phone was gone I started to freak out! Andi became the mom and calmed me down
She was great, most likely because it wasn’t her phone! If it was hers she would have probably fell apart! Am I right? A young adult without their phone=disaster in epic size!

Andi talked me down and we decided it had to be on Dinosaur. It must have fell out of my pocket. I was wearing a skirt with cell phone pockets and it was in there the last time I checked. We hurried on back to Dinosaur and talked with the CMs at the entrance. They called down to the CM’s at the ride exit to check. Sure enough it was there! Yay, thank goodness! While we were waiting, a mom asked if anyone had seen her kid?? Okay, not good. The CM’s were trying to help her now! Andi turns to me and says see Mom there are worse things to lose than your phone! Happy to report the kid was by the big dinosaur duh! Kids are fascinated with dinosaurs. Okay phone crisis over, kid lost crisis over, time for more fun!

It was time for the Safari, this was a fun animal watching adventure. We saw quite a few animals out on this very hot and steamy evening.

Kelly’s tree


Yak and Yeti was on our radar for dinner. We flashed our Landry’s card and had a table in no time. We were on the lower level this time. It was okay not as nice as the tables upstairs with the view. We decided to share the Tikka Masala with Tofu instead of chicken.




This was very flavorful, however, I like the chicken version way better. The tofu was just meh for me. We enjoyed it overall. I had to ask for our yummy naan bread, the waiter forgot it! This bread is lightly grilled and oh so delicious. It really compliments the dish. We passed on dessert since I had cheesecake. I had put a nearly frozen water bottle next to the cheesecake in my bag and it did stay cold. The heat of this night would have melted that cheesecake otherwise.

We had one last FP for FoP, we headed into Pandora and did this ride. It was getting dark now and so pretty in this park at night. We slowly worked our way to the exit and said goodnight to this delightful Park.


I had a piece of cheesecake back at the room and Andi tried some and she thought it was very good. Thanks again Doc!

I could not get a decent picture of the cheesecake to fully portray its awesomenes.
It was time for bed and our room proved to be nice and quiet.
Stay tuned for more AK and I promise the Rhino tour is up next......... Oh and of course Kevin sightings!

 

[kastoney]

This post could be called “Doc should change his name to Chef”, ”Andi becomes the mom, while her mom freaks out”, It’s so hot, will my cheesecake melt?”. Okay, I think you all get a little snapshot of this evening.

You all certainly had quite the evening

look at our photobomber in the background.

Too funny that guy was the first thing I noticed. Looks like he wants to get in the picture.

While we were waiting, a mom asked if anyone had seen her kid?? Okay, not good. The CM’s were trying to help her now! Andi turns to me and says see Mom there are worse things to lose than your phone!

Man, should we start calling her Dear Andi

This was very flavorful, however, I like the chicken version way better. The tofu was just meh for me. We enjoyed it overall. I had to ask for our yummy naan bread, the waiter forgot it!

Yum, this looks really good. I'm sure chicken would have been better, because its well chicken, but I do love me some tofu. Something about the texture of it that I just can't get enough of.

We passed on dessert since I had cheesecake. I had put a nearly frozen water bottle next to the cheesecake in my bag and it did stay cold. The heat of this night would have melted that cheesecake otherwise.

I was wondering what you were doing with it. Cheesecake in August in AK does not sound like the best of circumstances.

 

[Steppesister]

We all met up and visited for awhile. This was so fun. Doc had prepackaged cheesecake for both Tracy and I. This was so sweet. It was nice meeting his wife this time as well.

Seems like Doc is getting in tons of Meets lately!! Glad you all had such a nice time!

ur “extra large”. We started walking towards EE and on the bridge I decided to take my phone out to get a picture. Um... my phone was gone

They called down to the CM’s at the ride exit to check. Sure enough it was there! Yay, thank goodness!

That exact same thing happened to me on TT. First ride of the trip (this was 2016) and it was gone! Scared me to death but it was right there at the ride exit. Fell out into our car and someone grabbed it.

We flashed our Landry’s card and had a table in no time.

Well at least it wasn't MY table! LOLOLOL!!!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Um... my phone was gone

Phones and keys, so stressful!!!

Stay tuned for more AK and I promise the Rhino tour is up next......... Oh and of course Kevin sightings!

I hope you loved the tour as much as we did!!!!! "KEVIN'S a girl?" I love that bird!!!!