Diet? What diet? A countdown: 18 TS restaurants on TIW card...#1 on pg. 18!

[Euphoria027]

You worry about your weight? You look great in the pictures you posted... Jealous! And your boys are beautiful. Looking forward to more!

 

[Leshaface]

Yay!

Okay so first of all: Your boys are ADORABLE!!! Their smiles are sooo precious! Now I better have some good lookin' kids like that!

Wow already two reviews done!?

I really want to check out WCC now! I've heard about the ketchup and the oversized drinks (which I could use one right now; it's so blazing hot), but i've never seen the fork! That is too funny!

Oh and about the crab cakes in Maryland...I had my first crab cake ever there 2 years ago, and it was seriously one of the best ever! (Drool)

And congratulations on taking pictures, eating your food, AND taking care of your kids at the same time!!! I'm sure it was a challenge, but your pics turned out great!

 

[bangzoom6877]

You must have posted your Captain's Grill review at the same time as I responded to your WCC review.

Captain's Grill looks great and the pork chop looks really tasty so I was surprised that you said it was bland. We are staying at BWV next month and were going to give Captain's Grill a try - it would be that or Beaches and Cream, which would you recommend of the two?

The pork chop itself didn't taste like it had much seasoning or anything...when mixed with the apple, it tasted much better though so I just took a slice of apple with each bite. We have never been to Beaches & Cream but from what I have heard it is very small in there and if you don't go when it first opens, it couuld be a very long wait. They don't take ADRs. I would give Captain's Grille a try. The crab cakes were very good, and I'm sure there is another item there that is better than the pork chop. Either way, you should judge for yourself. Some people say this is a fantastic restaurant. And, even though it came in at #17, it was not a bad place. We did not have any truly bad food at all on our trip! By the way, I am jealous that you will be at BWV next month! I miss it so much there!!! It is a wonderful resort!!!

You worry about your weight? You look great in the pictures you posted... Jealous! And your boys are beautiful. Looking forward to more!

Yes, I am a fanatic about my weight! Thanks so much for the compliments about my boys and about myself too!

Yay!

Okay so first of all: Your boys are ADORABLE!!! Their smiles are sooo precious! Now I better have some good lookin' kids like that!

Wow already two reviews done!?

I really want to check out WCC now! I've heard about the ketchup and the oversized drinks (which I could use one right now; it's so blazing hot), but i've never seen the fork! That is too funny!

Oh and about the crab cakes in Maryland...I had my first crab cake ever there 2 years ago, and it was seriously one of the best ever! (Drool)

And congratulations on taking pictures, eating your food, AND taking care of your kids at the same time!!! I'm sure it was a challenge, but your pics turned out great!

Thanks so much!! You will have cute kids too...you and your hubby are adorable!

The fork at WCC was funny. Everyone around us was laughing! The place was cute, just got repetitive after a while.

It was a challenge but I managed to take my food pics, for the most part! You will see as my reviews continue, that in some places, I forgot at first because I was pre-occupied. But I got almost everything! I missed a lot of snacks though...no Dole Whip pics, oh well...good thing there are plenty of pics of those on these boards for me to drool at as I wait 2 years for my next trip!

 

[bangzoom6877]

And, coming in at #16 is........ (drum roll )....

Restaurant Marrakesh!

Surprised everyone??? I know this restaurant was not on my original list, but here's what happened...

So, were at MK on July 15th with my parents, my sister, her 2 girls, and her fiance. We were having lunch at Cosmic Ray's (CS), which we all enjoyed. The following day, we had lunch booked in Norway at Epcot with the princesses, and we were going to eat around the countries in the evening, at CS places. Anyway, while eating lunch at Cosmic Ray's, my sister asked if we would like to have dinner at the TS in Germany (Biergarten) at Epcot instead of snacking around. Well, this thrilled me of course, as I knew they would all love it there...so I told my sister I would get on the phone right away with Disney Dining and see if they could get the 10 of us into Biergarten the following night. The only thing was, DH and I had dinner booked there for the last night of our trip. I asked DH if he would like to go to either Morocco or Italy for dinner, and we both agreed that Morocco would be a better choice, since we are very critical and picky with Italian food. Well, sure enough Biergarten was available at our desired time! So I asked the CM on the phone if we could cancel Biergarten on the 22nd and have dinner at Marrakesh instead and it was available. So, Marrakesh ended up being our last dinner of the trip!

On our 2008 trip, we had eaten lunch at Tangierine, the CS in Morocco, and we loved it. So we were really looking forward to Marrakesh and it was very good. I had heard great things about the belly dancer there, but she was very far away from our table so my pics didn't come out good at all. Plus, DH had taken the boys to the restroom while she was doing her little show (which was much shorter than I expected), so they missed it. However, the restaurant is very beautiful inside, and the food was really good.

We were very tired at this point in the day. It was our last day, and we had decided to just go to Epcot late morning, when the WS opened, and have the boys stop at each Kidcot stop (one in each country) for crafts, get their passports stamped in each country, look in the stores and snack around the countries a little. We thought it would be a nice relaxing day...well, it was a very nice day. It felt relaxing in the first couple of countries, and also when we had our lunch in France, but once the afternoon heat hit, it was exhausting. Normally we are at the resort by 2:00pm so we are not in a park at the height of the heat. Now I see why this is a good idea! We still had fun though, and we cooled off with some shaved ice in Japan, some bottled water we had brought in with us, and of course Grey Goose Lemonade slushes in France!

Anyway, getting back to Marrakesh......they start by taking your drink order (Diet Coke and water for DH and for me, we were so thirsty and had already had some alcohol that day!), then they bring some Moroccan bread. The bread is delicious, nice and warm. I saved mine to enjoy with my entree.

DH ordered the cous cous with lamb shank. He said it was delicious and he was really glad he ordered it. I tasted some of the cous cous and it was good, but he ate all the lamb!

I ordered the shish kebob, which is beef tenderloin and mushrooms on skewers, grilled, and served with hummus. This is why I saved my bread...to have with the hummus!

As you can see, there are 2 skewers. I asked for the beef to be cooked medium and it was perfect! Mushrooms were fresh and delicious. The hummus is in the middle of the dish and was delicious with the Moroccan bread. To the right is a tomato relish, much like a pico de gallo you would get in a Mexican restaurant, but no cilantro. On the left are some sliced carrots. I took a big bite of these and they were so spicy that I began to cough! It was actually quite comical! I took a closer look at them and noticed lots of red pepper flakes in them...BINGO! So I stopped eating the carrots but I finished everything else on my plate and man, was I stuffed!!

DH was stuffed too, but he said that he can't go to a restaurant like that without having some baklava. So he ordered the sampling of baklava for dessert, and while he was at it, he also ordered an espresso! When DH ordered his dessert, the waiter asked me if I wanted anything and I said I was too full, and that DH was also too full but he is a man who loves his baklava and couldn't pass it up! Our waiter was so nice...he came back with 2 orders of baklava so that DH could have his own since he likes it so much! Here is a pic of mine, but it is half-eaten, sorry!

The one on the right was a cylinder-shaped baklava, not many nuts inside but it was buttery, sweet (but not too sweet) and oh so delicious! The other was regular baklava, and they gave 2 pieces of it. This was really delicious. Crispy, sweet, but not too sweet and not soggy at all (I can't stand soggy baklava). DH LOVED all of it!!!!! And he loved his espresso with it too!

Overall, Marrakesh was a very good restaurant. If you like Middle Eastern food, it is definitely worth a try. We do enjoy the CS in Morocco a little bit more though. You still get the same hummus at the CS, the same traditional baklava as in the sampler, but they have the lamb and chicken shawarma that we love. I think for our next trip, we will go there instead.

 

[bangzoom6877]

I know that this one will come as a shock to many people out there...but coming in at #15 on my Disney Dining Countdown is.......

LE CELLIER!

OK, are you all over the initial shock of that one?

Don't get me wrong, we thought there were many good points of Le Cellier...we liked the ambiance, service was excellent, quality of the steaks was very good, DS5 got to have steak (his favorite!) from the kids' menu, and yes, the pretzel bread is delicious! But...we went to so many TS restaurants, and we had so many wonderful experiences you will read about as I continue counting down to #1...so, please don't hate me for not choosing Le Cellier as my #1, or for not even putting it into my top 5 or top 10, OK?

OK, now onto my Le Cellier review.....

This was July 18, 2010. We had a 5:30pm ADR for dinner at Le Cellier. It had been an EMH-morning at Epcot, and we were there for the 8am opening, enjoyed our morning and got to do everything the boys wanted to do. After lunch at San Angel (review to follow at some point of course ), we took a break at our resort, and then headed out at about 4:30pm to go back to Epcot. We figured we would walk, but the boys asked if we could take the boat. We told them we could take the boat if it was at the dock since we had to walk that way anyway...sure enough the boat was there and we took a nice ride to Epcot! Just before we left, I noticed the rain clouds. We took out the ponchos and got them ready just in case. Sure enough, by the time we got to Epcot it started drizzling. We put on our ponchos. Good thing...it started coming down! We stayed under the covering by the boat dock for a couple of minutes, then it started letting up. We walked up to the bag check, entered the park, and then it started pouring again. The World Traveler store was right there so we ducked for cover over there, along with lots of other people including a CM (photographer). He said the rain should be over within 10 minutes, 15 minutes at most. OK, we were happy to hear that! Sure enough, 5 minutes later it got much lighter and we made a run for it to Canada! Thank goodness we didn't have far to walk! DH stayed with the boys and I walked ahead of them (faster than the boys! ). I got to Le Cellier at about 5:20 and DH & the boys followed about 3 minutes later. We waited only about 15 minutes for the table!

The CMs in the front were wonderful! There was one who was conducting some Canada trivia with the guests who were waiting. She was a lot of fun. DH went to University at Buffalo and he knows a lot about Canada. One thing the CM was impressed with is that DH knew that the national sport of Canada is lacrosse, NOT ice hockey! Of course, DH played lacrosse in high school!! DH and I kept getting the answers so she was joking around with us and saying we had to wait until everyone else yelled out their answers to guess! It was a fun way to pass the time while waiting for a table!

Once we sat down, we were greeted by our server. He was very attentive and very nice. Also very knowledgeable...he explained the special 3-course menu to us. He presented it to us in an interesting way...he said that the good thing is that the portions of the apps, entrees and desserts on the 3-course menu are all full portions, but the bad news is that none of the actual steaks are on that menu (closest thing to steak on that menu is prime rib). He took our drink orders. Diet Coke for me since I had enough from the margarita in Mexico earlier in the day (that review is coming...eventually! ). Labatt Blue for DH:

He came back with the drinks, and brought over the bread. He explained the different breads in the basket. Sourdough, multigrain and pretzel bread. All of them were delicious, but of course our favorite was the pretzel bread!

DS5 was very excited that they had steak on the kids' menu! I was trying to encourage him to try the cheddar cheese soup too as his appetizer so he ordered it. But then he chickened out and didn't want to try it. DS3 also ordered the cheddar cheese soup, tried it but didn't like it. So DH and I were *forced* to have some of this soup! It was very good! I have read in some reviews that it is salty, but I did not find this soup to be too salty at all! I also did not think it tasted like alcohol, as I have also read in some reports. I thought it was very tasty, and the bacon added a very nice smokey flavor but was not too overpowering. The best thing to do with this soup? Dip the pretzel breadsticks into it! So delicious, I can see why people rave about this soup!

DS5 enjoyed his kids' steak. He couldn't finish it though...it was a pretty large portion. I could definitely see how a 9-year-old could eat this steak and be full (kids' menus are for children ages 3-9 at Disney). He asked for french fries with it, of course!

DH ordered the Coffee-rubbed Kansas City Strip steak, which came with cream cheese mashed potatoes. He said the quality of the beef was excellent, it was cooked exactly as he had asked, the mashed potatoes were delicious, but the seasoning was a little too salty for his taste. But overall he still enjoyed this dish.

I ordered the Mushroom Filet Mignon. I am not into risotto, so I asked the server if I could try the gruyere-potato gratin instead (which normally comes with a different steak on the menu). He gladly substituted this for me. The filet was of very good quality. It was tender, cooked medium as I had asked. I found the sauce on top to be too salty for my taste, but still good so I removed some of the sauce but ate a little of it, and I ate the mushrooms from the sauce. The potato gratin was a huge disappointment though. It was so salty that I couldn't eat much of it at all. I really wanted to like this. It looked delicious when the server brought it to me. I kept trying to eat it but after a few bites, I gave up. However I did enjoy my steak and ate most of it. I left here very full! We were both too full to get dessert! Well...I had a chocolate croissant from France earlier that day before our afternoon break...yeah, we ate a lot that day overall!

Here's my dinner from Le Cellier:

Overall, we thought Le Cellier was good, but that the chef had a heavy hand with the salt (at least on the entrees). If you were to ask DS5, this was probably his favorite dinner of the trip, food-wise (I know he enjoyed character meals for atmosphere! ). For us, it was our #15. Would we return? Probably, at some point. Would I be upset if I couldn't get an ADR here? Definitely not! After eating in several different countries in Epcot, I see why many people prefer Le Cellier over others...it is a place that is a good restaurant, and it serves familiar food. Many of the other countries at Epcot serve foods that are geared toward the more adventurous eater, and I understand that not everyone is into that sort of thing. I have many friends and relatives who would only order either a burger or a steak when they dine out.

Le Cellier also gets a lot of hype on these boards. That may also be the reason why we did not think it was the best restaurant of our trip. Maybe I was expecting too much...although I still thought the pretzel bread and the cheddar cheese soup were excellent and that is mostly what I see people raving about.

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

I LOVE the format of your reviews as a countdown so awesome though I must say im anxious to see the overall winner haha ...i always have to TIVO countdown shoes as im too anxious to sit patiently and watch them. But your reviews are awesome so far so I can wait

 

[wilma-bride]

Still loving these reviews. Should have said fromt he off, your boys are very cute. I love that your DS was impressed at steak on the kids menu - my DS would be too as he considers that a 'grown up' food

We really loved Le Cellier the one time we ate there but the menu has changed significantly since then and there is nothing now that would realy lure us back - it was a good meal but I know what you mean about not being too bothered abut an ADR there. Clearly, there are those who are which is why it is so difficult. I just wish you coud get the pretzel bread outside of the restaurant and then I wuldn't be bothered at all

 

[bangzoom6877]

I LOVE the format of your reviews as a countdown so awesome though I must say im anxious to see the overall winner haha ...i always have to TIVO countdown shoes as im too anxious to sit patiently and watch them. But your reviews are awesome so far so I can wait

Thanks for the compliments!! I also get anxious when I watch countdown shows! The worst is when I have to go somewhere and they are up to #3 or #2...thank goodness for DVRs so I can watch later on!!

Still loving these reviews. Should have said fromt he off, your boys are very cute. I love that your DS was impressed at steak on the kids menu - my DS would be too as he considers that a 'grown up' food

We really loved Le Cellier the one time we ate there but the menu has changed significantly since then and there is nothing now that would realy lure us back - it was a good meal but I know what you mean about not being too bothered abut an ADR there. Clearly, there are those who are which is why it is so difficult. I just wish you coud get the pretzel bread outside of the restaurant and then I wuldn't be bothered at all

Thaks for the compliments about my boys! I agree of course! Le Cellier is a pretty small restaurant so I can see why it is hard to get an ADR there. As I said in my review above, it is also a restaurant that serves more familiar food than other Epcot restaurants. And many people do not go out for steak regularly at home so Le Cellier is a novelty and a splurge on vacation. I completely understand that. However, I disagree with the people who criticize it in saying that it is comparable to Outback Steakhouse. DH and I both thought it was definitely better than Outback. I also loved the pretzel bread...but I will tell you, the pretzels they sell outside the Germany pavilion are absolutely heavenly!! I thought they were just as good as the pretzel bread at Le Cellier. If you haven't yet had one, give it a try next time you go! They are also huge...the 4 of us shared one!

 

[bangzoom6877]

CHEF MICKEY'S!

I know you guys will be surprised that we enjoyed Chef Mickey's slightly more than Le Cellier but I really think the expectation factor comes into play here. While I have heard some good things about dinner at Chef Mickey's, I have read some horrible reviews of the food there so I went in with very low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the food was! It was definitely much better than a place like Old Country Buffet! Is it gourmet food? No, of course not...it's a character dinner after all! I would never expect 5-star dining at a character buffet!

This was our first dinner of the trip, on the day we arrived (July 13, 2010). We had arrived at BWV at roughly 11:30am to check in, our room was not ready so they said they would text us when it was, and it was guaranteed to be ready by 4pm. We had a 5pm ADR at Chef Mickey's so that was perfect for us. We went to Downtown Disney with the rest of the family and did some shopping, and we went to Earl of Sandwich for lunch. It was excellent by the way, I would highly recommend this place! The food was amazing there, much better than you would expect from any CS place!

So, we got back to BWV from DTD at around 3:40 and we hadn't received a text yet so I figured I would go to the desk and ask if they knew when our room would be ready. They contacted housekeeping and said it would be 20 minutes and to come back to the desk at 4pm. No problem, we just went out to the Boardwalk and walked around, checked out the shopping there. The Boardwalk was beautiful by the way. We went back inside and it was 4:05. I went up to the front desk, and the room still wasn't ready. The CM at the desk apologized to me and sent another CM up to the room to check. The problem was that the room had been ready but housekeeping did not release the room so the desk had no knowledge of this. By now it was 4:15 and I was worried about making it on time to our ADR. Before I could even say anything to the CM, she turned to me and said, "Since your room was not ready by the guaranteed time, I am going to give you an $50 credit on your room charge so you can use that for any dining or purchases you make." I thanked her for being so gracious. I didn't expect anything like that for 15 minutes over the guaranteed room time! I was just going to ask her how long it takes to drive to the Contemporary because of our ADR. I asked her and she said 10-15 minutes. We put our luggage into our room, took a quick look at it (beautiful!), and off we went to the Contemporary.

I was worried about being on time for the ADR, especially since we were 10 people, so we decided to valet park. It is free to valet park at a resort where you are dining, when you are a Tables in Wonderland cardholder. So all we had to worry about was tipping, no parking fee though!

We got to Chef Mickey's at 4:50pm. Thank goodness, got there on time!!! The rest of the family was staying at Pop Century and there was a huge problem with one of their rooms when they got into it...it literally smelled like something had died in there. Gross! So they switched rooms for them, and gave both my parents and my sister a $150 credit on their resort room charges, and sent gifts for the girls the following morning to my sister's room. We told the CMs at Chef Mickey's that there was a problem with their rooms, and they said, no problem, just to let them know when they arrive. They all got there at 5:10. We were seated right away at a big round table for 10!

I decided to skip the salads at Chef Mickey's because I had a big salad for lunch at Earl of Sandwich. So I went straight for the hot food!

Clockwise from top left: parmesan mashed potatoes with gravy, broccoli with cheese sauce, scalloped potatoes, salmon with dill, baked ham with mustard on the side. The mashed potatoes were out of this world! I ONLY eat REAL mashed potatoes, no instant ones for me, and these were very real! I did not care too much for the gravy though, and the potatoes did not need it! The broccoli is plain, and on the buffet next to the cheese sauce. They were delicious together. My boys were happy because they eat their broccoli plain and they got to do that! The scalloped potatoes were very good! The salmon was to die for, and my mother enjoyed this as well. The ham was from the carving station and was also delicious! They also had roast beef on the carving station, which DS5 enjoyed (I told him it was steak )! On to the next plate!

This was my second round to the buffet! Clockwise from top left: Mickey ravioli, turkey casserole, LOTS of parmesan mashed potatoes! Can you tell I loved those mashed potatoes? I HAD to try the Mickey ravioli because...well...it was Mickey-shaped! It was good. The turkey casserole was amazing! It almost tasted like a turkey pot pie, but instead of pie crust it had those buttery toasty breadcrumbs. Delicious!! I had tasted some of DH's before this, and I had to get some of my own. The potatoes complimented this very nicely too!

DS3's plate:

Clockwise from top left: Peas, chicken nuggets, Mickey macaroni & cheese, pizza. These were the foods at the kids' buffet area. I got his food first, so afterwards I discovered that there was broccoli on the adult buffet and I got him some of that (my kids love broccoli). He didn't eat the peas (he ate broccoli instead). He loved the mac and cheese, ate a little of the pizza, and a couple of nuggets. I think this was the most he ate on the entire trip!

And then there was the best part of all...the desserts!

The plate on the left has a warm berry cake and vanilla ice cream. I took a couple of bites of the cake...it was good but not the best so I saved room for other things! Plate on the right, clockwise from left: key lime tart, carrot cake, Mickey mousse dome, fudge brownie. The best by far was the Mickey mousse dome! I LOVE chocolate mousse and this was delicious. And what better way to serve it than on top of an Oreo cookie?! FYI, I went back up to the dessert buffet for 2 more of these! The carrot cake was delicious, very moist and it had no raisins in it! I don't like raisins inside cake. The cream cheese frosting was delicious too! The key lime tart was amazing, with a nice buttery graham cracker crust! Loved it! And the brownie...well, could I just say fudgy, chewy, moist, chocolatey!!!!! It was SOOOOO good! My kids enjoyed the brownie and the Mickey mousse dome too!

Overall, this was an excellent restaurant. We enjoyed ourselves very much. Character interaction was amazing too, Donald Duck came over to our table right away and was dancing with the kids! All characters came to the table before one hour was up, so it was a very nice dinner! Our server was amazing too. She was very quick to refill all drinks, and she asked to see if all the characters had made it to our table. Excellent service!

In 2008, the 4 of us had gone to Chef Mickey's for breakfast which was also excellent. We will definitely be back, perhaps for both meals, on our next trip!

 

[butiflfeet]

I'm loving your reviews! Great countdown so far

 

[Ginamarie]

Can't wait to see what restaurants score at the top of your list!

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

Subbing

I love that picture of your boys hugging! The huge smiles are adorable; you all are a great looking family!

The food pictures are making me so hungry

 

[lawyergirl22]

Excellent reviews--loving it so far! And your boys are truly adorable! If you would indulge me with a quick question...We are booked in a 1br villa at BW in October, with DD6 and DS3-- since your kids are close in age I was wondering how they enjoyed the boardwalk area and pool, etc. I had hoped for BCV, but there was nothing available. I'm sure the location will be fabulous, but how was the resort itself? Also, we take breaks every day, too-was the additional space of the 1 bedroom worth the additional cost?

Looking forward to more reviews and any information/insight you can give would be much appreciated!

 

[bangzoom6877]

I'm loving your reviews! Great countdown so far

Thanks! Remember, the restaurants get better and better as I get further along in my reviews!

Can't wait to see what restaurants score at the top of your list!

Some may be surprised, some may not! I guess all of you will just have to wait and see!

Subbing

I love that picture of your boys hugging! The huge smiles are adorable; you all are a great looking family!

The food pictures are making me so hungry

Thanks so much! The food pics make me hungry too...good thing I have so many of my own now so I can just look back at them when we book our next Disney trip! We go every 2 years though, so I have to wait until next summer to book again. We are very lucky though...there are many people who only get to go once in their life, and many who never get to go. I tell my kids that all the time!

Excellent reviews--loving it so far! And your boys are truly adorable! If you would indulge me with a quick question...We are booked in a 1br villa at BW in October, with DD6 and DS3-- since your kids are close in age I was wondering how they enjoyed the boardwalk area and pool, etc. I had hoped for BCV, but there was nothing available. I'm sure the location will be fabulous, but how was the resort itself? Also, we take breaks every day, too-was the additional space of the 1 bedroom worth the additional cost?

Looking forward to more reviews and any information/insight you can give would be much appreciated!

Thanks so much for the compliment about my boys!!

The boys loved the BWV. They are very happy that we get to stay there every 2 years. As far as the one-bedroom being worth the extra cost, I am not familiar with the difference in cost between a studio and a 1-BR. We are DVC members so we stay on points. It is definitely worth the extra points to stay in a 1-BR vs. a studio. We went into the DVC models on the Boardwalk one evening just for fun, and we wanted to see if they had a Grand Villa model (just for fun to see what they are like...but they didn't). They had a studio and a 1-BR model (2-bedroom villas are a combo of a 1-BR and a studio). DH and I looked at each other and said that on our 10-night stays, a studio would definitely get way too crowded after a couple of nights! We take afternoon breaks too, and it was great to have the kids stay in the living room and nap (at least my little one napped...DS5 only napped once, but relaxed the other days), while we watched TV in the bedroom and napped, and I would always shower each afternoon to refresh.

Another thing I loved about the 1-BR was the washer/dryer combo. I did laundry a few times. I never thought I would do that on vacation but being there for 10 nights, plus 8 additional nights to this vacation, it ws necessary. I will always do laundry on our Disney trips from now on! It made things so much easier when we got back!

We spent one day at the pool, a day we didn't go to a theme park. The boys loved the area! We only went back inside because it was after 2pm and starting to get REALLY hot, and DS3 needed a nap before dinner. So in order to have time for baths and relaxation we had to go back to the room. Plus, as I said, it was getting too hot anyway. DS5 loved the big pool. If I remember correctly, the depth ranges from 3 ft. 4 in. to 4 ft. 6 in. So not too deep. He didn't use the water slide. My kids don't know how to swim yet but we will be putting the older one into swim lessons really soon, and the little one as soon as he is fully potty-trained. DS3 enjoyed the kiddie pool, and went into the big pool a little bit, but only on the steps!

The boys also enjoyed the Community Hall. They are always playing a Disney movie throughout the day, and at 9am every morning they show Playhouse Disney. But you have the Disney channel in your room anyway so you don't need to go down there to see the shows. They have an air hockey table (DH and I enjoyed this!), table tennis, and lots of toys. The boys were excited that they had quite a few Mr. Potato Heads, so they could each play with one! They also had some video games, and some board games but the board games are really old and some pieces are missing. DH and I were able to play Checkers though. The kids could also create a craft, they have various things to color there. And, when you check in, you will receive a schedule of resort activities. We didn't do any of these, but we might on a future trip. Some were a pool party (mid-afternoon around 3pm, when we took our breaks in the room), poolside karaoke (afternoon), ceramics at Community Hall, etc. They are supposed to have a campfire sing-along at the Beach Club across the lake every night at 8pm. One night we tried to take the boys but it never happened for some reason. They also show a movie every night at 9pm on the beach (at beach Club) but we didn't stay that long since the boys had to go to bed.

Either way, I would suggest a standard view villa (whether you get studio or 1-BR), and request to be on the top floor across from the bus stop. I did that, we were on the 3rd floor across from the bus stop. We saw fireworks from Epcot every night from our balcony!! It is a little further from the elevator, but there is a staircase right there that leads to 2 different outside doors...one leads to the bus stop (across the street!) and is very close to the parking lot, and the other leads to the Community Hall and quiet pool, and the walkway to DHS is right behind Community Hall! You could also walk past the quiet pool and follow the path to the main Luna Park pool!!!

 

[lawyergirl22]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much for the additional information. This really makes me feel better about our upcoming trip. It's only our second time at WDW and I am not familiar with the Epcot resorts. Your comments are so helpful.

Looking forward to the rest of your dining reviews!!!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much for the additional information. This really makes me feel better about our upcoming trip. It's only our second time at WDW and I am not familiar with the Epcot resorts. Your comments are so helpful.

Looking forward to the rest of your dining reviews!!!

You're so welcome! You will fall in love with the area!! This was our second time taking the boys to WDW. The first time was July 2008, we stayed 5 nights at Pop Century. It was a very cute and whimsical resort and we had lots of fun, but we decided we would like longer stays and more room, especially as they get older. DH and I also decided that WDW was the one place we could keep going to and not get bored with it! That's when we started looking into a DVC membership and decided it was for us. We needed at least a queen-size bed in our hotel room and still wanted to stay on property! So, going every other year for 10 nights, needing more room and a bigger bed, the best way for us to afford it was a DVC membership and we are so glad we bought it! When we checked out, I turned to DH and said to him that we are very lucky because for many people this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip but we get to go back every 2 years! I tell myself that now that the next trip is sooooo far away!

I look on the DVC Member website, and there is a link to click on to countdown to your next trip...when I saw that ours is more than 700 days away I got depressed...but then reminded myself that we are lucky to go every 2 years! It also feels good that in a few weeks we will be booking our Royal Caribbean 9-night cruise for next July!

If you have any other specific questions about BWV, just ask!

 

[Lisa29]

Loving your reviews! Your boys are so cute - think they will have all the girls after them when they are older!

Love how you are doing the countdown

Can't wait for the next installment and to see what number 1 is!

Lisa

 

[pigletforever]

AWESOME review. I love the countdown format. Can't wait to see what is #1

 

[Leshaface]

Great reviews of Marrakesh, Le Cellier, and Chef Mickey's! Man, you're on a roll!!!

I soooo want to try Marrakesh next time! Your DH's dish looked so delicious! I just need to convince my DH to check it out (he read the Unofficial Guide reviews about this restaurant and they weren't very good).


Will you be posting any pictures from your resort room?? I would love to see what it looks like!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Loving your reviews! Your boys are so cute - think they will have all the girls after them when they are older!

Love how you are doing the countdown

Can't wait for the next installment and to see what number 1 is!

Lisa

I know I am in for it when my boys hit the teen years! I try not to think about it too much and enjoy them now when they are still little, and still want to be with me!

AWESOME review. I love the countdown format. Can't wait to see what is #1

I'm sure everyone is waiting for #1...that's the idea!

Great reviews of Marrakesh, Le Cellier, and Chef Mickey's! Man, you're on a roll!!!

I soooo want to try Marrakesh next time! Your DH's dish looked so delicious! I just need to convince my DH to check it out (he read the Unofficial Guide reviews about this restaurant and they weren't very good).


Will you be posting any pictures from your resort room?? I would love to see what it looks like!

I have to see if I have any good shots of the villa. We were so busy from the time we got there I don't know if we have any really good ones. DH took some video of the villa on our first morning while the boys and I were having breakfast.

Marrakesh is worth a try, but again, we thought the Tangierine Cafe was better (CS in Morocco). But the food was delicious. DH did enjoy his lamb cous cous, and my shish kebab was really good!

OK everyone...tomorrow morning we are off to Canada to visit some relatives on another adventurous road-trip! We feel like we have not had a chance to relax yet since early July...pack, unpack, laundry, pack, unpack, laundry, pack again!! It feels neverending but the good thing about being a teacher is that after all this traveling is done, we will still have a month off from work! Plus my sister is getting married on Aug. 11th on a cruise ship so that is very close now, and very exciting!!

Sorry, but you guys will have to wait a little longer for my next review. Trust me, all this waiting will be well worth it! We'll be back Tuesday night and I will try and get moving again on Wednesday! Ciao guys!