Little E
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2016
Hi Disfriends!
DH and I just got back from our RunDisney trip last night, and I wanted to share some thoughts and observations about our trip. We thoroughly enjoyed the RunDisney 5K and had great experiences in the parks and at restaurants. Here are my thoughts, in no particular order:
1. We stayed our first night in a studio at Riviera Resort. This was our first time staying here. Our room was lovely, and we appreciated the compact footprint of the resort. It was great to be on the skyliner, as we were able to head directly to HS right after we checked in. We enjoyed Primo Piatto for a QS breakfast before we hit the parks and transferred to our second resort. We would definitely stay here again.
2. On our second day, we transferred to a 1 bedroom villa at Copper Creek. This was also our first time staying at WL. We left our bags with bell services at RR in the morning, and we hit MK. We did not receive our notification about our room being ready until almost 6 pm, which made DH grumpy. This data point made it clear we're probably done with transferring between two resorts in a trip. He likes to stay in one place and have a home base at all times, which I totally get.
3. We liked WL and our villa was nice. However, WL is a one and done for us. Getting to parks felt very "planes, trains, and automobiles" for us. We had long waits to catch the boats to MK, and then trying to time the monorail right to get to Epcot was rough. Buses were very hit or miss, which I totally understand is a fact of life at WDW. We found ourselves taking Ubers when boats, buses, and the monorail were just too much of a hassle. We own at GF and we like being able to walk to MK from either GF or BLT, and we like being able to walk to either EP or HS from the boardwalk resorts. Another good data point for us.
4. We encountered an interesting and weird elevator quirk at WL. There is an "L" button and there is a starred "1" button. We spent all week trying to figure out which floor we were on and which button to push to get to the lobby. Apparently, we are not very smart, because those button messed us up!
5. Our 1 bedroom villa overlooked the main pool. The pool was loud during the day when we were in our room, and a couple of days the noise started very early when lifeguards came for practice/drills? However, the location was nice because we could see the fireworks from our balcony just over the trees and opposite side of the resort and pool. We were close to Geyser Point, the boat launch, and to the quiet pool too, which was great.
6. CMs were fantastic at WL. Bell services, housekeeping, and lobby CMs were so kind and accommodating.
7. This was our first RunDisney event, and we had a terrific time! While the virtual queue for the ESPN expo to pick up merch and our running bibs/gear was overwhelming, the event itself was fabulous! Disney has races figured out. Everything ran like clockwork on race day from the hotel shuttle, to the race signage at Epcot, to the actual race itself. CMs were so encouraging, and we have decided we'd like to race again next year.
8. We were shocked at how empty MK was our first full park day, which happened to be 11/1. 11/1 was the last Halloween party of the year, and we went to MK in the morning. It felt like we had the place to ourselves. Wait times for everything were very low and we felt like we hit everything we wanted to by lunch time. It was awesome!
9. Crowds seemed much heavier from 11/2 throughout the rest of our trip. We still had a great time, but we never again felt like wait times were low and crowds were small.
10. We had great meals at Narcoossee's and Citrico's; the red fish at Narcoosee's and the mahi mahi at Citrico's were superb. We had good meals at Grand Floridian Cafe and Topolino's Terrace, and we had a very "meh" meal at Space 220. CM's at all the restaurants were great. We tried to get in to the Enchanted Rose at GF not once but twice during our trip, and both times the line was out the door and around the corner. We discovered the bar at Citrico's didn't have a line and we wound up there twice...they have an amazing lemon drop martini!
11. We did the Wicked Wind Down event on 11/1. While the food was "meh" the drinks and views were stellar. We enjoyed the Halloween fireworks but it was SO cold that night, we wished we had dressed warmer. DH and I decided the Wicked Wind Down event itself was a one and done, but we will definitely be back for drinks and the view at Top of the World Lounge.
12. Random observation: we LOVE the walkway from GF to MK. A few days during our trip the walkway was closed, and CMs couldn't explain why. It was so weird. Some days it was open and other days it was closed. Even more strange, DH took an early am boat to MK from WL to run around the loop from BLT, past MK, around to GF and the Poly to TTC and back. On his first loop, the walkway was open but then trying to get back it was closed. He was sort of stranded and he finally had to give up and take an Uber back to WL.
This was our first WDW trip staying a week without our kids who are both in college. We had a terrific time, and we can't wait to go back! Feel free to ask any questions...I'd be glad to share any info I can.
DH and I just got back from our RunDisney trip last night, and I wanted to share some thoughts and observations about our trip. We thoroughly enjoyed the RunDisney 5K and had great experiences in the parks and at restaurants. Here are my thoughts, in no particular order:
1. We stayed our first night in a studio at Riviera Resort. This was our first time staying here. Our room was lovely, and we appreciated the compact footprint of the resort. It was great to be on the skyliner, as we were able to head directly to HS right after we checked in. We enjoyed Primo Piatto for a QS breakfast before we hit the parks and transferred to our second resort. We would definitely stay here again.
2. On our second day, we transferred to a 1 bedroom villa at Copper Creek. This was also our first time staying at WL. We left our bags with bell services at RR in the morning, and we hit MK. We did not receive our notification about our room being ready until almost 6 pm, which made DH grumpy. This data point made it clear we're probably done with transferring between two resorts in a trip. He likes to stay in one place and have a home base at all times, which I totally get.
3. We liked WL and our villa was nice. However, WL is a one and done for us. Getting to parks felt very "planes, trains, and automobiles" for us. We had long waits to catch the boats to MK, and then trying to time the monorail right to get to Epcot was rough. Buses were very hit or miss, which I totally understand is a fact of life at WDW. We found ourselves taking Ubers when boats, buses, and the monorail were just too much of a hassle. We own at GF and we like being able to walk to MK from either GF or BLT, and we like being able to walk to either EP or HS from the boardwalk resorts. Another good data point for us.
4. We encountered an interesting and weird elevator quirk at WL. There is an "L" button and there is a starred "1" button. We spent all week trying to figure out which floor we were on and which button to push to get to the lobby. Apparently, we are not very smart, because those button messed us up!
5. Our 1 bedroom villa overlooked the main pool. The pool was loud during the day when we were in our room, and a couple of days the noise started very early when lifeguards came for practice/drills? However, the location was nice because we could see the fireworks from our balcony just over the trees and opposite side of the resort and pool. We were close to Geyser Point, the boat launch, and to the quiet pool too, which was great.
6. CMs were fantastic at WL. Bell services, housekeeping, and lobby CMs were so kind and accommodating.
7. This was our first RunDisney event, and we had a terrific time! While the virtual queue for the ESPN expo to pick up merch and our running bibs/gear was overwhelming, the event itself was fabulous! Disney has races figured out. Everything ran like clockwork on race day from the hotel shuttle, to the race signage at Epcot, to the actual race itself. CMs were so encouraging, and we have decided we'd like to race again next year.
8. We were shocked at how empty MK was our first full park day, which happened to be 11/1. 11/1 was the last Halloween party of the year, and we went to MK in the morning. It felt like we had the place to ourselves. Wait times for everything were very low and we felt like we hit everything we wanted to by lunch time. It was awesome!
9. Crowds seemed much heavier from 11/2 throughout the rest of our trip. We still had a great time, but we never again felt like wait times were low and crowds were small.
10. We had great meals at Narcoossee's and Citrico's; the red fish at Narcoosee's and the mahi mahi at Citrico's were superb. We had good meals at Grand Floridian Cafe and Topolino's Terrace, and we had a very "meh" meal at Space 220. CM's at all the restaurants were great. We tried to get in to the Enchanted Rose at GF not once but twice during our trip, and both times the line was out the door and around the corner. We discovered the bar at Citrico's didn't have a line and we wound up there twice...they have an amazing lemon drop martini!
11. We did the Wicked Wind Down event on 11/1. While the food was "meh" the drinks and views were stellar. We enjoyed the Halloween fireworks but it was SO cold that night, we wished we had dressed warmer. DH and I decided the Wicked Wind Down event itself was a one and done, but we will definitely be back for drinks and the view at Top of the World Lounge.
12. Random observation: we LOVE the walkway from GF to MK. A few days during our trip the walkway was closed, and CMs couldn't explain why. It was so weird. Some days it was open and other days it was closed. Even more strange, DH took an early am boat to MK from WL to run around the loop from BLT, past MK, around to GF and the Poly to TTC and back. On his first loop, the walkway was open but then trying to get back it was closed. He was sort of stranded and he finally had to give up and take an Uber back to WL.
This was our first WDW trip staying a week without our kids who are both in college. We had a terrific time, and we can't wait to go back! Feel free to ask any questions...I'd be glad to share any info I can.
