December Trip Platinum and DXDP Added Pictures!

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

I'm cheating, y'all. I'm copying my last one from voldemort. It's not that great, but it does have some info on restaurants and tours.

Let me begin by saying, ?Yay!!!? It has been 4 long, eventful years since we have been to our Magic Place and we can?t wait until we get there tomorrow! We typically are on a shoestring budget, but my brother, whom I will call ?Commando Ed,? is paying for most of this trip and he is wanting to ?do it up right? for my Mama, so we are on DXDD for the trip except for a 1 day platinum package in the middle. Our group (we are all Florida Residents with AP?s) includes:

DS Chris ? 24 years old, recent college grad (finally, whoo!!) and first year teacher. Not a thrill rider, but loves Disney food! Of course, I don't think our Weight Watcher's leader is gonna think this trip's meals are on plan!

DM Olde Koot ? just had her 76th birthday and calls me every day to give me the countdown. She loves to hang out at WDW and her favorite thing is, ?everything except rides!? She is tiny, but eats all day long!

DB Commando Ed - is recently turned 57 and had major open heart surgery in July. He is all about the ?thrills? and loves all things Disney, especially the food. He and I are signed up for the Disney 5K in January and his goal is the Food & Wine ? Marathon in October. He is my Hero right now!

DC ? My little cousin is 30 she ?went to Disney? a year and a half ago with her parents. They did Epcot in 1 day and AK in one day and really thought they had seen everything! Lol She is a thrill rider! She is busy eating right now to make sure she weighs the 100 pounds required for the Segway tours!

PureTcrazy ? That?s me! I love Disney at a laid-back, stop & smell the flowers pace! I?m 48 and I am not a thrill rider! Taking a break from Weight Watcher's this week! I have always been a tad on the crazy side and this has been verified recently when I agreed to do the 5K with DB, which means a January trip ahead!! Did I tell you that I really love Disney?

Now for the Plans:

**I DO HAVE PICS TO INSERT, BUT I HAVE TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT! EDITED TO ADD: DOESN'T LOOK LIKE ANY PICS ARE GONNA MAKE IT ON HERE, SORRY!

12/4 - Offsite Joe's Crab Shack

12/5 - Check into WL Club Level Deluxe Room

Yachtman's Steakhouse

12/6 - Crystal Palace, Tony's and Artist Point

12/7 - Start 1 day Platinum Package at Grand Floridian

FW Segwaytour, Swedish Massage at GF spa, Portrait Package,

Wishes Cruise

VICTORIA & ALBERT'S

12/8 - Room Service

Check into SSR 2 bedroom ATW Segway, Aqua Seas tour, Cirque du Soleil

FULTONS

12/9 - Captain's Grille and Hollywood Brown Derby

12/10 - Tusker House, Yak and Yeti, California Grill

12/11 OLIVIA'S, WOLFGANG PUCKS AND FINAL THOUGHTS!

I hope to do some posting on-site!!! I am so excited, I can barely live with myself  :

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

12/4

Joe?s Crab Shack

Before the meal

The most deceptive, disappointing restaurant we ate at. The ?buckets of crab? are actually a salad bowl of crab sat in a bucket. There was no difference in any of the flavors they served. The serving of crab was not even a full cluster of 2 different crabs, 2 potatoes that might have been as big as a golf ball and an ear of corn and 4 shrimp. Everything was WAY overcooked. WE WOULD NEVER RETURN TO THIS RESTAURANT.

After the meal

Service, however, was impeccable! Unfortunately, that could not make up for the absolute worst meal at a restaurant that I can remember in years.

We checked into Royale Parc (offsite) a 2 bedroom suite. This is a great choice if you are staying off-site! It has 2 br with 2 queen beds in each room, a kitchenette with a 2 burner stove, refrigerator and a dishwasher and 2 bathrooms. The living room also has a pull-out couch. There is free happy hour from 6-7 in the evening and a free HOT breakfast buffet. All for $125 per night! They also have 1 bedroom suites with the same amenities.

We headed over to MK just to see MSEP and Wishes and my little cousin got to see her favorite characters her first night on her first trip to MK in 25 years.

OMG I have never seen so many people. We did ride the people mover and go into Carousel of Progress. Leaving the park was a nightmare, one man almost pushed my mother down to get onto the ferry, then the same group jumped onto the tram ahead of people. Not so Magical.

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

12/5

We check into Wilderness Lodge Deluxe room/jr suite. What a gorgeous resort at Christmas time! It was an absolutely gorgeous day, cold, but beautiful!

We just enjoyed hanging out around the lobby and the pool bar area until our room was ready. I believe that our room was ready about 11. Commando Ed and Heather decide to go to Epcot. DM, DS and I soak up the ambience and relax!

Roaring Forks - Snack Credit for Chili and Wilderness Salad = Awesome Choices!!! The chili is very meaty and very hardy for the cold day! It had a very mild kick to it, but was very tasty! The salad was huge and so good with the apples, walnuts and chicken! DM and I each got a bowl of Chili and shared the salad, we could not eat all of it and DS finished the salad for us!

After lunch, we take the boat ride from WL/Contemporary/FW just to look around. Then get ready to go to supper!

Yachtsman?s Steakhouse!WOW!!!

Fabulous dinner and awesome service from Oscar! Just a note about the menu here. It was very different from the one posted on allears. We found this to be the case through most of our meals.

Appetizers - DB & DS had the charcuterie platter for an appetizer which they both rated excellent, Heather had the chilled seafood salad which was good, DM loved the cheese platter here and I had the Scallops which were simply divine!

Entr?e?s ? DB had the Strip, Lil Heather, all of 5 foot 100 pounds of her had the Porterhouse, and I had the Ribeye. The steaks were AWESOME!! The Roasted garlic butter put my ribeye over the top! DS had the lamb which he said was good, but the Au jus was what made the dish ( he would order something different next time. DM had the beef ravioli and she absolutely loved it!

Desserts ? DM and Heather had the Banana napoleon which they rated excellent. DB and DS had the sorbet trio which they said was good, but not great and they would order something different next time. I had the Valrhona chocolate and it seemed too rich after such a big meal.

Overall, we would definitely return to this restaurant! Excellent service and a wonderful meal, we would share one or two appetizers and entr?e?s though.

A common thread throughout this review will be that we had WAY TOO MUCH food!

After dinner we take the boat to DHS to see the Osborne Lights!

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

12/6

We drove to WDW, so we drove to MK to save time and to reduce the amount of time waiting for transportation in the COLD. We had reservations at 8:05.

Crystal Palace

The buffet was a good, solid breakfast. I was underwhelmed based on reviews, but I would eat there again for early access to the park. There were plenty of choices and everything was well-prepared. The whole group agreed that the famous potato casserole was not very enjoyable. We did like the puffed French toast.

This meal had the ABSOLUTE WORST server of any restaurant we at during our stay. I finally stopped another server to get some more to drink. She appeared to be unhappy and I felt that she would have rather not been there that day. I did notice other servers that seemed to be bubbly and attentive. The character interaction was so-so, but that might have been because we were all adults.

Tony?s

We had 1:00 adr?s and this was one of the restaurants that I was kind of leery about, but I figured this was the perfect time to try it for ourselves. I?m so glad we did!

Appetizers ? Ds & I both had the Zucchini fries, they were delicious! DC had the garlic bread, which she saved to eat with her meal. DM & DB had the Flavors of Italy which they thoroughly enjoyed!

Entr?e?s ? DC had the baked ziti, DM had the eggplant, DS had the chicken calzone and DB had the Panini of the day. I had the Shrimp Scampi. All of the entr?e?s were good, but nothing you would say, ?ooh yeah, you have to try this!? about.

Desserts ? DC & DM had the Tiramisu, OMGEEE it was AWESOME! So light, but so flavorful!

I had the green apple sorbet, which was delicious, but I was having dessert envy for the Tiramisu. DS had the Special Dessert which was a peppermint cheesecake with chocolate shavings. He loved it!

DB had the lemon walnut cake. He thought it was good, but would not order it again.

Overall, we enjoyed our meal at Tony?s. I would go back and order the Zucchini Fries and the Tiramisu and be completely happy! It was a good solid in-park meal.

We pretty much walked on almost everything we wanted to do at MK that morning. We were very lucky with the crowd on this day. After lunch, we returned to WL to chill and get ready for Artist Point at 8:30.

Artist Point

We had an excellent server at AP. This was our least favorite restaurant overall, but there were highpoints.

Appetizers ? I?m only going to say one thing about this: Order the Smokey Portabello Soup, it really does live up to the hype! The rest of the appetizers were not thought of very highly, including the cheese platter here.

Entr?e?s

DS and DC ordered the Salmon, another dish that lived up to the hype! DM ordered the Gnocchi, the worst dish of this trip, YUCK! DB and I ordered the Buffalo and it was ok. There was no discernable seasoning on the meat and it was overwhelmed by the black truffles it was served with. I came to dislike truffles on this trip. They are very strong flavored and must be used very delicately or that is all you taste, which can become rather unpleasant.

Desserts

Two stars here, the Cobbler and the Valrhona Chocolate with cherries. I do not recall the other desserts ordered and again the menu on allears is not even close to the current menu at the restaurant.

Overall ? This restaurant received very mixed reviews with DS being the happiest. He thought the Salmon and his dessert might have been the best of the trip. Heather said she would go back just to get the cobbler. I enjoyed the soup, but don?t know that I would return just for that.

After dinner, we put on our matching PJ?s and took some fun photos around WL! I love that resort!

 

   

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

12/7

Today we check out of WL and into GF and our Platinum plan! Ed braves the cold and the earliness and heads out to be at FW Segway at 8:30. The rest of us chickened out! (It was in the low 30?s!) We head up to the Club Level and have breakfast. I loved that they had real coffee and flavored syrups!

We check out and load the cars and head to GF. We are met by Demetrius who informs us that we have been upgraded to Sugarloaf Concierge. Wow! I wish we had more time to enjoy that bonus! It was gorgeous! We checked our baggage and nibbled on the club level snacks!

Our rooms were still not ready so at 1:30 we head over to the Spa for our Swedish Massage!!! This may have been the most awesome part of the trip! 50 minutes of heaven! By the time we finish up, we have a text that the room is ready, so we head over. Of course, by now we realize that we have to get our luggage delivered and we have very little time to get dressed for our Portrait package at 4:30 and V & A at 5:30. A little stress commences at this point and maybe a small meltdown over missing shoes?but I won?t bore y?all with that!

V&A

It is gorgeous and I have never felt so pampered. I am so glad we had this opportunity! At one point the waitress realizes that Heather?s purse is on the floor and is quick to bring a hook to hang it on the table. She then brings a stool for the purse because it may be too heavy for the hook! My mother looked chilly so they brought her a black, cashmere shawl.

Between us, we ordered everything on the menu, including the upgrade for the Wild Turbot and the Kobe Beef. DS thinks the Kobe Beef was worth every penny, but it was the Short Rib and potatoes that were the best!

Overall, we were not ?wowed? completely by the food. It was excellent, but if you asked any of us if we would pay oop for this meal, the answer would be ?no!? Yes, it is an awesome experience and the service is incomparable, but for my family, it just is not worth that kind of money.

This experience took 3 hours and we missed the Wishes Cruise, but that may have been for the best because it was COLD! I was able to watch the fireworks from the balcony though!!  I think we all melted into our beds at this point!!

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

12/8

Awesome perk of the Platinum Plan?Room Service for only one of the credits and by this time in the trip, it was a fabulous treat! We had breakfast delivered about 6:45. It was very good, but nothing real noteworthy, other than the luxury of not having to rush out to get to an ADR!

We have the Epcot ATW Segway at 8:30, so we load-up and check out and head to Epcot! Thank Goodness my DxSIL lives nearby and she meets us there to hang out with DM while we do the tours! We head out on the Segway tour and it is a lot of fun! I WANT a Segway now!

Lamont was our guide and he is the best, so funny!

After the tour we meet DM and Fran at Sunshine Seasons for a snack! I think we all got a cup of potato soup which was Delicious! Did I tell y?all it is still cold out! DM and Fran head out to piddle around the park and we head to the front of the park for the start of our Aqua Seas tour.

We go through a little training talk and get our wetsuits, not my most attractive look! It was worth looking like a whale to swim with the fish though! I was a little anxious when I began the swim, it?s strange to breathe through the mouthpiece, but I quickly became accustomed to it. It was really neat to swim with sharks, rays and sea turtles! It was not neat to walk outside in the cold while we were still wet to get back to the changing room. The shower ran kind of tepid for a while, then really hot. There was no shampoo provided, only bodywash in my shower. BRING A TOWELL, the one they give you is small. Another important reminder is to bring a comb and brush! We are all still glad we did this!!

After this experience, we head to SSR to check into our 2 BR. Wow, it was so nice to spread out a bit! These units are gorgeous, but it is so spread out! I would not want to stay here if I did not have a car. Of course, we now have to hurry to get ready to go to DTD to finish out our Platinum events.

Cirque is next on our schedule and it was worth the rush to get there! We had awesome seats and everyone loved this show! The little girls were the highlight of the show for DM, Heather and me! We all loved the clowns!

Fultons

We had little wait time before we were led to an upstairs 4-top in a little nook. At first this seemed like a good thing, then we realized that we were in this small nook with a large table of loud, drinking men. The ceiling was very low in our nook and before it was over I was getting a major headache.

Our server was very good, but of course, she could hardly hear what we said to her. At one point Heather?s coke was very carbonated and short on syrup, I tried to tell her and she brought her another one just like it because she couldn?t hear me! A 4-top for 5 people at this restaurant is just ridiculous, there was not even close to enough room for our food.

The Lobster Bisque was HORRIBLE, the portabello fries are just fried mushrooms. The portions here are HUGE. We shared 2 of the Fulton?s feast between DB & DM and Heather & I. They were good. I would have liked more seasoning on the seafood. DS had the ribs and enjoyed them. We could not face another dessert and were so anxious to get out of the noisy environment, that we ordered dessert to go.

Overall, it was good. We might return, but do not feel that it is a ?must do? and think we do a better seafood meal at home! 

   

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

12/9

We are TIRED by this point and decide that we do not feel up to getting up and rushing out to get to Cape May Breakfast, so DB called the night before and changed our ADR to Captain?s Grill at 9:30. That was a great decision! We so enjoyed our meal here. The buffet was well-stocked with well-prepared food. There was a good variety and service was excellent! We would definitely return here!

Mom was starting to feel bad with a sore throat so her and Chris go back to SSR to rest and Ed, Heather and I head to MGM. Wow, I have never seen so many people there EVER. They FP RnR and we go to see Beauty and the Beast. TSM FP?s were already long gone.  We piddle around and head over to the Animation Studio which I really enjoyed.

Hollywood Brown Derby

We have 3:45 Fantasmic ADR?s at Brown Derby so we watch the parade and meet up with the rest of the family. We wait a long wait to get into the restaurant. Our server was very good and very attentive. This was one of the best meals of our trip and the one restaurant that we all agree we will definitely return to in the future!

The Pork Chop Dish (one of the best of the trip) and the Strawberry Spinach Salad were favorites!

For all the good that I can say about this meal, it also caused some major stress. Fantasmic started at 6:30, so we were supposed to be there at least by 6. I mentioned the time issue to our server and he at first was not concerned. I finally got him to comprehend that we had to be there early to get our reserved seating. He said that his manager called over there and let them know we were coming and to save our seats. That did not happen, we arrived just before the show started and they had given away our seats and did not intend to accommodate us.  Thankfully, DS was assertive enough to get a superviser. He was not the ?most magical,? but he did lead us to some reserved seats over on the middle left. I don?t know what those seats are for, but there were plenty of open seats there and yet people were still having to stand.

For the first time ever, I left feeling disappointed about F! It was very short and a lot of things had been cut from the show since the last time I had been. The snake did not break up and move, the dragon scene was next to nothing. I know there was a lot else different too. I hope it was just a bad night, but definitely don?t think I will have to go back. 

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

12/10

Today is our AK day and the weather has warmed up a tiny bit! We have 8:00 ADR?s at Tusker House. This was a good solid breakfast and the favorite of 2 of our crew!  The character interaction was better than CP.

After a brief, major meltdown  over DSA location, we hop right onto Safari. We amble over and DB and DC ride EE. Then straight into ITTBAB.

By now it is time for our 1:00 Yak & Yeti ADR.

We wait just a few minutes and are led into our table. The service here was ok, not bad, but nothing special. The food was good. We had WAY TOO much food. I felt so guilty. We might return, but would probably plan to do CS at AK in the future!

We head out of the parks and back to SSR to rest and get ready for California Grill. We drive over to CR and are taken straight up to CG. Service was VERY poor here. At one point Heather got up and asked someone in the cooking area if they could get someone to bring her something else to drink. I was kind of disappointed here. The food was just ok, nothing that any of us felt like we would really want to return for. We went out to the observation deck to see the Christmas Wishes, which made up for a lot. We will not return here to eat.

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

So the saddest day of the week has come, it's time to check-out and head home. We get packed up and head over to Olivias at OKW for breakfast. What a laid back, pretty place! The breakfast there was delicious! I wouldn't want to have to try to take Disney transportation from another resort to get here, but it was no problem in the car. We might have to try out other meals here!

Then it's over to DTD to do some shopping and lunch ADR at WGP. We have eaten here before and this was the best time yet. Honestly, I think my steak here was one of the best of the trip. I would skip the artichoke dip and the sugar free dessert (yuck!) DB and DS had so much sushi for an appetizer that I don't know how they even ate anymore! Everyone liked this meal!

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE DXDP AND THE PLATINUM PLAN

Did we get "our money's worth?" Yes, but...I don't think that I ever in my life want to eat that much food again! I think in order to feel like you are getting your money's worth, you feel like you have to order appetizer, entree and dessert and it is just overwhelming. It got to the point I think we were dreading having to travel to another meal.

My thoughts are that from now on we will pay oop and use AP discount or TIW.

I don't want to feel like I have to schedule every minute of the day. You also forget how much time, the travel REALLY takes, if we had not had our car it would have been really rough. I figure some of these meals really took about 3 hours by the time you travel there and back. With the possibility of 3 meals...you do the math.

Will we do the Platinum Plan again? Maybe! We definitely got "our money's worth" out of this!" for $220 plus a 1-day ticket (we used some to upgrade passes and one for my Sis in law to go to Epcot) We did all of this:

FW Segway

Swedish Massage

Portrait Package

V & A

Wishes Cruise (I'm gonna count this even though we didn't get to do it because we took too long to eat!)

Room Service breakfast at GF

Epcot ATW Segway

Aqua Seas

Fultons

Cirque du Soleil

Photopass CD

I figure at least $900 dollars of value for $305! We are actually talking about doing the premium plan on one of our upcoming trips. It includes the same options but no V & A, massage or Aqua Seas for I believe $180.

I am so glad we did the Plat pkg!  We had a blast and did things we might never do otherwise!

Thanks for following my report!!

[ftwildernessrick 10]

Great TR !!

I know what you mean about the DDP, way too much to eat. We just do the TIW now for our favorite TS meals.

[stefa70 205]

Thanks for the tr! I guess that's why I've missed out on so many WDW restaraunts, I hate to plan too much on vacation. Looks like you had some good stuff!

[Lil Lisa 53]

:D Awesome report!!! Great food pictures of kitties!  I just finished lunch and those photos still made me hungry! 

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us!

[H in SC 85]

Love the before and after pics. Great TR thanks for sharing it again.  :rofl2:

[ukmummy.....Cerys 0]

Fab tr, think thats a few more restaraunts I can add to my list. Have to say though I think that piddle must have a different meaning over here, everytime you mentioned  piddling round the world it made me giggle!!

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

Fab tr, think thats a few more restaraunts I can add to my list. Have to say though I think that piddle must have a different meaning over here, everytime you mentioned  piddling round the world it made me giggle!!

:D I think it may have that same meaning here, but we also use it here in the south as a "mosey around" kind of word!

[anolefan 8]

Very cool!

Fried Zucchini or Zucchini Fries are awesome!  DW and I love em.

Great TR!

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

Thanks everyone! We had a blast!

[kampfirekim 260]

Great report.  Great pics.  Thanks for copying.  :flush2:

BTW...that's what I'm doing too. 

[Ghester 0]

I really enjoyed your Trip Report. Thanks for sharing. I have to say now I am really hungry LOL!