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Mama Monday : Art of Animation Resort

By Melissa on November 11, 2013 in Art of Animation, Mama Monday, Reviews, Value Resorts

Hi Mamas! Today I am taking you for a visit to my favorite value resort-The Art of Animation! This is Disney’s newest value resort.

First up let’s talk about the rooms. It offers family suites, themed as the Lion King, Cars, and Finding Nemo. Finding Nemo tends to be the most popular because of the location. They are closest to the main building and the feature pool.

Resort Map

Master Bedroom in the Finding Nemo Suites

I do think this murphy bed design in the Lion King rooms is pretty cool.

Even the bathrooms are themed for the rooms!

I personally think that the Cars section is themed the best overall. Of course I have two boys who are obsessed with Cars so I might be a bit biased. Our boys stopped to say good night to every Cars character every night of our stay there.

The family suites have a master bedroom with a queen bed, a living room with a pull out sofa, and a dining room with a murphy bed. The best part of this besides the door that allows the parents to sleep in peace, is there are two bathrooms! Very nice for families. Overall I loved the space that these offered. We never once ate at the dining room table though so for our family the murphy bed stayed down the entire time. The kids prefer to eat in front of the tv on vacation and I let them because it’s vacation.

In addition to the the family suites there are standard rooms that are themed for the Little Mermaid. These are not too girly at all. One thing to note about this resort is the Little Mermaid rooms have been excluded from every discount since they opened. I personally would opt for another value during a time when a discount is released compared to paying more to stay in these rooms without a discount. The family suites have almost always been included! The Little Mermaid rooms have two full sized beds in them like the other values.

Now moving on to the pools. The Finding Nemo pool is by far the nicest feature pool of all the value resorts. There is plenty of play areas for the littlest of Disney fans and there is music piped in under the water. Just what you imagine Nemo hears when he’s at home in the ocean. They also have a nice pool bar as well and show movies here like the other pools do. Each themed section has a pool too.

Now there are a few negatives. I’ve mentioned the biggest negative in regards to the Little Mermaid rooms and the lack of discounts offered for those. The other negative I encountered was the cell phone coverage was awful. It was the worst I have experienced at Disney. There is definitely a design flaw here. I had to go outside of the building to make phone calls and then you get the outside noise of families running around on vacation. I couldn’t get emails very successfully on my phone either while in the room which in our business is critical. At the time of our stay the resort did make up by allowing free phone calls from the room if you spoke to them about the situation. I am not sure if they still will do that or not.

There are plenty of other positive features that make this our family’s top choice of the value resorts. One of which is the Landscape of Flavors quick service restaurant.(photo courtesy of Disney Food Blog) It’s huge and accommodates plenty of people. The menus offer a wide variety of options so even the pickiest of eaters is satiated. It is conveniently located to any of the buildings you are in. I also like that this resort doesn’t share a bus with any other resort. It is really nice to have a one stop shop so to speak when it comes to the transportation. I love the theming throughout the resort. I really feel like it brings some of the Disney movies to life.

Sci-Fi Dine In Review

By Melissa on November 7, 2013 in Hollywood Studios, Reviews, Sci-Fi Dine In

Today I am taking you to Hollywood Studios for one of my favorite table service restaurants. It is one table service credit on the dining plans. Sci-Fi Dine In is located at Hollywood Studios. It is always night time there and you are dining under the stars. You might not notice that part as your eyes will be glued to a huge movie screen playing all kinds of clips.

This is the theatre lit up. You will walk in and it will be dark though.

You are seated in a table that looks like a convertible. I’m sure if my husband was writing this he would tell you the exact make and model of your convertible but I will just show you a picture. They are limited to how many you can seat in one so your party will be split up if you are a large group. They are fairly close to each other and honestly you aren’t doing a lot of talking at this meal. The best aspect of this location (other than the food of course) is it is a place you can go and literally just zone out for a moment. It’s cool inside. For some reason Hollywood Studios always feels hot to me so this is ideal to step inside and cool off. The kids are entertained and you will be too by the different clips playing. And as you can see from the pictures the convertibles do accommodate highchairs too! They have trays on them for the little ones to eat on. This was the quietest meal in terms of my children asking for things or having to get up, etc. It was quite perfect after a day of hitting every ride and character we could find and this was just lunch time. I thought the wait staff moving about would be distracting but you hardly notice them.

Look at those happy kids! The littlest one is still glued to the movie screen.

They are known for their All American Picnic Burger. It is enormous! Hamburger patty plus a hot dog plus sauerkraut! I was not brave enough to try it but my husband did. Somehow he managed to finish it. It tasted exactly like it sounds-heart attack waiting to happen but he loved it. It is not recommended to eat this and then go get on the thrill rides though!

I went for a slightly lighter fare or at least as light as the menu gets here with the Salmon BLT. The portion size on this was huge as well. I am not a big Aioli fan but it was really good on the sandwich. I ordered it in hopes of choosing something slightly healthy. While it did have salmon on it, I wouldn’t say this was healthy at all given the size of the bun but it tasted good! It was the best sandwich I tried at Walt Disney World.

Instead of the fries pictured, I opted for the cucumber salad. I could have just ordered a large bowl of this salad and been content! The kids loved it too but I do have slightly unusual kids in that regard and they love all things vinegar. It had a little bit of sweetness to it and just the right amount of onions. It also makes you feel better about yourself after having indulged in the huge entrees!

Kids will be pleased as there is all of their favorites on the menu, mac and cheese, hot dog, etc.. And the adults can enjoy some fun drinks and a decent beer menu. We were way too full to even consider dessert but I have been told the House Made Candy Bar is the Way to go. If I had seen this picture beforehand we would have made room for this and certainly will next time!

My recommendation is if you go for lunch time, you could easily share an entrée as they were so huge. They are also so good you will eat the whole thing whether you intend to or not. I still prefer it for lunch though because it is the perfect place for some AC and some zone out time. Here is a link to the complete menu if you want to check it out. It is not a large menu but everything they do, they do well.

Overall, this is on my list of top picks for clients to dine at. Great menu, unique atmosphere, and relaxing!

Mama Monday : Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel Review

By Melissa on September 9, 2013 in Disneyland, Grand Californian Hotel, Mama Monday, Reviews

Hi Mamas, This past week I was fortunate enough to visit Disneyland. We stayed at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. This was our first stay at this resort and it did not disappoint. I will review a few of the key elements. You expect excellence from Disney and this resort delivered in every way. I am a hard person to please too and to give a review so glowingly says a lot!

Staff- The staff was amazing at this resort as in over the top amazing. Upon check in, our youngest son was presented with an autographed photo of Mickey because it was his first visit. We arrived later in the day so the room was ready. Our room request was granted as well. We had asked for the room configuration of a queen bed and bunk beds so our littlest one could sleep on the trundle and not need a crib. Every cast member we encountered at the resort was friendly and genuinely helpful from the restaurant to the pool to the cast members in the lobby. Bell Services delivered our luggage promptly and also found the rental stroller that had been delivered for us earlier in the day. We had one small issue with our room cards and they gave us complimentary vouchers for a character meal for our trouble. They really outdid themselves. Our Mousekeeper in the evenings was exceptionally remarkable. We left a note that we had not received a towel animal and every day our children would look for one when we returned. When we came home this is what we found in our room and they were beside themselves happy over it!

You might see a little person hiding in this picture.
The excitement over the bunk beds was just too much to handle!

Room-The room was mostly exactly what we expected. It was spacious as a deluxe resort should be. It was definitely well maintained. The theme was rustic great outdoors theme to it. There’s a lot of wood finishings throughout. The vanity was outside of the main bathroom which is especially helpful when traveling with children. The only two things I would have changed about the room was the tv should have been in front of the main bed not the bunk beds. And there was a mirror that was crooked and it bugged the OCD side of me a great deal.

See crooked! I couldn’t get a full on picture
because it was a mirror but you get the idea.

Seriously, these are the only two nitpicky things I could find wrong. Our room location couldn’t be better. We were as close to the entrance of Disney California Adventure as you could be and also near the pool and restaurants.

Pool-Our kids loved the main pool! It had a water slide that did not have a height or age restriction. We did put a life jacket on our oldest and he had a blast going down the slide. There was a smaller water slide for our youngest. The lifeguards were extremely friendly and engaging as well. One of them saw our oldest eyeing the slide and we had assumed he wasn’t tall enough as he’s not for most of the ones at Walt Disney World. She let us know right away he could do it.

Location-We have always stayed at a Disney property while at Disneyland but this was our first time at this resort. It was by far the best location. Until staying here, I really didn’t think the extra 5-10 minutes saved made that big of a difference but it really did. You felt like you were staying right inside the park it was so close. The entrance was especially helpful when getting to Carsland for Extra Magic Hours.

The only true negative that we experienced was due to a scheduled maintenance. The water was turned off for about six hours. We were given plenty of notice(at check in) but the water was shut off at 11PM on a night the parks were open until 11PM. That was a rough turn around to get home and get the kids bathed before the water was shut off. We got back to the room at 10:30 and promptly at 11 the water was off. Given that day the park was open late and the rest of the week it wasn’t, they should have either turned it off later or waited a day for the maintenance. On the plus side, I have never been given that kind of notice for a maintenance issue and that was very helpful.

Storyteller’s Cafe-This is the casual dining option on site. We had dinner one evening here and enjoyed the character breakfast with Chip & Dale one morning. Both experiences were fantastic and deserver their own review. I would definitely recommend either option for anyone staying there.

The boys made a few new friends too!

Overall my family gives this resort two thumbs up! It will definitely be a place we stay in the future. We still like the other two Disney resorts as well but Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa has quickly become our favorite. I would love to stay in a villa here but they get booked fast by the DVC members.

Mama Monday : Tusker House Review

By Melissa on July 29, 2013 in Mama Monday, Mickey Mouse, Reviews, Tusker House

Hi Mamas, Today I am taking you to one of my favorite places to see Mickey Mouse at a character meal. It is at Donald’s Dining Safari Breakfast and Lunch at the Tusker House inside Animal Kingdom Park. Poor Donald has to share the spotlight with Mickey, but he doesn’t seem to mind. This restaurant is located near the Kilimanjaro Safaris. We have dined at the Tusker House for both meals. It is a Harambe Marketplace Eatery. The colors inside are enticing.

The food is a great combination of American fare along with African inspired dishes. I think it is a perfect location for a family who might have some picky eaters along with some adventuresome eaters. It will please both kinds! Our family leans more towards the adventuresome side. Our kids will thankfully try just about anything once but before you start to hate us, do know that mac and cheese is one of their favorite dishes!

Breakfast is served from 8-10:55 most days. The buffet is huge! Some of our favorite items that are the non-traditional items include the Coconut sweet potato casserole and the sweet plaintains.

Don’t worry-the Mickey waffles are ON the menu! You can’t have a character breakfast at Disney without the Mickey waffles.

And my very favorite item is the Jungle Juice. I could drink this all day long! It has orange, guava, and passion fruit juices. You will also find your eggs, bacons, quiches, etc and a huge selection of pastries on the buffet.

Lunch is served 11-2:45 most days. It is also a huge selection.

Our favorite African selections are couscous, the Kenyan coffee pork loin, samosa, and saffron infused root veggies-delish! (these two photos courtesy of our friends at The Disney Food Blog)

Sound a little too adventuresome for the kids? They have corn dog nuggets, mac and cheese, chicken drumsticks, etc too. My husband’s favorite dessert there is the banana cinnamon bread pudding. I don’t do bread pudding so I will take his word for it. And of course they have a selection of African beers and a sugar cane mojito offered at lunch too.

While food selection is very important at a character meal, the best part is the characters! You will see the following at The Tusker House for breakfast and lunch. There are no characters appearing at dinner and as with all character meals, they are subject to change without notice.

The Main Host-Donald Duck!

The lovely Daisy Duck!

Goofy!

and last but not least Mickey Mouse!

There you have The Tusker House! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Mama Monday : Karamell Kuche Review

By Melissa on July 8, 2013 in Epcot, Karamell Kuche, Mama Monday, Reviews

Hi Mamas,

Today we visit Karamell Kuche at Epcot in Germany! Karamell Kuche means caramel kitchen. I know I have mentioned this wonderful place in previous posts but it really deserves its own blog entry. Formerly this location was the home of Glas und Porsellan. I enjoyed that store but I had a little anxiety with the idea of taking children in it. Thankfully, they replaced this store with a store dedicated to everything caramel!

When a new location opens at Disney, there is usually a ribbon cutting with Mickey himself!

As you can see Werthers'(Storck) is a sponsor of this location. They have an entire wall of Werther’s packaged candies you can choose from too.

When you walk by the store, you smell the caramel wafting out calling you inside. Upon entering you will see that the chefs are preparing the caramel treats right before your eyes! You might see them making the caramel apples, dipping fruit in caramel, or drizzling caramel on many of the cookies and other treats.

One of the best parts of Karamell Kuche is that a lot of these items count as a snack on your Disney Dining Plan! Score! When you see the purple and white emblem you know it counts on your dining plan.

So you’ve seen a few of the delicious items-caramel apple oatmeal cookies, caramel chocolate brownies, fruit dipped in chocolate and caramel, cupcakes, and the list goes on. My three favorite treats are :

Caramel Cluster, Milk Chocolate, and nuts and the Chewy Caramel Werther’s Bar! YUM!

And my other favorite treat is the salted milk chocolate covered caramel! The picture is courtesy of our friends over at the Disney Food Blog.

Every trip since the Karamell Kuche has opened I have purchased one or two of these and taken them back to the room for a late night snack. It practically melts in your mouth.

Remember 2014 packages get released this week on Wednesday July 10th!

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