Well, as I sit here snuggling with my dog, having taken my Tamiflu and obeying doctor’s orders to rest, I figure I might as well tell you guys all about the amazing (if somewhat freezing cold) long weekend I just had at Walt Disney World!
My travel companion for this trip was my 18 year old son, William, who is an amazingly flexible traveler and all around great guy. I’ve taken solo trips with all my kids, and it’s a truly wonderful thing to have one on one time, especially since he’s a senior and soon the whole “rest of his life” thing may mean less time for trips with mom. Which is the way it’s supposed to be.
I’m going to take it day by day and embed reviews of where we stayed (3 different resorts, btw, which is a record for me), what we ate, and what we loved and didn’t love!
Also, in the last installment, I’ll share my review of the Centre Care Lake Buena Vista, which is where your Disney resort will send you should you ever require medical care during your visit to Walt Disney World!
Day One
We got on the road nice and early, and aside from a small delay getting out of Atlanta (which seems to always happen) made good time, arriving on property almost 7 hours on the dot from when we left home.
We had already received a text from the Yacht Club that our room wasn’t quite ready, so we decided to go ahead and go to the Expo! I had heard nightmares on social media about how crowded and inefficient everything was on Wednesday, so I was quite happy to be able to find a parking spot up close and have zero lines to pick up my bib and to get my wrist band for the Race Retreat. Yes, things were moved from years past and I had to ask multiple times where to go for what, but eventually we got it all together.
I almost didn’t go to the Official Race Merch area because I assumed (again, from the reports from Wednesdays debacle) that everything was sold out. That may have been true for a lot of the 25th Anniversary merchandise, but there was plenty for the half and I got a few things that I just love!
While at the Expo, we got the text that our room was ready so we headed back to Yacht Club. Although we were very far from the lobby, I LOVED our view which was technically a garden view, but I had requested “water view” and boy did we get one! This was also a perfect location to watch the 10K runners on Friday morning. More on that in the next installment.
Review of The New Yacht Club Rooms
So, the rooms are very pristine and elegant, there’s no denying that. But they feel very cold and lifeless to me. Maybe it’s the faux wood flooring or the lack of Disney detailing (aside from a few subtle nods), but I really didn’t feel comfortable and that’s odd for me. Also, with no ceiling fan and no option to turn the fan on, if the air or heat aren’t running, the room feels like a tomb. No air circulation of any kind. If we ever stay there again I will bring my own fan because honestly, that part was just awful. I realize this may just be a quirk of mine, but no air circulation is a sleep killer for me.
Once we checked in we both rested for a bit and I got on my phone to check out dinner options as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. There was an ADR at 50’s Prime Time for 3:20 and we snagged it! We didn’t have any FP reservations at Hollywood Studios but we were both too tired to schlep it all the way to the Magic Kingdom (where we did have some FP’s), and I am so glad we made the easy decision to just walk to DHS.
Review of 50’s Prime Time Cafe
The food was, as always, fresh and very good! Our server was a sweetie and Wil asked her for a picture. Yes, she was tiny, and yes, he is very tall;). This restaurant is truly becoming one of our favorites, so I was happily surprised we were able to get in. I got the salmon and it was just as good as last time I got it. William had a burger which he said was good and we shared the warm apple crisp for dessert. Yummo.
We spent the rest of the evening doing non-ride things, The Little Mermaid show, The Star Wars fireworks (which we love), One Man’s Dream (watched the movie which I hadn’t done in years). Truly a nice, relaxing night.
Up next: early wake up call by the BEST 10K RUNNERS EVER!
I actually really liked the new rooms! Hardwood floors in hotel rooms always make things feel cleaner, even if they do feel a little colder. We had an accessible room so, unfortunately, there was no bathtub for us and our door would *only* auto-close so we had to stand there and wait for it each time.
50s Prime Time Cafe is one of our faves and we’re due to go back there soon. We had to decide between there and Sci-fi for this trip and went with the latter.
It’s also entirely possible I’m suffering with a bad case of just not liking change – we’ve stayed there so many times as a family and the old rooms had a ton of memories for us, so maybe be over-sentimentalizing:).
Thank you so much for this review. We unfortunately did not get to run this year and I am still very upset about it! Your son looks so sweet and my hope is that my son, currently 3, will love to travel and continue our trips to Disney when he gets older!
He will, I promise:). Of my 3, 2 are more into it but all love going and love relieving our great family memories:). Hope to see you next year!