Starbuc's non-pic,pro's and cons Thanksgiving trip report

[Starbuc71 162]

Hey all,

First off, I appologize for no pics on this trip report. Thanksgiving for me is a time for relaxation which ment I relaxed and didn't even pick up my camera once. Call me a bad fiend, but I just wasn't in the mood to look for interesting things this trip. However, there were times that I did say, Damn, I wish I had the camera. This will probably be a quick report, but since this trip was about relaxation, we did no cooking on this trip and ate out each nite which the wallet suffered greatly. I will have my 1st Starbuc Disney Dining report of the places we ate, some great, some good, and some alright.

This was one of our best trips to the fort. The weather was awesome, the crowds were not too bad and we had a great time. We came in on Wednesday the 23rd about 12:00. I guess being Thanksgiving week is busy, our site was not ready yet. This was probably the worst thing on our trip. The cast member said that our site should be ready by 1pm. I was cool with that since I know check-in is at 1pm and for the past 5 years we have just been very lucky to check-in much earlier. All was good until 1pm came, then 1:30 came, then 2:30 came and the 2 kids by now were absolutly insane sitting in the overflow lot. I marched up to the front desk and the cast member appologized and said our site was still not ready and no other sites were available. I told them I would take the dirty grill and leaf infested pad since we had dinner reservations at 4:45. He then called someone who must be in charge of site prep and the gentleman stated he never updated the site to "ready" status in the computer. I was HOT, but I kept my cool and proceeded to site 842.

We did request the 800 loop and actually got it, so this also kept me a bit cooler after the computer mix up. We set up fairly quickly since me and the wife have a pretty good system these days for setting up and breaking down.

Next up, our first Dining review at the Garden Grove at Disney's Swan resort

[SCTigerCock 171]

First off, I appologize for no pics on this trip report. Thanksgiving for me is a time for relaxation which ment I relaxed and didn't even pick up my camera once. Call me a bad fiend, but I just wasn't in the mood to look for interesting things this trip.

BAD FIEND!!!! Well you said to call you that..... :clint:

Sorry to hear the Fort wasn't on the ball, but glad to hear you got the loop you requested. :jumpforjoy

Carry on with te TR! :heartsmiley:

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I won't complain about the lack of pictures because I always forget my camera. Looking forward to your dining review.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I like all trip reports- pictures or no pictures.

I am looking forward to your dining review.

I have never stepped foot in the Swan or Dolphin.

So, I'm interested in hearing your review of the Garden Grove.

TCD

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

I like all trip reports- pictures or no pictures.

+1 (is there such thing as a bad trip report?)

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

No pood forn ... Dave is going to OHHHHHH-HANA over that one!

[Starbuc71 162]

Dining review #1

Well, it's still our first offical night at the fort. After the fiasco with Check-in were were settled into site 842 which was good for us. Being that we made these ressies back in Sept 2010, it gave us more than ample time to make dining reservations around our trip. We had reservations at the garden grove at the Swan hotel. I may have mentioned this last year, but last year we actually had reservations here on Thanksgiving day. It was a horrible experience back then. Disney seemed to over book and even with ressies we waited over 2 hours. This time I had a plan. We figured we would give the garden grove another shot by booking the day before Thanksgiving and it worked. The Dolphin and Swan resorts are not a Disney resort, but somehow they are affiliated with each other. The Garden Grove does have Characters and a good more upscale buffet. I stopped at the Fort's front desk to see if we could get free parking at the swan since we were staying at a Disney resort. The CM said of course and it should be no problem. The reason I asked is because parking at the Swan is $12.50 and up and we didn't feel like taking the bus to DTD then catching the Swan bus.

On to the meal. We were very shocked that the place was half empty. I guess this place does theme nights and Wednesdays happen to be BBQ. I am not a fan of BBQ. I like it ,but when you have 5-6 diffrent entrees and salads with BBQ sauce or flavoring, it kinda ruins it for me. The presentations were great and the desserts were over the top. Service was excelent. It's kind of neat that they do an olive garden type salad service at the table and the entrees, vegetables and desserts are at the buffet. I actually liked that since salad bars can freak me out....lol Chip and Dale and also Pluto were the characters for the night. They were a delight for my kids as always. When we left of course, we had to pay the $12.50 since the parking attendants were automated and I had no one to fight with . Our KTTW cards would not work. So below is the review of our first meal. The scale is 5 being the best and 1 being the worst.

Garden Grove at the Swan

1. Parking......1, Disney guest should park for free

2. Cleanliness.........4, no restaraunt is perfect

3. Salad........5 The salad was a spinach salad with warm bacon dressing, right on!!

4. Entrees.....3 Even though i don't like BBQ, a few of the entrees were over cooked. I would have given a 4 if not for this

5. Friendliness of staff......5 very accomidating

6. Desserts....... 5 Many individual pies, parfaits and other great things. Awesome presentation

7. Kid selection... 5 Chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, pudding, jell-o, mini corn dogs, cookies and muffins all at thier own short buffet

Overall rating for Garden grove..........4. this is a great place to eat especially if you have kids. The food is more upscale and with the characters and kid buffet it's great. I would be curious how thier other theme nights are.

next up....Day 2

[stefa70 205]

7. Kid selection... 5 Chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, pudding, jell-o, mini corn dogs, cookies and muffins all at thier own short buffet

Do they make you show ID? I don't do jello or pudding though. I don't like anything that my mouth doesn't know what to do with. It's all about consistency.

[Starbuc71 162]

Do they make you show ID? I don't do jello or pudding though. I don't like anything that my mouth doesn't know what to do with. It's all about consistency.

I knew that was coming :rofl2:

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

We have been to Garden Grove a couple of times on italian nite. They do take Tables in Wonderland. Very good very low key. They have changed the characters. We had Rafiki. FYI you could have taken a bus to Studios and walked or boat to Garden Grove.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

When we left of course, we had to pay the $12.50 since the parking attendants were automated and I had no one to fight with .

I don't know why, but this statement made me laugh.

So true.

I'll bet they have it set up that way on purpose.

Thanks for that tidbit.

I will now happily continue my boycott of the Swan and Dolphin.

I have never stepped foot in either, and I hope that I never will.

FYI you could have taken a bus to Studios and walked or boat to Garden Grove.

I was going to mention this too. With the new bus system, you usually are dropped off at HS very close to the boat dock, and the Swan and Dolphin are the first stop. That would not be a bad way to go. On the way back, you would be the last pick up on the way to Hollywood Studios, so the boat part would be quick going and coming.

TCD

[Starbuc71 162]

I don't know why, but this statement made me laugh.

So true.

I'll bet they have it set up that way on purpose.

Thanks for that tidbit.

I will now happily continue my boycott of the Swan and Dolphin.

I have never stepped foot in either, and I hope that I never will.

I was going to mention this too. With the new bus system, you usually are dropped off at HS very close to the boat dock, and the Swan and Dolphin are the first stop. That would not be a bad way to go. On the way back, you would be the last pick up on the way to Hollywood Studios, so the boat part would be quick going and coming.

TCD

I forgot all about the boats from HS. I just found out about them on one of TCD's report. I will have to remeber that in the future. The Dolphin and Swan are really not that bad resorts, but like I said, they must have some sort of connection with Disney, but screw you on the backside by not accepting resort member benefits. From time to time we will do a one nighter for a quick weekend trip when we can get a $125 a night special they offer from time to time. We actually got a good deal on a "Epcot" fireworks package room which was a high floor with a view of the Epcot fireworks for that price

[Starbuc71 162]

Day 2 Thanksgiving day

This was a good thanksgiving this year. It was a day we pretty much just relaxed. this was the first trip we did not use the pool. My kids live for the pool but the air temp was on the cooler side and we opted not to swim this time. This ment a lot of sleeping in, looping on herbie, a few playground stops and of course eating. We woke up to many smells of turkeys cooking in deep fryers throughout the loops along with some real good cooking smells and a few bad. This Thanksgiving we played it safe and had ressies at Trails end. I know a year or so ago, many complained about trails end starting to go down hill. I was a big fan of trails end and whole heartedly agreed. We had noticed that many of the buffet items have been changed or removed. Many replaced with cheaper items. During our trip in October we thought it's been a while so let's try it. We were very surprised. It was one of the best meals we ever had there. They added a lot of old items that were missing like grapes that my daughter loves, added a baked potato bar and added a few different pastas including mac and cheese, alfredo noodles and pasta and meatsauce. We were very impressed. We were even greeted by the manager and he asked if we were pleased with the changes.

Thanksgiving meal was no different. The meal was excellent. the turkey was flavorful down to the pumpkin pie being just downright yummy. I think someone finally listened and trails end far exceeded our expectations again.

Trailsend Thanksgiving feast

1. Parking......5, Herbie got the front spot near the vibrating feet machine

2. Cleanliness.........4, no restaraunt is perfect

3. Salad........4, the offerings were minimal with only 2 different dressing offered. I figured they needed more room for thanksgiving items

4. Entrees.....5, They were great. Flavor was there, tender, fresh and a great variety

5. Friendliness of staff......5 They were on top of everything even though thery were busy. They got my 20% that night

6. Desserts....... 5 Pumpkin pie with whipped cream, bread pudding, cookies and red velvet cake, all very very good and presented well

7. Kid selection... 3, trails end never had a good kid selection like some other places. No pizza tonight due to thanksgiving. Could have had a few more offerings for the little ones ( I guess even for S70)

Over all rating for TrailsEnd 2011...............4 This place has greatly improved with thier regualr dinner buffet and did an awesome job on a holiday. the staff is always friendly, you never have to ask for refills on beverages and for the most part the buffet was pretty clean. The food was fresh and hot and I left full. We will come here again next thanksgiving. The parking was great...lol

We next hit Lou's favorite attraction, my daughter loves it. Since we get kicked out of the super secret awesome fireworks spot by the canal and old cabin with our cart, we went to the next best place to watch the EWP which is at the end of the concrete at clementines beach. We always get there early to get the front spot (herbie gets stuck really easy in the sand) being that it was a busy day, at the start of the EWP, 6 carts decided to blindside me and drive thier carts on the beach and park right in front of me. they were forigners since I could not understand a word they were saying, so I just ignored it.

The highlight of this day was meeting Doug, I belive the new security ranger/supervisor. We had a long chat about things he would like to see changed at the fort. These are few things we talked about and he totally agreed

1. Underage driving of GC

2. Locals at the pools

3. No UTV's allowed

4. Checking guest for KTTW

I was shocked! He says he only has his rangers after 4pm so ther are always looking for violaters. It seems the new yellow ranger carts were all over. After meeting Doug, I did not want to look like a rule breaker so herbie did not venture to the old cabin again. I hope this is a good start of good things to come.

next up...Black Friday

[SCTigerCock 171]

Last time we were at TE it cost $17 each for breakfast. So unless those were some fermented grapes on that there buffet, we aren't going back.

Glad yall enjoyed, but I can't imagine paying over $20 for a buffet that dosen't include seafood or critters, oops characters.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I was also pleased with the TE dinner buffet...although we went the night after Thanksgiving so it was the regular buffet.

I like your descriptions of the restaurants so far. Keep it coming!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Another tip. If you want to visit Swolphin with your car, park at Fantasia Gardens and walk over.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow- it's been a long time since I heard anything positive about the Trail's End buffet.

It's been a long time since we have partaken.

Maybe that will be changing on an upcoming trip.

But, I will still have to either drink a lot or have a moment of temporary insanity to get past the price.

TCD

[YodaGirl 13]

Hmm...maybe it's time for me to lift the ban on the Trail's End Dinner Buffet. My dad and DH would be very happy.

[stefa70 205]

Day 2 Thanksgiving day

7. Kid selection... 3, trails end never had a good kid selection like some other places. No pizza tonight due to thanksgiving. Could have had a few more offerings for the little ones ( I guess even for S70)

You mean to tell me, turkey was more important than pizza? All kidding aside, I haven't eaten at Trails End in a few years. I always liked the food, but I can't

justify paying those prices for the amount of food I can eat. Even though I'm almost the same size as most children, they still make me pay the adult prices! :banghead:

[stacktester 78]

You mean to tell me, turkey was more important than pizza? All kidding aside, I haven't eaten at Trails End in a few years. I always liked the food, but I can't

justify paying those prices for the amount of food I can eat. Even though I'm almost the same size as most children, they still make me pay the adult prices! :banghead:

Do you buy clothes in the kids section too? I thought I saw a bag from Gap Kids at your site.

[kampfirekim 260]

Val has a case of Kimitis today. :rofl2: It was so nice she posted it twice. :banana:

Great update Val!!

I know I am late seeing this but...... :raspberry2: :heart:

Wow- it's been a long time since I heard anything positive about the Trail's End buffet.

It's been a long time since we have partaken.

Maybe that will be changing on an upcoming trip.

But, I will still have to either drink a lot or have a moment of temporary insanity to get past the price.

TCD

Us too. It used to be my favorite eatin' spot... and arrival day tradition. It was the $$ and not the quality that ended our visits. (it was still yummy back then).

Enjoying the report!!!! The fact that there are no photos is forcing me to work on my ADHD issues. :rofl2:

[stefa70 205]

Do you buy clothes in the kids section too? I thought I saw a bag from Gap Kids at your site.

Why, yes I do as a matter of fact. Shoes too when possible. You would too if you could, they're much cheaper! :raspberry2: