After a long 2 1/2 year absence from one of my favorite vacation destinations, I finally returned to Disney World for 10 nights and this time I brought 6 family and extended family members along with me. The trip was filled with the three “F’s”…Family, Fun, and of course with 7 people there was an abundance of FOOD!!!
During this latest Disney adventure I stayed at three resorts, one of which was new to me. Two of these were short 1 or 2 night stays at Disney-owned resorts (one Deluxe, one Moderate) and the third was for 7 nights at the Swan Resort. Though the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resorts are located on Disney World property (between Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club and the Boardwalk) they are managed by Marriott. However their guests have some of the same privileges as those staying at Disney-owned hotels, but I’ll get into that in more detail later in my trip report. Also of note, though I’ve stayed at both the Swan & Dolphin previously, this time because of the size of our group I decided to splurge and reserve a 2 Bedroom Grand Suite (sometimes referred to as a Grand Parlor Suite). So I will be including many photos, details and my thoughts regarding this “suite” experience.
As for the food, our dining experiences included 19 restaurants (11 table service meals and 8 quick service) plus some Epcot Flower & Garden Festival booths, four Bars/Lounges, the Hoop-dee-Doo Revue Dinner Show, and the Magic Kingdom Fireworks Dessert Party. Oh and for the last night that the 7 of us were together I booked the Epcot Fireworks Boat Cruise to cap off our wonderful trip.
So I have much to tell you about!
OUR LINEUP OF REVIEWS
Resort/Room Reviews
- Contemporary Resort Tower Theme Park View Room# 4548 – COMPLETE
- Swan 2 Bedroom Grand (Parlor) Suite – Rooms# 708, 709, 711
- Port Orleans French Quarter Garden View Room# 5132
Table Service Restaurants
- Kona Cafe Breakfast (Polynesian Resort) – COMPLETE
- Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ Brunch (Disney Springs)
- Rosa Mexicano Dinner (Dolphin Resort)
- Garden Grill Breakfast – Garden Rocks Concert Package (Epcot)
- Via Napoli Dinner (Epcot)
- 50’s Prime Time Cafe – Fantasmic Dining Package (Hollywood Studios)
- ‘Ohana Dinner (Polynesian Resort)
- Boma Breakfast Buffet (Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort)
- Teppan Edo Dinner (Epcot)
- Yak & Yeti Lunch (Animal Kingdom)
- Summer House on the Lake Brunch (Disney Springs)
Quick Service Restaurants
- Contempo Cafe Breakfast (Contemporary Resort) – COMPLETE
- Contempo Cafe Desserts (Contemporary Resort
- Woody’s Lunch Box Breakfast (Hollywood Studios)
- ABC Commissary Dinner (Hollywood Studios)
- Pecos Bill Lunch (Magic Kingdom)
- Les Halles Boulangerie Pattisserie Breakfast (Epcot)
- Kusafiri Coffee Shop & Bakery Breakfast (Animal Kingdom)
- Java Breakfast (Swan Resort)
- Scat Cat Club Cafe/Sassagoula Floatworks & Food Factory Breakfast (Port Orleans – French Quarter)
Bars & Lounges
- Steakhouse 71 Lounge Dinner (Contemporary Resort) – COMPLETE
- Oga’s Cantina Drinks (Hollywood Studios)
- La Cava del Tequila Margaritas (Epcot)
- Scat Cat Club Lounge Dinner (Port Orleans – French Quarter)
Miscellaneous Food
- Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue Dinner Show (Fort Wilderness Resort) – COMPLETE
- Epcot Flower & Garden Festival Booths
- Pineapple Lanai Snacks (Polynesian Resort)
- Magic Kingdom Post-Fireworks Dessert Party
- Splitsville for Bowling & Beverages (Disney Springs)
- Somerfest Snack (Epcot)
- Fuel Snacks (Dolphin)
- Epcot Fireworks Boat Cruise
NOTE: Six of our group (Jake, Andrew, Bryan, Emily, Don and myself) participated in these reviews. Ratings of between 1 – 5 were given as follows:
1 – Really Bad , 2 – Not Good, 3 – Okay, 4 – Good, 5 – Excellent
Ok, Let’s Get Started!
FRIDAY, MARCH 29 – ARRIVAL DAY (Contemporary Resort)
My husband, Don, and I actually began our road trip from Illinois on Thursday morning, March 28. Deciding we didn’t want to tackle the Atlanta traffic on Good Friday (of the Easter Holiday Weekend), we took a different route to Orlando than usual. Spending the night at a hotel in Birmingham, Alabama, we got a fairly early start on Friday morning and arrived at Disney World at 5:25 p.m. (Eastern Time).
I had been notified at about 2:30 that our room was ready so once we got through the Contemporary’s security gate, unloaded our luggage, and found a parking spot (in a very full lot), we took an elevator from the lobby up to the 9th floor to our Room #4548.
Our Review of the Contemporary Resort’s Main Tower Theme Park View Room #4548
At around 7:00 we went downstairs to the lobby to see if we could get a seat at the bar at the Steakhouse 71 Lounge…
Review of Our Dinner at the Steakhouse 71 Lounge
Shortly after returning to our room, the Enchantment fireworks show began at Magic Kingdom at 8:45. We of course watched the show from our balcony while we listened to the music on our tv…
A perfect ending to our first day at Disney World!
SATURDAY, MARCH 30 – Here, There & Everywhere!
We had a 8:50 reservation for breakfast at Kona Cafe so we left our room at about 8:20. The first thing I saw walking out our door was this stunning view…
Then I looked down below to check out the sights on the 4th floor…
And the Mary Blair mural is always impressive…
And then a monorail passed through on its way to Magic Kingdom…
But we were headed in the opposite direction so we took the elevator down to the 4th floor, went through the security checkpoint there, and then took the escalator up to the Resort Monorail platform on the 5th floor. The monorail arrived almost immediately and we boarded for the short ride to the Polynesian, the second stop after the Ticket & Transportation Center.
It was great to see the Polynesian Resort again (it had been 2 1/2 years!). I love the lighting there…
We reached our destination (Kona Cafe) at 8:35, just 15 minutes after leaving our room at the Contemporary. Nice! We checked in 15 minutes early for our reservation and were seated just a couple of minutes later for our breakfast at…
Our next destination was the Grand Floridian to check out their Easter egg display. Unfortunately the walkway between the Polynesian and Grand Floridian was still closed (due to the construction work on the new Polynesian DVC building) so we hopped on the resort monorail for a quick ride to the Grand Floridian. It’s always an impressive sight when you get off the monorail and enter the Grand Floridian on the 2nd floor…
And with it being Easter season, that meant the Grand Cottage and the annual Easter egg display could also be found in the beautiful lobby of the Grand Floridian.
Here is what was available for purchase this year at the Grand Cottage…
But we were there to see the Easter egg display. Each of the intricately designed (and edible) eggs were handcrafted by the resort’s pastry chefs. Here are photos of some of my favorites, starting with Yzma from Emperor’s New Groove…
Inspired by Disney Munchlings…
Al’s Toy Barn from Toy Story 2…
A replica of the palace from Aladdin…
Daisy’s House…
Alice in Wonderland themed…
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway…
The Angry Coconuts from Moana…
And my #1 favorite, from Beauty & the Beast…
On a side note, I noticed that the Garden View Tea Room (located in the lobby of the Grand Floridian) had yet to reopen and it made me sad…
We then left the Grand Floridian and made our way on foot to Magic Kingdom, via the walkway which follows the monorail around the lake…
YES, after years of guest requests, they finally made this walkway! It opened in late 2020, and I used it soon after (in April 2021 when we stayed at the Grand Floridian for the first part of my birthday trip). As a guest of the Grand Floridian it was nice to have another option besides the monorail or boat in which to get to Magic Kingdom. This was especially nice at park closing when the line for the monorail was incredibly long. Once the walkway between the Polynesian at the Grand Floridian reopens, you will also be able to walk from the Polynesian to Magic Kingdom. This means that walking to the park will be an option for guests at all three of the Magic Kingdom monorail resorts.
And speaking of walkways, once we reached Magic Kingdom we used the walkway which goes from there to the Contemporary to return to our room. Since we didn’t have a park ticket for the first few days of our trip, we decided to spend some time relaxing in our room before continuing our resort hopping.
After a few hours we headed back to Magic Kingdom (again using the walkway) to catch a boat to another Magic Kingdom resort, the Wilderness Lodge…
Though I saw no special decorations for Easter, the Wilderness Lobby was beautiful as ever.
I had originally planned to stick around and have a shared lunch or appetizer and cocktails at the Geyser Point Bar & Grill, located outside by the lake. However, we were still pretty full from breakfast and had an early dinner planned so decided against it. We walked around for a bit, as I hadn’t been to this resort since 2019, and then enjoyed the boat trip back to Magic Kingdom.
After walking back to our room at the Contemporary we had just enough time to freshen up and change our clothes. We then walked out to the Contemporary’s boat dock to catch the first Blue Flag boat of the day (at 3:00) to Fort Wilderness for the 4:00 dinner show…
Our Hoop-Dee-Doo Dinner Show Review
Shortly before 6:00 the show ended and my husband and I made a quick exit out the door and down to the Ft. Wilderness boat dock where there was a Blue Flag boat boarding that would take us back to the Contemporary. We were in a hurry because our team was playing in the NCAA tournament that night and the game was about to start. We made it back to our room pretty quickly and were happy that we hadn’t missed much of the game…
Our happiness lasted only until half time, after which UConn went on its infamous 30 – 0 run and buried the hopes and dreams of us Illini fans. I got so frustrated that I had to quit watching and go for a walk.
I went downstairs to the lobby of the Contemporary to check out the Easter egg display there…
While there weren’t as many as they had at the Grand Floridian and they weren’t quite as elaborate, there were some pretty cute eggs here.
The last time we stayed at the Contemporary on Easter Sunday, there were church services held in their Convention Center. I was curious if they were still doing this and this sign in the lobby answered that question…
Sadly, Easter church services are no longer being held at the Contemporary or anywhere else on Disney property. But this sign listed the schedule of activities that were going to be held at the resort on Easter Sunday, which included an Easter Bunny Bash and an Easter scavenger hunt…
My next stop was at the Contempo Cafe on the 4th floor to check out their display case of Signature Deluxe cookies that I’d heard about…
Across the top tier (from left to right) were Churro Sugar Cookies, 5 Legged Goat Cookies (which were gluten-free sugar cookies with an edible image of the 5 Legged Goat), Blueberry-Lemon Sugar Cookies, and Minnie Cinnamon Rolls. On the lower tier were Kitchen Sink Cookies, more 5 Legged Goat Cookies, and then two trays of Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chunk Cookies. I purchased one of each of the cookies (all but the 5 Legged Goat) for us to taste test the next day when the rest of our group would arrive. So I’ll be posting a review of our findings later in my report.
I did also get a treat for my husband and I to share while we again watched the fireworks from the balcony of our room. This is what I chose…
This was good. Much better than the Chocolate Banana Cream Pie dessert that we got the previous night from Steakhouse 71 for almost twice the price. And (SPOILER ALERT), it was also better than any of cookies that I got from the Contempo Cafe for just a little over a $1.00 more. So we gave this dessert a rating of 4.
This dessert and watching the Happily Ever After fireworks show from our balcony helped to soften the blow (just a little) from our team losing so badly that night and ending their season on such a sour note. At least for me it did. For my husband, probably not so much.
I finish this day with a few fireworks photos…
EASTER SUNDAY, MARCH 31 – Here, There & Everywhere, Again!
Today was a big day. for us. My husband and I would be visiting Disney Springs for brunch before picking up the rest of our group from the airport and switching from the Contemporary to the Swan Resort. And then there were our evening activities.
But first I mobile ordered breakfast for us from the Contemporary’s quick service restaurant…
Our Contempo Cafe Breakfast Review
Next up: Brunch at Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’
Taste of Disney 
We are loving the new trip report!
LikeLike