My daughter and I came home last night from a split stay.
First three days were at Old Key West. Nothing terrible about the resort per se, but not our speed. This must be where old Dis-ers go to die.
As for the actual hotel, we were in the boon-docks as far as our room, but it was a easy walk to the main building. I really only had two problems with the hotel:
1. Terrible water pressure in the shower. Seriously, someone spitting water on me with a straw would be as effective.
2. The quick serve is almost non-existent. Just a little hole in the wall next to the main pool.
Next two days were Kidani. Absolutely beautiful. My daughter and I loved everything about it except that, if you wanted a quick serve breakfast before the parks, you had to go to Jambo House.
Kidani is highly underrated in my opinion.
We arrived on Friday and just went to Disney Springs for dinner since it was late and we knew we wanted dinner at Polite Pig. As usual, it didn't disappoint.
Saturday was supposed to be our Epcot day, but we changed it earlier in the week when the weather report said it was supposed to rain all day (turned out it was all night). We went back to Disney Springs for lunch at Blaze Pizza (it was ok), and Dinner at Paddlefish with my daughter getting stuff for her friends in between.
I'm now about to go on a rant about Paddlefish. Now, I've heard some pretty great things about this restaurant, so perhaps they had an off night, but this was not good. The calamari was rubbery, my shrimp dish was bland and flavorless and the dessert was very dry inside. The only highlight was my daughter's shrimp etouffee.
Epcot the next day was nice. Reasonable crowds and a nice dinner at the Mexican pavilion restaurant. I will say that I was not properly prepared for the Guardians ride. I'm honestly not sure what I expected, but that wasn't it. I'm shocked I didn't puke.
Monday we went to Kidani and than to MK. In between we hit up Ohana for breakfast. It was good as usual, but way too damn expensive for what you get. Plus, Stitch never came out, just Lilo, mickey and Pluto. Bummer.
MK was a mad house. Shoulder to shoulder people everywhere. Everything was 10-15 minutes less than their posted wait times, so that's telling me they are inflating numbers to sell more Genie apps. Dinner at Casey's is pretty much a given when its just me and my daughter.
Fireworks was crazy. Beautiful as usual, but also mobbed. Lots of idiots out there who will try to jump in front of you or, worse bully a kid out of the way. Me and this old lady verbally beat down a Karen who tried to steal a spot when a father took one kid to the bathroom while the older sister watched their spot. They knew what they were doing, they were hawking out spots for a while and tried to take advantage of a teenager. Anyway, they left.
Last full day was Hollywood studios. I was surprised it was as light as it was. We had a very short wait for everything we went on but Runaway Railroad. Very relaxing day topped off with a great dinner at Mama Melrose.
Last day......not so great. I have epilepsy and had a seizure right after I got dressed in the morning. I was in the bathroom and slammed chest first into the sink. Didn't know it at the time, but i separated cartilidge in my rib cage when i went to the doc today. Freaked my daughter out, but she's used to it (as well as you can be) the big problem was our flight wasn't until 6:00 and we had to check out at 11. My wife and the school secretary was calling Disney trying to get a number for Kidani, so they could hopefully give us later check out time, but, as usual, Disney customer service is the 7th circle of hell. They were trying to charge $500, to stay in the room until 2:30, which was when our shuttle got there. We politely declined and I made sure to sit front and center of the lobby and told everyone who asked what happened (I had a small cut on my head, but you know how head wounds can bleed).
Anyway, my daughter and I had a great time otherwise. She graduates HS next month, so I'm taking every minute I can to be with her.