Florida flowers and Caribbean cruising - the trip report! THIS SECTION COMPLETED 4/12 - Page 17 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Hmm, I have to admit, while I love the general idea of treehouse villas, the actual inside doesn't look as appealing to me I don't know, maybe it's the weird layout?
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Just found this and am signing up as I am so looking forward to reading more. I'm so impressed that you can keep going despite it being so late for you! I would have turned into a pumpkin by now.
We stayed in the treehouses a long, long time ago (back in the 80's) and they were so different then. It was two floors, not just one and instead of a regular tub, they had one that was round and something like 3 or 4 feet deep and you sat in it like you'd sit on a chair. They were actually quite roomy then because we stayed in it with 6 people and we had plenty of room. It's a shame they've changed them so much. One thing's for sure though, if Lenny and I ever have the opportunity to stay there, we can't use the stove (not that I'd want to on vacation). We've had a glass top stove before and the top broke - twice - so I could see that happening on vacation to us and I wouldn't want to pay for a new stove for Disney.
I love the sunshine in your photos today. We've had three days of rain now, so I'm craving sunshine. The Treehouse Villas look neat, but every time I see photos of the insides, I feel they fit better with WL than SSR.
Hmm, I have to admit, while I love the general idea of treehouse villas, the actual inside doesn't look as appealing to me I don't know, maybe it's the weird layout?
I agree with Sabine. I've always thought they'd be so cool but feel underwhelmed by the look.
Thanks for the sun pass/non sun pass info. I need to remember to look into this as we're sailing out of Miami this year and most likely driving.
Hmm, I have to admit, while I love the general idea of treehouse villas, the actual inside doesn't look as appealing to me I don't know, maybe it's the weird layout?
Don't be sorry - I wasn't exactly overwhelmed by the interior layout either. I felt like there was a lot of wasted space due to the octagonal shape.
Just found this and am signing up as I am so looking forward to reading more. I'm so impressed that you can keep going despite it being so late for you! I would have turned into a pumpkin by now.
I guess you just get used to it - and trust me, it's 100 times for Americans coming over here, as you'll be on the red eye and arrive in the morning. Hotel rooms won't be ready and the likelihood is you have to keep going until at least the afternoon and the best way to deal with jetlag is to get on the new time zone as soon as possible. That means staying up all day and heading to bed in the evening, which is really tough.
We stayed in the treehouses a long, long time ago (back in the 80's) and they were so different then. It was two floors, not just one and instead of a regular tub, they had one that was round and something like 3 or 4 feet deep and you sat in it like you'd sit on a chair. They were actually quite roomy then because we stayed in it with 6 people and we had plenty of room. It's a shame they've changed them so much.
Oh wow, the old version sounds so much better than the new one.
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I love the sunshine in your photos today. We've had three days of rain now, so I'm craving sunshine. The Treehouse Villas look neat, but every time I see photos of the insides, I feel they fit better with WL than SSR.
Sorry about all the rain. We don't have rain, we just have cold and given we were into the 60s last weekend here, that's a bit of a shock to the system. The winter coat is back out again!
I think you're right about the Wilderness Lodge - I had that feeling when we walked in, as they immediately reminded me of the rooms there.
Friday 20 February – part seven: the good and bad at the Turf Club….
We settled down for about half an hour, knowing we’d soon be due out for dinner, and we were both feeling like we needed it, as it wouldn’t be long before we’d be exhausted and just wanting to head to bed.
We headed out…
…. and over to the main complex. Here I do think that Disney messed up with the parking. I appreciate what they were trying to do in terms of having a shopping, dining and recreation area all in one with no parking to break it up, but it means you have to park across the street in bays that are technically for the villas there. It doesn’t quite work for me, and I’m sure if they’d have wanted to, they could’ve found some way of accommodating a bit more parking for those who want to drive over here.
As we drove over, we’d discovered that the interior light on the car stays on after dark, and Mark tried to find some way of turning it off when we got there, but without any joy. I spent the time taking photos unsurprisingly.
The lifeguard looks frozen, and it was getting a bit chilly – probably low 40s by now…
We made our way over to the main complex, and walked in through the Artist’s Palette. The shop and dining area seemed to be really busy, so we figured we’d come back later to get some breakfast items.
We headed over to the Turf Club, and this was pretty busy…
It was very hard to get a shot of these, but they were in a display on the wall…
We checked in, and were asked if we wanted to go on the outdoor patio with heaters or inside. We asked how warm it would be outside, and we were told pretty warm, but in our tired states, we knew we’d feel the cold, so we opted for inside, asking how long the wait would be. At first the woman said 45 minutes, then her colleague told her we had reservations, and she corrected herself to say in the next few minutes.
I spent the time waiting getting some photos…
I can tell you that outside, it was pretty warm by those heaters, but the minute you left them, you knew about it, as it was getting a lot colder now.
Finally, we were taken through, I guess maybe about 7:10pm, which was about quarter of an hour past our ADR time, so not too terrible.
Sorry for the poor quality of the photos of the restaurant, but honestly there wasn’t much to photograph, as right behind us was a mirror, designed to make the restaurant look bigger.
We were seated, and studied the menu, both of us coming to the conclusion that we’d each go for a couple of appetizers, as the entrees just seemed too heavy for us. I opted for the roasted butternut squash soup with crème fraiche and chives, and this was perfect on a colder night like this.
I also Asian-inspired crispy shrimp, dressed in a spicy Aioli on a bed of vegetable slaw. I asked our server Ana how spicy it was, and she told me it was pretty mild. Unfortunately, I keep coming across this at Disney. I think a lot of servers must have a much better tolerance for spicy food than I do, as it certainly had a kick to it, and I was feeling it by the end of the meal. Having said that, I could not fault the cooking of the shrimp at all. It tasted beautiful, and wasn’t overdone, although my goodness, look at how much I got!
Considering this was an appetizer, we both agreed that there was no way we could have eaten an entrée as well, as you got a lot of food.
I will say here that I was very disappointed that I couldn’t get the baked brie, as it came with prosciutto and raspberry preserves, which felt like a very weird combination to me, given that I’ve never in my life seen brie with prosciutto before. Ana told me it was pre-made, which was a great shame. I hate it when Disney do that, as it just means that those of us who don’t eat meat can’t have the dish at all.
Sadly Mark didn’t fare quite so well as me. He opted for the buffalo chicken dip, pulled buffalo chicken, wing sauce, blue cheese (which he asked to be left off) and celery served with Saratoga chips. It didn’t look much when it arrived:
….and he was not impressed at all by it. He said it made his mouth feel like it was on fire, not good given there was no mention of spicy anywhere on the menu for that dish.
He also went for the fried calamari with roasted garlic mayonnaise and spicy marinara sauce, which I had debated getting, as I liked the sound of it. I told him as soon as he ordered it that I’d try a bit, but my goodness, what a disappointment. When it came out, it didn’t really look like calamari, it looked like whatever they could find to throw on the plate…
….and all I could taste of the bit I tried was salt. It was far too over-seasoned for my taste. Unsurprisingly, Mark did not eat very much of it at all, and I felt so sorry for him, having ended up with two bum dishes.
Ana, while very nice, didn’t seem to me to be the most efficient server. At one point, with my glass empty, and Mark’s nearly there, she came over to ask what else, if anything, she could get us, and I had to ask for another drink. I did think she’d have clocked it immediately, and said “I’ll get you another one”, but We struggled to find her when we wanted the check as well, so we weren’t overly impressed with her.
All in all, I don’t think we’ll be returning here anytime soon. Don’t get me wrong, I could fault the size of the dishes they served – and we saw some of the entrees, and they were massive as well, and I was very happy with mine, but the prices were pretty exorbitant. The whole thing, with four appetizers, and two Diet Cokes, came to $50, although at least we got 10% off as DVC Members, which is something, but it didn’t feel worth it for that much money.
I’ll say a word here too about the atmosphere. Frankly, apart from the bar area outside, there isn’t much of one. It’s very dark in the restaurant itself, and the place was packed, and boy it’s noisy when it’s busy. I just felt they could’ve done a bit more in here, and it was a shame they didn’t.
Turf Club
Appetizer 1: 8½ 7
Appetizer 2: 9 4
Service: 6½ 6
Atmosphere: 7 7½
Value for money: 6 6
Average score: 6.75
When we were done eating, we headed back to the Artist’s Palette…
The plan was to go and get some food for breakfast, and maybe get some items in the shop, but it was even more crazy busy in there now, so with the length of lines in the queues, we just decided we’d get something in the morning.
We headed outside, and Ok, I’ll admit it, it was cold out now. We made our way back to our Treehouse Villas, and sat up for a little while, but by about 8:30pm, I’d had enough and crashed. I know, way too early, but I just couldn’t stay up any longer.
The weather today was in the low 50s, but sunny when we arrived in Florida. The best thing today was our wonderfully relaxing and quiet flight over. The worst thing today was the calamari at dinner. Today we tried staying in a Treehouse Villa And the result was it was very cool to have one to ourselves! The most magical moment today was seeing inside a Treehouse Villa for the first time.
Too bad your meal wasn't the best. I agree that if something's spicy/hot they should let you know. And also agree that prosciutto and brie is just a weird combination... and raspberry? I ate at Turf Club years ago when it first opened and was unimpressed. Sounds like the menu has changed, but still not a place I'd hurry back to.
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I don't know, maybe it's the weird layout?
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
We don't have rain, we just have cold and given we were into the 60s last weekend here, that's a bit of a shock to the system. The winter coat is back out again! 
Ana told me it was pre-made, which was a great shame. I hate it when Disney do that, as it just means that those of us who don’t eat meat can’t have the dish at all. 
He said it made his mouth feel like it was on fire, not good given there was no mention of spicy anywhere on the menu for that dish. 
We made our way back to our Treehouse Villas, and sat up for a little while, but by about 8:30pm, I’d had enough and crashed. I know, way too early, but I just couldn’t stay up any longer. 
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