Team Renfroe's 2nd Trip Report - 1,500 pictures, dining reviews, and DISmeets!

[alan_renfroe]

After riding Rock N' Roller Coaster twice, Tower of Terror, and Star Tours, it was time for Wil and I to meet back up with the girls. They had gotten FastPasses for all of us, and I think our return time was around 9:45am. As Wil and I made our way over to TSM, we took a few pictures along the way:

We met up with the girls and got in the FastPass line for Toy Story Mania:

I absolutely LOVE this ride!! It is one of those special rides that anyone of any age can enjoy. Very clever idea.

As soon as we got off the ride, we immediately went and got more FastPasses for later in the afternoon.

After Toy Story Mania, Elizabeth wanted to check out the Narnia: Prince Caspian attraction, much to the dismay of Wil. He protested and protested, but ultimately we decided that we would all experience the attraction. Uh...hmm....it was basically a movie trailer. No offense to anyone who likes this attraction, but Wil and I were bored to tears.

Elizabeth had tried to get Juliana to ride Star Tours earlier in the morning, but she insisted that she ride with me. We were afraid she would back out, but she was brave and decided to ride.

She ended up enjoying the ride and wondered what all the fuss was about.

Next, we went to another favorite attraction of ours - the Muppets 3D:

After that, it was around 11:45am. We had lunch reservations at Sci Fi at 12:15pm. We were all getting hungry, so we decided to go ahead and see if we could be seated a little early.

We were in luck! We were seated within 10 minutes!

Coming up next, lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Way to go Griswolds...I mean...Team Renfroe! You guys were able to do so much before your lunch at Sci-Fi. I know that Sci-Fi gets a bum rap on the disboards but we like it. Looking forward to hearing you opinion.

 

[Must C Mickey]

So I think that you have convinced me of the Morning EMH's. My DH & I usually plan our days by the Evening EMH's b/c we are such night people. But it is unreal all that your family had accomplished before noon. When we were there in March, the parks were still crowded in the evening EMH's and we were not as lucky. We will def have to give the Morning EMH's a try in our 2010 trip.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

The Narnia attraction, I always just get my picture with Prince Caspian and then skip on out of the rest of the "attraction".

 

[Dallas_Lady]

I just love reading your trip reports, Alan. We also have a family of four, one girl and one boy, though our kids are still little. I love seeing how your family interacts together, I hope ours is the same way as the years go by

 

[M & E love WDW]

Oops, sorry. Don't think I'll ever get over that just like it's still WEDway people mover.

Keep up the good work Alan. I am so enjoying your vacation. Thanks for taking us all along.

 

[WillowBelle]

Just read your whole trip report in one sitting! Atlanta traffic is terrible. I live an hour south of Nashville and drive straight through the city (I'm also an ATL native). We are in CST here - I would have to leave at 9:00 in the morning to avoid afternoon rush hour traffic! Crazy that you have to give yourself a whole extra day, basically, to get through the city.

Taking my daughters to WDW in 2 weeks from today. We can't wait to give TSM a try. We will also have AM EMH's and will make a bee-line for that ride. I have taught my daughters that when there is a ride that is popular that there is no smelling the roses or posing with characters until AFTER the ride is finished or the FP's have been obtained .

 

[brookelizabeth]

I'm with ya on Narnia. DH and I were both unimpressed.

Way back in 06 we ate at Sci Fi too, I was barely a DISer then, so I didn't know the burgers and shakes were the thing to get. So, we weren't overlly impressed with the food, but LOVED the atmosphere and have wanted to go back! I look forward to your review.

 

[DisneyJo]

Sounds like a fun morning but they stopped to meet characters on their way to TSM As others have said definitely grounds for divorce

 

[nettii]

Great Trip report so far cant wait to read see more! LOVE all the pics! We will not be doing MGM on our up coming trip and my boys are freaking out after seeing your pics.

 

[englishrose47]

Great Update Alan!!! Glad you didn/t pree the "Back" button
I saw Prince Narnia for the first and last time this trip it ranks right along with "Sounds Dangerous " BORING!!!!!!!!!! I also am a Sci Fi Fan !!! I don't think we'll make it in September though unless I do a bit of tweaking !!

 

[MaryAz]

Fun update, we did not do TSM this time. Girls did like the Muppets show though. We had some good foos at Sci-Fi!!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Another food porn cliffhanger!

Looks like a fun morning at DHS! You hit all my favorites. Aren't the Muppets great?

Can't wait to hear your review of Sci Fi!

 

[pmama]

I'll be interested to see how Sci Fi went for you. Our very first trip we were so excited for Sci Fi and ended up with the s l o w e s t waitress ever! We wasted more than 2 hours and most of it was just waiting for her to actually come by our table. Because of that experience we did not return last time. I'm hoping it was an isolated experience.
P.S. Glad Julianna liked Star Tours, I hate it.

 

[disneyfan61]

Enjoying your report Alan. My DH LOVES the Muppets. Go figure. He bought a t-shirt on this last trip of the 2 old guys in the balcony. It says "Being old is better than being dead". I think that was one of the few things he got this trip.
Anxious to hear about your meal at Sci Fi. We ate there a few years ago for lunch. We thought it was pretty good.

 

[alan_renfroe]

We arrived at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre & Restaurant about 20 minutes before our reservation time. Fortunately, they were able to seat us almost immediately. We had all been looking forward to this experience! After a very successful morning of touring Disney's Hollywood Studios we were now thirsty and hungry.

The kids thought the movies were hilarious and we all had a great time! This place is awesome! It is as much of an attraction as it is a restaurant.

We had read many negative reviews about the food at Sci-Fi, but honestly we were very pleasantly surprised! We all enjoyed our meal very much! I mean it wasn't gourmet cuisine or anything....but a nice, solid lunch and a really fun way to spend some time together.

The kids ordered milkshakes as their drinks while Elizabeth and I both got Cherry Cokes.

Elizabeth ordered the Spinach Artichoke Dip as her appetizer. It was really good.

Wil and I both ordered the onion rings. They were outstanding! I couldn't believe how HUGE the portions were. If we were not on the dining plan, I could have just eaten onion rings for lunch and been full.

For my entree, I ordered the St. Louis Ribs with Cucumber-Melon Salad and Coleslaw. I almost didn't order this because I had eaten ribs the night before at Whispering Canyon, but I am so glad that I did. They were really good. Were they the absolute greatest ribs ever? no. They were on par with Chili's or something like that. But it was just exactly what I wanted, and I was certainly not disappointed. The Cucumber-Melon Salad and the Coleslaw were also very good.

Elizabeth ordered the smokey turkey sandwich. (Sorry for the blurry picture - it was so dark in the dining room it was difficult to get good pictures.)

Wil got the Angus Chuck Burger. It was awesome! However, after eating that big plate of onion rings, he wasn't really hungry enough to eat all of his burger.

Juliana got the children's pizza:

(continued in next post)

 

[alan_renfroe]

For dessert, Juliana had the ice cream sundae:

Wil had the hot fudge sundae:

Elizabeth ordered the Peanut Butter/Chocolate Cake. It was very good.

BUT...I saved the best for last. My dessert was fantastic! I ordered the Cheesecake with Caramel Sauce and Caramel Corn. The mixture of cheesecake and caramel corn was just terrific. Elizabeth enjoyed her dessert, but liked mine much better. She kept asking for more bites! Between the two of us, we finished this bad boy off with no problem.

I do not remember our server's name, but she was very sweet. We thought she did a really good job. She took these pictures of us:

Overall, we all really enjoyed our lunch at Sci-Fi. In fact, I would have to say that it is now on our "must-do" list. I think the trick is to not order anything overly fancy. If I go back, I would probably order the exact same things. I think we had low expectations and turned out to be pleasantly surprised. This was a really, really good lunch!

Coming up next - an afternoon at the pool at CSR, and later, back to DHS for the American Idol Experience, Toy Story Mania, and dinner at the Flying Fish.

 

[Lady Lallie]

Sci Fi looks yummy! I think you've got it down though, don't order anything too fancy there and you will be fine. I think I could make a meal out of some onions rings and a yummy shake! I ate there in 2005 and we sat at one of the picnic tables, not the car, it was a neat place. It was so quiet with everyone watching the screen. It was a nice break.

 

[DisneyJo]

I love SciFi too and how cute you got a 4 seater car, so sweet

 

[shannon47142]

glad you enjoyed lunch!! We ate there last summer and also had a great experience--like you said, not gormet fare, but good food, great surrroundings