Scooter Mom Rides Again! A Thanksgiving DR-Nov.21-25(Updated 12/26-closing thoughts)

[jecskc]

Intro

Hello fellows DISers and welcome to my new Dining Review !!

We had planned this trip earlier this year, but cancelled it when I found out I was having surgery on my ankle. We thought I would still be in a cast at Thanksgiving, but I got my cast off on Halloween and after a couple of days, DH said to book something for Thanksgiving. Well, he didn't have to ask me twice. I booked that trip so fast his head spun (but not in a creepy Exorcist kinda way).

On July 23, I was coming down the stairs at our house and as I was descending, the dog was at the front window barking at something and my focus shifted from the stairs and onto whatever was causing the dog to spaz out. And I am not sure exactly what happened, but I fell down the remaining stairs injuring my left ankle very badly.

I had surgery September 20. It is a very painful surgery and it is VERY slow to heal. So even though I had my cast off, I was still in a walking boot and still in a decent amount of pain. So walking 8-10 miles a day was out of the question. So we rented a scooter - again.

In case anyone is wondering how long it has been since my injury occurred - it has been FOUR months. And I am still in a walking boot and not able to get around very well. It has been horrible. So I was happy to be getting another trip to Disney to cheer me up. So with my scooter rental and a bottle of pain pills, we were off !!

Let me finally get down to introductions and trip details.

When: November 21-25, 2012

Where: Saratoga Springs Resort

Who: Me, Scooter Mom extraordinaire 44 year old Irrigation Designer and lover (aka crazy freak) of all things Disney.

DH my wonderful husband of almost 15 years. In upper management at a local Chemical Company. He pretends to just tolerate my Disney obsession, but I think he has as much fun as we do.

DS - 13 year old thrill seeker, but still a sweet boy (so far)

DD - 10 year old sweetie who loves all things Disney.

I hope those of you that choose to read along will stop by and say hello. I just love seeing my DIS friends and meeting new ones !!

Are you ready to roll with me - AGAIN ????

Lets go !!

 

[jecskc]

ADR's and such .......

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Breakfast - Waffle House

Lunch - Wolfgang Puck Experess

Dinner - Artists Palette

Thanksgiving - Thursday, November 22, 2012

Breakfast - Akershus

Lunch - Garden Grill

Friday, November 23, 2012

Lunch - Restaurantasaurus

Dinner - Grand Floridian Cafe

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Breakfast - Fairfax Fare

Lunch - Le Cellier

Dinner - Disney Quest food court

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Lunch - Columbia Harbor House

Snacks

 

[jecskc]

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Breakfast at Waffle House

On the way, we stopped in Georgia and had breakfast at the Waffle House

And the all important coffee

I find Waffle House dirty and prefer not to eat there, but the food is always decent and the kids love it, so I go along.

 

[jecskc]

Lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express

After some shopping in Downtown Disney, we headed over to our favorite spot for lunch.

And had the usual lunch we always get.

DH and I shared

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf - mashed potatoes, port wine sauce and crispy onion rings $15

We get this every time we go and it never disappoints. The onion rings are crispy and full of flavor and the meat loaf is excellent along with the mashed potatoes and sauce. It is so good. I take the bacon off, though. Sometimes bacon just doesn't agree with me.

The kids went with their old standby of Chicken fingers and French fries.

These are standard fare but very good and the kids enjoyed them.

DH and I shared the Cheesecake

You can see his plate from the meatloaf in the background. Practically licked clean. Mine looked the same.

And the DD got a brownie and DS got a cookie

Again, this is something we always order. I keep telling myself that I will try something else, but those onion rings always reel me in. They need to serve up a huge plate of those things for a snack credit. They are just soo good.

 

[tluvstink]

You're off to a great start and I'm looking forward to reading more!

Your kids are adorable

Terri

 

[jecskc]

You're odd to a great start and I'm looking forward to reading more!

Your kids are adorable

Terri

Terri !! So glad you are here !!

Thanks !!

Susan

 

[emmysmommy]

I'm excited to see some more great dining!! The bacon wrapped meatloaf at WPE looks amazing!! I loved the cheesecake. Yum!

 

[jecskc]

I'm excited to see some more great dining!! The bacon wrapped meatloaf at WPE looks amazing!! I loved the cheesecake. Yum!

Brenda !! Thanks so much for stopping by !!

We always get this meatloaf. It really is VERY good. I highly recommend.

The cheesecake is always good, too. It is creamy and delicious, but not too dense and filling. Very tasty.

 

[butiflfeet]

The bacon wrapped meatloaf always looks so good! I can't wait for the rest of your reviews!

 

[jecskc]

The bacon wrapped meatloaf always looks so good! I can't wait for the rest of your reviews!

It really is extremely delicious. I highly recommend !!

I see you have a trip coming up. I am so jealous of your half marathon. Ahhh, to be able to run again ......

 

[jabead]

Hi Susan!

I enjoyed the preview updates you were able to send. So sorry you experienced internet problems. It must have been very frustrating. But anyway, I'm happy to see that you are doing a full dining report again and am looking forward to hearing all the delicious details of your trip.


Great start...I really want to try that meatloaf sometime!!!

 

[rachel09985]

I am in! Looking forward to hearing(and seeing) all about it

 

[jecskc]

Hi Susan!

I enjoyed the preview updates you were able to send. So sorry you experienced internet problems. It must have been very frustrating. But anyway, I'm happy to see that you are doing a full dining report again and am looking forward to hearing all the delicious details of your trip.


Great start...I really want to try that meatloaf sometime!!!

Barb !!

I know !! We had the worst internet problems. That is why kept asking you if you got my updates. I wasn't even sure if they got sent. I kept getting disconnected. Photobucket was being stupid and it took forever just to load something like six photos. When I got home, everything was fine and everything loaded up fairly quickly. So am sure it was SSR's cruddy internet and not my brand new laptop. I just became too frustrated with it to continue. I was on vacation in Disney and I needed to be having fun and that whole internet debacle was becoming a JOB.

Thanks so much for asking me though !! Maybe I can try again sometimes and just use my phone.

You really do need to try the meatloaf. I know I have said it a bunch of times, but it never disappoints.

I am in! Looking forward to hearing(and seeing) all about it

Rachel !! I am so happy you are here !!

 

[jecskc]

Dinner at Artist Palette.

Once we got back to the room, the early morning drive and my massively swollen ankle got the best of me and I didn't feel up to getting out to a park again.

DH fell quickly asleep.

The kids were hungry, so we scootered up to Artist Palette to let him rest.

We were on the DDP, so we got our mugs

We weren't super hungry, so we just used one CS credit. We ordered and they gave us a number

They had easels and crayons on several of the tables for the kids.

We ordered chicken nuggets and they came with house made chips.

These were very warm and just out of the fryer, so they were very tasty.
The three of us couldn't finish these and ended up taking a couple of nuggets and chips back to the room. DH woke up and ate them and then went right back to sleep.

Photos on the way back

DD got a Lady pillow pet at the gift shop

I got some caramel popcorn

I really love caramel popcorn. I also the love the confetti popcorn they sell, but didn't get any this trip.

 

[jecskc]

Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 22, 2012

Breakfast at Akershus

After taking a ride on Figment, we headed towards Norway and our breakfast with the princesses. DD was very excited about it.

So we got there and checked in and were called right away.

DD had her picture taken with Belle.

I didn’t realize that her hat was covering her face. Thankfully, the reservation comes with a complimentary photo.

We were seated right by the buffet which was good for me since I couldn’t walk very well at all.

Some restaurant photos.

We got some pastries.

Starting from the bagel clockwise, I had a cinnamon roll, cherry Danish, ligonberry muffin, chocolate croissant thingy and in the middle and apple turnover.

I didn’t eat all of these, but more or less had a bite or two of each. I did finish the muffin and cherry Danish since they were the best ones. All of the others we just OK.

Right away, our waitress brought our hot plate of “all you care to enjoy”

Clockwise from the eggs, bacon, sausage and potato casserole.

All of this was good. Even the bacon was was thicker and better than normal Disney bacon. DD really loved it. And these were the best eggs we have ever had a Disney. Cooked perfectly for once.

Then the princesses started coming. Aurora was first.

Then Jasmine

Jasmine was our best interaction from this day. We had a conversation about Rajah and what he does all day.

Then Snow White

Then Ariel. DD was excited to meet her since she had never done so before.

And then we were done. We very much enjoyed our breakfast. DH really liked it as well. He loves a big breakfast. Service was good and character interaction was great. We would definitely do this again.

 

[rachel09985]

That bacon does look surprisingly good!

That Snow White looks incredibly happy! Haha

 

[jecskc]

That bacon does look surprisingly good!

That Snow White looks incredibly happy! Haha

The bacon was pretty decent. I really liked the sausage. It was good !!

Yep. With that special "deer in the headlights" kinda way

 

[rachel09985]

The bacon was pretty decent. I really liked the sausage. It was good !!

Yep. With that special "deer in the headlights" kinda way

Yep exactly what I was thinking! I wonder if thats how she looks all the time!

 

[jecskc]

Yep exactly what I was thinking! I wonder if thats how she looks all the time!

Probably not. I think they tell them to open their eyes wide when they smile so they don't get that squinty, blinky look. And then some of them end up looking creepy like she does. It's kinda funny !!!

 

[jecskc]

Thanksgiving Dinner at Garden Grill

For dinner. headed back over to Garden Grill. Our ressie was for 3:15 PM and it looked like they were just opening for dinner.

We love this place. The whole restaurant rotates (very slowly) and it is really neat. We were given an outside booth so we were right on the railing and could see everything really well. We ate here last year at Thanksgiving and really enjoyed it.

We had a great waiter and he brought us some bread and salad right away.

Both were very good.

We asked the waiter to bring us some of the kids selections and he did.

Children's Entree Platter

Oven Roasted Chicken Drumstick
Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Broccoli
Crispy Sweet Potato Sticks

The kids ate the macaroni and chicken and were brought more. I had some of the sweet potato fries and everyone ignored the broccoli – even though it looked good. To me at least.

For the adults there was this.

Family Style Platter (All You Care to Enjoy) featuring:

Basket of Warm Breads with Maple Butter
Harvest-inspired Farmer's Salad
Char-grilled Filet of Beef with Red Wine Butter
Roasted All Natural Turkey Breast with Gravy
Sustainable Fish of the Day with a Sweet Tomato and Fennel Chutney
Garden Fresh Vegetables
Smashed Potatoes
Rice Pilaf

So a breakdown of this.

Turkey, potatoes and stuffing – yum. Beef tenderloin cooked a perfect medium and veggies – yum. I liked this best. And then the Mahi-mahi. It was good, but not a s good as the other things. We REALLY enjoyed this meal - DH especially.

What made it the most special for us was this was Thanksgiving Day and it was close to a Thanksgiving feast. And the best part ?? We didn’t have to cook …. Or clean up the dishes.

The characters started coming – Farmer Mickey

DS was too cool for this.

Chip !!

DS likes him better

Then Pluto – DD’s favorite !!

Day 2 – Part 5

(Garden Grill Dinner continued)

She was telling him to sit, shake, etc. and he was going through the paces like a champ.

The farm house from The Land ride.

Then Dale came !!

Then dessert came.

We had pumpkin tarts

These were VERY good.

The kids were brought these pound cakes in a paper cone with chocolate mousse on top. They both loved these !!

And then they brought out this cake

This had berries inside, I think. I only had a bite or two since I was stuffed. The menu online says rhubarb crisp, but it definitely wasn’t that. It was good though.

Food was good and plentiful. It didn't blow your mind or anything, but we left full and satisfied. We really enjoyed this dinner and would do it again
.