Hoop-Dee-Doo-Revue
After waiting we were very happy when they opened the doors and let everyone into Pioneer Hall. Our seating was Category 1 since that is what you get with TIW at the late seating. Our table was very close to the front and right in the middle. This was definitely a great table! As soon as we sat down they came and brought the cornbread, salad and sangria. The whole vibe was very chaotic as people were trying to get seated and servers were rushed to get the food out. My sister and I both did try the Sangria but honestly it didn't do too much for me.
Salad
Cornbread
The salad was just ok- not anything special for sure and the cornbread was very good. We had barely started the salad and bread when they came and brought all of the other food. It was a very rushed pace as they want you to eat before the show. Braden was super tired and he was cold so he had to wear my mom's sweater and then he proceeded to crawl into her lap and sleep through the rest of dinner and the show.
After the bread they brought out fried chicken in a bucket, ribs, baked beans, corn and mashed potatoes. I am not a ribs fan and everything tasted ok but not fantastic. I knew the menu ahead of time and was thinking the show would make up for the food. I didn't get too many food pictures.
We felt rushed to eat the food because dessert was coming. Overall the pace of eating felt very, very rushed. The hall was also very crowded and noisy- not horrible but not a relaxing dinner by any means.
Very quickly the show was starting and for the most part we all enjoyed it. Braden, as I wrote above, slept through it all. Owen really enjoys theatre and musicals so I knew he would like this. It was fun but a little corny- pretty much what I expected. I don't know if if it was the late time, the fast pace, the food, the show or what exactly it was but overall I felt pretty "meh" about the whole experience. I really wanted to love it and have it be one of those amazing memories but for us it was not. Everyone felt the same way. I am glad we got to experience it but I am totally "been there, done that" about it and don't feel the need to go again. This is just my opinion and I know so many people love it so take this for what it is!
Once the show was over it was crazy trying to leave. All of the people leaving the show descend upon the transportation at once and it is nuts. I never really thought about that in advance and it was very late. The kids were exhausted as we made our way to the boat launch and that is when it got more interesting. There were already a lot of people waiting for a boat back to WL or Contemporary or to get back to the MK. There were no boats in sight and I quickly realized that there was already a boat or two loads full of people in front of us. It was also about this time that we noticed the bugs. They were everywhere and crawling on everything. Because it was so dark they were flocking to the lights of the boat launch and there were total swarms of them. It was disgusting. I have never seen anything like it. People were tired and grouchy and now everyone was getting covered in bugs. It was not a pleasant place to be at all and I will be honest- we waited a very, very, very long time to get a boat. This was probably the biggest issue of the night and just seemed like poor planning on someone's part to not have a few boats waiting for that immediate rush of people leaving the Hoop-Dee-Doo. I don't know what the bus situation was but this alone was enough to make me never want to go back!
Finally we got a boat and we headed back across a dark Bay Lake.
We got back and booked it for BLT. Can you see us up there?
This had been a super long night and everyone was beat. My little two-year-old was a champ. She was the only kid still smiling, happy and in a fabulous mood. She and my sister took the long way through BLT and my sister taught her to say "I am 2 and I'm amazing" to everyone we went by and to this day she still says it (we had to make her change it to 3 recently though). It was a sweet and adorable way to end the long night!