“All Aboard the Seven Dwarfs Whine Train!” A May 2015/Mother's Day TR! ***TR COMPLETED 2/8!!!
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theworldneedscolor
DIS Veteran
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Finally got all caught up on this; loving your trip report! I'm in the very, very early stages of planning a 21st birthday trip to WDW, so this is perfect for me 
I love how you say 700k all casual
I broke 100k for the first time earlier this month! You put me to shame
I'm so glad to hear that someone feels the same way! I didn't even ride it went I went to WDW because I thought it was so lame at DCA (in California). It does not have any of the charm that the classic dark rides have, and it frankly looks kind of sloppy. Also, the story doesn't make a whole lot of sense...it basically goes from "Kiss the Girl" to them getting married...what happened to Ursula?
I love how you say 700k all casual
I broke 100k for the first time earlier this month! You put me to shame
I'm so glad to hear that someone feels the same way! I didn't even ride it went I went to WDW because I thought it was so lame at DCA (in California). It does not have any of the charm that the classic dark rides have, and it frankly looks kind of sloppy. Also, the story doesn't make a whole lot of sense...it basically goes from "Kiss the Girl" to them getting married...what happened to Ursula?
princessesandpascal
"Guys, I want a castle."
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2012
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- 224
First of all, sorry it's been a few days without an update! I had my best friend up visiting for the first time in a few months so naturally we did what we did best, binge-watched Scrubs on Netflix and dream-planned our own Disney trip for next year 
We are hoping to go, but nothing is finalized yet. I have an update almost fully ready for tomorrow, just lacking photos!
Thanks for joining in!
Thanks! Great to have you along!
It was pretty hilarious, funny to see what a bunch of tired tourists will do in the Happiest Place on Earth!
Thank you! So exciting!!
Haha it came from years of practice!! Once you figure out where the good targets are (I showed Mom the bottom of Zurg's spaceship that's worth 100k each hit and she almost came out a Galactic Hero later in the trip!) it is pretty easy to manage. 100k is nothing to sniff at though!
Ursula is sort of floating around in the distant background in the marriage scene It was a weird one for sure! Luckily we had other first-time rides that we loved a lot more.
We are hoping to go, but nothing is finalized yet. I have an update almost fully ready for tomorrow, just lacking photos!Thanks for joining in!
Thanks! Great to have you along!
It was pretty hilarious, funny to see what a bunch of tired tourists will do in the Happiest Place on Earth!
Finally got all caught up on this; loving your trip report! I'm in the very, very early stages of planning a 21st birthday trip to WDW, so this is perfect for me
I love how you say 700k all casual
I'm so glad to hear that someone feels the same way! I didn't even ride it went I went to WDW because I thought it was so lame at DCA (in California). It does not have any of the charm that the classic dark rides have, and it frankly looks kind of sloppy. Also, the story doesn't make a whole lot of sense...it basically goes from "Kiss the Girl" to them getting married...what happened to Ursula?
Thank you! So exciting!!
Haha it came from years of practice!! Once you figure out where the good targets are (I showed Mom the bottom of Zurg's spaceship that's worth 100k each hit and she almost came out a Galactic Hero later in the trip!) it is pretty easy to manage. 100k is nothing to sniff at though!
Ursula is sort of floating around in the distant background in the marriage scene
It was a weird one for sure! Luckily we had other first-time rides that we loved a lot more.
princessesandpascal
"Guys, I want a castle."
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2012
- Messages
- 224
Chapter Five: “The Damp Hordes of Soarin’!”, or, A Very Wet Epcot Rope Drop!
Date: May 5, 2015.
Day Two started bright and early with the obnoxious sound of the in-room phone ringing. I rolled over to answer it, and waited for the horrible noise of Josh Gad As Olaf the Snowman to wake me up (since last I’d heard, that was the wake-up call). So I was pleasantly surprised and excited to be greeted by Baymax, My Personal Health Care Companion! I heard that message so many times that week…
Good Morning! This is Baymax. I prescribe a day of fun and happiness. Fun can be expressed by a fist bump.
Then I added the ba-la-la-la-la just for good measure. And fist-bumped the receiver.
We were going to make the 8am EMH at Epcot before our 10:50 brunch at Akershus, so we got ready as quickly as we could. Somehow, despite getting up early, we were still racing to the food court for a quick bite to eat. We were running late but we knew if we didn’t eat we’d be hangry (hungry + angry) for the rest of the morning, so we stopped for Pop waffles in the food court. Ended up being one of our best decisions, because we stopped being “hangry” and started having FUN!
We headed out to the bus stop at an indeterminate time (because the timestamps on my camera aren’t working and Mom didn’t pull hers out until after we got off of Soarin’) and made it to the park right before opening. Also, while we were on the bus, it started to rain. I pulled on my raincoat quickly but Mom didn’t take her poncho out, something that she would come to regret later. I expected everyone to be held at the tapstiles, but everyone was held right by Spaceship Earth. Waiting. In the rain.
That sky looks OMINOUS.
When the rope dropped, people SPRINTED to Soarin’. It was like the old TSMM Running of the Bulls. And it was raining.
So the running of the wet bulls, then.
We walked, because we can barely run in the dry weather nonetheless with water everywhere, and then the sky completely opened up and the sprinkling turned to showers. Mom still did not have her poncho on. Score +1 for the raincoat-wearer in the family.
Therefore, Mom will not be appearing in many pictures because bad things happen to Merida-like hair in the rain.
We followed the hordes into Soarin (the damp hordes, as Mom eloquently puts it in our home video) and right into the queue. The wait was posted 10 minutes, and I think we waited more than that. We were seated in A-2, which I didn’t mind too badly. I actually prefer B-2 (middle section, second row) to B-1 (aka front row, middle, what most Disboarders want), because I find the feet less distracting than actually seeing the edge of the screen which tends to happen more in front row, middle than in the second. So I was happy with row 2.
It was wonderful, as usual, and when we came out the wait was already at 30 minutes, so we nixed that. I hate to even say this, but that was our only Soarin’ ride this trip. We were supposed to have another on our last day, but then we ended up dropping all our Epcot FPs and switched parks on our last day. (The one downfall of FP+, really.)
BUT, for a one ride, it was wonderful. And one of our very few regrets from this trip.
Because we didn’t feel like waiting in line for another round on Soarin’, we decided to hit up Spaceship Earth before the park opened to the masses. We strolled over and walked right on, and settled in through our trip through the future. This is one of our favourites too, and again I’m ashamed to say we only did it once?? But it was a great one and I love it so. We videotaped our future and most of the ride, so no pictures. I think I just sat back and enjoyed it. But most of you know what SE looks like, so I'm not too concerned. (Again... Imagination!)
Afterwards, we realized that all the games and post-ride stuff were running even though it was still EMH at that point. So we decided to take advantage of the fact that almost no one was there, and got to actually play a bunch of them! We did the 3-D put-the-bones-back-in-the-skeleton one working together, and THEN.
Then, it was time for the stick game. We don’t actually know what this game is called, but it’s the one with the huge sticks. (Obviously). It is the one in which there are two sticks with sensors on the bottom, and you run around a projected map of a town and push the energy balls around with your sticks on the screen. And we got competitive.
Despite the fact that we weren’t competing against anyone but ourselves.
Let me backtrack. Mom and I were HUGE Where’s the Fire fans back when it was part of Innoventions. It was removed about a week before our arrival, and we were pretty bummed. We were undefeated Where’s the Fire champions from 2007-2012. We were the ones running from room to room and getting 2-3 bonus rounds because of our efficiency. Our team never lost, no matter how many small children or confused relatives were on it. Luckily, we found something to fill that void in our hearts.
And raced around that little stick-board like nobody’s business. Despite the fact that I was wearing a skirt which I probably didn’t move around very lady-like in. At least I had shorts on underneath it.
After saving the city (twice), we played another couple of the games.
At this point, the rest of the park had been open for a while, so we headed out to do some exploring before brunch! As we walked around Innoventions toward Nemo and Imagination, we stumbled across Chip and Dale doing their first set of the day, so we hopped in line since they’re Mom’s favourite characters. (This was the first time of four that we met them on this trip!) And as we were walking over to the end of the line, a girl that was passing us came up to me and said “I love your Ariel Disneybound!” I was so excited that people were getting that it was supposed to be like Ariel’s, considering my skirt was arguably more mint than green.
Speaking of my Ariel Disneybound, here's a picture of my bow (also from Hot Topic!)
Also while in this line, we overheard an exchange in front of us in which two girls around my age were talking to a little girl who asked what resort they were staying at, and they replied "Saratoga" but when they said Saratoga they sounded like they had walked right out of a The Californians sketch from Saturday Night Live, which is one of our favourite things ever. (Our all-time favourite sketch to quote is the one that parodies Price is Right and has Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph speaking in these ridiculous voices.) So naturally, for the rest of the morning we were quoting the Californians.
"Devon?! What're YOU doin' here?!"
Classic.
Anyways, we finally met the chipmunks and they were sweet as ever. From the ‘munks, we went to Imagination, which we really enjoyed as usual (it is the cutest little ride, but it’s always the most fun at around 11pm when you’re incredibly overtired and everything is hilarious.)
After Figment and fooling around a little in the play area afterwards, we decided to look at a bunch of the topiaries while slowly making our way to the World Showcase. Mom loves the Flower and Garden festival, so we slowly made our way back toward the Showcase, snapping as we went:
(I love that photo because it looks like Mom's trying so hard to be artsy and then STITCH FACE.)
We were early for our reservation (arrived about 25 minutes early for our reservation), but when we arrived in Norway and saw this line, we figured we’d hop in line and wait it out anyways.
Up Next: "If I Hear that Princess Processional Song Again I Will Scream", or, Brunch at Akershus!
Date: May 5, 2015.
Day Two started bright and early with the obnoxious sound of the in-room phone ringing. I rolled over to answer it, and waited for the horrible noise of Josh Gad As Olaf the Snowman to wake me up (since last I’d heard, that was the wake-up call). So I was pleasantly surprised and excited to be greeted by Baymax, My Personal Health Care Companion! I heard that message so many times that week…
Good Morning! This is Baymax. I prescribe a day of fun and happiness. Fun can be expressed by a fist bump.
Then I added the ba-la-la-la-la just for good measure. And fist-bumped the receiver.
We were going to make the 8am EMH at Epcot before our 10:50 brunch at Akershus, so we got ready as quickly as we could. Somehow, despite getting up early, we were still racing to the food court for a quick bite to eat. We were running late but we knew if we didn’t eat we’d be hangry (hungry + angry) for the rest of the morning, so we stopped for Pop waffles in the food court. Ended up being one of our best decisions, because we stopped being “hangry” and started having FUN!
We headed out to the bus stop at an indeterminate time (because the timestamps on my camera aren’t working and Mom didn’t pull hers out until after we got off of Soarin’) and made it to the park right before opening. Also, while we were on the bus, it started to rain. I pulled on my raincoat quickly but Mom didn’t take her poncho out, something that she would come to regret later. I expected everyone to be held at the tapstiles, but everyone was held right by Spaceship Earth. Waiting. In the rain.
That sky looks OMINOUS.
When the rope dropped, people SPRINTED to Soarin’. It was like the old TSMM Running of the Bulls. And it was raining.
So the running of the wet bulls, then.
We walked, because we can barely run in the dry weather nonetheless with water everywhere, and then the sky completely opened up and the sprinkling turned to showers. Mom still did not have her poncho on. Score +1 for the raincoat-wearer in the family.
Therefore, Mom will not be appearing in many pictures because bad things happen to Merida-like hair in the rain.
We followed the hordes into Soarin (the damp hordes, as Mom eloquently puts it in our home video) and right into the queue. The wait was posted 10 minutes, and I think we waited more than that. We were seated in A-2, which I didn’t mind too badly. I actually prefer B-2 (middle section, second row) to B-1 (aka front row, middle, what most Disboarders want), because I find the feet less distracting than actually seeing the edge of the screen which tends to happen more in front row, middle than in the second. So I was happy with row 2.
It was wonderful, as usual, and when we came out the wait was already at 30 minutes, so we nixed that. I hate to even say this, but that was our only Soarin’ ride this trip. We were supposed to have another on our last day, but then we ended up dropping all our Epcot FPs and switched parks on our last day. (The one downfall of FP+, really.)
BUT, for a one ride, it was wonderful. And one of our very few regrets from this trip.
Because we didn’t feel like waiting in line for another round on Soarin’, we decided to hit up Spaceship Earth before the park opened to the masses. We strolled over and walked right on, and settled in through our trip through the future. This is one of our favourites too, and again I’m ashamed to say we only did it once?? But it was a great one and I love it so. We videotaped our future and most of the ride, so no pictures. I think I just sat back and enjoyed it. But most of you know what SE looks like, so I'm not too concerned. (Again... Imagination!)
Afterwards, we realized that all the games and post-ride stuff were running even though it was still EMH at that point. So we decided to take advantage of the fact that almost no one was there, and got to actually play a bunch of them! We did the 3-D put-the-bones-back-in-the-skeleton one working together, and THEN.
Then, it was time for the stick game. We don’t actually know what this game is called, but it’s the one with the huge sticks. (Obviously). It is the one in which there are two sticks with sensors on the bottom, and you run around a projected map of a town and push the energy balls around with your sticks on the screen. And we got competitive.
Despite the fact that we weren’t competing against anyone but ourselves.
Let me backtrack. Mom and I were HUGE Where’s the Fire fans back when it was part of Innoventions. It was removed about a week before our arrival, and we were pretty bummed. We were undefeated Where’s the Fire champions from 2007-2012. We were the ones running from room to room and getting 2-3 bonus rounds because of our efficiency. Our team never lost, no matter how many small children or confused relatives were on it. Luckily, we found something to fill that void in our hearts.
And raced around that little stick-board like nobody’s business. Despite the fact that I was wearing a skirt which I probably didn’t move around very lady-like in. At least I had shorts on underneath it.
After saving the city (twice), we played another couple of the games.
At this point, the rest of the park had been open for a while, so we headed out to do some exploring before brunch! As we walked around Innoventions toward Nemo and Imagination, we stumbled across Chip and Dale doing their first set of the day, so we hopped in line since they’re Mom’s favourite characters. (This was the first time of four that we met them on this trip!) And as we were walking over to the end of the line, a girl that was passing us came up to me and said “I love your Ariel Disneybound!” I was so excited that people were getting that it was supposed to be like Ariel’s, considering my skirt was arguably more mint than green.
Speaking of my Ariel Disneybound, here's a picture of my bow (also from Hot Topic!)
Also while in this line, we overheard an exchange in front of us in which two girls around my age were talking to a little girl who asked what resort they were staying at, and they replied "Saratoga" but when they said Saratoga they sounded like they had walked right out of a The Californians sketch from Saturday Night Live, which is one of our favourite things ever. (Our all-time favourite sketch to quote is the one that parodies Price is Right and has Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph speaking in these ridiculous voices.) So naturally, for the rest of the morning we were quoting the Californians.
"Devon?! What're YOU doin' here?!"
Classic.
Anyways, we finally met the chipmunks and they were sweet as ever. From the ‘munks, we went to Imagination, which we really enjoyed as usual (it is the cutest little ride, but it’s always the most fun at around 11pm when you’re incredibly overtired and everything is hilarious.)
After Figment and fooling around a little in the play area afterwards, we decided to look at a bunch of the topiaries while slowly making our way to the World Showcase. Mom loves the Flower and Garden festival, so we slowly made our way back toward the Showcase, snapping as we went:
(I love that photo because it looks like Mom's trying so hard to be artsy and then STITCH FACE.)
We were early for our reservation (arrived about 25 minutes early for our reservation), but when we arrived in Norway and saw this line, we figured we’d hop in line and wait it out anyways.
Up Next: "If I Hear that Princess Processional Song Again I Will Scream", or, Brunch at Akershus!
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KathyM2
DIS Veteran
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- Jun 16, 2011
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Great update!!! That's so cool that you got to play some of the games at SE....I don't think I ever really noticed that stuff because it's always too busy...good use of EMH time...too bad about your only 1 ride at Soarin' and SE...but sadly...I think that will probably be our experience as well 
With the tiered FP+ at Epcot...it's a sad fact that without more than one day there....unless you are really lucky...you'd only get to do the favourites once...sigh..But looks like you had a lot of fun so far so that's good!
With the tiered FP+ at Epcot...it's a sad fact that without more than one day there....unless you are really lucky...you'd only get to do the favourites once...sigh..But looks like you had a lot of fun so far so that's good!
Sailormoon2
DIS Veteran
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I'm taking DH for the first time in August and I was all like, "We can skip Innoventions, that's not for us..." and now you tell me there are competitive games!!! Oh no! We're doomed. Nothing like nonsensical competition between yourselves and the imaginary "other". DH lives for that, it may be other areas that get scrapped (like my Nemo) once he sees this. LOL! Thanks for the update,you don't read many that reference that area.
/
tiggergal15
Mouseketeer
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- Apr 28, 2015
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I'm am really enjoying this and sharing your pics and TR with my DD 7 as we are headed to the World in Oct for her Birthday! Your pics,tips and info are getting us excited!!
princessesandpascal
"Guys, I want a castle."
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2012
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- 224
Great update!!! That's so cool that you got to play some of the games at SE....I don't think I ever really noticed that stuff because it's always too busy...good use of EMH time...too bad about your only 1 ride at Soarin' and SE...but sadly...I think that will probably be our experience as well
That's why we'd never stopped before. All of the stations were full every time we've walked through, and we were pretty happy to find a unique use of EMH time to get to play those for a while. My favourite was probably the one where you have to put the bones back in the skeleton, it was really cool and nice that we worked together on it too. The tiering at Epcot is a really sore spot for me when it comes to FP+. They just don't have that many things that you need to FP or want to FP in our case. We did do Test Track twice on another day, but that involved us waiting in line for 30+ minutes which was a bit of a bummer.
It was really fun though! This whole trip we enjoyed the atmosphere and stuff more. It was overwhelming after not having been there for a few years, so we were essentially forced to slow down sometimes.
In August it might be different, but half of Innoventions closed at the end of April! The half that is open has only one game that could arguably be competitive, which is Habit Heroes (even though it's all about teamwork, we played it with two other families and we were all really competitive as a team!). The place where we were with the games is called Project Tomorrow and it's where you are let out into after you exit the SE ride. It has 4-5 different games, a couple of them (a driving one and one that tests your hand-eye coordination) are single-player and a couple (the stick one and the one with the skeleton) are for 1-2 players. There's also the area where you can send the picture of your future home, it's a really cool area!
Nemo's one of my favourites, but your DH might really love Project Tomorrow and if you hit it either early or late in the day, you can probably be done with it very quickly and still have time for your beloved Nemo.
Unless they reopen that half of Innoventions with all new games, you could skip it. That's awesome! It's coming up pretty soon! (I'm counting down to a Taylor Swift concert in October so I am very up to date on how far away that is
) It was! Just a little bit of rain and then clear skies. They had some really cool ones we got during the rest of the trip. We do still love that about Photopass!
plutopuppy
Who Loves Disney More, Me or DD?
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I must say that I am enjoying and reliving our entire Disney vacation through your trip report! I can hardly wait for more!
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nilla
Proud Disney Pixie Dust Snorter
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I don't think it's possible to have less than a 30 minute wait for Soarin'. Even with FPs, it takes about and hour from entrance to exit. It's one of the reasons it's a "ride once" thing for us.
The Disneybound concept is pretty cool! And probably much more comfortable than the actual Princess dresses.
Loved this TR before, and you didn't do anything to lose my readership yet, so keep up the good work!
The Disneybound concept is pretty cool! And probably much more comfortable than the actual Princess dresses.
Loved this TR before, and you didn't do anything to lose my readership yet, so keep up the good work!
princessesandpascal
"Guys, I want a castle."
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2012
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- 224
Thank you!
I must say that I am enjoying and reliving our entire Disney vacation through your trip report! I can hardly wait for more!
Thanks Mom! Now I know I have someone who will let me know if I forgot anything!
The process is always a long one. It's a fun one, but this trip I noticed how grainy it was. It'll be incredible once it gets a facelift.
Disneybounding is a really big thing now, it was fun and made for some cute pictures. It's a nice way for older kids and adults to express their Disney-ness in a different way.
Thank you!
Glad to have you on board!
kcbutterfly
Mouseketeer
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- May 11, 2013
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Enjoying your trip report! Can't wait to hear about your brunch at Akershus. My mom and I have reservations for lunch there in a couple of weeks.
princessesandpascal
"Guys, I want a castle."
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2012
- Messages
- 224
Chapter Six: "If I Hear that Princess Processional Song Again I Will Scream", or, Brunch at Akershus!
When we last left off, we were in a long-ish check-in line for Akershus. We knew that check in was about 15 minutes before our reservation time, and the line looked like it’d take about 10 minutes, so we’d be in perfect timing. OR SO WE THOUGHT. We waited in line surrounded by tiny princesses and then made it to the front of the line and it took, as we hoped, about 10 minutes. But according to the snooty Norwegian girls at the check-in counter, we were just under 15 minutes before our reservation but they would not check us in. “Check-in is 10 minutes before. You’ll have to go wait to check in,” snooty Norwegian girl #1 said. I looked at them with a raised eyebrow.
“We have been waiting in line and it's almost our reservation time,” I explained, knowing we’d checked in at Chef Mickey’s about 20-25 minutes early, and Disney recommends that you arrive 15 minutes early, which it was definitely past. “You mean we’ll have to go to the back of the line again?” The line now extended at least another six or seven families, and if we’d gotten back in it, would be checking in late for our reservation.
“Yes,” said snooty Norwegian girl #2. I am not an assertive person by any means, but I was not having any of that.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “If we go to the back of the line, it’ll take more than 10 minutes to get back to the front, and then we’ll be late for our reservation." I had enough of snooty Norwegian girl for this day and frankly we were minutes away from the 10-minute mark and were not pleased.
“Fine,” Snooty Norwegian Girl #1 said with a roll of the eyes. “We’ll check you in and you can wait over there. But you won’t get in before your reservation time.”
“That’s fine, thank you,” we said. And we went to the holding area and waited.
Five minutes later our name got called. Luckily, we were met by not a Snooty Norwegian Girl, but by a very nice guy who brought us over to the Photopass guy for Belle. Belle was wonderful (and gorgeous), she was very enthusiastic about Ariel's story and how sometime we should read it together. Adorable.
And then we were seated at a very awkward table for 4 that placed us both on the inside of the table to keep us out of the way, I’m guessing. What ended up happening was me awkwardly having to move around the family next to us every time we saw a princess. And speaking of princesses, we didn’t see a single one in the restaurant for the first fifteen minutes we were at our table. We were at the very end of the rotation. It was not fun.
Our waitress came over to the table soon after and honestly, she was Snooty Norwegian Girl #3. She said she’d go get the Chef and that we couldn’t go to the buffet until he came. So we waited. And at this point, we saw Kim, an unbelievably hot (male) waiter for tables on the other side of the little wall we were seated by. Kim looked like a cross between Zachary Levi, Aaron Samuels from Mean Girls, and a perfectly chiseled god. (I may be remembering him in a bit too romantic of a light.) Mom and I spent the time waiting for the chef Kim-watching. Kim and I made eye contact once and I nearly choked on my chocolate milk. It was the best of times…
The chef arrived after around 20 minutes. We understood that obviously, he was busy, but we were starving and getting a little annoyed with our waitress above all else. SNG#3 didn’t seem to really care about us or our allergies at all, and we were starting to get a little bit frustrated with the service, as we didn't see her at all after she dropped off our drinks. The chef confirmed our suspicions that we were both good as long as I avoided the melon, but there was no shellfish for Mom to worry about at all, and we got to go get FOOD. FINALLY.
We got pastries, berries, yogurt and granola, and Mom got her favourite smoked salmon. As we got back to the table, another waiter (not Kim) was putting the hot food down, which consisted of sausages, bacon, potato casserole, and scrambled eggs. The food honestly wasn't that hot, but it wasn't cold enough for us to actually complain about it. It wasn't as flavourful or fresh as it was in our previous trips, and we were pretty disappointed. The food from the buffet was phenomenal, though: the pastries were exceptionally good and Mom loved her smoked salmon. And finally, we got princesses! Things were looking up!
At the end of the meal, we eventually flagged down our waitress who hadn’t said hardly a peep to us all meal. Mom said to SNG#3 that we weren’t pleased with the food or the service and she snapped at us that “Well, you should’ve just asked me then.” Both of us nearly laughed at this. How are we supposed to ask you when you were nowhere near our table for 99% of our meal? We settled the check and headed out of there, underwhelmed but at least we got some energy and some princesses.
Final Thoughts:
Food: 5/10. Wasn’t as good as usual, didn't feel fresh at all. The time of our reservation had nothing to do with this because we always do one of the last breakfast slots and the food was always fresh, hot and delicious despite being at the end of breakfast. The only thing that saved this one were the pastries (fantastic!) and smoked salmon in Mom’s case.
Service: 3/10 Our waitress was snippy with us, and when she wasn't snipping at us she was gone completely. Plus, check-in was really tense.
Atmosphere: 9/10. We got fantastic princesses this year: they took as much time with me as they did with the little ones which I never expect.
Overall: 6/10
Will we be back?: Hard to say. We’re hoping for our next trip to book early, get CRT, and skip this one. It’s usually a favourite but this year the service was a flop and the food was not as good. We’re hesitant to come back, but it's one of our favourite places and we think we just got an off day, so we'd reluctantly try it again.
Up Next: "This is the Greatest Day of My Life!", or, We Park-Hop... But Where Will We Go?
When we last left off, we were in a long-ish check-in line for Akershus. We knew that check in was about 15 minutes before our reservation time, and the line looked like it’d take about 10 minutes, so we’d be in perfect timing. OR SO WE THOUGHT. We waited in line surrounded by tiny princesses and then made it to the front of the line and it took, as we hoped, about 10 minutes. But according to the snooty Norwegian girls at the check-in counter, we were just under 15 minutes before our reservation but they would not check us in. “Check-in is 10 minutes before. You’ll have to go wait to check in,” snooty Norwegian girl #1 said. I looked at them with a raised eyebrow.
“We have been waiting in line and it's almost our reservation time,” I explained, knowing we’d checked in at Chef Mickey’s about 20-25 minutes early, and Disney recommends that you arrive 15 minutes early, which it was definitely past. “You mean we’ll have to go to the back of the line again?” The line now extended at least another six or seven families, and if we’d gotten back in it, would be checking in late for our reservation.
“Yes,” said snooty Norwegian girl #2. I am not an assertive person by any means, but I was not having any of that.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “If we go to the back of the line, it’ll take more than 10 minutes to get back to the front, and then we’ll be late for our reservation." I had enough of snooty Norwegian girl for this day and frankly we were minutes away from the 10-minute mark and were not pleased.
“Fine,” Snooty Norwegian Girl #1 said with a roll of the eyes. “We’ll check you in and you can wait over there. But you won’t get in before your reservation time.”
“That’s fine, thank you,” we said. And we went to the holding area and waited.
Five minutes later our name got called. Luckily, we were met by not a Snooty Norwegian Girl, but by a very nice guy who brought us over to the Photopass guy for Belle. Belle was wonderful (and gorgeous), she was very enthusiastic about Ariel's story and how sometime we should read it together. Adorable.
And then we were seated at a very awkward table for 4 that placed us both on the inside of the table to keep us out of the way, I’m guessing. What ended up happening was me awkwardly having to move around the family next to us every time we saw a princess. And speaking of princesses, we didn’t see a single one in the restaurant for the first fifteen minutes we were at our table. We were at the very end of the rotation. It was not fun.
Our waitress came over to the table soon after and honestly, she was Snooty Norwegian Girl #3. She said she’d go get the Chef and that we couldn’t go to the buffet until he came. So we waited. And at this point, we saw Kim, an unbelievably hot (male) waiter for tables on the other side of the little wall we were seated by. Kim looked like a cross between Zachary Levi, Aaron Samuels from Mean Girls, and a perfectly chiseled god. (I may be remembering him in a bit too romantic of a light.) Mom and I spent the time waiting for the chef Kim-watching. Kim and I made eye contact once and I nearly choked on my chocolate milk. It was the best of times…
The chef arrived after around 20 minutes. We understood that obviously, he was busy, but we were starving and getting a little annoyed with our waitress above all else. SNG#3 didn’t seem to really care about us or our allergies at all, and we were starting to get a little bit frustrated with the service, as we didn't see her at all after she dropped off our drinks. The chef confirmed our suspicions that we were both good as long as I avoided the melon, but there was no shellfish for Mom to worry about at all, and we got to go get FOOD. FINALLY.
We got pastries, berries, yogurt and granola, and Mom got her favourite smoked salmon. As we got back to the table, another waiter (not Kim) was putting the hot food down, which consisted of sausages, bacon, potato casserole, and scrambled eggs. The food honestly wasn't that hot, but it wasn't cold enough for us to actually complain about it. It wasn't as flavourful or fresh as it was in our previous trips, and we were pretty disappointed. The food from the buffet was phenomenal, though: the pastries were exceptionally good and Mom loved her smoked salmon. And finally, we got princesses! Things were looking up!
At the end of the meal, we eventually flagged down our waitress who hadn’t said hardly a peep to us all meal. Mom said to SNG#3 that we weren’t pleased with the food or the service and she snapped at us that “Well, you should’ve just asked me then.” Both of us nearly laughed at this. How are we supposed to ask you when you were nowhere near our table for 99% of our meal? We settled the check and headed out of there, underwhelmed but at least we got some energy and some princesses.
Final Thoughts:
Food: 5/10. Wasn’t as good as usual, didn't feel fresh at all. The time of our reservation had nothing to do with this because we always do one of the last breakfast slots and the food was always fresh, hot and delicious despite being at the end of breakfast. The only thing that saved this one were the pastries (fantastic!) and smoked salmon in Mom’s case.
Service: 3/10 Our waitress was snippy with us, and when she wasn't snipping at us she was gone completely. Plus, check-in was really tense.
Atmosphere: 9/10. We got fantastic princesses this year: they took as much time with me as they did with the little ones which I never expect.
Overall: 6/10
Will we be back?: Hard to say. We’re hoping for our next trip to book early, get CRT, and skip this one. It’s usually a favourite but this year the service was a flop and the food was not as good. We’re hesitant to come back, but it's one of our favourite places and we think we just got an off day, so we'd reluctantly try it again.
Up Next: "This is the Greatest Day of My Life!", or, We Park-Hop... But Where Will We Go?
Last edited:
KathyM2
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2011
- Messages
- 4,167
Ugh...sorry you had snippy service and so so food. I've been trying to get an ADR here but...wondering if I should stop trying if it isn't worth the trouble...not that I've been able to get one yet anyway...but...still. The pastries and berries looked good though...and you got to meet princesses so that's something.
But wow, that sounds like a lot of snootiness! Glad you at least got good princess interaction!-
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