A Savanna, A Wizard, and Oodles of Food - AKL/DxDP/WWoHP (COMPLETE!)

[SimplyGoofy]

How disappointing! I'm so sorry that the server at HBD was so rude to you.

I don't claim to know everything about how Disney works, but I can't imagine that the servers there would consider the DDP or DxDP a bad thing. Since most of us probably wouldn't order both appetizer and dessert if it wasn't included in the dining plan, the servers are only reaping the benefit of guests already being "upsold" for them. And, since you tip on what the meal would have cost if you'd paid OOP, the server gets more money from the DDPers. Very strange indeed.

I have worked in restaurants for almost 20 years, and this makes me very, very sad for you. Service can truly make or break an experience for the diner, and most waiters take that responsibility pretty seriously. I'm sorry that Janet didn't.

Sounds like you guys liked the food pretty well though! Maybe after the bad memory has faded you'll try again.

I would love to give it another try as I think (and hope!) our experience was an anomaly.

I couldn't understand the concern regarding the dining plan - we understood how the credits worked so she didn't have to explain anything. Plus, as you mentioned, she already knew she would be getting tipped based on appetizers and desserts, too! I would think she would be excited about a dining plan customer.

Most servers I come across (both inside and outside of Disney World - I dine out a lot!) are wonderful. It's too bad that a few bad apples have to ruin a guest's experience.

If I can convince Anika I think we may eat here again.

I dont blame you for not being overall thrilled...

That really stinks and you got that right- signature dining at that. UMM, hello, that is really terrible of the waitress to act that way. I have wanted to try that out before too but never have. It would be hard to do signature with two kids under the age of 5.

On another note, in reference to your night at DHS- We have never been at night and I don't know why... LOL

I think my sister was so bothered by her because Anika has been a server - as she says, even if you're personally having a bad day, you shove it aside and greet your guests with a smile! It's pretty sad that our much older waitress could've (and should've) taken advice from a sixteen year old!

It may be tough to get there at night with young kids, but as your boys get older you should definitely go at night! I think Hollywood Studios at night is beautiful!

I honestly hope you get a survey to fill out or have another means for providing feedback on Linda. The impression she left on you obviously ruined your meal. That's unacceptable. The food does look absolutely delicious. Sorry an otherwise enjoyable meal took a turn south.

I really should've said something to a manager or left a comment card of some kind, but at the time I just wanted to get the heck out of there.

I do know that if I ever decide to return to the Brown Derby and discover that Linda is my server again, I will ask to switch tables!

So sad to hear about your service at the Derby. I've always thought that one of the things that makes Disney so great is the great CM's and other employees. But when you get a bad one, they can really have an equally negative impact. Glad to hear you didn't let it get you down too much.

It really was too bad. Thankfully most of the service we received (from resorts to attractions to restaurants) was excellent, so it lessened the impact of this one bad apple.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

While your food looks great, I'm sorry to hear your experience at HBD was so lackluster!! That's one restaurant I always go back and forth on whether or not we should visit, maybe it's one of those "you have to visit on a good day" places!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

While your food looks great, I'm sorry to hear your experience at HBD was so lackluster!! That's one restaurant I always go back and forth on whether or not we should visit, maybe it's one of those "you have to visit on a good day" places!

I was definitely disappointing! I'm sure we would've really enjoyed our time there had we had a better waitress - hopefully my review won't cause people to second-guess this spot! I think the HBD can be an excellent spot (so many people think so!) and I hope our next visit there is much better!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Nostalgia and a Few Toys
Day 4 - —Part IV

Lunch took such a long time that our Toy Story Mania Fastpass time had begun!

However, we decided to make a quick stop next door to Pixar Place, right here:

Our “quick stop” only took half an hour.

If any of you have been to Disney World and not been to One Man'’s Dream— - what have you been doing?! I can pretty much guarantee that any DISboard fan would absolutely geek out in there. One Man’'s Dream is a walk through Walt Disney'’s entire life, from his early years through all of his Disney-related milestones. It includes tons of artifacts, memorabilia, and several fantastic scale models of rides, park landmarks, and new things to come!

Don’'t worry if you'’ve never had the chance to experience this gem of an attraction yet… - I have way too many pictures of it, just for you! (I was very good and scaled down my 81 photos to this truncated selection!)

I loved this picture of Walt and Mickey:

I thought this drawing table reproduction was a spectacular thing to see:

They had several collections of early Disney toys, including this Donald Duck assortment:

They also had highlight plaques for several of Walt’s movie milestones, including The Band Concert:

And Disney’s first full-length feature film, Snow White:

I thought the peek into Walt’'s California office was really fun:

I LOVED the scale models of the rides, such as Peter Pan’s Flight:

They had a scale model for the Jungle Cruise, too!

I also thought the area about animatronics was fascinating. They included commentary about creating Mr. Lincoln, complete with an "inside look" and the control box!

A tour through One Man'’s Dream is not complete without Walt’s' introduction to the plans for Disney World:

They also included plaques about the major park openings, such as Magic Kingdom:

As well as my favorite park, Epcot!

This was one of my FAVORITE memorabilia cases in the entire exhibit—an array of items from original Epcot attractions! This includes the robot butler from Horizons, some of the stars from Kitchen Kabaret, and best of all, an original Figment with the Dreamfinder’'s balloon!

Another favorite of mine were the scale models of the key figures from each Walt Disney World park, including Cinderella Castle:

The Epcot ball:

The Tower of Terror:

And the Tree of Life:

Although all of them were amazingly detailed, the Tree of Life was just phenomenal!

(continued in next post)

 

[SimplyGoofy]

(continued from previous post)

My final favorite section of the exhibit highlighted Disney’s connection with Pixar. I couldn’'t help but take a picture of my favorite friend duo:

As well as my favorite “"I don’t wait to be your friend, but I guess I have no choice”" duo:

Oh my goodness, I LOVE Up! It’s tough to say with the Toy Story series in the running (not to mention Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo,…) but I think Up might be my favorite Pixar movie. It just warms my heart every time I see it.

There you are—a brief look at One Man’s Dream! There is also an excellent short movie that plays at the end of the exhibit in a (seated!) movie theatre. We didn't watch it that day, but we came back for another walk-through in order to catch the movie.

I so highly recommend taking a look at this attraction - —it’'s excellent! Plus, it doesn’t tend to be crowded (many people step in, realize it’s not a ride, and step back out ), so it’'s a wonderful pick for the middle of the day!

Now brimming with Disney nostalgia (and digested food!), it was time to see if Toy Story Mania lived up to the hype!

Welcome to Pixar Place!

I thought the detail involved in the entire Pixar Place, as well as the attraction itself, was awesome.

Here’s the entrance to the ride:

(I grabbed the picture before our One Man'’s Dream walk-through.)

Finally, it was our chance to walk through the queue. I didn't grab too many pictures of the queue itself (on this day, at least), but I did grab a few near the end:

I thought the ride entrance area was especially neat, with the Tinker Toys, Christmas lights, and views of "Andy's Room":

Here’'s Anika (post-ride), showing you how it’'s done:

We LOVED Toy Story Mania! We were both kicking ourselves that we didn't hop into line the night before, and were very excited to try it again another day! Here were our scores from our first try on the attraction— - not too bad! (I was the winner!)

The next thing I REALLY wanted to do that day was get a picture with Sorcerer Mickey. I'’ll let you in on a little secret— - I adore and look forward to seeing the characters, but Anika HATES it. Her comment always is, “"You never know what creeper is in the costume!”"

However, she is the best travel partner ever and agreed to say hello to Mickey with me. In we trooped to the Magic of Disney Animation building:

And here we are with Sorcerer Mickey!

Don’'t you love it that Mickey assumes that Anika was the one that wanted to visit him? His hand was on her shoulder instead of mine! This happened nearly every time we saw the characters and it drove Anika nuts!

We also had to stop and pay a visit to Ariel and her friends:

We stopped for a Photopass photographer on our way out of the animation area:

Our last attraction of the day shouldn't be a surprise to anybody - one more ride on the Tower of Terror!

On our way out of the park we decided to pick up a few delectable cupcakes from Starring Rolls. We grabbed a chocolate peanut butter cupcake as well as this beauty:

The much talked about Butterfinger Cupcake!

We took both of them to go as we were still a bit full from lunch. Later in the trip Anika tried both of the cupcakes - —she thought both of them were tasty, but the Butterfinger one was her favorite. Would you believe I never tried either of them?! Either I wasn’'t hungry (darn that deluxe dining plan!) or I'’d completely forget that we had them. Next time I’'ll actually have to try one of them!

After purchasing the cupcakes we decided to head back to our resort and prepare for our evening. One of our big “events” of the week was to see Cirque du Soleil’s La Nouba, and tonight was the big night! We were pretty excited about it!

Up Next: Downtown Disney and Cirque du Soleil

 

[jecskc]

Too bad about your waitress at HBD. You would expect service to be good there. The food looked amazing though.

I love One Man's Dream as well and even the movie at the end.

Looking forward to more !!

 

[WDWaddictt]

One Man's Dream is something everyone should do at least once. It is great and I really enjoy the short movie at the end! He explains about his first character that he drew "Oswald" which happens to be my son's (7) favorite character.

TSM is one of my fav rides! A must do on every trip, that one and ToT!

Great update, thanks for sharing!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

One Man's Dream really is a fascinating place to visit, isn't it? I love all of the history there!!

Hahaha too funny about Anika and the character photos!!

 

[MEK]

I share your exact feelings on One Man's Dream! Going in there and watching the movie is almost like a rite of passage. How can you NOT? It makes me have eternal respect for the man behind the mouse.

Speaking of respect - that cupcake looks A-MAZING!!!!!!

 

[Marsheliz]

I agree about One Man's Dream.. It is a nice place to browse through and it gets you out of the heat!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

OMG Jenny, we were just commenting on the greatness that is One Man's Dream. You captured it wonderfully, certainly much better than I did, lol. Thank you for the photos. And yes, EVERYONE needs to see it.

Speaking of photos, I nearly died laughing at
"Anika HATES it. Her comment always is, “You never know what creeper is in the costume!”
I never actually thought of that before... Tell her she has a good head on her shoulders. . That just slayed me...

 

[Avery&Todd]

Ok, I am joining this TR waaay late, but Im here!!!

and I have to go back to your lunch at Rose & Crown....we ate there in June 2012 and we ALSO had Katie as our server!!

She was the best server of our entire trip and my DH was just in love with her - she was SO nice and so sweet - and she was serving us on her LAST DAY at WDW!! She was leaving to go back "home"....

DH was crushed.....

I even embarrassed him by asking her for a pic with DH....he turned so pink..and I just loved it - can you tell we've been married for almost 20 years and we can pick at each other like that!!

Im LOVING your TR and Im all caught up and Im trying to figure out how I can plan a WDW with my 2 sisters!!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Too bad about your waitress at HBD. You would expect service to be good there. The food looked amazing though.

I love One Man's Dream as well and even the movie at the end.

Looking forward to more !!

Hopefully she was just having a bad day and is usually a wonderful server? I'd even settle for passable! However, yes, the food was great so I'd love to give it another try.

One Man's Dream is something everyone should do at least once. It is great and I really enjoy the short movie at the end! He explains about his first character that he drew "Oswald" which happens to be my son's (7) favorite character.

TSM is one of my fav rides! A must do on every trip, that one and ToT!

Great update, thanks for sharing!

We loved the movie, too! We weren't able to catch it on this day as we had to book it over to TSM, but we just had to come back so we could see it! I know Anika will want to see it again next time!

I can't belive how much we totally LOVED Toy Story Mania! It's too bad the lines are always so insane - we'd love to do it more than a few times!

One Man's Dream really is a fascinating place to visit, isn't it? I love all of the history there!!

Hahaha too funny about Anika and the character photos!!

I was interested in seeing One Man's Dream, but I had no idea how much I would enjoy it!

Oh, Anika... she was such a good sport about the characters (considering they always seemed so excited to see her!).

I share your exact feelings on One Man's Dream! Going in there and watching the movie is almost like a rite of passage. How can you NOT? It makes me have eternal respect for the man behind the mouse.

Speaking of respect - that cupcake looks A-MAZING!!!!!!

I love that so many people on the Dis understand the amazingness that is One Man's Dream (although that shouldn't be a surprise!).

Anika said it WAS amazing! We plan to share a lot more food this next time and I should therefore have a bit more stomach space - I intend to enjoy the Butterfinger cupcake (and perhaps another one as well!) this next time!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I agree about One Man's Dream.. It is a nice place to browse through and it gets you out of the heat!

So true! I love a spot with air conditioning - especially when there's so many fun things to see!

OMG Jenny, we were just commenting on the greatness that is One Man's Dream. You captured it wonderfully, certainly much better than I did, lol. Thank you for the photos. And yes, EVERYONE needs to see it.

Speaking of photos, I nearly died laughing at
"Anika HATES it. Her comment always is, “You never know what creeper is in the costume!”
I never actually thought of that before... Tell her she has a good head on her shoulders. . That just slayed me...

Thank you! I enjoyed your photos as well. It's tough to capture the essense of that place in just one (well, just over one!) post.

I passed your wonderful comment along to Anika! She was concerned when she heard that I'd added her remark to my report that readers would be mad... I told her I just had to include it because I think it's pretty funny!

Ok, I am joining this TR waaay late, but Im here!!!

and I have to go back to your lunch at Rose & Crown....we ate there in June 2012 and we ALSO had Katie as our server!!

She was the best server of our entire trip and my DH was just in love with her - she was SO nice and so sweet - and she was serving us on her LAST DAY at WDW!! She was leaving to go back "home"....

DH was crushed.....

I even embarrassed him by asking her for a pic with DH....he turned so pink..and I just loved it - can you tell we've been married for almost 20 years and we can pick at each other like that!!

Im LOVING your TR and Im all caught up and Im trying to figure out how I can plan a WDW with my 2 sisters!!

You're not late at all! I'm glad you joined in (and added a comment!).

I love that you had Katie, too! Wasn't she FABULOUS?! We had a lot of great servers on this trip but Katie was a favorite of both Anika and I. I know we enjoyed our food and view as well, but I'm sure the service we had from Katie contributed to the fact that it was our favorite lunch of the vacation.

I also love that you got a picture of her! We should have done that!

 

[YouCanFly09]

Sorry I'm late to the party!! This is such a fun TR! It must have been so much taking a vacation with only your sister! I think you may be the best big sister ever! Can't wait to read more!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Sorry I'm late to the party!! This is such a fun TR! It must have been so much taking a vacation with only your sister! I think you may be the best big sister ever! Can't wait to read more!

Thank you! Anika and I did have quite a spectacular time! She was an excellent travel partner and we experienced a lot of awesome things!

Thanks for (officially) joining in!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Circus Time!
Day 4 - —Part V

It was time for Cirque du Soleil!

Anika was REALLY excited about seeing La Nouba again - —she had seen it with my parents during a previous trip and it was her top request of something “she just had to do again!” I was pretty excited about seeing it myself!

It was an easy drive to Downtown Disney and we got an excellent spot in the West Side parking lot. We were able to soak up a little Downtown Disney atmosphere on our way to the theatre.

Here is the Characters in Flight balloon:

I would really like to do that one day! I think the views would be incredible!

Here’s a view of the shops and buildings in the West Side:

Here’s the new (now open!) Splitsville and the Wolfgang Puck Café:

We also passed the huge blue building that houses Disney Quest:

I know it tends to get somewhat mixed reviews, but I’'d still love to try Disney Quest sometime! I’'m a sucker for old-school video games (I’'m sure my age has nothing to do with that… ) and I’'ve even read that they have ski-ball! I love ski-ball!

Finally, we arrived at our destination:

The Cirque du Soleil building/tent/theatre was really neat! We spent a little time wandering around in the store which was filled with interesting (and expensive!) things. They had some spectacular masks in there!

We eventually made our way up the stairs in order to find our seats. I just had to grab a view of the path we’d just walked:

Anika and I found our seats which were in the “front and center” section in row G. I was unable to take any pictures of the show itself (which they have no problem reminding you of a good 150 times!), but I did sneak a picture of Anika and I in the theatre before the show started:

Then it was on with the show!

If any of you have seen snippets of the show, you may know that it begins with the two “clowns” that bring a selection of colorful boxes into the audience with them. They pick a poor, unsuspecting audience member on which to stack a huge number of the crazy boxes! We couldn't believe it when the woman RIGHT BEHIND US was chosen for this hilarious task! It was pretty fun to be up close and personal with the entertainment!

We then watched a cacophony of awesome acts— - there was juggling and trapeze and high wire, along with bike acts and trampolines and comedy acts. Although all of it was INCREDIBLE to watch, I think my absolute favorite was the aerial ballet in silk. Watching those women FLY through the air (and tumble toward the ground!) while hanging on a RIBBON was just breathtaking!

Other than the performances themselves, the costumes, makeup, and music were wonderful compliments to the show. Everything was so colorful and fun to watch— - if the performances weren't enough to draw you in (trust me, they are!), the sights and sounds would do it!

I must admit that although I was looking forward to the show, I was a little pained about dropping several hundred dollars on an hour and a half of entertainment. I know a lot of people mention on these boards that the show is great, not to be missed, and that you won’t regret spending the money… I was a little skeptical that it could be THAT great. Well, let me tell you…...

THE SHOW WAS GREAT, IT IS NOT TO BE MISSED, AND YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT REGRET SPENDING THE MONEY!!!


I don’'t think my brief review full of capital letters and bold words can illustrate how incredible Cirque du Soleil La Nouba was. Anika and I would both love to see it again! Do yourself a favor and squeeze it in on an upcoming trip!

Up Next: Dinner at… Raglan Road?

 

[SimplyGoofy]

No Dancing for You!
Day 4— - Part VI

Our plan after Cirque was dinner at Raglan Road. I was pretty excited about seeing the dancers and eating the scallop forest and the bread pudding.

Alas, it was not to be.

Once we finished the show Anika wanted to eat NOW. She had no interest in waiting for our ADR window.

Okay, new plan! I was familiar with a few quick service choices in Downtown Disney and decided Wolfgang Puck Express was my first choice. As appealing as Earl of Sandwich sounds, I was HUNGRY and wanted more than a sandwich. Since we were already on the West Side we checked out that Wolfgang Puck menu first. The only selections they have on the West Side are salads, sandwiches, and a few other items, none of the pasta or big meat dishes I was looking for! Therefore, I trooped Anika across Downtown Disney to find the other Wolfgang Puck Express location.

I think it says a lot about her character that Anika didn’'t kill me on the LONG walk over. (Seriously, Downtown Disney is a lot bigger than it looks!)

Once we reached the Marketplace— - victory! We found it!

Along with my expanded menu!

We placed our orders and found a table. It was pretty crowded but we didn’t have to search too long for a spot. Our food arrived after just a few minutes!

Here was my Spaghetti and Meatballs:

Anika ordered a Pepperoni Pizza (baked in a wood oven!):

Our food was AWESOME! I had moderate expectations (after all, this was pasta from a quick service restaurant!) but it was REALLY good! I don't tend to like spaghetti that I don't make, but I would order this again in a heartbeat! Anika also adored her food and would be thrilled to order another Wolfgang Puck pizza! This became another meal that I kept hearing about from Anika. She saw me uploading these pictures and said, "My pizza! That pizza was SO GOOD!"

For dessert, Anika picked up a chocolate brownie and I ordered this:

Cheesecake! I definitely picked the winner here, as Anika’s brownie was a little dry but this cheesecake was wonderful! The crème brulée-like crust was a great touch on an already tasty cheesecake.

Can you believe it— - this was our favorite meal of the day! The food was great and the service was friendly (and speedy!). We would both be very happy to visit here again!

After dinner we decided to poke around a few of the shops. Our first stop was across the way from our dinner spot:

It was so much fun to wander around in there! We resisted most temptations (thank you, Wolfgang Puck Express and your filling food!) ,but did buy a thing or two. Anika was very impressed with the make-your-own-treat counter. I think we’'ll have to do that next time!

I loved this sign that was made with candy:

We also had to stop by the Christmas store:

I’'m sorry that I didn't take any pictures in there - —there were so many fun things to see! It took a lot of restraint to not drop loads of money on multiple ornaments. If you've ever searched for a Christmas-related item for [fill in your favorite character here]— - this is the store for you! I did buy a lovely blown glass mickey ornament that I just love.

Next up was the Downtown Disney mega-store called World of Disney:

That store is HUGE! Anika and I had fun wandering through every section of that store. We admired the princess dresses and the toys and the souvenirs (keychain or mug, anyone?). I even got Anika to try on a pair of Minnie ears:

Anika made a few purchases, including The Lady and the Tramp (which was released on DVD around the week we were there) and a fantastic, multi-colored Mickey blanket that you could fold up into a pillow. That blanket has gone on many swim team bus rides with her!

I had to get a picture of another entrance on our way out (I love the carriage!):

Although we didn'’t stop in, we did peek at the Lego Store on our walk by:

I do love several of the displays outside the store, such as the seven dwarfs, mining away:

As well as Prince Philip fighting Maleficent the Dragon:

After a few hours of shopping, we were done for the night! We wandered back through the Marketplace and Pleasure Island to get back to our car on the West Side. The walk seems a lot shorter when you're not dying of hunger! Since we had the advantage of our car, I just had to drive to the end of the parking lot and take a picture of the back of the Cirque building:

Anika did her part by laughing at me for driving across a parking just to get another picture.

What a wonderful evening! We had a fantastic time at La Nouba and would love to go again. We'd love to spend more time in Downtown Disney in order to visit a few more stores, try another entertainment spot, and we'd love to have another meal from Wolfgang Pick Express!

Up Next: Universal and the WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER!

 

[emmysmommy]

Lots of GREAT updates! I would prefer WPE to Raglan Road to be honest so I don't think you missed much. (Except for dessert - NO, and I mean NO dessert compares to their bread pudding!) I had the cheesecake at WPE too and it was pretty tasty! But the pizza was soooo good! I agree with Anika.

Sorry your Brown Derby lunch didn't deliver great service.... I won't even go into our experience last time...but it really is a classy joint - with the vintage decor.

The Lego dragon in DTD makes me laugh because they have one in the CA DTD but it is shooting the flame downward at the Lego Prince Philip and it looks like he is barfing.

I'm one of those Disney geeks who loves Walt One Man's Dream. There's so much history there.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I'm trying to remember if I've popped into your TR yet to thank you for such an interesting read. Yours is one of about 4 TR's that I'm following along with, and I look forward to your updates.
It's particularly great hearing about all your dining experiences as my ADRs open up in about 2 weeks and I'm still not 100% decided. I will be at DTD for both a lunch and a dinner and I just can't decide what to eliminate out of Raglan Rd, T-Rex, and WPE. Decisions decisions....

Thanks for the review of La Nouba. I've been sitting on the fence with that one (like you I think the cost is hard to justify), but I think your review might have convinced me.