All the Pixie Dust! A May 2016 Trip - 1/24 FINALLY COMPLETE!

[ArielSRL]

Be Our Guest Lunch

Hello everyone! Sorry for the long absence - I've been enjoying the last of my summer vacation and just got back from a week visiting family. It was fabulous, but I'm getting ready to be back to a more regular routine (and closer to my next Disney trip)!

I left off a while back with us heading to our Be Our Guest lunch reservation. Though this restaurant gets somewhat mixed reviews, it has quickly become our go-to spot in the Magic Kingdom for lunches - aside from at least one visit to Columbia Harbor House, that is. Though it is somewhat expensive for a quick service meal, I think the food quality is some of the best in the park!

We had pre-ordered our meal about as early as you possibly could, so we checked in at the podium outside the castle and headed in:

I just love all the little details of this restaurant - it's still stunning every time.

We checked in with another cast member who confirmed that we had preordered - then we found a place in the ballroom to sit:

I love this room! It can be a little noisy, but the theming is fabulous. Last time we had found a table in the music box room, so I was glad to change it up a bit.

What didn't change was our order (at least not much)! Will and I decided to split an entree so we wouldn't be crazily full with the must-have cupcakes for dessert. We went with the roast beef sandwich, which is my favorite - I'm not a ham fan and the turkey sounded less interesting. He also decided to get some french onion soup to go with the meal. Mom ordered the pork entree, which looked as delicious as ever!

For dessert I ended up with the strawberry cupcake (of course) and Will got the triple chocolate cupcake which was a new choice.

Everything was just as good as we remembered! The roast beef sandwich is really great I think, though it could have a little more horseradish sauce on it for my preference Will thought the French Onion Soup here was just as good as Chefs de France, and he really liked theirs so that is saying something.

I love the strawberry cupcake here. It's moist and delicious, very strawberry tasting but not overpowering. Will also loved his chocolate cupcake. That one is pretty intense on the chocolate (I mean, I bet you could have guessed), but it was very tasty. Mom really enjoyed her pork and also seemed to enjoy the atmosphere in the restaurant.

I made us get the requisite picture before we left:

And then it was time to head to mine and my mom's favorite ride ever - Splash Mountain!

After this, we decided to head back to the hotel for a little bit and then hit up more Flower and Garden booths for dinner before heading back to the Magic Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours that night.

I'll be back with more (hopefully) sooner than last time I need a reminder system to get me to update - summer hobbies have taken over and I'm trying to enjoy my ample crafting time while I can

Now to go catch up on all of your threads!

I wasn't extremely impressed with my entree at BOG but I love the theming, the French Onion Soup, and the Strawberry cream cheese cupcake! So we will be back next June. I played around with doing a PPO ADR for breakfast but the options don't sound all that great and the price is kind of outrageous, most specially since we are not doing the dining plan. And all for one extra ride on 7DMT. Eh, I'll stick with lunch and I think I'll just order the kids' grilled cheese as my entree. My boys shared it in June and it looked well enough. I'm thinking DH might go for the Roast Beef (he wasn't on the last trip so this will be his first time).

My only question is....how good is the Triple Chocolate cupcake? I mean, comparatively? I LOVE me some chocolate however the strawberry was in a tie for my absolute fave cupcake of the trip. We got three in June. Along with my fave, we got the Master's and the Lemon...neither of which compared at all to the Strawberry. But no one got the Triple Choc so I just don't know. Honestly, if my DH doesn't order it (and he might) I may just have to get two!

Love Splash. Not my fave but definitely on the top 10 list. Rode it twice last trip and even AJ enjoyed it...well, everything but the big hill! LOL. I'm sure it will make the list a couple of times next June but we will have to do Rider Swap since Will won't be tall enough and its a fairly lengthy ride.

I totally get you on the Summer Break thing. Ugh...I'm back to work on Monday! It has gone by way too fast and I still have several days left on my report...so who knows when I'll get it all done. Hopefully in time to start my PTR before 180 days out! I'm finishing up this week with doc appts, dentist appts, and pedicure appts! Enjoy however much time you have left.

Looking forward to more.

 

[amazingact21]

Just wanted to pop in and say that I'm following along! I've only read up through your arrival day, so when I get all caught up I'll come back and leave a more thorough reply.

 

[LindseyJo22]

I played around with doing a PPO ADR for breakfast but the options don't sound all that great and the price is kind of outrageous, most specially since we are not doing the dining plan.

It is outrageous! I looked at it a few times, but it's very expensive and none of the options seem like they are really worth the price. But we don't really do PPO breakfast much - and if we do it's not usually so that we can get on rides quickly. We just like being "those people" that get to go into the park before everyone else

My only question is....how good is the Triple Chocolate cupcake? I mean, comparatively? I LOVE me some chocolate however the strawberry was in a tie for my absolute fave cupcake of the trip.

I thought it was really good, but not as good as the strawberry for me. But I'm not the biggest fan of chocolate cake in general, so that may have swayed me some. Despite that, I still thought it was delicious - but I wouldn't trade my strawberry cupcake for one

'm back to work on Monday! It has gone by way too fast and I still have several days left on my report...so who knows when I'll get it all done. Hopefully in time to start my PTR before 180 days out! I'm finishing up this week with doc appts, dentist appts, and pedicure appts! Enjoy however much time you have left.

Oh man! We both teach at a university and so are pretty lucky with summer breaks - we've got until August 24 which is the first day of classes, and I've only got one meeting between now and then so it's not too bad. It's sometimes nice being a part-time adjunct I just keep ignoring the remaining work I need to do to prep, which is never the best plan. I also am hoping to start a PTR here some time, but keeping two things going at once is hard Good luck with all of your appointments and the reentry into work!

Just wanted to pop in and say that I'm following along!

Welcome! Always glad to have more people reading

 

[ariane37]

I still get chills each time we walk in to BOG, and we've eaten there, all meals combined, 8 times with our 9th coming up in Nov. Isn't it funny that everyone just HAS to get their picture taken in front of the stained glass window lol? Kids and adults alike! We have pictures in that spot from each visit!

Now of course dinner is our favorite meal but I'm willing to try lunch again. We've only done lunch once and DH wasn't impressed and feels no need to go back. I'll get him there again one day........he and I did breakfast in January. The food wasn't bad at all and it was nice to get on 7DMT 3x before the RD crowd hit, but it's not worth the $$ even with the kids.

 

[cinderkelly]

We've only done BOG once for lunch and I really liked it, my DH thought it was meh. Love the atmosphere though! I just recently saw an 8:00am PPO breakfast ADR open up for one of the dates we will be there in Sept. so I snatched it up! I also think it's kinda pricey for breakfast but we will have the DxDP so why not!?! It looks like the menu has some different options from when I looked at it a few months ago. I'm actually pretty excited to try it for breakfast!

 

[Saphire5742]

Reading your report brings back fond memories of my own BoG experience. I also had the beef sandwich, but skipped the horseradish sauce because I was too apprehensive about that.
And now I'm craving this amazing meat sandwich right by where I work. Haven't eaten there in a while and not so sure it'd be a good idea now, what with my weight loss journey and all.

 

[LindseyJo22]

I still get chills each time we walk in to BOG, and we've eaten there, all meals combined, 8 times with our 9th coming up in Nov. Isn't it funny that everyone just HAS to get their picture taken in front of the stained glass window lol? Kids and adults alike! We have pictures in that spot from each visit!

Me too! We've eaten there every recent trip (except the one where it had just opened and was impossible to get into) and I don't really see that stopping any time soon. And I get a picture every time! I just love the whole place, it's a great example of the Disney theming experience Plus Belle is my favorite, so I have to eat there if possible It's just so beautiful!

We've only done BOG once for lunch and I really liked it, my DH thought it was meh. Love the atmosphere though! I just recently saw an 8:00am PPO breakfast ADR open up for one of the dates we will be there in Sept. so I snatched it up! I also think it's kinda pricey for breakfast but we will have the DxDP so why not!?! It looks like the menu has some different options from when I looked at it a few months ago. I'm actually pretty excited to try it for breakfast!

I've also heard a lot of "meh" reviews for lunch, but we haven't had a bad experience yet. I'll be interested to hear about breakfast; if we were on the DxDP it would be an absolute no brainer! Hope you guys enjoy

Reading your report brings back fond memories of my own BoG experience. I also had the beef sandwich, but skipped the horseradish sauce because I was too apprehensive about that.
And now I'm craving this amazing meat sandwich right by where I work. Haven't eaten there in a while and not so sure it'd be a good idea now, what with my weight loss journey and all.

Yum!! And I love horseradish, so I'd be happy if there were more of it, but it could be a weird thing for a lot of people. I've been reading dining reports and am craving all the Disney food - and also pizza, because my husband had mentioned it a few days ago So we may be ordering some pizza soon. Also not good for my weight loss efforts, but you have to live a little in my opinion!

 

[LindseyJo22]

Epcot Afternoon, Flower and Garden Booths, and MK EMH

After our ride into the Briar Patch, we had gone back to the room for a bit - I'm pretty sure that I ended up taking a nap almost every day we were here. It was very hot in the afternoons, and we definitely did rope drop more often than not. With all of that plus getting up for a run on some of our vacation mornings, I needed some sleep! This worked out really well for us since the Boardwalk was relatively convenient to basically all the parks. We did usually drive to Magic Kingdom, so it wasn't a huge deal to leave and head back to the hotel for a while.

After we were more refreshed and I'd gotten a drink refill for my mug (because when at the hotel I always utilize my mug as much as possible), we decided that munching at the food booths for dinner would be the way to go. Even though we had split lunch, it was still quite a bit of food so we weren't feeling super hungry.

Despite my efforts, I don't seem to have any pictures of anyone else's food here I'm pretty sure my mom got the shrimp and grits that Will had tried earlier, but I'm not sure what Will ate. At some point he got the Beef Udon noodles from Japan, so that might have been this meal. Those were super tasty and quite a large portion from what I remember - so if they have them at the next festival, they seemed like a good value

I knew I wanted to try one of the Epcot snacks that I hadn't managed to get in past trips, so I kept my dinner pretty light. I got the falafel pocket from one of the booths around Morocco:

This was tasty, but not my favorite thing I had. The falafel were a little bit dry, and so the whole thing needed more sauce throughout to make up for that. As you can see, a lot of my sauce kind of escaped onto the container because it was just added on top. So not bad, and I like falafel so it was still tasty, but maybe not a must do in the future.

We took a Photopass picture:

Looked around some of the countries - I definitely know we stopped in Germany to look at Karamell Kuche but didn't actually buy anything (the horror)!

I had been saving room because I had my heart set on something I'd heard about on the Disboards and hadn't yet managed to try...the School Bread from Norway!

I finally got one of these on this trip:

And the verdict?

It was absolutely glorious. I love coconut, so that was a winner. The pastry cream inside was amazing, and the bun itself was super tasty with the spice in it. Plus, it was huge! I did basically eat it all myself though I was generous and shared a couple of bites with Mom and Will, but not much. And it's not a very expensive snack either, so I though this was a great OOP value and just as delicious as the hype made it out to be. I will definitely be getting another one of these the next time we are in EPCOT!

More photopass pictures:

I loved this topiary - so cute! Ranger Mickey had a huge line, so we didn't get one with him

After eating around the world and checking out some countries, we decided it was time to head back to the Magic Kingdom.

We helped Buzz defeat the evil Emperor Zurg:

Such a great picture And wow, I never know where this camera is! All my pictures look like this

We rode on the happiest of cruises:

(this was super cool!)

and I know we did some other stuff, but don't really remember what it was. This is what I get for waiting until August to finish up my report...

Eventually, it was time for a Mickey Bar - because I hadn't had one in the past few trips:

So delicious! I don't know what it is, but things shaped like Mickey are just amazing.

We stopped in to see some bears put on a hilarious show, and then went to make sure Brer Fox and Brer Bear weren't causing too much trouble in the Briar Patch:

And on this round we got absolutely soaked. I was so glad we had already done the Jamboree - I wouldn't have lasted in that air conditioning!

After this, it was getting close to time for the Main Street Electrical Parade, and mom and I weren't in the mood to do a whole lot of walking around in wet shorts So we parked in a spot in Frontierland to wait on the parade.

Apparently all of our parade pictures are still on the camera and not on my computer :/

But it was so great! We never actually watch this one, so it was so much fun to actually sit down and see it all the way through. By the time the parade was done, it was almost the end of EMH anyway, so we headed back to the Boardwalk to dry off and get ready for the next day - a more leisurely day to let us recover a little bit from the craziness that was this one!

 

[ariane37]

You covered 2 of my favorites in one day First of all, school bread is THE BEST snack in WDW I've said this before on the Dis, that isn't to be confused with the best dessert in WDW, the almond-crusted cheesecake at Narcoossee's lol. But back to school bread: YES!! I love it!!! I get it every trip, usually multiple times, and I never, ever share it Of course if you don't like coconut (like my mom) it's pretty much out for you, but otherwise everyone should try this without fail!!

I can't wait to experience the new interactive ending on IASW (and HM and EE). Unfortunately IASW is down when DH and I go on our adults only trip in a few weeks so that one will have to wait until we go with the kids in Nov.

My 2nd favorite you did: the MSEP Technically the Boo To You is my favorite parade in Disney but since that's seasonal, my favorite parade that it's easier to see is the MSEP. I watch that multiple times each trip also, LOVE the music even though I know it's annoying to others, and often listen to it on my phone. Glad you enjoyed it!

 

[ArielSRL]

I almost wish I didn't dislike coconut just so I can try school bread! Fortunately there are so many awesome treats in Disney I don't feel like I'm missing out too much.

Love the Country Bears though we skipped that this past trip (it'll be a must do next June per my DH and I am semi trying to keep him happy and full on trying to convert him to Disney addict). I love MSEP as well, though I've been hearing rumors that Paint the Night from DL may be coming for the 45th anniversary, so we shall see what happens.

I do not like getting wet on Splash even though I love the ride itself. I always ask for the back and duck once my photo gets taken!

 

[LindseyJo22]

I can't wait to experience the new interactive ending on IASW (and HM and EE). Unfortunately IASW is down when DH and I go on our adults only trip in a few weeks so that one will have to wait until we go with the kids in Nov.

We liked it! It seems like such a small thing to see your name, but it was actually really exciting I can't wait to see what else they've put this into when we go back. I've seen Rock n' Roller Coaster has it now I think, as well as Everest.

My 2nd favorite you did: the MSEP Technically the Boo To You is my favorite parade in Disney but since that's seasonal, my favorite parade that it's easier to see is the MSEP. I watch that multiple times each trip also, LOVE the music even though I know it's annoying to others, and often listen to it on my phone. Glad you enjoyed it!

One of these days we'll get to a Halloween party! Probably not any time super soon, but I'm determined to make it happen. This was the plan when we bought a fixed week DVC contract. Our week usually ends up having the tail end of the Halloween parties or sometimes the very beginning of the Christmas parties if their schedules hold true, so if we can ever get away in October we should be good

Love the Country Bears though we skipped that this past trip (it'll be a must do next June per my DH and I am semi trying to keep him happy and full on trying to convert him to Disney addict). I love MSEP as well, though I've been hearing rumors that Paint the Night from DL may be coming for the 45th anniversary, so we shall see what happens.

I love this show so much - it is so hilarious and ridiculous. We even added some of the songs to our Disney playlist once we found out that they were actually real songs I couldn't believe someone wrote something called Blood on the Saddle, but it exists!

I adore the MSEP. The music gets stuck in my head really easily, but it is just so adorable and cute that I don't mind I just heard the rumor about Paint the Night as well, and I'll be very excited if that happens since California is just very far and expensive for us at the moment.

I do not like getting wet on Splash even though I love the ride itself. I always ask for the back and duck once my photo gets taken!

Me either :/ I leaned forward, but it didn't help too much Thankfully this was the only time we really got wet on that ride, and it was at the end of the day. I was pretty done walking around in wet shorts by the time we got back, so I was really glad it wasn't earlier in our day - I would have been going back to the hotel to change!

 

[kastoney]

Woohoo, glad you not only tried but loved the school bread. It's by far my favorite disney snack. And very nice of you to share. I always seem to have trouble with that one.

Looks like a great night in MK. We're leaving in a few weeks and I told my hubby we need to get to more parks in the evenings. We seem to just eat and go back to the hotel and I definitely want to push the keeping the kiddo awake later envelope this trip. Don't think we've ever done splash in the dark, so that is a definite must. Plus I've never actually seen the electric parade. Crazy I know, but I'll put in the same category as you just having school bread

 

[Saphire5742]

I finally got one of these on this trip:

And the verdict?

It was absolutely glorious. I love coconut, so that was a winner. The pastry cream inside was amazing, and the bun itself was super tasty with the spice in it. Plus, it was huge! I did basically eat it all myself though I was generous and shared a couple of bites with Mom and Will, but not much. And it's not a very expensive snack either, so I though this was a great OOP value and just as delicious as the hype made it out to be. I will definitely be getting another one of these the next time we are in EPCOT!

Gah! I missed getting it last time. First time I passed Norway I had dinner planned soon and had eaten at one of the booths not too long before that. The second time I totally forgot about it. So many things to add to that next time list...
Sounds so scrumptious and glad that you got to partake. Till my next time I shall live vicariously thru you.

Loving your pics as always

 

[toomuchtv]

Just read through your report so far--we will be there right around the same time next year, so I'm reading as many reports around that time as possible!

Loving your report so far. I always wonder if I could scrape off the coconut on the school bread so I could try it and not hate it.

Looking forward to the rest!

 

[LindseyJo22]

Woohoo, glad you not only tried but loved the school bread. It's by far my favorite disney snack. And very nice of you to share. I always seem to have trouble with that one.

I didn't share much And I think I'll probably have my next one all to myself

Plus I've never actually seen the electric parade. Crazy I know, but I'll put in the same category as you just having school bread

Oh no!! Are you guys going to be there before it ends? I was kind of sad at that announcement, but I'm hoping we can get World of Color at WDW, which would be amazing.

First time I passed Norway I had dinner planned soon and had eaten at one of the booths not too long before that. The second time I totally forgot about it. So many things to add to that next time list...
Sounds so scrumptious and glad that you got to partake. Till my next time I shall live vicariously thru you.

This is basically what happened every other time I tried to get it - either we'd eaten or were far away from Norway when I wanted a snack or I forgot. But now I think it's going to be a must do!

Just read through your report so far--we will be there right around the same time next year, so I'm reading as many reports around that time as possible!

Early May is one of my favorite times - we are planning a family May 2017 trip too, though potentially a few days later next year, so it's entirely possible we'll be there at the same time! I love the Flower and Garden festival, and the crowd levels are usually pretty good without it being quite so hot. Now it's definitely warm, but it's nothing like it was when we went in September or like it would be in June, July, or August. Glad to have you reading along

 

[LindseyJo22]

A Short Update - Disney Springs and Relaxing Day

So after our very busy day at Magic Kingdom and Epcot, we had planned on just enjoying a relaxing day at Disney Springs and resort hopping, with late afternoon Fastpasses at Magic Kingdom.

I have almost no pictures for this day sadly, so this will be a quick one.

We woke up a little later than we had been, and I enjoyed the view from our villa balcony:

So nice! Pretty sure I got a refill in my resort mug (one of my favorite things about longer trips) and just enjoyed the Boardwalk for a while. We decided we'd head over to Disney Springs to see some of the new stuff and have lunch at Wolfgang Puck. Will and I had just tried it for the first time on our December trip and we were really pleasantly surprised!

We parked at the newly opened Lime garage - I love the new system with the lights over the parking spaces - and came out right where all the new renovations and additions had been done.

They even had a Photopass photographer next to this lovely fountain, so we took advantage:

Loved this effect!

We wandered around Disney Springs - I got a new t-shirt (purple with Mickey on it), a new Tsum Tsum (the redhead from Pirates) and we grabbed a couple of things for Will's parents too. Then it was time for lunch, but only after we browsed the Lego store. We didn't actually buy anything this time, but I love that store!

Wolfgang Puck was great as always. We decided to get a pizza and an order of pasta and split it between the three of us. It was plenty of food, and we really enjoyed it:

Margherita pizza (basil, tomatoes, mozzarella) and Cavatappi Chicken Alfredo (mushrooms, peas, and goat cheese). This was really delicious! I loved getting some pasta and some pizza and not feeling like we had a million leftovers that we weren't going to eat. I also love the atmosphere of WPE. It's a good blend of counter service speed with a table service feel, and the food is really good.

After Disney Springs I'm pretty sure we decided to head over to Magic Kingdom. We had some Fastpasses we wanted to use, but we ran into some storms on the way. By the time we got to the TTC it looked like they were over, so we were thinking about heading to MK anyway. But then we were told the Monorail was down - because we were so close, we decided to just head to the Polynesian to hang out and look around while we were there instead of taking the ferry. We were glad we did! Just about the time we got to the main building it started pouring! And I mean total deluge. We were very glad not to be on a ferry or in the Magic Kingdom at this point.

So instead, we treated ourselves to my other favorite Disney snack so far - swirl Dole Whip!

I love the combination of vanilla and pineapple, so we have to head to Pineapple Lanai now when we want Dole Whip since the Adventureland stand only sells the plain pineapple. I don't mind though - I love hanging out at the Polynesian!

I'm pretty sure we hung out here for a while, and then took the monorail to the Grand Floridian (it was still raining). Will looked around Basin and got his mom a Mother's Day present, and we just generally enjoyed the fanciness of the resort.

Eventually it did stop raining, and we headed to Magic Kingdom to try and use our Fastpasses and get a few rides in before dinner time!

 

[ArielSRL]

I love that view at BW. When we were originally tossing around the idea of BWV for this past June, I could totally see myself in a pool view! Alas, it just ended up being too much for a cash ressie so we didn't pursue it any further.

Love the pizza/pasta share idea. That's why I love buffets, bc of being able to try/ eat different things at the same meal.

Glad you guys made a good decision - a dry one...lol - and headed for the Poly. Yum on the Dole Whip!

Looking forward to the rest of your evening!

 

[cinderkelly]

I love your pool view from the BW! When my son and I were at DW in June we stopped by there to check it out ( mostly the pool area) and in person I didn't find the clown pool creepy at all. It's much smaller than it looks in photos and I love the carousel bar area.

Very cute photos in Disney Springs! I really liked Wolfgang Puch xpress also, I had that same chicken pasta dish and thought it was great. Really good food for a QS credit.

I'm gonna have to try the dole whip swirl when we are at the Poly, just 5 more weeks!

 

[Saphire5742]

They even had a Photopass photographer next to this lovely fountain, so we took advantage:

Lovely photo. I remember being pleasantly surprised to see a PP photographer there. Love that they're there too!

Awww, such an adorable photo!

Sounds like a wonderfully relaxing day

 

[ariane37]

We haven't been over to DS since November, as we skipped it during our somewhat short adults only trip in January. From just the couple pictures you posted I can tell it's changed so much since then! Looking forward to seeing it this weekend

Very nice view from your balcony, too!