February quick POR PTR! 2/24: just a few more hours

[JustCor]

It's time for another trip to Disney! It's also time for another pre-trip report to kill the time between now and then, so grab a little drink and something to snack on. It's go time!

First, of course, the pertinent details:

Who: Me, Corey. That's it. I've become pretty good at these solo trips. This is me, hanging out in space with my space friend because I swear that's a thing. I've been to the house of mouse a handful of times over the past three years and have done a few trip reports, and live reports, and pre-trip reports, and a food report. Most of those can be found in my signature below (note to self, update links, k buddy?)

Where/When: On my last trip, I had POR booked but decided to try something new and picked CSR instead. It turns out I may have made a mistake. To very quickly rehash that trip: I had a few problems with my room that make for a not so fun trip. I've stayed at POR previously and found it to be one of the best resorts that I've stayed at on Disney property at any price. I thought, very briefly, about booking CBR this time which I had a small problem with in the past to see if it was a one-off bad experience, but decided against pressing my luck. I want a nice vacation and I want to (hopefully) celebrate. So I'll be taking a small Disney trip fro
m February 25th - 27th.

Which brings us to the possibly important part of this trip...

Why: I've decided to try my hand at buying a house. It's been an incredibly frustrating, stress inducing, awfully painful experience that supposedly produces a lot of happiness in the end. I'm banking on that. I'm currently in the underwriting stage, which I believe is the stage right before closing. Should everything finally go thorugh (fingers/toes/eyes/eyelashes crossed), I should be closing on my first house by the middle of February. That seems like cause for celebration. And if it doesn't work out, it'll be a decompression trip/"at least you tried" kinda thing to pick up my spirits.

It's going to be a celebration regardless of what happens. So, updates to come over the remaining days.​

 

[Corrine 1973]

Joining in. I have stayed at POR and POFQ and love both of these resorts. If you are really second guessing CSR I would go with your gut and go with POR. It sounds like the time will already be stressful and who needs the extra stress. Good luck on the house. Hope to hear some good news related to this front.

Love the Pic by the way!!

 

[JustCor]

The Birth of a Trip

Have you ever read a review that has completely changed your opinion on something you had previously dismissed? This is the review that did it for me, and is probably the reason of this trip exists. I had toyed with the idea of having brunch at Disney and even booked Narcoossees before cancelling it and just writing it off as possibly excessively priced. I didn't see the value in it. The Brunch at the Top review by @poison ivy had me sold on brunch at California Grill, so much so that I snagged the ADR last week, before clearing time at work, before booking the resort, and before I had any vacation plans in mind. It's fair to say that if there were no times available for Brunch at the Top, I would not be currently planning a trip to Disney. There may be some high expectations for this meal.

My Disney trips have slowly morphed into "Where do I want to eat at Disney" trips, and this is no exception. With Brunch already planned and booked well in advance, I'm now on the hunt to fill in some other spaces. Some of it may end up changing depending upon how housed up I am. Maybe I'll celebrate more with a house. Maybe I'll treat myself to something really fancy if it falls through. For now, though it's Brunch... and other stuff.​

 

[JustCor]

Joing in. I have stayed at POR and POFQ and love both of these resorts. If you are really second guessing CSR I would go with your gut and go with POR. It sounds like the time will already be stressful and who needs the extra stress. Good luck on the house. Hope to hear some good news related to this front.

Love the Pic by the way!!

Welcome aboard! POR is a lock. It's way too nice to pass on again. I won't make that mistake again! POR is just too nice!

 

[JustCor]

Quick question, if anyone happens to know:

I move out of my apartment in just over a week. I'm going to be getting a PO Box to handle my mail until the house situation is done. Will Disney ship MagicBands to a PO Box? Normally I'd decline the band because I might have way too many already, but I really wanted to get a MagicBand 2!

EDIT: question answered. Yes! MagicBands ship to a PO Box. Phew!

 

[JustCor]

Dining Selection 101

Here's a quick look at the process of how I go about trying to pick out my ADRs for each Disney trip, with pictures that may not help at all. It may not be for the faint of heart.

Step 1:

Go to the dining link on the MDE website. I choose to go with just the restaurants that will take ADRs, which tends to leave out a few restaurants that I always forget exist until I'm actually walking by them and think to myself "Oh yeah, I really wanted to eat at this place, but completely forgot it existed so I'll have to make a mental note for the next trip". That mental note is then promptly forgotten when I see something shiny.

Step two:

Open a new tab for each restaurant that looks interesting, leaning heavily towards places that I've already eaten at, even though I swear to myself that I'm going to try something new this time. Also, completely dismiss any selection that has a picture that looks dumb, even if a restaurant is well reviewed by many people, because having a bad picture to go with a restaurant name is a cardinal sin that can't be forgiven. That'll teach you to not have a good photographer.

Step 3:

Open the menu for each restaurant in a separate tab so that things start to get overly cluttered. Only open the menu for one meal, so dinner or breakfast only. We're only planning for one day and one meal because to plan anything more at this time would be entirely to smart.

Step 4:

Open multiple tabs with reviews for the restaurant in question. Read so many reviews that you become that the restaurant is both the best place to eat at Disney and the worst place to eat at Disney. Make a decision based on which review has the best pictures.

Step 5:

Get distracted by a random thought and go to YouTube. Get caught looking at countless videos about people doing dumb things and hurting themselves on camera. Completely close every tab and go watch TV. Swear that you'll make a selection later on when your head doesn't hurt.​

 

[JustCor]

A little bit of Turkey, and a little bit of Ham

After pouring over a couple of reviews and trying to piece a few things together, I think I have plans made for my Saturday arrival. Is it a Disney trip if I don't go to MK? Probably, but I'm not ready to find out on this trip. Day one tends to be a good MK day. It helps to get my head fully into the Disney bubble and get acclimated. It'll be a fun and laid back day, I think. I did two Fast Pass selections to get things going, and ended up choosing Big Thunder Mountain, which I haven't been on in a while even though I really enjoy it, and 7DMT, which is fun, but not nearly as fun as Big Thunder Mountain. I have one more fast pass kind of floating out there until I figure out how I'd like to use it. I may leave it open until I'm there and try to fill it as needed.

In between the fast passes will be a dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. I've wanted to go to this restaurant before in the past, but there's always been something popping up to stop me. Once, it was closed for renovations. On another trip I was unable to find any open times. Other trips I've just forgot it's a thing. Not this time. I'm looking forward to giving it a try. I'm a fan of Thanksgiving style food, so any opportunity to eat way too much of it at a time that doesn't actually fall on Thanksgiving is always a huge plus in my book. It's a good thing that 7DMT is such a smooth rollercoaster, or else I may end up wearing that Thanksgiving style meal on my clothing. That could be bad.

I'm leaning towards a Hollywood Studios/Epcot day on that Sunday after the brunch. There was something that I wanted to do at DHS, but whatever it was, it's disappeared into a random corner of my mind. I think it was Star Wars related, but I'm struggling to figure out what exactly it was. Fireworks maybe? That sounds like something that might be... something? Maybe a walk around DHS will shake loose the memory. If not, I'm sure I can find other things to do while there.​

 

[JustCor]

Second, third, and fourth guessing

Not even a week into planning and I'm already second guessing a few things. I'm on the fence about Liberty Tree Tavern at the moment. I started looking at more and more reviews of different places and fell into the trap of wanting to eat everywhere except where I had planned. My eyes are definitely being larger than my stomach at the moment. So, let's take a quick look at what my planning brain has going on as I stare at different menus and reviews, and maybe I can sort out some kind of plan along the way:​

1. Liberty Tree Tavern - keep the ADR and keep the fast passes built around that ADR. This is where I'm currently at.​
2. Trail's End - Keep MK as the first day and maybe adjust the times on my fast passes to work around the meal. It's a fairly simple boat ride from MK, so it doesn't require too much adjusting.​
3. Cape May - Move my Sunday fast passes for DHS to Saturday and take the boat over to Beach Club for dinner, then take the boat back to DHS or add in some Epcot time after dinner.​
4. Something in Disney Springs - Sample a couple of different restaurants or kiosks at Disney Springs. Move the later fast passes at MK to earlier in the day, head back to the resort for a quick shower, and then take the boat to Disney Springs.​
5. The Wave - Maybe pad out some time in my fast passes, similar to the Trail's End plan, and hop on over to the Contemporary for dinner at The Wave. I do love me some Wave food.​

Just random thoughts at the moment. The food selection at Trail's End is definitely appealing. It tends to fall into my meat eaters wheel house. I'm a big fan of Cape May's buffet selection as well, and have been looking for a good reason to go back on each trip. There are a number of Disney Springs food kiosks that I've been looking to try, though I think I may push that to Sunday evening. The Wave is one of my favorite restaurants at Disney, though maybe I should do a Monday breakfast there prior to heading back home.

Ok, so I think I've managed to work in two of those ideas to other times just by writing all of this out. That's pretty convenient. Now I'm still hemming and hawing between Liberty Tree, Trail's End, and Cape May. They all look like places that I would enjoy in different ways. I've got some thinking to do over this one. If I were to make a decision right now, I might change to Cape May, but mostly because I'm really craving some shrimp at the moment. That could easily change.​

 

[Disney_traveler]

OMG how did I miss thissssssss?

 

[Disney_traveler]

Ok now that I've actually READ what you've written, here's my take it or leave it 2 cents.

I ate at both Trail's End and Liberty Tree Tavern in June 2014 and I enjoyed them both. To me trails end had amazing fried chicken and ribs. I like my ribs gooey, sticky and sweet. To me those were the best ribs I've ever eaten including Leatha's in Mississippi. I'm a fan of the whole Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner without cook it myself and during off times too, so it was right up my alley.

Have you done Garden Grill? I'm a little fuzzy and need to reread you TRs for that one. This past trip was my first time there and truthfully it is now my favorite table service. They could get rid of the characters and revolving and I'd still go there just for the food.

 

[JustCor]

OMG how did I miss thissssssss?

Ok now that I've actually READ what you've written, here's my take it or leave it 2 cents.

I ate at both Trail's End and Liberty Tree Tavern in June 2014 and I enjoyed them both. To me trails end had amazing fried chicken and ribs. I like my ribs gooey, sticky and sweet. To me those were the best ribs I've ever eaten including Leatha's in Mississippi. I'm a fan of the whole Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner without cook it myself and during off times too, so it was right up my alley.

Have you done Garden Grill? I'm a little fuzzy and need to reread you TRs for that one. This past trip was my first time there and truthfully it is now my favorite table service. They could get rid of the characters and revolving and I'd still go there just for the food.

Hello again! I have not eaten at Garden Grill, but I've kind of stayed away because of the character stuff. I learned from Tusker House that I'm not a "characters while eating" kind of guy. I don't enjoy my meal when the characters are floating around. It stresses me out and then I can't really eat or enjoy my food. I'd actually love to go to Garden Grill if they removed the character stuff, but until then, I think I'll hold tight. I'm still up in the air about Liberty Tree, though I've kind of faded on Trail's End. I now wrestling with Liberty Tree and Cape May. I've been to Cape May twice before and really enjoyed the food. I'm still kind of leaning that way, though I'm still not ready to cancel or mix things up. I've got a busy weekend of adulting to do first, and then I think I'll make a decision. I've been helping a friend at work plan their Disney trip and have been living a little vicariously through their plans as well as planning out my stuff. It'll be interesting to see what they find to be good and bad, and maybe make changes to my stuff when they come back with a report.

 

[JustCor]

The absence of planning

I'm in the middle of moving out of my apartment, so my Disney planning has been somewhat reduced. Still, even if I did want to do some planning and reviewing (I do), it's not happening. i haven't been able to get on MDE for the past two days. That's been kind of frustrating. I have to do a quick address change and finalize my MagicBands, but it looks like it'll have to wait.

I've been thinking about the ADRs I have, and I think I've decided on changing out Liberty Tree Tavern. I'd definitely like to eat there some day, but I think I'll pass on this trip. I don't know what will replace it quite yet (which was what I would have looked at if MDE worked), but I think it could end up being either Cape May or something in Disney Springs. One of the things I would like about Cape May is to walk around Beach Club Resort and get a feel for it. I'm mentally planning out another Labor Day trip and I kind of like the idea of being at one of the Epcot resorts. I'd like to look around the resort as a potential place to stay and not just a place to go grab a bite to eat.

So, not much to update on, though it appears that the MDE website is taking a break as well. Hopefully everything will be up and running soon. Finger's crossed!​

 

[JustCor]

Disney Day Dreamin'

MDE is (kinda) working, so I've been poking around looking at food, which has become a hobby for now. My Cape May plans are dashed, with nothing really available at a reasonable time for a dinner ADR. Bummer. I looked again at the Trail's End menu but it didn't seem appealing at the moment. It could be because I'm stuffed with food and no menu really stood out as delicious.

Well, almost no menu.

I fell down a wormhole of reviews and wound up looking at Victoria and Albert's. It's hard to find a review that doesn't gush over the food and the service. I've heard a teeny bit about the restaurant but had no real scope of what it was. The reviews have helped to clear that up and to give me an idea of price beyond Disney's extremely vague $$$$ (over $60) rating that it uses for stuff that's probably out of my wheelhouse. After reviews, it is indeed a pricey meal, but maybe not horrifically so. Sure, a $100+ meal is nothing to scoff at, and I'm not quite ready to plop down that money, but I might have checked for availability for my trip, just in case. Thankfully (I think), there is nothing available, and I'm just fine with that. I might have managed to justify the cost by canceling the Brunch at the top and bringing along cans of Spaghetti-O's for the rest of the meals while I stayed at Disney. I mean, have you had Spaghetti-O's right out of the can? It's a delicacy of it's own. However, I might have a bit of a mental problem wrapping my brains around eating cold processed pasta with meat product and then having a world class meal for breakfast. My brain may have just imploded from that culinary juxtaposition.

Still, a seed has been planted. I'm not sure when or for what reason I will be going, but I do so a time in a future not too distant where I may spring for a high quality culinary adventure. It sounds very "40th birthday" to me. That gives me just over two years to make it happen.

For now, I ponder what lower quality restaurant I may want to select to replace a buffet style restaurant that I might not have my heart set on. After reading the V&A reviews, everything else seems like Spaghetti-O's.​

 

[Disney_traveler]

I know you travel more than me and maybe you've already done this, but maybe have a non-park day and hop around resorts trying out QS items? Appetizer here, drinks at a pool bar there, entree somewhere else, dessert at a fourth place? When we went looking at Christmas decor that's what we did. Took along our refillable mug too. I don't remember it if is Beach or Yacht but we had some yummy sandwiches with homemade chips.

Don't know if you are joking or not about liking spaghetti-os straight out of the can, but I can confess to doing that with various canned children's pasta in college. Couldn't have microwave in room and dorm one was in kitchen on first floor and my room was on third floor and opposite side.....but I also know how to make soup, ramen and Mac n cheese in a coffee pot.

 

[Trixie15]

Glad to hear you have another trip in the works!

 

[JustCor]

I know you travel more than me and maybe you've already done this, but maybe have a non-park day and hop around resorts trying out QS items? Appetizer here, drinks at a pool bar there, entree somewhere else, dessert at a fourth place? When we went looking at Christmas decor that's what we did. Took along our refillable mug too. I don't remember it if is Beach or Yacht but we had some yummy sandwiches with homemade chips.

Don't know if you are joking or not about liking spaghetti-os straight out of the can, but I can confess to doing that with various canned children's pasta in college. Couldn't have microwave in room and dorm one was in kitchen on first floor and my room was on third floor and opposite side.....but I also know how to make soup, ramen and Mac n cheese in a coffee pot.

I've been thinking about doing something along those lines since this is a short trip, though I do want to see the Star Wars fireworks at DHS. I think if I did a resort hop, I'd start at the Monorail resorts, then make my way to the Epcot resorts, and then end up at DHS for fireworks. Along those lines, I might change things up from a QS hop to hitting up the various lounges and sampling. The other option, going the complete opposite direction, would be to do Signatures only. Since Sunday is covered with the brunch at California Grill, maybe Saturday can be a dinner at another signature. I'm still not sure. The MDE site is up and running this morning (YAY!) so I'll probably be popping on and off the site looking at different ideas.

And I'm seroius about the Spaghetti-O's. I know they're pretty bad for you in general, and I know that eating anything like that straight out of a can has a certain risk to it, but I will unashamedly eat a whole thing of Spaghetti-O's with meatballs (has to be with meatballs) straight from the can. Every now and then I'll pick up a few cans just to satisfy that itch when it pops up. I also buy a bunch bunch of cans (and some ramen noodles, and other non-perishables) for a hurricane box to have on hand if the power goes out and pretend I'm being a responsible adult, but I'm just looking forward to December when I "have to" eat them so they don't "go bad".

Glad to hear you have another trip in the works!

Thank you, and welcome to the PTR!

 

[Disney_traveler]

I've been thinking about doing something along those lines since this is a short trip, though I do want to see the Star Wars fireworks at DHS. I think if I did a resort hop, I'd start at the Monorail resorts, then make my way to the Epcot resorts, and then end up at DHS for fireworks. Along those lines, I might change things up from a QS hop to hitting up the various lounges and sampling. The other option, going the complete opposite direction, would be to do Signatures only. Since Sunday is covered with the brunch at California Grill, maybe Saturday can be a dinner at another signature. I'm still not sure. The MDE site is up and running this morning (YAY!) so I'll probably be popping on and off the site looking at different ideas.

And I'm seroius about the Spaghetti-O's. I know they're pretty bad for you in general, and I know that eating anything like that straight out of a can has a certain risk to it, but I will unashamedly eat a whole thing of Spaghetti-O's with meatballs (has to be with meatballs) straight from the can. Every now and then I'll pick up a few cans just to satisfy that itch when it pops up. I also buy a bunch bunch of cans (and some ramen noodles, and other non-perishables) for a hurricane box to have on hand if the power goes out and pretend I'm being a responsible adult, but I'm just looking forward to December when I "have to" eat them so they don't "go bad".

Thank you, and welcome to the PTR!

Ohh, if you like the snacking thing and wanna do Star Wars fireworks, maybe the dessert party? We did the one for Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam and it was our supper. I wish they wouldn't just call it a dessert party because the non-dessert options were really good.

 

[JustCor]

Ohh, if you like the snacking thing and wanna do Star Wars fireworks, maybe the dessert party? We did the one for Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam and it was our supper. I wish they wouldn't just call it a dessert party because the non-dessert options were really good.

That's good to know. I thought it was sweets only. As much as I like sweets, I don't like them enough to do a strictly dessert party. I think I'd get sick. I'll have to look into this now and see how it fits into my day. Thanks!

 

[JustCor]

The Unintentional Disney

If you haven't been to the lobby of Beach Club, it has a distinct scent. I'm a big fan of it. It has a clean smell that I really enjoy that I haven't really found anywhere else. It's just a very pleasant smell. I kept getting hints of it around the house lately and I couldn't figure out why. Had I unknowingly stolen something from Beach Club that had managed to hold on to the smell even though it's been a few months since I've last been there? I couldn't figure it out. Then I realized it was me that had that smell. I was somehow wearing it. A little bit of hard thinking had led me to the answer: my new laundry detergent. When I was a broke college student, laundry detergent always stumped me. It was so ridiculously expensive for essentially very little. Cutting corners generally led to smelly clothing that wouldn't actually get clean. I was in the unfortunate grips of the laundry empire. So depressing. One day I stumbled upon really cheap detergent. It came in a massive sized bag for about $8, but also came in a small bag for about a buck. For a dollar, I was willing to take the risk. Even if it was awful, I had essentially lost about as much money as was probably under my couch cushions, and if it worked, I had just saved a bunch of money for laundry. Well, Foca turned out to be awesome. It smelled nice and did a really good job of cleaning my clothes, so I've been a fairly loyal Foca user for a while. Eventually I got curious though. Foca was in the same aisle as some other cheap detergents with predominantly Spanish writing on the bags, and the prices were all awesome. I went through Ariel (hah! Disney name!), Roma, and one or two others with names I might fumble, and all of them were great. Like, seriously, really good stuff. The last one I tried was Blanca Nieves. It works well, but as an added bonus, the scent is very, very close to that of Beach Club's lobby. So what does Blanca Nieves translate to? Snow White. How incredibly appropriate! Unfortunately, the washer I will have will be a high efficiency model, and this stuff does not play well with such machines. How unfortunate.

So, what does all of this have to do with a Disney trip? I was thinking about this as I looked, again, to see if Cape May had anything available. Alas, nothing. I've been taken with the idea of doing another Signature restaurant, though I'm kind of surprised at how little on the menus I've looked at actually appeals to me. Though there is definitely a bit of sticker shock to it, some of the meals just seem to be completely opposite of what I like. I thought I'd look at the higher level of menu and just be blown away by the selection, but that just hasn't been the case. I also have a slight fear of what Disney Signature actually means when compared with restaurants out in the real world at the same price. California Grill is a perfect example. Even though I've booked the brunch and am super looking forward to it, I've also looked at their dinner menu and been less than impressed. I've heard some good things about their sushi, sure, but I have a very hard time believing it's considerably better than the various sushi places I've eaten at around the Orlando area that are considerably cheaper. That dampens my enthusiasm and perhaps unfairly biases me against actually booking a dinner there. Some of the other signature restaurants are giving me a similar vibe. Am I paying for a better experience or am I paying for a Disney experience? I'm able to hand-wave away some of the sticker shock for many of the Disney restaurants, but for some reason the Signature tag removes my ability to just get lost in the experience and accept that it's par for the Disney course. With that line of thought in mind, I keep wondering if, instead of doing a Disney dinner, I just find a really nice restaurant outside of the park and pay the same (or less) for potentially more. Decisions decisions.

MDE has been working for me all day, which has put a big damper on my packing. I've got too much distraction and no real desire to do any more packing. I'll probably be up all night and into the morning to get everything done before the movers arrive. Unfortunately, I have to do it whether I want to or not.​

 

[Disney_traveler]

@JustCor if blanco Nieves is a powder formula, you can get some of those sachets from hobby lobby (look in jewelry making section) and put some in it and stash in in your dresser drawers or hang off a hanger to freshen up the clothes (and keep out moths and mice).

If you really want cape may, get you a searcher going for the reservation on touringplans.com it got me all of mine for the December trip.

Ps. I feel like I'm stalking you when it's actually just a slow day on the dis and home doing laundry.