Twirling Through the World: Magic, Memories, & Maladies-Sept. 2011 TR- NEW PTR 6/18!

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I'm glad that CHH was much more accommodating to the food allergy requests!! That stinks about the chocolate cakes opening up in your bag though! On our last day of our trip last year, I was wearing one of those string backpacks and it was raining, and all of our maps and papers turned into mush at the bottom of my bag lol. At least our plane tickets were a bit better protected!

Love the interaction with Pinocchio! How sweet is he!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

I swore I replied to your CP post, but I do not see it.. der.

We had a great breakfast there as well! Although Piglet skipped out on us lol!

Glad your kids loved HM and BTMMR!

and isn't WDW the BEST when it comes to allergies?? Really puts my mind at ease when I am there!

So awesome that you guys got that special little character treat at the end of your afternoon!

Looking forward to your night plans!

What is up with Piglet?!? He just can't get it together!
I love Disney for all the effort it puts forth to accommodate families with allergies. I felt completely safe ordering from WDW restaurants, which is something we don't often get to do here at home.

I feel the same way about Pop Century. It was our first on-site stay, the trip that really turned me from a lifelong Disney fan way back from Mickey Mouse Club days into a full-fledged explosion of Disneymania. We have stayed at many other resorts, and we could easily get spoiled to the deluxes, but there is just something special about Pop Century because of that first stay, I think.

The portions at Columbia Harbour House are huge. We can easily share meals there. I haven't tried the lobster roll...yet.

I'm glad I got the chance to peek in and see all of your pictures. A day in Fantasyland - even a wet one - is a good day!

I also have that feeling for Pop Century! Next trip will probably be our first trip not staying there, and I'm not sure how I will feel about that!
You're right--even a wet day at Disney is a million times better than a day we're not there!

I'm glad that CHH was much more accommodating to the food allergy requests!! That stinks about the chocolate cakes opening up in your bag though! On our last day of our trip last year, I was wearing one of those string backpacks and it was raining, and all of our maps and papers turned into mush at the bottom of my bag lol. At least our plane tickets were a bit better protected!

Love the interaction with Pinocchio! How sweet is he!

Oh, the bag. At least it smelled good.
I never knew Pinocchio was so sweet! It was our first time meeting him and we loved it!

 

[PirateKate]

I love CHH, too. I don't know for sure which Disney restaurant was my first, but if I had to guess, I'd bet it was that one. I love those apple blossoms there and the fried shrimp.

Sorry to hear about the rain. Wet strollers are the worst, but those rain covers look pretty handy. The chocolate cakes getting ruined sounds sad. It's a waste of cake and not very good for the bag, either.

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

I love CHH, too. I don't know for sure which Disney restaurant was my first, but if I had to guess, I'd bet it was that one. I love those apple blossoms there and the fried shrimp.

Sorry to hear about the rain. Wet strollers are the worst, but those rain covers look pretty handy. The chocolate cakes getting ruined sounds sad. It's a waste of cake and not very good for the bag, either.

We dealt with the bag...the cakes, though, were a lost cause. Such a waste.

 

[francis6306]

Jumping in to say great TR so far! I'm hoping to go next year around Christmas time again and I'm "researching" TR with babies!

Your girls looked SO cute after BBB! And my YDD has food allergies, so I'm excited to read about that as well!

 

[TinyDancer]

Jenn!! I'm here!!! I've been one busy Mama, no time for Dis

I'm off to read and get caught up now!!!

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Hi! I'm just starting to read your trip report. We're taking our four year old to Disney for our first ever family vacation next September. I'm looking forward to reading all about your trip especially since it's during the same time of year and involves small children!

 

[mommy2mb]

Joining in!

 

[RyansMommy1]

Subbing!! Love trip reports with 5year olds in them!!! I'm bringing my now 4 year old to the World for his 5th birthday!!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

So sorry about the time between updates, guys! Sickness, holidays, so on, so forth…

To those of you still here, thanks for hanging in there with me! And to the new folks joining us, WELCOME and THANKS!! Just so you know, I have temporarily misplaced my TR notes, so I’m winging it based on my not-always-spectacular memory.

When we left off, we had sort of napped and were changed into our matching homemade shirts in anticipation of our next destination. Did you guess it?

Chef Mickey’s!! We’d never been here before and were excited to have an early dinner ADR. Sawyer LOVES the fab five (I mean, who doesn’t? But really. Obsessed.) and I just knew this was going to be fun. I was a bit nervous about the food because I’ve read such mixed reviews, but I honestly didn’t care. We were going to see our favorites while seated instead of waiting in line! And I like sitting.

I felt particularly giddy as we pulled into the Contemporary Resort. The guard asked us if we planned on walking over to the Magic Kingdom after dinner, which we did, and he directed us to our parking spot.

The stroller was still a bit wet from the earlier rain, so we left it in the van for now. We couldn’t leave Brynn’s stuffed monkey, Sparky, because she just couldn’t stand the thoughts of him not meeting Mickey.
Brandon took some quick photos while I took a restroom break. (We all realize that I can’t go five minutes without one, right?)

We checked in at the podium and were given a ticket to give to the PhotoPass people so we could have our photo taken. We were also given a pager that would let us know when our table was ready. We were third in line for a picture and handed our camera to the PhotoPass guy when we stepped up. There was almost a meltdown moment when he told Brynn to put Sparky on a bench while he took the picture. Uhm…not gonna happen. I had to assure the guy that Sparky was part of the family and we were used to our pictures having monkeys in them. I’m not sure if you can tell in the picture, but our shirts each say “Chef (insert name here).” Not literally. Mine said “Chef Mom,” Sawyer’s said “Chef Sawyer,” etc. Hope you caught onto that. Brandon designed them in Photoshop based on an 1980s cookbook cover, and I ironed them on the shirts.

Our pager went off before we even finished the photo. We were shown to our table and introduced to our server. She said she had been working at Chef Mickey’s for seventeen years! She took our drink orders and brought out a stack of juice boxes for the kids immediately. I think they liked her. She said she would grab the chef and that I would love him. Boy was she right!

The Chef (whose name escapes me…anybody?) came out and told me he’d walk me down the buffet and that I should fix Brynn’s plate instead of letting her come up. I do that all the time anyway. He showed me all the dairy-free options, and there were lots! Most meats, several veggies, bread, and fresh fruit. He asked if she’d like him to bring out a dairy-free cupcake and some chocolate rice dream when she was finished. A cupcake!? She’d love that! He advised me just to let my server know when I was ready for the dessert, and he said that if I needed anything at all for the whole length of our trip just to let him know. Any food questions. Any restaurant. Anything special he could make for her. How awesome is that?! Such a sweet and helpful guy. With that, I made Brynn’s plate and returned to the table. Mamie had grabbed some salad bar stuff, and it was time to wave those napkins!

I fixed a little something for Sawyer…

And a little something for myself.

I’m not really sure what all I had, but I can see cornbread, ham, Mickey raviolis, Mickey mac-and-cheese, some sort of chicken or turkey casserole, salmon, and….yummmmmy…parmesan mashed potatoes. I really could have made a meal out of these. I just about did. I think I took two more trips just for these!! Seems I don’t have pictures of the other plates, but trust me when I say we all ate well and enjoyed everything! I’m not really sure where the mixed reviews come from, but then again our palates aren’t exactly sophisticated.

KEEP READING! Character photos are in next post!!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

The characters started coming around as we ate. First up was Minnie!

We told her about how Sawyer’s first word was her name (seriously…most mamas would have been offended, but I was impressed!) and she wrote him a special message in Julia’s autograph book that started with “Dear Chef Sawyer.” Obviously they fell in love with each other. They couldn’t stop playing kissy face.

Pluto came next, and for some reason I only have one photo of this? Brandon might have been getting food during this time or something, because usually he takes a million pictures. Brynn’s in the picture, but she’s hugging/hiding.

Donald came next. Sawyer loves him, too, and spent some time quacking and high-fiving.

Goofy came around, and he was goofy for sure! He spent a while joking around with our kids and the table next to us.

Finally, it was the big cheese-eater himself. MICKEY!!
All my kids love Mickey, but Sawyer loves him more than any baby in the world, I think. I would pay a million dollars to relive this experience again.
First, the kids gave him hugs and he signed autographs. Sawyer wanted to touch his nose.

And Mickey decided to touch Sawyer’s nose.

Sawyer gave him a kiss, and Mickey was touched!

He asked how old Sawyer was.

We told him he was fourteen months old. Then they started a game. Mickey would point to his cheek, and Sawyer would kiss it every time, without fail!

Those are just a couple of pictures we have. Literally, there are about twenty pictures of twenty different kisses. Mickey was just eating it up!! After he left our table, he stopped by TWICE more during the meal, pointed to his cheek, and got a kiss from Sawyer! And when they were leaving, he came over to say bye to him. Worth every penny. Maybe the best moment of the trip. (Maybe.)

With characters gone, it was time for dessert. Brynn got her special cupcake and rice dream.

Brandon took his camera over to the dessert area, but we weren’t really hungry. We just got the oreo Mickey thingies.

We settled our bill, left a tip for our wonderful waitress, and made our way out.

Our first stop was the restroom, which is down a very narrow and steep stairway. There are others nearby, but this is the one for the restaurant. Sparky waited for us on the bench outside.

And with that, we made a stop at the van to retrieve the mostly-dry stroller and continued on the path to walk to the Magic Kingdom. As we were leaving, I made a promise to Brandon: “I’m going to stay here. SOON.”
Up next: MSEP, Wishes, sleeping babies.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I love this picture!!! All of the pictures of Mickey and Sawyer are adorable!! That was some great character interaction!

Another great chef, how great is that!

 

[RyansMommy1]

Dont know if I posted yet but I subbed and am all caught up!!! I was cracking up when I realized I had started your ptr months ago and couldn't figure out why Brynn looked so familiar!!! When I went back and started reading your PTR again I instantly remrmbered!!!

 

[tlenzendorf]

I love Chef Mickey's! I know that lots of people don't like it and complain about the food, but we thought it was great! The kids were sad we didn't get to go this past trip.

 

[ronnmel]

So cute!!! :

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

I love this picture!!! All of the pictures of Mickey and Sawyer are adorable!! That was some great character interaction!

Another great chef, how great is that!

Sawyer was just giddy. And honestly, so was I!
I think this was the best chef of the week, but they were all great (with the exception of that Pecos Bill's incident!).

Dont know if I posted yet but I subbed and am all caught up!!! I was cracking up when I realized I had started your ptr months ago and couldn't figure out why Brynn looked so familiar!!! When I went back and started reading your PTR again I instantly remrmbered!!!

Sounds like something I'd do...in fact, I probably have!! Glad you're here!

I love Chef Mickey's! I know that lots of people don't like it and complain about the food, but we thought it was great! The kids were sad we didn't get to go this past trip.

We loved it! It's definitely going to be a tradition from now on.

So cute!!! :

Thanks! This place was just oozing with cuteness at every table!

 

[PirateKate]

Cute Chef Mickey pictures! It's great when toddlers aren't scared of the characters.

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Cute Chef Mickey pictures! It's great when toddlers aren't scared of the characters.

I was worried before we went that he'd be scared and we had all these character meals planned, but he was excited to meet all of them! Phew! Not sure what we would have done had he been scared!

 

[ronnmel]

Joyeux Noel to you and your family!!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Joyeux Noel to you and your family!!

Thanks, Mel! And to you and yours, as well!

Just thought I'd post this here because...well...nobody but you people will understand!!
On our last trip, at the Norway Pavilion in Epcot I smelled "Laila...The Essence of Norway," and I loved it. I'm usually not much of a perfume person, but it smelled so clean! I meant to buy some, but circumstances (which you'll hear about rather soon) prevented me from doing so. I was sad, but I just tucked my sample into my planning books and decided to get some next trip.
And what should show up under my Christmas Tree this morning?? You guessed it!! Brandon actually remembered that I'd wanted it and ordered it from the Laila website. Now I'm sitting here smelling like World Showcase and LOVING IT!!!
Also, my kids received clothing and books from "it's a small world" from Mamie last night! And of course we got stuffed Mickeys and Mickey laptops and Mickey keyboards, too. They were so happy!
Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, and I hope some of your Disney dreams came true!