Captain_Oblivious
DIS Dad #257, Galactic Salad Dodger
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2008
- Messages
- 13,462
Chapter 8: Relax, Let Us Pull Up A Chair, As The Dining Room Proudly Presents…Your Lunch.
Sigh.
We’d just spent our last night at the Polynesian. It was time to pack up the bags and get ready to head back to the real world.
That went way too fast.
Thankfully, we still had the morning to ourselves before we needed to be back for the DUD*.
*--Disney’s Unmagical Depress (thanks, @pkondz !)
Julie wanted more overpriced Christmas specialty coffee, so we went over to the TTC and the Joffrey’s kiosk there once more. It was an EMH morning at the Magic Kingdom, and Julie and I were single-mindedly trying to maximize the few hours we had left. This photo should demonstrate our level of commitment:
We weren’t missing Rope Drop today!
We dragged our luggage over to the bell services desk and left it there for the morning. The resort was still looking festive, even if we weren’t feeling that way.
Not only did we need to be at Rope Drop, but we also had one more resort to visit in order to complete the Holiday Decorations Tour. We hopped on the monorail and got off one stop later, at the Grand Floridian (or Disney’s Red Roof Inn).
I know this is the flagship resort, the crème de la crème, but I have to admit—I never really feel comfortable in the Grand Floridian. It feels fancy-pants and snooty to me. I keep expecting a security guard to grab me the moment I walk in and say, “I’m sorry, we don’t serve your kind here.” Part of it is the Victorian theme. I know, many people go gaga over Victorian-era garb and activities, but to me it gives a vibe of what the world would look like if the Fun Police were in charge. Everything must be in its place and polished to a shine and everyone wears their 3-piece suits to afternoon tea and discusses politics and proper dressage techniques for their stable and the etiquette of croquet like proper gentlemen over tiny sandwiches and rock-hard scones and oh please just shoot me now. If you need me, I’ll be at home attaching firecrackers to my brothers’ model cars.
Having said all that, I also have to admit—the place looks terrific at Christmas time.
The piece de resistance, of course, is the full-size gingerbread house they have in the lobby.
Julie stood next to it for scale. That’s just incredibly beautiful. The gingerbread house is nice, too.
Having completed our resort decorations tour, we got on the monorail again and headed for the Magic Kingdom. And we made it just in time for the opening show.
Since we’d missed out on taking advantage of the smaller crowds on our previous morning at the Magic Kingdom, we were determined to take advantage of this second chance. As soon as the show was over, we hightailed it through the tunnel, inside the park, and managed to be the very first people in line at:
The bathrooms. Guess that morning coffee did a number on us.
No FP+ for EMH, so we decided to take another shot at a ride on the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. No empty Main St. photos this morning.
By the time we got to the ride, the line was stretching along the fence towards the tea cups. However, the posted wait time was 20 minutes and we strongly suspected line stacking, so we decided to hop in. It proved to be a good call, as the wait was indeed only about 20 minutes, and was probably the best it would be all day. Also, my theory about 7DMT was correct: it’s a terrific warm-up as the first ride of the day.
There it is: the back side of castle.
The next stop was Peter Pan’s Flight. Even during EMH, the wait time was already posted at 30 minutes. Still, we decided to take the plunge, figuring that a) again, this was the best it would be all day, and b) we wanted to see the new enhanced queue.
Unfortunately, the wait was indeed almost 30 minutes, but that was ok. I’m glad we saw the new elements. Those things definitely make the wait more bearable, and we especially enjoyed the room with Tinkerbell flying about and affecting the various items around the bedroom.
We ended up only getting these two rides done during EMH, but we didn’t feel bad about it. They were two of the most popular, and the day hadn’t officially started yet.
Just before 9:00 a.m., we made our way towards Adventureland.
Here come the rest of the crowds.
Adventureland wasn’t officially open yet, so we had a bit of a wait before they let us in. As we entered, we noticed the construction walls had just been removed and a brand new restaurant was now in its soft opening:
But, with only a few hours left in our getaway, there was no time to explore. Instead, we headed straight for the Jingle Cruise.
With the Christmas overlay in full effect, this ride was completely transformed. Instead of being a boat ride featuring terrible puns and Dad jokes, it was now a boat ride featuring Christmas-themed terrible puns and Dad jokes. For example, remember the one tree with the animatronic snake wrapped around the top branches? The skipper informed us that it was their Christmas tree, “all wrapped up in a pretty boa.”
Yeah.
Anyhoo, remember from our backstage tour how the guide said they re-use faces for their animatronics, and how I forgot to finish that story? Let’s take care of that now. If you recall, the guide said to look at the guy on the bottom of the pole nearest the rhinoceros, and that we might see him later at the Haunted Mansion.
Does he look familiar to you?
After thoroughly enjoying the Dad jokes, we figured we might as well ride Pirates since we were in the area.
I’m not sure what was going on here. I’ve always thought of this ride as a fast loader, and my waits are always less than the posted time. But not this time. This time we seemed to stand still in the queue forever. When we finally got to the loading area, it looked like they were occasionally sending a boat with no one in it down the ramp. We were scratching our heads over that one.
In any case, that used up our available free time and we left for Tomorrowland. Our first FP+ was at Space Mountain.
Julie hadn’t ridden Space Mountain since she was a kid and was a little nervous. Rides like this always seem to build up in your mind over time, and you start to wonder if it’s the same as you remember from years ago. But she didn’t need to worry. She handled it like a champ, and had a blast!
Next up was another FP+ for Buzz Lightyear. I was on a roll after my Toy Story Mania victory, and this one was just no contest. Also, Julie says her gun was defective and the sun was in her eyes.
Our schedule was jam-packed, and we had an early lunch reservation at 10:45 a.m.
This one came late in the game to our vacation plans. When I’d first made dining reservations, there was no availability whatsoever, as I’d expected. Later on, I found this opening and grabbed it immediately, worrying about the rest of the plan later. And I’m glad it worked out. We’d never experienced the place, so I was eager to try it out.
We had not pre-ordered our meals, so we had to get in line for the automated kiosks to place our orders. It took a bit of time to make our way through the line. In the end, Julie and I went with the same entrée: the “croque monsieur” with “béchamel” and “pommes frites”. Know what the difference is between that and a hot ham & cheese sandwich with fries? About $7, as each one of these set us back $13.99.
Be Our Guest looks fantastic on the inside. The Imagineers hit it out of the park in terms of re-creating Beast’s castle. It looks great all decked out for Christmas as well.
I’d hoped for a seat in the West Wing, but the tables were all occupied and we didn’t feel comfortable stalking anyone in there. So we grabbed an open spot in the main dining room. We took turns checking out the other rooms while we waited for our food.
After a few minutes, the server found us in vaguely creepy Big Brother-ish fashion, I’m assuming through tracking our Magic Band locations.
For dessert, Julie chose the chocolate/orange éclair.
And I went with the lemon meringue cupcake.
Overall, the food was fine. Despite the fancy French names, there’s only so much you can do to a hot ham-and-cheese sandwich. But it tasted good, and the desserts were good, and we were happy with the meal. Compared to the other counter-service places, it’s a cut above. But I also don’t feel the need to eat here during every visit. Overall, I’d say it’s worth seeing at least once just to marvel at the work of the Imagineers in building the place. After that, don’t sweat it for the food. Unless the dinner is out of this world.
Coming Up Next: There’s two final ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL tasks we have left on our list before we can leave Disney property. And then, the misery of leaving Disney property.
Sigh.
We’d just spent our last night at the Polynesian. It was time to pack up the bags and get ready to head back to the real world.
That went way too fast.
Thankfully, we still had the morning to ourselves before we needed to be back for the DUD*.
*--Disney’s Unmagical Depress (thanks, @pkondz !)
Julie wanted more overpriced Christmas specialty coffee, so we went over to the TTC and the Joffrey’s kiosk there once more. It was an EMH morning at the Magic Kingdom, and Julie and I were single-mindedly trying to maximize the few hours we had left. This photo should demonstrate our level of commitment:
We weren’t missing Rope Drop today!
We dragged our luggage over to the bell services desk and left it there for the morning. The resort was still looking festive, even if we weren’t feeling that way.
Not only did we need to be at Rope Drop, but we also had one more resort to visit in order to complete the Holiday Decorations Tour. We hopped on the monorail and got off one stop later, at the Grand Floridian (or Disney’s Red Roof Inn).
I know this is the flagship resort, the crème de la crème, but I have to admit—I never really feel comfortable in the Grand Floridian. It feels fancy-pants and snooty to me. I keep expecting a security guard to grab me the moment I walk in and say, “I’m sorry, we don’t serve your kind here.” Part of it is the Victorian theme. I know, many people go gaga over Victorian-era garb and activities, but to me it gives a vibe of what the world would look like if the Fun Police were in charge. Everything must be in its place and polished to a shine and everyone wears their 3-piece suits to afternoon tea and discusses politics and proper dressage techniques for their stable and the etiquette of croquet like proper gentlemen over tiny sandwiches and rock-hard scones and oh please just shoot me now. If you need me, I’ll be at home attaching firecrackers to my brothers’ model cars.
Having said all that, I also have to admit—the place looks terrific at Christmas time.
The piece de resistance, of course, is the full-size gingerbread house they have in the lobby.
Julie stood next to it for scale. That’s just incredibly beautiful. The gingerbread house is nice, too.
Having completed our resort decorations tour, we got on the monorail again and headed for the Magic Kingdom. And we made it just in time for the opening show.
Since we’d missed out on taking advantage of the smaller crowds on our previous morning at the Magic Kingdom, we were determined to take advantage of this second chance. As soon as the show was over, we hightailed it through the tunnel, inside the park, and managed to be the very first people in line at:
The bathrooms. Guess that morning coffee did a number on us.
No FP+ for EMH, so we decided to take another shot at a ride on the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. No empty Main St. photos this morning.
By the time we got to the ride, the line was stretching along the fence towards the tea cups. However, the posted wait time was 20 minutes and we strongly suspected line stacking, so we decided to hop in. It proved to be a good call, as the wait was indeed only about 20 minutes, and was probably the best it would be all day. Also, my theory about 7DMT was correct: it’s a terrific warm-up as the first ride of the day.
There it is: the back side of castle.
The next stop was Peter Pan’s Flight. Even during EMH, the wait time was already posted at 30 minutes. Still, we decided to take the plunge, figuring that a) again, this was the best it would be all day, and b) we wanted to see the new enhanced queue.
Unfortunately, the wait was indeed almost 30 minutes, but that was ok. I’m glad we saw the new elements. Those things definitely make the wait more bearable, and we especially enjoyed the room with Tinkerbell flying about and affecting the various items around the bedroom.
We ended up only getting these two rides done during EMH, but we didn’t feel bad about it. They were two of the most popular, and the day hadn’t officially started yet.
Just before 9:00 a.m., we made our way towards Adventureland.
Here come the rest of the crowds.
Adventureland wasn’t officially open yet, so we had a bit of a wait before they let us in. As we entered, we noticed the construction walls had just been removed and a brand new restaurant was now in its soft opening:
But, with only a few hours left in our getaway, there was no time to explore. Instead, we headed straight for the Jingle Cruise.
With the Christmas overlay in full effect, this ride was completely transformed. Instead of being a boat ride featuring terrible puns and Dad jokes, it was now a boat ride featuring Christmas-themed terrible puns and Dad jokes. For example, remember the one tree with the animatronic snake wrapped around the top branches? The skipper informed us that it was their Christmas tree, “all wrapped up in a pretty boa.”
Yeah.
Anyhoo, remember from our backstage tour how the guide said they re-use faces for their animatronics, and how I forgot to finish that story? Let’s take care of that now. If you recall, the guide said to look at the guy on the bottom of the pole nearest the rhinoceros, and that we might see him later at the Haunted Mansion.
Does he look familiar to you?
After thoroughly enjoying the Dad jokes, we figured we might as well ride Pirates since we were in the area.
I’m not sure what was going on here. I’ve always thought of this ride as a fast loader, and my waits are always less than the posted time. But not this time. This time we seemed to stand still in the queue forever. When we finally got to the loading area, it looked like they were occasionally sending a boat with no one in it down the ramp. We were scratching our heads over that one.
In any case, that used up our available free time and we left for Tomorrowland. Our first FP+ was at Space Mountain.
Julie hadn’t ridden Space Mountain since she was a kid and was a little nervous. Rides like this always seem to build up in your mind over time, and you start to wonder if it’s the same as you remember from years ago. But she didn’t need to worry. She handled it like a champ, and had a blast!
Next up was another FP+ for Buzz Lightyear. I was on a roll after my Toy Story Mania victory, and this one was just no contest. Also, Julie says her gun was defective and the sun was in her eyes.
Our schedule was jam-packed, and we had an early lunch reservation at 10:45 a.m.
This one came late in the game to our vacation plans. When I’d first made dining reservations, there was no availability whatsoever, as I’d expected. Later on, I found this opening and grabbed it immediately, worrying about the rest of the plan later. And I’m glad it worked out. We’d never experienced the place, so I was eager to try it out.
We had not pre-ordered our meals, so we had to get in line for the automated kiosks to place our orders. It took a bit of time to make our way through the line. In the end, Julie and I went with the same entrée: the “croque monsieur” with “béchamel” and “pommes frites”. Know what the difference is between that and a hot ham & cheese sandwich with fries? About $7, as each one of these set us back $13.99.
Be Our Guest looks fantastic on the inside. The Imagineers hit it out of the park in terms of re-creating Beast’s castle. It looks great all decked out for Christmas as well.
I’d hoped for a seat in the West Wing, but the tables were all occupied and we didn’t feel comfortable stalking anyone in there. So we grabbed an open spot in the main dining room. We took turns checking out the other rooms while we waited for our food.
After a few minutes, the server found us in vaguely creepy Big Brother-ish fashion, I’m assuming through tracking our Magic Band locations.
For dessert, Julie chose the chocolate/orange éclair.
And I went with the lemon meringue cupcake.
Overall, the food was fine. Despite the fancy French names, there’s only so much you can do to a hot ham-and-cheese sandwich. But it tasted good, and the desserts were good, and we were happy with the meal. Compared to the other counter-service places, it’s a cut above. But I also don’t feel the need to eat here during every visit. Overall, I’d say it’s worth seeing at least once just to marvel at the work of the Imagineers in building the place. After that, don’t sweat it for the food. Unless the dinner is out of this world.
Coming Up Next: There’s two final ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL tasks we have left on our list before we can leave Disney property. And then, the misery of leaving Disney property.
(I mean, if I am to stay at every resort on property, gotta find a way to fit this one in as well)
I hope it all works out! Free dining?
Thanks so much! And thanks for reading the other TR's, although no one should ever have to endure that kind of punishment. You're a real trooper.
I was struggling to find anything there that made me feel like I needed a table immediately. I bet it looks cool inside, though.
