4/27/25 This is How the Cookie Crumbles
As I was planning this trip, I initially thought we would play our schedule by ear. Then, I realized that since we needed park reservations, we really needed to select our parks ahead of time. I consulted Touring Plans for guidance on which days would be best based on crowd levels. I was surprised to see that Magic Kingdom’s crowd level was predicted to be a “4” on this particular Sunday, just a week after Easter. Being an offsite guest, we weren’t eligible for early entry but we made sure to be through the entrance in time for regular entry. We lined up over by Liberty Square and made our way to the Haunted Mansion. Surprisingly it didn’t open right at 9:00 but by 9:05 we were traveling through the line and on the ride within 5 minutes of that.
We next headed to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, with a posted wait time of 25 minutes. We were on within 18 minutes. So far so good!
We walked over to Pirates which had a 10 minute posted wait. We stood in line for 8 minutes and realized we hadn’t moved at all. Suddenly we noticed people walking back through the line. I checked
MDE and sure enough it was down. We decided to leave the line and try another time. I don’t know what happened but for the rest of the day every time I checked MDE it was listed as “temporarily closed”. We walked over to It’s a Small World which had a 15 minute wait. Fortunately for us, when we got to the point where those with LLs tap a second time, there was no one in the
Lightning Lane so the CM pulled us out of the regular line and we were on in 9 minutes!
At this point, it was time for a mid-morning snack so we headed to Friar’s Nook and purchased the Apple Cider Doughnuts.
I was expecting these to have a weird green sugar or sauce on them like I had seen in the promo photos. But, I guess Disney realized it was more appetizing like this.
These were very good. They were very fresh and hot with a wonderful cinnamon sugar topping. The insides had chunks of real apple and the caramel sauce finished them off nicely! It was a simple but tasty treat, B+.
After our snack we got in line for Under the Sea. It had a 10 minute posted wait but the line was snaked around through all kinds of areas I’ve never seen before. It took us 20 minutes to board. Sadly this ride is badly in need of some refurbishment. We noticed quite a few animatronics not working. Even poor Ariel, who was supposed to be dancing in the “under the sea” scene, was just staring out with her arms in the air frozen in space. We really enjoy this ride and it’s sad to see it not functioning well.
We made our way over to Enchanted Tales with Belle, as it’s something we’ve never experienced. Recently a YouTuber had mentioned that this is a great show even for adults so we decided to see what it was all about. It was very cool to see the mirror change into a doorway but beyond that, it was not enjoyable for two adults without kids with them. It was kinda chaotic with kids that were chosen to play roles crying and going back to their parents and CMs talking over the pre-recorded narration. Someday if we have grandkids we may go with them but probably not before then. We enjoy the Frozen and Beauty & the Beast sing-a-longs but this was not that at all.
We walked to Tomorrowland and watched the Carousel of Progress. As the theater was attempting to rotate to the final scene, it abruptly stopped. So, we ended up seeing the 1940’s section twice. We’re not sure what happened but it was a nice air-conditioned break so we didn’t mind.
We were feeling hungry for lunch and decided to walk over to the Grand Floridian to get something from Gasparilla Island Grill. I attempted to place a mobile order but in the app it looked like my only choices for sides were chips or fries. I know in the past I’ve ordered mac n cheese as a side and I thought I had seen you could get a side salad. We were still trying to be healthy so as much as I wanted that delicious mac n cheese, we planned on getting the turkey sandwich with a side salad. I decided to place my order in person and ordered the turkey sandwich from a CM. I asked if I could get a side salad and she looked at me like that was the craziest question she ever heard and then said, “No, only chips or fries.” So, we shared a turkey sandwich with a side of house made chips: House-roasted Turkey, Brie, Apples, Herbed Aïoli, and Arugula on House-made Ciabatta
This was a very tasty sandwich with fresh roasted turkey, not deli meat. The brie and apples added to the flavor and the ciabatta bread was nice and fresh. We gave our lunch at Gasparilla’s a B+. It is always consistently good.
At this point we decided that we owed it to the DisBoards to do our own resort cookie stroll, trying a specialty cookie in each place we stopped. So, we bought the Signature Cookie: Chocolate Chip Cookie with Candied Hazelnuts
This was a terrible cookie. It was really stale, dry and flavorless. We gave it a C-. Gasparilla really needs some work on their signature cookie. They may want to get some pointers from the Riviera (more on that later on in the trip).
Thankfully, we also purchased the Mickey Choux.
This was very good! The choux was perfectly baked with a nice chocolate coating on the base and it was filled with a creamy chocolate mousse. It was very small for sharing but it was delicious. We gave it an A-.
After lunch, we walked back to the Magic Kingdom. We rode the People Mover with a posted 10 minute wait, we waited 9. I checked the Lines App for the Tron wait time and it said "ride now", predicting a 38 minute wait. MDE was showing 55 so I decided to give it a try. This time the Lines App was correct and I waited exactly 38 minutes. Such a fun ride but so short I find it hard to wait in too much of a line to ride it.
We then rode the train from Storybook station to the Main Street station.
One of DH’s snack priorities was to get the Mickey Chocolate Chip Cookie again. We tried it for the first time on our last trip and were surprised at how delicious it was. The one we got last time though was just slightly stale. We thought perhaps that was because we bought it at Big Top Treats and maybe there wasn’t as much turn over of inventory there. This time we assumed if we purchased it at the Main Street Confectionery that it would be more fresh. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to be selling the regular Mickey Chocolate Chip cookie. They did have a Snickers version however so we purchased that instead.
This cookie was also terrible. It was extremely stale and dry. The only thing that saved it was the chocolate dip on the ears. It was a very bad cookie day. So much for our “cookies will be fresher at Main St. Confectionery” theory. Very disappointing. We still would like to know where to find a fresh chocolate chip Mickey cookie, if anyone has any insights.
After our cookie disappointment we headed to the Country Bears to cheer ourselves up. We both were very apprehensive about the changes being made to the Country Bears. However when we saw the new version in December we were pleasantly surprised. We love the updated show and feel they did an excellent job incorporating the Disney songs into the show. We especially love the “Remember Me” part, it keeps the spirit of the original without the blood.
Having accomplished even more than we expected (the actual observed crowd level ended up being a 2), we made our way to our anticipated dinner location, the Wailulu Bar & Grill. Even though we had plenty of steps, it was such a beautiful day we opted to walk from the Magic Kingdom to the Grand Floridian and on to the Polynesian. It wasn’t nearly as long a walk as we thought it would be. It was just about a mile and a quarter to the Wailulu Bar & Grill.
Up next…our first time at Wailulu Bar & Grill
