7 days of yumminess in the heat (6/20-6/27) with pics!! (Completed)

[dd50]

Can't wait to read more reviews. I have never been to 50 PT.

 

[tlynk]

Great reviews so far.

 

[kimgof]

Enjoying your reviews!

 

[lauritagoddess]

Thanks everyone!!!

Before we headed out of Hollywood Studios, we got some Itzakadoozies to cool off. Actually I might have had something else, but my son definitely had an Itzakadoozie. He loves these things.

We headed back to the hotel to cool down a little, swam and took a nap. We didn't have any specific plans for the evening or dinner. My son decided he wanted to go back to Magic Kingdom. We debated between Cosmic Rays, Columbia Harbour House and Pecos Bill and decided on the latter. I got the BBQ pork sandwich. I just love their pork sandwiches. I never eat the bun, I just eat the pork, but they're yummy. My son got the kids's meal with a hamburger. He said he liked Pecos Bills fries better than 50s PTC. He got a chocolate pudding for dessert and I think I got the kids chocolate chip cookie. I also like that Pecos Bill has such a large amount of seating inside. Normally we like to sit outside there, but it was still so hot and sticky, but they had lots of choices inside.

After dinner we did a few rides before Spectromagic. We decided to take the railroad back to Main Street to see the parade from there and we got frozen lemonades at Westward Ho refreshments in Frontierland to take along with us. These were outstanding. So refreshing, I definitely recommend them.

 

[mcrabeck]

Really enjoying your reviews- It looks like you and your son had a great time! The Brownie Sundae at 50's PT looked fabulous!

 

[ChevyNat]

I'm so happy that you did a review on T-Rex, I have ADR there on my upcoming trip.... my DD loves Rainforest Cafe, and I told her that this time we will try the new T-Rex, so she will have fun there, can't wait to go!!!

Thank you!

 

[lauritagoddess]

I'm so happy that you did a review on T-Rex, I have ADR there on my upcoming trip.... my DD loves Rainforest Cafe, and I told her that this time we will try the new T-Rex, so she will have fun there, can't wait to go!!!

Thank you!

It really was alot of fun, I bet you'll all have a blast.

 

[lauritagoddess]

For breakfast, I went and got some food from the food court and we ate in the room, chocolate chip pancakes again and the kids Mickey waffles this time.

Today was our Crystal Palace lunch. We go to Crystal Palace every trip. Sometimes we go for breakfast, sometimes for lunch, but we always have a good time. This time my son wanted to go for lunch. I got an ADR for 11:30. We made our way over from Tomorrowland about 11:15 but had trouble getting over there because of the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It show. They wouldn't let us cross through Main Street. By the time we got through we were so hot and sweaty and there were masses of people at Crystal Palace. There was a long line to wait to check-in, but it wasn't clear at first where to go and was very disorganized. There were tons of people waiting outside. One of the CMs explained that between breakfast and lunch, that there was a distinction between the ADR times and that that we had come at the time they were starting all the lunch ADRs. I'd never heard of this or experienced this before. And it was so hot. They had actually set up water jugs outside with cups for people. (See hot, sweaty child)

It was about 10-15 minutes before we were called. When I'd checked in, they'd asked if we had a celebration and I'd mentioned my son's birthday. When we got to the table, they had decorated it.

Pooh was already out when we got there and came over right away, and Eeyore came shortly after, before our server even came over to ask us about drinks.

After that we went up to the buffet. My son didn't get much, some kid's chicken nuggets, pizza, a slice of pork roast and a roll. I got the pork roast, some salmon, spoon bread, ratatouille, mashed potatoes, rice and something else I don't remember. Honestly, the food wasn't that good. I was really surprised since I've always thought the food was really good there. Everything was just very strangely spiced, I seem to recall alot of curry and/or chili spicing. Not that that's bad, but nothing seemed to be spiced correctly, if you kwim? Strangely my son who usually likes everything plain liked the pork roast even with the spicing. The only thing that I really liked was the ratatouille

After that Piglet and Tigger came around.

And then we went to get dessert. I wish I could say things got better with dessert, but they didn't. My son was disappointed that they didn't have any chocolate chip cookies since he remembered them having them at lunch. We got some little brownies and a chocolate trifle cake. The brownies and trifle were just okay.

At this point I really just wanted to get the check and go but I didn't see our server anywhere and it was really busy. But at that point our kind of disappointing lunch was redeemed when our server came out with a cupcake for my son and a card signed by all the Pooh characters. He was just so excited.

I'm not sure how to rate this lunch. The character interaction was very good, Pooh even came around a second time while we were waiting for the check. The decoration of the table, the cupcake and card were really nice surprises. But then there was the food just wasn't that good and the craziness of the check-in and the slowness of our server (after the cupcake it still took a really long time to get the check paid). We'll definitely go back, but I think next time it will be for breakfast instead of lunch.

 

[SPOERLX3]

Your experience at Crystal Palace sounds like our last trip. We have always loved CP but last time we were there for dinner, we had a horrible check in experience and the food was just not good. We also ate there for breakfast and it was great. I think we will stick to CP for breakfast from now on.

Oh yeah, your son is a living doll! Or should I say sooooo handsome.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Thanks for the excellent reviews! Your son is such a cutie pit.

Pot roast is my favorite too at 50's. Sorry yours didn't turn out as good as usual. We usually get the milkshakes there with our dessert credit to go since we are so full and they make the greatest milkshakes.

We were going to try CP for lunch or dinner instead of breakfast next trip, but now I'm not so sure. Breakfast is so good I hate to mess with a sure thing. I agree about the check-in process there. It definitely needs more organization.

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[shebjo]

lauritagoddess - Really like your reviews. I am in NYC too. Anyway, me and family (DH and twin 7 year old daughters) are going to Disney World at end of August ... but will first spend 1 night/2 days at the Nick Hotel. Can you give me a review of your experience at the Nick?

 

[Steph9072]

Your sons face is priceless and adorable when he is holding up his cupcake. Thank you for sharing.

 

[lauritagoddess]

lauritagoddess - Really like your reviews. I am in NYC too. Anyway, me and family (DH and twin 7 year old daughters) are going to Disney World at end of August ... but will first spend 1 night/2 days at the Nick Hotel. Can you give me a review of your experience at the Nick?

If you have a child who likes Nickeolodeon, they'll be in heaven. We did the same as you, 1 night/2 days, but were able to fit in alot. The pool is really nice. The slides are a ton of fun for the kids, and the pool itself is a nice zero grade entry and never seemed too crowded since the slides siphon off alot of the kids from the swimming area. We spent alot of time both days in the pool. We did the character breakfast, where we met Spongebob, Patrick, Cosmo, Wanda and Dora. They also did a song and dance, and the food was actually pretty decent. In the mall area, we also met Patrick twice, Boot and Blue. They have a Spongebob birthday party for any kids whose birthday is within 30 days. Spongebob danced to the song "The Best Day Ever" and you get to take a picture with Spongebob and have cupcakes. There's a game show in the evenings which was fun. Twice a day they do mass slimings in the pool area. There's a 4D movie area. There's a workshop where kids can make things, and my son got a tie-dye Nick t-shirt. It was a nice way to start off our trip and I know my son would have liked to have stayed longer, but a day or two I think would be more than enough.

From the character breakfast -

 

[lauritagoddess]

Oh yeah, your son is a living doll! Or should I say sooooo handsome.

Your sons face is priceless and adorable when he is holding up his cupcake. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks!

 

[lauritagoddess]

After Crystal Palace, we used our fastpasse for Buzz Lightyear and then went back to the resort, it was just too hot and took a nap and played in the pool. We decided to go to Epcot for dinner. Normally we're early dinner eaters, but we woke up late from the nap and it was already late when we got to Epcot. Add to that the fact that it was still uber-hot in the evening, we just weren't that hungry. My son said he wanted to get a pretzel in Germany, but I couldn't see trekking halfway around the World Showcase just to get a pretzel. We made our way playing a little through Future World and eventually wound up in the UK at the fish and chip shop. I got one order for the both of us, and a diet Coke for me and lemonade for my son. I would have loved a place to sit indoors, then just a place to sit. We start eyeing the tables near the lagoon but of course they were all full. There was one table with a couple with a baby who looked like they might be finishing up so I stopped and asked them if they were done. They said they weren't but took pity on us and said we could share their table. The fish and chips were very good. I would definitely like to go back there another time. My son agreed, although he mostly picked the batter off the fish, but did eat some of the fish and some chips.

We made our way back towards Mexico and stopped and got a frozen lemonade and diet Coke float from a stand. We had had those fabulous frozen lemonades at Magic Kingdom the night before, but this one tasted like Mountain Dew. The float also somehow didn't seem to come together, but it was still refreshing.

My son drank barely any of the lemonade so later on our way out of Epcot he asked for something else cool and I got him another Itzakadoozie, which is alway a hit. When we were in WDW in January last year, the CM who we were getting an Itzakadoozie from one time gave it to him for free and I think he keeps thinking that it's going to happen again.

 

[wilma-bride]

I love the fish and chips at Epcot

 

[poegirl30]

Love your review!

 

[MAD on Disney]

Good reviews so far. I paid particular attention to your Crystal Palace experience, because we are considering it for an early dinner. We have been there for breakfast on sevaral occassions, and found it to be quite enjoyable (though the check-in area is always confusing), but have never been there for lunch or dinner. We are deciding between dinner there, or at 1900 Park Fare, so I look forward to your review of that place as well.

 

[lauritagoddess]

We started off with breakfast in the food court again. Apparently now for 1 counter service credit, you can get two bakery items and two drinks. It's probably not the most effective use of credits in terms of $$, but I used one to get us two cinnamon rolls, a full-size Nesquik and orange juice.

Alert - today was our Universal Studios day. Yes, we ventured off of Disney property, lol. We've never been to Universal before and I was really nervous since we were taking Mears to get there (I get nervous when I have to figure out transportation options) but everything worked out fine. It was another hot, hot day. We started to wilt around 12:00 and stopped for lunch. We happened to be near Mel's Drive-In, you know from American Graffiti, which was very cool from the outside.

Unfortunately, it was super crowded on the inside. Universal has a meal deal where you can pay $19.99 you get a wristband and can eat all you can eat for the day at 3 participating restaurants in the park. Apparently, Mel's was one of them so it was packed, especially with what looked like school/camp groups with all the kids getting the wristbands. And not only were the lines long, but the cashier would take the order and then look over at the area where you collected your food and wait awhile before taking another order. I couldn't figure out what was going on until after I'd ordered and realized that it was pandemonium at the food collection area and the cashiers were trying to prevent too many people from overwhelming the place. We could have looked for somewhere else, but it was so hot, and we were happy to be in air conditiioning.

And then we got the food, and it was really good. For some reason I'd decided to order a burger. With the exception of SciFi's burgers, I normally avoid burgers on vacation. I've had really bad luck with burgers at the parks or in the food courts. But I was just in the mood for one. And it was surprisingly good. And I got a chocolate shake with oreos in it that both my son and I agreed was excellent. My son got the chicken tenders kids meal, and his meal also came with a chocolate chip cookie. All in all, we were pleasantly surprised.

I think that was all we ate at Universal. I'm trying to remember if we had any snacks, but I can't recall and I don't see any in any of our pics.

 

[lauritagoddess]

After our Universal day, we had a reservation for dinner at Chef Mickeys. It took us forever to get there. I have a thing about being on time for things and if I feel like I'm running late it drives me nuts. We were going to take the bus to Magic Kingdom and then the monorail to the Contemporary. We waited and waited for a bus to Magic Kingdom and none came. Buses for all the other parks were coming and going, but not MK. Finally we just decided to take a bus to Epcot. We grabbed the monorail at Epcot to the TTC and I'd forgotten that the monorail runs so that the Contemporary would be our last stop. We wound up being about 10 minutes late for our ADR, I just hate that. I said to my son, if someone asks we can always pretend we thought the ADR was at 5:30 instead of 5:20. So we go up to the podium to check in and my son immediately says "We're 10 minutes late for our reservation". You can never get away with anything with kids, they'll rat you out every time, lol. But it wasn't a big deal. They gave us the pager but I think we waited maybe 2 minutes before it went off and we were seated.

We started off with some peel and eat shrimp that we shared. I got some bread and we got some little muffins.

While we were eating the shrimp, Pluto and Donald came around.

We always love Chef Mickeys, but after our not so great food at Crystal Palace I was a little wary. I shouldn't have been, everything was great. Really, the food was just wonderful.

My son only got some chicken nuggets and some short ribs, but he made short work of his plate. I also got the short ribs which were very good, and got roast beef, turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, baked beans and some string beans with potatoes. Everything was excellent.

While we were eating Mickey and then Minnie came to our table. My son has always loved Minnie and was very happy when she "kissed" him on his head.

We went up for dessert after that. My son got some soft-serve ice cream in a cone and I got us some plates with brownies, a chocolate chip cookie, those little oreo mousse things with the Mickey ears and a rice krispie square. Brownies were great, the cookie was very good, the oreo mousse things excellent.

Overall, a really great meal at Chef Mickeys. I usually like breakfast there a little better, but this was probably one of the best meals we've had there. I highly recommend Chef Mickeys.

Edited to add - Goofy was also there. When we were first being seated Goofy was just making his way out of the section we were in and he never did make it back over by the time we were finished. I asked my son if he wanted to wait for Goofy to come back around again, but he didn't.