ADRs? We Don't Need No Stinking ADRs - A Sept '14 Dining Report - THAT'S A WRAP 3/5

[kastoney]

Sounds exciting. No ADR's! I may be doing this next vacation.

As long as you stay flexible, it works great. We'll see if I can convince you to join the no ADR dark side.

I can tell by your style of writing, that I'm going to love it already! Can't wait!

Ahh shucks, thanks! Hope you enjoy.

I will be turning 40 in Disney in 17 days!!!! I am very much looking forward to your reviews & sarcasm

Woohoo, Happy Birthday!!!! 1974 in the house. Read the other day that other notable items turning 40 this year are Saturday Night Live, Happy Days, and Posh Spice. Thankfully only 2 of the 3 make me feel old

Im excited to hear about your trip/food adventures.

Thanks for joining in on what I hope will be a worthwhile adventure.

 

[kastoney]

Ok, I'm just gonna get day one out of the way now because from a food perspective it is weak...weak I say.

The day started innocent enough, day off from work, dropped my daughter off at preschool, came home, showered, dogs barked, dogs still barked, more barking, I check, and find a woman standing in my living room. Yes ladies and gentleman, I soaking wet barely covered by a towel encountered our dog sitter. Apparently I'd set up their arrival for morning instead of evening. Oops, but not to worry it only cost me $20 to give her a great "you won't believe what I saw at work story"

After that beginning the day was due to get better. I picked up Casey from school, stopped at subway for some quick lunch, and arrived home to find this....

One of dogs got into the suitcase, ate a bag of cough drops, 1 magic band, bandaids, chewed on an inhaler, and ate at least 20 vitamins. Strangely sans the vitamins this is "normal" in our house with a 170 lb eating machine packaged as a dog, but the vitamins were a new one. After a quick call to the vet, we confirmed the vitamins were iron free and not a true health hazard, but likely to cause some issues coming out the other end. Yep, dog sitter is so gonna love me even more.

Jason finally got home from work around 2 and after a quick trip to the airport courtesy of my Dad we were finally on our way to the Arendelle, I mean Disney World.

Flight was rather uneventful (thank you iPAD) other than Casey asking me if she could get drunk on the plane. Yes, my 3 year old wanted to get drunk...on...the....plane. And before any calls to CPS, in my defense we're a family of country music fans and there is a song out now called getting drunk on the plane. Really there is, I promise. Dierks Bentley, look it up.

So after no one got drunk on the plane, we hopped on the DME and after a quick stop at the Grand Floridian we were off to Wilderness Lodge. Wait, hold that thought, not off yet because the gate to let us out of GF wasn't working. Easy fix right??? Nope, 25 minutes later the security patrol (aka Barney Fife and Goober) finally figured out how to manually open the gate and then we were finally at our hotel (or the show and tell as Casey kept calling it).

In honor of my birthday, I thought I deserved to see how the club level lived so we were greeted at the bus and whisked up to The Old Faithful Lounge to check in. After a smooth check-in and a tour around the lounge area (and perhaps a quick beer), we were taken to our room on the 5th floor. Side note, every hotel check in should be done with beer. Just a suggestion. Here's a couple of quick pics.


We were in a club level deluxe room, which meant we had a separate living and bedroom area. After our first trip to disney with Casey when Jason and I had to lay in the dark for her nap time, we decided a separate bedroom was the only way to go. Wilderness lodge did not disappoint and this room was perfect in every way.

It was dessert time up in the lounge and despite my pleas that was an acceptable dinner for our daughter, Jason made us go down to Roaring Fork to grab some grub. Despite the small space, they had an efficient ordering system and before too long we were back upstairs with our first Disney meal of the trip. Jason had the Grilled Northwest Chicken Sandwich with Canadian Bacon, Wilderness Sauce, and Cheddar and a side of fries.

The fries were nice and crispy, but the sandwich nothing special. The chicken was dry and the wilderness sauce was....wait for it, wait for it.....barbecue sauce. Apparently bbq in a wilderness lodge suddenly becomes wilderness in nature. Not sure what I was expecting perhaps some maple or pine or even a nice bear flavor, but bbq it was.

Casey and I shared the tomato basil flatbread

While it doesn't look very big in the picture it was a good size and plenty for us to share. The tomatoes were nice and fresh, but the crust was a bit soggy. It also would have been better with fresh mozzarella and perhaps some balsamic.

After a rather unsatisfying first meal and Jason admitting I was right and we should have just stuck to the free club level offerings, we put Casey to bed in her clothes (because her mother of the year forgot to pack pjs in our carryon and the bags hadn't arrived yet) and I headed up to the club level right at ten to see what our options were. They were packing things up so I grabbed a couple of magic bars and the last of a bottle of wine and went back to the room where we indulged a bit before the luggage finally arrived and we could finally head to bed.


So light on food, but heavy on being caught in a towel by a stranger, nearly having to forgo disney for an emergency vet, and of course getting drunk on a plane. So hang in there, the good stuffs coming...

 

[jedijill]

Wow, you had a heck of a start to your day! I'm still about your 3yo wanting to get drunk on the plane! You have to tell that story at her wedding.

Yay for club level! Someday!

Jill in CO

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

I'm imagining you showing up to guest services and saying "my dog ate my magic band!"and the person just being like "yep, that's everyone's excuse." LOL

 

[smiths02]

Great start!

Your daughter is precious.

My DS at age 5 announced that he couldn't wait to be 16 so he could have a drink. And there is no song to explain my parenting. It turns out that he meant Coca-Cola. We rarely do soft drinks, and I had never allowed him caffeinated soft drinks and kept telling him he could when he got older. (BTW, he didn't have to wait until age 16, we went to World of Coke when he was 6, and it was like a trip to Disney, he was so excited )

 

[Twindisneykids]

love it! Can't wait to read more

 

[vettegirl]

I totally agree every hotel check in should start out with a beer How exciting to be staying CL! I tried to get the WL for the first week in Dec but no rooms so were are going back to BC CL, things could be worse right

 

[OasterP]

What a start!?!?! And did I read that right....170 lb DOG? That's a horse. Well maybe not quite, but that is one BIG dog.

I laughed so hard at your daughter on the plane. oops! Must be a kid thing because my son insisted on announcing (loudly) when we were landing at home that we were definitely going to land in the water (we did not), and when they change the air or whatever in the units on the plane and it's all smoky he was all....UH oh...the plane is on fire! Luckily nobody believed him and the pilot interjected some humor by saying that he was assuring everyone a relaxing flight and that it was sleeping gas. Good times.

So jealous you got to stay CL. I just decided I think that's what I'm asking for when I turn 40 - I want to stay CL at Disney somewhere. We better start saving now - I only have five years!

 

[Elevationist]

Okay, I'm going to LOVE this report. Your writing style is thoroughly entertaining.

When I saw the picture of the mess on your floor, my first thought was "OH GOD WHAT DID THE DOG EAT!" Can you tell I've been in your situation before? I was very relieved to hear that he was okay!

I love Magic Cookie Bars! I hope someday I get to live the Club Level life!

 

[buckeev]

170lbs? Did the "Dawg" sitter ask for proof of home owners liability insurance?!

 

[Kari0180]

Loving your report so far, we're staying at Wilderness Lodge in January (although I couldn't get my husband to spring for Club level), can't wait to read about your dining adventures!!

 

[kastoney]

Great start!

Your daughter is precious.

My DS at age 5 announced that he couldn't wait to be 16 so he could have a drink. And there is no song to explain my parenting. It turns out that he meant Coca-Cola. We rarely do soft drinks, and I had never allowed him caffeinated soft drinks and kept telling him he could when he got older. (BTW, he didn't have to wait until age 16, we went to World of Coke when he was 6, and it was like a trip to Disney, he was so excited )

Thanks. We think she's pretty darn precious too, but clearly I'm a bit biased.

Love your child drinking story too. Ah to be young and innocent. At least your son said drink and not "coke", that could have been really bad

love it! Can't wait to read more

Thanks for following along!

Wow, you had a heck of a start to your day! I'm still about your 3yo wanting to get drunk on the plane! You have to tell that story at her wedding.

Yay for club level! Someday!

Yes definitely quite the start. Strangely we'd gone to the beach in August and right before we left the dog ate my daughters entire bag of snacks, wrappers and all, for the week, sans the apple (too nutritious I guess). You'd think I'd learn my lesson somewhere along the way.

Will definitely be telling her drunk on the plane story for a while. Clearly she is not what Dierks Bentley had intended ; )

I'm imagining you showing up to guest services and saying "my dog ate my magic band!"and the person just being like "yep, that's everyone's excuse." LOL

This dog has eaten so much over his almost 7 years its just common place in our house. Good news was we were literally swimming in magic bands (we had accumulated 8 each after previous visits and them just randomly showing up at the house) so losing one wasn't a biggie. My hubby suggested taking the dog along and scanning him in to see if the magic band still worked.

I totally agree every hotel check in should start out with a beer How exciting to be staying CL! I tried to get the WL for the first week in Dec but no rooms so were are going back to BC CL, things could be worse right

Yes beer at check in would be awesome. Apparently my idea isn't catching on yet though, or at least the hotel we were staying at in Dallas a few weeks ago didn't get the message yet.

Club level was a wonderful thing. We have no plans to do it again anytime soon, but in this case it was only $8 more a night then a one bedroom villa @ WL so it made cents. Don't think they bargained on my love of wine though ; )

Enjoy your stay at BC. From what I read all club level's are created equal.

 

[kastoney]

Loving your report so far, we're staying at Wilderness Lodge in January (although I couldn't get my husband to spring for Club level), can't wait to read about your dining adventures!!

Hello fellow Kari! Thanks for reading along. You will so love Wilderness Lodge, it is done so well and all the cast members really went out of their way to make it special for us. Club level or not, we've definitely found our disney home.

What a start!?!?! And did I read that right....170 lb DOG? That's a horse. Well maybe not quite, but that is one BIG dog.

I laughed so hard at your daughter on the plane. oops! Must be a kid thing because my son insisted on announcing (loudly) when we were landing at home that we were definitely going to land in the water (we did not), and when they change the air or whatever in the units on the plane and it's all smoky he was all....UH oh...the plane is on fire! Luckily nobody believed him and the pilot interjected some humor by saying that he was assuring everyone a relaxing flight and that it was sleeping gas. Good times.

So jealous you got to stay CL. I just decided I think that's what I'm asking for when I turn 40 - I want to stay CL at Disney somewhere. We better start saving now - I only have five years!

Kids do say the darndest things don't they. I didn't really understand that till I had my own. Your son's story cracked me up. At least if the plane was on fire you were going to land in the water.

Club level is definitely an indulgence I'm glad we got to enjoy. In our case we got an annual pass discount so it wasn't too much more than a one bedroom. Definitely save up and splurge though and when you do milk it for all its worth. The club level staff does not know the word no, which is a marvelous thing.

170lbs? Did the "Dawg" sitter ask for proof of home owners liability insurance?!

Meet Duval, the world's dumbest and fattest dog.

Good news is despite his size he's only a liability to himself and his intestinal track. Oh yeah, now is where I also tell you that he is only one of the two we have - though the other is a spry 110 lbs.

Okay, I'm going to LOVE this report. Your writing style is thoroughly entertaining.

When I saw the picture of the mess on your floor, my first thought was "OH GOD WHAT DID THE DOG EAT!" Can you tell I've been in your situation before? I was very relieved to hear that he was okay!

I love Magic Cookie Bars! I hope someday I get to live the Club Level life!

Thank you very much. The dog brings oh so much "joy" to our lives. He eats so many odd things it's more of a norm than an oddity for us these days. Lord help ya if you can relate. Hopefully yours has the iron stomach that ours does.

The magic bars were yummy, but wait till day 2 and we discover their cobbler. Pure bliss. Fingers crossed for club level for ya. It's definitely worth a one time indulgence.

 

[kastoney]

I awoke early the next morning ready to git the Magic Kingdom, but my tired traveling companions had a different idea. So while they slept I got ready (yeah separate bedroom) and invaded the club level offerings. Breakfast in the Old Faithful Club is nothing to write home about and standard continental breakfast fair, which didn't change from day to day. They had oatmeal with "toppings" such as raisins and brown sugar, as well as collection of cold cereals, and fresh fruit daily (usually pineapple, cantaloupe, grapes, honeydew, apples, and bananas).


They also had mini muffins (blueberry and chocolate), as well as bagels, croissants, and mini cinnamon rolls. Inventive stuff huh?

Beverages were the usual, OJ, coffee, milk, apple juice, etc. They did have an espresso machine, which was a nice touch. I only used it once though as there was usually a line and despite finding it easy myself seemed to present a challenge to others. So nothing magical or disney, but "free" so no complaints.

So this first morning I grabbed some snacks for all of us and headed downstairs for the sleepyheads to awake. Meanwhile I enjoyed sitting on the balcony with my coffee and snacks and listening to the sounds of the waterfall (our room was right over it) and the beautiful pool construction ; )

Eventually everyone was up and at em and to Magic Kingdom we went. Our first ride was Casey's favorite - the Goofy roller coaster - aka the worlds shortest roller coaster.


From there we met a few princesses and a duck and a mouse....


...before we headed off to the worlds second shortest roller coaster - The Mine Train. While I thought the theming was good, for a ride that was based on an old movie so technically 70+ years in the making - I expected more. On the brighter side Casey loved it and as soon as we got off she asked if she could ride Big Thunder Mountain. So off we went....


This was her first time being big enough for the 40 inch rides and as soon as we got off she asked if she could ride it forever. Oh and in case it's not evident from her riding partner, Casey is a huge Daddy's girl so I was relegated to a photopass photographer most of the time. With the 40 inch flood gates now open, what better than to head over for the biggest splash in the old west before some much needed lunch.

We headed over to an oldie, but goodie - Columbia Harbor House. I fought off every urge in my body to get the greasy but oh so good fish (I wouldn't be so successful later in the week) and opted for the healthier option - the lighthouse sandwich for Casey and I to share. This is hummus, tomato, and broccoli slaw on toasted multigrain bread served with potato chips. Jason followed suit so only 1 food porn pic


Healthier of course sans the potato chips and I'm sure fat free mayo in the slaw. I try to eat better during the day in Disney so I can splurge at night. I tell myself this is so I leave the size of a manatee vice a beached whale.

If you've never had the sandwich it's huge and a pretty close second to the fish. While ours could have used some more hummus and a little less slaw, the flavors blend together wonderfully and have an added zip from some garlic. The crust on the multigrain bread is a little chewy, but the bread holds up to the toppings well. And while decidedly unhealthy the potato chips are "homemade" which I like to tell myself somehow makes them a good option.

That's where I'll leave it today. Up next are the nighttime club level offerings and copious amounts of wine (holla).

 

[Couchy]

love the pic of your dog! so cute

 

[OasterP]

Hello fellow Kari! Thanks for reading along. You will so love Wilderness Lodge, it is done so well and all the cast members really went out of their way to make it special for us. Club level or not, we've definitely found our disney home.

Kids do say the darndest things don't they. I didn't really understand that till I had my own. Your son's story cracked me up. At least if the plane was on fire you were going to land in the water.

Club level is definitely an indulgence I'm glad we got to enjoy. In our case we got an annual pass discount so it wasn't too much more than a one bedroom. Definitely save up and splurge though and when you do milk it for all its worth. The club level staff does not know the word no, which is a marvelous thing.

Meet Duval, the world's dumbest and fattest dog.

Good news is despite his size he's only a liability to himself and his intestinal track. Oh yeah, now is where I also tell you that he is only one of the two we have - though the other is a spry 110 lbs.

Thank you very much. The dog brings oh so much "joy" to our lives. He eats so many odd things it's more of a norm than an oddity for us these days. Lord help ya if you can relate. Hopefully yours has the iron stomach that ours does.

The magic bars were yummy, but wait till day 2 and we discover their cobbler. Pure bliss. Fingers crossed for club level for ya. It's definitely worth a one time indulgence.

Oh he looks SO sweet!! Lol at the spry 110 lb dog! Big dogs are always so loving it seems.

OH I am so learning that he will say anything he wants when he wants! Sometimes I'm shocked. Actually a lot of the time.

I just told my husband to prepare for my 40th and club level....I got a look

 

[elphie101]

I'm in!! I'm loving your report so far.

I always consider the Lighthouse sandwich but somehow I always end up ordering the Anchors Away (I love it!!). Your picture has me wanting to reconsider on our next trip though.

 

[kastoney]

love the pic of your dog! so cute

Thanks! He's is cute, huge, but cute

Oh he looks SO sweet!! Lol at the spry 110 lb dog! Big dogs are always so loving it seems.

OH I am so learning that he will say anything he wants when he wants! Sometimes I'm shocked. Actually a lot of the time.

I just told my husband to prepare for my 40th and club level....I got a look

You will so totally love club level. Night time pics coming up....

I'm in!! I'm loving your report so far.

I always consider the Lighthouse sandwich but somehow I always end up ordering the Anchors Away (I love it!!). Your picture has me wanting to reconsider on our next trip though.

You should definitely try the sandwich. I haven't tried the anchors away, probably like you its hard to pull me away from the perennial favorite.

 

[kastoney]

We headed back to WL for the afternoon so Casey could nap and we could watch some football (and of course some club level snack offerings). Snacks in the lounge were the same everyday, potato chips, a wasabi snack mix, gummy bears, yogurt covered pretzels, cookies, and gold fish pretzels. While largely uninspired, it was FREE and had BEER. Let me say that again, FREE BEER. So needless to say we kicked back and enjoyed a few of these babies while watching our beloved Hokies lose. Of course the FREE BEER lessened the blow



After a marathon 2 hour nap from Casey, we elected to exploit club level for all it was worth and indulge in some dinner ala evening appetizers. This was far and away the best part of club level. For those that haven't stayed club level before, they have 2 main appetizers that rotate each day as well as a selection of cheese, charcuterie, bread, and some salads. So lets take a look at the Saturday offerings, shall we...


Chicken Corn Chowder - This was really good but an odd choice for a 90+ degree day in September. The chicken in it was moist and while you couldn't see the corn it had a pronounced flavor. I ate it more as a dip and enjoyed dunking some fresh sourdough bread in it.


Chicken Nuggets - This one was a big disappointment for me. I get they need to cater to kids, but found something you could get at just about every quick service in the park rather uninspired. You'll be shocked to know I elected to pass on this one, but Casey, who doesn't typically get these unless my parents sneak her to McDonalds without my knowledge, enjoyed.


Caprese Salad - I'm a sucker for fresh mozzarella so this was a winner for me. The tomatoes could have been fresher and it would have benefited from more balsamic, but it was good none the less.



Cheese & Charcuterie - Here's some snapshots of their nightly cheese and meat offerings. I could live off wine and cheese alone, so I was in heaven here.

After a plate or two of food (ok 3, but don't judge this was dinner) and some more of that delicious Hefeweizen, we headed over to MK for a few hours. Being a Saturday it was crowded, so we stuck to some of the less popular attractions (magic carpets, tiki room, and swiss family robinson tree house anyone) and enjoyed a new treat for us - the citrus swirl.


This was good and plentiful for all of us to share, but (apologies to all your diehard swirl lovers) didn't hold a candle to the dole whip. Next time I'll make sure I remember the dole whip line is long for a reason

It was getting close to electrical parade/fireworks time which we wanted to avoid so we made a quick exit through the stores and Casey and I went to visit Tink while Jason went to guest services to fix an issue with our TiW card (we'd bought it in January of 2014 and realized as we were leaving for this trip they made the expiration date Feb 2014 vice 2015, oops)



So after our quick fairy shrinking and a surprisingly easy visit to guest services, we took the boat back to WL and enjoyed the electric water parade on the way. We didn't have a plan of attack for the next day but Casey requested Ep-A-Cot (as she says it) not for her beloved figment or test track or the train in Germany - but because...wait for it...wait for it....she loves big balls. I took this to mean spaceship earth, but her love of big balls hilarious none the less.

We got Casey to bed and headed up for what would become our nightly tradition - cobbler and wine on the balcony.


Tonight they had peach and strawberry, which was amazing. The peaches and strawberries were huge and I forgot just how good warm strawberries can be. The cobbler topping was crisp and uber buttery, but was still a little uncooked where it met the fruit - which for a girl who'd rather eat the batter or dough than the completed product was the best part.


We washed all this down with some surprisingly decent wine. Thanks to a great tip from a club level cast member - thank you Jennifer from Puerto Rico - we took this down to the room in to-go coffee cups, which allowed for not only a no spill option - but held much more wine than the small wine glasses (which we just carried down to the room empty). We affectionately called this method our poly-styrofoam decanter. Very fancy indeed.

I'll leave it there for today. Up next, we have big balls, as well as our first two day of ADR's of the trip. Hint one is in the same park as the big balls and the other has more of a jungle feel.

 

[Elevationist]

She likes big balls and she cannot lie!
You other DISers can't deny!
When a bus pulls up
To the Ep-A-Cot place
With a big ball in your face
It's much FUN!

...That's all I got.

That cobbler looks insanely delicious! YUM! And this free wine & beer thing is making Club Level seem better and better. I could easily eat & drink enough to make the extra cost worth it!

I love Columbia Harbor House. My favorite is the Lobster Roll. Deeeeeelicious!