Birthdays. Back Pain. Battlestar Galactica. - Our May 2024 WDW Adventure! *THE END! 09/01*

[Newsies]

Day 1, Part 1:
Hollywood, Here We Come!​

Our day started at 4:00 in the morning. We all took turns very quickly getting dressed and ready for our big day ahead, then we loaded dad's truck back up and started heading south again. By 4:45, we were in Florida! We stopped one last time at the Jacksonville Buc-ees for some coffee and then it was time for us to complete our final leg of the journey! With no traffic and no more stops, we were at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort by 7:45!

As dad unloaded the truck with a friendly bellhop, mom and I made our way to the check-in desk to complete our check-in process. We had a really friendly CM check us in, and when he heard I was celebrating a birthday, he went backstage to get one of his coworkers "with nice handwriting" to write out this button for me!

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I joined the walk-up list at Kona Cafe pretty quickly once we arrived, and we were called back to the podium almost immediately after being quoted a 15 minute wait. We all had to use the bathroom and I had to put my contacts in, so after a quick detour, we went up to the Kona Cafe podium to be checked in for breakfast.

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Yeah... I will NEVER get sick of these lanterns. It just felt wildly amazing to be back in this lobby. I have a love/hate relationship with the Poly, but how can you hate this lobby???

We were seated at a table near Kona Island and a friendly waitress came along to take our orders. Service was slooooow this morning. On one hand, we didn't have Genie+ so we really didn't have anywhere we needed to be, but on the other hand... I wanted to be at Hollywood Studios!

To drink, I had a cup of the Lilikoi (POG) Juice. I know they changed vendors for POG juice sometime after the pandemic when Minute Maid (correct me if I'm wrong) discontinued their version of this juice. I found that the current POG juice is a lot thicker than what it used to be and just a touch sweeter.

For my entree, I ventured out of my comfort zone and ordered the Loco Moco (and a side of fruit). The Loco Moco is basically a scoop of rice topped with sausage gravy, eggs, and just a touch of pico de gallo.

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I have to say -- this was a letdown There was a little bit of brightness and crunch from the pico de gallo, but otherwise, it was very bland, dry, and needed a lot of tabasco to give it any type of flavor. In years past, I would have sprung for the Tonga Toast or the seasonal Red Velvet pancakes, but those of you who followed my PTR know that back in March I started taking a new medication that has impacted my lifestyle habits and my general appetite/tastes, so I don't really want or eat sweets in the morning anymore like I used to. I ended up really wishing I had gotten what mom and grace got, it was a bounty platter of some sort that had eggs, bacon, sausage, a biscuit, potatoes -- it looked really good!

The fruit was lovely.

After waiting quite some time for the check, we went downstairs to Boutiki so Grace could get a new Magicband, and then we headed to the bus stop. It was no time at all before a Hollywood Studios bus pulled up and we ended up in the gates about half an hour after park opening!

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I was sooooo giddy to see the Crossroads of the World! I think I literally jumped up and down and spun in a big circle

Our original plan was to hit up Tower of Terror first, but when we got there, the wait time jumped from 20 minutes to 40 minutes and a CM was spieling that one of the elevator banks was down, so wait times would be longer than anticipated. Nope! We turned back and made our way back towards the center of the park to get in line for MMRR.

While we were heading towards MMRR, mom spotted two of her favorite characters -- Chip and Dale! The line was short, so we hopped in to meet them. About 3 families in, they had to go check on some acorns, so I ended up talking to one of their Character Attendants for a bit. She was on her College Program, so we reminisced about some of our shared memories from the program.

Then they came back and they were too much fun!

Big hugs all around!

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We told them, of course, that we had just arrived and they were the first chipmunks we met!

Then Dale pointed to the little daisy hooked into my bag. I said "Yes! Daisy! We're off to the Runaway Railway and she's going to teach us how to dance!" So of course, Dale showed us how it was done and we all did our best ballet twirls:

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Finally, it was time for a big group picture:

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As always, the chipmunks were tons of fun and we LOVE meeting them! After making several promises to go get popcorn together later, it was time for us to regroup with dad (who had kindly gotten some water bottles for us) and start heading towards our first ride of the trip: Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway!

(Off to my cousin's baby shower... will pick up the rest of our morning at DHS once I'm home this afternoon!)

Click here to continue​

 

[Newsies]

Eeeeee!!! I have missed your TRs

So excited to follow along. We were at BWV May 19-24, and it was a great week for a WDW trip!

ALI! It is SO GOOD to see and hear from you again!

I hope you had an absolutely magical time at BWV -- it was truly such a great week in the parks, the weather and crowds weren't unbearable and we had such fun! And we had such a big overlap -- maybe we walked past at some point and we didn't even realize it

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

ALI! It is SO GOOD to see and hear from you again!

I hope you had an absolutely magical time at BWV -- it was truly such a great week in the parks, the weather and crowds weren't unbearable and we had such fun! And we had such a big overlap -- maybe we walked past at some point and we didn't even realize it

Hi Kait!!! The weather truly was amazing, crowds were manageable… such a good time. So much so that I’m thinking about a quick solo trip the end of July before my AP expires My DH is a little Disney’d out, but I wanna see Tiana!

This was out general plan from May, so I’m sure there was a little overlap!

5/19
PM Epcot

5/20
AM Hollywood Studios
PM Epcot

5/21
AM Magic Kingdom
PM Hollywood Studios

5/22
AM Animal Kingdom
PM Magic Kingdom

5/23
AM Epcot
PM Disney Springs

 

[Newsies]

Hi Kait!!! The weather truly was amazing, crowds were manageable… such a good time. So much so that I’m thinking about a quick solo trip the end of July before my AP expires My DH is a little Disney’d out, but I wanna see Tiana!

That sounds like an AMAZING plan! I def think you need a solo trip and to see TBA before your AP expires! I couldn't help myself and watched the POV Disney posted today ... it looks incredible and I can't wait to ride it as many times as possible this September!

This was out general plan from May, so I’m sure there was a little overlap!

5/19
PM Epcot

5/20
AM Hollywood Studios
PM Epcot

5/21
AM Magic Kingdom
PM Hollywood Studios

5/22
AM Animal Kingdom
PM Magic Kingdom

5/23
AM Epcot
PM Disney Springs

We could have crossed paths at Magic Kingdom waaaay late into the evening on 05/22 or at Disney Springs on 05/23!

 

[Newsies]

Day 1, Part 2:
MMRR, Muppets, and Our Last Round at Oga's
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We walked away from the chipmunks and immediately jumped in the 40 minute wait for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. We didn't get Genie+ for this day, anticipating that we would likely just have a bit of fun in Hollywood Studios before heading back to the room, and maybe head to Magic Kingdom after dinner.

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Nothing can stop us now! We waited about ~30 minutes before we were loaded into the pre-show room, then it was time to board our favorite train!

As we approached the pre-show room, we got the text that our room was ready. This was, I think, 10:15 or 10:30 in the morning. Ya'll, I was shocked. We have NEVER gotten a room ready text this early into our day.

After MMRR, we walked over to Muppets Courtyard, and I mobile ordered a snack that I was super curious about from PizzaRizzo. It was the Pizza Cookie, which I used my first DDP Snack Credit on! I LOVE that you can use mobile order with your DDP credits now.

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This was not bad at all! With these super-cute instagrammable snacks it can be 50/50 sometimes, but this one was pretty decent. I'm not the biggest white chocolate fan in the world, but the base and jam tasted like a pop-tart. I split this with dad and then we kept going.

We decided to pop into MuppetVision 3D for a show. We haven't done that in a hot second, and I almost forgot how funny it is.

The heat and crowds were starting to bother us at this point -- this ended up being the one day where a park really felt crowded, so we agreed we'd head to Star Wars land and chill before our Oga's Cantina reservation, which was about 45 minutes out, but we really didn't have anything else to do in the meantime.

Sidenote for anyone who read my PTR: I don't think I updated it to let you know we changed our Oga's ADR from Wednesday to Sunday... lol, whoops

We leisurely strolled over to the Oga's stand, where I asked if we could check in early, but no dice. We found a spot to sit in the shade and I grabbed some of the blue popcorn that I completely forgot the name of Blue Grains (remembered it mid-sentence) from Kat Saka's Kettle. It just tasted like normal popcorn and I forgot to take a photo of it.

So I went back to the family, sat down with my Blue Grains, and suddenly Grace tugged on my shirt and pointed towards the Millennium Falcon -- Rey had just appeared!

I ran over to say hi to her. She spoke to a small child or two, then she noticed me waiting to say hi and greeted me.

"Hi Rey!" I smiled. "What are you up to today?"

"Most of that is classified. But I am scavenging some parts. If you see any spare parts, will you let me know?" She asked.

"You know, I'm not gonna lie to you Rey, I'm probably not the best at scavenging. But I'll keep an eye out for you!" I gave her a thumbs up.

"Thank you." She nodded.

"Can we take a selfie? That's not classified, right?" I asked.

"No, that's not classified, we can take a selfie." She agreed.

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Then we said goodbye and she went on her way! And then I returned to my family, where I had 5 more minutes of waiting before I could even check in to Oga's.

So one thing I don't think the DIS knows about me yet is that I am not a fan of Oga's. My first visit in February 2020 was magical! I had a Blue Banthaa and I really enjoyed it and I stood at the bar in a cute little corner and it was my first time ever in Galaxy's Edge, so I was just in awe of everything. I was a really happy girl. I think I detailed this in the very short-lived Dining Report I tried to start for my veeeery short-lived 2020 DCP.

So in my DIS absence, I have visited Oga's Cantina 4 times, with this being my 5th. And each time we've gone to Oga's, my sentiment towards it has progressively gotten worse and worse. I've been very quiet about it because it's been one of my mom's favorite things to do in Walt Disney World, and she goes out of her way to ask for it every trip, so I oblige her and stay quiet because I really want her to enjoy her time here. But the alcoholic drinks have made me sick, I don't like the "sitting with other people" aspect of the tables, and in general, now that the novelty is gone, I find Oga's to be very overwhelming and overstimulating.

Long story short: I was hot, I was tired, I just wanted to get back to the hotel so we could unpack and swim in the pool for a little bit, and I still had to go to my least favorite place in WDW.

We got the "Table Ready" text about 10 minutes past what our ADR time was, and then we were escorted inside by a friendly host. We were at a table, which meant we were sharing with another family. This particular family had two young boys, one of which had a persistent, questionable cough, and the other spent the entire meal in a tense negotiation with his parents about buying some type of souvenir before the day was over.

Our waiter comes around and he is very lovely and takes our drink orders, I ask him if we could get our drinks, our Batuu Bits, and the check all at the same time, which he happily obliged. He also gave me a set of their cardboard drink coasters because I was wearing my birthday button, which was very sweet of him!

To drink, I got the T-16 Skyhopper. This was half-and-half, kiwi simple syrup, melon liquour, and vodka.

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Like I said earlier, the previous alcoholic beverages I had gotten from Oga's -- the Fuzzy Tauntaun and the Outer Rim -- both made me sick. For this reason, I originally planned on getting a Blue Bantha today so I would at least enjoy the cookie, but when I sat down at this table and heard the child sitting next to me hacking up his lungs, I thought, "No, I should probably get some alcohol to see if this does anything for my anxiety right now."

I then nearly immediately regretted my decision. When I ordered this drink, our waiter said, "it's very sweet, is that okay with you?" and I thought it meant I wouldn't taste any alcohol. Instead, I tasted only melon liquour and vodka. It was another cocktail that I knew would only make me sick, so I took a few slow sips of this before pushing it to the wayside.

The final biodegradable straw was the extremely sad basket of Batuu Bits we received this trip:

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During our first trip as a family, I was really impressed by these -- the dried veggies were fresh, crunchy, and salty. Everything in this basket was not only incredibly stale, but it was very obviously the bottom of the bag, with almost nothing but crumbs underneath those two lotus roots and the three-four good size chips at the top. And they removed my favorite part of the Batuu Bits, aka the flash fried seaweed chips. Womp-womp.

Nobody said anything in the moment, but as we debriefed in the car ride home from Disney last week, I was relieved to find out that I wasn't alone, and everyone else was less-than-impressed with Oga's this time around. All of my TRs have a harshly critical moment, and for this one, we're going to bang it out right here in the third chapter. Oga's, I am ending the toxic relationship my family has with you!

When we got out of Oga's, we made a beeline for the front of the Park so we could head back to the room and hit up the pool.

We (well, mom and I) had just made the last-second decision to add Memory Maker to our trip that morning while we were at Kona Cafe, so dad wanted to stop on our way out of the park for some family photos!

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We were all sweaty and tired and ready for a trip to the pool, so we were relieved to see a bus waiting for us when we got to the bus stop. I actually fell asleep on the bus it was shaping up to be that kind of arrival day!

Soon, we were pulling up to the Poly, and it was time for us to meet our home-away-from-home for the next week. DISboards, meet Pago Pago room 3122:

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We had a non-renovated studio in July 2021, so this was our first time staying in one of the renovated studios. The room was in fine shape, much better than our 2021 studio. I was excited to have a pull-down bed instead of a sofa bed, but, spoiler alert: I would quickly learn that the Murphy beds at the Poly weren't as nice as the Murphy beds at Riviera. Otherwise, it was a lovely room, and even though it was on the third floor, it was pretty close to the elevator.

It was also our first room with Hey Disney! I had a lot of fun ordering towels and bedding on Hey Disney! No complaints there.

We booked a "Standard View", and that was exactly what we got. Really, it wasn't a view at all. We had a big ol' tree right up against the building blocking the view of even the pathway below us or the longhouse across from us. Personally, I kind of appreciated the tree. It gave us some extra privacy, and we had a few cardinals visiting us throughout the week on the branches across from us, so I liked it.

Pago Pago was a blessing in disguise. When I first got our room assignment, my heart sank in my stomach thinking about how far we'd be from the Grand Ceremonial House, pools, boat launch, and even bus station. In reality, it was less than a five minute walk to the TTC, which made it super easy to get to Epcot and Magic Kingdom. AND! BONUS HACK! Pago Pago is actually its own designated drop-off/pick-up location for Lyft! We had a few Minnie Van trips this week and we LOVED how convenient it was to take a Minnie Van right from that building.

So all in all, I give our room a solid 7.5/10. It was nearly perfect except for how far it was from the other amenities of the resort and my mattress.

Up next: Dinner at 1900 Park Fare!

Click here to continue

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[hpygrll]

Following! I love your trip reports!

Agree on Oga's. I like to go if we're with people who have never been because it seems more magical and I like the Jet Juice - BUT I can easily pass.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Newsies]

Following! I love your trip reports!

Friend, thank you SO MUCH for joining in!

Agree on Oga's. I like to go if we're with people who have never been because it seems more magical and I like the Jet Juice - BUT I can easily pass.

100% agree, it's definitely the best to visit with first-timers! Visiting Galaxy's Edge for the first time was such an amazing experience, I loved being able to watch my family's reactions when they came to visit me on my program and saw it for the first time.

Can't wait to read more!

Can't wait to update again soon!

 

[alohamom]

In reality, it was less than a five minute walk to the TTC, which made it super easy to get to Epcot and Magic Kingdom. AND! BONUS HACK! Pago Pago is actually its own designated drop-off/pick-up location for Lyft! We had a few Minnie Van trips this week and we LOVED how convenient it was to take a Minnie Van right from that building.

Ohhh GREAT to know! Thanks for this tip...

 

[Newsies]

Ohhh GREAT to know! Thanks for this tip...

You are very welcome -- this was a game-changer for us!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Very good to know about the Loco Moco at the Poly!! Jake and I almost ate there for brunch on our trip, but pivoted to Summer House on the Lake. Jake definitely would have gotten the Loco Moco (he's obsessed with the ones in Hawaii) and I just KNOW he would have been disappointed with the one at Kona Cafe.

I'm not a huge fan of Oga's either! I'm not a big Star Wars fan to begin with, and it just seems always crowded and kind of over-rated. I'm so sorry that the drinks made you sick!! Both the drinks that I've had there I liked (Blue Bantha and Jedi Mind Trick), but we have never tried the food because, frankly, it is SO underwhelming. They have so much potential with the snacks and they just fall so flat!

 

[Newsies]

Very good to know about the Loco Moco at the Poly!! Jake and I almost ate there for brunch on our trip, but pivoted to Summer House on the Lake. Jake definitely would have gotten the Loco Moco (he's obsessed with the ones in Hawaii) and I just KNOW he would have been disappointed with the one at Kona Cafe.

It's so funny, I have absolutely never been to Hawaii and really don't know anything about Hawaiian cuisine -- but after three bites of this Loco Moco, I thought to myself, "this is probably not how they do it in Hawaii" This was our one and only visit to Kona Cafe on this trip, it has become pretty mid, so I'm sure you had a better meal at Summer House on the Lake -- can't wait to read about it!

I'm not a huge fan of Oga's either! I'm not a big Star Wars fan to begin with, and it just seems always crowded and kind of over-rated. I'm so sorry that the drinks made you sick!! Both the drinks that I've had there I liked (Blue Bantha and Jedi Mind Trick), but we have never tried the food because, frankly, it is SO underwhelming. They have so much potential with the snacks and they just fall so flat!

I'm so glad we're aligned on this! You're right -- the food is very underwhelming, and they refuse to do anything about it because they don't WANT people eating and taking up more time at the booths when they could be turning tables. It's so disappointing! Maybe things will change in a few years when the hype really dies down.

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

That sounds like an AMAZING plan! I def think you need a solo trip and to see TBA before your AP expires!

I booked my flight yesterday! Going July 28-31. I originally booked lake view studio at BLT, but for 6 points more managed to score a value 1br at AKL (Jambo). A 1 br all for meeeee

Oga's, I am ending the toxic relationship my family has with you!

Yeah… we first did Oga’s at DL and it was very cool! The subsequent times at WDW were okay and for the $$ I don’t anticipate us going back unless we’re with newbies.

DISboards, meet Pago Pago room 3122:

Gorgeous room!!! Definitely need to give the Poly a try in the future, we are just SUCH Epcot/ DHS folks that I end up stalking/waitlisting and we stay at BWV again!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I’m here, Kait, and excited to hear about your trip!

I looked for you and your family on our arrival day but didn’t spot you. I’m sorry we missed you!

That is a long drive - I’m glad you have landmarks and snacks to make it move along more quickly. I’m so glad you liked your room at the Poly - I thought our room there was SO nice (much nicer than the BCV) and loved the convenience and ambiance of the Poly. And yes, the Minnie Van pickup at Pago Pago was great - we used it, too!

 

[Newsies]

I booked my flight yesterday! Going July 28-31. I originally booked lake view studio at BLT, but for 6 points more managed to score a value 1br at AKL (Jambo). A 1 br all for meeeee

YAY!!! So happy you were able to work things out -- you'll have to tell me what's up at Jambo House before I get there two weeks later!!!

Yeah… we first did Oga’s at DL and it was very cool! The subsequent times at WDW were okay and for the $$ I don’t anticipate us going back unless we’re with newbies.

MTE. It was fun and funky and cool the first time we did it, but this is not one of those bars that you can go to over and over again and not get sick of it -- the novelty wears off fast and you're left with a menu that hasn't changed in ~5 years with 10 drink options and 2 snack options.

Gorgeous room!!! Definitely need to give the Poly a try in the future, we are just SUCH Epcot/ DHS folks that I end up stalking/waitlisting and we stay at BWV again!

We LOVE the Poly! But I need to get to an Epcot resort soon -- would love to stay at Beach Club or Boardwalk!

I’m here, Kait, and excited to hear about your trip!

JENNY! Soooo great to hear from you, I hope you had a magical trip and I can't wait to hear about yours!!!

I looked for you and your family on our arrival day but didn’t spot you. I’m sorry we missed you!

I looked for you, too! Sorry we missed each other!

That is a long drive - I’m glad you have landmarks and snacks to make it move along more quickly. I’m so glad you liked your room at the Poly - I thought our room there was SO nice (much nicer than the BCV) and loved the convenience and ambiance of the Poly. And yes, the Minnie Van pickup at Pago Pago was great - we used it, too!

It's a long drive but def worth it! The drive down is super fun now that we have Buc-ees to look forward to in the middle of the day!

The Poly was fabulous as always, and I was really impressed with our suite this time around -- so glad you felt the same way! The Pago Pago rideshare stop was literally my favorite hack of the trip!

 

[Newsies]

Day 1, Part 3:
Kait and Lottie La Bouff: The Podcast
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After Bell Services dropped off our luggage, we quickly unpacked and then had a few hours to spend at the pool. So we got changed real quick and headed over to the Lava Pool. I was so happy to be on vacation and at the Lava Pool that I went down the water slide for the first time! I don't think I've been down a proper water slide in, like, over a decade. We spent a little while swimming and talking, and then mom wanted to check out the hot tub. We got over there and I sat down, tilted my head back... and promptly fell asleep for 10 minutes.

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Yup! That's a first in a lifetime for me. Guess the early wake-up call + the heat + DHS crowds really got to me! I don't really think mom or Grace noticed until they decided they wanted to go back to the regular pool. So we went back to the mail pool, albeit a little bit sleepy, and after a few more minutes in there, we decide to dry off. Grace and I are both a little hungry at this point, so we use a DDP QS credit to share some chicken fingers and fries from Captain Cooks. They were great as always!

I volunteered to be the first one to go back to the room so I could shower first, and after my shower, I took a proper nap in my murphy bed. It was a pretty good nap and I got to rest up until it was time for us to leave for dinner, but I did wake up with a little bit of a headache -- which I guess is valid after such a long, weird day.

We walked over to the GCH and promptly got on a packed monorail to the Grand Floridian. We ended up at GF with really not much time to spare before our ADR, so I promptly checked in (this will become a frustrating theme on this trip, particularly towards the end). We ended up having a lot of time before we would actually be called to the host stand, so we got to spend a few minutes in the upstairs shops, particularly Basin and M. Mouse Mercantile.

Sidenote -- were any of you expecting the M. Mouse Mercantile closure? Because we weren't. Everything looked fine and totally operational on this Sunday evening, and then the next day, as the monorail zoomed into the GF station, everything was gutted! SO weird!

We eventually made our way downstairs, passing by this epic chocolate sculpture. I love that Disney is showcasing the pastry team's work year round now instead of just throughout Easter and the Holiday Season!

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We sat in some uncomfortable couches for a few minutes in front of 1900PF before finally, we were called to return to the host stand so we could be seated for dinner!

If you are unfamiliar with the current set up of 1900 Park Fare -- she is finally back from 3 years of being closed after the COVID-19 pandemic ceased park operations! She does look a little bit different, and as heartbreaking as this is to hear: she comes with a new cast of characters to meet. In the past, you would meet Alice/Mad Hatter/Mary Poppins/Pooh/Tigger at breakfast and Cinderella/Prince Charming/Step Sisters/Lady Tremaine at dinner. Both services now have the same characters, and at this "wish upon a star" themed meal, you can meet Aladdin, Tiana, Mirabel, and Cinderella on most days. We did have one substitution during our meal, and ended up meeting Snow White instead of Aladdin, which Grace and I were both kind of disappointed about, but these things happen.


Moving on to our experience, I don't remember the name of our waitress was but I remember she was very, very nice. The bar was super backed up this evening but she kept coming back to us to apologize for the delay in drinks, had a great conversation with us about NJ (she has family from there), and in general was very attentive and "around" for a buffet service. Hats off to her!

Before we could go up for our first plate, it was time to meet our first character of the evening, Tiana in her brand new bayou outfit!

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Meeting Tiana was a FANTASTIC experience. A delight. A privilege, even. This ranks in one of my top 10 all time Character Meet experiences. She was so kind and conversational and she spent so much time at our table. She started off by wishing me a happy birthday, and we got to talking about how excited we were for the Bayou Adventure and how dad was excited to try her gumbo, and that cooking for people was a wish come true for her, and then she asked me what my birthday wish was.

"You know... I actually don't think I have one." I confessed. She put me on the spot with that one! She had everyone else at our table go around and say what their wish was, and then came back to me, and I still didn't know what to tell her!

"You remind me of my friend Lottie. She has a different wish every day! She wishes for pink shoes, and a pink dress, and prince charmings, and now she has a wish to be a talkie!" Tiana explained, which I assume is a radio personality?

"Oh my gosh! That's my wish! To have a podcast with Lottie!" I gasped.

"What would ya'll talk about?" She asked.

"Honestly, we would talk about everything. The color pink. Fashion. Boys." I confidently told her.

"I'll tell Lottie you said that -- she'd love to be a talkie with you!" Tiana smiled before we took pictures.

Tiana would later come back to our table several times to ask dad how many bowls of gumbo he'd eaten. It was a great meet, certainly one of the most memorable I've ever had at a character dining location. I don't normally remember character meets like this, but we all had so much fun with her!

We had a break until Mirabel came along, so we went up for our first plate:

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Playing it safe, we got some Mac and Cheese, some tomato focaccia, some green beans, some prime rib with a bit of mashed potatoes, and at the top there is a dollop of the loaded baked potato salad. On this plate, there were two things I didn't care for -- the baked potato salad (too much sour cream) and the prime rib (the inside was fine, but it was crusted heavily in black pepper, which is one of my personal "icks"). I thought everything else was outstanding, especially the mac and cheese. The green beans were garlicky and not mushy at all. The focaccia was great. Mashed potatoes were a bit soupy but I kind of liked them like that -- very smooth.

Now, regretfully... I did not get to try the two dishes I wanted to try most, the curry chicken and Tiana's gumbo. Curry chicken was out when I made my first plate and I told myself I was going to go back for a bowl of the gumbo, but Grace ended up getting pretty anxious at this meal, so we had to wrap it up sooner rather than later and I ended up skipping the gumbo. Dad did try the gumbo and he loved it, so I will have to be back for it!

I took a few bites of my food, but mid-bite, Mirabel popped up to say hi!

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After we took this picture, Mirabel noticed my Hannah Montana themed necklace.

"Does that say 'Sweet Niblets'?" She asked.

"Yes!" I responded.

"Why?" She earnestly asked as she shook her head.

"It's a quote from a story called Hannah Montana!" I explained.

"Oh my goodness! Does Hannah Montana make a wish?" She asked.

"Yes! She has a wish to be a princess. Wait, no. That's wrong. She has a wish to be a pop diva. And a regular person at the same time. So she has a double life and she goes to school during the day and then is a pop diva at night." I poorly explained, getting the plot of Hannah Montana wrong once or twice.

"Does she shapeshift?" Mirabel asked.

"No, she uses a wig." I explained.

"Well, that's kind of like shapeshifting." Mirabel shrugged. "It sounds like one of my Tia's telenovelas!"

"Yes!" I said. "It was the telenovela of my generation!"


Again -- this was a very fun interaction. Very good fun to be had from Mirabel and Tiana both here.

This was the point where Grace was starting to get anxious, so she went to go sit outside and instead of getting a second plate of dinner, I just fixed a small plate of desserts:

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Starting with the star of the show, you can see the iconic 1900 Park Fare Strawberry Soup in that little bowl on top. I will say, she was very good, but she does taste different than she did before 1900PF closed. Not better or worse, just different. I don't know why -- it almost tastes like they moved to a Dole based smoothie mix versus whatever they were doing in the past. Again, still very good, sweet and creamy and cold, just different.

The rest of the desserts on here were just okay except for that warm chocolate cake at the bottom with the vanilla sauce -- I thought that was excellent. The thing with the merengue and chocolate medallion on top was a financier, the pink thing was a coconut cake, and of course, there was an obligatory cupcake that I didn't touch.

We did get greeted by Snow White and Cinderella, I don't have notes on these interactions, they were your run-of-the-mill "saying hi to princesses at a character dining location" interactions:

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After we meet Cindy and Snow White, we wrapped things up and cleared the check and we were on our way. There was some type of a "wish ceremony" that happened at some point in the meal, but it was more or less just us waving a card around in the air while the characters paraded around -- cheesy character dining stuff. If you've been to any of them, you know the drill.

We almost never say this about character dining, but... we will definitely be back to 1900 Park Fare. The revamped space, characters, and food has breathed such life into this timeless old restaurant. Everyone agreed that this was a great evening and dad still talks about how sweet Tiana was, she really made our evening. I was really hesitant to accept the "wish upon a star" theme after so many great years and memories with the Alice/Mad Hatter at breakfast and Step Sisters at dinner, but now I have even better memories with Tiana and Mirabel from just one evening here. And the food is 10x better, I would argue the best character buffet on property for dinner. The offerings are a bit smaller here, but they are all very elevated in terms of quality and variety versus, say, Chef Mickey's or Hollywood & Vine. I really loved it and I highly recommend it!


Anyway, that was our evening. We stepped outside and a very friendly CM in a golf cart asked if we needed a ride anywhere. (Side note: this is a very nice gesture that has happened to me multiple times at the Grand Floridian but never at the Polynesian, I wonder why?)

We accepted his offer to get a ride back to the Marina. He said his name was Atom, and he was the bomb, which I thought was super funny. He was very kind and got us to the marina so we could take the boat launch back to the Poly. We debated heading into Magic Kingdom because the wait times were so low, but we were all so tired we just wanted some sleep. We stopped at Captain Cooks again to grab our refillable mugs (I got pink), filled them with some coffee, and then headed back to the room, where we aaaaalllll got some much needed sleep.

Overall, I'd say it was a 6/10 as far as arrival days go. We started off kind of bumpy at Hollywood Studios and I did end the day with a bit of a headache, but we had a great time at 1900 Park Fare, and above all: we were happy to be at Walt Disney World!

Next up -- Magic Kingdom fun!

Click here to continue​

 

[disneyAndi14]

We loved the new 1900 PF dinner, albeit a bit chaotic at times. One of my favorite things was the wishing ceremony oh my it made me tear up listening to Jiminy Cricket! All the feels from Wishes!
Busy first day for you all! I feel the same about Oga’s except I have got park closing time reservations and this has worked so good for spending a little time in an empty park at closing time!
I have never had the food there but our table mates had the charcuterie board this last time and they loved it!

 

[Newsies]

We loved the new 1900 PF dinner, albeit a bit chaotic at times. One of my favorite things was the wishing ceremony oh my it made me tear up listening to Jiminy Cricket! All the feels from Wishes!

I don't think we would have called it chaotic at the time, but looking back on it -- loud, drink bar was backed up for ages, multiple dishes needed both times I went up to the buffet -- maybe it IS more chaotic now than it was pre-COVID! Hopefully time will change that. I agree about the wishing ceremony -- definitely gave Wishes vibes!

Busy first day for you all! I feel the same about Oga’s except I have got park closing time reservations and this has worked so good for spending a little time in an empty park at closing time!

If I had faith in myself to stay up late enough to attend a closing time reservation, I would definitely try this!!!

I have never had the food there but our table mates had the charcuterie board this last time and they loved it!

I'll look into this if we go back to Oga's in the future!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

We also really enjoyed our dinner at 1900 Park Fare. I was thrilled to get the original four characters (especially since we met Snow White elsewhere) - Mirabel and Aladdin were the standouts for us. Honestly, I think my daughter was more thrilled by the current character lineup than she may have been by the original dinner lineup. As much as I missed the Tremaines, they may have been a bit too much for her.

I agree that the food was REALLY good - I loved those mashed potatoes and mac and cheese and my husband loved that focaccia. We also enjoyed trying Tiana’s gumbo and I liked Aladdin’s couscous salad. And yes, that chocolate lava cake was delicious!

I’m so glad you had such a positive experience!

I think it was wise to return to your room and get ready for the next day. It’s tough to “miss out” on park time, but rest makes a difference!

 

[kclark9830]

Joining in! I think MMRR is one of my absolute favorite rides. I would love to start a trip with it . And I'm glad to hear you enjoyed 1900 Park Fare. We haven't eaten there since reopening!

 

[MrsK53113]

Loving your TR so far! I followed along with your PTR as well and enjoyed it very much. I've really been struggling with deciding which character meal to do for my 7 year old daughter. It's a trip with just the two of us and her very first trip ever and Tiana is her favorite princess. I've watched a few vlogs on youtube, but after your lovely review I think I've been swayed to choose 1900PF over CRT! I'm aiming for a late breakfast instead of dinner on our Magic Kingdom day (we don't have park hoppers). We have the Halloween party set for that evening and I don't want to rush through the meal to get to the party on time.

I'm loving all your honest reviews so far! Thank you!