*COMPLETE* "You know he won't remember!" - 9 wk old baby's 1st visit to the World!

[daisygirl902]

That's funny. My mom and I have taken a "train break" on super hot days too! Great trick

 

[DisneyParkLover]

That's funny. My mom and I have taken a "train break" on super hot days too! Great trick

We will definitely remember this as an option for future trip meltdowns! And I'm sure there will be some, especially since we are considering making our next trip when he is a toddler.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

So when I left off, DH and I had taken Luke back to POR while my parents stayed at MK. We had a nice (albeit brief) rest in the room and then headed to Epcot to meet my parents for our dinner reservation. When we arrived, they hadn't gotten there yet, because they had gotten stuck when the monorail broke. We gave them quite a hard time about how they broke everything this day. If you are keeping track, they have now broken BTMRR, Haunted Mansion, TTA, and the monorail. Since they were running behind, I went ahead and fed Luke in the car and then we stopped for some Photopass pictures.










We had agreed to meet my parents at the restaurant, so we headed towards the World Showcase. The boat was pulling up as we got there, so we decided to ride it across the lagoon. And who did we happen to meet on the boat? My parents! They had gotten on the boat right before us! So we all rode (floated?) over to the other side of the World Showcase.

We were right on time for our dinner reservation at Biergarten. This is a must do for us every trip. We originally tried it because my family is part German and my husband was actually born in Germany. So we thought we would like this restaurant. But we were wrong....we LOVED it! We have been here on every trip since. Plus, it is a great option for my dad with his low carb diet. Here's a plate picture, even though I know buffet plates aren't that pretty.




And a picture of the restaurant...




This restaurant is very pretty! It was my second favorite for ambience after San Angel. Plus I love the entertainment. After I left you guys with the teaser at the end of my last update, I realized that we didn't actually drink at this restaurant on this trip. It was a bit of a misrepresentation to include the lyrics to the drinking song. So to make it up to my loyal readers, here are two photos of us enjoying the beer flight on our last trip. On that trip, we successfully drank around the world!

But back to this trip. So we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Biergarten. Everything was wonderful as always. The different meats, the German mac and cheese, and the pretzel bread were my favorites this trip. At the end of the meal, I took Luke and nursed him in the little sitting area at the front of the ladies' room. It hadn't been that long since the last feeding, but I was trying to keep him well hydrated! After dinner, everyone just wanted to head back to the resort. That is, everyone except me! I was ready to stay and play. But my parents had been going non-stop in the heat, and DH wasn't up to riding much after a big buffet dinner.

I was able to convince everyone to at least hit up Maelstrom on the way out of the park. It had a longer wait than we usually see for this ride (but it was the first F&W weekend!). Finally, we got on the boat. And we waited....and waited...and waited. My parents had broken yet another ride! The CM's made everyone in the line leave, but they kept us in the boat with the hopes they would get it back up shortly. But they didn't, and eventually they had us climb back out of the boat and leave. So we gave up and went back to the resort. We took a couple more photos on the way out.






After that, it was back to POR and an early bedtime for everyone.



Up next: the one with Fantasmic!

 

[Dugette]

Wow, that is an impressive amount of ride-breaking!! I know we've had some times where we felt like we were breaking all of the rides, but your parents sure did a good job of it that day!

Glad you had a good dinner, at least. We really need to get back to Biergarten some day. We went on our first trip together in 2009, but haven't made it back since (despite having ADRs on a couple of trips that we ended up changing).

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Wow, that is an impressive amount of ride-breaking!! I know we've had some times where we felt like we were breaking all of the rides, but your parents sure did a good job of it that day!

Glad you had a good dinner, at least. We really need to get back to Biergarten some day. We went on our first trip together in 2009, but haven't made it back since (despite having ADRs on a couple of trips that we ended up changing).

I know! There were so many rides down that it was almost comical by the end of the day! We just love Biergarten - it was our only must-do when booking ADRs for this trip (although I think we have added a couple favorites that will become must-dos now too!).

 

[emmysmommy]

Hiding that sweet face again!

I love that photo! So precious!

I'm a new fan of San Angel Inn. You were seated in a great location by the water. I ordered the tostada de tingas too! Yum!

Yikes. I just can't imagine a parent going off on a CM simply because a photopass photographer wasn't there to take a photo. I've never even thought anything of that since it happens occasionally. There's usually a CM there to take a photo for anyone that cares. I wonder what the princesses did when they heard that??

Ha ha! Your parents broke every ride including the WS boat. What luck!

Poor Luke with the heat and not being able to get comfy and nap. I remember those days when my kid's were babies... I knew if they would relax enough to nurse they would be conked out in minutes!

I've seen several Biergarten reviews and it looks so delish! I owe my hubby a lunch there since I bailed on it in 2006 and didn't return.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

I love that photo! So precious!

Thank you! I love it too! Just wish he wasn't acting shy and snuggling his face down all of them.

I'm a new fan of San Angel Inn. You were seated in a great location by the water. I ordered the tostada de tingas too! Yum!

I really liked this restaurant and our location was perfect!

Yikes. I just can't imagine a parent going off on a CM simply because a photopass photographer wasn't there to take a photo. I've never even thought anything of that since it happens occasionally. There's usually a CM there to take a photo for anyone that cares. I wonder what the princesses did when they heard that??

It was really bad. She was so mean! It was just appalling. Why would anyone act like that? And especially in front of her young daughter who was watching all this.

Ha ha! Your parents broke every ride including the WS boat. What luck!

I know! And I think there may have even been one more ride they broke that I don't recall. But it seems like they broke something else too!

Poor Luke with the heat and not being able to get comfy and nap. I remember those days when my kid's were babies... I knew if they would relax enough to nurse they would be conked out in minutes!

This was really the only day the heat seemed to get to him. It wouldn't have been so bad if there had been some shade. At BTMRR, a lady was taking up the entire shaded area with all her stuff. I thought maybe she would scoot some of it over a little so someone could sit with the baby, but no such luck. The spot was big enough for about three people but she had just spread out in all directions.

I've seen several Biergarten reviews and it looks so delish! I owe my hubby a lunch there since I bailed on it in 2006 and didn't return.

You should definitely take your hubby! We enjoy it so much every time and the food has a always been excellent!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

I'm going to apologize in advance for the lack of photos for this day. I didn't even take my getting Luke ready photos! But I'm going to make up for it with my amazing, fabulous, eloquent trip writing skills. So here goes:

We were up early this morning because we wanted to hit World Showcase as soon as it opened. The weekend was over and we wanted to experience Food and Wine without the crowds! This was one of just a few mornings that we made it to a park before opening. We had about a 20-30 minute wait before the park opened.

While we were waiting we discussed the dining plan and our credits. Because my dad had missed the first night, he had one more table service credit than the rest of us. So he decided he would have a lunch this day by himself. Since the rest of us had tried Coral Reef, he decided he would like to try it too. So I got on the Disney App and booked him an early lunch. Shortly after that, they started letting people in! We decided to walk over to Club Cool and try some of the different flavors. They were out of Beverly, but that was okay since we had all tried it and didn't need to repeat that experience!

After a refreshing stop, we headed over to ride Journey into Imagination with Figment. After this trip, they were planning to close the ride for refurbishment and no one really knew what the ride would be like when it reopened. And since we had not been pleased with the changes to Test Track, we figured we better get one last ride on the Figment ride to say goodbye. I know this ride is not a crowd pleaser, but I actually do like it. I am hoping they really do something great to revamp this ride, but I am glad Luke had a chance to ride it the way it was! I held Luke on the ride, so I didn't get any photos, but I will include a few I took on our last trip.








After our goodbyes, we walked over to The Land. We thought about Captain EO, but we weren't real impressed with it on our last trip and Luke probably wouldn't have been happy to sit still that long. So The Land it was! We used Fastpass + and rider swap to take turns riding Soarin'. DH, my mom, and I went first. We had a great trip flying over California! (Have I said how much I love this ride?) When we got out, Luke had had one of those aforementioned diaper explosions all over my dad's lap. And we hadn't left my dad any of the baby stuff. Oops! We weren't planning to be gone long, so we didn't think he would need it. My dad was a good sport and went and rinsed his shorts off in the bathroom, but I noticed he wasn't so quick to volunteer to watch Luke by himself after that! I took Luke and did a complete diaper and outfit change. Then my parents went and took a turn on Soarin' while I fed Luke.

After my parents' quick flight, we had another planning session. We wanted to stay in the area until my dad's lunch reservation, so we decided to hang out in The Land for a while longer. We took another trip on Living with the Land and then watched the Circle of Life movie. After this, it was time for my dad's reservation, so we parted ways. My dad had the same thing my mom ate just a few days before - the snapper special followed by the Baileys and Jack Daniel's Mousse, which he took to go (unfortunately, mousse and heat don't mesh well).

In the meantime, the rest of us had headed into the World Showcase to give F&W another try. I am pleased to stay that despite the heat, this was a much better F&W experience! We headed straight to Hops and Barley. We all really wanted to try the lobster and we wanted to make sure we got our top picks out of the way. We tried both the Griddled Lobster Tail with Garlic Herb Butter and the Lobster Roll with Lemon Herb Mayonnaise.






We loved both of these, but everyone preferred the Lobster Roll. We wanted another one of these, but we had lots more booths to hit! Our next stop was at the American Adventure Coffee Cart, where I ordered the Shakin' Jamaican Coffee made with Kahlua, Vanilla and Caramel. I got the frozen version. Unfortunately, since I was nursing, I only had one or two sips and then gave the rest to DH. It was really delicious. No picture, sadly.

Next up was Italy, where we tried the Ravioli de formaggio all'emiliana.




I have read mixed reviews of this, but we all thought it was very good. Not a favorite from F&W, but definitely very tasty!

The next booth along the way was Poland. We got the Kielbasa and Potato Pierogi with Caramelized Onions and Sour Cream.




This was also very good. Nothing new or special, since I ate both these things growing up, but still nicely done. This day had already been a completely different F&W experience from the first night of F&W! The lines were short, the food was hot and fresh, and we were really enjoying trying everything! And we weren't done yet!



Up next: how much food can one person eat?

 

[Dugette]

Sounds like your dad was a good sport about the diaper explosion.

I didn't realize that Journey Into Imagination was being refurbished. Interesting. I remember loving the old version as a kid. (Okay, I just searched for info and it looks like it hasn't gone down for refurb after all and is up in the air?)

Mmmmm, Food & Wine! Glad you had a more enjoyable experience on this day!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Sounds like your dad was a good sport about the diaper explosion.

I didn't realize that Journey Into Imagination was being refurbished. Interesting. I remember loving the old version as a kid. (Okay, I just searched for info and it looks like it hasn't gone down for refurb after all and is up in the air?)

Mmmmm, Food & Wine! Glad you had a more enjoyable experience on this day!

Thanks for the info! Of course, they may still decide to refurb it before we get back, so I'm glad we said our goodbyes just in case!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

oh, feel bad for your dad .... the "bonus" diaper issues always happened when you don't have your diaper stuff with you!

It is amazing how much different F&WF is during the day of a weekday vs the weekend evening. Glad it worked out for you!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

oh, feel bad for your dad .... the "bonus" diaper issues always happened when you don't have your diaper stuff with you!

It is amazing how much different F&WF is during the day of a weekday vs the weekend evening. Glad it worked out for you!

It really was a "night and day" difference (pun intended )! There were almost no lines and no crowds this day. That first night it was too crowded to really enjoy it.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

When I left off we had sampled items from Hops & Barley, the American Adventure Coffee Cart, Italy, and Poland. But we weren't done yet!

Next, DH and I went over to the Germany booth while my mom went over to the Brewer's Collection. We got the Roast Bratwurst in a Pretzel Roll and the Schinkennudeln. The bratwurst was very good in the pretzel roll, but this was nothing new or special since we had just had Biergarten the night before and had bratwurst and pretzel rolls there. The schinkennudeln was excellent - like a combination of a casserole and mac and cheese. Really yummy and cheesy! Unfortunately, I did a terrible job of taking food photos and I don't have pictures of any of my snacks this day. My mom picked up the sampler with the 4 different beers. She liked the Schofferhofer Grapefruit the best. This was the only one I sampled, since I was due to nurse soon. But I needed to try something from this booth, so I had a couple sips. It was very good, light and sweet. This one was quite refreshing on a hot day.


You can see the last bite of my schinkennudeln in the back of this photo!


The next stop was at the Cheese booth, where I had the Almond Crusted Blue Cheese Souffle with Fig Jam. DH doesn't care for blue cheese, so I was on my own for this one. And I'm glad I didn't have to share. This may have been my favorite F&W item. I wasn't sure about it, but it was soooo good. Really nice with the fig to balance the strong blue cheese taste and the almond crust to add texture. I wish I had one right now!

Luke was getting ready to eat, so we made one last F&W stop at the Africa booth where we got the Spinach and Paneer Cheese Pocket. I wasn't expecting this to be very exciting, but it was also excellent. Piping hot and with a perfect blend of spices. This was also really huge - a great value for the price. We ate this while we walked so that I could look for a cool place to nurse. The China pavilion looked like a good option, so I found a bench off to the side inside the pavilion. As soon as we sat down, my dad called to say he was done. My mom was going to stay with us, but since we were going to be at least 20 more minutes, she decided to go meet with my dad so he didn't have to wait alone.

Luke finished eating and we headed back towards my parents. But this is where I made a mistake. I was thinking about dining credits and I knew I had a counter service credit I needed to use. And I really loved La Cantina de San Angel last visit. I really wasn't hungry, but I didn't want the credit to go to waste, so I asked DH to split a meal with me. We got the nachos and churros to go. But when we received them, they were on a tray in a regular basket. We told them again that we wanted to take them to go. At that point, they told us they didn't have any boxes or anything for us to take the food with us. And of course, this is AFTER the food is made and paid for! We WERE planning to take it back with us to the resort and snack on it slowly. But obviously that wasn't going to happen! So instead, with my parents waiting on us, we wolfed it down in like 2 minutes. The good news is that the food was really good. The bad news is we felt really sick afterwards (not surprisingly!). I didn't take a picture of the food, but I do have a picture of the nachos from last trip.


These are really good, and I will definitely get them again...when I can take the time to enjoy them!


We met up with my parents under Spaceship Earth and headed out of the park. We were headed back to the room for a break before our dinner reservation. We wanted to get a nice rest in as we were planning to stay for Fantasmic! this night. This day actually worked a little better as far as going back to the room, because we had gotten to Epcot so early. (But we weren't going to wake a sleeping baby just so we could get to the parks early everyday! ) So we had a longer break today.


Luke was ready for a break!


Up next: we pay to get scolded and Luke experiences Fantasmic!

 

[Dugette]

Mmmm, food sounds good. There seem to be some new things since we went in 2011. That blue cheese thing sounds really good.

That's too bad that you couldn't get a to-go box for your nachos. Never really thought about that before. At least they were good, I guess.

Aw, sweet sleeping boy!

 

[daisygirl902]

After a refreshing stop, we headed over to ride Journey into Imagination with Figment. After this trip, they were planning to close the ride for refurbishment and no one really knew what the ride would be like when it reopened. And since we had not been pleased with the changes to Test Track, we figured we better get one last ride on the Figment ride to say goodbye. I know this ride is not a crowd pleaser, but I actually do like it. I am hoping they really do something great to revamp this ride, but I am glad Luke had a chance to ride it the way it was! I held Luke on the ride, so I didn't get any photos, but I will include a few I took on our last trip.

I love, love, love Journey into the Imagination. It's one of my favorites for some reason. And now I'm humming the song to myself!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Mmmm, food sounds good. There seem to be some new things since we went in 2011. That blue cheese thing sounds really good.

That's too bad that you couldn't get a to-go box for your nachos. Never really thought about that before. At least they were good, I guess.

Aw, sweet sleeping boy!

Yeah, I don't know if they never have to-go boxes or if maybe they just didn't have any then? But it was definitely not the leisurely grazing I had in mind!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

I love, love, love Journey into the Imagination. It's one of my favorites for some reason. And now I'm humming the song to myself!

I love it too. It isn't the coolest, fastest, or most advanced ride, but I have always thought it was really cute. Who knows what will happen with it. I hope they just revamp it and don't completely get rid of it.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Forgive me my loyal readers for how long it has taken to post an update! We have just started thinking about buying a new house, and so all free time has been taken up with house hunting and preparing our current house to go on the market.


So when I left off, we had gone back to the room and rested a little. This was a very good thing since we had made rope drop that morning and were hoping to make it to park closing that evening. We left POR and headed for our evening park: Disney's Hollywood Studios!






We had a dinner reservation to keep at 50's Prime Time Cafe! This had been one of my mom's choices when we were picking reservations, but I was really excited about it too. I really like the theming in this restaurant.




We got Cousin Jen and she was very into her role. She laid down the law about elbows on the table, clean plates, and tattletales! So of course, I had to egg her on by pointing out that my dad had his elbows on the table. But then I got in trouble for being such a tattletale.

Since you can get a milkshake as your drink on the dining plan, three of us did just that (milkshakes are obviously not on my dad's diet!). I had the PB&J, DH had strawberry, and my mom had chocolate. These were excellent! I was a little worried that the PB&J might be sickeningly sweet, but it was just right.




We all ordered the same entree here! We had A Sampling of Mom's Favorite Recipes - Crispy-fried Chicken, Fork Tender Pot Roast, and Traditional Meatloaf with all the fixings.




What is funny about this is that I don't really care for fried chicken, pot roast or meatloaf! I don't dislike them, they just aren't dishes I would normally order or make at home. But everything here was really good! My dad ordered extra green beans instead of mashed potatoes, but they brought out a ton of green beans! Seriously, no one can eat that many green beans. So naturally, he didn't finish them. Then Jen got on to him big time for making a special order and then not eating them all!


Luke found Grandpa's hat very entertaining!


After this we were all so stuffed! My parents decided they couldn't eat dessert. But I really couldn't bear the thought of free dessert going to waste. So DH got the Boston Parfait, I got the Dad's Brownie Sundae, and we ordered two apple crisps to go (sans ice cream). DH and I enjoyed the apple crisps for breakfast the next day. (After all, when else can you have dessert for breakfast? ) After this, my mom and DH said they were too full to ride anything. But my dad and I couldn't pass up a quick ride on ToT! So we hopped on with no wait at all. DH and my mom really missed out because we got a great sequence, plus I love this ride at night! The views of the park all lit up are awesome.




After this, it was almost time for Fantasmic! Fortunately, I had reserved us Fastpass + for the show, so we just walked right in to the reserved section. The reserved section had a nice view of the show. It was towards the back, but right in the center of the theater. I was nervous how Luke would do, since he didn't really like sitting still for long periods. I had nothing to worry about - he loved this so much!! This was probably his favorite part of our whole trip. He was smiling and just mesmerized the whole time! Watching his reaction was way more fun than watching the actual show.























This was a wonderful evening and one of my favorite Disney memories! Luke won't remember anything about this trip, but I will always remember how much he enjoyed this and how awe-struck he was by the Disney magic!



Next update: two ADR's in one day and our first experience with character dining!

 

[I_Luv_Stitch]

All caught up!
Wow, you definitely took advantage of the low crowds at F&W! All the ones you chose look delicious!
The photos of Luke watching Fantasmic are so cute : he is such a happy baby, especially through the fireworks!

 

[khertz]

What a great night at DHS!! How sweet that Luke enjoyed Fantasmic so much.