Goofy Proposes, Fi Falls for Sleeping Beauty & we Celebrate our Engagement NEW 6/18!

[Jennifer48]

Joining in...congrats on your engagement!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Joining in...congrats on your engagement!

Thank you and to my TR! Glad to have you reading along!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Thank you! Happy to have you joining in!

I see you have a trip to AKL soon! We just loved it!

You might have seen on my TR. We are renting points at the Villas. So excited to try DVC. We love AKL too. My DD is obsessed with animals so it's perfect for her.

 

[ga disney mom]

Joining in. I am from Ga as well, but on the south side of Atlanta. I am enjoying your trip report. This is my first post on the DISboards. I have been lurking for a while and decided my first post would be on a fellow Georgian.

 

[BippityBoo]

Love the update!!! All of the pics are bringing me back to my vacation m I am having some serious Disney Depression!! We wanted to eat at Pecos Bill. Ended up getting a snack there one day, but it is a must when we go back! We just love Frontierland!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

You might have seen on my TR. We are renting points at the Villas. So excited to try DVC. We love AKL too. My DD is obsessed with animals so it's perfect for her.

I'd love to try AKV sometime - in fact, I'd love to try any of the villas sometime. I've briefly looked into renting points but, I'll admit, it makes me kind of nervous. I definitely need to look into it more - seems like the best way to stay DVC.

Joining in. I am from Ga as well, but on the south side of Atlanta. I am enjoying your trip report. This is my first post on the DISboards. I have been lurking for a while and decided my first post would be on a fellow Georgian.

I feel so honored to have your firs DIS post here on my TR!

As you can see by my post count I'm pretty new here as well (well, new at posting, I've been lurking a while like you!)

There seems to be lots of Georgians around here! I hope you'll keep posting!

Love the update!!! All of the pics are bringing me back to my vacation m I am having some serious Disney Depression!! We wanted to eat at Pecos Bill. Ended up getting a snack there one day, but it is a must when we go back! We just love Frontierland!

Thanks, Katie!

I hear you on the Disney Depression Is it bad that I just got back and I've already come up with at least 3 possible future trips?!

Definitely try Pecos Bills! And I must say, when I was reading your first MK post over on your TR I was thinking, "gosh our first days were pretty similar...go to MK, freeze on the way there, get super happy seeing the tree, catch the end of the parade..."

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

DAY 1 – Pt.3

So after a relaxing afternoon at AKL spent animal viewing and resort exploring, it was time to go see a few of our friends.

What friends you might ask?

The FAB 5 of course! Tonight we would be dining at Chef Mickey’s!

I was really excited about our meal at Chef Mickey’s – in all of my trips to Disney, I had never eaten there. In fact, last year we tried to get in for dinner as a walk up (dumb, I know – but in my defense it was like 9:30 during value season) and were turned away. So I was really excited to have gotten a reservation this year. I was definitely looking forward to this classic wdw restaurant!

After braving the cold and making our way over to the contemporary, we were quickly checked-in and seated.

So here's my little mini-review of Chef Mickey's:
While we had some great character interaction, our dinner certainly left something to be desired. I know dinner gets pretty bad reviews here – and I hate to say, but they’re pretty accurate. Out of all the items on the buffet my favorite thing was the chicken nuggets. I found the majority of the food to be pretty bland and I felt there could have been some better options available.

Anyway, I don’t think we’ll return to Chef Mickey’s for dinner, but I would probably try it for breakfast at some point, as I’ve heard its much better. Thankfully, this was the only meal that I was actually disappointed with – the rest of the week we experienced some great Disney dinning!

However, we were really there for the characters, right?! I think we got some great photos with the characters here – some of my favorites from the trip!

One of my favorites!

I LOVE this picture of Minnie and I! She was so adorable looking at my ring I however, look like I'm 12

We even got two visits from Goofy!

LOVE this one too!

Next up, find out why how this TR got (half) of its name
Our awesome breakfast at Akershus!

 

[Princess_K]

Sorry you were disappointed with the food. At least you had good character interaction! I've never been to Chef Mickey's, but it always looks like fun!

 

[MHTeacher]

Cute pictures!

It's been several years since we had dinner at Chef Mickey's, but I remember it somewhat lacking as well. I plan to give the breakfast a try during our trip this upcoming May.

 

[ladybugmom]

I'm sorry you were disappointed with Chef Mickey's! We ate there for breakfast last May and wasn't too impressed. The characters were quite rushed and the food was just ok. LOVE your pics, though!!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Sorry you were disappointed with the food. At least you had good character interaction! I've never been to Chef Mickey's, but it always looks like fun!

Chef Mickey's is definitely geared towards kids (obviously), so I'm sure for them it would be a blast! Adult wise, it's probably not the best character meal choice but its always fun eating with Mickey and the gang, right?

Cute pictures!

It's been several years since we had dinner at Chef Mickey's, but I remember it somewhat lacking as well. I plan to give the breakfast a try during our trip this upcoming May.

Thanks!

Yeah, the general consensus definitely seems to be that the food there is disappointing

I hope the breakfast is better for you!

I'm sorry you were disappointed with Chef Mickey's! We ate there for breakfast last May and wasn't too impressed. The characters were quite rushed and the food was just ok. LOVE your pics, though!!

Thanks! I was very happy with our pictures, even if our plates were disappointing

 

[ga disney mom]

We ate at Chef Mickey's for breakfast and really enjoyed it. Hope you get to try it next time you go.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Sorry the food wasn't great at CMs. It's really hit or miss there. This time wasn't too bad but the last time we had dinner there it wasn't so great. Breakfast is better though!

Even still...looks like you had a fab time!

 

[klacey1]

Glad you had fun at Chef Mickey's! We'll only go when we have kids, I think. We're not super big on character meals, and it's not worth it for us to have mediocre food.
Again, though, glad you have fun inspite of the food!

 

[TokyoDina]

You two looked like you had a lot of fun. Sorry the food wasn't so hot. I hope the next time you go to another character dining the food is a lot better.

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

We ate at Chef Mickey's for breakfast and really enjoyed it. Hope you get to try it next time you go.

I think we'll definitely check out breakfast there sometime in the future!

Sorry the food wasn't great at CMs. It's really hit or miss there. This time wasn't too bad but the last time we had dinner there it wasn't so great. Breakfast is better though!

Even still...looks like you had a fab time!

We did have a great time! I always like to start off my trips with a character meal!

Glad you had fun at Chef Mickey's! We'll only go when we have kids, I think. We're not super big on character meals, and it's not worth it for us to have mediocre food.
Again, though, glad you have fun inspite of the food!

While we love character meals (as you will see throughout the TR) I agree this is one we'll probably hold off on until we have some kiddos to take there

You two looked like you had a lot of fun. Sorry the food wasn't so hot. I hope the next time you go to another character dining the food is a lot better.

We did have fun! And our next character dining experience was MUCH better. It's coming up in my next update!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

DAY 2 – Pt. 1 – BACK OFF SLEEPING BEAUTY!

This morning we woke up super early because we had an 8 am reservation for Akershus! While I wasn’t too thrilled about waking up before the sun was out, I was excitied for this meal! It was actually a bit of an afterthought and was not originally on my original ADR list. I think I was just playing around with the online reservation system one night and saw an opening and booked.

Here's a picture of the quiet savannah early in the morning. So peaceful.

As many of you know our trip took place during the "freak freeze" in Florida. We didn't let it put a damper on our trip, but I will admit there were some points that it was a bit irritating. When we got in the car that morning I couldn’t believe that my thermometer read 28 degrees! Still though, we were excited to get to Akershus - even if we were freezing!

We left AKL around 7:15 because I wanted plenty of time to get to the restaurant. It turns out we probably could have left a little later because we had to wait at the gate at EPCOT for probably 20 minutes before being let into the park – if fact, we were the first car to park there that day and the first people in the park!

This was our first before park opening ADR and it was definitely neat walking through an empty EPCOT! I wish they had of let us in a bit earlier though so I would have felt comfortable taking a few more pictures while on our way to Norway. When I have a reservation for something I HATE to be late – it stresses me out (as you will see in a later update).

EPCOT was lovely that morning. I think it's interesting to see a place that is normally so busy and hectic looking absolutely peaceful.

We arrived at Akershus and I immediately loved the Norway pavilion. So cute!

I loved the interior of the restaurant - I felt quite royal!!

After a brief wait we took our picture with Belle and were led to our table. Our waitress Camilla was super nice – in fact, the majority of our waiters on this trip were great. I was a bit worried because last trip they were all primarily bad.

We made our way to the buffet and loaded up on lots of delicious pasteries and fruit.

And soon, our plate of food arrived – bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs and potato casserole (which I ate way too much of).
Can you believe the amount of bacon on this plate?!

I was glad that the princess actually took a while to come out as it gave us plenty of time to go to the buffet, enjoy our food, etc without constantly worrying about missing a character. I hate going to a buffet meal and as soon as you get there the characters are close by and you’re torn wether to wait or go to get food! Everything here was very well timed and we never felt rushed.

First we saw princess Aurora, who was super sweet. She noticed my just engaged button and commented about how I had found my prince. She made a big fuss over Miguel
FI was very taken aback by Sleeping Beauty – I’m not sure if it’s because she was the first princess or what, but for the remainder of the trip he referred to her as “his princess”. Um…what about me?

Next was Cinderella. I know she’s not a regular here so I was glad to see her making an appearance, yet she was probably my least favorite of all of the princesses that day. She made some small talk and took a picture with me but rushed off before FI could get a picture with her.

Cinderella was followed by Snow White who was wonderful! She did a fabulous job of playing the part and we had quite a lovely conversation with her.

Last up was Ariel – probably my favorite of the princesses we saw. She stuck up a conversation about our hair both being red and the fact that we had a dinglehopper on our table
I thought it was so funny when she asked where we were from. I told her Atlanta. She said, “Atlanta…that kinda sounds like Atlantic and that’s where I’m from!” We had a good laugh at that one! As someone who’s done lots of theatre, I can really appreciate someone’s ability to improv like that!

Doesn’t FI look so happy with the princesses? And sorry for the lack of pictures of me with them – but I looked terrible in all of them.

Overall, our breakfast at Akershus was AMAZING! I had pretty high expectations for this restaurant and they were definitely met! It was even better than I had expected.

This experience was probably one of my favorite memories of the trip and we will definitely return in the future!

After our bellies were full we were ready for some EPCOT thrills!

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Just caught up with your TR! Congratulations on your engagement!! Can't wait to read more about your trip! (and yes, that is A LOT of bacon! )

 

[ladybugmom]

No way!! You had the same waitress we had back in May!! Take a look!!! (the girls wanted their pics taken with her b/c they thought she was as pretty as a princess--so did DH!!)

We LOVED Camilla!!! So it looks like you had a wonderful breakfast!! LOL at Aurora!!! We just LOVE eating at Akershus and will be eating there again in May!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Well that update made me hungry for bacon

Your DFi looks mighty happy to be around those princesses.

Glad you had a much better meal this time around! I too don't understand why Epcot make you wait to enter for the 8am breakfasts. It's a good 15-20 minute walk to Norway (over a mile I believe from something I read before). Don't they get that everyone is going to want to walk slow and take pics?