Heat, Humidity, and Our Favorite Disney Dog Was a Thug! LINK TO NEW PTR!!

[STLMickeyMom]

I'm in for your TR! We are planning a cruise for 2015 so I'm excited to see how yours goes! And, your DD is too cute!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Yay for a room upgrade! I totally want to stay at BWI someday, it looks really nice! We did the DxDDP as well. I liked it! It was fun to try some 2 credit meals we would not have tried otherwise. Can't wait to hear about your expirences with the DxDDP.

 

[Pixiedust530]

I am loving your TR so far...and that Willow of yours is just absolutley precious! You can see just what a personality she has even through pictures.

Willow's pictures of the room at Boardwalk are too cute. I love how you can tell they were taken from a 3.5 foot perspective. So that's what the world looks like from down there?

Your room at Boardwalk looks simply amazing. I have a friend that just RAVES about Boardwalk, but the pictures I had seen were just meh! Maybe they were old pictures and the rooms have been updated since. Your room is beautiful.

Looking forward to more trip details!

 

[RGirl]

Love that picture of Willow out on the balcony! So cute!

You've got quite the photographer in your family! My photography teacher would be impressed!

Thank you! She certainly loves to take pictures .... OF HERSELF!

Wow! Landing at 5:45pm and bus is moving by 6:15pm? That's seriously unheard of.

Right??? We have only done DME one time before, but we waited for a bus FOREVER that time. I couldn't believe our travel mojo on this day. And when you're traveling ALL DAY, it's nice to have things go right!

Awwww, celebrating family day? That's so awesome.

Thanks. It certainly is my favorite day EVER.

Doesn't the travel day always feel like it takes forever to get through when you write it on your TR? I always encounter that. That's why I try to plow through it as fast as possible. Hahaha.

Yep - this has been kind of a nightmare. I guess when your travel day actually feels like forever while you're doing it, you can't be surprised that it feels the same way when you're writing about it. I'm about to get to the good stuff - food - and then it will be over!

Beautiful room! We have DVC, so I feel like I don't get the opportunity to see the regular rooms too often.

I was really pleasantly surprised with the room. Pictures I had seen in past years hadn't looked nearly as nice - I think they must have made some changes. Also, we loved our DVC stay so much, I was thrilled that we were not disappointed.

Awesome view! I love the Epcot resort area.

Me too! I really want to try other resorts, but I just love the convenience and beauty of the Epcot area. It's hard to beat, I think!

I love Willow's pictures! The selfies and the shorty perspective. LOVE IT!

I'm glad you like them! But, well, prepare yourself for a LOT more selfies.

 

[RGirl]

LOOOOOVVVEEE the selfies! How cute is she? She did a great job taking pictures of the view too!

What a fabulous room! I want to stay that the BWI all of the sudden...

So glad that you got an upgrade-what a view!

Prepare yourself for a LOT of selfies.

We loved our room so much - it really exceeded my expectations.

Don’t you just love it when you don’t have to wait too long for ME? Makes the vacation just start off good!

Thanks for the pictures of the rooms at BWI, we haven’t stayed there. Great view! Love the picture of Willow on the bed. I think that is how we all feel when we get to WDW.

Christine

You know, I have only done DME twice. The first time, we stood in line for what seemed like a hundred years. This time, we walked right up, got on a bus, and the bus left. It was AWESOME!

Thanks - we loved our room at BWI!

All caught up, I had my own mini-vacation last Wed through Fri and then kept going back to WDW over the weekend just to extend the joy

Oh wow! Lucky you!! I hope you had a great time. I bet it was wonderfully uncrowded. Ahhhhhh

I had to laugh when you talked about moving the luggage a little at a time, leaving it with Willow, go back move it up again Lots of memories there for me I was a single Mom for a few years with my DDs You do what you have to do & make it fun doing it It's not hard it's an adventure and let me tell you they learn to be self sufficient women that can do anything

You really do just figure out how to make it work, don't you? I certainly hope DD grows up to be that kind of woman. Thanks.

Celebrating Family Day, you are both so blessed .....favorite picture so far for me ? ...mommy and daughter together toes night before travel
Ruthie

Thanks. I am certainly a very lucky mommy.

Really cute pics!

Thanks so much!

 

[RGirl]

I'm in for your TR! We are planning a cruise for 2015 so I'm excited to see how yours goes! And, your DD is too cute!

Hey there! Thanks for joining! How exciting that you have a cruise booked. This was our second DCL cruise and certainly won't be our last. And thanks - I think she's pretty great.

Yay for a room upgrade! I totally want to stay at BWI someday, it looks really nice! We did the DxDDP as well. I liked it! It was fun to try some 2 credit meals we would not have tried otherwise. Can't wait to hear about your expirences with the DxDDP.

We really enjoyed our stay at BWI - great resort! I felt the same way - we got to do a lot that we wouldn't have done otherwise, and with the heat and crowds, it was nice to have those breaks and see some characters without standing in the sun.

I am loving your TR so far...and that Willow of yours is just absolutley precious! You can see just what a personality she has even through pictures.

Oh, thank you so much! I think she's a pretty great kid.

Willow's pictures of the room at Boardwalk are too cute. I love how you can tell they were taken from a 3.5 foot perspective. So that's what the world looks like from down there?

I love that too! It just cracks me up. She loves to take pictures - I gave her my old camera when I got a new one, so I have quite a lot of interesting pictures from this summer.

Your room at Boardwalk looks simply amazing. I have a friend that just RAVES about Boardwalk, but the pictures I had seen were just meh! Maybe they were old pictures and the rooms have been updated since. Your room is beautiful.

Looking forward to more trip details!

We loved the room. But I agree - I hadn't been blown away by pictures I had seen on-line, so maybe they upgraded bedding and stuff at some point recently? I really don't know, but our room was beautiful, it was VERY spacious (probably because it was a corner room), and the view was just amazing.

 

[RGirl]

Let the Dining Begin in Earnest!

So Deluxe Dining - yep, we decided to do it! Oddly, although I have never been able to make the regular DDP make financial sense, the DxDDP ended up coming out as financially sound. I know that doesn’t sound right, and I’ve never been GREAT at math, but we do a LOT of character meals, and I wanted to do at least one signature. Without apps and desserts and with only one signature, I was going to be paying not much less than just buying the plan, so I decided to go for it and enjoy the luxury of extra character meals, more signatures, being able to order apps, and not cringing when I paid for food that we didn’t finish or trying to choose cheaper entrees, etc. Plus, we very rarely eat out at home (so we can save money for big fancy trips like this!), so this was going to be a true treat in many ways. Needless to say, there are going to be a LOT of food pictures in this report. (If you would like more details on our dining experience and the DxDDP, there is a link to my dining review in my signature; I will provide some of the info and pictures in this TR as well though. )

So on with the evening!

We had used DME (as you know) and allowed them to get our bags, but I had packed the clothes we wanted to wear tonight in my carry-on. So we got all cleaned up and changed and took a beautiful walk to dinner at the Yachtsman Steakhouse at the Yacht Club.

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We had left early enough that we were able to meander over to the Beach Club first where we picked up our PhotoPass+ card! That was quick and easy, and I was so glad to have it in hand before our first park entrance.

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PP+ card obtained, we headed back out and over to the beautiful Yacht Club.

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I had not been inside this resort before - it is quite something!

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Soon we had arrived at our destination for our 7:55 ADR.

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Up Next: Let the Dining Begin in Earnest! (Cont.)

 

[RGirl]

Let the Dining Begin in Earnest! (Cont.)

We had a seat while we waited for our table. There was some meat.

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And a princess.

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And Willow took many bad pics of me. Here is the best of the collection:

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And the selfies continued as we waited:

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Now we were really, really excited for this ADR. This would be our first WDW signature restaurant, Willow actually likes steak, and I had heard a lot of good things about this place. As I recall, we did not wait terribly long for our table, and we were soon sitting across from each other, reviewing our menus in a beautiful setting.

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I’m not going to go into this in great detail because it’s boring for most of you and not the point of my report (but it is relevant to the meals you will see pictured in this report). I have a problem with gluten - I don’t know if it is celiac or an intolerance, but it makes me rather horribly ill. This trip was the first time that I didn’t just try to muddle my way through at WDW but instead notated my ADRs with my issue and tried to ensure that I received “safe” food at every restaurant (one night of our last trip was spent violently ill, and if there was even a remote chance that it was because of my gluten issue, I wanted to do what I could to avoid that!). I won’t bore you all with what each restaurant did or didn’t do on this issue (you can find it in the dining review if it is something you have an interest in), but I will say that, unfortunately, this first night, I was rather sick in the middle of the night. I don’t know if it was due to the laissez-faire attitude of the server at YMS or something else, so I am not going to place blame on the restaurant. But it did cause me to plan to be more proactive at all other dining experiences (although it was not necessary at all as every other place was incredibly on top of it). Again, the only reason I bring this up here is that my dishes will sometimes be altered from the menu version, and I want to be able to report correctly on what I ate versus what is actually on the menu.

Unfortunately, as you probably guessed, we did not have a great experience with our server at our first signature restaurant. (This was made doubly disappointing because I know from others that there are incredible servers at this place.) Hopefully, she was just having a bad night and is usually a little more attentive. We waited a LOT and OFTEN. Again, won’t go into details here.

But here is what I apparently look like when I am left waiting for a ridiculous amount of time before even meeting the server. Courtesy of Princess Willow the Royal Photographer:

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Selfies remained happy, however:

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On the DxDDP, we were each entitled to an appetizer, an entree, a dessert, and a non-alcoholic beverage. This establishment charges two table-service credits (thank goodness - the DxDDP gives you a TON of credits!).

For Willow’s appetizer, she had the green salad. And ate very little of it. (Miss Willow’s reviews of her food are included in my dining review as well.)

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For my appetizer, I had the cheese plate, which included the Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk, Beecher’s Flagship Reserve, Fiore Sardo, Vermont Creamery Bonne Bouche, and Gabriel Coulet Roquefort. There were a number of tasty accompaniments as well.

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Because of my gluten issues, they removed the usual bread-based accompaniments. Our server had indicated that I would receive some gluten-free bread, but none appeared. We waited a while and finally decided that we should eat our appetizers. Long after we had eaten our appetizers, our server finally brought some cold, hard gluten-free bread. (For those who haven’t eaten this stuff, it really has to be warmed to be edible.) The cheeses, however, were delicious as were the accompaniments!

I also enjoyed this lovely wine flight.

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For her entree, Willow had the kids’ steak and loved it!

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I had the New York Strip. I was given mashed potatoes instead of the white cheddar twice-baked potato that was on the menu, presumably because of my gluten problem. The steak was delicious. The potatoes (and I usually love just about any mashed potatoes) were okay but not very flavorful.

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For dessert, Willow ordered the white chocolate puzzle with edible paints. At this particular restaurant, it came with cookies. This was a neat dessert, and Willow really enjoyed it. That puzzle, however, was not easy. (In fact, several servers at different restaurants warned us about the fact that this puzzle was not as easy as one might expect.)

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I didn’t have a lot of gluten-free options here for dessert, but I was not disappointed to order the creme brulee. It was delicious.

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Our server did reappear to take my KTTW and charge our dining credits and her tip. She came back and said that my credit card was not tied to my KTTW, so I had to give her a credit card for the tip and the wine flight. (This was easily fixed when we returned to the BWI and told the CM at the front desk. He quickly issued me a new KTTW and gave Miss Willow some Mickey stickers.)

We were both totally stuffed. We were also pretty tired from our long travel day. Willow decided that we should take a Friendship Boat back instead of walk. One was just pulling up as we left the Yacht Club, so we had a quick trip She enjoyed the ride a lot.

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When we got back to our room, all of our bags had been delivered. PHEW! We also had a voicemail from Mickey Mouse congratulating us on our celebration. We both thought that was really neat. Due to the time change, DD had a hard time settling down and didn’t get to sleep until after 11:00. By about midnight, I had everything unpacked and was thinking about going to sleep since we had to get up at 6:00AM! This is what half of the closet looked like:

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Up Next: Princess Willow Is Revealed

 

[shan23877]

First, you look so pretty! Love the dress!

Cracks me up that our girls can't think of anything more appropriate for fine dining than princess dresses. She makes an adorable Snow White.

I really, really wish you'd had a better server. That just stinks. I had the cheese plate too! Yum. Too bad you didn't get the GF bread... Ugh, I'm mad at your server. Next time, you have to request Oscar.

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[wiigirl]

So very cute!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

I love all the selfies that willow takes! My oldest does the same thing with my phone. I'll look at the pictures and there are tons of random pictures of her with close ups of her eyeball or tongue or whatever struck her fancy. They crack me up!
What a fancy dinner for you and your little princess! Glad you (mostly) enjoyed it! We did the deluxe plan last time too so we could do cinderellas royal table and other character meals. I think it's totally worth it just to avoid stress when the check comes!

 

[librarygeek]

Your DD is too precious! I am loving all of the pictures of her! It sounds like you really got a lot done in that last day before your trip. Working half a day, packing, hair salon, and more? Wow, good for you!

The autograph book you made sounds epic! I hope we get to see pictures of it. How do you like your Cricut? I'm thinking about getting one of those or a silhouette soon.

What good luck with the Magical Express! And with your view as well, that is a stunning view of the Boardwalk! I am also totally in love with Willow's half of the closet. That is just too precious!

 

[RGirl]

First, you look so pretty! Love the dress!

Cracks me up that our girls can't think of anything more appropriate for fine dining than princess dresses. She makes an adorable Snow White.

I really, really wish you'd had a better server. That just stinks. I had the cheese plate too! Yum. Too bad you didn't get the GF bread... Ugh, I'm mad at your server. Next time, you have to request Oscar.

Can't wait to hear more!

Aww - thanks!

Willow sometimes even chooses a princess dress on the rare occasion we go out to dinner here!

Yeah, I will totally make a server request next time. The food and atmosphere were both great, so it was, over all, still a positive experience.

So very cute!

Thanks!

I love all the selfies that willow takes! My oldest does the same thing with my phone. I'll look at the pictures and there are tons of random pictures of her with close ups of her eyeball or tongue or whatever struck her fancy. They crack me up!
What a fancy dinner for you and your little princess! Glad you (mostly) enjoyed it! We did the deluxe plan last time too so we could do cinderellas royal table and other character meals. I think it's totally worth it just to avoid stress when the check comes!

Don't you just love those surprise up-the-nose shots you find on your phone or camera?!

The food at the Yachtsman really was lovely. And I agree - the DxDDP was a really good way for us to go with the kinds of experiences we wanted to have.

 

[RGirl]

Your DD is too precious! I am loving all of the pictures of her! It sounds like you really got a lot done in that last day before your trip. Working half a day, packing, hair salon, and more? Wow, good for you!

Hey there! And thank you - I sure think she's great. It was definitely a busy day, but it was also a lot of fun.

The autograph book you made sounds epic! I hope we get to see pictures of it. How do you like your Cricut? I'm thinking about getting one of those or a silhouette soon.

I was thinking that I would post pictures of the autograph pages when I post about the character meets. I think the Cricut is great! I kind of burned myself out making all those pages, and I have recently learned how to sew and am focusing on that right now. But I expect to drag out the Cricut and all the paper supplies this winter and finish up the autograph pages with the pictures added and other embellishments. So fun!

What good luck with the Magical Express! And with your view as well, that is a stunning view of the Boardwalk! I am also totally in love with Willow's half of the closet. That is just too precious!

We really, really lucked out with our travel-day transportation. I was thrilled! And the view - I was so excited and so blown away that we were given such a wonderful view (and room). The closet is ridiculous, isn't it???

 

[librarygeek]

The closet is ridiculous, isn't it???

I had to show DH that picture of the dresses in the closet because I thought it was just too cute, and he remarked that if they made those dresses in adult sizes that's what my closet would look like too

 

[RGirl]

I had to show DH that picture of the dresses in the closet because I thought it was just too cute, and he remarked that if they made those dresses in adult sizes that's what my closet would look like too

That's fantastic!!!!!

 

[1000HappyWishes]

Holy princess dresses! Well, looks like Willow is set pretty much for life!

 

[chattadisser]

The DxDDP? You can never go wrong with too many character meals! And it is very nice to not have to think about the tab at the end.

How disappointing that you did not have a great server at Yachtsman! I have only eaten there once and while the food was good, I found the server to be OK, not good, not bad. Good thing Willow had the camera to occupy her, love all her selfies.

LOL at the royal closet!

Christine

 

[BeckyEsq]

I am enjoying your report! That picture of all the dresses is THE BEST!!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Willow is my kind of girl! I love all her dresses. That is so cute!