I Could Have Had a Cruise. Instead, I'm Going to WDW! May 2010 PTR - ONE MORE DAY!!!

[cinderella crazy]

Oh yeah, and I was also supposed to make a correction: we took a 4-day Bahamas cruise in 2008, not a 3-day one. Guess you lost some time there somewhere, honey!

Thanks honey! See y'all. I need him around to help me.

 

[cinderella crazy]

All right, so now we’re going to Disney World!! And everyone is super excited. But we decided this in January and we’re going in May…I normally like about a year to plan a Disney trip so you can imagine me and Mike running around like crazy trying to figure out where to stay, where to eat, what to do, how to get down there…AH!!!!!!! I’m calm. Really, I’m calm.

I don’t know what y’all do when you start planning your trips, but we look at our past trips and try to determine what worked or didn’t work and what we liked or didn’t like. As a family, we have 6 trips to look back on. We’ve been in January 2001, November 2004, September/October 2005, September 2007, and May of 2009. The three main ones we looked back at for this current trip are the 2001, 2007, and 2009 trip. So here’s a recap of each trip and how they are influencing our planning decisions:

I’ve already given you some background about our 2001 trip. It was our wonderful honeymoon trip. The only time Mike and I have been to Disney without children, or as we call it BC (before children). Like we’ll be talking about something that happened years ago and then one of us will sigh and say “Yeah, that was BC.” Sorry! I tend to get off topic sometimes. Just yell at your computer screen for me to get on with it and I’ll comply (not really but it might make you feel better). Anyway, we knew with the kids and Mom joining us, we weren’t going to be able to do exactly what we did on our honeymoon. Plus, since we’re going in May, the crowds will be heavier than they were in January. What we did wonder about was staying at the WL. We’ve stayed there on our honeymoon and our 2004 trip. I think we will always love the WL. We like to do outdoorsy stuff so the theme really appeals to us. We envisioned walking around the resort and re-enacting moments that are on our honeymoon video (you think the pc version of me is funny? You should see the video version of me). Here’s some other pics from our honeymoon:

This is the first time I saw the World of Disney. I just had to get a picture.

Mike posing in the World Showcase:

Our room looked out to a pond. We would sit out on the patio and watch all the animals.

I’m number 1!!! I beat Mike at a game of miniature golf.

View of WL from the parking lot:

Then, in 2007 we stayed at the Polynesian. Ohhhhhh myyyyy!!! What a beautiful resort. I told Mike he forever spoiled me by letting us stay there. One night we were walking down one of the paths (I love the tiki torches), and we started talking about how romantic the resort was and maybe we could stay here for our 10 year anniversary (this was before the cruise came into the picture). I got all giddy and excited about the thought of staying at the Poly again. So if we decided to stay at the Poly, we’d be looking at this trip to refresh our memories of what it was like to stay there. Tonga Toast…….what? I’m sorry, I’ve lost my train of thought. TONGA TOAST!!!! Sorry folks. It calls to me. Anyway, here’s some pictures of our stay at the Poly:

Alex excited to be going to WDW again:

I think this was the only time someone sat/layed on this couch. Unfortunately most of the time it had our purchases piled on it.

Lauren was just starting to “cruise.”

Captain Cooks. My favorite place to get Tonga Toast. So Yummy!

This is one of my favorites from this trip. They’re in their strollers outside of ToT waiting for me to get off.

A statue that sits at the corner of the Boutiki store:

Alex loves waterfalls and fountains so he loved the Poly’s lobby:

What do you think? Is it me?

Last is our trip in 2009. All I can say is it was W-E-T. WET! A tropical storm came through during the week we were there (we were there May 15-23). But, since we’re going pretty much at the same time, we’ll be looking at this trip to try and figure out what we want to keep in our schedule, or what we want to toss. Here’s what our schedule looked like last year:

Friday, May 15 – Day = Chef Mickey’s breakfast/Night = T-Rex dinner, MK in the pm.
Saturday, May 16 – Day = DHS, lunch at ABC Commissary/Night = dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh, Epcot in the pm.
Sunday, May 17 – Day = MK, lunch at Cosmic Ray’s/Night = dinner at Boma, night at our resort (CBR).
Monday, May 18 – Day = AK, lunch at resort/Night = dinner at Biergarten (I’ll have to devote a whole post just to this dinner), Mike, Alex, and Mom stayed at Epcot. Lauren and I went back to the resort.
Tuesday, May 19 – Day = DTD, lunch at resort/Afternoon = Epcot/Night = dinner at Garden Grill then back to the resort.
Wednesday, May 20 – Day = MK, lunch at Pecos Bill/Night = dinner at Sci-fi, DHS in the pm.
Thursday, May 21 – Day = Epcot, lunch at Mexico Cantina/Night = dinner at Rose and Crown, Epcot in the pm.
Friday, May 22 – Day = Breakfast at resort, MK, lunch at Cosmic Ray’s (We love their chocolate cake)/Afternoon = Start the drive back to K-Town.

Not by any means the schedule we had originally planned for that trip (partly due to what happened at our dinner at Biergarten), but we made it work. Here’s some pics from our last trip:

Help me! The dinosaur has me!

Lauren looking at princess things:

Mike and Alex at the Garden Grill:

Mom and me on the monorail:

I have never had to wear a poncho at Disney as much as we did this trip. Hoping we don’t have a repeat this year.

Oh no! Now the dino has Alex!

Our beds at the CBR:

We stayed in Jamaica building number 45:

So those are the trips we reviewed when we started to first plan our anniversary trip. As you can see, there was a dilemma about where we should stay. Should we stay at the WL, the place of our honeymoon or, should we stay at the Polynesian and spoil ourselves? What to do. What to do.

But first, I may have to write about our little adventure from Biergarten. They’ll be a reunion, a dinner cut short, a slight argument between Mike and me, and the use of at least 10 bath towels…Interesting, huh?

A Reunion, A Short Dinner, An Argument, And A Whole Lotta Towels

 

[cinderella crazy]

Okay. The Biergarten story. I think I’m still in shock over this, but here goes:

Let’s start with May 13, 2009. This was the day we left Knoxville to start our wonderful trip at Disney. We left early in the morning and headed south. Down we went through the never ending state of Georgia. Let me say, I think Georgia is a great state. I just don’t like how long it takes to drive through it (Oh. And the town of Marietta, but only because they decided to give me a speeding ticket on one of our drives down to Disney). We stopped at a Wendy’s in Atlanta and noticed that Alex wasn’t eating very much. In fact, he didn’t eat very much for breakfast either. And he was VERY cranky. We thought maybe he was tired of being in the van and was excited to get to Disney. So we got back in the van and continued our southward journey.

And then it happened. While we were driving on the Macon bypass, Alex got sick. So Mike pulled the van over and I got Alex out. At this point I’m thanking God that we have leather seats. I had to dig in the back of the van, find a change of clothes, find a bottle of water, napkins, and Kleenex to wipe up the sickness. Poor Alex had to stay on the side of the road while I helped him change his clothes. Even though the van got cleaned, it still smelled for days afterward. Anyway, Alex got back in his seat and I had to figure out something to give him in case he got sick again. So I grabbed the training potty cup insert. You know, the part of the travel potty that you pull out to dump the contents of said potty into the toilet. DON’T WORRY! No one had used it and I had thoroughly cleaned it before we left the house. Turns out, he didn’t need it. He never got sick after that. It took him a couple of days for his appetite to pick back up, but he seemed fine besides that.

Here’s a picture of Alex on our way down. Not sure if this is the day of or after our adventure in Macon.

Now we get to our Monday, May 18th dinner at Biergarten. We checked in for our reservation and waited outside for our pager to buzz. If I had been paying attention, I would have noticed that Lauren hadn’t been eating very much this day and she was also cranky (you know where I’m going with this, don’t you?). Our buzzer goes off and our server introduces herself. Wait! She looks familiar! Turns out she was the same server we had when we went to Biergarten on our 2007 trip. She remembered Mike and me but I guess the kids had grown so much she didn’t remember them. I wish I could remember her name. Anyway, we sat at a table with a couple and their older teenage son and they were friendly. Didn’t talk too much but compared to some people we’ve sat with in the past, they were friendly.

Here’s Alex waiting for our pager to go off. Of course he’s looking at the fountain in Germany.

This is from our previous trip when we first met our server:

I decided to get the kids some food so I got up and filled two plates with food. I gave them their food and then went and got me a plate. By the way, I LOVE sauerkraut!!! This is one dinner I look forward to every time we go to Disney. So I got a huge plate of sauerkraut and sausage. I got back to the table and noticed that Lauren wasn’t eating and she was asking for me to hold her. Being the sucker that I am, I gave in and let her sit on my lap while I’m eating. And then it happened. She got sick. All over herself, the floor, and of course me. I should have known better. Whenever she is getting ready to get sick, she finds me and hugs me (she’s just such a sharing person). So our server (who was absolutely wonderful) got some towels and Mike and I wiped up as much as we could. The server brought Lauren some Sprite and I sat there trying to figure out what to do. Lauren took a drink of Sprite and within a minute, she gets sick. Not just once, a number of times. At this point I know we need to leave but I can’t just walk out with a child whose getting sick. And I can’t walk to the restroom with her because that would have been an incredible mess. I felt so bad for the people sharing a table with us.

Here’s a picture of me getting my big plate of sauerkraut and sausage (little did I know what was about to happen to me):

Eventually, she stopped and I decided that I would be the one to take Lauren back to the hotel since I needed to clean myself. I run out of the restaurant, see that it’s sprinkling (loved that tropical storm), and find the stroller. I put Lauren in it, cover her up with a poncho, and run from Germany all the way to the park exit. I got in our van and drove like a mad woman back to the resort. Luckily, Lauren didn’t get sick between the restaurant and the resort. We got back to the room and we both took a bath. By that point, all my baby girl wanted to do was lay on the bed. So I put her on one of the beds with towels all around her (just in case she got sick again). She did a couple of times and I just kept replacing towels.

In the meantime, Mike, Alex, and Mom were in Epcot having fun. They rode the Mexico boat ride and Nemo. I’m sitting in the room wondering where they were. You see, we never discussed if they were going to come straight back to the resort after they ate or if they wanted to go on rides. Since Lauren was still getting sick, I tried calling Mike a couple of times but I couldn’t get a strong enough signal. I felt so helpless with this sick child. And I started to get a little upset (Who? Me? Upset!? NEVER!).

Once Mike and everyone showed up, Mike and I had a little argument. Nothing major, we just had a miscommunication about what they were doing after dinner. I did ask Mike to call someone for some more towels because we didn’t have any to use for our showers the next day. He did that and then he went and got me something to eat (I never really got to eat at Biergarten).

After a little bit, we all went to sleep and thank goodness, Lauren never got sick again. No one else showed any symptoms of having the children’s sickness and the rest of our trip was uneventful (Well, besides the rain).

Eeney Meeney Miney Moe. WL, Poly…I Don’t Know!

 

[MaryAz]

Leanne and I were both at CBR at almost exactly the same time!! We had a pirate room and L I think was in Barbados. How funny.
Poor kiddos and poor Mommy. YUCK My little one call it "garf" I "garf" on myself Mama. OY
Are ya gonna tell us where you are staying?? Pretty please?

 

[Brave teacher]

Uh, yeah....Where are you staying?

I choose not to comment on the sickness as I have issues with that. I'll just pretend you didn't bring it up. LOL...

 

[ladybugmom]

Oooh--so where are you staying?! Have you decided?! If not, I vote the Poly!! That's where we will be!! Oh--and we were there the same week last year as well. We lived in our ponchos--uggh!! Praying for better weather this year!

 

[cinderella crazy]

Well, now you know one of our problems. We had to decide between the WL or the Poly. Let’s face it. They’re completely different. So here’s the breakdown of what we felt were the pros and cons of each resort:

WL
Pros – Where we stayed at on our honeymoon. Where we had decided to stay before we cancelled the cruise. Has a special place in our hearts since it was our honeymoon destination. We love the theme, lobby, pool, Whispering Canyon Café and our special spot. We could also recapture some of our funny honeymoon moments on video. Easy access to MK.

Cons – Not on the monorail. We’ve stayed here 2 times (only been to the Poly once), no the biggest fan of the kids pool. Hmm…I’m having a hard time thinking of cons.

Well, while I contemplate the cons of the WL, let’s move on to the Poly.


Poly
Pros – It’s romantic. We can very rarely afford to go. We love the theme, pool, lobby, kid’s area in the lobby, Boutiki, TONGA TOAST, the tiki torches and the beach (I know WL has a beach but for some reason I liked Poly’s better. Could be because of the view from Poly’s beach). It’s also on the monorail and there’s easy access to MK and Epcot.

Cons – (Imagine the sound of crickets chirping)

Yup. That’s right folks. We picked the Poly. I’m so excited!!!!! I can’t wait to check in and get to the room. I just love their rooms! They’re so big! Plus, we requested a connecting room with Mom so if we get that, the kids will have two huge rooms to run around in. Mom has never stayed at the Poly and is really, really excited. I told her she’s going to be shocked by how much bigger the Poly rooms are than the CBR. I think I need to post some pictures.

Welcome Sign:

Front of Poly:

Sigh. Can we go yet?

Here’s a pick of our building last time, Tuvalu:

Pool looking out to the beach:

Another pool picture

Up next: Where are we going to stuff our faces?

Food! Glorious Food! (And I Do Plan On Having Hot Sausage and Mustard)

 

[cinderella crazy]

Leanne and I were both at CBR at almost exactly the same time!! We had a pirate room and L I think was in Barbados. How funny.
Poor kiddos and poor Mommy. YUCK My little one call it "garf" I "garf" on myself Mama. OY
Are ya gonna tell us where you are staying?? Pretty please?

How funny! We really liked the CBR. Mom had a connecting room with us so it made it feel like we had a lot of space. We LOVED the pool. The kids pool is amazing!

Uh, yeah....Where are you staying?

I choose not to comment on the sickness as I have issues with that. I'll just pretend you didn't bring it up. LOL...

Completely understand! We had a blast besides that. It poured and we had sick kids, but we still managed to have a great time!

Oooh--so where are you staying?! Have you decided?! If not, I vote the Poly!! That's where we will be!! Oh--and we were there the same week last year as well. We lived in our ponchos--uggh!! Praying for better weather this year!

I have never seen that much rain. And the crazy thing was it followed us back home! It seemed like we lived in rain for a number of months after the Disney trip. Definately praying for better weather this time.

 

[Spaceship Tigger]

Completely understand! We had a blast besides that. It poured and we had sick kids, but we still managed to have a great time!

That's the crazy thing. Despite sick children and torrential rain like I've never seen, we still had so much fun that we were willing to cancel a seven night cruise just to get back there. Especially for the Polynesian!

 

[cinderella crazy]

Sorry. For some reason whenever I think of food, I think of the song “Food! Glorious Food” from the Musical “Oliver.” Never fails. But in this case, the “hot sausage and mustard” line is very fitting. If you read my post about our previous experience at Biergarten, you’ll remember that I was unable to finish my hot sausage, mustard, and sauerkraut. SAUERKRAUT!!! Y’all, I have to worn you. One of my favorite things to do is to eat. When I find a food I like, I can’t control myself. Seriously. Me + cake = no willpower. Let’s be honest. Me + cake, cookies, chips, sauerkraut, chocolate, diet Dr. Pepper, coffee, cheese, etc. = no willpower. I have food issues. I see it, I eat it.

Anyway, I’m dedicating this post to our ADRs and CS. Woohoo! Even though we started planning kind of late, we were able to get all of the ADRs we wanted. We’ve already changed our minds a couple of times, but I think the ones we have right now are keepers.

So without further ado, here’s where we made our ADRs (and of course, some pictures):

Oh! And I’ll include what I might eat at each one (I wouldn’t be surprised if Mike comes along and adds his two cents).

Chef Mickey’s
We have gone to Chef Mickey’s for breakfast every single trip. I’m not sure if we went on the first morning on our honeymoon, but I know that every trip since then we have gone on our first morning at Disney. I have got to have Mickey waffles! I don’t know why, I just love them. I usually get eggs with cheese, bacon, sausage, and potatoes. I think I had oatmeal last time. If they have that, I’ll eat that again. I usually get orange juice and coffee.

Chef Mickey’s sign:

Alex’s first time at Chef Mickey’s. I guess he thought Pluto’s tongue needed to be pulled.

Mom and me with Minnie!

Chip tried to take Alex’s “Smiley Man.” Alex didn’t think it was very funny.

Group pic at the restaurant:

Goofy’s so helpful!

Mike and Pluto are buddies.

Minnie and Alex:

T-Rex
Have y’all been to this restaurant? We think it’s great! I like how the different areas of the restaurant are decorated with different dinos. The ice room is so cool! Their menu is huge! Last trip, I ate the Tribal Tacos (Mahi Mahi tacos). They were so good!!! The Stegosaurus Steak and Cheese Sandwich sounds good, but I may have to go with the Tribal Tacos again. And for dessert, woo wee!!! Meteor Bites. They’re little warm chocolate and vanilla donut holes, sprinkled with powdered sugar. And they’re served with caramel and chocolate sauces. I am so drooling right now! Oh! Be still my heart!

T-Rex entrance:

The ice room. It changes color.

T-Rex skeleton in the ice room.

Meteor Bites. So very, very, very good.

Coral Reef
We have never eaten here. It’s been on our list a couple of times but usually ends up being replaced. Not this year though. If they still have the same menu, I’ll be getting the Blackened Catfish. It comes with pepper jack cheese grits. Don’t those sound heavenly? And for dessert? I have got to try that Chocolate wave I’ve been seeing pictures of on the dinning board. Yummy!

Whispering Canyon Café
We ate dinner here on our honeymoon and we’ve eaten breakfast here twice. This trip we’ll be eating here for dinner. We plan on getting the Canyon Skillet. It comes with: Smoked Pork Ribs, Pulled Pork, Oven-roasted Chicken, Beef Brisket, Mashed Potatoes, Cowboy Beans, and Corn on the Cob Mixed Greens Salad with Apple Vinaigrette, Coleslaw, and Fresh-baked Cornbread. And it’s all you care to eat. Friends, the last time Mike and I went for dinner, we ate so much I felt sick. I have never before and never since been that full. Of course the all you care to drink shakes we had didn’t help us. I hope we get a fun server! I could do a whole post on the funny things we’ve seen at that restaurant.

One of our breakfasts. Please disregard the woman in the picture.

What happens when you ask for ketchup:

Cinderella’s Royal Table
This is another new restaurant for us. I’m pretty sure Lauren will love it. I told her we were going to see the princesses while we eat and she was thrilled. Alex, he wasn’t so thrilled but I explained to him we’re going to T-Rex for him so he could be a good big brother and let Lauren enjoy her princesses. Plus, he’ll get a sword while eating there so that made him feel a little better. I think I’m going to get the Vegetable Spring Roll for and appetizer, Cavatappi Pasta for my entrée, and the Chocolate Cream Cheese Buckle for dessert. This will also be the first time we’re eating dinner in the MK.

‘Ohana (changed from Crystal Palace)
We had a little trouble deciding between these two restaurants. Then my Mom, who normally goes with the flow, requested that we go to ‘Ohana. That made it easy. This will be our fourth time eating here. Our first time we celebrated Alex’s first birthday. My Mom is really excited about eating the bread pudding. I really like the peal and eat shrimp (even though it’s a little messy).

When the server found out we were celebrating Alex’s first birthday, he brought us a cupcake.

Group photo during Alex’s birthday dinner.

Waiting patiently for my food:

Alex likes to pretend his spoons are roller coasters.

Biergarten
Yes. We are returning to Biergarten. And if I see our server from last trip, I will be sure to thank her for all she did for us. I am going to eat sauerkraut and sausage till it’s coming out of my ears!! I’d be happy with that. This will be our seventh time to Biergarten. We’ve been to WDW 6 times. That means one trip, we went 2 times. Can you tell that I really do like to eat sauerkraut? This will be on our final night.

Entrance to Biergarten:

Love listening to the band!

What in the world!!?? I forgot to even include Teppan Edo! Oh well! We were going to Teppan Edo one evening but we've changed that night to San Angel Inn. But we're also checking Le Cellier hoping that it will open up.

What about counter service? Here’s the CS we plan to go to. We have a couple of new ones we’re trying this time.

ABC Commissary – I love this place. I have heard others on the Disboards and other Disney boards say they don’t enjoy eating here, but I think it’s great. There are food items here that I haven’t seen at other places. The past two trips I’ve gotten the Curry Chicken. Sooooo good!

Pecos Bill – I might have to try the BBQ sandwich this time. I usually like to get a burger at Cosmic Ray’s so I don’t really want to eat another one here. I think Pecos Bill is okay. I don’t dislike it, but I don’t think it’s the greatest. Foods decent.

Pizzafari or Yak and Yeti – Either way, this will be a new one for us. It will be pizza at Pizzafari. If we go to Yak and Yeti I’ll probably get the Honey Chicken (with an egg roll) and have the Mango Mini Pie for dessert.

Sunshine Seasons – And this is also a new place for us. Any suggestions? I do know I want to try the Strawberry Shortcake. The pictures I’ve seen of it look so good.

Backlot Express (?) – Not sure about this one. The day we might go here isn’t set in stone yet so I’m not sure if we’ll be back to DHS to eat here. The Grilled Vegetable Sandwich sounds really good. I see they have Marble Cheesecake. I’ve never met a cheesecake I didn’t like so I may have to give that a go.

Columbia Harbour House – This is another new place for us. I might have to get the Fried Fish Basket. I’m a sucker for fried food. I’ve never met a fried food that I didn’t like. Has anyone been here? Any thoughts?

Cosmic Ray’s – We really like this place. I enjoy listening to Sunny Eclipse sing while we eat. I almost always get the Bacon Double Cheeseburger (I know. Not the most healthy thing but I figure I’m on vacation). But this time I may get the Cheesesteak Flatbread. I know one thing, I will be getting the Triple Chocolate Cake.

So those are our food choices. In anticipation of eating all this wonderful food, I’m really watching what I’m eating right now. I’ll post more on that later. I’m thinking my next post will either be about our very first Disney night or about our plan of attack.

Disney Night #1 - We're Going To WDW!

 

[chanken3]

cinderella crazy - I am new to this whole DIS thing but boy am I loving it. So nice to read about others who are as Disney-crazy as my fam & me. I am really enjoying your PTR and what great pictures!! We are heading down in April - school vaca week for my husband and I - both middle school teachers. Two of our 3 kids (and their sig.others) will be with us. We are trying the auto train from Va to FL for the first time.
Anyway - looking forward to following your planning.

 

[kangaand2roos]

"While your in the mood, cold jelly and custard..."


You asked about some of theCS choices that are new for you. I can comment on a few of them:

Columbia Harbor House- Love it!! The fried stuff is greasy, but I especially love it as a respite from fried food! The hummus and tuna sandwiches are great!!

Sunshine & Seasons: probably the best CS at WDW! My favorite is the seared tuna salad. Mmmmmm...

Pizzafari and Yak & Yeti- I really don't think you can go wrong at AK for CS meals. I love all 3 of the main places. We sort of rotate through them from trip to trip. This trip will probably be Flame Tree and Y&Y for us.

Hope that helps! And, I hope you get to eat your sauerkraut!

 

[MaryAz]

Yay for staying at the Poly!!! How exciting. We will have to plan a meet!!!
Lets see if I remember your ADR's
Coral Reef-we ate there last year and really liked it. I had steak and Jeff had fish. Very yummy and cool atmosphere.
CRT The perfect place for your princess. We also ate here last year (bkfst) and liked it. The character interactions were good and who can resist eating in the castle?
Yak and Yeti One of our top 5 but we had TS. So good and fun.
CHH Yummy-Jeff had the chicken and fish basket and really liked it. I had the tuna sandwich-which I think they no longer have.
Sun Sea I think we all had chinese here and liked it.

I am also watcing what I eat. Down 8lb since Jan 1 with about 5lb to go. Good luck to you!

 

[ladybugmom]

YAY for the Poly!!! There are several of us that are staying there!!

Your ADRs look GREAT!! I LOVE O'hana--it is my favorite meal at WDW!! We also love the ABC Commissary!!! YUM!! And I really like Pizzafari, Columbia Harbor House, and Cosmic Ray's. At Cosmic Ray's we always order the most expensive thing on the menu--the half chicken and BBQ ribs, mashed potatoes and green beans--soooo very good!!

 

[leamom2princesses]

So glad you're staying at the Poly! Maybe we'll run into each other! We loved Sunshine Seasons last year-I had a sandwich there and the strawberry shortcake! OMGoodness that shortcake was phenomenal. Pizzafari is a favorite for my gang. I usually get an italian sandwich and the girls get pizza. I haven't tried Columbia Harbor House but the food porn for that place looks awesome. As for table service Coral Reef and WCC are firsts for us this year. We love Ohana..eaten there twice. There's a bunch of DIS'ers having dinner at Ohana around 5:30 on 5/25.... We did lunch at CRT last year. The food was pretty good. The buckle was awesome! Atmosphere is everything at CRT. Every little princess needs to dine there just once.

Oh yeah, I love me some sauerkraut too but the rest of the family is just okay with it..I come from a loooooong line of stubborn Germans...

 

[SimmerBaggins]

Last year when we ate at CHH, they had a special dish they were trying out -- a fried shrimp basket! It was SO GOOD -- DD and I had it. We were on the DDP, and it was a little more than the other things on the menu, and we were like, "Sweet! No problem!"

I went back to look at the pictures, and sorry to say, we didn't "catch" the pic before it was eaten. Got the desserts, though!

Will definitely have to try that T-Rex restaurant sometime -- sounds great!

 

[cinderella crazy]

cinderella crazy - I am new to this whole DIS thing but boy am I loving it. So nice to read about others who are as Disney-crazy as my fam & me. I am really enjoying your PTR and what great pictures!! We are heading down in April - school vaca week for my husband and I - both middle school teachers. Two of our 3 kids (and their sig.others) will be with us. We are trying the auto train from Va to FL for the first time.
Anyway - looking forward to following your planning.

Glad you're enjoying the DIsboards! Thank you! I really like taking pictures so I figured I'd include them in my PTR. I've never hear of the auto train. What is it?

 

[cinderella crazy]

"While your in the mood, cold jelly and custard..."

Hope that helps! And, I hope you get to eat your sauerkraut!

It's going to take a huricane blowing through Biergarten to stop me!! Thatnks for the food recoomendations!

Yay for staying at the Poly!!! How exciting. We will have to plan a meet!!!

CHH Yummy-Jeff had the chicken and fish basket and really liked it. I had the tuna sandwich-which I think they no longer have.

I am also watcing what I eat. Down 8lb since Jan 1 with about 5lb to go. Good luck to you!

We're soooo excited about staying at the Poly. It's going to make it hard for us to leave. I'll want to stay forever.

I'm a little worried about CHH. We've had it on our list on many trips but it usually gets bumped. I think we'll end up going this trip though. I think I'm worried about the kids choices. But we'll find them something.

Yay for losing 8 lbs! I've lost 5 so far. I'd like to lose about 10-13 more. We'll see if I can do that before our trip. We've got several birthdays between now and then and that means cake will be tempting me. Yum...cake! I'm sorry, what was I talking about?

YAY for the Poly!!! There are several of us that are staying there!!

Your ADRs look GREAT!! I LOVE O'hana--it is my favorite meal at WDW!! We also love the ABC Commissary!!! YUM!! And I really like Pizzafari, Columbia Harbor House, and Cosmic Ray's. At Cosmic Ray's we always order the most expensive thing on the menu--the half chicken and BBQ ribs, mashed potatoes and green beans--soooo very good!!

Mike usually ordes the chicken and ribs platter at Cosmic Ray's. It's so much food! I don't think he's ever eaten all the food.

We didn't go to 'Ohana last trip but I think we kind of missed it. So when Mom asked to go we very quickly agreed. I like how the Commissary had named the entrees after ABC characters or tv shows. It just sounds more fun to eat an "Ugly Betty Cheeseburger."

So glad you're staying at the Poly! Maybe we'll run into each other! We loved Sunshine Seasons last year-I had a sandwich there and the strawberry shortcake! OMGoodness that shortcake was phenomenal. Pizzafari is a favorite for my gang. I usually get an italian sandwich and the girls get pizza. I haven't tried Columbia Harbor House but the food porn for that place looks awesome. As for table service Coral Reef and WCC are firsts for us this year. We love Ohana..eaten there twice. There's a bunch of DIS'ers having dinner at Ohana around 5:30 on 5/25.... We did lunch at CRT last year. The food was pretty good. The buckle was awesome! Atmosphere is everything at CRT. Every little princess needs to dine there just once.

Oh yeah, I love me some sauerkraut too but the rest of the family is just okay with it..I come from a loooooong line of stubborn Germans...

I didn't realize Pizzafari had an Italian sandwich. I just might have to change my mind and get that! I can't wait to try that buckle at CRT. It looked really good.

I too come from a long line of stubborn Germans. Mike could care less about the sauerkraut. In fact, unless Mom comes with us on a trip, I'm the only one who gets it. Between Mom and I, we could eat the whole platter of sauerkraut. Maybe we should call ahead and let them know we're coming so everyone else at the restaurant can have some.

Last year when we ate at CHH, they had a special dish they were trying out -- a fried shrimp basket! It was SO GOOD -- DD and I had it. We were on the DDP, and it was a little more than the other things on the menu, and we were like, "Sweet! No problem!"

I went back to look at the pictures, and sorry to say, we didn't "catch" the pic before it was eaten. Got the desserts, though!

Will definitely have to try that T-Rex restaurant sometime -- sounds great!

I did see the fried shrimp basket. Hmmm...I do really like shrimp. I'm going to have to think about that. especially since you said it was really good.

We we're really surprised by T-Rex. We weren't expecting a lot when we went there. We had been to Rainforest Cafe before and we weren't too impressed with it. The food was okay but the service was pretty bad. We wondered if T-Rex would be the same. But the food was pretty good and we had a great server. Plus the kids just really enjoyed eating there and having a meteor shower happen about every 20 minutes. The dinos move during it and the ceiling changes colors and has images of meteors shooting across it. Pretty cool!

 

[chanken3]

Glad you're enjoying the DIsboards! Thank you! I really like taking pictures so I figured I'd include them in my PTR. I've never hear of the auto train. What is it?

The auto train is run by Amtrak and goes from Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL. We drive down from Maine so this cuts our mileage in half. Plus then we will have our own vehicle at WDW. They load the cars right on special cars on the train and then we get to relax and enjoy the trip. So excited!

 

[Brave teacher]

YAY for staying at the Poly! There will sure be a lot of you there! Yall are all bound to run into each other at one point or another.

Your ADRs look good. We have a few in common too. We are also hitting Chef Mickey's, Ohana, COral Reef, and Whispering Canyon. We also love Sunshine Seasons. If Mike likes the chicken and ribs and Cosmic Ray's, he'll be happy to find out that he can get the chicken here as well. There are some really good desserts here.