Is there Gluten in Whiskey? Sept trip: 9 days, 3 boys, 1 urgent care visit NEWx2 11/7

[kokotg]

Chapter 30: Crystal Palace

We checked in right around our reservation time of 9:20. I'd hesitated to take this reservation since it was going to eat up all the prime uncrowded touring time for the only morning we had planned at MK. But we'd already done a lot when we'd been there on Saturday, AND we still had the Halloween party ahead of us, so I decided it would be okay.

Another new restaurant for us this year (we did a lot of those. I'm pleased with all of our adventurous branching out). The place was completely mobbed, and we waited for about 15 minutes to be seated. It was, I should mention, very hot very early this day. For the second half of the week, I remember the afternoons as being more pleasant, weather-wise, than the mornings, because the clouds would come out then (sometimes with a shower) and give us a break from the sun. The heat plus the long day the day before were really catching up with Gus, and he was NOT HAPPY about having to wait outside.

I think his allergies were getting to him then, too. Ragweed!

He cheered up as soon as we got inside, though, for this was the morning Gus had been waiting for—time to get some autographs for his autograph book! It took us three tries, but we finally got a kid who's at least sort of into characters!

Hmm...looks like he didn't cheer up IMMEDIATELY. But soon.

Looks like everyone was feeling a little grumpy at first.

Our server came by and offered us juice or coffee, and the chef came out quickly after that (I was always worried that we'd sit around forever waiting for the chef, but they were ALWAYS very quick). He walked the buffet line with us and told us what we could have. I made a list in my notes! There was fruit, cheese, salmon, bacon, potatoes, grits, a frittata (corn, beef, and veggie?), sausage, hardboiled eggs, and scrambled eggs. I might be leaving something out, but that's what I wrote down. He also offered to bring us gluten-free waffles or muffins, and Dave and the kids all wanted waffles.

Ari was, as usual, a bit grumpy at the beginning of the meal, but he brightened up very quickly once he had a giant plate of fruit and cheese and even more when the waffles came out later.

First of two (or maybe even three?) fruit/cheese plates for Ari

The kids really liked Crystal Palace, largely, I think, because of the waffles. I wasn't thrilled with it. If I'm going to eat something that carby, it's not going to be frozen waffles and fake syrup, so I mostly ate, umm, bacon. I tried the eggs, but I guess they were powdered eggs? Anyway, I didn't like them. So I had bacon and some fruit. Which isn't really worth a dining credit (maybe if the bacon had been better!)

But, of course, the main attraction is the characters, and we had a child who was vaguely interested in them this year!

We had kind of bad timing with the characters for this meal. Eeyore came by while we were at the buffet, and we came back to find him already at the table past ours. Piglet was next; he got to the table next to ours, but then got called away for the little parade thing they do. He came back, though, and was followed pretty quickly by Tigger.

Ari and Milo pretend not to be into the characters, but you can tell they secretly love them!

I LOVE this picture of Gus showing off his first autograph

"Tigger's coming! Tigger's coming!"

At this point, though, we were all finished eating, and Pooh and Eeyore were way on the other side of the restaurant. We asked our waitress when she brought out the check, and she offered to take us over to see Pooh and Eeyore on our way out.

So. A split vote on the food, depending on whether the party in question loved the waffles or not (I should note that I have frozen, gluten-free waffles, identical to the ones they serve at the Crystal Palace, in my freezer right now, and the kids are never interested when I offer to make them), but the characters were fun...even if it was a little stressful making sure we got to see them all. I don't know if we'll be back or not....if we do, I'll make sure to get a before the park opens reservation.

Postscript: Gus just walked in, and I asked him what he thought of Crystal Palace. His eyes lit up. “I LOVED it because of my autographs! And because of the sausage; that was SO good!” he told me. Maybe we have to go back...

 

[shan23877]

Love that picture with the Piglet autograph! I hope you framed that one.

 

[BerrysGirl]

The kids came running when I clicked on the video. I thought they were feeling all nostalgic for our trip, but then Ari said, "we should have skipped the dinner package and just watched this Youtube video instead." Uh, I thought he liked it. "It was too bright, and loud, and crowded," he said. Oh well. I liked it.

Bu-bu-but the music... and feeling the mist on your face... and Sorcerer Mickey... and "some imagination, huh?"
Sigh... I do love me some Fantasmic.

And the look on Gus' face when he met Piglet... too cute!

We didn't go to Dollywood but Matt and I went to Gatlinburg this summer. There's a mini TR in my PTR if you want to check it out. We mostly stayed in Gatlinburg but we ate at several awesome restaurants... you could check to see what their gluten free options are?

The crane by the castle is hanging up the Christmas lights if that makes any more forgivable

 

[nadira36]

this will be my first trip in, well, forever, that I don't have a reservation at Crystal palace. Though if they've switched to frozen waffles, then I'm not too upset. I have an issue with paying huge chunks of money for something I can get for cheap at home. Most of the restaurants at least do a mix and make Mickey Waffles. If we don't get Mickey waffles this trip I think the girls will cry!

Love the photos - Cordelia (8 Mos) Piglet She squealed and jumped all over the place when she saw the picture We'll see how she is once we get there.

 

[jcano]

We did Crystal Palace for lunch last visit, and I swore never to return. By the time the chef walked us through the buffet to go over the gf options, the line was a mile long...well...not THAT long, but you get the picture. Finally, time to get in line. I was starving. About the time we were able to see the front of the line, we looked over and realized the characters were almost to our table. The girls were not going to miss that, SO back to the table with no food we go. Did I mention that I was VERY hungry? Somewhere along the way we did get food, but combining gf with a buffet and characters was just WAY too stressful. No plans for Crystal Palace this time...although we do have ADRs for 1900 Park Fair...I never learn....


Sorry...I think your post brought out some repressed memories...

 

[teekathepony]

Looks like a good time at Crystal Palace! Again, great pictures of the kids and characters! I had an early pre-park-opening ADR at CP and it was great, I enjoyed it. Even with no kids, it's fun to meet the characters!

 

[POLY1985]

Awwwwe! I loved the pics of your boys with the characters.

 

[kokotg]

Love that picture with the Piglet autograph! I hope you framed that one.

I need to! I have a 3 or 4 year backlog on actually getting prints of pictures and framing them

Bu-bu-but the music... and feeling the mist on your face... and Sorcerer Mickey... and "some imagination, huh?"
Sigh... I do love me some Fantasmic.

And the look on Gus' face when he met Piglet... too cute!

We didn't go to Dollywood but Matt and I went to Gatlinburg this summer. There's a mini TR in my PTR if you want to check it out. We mostly stayed in Gatlinburg but we ate at several awesome restaurants... you could check to see what their gluten free options are?

The crane by the castle is hanging up the Christmas lights if that makes any more forgivable

Hey, you don't have to tell ME that Fantasmic is awesome...talk to my kids! Ari really hates crowds, so I think that was the main thing for him.

Just went back and read your Gatlinburg TR--thanks! It brings back memories...my family wasn't much for vacations when I was a kid, but we took two Disney trips (which I barely remember) and two Gatlinburg trips. Do they still have airbrushed t-shirt places all over? I think I need to get airbrushed t-shirts for the kids while we're there! They don't have enough kitsch in their lives.

this will be my first trip in, well, forever, that I don't have a reservation at Crystal palace. Though if they've switched to frozen waffles, then I'm not too upset. I have an issue with paying huge chunks of money for something I can get for cheap at home. Most of the restaurants at least do a mix and make Mickey Waffles. If we don't get Mickey waffles this trip I think the girls will cry!

Love the photos - Cordelia (8 Mos) Piglet She squealed and jumped all over the place when she saw the picture We'll see how she is once we get there.

I was bummed that we didn't get Mickey waffles! I was reading justakrazymom's report, and she got the GF Mickey waffles at Tusker House. So we might have to try there next time.

We did Crystal Palace for lunch last visit, and I swore never to return. By the time the chef walked us through the buffet to go over the gf options, the line was a mile long...well...not THAT long, but you get the picture. Finally, time to get in line. I was starving. About the time we were able to see the front of the line, we looked over and realized the characters were almost to our table. The girls were not going to miss that, SO back to the table with no food we go. Did I mention that I was VERY hungry? Somewhere along the way we did get food, but combining gf with a buffet and characters was just WAY too stressful. No plans for Crystal Palace this time...although we do have ADRs for 1900 Park Fair...I never learn....


Sorry...I think your post brought out some repressed memories...

Aw, sorry you had such a bad experience! I've heard really mixed reviews of Crystal Palace w/ food allergies. I could see our experience having been much worse if things had been a little different...like if our server hadn't been great about making sure we got to see all the characters. It also wasn't super crowded by the time we got in there...I guess since we were past the really popular pre-opening time? But, yeah, I'd prefer a breakfast where we could order off the menu--but those are hard to find inside a park or with characters!

Looks like a good time at Crystal Palace! Again, great pictures of the kids and characters! I had an early pre-park-opening ADR at CP and it was great, I enjoyed it. Even with no kids, it's fun to meet the characters!

thanks! Yeah, I think the pre-opening ADR is definitely the way to go. Next time!

Awwwwe! I loved the pics of your boys with the characters.

Thank you!! I was surprised how many came out kind of blurry, given how much light there was in there...but I got some that I really love, too.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Sounds like you all had a great time at CP in the end! I love the pics with Piglet - they turned out really well!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

I have to admit that I'm with them on the whole "could've watched it on YouTube" thing. I am ready to take a break from Fantasmic!

 

[kokotg]

Sounds like you all had a great time at CP in the end! I love the pics with Piglet - they turned out really well!

Thank you!!!

I have to admit that I'm with them on the whole "could've watched it on YouTube" thing. I am ready to take a break from Fantasmic!

LOL! It won't be an every trip thing for us, I don't think...it is kind of more of a hassle to get to than the other nighttime stuff at the other parks, but I'm glad we finally saw it!

 

[kokotg]

Chapter 31: More Magic Kingdom

After breakfast, we proceded to ride a bazillion rides. We went to Fantasyland first, but half of it was closed. Well, Winnie-the-Pooh and the teacups were both closed. The teacups would stay closed for much of the day, but Pooh opened back up soon after. We picked up some fastpasses for Peter Pan first, then headed over to Snow White. We had missed a lot of Fantasyland last year and wanted to make sure we saw it all this year. And this was probably our last chance for Snow White!

Bye, Dopey! See you on ebay when your ride closes!

Next! On to Mickey's Philharmagic:

And then Small World again.

And then Peter Pan, a ride we'd missed last year:

Then we picked up some Pooh fastpasses on our way out of Fantasyland.

On to Tomorrowland!

We went on Carousel of Progress because we LOVE Carousel of Progress:

Then Buzz. Later on, there will be a story about an Awkward Interaction with a Cast Member at Buzz Lightyear. But not today. It was just kind of a regular old Buzz Lightyear ride.

Yes, I used the flash, but the ride hadn't started yet! Honest--we were just leaving the loading area.

While all of this Tomorrowland stuff was going on, Dave and I were trying to arrange a big surprise for the kids. I had heard that Babycakes could deliver desserts to restaurants, and then they'd bring them out after your meal. I thought it would be really cool to surprise the kids with cupcakes that night at 'Ohana, but it was proving hard to find a convenient time for Dave to sneak off and make the call. And Ari had overheard us talking about it and figured the whole thing out more or less anyway, so my surprise was not going at all as planned.

When we got out of Buzz, we were about to go on the Peoplemover when we spotted Chip and Dale, dressed up in their space outfits, and with a very short line! Gus was still on an autograph high after breakfast and was more than willing to wait in line to meet them. This also seemed like the perfect opportunity for Dave to seek out an elusive quiet spot and make a call to Babycakes.

Ari and Milo had no interest at all in meeting Chip and Dale and were kind of impatient about waiting in line, so I sent them off on a very important mission: fastpasses for Space Mountain! Kind of a big deal—the farthest away from a parent they'd ever been at Disney AND I was entrusting them with all of our KTTW cards. But they did fine!

While they were gone, Chip and Dale LEFT! Before we could panic, though, a CM assured us they'd be back in just a few minutes. And they were!

We are all waiting for Chip and Dale. Has Ari just spotted them?! Getting close to the picture limit, so I'll leave the big reveal for the next installment!

 

[kokotg]

Chapter 32: Still at the Magic Kingdom!

They're back!

I really love Chip and Dale, so I guess it's lucky for me that they show up pretty much everywhere you turn at WDW. And for some reason I find their space outfits unbearably adorable. So I was pretty excited to get these pictures, even though we were going to see them, sans space outfits, again the next day at Garden Grill.

Ari was all done being in character pictures for the time being

Dave had mentioned the bathrooms near Space Mountain as a potential quiet spot, and we could use a bathroom break ourselves, or at least some of us could, so we headed that way in hopes of meeting up with Dave. No Dave. He had my phone, so I had no way to get in touch with him. We went back over to where Chip and Dale had been and found Dave looking for us. Apparently we'd just missed each other at the bathroom. No Babycakes! They are not set up to do deliveries yet. This would actually turn out to be a very lucky thing, because our non-Babycakes dessert that night at 'Ohana would be the best of our trip. But more on that later.

Peoplemover! The Peoplemover rocks! (albeit in a calm, serene sort of way). I sort of think of it as the Spaceship Earth of the Magic Kingdom. I could ride it all day long. Maybe one day I will.

Also a nice place to take pictures. What else are you going to do on the Peoplemover?

It can't possibly have been time for our Space Mountain fastpasses yet, but we went there next, so I'm guessing the standby line was short. We never got to spend much time playing with the new games in the queue; we always either used fastpasses or the line didn't back up that far.

Space Mountain penny!

Now back to Fantasyland (where the teacups were still down!) for a quick stop at Winnie-the-Pooh. We had the fastpasses, so we didn't get to see the new queue. Judging by what we saw from the fastpass line, it didn't seem like we were missing much, but I've since seen pictures of it in people's trip reports, and now I kind of wish we'd tried to go through it at some point. It looks really fun! Oh well. Next year.

We stopped in the gift shop and bought a stuffed Goofy for a friend whose second birthday we were missing to go to Disney World (sorry Cormac!).

Dave wasn't feeling hungry at all because he ate a LOT at Crystal Palace (as he always does at buffets. But look how skinny! Not fair!) but the kids and I wanted to eat something, so we decided to stop by Columbia Harbor House and split a couple of the giant chicken finger meals. Only this time they weren't giant! They only gave us three chicken tenders for each meal. On the upside, it wasn't crowded at all, and we didn't wait long at all for the food. We felt like regular people! Regular people without enough chicken fingers.

Oh yeah. Also, Gus wanted a Mickey Bar before lunch.

And then Haunted Mansion again. I mean, it's just right there when you come out of Columbia Harbor House, so how can you not?

Don't we look scared?!

They were supposed to look scared here, too, but the results are...uneven.

Then we tried to get over to Adventure Land, but...what's this? Another bleepin' PARADE!? How can they keep doing this to us? Said the kids. So there was nothing else for it but to sit down and (sulk) watch the parade. I somehow missed getting a picture of the sulking this time, but it happened, believe me.

...and I'll leave it there for now: our poor children TRAPPED, cut off from Adventureland by that nefarious parade!

 

[kokotg]

Chapter 32: A little more MK

I am an updating fool today!

Next: Jungle Cruise. This was the moment when we knew that it really was less crowded than last year: middle of the afternoon and Jungle Cruise was pretty much a walk on. No deceptive line that looks short but then lasts forever!

It still kind of LOOKED like one of those deceptive lines, but no! Those people were really the only people ahead of us. We all got right onto a boat!

We've only ever had one really funny Jungle Cruise skipper, and this wasn't him. Those lines are kind of hard to sell, I think. He was fine, though. We saw him again, two days later, working at one of the candy stops at the Halloween Party. They get around, those Jungle Cruise skippers.

Dave loves even a poorly delivered cheesy Jungle Cruise joke, though!

We had never seen the Tiki Room before (so we missed our chance to see the “Under New Management” version. I hear that we should not be too mournful about this), and we were determined to cross it off the list this year. So we went over there right after Jungle Cruise, but the wait for the next show was fairly long. We wanted to cross it off the list, but we didn't to actually wait for it or anything, so we decided to hit Pirates first and then come back. I like how there's always another ride to do right next door to wherever you are in the Magic Kingdom.

After Pirates, we checked again, and this time it was just a few minutes until the next show. A confusing thing happened, in which Dave walked past a bunch of people to an empty space in the line, pretty close to the doors. I was hanging back, unsure of the etiquette, and he was totally confused by my strange behavior. Turns out, he thought the show was outside in the queue area and that people should just find a place to watch wherever there was space. I'm still not exactly sure if we were really rude to pass a bunch of people...there WAS a big space left open, mysteriously. Maybe the guy next to the big space thought the show was going to be outside, too, and was trying to be near the middle. So confusing! Anyway, since the show is right in the middle of the all the seats and over your head when you get inside, I guess it doesn't make much difference, really, where you were in line outside.

And then THIS guy started talking, so Dave thought he was totally right and this was the show

The Tiki Room was...interesting. Some of the songs are catchy. That is about all I have to say about that. You know what would be really cool? If the tiki bird show was shorter, and it was a pre-show for some really exciting ride. That's what they need to do.

Back to Pop for a break before dinner.

Sleepy Gus

We finally found the shortcut!

Ominous sky. I'm pretty sure it rained while we were taking our break, and then conveniently stopped by the time we left for dinner.

My notes here say, “unsuccessful afternoon break filled with tantrums, fighting, and restlessness. Blame it on the syrup!” I have blocked all memory of this unsuccessful break from my mind, but I guess that's what happened. We switched to real maple syrup at home years ago because I noted the fake stuff makes the kids insane. So, sure—we'll blame it on the syrup.

Up Next: 'Ohana. I talked a lot in my pre-trip about how we've had very mixed luck at 'Ohana...some years wonderful; some years not so much. How was it this year?! Find out soon!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Sounds like a great MK day! Oh no on the surprise not going as planned - hope you still manage it.

Lol I think we did Haunted Mansion straight after our lunch at CHH as well - like you said it's there in front of you!

Oh no on being unable to move due to the parade - am glad you managed to continue and enjoy the afternoon.

 

[teekathepony]

Loving all this updating!!
I love all the pictures of you guys around the Haunted Mansion!
How dare those Disney people put ANOTHER parade on?
We had found the same Pop shortcut!
Can't wait for the next installment!

 

[beebeeryan]

Oh that ominous sky, pretty much looked like that the whole time we were there too. We hit Haunted Mansion every time we came out of CHH too, or every time we walked in that general vicinity. We never had to wait either.

I love how your kids were "trapped" by the parade again.

 

[okw19]

Someone was busy with updates!! What a great day at MK. I love the Haunted Mansion pics, and I agree that Chip and Dale are so cute in their space garb. Can't wait to hear how O'Hana went!

 

[POLY1985]

I got a chuckle out of your two older boys first "alone" journey to get Fastpasses. I remember how nervous I was the first time I let my older son take the younger one to the bathroom. Baby steps.

 

[BerrysGirl]

Just went back and read your Gatlinburg TR--thanks! It brings back memories...my family wasn't much for vacations when I was a kid, but we took two Disney trips (which I barely remember) and two Gatlinburg trips. Do they still have airbrushed t-shirt places all over? I think I need to get airbrushed t-shirts for the kids while we're there! They don't have enough kitsch in their lives.

Oh yes, the airbrushed shirts are still there... basically on every corner. There are lots of options too so you should have fun designing ones for your boys

I can't wait to hear about your O'Hana experience. I've never been and it just looks so tempting. I really hope I get the opportunity to experience it soon!