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

[teekathepony]

We were in 7246 and 7247...very close! That would have been so funny if we'd had the same room!

Ohh so close!

I'm always amazed when people post their scores in TRs, at how high they are. Mine is not so high.
- I can hardly break 100,000! I'm terrible, but I have fun!

When I asked if he wanted to get autographs from Phineas and Ferb (he is a big fan of the show), he was uninterested. “I only want autographs from more important characters,” he explained, “the ones who have films, not just episodes.” Alrighty then.
-Hilarious, he sounds like quite a little character!

Look at Ari, reading about Disney stuff. So grown up!
-THAT is an amazing shot! I love those candids.

They are Epic Mickey fans.
-Me too!

As for me...I was sort of bored out of my mind. I couldn't understand the incredibly rapid explanations about what was going on, either, but I didn't really care, because there are few things I'm less interested in than how they film car chase scenes in movies. One of those few things might be the actual car chase scenes in movies. Not my thing. At all.
-I'm with you 100%!
I like the Great Movie Ride, but I'm a little tired of it. And how come we never get the cowboy? Does anyone ever get the cowboy?
-I've never seen the cowboy either

Great update! I love that you have lots of pictures of your boys. Every trip I say to myself that I'm going to get more pictures of the people on the trip but I never quite manage to do it.

 

[kokotg]

Great update! I love that you have lots of pictures of your boys. Every trip I say to myself that I'm going to get more pictures of the people on the trip but I never quite manage to do it.

Thanks! they were pretty tired of me and my camera by the end of the trip! ah well--it's the price they have to pay for getting to go to Disney

 

[beebeeryan]

OH my goodness, so funny about the kids and the afternoon parades. I love your picture captions! My kids are not really into them either, we would never be able to stake out a spot and sit and wait, we catch them in passing if we are still even in the parks, by 3pm it's usually pool time. They could care less about parades. We haven't seen the DHS parade yet, never been there that late. We have seen the MK one in passing, stop to look while walking sort of thing. We did watch the AK one last year, but it was by accident, we were trying to leave and got blocked in by the parade. Had no choice. LOL I forced them to stake out a spot for the nighttime Electrical parade though. They did like that one.

 

[kokotg]

OH my goodness, so funny about the kids and the afternoon parades. I love your picture captions! My kids are not really into them either, we would never be able to stake out a spot and sit and wait, we catch them in passing if we are still even in the parks, by 3pm it's usually pool time. They could care less about parades. We haven't seen the DHS parade yet, never been there that late. We have seen the MK one in passing, stop to look while walking sort of thing. We did watch the AK one last year, but it was by accident, we were trying to leave and got blocked in by the parade. Had no choice. LOL I forced them to stake out a spot for the nighttime Electrical parade though. They did like that one.

I'm glad my kids have so much company in their parade dislike . I suspect I could get them to watch more of them if we were there in cooler weather, but unless Dave wants to quit his pesky teaching job we're pretty well stuck with September. We missed the Electrical parade this year...it came down to that or the Halloween party, I think--next year I'm going to make it a priority.

 

[PrincessCharlie]

All caught up, great trip report!

I've havn't even heard of Babycakes before but I'll have to try it now, those cinnamon buns looks yummy. Well done for trying to be gluten free! I'm doing low carb right now, and it is so hard not to eat bread! Theres nothing worse then seeing someone tucking into a nice piece of freshly baked white bread. I've gone to a bit of a food trance thinking about it

It does seem like a lot of food when your writing a report, but at the time your just so hungry. I've never been hungrier then when I'm at Disney!

My bf is the same with parades, he loathes them and especially dislikes the day time ones. He just about puts up with night time ones because he has to... there is no way I'm missing them!

 

[kokotg]

All caught up, great trip report!

I've havn't even heard of Babycakes before but I'll have to try it now, those cinnamon buns looks yummy. Well done for trying to be gluten free! I'm doing low carb right now, and it is so hard not to eat bread! Theres nothing worse then seeing someone tucking into a nice piece of freshly baked white bread. I've gone to a bit of a food trance thinking about it

It does seem like a lot of food when your writing a report, but at the time your just so hungry. I've never been hungrier then when I'm at Disney!

My bf is the same with parades, he loathes them and especially dislikes the day time ones. He just about puts up with night time ones because he has to... there is no way I'm missing them!

Thanks for reading!

After a summer of potatoes, I'm trying to cut carbs way back again this week...I know I'll be fine in a couple of days, but right now I could really go for...anything with sugar or starch in it! A big bowl of plain rice sounds amazing at the moment . Or maybe one of those cinnamon rolls from Babycakes. Mmmm.....

 

[kokotg]

Chapter 25: Mama Melrose

We got to Mama Melrose to find the lobby completely packed with other people eager to eat dinner at 3:40. The CMs at the podium were a little...harried and clearly not in good moods. They seated a party of 23 right after we got there, though, and that cleared out the congestion a good bit.

We were seated after about 10 minutes. Mama Melrose was another new to us restaurant for this trip. Our server took our drink orders and the chef showed up to talk to us while she was doing that...so super quick. He asked us, “what do you feel like eating?” and told us that they could customize stuff for us because all the sauces and everything were made in house.

I ordered the strip steak. From reading the menu online earlier, I was expecting this to come with potatoes. But when we got there I found that macaroni and cheese had replaces the potatoes on the menu. The chef told me they could do a gluten free macaroni and cheese, but I asked to have rice pasta and marinara sauce subbed in for that. I was thinking a gluten-free mac and cheese thrown together right then might not be the greatest thing ever. Though who knows? It might have been awesome.

Dave ordered the tuna, and this was gluten free with no changes needed. The kids all ordered chicken parmesan.

The chef was telling us that they would grill the chicken for the chicken parmesan, and Dave said, “are you sure we have time for that? We have a show to get to later.” I had no idea what he was talking about. Was he really confused about when Fantasmic happened? Was he trying to make a joke?

“Are you joking?” I asked.

“Yeah, I am,” he assured me. The chef looked mildly confused, but recovered well. As soon as he left, I turned back to Dave. I thought maybe he'd been hit on the head recently when I wasn't watching or something. Or maybe I'd been overestimating his sense of humor all these years.

“What were you talking about?” I asked.

“You know—I was just making a joke...because he said they'd grow the chicken here....”

“GRILL the chicken!” I corrected him.

“Oh.” Dave felt very silly now. “That makes more sense,” he said. Too bad we couldn't explain the situation to the chef, so that he wouldn't need to go on feeling like there was something a little off about Dave for the rest of our meal.

Food!

We got appetizers, since they come with the Fantasmic package. Dave got the minestrone (I think it's supposed to have pasta in it, and they left it out of his), and Ari and I both ordered the mozzarella and tomatoes...and we both didn't care for it and gave it to Dave. Who did his best to eat a lot of it. And of course there were more Ener-G rolls. They brought out olive oil to dip these in, but I didn't like the flavor of this particular olive oil.

Really terrible picture of the mozzarella and tomatoes. I guess it was just too much white for my camera to handle without some additional direction. Which I failed to provide.

My steak was good. I had a lot of Disney steak this year, and I was invariably impressed with it, which has definitely NOT been my experience with Disney steaks in years past. The pasta was surprisingly good, too. Actually, oddly, I'm not sure I had ever had rice pasta before. The kids have it pretty much every week, but I try to keep carbs down, so I guess I've always had an alternative dinner. Anyway, it didn't taste much different from regular pasta, and I liked the sauce.

Dave liked the tuna fine, but was not blown away by it. The kids all enjoyed the chicken parm. Unless I'm forgetting something, this meal was something of a turning point for Ari and his food-related grumpiness. I don't remember any more big meltdowns and, in fact, I think he stayed pretty positive after this for the most part.

I don't have a picture of the desserts, but I believe we all ordered gelato and that it was yummy.

 

[fromscratchmom]

hmm, I've been hearing a lot of good things about Disney steak lately and I do love a good steak. yum.

 

[kokotg]

hmm, I've been hearing a lot of good things about Disney steak lately and I do love a good steak. yum.

I remember going to Concourse Steakhouse a few years ago (back when it still existed), having read some good reviews, and thinking the steak was like something you'd get at the Sizzler. So I don't know if I just got lucky this year or if the steaks have actually improved, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised a few times.

 

[MegRose1107]

LOVING your trip report!! I've told my DBF that we have to try Babycakes when we go to WDW next month! You guys have inspired me to go gluten free too!

 

[nadira36]

We enjoy the parades, however, we don't seek them out. If we happen to run into one, then we watch. The exemption being the MNSSHP & MVMCP parades - for those we stake out a space.

Their GF mac & cheese would have likely been pretty good. The sauce takes seconds to prepare and the pasta's no different from one GF to the next - that being said - I prefer marinara.

We love epic Mickey - and the kids costumes sound like they'll be awesome. Did they get the ideas from the game, or did they know Oswald and classic Mickey from other places?

In TGMR which cowboy are you talking about? I'm not sure if it's that I've never had the cowboy and didn't realize it - or if we've always had a cowboy and didn't realize he wasn't always there. But it's been a few years since I rode since next trip will be the first time since '07 that we'll be at HWS.

I'm getting really excited for our trip now! Thanks so much

 

[jcano]

Waiting for a child's blood sugar to come back up and catching up on your report.

Feeling for Ari. GF can be a pain sometimes.

That said...Disney is the only vacation that we have been on since going GF where my overwhelming concern WASN'T "What in the world are they going to eat??" Let's just say the beach with gf and fish and shellfish allergies is just no fun. My idea of vacation is not going somewhere and having to cook for the week.

Headed back to Disney in December. The girls have been eagerly checking out menus, and Babycakes is one of the first places we are heading to. You're making my mouth water for cinnamon rolls...mmmm

Good to know those gf chicken tenders pop up in a few different places. I have to agree on the Against the Grain pizza being much better than Amy's. My theory is that Disney has been carrying these gf brands for a long time...back when they were the only option. I'm hopeful that some of the newer, better tasting brands start showing up at Mickey's eventually. Udi's or Glutino's new Genius bread is SOOO much better than anything by Ener-G, but I am thankful for what they DO offer. They do a much better job at gf than most places.

 

[kokotg]

LOVING your trip report!! I've told my DBF that we have to try Babycakes when we go to WDW next month! You guys have inspired me to go gluten free too!

thanks! Hope you love Babycakes...I've been wishing we had one down the street lately--yum!

We enjoy the parades, however, we don't seek them out. If we happen to run into one, then we watch. The exemption being the MNSSHP & MVMCP parades - for those we stake out a space.

Their GF mac & cheese would have likely been pretty good. The sauce takes seconds to prepare and the pasta's no different from one GF to the next - that being said - I prefer marinara.

We love epic Mickey - and the kids costumes sound like they'll be awesome. Did they get the ideas from the game, or did they know Oswald and classic Mickey from other places?

In TGMR which cowboy are you talking about? I'm not sure if it's that I've never had the cowboy and didn't realize it - or if we've always had a cowboy and didn't realize he wasn't always there. But it's been a few years since I rode since next trip will be the first time since '07 that we'll be at HWS.

I'm getting really excited for our trip now! Thanks so much

We have a DVD of old Mickey cartoons, so they were pretty familiar with him, but, no, I don't think they'd heard of Oswald (and I hadn't either!) before Epic Mickey.

In TGMR, we always have gotten the gangster as the guy who hijacks our vehicle...word is sometimes it's the gangster and sometimes it's a cowboy in the next scene instead. Maybe the cowboy used to be more common? It seems like these days I only hear about people getting the gangster

Waiting for a child's blood sugar to come back up and catching up on your report.

Feeling for Ari. GF can be a pain sometimes.

That said...Disney is the only vacation that we have been on since going GF where my overwhelming concern WASN'T "What in the world are they going to eat??" Let's just say the beach with gf and fish and shellfish allergies is just no fun. My idea of vacation is not going somewhere and having to cook for the week.

Headed back to Disney in December. The girls have been eagerly checking out menus, and Babycakes is one of the first places we are heading to. You're making my mouth water for cinnamon rolls...mmmm

Good to know those gf chicken tenders pop up in a few different places. I have to agree on the Against the Grain pizza being much better than Amy's. My theory is that Disney has been carrying these gf brands for a long time...back when they were the only option. I'm hopeful that some of the newer, better tasting brands start showing up at Mickey's eventually. Udi's or Glutino's new Genius bread is SOOO much better than anything by Ener-G, but I am thankful for what they DO offer. They do a much better job at gf than most places.

That's a good point...they probably have good contracts with the vendors they use now, too, and it'd be a lot of trouble to change. My kids would LOVE it if they'd use Udi's pizza crusts, and those aren't too expensive (although since they eat them all the time at home, it wouldn't be very exciting, either ). But, yes, overall they were GREAT about the gluten stuff.

 

[fromscratchmom]

I'm awfully glad to hear that Ari's attitude about the food improved. I'm sure that made things better overall for you. My kids have had a hard road of it to. I think more so because my husband wasn't on board 100% at first. Since I am the one who has been told by a doctor to avoid gluten he was on board with making our home gluten free to help me avoid cross-contamination but not with making him and the kids gluten free when not at home. I find it frustrating wondering if they would benefit or not, but even on a different level... so much of taste is totally about what you are used to and how you have trained your taste buds. It has been so long since I have had regular gluten-full foods that now more of the alternatives are appealing whereas he and the kids will indulge and keep themselves loving and craving those things. I really think the kids would be a more likely to be content and able to make wise food choices and evaluate things like that calmly if the kids had just gone gluten free with he and I both treating it as a matter of course for a year or two.

 

[kokotg]

I'm awfully glad to hear that Ari's attitude about the food improved. I'm sure that made things better overall for you. My kids have had a hard road of it to. I think more so because my husband wasn't on board 100% at first. Since I am the one who has been told by a doctor to avoid gluten he was on board with making our home gluten free to help me avoid cross-contamination but not with making him and the kids gluten free when not at home. I find it frustrating wondering if they would benefit or not, but even on a different level... so much of taste is totally about what you are used to and how you have trained your taste buds. It has been so long since I have had regular gluten-full foods that now more of the alternatives are appealing whereas he and the kids will indulge and keep themselves loving and craving those things. I really think the kids would be a more likely to be content and able to make wise food choices and evaluate things like that calmly if the kids had just gone gluten free with he and I both treating it as a matter of course for a year or two.

Yeah, once you get used to it it the downside really is all in convenience and not so much in taste. Ari only remembers to complain about it when we go somewhere; at home there's just nothing with gluten in it, so he doesn't really think about it. It's too bad your DH isn't on board--that makes it harder! I think mine is just humoring me sometimes...but at least he's still humoring me for now

 

[kokotg]

Chapter 26: Still Tuesday, still Hollywood Studios!

Two longish meals in the middle of the day were making our marathon Hollywood Studios trip pretty easy. Everyone was holding up fine.

More Star Tours! This was our best ride yet; we all thought so, though I don't really remember why. We got a Darth Vader intro, which was new and exciting. So we went on it again. Darth again! It wasn't as exciting this time; Darth was old news now.

Now all the way to the other side of the park for Rock n' Roller Coaster. Last year, when Gus wasn't tall enough for it, the CM who measured him had given him a fast pass for our family to use whenever he finally hit 48”. We hadn't needed it that morning, so we still had it and were ready to redeem it (Dave had had it in his wallet for an entire year). They don't actually take it; they put a date on it to show you've used it then give you regular fastpasses and let you keep that one for a souvenir:

Then Ari and I peeled off to go do Tower of Terror again while Dave and the other kids took one more Rock n' Roller Coaster ride. Ari and I actually encountered a line for Tower of Terror, albeit a short one (maybe 15 minutes?)...I don't know that I've ever waited in a real line for TOT before. We always go right into the area outside the pre-show room. Somewhere in here we picked up RnRC fastpasses to use later, if we had time. This was, it turns out, a mistake. More on that later.

Finally! Ari cooperated with my funny picture requests!

What are these other people doing here?

Next on the agenda (for we did have an agenda, if only a vague one) was the last show of American Idol. We saw American Idol once last year, but not the very last show of the day. We were very excited to see all the best talent of the whole day showcased for us.

We got there maybe 5 minutes before they let people into the theater. Outside, there was a CM chatting amiably with some people by the doors closest to the back of the theater. When they opened up the doors, he turned into a bouncer whose job it was to tell everyone they couldn't use that door. Some of the people thought he was kidding. “No, I'm serious. That's why they make me stand here,” he said. Kind of a mean trick—making everyone think he's just there to be friendly, but then he's really a security force. Turns out, as far as we could tell, they didn't want anyone going in those doors because there weren't going to be enough people to fill up the whole theater, and they wanted the first rows all the way filled in. To look good for the cameras.

We sat down, and some women next to us started chatting with Gus about how to use the buttons on the arm rests—the one you use to cast your vote. Gus loved getting to be all knowledgeable because he vaguely remembered having pushed the buttons the year before.

It IS more exciting seeing the last show of the day...they make a really big deal out of the prize (an automatic in to see the judges at an American Idol audition), and the judges seem to take the whole thing a little more seriously than they do for the earlier shows (or at least the one we saw). We had a split vote in our family; the girl Ari and...someone else (Milo?) voted for won.

By the time we got out, we had determined that we did not, in fact, have time to go on Rock n' Roller Coaster before Fantasmic. We were supposed to be there at 8 (for the 8:30 show), and it was already around a quarter til, and we all needed to go to the bathroom still. This made Gus very sad. And by sad, I mean, full of rage. Long day, you'll remember.

Can you tell which child was in a really bad mood about not getting to ride Rock n' Roller Coaster again?

But he got over it eventually, and we made our way to our super special dinner package entrance:

We sat down in our special section, which was not very full when we got there, but filled in quickly after that, and then Dave took off to get some popcorns and drinks for everyone.

This was at about 8:15...so those people way on the other side of the theater are showing up 15 minutes after us, without dinner package seating...and getting pretty much exactly the same view as us. Good to know!

We'd never seen Fantasmic before. First the kids had been too young to stay out so late, then last year it was only happening a couple of times a week, which made scheduling tricky. We almost didn't do it again this year, until they changed the schedule so that it was happening every night.

We really enjoyed it! Dave immediately decided that his new Disney dream job was the Mickey who gets to stand up on top of the mountain. “I thought you wanted to be a tumble monkey in the Lion King?” I said. But, no, Fantasia Mickey wins. I was a little worried about Gus during the scary parts, but he handled it all just fine.

As were were walking back to our car, I spotted one of the women from the American Idol final standing at the bus stop! I'm glad she hasn't let the fame go to her head, and she can still wait for a bus like regular people.

We were back to Pop AND had the kids in bed by 9:40! We rock! And it was a good thing, too, because I full intended to get us all up for rope drop at Magic Kingdom the next day.

 

[Mombits]

Yay, Ari got his pasta!!!

 

[okw19]

Wow, what a day! Great updates!

 

[kokotg]

Yay, Ari got his pasta!!!

Mama Melrose to the rescue

Wow, what a day! Great updates!

thanks! It was a very long day...I think it's good it came in the middle of the trip; by the end I doubt we could have handled it!

 

[BerrysGirl]

I know it isn't everyone's favorite but I love Fantasmic! I use to think it was even better than Illuminations (but now Illuminations holds sentimental value as the first thing DBF and I ever did at WDW together). Whenever I need a little dose of pixie dust I watch this video. If Fantasmic's involved, I can cry at the drop of a hat!