It's kind of fun to do the impossible - Disney with a 1 month old *new 2/13/15*

[TheMaxRebo]

So glad that you guys enjoyed Hollywood Brown Derby! I see such good reviews for it, so eventually we may give it another try. I wonder if the Crab Spring Rolls were having an off night, because they were delicious when we had them. I agree with you about the grapefruit cake

Sorry about missing your Tower of Terror Fastpass, that is crazy that it took nearly 40 minutes to get seated, with an ADR! I am glad that we were lucky when we went there and only had to wait a few minutes. What a lucky and great surprise that you were able to get appetizers with your package.

We are leaving tomorrow for our trip so I will have to catch up when we get back! Definitely looking forward to reading more!

Food wise we really liked HBD - one of the best meals we have had at Disney. Perhaps I was a bit harsh on the spring rolls - we definitely liked them so don't want to give off the impression we didn't, more just recall the salad being the "star" of that course.

It was a bummer to miss ToT though given that I couldn't talk Olivia into going on it it was never a guarantee we would get on it anyway and Judi and I would have had to just go individually so I was kinda prepared mentally - still disappointed though. Next trip!

Have a great trip! Hope you will do a TR for that one too!

Sorry about the long wait for your ADR and the fact that the entire meal took so long but I'm glad the food was good, and that you got the bonus apps!

Yeah, the wait was far too long I felt and that that ontop of the slowly paced meal just resulted in a lot of park time being taken up. If the food wasn't as good I really would have been annoyed

Bonus apps definitely helped too

OK, I'm going to need from you a list awesome beers in Disney.

I was excited the other day when our supermarket across the street carried a local beer. (DC Brau, Corruption)

Happy to help point out good beer! Let me know if you are looking for best individual beers and where to get them or what beers to get at the restaurants you have selected, etc.

Obviously some good ones in World Showcase - the little cart out front of Canada has some great beers including some Unibroue, even out front of the Americas Pavilion has some nice beers (Bells, etc.)

Some restaurants with good beer lists off the top of my head include California Grill and Raglan Road has a nice bottle list

 

[TheMaxRebo]

40 minutes past your ADR time is ridiculous. Especially when you've got 3 kids to try and entertain. I know it wouldn't be fair to others waiting, but sometimes I wish the hostesses would take into the account that families can only do so much to keep young ones from melting down. Their patience is thin. And if your kids are anything like mine is, they get super grumpy when dinner's late.

That Cobb Salad looks delicious. And hey, who's going to turn down appetizers if the waiter insists?

Kind of disappointing that you had to miss your ToT FP. Not an unheard of situation, but still a bummer. Hopefully you had an awesome view of Fantasmic to make up for it.

And oh my goodness, that gif of Darth Vader and the Stormtroopers dancing is the funniest thing I've seen all morning.

I hear you - plus upset kids make it worse for others waiting. Kids held up ok, but there was very little seating in the waiting area so I was trying to keep them from taking up too much but then they would get tired of standing, etc. just not the best situation.

The salad was great - and I was very glad to hear we got the apps included. Not sure if that is new and everyone gets it or we just got lucky.

Definitely a bummer. Seating at Fantasmic! eventually worked out - but that will get covered in more detail next update.

Glad I could improve your morning. Apparently that is a thing they do at Star Wards weekends so a quick youtube search will reveal other dances. Sometime apparently Darth Vader and Boba Fett have a dance off too:

 

[Marsheliz]

Good review of the restaurant.. I think I mentioned before that my dad enjoys dining there. I definitely can see where you think that it might be more enjoyable as a date night restaurant... When we take our kids to dinner, we normally pick somewhere loud ( LOL) that way- if they are whining and such- no one can hear them...

Oh and with the carrots and celery- Lawson just discovered he likes ranch with his carrots,

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Good review of the restaurant.. I think I mentioned before that my dad enjoys dining there. I definitely can see where you think that it might be more enjoyable as a date night restaurant... When we take our kids to dinner, we normally pick somewhere loud ( LOL) that way- if they are whining and such- no one can hear them...

Oh and with the carrots and celery- Lawson just discovered he likes ranch with his carrots,

Yes - I did recall you saying that your dad enjoyed the HBD, thank you for that!

It wasn't super quiet or anything in there so I wasnn't worried too much about the kids making noise (though, there were definitely some couples/adults only tables - moreso than say, H&V) ... more just the length and kinda slow pace of the meal

yeah! That is Olivia's favorite snack - she can make meals out of it!

 

[geckodani]

I'm sorry your meal took a million years, but it sure looks good!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Oh yeah, Fantasmic is a rough one. Awesome show that I refuse to miss, but the waiting. Ugh. The Fantasmic dining package seems like a nice compromise. You have to eat anyway, right?

That said, a 15 minute wait for a 15 minute wait is not so good. At least you were inside I guess. Small victories.

Of course I have to add, any meal that prompts an Office gif is a plus.

Phil, what does chocolate milk look like (since you refrained from adding any pictures).

Glad you enjoyed the meal, if not the wait.

Ugh, even though I've never attended Star Wars weekends, how could they get rid of the dance off? Scandalous. Thanks for the memories.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Oh Wow!! It looks like your meal was worth the wait!!! Brown Derby is one place we keep saying we are going to try but we never get around to it. We've gotta get there! And uhhhh, I can't wait until I can have a nice drink with my meals again....

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I'm sorry your meal took a million years, but it sure looks good!

It was very good Dani ... really just that wait in the beginning and the slow pace just made the whole thing feel like it took forever!

Oh yeah, Fantasmic is a rough one. Awesome show that I refuse to miss, but the waiting. Ugh. The Fantasmic dining package seems like a nice compromise. You have to eat anyway, right?

That said, a 15 minute wait for a 15 minute wait is not so good. At least you were inside I guess. Small victories.

Of course I have to add, any meal that prompts an Office gif is a plus.

Phil, what does chocolate milk look like (since you refrained from adding any pictures).

Glad you enjoyed the meal, if not the wait.

Ugh, even though I've never attended Star Wars weekends, how could they get rid of the dance off? Scandalous. Thanks for the memories.

I'll get it into the next update but getting seats for Fantasmic! even with the Dining Package wasn't super smooth - did work out in the end though

Sure, happy to post a picture of Chocolate Milk ... not sure if it is available in Canada - though I am sure in Canadia it would be frozen hot chocolate and be awesome.

Also, will pose this query to you:

Definitely messed up they got rid of the dance offs .... at least we will have the memories ... and the video evidence on the internet

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Oh Wow!! It looks like your meal was worth the wait!!! Brown Derby is one place we keep saying we are going to try but we never get around to it. We've gotta get there! And uhhhh, I can't wait until I can have a nice drink with my meals again....

The meal itself was wonderful and the waiter was great - just allow plenty of time

Yes, Judi definitely enjoyed being able to have some adult beverages this trip - we have gone a few times when she was pregnant and definitely not as fun

 

[annie170]

In October, 2012, we had an adr at Mama Melrose. We didn't have the Fantasmic Package, but were offered one by our server. We also received a free appetizer, even though we were on the DDP, which is normally just entree and dessert. It worked out really well and glad you got a free app also.

That cobb salad looks really good! Judi's drink looks interesting, too. Makes we want to try HBD.

 

[JolllyHoliday]

Just found your trip report and I am really enjoying it. Brown Derby is still on my to do list at Disney. Cobb salad looks great and I always wanted to try the grapefruit cake. I give you a lot of credit going to Disney with a one month old ! Your kids are just too cute !

 

[MEK]

3 hours is a bit long from ADR time to finish, especially with kids. Obviously you kids are very well behaved. My kids never would have lasted at that age.

Your food looks yummy. I did not know about the trio. Cute. I booked an F! lunch for February and just couldn't get HBD,which bums me out. So I went with Mama Melrose. But I'd much rather go with HBD.

Curious to see how your seats were!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

In October, 2012, we had an adr at Mama Melrose. We didn't have the Fantasmic Package, but were offered one by our server. We also received a free appetizer, even though we were on the DDP, which is normally just entree and dessert. It worked out really well and glad you got a free app also.

That cobb salad looks really good! Judi's drink looks interesting, too. Makes we want to try HBD.

That's great that it worked out and that your waiter offered the package and got you appetizers too!

Food wise I can 100% recommend HBD - food was excellent and good wine/beer/drink list as well. Just allow some time

Just found your trip report and I am really enjoying it. Brown Derby is still on my to do list at Disney. Cobb salad looks great and I always wanted to try the grapefruit cake. I give you a lot of credit going to Disney with a one month old ! Your kids are just too cute !

Thanks for joining! The salad was really good and the grapefruit cake is definitely worth a try.

In some ways the 1 month old was the easiest Thank you!

3 hours is a bit long from ADR time to finish, especially with kids. Obviously you kids are very well behaved. My kids never would have lasted at that age.

Your food looks yummy. I did not know about the trio. Cute. I booked an F! lunch for February and just couldn't get HBD,which bums me out. So I went with Mama Melrose. But I'd much rather go with HBD.

Curious to see how your seats were!

Well, having the phones helped food usually helps too - especially with Peter, but they did pretty well all things considered.

That's definitely a bummer that you couldn't get HBD - but I've heard good thing about Mama Melrose - hopefully it works for you

 

[DisMom1981]

Sounds like a fab date night but I can't even begin to imagine the nightmare my children would have concocted to ruin it. Lol bad parent.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[ach222]

The HBD meal looked great, but 3 hours is a bit of a tough sell with kids for sure! I would have had a tough time turning down that Grand Mariner flight after dinner!

 

[KatMark]

I would not have been happy about 40 minutes past our ADR. Unfortunately, we were not fans of HBD the one time we went (I think it was 2003 for my husband's 50th birthday). We had terrible service and I had to send my steak back three times before it was cooked right (and there were only three tables in the whole restaurant that were occupied).

And 3 hours total? Wow...I'm impressed that the kids didn't go stir crazy.

By the way, we got an appetizer and dessert at Mama Melrose in June for the Fantasmic package.

I hope to see the Fantasmic update before I leave Friday.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Sounds like a fab date night but I can't even begin to imagine the nightmare my children would have concocted to ruin it. Lol bad parent.

Well, giving them the phones definitely helped. Generally our kids are good in restaurants - we've been working on them for a long time now ... I mean, we still want to eat good food ourselves Given how long it took though we definitely appreciated how well they did.

The HBD meal looked great, but 3 hours is a bit of a tough sell with kids for sure! I would have had a tough time turning down that Grand Mariner flight after dinner!

Yeah, it was a long time for them but they held up quite well!

They did a number of flights - I was tempted by the martini flight to start but opted for the Unibroue instead. I think if it was a real "date" we would have probably gotten the dessert wine flight. I think they had a whiskey one too

I would not have been happy about 40 minutes past our ADR. Unfortunately, we were not fans of HBD the one time we went (I think it was 2003 for my husband's 50th birthday). We had terrible service and I had to send my steak back three times before it was cooked right (and there were only three tables in the whole restaurant that were occupied).

And 3 hours total? Wow...I'm impressed that the kids didn't go stir crazy.

By the way, we got an appetizer and dessert at Mama Melrose in June for the Fantasmic package.

I hope to see the Fantasmic update before I leave Friday.

I do recall you mentioning that you didn't have a good experience there - very sorry to hear that. I have to say that I felt our service was quite good and very pleasant. Given how long it took if we had bad service and had to send food back I definitely would have complained.

Sounds like something must have been off if they weren't crowded and you still had that experience.

They were starting to but they do enjoy their screen time so that helped a lot!

Maybe that is a regular thing now getting the appetizer included - definitely makes it more of a good deal from a $ standpoint. Hope that is the case and I think if we do it again we will try Mama Melrose ... hopefully at least speedwise it will work out!

I hope to get it done tomorrow - trying to find time to put together some mini-videos/animated gifs as I ting I took more video than still pictures of both Fantasmic! and the Fireworks.

 

[schmass]

I'm back from my trip and all caught up on your report!

I agree with review of the Contemporary (well it was Bay Lake Tower for us) – except in a studio there isn’t a huge amount of room. We definitely want to stay there again, but it isn’t a “must” every time.

Cute picture of Peter on your shoulders!

I can’t even imagine how big those diapers must have been on Emma. Rory is 16 months and comfortably in a size 3. That is the worst when you have to buy something you already stocked up on but just forgot to bring!

Wow – 3 hours for dinner at the Brown Derby is a long time! Especially with 3 little ones! Bummer that you missed your ToT FP!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I'm back from my trip and all caught up on your report!

I agree with review of the Contemporary (well it was Bay Lake Tower for us) – except in a studio there isn’t a huge amount of room. We definitely want to stay there again, but it isn’t a “must” every time.

Cute picture of Peter on your shoulders!

I can’t even imagine how big those diapers must have been on Emma. Rory is 16 months and comfortably in a size 3. That is the worst when you have to buy something you already stocked up on but just forgot to bring!

Wow – 3 hours for dinner at the Brown Derby is a long time! Especially with 3 little ones! Bummer that you missed your ToT FP!

Welcome back! I hope you had an amazing trip ... and hope there is a TR to come

The Contemporary was perfect for us this trip and to get to experience the view at least once was awesome ... and, I mean, if someone offered me a room there I definitely wouldn't turn it down - but also would like to check out some other resorts as well.

They were pretty big - despite Judi's daiper origami ... but at least they were clean. Definitely a bummer to have to buy some when there was and entire box of Diapers in the car ... especially knowing we wound up waiting 40 mins for the table and I could have made it to the car and back in that time *sigh*

Definitely sad to have missed ToT but there is always next time - and hopefully by then I can talk Olivia to coming on with me

 

[mattyo]

Love the custom magic bands