Labor Day Weekend Trip 9/1 --> 9/5

[Mouse Skywalker]

We flew down on AirTran, used Magical Express, stayed at the Fort Wilderness cabins, had the Free dining plan.

It was a wonderful trip. The crowds were light and very managable. We used the morning EMH at Magic Kingdom on Friday, and walked onto just about everything in Fantasyland including Philharmagic. We went back to our cabin to rest between 2-4pm. Headed back to Magic Kingdom for dinner at CRT during a downpour, but we had ponchos and we were fine. Dinner at Cindy's was great! Went to EPCOT on Saturday and it rained all afternoon. Still had no trouble with lines or crowds including Soarin'. Sunday we spent all day at MGM. We slept in and got there around 11:00am, and still walked onto everything. We did the Fantasmic dining plan at H&V (our free dining plan didn't pay for this), and were glad we did because Fantasmic was absolutely packed. Glad we had seats. Had planned on staying for the evening EMH at MGM, but it was getting a little crowded and the kids were running out of steam. We ended up leaving around 9:00pm.

OK, meals on the free dining plan:
Thursday evening: 8pm Spirit of Aloha luau at the Polynesian used 2 of our TS credits each. The food was great, the service was great, and our seats were great. Only thing was DD4 and DD7 were getting really tired so we had to leave before the real luau show started. That's OK, the food was good.

Friday (Magic Kingdom):
Breakfast in cabin of cereal and "Princess Pop Tarts"
Lunch - CS at Pecos Bill. Wow, we got a ton of food for this. Our girls did not get kids meal, but got BBQ pork sandwiches. Dessert was a peanut butter brownie mousse which was delicious. Didn't need it, but it was good. I forced myself to only eat 1/2.
Dinner - TS at CRT. Cinderella and Mary Poppins were doing a meet and greet in the waiting area before dinner! My Fillet of beef was excellent! Best meal I had there. Service was great.

Saturday (EPCOT):
Princess Storybook Breakfast at Akershus - we really liked the food, but I could see it might not be for everyone. I thought the potatoes were great, and the sweet rolls were delicious. The service was really, really attentive and good. I enjoyed talking to our server from Norway. Princesses there were Snow White, Jasmine, Belle, Aurora, and Mulan. Belle was especially great with the kids. Talked to our oldest daughter about reading Harry Potter, and even remembered us when we saw her in France in the afternoon.

No lunch - got some snacks along the way, popcorn and Mickey bars

Early CS dinner - @ Cantina de San Angel. My wife and I both got Plato Combinacion. I thought it was fine, but it didn't settle well with my wife and gave her heartburn.

Sunday (MGM Studios):
Breakfast - in room
Lunch - we all split a pizza at Toy Story pizza planet because we had an early dinner for the Fantasmic dinner package.
Dinner - Hollywood & Vine for the Fantasmic dinner package. Very good buffet. We were all impressed with the food on this buffet. I thought the $80 bill was a little high for a buffet, but since I hadn't paid for any other meal all weekend I couldn't complain.

That's all for now. Any questions?

 

[birdiesunshine]

Glad you all had a great time. What kind of food was at the buffet at H&V?

 

[ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!]

Hello!

What time did MGM EMH close on Sunday night?

thank you!

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Let's see, the food on the Hollywood and Vine buffet included: sirloin steak with a very nice sauce, salmon, mashed potatoes that were delicious, some really nice salads and fresh greens. I had a great salad with salmon in it. Our kids had mac and cheese, BBQ meatballs, lots of mashed potatoes, chicken legs, and then they had a huge sundae from the create your own sundae bar.

MGM was open until 11:30pm for the extra magic hours the night we were there (Sunday, 9/4). Fantasmic was at 8:30pm, there was only one show, and it was standing room only.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[PRINCESSDIVA]

How did the vouchers work for Fantasmic? I understand you enter through a different entrance when you have the "voucher." Were the seats good? And also, do you leave with the "crowd" or do you leave the same way you walked in?

Thanks!!!

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Yes, we entered in a different entrance near the gas station. We were actually going in the entrance. The vouchers worked OK. The show was at 8:30pm, and we were told to be there at 8:00pm. We were there by 8:00pm, walked in the entrance near the gas station, but when we arrived at the stadium we were told there were no seats left. They had already opened up all the seats, and only had standing room only left. We went down to where our seats were supposed to be, and found just enough seats on the end of the row. So we were at the farthest rightmost part of the stage. The seats were fine, and we were glad to have seats. We could see the barges come right out in front of us, and had great views of that. And we could see our water screen just fine too. We went out the same way we went in, and it was with everyone else too.