Old, New & Long Lost Friends, with a Side of Frump! FINISHED! DL TR started 1.20.14!

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I bet that view got even better at night time with DTD all lit up! When we stayed at SSR two years ago, we were at the Grandstands and had a great view of the golf course but part of me wished we we had a water/DTD view.

 

[Nermel9]

Hi I'm finally here! (Minnie_ears from twitter! Ugh I wish my DIS name and twitter name were the same! ) Great TR so far! I love your pics of SSR, I've never really wanted to stay there, but the more and more I see it, the more intrigued I become!

I cannot believe that view of DTD! Perfect!

AHHHH new Stacey footage!!! I can't wait to see that when I go to Disney...in 4 DAYS!!!!

Haha, I loved those new locks on the doors too, we had them at POR in November and I was totally amused by them!

 

[marDgreen88]

That is such a cute room! The pillows are PERFECT. Maximus ahhhh! Disney horses are the best.

Great view! I admit that I'm not the biggest fan of DTD... but who cares? Hahah. Still an awesome view and so cool to see Characters in Flight up in the air!

NEW STACEY FOOTAGE?!?!? AHHHHH YAY.

 

[__disneygirl]

I'm here I'm here!!!

Saratoga Springs has never been on my shortlist for resorts I wanna stay in, but I love how quaint it looks but then the West Side is like RIGHT THERE. And the fact that they feature Fox & the Hound in the rooms... omg.

I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE NEW STACEY FOOTAGE IN 53 DAYS!! I refuse to watch it from home.

 

[arbolita]

I bet that view got even better at night time with DTD all lit up! When we stayed at SSR two years ago, we were at the Grandstands and had a great view of the golf course but part of me wished we we had a water/DTD view.

It was! Unfortunately, I don't know if any of my night shots from the room turned out great, but I've only finished editing through Day 2, so maybe I've forgotten about one that I took. Here's hoping!

Hi I'm finally here! (Minnie_ears from twitter! Ugh I wish my DIS name and twitter name were the same! ) Great TR so far! I love your pics of SSR, I've never really wanted to stay there, but the more and more I see it, the more intrigued I become!

I cannot believe that view of DTD! Perfect!

AHHHH new Stacey footage!!! I can't wait to see that when I go to Disney...in 4 DAYS!!!!

Haha, I loved those new locks on the doors too, we had them at POR in November and I was totally amused by them!

Yay, glad you made it over here!! I'm the exact same way about my Dis name and Twitter name being so different. Poor planning on my part, lol.

SSR wasn't on the top of my list either, and the main reason we wound up there was because we made our plans so last minute, it was the only DVC resort with availability for our entire stay. Really happy how everything worked out though!

EEEEE your trip is coming up so soon!! Have a great time!!

That is such a cute room! The pillows are PERFECT. Maximus ahhhh! Disney horses are the best.

Great view! I admit that I'm not the biggest fan of DTD... but who cares? Hahah. Still an awesome view and so cool to see Characters in Flight up in the air!

NEW STACEY FOOTAGE?!?!? AHHHHH YAY.

Right?? I love those pillows. And basically all Disney pillows. I need more beds so I have excuses to buy them.

I'm so happy the screenshots I took with Stacey's new footage aren't too revealing, so you are still spoiler-free!

Oh, and PS - I'm seriously so close to being caught up on your trip report. And I bow down to you for reaching 1000+ posts on your TR - impressive!!

I'm here I'm here!!!

Saratoga Springs has never been on my shortlist for resorts I wanna stay in, but I love how quaint it looks but then the West Side is like RIGHT THERE. And the fact that they feature Fox & the Hound in the rooms... omg.

I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE NEW STACEY FOOTAGE IN 53 DAYS!! I refuse to watch it from home.

YAAAAAAAAAAAY YOU MADE IT!!!

I'm glad I didn't see any of the Stacey footage before my trip either, because it really just made it so much more special watching it for the first time while in Disney. I mean, honestly, is there any better way to start your Disney vacation? I'm also glad she is no longer trying to tell me that American Idol Experience is "new this year!"

Like I said to someone else above, the main reason we wound up at SSR is because it was the only place with availability for our entire week - it definitely wasn't high on my list of places I HAD to stay. I'm so happy with how everything worked out though, and being able to walk to DTD was so nice. I'm always a fan of anything that means I spend less time in Disney waiting for a bus, more time running around Disney.

 

[cheekypoppins]

aew I wanna try characters in flight so bad!!! n wow u hit the jackpot with that view for sure.

 

[arbolita]

aew I wanna try characters in flight so bad!!! n wow u hit the jackpot with that view for sure.

You should definitely try Characters in Flight! We didn't do it on this trip, but we did back in 2010, and it was a blast! We could see Spaceship Earth, Tower of Terror, the Contemporary and a few other Disney resorts.

 

[arbolita]

Chapter 6 - The Best Seat in the House

It was around 12:30 by this point, and other than my Starbucks coffee I did not have anything for breakfast, so I managed to tear myself away from Stacey and make our way to our lunch destination. As soon as I knew we were staying at SSR, I decided that there would be no better way to start our Walt Disney World dining experience than by taking a walk to my absolute favorite Disney restaurant, Raglan Road!

But first I had to get a picture of myself being happy and excited and downright giddy to be back at my favorite place in the world

As you could guess from the view off our balcony, the walking path to Downtown Disney was just on the other side of our building.

Looking back to our building, our room was on the third floor, the balcony in the middle.

The walking path takes you alongside the water way next to Downtown Disney which eventually becomes the Sassagoula River, and goes all the way down to the Port Orleans resorts. If you don't want to walk, SSR does offer a ferryboat and bus transportation to Downtown Disney. However, since our building was one of the closest to the walkway and to Downtown Disney, we walked every time we wanted to go there.

As we were walking, we saw this bird just chilling on a boat that was floating along the river.

All I could think of was Brian Fellow saying "That bird is driving a boat! That bird is CRAZY."

After we arrived at Downtown Disney, our first stop was to World of Disney so we could get Scott a new pair of sunglasses. While we were there, I saw the greatest shirt in the world.

Those of you who saw my very brief attempt at a PTR know that I fell in love with this shirt and I was so excited to finally see it in person! I decided to hold off on getting it then, since we had only just arrived and I wanted to pace myself before buying any souvenirs.

We arrived at Raglan Road almost exactly at 1:00, which happened to be the time for which I made our ADR! What, can I say, I'm good.

Just to the left of the entrance, at the front of the gift shop, they have this display case with some of their packaged sauces/spreads that you can buy and take home with you, along with recipe books from Kevin Dundon, the head chef of the restaurant.

About 2 minutes after checked in, we were taken to our table. We walked through the center of the restaurant (where they have bands and Irish dancers in the evenings), and were taken to a room on the left side of the restaurant.

I am still so excited about what happened next. Ladies and gents, I was finally seated at one of the BEST SEATS IN THE RESTAURANT. And I mean that literally.

These chairs are so incredibly comfortable, and I always crossed my fingers that one would be open for us during one of our visits to Raglan Road. SUCCESS!

As you would guess, the menu at Raglan Road follows an Irish/UK theme

As we waited for them to bring out the bread, I had to recreate a picture my husband took on our first trip here (which you can see in the first post of this trip report!)

The bread on its own is pretty dense and a little dry, but goes perfectly with the dipping sauce that is a mixture of olive oil, Guiness and brown sugar. It is absolutely delicious, and I can taste it now. Mmm...

While we were sitting there, I noticed this on the wall next to Scott.

As soon as I saw it, I started feeling antsy. I'm just a big kid at heart, so when I see a knob that says pull within arm's reach, all I really want to do is pull it. I had an internal debate for about 3 seconds before I couldn't stand it and reached out. I figured if anything bad happened, I would just say I was following instructions! Unfortunately, it was pretty anti-climactic and nothing happened. Oh well. At least I wouldn't spend the rest of my life wondering what might have happened if I had pulled the knob!

We decided to skip appetizers, since we both knew we wanted to have room for dessert. I am a sucker for horseradish, so I ordered the Beefy Brisket -Braised beef brisket on a multigrain roll with carmelized onions and horseradish sauce, and I got a side of onion rings.

The sandwich was good, and the beef was incredibly tender, but the horseradish flavor was much more understated than I was expecting. The onion rings were cut with huge slices of onion, which I loved.

Scott got his usual, the Keen Eye for Shepherd's Pie - We give the traditional Shepherd's Pie (prime beef and lamb) a little makeover with our Contemporary twist to this favorite dish.

What the... SCOTT!

Alright, let's try this one more time.

There we go, much better! Scott loves to tease me about my need to take food pictures. You'd think after all our Disney trips, he'd be used to it by now! He enjoyed the Shepherd's Pie, as usual.

But now, for the main reason we booked this meal...dessert. When the waitress asked if we wanted dessert and I didn't even hesitate before saying yes, we shared a knowing look. "Bread Pudding?" "Bread pudding."

Folks, if you have never had the bread pudding from Raglan Road, I must INSIST that you go there during your next Disney vacation just to try this dessert. It is amazing and will change any preconceived notion you have about bread pudding.

The sauce on the left is a creme anglaise, and the one on the right is a butterscotch sauce.

We decided to split one between the two of us. Although Scott had other ideas - if you look closely in his hand, you can see that he doesn't just have his spoon, he has mine too!

I eventually got my spoon back, and oh my goodness it was as heavenly as I remembered.

While we were eating, they had played two songs in a row by The Pogues. They are an amazing Irish rock band, and they also performed the song that we danced to for our First Dance at our wedding. Being in Disney, sitting in the comfy chairs, eating my bread pudding, listening to one of my favorite bands. Everything about my life was feeling just perfect at that moment, and my heart and mind were exploding trying to comprehend that not only was this my life, but it was also the very beginning of our very first day in Disney. And - SPOILER ALERT - it just kept getting better.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, of course we finished our dessert. Come on.

Continued in Next Post

​

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

That update had me laughing! And what a way to work a Brian Fellows quote in there! Ahhhh, back in the day when Tracy Morgan was still at SNL.

Loved all of your pics at Raglan Road! We have yet to have tried the restaurant. With our young children, it's been hard to find time to visit DTD. Oh heck, who am I kidding - it's mostly my fault because I just want to spend all of our time in the parks! But Raglan Road is one restaurant I've been really wanting to visit.

I would have pulled on that knob as well. I mean, how could anyone resist? And I love the portion size for the "side" of onion rings.

 

[marDgreen88]

Raglan Road looks so pretty! I can't believe they have chairs like that there... so crazy!

Dang... that 'pull' door is just a tease!

The food looks good!!! Although I have to admit, the shepherd pie looks like the stuff in fancy feast commercials...

Aww... what a great first meal!

 

[beachphotog]

Yum, yum, yum! That bread pudding looks amazing!!! I have yet to try any Disney bread pudding (I know, I should be ashamed of myself!)

Your husband seems quite the character! maybe he thought the shepherds pie was camera shy???

Those chairs look so comfy!you really DID have the best seats in the house! And lol, at pulling the knob clearly marked PULL! you had to, I would have done it, tell!!

Sounds like a great start to a fantastic day!

 

[danimaroo]

Man, I am fairly certain we would get along in real life when you're favorite Disney restaurant is Raglan Road! It's ours, too, AND BONUS... The bread pudding is my FAVORITE dessert in all of Disney World. SO GOOD!

Their onion rings are delish! I love their Fish 'n Chips, and also the Lobster Club at lunch is amazingly good.

Also, funny story... During our honeymoon when we went there, we ended up going twice, and the second time we went, they played "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, from one of my all-time favorite movies, Once. Just funny how a Pogues song was played and that was your first dance... "Falling Slowly" was played during our wedding ceremony!

I wish I could go eat at Raglan Road right now! Siiiigh.

 

[Marsheliz]

Man your meal looks great.. It's 10:00 AM here and all I have had today was some cold grits...

cant wait to read more!

 

[cheekypoppins]

*sigh* I love that feeling!!! Disney is definitely the right place for it too!!!I''ve been thinking about trying raglan road but for some reason i always end up picking something else,maybe i'll have to put it on the roster for OCtober.

 

[arbolita]

That update had me laughing! And what a way to work a Brian Fellows quote in there! Ahhhh, back in the day when Tracy Morgan was still at SNL.

Loved all of your pics at Raglan Road! We have yet to have tried the restaurant. With our young children, it's been hard to find time to visit DTD. Oh heck, who am I kidding - it's mostly my fault because I just want to spend all of our time in the parks! But Raglan Road is one restaurant I've been really wanting to visit.

I would have pulled on that knob as well. I mean, how could anyone resist? And I love the portion size for the "side" of onion rings.

Woohoo, I'm glad at least one person heard Tracy Morgan's voice in their head while reading that!

I totally understand about not finding a lot of time for Downtown Disney. I'm the same way about visiting the resorts - there are a lot I've never been to, simply because of how long it takes to get there with the buses, and I'd always rather be hanging out in the Parks. But Raglan Road is so worth a visit!

Raglan Road looks so pretty! I can't believe they have chairs like that there... so crazy!

Dang... that 'pull' door is just a tease!

The food looks good!!! Although I have to admit, the shepherd pie looks like the stuff in fancy feast commercials...

Aww... what a great first meal!

Those chairs are seriously amazing. They need chairs like that at every restaurant, reserved for my visit.

Hahahaha, you are lucky I am not telling Scott what you said about his beloved Shepherd's Pie!

Yum, yum, yum! That bread pudding looks amazing!!! I have yet to try any Disney bread pudding (I know, I should be ashamed of myself!)

Your husband seems quite the character! maybe he thought the shepherds pie was camera shy???

Those chairs look so comfy!you really DID have the best seats in the house! And lol, at pulling the knob clearly marked PULL! you had to, I would have done it, tell!!

Sounds like a great start to a fantastic day!

NEVER HAD DISNEY BREAD PUDDING? WHAT. I am NOT a fan of bread pudding outside of Disney - it never really appeals to me, and the few times I've tried it in other restaurants, it's been underwhelming. But Disney does something to it that makes it amazing. You have to try it at Raglan Road or 'Ohana at some point, they are both so delicious.

 

[arbolita]

Man, I am fairly certain we would get along in real life when you're favorite Disney restaurant is Raglan Road! It's ours, too, AND BONUS... The bread pudding is my FAVORITE dessert in all of Disney World. SO GOOD!

Their onion rings are delish! I love their Fish 'n Chips, and also the Lobster Club at lunch is amazingly good.

Also, funny story... During our honeymoon when we went there, we ended up going twice, and the second time we went, they played "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, from one of my all-time favorite movies, Once. Just funny how a Pogues song was played and that was your first dance... "Falling Slowly" was played during our wedding ceremony!

I wish I could go eat at Raglan Road right now! Siiiigh.

Okay, yes, clearly we would be friends! We also discovered Raglan Road on our honeymoon (although we only went once - too many other ADRs that we didn't want to give up, haha). I love Falling Slowly - I think we may have had it playing during dinner at our wedding.

Man your meal looks great.. It's 10:00 AM here and all I have had today was some cold grits...

cant wait to read more!

LOL I hope you were able to get something better for lunch! I always have the same problem with food pics on DisBoards too - they always make whatever I had just eaten feel completely unsatisfying.

*sigh* I love that feeling!!! Disney is definitely the right place for it too!!!I''ve been thinking about trying raglan road but for some reason i always end up picking something else,maybe i'll have to put it on the roster for OCtober.

That's the thing about Disney - while you're there, so much wonderful things that in real life would be good enough, but while you are in WDW, it elevates everything to another level. Basically I just need to be there all the time.

I hope you're able to add it to your list for October! I really can't recommend it enough!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Love Raglan Road!!! Great choice for your first Disney meal!!

Hahahaha I also would have HAD to pull that knob too. Although, if I had done it, probably every alarm in a 5 mile radius would have gone off or something!

Your lunch there looks really good! OF COURSE you had to get the bread pudding!! Awesome start to your Disney dining!

 

[experiment818]

You have to try it at Raglan Road or 'Ohana at some point, they are both so delicious.

So, the bread pudding at Raglan Road is just as good as 'Ohana's? If that is the case, I will have to try it when we eat there in October!

 

[emilyindisney]

I'd never heard of Raglan Road before your report but it looks good! The food looks tasty and the decor looks homey. It's nice change of pace that you started your trip with a meal rather than rushing out to the parks.

 

[arbolita]

Love Raglan Road!!! Great choice for your first Disney meal!!

Hahahaha I also would have HAD to pull that knob too. Although, if I had done it, probably every alarm in a 5 mile radius would have gone off or something!

Your lunch there looks really good! OF COURSE you had to get the bread pudding!! Awesome start to your Disney dining!

You know, part of me wishes that something crazy HAD happened when I pulled it, simply so I had a better ending to this story!

So, the bread pudding at Raglan Road is just as good as 'Ohana's? If that is the case, I will have to try it when we eat there in October!

Personally, I like it better than 'Ohana's bread pudding!

I'd never heard of Raglan Road before your report but it looks good! The food looks tasty and the decor looks homey. It's nice change of pace that you started your trip with a meal rather than rushing out to the parks.

I'm not too surprised you haven't heard of it - it's over on the Pleasure Island side of Downtown Disney, and there's not really much else there at the moment.

I was glad we started out our trip with a relaxing lunch too! We've gone pretty consistently every year since 2009, so by this point I feel confident know that if there's something we can't fit in on this trip, I know there will be another one coming up!