Ooh-de-lally! A dining heavy October '13 Trip Report *update 2/23-We're Going Back!*

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 5 - Part 1: Winter Summerland ... Let's hit the links!​

As mentioned in my last post, today was another off day for us ... but it definitely mean we didn't do anything.

I had never really considered playing the Walt Disney Miniature Golf courses - though we have done the Pirate Cove-type ones in the past. However, in reading another trip report on the DIS (FauntleroyFAN07's Surprised the kids, wife, and my readers w/ a 2 week trip to AoA!) and seeing the good time they had at the Winter Summerland course I floated the idea to the family as an activity for our off day and everyone seemed up for it ... especially Olivia who could not wait.

So after some breakfast in the timeshare, that is were we were off to for our first activity that day:

Note surprisingly, the detail in the theming here is phenomenal:

We had one big decision to make - which course to do: Winterland or Summerland? - and we left it up to Olivia .... and she of course changed her mind about 17 times including when we were actually paying - the CM had to change the bill twice. Ultimately we settled on Winterland, which I was glad about as it seemed very creative.

Peter had a ton of fun playing with Grand Dad - so you will see them together a lot in the pictures. He actually did really well for about the first dozen holes but then got tired - so not sure how accurate his final score was


Olivia of course never turned down a chance to pose:

Definitely some creative holes - with those at the start involving winter camping themes and then shifted to snow and ice themes where the "greens" were actually blue to represent ice

Towards the end of this section they had a snowman that squirts water at you - my kids can't get enough of water sprayer things and loved this.

They also loved one where your ball was carried up a spiral inside a striped pole:

Towards the end you wind up "inside" where the theming shifts to be more around gifts and candy and other holiday related things.

The last whole is a computer (probably need to update this to be tablets or something from this decade) where after you hit the ball into the whole you get a video message from Santa.

Overall we had a ton of fun and would definitely do it again. Actually, Olivia keeps bugging us to go play minature golf again, but a tad cold nowadays up where we live. In case you were interested, the cost was $14 per adult and $12 / child (with Peter being free) - so not too bad.

Next we headed to Down Town Disney for some food and shopping

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 5 - Part 2: TDT ... Lunch at Raglan Road​

We went right over to Down Town Disney and actually found an area of the parking lot that had spots

First stop was for some free chocolate at Ghirardelli:

We then walked over towards Raglan Road and took in the sites:

Love these sheep:

We arrived at Raglan Road a few minutes before our reservation and Olivia really wanted to sit outside. We were concerned as it was a bit overcast, but the staff there said they had checked with the weather authorities a few times and assured us that no rain should come - they were right, and it was actually really nice to sit outside.

We were seated at a nice round table and started to peruse the lunch menu while Peter screamed about having to be in a high chair ... at least until any food came.

And of course, checked out the drink menus. I was actually really impressed by their craft beer list - good stuff from good breweries.

I opted for the Four Provinces Beer Flight - though they were out of one of them and substituted the Magner's Cider. Can't go wrong with some Irish beer - all were good and refreshing!

Judi went for the Jai'Gail Sangria (basically, Cider Sangria). She loved this (actually wound up getting a 2nd and Kathy tried it and wound up ordering one for herself as well). I tried it too and enjoyed it greatly. Super crisp and fruity enough without being too much.

From where we were sitting we had a pretty good view:

Then the bread service came, which is an Irish brown bread served with a Guinness reduction. We love this - look forward to it every trip. The bread itself is a little dry but when combined with the Guinness reduction it is great!

For appetizers we split:

Scallop Forrest: Georges Bank Scallops in a golden batter served with citrus lime dipping sauce & sweet chili jam.

Crock o’ Pate: Our crock of rustic chicken liver pate served with an apricot chutney and a berry compote.

This was our first time having the scallops and they were pretty good. Cooked well - though on their own not a ton of flavors. Came with two sauces (a cocktail sauce and a garlic sauce) - using those helped, especially the garlic one.

As for the pate: This is simply one of our favorite things in all of WDW. Just so rich but with enough fruit chutney and compote to cut it. Only thing we would change is that the crostinis are too hard ... a little bit softer would be appreciated it (just in case Mr. Raglan is reading this).


The kids got meals that are pretty typical for them: Olivia got steak and Peter got fish:

Silly Steak: 5 oz steak with an onion ring garnish

Atlantic Fish: Fresh Atlantic fish deep in a crispy batter.

I was pretty impressed with both of these - definitely not "dumbed down" or anything and of decent size. Peter's fish was especially good. They both did fairly well eating as well which was nice. Overall I liked their kids menu a lot - quite a few options and while they do have some of the basics, some other offerings as well to help mix it up.


For the rest of us:

Sunday's Beefy Best: Roast ribeye of beef sliced and topped with horseradish cream, Dalkey mustard dressing with crispy lettuce on a crusty baguette.

Bob got this and thought it was really good. He is a fan of horseradish and was happy with the level of sauce it came with.

Go (at) Fig (ure): Irish goats cheese terrine made with sauteed garlic, shallots, shiitake mushrooms in a herb breadcrumb crust served with a fig jam, roasted beets & toasted walnuts with mixed greens. (wow, they really had to force this name word-play)

Judi got this and thought it was good, but not the best. The breaded goat cheese was pretty strong and everything was just kinda separate - didn't blend together as much as it could.

Schnitzel Savvy: Breaded and seared ham schnitzel with smoked bacon baked beans, a fried egg & chips

I had this - thought I would mix it up a bit and go for something I hadn't seen reviewed much. I actually really liked this - only negative was that the egg was cooked a bit too much so the yoke didn't really ooze out. Also, it was huge - only ate a bit more than half of it

Burger ‘R’ Way: Char grilled sirloin beef burger with bacon, tomato chutney & Dubliner vintage cheddar.

Kathy got this and thought it was really good. Again, a little different than a regular ol' burger.


Around this time I also needed another beer and tried the

Guinness Foreign Extra Stout: One serious stout!!! A bold, premium, full bodied craft beer from Guinness.

This is the first time I had had this particular beer and it was really good. Nice, big, dark stout with tons of flavor without being too, too heavy. It is C02 carbonated, not Nitro like your standard Guinness so it definitely has a different quality. Also, at 7.7% alcohol, a bit stronger.


It was also around this time that Peter tried to escape ...

.... so Grand Dad went after him and they walked around while we waited for dessert to come out, which was:

Ger’s Bread & Butter Pudding: Like no other pudding you have ever tried.
Believe us.

This is one of those desserts we just have to make room for and cannot come here and not get it. We love it that much. It's definitely right up there with 'Ohanas (sacrilege to say, but I might put it even higher). Plus it is huge - more than enough for all of us to have some.

This is one persons portion (we all got about this much):

We then paid the bill. Using TIW we saved another $37.20, brining the total savings (including AP savings) to $339.59

next ..... SHOPPING!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 5 - Part 3: TDT ... Shopping​

We then went around shopping a bit in DTD.

I saw these cool HM themed wine glasses:

as well as some neat Halloween themed ornaments. I am a huge fan of when Characters dress up as other characters - so the idea of a Christmas Ornament of a Mickey head dressed up as a mummy excited me (too bad these Mickey ear ornaments are so pricey - a lot of neat ones):

We always get an ornament with the year on it as a reminder of the trip and as a fun souvenir. We found a ton that we liked this year and ultimately decided to get two - the red, yellow & green striped one and the blue one:

The McNamees had showed up at DTD around this time and we agreed to meet at the Lego store. But first Olivia had to get properly dressed:

She had a ton of fun building and then racing the lego race cars out front of the store:

After some building fun we went into The World Of Disney.... where we spent way too much time and actually lost Judi's mom at one point in the crowds/scale of store.

As previously mentioned, Disney characters dressed up as other characters amuse me to no end:

Olivia wound up getting an Ariel doll (which we lost somewhere inbetween Disney and home - not sure what happened) and Peter got a Toy Story Soccer ball that you can see here:

Olivia really wanted a temporary tattoo so she got a super neat princess one (that did last for quite a while, I must say). We then went over to the carousel for a ride (you can see the tattoo in the first pic):

After that we decided to head back to the hotel to rest a bit and get changed for our big group dinner that night. We arrived to this nice surprise from the cleaning staff:

Oh, I won't count what we saved at World of Disney towards the TIW/AP savings b/c we would have saved that using the Disney Visa card anyway, but we did save $10.18 there.


Up next - the meal I was probably the most nervous about due to setting high expectations to everyone but hearing not so great reviews prior to our trip.

 

[khaleesi]

That mini golf course looks so fun!! I've never seen Fastasmic and I'm looking forward to fixing that

 

[TheMaxRebo]

That mini golf course looks so fun!! I've never seen Fastasmic and I'm looking forward to fixing that

the mini-golf was fun - definitely a good "down day" activity.

If you can, definitely see Fantasmic! - great show!

 

[spiritsim]

First off I have to say I love mini golf and that course looks like a ton of fun. the food looks great, those scallops made my tummy grumble, And the Christmas onaments are really cute how could you pick just 2?

 

[missangelalexis]

Glad you guys tried the mini golf and enjoyed it! I love mini-golf myself, so maybe it is something I will consider for a future trip! I definitely would've picked the same course too

Yum, Raglan Road

Sounds like a good day at DTD Love the ornaments you picked out too!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

First off I have to say I love mini golf and that course looks like a ton of fun. the food looks great, those scallops made my tummy grumble, And the Christmas onaments are really cute how could you pick just 2?

The course definitely was a ton of fun. It isn't the fanciest/craziest type course - definitely more like a Disney-fied traditional mini-golf course vs. like those Pirate Cove giant mountain courses but worked great for our family.

We love Raglan Road - I do see some mixed reviews on the DISboard but we have always had consistently great meals. One year we did ask for our table to be moved as we were right by the stage and had an infant with us - but they accommodated that no problem.

I love the tradition we have of buying an ornament from a trip each year (we do that even "off" years where we go somewhere other than Disney and glad that we figured out at the Christmas Store at DTD they have some ornaments that are "pre-personalized" with the year on them so we don't have to get just the standard dated ornament (which, to be honest, we weren't to crazy about this years)

Glad you guys tried the mini golf and enjoyed it! I love mini-golf myself, so maybe it is something I will consider for a future trip! I definitely would've picked the same course too

Yum, Raglan Road

Sounds like a good day at DTD Love the ornaments you picked out too!

If you have some downtime and just want to try something different - give the mini-golf a try - we had a ton of fun!

Agree with your "um" regarding Raglan Road

We did have a good day at DTD - feels like we always loose track of time there though as we thought we would have more time to rest back at the resort before dinner that night than we wound up having.

speaking of which ... part I of that dinner review is coming up shortly

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 5 - Part 4: California Grill ... Dinner Part I​

After a (very) brief rest back at the resort, we all got dressed for our "fancy" group dinner that night at the newly refurbished California Grill. We loaded up the cars and headed here:

Now, before I get into the review I must say that this was probably the ADR I was most nervous about. Two trips ago Judi and I had our "date night" there and basically fell in love with the restaurant and then last trip we included Olivia and Judi's mom as well and had another great meal.

Then the renovations finished and the reviews coming in were, let's say, less than stellar. Prior to these reviews I had really been talking this place up to the McNamees and I was very fearful that they would not be so happy if dinner turned out to be bad.

Well, I don't know if we just got lucky or if they are improving their game but I can say we had an absolutely wonderful meal that far exceeded my (albeit lowered) expectations.

So on to the actual review ....


We drove over to the Contemporary, parked, and walked towards the structure. The kids were bouncing with excitement (literally) on the way to the building as well as in the lobby. We went up the escalator and checked it. There was a bit of a line to check in so to kill a few minutes multiple trips up and down the escalator were made to the amusement of many.

Once our names were called we packed into the ellivator and came out to this sight:

Totally want one of these in our house


We were still a little early for our ADR and after checking in at the upstairs podium went over to check out the view and grab some drinks.

First the bar menus:

The cocktails look really interesting and happy to see they have some unique choices here vs. other WDW bars. They also worked on the craft beer list and it is pretty decent, but definitely could be larger (though I know wine is the specialty of the house).

Judi started out with the Sake Martini and Bridgett got the Monte "Ray":

Sake Martini: Karen "Coy" Sake, Licor 43, and Cruzan Mango Rum with a splash of Orange and Pineapple Juices
Monte "Ray": Mount Gay Rum, Pineapple Juice, and Licor 43 with a splash of Sweet-and-Sour

Judi really liked the Sake Martini. I had a sip as well and also found it to be really good and a bit different, but not so out there as to be off putting. Bridgett also like the Monte "Ray" - I think I recall it being a bit more fruity than the martini.

Myself and Bob had the Pisco Sour:

Pisco Sour: Porton Pisco, Lime Juice, Agave Nectar, and Egg Whites with a dash of Angostura Bitters

This was really tasty - again, a little different but still fairly easy to drink. I kinda found that to be the theme of the restaurant - pushing palates a little bit, but not so much to be challenging to those with less adventurous tastes. Might be why some true foodies find the new menu a little lacking.

Kathy got a glass of Rosa Regale and Mike got a pint of the Napa Smith Hopageddon. (Sorry no pics).


Everyone was enjoying the view and we were about 1/2 done with our drinks when our name was called and we were led to our table .... where we continued to be able to enjoy the view as our table was the long table right next to the door to the front observation deck:

View from our table:

Place setting:

Menu:

I do want to mention about our waitstaff/service as I know this is one area that I have read a lot of complaints about in reviews since the re-open. Jenny O was our waitress and she did a very good job. She was very enthusiastic (if anything, a bit too much - according to her, everything they have there was the best ever). I did not feel like we had to wait super long for the food or anything and everything came out fresh. Jenny also had a few surprises in store for later, but I will get to that in part II of the review.

We were brought out the bread service which was a mix of sourdough rolls and lavender scented focachia bread:

This was pretty good - definitely interesting with the lavender scent (definitely more in the smell than the taste). Not the best bread of the trip but pretty good and definitely fresh.


One of the best parts of dining with a big group is getting to order a bunch of different appetizers to try/share. Our offerings:

Pork Pate Flatbread: Roasted Garlic, Mascarpone Cheese, Royal Trumpet Mushroom Chips

Oven-dried Tomato Flatbread: Beefsteak Tomatoes, Mozzarella di Bufala, Aged Balsamic

Duck in all its Glory: House-made Sausage, Rillettes, Prosciutto, Duck Liver Pate, Cranberry Compote

Spicy Kazan Roll: crab, shrimp, scallops, tuna and fireball sauce

Yuzu Marinated Sashimi: Yellowfin Tuna, Salmon, Hamachi, Snapper, Wasabi Oil

First, everything was really good. The Pork Pate Flatbread along with my beloved Spicy Kazan roll were the real standouts. Just ton of flavor with the Pork and the mushrooms added another dimension. The Oven Dried Tomato Flatbread was solid, but one item that could probably use a little jazzing up. The Duck in all its Glory is one I was really looking forward to and it was quite good, but perhaps could use some editing. Some items were definitely better than others (with the Pate and Prosciutto probably being the best) and it felt like not enough accompaniments.

As for the sushi/sashimi we were quite happy with both offerings. The Spicy Kazan Roll is one of my absolute favorites and it still was as good as ever. You need to be ok with spice, but if you are, definitely get this. It also is more balanced vs. the Volcano Roll at Kona Cafe which I felt overdid the spice a bit. The Yuzu Marinated Sashimi was another great option - a ton of fish and being marinated gave everything an extra twist.


Along with the appetizers, the kids meals came out as well. Both Olivia and Peter got pizza, Tara got the steak and Owen just ate off everyones plates.

Provolone and Fresh Tomato Cheese Pizza: Entree served with choice of small lowfat milk, small bottled water, or small apple juice

Grilled Beef Tenderloin: Grilled beef tenderloin with baby steamed carrots and crushed sweet potatoes, and ketchup sauce

The pizzas were pretty good and definitely seemed fresh which is about all you could ask for. The grilled beef itself was a nice piece of meet for a kids meal, but was a little lacking on flavor, and that was especially true for the sides. I know they are trying to do healthy spins on everything but they either need to add more seasoning or have some other options (you could do oven roasted potatoes or something and still be fairly healthy vs. french fries). It definitely wasn't bad by a long stretch, just could be improved going forward.


Then the adults' entrees came out:

Roasted Squash Ravioli: Root Spinach, Parsnips, Petite Herb Salad, Sage Brown Butter, 12-year Balsamic

Bridgett got this and could not stop raving about it. Everyone who tried it really enjoyed it and was one of the standout entrees (and probably the one that exceeded expectations the most).

Bell & Evans Chicken: Teriyaki Barbecue Glaze, Truffle Macaroni & Cheese, Glazed Vegetables, Chicken Sausage

Kathy got this and this was probably the only disappointment of the entrees. Again, it wasn't bad but was a bit bland with the only real flavor in the glaze (the chicken itself had very little/no seasoning). I should note that Jenny did offer to make something else up since she noticed that Kathy wasn't eating much, but she declined as she had plenty to eat from the appetizers and it wasn't that it was bad or made wrongly, she just wasn't crazy about it.

Oak-fired Filet of Beef: Heirloom Tomato Risotto, Marinted Baby Vine Tomatoes, Petite Basil, Tomato Butter

Mike got this and was more than happy with his choice. He remarked that it was one of the most tender steaks he ever had and could cut it with his fork.

Pork Two Ways: Grilled Tenderloin, Goat Cheese Polenta, Mushrooms, Lacquered Belly, Applesauce

Both Bob and myself got this. I have had the pork tenderloin in it's previous incarnation ever other time I visited the California Grill and I just couldn't not get it again to try the new version. The verdict: Really, really good! I think my expectations of wanting this to be even better than before were perhaps a bit too high so I can't say I was over the moon with it. The Lacquered Belly was good - but not anything above and beyond what I have had before. The homemade applesauce was very good but still just apple sauce. The pork tenderloin and goat cheese polenta was as good as ever, I am happy to say. This was another solid option but probably isn't as elevated above the previous version as they were probably trying for.

Florida Red Snapper: Warm Crimson lentil Salad, Tine Buttered Vegitables, Lemon Foam, Almond Pistou

Judi had this and thought it was very good. Perhaps another dish where the description outshines the actual dish a bit, but still a yummy dinner


At this point the fireworks were going to start soon and I think it was the first time it him Mike that I actually had planned it this way - probably the point of he being most impressed with my planning abilities

But I will pick that up next post

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 5 - Part 5: California Grill ... Dinner Part II plus fireworks!​

After a mostly finishing our entrees it was time for Wishes to start. Some of us stayed at the table since we had a pretty darn good view, but when we asked the kids if they wanted to stay in or go out they were all very excited to go outside to see the fireworks.

Pete enjoyed the view:

and Olivia got to take in some of the show from Mike's shoulders:

Definitely not the best pictures ever, but some of the best I got:

While we were out there, our waitress, Jenny O, tracked us down to give Judi and myself a champagne toast to celebrate our anniversary while watching the show. This was a very nice surprise and made the night even more special.

I took a pictures of the show using the quick-burst option and then compiled a number of them into the below animated gif:

The show was wonderful as always. I can't decide if I like watching Wishes better from the CG Observation Deck or the beach at the Poly. From the CG Deck you feel like you are so close but you get a better/wider view of the whole show from a more "proper" angle from the Poly beach .... guess this is why I make sure we get to take in both views every trip


Once the show ended we came back inside for some dessert.

California Grill Signature Puffed Rice Sushi

Olivia got this and it was very cute and fun. I think the part she liked the best was the fruit roll-up used as the outside of the "roll" though

Cookies and Cream: Fresh-baked Petite Chocolate Chip Cookies with Vanilla and Chocolate Pop Rocks Ice Cream

Tara got this and enjoyed it - it was enough to share with the boys as well

Chocolate Pudding Cake: Luscious Chocolate Cake with Nutella Filling, Meringue Kisses, and Mint Chantilly

Bridgett and Mike split this and absolutely loved it. It was super rich but they were raving about it

Seasonal Tasting - Heirloom Apple: Apple Cupcake with Cream Cheese, Streusel and Peanut Butter Caramel, Warm Cider, Apple-Cinnamon Crème Brûlée, and Apple-Almond Tart with Spiced Compote

Judi and I split this and it was fun to try all the different things. Nothing was *amazing* but we did enjoy the tart and the warm cider with the rock candy sizzle stick!

We were also provided with several creme bruelees (brulis?) for various birthdays and other celebrations.

Oh, I forgot to mention (since I guess I didn't get a picture) that we also got a bottle of Treffethen Riesling to split amongst the adults at the table that was a really nice selection and went well with pretty much all we ordered - and for $53 wasn't too pricy.

As mentioned in the previous post I was very nervous about this ADR due to the negative reviews seen following the renovations but we had an absolutely lovely time. Great time enjoying good company, wonderful view of Wishes, really good food, and very attentive service that was clearly trying hard.

Overall, using TIW I saved $11.55 at bar before dinner, and $90.22 for the meal itself, for a total of $101.77. This brings our grand total savings thus far to $441.36, which is more than the extra I had to spend for the AP + TIW above a normal ticket meaning the rest of the trip is extra savings!


After dinner we went back to the resort as we had to rest for a very busy day at Magic Kingdom that turned out to be longer and busier than we could have imagined!

 

[poison ivy]

Just found your trip report and wanted to join in.

Really great so far. I'm thru day 3. You have a great group of friends and family.

Love the place you booked to stay at. Will definitely consider this if we ever need the room and have no points.

also think the TIW and AP purchases were very smart decisions. Our AP's just expired and we managed to get so much mileage out of them for the price. It really can be the best way to go from time to time. I hope you get the chance to revisit as much as possible with them next year.

Great dining reviews. I love large parties. They give such a great look at so many options.

We just rediscovered Kona last week and were thrilled to learn we could order Sushi as an appetizer or entrée on the deluxe plan. I also had the seared tuna but ordered it medium rare, which was too well done unfortunately. Your wife's dish looked perfect. I will remember this next time.

And thanks for the review of V & A's. It's been on our bucket list.

one more thing: Taking the kids to lunch and play at AoA was a great idea. They remind me of our grandkids - girl and boy ages 4 and 2. My daughter keeps telling me they're still too young for WDW but I disagree.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Just found your trip report and wanted to join in.

Really great so far. I'm thru day 3. You have a great group of friends and family.

Love the place you booked to stay at. Will definitely consider this if we ever need the room and have no points.

also think the TIW and AP purchases were very smart decisions. Our AP's just expired and we managed to get so much mileage out of them for the price. It really can be the best way to go from time to time. I hope you get the chance to revisit as much as possible with them next year.

Great dining reviews. I love large parties. They give such a great look at so many options.

We just rediscovered Kona last week and were thrilled to learn we could order Sushi as an appetizer or entrée on the deluxe plan. I also had the seared tuna but ordered it medium rare, which was too well done unfortunately. Your wife's dish looked perfect. I will remember this next time.

And thanks for the review of V & A's. It's been on our bucket list.

one more thing: Taking the kids to lunch and play at AoA was a great idea. They remind me of our grandkids - girl and boy ages 4 and 2. My daughter keeps telling me they're still too young for WDW but I disagree.

welcome! Thanks for joining!

Meals with large parties are fun ... planning the ADR schedule for multiple families can be a challenge though

We loved Kona and glad you found it/enjoyed it as well. We mostly just wanted to eat somewhere at Poly and then got watch Hallowishes form the beach and we did 'Ohana last trip so thought we would try something new.

Hope you get to cross V&A off your bucket list soon!

I don't think your grandkids are too young but I think it is up to the individual families. This was actually my daughters 3rd trip already (went at 8 mos, 2 yrs and 8mos and now 4 yrs and 8 mos) ... plus, under 3 they are free so that is a bonus

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Thank you for being honest about your lying Phil. It is very much appreciated!

It really is hard to choose between Everest and ToT on the awesomeness scale. They're both so very well done.

Oh God, it's horrible to say, but I had to laugh at the two VERY different kid photos at BATB.

Glad you finally saw Fantasmic (and didn't call it Fantasia which is a real pet peave of mine) and even more-so that you loved it. It truly is spectacular!

I love the inclusion of something different in a TR and mini golf fits the bill nicely.

OK, yeah, I could get deal with that view I suppose. What a great place to watch the fireworks.

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a wonderful dinner and you had such a great view of Wishes! Love the gif that you made!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Thank you for being honest about your lying Phil. It is very much appreciated!

you are very welcome

It really is hard to choose between Everest and ToT on the awesomeness scale. They're both so very well done.

definitely two great rides and also two rides I think Walt would really love due to the immersion of them

I would give the nod to TOT only because the Yeti no longer works and would shake apart the world if they kept it running ... but then again, Everest has Stacey reference the aparent lack of additional track. Really is a toss up.

Oh God, it's horrible to say, but I had to laugh at the two VERY different kid photos at BATB.

no worries - basically included both as I found them to be very funny

Glad you finally saw Fantasmic (and didn't call it Fantasia which is a real pet peave of mine) and even more-so that you loved it. It truly is spectacular!

I am so glad we got to see it and that the kids loved it. Plus, now that whole part of the Kingdom Keepers makes a lot more sense to me

I love the inclusion of something different in a TR and mini golf fits the bill nicely.

OK, yeah, I could get deal with that view I suppose. What a great place to watch the fireworks.

Glad you enjoyed the Mini Golf, was definitely a fun thing to do on a down day

That view from the Cali Grill observation deck really is something you cannot get anywhere else ... so happy that it is back open!

Sounds like a wonderful dinner and you had such a great view of Wishes! Love the gif that you made!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the gif - one of those things that I felt I had to do after scrolling through the images on my phone.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 6 - Part 1: Magic Kingdom ... Castle picks and puffed French Toast​

After being out late the previous night we were up early again for a pre-park opening breakfast - this time at Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom!

Another benefit of arriving so early is you get to park super close so we didn't even need to take the tram to the TTC - definitely an added bonus when you have to deal with folding up strollers etc.

Day started with a ride on the monorail!

After going through security and in through the left turnstile where they check-in people with pre-park opening ADRs, we got to take in our surroundings including seeing the firetruck come out for the day:

While there are obviously a lot of benefits of having a pre-park opening ADR, my favorite is getting to take Castle pics with a near-empty main street.

This one I got of trying to get the 4 kids to pose for the PP properly ... and I think this one came out better than any of the PP ones

This is a sneak peak of one of the pics on our Christmas cards:

A magic shot of the girls:

and couldn't leave the boys out:

We then checked in for our ADR at Crystal Palace and were called about 10 minutes later. We were led to the left side and to one of the tables all the way in the back. It was a bit of a pain to get to, but worked out pretty well once we were settled as we could see the characters come and had our own little corner to interact with them.


Before we had a chance to get food Eyeore stopped by:

and then Pooh himself:

Then we had time to go get some food. Below are a few of our plates, but they are largely similar - Mickey Waffles, eggs, sausage ... oh yeah, and tons of Puffed French Toast! I mean, it's not exactly the breakfast of champions but gosh does it taste good!

For Pete we mixed in some breakfast pizza and fruit ... you know, to be healthy

I also added on a scone, chocolate croisont and, for the first time in my life, some breakfast lasagna:

As there is so much stuff in said lasagna, I took a picture of the sign to remember it:

... it had me at "Pastry Cream"


Then Tigger stopped by:

and then Piglet rounded out the character meets. I think Peter is upset because he realizes that he just ate some sausage and bacon.

Before we left the kids participated in the parade and had a great time.

We enjoyed our breakfast here again - we find the food to be very good and we usually don't seek out Pooh and friend meet and greets so this is a good way to meet these characters. While maybe not an absolute must do each trip we will definitely do it again in the future.

Using TIW saved us $32.78 and using the AP saved us $15.00 on parking brining the grand total of savings to $489.14

Up next - we try to ride some rides (easier said than done) and meet some princesses!

 

[missangelalexis]

Such cute pics in front of the castle! Love the Xmas card one

Great character pics and glad the food was enjoyable! CP is one my wish list to do some day.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

I agree so much. Pre park opening Main Street is truly magical. I just love the opportunity to get a castle photo with none or few people in the background. Your Xmas card photo is beautiful Phil. I'll be checking my mailbox.

Haha, the Breakfast Lasagna had me at "Waffles". I'm easy to please.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Such cute pics in front of the castle! Love the Xmas card one

Great character pics and glad the food was enjoyable! CP is one my wish list to do some day.

Thank you! I was actually getting a bit frustrating at the time as Peter, especially, wasn't really cooperating, but we did get a few good ones so looking back, really can't complain.

We love the CP breakfast. I've read mixed reviews of other meals there but most people seem pretty happy with the breakfast. Puffed French Toast for the win!

I agree so much. Pre park opening Main Street is truly magical. I just love the opportunity to get a castle photo with none or few people in the background. Your Xmas card photo is beautiful Phil. I'll be checking my mailbox.

Haha, the Breakfast Lasagna had me at "Waffles". I'm easy to please.

I actually was able to get a breakfast ADR for 10 at CRT - but not before park opening so we decided to cancel it (I know, crazy right?) and go with CP pre-park opening and just one of those things we have to do.

I think with the Breakfast Lasagna it was really that they took 3 different forms of carbs and then added pastry cream that really got me

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 6 - Part 2: Magic Kingdom ... Princesses!​

Before we actually finished breakfast the park opened fully so I made a trip over to get fast passes for the princesses at Fairy Tale Hall - which were located to the left of the entrance for Peter Pan's Flight.

While I walked I enjoyed just taking in the scenery:

You can only get one set of fastpasses which gets you in to see two of the four princesses available. As you may recall from earlier posts, Olivia wanted to see all 8 of the princesses featured in her autograph book and of the 4 the one she hadn't seen yet was Repunzel so I got the fastpasses that got us in to see Repunzel and Snow White.

I hustled back to finish breakfast and pick everyone else up. We wanted to go see Storytime with Belle, which the McNamees had already done earlier in the week and they wanted to cover Adventure Land. So we split up and agreed to meet up about an hour later in front of Fairytale Hall.

So off to Newish Fantasy Land we went ....

On the way I took a few pictures of the progress of the construction of the Mine Train, which only reinforced my longing for this ride to be complete.

At this point we got on line for Storytime with Belle. The posted time was around 40 mins which wasn't great, but I knew it wasn't going to get shorter so we figured we would wait. Peter was getting a little stir crazy but it was what it was ... until I had the following conversation with Olivia:

Me: So Olivia, are you excited to act out the story with Belle?

Olivia: No, I don't want to do that, I'll just watch.

Me: (confused) Um, ok, but if you don't act in the play you might not be able to get your picture with Belle and part of the fun is being in the play

Olivia: That's ok, not really intersted.

Me: Ok, well, the line is 40 mins and we will wait but if you don't want to be in the play do you want to wait the 40 mins or would you rather go on other rides?

Olivia: Um, rides

.... so out of line we got. I was a little bummed as I wanted to see the special effects of the doorway and the wardrobe, etc. but this was our only full day scheduled for the Magic Kingdom and we planned to leave the park for a break in the early afternoon (little foreshadowing there) and didn't want to wait on a long line for something we all didn't really want to do.

We decided to then head over and ride Winnie the Pooh and waited on that line for about 10 minutes ... and then it broke down and the CMs had no idea how long it would take before it was back up.

At this point we didn't have a ton of time before the scheduled meet up with the McNamees so we looked for something we could go on, and decided to go on Prince Charming's Royal Carousel. The kids definitely enjoyed it and I enjoy the views you get riding it:

So, for those keeping score at home (and who isn't?!?!?!) with having a pre-park opening ADR the first hour the park was open we got on the Carousel .... and nothing else.

Well, it was what it was and hopefully we would be a bit more efficient going forward.

We met up with the McNamees and had some great interractions with both Repunzel and Snow White:

and Olivia got her kiss from Snow White like she has every trip to WDW in her life:

So at this point, Olivia had met with 6 of the 8 princesses with her book with only Tiana and Jasmine to go ....

Coming up, a trip to the Circus and the Happiest Cruise that Ever Sailed!