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

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 6 - Part 4: Magic Kingdom ... The Ariel Ride and Lunch at Be Our Guest​

We again found ourselves trying to figure out what to do and ultimately decided to go on the ride with the longest name: Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid ... a.k.a. Ariel's ride. While everyone had already gone on this ride this trip everyone liked it and it was new to all of us for this trip so we figured why not - plus the girls had not gone it together yet.

One thing I noticed that I haven't seen mentioned yet is that the queue for this ride now makes it so there are two places within the Magic Kingdom you can see that wonder of the world The Backside of Water:

I really like the boarding area for this ride - especially the large mural behind the clammobiles ... I tried both rides to get a good shot of it, and this is the best one I got:

Some other ride photos I got - didn't get too many great shots as I was trying to not use my flash and not the best camera for low light:

After we got back up above the sea we again debated what to do ... Olivia wanted to meet Ariel in her fin, but the wait was 40 mins and people were getting hungry and a little cranky. So now we debated what to do to eat. I really wanted to eat lunch at Be Our Guest but people were concerned about the line and were thinking of leaving the park to find some food - we contemplated taking the monorail to Captain Cooks at the Pollynesian.

Ultimately though we decided that it would probably take longer to go elsewhere and there was enough of an interest in eating at BOG that we decided to at least get in line and see how it moved.

While not happy about the wait, the girls were excited about the prospect of eating in Beast Castle and were in a good mood:

View from where we got on line:

One of the statues on the bridge:

The line moved fairly well so we decided to wait. It was quite hot though - but they did have water out to drink which was good. They also had umbrella's to use, but there weren't nearly enough of them and we when we finally go a few we were literally about 2 minutes away from the the front of the line so it didn't really do much good. Oh well.


Once we got in the castle we were a bit overcome with all the detail and just how impressive it all is. Though, Peter wasn't quite sure what to make of the talking suits of armor:

We weren't sure where we wanted to sit but it was extremely crowded and the CM that completed our order indicated that bigger groups would have better luck in the main ball room, so that is where we went ... definitely an impressive space:

The space is really amazing and the level of detail was breathtaking. I love the idea of being able to eat here for lunch but found the level of service from the CMs to be laking a bit. Nothing was overtly bad but just a lack of "magic" for lack of a better way of putting it. It took them a while to clear tables (maybe just not enough people doing that job) and we basically had to hover over a dirty table and wait for it to be cleared in order to get a seat. Also, no one really directed us to find things so took us a while to find napkins and silverware, etc. (at least that day it was kind of around the corner, hidden a bit). Again, nothing really bad and wouldn't prevent us from going back, but did take away from the overall experience a bit.


Anyway, you didn't come here for my rants, so on to the food.

And to give away the verdict, it was very, very good - definitely above expectations for a quick-service.

Braised Pork: Eight Hour Slow-cooked Pork with Mushrooms, Onions, Carrots and Bacon served with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans Jardiniere.

I had gotten this as did Mike we both found it to be excellent - very tender and a good sized portion as well. I could see some people finding it a little salty but I like things salty so enjoyed it!

Vegetable Quiche: Mushroom, Zucchini, Bell Pepper, Onion and Chive Quiche served with Baby Lettuce coated with Champagne Vinaigrette.

Bob got this and enjoyed it as well - did say the salad could use more dressing though, but the quiche itself was quite good and, again, good sized portion

Carved Turkey Sandwich: Carved Turkey Sandwich served warm on a Baguette with Dijon Mayonnaise and Pommes Frites.

Judi got this and it was another solid choice. Only negative were the "pommes frites" which were really just normal french fries and just ok.

Kids Slow-cooked Pork: Slow-cooked Pork with Sauteed Green Beans and Mashed Sweet Potatoes.

The kids split a couple of orders of this and I have to say it was one of the best kids meals I have seen. Same pork as the adults got and nice sized size that had some flavor to them. Not sure if they liked it as much as chicken nuggest but I like the change of pace for them


We then split / sampled the various cupcakes:

Clockwise starting from the top:
Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcake: Vanilla Sponge Cake, Strawberry Mouse Filling and Cream Cheese Icing.
The Master's Cupcake: Chocolate Sponge Cake topped with Lumiere’s special “Grey Stuff”
Lemon Meringue Cupcake: Vanilla Sponge Cake, Lemon Custard Filling and Flamed Meringue Icing.
Triple Chocolate Cupcake: Chocolate Sponge Cake, Chocolate Mousse Filling and Chocolate Ganache.

While they were all good, and I am glad we got to try "the gray stuff" with The Master's Cupcake, the real winner here is the Triple Chocolate Cupcake - just super rich and chocolatey!


Overall, other than the mentioned lack of enthousiasm from the CMs' and just the general craziness of the place we really enjoyed lunch - the food was of a very high quality and the setting is amazing. Super happy we waited.

Unfortunately no TIW savings for lunch, but oh well, still a pretty good value for what you got.


We of course had to get a picture in front of the Stained Glass Window on the way out:

Next - some dreaming and parade fun!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Haha, I love that Santa letter. Just genius. Hey at least it was a healthy carrot you had to keep biting.
So delighted you had such a lovely Christmas Phil!

YES, more backside of water. I have little doubt that was intentional by the Imagineers.

I've heard the line actually does move pretty quickly at BOG, so I'm glad you had the same experience.

It really is a beautiful restaurant and I'm so glad it's open for lunch QS. Seriously, it is AMAZING atmosphere for a QS restaurant.

 

[khaleesi]

I was little behind, but I'm still drooling over the lavender focaccia bread from several posts ago. I think you have to REALLY like the scent of lavender to eat something with it and... well, that would be me! Yummy!!!

Sooooo, focusing on the important... what is that font used for Santa to sign his name?? I see it frequently in ads and can never figure it out and I love it!!

I am really, really looking forward to my Be Our Guest reservation.... and getting to try the Grey Stuff!!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!!!

 

[emmysmommy]

Brilliant letter from Santa Phil! That was great! The kids look completely satisfied with their Christmas loot. Loved your greeting and the photos.

I had to go back to get caught up... some photos aren't showing up due to your extreme popularity (Cali Grill updates) but I can imagine some of the dishes since we ate there a few weeks back with a big group. We were nervous since we'd heard about the decline in service but we had a great experience. I love the view of fireworks from Cali Grill. I like that you work in Wishes from Poly beach and the restaurant.

I probably would have opted for just waiting in line for BoG as well but that's only because I'm a fan of the theming. Too bad about the lack of attention from the CM. I've not had lunch there but I'm convinced it must be better than dinner. I've tried dinner a few times and am not a fan of the menu. HOWEVER, I love the cupcakes. Yum!

Nice photo of the backside of water Ariel style!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Haha, I love that Santa letter. Just genius. Hey at least it was a healthy carrot you had to keep biting.
So delighted you had such a lovely Christmas Phil!

Thanks - think it worked out well ... hopefully she got the message

yeah, I got the carrot and while we weren't looking our dogs stole the cookies off the plate ... good thing it wasn't chocolate chip we had left out

It was a very nice Christmas - not over the top but very enjoyable. Hope yours was lovely as well!

YES, more backside of water. I have little doubt that was intentional by the Imagineers.

I've heard the line actually does move pretty quickly at BOG, so I'm glad you had the same experience.

It really is a beautiful restaurant and I'm so glad it's open for lunch QS. Seriously, it is AMAZING atmosphere for a QS restaurant.

Be funny if for "limited time magic" they stationed skippers at various parts of the Ariel Ride queue telling puns to people on line to go with the new backside of water.

Yeah, the line seems really long - like it was build for the line to be on the bridge so for it to start before the bridge must be a huge delays or something, but it moved pretty good - probably waited around 1/2 hour.

Definitely a great experience for a lunch QS ... nice that they are doing more things like that - with the cantina in Mexico and the new Spice at Morocco and even the porch/lounge area at the Brown Derby

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I was little behind, but I'm still drooling over the lavender focaccia bread from several posts ago. I think you have to REALLY like the scent of lavender to eat something with it and... well, that would be me! Yummy!!!

it was very nice - the taste isn't nearly as strong as the smell ... definitely something different. Overall, not our favorite bread of the trip (that would be the truffle bread at V&A) but very nice

Sooooo, focusing on the important... what is that font used for Santa to sign his name?? I see it frequently in ads and can never figure it out and I love it!!

It's actually just an image - I just did a good image search for "Santa Clause Signature". Happy to send it to you (the whole letter or just that image) if you want to PM me.

I am really, really looking forward to my Be Our Guest reservation.... and getting to try the Grey Stuff!!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!!!

One quick note - not sure if it was just for lunch - or just for us - but I had asked about getting some "gray stuff" as we had a few celebrations but they said it is now not available separately for celebrations only as part of The Master's Cupcake.

Hope you also had a Merry Christmas!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Brilliant letter from Santa Phil! That was great! The kids look completely satisfied with their Christmas loot. Loved your greeting and the photos.

Thank you! Overall I think it worked out and the kids were definitely happy. We didn't go nuts - each kid really only had 3 gifts from Santa and a couple small ones from us ... but that, plus the ones from Nana and Grandpa made it seem like a pretty, pretty full area under the tree.

I had to go back to get caught up... some photos aren't showing up due to your extreme popularity (Cali Grill updates) but I can imagine some of the dishes since we ate there a few weeks back with a big group. We were nervous since we'd heard about the decline in service but we had a great experience. I love the view of fireworks from Cali Grill. I like that you work in Wishes from Poly beach and the restaurant.

My apologies Brenda - having image hosting issues. My workplace blocks most of the normal hosting sites (photobucket, imageshack, etc.) so I have to use other sites. The one I have been using has a web traffic monthly limit. It will reset starting January 1st if you ever have interest in going back.

Very glad you also had a good experience there. Maybe just took them a bit to get the kinks worked out ... we were very happy with our dinner - just having great company and great food and getting to see the fireworks ... hard to beat.

I love Wishes (all flavors) and the kids love fireworks of all sorts so definitely had to mix in as many as I could.

I probably would have opted for just waiting in line for BoG as well but that's only because I'm a fan of the theming. Too bad about the lack of attention from the CM. I've not had lunch there but I'm convinced it must be better than dinner. I've tried dinner a few times and am not a fan of the menu. HOWEVER, I love the cupcakes. Yum!

Nice photo of the backside of water Ariel style!

We all very much wanted to eat at BOG which is probably why we eventually talked ourselves into waiting ... it was just soooo hot that the idea of waiting in the sun was not the most attractive option and we just didn't know how long it would take.

I was always more interested in the lunch there rather than dinner ... though the idea of having a glass of wine inside the Magic Kingdom is appealing. Very happy with the lunch food there so I hope you get a chance to have lunch there in the near future.

I think Rob read your response a little fast, seeing "Ariel" and "Backside" in the same sentence and got excited

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like you guys had a great Christmas! Love the Ariel doll and the letter from Santa

I'm glad you guys bit the bullet and waited to eat at BOG. I agree that it is hectic in there, but the quality of food definitely makes up for it!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Sounds like you guys had a great Christmas! Love the Ariel doll and the letter from Santa

I'm glad you guys bit the bullet and waited to eat at BOG. I agree that it is hectic in there, but the quality of food definitely makes up for it!

Hi Alexis - we did have a nice Christmas. Not too crazy but nice family time. Hope you had a nice holiday as well.

We were very glad to experience and totally glad we waiting - compared to other CSs the food is so much better and you can't beat the setting

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 6 - Part 5: Magic Kingdom ... Dreaming with Mickey while sleeping during a parade​

After dining in his Master's Castle - you know, like every day for lunch, really - we wandered towards the hub, shockingly again debating again what to do. We did time it well though as we got to see Dream Along with Mickey again. Funny how we never made time to see this show in the past but this trip saw it in its entirety twice and parts of it at least two other times ... definitely became a family favorite and a must do for future trips.

Um, think these guys are looking the wrong way

Olivia definitely wasn't:

At this point our plan was to head out of the park to rest and come back for the evening ... but we had one issue with that plan:

Judi was very afraid that leaving would result in Peter waking up and he neeeeeeeded his nap if we were going to have another long day, so we decided to stay and watch the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade. So, for people that "didn't do shows or parades" we were now doing a show followed by a parade, back to back.

It did make for a very long day, but it worked out in the end - very glad we stayed and got to see and experience things we wouldn't have. So, yeah us, I guess.

So we let Peter sleep while we waited on the curb. While we were waiting there was this amazing CM entertaining the crowd. She got the kids out in the street doing hula hoops and ring toss. Olivia had a blast and amazed the crowd by getting her first 3 ring tosses on the post. She enjoyed hula hooping as well.

This CM also could Dance! She was getting down to the pre-parade music. Considering how hot it was not sure how she kept it up.

Overall we enjoyed the parade a lot - quite a few characters crammed together which is always fun.

First up though, the grand marshals which were clearly a couple on their honeymoon which much have made this an even more magical start to their marriage:

I love this picture because it looks like Peter and Wendy are saying "We're number 1!" and Alice is all "uh-uh! I don't think so!"

And this shows the details with the birds holding up Cinderella's float:

This was, of course, Olivia's favorite float ... I mean, princesses and shiny, what more could you want?

After the parade, Peter was still sleeping so we went over to Tomorrowland for Judi and I to use our Space Mountain Fast Passes. We got to ride the right side (think it was the Omega side) which don't think I have ever been on before. It was a great ride - just love that mountain, such a unique ride. Plus we got a pretty good ride photo:

While we went on Space Mountain, Judi's dad took Olivia on the Astro Orbiter, which she loved.

At this point Peter was still sleeping be we figured we would head over and get in line for seeing Tiana while Bob and Kathy went to see the Hall of Presidents and just get off on their own for a while.

Oh, one last picture for this update - thought this was a pretty long line for the People Mover considering it was a random Thursday in October:

Happy New Years Eve everyone!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Haha, I swear I seem to come across Dream Along pretty much every time I walk through the hub. Not complaining though.

Why it looks like you had an encounter with Dancing Barbara!!! She is amazing and I "may" have gotten a pic with her last trip.

OMG the Astro Orbiter TERRIFIED me when I was a kid. I raised the rocket up once... screamed... lowered it back down... and there it remained until it was over. Haven't been back since.

Nice "Jazz hands" on Space!

Seriously, that's the line for the Peoplemover??!! Wow. I know it'll move quickly, but still.

And a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR to you as well Phil!!

 

[emmysmommy]

Happy New Year's Eve Phil!!

Your photo description of Wendy and Peter with Alice - HILARIOUS! I can see that.

Ahhh Barb!! We love her as a Main Street hostess or otherwise known as he dancing CM! She is now on the Magic Express video. She was our driver for our parade vehicle when we were Grand Marshalls in 2010 so we make sure to stop by and chat and get photos with her when we return. She's truly awesome.

Funny but you don't look scared at all on Space Mtn.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Haha, I swear I seem to come across Dream Along pretty much every time I walk through the hub. Not complaining though.

it is funny how often it runs .. you'd think by now they wouldn't be so surprised when Maleficent shows up

By the end of the day, when we were seeing parts of it for about the 4th time even Olivia was like "This is on again?!?!?!"

Why it looks like you had an encounter with Dancing Barbara!!! She is amazing and I "may" have gotten a pic with her last trip.

I knew you would know who that was ... talk about someone who seems to love her job!

Oh, and I am sure she tells the story like "I may have gotten a picture with Rob!"

OMG the Astro Orbiter TERRIFIED me when I was a kid. I raised the rocket up once... screamed... lowered it back down... and there it remained until it was over. Haven't been back since.

Nice "Jazz hands" on Space!

Seriously, that's the line for the Peoplemover??!! Wow. I know it'll move quickly, but still.

And a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR to you as well Phil!!

While not a fan of scary parts in movies (she hid her face for a good chunk of the second act in Frozen yesterday), Olivia seems to love thrill rides (more to come in upcoming updates)

Yeah, I thought we were going at a slow time of the year and have never seen crowds like that before in October. I mean, I had never seen people so excited to get those bonus Philharmagic Fast Passes

Thanks Rob - hope you have an amazing 2014 as well ... though I know it will be a bit of a challenge to top your 2013 - but I bet you are up for it!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Happy New Year's Eve Phil!!

Your photo description of Wendy and Peter with Alice - HILARIOUS! I can see that.

Happy New Years Day Brenda!

I be there could be a really funny website created about purposely misinterpreting Disney photos

Ahhh Barb!! We love her as a Main Street hostess or otherwise known as he dancing CM! She is now on the Magic Express video. She was our driver for our parade vehicle when we were Grand Marshalls in 2010 so we make sure to stop by and chat and get photos with her when we return. She's truly awesome.

Funny but you don't look scared at all on Space Mtn.

That's awesome that you got to know Barb - though I hope she doesn't drive like she dances - could be a challenge for your stomachs ... when she drives the car does it have hydraulics?

Nah, we put on a brave face while on Space Mountain

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Happy New Year everyone!!!!
May 2014 be a blessed year full of pixiedust moments!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I think the detail in the Storybook Circus area is just great. I had to take a picture of the peanuts in the ground too.

We had a hard time getting the kids out of there too. Until Joaquin biffed it somewhere, somehow. We still have no idea what happened, all we know is he was crying and we had to go into the obstacle course to find him.

Ooohh, good looking out Disney on the random levitating.

I want to try to hit the Barnstormer in January. I haven't been on it it forever!

Yeah, I haven't been able to get a good shot of the mural on the wall behind the clammobiles yet either.

That braised pork looks amazing!

We're not huge parade and show people either, but I completely get the logic behind staying so that Peter could keep sleeping. I'm all for that.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I think the detail in the Storybook Circus area is just great. I had to take a picture of the peanuts in the ground too.

We had a hard time getting the kids out of there too. Until Joaquin biffed it somewhere, somehow. We still have no idea what happened, all we know is he was crying and we had to go into the obstacle course to find him.

I agree - I know you hear a lot of complaining about how long NFL is taking Disney to complete, but I'd rather they take a little longer but get that level of detail in it than rush it just to get it done.

aw, that is sad that Joaquin fell (I assume that is what "biffed" means) and got hurt ... and obstacle course it a good word as you really have to execute some good maneuvers to not get wet.

Ooohh, good looking out Disney on the random levitating.

I want to try to hit the Barnstormer in January. I haven't been on it it forever!

Yeah, I haven't been able to get a good shot of the mural on the wall behind the clammobiles yet either.

I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do to avoid any unnecessary lawsuits ... the amount of complaints they would get it people started levitating without warning would just be incredible

We enjoyed the Barnstormer - definitely short, but a cute little ride and great theming!

and speaking of theming, the queue/loading area for Ariel's Ride is incredible - that mural itself must have taken weeks to fully execute!

That braised pork looks amazing!

It really was good - and for a QS meal very impressive! Good sized portion too

We're not huge parade and show people either, but I completely get the logic behind staying so that Peter could keep sleeping. I'm all for that.

yeah, definitely worked out ... made for a very long day but the kids held up pretty good and I think allowed us to get more attractions in than we would have if we had left.

.... speaking of which .....

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 6 - Part 6: Magic Kingdom ... Best meet & greet ever - and biggest cupcake ever!​

After riding Space Mountain we were planning out the next section of the day. We knew we needed to meet with Tiana so we were trying to line up the timing for that ... first though, the timing was definitely right for Peter to get changed. So we combined that in with seeing something new for us and headed to the Tangled Thrones / Punzel Privies / whatever you call them

Love that even the changing area has themed signs:

After that we decided to hit up one of my absolute favorite attractions - The Haunted Mansion! Apparently I enjoyed it so much I only got one 1/2 way decent picture, oh well:

Olivia loved this queue - she liked all the interractive parts at least. Was pretty nervous about the ride itself. We also got a bum doom buggy as the speaker really didn't work. They offered to let us go on again but Olivia wanted nothing to do with it and was time to exit that attraction. Oh well, can't win them all.

We then decided to go check out the line for Tiana. She and Naveen were still meeting but they had closed the line but we kinda figured we would need to just get in line for the next session and there was actually a couple of people already on line for the next time slot so we got in line behind them thinking we were in for a decent wait. Well, I guess the line moved faster than the handlers were expecting and we actually got to meet with them during this time slot

This made me happier than a snowman in summer!

I will get this out of the way right here - this was by far my favorite Meet & Greet ever! Both Tiana and Naveen were great - played off each other really well and took a ton of time with Olivia at her level.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the trip. Naveen asked Olivia if she wanted to open a restaurant and they got into this whole conversation about who does the cooking at our house. Just love the look on Naveen's face as he is listening to her and the fact that Tiana looks like she is getting a kick out of the whole thing.

After this we went to grab a snack at Sleepy Hollow - I wanted to get a Waffle Sandwich for dinner but apparently they stop serving those at 5pm and we had missed that ... not sure why they don't have those for dinner time, but oh well.

We settled on an Iced Coffee float that was super yummy and then the Limited Time Magic Jack Skellington Cupcake whic was huge! Kinda just tasted like a regular cupcake ... but again, huge, so it had that going for it:

We then met up with McNamees there and went off to ride some more rides ... but I'll cover that next

 

[wiigirl]

Great update!

 

[missangelalexis]

Great updates! Tiana & Naveen were also one of our favorites, which we weren't expecting. You are right when you say they play off each other well!