She was feeling a bit sheepish!! An Aug '16 TR. Poly, DxDP, and toddlers!! UPDATED 2/13!!

[nimbuscat]

Welcome to my trip report--finally!

Life has been, well...life...in the past 6 months since our trip, and I finally have gotten around to putting my thoughts on paper and looking back at pictures and notes to put together all the details. Whew! Just in time for us to start planning our next trip...look out, Christmas 2017! Can't wait.

Anyway, my PTR link is below (I think...I'll need to update my siggy after I post this)...and if it's not, well...it's basically just a good way to see how neurotic I was with pre-trip plans and changing my mind about eleventy billion times on just about everything.

So, hey! Here we go...

A bit about us:
I am Jimmie, a thirty-something working mom of two, living in North Dakota. My lovely hubby sat out on this trip, and it was an all-girls adventure!

Joining me were my two daughters, Zoey (5.5) and Carter (20 months). (Note that I was going to do the responsible internet mom thing and just call them Z and C, but I totally was inconsistent with that in my writing, so whatever. You don't know our last name.)

Rounding out our group was my awesome mom, otherwise known as Gammy (who celebrated a birthday on this trip!).

Zoey and I were last at WDW (with the hubs) in January 2014. This was Carter Bear's first trip, and my mom's first trip since she came with me when I was a high school student in the late 90s.

Spoiler alert--the theme of our trip was IT WAS REALLY FREAKING HOT IN AUGUST. (Duh.) And, I will say this--I always, always thought we were deluxe dining kind of people. We REALLY like to eat. I'm a foodie in real life, and though DIS food is not always the best quality, it has its own quirkiness that I love. We had deluxe dining plan on our 2014 trip, and having it for 2 adults for 5 days (Zoey was still under 3, so free back then), was just the perfect amount of food. This time, having it for 3 people (plus an infant) for 9 days was waaaaaay too much food. I seriously gained like 6 pounds on this trip, despite walking over 100 miles, per my FitBit.

Anywho, let's kick this report off...most of it is written already, so I have this intro up, and then I'll post the first couple of days tomorrow (out of time at the computer today!). After that, maybe one per day from there on out. Sound good? Feel free to chime in!

 

[TinkerKeeks]

Sounds like an amazing trip can't wait to here about all the fun and FOOD! lol

 

[nimbuscat]

Sounds like an amazing trip can't wait to here about all the fun and FOOD! lol

Thanks! I am just about to post a new entry. Glad to have you following along!

 

[nimbuscat]

Okay, so when we last left off, we were just about to get this party started! You met the four of us, and now let's get down to business! (Note: I'm changing my font color to *BLUE* in my posts from here on out so you can easily find the updates!)

Saturday, August 13 – Travel Day!

After 8 months of anticipation, the day was finally here! The lovely husband dropped the girls and I off at the airport, and we flew Allegiant direct to Orlando Sanford. I realize the downside to this was that we weren’t able to use Magical Express, but the upside was that (besides being super cheap!) we had a direct flight from our small town in North Dakota, and well, we got to ride in style to the resort. I pre-booked limo service with Florida Magical Transportation—you couldn’t really beat the price, and the personal service and ease of the whole thing just made it 100% worth it. (Side note: they were SUUUUPER easy to book online, even with requests for car seat and booster seat for the girls. Our driver was fantastic--highly recommend!)

We arrived at the Poly probably around 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. and got promptly checked in. The cast member made my day when she said, “I see you have a continuing reservation with us—you will be able to stay in the same room for both stays.” Woohoo! The whole point of us adding on two nights at the Poly was so that we didn’t have to pack up and move two days into our vacation. We had rented DVC points from one of the major rental agencies for a 7-night stay, and then had added on two additional nights at the Poly on the front end of our trip as a cash reservation.

After picking up our rental stroller (rented from Kingdom Strollers) from the bell services desk, a wonderful CM escorted us to our studio villa, Tokelau 1904. The location of Tokelau was the best! It was centrally located to just about everything we needed. Sure, there are longhouses that were closer to individual places, but as far as being reasonably close to everything we needed (transportation, Great Ceremonial House, boat dock, etc.), I would choose Tokelau every time.

The girls and I spent a few minutes getting settled and waiting for our suitcases to be delivered, when I started hearing “I’m hungry!” from the peanut gallery. Time for our first Disney meal! We hopped on the monorail—destination: Contemporary Resort. We had plans to use our first quick-service credits at Contempo Café.

Two things: 1) I found out just how HOT central Florida in August was. Holy cow, man! I grew up in Oklahoma and thought I was still used to hot and humid, but wow…the last 10 years in North Dakota have turned me into a delicate flower that melts into a puddle when it gets above 80°F. I think I broke a sweat standing in the SHADE waiting for the monorail. Oh, and 2) The Contemporary was always this resort that I pictured in my head as this glamorous, bustling place (from visits there as a child in the early ‘90s), and I always wanted to stay there. I feel like, now, in 2016, it needs a refresh. It felt dingy and worn to me, but maybe it was just me? Anyway, those things aside, we were there to eat, not critique the décor!

We easily found the Contempo Café entrance…well, I said easy…getting off the monorail and into an unusually small elevator with a double stroller was…well, interesting to say the least. Entrance found, a CM handed me a menu. I kept the stroller with me, not remembering yet that you should really park the strollers outside the restaurants, but no one said anything to me, so we plowed ahead. I was a little overwhelmed with the set-up—it was busy and not obvious how things flowed—plus, I had this giant beast of a stroller and two antsy children all by myself. We figured out the process, and made our way to the cashier to place our order. Italian sub, fries, and a milk for me (well, the milk was for Carter), and a chicken alfredo for the girls to share, with strawberry milk for Zoey. We also picked two cupcakes out of the refrigerated case for our desserts, and redeemed all three of the resort mugs on our account. (My mom was joining us later in the evening, as she was flying in separately from Oklahoma City.)

 

[nimbuscat]

I juggled all three mugs, two cupcakes, and two milk bottles on a tray, and we found a table that was reasonably close to the drink fountain (so I could refill and keep an eye on the girls at the same time), and also had enough space to park the stroller nearby. I got the girls settled (or so I thought), and stepped away to fill my mug at the fountain. No sooner had I turned my back, when Carter had fallen out of her chair and Zoey had spilled her milk! Oooof, we were not off to a good start! A dad at the soda fountain even offered to help us—I guess we looked like that much of a hot mess!

We finally got all situated, and our orders were delivered within just a few minutes. The Italian sub was delicious, and those Disney shoestring fries were exactly what I’d been craving. The girls split the chicken alfredo, and they each ate reasonably well. I say reasonably, because it was darn near impossible to get them to eat the real food on their plates when two giant cupcakes were sitting on the table staring at them. We (Zoey) had chosen a chocolate Elsa cupcake, and a banana cupcake with butterscotch frosting. Both looked excellent, but they were kind of a letdown. In hindsight, I should have just taken them back to the room with us and given them time to come to room temperature, but straight from the fridge, blech. The frosting was hard and the cake seemed dry and crumbly. Not to worry, though, we had 9 nights of Disney dining and snacks in front of us—if the first desserts were a miss, we had plenty more to go!

We hopped back on the monorail back to the Poly and back to our room to unpack. I got word from my mom that her plane had landed and she had met her town car driver, also with Florida Magical. She would be at our resort within the hour!

We went to the lobby to greet her, then back to our room to drop her things before we joined her for her dinner. We went to Captain Cook’s, where Gammy ordered the Polynesian Salad, a fresh fruit cup, and a milk (for Carter), since she also had her refillable mug for drinks. (We hoarded milk like it was the zombie apocalypse—Carter is a milk fiend, and we knew naps/bedtime would be a lot easier for us all if she had her bottle of "mine" [what she calls milk]!) While she was eating, Zoey decided she wanted “ice cream”, so I went around the corner to Aloha Isle and ordered our first Dole Whip of the trip for us all to share. Perfect on a hot evening!

For those following along at home (this is for the first part our split stay only):

Quick-Service Meals: 3/6 (2 from Contempo Café and 1 from Captain Cook’s)

Table-Service Meals: 0/6

Snack Credits: 1/6 (Dole Whip from Aloha Isle)

I totally forgot to mention that for our first 2-night part of our split stay, we had the regular dining plan. It just made sense with our plans (more on that later!). Deluxe Dining Plan started for us on Day 3!

After returning to the room for what we thought was the night, it occurred to me that we hadn’t received our boxes we’d ordered from Walmart.comand had shipped to the resort. The CM who checked us in noted that we had boxes in their storage room, and they were supposed to be delivered to us earlier in the evening. By this time, it was around 9 pm, and I was a little afraid that we’d be out of luck for the night! I called the “front desk” from our room (those of you who have done this before know that you’re really calling a centralized call center, located who knows where…but NOT at your resort…), and the gal on the line gave me the scripted line that the runner must have been called away from the resort and the packages would be delivered as soon as possible. Well, I really needed the diapers and sunscreen that we had ordered, so Zoey and I made one more trek over to the Great Ceremonial House to talk to a real human, on property, who might be able to help us. As we were walking in the doors to the lobby, I just happened to catch out of the corner of my eye a cart going by with a bunch of packages and floral/balloon deliveries. I looked a little closer and saw some Walmart boxes—bingo! I stopped the CM pushing the cart and asked if she was delivering those boxes to 1904, and sure enough, she was. Perfect timing! She brought our delivery to our room, and we were all set.

I didn't take a ton of pictures of our room, but here are a couple. I think there may be a few more as we go along...

Our only room request had been ground floor--wish granted! With the stroller, I didn't want to wait on elevators all week, and this was just perfect. You can see the Oasis Pool right across from our patio. Easy access to refill mugs or grab a quick snack!

One more room note before I close out this day of the TR...the studio villas at Poly have two bathrooms. The one closest to the room entrance has a tub, toilet, and sink. The second one (closest to the bedroom area) has a shower and sink (no toilet). We used that second bathroom as Carter's "bedroom". Her pack-n-play fit perfectly, and she was able to have a nice quiet, secluded space for sleeping. Parents of toddlers, you feelin' me there? Having her own sleep space was key to our sanity!

 

[azdisneymom]

None of your pictures are showing up for these two updates

 

[nimbuscat]

None of your pictures are showing up for these two updates

Oh no! I'll see what I can do to fix. I'm using Google Photos as my hosting site. Anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[nimbuscat]

Ok, so I just transferred all my pics from the trip over to Dropbox. I will update the photo links momentarily. Not sure what the problem was with Google!

 

[nimbuscat]

Ok, picture issue fixed! I will re-upload the next day in a few minutes, but all previous posts should be a-ok! Please let me know if they are not!

 

[nimbuscat]

Sunday, August 14 – Disney (Hot) Springs
I purposely scheduled a “later” day for us on our second day there, because I knew the girls would be worn out from traveling. I was right—we all slept in a bit and enjoyed the extra time not having to rush to the parks. We leisurely made our way to the bus stop, and went to Disney Springs, where we had reservations for the Gospel Brunch at House of Blues. (This was an OOP expense, as the Sunday Brunch isn’t covered on any of the Disney dining plans.) Note that it always takes longer than I think it will to get from the MK area to Disney Springs via the bus system. Our leisurely trip over there turned into a rush, rush, rush to try to find the restaurant in time for the 10:30 seating!

It was, once again, HOT. (I’ll probably say this in every day of my trip report…) We found the HoB (after a couple of detours, since I can’t read signage properly, lol), and ended up in a “hurry up and wait” situation in a long line outside in the sun before they opened the doors. My mom and I both stood there sweating like pigs (so was everyone else), and the girls were getting a little antsy/hangry. Finally, they opened the doors, and we were escorted to our assigned table. If you haven’t been to the brunch at HoB, you are able to choose your seats and table when you buy your tickets online. I had previously attended one of their Sunday gospel brunches at HoB in Vegas at Mandalay Bay, and this one worked basically the exact same way. You will likely be seated with strangers, but it was definitely not a bad thing—we met a really nice family that way!

The food was excellent (think Southern cooking, soul food, type stuff), and the singers were great. My favorites were the Caesar salad, the red beans and rice, and the bread pudding. Yum! The girls got a little bit bored towards the end, so we made our way to the exit as the singers were wrapping things up. If a little Jesus with your brunch is right up your alley, I highly recommend checking out the House of Blues—it’s a fun way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday morning!

Originally, we had plans to just browse the whole of Disney Springs after brunch, but did I mention it was hot? Maybe once or twice, okay. It was hot. We were all melting, so we scrapped the grand plans and just made our way back to the bus stop. On the way, we stopped at the Star Wars store (lots of ooo-ing and ahhh-ing from Zoey, but no souvenir commitments just yet), and then Candy Cauldron for a Goofy’s Glacier frozen slushy to beat the heat. Of course, I couldn’t get out of there without Zoey getting one of the giant swirly lollipops…and then Gammy felt Carter was being left out (eyeroll!), and insisted she get some of the Minnie’s shortbread cookies (which, by the way, she never ate). Ha!

We arrived back at the Poly, and made one quick stop at the little market/c-store next to the gift shop, where I used our last two snack credits from the first part of our stay on a bottle of water for my CPAP machine and a bag of spicy snack mix. You know, I needed a little salty to balance out the sweet from the Glacier slushy.

Instead of heading back to the room for naps, which the girls proooooobably could have used, a little cloud cover and light rain materialized, so we took advantage of being outside without the blazing sun for a bit. The girls played in the sand at the beach (note that the new alligator fencing was installed), but judging by the amount of sand brought back into our hotel room, I’m not sure there is any beach left! Sorry, future Poly guests…

(I don't remember why my oldest kid changed clothes after brunch--I loved that Minnie shirt with her ears!)

Believe it or not, by the time we finally got back to our room, it was just about time to get ready for dinner already. I felt like we were constantly eating on this trip! (Maybe because we were…) We “cleaned up” a little (any by that, I mean, we wiped off any obvious sand and sweat), and headed to the boat dock. We boated over to the Magic Kingdom, then hopped on another boat headed to Wilderness Lodge. We were dining in style that night at Artist Point!

Of all the signature restaurants, the AP menu has always appealed to me the most. We ate there on our 2014 trip, and had a wonderful experience. This one was even better! Since we just had regular dining plan for this part of our stay, we didn’t do appetizers, but Mom and I started with drinks. I had a Lodge Fizz (vodka-cranberry) and she had a glass of rose wine. We enjoyed the sourdough and the salted butter, though I think the girls would have preferred “regular” bread (ha!). Mom and I shared the bone-in ribeye for two. It comes with truffled shoestring fries with garlic aioli (on point!), and you get to choose one additional side. We chose the roasted corn with peppers. Holy moly, the corn alone was worth the price of admission! I have been DREAMING of that corn since leaving there—100% foodgasm. It goes without saying the entire meal was fantastic. Honestly, probably the best food at WDW, in my humble little foodie opinion. Zoey ordered the pasta marinara from the kids’ menu, and it was such a huge portion, she would have been eating it for a week if we had brought the leftovers home! Needless to say, between some of Zoey’s pasta and pieces of our steak, fries, and corn, Carter had more than enough. There was absolutely no need to order anything extra for her.

As if the meal wasn’t decadent enough already, of course, we had to order dessert. I was torn—the berry cobbler is fantastic, but I’m really just not a huge fresh berry fan. I like the flavor, the crust, and I like the homemade ice cream they serve with it, but the filling is lost on me (it’s a texture thing…). So, I went with the vanilla bean crème brulee. Mom chose the almond butter cookies with orange creamsicle milkshake, and Zoey ordered the “artist’s palette” from the kids’ menu. Mine was okay—I think maybe I’m just not a big crème brulee fan in the first place (should’ve gone with the cobbler…). Mom’s was WONDERFUL…we all tried a few bites/sips, and agreed it was the best. Zoey, my little artist, just fell in love with her dessert creation. I think she only ate a bite or two, but spent a ton of time painting her bear!

We waddled back to the boat dock, and completed our trip back to the Poly the same way we got there, this time with an amazing sunset view.

Once again, for those following along at home (this is for the first part our split stay only):

Quick-Service Meals: 3/6 (2 from Contempo Café and 1 from Captain Cook’s)

Table-Service Meals: 6/6 (Three 2-credit meals from Artist Point)

Snack Credits: 6/6 (Dole Whip from Aloha Isle; Goofy’s Glacier, lollipop, and shortbread cookies from Candy Cauldron; bottled water and snack mix from the Poly c-store)

 

[nimbuscat]

Monday, August 15 – Finally, a day in a park!

We woke up bright and early, ready to head to the Magic Kingdom! We had an 8:15 breakfast reservation at Be Our Guest, but first, we had to stop by the Poly front desk to check out of our first reservation and check in to our second. It was really just a 2-minute process, completely painless. The CM assured me we’d be able to use up our remaining QS credits at breakfast, and then use our new deluxe dining credits immediately.


We did have two little hiccups that morning, though. One, the monorail doesn’t start running until 8:30 on Mondays, so we had to take the boat over to the MK. Not a problem, except…I still hadn’t figured out how to fold that darn beast of a double stroller (we don't have one at home...). I had to cross my fingers for one of those big boats where you don’t have to collapse strollers! We got lucky that time…!

The other problem/hiccup was that our reservation was originally a pre-park opening breakfast, so yay for getting into the MK before all the crowds. Except not, because they expanded the MK hours a couple of weeks before our trip. By the time we arrived at the gates, there was a huge back-up at bag check, and we finally got through just in time for rope drop…aka, we didn’t beat the crowds at all. Oh well, things could have been worse, right? I mean, after all, we were at Disney World!

We made our way over to BOG, and since we had a reservation and we had pre-ordered, we basically got to skip all the lines and go right to the cashier, where we simply confirmed our order and scanned a MagicBand to pay with our meal credits. Easy peasy! We found a nice table in the cool, dark West Wing. Pardon my breakfast photography, as I was apparently still asleep that morning.

Zoey loved the added ambience of the thunder and lightning! We had pre-ordered specific drinks, but found that once we arrived, drinks/cups of any kind were available to everyone. I was even able to get Carter a little cup of 2% milk from the coffee station (ssshhh, don’t tell on us!). See, I told you my photography was not really on point that morning... Sorry, Mom!

The tray of pastries for the table was delivered quickly, and a server came over to confirm the dairy-free allergy order we had placed. Say what? I had ordered the Feast a la Gaston, Mom had ordered the vegetable quiche, and I had ordered the adult portion of French toast sticks for Zoey and Carter to share. (Pro tip: adult and child credits are not differentiated at QS establishments—order adult meals if you want more to go around!) I had placed our order via the MDE app—what the app doesn’t tell you is that the adult French toast sticks are actually a dairy-free allergy order. Huh, good to know! We were fine with that—and we were even MORE fine with that when they brought out the dairy free pastry plate. Wow! The chocolate, banana, and lemon quick breads were so much more moist and tasty than the standard pastry platter! Would definitely order that way again! My food was good, standard breakfast fare. Mom really enjoyed her quiche, and Zoey and Carter were in hog heaven because the dairy-free French toast sticks are actually those Eggo French toast thingies for the toaster that have the pre-perforated lines for easy tearing. They don’t get those often at home, so they think it’s a big treat, and they couldn’t have been more pleased!

We lingered a bit over breakfast, enjoying the A/C and knowing how hot it was outside. We finally decided to go out and hit the rides—first up, Astro Orbiters! We arrived in Tomorrowland right around 9:00 am, and we were able to walk on with only a few people in line ahead of us. My plan had been for us to use our FPs at Space Mountain next, but Space was down temporarily, so we all walked on to Buzz Lightyear, then Zoey and I went to visit Stitch’s Great Escape (we loooove Stitch! ), while Gammy and Carter found a cool, shady spot.

Chasing bubbles in Tomorrowland...

Space was back up, so we hopped back into the FP line there—it was Zoey’s first ride on Space, and really, probably her first “big” ride ever. She loved it! I’m so glad I have another little roller coaster riding buddy now, especially now that she's surpassed the 44" height restriction! (She clocked in at just about 45" right before our trip.)

After Space, we all took a bathroom break at the bathrooms next to Space, and when we came out, what did my little face painting fiend see? Yeah, the face painting kiosk! She easily talked Gammy into springing for an Elsa design. I have to admit, it was pretty cute!

Having knocked out most of Tomorrowland (Z didn’t want to wait the 15 minutes posted for the Speedway), we headed back towards Main Street and did a bit of shopping and switched a FP+ around to meet Tinkerbell. It was here we learned that Carter hated characters—of all kinds. Ooops! Sorry, kid, Mama loves Disney, hopefully you change your mind someday!

Please don't mind my sweaty, grody self! Even Tink looks like she's trying to get away from me! In actuality, Carter was screaming her fool head off and Tink was like uhhh, do I just stand here and smile or what??

Zoey obtained her first souvenir of the trip, a giant stuffed Destiny whale shark (from Finding Dory). Destiny came with us the rest of the day…she is pretty cute! We, of course, had to stick our heads into the Confectionery, where Zoey talked me into a pink sparkly Mickey cake pop—yum! We still had some time to kill before our Plaza lunch reservation, so we hung out under the shade of Tomorrowland Terrace (which was not open that day).

By this time, we were nearing our ADR time at The Plaza. We went to the counter to check in, and were very abruptly told we were early, and it would be a 30-minute wait, regardless. (In my best Stephanie Tanner voice: how rude!) We waited at the umbrella tables across from the restaurant, where we caught part of the Move It, Shake It street party. At least we had a bit of entertainment, and even grabbed a couple of soft drinks from Casey’s while we waited.

Judy Hopps! We love Zootopia!

We kept waiting, and 30 minutes past our reservation time crept by, and then 45. Still no vibrating beeper. Hrmmm. My normally meek-and-mild mother noticed another family went to complain about the long wait, and they were seated immediately. She thought it was worth a try—and it worked! Not sure what the issue was, but we were shown to a table right away when we went to inquire about the long wait.

We had a wonderful server, who brought the girls green apple slices immediately, as he took drink and appetizer orders. I just had to go with the Plaza Loaded Fries (I mean, how can you go wrong with plastic cheese sauce, bacon, and ranch??), and Mom had the iceberg wedge salad. The fries were *to die for*…I could easily have made a meal out of just those! I had the honey barbecue bacon burger with veggies (steamed broccoli) for my entrée, and Mom had the Plaza Club with fries. The girls split a grilled cheese and fries. (Fries for everyone!) The food was really, exceptionally good there! Other than the snafu while waiting to be seated, I really enjoyed our meal there! By the end, however, Carter Bear was getting a bit overtired and cranky, so I took her outside while Mom and Z enjoyed their desserts (strawberry sundae for the little one and a pineapple sundae for Gammy). I asked for a cookies n cream shake in a to-go cup, and it was the perfect cap to the meal as we made our way back to the Poly in the heat.

Back to the resort for naps and A/C time for all! We had an evening reservation for our first princess meal of the trip at 1900 Park Fare. We roused the kids from their naps and got them ready in their Cinderella finery, then made the long journey to the Grand Floridian via one monorail stop, lol. This was actually my first time to ever set foot in the GF, and though it was beautiful, I think I still prefer the Poly! We had some time to kill before our reservation, so we staged our own princess photo shoot on the grand staircase before checking in for our meal.

Oh Carter, keeping it classy as always...

As expected, it was busy and chaotic at 1900 PF. However, we were seated somewhat promptly, and we had a fantastic server who kept our drinks full and kept us apprised of when to be ready for the characters. Can’t really ask for much more than that!

The food was, well, Disney buffet food. It’s hit or miss, if you ask me. There were some definite hits (mojo chicken, Caesar salad, key lime tart), and some misses (all the salads were pre-made with dressing—not really a salad bar like we were hoping for!). Most everything was just sort of in-between. The kids loved the kid-friendly carb selection of mac & cheese, pizza, and pasta marinara. Oh, and gummy worms on the dessert bar. If you asked Zoey, this was probably her favorite meal!

What really made the experience though, were our character interactions. They by FAR exceeded my expectations! The Stepmother was so freaking fabulous…I love her so much!

The stepsisters were also a hoot, but I think they would have been even more fun if my kids had been old enough to “get” their humor.

The Fairy Godmother and Cinderella were both very sweet, but again, the star of the show was definitely Lady Tremaine. Gosh, I just love her!

Carter was content to hide in Gammy's lap, far away from all characters who dared come close...

After dinner, Zoey and I decided we would make our way back into the MK, while Mom and Carter headed back to the Poly for the night. I had promised her a Mickey balloon, and she was ready to cash in on that promise! Mickey balloon in hand, my little princess pranced around Main Street like Cinderella herself, and we had a wonderful time. Unfortunately, the wait times were surprisingly high for all the rides that night, and there wasn’t much to pick from on the MDE app for FPs, so we just sort of browsed around the shops before grabbing a dipped marshmallow at the Confectionery and heading out again.

If you’re playing along at home, we finished out our dining/snack credits on the first half of our stay:

Quick-Service Meals: 6/6 (2 from Contempo Café, 1 from Captain Cook’s, and 3 from Be Our Guest breakfast)

Table-Service Meals: 6/6 (Three 2-credit meals from Artist Point)

Snack Credits: 6/6 (Dole Whip from Aloha Isle; Goofy’s Glacier, lollipop, and shortbread cookies from Candy Cauldron; Water and snack mix from the Poly c-store)

We began our Deluxe Dining for the next seven nights of our stay (from here on out, I’ll only type out the “new” credits from each day, otherwise, it might get quite long!):

Meal Credits: 6/63 (3 from The Plaza and 3 from 1900 Park Fare)

Snack Credits: 4/42 (Lemonade and Diet Coke from Casey’s, cake pop and dipped marshmallow from the Main St. Confectionery)

 

[azdisneymom]

Ok, picture issue fixed! I will re-upload the next day in a few minutes, but all previous posts should be a-ok! Please let me know if they are not!

Yeah I can see them now and live vicariously through your trip report

 

[nimbuscat]

Tuesday, August 16 – Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life for Me!

We were a bit better prepared for the heat today, as I started wearing a sweatband on my head, and we remembered to bring along our cooling towels we had ordered from Walmart (they really work!). And, $5 online versus the $17 in the park…definitely get one at home beforehand! Same goes for the water mister fans…I bought Anna and Elsa ones from Walmart for like $5.88. They were selling Nemo/Dory ones in the parks for $17.84. No thanks!

We had a PPO breakfast at Crystal Palace, which was also my first time there. We had a wonderful server, our breakfast was fabulous (puffed French toast and breakfast lasagna FTW…although the cheesy hashbrown potatoes were really what I loved!), and the characters were fun. We met Pooh, Piglet, and Eeyore right away. We had finished our breakfast, and Tigger was just starting to make his rounds on the opposite side of the room. Our server was able to take us over to Tigger and got us in for a quick Tigger hug and pic between tables, so we didn’t have to wait forever. It was much appreciated, though I realize it was as much for them (turning over the table quickly) as it was for us!

Yup, Carter still hates characters...

After filling our tummies, we headed into Adventureland.

First up, Aladdin’s carpets! After this ride, we learned that not only does C not love characters—but she also doesn’t really love rides that much, either! Haha—such a difference from her daredevil sister! After Aladdin, we walked on to Pirates (loved it, as usual!), and then planned to head to Jungle Cruise, but saw that Splash Mountain had only a 5-minute wait. Z and I rode Splash since we were ready to cool off! I pulled a “mean mom” card and totally bribed her to get on it—she saw the big drop and tried to back out, but I promised her a tiara from the store outside of Pirates if she’d ride it with me. It worked, and she loved the ride!

Mom and C played in the little play area outside of Splash while we rode.

We joined them at the play area, then we caught Country Bears (lame-o, but the A/C and sitting break was nice!), then stood in line to meet Jasmine and Aladdin. Z got shy all of a sudden as we got to the front of the line, so the CM thought she’d like it better if she sent Aladdin away. Haha—it worked! Z gladly met Jasmine, while Aladdin was “off shopping at the market.”

I just love the pics the PhotoPass photographers catch of the kids...

After that, it was time for her to become a mermaid at Pirate’s League!

The experience was just so awesome. She got to sign a mermaid promise that she wouldn’t mess with any of the pirates and sink their ships or steal their treasures, then she got her nails painted, hair done, and face painted. After that, she was announced to the crowd as the newest mermaid, then was taken into the secret room to see Jack Sparrow’s treasure. She had a blast, and we picked out her tiara afterwards, which turned her into an adorable mermaid princess.

We walked over towards Liberty Square to use our FP at Haunted Mansion, but got sidetracked by a cart selling Mickey Bars (Snack credit #5 of 42!). Just as Z and I were walking towards Haunted Mansion, the skies opened up and just DUMPED. I mean, literally out of nowhere…we took refuge under the Memento Mori awning, then made a run for the cover of the Haunted Mansion line canopies when the FP+ line went down enough that we could get under cover. It poured and poured as we snaked our way through the line corrals, but by the time we got out, the skies were clear again! Normally, I wouldn’t care if we got all wet, but Z had *just* finished her mermaid makeover and I didn’t want it ruined so quickly! Luckily, we escaped any serious damage, haha, but Mom and C were not so lucky. Poor things were soaked!

The girls both fell asleep in the stroller on our way back to the resort. We had a reservation at Kona for a late lunch, but we decided it wasn’t worth waking them. I was expecting we’d be charged the $10/person cancellation fee, but when I stopped by the host stand to let them know we wouldn’t be making it since the kiddos were sleeping, they were so kind and said they’d check us in so we wouldn’t be charged. Love that!

Mom and I still wanted lunch, so we just went down to Captain Cook’s. We found a table outside where we could park the stroller and let the girls sleep while we ate. I got the pulled pork nachos (FABULOUS!), and Mom had the Aloha pork sandwich with stir-fry vegetables. We both had bowls of fresh pineapple as our desserts. I fully expected that the pulled pork that Captain Cook’s uses on so many of their dishes would be the syrupy, pre-packaged kind that you can buy at Sam’s Club by the bucket-load…nope! It was fantastic and made fresh in the restaurant. I really wanted to try the pork fried rice, but never got around to it this trip. Of course, as we were walking back to the room, Z wakes up and proclaims that she’s hungry! I sent Mom and the girls back to the room, and I ran back to Captain Cook’s to get her meal. I ordered the pepperoni flatbread to go, with a strawberry milk to drink and apple slices with caramel dip for dessert. Oh, and a snack credit (#6 of 42) for an order of those house-made Poly chips at Mom’s request for a snack later that afternoon.

I don’t know if it’s like this at all the resort quick-service locations, but I really appreciated that when you ordered something “to go” either at Captain Cook’s or the Oasis pool bar, they literally packaged everything up for you and put it in a bag with handles. They would even include utensils, napkins, ketchup, etc., without having to ask for it! It made trekking back to the room, especially if you were also carrying drink mugs, about 100 times easier!

Mom and Z went to the Lava Pool for a bit, but got chased out by an afternoon thunderstorm. After everyone was rested up, we went back to the MK for the evening. We had FPs for meeting Ariel and for Tomorrowland Speedway (which was a last-minute change—originally Splash Mtn, but since we rode it earlier, we didn’t need the FP anymore). We met Ariel, rode Ariel’s ride as a walk-on (wait was minimal), then went to the Speedway and rode the teacups and the carousel, all before dinner.

I've decided I LOVE Ariel's ride (we rode it 3-4 times this trip!), and I hate the Speedway. Maybe it's because it was so hot, but the stinky gas smell and the loud engines and the stop-and-go motion that practically gives you whiplash when a 5-year-old is in charge of driving? Ehhh, not so much my cup of tea these days.

We decided dinner would be another QS at Cosmic Ray’s. You know how some people have their “must-do” Disney restaurant that just makes the trip each time? Cosmic Ray’s is mine—no, the food is not particularly awesome, and yes, the place is totally dated, but I just love it! I can’t even really tell you why, but it’s a must-do for me every trip. They were quite busy at dinnertime—I ordered the grilled chicken sandwich with fries, a frozen lemonade slushy, and the chocolate cake. Mom had the grilled chicken sandwich with green beans, iced tea to drink, and a greek yogurt for dessert (for C). We ordered the girls an adult order of chicken nuggets with fries, lemonade slushy, and the s'mores for dessert. We all pretty much shared a little bit of everything off of each other’s plates. The sandwiches, nuggets, and fries were all good. The green beans were outstanding (I know, right??), and we LOVED the s'mores dessert! It was almost like a homemade s'mores pop tart—yum!

After dinner, we rode Ariel again, then walked over to Storybook Circus, with plans to meet Minnie and Daisy…well, there was about a 20-25 minute wait, and Z just wasn’t feeling it. We then tried to exit the park, but by the time we got through the maze of people in Liberty Square, we were right in front of Sleepy Hollow, and it was just a few minutes until parade time. We were basically trapped, but it was ok! There were plenty of seats and ledges left at Sleepy Hollow, where we could still see the Main Street Electrical Parade.

It wasn’t a front row seat, but we still had decent views (and didn't have to stand!). I used snack credit #7 of 42 on a giant Diet Coke from Sleepy Hollow while we watched the parade. The girls enjoyed it, but we were exhausted! We caught Wishes from the ferry on the way back to the Poly (we would take the TTC ferry back since we didn’t have to fold the stroller and then walk on the pathway back to our resort). By the time we got “home” to our room, the girls were asleep in the stroller, and Mom and I were not faring much better. We knew we had an early day planned at Hollywood Studios the next day, so we started talking about…and decided to cancel our breakfast plans.

I was really sad to do so, but we let our Hollywood & Vine PPO breakfast reservation go, and decided we’d sleep until we felt like getting up. I knew that by not getting in the park early, we were also giving up Z’s ability to be in Jedi Training Academy, but she was none the wiser. Whew! (Which only means we have to make it a priority for our Christmas 2017 trip!)

Today's dining plan adds from our "Rope Drop to Wishes" park day:

Meal Credits: 15/63 (Added 3 from Crystal Palace, 3 from Captain Cook's, and 3 from Cosmic Ray's)

Snack Credits: 7/42 (Added a Mickey Bar from the MK, Poly chips from Capt Cook's, and a Diet Coke from Sleepy Hollow)

 

[Jenna319]

Enjoying your report so far! We check into a Poly studio on Monday with our 2 year old and I'm glad to hear you were able to use the 2nd bathroom for the pack and play!

 

[nimbuscat]

Enjoying your report so far! We check into a Poly studio on Monday with our 2 year old and I'm glad to hear you were able to use the 2nd bathroom for the pack and play!

Yay, glad to have you following along! That second bathroom was a LIFESAVER with the 2-year-old.

 

[nimbuscat]

Yeah I can see them now and live vicariously through your trip report

Woohoo! Finally! That occupied far too much of my afternoon yesterday.

 

[nimbuscat]

Wednesday, August 17 – The Force Is Not With You!

We enjoyed sleeping in, then finally got on the bus to Hollywood Studios (and figured out how to fold the darn stroller!) around 10:00 am. We made our first stop in the park at the Trolley Car Café (Starbucks). Now I know this is like the WORST use of a meal credit ever, but whatever. We had the credits to spare! I ordered the sausage and cheese English muffin breakfast sandwich with a trenta iced green tea lemonade. Gammy had the spinach and egg white wrap with a giant ice water (we ordered a milk for C as the included beverage), and then used snack credit #8 on a fruit tart for Z. We ate at the little tables around the corner from Trolley Car, and really enjoyed our leisurely morning meal.

I had rearranged all of our FPs to be for the afternoon, since I wasn’t sure what time we were getting to the park, so we had a couple of hours to kill before our 1:10 pm lunch reservation at Mama Melrose. We went to the Little Mermaid show as walk-ons, and spent tons of time in the Star Wars Launch Bay. We were going to meet Chewie and Kylo Ren at that time, but again, my impatient little Jedi princess didn’t want to wait, so we chattered with the Jawas and checked out all the displays.

Storm troopers! And Captain Phasma!

After Launch Bay, I noticed that the wait time for Star Tours was like 10 minutes, so I sent Gammy and Z over to ride it (I can’t handle those virtual reality, motion-simulator type rides—I get sick!), while C and I strolled around. I was feeling snacky, so we stopped into Writer’s Stop and shared one of those awesome carrot cake cookies (snack credit #9). Of course after that, we were thirsty, so we went back to Trolley Car and got a trenta “pink drink” (it’s the strawberry acai refresher with coconut milk/no water)—snack credit #10!

We met back up with Gammy and Z and headed towards Mama Melrose for our lunch reservation. How could I possibly be hungry? Haha, I don’t know, but I was! By the time we got to the restaurant, both girls were passed out in the stroller. The restaurant CMs were so kind, and were going to let us keep them in the stroller for our meal, but they both woke up before our table was ready.

I’ll say it right now—Mama Melrose ended up being a surprise hit for our trip! Based on previous reviews, I was not expecting anything exceptional, but we were ALL thoroughly impressed! We even had a salty old waitress (who was not salty in an ironic way!), but still had one of the best meals of the week. We had booked the Fantasmic package, but by this point in the day, we had already decided we were not going to last long enough to attend Fantasmic. The heat and the busy days were killer. Oh well! Mom and I both started with Caesar salads, and the girls shared an appetizer of apple slices. For my entrée, I had planned on spaghetti or another pasta dish, but when it came time to make a decision, the saltimbocca was sounding delightful—and it was! I highly recommend it if you’re wanting something a little bit different for a meal there. Mom ordered the Carne d’Italia flatbread. It was huge! (That’s what she said…) Really, though, enough for at least two people. The girls shared the kids’ spaghetti and meatballs, and they ate it up, and then snagged some of Gammy’s flatbread.

Since we were on the Fantasmic plan, dessert was a little different than usual. Adults got a pre-plated dessert sampler platter. It had a blood orange cake, tiramisu, and a lemon cheesecake with passion fruit pearls. Honestly, none of those sounded all that appetizing to me, so when Z saw my plate and asked to trade me, I gladly agreed! Her only choice for dessert was an ice cream sundae, which was just a scoop of vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, and Mickey sprinkles. The “spaghetti and meatballs” cupcake was on the menu, but it would have been an extra $4.99 on the Fantasmic plan. Dumb, since we were using Deluxe dining credits for the meal, but whatever. We were all happy with what we received/traded!

After lunch, we had FPs for the Frozen sing-a-long…

...the Disney Junior show...

and Toy Story Midway Mania. We also met Olaf, Kylo Ren, Sofia, and Pluto.

Sofia was the ONE character so far Carter willingly ran to!

The one really nice thing about half the park being walled off for construction was that it was so easy to check wait times on my phone, and if they were low, we could rush over to Launch Bay, for example, and meet Kylo Ren with a 5-10 minute wait. Zoey is such a little daredevil and looooves all thinks dark and creepy, but Kylo Ren scared the bejeezus out of her! As she was walking away from their meeting, he called out, “The force is not with you!” and my little Jedi-in-training left FUMING mad at him.

This next one is possibly my favorite of the whole trip...

Hopping from one end of the park to the other was way easier than doing that in Magic Kingdom, trying to get from Splash Mountain to Town Square Theater, for example! We also saw that Tower of Terror had a 15-min wait time posted, so I sent Gammy and Z over to ride it. I really don’t like ToT, but now I’m wishing I had ridden it.

When we came out of the Toy Story ride, the girls were starting to get hungry again, so we used snack credits #11-#13 on a Mickey pretzel with cheese sauce, a bottled water, and a strawberry freezy drink for everyone to share. They were all from the little cart across from Toy Story. Delicious!

We had a 7:00 pm reservation at Sci-Fi, and this is one I wished we had canceled and just “eaten” the cancellation fee. We weren’t particularly hungry, the girls were hot and tired, and I should have remembered that it takes FOREVER past your reservation time to even be seated there. Seriously—we should have just canceled and grabbed something at Backlot Express on the way out of the park. Lesson learned! We were seated late, then once we got seated in our car, my visions of the girls (or C, at least) being enthralled with the videos and the car and sitting nicely went out the window. She didn’t want to sit and eat, so Gammy and I took turns walking around outside with her. I also mentioned we were not that hungry, so ordering with the Deluxe dining plan seemed like a colossal waste on this night. I started out with the fried pickles, and Gammy got the onion rings. The girls shared fruit for their app. For entrees, the girls had mac & cheese and goldfish crackers. Most of C’s ended up in the floor—she was just not a fan of dinner tonight! I ordered the build-your-own burger with fries—I have to say, this was probably the best burger in the park! It was made to order, and even came at the requested temperature (medium). Delicious! I just wish I had been hungrier/more able to enjoy a leisurely meal! Gammy ordered the turkey sandwich with cucumber salad, but fries were brought out accidentally. Our server was really slow, so she didn’t dare ask for it to be corrected. Oh! Z ordered the s’mores shake for her drink—our server told us that the shakes counted as drinks OR desserts, so we could all technically have 2 shakes apiece! ;-) We really didn’t eat much of our dinner. Gammy and Z didn’t order dessert, and I just asked for a chocolate shake to go, since I was outside with C. Honestly, our server…he was slow to begin with, but then he delivers a shake to go overflowing out of a paper cup with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle piled to the sky with no lid. Seriously dude, it’s like 100 degrees outside—that is going to make the BIGGEST mess! And it did…I took about 2 sips, and then tossed it because I didn’t want to end up wearing the whole thing.

Dining plan adds for today:

Meal credits: 23/63 (Added 2 from Sbux Trolley Car Café, 3 from Mama Melrose, and 3 from Sci-Fi)

Snack credits: 13/42 (Added Sbux fruit tart, Writer’s Stop carrot cake cookie, Sbux pink drink, Mickey pretzel w/ cheese, bottled water, and strawberry freezy drink)

Okay, that will be it for today's updates. Enjoy your weekend!!

 

[nimbuscat]

Okay, I lied--I had some extra time, so here's another entry for today!

Wednesday, August 18 – Channeling our Inner Elsa

We started our day bright and early at Epcot, with a PPO breakfast at Garden Grill. The Epcot monorail from the TTC was quick and easy!

I know Garden Grill gets mixed reviews, but we really loved it! The food was fresh and delicious (those cinnamon buns!), and the character interactions were over the top! We saw Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale several times over throughout our breakfast. Carter even decided that they miiiight be acceptable, after all.

After breakfast, I kind of wanted to try Soarin’ on standby since I’ve never ridden it, but I was a little afraid I’d get sick, so we skipped and went on to Living with the Land. It was another first for me, and it was a surprise hit with both kids. Zoey loved the “science-y” part of it, and Carter liked that there was nothing in it to scare her.

We then hopped right over to The Seas, and rode Nemo on standby (no wait), and checked out all the tanks in the Seas pavilion. The kiddos both loved all the fish and sea creatures! We thought about waiting for the next Turtle Talk with Crush, but we just missed a showing, and didn’t want to wait the 20+ minutes for the next, so we moved along.

We went to Mouse Gears to pick up some souvenirs for family at home, but I couldn’t talk Z into waiting to meet Baymax and Joy/Sadness. Darn, because I really wanted to see all three!

So, we stopped at Starbucks for green teas for both Mom and I (snack credits # 14 and 15), then we headed over to Club Cool, where I talked Zoey into trying Beverly—I think she’s still mad at me for that one! Then, over to use our first FP, with Journey into Imagination with Figment. Such a classic—I love it!

As we were leaving Figment, Zoey (yes, the 5-year-old, not the 1-year-old!) threw a colossal fit because she wanted a Figment stuffed animal. Sorry kiddo…Mommy already bought you a Destiny, and I warned you that you would see other things you wanted! Yup, we were totally *that* family with the fit-throwing child at Epcot. I got her calmed down and we realized that the kiddos were probably hungry/thirsty, as it was after 1:00 by this point.

We hightailed it over to Sunshine Seasons, where it was suuuuuper busy. Gammy took Carter to go find a table for us, while Zoey and I went to order. Mom and I split the Mongolian beef and noodles (delish!), and Zoey chose an orange cupcake as the included dessert. We all just wanted water to drink, so we filled up four giant water cups to take back to our table. Zoey also wanted a large fruit and cheese tray as her and Carter’s meal, so I had intended to pay for it out of pocket, so we didn’t waste a meal credit on fruit/cheese. Well, we got to the cashier to pay for everything, and she ended up letting us use the “beverage credit” from our meal for the fruit and cheese tray! I’m not sure if she was supposed to do that or not (the tray was WAY bigger and cost more than a typical snack credit), but the pixie dust was appreciated! It worked out perfectly!

Also, that orange cupcake? I was a little peeved at Zoey for choosing something that I never would have picked from the bakery display FULL of amazing little delights. I didn’t let on, as you know, choose your battles and all… but that darn cupcake ended up being my favorite dessert of the trip! I’m not really even an orange-flavored anything fan, but it was downright delightful! Moist, fresh, and just the right amount of citrus and sweet!

After lunch, we used our second FP+ on Spaceship Earth, then headed back to the resort for some downtime before our evening plans.

When we returned to Epcot later that evening, I was escorted by none other than Anna and Elsa of Arendale! Seriously, I just love these two outfits.

We had a later (8 pm-ish?) dinner reservation at Akershus, but we had some business to take care of first in Norway. (Had to stop at Starbucks first for another tea—snack credit #16!)

We used our final FP+ on Frozen Ever After (LOVE it!), then walked right over to have a meet and greet in the Royal Summerhus. The theming was just so great! I love everything about it, but admittedly, I am a Frozen nerd, and never had any attachment to Maelstrom.

Carter's face!

Some very serious princess secret-sharing going on here!

Comparing capes...

By this time, hunger demons were starting to possess my children, so I used snack credit #17 on a bag of Cheetos from the snack cart in Norway for them to share…well, sweet little 20-month-old child of mine decided sharing was not in her vocabulary that day. Soooo…we walked over to Mexico to ride Three Caballeros, and grabbed a homemade watermelon popsicle (caleta) for Zoey from La Cantina before going inside (snack credit #18).

Finally, it was time for dinner at Akershus. Maybe it was because it was late and we were tired, but our experience there was not that great. Actually, the food was pretty darn good…it was just the service and princesses that were lacking! Slow, unenthusiastic service, accompanied by princesses who very clearly were just done with that day. Honestly, I’m pretty glad we didn’t pay out of pocket for this meal (even though we obviously paid for it via the dining plan, but it just seems to sting less somehow). It was a total letdown! Food-wise, though…Zoey had the mac & cheese, Mom had the traditional meatballs (think IKEA meatballs and lingonberry sauce), and I had the vegetarian ravioli dish. They even let Carter order her own meal (cheese pizza) for free. Dessert was a family-style sampler platter—the surprise hit of the evening was the rice pudding. I could eat a whole bowl of it!

And, of course, for those following along at home:

Meal Credits: 30/63 (Added 3 from Garden Grill, 1 from Sunshine Seasons, and 3 from Akershus)

Snack Credits: 18/42 (Added Starbucks tea x 3, Cheetos, and a caleta from Mexico) And yes, I am STILL cringing over using a snack credit on a single-serving bag of Cheetos that I could buy at a gas station for less than a dollar!

 

[nimbuscat]

Thursday, August 19 – Happy birthday, Gammy!

My apologies as this day is a little light on the photos--I didn't carry my phone/camera around much at the water park, and we were too tired to worry about pictures by the time we got to Disney Springs!

Today was Gammy’s birthday, and our “big” plans for the day were checking out Typhoon Lagoon for the first time! We started with a light breakfast at Captain Cook’s (we all shared a Bounty Platter and a yogurt parfait, plus an additional greek yogurt for Carter), then took the bus over to the water park.

I surprised Gammy by reserving one of the Beachcomber Shacks for our day there. It turned out to be an excellent idea, as we had guaranteed shady seating, and the cabana attendant service was excellent! We didn’t get to the park until nearly 11:00 am, but we checked in and were escorted to our shack right away. We were handed a bag with four refillable water park mugs (these were bigger than the resort mugs AND they worked at our resort for the rest of the trip!), towels, and a birthday tattoo for Gammy! Right on!

We just sort of chilled out at the cabana for a bit, and our attendant overheard us talking about the sand pails and shovels that you get with the kid’s meals, and she brought us some right away without even asking for it. Talk about service! The girls gladly played in the sand for a while, then we decided to head out and explore.

Our shack overlooked the wave pool, and Zoey declared that was our first destination, so we all headed over there. In true Carter fashion, she was not a fan (this girl! I swear she is not my child!)…haha…so Gammy took her to the kid’s area where she could splash around in zero-depth areas.

Zoey and I braved the waves for awhile, then decided to hit up the lazy river. That is the LONGEST lazy river—my goodness! Halfway around the river, we saw the ice cream shop, and Zoey wanted to get ice cream (as did I!), but I had removed my magic band before we went to the wave pool, so we were out of luck. Womp, womp.

Zoey went down a few of the kid’s slides several times, where we met up with Gammy and Carter, then we all went back to our shack to see about lunch. Our attendant would have gladly brought us anything we asked for (Mom and I ordered birthday pina coladas!), but we weren’t really sure what we wanted, so Zoey and I went to Typhoon Tilly’s to order for us all.

I had the shrimp basket with fries, a key lime pie, and a frozen blueberry lemonade to drink. Mom had the chicken wrap with chips, fruit cup, and a frozen lemonade. The girls each had a turkey sandwich kid’s meal with fries, chocolate chip cookie, and milk. This now meant we had four sand pails and shovels to keep track of! The food was pretty decent—I wasn’t expecting much, but it was certainly better than any other water park I’ve ever been to!

Yep, that was pretty much the story of our trip, poor bear...

After lunch, Mom and Z went out exploring some more (I couldn’t talk her into shark snorkeling!), while I stayed back with a grumpy Carter who was past her naptime. They were gone for quite awhile, and I think we finally left the park around 5. We changed clothes, and headed to Disney Springs (the water park buses stop there anyway), then went straight to Raglan Road, where we had a reservation.

Raglan Road was one of my favorites from our 2014 trip, so I was super looking forward to dining there again. I was kind of disappointed—we were seated in a side room and couldn’t see the dancers on stage (there went the kid entertainment!), and even though my kids were totally well behaved during this meal, a couple was seated next to us, who made a snooty glance towards our kids and asked to be moved. Whatevs. It’s Disney World, people, not the Four Seasons.

Mom and I started by sharing the Dalkey Duo battered sausage appetizer. It was good, but not nearly as good as the nom nom wings I had last trip! I had the Braised Be Beef (roast beef with root vegetables), and mom had the Keen Eye for Shepherd’s Pie. We were both sort of mehhh about both entrees. The girls shared the mac n cheese (delicious as always). For dessert, I reallllly should have gone with what I had last time, the Fluffy Lemon Clouds…but I thought I’d branch out and try the apple-peach crumble. It was okay, but I’m still dreaming of that lemon dessert. Mom ordered the famous bread and butter pudding, but she said it was dry and not that great. Letdown! We were so looking forward to this meal! I think I will give Raglan Road one more chance on our 2017 trip—I am hoping we just hit them on an off night!

After our meal, we went to World of Disney to search for some specific souvenirs we had been hunting for. I finally found what I think was the ONE piece of Baymax merchandise left in the park for a co-worker who just loves him. Mom purchased a couple of outfits for the girls, and we started to head back to the buses. I remembered that Sprinkles had just opened recently, and I figured oh, what the heck, where else can you have two desserts in one night but at Disney?

Zoey and I waited in a long-ish, but quick-moving line, and ended up choosing a “sundae”, which was a cupcake cut in half with a scoop of ice cream between the two halves. We chose a strawberry frosted cupcake with strawberry ice cream. It was AMAZING…and totally made up for the not-so-wonderful meal and dessert at Raglan Road. We did have to pay out-of-pocket, as Sprinkles doesn’t accept dining plan credits, but it was worth every penny.

Meal plan adds for today:

Meal credits: 38/63 (Added 1 from Captain Cook’s, 4 from Typhoon Tilly’s, and 3 from Raglan Road)

Snack Credits: 15/42 (Only added a yogurt parfait and an Oikos yogurt from Captain Cook’s at breakfast today!)

 

[Eddie512]

This report is AWESOME! So helpful for me to read as we are staying at the Poly next July. The girls are gorgeous and y'all look like you're having a blast! (Except for the sad cabana picture, lol).