"We forgot to go to Magic Kingdom!" (Not really) – A September 2019 Trip Report - F&W, MNSSHP - COMPLETE 4/17

[jrmint427]

Disney’s Wilderness Lodge – Resort and Pool

When I checked into the resort, the CM helping me had circled some points of interest on the resort map, including a piece of the train that had been in Walt’s backyard and a piece of memorabilia from the Backlot Tour that used to be at Hollywood Studios. We decided to go in search of these pieces. We found them, but to be honest, I didn’t know what was what, and apparently I didn’t take pictures. I should have googled at the time!

The backlot tour piece is at the Boulder Ridge Cove Pool, and we found Walt’s train in the Train Room at the Boulder Ridge Villas – but didn’t realize it would be so small! The property is so beautiful and peaceful.



The girls were still asking when we would go to the castle. They did not approve of our decision to stay at the resort on our first day!



We found some beautiful topiaries on our walk.



The Train Room was impressive. I wish I had taken more pictures! My dad also loves trains, so it was fun to explore this collection.



When we discovered this bird house, DD4 asked, “Who lives in that??” I think it's hard to tell from the picture, but this giant bird cage was sitting on top of a table.



My mom got a text that their room was ready while we were on our walk (around 3:15pm), so we decided to head back to our rooms and change into our swimsuits. The girls were so excited to go swimming!

Pat forgot to pack his swimsuit but decided to come down to join us by the pool. My dad and MIL took the girls to the pool while I went to the front desk to deal with my magic band issue. This is when they told me it would take 30-45 minutes to re-book our reservation (which was not going to fix the ticket issue) and I told them my family was at the pool and I really just wanted to join them This is when they came up with the workaround for me.

I made it to the pool a little after 4:30pm and the girls were having a great time with their grandparents.





I sat with Pat for a few minutes and shared a strawberry daquiri he ordered at Geyser Point. It was starting to feel like vacation! I had a few sips and then went to relieve my MIL in the pool.

We loved the pool. It was large and there were always a lot of people there, but it never felt too crowded. There was a geyser just behind the pool that went off every hour on the hour. There was a slide too, but I never went down it. My dad took DD2 down it and said it was fun, but only did it once because a lifeguard told him they needed to go one at a time - and she had no interest in going down alone.

It rained very lightly for just a few minutes while we were in the pool, but the rain passed quickly.

We got out of the pool around 5:30pm to go get ready for dinner. We showered and then headed down early because I realized that the bubble wands I bought at Target did not have batteries in them. Thankfully, I had bought batteries just in case. However, they also required a screw driver to open the battery compartment, and I had not bought one of those. I thought Bell Services might be able to help us out so we would having working bubble wands for the park the next day.

Sure enough, they did! Len at Bell Services was wonderful our whole trip. I had a package delivered before our arrival (a few dresses I had ordered for the girls were not going to make it to our house in time, so the woman making them offered to ship directly to the resort), and he was very kind when I spoke to him on the phone the day before. He quickly handed us a screw driver and explained that he would have replaced the batteries for us, but couldn’t because we hadn’t bought the bubble wands at Disney (not a big deal at all – I was just grateful for the screw driver). He also later helped us with pizza recommendations. I sent a Cast Compliment to him when we were home.

When he saw the girls, he asked if they wanted a sticker. He told them each to pull on his sticker roll and keep pulling, keep pulling. They could not believe how many stickers he gave them!



This was a big hit, and the stickers entertained them as we waited for our dinner reservation. We still had almost 30 minutes to wait, so we went to sit out on the “porch” in the courtyard just off of the lobby. It was very relaxing and we could smell s’mores as we sat here on the porch chairs.





We went back inside about 10 minutes before our reservation to check in.

 

[NJlauren]

Joining in!

Well that was an intense arrival day!
Happy you beat most of the storm, and got to Florida safely!

Why do kids want to sleep with us, legit I would do anything to sleep alone, sleeping with a bed hog stinks!

Im pretty excited to hear about this resort and transportation with kids! I tentatively hve it booked for a long weekend trip in May and my only worry is the transportation so I’ll be paying attention to that!

Sometimes Disney makes things so difficult! Happy you got a work around with the magic bands and all!

Looking Forward to the rest of the report!

 

[Lesley Wake]

At 3:00pm that day, the storm was upgraded and given a name – Imelda.

(this was the picture my husband texted me around that time)

That just made me laugh!

Both girls woke up as we got into our hotel room and DD2 asked, “But where’s the castle?”

Aw, so cute! I love that you told them all the stories and got them hyped up!

needed to request to have my magic band linked to the room because I wasn’t on the original reservation.

Our travel agent booked the room for us so I’m a little fuzzy on the details now, but we booked the rooms on a bounce back offer from our trip last year and I think we got 30-35% off both our room and my parents’ room. I believe we had to book a package deal with tickets and the room. However, I’m an Annual Passholder (since we knew we would have two trips within one year) and did not need a ticket with the room. But our TA couldn’t book the package deal with me on the reservation without a ticket, so she talked to a CM who said to book it for the rest of my family and request to have me connected to the reservation at check-in. They said there might be a small fee, but that I could be added (so my Magic Band would work as a room key and I would be considered a resort guest).

At check-in, they told me I was connected and all was good. But I quickly realized my Magic Band did not work as a room key, and when I tried to charge our lunch to the room, the payment didn't work. So I went back to the front desk and was told by a different CM that I could not be connected to our party because our reservation was booked incorrectly. I was texting with my TA who said the CMs she talked to all said this would work fine – but the CM at the front desk was on the phone with someone who was insisting that advice was wrong.

They first suggested I cancel our reservation and re-book right then, but that would take 30-45 minutes, and did not solve the problem of me not needing to buy another ticket since I already have an AP. Ultimately, they told me I was booked incorrectly (my TA disagreed – still not sure how this actually should have been handled), but gave me a day guest card to work as a key to our room. They also let me turn on DD4’s magic band to have charging abilities so I could use that when needed since mine would not work. This seemed like a reasonable workaround.

Ugh, sounds complicated! At least they helped figure it all out!

The room did feel a little small for being a Deluxe room. I read later that WL has some of the smaller rooms of the deluxe resorts, at 344 square feet. It did not feel very different from Port Orleans Riverside where we stayed two years ago, which apparently was 314 square feet. But we spent such little time in the room, it really wasn’t an issue. I think it was only cramped for us because we had 5 people / luggage for 5 people, a double stroller and a pack n’ play that all had to fit in.

Yeah, I had the same feeling with AKL. I think the "living" area of the lodge rooms is actually smaller than the moderates, because the bathrooms are larger. But I still am happy to give up some space for the extra privacy and just awesomeness of those resorts!

 

[Greystar]

This picture is so sweet! The girls look like they had lots of fun in the pool.

 

[jrmint427]

Why do kids want to sleep with us, legit I would do anything to sleep alone, sleeping with a bed hog stinks!

Whyyyy?!? I seriously hardly slept the nights the girls were in bed with us. They don't get to be in our bed at home, so I think they took advantage of us while on vacation. We really need a King size bed if we're going to try to stuff all 4 of us into one.

Im pretty excited to hear about this resort and transportation with kids! I tentatively hve it booked for a long weekend trip in May and my only worry is the transportation so I’ll be paying attention to that!

That is exciting! We never used the buses because we had our van, and we just prefer to drive. But we took the boat to Magic Kingdom twice and loved sing the boat transportation. We never waited long for a boat in either direction, it was a quick ride, and was our fastest time to any of the parks. And a fun mode of transportation! I would definitely recommend the boats for MK days.

Yeah, I had the same feeling with AKL. I think the "living" area of the lodge rooms is actually smaller than the moderates, because the bathrooms are larger. But I still am happy to give up some space for the extra privacy and just awesomeness of those resorts!

I think you're right! The bathroom area definitely felt larger. And I still love the resort itself so much, I would definitely stay there again. We don't spend much time in the room, so the size doesn't matter much.

This picture is so sweet! The girls look like they had lots of fun in the pool.

Aww, thanks! That was one of my favorite pictures They loved the pool and did not want to get out!

 

[cajunfan]

Enjoying your report! Can't wait to read more!

Lynn

 

[Cloe Colton]

Joining in! Sorry to be joining so late, totally missed that you started a new TR!

Seems like it was a good call to head out early, even if just to avoid the stress of worrying!

LOVE Wilderness Lodge! I'll be honest, I think the bunk beds also make the room feel smaller. We were put in one of those rooms in March by accident and I requested to move to another room and without the bunk beds the same size room felt WAY bigger. I think the size of them makes the room seem darker or something? Glad it worked for you guys! What room number were you? It honestly looks like it might of been the room we switched out of! lol

What a pain about the resort reservation! I wish Disney would implement some sort of opt in/opt out for tickets when people have aps. I know why they don't but it seems like it would be an easy thing to verify?? And avoid issues like this!

 

[jrmint427]

Enjoying your report! Can't wait to read more!

Thanks for joining in!

Joining in! Sorry to be joining so late, totally missed that you started a new TR!

Glad you are here! I'm catching up on all other TRs too...

LOVE Wilderness Lodge! I'll be honest, I think the bunk beds also make the room feel smaller. We were put in one of those rooms in March by accident and I requested to move to another room and without the bunk beds the same size room felt WAY bigger. I think the size of them makes the room seem darker or something? Glad it worked for you guys! What room number were you? It honestly looks like it might of been the room we switched out of! lol

I think you are right! The bunk beds did make the room look smaller. We were in room 4024. Too funny if you also passed through there!

What a pain about the resort reservation! I wish Disney would implement some sort of opt in/opt out for tickets when people have aps. I know why they don't but it seems like it would be an easy thing to verify?? And avoid issues like this!

It does seem like this should be an easy fix - unless they really don't want AP holders using bounce back offers?!

 

[jrmint427]

Whispering Canyon Café

I loved that there were such good options for sit down meals right at our resort. Whispering Canyon Café is just off the main entrance to the resort, and can be seen from the lobby.



We checked in at 7:21 for our 7:30 reservation. I was so excited to see they had a table full of Lincoln Logs for kids to play with while we waited – I may have been more excited than my own kids as I showed them how to build! I was almost disappointed when our table was ready just 1-2 minutes later.





We started with our drink order. Pat and his mom ordered beers (the Space Draft IPA and Moosehead Lager) and my parents ordered drinks. My mom ordered the margarita.



My dad ordered the Blackberry Moonshine Lemonade. I was thinking about ordering the same but wasn’t in much of a mood to drink, so I decided to try his first.



It was really good but super strong. My mom’s margarita was even stronger! I decided to just stick with water for the evening.

The menu is mostly made up of all-you-can eat BBQ platters, but they also had a few appetizers and three other entrees to choose from, including a vegetarian option of Pan-Fried Red Quinoa Cakes. I had read the vegan platter was amazing, though, so that is what I ordered. My mom and Pat ordered the Traditional platter and my dad ordered the Land and Sea platter. I ordered a kid’s cheese quesadilla meal for the girls. There was an option to order a skillet for DD4 (and I think DD2 would have been free) but I didn’t think it was likely they would eat much food from the skillet, so the quesadilla was a safer bet, and turned out to be the right decision.

My MIL wasn’t very hungry and all-you-can-eat did not sound good to her, so she just ordered the Whispering Canyon House Salad. Our server gave her a hard time. It comes with dried cranberries, seed brittle, goat cheese and cranberry-poppyseed vinaigrette. Apparently I didn’t take a picture, but I did take a taste and it was very good! She had just a few bites from Pat’s platter so she could try the meat.

Our platters started with cornbread and cole slaw. Both were amazing – and I’ve never liked cole slaw before this one. I don’t like cabbage so I was hesitant to even taste it, but after a small taste, I piled loads more onto my plate. I would go back here just for the cornbread and cole slaw!





Our server was playful and tossed our napkins at us. It was surprisingly effective as they fanned out and fell in front of each of us.
My vegan platter was amazing.



The Beyond sausage was my favorite item, followed closely by the Gardein beefless tips. The menu said they were mustard-glazed but they did not taste much like mustard to me. I make Gardein beefless tips at home and it was a similar taste to how I make them, but I loved them. The Gardein chick’n was good but a little plain. It said it was herb-brushed, but the herbs did not add much flavor. The maple chipotle BBQ Jackfruit was the spiciest item and maybe a little too spicy for me. It was very good and I ate some, but it was my least favorite item just because of how spicy it was (but my spice tolerance is very low). I didn’t care for the potatoes but others in my family raved about them. I usually only like potatoes that are crispy and fried, and these were very potato-y to me. I did like the other vegetables it came with. These are all-you-can eat, so I ended up ordering seconds of the sausage and beefless tips. You just let the server know what you wanted more of.



The only item my girls liked / would even try were the beefless tips, and maybe just because I make them at home so it was familiar to them.

The Traditional platter came with beef brisket, pork ribs, pulled pork, chicken, sausage, corn, potatoes and green beans.



The chicken was my mom and MIL’s favorite and the ribs were Pat’s favorite, though he said they were only good, not great. I think he has gotten spoiled by Texas BBQ and while he thinks most people would like the BBQ here at Whispering Canyon, he didn’t think it quite measured up to Texas BBQ. He thought the brisket was a little too tough and fatty and the sausage too dry. The other adults seemed to really like most items.

Since I'm at my picture limit, and I know you want more pictures of the food, I will continue our dinner in a second post!

 

[jrmint427]

Whispering Canyon Café, Part 2

My dad ordered the Land and Sea, which came with salmon, chicken, vegan sausage, cauliflower, portabellas, potatoes, green beans and carrots. He said the potatoes were his favorite and then the salmon. I thought it was interesting they included the vegan version of sausage with this dish - obviously it's the superior sausage here



Our server stopped by and asked if anyone needed ketchup. I knew the schtick so I looked to the others and when everyone said no, I asked the girls, “Do you want ketchup?” They hesitated, but our server and I encouraged them, so they eventually said yes. (Because ketchup goes with EVERYTHING when you are 2 and 4). So our server loudly called out that our table needed ketchup. There was a brief pause and then it started to arrive at our table… and kept coming.



The girls’ faces are hilarious. My mom was already pouring ketchup on their plates as more bottles were arriving. They were so confused and then started to enjoy the show. Ketchup, anyone??



It wasn’t too long before another table shouted out for ketchup. They were further away so we didn’t hear it, but a nearby table got our attention and told us we needed to deliver the ketchup. It took 5-6 of us to carry it all, but we delivered their ketchup! The girls had a blast.

It was a long meal, and at one point, Pat was entertaining DD4 by teaching her the hand game where you put your hands on the other person’s and they try to “slap” the top of your hands. I snuck a picture as it was cute watching him try to explain the game.



During our meal, we sang Happy Birthday to other people several times, and DD4’s eyes lit up. She asked if I would tell our server that it was her birthday so they would sing to her too. She’s usually shy about these things, so I gladly told the server we were celebrating two birthdays. He delivered, and it felt like the whole restaurant sang happy birthday to the girls. DD4 had on the biggest smile the whole time, and later told us this was one of her favorite memories of our trip – when all the people in the restaurant sang to her. DD2, on the other hand, was shy and buried her face into her grandpa. But she perked up when our server set a birthday cupcake in front of each girl.



They LOVED the cupcakes.



DD2 wasn’t sure what to do with all the frosting, so she just went for it.



We couldn’t stop laughing. She took a bite, nodded, and dove back in for more. I finally asked her why she was eating with no hands and she shrugged and said, “Because I don’t have a fork.”

DD4 shared her cupcake with the adults, but I eventually had to stop DD2 because I was envisioning how bedtime was about to go down with all that sugar. She only gave it up when I agreed to take it with us “for later.” I may or may not have secretly dropped it in a trash can on the way up to our room.

This was a very nice welcome meal for our family, and I would eat here again. We were back up in our room around 8:40pm. Almost as soon as we walked into our room, the phone started to ring. I answered it and the CM asked if we had just returned from eating at Whispering Canyon Café. I confirmed and she said they found a Nintendo Switch game (or something like that?) under the table we had just been eating at. It wasn't ours, but I was really impressed they were able to quickly make that connection to where we were staying, and hoped they knew what family had eaten there before us.

Back in our room, we got the girls into their pajamas quickly to watch the 9:00pm fireworks from Magic Kingdom before bed. There was no music, but it was still pretty awesome to watch. My girls usually don’t like fireworks because they are so loud, so it was perfect to be able to watch them from inside our room so they could actually enjoy the show.





I wish I could watch fireworks before bedtime every night!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

The food here was all around just OK. It was what you would probably expect of food court food, except with a Disney price tag ($42 for 3 adults and 1 kids meal).

We were never impressed with Roaring Fork either. Sadly 42 for 4 meals doesn't sound too bad.

I ordered the vegetarian pita, which came with red pepper hummus, field greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and feta on a whole wheat pita. It was fine, just a little bland. I don't like potato chips so I gave those away.

this sounds and looks pretty good...

Pat ordered the Chicken Caesar salad and also said it was just OK.

That def looks boring!

My vegan platter was amazing.

YEAH!!!! I am so glad you liked it!!

The girls’ faces are hilarious. My mom was already pouring ketchup on their plates as more bottles were arriving. They were so confused and then started to enjoy the show. Ketchup, anyone??

Ha. I love that they were a bit confused but still liked doing it.

elt like the whole restaurant sang happy birthday to the girls. DD4 had on the biggest smile the whole time, and later told us this was one of her favorite memories of our trip –

I love it.

I wish I could watch fireworks before bedtime every night!

Right? Me Too!

 

[jrmint427]

Day 1: Friday, September 20 – Epcot

We had a pre-park opening ADR at Akershus for 8:10am, so I had our family up at 6:00am to start getting ready. According to my FitBit, I got 6 hours, 23 minutes of sleep. We were out our door right around 7:00am.

We drove our own car to Epcot. We’ve found that it’s our personal transportation preference with the girls and the double stroller. I haven’t decided if it actually saves us any time when we have to park and then take a tram to a park entrance, but it definitely saved us time this morning. It took us just 9 minutes to drive from the Wilderness Lodge to Epcot. We were early enough that we did not need to take a tram, and walked up to the entrance at 7:28am. My family gave me a hard time for being so early – they could have had an extra 10-15 minutes of sleep! But we were first in line for bag checks when security opened at 7:45am, so I had the last laugh... or so I thought.

Waiting for bag check to open:



I had envisioned being one of the first families into the park and taking pictures in an empty Epcot. I wanted to take our time walking back to Norway and enjoy our first moments in the first park of our trip. That is what I had carefully planned for. I scanned my Magic Band and then cheerfully went to scan DD4’s… and it didn’t work. The cast member got out her tablet and within moments, I heard the dreaded words, “Her ticket isn’t there – you need to go to Guest Services… wayyyy over there.” (Okay, I might have exaggerated that last part). My heart sank as I realized what this meant. We were not going to be among the first into the park.

I took our bands and ran ahead of the rest of my family. I tried to remind myself that this was not the end of the world. But my plans this morning were to eat quickly, and finish breakfast by 9am so we could ride Frozen Ever After (we didn’t have a FP for it) and meet Anna & Elsa before the crowds made their way back to the World Showcase. This was one of the only days where I had such tight plans for us in the morning.

The Guest Relations CM was very kind. He told me to slow down and not worry, that he would help us. I explained to him why I was rushing (plans for FEA right after breakfast) and he said he would give us all an anytime FP for the ride because he wanted us to walk, not run, to breakfast, and enjoy ourselves. I could have hugged him. I was still concerned about fitting in the Anna & Elsa meet before our first FP at 9:25am, but knew the FEA FP would give us some wiggle room and decided to take his advice and just go with it. I think I handled mishaps a bit better on this trip than our last – maybe because I expected to run into a few obstacles and knew we would still have a great time.

I never got an explanation as to why my daughter’s ticket was not on her magic band, but I didn’t push for one. I didn’t want to take longer than necessary at Guest Relations. The CM immediately saw the purchased ticket in his system, so I knew he could help us out. He gave me a physical card as a back-up, which I did end up needing one other day during our trip. It was odd how her magic band worked in some parks but not in others throughout the week.

After getting this sorted out, we had to get back in line to enter the park. I was a little annoyed after being there so early, but the line wasn’t too long. It was almost 8:15am when we finally made it into the park. We didn’t have time to stop for posed pictures, but I snapped a few quick ones as we made our way back to Norway. There was construction going on so my favorite fountain was closed, and we probably wouldn’t have gotten great pictures with Spaceship Earth anyway. We did walk, and not run, to breakfast.







We checked into Akershus at 8:20am, 10 minutes late for our reservation, and there was a long line out the door. It seemed that they were going by arrival time, not ADR time. There was nothing we could do, so I took a few pictures of the girls all dressed up to meet Belle and tried my best not to let this stress me out.



It was 8:40am before our name was called to meet Belle – 30 minutes past our ADR time. I knew we would not be done eating by 9:00am so decided to just go with it, not rush, and rearrange the rest of our day if needed.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I had envisioned being one of the first families into the park and taking pictures in an empty Epcot. I wanted to take our time walking back to Norway and enjoy our first moments in the first park of our trip.

That sounds delightful. Sorry that it didn't work out as you planned.

It was 8:40am before our name was called to meet Belle – 30 minutes past our ADR time. I knew we would not be done eating by 9:00am so decided to just go with it, not rush, and rearrange the rest of our day if needed.

OH man. I hope you were able to enjoy the breakfast. Very cute dresses on the girls!

 

[Isabelle12345]

Day 1: Friday, September 20 – Epcot

We had a pre-park opening ADR at Akershus for 8:10am, so I had our family up at 6:00am to start getting ready. According to my FitBit, I got 6 hours, 23 minutes of sleep. We were out our door right around 7:00am.

We drove our own car to Epcot. We’ve found that it’s our personal transportation preference with the girls and the double stroller. I haven’t decided if it actually saves us any time when we have to park and then take a tram to a park entrance, but it definitely saved us time this morning. It took us just 9 minutes to drive from the Wilderness Lodge to Epcot. We were early enough that we did not need to take a tram, and walked up to the entrance at 7:28am. My family gave me a hard time for being so early – they could have had an extra 10-15 minutes of sleep! But we were first in line for bag checks when security opened at 7:45am, so I had the last laugh... or so I thought.

Waiting for bag check to open:

View attachment 443681

I had envisioned being one of the first families into the park and taking pictures in an empty Epcot. I wanted to take our time walking back to Norway and enjoy our first moments in the first park of our trip. That is what I had carefully planned for. I scanned my Magic Band and then cheerfully went to scan DD4’s… and it didn’t work. The cast member got out her tablet and within moments, I heard the dreaded words, “Her ticket isn’t there – you need to go to Guest Services… wayyyy over there.” (Okay, I might have exaggerated that last part). My heart sank as I realized what this meant. We were not going to be among the first into the park.

I took our bands and ran ahead of the rest of my family. I tried to remind myself that this was not the end of the world. But my plans this morning were to eat quickly, and finish breakfast by 9am so we could ride Frozen Ever After (we didn’t have a FP for it) and meet Anna & Elsa before the crowds made their way back to the World Showcase. This was one of the only days where I had such tight plans for us in the morning.

The Guest Relations CM was very kind. He told me to slow down and not worry, that he would help us. I explained to him why I was rushing (plans for FEA right after breakfast) and he said he would give us all an anytime FP for the ride because he wanted us to walk, not run, to breakfast, and enjoy ourselves. I could have hugged him. I was still concerned about fitting in the Anna & Elsa meet before our first FP at 9:25am, but knew the FEA FP would give us some wiggle room and decided to take his advice and just go with it. I think I handled mishaps a bit better on this trip than our last – maybe because I expected to run into a few obstacles and knew we would still have a great time.

I never got an explanation as to why my daughter’s ticket was not on her magic band, but I didn’t push for one. I didn’t want to take longer than necessary at Guest Relations. The CM immediately saw the purchased ticket in his system, so I knew he could help us out. He gave me a physical card as a back-up, which I did end up needing one other day during our trip. It was odd how her magic band worked in some parks but not in others throughout the week.

After getting this sorted out, we had to get back in line to enter the park. I was a little annoyed after being there so early, but the line wasn’t too long. It was almost 8:15am when we finally made it into the park. We didn’t have time to stop for posed pictures, but I snapped a few quick ones as we made our way back to Norway. There was construction going on so my favorite fountain was closed, and we probably wouldn’t have gotten great pictures with Spaceship Earth anyway. We did walk, and not run, to breakfast.

View attachment 443684

View attachment 443683

View attachment 443685

We checked into Akershus at 8:20am, 10 minutes late for our reservation, and there was a long line out the door. It seemed that they were going by arrival time, not ADR time. There was nothing we could do, so I took a few pictures of the girls all dressed up to meet Belle and tried my best not to let this stress me out.

View attachment 443686

It was 8:40am before our name was called to meet Belle – 30 minutes past our ADR time. I knew we would not be done eating by 9:00am so decided to just go with it, not rush, and rearrange the rest of our day if needed.

What a hectic start to your vacation !
It is frustrating to see how little things can change plans... it’s good that they gave you an extra FP but I am sure you would have rather followed the initial plan and had a leisurely walk around Epcot!
Hopefully the rest of your day will be better!

 

[jrmint427]

That sounds delightful. Sorry that it didn't work out as you planned.

The best laid plans...

OH man. I hope you were able to enjoy the breakfast. Very cute dresses on the girls!

Thank you! We did enjoy the breakfast... I was proud of myself for still relaxing haha.

What a hectic start to your vacation !
It is frustrating to see how little things can change plans... it’s good that they gave you an extra FP but I am sure you would have rather followed the initial plan and had a leisurely walk around Epcot!
Hopefully the rest of your day will be better!

Thank you! We still had an amazing day. It is frustrating after spending so much time planning our days, but I was grateful for the anytime FP - it helped get us back on track for the day!

 

[jrmint427]

Akershus

When you eat at Akershus, you get a picture with Belle before you sit down, similar to the meet with Cinderella at Cinderella's Royal Table. Belle is DD2’s favorite princess right now, and high on the list for DD4. But as she was the first character we met this trip, they were both pretty shy about meeting her. Belle said, “I think the teacup has their tongues!” We heard some version of this line from quite a few characters throughout the trip.



She asked the girls their names and they were silent. She responded, “You know, they often say the quietest ones are the most intelligent.”
When it was time for their picture, the girls sat on the floor, so Belle sat right down with them. I love how DD2 is looking at Belle in this picture.



We had a pretty quick routine for most characters/pictures – the girls went first, then added Pat and I for our family of four, and then the full group together.



This photographer seemed a little impatient, but I know they’re just trying to get everyone through the door. We got our pictures and quickly moved into the dining room. We met our server and were just about to head to the buffet when I saw that Cinderella was about two tables away from us, so we decided to wait.



We started to go to the buffet again, but as we were walking in that direction, they announced that a parade was about to start, so we walked back to our table for that. These parades are kind of silly to me (they just walk in circles with the princesses), but the girls loved it and that is all that matters.

We finally grabbed our food after the parade, but had to hurry because Snow White was nearby. The breakfast buffet options were smaller than I expected, but they also brought out scrambled eggs, potatoes and meat platters for sharing, so it was a lot of food. I asked our server if they could put the meat on a separate plate for us because some in our party were vegetarians, and they did. The scrambled eggs and potato dish were both very good.



I was just a little disappointed that they didn’t have a vegetarian or vegan protein option (but I didn’t ask, so maybe they do on request?). The options on the buffet were delicious too. I had fruit with a strawberry yogurt dip, hardboiled eggs, a mini bagel with a cream cheese-type dip (yum!), blueberry coffee cake, and (not pictured) a chocolate chip muffin. I was very happy with the breakfast food!



Based on my pictures, I don't think I had even taken a bite before Snow White showed up at our table. Snow White has been one of the girls' favorite characters to meet in the past, but they were still being pretty shy. DD2's face is so funny here - she might have been quiet but was very excited.



Ariel followed about three minutes later. She was the first to really engage the girls in conversation. She asked about what they planned to do today, and I ended up answering for them – visiting Anna & Elsa next. Ariel went on about how it’s hard to swim in frozen water, and DD4 excitedly told her, “I know how to swim by myself in water!”



Three minutes later, Aurora was at our table. She talked to the girls about dancing and asked them to teach her dance moves to show Prince Phillip. They were still pretty quiet, but happily took a few pictures with her. This is one of the few movies we haven’t watched yet, so I’m not sure if they really knew who she was.



At 9:05am, 25 minutes after entering the restaurant, we had met 5 princesses, walked in a parade, and eaten just a little food. It was kind of nice to have all the characters at the front of our meal so that we could enjoy eating after all that excitement.



I have mixed feelings about character meals like this. Paying well over $300 for 5 adults and 2 kids seems like a big splurge. The character meetings were very brief (typically about a minute per princess), and it was a bit cramped to get good pictures, though Akershus felt a less cramped than our experience at Cinderella’s Royal Table two years ago. But, the food was very good, they kept the coffee coming, and the girls seemed to love the experience. So all in all, I’m glad we ate here, but don’t feel like we would need to do this one on every trip.

 

[NJlauren]

Whispering canyon cafe is def in our list! This looks pretty good and I love the ketchup stuff! Dillon will either love it or think it’s the worst thing ever!! Can never tell with that one!

Ugh I would be so stressed/annoyed too that morning! Arriving early and then something not working! Especially with an ADR and a plan for a ride and wanting to meet Anna and Elsa! I am so happy her gifted you an anytime FP and I hope the rest of the morning goes smooth!

I Agreed I have a major love the with character meals, but it’s easier to stomach the breakfast prices sometimes! It also helps when one is still under 3.... but I do love that we meet the characters and save us the time in line later, which is nice... I guess time is money!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

When it was time for their picture, the girls sat on the floor, so Belle sat right down with them. I love how DD2 is looking at Belle in this picture.

I love these types of pictures as well! it's true amazement!

OMG, I love DD2 in this one as well. So cute!

Ariel went on about how it’s hard to swim in frozen water, and DD4 excitedly told her, “I know how to swim by myself in water!”

Ha! I love it! Ariel is always fun! She can be quirky.

I have mixed feelings about character meals like this. Paying well over $300 for 5 adults and 2 kids seems like a big splurge. The character meetings were very brief (typically about a minute per princess), and it was a bit cramped to get good pictures, though Akershus felt a less cramped than our experience at Cinderella’s Royal Table two years ago. But, the food was very good, they kept the coffee coming, and the girls seemed to love the experience. So all in all, I’m glad we ate here, but don’t feel like we would need to do this one on every trip.

Do it while they are young. We have no real need to do them now that my girls are older. They won't always believe that the princesses ARE THE REAL princesses.

 

[Cloe Colton]

How frustrating about DD4's magic band! I'm shocked that they weren't able to figure that out for you at the tapstiles. At least Guest Services gave you a FP for FEA!

I"m glad all the characters came close enough that you could enjoy the food! I really think they character meals should all be like Bon Voyage where you get a platter to share and then order a meal. Its just so much more enjoyable when you don't have to worry about missing characters!

 

[Isabelle12345]

Do it while they are young. We have no real need to do them now that my girls are older. They won't always believe that the princesses ARE THE REAL princesses

This is So true!!
And I think it is the reason many of us here on the boards love bringing our young kids (despite many people’s opinion that you should wait until they are older)
It is so amazing to see the magic through their eyes!!! I am sure I will love going with older kids too (less potty breaks, less meltdowns, more rides...) but I consider myself lucky to be able to experience it when they are little too!