We're Changing The Plan Again?? You mean there's a Plan? New TR Posted/Link Posted

[mickeystoontown]

I've spent my morning catching up on my subscribed threads...including your's. I can't believe how much you guys got accomplished in so little time. I was surprised at how low the crowds were given that it was Memorial Day weekend.

Yay for Keith arriving at the resort AND for you running to him and embarassing the kids. Totally something that I would do.

 

[TinksThree]

I've spent my morning catching up on my subscribed threads...including your's. I can't believe how much you guys got accomplished in so little time. I was surprised at how low the crowds were given that it was Memorial Day weekend.

Yay for Keith arriving at the resort AND for you running to him and embarassing the kids. Totally something that I would do.

I was really surprised by the crowd levels too! It was totally unexpected!

I love to embarress the kids! Most of the time Keith is all for it too!

 

[lbuzz52]

Port Orleans just looks peaceful. That is the next place we are trying and i just cant wait!

i read your explanation on the smileys and i'm still not convinced. I've seen the
used in a manner where to me it implies that the popcorn poster is waiting for drama to start- but not that popcorn poster is trying to start drama.
(okay, that is confusing so here is my example
bob- i reuse the same mug for years
suzy- that is just like stealing
ally- )
did they have issues with other smileys or just those?

 

[TinksThree]

Port Orleans just looks peaceful. That is the next place we are trying and i just cant wait!

i read your explanation on the smileys and i'm still not convinced. I've seen the
used in a manner where to me it implies that the popcorn poster is waiting for drama to start- but not that popcorn poster is trying to start drama.
(okay, that is confusing so here is my example
bob- i reuse the same mug for years
suzy- that is just like stealing
ally- )
did they have issues with other smileys or just those?

I think you will really enjoy POR...I could use its serenity right now!!

I feel the same way regarding the smilies. I always saw the popcorn one as how you stated or else that you are just waiting anxiously to see more. Not as anything conniving. I felt maybe I had misunderstood their meanings from the beginning but feel much better that I wasn't in left field!

 

[TinksThree]

We arrive back at Magic Kingdom and I force (literally, I do not exaggerate) Keith into a Photopass. We have always done the PP but this may be my last year. When Keith is not around we get tons and the cost is well worth it. When he is with us I get eye-rolling, huffing and puffing...even when I let him sit out! So this trip I really wasted my money. We did not get even ONE PP picture at DHS!! Anyhoo...our castle picture (which is actually one of my favorites):

Now every picture has a story and this one's story formed as a crowd observed Keith and I having a "discussion" on how to take the picture. I have seen friends who kiss in front of the castle and the kids make goofy faces, cover their eyes, etc. Cute! Yeah, he was not going for that!! I just knew he would since he usually goes for that kind of thing but NOPE!! So instead we get the above picture and this one before moving to our destination:

We know we only have time for one attraction before heading to our ADR at 6pm. Actually we also knew this was cutting things mighty close! It is decided that we want to see Monster’s Inc again and head in that direction. We arrive at Monster’s Inc at 5pm. We get into the “holding area” to wait our turn.

This show was really funny again. I think this concept has to be one of the best things Disney has done. I have not ever gone to Turtle Talk but from what I have seen on Samantha Brown’s show it is very similar in the interaction part! As I said earlier…this may be a must every trip! I already have jokes written down in my planning notebook!

We leave Tomorrowland and head for the exits. We have an ADR at 6:15pm at 1900 Park Fare. We arrive at the dock at 5:40 but we are a little too late since the ferry is moving away.

Wait for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have to wait but thankfully the wait is maybe 10 minutes.

Along the way, I of course have to snap a few pictures:

We disembark and are on the pathway at 5:53pm.

I manage to get ahead of everyone trying to make my way to check-in. The walk to the main building seemed to take forever and then we had to figure out where to go! I had booked this restaurant for my mom since Cinderella is her favorite princess. She still has a 3ft tall Cinderella doll from her childhood. I had read about this dinner in the past and how fun the character interaction is. This was one of the places we were going just for my mom.

Keith along the way discovers that we are going to a character meal. Uh-oh! Remember way back in the beginning I commented that on this trip I discovered a lot more about what he did and (more importantly) did not like? Well guess what was tops on his list for dislikes? Yep…character meals! So this is what I now know: 1) NO character meals, 2) the restaurant needs to have an ambience, 3) buffets are iffy, and 4) no early meals—as in before 6pm (this is important later in my TR!). Well now this is all cleared up but we are checked in and cannot cancel this one so suck it up dude!!

I force Keith into the picture. He was not too happy about this one at all!!

We hang out in the lobby waiting for our buzzer to go off. A man begins playing the piano and this lady walks up and begins to sing. Not sure if they knew each other but I definitely got the feeling that this was a situation of “I think I can sing so I am joining in with the piano man!” It wasn’t a performance by Disney standards so I know she must have been a guest!

This was my first time to be at the Grand Floridian. I took a few pictures of the lobby area.

It is a lovely hotel and the grounds are pretty but I think this would be one of the last places I would choose to stay. Knowing how much those rooms cost per night, the atmosphere just is not what I am looking for in a resort. But it is a very pretty location to resort hop and visit! Also while waiting I wanted to re-enact the scene from Full House where DJ and her boyfriend see each other and run across the lobby. Keith pretty much nixed this idea ASAP!!

Finally our buzzer goes off. We are seated at an okay table.

Prince Charming and Cinderella are in the room but past our table. I should have snapped a picture of Prince Charming then and there because he must have gone off to save the Fairytale Land from the evil powers. He was never seen again while we were there!

Continued in the next post....

 

[TinksThree]

I will start with the characters and then the food and then the opinions.

Characters:

When we first sat down Anastasia and Drizella got into a fight and Drizella was placed in the corner. She wasn’t even the one to start the fight! Doesn’t it always go that way??

Cinderella—the same one from the night before! She was sweet but took a picture and moved on.

Lady Tremaine—she came up and scolded Chris. I wish I had written down what she said because it was very funny. She spoke to us for a few minutes and I really liked her!

Anastasia—

Drizella—

Both flirted with Chris and were hysterical! They were the reason I wanted to come to this character meal and they fulfilled the preconceived ideas I had! Drizella decided she wasn’t interested in Chris because she asked Madison if he had any bad habits which Madison responded with a “Yes!”. Anastasia could careless because she just wanted a husband! Chris didn’t seem to care either way….

The characters for the most part were fun. Unfortunately we were a group of “grown-ups” and there was a table of 18 next to us with all girls and their moms. They occupied a huge chunk of time and were pretty giggly…oh, did I mention Keith doesn’t like character meals??

Food:

I have read lots of reports on both the breakfast and dinner. For the most part they were pretty positive. One of two things happened at 1900 Park Fare. Either (1) the food fairies came in and removed the good food and put in its place extremely mediocre food or (2) the food selection and quality has taken a nose dive!

It was pretty consistent across the board that the food was probably the worst thing we had ever eaten at Disney World! I went back to try for a 2nd helping hoping to find something good. The prime rib was good. The strawberry soup was okay. The salmon was 110% better at Crystal Palace. We were on Free Dining and had I paid OOP or even used a paid for DDP credit on this meal, it probably would have made me sick! HUGE DISAPPOINMENT!!

Some Food Porn:

The saving grace of the meal was our waitress was nice and deserved her tip. She encouraged us to give the ice cream a try…

YUMMO!!! It was very good and at least this allowed us to leave 1900 Park Fare with a pleasant taste on our taste buds…literally!!

Opinions:

Kids: they were "eh" about all of it but did enjoy the characters.

Mom: She was okay with it and did not say anything negative but I think even if she thought anything she was just keeping it to herself because…

Me: I was super disappointed. Ever since I knew a “Girl’s Trip” was planned this was tops on my list! And I think my mom picked up on this and didn’t say anything to add to my disappointment. I was also glad I had made an adjustment way back when to the ADRs and dropped Akershus scheduled on the following day because….

Keith: pretty much hated everything about this meal and did I mention he doesn’t like character meals?? Okay, well I know now! If we had been eating at Akershus, he would have found the first flight home! He even stated that he came all this way and one of his favorite parts last year were the meals and dining experiences. To begin his part of the trip this way was not a good beginning!

I was also pleased that I got sent a survey from Disney on my trip. They got a full earful on this topic!

So our meal at 1900 Park fare was over and we were headed back to Magic Kingdom! Will after-dinner evening be more pleasant??

 

[disneylvrnMS]

Enjoyed reading your trip report.

 

[TinksThree]

Enjoyed reading your trip report.

Thanks for reading along! Glad you are enjoying it!

 

[mermaid764]

That's too bad that your experience at 1900 park fare was so mediocre, it's always such a disappointment when a restaurant doesn't live up to its hype.

Hopefully the rest of your dining reservations made up for it.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Oh no, that's such a shame that the meal wasn't good. I've had dinner at 1900 Park Fare before and it's always been good.

I love Drizella and Anastasia. They are definitely my favorite part about that meal.

 

[ksl5f123]

Oh no! I am sorry to hear about your 1900 PF experience. After we ate there last June (great characters, completely "blah" food), it is off of my list for a while.

Keith definately has the look of being "forced" into your pictures. Just be happy - you're on vacation! Lately I have been having to drag DD5 into some pictures. I am sure it is a phase for her - maybe for Keith too?

As to your survey, you know I love the emoticons. I don't find any of them offensive. :

 

[TinksThree]

That's too bad that your experience at 1900 park fare was so mediocre, it's always such a disappointment when a restaurant doesn't live up to its hype.

Hopefully the rest of your dining reservations made up for it.

It was a huge disappointment but thankfully there are others that live up to my expectations later! I doubt we ever go back to 1900 Park Fare though....it was that bad of an experience, except the waitress and characters!

Oh no, that's such a shame that the meal wasn't good. I've had dinner at 1900 Park Fare before and it's always been good.

I love Drizella and Anastasia. They are definitely my favorite part about that meal.

Anastasia and Drizella were so much fun! That alone plus the ice cream salvaged an otherwise lackluster experience! I have heard good things about teh food so maybe they were having an off night!

Oh no! I am sorry to hear about your 1900 PF experience. After we ate there last June (great characters, completely "blah" food), it is off of my list for a while.

Keith definately has the look of being "forced" into your pictures. Just be happy - you're on vacation! Lately I have been having to drag DD5 into some pictures. I am sure it is a phase for her - maybe for Keith too?

As to your survey, you know I love the emoticons. I don't find any of them offensive. :

Yes, the characters were fun and the food was definitely "blah"! Keith always looks at pictures and makes comments about himself and I try to tell him if he would smile for 5 seconds, act like he was having fun, etc he would see his "real" self! But does he listen to me? No! I hate forcing him in the pictures but I want a family photo every once in awhile!!

I like the emoticons too! Too me they help add character to comments sometimes...especially since I am a sarcastic person I like having smilies to show I am joking around sometimes and not serious! You never know how your writing will come across sometimes!!

 

[Moira222]

I just finished reading only your first evening at MK & then Park Fare with the whole gang.

and laughed with absolute sympathy and a fair share of at how typical to wait until you are at WDW and checked in to your first meal to mention "Oh I really hate buffet's and character meals".

MY Dh will agree completely with you on the food at 1900PF. of course he was so NOT in his happy place that night either. Anastasia & Drizella MAKE that meal!

I am glad that you had fun despite 18 giggling girls and a missing Prince Charming

 

[FloridaPixie]

Thanks for the insight regarding this character meal! It is one that I will cross off my list for the time being. My daughter Lilly loves Minnie Mouse, so we're doing Chef Mickey's this trip (next week!) so that we can get lots of Minnie/Lilly pics without having to stand in line. I loved your pics of the Grand Floridian, and I must admit that it is also is not my favorite themed Disney hotel. I do love to resort-hop there, though. Can't wait to read the rest of your report!

 

[TinksThree]

I just finished reading only your first evening at MK & then Park Fare with the whole gang.

and laughed with absolute sympathy and a fair share of at how typical to wait until you are at WDW and checked in to your first meal to mention "Oh I really hate buffet's and character meals".

MY Dh will agree completely with you on the food at 1900PF. of course he was so NOT in his happy place that night either. Anastasia & Drizella MAKE that meal!

I am glad that you had fun despite 18 giggling girls and a missing Prince Charming

I agree! Anastasia and Drizella were so hilarious! I think he has now learned that it is better to at least mention likes and dislikes!! I told him he can no longer complain about anything if he has not expressed his opinion up front!!

 

[TinksThree]

Thanks for the insight regarding this character meal! It is one that I will cross off my list for the time being. My daughter Lilly loves Minnie Mouse, so we're doing Chef Mickey's this trip (next week!) so that we can get lots of Minnie/Lilly pics without having to stand in line. I loved your pics of the Grand Floridian, and I must admit that it is also is not my favorite themed Disney hotel. I do love to resort-hop there, though. Can't wait to read the rest of your report!

Minnie is Madison's favorite also! We liked Chef Mickey's a lot for dinner but not so much for breakfast. So you may be there now?! Or at least close to it!! I hope you have/had an awesome time!

GF really is lovely but it is definitely just a resort hopper to me!

 

[LoriH91]

Jumping in!! I haven't gotten very far, but I did read your Park Fare part, because I just made that ADR for us in January. We'll also be traveling with our teenage sons, so I'm always interested in how that goes!!

 

[pinkxray]

I'm sorry to hear Park Fare was a disappointment. It was my number one pick when Caitlin and I were going on our girls only trip. Glad to hear we aren't missing much.

I love the family picture infront of the castle. We didn't get many photopass pictures either. DH kept saying that we already had the picture infront of the ball, castle, etc. I guess once you have one that is all you need forever.

 

[TinksThree]

We exit the restaurant and head back to Magic Kingdom…again on the ferry.

Another pretty resort picture:

We sit on the dock awaiting the ferry and watch the sun begin to set on our 2nd day….

I love the approach to the Magic Kingdom from the boats!!

And you can never have too many of these pictures!!

I am hoping we can get Keith to try a few new things to salvage this evening. We arrive at Magic Kingdom and head towards Adventureland/Frontierland. The kids want to ride Splash again but Keith doesn’t want to risk getting wet. We had a bit of walking in circles trying to agree on something. I persuade Keith to go to The Country Bear Jamboree. This was a first for all of us and I loved every bit of this show!! I hear comments about it being old and dated…maybe since it was my first time to see it, I found it fun and entertaining. My mom laughed hysterically when the “Debbie Downer “ bear began singing. I thought she was not going to make it through the show!! Be prepared because I got carried away on the picture front! (I am not even posting all of the pictures I took! )

Don't they look excited!!

Continued in next post....

 

[TinksThree]

See??? I was just snapping away!! It was a very fun show!

We exit Country Bears and decide to go on Jungle Cruise. I had heard the experience at night is different than daytime. It really is and we had fun!

Keith really enjoyed the corny jokes, which I knew he would!!

By this time we decide to call it a day and head back to the resort. Now this is where regret sets in. Don’t you hate it when you do something on vacation and then when it is too late to take it back, you regret the choices you make?

Keith does not like parades at all. He is bee-lining around and between people waiting on MSEP. I really wanted to see MSEP because I love it. My mom wanted to see it too. I take pictures of the parade as we make our way to the park entrance:

This is my regret: I am a big girl and so is my mom. Keith has his own room key as do we. Why did I just follow along behind him (I am a people pleaser and don’t like to rock any boats…that is why!!) and not say “Go on and we will leave after the parade”!? Well, I didn’t so we only saw a run through of MSEP.

We make it to the bus stop and while waiting I see something I have not seen before:

the Electrical parade! I tried getting a decent picture but it was just too far away. It was pretty though!

We get back to the resort and crash. So how did the Plan for today go?

Well let’s take a tally!!
9am: Rope drop get FP for Splash Mtn Accomplished!!
9:15am-11:30am: BTMRR, POTC, Jungle
Cruise, Country Bears, Haunted
Mansion, Philharmagic 9:15am-12:30pm 3 rides on BTMRR
FPs for Splash
Astro Orbitor once
3 rides on Space Mtn
2 rides on Buzz Lightyear
Carousel of Progress once
Monster’s Inc once
Mickey’s Philharmagic
Meet and Greet with Mary Poppins and ride the carousel
The Mad Tea Cups
Use the FPs at Splash
11:55am: Keith arrives so we go back to
resort for a break/lunch 1pm back to resort, meet up with Keith and eat lunch
3:00pm back to MK—no…sleepy heads so “girl’s “ take a walk
3:30pm-5:30pm: Options---Carousel of
Progress/get Buzz FPs, TTA, Monsters
Inc, use Buzz FPs, use Splash FPs,
Tom Sawyer Island, Liberty Belle (or
ride when we return) 4:45pm back to MK and a quick visit to Monster’s Inc
5:30pm: head to Grand Floridean We were pretty close to this one
6pm: 1900 Park Fare Made our 6:15 reservations
7:30pm back to MK to pick up anything
extra; out before fireworks begin Done! We went on Jungle Cruise and saw Country Bears before leaving the park (and “seeing” MSEP as we walked by!

Overall I deem this day a success…especially since we were “off-plan” almost from the beginning!!

Next day is Epcot...along with more plan changes and another regret!!