Who Invited My Mother In Law? A Moderately Deluxe TR All New X 3 & PTR Link 2/3 !!

[disneyhockeymad]

Long time lurker here just thought I'd let you know I love your report and I'm so sorry your MiL was like that, it spoils all the fun! I'm so impressed you didn't explode at hf though, I definitely would have done!

Can't wait to read the rest

 

[cindianne320]

Pretending MIL was not there...

That meal sounds AWESOME! I can't wait to try it next year!!!

 

[RGirl]

We really liked it. The food was good, the service was excellent, and no ukulele players got too close to us.

There are a few places that everyone loves that I just don't. (One is coming up for breakfast the next day).

The monorail was rough this trip. All the problems we had made me rethink my dream resorts for sure. I honestly think that I'd only stay at CR in the MK area since you can walk. I hate being trapped in the monorail hopelessly waiting to start moving.

The next updates will be much more fun!

You know, the entertainer who was at 'Ohana on the night we went was just irritating as all get-out. I think if we had had the other one, we would have enjoyed it a lot more. That and if we had had a server who cared to serve us at all. The food was actually quite good.

You know, while reading your posts about the monorail, I kept thinking that I wasn't feeling too keen on the monorail resorts anymore. I think we will stick with the Epcot resorts! Don't let Heather read that.....

 

[mirage0306]

I'm caught up!!!

Oh, so much to say. First, your MIL. Just... wth? I am very non confrontational myself, so I understand why you never said anything. But ugh, how awful of her to spend so much time shopping for her other grandkids in front of maddie. And the comment to her about nemo--so out of line and mean. and of course, the waiter. I'm so sorry you had to put up with all that.

I just realized we never got pineapple at ohana! Booooo!!

Maddie is so cute! I love her quest to meet so many characters. Liam was the same way. we also got him that stuffed perry. I personally love it too!

I'm looking forward to more stories and dining reviews--hoping you guys began to enjoy yourselves more after your MIL left.

Oh and now, when I like something, I'm totally going to start saying it's off the hook. love it!!

 

[shan23877]

I'm loving your trip report. Even if it isn't positive all the time it helps us see that others have the some of the same issues as us. Even on vacation at the happiest place on earth mishaps can and usually do happen.

Thank you so much! That's a good point!

Your MIL is a trip. Maybe the wine loosened up her tongue to the point where she didn't care what she said. LOL!!

I wish she could have blamed the wine the rest of the time.

Maddie makes me smile with her comments. She is such a entertaining little girl.

Can't wait to read more on the trip sans MIL. LOL!!

Thank you so much, Maddie makes me laugh all the time. We will be MiL free by the midway point of Day 3!

I'm glad you were able to at least enjoy the food! Ohana is one of the restuarants we are most anticipating as well!

The food did not disappoint. We were so excited about the ADR and will make it a point to go back!

OF course poor Maddie was tired, you guys had a long day! I expect similar situations with my two (even more so my older one!).


I feel bad for your waiter, and for you and Bryan! I know I would feel very sorry after MIL made a comment like that. My MIL is very rude by nature. English is her second language and she is often harsh and unpolite. She is used to be served (had maids etc) and I HATE the way she talks to servers. My DH often will say something to her about it! Drives me crazy!

I felt so bad for the waiter! I can't believe that MiL did that. My sis in law is usually the one who's rude to servers. She's so bad that I pretty much refuse to go out to eat with them! It's so embarrassing for the people dining with them!

I spent my lunch hour catching up but I will try and make the comments minimal! I know I stated it before but your pictures are so great!! 5000! You sound like me! My kids just roll their eyes at me. I also thank you for the Title Page...made catching up easy but I missed out on responses so I may duplicate! And I love your tiltes....very clever!

Thank you so much! Maddie was ok with all the picture taking as long as she was in most of them, but DH got a little sick of it!

I like to do chapter links because I always seem to come across TRs late.

Thanks! I love Friends, so the episode titles from the show inspired me.

*Cinderella pictures were priceless! Loved them!!

*1900 Park Fare was such a bust last year that DH even mentioned the other night that he didn't care where we went this year as long as we didn't go back there. I may never get him there again!

We hated the food there last trip, but this time it was much better. If it hadn't been, Bryan would probably refuse to go again. Maddie just likes to see princesses, so she wouldn't care. I like the Tremaines.

*But the Step Sisters were awesome!!

*Great firework shots!!

Thank you! I have better ones from Day 3!

*The morning MiL spoke about her purchases for your niece and nephew made me feel for Maddie. My GM did the same thing with my sister and I only she would get things for my cousins' cousins and not us! And they weren't related to her!!

It made me sad that she did that. Maddie doesn't want for much of anything, but it was the thoughtlessness that did me in

*We love, LOVE Tusker House! Isn't the setting amazing! Funny about the bathrooms though. I haven't ventured there yet.

TH was amazing! By far the best breakfast of the trip! The restaurant blew me away, the bathroom thing was just jarring. The rest of the place is sooo decked out!

*Your comment on the rarity of the KS photos...did you catch my
post?!

I love to read TRs and I love all the photos, but we all post 500 pics from the Safari! It just made me laugh to throw in a little joke.

*Good to know Yak and Yeti was good! I have heard several people speak well of it. I need to add it to my list of places to try!

It was really good, put it on the list for sure!

*Also love FOTLK! I post tons of pictures from there!

If I told you how many pictures I took of that show you'd die! I think that I took almost 250 of just that show. I was really impressed with it. Plus, it was a great chance to play with the camera settings. Trying to get good pics in low light of moving objects is tough!

*Flower and Garden pictures were awesome (I know I have said it before. Sounds like I am kissing up! But your pictures really were great!)

Thank you!!!

*Ohana and the breakdowns.....even though that is so hard to write and relive, I like it when people tell the truth in their TRs! I have posted many breakdowns and while we all wish that all vacations are rosy the truth is sometimes things just don't go that way. I am glad to know it improves though!

Thank you so much, I was having a hard time reliving that afternoon and evening, but I didn't want to leave it out.

*Ohana food: This is a first for us in July and I am glad you gave it good reviews even with the negativity floating around that night!

I hope that you like it as much as we did! The food was outstanding! and so was the service.

All of your posts have just made me that much more excited and anxious to head (further) south!!! I post slowly too so I understand and I am also glad since now I am all caught up!!

I'll bet you're so excited to be going back so soon! I would be jumping out of my skin if I was you!

Hi! I'm here! I'm subbing to read later--your family is beautiful!! Can't wait to catch up!

Yay! Thanks for joining in! However did you find me here?

Long time lurker here just thought I'd let you know I love your report and I'm so sorry your MiL was like that, it spoils all the fun! I'm so impressed you didn't explode at hf though, I definitely would have done!

Can't wait to read the rest

Thanks for de-lurking! I appreciate the kind words! If MiL had been staying the whole time, this would be a very different TR Knowing that she was leaving kept me calm.

Pretending MIL was not there...

That meal sounds AWESOME! I can't wait to try it next year!!!

'Ohana was GREAT! I'm excited for you to try it!

You know, the entertainer who was at 'Ohana on the night we went was just irritating as all get-out. I think if we had had the other one, we would have enjoyed it a lot more. That and if we had had a server who cared to serve us at all. The food was actually quite good.

You know, I suppose that if we'd had really annoying entertainment and a server who didn't really want to serve, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it either!

Our server probably could have lit us on fire while playing a ukulele in my ear and wouldn't have made me as mad as MiL did!

You know, while reading your posts about the monorail, I kept thinking that I wasn't feeling too keen on the monorail resorts anymore. I think we will stick with the Epcot resorts! Don't let Heather read that.....

I always thought that the CR and the Poly were my dream resorts. On this trip though, the monorail was such a hassle! We loved the location when we stayed at the BWI. I am the type of person who feels better if I'm doing something, so I'd rather walk to DHS and Epcot than take the chance being stuck on the monorail watching the world go by.

I won't breathe a word of it. Shouldn't she have a new TR starting soon?

I'm caught up!!!



Oh, so much to say. First, your MIL. Just... wth? I am very non confrontational myself, so I understand why you never said anything. But ugh, how awful of her to spend so much time shopping for her other grandkids in front of maddie. And the comment to her about nemo--so out of line and mean. and of course, the waiter. I'm so sorry you had to put up with all that.

Yeah, my MiL. Maybe I should have warned you about her before coercing you into signing up for this madness. Thanks for the back up. I think a lot of people wonder why I didn't give her a piece of my mind.

I just realized we never got pineapple at ohana! Booooo!!

Not fair! It was delicious, you should write a letter of protest.

Maddie is so cute! I love her quest to meet so many characters. Liam was the same way. we also got him that stuffed perry. I personally love it too!

Thank you! Perry is very popular with Maddie. I like P&F, it's a really cute show. I love that the Perry makes platypus noises!


I'm looking forward to more stories and dining reviews--hoping you guys began to enjoy yourselves more after your MIL left.

There will be tons of dining reviews, and we had a great time after she left!

Oh and now, when I like something, I'm totally going to start saying it's off the hook. love it!!

I love it!

 

[tralin]

MIL is leaving! Now you get to have family time. I keep changing my ADR's as I read your TR, luckily we are already booked at O'Hana. My DH LOVES Hawaii and Meat. I have not told him anything about this place as I want to surprise him. Our vegetarian daughters may not be so thrilled but DH has worked SO hard to make money for this trip he deserves a night all about him. (that also means no characters. ) Can't wait to hear about Maddie's day. I told DH about your invitation idea and he loved it. I can't wait to find out if you find Fairy Godmother or not for Maddie's invite this year.

 

[shan23877]

MIL is leaving! Now you get to have family time. I keep changing my ADR's as I read your TR, luckily we are already booked at O'Hana. My DH LOVES Hawaii and Meat. I have not told him anything about this place as I want to surprise him. Our vegetarian daughters may not be so thrilled but DH has worked SO hard to make money for this trip he deserves a night all about him. (that also means no characters. ) Can't wait to hear about Maddie's day. I told DH about your invitation idea and he loved it. I can't wait to find out if you find Fairy Godmother or not for Maddie's invite this year.

Oh no! I hope I'm not making too much work for you with all these restaurants! Yay for the surprise 'Ohana ADR!!! I think the vegetarians will be ok. There's bread, salad, broccoli, noodles, and dessert for them. No characters! It seemed like that's all the meals we did last year, this year we had to make it a little more equal.

Maddie's day was so much fun! The invitations were super easy-DH made them for us. The suspense will be over in 2 updates!

 

[RGirl]

You know, I suppose that if we'd had really annoying entertainment and a server who didn't really want to serve, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it either!

Our server probably could have lit us on fire while playing a ukulele in my ear and wouldn't have made me as mad as MiL did!

I always thought that the CR and the Poly were my dream resorts. On this trip though, the monorail was such a hassle! We loved the location when we stayed at the BWI. I am the type of person who feels better if I'm doing something, so I'd rather walk to DHS and Epcot than take the chance being stuck on the monorail watching the world go by.

I won't breathe a word of it. Shouldn't she have a new TR starting soon?

Does MIL leave in the next installment???????

You know, one of my favorite things about our BWV stay was the walks to DHS and Epcot. Not just the convenience of it but the actual walks - it was so nice to start the day quietly with a peaceful walk (especially the one to DHS).

Heather is cruising right now, I do believe!!!! I'm guessing she might be starting a TR while I am enjoying the views of Alaska with Mickey.

 

[shan23877]

On Day 3 DH and I got up nice and early again. We had another breakfast ADR and needed to be at the bus stop by 8. I don’t think that I’ve mentioned it yet, but we used the OPR bus stop exclusively on the trip. On the first night MiL got off at the Aruba stop and said that the walk back to the room from there was much longer than the one from Aruba 51 to OPR. I never took the walk myself, so I can’t say for sure. We liked filling our mugs on the way in and out of the resort and we always got a seat on the bus when we got on at OPR, so it worked for us.

We got a bus to Magic Kingdom relatively quickly (I told you it was Maddie’s day, you didn’t really think we’d be going anywhere else did you?) and arrived in no time. Our ADR was for 8:50 and we got there in plenty of time to take pictures on a semi-deserted Main Street and for Bryan to take care of a Top Secret Mission.

On our way in MiL wanted to stop and visit her stone (she bought one of those legacy stones in ’94, she likes to visit it). While the grown ups looked for it, Maddie did this

​

We walked slowly up Main Street, and as we approached the castle, I noticed that there was a bridal party taking pictures in front of the castle. I mentioned to the PP Photog that I thought it would be really cool to do that. She said they’d gotten married in the little garden between Main Street and Tomorrowland. While I think it would be an amazing wedding venue, I hope that Maddie never catches on to that being a possibility. We’d go broke!


We took several pictures, and after listening to me complain about it for 2 days, DH politely asked his mother if she’d mind not joining us for a few of them. Yay Bryan!!

You can see the wedding party in the background. The PP lady said that the bride wore purple and had everyone else wear white.

​

We checked in at the Crystal Palace at about 8:45 and were seated 5 minutes later.

The Crystal Palace

An All You Can Eat Character Meal
Join Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore
Menu Items Change Often

Breakfast Hours: 8 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Chefs are happy to cater to your special dietary needs. Let the hostess know at the Podium and you can also talk to the Chef at the Buffet.

Traditional fare with an American flair.
Admission into the Magic Kingdom is required.

Note that the price of this meal varies based on the time of year (peak seasons vs regular season), and even on the day of the week (weekday vs weekend). The general price ranges for this meal are as follows:

Adult price range: $24.49-$28.75; Child (ages 3-9) price range: $13.84-$15.97

Tax is included; gratuity is not included. A standard, non-alcoholic beverage is included in this price.

Now, I’m going to warn you that this review might upset some people. I do think that many restaurants have bad days (or even just bad hours), and I know that most of you CP loyalists will continue to enjoy your meals there regardless of what I think. I encourage that! But, for those of you who might be on the fence—here ya go.

And guess what? I took no photos of the food again! I blame MiL because I have pics from almost all of the meals that we had later in the trip.

We were seated on the left side of the restaurant, right next to the windows. You couldn't beat the view.

Our server arrived a few minutes after we were seated. She offered us drinks (I got hot tea again. It was still pretty cold in the morning). MiL ordered coffee, DH had a Diet Coke, and Maddie had milk and oj. Before she left to fill our drink orders, the server warned us that it might take up to 90 minutes for the characters to make it all the way around the room. It didn’t really faze us though, because we’d been there for dinner during peak season on the previous trip and we got in and out in 45 minutes.

Proving our theory, Eeyore showed up right away. After lots of hugs and photos (Eeyore is a special favorite of our family ever since Uncle Cory started comparing our beagle Cooper to him. Cory swears that if Cooper could talk he’d sound exactly like Eeyore) he wandered away. We got up to fill our plates.

Bryan’s mom has been insisting for years that his favorite breakfast food from childhood trips to WDW was the Puffed French Toast. We suspect that she’s been confusing him with his brother as Bryan was a very, very picky eater and it’s about as likely that he would have grown wings and flown away as it is that he’d willing put something like Puffed French Toast on his plate, but he got some from the buffet to appease her. He also continued in his quest to sample all of the biscuits and gravy in WDW. I believe he also got some waffles, bacon, sausage, and potatoes.

Maddie had fruit, eggs, and waffles. I have no idea what MiL had.

I had eggs, waffles, potatoes, and bacon.

A few minutes after we’d filled our plates, the server arrived with our drinks. It seemed like it took a long time for them to come.

We dug into the food right away.

Ok, again, don’t hate me!

The Mickey waffles were gummy instead of light and fluffy. The eggs were really, really runny-and I like undercooked eggs!! The bacon was bad (but Disney has really bad bacon), the potatoes were cold. Bryan said that the biscuits and gravy had no flavor, agreed with me about the waffles, and said the sausage was ok.

(However, Katt789 ate there about 90 minutes after us and seemed to really enjoy the food. Maybe we just caught most dishes after they’d been out for a while?)

Maddie seemed to enjoy the fruit!

We made a couple of trips to the buffet trying to find something that we’d like better but to no avail. Our drinks were empty, and our really nice server didn’t bring us more. Not even the coffee!

We were pretty much done eating when Maddie began to ask how long it would be until the characters got to her.

About 45 minutes after we saw Eeyore, Piglet made his/her (?) way over and Pooh quickly followed.

​

Finally we saw Tigger, and by saw him I mean that we saw him about 10 tables away. Knowing that we’d want to leave after the visit with him, we began to keep an eye out for the server so that we could get our check.

Tigger was only 3 tables away when the announcement was made. It was time for the parade. And after the parade, Tigger took a break.

During the parade we were finally able to ask for our check, and about 10 minutes later we got to see the man of the hour.

​

Pictures taken, we were more than ready to leave. Unfortunately our server hadn’t returned to take our bills. DH encouraged Maddie and I to go ahead and leave while he and MiL took care of the payment. He didn’t have to tell us twice, we were outta there! TTFN!

Disney takes great pains to make sure that guests know that character meals can take up to 90 minutes. However, we’ve done a TON of them and have never waited so long to see all of the characters.

Having said all that, it’s tough to have a bad time watching your 5 year old have so much fun. The characters were all great, and that’s probably why they took so long to come around. In spite of the wait and not enjoying the food, we still had a good time. I’m not going to go so far as to say that we’ll never do CP again, but I think we’ll skip it next time. The appeal of CP for me has always been that it’s conveinient. I’m really looking forward to Be our Guest opening so that there will be another character option in the MK.

 

[amandaw]

Great photopass pictures in front of the castle! Glad y'all were able to get some of just the 3 of y'all.

Bryan reminds me of Ed - wanting to sample all of the biscuits & gravy.

I'm so sorry the food wasn't good. Sounds like y'all might have hit it right before it got refreshed.

But, at least Maddie enjoyed the characters! Although, I agree with you that 90 mins is long for a character meal.

 

[marDgreen88]

Maddie is always so adorable in her pictures! I love her dancing and her little poses! So glad you finally got some family pictures!

Oh no! Sorry you didn't enjoy your food and you waited so long for characters. Weird! I mean I've been there twice, both times for breakfast. The first time was at like 10:30 or so, and the second time was at 8:05. Both times the food was great and the characters came around quickly. It's such a shame that yall didn't get to enjoy it as much as you wanted. I'm so sorry!

 

[CatNipRules]

We've eaten there for breakfast on at least one of our MK days on every trip. I've never eaten the Mickey waffles. I know, I know, I'm just not much of a waffle fan. I do agree with you on the eggs. Most of the time I find them too runny for me. Don't even get me started on disney bacon. It's either rock hard or barely cooked. they can't ever seem to get it right for me. LOL!!

Your DH sounds just like mine. He knows that I'm antsy to get going when we are at MK. He usually tells me to go ahead and he will catch up. LOL!

Love the Photopass pictures. Such a beautiful family.

 

[megan511]

I'm sorry the food at CP wasn't good. We ate breakfast there last year and loved it. We waited forever for Tigger too, but finally our waitress took us to him after we had been there a while.

Those are great pics of Maddie with the characters and your family in front of the castle! I can't wait to hear more about Maddie's day!

 

[afwdwfan]

Great photopass pictures. I'm glad you were finally able to get some family pictures of just the 3 of you.

I appreciate the honest review of CP. I, personally, enjoy it. I will definitely admit though that while the buffets at Disney World are convenient, and do have some good food, it is still a buffet. You're going to get some food that has sat out too long, and when they're cooking mass quantities of everything like that, sometimes it just isn't going to come out perfectly. I guess that's kind of the gamble of booking one of them.

The last time we ate at CP it was for dinner and our experience was much the same as yours. We ate at Hollywood and Vine 4 years ago and the food was so bad DW won't even consider going back there, even though DS loves Disney Junior.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

How cool that you saw the bridal party in front of the castle! What a beautiful venue!!

That's too bad that you guys weren't too big fans of CP! We had thought the food was great, maybe you guys just got a lackluster batch. Glad that Maddie had a good time though!

 

[jedijill]

I'm just not a fan of buffets so I feel you on the CP. I love the atmosphere but the food not so much.

Jill in CO

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Loving you review so far!

It is very difficult traveling with my mom too so I know what you're feeling! Our first trip when I had but one kid who was 2 at the time was me, my husband, Tyler, and my mom...I vividly remember being in MGM in tears and telling her it was the worst vacation ever and it was all her fault! We have travelled at the same time since but never "together"...just at the same time. We just don't travel well together...

And we have found Crystal Palace to be one of the longest character meals too...it seems like it takes forever for those guys to get around!

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Tinkermom76]

CP hasn't really been doing it for me lately either and I am glad we will be skipping it next trip

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

OF COURSE she had to bounce and twirl around while you were looking for MiL's paver! That kid is super cute!

I guess everywhere does have off days and off times. I'm not a big breakfast eater, but I do love CP breakfast. Honestly, though, since I don't eat much at breakfast because I'm not big on breakfast food, I wouldn't notice if something tasted sub-par (except corned beef hash--I tried it for the first time ever there last trip and I am NOT a fan). I guess I just love it for the characters...and getting there before park opening...and the fact that my kids could eat their weight in fruit and boiled eggs. (yuck!)

I giggled a little at the restaurant's description because, yes, a chef WILL come to your table; I even took a picture of him for my TR! But this trip I am so happy not to have to see him (sorry, Chef) since Brynn can now tolerate most dairy! We can just steer her away from yogurt and we'll be just fine on our own! That deserves a banana dance.

 

[mirage0306]

I LOVE your family in front of the castle. So cute! You are adorable!!

So, no offending me with the CP reviews. We ate there last year and it was fine, but we weren't wowed and didn't return. I was a bit bummed after we ate there, because we never saw Tigger. He never came to our table, and I did mention it to someone, and Tigger was doing something with some other family, and we never got to say hi. It wasn't a huge deal--my kids were less into the characters last year than this year--but it was kind of a let down.

I wasn't impressed by their food either. I feel like it's pretty easy to do a decent breakfast buffet, and we have had meals at other breakfast buffets that we've liked better.

CP is in a killer location, though--love that castle view!

Great pics of Maddie, as always! Such a sweetheart!