Trip Report THE ONE...(February 2020)*COMPLETE*

Ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages and fellow Magicians, as you can see, I am having a little trouble with the title of this trip report. It could be “THE ONE FOR MY BEST FRIEND’S BIRTHDAY”, or “THE ONE WHERE I LEFT MY BRAIN AT HOME.” Or there is, “THE ONE WHERE I GOT A GLIMPSE OF A DISNEY LEGEND”. There is also, “THE ONE WHERE WE JOINED THE RESISTANCE”.
I think I will begin title less and let all you good people have a say when it is over.

We always begin with the why.
A small bit of background first:
M and I have been friend’s since college (a looong time😎). M’s family has a small family business. When my kids were little my job got to be too much (70-100 hours a week) so I left. When my youngest started Kindergarten M’s family asked me if I would come work for them part time. It is not what I went to school for but it offered me flexibility for the kids, and besides, how do you say no to family?
So some of you may have figured it out, M is not only my friend, but my boss as well.

M is a great friend! No really! Die hard Met fan who will go with me to see the Dodgers when they are in town and actually root (🎶root root🎶) for the Dodgers.
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M had a birthday coming up. M’s sister and two grown nieces are big Disney fans and we are always talking about what is new with the parks, food and the shopping😍. Poor M, always left out. So I asked if he wanted to go for his Birthday. “YES”, was his answer BTW. (Plus, my oldest son, X had a lacrosse game in Jacksonville so we got to see that as well.)
M hadn't been to WDW in 20 years! So we got the time off from HR (M’s sister🤣) and I started planning.
I will say, taking a newbie (after a 20 year absence you revert to newbie status-this is the way) to WDW is fun! I got to see everything through his eyes, like it was the first time. Plus, if I made a miscalculation or left something out—he had no way of knowing!!!🤣🤣 M’s only request: “can we ride the teacups?” (and he asked X to score 5 goals for him as a birthday gift-stay tuned for that)
“Of course we can!” My family will never ride the teacups with me so I haven't been on them in at least 10 years. This was off to a promising start!!!
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Tuesday February 11 cont

After Buzz we headed to the Little Mermaid. I had gotten a FP after tapping into Buzz. I also noticed we still had an order at Aloha Isle pending, but we had already gotten our order. I have been in this situation before. Somehow, through app glitch or darstarr glitch the order went through twice. So we rode Little Mermaid, here is proof, sort of...
8D8DA32A-2F94-44F9-AFCF-D3385CC10914.jpeg

Then we headed to Aloha Isle where a manager was able to cancel the pending order and reverse the charge. Then we checked in for lunch and got called 5 minutes later.
EF7CFADB-C487-4E29-9CEF-3C1E7B8B8FE1.png

We were both in the restroom😂

The rest of this post will be called THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE SO SO UGLY!!!

We were sat at a table right by the kitchen door but oh well.

98B959D2-FF9D-4114-8572-E89AAE28E369.jpeg

B65C5DDC-054B-42A6-9E0F-7AE805CD9102.jpeg

I picked The Plaza for the milkshakes for M. It was his birthday after all!!!
Looking over the menu I determined it was BAD. Not that the food was bad, the menu was bad. I saw they had fried green tomatoes with lobster so I asked Angela (GOOD) if they could make me a sandwich.
“The chef says no because we no longer have all the components. They have streamlined the menu and in the beginning they wouldn't allow us to get burgers plain.”
Ok folks, this annoys me and as I have extinsive menu development knowledge I could go on and on. But I wont.
My next thought, “I will get a chicken sandwich.”
There is NO CHICKEN on the menu. But two lobster dishes🤷‍♀️
Bad bad bad!!!
I ordered mac n cheese but I did not want mac n cheese, I am not 6.
5D10C6A7-2915-4F0E-B012-523CA49993AA.jpeg


M got the cheese steak no onions no peppers (they are vegetables😂) and a shake.
2CF2DE48-CED7-469B-89B1-9A31586087FB.jpeg


We asked Angela, our server, to take a picture of us. She took a picture with her in it! And our neighbors sitting next to us were invited to smile too!
E4E51877-D200-40FC-8431-7BC7F1BD7E36.jpeg


We spoke in length to Angela. I asked why their costumes were so UGLY. The men’s are fine but the women’s are so bad! They do not have a flattering fit or color and they are paired with black stockings and chunky black shoes.
UGLY!!!

This was mine...
C49D7DC0-C1DC-482F-BFB2-7608EB665EE6.jpeg
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Disney has RUINED The Plaza. It was one of our go-to’s for the delicious food, shakes and reasonable prices. The decline in value and happened slowly at first (as prices skyrocketed for the SAME food) but then accelerated to removing burgers and chicken and adding silly things like lobster and frou frou macaroni and cheese.

IT’S A GLORIFIED ICE CREAM PARLOR FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!

Em and I had an ADR last month (we missed the ambiance) but promptly cancelled when we reviewed the current menu the night before.

:mad:
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Tuesday February 11th cont


I remembered to pay the bill and we left the Plaza. I was hoping to catch the parade but M seemed apathetic about it so we went shopping for his niece (again). Success! We found the backpack. They had JUST put them out.

Final photo on the way out.
13A1674A-3E17-4955-BF72-241414BC4142.jpeg


We walked over to the Contemporary. I wanted to visit one of my favorite CMs.
But first a photo shoot to send to M’s niece.
A56DEDA2-EAEA-4E5B-9B25-70B16DB63E7C.jpeg

She was so excited that we got it. (BTW- she and I just finished planning a trip together for April. Yay!)

58DE8D54-1DDF-47A7-81EE-8B5CF11D1719.jpeg


And then I went to say hi to Irma while M went to the men’s room. She is amazing and asked where the kids were. I explained I was there with my friend for his birthday. She insisted we go out on the Sea Raycers. On her!!

M came over and she was joking with him and said she should measure him to see if he could drive by himself😂😂😂
7BC27807-7D46-4AEB-96BE-977EE5555BC8.jpeg


We were all cracking up. M did not want to go out on the boat. He still wasn't feeling great and he is a nervous nelly.
We said goodbye and I told her I would be back to see her next month.


We had about an hour to kill. Hmmmm, what to do???
BLT pool bar it is!!!

Cheers! Happy Birthday to a great friend.
A4E85EAE-A8CC-4825-9506-E9E8D98FCF35.jpeg


4FFBE16F-22A7-4DA6-8984-BCB865E932B7.jpeg


We sat for a bit and chatted with the bartender and other patrons.
The TV was on:
ED65EE44-D810-4E0B-BEF3-0FB0E29EF479.jpeg

0E0C5B56-9E75-4311-89EE-A219D16DFB67.jpeg

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

After friends was over they did a 30 second “news brief”. The top story?
Disney raising prices again!!
There was a loud cheer from those of us close enough to hear.

We caught our Magical Express and made it home to cooler temperatures but no issues.

THIS:
The next day I went to wash my clothes from the trip. I loaded the clothes in the washing machine then checked the dryer to make sure it was empty. It was. Except for this...

4A02556C-54AA-4646-8C27-2BA348987787.jpeg

It was a quarter and I got the chills. It had to be M’s Mom saying thanks or that she approved or something.

I think that is a fitting way to end this Trip Report. But I can not sign off without thanking all my fellow Magicians who followed along and participated. I even want to thank the lurkers and say to you, stop lurking and be heard!

Be well and
May you all find quarters...
Darstarr out.
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Disney has RUINED The Plaza. It was one of our go-to’s for the delicious food, shakes and reasonable prices. The decline in value and happened slowly at first (as prices skyrocketed for the SAME food) but then accelerated to removing burgers and chicken and adding silly things like lobster and frou frou macaroni and cheese.

IT’S A GLORIFIED ICE CREAM PARLOR FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!

Em and I had an ADR last month (we missed the ambiance) but promptly cancelled when we reviewed the current menu the night before.

:mad:
Totally agree!
I am done with the Plaza. Unless/until they fix the menu.
 

Spash007

Well-Known Member
First off - thanks again for another great report!

Second - I thought I was going crazy looking at the Plaza menu for our upcoming trip. I thought so many people liked it, and that it was reasonable, and I figured it would be a good option. And then I saw the menu and nixxed that idea!

Third - April?? Not the very very end of April by chance?
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Another great TR. Thanks again for sharing. Looks like you guys had a good time! I haven’t been to the plaza since sometime around 2015, looks like I don’t need to return anytime soon! Looking forward to your next trip!
 

DryerLintFan

Premium Member
Tuesday February 11 cont

After Buzz we headed to the Little Mermaid. I had gotten a FP after tapping into Buzz. I also noticed we still had an order at Aloha Isle pending, but we had already gotten our order. I have been in this situation before. Somehow, through app glitch or darstarr glitch the order went through twice. So we rode Little Mermaid, here is proof, sort of...
View attachment 454266
Then we headed to Aloha Isle where a manager was able to cancel the pending order and reverse the charge. Then we checked in for lunch and got called 5 minutes later.
View attachment 454267
We were both in the restroom😂

The rest of this post will be called THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE SO SO UGLY!!!

We were sat at a table right by the kitchen door but oh well.

View attachment 454269
View attachment 454268
I picked The Plaza for the milkshakes for M. It was his birthday after all!!!
Looking over the menu I determined it was BAD. Not that the food was bad, the menu was bad. I saw they had fried green tomatoes with lobster so I asked Angela (GOOD) if they could make me a sandwich.
“The chef says no because we no longer have all the components. They have streamlined the menu and in the beginning they wouldn't allow us to get burgers plain.”
Ok folks, this annoys me and as I have extinsive menu development knowledge I could go on and on. But I wont.
My next thought, “I will get a chicken sandwich.”
There is NO CHICKEN on the menu. But two lobster dishes🤷‍♀️
Bad bad bad!!!
I ordered mac n cheese but I did not want mac n cheese, I am not 6.
View attachment 454271

M got the cheese steak no onions no peppers (they are vegetables😂) and a shake.
View attachment 454272

We asked Angela, our server, to take a picture of us. She took a picture with her in it! And our neighbors sitting next to us were invited to smile too!
View attachment 454270

We spoke in length to Angela. I asked why their costumes were so UGLY. The men’s are fine but the women’s are so bad! They do not have a flattering fit or color and they are paired with black stockings and chunky black shoes.
UGLY!!!

This was mine...
View attachment 454273
Disney has RUINED The Plaza. It was one of our go-to’s for the delicious food, shakes and reasonable prices. The decline in value and happened slowly at first (as prices skyrocketed for the SAME food) but then accelerated to removing burgers and chicken and adding silly things like lobster and frou frou macaroni and cheese.

IT’S A GLORIFIED ICE CREAM PARLOR FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!

Em and I had an ADR last month (we missed the ambiance) but promptly cancelled when we reviewed the current menu the night before.

:mad:


Awwwwww. Not even the Fried Green Tomato BLT?!?! What the heck happened?!

I normally wouldn't get bent out of shape about the menu at places, but the food was legit the only thing the Plaza had going for it
 

Nunu

Wanderluster
Premium Member
It was so much fun reading about M's birthday WDW trip. Looks like you two had a great time! You made that possible. 😊
Thanks for sharing!

I've never been to The Plaza, and I don't think that'll change any time soon! 😄
 

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