Trip Report A Disnewbie's First Trip: the Good, the Mistakes, & the Spilled Hot Chocolate

I know the vast majority of you guys don't know me, but I thought I'd share my experience from last week's WDW trip primarily to help other Disney newbies like myself. Sometimes planning a trip without having any frame of reference except for websites often geared towards true blue Disneyphiles can be pretty intimidating, so maybe this will help someone in the future. Plus I give beer reviews.



Here goes...

When: Saturday October 10-Friday October 16
Where: Holiday Inn Lake Buena Vista & Wilderness Lodge
Who: Me, my wife, and our 2 daughters: 8 and 4.
ADRs: Tusker House Character Breakfast, Whispering Canyon at Wilderness Lodge, Boma at AKL, Akershus Princess Breakfast, and Be Our Guest breakfast

This was our first trip to WDW as a family. My last trip was probably 30 years ago…long enough ago that I don’t really have many memories of it except of It’s a Small World and being deathly afraid of Haunted Mansion. My wife’s last trip was when she was 16, so needless to say we consider ourselves to be first timers. Thankfully, we had a great group of seasoned veterans to help us especially MyHappyPlace and MrHappyPlace who I know from another forum and are good friends now.

Last year we went on the Disney Dream for our Fall Break and had such a great time we thought it was time to take the plunge and visit WDW proper.

We started off the trip by visiting my sister in law, brother in law, and nieces in Melbourne FL the day before. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Melbourne Beach so we could get a few hours of beach time before heading to Orlando. Unfortunately, there was a terrible thunderstorm that washed most of those plans out, but we did have a great meal with the in-laws at El Ambia Cubano restaurant in Melbourne. If you’re in the area, check it out…very delicious and authentic Cuban food.

Day 0: Resort Hopping

The next morning (Sunday, 10/11) we drove to Lake Buena Vista and checked in to the Holiday Inn Lake Buena Vista, located within walking distance to Disney Springs. We decided to go to Melbourne after booking our WL stay and tried to get an extra day added on to the front end of our trip; however, it was $400+ to add that extra night on, so we decided to stay on the cheap at the HI for $110. It was a great decision. The HI was very conveniently located, excellent service, and had a great pool area. I’d definitely consider staying here again for a short stay in lieu of a Disney resort.

We spent that afternoon resort hopping. We started off at Animal Kingdom Lodge and hoped to tour Boma and Jiko’s culinary tour. I’d read that visitor parking in the resorts was going to be a challenge, so I was prepared to be rejected by the guard at AKL and had a couple of backup plans in place (Uber, Disney Transportation); but fortunately, the guard kindly let us through. I didn’t quite ever figure out why they needed to see my driver’s license, but whatever. I didn’t know that the “Jambo House” was the main lodge…so I drove on past and parked at Kidani Village. Oops. Rookie mistake. A quick ride on the bus and we were where we needed to be, just in time for the Boma tour. My oldest daughter was pretty pumped about this because she wants to be a chef (well, until the last few weeks when she’s decided to become a veterinarian instead). The culinary tour was informative, though wasn’t quite what I expected. I had thought it would include some behind the scenes look at their kitchen, but I guess that’s probably against health regulations. Nevertheless, the tours of Boma and Jiko were worth the time and were pretty tasty…even if my littlest one didn’t like zebra domes at all. Honestly, I was a little disappointed in them as well though I thought they were good (just not quite worth the hype).

Next, we drove over to Art of Animation Resort. This finished a close 2nd to Wilderness Lodge in our final choice and after looking around, I began to think we would regret passing on AoA. The kids loved walking around and exploring Radiator Springs and the Lion King areas. We were really impressed with the theme and could see coming back here again if the kids are still young enough to appreciate it.

We’d intended on ending the night at the Boardwalk, but we all wanted to relax at the hotel and swim a bit. We were glad we did as the Holiday Inn’s pool was a lot of fun, very clean, and spacious.

The next morning, we were up before the sun to load up & drop off our bags at the Wilderness Lodge by 7:00 AM and begin our park experience at Animal Kingdom with our Tusker House Character Breakfast at 8:40.

 

[DRD]

Day 1: Animal Kingdom

We dropped the bags off with the bellhop and pre-checked in at the counter. The agent told us to check back at 3:00 if we hadn’t already received the text that our room was ready. We spent a few minutes walking around the atrium before taking the bus off to Animal Kingdom. Our FPs were for Kilimanjaro Safari, Festival of the Lion King, and Expedition Everest.

Tusker House was a good experience overall. We had plenty of time with each of the characters (Donald, Daisy, Mickey, Goofy)…about a minute with each. My littlest was scared of Donald and wouldn’t go near. But Daisy blew her a kiss and she warmed up enough to give her a hug. She did the same for Mickey but wouldn’t go near Goofy at all.





The food at Tusker House was above average for a breakfast buffet. Most of the offerings you’d expect: biscuits, Mickey waffles, bacon/sausage/eggs, etc. But I’d really recommend the mealie pap, which is a sweet corn mixture near texture-wise to grits, but much better. I went back for seconds just for the mealie pap. The jamba juice was also a big hit at our table.

Our first FP was for Kilimanjaro Safari at 9:40. The animals were pretty active at that time of the morning. We even were able to catch a good look at the lions and a great view of the giraffes. It was a much better experience than we’ve had at other zoos. Next up was the Festival of the Lion King, which we were looking forward to. It was entertaining and had very high production quality. We spent the rest of the time before our next FP exploring Africa and Asia. We were really impressed with how well the areas were created and seemed very authentic. Africa seemed a little more open and easier to get around, I suppose due to the (edit: River of Light night show) construction near Asia. Finally our FP for Expedition Everest was due. We used the rider swap option as well since my littlest was far too small to ride it. I am not a roller coaster person, but I have to say this was a really excellent ride. Far more thrilling than I expected.

While my wife and oldest were riding EE, I scouted out some beer to try. The Yeti Imperial Stout is a curious option for an outdoor beer stand near EE, but I figured it was worth a shot. Definitely a potent stout. Lots of coffee flavor. Better than I expected even though it was much stronger than I anticipated. I also grabbed a Kingfisher here which was pretty refreshing and a better choice for a hot day, but not anything special. Later, I picked up a St. George Lager which was also refreshing, but only because of the heat. Maybe a little better than the Kingfisher. And just to prove I’m not a complete lush, we did enjoy a Dole whip while at AK. It definitely lives up to the hype and was one of the best desserts we had the whole trip.



We figured it was about time to wrap up the fun at AK and spend some time exploring the resort. We arrived back at 3:00 to get the final check in and our room number...this is where the first problem began.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Reading along! I'd love to stay at WL some day, so anxious to hear how you ended up liking it!

 

[Anotherfaceinthecrowd]

Good start for a trip report. I'm patiently waiting for more

 

[myhappyplace]

Yay!! I didn't know you planned to do a trip report...MRhappyplace has been keeping me updated on your thoughts on your trip. Hopefully we helped you out a bit! Glad you had a good time, your pictures on Facebook were wonderful, and you can tell that your gals had a blast!

The construction near Asia is actually for the River of Light night show....Avatarand is going to be to the left as you enter the park (where Camp Minnie-Mickey used to be)

 

[Zipadeelady]

Following along! I definitely agree with you about the Zebra Domes, I wasn't a big fan either.

 

[TheMouseFan]

I'm in! I'm glad I'm not the only one who wasn't as thrilled about the zebra domes as I felt I should be based on everyone else's reviews! Can't wait to read more!!

 

[Mrhappyplace]

Happy to see a trip report! But where are the pictures?

I also thought Zebra Domes were overrated. I liked them but they weren't what I expected at all and I liked the Cassava Cake better.

 

[DRD]

Reading along! I'd love to stay at WL some day, so anxious to hear how you ended up liking it!

I'll post more about it, but we really loved just about everything about it. I've had the opportunity to stay at the El Tovar Lodge in the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon Lodge and they did a fantastic job of capturing that spirit. I never got tired of seeing that lobby. I took a few moments at the end of the trip to just turn around and soak it in one last time before leaving.

Yay!! I didn't know you planned to do a trip report...MRhappyplace has been keeping me updated on your thoughts on your trip. Hopefully we helped you out a bit! Glad you had a good time, your pictures on Facebook were wonderful, and you can tell that your gals had a blast!

The construction near Asia is actually for the River of Light night show....Avatarand is going to be to the left as you enter the park (where Camp Minnie-Mickey used to be)

You guys definitely helped me out more than you know. The peace of mind y'all provided was so reassuring. The girls definitely had a blast...though I should have take a few of the occasional meltdown just to balance things out a bit.

Ah...our bus driver to AK was awesome (and a true Orlando native...her grandfather sold a small parcel of land to Walt's conglomerate back in the late 60s) and pointed out Avatarland. I mistakenly assumed that was the same area as Asia. River of Light is going to be pretty large then! Between Avatarland and River of Light, AK is going to look substantially different in a year.

Following along! I definitely agree with you about the Zebra Domes, I wasn't a big fan either.

They were good, just not quite what I expected. I also detected a hint of coconut there...which I really dislike.

Happy to see a trip report! But where are the pictures?

I also thought Zebra Domes were overrated. I liked them but they weren't what I expected at all and I liked the Cassava Cake better.

What was the Cassava Cake? We probably had it too.

I will go back in and add photos today. I put all of the ones to post on my phone this morning and will host them up today. Patience, my friend.

 

[DRD]

Day 1: (continued) Wilderness Lodge & Whispering Canyon


Here’s where we ran into our first disappointment with Disney. So the morning agent told us to come back at 3:00 even if we hadn't received the text saying our room was ready. After spending the day at AK, we were anxious to get back to the room, relax a bit, take a dip in the pool, and get ready for Whispering Canyon that night.

So we arrived at 3:00 and a different agent told us that our room wasn’t ready but told us it would be "in a few minutes" and to be checking for the text. We went downstairs to grab a quick snack, waited for a text that never came, and then headed back upstairs at 4:00. A different agent told us it still wasn’t ready. At this point, we were tired and ready to get some rest. We had planned on swimming if we’d gotten in our room at 3, but now that didn’t seem likely. I asked for specifics and to speak with a manager. The agent asked that I sit in the lobby while she ran down the specifics on our room. 5 minutes later she advised me that the room was ready and, in fact, it had been ready before 3:00! The news was delivered with a bit of a shoulder shrug and no real meaningful apology or “ownership” of the problem. Also, no manager offered to speak with me, even though I had requested one.

I wasn’t expecting a free room or anything extravagant, just a simple “We are sorry that you had to wait an hour because of a snafu on our part.” I couldn’t help but compare this level of service to the exemplary service given to us at the Holiday Inn the night before. I have heard so much about Disney service and experienced it firsthand on the cruise last year…but so far into this trip, I had to say I was disappointed.

Further irritating me was once that we got into the room, I requested a late checkout for Friday. I figured since they took an hour out of my day checking in, they would accommodate an hour delay on the back end so we could get a quick shower before driving the 12 hours back home. I explained it to the agent what had occurred earlier and got a somewhat condescending laugh and “I’m sorry, we can’t accommodate that request on Friday.” So much for the Disney Difference.

The room itself was great and had a great view of the courtyard. The kids loved the bunk beds. While the room itself wasn't large, it had plenty of room for our family of 4 and gave us a separation of space with the bunk beds.

The courtyard view rooms do let in quite a bit of ambient pool noise, which wasn't an issue for us but could be for others. By 10:00 it was quiet each night. And we did have a great view of the Electrical Water Pageant each night. Kind of a funny story about that...the first night we heard it and went out to check out the music and were surprised to see it so well. We wondered why no one else was out on the balcony watching it too. Then the next night, and night after that, we realized why no one else was making much of an effort to watch it. It's kinda cool to see once, but definitely not a must do.

The only very slight critique I'd have of our room is that the balconies are only separated by a canvas divider. We had a smoker 2 doors down which wasn't terribly annoying, but might be if you're sensitive to such things.

Whispering Canyon was fun for the kids, maybe not so much for the adults. My oldest couldn’t wait to ask for ketchup, and she enjoyed the schtick quite a bit. She also was really happy about the bottomless milkshake! I ordered the NY Strip, which was fairly average. About the quality of a Logan’s Roadhouse: quite a bit of fat and nothing too special flavor-wise. I’ve had worse, but if I was paying out of pocket instead of the DDP, I’d have been disappointed. Maybe the skillet would have been a better choice? WC had a great beer selection. I picked up the Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA out of Healdsburg, CA. Definitely a good choice. The girls both loved the atmosphere and fun though, and that made dining here worth it.

 

[DRD]

Day 2: Magic Kingdom & Boma for Dinner

Day 2 was the one I had been looking forward to for nearly 10 months…watching the wonder on the girls’ faces as they entered Magic Kingdom for the first time! Our FPs were for Space Mountain, Peter Pan, and 7DMT.

We took the ferry from WL to MK at 8:30 and were able to catch the final few minutes of the welcome party at rope drop. As an aside, we found the ferry service to and from WL to be quite reliable and relaxing. In fact, I thought we’d probably just use it once as something fun, but it became our primary transportation choice going to MK. I’d read some comments that it is slow and not always punctual, but that was never our experience in the 4 roundtrips we made to MK.

Experiencing Main Street and seeing Cinderella’s Castle with my daughters for the first time was really magical. And I don’t toss that word out there lightly. It really was a great experience. We took some photos with the Disney Photographers along Main Street and near the Walt/Mickey statue which turned out great in spite of the crowds. I would highly, HIGHLY recommend getting the photopass. The waits were never longer than 10 minutes and their quality is fantastic. The first picture in my first post in this thread is a good example. And will likely also be our Christmas card this year!

We made a beeline for Fantasyland. I was really surprised how many attractions we were able to knock out being there at rope drop. I wouldn’t say Fantasyland was empty, but there certainly wasn’t much of a wait for anything except Anna/Elsa and 7DMT. We decided we weren't going to be slaves to a touring plan the first day...we were just going to do whatever the kids wanted to do that morning, and the FPs for the afternoon. The first ride the girls chose was the Teacups, which yielded the best photo we took on the entire trip that captured their excitement:



Next, my youngest wanted to ride Dumbo:



And meet with Ariel (just a 5 minute wait at 9:30!). This is my youngest explaining to Ariel that she is also on her t-shirt:





At this point, I was feeling like we were Parents of the Year. It was such a moving experience as a parent to see your kids have such joy. And after recently watching the PBS documentary about Walt Disney, I really appreciated the man's vision for creating an atmosphere of pure innocence and fun for children (parents too).

The Carrousel:



And finally the Little Mermaid ride and it’s a small world…which I have to admit I enjoyed quite a bit.

We’d wanted to see Gaston since he has such a great personality with character interactions, but the line for his first meeting was nearly an hour, we decided we’d try again later. My oldest and my wife went to explore Haunted Mansion. She is 8 years old, but that really terrified her. It actually gave her bad dreams that night, which is probably abnormal for an 8 year old, but is worth mentioning if you’ve got a sensitive child like mine.

We had lunch at Cosmic Ray’s. I was looking forward to the roasted chicken, but it just was too difficult to leave the 2 kids with my wife while I went to a different bay to get my own food. They were hungry and getting whiny, so I opted to stay with them and get in the burger bay. I have read that Cosmic Ray’s has the some of the best burgers in the park, but I have to say I wasn’t too impressed. The burger bar was mostly picked over when we went through at 11:30. I imagine it is much better when the sautéed mushrooms and onions are available. I’d definitely recommend getting there before noon as there was quite a crush of people when we were leaving and we had a family hanging around our table, (politely) waiting for us to leave.

My oldest wanted to ride Space Mountain above all else and was able to ride it twice thanks to FP and rider swapping. I wasn’t too impressed with it at first, but she loved it. We rode it again our final day and I have to say I enjoyed it much more the second time. Buzz Lightyear was our longest standby wait of the day and it was less than 25 minutes. Peter Pan was surprisingly fun.

After PP, we had some time to kill before 7DMT so we caught the afternoon character parade at a spot our travel agent had told us about in Frontierland. It was right next to the refreshment cart as you’re walking into Frontierland from Liberty Square. Pretty well shaded, plenty of places to sit down. The parade was quite a lot of fun for the kids and gave us some great pictures:



We still had some time to kill before 7DMT, so I checked the Touring Plans app and found that Big Thunder Mountain RR had a 20 minute wait, so the oldest and I got in line. This was my favorite line queue of the trip. It moved quickly and had plenty of small things to do along the way. I’ve always wanted to ride this ride…not sure why, but it always has looked like a lot of fun to me. Also, I had never before put my arms up in a ride before (I’m 6’2) but let it loose on this one. A lot of fun, though my oldest didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I did.

By this time, it was time for us to go back to 7DMT. We were all pretty well worn out and wished our FP for 7DMT was earlier in the day (it was at 4:25). Our youngest had never ridden a real roller coaster before and barely cleared the height requirement. It definitely is a “family” ride, not one for the thrillseeker. Nevertheless, my youngest was pretty petrified during the whole ride. Maybe we should have started her out on the Barnstormer instead. She did enjoy seeing the dwarfs in the mine, however. Check out this anxious look on her face, compared with me and my oldest's excitement:



We chose not to do the Not So Scary Halloween Party that night in part because we weren’t sure the cost was worth it, and in part because we thought we’d be exhausted. Which we were. We had Boma reservations instead (which we really didn’t have the energy to do, but wanted to check it out after taking the tasting tour). The dinner didn’t quite meet expectations. Some of the food was just warmed over, even though the buffet was really busy. I figured the food would be fresh with that much volume, but several dishes were kind of stale. Hard to put my finger on exactly what disappointed, but maybe it was just our expectations were too high. And once again, zebra domes were just kind of okay in our opinion. We did like the coffee tarts and the bread pudding was great. I did have a decent beer…Tusker House Lager exceeded expectations. I was expected “Budweiser” quality and it was better than that. So, I would go into Boma with more modest expectations of a buffet and hope for the best.

My youngest makes no attempt to hide her disgust of the zebra dome:

 

[Cetta]

Enjoying your trip report. Your daughters face with the Zebra Dome is hilarious! We are also Reds fans in our house! we live in the Indy area and was wondering if you drove to FL, we are planning on driving for the first time next year and just wondered how the drive went? I am just assuming you are from the Cincy area, so forgive me if I am wrong haha

 

[DRD]

(

Enjoying your trip report. Your daughters face with the Zebra Dome is hilarious! We are also Reds fans in our house! we live in the Indy area and was wondering if you drove to FL, we are planning on driving for the first time next year and just wondered how the drive went? I am just assuming you are from the Cincy area, so forgive me if I am wrong haha

Go Redlegs! We are from Nashville, which is about 11 hours to Orlando without stops or 12 hours with only quick stops (I was pretty proud of our return trip back at 12 hours!). So I guess you can tack on another 4+ or so?

I would guess it's do-able but honestly we decided this time that we will fly down for future trips. Yes, it adds a fairly significant cost to factor in, but the convenience & time are worth it...especially with the Disney Magical Express going to/from the airport. Plus, we paid about $160 at a Holiday Inn outside of Macon, GA (Perry) coming down. Had we stopped overnight again on the way back, it's another $120-160. And if gas prices are higher on our next trip, it just makes even more sense to fly for us. Then again, Nashville is a pretty good airport for catching direct flights to Orlando through Southwest, American, or Delta. CVG I've read isn't nearly as diverse. Not sure about Indy. We priced airfare ahead of the trip and the cheapest average price to Orlando from Nashville was about $1200-1300 for our family.

Nashville's about 4 hours +/- from Cincinnati, Atlanta, and St. Louis so the city has a lot of those 3 teams' fans. There are more Braves fans than anything else, but plenty of Reds fans here too. We are Bengals fans as well and are enjoying this undefeated season so far!

 

[DRD]

Day 3: Hollywood Studios

This day was a busy one: Hollywood Studios in the morning and back to MK for Bippity Boppity Boutique at 5:00. Our FPs for HS were Toy Story, ToT, and Frozen Singalong for the wife and youngest /Star Tours for me and the oldest.

We arrived at HS for rope drop. I don’t know what it was about HS, but we had a difficult time figuring out where everything was. I’d studied the map beforehand, had one in my hand as we were walking around…but still got turned around. Thankfully the cast members were very helpful in righting my path. We arrived at Rock and Roller Coaster right at 9:00 and my thrillseeker wife and oldest rode it. She picked up a rider swap pass on the way in so I could ride it with my oldest next. We got in the car, launched 0-60, and then – wham! The brakes kicked on. I thought this was a part of the ride and waited for another launch. Then the lights came on and I realized we were just feet away from the inversion. There was a ride malfunction. It was kind of neat to see the innards of the ride with the lights on, and though the ride operator asked us not to take pictures, everyone seemed to be doing so:



We were left waiting for about 20 minutes and they gave us a blanket fastpass for our trouble. Oh well, at least I got to experience the most exciting part of the ride, right?

Toy Story Midway Mania was next. I felt like the Pixar area was way too crowded and had too many chokepoints. Seems like they didn’t do a great job of planning for this area and maybe that can be rectified with the expansion plans. People were quite pushy and snippy. TSMM was pretty fun and was lightyears beyond the Buzz Lightyear ride at MK (see what I did there? ). However, I don’t think it would be worth standing in line for more than 30 minutes. The standby line when we were using our FPs was 60+ minutes. Kind of crazy.

Having some time to kill before our next FP, we checked out the Beauty and the Beast show. The girls seemed to enjoy it and it gave me a chance to check some emails.

I really, really hate heights. I also really, really hate drops on rides. So needless to say, it was a fear-conquering exercise for me to ride Tower of Terror. Since my daughter freaked out so badly on Haunted Mansion, we didn’t want her to do the same on an actual scary ride. So I rode ToT by myself. I was really impressed with the theming and the pre-drop portion. Great special effects there. The ride wasn’t nearly as bad as I anticipated, though it was enough for me. Obviously the first drop was the worst. I managed not to soil myself or others on the ride, so I call that a success!

We had some more time to kill before we split off and my youngest and wife went to the Frozen singalong and my oldest and I went to Star Tours, so we explored the park a bit more. We really loved the theming of the park and especially enjoyed the entertainers.

This also gave the adults the opportunity to get a frozen Coke (and Jack) at Peevy’s frozen stand. Somehow, they were out of actual frozen Coke but we made do with frozen lemonade (and Jack)! These were quite tasty as we were both hot and in need of a stiff drink. Or two:



At this point, time was not on our side. The realization that we had one more FP event, lunch, then rush off to WL to get the kids’ dresses, then on the boat to get to MK for Bippity Boppity Boutique began to set in. We clearly had not left ourselves enough time.

The youngest really loved the Frozen singalong and was thrilled when Elsa came out and made it “snow”. We enjoyed Star Tours quite a bit. I was surprised how exciting the ride was. While we were waiting for Frozen to end, I grabbed a Butterfinger cupcake from Starring Rolls which didn’t quite fit in the to-go box, but managed to make it back to the room unscathed. My wife loves Butterfingers and enjoyed the cupcake over the next 2 days (it was super-rich). We grabbed a quick bite at Min & Bill’s which we’d have enjoyed more had we allowed enough time (probably the best counter service meal we had). Then rushed out of HS to make our BBB appointment at Magic Kingdom.

I have to say that that we likely won’t go back to HS again. Not because it wasn’t fun…it was…but I felt like this would have been a much better day to spend at the resort or recharging our batteries. I definitely think it’s a half-day park, though I have read plenty of reviews to the contrary. At least for our family, we should have probably punted on HS and relaxed instead.

 

[BJones82]

Obviously the first drop was the worst

This isn't always the case, the ride uses a computer to randomize the drop sequences for each ride... So it is extremely unlikely if you rode it again you would experience the same ride

 

[CtDisneyGuy33]

Great report so far. I think I agree with your food breakdown and definitely with your report on the beer selection as well. Your kids looked like they had such a great time, well worth the trip it seems Following along!

 

[RyPat]

Plus I give beer reviews.

You had me at beer reviews...

 

[DRD]

This isn't always the case, the ride uses a computer to randomize the drop sequences for each ride... So it is extremely unlikely if you rode it again you would experience the same ride

Seems like I read about that. Maybe it was just my mental state, but the first drop definitely seemed like the worst!

Great report so far. I think I agree with your food breakdown and definitely with your report on the beer selection as well. Your kids looked like they had such a great time, well worth the trip it seems Following along!

Thank you. I was pretty impressed with the beer selection at WDW. The Beers and Ears app came in handy. More on that later.

You had me at beer reviews...

Ha! Thanks...more of those to follow. And maybe I'll make a concluding post with just my own beer reviews for quick reference.

 

[DRD]

Day 3: (continued) Bippity Boppity Boutique at Magic Kingdom


After rushing and rushing, we made it to BBB in MK just in time for our appointment. BBB is quite an experience…the girls loved it. But boy can it get pricey. And crowded. Once again, I was thankful we purchased the Photo Pass package as the Disney photographers snapped some great shots of the girls being transformed into Princesses. Next we stepped next door to Castle Couture and got their pictures taken at the photo studio…again included in the Photo Pass.

Our original intent was to do Enchanted Tales w/Belle since my youngest was dressed as Belle, but after a day of running, whining, and now being hot in the dresses, we decided to just head back to the resort.

My BBB advice would be:

• Definitely bring your own dress. Their dresses are extremely overinflated and didn't look to be much different quality than the Halloween costumes we bought online.
• Remember to bring some cash to tip your godmothers. They can't be tipped through credit card or magic band/room charge.
• Skyye was our youngest's godmother. She was really great and had a big personality. I'd highly recommend her.
• Bring your patience. There's not much seating room there and the whole process can be kind of stressful.
• You will get glitter on your clothes (ahem, your rear specifically). We noticed that little known fact once we got back to the room.
• Finally, it will take approximately 3 shampoo applications to get the gel out of your daughter's hair. And it's been a week and we're still finding glitter pop up randomly!

And as we were leaving, I tried to take a MyHappyPlace/MrHappyPlace "artsy Disney photo". Not terrible for not having a DSLR or tripod I guess:



Next up: Epcot! And more beer!

 

[DRD]

Day 4: Epcot, Food & Wine, and relaxing at Wilderness Lodge

Thursday I’d planned a full day at Epcot for Akershus Princess Breakfast and Food & Wine Festival; however, we all agreed that since we still hadn’t actually been to the resort pool we needed to call an audible and scale back at Epcot.

Akershus was above expectations. The character meet time was much like Tusker House…about a minute per princess. The girls also got to spend time with Belle as we entered, which they loved. Our princess lineup included Belle, Cinderella, Ariel, Snow White, and Aurora. The food at Akershus was also better than expected. The buffet has traditional Norwegian food (read: seafood) and pastries. I was adventuresome and tried the peppered mackerel and herring. They may have been okay later in the day but my breakfast palate just wasn’t ready for that intense flavor. When you come back from the buffet, there is a family style platter of more traditional American breakfast fare: sausage, bacon, eggs, and the best breakfast food we had the entire time…cheesy potatoes.

Our FPs that morning were The Seas w/Nemo, Soarin’, and Turtle Talk w/Crush. We were pretty disappointed in the Nemo ride. It seemed uninspired. No real theme other than "where's Nemo?"...at least with the Ariel ride at MK it took you through the major plot points. Oh well, the kids liked it and I guess that's all that matters. The aquariums at the Seas exhibit was really cool.

Soarin’ was much better than we expected and easily was the highlight of the day. As a Seinfeld fan, I enjoyed Patrick Warburton/David Puddy's safety PSA before boarding the ride. At first my youngest didn’t want to ride it and approached meltdown phase, but quickly loved it after it began. I really look forward to see how they re-imagine the ride for next year and beyond. Turtle Talk was also entertaining. Just as much for the adults as the kids. Really cool interactive technology at work there.

By this time, the adults were ready to redeem our snack credits at F&W and get a few drinks as well. We weren’t able to experience F&W (or the World Showcase) nearly as much as we wanted, but it was a sacrifice we needed to make to get some R&R back at the Lodge.
Here are a few highlights:

Beef empanada with a malbec from Patagonia…pretty tasty way to start it off, but the empanada was a little over-breaded and nowhere near as good as the one from the Cuban restaurant in Melbourne. The malbec hit the spot though:



Haggis with mashed potatoes and Brew Dog Punk Ale IPA in Scotland…probably the best stop of the brief tour. I was surprised I’d like the haggis as much as I did. Definitely had some gamey taste to it, but not overpowering. The beer was the best I had on the whole trip. Very flavorful IPA, floral notes on the nose...very very solid beer, but then again I'm an IPA guy. Had a chat with a local who also was enjoying his IPA and he agreed it was the best one of the festival:



Pork slider from Hawaii…everyone enjoyed this one. I can see why it is a perennial favorite. Had bit more spice than I expected, but solid overall.



Croissant Donut…originally I thought we’d bypass this since cronuts aren’t exactly unique to Disney, but MrHappyPlace insisted and boy were we glad. Everyone liked it and it was a much needed sweet bite after eating the savory thus far.



Beef short ribs and mashed potatoes & crème brulee from France. My wife enjoyed the crème brulee while I got the short ribs. Unfortunately I didn’t get to enjoy mine right away due to an emergency bathroom run courtesy of the little one. But when I got back it had cooled off some and the potatoes seemed a tad dry. Good, but not something I’d get again. Also somewhat regrettable was the cabernet sauvignon here. I'm a wine person, but I thought it was pretty bland. Maybe a Kronenbourg would have been better. I was a little disappointed in France’s choices, but the crème brulee got high marks. I didn't get pictures due to the bathroom emergency.

At this point, the kids were getting restless and we all needed a break. I hate we didn't get more time at F&W to sample everything as that was one of the things I was looking most forward to; however, it was the right decision because we needed the afternoon off.

One quick stop at Poland for a beer (Okocim OK Beer) which really hit the spot. Mild but tasty. Then off to WL for an afternoon at the pool and our own beer!

Going along with the theme of tough luck (WL check-in indifference, RnR breakdown, and an even bigger one coming up) when we got down to the WL pool, it was closed...for about 45 minutes. I shudder to think what kept it closed for that long (Caddyshack comes to mind) but it was nice to relax and the kids still had access to the splashpad area. I brought down my favorite beer (Monkeynaut IPA by Straight to Ale Brewing) from home and loaded up the cooler with ice. I didn't notice anyone drinking beer out of cans and obviously they sell alcohol at the pool bar, but I thought it was probably a good idea to be somewhat discreet and ended up drinking out of my resort mug. The pool bar was pretty busy, I guess because the pool itself was closed.

The pool finally reopened and we had a great time swimming. It is really clever how the brook from the lobby feeds into the pool. The kids had a great time on the slide and the lifeguards were very attentive but friendly. I really wish we'd gone to the pool earlier and more often than we did.

Next up...our final day!