Trip Report Fairytales Do Come True...

Well friends, we've returned from a magical, rainy, pixie dust filled trip that will NEVER be topped in my book. :) I have so much to share with you that I simply couldn't wait any longer! The first post is a little word-heavy, but I promise the rest of the report will have LOTS of pictures!

Here's my PTR if you'd like to read it!
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/prince-charmings-1st-trip-june-2017.922944/

Here we go! :joyfull:

Tuesday, 6/6

We had a 4pm flight out of Pittsburgh so fortunately didn't have to rush around much the morning that we left. We did some last minute packing and cleaning before loading everything up and heading to drop Tink off at my parents' house. She spent the first 4 days there and the last 4 days with Dylan's mom (and her wiener dog boyfriend :angelic:).

It's never easy leaving this sweet little baby. :( She knew something was up! Fortunately she was a good girl all week and had lots of fun with her grandmas! ;)
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Disney here we come!!!!! :joyfull:
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We were on the road a few minutes after 1pm and it didn't take long for me to take over Dylan's Pandora with the Disney station. :p We arrived at 3pm and parking was a nightmare! We were starting to really cut it close and I was stressing. We went to check our bags and were informed that our flight was delayed until 7:30pm due to weather. It was extremely frustrating to be delayed, but it was a blessing in disguise because we were so short on time. So much for having time to do something on arrival day. :(

We went to TGI Friday's for some snacks. Dylan had pretzels and I had French Onion Soup. I was dreaming about BOG soup. :hungry: It was fine, nothing spectacular! But it filled our tummies and held us over until we got to Orlando.
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After our long delay, we finally boarded our flight and took off right on time at 7:30pm.

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Let me just preface the next part of my report by saying we literally had the BEST flight crew ever! They were so much fun!

The flight attendants went through the typical safety speech but when they were done, one came back over the intercom and said, "I've been asked what to do if you have more than one child. Which one should you put the mask on first? You put it on the one who has the most earning potential OR the one who's going to change your diapers in the years to come. Because that's coming." :hilarious::hilarious::hilarious:

When we started our descent into Orlando, the same flight attendant came back on and sang our landing directions to the tune of "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain." Then, another flight attendant came on and sang a farewell song to the tune of "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah." I wish I would have recorded them so I could remember the words. They were HILARIOUS! I love Southwest. :)

We finally landed at 9:30pm and headed to ME. Dylan stopped for some McDonalds in the food court on the way, lol. My mom bought me a Belle MagicBand for Christmas and I had called the day before to get it activated because it wasn't letting me do it myself. Well, it still wasn't working when I scanned it at the ME counter. :cautious: Fortunately, I had thrown my band for this trip in my carry on so scanned it for the time being.

Being that we landed close to 10pm, I wasn't sure about whether or not ME would get our luggage for us. The CM at the counter said we were fine and they would get it. It made me a little nervous, but we took her word for it.
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We boarded a boring Mears bus at 10:10 and pulled out a few minutes later. The welcome video was broken so we watched Brave instead. :(
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We arrived home at 10:45pm! :joyfull: This is the best I could do, lol.
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We went to the front desk to get my MagicBand fixed which only took a few minutes. I also never received my "room ready" text so had to figure out where we were staying. We were in the Hoops Hotel section! I took these pictures later in the week since it was dark when we arrived. :)
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I had requested a first floor room, thinking it would be nice to not have to walk up and down steps or ride the elevator. It ended up being pretty noisy with all the people walking by. We're both heavy sleepers and even more so because we were always exhausted at the end of the day, so it wasn't a huge deal. But I just thought it was worth mentioning for those of you who are light sleepers or have little ones!

We stopped in the food court for a snack and our mugs, as we were on the dining plan. We ate our snacks in our room and then hopped into bed!

I woke up at 3:30am and we still didn't have our luggage. There was a message on the phone that was left at 1am saying our luggage was there.. to call when we needed it and they would bring it to the room. I went back to sleep and called when we got up at 6:30am. I was on hold for 15 minutes and when they answered, was told luggage services didn't open until 7am. :cautious: Then why did you leave me a message saying to call when I wanted it delivered? Our luggage arrived a few minutes after 7am so it ended up being fine.

Next up, Magic Kingdom!!!! :joyfull:

7,183 steps
5.74 miles
 
Last edited:

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster

Darn! Well, I'll definitely see you in August! :p

PA isn't that far from Toronto ;) LOL

Just a hop, skip, and a jump. :p Welcome one and all!

I forgot to mention that I really liked the underwater picture of the hippos
I have not witnessed that in person

Max

It was so neat!! I've never seen anything like it before either! :) He was soaking up all of the attention. :p
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday, 6/10 cont.

We made the short walk to the buses so we could head to our dinner ADR! We waited quite awhile for our bus... this was problematic for two reasons. Reason #1: We were running low on time and Reason #2: I was approaching a dangerous level of hangry. :p

We finally arrived at AKL! But which restaurant would we be dining in?
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Channeling my inner @lostpro9het tonight. :)
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Disney exhaustion was starting to take over. :p
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We waited just a few minutes before being led to a perfect table right next to the window! The animals weren't terribly active, but we did have a few visitors throughout our meal. :)
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This guy hung out for for quite awhile.. He was still there when it got too dark for us to see, so I'm not entirely sure how long he stuck around. :)
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Our server was Sara and she made a huge fuss over my ring and our engagement.. She was great to us all night. :)
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We started our meal with a right of passage...
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We didn't end up really liking any of the accompaniments. :depressed: I stuck with the two closest to the bottom of the picture, but I wasn't really a huge fan of them either. We liked the traditional bread the best.. the next two in the pile were okay, too. We didn't like the darker variations at all.
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blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday, 6/10 cont.

We enjoyed the view while we perused the menu. :)
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I promised myself that I would be somewhat adventurous with my meal choice, but Sara had to help me out quite a bit in understanding what everything was. :hilarious:
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Dylan was not so adventurous.. he went with the New York Strip. He said it was okay, but it had a lot of weird herbs/spices on it. Definitely not what we're used to.
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I'd read good things in other reports about the Butter Chicken, so I decided to try that. I also had the Braised Beef and something from the "Harvest" section, however I can't remember which I went with. :rolleyes: It was all fine.
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Next up was dessert!
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We had the Kenyan Coffee Petit Entremet.. very good!
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The African Triple Chocolate Mousse was also very good!
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Sara also brought us champagne to celebrate our engagement. :) It wasn't very good, but we sucked it down anyway because we aren't ungrateful. :p
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Thoughts on Sanaa... We probably won't be back. :( Don't hate me @lostpro9het.. I tried to love it! Our food was fine.. not good, not bad. Sara's service was fantastic. The view from our table was wonderful. But the bottom line is this... we are very American eaters lol. We aren't adventurous, we don't like going out of our comfort zones and trying new dishes we can't pronounce, and we just like the basics when it comes to food. I'm bummed that we didn't love it because I was super excited to eat here! I'm glad we tried it, but we'll leave the exotic food to the @lostpro9het clan. :rolleyes:
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
One of the nice thing about WDW is that there is so much choice. I personally loved Sanaa but I can understand it is not to everyones taste. At least now you know and you cross it of your list.

You are so right! This was the first time I've ever felt "meh" about a WDW restaurant, but there are many many more on my bucket list that will hopefully turn out better for us. :)

We enjoyed sanaa in February but probably won't go back as limited items on menu we all like. Favourite part was the bread.

That's kind of how I felt too.. our meals were fine but weren't things we drool over looking back on the trip. Gotta make room for trying all of the other awesome restaurants on property. :)

NEVER!!!
At least you gave it a go, many folks won't even step out of that comfort zone. As soon as I read that you didn't care for the bread and the accompaniments I thought this wouldn't end well.:(

Yes! I'm proud of myself for taking the leap of faith. :) I've been drooling over your TR's for years now so was really upset when I didn't love it. There are, however, other restaurants that you've given rave reviews and have thus made it onto my bucket list. Better luck next time! :p
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Il Mulino should be on the top of that list then. IM should work well with your palate and then there is the complimentary limoncello.

It IS on the top of my list!!! :hungry: It'll probably be one of the first date night meals for us after the move. :) I've never tried limoncello, but again.. your reviews make me want to. :p

The Pongu Lumpia looks so good! Thanks for putting that on my list to try for my next trip.

VIP seating for Festival of the Lion King – awesome!

It was soooo yummy! I can't wait to have it again. :) Best viewing of FotLK EVER! :joyfull:
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
I'm a little late to the party (just got back myself from the world) but many congratulations on your engagement. What a great way to propose, I don't know how you focused on your Disney day afterwards...so exciting! Also congratulations on your new job!

Fun trip report and great pictures so far. Good choice on California Grill, it is one of our favorites!
 

mlegerto

Well-Known Member
Thoughts on Sanaa... We probably won't be back. :( Don't hate me @lostpro9het.. I tried to love it! Our food was fine.. not good, not bad. Sara's service was fantastic. The view from our table was wonderful. But the bottom line is this... we are very American eaters lol. We aren't adventurous, we don't like going out of our comfort zones and trying new dishes we can't pronounce, and we just like the basics when it comes to food. I'm bummed that we didn't love it because I was super excited to eat here! I'm glad we tried it, but we'll leave the exotic food to the @lostpro9het clan. :rolleyes:

Oh what a shame that you didn't love your dinner at Sanaa. I can totally understand where you are coming from food sister LOL. While I did enjoy the bread service (I really only at the two you also pointed out LOL), I also felt like it was a bit too out of my comfort zone. We really did it because hubby really enjoys non Canadian/American foods and we don't get them often because I don't eat it LOL. It's great that you tried new things tho, you never know what you will end up loving!
 

LeighM

Well-Known Member
I've never tried limoncello, but again.. your reviews make me want to. :p

You've never had limoncello:eek:? You must fix that ASAP if you love citrus LOL. I found a fantastic imported brand at our local ABC store which hurt my wallet bc it wasn't cheap :) I made the mistake of making my Mom homemade lemonade spiked with limoncello and there was no going back for her. I think she got addicted to it :angelic:
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm a little late to the party (just got back myself from the world) but many congratulations on your engagement. What a great way to propose, I don't know how you focused on your Disney day afterwards...so exciting! Also congratulations on your new job!

Fun trip report and great pictures so far. Good choice on California Grill, it is one of our favorites!

Happy you're here! Thank you for the congratulations! :joyfull: Being in Disney was the BEST way to celebrate our engagement.. seriously! Everybody was so kind and happy for us, which just kept our "high" going strong. :)

I can't wait to get back to Cali Grill! I drool every time I think about it. ;) Can't wait to read your report when life slows down a bit! I hope your trip was magical! :)

Oh what a shame that you didn't love your dinner at Sanaa. I can totally understand where you are coming from food sister LOL. While I did enjoy the bread service (I really only at the two you also pointed out LOL), I also felt like it was a bit too out of my comfort zone. We really did it because hubby really enjoys non Canadian/American foods and we don't get them often because I don't eat it LOL. It's great that you tried new things tho, you never know what you will end up loving!

I thought of you many times throughout our trip when we ate- lol! Our better halves should appreciate our willingness to try new things. ;) This was really the only meal I felt "meh" about, so I call that a win!

CONGRATS!!!!
We had the same on our visit and I agree 1000% with your comments. WOW!!!!

Thank you! :) Can't wait to get back to Pandora to have those yummy treats again soon!

You've never had limoncello:eek:? You must fix that ASAP if you love citrus LOL. I found a fantastic imported brand at our local ABC store which hurt my wallet bc it wasn't cheap :) I made the mistake of making my Mom homemade lemonade spiked with limoncello and there was no going back for her. I think she got addicted to it :angelic:

Lol! This is obviously something that I need to hop on soon! I usually like citrusy things so I'm sure I'll love it! Hopefully not enough that I feel compelled to spend $$$ on it to drink at home but we shall see. ;):rolleyes:
 

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