Trip Report Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It's Back to the World We Go! *COMPLETED*

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Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you prematurely. I am your host ~ your trip report host. Here in the following pages you'll see how the Tuvalu family survived Spring Break 2017. Kindly sit back and relax please, and make room for everyone. There's no turning back now......

Well, that's not exactly true. You are free to FIND YOUR WAY OUT at any time. Although I hope you stick around for the tour. There's bound to be drama. ;)

The deets:
Cast: Moi (Tuvalu), Benevolent Husband (Woody), and the only reason we braved Spring Break madness ~ our Teacher Daughter (Em)
Dates: April 1-8, 2017
Resort: Port Orleans French Quarter

Along the way you'll encounter the slowest cast members ever hired by Disney. Farewell performances of Wishes (were there tears?) The awesome Blue Angels flyover. A Magic meet-up with another mother/daughter pair equally obsessed with WDW as Em and me. And the BEST TRANSPORTATION EVER.

You'll also discover the answers to the following questions: Are Spring Break crowds really that bad? (I'll give you a hint......YES.) What the heck happened to the Trolley? And the flagpole? Is the Red Card really gone? Can you get a same-day ADR for Be Our Guest? What about 'Ohana?

And the most-pressing question of all: Will Woody be doomed to sit on a hard chair in our room chained to his PC and phone all week?

Now as they say, "Look alive" and we'll continue our little tour.
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Saturday, con't

We decided to skip our last FP (Nemo). We were feeling the effects of a long travel day and needed rest. As we made the walk down towards Spaceship Earth there was a very large group of teens in formal attire coming towards us.

The gals were in long dresses and heels, perfectly coiffed hair and makeup. The guys were wearing dress suits (a few in tuxes). A quick count determined there were a couple hundred teens and about a dozen chaperones.

Em and I looked at each other and said, "Prom!"

Of course we were curious as to where they were headed....but not bold enough to ask!

How cool would it be to have your prom at EPCOT?!!?!!

We felt underdressed as we posed beneath Tink.
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While we may have missed Illuminations inside the park, we were able to watch the fireworks from outside our building. :happy:
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
I'm so bummed about your review of Garden Grill. :( I absolutely LOVED it on my last trip and booked it again for this trip. It seems like things have gone downhill a bit... No more sweet potato fries!? Those were literally the BEST. :arghh: Now I'm wondering if I should keep that ADR or not...

Prom at Epcot!? Envious doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about that. :cool:
 

PrincessL

Well-Known Member
After all our traveling ~ by car, tram, foot, boat and glider ~ we'd worked up quite an appetite. Good thing we did not have to go far for dinner. A short escalator ride up dropped us right in front of Garden Grill.

We had dined here last spring break and came away impressed and satisfied. I had read of a menu change from steak to pot roast (which bummed me a bit) but went in with an open mind. While we were seated shortly after checking in, our server was long in arriving. In fact, Pluto beat him to our table.

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Notice the not-so-hidden-Mickey plate arrangement.
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We continued to wait for our server. When he finally arrived (without an apology) he took our drink order and quickly rambled that the food was "family style all we could eat" before departing.

Our salad and rolls arrived before our beverages.
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"Tuvalu, then why are your drink glasses in this picture?"

Because Em was slow in getting her camera out.

I'm not sure eight rolls are necessary for three people, especially considering the quantity of food yet to come. The rolls were fresh and doughy and I suppose it would be easy to eat more than one. (We did not make that rookie mistake.)

I am not a big salad dressing fan, but whatever dressing was on the salad was DELICIOUS!! It was different from last year, as I remember not caring for the salad. Woody (who knows his dressings) thinks this dressing was likely peppercorn. It was light-textured and really brought out the flavor of the veggies. I went back for thirds.

Sweet potato fries have been replaced by regular fries. Between the fries, mac and cheese and mashed potatoes (oh and the rolls) starch is well accounted for in this meal.

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Last year, the meats were brought out on a separate platter. Now everything is mashed (no pun intended) together on a round plate. It makes serving difficult.

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From the top: cob corn (no restaurant does this well), pot roast in gravy, mashed potatoes, sausage with peppers and onions, turkey and gravy atop stuffing, and cranberry relish (not sauce, there is a difference) in the center.

The pot roast was surprisingly good. We all agreed it was the best protein offered. Neither Em nor I are sausage eaters, but Woody said it was fine. @Courtney6682 mentioned the sausage being pink tinged, but this wasn't. The turkey, on the other hand, was. Now I know smoked turkey can have a pinkish hue, but nowhere was the word "smoked" used and that made me nervous. If you have read any of my trip reports you know I am a turkey-holic and I was really looking forward to turkey. When our server finally appeared again and asked if he could bring us anything else I requested turkey.

Sadly, the new turkey was also pinkish. I just couldn't eat it.

But a couple of chipmunks soon brought joy to our table.
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As did the Mouse himself.
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The berry cobbler was SPECTACULAR :hungry:. So, so good.
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It shouldn't surprise you that it took forever for our server to bring our check. I still needed to give him my Tables in Wonderland card before paying and figured we'd have to sit there even longer.

(You know you've been at a character meal too long when each character comes to your table a second time. And then suffer the awkwardness of not wanting a picture or engaging in conversation because you've already done that!)

Anyhoo, our server dropped the check wallet on our table and said, "I already applied your AP discount."
Wait, what?
"I've got Tables in Wonderland," I said.
"It's the same 20% discount," he said.
Okay. But it wasn't the discount percentage that concerned me. It was the fact the server knew I have an AP.
Is MDE smart enough to somehow mark a guest as an AP holder on an ADR???
It did creep me out a little.

We give Garden Grill a B for food, A for character interaction and D for service. We'll probably go back, but not for awhile.

Thanks for the full report on Garden Grill and pics @TrolleyFollower91 !! Bummer about the service! Still excited to try this restaurant for the first time next month:)
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
I'm so bummed about your review of Garden Grill. :( I absolutely LOVED it on my last trip and booked it again for this trip. It seems like things have gone downhill a bit... No more sweet potato fries!? Those were literally the BEST. :arghh: Now I'm wondering if I should keep that ADR or not...

Disappointed with the review of garden grill! It seems changes have been made since I made my ADR. I'm second guessing too. No Sweet potatoes fries breaks my heart :(

Thanks for the full report on Garden Grill and pics @TrolleyFollower91 !! Bummer about the service! Still excited to try this restaurant for the first time next month:)
Perhaps we just had an "off" night with our server. We did witness attentive servers at neighboring tables. I wouldn't necessarily cancel your ADRs, friends....unless no sweet potato fries is a deal-breaker ;).

I did not know about the menu change at Garden Grill. I'm sad the sweet potato fries are gone. Was there bacon on that salad?
Indeed there was!!!
 

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Yay!! Just started reading. Excited to read more.

About the restaurant knowing you have an AP, I've had a couple do that. Somewhere I ate had it noted on the ticket when I was seated, but I still told the server about it, just in case they didn't notice. But anyway, yeah they know...haha. THEY KNOW ALL.
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Sunday, April 2

Disney excitement caused me to awaken very early, but I remained quiet as a mouse so not to disturb Woody and Em. When they began to stir, I went to get them coffee.

We had @lostpro9het and @imahistorygeek's lazy breakfast of choice:
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The coffee cakes are a new addition to the donuts....they are delicious! All the mugs in the food court had white handles, which continues to raise the question: do all new mugs come with plain white handles or were these leftover handle-free mugs that have been given a handle?

The card in the picture was a "personalized" welcome from Punam Dayabhai-Jaira, manager of POFQ. Let's just say I sent Punam an email after our stay. I am still awaiting a reply. :rolleyes:

There was no mad dash out of our room to get to the bus stop in order to make the (former) Welcome Show. Though I miss it, I don't miss the stress of trying to get there on time. And since we were not in a hurry to get to the MK, naturally the bus was just pulling in when we got to the bus stop!

Can someone please start a petition to bring back the opening chords of "The Mickey Mouse Club" when the bus makes the turn into the MK bus depot? Because the new monotone announcer just doesn't cut it. Could he be any less enthusiastic? I miss the excitement of the music and the exuberant "Welcome the Magic Kingdom!"

We disembarked and noticed where all the old park benches have been moved to:
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We didn't know it at the time, but this particular bench would play a prominent role in our trip later in the week.

This was the final day of the "old" security screening. The next day there would be agents checking bags under the large white tent area.
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Finally, CMs were checking to make sure guests who entered the Passholder line were indeed AP holders!
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Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
We exited from the train tunnel and noticed something very important missing from Town Square!
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Do you know what it is?

Em suggested getting a better look from atop the train station.
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What happened to the flagpole????!!!

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Though its absence made for a rare unobstructed picture of Cinderella Castle.
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