Saturday, January 20
Most of you have probably already read about this meet up in
@sheriffwoody and
@Doc Disney's reports, but I've been slacking at keeping up with my TR so am just now getting around to writing about it.
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I'm not even sure whose idea this dinner was... I think it was
@sheriffwoody's. But we all agreed to a character meal at 1900 Park Fare and I was super excited to get to spend more time with my "Disney friends" than basically just a quick hi/bye like we'd managed in the past.
Traffic was HORRENDOUS on the way to WDW property and I passed multiple accidents, which I'm sure were the reason for all the traffic. I was running behind because of this but managed to pull into the Contemporary about 5 minutes before our reservation time. Those of you who are observant will notice that I said
Contemporary and not
Grand Floridian.
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So I pull in and the security guard asks where I'm headed, to which I responded that I had an ADR at Chef Mickey's. He started looking for my name in the system and told me that he wasn't seeing a reservation under mine, Megan, or Kristi's last name. I texted Megan to ask who had made the reservation and to confirm that we were eating at Chef Mickey's. She of course set me straight and informed me that our ADR was at 1900 Park Fare.. I was
mortified at that point and felt like a total tourist.
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I swore to the guard that I wasn't a ding dong and pulled away, now racing to get to the GF as quickly as possible. I have no idea how I got so mixed up and had even put the correct restaurant in my phone when we made the reservation. The struggle is real, folks.
Anyway, I arrived at the GF and they let me through the gates without checking to see if I actually had an ADR. Typically this is how it goes, so I was a little surprised by the Contemporary guard actually looking to see if I was telling the truth. I guess people probably try to park there and walk to MK more often than the other monorail resorts so they have to be tough. I speed walked to the main building and was intercepted by the group in the lobby. The buzzer had just gone off so my lateness turned into perfect timing.
As they've both mentioned, the checkin area was a mad house. This was not my experience the last time I had dined here, so I was a little concerned. However, our quiet table in the back was perfect for Disney-obsessed conversation with occasional visits from characters.
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I'll start with the food.
I have the palette of a 6 year old... I guess when you hangout with them all day long you eventually turn into them.
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I am not ashamed. Everything on my plate was delicious!
On the first trip to the buffet, we couldn't find the strawberry soup anywhere.
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I was DEVASTATED because this was the highlight of the meal for me last time. I was worried that they had taken it off of the menu, even though it had been there when I looked not long before. I cleaned my first plate and headed back for more food.. to my absolute delight I noticed a drink container (like the ones they sit out with free water in the parks) full of something pink. I crossed my fingers and toes as I approached and HALLELUJAH STRAWBERRY SOUP!
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It came out super slow so I felt awkward as I stood there attempting to fill my bowl, but sorry not sorry.
I more or less licked my bowl clean (not really, I do have table manners
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) and went back for more, as well as a few desserts. Megan suggested putting gummy bears in my soup, so I dumped some in. As it turns out, you don't need nearly as many bears as I took, but it was delicious nonetheless.
The characters came around as we ate and as expected, the stepsisters were the highlight of the meal.
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Charming was a dud, but that's been my experience with male face characters (with the exception of Gaston). At least he was nice to look at.
Cinderella was up next. She was fine.. I think we talked about being out for a ball without our princes or something to that effect.
The fun really started when the evil stepmother arrived.
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She wanted to know how many castles everybody had and was looking for suitors for her daughters. She was really good, but also super intimidating.