Thursday, day 6 of our trip found us able to sleep in a little bit, then on to our ADR B'fast at another restaurant/character meal we have never been to...Trattoria al Forno @ the Boardwalk resort. Rather than taking the bus from AOA to MK and switching to the monorail to BW, we just drove (thank you, car rental)
The BW resort is beautiful, whose theme is supposed to harken back to the turn of the century boardwalk of Atlantic City, NJ (an hour south of our home). We fly out of the AC airport to escape NJ for a week, so this resort wouldn't be on the list of choices to stay, but again it IS a beautiful resort.
Since I'm talking 'Garden State", I've always wondered why WDW doesn't have a NJ themed restaurant (even a QS), serving NJ's famous comfort foods, pork roll (Taylor Ham), Italian hot dogs and sausage, REAL bagels, REAL pizza, salads made with REAL Jersey tomatoes, Italian ices, salt water taffy and soft serve custard/ice cream...the foods we are known for. We get such a bad rap from the rest of the US sometimes, if you tried some of our food, maybe the rap wouldn't be so bad! LOL.
Anyway, Trattoria al Forno features Ariel, Rapunzel, Prince Eric and Flynn Rider...my DD's loved the banter between them, but I LOVED the food!! Actually, EVERYONE loved the food! This character meal is NOT a buffet, you order off a menu and it is served like any other TS restaurant. I had a dish called King Triton's Shipwreck al Forno, a breakfast calzone with scrambled eggs, peppers, salami, bacon, sausage and cheese. It is served with "Sunday gravy" which any true Italian (I'm not) will know is tomato sauce...believe it or not, it was almost too much food for me!! (I can't believe I just wrote that) LOL. This meal was the BEST B'fast I have EVER had at WDW (even better than Pooh's puffed French toast at CP! (I can't believe I just wrote that too!!) My youngest DD also had the meal and although she's not a big meat eater, she enjoyed it as well! My DW and other DD had the giant pancakes (giant as in thick) with fruit. THIS meal was the culinary HIT of our whole vacation!!
We then headed back to AOA and switched to the bus for a leisurely walk around DS, and YES, it has become an outdoor version of an upscale mall. The newer stores are ok to look in, but we spent most of our time in the World of Disney, Lego, Once Upon a Toy, Pin Traders and Disney's Days of Christmas. We skipped lunch and headed to the MK for our night of Christmas festivities.
We arrived at 4 pm, just as the non-party guests were leaving, and went on a few of our favorite attractions. TSI is always one of our favorites, and we were able to spend some relaxing time on the island (I miss those paintbrushes!) We also took a complete loop around the MK on the WDWRR, another non-thrill gem. Another gem I MUST ride every trip is Prince Charming's Regal Carrousel. I LOVE this ride for 2 reasons. First, I LOVE carrousels. (I TOLD you I was a big kid at heart!) The most important reason is a very sentimental one for me...I was born and raised for 29 years in Maplewood, NJ, home of the now closed Olympic Park amusement park, where Walt and fellow Jersey guy, the late, legendary, imaginer, Marty Sklar found the carrousel when the park closed in 1965, eventually bringing it to WDW. Although I was only a year old, my parents took me on that carrousel before the park closed. While I was too young to remember it, the carrousel holds a special place in my heart.
It was a quick dinner at Casey's as I scoped out a good location for the parade and shows. I found the same spot we had earlier in the week, and yes, I had to spend several hours there, but I was able to eat, people watch and have some good conversations with other guests. The rest of the family took in some of the other festivities throughout the MK. I was able to see the Mickey & friends and Frozen show twice, with the rest of the family joining me with a Dole whip float for the second shows...MVMC Parade was awesome, with a few changes since the last time we saw it, about 5 years ago. The highlight of the evening was the special Christmas edition of Wishes. That, combined with the fireworks, put the icing on the WDW cake, but also started the depression big time, knowing that we were going home the next day...knowing that it will probably be several years before we will be able to make this trip again. If you ever have the opportunity to spend time at WDW during the Christmas season, DO IT!!! The World is breathtaking during this time of the year!!
One last nightly trip through the Emporium, and into the "frozen" bus ride back to AOA. Day six of seven was in the books, and we starting packing everything back up, ready to load into the van tomorrow morning...if we thought the depression was bad tonight, wait until tomorrow! Everyone, except for my oldest DD, who will be returning in 2 months for her stay in the DCP. Tomorrow, Friday would be an unplanned adventure we could have NEVER imagined!!!
The BW resort is beautiful, whose theme is supposed to harken back to the turn of the century boardwalk of Atlantic City, NJ (an hour south of our home). We fly out of the AC airport to escape NJ for a week, so this resort wouldn't be on the list of choices to stay, but again it IS a beautiful resort.
Since I'm talking 'Garden State", I've always wondered why WDW doesn't have a NJ themed restaurant (even a QS), serving NJ's famous comfort foods, pork roll (Taylor Ham), Italian hot dogs and sausage, REAL bagels, REAL pizza, salads made with REAL Jersey tomatoes, Italian ices, salt water taffy and soft serve custard/ice cream...the foods we are known for. We get such a bad rap from the rest of the US sometimes, if you tried some of our food, maybe the rap wouldn't be so bad! LOL.
Anyway, Trattoria al Forno features Ariel, Rapunzel, Prince Eric and Flynn Rider...my DD's loved the banter between them, but I LOVED the food!! Actually, EVERYONE loved the food! This character meal is NOT a buffet, you order off a menu and it is served like any other TS restaurant. I had a dish called King Triton's Shipwreck al Forno, a breakfast calzone with scrambled eggs, peppers, salami, bacon, sausage and cheese. It is served with "Sunday gravy" which any true Italian (I'm not) will know is tomato sauce...believe it or not, it was almost too much food for me!! (I can't believe I just wrote that) LOL. This meal was the BEST B'fast I have EVER had at WDW (even better than Pooh's puffed French toast at CP! (I can't believe I just wrote that too!!) My youngest DD also had the meal and although she's not a big meat eater, she enjoyed it as well! My DW and other DD had the giant pancakes (giant as in thick) with fruit. THIS meal was the culinary HIT of our whole vacation!!
We then headed back to AOA and switched to the bus for a leisurely walk around DS, and YES, it has become an outdoor version of an upscale mall. The newer stores are ok to look in, but we spent most of our time in the World of Disney, Lego, Once Upon a Toy, Pin Traders and Disney's Days of Christmas. We skipped lunch and headed to the MK for our night of Christmas festivities.
We arrived at 4 pm, just as the non-party guests were leaving, and went on a few of our favorite attractions. TSI is always one of our favorites, and we were able to spend some relaxing time on the island (I miss those paintbrushes!) We also took a complete loop around the MK on the WDWRR, another non-thrill gem. Another gem I MUST ride every trip is Prince Charming's Regal Carrousel. I LOVE this ride for 2 reasons. First, I LOVE carrousels. (I TOLD you I was a big kid at heart!) The most important reason is a very sentimental one for me...I was born and raised for 29 years in Maplewood, NJ, home of the now closed Olympic Park amusement park, where Walt and fellow Jersey guy, the late, legendary, imaginer, Marty Sklar found the carrousel when the park closed in 1965, eventually bringing it to WDW. Although I was only a year old, my parents took me on that carrousel before the park closed. While I was too young to remember it, the carrousel holds a special place in my heart.
It was a quick dinner at Casey's as I scoped out a good location for the parade and shows. I found the same spot we had earlier in the week, and yes, I had to spend several hours there, but I was able to eat, people watch and have some good conversations with other guests. The rest of the family took in some of the other festivities throughout the MK. I was able to see the Mickey & friends and Frozen show twice, with the rest of the family joining me with a Dole whip float for the second shows...MVMC Parade was awesome, with a few changes since the last time we saw it, about 5 years ago. The highlight of the evening was the special Christmas edition of Wishes. That, combined with the fireworks, put the icing on the WDW cake, but also started the depression big time, knowing that we were going home the next day...knowing that it will probably be several years before we will be able to make this trip again. If you ever have the opportunity to spend time at WDW during the Christmas season, DO IT!!! The World is breathtaking during this time of the year!!
One last nightly trip through the Emporium, and into the "frozen" bus ride back to AOA. Day six of seven was in the books, and we starting packing everything back up, ready to load into the van tomorrow morning...if we thought the depression was bad tonight, wait until tomorrow! Everyone, except for my oldest DD, who will be returning in 2 months for her stay in the DCP. Tomorrow, Friday would be an unplanned adventure we could have NEVER imagined!!!
