Trip Reports
02-20-2007, 03:45 PM
Samantha Pappas - July 2002 - All Star Movies, Offsite
Time of Year: Summer
Travel Method: Personal Car
Resort: ASMoR, Offsite
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Toddler, Adult, Senior
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran, Frequent, Infrequent, Rookie, DVC Member
Comments: Samantha and her family (including her parents who flew over from the UK), enjoyed a trip that included the Disney Magic Plan. The plan includes park admission media and also a couple of "wishes" for each person each day.
Samantha Pappas -- July 2002 -- Walt Disney World (ASMoR)
7/26/02 - 8/5/02, actual time in WDW7/28/02 - 8/2/02.
I'm submitting a trip report for my latest trip to WDW. This trip consisted of myself, a 29 year old female, my husband a 40 year old man, my parents who would rather I'd not name their ages although they are past 50, they are visiting in one of their twice yearly trips from the UK to visit their grandson, my son, who is 3. Including this trip my husband has been 8 or so times, I have been 5, my son 4 if you include his in utero visit (he reacted to some of the rides on my pregnant trip, particularly the loudness of Ellen's Energy Adventure) and this was my parents second trip. We were pre-booked to spend 5 nights, 6 days in the All Star Movies resort on the Disney Magic plan, this plan consists of hotel, hopper passes and 2 magical wishes per person, per night.
For those of you who have never heard of the wishes, you have a choice of what you would like to cash the wishes in for, merchandise, food, tours, activities, spa treatments, etc. We predominately choose food, with the exception of a behind the scenes tour on this trip. The food wishes are usuable at most restaurants with only a few excluded, character breakfasts, full lunches and dinners including appetizer, entree, dessert, non alcoholic beverage, coffee, tax and gratuity, for one person equals one wish.
We began our trip on Friday July 26, by spening 20 hours driving from New Jersey to Kissimmee. Of course we had to make several stops with such a varied group, including J\R for the bargain hunting and the practically mandatory stop at South of the Border. We had booked our hotel in Kissimmee in Advance, so we arrived to the newish Fairfield Marriott Inn in Marriott village that evening, when you drive we don't see the point of spending all that extra money for extra virtually unused nights in Disney.
We spent our first full day in Florida, Saturday, at Kennedy Space Center, acclimatizing to the Florida heat and spending a nice easy day, compared to WDW. The space center is a fun trip, although I'm not particularly interested in the subject, although I do enjoy launches. My husband and my parents really enjoyed it and my son loved seeing the occasional alligator.
On Sunday we rose early and checked out of our hotel, drove to WDW and checked in to the All Star Movies resort. We always choose to stay on property, and so far on all of our trips to gether we have always stayed in the All Star complex, this was our first visit to the Movies portion as it is usually fully booked when we arrange our Februay trip at the end of December \we can't book earlier as vacation time is not assigned until late December\. When we booked we requested the Toy Story section for my son the Buzz and Woody fan. While driving down on Friday, we called the hotel direct and politely requested the Toy Story hotel again, on check in we found that they had indeed been able to accomodate us. My son, of course, was absolutely thrilled.
For the first time, an All Star check in was achieved with virtually no waiting in line, of course our check in cast member was undergoing training, but she was so polite that we didn't care that it took her a little longer. At check in we purchased e-ride tickets for the following Tuesday.
Leaving the hotel we drove over to the Magic Kingdom lot, as we despise using the buses, dragging a stroller and all of the assorted bags required for a day at the parks with a small child and of course the small child himself.
It was almost a form of culture shock for us entering the parks in July, we are used to little to no wait in February not to mention the heat. I had done extensive researtch before leaving for our trip and we came armed with water spraying fans bought cheaply at Wal-mart and Brita water filter sport bottles, hats, sunscreen, etc. We went from ride to ride, attempting to hit all of our top favorites first, although disappointment was hard to deal with at first when we realized that this trip was not going to be the same as usual. For one the slower pace was hard to get used to, I found myself looking in awe at the people who managed to appear perspiration free and with still perfectly coiffed hair, how on earth did they do it, my pony tail was limp and my husband was wiping his brow frequently, not to mention the women in 6 inch heels, I think they're all planted by Disney to walk for short people and create the illusion that the weather and walking are easy to deal with!
We left the Magic Kingdom for Epcot, where I had made priority seatings for Le Cellier in Canada. There is a diabetic in our party so I made a point of calling each restaurant where I had made a priority seating to arrange for a sugar free dessert. The food as always was wonderful, the strolling manageress was also great, the waitress we had was one of the most inattentive we have ever encountered in Disney, my husband's soda glass remained empty throughout his entree and when he finally saw our waitress and asked politely for a refill she was a little huffy, I guess when you're guaranteed a 15% tip it made spending time with our party pointless. We recommend for appetizers, scallops, cheese soup and the wonderfully presented shrimp cocktail, not your ordinary shrimp on lettuce in a glass. For entree I strongly recommend the filet minon on wild mushroom risotto, the desserts were good but my father's was by far the best, it is the only time I have ever heard my very British father describe a dessert as to die for, he had the creme brulee. Our waitress refused to bring us coffee as part of our plan and since it was our first day and we'd failed to bring the brochure with us we were not inclined to argue, we've eaten there before and the service has been wonderful, this waitress left a sour taste in our mouths.
On Monday morning we rose early for breakfast at Animal Kingdom, we had an 8.10 seating for Restaurantosaurus, unfortunately priority seating failed to tell us that the gates to the parking lot would not open until 8am, so we could have slept for another half an hour.
There is a magical feeling to walking into the park ahead of the guests and being led by your wait person on a private guided tour over to the restaurant. The breakfast here is very good and the characters spent a lot of time with my son, which made his day, all day he kept talking about pluto licking his head. The benefit of an early morning start like this is that many park guests haven't made it so far into the park by the time you've finished eating, we were able to walk onto the dinoland rides, which while I know some people dislike them as carnival midway-ish, my 3 year old son really enjoys. Think about it, how long are the lines in fantasyland? These kind of rides really appeal to the younger kids. While there we enjoyed the store, the work that went into creating the eye candy of all the parachuting dinosaurs is the attention to detail that makes Disney worth the money.
Next we headed over to Kali River Rapids, in February we have never ridden it as it's something we'd like to do together and our son has always been too small, this year when we were with a large group in February it was simply too cold and the 2 members of the party who braved the trip spent a long time shivering before finally buying whole new outfits.
Myself, my husband and my mother went on the ride leaving my son with my father. First we changed our sneakers for plastic sandals which we brought along in our wonderfully large stroller basket. We absolutely loved it, our only regret was that it wasn't longer, we did get wet, but a woman on the other side, much to the delight of her 2 kids, was the recipient of the soaking. We enjoyed the ride so much that my husband and I chose to ride it again, this time after deciding that it was not too rough for our son we measured him and found him 2 inches above the minimum height requirement. The cast member at the gate affixed a wrist band to him so that the operating cast members would know to put him in a safety seat, which is actually a regular seat with an added pull down bar. He showed a little trepidation on the tip but otherwise he loved it, even when we turned out to be the one's who were under the deluge. He enjoyed it as much as we did, regretfully we were unable to make it back to the animal kingdom to ride it again, but in February we'll take along the shoes and changes of clothes and ride it again, probably many, many times.
That evening we again returned to Epcot for dinner, this time to Alfredo's, we've heard stories of the quality being hit and miss eating there, we eat there one or two times each trip and so far we've never been disappointed, the service has always been impreccable and the food delicious. We recommend the stuzzicarlo which is a meat, cheese and olive platter, the calamari is cooked to just the right consistency not rubbery and not too crispy but cooked just right. We ate the veal chop, the veal parmesan, and the rigatoni, along with sides of fettucine alfredo. The bottled non sparkling water is also delicous, very smooth. For dessert the non-diabetics had selection plates which consisted of many bite size servings of various desserts even down to a mini coffee cup filled with Tiramisu, a particular hit with my son. For the diabetic the chef went all out, she had a ring of sugar free stawberry mousse set atop swirls of chocolate sauce, the crown of the dessert was a shue pastry swan filled with cream, we were all very impressed.
Wednesday we again had to rise early as I'd decided to cash in one of my wishes for the Keys to the Kingdom tour, my husband grumbled about it spoiling the magic and then decided to tag along. I was really excited about taking the tour, but I have to say that it surpassed even my high expectations. We were told to park at the Contempory Resort and our names were on a list to allow us entrance, we then walked over to the Magic Kingdom. We were allowed into the park early after our names were again checked and pointed to the meeting place, the same small alcove where you collect your e-night passes. There we were met by Candy, I believe she is the supervising cast member for the tour, she was exceedingly polite, fun and well organized. Our ID's were checked and we were offered coffee and bottled water, given name badges and chose our lunch from a photographic menu.
When ten of the pre-booked people had arrived, Robin our tour guide told us the basic guiderules. Warn her of any impending obstacles with wheels or feet when she's walking backwards, be careful what you say and when and where you say it because you never know who's listening, being the main points. And off we went. We walked main street, we listened, inquired and learned and were caught up in Robin's boundless enthusiasm and love for the place. We rode on the Jungle Cruise and the Haunted Mansion with pointers as to what to look for, stopped for lunch at the harbor house, walked, walked, walked and walked some more. And we did indeed see some backstage areas, behind, up and underground and up close and personal with the parade floats and Robin even grabbed a technician to give us even more information. I love WDW, it's one of my happy places, but I left this tour with a better understanding of the work that goes into creating the magic, a deeper respect for the cast members and an acceptance of how much it costs to create this amazing show. Robin's teaching is ingrained enough that I'm not going to get into detail, but no, it didn't spoil the magic for my husband, it did make us look at the magic kingdom with new eyes and I'm now determined to take all of the tours.
After the tour we went to meet my parents at MGM where they had taken our son for a character breakfast at Hollywood and Vine, they enjoyed it. They also did Indiana Jones and Hunchback, they said he enjoyed the former and disliked the latter so much that they left as he was beginning to upset the other guests. My husband insisted on riding Star Tours, I told him what I'd read about it going off line often for cleaning up after unwell guests, he poo poohed me and making fun of my refusal rode it anyway. My husband with the cast iron stomach walked off the ride with slightly shaking legs and a solemn vow never to ride it again. While he was on the ride I took the opportunity to explore the street scenes in a little more detail than usual. I amused my son by standing under the umbrella and he loved seeing Stitch high up in the New York section.
We did the Muppet Vision, which was enjoyable but we found the pre show a little too long and not interesting enough, we were also expecting something more along the lines of Honey, I shrunk the audience so we were somewhat disappointed. Of course the high point was waiting in line at Al's Toy Barn for Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the Green Army Man. My son was in awe, he was with his hero's, asking them questions, giving them hugs and posing for photos, his eyes shine with happiness a lot, but on this occasion he looked like he might burst!
We went for dinner at the Brown Derby, our first dinner there, we've eaten lunch on several occasions but this time we made seating arrangements through the Fantasmic package. The food was good but I wouldn't rave about it, except the ravioli apppetizer was very good.
This was the first time we saw the Fantasmic show, it was nice to have prearranged seating, although even by Disney standards the 2 two flavor light up soda was excessive, we opted for the walk to the cart by the bathroom for the cheap! .50 sodas. The show was good, we enjoyed it, but I don't think I would've waited in the line for it, it was also very loud, my son covered his ears for most of it. Worth seeing, but much better with the special seating.
Please forgive that I transposed Tuesday and Wednesday in the order.
On Tuesday we slept later and took it easy in prep for E-ride night. We went to Typhoon Lagoon and lazed in the river, we rented one of the free life vests for my son with drivers license security. He loved the little tykes playground and my husband and I went in the wave pool, he loves it, as at 6'6 its just right for him, me at 54 has a harder time in it.
That evening we ate in Mexico, I spoke to the chef in advance about the diabetic dessert and he was great, but I really think they need to improve the English of those who answer the phone at the podium, I was passed through 4 people before someone finally gave me the number to the kitchen rather than answering my question. The setting for the San Angel is wonderful, the service OK, and the food was nothing to write home about with the exception of dessert which really is good.
Then we headed over to the Magic Kingdom to collect our E-ride wristbands. Unfortunately Pirates wasn't included, but we got to ride Buzz and Mansion to our hearts content. The night was sold out and the capacity crowd made for longer waits than on the ones we've done in February, but still 5 mins for Buzz is nothing. Leota's tombstone is especially eerie at night. It was also nice for non-space mountain riders like ourselves to go through the building on the TTA with our eyes accustomed to the dark. My parents rode Alien for the first time and enjoyed it and we all had fun wandering through the park with very few people, comparatively, in it. In fact the time flew, we left around 1am shocked by how late it was. And dreading getting up at 6 to be showered and ready for the Keys to the Kingdom tour.
On Thursday my father and I took the behind the steam train tour. My father is a railway engineer and has always had an interest in steam trains, myself, I have very little interest in trains, I appreciate their beauty and historical significance. The group was made up of several incredibly intense train buffs and their assorted significant others who were no where near as enthralled. Our tour leader was Jack, he is one of the creators of the tour and I have to sing his praises. He made the tour enjoyable for both camps, answering the most intense of technical questions and peppering his narrative with historical anecdotes that interested all of us. Again, it was interesting to see the park before it opens, cast members buzzing around on old bicycles and the backstage areas, the shop where the trains and monorails live one on top of the other. My absolute favorite part of the tour was learning the origin of the saying Its the real McCoy".
Thursday afternoon was spent at Blizzard Beach, our first time as its always being refurbished when were there in February. My son became quite the daredevil on the kids slide. The lazy river has more eye candy than at Typhoon but I prefer Typhoon, I dont know why, I just do. However, I loved the wave pool, the waves were more manageable for my small frame and it was more of a friendly bob around attitude than the the catch a wave thing at Typhoon. The slides looked good but we didnt ride any.
Twice during our stay we went to have the buffet lunch at Restaurant Akershus in Norway, the first time we went for the experience, the second we went because we enjoyed the first time so much. The food has a very crisp and fresh taste which was a pleasant change after so many fried fast food lunches and heavy dinners. I loved the unimaginatively named meat salad, especially when I wrapped it tortilla style in the potato flat bread. The shrimp salad was another favorite. My mother loved the smoked salmon, my son loved the meatballs and my father loved the soup. The hot dishes and other salads were good too. The desserts which were included in our wishes were alacarte. The waitress walked to the bakery next door \we went there spur of the moment so had no made prior arrangements\for a sugar free chocolate mousse which was wonderful, often diabetic chocolate is not very desirable, this one had an exceptional flavor. Following internet advice we also had the Norwegian rice pudding witht he strawberry topping, it was wonderful. My son was in heaven when the waitress brought him a troll cookie complete with paint and paint brush.
To round out our food for the week we went back to Alfredos which was again great, this time we also sampled the lasagne which was really good too. We ate a lot of chicken fingers for lunch which were consistently good throughout the resorts and parks and we had our final dinner on Friday evening at Tonys Town Square Restaurant. My son has a serious allergy to Walnuts, if he ingests one there is a good chance he wont be able to breathe and for this reason I have to carry an epi-pen to give him a shot and we are very vigilant about what he eats and what we eat around him. At Tonys the waitress brought our pesto with our bread, I was instantly on alert as most pestos contain nuts of some kind and we have been told to avoid all tree nuts just in case. I asked the passing manager and instead of answering me he said wait and disappeared at high speed. Immediatly a chef named Steve was at our table, telling us all the ingredients and whipping it away as it did indeed contain walnuts, along with pine nuts and cashews. Steve explained that in WDW at every restaurant from Pecos Bills on up that there is always a chef on duty who can tell you the ingredients of every item and make sure that there is no cross contamination of the food. He said that you should always tell your server of any allergies from a a light lactose intolerance up to the most severe. Since this allergy is only recently discovered we had no idea that a service like this was availble, assuming that the onus was on us. Good information to have. Also, Steve was really great, bringing out buttered spaghetti for our son, setting our minds at ease, assuring us that we were not causing any disruption and generally being an outstanding cast member. He periodically came out of the kitchen throughout the evening to check on us and another allergy table.
Samantha Pappas
Time of Year: Summer
Travel Method: Personal Car
Resort: ASMoR, Offsite
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Toddler, Adult, Senior
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran, Frequent, Infrequent, Rookie, DVC Member
Comments: Samantha and her family (including her parents who flew over from the UK), enjoyed a trip that included the Disney Magic Plan. The plan includes park admission media and also a couple of "wishes" for each person each day.
Samantha Pappas -- July 2002 -- Walt Disney World (ASMoR)
7/26/02 - 8/5/02, actual time in WDW7/28/02 - 8/2/02.
I'm submitting a trip report for my latest trip to WDW. This trip consisted of myself, a 29 year old female, my husband a 40 year old man, my parents who would rather I'd not name their ages although they are past 50, they are visiting in one of their twice yearly trips from the UK to visit their grandson, my son, who is 3. Including this trip my husband has been 8 or so times, I have been 5, my son 4 if you include his in utero visit (he reacted to some of the rides on my pregnant trip, particularly the loudness of Ellen's Energy Adventure) and this was my parents second trip. We were pre-booked to spend 5 nights, 6 days in the All Star Movies resort on the Disney Magic plan, this plan consists of hotel, hopper passes and 2 magical wishes per person, per night.
For those of you who have never heard of the wishes, you have a choice of what you would like to cash the wishes in for, merchandise, food, tours, activities, spa treatments, etc. We predominately choose food, with the exception of a behind the scenes tour on this trip. The food wishes are usuable at most restaurants with only a few excluded, character breakfasts, full lunches and dinners including appetizer, entree, dessert, non alcoholic beverage, coffee, tax and gratuity, for one person equals one wish.
We began our trip on Friday July 26, by spening 20 hours driving from New Jersey to Kissimmee. Of course we had to make several stops with such a varied group, including J\R for the bargain hunting and the practically mandatory stop at South of the Border. We had booked our hotel in Kissimmee in Advance, so we arrived to the newish Fairfield Marriott Inn in Marriott village that evening, when you drive we don't see the point of spending all that extra money for extra virtually unused nights in Disney.
We spent our first full day in Florida, Saturday, at Kennedy Space Center, acclimatizing to the Florida heat and spending a nice easy day, compared to WDW. The space center is a fun trip, although I'm not particularly interested in the subject, although I do enjoy launches. My husband and my parents really enjoyed it and my son loved seeing the occasional alligator.
On Sunday we rose early and checked out of our hotel, drove to WDW and checked in to the All Star Movies resort. We always choose to stay on property, and so far on all of our trips to gether we have always stayed in the All Star complex, this was our first visit to the Movies portion as it is usually fully booked when we arrange our Februay trip at the end of December \we can't book earlier as vacation time is not assigned until late December\. When we booked we requested the Toy Story section for my son the Buzz and Woody fan. While driving down on Friday, we called the hotel direct and politely requested the Toy Story hotel again, on check in we found that they had indeed been able to accomodate us. My son, of course, was absolutely thrilled.
For the first time, an All Star check in was achieved with virtually no waiting in line, of course our check in cast member was undergoing training, but she was so polite that we didn't care that it took her a little longer. At check in we purchased e-ride tickets for the following Tuesday.
Leaving the hotel we drove over to the Magic Kingdom lot, as we despise using the buses, dragging a stroller and all of the assorted bags required for a day at the parks with a small child and of course the small child himself.
It was almost a form of culture shock for us entering the parks in July, we are used to little to no wait in February not to mention the heat. I had done extensive researtch before leaving for our trip and we came armed with water spraying fans bought cheaply at Wal-mart and Brita water filter sport bottles, hats, sunscreen, etc. We went from ride to ride, attempting to hit all of our top favorites first, although disappointment was hard to deal with at first when we realized that this trip was not going to be the same as usual. For one the slower pace was hard to get used to, I found myself looking in awe at the people who managed to appear perspiration free and with still perfectly coiffed hair, how on earth did they do it, my pony tail was limp and my husband was wiping his brow frequently, not to mention the women in 6 inch heels, I think they're all planted by Disney to walk for short people and create the illusion that the weather and walking are easy to deal with!
We left the Magic Kingdom for Epcot, where I had made priority seatings for Le Cellier in Canada. There is a diabetic in our party so I made a point of calling each restaurant where I had made a priority seating to arrange for a sugar free dessert. The food as always was wonderful, the strolling manageress was also great, the waitress we had was one of the most inattentive we have ever encountered in Disney, my husband's soda glass remained empty throughout his entree and when he finally saw our waitress and asked politely for a refill she was a little huffy, I guess when you're guaranteed a 15% tip it made spending time with our party pointless. We recommend for appetizers, scallops, cheese soup and the wonderfully presented shrimp cocktail, not your ordinary shrimp on lettuce in a glass. For entree I strongly recommend the filet minon on wild mushroom risotto, the desserts were good but my father's was by far the best, it is the only time I have ever heard my very British father describe a dessert as to die for, he had the creme brulee. Our waitress refused to bring us coffee as part of our plan and since it was our first day and we'd failed to bring the brochure with us we were not inclined to argue, we've eaten there before and the service has been wonderful, this waitress left a sour taste in our mouths.
On Monday morning we rose early for breakfast at Animal Kingdom, we had an 8.10 seating for Restaurantosaurus, unfortunately priority seating failed to tell us that the gates to the parking lot would not open until 8am, so we could have slept for another half an hour.
There is a magical feeling to walking into the park ahead of the guests and being led by your wait person on a private guided tour over to the restaurant. The breakfast here is very good and the characters spent a lot of time with my son, which made his day, all day he kept talking about pluto licking his head. The benefit of an early morning start like this is that many park guests haven't made it so far into the park by the time you've finished eating, we were able to walk onto the dinoland rides, which while I know some people dislike them as carnival midway-ish, my 3 year old son really enjoys. Think about it, how long are the lines in fantasyland? These kind of rides really appeal to the younger kids. While there we enjoyed the store, the work that went into creating the eye candy of all the parachuting dinosaurs is the attention to detail that makes Disney worth the money.
Next we headed over to Kali River Rapids, in February we have never ridden it as it's something we'd like to do together and our son has always been too small, this year when we were with a large group in February it was simply too cold and the 2 members of the party who braved the trip spent a long time shivering before finally buying whole new outfits.
Myself, my husband and my mother went on the ride leaving my son with my father. First we changed our sneakers for plastic sandals which we brought along in our wonderfully large stroller basket. We absolutely loved it, our only regret was that it wasn't longer, we did get wet, but a woman on the other side, much to the delight of her 2 kids, was the recipient of the soaking. We enjoyed the ride so much that my husband and I chose to ride it again, this time after deciding that it was not too rough for our son we measured him and found him 2 inches above the minimum height requirement. The cast member at the gate affixed a wrist band to him so that the operating cast members would know to put him in a safety seat, which is actually a regular seat with an added pull down bar. He showed a little trepidation on the tip but otherwise he loved it, even when we turned out to be the one's who were under the deluge. He enjoyed it as much as we did, regretfully we were unable to make it back to the animal kingdom to ride it again, but in February we'll take along the shoes and changes of clothes and ride it again, probably many, many times.
That evening we again returned to Epcot for dinner, this time to Alfredo's, we've heard stories of the quality being hit and miss eating there, we eat there one or two times each trip and so far we've never been disappointed, the service has always been impreccable and the food delicious. We recommend the stuzzicarlo which is a meat, cheese and olive platter, the calamari is cooked to just the right consistency not rubbery and not too crispy but cooked just right. We ate the veal chop, the veal parmesan, and the rigatoni, along with sides of fettucine alfredo. The bottled non sparkling water is also delicous, very smooth. For dessert the non-diabetics had selection plates which consisted of many bite size servings of various desserts even down to a mini coffee cup filled with Tiramisu, a particular hit with my son. For the diabetic the chef went all out, she had a ring of sugar free stawberry mousse set atop swirls of chocolate sauce, the crown of the dessert was a shue pastry swan filled with cream, we were all very impressed.
Wednesday we again had to rise early as I'd decided to cash in one of my wishes for the Keys to the Kingdom tour, my husband grumbled about it spoiling the magic and then decided to tag along. I was really excited about taking the tour, but I have to say that it surpassed even my high expectations. We were told to park at the Contempory Resort and our names were on a list to allow us entrance, we then walked over to the Magic Kingdom. We were allowed into the park early after our names were again checked and pointed to the meeting place, the same small alcove where you collect your e-night passes. There we were met by Candy, I believe she is the supervising cast member for the tour, she was exceedingly polite, fun and well organized. Our ID's were checked and we were offered coffee and bottled water, given name badges and chose our lunch from a photographic menu.
When ten of the pre-booked people had arrived, Robin our tour guide told us the basic guiderules. Warn her of any impending obstacles with wheels or feet when she's walking backwards, be careful what you say and when and where you say it because you never know who's listening, being the main points. And off we went. We walked main street, we listened, inquired and learned and were caught up in Robin's boundless enthusiasm and love for the place. We rode on the Jungle Cruise and the Haunted Mansion with pointers as to what to look for, stopped for lunch at the harbor house, walked, walked, walked and walked some more. And we did indeed see some backstage areas, behind, up and underground and up close and personal with the parade floats and Robin even grabbed a technician to give us even more information. I love WDW, it's one of my happy places, but I left this tour with a better understanding of the work that goes into creating the magic, a deeper respect for the cast members and an acceptance of how much it costs to create this amazing show. Robin's teaching is ingrained enough that I'm not going to get into detail, but no, it didn't spoil the magic for my husband, it did make us look at the magic kingdom with new eyes and I'm now determined to take all of the tours.
After the tour we went to meet my parents at MGM where they had taken our son for a character breakfast at Hollywood and Vine, they enjoyed it. They also did Indiana Jones and Hunchback, they said he enjoyed the former and disliked the latter so much that they left as he was beginning to upset the other guests. My husband insisted on riding Star Tours, I told him what I'd read about it going off line often for cleaning up after unwell guests, he poo poohed me and making fun of my refusal rode it anyway. My husband with the cast iron stomach walked off the ride with slightly shaking legs and a solemn vow never to ride it again. While he was on the ride I took the opportunity to explore the street scenes in a little more detail than usual. I amused my son by standing under the umbrella and he loved seeing Stitch high up in the New York section.
We did the Muppet Vision, which was enjoyable but we found the pre show a little too long and not interesting enough, we were also expecting something more along the lines of Honey, I shrunk the audience so we were somewhat disappointed. Of course the high point was waiting in line at Al's Toy Barn for Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the Green Army Man. My son was in awe, he was with his hero's, asking them questions, giving them hugs and posing for photos, his eyes shine with happiness a lot, but on this occasion he looked like he might burst!
We went for dinner at the Brown Derby, our first dinner there, we've eaten lunch on several occasions but this time we made seating arrangements through the Fantasmic package. The food was good but I wouldn't rave about it, except the ravioli apppetizer was very good.
This was the first time we saw the Fantasmic show, it was nice to have prearranged seating, although even by Disney standards the 2 two flavor light up soda was excessive, we opted for the walk to the cart by the bathroom for the cheap! .50 sodas. The show was good, we enjoyed it, but I don't think I would've waited in the line for it, it was also very loud, my son covered his ears for most of it. Worth seeing, but much better with the special seating.
Please forgive that I transposed Tuesday and Wednesday in the order.
On Tuesday we slept later and took it easy in prep for E-ride night. We went to Typhoon Lagoon and lazed in the river, we rented one of the free life vests for my son with drivers license security. He loved the little tykes playground and my husband and I went in the wave pool, he loves it, as at 6'6 its just right for him, me at 54 has a harder time in it.
That evening we ate in Mexico, I spoke to the chef in advance about the diabetic dessert and he was great, but I really think they need to improve the English of those who answer the phone at the podium, I was passed through 4 people before someone finally gave me the number to the kitchen rather than answering my question. The setting for the San Angel is wonderful, the service OK, and the food was nothing to write home about with the exception of dessert which really is good.
Then we headed over to the Magic Kingdom to collect our E-ride wristbands. Unfortunately Pirates wasn't included, but we got to ride Buzz and Mansion to our hearts content. The night was sold out and the capacity crowd made for longer waits than on the ones we've done in February, but still 5 mins for Buzz is nothing. Leota's tombstone is especially eerie at night. It was also nice for non-space mountain riders like ourselves to go through the building on the TTA with our eyes accustomed to the dark. My parents rode Alien for the first time and enjoyed it and we all had fun wandering through the park with very few people, comparatively, in it. In fact the time flew, we left around 1am shocked by how late it was. And dreading getting up at 6 to be showered and ready for the Keys to the Kingdom tour.
On Thursday my father and I took the behind the steam train tour. My father is a railway engineer and has always had an interest in steam trains, myself, I have very little interest in trains, I appreciate their beauty and historical significance. The group was made up of several incredibly intense train buffs and their assorted significant others who were no where near as enthralled. Our tour leader was Jack, he is one of the creators of the tour and I have to sing his praises. He made the tour enjoyable for both camps, answering the most intense of technical questions and peppering his narrative with historical anecdotes that interested all of us. Again, it was interesting to see the park before it opens, cast members buzzing around on old bicycles and the backstage areas, the shop where the trains and monorails live one on top of the other. My absolute favorite part of the tour was learning the origin of the saying Its the real McCoy".
Thursday afternoon was spent at Blizzard Beach, our first time as its always being refurbished when were there in February. My son became quite the daredevil on the kids slide. The lazy river has more eye candy than at Typhoon but I prefer Typhoon, I dont know why, I just do. However, I loved the wave pool, the waves were more manageable for my small frame and it was more of a friendly bob around attitude than the the catch a wave thing at Typhoon. The slides looked good but we didnt ride any.
Twice during our stay we went to have the buffet lunch at Restaurant Akershus in Norway, the first time we went for the experience, the second we went because we enjoyed the first time so much. The food has a very crisp and fresh taste which was a pleasant change after so many fried fast food lunches and heavy dinners. I loved the unimaginatively named meat salad, especially when I wrapped it tortilla style in the potato flat bread. The shrimp salad was another favorite. My mother loved the smoked salmon, my son loved the meatballs and my father loved the soup. The hot dishes and other salads were good too. The desserts which were included in our wishes were alacarte. The waitress walked to the bakery next door \we went there spur of the moment so had no made prior arrangements\for a sugar free chocolate mousse which was wonderful, often diabetic chocolate is not very desirable, this one had an exceptional flavor. Following internet advice we also had the Norwegian rice pudding witht he strawberry topping, it was wonderful. My son was in heaven when the waitress brought him a troll cookie complete with paint and paint brush.
To round out our food for the week we went back to Alfredos which was again great, this time we also sampled the lasagne which was really good too. We ate a lot of chicken fingers for lunch which were consistently good throughout the resorts and parks and we had our final dinner on Friday evening at Tonys Town Square Restaurant. My son has a serious allergy to Walnuts, if he ingests one there is a good chance he wont be able to breathe and for this reason I have to carry an epi-pen to give him a shot and we are very vigilant about what he eats and what we eat around him. At Tonys the waitress brought our pesto with our bread, I was instantly on alert as most pestos contain nuts of some kind and we have been told to avoid all tree nuts just in case. I asked the passing manager and instead of answering me he said wait and disappeared at high speed. Immediatly a chef named Steve was at our table, telling us all the ingredients and whipping it away as it did indeed contain walnuts, along with pine nuts and cashews. Steve explained that in WDW at every restaurant from Pecos Bills on up that there is always a chef on duty who can tell you the ingredients of every item and make sure that there is no cross contamination of the food. He said that you should always tell your server of any allergies from a a light lactose intolerance up to the most severe. Since this allergy is only recently discovered we had no idea that a service like this was availble, assuming that the onus was on us. Good information to have. Also, Steve was really great, bringing out buttered spaghetti for our son, setting our minds at ease, assuring us that we were not causing any disruption and generally being an outstanding cast member. He periodically came out of the kitchen throughout the evening to check on us and another allergy table.
Samantha Pappas