The year of living Disney - Autumn and deluxe dining TR**NEW TR LINK UP 1/16**

[Elevationist]

I love the Halloween pics, you all look fantastic! I decided at this recent MNSSHP I attended that one day I'd like to put together some sort of Ursula costume. I've been seeing such creative ones in recent years!

 

[cinderkelly]

Ugh, this happens to me ALL THE TIME I guess the Dis only gives us so much time to get our butts in gear and finish our posts!

Somehow in feel much better knowing I'm not the only one this happens to . But honestly, it really blows, doesn't it ?

Awesome Halloween pics!!!!

Thanks Kari!

I love the Halloween pics, you all look fantastic! I decided at this recent MNSSHP I attended that one day I'd like to put together some sort of Ursula costume. I've been seeing such creative ones in recent years!

Thanks! We always have fun with our Halloween stuff. Ursula is awesome, Amy did a good job putting hers together

 

[cinderkelly]

Day 3
A little magic, and a lot of food
​

Alrighty then, let's try this chapter again, shall we? I'm going to try and get this bad boy knocked out in one sitting, so here we go!

We woke up early enough this morning to do something I'd never gotten to do before, see the welcome show at MK!


It was a beautiful morning, made even better by the fact that we were just a monorail ride away.. It was really fun but I'm not sure I'd be able or willing to get my booty out of bed early enough to see it every time.

We spent some time wandering through the shops on Main Street before heading over to pay homage to our favorite, BTMRR, which was closed for refurb

But it's all good because the reimagined ride is going to be awesome if it's like the one at Disneyland. Plus we will get to ride when we go back in four weeks ! Ye haw!

We spent the morning doing some of our favorites, 7Dmt, splash and PP and wandered through some more shops looking at pins. I can't remember if I'd mentioned this before but we don't trade pins, but we collect pins that correlate with each trip and make a new lanyard every time we go as a keepsake of that trip.

Soon it was getting close to the time that we needed to head out for our lunch reservation in Disney Springs at the Boathouse! I was really excited to go here. Seafood and steaks, how could you go wrong? We were seated right away and our servers were awesome. Once again I had an epic fail in the picture taking department so I had to borrow his from Google

Thank you, random food porn enthusiast for letting me gank your photo of this little beauty

The full rundown of what we had:

Bob - appetizer, firecracker shrimp
Entree, 12 oz filet sans Oscar
Dessert, blueberry cheesecake. I wish I had gotten a photo of this because it was huge!

Kelly - appetizer, tuna poke
Entree, this beauty above, 12 oz filet, Oscar style ( crab, asparagus and bearnaise sauce)
Dessert, key lime pie in a mason jar

Now, just in case you were thinking, "man, this chick can really put some food away" I didn't finish my steak, it was huge. They have an 8oz and a 12 oz filet on the menu but our server didn't even ask which one I wanted, he just brought me the big Rama jamma, I guess because we were on the DxDP and price wasn't an issue. I only ate about half of it and they boxed up the other half so that I could take it back to the resort. Lemmie tell ya, cold steak makes for a great breakfast.

So the final verdict on the Boathouse, two thumbs up from us. Service and food were awesome, the atmosphere was nice without being too stuffy. Our bill if we hadn't been on the DxDP, $189.00 and this was without adult beverages, since we knew we would be partaking in the included grown up drinks at dinner that night.

So we waddled on outta the Boathouse, precious cargo in hand and caught the bus back to the Poly so I could put the other half of my steak in the fridge. It took a while for a Poly bus to get there, why does it always seem like every other resort bus comes so quickly and you're standing there sweating in the Florida sun waiting for yours? It seems like the Disney Springs busses have this method down pat. Ok, maybe 10 minutes later we were on the bus.

After we got back to our room we decided to hang out for a while, Bob was spending some quality time with his new best friend, the TV and I relaxed on the lanai.

Our dinner was at at 8:30 so around 6:00 we hopped back on the monorail and had a peek in the shops at the Grand Floridian and the Contemporary before catching the boat over to Fort Wilderness.

We got on the boat no problem but as we approached Ft. Wilderness boat dock you could see a wall of rain coming towards us on the lake . It took our boat captain several tries to get the boat close enough to tie up because it had gotten so windy, poor guy. Finally he made it and we scurried on over to to where we picked up our tickets for Hoop De Do Revue .

Thankfully it didn't rain for long and we had some time to mosey around and visit the draft horses in the stables. I thought this was really cool, and those horses are huge! But did I get a picture? Of course not! I have no idea what was wrong with me this trip. Usually I take a million pictures, I guess I was just trying to live in the moment instead of through the camera.

Hoop De Do was so much fun, I would recommend it to anyone. The show was realy cute and funny and the food wasn't bad to boot. Speaking of food, there was lots of it! Let me present my borrowed photo

Thanks disneydining.com for taking this lovely picture

Fried chicken, ribs, baked beans, mashed potatoes, corn, and we had salad and cornbread on the table when we arrived. And the strawberry shortcake for dessert. This is a bunch of food, and sadly we didn't eat but half of it because of our epic lunch. I started to feel really guilty of how much food had gone to waste. Oh and beer, wine or sangria is also included in the price. Wow, talk about bang for your buck!

We got a great table to boot

Again, not my picture, but this shows you how close we were to the stage. If you're on the DP this is 2 credits and if you go to the 8:30 show you get tier 1 seating, which means you're on the main stage floor. I called the day our ADR window opened, so we got an excellent table.

After the show was over and we were miserabully full it was time to call it a night. As we left the theater it was pouring buckets. Woo hoo for us because we had brought our umbrellas! I felt really bad for the families that didn't bring ponchos or umbrellas, as they made a mad dash for the bus with tired kiddos in the pouring rain. We just casually walked to the bus as the Dad's ran by giving us the stink eye carrying the crying kids. Lession learned, never go anywhere in Disney World in September without your umbrella. Side note, I much prefer the umbrella to the poncho, it's like you're walking around in your own personal sauna. Pass.

Another great Disney day had come to a close. We were full, tired, and slightly buzzed from the sangria. Nighty night.

My favorite thing this day- The Boathouse, it was awesome
Miles walked today 8.8

 

[Elevationist]

It was a beautiful morning, made even better by the fact that we were just a monorail ride away.. It was really fun but I'm not sure I'd be able or willing to get my booty out of bed early enough to see it every time.

It's adorable, but for me it's definitely one of those "Once you're seen it once" kind of things. I typically try to make it for rope-drop if I can anyhow though, so if I catch, then I catch it!

We spent some time wandering through the shops on Main Street before heading over to pay homage to our favorite, BTMRR, which was closed for refurb

I so relate to this! Was bummed to miss out on it recently, but am looking forward to what's in store once they re-open it!

Wow. Okay, just based on this one picture you chose, you just convinced me to add the Boathouse to my Must Do list for my nexts solo trip. Well done!

This looks like Sunday dinner at my parents house, haha. YUMMMM. I grew up eating like this... No wonder I got so fat!

 

[ariane37]

Aw, now I wish we'd walked over to BTMMR in August, I love the Mountain Goat infestation poster! We were bummed it was closed then but are really looking forward to seeing all the additions/changes later this month I've never ridden it in DL but everything I hear about it is that it's much better than the one in WDW, pre-refurb.
I SO want to try the Boathouse and your review just solidifies that! DH isn't quite as anxious as I am so I may just have to sneak it in there the next time we go......and we loved HDDR the one time we did it. DH got picked for Davey the Angel which was hysterical to say the least!

 

[kastoney]

But it's all good because the reimagined ride is going to be awesome if it's like the one at Disneyland. Plus we will get to ride when we go back in four weeks ! Ye haw!

I didn't know they were reimagining it, I just thought it was do for an overhaul. Do you know what they are doing to it?

It was a beautiful morning, made even better by the fact that we were just a monorail ride away.. It was really fun but I'm not sure I'd be able or willing to get my booty out of bed early enough to see it every time.

Thank you, random food porn enthusiast for letting me gank your photo of this little beauty

Wow, your picture or not this look ah-maz-ing!!!!!!!!! Look at those huge pieces of crab meat. Yu,!

So the final verdict on the Boathouse, two thumbs up from us. Service and food were awesome, the atmosphere was nice without being too stuffy.

Glad to hear you all enjoyed it. We've still yet to go but hopefully on the next trip.

Hoop De Do was so much fun, I would recommend it to anyone. The show was realy cute and funny and the food wasn't bad to boot. Speaking of food, there was lots of it! Let me present my borrowed photo

Glad you all enjoyed Hoop as much as we did. Such a fun and unique experience. Casey keeps asking to go back, but I think we'll wait another trip or 2 before we indulge again.

Again, not my picture, but this shows you how close we were to the stage. If you're on the DP this is 2 credits and if you go to the 8:30 show you get tier 1 seating, which means you're on the main stage floor. I called the day our ADR window opened, so we got an excellent table.

Great seats. Did you still have to pay 2 credits with the deluxe dining plan? I thought that was the regular dining plan "cost"

 

[cinderkelly]

Wow. Okay, just based on this one picture you chose, you just convinced me to add the Boathouse to my Must Do list for my nexts solo trip. Well done!

I know right!? Thankfully mine looked exactly like the one in this picture. It was awesome, pricey if paying oop, but I think it's totally worth 2 DP credits, and with the DxDP, even better because you get the appetizer!

This looks like Sunday dinner at my parents house, haha. YUMMMM. I grew up eating like this..

I love this kind of food too, and I think normally we would have chowed down if we hadn't had such a big lunch.

I love the Mountain Goat infestation poster! We were bummed it was closed then but are really looking forward to seeing all the additions/changes later this month

Cute, isn't it! We were bummed too, but it's all good

I SO want to try the Boathouse and your review just solidifies that

I hope that most people have as great an experience as we did. I'd hate to recommend it so highly and then have someone not like it, but I know not everyone's tastes are the same. But I'd go back in a heartbeat!

DH isn't quite as anxious as I am so I may just have to sneak it in there the next time we go

My DH didn't know what to expect there either, but it ended up being one of his two favorite meals the whole week.

DH got picked for Davey the Angel which was hysterical to say the least!

Omg how funn! My DH was trying to blend into the background, he didn't want to get picked

I didn't know they were reimagining it, I just thought it was do for an overhaul. Do you know what they are doing to it?

Maybe "reimagining" was the wrong word to use, but from what I've read they are changing some of the special effects while you're inside the "mines" the effects at the one in DL are pretty cool. But I don't think they are changing the track or anything that significant.

Wow, your picture or not this look ah-maz-ing!!!!!!!!! Look at those huge pieces of crab meat. Yu,!

It was completely awesome. That's the way I like crab meat, I don't like to have to work for it

We've still yet to go but hopefully on the next trip.

You should give it a shot sometime, I'd be interested to know what you think. Besides the whole mushroom thing, it sounds like we have similar tastes.

Great seats. Did you still have to pay 2 credits with the deluxe dining plan? I thought that was the regular dining plan "cost"

Yep. It's two credits, regular dining plan or Deluxe. They actually pulled the 4 credits ( 2 for each of us) out of our DP the day before we went to Hoop and we kinda freaked out a little bit when we checked how many credits we had used up to that point. We had to have someone at the resort desk check it for us.

If you go to either of the earlier shows you get tier 2 or 3 seats, if you go the 8:30 show you can get tier 1.

 

[UKDisneyJoe]

Enjoying the trip report and I cant wait to get to the boathouse next year. Also like the mile markers at the end of your posts. I may be stealing that idea for my TR if I remember at that point as its sooo far away
Look forward to your next day

 

[KathyM2]

Once again I'm a little late to the party but am enjoying your TR and all that food....yum...should not read about food when hungry lol

 

[cinderkelly]

Enjoying the trip report and I cant wait to get to the boathouse next year. Also like the mile markers at the end of your posts. I may be stealing that idea for my TR if I remember at that point as its sooo far away
Look forward to you

Thanks so much! I hope your experience at the Boathouse is as good as ours was. I've always been curious just how much walking we do at Disney, and am always amazed just how much we end up doing. Steal away! As a matter of fact I saw it on someone else's TR while back, so I can't claim that idea was original

Once again I'm a little late to the party but am enjoying your TR and all that food....yum...should not read about food when hungry lol

OH boy do I know how that goes! Reading about food, or watching shows about food on TV always make me want to eat! It's great to have you drop by when you get a chance!

 

[Steppesister]

Exactly my reaction too. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

But yes, you're right, the re-theming will be awesome though. Worth the wait.

I can't remember if I'd mentioned this before but we don't trade pins, but we collect pins that correlate with each trip and make a new lanyard every time we go as a keepsake of that trip.

I do that too!!! Not a new lanyard, cuz I only average a couple pins a trip, but still a nice souvenir to collect.

Entree, this beauty above, 12 oz filet, Oscar style ( crab, asparagus and bearnaise sauce)

Thank you for posting what that was! I had no idea what the white flaky things were- looked absolutely delicious!

Hoop De Do was so much fun, I would recommend it to anyone. The show was realy cute and funny and the food wasn't bad to boot. Speaking of food, there was lots of it! Let me present my borrowed photo

BEST show on prop! Loved every silly minute of it. Glad you went this trip!

Oh and beer, wine or sangria is also included in the price. Wow, talk about bang for your buck!

Maybe it was just the night I went, but I got the sangria too, and it was so watered down that it was flavored water. Not a big bang...

 

[cinderkelly]

But yes, you're right, the re-theming will be awesome though. Worth the wait.

I think so too! I've read it's supposed to be back open on the 19th of this month, I hope there are no delays.

I do that too!!! Not a new lanyard, cuz I only average a couple pins a trip, but still a nice souvenir to collect.

Pins are just about the only souvenir my husband buys while we are there, and he has a tendency to go a little pin crazy

Thank you for posting what that was! I had no idea what the white flaky things were- looked absolutely delicious!

It was delish!

Maybe it was just the night I went, but I got the sangria too, and it was so watered down that it was flavored water. Not a big bang...

Bummer! Mine didn't seem watered down at all but didn't feel much of the effects of it anyway because of all the food soaking it up! Plus for some reason coming from a high altitude to sea level it takes more drinks for me to feel it anyway. Weird.

 

[Steppesister]

Pins are just about the only souvenir my husband buys while we are there, and he has a tendency to go a little pin crazy

I am actually going to go back and order some resort mugs that I couldn't bring home with me. Since I have nothing from any of the ones I've stayed at yet.

Bummer! Mine didn't seem watered down at all but didn't feel much of the effects of it anyway because of all the food soaking it up! Plus for some reason coming from a high altitude to sea level it takes more drinks for me to feel it anyway. Weird.

As you'll see in my TR, that was a common theme for the (many) that I got. Just didn't really affect me like I thought they would... I don't know about the physiology of how ETOH would affect at high altitude vs. low. That would be an interesting bit of research.

 

[cinderkelly]

Day 4
We need a new plan
​

We had originally not been aware that Magic Kingdom was celebrating it's 45th anniversary while we were going to be there, but after we found out, we thought "cool!" Lets wake up early and get to MK and pick up some 45th merch and then spend the rest of the morning relaxing. We thought that it wouldn't be that busy because we hadn't herd much about it. Wrong. As soon as we got into MK the line for the 45th anniversary stuff ( only available at the emporium) was all the way down Main Street towards the castle. We stood there, dumbfounded, wondering what do we do next? So Bob whips out his phone and miraculously was able to snag a 9:00 breakfast ADR at BOG! Now he's not a fan of BOG but I love the atmosphere so he was being a good hubby.

First we had to stop for photographic evidence


And then we wandered on over to Frontierland for a bit and looked in some shops before our breakfast time.

Those of you that have been to BOG know the drill, it was busy, but we got through quickly and were able to find a table in the main ballroom near the "window". It was amazing to watch how slow the folks clearing the tables were, I noticed several families looking for clean tables and they eventually would just stand by a dirty table and wait for someone to come and clear it. It was like the CM's in there were moving in super slow mo And didn't really give a crud that there were several families looking for somewhere to sit.

The food was decent, and there was plenty of it with the tray of pastries they brought. I still think it's a good choice for a QS food wise but the CM's in there could use a little pep talk.

After breakfast we decided to ride the carousel before leaving MK, it was already getting way crowded.


Still love the caurosel


After a couple of hours at MK we caught the bus to HS for out TSMM FP and our lunch ADR. As I mentioned earlier our original plan for this day was to take it easy, have lunch at HS and go back to the resort and hang out by the pool.

It was at this point that I had a mini breakdown and started crying right there on the bus. I said to my husband "we've been here 4 days and I feel like we've gotten nothing accomplished! We need a new plan!" Yes folks, here it was, the Disney breakdown, only in adult form. I don't know if it was because I was tired, or needed chocolate, or missed the kids, or what, but I had done a years worth of planning for this trip to be perfect and for some reason I wasn't feeling "fulfilled". We had been to MK three times by now and hadn't even made it to Tomorrowland yet! I was like a hamster in a wheel, running and running but never getting anywhere.

I think the fact that it took so long to get anywhere was starting to wear on me. We were either waiting for an ADR or trying to get to an ADR, which on average took an hour to an hour and a half, and then the park hopping took another hour. I was starting to feel like my whole vacation was either eating or waiting to eat to getting somewhere we were going to eat! Had I made a disastrous decision on going with the DxDP? Had I lost that loving feeling for DisneyWorld? Did I even want to do a TR when I got back? Because I was certain at that point that if I did it was going to really suck! Was it just PMS???? My little over-analyzing brain had a million thoughts and questions running through it.

My DH, being the wonderful guy that he is, talked me off the ledge and said "don't worry baby, we will figure it out" and patted me on the behind and sent me off in the direction of TSMM.

Spinning around shooting at 3D objects did help a bit, and we still had some time before our lunch reservation so we hopped in line for the Great Movie Ride. I had never been on it before, but Bob had when he was there with our youngest in February and he thought I would like it. I thought the theater part while you wait in the que was really cool, and I loved seeing all the costumes in the displays. Once we got on the ride though things took a bit of a turn.

There was a family in the same vehicle with us that had three little boys, and one of the little boys was not a happy camper from the get go. Then something really spooked him, I think it was during the gangster scene and he went ballistic. He was crying so much and screaming that we had to wait for two managing CM's to come and remove him and his mom from the ride. The Mom was about ready to hop out of the ride vehicle on her own before they got there, which took about 10 minutes, and all the while our poor little narrator CM was trying to make jokes or ask people trivia and everyone in our vehicle was just silent. I felt so bad for her, and the Mom, and the little boy. I had never seen anyone evacuated from a ride before!

So after that interesting excursion it was time for lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe. I was excited about this one because I had read good things about it, plus fried chicken! We checked in for our 1:30 ADR and I kid you not a full hour later we were finally called for our table. I don't know if this is normal for them, but they were running super far behind today.

We ended up getting an awesome TV table in one of the back rooms but our server was S L O W. I don't know if it was part of his act or what but it seemed to take forever. We both ordered onion rings, which were so good, and I got the pot roast and Bob the fried chicken. Both of them were really good, but we had no room for dessert. When our server asked what we wanted and we told him we were going to pass on dessert he was shocked, he even tried to get us to take something to go. I think at that point our food meter was pegged and we just couldn't do it.

We walked around HS a bit more but it was a really hot day and we were both tired and full still from lunch. We stopped at Starbucks on the way
out to get something cold to drink for the bus ride home and the sweet girl at Starbucks saw our anniversary pins and gave us a huge Jack Skellington carrot cake cupcake for free. It was so very sweet of her but I didn't even want to think about food so in the fridge it went, and in the fridge it stayed until the day we packed up to leave. Food waste guilt rides again.

From HS we took the bus to Wilderness Lodge to have a look around since Bob had never seen it. I love WL! I just get such a good vibe from it, it feels cozy and homey to me. Bob loves Native American things so he had a good time checking out the headdresses and stuff.

We had a browse in the gift shop and settled on having a couple of drinks at the Territory Lounge. It was nice to be able to just sit and relax but while we were there it started to pour. Like get out your Arc kind of pour. We debated what to do since we were starting to get hungry....What????!!!

Eventually we choose to just go back to the Poly and grab something at Captain Cooks, but we had to bus it to MK then catch the monorail to the Poly from there. It was still coming down in buckets and guess who forgot their umbrellas???

Sorry for the word heavy chapter and for being a bit of a Debbie Downer, but I had high hopes; for Tomorrow is another day, Scarlett. I was going to change my attitude and go with the flow




My favorite part about this day: this picture, I love it!


Miles walked this day : 7.4

 

[KathyM2]

I had done a years worth of planning for this trip to be perfect and for some reason I wasn't feeling "fulfilled"

I'm so sorry that you weren't feeling it. I do hope your trip improved later. However, I have to say, the past couple of times I have gone to WDW I did have moments feeling exactly like you described. Trips to Disney are SO expensive these days, and require such a ridiculous amount of foresight and planning, that when things don't go your way, it can be really upsetting. Unless you have the luxury of being able to do a lot of trips, or live nearby, you want to make every minute there count...and that can be hard with all the crowds and unforeseen things that pop up. It can be hard to get the magic back. When you just try to just enjoy things and not think about the planning...it helps...but that can be really hard to do!

 

[kastoney]

Sorry you were having such a rough day. I think we've all been there at sometime or another. Hopefully tomorrow will be another day Scarlet ; )

 

[ariane37]

Tomorrow.............IS another day!! One of my favorite movies and I hope one of the next day's became your favorite. As @kastoney said most of us have been there, I always feel at some point on each Disney trip that we aren't getting enough done. Then it gets better but I can certainly pout with the best of them! I did read about the 45th anniversary crowds and while I knew ahead of time and knew people would go just for that reason, I too was shocked it got as crowded as it did! I plan to go for the 50th anniversary and I'm kind of scared now.........

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[DonnaBeeGood]

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[caitlinnf]

I love that they had a special photo prop for the 45th!