Disney World Trip Highlights - May/June 2018

Every few years we book a week+ long trip to Disney World in May.   Typically we do this around Mother’s Day but since Dave started with a new company last year his vacation allotment reset, causing us to take advantage of the Memorial Day holiday to minimize vacation use.   We figured there would be a noticeable difference in the crowds for the holiday weekend, but it actually wasn’t any worse than earlier in the month. 

We’re going to cover the highlights in the post vs. a day-by-day account of our trip.   We spent the first 6 nights at Bay Lake Tower (attached to the Contemporary Resort) followed by 4 nights at Boardwalk Resort.   We are DVC (Disney Vacation Club) members.

We landed early Friday evening and rushed through MCO to our rental car.   We dropped everything off in the hotel room so we could head right into the Magic Kingdom to see the Happily Ever After fireworks show.   Holly was a big fan of Wishes and we both decided the new show was not a very good replacement – definitely less pyrotechnics and more castle projections (which are hard to see with all the darn kids on parents’ shoulders).

Memorial Day Weekend marked the last few days of Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival.  This put the pressure on us to hit all the food booths around World Showcase that we wanted to try.   Overall offerings this year were not as good as they have been in the past.   Epcot did look great and it was fun to watch the flowers slowly disappear later in the week when the festival closed.   We took in The Spinners at the Garden Rocks concert.  Fun show!

Trader Sam’s at the Polynesian is still a fun place to enjoy the evening (outdoors).  We were happy to see that Disney did not get rid of the guitarist/singer on the terrace. 

California Grill is back on our top dining list.   We had really bad service on our last visit to the restaurant and the changes to the menu items at that time were not our favorite.  Now with the former Jiko chef at the helm things are back the way we like them.   We ate a late (10pm) dinner one night at the bar and then a normal time dinner the following evening.   The filet with the tamarind BBQ was as good as ever.   Our motto for Disney dining in May still held true:  If Zellwood corn is on the menu get it.  The corn chowder was fantastic!

We dined with friends one night at Victoria and Albert’s Chef’s Table.   We had a great night watching the kitchen team in action and enjoying great food and wine.   That evening will get a detailed post of its own.





We had a surprisingly good lunch at The Wave in the Contemporary.  We didn’t want park food or food court food and found this a decent option.  We split the appetizer mussels and Asian pork belly buns.   There were a few decent beers on tap.   This is a perfect break from the Magic Kingdom.

Disney Springs has become an enjoyable place to eat and drink.   We experienced Paddlefish, Dockside Margaritas, Polite Pig, The Edison, Morimoto Asia, and more.

 Afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian is still a fun break from the Magic Kingdom.

 This summer Animal Kingdom started an event in Dino Land called Donald’s Dino-Bash.   The premise is Donald Duck discovers ducks are descended from Dinosaurs and throws a party. Uncle Scrooge is fighting with some rival duck over whom was the first duck clan of Scotland.  There’s some decent theming and backstory in the Uncle Scrooge photo opp area.  Other photo opps include Launchpad McQuack, Chip & Dale in cute dinosaur onesies, Pluto, Daisy, and Goofy.   We hit the character stops before they opened (at 10am) and breezed through them.   In the afternoon the hold a dance party in the courtyard.   By dance party think Disney Jr. vs. Dj Elliott.

 Incredible Summer was occurring in Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland.   Characters from the Incredibles movies were out along with some photo opp backgrounds and a stage show/dance party.   Banners were all over the place and the regular Tomorrowland music loop was replaced by an Incredibles themed soundtrack.   We weren’t fans of this since 1) we don’t really enjoy The Incredibles and 2) it replaced the theming of Tomorrowland.   Dino-Bash was an add-on vs. an overhaul.   There’s rumor Edna Mode is going to narrate the Tomorrowland Transit Authority.   If that’s true it’s time to bring headphones with us to stream an old narration.

We dined at Spice Road Table in Epcot’s Morocco for the first time.   We never included this location on our dining list before because the outside patio area was usually empty when we passed by.  They have a great location on the water so something must be wrong if it’s empty.  We booked a table in time to see Illuminations (fireworks show) and enjoyed how close we were to the action in the lagoon.  Then we remembered this used to be where we watched Illuminations before they built the restaurant.   Food was good, portions were large and reasonably priced.  We could come back and share an appetizer and share an entrée and be content.

Several months ago Dooney & Bourke  released a purse with a Disney dog pattern that Holly was after.  She missed out online at the release date (setting an alarm to get up in the middle of the night).  While we were on property some were being released in very limited amounts.    We got to Animal Kingdom later than we normally would one morning and she missed it by 10 minutes.  We started rope-dropping stores selling purses vs. attractions for a few days after that.   No luck.

Flights of Wonder bird show in Animal Kingdom was overhauled to be Up! A Great Bird Adventure.   By doing this they have incorporated characters from Up! into the show.   The birds are basically the same, just the main narrator’s “Eat, Pray, Love” shtick is more annoying than the tour guide shtick from the old show

Even though it was his birthday, Dave agreed to go to the princess character breakfast at Trattoria al Forno in the Boardwalk Resort.   Characters are not his thing, especially ones that talk back.   The food was good – can’t argue with steak at 8am and the character interaction was quick.    They had the annoying kid parade around the restaurant and other songs so be ready for that.   The characters were nice and knew to limit interaction with Dave, even when they found out it was his birthday.   This is worth a try if you want to see Ariel, Rapunzel, and related princes.

Since we are on the topic of the Boardwalk Resort we’ll cover our check-in mishap.   We left Animal Kingdom around 3:45 and finally got the notice that are room was ready.   We arrived, asked Bell Services to bring our bags (we dropped them off earlier that day), and went to our unclean room.   The room had not been serviced.   Dave called the desk (which is a central line for all the hotels) while Holly went to the desk directly.   We were told it would be 45 minutes and received some compensation for our troubles.   45 minutes turned into almost 2 hours.   After some additional conversations were received 3 bonus Fast Passes (shorter wait tickets) per day.   

We were going to write a glowing review of Matboukha Groove at Epcot’s Morocco Pavilion but the band is no longer there.   They engaged the crowd with their high-energy performance.   Sahara Beat is the replacement act.

Brown Derby’s outdoor lounge in the Hollywood Studios is still enjoyable.  It’s a really nice dining venue with great appetizer selections and the chance to get Zellwood corn soup from the inside menu if you ask nice.    Sitting at a two-top we were not given the advantage of an umbrella for shade.   While dining around noon the breeze had stopped and the sun shifted perfectly over us.   It was HOT!

Those were some of the highlights.  We'll return back to Disney World Labor Day Weekend for a few fun days at Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival (Tiffany is performing that weekend) and to check out the Studio's new Toy Story Land.   This will also be our first time staying at The Grand Floridian Resort.

May 2016 Walt Disney World Trip Highlights

Every few years we'll take a long trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. This was our first long trip in three years. The long trips allow us to actually take advantage of other things to do on property without feeling we are sacrificing park time. We'll just hit some highlights vs. a full blown daily report.

Logistics: We flew into Orlando early Thursday evening and rented a car for the entire trip. We spent 6 nights at Bay Lake Tower in a Magic Kingdom View room followed by 5 nights in a Boardwalk View room at The Boardwalk. We used our DVC (Disney timeshare) points for booking our rooms in the 11 month booking window. We used Uber a few times to make traveling easier, especially for dinners at other resorts or to-from Disney Springs.

Top of the World flatbreads

Magic Kingdom After Hours: WDW started a new add-on event that keeps the Magic Kingdom open for three extra hours to guests willing to pay. For $150pp guest get 3 hours more in the park with most rides open (no shows with performers) with virtually no waits. Also included were ice cream bars and bottled beverages. The event wasn't selling well at that hefty price tag so Disney has offered discounts. We took the bait at half-price. Since we booked this for the day we arrived we unpacked quickly, grabbed a beer at The Wave, ate dinner and had drinks at Top of the World Lounge, and made it in the park in time for an attraction or two and nighttime spectaculars.

At the $75pp price-point this was a worthwhile event. We believe we hit 18 rides during that time including a 2 minute wait to meet Anna and Elsa. We had our own Splash Mountain boat and were asked if we wanted to stay on for a second ride. Peter Pan, Mine Cars, Space Mountain all walk-ons. Having our own boat on Pirates allowed us to really hear the attraction without other people talking over the track. We walked out with a couple bottles of Coke to drink later in the trip and had a few ice cream bars.

Signature Dining: Usually on a long trip we'll have 14+ ADRs (dining reservations) booked. This trip we decided to scale it back to allow for more relaxed-pace grazing and impromptu moments. Our first dining event at The California Grill was a disaster. We had a horrible server - served our wine and appetizers while Holly was not at the table, all within 3 minutes of taking the order. We didn't get to test the wine first. We both ordered filets and when they came out it looked like Disney had changed the quality of meat we were used to. What we think actually happened is we were served the bison filet because the filet mignons at the pass were good looking. The menu lists traditional filet and bison on the same line so we guess she entered it wrong in the system. Even after complaining to a manager no guest recovery was attempted. The soup was good though.

Brown Derby

Jiko did not disappoint. We both knew what we were ordering before arriving: wild boar appetizer and the filet mignon with the "secret" Mac and cheese side. Our sever was great and dinner was well-paced.

We had a lunch at Brown Derby mainly so we could have the seasonal soup. Zellwood corn is seasonal and usually available in May at Disney restaurants as ingredients. Brown Derby makes an incredible triple corn bisque with shrimp fritters. Our entrees were the Cobb Salad and Andouille-Crusted Chicken Sandwich.

In Disney Springs we experienced the new Morimoto Asia. The restaurant is beautiful and modern - has that big city dining feel. We got a great table and tasty meal. We shared baos and the hoisin rib appetizer. Entrees were Chicken Pad Thai and Ramen. All that and a beer each kept the bill pretty reasonable. Only complaint about the place is they have giant Connect 4 board games around the restaurant and it creates a bunch of noise that detracts from the atmosphere.

Other Dining: We have a ton of food photos we won't post. With Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot several lunches or dinners were provided by the food booths. At Disney Springs we had a fun lunch with friends at The Boat House (great food and atmosphere), sushi at Splitsville, and drinks at Jock Lindsey's. Of course we got a pie and calamari at Via Napoli in Epcot and had a some wines and light snack at Tutto Gusto a couple nights. We tried lunch at Magic Kingdom's Skipper's Cantina - worth the visit for the food and the amount of detail in the restaurant. We had appetizers for dinner one night at The Territory Lounge for dinner one night (Wilderness Lodge), another night we had mussels at Narcoosee's and then other appetizers at Trader Sam's (Grand Floridian/Polynesian). We split a sandwich at ESPN Grill at the Boardwalk, got a free preview of the new ice cream shop (Ample Hills), and did a character breakfast at Garden Grill in Epcot. Animal Kingdom lunches came from the Yak and Yeti counter service. On two occasions we split a sandwich in France for dinner.

As much as we love sitting down and having a great meal in a fantastic environment we actually enjoyed the pace of our dining this trip. It was a bit spontaneous and keeping to smaller meals allowed us to experience more options.

Entertainment: Epcot's Flower and Gardent Festival has headliner concerts on weekend evenings. The first weekend we watched a set from The Gin Blossoms - who we liked in the 90's - just forgot every song was slow except for "Hey Jealousy". The next weekend we watched Darlene Love. We did not know too much about her other than "(Christmas) Baby Please Come Home", and ended up enjoying her show. Great performer and easily wins the crowd over. Epcot ditched the Lumberjacks and has been adding temporary bands in Canada. We saw a set from Alberta Bound, and enjoyed their show. We went another day at a different time and found it was the same set - ok, they must rotate them per day and we'll get a new set in an hour for the next show. Nope - same set each show. This was disappointing, but we think it's by design so they don't recreate the fan frenzy that existed for Off-Kilter. While in Animal Kingdom we enjoyed many sets from the Harambe-based band Buradika (on Spotify as Wassalou) They vary their sets per day but always end with "Waka Waka". We watched Finding Nemo the Musical (still enjoy it) and Festival of the Lion King (still hate it).

Activities: We tried a few new things this trip. After a lunch from Captain Cook's at the Polynesian we each rented a water sprite. The little boats don't go too fast but they are a fun way to tool around the lakes. With our discount (annual pass or DVC) we paid around $55 for two boats for 35 minutes. Dave got his haircut at the Harmony Barber Shop in the Magic Kingdom, including Rip Taylor levels of glitter. In the Land Pavilion of Epcot we took the Behind the Seeds tour of the green house. Well worth the ~$18pp price except for the fact that Dave now wants a backyard hydroponics kit. We visited Typhoon Lagoon one day for a few hours. In our two visits to Animal Kingdom we completed the Wilderness Explorer badge game. Players perform tasks or answer questions to earn stickers. We got them all.

Photopass: Our Annual Pass included Memory Maker/Photopass. The photos taken by in-park photographers would be available to us almost immediately online. When we got home we could edit them and add special borders and stickers. This saved Dave the frustration of getting pictures with our own camera.

Overall, another great trip. A good mix of park time and relaxation.

 

2016 Disney World RunDisney Star Wars Dark Side Race Weekend

Disney grabbed us for one more RunDisney race series. In January we participated in another Star Wars themed race weekend - The Light Side. Florida's Disney location offered a companion series in April with the kicker of a bonus medal for doing the half marathons on both coasts. Like January, we were both signed up for the 5K and10K while Holly had the half marathon. The combination of the 10K and half marathon earns a challenge medal.

We arrived Thursday night, the night before the 5K. We did not have a chance to go to the expo so we were hoping our race bibs would be available at the start area. We checked in at the Boardwalk and figured we had enough time for some quick dinner at Epcot's Flower and Garden food booths. We split four booth offerings before meeting up with friends to watch Illuminations (Epcot fireworks). After the show we headed back to Boardwalk, enjoyed some time in BelleVue talking to one of our favorite WDW bartenders, then went to the room and fell asleep around midnight.

At 3:15 the wake-up call arrives the same time our phone alarms go off. Ugh! The race started at 6:00 but Dinsey logistics demands runners to arrive early. We drove to Epcot vs. taking the resort shuttles and arrived early enough at 4:15. We got our bibs no problem. With time to kill we decided to take advantage of the new character photo op setup that was available all three days (before and after the race). There were different Star Wars character/scene sets lining the stage area. You could have photos with Darth Maul, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Captain Phasma, First Order Troopers, BB-8, Jabba, and rattarps. Disney photographers were on-hand to take photos for the runners (posted online and free to download for Annual Passholders and Memory Maker subscribers). Since we were early we could knock a few out with little wait. After that it was hang out with friends, wait on bathroom lines, and then wait in corrals.

The above statements can be applied to the other race mornings except for the race times. Each morning the start was a half hour earlier. The alarm went off around 2:15 on Sunday for the half. Dave stayed in bed that morning and met up with everyone later.

5K

We entered Corral A (first to start the race) about twenty minutes before the race. Almost as soon as we crossed in race staff announced they were closing the corral. So many people were still milling about and using bathrooms. Our corral ended up having less than 500 participants of a 7,500+ person race. As we were starting we noticed the family of a friend waiting at the side of the corral for their left behind family member using the bathroom. The course was the usual Epcot Course 1st mile parking lot, other miles Epcot.

The 5K is the only distance we can do together because of our separate paces and tolerances for intervals. We saw R2-D2 was the first character stop passed mile marker 1. We skipped it. The World Showcase was lit a bit differently for the race and Star Wars music was playing over the speakers. Fun! The characters from Rebels were at the American Pavilion and Chewbacca was by the Friendship dock by the International Gateway. We skipped both. The final character stop were Some New Order Stormtroopers on a platform by the Future World Fountain. Yep, skipped it. We crossed the finish line, collected our drinks and goodie boxes, took a picture with Boba Fett, and left.

Having Photo Pass was a nice touch. By entering a code and your bib number into the My Disney Experience App we had access to the race photos within a few hours - for free (with our pass). This helped to offset the ridiculous cost of RunDisney races.

Overall the 5K was "same race, different overlay". Seeing people in Star Wars outfits was fun, but nothing on course was different than expected. An appearance by Kylo Ren would have been nice. It was humid as expected this time of year.

10K

"Let's wake up earlier than yesterday". The worst part of race weekend is the early start. Being back in the room before the first firework show starts is a miserable feeling. We carpooled over to Epcot with our friends Lee and Laura. We were still pretty early so we killed time with character photo lines. We met up with more friends and eventually shuffled the almost 1/2 mile to the start line. Shuffle is literal. They opened the gates and we all slowly moved our way to corrals. Dave was the lone Corral B member of our group. Since he's slower he decided to take the head start and figured we'd finish around the same time. To make things worse - we were finishing the race at Wide World of Sports which meant we had to rely on busses to take us back to Epcot or the resort's.

Here's the race from Dave's POV:

"Somehow I ended up too far in the front of my corral. Once we crossed the line we were all really packed together for a while. Then came the off-ramp that narrowed to accommodate a single car - going from 4 lanes to one was crowded for me. It was warmer than the day before and I wasn't feeling it. Adding to the fun was I kept burping up the nasty Clif Bar I ate before the race. This was going to be slower pace than yesterday, even though I had a faster first mile (Likely caused by the push of the crowd and search for isolation).

Epcot looked the same as the day before and it was fun to go counterclockwise to UK pavilion. This was a good place for the bathroom. The Boardwalk was fun to go through, but then the narrow path to the Studios was not. At the front of the Studios there were a few members of the 501st out for photo ops. It was nice, but nothing like the California half marathon. I took a few pictures in the Studios and took advantage of the Tower of Terror restrooms. Since the rest of the course was not through parks or resorts I decided to take advantage of the familiar. I'm not one to stop for character photo opportunities, but they had Palpatine's chair at the 1/2 way point. Just had to wait on line.

The rest of the course was not much fun. Concrete and Trees. Right before Mile 5 participants crammed onto a narrow dirt paths for almost a half mile. That was really fun. Near the end of the course a few more members of the 501st were out, including a Darth Vader. Since I had a Darth Vader shirt on I decided to stop for a picture. I knew through text messages Holly and crew were nearby. I stood off to the side before crossing the finish to see if they were coming into sight, but then figured they may be stopping for pictures with the characters and moved on. I got some poor finish line photos because I was chatting with Rudy, the greatest race announcer in the world, as I crossed. He asked if Holly was close by. So much fun to know a race announcer.

I'm in the minority of my friends when I say I wish it was the race was on the traditional 10K course of Epcot-Boardwalk-Yacht-Beach-Epcot. There was not enough to engage me on this course passed the half way point. I really hated the fact that we had to wait on line 30 minutes for a bus back to Epcot. Apparently the wait was up to 70+ minutes later that day

Half Marathon (Holly's Report)

This is now the third morning wake up in a row for me. It was the earliest one yet at 2:15 am! Lee and Laura were driving this morning and I knocked on their door at 3 am. We made it to Epcot in no time at all and we now just had to wait two hours until we would actually start running. This was when it finally sunk in that I was done with runDisney. I love seeing and running with my friends but we are all so tired from getting up so early, that I would like to pick another race weekend that doesn’t require such early alarms, or just go to Disney with everyone and not run.

We once again had a long slow shuffle to the corrals and waited around for our turn to go. It was the same entertainment as the previous two days. The course would be a new one again so I was excited for that. We started in Epcot and ran along the Beach Club today to get to the Studios (Dave came out to see us along the Boardwalk path). Ran through the Studios and then out to Osceola Parkway to Animal Kingdom and back on Osceola to finish again at Wide World of Sports. It was a cooler morning this morning and we had a group of nine of us running together today. We all had fun and I think we were running a bit faster because it was cooler. We did slow down at the half way point because we were getting tired after three days of running! As with the first two days the characters on course were lacking. The 501st did save the day and I enjoyed running through three parks.

The medals were great, especially the Kessel Run medal that I got because I did the half marathon in January at Disneyland. We were all disappointed to learn that there was no beer available after the race due to the fact that the race ended in Osceola County and you can’t sell beer in the morning in that county. Something tells me that they will be changing the course next year or getting a special permit. They left too much money on the table, which is something that Disney does not do.

 

My overall feelings on the race weekend are that they are a fun weekend if you like Star Wars. They are way overcrowded however and the magic of running at Disney is over for me due to the overcrowding and the overall process of getting to the races so early to sit around and wait to start.

 

 

Disney World September 2015 - Part 2

Since we've been planning pool breaks this trip we took advantage of driving to some parks in the morning vs. taking the bus. Leaving in the early afternoon means no traffic to deal with. This morning we started off at Disney's Hollywood Studios. We didn't have much planned, but what we did plan was agressively tight.

They opened the park early and penned us on Hollywood and Sunset until a few minutes of official opening. This area happens to be where the Starbucks is so Dave beveraged-up with an iced coffee. We started off the morning with the first running of Rockin' Rollercoaster, followed by Tower of Terror. By the time we knocked those two out it was 9:30 - time for our Midway Mania Fastpass.

Soon it was time for another Starbucks break and to find a spot for the Frozen Summer Fun Parade. This is a special parade where the characters from Frozen ride floats and performers dance and skate. It's decent for what it is. Holly had the pleasure of holding the GoPro while Dave concentrated on still shots.

We crossed back over to Sunset and used our Tower of Terror Fastpass. By the time we exited the ride we figured it was time for a beverage. Unfortunately our usual Sunset Blvd. stop, Fairfax Fare, was closed for refurb (or just closed). The Tune-In Lounge was our backup. Our next event was Olaf's Summer Cool Down which takes place on the main stage. The show was about ten minutes long and had the usual Disney formula: Host comes out, talks to audience, calls for main character, main character never shows up until the third time you call, banter with main character, dance number, special effect, sing "Let it Go", end. The special effect was the cool-down portion of the show: Essentially they shot the audience with a huge fire extinguisher.

We killed some time before seeing the 12:30 showing of the "Frozen Sing Along". We enjoyed the show the first time we watched it last year, but this time it didn't entertain us much. Too much....singing. We forgot how much the show really relied on showing clips from the movies vs. original content.

Next up was lunch! This was our first of two ADRs at The Brown Derby over the next few days. In May, we had the Zellwood Corn Bisque that was out of this world. In September Brown Derby featured Brentwood Corn Bisque (can't be that different) and Dave insisted on having it for two meals. We both ordered soup and supplemented with the small Cobb (Holly) and the scallop and pork belly appetizer (Dave). The bisque was as-good as remembered with the earthy herbs and tasty lobster dumplings.
We left The Studios in order to enjoy some pool time. Unfortunately it was time for the rain to come again. We spent some time in the lobby (how may times can we visit Bou-tiki?) before we were finally able to get some time by the pool.

We hopped over to The Grand Floridian for dinner. We arrived at Narcoossee's early to have a pre-dinner drink. We chatted for a while with the bartender and got a bit of information on the flexibility each location has for menus, wine lists, and cocktail options. We mainly returned to Narcoossee's because of the successful meal we had there in May. Since that time the seasons changed and so did the chef. Our appetizer of BBQ shrimp had a ton going on and it was great. The chicken dish Holly craved from May was replaced by something a less fantastic. Dave's halibut was great, but the rest of the dish did not come together. The chef (in our opinion) threw too much together into each dish. We watched Wishes from the Narcoosee's balcony.

Back at The Poly we decided to grab a drink from The Tambu Lounge to bring back to the room. Near the bar we found a group of people with a cooler w/ built-in IPod player blasting music and mixing drinks from their own 1.75 bottle. Other guests told us they called security 20 minutes before we arrived so this had been going on for a while. Security finally showed up - a gentleman who looked old enough to see Steamboat Willie's original screening - and kinda just stood there and looked at them. Eventually they turned off the music. We were shocked that 1) people would actually think this was ok to do 2) that it took so long to shut it down.